Film Makers Love Script

My husband, the writer, also has a company in which he co-owns called Kleos Studios.  In this company, my husband is the writer and the admin basically, and then there is another co-owner who is the artist.  Between the two of them, the company does storyboards, shot sheets, scripts, etc.  They haven’t gotten a lot of business, but when they do, it’s pretty awesome watching it all come together.

Brandon actually got the opportunity to write a script for a possible fairly large budget film through a co-worker at his day job.  His co-worker and him had gotten together and come up with several different ideas to pitch.  The movie makers selected one of the ideas and then Brandon sat down to work writing a script for this movie idea.  Yes, he didn’t work on his book for several weeks, but it was in the hands of a reviewer at the moment, so there wasn’t much he could do anyway.

Brandon wrote the entire script and then got some feedback from this co-worker.  Once they both had input on the script, they sent the first draft over to the movie makers.  They absolutely loved it.  Of course they have a few edits they want to make to make it a little more believable, but it is very exciting that they loved the script and they said they want to produce it!                                

Now they are in the waiting game.  Now that the movie makers have a script, they can take it to the investors and present a budget.  Once they get the money to produce the movie, Kleos Studios will have made the first REAL paycheck in a long time!  And it is exciting for Brandon to have written a script and watch it come to life.  I think this was an awesome way to still keep his writing going, but it was a very different type of writing, so it kept it interesting for him.  And they might even hire Kleos Studios to do storyboards since this is their first movie that is full of action.

I’m excited to see how all of this plays out.  But it’s very exciting news, and hopefully it pans out for them.

Currently Reading: Forever

This is the second time I have started trying to read this book.  The first time was about 2 months ago.  I have checked it out at the library. And I just wasn't able to get into the book.  Now I only have one renewal left on this book, and I'm attempting to read it again.

There are several POVs in this story: Grace, Sam, Cole, and Isabel.  Some of the chapters are only 3 or 4 pages long.  The story starts with Sam and Grace separated, and I think this is what is making it so boring to me - they are so whiney and miserable, and it's really annoying.  They're not exciting to read from.  However, I do enjoy reading from Cole's POV.  He intrigued me from the beginning of Linger, and with the ending, I really started to like him.  Of course some of the things he thinks and says is annoying and maybe crossing a line, but at least he's interesting.  And so is Isabel.  Between the two of them, I can muddle through the boring parts of Grace and Sam.

I'm almost 100 pages in, and at least Sam's story is starting to get a little more interesting.  And I think we're starting to get closer to what the plot is about.  This book is under 400 pages though, so it better start moving soon.  There are so many other books I want to read, that I don't really want to waste time on boring books.  But I do want to finish out the series since I've read 2 of 3.  But Shiver was a great story, I almost wish she just left it at that single book right now.  Maybe that will change once I've finished this book.  Hopefully that will change.

I do like the covers of these books though.  I like that they show the progression of the story from Shiver, to Linger to Forever.  And it might be nerdy of me, but I like that the font color matches the color on the cover.  Like I said, nerdy.

Scholastic Rep says "Potential" in Brandon's book

Brandon, my husband, had given his book to one of his co-workers at his day job to read through and give him some feedback.  She has read a lot of fantasy type novels, so she is a great person to get feedback from.  Obviously it took her a while to read it and make all her red marks.  Well, while we were on vacation in Hawaii, she had a friend come to visit her.  This friend actually works at Scholastic.  So she gave the book to this Scholastic rep to read and just see what she thinks.  We know it's in first draft form and obviously needs some editing done before we even thought of sending it out.  But it would be nice to see if she thinks the concept is something that publishers would be interested in reading.

The scholastic rep read through it - not reading the entire thing, basically skimming sections of the book.  Obviously she said that it needs some more editing and tweaking.  That the beginning needs a lot of work. She said that it was like two different people wrote the beginning and the end.  His writing got a lot better at the end.  But she said it has potential.  That if he edited it a bit more, that she probably has a few people who would be willing to look at it. 

Yes!  That's such an exciting statement!  Getting someone to look at the book is going to be the hardest thing.  We can send it out to as many publishers as we can think of, but it will usually just sit on someone's desk.  I'm not exactly sure how to make it stand out to make sure someone at least reads through it.  That way, even if they don't want it, we can get feedback on it.  So this was very exciting news!

And the best thing, is that his co-worker just gave him back all her edits too.  And not only did she fix some of the language to read a little easier, but she also gave some overall concept advice.  Things like making sure he has the tense the same throughout.  Making sure there are reasons why certain things occur - and if she's asking a question, then other readers will too - so making sure to answer some of those obvious questions.  She gave some really good input.  Now he just needs to go through and think about it all for a little while and then start editing.

After he edits this, we'll probably give the second draft out to a couple people to get some more feedback and from different people and ages.  I'm excited!  It feels like he's really writing a book now, instead of just typing for hours on end in the office!  We're getting so much closer.  And once those edits are all completed, then comes the question: Try standard publishing or Self-publishing?

Q&A from Cassandra Clare regarding the Epilogue in Clockwork Princess

Here is a Q&A from Clare regarding the epilogue...it still doesn't really make me feel any better about it, but at least she had a reason I guess - even though I still don't really agree with her reasoning.  It makes me mad, because I don't think that Jem would have done that.  I think she should have just left the epilogue ending with Jem showing up cured and them being friends.  And leave it up the reader to decide whether or not Tessa and Jem ever have anything romantic or whether they just remain friends.  But here is the link and you can decide for yourself whether you think this is an acceptable reason.   http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post...

Life of an Author can be Boring for Family Members

Being the wife of an aspiring author can be boring at times.  Since my husband is working full time to provide for us while he writes his first book, his only writing time tends to be on the weekends - hence why it took him so long to write the first draft.  However, since the weekends are really our only time together because we both work full time during the week, we usually spend it in the office – him writing and me reading.  He sits at his computer for about 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  That means that we cannot make any plans in the morning.  We also have to plan our weekends around those 4 hours each day – when do we plan to do yard work?  Grocery shopping?  Dinner with friends?  Take the dogs to swim?  Go to baseball games?  Movies?

I thought the life of a writer would be a little more exciting, but it really isn’t.  He gets very antsy sitting at a desk all day.  Sometimes he’ll get up to write on the whiteboard for a little while, which is where he writes certain things about the world.  But for the most part, he sits at his desk and types the entire time.  He has to have music playing softly in the background to help him focus – but depending on the type of music he is listening to that day I might not be able to read in there with him – some days its classical, some days a weird techno type.

