In Celebration of the Spooks Short Story Contest

 So, I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday in the whole wide world. I love the candy, the creepy feeling at night, the pure excitement. But most of all, I love the stories and legends about Halloween. For instance, in fifth grade, we had to give a speech. Mine was on the legend of the Jack o' Lantern. Yep. That's how fangirly I am.

 Anyways, I decided that it would be awesome to hold a short story contest based on the theme of ghosts or murders, or, basically, anything that goes bump in the night.

 I'll be taking entries from tonight to October 11th. The winner will receive a SIGNED ARC of  Frost, by Marianna Baer. It is international!

 GUIDELINES: 
   -The story must be at least 200 words.
   -The story MUST have something creepy in it.
   -This is international!
   -The stories may be submitted until midnight on October 31st. I'll take a week to read and judje them all, and then announce the winner on the 28th.
   -The stories MUST BE emailed to me at rileygrisham@yahoo.com.
   -PLEASE leave a comment telling me if you will be entering.
 So that's it! I hope to hear from a lot of you!

 UPDATE: I HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE due to not enough entries. It now runs till the THIRTY-FIRST of October, also known as HALLOWEEN. Tell your friends! What I have gotten so far looks fantastic, though- keep it coming guys!

Review: Frost

Review: Frost

Book Rating: 3 Stars
Cover Rating: 4 Stars
 
Reading level: Young Adult  
Hardcover: 400 pages                          
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (September 13, 2011) 

  Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school begins with a shock: Frost House, her cozy dorm of close friends, has been assigned an unexpected roommate: confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar. But while Leena’s anxiety about a threat to her sanctuary proves valid, it becomes less and less clear whether the threat lies with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind, or within the very nature of Frost House itself. Mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and Celeste’s brother, and the reawakening of childhood fears, all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. Frost is the story of a haunting. As to whether the demons are supernatural or psychological . . . well, which answer would let you sleep at night?

THOUGHTS: I had really, really been looking forward to this book, and I have to say, it did not impress me. I love creepy books, ones that keep you thinking and plotting, and that is what I expected this one to be like. Well, it was set up to be that way, but I had the book figured out the moment Leena describes the weird, alluring feeling she had towards the house. It was really predictable. I also got to places where it was completely and totally boring- absolutely nothing of interest was going on. The parts where you would want something to jump out and scream "BOO!" were left bare, and the places where that did happen were few and far between.
 
 SETTING: The setting, of course, is Frost House, a dorm that is said to be haunted. Leena feels an immediate attraction to the place, and pulls some string with connections so that she can live there. But while the book attempts to play the house up to be this spooky, sinister place, I never really got that from it. I would have liked to see more nightmares, doors slamming, messages on walls, ect. You know, the kind of stuff that makes you look around your room and turn on every light possible. This book just didn't pull it off.

 CHARACTERS: The characters in this book did seem real, even though I did find myself annoyed with Leena. She thinks everything she does is best, even though a lot of the time it's hurting other people. But, the way I see it, we shouldn't judge a book on how we liked the character, but rather how the character fit the story she or he was placed in and how real that character seems. And the writer definitely has done an excellent job of making her characters seem real.
  
PLOT: Here is my biggest problem. You get all this buildup for a heartbreaking, sucker punch to the gut, knock-down, drag-out climax. The whole book is setting you up for this one moment and.............. BOOM! NOTHING AT ALL HAPPENS. This is one of my pet peeves in books- anti-climatic endings. I want drama, despair, action.... anything. This book consists of sitting in a closet. You can't even really tell when the climax occurs. It left me beating my head against the wall. It also had one of those unresolved endings, which irks me to no end. On a good book, I find them intriguing. In this one... not so much. It never even really discusses the ghost haunting frost house. All you get is that it was a girl who lost her baby and likes Leena but not Celeste. Whoooo. Scary. Overall, not a book I would recommend.

