Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Reading Level: Young Adult 
Genre: paranormal, romance
Pages: audio book format
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Rating: 3/5
Content: One implied sex scene, just a few swear words, no f-bombs
Reading Challenges: A to Z Challenge (author-M), 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Summary:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

My Take:  I went back and forth on this one throughout...two stars...2 and a half...then back to two. I thought it was all right, overall I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. It took awhile to get to the plot. It started off with Grace and Sam just mooning over each other without a lot of action. The series is about werewolves...so give me some action, a plot.

The action never got too exciting, though, which was really disappointing. Just when you thought it was going to get good, it ended way too fast; it was very anti-climatic.

Grace and Sam seemed a bit too obsessed with each other...but compared to Twilight they were pretty normal! So there were a few cheesy lines to each other, but the author did manage to create a feeling of coldness throughout the book so that's pretty impressive.

Also Grace didn't go catatonic after she thought she lost Sam...she still had a life with school and friends, etc...unlike another certain character I know...

But it felt like another Twilight knockoff and why do YA novels have to get rid of the parents? They are either dead, took off, or just uninvolved and/or clueless. Well, Grace's padres are both uninvolved and clueless and Sam's tried to kill him....

But it was relatively clean and pretty well-written and the ending makes me want to pick up the next in the series.

A note about the audio book version: I thought it was done pretty well, the actors were great, but the voice for Sam was too old. He sounded in his mid to late thirties when Sam is supposed to be a teenager so that was a bit annoying...just a heads up!

Monday Movie Meme and 5 Word Weekly Movie Wrap-up

Feature Presentation...

MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Hosted by the Molly and Andy @The Bumbles Blog

This week is all about MONSTERS, whether they be good or they be bad ones!

1. Legend (1985): One of my faves as a kid...with the evil devil played by Tim Curry!

2. Jaws (1975): Sharks have always freaked me out!

3. Evolution (2001): Crazy microbe aliens that turn anyplace into their own livable eco-system!

4. Monster Squad (1987): All of the old horror classics come to live in this one!

5 Word Weekly Movie Wrap-up

1. French Kiss (1995): "...You...make my ass twitch..."

2.Tommy Boy (1995): funny, hilarious..."are you talking?"

3. Music Within (2007): American Disabilities Act becomes law! 

(This was filmed at Portland State University while I was attending there...there's a scene at the beginning of the movie where the main character is in a blue suit and walking across the lawn to his car...the building on the far right was where I was in class at that same moment this scene was being filmed! The camera crew kept yelling at us to get out of window....but we didn't...you can't see us but we're there in the window of the second story!)

4. Sense and Sensibility (1995): Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Hotties!

5. Sahara (2005): Steve Zahn, awesomest sidekick ever!

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stever

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Genre: Fantasy, mystery, romance
  
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Magic Carpet Books; First Thus edition (September 1, 2004) Original publication 1988
• FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my county library
  
• Rating: 4/5
• Reading Challenge: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
  

Summary: A great deal is happening in London and the country this season.

For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is.

Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!

My thoughts: This is an epistolary novel between to cousins. I've never read an epistolary novel before and I had no idea it was one when I started reading! I was a bit weary at first but then began to enjoy what Kate and Cecy had to say to one another and how the plot continued to thicken! They're both strong female heroines and I love how they subconsciously fall in love! It's pretty hilarious...I mean, you know it's going to happen and with whom, but it's all about the journey!

It's cute and romantic and there's even magic and mayhem! 

They wrote a couple of more sequels recently and am looking forward to them! 

*Part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge. 

Happy 101 Award!!!!!

I have one last award that was given to me by the wonderful Alita Reads.  It's the Happy Award 101 award. Don't you just love the name of that award? Here are the rules:
List 10 things that make you happy.
Try and do at least one of them today.

1. reading
2. blogging
3. playing with my little boy
4. playing basketball
5. watching good movies
6. eating things that aren't good for me!
7. hangin' with my hubby
8. shopping for books
9. making snowpersons and snow angels in the snow
10. Christmas-time!

I'm passing this award on to......

1. Kim at Chapter Chit Chat
2. Ibeeeg at Mom-Musings
3. Books A La Carte
4. Jennifer at Between the Lines
5. Crackin' Spines & Takin' Names

Things i LOVE Friday

 A weekly meme hosted by Midnight Cowgirl over at The Fashion Planner

New Year Resolutions

Hope that a new year brings

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

10 Things I Hate About You (10th Anniversary Edition)

My new local bookstore Dragons and Fairytales

My almost local library

Redbox free DVD codes

Blogging and my blomies!

TV Thursday- Favorite Comedies

A weekly meme started by Trina and continued by me on anything TV related!

This week....Comedies aka Situational Comedies back in the day...What have been/are your favorite comedies?

