No Clowns

    I successfully finished Joyland yesterday in the Barns and Noble parking lot. I couldn't stop reading until I finished, and it was definitely worth the time. I thought it was going to be a creepy weird circus book, but it wasn't as strange as I suspected. Don't get me wrong, it definitely has some suspenseful parts, but I was able to not only read it at night, I could also sleep with the lights off. For those of you thrill seekers though, don't think it's a waist of time. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and mystery throughout.
I especially loved all of the scenes with the little boy in the wheel chair. He is so intelligent and wise for the age of 10, and it's revealed that he might have a special gift to help him with that. A great read!
*The Whimsical Sister*

King of the Thrill

       When it comes to Stephen King novels, I always have my husband read them before I do. I love his writing style and creativity, but some of his stuff is a bit much for me. So husband screens them, and I read ones he thinks wouldn't keep me up with the lights on. I was always scared of reading his novels because of their frightening reputation, but my husband convinced me to try one. My first try was The Stand and I fell in love with his story telling. He is definitely one of my favorite authors.
       Currently I'm in the middle of his newest book, Joyland. The premise seems like it would be scary since it's in a theme park (noting King's reputation with clowns..), but I was told that I would enjoy this one. I'm a little over half way, and have not been able to stop reading. I've heard that it all moves along nicely to setting up for what happens about half way through, and then you can't stop reading. So, now I'm just anxiously awaiting what is going to unmercifully hook me!
*The Whimsical Sister*

Inferno

     I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous Dan Brown books, so I knew that I would need to read his new one. It's a Robert Langdon book, like his Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, but this time, Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence with amnesia and a bullet wound to the head. He then spends the rest of the book trying to figure out what happened to him, what he is supposed to be doing, and why he is even in Florence. Meanwhile men in black uniforms are tracking his every move and trying to kill him.
     Like his other books, it's set up as a race through the whole story. It keeps me reading, but sometimes I get exhausted with the constant cliff hangers. However, I especially enjoy the tid bits of art, history, and science facts that are incorporated in the book. A must read for all Brown fans.
*The Whimsical Sister*

Do You See The Spirit Bear?

       Touching Spirit Bear is one of my favorite books when it comes to teen books/young adult books.This book is fiction, yet very informative about true things like circle justice. I read this book last year in class on a tape, and I will warn you when it comes to flesh and blood, this book has a lot of it.This book is about a boy named Cole who beat the daylights out of a nerd. This was not his first time. He was actually more of a juvenile delinquent. After the incident, he went to prison. One day his parole officer "Garvey" told Cole something about a little thing called Circle Justice. It is when you go to a deserted island and you figure out how to see the spirit bear.  After burning the cabin he lived in along with all of his stuff, and being mauled by a bear, he was alone and had no shelter. He saw a shape in the distance kind of like a bear shape, but then it vanished. One question remained...was it the spirit bear?????
~ The Cute Sister ~

Beautiful Darkness

       I am only half way through Beautiful Darkness and so far, like my sister said, it really makes you mad on how much Lena cares about herself. My thoughts about the book are changing every time I turn the page. I hope by the end of the book everything will clear up and Lena will straighten her self out. If you have no idea what i'm talking about just read the book and you will have a better grasp. If you are reading the first book hurry and finish cause I know you will love the ending.The book introduces a new character who is a British exchange student but has some secrets that you find out later on in the book... Over the course of time you truly feel like you are a part of the story. You really understand their viewpoints, and the choices that they make over time. You will love the book even if Lena annoys you.

      So the other day me and my sister were talking. I pronounced Lena's  name wrong and my annoying sister (being a grammar freak) corrected me. Then I said Ammas' name wrong, and we had a pronunciation fight. That is why we are sisters :)

~The Cute Sister~

Competition!

