Firespell by Chloe Neill

Firespell by Chloe Neill tells the story of Lily Parker.  Lily's parents are going on a research trip to Germany, and Lily is left in St. Sophia's, an all girls' boarding school.  She thinks the worst she has to deal with are the mega rich brat-packers of St. Sophia's, but when she follows her friend Scout into the labyrinth under the school, she realizes snobby blonds are the least of her problems.

This book was good, not great nor awesome, just good.  I liked the book and found it quite interesting, but it wasn't literary excellence. (Even though most of the books I review aren't literary awesomeness, this one seems to be even more afflicted with non-literary excellence syndrome.)  The characters were nice, but seemed little more than sarcastic blobs thrust upon the pages of this book.  However, even for all its faults, this book was a fun read, and I think others should read it too.

Taryn.

P.S. There are so many sequels coming out to books I've reviewed (Beautiful Darkness to Beautiful Creatures, Linger to Shiver, Mr. Monster, to I Am Not A Serial Killer, and now Hexbound to this book, Firespell).  I'm thinking of saving them all up and a having a month where I review all of the books, the Beautiful books, the "      "er books, the Killer books, and the "Single-Word-Even-Though-They-Shouldn't-Be" books.  What do you guys think?

P.P.S. Seriously, are there any readers of my blog?  Please, if there are, post a comment and say something like "Hi, my name is so-and-so, I read your blog."  I want you guys to do this because on some days (like today) I don't feel like there's any use in my blog.  I like saying "blog".  It's fun.

How Not To Be Popular by Jennifer Zeigler

Sugar Magnolia Dempsey, A.K.A. Maggie, is the daughter of some of the biggest hippies you can find.  Not only are they kind of embarrassing, but they move her around all the time.  When Maggie was younger she found her life adventurous, now that she's older, she finds is cumbersome, to the extreme.  When she moved from Portland to Austin, she left behind her group of friends and her boyfriend.  She knows better this time, she will NOT make friends, she will not get attached, so when she moves again, it won't hurt, and she goes to extremes to achieve this.  However, things go worse than she could have ever imagined.

This book was completely and totally, without a doubt in this world,  awesome.  I downed this book in two sittings.  It was laugh out loud funny, I read the first 2/3rds at one in the morning, and I'm pretty sure I woke someone up (I'm sure some of it can be chocked up to my shriek like laughter, but my laugh has to be induced, does it not?).  It was all very real and believable (I have yet to enter high school, and have been out of a normal school for three years, so I wouldn't know how true the social hierarchy is, but if it's really an exaggerated version of the kind of torture I received in third grade, then my God, she got it completely right.).  Everything worked out as I would imagine it would if the events in the book were to unfold in real life.  I love this book and it really helped take me out of my pre-move depression.

Taryn

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arther Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha is the fictional story of Chiyo Sakamoto/Sayuri Nitta and is set in the 1920 to after World War II.  Chiyo's mother is dying and as a last resort, her father sells Chiyo and her sister Satsu to different places in Gion, Chiyo to an okiya, where geisha in training live, and Satsu to whore-house.  Chiyo makes a new friend in the other geisha in training in the okiya, Pumpkin, as she is so fondly nicknamed, but also makes a new enemy in Hatsumomo, the resident geisha of the okiya.  Hatsumomo makes life terrible for Chiyo in hopes of keeping her down with so much debt and making her make so many mistakes that she will have to remain a maid for the rest of her life.  However, one day Chiyo breaks down on the bridge and a nice man who goes by Chairman, as he is the chairman of Iwamura Electric, and the Chairman helps Chiyo by giving her reassurance and a coin to by a snow cone.  That day Chiyo makes a promise to herself that she will one day become a geisha in hopes of getting closer to the Chairman (she even prays to the gods).  During the aftermath of the death of one of Chiyo's okiya's owners, Granny, one of the most prominent geisha of the day, Mameha, comes and sees Chiyo, then asks the other owner of the okiya to put Chiyo back in the geisha school, and offers to become her "big sister", as the mentors of the soon to be geisha are called.  Mameha devises a devious plan to get rid of Hatsumomo and help Chiyo become a geisha.  Chiyo succeeds in becoming a geisha, and her name is changed to Sayuri Sakamoto.  The devious plan succeeds and Sayuri gets adopted by Mother, and her name is changed once more to Sayuri Nita.  Hatsumomo looses it and is banished by Mother from Gion.  Sayuri rises to become a very prominent geisha and wins the heart of the Chairman.