I used to love comedies, but now...not so much...there's just too much stereotyping and vulgarity and not enough diversity for me to get into the stories...so  I don't have any favorites at this time. But when I was a kid I loved Punky Brewster, Silver Spoons, Mr. Belvedere, Who's the Boss?, and The Cosby Show...Still not a lot of diversity (except for The Cosby Show), but they were still heart-warming and didn't completely rely on sex jokes to make themselves funny. Then the 90s brought Seinfeld and Friends. Those were pretty funny for the most part. And now I hear How I Met Your Mother is pretty good and, of course, The Office, which is the only comedy I actually watch every now and again.

What do you think? Are comedies getting dumber or are they getting smarter? And once again, what are your faves?

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

Paperback: 512 pages 
Publisher: Avon A; Original edition (June 30, 2009)
Genre: biography fiction, romance
Rating: 5/5
FTC Disclosure: County library
Reading Challenge: All About the Brontes 2010

I absolutely loved this book! Syrie James manages to capture the Bronte sisters in a beautiful and delightful way. I learned so much about each of them and her family. We also learn where she got all her ideas from for her novels. This has opened up Jane Eyre to me and Wuthering Heights more than I ever thought possible. I have never been a big fan of Wuthering Heights, but I got some insight into Emily Bronte in this novel about her motivations for writing this. I'm now excited to reread this one for the Bronte Challenge going on now.

Charlotte Bronte's life had quite a bit of romance! I was so sad to realize that she died only nine months after marrying the love of her life.

Syrie James spins her story for us in a perfectly knit blankie and I was warm and comfy reading it! (I know, cheese factor is super high with this sentence!!!)

*Part of the All About the Brontes Challenge.

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermudaonion's Weblog where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.  If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun!  (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.)

From Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
1. p. 285 "At some point, though, they all told me of having reached a spiritual dead end; a feeling, at once inchoate and oppressive..."
INCHOATE (in KOh it):  not organized; lacking order.
ORIGIN: 1534, from Latin inchoatus.

2. p. 294 "...I also felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams."
NASCENT (NAS-uhnt): beginning to exist or develop.
ORIGIN: 1624, from Latin nascentum nasci "to be born"

From The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James
1. p. 89 "...all members of my family were there assembled in forlorn tableau, weeping..."
TABLEAU (tab LOH): a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.
ORIGIN: 1699, from French tableau "picture, painting," from Old French table "slab, writing tablet"

2. p. 113 "Emily, by nature, was not garrulous when deeply moved by serious fears for joys..."
GARRULOUS: Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.
ORIGIN:  1611, from Latin garrulus "talkative," from garrire "to chatter," from Proto Indo-European base *gar-/*ger- "to cry," of imitative origin.

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2009)
Genre: Austen-inspired, romance
FTC Disclosure: Own, from Barnes and Noble

Reading Challenge: A to Z Reading Challenge (A Title)

I really, really wanted to love this book. I'd heard such awesome things with this one....but, I was sorely disappointed. What started with a great premise ended with great disappointment.

We follow Ellie back and forth through her years from a sophomore in high school to her early thirties and all her love disappoints in between and all with Jane Austen in her head.

I really didn't like Ellie. I just wanted to hit her over the head so many times. I also wanted to hit the author Ms. Brant over the head as well. Her heroine was too goo-goo over guys always wanting to find someone to marry...like to get married for the sake of marrying...her relationships were lust and that was it, though, she played as if it were love. I was really shocked ....spoiler....

when she portrayed her first time with a boy at seventeen as normal when she was pretty much raped or all but...it was icky and yet was made to seem as just a bad sexual experience...um, no.

Also underage drinking was portrayed as no big deal...now I understand that underage drinking happens, but I don't know I feel like authors need to have some semblance of responsibility when it comes to things like this...there was way too much language for my liking...the f-bombs thrown around, even when they weren't really necessary...and the sex scenes were a bit too graphic for my taste especially when the guys she was dating were absolute creeps.

Then there's her "Mr. Darcy" Sam...I have no idea why she even found this guy remotely attractive...when we're first introduced to him he's sexually harassing her...flipping her bra, saying crude things to her...basically a creep. So we're supposed to understand that he changes over the years, but I never saw the change.

So great premise, just really poor delivery.

Yikes, I'm sorry this is such a harsh review; I don't like doing that. But there are just too many anti-women themes in this one that I can't get passed and I just have to vent... 


Rating: 1/5

Part of the A to Z Challenge Title starting with an A!

Monday Movie Meme and Movie Week Wrap-up

Feature Presentation...

MONDAY MOVIE MEME

hosted by Molly and Andy of The Bumbles Blog

This week's movie topic is all about Sports...

1. Remember the Titans (2000): This movie inspired me and made me cry and laugh! Denzel Washington does an excellent job and so does his co-star who is now Claire Bear on Heroes! Go high school Football.

2. Miracle (2004): We love being the underdog! Not a big hockey fan but this one was exciting!

3. Hoosiers (1986): The big b-ball one; it's a classic!

4. Field of Dreams (1989): Classic Kevin Costner and baseball!

5. Eight Men Out (1988): Is it the White Sox or the Black Sox? This one was a great story.

5-Word Weekly Movie Wrap-up

I took a break these last couple of holiday weeks so I have a few more on my list than normal!

1. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ( 2004): Gwyneth, Jude, robots, and steampunk!

2. Dan in Real Life (2007): Steals his brother's girlfriend, funny!

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007): Bourne continues to kick booty!

4. X-Files Season One (1993-1994): Aliens, Scully, Mulder, big mobiles.

5. X-Files Season Two (1994-1995): Clones, circus folk, more aliens.

6. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003): ghouly classic characters in steampunk!

7. Jesus Christ Superstar (2000): Great music with modern Christ.

8. Pride and Prejudice (2005): Matthew McFadyen is my Darcy!

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

Genre: memoir, non-fiction
Pages: 264, paperback
Published: 1995
Rating: 4/5
FTC Disclosure: Bought from Target

I never knew that President Barack Obama was a writer before he entered the political world. So I decided to pick this one up last year and read more about my new Commander-in-Chief, the first African-American President of the United States! I'm so glad I did. He has a beautiful way with words. He came from so many different worlds and he tried to understand them all...his white mother and Kenyan father. He lived in Indonesia for a few years as well. He tried to understand who he was and where he came from. He only met his father once...

He eventually went to Chicago to be a political organizer, to help get things turned around in neighborhoods that didn't have too much. And he eventually makes it to his father's native land of Kenya where he meets all of his family. Where he learns that "if everyone's your family then no one is."

This book was so insightful not only on race and life, but on the man himself, how he thinks and feels about the stuff of life. He's a down-to-earth guy who's trying to make life better for those around him. And in the end I like who he is what he thinks.

Some wonderful quotes: "That's what the leadership was teaching me, day by day: that the self-interest I was supposed to be looking for extended well beyond the immediacy of issues, that beneath the small talk and sketchy biographies and received opinions, people carried with them some central explanation of themselves. Stories full of terror and wonder, studded with events that still haunted or inspired them. Sacred stories. "

"It was as if he had come to mistrust words somehow. Words, and the sentiments words carried."

My 2010 Challenges!!!!!!

1.Women Unbound Challenge has been going since November of 2009 and runs til November of 2010. I'm loving this challenge. Basically, read anything that involves subjects relating to women.

There are three levels to choose from:

• Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
• Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
• Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.

I'm not sure how many I'll get to so I'm doing at least the philogynist, but I'll probably move up since I have quite a few in mind to read this year!

2. My next challenge is The 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog.

There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.
--Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.
--Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.
--Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

I originally signed up for the mini one, but my list has grown since then so it'll probably be at least 25...only time will tell...

3. All About the Brontes Challenge hosted by Laura's Reviews that runs from January to July 2010.

Read, watch, listen to anything Bronte-sister related! I'm so excited about this one. I have almost all of the Jane Eyres ever produced on video...well, the good ones anyway. The others I'll just have to borrow, and this also gives me a chance to read more of Charlotte and Anne Bronte!

4. Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge hosted by Lisa of Lit and Life lasting all year long. I've never watched the Gilmore Girls, but have heard great things about this show. And I guess they talk about a lot of books! So Lisa decided to list them all in their categories and has challenged us to read what we can! It's a huge list. So part of my challenge is to actually watch the Gilmore Girls this year too while reading their books! I noticed that a few of the books I wanted to read this year coincided with a few on this list so I thought, sure, why not!

5. I'm also doing my own challenge of Read My Own Books...I went a little crazy at the local thrift store with books this year as well as Amazon, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, etc with book buying so now my stack is quite huge.

6. I'm also doing a mini challenge for myself this month and next with Martin Luther King Junior's birthday and Black History month in February. I'm reading a few books on Martin Luther King, Jr and a few books on African-American studies.

5. I know I'll be joining anything Halloween related as well and holiday related when the time comes and The Fear Itself Challenge by Donna of Bites will be coming around as well and maybe another Everything Austen Challenge! So I know I'm going to have lots to keep me busy this year, plus I'm still taking an online course and I need to be reading their huge volumes on anatomy and medical terminology so that'll keep me busy too!

Wish me luck and I wish you all luck in your challenges as well! Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Summary: Lily Owens is 14 in 1964 in the South. She accidentally killed her mother when she was four years old, has an abusive father, and breaks her nanny Rosaleen out of jail. They hit the road to escape their lives and to find out about Lily's mother, her past. They are led to Tiburon, South Carolina and to the home of August Boatwright. Lily learns about love and life and forgiveness.

I really loved this book. It's a wonderful coming of age story and it contains so many truths about love and life. Lily is confronted with her feelings about whites and blacks when she comes to live with August and her sisters. All of them are intelligent and cultured; Lily had always assumed she would be the smartest in the room. Just one of the many truths she learns on her journey and at the same time it makes us the readers examine our own prejudices and long-held "truths."

I also watched the movie right after reading this and was pleasantly surprised by how close they stayed to the novel. They changed a couple of things for dramatic effect, but overall they were true to the source. Dakota Fanning plays Lily perfectly and Queen Latifah is always wonderful!

Happy New Year and a Wonderful 2010 Awaits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!