Blonde Ambition - Zoey Dean

The third novel in this witty and risque series takes readers behind the scenes of the intoxicating world of Hollywood glitterati. Upper East Side blueblood Anna Percy came to L.A. to learn how to have a good time. Then Princeton prince Ben Birnbaum and his amazing disappearing act turned out to be anything but. Anna finally begins to understand that telling true love from true lust us is far more easily said than done. 

The Sea Witch - S.J. Valfroy

Have you ever wondered why villains are what they are? Is a villainous heart instilled at birth, or do decisions and actions warp a good heart into a villainous one?  You have certainly already heard of the Sea Witch, but do you know her real story? 
Though she works as a palace maid, Serena is no ordinary mermaid. From birth she manifested the magical powers of a sea witch, just like her mother, Moira. But Serena does not want to be like her mother, cruel and selfish, so she rejects her magical powers. At least until her ever growing love for the unattainable Prince Triton pushes her to her breaking point. Just when it seems he’s taken notice, that she could actually win his heart, his mother, Queen Amphitrite, makes it clear her son will never marry a palace maid, much less the daughter of a sea witch with a seedy reputation. Serena’s dreams are slipping through her fingers, and she must decide if she is willing to embrace her magical powers and take her dreams by force. Magic could solve all her problems, or so she thinks, but at what price?

Casted - Book Review

The world is falling apart, never being able to stay in one spot for too long, or risk getting caught by a mysterious group of enemies that want to see you dead. Living in a state of constant fear, never knowing who is going to be around the corner when you walk down the street, never knowing which day is your last is terrifying enough without having any living family members or even knowing who you are anymore. It's enough to drive someone crazy, and that's not even including the magical powers that haven't reared their heads yet.

Powers? Yes, powers.

Jade was running from someone. She didn't really know who, and nobody could tell her who either because her family was dead. At least, she figured they were dead since she never had them in her life for as long as she could remember. She wasn't alone forever though, because she was saved from a life of loneliness by two women who would become her best friends, Rainy and Jessa. For months, it seems like things are going to be okay, that whoever is trying to find Jade won't be looking for her anymore. But one day their peace is shattered, and someone ends up finding Jade, someone who opens the door to a whole new kind of drama.

Jade ends up finding out that she has magical prowess, and it becomes even stronger when she ends up reading for a mysterious book with a woman in the book, literally. It's like she is telling Jade what to do, which spells to perform, all that jazz. But can Jade really handle everything that this mystery woman is telling her to do, and is everything that this woman shouts in her head "good", or does this woman have her own agenda against the Triad?

This book was such an amazing story to read. It takes a while for me to find good books about witches and magic, and this one definitely did not disappoint me. I really loved Jade and just her attitude and character. Of course, there were times when she would freak out like any normal person would, and that would of course be extremely frustrating to read. Despite her freak outs, and despite her doubting her abilities sometimes to the point where I wanted to shake her and tell her to get over it, she was an amazing character to relate to, and I couldn't help but root for her. I still have to read the second book, but I know that it won't disappoint me.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Enchantment - Book Review

In a world where someone's name can determine the kind of powers they have, it's very important to make sure that those powers aren't dangerous in an unnecessary way. In this case, Channie - short for her full name Enchantment - and her parents did not heed that warning. Her powers are even more powerful than her own parents sometimes, and she takes advantage of the fact that she can get people to do just about anything she wants. So why is it that Channie's personality is anything but enchanting at all?

It's very difficult for me to review this book in full because it was very difficult for me to get through it. I was very frustrated with Channie's behavior, along with her entire family as well. She was very disrespectful to her family, using her own powers on them to make her parents do what she wanted. Of course, this is probably something that the author did on purpose, but it made it really difficult for me to get through. I feel like it made Channie hard to get behind, to see her as someone that I would want to relate to. I also felt like this book did have some potential to be an amazing story. How often do you find a story about a girl with powers that come from her name? It was the first of its kind for me, and I was really excited to read it and get through this amazing concept of a story. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.

I'm sorry that this review is not up to my normal standards, but it's one that I just would not recommend to anyone who has high expectations like I do.

Rated: 2/5 Stars

Casted - Sonya Loveday

“My mind absorbed everything in the spell book I clutched tightly to me. Pages ruffled inside of my head, urging me to remember things and then to forget them. Voices chanted with tempo rising at the breaking points of pain until the book vanished and words to an ancient spell scribed across my arms. Each stroke brought blood to the surface, imprinting words I could not read; words that would forever change who I was.”

Jade had spent the majority of her life running from the Triad. A powerful group, who would stop at nothing to obtain Jade and the missing spell book for leader, Lorenzo’s, nefarious plans. And now that she has absorbed the highly coveted magic contained inside the missing book, there is nowhere left for her to hide.

With the help of her friends, Jade steps out from the shadows and learns how to fight back. But no one is prepared for Elinor-the woman bound inside of the book that’s trapped in Jade’s mind. Now she not only needs to protect herself from the Triad, but from what’s hiding inside her mind as well. 

Jade never expected the answer to it all would revolve around love.

Edge is dark, mysterious, and a sworn member of the Triad. He also hides a secret past that threatens the thin line he walks between good and evil. Lives are at stake when Jade and Edge’s two worlds collide. Can Jade learn to trust him when he says he is her pre-ordained and vows to do everything he can to protect her? But more importantly, can she trust herself and the woman in her mind?

