Mockingjay Part 1!

The fire is catching.  If we burn, you burn with us.

                Total fangirl here.  That I think might be my favorite line in the movie and book.  Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job with the delivery of that line.

                Yes I went and saw this movie this weekend.  Friday evening to be exact with an amazing group of people.  We had our white roses, our Effie themed glasses, and our Mockingjay pins.  We were ready.  I was up until 6am that morning re-reading Mockingjay, okay I couldn’t sleep so I decided to read instead of tossing and turning but towards the end I’m sure not putting the book down hindered the prospect of sleep.  I was ready.  I have been waiting for and wanting this since last year.  I had already talked with all my book people debating where it would end.  Where they would split the book?

               

                I was so close!  It was just where I thought but they added a bit more after, which I get.  You have to give those who didn’t read the book something to hold onto until next year.  Speaking of the split.  I know it has been a big issue with everyone splitting the last book to make more movies, dragging out the ending.  Sure you could look at it like that.  Or you could look at it as giving the movies ample time to tell the story without it being rushed.  With Mockingjay I was relieved they were splitting it.  The last book in the trilogy was my least favorite.  The end just felt, rushed.  It had some slow parts and then it had a lot of action that happened so fast you couldn’t appreciate what was happening or the deaths that were occurring.  For me it was a way to make the last book fuller, to flush out the things that had been rushed and as movies sometimes change things from their book counter parts, I would be okay with them making a few changes.

       

               One of those changes, which isn’t a spoiler, is Effie.  She wasn’t really in the final book, she wasn’t in District 13.  Having her in the movie, having her in such a different world and out of her flamboyant element was beautiful.  You get to see who she is as a person and not be disguised by all the hair, clothes, shoes, etc.  And seeing the usually colorful Effie in a new light was like seeing the series in a new light.  This book is much darker than the first two.  Sure they were never light and fluffy, but overall they are darker and more depressing.  And still in the most random moments there is the much needed levity to bring you up out of the whole.  Haymitch was good at that.  He was the Haymitch we all love, crazy, drunk, and a tell it like it is attitude.  Even sober he has that same qualities about him.

                 I can’t say enough about this movie.  I LOVED it.  It was everything I hoped it would be and more.  The acting by all parties was spot on and I had goose bumps through many scenes, despite the theatre being a tad bit toasty inside.  When Jennifer Lawrence started to sing the hanging tree song from the books, and how it played in was beautiful.  I’ve since listened to that song several more times. 

The relationships between the characters have changed, the whole story has changed.  They are now in a war.  Katniss is not just trying to survive but she is now the supposed face of the war.  Everyone is different; the games have destroyed Finnick, Katniss, and the other tributes. 

Basically this movie was WOW.  I give it a 5 Explosive Arrows.  This movie was so much better than I could have hoped.  It took the best parts of the book and it filled in the gaps with things we didn’t see from Katniss’s perspective in the Capitol and other Districts.  It gave be chill bumps and made my heart race.  I’ve been talking about it non-stop much to the cringe of my co-workers but I can’t wait to see it again.  Please share your thoughts below.  Were you excited they split the book into two movies?  Where you satisfied with where they decided to split it?  What did you think of the movie as a whole?  Tell me everything so that we can discuss. 

Delirium: The book, the series, the pilot

                NaNoWriMo is still going strong and I was caught up with my word count for all of 5 hours.  But I needed a break from my story and have many reviews I need to get out of my head and down on paper to share.  More room for my book to take over my mind and I’m pulling a 12 hr shift at work on 3 hrs of sleep.  Haven’t had to do this in a few years so I’m a bit rusty.  Getting my thoughts on some great books I read down for you and keeping me awake at work, a win/win. 

                As I have been reading series through beginning to end, trying to catch up I’ve decided to split my reviews into two sections.  The first part I’ll be discussing the first book in the series in detail spoiler free, then I’ll add a warning before diving into the rest of the series so those not caught up can still enjoy part of the review and have something to come back to.  The first book and series is Delirium by Lauren Oliver.  The first book is aptly named Delirium and the two other books in the series are Pandemonium and Requiem.  There are also 3 short novella type stories Annabel, Hana, and Raven.

                So Delirium is a few years old, yes I’m behind the crowd but I’m catching up.  I have had this series on my list for some time and I read it first mostly in part when I found out that they had planned a TV series but it didn’t get picked up.  However, for a short time the pilot episode was available on Hulu and I wanted to read the books, at least the first one before I watched.  So with a deadline hanging over my head I started reading.  For those of you unfamiliar with the plot of the story here is a brief summary:

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing,

They didn’t understand that once love, the deliria, blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold.  Things are different now.  Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen.  Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured.  A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable:  She falls in love.

