Title: Crescendo Author: Becca Fitzpatrick # of Pages: 427 (hardback) Genre: YA, Angels, Fantasy Rating: ★★★☆☆ Synopsis: Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it. A mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever (if that's possible) and what's worse, he seems to be spending time with Nora's archenemy, Marcie Millar.
Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadn't been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude, Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feelings that he is hiding something.
If that weren't enough, Nora is haunted by images of her murdered father, and comes to question whether her Nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death. Desperate to figure out what happened, she puts herself in increasingly dangerous situations to get the answer. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.(less) Review: I found this book to be very confusing. I'm not sure if its because it took me longer than usual to read it (I was watching anime and reading manga 24/7 busy!), but I don't think that I was the definition of five star quality, let alone four stars. The story was all of the place. Throughout the story, I was puzzling over what it was actually about.
Now, I'm not sure why, but I just can't shake the feeling that it's similar to the Twilight Saga. Because its not. Not really. I kept trying and trying to pull out bits of the story line and proclaiming it a replica of the hot vampire romance novel. But then something later on in the story would counteract it. It was a very frustrating process. If you've read m review of the first book, then you know that I tried (and failed) to conducted this comparison. But I'm going to try again anyway.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) Scott is introduced into the story. He doesn't get along with Patch's kind, just like Meyer's werewolves and vampires don't get along. Scott's part of this group, like Jacob is part of a pack. In the beginning of the story, Bella Nora sees Jacob Scott as a potential boyfriend.
2) Nora's weak. She's your average girl, just let Bella if you ignore Nora's bloodline and Bella's mind-power-thingy. And this point is actually one factor that dragged down the star rating. I realized that she's not a kick-butt protagonists I like to read about. She's just a girl who the guys want. Like Bella.
I stil think that the two points of made a weak (I can counter them myself, but I won't. It would make me look bad in my own review), but it's the best I've got for now. I hope at least my points are valid; it's been a while since I have set eyes on anything Twilight.
SPOILERS END!
I do think that this book deserves a reread, not because it's good, but because I think I've forgotten part of the beginning of the book since it took me practically a week to read and because I was busy fan girling over Nastu, Naruto, and Kyo. But based on this first reading, I'd advise you to read the first one and stop. It's a bit of a let down, this one it.
So I just posted a very short review on John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. I can't believe how long it took me to finish it! Um, so check out the review.
Anyway, happy Friday! I've decided that I'm going to lay off the books for a while and just read some manga instead. I'll be changing the Currently Reading section (see the right sidebar) to the manga I'm currently reading, but you might not see a review for it. I haven't decided whether or not I want to write book blogs on manga since they're so short and all. And there are so many volumes...
You know, I have written one book/manga blog before on i am here! But the only reason why I wrote it is because I had so much to say about it. A lot of times, with other manga, I just start fangirling and spouting nonsense (I think I'm being a little redundant there). So I'm not sure. You'll just have to wait and see.
Look out for a new poll in about a week! It'll probably be about manga/book blogs/manga blogs (?). Please, please, please vote!
Title: Cannery Row Author: John Steinbeck # of Pages: 196 (paperback) Genre: Classics, Historical Fiction Rating: ★★★★☆ Synopsis: Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love.
Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.
Review: I had liked Of Mice and Men well enough, so I was pretty sure that I'd like this book too. But this book was a lot different. It seemed to be not as much plot and more of a peek in life in Cannery Row.
I know that this book is deep, but I read it at a surface level. I found some of the pictures that Steinbeck created disturbing, especially at night. I also found this book harder to read. Despite the small amount of pages, it took me almost a week to finish it. This is because the reader has to read it very carefully and absorb ALL of the details. It makes you think.
If you don't like thinking and want a happy read, don't read this book. Yet. But everyone should read this book at least once.
