Book Review: Love Letters to the Dead

Title: Love Letters to the Dead
Series: Standalone
Author: Ava Dellaira
Pages: 323
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Source: Own

Summary: It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path. 

Rating: 4

Review: This was the most real book I have read in a while. Laurel was so real. Everything about her, her emotions and her character was real and true.

At the end of Laurel's eighth grade year her sister May dies. May was Laurel's best friend and Laurel always thought her sister was perfect. At the beginning of the novel Laurel is entering her Freshman year of high school and she has to find a way to deal with so many things. She must accept that her sister is not here anymore and that her mother left to live in California. Laurel made me want to be her friend so that help her get through all this. But I could not because book characters are not real people so I could not help her.

The entire book is written in letters to dead people that Laurel admires. She writes to about having courage through hard times and she writes to them about death. The letters were Laurels form of a journal. Everything important and hard she would write in the letters. We were not giving tons of useless information about her we were giving the most important information.

The writing was beautiful. laurel is a Freshman in high school and most freshman cannot write half as good as Laurel, which might make people think this book is pretentious but it is not it is honest. Honest about the hardships of life, if people want life to be perfect that is to bad because life is hard. Though I have not had a sister who has died and my parents are note divorced i feel the same way as Laurel about a lot of things. She understands that life sucks. Sometimes I need to read I book not just escape my life but to find a way to get through it.

This a a beautifully heart-wrenching novel and I am so glad i was able to read it! Gayle Forman said that "[Love Letters to the Dead] broke my heart, and pieced it back together again." I agree that this book did break my heart but it did not quite put it back together again. I absolutely recommend that you read Love Letters to the Dead because this is a book that I will cherish for a long time and will never forget it. I feel like my review does not do this book enough justice because this book was beautiful.

Also please take a moment to enjoy the cover because this a one of the best book covers I think I have ever seen!

Favorite Quotes:
     -“I think a lot of people want to be someone, but we are scared that if we try, we won't be as good as everyone imagines we could be.”
     -“I know I wrote letters to people with no address on this earth, I know that you are dead. But I hear you. I hear all of you. We were here. Our lives matter.”
     -“And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don't have to be just a character, going whichever way the story says. It's knowing you could be the author instead.”
     -“Sometimes when we say things, we hear silence. Or only echoes. Like screaming from inside. And that’s really lonely. But that only happens when we weren’t really listening. It means we weren’t ready to listen yet. Because every time we speak, there is a voice. There is the world that answers back.”
     -“You can be noble and brave and beautiful and still find yourself falling.”
     -“There's more to life than being a passenger.”
     -“But we aren't transparent. If we want someone to know us, we have to tell them stuff.”

DFTBA
-Janussa

Poetry Corner #33

Anaphora
     By: Elizabeth Bishop

Each day with so much ceremony
begins, with birds, with bells,
with whistles from a factory;
 such white-gold skies our eyes
first open on, such brilliant walls
that for a moment we wonder
'Where is the music coming from, the energy?
 The day was meant for what ineffable creature
we must have missed? ' Oh promptly he
appears and takes his earthly nature
      instantly, instantly falls
      victim of long intrigue,
      assuming memory and mortal
      mortal fatigue.

More slowly falling into sight
and showering into stippled faces,
darkening, condensing all his light;
 in spite of all the dreaming
squandered upon him with that look,
suffers our uses and abuses,
sinks through the drift of bodies,
sinks through the drift of classes
to evening to the beggar in the park
who, weary, without lamp or book
      prepares stupendous studies:
      the fiery event of
      every day in endless
      endless assent.

DFTBA Have  a wonderful weekend :)
-Janussa

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

Summary: John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

Release Date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen

DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 181
Release Date: June 18, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow Books
Source: School Library
Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.  

Rating: 3.5

Review: This book was so beautiful. The the cute love story kind of beautiful but the deep thoughtful, wonderfully written beautiful.This book is very unlike most of the other book I've read but it was very worth the read. The story was creative, different and very entertaining as you follow The main character through his adventures with Lettie. It's weird but that made me love it all the more.

This is a very hard book to describe, not because I would spoil it or because it's a bad book but because description would not do it enough justice. The writing is some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read. I do not have the writing skill to compare.

The characters were all so different and beautiful in there own way. It was truly marvelous how he explained all the characters. I just would have liked to learn more about Lettie and the Hempstocks because they're very mysterious. it is told from a first person point of view so we only know as much as the main character knows but I wish we could still find out more. There is a whole story to the Hempstocks we just don't know what that story is.

