The Night My Life Changed Forever by Sara Lisowski

The Night My Life Changed Forever

By Sara Lisowski

Publisher: via Smashwords, 2010

113 pages, Kindle Edition

Date Finished: 23/4/2011

Genres: Mature Teen, Romance, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction, Serious Issues

Mary is a 16 year old girl, that goes to a party to hopefully get with the boy she thought she loved. After some events at the party, she realises that he isn't the boy for her. A new boy walks into the party and changes Mary's life forever, is this the real thing? Is this what Mary has been striving to have?
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: "A life of danger, boys, trying to gain respect, 'fun' and never-ending turmoil . . ."
~Last Line: "This has been the most romantic moment of my life, dancing and experiencing this with my love, my heart, my life, my Zackary."

Review: This novel was a great short story to read in between book tours and Buddy Reads. The love scenes could have been minimized, or even taken out completely, but the general plot line was awesome.

The two main characters, Zack and Mary, never knew each other until one night at a party they both happened to be attending. Over the next few days they fall deeper and deeper in love with each other. It was definitely true love, and their parents, especially Mary's, were happy to see their children happy.

Zack cared for Mary, like, a LOT. There was no mistaking his love for her. He would do anything to keep her safe, anything to make her happy. Mary cared equally for Zack -- well, maybe a little less that Zack's extreme. She was so much happier after she met Zack. Her previous events in life had been haunting her for years.

Zack and Mary sort of remind me of Clary and Jace from the Mortal Instruments series, as far as loving each other goes, anyway. It was all they could do just to stop thinking about each other for even five minutes.

There's actually only one love scene in this book, and it was a little graphic, but not an extreme caution. This novel was pretty good. I hate that it was so short, though, because the plot was one that would've been great in a 200 - 350 page book :).

This Bird Flew Away by Lynda M. Martin

This Bird Flew Away (Bria Connelly, #1)

By Lynda M. Martin

Publisher: Black Rose Writing, 2010

312 pages, Google Docs & Kindle Edition

Date Finished: 9/4/2011

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Some Action, Mature Teen, Some Romance, Serious Issues

What is real love? The whole world wants to know. They should ask Bria Jean, because she has it all figured out. Opinionated, stubborn and full of woe, Bria would tell you real love is having one person you can always count on through thick and thin. For her, that's Jack. And it doesn't matter to her that she's nine and he's twenty-three-not one bit. When, at the age of twelve, Bria disappears, he and his Aunt Mary search for her, and when she surfaces, injured, abused and traumatized, Jack fights to become her guardian with no idea of the trials ahead of him. By then, Bria is thirteen going on thirty, full of her own ideas on how her life should run and with some very fixed notions about who is in charge.
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: "According to Auntie Peg, if you couldn't hear my voice then I must have my nose in a book."
~Last Line: " 'Uhm. . .how are you?' "

Review: First off, let me say that I really want a physical copy of this novel. It was intriguingly appealing.

Our main character was the interesting Bria Jean Connelly. At first it took me a few chapters to really get into thinking in her point of view, but the farther along I got the better the book was. Then something terrible happens (well, a lot of bad things happened, but what I found worst was...).

Bria Jean runs away from her aunt and uncle's house after having to defend herself from being abused. She tries to reach her other aunt's house on her own, and when she is somewhat close, she runs into an old acquaintance. Then he gets durnk, she gets sold, and poor Bria Jean gets raped.

That was the hardest part of the book for me. It broke my heart right in two to know that things like that happen everyday all over the world. But to have it happening and seem so close to home (it's written in first person), it made my cry.

However, this novel is not just terrible happenings. Bria has a love for rodeos. I find that aspect of Bria's personality truly amazing. I've always wanted to ride a horse, so I'm glad that Martin is letting me live my dream through one of her well-thought out characters.

Bria Jean honestly did have a hard life. I mean, sometimes I could sort of relate, but other times I couldn't, but still wasn't completely lost. She helped me figure out some things not to do, though. I wish I could tell you; you probably wouldn't even believe me, but ... OMG. It's just so big. It hit me hard smackdab in the forehead because I could possibly be in her position one day... Not gonna give it away, though :).

This book is definitely superb, and y'all should take the time out to read it if you have the chance!

 and a half :)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)
By Charlaine Harris
Publisher: the Penguin Group, 2001
312 pages, hardcover (Library)
Date Finished: 17/3/2011
Genres: Mature Teen, Romance, Fantasy, Action, Mystery

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life--and one of her coworkers checks out...Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea.
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: "I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar."
~Last Line: "Back to normal."

Review: I have been wanting to read this series for quite a while, and I finally got the opportunity. One of my friends had checked it out of the library, and, after she finished it, she kindly agreed to let me borrow it (and now I have to turn it in for her because we're on Spring Break and it's due Thurs D: ).

Dead Until Dark really was amazing. The main character, Sookie Stackhouse, has been wanting to meet a vampire for years, and now she has the chance. Insert Bill Compton, your new-to-town vampire -- the only vamp in Bon Temps, Louisiana. He comes at a pretty bad time, though, because soon after his arrival, murders are popular, something that's just notheard of in Bon Temps. Sookie's starting to fall for him, but can he be trusted?

This book had a little action, but they don't really wander, so I wouldn't consider it adventure-y. There was romance, obviously, and it was mysterious to me since the town was tryting to figure out who the murderer was.

The characters were realluy unique in this book. Sookie didn't think the same way everyone usually does, which was pretty darn likable. Bill wasn't necessarily your average vamp, but he wasn't a predictable Edward Cullen either, so his charrie wasn't too cliche. The restaurant that Sookie works at, Merlotte's, is owned by her good friend Sam. Sam's character was one that I liked; he cared about Sookie a lot, and even though he waited until Bill got there to make a move, I loved his protective air of Sookie. Overall, all the characters brought something new and/or wonderful to the table of modern-day literature :).

This novel was super-interesting. I hope that I have the chance to read the rest of the series sometime soon! You really should try the series out, especially if you watch the TV show True Blood!



Quotes from the Book:

"But rural northern Louisiana wasn't too tempting to vampires, apparently; on the other hand, New Orleans was a real center for them -- the whole Anne Rice thing, right?"

"For a second I felt ashamed at calling Bill to rescue me: I should have handled the situation myself. Then I thought, Why? When you know a practically invincible being who professes to adore you, someone so hard to kill it's next to impossible, someone preternaturally strong, that's who you're gonna call."

" 'So you could be a bird?'
'Yeah, but flying is hard. I'm always scared I'm going to get fried on a power line, or fly into a window.' "