The Day Before:

My rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
The story starts off in a sprint of lyrical mysteries surrounding a girl name Amber. Amber, after sneaking out of her house successfully, hopes a ride in a limo down to the beach where she's left the excitement an chance of a wicked adventure completely up to the fate that day holds:

"Let the day 

reveal itself to me

in its own time,

In it's own way.

I am yours, Today.

I am yours."

I never enjoyed words more, a cliffhanger and a mind-reeler how ironic given the summary of this book. As it proceeds, however the story becomes flinty and the characters-- well flimsy to hold a connection with. The whole boy meets girl-girl falls in love-boys got a secret cliche threw me off guard. The adolescent nature of the troubled teens was vigorously true unlike some Y.A. novels that suggest a 17-year-old would honestly be capable of giving up her life in order to pursue love. With all the secrets revealed and the story wrapping itself in a tight neat bow I found myself disappointed. I liked the prose but the entire plot was as bland as a boiled pork chop.

Unbelievable (Pretty Little Lairs #4):

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
A flashback at the beginning of the story of the day before the infamous sleepover sets you on edge and I love it. A good psychopathic thriller is just the sort of reading material I should be reading instead of getting a head start on The Aeneid for Fall Semester. 
Oh Aria my favorite pretty lair you just don't quit do you. Admiral as it is darling, do you honestly figure spence as the killer? She's something alright with her flip-flop wish-y/wash-y boggled mind playing constant streams of trickery on her A barely has to do anything but shove her off that balance scale of hers. And dear Lord Emily what planet have you landed on? Any moment I expect the shinning to take over her life. I mean really the chickens donate upset with screaming, well perhaps goats oughtn't barrel towards people and the said people might not have a reason upset livestock. Great now I'm talking like I've stepped out of some Hollywood made up Wild West movie. Until just as the chainsaw start to blare Miss Country-bumpkin of a cousin steps in to--fingers crossed--liven Iowa up a bit. Partying in a silo? So not the Gala I was expecting then again her cow of a cousin turning Ems into her uncle and aunt wasn't expected neither.
Spence you poor demented bunny rabbit, are always one tiniest bit of a step behind aren't you? Then again parental stability does count for everything theses days. Her parents allowing Spencer to go ahead with competing with forged essay for Golden Orchid--a prize she scarcely wanted as it was, what with it having to do with horrid Econ--must suck up all the limelight she can before something breaks.
Hanna Marin of all the Rosewood dollface's you've got to be the one with a memory lapse. Seriously selfish. ;-) We were as it was just about to find out who A was, riveting oh yes it was. Don't worry though that fickle mistress of a memory floods back eventually leaving my little cub scouts scrambling to protect a fellow Lair in grave danger. 

WHAT HAPPENED:

Emily did you honestly expect banishment on a Iowa farm to last. I mean think of all those saucy ripped Abercombie's you'd have had to trade in for overalls well that's if the swear jar behaves. Horrifying I know. 

Spence now that those pesky memories have finally hit to straight and narrow think you might want to ditch the whole sister-boyfriend-kissing-marrathon you've got going. Oh and do watch the road conditions, Hon thunder showers are sure to come rearing its lovely head any time soon.Hanna, Love, how many times must I keep repeating myself. Cheese fries do not make everything better and Mona is a hag. Lucas was a treat i was rooting for but obviously treats and Rosewood Day's Queen Bee don't mix do they. Oink, oink: piggy says I'm no where near finished with you.

Aria, my pretty little favorite. The Mindless Art class Meredith so kindly paid for is paying off it seems. Right? And of that soulmate of yours, well teacher-to-student ratios have been lazy haven't they. Chin up, darling you've always got Meredith's diabolical secret to uncover. And if that gets dull; because let's face it not much wrinkled feathers comes a woman who enjoying painting cockroaches on ceilings as a pastime, you've always got The whole Jenny Thing to have another anxiety attack about. But good news Aria Jason's back and something tells me there's a (legal) connection going on there. Good luck doll face.

Because yeah bitches; I saw the entire thing go down. Or should I say; blow up.

