Review: Night

 Yes, I am indeed still alive! I've just been busy these past couple of weeks. During my time away I read a book called Night by Elie Wiesel. This was a book that I did not chose to read at the book store. I had been assigned to read it over the summer for my Honors English 10 class.

Here is a quick little summary of the book which I got from goodreads:

 Night A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

The book was pretty good if I must say. I am a sucker for WWII books. I find it interesting and sad. This book was sad but it was true. I was holding my breath at the end just waiting for that moment when the camp was liberated. And it finally came. I was saddened when the boy was at the verge of losing his father. They were so close, but back then they didn't know how close they were. The book allowed me to clearly picture his journey and it was great. This book is a short read but it is one of the better books I have read for school in a long time.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Writing Music!

When I write I enjoy listening to music. Somehow it helps me get into the zone when I write. Although some writers don't listen to music when they write and that is cool as well. Recently I have been writing more than I normally do (Probably because I go back to school in 3 or 4 weeks and I don't have much time to write during the school year.)

Anyways, I have gathered up a selection of some of  my favorite writing music. Instrumentals of course! I could never listen to music with words, I would get distracted. These are instrumentals from movie scores and all over youtube.

This instrumental is from the Prince Caspian Narnia movie. I listen to this song when I am writing a battle scene. It really gets my brain going.

This one is from Percy Jackson. It's kinda mysterious to me. I like it and it's a really nice melody that has parts of pure calmness and then suddenly your heart will be pounding.

I love this one so much. It's the instrumental played during the muttations scene in The Hunger Games. I really like how about the first minute of the song, it's dark and gloomy and then at about a little over a minute you hear a big boom and that's when the thrilling part comes in. The instrumental will surely get your blood pumping during this one.

This one isn's from a movie score. This is the instrumental to Demi Lovato's song My Love is Like a Star from her Unbroken album. I really like the song and the instrumental. Without the words it's sorta gloomy. I listened to this song when I was writing one scene in my story where the character's world was just going wrong and she felt alone. Good song. Awesome instrumental.

I am very sorry for my absence for the past week or so. I have been hard at work on the story I am writing and I haven't really bothered to get on the internet at all. (I was on pinterest though I do admit!) Well while I was on pinterest I notice a cute fan art of Katniss and Peeta from none the less The Hunger Games. I am not sure if who I pinned it from was the drawer of the fan art, but I know I wasn't!

I think I have found a new favorite Katniss and Peera drawing. I love everything about this picture.The little quotes surrounding the two of them, the facial expression of Katniss and Peeta. I am a sucker for those green sweaters, they are so adorable. I just can't get over this amazing picture.

Review: The Calling

On Wednesday I finished The Calling by Kelley Armstrong. Now I get to review it. Okay, I got this book way back in April on the first day it came out, but I had other books I wanted to read before I read this one, so it kinda got pushed towards the back of my reading list. I'm totally obsessed with The Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong, and if this was one of those books I would have started reading it in the bookstore. Before I paid for it! I was wrong to push this book back to the end of my reading list. This book was actually really good, not just really good, but great!

Here is a little summary of the book, but please do read the first book, The Gathering, before you read this one if you have not already! (Summarized from Barnes & Noble)

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is—a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In The Calling, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of The Gathering clamoring for more.

I really enjoy the characters in this book. Besides Rafe. I personally don't care for his character, and I was glad he was gone for about 90% of the book. His character really bugs me. Maybe it's just because I am all for Maya/ Daniel, and Rafe is a road block between them. Plus I am not a big fan of two people knowing each other for a few chapters, ans making out in the next. When two characters have their relationship build up before they kiss is what I like. (It wasn't until book 3 of The Darkest Powers that Chloe kissed Simon or Derek.) In the next book I really want a Maya and Daniel kiss. Oh, just one and I will be so happy! (But more than one is totally fine with me:)) I love how Daniel and Maya have that brother/sister like protection, but I think it is getting obvious that Daniel feels something more than friends with Maya, but I'm not so sure about Maya. In the book there are little cute moments that made me squeal.

Here is one moment where I believe we can see that Daniel might like Maya. It's on pages 299 to 300. This is the part where Maya is trying to tell Daniel about Rafe, but Sam walks in and interupts.

"No, you're not. Heroic sacrifice or not, he's still a jerk. He waltzed into Salmon Creek and stole Maya."
"Stole?"I said.
"It's not your fault. You two are both skin-walkers. It's animal magnetism. You can't help yourself." She glared at Corey, who was cracking up behind Rafe. "Stop that.You know it's true. Maya's too smart to fall for an arrogant, self-centered-" 
"Enough," Daniel said.
Sam sighed. "I know you're trying to be fair, Daniel, but you need to stand up for yourself, not let this smirking bad boy wannabe waltz in and-"
"Enough!"