                It’s an interesting concept.  Love is a disease and thus is cured.  Life should be at peace.  It brings up a lot of questions and possibilities.  For me I debated if you cure love could one not cure greed or drive for power?  Would the cure for those not work just as well for peace?  Also is peace worth the overall cost?  That seems to be the debate in most stories, does one thing justify the ultimate outcome.  For me the biggest interested while reading was my internal struggle was the idea of happiness without love.  Can you survive without love?  We are creatures of heart.  We love love.  We strive towards the feeling despite the cost many times, through the risk of pain it could cause.  Easy to see why they think curing it would calm the world down, but would that not take away what makes us essentially human.

                See an interested book idea!  All this debate and I was only in the first few chapters trying to decide my view on this new world.

                Our main character, Lena, is firm in her belief in the cure.  She has a past that demands perfection and dedication to the rules for a good match.  Yes without love all marriages are arranged.  Lena is at her exam being graded on how good she is and how good of a match she will make when she sees a handsome guy.  Yes guys are separated from girls, minus family, until they are cured of course we wouldn’t want anyone falling in love before they are cured.  She sees him again, sees his mark indicating he is cured and feels safe.  He is okay to be around if he is safe.

               

                She starts unexpectedly down the rabbit hole.  Alex is more than he seems and despite her logical reasoning she finds herself experiencing symptoms of the deliria.  Once you feel what is forbidden how do you go back from that?  With the lines between right and wrong blurred who can you trust and who will betray you? 

                Delirium was a pretty quick read for me.  I couldn’t put it down wanting to know how it would end.  Would Alex and Lena manage to be together or would they be found out.  How would they manage with her cure procedure date looming closer and closer?  Plus in my head I was thinking of a million ways to take the system down.  I was trying to decide if I bought the concept.  In part I do, but the larger and more emotional part of my head and heart don’t.  Not because of the writing by any means but because I couldn’t imagine there not being a love of family and friends.  Curing romantically love, sure, but the love one feels for their family as they grow up together and friends as you bond, not so much. 

                Now before I go into the rest of the books in the series I want to discuss the pilot episode that was on Hulu.  I watched it.  I enjoyed it but if that was the pilot I see why it didn’t get picked up.  It was basically the entire first book.  Where would it have went?  There are two more books sure but with a book an episode a small mini-series event maybe.  That being said I wish they would go back and maybe make some adjustments, add a few things that were trimmed, and make it into a movie.  75% of the story is already there.

*****Now I’m moving into spoiler territory so if you haven’t finished the series please click away now and come back when you do.*****

                Conflicted.  That is me for the rest of the series.  I enjoyed seeing more from the different POV’s in the other books, particularly Hana.  I was mad and it only confirmed my suspicion of the betrayal when I saw her side and seeing her indecision and pain I could see her side of things in a way.  I was able to forgive her.  But the thing I missed most was Alex.  I was 100% sure that he would come back but as time wore on I got concerned.  Then I saw the semi-predictable plot line forming in my head.  Forced to earn Julian’s trust Lena ends up growing closer to him, finding him not the monster she thought. 

               

                As I’ve stated before I’m okay with some love triangles.  Ones where one part of the original love is thought dead, one must move on, our characters are young after all.  So if finding a way to move on and dead other half isn’t dead well I can see there being conflict there.  A mess of emotions.  Alex has been through hell and doesn’t get that at first and reacts badly and Lena is confused and indecisive.  I have to say book two and three were a tad bit over ripe with the love drama part.  It wasn’t overdone to the point I felt annoyed, and in a way I could even see how focusing on the mini drama of your romance could be a coping mechanism for dealing with the war being fought around you. 

                For me it worked where book 1 was more from the cured side and book 2 is from both the rebels who believe in the right to have love but also from the perspective of someone who is cured; which we didn’t see in the other book.  We see what changes it makes in the person.   

                Now for the biggest part of the confliction and a huge *SPOILER* the ending.  At first I was pissed off.  It was left hanging and I felt unresolved.  I felt like I wasted all that time reading to not get an ending.  Then as my initial shock wore off I realized how ingenious it was.  There was so much going on and she gave you the possibility of it going either way.  You could as the reader essentially see it as a happy ending for whichever version you liked.  Did you prefer Lena with Julian or with Alex?  Did you want people to escape or to combine and live as one and work through?  It was all there and all possible.  I will say that the horrible evil part where a certain person is seen possibly being dead was NOT okay and as it was never confirmed I’m going with my happy ending.  Overall I give the series 4 Stars.

