The Maze Runner by James Dashner

As you can see it has been a little while since I last posted and for the next couple of months my posts will be scarce compared to what I usually do since life is going to be very hectic and crazy until August. Last week I finally had my little girl, but I was able to get one book in while recovering at the hospital. Otherwise, the next couple weeks are going to be filled with family visiting and packing up and moving to Roosevelt, Utah for my husbands new teaching job. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that he is in the process of publishing his first book. Exciting! I'll do a review of his book once it is published so I can post a nice picture of it.

Anyway... So I was able to read the entire book, The Maze Runner, while I sat for endless hours i my room waiting to be released and go home. I feel like I have read this book before or at least a very similar type story. Actually, thinking on it now, the way it was written and the beginning of the book seems similar to The Missing series that I started a couple years ago, but never continued. This book is a very simple, easy read and also reminds me of Lord of the Flies in the sense that you have a group of boys that have been stuck in this maze for up two years. Each month a new boy shows up who, like the others, has no memory of his family or life, only his first name. He remembers knowing about life and concepts/ideas from before, but no actual memories of his life. Each week supplies are sent to them. They have put together somewhat of a society and each boy is assigned to either farm, butcher, run, cook, bury the dead, etc... The Runners, are boys that have been there for a while and each morning go out to the maze and plot the maze. Each night the walls around their 'settlement' go up and keep out the horrible machine monsters found in the maze. They never find an exit.

Thomas shows up and the boys who have been stung and 'changed' by the monsters, all have a faint memory of Thomas and so are skeptical of him, especially when the next day another person arrives and it's a girl who knows Thomas. Together they figure out hoe to escape the maze. I enjoyed the story, although it is not one that I am excited to continue or feel the need to immediately get the next book in the series. I do have to add that most people I have talked to absolutely love this author and in particular this series.

Mark of Royalty by Jennifer Clark & Stephonie Wiliams

A short, but delightful story, Mark of Royalty is about a princess, Sarah, who was first-born and marked with a unicorn scar, as is custom of her country. However, a twin brother was also born and because of a prophecy that the first-born would be a boy, they marked the boy and hide Sarah so protect her life. Sarah grows up in a different country not knowing who she is. Only her 'mother' knows who she really is. As circumstances have it, Sarah starts courting the king's nephew of her new country, but falls in love with the King's son. Her, step-father has other plans and sides with Lord Chad, the king's nephew, in a plot to make Chad the king. Alex, the king's son, has been forced to find a bride from another country or give up the thrown to Chad, which he wants to do in order to bring unity to their country and be able to marry Sarah. In the end, Sarah, is revealed to everyone to be a true princess from Spain and therefore, Alex can indeed marry her and fulfill his obligation to marry from another country and Chad is tried for treason. All ends well. A classic story, but a nice, easy-read, feel-good story that is worth reading.

Listen by Rene Gutteridge

"So the question is, do the conversations we have privately define who we are, or are we who we are despite our private conversations?"

Just one of the few thought-provoking statements made in the most recent Kindle book I read. Someone has started a blog that posts the towns most intimate, private conversations that are not meant to be heard by anyone else and especially not the person they are talking about. So what happens when a town becomes obsessed with this site and begins to piece together who is saying what about whom? People begin to fight with one another and even get to the point of killing eachother. Friendships are forever ruined and married couples are afraid to communicate with one another in fear that their conversation will show up on this site. So how would you change if you knew your private conversations/gossip would show up the next day for all to see. It is an intrigueing book and honestly had a ton of quotes that I would love to put together at some point to really contemplate on. The story itself is not too bad either and it is interesting to see who the person is that is behind this website and what motivated this person to start it. I think this is an excelent read for all, and especially should be integrated into high school classes since a part of the story deals with bullying and gossip.

Gables Against the Sky by Anita Stansfield

I have never been a huge fan of Anita Stansfield. I read a few of her books when I was in high school and they were ok, but nothing great. Obviously, I haven't read any of her books since even though she has quite a few. My younger two sister-in-laws love this story and insisted that I give it a try. I've had the book for a few weeks and this week finally started to read it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a decent book. This is a sequel and I really don't think I would enjoy reading the first book based off of the story line told in this book, but who knows.

