The Golden Lily

                Well I finally got to finish this book.  It took me for longer than it should have.  Now, that is no fault of the book, it was everything I expected and more.  This is the fault of my crazy schedule.  Yep, real life interfering in my reading, writing, movie watching time, how rude.  Seriously though I hope to get things settled down and back in the swing of things now that I’m officially in my new place.  By officially I mean I’m sitting with my laptop surrounded by boxes. 

                Anyways, enough with me more on the amazing book.  The Golden Lily, by Richelle Mead is the sequel to Bloodlines, the first book in the spin-off series of the Vampire Academy books.  As per usual, my reviews contain as little spoilers as possible for the book/movie in question, however, there will be spoilers for the prior stories so you have been warned.

               

                The Golden Lily takes places directly after Bloodlines and has our little gang returning.  Sydney is pushed further into a world she has spent her whole life training for.  She has grown rather fond of her ‘family’ at Amberwood and if she thinks about it too hard the though unnerves her.  Her whole life she was brought up to believe that Mori and Strogi are evil and bad.  She has come to slowly realize that everyone, Alchemists and humans alike can be just as bad.

                In this tale there is a new threat to their covert life.  This book has more of our dear socially ignorant Sydney still trying to learn the ways of ‘normal’ teenage life.  She’s brilliant and beautiful but doesn’t see it in herself.  She is completely insecure like more other people in school, hell in life.  There is also more of our favorite young guardian Eddie and even more about our new guardian that was briefly mentioned at the end of Bloodlines, as she takes over as Jill’s roommate, Angeline.  There is of course the crazy teacher we got to learn was really more than she let on.  Trey, Sydney’s friend who also supplies her with her favorite substance, coffee.  Also at the end of Bloodlines, we had the arrival of Sonya and Dimitri to work on experimenting with spirit magic and see what makes reformed Strogi different.  Much to Adrian’s dislike.

                Now you thought I’d forgotten about Adrian didn’t you?  Nope not a chance.  I adore Adrian.  He’s such a great and complex character you can’t help but enjoy.  Now don’t get me wrong I loved him in The Vampire Academy books but I was always 100% for Rose and Dimitri, I couldn’t help myself.  I liked him yeah but Dimitri and Rose had captured my heart before he came along.  Anyways, we do get much more Adrian in The Golden Lily.  We get the good and the bad.  One of the things I love most about him is that he is so complex.  He can be completely sweet and adoring one minute and a complete ass the next, all while battling with the darkness that accompanies his gift of being a spirit user.

                This book is so complex I hated every single time something came up and I was forced to put the book down.  The mysteries that unravel and the thrills wrapped up in the perfect balance of romance and drama was a captivating read.  I easily give this book 5 stars, my only regret is that, as usual with all good books I read it seems, I must wait for the next one to find out more.  So if you haven’t read The Vampire Academy series and the first Bloodlines book then you need to get on it right away.  Already read them?  Tell me what you think.  Now off to go unpack a few more boxes before work.

The Dark Knight Rises

               

                Okay so I was super stoked to see this at the midnight showing Thursday night and I would have posted before now but I was feeling rather irritable with the AC not working yesterday and not even remembering the joy that was the midnight showing could not help.  Now here I am though with my review.

                So for those of you who live under a rock The Dark Knight Rises, is the 3^rd and final movie in the Dark Knight series.  So…if you by some great miracle haven’t seen the others yet (shakes my head in disbelief) then be wary there will be spoilers for the first 2 movies.  Now for those of you who just haven’t seen Rises yet then don’t worry I won’t give away any major spoilers.  I promise.  Ask anyone who has known me for any amount of time and tried to get a spoiler from my lips…not happening*.

                Now this movie picks up 8 years after The Dark Knight where Batman takes the blame for Dent’s final demented acts to preserve his reputation and keep the faith everyone had in him.  He became the monster the city needed him to be.  The years have not been good on Bruce either as he also lost someone he cared for.  Then a new force comes to Gotham and Batman is needed once again.

                Yep, you guess it.  Bane.  Now I won’t lie I knew there was something familiar about Bane from the posters but honestly I never looked to see who the actor was.  Then just as I was sitting to write my review I had to make sure it was Bane and not Bain, can’t have that, I found out it is Tom Hardy.  Wow had no idea but now I see the similarities once I knew it.  Anyways, Bane was awesome in his bad ass way.  He was a cool foe and let me just say that mask thing really added to the creep factor.  He was everything that a good bad guy should be to me, he was strong, dangerous, smart, and oh so psychotic.

                Now Bane wasn’t the only great performance.  Nope we have new faces of Catwoman and Blake played by Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  Now my old favorites are there too like Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Fox and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, wonderful group.  And if I need to say it as well then well…Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, though I think that goes without saying. 