Hmm. Maybe Sam thinks that Rafe stole Maya from him, and she's trying to get him to admit it and he knows it and wants her to stop? It's a good guess though. Could it be wrong? Yes, or no.

I guess we will have to wait for The Rising to see. I can't wait to see how the two books mesh together, I think Tori is going to go after Daniel, and I think Tori and Sam could be best friends. They do have the same type of personality. Hopefully we will see some Maya and Daniel action, plus some more Chloe and Derek is always nice. I think Nicole might get Rafe. Hayley and Corey maybe? Daniel and Maya hopefully. Chloe and Derek of course. Or Tori and Rafe, I could see it, maybe. I hope Simon doesn't go for any of the girls in this trilogy, especially Nicole. I can't stand Nicole and the thought of her being with my Simon, er, Simon, is just disgusting. I don't want to think about that. Maybe Hayley, but I don't really like her and I'd rather her be with Corey. Okay enough with my ships. We will have to wait til 2013 to find out....which I don't if I can do.


Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
 

Books Coming Out Soon!

 So before Design Star comes on tonight, I decided to tell you about some books that are coming out on the coming weeks that might be of some interest to you all.

 The first book is Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan. (I do think this book was already released but it being rereleased.

 Publication Date: July 17, 2012
 Publisher: St. Martin's Press
 Summary: 

 If a violent battle destroyed the only world you’ve ever known, would you be brave enough to save who was left? Would love be strong enough to survive the fight? Either way, there’s no turning back…

 The Empyrean is the only home 15-year-old Waverly has ever known. As members of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space, she and her boyfriend Kieran will be pioneers of New Earth. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission, and Kieran, the handsome captain-to-be, has everything Waverly could want in a husband. But there’s a part of Waverly that wants more from life than marriage… and she is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

 Suddenly, Waverly’s dreams are interrupted by the inconceivable – a violent betrayal by the Empyrean's sister ship, the New Horizon. In one pivotal moment, Waverly and Kieran are separated, and find themselves at the helm of dangerous missions, where every move has potentially devastating consequences, and decisions of the heart may lead to disaster.

 It seems interesting, I think I might have to check it out, hopefully the romance part won't be the main conflict in this book. Otherwise, I think the cover is very intriguing.

 The second book is The Kill Order by James Dashner, who is also the author of the popular Maze Runner Trilogy.

 Publication Date: August 14, 2012
 Publisher: Random House Children's Books
 Summary:
 Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.
  Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next.
  Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.
  Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.

 I cannot wait to read this book. It sounds exactly like something I would like to read! If this is the book for you, just remember the book comes out on August 14, 2012!

 The third book I am mentioning to you is not the first, Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake is the first book. Although it is already out I am still mentioning it to you, just so you know what to expect when you get the second one!

 Summary:

 Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

 Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

 Yet she spares Cas's life.

 Now that you know what the first book is all about, the second book, Girl of Nightmares is coming out very soon!

 Publication Date: August 7, 2012

 Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC

 Summary: 

 It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

 Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

 Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

 (All of the books were summarized from Barnes & Noble's descriptions)

More Book Fan Art

(These images are not mine, they are ones I have scrolled past before and have liked them and now I want to share them with you!)

 Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games. This fan art appeals to me, and so do a lot of other Katniss and Peeta fan art drawings out there.

 This drawing is just super adorable. From left to right it is Clary, Simon, and Jace from The Mortal Instruments. Not all of my favorite fan drawings are of couples, this one is just super adorable. I mean just look at those facial expressions and Simon's glasses. So cute!

 (Done by leelee2489 on Deviantart)
 Maya & Kenji from The Darkness Rising Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong. Look at how cute that dog's face is? I'm a sucker for that face!

Book Fan Art!

 I just love it when I can go on Deviantart or Pinterest and find adorable Fan Art of my favorite fictional book couples. I just thought that today I should share some of my favorites with you!
(None of these images are mine!)

 If you aren't aware of who this book couple is what is wrong with you! Ha, just kidding. It's Derek and Chloe from The Darkest Powers Trilogy written by  Kelley Armstrong. If you must know, I am very much in love with this series. Derek and Chloe are adorable, though it did take me a very long time to think this, I used to be a hard core Simon and Chloe shipper, and there might still be a little of me that is. Simon is my favorite character and it upset me very much that he didn't get Chloe...She's happy with Derek and Simon is happy for them.

 I just love this picture, I think it might be because of all the lovely blending and color choices, but I just absolutely adore this picture. Jace and Clary are lovely and they are just so wonderful together, what else more can I say?