I love this book.  Period.  No questions asked.  It's awesome and the writing is wonderful.  The use of similes and metaphors is masterful.  Sometimes, the use of similes and metaphors can be overpowering and it becomes superfluous, but in this case, it adds to the magic of the book.  There is one major con of this book- the slow pace of the novel.  The book is read as if it really were a memoir, and as with most biographies, that type of writing causes the novel to slow down in pace.  This book won't make you tear through the pages, but you will love it, treasure it, and hold it close to your heart.

Slight warning and some big news (not a review)

Hello readers of my blog (if there are any),
I thought I should just let you guys know in advance some changes that are happening right now.  I'm currently in the process of relocating to Colorado Springs, and I had to send 98% of my books today (95 books total, although I hoped it would be 100 or more).  That may not seem like such a big deal, but it will take eight weeks to get to the States (they have to go by sea freight), I have only seven books I haven't reviewed yet with me, and I'm leaving on a jet plane (song reference) in about a month, and knowing me, seven books shouldn't last a month (considering there all pretty short, also assuming they would be captivating and I can remain on my stay-up-'til-four-AM routine).  Therefore, I'm sorry if I should have to re-read and re-review some previous books.  However, a month from now, when I am happily living in the barren, yet beautiful, snowy wasteland that is Colorado, I will be within 45 minutes from a bookstore, so, books galore any time I want.  (Laughs delightedly, jumps up and down, and does a lame happy dance!)

Again, sorry if should, God forbid (but not really), have to re-read a book or two for this blog, please exercise mercy and spareth my life, for I am but a humble blogger, who wishes nothing more than to please readers with my words, practically nonexistent wit, and out-of-date Shakespearean speaking.

Farewell, wherever you fare, and may your eyries receive you at your journey's end, and
May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks
(book reference)


P.S. Sorry for my excessive use of parentheses.

Reread of the month- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Ok, I decided I would write a brand new review instead of reposting the old one.  I decided to do this because I wrote the first review for the series during my "Mid-Blog Crisis", therefore, it was kind of sucky.  So here's a new one, hopefully better than the last.  (I would like to stress that this will be much shorter and less detailed than the old review, by that I mean I going to give you a background story, ect., ect., trials and tribulations, *mystery*, so if you want more details, even if the writing is sucky, read the old one, but I would like it if you read this one too.)

Harry Potter is a wizard, though he doesn't know it, at least, not until his elevinth birthday.  Harry's parents died at the hands of the most feared wizard of the time (possibly of all time), although his aunt and uncle (who Harry has been living with ever since the night his parents were murdered) always said it was a car crash.  But when Harry turns elevin, the web of lies Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon have built falls down with a loud crash disporportionite to its size and weight.  Throughout the entire series we follow Harry's journey that he takes with all the people who love him.  Througout the series he goes through heartache and trials as we follow along peering into the world J.K. Rowling has created.

There's not much to say about this book other than AWESOME.  Rowling's writing is great.  It can be funny sad, sweet, and heartbreakingly wonderful all at the same time.  You really get sucked into her world (and love it too).  This is a wonderful tale for the ages.


Taryn.


P.S. I found a new vice (not that I had one before, but...), Harry Potter fan fiction.  You should really go over to Mugglenets fan fiction site (here- http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/).  Many of the stories are awesome, though some aren't.  WARNING- don't go to the Hermione/Snape section of the the romance fics category (unless you're one to go for that), because you will have the image of Snape kissing Hermione burned into your mind for an entire day (and that day will be full of gagging and wincing and serious meditation trying to get that image out of your head), and then, whenever you think about that moment, you gag, for up to a week.  So, don't go there (again, unless you're one for that).  Also, I will give no reasons as to why I was in the romance fics category.