The Versatile Blogger Award

                Ok so this is so great.  I’ve gotten my 2^nd blog award!  So I’m all excited and doing my happy dance.  It was awarded to be by Lora Palmer, thank you so so much. 

So the rules as they were posted:

1.       Create a post for the Versatile Blogger Award. Check

2.       In the same post, thank the blogger who gave you the award and put a link back to their blog. Check

3.       Nominate 15 other people for this award and let them know.  Okay so here’s the deal, I’m pretty sure everyone I follow has received this award already (cheers to you).  So…if by chance you haven’t and I overlooked please forgive me and take this as yours.

4.       Post 7 random things about yourself.  Check

5.       Include these rules in your post.  Check

7 Random things about me (Some of these may have been repeated in previous posts):

1.       I write fan fiction.

2.       Bella’s got nothing on me when it comes to being a klutz.

3.       I don’t like vegetables.

4.       My favorite color is blue and happily enough so is my birthstone.

5.       I ramble on and on and on until I forget the original point I was trying to make.

6.       If I know something but can’t place it right then and there it will drive me nuts until I figure it out.

7.       To this day I still do not know how to pick my own numbers for a lotto ticket.

Okay so there you have it.  Some more random facts about me, oh joy haha.  Thank you again Lora for giving this award to me.

The White Oak by Kim White

So I would like to thank Netgalley and Story Machine Studio for letting me read this ARC.  This is the blurb on Netgalley provided with a  beautiful cover:

In The White Oak, the first book in the Imperfect Darkness series, Cora Alexander falls through a sinkhole and enters the underworld still alive.  Her living presence threatens the tyrannical rule of Minos and the infernal judges who have hijacked the afterlife and rebuild it, trapping human souls in a mechanical computer-controlled city that lies at the core of the earth.  To survive, Cora must rely on her untrustworthy guide, Minotaur, an artificial intelligence built by Minos.  She is helped by a mysterious voice, and by Sybil, underworld librarian and author of each person’s book of life.  Sybil’s collection holds the key to humankind’s intertwined life stories.  When Cora’s own book is destroyed, Sybil gives her a magical golden pen and sends her to the underworld city to write her own destiny.  Along the way, Cora finds the ghost of her dead brother, Lucas, a genius programmer who alone is capable of finding the chink in Minos’s armor.  But will he be able to get Cora out alive, or will they both fall victim to the underworld trap?

Sounds super interesting and different right?  That’s what I thought.  Now this is hard for me because I haven’t given very many reviews on books I didn’t care for.  That doesn’t even seem right really, it felt, unfinished I guess.

Let me try to explain.  The blurb leaves you wanting more and let me tell you it starts off with a bang.  Straight into the action and story.  I was excited and the book did move along very quickly however when I finished reading I was left thinking, ‘What?’ I felt like the whole book was really only the beginning of a book.  With everything the blurb promised I was expecting more story. 

The world described is very vivid and imaginable.  The scenery was great and I could picture it however the characters, the main character Cora in particular, I didn’t feel a connection with her.  I pretty much get that she is angry but that’s it.  I don’t have any invested emotion in her, and as a main character I have a hard time with that.  I felt there was slightly more character development with Lucas and even Minotaur.

This book is supposed to be part of a series so considering that I might say that the blurb should be revised to encompass only book 1.  And as a reader I would have felt better if this was part 1 of a longer book to me I just can’t get over that finishing it I felt like I was only about ¼ of the way through a story. 

So this is hard.  I have mixed emotions about this and what to rate it.  I did enjoy parts of it.  So I’m going to give it 2.5 Stars.  *Note on goodreads.com it gets 3 stars because it doesn’t let you half a star and I rounded up.  So there you have my review.  This book comes out April 9, 2012. 

RTW: Favorite Book of March

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading related question and answer it on our own blogs.  You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This weeks topic:

What was the best book you read in March?

