Five Things I Should Already Know, But Don't

1.How to properly manage my time. Basically this boils down to prioritising. I know 
logically what I should be doing (my math homework) instead of what I am doing 
(reading or messing about online) but I can't seem to make myself do the right 
thing. All it does is cause me more pain in the long run. Have I learned this 
over the nearly thirteen years I've been in school? Logically, yes. 
Realistically, no. 

2. How to focus and tune out distractions. My school gave all the students their 

own laptop computers this year, and although it seems like a fantastic tool (according 

to administrators) it has been a pain in the ass for my teachers to navigate. It's an 

endless source of distraction for me, even when I just have my book website up. 

Yes, I am distracted that easily! I get distracted STARING at my screensaver. 

3.  How to be nice. Isn't this something everyone's supposed to learn in kindergarten?

Obviously I was absent that day or something, because I have a major meanness

problem. Most of the time, I'm mean whenI'm attempting to be funny. (Note to self: 

stop trying to be funny.)  I just don't know where to draw the line. This inability to judge

how polite my statements are is wreaking havoc in my friend group and in my relationships

with my family members.  

4. How to understand when someone is kidding. Closely related to my "being mean 

instead of funny" problem. I seriously cannot take a joke. If someone tries to kid with

me, I usually end up blankly and awkwardly staring at them until one of us looks away.

Also, I laugh at things that aren't meant to be funny, and don't laugh at anything my supposedly

"hilarious" friend says. 

5. How to do something I don't want to do. (Especially in a timely manner.) I waffled 

over whether or not this should be lumped in with numbers 1 and 2, but I ultimately decided

that this is a totally separate issue. If I don't want to do something, I don't do it. It doesn't matter

 if it's a homework assignment or practicing a cello piece for composition, if I don't want to do it,

 it doesn't get done. My mom constantly tells me that it is this fault that is my fatal one. She says 

that I'll never survive in the real world if I only do what I want to do. My argument back is that all 

I have to do is figure out my own intrinsic motivation in order to do unwanted things. But I know 

that that is pretty close to being a lost cause. The sooner I figure this one out, the better.

I'm almost eighteen, and I still have a lot of life ahead of me in which to

learn these things. But at the same time, it's very frustrating that I don't 
already know them. I'm hoping that by admitting to myself that I have

a problem, I'm on my way to solving it.  

ETA: This formatting is KILLING me. Does anyone have any advice on how to fix it?

An Essay on the Hunger Games Trilogy

I'll start out with my most inflammatory statement: I hate the Hunger Games Trilogy. Well, okay, not the trilogy, but the people who love it so much that they've read all three books a million times and already know the movie by heart.

Now, I truly truly enjoyed both The Hunger Games and Mocckingjay, (Catching Fire, not so much,) but I can't reread them now. They changed my life, for which I am grateful, but they also left deep scars.

I first picked up The Hunger Games in October 2008, at my local library. Earlier that year (like in March? I think) I had read and loved Suzanne Collins's Gregor the Overlander series. So when I saw the words "Suzanne Collins" on a book in the YA section, I literally ran across the entire library and grabbed it off its prominent location on the face-out display shelf. (I might have looked a little like Gollum. But I was thirteen!) I tore through the book in about a day, I don't remember exactly how long.

I loved it. I loved Katniss, even though I could never have done most of the things she did. I loved Prim and Rue and Peeta. I admired Suzanne's vivid writing. (But secretly, I longed for giant bats to appear.) I loved that book from the first line to the last. "Dreading the moment I would have to let go," I remember thinking. "What a terrific ending! That is the best standalone I've read in SO LONG!"

And then my eyes drifted further down the page. END OF BOOK ONE, it proclaimed.

I was heartbroken. Now I knew that Suzanne was going to break my heart over a totally new set of characters. I'd already cried over Rue, and I knew what kind of body count was coming based on the back flap ("effect of war on children") and Code of Claw. (Note to other fans of the Underland Chronicles: It took me two and a half years to get over the ending to CoC. It was ROUGH.)

However, I loved the book, and I was going to read all three books, no matter how heartwrenching they were.

Fast-forward almost two years. I've changed from a sheltered eighth-grader into a tenth-grader with a year of public high school under her belt. My reading tastes had changed drastically, but The Hunger Games still held a special spot in my heart. I was so angry that Mockingjay was going to be released after we returned to school, and that I would have to wait an entire school day to get home and read it after a trip to the store.