Title: Fearless Author: Francine Pascal # of Pages: 585 (paperback) Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Romance Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Synopsis: Fearless introduces us to Gaia Moore, a girl born without the gene for fear. Gaia's mother was murdered, and her father, Tom Moore, a famous covert antiterrorist mastermind, is in hiding. Now 17 years old, Gaia is living in New York City with Tom's CIA friend, George, and his wife, Ella. Gaia is a prime target for terrorists and is in constant danger, but she is trained in all forms of combat so she can defend herself. Like Buffy and Xena, Gaia Moore is a force.
But she is also a high school student, trying to be like everyone else. As her friendships develop, we see that Gaia is in many ways a typical teen -- when she's not busy getting herself into and out of dangerous situations, righting wrongs, avenging hurts, and solving mysteries.
Review: SPOILERS AHEAD
Once upon a time, there was a girl who was fearless. She walks around beating people up for "the greater good" and dreams of being a waitress. But she. She realizes that she MIGHT just die soon, so she decides that she HAS TO sleep with a guy. The guy she chooses happens to be good looking AND the boyfriend of her enemy. This guy gets kidnapped, the kidnapper makes the girl go through a whole bunch of tests, the guy is saved. End of story.
If you haven't read the book yet, I'm sorry. I just told you the whole story
The author has absolutely no idea what she's doing
When someone tells a story, the best way to do it is by sticking to either first, second, or third person. But in this book, Pascal constantly switches between first and third. One moment, we're following the characters around (third person), and the next the characters are talking TO THE READER!!! And then Pascal has to make sure the reader knows every single detail about what the characters are thinking/plotting/etc, leaving little to no room for surprises. What a downer.
Now lets talk about Gaia. This is how she introduces herself:
"I am seventeen. The good thing about seventeen is that your not sixteen. Sixteen goes with the word sweet, and I am so far from sweet. I've got a black belt-in kung fu and I've trained in karate, judo, jujitsu, and Muay Thai...I'm not bragging..." -7
It's really obvious that Pascal is trying to make Gaia sound tough while also (failing) to trick the reader into thinking that its not bragging. I don't care what anyone says; it's bragging. And being sweet and being able to kick butt are not mutually exclusive.
Gaia also claims that she wants to be able to experience love before she dies. But 1) she might not die in the first place! She could probably survive for quite a while and 2) Doing it doesn't mean that your in love.
Ed and Sam sometimes don't seem quite like guys. Most of times, they pass, but every now and then they will think/say/act unrealistically. And what's up with Ed? It seems to me that he completely changed the way he acts and dresses after he got in his accident. Doesn't seem quite right to me.
Title: Gilt Author: Katherine Longshore # of Pages: 432 (paperback) Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Romance Rating:★★★☆☆ Synopsis: When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head. Review: I am not a historian. I know close to nothing of King Henry the Eighth other than he had a lot a wives, many who ended up dead.
I also knew that Catherine Howard had affairs.
This book, although Kitty is the protagonist, completely revolves around Catherine Howard. It's a very watered-down version of her life and of what happens to her and those around her. Because it is told from Kitty's POV, you don't get all the details. So don't expect them.
I don't know, I think I should have done more research on the topic before I read the book. I feel like I would have enjoyed the story a lot more. However, Longshore also takes plenty of liberties, so doing more research might have made me annoyed with the story. I don't know. But I think it deserves a reread.
Maybe I'm just not that obsessed with the time period. But it just wasn't that exciting too me. Maybe I actually wanted more detail. Or maybe I was affected by the people who were judging me when they realized what the book was about. But it's not a bad book. The cover looks good, the story was pretty much written in the 1500s. Go ahead and read it.
Title: Hush, Hush Author: Becca Fitzpatrick # of Pages: 391 (hardback) Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal Rating: ★★★★☆ Synopsis: A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE
Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.
But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.
Review: Some points I would like to cover:
How I feel about the cover/first impressions
My feelings of Nora, Patch, and Elliot (will contain SPOILERS)
It's likeness to Twilight (will contain SPOILERS)
Overall feelings
What I'm going to do for this review is go point by point and elaborate on them. Points two and three WILL contain spoilers.
