Destined & Dragon’s Oath Review

                Destined is the 9^th book in the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.  I started reading them around the time book 5 came out and read through the first 5 in 3 days while at work.  At the time I worked as a 911 dispatcher for my small town and let’s say at the time night shift was a whole lot of nothing which suited my reading habits finishing a book and a half a shift.  Since then I eagerly await each new book like everyone else.

                All of the books are great.  P.C. Cast is amazing I am completely in love with all of her series they astound me really the way she writes.  But let’s focus first on Destined.  I finished it last night and was as usual disappointed that I did because now yet again I must wait but it was a very good read.  I fell right back into the world of Zoey and her Nerd Herd and everyone else.  The characters are just as real as the very start of the series, some were even thankfully flushed out further. 

                The books are about a different form of vampire.  But to me they are more about light and dark, good and evil.  You can’t have all light or all darkness and so the two forces must battle in a way in each book.  This battle is told around a group of teens and their professors who could be young themselves or hundreds of years old giving a different prospective to things.  But my favorite part about these books as I’ve found in P.C.’s other works is the humor.  I will be reading and one of the characters will say something that just makes you stop reading you start to laugh so hard it hurts.  Overall it’s just a good time and a good read.

                Now onto Dragon’s Oath, which is a novella of sorts.  I read it today in a couple hours, it’s not long so my review will be brief.  In the original series we know Dragon as a professor at Tulsa House of Night and Warrior.  This book should not be read before book 8 or you will get a major spoiler and that is never any fun.  Anyways it is a story that has Dragon reflect upon his Marking, how you become a vampire is by being marked by a tracker with a empty blue crescent moon tattoo on your forehead, and through finding his one true mate and becoming the vampire he is in the series.  Very good but again read after book 8. 

                That’s about it but for everyone is isn’t 100% familiar with the order or the series here you go:

Marked

Betrayed

Chosen

Untamed

Hunted

Tempted

Burned

Awakened

(Dragon’s Oath-novella)

Destined

                I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes a any sort of mythology, vampire, supernatural type of story.  I am anxiously awaiting the next book which if I’m not mistaken is the next novella about another professor, and news that there may be a movie franchise coming.  If that is the case which I hope it is, I will be the first in line with my fake tattoo.



RTW: Writing Coach

Every Wednesday YA Highway ask a question Road Trip Wednesday which I was turned onto by reading a fellow writers blog Unavoidable Awkwardness by Laurie Dennison.  So I’m going to start taking part as often as I can because it’s just so much fun.

This weeks RTW question is What kind of writing coach do you need?  What kind are you?

                So this is my first ever question from RTW so here goes.  I need a coach who encourages me to write.  I write so much, between my fanfiction, my book, this blog which I am really enjoying, to now even some short stories, I always write but never seem to get far.  I do realize I write more for my fanfiction than my book but I think that has to do with simplicity.  It’s all about the story and not so much about grammar and tense and such.  I recently went back and read my first story in my fanfiction saga and it made me cringe how bad some of the stuff was written but thankfully the story was good enough to keep readers.  Along with simplicity I think I also lean towards that because I know I can write it and post it and I have people waiting on each chapter directly.  Instant gratification of comments and feedback always helps inspire.

               

                I have a good friend who is also writing her own book and for a couple years we try to encourage each other at everything be it writing or life.  I love to hear that she is enjoying the story and where it is going.  More importantly though she points out things that as a reader she questions.  I feel that a good writing coach is someone who will tell you the great things they love and the kind of feedback you as an author want but also tells you the bad or the just not there yet parts.  That way you know overall it’s good but it just needs some work.  I try to be that way with all those who have me read their work.  I start with the positive then add in the parts that made me as a reader think ‘that doesn’t make sense’. 

                So I think I just need someone as mentioned above but in my case also helps me stay on track and dedicate time to each of my writings and not to get stuck on one.  Signing off now to go work on a short story that came to me the other day when I couldn’t sleep. 