This will be short.  This month I haven’t read very much sadly.  So my favorite book this month (so far anyways still have a couple days left) is The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks.  I just recently reviewed it here so I won’t go into that again but it was a great little mystery who done it book.  I enjoyed reading it.  Sadly I didn’t have any real competition this month, the others I read were mostly novellas or short stories and thus I don’t classify them as a book.    So what was your favorite book in March?  My TBR list will never stop growing so help add to it.

The Hunger Games The Movie

                Okay so as you all know I went to see the midnight showing of The Hunger Games movie last night with friends.  I was so excited for this.  I re-read the book the night before, couldn’t sleep and all.  I couldn’t wait to see how they brought the book I loved to life.  And let me tell you I was not disappointed.

                So first off I loved the cast.  They did an amazing job with their roles.  Katniss is strong but also has some vulnerability just like in the book.  Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was brilliant.  He was everything I expected from the book, as did Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.  Effie was the great bit of comic relief here and there, she’s such an air head you can’t help but laugh.  I could spend so much time listing each person and how well they did but well I want to make this review semi short and to the point so let’s just say they did an amazing job. 

                Now the set, scenes, everything was so amazing.  I could totally see it, almost like how I pictured it.  Well…maybe not the make-up.  Because let me tell you, in the books they describe some of it and they talk about how outrageous…well yeah WOW the Capitol was just crazy.  I would look and think, I bet that hurts.  Or, how do they open their eyes with those huge eyelashes haha.  Great stuff.  District 12 was gritty and dirty, the woods a perfect little escape.  The entrance on the chariots, the fire was awesome and I was really curious how they were going to pull that off like in the book.  And her red dress was just as gorgeous.

                Now onto the most important part.  How it stands up to the book.  The book was better of course, they almost always are.  They have more time and can be way more detailed.  That being said I loved it.  Sure I noticed the little changes here and there and they sped things along in some areas but they stayed surprisingly close to the book.  I was not expecting things to be that close really and was pleasantly surprised.  Sure did I miss a couple of lines I really wanted to see?  Sure.  They didn’t give as much Haymitch as I’d have liked and they cut a lot of the cave scene but that makes sense when you think it’s already a two and a half hour movie.  They got the important parts in. 

                Along with that they also added other bits.  The books only focused on Katniss but we got to see things going on in the Capitol.  Things going on behind the scenes, and in the districts.  Things that if you read all the books you know happened but we get to see it and I think on their part was brilliant because it leaves it perfectly poised for them to do Catching Fire.  They also changed something at the end which I’m not going to lie I was perfectly happy with, since the book part made me sad so hehe selfish me liked that change.

                Emotionally it had me.  I knew going in I would probably cry like a baby in some parts.  I did.  Most of the theatre did too.  I won’t give out spoilers in case some of you have lived under a rock and haven’t read this yet.  Those who have you know what scene I’m talking about the most.  Yep lots of sniffling to be had.  I really felt for the characters, well the non evil ones anyways and those I just couldn’t wait until they got what was coming (then I giggled).  Oh and a side note that gets this movie extra points it made me jump.  Something happened and I for once wasn’t expecting it and I jumped slightly, not out of my seat or scream like some of the others but jerk back in my seat yes. 

                Well that’s all you get.  I don’t want to give too much away.  Just go see it!  You know you want to.  Even if by some chance you haven’t read the books you can totally enjoy it as an individual movie.  I can’t wait to see it again.  If you’ve seen it already tell me what you think.  If you have tickets tell me what you’re most looking forward to.  Share your thoughts on my review.  Oh and if it’s not clear…

Rating:  5 Arrows (fitting I think)

                

The Lucky 7 Meme

I have to say huge thank you to Amy at Limey YALit Girl for tagging me in this.

So I’m still working on my first draft of my WIP which at the moment doesn’t have a good title.  To me nailing down a title is way too hard until I have my story finished.  I could give a generic one but I don’t think it would suit it as well.  So thus far it is ‘new story’ haha.