I used to read or watch tv or do other things downstairs while he was writing.  But I started feeling…neglected – for lack of a better term.  I felt like I never saw him.  Obviously I know that this is something we just have to accept since right now he’s not making any money on his writing. And I certainly love him for the fact that he suffers through a 50 hour work week to provide for us even though I know he wants to write for a living.  But it’s hard not seeing your husband for very long.  So I decided I needed to at least be in the room with him, and then it’s not so bad.  Plus the chair in the office/library (we own a lot of books..) is much more comfortable than reading on my couch.

I’ve now decided to spend more time on my blog as well.  So I’m hoping that I can blog about how bored I am while he’s writing!  Just Kidding!  But I do seriously want to write more about this process and what it is like for him, but also as the family of an aspiring author.  What kinds of things do we have to do to get published?  Are we going to try for standard publishing by a publisher or try self-publishing?  How many edits does it need to go through before we start sending it out?  It’s such a more in depth process than I ever imagined – and there was so much that went into the process before he even started writing the story.

Book Review: Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess
by  Cassandra Clare
Date Read:  3/23/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Warning: Most of this review will be spoilers.  If you would like to read my review without spoilers, please read it here on goodreads where I am able to use spoiler links. Also, if you have the Collector's First Edition, do not look at the inside of the dust jacket, as it contains the family tree, which will spoil who everyone ends up with!

Ok, here goes the review:
Ok, I think I can compose a review now. I am wavering between 4 and 5 stars. I really want to give it 5 stars because of the roller coaster of emotions it made me have. But there were a few things that bothered me about the ending in this book. But is a few pages of disappointment worth losing a star? I can't decide yet. Maybe once I've finished composing this review, I will be able to decide.

EDIT: I had started out with 5 stars, thinking that I loved the rest of the book enough, that it still deserved 5 stars. But the more that I think about it, the more I am frustrated that Clare put that epilogue in at all. So I've lowered it to 4 stars. I hope that I don't have to lower it to 3 stars. I'm that frustrated right now. OK - back to the original review:

Alright, where to start? This book begins as Jem and Tessa prepare for their wedding. It is a happy time for the two of them, and things have been relatively calm over the past 2 months. But of course Will is in agony because he is in love with Tessa, and his feelings keep getting stronger, but he tries to suppress them because of his love for both Jem and Tessa. I have always been on Team Will. But I had fallen in love with Jem too, and I told myself that I would be happy no matter who Tessa ends up with. Though, I expected her to choose, and not just end up with both of them --- but we'll talk about that later when I talk about the epilogue,

I felt like this love triangle was handled very well - for the most part. It is the first love triangle that I have not just loathed. Both men were equally deserving of Tessa's love. And I understand why she had a hard time choosing. I'm not sure I could quite call it epic love, but it was definitely a beautiful love story.

Cecily, Will's sister, is a great side character in this book as well. Since we've never really gotten to know Will's family, this was a nice change. You got some more insight in to who Will was before he thought he was cursed. And she had some of the comic quirkiness that Will had, but she definitely had her own opinions. And I liked watching her character grow - even though we missed her first 2 months at the Institute. I think she was a great addition to the story.

We also got more perspective on the Lightwood brothers, Gideon and Gabriel. They have quite a story that spans Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess, and again, watching these characters make decisions that will alter their lives is part of what I loved about this story.It shows you that you can still choose your own life. Just because your relatives may have made some mistakes, and even you yourself made mistakes, that doesn't mean that you can't learn from them and turn your life around. You can still choose to be good, and do the best you can with the rest of your life.

And of course Charlotte and Henry are adorable as always. And Sophie. I love that girl! All the characters in this series have reasons to love them. And though we only get glimpses into their lives, we still love them. Something I noticed while reading Clockwork Princess, is that throughout this book, there was only one time where we got POV from Jem --- but yet, I am still utterly in love with that character. It made me start thinking, have we ever gotten POV from Jem? In any of the books? All the main scenes that I can remember were from either Tessa's or Will's POV? So now I need to go back and see.

The beginning was very emotional, because I was utterly attached to Will, and every time his heart broke, mine broke too. Watching Tessa and Jem was so bittersweet for me. I wanted Jem to be happy, and I knew he didn't have much of a life left, but it was so hard because Will heart was aching so badly. I should have known that when Jem and Tessa moved up the wedding that something was going to happen, and of course Tessa was kidnapped.

When Jem became so sick that he couldn't go after Tessa, I was ready to cry. When Will finally confessed his feelings about Tessa to Jem, I did start crying. That conversation between the parabatai was so emotional. Typical Jem - so understanding, so kind. But I don't know if anyone in the world would have been okay with his blood brother being in love with his fiancee - even if he was dying.

I was momentarily saddened when I thought Jem had died a little over halfway through. But I told myself I wasn't going to believe it until I had someone who was there as witness. And when it finally got to Charlotte, though she was sad, she wasn't as heartbroken as I thought she would be. And thus, I had the epiphany that Jem had become a Silent Brother. This would still sever the parabatai bond to Will. It would be the reason the Silent Brothers left so quickly. And it would be why Charlotte wasn't as sad as I thought she was.

Ok, we're now getting to some of the things that I didn't like. I didn't like the fact that when Will found Tessa, their reunion ended in sex. They had both just recently discovered that Jem had died. For the longest time Will had told Magnus that he could not be with Tessa if Jem died. So as soon as he dies, he sleeps with her? And Tessa? It is just not something she would have done. So it seems out of character. I expected them to make out. But there's where it should have ended - especially in the time period this takes place! So that is strike #1.

I had no idea how they were going to take out Mortmain. Obviously they were going to have to kill him to kill his infernal devices. But I had no idea how. I didn't know until Tessa started changing into the Angel. When I discovered that, I thought this would be awesome. But then it just become very anti-climatic. She picks him and and squishes him, and he's dead. What? That's it? Strike #2.

I loved the ending. I loved Tessa saying good to Jem. I loved that Tessa and Will didn't just react right away and get married. I am glad that they grieved and grew as people, and then took that step once they realized they still loved each other very much. I loved that he got to take her to his parents. I loved that they had a long and happy life together. But then came the epilogue.

