What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

Beautiful, easy read. I recommend it to anyone searching for a bit of dark drama, but not willing to commit to a huge story that takes ages to read. The book is only about 237 pages long.

Sara lives with her mother and her father, and her brother also used to live with them..
Her father is abusive towards her mother, but when her mother disappears, all the abuse turns towards Sara. Sara tries desperately to believe her mother hasn't deserted her, but her hope slips away slowly.

I enjoyed the book because it was realistic. Sara didn't completely hate her father, she admits that a lot. She remembers that he once was a good man, and that some tiny part of herself will always love him.

Engage yourself in Sara's scary, motivated world, full of memories, sadness, boys, new love and renewing emotions with old friends.

Rated 7/10

Falling For Hamlet by Michelle Ray

First comes love, then comes madness.

WOW wow wow wow. That was my thoughts as I put the book down for the final time. This book is not a mere romance but it's a brilliant tragedy, filled with sexy twists and scandalous secrets. Michelle Ray was inspired by the play, Hamlet, set in a modern day society. She made her book different by focusing on Ophelia's point of view through her fast paced, on and off romance with the prince, Hamlet. Needless to say that Hamlet's father dies pretty much in the beginning and after that everything at the castle of the royals of Denmark, becomes tragic, and just plain weird. The book is magnificently written and is also written in an interesting format. From present to past to even further back and on and on. The characters are so well developed that you immediately like or dislike the character, and even sometimes have something in common with them. 

Is being in the eye of the public, always a good thing? 

There's a statement, a phrase that is prominent in this book,"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." and, "truth fears no trial".

JUST WOW. WOW. WOW.

MY NEW FAVORITE. Please read it.

Rating, 10/10

Don't judge the book by the boring cover. 

The Secret Circle, Book One: The Initiation and The Captive Part 1, by L.J Smith

I was browsing around my local book store when I came upon this interesting book, it is quite thin, less pages than what I usually read but I gave it a shot. Surprisingly, I didn't like it too much, even though it's written by my favorite author (which I'm starting to doubt) but I guess when we get older our taste in books and writing changes. Anyway the book is about a girl named Cassie who lived in California but had to move to New England to help her mother care for her "sick" grandmother. At first she hates it there but she changes her mind a lot about whether she actually hates it so much. Her 'best friend", the nice girl seems too nice and idolized to me. No one can possibly have so much patience. The evil girl then seems too bitchy, which I don't think is THAT possible for a sixteen year old like herself, her evil seems more developed than it should be. Anyway what kept me reading was the main guy character, Adam, who had red hair and ocean blue eyes, he was cool.
Anyway the book has a good story line but it's slow paced and gets a bit boring. There is another book in the series and I will read it, because I hate starting a series and not finishing it. The only series I haven't finished because I hated it too much was P.C Cast's House Of Night  but that's a story for another day. The Secret Circle is intriguing, however, if you like new age poetry and magic.

The book is okay, if you want to read it, borrow it from someone, I don't think it's worth buying. Thanks xx

5/10

Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto

Is love a great enough power against evil?

This book brought me to tears throughout as Beth struggles to keep the heavens from tearing her newly formed marriage with Xavier (a human boy) apart. A dangerous force is after them, will she be smart enough to do whats right?

This is the final book in the Halo series and I must say it is so beautifully written, the emotions just poured out of me. It is brilliant and unlike other books there is a message within the writing in the entire series. It teaches you about religion, friends, family and love. I'm depressed the series is over, the book only took me 2 days to read, not because it was short, but because I couldn't manage to put it down. I stayed up until 1 a.m reading it 'last night'.
The amazing thing is, Bethany is an angel but her romance with Xavier is so real, anyone can relate to it. If you're in a relationship while reading this, i'm sure you'll find something in common with Beth and Xaviar.

Please read this series. Halo, Hades and Heaven.

I apologize for the quality. 

Night World by L.J Smith

I might have mentioned before that L.J is my favorite author of all tie. She is known for the Night World series and of course Vampire Diaries (which I haven't read, and am not planning to, but that's a different story for another day.)

I had to re-read the series because after a decade, the final book in the Night World is being released sometime this year and I just wanted to remind myself what happened. It took me about a month to finish it.
I have no complaints about the series but you can see that it was some of her earlier work, it was published in the 90's. The first book in the series is "Secret Vampire" , it doesn't have strong characters and is poorly written but that is only my opinion. I regained all my respect for L.J when I read the rest. The second book in the series is my favorite, and it has my favorite characters and it is amazing all around.

I don't usually re-read books, the only ones that I have re-read have all been written by L.J.
Please do yourself a favor and read the Night World series. It is magnificent.

Book one





book two                               book three










Coming soon....