I don't know what else to say. usually I can say many things about books but this book doesn't need tons of explanation this book speaks for itself. I recommend that you read it so you understand what i mean but it was beautiful and I wanted to absorb every word.

Favourite Quotes:
“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”

“Books were safer than other people anyway.”

“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences. I was a child, which meant that I knew a dozen different ways of getting out of our property and into the lane, ways that would not involve walking down our drive.”

“Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.”

DFTBA
-Janussa

Stacking the Shelves #2

New books!! :)

      

      

   

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira 

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E Smith

Resist by Sarah Crossan

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Mass

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

So many new good books! I'm so excited to read hem and I finally own all the divergent books :)

DFTBA
-Janussa

Waiting on Wednesday #1

This weeks Waiting on Wednesday book is *drum-roll*

Ruin and Rising  by Leigh Bardugo

Summary: The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

Release Date: June 17, 2014

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

This is he final book in the Grisha Trilogy and I am SO excited to read it. I just recently read Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm and they were flawless. If you are a fan of the book go to grishatrilogy.com here are excepts of the third book and hey are wonderful and perfect and made me want the book even more!

DFTBA
-Janussa

Monthly Roundup: April

Books I Read This Month
Free Four by Veronica Roth
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Perfect Lies by Kiersten White
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Attack on Titan #1-3 by Hajime Isayama

Longest: Allegiant
Shortest: Free Four

Favourite: Shadow and Bone
Least Favourite: I am Number Four

Best Cover:



This was a good month and i just ordered new books so hopefully there will be lots of new book reviews next month but I do have finals so I will be more busy :/
DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: Perfect Lies

Title: Perfect Lies
Series: Mind Games #2
Author: Kiersten White
Release Date: February 18, 2014
Pages: 232
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Own

Summary: Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them. 

Rating: 3

Review: When I first read Mind Games it was nearly flawless. Sadly Perfect Lies did not live up to the expectation.

Perfect Lies did not continue he world building that loved in the Mind Games. In most series I have a favorite character throughout he whole series, yet in the first book I loved Fia more and in this book I love Annie more. There was not very much character building for Fia in this book the character building was all Annie trying to figure out how to live her life without her sister with her new found freedom. This book just did not build the world and characters in a way that made me want love the sorry that I used to.

This book had great potential, the world Kiersten White build in Mind Games was wonderful and fantastical. The plot was choppy and hard to follow. It took me a few chapters to understand how the dates at the beginning of he chapters fit together. It was interesting to see how Annie and Fia's relationship played out now that they weren't together and they were not sure how the other one was.

On the plus side it was really nice to be back in the world even if we were not given much new information on it. I do love the characters they are so fascinating. I loved Pixie, the new character, She was able to be friends with Fia when Fia needed someone most, when Annie wasn't there.

Three star books are he hardest book to review because it's not terribly bad but it's not extremely good it's just in the middle so there is less you can say. I would recommend his book mainly if you loved Mind Games.

Favourite Quote:
“She told me only people we love the most can destroy us, because no one else has that kind of power.”

DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: Allegiant

Title: Allegiant
Series: Divergent #3
Author: Veronica Roth
Release Date: October 22, 2012
Pages: 526
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: School Library
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Summary: The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.  

Rating: 4

Review: There is so much to say about this book yet so little that I can say without spoiling anything. Since I do not know how to do HTML for hiding/showing spoilers I will tell you when I get to the spoiler part.

This book answers so many questions you might have about the world in Divergent. The duel perspectives really made me understand both Tobias and Tris better. It was nice to learn more about Tobias and I realized that I'm more like him than Tris. I think many people want to be like Tris brave and selfless but most of us aren't. Tobias built walls around himself so that he couldn't be hurt more than he already had been. Tris was the only one who was able to help bring those walls down.

I loved how Veronica Roth was able to explain the creation and how he society became he way it did and how the government fits into all of it, it is very fascinating. It adds a new level to he story since we are able to know how the society became this way, it makes it much more realistic than it just being this is how it is period.

I want to tell you so much about what happens but I cannot because there is very little I can say about this book. I definitely recommend reading it. 