The epilogue is what everyone is talking about. Some people love it. Some people hate it. I have a little in between. I liked that it brought us to present day - to the events of The Mortal Instruments. I liked that we got glimpses into Tessa and Will's life together. The family that they created. That they got to see Jem a few times. And that it addresses that there comes a time when life must end. I was tearing up the entire time I was reading these memories. And then Jem comes - to their annual meeting on the Blackfriars Bridge. Jem is cured - which I thought was neat to give a clue as to what will happen in City of Heavenly Fire - to mention the new Lightwoods, Herondales, and Fairchilds. I wish Clare had just ended it with Jem being cured - that Tessa would have a friend in Jem until Jem's life ended too. But no. She had to go one step further and screw the ending up for me. She had to please both Team Will and Team Jem and have Tessa choose to be with Jem romantically too - strike #3. Tessa had a wonderful life, children and everything with Will. It bothers me that she still ended up with Jem too. I think they should have just been good friends. And it did cross my mind, "What if Tessa and Jem have children too?" But in looking at the family tree, I don't think they did, thank goodness. That would have definitely dropped this to 4 or even to 3 stars.

So overall I really enjoyed this conclusion. I thought all the characters had a lot of development. I thought the action was great. The love triangle was so emotional. I was an emotional wreck the entire time, and I couldn't put it down. There was also a lot of conclusion to this book. She took the time to really tie up all the loose ends. We basically get to see everyone's ending. Clare's writing just sucks me in. Before I know it, I'm 100 pages in and didn't even realize it.

OK, this is now an additional part of my review that was not originally in my review. I am adding this because I just dropped my rating to 4 stars. Here's why: The epilogue has really made me mad. The story would have ended perfectly if Jem had stayed a Silent Brother (and alive) and Will and Tessa had a beautiful life together. That would have been an amazing love triangle. But Clare had to take it a step further, and make us see Will die (though it's bittersweet to me, because I did like getting a glimpse in the happy, beautiful, loving life that Will and Tessa had together), but all I see now is elderly Will on his deathbed, instead of the vibrant, sarcastic, handsome Will that I loved. And I am mad with the decisions that Tessa and Jem made when they meet on the bridge. Firstly, I am frustrated that Clare told us there was a cure. I would have rather found that out and made all the connections in City of Heavenly Fire when it happened, rather than going into that book knowing that will happen. Second, there is no way Tessa would still have the feelings that she had originally had for Jem. She would have changed so much after being married to Will for so long. After having and raising children. Dealing with death. She wouldn't be the same. And there is no way she would be able to jump back into a relationship with someone she had barely talked to in the last 150 years. Third, and most importantly, Jem would have never asked Tessa for that. He would not have stepped over that line with her. Once Tessa married Will, there is no way that Jem would have them tried to have a life with her too. Friends, absolutely. But not a romantic relationship. And if it were the other way around, Will wouldn't have done that either. And basically this was just to please both Team Will and Team Jem. And it made the choice to be a Silent Brother have no consequences. Jem got to sit around and live until a cure was found and still got the girl. Who wouldn't choose that? There needed to be a consequence for such a choice. And of course, it was the only choice for him at the time, and it was so very fitting, but to just be able to walk away from the brotherhood when he got a cure. It just makes me mad. And I wish Clare had just not written the epilogue. Or had just left it that Tessa met him and he was cured and they had each other until he died. We wouldn't need to know that there was any romantic feelings there - leave it up to each reader. I would choose to believe that they were just friends for the rest of his life. But others might have chosen to believe that they rekindled the relationship. UGH. Ok, that is my rant now and the reason why I've dropped my rating to 4 stars.

Currently Reading: Clockwork Princess

I am currently reading Clockwork Princess. I have absolutely fallen in love with this series and all of its characters!  I loved the Mortal Instruments before, but this series is even better.  Tessa, Will and Jem are just about the most loveable characters ever created.  I have found that I am as attachd to them as if they were my own friends.  I want the best for all of them.  I want long, healthy lives for all of them filled with love.

I am rooting for Team Will.  But that doesn't mean that I don't love Jem and wish him happiness.  He has been so sweet even when people are mean to him.  And so strong going through his illness.  I honestly would not be upset if Tessa does end up with Jem, but I will be utterly heartbroken for Will.  And aren't I reading enough of Will's heartbreak right now?  It surely can't end that way.  There has to be a happy ending for him.

I feel like a lot is going to happen in this book - well, it's 570 pages, so it can't all be misery between the 3 characters.  I went to the launch party where Cassandra Clare was on the release night.  We saw the book trailer and Tessa's white dress ended up covered in blood!  What??  That shocked me, and intrigued me even more, if that was even possible.

Please no spoilers yet.  I am having the hardest time to not flip to the end of the book and see how it ends!  And I have the collector's edition which also has the family tree on the inside of the book jacket.  But I can't look at that because it will also spoil who ends up together and who is related to who.  Clare also said that you learn how Church the cat gets from London to New York!  I have a feeling she's going to wrap this up really well.  I'm really excited, but at the same time, I'm going to lose friends at the end of this book.  I will not get to read any more about Tessa, Will and Jem...and that is so very sad.

Book Review: Graceling

Graceling
by  Kristin Cashore
Date Read:  3/17/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

This book actually deserves 4.5 stars. But I cannot justify 5 stars because there were some things that I didn't like in this book. But if you took those few things out, this was a great book.

I thought the concept of the Gracelings was unique. Certain people being graced with certain abilities. Some abilities are helpful, so hurtful, and some to be used in bad ways by bad people. I felt bad that in some kingdoms, gracelings were looked upon as a sort of illness and they avoided them at all costs. But the world was very interesting. All the Kings weren't evil. There were decent people who wanted to help in all the different kingdoms. I really ended up liking this world.

At the beginning, the world was a little overwhelming. A lot of names of people and kingdoms were thrown at the reader, and there was no way I was able to keep them straight. But as the story went on, it focused on just a few of those kingdoms so I really began to understand it all. But there are still some kingdoms that I don't know much about.

For the most part I liked Katsa and Po's relationship. I loved their banter back and forth and how they would protect each other no matter what. I loved watching their relationship form. This book did a very good job at character and relationship development. Nothing ever felt like it happened too fast. This book felt soo long, and thought it was long at 472 pages, it still felt longer. In some ways that was a bad thing, and some ways a good thing. That means that I felt that everything that developed in this book had good timing.

