The Charmed Bracelet (Nancy Drew Graphic Novel #7)

I checked out a ton of graphic novels from the library after I finished the final Scott Pilgrim.  When I saw this, I had to read it.  I loved Nancy Drew as a kid.  LOVED it.  I still have all the old books on a shelf.  This grahpic novel reimagines Nancy and her friends in modern times and even though The Charmed Bracelet was completely ridiculous, it captured all the charm of the original Nancy Drew novels.

Like all Nancy Drew mysteries, Nancy stumbles upon a mystery and sticks her nose in it.  This time, while touring a high security facility with her lawyer father, a prototype of a computer chip is stolen.  Even though this company is super rich and can afford all sorts of investigations, Nancy decides that she is the only one for the job.  She gets a charm bracelet in the mail that leads to a whole string of thefts, which eventually leads Nancy to the culprit (and since Ned has been framed, she gets to clear his name, too).

The characters, like in the original series, are over the top.  Now that I'm older, I find Nancy obnoxious and pretentious.  She's a bored club girl with nothing better to do than dig through people's pasts.  That hasn't changed.  However, her two best friends, Bess and George, have.  Bess, if I am not mistaken (and I'm not), was boy crazy, but she was self-conscious about her weight, not as pretty as Nancy (obviously), and wasn't exactly a boy magnet.  I don't remember her being particularly good at anything (except pouting and whining about boys), but in the update, she's all good curves, bellyshirts, and wrapping men around her finger.  George is a hacker.

I don't know if I would ever pay money for this, but it made me laugh and I enjoyed reading it.  I will probably request a few more of the graphic novels and I may even go back to reread the originals (The Haunted Bridge was my favorite).  Then at least I can laugh about how ridiculously perfect they all are.  The book isn't trying to be anything more than fun, so for that, i can appreciate it.

2012 Goals

My goals are going to be organized in two parts.  The first is going to quantify minimum daily and weekly goals that I want to hit in order to be more disciplined.  It comes complete with a weekly chart, gold stars, and an excel spreadsheet that tracks my yearly progress.  Part two is more about what I actually want to accomplish.

PART ONE - Discipline

WRITING: Write 14 pages of a screenplay or 2,500 words of prose each week.  Accomplish this through writing 2 pages of a screenplay or 500 words every day.

These goals are minimums.  Ideally I'd like to write 25 pages of a screenplay or 10,000 words of prose every week, with 5 pages a day and 2,000 words a day as my daily targets.  But this is a pretty intense pace that I can't always maintain.  I want attainable goals so that I can become disciplined.  Next year, maybe I will revisit my word goal.

STAR CHART:
Red Star: 2 pages or 500 words
Purple Star: 3 pages or 1,000 words
Green Star:  4 pages or 1,500 words
Gold Star: 5 pages or 2,000 words (This is my ideal target)
Silver Star:  Over 7 pages (the cursor is at least at the top of page 8) or over 3.000 words.  This doesn't happen often for me.

PREP WORK: Spend 4-7 hours every week prepping future projects.
I want to start preparing future projects so that I don't spend months playing with ideas that never really flesh out.  Prep work is going to be world-building, brainstorming, plotting, researching, and anything else that I need in order to be ready to take my story and get writing it.  I'm also going to include the process of making revision lists for drafts I want to rewrite.



STAR CHART:
Red Star: 4 hours
Purple Star: 5 hours
Green Star: 6 hours
Gold Star: 7 hours
Silver Star: 10+ hours



OTHER: Every week I want to read one book, read one screenplay and watch one movie.  I'm going to buy special stickers for this chart, because rewarding myself with gold and silver stars for going above and beyond... well, I don't need any more encouragement to procrastinate.


PART TWO - What I actually want to do
I will participate in A Round of Words in 80 days, which will allow me to set shorter term, realistic goals, that are completely personalized.  It will also allow me the flexibility to revise these goals without feeling like a failure if, for instance, I pull a tendon on that stupid machine at the gym and can't straighten my arm (although, this isn't actually hampering my ability to type, so maybe I'm just sore and whining).

Participating in A Round of Words means that I am checking in on the blog at least once a week, which keeps me accountable to those goals. Next week I will write my first post for "ROW80" where I write out my goals for the first 80 day session.  I know that it will include finishing my current draft, but beyond that I haven't yet decided.  Round 1 of 2012 starts January 2, so I have to figure out how much time 80 days really is before then.

