The Know-it-all

Forgive My Fins

2011-08-12T10:08:00.001+03:00

This is a really nice book few people have heard about. I was browsing a list of books my friend recently read and the title intrigued me enough to go out and get it. The book is really one of a kind, an amazing read with a quirky likable main character. The book is filled with amusing sea vocabulary that draws you into the world the author has created. The cover is beautiful and completely appropriate for the mermaid romance.

Blurb from Goodreads.com:

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

My Review:

I loved this book so much! The Protagonist, Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia (or Lily for short ;P), is a half human, half mermaid who goes to a regular highschool. She has a crush on Brody Bennet, the popular swim team champion at her school. Quince Fletcher is her annoying neighbor who's been making her life miserable for the three years she's lived on land. When she accidentally kisses Quince (thinking he was Brody) they both get more than they bargained for since the kiss instigates a "bond" between them. Lily takes Quince on an underwater journey trying to get the bond severed before its too late and they're joined for life.

This book is amazingly detailed, with lovable characters, and beautiful descriptions. The only thing I didn't like about the book is the way the author describes Lily. She's really bad at schoolwork, she's shallow, and she's stubborn, and blind to what's right in front of her. She actually describes her using those words. Its one thing to perceive a character as being less than bright, but its another thing completely to have the author describe her as a love-sick fool, drooling over Brody instead of doing homework, Gossiping with her best friend Shannen for hours on the phone instead of studying. I'm not saying she should describe the studying in detail, but she mentions that Lily is bad at everything school related, and she's in a few extra-curriculars, but only the ones Brody is in. And then she's acts like a blind idiot. All in all, despite the fact that she's a very nice character, I was not impressed by Lily at all. I kept wanting to bang my head against the wall at her obliviousness. Quince is another thing altogether, he lives with his mother who struggles to make ends meet. Quince goes to school and has a part-time job to help his mother, he's also unfailingly polite to everyone but Lily, who he take great pleasure in annoying. Because of the bond, Lily gets to know Quince better, as they are finally forced to have a few real conversations. I spent the entire book getting anxious whenever their bond was in danger of being severed because as the book progresses you can see that they are perfect for each other.

The Second book "Fins are Forever" came out last June. Planning to read that soon.

As an added tidbit, This is how I imagined Quince looking like:

Brody, but he should have longer darker hair:

I couldn't find one I liked for Lily, but she has crazy untamable curly blonde hair and big brown eyes. I imagined her as really skinny and of medium/short height

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

Demonglass

2011-08-12T09:04:00.000+03:00

The second book of the Hex Hall trilogy, Demonglass has been on my TBR list before it even came out. I love how they used the same theme for the covers of both books, and both covers are filled with symbolism that foreshadows what happens in the novels.

Blurb from Goodreads.com:
Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

My Review:

Now if you're a fan of mystery, action, romance, and fantasy all mixed into one book, you'll love the Hex Hall series. Demonglass is the second installment of the Hex Hall trilogy, and I must say that I enjoyed it much more than its predecessor. The first book struck me as a bit more fluffy than this one, if you read my review on Hex Hall, I mentioned that, at first, Sophie is very whiny and annoying, and we see her mature throughout the book. Demonglass is like a continuation of that, she is a lot easier to like in this novel. Archer, her love interest, returns, and we learn a lot more about him than we did in the first book. Sophie is suspicious of him, after everything he did, and he's trying to get back into her good graces, so we get to see quite a few satisfying scenes. Archer really went up a few notches in my estimation. He's more real in this book, we learn more about who he is, instead of Sophie's (frequent) monotonous "OMGZ, He's like so hot!!11!!!!1" monologues.

The setting really pulled me in here, Sophie goes to London, and the description is amazing! I'd can almost see the creepy mansion she lives in. And we learn a lot more about her great-grandmother (resisting urge to give spoilers). Also, an interesting new love triangle is introduced, but the author doesn't really go into it much. In fact, she brings in a LOT of new story lines that she barely goes into, so there are a lot of loose ends at the end of the novel. So basically, she resolves some of the cliffhangers from the last book and introduces about a gazillion new ones, which she leaves unfinished. I wish I had just waited until all three books were out before starting this series, because, honestly, the suspense is killing me!

The last book of the trilogy "Spell Bound" is due to be released in March of 2012 (too long from now :()

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

Hex Hall

2011-08-12T08:33:00.001+03:00

So I read Hax Hall ages ago and hadn't gotten around to reviewing it yet, so, since I've read Demonglass since then, I've decided to write back-to-back reviews.

Hex Hall is the first book of a trilogy by Rachel Hawkins. Hex hall kind of reminded me of meg cabots novels with more action and fantasy. It was a pretty good book, and actually went quite a bit above my expectations. I'd gotten a lot of recommendations for this book, and I knew that it was a popular YA book so I put it on my to-be-read list. The summary and descriptions I'd read hadn't really pulled me in, that and the fact that the cover screamed "middle school" was why I wasn't really eager to start this book. Once I was past the first few chapters though it reminded me of a mixture of Meg Cabot and the House of Night series (which I am planning on reviewing soon). I loved the whole budding romance thing going on, but it was a bit creepier than I would have liked.

Blurbs from Goodreads.com:

Hex Hall:
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My Review:

This book was a surprisingly nice read, I went in expecting a fluffy YA book, with no depth. And much as I like fluffy books (light reading is always enjoyable) this turned out to be quite a bit more than that. With a perfect balance of romance, action, magic, and history, I was really impressed. The main character, Sophie, is a bit annoying at times, always whining about everything that happens to her. She really evolves in this novel, she tackles her problems head on and resolves them herself. No knight-in-shining armour to be seen. I love a novel where the heroine is actually a Heroine instead of the usual whiney damsel-in-distress, and Sophie is definitely a Heroine. Her main love interest, Archer, is a bit of a disappointment really, he's such a cliche, dating the most popular girl in school (who is, of course, a total witch), macho guy, handsome, and Sophie feels a "connection" with him and thinks he should be with her. Personally, I think she's too good for him. The book is about Sophie's journey of self-discovery, and I ended up liking her more and more with every page. A word to the wise, though, expect a cliffhanger, so don't start this book until you have the sequel(s) in hand.

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

Back for the Summer!

2011-07-03T05:55:00.000+03:00

Hey everyone!

I know it's been ages since I last posted, but I've FINALLY finished with exams and waiting for my results to come out etc.

I've also been reading up a storm in preparation for my return

I'll be spending this entire week writing up reviews on all the books that I've read since I've seen you all last, including:

1) Hex Hall
2) Demonglass
3) Maximum Ride: Angel
4) Anna and the French Kiss
5) Graceling
6) House of Night: Burned
7) 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Those are the books I'm planning on reviewing, but maybe I'll add a few in there I hadn't planned on adding.

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

What the BBC thinks you should read...

2011-01-06T01:11:00.000+03:00

So I found this meme on Brooke's box of books and decided to try it out :)

I've finished 16 of these 100 books..I'm not counting the books I "read" for school because I most probably read three-quarters of the book myself (or less) and read the rest of the summary off sparknotes (guilty..but seriously..the books they assign SUCK) I've started or read an excerpt from another 14 of these...so that makes it 30 out of 100 that I've actually encountered...I think thats pretty good..especially since I have heard of and at one time planned to read a lot of the rest of the books on the list..

Conclusion:
The BBC are idiots..I'm betting the reporter who wrote this only read 6 of the 100 books on the list..bloody illiterate..dont make generalizations

Also, I am proud to say that most of the books I've read or tried to read on the list have NOT been school assignments, although I expected them to be..only 4 out of all of the books, read and not fully read, were school assignments.

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Click 'READ MORE'!!!

Instructions:
• Copy this list.
• Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety.
• Italicise the ones you started but didn’t finish or read only an excerpt.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (NOTE: STRONG dislike of this title!)
The King James Bible - (I think I read the lk prologue or something once..I've also read lk separate psalms and stuff if they quote them in a novel..mehh I'm not christian so I think even this amount is surprising enough)
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) – George Orwell (assigned summer reading..never opened it)
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens Little Women – Louisa M Alcott (I think my moms been trying to encourage me to read this since I was about 7...I hated it on sight..even more so after I watched the movie )
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller (I read the first 3 chapters of this last year..can I say depressing?)
Complete Works of Shakespeare-
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (does the movie count? I watched it in french AND english :P)
Middlemarch – George Eliot
Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (This was actually pretty interesting...depressing though)
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (Also throught the looking-glass..wonderful, though sometimes confusing)
The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (NOTE: I lovelovelove this series! I must have read The Horse and his Boy at least 6 times. I raved about it so much as a kid that my dad bought me the entire movie collection [the old 90's british one, not the new series..the old one didn't skip any of the books..*turns nose up at new movies*)
Emma -Jane Austen
Persuasion – Jane Austen
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne (do they mean the little kids books? I kinda doubt it..)
Animal Farm – George Orwell
The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown (can I say how much I admire Dan Brown's work??! I love reading his novels, I've also read Angel's and Demons, Digital Fortress and The Lost symbol..)
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies – William Golding (I hated this...)
Atonement – Ian McEwan
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Dune – Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon (my english teacher was reading this..when she told me it was about a down's syndrome kid I just couldn't bring myself to read the back cover...I hate hate HATE sop stories..)
Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (ON MY TO BE READ LIST!! I have the ebook uploaded onto my ipod! Something like 3 pages in right now :P planning on finishing it after my finals)
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas (I actually played a "seek-and-find" PC game based on the story and got so engrossed that I downloaded it..sounds awesome..but my computer got formatted within that week :( )
On The Road – Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
Ulysses – James Joyce
The Inferno – Dante
Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
Germinal – Emile Zola
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession – AS Byatt
A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
The Color Purple – Alice Walker (didnt oprah produce the movie version of this? its supposedly sucky...no thank you)
The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte's Web- E.B. White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom (my friend read this for a report once...i dont like books about dead people either)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I dont know if mine was abridged...im pretty sure it wasnt, so I'll count it..)
The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Watership Down – Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet – William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Update/personal blog post :)

2010-09-19T19:48:00.001+03:00

Sorry for not posting for a while now, my laptop got splashed with some water recently and has spent the last week or so drying out in a sack of rice, it has escaped unscathed thankfully and is in full working order and is what I am currently typing on. I also had some issues with my internet connection, so yeah, back on track now, I've read Hex Hall and re-read Meg Cabot's Missing You as well as a new book I read called One night for Love by Mary Balogh which was recommended to me by a friend and I'll be posting reviews for both Hex Hall and One night for Love soon. I've been delaying reading Graceling for a while now, so that'll probably be the next book I read.