The action scenes were great. I loved watching Katsa learn to respect herself and control herself. She had a lot of self-discovery. However, I never understood her opposition to marry. There were no good reasons. Whereas in the Hunger Games, I understood completely why Katniss didn't want children, because they would be subjected to the reaping and perhaps be chosen and killed in the Hunger Games. That is a pretty darn good reason. But Katsa didn't have those reasons. There were really no good reasons. I didn't understand it. And I'm very pro marriage, to not having good reasons, I can't understand why you wouldn't want to get married and have a family. If you're living with someone and you love them and you'd protect them with all measures, why not get married? What's the difference when you get married? I don't get it.

The major thing I didn't like in this book was the casual sex in the middle of the book. In the end it didn't add to the story at all. We knew Katsa and Po had a relationship, we didn't need the random sex. And some of the details afterward. I just thought it was weird and not needed. And I hate the message that it sends to young girls. And it really bothered me that Po told her that she'd take whatever she'd give him. What man does that? That really turned me off for a while. In the end I know they had a certain understanding between them, but it really bugged me.

The story also turned in to a traveling story for quite a while. Katsa and Bitterblue spent pages and pages just traveling over the mountains. I found myself skimming the pages to get back to the good stuff. I find it hard to just read about traveling, but I know others like it, because people read the Lord of the Rings. lol. But it's just not for me. I know it added to Katsa's strength and to show what Bitterblue had to endure, but it just got old.

I really liked Bitterblue. What a fiesty little thing. I loved that she would stand up for herself and how mentally strong she was for such a young girl. I cannot wait to read her story actually. I would love to watch her mature even more.

This book had more closure that I've ever read. I usually find myself cursing at authors because they didn't give me enough closure. But this one had almost too much of it! The bad guy was dead and I still had 17% left...well, I guess that number was slightly skewed because the book actually ended at 94% (so I guess I had 10% left which doesn't sound quite as bad). But when the book is 472 pages, that's almost 50 pages of closure! [Spoiler: I didn't see Po's blindness coming at all. It didn't surprise me much once I thought about it though. And it was actually a very good ending. The story was still happy, but it was interesting to watch him deal with this. But the reader still knows that because of his grace, he can still see, so he didn't lose everything. He just sees the world differently now.]

Overall I thought it was a very good book. A little long. And there were a couple things that were hard to get passed, but it was a very good book. I will definitely read the sequels. I definitely want to know more about Bitterblue's story. And I'm not sure what Fire is about. But I look forward to reading it to find out.

Book Review: The Last Airbender Movie Prequel: Zuko's Story

The Last Airbender Movie Prequel: Zuko's Story
by Dave Roman (Author), Alison Wilgus (Author), Nina Matsumoto (Illustrator)
Date Read:  3/13/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★

This was okay. I didn't expect it to be in black and white. I feel like that took away from the sory a little. And it was also kind of confusing at the beginning. I think he was having flashbacks, but at the same time it was trying to be in the present right after the Agni Kai. It got much clearer as the story progressed.

I thought the characters' personalities were written very well. Every character from Zuko, to Iroh to Azula to Guru Pathik, I read just as their voices on the TV show because their personalities were spot on. However, I didn't like the drawings of Uncle Iroh. He was drawn like the movie, not the TV show. So it was a little weird that he had the personality of the TV show but looked like the movie. But once I was able to get past that, I enjoyed the story.

I liked that it kinda showed some of the flashbacks we saw in the TV show. Like when Zuko was so mean to Uncle when he was trying to help him after he got banished. It showed us how Zuko was introduced to the Blue Spirit. And it even had Guru Pathik in it, who had a premonition of what was to come. And I liked the end, how it went straight up to the point of Zuko seeing the light when Aang came out of the iceberg.

Overall pretty decent. But not as good as the show and not as good as The Promise graphic novels.

Book Review: Scarlet

Scarlet
by  Marissa Meyer
Date Read:  3/6/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I really liked this book. I liked Cinder too, but I really liked this because you saw more of the world in this book, and the new characters were great. This was a long book though and just over 450 pages.



This book starts off right after the events that ended the first book. That was actually hard for me at first because it had been so long since I read the first, that it was hard to read the events of this book as being like a day after the first. But at the same time, I liked that this series isn't going to span years.

The recap in this book was very subtle I thought. Though there was quite a bit of recap, it was done in a way that was seemless and you didn't really notice it - through news feeds on the ports, Cinder thinking back to what happened that day, etc. I thought it was done really well, and I thought that just enough of the important information was recapped. Well done on this aspect.

In this book, we get the majority of the book from Scarlet's and Cinder's POV. Every once in a while there is a few others - Kai, Wolf, Levana. The POVs were all different enough, that the changes were not that bad. And I actually found myself enjoying both Scarlet and Cinder.

Scarlet was an awesome character. I loved her attitude and her love for her grandmother. Her feelings for Wolf come quickly, but it didn't really bother me that much.

Cinder is back and just as awesome as ever. She breaks out of prison and is on the run most of the book. She meets a new companion, Thorne, who is quite a character himself. I liked they're dynamic.

You get to see more of the world in this book - it takes place in several cities outside the Eastern Commonwealth. I liked it because it did more world building than the first book.

Kai was not really in this book. Though he makes a very important decision at the end of the book. But other than that, he was pretty inconsequential. I was disappointed in that because I liked him in the first book.

There are two story lines going on through almost the entire book. Scarlet and Cinder don't meet until about page 420. That shocked me. I though they were going to meet a lot sooner. But at the same time, about half way through, things started clicking, and you could see how they were eventually going to meet. It was like watching a play unfold in a football game.

There was a lot more action in this book also, and it really kept me engaged. I really enjoyed this book. If you enjoyed the first, or were unsure, you should definitely pick up Scarlet.

Book Review: Harry Potter: The Prequel

Harry Potter: The Prequel
by  J.K. Rowling
Date Read:  10/28/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Well, that wasn't exactly what I was expecting. But it was sure fun. I miss reading stories from the Harry Potter world. And I always enjoy JK Rowling's writing. But that was much too short for my liking. I really liked getting a glimpse into James and Sirius' past though. Such troublemakers. I enjoyed this. I would love for Rowling to continue to write little blurbs from this world.

Book Review: The Queen's Army

The Queen's Army
by  Marissa Meyer
Date Read:  2/12/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★


I enjoyed this. It was a good intro into the newest book in the series that was just release, Scarlet. It's nice to have the background on one of the new characters. I think it will help me relate to him more in the book. To understand why he makes certain decisions. Of course this didn't have any of the old characters we love because it solely focused on Z.

