Book #29

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

496 pages

Popular Fiction

"Dark forces are gathering. Terrorists attacks, murders, strife, poverty." Three angels are sent down from heaven to Venus Cove to complete good works and spread goodwill. Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany the youngest and most human, created a mere seventeen years ago. She is the most connected to the human race but she must refrain from letting them know who she is, no attachments. But when she lays eyes on Xavier Woods she can't help but fall for him. She tries to follow her mission but can't concentrate without him. Ivy and Gabriel do everything in there power to stop this relationship. But it might be the one thing that can save her against the demon Jake Thorn.

The first in a trilogy by a seventeen year old author, Halo had some good parts and some low parts. The plot could have been really good but was disrupted by it's legnthliness, and by Bethany the narrator. Bethany is so naive about so many things but she has no problem with school work, it makes no sense. Also, it was stated that the three would not be wearing tank tops because it would show their wings but a few pages later Ivy is walking around in a tank top and Gabriel answers the door in nothing but a towel, how is that supposed to work? And then Bethany become obsessed with literally the first good-looking boy she sees, what? The charachters aren't developed at all because Bethany is so obsessed with this boy. And there are no homely people in Venus Cove, all Bethanys friends have striking blue eyes or titian curls, and the cliques are pointed off right off the bat. This author has a lot of potential and I liked the book but didn't love it. It could have been magnificent but fell flat because as you should know, angels are the new vampires.

Book #28

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
374 pages
Popular Fiction
Of the three books in Carrie Ryans zombie trilogy The Dark and Hollow Places is the most chilling. The things that the Recruiters do to the captive humans and the Unconsecrated. It goes into the darkness of the time, the desperation, the poverty, and the hopelessness. This was my favorite of the whole trilogy, I think because of Annah. Annah is the main character who lives in the Dark City, previously New York City, alone for the past three years since her friend Elias left to join the Recruiters. Now he is back with her long lost twin sister, Abigail/Gabry and friend Catcher in tow.Before he left, Elias and Annah had a moment and Elias made her feel beautiful despite the left side of her body being mutilated by misshapen scars. With the city being ravaged by the Unconsecrated zombies searching for the taste of human flesh the group has to give themselves into the Recruiters who will keep them safe but to what extent? Are you safe if you are being threatened and abused almost daily by cruel men who want only bad things from you? Annah thinks not, and she is determined to get her sister, her friend, and her love out of here even if it means she must sacrafice her own life. It has a horde of Unconsecrated, true love, violence, heroism and more. It gave me chills... literally.
I could not put this book down because it was so intense and frightening. I recommend that you not read any of this series at night because it gave me nightmares, it's very disturbing. But still read it and the first two too (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead Tossed Waves). The Unconsecrated have always disturbed me in these books, the blank looks, the unhuman moaning, it just gives me chills thinking about them. Ugh. But great books, the best mix of scary and well everything else.

Bloggies

I really like A Jar of Orange Marmalade's blog because they have really long reading posts and they go into a lot of detail. I also like that they post pictures with most of their posts. They defiantly spend some time on these posts and don't do them all in one night. I think the books they post on are also very interesting and I might have to read some of them. I also like their design for their page.

Book #27

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
359 pages
Popular Fiction

So last semester was quite eventful for Sophie. She was inducted into a coven of dark witches that raised a demon from the dead, who just happens to be Sophie's grandmother, found out she was a demon herself, watched her new ally murdered, and then had to kill her grandmother/demon/murderer. Oh yeah and her crush also happens to be a member of the Eye who is out to destroy all Prodigium. So now Sophie is bound and determined to get all this behind her by going through the Removal, a painful and mostly deadly procedure that will wipe Sophie of her demon powers forever but leave her scared with the memories and purple tatoos. But her father, who Sophie just met in the first chapter of Demonglass, is bound and determined to convince her to keep her powers seeing as they are supposedly the only two demons in the world at the moment. That's why her father takes her to London for the summer, more specifically to Council headquarters, along with her friends Cal and Jenna. There Sophe meets two other demons which HELLO means that someone is raising demons right under the Councils nose. But who can it be? Trying to uncover this secret along with watching out for the Eye, who is using Archer to hunt her down could be very dangerous. But Sophie has it all under control right? She won't team up with Archer and try to uncover the mystery right? And she would never fall in love with him and betray everyones trust and safety...right?