1) If I hadn't heard of this book before, I would never have read it in the first place. The cover just didn't appeal to me. It's dark, and there's a dude looking like he's in pain (For some reason I decided to ignore the fact that he had wings. But I was pleasantly surprised when I read the prologue. It had a mysterious tone that I just LOVED!!! Honestly, I thought that this book was going to be like A House of Night series, not good. But I was dead wrong.
2) SPOILERS!!! I'm so glad that Nora didn't suck as a protagonist. She was awesome enough to meet my approval. And Patch, despite his slight cliché appearance, was hilarious What I really loved was the relationship between Nora and Patch. What I think sets their relationship apart from other relationships in other books is that Nora had this resistance from Patch. She wasn't going to give into him easily like so many other characters in different books. Patch was the flirt, of course. He was kind of a mystery throughout the whole book (not so much the fact that he was a fallen angel, I guess that. But more the fact that he actually wanted to kill her was a shock), which made him even MORE attractive.
Now, Elliot, on the other hand, was no good at all. I hated him the moment he was introduced into the book. What really tipped me off was when he helped Nora bat. Gross. I thought he was kind of a creep. I'm not exactly sure what was going through my mind, but I totally suspected that Elliot was a killer. His friend (I forgot his name...) didn't even cross my mind; he was such a minor character. So that was a surprise. But I still don't like Elliot; after all, he was still involved in the badness...
3) Still spoilers. I didn't realize this until near the ending of the book, but there seems to be a likeness to Twilight. And, I know what you're thinking. Nothing seems to be original anymore. But I thought that I would bring it up anyway. So Patch would kind of be like Edward, the hot, supernatural dude. And Nora would be the (much improved version) of Bella. Nora/Bella tried to figure out who Patch/Edward really is, and end up finding useful information on the Internet (such as how dangerous vampires/fallen angels are). At the end part, there's that big fight where Nora jumps off the rafters. She brushes with death, but ends up okay, kind of like Bella (not the rafter part, the brush with death part). And, um, I had thought up some other similes, but I kinda forget them. So it's KIND OF like Twilight, but maybe I'm just looking too deep into it.
4) No spoilers. So, yes, overall I loved it. It did really surprise me too, on just how well it was written. Of course, it helped that I read a particularly bad book before, but I give most of the credit to the author. I like how it's not just romance, but also a bit of mystery. Recommended!
Title: Marked Authors: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast # of Pages: 306 (paperback) Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance Rating:★☆☆☆☆ Synopsis: The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed. In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire -- that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who are chosen do. It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends. Review: I have no comment on the cover.
Let's start with Zoey, our five year old sixteen year old protagonist.
"'...It's been like a million years since Broken Arrow beat Union." 'Sixteen.' I'm crappy at math, but K's math impairment makes me look like a genius."
Based on the quote above (which is found on page two), it's obvious to the reader that Zoey doesn't know what a hyperbole is is SO much smarter than her friends. And Zoey's character is created so that she seems like a little, whinny baby who thinks it's her job to save vampires and humans a relatable outcast who's destined to be great.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Okay, enough with the sarcasm. I obviously don't like her. I find her really immature (which is why it really confused me when the Goddess of vampires or whatever told her that she was wise beyond her years). For example:
"'Huh?' I said. Speaking of boobs - I was totally sounding like one. (Boob...hee hee)."
I just don't get how that has anything to do with the story. At all. The author's concentrate on way too many insignificant details and made the plot really, really boring. I get that they were trying to make it funny (right?), but did you see me crack a smile? No.
Going back to the characters, the whole Erik and Zoey thing was really unbelievable. I don't feel the chemistry between them probably because THERE IS NONE!!! They just met each other for heaven's sake! There is no way that Erik could fall for her in that short amount of time yet he's already sharing spit!
I don't get the point of the book either. Like, Zoey becomes the leader of the Dark Daughters. Big whoop. And it's not like she had to try very hard to get the position.
