Silver and Stone by J.D. Thompson

Summary

Welcome to high school high society hell.

As if senior year at Weatherford Preparatory School wasn’t hard enough, sixteen-year-old Alexis Bardolph had to add school outcast to the curriculum.

A new found notoriety following a family scandal, her lacrosse star boy-friend dumping her for a former BFF and a string of perpetually bad hair days were among the many things going wrong in her already turbulent teenage life.

But when the haunting nightmares that have plagued her since childhood begin to take an eerily tangible form and several Holler Creek residents are reported missing, Alexis can’t help but wonder if there isn’t more to her hellish dreams than meets the eye.

The unexpected arrival of a mysterious and dangerously handsome new student ultimately leads Alexis to troubling truths that not even her wildest imagination could have conjured.

• Number of pages: 132

Review 

Society hell sounds like fun the way JD Thompson writes it. Ok, maybe not fun exactly, but I loved reading this book and JD Thompson did a great job making this book where it was balanced by scariness, mystery, and humor. This review is going to be a little hard to write though because most of the book consisted of giving you the facts and occurrences little by little throughout the book, so for me to spoil it here on my review would be unfair to you, but I’ll try my best.

For some huge reason in which I can’t tell you, Alexis is the ex-popular girl in this huge castle like mansion, and all but her two best friends don’t completely hate her guts, even her sister is having a hard time accepting her sister’s situation and where this puts her in the society food chain that everyone in this book lives by. Depression is the right word to describe Alexis at this point in her life and the incredible guilt and confusion she feels. For what reason I cant say unless a spoiled story is what you want, but once you read the when’s and why’s of Silver and Stone you will be left stunned and craving more. Add Lucas into the mix and things get a bit more dangerous.

The setting was perfect for this type of story. The castle and the small town made everything seem a little more supernatural, and creepy. There is so much I want to say because the twist and turns in this story was absolutely riveting and I wish I could just blurt it all out and tell you what happens, but I’ll control myself and let you all read and figure it out for yourself. Just have a little patience to go to the end to find things out, and you should get hooked onto Alexis’ crazy story.

And you can imagine my excitement when I see that there was an excerpt for the next book that will come out soon! This may not be the most clear of reviews, but take it from me, Silver and Stone is not a book you want to miss out on. From 1-10 on entertainment alone? I give Silver and Stone an 8!

A note on the cover: I didn’t very much like the cover of this book since it looks kind of creepy, but don’t let that stop you from reading the book. Really! 

Ten Years Ago . . . 9/11 Tribute

Outside the day is clear and blue, a typical Floridian sky. They say it was also just a typical clear, sunny day ten years ago to this day in New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania. No one, least of all the parents and loved ones of many families, expected to end their lives short because of the sadistic and heartless terrorist planning to make a statement on this country. The high jacking of four commercial planes, the strike on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, the heroic efforts of the passengers on flight 93, the shocking and inevitable collapse of our beautiful Towers, and the destruction of the many lives involved only took a couple of hours, and yet it is something that to this day, 10 years later, it still brings tears to our eyes.

There isn’t much I remember from that day, I was about six years old when it happened. The events from that horrible day just seemed to blur together into a day when everyone cried, everyone seemed to have a frown on their face as if it were permanently etched into their faces. A woman who would always pick us up on days when my parents were out of town on work picked up my sisters and me from school that day. I remember my sisters crying nonstop, asking questions and questions about our parents who happened to be in New York City on September 11. I remember crying along with them, along with everyone. I can’t say whether I understood, but I remember feeling like something big was happening, and the sadness from everyone around me was enough to make me sad. 

Now, a decade later, I know that my parents had overslept and stayed in their hotel that morning instead of going to work, safe and sound. It took them days to return home to us again because they had to drive all the way here, but I remember being picked up by them at school and everyone was alright again. A decade later, and now 15 years old, I am so grateful to God for bringing them home to us again. I think back to the kids who lost their parents from those attacks and it makes me tear up thinking that they all went to school that day like me, but never got picked up by their mom or dad. Many people lost their live—firefighters, volunteers, regular businessmen and women, people of surrounding buildings, plane passengers—but for some reason this year, I also thought a lot of the kids who lost their parents. How old would they be now? 10? 13? 16? 20? How much did they lose from this? Their parents, but also the normalcy of their childhood. Their day to day routine of having their dad tuck them in or their mother pick them up from school, all lost because people they didn’t know and had nothing to do with decided to make a statement and see America panic. We were united that day and we are still united ten years later. Did they expect that? Not a year has gone by that we haven’t remembered, haven’t reflected on the events of that day. Though left behind by those we cherish now dead, we move forward with the grace of a nation who knows how to stick together. We never forgot. 

All That Matters by Youseph Tanha

Summary

Ethan Wright is just like any other high school kid that is one day lucky enough to meet the girl of his dreams. Throughout the course of high school the young couple learn to cope with incredibly difficult odds to discover all that matters.’All That Matters’ is a novella about love and life and all that the heart can endure. With memorable characters and a deep story you will find it difficult to put this book down.

Review

I read this book because the author, Youseph Tanha, contacted me telling me about this story and asking me to review it. I always love when I’m asked to review a book, and this was no exception. I believe this story, All That Matters, is only available on ebook.

So what can I say about this book? Well, it’s not your typical story, and it’s definitely not something I would read without a little push. It was interesting to be sure. I found it very realistic. The story is about a man who is telling you why he became a doctor. It tells of his story and his high school sweetheart. My guess is love can sometimes be hard, but especially when the girlfriend has cancer. I could feel him worry and excitement at being with the girl he wants. The story was really sad, especially near the end, but for some reason it seemed like besides the fact that she had to go to the hospital for chemo and radiation treatments, I didn’t feel much emotion from her family or other characters. Their concern was big, but the emotion behind that just didn’t seem palpable enough to me. What really surprised me was how—I don’t exactly know how to say this—close Ethan (the protagonist) and Amanda (his girlfriend and the girl of his dreams) were in their physical relationship. I found it gave a little too much info into their love life. And what were their parents thinking? I just didn’t understand.

The story ends in a way that is not the ending I would hope for. Not much of a happy ending, but then again does life always have a happy ending? To the protagonist it must have been a decent ending to his life, but I had wished he would find more than contentment. Maybe I understood it wrong. The bottom line is that this is the story of life, sickness, loyalty, and moving forward. From 1-10? I give All That Matters a 5.5!!