- A

The Secret Circle: The Initiation & The Captive-Part I:

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
The beginning was bland, which is something because Smith normally delivers a taunt lucrative web of entrapment during the first dozen pages or so.
Cassie spends the summer in Cape Cod her mothers native hometown and meets the most interesting people. When the tune comes to return home to sunny normal California her mother drops a surprise in Cassie's lap. California's out and New Salem the newest red.
Cassie learns that their are some perks that come with living on Crowhaven Street and although Smith didn't dive straight into magic powers he did give a taste of what's to come. Cassie finds solace in Diana the picture perfect older sister who takes Cassie under her wing. Cassie realizes that something about New Salem is different, the Club Diana leads rules the town, teachers and students--the outsiders--are afraid to even look at the eleven Club members cross but when dead bodies of both outsiders and Club members start popping up, well tensions raise and all beats are off.
Oh dear Mother Earth Cassie grow some balls! After a dozen pages of Smith reenacting the brittle bitch meets Cinderella I just about nearly put to book back on my shelf. Smith made Cassie into a pathetic whining child, it is the sheer only time I revealed in how inadequate a book seemed in comparison to its T.V. spin off. Then the mighty Diana comes along and for a long stretch of the book I think Cassie might just be in love with her. Which would be a bloody brilliant twist if Smith ever got to the jumping-out-of-the-closet part of the novel.
Faye; my favorite character for the series is portrayed as the horrid dark witch in the book, the skull inflames my curiosity and Diana well she just seemed to get on my nerves a bit. Who is that nice?


P.S. News about the series I just heard: Season two has been canceled, however ABC Family might might it up. Please, oh please ABC Family pick it up.

Lark:

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

A girl is taken, stolen. A gymnast, diver, ballerina, best friend and baby sitter is kidnapped from curbside out side her gym. She's tied to a tree and left to die, having already been beaten, stabbed and bruised. Lark never thought she'd be one of those girls from the news. The ones making sadistic headlines, Missing Girl Found Dead; but she did, she made headlines and the entire town skipped a beat, only a beat.

When Lark finds that her soul cannot move on from the tree she'd died tied to, she reaches out to her old best friend Eve and Nyetta a little girl Lark would babysit. She needs only for them to look. If they see what happened and understand her death Lark will be free. 

Potentate in its realism, stark in its ferocity, and somehow mangled with rigid lyricism. I absolutely devoured the entire short read. I felt at one point that my heart had frozen, been brittled over with littering cracks running the entire length of it, for surely not more could hurt after this novel. The descriptive nature of which Porter portrays three separate yet interwoven lives is awe-inspiring and at points left me breathless. I was so thoroughly stunned to the point at one interval that I glared down at the book silently cursing its existence then tossed it onto my bed determined to no longer read it anymore.

Porter's writing style is something of a unique quality, it is fluid and richly descriptive, while complex and unnerving. At some point I thought it might hold a bit of prose in it for the rhythm of the novel seem to pulse with the beat of a good freelance poem.

Perfect (Pretty Little Lairs #3):

"Apparently
Aria's platform boots
and grey knitted earflap hat
indicated she was surely up to something
nefarious."

My Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
First off; what did Shepard grow up around?! I mean either she's got a morbid bone to pick with her parents or she's read far too many Bronte novels. The parents of these girl are horrid unloving things. Poor Aria's mom can't suck up her feelings long enough to realize she's a mother and oh yeah maybe their dad screwing a teenage girl might be just a little hard on Aria too. But oh its too hard for Ella to look at her, right. 
Spencer's parents; well I won't even get into that social service agents wet dream. I mean seriously who disowns a girl for kissing her sisters boyfriend and then freezes her out while her missing friends body is dug up in front of her eyes. Grimm fairytale here we come young adult readers. Hanna, poor demented Hanna. Grow a pair and drop Mona; she's a hag. Your mother well, she's the least terrifying of mothers; your dad well he's-a-piece-of-shit. Excuse my French. He doesn't want you okay no problem take comfort in the fact that drifting men always wander again. Pretty soon Isabel will be boring and plain, Kate will the selfish Bitch she always is and he'll be onto daughter and wife 3.0. 
Emily, Emily, Emily I feel for you really. A dilemma that big is not something you can actually ignore. Fake being straight to appease that racist cow and continue to live amongst humans and not pigs. Toughie really! Things after this really just start to spiral off the band wagon, my darlings. But no, no more juicy, details from me. However, I can drop a few hints can't I? Just enough to make Ali proud.

WHAT HAPPENED:

Apparently soul mates cant be separated, let's hope a certain someone looks fetching in orange. Besides someone had to get That Scooby sniffer of yours pointed in the right direction or who knows what else you might have dug up. Secrets are better left to capable and experienced hands wouldn't you say? Wouldn't want to accuse the wrong killer. 

Oh Hanna you poor (gaining) little cheese addicted thing; didn't I tell you Mona was a hag. Best friends, please Hon you've got bigger SUV's to deal with. And more hurtles than Death himself just to find a suitable guy.

Memories can be telling can't they Spence, best to keep them locked up in that expansive subconscious of yours. You know for plausible deniability. Never know when a pretty lair is going to have to take a polygraph.

