I'm just letting everyone know that I haven't forgotten that I owe you a review on The Forever Girl (excellent book, btw) but I've been feeling under the weather the last few days. I have a head cold, and I haven't been doing much of anything because of it. I am working on the review, though, just slowly! I'll have it up as soon as I feel better. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
A short summary (with spoilers) and review of "Mad World: Epidemic" written by Samaire Provost
I just finished a novel entitled "Mad World: Epidemic" written by Samaire Provots. I have to say that I think this may have actually been the first zombie book that I've ever read. I'm generally not a big fan of zombies, but I do enjoy the occasional zombie film. Although the book could still use some editing (I ran across a few spelling/grammar errors and a couple of places where the story is slightly out of sync but nothing that can't be overlooked), I have to commend this new author on her ability to really bring the story together by touching on several emotional responses from the readers. Even though the book seems to be aimed at a younger generation than myself, I was still easily able to relate to the characters and to sympathize with their plight.
"Mad Wold: Epidemic" opens with an explanation as to what has caused the zombie outbreak by having the main character, Alyssa, speak in a narrative sense. Standford university has accidentally unleashed a synthetic version of the of the bacteria responsible for the Black Plague. The disease is sweeping across California, and as Alyssa informs us, eventually across the whole world. Those who are infected become, for all intents and purposes, zombies. Once infected, a person goes through a spell of normalcy followed by a high fever, delirium and convulsions while their skin takes on a gray hue and their eyes become bloodshot. At this point the infected person looses their sense of self and become enraged monsters, fast, strong and with a hunger for human flesh. They also appear to loose some level of intelligence, speech and the ability to walk straight. A shot gun shot to the head, or being beheaded seems to be the only thing that will stop them completely. As the disease progresses, the zombies become more aggressive, their skin continues to darken until black and their eyes take on a milky color.
The story is centered around a group of high school students; Alyssa, Jacob, DeAnder, Conner, Emily and Caitlin/Catilyn who were on an out of town field trip to New York City when they learned that there was some serious trouble going on back home, trouble enough that areas of California were being evacuated.Concerned for their families, the group of students and their acting coach rushed to return home. Soon after arriving in California they learn just what this microbe that the news spoke of is doing to people when they come face to face with the infected. Tragically, one of the student's mother has been infected and she in turn infects Coach Turner, the student's chaperone on this trip.
As they travel in their rush to get home, more tragedy strikes and more people are lost to the infection. The students take in a pregnant woman who was in desperate need of a ride, a professor named Mike, a receptionist named Ellie and a little girl named Risa.
Perhaps the saddest part is when Holly is found to be infected. While trying to escape a panicked crowd of people, Holly sustains an open wound on her arm. Awhile later, while running for her life, Holly is tackled by a zombie, landing face down on her pregnant abdomen. When the zombie is shot, it's blood splatters all over Holly, including on to her open wound. It would seem though, that both Holly and the baby are fine as quite some time passes with absolutely no sign of infection. Eventually, though, Holly begins to take on a gray tint as she beings having contractions. The others are forced to restrain her wrists and her head as she fights to give birth while being over taken by the disease.
Alyssa is portrayed as being very emotionally mature for her age as she steps in to play a mother like role towards Risa, and later for Holly's baby boy, Luke. She starts the story having a crush, as a lot of girls do, on Jacob. Throughout the story the two of them develop an incredibly chaste, but romantic relationship without ever directly verbally expressing their desires for one another to each other. Their unfolding relationship seemed very fairytale-esque to me, lacking a sense of realism and because of this I had a little trouble buying into it, but nonetheless was pleased to see that the two characters were falling in love with each other.
The volume ends with Alyssa describing the trouble that most of them had in tracking down where exactly their families had been evacuated too, and even if they were still alive as many of the evacuation transports were overrun during the process. Luke, Holly's baby, is still in their care as Alyssa promised to Holly, but it would seem he hasn't escaped the infection after all.
A second volume, "Mad World: Sanctuary" is available as well.
All in all, I found the book to be worth taking the time to read. It's an interesting spin on the zombie genre and has some truly heart-wrenching moments. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the zombie genre and looking for a light read, and I intend to read the second volume as well.
"Mad Wold: Epidemic" opens with an explanation as to what has caused the zombie outbreak by having the main character, Alyssa, speak in a narrative sense. Standford university has accidentally unleashed a synthetic version of the of the bacteria responsible for the Black Plague. The disease is sweeping across California, and as Alyssa informs us, eventually across the whole world. Those who are infected become, for all intents and purposes, zombies. Once infected, a person goes through a spell of normalcy followed by a high fever, delirium and convulsions while their skin takes on a gray hue and their eyes become bloodshot. At this point the infected person looses their sense of self and become enraged monsters, fast, strong and with a hunger for human flesh. They also appear to loose some level of intelligence, speech and the ability to walk straight. A shot gun shot to the head, or being beheaded seems to be the only thing that will stop them completely. As the disease progresses, the zombies become more aggressive, their skin continues to darken until black and their eyes take on a milky color.
The story is centered around a group of high school students; Alyssa, Jacob, DeAnder, Conner, Emily and Caitlin/Catilyn who were on an out of town field trip to New York City when they learned that there was some serious trouble going on back home, trouble enough that areas of California were being evacuated.Concerned for their families, the group of students and their acting coach rushed to return home. Soon after arriving in California they learn just what this microbe that the news spoke of is doing to people when they come face to face with the infected. Tragically, one of the student's mother has been infected and she in turn infects Coach Turner, the student's chaperone on this trip.
As they travel in their rush to get home, more tragedy strikes and more people are lost to the infection. The students take in a pregnant woman who was in desperate need of a ride, a professor named Mike, a receptionist named Ellie and a little girl named Risa.
Perhaps the saddest part is when Holly is found to be infected. While trying to escape a panicked crowd of people, Holly sustains an open wound on her arm. Awhile later, while running for her life, Holly is tackled by a zombie, landing face down on her pregnant abdomen. When the zombie is shot, it's blood splatters all over Holly, including on to her open wound. It would seem though, that both Holly and the baby are fine as quite some time passes with absolutely no sign of infection. Eventually, though, Holly begins to take on a gray tint as she beings having contractions. The others are forced to restrain her wrists and her head as she fights to give birth while being over taken by the disease.
Alyssa is portrayed as being very emotionally mature for her age as she steps in to play a mother like role towards Risa, and later for Holly's baby boy, Luke. She starts the story having a crush, as a lot of girls do, on Jacob. Throughout the story the two of them develop an incredibly chaste, but romantic relationship without ever directly verbally expressing their desires for one another to each other. Their unfolding relationship seemed very fairytale-esque to me, lacking a sense of realism and because of this I had a little trouble buying into it, but nonetheless was pleased to see that the two characters were falling in love with each other.
The volume ends with Alyssa describing the trouble that most of them had in tracking down where exactly their families had been evacuated too, and even if they were still alive as many of the evacuation transports were overrun during the process. Luke, Holly's baby, is still in their care as Alyssa promised to Holly, but it would seem he hasn't escaped the infection after all.
A second volume, "Mad World: Sanctuary" is available as well.
All in all, I found the book to be worth taking the time to read. It's an interesting spin on the zombie genre and has some truly heart-wrenching moments. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the zombie genre and looking for a light read, and I intend to read the second volume as well.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Busy Times
I'm sorry to those of you who have been reading my blog(s) that it took awhile for me to finish up the television viewing part 2 post. School has started back up and things have been hectic around here!
Just a quick list on my non-school related books that I'm reading right now:
Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost is simply put about a zombie outbreak caused by the reintroduction of the plague. This is what I'm currently reading, I found it when I was invited to a book group on facebook.
Next I'll be reading The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton, which is about a young Wiccan woman who finds herself connected to several murders and must find a way to uncover the truth about her ancestor's demise. It sounds super interesting. I found this one when the author, Rebecca Hamilton, added me on Twitter. I love meeting new authors.