What I really would have liked would be if the authors didn't make Aphrodite so...weak, I guess. She seems more like the person who would have better comebacks and more of a competitive side to her. I can't understand why she just doesn't, like, make Zoey have a little "accident". She'd be doing us all a favor if she killed Zoey.
Alright, maybe that would be taking that too far. Just because I hate Zoey to the point where I wish her dead doesn't mean that Aphrodite has to kill her. She can just ruin Zoey's life instead.
I think I'm getting a little off track, so I'll conclude this review for now. It's an awful book.
Like I promised in my first OTS, I am going to most of my footnotes from my old blog here. There will be a few that I will not be reposting, such as the ones about the progress of this blog.
A Little Crazy?
I just saw this and thought I'd share. I was looking at my Overview section on blogger for Information Forest and I realized that I had more site views on that blog than this one! I mean, seriously; is this blog that lame? Or is my other blog that helpful? I like to think of it as the latter.
Yeah. That's pretty much I have to say. I'm reading Darth Plagueis at the moment (yes, it IS a Star Wars book!), but I don't know how long it will take me to read it. Not long hopefully.
So, sorry for the very, very, VERY short blog post. Yeah. So. Bye.
Why People Hate Spring Yeah, I know. I've posted three times today!
I was sitting around, doing whatever I felt like doing (which happened to be breathing, sitting, and staring at static on the TV) when I suddenly realized why people don't like spring!
And to think, in that other post about spring, I couldn't figure out why people didn't like it!!! Don't worry people-who-are-allergic-to-spring! I understand all of your problems now.
...but spring is still my favorite season.
OMG IT'S A HARRY POTTER OWL!!! The Musical Saw Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting anything I've been really busy. I should be able to post a book blog some time this week.
Since it's the weekend, I've had a bit of free time on my hands, so I was surfing the internet (and reading my book like a madwoman at the same time) and saw this really funny picture.
Isn't that just weird? I thought it was fake, like a lot of amazing/cool/funny pictures on the internet. But just to make sure, I did a little search on the internet and clicked on the very first link I saw (ha ha, saw! Get it? ...yeah, me neither.)
So, apparently, you can actually play a saw. I mean, if wikiHow can tell you how to do it, it must be possible, right? Well, no. I STILL couldn't believe that a tool used to split things in half could make music other than an inconsistent warbling sound it makes when you wiggle it by the handle. But I scrolled down a little bit and found a video of someone actually PLAYING one with a bow.
NOW I believe that you can play a saw! I thought that was pretty amazing. i guess that goes to show that music can be made with anything, huh? Did anyone else know about this? I tend to live under a rock so it wouldn't surprise me if I was the last one to know.
Blogs and Stuff I'm sick of reading for the week.
Don't look at me like that! I've finished four books this week, three of them in a row. And that's NOT including the manga. So it's a lot for me.
See? Look what you've done; you made me get off topic. See, since I'm taking an hour break from reading (I can't resist the urge!) I decided to use my precious spare time to do something worth while. Something that will help other people and make an impact on the world.
I surfed the 'net.
Don't worry; I didn't lie! I'm helping people by making observations of stuff I looked up and then spreading the word (like right now) of what I saw. That way, you don't have to search for it yourself (unless you don't trust me D: ). And I'm impact the world by...using valuable resources that could be used for more important things but instead was used for my brainless searches (I was too lazy to find a source or quote about how the Internet impacts the Earth)!
Speaking of the Earth, I had been searching the Internet about, well, the Internet, and I found this:
It's a picture of the Internet! I thought it looked like Spin Art (you know, where you have a spinning platform and you squirt paint on it like a mad man. Oh, and don't forget to put paper or something on the platform before you start), so I thought you guys would want to see it too. Isn't it pretty?
I completely lost my train of thought. I was going to talk about blogs. Do you see that little bar on the top of my blog? It has a search bar and some buttons for stuff. Well, I was clicking the next blog button and noticed a repeating pattern. They were all about babies.
