Quote #224

"Killing time isn't as difficult as it sounds. 
I can shoot a hundred numbers in the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. 
I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hand tick tick tick its final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. 
I've been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind." 
~Tahereh Mafi

Quote #223

"I loved you even when you forgot me."
~Julio-Alexi Genao

'Evermore' Book Review

So, I read this a bit ago. Not too long, but I've been procrastinating. So, here is the Evermore book review. I will say this, unless I get desperate I will not be reading the rest of this series. 

I will not be spoiler-censoring this one. It not worth it to me, so if you do do want to spoiled, don't read on. Though this was such a predictable book, I seriously doubt that you could be actually spoiled. You'd have already seen it coming when you read book. But, if you don't want to be 'spoiled' don't read on.

Let's start with Ever. She was a whiny little girl with no concept of anything outside of her own arse. Drinking yourself into a coma is no good way to cope, I don't care if it makes your powers go away, we all know it was just because Ever wanted to wallow when Damon left her. She is a horrible example to girls in our century. I don't know about you, but if my little sister died, I would be thankful for every visit she gave me, not annoyed by her! She is ungrateful, ignorant, and ridiculous, and I hated her. 

I did not like Damon much better. Maybe less. Oh, he is perfect! He is gorgeous! He is rich! He is combustible! (Come ON, Haven! Really?) No, he isn't! He an arrogant, self-serving, pretty-boy. He was constantly lying to Ever, and then he left and ignored her, he was constantly putting her in danger! I was constantly annoyed by Damon, and the best part of the book was when Ever actually had to fight Drina herself! Not that that lasted for long. 

HAVEN. Oh, God. I am a Goth myself, we'll start with that. I found Haven personally offensive. Ms. Noel, think before you write! Alyson needs to learn that she can offend people with what she writes, like Haven and Miles were offensive to Goths and gays, and Ever's lack of care hat her family was gone. Ms. Noel wrote Haven so that it seemed that Goths are attention-seeking and shallow. This was character where I was more mad at the author than the character herself. Either way, a horrible portrayal. 

Miles, I hated, too. Not because I am prejudiced against gays, which I am not, but for the opposite reason. I feel like it was a horrible portrayal of gays. (Is 'gay' even socially acceptable anymore?) Alyson Noel made gays seem like sluts; Miles had a new boyfriend literally every other week! It was ridiculous, offensive, and it did NOT make me like Ms. Noel anymore more. (I've already read her Riley Bloom series, which was a waste of my life.)

Drina: NO. Enough said.

The setting was...just...guys. You spent the night in a freaking CAVE and no one noticed? I'm calling unethical BS on this author. How about this: we'll ditch the set format for this review, and I'll tell you all about unethical, crappy writing of Alyson Noel. Sound good? Okay, kids, settle in. Lynnie's gonna fill you in. 

I'll say it again! I AM CALLING UNETHICAL, OFFENSIVE BS ON THIS AUTHOR! 

NO school, I mean NO school would let a child have her hood up, sunglasses on, and ear buds in while in class of the hallways! This was ridiculous to the point of laughable! Was this kind of crap ever allowed, or did Noel just make this up? Did she forget how public schooling works???

Miles and Haven for offensive BS, as covered above! STOP WRITING ABOUT CRAP YOU DO NOT KNOW ABOUT! It was really things like this that pissed me off, because I am a Goth, and we are not needy and attention-seeking like she made us out to be! This writer is offensive, and I do not know why she continues to get published. 

Ever's powers! Guys, speaking from personal experience, this was a disgrace. Physic powers do not work like that, and I would bet my buttons that Noel did NO research on this topic, because even if you just scrape the surface of the physic community, you would no that Ever's powers are all wrong! Ever's powers were whatever they wanted to be when they were convenient. Some powers were mentioned one time, and NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN. Some were introduced half-way through the novel, and Ever told us she had always had them. Really, Noel? You think we're stupid enough to buy that she just forgot to tell us about that power? Or this power, or that power? OFFENSIVE BS, right there ladies and gentlemen. 