Enchantment - Charlotte Abel

Sixteen year old Channie Kerns leads an idyllic life of seclusion and magic deep in the Ozark Mountains ... until her family is forced to flee for their lives.

They leave everything and everyone behind to start over in Louisville, Colorado. Magic is forbidden while they are in hiding, but Channie can't resist the temptation to enchant a group of local boys. When her overbearing parents catch her flirting with these "sex-crazed, non-magical delinquents," they slap a chastity spell on her to protect her virtue.

The spell is triggered by lust, so just navigating the halls at her new school is an ordeal. She can't even touch a boy she's attracted to without blasting him with a jolt of magical energy that feels like a taser.

When Channie falls in love with Josh Abrim, a BMX racer with dangerous secrets of his own, she rebels against her parents and turns to dark and forbidden magic to break the chastity spell ... with disastrous results.

Book Vs. Movie - The 5th Wave

Hey everyone! I'm starting up a new addition to my blog, so hopefully this goes well. It's not going to be a weekly thing like Tuesday Talks, but if it gains popularity, that could be something I'll look into. This segment to my blog is basically about discussing the differences and similarities between the books I read, and movies I've seen based on those books. I got the idea to do this after watching The 5th Wave last week and I had a discussion with my best friend about it right after. I figured, why not blog about it? Hopefully this goes well, and I hope to hear your thoughts.

This week we will be discussing the first movie of the year that I've watched in theaters based on a book I've read: The 5th Wave. For those who don't know what it's about, I have a post of the book's synopsis on my blog, so go check it out. Now, when I first heard of this movie, when I first saw the preview of it after watching a totally different movie last year, my best friend and I decided right then and there that we were going to watch it as soon as it came out. When we realized that it was based off the book of the same name, we both went to our favorite bookstore and bought ourselves a copy each. We are both the type of people to read a book before watching the movie, so that's what we decided to do this time. It was well worth it, and we both enjoyed the movie.

But, of course, like with all movie adaptations, there were some changes made that we were not too happy about.

****If you have not read the book and want to avoid spoilers, I would suggest not reading any further. Consider this your warning :)****

Da Vinci's Tiger - Book Review

"Most importantly, you make the choice of songs you sing within the case. With your mind and gifts, it can be an exquisite litany. Sing of us. Sing of yourself. Sing of what treasure lies inside women's hearts and minds if men but look beyond their preconceived notions. We think, we feel, we bleed when hurt. We have courage when tested. Someday men may laud rather than fear that. That is my hope.
So sing, Ginevra. Make them listen."

Italy. 1400s. Renaissance. This is a time where artists are trying to find their muse, and bring the beauty of their subject to life, whether it's through a painting or through a sculpture. This is the time of Donatello, Leonardo Da Vinci, and all the other greats that history has come to know about. It is in this setting, so far into the past, that history comes to life, in the eyes of one particular girl in Italian history. Her name is Ginevra de' Benci, and this is her story.

One of the things that stands out a lot about Ginevra is her lack of fear when it comes to speaking her mind. This is clearly shown during the first chapter, while she and her friend Simonetta are watching the jousting competition. She hears some men in the audience speaking ill of her brother, calling him names and basically saying that he is a fool for spending so much money on a particular horse. She has no problem standing up to them, using her wit to give those men a run for their money. They didn't even realize that they were insulting her brother until she spoke up. More examples of her assertive demeanor is prominent throughout the book, and it's what makes her so easy to root for.

As a woman living in Italy during the 1400s, we see how women are treated back then if they are considered beautiful enough to win the Platonic heart of a man in high power. Simonetta was the Platonic love of one of the Medici sons, and Ginevra became the Platonic love of Ambassador Bembo. We also see that the fact that Ginevra is a poet is rare in and of itself, since there are very few - if any at all - female poets during this time period. In fact, it is one of her poems that catches the eye of Ambassador Bembo to her in the first place, although it is revealed later on in the novel that that may not have been the case. Her poems are deep, reaching into the very depths of human soul, and because she is a woman, she is sometimes afraid to show her talent to those in power. It's with the help of her Mother Superior, Mother Scolastica, that helps her to "sing" of her talents, so that other women can be seen as more than just their beauty.

I may not be an expert in Italian Renaissance history, but I was really impressed with the attention to detail that went into this book. The author even sited all of her sources in the end of the book, as if this were a college historical essay rather than a Young Adult fictional story. It made the story seem that much more real, as if it were an autobiography I was reading rather than a work of art. That was part of the appeal to me, and I'm very glad that the author decided to write the book this way. Ginevra was a force to be reckoned with, and with the help of Leonardo Da Vinci, she became a legend that we can still see to this very day. She was a mountain tiger, and that's what she will be remembered as.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

Tuesday Talks - New Releases

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to this week's segment of Tuesday Talks. Every week, there is a new topic of discussion that each of us involved in the Tuesday Talks group on GoodReads participates in. We either post a blog post answering the topic or post a video to YouTube. Unfortunately, I don't have the right equipment to make worthwhile videos so I've stuck with writing blog posts for now. Hope you guys like this one, and please feel free to comment and start a discussion with me. That's always fun and will never be turned away!

Name some new releases you are looking forward to.

The newest release that I'm looking forward to is The Siren by Kiera Cass. It just published today and I am dying to hold it in my hands and read it. After finally caving in and reading The Selection by the same author, I feel like I will really like her standalone book. I also heard that she actually published a version of The Siren much earlier than today, but she either republished it and edited it, or something along those lines. Either way, I really want to read it as soon as possible. Another reason why I want to read it is because one of the groups I follow on both Instagram and GoodReads has chosen this book as our February group read, so that's another good reason!

