If YA Were a School

So I was thinking what would happen if I put my favorite books into classes. Think of it as the best school of my dreams. I would get to take the classes my favorite book characters do and have time to blog in school.{Click on it to make the schedule larger}

Mini Reviews: Never Ending

Never Ending by Martyn Bedford Goodreads|Amazon

Published by Wendy Lamb Books March 11, 2014

Source: Library

When a family holiday ends in tragedy, the grieving parents’ marriage is left in ruins and, Shiv, their 15-year-old daughter, is tormented by what happened … and her part in it. Off the rails and unable to live with her guilt, Shiv is sent away to an exclusive clinic that claims to “cure” people like her.

But this is no ordinary psychiatric institution and Shiv discovers that her release – from her demons, and from the clinic itself – will come, if it comes at all, at a bizarre and terrible price.

Never Ending was a book I need at the time I read it, but looking back it was not something I would normally read. I don’t especially like books where it is all about psychological development. Yet , still with the flashbacks to Greece with where Siobhan’s brother died and the experimental Korsakoff Clinic the plot comes in a full circle. The book is cliché in what happens to Siobhan, yet still she is the only character who is pointed and full.

What really bothered me though was the lack of action and definite direction. Maybe, it was purposeful to avoid straight forward direction, but I didn’t enjoy it. The book felt a bit wishy washy in terms of what it was trying to speak about. The books made me feel disconnected as well as down because of how depressing it is. Rating:  

September Monthly Review

via http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/21/2d/a6/212da6db28e2a55a5cb75de638946556.jpg

Fall is officially here in full swing with tea, leaves, and books. September has had most of settling into the routine of school and other extra circulars. I, myself, have started being a bit strained by all that my schedule demands, but feel that I am now learning how to handle all of it.

Posts:
July & August Monthly Review
Review We Were Liars
Journaling: We Were Liars
Review The Night Circus
Summer Vacation
Room by Book Marina
Review One Past Midnight
Review Suspicion
Goulash//Daughter of Smoke & Bone Style

Posts from Other Blogs I Enjoyed:
The Mile Long Bookshelf: The Emoji Book Tag
Feed Me Books Now: Discussion: Can Fiction Change A Person's Life?'
Miss Fictional: Six Degrees of Seperation {Bookish Version}
To Another World: The Bookish Confessionary: Fluff is Everything
It Was Lovely Reading: Things I Hear In Bookshops

I am having a little bit of trouble with computer (read: pictures hosted on blogger are not loading on my laptop). My blogging is turn up side down- I don't know what to do. I was confused and felt really out of it. Right now I have nothing scheduled for October. I think I'm going to take it a bit easy and see where everything is going.

Goulash//Daughter of Smoke and Bone Style

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of my favorite books. Laini Taylor crafts a wonderful book of eloquent writing, plot, and characters. One of the first scenes in the entire book is Zuzana and Karou eating goulash after school at one of their favorite hangouts, The Poison Kitchen. 

Goulash- A highly seasoned Hungarian soup or stew of meat and vegetables, flavored with paprika.

-Oxford Concise American Dictionary

After feeling a little bit booksick (homesick for a book) for Karou and Zuzanna, but I decided to recreate their favorite food- goulash. I got my recipe from here, but I found it a bit confusing; so I would maybe follow the recipe from somewhere a little more concise such as from the Food Network. So I managed to get everything from my local farmer's market, except for a couple spices, (their food is delicious) and cook that night.

Some of my  ingredients: carrots, green pepper, potatoes, & parsnip

The goulash just before it boils with everything in it

Boiling Goulash- It takes about an hour and half on the stove after broiling
Not the most attractive picture

Fnished Goulash with Mult-grain bread 

Review Suspicion

Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

Published by Delacorte Press December 9, 2014

Source: eARC from Random House via NetGalley

Bookologists Analysis: I am really excited because this is my first review for a non-blog tour eARC. Suspicion was a kind stepping stone for a beginning of a series and was pretty good, but not stupendous in my opinion. What I felt for the book wasn’t anything special, but it would be a good light read.

Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.

"There's something hidden in the Maze." Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.

Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.

All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself--and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?

Combining a fresh twist on the classic REBECCA with a spine-tingling mystery and powerful romance, SUSPICION is an action-packed thrill ride.

Thank you to Random House for sending this eARC via NetGalley which did not affect my opinions at all.