On another note, today was my first day at university! I've been itching to start for a while now and I can barely believe I've finally started! I'm starting the "Pre-Professional Program" for med students at my uni, its designed to sort us out into medicine, dentistry and pharmacy students. I'm aiming for med, hope I can make it!

I won't be too busy for the first couple of weeks so I plan on reviewing these books and testing the waters at school. To see if I'll have enough time to keep reading and reviewing or if I should take a break when it gets more challenging. Nothing for sure yet, hopefully it won't be too bad and I'll be able to post occasionally.

Well, that all for now :)

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn

2010-09-19T19:19:00.000+03:00

I've been reading this series for, I think three years now, on and off, not in order, with many books in between. Yeah, I know its a long time to read a seven book series (they're pretty short too) but since I only have these in e-book format I kept losing track of them. First, our computer got a nasty virus, so we had to format it..it took me ages to find it again in my inbox, then my dad updated our system from windows xp to vista..so yeah..lost 'em again..and now, I've got my macbook pro, so I gathered all the one's I hadn't finished yet in one place and decided to get through them.

Now this series is purely Historical Romance..It isn't a YA book, but I love it anyways. I've read most of Julia Quinn's books during this three year period and I've loved them all. I like the rules of society in 19th century england, it reminds me of a lot of things that have been lost over the years that were just so cute :')

Julia Quinn's historical romances are better than most because she researches them better I think. I've read quite a few supposedly "historical" novels that have the characters speech so obviously modern. I don't mean that they aren't using doth and quoth and words like that (because really who would take the time to decipher that when reading a novel for pleasure?) but the lead male character swears with fuck..I'm pretty sure the profanity used back then was more along the lines of bloody hell..also the girls kept using "like" between every few words..very annoying and obviously non-historical :( In Julia's books on the other hand, every article of clothing has its own (accurate) name, she's up to date on the politics of the time period of the novel, she knows what the government was like and what was expected of both the men and the women.

I've decided to review them as a full series and not as separate books, since they're all pretty similar and I have pretty much the same thing to say about them all.

So here they are, in chronological order:

The books are about a family of eight. Named in alphabetical order, which I thought was cute. The Bridgertons are a very close knit family and all of the books mention their other siblings so its like their stories are all continuing until you finish the last book. There weren't any noticeable anachronisms, which are usually very annoying and obvious to me. Julia Quinn is usually very accurate when writing her historical novels and these are no exception. I'd suggest ANY of her books to a historical romance novel fan, but I think the Bridgerton series was the most interesting and well written of all her books.

All their stories were unique and equally gripping, although I must say that when it comes to combining other themes with the romance, Judith McNaught is the better choice. I like her action filled historical romances, but she tends to have anachronisms and unrealistic scenes.

Thats all I've got to say really, happy reading :)

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

Yay! Award! One Lovely Blog Award!

2010-09-02T20:11:00.004+03:00

A big thank you goes out to Brooke from "Brooke's Box of Books" thanks so much for giving me this award :)

Rules:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

So, this award gets passed on to the following great blogs I've recently discovered:

1)http://brazilianbookworm.blogspot.com/

2)http://shutupimreading.blogspot.com/

3)http://maidenveil.blogspot.com/

4)http://novelobsession.blogspot.com/

5)http://onemorepage.tinamats.com/

6)http://lostinstories.blogspot.com/

7)http://underastarstuddedsky.blogspot.com/

8)http://atapestryofwords.blogspot.com/

9http://www.whatbookisthat.com/

10)http://booksaremything.blogspot.com/

11)http://mywordsateme.blogspot.com/

12)http://bookcouture.blogspot.com/

13)http://animegirlsbookshelf.blogspot.com/

14)http://thespacebard.blogspot.com/

15)http://amberinblunderland.blogspot.com/
16)http://xfillingthev0idx.blogspot.com/

Enjoy everyone! and remember to Pass it forward :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Blogger Book Hop! Aug 27-29

2010-08-27T22:55:00.002+03:00

Well, its friday again, time for another Blogger Book Hop!! yay!! I love hopping around, I'm looking forward to it especially this time because I expect a lot of people have put up their rants about Mockingjay by now. I've been reading other people's rants ever since I finished the book simply because I need to let off some steam :) Okay so here we go:

This weeks question is:

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

Well, no not really..I mean I usually add a verdict at the end to say whether or not I'd recommend and to who, but I don't actually rate books on any scale..mostly beause its hard to give a book a rating with such finality. I'd prefer to point out the good and bad points of a book and suggest it to lovers of the genre it most fits.

To blog hoppers coming over to my blog. First off, Welcome :)

To those who are only interested in my reviews, there is a label on the sidebar called "Reviews" so you can filter out all my randomness..also please note that my post on Mockingjay is full of spoilers and is not my actual review (although this was my aim while starting to write it..it somehow turned into a long rant...so if you havent read the book yet..feel free to completely ignore that post. If you have, I hope that you (like me) need to blow off some steam, go ahead and post your own rant as a comment :) or link to your own review of mockingjay.

So have fun! and don't forget to comment, I love hearing your opinions :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Mockingjay WARNING! Spoilers!

2010-08-26T21:23:00.006+03:00

So I've just finished reading Mockingjay..I don't know what to think..I'll admit that I laughed out loud, cried (very noisily, with much sniffling) and stared at nothing in particular for a full minute after finishing. I'm not entirely sure whether or not I liked it but I'm sure this is one of the best written, most gripping books I've ever read.

First off, Blurb from GoodReads.com:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

My Review:

To be honest this is more of a rant than a true review....be prepared for spoilers because, honestly this book wrecked me..I don't know what to think. I'm not sure whether or not I like it and I didn't like the epilogue..I won't be able to fully express my thoughts without making comments and references to scenes in the book. Was it engrossing? Definitely. Realistic? Probably. Satisfying? I think not.

I got the book for a full day without reading any of it because I was already reading another book (which had an amazing, light, fluffy ending) So I was sort of floating on the effects of the previous novel when I started reading Mockingjay. A couple of pages in, however, and I was jolted into the intense, on-edge world of The Hunger Games. Now, something you should know about me is that I sort of whizz through reading, I read all the words and everything, I don't skip anything but I don't focus on the wording or the point of view or anything really, its like I'm watching a movie in my head (my english teacher calls this being an inactive reader :P) so at the end of a novel I don't know exactly what a character said, I don't get any sentences that stick with me afterwards or anything like that. All I have left at the end is the overall feeling I get, it affects my mood and leaves me reliving the scenes I loved over and over again in my head...I'm still fully under the emotional effects of this book and I'm feeling slightly depressed and am feeling the need to read a nice fluffy, stress-free Julia Quinn romance novel.

Onto the actual review now.

So we start out the novel at the ruins of district 12, you can tell immediately that Katniss is in shock, she's so detached, so cold, but I thought "Well, this is only the beginning, she's bound to get better eventually." Oh, boy was I ever wrong! Throughout the entire book I'm waiting for her to get better, to get well..more Katniss-like but I'm sorely disappointed :(

A lot of district 12ers are dead, including all of Peeta's family *sniff*. The district 13 lives are very spartan, every mouthful of food is calculated, to achieve maximum health, they're OCD about everything, sparse furnishings, (reminded me of Uglies OCD-ness and reminded me of the underground lives of the rebels in The Host) I'll admit her time in the district 13 catacombs was one of my absolute favorite times of the entire novel, it was the least caustic section in the novel and had a couple of galeniss support scenes. She still has a concussion from the escape from the last games and she's disoriented and sounds a lot like Tally Youngblood from Uglies here..especially around the end, in Specials. She's turned cynical and half-demented, she has to keep reminding herself who she is, where she is and how she came to be there just to keep herself sane. It was unbearable, seeing Katniss, wonderful, brave, loveable Katniss, reduced to this shell of her former self. She starts to recuperate, very, very slowly but she seems to be returning to her old self a bit (with major scarring mind you, as would be expected) but she still manages to surprise me every so often with a long crazy monologue or a nervous breakdown.

They rescue Peeta, whose memories of Katniss have been irrevocably changed, Peeta doesn't love Katniss anymore, he isn't the same Peeta anymore. Now, even I, who is an avid Galeniss supporter love the sweet lines and revelations that come from Peeta, he's a sweet guy but I don't think Katniss deserves him. Gale seems to be her equal, they've both got issues, they're perfect for each other.