Another new release that I'm really looking forward to is The Last Star by Rick Yancey. This is the final installment to The 5th Wave series and I need to know how the story ends. The first book was amazing and I've been holding off on reading the second book for when the third book comes out so I'm not waiting too long in between them. It may not make sense to some people, but I made that mistake with The Selection series so now I'm dying to know how the series ends but I have to wait until May or even August before the last book comes out. So with this book, I'm going to wait to read the next to last book until the last one comes out! I hope that makes sense a little bit.

So far that's all I'm really looking forward to, but if I think of another one, I will amend my blog post. As always, please feel free to comment your thoughts. Let me know what you are looking forward to, and you may end up jogging my memory on what I'm missing!

Anna and the French Kiss - Book Review

Who wouldn't kill to have the opportunity to spend an entire school year in Paris? Apparently, Anna thinks it's a horrible idea and fights it even while she's already in the beautiful country of France. Luckily for her, even though she doesn't think so at the moment, her parents don't give her the satisfaction of spending her senior year of high school in Atlanta. At her new school, she will have to learn how to immerse herself into the French culture, pick up on the language, and everything else that comes with studying abroad.

Anna meets an amazing group of students at her new boarding school, including one very charming boy named Etienne St. Clair, and she is immediately smitten. They live close to one another in the dorms, are in some of the same classes, and Etienne really helps Anna learn how to adjust to being in a new country and a new school. They are the perfect couple, even if they aren't an actual couple. There's just one problem:

Etienne has a girlfriend, and it's not Anna.

While this may have the "typical" Young Adult love triangle that seems to resonate strongly in a lot of other books, I didn't feel like this one was that terrible. It didn't feel like it was unnecessary to me, and it didn't start off as a love triangle at all. Etienne knew how he felt about his girlfriend, and was very loyal to her even with his friendship with Anna. It wasn't until his girlfriend started getting really jealous about him being with Anna that the relationship starting to crumble. Even though Anna really started to like Etienne, when she found out that he was seeing someone else, she made sure that she didn't act on her feelings.

I feel like this book could have been a standalone book, but it looks like it is part of a trilogy. The other two books don't seem to have anything to do with Anna and the rest of the characters from this book, but since I have yet to read it so I don't know for sure. Anna really grew into herself by going to Paris, going to this boarding school and living out on her own. I feel like she needed this in order to find herself and become her own woman. She learned her own worth by not allowing her crush from Atlanta to string her along while he went out with her best friend without saying anything. By the time she comes back to Atlanta, she tells him just where he can stick it, and it was such a worthwhile moment.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Da Vinci's Tiger - L. M. Elliott

Young, beautiful, and witty, Ginevra de’ Benci longs to take part in the artistic ferment of Renaissance Florence. But as the daughter of a wealthy family in a society dictated by men, she is trapped in an arranged marriage, expected to limit her creativity to domestic duties. Her poetry reveals her deepest feelings, and she aches to share her work, to meet painters and sculptors mentored by the famed Lorenzo de Medici, and to find love.

When the charismatic Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo, arrives in Florence, he introduces Ginevra to a dazzling circle of patrons, artists, and philosophers—a world of thought and conversation she has yearned for. She is instantly attracted to the handsome newcomer, who admires her mind as well as her beauty. Yet Ginevra remains conflicted about his attentions. Choosing her as his Platonic muse, Bembo commissions a portrait by a young Leonardo da Vinci. Posing for the brilliant painter inspires an intimate connection between them—one Ginevra can only begin to understand. In a rich and enthralling world of exquisite art, elaborate feasts, and exhilarating jousts, she faces many temptations to discover her voice, artistic companionship, and a love that defies categorization. In the end, she and Leonardo are caught up in a dangerous and deadly battle between powerful families.

Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 
But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Frostbite - Book Review

It was bad enough that Rose and Lissa had to deal with a betrayal so close to them when they were taken back to St. Vladimir’s Academy in the first book. To have your own uncle go behind your back and try to have you sacrifice your mind and spirit just for him to have his health back is enough to make you lose your trust in anyone. But that was only the beginning of the story. Dangers lurk ahead of the lives of Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir, and the Strigoi are nowhere near done with them.

In the aftermath of the events of the first book, St. Vladimir’s Academy feels like everyone needs a break for all the death and destruction. With another Strigoi attack so close to the school, the authorities decide to move the entire school to a winter vacation in Idaho, a “mandatory holiday ski trip” if you will.

But just because you take the kids out of the school, it doesn’t mean the danger takes a vacation and leaves them alone for the holidays.

If anything, it just makes things worse. Putting so many Moroi together in one spot, not just the children but the adults as well, makes it that much easier to cause some trouble. Three of the students end up running away, trying to do what they think they need to do in order for the Strigoi to be destroyed once and for all. They leave the safety and comfort of the ski lodge to the nearest town where they heard another attack occurred, and it’s up to Rose to make sure that none of them end up dead. Does it work out in her favor? Is she able to save them all, or does she end up being captured herself?