After that I'll read The Gospel of the Phoenix by Stifyn Emyrs, this is about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, to most known simply as Jesus Christ. It is a retelling of his life and his life's work through a new lens, a new perspective. I am intrigued by this authors notions and I cannot wait to read the book. Again, this book came to me by way of facebook.
Finally, I have three books lined up by another new author I've met in writer's group on facebook. These books are called The Will's Downfall Saga (books Will's Downfall Book One: Is it All in Your Head? & Will's Downfall Book Two: Why Did They Have to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day?) by Eric May, and The Tribulation of Marcuse (And Several Other Tales of Utter Drivel) also by Erick May. It appears the Will's Downfall Saga is about a teenage boy named William Barker and his twisted, secret society, crazy cult, mutant infested way through his final year of high school and then into his adulthood in the second book with marital trouble and alien invasions. They sound quite interesting, indeed. The third book (not of the same series), is described on amazon.com with one simple statement, "Abandon all hope, all ye who open this tome..."
So, they all sound like interesting books and I will be sure to write a review for each of them here after I have finished with each book respectively. To help the authors out, I'll also post the reviews on amazon.com
Happy Reading!
Just a quick list on my non-school related books that I'm reading right now:
Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost is simply put about a zombie outbreak caused by the reintroduction of the plague. This is what I'm currently reading, I found it when I was invited to a book group on facebook.
Next I'll be reading The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton, which is about a young Wiccan woman who finds herself connected to several murders and must find a way to uncover the truth about her ancestor's demise. It sounds super interesting. I found this one when the author, Rebecca Hamilton, added me on Twitter. I love meeting new authors.
After that I'll read The Gospel of the Phoenix by Stifyn Emyrs, this is about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, to most known simply as Jesus Christ. It is a retelling of his life and his life's work through a new lens, a new perspective. I am intrigued by this authors notions and I cannot wait to read the book. Again, this book came to me by way of facebook.
Finally, I have three books lined up by another new author I've met in writer's group on facebook. These books are called The Will's Downfall Saga (books Will's Downfall Book One: Is it All in Your Head? & Will's Downfall Book Two: Why Did They Have to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day?) by Eric May, and The Tribulation of Marcuse (And Several Other Tales of Utter Drivel) also by Erick May. It appears the Will's Downfall Saga is about a teenage boy named William Barker and his twisted, secret society, crazy cult, mutant infested way through his final year of high school and then into his adulthood in the second book with marital trouble and alien invasions. They sound quite interesting, indeed. The third book (not of the same series), is described on amazon.com with one simple statement, "Abandon all hope, all ye who open this tome..."
So, they all sound like interesting books and I will be sure to write a review for each of them here after I have finished with each book respectively. To help the authors out, I'll also post the reviews on amazon.com
Happy Reading!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Television Viewing Agenda Part 2
The Big Bang Theory is one of those sitcoms that I will put down my book to watch when it comes on. For many shows, I'll keep reading or working on an assignment and only half pay attention to the show. Not so for this one, it grabs my attention right up and I can't help but to laugh while it's on. The show is about a group of super nerdy, super genius scientist friends. Two of them, Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki [who you might remember best as "David" on the Rosanne show if you're old enough]) live across the hall from the pretty, sometimes ditsy waitress, Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Leonard and Penny have an on again, off again relationship. Sheldon has the highest IQ of his group of friends, and is definitely the least humble about his IQ. Sheldon is also quite prim and obsessive in nature. He's also quite obsessed with Star Track, especially the character Spock. Leonard is far more humble and has better social skills and is somehow able to maintain his sanity while living with Sheldon. The two other friends are Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). Howard likes to think himself a ladies man, he is never seen without a dickie (fake turtleneck shirt that is just the neck and a piece of cloth covering the chest) beneath his top shirt. He lives with his mother who is never shown but always featured as a harsh woman's voice hollering at him from another room. Raj, on the other hand, is so incredibly shy that he cannot speak to a woman but will instead whisper something into the ear of his friends (usually Howard) to have them say to the woman instead. Even if it's a woman he's known for sometime and considers a friends, such as Penny. At some point in the show, it becomes known that Raj's family is apparently very, very rich but he has never told his friends this and is apparently a bit frugal with his money.
Guest stars on this show have included a couple of other familiar faces from the late 80's/early 90's. The star of the tv show Blossom, Mayim Bialik plays as Amy Farrah Fowler (what is so funny about this in particular is there is an instance where Raj mentions getting televisions Blossom to play on their team because she's very smart, and Leonard tells him no.) Amy is Sheldon's girl friend (he always calls her by her full name of Amy Farrah Fowler). She is not only smart but apparently completely lacks in social boundaries and etiquette. She also has a tendency towards expressing borderline sexual feelings towards Penny. She sees Penny as being her best friend, though it is obvious Penny does not reciprocate this level of friendship. Also from the Rosanne show, Sara Gilbert who played as Darlene plays in this show as Leslie Winkle. Leslie is incredibly smart, can't stand Sheldon (who returns the distaste) and has had a fling with Leonard (which is funny for those of you who have never seen Rosanne, as the two characters Darlene and David were a couple).
How I Met Your Mother is about a man named Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) who is telling his two teenage children about how he met their mother. It is actually narrated by Bob Saget, who is speaking as the character Ted Mosby (I have no clue why they didn't just have Josh Radnor narrate). Throughout the entire show, the viewer is treated to the story of Ted Mosby's life and the lives of his three very closest friends: Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), Marshall Erickson (Jason Segal), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). Marshall is Ted's closest and longest friend, Lily is Marshall's girlfriend/fiancee/wife. Barney is the chronic womanizer who always wears a suit. Robin is the latest member of the group and at one point both Ted and Barney fall for Robin, and Robin spends time with each man but the relationships do not last. Ted desperately wants to find the right woman and settle down, but he is beginning to loose hope that he will ever meet the right one. In the intern, he works as an architecture and spends his free time hanging out with his friends, usually in a bar called McGee's. The five friends (and occasionally a girlfriend/boyfriend of one of the unattached characters) are known for coming up with complex pranks to play on each other, wild bets and big dreams. For instance, Marshall looses a bet to Barney in which Marshall wins the right to slap Barney in the face 5 times as hard as he can whenever and where ever Marshall should choose. In another episode, they decide to open their own bar inside of Ted's apartment, as they are brain storming about the bar, they are oblivious to the fact that the bar they are describing is pretty much the exact same bar from the sitcom Cheers that was popular in the 80's.
This is a hilarious show, and it's one that I will stop and watch without fail if ever I come across it while channel surfing. The characters are in their late 20's to mid 30's, so it is easy for me to relate to the things they talk about and the immaturity that they still have as a group of friends.
Two Broke Girls is about a young woman named Max Black (Kat Dennings) who works as a waitress at the Williamsburg Diner. She is sarcastic, witty and sassy and I totally love her. Max meets a woman named Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs) who's rich father has recently been imprisoned for fraud and embezzlement, leaving his daughter to figure out how to get by without having her every desire met without question. So, she winds up working at the diner with Max and becomes Max's roommate. When Caroline learns that Max really enjoys cooking cupcakes, Caroline dreams up a way for Max and herself to open a cupcake business. Being cynical, Max takes some convincing but finally agrees. The show is ultimately about the two women trying to save money for this business while working at the diner and taking side jobs when they can.
I love the interplay between the two characters, and Max definitely seems like someone I'd become best friends with in seconds.
Suburgatory is about a teenage girl named Tessa Altman (Jane Levy) and her single father, George Altman (Jeremy Sisto) who move from New York to the suburbs, much to Tessa's dismay. Her father's goal is to move her to a safer environment so she can have a better life, Tessa's goal is to convince him to move back to New York and away from the suburbs. Tessa is able to incorporate herself in with a small group of kids who are more similar to herself, but the school is mostly ruled by the suburban elite with their platinum hair and Chanel accessories.