So these are the rules as I understand them from Amy:

1) Go to page 77 of your current WIP

2) Got to line 7

3) Copy down the next 7 lines as they’re written—no cheating **okay so I just checked my line starts in the middle of a sentence so I’ll be starting with the first sentence start middle line 7**

4) Tag 7 other writers

5) Let them know

So keep in mind first draft.  Also as context this is a bit of conversation between my main character and her handler (witness protection).  Not really very riveting but it makes way more sense in the story.  So without further ado here are my 7 lines:

I tried them once and the guy I was seeing at the time said he’d spend ten minutes trying to wake me up.  Call me crazy I want to be able to wake up if something is happening around me.”

                Lexi laughed.  She’d never liked the idea of them either and not being able to wake up.  Then knowing her mother had given them too her when she was sick didn’t help.

                “How about I fall asleep for you and you stay asleep for me,” she joked.

                “If only it were that easy.”

So there you have it.  Now is where I’m supposed to tag 7 other people but that is a bit of a problem.  See I’ve seen this post in almost all of the blogs I follow already.  I don’t remember who has and who hasn’t done it.  I remember good bits of story but sadly my ability to place them with a name is not working for me.  That being said I’m going to say to all of you who read this and haven’t done it, consider yourself tagged! 

Okay so I cheated and took the easy way out but in my defense I blame my excitement for tonight (The Hunger Games midnight showing).  Most of my brain is focused on that hehe. So that means tomorrow you should get another post, a movie review of course. 

Have a great day!

RTW: Favorite Literary Moment

               Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading related question and answer it on our own blogs.  You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This weeks topic:

A long-awaited kiss, a surprising ending, a character’s sudden decision…these are the moments that make us smile, gasp, and LOVE a book for the rest of our lives.  What is your favorite literary moment?

                As per usual another hard if not impossible question to answer this week.  So like most everyone else I’ll state the obvious it’s so hard to pick one, it’s like picking between kids (I don’t have any but I hear it’s hard).  So my simple answer is going to be in Shadow Kiss, book 3 in the Vampire Academy series when Rose and Dimitri get together and then what happens next.  I knew the first part had to happen at some point, the tension was just…yeah it had to happen or I would have screamed.  But what happened next…I may have thrown my book across the room.  I was just that upset and shocked. 

                So now you know mine.  And I say again, it was the first on that popped into my head when I checked out my book shelves but if I look again I see another book or series and think of those moments so…yes we’ll stick with what I have.  What is your favorite moment?

The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks

                Before I start the review let me apologize and explain.  The last week or so I’ve been feeling very blah.  I’m sure everyone has these times and it’s not just me.  I haven’t been working on my WIP and I’ve been only semi keeping up with blogs I follow and if I do I just can’t find the energy to comment.  For that I am sorry but I’m feeling more like my usual self.  So thanks for sticking with me.  Now onto business.  This was another ARC from Netgalley.com which I just finished last night.  The Girl in the Park, comes out April 24^th, published by Random House Children’s Books.

                The Girl in the Park, is a mystery.  Wendy is dead.  Body found in the park after a party.  She wasn’t the most popular girl in school and had a reputation for being a wild party girl who would do anything.  The press makes her look horrible, victim or not.  Rain though, former good friend, has a hard time accepting this.  She knew Wendy was flawed, they hadn’t been friends in a while but she still remembered the girl who made her feel special and knows she wasn’t all bad.  Either if she was she didn’t deserve what happened to her.   Almost by mistake she sets out to find out who killed her friend.  No one will speak up for Wendy then it’s up for her to try.

                Now I will warn you that I did figure out who did it pretty early on in the book.  I know some of my friends have a problem with things like that.  For me it depends on the story.  In this book I didn’t mind at all.  I knew I was right but reading along finding new evidence that either helped or hurt my suspect was enjoyable.  Because it’s not just a story of finding out who murdered Wendy, but a story about Rain and her coming to terms with herself and the things that have happened in her life.