                Also as a side note Lauren Oliver is super friendly and nice.  I was good and did not rant about my feelings on that one thing in line, because I didn’t want to hold it up, but I did mention I was happy she left it open so I could make my own happy ending.  She smiled at that, which confirms for me that was the point.

YALLfest Follow-Up

Okay this post is going to be quick.  Just a real brief recap of YALLfest.  My whole body is sore, I split a toenail, and my cat is acting very clingy, but it was totally worth it.  This has got to be the most fun I’ve had in a long while.  I made some new and amazing friends who helped me divide and conquer and made the lines seems like just as much fun. 

                It was just Sarah Leigh and myself and I had a mission to get as many of my books signed and meet as many of the talented authors as possible.  This was our first event and there were some stumbles but we are simply better equipped for next year.  Oh yes spoilers, they already announced dates for next years YALLfest November 13-15 2015.  They will also be having one, YALLwest in Santa Montica April 11-12 2015 if that one is closer to you.  I’ve also heard speak, so I can’t verify the validity of this, that John Greene is going to be the keynote speaker next year. 

                So here are some photos of this year, sorry if the quality isn't the best one some.  Next year Sarah Leigh is getting a tutorial on how to use my camera properly.

YALLfest!

                This is just a brief little post because I've been MIA.  I've been to another signing with Maggie Stiefvater and have been preparing for YALLfest.  Sarah Leigh and myself leave tomorrow evening (Thursday) and are pumped for Friday!  I have been trying to read as much as possible before hand.  I was also convinced to join in for NaNoWriMo 2014.  This is made more difficult because my computer outer case is having a slight problem.  Thankfully nothing is wrong with the guts of the computer, that is just fine.  Some casing to hold the screw came loose or some jazz, I don't know but a tech savvy friend at work has agreed to fix it for me.  He has only had it 2 days but it feels like forever.

                In the mean time until I get it back and can do some real reviews, I wanted to share some photos of meeting Maggie Stiefvater and give a shout out to anyone going to YALLfest.  Send me a message, we'd love to say hello to you if you're there.

She doodled in my book!

Before hand she was 'Invisible'

Bookish Pet Peeves Part 1

Part 1 

Hello everyone!  I have many reviews I am working on right now but this post has been rambling around in my head for some time and I think it’s something we can all relate to.  Bookish Pet Peeves.  This post will be in 2 parts. 

Part 1 is going to focus on the physical book buying/owning aspect, whereas, Part 2 will focus on my pet peeves in the stories themselves.  Part 2 is going to be posted on my dear friend and fellow book nerd Sarah Leigh's blog, A Girl Who Reads.  So check there for part 2.  I’m sure many of you will agree with me on most and may even have some of your own I’ve neglected to mention so please share them below so we can add them and discuss.  Let's get right into them the Bookish Pet Peeves, in no particular order.

1) Stickers.  I understand needing to pu

t them on for pricing and jazz sure. How is it possible though that some use the nice glue that peels off super easy and others seem to be welded onto the book cover and unwilling to let go without serious work or *gasp* possible book damage.  My thoughts are to only use the good easy to peel, non residue leaving glue or don't use stickers at all.

                1A) Placement.  This one needs a sub category.  Even the good stickers sometimes suffer from…bad placement.  If I’m browsing through the store, perusing the beautiful books on the shelf and come across one of interest I would like to be able to read the back of the book and discover what it is about and if I want to take it home with me.  That is rather hard when a sticker is taking up half the summary space.

2) Cover changes.  How many of you have started a series with a cover you may or may not adore only to have the at least one book, many times the last one, in the series changed?  Yep, I hate it.  They no longer match on my beautiful shelf.  Worst of all is when you can’t even recognize it.  The change looks so completely different that you would never guess it was part of a series but something completely different.  Example: Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi or The Curse Workers series by Holly Black to name a few that I own.  With Shatter Me in order to get a matching set you have to get paperback or you have to get the miss match covers.  Why? 

                *Side note I recently learned via booktube that the hard covers for Stephanie Perkins books, are being re-jacketed so they match.  OMG how flipping awesome is that?  All publishers should do that, and have an option where people like me could order just the matching cover.

3) Series format changes.  This is similar to #2 as it changes the appearance of the series but is more focused on the books that start out in paperback as the only options available and then as it becomes popular the other half come out in hardcover.  Fine, I get it that they didn’t have hardcovers at first, but why not capitalize on the fact that people like myself would rebuy the first book or 3 in hardcover if it was offered, with a matching cover that is?  Perfect example:  The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. 

