Oh Look a Post!

I am terribly sorry that I keep forgetting to post things. I finished Kristin Cashore's GRACELING around 3 this afternoon and I would love to tell you all about it but I really need to be packing, so when I get back I shall be sure to post about it. Don't let me forget. Please. (SH, here's looking at you, I know you loved the book too so remind me to post!)

This evening has been rather hectic, what with packing and making CDs for the road and finishing GRACELING and going on a Mad Search For Sunglasses So I Do Not Kill My Eyes On A Tin Roof and trying to find my camera and so on and so forth. So even though I've been meaning to post all day, it didn't happen. Until right now.

What am I packing for, you might ask?

Salkehatchie.

Salkehatchie is basically a mission trip/summer camp combination run through the Methodist church. Four of us from my church (three members of my youth group plus one of our adult leaders (who reads this sometimes, hello! *waves*)) are heading off to the Edgefield, SC area tomorrow morning. For the next week, we'll be doing home repair work for people in that area who need it, and worshiping God, and having fun, and doing all sorts of exciting things. I'll make sure to tell you all about it when I get back.

In the meantime, you get a week's break from reading about my life. (I know, you're hugely disappointed.) I'll see (er, write to) you all next Saturday! Have a lovely week!

Love,
Bex

Two to None...

So of course I now have the Jack's Mannequin song "Rescued" stuck in my head (very good song, by the way, if  you need something to listen to). "Two to none, roads that lead away from this, I'm following myself just this once..."

Anyway. I have not read any books today. I read the first thirty pages of GRACELING, which I'll tell you about when I finish it, and I skimmed through the sixth and seventh Harry Potter books. To be fair, I've done a reasonable amount of reading beyond just skimming, but mostly I'm skimming, so I'm not sure how to count that. But anyway.

Haven't done much today, folks. Harry Potter is awesome. Jack's Mannequin's pretty fantastic as well. Beyond that...I hope you're all having wonderful relaxing summer vacations (and CH, if you're reading this, I hope you're having a wonderful time in Germany, say hey to LD for me).

Gonna go read/skim some more and then get back to GRACELING. Catch you later, guys.

Love,
Bex

I Love These Two-Book Days

Yes, dearest readers, another one. I am sorry that I am so easily distracted and forget all about blogging and suchlike until it is 11:40 at night, but I am reading good books and I am sharing them with you, so you can't be too upset. Right?

The first book, which I read over twoish hours this morning, was HEX HALL by Rachel Hawkins. It was an absolutely wonderful book. I will confess that I figured out the plot twists about halfway through the book, but that's something I do a lot, and the great thing about this book: it doesn't matter, because it's still fun to read.

Sophie Mercer is a witch. She's always tried to use her powers to help people, but after a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, she gets sentenced to Hecate Hall, nicknamed "Hex Hall." It's basically a reform school for witches, shapeshifters, and faeries. Sophie has a hard time fitting in. The most popular, most beautiful, and most powerful witches on campus become her enemies almost immediately; the guy she likes is dating one of those witches; the only person who will be friends with her is Jenna Talbot. Jenna's also the only vampire on campus. And to top it off, Sophie knows next to nothing about being a witch. So, she doesn't really fit in.

When students start turning up drained of blood, Sophie's one friend is the only suspect. But Sophie doesn't think the attacks are Jenna's doing. She's convinced that there's a far more powerful enemy out there. And whoever the enemy is, Sophie is one of their biggest targets.

I was expecting something fun but girly, full of giggling and girliness and love spells and so on. What HEX HALL delivered was much more than that. The dangers Sophie faces and the situations presented are much deeper and darker than shallow, surface-level popularity crises. There are demons, there is torture, there are all manner of dark, lurking secrets. It's a fantastically woven plot. But the narrative style is light, fresh, sarcastic, witty - Sophie sounds just like a regular teenager. A very fun book. Definitely go read it. Also check out Rachel Hawkins' website. 

The other novel I read today was Holly Black's absolutely positively fantastic novel WHITE CAT. The first book in a proposed trilogy, WHITE CAT was full of amazing characters and intricate plots, and oh my goodness it was wonderful. Everyone should go read it, right now.

The novel is set in the United States, basically as we know it but with one major difference: everyone wears gloves. Always. That's because of the curse workers. About one in a thousand people can work magic with just a single touch. Each one has a different gift: changing emotions, messing with memories, changing dreams, giving luck, causing death, even transforming things (although that one's really rare).