Happy new year!

2011 Goals Reviewed

I had a lot of goals for this year.  Part of me thinks I'm lazy, but mostly, I think my goals were too ambitious and I was too unorganized with my approach to acheiving them. 

One of the most important things I learned this year is that I am a marathoner, not a sprinter. I so desperately want to be that person who can lock themselves up in a cabin for 4 days and walk away with a first draft, but I'm not. If I skip a day of writing, I find it difficult to even write 500 words the next day. I need to be more disciplined with writing (and a lot of things in my life) and this discovery will play a big part in the goals I set for myself in 2012.

Blog
While some months and weeks were better than others, for the most part, I didn't totally abandon the blog for long stretches of time.  I hope to post even more (3-4 times a week) in 2012.

Novels and such
I wanted to rewrite my manuscript, write a new manuscript, and finsih a third manuscript.  I rewrote my manuscript and did one round of queries before realizing I queried too early.  After that, I had a number of false starts and couldn't fall in love with anything enough to see it through to the end.

I took a break and wrote two short stories (one still needs to be rewritten), which was refreshing.  It was exactly what I needed and I'm now almost three quarters of the way through a rough draft for a contemporary YA novel.

I have an idea for an MG fantasy that I wanted to finish in 2011 (the idea has been floating around my head since 2009).  Now the plan is to get to it in 2012.  At the very least, I did a ton of necessary world building in 2011, which will enable me to write the story (and um... you know, actually have a plot).

Writing - Screenplays
I completed a rewrite for a family comedy that I wrote in 2010.  This rewrite was extensive and exhausting, but I think it turned out really well.  I also wrote the first draft of an action-comedy.  It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot.  I'm currently halfway through rewriting it and hope to finish in 2012.  I really love working on this script.

Conclusion
I could have done a lot worse.  I could have written nothing and learned nothing.  Next year I hope to be satisfied with what I have accomplished.

Ready Player One

I'm trying to do short posts so that I can get in the rest of my 2011 reading actually in 2011.  This means that I am going to have to moderate the gushing about Ready Player One.

Ready Player One is set in a bleak future where the currency of an online roleplaying game, the OASIS, is stronger than any real world currency.  The OASIS has become an escape for most people and as much a part of real life as eating or breathing.  Hidden in the OASIS are three keys to three gates that will lead to an easter egg hidden by the game's creator.  The first one to find the easter egg inherits the entire game and the creator's fortune.  Nothing happens for five years, but then Wade, aka Parzival, finds the first key and it launches him into a journey where he will make friends, find love, and fight for his life in the OASIS and in the real world.

I can not say enough good things about this book.  It's imaginative, but realistic.  Thirty pages in, I already cared about the main character so much that I knew I would be devastated if the book ended badly for him.  Much of the story takes place within the world of the OASIS, but it never felt like the stakes weren't high.  I was constantly on the edge of my seat.  You wouldn't think you could be riveted reading about the main character playing PacMan, but you would be wrong.

While you may have an extra level of enjoyment if you know why Wil Wheaton and Cory Doctorow are the elected politicians of the OASIS, the book does an amazing job of filling in all of the relevant background without getting boring.  Much of the quest revolves around 80s trivia and gaming history.  While I'm a nerd, my knowledge of both these subjects is lacking.  However, I never felt like I was struggling to put together the pieces.  The book explains everything in a natural way that doesn't feel like overkill even when you already know the background.

Ready Player One is a celebration of geekdom and gaming--I certainly want an OASIS account--but it also reminds us that we need other people and we need the real world.  We can not exist in a virtual reality, much like we can not exist in total isolation.  The book explores how dangerous it can be to rely so heavily on technology (emotionally), while never condemning anything but greedy corporations.  It's a smart read that still has me thinking.

2012 Challenges

I didn't do so well on my 2011 challenges, but I guess as long as I'm reading, I'm winning.  You can check out my 2011 Challenges page to see how I did.  2012 will be another year of too many challenges.  You can follow my progress throughout the year on my 2012 Challenges page.

Courtney over at Abducted By Books is hosting the 15,000 page challenge... in which... you try to read 15000 pages in the year.  I've never counted pages, so I'm curious.

