Hey! I'm Samantha, 20 years old, and an avid reader. I read a little bit of everything and am always interested in new stuff. If you ever need to contact me for anything, you can at HarlequinTwilight@gmail.com. The End.
This week I got one book in the mail. But I did make a trip to Walmart and while I didn't buy anything I did get season 1 of Hex. I don't know how many of you have ever seen or even heard of it, but it's this really awesome show. It's sexy and supernatural, and British (which makes it immediately awesome)!
Also in the picture you will see my baby! She's my psycho kitteh, but I love her dearly! Isn't she cute! Her name is Alleigh, just so everyone knows...
Ash by Malinda Lo Release: September 1, 2009
Category: YA Fantasy
Overall:
There's something about fairy tales that always feel magical. No matter the story, no matter the characters, there is something about them that just makes you feel the magic inside them. Ash makes you feel every bit of that magic, and more.
Just about everyone, everyone female at least, over the age of 13 or so has heard and/or seen the story of Cinderella. Whether it is Disney's version or the classic fairy tale or the Brothers Grimm version or even one of the other hundreds of versions that have been founded over the years, we all know it. Ash is a version that I'm sure you've never heard of before, but that you should.
After losing her mother, Ash's father takes a wife, Lady Isobel. Soon after meeting Lady Isobel, her and her two daughters move into the house with Ash and her father and things drastically change. In line with the fairy tale, Ash's father becomes gravely ill and passes shortly after. Which not only leaves Ash heartbroken, but also leaves her without either of her parents, and stuck with a "family" that doesn't even like to look at her.
This is the beginning that we all know about Cinderella, and while Ash has many aspects that are the same as the original tale, they are not the same in the slightest. Ash doesn't get the typical fairy godmother; she gets something else all together, but something even more powerful than anything in the candy coated version that is fed to us as children.
Ash gets a fairy, Sidhean, who is even more lethal and dangerous than anything her stepmother or stepsisters could do/say to Ash. But that's masked in an extent by the beauty and the friendship that lies between Ash and Sidhean. And I mean that to an extent far more than the typical connection between two characters, their relationship is more developed and deeper than most would have thought possible in a novel that doesn't even break 300 pages.
But one day Ash's life, and heart, changes forever. She meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, and there is something between them that's different from the second they meet. Ash begins to stop chasing fairies and starts to live in the world without fairies and the fairy tales, and learns how to hunt and to ride and to track animals. But in this change of life, there is a price for keeping it and for continuing to let it grow.
Through her relationship with Kaisa, Ash finds what it means to grow and what it means to let her heart guide her and in that realization, she also finds a new capacity to live. Ash prefers the company to the Huntress than the company of the Prince, and that makes this story even more powerful. Malinda Lo has created a world that is magical and finds it's own footing in a world were fairy tales are viewed as being for children and has given the older crowd a fairy tale of their own.
This is some of the most beautiful, lyrical writing I've seen in a long time and that is so refreshing. The imagery just blows me away and it's like you're standing right there with Ash through everything, whether it be pain, joy, adventure, or terror. It would kill be to see this story get cast aside and labeled a "lesbian retelling of Cinderella" because it's so much more than that. It's a beautiful story that anyone could relate to and that everyone could take something away from.
I found myself hoping for a sequel in a story that doesn't need one, just because I wanted to spend more time with the characters and spend more time in this world that Malinda has created. It's beautiful, it's magical, and it's a story that until now, I didn't know could even exist, but it does, and it needs to be heard. Not to mention, look at the cover. It is so beautiful! This is easily one of my favorite stories this year and I hope that if it's given the chance, it can become everyone else’s.
Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme, that is mostly about books and reading! Find out more here!
Today's question is:
Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or Autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?
Personally I prefer Autobiographies. I think it's easier to relate to someone when you're hearing their story from their point of view. I also find that Autobiographies are more real. In biographies it's really easy for the author to interject their own thoughts and feelings into your opinion or into the story itself. But at the same time, in an Autobiography the author can reveal or hide whatever they want. To be honest, I tend to prefer memoirs, but that wasn't the question. =)
Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly look at upcoming releases that we're excited about!
This weeks book is another Tenner book, which once again means that it's destined to be awesome! This one is more of a modern take on a literary classic, Romeo & Juliet. And once again, it has a fantastic cover!
The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard Release: January 7, 2010
From Amazon: Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.
Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia’s boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can’t mourn Julia openly, and he’s tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along by checking out rules and whatnot at the link above!
As I'm still trying to pull myself out of this reading slump (which me and Sharon have attributed to the weather being all icky and gross), it's slowly becoming easier... This weeks book is one that's a little different. It's mysterious, and has really awesome little art graphics throughout the pages! I am liking it quite a bit...