What's with all these people blogging about their children? Sure, one or two is acceptable, but ten in a row? That just not acceptable. Where are all the book bloggers? Video game bloggers? KITTEN BLOGGERS?! Don't get me wrong; babies are cute and all. But I like looking at kittens better. The only blog that piqued my interest was one that mentioned Goodreads. Obviously, she wasn't a book blogger, but at the end of the post, she mentioned that she was on Goodreads and that we should all check her out. I was going to, but I accidentally (O.o) closed the tab. Oh well.
I guess the moral of this story is, "Create a blog and send it to me so I don't have to look at babies all the time." Please and thank you. :)
Um, I don't usually do this, but I have the urge to sign my name at the bottom of this post. So:
Emma Reader
P.S. Ryan Higa hasn't come out with a new YouTube video yet :(
Manga, Graphic Novels, and Other Picture Books
I've become an otaku recently, within in last half a year. It started with an anime...
I mean, what's not to love of Kaichou wa Maid-sama!? For those of you who don't know, the picture is of Misaki and Takumi (they're in love!!! Not that you can tell by that picture or anything. And sorry if I just spoiled the story for any of you). After that, I found the manga (online, I could figure out where I could buy a copy in English). And then I branched off to other mangas. I read Soul Eater, Fairy Tail (one of my favorites!), Pandora Hearts (another fav), Black Butler, Special A...I won't list all of them. There should be a widget on the side >.> with a bung of the manga that I like list on it. It's not a complete list; I don't think I included some of the manga I read online for free, but you'll get to see some of the stuff I've read.
I'm trying to branch out even more; so far, most of the manga I've read have English names (beside Kaichou wa). But I'm afraid to read it when I don't even know what the title means! I guess I'll have to conquer that fear sometime O.o Have you guys ever noticed that I haven't been doing book blogs on any of the manga I've read? There's reasoning behind that, y'know. Manga books are way too short and it's hard for me to pick out stuff that I DON'T like about it. Plus I'm not a good critic for pictures, which is why I tend to stay away from regular, non-manga books. That and the fact that they're meant for kindergarteners.
What really bugs me are graphic novels that are written/drawn originally in an English-speaking country. Like, I haven't seen too many of those, but I know there's a graphic novel for Maximum Ride and Beautiful Creatures. But then they're listed as a manga (or at least in my local book store)which really, REALLY bugs me. You're suppose to call them graphic novels!!! A manga reads right to left, not this left to right nonsense. I guess some people who don't know the true art of manga would be drawn to it, though. Almost all my friends (or are they O.o)think it's WEIRD to read a book BACKWARDS. C'mon, people! It's completely normal to read boos backwards. Right?... Alright, maybe not normal there life. But it's normal in Japan, so deal with it people-who-think-manga-is-weird.
Well, I'm tired of mini ranting about how manga is t appreciated. I'm done. Bye, and don't hate manga!!! Spring, Life, And Sleep
Hey everyone! I'd thought that I'd do another one of these footnote thing-ys since I haven't written one in a while. I just haven't had a lot of thoughts lately. Even right now, right at this moment, I really don't know what exactly I'm going to talk about. But whatever. I'll type up whatever comes to mind.
Spring is pretty awesome and is probably my favorite season of all time. It's warm, but cooler than the summer (unless you go up to the mountains or something. Then it's really, really cold and I hate it). And it's a lot prettier than the fall! Fall is kinda like the opposing season to spring. Instead of getting hotter, it gets colder. Instead of flowers blooming and trees become un-naked, the fall makes everything die and all the leaves clog up the sewers. Then you have to pull out your jackets and end up having to do more laundry and use more money to buy soap and things. But spring, on the other hand, is much better. Compared to the cold winter, the weather is considerably hotter (unless its raining or snowing, which is kind of a bummer. Why couldn't the sky finishing raining and snowing in the winter?) which means that you get to wear less clothes (a LOT less, for some people) and save a lot more money!!! But I guess that if you going spring shopping or whatever normal people do, you would actually be doing the exact opposite...but those people don't count. Summers alright except for the heat and the crazy little children that start running around without any clothes on. And in winter everyone smells like a wet dog. Yuck.