This addition to the Vampire Academy series really shows just how much things can change in a matter of days.  Rose matures from the impulsive girl we know and love into one that has seen tragedy firsthand and must change the way she does everything. The journey isn’t over yet, but Rose has more than proven just how strong an adversary she can be, and the will to survive and protect those she cares about will be what makes her extraordinary. She has to grow up pretty fast in this book, becoming responsible for her three classmates that escaped the lodge and trying to save them from the Strigoi that want to either kill them or turn them into part of their ever growing army. They even discover that the Strigoi are so much more organized than they imagined, and that there is something way bigger going on than they believed. They are targeting the Royal Moroi families, that much is certain. But the fact that they are now working together in much bigger nests that initially thought is alarming enough, and Rose has to find out what their ultimate plan is and protest Lissa at all costs.

Rose has always been my favorite protagonist out of all the books I’ve ever read. There’s just something about her that really draws me to her, and even though she can be stubborn at times,  those moments only remind her of me that much more. Like I mentioned before, she really has grown up into a mature woman and now fully understands the dangers that come with being a Dhampir, with giving her life to protect her best friend and the rest of the Moroi. Classes at the Academy don’t fully show the scope of what she needs to be prepared for, and it was not the same as seeing a Strigoi face to face, one that is older and powerful than Natalie from the last book. In Vampire Academy, she hesitated in killing Natalie, which almost cost her life, and we wouldn’t have had any more books to read. In Frostbite, she had to figure out a way to kill two very powerful enemies, with her being only a novice not even finished with high school yet. Her strength will only increase and that is something that I can’t wait to see in the next book.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Frostbite - Richelle Mead

WHEN LOVE AND JEALOUSY COLLIDE ON THE SLOPES, WINTER BREAK TURNS DEADLY...
Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.
Rose has serious guy trouble. Her gorgeous tutor, Dimitri, has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, and she keeps getting stuck in her best friend Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian.
Then a nearby Strigoi attack puts St. Vladimir's on high alert, and the Academy whisks its students away on a mandatory holiday ski trip. But the glittering winter landscape and posh Idaho resort only provide the illusion of safety. When three students run away to strike back against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. Only this time, Rose - and her heart - are in more danger than she ever could have imagined...

Girls on Film - Book Review

There is a difference between old money and new money. When someone thinks of old money, they think of New York City, the Upper East Side, and all those powerful businessmen and women with their hands in everything. Basically, think the world of Gossip Girl. Now, new money is different. New money is Hollywood actors and models and all those people who rose to fame recently. There’s no family history of owning property or starting businesses from the ground up. No building an empire or a legacy that lasted many generations. It’s completely different, and those with old money can feel that those with new money don’t appreciate the value of said money like they do. Think Beverly Hills, with all the agents and record companies. Two different atmospheres, two very different outlooks on life, all rolled together into one.

This is the second book of The A-List series, and the drama only gets more intense as the series goes on. We have already been introduced to Anna, our Upper East Side WASP from New York who made the big move to California to live with her father. There she meets the Unholy Trinity in the form of Sam, Dee and Cammie. Three very different girls but best friends that will do anything for each other, or so we thought. With Anna in the mix, we see that the three best friends may have a rift in their otherwise tight knit alliance, and soon those lines may change.

We see that Sam may actually like hanging out with Anna, even if they had a bad first impression. Throughout this book, you see the two of them starting to get along much better when Sam isn’t with her two best friends. The infamous Sam Sharpe actually has a heart, and somehow Anna has been able to bring that good side to the forefront. Sam may have known that Cammie was a major bitch to begin with, but now she can see that sometimes her behavior is unwarranted and downright cruel. Anna is learning quickly that sometimes she needs to play dirty in order to survive in her new zip code, but as long as she remembers who she is and where she came from, she won’t turn into one of them.

Technically this is a re-read for me, even though the last time I read this book I was either in middle school or high school. It’s been years, trust me. I don’t know what it is about this series, but I just can’t stay away from it for long. I also don’t want it to end so that’s probably why I’ve been stalling in reading the rest of the books that I haven’t read yet. In this book, Sam really impressed me with her change of character, even if it wasn’t permanent. I like that we see a softer side to her, and that she and Anna can put aside their differences to come together and work together to do what needs to be done. I would much rather see these girls become friends to be an unstoppable force, but then where would all the drama be? To me, Ben is completely out of the picture and is so irrelevant to me. I don’t care if Anna really likes him, maybe even loves him, and he still winds up to make appearances in this series. To me, the story of each of the four girls is so much more interesting to me and I would rather delve deeper into their thoughts and their psyche than Ben’s.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Girls on Film - Zoey Dean

Girls on Film is the wickedly funny and risqué sequel to the bestselling A-List that takes readers behind the scenes of the intoxicating world of Hollywood glitterati. Seventeen year-old Anna ("pronounced Aaaanah") Percy has moved from posh Manhattan to the evcen more posh Beverly Hills, California, where she's living with her estranged dad for the rest of the school year while her mother travels to Europe with a friend.

The fast times of Beverly Hills most beautiful and glamorous people drive the page-turning action of this irresistible, stylishly written novel.

Absent - Book Review

What would happen if you were to die tragically, but could never cross over to the other side? Having to "live" - the term used loosely of course - the rest of your strange existence out in the high school where you lost your life sounds like a horror movie in and of itself. You have to watch everyone else go on about their lives, when you can't go on with yours.

Sucks, doesn't it?

By the time the story begins, our main girl Paige is already dead, wandering the halls of her high school listening to what people have to say about her death. It doesn’t help that she can only stay on the grounds of her school. Anytime she tries to go past the parking lot, she is whisked away to the spot on the roof where she died. Why does it happen like that? Nobody really knows. None of the rest of the ghosts there can understand why they are stuck there, or why they have to revisit the spot where they lost their lives when they try to leave the school. At first it just sucks, but then she starts to hear that there is a rumor going on about her death. Some people are saying that she did it on purpose, like she would end her life in front of her Physics class like that. She’s pissed, especially because it was just a freak accident. She didn’t want to die that day, and she certainly didn’t want to kill herself on that day. So why are people so quick to believe it?