George is definitively the most attractive bachelor around and this draws the attention of more than a couple of the neighborhood women, including married neighbor, Dallas Royce (Cheryl Hines), who is the mother of Tessa's arch nemesis, Dalia Royce (Carly Chaikin). It becomes clear after some time, that Dallas has fallen in love with George, even if she doesn't say it, he can see it too. Of all strange things, Dallas and Tessa seem to develop a friendship of sorts as well.
This is a cute, feel-good type of show. The humor is clean and the characteristics of the people in the suburbs are over accentuated in a humors manner. I definitely enjoy watching Suburgatory.
Weeds is about a mother who decides to sell marijuana to support herself and her two sons after her husband - their father - Juda Botwin passes away. Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) finds herself in over her head on multiple occasions when her boys become aware of her financial pursuits and convince her to allow them to be involved. Nancy's brother-in-law, Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk), is deeply involved in the lives of his nephews and is falling in love with Nancy, who turns him down.
Nancy and the group of neighbors and family who have become involved in her drug dealing find themselves on the radar of the feds. A wildfire spreads and is heading towards their town of Agrestic, California when Nancy decides that it is time for them to flee she helps the fire along by setting her own house on fire (just to be sure the fire doesn't happen to miss it) along with the marijuana her oldest son, Silas Botwin (Hunter Parrish) was growing inside.
At their new location, she finds herself involved with the mayor of a city in Mexico who also happens to be the kingpin of the drug smuggling ring she's running a cover business for; a baby items store. Nancy finds herself pregnant and soon married to Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir), but wanting desperately to make sure their child is an American Citizen, and also because she fears that once the baby is born, she will be considered unnecessary, she flees to the US to have the baby, Stevie Reyes (played by two different children, Ethan Kent and Gavin Kent). The Botwins/Reyes spend some time in Mexico with Esteban until they are forced to flee once more when Nancy's middle son, Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) takes matters into his own hands to deal with a woman threatening his family.
While fleeing, however, Nancy makes a sacrifice to keep herself and her children safe from Esteban and his thugs, who wish to kill her for Shane's actions and because she fled with Esteban's son, Stevie. Nancy finds herself in prison, forced to watch her children grow up through her occasional phone calls and video messages. Her oldest son, Silas has now entered into adulthood and her youngest is being raised by her sister as if he were not Nancy's child. Finally, when Nancy is out of prison and is able to reunite with her children, there is a battle of wills between her sister and herself over who Stevie belongs too. In the end, it is decided that Nancy will stay with her sister so that she may stay involved in Stevie's life and Nancy can have stability while she finds a job in accordance with her probation.
All seems to be going well until Nancy is shot in the head. She doesn't die but spends some time in a coma, they are unable to retrieve the bullet and Nancy must learn her basic motor functions all over again. She complains at one point that everything tastes like black licorice. When she leaves the hospital, she is walking with a cane and is determined to do something different and better with her life.
This dark humored comedy is a must watch for anyone who has thought about taking the "easier route" in life.
Dexter is perhaps one of my very favorite Showtime original shows. It is based off of a series of books by Jeff Lindsay. Unfortunately, I have yet to have the opportunity to read these books. The show, however is about a man named Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) who works for the Miami PD Crime Lab as a blood splatter analyst. He also happens to be a serial killer. He's a good serial killer, though, he only kills people who deserve it such as rapists, murders etc.
Dexter was adopted by Harry Morgan (James Remar) who was a police officer at the Miami PD. Harry knew of Dexter's "Dark Passenger" since Dexter was a child and guided him in a "code" of how to choose his victims, how to kill them, and how to dispose of the bodies without getting caught. Harry thought this was how he could protect his son, since he knew what Dexter would eventually become and how much worse it would be if he didn't instill this "code" in Dexter while he was young. Dexter's sister, Harry's natural daughter, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) has also followed in Harry's footsteps, working as a police officer (who later makes detective) with the Miami PD.
We get to follow along with Dexter as he lives out his life, thirsting for blood but trying to maintain his facade of normalcy. The story is designed to get the viewer to sympathize with Dexter, and it does a magnificent job of doing so. I found myself fearful for Dexter when he was close to being caught, heartbroken for Dexter when his girlfriend splits up with him (after he's finally come to accept that he has feelings for her) and I came to rejoice with Dexter when he triumphed over the ruthless cop who was tracking him down.
This is an excellent show and is guaranteed to bring out the "dark passenger" in all of us.
Guest stars on this show have included a couple of other familiar faces from the late 80's/early 90's. The star of the tv show Blossom, Mayim Bialik plays as Amy Farrah Fowler (what is so funny about this in particular is there is an instance where Raj mentions getting televisions Blossom to play on their team because she's very smart, and Leonard tells him no.) Amy is Sheldon's girl friend (he always calls her by her full name of Amy Farrah Fowler). She is not only smart but apparently completely lacks in social boundaries and etiquette. She also has a tendency towards expressing borderline sexual feelings towards Penny. She sees Penny as being her best friend, though it is obvious Penny does not reciprocate this level of friendship. Also from the Rosanne show, Sara Gilbert who played as Darlene plays in this show as Leslie Winkle. Leslie is incredibly smart, can't stand Sheldon (who returns the distaste) and has had a fling with Leonard (which is funny for those of you who have never seen Rosanne, as the two characters Darlene and David were a couple).
How I Met Your Mother is about a man named Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) who is telling his two teenage children about how he met their mother. It is actually narrated by Bob Saget, who is speaking as the character Ted Mosby (I have no clue why they didn't just have Josh Radnor narrate). Throughout the entire show, the viewer is treated to the story of Ted Mosby's life and the lives of his three very closest friends: Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), Marshall Erickson (Jason Segal), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). Marshall is Ted's closest and longest friend, Lily is Marshall's girlfriend/fiancee/wife. Barney is the chronic womanizer who always wears a suit. Robin is the latest member of the group and at one point both Ted and Barney fall for Robin, and Robin spends time with each man but the relationships do not last. Ted desperately wants to find the right woman and settle down, but he is beginning to loose hope that he will ever meet the right one. In the intern, he works as an architecture and spends his free time hanging out with his friends, usually in a bar called McGee's. The five friends (and occasionally a girlfriend/boyfriend of one of the unattached characters) are known for coming up with complex pranks to play on each other, wild bets and big dreams. For instance, Marshall looses a bet to Barney in which Marshall wins the right to slap Barney in the face 5 times as hard as he can whenever and where ever Marshall should choose. In another episode, they decide to open their own bar inside of Ted's apartment, as they are brain storming about the bar, they are oblivious to the fact that the bar they are describing is pretty much the exact same bar from the sitcom Cheers that was popular in the 80's.
This is a hilarious show, and it's one that I will stop and watch without fail if ever I come across it while channel surfing. The characters are in their late 20's to mid 30's, so it is easy for me to relate to the things they talk about and the immaturity that they still have as a group of friends.
Two Broke Girls is about a young woman named Max Black (Kat Dennings) who works as a waitress at the Williamsburg Diner. She is sarcastic, witty and sassy and I totally love her. Max meets a woman named Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs) who's rich father has recently been imprisoned for fraud and embezzlement, leaving his daughter to figure out how to get by without having her every desire met without question. So, she winds up working at the diner with Max and becomes Max's roommate. When Caroline learns that Max really enjoys cooking cupcakes, Caroline dreams up a way for Max and herself to open a cupcake business. Being cynical, Max takes some convincing but finally agrees. The show is ultimately about the two women trying to save money for this business while working at the diner and taking side jobs when they can.
I love the interplay between the two characters, and Max definitely seems like someone I'd become best friends with in seconds.
