Why I Love My Current Relationship Status

So, I'm single. Now, to some, this is a death sentence. How can one not survive without a significant other? Not even a crush? If you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend, then you should be actively pursuing one. Wait? You're okay with being single? How could you be okay with being alone?
Well, there are a few reasons. For example:
1. I get to be...wait for it...selfish!
Yes! I get the magic of only worrying about myself. Of course, I worry about my friends and family and how they may view me, but, generally, my life is usually controlled by my wants and decisions. I get the magic of being able to focus solely on myself and my goals. Now who wouldn't want that?
2. I have more time to do important things like schoolwork or write or find a job.
Thanks to my lack of distracting relationships, I now get the chance to make important stuff like school and activities and writing my sole focus. I don't have to sit there and spend my life daydreaming about a guy or praying that they'll respond to my text. Instead, I get to actually get my stuff done. (Trust me, when I get a crush, I get a crush. It's kind of ridiculous.)
3. I don't have to worry about if my significant other is jealous!
It's quite relaxing when you get to just talk to whoever you want, make close friendships, and not worry about someone getting jealous and it's a lot less mental strain when I don't have to feel jealous that a significant other is chatting with another girl more than me. It's relaxing. Plus, I can occasionally stretch my flirting muscles. ;)
Well, that's all I can think of right now, but, for me, those are the most important reasons and are the ones that make being single worth it. Happy Writing!

Pride and Prejudice: Volume One

Buy the book here.

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' Thus memorably begins Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, one of the world's most popular novels. Pride and Prejudice—Austen's own 'darling child'—tells the story of fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters who must marry rich, as she confounds the arrogant, wealthy Mr. Darcy. What ensues is one of the most delightful and engrossingly readable courtships known to literature, written by a precocious Austen when she was just twenty-one years old.

Humorous and profound, and filled with highly entertaining dialogue, this witty comedy of manners dips and turns through drawing-rooms and plots to reach an immensely satisfying finale. In the words of Eudora Welty, Pride and Prejudice is as 'irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.'

Well, here I am, a high school senior reviewing one of the most well-known classic novels in history. Well, at least the first part, as it's split into volumes.

All I can really say about this novel is that it's truly wonderful. Like most classics, it may be difficult to understand, but it's beautiful. So far, it's kept me absorbed. I find Mrs. Bennet hilarious in her desperation to marry off her daughters, but I can also see that she has a motherly concern to make sure her daughters have money. As for her daughters, Jane is a sweetheart and Elizabeth is quite headstrong. The other three daughters (Mary, Lydia, and Kitty) aren't really described, but, from what you see of them, they're not too difficult to handle. Mary may get on some people's nerves since, in my mind, she struck me as slightly pretentious. 

Ah, but onto the actual plot. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's relationship is quite interesting at the moment. Throughout the whole beginning section, I've found myself being able to sympathize with Elizabeth's quick judgement and opinion of him being a horrid person, yet I also feel sorry for Mr. Darcy because as time passes, he himself begins to become infatuated with Elizabeth. The majority of readers know where this goes, but it's still fun to actually read it, to see it for yourself.

Next on the agenda is Caroline. Ah, Caroline. From the beginning, I hated her and she seemed to fake every kind word she said, which doesn't lower the quality of the book at all. In fact, it's nice to be able to have someone to just hate. One could even consider her an antagonist because of her apparent meddling in Jane and Mr. Bingley's relationship, but that's the beauty of the book: there are no "good" and "bad"-there are only humans trying to go through the details of love and marriage and life in general. I may be only in the second section, but if you feel the urge to pick up a classic, hell, if you need a book to read, I would most certainly pick Pride and Prejudice. Five out of five stars!

Book Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Click here to buy the book.

Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.

It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous.

What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?

 

The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

So Torment...well, I must say in terms of plot, it had me hooked. Luce now goes to a new school and discovers that, with the shadows, she can see into her past lives and realizes Daniel, the love of her life that she meets in every one of her reincarnations, may not be completely telling her the truth and, despite his orders, she rebels.

This is where I start to develop an issue with this novel.

It appears that she is trying to help herself and be able to do things on her own, but the thing is, it feels more like a child rebelling against its father, not a teenager trying to figure out her past and how to protect herself.

I constantly found myself annoyed with Luce and how she never seemed to grow up. I felt this almost childlike vibe from her narrative.

Oh, but she's not the only reason I still refuse to read the third book, Passion. Daniel and, well, the majority of the fallen angels gang are involved too. Instead of telling her what's going on or telling her more about her past, they leave her in the dark, like a child. Daniel seems controlling and, in many ways, annoying. He doesn't let her do her own thing and, for me, I just could not handle that. I could not handle that they helped create and MC, who in the first book, seemed promising, into this child. This girl who makes me think of a teenage girl rebelling against her father.

Now, with me, I am very character-oriented when I read. If I hate the characters, I can't enjoy the book. So, today, I must rate this novel two stars, which is a shame since the series seemed so promising when I read Fallen.

