The Edge Of Everything

By JEFF GILES

   

 Zoe is not your average seventeen-year-old teenage girl. This year has set her apart from the rest; she is still reeling from the sudden, mysterious death of her father, and the awful murder of her sweet elderly neighbors. Zoe is not sure how much more she can take when her world goes upside down once again. She and her brother get attacked in the woods next to their home after fleeing from the sub-zero blizzard that is raging all around. The man who killed their neighbors is back and ready to finish them off too. When suddenly, they are rescued by a strange young man with bruises under his eyes and inhuman powers. Zoe soon finds out he is a bounty hunter called X.
     
    X is no regular bounty hunter he is sent from a hell that he calls Lowlands to capture the soul of Zoe's attacker and all the other men like him. X breaks many of the Lowlands rule when saving Zoe and her brother and soon has to pay the consequences. But he promises Zoe before he leaves that unless "both worlds conspire to keep us apart, I shall find my way back" or something like that. 

    Once X is back in the Lowlands he starts to question just why is her there exactly and how can he get out. Together and apart Zoe and X start to question everything they know, the past, and their future together. 

My Personal Opinion 

 I felt like this book was really predictable and the romance progressed way too fast and that made it seem unrealistic. I liked the idea behind the novel but found the writing to be lacking and unable to convey the maturity and full description of the story it was telling. I also found that the dialogue of the main and supporting characters was strange and forced everyone to seem like either an uneducated hipster or a noble from the 18th century. It seemed to me that the author was trying a little to hard to make this novel relatable to teenagers and in doing so pushed us away.

Me Before You

By JOJO MOYES

Louisa Clark is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life, the only thing that sets her apart from the

masses is her bizarre sense of fashion. Lou has a steady job, boring boyfriend, and lives with her family. She is happy with the way things are until she loses her job and has to change her way of thinking. She begins hunting for another place of employment and is not very happy with what she finds. Finally the job center tells her that she can help a wheel-chair bound man or become a stripper, because no other positions are open.
     At first the man in her care (Will Traynor) is hostile and rude pushing her away but after Lou refuses to treat him differently because of his injury, he starts to warm to her. He is moody and bossy and hates the way that he is now restricted, like he never was before. Will is sure he cannot continue to live this way.
      They become closer and closer; watching movies, discussing books, and taking trips of a lifetime. Will sees the potential in Lou where no one else has, and encourages her to leave this small town, and live her life to the fullest. Soon Louisa cares more about him than she expected and when she finds out about Will's plans, she sets out to show him that life is worth living.

    The love story of this generation. Two completely different people fall in love under extraordinary circumstances and they have to answer this heartbreaking question; What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? 

We Are Still Tornadoes

By  MICHAEL KUN and SUSAN MULLEN

 Scott and Cath have been friends (and neighbors) their entire lives. Cath would help Scott with school and Scott would entertain her with music and dirty jokes. Any fight they had would be quickly forgotten and put in the past, but then  the unimaginable happens, they grow up. Cath goes away for college and Scott stays in their hometown lacking the grades that would take him away.
     During their first year apart these two best friends communicate through letters and phone calls. These letter help them through he daily challenges of adulthood; jobs, roommates, money, deaths, etc. After going through so much these friends soon learn that the only one they want to turn to is each other. What will this mean? Will their friendship become something more? 
        Hilarious, heart-warming, and imaginative this novel navigates through the struggles of becoming an adult, first love, and finding your passions- all set on an 80's soundtrack- answering that beautifully confusing question, what does it mean to be an adult?

The really unique thing about this novel is that it is all told through Scott and Cath's letter's to each other. While some lesser writers would have been unable to use this format and create and understandable book, Michael Kun and Susan Mullen  were more than up to the task. They also managed to create one of the best fictional friendships I have seen yet. Scott and Cath are by no means perfect but they do stand by each other especially when times get tough. I truthfully adored this book its a beautiful unique book that everyone should read.

The Witch Hunter: Book Discussion With Guest

By VIRGINIA BOECKER

Q&A Book Discussions With A Guest

What did you think of the story overall?

Me: I thought it was well written and very entertaining. It kept me up until midnight finishing the last page, because it just couldn't wait for morning. There is magic, romance, character development, and plenty of action/adventure. What more could a girl ask for? 

Her: It was a powerful page turner that kept you guessing until the very end. With a strong female lead that slowly but surely discovers herself as the story progresses.

Favorite part about the novel?

Me: That it managed to incorporate so many different ideas. Character development, strong females, magic, romance, justice, mystery, etc.

Her: That the main character was strong and quick thinking, someone that I could relate to.

How did you feel reading it?

Me: I went through a range of emotions. That strongly correlated with what the main character seemed to be feeling at the time. I felt a little frustrated when she was slow on the uptake or to trust those who obviously meant her: well but I was happy when she found love and embraced the truth, and her new way of life. I was relieved when she managed to avoid death yet again and come out victorious. I felt her sadness when she had to leave her old life and when her old friends disappointed her. But mainly I felt on the edge of my seat while reading this novel, always anxious to see what happens next

Her: I also went through a range of emotions as I made my way through this novel. I was angry every time she came into contact with her old boss Blackwell, he's just a very despicable character. I was hooked on the parts where Elizabeth's and John's relationship blooms and on edge whenever they had to fight.

What seemed to be the theme carried throughout this book?

Me: Change is the theme I see repeated most in this book. Mainly changes in the main character (Elizabeth); All of her beliefs, in magic, life, who to trust, etc. change throughout the course of this novel. I see a change in her physical appearance, she loses some of her hard earned muscles and begins to soften a little, gain some curves. Elizabeth's love life also goes through some drastic changes. She starts off infatuated with her best friend Caleb but she is forced into being the kings lover and then she ends up falling for John when her nurses her back to health. 