The Peeta everyone loves has died forever unfortunately..he's changed, he doesnt talk the same way, he doesnt act the same way and he just isn't the same..its as though someone else is in control of Peeta's body :(

The leader of the rebels, President Coin, isn't a very likeable person, she wants power, she seems to be a female version of President Snow, which is 100% true, as we find out in the end. It was depressing that there was no true "good guy" side but I guess it IS realistic..but to be honest I'm not a fan of the "its-good-because-its-realistic" notion...hell, the entire novel is complete and utter fiction!! Why does she feel the need to be realistic in the death and/or mental breakdown of all her characters????? Why can't they resurface relatively unscathed??? Just because its a dystopian novel doesn't rule out a reasonably happy ending (I'm not against killing off characters in general but in the end I'd like to have them in peace, living their lives, recovering from the past..a happy enough ending if you know what I mean..not perfect, just happy enough to make us feel better about all the horrors that happened) Just because its a dystopian novel doesn't mean it has to be a tragedy as well..they had the whole cruel, inflexible government, they went to war, they even WON for god's sake!!! Why can't they be happy now??

I need to list the people that died in this one..just to clear it up in my mind because, honestly all I can think is "She's gone and killed or mentally handicapped all of her characters.." half of me doesn't want to believe it..but its true, the ones she left alive were all turned into nutcases :(

So:

Cinna: *wail*..why??? whats he ever done to you Collins??!!

Peeta's family: You leave the poor boy half-insane and you have the heart to destroy his family too??

Finnick: He'd just gotten married!! *sobbing* I seriously did NOT expect this..I expected the entire team that was with Katniss to die except her, Peeta and Finnick (I thought it would be the best way to finally determine who she would be with if Gale died here since she so obviously doesn't like him that way..just put us out of our misery here won't you? plus it fits that all the victors would come out alive) Prim: well..no real objections here..she's way too wise for a little kid..the few scenes she's been in during the entire series have her giving Katniss advice and acting like a grownup..It was really deep..the way this affected Katniss..I cried during the Buttercup scene near the end..where they both sit in her house in the Victors Village and cry it out together :'(

President Coin: Woot!! Serves you right you manipulative BITCH!!!!!! I HATE YOU!!!

President Snow: Choking on his own blood...very creative to say the least..I like that we get to know a bit about him before his death..through Finnick's secrets and Snow's actual actions and dialogue..to be honest I liked that Katniss didn't kill him herself. I mean he was doing what he was raised to believe in..he wasnt the one who invented the hunger games..he was raised to be evil..President Coin, however, knew exactly what she was doing when she killed all those kids :( EVIL BITCH!!!!!!!

Also, and this one doesn't count 100% since he is technically alive at the end:

Peeta: How could you kill the boy we've all come to love?? He's unrecognizable in the end..he makes an effort and ends up with Katniss, true..but he isn't ever the same...the real or not real game freaked me out a little bit..

Moving on to the epilogue:

First I'd like to dedicate this rant to Gale, who I've been cheering on for so long only to be disappointed:

I’ve always been a Galeniss supporter..but she’s made it kind of hard NOT to hate Gale at the end of this one hasn’t she? I mean he’s gone all cold and murderous and he was never even a tribute in any of the games!! And its inexcusable how he abandons Katniss at the end there! WTF ARE YOU DOUNG IN DISTRICT 2 GALE???? THAT 10 DISTRICTS AWAY FROM THE RIGHT NUMBER!! HUH?? WHY ARENT YOU GOING TO HELP KATNISS?????????? YOU ASS!!!

(rant/)

I actually like having an epilogue in a novel, it's sort of the cherry on top, but for some reason the best authors come up with the worst epilogues! Take J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket and now Suzanne Collins. Thats not to say that all epilogues are bad, on the contrary, I've read loads of books with awesome epilogues that wrapped up the story quite nicely..I don't mean turn it into a happily-ever-after but the characters are healing..they're TRYING to go back to normal, whether or not it is possible for them to be totally normal ever again. Like I said before, I spent the entire novel waiting for Katniss to start acting like Katniss again..it never happened..the epilogue is set twenty years in the future where Katniss and Peeta have two kids...Katniss is still very dead sounding, cold, detached, and not..Katniss...she isn't living life, she's waiting for it to end. AND WHY ISN'T GALE THERE????? HE NEVER CAME BACK *sobbing quietly* he never came back for her..that just about broke my heart..

WHY did her own MOTHER abandon her as well?? She should be sticking to her only living relative like GLUE!! WHY is everybody ABANDONING Katniss???? And poor Annie in the end! She had a kid to deal with along with her insanity without a husband...its like Tonks and Lupin dying and leaving Teddy alone in the world.. :'(

I don't like epilogues set too far in the future, anything over a year away is too much for me...I can't see the character I've grown familiar with in the older version...I hated that she showed us that even twenty years in the future, they'll never ever recover :( way to kill my hopes and dreams! The thing I hated the most was that Katniss still seems..broken in the epilogue..irreparable..even after 20 years and two children, she was still cold and detached and mentally unstable..and she called her children "the girl" and "the boy" which seemed really cold and..unfeeling to me. The last line, where she says there are worse games to play really gave me chills!

I think in the end, I liked the novel (please note that the above rant was all about the ending, not the actual events of the novel), it wasn't perfect and the ending sucked majorly but I can live with it..I'll just re-invent the ending so that Finnick, Cinna, Peeta's Family, Prim, Rue and Katniss' Father are all alive and well, living in district 14, Katniss and Peeta get better, Gale comes back to 12 and they're friends again, they discover district 14 and live happily ever after with all of their loved ones!! Totally unrealistic of me, I know, but hey a girl can dream can't she?

and I can't resist putting this in:

May the odds be ever in your favor

The Know-it-all

MOCKINGJAY IS HERE!!!!

2010-08-25T03:21:00.003+03:00

Mockingjay is finally here!!!! I've got the e-book uploaded to my ipod and am having a mini-battle with myself whether to start reading it yet. I'm halfway through a book that I'm loath to put down (The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever) and I want to savor Mockingjay properly. On the other hand, My cousin, who is also a die-hard Hunger Games fan, has her copy of Mockingjay, if she finishes reading it before me there is a chance that there will be spoilers :( So..should I wait and finish my half-read book and savor Mockingjay? Or should I pick it up now and not risk getting the ending spoiled? I've extracted my cousins promise (more like she took pity on me and promised me anyways :P) not to start reading Mockingjay until tomorrow, by which time I'll have finished up my book and will be able to start Mockingjay!!!!!!!

Here's the cover (although, yes, I have posted it before) of the long awaited final installment of the Hunger Games Trilogy:

Tell me if you've got your hands on a copy of this book!

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

My Hunger Games Movie Cast

2010-08-22T02:10:00.006+03:00

I heard this week that they cast Gale for the movie version of the Hunger Games. My friend told me that the actor's name is Steve Mcqueen. Well, when I googled him, all the pics were either black and white or the blurry color photos of the 70's..I clicked on one to enlarge it and the article it was in was about his 28th death-iversary..imaginemy surprise (not) when she sheepishly admitted that she hadn't been 100% sure whether or not it was official.

So while I was surfing around looking for an actual official cast list, or really any information about the movie (which is supposedly coming out in 2011) I found out that nothing official has been announced, although loads of people have they're own cast lists. I think thats a really fun idea and I wanted to have a go at creating my own cast list, especially with the hunger games, because I have pretty well-defined images of the characters in my head. Then I saw this video casting and I totally agreed with all her choices except for Katniss, Rue and Gale.

My choices:

Katniss Everdeen:

Saoirse Ronan

Age: 16

She looks exactly like the Katniss in my head! She's been in another favorite of mine, The City of Ember. Saoirse (pronouced Seersha) is an irish actress and I absolutely love her name! I've actually read a book with a character named Saoirse in it and I loved the name, I didn't realize until today that the girl in The City of Ember was called Saoirse :P

Gale Hawthorne:

Drew Roy:

Age 23, he seems to be a popular choice and I agree, he's perfect, although just a bit shorter than I imagined..I always imagined Gale as like above 6 ft..not that it matters

Rue:

Lauryn Alisa Mcclain

Perfect face for Rue! i always imagined her as dark skinned, not latino so I couldn't agree with the choice above :P

Also choices she didn't mention:

Prim Everdeen:

Jodelle Ferland

She is tiny and fragile but still has dark hair like I imagined her..we don't really see much of prim so I doubt it matters anyways. I think she only had two scenes in the entire book, when we were introduced to the character and when she was picked for the games only to be replaced by Katniss..so yeah..

President Snow:

Patrick Stewart

He's like the best bad guy ever! I mean he is ALWAYS the bad guy and he does it sooo well. Love this guy! He's in X-men, Star Trek, Prince of Persia and soooo many more.

Effie:

Kristin Chenoweth

Her pixie like face is perfect for Effie I think :)

Tell me what you think!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Personal Update :)

2010-08-19T19:14:00.002+03:00

So yesterday was another orientation specific to med students, I got to see a couple of my friends from school, about 10 of my friends from various schools and summer courses were accepted (what can I say, its a small country :P) It was really fun! We got little folders with a vocab book with medical terminology and a little dangly thing that says "I'm a Dr." that you hang from the rearview mirror on a car (not that I have one, I'm hanging it on the wall facing my bed so I can stare at it before sleeping :P) I'm super excited!!!

We're a week into Ramadan, school starts a week after it ends so I'm anxiously awaiting that! I'm a nerd, yeah, but thats what 4 months of summer will do to you...we've been on vacation since the end of may and won't start school till the end of september :( too big of a gap.

