*The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Where I Got the Book: I have two copies actually--one pre-ordered from Amazon for Christmas and one from when my husband went Hanklerfishing at Kroger!


In Short: true love on borrowed time, cancer


I hesitated on beginning this book because I had been feeling a little down and so many people talked about how the book made them cry that I didn't want to make my mood worse. Also, right around the time I received my copy a relative of mine died from the cancer infecting his brain.


Hazel is a sixteen year old girl residing in Indiana whose lungs don't work due to the civilization cancer had established with in them. (Gah! I so don't want to type much more than this because I feel like everything past the first chapter would contain spoilers. That's how much I love this book! I view any and all info on it as a spoiler!) Through a forced attendance to a support group she meets Augustus Waters who is in remission--i.e. cancer is gone currently, but we won't say you're really cancer-free unless you stay that way for a few years. From the first support group meeting they click and the romance grows from there.

The obstacles Hazel and Augustus (sometimes called Gus) face are: not being defined by their cancer, fulfilling wishes, and maintaining dignity while the body is doing its best to fall apart. That's all I'm going to say about this because of a previous reason stated within a parenthesis.

I really did love this book and how real all of the characters became to me. I literally started yelling at John Green (who of course wasn't in the room) that such and such COULD NOT happen while caught up in the story. I even stopped reading twice and tweeted at him about two pages that made this not-easily-emotion-invoked reader to cry. (I will not reveal which pages--that is unless you read the tweets.) I will admit that I didn't understand everything within the first read, but that's the point of subsequent readings. You hold the story in your heart, you grow, come back to it again at another time, and then notice things you didn't before or understand something you rushed through earlier in your quest to find out what happens next.

Red Flags: Language. The first curse word you encounter is on the third page of the story and it will not be the last one. I think this book is a pretty realistic representation of teenagers--and yes, a great deal of them use profanity. There is also a depiction of some more-than-kissing displays of affection and implied sex. If you are someone who really can't enjoy a novel because of these red flags, you may not want to try it. But if you're able to accept them, look past them, or not be bothered by them at all I emphatically encourage you to read this book. Seriously.

Grading
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Originality: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 50/50

Tidbits
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Original Release Date: January 10, 2012
Two ways to increase the dosage of John Green in your life:

• YouTube Channel
• Important Video to Watch
• Twitter: @realjohngreen

And The Winner Is....

Sorry we went a little AWOL!  But better late than never, right? ;) Anywho, hopefully we'll be back in the game during summer, and can chug along even later.

Without further ado, the winner of a copy of The Fairy Tale Trap is....

Rebecca!

Thanks to our wonderful contributor, and, of course, to Emily Casey for her donation!

Stay tuned, readers, for more lovely chic nerdiness coming your way!

Fast Facts on Author Emily Casey

Fast Facts is a series focusing on authors, artists, musicians--anyone who creates something we enjoy--by presenting YOU, the reader, with some quick, fun little facts you never knew about them, or even find out what kind of things our talented artists recommend.  Notes from the Nerdette is honored to present our very first edition of Fast Facts with author Emily Casey!

General Facts
Name: Emily Casey
Claim to Fame: Author of The Fairy Tale Trap

Books
Favorite Book of All-Time: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Favorite Book Series of All-Time: Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Favorite Childhood Book: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Last Book Read: The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

Movies and Music
Favorite Movie: Ever After
Favorite Movie Series: Back to the Future
Favorite Music Artist: Muse
Writing Music: Muse, Taylor Swift, Enya, How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack

Writing (and when there is a lack thereof)
Writing Tips: First drafts need to be messy; Write every chance you get!
Non-Writing Pastimes: Gardening, Twitter, Running

The Fairy Tale Trap Blog Tour Giveaway!

Notes from the Nerdette is very proud to announce our very first contest--as well as our very first time as one of the legs of a blog tour for an author!  Thank you, Emily Casey, who is generously donating her eBook, a young adult fantasy novel entitled The Fairy Tale Trap, to the winner of our contest!

Basic contest rules:

1. In order to enter, simply fill out this form.
2. DO NOT send multiple copies of the form.  If you have made a mistake on the form, simply contact us at notesfromthenerdette (at) gmail (dot) com, and we will amend the problem for you.
3. If you do multiple entries (e.g., more promoting of the giveaway) after submitting the form, likewise simply email us and you will be given the multiple entries (provided, of course, you supply evidence for your entries).
4. The contest ends on FEBRUARY 2, 11:59 PST (exactly in two weeks' time).  All entries made or submitted after that time will not be included.
5. Contest winner will be selected purely at random by Random.org's random number service.
6. Contest winner will be announced on February 3.
7. If you are the winner of the contest, we will send you an email, but YOU MUST REPLY TO IT WITHIN ONE WEEK (the e-mail will be sent on February 3, and we must hear from you by February 10, 11:59 PST).  If we do not hear from you then, we will pick another winner.  The one-week reply rule applies to ALL winners chosen, whether the first, second, third, et cetera.
8. Affiliates with Notes from the Nerdette ARE allowed to enter, but will be given absolutely NO advantage.
9. If you choose to link our contest or promote it in any way, you MUST include a link.  WE WILL BE CHECKING.  If an entrant submits a link to their promotion and does not have the promotion up, that entry will be voided.