Suburgatory is about a teenage girl named Tessa Altman (Jane Levy) and her single father, George Altman (Jeremy Sisto) who move from New York to the suburbs, much to Tessa's dismay. Her father's goal is to move her to a safer environment so she can have a better life, Tessa's goal is to convince him to move back to New York and away from the suburbs. Tessa is able to incorporate herself in with a small group of kids who are more similar to herself, but the school is mostly ruled by the suburban elite with their platinum hair and Chanel accessories.
George is definitively the most attractive bachelor around and this draws the attention of more than a couple of the neighborhood women, including married neighbor, Dallas Royce (Cheryl Hines), who is the mother of Tessa's arch nemesis, Dalia Royce (Carly Chaikin). It becomes clear after some time, that Dallas has fallen in love with George, even if she doesn't say it, he can see it too. Of all strange things, Dallas and Tessa seem to develop a friendship of sorts as well.
This is a cute, feel-good type of show. The humor is clean and the characteristics of the people in the suburbs are over accentuated in a humors manner. I definitely enjoy watching Suburgatory.
Weeds is about a mother who decides to sell marijuana to support herself and her two sons after her husband - their father - Juda Botwin passes away. Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) finds herself in over her head on multiple occasions when her boys become aware of her financial pursuits and convince her to allow them to be involved. Nancy's brother-in-law, Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk), is deeply involved in the lives of his nephews and is falling in love with Nancy, who turns him down.
Nancy and the group of neighbors and family who have become involved in her drug dealing find themselves on the radar of the feds. A wildfire spreads and is heading towards their town of Agrestic, California when Nancy decides that it is time for them to flee she helps the fire along by setting her own house on fire (just to be sure the fire doesn't happen to miss it) along with the marijuana her oldest son, Silas Botwin (Hunter Parrish) was growing inside.
At their new location, she finds herself involved with the mayor of a city in Mexico who also happens to be the kingpin of the drug smuggling ring she's running a cover business for; a baby items store. Nancy finds herself pregnant and soon married to Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir), but wanting desperately to make sure their child is an American Citizen, and also because she fears that once the baby is born, she will be considered unnecessary, she flees to the US to have the baby, Stevie Reyes (played by two different children, Ethan Kent and Gavin Kent). The Botwins/Reyes spend some time in Mexico with Esteban until they are forced to flee once more when Nancy's middle son, Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) takes matters into his own hands to deal with a woman threatening his family.
While fleeing, however, Nancy makes a sacrifice to keep herself and her children safe from Esteban and his thugs, who wish to kill her for Shane's actions and because she fled with Esteban's son, Stevie. Nancy finds herself in prison, forced to watch her children grow up through her occasional phone calls and video messages. Her oldest son, Silas has now entered into adulthood and her youngest is being raised by her sister as if he were not Nancy's child. Finally, when Nancy is out of prison and is able to reunite with her children, there is a battle of wills between her sister and herself over who Stevie belongs too. In the end, it is decided that Nancy will stay with her sister so that she may stay involved in Stevie's life and Nancy can have stability while she finds a job in accordance with her probation.
All seems to be going well until Nancy is shot in the head. She doesn't die but spends some time in a coma, they are unable to retrieve the bullet and Nancy must learn her basic motor functions all over again. She complains at one point that everything tastes like black licorice. When she leaves the hospital, she is walking with a cane and is determined to do something different and better with her life.
This dark humored comedy is a must watch for anyone who has thought about taking the "easier route" in life.
Dexter is perhaps one of my very favorite Showtime original shows. It is based off of a series of books by Jeff Lindsay. Unfortunately, I have yet to have the opportunity to read these books. The show, however is about a man named Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) who works for the Miami PD Crime Lab as a blood splatter analyst. He also happens to be a serial killer. He's a good serial killer, though, he only kills people who deserve it such as rapists, murders etc.
Dexter was adopted by Harry Morgan (James Remar) who was a police officer at the Miami PD. Harry knew of Dexter's "Dark Passenger" since Dexter was a child and guided him in a "code" of how to choose his victims, how to kill them, and how to dispose of the bodies without getting caught. Harry thought this was how he could protect his son, since he knew what Dexter would eventually become and how much worse it would be if he didn't instill this "code" in Dexter while he was young. Dexter's sister, Harry's natural daughter, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) has also followed in Harry's footsteps, working as a police officer (who later makes detective) with the Miami PD.
We get to follow along with Dexter as he lives out his life, thirsting for blood but trying to maintain his facade of normalcy. The story is designed to get the viewer to sympathize with Dexter, and it does a magnificent job of doing so. I found myself fearful for Dexter when he was close to being caught, heartbroken for Dexter when his girlfriend splits up with him (after he's finally come to accept that he has feelings for her) and I came to rejoice with Dexter when he triumphed over the ruthless cop who was tracking him down.
This is an excellent show and is guaranteed to bring out the "dark passenger" in all of us.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Television Viewing Agenda Part 1
The HBO Original Series, True Blood, has definitely made a captive audience out of me. As I've mentioned before, I've read the books that this series is based off of and as usual, I think the books are far better but I love the show as well. As seems to be common when books are turned into television series, the producers have veered off of the path of the original story line. It seems with this season they have gone completely off the path. So far, nothing that I have seen in this season has been in the books at all. I'm still loving the show, but for those of you who haven't read the books I strongly urge that you do so, so that you might see how the author originally intended her story to be told. Anna Paquin plays the telepathic barmaid, Sookie Stackhouse. Many of you might recognize her for her work as the character Rogue in the X-Men movies. Stephen Moyer plays the mostly proper and old-fashioned vampire, Bill Compton aka "Vampire Bill". The incredibly dashing Alexander Skarsgård plays the flamboyant, heart throb, viking vampire Eric Northman. The television show seems to have a slightly more skewed involvement between Sookie and the supernatural community at large and less of one of Sookie in the vampire community in specific than the books.
The CW series, Supernatural, has got me so hooked that I feel like I'm going through major withdraw while I wait for the next season to start in October. Supernatural is about a family who hunts monsters, seriously. In the beginning of the show, we learn that Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) were raised as monster hunters by their father, John Winchester (Jeffery Dean Morgan), after their mother was murdered by a monster. There father has gone missing, leaving behind his journal, and they feel obligated to find out what happened to him and carry in his footsteps as necessary. The plot thickens as we later learn that the two men play a much more pivotal, and vital role in the grand scheme of things and as such become caught up in a very twisted war between angels and demons.
I sincerely hope to see more of the angel character Castiel (as played by Misha Collins) in this season than there was in the last. With his introduction in season 4, episode 1, Castiel swiftly became my favorite Supernatural persona. He's acquired his own fan base, dubbed "Misha's Minions" and due to his work in Supernatural has grown to be a quite popular actor. He founded Random Acts which is an organization that encourages people to do random acts of kindness. Random Acts has fostered acts that range from in depth charity missions to restore Haiti, to people randomly passing out flowers to people they meet on the streets. It is very inspiring. I digress, though.
The Vampire Diaries is another CW television show that has sucked me in and left me hanging waiting for the next season to start in October. Nina Dobrev plays the young and innocent Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley plays the repentant, somewhat broody vampire Stefan Salvatore and Ian Somerhalder plays the roguish, ladies-man vampire Damon Salvatore. I am aware that this show is based off of a series of books with the same title by L. J. Smith. Sadly, I was unaware of the books until after I was several seasons into the show and have yet to read them, though I do plan too. In the show, the Salvatore brothers have come back to Virginia to claim their family home. While there they find Elena Gilbert, both brothers are immediately stricken with Elena as she is the doppelganger of the vampire who turned them, Katherine Pierce. Katherine strung both of the brothers along in a love triangle while they were human, and then further so once they were turned. Damon was madly in love with Katherine, but Katherine merely saw him as a toy to play with. However, Katherine was in love with Stefan, who did not share the intensity of her feelings.