Stanza for iphone is an app that lets you read your ebooks in various formats on you iphone or (as in my case) ipod touch. Most of the books I read are e-books simply because a) i'm not allowed to order books online and b) there is no other way to buy newly released books here other than online :( so I usually go for e-books wherever I can get them. I used to read them on my old PSP (years and years ago..ah, the memories), had a phase where I printed them out (4 pt font with 6 columns on landscape mode...teeny weeny font, but a whole novel on only 8 sheets of paper front and back!) Now I alternate between reading on my Blackberry and my ipod. I usually go for my BB because its easier, even though the font is horrific and the screen only fits four lines of text at a time because it was so time consuming just to upload books to my ipod and it was tricky trying to save your place if you took a break. With Stanza, however, its so much easier and more organized. You can adjust your viewing mode and change text size, screen brightness and background color with a tap of a fingertip! You can bookmark your favorite passages and annotate or comment, and even buy ebooks directly from the app! I just thought this app was awesome and wanted to share it with you guys :)

Also I've updated my shelfari to be read shelf because it had too many books that were unavailable in ebook format and are nigh on impossible for me to get in the foreseeable future :( oh, well.

On another completely unrelated note, I've been experimenting with skincare products this week, having a lot of fun :) I've always thought that I have oily skin but it turns out I have combination! Now that I know what type I am, its alot easier to get proper products and I've been getting clearer skin! Being as over-excitable as I am, I've overdone the scrubbing and soaps and now have (for the first time in my life, may I add) three dry spots on my face! But I've managed to get excited about that as well :P it beats having pimples!

Well thats all thats going on with me! Hope you guys have a great week end!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

2010-08-19T16:55:00.006+03:00

I've been wanting to read this book for ages but I never got around to it until now and it did not dissapoint! I loved this book, and I know I would definitely re-read it. Its earned a place in my favorites :) here's a pic of the cover:

Blurb from GoodReads.com:

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

My Review:

Oh, my, god. This book was AMAZING. I really, really loved it. It did have a lot coincidental similarities with Twilight, but I think they were just that: coincidental, not intentional.

I loved the characters, Patch was HOT and mysterious and develops throughout the story, we get to know him really slowly and we don't know whether he's really a good guy or a bad guy until the end. He reminded me of a mixture of: Edward Cullen (mysterious, with superpowers) Fang (image of black clad winged teenager), Peeves (yeah, :P impish trickster), Rob Wilkinson from 1-800-WHERE-ARE-YOU (motorcycle, leather jacket wearing hottie) and lastly himself, he gives his own unique twist to the cliched role of non-human-hero.

Nora starts out hating Patch, but they grow closer very naturally, it didn't feel like she was crazily attracted to a bad guy who had the ability to kill her (*hint hint* Bella) No, Nora knew he was trouble and tried to avoid him in the beginning. She wasn't a perfect character, she had flaws and she acted like a normal person would. I didn't always like her, because she doubted herself a bit too much but she was okay over all.

I loved the plot, it was original and unique (it wasn't another book about vampires) and I was really pulled into the story. The first chapter or so sounded a bit forced but the rest of the book flowed nicely. It was surprising and a wonderful read in general. When I got to the end of the book I blinked and flipped the page, wishing there was more.

It did have quite a few similarities with Twilight, now I'm not sure which one came out first but it was still weirdly similar. Here's what I noticed (highlight to read, a little spoiler-ey): They were biology lab partners, there's a baseball scene, he reads minds. Also there was a point where it seemed like Vee, her best friend had turned on her. I don't consciously read a book, its more like I'm watching a movie in my head. So when I read too fast, I get mixed up which is why, at one point I honestly thought that Vee was the bad guy, until they used the word "he" to describe what the guy was doing. Then I went "huh?" and re-read :P

The Verdict:

I'd give this book 5 stars, its on my favorites and I would reread it. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel (Crescendo, coming out october 14 2010) and I'm wishing for my very own Patch. Suffice it to say, I love this book :) I'd suggest it to anyone who likes romance or fantasy or action or drama because it has all that and more. There's another book which is supposed to be similar to this one called Fallen, they seem to be competing for the new Twilight of 2010 :P I'll probably check that out soon, for now I'm moving on to Graceling.

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Waiting On Wednesday

2010-08-18T14:35:00.004+03:00

So for this week's waiting on wednesday I'm choosing:

Drumroll please...

Crescendo!

This is the sequel to Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick which I've only just finished reading but I'm already waiting for the next one. It was such an awesome book and I can't wait to see what happens to Patch and Nora in the next one :) It comes out on october 14 2010 and I am counting down the days eagerly!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

BookSneeze?

2010-08-16T15:16:00.002+03:00

While I was hopping away last friday I saw a little bumper sticker thing in the sidebar of one of the blogs I visited, it looked pretty cool so I clicked. It turned out to be about this website for book bloggers where they give you free books just so you'll review them! I think this is really cool, not sure exactly how it works yet but I'm interested. Lol, I havent done that many reviews yet so I think I'll wait till I have a little collection of book reviews to call my own before signing up. I'm starting "Graceling" which is supposed to be a really great novel. Its part of a series as I understand it but I'm not sure how many books are in the series. Seems like just the kind of book I'd love! I'm pretty optimistic about my review of this one! Posting Hush, Hush review tomorrow, hopefully so look out for that :)

Also, I added a little countdown (at the bottom of the page) for the release of Mockingjay thanks to the lovely Len of Musings of a Reader Happy so thanks! :)

August is passing by so quickly don;t you think? I mean it seems like it only just started! Only 7 days left till Mockingjay is out! Can't wait!

Waiting On Wednesday

2010-08-13T23:16:00.003+03:00

I realize that it isn't wednesday but I'm posting this anyways because I liked the idea! So this is a weekly event at breaking the spine where you post the book you are most eagerly waiting to read and mine would have to be "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins which is set to come out later this month. I've been waiting for this, the third installment of the Hunger Games trilogy since february..so stoked for it to finally come out!! It's set for august 24th, one of the many things I'm looking forward to at the end of the month :D

Here's a pic of the cover:

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Blogger Book Hop!

2010-08-13T21:00:00.002+03:00

Hey everyone! So I found out about this really cool weekly thing they do on crazy-for-books.com called the blogger book hop! There's this huge list of book review blogs to browse and its super cool! So every week you answer the Book Hop question. This week its:

How many books do you have on your 'to be read shelf’?

I actually have a to-be-read shelf on shelfari, you can see the first page of it on the side bar. There are exactly 53 books on my plan-to-read shelf at the moment, which is a ridiculously small amount I know, but I try to be realistic since I can rarely find these books where I am..plus once i find the book it doesn't stay on my TBR shelf for long ;P

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Ramadans here!

2010-08-13T20:32:00.002+03:00

Hey everyone!

So the holy month of Ramadan is here and I'm fasting...feels really weird with my retainer in..very very icky feeling.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, I love Ramadan..its kinda fun to be doing something with the entire country :) also its really fun for two main reasons: A) the food is always way better (and who would complain about awesome food for a month?) and B) I feel really really proud of myself all month long because I tend to slim down a bit..if I don't splurge on the pasta :P

Other than that..yeah just another month of boring summer I have to endure before starting university (I've gotten my schedule and the first day is officially 19th of september, can't wait!!) Five subjects first semester and four subs for second. I'm secretly really happy that I'm gonna be the youngest one there (still 16..), I should be used to it by now but I really enjoy the moment I tell someone new about it..yeah..I'm snobby/selfish/narcissistic sometimes..I figure I've earned it since my mom and I went through hell and back moving from school to school. Plus I still managed a 4.0 so I don't dwell on the mean-ness of it. Its kinda fun when people think of me as the child genius (exaggeration) makes up for the years of hell being a new student.

I digress..

So I'm attempting to make pies for dessert during ramadan but I've discovered that nobody in my family like pie 0_0 yeah..shocked me. I made three pies (in retrospect I'm guessing that was a bit much for a family of six) and it was just me and my dad who were eating any of them..apple pie (a la mode mmmm..), pumpkin (which I hated), and apple peach pie (basically tastes the same as plain apple) but most of it ended up in the trash in the end...oh, well.

So the 7 days competition came to a grinding halt about five days after it started..I read the first three potter books on schedule but when it was time to crack open Goblet of Fire I just couldn't...too much reading too little time..plus the actual people who started the competition seemed to drop off the face of the earth..absolutely no tweets after the sixth day and no one seems to have started Order of the Phoenix..I guess it wasnt meant to be..It was taking up way too much of my time and I have a huge to-be-read book list on which i haven't been making much progress...going to get started on that ASAP :)

Hope you all enjoy this last month of summer as much as I plan to!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Heroes and other Summer Activities

2010-08-09T13:17:00.000+03:00

Hey guys! I've spent the last three or four days watching the show Heroes like a maniac..finished seasons one and two now..just waiting for season three to finish downloading so that I can continue my Heroes marathon. Its such an awesome show don't you think? I had never heard of half of the actors and actresses in it but they're all amazing! I'm really into shows like House and CSI and Numbers..where there's some sort of mystery that they figure out at the end of each episode but Heroes mashes them all together and adds super powers to the mix! Plus there's a background story going on and it takes them longer to figure out each mystery. The Ultimate show in my opinion, especially with Peter Petrelli in it (Milo Ventimiglia) he is HOT! Some character just make the show, you know, I think the main characters that do that here are Claire Bennet (Hayden Pantierre) and Peter Petrelli. He's her uncle in the show but apparently they dated for two years in real life..not sure whether thats kinda weird or not especially since he's about 10 years older than her..Gonna keep watching..I heard the show got cancelled but its halfway through season four right now so I still have alot of episodes to look forward to.

Also about the HP 7 days challenge..I kinda put that on hold. I finished the first three books on time but then I just could not pick up the fourth one..I would never have thought this possible, but it does get pretty boring reading non-stop..

Anyways, i have started reading Hush, Hush which seems pretty cool so far..gonna review that soon. Going to get my Uni schedule on wednesday, which is coincidentally the first day of Ramadan, kinda looking forward to losing weight from that, esp. just before starting school. Great timing I think :)

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

University Orientation!

