If You Want To Write- Brenda Ueland

Written By: Kellie - May• 29•12

Synopsis: In her ninety-three remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn’t want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her bestselling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired
thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book “the best book ever written about how to write.” Yet Ueland reminds us that “whenever I say ‘writing’ in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or make.” -Goodreads

Review: Today is my birthday so I wanted to share a book that I really loved. I read this after it was recommended on Felicia Day’s vlog and I’m so glad I did. Even if writing isn’t your cup of tea, this book is easily the most inspiring thing I have ever read. More than once she will point out that everything she is referencing can be used in any kind of creative endeavor, anything you’re passionate about.

The main thing to take away from this book is to let enthusiasm guide you but there are so many thought provoking pieces of advice that I really can’t do justice to, that I just don’t want to get too far into anything. Everything written in this book is undeniably positive and there is no question that Brenda Ueland was an incredibly kind woman, and would have been an amazing writing teacher, or really… life coach.

So, no matter what it is you want to do, or love to do I would highly recommend reading this book for a little boost of extra inspiration and oomph. I will probably be rereading this again within a few months just to make sure everything sticks in my brain, and years from now this will probably be one of the most read books on my shelf.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Writing in the House of Dreams
@Living A Life Of Writing

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Blood Red Road- Moira Young

Written By: Kellie - May• 27•12

Synopsis: Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she’s a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. -Goodreads

Review: For those of you who haven’t read Blood Red Road yet, it’s one of those books that everyone was talking about. A must read! Well, I read it and I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe the hype hurt it a little bit here because it was absolutely still a good read, but it never really hooked me.

Maybe it was just that things were so dire for the characters throughout the entire book. Even moments of triumph were tainted by how awful everything is, so the characters (mainly Saba) never really had a chance to redeem themselves or become particularly endearing. I did like Saba’s younger sister, she was really well written and was extremely believable. But yeah, I just didn’t find Saba to be that likeable, so it does say something for the rest of the stories elements that I stuck through the entire book.

Even in writing this review, I still don’t know what I’m going to rate Blood Red Road. The story was interesting and the world was different from anything else I’ve read, at least recently. Ahh! What to do?!

I will probably read the next book in the Dustlands series but not any time soon. I am at least glad I finally read this book as it does seem to be one of the big ones that always comes up in discussions of YA, and it is a fairly different addition to any Young Adult book collection. It has some of the more traditional story elements we all love, an extremely stubborn main character (usually an author will just tell you that their main character is stubborn but they give in to whatever their love interest wants… not Saba, that girl could have been a mule in a past life), and overall this book is a pretty stark contrast to a lot of overly sentimental titles out there right now… But, as it turns out… I really like overly sentimental. Go figure.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@HPL Teen Space Blog
@Esther’s Ever After
@Alison’s Book Marks

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Blue Fire- Janice Hardy

Written By: Kellie - May• 25•12

Synopsis: Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke’s plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn’t destroy it first. -Goodreads

Review: Don’t you just love when the second book in a series is even better than the first?! Always a very welcome surprise. Once again, we’re brought into a world with a very complicated kind of healing magic that manages to suck you right in. The main character Nya never gets a break in book two, and proves herself to be even more loyal to her friends and family then before.

For that and just her general vibe I really like Nya. She’s a character you really root for and I’m always a fan of someone with slightly awry magical powers. I am hoping in the final book she get’s more of a shot at some romance. One thing I have really liked about these books is that the romantic relationship is barely a blip on the radar, but I would still like to see everyone get some sort conclusion to their story. Save the day, and THEN skip through a field, holding hands.

So, one tinnnyy spoiler here… you ready? We do get to meet the big bad Duke in this book, and for me it was a little anti-climactic. While everything seemed to be going badly for Nya, and it seemed like a pretty inescapable situation, I just wasn’t feeling the tension that usually comes with those do or die types of scenarios. Shmeh.

I already have the third and final book in this series waiting for me, but I think I’m going to save it for a bit as I’m not quite ready for Nya’s story to be over. There are so many urban fantasy series now that it’s a lot of fun to find a more traditional fantasy world to lose yourself in.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Becky’s Barmy Book Blog
@YA Highway
@Girls In The Stacks

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Atlantis Legend- The Lost Code Discussion

Written By: Kellie - May• 23•12

Yesterday’s review was all about Kevin Emerson’s The Lost Code a book that re imagines the legend of Atlantis. Fun!

