Books Beauty Bling

"And then, I'm going to rattle the stars." -  Sarah J. Maas ,  Heir of Fire Celaena Sardothian is the famed Assassin of Adarlan. When we meet her, in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass, she is imprisoned in a salt mine, serving a sentence for her crimes. At times, Celaena can be a bit difficult to like. She's short tempered, and violent, and doesn't like being told what to do. She can be impetuous, and rash, and often, especially in the first novel, does things that might make you shake your head and say, "Oh, Celaena. Why?" She's also incredibly smart, fiercely loyal to her friends, and basically an overall badass. Her fighting skills reminded me a bit of Katsa from Kristin Cashore's Graceling.  There are currently five published novels, and four novellas that help fill in some background information on our lovely assassin. I think one of my favorite things about Celaena, and this series is the depth of character development we get to s...

 I started this series a while ago, and was hooked. Lia is a princess who is set, by her parents, to marry a prince from a neighboring country. She's less than thrilled by this edict, and instead of submitting, runs away with her lady-in-waiting, Pauline. The first book sees them on the run, and hiding out from bounty hunters they've been told were sent by Lia's father. Assuming new identities, they find work at an inn, and when they meet two young men at the inn, things go from bad to worse. Neither men is who they seem, and this spells trouble for everyone. I don't want to spoil anyone, so I won't go into what happens in the rest of the book, or book two, but if you're a fan of badass ladies, who are fiercely loyal, and like to buck tradition, this is a great series for you.  I will say, in parts of the book, I think the author is alluding to the fact that the Remnant (those chosen after an apocalypse wipes out all of society,) is the United States, and ment...

Ah, Young Adult novels. Is there anything more traumatic than finishing a novel, and realizing it's got a second book? How about finishing the sequel and realizing this series is actually a trilogy. This is what happened to me with The Girl at Midnight and The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey. I picked up the e-book of The Girl at Midnight recently because it had been recommended to be by Amazon, and it was $1.99. I have to be honest, I was not expecting to be completely drawn in immediately, let alone so broken hearted at learning I would need to wait until Summer 2017 for the final book, The Savage Dawn. *le sigh* I want to hold off on doing a true review until I've read all three, but, I can absolutely tell you that I adore the world that Melissa Grey has created, and the main character, Echo reminds me in the best ways of Karu from the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. Both are strong if somewhat reluctant warriors with difficult childhoods who find family an...

Margo "Grots" Oppenheimer has had a rough year. The previous Fall, her grandfather passed away suddenly, her secret boyfriend dumped her, her brother moved away to university, and her father, already a quiet man, became even more withdrawn. So, Margo did her best to push through, and follow all the steps laid out in a pamphlet from the hospital on what to do after someone dies. Cleaning out of possessions, organizing the funeral details, etc. Somehow, though, she still finds herself losing hours, and conversations. Margo is a smart girl, off the charts smart, so when she begins to notice experiencing "wormholes," "screen wipes," and "reboots," in her daily life she takes her math and science and attempts to solve for x, so to speak. Using her grandfather's diaries, and her own scientific notation, Margo spends the summer skipping through timelines and realities in some pretty charming, if sometimes confusing, examples of magical realism. Thr...

I used to write fiction all the time. I couldn't seem to stop myself. It would happen in the middle of classes, so my notebooks would be one part algebraic equations, one part poetry. I've gone through a definite dry spell in my writing over the last few years - I don't force myself to make time for it, like I used to. So, when I find things I wrote in the past, things I remember coming easily, I want to share them to remind myself to keep pushing. It may not be as easy anymore, but by working at it, it can get closer to easy again. Written sometime in 2004/2005 "You know I breathe too much anyway, I can do that anyday." - Ani DiFranco "Anyday" The weed hit rough, and she held back her cough the best she could. the boys were barely coughing at all, and somewhere in the back of her mind, that voice that always pressed into her "you must keep up with the boys." nagged. she took another hit from the blunt, holding in the smoke, feeling it pu...

It has been a difficult few days, emotionally. With the passing of my mom on Sunday (which I wrote about here,) and the aftermath that follows, it's been hard to stay focused on much. I began reading this novel, Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken, on June 30th, and finished it the evening of the 4th. I immediately attempted to purchase the sequel, Wayfarer, only to discover it is not released until January 3rd. So, now I have a book hangover to deal with.  For some reason I kept confusing this novel in my mind with Salt to the Sea, by  Ruta Sepetys ,  I think because of the similar coloring on the covers. I still have Salt to the Sea on my wishlist, so I can't yet comment on subject matter. I digress. I really loved this books, and Bracken had be sucked in almost right away. The character of Etta is fierce, and bold, and driven. All things I love to see in strong female lead characters. I must not have read the dust jacket description, or if I did, I must have forgot...

Stories like Wolf Hollow are so fantastic because the remind us that while we hold to nostalgia that other times were "simpler," times, life is never simple, and the truth, when held back can sometimes be more complicated than anything you could imagine. Comparisons have already been made to Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, and rightfully so. This novel has a similar feeling in its beautiful, and easy prose and in, Annabelle, and it's earnest and charming narrator. What's so wonderful about Wolf Hollow, and is another echo back to Lee's incredible work, is, you can feel that it is timeless. Yes, it is set in 1943, but the experiences, the life lessons, and the heart are true in any era. Annabelle's clear-eyed naivety, but overall desire for good are tempered by her independence, and wilful insistence to seek the truth at any cost. This is a novel I can see easily becoming a new classic, studied and loved in classrooms around the country. Lau...