This started out as a typical story of growing up in Australia at a boys home and one of the troubled boys falling in love with the owners daughter, but running off when she does not agree to go riding with him one afternoon. To get revenge later on he kidnaps her and of course she falls in love with him. Her brother falls in love with their 'adopted' sister and wants to get married, but she wants to stay in Australia while he wants to travel the world. He leaves and she has his son 9 months later. He doesn't come back home until 4 years later. I was surprised to find the main story line of the kidnapping and leaving home done by the middle of the book.

Unfortunately, after this point, the book gets a little annoying since we spend the rest of the story dealing with Lacey's crazy madness at Tyson for leaving her with a kid and unable to forgive him and incredibly mad at Michael for kidnaping her and Emma. She thinks Emma is insane for wanting to marry this criminal. Of course his past comes back to haunt them and they all have to overcome murder charges and learn to deal with their past skeletons in order to live happily ever after. Like I said, the beginning of the book was good, but then the second half just got annoying with all the irrational fighting and drama. Still a decent book.

Borrowed Light by Carla Kelly

I enjoyed reading this LDS book. It is not incredibly spiritual or filled with LDS scriptures and principles, but it does mention it tastefully in a way that does not take away from the main story. Julia is engaged to the 'perfect' guy and realizes on her sisters weddind day that she does not want to marry him and in a moment of frustration she applies for a cooking job on a ranch in Wyoming. A couple weeks later she still has not told anyone that she plans on canceling her engagement but is forced to when she gets a reply back saying she is to report to Wyoming within the week. She shows up at a secluded ranch full of men who have been eating out of cans and really have never cleaned the place up. Rats are everywhere and it takes her a week to get the oven cleaned. If you've seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers you can pretty much get the idea of Julia's experience at the beginning.

Of course she falls in love with the young owner who has been in charge of the ranch since he was 15. Julia struggles at first with her own testimony of her religion when faced with questions about it and the closest branch is a days train ride away so she is only able to go every couple of weeks and must rely on her own strength to uphold her values and defend her religion. In the end, Mr. Otto, the ranch owner, joins the church and Julia finds herself living her life in Wyoming. Don't let the churchy-type book scare you because the story is good and the book very enjoyable to read.

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

Do the Work is the second free kindle book sent out by BzzAgent on behalf of the Domino Project. The first book was Poke the Box which I did not really have an interest in or enjoy reading, but Do the Work was substantially better. I was a little hesistant about reading it due to Poke the Box, but was happy to find this book much better than planned. This book especially appealed to me since my husband is writing a book and is an English teacher. This book is great for those writing, making movies, or pretty much starting any project. The first section is not the greatest since it is all about defining resistance and learning to recognize and handle it. It is a very important thing to understand so I understand the need for it, but it did not really motivate or inspire me.

The rest of it was great. It gives you guidelines for starting and carrying out your project. It doesn't necessarily give you step-by-step advice, but it does help you weed out things that prevent you from successfully completing your project. Some things that stood out to me included starting you project by taking a piece of paper and in three bullets, outline your story. (I'm going to use writing as the example) He also talked about writing the ending and working backwards. You fill in the gaps as you. Also, interestingly, he says to only research 3 books before starting your project. If you research more you run into more resistance. Go into your project stupid and work the rest out as you go.

I could go on and on with the advice Steven gives, but honestly it would be better to read it. Don't get put off by having to read a 'know how to' type book. This kindle book is very easy to read, to the point, and quick. It also helps a ton since it is written with some points in normal font and others in very large, bold font. It definately helped me to read it knowing I'm not reading a full page of fine print. Don't hesitate to download this book, especially since it is free right now and saves you $12.99.

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

Flutter and Wisdom are the 3rd and 4th books of the My Blood Approves series by Amanda Hocking. An enjoyable series and I'm not sure if there are more books that will be coming out or not. It definately has the potential to continue on. Alice is still struggling with her feelings for Peter and Jack, but is trying very hard to be faithful to Jack. She spends most of these books learning to control her bloodlust and abilities as a vampire and to also figure out how she really feels about becoming a vampire and what her purpose in life is now. At first she just figured she would be a trophy wife and do nothing for eternity but be with Jack and be happy. Unfortunately, that isn't exactly what happens. She starts to resent being a 'monster' and not having anything that is 'hers.' Everything belongs to her new vampire family.