How To Get Multiple Entries:

1. Answer the question: "What is your favorite fairy tale/folk tale/myth?"
2. Dedicating an ENTIRE blog post to promoting Notes from the Nerdette (stating its mission and such, or even interviewing one of us contributors--worth five entries!)
3. Promoting Notes from the Nerdette or the giveaway in any way other than a whole blog post (linking, tweeting/retweeting, tumblring, facebooking, et cetera).  Please make sure that your link is not set to private and is visible to us.
4. Following @NerdetteNotes, @EmilyCaseysMuse, @IvyThornBooks or any of NftN's contributors' Twitter accounts.
5. Friending Emily Casey on Goodreads or liking her Facebook page--or even friending Ivy Thorn!
6. Commenting on an Emily Casey or The Fairy Tale Trap-related post that is on Notes from the Nerdette (two entries! and make your comment thoughtful! these posts, as of now, will be forthcoming)
7. Commenting on any non-Emily Casey or The Fairy Tale Trap-related post on Notes from the Nerdette. (make a thoughtful comment, please; one entry per comment but try not to totally spam posts ;) )
8. Following Notes from the Nerdette (see the sidebar on the side).
9. Any other form of promotion--just give us proof!

Good luck to all of you!  Any questions should be directed to admin Jacqueline at notesfromthenerdette (at) gmail (dot) com.

Want to keep following along on Emily's blog tour?  Head over to Angela Scott's Whimsy and Writing tomorrow!

Also, stay tuned: find out Emily Casey's pop culture recommendations tomorrow (she has really good taste!)!

*The Fairy Tale Trap by Emily Casey

Where I Got the Book From: Author gave me code to receive a free eBook via Smashwords

In Short: adventurous, funny, heartwarming

If you know me well, I have a penchant for retold fairytales.  Honestly, who doesn't?  The story telling formula of girl meets boy, one (or both) of whom is royalty, and girl and boy fall in love is so universal and speaks to everyone in some way--in fact, it is so ubiquitous and so close to the heart of every human being, that, after mankind got tired of compiling such stories in the nineteenth century, it started making its own spins on them, changing and tweaking or even adding onto them during the twentieth century and lasting well into the twenty-first century.  Hey, Disney made a whole franchise out of it.  So it seems fairy tale retelling is here to stay.

And a good thing, too.  If fairy tale retelling didn't exist, we wouldn't have a stash of soundtracks from Disney flicks (ssshhhh....).  Gail Carson Levine, Robin McKinley, and Shannon Hale wouldn't know what to write (well, okay--they're geniuses, and they've written non-fairy tale retellings before, so they'd still figure out something, but imagine a world with no Ella Enchanted or The Goose Girl!  Take that and sing it, John Lennon).  Drew Barrymore would have been out of work in 1997 when she could have been filming Ever After.  And don't even get me started on other writerly folks like Jessica Day George and Juliet Marillier.

But thankfully, there are fairy tale retellings.  And we will never tire of them.  So when I heard about Emily Casey's The Fairy Tale Trap, the premise of the book definitely appealed to me.  What fun!  A "Beauty and the Beast" (my second favorite fairytale--the first is "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" which is basically the same thing but with a polar bear and lots and lots of snow) retelling, but with a modern-day girl thrown into the story.

The heroine, Ivy Thorn, is a military brat just trying to settle into the home she and her mother have just moved into while waiting for her father to return home.  But moving is the least of Ivy's problems--when she's thrown into the tale of "Beauty and the Beast" against her will by a completely creepy and almost dictatorial pixie, things can only turn out to be more complicated.  A mysterious spell, the enchanted prince (enchanted meaning, of course, in beast form), and the eponymous pretty gal continue to haunt Ivy as she makes her way through the tale, seemingly for the pure enjoyment of the pixie who just loves to throw monkey wrenches into the story to make the situation all the more twisted for Ivy.

The Fairy Tale Trap could be easily described as a mixture of Enchanted (but set backwards, with a twenty-first century girl thrown into a fairytale) and Spirited Away, with its strong female lead who must use her strengths if she wants to return home.  (Both are fabulous movies, by the way, if you've never seen either.)  I'm usually very critical when authors of fiction write novels about characters thrown into odd situations, as quite often, writers fall into the "that-character-would-never-think-or-act-like-that" or "things-would-never-work-out-that-way" follies of literature.  However, Ms. Casey did a wonderful job portraying not only Ivy's emotions, but also how a young girl not too keen on fairy tales would react to being practically kidnapped and tossed into the plot of one.  Ivy is a character readers will root for, as she's strong, smart, and, dare I say it, snarky (we love snark!).  Ms. Casey is at the moment writing the follow-up to this novel, and I'm eager to find out what will become of dear Ivy!  (As a side note: hooray for a person-of-color starring in a fantasy novel, much less a fairy tale retelling!  As a POC myself, I find it pretty rare to find them in YA--so kudos to Ms. Casey for making Ivy one!)

