Immortal

Immortal
Gillian Shields
**** 4 Stars

"Wyldcliffe Abbey School for young ladies is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn from her home near the sea to become the newest scholarship student, strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave her drowning in loneliness.
Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a mysterious and attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian blaze with each secret meeting, she begins to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl - a girl who is so eerily like Evie she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present she cannot control. As the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate." (summary from book jacket.)

Immortal is a very good book, though the story line is typical there is something twisted and dark about this secret romance.  Like darkness is hiding in the shadows of every page turned, ready to leap out, out of the text and drape you in an opaque blackness. It is a great story to read by the sea because there are a lot of watery images from her memories of the ocean.  It is very descriptive and seemingly more vivid when by a big puddle of water yourself.
But the reasons I gave it a four star, were because some times you knew what was coming next. You don't want that in a book, you want a surprise at every turn.  It gave you the sense you had read the book before. Another thing, was some parts of the text were too cheesy. The main character would get too poetic, I mean if someone you care about is about to die, for example, you don't add cheesy similes in with your thoughts of panic and horror. She's only 16, I don't know any typical teens who are poetic in their thoughts, let alone their every day lives(i am sorry to those poetic teens out there this is very stereotypical) . Also the love scenes were way too cheesy, she fell in love with him too fast. And the way she thinks of him gives me headaches.
But other than that it was a pretty good book, even though it looks and sounds like I gave it a harsh rating, I found it very refreshing a guarantee you will too. Its like a modern version of Romeo and Juliet mashed with Pride and Prejudice than mixed together with some random elemental fantasy. So I recommend Immortal, no matter how cheesy.
                                                             -Olivia

The Significance Of 463

I think you should know by now i'm a big reader (having a book review blog and all that). That usually means one has a big collection, (at least in my case) . Because I have 463 books in my room.

I know it doesn't look like much, I took the picture weird because its like 6:00 in the morning right now (when I typed this) plus I used my laptop to take the picture. But it is in the hundreds, and it takes some serious hard core reading and access to the money bank to develop this collection in only 2-3 years. Still, these are the only ones my mom let me buy in the first place. I mean I can see why she would say no once in a while. Because I could guarantee, that if we sold all these books for the same price that I bought them at. With the total amount of money, we could probably buy a car (i'm not joking, 8 of these books equals a $100.98).

Say No To Life Size Celebrity Stand ups

Eclipse, Gives Me The Creeps

I have never favored Edward Cullen, he is good looking in a strange way. Except he isn't good enough (in my opinion) to play Edward from the book. Stephanie Myers set her bar high for actors in the movie making of Twilight. Some of you may not agree with me, except Robert Patterson is only the best of the worst.
But that is not my point right now. Anyway I never favored "Edward," and I think he knew that. Because he gets his revenge through life size stand-ups of himself and other cutouts of the Twilight crew. Example:
 I was in an iparty store, browsing around by myself, and I wandered into the back. I turned a corner to find Edward standing in front of me! But it was a life-size stand up, but I hadn't realized that yet and ran screaming into a shelf. Ever since, I have disliked Twilight stand ups. Until I got one in the mail, from my aunt and cousin. So now whenever I walk into my room, I jump because it looks like Jacob is standing right there.

But it is useful in a way, if you position it just right in a dark room, it will scare your victim right out of the living. Examples: grandmothers, mothers, aunts, cousins-grandpas are usually off limits for they may be faint of heart. I also suggest to keep them away from fathers, men usually do not shriek and run away like the above. They tend to defend themselves against "threats" like that, usually physically.

                                                                    -Olivia

Lament

Lament
Maggie Stiefvater
*****5 Star

Sixteen-year old Deirdre Monaghan is a prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a clover hand-one who can see faeries.
Unexpectedly, Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy names Luke who enters her ordinary life, seemingly out of thin air. But his interest in her might be something darker than summer romance. When a sinister faerie named Aodhan shows up with deadly orders from the Faerie Queen, it forces Dee fight into the midst of faerie. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend.
Deirdre had been wishing her summer weren't so dull, but taking on a centuries-old Faerie Queen isn't exactly what she had in mind.

This book was chock full of imagination, romance and detail. My favorite character was Luke, the way the author described him made him sound like the most perfect person on earth. I also liked all the surprises along the way. Just when the story began to calm down and you thought the trouble was over. Something shocking would happen, I can't tell you what but some of them you just really didn't          expect.                                                                                                        I don't care that the cover is
                                                                                                                  in another language. The pic. is
                                                                                                                               much cooler.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                          
If you love romance, bloodshed and faeries, Lament has it all.

Eyes Like Stars
Lisa Mantchev
*****5 Stars

Welcome to the Theatre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. The actors are bound to the Theatre by The Book, an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of the actors, but they are her family. And she is about to lose them all because The Book has been threatened, and along with it the Theatre. It's the only home Bertie has ever known, and she has to find a way to save. But first, there's that small problem of two handsome men, both vying for her attention. The course of true love never did run smooth.

This book was amazing, it was funny and descriptive. Every character had its own personality, none alike.
It almost makes me want to read Shakespeare to find out more about some of the characters in the book. I really enjoyed the treatment of Bertie's two love interests towards each other. My favorite character was Bertie, because she reminded me of myself, only she could do anything she wanted without getting in trouble. Example: Dying hair blue, blasting a cannon through the ceiling, taking a bath in a Jacuzzi hanging form the ceiling. She is very headstrong and is always doing something crazy.
I loved this book, it is a must read for those who need a good story and a definition of Hamlet.

Book Makeovers

A Book Makeover

Sometimes when I get bored with a book, maybe a picture book i've had lying around for years gathering dust, I give it a makeover. Its simple, just draw on your book, stick pictures in it, write an entry in it. It looks really creative too.  Here are some examples of a book I re-did:

                                                               I couldn't show all my pages.
                                                                This is a journal, you know.

                                                      This book was originally called Beezus
                                                     And Ramona-By: Beverly Cleary

Antique Book Shopping~ The Difference Between Today's, And Then

Antique Book Shopping ~ The Difference Between Today's, And Then

Sometimes I get my books from antique stores. Their covers are so interesting.  Most people who get antique books put them on display, maybe as a center piece.  But, when I get an old book, I like to read them.

People spent a lot more time on books back in the olden days, most of them were hand sewn. Back then books weren't just an art in regards to writing, they were admirable on the outside too. People back then cherished books, nowadays books are shoved in boxes all glossy and jammed into some dusty shelf for people to abuse, either it be a library or a bookstore. I mean I love to admire my old books as well.  But I enjoy reading them because they have more depth to them. The authors didn't care if it had to have a happy ending or not. They didn't care if maybe other people wouldn't like them, if maybe they would get bored. Also the most "important" question: will it sell, will it make them money. Because over the years, a kind of "rule book" has been made in the minds of authors. That you must obey their rules when you write. I am not saying books now are not good, I am just telling people to look at Louisa May Alcott stories, for example, or Jane Austen. I love those books, they were very deep and emotional. Authors probably don't realize this yet, but those books sold, those authors got famous, because they didn't care what other people thought, they just wrote.