Finish the Series.  I'm going for level three - finishing three series.   I've chosen The Demon's Lexicon Series by Sarah Rees Brennan (1 book), Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich (12 books), Myron Bolitar by Harlan Coben (8 books).

I'm trying to switch to more books on my e-reader.  I still love "real" books, but there is just no room on my shelves (or my drawers or my counters or my bed) for all of the books I'm planning on buying this year and also it will make moving so much easier.

I'm doing Fun Size for 10 e-books and feel like that is a safe level for me to aim for.

I'm doing Mini-Cooper Level: 4 books.  I may upgrade at some point. My Bucket List:
1. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
2. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
3. Soulless by Gail Carriger
4. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

I've mostly been trying to pick challenges that would fit nicely into the reading I already have planned.  I have tried to read outside my comfort zone ever since Revolution completely and unexpectedly blew me away and this challenge will encourage me to continue to do so.  I will read and review a book from twelve different genres this year.

I'm signing up for level one: 12 books.  I love my library and I'm hoping for more.

Ghost World

Ghost World is a graphic novel about two teens coming of age and growing apart as they become adults.  It was supposed to be great (at least according to all the blurbs on the back), but maybe I missed something.  The story was realistic regarding how people actually talk and interact with each other, but I really couldn't figure out the point.

The two main characters were completely unlikable.  They spent their time gossiping and making fun of people. They would play with people like toys when they were bored and didn't seem to care that people were hurt by their words and actions.  There was only one character who I liked during the entire story and that was the love interest.  But I couldn't tell which girl he liked or if he liked them both or was just going with the flow.  By the end, I didn't like him either.

As for the story, as far as I can tell it is about two high school friends who start fighting when one of them starts thinking about college.  But *spoiler alert* she doesn't get in and the two friends stay in the same town, but stop being friends.  It was a sad and depressing ending for a book that did make me laugh most of the way through.

With all of that, I didn't hate it.  For the most part, I enjoyed reading it and that is the most important thing.  I can understand why people would love this book, even though I didn't.

End of the Year Post: Part One

So it's that time of year again.  End of the year blog posts that I find fascinating and that I hope you will at least find not so boring that you unfollow me.

So....my favorite books read in 2011 (not including re-reads), in date order, because I can't do any better than narrowing the year down to ten:

Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Trial By Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Red Glove by Holly Black

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow by Nathan Bransford
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

And I've never been good at these things.  I have an eleventh chocie and I just can't bring myself to delete any of the other ten... Read right at the end of the year and totally blew me away...

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline... which I will review this week!

Demon's Covenant

I read the first book in this series over a year ago.  The Demon's Lexicon was funny and smart and had a twist ending that was delicious in the way that you always hope for, but rarely get.  I have no idea why it took me so long to read the second.  Probably, because I am an idiot.

The Demon's Covenant is told from Mae's perspective.  She's trying to protrect her younger brother Jaime from the (evil) magician's circles that are trying to recruit him and doesn't know who else to ask for help but Nick and Alan.  But with all of them fighting amonst themselves, there is a good chance that the magician Gerald, the new leader of the Obsidian Circle, will succeed in recruiting Jaime, in stealing Nick's powers, and in shutting down the Goblin's Market.

These books are so fun.  I love all of the characters, the dialogue is witty, there is a ton of action.  One of my favorite things about this series is that all of the flirting seems to be... violent.  That sounds weird, but all the points that I got all giggly were where the characters were discussing weapons.  Nick loves weapons (and I love Nick).

I was constantly on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out what would happen.  The characters really do love each other, but Brennan always kept me guessing if they would actually betray one another.  I love thinking that they might and wishing that they wouldn't and not knowing what would happen.  Like the first book, the ending was a massive fight with tons of reveals that I didn't predict.  It was delightful.

This book also introduced us to Jaime and Mae's mother.  She is an uptight and awkward mother and Mae is not sure whether she truly loves and accepts her children.  This was absolutely one of the best storylines, but I can't go into more detail, because anything more than what I've said is spoilerish.

I've already requested the final book from the library and am very excited to read it. 