Life is alright. I had a friend hang around my house for a while and she kept waking me up WAY too early. But I ended up going to sleep earlier like a normal person (whaaaaaaaa?!) and I feel a lot better about myself now. I'm not as tired, I'm more relaxed. Truthfully, I feel great. Sure, I might not get three hours of work done now, but people can deal with themselves. Sleeping's a lot more fun.
Um, yeah. That's kind of all that I have to say right now. There wasn't anything else that's really on my mind other than sleeping and how hot it was today! That's one downer of spring; it can be really, really cold, wet, and windy one day, but cook-bacon-on-my-head hot the next day. Stupid weather.
Alright. Bye now. I've got twelve hours of work to catch up on.
Wattpad, Anyone?
I'm just wondering if any of you readers (which is probably none at the moment) have a Wattpad account. I have one, in case you don't know that already. I love reading. That's the simple truth and the reason why I joined Wattpad in the first place. I've also recently joined a site called Goodreads and have been absolutely obsessed with it.
For those of you who don't know what those two websites are, let me explain. Wattpad is a large community for readers and writers (or both, if you like to write and read) to come together. Writers can publish their books on the web and readers can read these books for free. Wattpad is a good site for writers who are looking for some direct feedback on their story. I enjoy the site, though it might not be for everyone. Users are suppose to be thirteen to join and for good reasons. Ninety percent of the books posted are romance and when there's romance...well, I think we all know what'll be inside. There are quiet a few people that try to use it as a social outlet. Sure, I'll go into the forums and talk to people, but I mainly use it for reading. Hopefully, I'll be able to publish a book on Wattpad to see if I'll have a chance at being a writer.
And then there's Goodreads. I knew of Goodreads way before I joined it. In fact, I still would not have been a member if a friend had not invited me to join. So now I am! I feel that Goodreads has a better connection to the real world. In Wattpad, teens (and adults, of course) can publish their books and become "popular". But these popular authors might be writing off of false feedback. Although there are some good critiques on the site, there are some that give out compliments without thinking about helping improve the author's book. And the truth is, they really aren't that popular, just in that one website.
Of course there are a few exceptions. But Goodreads deals with real, published, best-seller books. It helps you keep track of what books your reading and when you finished them. You can rate books, join book clubs, participate in different challenges, take quizzes, etc. It keeps me reading. I'm not saying that Wattpad isn't as good as Goodreads. They both serve different purposes (although Goodreads also let's you publish your own book on the site. However, this...attraction, for a lack of better words, isn't a popular as it is on Wattpad). But they do have something in common. They attract book lovers. And that's exactly what I need.
I don't understand how people can not like reading. Wait, no. I take that back. I actually do understand, or at least I did. There are so many other ways to spend the day; surfing the 'net, playing sports or video games. I used to spend the whole day watching TV. But then I found books. At first, I thought they were boring and pointless, but I later came to realize that it was like another form of TV. It's telling a story except through words. And, before I knew it, I almost constantly had my nose in a book, hardly even sparing a glance at the television. One thing I noticed is that people seem to be more impressed with you. They look in your direction and make a comment to their spouse about how it's good to still see younger people reading. Of course, that was a while ago and it only happened once. And they were my grandparents.
...
Anyway. Back to what I originally wanted to talk about.
I had been on Wattpad recently and, as I do on occasion, I looked at my reading list. As of the present, I have five reading lists; Reading, Finished, Read Later, Roleplays and Watching. They're pretty self-explanatory, but I think I'll be removing my Roleplay Reading List. I, sadly, don't have a lot of time to role play, so I have abandoned the role plays that I had joined. Sad, right?
