Lover Eternal - The Black Dagger Brotherhood (J.R. Ward)

If you haven't already read my embarrassing post about how I started the series "The Black Dagger Brotherhood," you can read all about it here.  If you need a laugh today, that could be it!  Checking "Lover Eternal" out of the library was a little bit less embarrassing than my first J.R. Ward library experience, but it still caused a bit of blushing at the check out counter!

The Black Dagger Brotherhood is a series (there are ten books in all) about a brotherhood of vampires.  The terminology and concepts are much different than those used in Twilight books - that is, there aren't werewolves, but instead there are lessers, and their rules for eating and whatnot are different.  But all in all, they are still vampire books and they are a bit more "grownup" than Twilight.

Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward is the second book in The Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  The first book, Dark Lover, focused on the relationship between Beth and Wrath, whereas this book focused on two different characters, Rhage (vampire) and Mary (human).  I would go so far as to say that this book, though dealing with the same group of vampires and same concepts, is different enough from the first book that you could read this one without having read the first one.  In fact, Beth and Wrath (the stars of the first book), make only a few short appearances in this novel. 

The storylines in this book: The first problem with their relationship is that Rhage is a vampire and Mary is a human.  He falls in love with her instantly, but it's against the rules for him to be dating a human.  Then, enter the fact that Rhage has been cursed - he has a "beast" inside of him, a beast that he's worried will harm Mary someday.  Finally, add in the fact that Mary has leukemia and it seems like all the cards are stacked against them. 

I found this book was exciting, just like the first novel.  There was obviously a romance side to the novel (as the title suggests), but there are many other topics addressed.  There was a lot more interaction with the other vampire brothers in this novel, which was nice, there were the cancer issues, and there was still the fighting with the lessers.  The end of the novel hints that the third book will focus on yet another vampire, Zsadist.  

I liked the book, almost better than I liked the first novel, Dark Lover.  If you're into vampires, I would still recommend this series. 

Rafa (Rafael Nadal and John Carlin)

Again, I've been busy, so it has taken me way longer than it should have to get through the book Rafa by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin.  (Sorry!)  Thanks to a four hour car ride to Toronto this weekend (and four hours back), I was able to finish it up (and start another book)!  (My car rules - you're allowed to read a book as long as you're not the driver or have shotgun.  It's the person in the front passenger seat who is required to keep the driver company.  Back seat is fair game for iPod listening or reading if the backseat passenger so chooses.  Which I did.) 

Let's start by saying that I'm a huge Rafael Nadal fan.  I've seen him play at the Roger's Cup in Toronto (awesome!) and he's great.  I don't need to tell the ladies that he's gorgeous, but in addition to that, I love how calm he seems out there on the court and how nothing seems to phase him.  Other tennis players seem to lose their tempers and whatnot, and one of the things I love about Nadal (and Federer) is that he's never really "lost it" on the court.  I remember hearing before, about Nadal, that if you were to try and find "dirt" on Nadal, all you would find searching the internet is information about Rafa playing tennis on dirt.  There are no scandals and there's not much bad press out there about him. 

One year at the Roger's Cup, my mom and I pre-ordered our tickets one year in advance and we were rewarded with an awesome Rafael Nadal (fake) signed photo, which is now hanging in my bedroom.  Also, Nadal was nice enough to let me pose with his life size poster him. 

See, my picture with his poster him.

 Also, he was nice enough to pose with me in real life.

For reals, y'all!  He's the dot in pink!
Notice how I'm smiling from ear to ear - SO AWESOME! NADAL!

Ok, finally, about the book!

I thought the layout of the book was interesting.  In each chapter, there are two sections - one written from the point of view of Nadal and the other written from the point of view of (I assume) John Carlin.  In the sections written by Nadal, he breaks down and describes two big matches for him in his career (Wimbledon 2008 against Federer and the 2012 US Open against Djokovic).  In the other portions, there are some more personal details explained through interview with various family members, as well as some of his personal history. 

I think the book really shows the hard work and dedication that is involved in being a professional athlete, especially a tennis player.  You watch a tennis match and you know that there is a lot of hard work involved, but I think we often overlook how much of this work is done by yourself.  For some people, it would be really difficult to get motivated to go work out and hit balls by yourself for hours on end. 