2010-08-03T00:31:00.003+03:00

Today was my first day at university (not including going to fill out the application) in which I actually went there and got a brief little introduction the the school rules and the basics and stuff. I am still super excited and getting a kind of tomorrow's-the-first-day-of-school feeling already, even though I've got nearly two full months before I have to start. They gave us little "new student" kits with booklets and mugs and pens with the uni's logo on them, there's even a little bumper sticker (bummer, I can't drive for another year and a half). After the general intro lecture they separated us into groups in different halls depending on major. We got to talk about everything, the girls in 4th to 6th years med were there to explain, there was even one who had just graduated! Excited!!! Going there again this week and next, first for a face to face orientation-ey thing, also for questions and for helping me organize my schedule, then again next week to finalize everything and get my schedule with all the details and a full tour of the campus. So, yeah! I'm really supremely excited about everything and I'm wishing (for the first time I can remember) that summer would finish already!! I wanna get started!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

News

2010-07-31T14:37:00.005+03:00

Okay, so the other day I went to my orthodontist to check about the retainer thing and he said I didnt need to force the old one in, so he made me a new one that'll move my front teethback and hurt alot less :P so I've been wearing that for a week now :)

Also, I still haven't gotten around to reading Hush, Hush yet (I'm planning to read it next), although I did read "Daughter of egypt" a romance set in rome/egypt/atlantis in the time of Cleopatra.It was nice enough I suppose but I don't like books set that far back in time..the farthest I'd go is about 1400's..no farther than that. The story is nice in its variety, I like how it isn't focused on the romance, Its got a lot of action and drama too..still my fave combination is comedy and romance for light reading so this isn't one of my favorites..

Anyways, moving on to what I've been doing :) So I had a post a couple of days ago about the art course I'm taking, I've advanced, moving through the sketches and shading all the way to oil painting. I just finished my first painting and I wanted to share! So here's a pic of my painting, It's really tiny, for a painting, about the size of a postcard, a little bigger maybe but still smaller than an a4 paper.

I just realized the camera flipped it, the apple is actually on the left. Oh, well :)

On another note, I got some very good news yesterday! After waiting, in suspense, for a whole month I have finally gotten word back from the university I applied to! I got into med school!!!!! I'm so happy! School doesn't start till the end of september so I've got another two months of summer to fill up :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Harry Potter: 7 Books 7 Days Challenge

2010-07-30T00:47:00.000+03:00

I am a serious HP fangirl, I've been reading and re-reading the series since I was seven and I've read all of the other books J.K.Rowling wrote, but I haven't read anything HP related since Deathly Hallows came out, I read it the day I got it, then re-read a couple of months later, but I haven't re-read the first five books since I was about 10, so when I heard about the 7 books 7 days challenge I immediately joined in! The idea is pretty obvious from the title I think, there are seven books in HP and you have seven days to finish reading them, you can do one a day or you can finish the first three books quickly and leave more time for the longer ones. It starts at 12 midnight on august first, wish you all luck if you decide to join in!

Photoshopping

2010-07-25T14:10:00.003+03:00

My latest project is painting on photoshop, I saw this tutorial where this girl makes a "fantasy woman" completely from scratch on photoshop and she turns out looking gorgeous and (in my opinion) pretty realistic and 3d looking and oh-so-cool! She was using a tablet (which, alas, I don't have) but I wanted to try it out on my own anyways. I found a rough sketch of a womans face online and started working with that, using my laptop's trackpad and my finger in place of the tablet. I started with it on friday night and have been working on it on and off since then..not 100% done yet, just needs a few finishing touches I think, I stuck with the basic shape of the sketch but changed a few details to put my own unique touch to it.

Here's the original sketch (not mine, I found it on google) and the painting i did based on it :)

I think it looks pretty darned good for a first try, especially since I was kind of improvising my method since I dont have the same equipment. I added a base for the hand at the bottom but I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep going with that..Then I'd have to make a shirt or something and I think that'd cover up my hard work shading the shoulders (yes they still have alot to go till they look good but I'm working on that) Also a couple of people I showed this to said that her chin was a bit off, dunno how to fix that exactly but I'm gonna get to it :)

Tell me what you think of it :) what were your first impressions?

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Whoot!

2010-07-22T15:19:00.004+03:00

I'm super excited this week because I start my new painting and drawing summer course! It's really cool! You go in for 3 hours a session and learn how to draw professionally :D I've already gone to the first session, which was really fun, a bit backbreaking though, since I tend to crouch over the drawing pad :P Here's a couple of drawing I did that session:

I'm a long way from Picasso but I'm so proud that they're all identical to the actual pictures the teach made us copy. We had to measure the pictures we were copying with the end of the pencil :P very time consuming but the end effect is pretty cool! I know the pics aren't that clear, the teacher wouldn't let us use a lot of pressure (AKA barely any)..so these look nearly that faint in real life too, it's also partly because I took the pics with my webcam, which makes them seem even fainter than they actually are.

On another note, I finished reading the last book of The Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy which was pretty nice! The ending was a bit too short but still very cute. To be perfectly honest the main characters in this book, Darcy and Trevor, were the least likeable of the Gallagher gang..but thats a good thing I think, since it makes them seem more real and less Mary-Sue-ish. The characters with the least personality and the most perfection were Aidan and Jude, the first novel...I don't like perfect characters, and these had barely any problems that anyone can relate to (there were some, but most of the time..not). My absolute favorite set were Shawn and Brenna (book 2), they were just so CUTE! And they actually behave and talk like real people and they were still very likeable.

Anyways, I'm starting Hush, Hush now..which is supposed to be a very good book, I really hope it is..I don't always like this type of book..since it has to do with angels and probably mentions death somewhere in the novel...well I'll start tonight and we'll see if its good :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

2010-07-17T21:50:00.002+03:00

I started reading this trilogy by Nora Roberts a while ago. Finished the absolutely wonderful first two books and now nearly through with the third. I came looking for a nice piece of historical fiction, action and romance are my favorite combination, lots of knights and sword fights and so on and so forth. I got the books on a friends recommendation but I didn't know that they were actually set in modern day. I started reading anyways and discovered that there was a hint of fantasy in them as well, with faeries and curses and charms, another favorite of mine! Here's my joined review of the series.

Blurbs:

Book 1: Jewels of the Sun:

GoodReads.com:

With her life in turmoil after a failed marriage and growing disappointment over her career, Jude Murray sets off on a journey to Ireland. To her grandmother's cottage on a faerie hill in Ardmore. There she hopes she will be able to find herself again.

But the mystic charm of Ardmore grows on Jude - as does the handsome and kind pub owner, Aidan Gallagher. She soon finds herself caught up in the charm and fantasy of the land and people around her, challenging her beliefs and all that she thought she wanted out of life

Book 2: Tears of the Moon:

Shelfari.com

A talented songwriter, Shawn Gallagher spends his days lost in reverie and wonder, oblivious to the wiles of women and the ways of the world. He claims that he's content with his life, but his music tells a different story--one of loneliness and desperate longing...

No one understands why Shawn doesn't put his musical gift to profitable use--least of all Brenna O'Toole, a fiercely independent tomboy who has been secretly in love with him for years. But it is only when Shawn gives in to the mysteries of magic that he gets the chance to fulfill his destiny as a man and a musician--as the song in his head keeps time with the beating of a woman's heart...

Book 3: Heart of the Sea:

Shelfari:com

Darcy Gallagher has always believed in the pull of fate, the magic of legend ... and the importance of money. She longs to find a rich man who will sweep her away--into a world filled with glamour and adventure, and the exotic life that is her destiny...

A wealthy businessman with Irish blood, Trevor Magee has come to Ardmore to build a theater--and uncover the secrets hidden in his family's past. He thought he had given up on love long ago, but Darcy Gallagher tempts him like no woman ever has. She's gorgeous, intelligent, and she knows what she wants--and he's more than willing to give i1 to her. But as their mutual attraction flares into passion, they look into their hearts-and find out what happens when you truly believe...

My Review of the Series:

The books are set in modern day Ireland, in a charming village by the sea called Ardmore. The books follow the three Gallagher siblings' stories, as they gain wisdom and fall in love... fulfilling the requirements to break a curse the prince of faeries cast upon himself and his love. Wonderfully sprinkled with little tid-bits of gaelic and historical monuments in Ireland. Very cute series :) I loved how we got to hear from both sides of the story and how the entire family changed in the end, they all became better people together and it was oh so sweet reading about how they got together..I liked it :D better than I thought I would, since I don't like modern much..but it had faeries and magic in it as well so that made it all better! I do wish that for once, the ending wasn't so predictable! I once read a historical romance called "Whitney, my love" which is one of my absolute favorites, the main character has about five suitors who she all seems to like equally, you dont find out who she'll be with at the end until the end! These books, as with most romance books, have a dusty predictability about them which I don't like :( Oh, well, onto some other, more interesting novel!

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Operation Get my Retainer to fit again!

2010-07-17T11:07:00.002+03:00

I took off my braces a couple of years ago and got a retainer..which I wore for about a week and promptly discarded because it made me talk weird and drooly and gross. its been about two years since I dumped it in a drawer somewhere and forgot about it..now my friend is getting braces and was asking for advice, when she should get them, whether they hurt, etc. and was surprised when I spoke up, because she couldn't tell that I'd had braces. :( as in my teeth had obvious spaces and my front teeth were obviously trying to fly away.