Spoilers below do not read below if you have not read the book

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Everyone is so mad about the ending but I think it was inevitable. If Tris had not died when she did she would have continued to make risky choices so should could save everyone she loves. She has been through so much and she was so strong through everything. I love Tris and I hope you in know way think I don't I do. Tris took so many risks in Insurgent and it's a miracle she didn't die she has come so close to death. In Insurgent she was okay with dying for herself so she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of losing her parents. Throughout the series she dances with death. She knew there was a good chance she would not survive at the end of Allegiant. Everything she does is to protect people. She goes into a room full of poisonous gas so her brother wouldn't have to. Caleb, the brother that betrayed he and worked with Jennine Matthews, she saved him even through she could have let him did for what he did to her. I love Tris but she always did what she thought was right and was able to save so many people from what she did. Tris is hero to everyone. 

I hope you can see why I feel this way about Tris's death. It was not the happiest ending but it was the most realistic bases on Tris's past actions.

I hope what I wrote above makes sense, if not sorry.

DFTBA

-Janussa 

Book Review: I am Number Four

Title: I am Number Four
Series: Lorien Legacies #1
Author: Pittacus Lore
Release Date: August 3, 2010
Pages: 440
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Own
Goodreads | Amazon
Barnes and Noble | Book Website

Summary: In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now. The Nine had to separate and go into hiding.

The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next. 

Rating: 1.5

Review: I's been a long time since I reviewed a book I didn't like his much. I try to avoid writing reviews on books I don't like, they seem to become very biased and annoying because often i just urns into me complaining about he book because I didn't like it. I'll try o keep this review short with as little complaining as I can.

When I first heard of his book I waned to read it so much,there was so much hype around it because of the movie. I saw the movie first and loved it and I thought I would love the book just as much, but I didn't. It's not so much that I didn't like it I just didn't care about he story or the characters.

There were so many flaws in the story line it was annoying. Things were poorly explained. The feelings between John and Sarah were to insta- love. I was so confused through most of he book, if you going to create a book series that has alien civilizations in it then you need to explain those civilizations and the motives behind what they do.

I think the author could have had an opportunity to create a good series but the characters were to annoying. I couldn't stand most of the characters they were whiny and poorly developed. I wanted to learn more about I am number four the alien not as John. Even though John was an alien it seemed even he didn't understand what it meant to be from the planet Lorien, there was hardly any world building.

This series had lots of potential but i didn't live up to my hopes or standards. I know there are people who like this series so I cannot completely discredit it and one of my good friends loves this series. This series was not just for me. If you wan to read a more positive review on this series and see what other people liked about it go read the reviews on goodreads. I hope you were able to get something you of this review and I hope I did not complain to much about what I personally was annoyed with.


DFTBA have a great weekend!
-Janussa

Book Review: Siege and Storm

Title: Siege and Storm
Series: The Grisha #2
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Pages: 432
Source: Own
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Summary: Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm. 

Rating: 4.5

Review: This book definitely met my expectations as a sequel! I loved this book even though there was less of the Darkling. You do get to meet a new character that is brilliant and amazing which makes the absance of the Darkling more bearable.

You get to learn more about Mal the boy Alina grew up with as they travel together. They are a couple in this book and they go through so many challenges. As kids it was always strong Mal and weak Alina. Alina now had the ability to protect herself and Mal is still the same powerless person he was before. They have to learn to except each other despite there differences.

I loved being in Ravka again it is such a beautiful world. I loved seeing the Grisha with their powers and the events that played out throughout the story. So much happened a new character is introduced and he plays a big role in the events that unravel. I loved how things played out. Throughout the book Alina wants to find the other Amplifiers. She wants to help people and she realizes she needs power, more power than the Darkling has so she can stop him.

Alina has to learn to except herself for the way she is now. She cannot go back to being the weak Alina that was in the army. She must learn to be strong because there are so many challenges she must face. She is now being called a saint by some of the people in Ravka she must learn to adjust to her new found position and learn to accept it.

This book was a beautiful sequel. I love this world and I could not put the book down. I am so excited to read the third book, Ruin and Rising, once it comes out in June. I hope it wraps everything up beautifully and answers all unanswered questions. I hope it is as equally beautiful as the first two books so that I might be able to love the world of Ravka even more. I absolutely recommend reading the sequel.

DFTBA
-Janussa

Poetry Corner #32

All the World's a Stage
     By: William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

DFTBA Have  a wonderful weekend :)
-Janussa

Book Review: Shadow and Bone

Title: Shadow and Bone
Series: Grisha #1
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Pages: 358
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Summary: The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.

Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?

The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.

But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance. 

Rating: 5

Review: This book was perfect and easily a new favourite fantasy! It's at the top f the favourites list right next to Throne of Glass.

