August 08, 2011

Book Review #39: Paradox (The Angels Are Here)


Title: Paradox (The Angels Are Here).
Author: Patti Roberts.
Format: Paperback.
Pages: 172.
Series: Yes, #1.
Publisher: Patti Roberts.
Published Date: June 14, 2011.

Summary:

"Paradox Series: Spanning over centuries to the present day, this is a story about love, loss and betrayal. The horrifying discovery that nothing is as it seems. When there is nowhere left to run & letting go is your only choice.

Nine hundred years ago, under the complete cover of darkness, the Grigorian army rose silently from their underground lair and attacked the Bulguardian Royal Palace. The bloody and violent battle between the two most legendary houses raged on. All but destroying the majestic Royal City of Altair.

It was not the first war that Juliette had endured between good and evil. And it most certainly would not be her last.

Today, A little girl's world is turned upside down by a visitor,the Angel of Death. She finds herself trapped in a nightmare, consumed by her paralyzing loss and overwhelming grief. The haunting visions and untimely deaths of others are a constant reminder that life and death are only a heartbeat apart.

She eventually befriends the unusual little girl who moves in next door with captivating violet eyes and a profound knowledge of things that far exceeds her tender years.

A saga crossing over two worlds. Two souls being drawn precariously together over the centuries.

When your destiny has been written in blood, and you are left with one burning question. Is your Guardian Angel from Heaven or Hell?
"


Cover: 2/5

When starting my blog, I promised myself and my followers that I would always review books with my honest opinions, and if you've read my review policy it also states that I don't review books that I haven't finished or didn't like.

But in this case, there were things I really loved about this book and it's story line and things I thought were confusing!

So without further a do let's get started. The cover, I really like the idea of it. I'm confused about the heart, and the circle inside of it? I feel with a little more work this cover would be awesome.

If that heart was gone, if the actual title "The Angels Are Here" were bigger, and Paradox wouldn't be there I feel like the cover would be so much better. I love the forest in the background, it's creepy and dark.

I only gave this cover a two out of five, because it looks unfinished. The heart isn't edited in right, also the circle inside of it and the feather are very pixel-y.

Even though I rated this cover kind of low, I'm still interested in seeing the cover's of the rest of the series.

Characters-

Favorite:

In most books, you feel like you get to know the characters and become more familiar with them. But in The Angels Are Here, even after reading and finishing the book, I feel like the characters are strangers.

I feel like there are just so many loose ends that weren't tied, especially with Angela and her parents, Grace's father, officer Wade, and the people 1080 AD that you read about in the beginning and end of the book.

But I would have to pick Angela as my favorite character. Even though I don't know much about her, she seems smart and independent!(:

Least Favorite:

The people from 1080 AD. I'm not sure, but I think their all siblings. Abaddon, kisses his little sister Theria, they also have a older brother, who's soon marrying Pandora, who is at the end of the book naked with Abaddon, right before he has sex with Theria.

I felt like the relationship these people had, and all of these names were just really confusing. Everything went so fast!

Story Line:

When I first started reading this book, it started in 1080 AD, when you meet all of those characters I was telling you earlier about. I was so confused on who was who, and their relationships to each other. I felt like these characters should have been introduced a lot slower, and with more detail. Instead of only using one chapter to introduce five or six characters, it would have been better if it was stretched out within three or four chapters.

Then it goes to the future, and you meet a girl named Grace. I really like the middle part! I felt that the main idea of it was genius! But again a lot of details were left out, loose ends weren't tied and things became a bit confusing.

Grace, meets this new girl at school named Angela who she becomes best friends with. I really enjoyed reading and getting to know Angela, but again there wasn't much details on why she acted the way she did and what happened to her parents.

Throughout the middle of this book, Grace has visions or maybe even nightmares, where she becomes a different person. A different person, in a different time and location. Also I felt these "visions" were confusing and weren't really tied into the story.

The Angels Are Here, ended with the people from 1080 AD. Abaddon was just having sex with his brother's wife, when Theria, his little sister walked in. The story ended with them having sex.

My opinion on The Angels Are Here is that not only is it confusing but also too many ideas and things going on. Is it in the past? Or the present? There are too many characters, and Grace's visions don't connect to the story.

I felt a little over whelmed and kind of wanting more when I finished this book. If it were more organized, slower, more detailed, and everything made a bit more sense, I think this book would be A-Mazing.