The plot did not start until like, half-way through the book. Guys, please, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is a waste of time, and a pointless collection of useful money. 

No one can be as perfect as Damon claimed to be. He paints better than Picasso? Are you kidding me? BS! Oh my God, he got on my nerves so much, I literally had to put the book down so I wouldn't start screaming in the middle of class. Yeah, Noel, I'm sure he does. God. 

I recommend this book for no one. No one should be subjected to this torture. Ever was self-absorbed and bratty, Damon was arrogant, Miles and Haven were stereotypical and offensive, Drina was a...yeah. NO. Zero stars for this novel. 

Quote #222

"There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book, or simply close it."
~Shannon L Alder

Quote #221

"I know you've forgotten me, but I'll remember you as long as I live."
~Julio-Alexi Genao

Quote #220

"Suddenly you're ripped into being alive. And life is pain, and life is suffering, and life is horror, but my God, you're alive and it's spectacular."
~Joseph Campbell

Quote #219

"The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs."
~Thornton Wilder

Quote #218

"She hated that she was still so desperate for a glimpse of him, but it had been this way for years."
~Julia Quinn

Quote #217

"Every broken heart has screamed at one time or another: why can't you see who I truly am?"
~Shannon L Alder

Quote #216

"Because, if you could love someone, and keep loving someone, without being loved back...then that love had to be real. It hurt too much to be anything else."
~Sarah Cross

Quote #215

"It will never rain roses; if we want more roses, when we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses."
~George Eliot

Quote #214

"If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also."
~Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote #213

"I think there were times when I was so afraid of losing you that I forgot I even had you at all."
~Ashly Lorenzana

Quote #212

"You can't just make me different and then leave."
~John Green

Quote #211

"Recently abandoned women can be complicated."
~Elizabeth Kostova

Quote #210

"Despite the weight of the world on my shoulders, the temptation to stop and smell the supernatural roses pulled on my sleeves a time of two."
~John Corwin

Quote #209

"Roses and thorns are part of the same plant. Somehow though, some people are concerned mainly about the roses. The rose is not on the plant for more than a week, but the thorns are there forever. Roses are teaching that the beauty of life will bloom, once you have taught yourself the lessons given by living with the thorns."
~Grigoris Deoudis

Quote #208

"Why are roses kept for their blossoms rather than shunned for their thorns?"
~J Aleksandr Wootton

Quote #207

"There were crimson roses on the bench; they looked like slashes of blood."
~Dorothy L Sayers 

Quote #206

"Beauty and love pass, I know...Oh, there's sadness, too. I suppose all great happiness is a little sad. Beauty means the scent of roses and then the death of roses."
~ F Scott Fitzgerald

Quote #205

"I'd rather let you cover all my roads with thorns than dead roses."
~Nema Al-Araby

Quote #204

"The rose has told, in one simplicity, that never life, relinquishes a bloom, but to bestow, an ancient confidence."
~Nathalia Crane

'Looking For Alaska' Book Review

Actually, I read this book a little while ago, but I've been on hyper-overload lately, so I haven't gotten a review up until now. If you eagerly anticipate my next reviews, then, sorry, and if you don't...well, then. Put up with another. This was my first John Green book, by the way. So glad I started with this one.

I wanna start with Alaska. I loved her. Completely adored her, and I really related to her. She was fun and light, but also self-destructive, and dark, so I just completely contradicted myself. But I really related to her. 

*SPOILERS AHOY!*

I knew she had to die. It was just a matter of how and where. I got my how and where soon enough. I was not expecting to be so upset because I was expecting it, but when the crash finally came, and Pudge was throwing up and everyone was crying...well, I'm a wreck anyway. I was crying, too. 

You're cool, now.

Pudge was...amusing. I loved the last words obsession. I've got a few weird quirks like that, too. Obituaries and roses. And graveyards. Not that you were wondering. He was a very realistic character, and John wrote him really well. All these characters were well written, who am I kidding?

