The Vampire Diaries: The TV Series - Blog #1

I have recently gotten hooked on the Vampire Diaries tv series, thank to Netflix.  I have successfully watched season 1 within a week!  I am a couple episodes in to the second season.

This show is VERY entertaining.  I can’t believe how it hooked me after about 2 episodes.  I just thought it was going to be something I could watch casually while my husband continues to finish his book.  But no, I was sucked in and can’t get out!  And Brandon sat down and watched an episode with me, and got hooked too.  So now I can’t watch any episodes without him.  It has been a long time since a tv show has been able to make me so attached. The next one would probably be Castle.  But I watch that on tv on current seasons, so I only get an episode per week.  The Vampire Diaries, since I was 3 seasons behind, I can watch back to back to back episodes.

One of my favorite things about this show is the fact that the characters are so interesting.  I really like Elena’s character.  She is likeable. She is strong. She has flaws. And she has normal reactions to things like vampires!  And I like that she has morals.  And her characters sticks to those morals. She stands up for her friends.  Overall just a great character.

I love Stefan too.  His character is similar to Edward from Twilight.  Edward was the reason I read Twilight and enjoyed it so much – not Bella.  I hated Bella.  And I hated Jacob.  This show takes a similar premise (two boys fighting over a girl), but you actually end up liking everyone involved…most of the time.  Stefan has that brooding, serious personality, but that is why he cares so deeply for Elena.  And he can joke when he wants to.  He’s a gentleman and wants to protect Elena at all costs.  But I’m really glad that he didn’t just take off when he thought he could hurt Elena (when he was addicted to human blood), like Edward ran off from Bella.

Damon.  Oh boy.  This is one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen. The only one to compare recently is Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time.  Damon comes into the series as a bad guy.  A true vampire.  A monster.  But over the course of the first season, you start to see that he does have a small bit of humanity in him.  And Elena and Stefan begin to pull that out of him.  The show does a great job of making me hate Damon and then by the end of the episode he reels you back in to liking him, despite his faults.  He usually has a reason for his bad deeds, even if they are in fact bad deeds.

There was a point in season one when Stefan gets hooked on the human blood after many years without it.  Stefan’s characters hits a low point, which makes Damon have to step up.  After Stefan is brought back up to his previous stature, Damon stays up too (most of the time).  This was kind of the turning point of Damon’s goodness.  You now know that even though he tries to hide it, he does have good in him.

The season finale shocked me.  The whole series I was surprised most of the time.  Which is impressive, because I usually can predict what is going to happen – but I’ve only predicted a few things.  This finale though, wow.  Those last 2 scenes.  When Damon kisses who he thinks is Elena, and she kissed him back!  I was shocked!  Mostly because it would have been soo out of character for her.  But I never predicted that it was Katherine until she went in the house and attacked Uncle John.  And the scene was so violent to end a season on!  Wow.

I just love this show. I can’t believe how much I love it. And one episode is just not satisfying.  Each episode ends on a cliffhanger.  I’m trying to catch up because season 4 starts on October 11.  But season 3 is not available on Netflix.  I believe it comes out on DVD on September 11, but I’m not sure whether it will show up on Netflix instant streaming.  I sure hope it does so I can be ready for Season 4!

Just started season 2 though, and it’s interesting watching Caroline deal with becoming a Vampire, especially since her mother hunts vampires.  And the werewolf thing is interesting.  There are a couple scenes where I can’t help but say some lines from Twilight because the scenes are so similar.  But I really love this show.

For a moment I was surprised when I found out it was on the CW.  But then I remember how much I thoroughly enjoyed Gilmore Girls, and I wasn’t shocked anymore.  Though, this show is much darker than Gilmore Girls.

Okay, continuing to watch more episodes of Season 2.  Hoping to find out what Katherine is up to.  I really don’t like that vampire.

Book Review: Snow White and Rose Red: The Curse of the Huntsman

Snow White and Rose Red: The Curse of the Huntsman
by Lily Fang

Date Read:  08/22/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

I really enjoyed this book. I would give it 5 stars except for the fact that it kind of moved a little too fast. Which, admittedly, is a nice change to the books that usually move too slowly. But I feel like I missed out on some stuff at the end because it wrapped up so quickly. The climax happened, and then the last words of the book were like 5 pages apart (hard to tell being an ebook, but it was that fast).

The first half of the book mostly set everything up. I was questioning whether this was really a "Snow White" story, but it was still entertaining even if it just borrowed the name. But the second half of the story is when the Snow White elements really started coming into play. The mirror. The apple. The witch. The huntsman (who shows up about halfway through also).

I really enjoyed how this story introduced us to Snow White's sister, Rose Red. She was adorable. I really enjoyed getting to know this girl. And I thought it was really neat how even though her sister was beautiful and got all the attention, she didn't have any ill feelings towards Snow White.