There are so many wonderful things to say about this book! I loved the characters, the setting and the plot they were all flawless. The main character Alina never knew there was anything special about herself when she was younger. She was orphaned by the war that had been raging in Ravka for years. She grew up trying to be as normal as anyone could. When young children in Ravka are tested every year to see if they posses any Grisha powers, Alina did not or so she thought.  In wake of trouble and fear she discovered she was a light summoner.

Alina was so realistic. Throughout the entire book she was confused and wanted to find her way. She used to know she belonged with Mal, in the first army but once she became a Grisha she no longer knew where she belonged. Alina is a teenager and though we might not all be able to summon sun we all go through a process of discovering where we belong.

I loved all the characters including the darkling. They were all flawless and mysterious. At first you do love the darkling and then you discover his true intentions and you're supposed to love him less but I still loved him.

The story was fantastic and the world was beautiful. Ravka sounds gorgeous and the society was set up so it could actually function. The Grisha and nobles were upper class and they lived in a castle in the capital city of Os Alta. The names were all beautiful and unique which made the book even more interesting while trying to figure out how to say each name.

I thought everything was splendid and perfect. I recommend this book to everyone who wants a good fantasy.


DFTBA
-Janussa

Poetry Corner #31

April Rain Song
     By: Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.

Have a wonderful weekend!
DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: Insurgent

Title: Insurgent
Series: Divergent #2
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 525
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Summary: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Rating: 5

Review: This book kept getting better and better as I kept reading. I loved all of the characters and the story line was flawless. Obviously there all the characters had problems or there wouldn't have been a plot. This book had tons of emotion in it because of the flawless writing of Veronica Roth.

All the characters are well developed and you can see and understand why they would do the actions they would do. I could connect with the characters. The way Tris felt lost and confused I think everyone has felt that at some point and it was nice to that in a character, it made her relateable in a way that a lot of characters today are not.

The plot was fast paced and so much happen. You begin to truly who is on what side and it is not what you would expect. I did not expect most of what happened especially what happened the ending.

This was a perfect sequel to Divergent and it had everything a good sequel needs. Tris and Tobias were amazing in Insurgent yeah they had problems but every realistic couple has problems it was refreshing. I loved how Tris had to overcome so much in this book. Everyone has times when they have to overcome something big and this was Tris's time.

I loved seeing all the characters develop. Christina and Tris's friendship was able to grow a lot in this book because Christina had to accept what Tris did to Will. That was not easy for Christina but they are even better friends now because of it. I hope their friendship continues to grow in the final book.

I cannot what to see what will happen in the third book, I've heard rumors about what happens but I still want to know for myself because the way a series ends depends on so many details in the final book.

You definitely need to read Insurgent if you liked Divergent you won't regret it, it was a flawless sequel.

Favorite Quotes:

“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”

“Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.”

“We both have war inside us. Sometimes it keeps us alive. Sometimes it threatens to destroy us.”

DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: Clockwork Princess

Title: Clockwork Princess
Series: The Infernal Devices #3
Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 565
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Summary: London 1873 shape-shifter Tessa Gray 16 is engaged to Jem Carstairs 17, dying of addiction to demon drug, all bought up by evil Mortmain. The "clockwork prince" controls an army of automatons to abduct Tess, kill the Shadowhunters, and blackmail Charlotte Branwell, head of London Institute. Will and Tessa hide their love, for love of Jem. 

Rating: 4

Review: This book was truly marvelous. It's been a long time since I read a final book in a series that I enjoyed this much.

I truly do not know how Cassandra Clare does it, how she makes you love all the characters and the story so you cannot put the book down. I completely love both Jem and Will and she came up wit a perfect ending that I think everyone would be pleased with. The was equally as beautiful as the other books and the story was even better.

This was a perfect final book to the series. The story line was well paced and the writing style makes you connect with all the characters even more. I loved all the characters and I always wanted to know what was going to happen. Cassandra Clare makes you think all hope is lost before you read the brilliant ending so first she makes you want to cry and then she makes you elated because of what actually happened. I do not know how she does what she does with books.

This is a series that I could have found a lot of flaws in the story line but I never wanted to find the flaws because I loved the characters and just wanted to know what would happen. I thought this was a perfect final book and if you have read the first two books you need to read this book it finalizes this story perfectly and ties together all the loose ends. You will not regret reading this wonderful final book in The Infernal Devices series.