There were so many things in this book that I found interesting, including his details of his pre-match rituals (which I never really noticed until they were pointed out to me) and details about his injuries over the years.  I'm a tennis fan (and I love watching Nadal), but I'm not hardcore enough to go do research on why he wasn't playing in a certain tournament.  This summed up many of these things for me (no Google search required!)

If you're not a huge tennis fan, I wouldn't recommend this book to you.  There are lots of details about specific points and matches that wouldn't necessarily interest you.

If you are into sports and don't mind reading about some "sport" instead of all the personal details about his life, then read it.  I enjoyed the book and am even more excited to (hopefully) see Nadal back at the Roger's Cup in Toronto this summer.  He's pretty hardcore and I think he's got quiet a few more wins in him.

Shine (Lauren Myracle)

I've been meaning to get this post written for a while, but it's been a busy few days.  Now that I can finally enjoy my March Break, here are my thoughts on Shine by Lauren Myracle.

I've had my eye on this book for a while.  First, we had a "judge the book by the cover" kind of relationship - I saw the cover and I liked it.  In an effort to save money, I left it there.  When I saw it on the top list of Teen books, I decided to give it a try.

(Fun fact about this book: It was nominated as a National Book Award finalist for Young Adult literature, but apparently there was a "miscommunication" and Myracle was asked to withdraw her name from the running.  I guess a similarly titled book was initially supposed to get nominated instead of "Shine."  I liked the book and find this whole situation to be a little bit ridiculous and Myracle should have been able to keep her nomination.  Her book was good!  Read about it all here.)

Patrick is the victim of an antigay hate crime in his small community of Black Creek.  He's assaulted and basically left there, dying.  Because of the closeness of the community members, the police don't want to do too much investigating.  Cat, Patrick's best friend, takes it in her own hands to figure out who is responsible for the crime.  She has been through her own rough patches with some of the community members and so she has her own suspects in mind.  During her detective work, Cat gets to face some of her own issues that have been haunting her for years.

It's really hard for me to imagine this all happening the way it did since I didn't grow up in a "small" town like Black Creek.  It's hard for me to accept that a justice system would basically stand around and do nothing while a young boy is laying in a coma in a hospital bed.  I'm thankful that I didn't grow up in a situation like this!

The issues that are discussed in this book are serious ones, and I think it's great to open the eyes of a young adult audience to these topics.  The one major topic is that of the antigay hate crime (and bullying), but they also touch on drugs and alcohol, depression and rape. 

The story was a good little mystery, and I think it's a good read for Young Adult readers.

If you haven't already read my post about Peter Katz and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, you can find it here.

Shine (Lauren Myracle) and the Matthew Shepard Foundation

I just finished reading Shine by Lauren Myracle.  I enjoyed the book but I'm still wrapping my head around it right now.  A review to come soon, I promise!  If you just can't wait to read a summary, you can read one here...

Maybe it's just because of the kind of day I've had, but I wanted to make good use of this post before I reviewed the book.  Shine dealt with the serious topic of bullying and antigay hate crimes (and also touched on the seriousness of drugs).  Since today is also February 29th, which is Pink Shirt Day (for anti-bullying), I thought I would share this video by an artist that I love. 

In this video, Peter Katz is playing his song "The Fence." This song was written about Matthew Shepard, who was the victim of an antigay hate crime in 1998.  The Matthew Shepard Foundation was created in his name, and some of the proceeds from the book "Shine" will be donated to the Foundation. 

 

I strongly encourage you to do a bit of reading about the Matthew Shepard Foundation.  Let's help them with their Desired Outcome "to persuade people to think differently, behave differently, and inform others of the importance and value of diversity."

I don't know who said this one (word around Google is that it's Plato, but who knows) - "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."  Try to be the positive in someone's day, everyday.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - The Movie

It's been a while since I've seen the movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," but considering it's Oscar night, I thought it deserved a post! 

I recently went to see the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.  I loved it - but again, this isn't a blog about movies (sigh), so let's talk about how the movie compares to the book. 

I had just finished reading the novel by Stieg Larsson when I decided to go see the movie, so it was all really fresh in my mind.  (As a recap, I really enjoyed the book!)  Knowing that I hadn't forgotten any details from the book yet, I can say that the movie was so much like the book. 