Snow White was the typical girl who is beautiful but doesn't want it. She's very down to Earth, but sometimes her hate of her beauty got annoying. But it was interesting to see how hard it is to trust people when you're beautiful. She dealt pretty well with it.

I saw some Beauty and the Beast elements as well. The huntsman was scarred and thought he was a monster. But Snow White saw what was inside him, not what was on the outside.

There were no dwarves in this book. No enchanted forest. But the story was pretty well put together. I just think a little more set up could have been done. A little more wrap up would have been nice too. I think this could really use some editing just to flesh it out a little more. But I really enjoyed the story and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys fairytale stories.

Book Review: Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud
by Ben Sherwood

Date Read:  08/12/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★


To start, I want to say that I saw the movie recently, and enjoyed the story so much, that I thought I would pick up the book and see if it's just as good. Books are usually better than the movie, so I had high hopes for the book.



And now I can say that the book did not disappoint. One thing that I noticed that was different from the movie was their ages. They were supposed to be late twenties/early thirties, but Zac Effron is early twenties. But honestly, the age didn't really make a difference because I pictured Zac Effron the entire time, and the only time I had a hard time was when his age was being described.

This is a great story. After a horrific accident, Charlie is brought back from the in between world of living and dead, but his little brother doesn't make it. But after the accident, Charlie finds he has a gift and he can see people who are in the afterlife, including his little brother, Sam. This idea is really neat to me. How they held on to each other, and Charlie was able to see and play catch with his dead brother.

Sam's character was a lot of fun. Even though he was only 12, and never grows up once he's in the afterlife, he's still a very important character in Charlie's life. However, he does hold Charlie back, because Charlie has to be in the cemetary at sunset every day, otherwise Sam would disappear.

It was interesting to see what greif and longing can do to someone. Charlie made a promise to never leave Sam, so for 13 years, he was in the forest at sunset. Until he meets a girl and then he has to decide what kind of life he wants.

I thought Tess' character was interesting too. She's the only girl who has been able to keep Sam off Charlie's mind. She was a strong willed character, and thus, she got into some nasty trouble.

The twist at the end I knew was coming, but that's only because I had seen the movie. So I think the realization would have had more impact in the book on other people than it did on me, beacuse I kept expecting it. But it's a very interesting twist, and totally made sense when you think about it.

And this twist makes Charlie have to choose between the two people he cares about. He has to make a choice between holding on to the past or letting go and moving on.

I really liked the feel of the town where they lived. And almost made me want to sail. Of course, not in a storm though. And I thought the end was very well done. It was very realistic, which I really appreciated. It was happy, but also realistic.

I thought this book was done very well, and it's such an uplifting story. A story about life and death, past and future, holding on and letting go. And it makes you think that miracles really can happen and makes you wonder how much of life you're missing and makes you want to make sure you're not just wasting your life.

Book Review: Divergent

Divergent
by Veronica Roth

Date Read:  08/03/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★


I would really give this 4.5 stars if I could. But the beginning started out a little slow for me - still entertaining - but slow. And I know that's how a new series starts, but it seemed like it took a really long time to get going.



I very much enjoyed this the entire time I read it. Even when it was slow. The world had to be built. The characters had to be introduced. It was really good, but just a little slow. It took about 200 pages to really understand where the story was going. And then another 150 pages or so to know where the big climax was going to happen and what it was going to be.

But OMG. When it happened, holy crap. Those last 100 pages were so action packed I could barely stop reading to let my dogs inside!

Ok, so the world. It starts off pretty much with the aptitude tests and choosing ceremony. Roth does a pretty good job of getting us to understand the different factions before Beatrice chooses which faction she will be in. She also does a decent job with us somewhat attaching to her family, and realizing how hard the decision she is trying to make is. Perhaps that is because I love my family too, so I know how difficult the thought of leaving them would be. But throughout the book Roth continues to build the world, and show us how this dystopian world was meant to be set up, and how much is has digressed from what it originally stood for.

I really liked Beatrice, the main character. She was strong, but she also had insecurities that came from the faction she was originally from. So she had strengths and weaknesses. I liked that we got to see both. And I liked how we saw different friendships of hers grow and how she questioned who were her real friends. She definitely grew as a character over the length of this book.

Four [SPOILER: aka Tobias. Did anyone really not expect that Four was going to be Tobias?] This was an interesting character. I didn't really latch on to his character right away. He had a detachment to him that I didn't warm up to. But eventually you start to see him warm up, or wear down, and see that he is a pretty good person, but has had to deal with a lot in his past. But he always tries to do what's right.