My teeth have moved a bit, not that much, and they're no where near as bad as they looked before..but it got me thinking, I've got a whole summer ahead, and lots of alone time stuck at home, so why not try to make my retainer a habit again? It hasn't fit for most of the time it's been lost, so I googled "how to make my retainer fit again" and discovered that it is, in fact, possible, if you don't mind the pain, which I don't really mind, teeth-wise. As long as I can force the thing in, it'll start to do it's job. But my front teeth have moved forward a bit, it fits in the back but the two front teeth are too far forward, I can sort of fit the wire over them and move it back, so there's pressure. I'm planning a step-by-step moulding of my teeth, first, I'll keep trying to push the front teeth back, then see if it actually fits when they're close enough, even tightly, and then continue wearing it in 30 minute intervals until my teeth move back...I just hope this works!

Fluffernutter!!

2010-07-16T00:03:00.003+03:00

Today I had my very first fluffernutter sandwich. I'd never heard of this thing until sometime last year, when I read about it in a Taylor Swift tweet and googled it ( :P yeah, I know how random that is, but seriously I'd never heard of it before that) I discovered the existence of marshmallow fluff on the same day..no I am not living in a cave somewhere, I'm just surrounded by people who have no culinary curiosity. I have a bit too much, I think, not many other people would attempt the combination of vanilla ice-cream and ketchup after reading that it was a characters favorite food (what can I say, I was a handful as a 7 year old, also the taste wasn't really that bad, it was pretty nice, but I preferred the ice-cream solo in the end )

This culinary curiosity, as I like to call it has developed a bit since then..now I try to make everything (and I do mean everything) from scratch just for the heck of it. I like being able to say that I've made marshmallows from scratch, and white bread, and mayonnaise, and indian naan, and those tasty cheese crisps, and pasta (as in the dough, rolled out and sliced into strips)...and hard candy lollipops (which turned out surprisingly good, strawberry flavor) It's sort of an extension of my baking hobby, a random-rarely-home-made-food-product-making hobby :D

Here's a pic of my fluffernutter sandwich :) and yes it was delicious

Freeze Tag by Caroline B. Cooney

2010-07-15T13:57:00.006+03:00

This is a bit of a short novel, one I wouldn't normally give a second glance, the only reason I picked this book up is the author. I have a trilogy by Caroline B. Cooney called "Losing Christina" which is a really awesome creepy trilogy with psycho sadist arsonist and a very cool heroine who manages to defeat them without any help or support. I loved this series enough that I've re-read it a couple of times so when I saw her name on the cover I bought it without a second thought.

Blurb from Goodreads.com:

When Meghan and West first played Freeze Tag with Lannie, it was no ordinary game. Because when Lannie tagged someone, they really froze. Icy blue and cold. Like death.Now Meghan, West, and Lannie are in high school, and Meghan and West are in love. They're the perfect couple. But Lannie is determined to have West for her very own... and if she doesn't get her way, she'll freeze Meghan... to death.

The Summary:

I'm not usually into creepy books, I can never sleep at night when I finish an especially creepy book, but I really like Caroline B. Cooney's books for some reason, even though all four that I've read so far have been creepy and about victimized children (which should make it worse but for some reason it doesn't). In this book Lannie is (or seems to me to be) a sort of cursed witchy immortal with freezing powers. The main character Meghan is a bit too wussy but I think that might be because she's been scared of Lannie since she was a kid, she doesn't do anything to defend herself and depends on others to deal with Lannie. Lannie forces West to leave Meghan and date her, threatening to freeze his younger sister Tuesday, West agrees just to placate her and continues seeing Meghan without telling her...but she knows and catches them together. So the story continues with them trying to resist her and her always knowing when they don't follow her commands...see creepy. Anyways, I discovered that this book is different than the ones I like in a different way...since this book is aimed at a slightly younger age group (I'm guessing from the way it's written, pre-teen maybe) and still has the moral-at-the-end-of-the-story thing going on...which was weird and made for a ending that was, well, not happy exactly..It wasn't a sad ending, It just wasn't the HEA I was expecting from a pre-teen book..it was more of a coming-of-age maturity book in the end, although it was harder to notice during the book.

The Verdict:

I don't like creepy books, but as a creepy book (and I mean creepy, because this isn't nearly enough to be considered horror) it drew me in enough that I wanted to finish. I did not like the ending, I generally don't like books where the entire book was just for the hero/heroine to learn a lesson and nothing good happens at the end. In conclusion, if you want a slightly creepy book to try out, this is fine, but its just too childish for anything else. Losing Christina trilogy was way better.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Blog with an Identity Crisis

2010-07-14T23:30:00.002+03:00

So I've been looking through my posts and I realized that my blog doesn't really have a single theme that I stick to, I basically just blurt out whatever has been going on in my head recently. The main things I blog about are my interests and random things that might happen to me that I think are blog-worthy (These might be totally worthless and boring to some but its whats going on in my head)

I'm not going to stick to one thing because I'm not overly obsessed with only one thing of my life all of my hobbies are a part of my life and I don't know that if I chose one to blog about, I'd be able to keep the rest from flowing into my writing (AKA I don't know if i could help it if I wanted to write about something else)

So just to clarify: I'll be posting stuff about my hobbies mostly either books I've read that I want to review, or something I've written that I really like, or (and these will probably be much rarer than the others) recipes for random dishes I try to make, and lastly crochet or arts and crafts related posts.

In conclusion, I hope my random-ness isn't that annoying :P I know I can go in a dozen directions at once.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Corn Dogs!

2010-07-14T00:51:00.006+03:00

Mmm...Hotdogs, covered in a yummy, sweet cornflour batter and fried to perfection. I was introduced to my first corn dog pretty recently and both my sister and I love them. So today I decided to look for a recipe and try making them at home...It was a total mess! The batter was too low in the bowl so we had to use a spoon to cover the corn dogs properly. Then when I tried to fry them the batter would pool to the bottom of the hot dog and leave the top nearly empty! The taste was perfect though!

Here's a picture of one of the more held-together ones:

It took less than half an hour to make and used so few ingredients that I think, with a bit more practice, It'll be a favorite at home :)

Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested:

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 egg

• 1 cup milk

• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

• 2 (16 ounce) packages beef frankfurters

• 16 wooden skewers

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk.

2. Preheat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Insert wooden skewers into frankfurters. Roll frankfurters in batter until well coated.

3. Fry 2 or 3 corn dogs at a time until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

I'd advise using mini hotdogs, they'll be easier to coat as well as fry, My frying pan could only hold two dogs at a time and even then it was pretty hard to flip them. Also, and I'm not sure if this would work, but you could fry the coated dogs before adding the skewer, because my skewers were being fried along with the corn dogs and turned black and oily :( Oh well, experience for next time i suppose.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel

2010-07-13T01:50:00.004+03:00

My cousin recently came back from vacationing in malaysia and brought back the latest Maximum Ride novel with her. She introduced me to the series about flying mutant kids a few years back and we're both hooked. I'm usually not into the sci-fi, aliens, mad-scientist books but this one was way more than that, the author combined a lot of different themes into one series. The main focus is action, which is okay with me, but it also has humor, drama, and a bit of romance thrown in towards the end.

Quick Summary of the Series:

The main character is Maximum, or Max, who is a winged teenager who is always on the run from evil scientists trying to trap and experiment on her and her flock. There's Fang, who's her "right-hand man", Iggy who is the cook (also blind which is good since that makes his reflexes better than the rest of the flock), Nudge the 11 year old fashion crazed pre-teen, Gazzy "The Gasman" who is the demolitions expert, and last but not least Angel, the baby of the flock at 6 years old, she reads minds, sends telepathic messages, can use mind control, breathe underwater and talk to fish. It seems that with every book that comes out Angel acquires a new super-talent.

Blurb from Goodreads.com:

Being a kid with wings--constantly on the run--has never been easy, and Max and her flock are getting tenser than ever. First, on a trip to Africa, they meet a mysterious billionaire whose intense scrutiny of the Flock makes her fear the worst. And as if an impending apocalypse weren't bad enough, canny birdkid Angel makes a dire prophecy about Max's soul mate: Fang will be the first to die. Max's desperate desire to protect Fang brings the two closer than ever. But can the team weather the storm, or will the turmoil rip them apart for the last time?

This Book:

This book was mostly about, you guessed it! Fang! The taciturn teenager who has a love-connection with Max starts off the book as his usual self. But when Angel predicts that he will be the first to die out of the flock and that his death will be soon he starts to spend more and more time with Max, making the rest of the flock resent the new situation. Tempers heat up and quite a few changes take place for the flock to adjust to. If you leave out the ending, I think this one is the best maximum ride books out yet. The writing style, which I have never been fond of, has slightly improved in Fang...no glaringly obvious weird sentences that can take the fun out of reading the book like *some* of his other books have. I wont spoil anything for anyone, but I will say that if you're willing to wait for "Angel" to come out, it'd be less of a cliff-hanger for you to read both at once. Of course I don't know if the ending to Angel will be an even bigger cliff-hanger...

The Verdict:

It wasn't my favorite of the series but I liked it all the same. Easy to read, flows nicely, quite a few scenes for all you Fax supporters, the book is kind of focused on how their relationship makes Max a worse leader. Pretty loud hints that a love triangle is coming soon, not really looking forward to sludging through that in the next book.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Shelfari!

2010-07-12T21:44:00.005+03:00

Okay, so for all you book fanatics out there, this website is one of my absolute favorite websites ever. Its called shelfari and it helps you organize your books and keep track of things.You can add tags to books you want to read, have read, and tag which ones you actually own. You can also add comments to each book and rate it on a scale of 1-5 stars. I don't know about you guys but usually when I shop for books i buy 'em in BULK, like 10-15 books at a time.