                Now the story in this isn’t completely about Batman.  Like the others there are multiple story lines going on that meld into one larger story.  Now this movie runs at almost 3 hours and I never felt bored.  There was gripping stuff, tear jerking moments, and the amazing action we come to know and expect.  The cool gadgets of Batman continue from Fox’s special department.  Yes the story continues to unravel and you see things from the other two films tie into this one.  There are twists and turns and great shocks and action throughout the journey and I had a blast. 

                Let’s see great acting, check.  Amazing story, check.  What else?  Oh so much and I could write for a long time about this but I think I will leave it with just one more thing.  The look.  The look of everything on there was so amazing visually.  I do admit, and my movie partner in crime (one of them anyways) pointed out that this movie wasn’t as dark as the others having more daylight stuff.  This is true but it did give a new feel to Gotham.  A new way to see things.  Plus the actions, the explosions (come on what would a movie be without explosions), and chases so much fun to watch.  I think they have a home run.

                The only thing I will say about the ending of the movie was that I find it fitting.  See I managed to make it through a whole review without any real spoilers.  If you didn’t know something I put then you clearly didn’t watch the first two movies or seen the previews.  Now I suggest you go out and see this movie ASAP and then tell me what you think.  I can’t wait to see it again, and look forward to when it comes out on DVD and I can do a Dark Knight marathon.  With that I end this review with my rating of 5 Bat signals in the sky.

Rating: 5 Bat Signals

*Yes I have to amend this as two friends of mine did manage to get a spoiler out of me once.  To be fair it was a reward if they could solve a puzzle.  So yes once I did.

Magic Mike and Brave

                So as promised more movie reviews.  The other day I went and saw a double feature of Magic Mike, the movie about male strippers, and Disney’s Brave.  Yes, they are an odd pairing to be sure but hey this is my head we are talking about. 

                First was Magic Mike.  So if you know anything about this movie you know it is centered around male strippers.  There is a plot yes, but I freely admit I went for the eye candy.  Yep, all those movies that have women objectified for males to ogle at…this one is for the ladies.

                Now as for those pretty things I mentioned seeing…those would be Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, Matt Boomer, and Adam Rodriguez.  I have to admit they all have some moves.  Primarily the movie is about Tatum and Pettyfer but the others still get some memorable air time.

                But for the plot it is about Mike, a stripper who wants to do more with his life but is waiting on things to fall in line.  He meets The Kid, who he then takes under his wing in a sense and shows him how he can make his way.  The Kid brings both good and bad into Mike’s world and makes him take a harder look at what is going on around him.  That is the story.

                Nothing too deep but then like I said I didn’t go in expecting to see something nominated for an Emmy.  So if you liked the previews, and you have all seen them, then you will enjoy the movie.  It made me laugh and smile so hey it was a good time.  So I give it a 4.5 rating for being everything I expected.

Rating: 4.5 Handcuffs (I couldn’t resist)

                Now onto the second movie I saw, Brave.  Now this is the Disney Pixar film about a new kind of Princess.  Yep it’s animated and even I can see the twisted sort of head case I am to watch this after Magic Mike but then again I never claimed to be anywhere near normal.  I can switch just that quick.

                Now Brave, is about Princess Merida with her crazy out of control red locks and her stubborn defiance to be the proper lady.  Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty (in case the whole Princess thing didn’t give that away).  Merida makes a reckless choice trying to change her fate and unleashes unintended peril.  She must then fix her own mistake and take action to right the wrong and learn that to change your fate, you must take control of your destiny.

                So this movie is totally ubber cute.  I was giggling with the other little kids in the theatre.  I do admit I was the oldest person there without a small child at my side…my little kid is inside me ready to burst out at any moment.  Anyways back to the movie, it is cute and I have to say I love the accents.  The settings were beautiful and it had the true Disney vibe for me.  Plus I love Merida for her strength.  She isn’t the damsel in distress like so many others she is strong and a true force of nature and that is also a liability.  Plus she does archery and I have to admit the part of me that is still so craving to see The Hunger Games again was totally thinking how she would be good in the games. 

                This is a family movie for anyone really.  Let your inner kid run free and go see this movie.  I do warn you if you have estrogen it will probably act up on you and get you a bit mushy at parts.  I warn you to bring a tissue.  So without much more, I give it a full 5 for the rating because hello Disney cartoon, Scottish accents, magic, strong female character, action, self discovery, oh and a great soundtrack, need I say more?

Rating:  5 Arrows

                So there you have a much long overdo movie review.  I hope to be making more reviews for both movies and books again here soon.  In the mean time as usual tell me what you think?  Have you seen Magic Mike or Brave?  Share your thoughts below.

Time Management

               Okay so wow it has been kinda crazy as of late for me.  I used to think I had a fairly descent grip on the whole time management thing.  Then you become unemployed and well you have nothing but free time.  Everything can always be done tomorrow.  That’s what happened to me.  Then I got a new job.

