Update- writing and reading :) yeah!

Hey everyone! SO I figured since I am currently unattached to a book, and not posting a new review yet, that I would update about what I have been up to. If anyone has read my profile bio or who know me personally, you already know that I love to write. Currently I have been bouncing half a dozen ideas around in my head. I have two serious fan fics in the works (photo above is pages I've written for my Dark Angel-tv series- fan fic, other one is a Harry Potter fan fic but it's typed up on the comp) and one original novel still in the works(She Wolf- a paranormal romance). It's hard trying to share my attention between them all. Besides those, I also have several other less serious writing ideas that flash through my head sporadically. I have also been reading some fan fiction still. I have also re-read Inara Scott's Delcroix Academy: The Candidates (recently re-named; The Talents). I re-read it after I won a ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of the next book of hers called The Marked aka The Watchers. I am planning on doing a blog about Inara Scott's study guide she has provided for readers on her website. I figured to compare my answers from reading it the first time to reading it a second time. We'll see how that goes. Anyways, I was SOOO excited when I won the ARC of The Marked because it had been announced that it's release date was being pushed back from August 2, 2011 to April 2012... *grumble grumble, tear* =( But I'm happy now since I won the ARC and I'll hopefully be receiving it in the mail in a couple of weeks so I can devour it. Between writing and read I have also been busy working my day job and getting things set up for going back to College this fall. My mind has been working over time, aka staying up way too late and getting up way too early. Also dealing with resisting re-reading several other books on my shelf. (The Magicians by Lev Grossman, HP series by J.K. Rowling, Matched by Ally Condie, Divergent by Veronica Roth, etc...) But I can't do that because I feel guilty that my TBR pile is still very large...

I haven't been able to put a dent in my TBR (to be read) pile. My TBR pile still contains: The Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist, The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, The Girl Who Heard Dragons by Anne McCaffrey, King's Dragon by Kate Elliott, Witch & Warrior-both by Marie Brennan, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (actually started this at one point but wasn't into the genre at the time and put it down after a couple chapters), The Passionate Rebel by Helene Lehr, Move Heaven and Earth by Christina Dodd, Mr. Cavendish I Presume by Juila Quiin, Cherokee Storm by Janelle Taylor, Love Me Forever by Johanna Lindsey, The Dreaming Tree by C.J. Cherryh, The Shifter: The Healing Wars-book 1 by Janice Hardy, Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel, Sapphique by Catherine Fisher, and Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce. *Breathes deeply* *sigh* Yeah, it's a very long list. I don't get dents in it because I keep finding books in the story and reading them immediately. Anyways, what do you think I should read next? I'm open for suggestions even if they aren't in my TBR pile. I really enjoy YA sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian, epic fantasy, paranormal romance, historical romance. Anyways, please comment. I feel really stupid writing this when I'm not even sure anyone is reading my blog... Who knows maybe no one is reading... lol. I guess I've always enjoyed talking to myself anyways...*awkward laugh* *long silence w/ cheesy smile*


My TBR PILEs ↓ (not including Game of Thrones and Pillars of the Earth-only cuz I accidentally didn't get them into the pile *OOpps, sorry* =D

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati

An amazing historical romance. Sara Donati wove magic through this tale of a school marm set on being a spinster.

Elizabeth Middleton left England with her brother to join their father in "Paradise", New York. The small village was like a seed planted in the middle of the forest. The seed of "town" wasn't the only kind of seed to take hold in this adventure. The villagers are all riled up about the Mohawk people who want to claim Hidden Wolf mountain. A great tale of love, survival, and prejudice. At 876 pages long, it took me three days to read. I could not put the book down or out of my mind. Plus there is promises of four more books in the series. Must read! 5/5 Stars!!

Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and Leigh Eddings

It's been a while since I have written a review on a book I'm reading. Not because I haven't been reading but just cuz I've been lazy about typing up the review after I'm done reading. I just kept plowing through from one book to another.

This is David and Leigh Eddings answer to many wanting the back story before the Belgarion and The Mallorean. This is told in first person by Belgarath. At first I thought that this could be read before the Belgariad, but then upon conclusion, decided otherwise. There are too many key things and names dropped by Belgarath during the telling of his story that would ruin the secrets of the Belgariad for a new reader. Over all it was immensely satisfying as a fan of the Belgariad and the Mallorean to read all this back story. It's also a plus that we get a small glimpse into the lives of the characters after the Belgariad and the Mallorean are finished. A great addition to my collection of books from this story line. 5/5 Stars!

