The Vampire Diaries

            So another series that I liked is called the Vampire Diaries (no, it’s nothing like Twilight), okay maybe in a sense it is, but it seriously is a good paranormal series. The reason I like the Vampire Diaries series is because not only is it about a vampire and a human who love each other, but it’s about other dimensions, other creatures, the originals, and just so much more. The series is all focused along Elaine and her two loves or the two guys that love her; Damon and Stefan who just happen to be brothers and both vampires.

            Now the first book if I remember correctly is kind of slow and a lot of stuff happens in it, but that’s the book that is more along the cliché portion (except for the fact Elaine basically has a twin, Katherine.) I’m not going to lie hear, I honestly vaguely remember what happens between the five books…But the first contains the two books the Awakening and the Struggle, the second book is Fury and Dark Reunion, the third book is Nightfall, the fourth book Shadow Souls, and the fifth book is called Midnight. So the series is kind of confusing the series is in parts where the first two books is the Vampire Diaries and the third through fifth is the series called the Return. Now there is the other part of the series which is the Hunters and have a red cover, these books are also books that are not by L.J. Smith they are written by Aubrey Clark.

            So out of all the books I loved the fourth and the fifth book because so much things happen that it is really unexpected and shocking that it keeps the reader intrigued and wanting more. I think that L.J. Smith’s books got better as the next book came out, because the next book is always better than the prior book. So definitely a fun series to read to have it keep building up. I think that the reader though really has to keep an open mind because so much happens that’s unrealistic and unexpected.

            My suggestion to the series is to read it only if you like paranormal books and if you have read other L.J. Smith books and liked those. I don’t suggest reading the sixth book, it’s a different author, and I thought it completed sucked, just my opinion if you want to know whether to read it or not.

            Another cool thing about this series is there is also a show based upon it, but let me tell you I watched the first three seasons of the Vampire Diaries (fourth season was getting to weird for me), I think they are currently on the fifth season, but I’m not exactly sure…There also is a spin off show to the Vampire Diaries called the Originals. As well as with the books there is many spin off seasons to the Vampire Diaries, but I’m not exactly sure who writes them or if they’re any good, I’m just aware that they exist.

            So my overall suggestion is to read this series you won’t regret it, it’s not a total cliché like most vampire books, and I found it highly interesting up until the new writer started. So read the series, it’s a fun series and L.J. Smith has quite an imagination.

The Secret Circle

One good series to read is a book called the Secret Circle, there contains two books in the series basically because in each of those books there are two books inside the one book, so a total of four books. The first is called the Initiation, the second is called the Captive Part I, the third is called the Captive Part II, and the last book is called the Power. Now all of these are by L.J. Smith there are also three other books after these four called the Divide, the Hunt, and the Tempatation all by Aubrey Clark; which till further notice I’m saying they are irrelevant. I have not read them, but I believe that L.J. Smith should have been able to finish the series how she wanted to, or if she didn’t want to finish the series then she didn’t have to.

            So aside from my dislike to the series continuing with the new writer (which I can’t judge her books whatsoever only based on reviews I saw on the internet and my friends opinions on the books); this is what I heard, you can tell it’s a different writer and it just ruins the whole story and just has a complete different plot than what it usually would, so I’m not exactly telling you to not read the other books not made by L.J. Smith, but it’s most likely if you loved the first two books written by L.J. Smith you won’t like the change in writers. To be honest I thought after the book ended that it would be the end to the series because it seemed like that could be a good end to it, and I heard about how L.J. Smith was going to write a story about a journey in the undersea where the next book written goes on to some unknown enemy trying to attack them and how Cassie has to protect the whole circle; which to me almost sounds kind of clichéish (my opinion.)

            So why should you read the first and second book? Well, I kind of got off track with my ranting, but L.J. Smith is a really creative writer her stories are usually pretty interesting and I have enjoyed all the books I’ve read by HER. The reason I liked this series is because it kind of had to deal with romance, witches, and just dramatic situations. I think that girls that like paranormal books will love this series. Cassie is an interesting character too as well as the twins; the twins are so humorous in the series.

            Another reason to read this series is because there was a show based upon the series and it’s always interesting to watch a show that is based upon a book after reading it, even if it’s highly irritating about how much different it is, but you just have to remember that it’s BASED upon, it’s not identical copies. So I think you should read the first two books in the series, I really enjoyed them and have read them both four times each, and still enjoy the books. 

Disney Movies

                Disney movies are some of the best movies that have ever been made. There are so many classical Disney movies that people like. Usually, someone will at least love at least one Disney movie whether it be the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast or newer movies like Frozen, Tangled, or Saving Mr. Banks. Disney movies seem to be the movies to enjoy, especially at a younger age.

