Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Surgery

*Note: This post has absolutely nothing book related in it. Well, it has just a tiny bit* :-)

If you've seen some of my posts or watched some of my videos, you've seen/heard that I'm having major surgery done on my feet. This post is to inform everybody if they'd like to know. :)

I have really horrible feet. I've had it since I was born. I have no arch in my foot and my feet lay inward, and when I walk/run/stand for a long time, they begin to hurt and swell and I can't walk on them for the next two days or so. 

So, we've found somebody who can help. I have no idea what this surgery is called (mainly because it's a super long name), but this is what the surgery will do to my left foot:

Fuses two bones to make them one
Add a bone to get an arch in my foot
Stretch my heel cord

And, because of everything that will be going inside my foot after the surgery, I can't put any weight on my left foot, or it could basically ruin my foot. 

So this is my process:
Surgery
8 weeks with no weight on foot
8 weeks with specially made boot/cast on my foot

And then...
we do the right foot and the same process happens. I don't know when we'll do the right foot. All I know is this, I'm probably going to be missing 18 months of school. Of course, the teachers will come to my house and give me homework (blegh...), but I won't see any of my friends for 18 months.

But the good thing about having the surgery is that it will fix my foot and I get to read all the time! So hopefully, there will be even more reviews on here!

So as you read this right now, I'm having surgery done on my foot. This post was scheduled on January 15. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this, even though it doesn't deal with books. 

:-)


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

YA Novels Coming Out This Week: January 24

Everneath - Brodi Ashton
Book One in the Everneath Trilogy 

 Fallen in Love - Lauren Kate
Short stories that take place between Passion (3rd book) and Rapture (4th book).

 Angel Fire - L.A. Weatherly
Book Two in the Angel Trilogy

 Havoc - Jeff Sampson
Book Two in the Vesper series

 The Way We Fall - Megan Crewe
Book One in The Way We Fall series

 Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat - Francesca Lia Block
The Prequel to the Weetzie Bat series

 Forbidden - Syrie James & Ryan M. James

There Is No Dog - Meg Rosoff 

Monday, January 23, 2012

Book Review: XVI - Julia Karr

XVI:
Published: January 6, 2011
Publisher: Speak
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 325 pages
Source: Amazon.com

Every girl gets one. An XVI tattoo on the wrist -- sixteen. 


Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. 


Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help -- and he just may hold the key to her past.


But with line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure.


For Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.


When I first started out reading XVI, I was a little disappointed. I won't lie. It seemed a bit slow at first, and with all these crazy things going on in a new dystopian world like PAVs and the FeLS program, I was entirely lost. But soon after that, everything changed for the better.

For Nina, she lives in a dystopian world with her mother Ginnie and younger sister Dee. Nina's father died the night she was born, and few years later, Ginnie began to date a man named Ed who would beat her at night. He was a monster to her.

In this new world, getting and XVI tattoo on your wrist signals out to the world that you're legal -- and people can now take advantage of you. Nina doesn't want to be prey for the predators in her world, but her best friend Sandy does. While walking home, Nina discovers a boy who seems to be homeless, but isn't, named Sal.

Then, Ginnie is killed. The doctors at the hospital put Ginnie on a machine called Infinity -- a machine that allows a dead person to come back to life for ten minutes to talk to her family. Ginnie tells Nina to keep Ed away from Dee, and to guard Dee's baby book with her life. It might just change everything she's ever known. Soon, Nina and Dee live with their grandparents, and when stalker Ed comes back into the picture, everything is sure to spiral downward.

Like I said before, XVI was slow in the beginning. But then, the plot picked up and everything started to happen so fast, I couldn't set the book down!

First, the characters. I thought Nina was an outstanding character. She didn't want to blend in with the crowd and anticipate becoming sixteen. And, she's very protective of her younger sister and will do anything from keeping Ed away from Dee. A thing I felt about the character's name was that they seemed a little "old-fashioned". Not that there's anything wrong with that, look at the names: Nina, Dee, Ed, Ginnie, Sal, Sandy, Mike, Derek.

Secondly, the writing style. I'm in love with Julia Karr's writing style! She somehow gives it a spin on a major event when it's happening on a page, and it always keeps my interest. Believe me, towards the end, something happens that made me look around the room I was in just to make sure that nobody else was in it. Yeah. It affected me that much.

Finally, the novel itself. While XVI was fantastic, it was a great novel. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a highly paced dystopian novel! I can't wait to read the sequel!

My Rating:


Sunday, January 22, 2012

In My Mailbox (3)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren!


Leave the link to your IMM so I can check it out!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Book Review: Wanted by Sara Shepard

WANTED:
Published: December 8, 2010 (first published June 8, 2010)
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 259 pages
Source: Amazon.com

In Rosewood, majestic estates sprawl for acres, and Tiffany toggle bracelets dangle from every girl's wrist. But not all that glitters is gold, and the town harbors secrets darker than anyone could imagine -- like the truth about what really happened the night Alison DiLaurentis went missing...

Back in middle school, Ali plucked off Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer from obscurity and turned them into the beautiful, popular girls everyone wanted to be. Ali was the best friend they ever had. But she also made them do terrible things and taunted them with their worst secrets. Now, three years later, all their questions about Ali have finally been answered and they can put this awful chapter of their lives behind them. Or so they think.

Not every story has a happy ending, especially when four Pretty Little Liars have done so many wicked things. In the eighth novel in Sara Shepard's bestselling Pretty Little Liars series, Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer could get everything they ever wanted -- unless A has one more horrifying twist in store.

"While this wasn't the best Pretty Little Liars novel, the last 40 pages or so was one of the most craziest things I've ever read in my lifetime."

In Sara Shepard's Wanted, the use-to-be conclusion of the PLL series (four more books have been added to the series), I felt anxious about reading it. The first 100 pages wasn't the best, but it began to pick up from there.

Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna are piecing together bit by bit their dear-long lost friend's murder and who exactly murdered her. But when a man is arrested for supposedly killing Alison, they assume that their troubles are over. But it's only the beginning to a new horrifying experience. 

The DiLaurentis family has been hiding a secret. A huge secret from the media, but most importantly, Ali's best friends. And when they find out just exactly what that huge secret, they can't believe it. 

That's all I can say without spoiling the novel.

This book was very fast-paced, and like I said before, the last 40 pages were one of the most exciting, yet terrifying things I've ever read. My heart was pounding out of my chest because I couldn't believe it exactly what was happening. I'll tell you this, the entire story is pieced together in the last 40 pages. I'm wanting to see just how exactly Sara Shepard will put the storyline back into books nine through twelve.

As usual, Sara Shepard's writing style was excellently executed. I think she does a great job writing from a teen perspective, and the way that she blends modern technology along with other high school issues, I can't be more pleased with it.

And also, her pacing is great. I will admit, the first one hundred pages weren't that exciting. But now that I look back on it, I think it needed to be just a bit slow so she could lead us up to the ENORMOUS secret it the final fifty pages. 

Shepard's characters are pretty snarky in their own way. And whenever you find out the secret that the DiLaurentis family has been hiding for many, many years, I was shocked about what it was. If you've read this book, I'm pretty sure you understand what I mean.

And finally, the novel itself. I read this while people in my household were sleeping, so it was a very big challenge not to say anything while I was reading the book, but believe me, if I had the chance to do so, I would take advantage of it. Wanted wasn't the best Pretty Little Liars novel, but Sara Shepard did the novel really well and I was glad to have read it.

My Rating:


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Book Review: Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck

TIGER'S CURSE:
Published: January 11, 2011
Publisher: Splinter 
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 402 pages
Source: Amazon.com

Passion. Fate. Loyalty. Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she'd be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. But that's exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic,  and mystical worlds where nothing is as it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever. 

Tiger's Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more. 

"This novel had parts of epic proportions, but it didn't live up to expectation I had for it." 

Going into Tiger's Curse, I was expecting a magical and epic journey that would sweep me off my feet and carry me to the heart of India, where I would be jumping up and down with glee about the novel. Sadly, that didn't happen.

Kelsey Hayes is just your average girl. To get some extra money, she takes a job at a circus to work with some dogs and a white tiger named Ren. Instantly, she's drawn to the tiger. When a man named Mr. Kadam offers to buy Ren, he also offers a position to Kelsey to help train Ren alongside him. Ultimately, she agrees. When they reach India, Kelsey is given a truck only to have it stolen.

Then, Ren takes off into the jungle of India. He doesn't stop and takes Kelsey on a wild goose chase. When they come across a small village and Kelsey ties Ren up to a tree, she hears a voice behind her. It's Ren -- as a human. He then explains to her this long-old curse on him and how she is the only one to break it.

With this novel, I expect it to have twists and turns on every page, but unfortunately, I didn't get my way. 

First, the characters. Kelsey isn't all that great of a character. Sure, she wasn't a Bella Swan from Twilight, but then again, she wasn't a Juliette from Shatter Me either. And then, she was like drawn to Ren. I can understand how a tiger might be really cool to hang around, but when you start to obsess over it, I think we've reached our boundary point. 

And the biggest flaw I had with this book is the name that Kelsey asked Ren to call her: Kells. Ugh. I don't want to feel like I'm reading a Gossip Girl novel when seeing the word 'Kells' at least two times when dialogue is on that specific page. Please, let's have somewhat dignity here, Kelsey. 

Next, the writing style. Again, not the greatest. Whenever something big might happen at the end of the chapter, Houck just left it there. Sure, some of it would be there in the first paragraph of the story, but there is definite room for some more description of big -- or at least exciting -- things that happen in a chapter. And then, there was some stuff that was there that didn't have to pertain to the story. Like the part where Kelsey was on the airplane going to India and she saw the bathroom. Two pages -- and they're very long pages -- was filled with just describing how elegant the bathroom was. Yes, we the reader need to know what she's doing in the bathroom, but we don't need to know everything from large shower to granite of the bathroom sink.

Finally, there is the plot. Don't get me wrong, this book was epic -- at some points. I know that this is only the first novel, and I'm sure the second book will be more epic because the plot and the characters are already established, but I can't help feel that this book just wasn't enough to satisfy my needs. 

Overall, Tiger's Curse did disappoint, but I am hopeful for the second novel that it will be more a more page-turner along with twists and turns along the way.

My Rating:



Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine!

This week, I chose...

The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa
Harlequin Teen
April 24, 2012

You will kill. The only question is when. 

In the dark days since the Red Lung virus decimated the human population, vampires have risen to rule the crumbling cities and suburbs. Uncontested Princes hold sway over diminished ranks of humans; their "pets". In exchange for their labor, loyalty and of course, their blood, these pets are registered, given food and shelter, permitted to survive. 

Unregistered humans cling to fringes, scavenging for survival. Allison Sekemoto and her fellow Unregistereds are hunted, not only by vampires, but by rabids, the unholy result of the Red Lung-infected vampires feeding on unwary humans. One night, Allie is attacked by a pack of rabids, saved by an unlikely hero... and turned into a vampire.

Uncomfortable in her undead skin, Allie falls with a ragtag crew of humans seeking a cure, or cures: for Rabidism and for Vampirism. She's passing for human... for now. But the hunger is growing and will not be denied. Not for friendship -- not even for love. 

This sounds like an AWESOME novel. Finally! Vampires that don't sparkle in the sun!

Leave me your link to your WoW so I can check it out!

Happy Reading!

~Brad