The Beat THAT Sentence Challenge TAG

During THE FEAST OF FOOLS a sudden UNEARTHLY FIRESTORM from ACROSS THE UNIVERSE brought with it a BLACK DAWN that made everyone SHIVER, EVERLASTING SILENCE followed creating a CITY OF LOST SOULS, starting a CHAIN REACTION until the world was like a GHOST TOWN, and people were DREAMLESS, their lives turned INSIDE OUT until A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES walked the BLOOD RED ROAD willing to fight until their LAST BREATH, used BLOOD MAGIC and a TOUCH OF POWER to banish the SWEET EVIL, with PRIDE, to THE VICIOUS DEEP, 20 THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, where it was WRECKED, and will FOREVER LINGER, while the world is ILLUMINATED and full of DREAMS HEREAFTER, it won't forget the TEMPEST that now LIES BENEATH that almost caused humanity to FADE OUT.

Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 671 KB
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: Omnific Publishing; 1st edition (21 Nov 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Each day, Livia McHugh smiles politely and acknowledges her fellow commuters as she waits for the train to the city. She dismisses this kindness as nothing special, just like her. She’s the same as a million other girls—certainly no one to be cherished. But special or not, she smiles every day, never imagining that someone would rely on the simple gesture as if it were air to breathe.
  
  When the moment comes that Livia must do more than smile, without hesitation she steps into the fray to defend the homeless man. And she's surprised to discover an inexplicable connection with her new friend. After danger subsides, their smiles become conversation. Their words usher in a friendship, which awakens something in each of them. But it’s not long before their bond must prove its strength. Entanglements from the past challenge both their love and their lives.
  
  Blake’s heart beats for Livia’s, even if her hands have to keep its rhythm. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails. Love never fails, right?
  
  In an interwoven tale of unlikely loves and relationships forged by fire, Debra Anastasia takes readers into the darkest corners of human existence, only to show them the radiant power of pure adoration and true sacrifice. Complicated families and confused souls find their way to light in this novel, which manages to be racy, profane, funny, and reverent all at once.
• Cover: Dark, simple and relevant.  Exactly what I like in a cover.
• I really enjoyed this book. It's a fairly dark and gritty contemporary that still managed to incorporate a beautiful romance.
• Blake is homeless, and no one gives him the time of day, but Livia stands up for him against thugs.  They then develop a friendship which transforms into a romance.
• Blake was so sweet, you couldn't help but love him.
• We also get to see his 'brothers'.  Cole, a would be priest, and Beckett, a hardened criminal- we really get three romances in this book.  Blake and Livia, Cole and Livia's sister Kyle, and Beckett and Eve.  
• The second two aren't as developed as Blake and Livia's.
• I didn't really buy into Cole and Kyle's romance, it was just too sudden and implausible, plus I wasn't overly keen on either of their characters, Kyle in particular really grated on my nerves.
• Beckett and Eve I enjoyed more.  Beckett has done some terrible things, but to survive and protect his fraternal 'brothers', and Eve's backstory broke my heart, but she totally kicks butt!  I can't wait for the sequel to see what happens to them because it can't end the way it did for them.
• A lot happens in this book!  Just when you think it must be drawing to a close...BAM!  Plot twist.
• The pacing was great- I was never bored, and was hooked.
• I do highly recommend this book!  However, be warned of mature content- drugs, sex, violence and language.  So if you find this things offensive or just don't like to read about them, this may not be the book for you.
• But I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
• 4/5 stars!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week. 

Do you bring the book(s) you’re reading with you when you go out? How?
Physically, or in an e-reader of some kind? Have your habits in this
regard changed? (I know I carried books with me more when I was in
school than I do now–I can’t read while I’m driving to work, after
all.)

Whether I'm reading a physical book or a book on my Kindle, it goes with me when I go out.  
I've always done this.  I just...can't leave it behind.  If I can I will snatch a minute to read it.  Of course If I'm on the bus or something I will read the whole journey instead of just sitting there...vacant.

The Impressions TAG

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables send for a boy orphan to help them out at their farm, they mistakenly get Anne Shirley, a feisty, independent, but warm-hearted eleven-year-old girl. Fortunately, her sunny nature and quirky imagination win the hearts of her reluctant foster parents and everyone in the community. But not a day goes by without some memorable adventure or prank in the tragicomedy of her life.

Cover: I love this centenary edition.  It's bright, sweet and relevant.  In other words, it's perfect.

I enjoyed every single moment of reading this book.
It's a charming book that readers of all ages will love.
Anne is such a vibrant character, she practically leaps off of the page, and the reader grows to love her as much as the characters around her do.  Anne's imagination and exuberance, and knack for getting herself into trouble just...cheered me up.  
I loved Mathew Cuthbert's character- he's painfully shy but Anne finds a kindred spirit in him, and he became my favourite character.
There's not much more I can say about this amazing classic.
The beautiful setting, the array fun characters and the all round feel good read that will appeal to most readers.
Anne of Green Gables made me smile, laugh and even shed a tear.
I highly recommend reading this! 5/5 stars!  And I will be reading the other books in the series.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week. 

Quick–what are you reading right now? (Other than this question onthis website, of course.) Would you recommend it? What’s it about? 

Right now I'm reading The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan, and it's the story of a relationship told in dictionary form.  It's really interesting.

Take Me There by Carolee Dean

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse; 1 edition (20 July 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416989501
• ISBN-13: 978-1416989509
• Dylan has a bad-boy past and a criminal record. He knows that rich, beautiful Jess is way too good for him—but she has always been the one person who sees through his tough exterior and straight to his heart, and he has been hopelessly in love with her from the first time they met. He would change his life for a chance with her.
  
  But trouble follows Dylan wherever he goes, and a deadly mistake soon forces him to hit the road and leave his dreams behind. He’s on the run and in search of answers—answers to questions he wishes he’d never asked.

Cover: Love the sweet, romantic cover and the awesome font.

I liked the sound of the over all premise of this book, but it didn't turn out to be what I expected.

To be honest I was left feeling depressed.

Dylan tries so hard to lead an honest life for Jess, but trouble finds him while his 'friend' Wade that causes the trouble gets to live a great life while Dylan loses everything.

I just felt that,OK, while this may be realistic...but where was the justice??  There was none.  And the unfairness just made me feel sick and depressed.

The timeline also bothered me.  It wasn't linear, it jumped back and forth and was just confusing for the first half of the book.

The writing didn't particularly engage me.

However I did enjoy the poetry that Dylan wrote, it was really good and that was the part I liked the most about this book.

The romance was also good, between Dylan and Jess but it just didn't end up the way I wanted it to, which I know is naive and immature but as a reader that's what I wanted, so I felt cheated.  

If I wanted depressing realism I'd have watched the news instead of picking up a YA book. 

Over all this wasn't a bad book, but it just wasn't what I was looking for.

2.5/5 stars- the poetry gave it and extra 0.5.