I think it's interesting how the Queen wants soldiers who are basically human wolves. I'm interested to find out what this special mission is that the Queen has. And how he gets out.

The action in it was very good. It was obviously very predictable, but I don't usually mind predictable as long as the story is good.

I recommend that if you liked Cinder, read this short story (it only took me about 45 minutes to an hour to read with interruptions) from Tor's website: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/11/th.... It will get you excited to read Scarlet. Now I just need my library to process the new books so I can read it!

Book Review: Poisoned

Poisoned
by  Katherine Pine
Date Read:  1/10/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

OK, I started off having read the first 10 chapters for free from Smashwords. I got hooked. So I was very excited when the complete book was finally finished and available...it is actually the first ebook I've ever paid for. So I'm actually a little disappointed, but perhaps I went in with higher expectations than I should have...don't get me wrong, it was still good, but at first I thought it was going to be a 5 star book. But after THAT ending and the typos, I can't justify 5 stars anymore. =(

Ok, so on to the review. This is a twist on the traditional Snow White tale. It is a trilogy that will span of the length of the 3 books. This book only got to the point of the huntsman (so you would naturally think it was slow, but it actually wasn't). In this tale, Snow White is a princess who was born poisoned. She is the only baby to have survived the poison. But being poisoned, means she can never kiss anyone, because when she does, they die quickly. People are even afraid to touch her. She accidentally kisses her mother when she is 4 years old and she dies, and the kingdom locks her up. Her father disappears. In comes her Uncle and cousin, Rose. Rose takes to the little poisoned princess, and lets her out of her cage. The two grow up close and grow to love each other. I bet you can see where this is gonna go. Snow White is out in the poisoned woods one day, and saves someone, someone who ends up being pretty important. And eventually the events of that day will start to push Snow White and Rose apart.

I feel like this story had such a unique take on the Snow White story. I enjoyed trying to figure out who everyone was going to be. I thought the "mirror" was actually a very interesting aspect. I like how it kind of all came together towards the end of this book. I'm interested to see how it progresses in the sequels.

I love Snow White's character. She had me hooked from the very beginning. She is hurt. She doesn't exactly feel sorry for herself. She feels so guilty for killing her mother, and that has taken quite a toll on her. And then Rose saved her from her dungeon. I really started to get annoyed with Snow White childish attachment to Rose, but really, when you think about it, Rose was the one who saved her, and at such a young age, that has to have an impact on you. But at times, I felt like she was a little too childish, a little too dependent and weak around Rose. I wanted her to find her strength. Specifically in one of the ending scenes. But up until the end she still loves Rose. I didn't get it.

I really liked Max also. Thought about 70% of the way through, he's no longer a main part of the story. The story's focus turned. But while he was in it, I enjoyed it. There was a scene in which he and Snow White were flirting, and I felt like I was there. That was probably one of my favorite scenes from the book. I'm looking forward to his involvement later in the series.

Rose. Oh boy, what can I say about Rose. At the beginning, I doubted whether I could trust her or not. About 25% in, I knew that I couldn't. This book was fairly predictable in who was going to be who. I found that about 50% of the way through the book, I hated Rose. I didn't want to read from her stupid, evil, jealous perspective. I just wanted to skip back to the Snow White parts. But at the same time, it was interesting to see her character transform.

I thought the setting was well described. Now, I've read and seen a lot of Snow White books and movies, so I have a fairly good idea of what most castles and woods look like. But the description of the poison was nice. The colors it would change in the evenings. Unique. I liked it. I can see a lot of similarities from Once Upon a Time and Snow White and the Huntsman. There was a point where I pictured Ambrose as looking like Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time, and I even read his line with his weird accent!!

The pacing was actually pretty good. I realized about half way through that it wasn't going to get very far into the actual Snow White story. But it surprisingly wasn't slow. It actually had a lot of character set up. You could really see characters transforming and why they made certain decisions. And I think that was a really unique way to tell the story. We usually don't get all that information. And there were a lot of characters to build for this story. And I don't even know exactly how all of them fit in yet.

Something that bugged me in this book, however, were the typos. She supposedly took 2 months longer than planned to finish this book because it was being edited so much. So then I wonder why there were still so many typos. Some of them were actually misspellings of words. Some were missing words in sentences, or the wrong words in sentences. Which we all do. But how did all the editors not catch those?! Some of them were really irritating, some I was able to gloss over. So that had started the lower score for me. But I always hate when people give a bad score just because of spelling or grammatical errors. So, please see the next paragraph.

Ok, let's talk about the ending. Actually, I don't even think you can call that an ending. This is really what caused the loss of a star. This book didn't end. It was cut-off mid paragraph! Right in the climax of the scene!!! There was no resolution to this story at all. It had beginning, and middle. That's it. You can't just end a book like that. I know authors are all about the cliffhangers, but give me a break. You should have at least finished this scene and then left it at, "what is Snow White going to do now?". Gah. If you want to see the last sentence of this book, read the spoiler: [SPOILER: "Moving his hand faster than my eyes could follow, he pressed his knife to my throat." ] Really? This is just about as bad as the Vampire Diaries book one. There's one thing to have a cliffhanger, there's another thing to not end your book. And this was a book that was not concluded.

Overall I enjoyed the book though, and I look forward to the sequels to this interesting take on Snow White. But I just wish it hadn't been tainted with that ending. And, of course, the ending is what you think about the most because it's freshest in your mind. And it is what leaves you feeling at the end.

Book Review: Linger

Linger
by  Maggie Stiefvater
Date Read:  1/1/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

It has been a while since I read Shiver, the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. So there were some things I didn't remember. I feel like that may have made me get into this book slower than I would have if I had read Linger shortly after reading Shiver. There wasn't a whole lot of recap. There were a few things that were mentioned, but it wasn't like, "Hey, this happened in the last book!". I think I might have caught on to things quicker if it hadn't been so long. By the end of the book I had mostly remembered everything, but that was a long way to get into a book to remember everything.

