We all love a Bad Girl and they always seem to get the most dramatic make up looks. Here are a few of my favourites of late!
Harley Quinn by Julia Graf
Witch Hazel by VivaGlamLana
Little Miss Muffet by KlairedelysArt
Maleficent by formidableartistry
Akasha (Queen of the Damned) by MsRoshPosh
How to get your brain ticking over.
Funks suck, and I’m not talking about that Wild Cherry song…
which can pull you out of any bad mood!
You know what I’m talking about. Moods that resemble something that would create a weather warning if it were to be let loose on the world. Feeling like you can’t get out of your own way and damn it, if only you could think about something else, ANYTHING else, you’d be able to get on with what ever it is the funk is holding you back from.
Here are a few things I do to rip myself out of a funk (besides playing the Wild Cherry song that is)
Visit the library and try a new author, genre or format of book. If you always stick to the Morganville Vampires, you’ll be missing out on all the other fangy fiends that can change your outlook. Try an audio book, a large print book or a graphic novel. Borrowing from the library is the best way to get something new without the risk of paying for something you may not like.Good luck beating the funk. Let me know if any of these tips work for you too!
Bel:
Cover
The cover art is edgy and gritty, but is not my cup of tea. If it’s not yours either, don’t be fooled, give the book a chance!
Characters
I enjoy spending time in the shades of grey in a battle against good and evil.
Favourite
Maggie. Best friends should be made of this. She’s no flake and stands tall even in the face of the scary crap.
Least Favourite
Easy mark this one… Malachi. There just aren’t words for the epicness of his nastiness.
Beginning
Gaby is followed by a strange guy after putting the contents of her dreams on a website.
Storyline
The strange things just keep coming for Gaby, but she still can not remember her past.
Ending
The possibilities for part two are endless.
Thoughts
After reading this fabulous, book I am seriously kicking myself for not remembering to bring my copy of Shadows to the Brisbane Writer’s Festival at the start of the month. I seriously stood right next to Paula and had nothing for her to sign. UGH! Pity I hadn’t read the book by then or I also would have picked up part two and had that signed too.
Well and truly worth picking up Shadows even if it’s just for curiosity’s sake. You’ll be impressed.
Quote
Rusty Shrugs. ‘Simon’s all right.’ He points the fencepost at him at him. ‘You wouldn’t go out with wankers, would you, mate?’
‘Not if I could help it.’
Not quite a resounding endorsement.
‘Present company excepted, of course.’ I say, gesturing to the brothers.
Lisa:
Cover: If you’ve stuck around for a while, and have been keeping up with a few of my reviews, you know just how important covers are to me. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but does anyone actually do that?
The cover of a book is the first thing the consumer sees. It’s the books first impression on a possible buyer. The cover should pull people in, should giveaway a little bit about the story inside, and should be what makes a person pick up the book to see what it’s about.
The cover of Shadows tells the reader right away that it has something to do with angels. Also the cover is kind of mysterious looking. It makes me wonder what else is going on in this story, and I would mostly likely pick it up to see what the synopsis has to say.
The cover does its job! Love it!
Characters: When it comes to Shadows I can easily say that all of the elements are what made this book for me; not just the story, or the characters, or the ending, but everything. However, the characters were what made the story different from other YA angel books. I felt that the characters had so much density and felt so real that it pushed the book up to the next level.
Favorite: I liked a lot of the characters! Gaby for being so strong, not only is she dealing with the loss of her twin brother, but also with the whole “angel” thing. And Maggie for being such a good friend to Gaby, and absorbing all the crazy information that’s been thrown at her.
Least Favorite: I can’t really say I disliked any character.
Beginning: Gaby doesn’t know how to grieve for the loss of her twin brother after they were caught in a horrible car accident over a year ago. Gaby is now living in Pan Beach with her best friend Maggie, hoping to be able to deal with her loss, and move forward in her life.
Middle: Gaby and Maggie run into a mysterious guy named Rafa at a bar one night, who claims to be one of Jude’s (Gaby’s twin brother) best friend. He even proves himself, when he shows Gaby pictures of him and Jude together. Rafa informs Gaby that her brother didn’t die the way she thinks he did. And that Gaby isn’t who she thinks she is, instead she’s an angel. Within only a few chapters Gaby is thrown into the world of Rephaim!
Ending: MY LIPS ARE SEALED! *Throws away key*
Overall Thoughts: Before picking this book up, I had no idea what it was about. I had never heard of it before, and decided to do a bit of research. After just one google search, I found tons of reviews, claiming amazing things and rating it with four or more stars (out of five). After finally reading Shadows, I can tell you first hand that everything, everyone is raving about in their reviews is correct!
I can say that I fell in love with this book. While many seem to be getting tired of angels, I’m just now discovering them. Shadows filled my angel craving! There are twists and turns in this story, that made me feel like I was on a roller coaster, and wasn’t getting off any time soon. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has in store!