The main idea of this book is great, but I feel that it wasn't interpreted very well:/

Even though, I'm not sure if I liked The Angels Are Here, I still want to read the second book. I want to see if everything makes more sense, and if things get better.

August 07, 2011

In My Mailbox #18 (VLOG!)



But I Love Him, by Amanda Grace.

"Sometimes at night, I wake up and stare at the heart for hours. I think of how I collected each piece from the beach, how I glued it all together into one big sculpture. I wonder if Connor realizes what it means, that he'll always have a piece of me no matter what happens. Each piece of glass is another piece of myself that I gave to him.
It's too bad I didn't keep any pieces for myself.
At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved - and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything - and everyone - in its path.
This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong."


Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

"Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything."


Bumped, by Megan McCafferty.

"When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.
Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common."


Tighter, by Adele Griffin.

"When 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Brilliantly plotted, with startling twists, here is a thrilling page-turner from the award-winning Adele Griffin."

August 06, 2011

The Lying Game: Behind the Scenes!

Here are some awesome behind the scenes videos I found, talking about the book, the show and the fashion!:D

The Book!



The Show!



The Fashion!

Reminder to Enter My Giveaway!

The seventeenth of August is coming up quick, which marks the last day of my SWAG giveaway! If you haven't entered make sure to do so! Yes, it's international!!:D

You can win some signed SWAG from Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder and The Desires of the Dead!

Two signed posters.
Two signed bookmarks.
One unsigned sticker!


Make sure to check out my sidebar (on the top right), to go to the original post!!

August 05, 2011

Book Review #38: Pretty Little Liars


Title: Pretty Little Liars.
Author: Sara Shepard.
Format: Paperback.
Pages: 286.
Series: yes, #1.
Publisher: Harper Teen.
Published Date: October 3, 2006.

Summary:

"Everyone has something to hide—especially high school juniors spencer, aria, emily, and hanna.
Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful.
But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.
How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and all the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling."


Cover: 4/5

Two things I really love about the covers from this series; the bright colors, and the way they look standing in my bookshelf. Their simple, clean and very eye catching!

Characters-

Favorite:

My favorite character in Pretty Little Liars, has to be Spencer. I know how it feels always being in the shadow of your over-achieving older sibling, and always feeling like you have to do better than them and prove yourself.

Even though, Spencer is very different from me, she's the one that I can compare to the most. Not like Hanna, who has problems with the way she looks, or Aria who loves someone she shouldn't, or even Emily who doesn't want to swim anymore.

Least Favorite:

I don't think I have a least favorite character, but sometimes people in the story did things that would frustrate me, and make me want to grab their shoulders and shake some sense into them!

Like Hanna and her "diet"! Why would you do that to yourself? If you want to lose weight, so it the old fashion way, go running or swimming. I think if she would have done that instead of making herself throw up, she would be a lot healthier and more confident.

Not only Hanna's situation made me feel anger, but a couple of other things too. Like the way Spencer's older sister acted, and the way Hanna wanted sex from Sean (her boyfriend).

Story Line:

During the seventh grade, Alison, Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily were all best friends and inseparable. But when Alison disappeared that year everything changed for these girls; did their dirty little secrets disappear along with Alison?

After Alison vanished it almost seemed like Hanna, Aria, Spencer and Emily had nothing in common, and started to drift apart, each having their own friends.

When Junior year of high school approached and Aria just moved back from Iceland, weird things start to happen. Weird things besides Hanna causing herself to throw up, Emily falling for the new girl at school, Spencer trying to out do her sister, and Aria kissing her English teacher.

I had a lot of fun reading Pretty Little Liars, and I can't wait to re-read the rest of the series too. What I really like is how different the four main characters are! Any teenage girl can read this book and be able to compare with at least one of this girls!

If you haven't read this series, and you like lots and LOTS of drama, or you just really love the show you should definitely check out the books! They have so much more detail and drama(:

*Sorry about not having a video up, my webcam was acting weird this morning. But I'll try again later!*

August 04, 2011

The Lying Game: Sneak Peaks!

If you've been keeping up with my blog this week, you know I'm having a small series of posts! Just little extras, and fun stuff about the new TV show The Lying Game, the book is written by Sara Shepard.

None of this stuff is mine, it just some cool little videos, info and pictures I found in magazines and online(:

Sneak Peak #1




Sneak Peak #2




Enjoy!