In this book, we get two more POVs in addition to Grace and Sam. I always love reading from Grace and Sam's perspectives. I really like Sam, because we really get into his head about his past - which is what I really liked about Shiver. And I just like them together. It's a sweet romance. It feels real. In Linger, we get Isabel's POV, which I can say I wasn't enthusiastic when I saw it. But it actually grew on me. Her personality really reminded me of someone else, but I still can't put my finger on it. Between Isabel and Rachel, I feel I'm reminded of Toph from Avatar (the animated series about the last airbender). And Isabel's voice was very different from the other characters, so it was actually pretty easy to know who you were reading from. Which is actually refreshing because lately, I've found it hard to differentiate characters in books who have multiple POVs. And then we also get Cole. He's a brand new character. I will admit that until about half way through the book, I had no idea why he was even in the story. I had no idea what he was going to bring. But in the end, he was actually a very important character. And I actually enjoyed seeing the change in character within him. To see him trying to escape his life, and then realize, maybe life isn't worth escaping. Maybe he can make it better.

I actually had no idea what this book was going to be about. I felt though, that the first few lines of the book gave away something important. [SPOILER: "This is a story about a boy who used to be a wolf, and a girl who was becoming one". ]     Really? You give that away on the first line??? I wish it wasn't outright said right there. I wish I would have caught on later in the book. Instead, when certain events starting happening, I would have enjoyed coming to the conclusion myself. But I liked that the last chapter brought that sentence full circle.

One thing that really bothered me about this book was how obnoxious Grace's parents were. For her entire life they haven't been there for her. She's had to fend for herself. And then suddenly they decide they want to be parents? I mean, I was never in this situation as I have parents who cared about me my entire life, but it seems to me like this is a dramatic shift. Would that really happen? Maybe I guess. If they thought their daughter was perfect even though they were never around to really know. But at the same time, they seemed to have trusted her that whole time (maybe), and to just suddenly stop trusting her. Idk. I don't have a daughter yet either, and I'd probably freak out as well, but it just annoyed me how much they reacted when they've never cared about her before. And what do parents think forbidding her to do something does??? Especially if she feels you've never cared before?? Of course she's going to rebel!!!!! Again, I'm not a parent yet, so I haven't actually experienced any of this, but from an outside perspective I think they're stupid. I just wanted to punch her parents. They had a right to be upset, but they WAY overreacted. They should be happy that he cares so much about her. Instead of showing up and punching Sam. He's the one that took her to the hospital. UGH.

Other than that, I thought the story was very interesting, maybe a tad bit slow. Not a whole lot happened. But we had to slowly get to really know Isabel and definitely Cole, so that takes some time. And just setting up more of Grace and Sam's relationship. To understand how they feel about each other. Afterall, their love is the only thing that lingers now. But I did like the realization at the end [SPOILER: I thought the fact that the cold is what caused them to shift. But I actually like, because i'm a sort of scientist, that Cole thinks there's more to it. The shifting has a more concrete background. Even if we aren't quite sure what it is.]

Overall I really liked the book. I will definitely read Forever. If you liked Shiver, I recommend continuing the series, otherwise you will be missing out on a sweet romance (with no love triangle or fighting - just dealing with life) and more information on the unique wolves of Mercy Falls.

Book Review: Girl of Nightmares

Girl of Nightmares
by  Kendare Blake
Date Read:  12/23/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. Way more than I thought I would. So I was very eager to read the second installment. However, it didn't quite live up to its predecessor. Part of what I loved about the first book was how it all centered in one place. And Anna. And neither happened in this book. Anna was barely in it! Which is disappointing when she is the title character. And they did a lot of traveling in this book. I don't know. I felt a little let down. And this book was not nearly as violent and graphic. But that's because Cas didn't really kill many ghosts.

Cas stayed a very enjoyable character though. It was interesting seeing him have to live without Anna around. And how Anna had changed him. And I really liked how strong his friendship with Thomas had gotten. Thomas is the friend that everyone wished they had. Carmel was okay in this. I liked that the book showed the toll this life can take on people, and how to she had to make some decisions. But she was just meh to me in this book.

There wasn't much action. There was one scene about half way through that was pretty intense, that involved Anna, and then there wasn't a whole lot that happened until the final scenes. i don't know. I liked that it centered around him wanting to save Anna because she didn't deserve her fate, but it wasn't nearly as gripping as the first book.

The ending is probably what saved this book. Going back and writing his review, I was thinking, why on earth am I giving this 4 stars? It should only be 3. But the ending is what pushes it closer to 4 stars.

[SPOILER: The decision that Cas has to make at the end is a very mature decision. It is sad, but also happy at the same time. I can't say that I was surprised by it...I mean, she is dead...I've always been thinking, how do you create a love story with a person who is dead?? But the choice is still very difficult. But it is sweet that he loves her enough, that he wants to leave her where she will be happy for eternity. ]

Overall, if you've read the first book, you need to read the second. The ending of the first leaves quite a few loose ends. So this starts tying most of them up. But just don't get super excited that it is going to be on the same level as Anna Dressed in Blood. Because it's not. Still good. Still entertaining. But not enthralling like the first was.

Book Review: Crossed

Crossed
by  Ally Condie
Date Read:  12/15/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★

This book was not as good as the first. This book was actually pretty slow. Not a lot happened.

First, there are two perspectives in this book - Cassia and Ky. Now, while I liked getting a more in depth look at Ky's character, Condie didn't do a good enough job of differentiating their voices. I found myself several times losing track of who's POV I was reading. With the two perspectives, the book covered the same amount of time from both perspectives, which is why I think it felt like it progressed so slow to me.

The pace was really slow. It starts out roughly where the first book left off. Cassia goes to the work camp to try to find a way to find Ky. Along the way she learns things about the Rising, and then you're not sure whether she wants to find Ky now or the Rising, more. You learn Ky is out in one of the villages as a decoy. He decides to run to try to save himself and a couple friends. Then they chase each other through the Carving. And that is where the book mostly takes place. Nothing else really happens until the VERY end of the book. The book isn't hard to read, but it sure didn't suck me in. And I wasn't as surprised at the ending this time around. I was hoping for better revelations.

I did like the new characters that were introduced in this book though. Vick and Eli were fun. But I really liked Indie. She reminded me a lot of Isabelle from the Mortal Instruments. That's pretty much who I pictured throughout the book. I liked her strength. And then learning about her story. The revelation about her toward the end of the book was really good. I thought that was executed very well. I wasn't expecting that.

The book started out very choppy. There were a lot of paragraph breaks. Sometimes the chapters were only a page long - I feel like just to get someone's inside thoughts since they wouldn't say it out loud.

