New Year's Resolutions

HAPPY NEW YEARS! 2010 has been a fabulous year and I'm expecting 2011 to be even better.

Around this time of year, people constantly do New Year's resolutions. I've never seriously made one, but I shall this year. To keep it simple, I've narrowed down my resolution possibilities to three.

1. Keep up my blog. I made this on Christmas day spontaneously and since then I've had fun visiting other people's blogs and writing reviews. My blog is for me- it's my thoughts and opinions. It helps me focus on books, and it's fun and creative.

2. Don't get overwhelmed by school. School can be either the best part of my life or the worst. It requires lots of time and work, and I often get stressed by it since I'm aiming for the 89+ I can and will be able to manage everything. Keep up a positive attitude and minimize my procrastination.

3. Keep reading. Reading is something I always do whenever I have free time. But sometimes I don't read books carefully. Reading books is something I do for fun. I should savor each  book i read. If i find myself skipping paragraphs because I don't enjoy the story, i should just stop reading it. If I really want to read it, I will- carefully. Word for word.

I think my resolutions are manageable and I will follow them. What are your resolutions?

Waiting on Wedneday: Original Sin

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that spotlights up coming releases. It's hosted at Breaking the Spine.

I can't wait for...

Author: Lisa Desrochers
Release date: July 5 2011
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
When secrets and old histories come to light, Frannie realizes that nobody is who she thought they were. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Some are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell's grasp.

And not everyone will get out of it alive.

First of all, I'm loving this cover. It's gorgeous and hot. I'm so excited for this book since I loved Personal Demons so much. Frannie is such a strong heroine, and both Luc and Gabe are so hot. Plus I laughed a lot when reading Personal Demons and I'm sure to do the same with Original Sin. I have high expectations of this book, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

What are you waiting for?

Review: Dead is Not an Option

Author: Marlene Perez
Pages: 252
Source: ARC from Netgalley
Release Date: April 29 2011
Synopsis:
It’s springtime of senior year, and psychic sleuth Daisy Giordano is preparing to say goodbye to Nightshade High. But no college acceptance letters have arrived yet, and she’s beginning to worry about where she’ll end up come fall—and if it will be anywhere near her boyfriend, Ryan. But that’s not the only uncertainty Daisy’s dealing with. There’s a vamps versus shifters war going on in Nightshade, and things are so tense that there is talk of canceling the prom. The conflict is carrying over to the Giordano home, since Rose and Daisy are both dating werewolves and Poppy’s new boyfriend is a vampire. 
      
Daisy’s investigations involve mysterious new folks in town—and some old familiar faces, like her nemesis, celebrity chef/sorceress Circe Silvertongue. Can Daisy convince Circe to free the spirit she trapped in a jukebox long ago, and to change her pet pig, Balthazar, back into the man he once was? Can the paranormal community in Nightshade finally find peace? And will Daisy and her friends survive graduation? All of these questions and more are answered in the explosive final installment in the Dead Is series.

I've been reading this series since I saw it on my library's "If you like Twilight shelf" over a year ago and I've always enjoyed reading the books. Daisy is a strong heroine who's remarkably real. After reading all the books, I feel like I know her pretty well.
Dead is Not an Option started off where Dead is Just a Rumour left off; college applications. Daisy is worried and upset that she hasn't gotten any replies from colleges while it seems everyone else has. But she's mature enough to realize that there's no sense moping about it and in typical Daisy style, she focuses on freeing Lily and Bam. Except that's not all the trouble that's happened. There are a series of crimes hurting vampires and werewolves which leads to both species angry and on the verge of a fight. This of course troubles the Giordano household since Daisy and Rose are dating weres but Poppy is dating a vampire... Add a new, dangerous plot by the Scourge, terrible murders, betrayals and more. There's really never a dull moment in Nightshade.

One of my favorite things about Marlene Perez's writing is that it's light and easy to read. Like others in the series, this was a fun and cute read. The relationships in the story are all realistic and strong. Ryan and Daisy are adorable. They both support each other, and are open with each other which I find is a nice change from the romantic trauma usually happening everywhere else. Daisy and Sam are lots of fun to read about too, as are Daisy and her sisters.

While there were many twists and turns in the plot, by the end I guessed what had happened so I wasn't very surprised. While Daisy's story is fun to read, it wasn't a story that I was overly in to. I liked it, but didn't love it. Though fans of this series will probably enjoy the last book since it has a satisfactory, if not a bit too Disney-fairy-tale ending.

All in all, I would give this book a 3.5 since I liked it more than the usual book but not really got too hooked. The whole series is 4 stars because it was a series I enjoyed reading— a feel-good series.

Teaser Tuesday: Z by Michael Thomas Ford

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Teaser:

p. 130

Stash struggled, but he couldn't scream because he was being choked. Instead he writhed like a bug stuck on the end of a pin.

Post your own Teasers!

Review: Reaper

Author: Rachel Vincent
Pages: *approximately 71*
Synopsis:
Tod Hudson was a typical teenager. He liked girls, sports, food and tolerated his younger brother, Nash. In fact, he had his whole life in front of him--and due to his bean sidhe heritage, it was going to be a very long life indeed. And then the car accident occurred.

Suddenly Tod's future wasn't so sure, and he had to make a choice. Life... Death... or something Between....

Reaper is a Soul Screamer series prequel novella. It's the story of how Tod died and became a reaper. I personally love the Soul Screamers story. It has drama, action, awesome characters and is addicting. One of my favorite characters is Tod. In every book, we've seen more of Tod and his personality so I was eager to learn more about him.