       My sister and I (being crazy readers) decided to have a little competition about who can read the most in an hour. We are currently not reading the same books, but it was still fair because I had bigger text in my book and my sister is  a crazy fast reader! We read and about 5 minutes in, I had to stop reading because my contacts were bothering me. We had to take a short pause but then we were back in action! We read and read until my sister's ridiculously loud phone alarm went off and that meant the finish line was squawking like a chicken. We opened our books and recorded our starting line and ending line I found out I beat my sister by 8 pages. It was close but awesome because she is a fast reader! I am currently reading Beautiful Darkness (the sequel to Beautiful Creatures) and my sister is reading Joyland a novel by: Stephen  King (scariest author around). I highly encourage you to do this, make it a game and have fun. If your a parent and your kid doesn't like reading do this activity and I think they will enjoy reading a lot more!

~The Cute Sister~

Also Beautiful

    When I first heard about Beautiful Creatures by Garcia and Stohl, I was watching the movie trailer. I have this annoying self induced goal about reading the book before watching the movie. I find that if I do the reverse, I most likely will not read the book, or if I'm lucky, start it but not finish it. It's much easier to watch a movie knowing the ending, than to sit through hours of reading already knowing the ending. So, since the trailer looked promising, I knew that I had to read the book before it came to theaters. Of course upon finishing, I encouraged my sister read it as well (assuring her it wasn't like twilight... little snob :)

    What I found most enjoyable about this book, is that it so elegantly combined magical fantasy and southern charm. Ethan's great Aunts were my favorite characters. Their humor mixed with southern pride is so much a personification of the south, it's hilarious. I did start to get a little put up with Lena's overall self-pity especially in the second book, Beautiful Darkness, but the new British exchange student makes up for her sulkiness. Overall, I've really enjoyed the series so far, and am in the process of reading the 3rd.

*The Whimsical Sister*

PS: The move was really good, except for the last 5 minutes, they totally copped out to end the story. That's not how the book ends, in case you find it a really sudden and lame ending as well. Other than that, I really enjoyed the movie's representation of the original story.

Beautiful Creatures

       I've recently read the novel Beautiful Creatures. This is a great start if you are into reading fiction fantasy books, my sister "The Whimsical Sister" read it before me and she hassled me to read it. So taking her wise advise, I did and I loved the book. It had all the things that I qualify in a great book A.K.A it has to have romance,twists,comedy and suspense.Enough talking about me (what i'm good at) lets get to the book. This book takes place in a small town called  Gatlin, South Carolina, therefore is has a lot of references of the confederacy, along with the accents. This book is about a boy who has lived in Gatlin his whole life with his father,mother and nanny Amma. His mother recently died in a car accident ever since he has been having strange dreams about a girl but everything suddenly changes when the girl moves into his town. In my opinion this book is great you could probably  tell cause i am reading the sequel and all my nails are chewed down. If your looking for a mystery/fantasy/nail biting book this would be the book for you!!

 ~The Cute Sister ~

First Impressions

      So, first impressions are the ones that stick with you forever, at least until you've learned enough about the "truth" to tweak them. I find that this is very much the same with books. I'm the kind of person that generally needs a book to grab me at the beginning. I'm a semi-snob about literary first impressions. I try to stay connected for at least 50 pages, but too many times have I dragged my feet through books I've promised to read, in order to just say I did so (love you Dickens!)However, after finishing every Dickens book (my grand count of 2) I find myself so thankful that I stuck with it. The eloquent writing and the story line are to die for, if you can just stick with it.

     We started this blog because my little sister was having trouble getting motivated to do her summer assigned reading. She loves to read, but prefers to chose her own titles. I don't blame her. However, there is great value in reading things you wouldn't normally pick up or keep reading. We intend to read books together and separate while blogging about our general thoughts and feelings in order to see each other's impressions. I'm excited about this venture with my younger sister, to encourage her first impressions, and if some of you out there find this the least bit interesting, then you've made our lives!

Thanks for reading!
*The Whimsical Sister*