            There are so many Disney movies that people still enjoy even though its over twenty years old like the Lion King movies, Beauty and the Beast, Aristocats, Lilo and Stitch, the Fox and the Hound, 101 Dalmatians, the list goes on and on of Disney movies that are still great to watch even twenty years later. The older Disney movies actually are my favorites like some of them I listed above because they’re just cute little stories that are cartoons and entertaining to watch. Out of all the Disney movies I think a favorite of mine is the Fox and the Hound just because as a little girl I loved animals and just loved to see animals talking to one another, so basically all of the talking animal Disney movies that are a bit older I’ve most likely seen. I definitely suggest Disney movies to little kids because there is very little violence, there’s proper language, and the story is usually pretty fun.

            Now there are some newer Disney movies that I just find appalling like some of them they aire on Disney channel (no offense to those Disney movies, but I just think they aren’t as good of the stories back then; maybe because I have a love for cartoon movies.) So one of the newer Disney movies that I like is the newer movie Frozen, it was very cute; I just really enjoyed the movies along with many others that are why they got some award for it. Another newerish Disney movie that I loved was Up, that story was hilarious and had a cute love story of two old people at the beginning and who can forget Kevin!

            Just listing a few Disney movies makes me think of some other ones that I loved too like Monsters Inc, Mulan, Holes, the Sword in the Stone, Treasure Planet, Dumbo, Bambi, Tangled, and so many others that I should probably stop listing all of them; my point though is that Disney movies especially the older ones are really good and are worth watching because it’s entertaining and appropriate G rated movies. My suggestion is for people to watch some of them that I listed because all of them are good in their own ways, but all are interesting and unique stories that I think children and even adults will love. 

Fallen Rapture

             Rapture is the final book in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate; also the fourth book in the series to the story of Lucinda and Daniel. I think that the whole book was entirely a cliché; not to be rude to Lauren Kate, but the book was just extremely cheesy and made me groan when I read certain parts in the book.

            The book starts off with Lucifer wanting to rewrite time; which I thought wasn’t too bad of concept for the series until it said they needed to find three different artifacts that will help them realize where the place of the fall took place; I mean come on that doesn’t even make sense to me, I know it explains it, but I just couldn’t really accept that part of the story.

            Now on to another part of the story leaving out all the going after the artifacts and everything, once they actually got to the place of the fall they made Lucinda realize her earliest memories and oh my gosh she ends up being an angel, an angel that is third in the line, even higher than Daniel. Once I got to this part I was tempted to stop reading just because the whole book series came down to how now Lucinda was an angel as well; which I kind of guessed what would happen all along, but still. Anyway, back to the part in the book she then realizes Daniel wasn’t her first love, but Lucifer was. And basically Daniel ended up being a rebound guy of some sorts. This part of the book I thought was even more cliché than the part of Lucinda being an angel.

            So the last part of the book is where the Throne (God) comes down and asks Lucinda and Daniel which side they choose light or dark. Which I thought was interesting that Lauren Kate had made God a woman; I would have thought she would have kept God sexless. So then the biggest cliché of the book comes next when Daniel and Lucinda both choose love instead of dark or light.

            I’m sorry to say, but the book really isn’t really worth reading because you basically can put every cliché into this book. I mean it was a good ending to the story because Daniel and Lucinda were both reborn as humans, but it was still kind of those endings where you just wanted everyone to be happy so you make that happen. I was actually left with one question in the story, what happened with Lucinda’s old parents? I was just curious about that part.

            Overall, I will say the book is for people who love cheesy and romantic books; which I kind of ruined everything in the book…But I think if I would have finished this series all in middle school I would have absolutely adored the series, so maybe some people will enjoy it more than I did. 

My Sister's Keeper

            My Sister’s Keeper is both a book and a movie. The movie is directed by Nick Cassavetes; while the book’s author is Jodi Picoult. My Sister’s Keeper brought up a lot of controversy over life and when it’s okay for a child to say no more.

            My Sister’s Keeper is about how the older sister Kate is diagnosed with leukemia and the parents decide to do create an identical child of Kate so they can save Kate. That’s where Anna comes into place; she was born solemnly for the reason to use her body to save her older sister, Kate. The book and the movie are both similar in the aspects that Anna tries to get medical emancipated from her parents. The whole story brings up the question is it okay to create someone and use them to save another’s life? Well, that question and many others like it because the whole story centers around is it okay or do Anna’s parents expect too much out of her?

            The book compared to the movie is quite similar except for the endings to it, (spoiler alert) the end to the book is extremely sad; while the ending to the book is more of a happy ending. Both are very interesting though, because it’s the same story bringing up whether Anna has the right to say what she wants instead of her parents because Anna is only the age of 13. Basically, what started the reason why Anna wanted to get medically emancipated (meaning she would choose herself on medical circumstances) is because of donating a kidney, but it turns out in the end of the story that Kate just didn’t want to live anymore.

            The story is sad, especially the ending to the book; even though it meant a happy ending for Kate. The story of My Sister’s Keeper gets people to think where to draw the line at for someone to survive and if it is considered morally wrong to use someone to save the life of another. Anna got a lawyer in the story and her parents didn’t understand why she was doing this to them (her parents) and to her sister, Kate. Was too much expected of Anna to be the only reason her sister Kate was surviving? The whole story just brings up so many questions on if too much was expected and if what Anna was doing would be considered selfish or sparing her own life at the cost of her sisters.