Beatrice and Four. Of course there has to be a relationship in a YA novel. I thought this one was done pretty well, because you didn't start reading this novel because there was a romance...it's just a side note that helps the story at the end. But this relationship grows. That's what I really liked. She got to know him. Then realized she kind of liked him. Then they realized they liked each other. And THEN they kiss. [SPOILER: And I really liked that at the end they both reflect that they think they love each other. Tris thinks about why she can't shoot Tobias and then Tobias declares his love for Tris. It was a sweet ending to an otherwise dramatic ending.]

Supporting characters. Boy there were a lot of them. There were her family members. There were the Dauntless leaders. There were the Dauntless initiates. There were the transfer initiates. And there were a couple other random characters. No wonder it was slow to start...she introduced us to soo many characters! But by the end, I was either rooting for some and crying for some outcomes, or hoping she would kill them! Which I think is impressive with the amount of characters in this book, and that it is in fact one book. There were a lot of characters in Harry Potter that I cried for, but they were introduced over several books and by the end, you were invested in them for 6 or 7 books!

I thought the idea of fear was interesting. That is what this book focused most on. And I thought it was interesting when Four mentioned that Selflessness and bravery aren't that different. When I thought about it, I realized he was right. I've never stopped to think about fear and bravery before. But this really brings it to light. And I thought it was interesting even how it brought up suicide, and how it isn't an act of bravery, it's an act of cowardice. I've always believed that, and I was pretty shocked to see it brought up in a book. It was quite interesting. And we saw how people coped with the things they had to go through. It reminded me of watching the characters in the Hunger Games cope. They really weren't in THAT much different of scenarios.

The climax I thought kind of came on a bit fast. We finally figured out what was going to happen, and then BANG. It happened. That is my only real complaint on this book. But once that action started, I couldn't stop reading. It was constant action. Constant shock. And constant hope.

This book was really good, and I will be recommending it to my friends. I cannot wait to get my hands on Insurgent, the sequel, to find out what happens to these characters next.

Book Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman
by Lily Blake

Date Read:  07/18/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

I saw the movie before I read this book. I enjoyed the movie so much, that I had to pick up the book and see how they compare. Now, I know this book was written based on the script, so I knew it was going to be very similar. There were things I liked better in the movie and some things I liked better in the book.

Better in the movie:
1) Most of the backstory was told at the beginning of the movie - you knew who William was before she was trying to escape, etc. In the book, only the part about the Queen killing the King was really at the beginning, so a lot of the backstory came from memories in the characters' heads. So I felt like I didn't relate to them as much because it was just a quick recap of something important that needed to be said, but it was more in passing.

2) I didn't get as attached to the dwarves, and specifically Gus, in the book. They spent such little time with the Dwarves in the book, and Gus wasn't really mentioned in the book [SPOILER: except when he danced and then when he got killed.]

Better in the book:
1) You get inside Snow White's and the Huntsman's minds more. You are able to see their relationship build better. Obviously in the movie you root for him because he's one of the main characters and he's Chris Hemsworth for Pete's sake. I liked seeing that relationship grow. And you could see and feel better why the Huntsman is the one who wakes her.

2) In the book you really see the Huntsman's transformation from sulking widower to having some hope again, which I really enjoyed. Even though the book was only 220 pages with a lot of wasted pages for chapter numbers, you still really saw character growth in Snow White and the Huntsman. Now, perhaps some of this came from it being a movie script prior, but you really don't get to see the inner thoughts of Snow White and the Huntsman in the movie, so you attach to them better and really see why the things that happen do happen.

3) The book still ends the same way without a kiss! What kind of fairy tale ends without a kiss???? In the movie she just smiles at him in the end while he's kind of off to the side. [SPOILER: But in the book, he told her that he couldn't stay with royaly. So he leaves!] I liked in the book, though, that it specifically called out that she only thought of William as a friend, but she really liked the Huntsman. I liked how it wrapped up who she actually cared about, but I was so annoyed at that ending, when he obviously loves her - the only girl or person in the world who was able to pull him out of his depression. Sigh. I know it's based on a fairy tale, but I'm really hoping for a sequel that will have a happier ending in terms of love!

Overall thought I really enjoyed this Snow White story. The only thing was that in some parts, the perspective changed abruptly. One moment it was Snow White's perspective, and then the next paragraph it was the Queen's. That was a littl jarring. Normally perspective changes happen with breaks in the chapter or just a new chapter. But this had several times where one paragraph was from one perspective and the next another perspective. I understand that the author needed to tell the scene from two perspective sometimes, and obviously no one wants to read the same scene twice, but it was still jarring for me. But otherwise it was great. I think if you liked the movie you will really enjoy the book and vice versa. And I thought this was a very good version of Snow White. Modern yet still true to the medieval times that Snow White is usually told.