Mockingjay broke my heart and turned me into a conscientious objector. Through it, I realized the horrors of war, and the uncertainty of life after. I cried for almost two straight days after reading it. (Maybe it's Mockingjay that started my downward spiral that year? I never thought of that angle...)

I have still never reread any of the books since.

However, I still went to the midnight opening of the movie. I watched it, and was horrified by it. I think the filmmakers did a terrific job of making the movie a warning about, instead of a glorification of, violence. My classmates did not see it this way. They all still think the movie was amazing, that it wasn't disturbing at all. They do not understand why Mockingjay horrified me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's okay to love the Hunger Games Trilogy. It is okay to watch the movie, as long as you understand its real message. It is not okay to treat it as a glorification of violence. It is not okay to treat it as a trivial piece of literature. It is not okay to be blind as to why some people would rather not read it. 

And finally, it is not okay to be Team anything in terms of this book. It was not made for that, and to proclaim yourself Team Peeta or Team Gale is to demean the impact of this brave, brave work.

I raise my glass to you, Suzanne Collins, and I WILL read whatever you write in the future. I'm just not guaranteeing that I'll reread it.

Trying to Find My Blogging Style

Some people -- some wonderfully blessed people -- are full of good ideas.

 They're the first person you go to when spitballing for an event, when trying

 to come up with a good essay hook, when you have no idea what to buy for

 your new closet. My sister is one of these people (when she's in a good mood).

I, however, am not really one of these lucky few. I am so much better at

adapting existing ideas than I am creating new ones. (This, I think, is my main

failing when trying to finish a story.)

When it comes to blogging, this problem of mine is why I don't post as often as

I'd like. I would love to be the kind of blogger whose every post isn't about

why she sucks at blogging, but that appears to be what I'm doing. I try to come

up with clever little stories, but they usually end up falling flat. I've tried

imitating the other bloggers I follow, but that format obviously isn't working

for me. I have to figure out my own way of blogging, but it needs to be a way that doesn't just

consist of a post every three weeks labelled with the tag "why I sometimes suck

at blogging".

I had this weird learning curve when I joined twitter last year, too. For a

while, I tried overly hard to be witty and retweetable. That made being on

twitter not too much fun. (Also, it meant I didn't have a lot of followers or people who would talk to me.) When I stopped trying to be Maureen Johnson, and just

started being me, twitter became more fun for me. It also meant I started

posting a lot... Which, depending on who you ask, may not be a good thing. But

more posts here WOULD be a good thing, right?

Let's hope.

ETA: Sorry for the wonky formatting. Not sure why that happened...?

Being Brilliant is Exhausting

You know those days when you have a fantastic idea (for ANYTHING) and instead of writing it down, you say/think, "Oh, I'll remember it later," but then you forget your brilliant idea?

I'm having one of those days.

I had this really good idea for a blog post, and since I haven't updated the last two Saturdays (oops), I figured I owed my readers something awesome. But then I forgot the idea. However, in forgetting,  realized something.

I haven't updated because I feel like whatever ideas I have aren't sufficiently awesome. And that is a really dumb thought. Okay, yeah, an awesome post would be nice every once in a while, but if every single post I publish is sheer brilliance (which it won't be, let me be VERY clear about that) people will really expect that whenever they visit my blog.

I don't have the time to be brilliant in all of my posts. Being brilliant is exhausting. I'm just a teenager. I should be posting about the random things that I like, be it books or movies or shoes or food or ideas. By posting about the things I like, whether or not the post is highbrow or wonderfully worded, I'll find other people who like the same things I do.

According to Maureen Johnson, that connection is the whole purpose of the internet. (I was going to link to the post where she said that, but then I couldn't find it and then I got sucked into the awesome that is her tumblr, and... yeah.)

I'm just going to hit post before I really regret writing this.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I'd been hearing good things about Shadow and Bone for a while before I got a chance to read it. Initially, I got it confused with Robin Wasserman's Book of Blood and Shadow, for reasons that aren't inherently clear. I thought it might be a little like BoBaS and Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone: set in Prauge, featuring a student, and so on. Well, Shadow and Bone is not at all like either of these, which isn't a bad thing.

It does take a bit to fully get into the swing of the story, but it was well worth the wait. I loved all of the different directions the story took, both geographically and in terms of plot.

I quickly figured out that Shadow and Bone is set in a sort of pseudo-Russia, and I really liked trying to connect the fantastical locations to their real-world counterparts. (I also knew at a glance that the map in the front was drawn by Keith Thompson. Oh, how I love his work!) The title is very apt, though I didn't fully realize that until the very end.