Art Gallery

Julie Kroll

"The Conveigance of Time"

Julie Krolls "The Conveigance of Time," abundant gothic doodles create an old-fashioned clock that gives off an explosive romanticness. The intricate doodles that cover every square inch of the drawing gives it a scattered look of a dream. The curving uneven numbers on the clock face also aludes to this and gives it a romantic depiction. The clean purpouseful lines of this drawing give it a thoughtful and inquisitive look.and the difference of the technique used gives the clock a more lively feel to it. Kroll makes this clock come to life with her uniqueness and intuitiveness.

Quidditch!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch
So I have recently discovered that muggles can play Quidditch. I found this out at Ball State when I went on a college visit because they have a Quidditch team and so I got interested and searched it up online when I got home that night. I really want to make a team but only colleges have teams and they can go to the World Cup. I think that it was a really smart idea to make it a real game because it sounds so fun!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo This video gives an example of what a typical game includes and the website above explains the general rules and points.
So yeah now you know my obsession with the Harry Potter world, I'm a Potter freak. Did you know that there is a Harry Potter theme park in Orlando??? Yeah it's called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I want to go there sooo much!! They have the whole castle, most of Diagone Alley (including Olivanders) and most of Hogsmead. I know some people who have been and they say it's super amazing but it's expensive and crowded. That's the only bummer. I can't wait for part two of the Deathly Hallows to come out I know whats going to happen because I read the books but I want to know how they are going to accomplish that plus the movies are just awesome!!!!

Book # 26

Throat by R.A. Nelson
453 pages
Popular Fiction
Seventeen-year old Emma is cursed by her epilepsy, it has restricted her friends, her chances of getting her license, and how she is treated on the soccer field. But when a vampire attacks her it is her curse that saves her life. During her attack she has a grand mal seizure causing the vampire Wirtz to flee. This interrupted feeding gave Emma the amazing powers that a vampire has but with no of the harsh side effects. So she can run fast, is very strong, has heightened senses, but doesn't have to drink blood or avoid the sun. It's not clear is she is a half-vampire or some kind of super human, but one thing that is clear is that Wirtz hates leaving a job undone and will stop at nothing to finnish her. To protect her family from the rath of Wirtz Emma flees and hides at a NASA base were she meets Sagan who will be a valuble friend and ally in her adventure to kill Wirtz. Emma finds the perfect lookout building and with Sagans help equipts it with unconventional warfare like sand blasters, chain saws, and chemicals. Will she get out of this alive or will the lives of the ones she loves be forfeited.
This book was really thrilling and intense but at times it just drags on with no known meaning. I feel as though it is setting us up for a sequel and I would welcome it as long as i didn't drag on as much. I really liked the cover art of the novel too, the meaning of the throat is revealed in the novel which gives a whole new viewpoint on the cover.

Dan Martensen and Shannan Click

http://www.theselby.com/9_21_09_DanM_Shannan/index.html

Dan Martensen and Shannan Clicks quaint cabin like home and beautifully unruly garden create a sense of an adoring couple is down to earth and humble. The house itself looks rustic and simple with its natural lighting and uneven wooden boards. The pictures of the homemade garden and food give an organic feel to their lifestyle. The seemingly carefree style of living they are used to is characterized by their artistic photos and paintings. This lively couple and their adorable slobbery dog have an effervescence for life that comes through in their old fashioned farmhouse and the wildly abundant amount of garden foliage.

