Deleting

Sometimes I look back at my old posts and consider deleting everything. But I don't because...I don't know. There are those random posts that have hundreds of views (not including my own of course) and I get all happyish inside and think "wow I'm so popular," and then there are those posts with zero views and zero comments that make me think it might as well have never existed. I do like to see how I've improved. I sounded like such a child 3 years ago.

And I guess I was. I was 16. And that was okay at the time. It was really how my 16 year old self felt about novels specifically made for my age group and up. Also, at the time, I was reading "okay" novels.  Now I don't have the luxury of reading books that will just be "okay." I need amazing because amazing is the only thing that will persuade me to lose two hours of sleep on a school night.

So. If you know any amazings, let me know.

I've Read Some Things

I have. I really have. It's just that the process of reviewing them takes so long. So I tend to just stick with the rating system on Goodreads and nothing more. This summer I read a lot. A LOT. And yet, there has been no sign of my progress. Dah well.

I just picked up The New Jim Crow from my school library and am extremely excited to read it. I also was reading the second Game of Thrones book (Clash of Kings maybe?) but had to return it to the library because I got immersed in organic chemistry and had to choose between the kingdoms and my gpa. I'll probably end up purchasing it though...

Actually, looking back, I didn't read as much as I thought I did. Sorry for leading you on, only to let you down at the end of this post.

I'll talk to you when I talk to you.

I forgot I had a blog...

Well. I will not say "I'm back!" because who knows when I will drop off the face of the earth for about two years. But I am alive and well.

I did, in fact, forget I had a book blog. I remembered today and decided to check up on things. I seriously was not expecting my blog to have so much traffic when I have not updated it for about two years. I will try to get back into the swing of things. I still read! I don't make videos anymore because my camera broke and I still have yet to replace it.

I'm realizing that I have to do a massive overhaul on my blog. Like. Man. For one, I do not wear those white glasses anymore. My hair has also gotten a lot longer. There are also a lot of links to blogs that don't work or are no longer being updated. I think everyone has moved to tumblr...maybe I'll get with the flow and do that...or WordPress. I'll keep you posted.

I think the main reason I stopped updating was because I got into a HUGE reading slump. It would take a lot for me to pick up a book and read. I loved reading about people reading, looking for new books to read, and watching people talk about reading. But when it came time for me to actually READ, I ran into some trouble. That lasted for about a year. And then I started college. That explains much of my absence. I still don't read as much as I used to but I've gotten a lot better.

I will be sure to let you all know if I will be switching to WordPress. I feel like I need a fresh start so that is a good possibility.

-Stefanie

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

If you adored this book, don't read this review because I have NOTHING good to say about it.

This. Book. Sucked. Butt.

Anyways. On to the review.

(From Goodreads) 

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

 Characters: I have tried writing about the characters in a way that would make me not sound like an annoying ignorant teenager. I have deleted many a paragraphs because I wanted to sound somewhat intelligent and not like a blabbering idiot. But I have come to the conclusion that I cannot write a review on this book without sounding like I have lost some sense. I cannot not rant about the ill contrived characters present in this novel. It is physically, mentally, and spiritually impossible for me to do. So I am going make a list of great literary works and philosophical theories. I do this with the hope that reading the list before you read the rest of my review will counteract the intelligence--well, lack thereof-- present in the following paragraphs. Proceed with caution. 

• Aristotle's Allegory of the Cave
• Man's Inhumanity to Man
• Frankenstein's monster is in actuality a reflection of Frankenstien's fears
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• The Iliad by Homer
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• Archetypes that cycle in literature of our generation.
• Existentialism
• The Stranger by Albert Camus

Okay, so...characters.

Calla was a lame excuse for an alpha. She was incredibly weak and had zero backbone. Her pack mates would just talk back to her and defy her and she wouldn't do ANYTHING! My goodness girl! The reader comes into the book thinking Calla will be very assertive and head strong, but, alas, she is not. Her pack blatantly defies her and she is a poor excuse of a leader. Calla also acted a bit...hoeish. She would just flip-flop between Ren and Shay and let both of them do practically whatever they wanted. She would spend time making out with Ren and then be all over Shay in a second. And let me not get started on Shay. Shay acted like an idiot. He risked Calla's life so many times and had the nerve to tell Calla he loved her. When Calla says, "If I read that book, I will DIE," (paraphrased of course) Shay just offers her a "sheepish grin" and says "Aren't you curious?" Dude, I'm curious to see what happens when somebody actually wakes up a grizzly bear from hibernation but you don't see me splashing water on its face. He knew Calla for less than a year and he was trying to break up a marriage that was arranged for over 16 years. The boy is an idiot. Now Ren. Ren was very typical and predictable. He was the bad boy who ended up being insecure and a big softie. I was not a huge fan of his, but he was wayyy better than Shay. Bryn, Calla's bestfriend, was not much of a bestfriend. She wasn't really there the majority of the book. I also thought the romance between Bryn and Ansel, Calla's brother, was not put together well. They make out once and then they are in love. I thought Ansel was a bit too sweet and "funny". He is16 years old, not 10. So to sum everything up, none of the characters seemed real or believable.


Plot: ...There was a plot? Oh, unless you count Calla's flip-flopping between guys to be a legitimate plot, then there wasn't one. Okay though, seriously? There was a semblance of a plot in the last 50ish pages but it was very sloppily put together. This was the kind of plot where the characters were just asking to get caught. Boo.

Writing Style: Hated it. Cremer tended to sound like a teenager. An annoying, whiny, hoeish one. Cremer also barely explained herself. In the very first scene of the book, Calla shifts from a wolf to a human in front of a human boy. The boy is stunned and I assumed it was a mixture of shock from seeing a wolf change into a girl and the fact that she was naked. It took the book 75 pages to explain that when a guardian/wolf shifted forms, their clothes did not, in fact, rip off. The Guardian-Keeper-Searcher relationship did not mesh for me and actually left me feeling a bit confused. The history of the Guardians was not put together very well and was very very boring. I did not think this Nightshade needed to be as long as it was. Some parts of the book were unnecessary and did not aid in further developing the story. All in all, this book felt messily put together.

Verdict: 1/5 stars. I never want to hate books. But I really despised this one. I will NOT be reading Wolfsbane. I don't want to write another scathing review on it.

P.S.Who else dislikes the new cover of Nightshade and Wolfsbane? It looks very cheap :/. But I do like how I can tell the same model was used on each cover.

Finally!!!!!

Yay! A Video!

This week was crazy busy! I hope to get back on track soon!

So...

It's been about two weeks since I last made a post. All I have to say is school. School school school. School. I have gotten some good books and whatnot and I even recorded TWO videos but I just have no time to edit them and upload them and all that jazz. I hope to get back on track soon. I miss making reviews for my three followers. Seriously though, by the end of this week I WILL have posted something book related on this bloggity blog. Promise!

I heard cute puppies make everything better.