Kindle Book Deals

Amber over at Me, My Shelf, and I had a post about 10 kindle books listed for 99 cents.  These are Harper Collins releases from the last year.  Check it out.  I bought Bumped by Megan McCafferty (which I loved) and Entwined (because it was long), even though I bought the hardcovers when they first came out.  And I bought a lot more.  Because, I am a book addict.

Son of Neptune

THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS. As I mentioned in a previous post, The Heroes of Olympus series made me break the rule I made about not reading books in the same series back to back. But The Lost Hero was so good that I found it impossible not to read Son of Neptune, especially when The Romo sent it to my kindle as an early Christmas present. I always find it interesting to read a book when you have someone to discuss it with while you read. The Romo loved Son of Neptune, she thought it was better than The Lost Hero. I thought Son of Neptune was still a five star book, but there were quite a few things that I did not like about it. It was an interesting look at how subject tastes in books are. Again, THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS.

Son of Neptune introduces us to Camp Jupiter, the west coast, Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood. The story brings back Percy Jackson as a main character. Like Jason in The Lost Hero, Hera has stolen Percy's memories and delivered him to Camp Jupiter in the hopes that an exchagne of leaders will be able to reunite the demigods and provide the only hope of defeating Gaea and the giants. When Death is captured by one of Gaea's giants, monsters will not stay dead and a quest must be undertaken to free him. If Death can not be restored to his post, then Camp Jupiter stands no chance of defending it from the army of monsters marching toward it.

Frank is the reluctant son of the War God and the one charged with undertaking the quest. He is a total underdog, still on probation at Camp Jupiter and a total clutz that nobody thinks will amount to anything. He is greiving over the recent death of his mother, a Canadian soldier who died in Afganistan protecting her comrades. He brings along Percy, who we all (should) know and love, the son of Neptune/Poseidon and former leader at Camp Half-Blood and Hazel, the daughter of Pluto. Hazel is interesting for a few reasons. One, she is dead, but Nico (son of Hades who you may remember from the Percy Jackson series) has brought her back from the underworld. Two, she can bring forth riches from the earth--diamonds, rubies, bars of gold--but everything she brings forth is cursed.

Both Hazel and Frank struggle with their pasts and their identities. The Romo loved this. I didn't. It got old very quickly for me. If Hazel is going to whine about what a terrible person she is in all of her chapters, I want her to have actually done something worth all those words. What she did was bad, but she was a 13-year-old girl who was being coerced by both Gaea and her mother and she willingly died in her first life to stop the bad she had done. Then, when she was offered Elysium, she refused in order to save her mother from eternal punishment. Her obsession with what a terrible person she was just seemed ridiculous.

I read the book very quickly, so maybe I will change my mind when I reread it (very soon), but at the end the characters talked a lot about how they had bonded and cared about each other and had become a family. I did not see the bonding happening. Frank's perspective of Percy was nothing short of hero worship that made him hate himself more and I never sensed Percy and Hazel becoming close. Hazel and Frank were already best friends, but I enjoyed watching their friendship turn into romance.

I think my problem was I wanted this book to be a ten star book on a five star scale and it is only a five star book on a five star scale. It was still wonderful. It was full of action and adventure. It made me laugh and answered many questions from the first book while introducing even more. Seriously, who is Leo?!?! Who will be the seven, because there are more than seven demigods that I want on that quest.

I loved all of the minor characters. Reina was my favorite. The Romo thought her affections turned too easily, but I appreciate a girl who wants casual makeouts with both Percy and Jason. Hello... hot, powerful demigods... why not? Ella is a Harpy that Percy, Frank, and Hazel pick up along the way. She is funny and sweet and has memorized the Sybilline Books, the prophecies lost when Rome fell. This means she will probably be invaluable to our heros in the coming books. Most of all, the antagonist Octavian is so fun to hate. He's obnoxious and arrogant, self-obsessed and power hungry. He's got a way with words and a predjudice against Greek demi-gods. He was infuriating in this book and I know it will only get better in the next.

The Mark of Athena should come out at the end of 2012 (I can't believe I have to wait that long!). It will probably focus on Annabeth. Percy has put his life on the line at Camp Jupiter to vouch for his Greek Demigod friends. But the Annabeth we know and love is hotheaded and outspoken and I can see all the wondeful drama potential for book three. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do while I wait for the next book.