                I have to say I really like the main characters Rain and Wendy.  Yes, Wendy dies in the beginning.  So how can she be a main character?  Easy, we learn about her life, all the different aspects of her, what she did who she was before she was killed.  I felt like with each passing page I got to know both characters even better.  Now Rain.  I have to say at first this name caught my attention, and I liked it.  Different and cute.  It also played in well with the difficult teasing.  She isn’t perfect, speech problems, cleft pallet…anyone who has been in high school and wasn’t top tier popular will totally feel for her. 

                Rain doesn’t speak much.  Never speaks up for herself given the teasing she’s endured through most of her life, a habit that is hard to break.  A fear.  Still she is drawn to figure this out even if it causes more problems because after all she is really good at listening to people.  Sometimes they just might say something they don’t want anyone to really know.

                Overall I would give this book a solid 4 Stars.  I liked it.  It intrigued me.  I knew who did it but that didn’t take away, for me anyways, from the story.  Again the book comes out April 24^th and if you like a good mystery and self journey check it out.

RTW: Where Would You Wander?

                Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading related question and answer it on our own blogs.  You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This weeks topic:

In honor of the release of Kirsten’s Wanderlove yesterday today we have a travel-themes RTW prompt.  If you could wander anywhere in the world, where would it be, and why?

                First I have to start out with stating that I’ve already read Wanderlove, and really enjoyed it (review here).  So back to the question at hand.  This is hard for me.  I’ve been working on a list for years of places I want to go.  If I ever win the lotto that’s what I’d be doing for sure, traveling. 

                Now to me a dream trip wouldn’t be complete without a great friend to accompany me (and watch out for me).  So with an amazing friend (whom is my co-conspirator in the list) my first pick dream place to start it all out would be Greece.  My mother was in the Navy and she has talked about every place she’s been, the good and the bad, and with those and the breath taking views of it in the movies and online who wouldn’t want to visit?

                Yes I have tons of international places I’d like to go but I would also like to travel to all the states and get a shot glass from each (I started this with my Bahamas trip).  This was always in the back of my mind but recently a car commercial (forgive me I’ve forgotten which company).  It shows someone with a list of things to do and a girl taking a picture in each state with a t-shirt on to represent.  It just made me think, how cool?

                So where would you like to wander?  Share please my list will never be too full!

The Book of Blood and Shadow- Robin Wasserman

                I received this ARC book from NetGalley.com and as always wanted to share my thoughts.  For me this book wasn’t as good as some of the others I’ve read. 

                This book to me is essentially a mystery/thriller.  Centered around an old book that has puzzled everyone who has tried to decode it’s pages in the past 400 years.  Then it comes into the hands of The Hoff, a professor who everyone thinks is crazy.  For research assistants he has Nora a high school student who is from the wrong side of the tracks only at the high end prep school on scholarship, Chris, Nora’s best friend, and Max, Chris’s dorm mate and Nora’s boyfriend.

                They all know Latin, which is a very important matter throughout the book.  The Hoff sets them out to try and translate the book, letting the boys work with the book and Nora to work on a batch of letters he has from Elizabeth Weston.  At first this feels like a meaningless task given to her because she is a girl when her translation skills are better than the others but soon she becomes entranced by the letters.  Elizabeth as it turns out holds the key.  Upon making the first real breakthrough in over 400 years everyone is excited.

                That’s when things go bad.  People die, people are accused, blood is everywhere as Nora, her friend Adriane (also Chris’s girlfriend), and Eli (someone they know nothing about), team up with Max and race around Prague trying to follow the 400 year old clues that would allow them to find the parts needed for a mystical device that so many have died for hoping it would set them free. 

                That is a very general description.  I gave this book 3 stars on good reads.  I did enjoy the suspense and plot for the most part but at points the book seemed to drag making my eyes heavy.  Spread out through the book there are vivid descriptions of Prague and history lessons about the city and everything which to me felt like a brochure for travel.  Also there is lots of translation, something said/written in other languages and then sometimes translated.  Sometimes not, because it’s not meant to be understood at that point.  I get the idea but if the author goes through the trouble of putting it there for me in a different language I feel like I should be able to read it (hence pulling up Google which wasn’t as helpful as I would have hoped).