Reading of the Non-Required Variety

So, as far as I can tell, it's back-to-school season for many of you! And, if for some reason, it is not, well, then this blog post is still relevant. Now, with school comes this horrible thing called required reading. *shivers* The thing with reading books for school is whether it's good or not is a wild card and, if you're like me, the thought of it being a grade just diminishes how good it is by a significant amount. Yet, these reading lists and books for school have inspired me to present to you a reading list that might entice your brain a little more. There all book's I plan to read this year and review*. It's subject to grow as the year continues on.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Breathe by Abbi Glines

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Looking For Alaska John Green

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Heaven Bound, Hell Hunted by Caitlyn Elyse

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

A Midsummer's Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

Nighshade by Andrea Cremer

The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Sarah Braswell

That's it as of right now! Feel free to leave your opinion of any of these in the comments! And, hey, read along with me, perhaps? Let's make this a book club of sorts.

*This week's review will not be from this list.

The Twelfth Doctor, My Writing, and School

Yet again, I come with another late blog post. And, yet again, this blog post's lateness is for the same reason as the last one's lateness. Yup, a vacation.
The thing that made this vacation special, though, was the fact that we went to Vacaville, California for, you guessed it, back-to-school shopping! Yes, school starts in two weeks, meaning I get the wonderful experience of getting the ideal outfit. That one combination of different articles of clothing that'll make me feel slightly enthusiastic about my summer ending.
Speaking of which, let's discuss school. As previously mentioned, school starts in two weeks, which means my writing time may be cut significantly. Have no fear, though! I will finish Sparks by the end of summer, giving me time to update the novel as I type it up and then Starlight will become my main priority, with a deadline on Halloween. What you guys should expect in terms of Sparks updates, well, I'll try to make them weekly, but considering I have school, college applications, and my social life, my free time will most likely be spent on Starlight, with Sparks being typed up during the weekends. Friday, I'll post a link to what I have written of Sparks and Starlight. :)
Next order of business: The twelfth Doctor has been announced! Yes, Peter Capaldi is the next Doctor! While, yes, he is older than Matt Smith, he just screams "Doctor" to me. I like an older Doctor because it really gives insight to how he ages and how he is actually decently old. Plus, wouldn't that be interesting for Clara? Going from young Matt Smith to an older man. Overall, I'm excited for him and can't wait to see Peter in action. :D
The final notice was my writing, which I covered mostly in the school section. Once again, I'm going to be quite busy once school starts, being a senior and all, but I will try to update Sparks as much as I can and maybe even give you tidbits of Starlight!
Happy Writing!

The above image just really seals the deal for me.

Book Review: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

 Link to Book

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

So it appears that I'm on a good book streak, for this novel was another example on why Sarah Dessen is my go-to writer for general fiction. 

It starts out with this girl, Emaline, who is on her last summer before her first year of college. She's going two hours away and has a wonderful boyfriend, yet some part of her wants bigger things, wants to get out of Colby and not end up like her mother, who was pregnant with her at sixteen. Yet, others (a newcomer named Theo and her biological father) want bigger things for her: Ivy League education, a big city lifestyle, etc.

First off, I would like to congratulate Sarah on having enough romance to hold the attention of any avid romance reader, yet also be able to show that maybe a fairytale doesn't involve Prince Charming. The book immediately relates to anyone who wants the feeling of change, of moving on to bigger and better things. Emaline's voice is just so wonderful, her narrative sounding like the average teenager, yet you can also relate to her struggles.

Sarah has this wonderful skill that made me go from loving Theo to wanting to shove him against the wall. In the end, I can honestly say that he was the one downside to the novel, but I could also see his purpose on being there.

Another perk would be how the focus isn't also on romance, it's on Emaline finding herself, figuring out her relationship with her father that hasn't always been there for her, developing a relationship with her half-brother, Benji. Despite my love of romance, it's refreshing to read books where that isn't the sole purpose of the novel.

The summer atmosphere, interesting characters, and wonderful plot make this book worth five stars. Even with my utter annoyance with Theo.

Book Review: Surfacing by Margaret Atwood.

I decided that for my first books review, I would do what I had to read for summer reading this year, Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. These book reviews shall go on a lovely one-five star system, which will conveniently be located at the end of the review. ;)

So, to start this off, I have to say that this book starts off slow. It's about a woman, who is unnamed, who goes to the cabin she grew up on with her boyfriend, Joe, and her seemingly-happily-married friends, Anna and David, because her father went missing.

At first the novel starts of slow, describing what seems to be a typical vacation. Yet, you can feel that something's about happen, and, as the book progresses, you can see a strange sort of thought process enter the narrator's head. She feels that her father left behind a mystery, a message, that she must unravel. At this point, things start getting interesting, to say the least. 

She starts to slowly resent her friends and, since this has shown up at the beginning of the book, we hear even more hinting to a husband and a child she had, but never wanted and abandoned. The book begins to take another turn as she tries to figure out what happened to her father. Meanwhile, she also learns that David and Anna's marriage is not all that happy. The thing with David is that he's extremely sexist. We learn some things about him, scandalous things, and soon he exhibits abusive behavior towards Anna. She begins to tell the narrator of the things he does to her and you can even see him undermining her and even forcing her to do a thing or two against her will. Written in a time where the feminist movement was gaining power, you definitely see the two conflicting themes in the novel. 

Yet, those become irrelevant in the end as she enters a primal state where she is run completely on her fear in hopes of finally discovering the whereabouts of her father, despite him being presumed dead. You become absorbed with how she lives and distrust. 

Surfacing is truly an absorbing novel, despite it's slow start, and is probably one of the most interesting, albeit strange, psychological thrillers I have read. I give it a lovely four-and-a-half-stars.