March Wish List To Read

Mind Games by Keirsten White
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

from goodreads



Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Sophronia Temminnick at 14 is a great trial more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners -- and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Her poor mother, desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady, enrolls the lively tomboy in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage -- in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

from goodreads

The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Devereaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance. But Rory's brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she's become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact. She soon finds out that the Shades—the city's secret ghost-fighting police—are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it's too late.

In this follow-up to the Edgar Award-nominated The Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson adds another layer of spectacularly gruesome details to the streets of London that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

from goodreads




Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

from goodreads

New Year Resolutions

I've never made new year resolutions, despite the fact that while in elementary school they make us. It was always something that I didn't have faith that I could do. There are so many people that don't accomplish their new year resolutions. There's nothing bad about that, but I feel like I would be setting myself up for failure.

Last year was one of the best years in my short life so far. I decided that instead of making new year resolutions of specific things I want to accomplish, I want to do more than I did last year. Last year I made seven big accomplishments. I'm not going to name all of them, because some are personal, but I think that it's better to try to out do yourself, instead of having specific goals you have to finish by next year. A counselor would probably yell at me that I'm going at things the wrong way, but this works for me. This year I want to accomplish ten amazing things. I don't know what all of them are yet, but I have some goals that I want to do this year. They aren't new year resolutions, like if I didn't do them I would be a failure, but like if I didn't do them I could accomplish something else.

I heard somewhere that when you tell people you are going to do something, the encouragement you get is enough for you to feel satisfied into you not doing it. That's such a strange thing, because that happens to me sometimes. Though, I want to share with you guys all of some of the things I want to accomplish this year.

• Finish editing my rough draft from nanowrimo
• Learning Italian and Spanish(the basics)
• Completing the European Book Challenge
• Progress some how with the blog
• Finish a novel I'm co-writing with my friend
• Get involved in new activities

Those are just some of the things I want to do this year, and I hope I do more, because that is deffo not ten things. I know I will find other things to do over the course of this year, and I know I'm going to update you guys on my nanowrimo novel, and the European Book Challenge. Happy New Year!!

Love and Hugs
Clara

2013 European Book Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Rose City. The main premece is that I have to read books set in a country in Europe. The book, not where the author came from-unless they are European and wrote about where they've been or lived. Anywho, I wanted to do this challenge, because I've never seen it before and I just wanted to read something new. Something that was out of the United States or UK. Not that neither them are awesome in their own way, but I'd like to expand my horizons. Here are the books I plan to read:


Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins-France
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare-Venice
The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaader-Norway
Faceless Killers by Kenning Mankell, Steven T. Murray-Sweden
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway-Spain
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller-Italy
The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie-Portugal
Villette by Charlotte Bronte-Belgium
An Angel in Hell by Barbara Cartland-Monaco
My Merry Mornings by Ivan Klima-Czech Republic
Cornelli by Johanna Spyri-Switzerland
Animal Farm by George Orwell-UK

I probably won't get through all of these, but that's my list to get through and pick and choose from. The challenge starts on January 1, 2012 and ends on January 14, 2014. I'm pretty sure that I will be able to read at least one of these each month, and that is my goal. My goal is to by pass the Five Star(Deluxe Entourage) level.

If you want to join me, remember to go to Rose City's page where she explains things in more details. I hope you can do the European Book Challenge, and if you plan to please leave me a comment. I'd love to know what you plan to read. :D

Love and Hugs
Clara

Review: Of Light and Darkness by Shayne Leighton

I received this novel very unexpectedly because you may know this novel will be a movie, coming out in 2013. For me that's already a warning sign on how good this book will be. Usually novels, that turn into books-which means every movie out there these days- are either incredibly amazing, or down right sad and pathetic of a book, not trying to be harsh, but that's my opinion. So I'm on the later side of things for Of Light and Darkness. I'm someone who can't keep reading a book when they've made up their mind about disliking it. I read up to page 77, and was like "No, nope, no more, I can't handle this." 

I write honest reviews, and I don't get paid to do this either from the recent news about authors paying reviewers. So when I looked up the author of this novel, my thoughts weren't particularly joyous. It maybe a Hollywood actor, who is writing an album, and a ya series, but you have to have flaws in what you do, especially with that much you do. I wouldn't say that her writing was bad per se, but I just didn't enjoy the story. It felt like everything else on the shelves at my local B&N ya section. Some supernatural bimbo falling desperately in love with something that is totally wrong for her.

Characters were a big part of what made me stop. I couldn't keep reading from whoever the red-headed human girl was. She is one of my least favorite characters because of her willingness and self-proclaimed soul mate to her guardian. For me that's incest. I couldn't keep on reading without having my walls up on incest and other things in that area. I just couldn't.