Red Flags: This was a very clean book--a bit of blood mentioned once, and a few (rather comical) scenes regarding bodily functions (maybe not a good idea to eat while reading those! ;) ), but otherwise completely clean.

Grading
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 8/10
Originality: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 47/50

Tidbits
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Middle Grade Fiction, Fantasy
Fun Links:

• Official Emily Casey website and blog
• Book trailer for The Fairy Tale Trap
• Sample pages from the first chapter

*The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Where I Got the Book: Christmas present from my sister who purchased it from Amazon

In Short: dual point of view, character delving, chilling

I was really excited to begin this book. I had read all of Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy and had enjoyed the romance and the myth woven together. What can I say? I'm a fantasy girl. Also, shortly after its release the book was optioned to become a movie (IMDb shows it in development with a release date of 2015). The Scorpio Races, however, was nothing like that trilogy, however, still really enjoyable.

Kate "Puck" Conolly is an orphan with two brothers (one older, one younger) with a careful watch on the ever thinning contents of the pantry and the jar that holds all the money they have. Sean Kendrick who was abandoned by his mother and watched his father die is the hired "horse whisperer"/trophy racer at the Malvern stables. The Scorpio Races are what drive the two together and the haunting, terrifying, hungry, and beautiful water horses that come asore at the end of October may be the death of them.

On the small island of Thisby the Scorpio Races run on the first of November hold the island's heritage and the greatest source of income for the merchants there. They also, however, are the cause of many deaths. The year Puck decides to join is the first year a woman has ever dared to race. She races to save her family. Sean races for freedom.

My Thoughts: This book started out slow for me, but you get to know a great deal about the characters, the island, and you feel the importance of an event because of this. Once the characters started taking shape in my mind, however, I found the book to be an absolute riveting read. For someone looking for a book as filled with action as one of the Percy Jackson books, I would say borrow first, then buy. Like in Shiver there is romance in the book, but--a little to my disappointment--Stiefvater doesn't dwell on it for extremely long. In all honesty though, the brief moments of romance fit the characters that she had created, so I believe she did them justice.

Red Flags: Little bit of language. There isn't profanity throughout the book, but there are a few instances of curse words as well as a few innuendos and uncooth words. I think the reason Stiefvater chose this diction though is to emphasize and bring a ring of authenticy to the island and fact that a young woman was throwing herself into what had been historically a man's sport. Also, the book--about blood thirsty horses--is a bit violent. You are a witness to death, brutality, and practices that seem barbaric.

Grading
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Originality: 10/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 49/50

Tidbits
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Original Release Date: October 18, 2011
Recipe for November Cakes: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/maggiestiefvater/6505338297/

The Secret Austen

Let's admit it: Jane Austen has permeated our culture in a way that no other author has.  Okay, so we have Dickens's A Christmas Carol floating around every Christmas.  And Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a big favorite.  And Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights has a fanbase (though I can never figure out why--why?!).  But, love her or hate her (I, for one, simply adore her), Jane Austen can--and will--slink onto your bookshelf, your TV screen, your local movie theatre somehow, even though she's long, long gone.  So what that she was born 236 (and six days) ago?  She's still totally modern!  And she somehow keeps popping up in twentieth and twenty-first century pop culture (without containing the words "pride", "prejudice", "sense", "sensibility", "mansfield", "northanger", "emma", or "persuasion").  If you're a Janeite itching for something that doesn't involve empire-waist dresses and with fewer cravats, this Janeite recommends you check out some updated, but heavily Austen influenced, books and movies:

1. You've Got Mail (1996 film): Written by Nora and Delia Ephron (the former of whom is going to turn Lost in Austen into a film--woohoo!  And the former is a YA author, so basically they both win awesome points by me), this has got to be one of my favorite movies ever.  Okay, so, on the surface, this film about really, really old technology and AOL chatting in its most primitive days really doesn't seem like the most Austen-influence thing ever.  The heavy influences and allusions to Pride and Prejudice are simply staggering.  Basically, replace GBP with bookstores and throw in an ancient Internet system, put Meg Ryan in Elizabeth Bennet's place and Tom Hanks in Mr Darcy's, and thus results You've Got Mail.  (Also: watching Hanks chuck a copy of a Firth/Ehle edition of P&P across a table in favor of some booze is just freaking hilarious.)