What is the legend of Atlantis???
While there are more variations then I can count, the main idea is that was a city called Atlantis, filled with super wisdomy (yup, I said it) people with advanced technology etc. But, for some reason or another, something went horribly wrong and the city plunged into the ocean, lost to us forever. (Learn more from Wikipedia, as I’m sure I haven’t explained this very well)

There have been several modern retellings of the Atlantis story, including the Disney movie, the Stargate spin-off and most recently, Kevin Emerson’s book. In The Lost Code, we actually start out a fair bit in the future as the human population is quickly dying off due to climate changes. Atlantis is still an underwater city that existed long before our society, but the DNA of the Atlanteans has been passed on and three people with access to the knowledge of the ancient civilization are now living in the world, oblivious to who they are… I won’t go into it more as you should definitely read the book but, what do you think? Does this sound like the Atlantis you know and love? What is your all time favorite retelling of this myth? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos, Young Adult Books , | No Comments »

The Lost Code- Kevin Emerson

Written By: Kellie - May• 22•12

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: The ozone is ravaged, ocean levels have risen, and the sun is a daily enemy. But global climate change is not something new in the Earth’s history.

No one will know this better than less-than-ordinary Owen Parker, who is about to discover that he is the descendant of a highly advanced ancient race—a race that took their technology too far and almost destroyed the Earth in the process.

Now it is Owen’s turn to make right in his world what went wrong thousands of years ago. If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry…and that less-than-ordinary can evolve into extraordinary. -Goodreads

Review: As soon as I saw the description for this book I knew I wanted to read it. Atlantis! The idea here is that the planet is in pretty rough shape due to some pretty drastic climate changes. Now the worlds population is living either underground or in what are essentially bio domes, but even those are failing and quickly.

The Lost Code is partly a story about summer camp but it reads like pure adventure, complete with underwater cities, secret codes at ancient legends. Thankfully, we don’t get dropped off right in the middle of things but instead get to learn along with Owen Parker as he pieces things together to try and figure out exactly what the lost code of the Atlanteans is.

It was really refreshing to read a YA title with a male main character. It put a new twist on every aspect of the book, my favorite being seeing the romance aspect from Owens point of view.

We don’t get to much history about Atlantis in this first book but there was definitely enough to catch my interest and lay the groundwork for some future awesome stories. I’m curious to see how ancient wisdom (or something along those lines) might be used to take the Earth back from the brink of disaster and self annihilation, but I would have to guess we won’t see how that plays out until this series comes to an end. Can’t wait!

Learn more about The Lost Code!

Buy the book @Amazon (CAN) @Chapters (CAN) @Amazon (US)

PS- Canadian book lovers and book bloggers, be sure to check out Harper Collins Canadian on twitter and Facebook

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Justin’s Book Blog
@I’m Loving Books
@A Book Obsession

Posted in Young Adult Books , , , | 1 Comment »

Bout of Books 4.0 Results

Written By: Kellie - May• 21•12

So, my first read-a-thon in awhile and I did pretty okay. I completely finished Blood Red Road, Fire, Hunting Ground and The Trouble With Demons so I’ll have reviews up for all of those over the next few weeks. I will probably finish A Touch of Frost tomorrow, but I didn’t even start Spark. I’m going to try and get a good chunk of reading done next week as well in order to make sure I have lots of posts while I’m away at BEA. I have ten days before I leave (eeep!) and my to read list includes…

1. Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan
2. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs
3. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
4. Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
5. If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

So, that’s my plan! Now to get some reading done.

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , | No Comments »

Daughter of Smoke & Bone- Laini Taylor

Written By: Kellie - May• 20•12

Synopsis: Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself? -Goodreads

Review: I had been wanting to read this one for awhile now and ooo-boy am I so glad I did. This book is fantastic. The storyline was above average but not one I’d generally go for, but it was the writing that made Daughter of Smoke & Bone a really special read. Have I mentioned that I really loved this book?

Karou is a really interesting main character, she comes off as a little off beat and annoyingly mysterious (to her friends, as a reader you get a pretty nice look into her life) with her bright blue hair and numerous tattoos. Karou is someone I would love to get to know but probably be way to intimidated to ever talk to.

What makes her so mysterious? Where she comes from and the abstract looking demons she calls her family. I wish we had gotten to read more about them but what I saw, I liked and you can see how they shaped Karou into who she is. Karou’s world is an interesting one, that I’m not entirely sure I understand but I can’t wait to read the next book. Seriously.