Now, Stefan and Elena are in love leaving Damon to once again be left in the cold, as he too has fallen for Elena. Alas, Elena's life is in jeopardy because she is the doppelganger to Katherine. The story has many twists and turns and I can't wait for the next season to arrive. Truth be told, Elena kind of gets on my nerves... she's just a little too good. Meanwhile, I have been routing for Damon to win Elena's affections from the beginning but even more so as his character has taken on less of a crude cast and has become somewhat softer.
Ian Somerhalder is another one of those inspiring actors having founded the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, that has a mission to save animals from all acts of cruelty, neglect and the invasion of humans into their habitats. He also works with his family to salvage old wood and use it to create furniture and works of art through the Built of Barnwood company.
Warehouse 13 is a Syfy show about two secret service agents, Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) who are reassigned to Warehouse 13. Warehouse 13 is a government warehouse that collects and safely stores items that have taken on supernatural/magical qualities. Each of the items of note either once belonged to someone of note or were a part of some sort of historical or mythological event. For instance, there is an episode in which Myka uses Marlyin Monroe's hair brush, which turns Myka's hair from brunette to blond. Many of the artifacts can cause harmful effects, such as a key that was owned by H. P. Lovecraft that when touched made other people percive the who touched the key as a Lovecraft-ian tentacled monster of one sort or another. This led the person who touched the key, and was thus the object of the hallucinations, to be beaten to death by those who hallucinated the monster instead of the human. Therefore, artifacts are considered to be wild and dangerous, and so are neutralized and kept in the Warehouse away from the populace. It is Pete and Myka's job to "grab, bag and tag" the artifacts that they are sent to find by their boss, Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). Claudia Donavan (Allison Scagliotti) joins the cast in season 4, episode 4. Claudia is a young woman who is super smart, incredible at hacking computers and designing new devices... even if she does have a rap sheet. Claudia is probably my favorite character on the show, I adore her personality and her sense of fashion.
The show Bones is about an FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) is teamed up with Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and her team of scientists at The Jeffersonian. Dr. Brennan's specialty is examining bones, and so is soon dubbed "Bones" by Booth. Although she does not take to the nickname initially, she soon accepts it with ease. Booth is a passionate man who relies on his intuition to guide him through life whereas Bones is an incredibly intelligent, calculating, not at all humble and unemotional woman. Somehow though, the two end up making the perfect pair as they work together to solve crimes, primarily of a murderous sort. It becomes evident at some point that Booth has fallen in love with Bones but it isn't until much later do we see Bones begins to reciprocate these feelings. Women viewers (and probably even men viewers) all over shed a collective happy tear on the night that Bones crawled into bed with Booth. Nine months later, a very pregnant Bones gives birth to a baby girl!
I cried a little to learn that House M.D. was coming to an end with its 8th season, but what a wonderful end it was! Dr. Gregory House M.D. (Hugh Laurie) works at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as a diagnostic specialist. He views his patients not as people with compassion and empathy but as puzzles to be solved. His philosophy is that all patients lie, and so he sends his team members to break into patients homes to find environmental factors, drugs, etc. If a patients case is boring, he won't take it. He plays pranks on the management, his staff and his best friend, oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). He's become addicted to Vicodin after years of use to stop the pain in his injured leg. He usurps authority and crosses all professional boundaries. In short, he's a major ass. But he is a brilliant ass, and that is what keeps him his job. He's the best, and the hospitals greatest asset.
The most interesting thing about Hugh Laurie is that although his American-English is perfect, not a hint of an accent he is actually from Oxfordshire, England and not only has a very heavy English Accent but also, his voice is not nearly as deep as it is when he speaks as House. I was awed when I first heard him talk as himself, he is an amazing actor and more impressively an amazing voice actor.
Doctor Who. Who doesn't love Doctor Who? OK, don't answer that. That would be blasphemy. I haven 't watched but a handful of episodes from the old Doctor Who but have watched all of the recent ones (marathon style-- thank you Netflix) and absolutely loved the show. Doctor Who is about a Time Lord named Doctor. The name of the show comes from the obvious question he is asked a million times, "Doctor Who?" The Time Lords are as the name implies, lords of time. The are able to move about in time and space with the use of their ships called TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The Doctor's TARDIS happens to appear externally as a blue Police Call Box, as the Doctor believes that it's something that would be easily overlooked. Internally it is full of lights, buttons and wires.
This Time Lord travels a lone, without a home to return too because his mortal enemy, the Daleks have destroyed Gallifrey. The Doctor was a young Time Lord, thirsting for adventure and so he stole the TARDIS and ran off to explore the world. While he was gone, his home was destroyed and so he believes himself to be the last living Time Lord. (Though in one episode, the TARDIS given a human form, that of an attractive woman, says that she was a young TARDIS, thirsting for adventure and so she stole a Time Lord and ran off.) In his adventures, he has taken on several different traveling companions (always women) for a time. Showing them the history of their planets, the futures and entirely new planets. Always there is some crisis for the Doctor to save the people from, even though generally speaking Time Lords don't get involved.
You might notice at this point that I haven't mentioned who played the Doctor. Well that's because the Doctor has taken on many forms. Whenever he becomes injured, seriously ill, or simply wants too, the Doctor (as all Time Lords) can regenerate himself, which completely changes his outward appearance and in many cases personality. So, no single actor can claim the role for too long. When I first started watching the show (the newer one) it was with the ninth actor to have played the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his traveling companion was Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). When the Doctor is forced to regenerate he becomes the tenth Doctor and my personal favorite (David Tennant). Rose spends some time with the Doctor but is eventually forced to be left behind with her mother and ex-boyfriend in a parallel world for her safety (and the safety of the worlds). The eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) brings a new traveling companion to the mix, Amelia "Amy" Pond (Karen Gillian) and her boyfriend Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). There is a strange twist in the story line involving these two young lovers, one that is vital to the Doctor's story as a whole and since I have already spilled enough, I won't spoil this part for you. I'm excited for the next season of Doctor Who to begin again. It looks like they have something scheduled for Christmas day!
The CW series, Supernatural, has got me so hooked that I feel like I'm going through major withdraw while I wait for the next season to start in October. Supernatural is about a family who hunts monsters, seriously. In the beginning of the show, we learn that Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) were raised as monster hunters by their father, John Winchester (Jeffery Dean Morgan), after their mother was murdered by a monster. There father has gone missing, leaving behind his journal, and they feel obligated to find out what happened to him and carry in his footsteps as necessary. The plot thickens as we later learn that the two men play a much more pivotal, and vital role in the grand scheme of things and as such become caught up in a very twisted war between angels and demons.
I sincerely hope to see more of the angel character Castiel (as played by Misha Collins) in this season than there was in the last. With his introduction in season 4, episode 1, Castiel swiftly became my favorite Supernatural persona. He's acquired his own fan base, dubbed "Misha's Minions" and due to his work in Supernatural has grown to be a quite popular actor. He founded Random Acts which is an organization that encourages people to do random acts of kindness. Random Acts has fostered acts that range from in depth charity missions to restore Haiti, to people randomly passing out flowers to people they meet on the streets. It is very inspiring. I digress, though.
The Vampire Diaries is another CW television show that has sucked me in and left me hanging waiting for the next season to start in October. Nina Dobrev plays the young and innocent Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley plays the repentant, somewhat broody vampire Stefan Salvatore and Ian Somerhalder plays the roguish, ladies-man vampire Damon Salvatore. I am aware that this show is based off of a series of books with the same title by L. J. Smith. Sadly, I was unaware of the books until after I was several seasons into the show and have yet to read them, though I do plan too. In the show, the Salvatore brothers have come back to Virginia to claim their family home. While there they find Elena Gilbert, both brothers are immediately stricken with Elena as she is the doppelganger of the vampire who turned them, Katherine Pierce. Katherine strung both of the brothers along in a love triangle while they were human, and then further so once they were turned. Damon was madly in love with Katherine, but Katherine merely saw him as a toy to play with. However, Katherine was in love with Stefan, who did not share the intensity of her feelings.