Cassel Sharpe has always been the only member of his family not to be a worker. And since the age of fourteen, he has carried the burden of knowing that he killed the girl he loved. Now, Cassel is trying to blend in and forge a new life for himself at a boarding school. He can't quite stay away from the life of a con artist, but he's more normal than he's ever been before.

When he wakes up on the roof of the dorm building and starts seeing a mysterious white cat everywhere, even in his dreams, everything starts to change. Cassel is wrapped up in a mystery only he can solve, and the stakes are high: the lives of almost everyone he cares about.

Go read this book. Right now. And if you have any questions, visit Holly Black's website. You guys, the Curse Workers series (or at least, the first installment of it) is FANTASTIC. Readreadread.

Love,

Bex

P.S. It has just switched to midnight. I missed officially posting this on June 8 by one stinkin' minute. I'm counting it as the June 8 post. Probably.

Another Two-Book Post

Yes, indeed, dear internetfriends. I have once again read two books in two days. Well, mostly all today. I spent yesterday trying to remember all the chapter titles in the Harry Potter series, because I am a nerd and I found a quiz. (That was why the June 5 post ended up covering for June 6 as well - I was doing quizzes and realized it was after midnight.) But anyway, enough about me being a Potter-nerd, you know about that. I should tell you about these books. Because they're great.

The first, which I started yesterday and finished(/mostly read) today was MISTWOOD by Leah Cypess. It took me longer than I liked to get into it, but that was probably because it was eleven o'clock at night and I was being a Potter-nerd. It was excellent. I absolutely recommend it. Read it.

MISTWOOD is about Isabel. Isabel is the Shifter - the legendary creature formed from mist who can shift into anything and is sworn to protect the royal family. She is anything but human. Loyalty is all she knows. Her life does not matter. Only the safety of the king is important to her.

But all of a sudden, Isabel has emotions. After ten years alone in the Mistwood, not having served the previous king for a reason that Isabel cannot remember, she is called back to her duties by Prince Rokan, and this time, things are different. And when a disputed succession challenges everything she thought she knew about herself and her loyalties, Isabel has to determine what it really means to be the Shifter.

MISTWOOD was very well-crafted, and Isabel's character is so easy to relate to even though she's not human. The perspective was very different from the norm - we get the world through the eyes of someone not human - and it just makes you want to read more. Also, there's a lot of talk about the various relationships between people and what it means to love, but it is in no way a sappy romance novel. Like, at all. This is a great book, you guys. And if you'd like, after (or before) you read it, you can check out the author's website.

The other book I read today, over the course of a couple hours, was SCANDAL, the eleventh (yes, eleventh) book in Kate Brian's fantastic Private series. The covers are a bit of a deterrent, at least to me, because they scream designer labels and snooty upper-class relationship drama. And to be honest, there is a fair bit of that. But there is so much more.

There are mysteries. There are murder mysteries. There are stalkers (real-actual stalkers, not just "ooh I like him, let's watch him!"). There is danger, and drama, and death, and even a secret literary society. Which is the only hint I can give you about the most recent book without ruining a lot from the first several.

Start with the first one, PRIVATE, and just keep going. You'll want to. These books may not be heavy intellectual reading (they're what my dad would call "trash novels," honestly, but he says that about a lot of things), but they are fun quick reads and personally I enjoy them. I think they are spectacular. Even if I don't know all the brand names. You should read them. They're quite good. And you can even check out the awesome website.

That's all for tonight, you guys. I should probably work on my Eliza-story revamp (no pun intended) before KD eats me for leaving her hanging (even though she already knows what happens...). Catch ya later,
Bex

Two Books in One Post

Before I get to the books, I want to do two things. First, I'd like to apologize for not posting for the last couple of days; I've been busy doing birthday-ish things. Which leads me to the second point: Thank you thank you thank you to all of my wonderful friends who made my 17th birthday amazing. <3 Love y'all.

Now. Over the last 3 days, I have been doing some reading. And I have two books to share with you. I'm going to try to be brief about both of them, because I don't want to bore you with a super long post about two awesome books.

The first is THE LIGHT. It was written by D. J. MacHale, who also wrote the wonderful sci-fi/fantasy/adventure Pendragon series. THE LIGHT was a really strange book that took me a little bit to get into, but in the end, I really enjoyed it and I'll definitely read the second one when it comes out.