 

2. The Lake House (2006 film): Time-travel and a funky boxy-ish--no, this is not Doctor Who.  Calm down, Whovians.  I'm talking about the last time Reeves/Bullock worked together on a movie, and it wasn't on Speed.  Okay, so I'm including this on the list because, uh, a really old copy of Persuasion is almost waved across the screen to tell the audience, "THIS IS ONE OF OUR INFLUENCES AND AUSTEN IS AMAZING."  In this very underrated flick, Keanu Reeves is more or less the Wentworth counterpart (and instead of one amazing letter at the end, it's a series of a lot of shorter ones) and Sandra Bullock is, I suppose, Anne Elliot.  As if the writer of this movie couldn't scream Austen enough, they even had Bullock read out of Persuasion: "There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved." Heart!

3. I Capture the Castle (1948 novel, 2003 film): If you thought Dodie Smith was always preoccupied with spotty dalmatians, you're wrong--in fact, she's quite the Janeite!  I Capture the Castle is simply speckled with Austen references--at the very start of the novel, one character asks the protagonist about living in an Austen or a Bronte novel kind of life: "Which would be nicest--Jane with a touch of Charlotte, or Charlotte with a touch of Jane?"  (If you're not squeeing already, read the book and I dare you not to squee during the whole of it.)  Frankly, I haven't seen the film and can't be much of a judge whether it is accurate or even any good at all (though it seems to have low reviews--however, Romola Garai stars in it!  Of course, that merit doesn't necessarily make it any good--Angel was a disaster and had her as the star...but that's another rant-y tangent).

 4. Harry Potter: Did you know that along with C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen is J.K. Rowling's favorite author?  In fact, she once spoke of her favorite Austen novel, Emma, that "I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma."  And Argus Filch's beloved cat, Mrs. Norris, is named after none other than Mansfield Park's annoying aunt, Mrs. Norris.

5. Rudyard Kipling: Okay, okay--so I cheated here.  Rudyard Kipling is not a book or a movie, but a person--aka "the dude who wrote The Jungle Book".  So Baloo dancing to and singing "Bare Necessities" frankly has nothing to do with Marianne Dashwood weeping "Willoughby, Willoughby!" whilst longingly watching Combe Magna, but the creator of the former character was a huge fan of the creator of the latter character.  When I say huge, I mean huge--to the extent that the guy is the one who popularized the term "Janeites", the word Austen-maniacs (like yours truly) call themselves, through a story about a bunch of veterans (dudes, obviously) who are really big Austen fans (to be honest, I haven't read it...yet; and apparently another famous Austen fan, C.S. Lewis, actually blasted the story--but that's another tangent I won't get into) and even wrote a lovely--and perhaps even tear-inducing--poem entitled "Jane's Marriage" (yes, that Jane).  I could really write a whole 'nother post about Austen's other big author fans, but Kipling is probably the most prominent (as in most influential) of them all.

Sneaky Miss Austen!  She just turns up everywhere in culture--where else have you folks seen her (that is, in places not directly related to her works)?

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Where I Got the Book: My paperback copy is from Barnes and Noble

In Short: idyllic, charming, simple


The Penderwicks is an "it book"--one of those books you hear about all over the place because every prestigious book reviewer in the blogosphere or in review journalism is praising it, talking about it, comparing it to every great classic ever made (for example, I would say The Hunger Games is an "it book". I would like to say that Harry Potter also is one, but I consider it more of a mass phenomenon than simply an "it book". As widespread as The Penderwicks or HG is, I don't think they're quite to the degree that HP is at). Although I've always had a huge fondness for MG books, the real reason I sorely wanted it was because of another book--one that The Penderwicks had been constantly compared to: Half Magic.

As an elementary schooler, I was that kid who was obsessed with Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, and Edward Eager. I had read all of Edward Eager's books and, just as I am with Shannon Hale's novels now, recommended Half Magic to all of my friends (and very few have or did ever read it, if any did). To this day, I still think Eager's books influenced me as a reader in my tastes and as a writer in what I tend to write. So when many of my friends and tons of blogs that I read couldn't stop talking about Jeanne Birdsall's book, I knew I simply had to read this. I hadn't touched an Eager book in years, but I was certain this would be a delight.

I was right...but I think my expectations were a little too high for this book. Or maybe I've just aged. I'm not quite sure which, but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I did an Eager book or an Eleanor Estes novel. The feel, the mood--yes, that was familiar. The plot was vaguely similar, though perhaps with more of the adolescent troubles than would have been found in Half Magic.

The Penderwicks starts off very much like an Eager or Estes book: four sisters--so extremely realistic that they could be your neighbors--go on vacation over the summer with their widower father at a rented cottage called Arundel. Within the time span of three weeks, the sisters, each completely different from the next, undergo various Estes-esque adventures: Rosalind, the eldest, is trying to gain maturity and be more of an adult than she truly is; Skye, second eldest but the Penderwick sister with the quickest tongue of all that she simply can't seem to hold; Jane, the idealistic bookworm always off on literary adventures in her head; and little Batty, whose adorableness and innocence make her exactly your run-of-the-mill Estes "baby of the family". Joining the Penderwick girls in their mad schemes is Jeffrey, a boy whose mother has over-the-top expectations from her son, a kid who really only wants the simple and carefree life (or at least summer) that other children like the Penderwicks have.