Now, Stefan and Elena are in love leaving Damon to once again be left in the cold, as he too has fallen for Elena. Alas, Elena's life is in jeopardy because she is the doppelganger to Katherine. The story has many twists and turns and I can't wait for the next season to arrive. Truth be told, Elena kind of gets on my nerves... she's just a little too good. Meanwhile, I have been routing for Damon to win Elena's affections from the beginning but even more so as his character has taken on less of a crude cast and has become somewhat softer.
Ian Somerhalder is another one of those inspiring actors having founded the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, that has a mission to save animals from all acts of cruelty, neglect and the invasion of humans into their habitats. He also works with his family to salvage old wood and use it to create furniture and works of art through the Built of Barnwood company.
Warehouse 13 is a Syfy show about two secret service agents, Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) who are reassigned to Warehouse 13. Warehouse 13 is a government warehouse that collects and safely stores items that have taken on supernatural/magical qualities. Each of the items of note either once belonged to someone of note or were a part of some sort of historical or mythological event. For instance, there is an episode in which Myka uses Marlyin Monroe's hair brush, which turns Myka's hair from brunette to blond. Many of the artifacts can cause harmful effects, such as a key that was owned by H. P. Lovecraft that when touched made other people percive the who touched the key as a Lovecraft-ian tentacled monster of one sort or another. This led the person who touched the key, and was thus the object of the hallucinations, to be beaten to death by those who hallucinated the monster instead of the human. Therefore, artifacts are considered to be wild and dangerous, and so are neutralized and kept in the Warehouse away from the populace. It is Pete and Myka's job to "grab, bag and tag" the artifacts that they are sent to find by their boss, Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). Claudia Donavan (Allison Scagliotti) joins the cast in season 4, episode 4. Claudia is a young woman who is super smart, incredible at hacking computers and designing new devices... even if she does have a rap sheet. Claudia is probably my favorite character on the show, I adore her personality and her sense of fashion.
The show Bones is about an FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) is teamed up with Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and her team of scientists at The Jeffersonian. Dr. Brennan's specialty is examining bones, and so is soon dubbed "Bones" by Booth. Although she does not take to the nickname initially, she soon accepts it with ease. Booth is a passionate man who relies on his intuition to guide him through life whereas Bones is an incredibly intelligent, calculating, not at all humble and unemotional woman. Somehow though, the two end up making the perfect pair as they work together to solve crimes, primarily of a murderous sort. It becomes evident at some point that Booth has fallen in love with Bones but it isn't until much later do we see Bones begins to reciprocate these feelings. Women viewers (and probably even men viewers) all over shed a collective happy tear on the night that Bones crawled into bed with Booth. Nine months later, a very pregnant Bones gives birth to a baby girl!
I cried a little to learn that House M.D. was coming to an end with its 8th season, but what a wonderful end it was! Dr. Gregory House M.D. (Hugh Laurie) works at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as a diagnostic specialist. He views his patients not as people with compassion and empathy but as puzzles to be solved. His philosophy is that all patients lie, and so he sends his team members to break into patients homes to find environmental factors, drugs, etc. If a patients case is boring, he won't take it. He plays pranks on the management, his staff and his best friend, oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). He's become addicted to Vicodin after years of use to stop the pain in his injured leg. He usurps authority and crosses all professional boundaries. In short, he's a major ass. But he is a brilliant ass, and that is what keeps him his job. He's the best, and the hospitals greatest asset.
The most interesting thing about Hugh Laurie is that although his American-English is perfect, not a hint of an accent he is actually from Oxfordshire, England and not only has a very heavy English Accent but also, his voice is not nearly as deep as it is when he speaks as House. I was awed when I first heard him talk as himself, he is an amazing actor and more impressively an amazing voice actor.
Doctor Who. Who doesn't love Doctor Who? OK, don't answer that. That would be blasphemy. I haven 't watched but a handful of episodes from the old Doctor Who but have watched all of the recent ones (marathon style-- thank you Netflix) and absolutely loved the show. Doctor Who is about a Time Lord named Doctor. The name of the show comes from the obvious question he is asked a million times, "Doctor Who?" The Time Lords are as the name implies, lords of time. The are able to move about in time and space with the use of their ships called TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The Doctor's TARDIS happens to appear externally as a blue Police Call Box, as the Doctor believes that it's something that would be easily overlooked. Internally it is full of lights, buttons and wires.
This Time Lord travels a lone, without a home to return too because his mortal enemy, the Daleks have destroyed Gallifrey. The Doctor was a young Time Lord, thirsting for adventure and so he stole the TARDIS and ran off to explore the world. While he was gone, his home was destroyed and so he believes himself to be the last living Time Lord. (Though in one episode, the TARDIS given a human form, that of an attractive woman, says that she was a young TARDIS, thirsting for adventure and so she stole a Time Lord and ran off.) In his adventures, he has taken on several different traveling companions (always women) for a time. Showing them the history of their planets, the futures and entirely new planets. Always there is some crisis for the Doctor to save the people from, even though generally speaking Time Lords don't get involved.
You might notice at this point that I haven't mentioned who played the Doctor. Well that's because the Doctor has taken on many forms. Whenever he becomes injured, seriously ill, or simply wants too, the Doctor (as all Time Lords) can regenerate himself, which completely changes his outward appearance and in many cases personality. So, no single actor can claim the role for too long. When I first started watching the show (the newer one) it was with the ninth actor to have played the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his traveling companion was Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). When the Doctor is forced to regenerate he becomes the tenth Doctor and my personal favorite (David Tennant). Rose spends some time with the Doctor but is eventually forced to be left behind with her mother and ex-boyfriend in a parallel world for her safety (and the safety of the worlds). The eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) brings a new traveling companion to the mix, Amelia "Amy" Pond (Karen Gillian) and her boyfriend Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). There is a strange twist in the story line involving these two young lovers, one that is vital to the Doctor's story as a whole and since I have already spilled enough, I won't spoil this part for you. I'm excited for the next season of Doctor Who to begin again. It looks like they have something scheduled for Christmas day!
A quick note
I'm working on a post for this blog that is taking me a long time to finish, not because I'm not writing but because it's content heavy and I'm having to double check names of actors ect. I've decided to release it in two parts.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Reading all summer
I've spent the majority of my summer break reading for pleasure. Books are probably my all time favorite past time, and I'm a fairly fast reader. So far this summer I've read (though not in this specific order):
The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison I absolutely loved this series and would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy based books. These books are about witch with an attitude named Rachel Morgan. After choosing to quit her job (a job that quitting comes with a death sentence) she decides to open her own PI Office with her living vampire friend Ivy and trusty pixie side kick, Jenks. Life is rocky for this trio until Rachel's blood reveals the secret to her history, opening up a whole new set of magical possibilities and a whole new can of worms. I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out!
The Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill I enjoyed reading these books, and definitely plan to read any future books that come out in this series. Author Chloe Neill paints a portrait of organized vampire politics in the Chicagoland Vampire Series. These books take place in a modern day Chicago after vampires have announced their existence to the world. There are various "houses" of vampires, not too unlike frat houses, and our Heroine, Merit, becomes a member of the Cadogan House. Not having chosen to become a vampire, as is the standard practice, Merit holds a grudge against her new life but soon learns to accept who she has become. Meanwhile, she finds herself falling in love with the head vamp of Cadogan House, Ethan Sullivan, even though he gets under her skin.