It doesn’t help either, that she can’t clear her name, with her being dead and all. Or can she?

Paige isn’t entirely sure how she ended up discovering it, but once she did, she just couldn’t help herself. She found out that she could temporarily inhabit another person’s body. She could be alive again, all her thoughts and memories and actions her own, even if just for a moment. So, of course, once she heard that rumors were going around about the circumstances of her death, she got busy trying to get everyone to see the truth. It was a strange sensation to her though, because she could feel them fighting against her sometimes. It was like they knew that something was wrong and they didn’t want another spirit inhabiting their body. In all honesty, they reacting in a way that anyone else would normally react, but to Paige it felt like they were fighting what she needed to do. Sometimes she was stronger than them, other times they just gave in and let her do what she needed to.

I considered this book to be very moving to me. Paige had to learn how to accept what happened in her life, and somehow come to terms that people were going to believe what would seem to be completely preposterous to her because they didn’t know the entire story. The kids in that school had a rumor on how Brooke, one of the other ghosts that Paige is stuck with, died that Brooke never tried to fight. It was as if that was how these kids had to deal with two girls dying in their school mere months apart from one another. It was one tragedy after another and it rocked their world. It especially devastated Paige’s best friend, who for a while was actually angry at Paige for dying, like she did it on purpose. Maybe that was how the rumor started in Paige’s eyes, especially since it seemed like her best friend didn’t care at all about her anymore. But every single person who knew Paige had to come to terms with the fact that she was dead, that she wasn’t coming back, and learn how to live without her.

The ending of this book was really heartwarming, and made me believe that good things can actually come from dying. They never show what happened on the other side, when they felt the mural painted in the hallway and how warm and alive it felt to them. But maybe that’s a good thing, and maybe that’s just how the book should have ended. It ended with the hope of knowing that things were going to get better for Paige, better for Brooke, better for their friend Evan who has been there longer than anyone else in that school has. Even though they were dead and were stuck in that school, they had one another, and were finally able to move on to a whole new adventure.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Just Ella - Book Review

"I'd done something everybody had told me I couldn't. I'd changed my life all by myself. Having a fairy godmother would have ruined everything." - Ella Brown

Everyone knows the story about Cinderella. She was a beautiful orphan in the care of her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and her fairy godmother helped her get ready for the Prince's ball. There she winds up meeting the Prince, they fall in love after dancing the night away, only to have her run back home when the clock strikes midnight. He eventually finds her by having every single single girl in his kingdom try on the glass slipper his mystery girl lost the night of the ball, and then they live "happily ever after." That's the way the story ends, or so we thought.

Unfortunately for our main girl Ella, she did not live happily ever after at all, and her Prince Charming was anything but. The story takes place months before the wedding, and Ella is forced to learn how to become more of a lady. Of course it's going to be a challenge, especially growing up having to become a slave to her stepmother after her father died. In this world, there is war, refugees, and the only happily ever after is in the outlandish rumors going around the castle about Ella's background. No, she did not have a fairy godmother to help her get to the ball and woo the Prince, but the entire palace sure believes that story. She made her own dress, used her cleverness to obtain glass slippers, and got to the ball by walking part most of the way to the castle. She changed her own fate, and the fact that everyone didn't know the truth about what happened, and chose to believe a fairy tale rather than find out the reality of the situation stung even more.

Ella is a very strong feminist, and in this book it shows why that concept is important. We see Ella getting everything about being a princess wrong, and that's not because she isn't trying. It's really because, in this kingdom, being a princess involves not being able to have an original thought, or even know the truth about what's happening around the little bubble they forced her into. The Prince turns out to be extremely boring and one dimensional, unable to hold an actual conversation with Ella during their chaperoned meetings. She finds him dull, and realizes that she fell in love with the idea of him on the night of the ball, so long ago to her. She didn't fall in love with the prince himself, and she had to figure out a way to get out of such a loveless and destructive marriage.

In the end she figures out a way to escape, even though she was forced into the castle's dungeon for a period of time. Speaking out against the marriage, and showing that she was not the dainty little girl the palace wanted her to be was what got her into trouble, but that didn't stop her from removing herself from a dangerous situation, one that made her feel threatened and uncomfortable. She ran, all the way to the edge of the kingdom where the refugees of the war were staying, and she made herself into a woman of knowledge and skill. It was hard work, maybe even harder than what she had to go through growing up, but she loved it. She excelled at it, and it fulfilled her life in ways that she didn't even dream of. She made her own destiny into one that she could have never had if she went through with her marriage to the prince, and even though she could probably never go back to that part of the kingdom, she was better off for it.

I felt like this book was pretty interesting, even though it was short to me and ended somewhat abruptly. It really changes the preconception of the Cinderella story, the one that little girls are used to seeing from Disney. There is so much more to this book than what Disney showed us, and in its own little way, they flip the well known story on its head and change the way we see Cinderella. She changes from this girl who had a fairy godmother and talking mice helping her to become a princess to an assertive, no-nonsense teenager that would rather watch a jousting tournament than be inside stitching a new dress. This is a good introduction into the world of female protagonists who just don't like being told what to do, and I feel she has the potential to join the ranks of my favorites, like Rose Hathaway and Hermione Granger. Not bad company to keep.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

Tuesday Talks - Challenges

Hey everyone!