                Also the characters although intriguing and some parts I adored, like the relationship Nora has with Elizabeth and her letters, how Adriane is so limber she just breaks out into a yoga pose or stretch at any moment.  But sometimes I felt as I was reading that I lost the character.  Again the story was pretty good it just wasn’t for me it seems.

Giveaways Galore

                Okay so I hadn’t planned on posting today.  Really I was hoping to finish reading the book I’m on and then work on my review as the next post but I came across an amazing site with amazing give away prizes for follower appreciation day.  That person is Mary at Sparkling Reviews. 

                So right now she has multiple contests open.  One is for a $500 Amazon gift card.  I know amazing right my brain can’t even imagine how many books that’d buy.  Then there is one for an iPad, hello who wouldn’t want one of those babies?  Next we have a $500 Best Buy gift card, oh yeah I love to browse in there at the newest toys but know I can’t afford them.  Then we have another cool e-reader a KoboVox.  Then to top it all off a 7 nightDisney cruise for 4 to the Caribbean.  Oh yeah!  You all should know by now I heart my Disney movies.  I would flip for any of these that’s for sure.  So check them out.

                Now I got back into my comfy chair and finish reading my book…

Movies, Movies, Movies...

                So it’s been a while since newer movie reviews but given my current situation it cannot be helped.  I have managed to see three movies that are still in theatres, however.  They are different types of movies which I’m sure by now you have come to realize about me, I go from one extreme to another.  So here goes.

               

                First we have The Vow, featuring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams.  Now I knew going into this movie that it was going to be both romantic and sad and more than likely the girl part of me would end up teary eyed at least once.  I wasn’t wrong. 

                I was excited to see these two actors play out this movie because of their respective roles in different Nicholas Sparks movies which made me tear up.  Channing Tatum in Dear John, and Rachel McAdams in The Notebook.  Each had in my opinion played those roles so well and pulled at my heart strings I couldn’t want to see what they did together in the same romantic movie.  And I was not disappointed. 

                This is a tale of a couple who are very much in love and quirky and different.  Everything is going great until a car accident.  Paige (McAdams) wakes up after it and has no recollection of the last few years of her life.  She doesn’t remember leaving law school, moving to the city, becoming a sculptor, or meeting Leo (Tatum).  Are you heartbroken yet?  The movie plays out in both times.  You see the here and now, Leo trying to win her heart all over again, made even harder right now that she remembers being engaged to someone else, while also flash backs to their life. 

                The movie was touching, romantic, sweet, funny, heartbreaking and so many other things.  I enjoyed myself.  I was happy and sad and taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotion but it was a good trip. 

               

Rating:  5 Stars

                Next we have the romantic comedy This Means War, featuring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy.  Now this is more of a comedy than anything else and I was laughing so hard it hurt.  Sure some of it is predictable but it was too good to matter.

                Two best friends and partners FDR (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) get grounded after a mishap on their last assignment.  Tuck starts thinking about love and wanting someone to spend his life with.  He has a young son but the mother and him are not together.  Deciding to give it a try he tries online dating, which is mocked by FDR.  Lauren (Witherspoon) is single and has no dating life.  She works as a product tester (which might I say sounds like an awesome job), and has a best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) whom she talks about everything too and takes it upon herself to post a profile on an online dating site.

                Lauren then ends up meeting both Tuck and FDR on the same day and ends up simultaneously dating both.  They figure it out and decide to let her decide, keeping that they know each other to themselves.  It’s supposed to be a clean fight to the finish but when you have all the tactical support of the government why not make things work.  It’s hilarious to watch Lauren struggle with dating both guys and figure out which she likes more while they are using everything they have to win her.  Spy vs Spy is so true and made for some hilarious material.  But then of course danger ensues to add extra spice.