Krista:
Cover
My favourite aspect of the US cover is the subtle shading of the wings. The art combined with the title represents the book well. And I love the red colour with the sunset background.
Characters
There are a handful of characters in this one. Gaby is the main focus of the storyline but we get different character’s point of view as the story unravels.
Favourite
My favorite character is Maggie, Gaby’s best friend. I really liked her personality. If I chose one of the main characters it would be Rafa, he’s got this protective side that I was attracted to.
Least Favourite
This was a hard question for this book. I couldn’t really pin point a character I didn’t think filled out the story well. Although there were a lot of details and characters to remember, I think they all meshed well.
Beginning
Gaby has been having dreams about fighting hell-beasts with a boy she refers to as Matt. But when “Matt” shows up at the local bar, she’s determined to find answers. When he tells her that he was her dead brother’s best friend, Gaby has a hard time believing him because she cannot remember him. It turns out that the car accident that killed her brother and wiped her memory might have been something else all together.
Storyline
Gaby is still mourning the loss of her twin brother Jude, when Rafa appears. A real life embodiment of the man from her dreams. He tells her a story that blows her mind, and only upsets her more. As the proof starts rolling in that what Rafa has been telling her could possibly be true, it changes her life. It’s a story with constant movement and action scenes as the characters have to rescue and help each other.
Ending
Everything begins to come together nicely with a very powerful fight and revelations.
Thoughts
We get a lot of information for a first book in a series. It has a lot of Fallen Angel, Nephilim and Rephilim stories. Even though I did not connect with Gaby personally, her attitude makes sense with her story. She also has the physical fight to back up her mouth, so she’s a pretty bad arse character!
Quote
‘Why did you call me Matt?’
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I know you, I realize I should have called that character Dick.’
He laughs, and then the couch shakes. ‘Honestly, Gabe, I forgot you could be this much fun.”
Bel happily discovers the free e-books and audio books available from Brisbane Council Libraries.
I am a massive fan of audio books and I have a feeling Brisbane City Council Libraries need to promote something I am learning to use as I type this blog. Over Drive electronic books. Which show up as a DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO FILE, or DOWNLOADABLE ELECTRONIC FILE when you do an online catalog search.
So far all I’ve done is download the Open Drive program for windows 7, logged into the log in page, via the elib catalog, using my library card details and pin, and downloaded the book I wish to listen to.
According to the borrowing page I can choose what format I want the audio file to be in when I download. I have 7 days to listen to the book/s I chose, though I can also alter how long I want to borrow the book for. I have a capacity of 10 audio books to borrow at a time and, oh my gosh, the sound quality is equal to an audio book you’d buy from a book shop or borrow in disc form from the library.
They look like they have the option of putting the ‘app’ on mobile devices like nooks, androids and iproducts.
You can borrow e-books, so you’re not just restricted to audio books, and the variety of e-books is actually a little more substantial than the audio formats.
So far I’ve started a list of books I’d like to borrow, and I’m still searching through the catalog to see what else I might like to experience.
Go ahead and give Over Drive a chance if you’re a member of Brisbane City Council Libraries. Ask your caregiver before downloading the program, you know the drill. E-books and audio books for free… yes please!
Let me know if you’ve given this program a go and what you thought of it.
This is the story of a solitary young woman drawn into an online world run by a charismatic web guru who entices her into impersonating a glamorous but desperate woman.
When Leila discovers the website Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the website’s founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, and is flattered when he invites her to be part of “Project Tess.”
Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they email, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman–because soon, Leila will have to become her.
I found parts of this novel to be quite confronting, and other parts had a quite sombre tempo.
It may have been my head space, but I had issue sympathising with the choices of the main character, Leila. She’s an awkward sort, and that’s how she is supposed to be, at times painfully so. I know this is intentional, so in that sense she was written really convincingly.
Having swerved close to the gravitational pull of an online ‘leader’ with charisma coming out of their ears, I know how easily it can be to be groomed and flattered into questioning your choices just to gain the pat on the head. Hence the confrontational feeling I experienced.
We flip between current or quite recent happenings in Leila’s life and looking back at the journey through Red Pill and the two story lines connect up in a round about way. At the heart of the story is the morality battle of suicide, which should never be something that makes you comfortable.
The thing that drew me in to enter the online competition to win a review copy of Kiss Me First was the book trailer… which connects to your Facebook through an app and will give you goose-bumps. You peek inside the world of Leila, as if you were she. Quite unnerving, but extremely effective.
Take a step outside your comfort zone and give Kiss Me First a burl. I’d love to know what you think of it.
http://www.panmacmillan.com/kissmefirst
https://www.facebook.com/LottieMoggachAuthor
Imprint: Picador
ISBN: 9781447233190
Number of pages: 256
1 July 2013
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