Her life also isn't very easy-going and happy like she planned. Flutter starts with Peter trying to get himself killed by wild vampires and he unfortunately drags in Alice and his family. They save him at a great price and head back home to find Jane a bloodwhore and pretty close to death. She doesn't want help, but Alice refuses to let her go. Of course, the wild vampires track them home and try to get revenge on Peter by baiting and hurting Jane and Alice. Mae spends this whole book fighting with her husband because she wants to turn her 5-year-old great-granddaughter into a vampire because she is terminally ill. In the end all works out and Mae turns Daisy. They have to go to Australia since Daisy has absolutely no control over herself.

Wisdom finds Jane murdured and a seriel killer branding and killing human girls by Club V and Mae, Daisy, and Peter in Australia trying to control Daisy. Daisy gets out of control and attacks a bunch of people and so they are forced to run back home until they can find a place to stay. Alice is determined to find the seriel killer and in the process gets tagged by vampire hunters as being involved with the killing and they track and attack her and her vampire family. This book actually made me cry at the end since Mae is finally forced to kill Daisy because she is in so much pain from needing to drink blood so often and is uncontrollable. She keeps attacking those in the family and Mae is finally forced to make the decision to end her life.

A fun series to read, especially if you are really into vampire novels. If you have a kindle you can get all 4 books for only $10 which is great. My only complaint with the last book were the amount of grammar issues. The other three books were good, but the fourth seriously needed some more editing time.

Poke the Box by Seth Godin

This is the first book I recieved on my Kindle as part of a Bzzagent campaign I joined. This is one of many books that are being published by the Domino Project. Poke the Box is a motivation book to get you moving and taking chances to make a difference in the world or just your daily life. Stop going with the crowd and hiding your ideas and creativity. Poke the box and push your ideas to come to life. Seth Godin talks about the failure of most people to take initiative and do something. Most sit around following the crowd since we are programed to never take chances and do something different. What if everyone in a company shared their ideas and tried them instead of just a small team of people? Notice I say 'tried.' Godin doesn't say that every idea will be a success, but that honestly most will fail, but eventually you learn from these failures and find something truly remarkable. For those who are nervous about going for a dream or idea that they have thought about for a while, this is a good book to start reading in order to hopefully get you motivated to accomplish your goal. It doesn't work to just think or start something, you must finish it.

The List by Melanie Jacobson

I found this book from a Seagull Books ad and was intrigued by what it had to offer. I found it pretty good and humorous from a Mormon standpoint. Melanie does a very good job poking fun as the stereotypical college age group of mormons and their tactics and views on dating and marriage. It was fairly funny at times.

Ashley Barrett is our main character who goes to school at famous BYU where her whole family has gotten married when they were 19 and started having kids immediately. Sounds like a normal mormon view on life after highschool. Well, Ashley does not find this at all appealing since her sisters and mother seem to always be stressed out and missing out on life. They hurt financially and it seems to take a toll on their marriages. So to prevent this from happening to her, Ashley puts together The List. 25 things to do before getting married with things such as learn to surf, sky dive, learn to make sushi, get a masters, etc... So she finds herself in California staying with her cousins for the summer so she can learn how to surf and possibly mark off another couple things on her list such as internet dating and having a summer fling. She finds herself targeting Matt Gibson as her summer fling and surf instructor. It is entertaining to see them at ward activities and the typical blond haired girls that are super spiritual in order to try to get Matt's attention. Ashely, of course, is the opposite of all stereotypical Utah blonde, super spiritual females and so is able to help Melanie poke fun at the LDS social life. Unfortunately for Ashley, she finds herself falling in love with Matt and has to decide whether to forgo the last three items on her list for Matt or leave Matt behind. Bet you can't figure out what she chooses in the end? Overall, a very enjoyable read for an LDS targeted book.

Logan Author Night

The Logan Library set up an author night tonight at Mount Logan Middle School. Unfortunately, I was only able to last an hour with my two kids there (which is amazing in itself), but it was an enjoyable presentation. Author Shannon Hale seemed to be the one in charge of getting everyone there and she even showed up with one of her twins. Authors Jessica Day George, James Dashner, Brandon Mull, and Ally Condie were also present.