                Was this movie predictable for the most part?  Yes.  Was it still worth seeing?  YES!  OMG I love it.  I can’t wait to see it again and be able to catch everything because I won’t lie there are parts I didn’t hear because I was laughing too hard.  The chemistry between the actors was great and not just romantically but between FDR and Tuck, they played well off one another and it felt like they really were best friends.

                So if you’re looking for a good movie for both guys and ladies I recommend this.

Rating: 5 Stars

                So the most recent movie I saw was Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds.  Now I don’t have too much to say about this one.  It was as the previews describe.  A man who has everything and lives his life in a very predictable and structured way meets a woman and her daughter who are down on their luck.  He helps her and she helps him realize he needs to live his life for him not for everyone else.

                The movie had its share of funny and touching moments as do most Tyler Perry movies.  I do think that Lindsey’s character (woman with daughter) is a bit too angry.  I understand the circumstances and pride and all but she was just so volatile through most of the duration that I found it hard to really sympathize with her.  I knew I should and it was sad what she went through but her anger and rage at good people made it hard for me to really appreciate her.

                I do have to give a special mention to Brian White, who plays Walter Deeds, drunken screw up brother to Wesley (Tyler Perry).  He plays the angry and self entitled role he has very well.  Just the other day I re-watched a handful of Moonlight episodes and saw him as Lt. Carl Davis and it was a very different character but he played it well. 

                This to me anyways is one of those movies you watch once then that’s it.  Not something you could put on anytime and just enjoy. 

Rating: 4 Stars

So there you have my reviews what do you think?  Did you like the reviews?  Movies?  Let me know in the comments.

My Memoir Title...

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading related question and answer it on our own blogs.  You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This weeks topic:

Name this life:  What would your memoir be called?

                Let me start by saying that sometimes when with friends and we start talking about the crazy things we used to do (some we still do), we joke about this would be so cool to put in a book.  I won’t lie I’ve taken a few things that happened to me and my friends over the years and worked them into my WIP to give it an extra bit of life.  Although I never seriously thought about writing a memoir I have thought about it and think my best title right now would be, Laughter=Best Drug.

                Cheesy and corny I know.  And trust me my life hasn’t been all laughter, but those times would be the ones worth telling.  The ones people would probably be amused with.  I mean come on small town not a lot to do, we’d go to Walmart late at night on the weekends and sword fight in the toy isle or joust in shopping carts in the parking lot (maybe I should add a warning here).  Those are the fun things that I can still recall with perfect clarity and still laugh about when I remember them.

                Plus if I did write a complete memoir and add the not so fun things as well, the painful things I think it’d still work.  Through all those times and still the moments of fun and levity where I have tears streaming down my cheeks and my gut hurts from laughing so hard I can hardly breathe…those moments make the rest easier to get through.  Some people turn to booze and drugs but for me laughter is my only drug (well unless I’m sick then I am down with anything the Dr. gives me to make it go away).

                So that’s my title.  What do you think?  What would be your title?  Please share!

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Hugo

                Well now I’m on a streak for sure with update it seems.  Must be that I have hit a block with my WIP so I’m reading and watching up a storm and thus giving you’re my blog readers something to read and hopefully think about.  So today we have a review of two movies that have been pretty big in the awards and they both feature young boys as the lead characters.

                Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, was a movie that I first saw the previews for and knew I wanted to see it even if I knew the high probability I’d tear up at some point.  Now I just recently got the chance to watch this, post all awards shows.  At first I was skeptical of it being nominated, not that it didn’t merit the attention but that it was being nominated and the movie hadn’t even been released to the general public.  What can I say I like to at least have the option of seeing the nominees so I can root for them based off more than previews.

                I didn’t watch most of the awards this year given the only movie I’d seen that was nominated for anything really was The Help.  So I don’t know what this movie won but I can say I see why it was nominated.  It is a beautiful movie that was so well done.  I freely admit that I cried like the girl I am through large parts of the movie that were just so touching I couldn’t help myself. 