The Scorpio Races Review

          Okay so I just finished this book. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (http://maggiestiefvater.com/) was a new book she put out and has been intriguing readers about for a while. I was so excited to get it when it first came out because as you can tell from my love of her other books I knew this book would have all the things I love about her books in it. I’m ashamed to say it took me so long to read this book but every time I started to read something came up, and alas some things just can’t be put off to read a good book. I did get it when it first came out but had to finish reading a couple others books in a series I was already reading (and will be reviewing shortly).

          So the premise of this book is a horse race. Not just any horse race, The Scorpio Races which are deadly because they aren’t just any old horses but water horses. Water horses in Maggie’s tale are capall uisce, deadly creatures who are wild and come from the sea, they can be captured but at great risk as they also desire blood and will just as soon eat you. Amazing idea already right? I thought so.

          As in her Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Maggie does something I absolutely love. She changes POV throughout the story, stating who (between the 2 main characters) will be our focus, who’s head we’ll be inside. Our main characters are Kate ‘Puck’ Connolly and Sean Kendrick. Both or orphans and have never had any contact with one another. Sean lives for the races for his capall uisce in all but name, Corr. Sean has a way with all horses land or water and is somewhat of a legend having won the last 4 races. Puck on the other hand is the first female to enter ever, and once more she doesn’t do it for the obvious reasons, she doesn’t even want to race. You are drawn in by the characters and their desires and needs and what they are willing to do for them.

          The story was captivating and magical. I had such a hard time putting it down and when I was dragged away I made sure that I had it with me so I could sneak in a few pages here and there whenever I could. The funny thing about this book for me is that my mom and brother have had horses for years now and I would feed them when they needed me to or give them a treat but had never had the desire to ride. Reading about this book before it even came out made me want to learn to ride and I’ve started. So far I’ve been on one of the horses, Beauty, twice now. It was so much fun riding a horse while reading about people ridding and all the things that make it so real. I couldn’t help but notice all the things Maggie put in about the horses behavior. I will continue my riding lessons slowly, depending on my soreness, and learning more about them. So this is something the book has given to me, a new appreciation for the horses.

          I hope that anyone reading this review will check out this book. It offers so much. Wonderful characters you feel for, including the horses, a wonderful and enchanting tale but in a way that is completely grounded in reality. I give this book 5 stars. The only disappointment I found was when I reached the end and found there was no more of this terrific story.

Review of The Hunger Games

                So I’ve been wanting to review this series for a while now but was holding off waiting for my friend who was reading to finish.  But patience was never my strongest asset so here goes.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins get the highest ratings.  Way above 5 stars.  I was so enthralled in the whole series and literally counted down the days until the final book came out, which was 241 day after I finished the 2^nd book the day after Christmas.

               

                The Hunger Games, I had seen the book on display when I would walk by in Sam’s but never picked up.  Then one day a friend of mine told me how great it was.  We’d recommended books to one another before so I picked it up and read what it was about.  A world with 12 districts each getting worse off with District 12 being the lowest of the low, all centered around the Capitol.  Each year due to a previous uprising years and years ago each District must submit one male and one female tribute to the Hunger Games, a televised event where the tributes basically fight to survive and fight to the death in the arena where only one lives.  Dark.  Well the main character is Katniss Everdeen.  She is from District 12 and doesn’t want to be in the games but when he sister’s name is picked she volunteers.  Along with Katniss from District 12 you have Peeta, whom I completely adore.

                

                The first book is the run of the games.  From the moment they are selected through the training and the parading around that mirrors a bad reality TV for the Capitol, all the way through the games.  The books are violent, it is a fight to the death after all but there is so much more than that.  I was captivated, I couldn’t put the book down.  When I got the book the 2^nd book Catching Fire was already out so I got both, not wanting to have to wait when I finished one.  Well I started reading the first book Christmas Eve night and couldn’t put it down to sleep.  I eventually passed out on the book, having not slept for over 48 hours by then.  I was woke up bright and early…well dark and early since it was Christmas and my little brother had us up at 5am.  I made my sleepy way out to the couch with book in hand and continued to read through the opening of Christmas presents, when I wasn’t unwrapping I was reading.  After all was said and done I was still reading as my family cleaned up around me and prepared for my family to show up.  Me I was reading, I did manage to start to get ready for company but as they showed up I kid you not I heard my Aunt saying ‘Where’s Eve?’ I looked down and have 2 pages to go.  I finished them very quickly and then happily went to join everyone where I proceeded to talk about this book.