I know a lot of people have already come out to say how much they recommend this book, and once again I’m a little behind the times but you should really read this book. I found myself constantly writing down quotes from the book. “For the way loneliness is worse when you return to it after a reprieve—like the soul’s version of putting on a wet bathing suit, clammy and miserable.” A little depressing, but a great quote none the less. Read. This. Book.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@The Book Fairy’s Heaven
@Emily’s Reading Room
@ParaJunkee

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Insurgent- Book Discussion

Written By: Kellie - May• 16•12

To kick us off… THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. There. You have been warned. If you are looking for a spoiler free review, you can find mine here. Now let’s get to it.

The first thing I’ve been dying to talk about with someone… Caleb. I actually had a moment mid book where I was thinking “hmm, I really like this guy,” and then everything went to crap. I wish there had been a bit more of an explanation about why he decided to go all dark side, as I need to know it was more than just a plot device. To be fair, it was absolutely a plot device I didn’t see coming. I also want to know how all of this is going to change his relationship with Susan (I think that was her name), and if anything his betrayal makes that part of his story that much more interesting.

Some people have complained about Tobias’s behavior in this book and I’d like to get more specifics as to what bothered you, if anyone cares to share. Not that he was super fantastic but I didn’t notice much about what he was doing one way or the other, which is obviously a problem in itself

On the flip side, I really enjoyed Christina in this book. I thought her path as a character was something Tris really needed and it made their relationship that much more interesting to follow. That storyline also makes a good argument for the right answer being that people should embody all five of the traits whenever they can.

My favorite part of this series is still the world that Veronica Roth created for her characters to live in, so I really enjoyed finding out more about some of the other factions as well as the major plot point at the end of the book. I hope we get to see some of the gaps filled in as two why the society was set up in this way, and how all of the major players fit into the master plan. I’m not sure I really understand Amnity yet, they definitely seem the most weird and cult like to me but their purpose is still a good one, so I wouldn’t mind some more redeeming qualityies to show up for that group.

Well, that’s my ranty ramble over. Obviously there is no question that this was a fantastic read that got so many of us madly turning pages to find out what happens next. So, some question… how do you think this series is going to end? What will the focus of the next book be? Any guesses as to titles?

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos, Young Adult Books , , | 3 Comments »

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Written By: Kellie - May• 15•12

Insurgent

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publish Date: May 1st, 2012
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Synopsis: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth’s much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature. -Goodreads

Review: So, I didn’t think I would be able to read Insurgent right away because it came out the day I left for Cuba. Then I remembered, doh! Ibooks store! I was halfway done the book by the time we landed and if my ipod’s battery hadn’t died I would have been hard-pressed to do any actual vacationing until I finished the book. Insurgent hooks you right away, and there is never any question that this book will live up to the mind explosion you’re left with when reading Divergent. Haha, we’ll just pretend that made some kind of sense, needless to say this book was good and I liked it.

Speaking of endings, I thought the ending of Insurgent was perfect. Obviously, I won’t tell you what it is but it left me with the perfect combination of resolution and needing to know what comes next. It looks like this series may have actually been pretty well thought out right from the beginning which is something I always look for but never see enough of.

Overall, this book manages to replicate everything that made everyone fall in love with Divergent while still adding in enough new to keep me hooked. Tris is so easy to root for and the supporting characters feel real and can be both frustrating and swoon worthy but it’s really hard to go into that without giving anything away.

Honestly though, nothing comes to mind in terms of criticism. I didn’t love this book quite as much as Divergent but it was one of those books that I couldn’t make myself put down and that’s 5 star worthy to me. Books are great, and you should read this one.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my spoiler filled discussion of Insurgent. Sometimes we all need to bust out of the spoiler free review world we live in. I’d love to hear what you all think so be sure to check it out.

 

 

 

Buy Insurgent
@Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN) @The Book Depository

 

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Book Hooked Blog
@Nick’s Book Blog
@The Book Smuggler

Posted in Young Adult Books , , | 1 Comment »

Bout of Books 4.0

Written By: Kellie - May• 14•12

Alright, I am back from my mini hiatus and and jumping back in with a read-a-thon. I’ve never done Bout of Books before but their hash tag keeps showing up in my twitter feed so why not. I don’t actually have much on the go this week so lets see how much I can get through. My goal is 5, and I’m already half way through Blood Red Road so who knows…

1. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
2. Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
3. Fire by Kristin Cashore
4. The Trouble with Demons by Lisa Shearin
5. Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Bonus Book
6. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , , | 1 Comment »
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