The cover is different from most other books out right now, and I really like it. I love the font, and the colors have a symbolic meaning to the story. I love how the palace seems menacing, like beady red eyes are staring at you. The interior font for the chapter titles and the opening sentences is the Artemis Fowl font, which was seriously weird, but it didn't excessively distract me. Basically, this book is really pretty.

For some reason, it seriously bugged me that the Darkling didn't have his own name, just a title, but I need to ponder more thoroughly to figure out why that is. I loved that Alina was a total nobody, and I seriously, seriously loved that she was inclined to be merciful. (I often find that my issue with heroines is that if they're even remotely brave/powerful, they kill easily. Not so with Alina.)

Leigh Bardugo's writing style was very easy to read, and she glossed over the boring parts, which I appreciated. (Days upon days of slogging through snow, condensed into a few sentences! Yay!) I really enjoyed the way the prologue and epilogue were written in a slightly different style, and I think because of that, they really helped settle the story more firmly.

Shadow and Bone reminded me of the ambiance of Tony Abbot's Kringle combined with the intrigue of Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief. I can't wait for the next book!

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart. (Summary from Goodreads.)


Leigh's website is leighbardugo.com

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan

I have wanted to read this book for quite some time, ever since Cheryl Klein (the editor) talked about it on her blog back in 2010. So when I friend happened to find a copy while clearing out her closet, I jumped at the chance to read it.

I started it a long time back, and only now got the chance to finish it. I think the significant gap between reading the first 85% and reading the end may have dampened my enjoyment of the story somewhat, but nevertheless, I did like it.

It isn't a typical YA book. The protagonist, Bronwen, is an eighteen-year-old senior for most of the story, which is usually a bit old for YA. Additionally, Bronwen is getting married. (Surprisingly, this is more common in YA overall than you might think. It's highly irregular for realistic fiction, though.)

Bronwen has spent her whole life wanting to be Someone Else. She even has an alter ego, Phoebe Lilywhite, because at times she is sure that she must have been switched at birth. Throughout the story, Bronwyn has to figure out what she wants out of her life, and how to be who she wants to be. It's really more of a character-driven book than plot-driven.

I found Erin McCahan's writing very true-to-life, and her character and setting developments were very well done. I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future!


Eighteen-year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her image-obsessed mother; a kind but distant stepfather; and a brother with a small personality complex. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good.
Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants — and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do? (Summary from Goodreads.)

Erin McCahan's website is http://www.erinmccahan.com.

Guessing Isn't Always Fun

Recently I watched The Brothers Bloom with a bunch of friends. I'd never seen it before, but I really liked it, and would strongly encourage you to see it if you haven't already.

The brothers are con men, and have been since their childhood. Thus, The Brothers Bloom is a story about a con. As with most con stories, it features unreliable narrators, delightful twists, and tiny-but-important details. These aspects are among my favorite parts of a story. It's why I love Heist Society and White Cat; Chasing Vermeer and the 39 Clues.

When I was younger, I read a lot of mysteries. I devoured as many of the Boxcar Children books as I could find, and enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown as well. But somewhere along the line of my transition from middle-grade books to young adult, the supply of straight-up mysteries dwindled, and I had to turn to other genres to get my figure-it-out-before-the-end fix.

The thing is, though,  I don't enjoy figuring out the twist really far in advance. If I figure out the twist (Character X is really the princess!) long before the characters do, I get bored by the characters' obliviousness nine times out of ten. Alternatively, when I only come to the solution when it is revealed to the characters, I feel cheated. I complain that there weren't enough clues. (There's a quote in the most recent Doctor Who companion book-thing about River Song's true identity about twists only being fun if the consumer is able to figure it out beforehand, and even if they don't, the clues are there for them to go back and review.) The sweet spot for me, I've found, is when I figure out the last piece of the puzzle anywhere from a chapter to a page ahead of the characters. This way, I've figured out the clues the author has hidden along the way, but I also don't have an excessive amount of time to wait until the characters figure it out themselves.

I like books that challenge me as a reader. I want to analyze the text for hidden meaning, come up with wild (and plausible) theories, and try to predict the final outcome. By attempting to identify how clues and red herrings are placed (does the careful description of the gun matter for the plot, or to establish this character?) I like to think that I'm learning something valuable about the execution of good writing. That being said, I don't want a to-be-read-pile consisting solely of The DaVinci Code and its brethren. Sometimes I need something less challenging, and more straightforwardly entertaining.

What about you? Do you like guessing the twists ahead of time? Do you also over-analyze descriptions?