I'll just finish with the Colonel. He was weird, honestly. But I liked him. He was a good sort of weird, you know? I really liked his close relationship with Alaska. I thought they were really sweet, in a platonic way. 

I loved the Strawberry Hill scene, where they dug up Alaska's wine. I really loved so much of the dialogue between her and Miles, I wish they had called him Miles more often, I hate the nickname Pudge. So..ungraceful. 

I hated how Miles and the Colonel fought after 

Spoilers!

Alaska died. 

*NEXT!*

I just really wanted them to bind, not split apart. But they did reconcile after a while. But those moments were torture.

And I personally was expecting a lot more romance between Alaska and Pudge. He was so sad, and I understand him losing her as a friend, I just felt like...they needed more. I wanted them to date, to kiss and cuddle and be together. I really did ship them hard, and I felt really let down. 

I really loved the boarding school. I thought it was well done, because John Green doesn't do badly done. I could picture it well, along with the lake scene, that I hated. Literally, jeez. Our main character could have died. Dropping like flies, these main characters are. 

Anyway, this book is great. Realistic readers, dark readers, YA readers, John Green fans, guys, go pick up this book. It is very similar to Gregory Galloway's As Simple As Snow, which is why I think I was drawn to it. So, Gregory Galloway fans as well. 

You all were probably expecting a lot more. I just am too beat to give that 'more' now. I already put up that speaking roses lecture anyway. But, I loved this book. Truly. 

What The Roses Say

In reference to Quote #203.

The quote says that the roses say you do not have to choose. I think McKinley is wrong. I think that if roses could speak, they would say you must choose. That is crucial for you to choose. Roses stand for silence, not love, dear. I think the roses would say 'choose. Choose, before you can't. Choose before it is too late to.'. I think that the roses would say, 'do not make the mistake we did. Choose, before you can no longer speak. Because when you cannot choose, your silence is filled with your regrets'. 

In my religion, roses were all formed white. But if grief, my love goddess, Aphrodite, cut her heel on a thorn, and her blood dripped onto the rose, staining it red. She was rushing to the aid of her dying lover, Adonis. She was grieving, not loving. They may have become her sacred flower for that, but make no mistake, it was not for her love. It was for the haste of her feet in grief. Sacred to her for her grief. Not her love. Roses should not stand for love. They should stand for grief, for the ugly emotions in life that make up mortality.

But before there was Adonis, there was the god of silence, Harpocrates. Very hard to dig the dirt on, but I've got it. The rose was given to Harpocrates by Eros, as a bribe for not tattling on his mother. A symbol of dirty secrets. 

The roses would say, 'choose. Do not stand in silence'. 

Quote #203

"The rose shadows said that they loved the sun, but that they also loved the dark, where their roots grew through the lightless mystery of the earth. The roses said: you do not have to choose."
~Robin McKinley

Quote #202

"He who does dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose."
~Anne Bronte

Quote #201

"Sharp thorns produce delicate roses."
~Ovid

Quote #200

The exciting 200th quote! Just like last time, I'll give you guys a quote from The Girl In Gray. Hope you guys enjoy it, and are happy that we've had this blog for a full two hundred days! 

"Tears streamed down my face, my entire body quivering. I sat there, shaking, and remembered. I remembered as only someone who cannot forget can."
~Jacquelyn McIlvain, 'The Girl In Gray'

Quote #199

"There is a graceless human tendency to wish upon others ills visited upon oneself."
~Michela Wrong

Quote #198

"Humanity is the cancer of nature."
~Dave Foreman

Quote #197

"Oh. I see. People don't want to see what can't possibly exist."
~Terry Pratchett

Quote #196

"Nevertheless, in this sea of human wretchedness and malice there bloomed at times compassion, as a pale flower in a putrid marsh."
~Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quote #195

"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
~Milan Kundera