I am including several book covers I have found. The first one is the same as the one I own, but the rest I just want to share because I love book cover art. :)

A Hopeful Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer

The cover on this book caught my attention. The girl pictured looked alot like Keira Knightenly. So I picked it up and found the location given for the setting to be; Barnett,Kansas. I'm not from Barnett, but I am from Kansas. So I picked up the delightful Christian historical romance.
K.V. Sawyer makes us fall in love with little Miss Tressa within the first three pages, technically pages 7, 8, and 9 because some how the page numbers 1-6 were skipped. :P lol. At 344 pages long (minus 6 pages that were missing), I read this book in one day. The wonderful story line of girls from the city heading out to go to school to learn to be ranchers' wives was unique and wonderful. We read about girls being boughten as brides in those days by ranchers and such. This is the first time I've read of girls going to learn to be ranchers wives and then being matched off. I liked this idea better than the buying of brides. Anyways, this book has wonderful mystery, some action adventure and a little romance. It wasn't nearly as romantic as I'd prefer, yet I still enjoyed it.
4/5 Stars! If you enjoy historical romances, then I recommend it for you!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Decidedly in love with the newest film version of Pride and Prejudice (2005) staring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen, I could not resist finally delving into the literature which led to such a movie. First I must say that I had seen a previous version of Pride and Prejudice and found it confusing and uninteresting. The new version was easier to understand and with a wonderful cast and soundtrack, I fell in love. Jane Austen is amazingly witty, clever, romantic. I was so impressed by her writing that I started to think and want to speak in her dialect and wished for her wit so direly. There is not much more I can say of such a wonderful novel that hasn't been said yet to this day for the last 197 years. I had difficulty in adjusting to the dialect though since I haven't read much anything like it. At 334 pages long it took me about 3 days to read. 5/5 Stars! A must read for anyone.


I loved the dance scene the most in both book and movie. :) --->

Bitter Thistle, Sweet Rose by Ruth Glover

This book is #2 in a series called The Wildrose Series. I have not read any of the other books in this series... yet. This 206 page book was much too short for my liking. It took me maybe 4 hours to read this. I found myself skimming through a lot of parts of the book as the author seemed to go on way to long in description of the landscape and setting. I've never had that happen to me before. I was sorely disappointed with this book as the back of the book suggests that supposedly a young lady named Linn is the main character of this book. Yet, as the story went through it didn't seem to focus even mainly on her, only some. That annoyed me a lot since I had been attracted to read this book by the creation of her character and introduction of her on the back of the book. I am hoping that the 3rd book of this series will carry on about the ending of Linn's story because this book doesn't give a good conclusion for her at all. If you enjoy historic romances set back in pioneer/settler type days with the Christian moralities preaching throughout the book, then I recommend this one for you. This author reminds me of Lauraine Snelling or Janette Oak, but not quite as good. 3/5 Stars!

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen

So I found this amazing historical romance. This is a new author to me. I really enjoyed it. I read it in about a day. It is 438 pages long. This story is about a young lady, Olivia, who gets caught up in a series of unfortunate misunderstandings. The whole book the reader is constantly trying to figure out what really is going on. My only complaint is how insulting and rude the main male figure, who gets romantically connected with Olivia, is all the time. It just makes it hard to like him enough to actually cheer for their romance to work out. Olivia is a very likable character though. I couldn't put the book down, the way you have to keep reading to find out more, to solve the mysteries. I give this book a good 15/15 stars!!! =D

Highland Honor by Hannah Howell

This historical romance between a murderous widow and a scottish knight started at a crawling pace. It wasn't nearly as action packed as I expected for a girl on the run but I suppose the book just wasn't long enough to accomadate such action sequences. It was a wee bit hard to read lol. The dialect that the author used for the Scotsman was hard to follow at first. The two main characters weren't likable enough to win my heart over. But overall it was a good enough read. I hope the other books by Hannah Howell are better written than this one. I have one more by her I had picked out to read from my sister's library. For being only 295 pages long, it took me a long time to read it. I started it 2 days ago... I don't think the characters were well enough developed. :( I would recommend it even though... For some aren't nearly as critical as I am about a nice romance novel.lol. 4/5 stars.

Dryden's Bride by Margo Maguire

Another historical romance. I wasn't too sure about this one since it is a Harlequin romance. I have read those in the past and they have been all sex and little romance. This one was good. I started it today at work and finished it a few moments ago. It is short and sweet at 296 pages long. It was very easy to fall in love with the two main characters and hard to feel any kindness towards any of the other adult characters in this story. Some were good friends though. I felt very compassionate for the two main characters and their trials they had been through in life. Margo Maguire did a good job with making sure she explained things well enough for us to understand thoroughly but not drawing it out to un-needed information. Very good read. 8/10 stars :)

Prince Charming by Julie Garwood

So I borrowed this book from my oldest sister. I was a bit skeptical about it being too gushy just based on the name of the book. It is one of my most favorite books now. I read it in less than 12 hours. It is 533 pages long in paperback edition. I stayed up all night without sleeping just to finish this book. The two main characters were wonderful, loved both of them. This is a historical romance btw. This is the first book I've read by Julie Garwood and I will most definitely read others of hers and see if they are as good as this one was. If so, then I expect she will be one of my new favorite authors...though that list is some what long now a days...lol This book has great pace from event to event and a little bit of action/adventure. The romance was wonderful. Not too much sex...I hate the super gushy romances where it's all sex and not really romance. Even though Christine Feehan's books border on too much sex... (Christine Feehan is one of my favorite authors, check out her Dark series and leopard series) If I were to give this book stars...I'd give it 10/5 stars it was so great!