Tsk, Tsk Ems don't you know you should never leave your phone anywhere. Texts have a way of popping in at the most inconceivable times. Bright side; apparently occults can't change you. Phew; good to know. 

- A

The Boo Hag:

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

According to Gullah legend Boo Hag's are vampiric creatures who stalk their prey and then feed by consuming, or essentially 'riding' in their victims' body's. Talk about a freak show right. They have no skin of their own and the sort of muscular tissue they do have is rumored to be blood red. Boo Hag's attach themselves to their victims' by climbing in through their windows at night and sucking the breath from them. 

Straight from the first page David Morgan leaps right into the thick of an erie story. Setting up a plot that lead my fingers to be nail-bitten aching things. Lenny, a high school student who has horrid sleeping tendencies, wakes in the early morning of 4:32 a.m. Going to investigate she comes to the conclusion there will be no heading back to sleep for her when a revelation presents itself: someone has been in her house. Her search however, turns up only her parents and so Lenny disregards the situation; locking shut the fear she'd felt in the study. Off to school though, doesn't go off without a hitch or, well red slim...Once over the dastardly bathroom predicament Lenny, in first period meet up with her best friend Anna. The two of them holding such a strong bond with each other begin to unravel the weird occurrences happening to Lenny, while also juggling their teenage lives.

When Anna and Lenny together make the acquaintance of the Boo Hag, Lenny decides its time to enlist more help, the secret-admirer, the cheerleader, the teacher, and hot guy - here is where I start to think BUFFY! - with the help of Lenny's school chum's she  has the strength to fight back. Because Hell be damned if she's gonna let some zombie, teenage riding freak steal her skin. 

Now I, avid reader of young adult supernatural series was compelled to entertain reading this book. I don't normally enjoy long nights spent reading off my computer screen, because lets face it; nothing beats a hardcover book, but all this not withstanding I was intrigued by this book, and when I am intrigued I must read it right away. So read I did. 

As of late, I haven't been too overly fond of Young Adult novels, the words, overly simplistic as to capture a younger teens attention while not boring them seemed to lose its edge with me. I've transitioned, so to speak into adult mystery novels; or any historical fiction set in the 1920s - do so let me know if you have any of good note to recommend. However, I still dabble in young adult because, sometimes I just want an easy supernatural romance to soak in my claw-footed tub with. 

I enjoyed his writing style but only faintly, there were those annoyingly pesky grammar mistakes and over usage of excessive words to describe mundane things, such as checking alarm clock. The plot itself moved along with the speed of a freight train, of which I was grateful because I am not one for scary stories- though it could be contested that The Boo Hag was not scary in its essence, just dire. The characters held a teenage depth to them, Lenny's best friend crushing on the quarterback, high school drama where cheating seemingly has the effect to have ended to the world, so on and on. I do in moderation enjoy traveling back to the blissful days that made up my freshman year of high school, when I, myself crushed on the handsome Senior baseball star and had yet to worry about cutting the red tape barricading my way into college, I was glad to see the story did not revolve around high school but the eerie Boo Hag creature stalking Lenny.

Flawless (Pretty Little Lairs #2):

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The pretty little lairs pick up right where they leave off, with Ali's body now found underneath her backyard and a murder investigation in full swing no lairs is left unscathed. With Foxy (Rosewoods super posh gallia of the year) just around the corner and Hanna's relationships with her dream guy Sean on the fritz she is left reeling. Sinking feelings of slipping back into dorkdom has her binge eating and back to old habits. With such old habits follows A who never seems to miss a beat with any of her lairs.
As for Spencer well much can be said about dating your sister ex boyfriend but should such things be said? Her A+ grades are slipping with the secret meetings she's had to have with Wren and with her parents giving her the freeze out over the whole 'kissing-your-sisters-boyfriend-is-deplorable-Hastings-behavior' Spencer is gripping at straws to hold up her perfect star daughter routine while A threatens her aimlessly over E-mails and texts.
Aria, my personal favorite little lair, has not had it easy what with her family about ready to fall off a cliff and her dads quirky mistress insisting their in love A's benevolent presence seems to irritate her more than anything. Her love life has taken a shocking turn for the worst as well, he English teacher found her phone and claimed she was out the ruin him, which paved the way for Sean to waltz in the same Virginal cookie cutter Rosewood guy who no longer thinks he wants to wait to have sex anymore-talk about a slap in the face to Hanna.
Now Emily; the confused little mermaid who may or may not be a homofob, which is really quite dreary seeing as she is lesbian. I'm rooting for that one though, screw her parents stuck up conservisim throw that shirt off, knock back a whiskey sour and kiss the girl already-if your into that sort of thing that. If not, give it a whirl anyway. And Toby, sweet, delusional, possibly phsyco freak killer Toby whose hiden secrets I am awaiting En Pointe to be revealed.
A, that rascal and her overly-patient nature to drag out every climax to her secret bomshel's like its European oil drums.
I loved how it started with a flashback and then how it proceeded on right where the first book left off, how the author assumes one read the first installment of the series and spend no time in retro long the past book(s). How boorish is that? I mean I did read New Moon before Twilight but there is no need to spend half my time reading about what happened in the first novel just to be equipped to dive into the second installment.
Each book is a wondrous read I found, like escaping into my many soap operas. I adore it when I get so involved in a series that I place on hold the next four books in it.
Complaint department: she spent too much time stressing A's vigorous  vice grip over everything, also the switching between points of view was okay but that was it, it was okay. The plot was nice well detailed and I always love a Galla, however I was expecting more intrigue in each of the lairs lives and I would have liked to see them moving together as friends. But you know I am so impatient. I am off to watch We Bought A Zoo with the family now; Guten Nacht lovelies.