WHOA. A POST? *world ends*

 This is how I feel without you, dearly departed laptop.
 All cold an upside down. And see how I'm missing the middle snowball? That's where my heart was. But you took it with you when you went away from me.
 *My Heart Will Go On now plays*
 Just know that I miss you. And you will always, always, be my first laptop.
 *closes eyes* * a single tear rolls down cheek*
 I love you.

 *rolls eyes* Okay, okay, so enough of me being dramatic. I do need to apologize for my lack of posting, I am SO sorry. My poor blog has been seriously ignored. I still don't have a new computer, and I might not for a while, but I will try and get beck to posting as normally as possible. I also feel really bad about completely neglecting book of the week, but it should be updated again tomorrow. If not, I give you all permission to gather the legions of rouge fire-unicorns and unleash them on my house. I give no promises that I will hold back my army of gremlins, however.

 And, now that I have proved my insanity, I must tell you the sorrowful tale of what became of my  computer.

  One day, a girl named Riley was doing her daily rituals: Wishing Harry Potter was real, eating brownies, and watching TV. She could otherwise be known as a Nerd. She, being a Nerd, decided to get on her laptop and creep around on twitter. (Yes. I creep. Hide your children.) But, to her displeasure, her STUPID FACE MEANIE HEAD laptop would not work correctly, it's blank screen only giving off flickers of life.
 Now, Riley is not your conventional Nerd. She is also an Insane Asylum escapee. So, naturally, she did not try to fix the laptop normally. No, she first made angry grunts. Then she pounded her fists against the table, and tied a sock around her head. She emitted a battle cry, one so fierce the six-pound chihuahua-beasts next door began to bark. Whacking the computer, she felt triumph course through her veins. Whacking, as we all know, is the correct way to fix anything that is broken. So you can imagine the horror, sadness, and utter shock when her laptop did nothing. At all. It's blank, lifeless screen just gazed at her blankly.
 It was too far gone.

 Anyways, I SHOULD be getting a new laptop soon! So cross your fingers that the Halloween Pumpkin and Thanksgiving Monkey (They're sort of like Santa and The Easter Bunny, but WAY cooler) leave me moneys. I have also been quite busy. By busy, I mean laying around my house on days I don't have other things to do and singing obnoxiously loud until my aunt comes and yells at me. So..... yeah. You'll just have to bear with me.

And to all you who are still following me, even though it's been like a month since I've posted: YOU ARE FLIPPING AMAZEBALLS.
 Anywhowhathway,
     Bye!

Review: Angel Burn

Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly

Book Rating: 4/5 Stars

Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (May 24, 2011)

Received: Bought

Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly


Book Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars



Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Candlewick (May 24, 2011) Received: Bought
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Goodreads Summary: Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip - and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful. They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.
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THOUGHTS: This books was definitely original. I've never read an angel book where the angels were quite like this, let alone as monstrous. These angels feed off of human energy, causing the victim to end up in a dazed dreamy state, always regarding the angel who ruined their life as the best thing that ever happened to them, a thing called Angel Burn.  Anyways, I really liked this book. The way the POV's alternate is one of the things that I loved, the way it switches from Willow in first person and then Alex in third person. I do like first person better, but having Alex's point of view thrown in was just a huge bonus.

SETTING: The book starts off in Pawtucket, New York. Willow leads a pretty normal life, despite the fact she's psychic, likes fixing cars, and her Mom is delusional. And then she meets Alex. She gets discovered by the Church of Angels, a legion of humans who have Angel Burn and worship the angels, for what she really is: a half angel, which shouldn't be possible and is a huge threat to the angels. After that, Willow goes on a cross-country trip with Alex. They also stay in my home state, Tennessee, for a while, which made me giggle a little bit. 

CHARACTERS: The characters in this book were very likable. Willow had a rough life, and that makes her strong. The same goes for Alex. I honestly adored Alex- after he lost everything, he became like a hard shell. You really get to know him after he falls for Willow- he becomes himself again. Sweet, super sexy and smart, strong, and protective. You can't help but love him.

 The other characters in this book are very well developed, each one has their own personality that is conveyed perfectly through the pages.