A National Book Award winner, The Penderwicks is a fun, light summer read for Eager, Estes, and Nesbit fans, young and old alike. (As a random side note, I think those who will love this will relate wholeheartedly with Jane--she makes so many delightful literary references, and literary references + me = nerding out literary fangirl ;) ). I would definitely give this a shot if you're a fan of any of those authors; it may not be quite as beloved to you as Half Magic, Ginger Pye, or Five Children and It may be, but it's still a nice, quiet read for the interested bookworm. Not a favorite of mine, but I'm still excited to read the next books in this unfolding series.

Red Flags: To add to CSM's warnings, Surprisingly, there was perhaps a thing or two that was very vaguely hinted at, but it will easily fly over young readers' heads and can be very differently interpreted. Nothing to worry about, but a little odd, nonetheless.

Grading
Plot: 9/10 (wavers, just like an Eager or Estes book, but no direct plotline)
Characters: 7/10 (I really wanted to love all of the characters--and I simply love Jane--but Rosalind sometimes got on my nerves)
Writing: 10/10 (the writing style is not bad, and irons out the quirks that I always found odd in Eager's and Estes's works)
Originality: 10/10 (how many books nowadays do you see in the ilk of beloved authors of the fifties and sixties?)

Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 45/50

Tidbits
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Juvenile Fiction
Original Release Date: June 14, 2005

Um, 2011? Why Are You Here?

(It should be noted that, upon writing the title of this post, the author typed "2002" instead of 2011. And when she tried to type "2002", she instead wrote "2022". She really fails at numbers and years.)

Yeah, so...why is it that after one minute jumping from 11:59 to 12:00, we're suddenly in another day which then means we're in another month which then means we're in another year? I mean, say WHAAAATT?

I've already wasted two days of this year--which means three hundred sixty-four days to complete the following resolutions (I've decided for this year to split some of my resolutions into months):

• Read a TON (namely, finish my TBR pile; not sure how to make this a monthly resolution, but I am aiming to finish the classics I own by this summer)
• Write a TON (my main goal is to finish my WIP before the end of this month, but also to participate--and maybe even win--NaNo, Script Frenzy, and FAWM...and maybe NaBloPoMo, too)
• Blog a TON (that means updating this two to three times a week--maybe do more if this really takes off--and update my tumblr more instead of staring at pictures on my dashboard all the time! That...doesn't sound creepy. :P )

My other resolutions--and huge biggies for me this year--are:

• To do everything faster! Really, I'm super slow at everything--have you noticed?
• Work ahead of time and not procrastinate...which I guess goes along with the first
• And since I just noticed that the second goes with the first, I'm going to add another on a whim: be more patient with people, more accepting, and try not to get easily angered by others' actions. Basically, can I ask to be a saint? ;)

What are YOUR resolutions? Happy New Year, my lovelies!

~J

*Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

Where I Got the Book: Barnes and Noble, in the store. I have one of the original paperbacks (that is, the ones with the gorgeous Alison Jay covers, not the funky photographs. Bleh).

In Short: adventurous, exciting, romantic

I don't think I need to tell you all what a huge fan of Shannon Hale I am. Book of a Thousand Days is my favorite book of all-time, and Princess Academy is lodged in a special place in my heart. Not to mention that this author is a Janeite, has a cardboard Colin Firth Mr Darcy at her house, and is absolutely amazing to meet in person--she's so down-to-earth, so sweet, and positively hee-larious (as is her husband--these two are a bona-fide comic act together).

With all this in mind, it's hard for me to not like any of her books. They're all special to me in their own ways. However, The Goose Girl, though one of the most beautifully written books written in modern times (imo), was, in my opinion, not quite as good as the others. I heard many say that its follow-up book, Enna Burning, was not as good--that it was quite lackluster and fell flat. I beg to defer. Enna Burning is my favorite, favorite, favorite Book of Bayern, and, though not as good as what Thousand Days did for me, it certainly gives Academy a run for its money in my personal standings.

From the moment I cracked open the spine of my delightfully illustrated copy (as I stated before, mine has Alison Jay's artwork on the front) and read the first few pages, I was in love. The Goose Girl had done the same for me when I first read it--I was absolutely spellbound by its first few lines and pages filled with stunning imagery through lyrical structure. Yet, The Goose Girl was slow. It was long. Don't get me wrong--I don't have anything against long books. But the action came in rather sporadic bursts in the first Bayern book.

