State of the Union: Week of 10/1

Hi everyone! I've fallen in love with doing State of the Unions so this is definitely going to become a regular thing on the site. As for my return from not blogging, i'm loving it! And I'm so glad all of you decided to stick around in my absence, haha. There's going to be some big changes around here soon enough (once my new layout is finished, which will hopefully be some) and some features that will come along with the new look!

WHAT AM I WATCHING?

Erza is flawless. Natsu is adorable.

1. Fairy Tail

Guys. I seriously didn't think I was going to like this show that much but now i'm on episode 51 AND I LOVE EVERYONE. I honesty have so many feelings for the friendship between Gray, Erza, and Natsu that I can't express into coherent sentences. They are undoubtedly loyal to not only themselves but their entire guild and even though they constantly bicker (especially Gray and Natsu), they would sacrifice their lives for each other. I definitely recommend this anime!

This is really the only one I've been watching (and I've been rewatching Hetalia: Axis Powers because I can) but I'm going to be starting D. Gray Man and Duradura!! pretty soon so I'll fill you in next week!

WHAT AM I READING?

I'm going to start reading the Fairy Tail manga as well as continue the Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles since I haven't read them in forever and a half.

As for real people books, I finished The Diviners as you guys saw! Such a huge book but totally brilliant and I recommend it to everyone who loves good books.

I also just started Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst and I'm really loving it so far. This girl is a ritual sacrifice for a clan where if their god doesn't show up to collect the sacrifice, they will starve and die. And then their God doesn't show up. It's an awesome fantasy with a rich world and I'm enjoying the main character so this'll probably be good! Durst always has awesome books though so I'm not even surprised.

WHAT I POSTED:

Monday: Once Upon A Time 2.01 Recap
Tuesday: Food For Thought: Friendship is Magic
Thursday: The Diviners Review
Saturday: Favorite Book First Lines

BOOK HAULING IT UP:

For Review:
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Borrowed:
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Gifted:
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (if you guys don't know the story: my copy got stolen at my school when I was halfway through it. And Katie, because she is awesome, gave me her second copy!)

Happy Reading!

Favorite Book First Lines: Again With The Shock Factor

Hey guys! So I was thinking about what I wanted to post about today and then I realized I didn't get to do Favorite Book First Lines on Totally Booksessed a few weeks ago and I want to do it here!

The first line of your book is arguably one of the most important. Once your cover and black/side flap interest your reader enough for them to actually open your book, you have one final impression to make before they dive in. If I'm at B&N, I'll give things a chapter to catch my attention. If it's a review book or a book I already bought, I'll give it 50 pages. But! Sometimes that first line is just so awesome, so epic, I have to keep reading and that's that!

"Imagine my surprise when, after three centuries of fighting with siblings ov a spare furry teat and licking my water from a bowl, I was given a huge human nipple, all to myself, filled with warm mother's milk."

- The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S King

Why: GUYS. If you know what this book is about, which I didn't have a very detailed notion of, you're immediately like WUT. 

"It did not surprise Fire that the man in the forest shot her." 

- Fire by Kristin Cashore 

Why: You'll probably stop to notice I love shock factor in my first lines. 

"Wait, did you, you just yawned!" The vampire's arms, raised over his head in a classic Dracula pose, dropped to his sides."

- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Why: This is SO SO perfectly Evie, I adore it. Plus it automatically fills you in that this is going to be a funny book. 

"It was the first day of November and so, today, someone will die."

- The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater 

Why: AGAIN WITH THE SHOCK FACTOR.

"I bear a deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch's poison my mother used to try to expel me from her womb."

- Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Why: This might be my favorite of all of them, actually! This simple line has so much pain, memories, and sadness in it that it makes you stop and gasp to yourself. 

I really want to hear some of your favorite first lines so leave them down below! Happy Reading!

“Charity begins at home.” “So does mental illness.”

Title: The Diviners (The Diviners #1)

Author: Libba Bray

Release Date: September 18th, 2012

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)

Pages: 578

Cover Judge: I love it! Elegant, classy, slightly creepy with the eye and the dark covers. 