Then I make a huge mess of my nightstand, like so:

Needless to say it takes ages to find a particular book after I've set it down, let alone find my place (my bookmarks, of which there are few, usually fall out, or i forget to put them in to begin with) which brings us to the usefulness of shelfari!

The comments are for you and your shelfari friends to peruse so I just add the page i got to as a note, just in case i lose track of where i am. The website also helps me pick out books to read, since I can't seem to find a place that suggests good books anywhere. I just look at the most popular young adult books or the top rated ones and pick out the ones I think sound nice (They have the summary of each book on a separate page, as well as a page for the author with a list of all the books he/she has written) Everything is in one place!

You can check out my profile here and the list of top teen books here.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

No, I am not Dead.

2010-07-12T03:01:00.004+03:00

Hey, everyone! I've decided to revive my blog, I know its been ages, over a year in fact, but I'm back. It's been a busy year, I graduated from high school last may, and was so busy applying to universities and spending as much time as i could with friends who were moving away. The good news is that I'm quite behind on my reading so loads of books to read and blog about :P I'll also be posting loads of random stuff I think are worth spreading around :)

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

I'm still alive

2009-08-10T16:28:00.004+03:00

I know I havent posted in a loooooong time. I've just been busy with school and whatnot. I'm going to be a senior soon and I've had loads of work to do! whew I have barely had time to breathe this summer let alone time to sit around on the computer. In general I'm not a very active person, most of my favorite activities involve sitting around, but I've been forced to change all that this summer. My mom enrolled me into 5 summer-camp-like things and a part-time job so for the past two months i've been running non-stop.

For the past month and a half I've been working at the local scientific research centre as an assistant sort of thing. Its almost like school, theres a bunch of us high-schoolers going there and we spend our lunch whining and talking and gossiping about the proffessors there. Most of the time though, we're running around the lab trying to get everything up to par for the guy in charge of us.

I'm also doing a Crocheting course, its nice to learn new things. So mornings i'm at the research centre and afternoons I'm at the crochet course and nights I'm reading or baking or something..usually i fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow...I don't know exactly when I'll be able to blog steadily but I hope its sometime soon!

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

My hatred of the twilight series

2008-10-24T22:53:00.001+03:00

Although most teenage girls are huge fans of Stephanie Meyer's book I can't stand them. The only one I found passably entertaining was The Host, which everyone else hated. I don't know who is the weird one, me or all the other girls. I mean romances are all well and good but her book is...ugh!! Bella, the main charater is soooo shallow. The plot is Stupid. The characters are indesisive, I mean Ed you either stay or leave, which is it gonna be?? At least in The host the book has an underlying plot, whereas in Twilight the only thing that underlies the story is how much Bella and Edward want to get into bed with each other. I mean for god's sake she MARRIED him just to sleep with him!!!!!!! Is that stupid or what?? As of this moment I am publically proclaiming my extreme hatred for The Twilight Series and Bella.

I plan on posting an elaborate list of reasons the twilight series is inferior to all others..thats how annoying this subject is to me.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

My class ring

2008-10-18T12:18:00.001+03:00

Okay, so the other day at school, they pulled us out of our classes and into the auditorium. Surprise Surprise, we're getting our class rings in advance. The school picked out this (apparently, since i have no expertise in this matter I asked my classmates) awful, overpriced, shitty company to do our rings. So the girls took matters into their own hands and ordered from this other company (much better than afore-mentioned shitty company) By the name of Jostens, So I am now ordering my ring online ( a new experience since my parents don't trust monetary transfers online) instead of through the school as originally planned, their rings turned out to be way better than the ones the school was offering so I got the website off of one of the other girls. By the way if anyone wants to see the website is Jostens.com, their creativity shines through doesn't it?

A Treatise on Magic and the Occult

2008-10-14T21:36:00.001+03:00

Here's the "Treatise" I promised..I know that my writing can sometimes be positively boring but I'm hoping that this is an exception:

Magic, the paranormal, that which cannot be explained. During the 90's interest in magic and the occult flourished. While it had been viewed as a sadistic and harmful interest previously, it now became the most popular hobby to have. This sudden change in society’s view of magic is, in my opinion, due to a great number of factors which appeared at the time.

Books and other written materials were one of the greatest factors to affect the idea of magic. This was when J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series came out and when the T.V. show “Sabrina the teenage witch” became very popular. The publishing of the Harry Potter series and other magic related books increased interest in magic and wizardry. In my opinion this was the pivotal point in time after which interest in magic became more acceptable in society.

People interested in magic began forming groups or cults and when no one objected they kept growing in numbers and strength. Today, more and more magic practicing cults are around and still very few people notice or care whereas in the pre-90’s a single event would have been all over the news. Nowadays it is common knowledge that groups of self-proclaimed witches, ghost-whisperers and fortune tellers are around, taking advantage of those who actually believe them for charging for “services rendered.”

Since magic was first introduced over a thousand years ago, all religious organizations were very opposed to it. In all religions, the Christian church, the Muslim mosque, or the Jewish synagogue would be the place in which the most resistance towards magic could be found. This is because in most religions magic, both in practice or knowledge of it, is seen as a sin and while that fact remains unchanged, less people care – they are interested in it anyways.If you look backa couple of hundred years ago and compare the way they found and treated people interested in magic to the way they are treated today you would see a very big difference. One of the most famous incidents involving magic in the old days is the Salem Witch Trials. A lot of people they charged were just mistrusted or suspected and yet they were convicted and killed nonetheless. Nowadays people who practice magic are everywhere and are usually quite public about their abnormal activities and yet, while sme may think that they are weird and avoid them, no real action is taken.

Magic is something that is becoming more and more acceptable in society and while it is not considered a very good thing it is considered a very small, if at all existent, threat. |Magic is a curious thing, it is the embodiment of one of the biggest temptations of mankind, the ability to control the uncontrollable, effortless influence. If you think about it, magic takes advantage of mankind’s Achilles heel, our greatest weakness: the thirst for power.

I know i tend to drone on a bit..hope it wasn't too bad though. I get so absorbed in the subject, especially when i get to choose, I get all excited and don't notice when it starts to all blur together.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Picture Day

2008-10-13T19:37:00.001+03:00

Picture Day is tomorrow at my school..wish me luck will you? I absoloutely hate picture days, I am one of those people whose picture always looks horrible, every single year. Since the first grade I have to have at least one thing wrong with my photo..ugh. The School is forcing all the girls to do the PSAT on the day after picture day which just makes tomorrow suck even more. I am still working on the girls school thing I am also planning on posting my english essay entitled "A Treatise on Magic and the occult" Its pretty interesting..more later

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

The Mother

2008-10-06T20:14:00.001+03:00

My mom can sometimes be unexpectedly evil.

Of course when I try to get sombody to believe me about it they go "Oh yeah right, I bet MY parents are way worse than your sweet little mother!!"
Well anyways the latest torture she has organized for me is not being allowed to use the computer or the internet. Today though the internet is on and the house is free of my mother so I'm taking advantage of this chance to tell you all of the latest addition to my site. My friend is going to join me as the author of the blog, at least till I get computer priviledges again. So I'm still gonna be posting stuff, but in the voice of my friend so, that is coming soon, just to let everyone know that I'm not abandoning my blog, at least not completely. I have also decided to start writing a sort of treatise of behavior in girls-only private schools. It is proving to be interesting enough, I hope you all will like it. Thats all for now.. more soon..hopefully.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Big Boned

2008-09-19T12:25:00.003+03:00

I just finished reading Big Boned. I usually love any of Meg Cabot's creations and I was pretty much expecting the same from Big Boned. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. I mean it's a great book and all but there were too many flaws in the story.

Blurb from Goodreads.com:

Life is reasonably rosy for plus-size ex-pop star turned Assistant Dormitory Director and sometime sleuth Heather Wells. Her freeloading ex-con dad is finally moving out. She still yearns for her hot landlord, Cooper Cartwright, but her relationship with "rebound beau," vigorous vegan math professor Tad Tocco, is more than satisfactory. Best of all, nobody has died lately in "Death Dorm," the aptly nicknamed student residence that Heather assistant-directs. Of course every silver lining ultimately has some black cloud attached. And when the latest murdered corpse to clutter up her jurisdiction turns out to be her exceedingly unlovable boss, Heather finds herself on the shortlist of prime suspects, along with the rabble-rousing boyfriend of her high-strung student assistant and an indecently handsome young campus minister who's been accused of taking liberties with certain girls' choir members.
With fame beckoning her back into show business (as the star of a new kids' show!) it's a really bad time to get wrapped up in another homicide. Plus Tad's been working himself up to ask her a Big Question, which Heather's not sure she has an answer for . . .
Quick Summary of the Series:
Heather Wells, former teen pop sensation has changed a lot since her fall from fame. Her mom and her agent ran away together, stealing all of her money and leaving her to fend for herself. She moves in with her ex-boyfriends hottie brother Cooper Cartwright, gets a job as an assistant resident hall director at Fischer Hall of New York College. Fischer Hall is known to most of the students as "Death Dorm" because of the number of murders and mysterious deaths that happen there, and Heather is the one who solves them, usually making a mess of things at one point and requiring the aid of knight-in-shining-armor Cooper. Very funny series, worth every minute, a few gory scenes describing the murder victims, but not too gruesome.

The Summary:

The heroine of the book, Heather Wells, former teen pop star who now works as assistant residence hall director at Fischer Hall of New york College a.k.a Death Dorm. When Heather's stick-in-the-mud boss Owen Veatch is shot in the head while at work Heather can't help but try to find out who did it. The book is great but only to a certain point. The book ended too soon and quite abruptly, the ending reeked of being rushed as a result of a speedily approaching deadline. The ending came before it should have, you know? I mean there were dozens of unresolved issues hanging around. I sincerely hope that she's planning a fourth book (edit: she isn't ): )to clear up all those loose ends because the series is way too good to end now and so inadequately.