The book is about Marshall ("Marsh") Seaver, a quiet boy with one real friend who lives alone with his father because his mom died. He's planning a wonderful summer vacation, but then two strange things happen: Marsh's best friend Cooper disappears, and the scary comic-book super-villain that Marsh has been doodling everywhere starts appearing in real life. When it starts becoming clear that the two occurrences are related, Marsh has to team up with Cooper's sister Sydney to find out what happened to his best friend and put a stop to Gravedigger (the super-villain)'s dangerous behaviors.


I can't count the number of times I said "This book is so weird" while I was reading it, but in the end, I did think it was a good book and it definitely kept me reading. THE LIGHT was full of mystery and creepiness and adventure, and Marsh is a pretty well-developed character. It plays with your mind and makes you want to find out what happens. There are definitely a few plot holes that need to be addressed and hopefully will be later in the series, but it's definitely worth reading. You can find out more about stuff at D. J. MacHale's website. You can check out the Pendragon series too - it's very very very very awesome.

The second book I read over the last couple of days was MAGIC UNDER GLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore. It was such a good book. Beautifully written, like Jane Austen infused with sorcery, and it's so poetic and magical and it's a wonderful love story and it's so great.

Nimira is a dancing girl in a poor city, seeking her fortunes after her father's fall from grace. She gets the opportunity to go live with and work for a sorcerer, Mr. Hollin Parry, and sing with his automaton. But the automaton is more alive than anyone realizes, and Nimira may be the only one who can save him. MAGIC UNDER GLASS is a beautiful love story about a girl torn between "a man she does not love and a man she cannot have" (from the jacket cover) and it was so good and so sweet and oh my goodness everyone should read it because it was fantastic.

You can find out more about the author and the book at Jaclyn Dolamore's website. There is a sequel in the works, MAGIC UNDER STONE, but there isn't a release date available yet. Definitely read this book, you guys, it was awesome.

Must go. Lots of love,
Bex

P.S. This is the June 5 post. I started back at like 10 but then SP distracted me with Harry Potter trivia, so it didn't get posted until after midnight. It's the June 5th post anyway.

June Release Dates

Because I'm a total bookworm (which you must have noticed by now, if you've read this blog at all) and I think books are a bit more interesting to talk about than the intense room-cleaning I've done today, I have composed a list of June book releases. IT IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE. There may very well be lots of other books coming out in June. I've only uncovered a few interesting ones so far - there are lots of May releases and July releases, but not so many in June. Here are the ones I know, though (the ones that aren't in a series are just ones I read about online and thought looked interesting):

June 5: THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER, Stephenie Meyer - Twilight novella
June 8: SWEET DECEIT, Kate Brian - Privilege series #4
June 8: DECEPTION, Lee Nichols
June 8: STRANDED, J.T. Dutton
June 8: WANTED, Sara Shepard - Pretty Little Liars series #8
June 22: DARK FLAME, Alyson Noel - Immortals series #4
June 22: SIGNAL FROM AFAR, Stella Lennon - Amanda Project series #2
June 29: ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG, Ally Carter - Gallagher Girls series #4
June 29: KEYS TO THE REPOSITORY, Melissa de la Cruz - Blue Bloods short story collection

Love,
Bex

Another Book!

Today I read WAKE by Lisa McMann. I love summer. I have the time to read a book a day (provided I'm willing to slack off on thesis a little. Oops.) and it's fantastic.

WAKE is the first book in a trilogy, and it's been out for a couple of years. I've been meaning to read it for a while, and today I finally got around to it. It's about Janie Hannagan - a seventeen-year-old girl who gets sucked into people's dreams. Whenever someone has a dream around her, she is pulled into it as well, and there is nothing she can do to stop it. Unfortunately, people fall asleep in class all the time, so she's had more than enough of falling dreams, naked-in-public dreams, and sex dreams. But when someone in one of the scariest dreams she's ever been sucked into sees her there and recognizes in the real world that she was in his dream...that's when things start to change. There may be more to this strange power than Janie realizes.

The narrative style for WAKE was really different from what I'm used to, but it worked really well. It's told in little sections, based on what time it is at any given point in the story, and it's in present tense. In places I felt like that made the story a little distant and I wanted it to get more involved and complex, but I think that's more a personal preference thing than anything else. I did enjoy the novel, and I definitely recommend it. It's a pretty quick read - a couple of hours if you read fast - and it's good. You'll want to read it for the characters' sake, and to find out what's up with this whole dream thing.

The second and third books in the trilogy, FADE and GONE respectively, are already out, so you won't have to wait on anything. I'll definitely be looking for the second book next time I'm at the library. And you can find out more about the series and the author, Lisa McMann, at the website. Enjoy!

Love,
Bex