Here is another segment to Tuesday Talks. So far so good. I've been keeping up with the weekly discussions and having a lot of fun writing my thoughts about them. Please feel free to leave me any comments about the topic for this week, and also check out the Tuesday Talks group in GoodReads and possibly start your own Tuesday Talks journey! Trust me, it's really fun.

What challenges do you hope to participate in?

There are so many GoodReads groups with so many challenges in each one. Trust me when I say that it can get pretty overwhelming when they all happen at the same time. With a lot of the groups that GoodReads has, many of the challenges involve reading a certain amount of books in the required time limit. Sometimes it can be reading 10 books in one month, or 20 books in six months. Whatever the case may be, it can be extremely difficult to keep track of every single challenge you are in and how many books you have to read for each in order to consider the challenge conquered. Sometimes it's just not possible to complete every single challenge for each month, and that is totally okay. It's all a matter of pacing yourself, taking on challenges that you know you can handle without overwhelming yourself, and sticking to at least one at a time.

I haven't gone back to each of the groups I follow yet to see what kind of challenges they have this year but I do plan on checking them out. One of the groups that I really liked was called A Million More Pages. They always had a lot of challenges to participate in and they were extremely active the last time I was fully engaged in that group. I hope to go back in that group and see what small challenge I can participate in to get my reading juices flowing again. I would probably participate in a challenge that lasted for longer than a month so that I wouldn't feel pressured to finish more than one book in a single month, especially if it starts to get really busy for me at work or just because I don't find enough time to read as much as I need to for the challenge.

The main challenge that I will participate in every year that I am able to is, of course, the year reading challenge that is on GoodReads. Every year, you give yourself a goal of how many books you want to read by the end of the year, and you track your progress using GoodReads. As long as you put the date that you start and the date that you finish each book, all the ones that you finish in the allotted year (this year would be 2016 of course) will count towards your goal. That one is the easiest for me to do because I get to choose how many books I want to strive for, and I can push myself a little more each year. So far, I have read three books this year, and my official goal for GoodReads is 15. I will try to push myself to read 40 books in all, especially since last year I was so close at 39. Yes, I was one book short! So I am hoping to actually hit 40 books this year. Wish me luck.

That's all I have for you guys this week. I know that it wasn't as good as some of my other posts, but I still need to do more research on what kind of challenges I plan on participating in. Feel free to let me know of any challenges that you think are good ones to try out, and I will definitely check them out!

Absent - Katie Williams

When seventeen-year-old Paige dies in a freak fall from the roof during Physics class, her spirit is bound to the grounds of her high school. At least she has company: her fellow ghosts Evan and Brooke, who also died there. But when Paige hears the rumor that her death wasn't an accident--that she supposedly jumped on purpose--she can't bear it. Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get to the most popular girl in school and stop the rumors once and for all.

Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Cinderella legend gets a realistic twist in this enchantingly believable adventure from New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix that Booklist calls "provocative and entertaining."
Ella dreams of going to the royal ball and marrying Prince Charming, just like every commoner in the kingdom of Fridesia. But after she is chosen to marry the prince (no magic involved) life with the royal family is not the happily ever after that Ella imagined. Pitiless and cold, the royals try to mold her into their vision of a princess. Ella's life becomes a meaningless schedule of protocol, which she fears she will never grasp. And Prince Charming's beautiful face hides a vacant soul.
Even as her life turns to misery, stories persist that Ella's fairy godmother sent her to the ball: How else could the poor girl wear a beautiful gown, arrive in a coach, and dance in those glass slippers? But Ella got herself into the castle on her own--and that's the only way she's going to get out.

The Lake - Book Review

It's one thing to lose a loved one. It hurts, it's hard, and sometimes it comes so suddenly, it's hard to react to it. It's another thing entirely to lose everyone you've ever known, your entire family completely gone. Everyone who has ever loved you and taken care of you is dead. So what do you do? How do you start over? For our main protagonist, Layla Weston, her journey started the day of her Grandfather's funeral. After her parents died in a terrible accident, she was sent to live with her grandparents, although it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Her grandmother was ruthless, making her feel guilty for her parents' deaths, and making sure that Layla knew that her grandmother blamed her every single day for the death of her beloved son. It was enough to make Layla lose herself completely, giving up everything that identified her as an individual to take care of her new guardians. She stopped going out with friends, doing the things she loved, anything to make her happy didn't exist anymore. She was stripped of what made her Layla, and with the death of her grandfather, she had to figure out who she was.

The silver lining to her grandparents dying was that she was able to live with her aunt and uncle. Sure, she had never really spent time with them before this, and she did feel a little apprehensive about having to live with strangers, even if they are technically her relatives. But the longer she does live with them, the more she actually starts to feel happy again. They allow her to be a teenager again, they allow her to live her life without having to take care of anyone older than her. They even allowed her to do some of the things that used to be a part of her old life, like reading to her heart's content and getting to know her classmates. She has a new set of friends, and a potential boyfriend who seems to think the world of her and is not afraid to show it. From a life full of tragedy, it finally seems like Layla is back on track.

Of course, not everything is as good as it seems, and although Will seems like he's a modern day Prince Charming, there is a dark side to him that is very reminiscent of his power-hungry father. Layla may not see it right away, but it's there, and if she's not careful to tame that temper of his, things may happen that she can't protect herself from. As sure of herself as she becomes, even to the point of standing up to Will's father and declaring her love for his son, she needs to make sure that his father doesn't take drastic measures to remove Layla and her new family out of the picture for good. Will's father isn't a stranger to... persuasive negotiations, and he has no problem doing it again.