Reaper made me change the way I think about a few characters. I loved Tod even more, but I started to feel weird about other characters. Tod is a big brother, and I found that I could relate so well to the story. I'm not overly emotional, but it was around midnight when I was reading it and I started to cry because I understood how he must have felt. He is so strong as a character.

Reaper should definitely be read by everyone who loves Rachel Vincent's amazing series. Or by anyone looking for a quick, good read.

Read Reaper off of Rachel Vincent's website or download it for free off Amazon (limited time offer).

I think this may be my favorite in the series, so

Darkest Mercy ARC Giveaway from the Vampire Book Club!

Wicked Lovely is one of my all tome favorite series out there. The last book, Darkest Mercy is coming out in February 2011, but some wonderful people at the Vampire Book Club are having a giveaway! Sign up and get more information here:
Click here for more info and to sign up!

Review: My Worst Best Friend

Author: Dyan Sheldon
Pages: 298
Synopsis:
Gracie and Savannah are best friends —and utterly unalike. Savannah is beautiful, outrageous, and irresistible to the opposite sex. Gracie is shy, smart, and would rather be studying lizards than meeting boys. Still, they’ve made a surprisingly great team, and (until now) it seemed as if nothing could come between them. But lately, Savannah’s talent for lying and manipulating is becoming harder to ignore. She’s fallen head over heels for an elusive college boy, and Gracie can’t help wondering: is her friend as confident as she seems? When Savannah gets between Gracie and her crush, the line separating best friend from worst friend is crossed.

This book originally attracted me because of its title and cover (I'm guilty of this frequently) and was different than I thought it originally would be. First, Gracie was a normal, smart girl that was a bit relatable except for her relationship with Savanna. Savanna was terrible to Gracie, and somehow Gracie was loyal to her for such a long time. That doesn't make sense to me. Gracie seems like the type of girl who would know better so it bothered me when she always fell for Savanna's stories.

Savanna herself annoyed me. I hated that girl. The author did a good job because I really didn't like Savanna and could see how she was using Gracie, but after a while it was too much. Gracie doesn't seem as strong of a character after Savanna walks all over her like that... But I may just feel that way since I would have acted differently. Cooper was an interesting part to the story. Really sweet and I thought good for Gracie. To be honest though, this story didn't hook me in. After a while, I just got tired of Savanna's endless whining.

The moral of the story was evident, but I thought the book felt too long. The other thing was that I didn't feel like the story was amazingly original. All stories are similar to a degree, but then they have little bits that make them unique and special, but My Worst Best Friend didn't have enough of them. The ending for one was predictable. I was just left wondering when we'd get there. It wasn't a bad book. At parts, I enjoyed this. If I could go back into time, I would still have chosen to read it, but this wouldn't be a book I would prioritize buying.

All in all,

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter # 7)

Harry Potter has been a huge part of my life. I heard about it first during story time in 1st grade where my classmates were talking about Cerberus. The next year, I decided to read the 1st one and I quickly read the whole series in later years. It was the book that made me love to read.

When the 7th book came out, I quickly finished it in a few hours, neglecting dinner and family visits (I was on a vacation then). I'm pessimistic so I had no idea whether the last book could possibly satisfy me. This series was huge! But it did.

Almost everyone has read Harry Potter since then but i still won't post a spoiler in case someone hasn't. The plot twists in the story were so real. After reading it, I kept thinking "How did I not know that?" It was obvious that the whole series was leading up to this ending, whether we knew it or not in the beginning.

All our favorite characters had grown up and were slightly more mature. One of my favorite things about the series was Harry, Ron and Hermione's friendship.

Sometimes when I read a book with a quest or adventure, the characters seem to always know what to do and where to go even though the quest was supposed to be impossible. I was glad that there were slower times in the novel where we could see the trio pondering what to do next. It made it so much more real.

There's not much more I can say without spoiling, but I love this book and series and I'm sure most Harry Potter fans will agree.

Opposite Reviews: Some reasons people may not have liked this book was the epilogue and some concepts weren't very clear.

All in all,

Introductions

Before starting to write reviews, I thought I should introduce myself. I'm a teen who spends way too much time reading. I only watch tv shows I really like. I don't listen to much music besides top charts and radios. I'm in high school so I don't really read and adult level novels yet.

 I think for this blog, I'll write a post every week or so, and I think people should feel free to comment on my reviews. We all have different opinions so just because I like something doesn't mean everyone else will like it too. To be honest, I'm not sure how good of a reviewer I am, but I promise to try my best. For now I'm not doing any giveaways since I'm a bit broke but I probably will in the future. I hope people like my blog and reviews. I'm new to blogging and I'm trying to learn quickly and I would appreciate all help! If anyone wants me to follow or view their blog, i'd be happy to as long as they told me in an email.
How I review is by giving stars.

5 stars means absolutely amazing. This would be an all-time favorite. I don't have many five stars at the moment.

4 stars means I really like it. Most books I think are very good are in this category.

3 stars means it's average. It's a book I enjoyed and I will read the sequels but it's lacking something special that makes me love it.

2 stars means I thought it was okayz I'm sure there are people who may enjoy the book but I didn't.

1 star means I really didn't like it. I probably won't post reviews of 1 star books but if someone asks, I will.

I really hope this blog goes well and is helpful,

- P