Review 2/23/10: Fragile Eternity

Fragile Eternity

By: Melissa Marr

Barnes & Noble Synopsis:

Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone—but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he'd ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who'd always terrified her—but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever imagined.

In Melissa Marr's third mesmerizing tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and each other in a milieu of shadowy rules and shifting allegiances, where old friends become new enemies and one wrong move could plunge the Earth into chaos.

Review:

After reading Fragile Eternity it gave me the impression that book two; Ink Exchange, was merely a companion novel written to further augment the plot in this book. There were so many characters to follow, but you felt an intimate relationship with them all. Even the one's who weren't so favorable. The writer doesn't give you a false sense of love, and instead provides the reader with real love, one with complications, and barriers, and unconventional partner relationships. Even in this invisible world of faeries, nothing is simple, and there's so much more at stake than a broken heart.

Aislinn tests her abilities, not only as the queen of the Summer court, but also at being able to maintain her relationship with Seth, among the mortals. Her duties are seemingly becoming more and more difficult. Keenan requests her presence more often, and the disputes between the Dark Court and that of the Summer are intensifying. Aislinn is strong willed and stubborn, but also oblivious to truths that are played out right in front of her face. While I was reading this book, there were quite a few times when I had to stop reading because Aislinn's ignorance was pissing me off. Juggling two men, one whom she loves with all her heart, the other, who needs her more than she needs him. Everyone in the Faerie courts know the arrangement between the Summer king and queen, and it's this arrangement that poses serious dangers for everyone involved.

I absolutely fell in Love with Seth upon reading this series, and later, also with Niall. Their unconventional friendship evolves into something greater, and their alliance helps Seth obtain information that will aid him in his quest to be with Aislinn forever, even though it will cost him a great deal. I've already given so much away, and I don't want to ruin it for those of you who have not read this series. So to sum this review up, I was not dissapointed, I was completely enthralled, and I can't wait to continue to follow this series.

Review 2/22/10: Beautiful Creatures

Review: Beautiful Creatures
By: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl





Book Back:

IN A TOWN WITH NO SURPRISES, ONE SECRET COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
Review:

First of all I would just like to point out, after reading the back of the book jacket, who wouldn't be intrigued, and want read this book?
I have to admit I struggled a bit when I first started this book. It's very intimidating upon looking at it, 600 pages is a pretty nice size book. And once I started reading it was a little hard to fall into the story right away. Reading from a character perspective of a young teenage male, with more family issues than the Osbourne's, only not famous, posed a difficulty for me to ease into the story. Once I got passed the first hundred or so pages, this book was nearly impossible to put down, let's just say is was well after 12 O'clock before I even thought of setting it on my night stand.
Ethan is such a strong character in this book, seeming completely average at first, until the story begins to unravel, and you realize there's so much more to him than just some boy from the South, on the basketball team, with a chip on his shoulder. There's a major tragedy that occurred in his life, and though horrible (you find out much later, on why) the writers have made it a positive, and a crucial key to solving this on going mystery. He's so curious, and determined, and it's those character traits that intensify the plot of this story.
This story had so many twist and turns, my head is still spinning and deciphering all at the same time. Lena is not at all what she seems to be, and just when you think you've grasped the truth about her and her unusual family, there's another fork in the road, and your left reeling, thinking "what just happened?" The unspoken words between her and Ethan only make the plot yummier, along with their undeniable attraction between one another.
While digging deeper and deeper into not only the town's, but both of their family's secrets, things begin to heat up, and soon they realize they're in over their heads, and have no choice but to entrust information with a few people. Time is not on their side, and it's a rush to find out what happens next, and obtain the information he needs to save the girl he loves, before it's too late. Aside from the obvious obstacles they have to overcome, it's the new one's that pose an issue. They find the people they most trust, are the one's burying the secret, and possibly the solution, even deeper.
This story grows only more intense the longer you read. Amma; Ethan's seemingly supersticious housekeeper, Macon Ravenwood; Lena's crazy ellusive uncle, along with his somewhat all-knowing dog Boo, and oh! my personal favorite, Lena's super seductive and super persuasive cousin Ridley, if evil had a cover girl, she would be it, cherry lollipop and all.
My expectations were completely exceeded by this book, and I can't recall lately reading a more tantalizing, hope filled, superstitious, tragic, loving, scrumptious, funny, mysterious, heart broken, edge of your seat, heart racing, soul searching, count down, fight to the finish kind of story in a long time. I'm sure you all will thoroughly enjoy it as much as I did.
5/5

UP COMING EVENTS!!!!

