Love Between Two People Can Make Life Worth Living...

Oh yes...another dystopian society!

Zoe lives in a world with no emotion. Humans have a chip inserted in the back of their necks to prevent any kind of emotional reaction. Once children become adults, there is a permanent chip inserted, so there is never a possibility of recreating the emotional feeling from the past. As a child, the chip may malfunction, or glitch, creating them to feel these emotions. If this happens, citizens are expected to come forward so they can be "fixed". Zoe has been glitching for months; she knows she should turn herself into the officials, but something always seems to stop her. These emotions she's overwhelmed with...they're exciting, new, and maybe they're the cause of these abilities she keeps having.

The day Zoe is called into the office is where she officially meets Adrien, the boy with the turquoise eyes who knows about her glitching and her abilities because he has abilities too. Adrien has premonitions, and he was able to see Zoe's abilities of mentally controlling objects. In a flash, Zoe is transported into the world of the Resistance who want to recreate the world with no chips, no malfunctioning, and no suffocating government control.
As time goes on, Zoe begins to remember the importance of the memories of her past, and her passion for gaining more knowledge grows. She discovers others who have similar abilities, and together they need to find a way to escape the confines of their government before they are found out and eliminated.

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu was a great read. It has just enough of the science fiction aspect in it, so it's not too over your head with technology and chips. Yes yes, I have problems when it goes too far into that stuff. Once you lose me, I am out. But Glitch was perfect. It was really neat to watch Zoe grow and discover these emotions for the first time. The ending was a cliff hanger, of course because it is a trilogy, but it is not really what you had anticipated. Of course some things are too convenient, but the concept is new and it works. Definitely worth a look!

I Believe I'm Not in Kansas Anymore...

It's been a while, and that's on me. It takes a while to find the time to read lately, but I did finally finish this one:
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page is set in a small town in Kansas, where we meet Amy Gumm. Amy lives in a trailer with her neglectful and absent mother and is misunderstood. She doesn't seem to fit in anywhere, and all just seems lost. When a tornado hits her trailer, Amy is transported to Oz, where things are not as "peachy" as the tale might make us think.

Dorothy became the leader of Oz, but her all powerful demeanor raised a city of evil. She's selfish in her ways, kills the innocent before they can object, and controls all. The scarecrow has a brain, which he now uses to experiment and kill the traitors of Dorothy's power, the Tin Man has fallen so deeply in love with her highness that he would do anything to protect her, and the Lion seems to have trans mutated into a horrible beast set to eat and kill. The good witch, Glinda, hoards the power and forces the munchkins to work the long and brutal hours to appease the queen, and the Wizard doesn't even seem to be there.

All seems lost, until Amy is rescued by the side of evil; and they are convinced she will be the one to kill Dorothy and bring order back to Oz. Amy is trained, sent undercover, and the entire time her team of "wicked witches" hopes that she can succeed in this mission. If she fails, Oz is going to get a whole lot darker.

So usually when books take me a while to finish it's because I don't have the time, but in this case....I think it's just because I wasn't interested. I mean don't get me wrong, the whole "dark Oz" was very cool. It was neat how everything transformed into death and despair and how Dorothy's ultimate goal was to keep all the magic and just get more powerful, so she is no longer that innocent girl from Kansas. However, it took almost the entire book to lead up to Amy being "ready" to fight Dorothy. We only meet Dorothy when she captures her in the beginning, and then it isn't until the last few chapters we see her again. The focus is strictly on the side of "evil", or good depending on how you see it. And...not to put in a spoiler, but Dorothy doesn't even die. You have to read the next book in the series to find out what happens from here...so I almost felt like...why did it take so long? I get it! The author wants to keep you on edge for the next book, but I felt like there was so much build up and not enough actual action. When there was action and fighting it seemed too short.

The book had a good concept, but I just felt it fell short in a lot of different areas. I have no interest in continuing the story, so I will not be reading the other books in the saga. I just didn't care about the characters or the whole idea of making the greater Oz and saving the city. It was kind of a bust for me. It was easy to read and follow, but it makes you aggravated because the story line just takes too long.

Don't Open...Dead Inside

Of course I am into The Walking Dead t.v series on AMC. I mean at this point you either like the show, or you haven't seen enough of it to form an opinion. Because come on....who really dislikes it?


I always said I wanted to read the comics, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, because a lot of people said they were so good; plus I heard the show goes in a significantly different direction than the books. Luckily, the boy has 1-17, so I borrowed them. I was going through a reading slump, but graphic novels (a.k.a comics) go so quickly.

Quite honestly, I am enjoying the comics. Rick is still a bad ass, events are still accurate to the series timeline, but of course there are different things along the way. I mean the major thing is Daryl is not in the comic. So the entire first issue I am waiting for the redneck with the cross bow, however I keep reminding myself that he and Merle do not exist in the comic book world. They are not the only character that Hollywood embellished. Let's be real, the comics have a lot of detail Hollywood either left out, or just chose to go in another direction with.

The comics are well done; I love the art work, and the story is just so great. I am so glad I picked these up because it does make you fall in love with The Walking Dead and the characters so much more. I know things are missing, but I watch the series for the enjoyment value at this point. I hope to get through the series of comics quickly, which shouldn't be too hard because they go so quickly. And they are thoroughly entertaining. HIGHLY recommend. And if you haven't seen the series...NETFLIX BING THAT! If not for the story...at least do it for Daryl. :p

Where's the Humor in Death?

It has been a long time...too much work stress, too many papers to grade, just too much. But nevertheless I am back with a book I just finished a few weeks ago.

 Me Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews was one of those books I picked up simply because they came out with the movie and it looked interesting. No, I did not see the movie, and after reading the book I don't know if I will. I feel there didn't need a movie because, honestly, we didn't have to have a visual to understand the concept of this book. Okay, maybe I'll watch it eventually...but you know what I mean.

Greg has made it clear that he is going to lay low, fit in with everyone, and therefore fly under everyone's radar his senior year. He has succeeded at this; in fact most people acknowledge his existence, but he doesn't fit into any one group in particular. He and his best friend, Earl, hang out discussing movies; in fact the two have dabbled in the film making aspect. They aren't great films, but the two of them enjoy the secret of their craft. Senior year was starting as planned, until Greg's mom tells him about his "friend", Rachel. Rachel has cancer, and despite the treatments and the fight, she is sick and in desperate need of a friend. So, naturally, Greg's mother volunteers him for the job. After the first encounter with Rachel, Greg's picture perfect high school plan becomes a thing of the past. The next few months prove to be embarrassing and awkward, but Greg and Earl begin to realize that perhaps that's just a part of life.

I was laughing pretty much the entire time with this one. Andrews has a great way with humor and capturing the true essence of a high school teenage boy. It has a similar concept to John Green's A Fault in Our Stars, but this one seems more real. Greg is inconvenienced by his mother's request to be friends with this girl he had no intention of friending. She's odd, laughs weird, and is not someone he wants to intentionally go out of his way to make feel better. Yet, as time passes he warms to the idea of Rachel and making her feel better.

No, it's not a love story which was SO nice because after reading 15 million reviews on how romantic and loving John Green's book was I was over it. The ending isn't exactly expected, but that was not a bad thing.
The book was a very easy read, hilarious, and just nice. It's nice to have a book about disease that has real emotion so it's easier to relate to the characters and story. Definitely worth the read; it goes really quick and will have it's moments where you laugh out loud- which of course causes people to look at you and wonder in public. Oh well.