The Lost Hero

I love the Percy Jackson series almost as much as I love Harry Potter (okay, well, not even close, but as close as any series is going to get).  But I didn't enjoy the first book in the Kane Chronicles at all, which is why I let The Lost Hero sit on a shelf for over a year before finally picking it up.  Part of me wishes I had left it there, but only becaue the series was so good that I broke my rule about not reading books in a series back to back and I will now be spending the next year freaking out while I wait for book three.

The Lost Hero is the first book in a new series set in the same world as the Percy Jackson series--a modern day world where the Greek gods are real and demigods still go on quests and save the world.  There is a new threat to Olympus, one that can only be beaten by Gods and Demigods working together.  But Olympus has shut itself down and Hera has been taken prisoner.  A new camper has shown up at Camp Halfblood with no memories and Percy Jackon has disappeared.

Unlike the Percy Jackson books, The Lost Hero is told in third person and the viewpoint rotates between the three main characters.  And I love them all.  Jason has absolutely no memories, but he is a powerful fighter and the son of Zeus.  He keeps using the gods's Roman names and clearly has a lot of fighting experience.  Leo can create and control fire and is a genius building things. He's the comic releif, but also has a powerful story, because he is dealing with his mother's death, which he feels responsible for. Piper is the daughter of a Hollywood heartthrob and even though she is beautiful, she isn't shallow at all. She is furious to discover that her mother is Aphrodite.  But her father has been taken hostage and she knows that she will betray her new friends and sabotage the quest to save him.

This may not come as a surprise, but in books... my favorite thing is betrayal.  I think it is the ultimate reading emotion.  Because there has to be love and care and loyalty in place before it can happen and then there is crushing disappointment and heartbreak and anguish.  I love the not knowing and I always find the resolution satisfying--whether I am sobbing over a destroyed relationship or cheering over a creative solution, it is always a good release.

Besides all the emotional drama, there wi non-stop action and plenty of mysteries.  Who is Jason and why do all the gods find him so interesting?  Why do the gods's Roman names come more easily to him than the Greek names?  Where is Percy?  I just deleted an entire paragraph of questions, because I immagine it is not that interesting to read.

There was nothing I did not like about this book.  Plus, there was a huge metal dragon.  It's been less than a week since I read it and I already want to reread it.

Scott Pilgrim 4-6

It took me longer to finish the series than I meant it to, but I am finally done.  I'm really glad I read the graphic novels, because even though I loved the movie, the ending never really sat well with me.  I couldn't figure out what the point was and, seriously, what is that cactus place that Ramona is always skating through?  The graphic novels had a much more satisfying ending and answers to my questions.

Everything is kind of running together, because I waited so long to type this up (I am a genius possessed of great foresight).  I'm going to do my best, but forgive me if I completely rearrange the order of events in the series.

Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together has Scott fighting the twins.  But it also has him needing to grow up and  he even gets a job!  Scott's musical fight with the twins is one of my favorite in the movie, but we get to know them a whole lot better in the book.  They are arrogant, but funny, and they force Scott to come fight them when they kidnap Kim.

Scott grows up even more and is living with Ramona in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe.  We learn a lot more about Envy, the famous ex-girlfriend who broke Scott's heart.  I love Envy and really enjoyed her character being developed throughout the whole series.  She's kind of epic and the movie soundtrack plays in my head every time she appears in a panel.

Knives is still around and I think that it is this volume that her ninja father starts attacking Scott.  This was something totally missed in the movie, but I enjoyed it.  Throughout the series, we've seen Ramona travelling through Scott's head and in this installment, Scott runs through Ramona's head in an attempt to get away from Knives' father.  It was an interesting reversal with lots of creepy Gideon forshadowing.  The fight with the evil ex-girlfriend was anti-clamactic, but there was more than enough other plotlines to make up for it.

I loved the final graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour.  It starts out with Scott completely useless and brokenhearted after Ramona leaves him (alone with the cat named after her last evil ex, Gideon).  This novel is such a different conclusion than we got in the movie.  And I loved everything about it.  First, Scott sees all his ex-girlfriends.  He tries to get back with Knives, but she's over him.  They decide to just have casual makeouts and it is HORRIBLE and hilarious.  He is forced to remember what a terrible boyfriend he was.  To Knives.  To Envy.  To Kim.  He has spent most of the series making the same mistakes over and over and over again because he keeps pretending that the past didn't happen.  But he finally faces himself and is ready to battle Gideon.