The Verdict:

My final verdict is that the book was great but the ending, yeah, not so much. To anyone who was planning on reading the book I say go ahead but don't put your hopes up for a masterpiece, this one has flaws. The end was too rushed and leaves you wanting an epilogue of some sort, just to tie everything together and finish properly. Otherwise, its another one of Meg Cabots amazing books.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

The Devil wears Jeans.

2008-09-17T19:24:00.007+03:00

This isn't particularly useful or , just me wondering why some people go out of their way to be bitchy...

My old english teacher was a real pain in the you-know-where so everyone in the whole school used to call her devil-spawn. She's a really "save-the-whales" kind of person, generally I have nothing against saving whales and you know feeding people in Zimbabwe but its not something you talk about everyday right? Once she failed this girl on a pop-quiz on "Comparisons using "as" and "like" (actual title of the pop-quiz) The girl answered a question in what the teacher dubbed a racist comment. I would totally understand if it was Ms.Devils race we're talking about and she was insulted, the thing is that the girl wasn't saying anything degrading, actually she was comparing the beauty of something or other to the beauty of a japanese eye. Our teacher isn't Japanese, or even asian. The poor girl was just trying to get through the pop-quiz and technically her grammar was spot on in the sentence she used but that doesn't matter to devil-spawn...

Schools have rules about appropriate and inappropriate comments and behavior, most teachers follow these rules in their classrooms and manage to still be considered a nice teacher, a teacher who doesn't go out of their way to count the seconds after the bell rings just to hand out tardies to everyone. Then there are the teachers that are considered evil, the ones everyone knows wont give you a second chance, who is supremely strict and make the exam longer just because you complain that 18 pages is too long. There are also chameleon teachers, those who morph from one to the other as easily as changing clothes. They practically change personalities in front of your eyes. I have met two of these teachers so far, and one of them simply morphed from a regular strict teacher (to the tenth graders) into a friendly chatty doesnt-require-any-work-whatsoever to us! It wasn't a bad change from where i was sitting so i'm not complaining. But isnt it just the slightest bit weird for them to do that? Switch from being strict and a stickler for the rules to being about as strict as a substitute? I suppose you get used to it, depending on the faces you see and the attitudes that go with them. I'm not really concerned her because a) Its an elective class and b) She's going from bad to good so thats a pro for me. No complaints here.

The other teacher with what i've decided to call the teacher chameleon syndrome wasn't quite as harmless as the previous one. This teacher taught me both this year and the last. Last year she was a new teacher, she had taught all over the world and told us that in her other schools she didn't give tests because she was allowed to forgo them and because she "doesn't believe in tests." Our school has a minimum number of tests, quizzes and chapters we have to cover each quarter, so she couldn't do whatever she wanted about testing without permission from the principal (which was not granted by the way) So instead of canceling tests altogether she gave us the answers beforehand so the test was more like a worksheet than a test. This was her way of "getting back at the system" and teaching in her own unique way. I'm not one of those students who try to steal the exam or buy it, but i'm no rat either. I wasn't complaining about the circumstances but i can't say i've ever been through that before and to be completely honest I wouldn't want to repeat the experience. We went through the entire year like this, including the final exam without the principal or anyone else realizing anything was off. This past year however, she turned over a completely new leaf, apparently she now fears the system too much to be normal. I mean she didn't just stop being a give-away-the-answers teacher, she became a full-on monster, she had a timer on her desk for tardies and would take every opportunity to chop off a bit of your grade that she could, complete about-face! To say that we were all shocked would be an understatement. This went on all year, with her getting stricter and stricter...i just dont get how someone who is giving away answers one minute can flip 360 degrees so easily!

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

My Newest books

2008-09-17T17:10:00.003+03:00

Ok, so I was browsing the racks the other day and I found a couple of books that I liked so I'm posting the details up here:

Ok this one is called "The blue girl" by Charles de Lint

Another one I really liked was "Big Boned" which is the third book in Meg Cabot's Series "Heather Wells Mysteries" Heres the Cover:

Yet another one is "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan it is the second in the series.

I know, I know. This book is like for sixth graders but hey! I really like it. I mean the plot is great and Riordans way of writing is both humorous and very interesting. So heres the cover:

The Separate Reviews are coming up in a couple of days, I'm halfway through Big Boned now and am hoping to be able to put up my review this weekend.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

Learn to tie your shoes!

2008-09-16T17:12:00.007+03:00

I know, I know when was the last time you heard that being said to you? In KG or the first grade? That was my initial reaction to getting an email of the same title but boy did that change quickly when I saw how cute the pics actually were, so I'm posting 'em up here for all who want to learn how to tie their shoes! My fave styles are Lattice and checkerboard.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

New Kid on the Block...Yet Again.

2008-09-14T14:56:00.005+03:00

Today was my first day at my new school.

All I have to say is: Oh My God!! I mean the girls are scary! I know two of them from my school in sixth grade, they moved here in grade eight and one of them turned scary! It amazes me, the girl was one of those cheerleader types who is constantly cheerful and really diplomatic about the way she talks even though you can totally tell that she hates your guts. She totally ignored me even though I could sooo tell that she recognized me, my other friend, on the other hand, came over and hugged me right away.

It was the worst first day I have ever had.

The teachers are so damn LAX! The girls were just ignoring the teacher and chatting for the whole hour. I understand the fact that you don't pay attention to the teacher, it's like an unspoken rule, but that was too much! Then this other teacher gave us TWENTY-FIVE minutes of free time!! I haven't had twenty-five minutes of free time since the fourth grade!!! And what did the girls do during that time??? The were talking so seriously about the properties of..wait guess...Redbull!!!!!! One of them was like Redbull gives you more energy when its hot not cold, another one said that Redbull light had more flavor than normal Redbull. And yet another girl claimed that Blue Redbull gave more energy than all the rest AND had the best taste. I mean they fit the bill completely for those airheaded girls who can think of nothing but clothes and parties! They're against everything I believe in. Those who were not discussing the virtues of Redbull light were sleeping of the desks! I concluded that all the girls were either extremely stupid, extremely bored or extremely good actresses.

I don't know how I'm going to get through next year. The only good thing about the school is that they have pretty good electives, not what I wanted per se but good, the counselor says she might let me change...I am doubtful.

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

RPGs

2008-09-13T17:47:00.007+03:00

I just love RPGs (role playing games) I play them wherever I can find them. Usually my number one criterium for a good RPG is the gameplay but some games have such great plots that no matter how boring the gameplay is I go through them just for the sake of the story. They're like reading a book but better because you have a part in it. Some of my favorite RPG's have the suckiest graphics I have ever seen but I love 'em because of the story. I have been to hell and back trying to find RPG's that are worth my time so I want to give dedicated gamers like myself a list of games I found to be the best:

PC RPGs
-Aveyond 1
-Aveyond 2 (Aveyond 3 coming soon. Aveyond Rocks!!)
-Geneforge
-Geneforge 2
-Avernum 4
-Warcraft
-Age of Empires
-Age of Mythology
-CSI hard evidence

PSP RPGs
-Monster hunter
-Monster hunter 2
-Loco Roco
-Daxter
-The Sims 2 (my favorite!)

PS 1 and 2 RPGs
-Kingdom Hearts 1
-Kingdom Hearts 2 (I love this game!)
-Mana World
-The Sims
-The Sims 2
-The Sims Pets
-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (I like this one the best out of the Harry Potters)

If you know anymore please tell me!!

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all

A beginning

2008-09-12T00:53:00.001+03:00

I have written loads of "About-me" essays and short paragraphs for school,( since I am usually the new girl I get that as an assignment more often than others) but I decided to just tell you about me without all the flowery writing so here goes!

I think that it is obvious from the name of my blog that I love to read. What is not obvious is that I love to write, both stories and poetry. I am going to the eleventh grade. I have had what my mother calls an "obsession" with reading since the age of three when I first learned to read. I love most genres of books (I even manage to make it through some of those stuffy unabriged books by Jane Austen) although my absoloute favorite books are fantasy or anything to do with magic. I have moved schools a total of six times in the last six years and (whether or not this is true) consider myself an expert at it. I am not an American and I hate it when people simply assume that I am (I'm not Canadian either although I was raised there but that assumption happens less often). I am moving to another new school this year and I hope that I'll make it through the first day without embarrassing myself.

Abby

The Know-it-all

Forgive My Fins

Demonglass

Hex Hall

Back for the Summer!

What the BBC thinks you should read...

Update/personal blog post :)

Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn

Yay! Award! One Lovely Blog Award!

Blogger Book Hop! Aug 27-29

Mockingjay *WARNING! Spoilers!*

MOCKINGJAY IS HERE!!!!

My Hunger Games Movie Cast

Personal Update :)

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Waiting On Wednesday

BookSneeze?

Waiting On Wednesday

Blogger Book Hop!

Ramadans here!

Heroes and other Summer Activities

University Orientation!

News

Harry Potter: 7 Books 7 Days Challenge

Photoshopping

Whoot!

The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

Operation Get my Retainer to fit again!

Fluffernutter!!

Freeze Tag by Caroline B. Cooney

Blog with an Identity Crisis

Corn Dogs!

Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel

Shelfari!

No, I am not Dead.

I'm still alive

My hatred of the twilight series

My class ring

A Treatise on Magic and the Occult

Picture Day

The Mother

Big Boned

The Devil wears Jeans.

My Newest books

Learn to tie your shoes!

New Kid on the Block...Yet Again.

RPGs

A beginning

Mockingjay WARNING! Spoilers!