                I like having my new job, don’t get me wrong but it is surprisingly harder than I thought to readjust.  I figured I would just be able to roll with the punches so to speak but sadly it is not so easy.  I haven’t been writing on my book and my fanfic is coming along slow.  Okay that’s a lie, it’s there it’s just when I’m in front of the computer and can type I have other things to do or my mind is elsewhere.  I am not doing as well in my reading as I’d have liked to be and it’s hard because I have so many wonderful books that I am dying to read and they are just sitting there on my shelf or on my kindle waiting. 

                Now what do you ask is the reason for this post?  Well first it’s to say I haven’t disappeared.  Really, I’m still here.  Promise.  I might not be posting very regularly but that is because I’m not watching new movies or reading/finishing books as quickly as before because of everything else.  Though I hope you will all stick around.  I plan to have a movie or book review for you in the next day or so.  However, this post was to talk about time management. 

                Do you really manage time or does it manage you?  I have been putting a lot of thought into this while I’m driving to and from my job.  I have 30-50 minutes one way (depending on weather and traffic) and these are the kind of things that occur to me.  So I am taking suggestions from anyone willing to give advice.  How do you make everything in your day run smoothly and still find time for the pleasure of things? 

                My plan right now is to get a regular schedule down and just stick with it.  I just have to figure out everything I was doing and find ways to fit it all in to better time periods.  No more reading until 4am then sleeping all day…but I can still read.  I get breaks and I always have my kindle with me, never know when you might have 5 extra minutes to read.  Though usually at work on breaks there is too much going on to read, I have people to talk to or e-mails and text’s to respond to. 

                The funny thing is that while I’m at work or driving, when I’m not able to write things down I have some great ideas for my writing.  I know I have tried putting them in my phone but I’m trying to be better with the whole using cell phone while driving thing.  Maybe I’ll locate my old digital recorder.  I could record my thoughts, oh wow that might be dangerous, and then work on them at home.  There is that I suppose but then again anyone who’s ever received a voicemail from me can attest to just how random and convoluted they are. 

                Though I have been looking into moving closer to my current job, and everything else really.  That should save time and even save me a bit of money in gas.  I’ve worked the numbers, and even my dad gives it his approval.  I am still only slightly offended that he doubted my math but hey it felt nice to have a second opinion.  Now I just have to make sure the place I’m looking at is good.  Don’t want any surprises.  I know I need to do something because I am sick of feeling so drained all the time.  Plus, my writing has taken a huge hit.  I really can’t even remember the last time I wrote on my WIP and my fanfic is coming along slowly…

                So how do you all find time in the day to get everything done?  Do you have schedules? 

Wilde’s Army Krystal Wade

                So I have to say I have been kinda MIA as of late.  Ironically enough I was working on a post about time management and an update about me but well…I couldn’t do much of anything until I finished this book.  So it looks like you will get that another time.  Right now…my review of the ARC of KrystalWade’s Wilde’s Army curtsey of NetGalley.com and Curiosity Quills Press.

                I was so excited when I got my approval to read the ARC of this book I made a slightly embarrassing squeal in the break room of my job.  First thing I did when I got home the other day was download the book to my beloved kindle.  I pretty much read it last night until my eyes hurt and begged for a rest from reading and today.  Yep I finished it!  Yay!

                Now for those of you who don’t know this amazing book is the sequel to Wilde’s Fire (click to go to my review) so there will be spoilers in this one pertaining to book 1.  So be warned.    First, look at that cover.  So pretty, I still prefer the blue of the first one but this one really captures the essence of what they are. 

                In Wilde’s Army, Kate finds her love, her family and everyone else she has grown to love gone.  All but one, Perth the man she’s been traded to marry for a favor.  She must listen to the god’s guiding her and form a tentative partnership with this man everyone has warned her about.  Finding and rescuing the ones she love is only half the battle they still must make it to Willow Falls and face a different kind of danger.  Danger of their own kind because they take seriously the promise that was made, Kate to marry Perth, and her love for another could cost many their lives.  Oh and if that isn’t enough of a problem she has to unite the people who have hated one another for far too long and form an army willing to fight for her.  Yep she has a lot to face, and when everything appears stacked against her she must find out if she is still the same girl, the Light, the girl with fire.

                Well now there is a lot of stuff happening in this book and it just flies right by.   No dragging.  Full of action or conflict or just good stuff.  There is the return of our romance, sigh.  Arland is so dreamy.  We also get to learn more about Perth which I really enjoyed.  I got glimpses of him in the first book that made me think there was more to him than what the other characters said and I am pleased with that.  It was very interesting how he is portrayed.  Not really bad but struggling to be good in his own way.