PLOT: The plot in this book really catches your attention. The action and suspense is well paced, and you find yourself feeling as hunted as Willow and Alex do. The only problem I had was that the climax could have been more dramatic. There wasn't anything that amazed you, or even really got you surprised. Overall, a good book. If you get the chance to read it, you should. 

FIRST SENTENCE: "'This is so embarrassing," muttered Nina."

LAST SENTENCE: "And somewhere inside of me, I knew that my angel was smiling."

Review: A Need So Beautiful

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Book Rating: 3 Stars

Cover Rating: 3 Stars

• 
  
• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 1 edition (June 21, 2011)

 We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be Forgotten...

Charlotte’s best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what’s really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth, who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become--her mark on this earth, her very existence--is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny--no matter how dark the consequences.

THOUGHTS: This book was really, really sad to me, but beautiful, too. Charlotte's predicament was one that would end badly either way: If she lived, she would become a monster. If she died, well, she died. And she didn't want that to happen. I found my heart breaking for Charlotte through the book- the people she loved most in the entire world, the people she couldn't live without, slowly forgot her until she was unrecognizable to them. The writing was beautiful, and while I did love the book, it got a bit boring at times- the was really nothing that grabbed your attention and held it. 


SETTING: This is a book that I would have liked to see a bit more background in- while I know it's important that you get a lot of the people around Charlotte, I would have liked to know what she thought of her home, if she hated it or loved it. 


CHARACTERS: I feel like there could have been a little more to the characters in this book. Something about them just seemed a bit hollow to me. It seems like a lot was put into Charlotte, and the other characters were taped up and stuck on the pages. You didn't really get to know any of Charlotte's family or life before where the book picks up. I would have liked to see a bit more so I could have a better Idea of Charlotte. 


PLOT: The plot was slow to me. I found myself setting the book down often because nothing exciting was going on. You have to understand, I'm an action junkie. And there was nothing that really got my pulse racing in this book. Overall, I give it 3 stars. 


FIRST SENTENCE: "I sit on the from steps of St. Vincent's Cathedral and pick at the moss nestled in the cracks of the concrete."


LAST SENTENCE: "Because I realize: I have no idea who I am."

Winner of 60 Followers Giveaway!

 First of all, thank you so much to everyone who entered and spread the word. I now have 100+ followers, which is so overwhelming. I really have to apologize for my lack of posting, though. My laptop is now broken (Instert melodramatic death scene here- it should involve me throwing myself against a wall.), and I have pretty much a small frame of time to be on the computer. But, I promise, as soon as I get a new laptop my posting will return to normal.
 Okay, so enough of my blab, the winner isssss:
     Cheyenne T.! She won White Cat by Holly Black, which, by the way, is an amazing book.

 If you didn't win this time, I'll be having another giveaway pretty soon, so fingers crossed for you then! You all rock, by the way. Totally blew me away with the number of entries I had. Hearts to you all! :D

Book of The Week #5

Book of the week is a weekly post about a particular book coming out sometime during the current week. If you feel that I in anyway copied you, then I am sorry. It was not intentional.

 So, for this week, I chose Eternal by Gillian Shields. It looks so totally creepy wonderful. I can't wait till it hits the shelves!


 Released August 2, 2011.
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This third book about the Mystic Sisterhood at Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies is another romantic thriller with paranormal elements and deep mystery. This time our heroine is Sarah Fitzalan, the dependable, faithful friend to Evie and Helen, her sisters in the Mystic Way. But this term Sarah finds that their friendship is tested to the limits. Evie is turning her back on the Mystic Way after the sisterhood laid her beloved Sebastian’s soul to rest; Helen is distracted; and a new girl, wild child Velvet Romaine, seems set on stirring up more trouble at Wyldcliffe. Sarah struggles to keep the sisterhood together as the threat of attack from the dark coven looms.

All Sarah has to keep her going is her connection with her earth powers and a promise she cannot break. Must she sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends and sisters? Will her sisters join her, or will help come from unexpected sources, like her Romany ancestors, and a love she’d only just dared hope for?

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