Book # 25

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

440 pages

Popular Fiction

"They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

And Number Three in Kenya.

They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next."

I just loved this part of the book so I had to quote it, it just adds so much suspense before you even start the book that it makes you want to read it more. I also really like that there is a disclaimer in the begining saying that everything is true, names have been changed to protect the rest still in hiding etc. And Pittacus Lore is one of the council type ruler dudes of Lorien so all of this combined makes the story suspenseful and really real. The one thing that I didn't like about the book was that I could see things coming long before the book explained them, just simple things but I though it just needed to be a bit more difficult to figure out. My favorite part of the book besides the realness to it was the mix of current events and history of their home planet Lorien. It was a good ratio and I enjoyed learning about this fictitious planet. I haven't seen the movie yet but people are saying it's good, great, fantastic, but there are also the people who say it was missing important things from the book, I hated it. So I am going to wait until it comes to readbox and just find out for myself because people are confusing. Another thing that is confusing is Number Fours age. I tried to do the math and came up with sixteen but it implies that he is fifteen and now I am just saying he is a teenager. If anyone could clarify any of this that would be a great help.

Book #24

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
398 pages
Not really sure the type
So this book took over my whole entire life (stealing Mrs. K's phrase)!! It's Kind of a sci-fi romance with some mystery thrown into it.
Amy is seventeen and her parents are making her make the hardest decision of her life so far. She can either journey to another planet almost 300 years away with her parents by being cryogenically frozen, or she could stay behind on Earth with her Aunt, Uncle, and boyfriend but never see her parents again. She is supposed to be frozen after her mom but before he dad, her mother thinks that her father will make Amy go before him so she has to go but her father surprises her by letting her make the choice. It's not made any easier by the fact that the process of being frozen is a most horrific experience including tubes and wires being jammed down the throat, eyes being glued shut, and a feeling of being drowned. The description of this process made me cringe inside at the idea of this actually happening to a person. So Amy decides that she would rather go with her parents and goes through the painful process. She is awoken in an excrutiatingly painful matter and then finds out that it was 50 years too early!! It seems that she is also the first in a string of murders of the people who are frozen. This new world is a mystery to Amy as it is full of people who live by different rules and customs. This monoethnic people is ruled by a tyrannical old man named Eldest and his successor teenaged Elder. To Eldest she represents difference and that cannot be tolerated in this heavily sedated community who has lost almost all knowledge of their history and Earths' past. Now Amy must uncover the secrets that the ship is hiding, find the murderer before he kills her parents, and deal with this strange new world all while falling in love with someone who could betray her.

Book # 23

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
336 pages
Popular Fiction
Three years ago when she was just thriteen, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. Her human mother has been as supportive as possible as Sophie is having a rather hard time getting the hang of her powers- only contacting Sophies elusive warlock father when strictly neccessary. Let's just say that Sophie and her mother have had to move a lot because someone can't control her spells. But a prom incident that causes too much attention to be brought to Sophies powers lands her at Hecate Hall, a school for Prodigium; faeries, witches, and shapeshifters, who have caused their world to be exposed. On her first day at Hex Hall Sophie gets attacked by a werewolf, develops a crush on a totally off limits warlock, makes enemies of the only dark wicth coven on the island (who happen to look and act like supermodels), gets a creepy tagalong ghost, and the most hated (and only) vampire as her roomate. Her time there gets even worse when she discovers that her father is the head of the council, as in the one who sent everybody to Hex Hall. Then to add on to the suckiness of her life, something is attacking girls at Hecate and leaving them for dead and her only friend and roomate is the only suspect. She still can't get ahold of her magic and she discovers that her biggest threat of all is a group of Pridigium hunters who want to destroy her entire race especially her. Will Sophie ever get things under control? i read this book soo fast because I just couldn't put it down, it was amazing!! There was a perfect mix of everything, mystery, romance, excitement, and supernatural. I can't wait to read the second one, I just have to know what happens next!