Photo of the Week

Just look at those baby blues...

Book Review: "Pandemonium"

"Pandemonium" by Lauren Oliver

SUMMARY from Goodreads
Lena joins the resistance effort against the oppressive government and fights for freedom.

After escaping from Portland, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community. Weak and grieving for Alex, Lena fights to survive. And then she fights her oppressors.

As the viewpoint shifts between Lena's time in the Wilds and the present day, which is set in Brooklyn, Lena transforms into a warrior for the resistance. In New York City, the grass-roots movement for a Deliria-Free America (the DFA) is gathering strength, and its leader, Thomas Fineman, recruits more supporters by the day. His son Julian--as-yet uncured--heads up the DFA's youth organization. Lena is tasked with blending into the DFA's rallies; she seems to be a supporter yet she is really a spy.

MY RATING

MY THOUGHTS
A few things bothered me about this book, hence why it only gets three stars.

1. The oh so predictable love triangle. Would it be a YA without a love triangle? I'm just not feeling the new guy. I need Alex back, stat. There were many times when Julian (new guy) came off as creepy to me and I guess I'm just "Team Alex"!

2. The jumping back and forth between past and present. It threw me off a few times. It wasn't horrible, just not how I prefer books to be set up. Especially when it was so different than the first book. I better get over it though, because I have a feeling book three will be a whole new set-up.

I like how Lena grew up a bit in this one. She seemed like a "sheep", if you will, in the first one. Pandemonium brought us Wilds Lena, Lena 2.0. I like her.

Overall it was a good book and I'm looking forward to Requiem this March!
 

Photo of the Week

This is a little something that I want to try in 2013: Photo of the Week.

I'm already one week behind.. oops!

Anyway, I'm going to keep it simple. One photo and maybe a brief explanation.

So, here's my first one!

There are no words for how much I love this picture. It's by no means the perfect photograph in technical terms, but the subjects make it beyond perfect. Love.

Book Review: "Delirium"

"Delirium" by Lauren Oliver

SUMMARY from Goodreads
THEY SAY that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. And I've always believed them. Until now.

Now everything has changed. Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

MY RATING

  
MY THOUGHTS
The gist of this book is that Love is a disease. Being cured will solve all your problems and you will go on to live a happy life in a controlled environment.

My first thought on that was "what a crock of crap", but in all honesty, the theme makes for a pretty great story line! There is, of course, the typical love story that you would expect. That in turn leads to a daring escape of sorts once the truth about what's going on comes out.

It's a pretty great story and very well written considering it's a Young Adult novel. It's part of a three book series, I'm currently reading the second and the third is due out in early March.

Would I recommend it? Sure. It's a good read and I'm a sucker for series books!

2013

While I see recap after recap of 2012, I've decided that I want to look forward to 2013 instead.

Don't get me wrong, 2012 was a hell of a year. There were a lot of ups and downs. A ton of life changes. If I'm being completely honest, 2012 was one of the most challenging years of my life. Both in good and bad ways.

So, while most people make resolutions for their new calendar year, I've created what I call my "Get This Done Or You Suck At Life" list... catchy, no?

That said, here's my list:

• Clean/Organize/Donate all the crap that is the disaster zone of our upstairs
• Do a deep clean & organize every room in the house

The first two sort of go together, but I felt the upstairs deserved it's own asterisk. It truly is a huge disaster!

• Get my Etsy Shop up and running 

It's almost ready!

Pretty logo, right?

I haven't talked about it much (or at all) here because I've been going back and forth over what to sell. I make so many different things and I felt like I needed a "niche".  I'm 98% sure now (I think...) and I'm working on items. My goal is to have my first round of items listed by the end of this month! More to come on this topic in the near future.

• Find a way to finish my Web degree

This is a touchy topic for me right now. Long story short, I'm two courses shy of finishing my Web Design degree. I was receiving help paying a percentage of the tuition, but no longer am. Anyone who has been to college knows that it isn't exactly cheap! I've been researching alternate options and I'm close to a solution I think.

• Make more time for "me"

In 2012, there was no such thing as "me time". Ever. It just didn't happen. In this new year, I want at least some. Whether it's something as simple as reading a book or even a day to go out an about by myself. I want that. I think a little me time will do great things for my mental state!
 
So that's that. Bring it on 2013. I'm ready to make some changes for the better!