Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Summary

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosia, as a siren—the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Esmerine takes her sire’s vow she means to protect the sea and all that live within it—until Dosia runs away to the mainland and Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.

Sectretly thrilled with the prospect of seeing a world that shes only glimpsed from the ocean, Esmerine uses magic to transform her tail into legs and journeys to the capital city. There, she comes upon a friend she hasn’t seen since childhood—a dashing young man named Alander. Who belongs to a winged race of people. Alander, whose odd ways and brash opinions offend yet fascinate her. But as Esmerine embarks on a search for her sister that will take her farther away from the sea she lobes and the life she has always known, she and Alander rekindle a friendship . . . and amore.

• Number of pages: 229

 Review

This was a cute story. I guess that’s the best adjective I can give to this book. It was a cute, sweet, light story that I enjoyed reading. I haven’t gotten much into the mermaid books, but I have a feeling that they are going to start getting popular. This book was about a mermaid who must go to the dry land to find her sister who she thinks was kidnapped and forced to marriage. There she recruits the help of her old childhood friend who happens to be one of the winged people. So clearly this is a story that doesn’t take place in what is the modern earth we live in now. It’s interesting though how the author created an old Queen Elizabeth era to it with the corsets and dresses and manners.

I think that it was a story that was very unique in some aspects such as the mix of sky, earth, and water. The love story in it was very unique as well. There were some obvious problems as to why they couldn’t be together as well as some little surprises that got me shocked. Like I said it was cute. But cute doesn’t necessarily mean I loved it. There were some boring spots here and there where I just wanted to skip ahead. The adventure part mostly happened in the last half of the book. From 1-10? I give it a 5

Cover note: something that did strike out at me was the cover. I found it so beautiful and whimsical. I love the way the sea and the sky merge. I must admit that the cover did influence me quite a bit to read this book. 

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Summary

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters. That is, without questioning it much—if you don’t count her visits to the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her secret meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her sixty-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—she must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

• Number of pages: 213

Review

I’ve had my eye on The Chosen One for quite some time now. It’s one of those books that I knew I had to read, a book with a story that I wouldn’t soon forget . . . and I was right. This is a very powerful book. There is a story in here that really did leave me in shock. It took me around 4 hours to read. The book isn’t very big to begin with, but add that to the fact that this is a story that you cant put down, and it’s easy to see why it would be hard to stop in the middle.

Kyra is a confused girl living in a world that isn’t sane. She is the daughter of a man . . . and three mothers, as well as a sister of 20 kids. Not the usual Brady Bunch circumstances. Is she happy? She could be considered a content girl. Does she feel like something is wrong with her community? She’s felt it for many years now. They tell her not to read, not to love, not to wander from their given path. You see how her mind tries to follow their ways, but her heart really doesn’t give a shit whether or not “the Prophet” for sees her life a certain way or not. It’s actually very hard to see how she tries to obey, but really cant help herself when she tries to do what is right. There was one specific moment involving a baby and ice water that really left me in shock. I wont give you the circumstances, but when you read it you’ll know what I’m talking about. I guess Kyra would continue living like this if it were for the fact that one night, the Prophet comes to her house and proclaims that she is to marry her 60 year old uncle who already has six wives, while Kyra is only 13. How disgusting is that? This story is her process through denial, hope, survival, and escape. This is a story through the lives of polygamists and barbarians and child/women abusers. The story was truly heart stopping. It was both unrealistic to me and completely realistic to those who really have to live through that. It really showed me how my life situations aren’t the only ones, that there are many other types of lives and circumstances that I probably wouldn’t comprehend. It opened my eyes a bit, and I don’t regret it. From 1-10? The Chosen One gets a 6.5

Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris

Summary

Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!

Kindle Version

Review 

This is a story that was sent to me by the author herself, and I was very excited to read. Unfortunately, it has taken me about 10 times as long to finish than it would for me to read a regular book. Why is that? The plot was actually very interesting and unique. It’s about this girl who is looked at as a freak because of her weird hobby of crashing funerals. On one of her little trips to a funeral she runs into the hottest guy at her school, and her lifetime crush. It turns out that his sister died of heroin and the brother thinks there was some fowl play. He, with the help of the girl, Kait, start to investigate the mystery of the sister and 3 other girls' deaths.

Seems interesting, right? I thought it would be too. Just not the way it was written. I mean that in a way that the writing style of the author was not something I personally enjoyed. I couldn’t keep up. The only way I can explain it is like this: it was like reading the thoughts of someone else, unfiltered and with no direction. Any little thing would distract Kait. It was actually dizzying to keep up. She would be talking about the murder and then the guy and somehow it would go to her ex-best friend and end with a peanut butter and banana milkshake. It was exhausting, that’s why it took so long for me to finish it. It was like looking through the mind of a little girl that would get distracted by anything and everything. I really wasn’t eager to finish it. I hate to say it, but I believe this was why I am so behind in my reading. The last 6 chapters or so were the most interesting because the mystery was wrapping up. I am only being honest that from 1-10? I give this story a 3.5 

SOOOO Behind

It's funny how life can go from having free time to become impossibly hectic in just a few short weeks. I am extremely behind in all things reading (that doesn't involve school) I have about three or four book requests that I haven't had a chance to get to and that makes me feel really bad. Can't Thanksgiving Break come any faster?! I promise to get to everything as soon as I can! 

Here's a few things that are coming up!

-I've accepted two review request that I am just itching to do, and I will as soon as things settle down a bit.  I'm going to be reviewing Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris and Quest of the Demon by M.L. Sawyar.

-I'm going to be starting a 30 day meme just answering questions and getting a little personal with it.

-I got a new review request that I just replied to (a little late) and if everything gets squared off soon I'll add it to my list and have it done as soon as possible. 

-And I want to do something new to my blog, whether it be the layout or a feature I don't know, I just haven't thought of it yet. Got to start brainstorming!

Now that I look at it I have a lot of stuff to accomplish! I have to start managing my time better, and hit the books!

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!!