            Just imagining if you were in that situation where you might have to give up your life to save a sibling would be a hard situation to come by. My Sister’s Keeper is an amazing story and was very well-written by Jodi Pitcoult because to think of the number of questions that can come by that story is intriguing; also the movie was a really good movie even if they changed the end of the movie from the book. 

Lurlene McDaniel

            LurleneMcDaniel is an author of teenage novels having to do with life. She draws her inspiration for her books from her son who was diagnosed with diabetes when he was three. Usually, her books have to do with sickness or death in some way and how the people around them deal with the heartache of losing a loved one. The books that I have read of hers so far is Heart to Heart, Always and Forever, and Breathless and I enjoyed all three of these books.

             The first book I ever read by Lurlene McDaniel was called Heart to Heart and it was suggested by my sister who had just grabbed a random book in the library. Without going into too much summary of the book; it’s basically about how a young girl dies at a young age, who just happened to be an organ donor, and how a teenage girl Arabeth St. Clair receives it. The book is very detailed in the emotional aspects of Arabeth and Kassey of their life and how they both have a connection to the teenage girl that who was an organ donor, Elowyn. This book is very well written and gets the reader to draw a connection to the characters in the story. The title of the book really couldn’t explain the story any better than those three words; because of the connection Arabeth and Elowyn share with each other. This is one book that is very emotional and teenager girls tend to like, so because of this one book is a reason enough to read some of Lurlene McDaniel’s books.

            The second book that I read by Lurlene McDaniel was called Always and Forever; which is actually two books in one. This one is about how a girl comes to the acceptance of death. The character in the book Melissa Austin receives a diagnoses concerning her health and the whole book is about how she and her family come into accepting the diagnoses; having peace with it. One reason I started reading this book was because I wanted to know why there was a hot air balloon on the cover of the book; which gets explained through the book of Melissa’s wanting to go on a hot air balloon. This book was almost as good as Heart to Heart, and both of them can be characterized in the same subject of acceptance and emotional ties. So two books I read were both an eye opener in my opinion; so that’s a reason to read a few of Lurlene McDaniel’s books.

            The last book I read by Lurlene McDaniel’s was called Breathless which the reason it was called that was the story has to do with a champion diver named Travis. The book is like the other two books I read by her because Travis ends up going to the hospital because he thought he broke his leg, but then he gets diagnosed with a rare form of cancer where they have to amputate his leg to save him. The whole story centers on the controversy between personal choice and of living life. This book was extremely sad compared to the other two books I thought because of Travis’s desire for diving and of accepting of what he think he must do. Thought this book was sadder, it brought up a good point about life, which makes people think about things like life that aren’t always thought about, a great reason to read Lurlene McDaniel’s books.

            Out of the three books I read all of them have to do with the quality of life, acceptance, and sadly death, but the author brings up a lot of important points and emotional aspects to keep the reader intrigued and to keep reading her other books as well. 

The Inheritance Cycle

So I don’t know how many people have read the book called Eragon? Well, anyway I tried reading the book when I was in third grade, didn’t turn out too well, I could barely get past the first chapter without asking my older brother what a word meant. The series called the Inheritance Cycle has four books to it. The first book is called Eragon, the second called Eldest, the third called Brisinger, and the fourth called Inheritance.

Well, back to my story of my experience with the books…I tried reading it failed at it, so I watched the movie instead. Now about back in 8^th grade I decided I was going to try to read the series again, so I borrowed the book from my brother and then I couldn’t put Eragon down, it was such an incredible book. It seriously was so well-written even better than the books by Terry Goodkind. Only thing bad is each page took awhile to read and even then there was a completely different language in the books that you had to go to the back of the book to find out what some elfish word or dwarf word meant. But I quickly read the book and let me say it is absolutely nothing like the movie that came out when I was in like 2^nd grade, it has a different story line, Brom was completely different in the movie than I would have imagined him. Overall, the movie had a lot of criticism and only the first books, Eragon, was released as a movie. I thought the first book was amazing that Christopher Paolini has such an imagination; he is definitely a guy that was meant to write books.

Now the second book it took me longer to read. Each page took me like two minutes to read, that’s why it took me so long, I’m usually a fast reader, but damn that book had so many dwarf and elf words and a huge span of vocabulary that I just stopped reading it then finally came back to it when I wanted to avoid doing Ap Biology homework. I did like the book, it’s not like it’s a bad book or anything, it just takes time to read and I just didn’t see it as worth it to spend that much time on a book, but I did eventually finish it and thought it was just as brilliant as the first book.

The third book, I don’t even remember if I started it at all. All I know is I borrowed it from my older brother and have had it on my book shelf for over a year thinking I’ll read it eventually, but it’s about 800 pages and I’m not that big of a reader anymore. But I’ve heard great things about this third book and the fourth book as well.

So if you want a hard read and you like fantasy books this is a series to read. Because I know some people can actually finish the series unlike me; maybe I’ll get to it someday, but I definitely can at least recommend that the first book and second book are brilliant.