I hope you got something out of this review :)
Also I've been reading a lot recently and I got some new books so there should be lots of new book reviews coming your way.

DFTBA
-Janussa

Poetry Corner #30

Suicide of a Moderate Dictator
     by: Elizabeth Bishop

This is a day when truths will out, perhaps;
leak from the dangling telephone earphones
sapping the festooned switchboards' strength;
fall from the windows, blow from off the sills,
—the vague, slight unremarkable contents
of emptying ash-trays; rub off on our fingers
like ink from the un-proof-read newspapers,
crocking the way the unfocused photographs
of crooked faces do that soil our coats,
our tropical-weight coats, like slapped-at moths.

Today's a day when those who work
are idling. Those who played must work
and hurry, too, to get it done, with little dignity or none.
The newspapers are sold; the kiosk shutters
crash down. But anyway, in the night
the headlines wrote themselves, see, on the streets
and sidewalks everywhere; a sediment's splashed
even to the first floors of apartment houses.

This is a day that's beautiful as well,
and warm and clear. At seven o'clock
I saw the dogs being walked along the famous beach
as usual, in a shiny gray-green dawn,
leaving their paw prints draining in the wet.
The line of breakers was steady and the pinkish,
segmented rainbow steadily hung above it.
At eight two little boys were flying kites. 

Happy Weekend
DFTBA
-Janussa

Book Review: The Secret Life of Bees

Title: The Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Pages: 318
Release Date: November 8, 2001
Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.  

Rating: 2.5

Review: I read this book for English and the easiest way for me to describe it is 'I liked it'.

I enjoyed the characters and the story. I was glad I had the opportunity to read this for class because I had never heard of this book before this. I most likely would not have read this book if it were not for school. It was nice to read something different than what I usually read.

This is one of those books that I cannot say a ton of bad stuff about but I cannot say a ton of good stuff about it either. The characters were good and the plot was interesting and I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters but it lacked something. <--wish I could explain that something better.

The writing was good and beautiful and I love reading all the metaphors.

I am so sorry that I could not describe this book better/ more. I hope you were able to still get something out of my review, if not go read some reviews on Goodreads (^I've linked the book to goodreads above). I still suggest you read it, it is quite good.

DFTBA
-Janussa

Monthly Roundup: March

Wow what a month this has been. We are already 1/4 done with 2014 that's crazy, I'm still accidentally writing 2013.
Well this is the time of the month where I get to tell you the best and the worst. Let's get started! (I'm still deciding on what questions to ask in these posts but soon I hope to have it perfect.

Book I read this month: reviews are linked
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close [Movie Review]
The Healer's Apprentice (no review)
Divergent [Movie Review]
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess (haven't reviewed yet)
The Secret Life of Bees (haven't reviewed yet)

Longest: Clockwork Princess
Shortest: The Healer's Apprentice

Favourite: Extremely Loud and Incredibility Close
Least Favourite: The Healer's Apprentice

Best Cover:


It feels like it's been FOREVER since I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close i can't believe it was just earlier this month that I finished it.

In other news tons of new book-to-movie adaptions have been announced including: The Giver, The Maze Runner, If I stay, and Insurgent have all been announced.
Go look up The Giver and The Maze Runner trailers.

Things to look forward to in April: more reviews, more book-to-movie reviews, and hopefully more random thoughts posts. I just hope I find time to read cuz lately I've had so little.

Also tell me in comments what you've read this month! I'd love to find out!

Hope you had a good March and have a wonderful April :)
DFTBA
-Janussa

Book to Movie: Divergent

     

  Book   |   Movie

I was blown away by the movie. It's not very often that the movie is at least as good as the book but Divergent was. All the scenes were perfect and the cast was amazing.

I could get nit-picky over how they did some things different but if I do that then I not enjoying the movie for how it is. A movie will never live up to everyone's expectations. Characters will be different how we imagined them. They have to leave stuff out and change some details and they have to make it fit in a certain amount of time. Divergent did a brilliant job with all of this and as I talk to more people about the movie they all agree.

This movie gives me hope that they won't ruin all book to movie adaptions, especially since there are so many new book-to-movie adaptions coming out right now. Hunger Games is still going, Divergent just started and The Giver, The Maze Runner and The Fault in Our Stars all come out in the next few months. The most important part of a movie adaption is to capture the world and the feelings and emotions of all the characters.

I definitely recommend you see the Divergent movie you will not regret it. It is perfect whether you've read the book or not (though I suggest you read the book it is amazing).

DFTBA
-Janussa