I Remember Mommy's Smile:

Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780-6154-4752-0
Cover price: $11.95
Available at: I Remember Mommy's Smile
Availability: E-book Edition
Publisher: Baker's Dozen Press

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars. 

The words were simplistic and easy for children to connect with. I commend the amount of strength it took to writ this book; I don't think I could talk about my grandfather in such a way. The thing about loss is that the person who's been lost is important to us, it is hard to talk about it because we want to keep what we have left of them to ourselves. A human being needs to know two things about loss: 1.) There was nothing you could do to stop it. 2.) It was not your fault. 

This book made me cry and eternally sorrowful, it is etched into me so profoundly because it is true and raw. That alone is a reason to have this book sitting on your self. Everyone should know that its ok to talk about them but you shouldn't be forced to; you want to keep your grief silent take all the time you feel is necessary.  

The illustrations are quirky, different, and completely the perfect matching with this book. I don't think I could have imaged it better. The rich velvety colors and bold interpretations of the authors words was inspiring. The book itself was well bided and held my interest. The memoir type in which Dina recalled her mother was heart wrenchingly warm. The sheer depth of this children's book entrapped me in the story the words hung in my head heavy and my own memories swirled around them in an unpleasant way. It was deeply troubling to read this because I found so saddened and at the same time enlightening. I found that I learned many things from this book, things that seemed so self-evident to me that I couldn't understand why I'd never understood it before. 

My favorite quote came on page 30 where Dina depicted her mothers funeral and how a funeral parlor man took her hand to leave "I kicked the man's legs to make him go away." it showed Dina's courage while facing something she was saddened or afraid of. I liked how she left nothing out how the first page started out frank and bold. 

If you are to make a memoir make it clear that it's not a fictional romance, because sometimes people believe that losing there high school sweetheart will be the end of the world. What the book clarifies is that though you are sad now; it gets better. The pain ebbs but it's always there, Dina let's the children know that you can still live with the loss and sometimes you can even have fun. 

Complaint department: I didn't particularly enjoy the overly simple wording, but then again I am more leant towards prose in children's books.

Compass:

Format: paperback 5.5 x 8.5

ISBN: 978-4327-8696-0

Cover price: $11.95

Availability: E-book Edition

Pages: 68

Category: Poetry/American/General

Available at: Outskirts Press

Distribution: Ingram, Baker & Taylor

Published: Outskirts Press, Inc

Publication Date: April, 05, 2012

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

I am avid lover of nature most especially rain, thunderstorms are electrifying. So when I was given the opportunity to sit down with Erik Hansen's new poetry book I was in awe. I was entrapped by his vivid use of realism and vice grip on detailing the little things of nature that breathe life into its imagery. His poems were fluid and flawed, emotional and real and if you know my poems than you know that's basically how I write. Poetry is the deepest form of expression (though I suppose a painter would say so of pushing leaded paint around a canvas to form a musician)  there is nothing poised or neat about ones emotions. Brutal things emotions are.

Anyhow, Erik managed well, to capture nature while also throwing in his own reflections on his personal thoughts; thoughts having arose from glimpsing nature. I was deeply saddened that I was not outside while reading this or in the mountains perhaps by a kindling fire. Now as a history major I was entranced, his use of Berlin's aches, stark detailing of Oxford, and devastation of young soldiers in South Africa. He seemed to have touched on ever subject poetry ought to touch upon. Most of his poems did not rhyme in the classical form and I did find that at points I was wishing for a bit more... I don't know refinery perhaps. Then he would say things like:

"Francis, Francis

Where do these ghosts of yours come from?