First thing first, how cool is the name Imogen? I mean seriously who wouldn’t want a name like that. You would never have to worry about thinking someone calling your name and then realizing that it isn’t you. (It’s really awkward) What I loved about Imogen was that she was literally a stereotypical main character, and that is something I haven’t seen in a long time. Imogen wasn’t badass, but she had her own flowery elegance to herself. She was empathetic, nervous about moving to England, but still knew it was her duty, and was a shy school girl type. Suspicion was mainly focused on her as a main character rather than anything else.

Other components of the book were a little shaky though. The romance between the two boys, Sebastian and Theo, was a bit sloppy as it felt just rushed and not properly outlined.  I would’ve liked to see a more realistic romance take place in already such a predictable plot of an American girl becoming a duchess. The plot was the typical princess gets swept off her feet and oh she might have magical powers. The credit I will give though is that Imogen is a lot more self-conscious that what is to be expected.  The writing was not superb, but average middle of the road. It is good enough to be published, but not good enough to make it to my STELLAR WRITING club.

All in all I feel that Suspicion just didn’t live up to my expectations of urban fantasy. Urban fantasy is just so popular now that I have such high expectations. If you are looking for a new look on the cliché I would recommend Suspicion though. It takes you on a path that is not what you think, but you see around the corner.  Rating: ««1/2

Review One Past Midnight

One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington Goodreads | Amazon

Published by Bloomsbury USA July 22, 2014

Source: Library

Bookologists Analysis: Fall and keep on falling into this book. Swim between the lives to find the greatest depth. This book was definitely a good one. But that was with the writing and plot all mixed. I was swept off my feet for a while, but not a long while. During the book it is intense but after coming from the roller coaster it is not as intense.

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is... 

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking? 

On the book cover it says “The perfect life, or the perfect love. You choose.” That sentence pretty much sums up the entire overall structure of the book fairly well. Sabine has been “shifting” between two different lives for her whole and just wants out. She’s scared of the shift because it shifts her conscience and body between dimensions/planes. Her life revolves around the fact she has to keep her secret covered and masked or else she is going to be pinned as a mental case. In her “perfect” life she has plans to go to Harvard, has money, and has a boyfriend, Dex (who she is not totally in love with, after all she counts the seconds she kisses him). In her “other” life she lives in a middle income family who run a drug store, has one friend named Capri, and an adorable little sister.  Despite all her fortune in the “perfect” life it is in the “other” life that Ethan changes the whole game.

Ethan, oh my lovely adorable sweet Ethan, is Sabine’s nurse after she starts experimenting with the physical side of the shift. Describing Ethan is near impossible because he is such a curious character. He melds and molds to become different people. In all of it though Ethan never loses faith in what Sabine can do.  Sabine goes through such a journey though, physical, mentally, and emotionally. All she wants is a place where she can be “normal” and not have to shift is what she craves in the beginning. Somewhere along the way she finds that despite being a part of two worlds; the two worlds are also a part of her.

The writing was usual Jessica Shirvington style- sassy, short, and quick to the point.  I personally wished that I could have savored the story a little more. The romance was a bit too much for me, but in the end it was vital to the plot. Overall the story arc was perfect for what Jessica Shrivington was trying to get across.

The last couple chapters were bittersweet in a way that made you smile in the gloom of it all. Somehow, Jessica Shirvingotn managed to gives us suspense, mystery, fear all woven together once again. The ultimate feel of the book was hope, but still I wanted to yearn for an alternate route out. 

Room by Book Marina

Room by Book is feature done by yours truly where I put together collages of rooms/furniture that fit the book. All credits are below the picture.

Castilian Octagonal Center Table b Hekman
San Antonio's Siamese Twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton (1920-1935) from The New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Corbel Bookend from Restoration Hardware
Cotton Lawn Fabric - Robert Kaufman London Calling Collection Paisley Print from Guthrie&Ghani
Marina (Book Cover) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Marina was a gothic tale set in Spain in the 1980s and well the setting was just splendid. The table reminds me of Oscar's school which is a castle up on a hill overlooking Barcelona. He soon meets Marina whose father German was a famous painter. They live in a mansion but are desperately poor and German holds onto his glory days in the 1950s and 1960s. The Siamese Twins poster would be a vintage poster from just prior to his own prime. The paisley curtains would hang eerily in their ballroom that has pictures of Marina's (dead) mother. German's daughter Marina does not go to school but rather knows all she does from their library; from where the bookends look rather dusty and debilitated. This book made for a wonderful Room by Book having a gorgeous setting.