I don't know. I wasn't as happy with this book. Not that Matched was mind blowing or anything, but it was still good. But this one left something to be desired for me. And I thought the last paragraphs were annoying - who is she going to meet? You hope it's Ky, but I have a very strong feeling it's going to be Xander. We'll see. I just hope the series finishes out stronger. This definitely had that middle book feel. Which is unfortunate.

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood
by  Kendare Blake
Date Read:  12/9/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Wow. That was a great book. I went into this book not knowing exactly what to expect. I expected sorta scary. I expected a weird romance with a ghost. And I didn't expect to love the main character so much.

But everything I expected was wrong. I fell in love with Cas from the second page. His voice is very interesting. He's a 17 year old kid who kills ghosts...but hates being called a ghostbuster. =) There are several references that made me laugh pretty hard. He has a sense of humor about him too. His sense of humor kind of reminded me of that of Percy, from the Percy Jackson series. Obviously I love to read a personality like that, and he had it. I really liked him. A lot. And I liked getting to know his back story.

This book wasn't scary at all. It was pretty violent and graphic at times though. But hey, I watch CSI, and Bones, and Grey's Anatomy, so I see gross right in front of me. Reading about isn't as bad as that. But it wasn't scary at all. I'm not sure if that's what the author was going for or not. But it did keep you at the edge of your seat. But always kept giving enough information that you kept reading instead of focusing on not knowing everything that was going on.

And the romance wasn't nearly as prevalent as I thought. It slowly develops. You can tell that they start caring about each other. But this story wasn't really about the romance - it was about killing ghosts and in the end, saving Anna. And there just happened to be a romance that developed on the side.

Anna was a very interesting character. Obviously she is the ghost, and from the title, you know that she was brutaly murdered because she is dressed in blood. As her story unfolded, I got more and more attached to this dead girl. [SPOILER: I thought it was so interesting that she was concious that she is dead, and how she had the two different personalities. I feel so bad for her about what she went through, and her death was horrific. I almost felt myself having tears well up for her. And her mom bound her to the house?! ]

I even liked all the side characters. Overall this book had everything. Interesting characters, very interesting story, good plot, good writing, and a hint of romance. There are a couple questions I am still left with though after finishing this book. I'm not sure if maybe they'll be answered in the sequel - which I have already requested from my library! - or if I will be just left to question. I will put them in a spoiler, so I don't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read this yet.

[SPOILER: I understand that the fact that her mother did that curse after she killed her is what bound her inside the house - the reason she could never leave. But I'm still not sure WHY she had to kill EVERYONE who came in the house? And why DIDN'T she have to kill Cas? Did I just miss this in the story - or were these questions just not really answered? Because when Cas broke the curse by giving her her dress back, it released her from everything. From the house. From the crazy ghost in the dress dripping with blood. From the killing. So I'm led to believe that somehow that curse is what caused her to have to kill everything. I know she got her power from the way she was killed, and part of that was the curse. But it wasn't explicity explained WHY she went into crazy ghost everytime anyone walked in the door. And more importantly, why she didn't go into crazy ghost when Cas came in. ]

The ending of this book was great. It was so tense I didn't know what was going to happen. This book kind of just ended. The cliffhanger occured, and done. Then we only got a 4 page epilouge. I would be very upset if I didn't know there was a sequel out! I think anyone who enjoys the paranormal genre should read this book. It was so much better than I expected, and I expected it to be good. This was the first book in a long time that really had me sucked in.

Book Review: Matched

Matched
by  Ally Condie
Date Read:  12/05/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

At the beginning and even half way through, I was planning to give this book 3 stars. But when everything started coming together in the end, it got much better. The story is what saved this book, and pushed it to the 4 stars. It's probably still getting rounded up to 4 stars, but still.

The characters weren't exactly enthralling. I liked Ky. He had a good story, and it was interesting to learn about his past which made him the way he is today. But it was hard for me to understand why Cassia was falling for him so fast, because we as readers didn't really get to know him until about half way through. But once I did finally get to know about Ky, I think he ended up being my favorite character.

Cassia was an okay main character. She just didn't seem like she was 17 for most of the book. But also as the book goes on, you realize that this society doesn't allow people to make choices. Everything is predetermined for them. Predicted. So perhaps because she's never had to make choices, she is a little more childlike. A lot of what makes us grow up and mature comes from making choices and knowing choices have consequences. So I actually ended up liking her more by the end of the book. When she decides she doesn't want to be stuck in the bubble the society put her in.

I never really grew attached to Xander. I thought he would kind of be like Gayle in The Hunger Games. And his character was kind of that character that you see at the beginning but you know she's not going to be with. But at least Gayle I got a little more attached to. I didn't really see Xander as attached to Cassia as I thought he would be. Again, this goes back to the society they are living in, in which they don't show a whole lot of affection or anything. But still. [SPOILER: I didn't even feel sad for him when Cassia told him that she loves someone else. I didn't really believe his reaction to it either. This might be because we didn't read a lot about Xander. But I also didn't see them as a couple, even when they were together. ]

The story is what really kept me involved in the story though. It took a while to figure out what the societal conflict was going to be. But when it finally happened, it got me hooked. There were some things I expected, and some things I didn't. It is an interesting story. It's almost like a Hitler story - the society trying to make a perfect world, but does so by a kind of choosing the best thing. I like how this story is looking at the perfect society. A society can never be perfect. If you look closely, you will see that things are happening that are not okay. I liked it.

I didn't really understand the sorting concept though. Cassia was supposed to be so good at it. But it was hard to figure out what the purpose was. I finally understood when Cassia was doing her final sorting test. But I was confused the entire time. I am still a little confused over the purpose of a lot of the sorting. Like the number sorting - maybe if I knew what the numbers were for, I'd have understood the sorting better. Just like I understood Cassia's final test better, because I knew what she was sorting.

I definitely want to read the next book. I think it will be more entertaining because it will focus more on the story than on the romance trying to set up why she is going against the Matching system. 

[SPOILER: And I have to know what happens to Ky!! They took him away! And to FIGHT?! Ah. And it's because poor Cassia sorted him into that group because she thought she was helping him. I feel so bad. She has to find him and save him!! ]

Book Review: The Bridge to Never Land

The Bridge to Never Land
by  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Date Read:  11/27/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Hmmm, this book ended with the hint that there will be another book. Will there? I hope so. As long as they keep writing this series, I will keep reading the books. I sure enjoy them.