These "dead sons-of-bitches" grinning whitely

In the streetlights glow"

And I'd be so taken aback with inspiration that I'd forget the book and start scribbling away a poem of my own thinking where the hell did that come from?

I do so adore being surprised.

As for instance when I reached his poem entitled Hush where his words danced along the lines of prose sucking me into a story of a man infused with his first hunt. Words would slap out at me such the likes of:

"Cold and sweating

Begging to sleep

Praying to die

Trudging across the fields

Of fresh cut stubble

Cutting my feet"

And once again I am left reeling, brows creased in concentration when I reached the end of the poem I let out a rush of breath and said "Where the hell the did that come from?"

What I most enjoyed about Erik's poems was the simplistic way in which they flowed almost faulty; how his poems were a crack in his mind not written but just there. A metaphor for it would be the San Andreas fault line how it is simply there, deeply rooted in danger and realism. How we all know of it , we drive over it, live by it, not accepting but ignoring it's presence. Humankind has always been truly good at ignoring unpleasant things, the fault line will crack and split in two, shifting the earth, stranding people in the mountains from the people in the valleys below; but it hasn't happened yet so we ignore it. Erik's poems make me think of all the things I am forgetting the remember.

Why the rating: I did not connect with every poem, some we're a bit boorish I admit, (which is not to distract from the others that were not) some poems melted away from the pages leaving me with thinking they were just lines and words. Rhyme is something I am fond of and though my own poems do not have much of it (I'm told) I found Erik's to be lacking also a bit of rhythm - as mentioned before. To a point in which I found myself adding or replacing words in a poem.

Favorite Poem: Daughter; it was so richly... just full of love. The greaat exactitude his words reaked with made my heart ache. How he choose his words to shape his daughter to form his image perfectly and the amount of pride that shone through the words was endearing. Also it was simple and smooth little words here and there to snap my attention, to make my lips twitch into a fond little saddened smile. For what it made me remember.

Bitterblue: Review Teaser!

Now I must state that the review is not so soon to come because I have yet to read the book but I just couldn't resist posting this. It is marvelous; by far one of my favorite series.

Pretty Little Lairs:

"You know what they say about hope.
It breeds eternal misery!"

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Alison DiLaurentis played Rosewood like a master violinist on a stradivarius, until she dies.

After their best friend Alison DiLaurentis vanishes one night during a summer sleepover Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily royally drift apart. Now with Aria returning to Rosewood after three years of living in Iceland she isn't sure how her new European Aria fits in the posh countryside of Philadelphia. Hanna the newly remade over popular girl dropped fifty pounds shortened her skirts and became the new Ali. Whilst Emily won a swimming championship scored a hunky boyfriend, got confused and kissed a girl. Spencer was busy morphing into the super heightened A+ student superstar of her family, whose nights are spent inside text books and days alternate between shopping for Kate Spade back to school clothes and tennis playing at the Rosewood country club.

Now three years after Ali's disappearance the worst expectancy happens. Alison DiLaurentises' body is found, a funeral is planned, a murder investigation is launched by the police and a text message is sent. 

"You promised you wouldn't think about it, Aria thought,
glancing back over her shoulder."
Pg 101:
Aria says in regards to a secret about her dad.

Who'd have thought that a single text message could both eternally damn and reforge a thick friendship once lost?

Ali knew absolutely everything about her four friends but they knew nothing of her. From the grave it seems she is eternally committed to reminding her friends that fact, cryptic text messages making the four girls feel as if they are constantly being watched and when Ali's body is found the messages don't stop someone is out for the blood of the pretty little lairs and they aren't apposed to getting dirty.

I have caved, given in to conformity; whatever, the book is a glorious work of fiction. Better than the Gossip Girl series tenfold. Seven pages in and I was completely hooked. Captivated by the five girls and how I use to ache to be just like them, part of the in crowd and then how I felt when I had a year of it. Every girl wants it but when you have it: we'll there is nothing you won't do to keep it and nothing you fear more than losing it.

How the reviewing process works...

Shepard opens her enthralling book by introducing us to the little lairs, her detailing goes just far enough to state my thirst and then dives right back into the muck of the story. Just how I like my young adult books, simplistic and carefree.

Now normally I dislike it when point of views switch spontaneously between multiple parties, example being the horrifically challenged series of The Luxe, but Shepard pleasantly surprised me by capturing my attention of each characters lives. A fast paced read that left me clawing to start the next book.

Complaint launched: The dolls are freaky! Eight-six them from the cover, pronto. Seriously Shepard; why?