Quote Choice: HA, I love Evie.
Source: For Review 

Goodreads: Link

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Now I can say for sure that Libba Bray's historicals are seriously what do it for me. I was discouraged because while I love her Gemma Doyle Trilogy, her last two contemporaries (although not really cotemporaries, what can I consider Beauty Queens and Going Bovine?) didn't really do it for me. But! The Diviners did not disappoint. (I can also officially say it's my favorite Libba book.)

One of my favorite things about Libba's writing is that although it's lush, descriptive, and prose-tastic, it's not boring and long. She writes with a simplistic style that doesn't make me want to keep flipping the pages but still manages to be not only beautiful but in this case? Creepy. If you don't know what the book it's about, a girl named Evie moves to New York to live with her Uncle at the same time that her Uncle starts helping out on this murder case that is strangely leaning towards the Occult. The story shifts from three main perspectives (aside from the killers): Evie, Theta, and Memphis but all in the third person. I loved this because while Evie is amazing, I loved hearing Theta and Memphis' stories, especially when they intertwined.

But seriously, Evie was awesome. Evie was "spoiled and a bit selfish" (as Jericho calls her) but also kind-hearted and witty and she just...she's the kind of character who you know if they were real, they'd be the type of people who light up a room when they get excited about things. She was upbeat and unrelenting in her originality and spunk which is a great contrast against Theta, who while still being spunky and fun, is much more inherently sad and her story much more dark. All the same, I loved her and I loved her relationship with her best friend, Henry. They were what best friends should be: teasing and fun but deep down they had this loyalty and honesty towards each other that I really loved reading about. And finally, Memphis! Memphis is someone you have to discover on your own people!

The murder aspect itself is creepy and crazy, as things usually get when they involve the occult and supernatural! The killer's chapters were dark and twisted and the way the supernatural in this world was woven into the story was very seamless and realistic.

And finally, the romance. There isn't much in the book but just enough to get my toes tingling, really. While there is no implicit love triangle or anything, there is more than one person vying for Evie's attentions. This is something I love about Libba: when she gives her main character more than one opinion, it never feels like it's suddenly a love triangle or a competition. It just is. And because of this, I have to mention Jericho who I love because gah he was so sweet and shy and stoic. I adored him and I adored him and Evie's moment in the story. That isn't to say I didn't love Sam! I mean, handsome, rakish, and just a little bit dangerous? That's practically the formula for every bad boy persona except Sam manages to pull it off with such a charm and candor that I actually enjoyed it instead of rolling my eyes all the time.

All in all, I recommend it a thousand times over! Happy Reading!

Food For Thought: Friendship is Magic (12)

Hey guys! Today I have a Food For Thought for you so prepare yourselves for epic.

I felt this was appropriate due to the title of this post, even though I've never seen the show!

So as I watch Fairy Tail (fangirling about my journey with this on State of the Union this weekend), I've been thinking a lot about how important friendships are when you're writing about a character's journey.

What happens a lot of the time is that best friends or even just friends are quickly shoved to the side in favor of whoever the love interest (or love interests) are at the moment. They get left behind for the magical journey. Hell, they completely disappear for no reason sometimes!

The reason I read is because I am fascinated by how people react to things. Seriously, it's something I discovered when I started roleplaying online last year. I love reading about how characters interact and feed off each other and connect and disconnect. So of course I love reading the evolution of love between people or between families but I think there's something really awesome and special about reading interactions between main characters and their friends.

One of the best examples of this I think is Kate from Angelfire by Courtney Alllison Moulton. Kate has NO freaking idea about anything that is going on in Ellie's paranormal life, right? And that's okay! But instead of just making her disappear because she's not essential to the main plot, she's an important person in Ellie's life. She's a constant and she matters and I don't know if Ellie would survive and adapt to this new life as well as she has without this girl by her side.

So authors! Friends! Important! And now I turn to you lovely people, what do you think? Also: give me some of your favorite awesome best friend examples from YA done below!

Happy Reading!

Once Upon A Time Recap: 2x01 Broken

Ah! Hey guys! I've missed you so much but I'm finally back and better than ever! Books have been read, ideas have been stewing, a big change is coming up soon since my new layout is almost finished, AND WE HAVE A RECAP! Once Upon A Time came back today so let's get started!