I'm a little surprised, but Shannon Hale is the most checked out author at the Logan Library along with Jessica Day George and James Dashner. Shannon Hale is known for the Bayern series and Princess Academy. Impressively, she also has graphic novels and screen plays that she has written. I have not read any of Jessica Day George's books so I will have to get on that and see what they are like. The only book I have read of James Dashner's is The 13th Reality. His more well known book is The Maze Runner so I will have to put that on my list to read as well. I am not familiar with Ally Condie either. Her more famous book is Matched, which if you are looking for at a library you will have to put down as Allyson Braithwaite Condie to find. And anyone who does not know Brandon Mull by now is missing out. Fable Haven, Candyshop Wars, The Beyonders, etc...

Now as far as personalities go, Ally Condie was very quiet so I did not get a feel for her except that she seems nice and more reserved than the others. Jessica Day George and Shannon Hale were very talkative about themselves even to the point of being annoying. We're at a book signing and we get to hear about their kids behaviors and labor stories. Come on. Yeah, not too impressed with them individually, but that's just personally. James Dashner and Brandon Mull seemed a little more relaxed and not caring. They were quick to keep things light hearted and funny without laughing and drawing too much attention to themselves. Overall, it was a decent night.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

So I knew a fourth book was coming out, but from what I thought it was the last book and written from Simon's view from a past book. Nope, I was wrong. Yes, it is written from multiple points of view, which I have begun to really like for most books now. It is nice to get the perspective of multiple main characters instead of only knowing one main characters feelings and experiences. However, after reading this book I have to come realize that this series is going to continue furthur. Once again I am stuck reading a series that I have to wait years to finish.

So anyway... The war is over, but life goes on for everyone. Simon is trying to come to terms with his daywalker vampire self and living longer than everyone else. Clary is trying to train to become a Shadowhunter and Jace is still is cocky self, however, he is being manipulated by a demon and losing control over his actions. We don't see much of Alec and Magnus since they are vacationing around the world, but we do see at the end that Alec is having to come to terms with Magnus's past relationships and him being a relationship at the time that will end with him dying and Magnus moving on. Isabel is still her self-centered self, but she is starting to realize that she wants/needs a steady, serious relationship and it seems that may be with Simon. So there you have it summed up within a few sentences. Pretty much Sabastian is brought back to life and Jace is controlled by him. It is nice to see that this set up forces all the other characters to take some more main parts in the upcoming books since Jace is unable to protect and save everyone. Everyone is now going to have to fight against him as well as Sabastian while also trying to keep Jace alive. A crazy twist I'm interested to see how is solved.

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

I just recently read about Amanda Hocking and her success starting out by self-publishing from Writer's Digest. I was interested in her writing mostly because Blake is in the process of publishing his first book so I wanted to see what her writing is like to see how if compares to Blake's. She has a few series out and just barely started publishing with an actual company instead of on her own. This series, My Blood Approves, is a typical vampire series. It reminds me a bit of Twilight in the sense that the main character falls in love with a vampire, but her blood is meant for another vampire that she is drawn too and she wants to become one. I have read the first two books in the series and there are two others out that I will have to read at some point. I got these books for Kindle since her books are not at my local library yet and only available online right now.

So overall, I have enjoyed reading her books. I have been pleasantly impressed with her editing skills compared to many ebooks that I have read that you honestly get distracted with the amount of errors. Come on, if you're going to publish your book make sure it is properly edited. It seems books are being edited very sloppy recently. Anyway, back on subject. Alice is saved one night by Jack who she finds out is a vampire. They become friends, but when Jack introduces Alice to his 'family' her blood is drawn to Peter. Because of this bond, Peter claims Alice as his even though he fights his desire to be her soul mate. Ironically, and unusual, Jack falls in love with Alice and they form a slight bond as well that interfers with Alice and Peter's bond. Alice decides to wait to be turned to a vampire simply because her brother is 15 and just realized he's gay (does it seem interesting that most books lately always have a gay kid) so she does not want to leave him alone. Well as fate would have it, in the second book her brother gets in an accident and the only way to save him is to turn him into a vampire. Well, now Alice has to wait still for her brother to learn how to control his instincts and be trained. Peter leaves and Jack bites Alice which is pretty much a death sentence for both of them since Peter has claimed Alice as his. The second book ends with Jack and Peter fighting and Jack turning Alice into a vampire. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the books have to offer.

The Domino Project

Ok, so this isn't my usual post-about-the-latest-book-I've-read, but I believe it is very relevant to this particular blog I update. The Domino Project is part of a new bzzcampaign that I am participating in during this upcoming year as part of being an agent with Bzzagent.