                The story is about Oskar who has many fears and difficulty talking to people so his father has set up a bunch of reconnaissance expeditions for him to complete and while working on one his father dies.  A year after his death, and living with a secret, Oskar finds a key in his dad’s things and set out to find out what the key opens.  The envelope the key is in has one thing on it ‘Black’ so being as bright as he is Oskar develops a system for his reconnaissance expedition knowing that this key was left to him from his father.  Along the way he meets many people of every personality and hears their stories. 

                Thomas Horn as the main character Oskar Schell the peculiar boy who lost his father (Tom Hanks) in 9/11 does an amazing job.  I was completely floored by it and his emotional portrayal made it all the more harder for me to hold off tears.  Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, John Goodman, Zoe Caldwell, and Tom Hanks are a few of the more stand out of the supporting characters and each playing their individual role in such a way you almost forget you’re watching a movie at all.

                This movie was very moving and I think everyone should see it at least once.  It’s not the movie you put in for a laugh or to kill time but if you want to be moved then take the 2 hours out of your day and watch this.

Rating: 5 Stars

                Next we have Hugo.  This story is also about a young boy who has lost his father.  Hugo is an orphan boy living in the walls of a Pairs train station in the 1930’s.  He keeps the clocks running and tinkers with other gadgets he learned from his father and uncle.  The only thing he has left that connects him to his father is an automaton they’d been working on fixing together.  He’s been working on it sure it holds a message from his father but he’s still missing one main part, a heart shaped key.  On his adventures he meets the cranky old man who works in the station and his god-daughter who is Hugo’s age and seeks an adventure of her own.  Hugo finds that they have a surprising connection to his father and the automaton and in discovering this the old man starts remembering his past and his significance to the world of film-making. 

                This movie too was very beautiful.  The time period, the characters were more fun and up-lifting though.  I do have to make one special note that I’ve never seen a movie with Sacha Baron Cohen and have avoided them at all costs after the previews for Borat movies and the stunts at award shows.  Though in this movie he plays the mean station inspector who rounds up orphans, I didn’t realize it was the man from those obnoxious previews until midway through. 

                The imagery and feel of the 1930’s was well done and wonderful performances from the whole cast but for me the movie was a bit long.  I enjoyed it and it tugged on my heart a time or two but I don’t think I’ll be watching it again, for me a one hit wonder.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

                So there you have it.  Have you seen these movies?  What did you think?

Sunshine Award!

Hey Everyone,

                So I went to town today and got some groceries and while there decided to get my hair cut.  One of those things you think about but aren’t 100% sure what you want so you put it off.  Yep that was me.  I ended up getting 6 inches cut off.  It’s still considered long but man to me it feels so much shorter.

                Anyways I didn’t start a post to talk about my hair cut.  Promise.  I mention it because I don’t think I’m the only one who enjoys when the salon washes your hair and massages your scalp…it just makes your day a little better.  Then I come home and find that Laurie over at Unavoidable Awkwardness had passed on the Sunshine Award to me.

                Yes to ME!  I don’t know how this works really…I’ve never won an award for my blog.  Honestly, I never win anything.  Hence my happy dance when I found out this wonderful news.  Since this is my first award I’m going to use Laurie’s format because haha I have no idea what else to do.  From what I’m understanding (and I hope I’m right) I link back to the wonderful person who gave it to me (Thanks Laurie), an swer the questions posted about myself and then pass on the award to 5 other bloggers.  Sounds like fun.  Let’s go.

1.  If you could talk to a dead person about writing, who would it be?

                My Ma.  She passed away before I rediscovered my love of reading and writing.  I enjoyed writing stories in school when I was younger and she always encouraged me and my imagination.  I stopped reading and writing for years but found it again.  I would love to talk to her and ask her what she thinks.  Tell her about my WIP and see what she thinks.

2. if you were the main character in a book, what genre would it be?