So, I'm not sure when, but I had been viewing my Reading Reading List (haha, it looks like a typo!) a while ago. And then I saw that one of the books I had been reading had been deleted. Now, when this fact finally sunk in, I was shocked. And mad. You have to understand that this book was a really popular book. It had over a million reads which, in Wattpad, means that the writer is practically equal to J.K. Rowling. Maybe a bit less. Or a lot less. But that's beside the point. What's important is that you know that the book's popular.
But the sad thing about writers that are popular is that, despite their enormous amount of fans that support them, they tend to become really lazy. At first, they might promise to update at least once a day. The promise might hold for a while until their reads start racking up. Then it becomes two weeks. And then a month. Now, I know that these writers are busy, like the rest of us. But their "busyness" tends to get out of hand. It had been almost half a year since one of the so-called famous writers updated their book.
You might think I'm crazy right now. That I'm just a selfish, whiney little reader. But my whole point is that writers shouldn't make promises that they won't be able to keep. And if they're going to delete their book for whatever reason, they could at least offer an explanation. As a reader, I'd appreciate it, even if it's hard to believe.
This author (who's name I won't mention) deleted her book without reason. And it made me really mad. Anyone else get really mad when author's do unjustified stuff? Or do you completely disagree with me? Let me know by leaving me a comment!
Hey, everyone! Welcome to my grand opening of my new blog, The Giant Pencil!
For those of you who a here from my old blog, Emma Reader's Blog, things are pretty similar here. For those of you who are new, hi! I'm Emma! I blog about books mostly, but I'll post a completely random post from time to time.
I'm totally bombing this introduction.
Anyway, here are a few things you should know.
I have transferred all of my book blogs from my old blog to here. As far as my other posts, I will be taking them and combining them into one, big post.
I used to call my random, non-book blogs Footnotes. Now I call them Off The Shelf (OTS), as in, topics not on the bookshelf.
I got rid of the Booked Dates, another feature from my other blog. I felt that I didn't need to have a whole category designated only for blog posts on the holidays, so now they will be the same thing as OTSs.
I added a new feature! My newest book blogs will be featured on the top part of my blog, right underneath the tabs (Home, About, etc). If you're interested in viewing my review for a book, you can click on the corresponding cover!
A lot of the most necessary information can be found on the sidebars on either side. I hate adding pages, so you'll find that I put most of the important stuff on the left and the fun stuff on the right.
I'm still working on improving my blog, so you might see some changes!
Title: Trickster's Choice Author: Tamora Pierce # of Pages: 403 (hardcover) Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure Rating: ★★★☆☆ Synopsis: Alianne is the teenage daughter of the famed Alanna, the Lioness of Tortall. Aly is bold and brave like her mother, but she has no wish to become a knight. Instead she longs to follow in her father's footsteps as a spy, an ambition her parents vehemently oppose.
After a furious argument Aly runs away, with disastrous consequences. Captured and sold as a slave in the Copper Isles, she discovers that this whole nightmare has not come about by chance - the Trickster God, Kyprioth, has plans for her...
Review: I was really excited to read another series by Tamora Pierce! The Alanna series had been decent, and her Beka Cooper trilogy much more enjoyable, so I was curious of how this one would turn out.
The cover is kind of weird. The covers for the Alanna series weren't the greatest, and there is minimal improvement for this one. It's dark and dreary, and the title isn't big enough. And I don't like how she seems to be watching my every move. Freaky.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Now, let me be frank; the story bored me. It lacked he drama and suspense that I love to read. I think the best part had to be the ending after the duke died, but that wasn't even the big finale I was expecting.
Pierce's writing style in the book has definitely improved since Alanna: The First Adventure. It still takes place in the Tortall world, but with Aly as the main character. My favorite character has to be Nawat. I mean, how can you not like a crow-human?
SPOILERS END!!!
So it was decent. Not something I'd read again, but not something I'd burn at the stake.
