Joelene Pynnonen reviews The Family.

The Manzoni family is moving. Having compromised their cover in the witness protection program yet again, they’re running out of second chances. This time they’re headed to a small town in the French countryside for the fresh start that they need but don’t necessarily want. Despite having betrayed the Mafia kingpin they once called a friend, the Manzoni’s can’t let go of their previous life.

Giovanni (Robert De Niro) initially takes up writing as a way to relive his glory days, but soon gets caught up in trying to sort out the town’s problem with brown water. His daughter, Belle (Dianna Agron), spends her time brutally beating the people who cross her and trying to seduce the substitute math teacher. His son, Warren (John D’Leo), introduces the principles of mob life to the school; launching a coup against the kids in charge whilst lying, stealing and defrauding his way to the top. The family matriarch, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), spends her time covering up her husband’s crimes when she’s not too busy blowing up local grocery stores.

If you’re in the mood for something serious, Luc Besson’s The Family is definitely not it. If you’re trying to find an offbeat comedy to watch with a group of friends however, don’t go past this one. I’m not someone who follows directors, but Luc Besson has not failed me yet. There’s something about the way he mixes humour into the violence in The Family that makes it surprisingly fun to watch.

Now, I’m not pro-violence, but every character in the film manages to pull off their own brand of destruction, which is what sells it. The actors are thoroughly in tune with their characters and whole-heartedly embrace all of their criminal tendencies. Belle takes after her father, delivering swift and brutal punishment to those who oppose her. Warren is more like his mother, analysing the situation and choosing indirect means to achieve his goals. If the family members were all brutal in the same way it would become farcical. Personalizing those traits lends plausibility.

Despite the film’s casual brutality, the Manzoni family are devoted when it comes to each other. Belle and Warren take time out of their day to catch up on what their sibling is up to. Giovanni helps Maggie out when she’s not making progress with an uncooperative plumber, while Maggie keeps the authorities from finding out about said help. The disparity of the family together to the family in society is both disturbing and hilarious.

Overtly and gleefully violent, this isn’t a film for younger viewers. The actors’ performances are focussed and wonderful across the board. Generally it’s a silly, fun and messy film; but the character interactions and cheerfulness of it make it work.

The Blue Bloods series has had many reviews: some good and some bad. Many people also seemed to be on the fence in their opinions, and I’ve finally decided to start this series and give it a shot. While I I do not find the covers very appealing, I was pretty interested in seeing what Melissa De La Cruz had in store for me. I guess the covers do their job of representing the story of vampires, but I feel like they could have been so much more beautiful and detailed …

After reading so many poor reviews on this series, what ultimately made me push those to the side and ignore them, was the awesome synopsis. I usually don’t grab for historical fiction books, but I thought it was really cool that the author incorporated the Mayflower and the early settlers into her vampire story.

My biggest worry was that this series would turn out to be more like “Twilight” than a modern day vampire story. But after reading about twenty or so pages, I let go of the breath I was holding. Blue Bloods takes place in Manhattan, New York, and revolves around wealthy high school teenagers.

Schuyler, the main character, isn’t feeling like herself. Her veins are turning bright blue underneath her pale skin. Something isn’t right, and Schuyler doesn’t know what to do or who to tell.

There are two different types of Blue Bloods, the immortal ones who live forever and the recycled ones who are always reborn but within different bodies and different life times. For these Blue Bloods to continue to be born and reborn again, before they pass away, they must keep a drop of blood which holds all their memories and thoughts.

When these vampires are born, they live what seems to be a normal life, until the age of sixteen. Just like Schuyler, they start to change and regain all of their memories of their old lives.

Blue Bloods are angels who have fallen from heaven. They hope to regain their angelic statuses by being good and just.

After a student is murdered, many Blue Bloods are suspicious that someone is after them, and they take drastic precautions to protect themselves and one another. They fear that Silver Bloods are out to get them. (Silver Bloods are another type of vampire.)

Schuyler is tossed into the middle of this entire thing–dealing with becoming a vampire again and having the Silver Bloods out to  get her. All this while, she’s modelling jeans and going to school.

So even though Blue Bloods wasn’t outrageously amazing, I do plan to continue the series. The first book always has a lot of ground to cover and explaining to do, so I understand why it wouldn’t be as action packed.

Now that I got that out of the way…

The things I liked about this book:

1. The way this world was set up with different types of vampires, Blue Bloods (immortal and recycled) and Silver Bloods. I’m interested in learning more about how these classifications came to be. And how they deal with one another.
2. I also found it intriguing how the author included the Mayflower and the settlers. This was one of the main reasons I wanted to read Blue Bloods, and it was one of my favorite parts of this book.

Things I didn’t … really like:

1. I just feel like there were a lot of lose ends that weren’t tied up. I understand that there are more books to this series, but I just felt that the topics brought up in Blue Bloods weren’t completely finished.
2. Schuyler and her jeans modelling. There are so many girls spending their entire lives preparing, wishing, and compromising everything to become models. But for some reason, Schuyler is dragged to this modelling interview, and basically begged to model … really? She  basically has offers thrown at her!

After being told what to do, who to hang out with, how to act, and what to wear her entire life, Charlotte’s first real experience as a normal teenager is during her spring break trip with her three REAL best friends … not the ones her mum picked for her. Charlotte’s mother doesn’t know where she’s really at, who she’s really with, or that she’s spent every single night of the week in bed with a boy named Mason.