                Wow that’s hard.  It would definitely have to be modern or futuristic, I’m so not meant to be in the old times where women had no voice/rights and were treated like property.  Other than that I have no idea.

3. How do you get names for your characters?

                I love this questions.  I get them from everywhere.  Sometimes I hear them when I’m around town or something and think oh I have to use that.  I also have been known to Google, use a phone book, even my old year books.  But I also have an extensive DVD collection and I’ll sit and look at the titles and remember character names and actors/actresses who played them and see if one pops for what I need.

4. Favorite color?

                Blue

5. Favorite animal?

                White tigers.

6. Favorite number?

                I’d really like the winning lotto numbers on my ticket.

7. Favorite non-alcoholic drink?

                Cherry Coke

8. Facebook or Twitter?

                I have both but I find it easier to follow facebook.  I haven’t mastered Twitter yet.

9. My passion?

                Well if it isn’t obvious yet reading, writing, and watching TV/movies.  I love getting lost in a different reality if only for a short time.

10. Getting or giving presents?

                Who doesn’t love to get presents?  I know I do.  But I love to give them just as much.  Especially when I found a gift I am so sure will be a shock and complete hit.  The look on the persons face when they see something they didn’t expect, something they mention in passing months and months ago and there it is in front of them.  case in point my dad.  He mentioned over Christmas a game called The Generals from the 80’s.  I did my homework and found the game (made in 1980 btw) and gave it to him for his birthday mid February.  He was floored and I was so excited to be the one to blow him away.

11. Favorite day of the week?

                Well I’m unemployed at the moment so they all seem the same.

12. Favorite flower?

                Lilly

                There we have enough about me for a little while.  Now onto those whom I want to pass this award too.

Elodie

Katy Upperman

Peggy Eddleman (although her blog usually makes me crave a cookie…)

Kerri Maniscalco

Sarah Enni

                So there you have it.  My first blog post about my first blog award.  Cheers!

First Date- Krista McGee

                 I received this book from Thomas Nelson on NetGalley.com on my Kindle, thanks.  I finished it last night.  So I’ll go ahead and say this isn’t my normal type of book.  It is YA but it’s religious/spiritual, which I normally try to avoid.  For those of you who don’t know me I have no problems with anyone and greatly respect others and their beliefs I just am non-religious for my own reasons. 

                That being said I saw this book with this description visible:

Addy Davidson is the last girl in the country who wants to be on the new reality TV show to win a date to prom with the President’s son.  She’s focused on her schoolwork so she can get a scholarship to an Ivy League college, uncomfortable in the spotlight, never been on a date, and didn’t even audition for it…

               

                After reading the first few chapters of the book I checked back and found the rest which including the category labeling it religious/spiritual.  I saw the cover and that it was like a teen version of The Bachelor, and thought it would be interesting (p.s. I don’t watch the show, I did for the first season that’s it).  I should have read further and that was my oversight.  But I’m glad I didn’t or I might not have read this book.

               

                Yes I liked it.  It was cute.  The overall story was just like my usual YA type books there was just a religious undertone to it.  I didn’t quite understand some of the things the main character talked about because I am unfamiliar with religion but it didn’t hinder my appreciation for the overall story.  I don’t have a ton to say about the book but I did enjoy it.  I read it through in the course of a day and wanted to finish it so I could know how things ended. 

                Addy was a sweet character, she is a Christian who is put on this show without really wanting to be there and surrounded by ‘mean girls’ who don’t have her compassion.  She also struggles, not with her faith but with how to be there, how to tell others about her faith, how to treat others in a way befitting her faith and not let their mean words get to her.  Jonathan is the President’s son and he isn’t like Addy had imagined he’d be.  Kara, another girl there is loud and opinionated but kind to Addy and a true friend.  Hank, he was a fun character to read because he seems so evil and menacing but it’s hard to take him as a serious threat when you read his description and it’s that humor that I enjoyed throughout the book.

            So there you have it a brand new review.  This book came out January 10, 2012.  Tell me what you think.