Happy new year....

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't been writing lately... I seemed to think I would have more time on my hands once school let out for the semester, but somehow that was not the case. Anyways I do have a new book review for you on Meridian by Amber Kizer which I actually just finished as couple days ago. I honestly hadn't heard too much about the book, but picked it up one day while working and read the description, and of course it drew me in. Here is the synopsis courtesy of Borders (LOVE)

"Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.


"Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate's tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home--and Meridian's body explodes in pain.

Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she's a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt's house in Revelation, Colorado. It's there that she learns that she is a Fenestra--the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos."


The book starts out by dropping you right in the middle of the story and you really have no clue what's going on for a while. You learn information verrrrrry slowly and the characters don't progress as fast as I would have liked. It was extremely creative however with all the lore on "Fenestras" or a type of angel who helps you reach the "good" afterlife. Kizer definitely put a lot of thought into this book which is kind of like a good versus evil battle but not in the most traditional sense. If I'm going to be completely honest, it really didn't hold my interest quite as much as I would have liked it to, but it was still worth reading in the long run (although I say that about most books) . I am still hoping that there will be a follow up book because there were quite a few loose ends in the book and it just really didn't hold itself on its own. I'm not going to put this one on either list, I recommend that you read it and decide for yourself, although you know my opinion on it....

If anyone has any suggestions for some books they would like to see show up on my page for reveiwing, please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to get to them. Next up for review is the 3rd book in Alyson Noel's "Immortals" series, also known as Shadowland. I'm about halfway through it right now and will hopefully get the post up before I leave for FL on Monday. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and happy new year : )

The Hunger Games and Peeps

Here are two very popular books from two very popular authors and what I thought of the two.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My favorite part of this book was the depth of the characters, I absolutely adore Catniss's character development. They  were all just so relatable to me. The plot line itself was an excellent story of a dystopia in the future where "tributes" must be given to the capital to play in what they call "The Hunger Games." The contestants of these games are all young and are put in an arena with one another and in order to win, he/she must be the last one standing (meaning that he/she must kill the others and watch others die at the hands of the other contestants). All of this is done so that everyone in the 12 districts remembers that the capital is supreme and they can never rebel AGAIN. It is a very dark story but also a very touching story. This book has just about everything one could want in a Sci-Fi/fantasy novel: action, mystery, drama, romance and of course fantasy. It isn't meant for the faint of heart as there are some grotesque scenes, but not anything too bad. The love story/stories in the novel are very compelling and pull you right in. I could not wait for the 2nd novel in this series (Catching Fire) which I will be reviewing another time. I would recommend this book for the ages of 12 or older. READ THIS.... 5 out of 5.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld 

I picked up this book after reading Westerfeld's wonderful dystopian series titled Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. Those are definitely a READ THIS, though we're not talking about them right now. This book surrounds two vampire (peep) hunters as they track down and eliminate some of there former friends. I liked the idea of the plot line of this story, however the story itself did not live up to my expectations and just seemed very dull altogether. It hinted at mystery, romance, and action but didn't actually deliver on any of them. The characters also lacked depth or any clear sense of a personality. Lacy was written in a fairly annoying way using the word "dude" far too often, making here a very unbelievable heroine or a romantic interest to anyone. Cal was a tad too dull but a bit more on the heroic side. Overall it just didn't catch my attention and doubt I will be reading the next novel in the series. It was very disappointing since Scott Westerfeld truly is such a wonderful author. I would say this book is a 12 or older book. However this is one on my NOT THAT list... 2 out of 5 stars.

Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts on either or both of these books because I would love to see others perspectives, however do so respectfully. Hope everyone has a good weekend, only one more week until I visit my mother in Florida : )

Porphyria

First Blog Post : )

So I feel as though my first post should be explaining a bit about myself and also what the point of this blog will be. Hm well me, I love to read of course and am also trying my hand at writing a bit. I'm still in college at a school in Wisconsin, where I'm majoring in English and plan on continuing on to get my PhD and hopefully eventually teaching mythology at a university. This blog will mostly be focusing on young adult books and a lot of times specifically young adult fantasy books, but I like to change it up a bit so there will be other books that I just thought were good thrown in. Each week (hopefully) I will be reviewing two books and basically writing about what I thought of each. The title of the blog indicates that I will be telling you not to read one book and read the other but I like to think of it more like telling you which book I found to be better of the two.I'm in no way trying to tell you "don't read that book." So I may believe that it would be great to read both of the books for the week but which one I found to be more exciting. Please understand also that I am no professional critic and these are simply my musings and thoughts on the many, many books that I read and maybe a bit of other tidbits about random things I'm thinking about : ) I also would love to hear what other people thought of the books I will be posting on; it's a great way to start discussions. So for this week I have only one book for you because it is one of my favorites. It's a popular book and is sometimes considered a young adult book and sometimes considered an adult book with a teenage protagonist. It has been banned in many schools for its subject matter and I would recommend readers to be at least 16 for this one. The book is "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. The book has certainly made it into my all time favorite list. The character of Charlie is so deeply emotional and perfectly written. Almost anyone can find a peice of themselves in his character or at least a situation he's been in. The plot and ending are so strong that that this story will stay in my heart forever. This book truly gives a voice to the voiceless and helps people like Charlie or who see themselves in him (as I did) to know that they are not alone. This is a book that is there for you when you have no one else and truly gives many people out there hope. The storyline is captivating and you will want to keep reading it (even if it was forced on you as it was me in school : ) ). Please give it a try and I'm telling you that you will not be disappointed, it truly changed my perspective on life. If anyone has any thoughts or comments on the book as well (good or bad) I would love to hear them. Happy reading and have a great week.

Oh one more thing, Michelle Zink, the author of another great book by the name of "The Prophecy of the Sisters" (which I will be reviewing on a later date) is holding a contest for some holiday swag if any of you are interested... here is the link:

http://michellezinkbooks.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/happy-holiday-swag/