Up Coming Events!!!
I will be attending a couple events in the Bay Area, and I thought I would go ahead and post them for those of you who may want to also attend.

Ozzy Osbourne
Book signing/Performance
February 21, 2010 @1:00pm
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA

He will be autographing his new book "I Am Ozzy" which recently entered the NY Times Bestseller list at #2.

And of course next week...

Winner

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

So seeing as how I didn't have a lot of entries, I recruited my dear mother to choose a number between one and five, and guess what? the winner is MARTHA LAWSON! CONGRATS!
Check your email Martha, I wanna mail you your goodies. :)

Mailbox Monday!!

MAIL BOX MONDAY!!

Only a couple books to report this week, but no worries, I have a lot of catching up to do anyhow. So here they are in no particular order:

"Dear John" movie autograph signing

As I'm sure you all know, Nicholas Sparks' book "Dear John" has been recently made into a movie and is set to debut February 5, 2010. Below is an excerpt from the book (for those of you who have yet to read it):

My name is John Tyree. I was born in 1977, and I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, a city that proudly boasts the largest port in the state as well as a long and vibrant history but now strikes me more as a city that came about by accident. Sure, the weather was great and the beaches perfect, but it wasn't ready for the wave of Yankee retirees up north who wanted someplace cheap to spend their golden years. The city is located on a relatively thin spit of land bounded by the Cape Fear River on one side and the ocean on the other. Highway 17 -- which leads to Myrtle Beach and Charleston -- bisects the town and serves as its major road. When I was a kid, my dad and I could drive from the historic district near the Cape Fear River to Wrightsville Beach in ten minutes, but so many stoplights and shopping centers have been added that it can now take an hour, especially on the weekends, when the tourists come flooding in. Wrightsville Beach, located on an island just off the coast, is on the northern end of Wilmington and far and away one of the most popular beaches in the state. The homes along the dunes are ridiculously expensive, and most of them are rented out all summer long. The Outer Banks may have more romantic appeal because of their isolation and wild horses and that flight that Orville and Wilbur were famous for, but let me tell you, most people who go to the beach on vacation feel most at home when they can find a McDonald's or Burger King nearby, in case the little ones aren't too fond of the local fare, and want more than a couple of choices when it comes to evening activities.

Like all cities, Wilmington is rich in places and poor in others, and since my dad had one of the steadiest, solid-citizen jobs on the planet -- he drove a mail delivery route for the post office -- we did okay. Not great, but okay. We weren't rich, but we lived close enough to the rich area for me to attend one of the best high schools in the city. Unlike my friends' homes, though, our house was old and small; part of the porch had begun to sag, but the yard was its saving grace. There was a big oak tree in the backyard, and when I was eight years old, I built a tree house with scraps of wood I collected from a construction site. My dad didn't help me with the project (if he hit a nail with a hammer, it could honestly be called an accident); it was the same summer I taught myself to surf. I suppose I should have realized then how different I was from my dad, but that just shows how little you know about life when you're a kid.

My dad and I were as different as two people could possibly be. Where he was passive and introspective, I was always in motion and hated to be alone; while he placed a high value on education, school for me was like a social club with sports added in. He had poor posture and tended to shuffle when he walked; I bounced from here to there, forever asking him to time how long it took me to run to the end of the block and back. I was taller than him by the time I was in eighth grade and could beat him in arm-wrestling a year later. Our physical features were completely different, too. While he had sandy hair, hazel eyes, and freckles, I had brown hair and eyes, and my olive skin would darken to a deep tan by May. Our differences struck some of our neighbors as odd, which made sense, I suppose, considering that he'd raised me by himself. As I grew older, I sometimes heard them whispering about the fact that my mom had run off when I was less than a year old. Though I later suspected my mom had met someone else, my dad never confirmed this. All he'd say was that she'd realized she made a mistake in getting married so young, and that she wasn't ready to be a mother. He neither heaped scorn on her nor praised her, but he made sure that I included her in my prayers, no matter where she was or what she'd done. "You remind me of her," he'd say sometimes. To this day, I've never spoken a single word to her, nor do I have any desire to do so.

So why do I bring this up you ask? Well I had the pleasure of attending the function at the Macy's in Union Square in San francisco, CA and met the two lead actors of the movie, Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. Here are a few pics

And yes they have both read the book, and loved it. Though our meeting was brief, both actors were very kind, and humble. I even got a kiss on the cheek from Channing, which he was giving away like hotcakes.

My autographed poster!