Gideon has  his ex-girlfriends in suspended animation, which is... creepy, but hilarious on a really disturbing level.  The final battle takes place in Ramona's head, where Gideon has her chained and enslaved her (using the power of angst and sadness that traps people in their heads).  When Scott finally wins (that's not a spoiler, right? I mean, you knew how this was going to end...) it is an incredibly satsifying ending, both that he beat the bad guy and also overcame himself and got the girl.

I really enjoyed this series, so please, suggest more graphic novels, because I would love to read more!

Weetzie Bat

I'm writing this review, but I really don't know what to say about Weetzie Bat.  Truly, completely no idea.  I read it because Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door) said it was her favorite book in high school and one that she still reads every year.  I think I enjoyed it.  But I honestly don't know.

Weetzie Bat is a high schooler with a unique vocabulary and a punk rock attitude.  She's basically an LA scene kid who is bestfriends with a gay guy named Dirk.  When a genie gives her three wishes, she wishes for guys for her and Dirk and a house for them to live happily ever after in.  Then the book explores what it means to live happily ever after, what love is and means in deed and not word, and the interesting way our dreams and wishes come true. 

Weetzie gets her house to live happily ever after in... she and Dirk inherit it when his grandmother dies.  Not the way she would have wanted it to happen and even thought it is one of the things she most wants in the world, it comes with a bittersweet price.  Her other two wishes come true quite literally.  She wishes for a "duck" for Dirk and he meets a surfer named Duck.  For herself, she wishes to meet "my secret agent lover man" and she meets a director named My Secret Agent Lover Man. 

But she's still not happy, because she wants a baby and My Secret Agent Lover Man does not.  So she sleeps with Dirk and Duck while My Secret Agent Lover Man is away so that they can get a baby and raise it all together, not knowing who the father is.  Yes.  She has a threesome with her gay best friend and his boyfriend and then wonders why her boyfriend gets mad.  This totally weirded me out.  I kind of get where she's coming from, but the whole ordeal is rather unsettling.  My Secret Agent Lover Man leaves, knocks up a witch, comes back and suddenly they are a big happy family of three dads, one mom, a baby and a Witch Baby (from the witch that he knocks up). 

The book also explores Weetzie's parents, who love each other, but can't get over the fight that drove them apart, grief, and the AIDS epidemic, which makes Duck too afraid to love.  I liked the overall message of the book: love isn't something perfect, it's messy and real.  It requires forgiveness and acceptance and work.  There was a whole lot packed into the 100 or so tiny pages of this short book.

I've really enjoyed writing about it and thinking about it, but it is told in the sort of sweeping voice of a fairy tale, which made it hard for me to really feel like I was part of the story.  It was lyrical and truly original and maybe I will read it again before I make up my mind about it.

Juliet Immortal

Juliet Immortal is a new twist on Romeo and Juliet.  Juliet pledged her love for Romeo, but he betrayed her and traded their love for immortality.  Now they are both immortals, fighting on opposite sides of true love.  But when they meet again in present day California, things are different.  Romeo claims that this is their only chance to end things for good, but Juliet is falling in love with the boy she was sent to earth to help.

Juliet is inhabiting the body of a girl who is covered in scars because her mother spilled grease on her as a child.  This was probably my favorite part of the book, even though it has nothing to do with the main plot.  The hating yourself so much that you misinterpret everything and that one relationship that should be the most important, but gets ruined... this book just presented it so beautifully.  Juliet knew she would only be in the body temporarily, but she worked so hard to make this girl's life better.

It was very easy to like Juliet.  And even though she fell in love with Ben very quickly, it felt natural and right. I usually have a lot of trouble with immediate connections, die for you kind of love, but it fit this story so well that for once I enjoyed it.  Ben is not only wonderful, but he is a major hitch to Juliet's job.  She is responsible for making sure he commits to true love, but that won't happen if he keeps falling in love with Juliet.

The resolution of Juliet's romance with Ben seemed a little convenient.  So convenient, that I am left wondering if it will play a part in the series plot and turn out not to be convenient at all.  I loved the premise of this book, but felt like the beginning set up so much potential that never paid off in the end.  From the last chapter, I think we'll learn some of the answers to the million questions I have in the sequel, Romeo Redeemed.