This book introduces us to brand new characters, Sarah and Aidan Cooper. They are in the modern era. Sarah has read all the Starcatchers books (which I think was such a neat idea). She and her brother find a weird piece of paper hidden in a secret compartment in their father's desk. So naturally they try to figure out what it is. As they dig deeper, Sarah starts to make connections to the Starcatchers books and begins to wonder if the books are all true.

A thing that I really enjoyed was how Sarah would actually read sections out of the previous Starcatcher books. I thought it was a neat way to remind readers about certain critical moments, but at the same time, doesn't feel like I'm being reminded.

Sarah and Aidan are very likable characters. I really enjoyed their adventure. The story progressed very quickly. There wasn't much time spent on stupid, slow information. It was constantly moving, which kept me very engaged. Then, they met J.D. Aster. I really liked him too. All of the new characters were well developed and likeable.

Naturally, the book is called "Bride to Neverland" so they have to track down this bridge, because an evil villain is after them, and starstuff. Eventually we get to see a few of our beloved characters from the origianl series. It was just enough to still make this story about the other characters, but you get that glimpse, a small taste, of the old characters. I absolutely loved it. It is fun to see what they have been up to after such a long time.

We get a lot of different perspectives in this book. Even from the minor characters who really don't mean anything. It was like reading a movie. I got to see everything that was going on - even though I didn't really care much about any of those characters. And the Disney references were awesome. I have always loved Disneyland. I haven't been to the Magic Kingdom as often, but it was still awesome, because I knew exactly what he'd been talking about.

I really liked the ending. [SPOILER: I liked how Peter was able to defeat Ombra, but I also liked that he had promised to come back soon, even though Tink warned him that there was still evil here, that Ombra probably isn't dead again. And then in the last chapter, you see that Peter has been coming back, but that there is still the threat that Ombra is coming back - and Peter is ready to take him on again if he needs to. Which makes me think that perhaps we will get another book at some point]

I hope we get another book in the near future. Like I said, if they keep writing, I will keep reading. This series is really good - seems like it stays pretty true (with new spins) to the original Peter Pan, but has all the Disney references also, which makes reading these so much fun. Everytime I read these books, it makes me want to watch the Disney Peter Pan movie...but it's still in the vault. So I'm super excited that it will finally be coming out in Spring 2013!! I can finally get my Peter Pan fix!

If you've enjoyed the other books in this series, you should definitely read this - even though it doesn't focus on Peter.

Book Review: Finale

Finale
by  Becca Fitzpatrick
Date Read:  11/8/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

So this might not be the best written book, but it was a very good conclusion to the series. It started right back up where the previous book had left off. There was a pretty good recap (some of it was obnoxious, in your face, annoying recap), but I was thankful for it because there were a lot of little things I didn't remember.

I was constantly wondering how Nora and Patch would come out of this happy and safe. And I didn't figure it out until close to the end. Which is silly. I really should have figured that out, but it's been a long time since I read the other books, so I didn't see it coming.

There were actually a couple twists that I didn't see coming. And there was a character that I didn't know if I should trust. [SPOILER: Dante confused the heck outta me. I didn't want to trust him. But there things that happened that tried to me make (and Nora) trust him. And then naturally I regretted it. I knew he was going to be the bad guy, I just didn't want to believe it for a little while.]

Patch is such a sweetie. He's sarcastic and a little arrogant, but he's so loyal and loving. I never thought for a second throughout this series that he wasn't devoted to Nora. He'd never do anything to hurt her. He would always protect her.

I really got attached to Scott in this book. And I knew what Vee's secret was as soon as she said she had a secret. Scott was such an important character in this book though. He really stepped up.

There was a lot that happened in this book. More than I expected. It was action down until the last 10 pages. I was very happy with it.

The ending was kind of bittersweet. [SPOILER: I did not expect Scott to die. And I kept hoping there'd be some way to bring him back. But at the same time, I kept hoping that by the end there would be some miracle that allowed Patch to feel, and if that happened AND Scott came back from the dead, it would feel very silly. I was really excited at how Patch WAS able to feel at the end, thanks to Detective Basso's gift. And it was sweet to see Vee move on and everyone be happy. But losing Scott is very sad. He was so strong and loyal. More than anyone could ask in a friend.]

I am happy that this book actually had an ending feeling. No way the third book could have been the end of the series. She definitely needed to finish this up. And she did a very good job. I enjoyed this series. I haven't read any other stories about fallen angels, so I don't have anything else to compare it to. But I enjoyed it.

Book Review: The Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena
by  Rick Riordan
Date Read:  10/28/2012
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


I absolutely loved reading from Annabeth's perspective. Riordan does such a great job writing from her and Percy's perspectives. And I loved finally seeing them together. It was super sweet.



I also enjoyed the jokes in this book. There were a couple references from the original series that I thought was great. I liked the nostalgia it brought back. Reminded you of the things that had happened previously, and how far they have all come.

There were a couple other characters from the original series that showed up briefly in this book also. There are still some that I don't know what has happened to them, but there a couple more books, so hopefully they show up too.

I found that I had a little trouble keeping Piper and Hazel separate in this book. I think it was about half way through where I finally was able to separate the two and keep them apart. I don't feel a huge connection to either one yet. Not like the connection I obviously have to Percy, and I've even gotten pretty attached to Jason and Leo.

I also read this book right before going to Rome. In this book, they go to Rome. And in the next one they will go to Greece. Which is really awesome for me since I just went to both places. There were some references in this book, that now I can appreciate even more now that I've seen them. Leo once again had my favorite quote in this book. He says some pretty funny things. Almost as funny as Percy. And it related to something in Rome.

There is quite a cliffhanger at the end. I can't believe it ended that way. And now we'll have to wait another year??? Being hooked on a series currently being written can be so frustrating sometimes! I love the excitement of when it first comes out, but the waiting is excruciating. But I am excited to have Nico back in it. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything plays out.

I didn't know how i would handle the four different perspectives. But it ended up being okay. He handled it pretty well. But it's still a little annoying. I find myself pushing through the chapters from Leo and Piper, to get back to Annabeth and Percy. Not that I didn't like them, but I love Percy and Annabeth that much.

So overall I loved this book. These books are always so easy to read. And they're the type of book that I just want to sit down and read through in one sitting. This was a great installment and I will continue to wait for book 4. Sigh.