I often find that when a movie is based on a novel, details from the book are omitted or altered.  Sometimes they are just insignificant details, but sometimes there are huge changes to make the film more "Hollywood worthy."  Such a good job was done on this movie - it stayed true to the book.  There were a few little things that were omitted or changed, but they in no way changed the events that occured in the novel.  Plus the acting was wonderful and you totally get lost in the story. 

Should you read the novel or watch the movie first? 
I recommend reading the novel before watching the movie, if only so that you can use your imagination and get lost in the words of Stieg Larsson.  Then once you're done enjoying the words, you can relive the story in 2 hours and 40 minutes of great acting. 

The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)

I'd heard about The Night Circus from a few different sources.  It made numerous "Top 2011 Picks" lists last year and I also really take to heart recommendations from friends.

It took me way longer to read The Night Circus than it should have.  I found when I picked it up and started reading, I couldn't put it down... Yet for some reason, I had put it on hold for a bit there. 

Here is my list of excuses:

• I have been supply teaching more than I was in January, so that has left me with fewer days to lounge around and read.
• I've been preparing for my 'future.'
•  I may have watched all of Season 4 of "Chuck" and Season 2 of "Modern Family".  (Ok, I definitely did.)
• "The Bachelor" has recently started back up again, so that takes up 2 hours of my week, every week.
• Other shows have now picked up again after a short Christmas break - such as Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Glee, The Biggest Loser, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and I could go on...

Basically, there has been more TV watching in my free time recently than there has been reading.  This all changed when I went, "Wait!  I borrowed The Night Circus from the library and it's due in 2 days?! Gotta get on it!" 

I really enjoyed The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern.  The circus arrives in any given town on any given day.  This circus runs only at night and is black-and-white themed.  This isn't just any circus.  Here, two magicians (Marco and Celia) are in a dual and neither one of them is aware that there is to be only one winner (survivor) at the end of it.  When they fall in love (and find out the reality of their situation), they must play out the dual. 

When I first read what the book was about, I immediately thought, "Like The Hunger Games?  It's a fight to the death?"  However, this book is very much not like that, so if that's what you're expecting you won't see it.

Morgenstern uses such good descriptions that you can imagine being there and being part of the experiences.  It was wordy, but not in an annoying way, because you really get kind of mesmerized in the words (and their magic).

The book moves between different times and places, so my suggestion to those who are going to pick up this book (which I would highly recommend) is to make special note of the date and place of each chapter.  You start to make some great connections between characters as you're reading the book. 

I loved it and I would recommend it to anyone (again, if you're down with the whole magic thing, because I know that this isn't everyone's style).  It's a love story mixed with the magic of an entirely different world than we're used to. 

We Bought a Zoo - The Movie

I don't want this blog to become a list of movies that I've recently watched, but I thought "We Bought a Zoo" deserved a mention.  I'm not going to critique the movie, but I just wanted to shed some light for those of you who are having the "movie before the book" or "book before the movie" debate! 

I recently read We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee - I thought it was a very interesting story and well worth the read.  After reading the book and watching the previews for the movie, I was super excited to go see it. 

I liked Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Maggie Elizabeth Jones (so cute, it was worth it just for her!), and the rest of the cast.  I think they did a good job with the storyline that was presented in the movie.  The movie is "based on a true story" - that is, don't expect the same story to be told in the movie and the book.  My movie date (mom) would lean over to me and say "Did that happen in the book?" and my answer was often "No" or "Not like that."  To make the book "Hollywood-worthy," they probably had to add in extra storylines, like the love story and extra family drama.

The main storyline (a family buys a zoo and attemps to make it a success) is still the same and there are many of the little funny stories from the novel included, but a lot of the movie is extra stuff that is added in.

So... don't expect the book when you go see the movie.  But the movie was good and I would watch it again.  (I may have shed a few tears...)

My suggestion... Read the book before watching the movie, if only for knowing what actually happened with Benjamin Mee's zoo experience.  The movie and book were different enough that it probably wouldn't matter what order you do them in, but I find the book would give you a better appreciation for the trials and tribulations of Benjamin Mee. 

My favourite quote from the movie was "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."