This novel is beautifully written. I kept underlining the angsty bits that reminded me of emo songs (you tend to become emo when the love of your life kills you for immortality).  But at the end of the book, Juliet is her own worst enemy and I really appreciated the way she was able to change throughout the story.

When I checked out Stacey Jay on goodreads, she's written about a thousand books this year alone.  That is maybe the kick in the butt I need to keep working.

Devilish

I have never been disappointed by a Maureen Johnson book.  She has a very distinctive voice as a writer, even when her characters are incredibly different in each book.  I am planning on reading everything she has ever written and everything she ever writes.  She makes me laugh and that is the most important thing to me.

Devilish is one of Johnson's earlier works and follows two best friends at an all girl's Catholic school after one sells her soul to the devil.  Filled with dark humor and over the top characters (two of my favorite things), it explores how miserable high school is, how much it sucks to be broken up with, and how hard it is sometimes to maintain a friendship.  However... it's really quite a positive book.

For much of the book I was infuriated by Ally--the best friend who has traded her soul--because she seems selfish and shallow and not worth the sacrifice and effort being put forth by the narrator/main character, Jane.  Jane cares about Ally so much that she risks her own soul, yet Ally seems to only be friends with Jane because there is nobody better who will have her.  But in the end she redeems herself and I was satisfied with their relationship.

My favorite part of the whole book was Sister Rose Marie.  My college roommate and bff is named Rose Marie, even though I pretend that her name is The Romo.  She's in school to be a librarian and is maybe just a little uptight (I love you).  So when there is a nun named Sister Rose Marie who has devoted herself to giving out demerits and yelling about being able to see girl's panties up their uniform skirts when they don't sit like ladies... it was pretty awesome.

Like I said, this is one of Johnson's earlier works.  It felt like the end was left open for sequels that I don't think are coming.  I enjoyed the book, but you can tell that she has grown as a writer.  Especially in the romance department.  One of the reasons she is currently my favorite writer is because even though she has this dark humor, she can still do the giggly crush romance thing.  And those are two things that are hard to balance.  This book did not make me go all giggly the way most of her books do, but I still liked the love interest.

But, like I said, I'm about halfway through her back list so expect to see more Maureen Johnson reviews.

Shatter Me

I so desperately wanted to fall in love with this book.  And even though I really enjoyed it, it didn't completely blow my mind the way I wanted it to.

Due to her torturous and lethal  touch, Juliette has been an outcast her whole life.  In a world where everything, including nature itself, is falling apart, the new government called the Reestablishment, want to use her as a weapon.  But Juliette is good at heart and there is a boy (Adam) who just might be able to show her another way to live.

The writing in this book was incredible.  Juliette has been living in complete isolation and lives inside her head.  She's scared, trapped, and possibly a little crazy.  The writing is fevered and authentic.  Many of the thoughts Juliette thinks but refuses to let herself acknowledge are crossed out.  This book is as close to stream of consciousness as you can get while keeping your story completely readable.

The writing made the book feel intimate.  It made the fight scenes an experience and the sexy scenes the sexiest scenes I've ever read ("I'm oxygen and he's dying to breath").  It kept me reading on the edge of my seat even when the plot slowed down.  And it did, even if it didn't feel like it sometimes.  There were just too many "I love you more", "No, I love you more" scenes for me to feel like the plot was advancing.

I'm also kind of a cynic.  I much prefer unrequited love to someone pledging their life to someone they just met.  I like my love interests to have doubt cast upon them, to have motivations that we can't be quite sure about.  The perfect connection between Juliette and Adam bored me, but that may be a personal flaw of my own and not necessarily a flaw in the book.

The story also didn't feel complete.  Yes, the character changed and grew, but I wasn't satisfied.  I felt cheated out of a climax.  I'm going to pick up book two, but only because the end of Shatter Me felt like an arbitrary stopping point in a larger story.  I have reservations about several things that feel too much like coincidences, but I expect them to be satisfactorily addressed in later books.

So, overall I really enjoyed this book, but I'm waiting for the whole series before I decide if I love it or not.  Right now, for me, it could go either way.  I hope the next book blows my mind.