Her: The theme that I noticed was self-discovery. She was lied to most of her life and based her entire lifestyle on what she has been told. Now she has to peer past the lies and discover what she believes, turning on everything she has ever known, and act on her new discoveries.

What did you think of the book ending?

Me: I liked it because it did draw the novel to a conclusion of sorts but made you ready for the next one. 

Her: I was so ready to read the next one right afterwards. It leaves you in suspense. Now she has something to lose where she didn't before and you know that the people who can take it from her are still out there. You know that this novel was only the beginning. 

Girl In Pieces

By KATHLEEN GLASGOW
Charlie Davis is in pieces. At the young age of seventeen she has already experienced more sadness than most people do in a lifetime. Losing her home, family, and best friend leaves her empty so she decides to leave this world. Charlie tries to end her own life but someone discovers her and rushes her to the hospital. After recovering from her injuries, the state sends her to a place for troubled girls, where she meets some great counselors and learns how to control her self-harm urges. Until she is released early after being told her family cannot afford it anymore. Left with some new advice but nothing else, Charlie follows an old friend to the small desert town of Tucson, Arizona, and there she rediscovers herself. She has to figure out the hard way, who she is, what she wants, and if she really wants to keep on living.

This novel was a tough read for me; I laughed, I cried, and cried some more. Going through someone's journey full of self-harm and bad decisions isn't easy, but after finishing it I was glad that I had . Now I have a deeper understanding of what can drive people to suicide and I feel for those who aren't as fortunate as I am. As Charlie quotes in the book "You can spot the girl who have it easy. I don't even have to describe them for you. You can spot the girls who will get because they are tough or athletic... And then there is me" I believe that all of you should read this and delve into a novel that will only show up once in your literary lifetime.

Choosing a Blogging Platform

Since I've been doing a lot of Book Reviews I figured that I should switch it up and give you guys some new kind of content. Today I am going to discuss my favorite blogging platforms, the best free blogging platforms, and what would work for you.

First off I doubt that any of you reading this are coding/computer/tech geniuses, so I'm going to stick with the easy platforms that require no coding skills.

Second, you guys need to think about just what kind of blog you want to make. This will greatly impact the platform you should choose.

And last of all do you want one that has a free option so you can try it out first, or do you want to go ahead and spend some money right away?

1. WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the world's most popular blogging software. WordPress.org might be easy to confuse with WordPress.com but they are very different. WordPress.org is an opensource program that allows you to build your own blog or website this version of WordPress requires a little more tech savvy than the other.

The Pro's

• You have more control over every aspect of your website/blog.
• You can add more extra features like online store, forums, etc.
• Thousands of available themes so that you blog can look just how you want it to.

 The Con's

• Managing your own website can be a bit difficult.
• You will have to manage your own security and backups.
• It's a bit more work. 

2. WordPress.com

WordPress.com offers a very basic blog blog hosting service for free, but I find that to get a nice, professional-looking blog you need to pay for the premium services. I also find that Blogger shows up better in online searches than WordPress and has advertising options.

The Pro's

• Easy to use.
• Easy to manage.
• No set-up required.

The Con's

• Limited options to improve your site.
• No advertising options
• You do not own your blog.

3. Blogger

Blogger is completely free and it is very easy to use no tech savvy required.

The Pro's

• Completely free
• Easy to use
• Has Google's security and reliability

The Con's

• Limited to basic blogging tools
• The design option is pretty limited

4. Tumblr

Tumblr is a bit different from other platforms because it is a micro-blog with many social networking features like follow other blogs, reblogging, etc.

The Pro's

• Free.
• Easy to use.
• As a microblogging tool, Tumblr makes it easy to quickly blog videos, GIFs, images, and audio.

The Con's

• Very limited.
• No additional features.
• Importing it can be a bit difficult.

5. Squarespace

Squarespace has some of the most beautiful themes out of all of the Blogging Platforms I have tried so far, but it will cost you at least 12 dollars a month. 

The Pro's

• Easy to use.
• Very visually appealing.
• Has an eCommerce store.

The Con's

• Pricey.
• Limited features.
• Limited pages, contributors, and blogs.

6. Wix

Wix is easy to use with it's drag and drop tools, but it is mostly geared towards websites and not blogs. 

The Pro's

• It offers a lot of customization options.
• Easy to make.
• No coding or computer savvy required.

The Con's

• Free account is limited.
• Third Party apps are limited.
• The free account shows adds on your site.
• You cannot change your template.

On this blog post I only talked about the platforms that I have experience with. If you don't find the blogging platform you were looking for in here don't worry there are many others, I just didn't want to talk about platforms that I had no experience with.

Icy Sparks

by GWEN HYMAN RUBIO

     Set in the late 1950's this book follows the struggles of a young girl with tourettes. Back in these days no one really knew what tourettes was. All of the small minded townsfolk start believing that she was crazy or possessed by some sort of devil. Icy has to fight with accepting who she is, she has to figure out how to live with her condition, and she finally has to figure out what exactly this condition is. Through her life she experiences many ups and downs, discovers new friends, and loses some of her old ones. This novel follows her as she lives out her extraordinary life with a very strange condition. Before reading this book I had a very basic comprehension of what tourettes was and how it affected the people who were afflicted with it. This novel does a spectacular job of drawing you in and showing you exactly what these people have to live with and how it affects everything that they do.
   This is a must-read, and another one of my favorite books. It holds a special place on my bookcase and in my heart. Everyone should peruse this tome and open their mind to the mystery that is tourettes. The best way to understanding others is to walk a mile in their shoes; I do this through literature.