Just for amusement and context, this one is going to be a few lines longer than normal =)
"Pull the fire alarm?" suggested Hal. I shook my head. "Remember what happened to Seth and Wyatt Hall?" Hal winced. "Right. Good point." Seth and Wyatt Hall, twins, were seniors at Endeavor. Or, more accurately, had been seniors last semester. Right up until they were expelled for staging a fire alarm during first-semester finals. "Bomb threat?" said Hal. "I think that might be a federal offense."
Author: Stella Lennon Title: Invisible i - The Amanda Project Page: 137
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Release: October 13, 2009 Category: YA Fantasy
Overall:
Before I begin, let me get the fangirling out of my system so we can have a nice, serious review here. *SQUEEEEE* OMG *SQUEEEEEE* This will be a bit longer than most of my reviews, but now that that’s over, let’s begin.
Nora Grey isn’t your typical high school student in the sense that she spends a lot of time on her own and yet concentrates on her studies and has her head on straight. She is that good girl that doesn’t want any trouble and slightly reminding me of Rory from my beloved Gilmore Girls in the “has her sights set on Yale and nothing will stand in her way” attitude (and yes, I know Rory was Harvard bound, but you get where I’m going). But trouble seems to find her in the form of that mysteriously gorgeous bad boy, Patch.
And Patch…how can I describe Patch without turning into a puddle of mush? Well he’s trouble, plain and simple. But he’s that good kind of trouble that just about anyone with the XX chromosome is attracted too. He’s got the sarcasm down to an art and there’s also the fact there’s something about him that’s not quite right.
Becca Fitzpatrick has done a beautiful job with not only the characters in Hush, Hush, but also the imagery is phenomenal. There’s moments when she describes the scenery and it feels as if you are walking through places they frequented. And yet even in what should be the most innocent of events, there seemed to be this undertone that something dangerous was near.
And one thing that makes me over the moon is the fact that every character serves a purpose. There’s not all these extra characters thrown in there along the way, with no explanation of why. I like that. The only thing about the entire story that got me was Vee, but just a little. I found Vee to be one of those friends that you have to take care of and keep an eye on like you do a child. A bit reckless and self absorbed, but she still plays her role.
There were times when I found myself literally laughing out loud, like for this particular gem: “I scribbled Jerk on the first line. On the line beneath it I added, Smokes cigars, Will die if lung cancer. Hopefully soon. Excellent physical shape.” - Hush, Hush (ARC, Becca Fitzpatrick, page 21). The above was from Nora, shortly after her first couple of encounters with Patch.
Despite the many humorous gems I found throughout the entire book, this is also a dark novel, and in saying that, there are moments when I would gasp in shock or surprise. It seemed that over the course of 400 pages, I went through every emotion possible, and that’s a good thing! Few authors can create a world and a cast of characters that sticks in your head like these do.
Of course there are already a few different comparisons going on throughout the blogosphere. One being the comparison between Hush, Hush and Twilight; now of course there are similarities, but they are far from the same novel, or even the same ball park for that matter, and the majority of similarities (bad boy/good girl, bad boy has some sort of “different” attribute, fall in love) are similar in books with just about any form of romance over the last couple hundred years. Then there’s those (the Biology room as a beginning) that are clearly similar, but doesn’t make the stories the same.
Then there’s the comparison of Edward from said Twilight and Patch. And there’s also this comparison of Spike and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (And later Angel) and Patch. As someone who was never a fan of Buffy or Angel, I can’t comment on that side of the argument because I have no insight on either of those characters. But I can comment on the Edward comparison; and boy, let me tell you, Edward and got nothing on Patch! The only thing that Edward has over Patch is those sparkles, but Patch has scars, and scars beat sparkles hands down!
Hush, Hush seemed to captivate me in a way that no other book has since…I don’t quite remember. I haven’t stayed up until 2 AM reading anything in a long while, much less a 400 page book in one sitting! And if my review can’t convince you to read this awesomeness, then just look at the cover! It’s haunting, beautiful, memorable, and drop dead sexy…just like the story within.
This is the hardest review I’ve written and I mean that in a good way. Hush, Hush is a title that for the most part receives automatic squeals and excitement simply from its name alone; and there is a reason for all of this commotion. That reason in short, is because it is fantastically amazing!
Since I didn't post a picture last week because I was sick and felt like crap, I added them into this weeks picture. This week I only got one book. But as you can see, they are being propped up by my pretty new boots. =) I very much <3> Anyways, onto the books!
For review: Nothing this week! But last week was Fallen by Lauren Kate
This week I got one book in the mail. But I did make a trip to Walmart and while I didn't buy anything I did get season 1 of Hex. I don't know how many of you have ever seen or even heard of it, but it's this really awesome show. It's sexy and supernatural, and British (which makes it immediately awesome)!