I spent some time looking at the main website this morning and am intrigued with what it has to offer. Every month as part of the campaign I will be recieving a free kindle version of the book being offered for us to read and review. I am totally excited to start adding to my kindle collection since I have only been downloading free books or .99 titles. I do have a new author that I have downloaded a few books from who has self-published her works through AbbottPress.com. She sounds like a promising 26-year-old author so keep your eye out for when I get around to reading her works. I am still working on re-reading some of Marcia Lynn McClure's books and will finish probably the beginning of next week when I'll write my first review of The Domino Project's first book I will recive titled Poke the Box by Seth Godin, also the founder of this site.

This site is determined to change how books are published and marketed. As an author I would definately subscribe and watch for what could potentially be a way to get your material published partnering with Amazon. They are not staffed enough yet to really shift through tons of submissions or anything, but hey, you might as well keep your eyes open for any and all opportunities to get your book out there. I know I will since my husband wants to get his works published soon. You can subscribe to be updated of new releases as well as recieve discounts off of books they have as well.

Visit the site and subscribe for free! http://www.thedominoproject.com/

Marcia Lynn McClure

I had to take a break from reading so many new books and feeling overwhelmed a bit since there are so many books out there that I need to read. I found myself rushing through each book I read in order to finish it and see how it ends. Reading had started to lose it's enjoyment and sort of become a job. It also had become harder to find time to read since I've spent the last couple weeks fighting the kids colds and applying for teaching jobs for Blake. I'm just a little tired to thinking and doing anything. So I've fallen back on re-reading a few of Marcia Lynn McClure's romance novels. They are short and quit easy to read. You can finish a book in 2-3 days easily and that is just reading a couple hours each night. I do not like all of her books, but there are a few that I do find enjoyable and honestly lighten my spirit a bit and are able to help me escape from life for a bit. Blake makes fun of any romantic works and finds the writing too simple and cheesy. But seriously, who can't resist a decent romance book that helps remind you to simply slow down a bit and enjoy life? So if you haven't read any of her books yet I would recommend the following since they are my favorite.

The Pirate Ruse

Crimson Frost

Saphyre Snow

The Prairie Prince

The Visions of Ransom Lake

Shackles of Honor

House of Night by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

This series is a good story, but there is a little too much swearing and sexual situations. I can understand a little about the sexual content. When vampires bite someone it is pleasurable for both parties so it has to be included a bit, but the language just seems a little too overboard, especially with the last couple of books. I have read 7 books out of this series and know there is at least one more book and possibly even more. Once again I have to comment that series need to be kept to a few books and not be dragged out so much. This last book I read, Burned, definately was not that exciting or anything. I think part of it is due to getting bored of the series since I read it straight through and wanting it to end at this point. I hope Awakened is the last book.

So a little information about this series. Humans live in a world where they know about vampires. Vampires are not made necessarily by the vampires, but are made from humans who are marked with a crescent moon on their head during high school age. Once you are marked you must leave immediately and start attending the House of Night vampire school or else you die. Unfortunately, you still might die if your body rejects the change. You either are tranformed from a Fledgling into a Vampire, or you one day just up and die because your body rejects it. Zoey is our main character that is marked and of course she does not have the normal fledgling experience. She imprints with her human ex-boyfriend when she finds herself eating his blood which is not suppose to happen. She also learns she has a gift of being able to control all 5 elements of the world, earth, fire, water, air, and spirit. Most vampires are not even able to control one, but Zoey for some reason can control all of them. She soon finds herself having to deal with adult vampire issues that fledglings don't start to encounter until their 6th level or so.

Anyway, so Zoey is learning about vampire life and overall storyline for the books is her mentor, Neferet, abandons Nyx, their diety, and starts to accept Darkness and creates 'red fledglings' out of students that die. One of these students is Zoey's best friend who she has to save. New vampires and humans are made and they must work together to defeat a fallen immortal, Kalona, that is brought back to the earth by Neferet. They have power to blind most of the vampires and so Zoey and her friends must find a way to destroy Neferet and trap Kalona from staying on earth. Like most vampire type books, sounds a little crazy, but it works.

List of Books:

Marked

Betrayed

Chosen

Untamed

Hunted

Tempted

Burned

Awakened