Book Review: Frey

Frey (The Frey Saga #1)
by Melissa Wright

Date Read:  07/07/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★


I enjoyed this book. It wasn't all consuming. It wasn't the most poetically written book. But it was enjoyable. I absolutely LOVE the cover. The hint of color, the script font, the girl with the ruins in the background. Love it.

The main character, Frey, was interesting enough. She was a little naive sometimes. It took her longer to catch on than me, and that always annoys me. If I catch on, the character should catch on too. It annoys me when they're so oblivious to things for so long. From her interactions with Chevelle to things that unfold when she reads the diary, her naivety annoyed me sometimes. But her story was very interesting.

I really liked reading about an elf. And the magic was fun. Her training might have lasted a little long for my taste though. I would say about half the book was traveling and learning to use her magic. It is interesting to see her magic grow, but at the same time, I wanted more to happen to the plot of the story.

There wasn't much dialogue at the beginning of the book. Though it was interesting to learn about Frey's world, it is still nice to have some character interaction, which didn't happen until about 20-30% into the book.

I liked the other characters in the story: Ruby and Steed. They had their own unique addition to the story.

I thought the addition of the diary to the story was a great way to tell a story when the character who wrote it wasn't there. It helped the reader and Frey understand everything that happened, which, if another character had just recited the information, it wouldn't have been as awesome.

The ending was very anticlimactic for me. I wanted more. There was a bit of a fight, and then all of a sudden it was over. And then the last few paragraphs left me wanting more too. I'm not really sure where the next book is going to go. But I liked the characters, so I will read the next book.

It is a very quick read. It's not too long, and reads easily. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, and hope the author steps up her game in the next book.

Book Review: Eragon

Eragon
by Christopher Paolini

Date Read:  06/30/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

I had a hard time choosing a rating for this book. The first 300 pages were very slow. It wasn't necessarily boring, but it wasn't that engaging either. I know that most first books start out slow as the characters and the world are built...and this is quite a fantasy world that Paolini had to create. But it was harder to get through those first 300 pages, nonetheless. But the last 200 pages were great. The action increased, the characters got more interesting. Things started clicking together. So I think to myself that the first 300 pages would only get a 3 star rating. The last 200 pages would easily get a 4 star rating. So which half should my rating on goodreads lean (since I can't give half stars)? I decided that because the book ended well and left me wanting to pick up the second book right now, that I would lean toward the 4 star rating. However, my real rating would only be about 3.5 stars overall.

Things that I liked about this book were:
1) The dragon. Saphira sure added a lot to this book. I really enjoyed her personality, and I loved watching her grow throughout the course of the book. I loved how protective she is of Eragon, and how much she enjoys battle.
2) I thought the mind speak was very unique. I like how it is only something that Riders and a few others can use, and therefore, it is actually a very valuable skill to have. To be able to communicate to each other in different battles like that was amazing.
3) Eragon's growth. He went from a helpless farmboy to a strong warrior by the end. Sure, he still has a way to go and a lot to learn, but he grew a lot over that long journey. I think losing some of the people he cared about helped with his growth, even though I hated it.
4) Arya and Murtagh. I loved Murtagh. Once he joined the story, it really picked up. He was unique and as the story went on, you found how deep he was. His past was interesting...[SPOILER: I never guessed that Murragh was going to be Morzan's son!! That was quite a twist that I didn't see coming, but gives so much more to Murtagh's character!] So I am excited to see more from Murtagh and I hope to see great things from him. Arya wasn't really in the book, but when she was I liked her strength and her resolve to fight, especially after what she went through.

Things I didn't like about this book were:
1) The pace of the first 300 pages. It was very slow. There was the first big conflict at the beginning and then the next like 50 pages were just traveling. There were a few things here and there like practicing sword fighting, etc, but it was mostly just traveling, and that is so boring.
2) The amount of people that Eragon had cared for that died in the book. [SPOILER: It was bad enough when his uncle died. But at least you weren't too attached to the character at the time it happened. But the reader gets very attached to Brom and I did not expect him to die. That one really upset me. I feel like Harry Potter, where everyone he loves dies. But i suppose sometimes the characters need it to get that strength to keep going and have something to fight for.]
3) There wasn't a clear conflict. Obviously King Galbatorix wants the riders and he had teamed up with the Urgals. But the main things was just that Urgals were chasing them. There was the Shaede, but I wasn't sure why he was chasing Ergaon for a while either. And with only 50 pages left, I had no idea what was going to happen..was it just going end without any fighting? I'd like a clearer battle.

Overall the book was good, and the ending was pretty good. The battle at the end was great and it's pretty clear that he is going to travel with Murtagh and Arya in the next book. I'm going to read the next book, but i wasn't as awed with the book as some people are. Though, I hear that the next book is the best. So I'm looking forward to it