I'll miss you all. *sniffle*

I'm going out of town Thursday, and won't be back for a week. I shall be in Boston and then Salem. =]

I shall return, and when I do, I'll gossip all about it.


~Angel

Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Movie)

Okay, since Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the 6th installment of the Harry Potter series, came out yesterday, I thought I'd review that this week. I'm a HUGE hardcore Harry Potter fan, and have been since the first book came out. Granted, I love the books a million times more, the movies are still pretty good.

With the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie, we watch as young Harry has to learn to live as The Chosen One in the public eye. But it is obvious within the first few moments that Harry is also growing up, and with that, he is focusing on more than just Hogwarts and death and Voldemort. He's thinking about life and girls. He's showing his youthful side, the side of him that is occasionally overshadowed by his duty to protect himself and those he loves.

And Harry isn't the only one -- Ron and Hermione return in this movie, too. This time, we see more of the romantic side from the characters. There's snogging (making out) and love potions involved. Not to mention, the occasional broken heart.

Ron is trying out for Keeper on the Quidditch team, all the while being obsessed over by a girl, which stirs up jealousy, and also provides some of the much needed comic relief in the movie. And while we start to see the more confident side of Ron, we begin to see just how close Hermione and Harry are. When one is hurting, the other is right there for them.

Another important piece of both the movie and the book is Draco Malfoy. Personally, I am a huge fan of Draco, and everything he brings to the table in the Harry Potter books. So, of course, Half Blood Prince is one of my favorites because Draco is such a key character in it.

We start to see just what Draco is made of, and just how dedicated he is to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. While Harry is the Chosen one for the good guys, Draco is the Chosen one for the dark wizards. He is given a specific task to accomplish, which worries his mother. So, to ensure her son's safety, she requests a professor to protect Draco while he is away at Hogwarts: Snape.

This is one of the darkest and more heartbreaking of the installments. Though the movie was very good, and I did enjoy it, I was also somewhat disappointed. Several important things to the final story were replaced with romance. Though I understand it's place in the movie, I still wish they would have given more to the idea of the Half Blood Prince. But the acting was phenomenal -- each actor provided their best performances yet. Daniel Radcliffe showed just how much he has grown as an actor, providing the amazing range Harry needed to go through during the movie.

Though I wish some more of the story could have been in it, I understand you can only fit in SO much. So, all in all, I really loved it, and highly suggest you go see it, especially if you are a fan. =]

~Angel

Review: Monster's Proof by Richard Lewis

Livey Ell is the only normal person in a family of geniuses. She's a cheerleader with an absentminded professor father and a math genius of a little brother, and she's sure that life couldn't get any weirder than it already is.
But when her little brother, Darby, brings his childhood imaginary friend Bob to life through a mathematical proof, things start to get really strange. Bob, a creature of pure math, hates chaos and disorder in any form. And as his power grows stronger, he becomes determined to fix our disorderly world in any way possible.
But that's not the only danger. People know that Bob is in our world -- including a top-secret government organization that wants to control him, and a cult of Pythagoreans who worship him.
Now Livey and Darby will need all the help they can get to stop him -- before the world as we know it is changed forever.
Monster's Proof is a horror novel that brings together pure mathematics with adventure, humor, romance, and some of the most original characters you'll ever meet.

What can I say about this book -- other than it is intelligent, beautifully written, and very original.

Being a horrid math student myself, the concept of Algebra itself sometimes seems like a horror novel to me all in itself. Now, Richard Lewis has made my worst mathematical fears into a novel.

I’m quite pleased with the wonderful flow of MONSTER’S PROOF. Every time I sat down with MONSTER’S PROOF, I was sucked in, sitting and easily reading a ton of pages -- really, two nights of solid reading is all it took. It is so absolutely fascinating!

The July 7th release of MONSTER’S PROOF is exciting because a new book in YA horror has emerged as a formidable novel foe.

Check it out!

~Angel

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Several words come to mind when I think of Jay Asher's debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why: Haunting. Powerful. Breathtaking. Chilling. Moving.

If you have yet to read TRW for yourself, I suggest you do so immediately.

In Thirteen Reasons Why, you follow Clay through the worst night of his life after discovering a package on his porch. Inside are seven tapes that contain thirteen stories -- thirteen reasons -- that he will never forget. Especially since Hannah Baker, his recently deceased crush, is the one telling these stories.

Armed with the tapes, a Walkman, and a map, Clay journies through the town, discovering just why Hannah Baker commited suicide.

This book grips onto you and does not believe in letting go. I know there were several instances in which I forgot I was reading and became so drawn in it was as though I was living it out.

I can promise you -- you'll be begging to know the Thirteen Reasons Why once you start reading it.

~Angel