Enna? Different story. Instead of a wind-speaker, we have our eponymous heroine. Enna had a few lines in The Goose Girl, and from the moment she steps into the picture in that book, she's a joy to read about. A whole book about her should be absolutely fun, right? Yes, it is...however, we're used to Enna's friendly and teasing nature, but her own book is anything but a joke. Funny lines here and there, yes. But much, much darker. I won't give too much away because if you have read it you don't really need to read this summary (and if you haven't, I'll end up spoiling everything), but unlike its predecessor, Enna begins with action, and said action is constant throughout. Our main character's brother, Leifer, seems to be able to control fire, but this "gift" instantly reveals itself to be a blessing in disguise: Leifer easily loses control of the fire, ultimately ending in his demise early in the book when in a battle between Bayern and the neighboring country of Tira. Thence, Enna discovers about her brother's gift and learns to adopt it herself. Determined to control the fire without letting it control her and eventually burn her up, Enna tries to help the soldiers by secretly practicing her power, only to get so carried away as to get captured by the enemy and held prisoner. While remaining captive, Enna must struggle against giving into not only the fire speech but also the Tiran captain Sileph, who may be trying to lure her into using her gift against her own country.

I simply adored Enna's kick-bum character; the wonderfully charming supporting cast (much of whom we met in TGG--my favorites would include Finn and Razo at the top of the list, and TGG enthusiasts will be delighted to see Isi and Geric hop along for the ride as well); the writing (of COURSE); the storyline; the quotes (TGG had many good quotes, but somehow, EB has more quotes I absolutely love)...I'm pretty sure the list simply goes on. Even if you've never picked up a copy of a Shannon Hale book, I definitely recommend this book. (To be really honest, I highly recommend this to those who've never read one of her novels--huge fans of TGG somehow find themselves more disappointed by EB...well, different strokes for different folks).

Red Flags: Granted, it is darker than TGG. There's more violence (not graphically described), and your usual SH clean romance/quasi-romance (kissing is the max). Nothing to be too concerned about...there have been some Amazon reviewers who claimed that it was much too dark. Characters are drugged, tricked, burned, but nothing too blush-worthy.

Grading
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Originality: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 50/50

Tidbits
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Original Release Date: August 26, 2004

This Is the Buzz...

I'm sitting here, typing this away, while busily munching (but not swallowing, of course) a piece of Trident gum. This fact is seemingly irrelevant, but nay, my friends, this is a change: I hardly ever chew gum. I'm chewing a piece now because first of all, it's relieving me from dehydration due to SoCal's ridiculous weather, but it's also a revolution. It's Bastille Day, and if you know a speck of history, that means that on July 14, 1789, a revolution took place in France. Two hundred twenty-one years later, I'm starting my revolution.

No, I won't be whacking off heads (geez). This doesn't have anything to do with the government, or even with politics. It's more of a resolution then a revolution. Today, I resolved to do the following:

• Twitter = no mas. Not for awhile, anyway.
• Facebook = no mas. Not that I've been doing anything with it for awhile, it's just more official now.
• Blogging = mas! I'm blogging more.
• Writing = mas! At the minute, my WIP is my favoritest thing in the world. (yes, excuse the writer for messing up her grammar on purpose) Writing also includes songwriting. I've had an urge for returning to it for awhile.
• Reading = mas! In case you're wondering, I'm reading Emma right now.

That's basically my resolution: more writing, reading, and no social networking aside from blogging. My resolution also includes replying to emails, so if you'd care to drop a line, go ahead and do so.

My resolution is also calling me to get busy on writing a new review as well as to fix my last album review...and to continue revising and writing my WIP.

And since I'll also be busily listening to music, I'll try to update my tumblr often with music quotes. :)

Back!

I honestly don't know how many posts I've done with the same title above, but...here goes!

So I've been totally neglecting this blog, and only really got back around to writing and posting on it after being reinspired by Julie and Julia (not that I was about to give up blogging--I was just being lazy), and because I'm kind of bored right now.

Hopefully, I won't be so lazy to write up some posts and and reviews for you all!  And yes, I am on summer vacation...which should mean that I WOULD get more time to post on here but actually doesn't...it means I slack off a lot and attempt to study for the SAT.  (Yes, I'm asking for luck on the latter.) ;) Anywho, I feel like this summer vacation is going to be like some new year thing...hence, some resolutions.  That is, if I can keep them. ;)

• Try to figure out a good blogging schedule, and STICK with it!
• READ.  I have to finish all the books in my TBR pile before school starts. :P (In total, I have forty-seven books, two of which I've already finished only because I was almost done with them anyway.  I'm almost done with another two though...so wish me luck!  I may do a counter thing on my sidebar for it.  I would LOVE you if you told me where I can make the best widget where I can do a sort of countdown thing showing how many books I've finished for my mini challenge.)
• WRITE.  I'm absolutely determined to finish my book before summer ends.  I'm aiming for 2K a day, a common NaNoWriMo goal I think.  I'm hoping I can push myself to make this like NaNo, but more serious.  Plus, I have more time and I'm a good ways into my WIP.  (And yes, words cannot express how much I adore my book.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.)
• SAT prep, as stated before...
• Learn more guitar songs!  Master them!  (I really want to master "Goodbyes" by Savannah Outen, "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne, "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer, "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" by Jewel, among others, especially now that I have actual picks!  w00t!)
• Learn more piano songs...properly.  I'm absolutely determined to learn almost all of Regina Spektor's songs, and if I don't explode.  Or implode.  Maybe not really, but I'll be very, very frustrated.  I at least have to get "Samson", "On the Radio", "Fidelity", "Eet", "Laughing With", "Dance Anthem of the 80s", "Ne Me Quitte Pas", "Two Birds", among others, solid.  Okay, maybe at least a couple of those.
• Finally jot down some good songs. :P
• Exercise.  Yeah.  For some reason, putting that on here seems a bit of a TMI...oh well.
• Change up the layout a little.  I might change the background to make it less spring-y and more summer-y, but if you guys notice, the static pages have kind of shifted around.  See it?
• Chat with my pals on Skype and gmail!  Guys, e-mail me or something!!!