                If that isn’t enough high acclaim then let me tell you more about the story and not my obsession.  The world itself is creative and different but frighteningly real enough that you wonder could this really happen to us?  The characters all have their role to play and with the heroine Katniss you feel everything she is feeling all the pain, uncertainty, emotions, its amazing.  And Peeta, I already admit to adoring him but he is written in a way that made me fall in love with him.  He is kind and caring but also able to take care of some things.  There are other wonderful characters also such as Gale, Haymitch, Rue, and so many others with 24 tributes all with different traits and motives it gets pretty intense.

                At the end of Book 1 you want more.  I can’t really go into much about the other books because…well it would give them away and I’m anti-spoilers.  So let’s just say Catching Fire is just as good as Book 1.  Now if I am honest, Mockingjay (Book 3) was great and climatic but the end did feel a bit rushed.  I was perfectly okay with it but with how long it took to get certain things to that point…it all happened so fast but even though I wish it had been a bit longer and had a bit more in some parts it didn’t take away anything from the trilogy.  Overall, I highly recommend them to anyone and I hope they enjoy them as much as I have.  Also as a side note, they are making a movie on the series and The Hunger Games is set to open March 23, 2012.  I for one can’t wait and will be at the midnight showing for sure.  If you’re read them tell me what you thought in the comments please.

Double Standards

                Ever since I watched the movie What’s Your Number? I’ve been thinking about this topic but am just now putting thoughts to paper or really to screen.  Please let me start this post with this, these views are my personal opinion and I do not speak for anyone but myself and I do not mean to offend anyone with this.  Okay that said, the double standards between men and women.

                Does a number really matter?  I have met people who don’t care as well as those who think less of a person, in my experience always a woman, because she had a higher number than they thought was appropriate.  Let’s talk about that for a moment though shall we.  What is the appropriate number of lovers one should have by a certain age?  A very good guy friend of mine whom I discuss everything under the sun with gave me a pretty interesting  figure.  First let me say he doesn’t care about how many were before him as long as he isn’t compared to them, which I think is fair and I agree. 

                However, he also had a mathematical system for an estimate.  He said he assumes that you have 2 lovers a year since your 17^th birthday.  I’m 23 so he would assume I’d had approximately 12 lovers thus far.  No that is not my number by a long shot mine is substantially lower but I liked the math.  He also explained that for the general man, women might assume they are the same only maybe to be safe make it 3 a year.  He doesn't mean to say that there are two lovers in every year. He explains that looking at the whole picture, both the long and short relationships balance the numbers. I found this intriguing.

                This is probably a touchy subject for most people especially as I live in the south and am non-religious but why does it matter?  No I’m not condoning the ways of many of the people I went to high school with who came to class on Monday talking about how drunk they’d gotten and hooked up with.  It was always a different guy every time I heard them.  I think that may have been a bit young to start that way of life but I do not judge.  The issue I took with those girls (come on everyone had those girls at their school) was they would do all of that then put down others for something so minor in retrospect.  Anyways I myself don’t care what a person’s number is or have any expectations of their number because frankly it’s no one’s business as long as they were safe. 

                Aside from if you care or don’t care about a person’s number let’s face it social media has portrayed it in a way that makes it so much more acceptable for a man than a woman.  I know there are plenty of examples on both sides but even in those the woman is 9 out of 10 times judged more harshly than the man.  Why is this?  Men are almost expected to be ‘horn dogs’, to borrow a phrase from my mother.  Something scientific we’ve all heard or read at one point that men think about sex ‘x’ amount of times a…minute, hours, day.  Okay that may be true but there are also studies that show women can be just as sexually driven.  Those women who have many different lovers are by many considered promiscuous or slutty and I’ve heard men say they would surely sleep with a woman like that but never be in a relationship. 