The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews In a world where magic and technology battle each other, each coming and going in waves, mercenary Kate Daniels must work hard to hide her secrets and to keep herself emotionally separated from everyone around her because to have friends carries the equivalent to sentencing them to death. Perhaps what is the most fascinating in this series is the uniqueness of the magic/tech dichotomy and the nature of vampires that Ilona Andrews has come up with. When a technology wave hits, magic stops working, during a magic wave technology stops working. The return of the magic to the world has slowly disintegrated the buildings and has revived or empowered magical entities such as shape shifters, trolls and vampires. Vampires, however, are shriveled human corpses with no will and no mind of their own save the uncontrolled blood lust. A special sect of Necromancers known as "The People" use the vampires through remote psychic control, navigating their bodies, using them as messengers or as soldiers when needed. Should the Necromancer controlling a vampire loose control, the vampire would revert to it's animalistic blood lust rampage, killing everything in sight. I will definitely be looking for more books in this series.
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins These books have become quite famous, and a movie about the first book was recently released although I have not seen it yet. In a post apocalypse-esque setting, a young girl is faced with the decision of leaving her family to care for themselves even though she is the primary provider, so that she might take her little sisters place in the Games, or watching her sister go instead, knowing that whichever of them goes, they will likely die a horrible death for no other real purpose than to entertain the sick upper-class citizens of The Capital. Katniss Everdeen makes the choice that we would all like to believe we would make, and took the place of her sister, Primrose Everdeen, in the Games. This is a horrifying tale of what humanity could become, revolution and courage. I would definitely recommend these books.
The latest two books in The Immortals Series by Alyson Nöel I would not strongly recommend these books, but I definitely wouldn't discourage anyone from reading them either. I found them to be just interesting enough that I continued to read them. I first started this series in 2009 when the first book came out, and have read each of the books as they've been released if not right away then eventually. In these books a high school girl named Ever, who has miraculously survived a car accident that killed everyone else in her family, meets and falls for the new guy at school, Damen. At first he seems to like her as well, but then his behavior changes and she isn't so certain. Shortly she learns that the boy is much older than anyone could imagine, and has been kept alive and young by drinking an Elixir that was created with the Philosopher's Stone. She learns that even though it is beyond her ability to remember, she and Damen have been locked in a tragic cycle through many of her lives. They meet, fall in love and before they can consummate the relationship she is tragically killed only to be reincarnated and have the cycle begin anew when the immortal Damen finds her once more.
The first and half of the second book of The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James As popular as these books have swiftly become, I definitely do not recommend them. I struggled through the first book and managed to read part of the second book before I finally could take no more. These books definitely fall into the erotica category, which is a category I often do enjoy, but the authors writing style mixed with the pathetic personality of the lead female role were just too much for me to handle. For many others though, the books are hot stuff. In these books a young woman, Anastasia "Ana" Steele finds herself falling for an incredibly wealthy, incredibly well-known and incredibly handsome man named Christian Grey. She quickly learns that Christian wants her to agree to sign a contract in which she will willingly submit herself to act as a submissive to his dominant, engaging in whatever sexual acts and disciplinary acts he deems fit with the exception of those outlined in the contract as being "Hard Rules" (off-limits). Even though it baffles the overly jealous Christian, he finds himself developing feelings for the naive and sexually innocent Anastasia. I can't tell you how the story ends, because honestly I don't know. The plot was unappealing to me, and the sex scenes weren't even that erotic.
The latest book in The Werecats Series by Rachel Vincent As with the Immortals series, I've read this series bit by bit as it has come out. I enjoyed this series and will read any further books that come out from this series. These books are not at the top of my recommend list, but they are definitely on it somewhere. Faythe Sanders is a werecat, females (Tabbies) are apparently very rare and coveted among her people but instead of marrying herself off and making babies as most Tabbies are expected (and gladly do), Faythe decided to leave her families compound and her Alpha (who happens to be her father) and go to college among the humans instead. When trouble begins to stir for all werecats, Faythe is called upon to return home where she soon finds herself trapped in a problematic love triangle between herself, her ex-boyfriend and a long time family friend. A story unfolds over several books, of Faythe's struggle for independence, love and inevitably taking over the job of Alpha that her father has been grooming her for (even though females are not normally Alphas and Faythe is not without brothers).
The latest book in The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini These books were quite popular when the first three were out, but have lost some popularity due to the amount of time it took the author to complete and release the fourth book. In a fantasy world where dragons and elves are the stuff of legends, a young man named Eragon stumbles upon a strange blue egg-like rock. Feeling drawn to it, he takes it with him only to find out that it is no rock at all when it hatches a beautiful, sparkling blue baby dragon. The dragon establishes a telepathic link with Eragon, binding herself to him for life. When an Elven woman comes looking for the egg, as it was her duty to protect it (she apparently attempted to send the egg to a safe location using magic when she felt it was endangered, but the egg through destiny made it's way to Eragon instead), she is shocked to find that the egg has not only hatched but has hatched for this human untrained human man. It being her duty to protect the young dragon, and now the dragon's rider (Eragon) she escorts them to the land of the elves so that they can be properly trained. Eragon and the dragon, Saphira, learn of the dangers that face them and the rest of the world and come to understand that the world relies on them to save it from the threats. These are excellent books, and I definitely would recommend them.
The latest book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris These books quickly became some of my most favorites, and I impatiently anticipate the release of the next book in the series. For those of you who haven't heard of the books, you might better recognize the name of the HBO original series based off of these books: True Blood. There are many books to this series so it's hard to sum them up in a paragraph, but I'll try to get the basics. A telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps Louisiana falls in love with a vampire named Bill Compton. Vampires are common knowledge these days, as they have "come out of the coffin", that is publicly announced their presence, after the creation of a synthetic blood that was created by the Japanese for medical purposes was realized to support a vampires nutritional needs. That doesn't mean, of course, that the vampires don't prefer to drink from humans but publicly they drink the synthetic blood. Finding herself swiftly immersed in Vampire politics, Sookie Stackhouse is forced to use her telepathic abilities (which only work fully on humans, somewhat on shapeshifters but not at all on vampires) to solve mysteries for the Vampires. Soon she learns that Vampires are not the only supernatural beings out there, by far. Shapeshifters and Fairies play predominant roles in these books, but demons and elves play lesser parts as well. Sookie finds herself trying to balance her normal human day life and her vampire loving night life in these semi-erotic, totally addictive books.
I am currently reading:
The Edge Series by Ilona Andrews I'm currently on the second book of this series and although I wasn't too sure about the books when I first started the series, they quickly grew on me and I am thoroughly enjoying them. This series is about two mirrored worlds, and the place that they overlap. In The Broken there is no magic whatsoever, and those with magic experience severe pain (if not death) and a loss of magic if they cross over into The Broken. The Weird is where magic thrives, to be in the Weird is to either have the ability to use magic very strongly or to simply be magical such as are the "Changelings" (most books would call them shapeshifters, people born with the ability to change into an animal). The place where the two worlds overlap is called The Edge. In The Edge there is no real government, no ruling class, it's a free for all society in which those who have some magic struggle to eek out a living. Most people who live in The Weird have no knowledge of The Broken and minimal if any knowledge of The Edge, those who live in The Broken live their lives likewise. Those that live in The Edge know of both and in most cases are able to pass back and forth between the worlds. So far the two books have not shared the same main characters, though the main Hero of the second book was a secondary character in the first book. It is this story line connection, and The Edge that bring the two books together. They are definitely interesting and I'm looking forward to the third book as I am nearing the end of the second. So far, I would recommend these books.
The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison I absolutely loved this series and would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy based books. These books are about witch with an attitude named Rachel Morgan. After choosing to quit her job (a job that quitting comes with a death sentence) she decides to open her own PI Office with her living vampire friend Ivy and trusty pixie side kick, Jenks. Life is rocky for this trio until Rachel's blood reveals the secret to her history, opening up a whole new set of magical possibilities and a whole new can of worms. I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out!
The Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill I enjoyed reading these books, and definitely plan to read any future books that come out in this series. Author Chloe Neill paints a portrait of organized vampire politics in the Chicagoland Vampire Series. These books take place in a modern day Chicago after vampires have announced their existence to the world. There are various "houses" of vampires, not too unlike frat houses, and our Heroine, Merit, becomes a member of the Cadogan House. Not having chosen to become a vampire, as is the standard practice, Merit holds a grudge against her new life but soon learns to accept who she has become. Meanwhile, she finds herself falling in love with the head vamp of Cadogan House, Ethan Sullivan, even though he gets under her skin.