Tryll series by Amanda Hocking: Book three - Ascend

I finished this book today in under four hours. Wendy is in love with two guys, and neither are her husband. On top of all that drama she has to kill the Vittra king, her father. Her mother's health is depleting and she starts to form a loving bond with her. Loki comes back to Forening but this time, to stay. Finn is jealous but he knows he has to work with Loki to form an Army.
Will Wendy choose Finn or Loki?

Book three - Ascend

To be honest this book took me a while to get into. I loved learning more about Loki though. We see relationships form and become more complicated. The way Amanda brought her characters to life was breathtaking throughout the series. This book was much more intense than the other but for good reason. I loved the entire book but the whole pregnancy thing at the end seemed forced. I felt that Amanda just added that because she felt she had to, not because she wanted to, because during the entire series it is emphasized how important it is to produce offspring to keep the Trylle alive. Over all I loved this series, but I don't think I'll read the Watersong series, I already heard negative reviews, but you never know, only time can tell if I'll give it a go or not. I'll miss reading about Wendy and everyone is her life dearly. Luckily I'll have these amazing paperbacks forever.

Do yourselves a favor and read this. I know the troll thing isn't appealing but trust me, you'll change your mind on the first page of Switched. 

Tryll series by Amanda Hocking: Book two - Torn

Torn

Wendy, along with Rhys and Matt, become prisoners of the Vittra. Wendy learns that her father may not be dead after all. She meets Vittra Markis, Loki.

Loki helps them escape. Wendy, Rhys and Matt return to Forening where Matt is full of questions and disbelief. Wendy is forced to Marry Tove, the most powerful Markis in Forening. She doesn't love him though, she loves Finn, but Finn is too caught up in duty to fight for their love. Loki comes back looking for Wendy, but fails and becomes the prisoner himself. Wendy fights to save Loki from being executed. Everyone sees Loki as a threat, except for Wendy.

Book two: Torn.

I loved this book as much as the first, maybe even more. Loki just captures your soul and makes you fall in love with him. He is every girl's guilty pleasure. I finished this book in a lot less than a day, I fell head over heels for the series. Amanda Hocking is so talented. Finn is still in the picture. Wendy still loves him, but she has to marry Tove. 

Tryll Series by Amanda Hocking : Book One - Switched

SWITCHED

Wendy Everly always knew she was different. Her "mother" Kim, accused her of being switched at birth and tried to kill her. She has a mysterious ability, she could influence people to do things she wanted them to do. Finn, the new guy at her school shows up at her window one night and tries to convince her to leave with him to a place called Forening, to meet her real parents. She never thought that she was really switched at birth but after she spoke to Finn Holmes all made sense, although she didn't want to leave her Aunt Maggie and her "brother, Matt. But after a while she finds out her home town aren't the only ones who sent people out to look for her, because the Vittra (Forening's enemy) attacks her one night, but luckily Finn isn't far off, and rescues her and drags her off to Forening.

Wendy realizes her real mother isn't much of a charmer than her not-so-real mother. Elora her mother is queen of the trylle. She also has abilities to paint the future. Wendy meets Rhys, and realizes that he looks oddly like her brother Mat. 

She has a forbidden romance with Finn, who she falls deeply in love with, but decides to escape back home, with Rhys, to her not-so-real but "real" family.

Book one: Switched

I thought the book was brilliant. It was fast paced and perfectly written (I rarely say that). We see Wendy change and shift before our very eyes and we see all the other characters develop. Finn is sexy in my mind and anyone would want their relationship to work, but in book one it is a continuous struggle for love, and realism. The first book made me want to go straight to Bargain Books and buy the next one.

Coming up next is a review on Torn (book two)  

hush, hush...

A fallen angel, a forbidden love.

I honestly can't give you any details about the book because if I did I'd be going on and on about it for ages. The series has ended now with it's final installment, Finale. I fished the series yesterday.

The book is about Nora Grey a "normal" high school girl. Her dad died, apparently a murder, but no one knew who killed him. In this four book series Nora must find out who she is, what her love interest, Patch is, and learn things that she never fathomed could be real.

All four books are exhilarating and you'll find yourself plunged into the story within the first few pages. You feel Nora's love, hatred, despair... all her emotions come at you like an explosion. I must say, Becca Fitzpatrick, the author, is extremely talented in bringing all her characters to life. I found myself creating a bond with each character, as if I knew them on a personal level.

An end must come to each and every series, although, I wished that this one would have lasted  forever. As soon as I reached the last few chapters of Finale, my heart fell into pieces, because of the amazing words that were written on  the pages but mostly, because It would be the last time I'd get to spend time with Nora, Patch, Vee and all the other perfectly formed characters.

