Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy your stay :]

Thursday, September 29, 2011

A little bit different!

Do you like my tomatoes?*




*Okay, fine, they're not mine. I got them from here: http://www.geekcasual.com/food/tomatoes/. Why tomatoes? It has to do with the name of my blog. I'll have to tell you that story sometime soon.

Giveaway!!!

No, not from me.

It's here! http://www.carolinavaldezmiller.com/

And look what's up for grabs:



Ashfall
 Signed ARC of ASHFALL
by Mike Mullin







Without Tess
 ARC of WITHOUT TESS
by Marcella Pixley







Unforsaken ARC OF UNFORSAKEN
by Sophie Littlefield








TrisandIzzie
 Signed ARC of TRIS AND IZZIE
by Mette Ivie Harrison








Good luck! (But not too much luck, because I want to win, too.)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Mara Dyer

For Michelle Hodkin's contest here: http://michellehodkin.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-trailer-is-here.html

I haven't actually read this yet (it just came out) but I am planning too! Hopefully over fall break in November. I am planning on buying books and having a reading (no homework! yay!) marathon. I'm thinking Daughter of Smoke and Bone will be included, and perhaps Shatter Me, and maybe The Pledge, maybe Scorpio Races. Hmm . . .

No back to our regularly scheduled programming (read: homework).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

If I Die Young


I love how this is about dying, but it's not really sad. It's also very catchy and I've been signing it in my head all day.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Chime!

Chime by Franny BillingsleyChime
Franny Billingsley

Another awesome cover. I love pretty covers.

This is one of those books that just blew me away. It was one of those all too infrequent gems that I just fall in love with.

Look at this first line:

"I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged. Now, if you please."

How can you not want to devour this book???

At first, I thought Briony was crazy, and I was almost disappointed when about ten pages in, I realized she wasn't. She's not normal, she's convinced that she's a witch, but she's not hallucinating everything she sees in the swamp.

The swamp, you say? Why yes, I respond. The swamp it is awesome.

The romance? Equally awesome. Chime is one of those books where the characters have a real relationship, and I fell in love with them falling in love.

I loved Briony. I loved her sister, Rose. I liked their relationship as identical twins, and Rose as being mentally unstable. Rosie's character is very well written, just as Briony is, and I wished she had appeared more in the story. I loved her.

Basically, I loved this book, and I loved the ending. Go read it.

Imaginary Girls

Imaginary Girls
Image DetailNova Ren Suma

First of all, if nothing else, isn't that cover awesome? I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but . . . I do admire them. :]

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did have a couple of problems with it, but I'll get to them later.

The plot? There isn't one, really. It's really a character driven book, but there is some mystery, and some magic. I loved the reservoir and how it was its own character. I liked Ruby's character, and I was happy with her development. The ending the author gives her really fits her character, and is believable (if a little weird).

(Okay, never mind, a lot weird.)

I didn't like Chloe's character as much. My two problems with the book both involve Chloe - and sex. Seriously? Why do so many YA books feel like they need their characters to have sex to seem like real people? I think that's the reason so many authors write those scenes, anyway. Maybe they think it makes their books more attractive, more sell-able, I don't know. I just know I don't like it. Not every teen has to have sex, ya know. In fact, many don't. I might go as far to say that the majority of avid readers don't, because most of the teens I know who love to read are not that type. If the sex actually helps develop characters, and adds to the overall book, and is a necessary addition, I'm okay with it. (Bee Season does this well, though it is not YA)

I would recommend this book. I liked the ending, and the mystery of the reservoir. Not everything is explained and that is absolutely okay with this book. It just works.


Smile!

Supernatural is on. :] <---- that's me.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Upcomming

 
I don't know what I'll be giving away yet, but it might be a vampire anthology I have. Maybe. Anyway, look for this next month!
 

The Reventant

Available NOW!Review: The Revenant, by Sonia Gensler


I was excited to read this, because it has an awesome premise. I like historical fiction. I like paranormal. I like stories about the West. I like well-written love stories. So a book that combines all this? Awesome!

Well, okay. This book was good (I had to know how it ended, and it kept me reading) but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. First of all, our main character is fleeing home. She's paranoid and afraid she's going to get caught. As a reader, I was immediately drawn in. I was intrigued! And then, her reasons for leaving didn't satisfy me. I never fully felt like she had to go, like this was a good thing for her. I felt like she was an immature, spoiled brat who was running away from responsibility. The author never really convinced me otherwise, and in the end, I was right. I don't think that's how this character was supposed to be portrayed.

I liked the paranormal parts, but honestly the climax didn't really meld with the rest of the book. It was cool, and I liked it, but it left me with too many questions. If the ghost knew it could do that, why hadn't it before? Then there were all the things that happened in the school because of the ghost, and I felt like they could have been done better. Especially the water parts. The water at the end was great, but it left me with too many questions about what had happened earlier. It drew me out of the story and I didn't like that.

Now on to the love story. It had so much potential! I thought it was going to be one of the good, developed romances, instead of the usual I-don't-really-know-you-but-I-love-you-undyingly kind I get so tired of. But it wasn't . Really, our main characters never "fall" in love. They are physically attracted to each other, and that's the bulk of it. We are told they know and love each other, but we're not shown through their time spent together and conversations. Because of this, I did really love the end. It's a fitting ending, and some of the only maturity our main character shows throughout the novel.

I realize this review is mostly negative, but that's not really how I felt about the book. I liked it, and maybe I'd read it again, but it wasn't as good as I felt it could have been. That's the kicker - I feel like the author could have done it better. Would I recommend reading it? Yes! Maybe you'll disagree with me. Who knows?

Things learned in 1st month of college

Things learned in my 1st month of college:

1. There is no lunch time. Also, it is no longer un-cool to eat by yourself. Get used to it, because that's how everyone eats.

2. If you sit down right next to someone in a lecture hall, they will move. There is an unspoken rule that if you don't know the person, you keep 1 seat between you. It's like a safety bubble.

3. When you're walking across campus, smile at people you pass. Unless these people are wearing sunglasses. These people will not smile back, so don't waste your pretty smile.

4. Even though we are in college, many people need to learn how to shower. And wash their hands after they use the bathroom. Honestly, it's almost worse then high school.

5. Today, I saw a bunch of guys walking around with water guns. They were fighting zombies. This is considered normal behaviour.

6. And finally, homework is not necessarily harder, there is just MORE of it. Be prepared to have no life.

The good news? We're paying for this.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Here we go again

I actually created a blog about a month ago. I even posted a couple of times. Then I got busy and didn't go back to it, and then when I tried to find it  . . . I couldn't. Why yes, folks, I lost my blog.
I tried searching the name, but no unknown blog is going to come up with a google search. I couldn't for the life of me remember the url, and of course I never wrote it down anywhere. I never saved the site or anything. So how about we start again?

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Mato's Blog.

I like to read and write, so I will post my reviews (mostly YA) here. I read a ton this summer, so I'll probably cycle through reviewing those novels. Some of them I liked! Others I didn't! Lucky you, you get to hear my opinions. :] You can hardly wait, right?

About me: I like fruit and animals and the color blue. Someday I want to be a published author, and a veterinarian. I like horses. I have rabbits and guinea pigs and a cat. I desperately want a border collie puppy so I can name her Fly, and then a boy named Rex. (Get the reference?) I like stickers, especially if they're sparkly, and I love good books.

Now I'm going to go save this blog so I can find it again.