4) Books in a series not marked. Recently I’ve purchased a lot of books, many were complete series, that I have not had the pleasure of reading yet.  It is an exciting thing to receive all the books in the mail and then sort through them and put them on your shelf.  However, if you haven’t read the books yet, it may be difficult to put them in the correct order, and reading the synopsis on the back would just spoil you.  I wish they would clearly mark somewhere on the book spine, front, or even the title page what book # it is in a series.  Save me the hassle of looking it up.  Also this would allow someone picking up a brand new book to see and prepare for a series and not a stand-alone.  I would have loved to know many of my books were going to be series before starting them, I might have held off a little longer so the wait would have been shorter before the next book. 

WHY?  JUST WHY?

5) Bent pages.  I am very OCD about my books, I will not just pick it up off the shelf and buy it in the store.  No.  I have to page through it to make sure there are no stray marks on the pages, tares, or anything that otherwise make it less than the perfect book for me.  Sarah Leigh has learned this while shopping with me and normally just hands me the book for inspection.  Grasshopper learned fast.  This is also why I am super picky about who I lend books out to, with understanding of not to dog ear my pages for fear of ninja attack.  This is why I also normally lend them out with a book mark handily inside.

6) Standard size.  I have a good collection of both hardcover and paperback books.  I prefer the hard covers for many reasons.  One of those reasons being that the hardcover books seem to have a standard size.  I'm not talking length but height, you have the average book and the tall book.  Okay two options I can work with and all my shelves can be level and even, with a rare exception.  Then you have the paperback.  They have so many different heights it is insane to try and line them up evenly on your shelf, they never work, I have about 8 different heights on one shelf and it drives me bonkers. You would assume it would make sense to only have 1-2 format sizes, that it would save money right?  What do I know? 

                There you have my 6 main Bookish Pet Peeves dealing with the physical.  Stay tuned and I’ll have Part 2 up on Sarah Leigh's blog tomorrow.  Share your own physical book pet peeves with me below.  

Book Events! My First experience and more to come!

                Today is about book events.  I am new to the world and have some things to share and some things to ask my fellow book lovers.  I had the pleasure of meeting P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast on Thursday on tour for Redeemed, the last book in the House of Night series.  I have been reading these books since 2009, after book 5 came out.  I was just getting back into the reading for pleasure game and a friend had them and loaned them to me.  I remember I was working that Friday-Sunday 12 hr shift nights and it was pretty dead so I finished all 5 in that time, then I wanted more and had to wait.  The story of a book lovers life, right?  When a new one comes out, I go and get it.  P.C. Cast is what I consider an auto-buy author.  I have all the HoN books with novellas and other books, her Divine/Parthalon series, and her romance series The Goddess Summoning series, and I love them all.  

               I have never been to any book event before, because, well honestly I live in South Georgia and no one comes around here and when I hear about them coming within a reasonable distance its either too late or something comes up.  So when I found out they were going to be in Atlanta I was excited.  Grant it, not the closest but 3.5 hours was doable.  I got the day off with work, had a dentist appointment in the first half of the day too, and drove up then back after it was over.  A long day in the vehicle but it was so worth it.

               My first book event was a huge success.  First and foremost, P.C. and Kristin were so amazingly sweet and funny to listen to.  They answered a ton of questions for the audience and made jokes but also kept the spoilers down for those who didn't read the new book yet, having had to purchase it there, I'm a fast reader but not that fast lol.  I got my book signed by both of them along with the poster I won.  Yes I totally won a poster, 1 of 3 and I got first dibs.  That was so hard, choosing which picture I wanted more.  I also got some photos of them and me with them while they were signing!  But even more fun than that, I made some new bookish friends!  Yes my normally shy self decided if I was going to go to these events I was going to be chatty and put myself out there and make friends, it’s the only way to go and I am so happy I did.         
     
              While discussing books with my new friends, I learned another favorite and auto-buy author of mine, Maggie Stiefvater is going to be in Atlanta this month.  I was beyond elated at the news.  The day is not so easy, work wise and I thought I wouldn't be able to do it but my wonderful shift partner said she'd be willing to swap days off with me for it!  Happy dance.  Now I'm planning to make the drive up once more in just over a week.  Bright side, trips so close, probably won't get lost.  Hopefully!