                The world of Encardia is ever growing.  We learn more about the world as a whole.  The daemons and Darkness that lurk around every corner.  The whole world is explained a little more.  I got to understand more about the history of the world and how things were ran.  A look behind the curtain so to speak.  In book 1 we hear about some characters and Leaders and such but you don’t really get how they work but in this you are in the thick of it and the politics of even a dying world.  This plays well with Kate and her growth.  She has to face horrors at pretty much every turn but she has to grow as an individual.  She grew in the first book by accepting who she is and what she can do as well as love.  That continues in this book, she is more confident.  She understands herself better, her power, and what she must do.  She struggles throughout wondering what she should do and if what she wants to do is what is right and that to me makes it great.  Yes she is growing more powerful in her understanding but she also has her moments, she can’t save everyone all the time.  She is powerful but she is not completely all powerful.  She can be hurt.

                The struggles each character goes through… is tough.  Knowing your prophecy doesn’t mean you know much of anything really.  Those who know things are not always willing or able to share them.  Then again some don’t know their purpose and that can be even more frustrating.  Her mother has kept things from her all her life and still doesn’t tell her everything.  Everyone always seems to know more about her life than she does at times and that frustrates her to no end and I can relate to that.  Trust is hard to give.  It’s even harder to rebuild.  What do you do when someone you trust tells you one thing but your gut says another? 

                This book is full of magic.  If you liked the first book even half as much as I did then you will love this book.  Again my only complaint is that I have to wait for more.  Yes, I am greedy like that.  Though I must admit this is the shortest time I’ve ever waited for a sequel, I just hope I that does not mean I have to wait even longer for the 3^rd book.  So there you have it folks, 5 starts according to me.  Wilde’s Army comes out July 4^th. 

The Raven Boys­ Trailer

                So this is just a quick post about a book trailer.  Now this isn’t just any book trailer to get excited about but this book comes out the week after my birthday.  Okay so that’s not a real reason every one should excited I just happen to be a bit partial to that one.  This book is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.  Yep and not only does she write awesome books, she is also an artist and musician.  Talk about multi talented.  Maggie uses her other talents to create an awesome trailer for this book and haunting music to accompany it.  So I implore you to check it out.

Burn Mark by Laura Powell

                It seems like forever since I’ve finished a book.  Bright side is my new job is pretty cool so I can’t complain too much about it cutting into my reading/writing time.  So on  my lazy Saturday I finished the last half of Burn Mark by Laura Powell that I received as an ARC from NetGalley.com and Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

                In a modern world where witches are hunted down and burned at the stake two people who have lived completely different lives find they have more in common than they ever would have thought.  Glory is from a family of witches, and prays every day that she will develop the ‘Fae’ and become a witch herself.  Lucas on the other hand is son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition, a long line of Inquisitors for that matter.  His privileged life is completely different from the witches he has been raised and trained to prosecute.  Then one day, both Gloria and Lucas develop the Fae.  In one day their lives are changed forever and they start on a path that will entwine their lives together.

                So first let me say that this book does have some random terminology I was unfamiliar with, authentic slang from London I guess and I liked it.  I only mention it because I did do a quick good search to be sure that my understanding of a couple of words were correct, and they were so go me, so it’s nothing that will detract from the book in the least, I felt if anything it made it more authentic.  I will say that the versions of witches in this book is more elemental.  No simple phrase or thought and things happen, there is real work to do it.  I liked how gritty and complex it was.  For me it made it more realistic and not hyped up.  Fantasy but with limits.  Though I will say I don’t think I’d be practicing my Fae as I’m a slight germaphobe, but even as I cringed I enjoyed the way they had to do the work to make things.

                Character wise I liked Gloria and Lucas.  They are like two sides of a coin.  Gloria is tough and rough around the edges where Lucas is proper and refined.  They rub against each other and create this great tension and as a reader you are see both their sides and can understand them both.  I loved seeing things from both of their viewpoints.  I constantly felt myself being pulled to one side then the other over and over again with who I felt was right.  Seeing two characters who are so clearly different have to work together and eventually grow to understand the other slightly better while never really changing their core beliefs was amazing.

                Now the characters really sold me but they wouldn’t have been nearly as good without a great plot and let me tell you this one was stimulating.  A plot abound with undercover operations, mystery, intrigue and secrets galore.  I think the plot moved along very nicely pacing everything so as a reader you are always interested and not wanting to put the book down.  For me I’d finish a chapter and then think, just one more then to sleep.  Then that one chapter turned into four or five…  A good mix of suspense, action, and inner self development if you ask me.

                I give this book a solid 5 Stars.  Now this great book is set to come out June 19^th and I suggest you check it out.  Would you side with the witches or the Inquisitors?  Would developing the Fae be a blessing or a curse?  Let me know what you think?