Charlotte and Mason know that what they have isn’t serious because Charlotte has to go back to her controlled life as the Governor’s daughter. They make the most of their last day together and finally say goodbye, knowing they will probably never see each other again.

Charlotte goes back to being told what to do and Mason continues to try and get over his ex-girlfriend of three years, who cheated on him, and to go to college.

While Charlotte is forced to go on dates with a guy named Donnie, and to parties with people who she has no interest in or anything in common with, Mason is deciding what he wants to do with his future. Making his decision, Mason starts packing up his stuff, getting ready to move across the country and attend a college that has provided a scholarship for his tuition. He’s willing to leave behind everything he has ever known in the hope of a better future and education.

Out on another forced date with Donnie, Charlotte can’t believe her eyes when she sees Mason and his brother, just yards away from her. She can’t wrap her mind around the idea that Mason is here, thousands of miles away from home. When they make eye contact, Charlotte’s heart skips a beat.

Bumping into each other a few more times, Mason is willing to take any chance to ask Charlotte out, but is continuously shut down. Despite knowing that it isn’t the right thing to do, both because of her mother and because it isn’t fair to him, Charlotte FINALLY agrees to date Mason.

Things aren’t perfect; secrets are being kept and Charlotte can’t see Mason whenever she pleases, but things quickly get worse, especially when Charlotte is caught coming home at four a.m. and pictures are leaked to the media of her and Mason together!

But Mason isn’t letting this chance slip between his fingers and we witness just how much these two care for each other and how far they’re willing to go to be with one another.

Starting at the beginning of the book, I was already in love! Why?

Playing Pretend was honestly the perfect insta-love read. I did find myself frustrated multiple times with Charlotte’s mother, and I wasn’t too happy with how long it took Charlotte to stand up to her mother and walk out. Charlotte’s mother walked all over her and didn’t let her say or do anything she wanted to. I guess the way Charlotte told her mum off wasn’t as explosive as I was hoping it would be. I don’t know how Charlotte could keep so calm and keep going with the act, but I’m still really glad she finally did it!

I LOVED Charlotte and Mason together. They were perfect! The story was AHH-mazing, the characters were fantastic, and I just couldn’t force myself to stop reading! I’m excited to pick up more of Juliana Haygert’s books!

I made this recipe for my boyfriend’s birthday after messing up chocolate dip twice! I didn’t want to throw away the good (and expensive) chocolate, and decided to make a cake! It’s really simple, and only requires ingredients that you’ll probably have on hand! Everyone seemed to like it, especially since I didn’t even get a piece 🙂

(The best one you’ll ever have!)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 ½ sticks of unsalted room temperature butter
• 1 ½ cups of hot water
• 2 ½ cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter you crown bund cake form, or any other form you choose!
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat up the semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 ½ cups of butter. This shouldn’t become dipping chocolate—it should become thicker than that, almost as if you put your dipping chocolate in the microwave for too long. But you also don’t want to burn it.
3. In your electric mixing bowl, combine your chocolate butter mixture and the hot cup of water and slowly mix it. Add the rest of your butter (1 stick), vanilla extract and sugar. Continue mixing.
4. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
5. In small segments, add the flour mixture and milk to your chocolate mixture. Take turns between the flour and milk, mixing between each addition.
6. Allow this to bake for about thirty minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean in the middle. Before taking it out of your bund form, please be sure to let it cool. Frost with your desired frosting, and ENJOY!

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol’s family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn’t know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside — safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can’t avoid.

She’s different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador’s privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn’t a coincidence. It’s a conspiracy.

Within the Icon’s reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions — which they’ve always thought to be their greatest weaknesses — may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts — in order to save the future.

Hardcover, 428 pages

Published May 7th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (first published May 1st 2013)    0316205184 (ISBN13: 9780316205184)

An alien force has taken over the world without warning and without stepping foot on land. They maintain control of Earth through their representatives and the threat of death. They have already killed off a huge portion of humans and continue to threaten those that try to fight them with death. The four kids who are the focus of the story are all brought together because they are special. But was bringing them together a worse decision than keeping them apart?

Dol is the main character and the story is told from her perspective. She lost her parents in the initial takeover and now lives in a farm community that feels safe. Then, one day, a warning comes. She is given an illegal book and eventually taken, along with Ro, to a government facility.

At the facility she meets Tima and Lucas. The rest of the novel takes place on and around this facility as they are being tested and carefully watched to find how dangerous they are to the alien beings. During their time there, we get to know each of them better, understand the connections between them, and see a pinch of a romance emerging.

Dol and Lucas have similar characteristics; they are both caring and cautious. Tima and Ro are also similar; they are very determined and courageous, making their opinions clearly known. The four soon discover they all have similar markings and that this may be the key to why they were taken.

It was interesting to read a book in which the enemy doesn’t show their face. The aliens are a constant threat, but the main focus for these four is the current circumstances of being taken and locked up. The whole story revolves around their inquiries into why they were taken, if they are safe, and what will happen to them next.

There are moments of action, travelling, and adventure. But it’s only with the help of a computer and an outsider that the answers can be found. They have to rise up against the authority and force change. My favourite characters were Ro and Tima; they add rebel attitude to the story and Lucas and Dol add caring and rationality to the story. I wish I had waited until the sequel was about to released before I read Icons. It ends with a bang, right when things get really good. 

I would recommend this book to Margaret Stohl fans and those who like detective stories with some action.