I thought this book was pretty interesting. It's different from losing your sister, like what happened in Love Letters to the Dead. Layla was left with nothing, and had to learn how to live with strangers that was never a part of her life before. She did well, though, and finally learned how to trust her Aunt and Uncle. I also feel like she did end up finding herself again. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself, whether it was to her boyfriend's father, or just in general to the rest of the students at her school. She was never really bullied at her new school, which was lucky on her end, but she also didn't allow anyone to make decisions for her. She just took her new life in stride, and became friends with a group of kids that really had her best interests at heart. The ending was surprising, but also makes me feel like Will's father had something to do with it, and of course it ends as a cliffhanger because there are two more books in this trilogy to read. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, hopefully this year.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

The 5th Wave - Book Review

"Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield." - Cassie Sullivan

Remember watching all of those movies about alien invasions, and somehow the humans find a way to pull together and kick their sorry asses back to where they came from? Yeah, that's a load of crap. If aliens really did come down to Earth and invade us, we would lose. Terribly. Most of us would die before the aliens finally won. And we would have no way to fight against them. The aliens would destroy us before we ever found a way to take back our planet, and by that time it would be too late.

The world would be theirs.

It started back in 1995, or even earlier. We don't know it for sure. All we know is that in 1995, the first phase of their invasion happened. It was "the intrusion", where they inserted themselves into the minds of fetuses, unbeknownst to the mother carrying them. This step, this one step that seemed so strange, so minuscule, only to be mentioned in the prologue and never again, was what turned the tide for the Others. This tiny step in their plan was what made them different all the other aliens we read about or watched about. The ones that inhabited our fantasies never thought to insert themselves into our world years earlier, to have sleepers in some very important positions in the government. They even had sleepers in normal people, those who would be least expected to turn on their families when the time came. Apparently, that's all it took to destroy humanity as we know it.

We are taken into a post-apocalyptic world where over 97% of the world's population has been killed. The alien invasion took place in "waves", as we are told from Cassie Sullivan. Each wave was deadlier than the last, and now what's left of humanity is waiting for the 5th wave to happen. They know this can't be it. They know that the Others aren't done with them yet. They just don't know what's coming. We follow the lives of Cassie Sullivan, Ben Parrish, and Evan Walker: three very different people all trying to survive in this world. They all have that one thing that was keeping them alive, and they have to hold on to it with all of their strength and will.

This book was breathtaking. I usually don't enjoy a book when the narrators switch back and forth, but this time I really appreciated it. It actually makes it better to understand, especially since our characters aren't omniscient. It feels like mostly everything gets explained in this book, although there are two more books before the story is completely over. I really rooted for Cassie to find her little brother, especially after finding out how they got separated in the first place. She mentioned how much this attack on the world made her lose her trust in everyone, feeling like the only way to survive is to be alone. It seemed to be working for her until she's almost killed by an Other, and then she had to learn how to trust the guy who saved her life.

I wrote about Cassie a lot because she is my favorite character. I feel like she has so much more to go through before she can really trust again, but she's getting there as much as she can. She finally found her brother, and although he has been through so much more heartbreak and struggle than any normal five year old should, he still looks up to his big sister the way he always will. This book is so much more than a girl trying to save her brother from the Others, and it's so much more than your typical alien invasion book. This is a story about family, survival, finding yourself, and maintaining your humanity no matter what.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

Tuesday Talks: Bookish Resolutions for 2016

Hey guys!

I'm here again with another Tuesday Talks, the second one of the year! Can you believe that it's already been two weeks into the New Year? So last year's plan of actually staying on top of this blog really went down the drain and that really sucked, but I'm going to try it again this year. New year, new chance to get things right for once. Good mantra right? Please feel free to leave me some comments so we can have an awesome discussion. You know how I love those, right?

What are your bookish resolutions for 2016?

My main bookish resolution for 2016 is to maintain this blog. Last year, as much as I really wanted to keep this up, real life got in the way and I resorted to keeping track of my reading journey on Instagram. It made it very easy to share my thoughts quickly, and easily. As I eventually bought more paper books and less Kindle books, it made experimenting with my pictures way more fun. Of course, I still need a better camera eventually, and better lighting never hurt anyone, but at least I was keeping track of what I was reading. The only downside with writing quick reviews on Instagram is that I have very limited space to write down my full thoughts. Conveying the message of what made each book so interesting to read or why I wish I stayed away from a certain book in three to five sentences can be challenging. At least it helps me be concise and to the point.

Another bookish resolution I do have for 2016 is to be more active on GoodReads and participate in more buddy reads or group reads. Sometimes it's difficult to stick to the reading schedule when you're trying to read so many books at once, so I think it would be best for me to do one at a time, wait until I finish reading one book with one group before jumping to another one. As much as I would love to spend all day and all night reading books and joining in multiple group discussions, my life is not perfect enough to fulfill this dream. Still, by at least getting more involved in a way where I have a lot more control over what I'm reading and my pace, then I think it can be a lot more enjoyable rather than a daunting task.

This may seem like a very small resolution, but it's a lot right now. It's always good to start small and build your way up along the way. If I can stick with these resolutions this year, then I can make a lot more progress than 2015. I would love to hear some of your bookish resolutions for this year!