The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews In a world where magic and technology battle each other, each coming and going in waves, mercenary Kate Daniels must work hard to hide her secrets and to keep herself emotionally separated from everyone around her because to have friends carries the equivalent to sentencing them to death. Perhaps what is the most fascinating in this series is the uniqueness of the magic/tech dichotomy and the nature of vampires that Ilona Andrews has come up with. When a technology wave hits, magic stops working, during a magic wave technology stops working. The return of the magic to the world has slowly disintegrated the buildings and has revived or empowered magical entities such as shape shifters, trolls and vampires. Vampires, however, are shriveled human corpses with no will and no mind of their own save the uncontrolled blood lust. A special sect of Necromancers known as "The People" use the vampires through remote psychic control, navigating their bodies, using them as messengers or as soldiers when needed. Should the Necromancer controlling a vampire loose control, the vampire would revert to it's animalistic blood lust rampage, killing everything in sight. I will definitely be looking for more books in this series.
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins These books have become quite famous, and a movie about the first book was recently released although I have not seen it yet. In a post apocalypse-esque setting, a young girl is faced with the decision of leaving her family to care for themselves even though she is the primary provider, so that she might take her little sisters place in the Games, or watching her sister go instead, knowing that whichever of them goes, they will likely die a horrible death for no other real purpose than to entertain the sick upper-class citizens of The Capital. Katniss Everdeen makes the choice that we would all like to believe we would make, and took the place of her sister, Primrose Everdeen, in the Games. This is a horrifying tale of what humanity could become, revolution and courage. I would definitely recommend these books.
The latest two books in The Immortals Series by Alyson Nöel I would not strongly recommend these books, but I definitely wouldn't discourage anyone from reading them either. I found them to be just interesting enough that I continued to read them. I first started this series in 2009 when the first book came out, and have read each of the books as they've been released if not right away then eventually. In these books a high school girl named Ever, who has miraculously survived a car accident that killed everyone else in her family, meets and falls for the new guy at school, Damen. At first he seems to like her as well, but then his behavior changes and she isn't so certain. Shortly she learns that the boy is much older than anyone could imagine, and has been kept alive and young by drinking an Elixir that was created with the Philosopher's Stone. She learns that even though it is beyond her ability to remember, she and Damen have been locked in a tragic cycle through many of her lives. They meet, fall in love and before they can consummate the relationship she is tragically killed only to be reincarnated and have the cycle begin anew when the immortal Damen finds her once more.
The first and half of the second book of The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James As popular as these books have swiftly become, I definitely do not recommend them. I struggled through the first book and managed to read part of the second book before I finally could take no more. These books definitely fall into the erotica category, which is a category I often do enjoy, but the authors writing style mixed with the pathetic personality of the lead female role were just too much for me to handle. For many others though, the books are hot stuff. In these books a young woman, Anastasia "Ana" Steele finds herself falling for an incredibly wealthy, incredibly well-known and incredibly handsome man named Christian Grey. She quickly learns that Christian wants her to agree to sign a contract in which she will willingly submit herself to act as a submissive to his dominant, engaging in whatever sexual acts and disciplinary acts he deems fit with the exception of those outlined in the contract as being "Hard Rules" (off-limits). Even though it baffles the overly jealous Christian, he finds himself developing feelings for the naive and sexually innocent Anastasia. I can't tell you how the story ends, because honestly I don't know. The plot was unappealing to me, and the sex scenes weren't even that erotic.
The latest book in The Werecats Series by Rachel Vincent As with the Immortals series, I've read this series bit by bit as it has come out. I enjoyed this series and will read any further books that come out from this series. These books are not at the top of my recommend list, but they are definitely on it somewhere. Faythe Sanders is a werecat, females (Tabbies) are apparently very rare and coveted among her people but instead of marrying herself off and making babies as most Tabbies are expected (and gladly do), Faythe decided to leave her families compound and her Alpha (who happens to be her father) and go to college among the humans instead. When trouble begins to stir for all werecats, Faythe is called upon to return home where she soon finds herself trapped in a problematic love triangle between herself, her ex-boyfriend and a long time family friend. A story unfolds over several books, of Faythe's struggle for independence, love and inevitably taking over the job of Alpha that her father has been grooming her for (even though females are not normally Alphas and Faythe is not without brothers).
The latest book in The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini These books were quite popular when the first three were out, but have lost some popularity due to the amount of time it took the author to complete and release the fourth book. In a fantasy world where dragons and elves are the stuff of legends, a young man named Eragon stumbles upon a strange blue egg-like rock. Feeling drawn to it, he takes it with him only to find out that it is no rock at all when it hatches a beautiful, sparkling blue baby dragon. The dragon establishes a telepathic link with Eragon, binding herself to him for life. When an Elven woman comes looking for the egg, as it was her duty to protect it (she apparently attempted to send the egg to a safe location using magic when she felt it was endangered, but the egg through destiny made it's way to Eragon instead), she is shocked to find that the egg has not only hatched but has hatched for this human untrained human man. It being her duty to protect the young dragon, and now the dragon's rider (Eragon) she escorts them to the land of the elves so that they can be properly trained. Eragon and the dragon, Saphira, learn of the dangers that face them and the rest of the world and come to understand that the world relies on them to save it from the threats. These are excellent books, and I definitely would recommend them.
The latest book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris These books quickly became some of my most favorites, and I impatiently anticipate the release of the next book in the series. For those of you who haven't heard of the books, you might better recognize the name of the HBO original series based off of these books: True Blood. There are many books to this series so it's hard to sum them up in a paragraph, but I'll try to get the basics. A telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps Louisiana falls in love with a vampire named Bill Compton. Vampires are common knowledge these days, as they have "come out of the coffin", that is publicly announced their presence, after the creation of a synthetic blood that was created by the Japanese for medical purposes was realized to support a vampires nutritional needs. That doesn't mean, of course, that the vampires don't prefer to drink from humans but publicly they drink the synthetic blood. Finding herself swiftly immersed in Vampire politics, Sookie Stackhouse is forced to use her telepathic abilities (which only work fully on humans, somewhat on shapeshifters but not at all on vampires) to solve mysteries for the Vampires. Soon she learns that Vampires are not the only supernatural beings out there, by far. Shapeshifters and Fairies play predominant roles in these books, but demons and elves play lesser parts as well. Sookie finds herself trying to balance her normal human day life and her vampire loving night life in these semi-erotic, totally addictive books.
I am currently reading:
The Edge Series by Ilona Andrews I'm currently on the second book of this series and although I wasn't too sure about the books when I first started the series, they quickly grew on me and I am thoroughly enjoying them. This series is about two mirrored worlds, and the place that they overlap. In The Broken there is no magic whatsoever, and those with magic experience severe pain (if not death) and a loss of magic if they cross over into The Broken. The Weird is where magic thrives, to be in the Weird is to either have the ability to use magic very strongly or to simply be magical such as are the "Changelings" (most books would call them shapeshifters, people born with the ability to change into an animal). The place where the two worlds overlap is called The Edge. In The Edge there is no real government, no ruling class, it's a free for all society in which those who have some magic struggle to eek out a living. Most people who live in The Weird have no knowledge of The Broken and minimal if any knowledge of The Edge, those who live in The Broken live their lives likewise. Those that live in The Edge know of both and in most cases are able to pass back and forth between the worlds. So far the two books have not shared the same main characters, though the main Hero of the second book was a secondary character in the first book. It is this story line connection, and The Edge that bring the two books together. They are definitely interesting and I'm looking forward to the third book as I am nearing the end of the second. So far, I would recommend these books.
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