               

                What’s my point?  Everyone has their opinions and I’m not trying to change any one’s minds.  I just honestly want to know why the double standard?  I would love to hear the thoughts of anyone who reads this and is willing to share.  Why do men both in real life and social media (books, TV/movies) get away without harsh judgments’ where women don’t?

Review of The Maze Runner Trilogy

Review of The Maze Runner Trilogy

                Another book trilogy to review; I just finished the last book in the set today.  The books are The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner (http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/mazerunner/index.php & http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/).  I loved these books they are different than anything else I have read lately.  The story is about a unknown world in which you show up in a elevator shaft and have no memories accept your name. 

               

                Dashner created a whole new world with it’s own vocabulary/language which I found amusing and creative.  I even confess to using a few of the words now and again in real life conversations.  I usually get strange looks when I do so before I tell those shanks about this trilogy and that they have to read it.  The world of the Maze is all The Gladers know and they are bound to survive and figure out its mysteries.  There is danger of course.  If you don’t make it back inside the walls before the gates close you’re left outside the walls in the maze with the horrible creatures called Grievers. 

                So I can’t give too much away but The Maze Runner is the first book in a set of three that work to tell a very interesting tale.  Throughout all books you have this wonderfully written world that is horrifying but yet still the characters can bring laughter to the reader in moments of levity.  The confusion the characters, who might I add have some very memorable names, feel throughout the series is great.  There is always something happening and starting in Book 2 The Scorch Trials, and through the final book  The Death Cure there is a constant battle between right/wrong, madness/sanity, friends/enemies and who falls into which category.

                Through the books Thomas, our main character is made to face some pretty serious things and I frankly had a hard time putting my book down and an even harder time waiting between books.  I think anyone who likes intrigue, adventure, action stories will love this series.  I give it 5 stars.

Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy Review

                Okay ladies and gents today’s blog post will be a review of an entire trilogy.  The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater (her page http://maggiestiefvater.com/  and the direct link for the trilogy http://maggiestiefvater.com/shiver/ ).  Don’t worry as per usual I will try my best to not give away anything that will spoil them as I am against spoilers.  I am not one to read the end of a book before I read it through, I don’t know how those people manage.  I can’t even conceive of reading books out of order, the idea is bonkers to me.

                I absolutely adore these books.  I give them 5 stars easy.  I will admit that many times I find books because well I’m a cover whore.  If I see a cover that catches my eye and I think is interesting I’ll read the description and this caught my eye.  White with a silvery blue design of branches, leaves, and a wolf with a blood spot as the dot over the i was well for lack of a better term, pretty.  Then reading the inside I was intrigued and bought it. 

                I was hooked I read through it in under a day.  I couldn’t put it down.  Sam & Grace were so well developed and so well written that I couldn’t help but fall in love with them.  The different mythology of werewolves in this trilogy versus any other I’ve seen was very compelling.  Aside from Sam and Grace you have many more characters throughout the trilogy, the story focuses on Sam and Grace but does a wonderful job of flushing out many other story lines for other supporting characters, Beck, Isabel, and Cole to name a few.

                The stories in all three are very well thought out and written in a way that almost sings.  It was only after reading Shiver that I found out the author also works with music.  Also as a side note, she has posted a list of songs that helped inspire certain scenes, I highly recommend listening after you read.  All three books work towards basically the same goal but each book has their own leg in the race to get to the finish that is Forever. 

                I have recommend these books since I first read Shiver and will continue to do so as I still re-read them over and over again.  The best part for any of you wanting to read them, they are all out.  Me, read the first one and was so happy then found there was a sequel coming, in a year of course.  I waited then got it and read it the day it came out and sigh yet again had literally an entire year to wait before the final book came out but it was well worth the wait.

                So now I leave you with the words in the cover that made me buy this book and hope this will encourage you to read them as well.

the cold.

                Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house.  One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—watches back.  He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn’t know why.

the heat.

                Sam has lived two lives.  As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves.  And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace…until now.

the shiver.

                For Grace and Same , love has always been kept at a distance.  But once it’s spoken, it cannot be denied.  Sam must fight to stay human—and Grace must fight to keep him—even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.