The Lake - AnnaLisa Grant

At 17, Layla Weston is already starting over. Having lost both her parents and grandparents, and with nowhere else to go, Layla is moving from Florida to a small town in North Carolina to live with the only family she has left: her estranged uncle and aunt.
The last five years of Layla’s life were spent appeasing her lessthan-loving grandmother, followed by being her grandfather’s caretaker. Growing old before her time, Layla lost her identity. Now she must learn how to allow herself to be the one cared for and loved.
Life takes an unexpected turn when Layla meets Will Meyer. His breathtaking good looks are enough to catch her eye, but his sincerity and passion are everything she needs to find the strength and confidence she lost — and lead her into love.
When tragedy once again strikes Layla’s life, her hope is all but completely crushed. Through it all, Layla learns what it means to truly love and be loved.

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

The Demon King - Book Review

Magic is prevalent in this world, even if it's not highly liked. The world has changed a lot since the Demon King tried to destroy the world, almost succeeding in his quest. Because of the Demon King's actions, wizards and clans are in a precarious situation, so close to being at war with one another. In this land, we meet two very different people from two very different ends of the spectrum. Han Alister, a former head of one of the city's gangs, comes across a special amulet that has a dangerous history, and brings his world crashing down around him. The amulet he found is supposed to belong to the Demon King, the same one that almost caused the world to end.

Enter Raisa ana'Marianna, the Princess Heir of Fellsmarch, the future ruler of her country. Not only is she royalty through her mother's side (it is a Queendom, after all, and the monarchy is a matriarch), but also through her father's side. Her father is a very important figure in the clans, and she has to somehow combine both sides of her heritage into her life. When she feels like her mother is making her choose between her crown and her father's family, she has to decide where her loyalties lie, and why she even has to choose in the first place.

The queendom is on the brink of an all out war, and Raisa doesn't realize just how bad it really is. She ends up running away when a plot to change the rule of succession is hatched, which also involves her marrying the High Wizard's son without her approval. On her journey across the land, she meets Han, and they find out that their journey together is more intertwined than they initially thought.

This book was so amazing to me, and it is the first book of this four part series. Han never knew who his father was, and when he does end up finding out the truth of his ancestors, it goes to show just how powerful he really is, and the potential of gaining even more. Raisa also discovers just how much she needs to learn about being the next Queen, and how she needs to learn how to trust her own instincts. I especially loved the fact that this is a matriarchal society, something that I rarely see in the books I've read so far. I need more of those in my life for sure. Granted, the current Queen is not doing such a good job, but that doesn't mean that all of them were bad at their job. In fact, it was the first Queen that was able to prevent the Demon King from destroying the world in the first place, and that's saying something.

I know that this is only the first book, and I know that both Han and Raisa have a lot of growing up to do, but I can already tell that their journey is going to be a crazy one. It looks like there's another pair of teenagers that are bound to save the world, and I'm actually very okay with that. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, along with the companion series that takes place after the events of The Seven Realms series.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Book Review

The odds of the same pair of jeans fitting four different girls with four very different body types is pretty much impossible, right? Well, usually that would be correct, but in this case, not so much. Carmen Lowell, one of the main characters of this book, happens upon a pair of jeans at a second hand clothing store that she only buys because she didn't want to leave empty handed. But then she forgets all about them until the day before her and her three best friends separate for the first time in their lives. It's summertime, and all four girls will be off having their own adventures for once, without the support and companionship of one another. It's then, in Carmen's room, that the Pants resurface, where Lena gets the idea that all of them should try them on to see who should get them. This is where it all begins, where the Sisterhood begins.

This book follows the story of four different girls: Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget. Four very different personalities but all very close to one another. They became the best of friends in part to their mothers, dubbed The Septembers by their prenatal yoga instructor. The girls were inseparable, during the good and the bad times. Since this is the first time that the four of them won't be around one another, they are forced to deal with things on their own, with only the Pants to serve as their anchor when all hell is breaking loose.

This is a book that is very close to my heart, although it took me many years to finally get the nerve to finish reading it. I watched the movie when it came out, seeing all of my favorite characters come to life and finally getting to see how this novel ends. The character that I related to the most was Carmen, especially because she had to come to terms with the fact that she was angry with her father, and she needed to confront him with what was always bothering her: why he left her and her mom and what made his new family so much better than his old one. It hit me the most because this is how I feel personally, and I envy how brave Carmen was to finally tell her father how she really feels.

The Pants may not be something that's real to me, something that I can hold on to when I feel the need to empower myself, but maybe I don't need it. Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget may feel like they needed the Pants that summer, as a way to encourage them to get through this tough time, but in reality they just needed one another. More letters, more phone calls, more communication between the four of them so that they wouldn't feel like they were alone during the summer. Whatever happened to them, whatever they needed to get through in order to grow up, it made them stronger in themselves, and stronger in each other.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

The Demon King - Cinda Williams Chima

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for his family. The only thing of value he has is something he can't sell—the thick silver cuffs he's worn since birth. They're clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.
One day, Han and his clan friend, Dancer, confront three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to keep him from using it against them. Soon Han learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of freedom in the mountains—riding, hunting, and working the famous clan markets. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has other plans for her...
The Seven Realms tremble when the lives of Hans and Raisa collide, fanning the flames of the smoldering war between clans and wizards.

Synopsis provided by GoodReads. 

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they’re great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And then the journey of the pants — and the most memorable summer of their lives — begins.

Synopsis provided by GoodReads.