This isn't possibly a little too much for my summer plate, is it?  Just wish me luck on them all...especially the reading thing, and the writing thing, and the SAT thing. :P Oh, and I also have a tumblr, though I have no idea what to do with it.  It'll mostly be a thing throwing out shameless plugs and quotes and songs and random thoughts once in awhile, but maybe eventually I'll figure out some good use for it.

What are you all doing this summer? :D

Truth: May Folks Are Awesome

Note: the above picture WAS the same one I used last year for Priya. It's just so cute!

I'm not one to really believe in horoscopes--I just find the ones about people's personality based on their date of birth or what year they're born in funny. (And I also really, really hate daily horoscopes. Very vague, very retarded. A total waste of time.)

However, I've noticed something pretty darn amazing: many people born towards the end of May are AWESOME. They're just amazing. They do all sorts of different things, but they are so wicked cool. If you're not convinced, or you're angry at me because I didn't say that your birthday is awesome (which it probably is, but I'm just focusing on May here because, well, it IS May), just read on to find out.

Jackson Pearce (May 21, 1984)
So...our names are every-so-slightly similar (because if you call her Jackie and me Jackie, we would easily have the same name), but...c'mon. She's a YA author and a singer who totally pwned Ke$ha a few days ago with her hit single "Writers' Blok" (which, by the way, I'm currently playing on repeat on my iPod. Just so you know.). Not only did she debut last year (book-wise) with a novel that sounds eerily similar to one of my favorite TV shows, I Dream of Jeannie (As You Wish, which, I believe, is also somewhat based on a Shakespeare play), but also her second novel (a fairy-tale retelling, another favorite genre of mine), Sisters Red, is coming out very soon and can already be bought from various bookstores!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859)
C'mon! It's the creator of Sherlock Holmes! And he was also a sort of sidekick helper-guy in Shanghai Knights. Though he isn't the author to first start writing the detective novel (that honor goes to Wilkie Collins with his novel The Moonstone, which I own and must read soon!), he established a classic book series that could be called Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys for Victorian era adults. In case you were wondering, my bucket list consists of reading the whole collection of Sherlock Holmes books--I've already read The Hound of the Baskervilles, one that I really enjoyed considering it was for summer reading freshman year.

spider (May 24)
Spider is awesome because: 1. I met her on LRRH back in the day, hence making her awesome. 2. She was on LRRH because she's a fan of Shannon Hale. 3. Her blog ROCKS. 4. She is freaking hilarious. 5. She's a constant blog reader of mine--that automatically gets sweet-and-awesome points in my book. ;) 6. She once helped me out with a project for Journalism/Yearbook. 7. We're both juniors born in the same year (though not all juniors born in the same year as us are awesome. Just saying. ;) ). 8. I think she tagged me before for a meme. Or I tagged her. 9. She could probably figure out I'm trying to come up with ten reasons why she's cool. 10. She is just cool. :)

Jewel (May 23, 1974)
Possibly one of the most talented singer-songwriter-guitarists out there. I simply adore songwriters who can weave poetry into music, a gift I wish I had, and Jewel can simply do it. I listened to "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" on Sunday, forgetting it was her birthday (and I hadn't listened to her in awhile--however, I randomly had gotten it stuck in my head one day and didn't get to listen to it until then). Oh, and speaking of poetry, did you know that she actually wrote and published a book of poetry (and not just the lyrics written down in a book, though she has done that too for charity)? So neat. :)

Queen Victoria (May 24, 1819)
Um, hello? This is THE QUEEN. The one who reigned for sixty-something years in England and conquered almost the whole world (hence the proverb, "The sun never sets on the British empire.") including Europe, though the latter was more through her children's marriages (which is why she is called the grandmother of Europe, I believe). And as a side note, I have watched the mini-series on her, which was okay (and which starred Colin Firth's younger brother as Prince Albert! OMG! There is practically no resemblance whatsoever!), and I really want to see the new movie of her. :)

Frank Oz (May 25, 1944)
We all know it was Jim Henson who started the Muppets, but without Frank Oz directing the Muppets movies, they might not be as popular as they are today. He made Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Grover, and Cookie Monster a voice (literally speaking) 'cause...c'mon, what would the Muppets be without a pearl-wearing blonde pig, or what would Sesame Street be without that sweet-toothed blue fellow?

Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895)
To you, she may just be a name in a history book, but really, her work from the Great Depression (such as Migrant Mother, which I'm sure you've seen somewhere) strikes Americans to the core even today upon realization of the hardships and struggles that the poor had to endure during the thirties. So Ms. Lange's awesome factor? Very high, considering her impact and her photographs' impact--especially at a time when photos were a pretty new medium still--on the U.S.

Sally Ride (May 26, 1951)
First of all, I'd like to say that if we play the Degrees of Separation game (which I LOVE), I'm two degrees from this amazing astronaut. TWO degrees from the first American woman astronaut! So. Neat. Her story always fascinated me, especially due to the fact that even though I'm not a fan of science, astronomy (NOT astrology, again, mind) interested me a lot, especially when I was in elementary school. I think she also taught (or is teaching) at Stanford, which also adds to her awesome factor in my book (even though chances are slim that I would get into there).

Helena Bonham-Carter (May 26, 1966)
Lucy Honeychurch. Lady Jane. Ophelia. Mrs Bucket. Bellatrix Lestrange. Admit it: this actress has played so many of literature's most famous characters, and she plays them well to boot. Not only that, she's Mr Bingley's cousin! Well, a "distant" cousin of the actor who plays Bingley in the Pride and Prejudice mini-series (ever noticed how in the credits there was always some fellow with the last name Bonham-Carter? That's him).

Colbie Caillat (May 28, 1985)
Another favorite singer-songwriter-guitarist of mine born around this time (though she is also a pianist and ukuleleist). I simply love her music because it's one of those that you simply can't place in one single genre, because it's one all of its own. Well, I've written a review raving about her debut album, so you should know already how much I enjoy listening to her songs. :)

What do these people all have in common? Some love literature, others music, others history (or they are part of history) and me...wait, why am I mentioning me? Is it...possibly my birthday? Could it be that I joined the ranks of these amazing people seventeen years ago?

YES! It's true! I...I...I'm a cool May person! I have something in common with these people! Um...wow!
Wow, as in...that wasn't just so corny. Well, 'nuff about me.

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of these folks, though for many of them it is either a belated or an early birthday wish. :P

**Nota Bene/Disclaimer: You could totally call this list biased, because upon research, the writer/blogger/birthday girl found that there were also some not-so-awesome folks born in the end of May as well. Such as Cambodian dictators and untalented singers. Just saying.**

Also, folks I didn't mention but whom I also wish a happy birthday to include (but are not limited to): Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803), Ian McKellan (May 25, 1939), Amelia Bloomer (May 27, 1818). There were also several others, but I'll probably include them and those just listed in a post...in exactly a year from now. :)

BTW, I so would have posted this earlier had not HTML been such a jerk to me last night. :P

The Buzz...(and goodbye until May 12!)

You might to able to tell, but I've been fiddling around with the nitty-gritty design aspects of this blog. Hope you all like it! I probably won't be able to do more until May 12.

Why May 12? Well...APs are coming up. Yep, Advanced Placement tests. I'm taking three this year (it will be my first time), and am I nervous. I have AP Lit this coming Thursday, APUSH the day after that, and AP Psych on Tuesday. May 12 is the day after my last AP test, so I'm hoping to finally relieve my stress on that day.

But when I come back, I pinky promise to...

• Read! A lot!
• Read and give feedback on Inkpop, a writing site that has been like heaven for me as of late (if you have an account and are a friend of mine, you'll see why)
• Play the guitar! And the piano! I'm abstaining from playing music (but not listening to it, of course) until my APs are over.
• Write and post a ton of reviews (and schedule them :P )
• Work on three projects I'm doing right now...I'm not going to reveal them at the moment, because I'm not sure how they'll go, but please wish me luck! Come to think of it, it's kind of four projects...Trust me, if this works out, I'll reveal it to you guys soon. :)
• Write my novel. Yes, this also has something to do with Inkpop.
• Possibly start writing a script. I'm not certain yet. I have two really good ideas, and I feel bad for not participating in Script Frenzy this year. :P
• Uh...I feel like I'm missing more...oh! Recruit more people to be featured here! And try to get you guys talking a bit more here (ie, I'm going to set up a post where you guys ask me questions and I put them up on the "Who I Am" page, or somewhere similar). So if you guys want to be featured, you can fill out the forms (or if you have a rec for me, you can fill out a form too), but most likely I won't be able to get back to you until May 12 or later. Sorry! Also, first come first serve, unless I wait for waaayyy too long (like a week. I'm going to make a policy for this soon).

And uh...that's it! Please, please, please wish me luck, and if you guys aren't on Inkpop, you should join and add my novel to your pick list! See y'all in a couple weeks! *tear tear*

~J