Now sitting here, writing down my thoughts, my heart is aching because it feels as if I have lost some truly great friends. I actually feel like I'm missing a funeral.

All four books kept me turning pages all night. They made me lose interest in sleep all together, I'd rather stay awake till' all hours of the night reading. Not one book left me disinterested, that amazes me because usually authors become less connected with their characters after a while, but not Becca, she makes me believe that she stuck with her characters all along making them entirely true to themselves.












All the books are named above in the pictures. 


I would rate this series a whopping 10/10.

Do you know what would be cool? If Becca decided that in a few years she'd write a short story about "the family life" of Nora and Patch and then call the book Encore!

lol, lots of love!!! xx

Mediator Series...Meg Cabot

"I can see ghosts. I can talk to ghosts. And, if necessary, I can kick some serious ghost butt."

Get thrown into the amazing life of Susannah Simon with her unearthly gift to see trapped and tortured souls. This book kept me turning pages all through the night. It's seriously one of my favorite series yet! She is required to send the souls into their next realm, but when she finds an unsuspecting guest living in her new bedroom, will she do whats right, and send the dashing young lad away to the afterlife, or slip into crazy and irrational love with him? I highly recommend this six part series to all who believe in life after death and maybe even love after life. The person responsible for this exciting, fast-paced novel is Meg Cabot, also author of The princess diaries and the Abandoned series! I could just read this series again and again and never get bored!!

http://www.megcabot.co.uk/

Check it out guys, you won't regret! xxx

Oh Sweet sweet... what?

Hey Loves. I know i don't do reviews often but I've decided to start.

Sweet Evil

Wendy Higgins

So a few days ago I started reading this breathtaking novel. It took me only two days to finish as I couldn't manage to put the amazing thing down even though it caused me to lose focus during school. The book is filled with romance, horror and I won't forget to mention the red, hot passion that pretty much engulfs each chapter and kept me at the edge of my seat throughout the 447 pages of thrill and delight. Anna Whitt was born with extraordinary powers beyond the capability of any normal human being. Her life was pretty much a guessing game until she meets Kaiden Rowe, the sexy drummer from Lascivious, who sheds some light to her strange powers and abilities. He's dangerous and anything but a good boy, while she's the goody goody in high school who has a strange magnetic pull towards drugs and alcohol. This paranormal book had me dreaming about forbidden romances for quite some time. This is truly a fantastic read and whoever loves stories about Good and evil, angels and demons will love this captivating first novel of the series. Please do yourselves a favor and read it as soon as you can. 

Click Wendy Higgins for her blog page.

This is the first book of a series, go look at her blog for the name, and details of the second book. She also has some amazing giveaways. 

Picture is a tad blurry (from Google images). 

The Debutantes Ball

Hey hey everyone so on Friday was the debs ball (held at Collisheen estate), first of all here are a few pics...

Us girls and our dates (I'm in silver).

My date and I (Colben Holmes).

Colben and I again, here you get a better view of my dress.

The night was amazing, the food was great and the music was good. I did not make it into the top 10 because I didn't raise enough funds, I raised about R2600. All together the Debutantes and Squires program raised over R55 000. The money was handed to the charities and the top ten and top three debutantes and squires were named. 

The top 3 debutantes and squires, 3rd place is Rynarhdt Botha (left), 2nd place is Gabby Kater (right) and 1st place is Angie De Agrela (middle).

My dress was a silver mermaid style gown (sleeveless) My boyfriend's suit was a black slim fit with a skinny tie. Most of the dresses were rented in a place in durban called Cinderella's and Colben's suit was rented at a place called Suit Yourself. Both places are situated in Kensington Square in Durban North. My shoes were brought from Zara.

Congratulations to the Top 3 and all the Debs and Squires for raising money for the less fortunate! Lets make next year an even better one!  

And counting...

4 more days till the debutantes ball! Sorry i haven't posted in a while, been busy with the ball arrangements! 

My next post will be after the 26th October! I will be doing a huge post on the ball, maybe even a make-up tutorial but that is a big maybe! Does anyone have some ideas for a Halloween party for me that won't cost me a fortune to host?? 

Book review!

Author:  L.J Smith

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

Title:  Dark Visions

This book has been my favorite for a few years now, it is written by the author of the very famous, Night World series. The book is about a group of teenagers who have special abilities, who are chosen to go to a school called the Zetes Institute.

The main character, Kaitlyn is delighted to start over at Zetes. In her past she was shunned by the students at her previous school for being different, so she moves to Zetes to, hopefully, get to know some people who know what it feels like to be an outcast.

Although everything is perfect, and she makes some great friends, something evil lurks right around the corner...

The amazing book!

If you love mystery, action and romance I suggest you read this. If you love it I also suggest the Night World series and The Forbidden Game, also by L.J Smith.