  

                Aside from Maggie Stiefvater coming to Atlanta and hopefully seeing her, I have another event I'm super stoked about: YALLfest.  I found out about YALLfest and I started planning right away to make sure I could have the money to make the trip and of course the time off to do it as well.  Everything is lined up and my good friend Sarah Leigh is even going with me!  If you guys don't know about YALLfest don't worry I didn’t know about it either until earlier this year.  It's a book lovers event.  It's 60 of the most popular YA authors coing together and doing signings, panels, presentations and such.  The best part, the event is FREE!  Yes the major event is free, there are a few things that have tickets, a few talks and jazz but that’s due to limitations on the space and such but they are like $7 tickets so totally affordable. This wonderful even will take place in Charleston, SC on Friday Nov. 7th- Saturday Nov. 8th.  It's going to be at Blue Bicycle Books and surrounding venues. 

                 How cool is that?  The list of authors, here, is insane.  I have read a bunch of these and so many others I have the books but haven't made it to them yet.  Now I'm motivated.  I want to have something to talk about when I get to meet them and ask them to sign my books!  Also, if any of you watch Team Epic Reads who do Tea Time on Wednesdays they will be there as well hosting the YA Smackdown I believe.  I'm stoked and have my ticket for that.  

                Anyways I don't know where everyone is from but if you are planning to be there send me a message in the comments or e-mail or whatever.  It'd be great to see everyone and make meet more friends!  I don't have everything planned out but we have our few tickets and hotel and everything else is going to be a new experience.  I'm currently deciding the best way to transport all of my books.  So yes if anyone is going or wishing they could go, which author going would you be most excited to meet?  Comment below, I may have a giveaway afterwards if I get some goodies!  Also if anyone has advice for me I'm all ears as well.  I'll update when I know more.  

Angerlbound: Armageddon- Hell Yeah!

Goodreads / Amazon

                Two days back to back!  This one is a bit late but had a bit of an injury on the hand which makes this a tad bit more difficult, but I can manage.  As promised, today I’m reviewing the other book to release yesterday for Ink Monster, and that is Armageddon the 3^rd book in the Angelbound series written by Christina Bauer.  I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and Ink Monster for my honest review.  There will be spoilers for the first 2 books in her and again, if you haven’t started the series yet I highly recommend it.  If you want to check out my reviews of Angelbound or Scala click the titles then come back.  Also, the first book in the series is also in a bind-up with Becoming Alpha.  

                So I went into this book with no information on what it was about.  I didn’t look at the synopsis or anything.  I knew it was book 3 in a series I love and had Myla on the cover looking all bad ass in her fighting suit and her dragon tail ready for action.  Once I was a few pages in I did go back and read the start which cleared up my confusion.  This book skips ahead and takes place 5 years from where Scala left off.  Once confirming I hadn’t missed anything important, like a novella, in there somewhere I was good to go once more.     We pick up the story with Myla and Lincoln married and splitting their time between Purgatory and Thrax, after all they are King and Queen.  They also have a little boy named Maxon, yes it looks like Myla’s inner lust demon was finally let out on Lincoln.  Things have been relatively good and drama free but Myla needs to put her fighting suit back on and fight her biggest battle yet, in Hell.  She'll face Armageddon, The King of Hell, himself when he kidnaps her son.  A war between the after-realms is emanate and will likely result in millions of lives lost.  So Myla devises her own plan, a small attack team to rescue her son and avoid war.

                Armageddon is another quick read from Ink Monster.  They are wonderful at packing a story full of all the good things but keeping the pacing moving along without a single slow spot so you sit down to read and get up when it's finished.  I love reading about Myla, she is such a kick ass character, literally she used to fight in the arena!  Now she has her Scala powers, and the power that comes from being a Queen of the Thrax and the daughter of the president of Purgatory.  She is also part fury demon and a mother and you don't mess with a mothers child and not deal with her wrath.  There is a lot going on in the story and at first the 5 year skip made me sad, so much stuff we missed, but then after thinking about it, doing this they had a different story to tell instead of risking any repeating.

Next book already has a cover!

                So there is plenty of non-stop action going on in the story, given.  There is also a new emotional attachment.  Myla and Lincoln are parents, which means carving out alone time for themselves between their busy schedules.  There is still great chemistry between those two and they are able to bring out the best in one another.  The plot of this story is fast paced and you are drawn quickly into the world once more, trying to figure out how Armageddon plans to get his hands on Myla and Lincoln's son and then how to get him back without playing into a trap. 

                I give this book 5 Igni easily and can't wait for the next one to come out.  If you like quick reads with great characters that get your heart racing, action, and suspense check out the Angelbound series.