Transcendence by C.J. Omololu

 My thoughts in a sentence: I'm so glad I bought my own copy instead of ordering it at the library; I want the sequel soon!

 First of all, it must be said that C. J. Omololu has an awesome name. It's unique but not difficult to pronounce.


Transcendence gave me what I wanted: a capable and intelligent heroine, a realistically flawed but still attractive love interest, and twists that were totally believable that I didn't see coming. (The day before I read this, I was complaining to my sister about the dearth of books with realistic twists that I was unable to guess. The universe heard my plea!)


I will concede that the plot originally develops slowly, but it picks up rapidly.


The title really seems to fit it, as there are at least two references to music being transcendent. Also, I think a theme for this book could be "love transcends time" or "transcending past wrongs is essential to living a good life". Whoever came up with this title really nailed the heart of the story.


Cole (the heroine) is a cello prodigy, and since I've read quite a few books involving cellos recently, I'm feeling this urge to go pick up the cello again... I'm not sure whether that's a positive or a negative.


The way Transcendence is written would be like someone telling Sarah Rees Brennan to write a mashup of If I Stay and Incarnate. (Sidenote: I love all of those.)



Something that really makes Transcendence stand out is its incredible sense of place. I could definitely tell that C. J. had lived in the areas featured in the book. 


The cover is the real reason I bought this book. I first heard about C. J. through the blogs of Daisy Whitney and Nova Ren Suma, both of whom featured a giveaway of Transcendence earlier this month. On Nova's blog, C. J. talked about how the love interest, Griffon, is biracial, and he is also on the cover. This really caught my attention, as there are not nearly enough books about non-white people just living their lives, and often the ones that do exist have a white person on the cover. I am all for diversity on covers, so I decided right them to show Walker/Bloomsbury with my money that they need to keep publishing books like this with covers like this. Also, that boy on the cover is a lot more attractive than a lot of the other male models I've seen on YA books. 


Overall, I am super happy I bought my own copy, since I can tell I'll be rereading it more than a few times. I bought my copy from Barnes and Noble, where it was shelved in the "Paranormal Romance" section, which, okay, it might technically be, but it is unlike anything else I've read in that genre. (And that's a good thing.)

 When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually fascinating question: What would you do with another life to live? (Summary from Goodreads.)

C. J.'s website is http://www.cjomololu.com/

I'm Ba-ack (For Real This Time)

*blows off cobwebs*

So, I was remiss in planning (story of my life) how to continue posting once school started last August, and I just kept putting it off, and off, and off... Of course, as you can see, I rarely got around to actually publishing much content.

But this time, I have a plan. (And boy, does having a solid plan help.) My plan is to have two posts a week. One will go up Tuesday or Wednesday (a little flexibility is good) and one on Saturday. I think they'll be a combination of reviews and other content, most of the time, but there may be some weeks when I put up two reviews. Who knows.

I really want to keep this blog going this time, and I'll do my best to see that through. For now, I'm glad to be back.

Review: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

  Despite the fact that I am Team Unicorn ALL THE WAY (if you do not understand this reference, go read Zombies vs Unicorns. You're welcome) I really loved Ashes.

Alex, the main character, has a brain tumor that is slowly killing her. She can't take it anymore, so one weekend she goes up to the Waucamaw Wilderness, where she used to go all the time with her parents before they were killed in a car accident, with the intention of spreading her parents' ashes on the lakeshore. (I'm guessing that the Waucamaw Wilderness is fictional, because all of the Google hits for it are related to this book.)

She doesn't get the chance to do that, however, since an electromagnetic pulse rips through the area and destroys all of her electronics. Alex is forced to care for Ellie, an eight-year-old girl who has some serious attachment issues, and her dog, Mina, a former bomb-sniffer.

This book is similar in tone to Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star, and Alex really reminded me of Tris from Divergent. It was really on the violent side for me, (some of the descriptions I had to skip) but the plot was really engaging.

I thought that the relationship between Alex and Tom proceeded at a realistic pace. I did think that Ellie was incredibly dumb and annoying at times, but I think that was the point. I thought that the explanations for everything were reasonable, and for the first time in a while, I only figured things out AS Alex did, even though the clues were there, if I had looked. I also loved how well the title fit the book -- I thought Alex's parent's ashes would come into play a bit more than they actually did, but the world was in ashes, Alex's parent's were ashes, so on.

 So, in short, I really liked it. Despite the fact that there were zombies. The sequel cannot come soon enough.

Ilsa's website can be found here.