How many books can you read over Christmas break??

I have been completely been ignoring my blog. I'm not sure why, but if this is what i want to do then I have to stick with it. I haven't been reading and I'm so ashamed of myself. Reading has always been a stress reliever for me and I was extremely stressed out this semester and instead of going with what i know, i completely abandoned what i enjoy. I'm gonna change all that. So since my book every week failed, I'm going to start a new challenge. This challenge is to see how many books i can read over Christmas break. I'm taking my time from now until January 6 to read as many books as i possibly can. I wont start a book until I've finished one. We'll see how it works. I think its only fitting that i start my challenge on the 200th Anniversary of Grimm Fairy Tales. Wish me luck. :-)

Classroom Conversations and new discoveries of Fifty Shades

Hello Everyone,

While sitting in my English Lit class a few days ago, we began reading The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, and we began discussing the Wife of Bath's Tale. To give a brief summary of the tale, The Wife of Bath, a woman who can be seen as a feminist for the time period tells a tale of, a knight who rapes a maiden. After raping this maiden, he is put on trial, but instead of being judged by king Arthur and the knights of the round table, he is judged my Queen Guinevere and the ladies of the court. During the trial, they tell him he must find out what women really want in one years time otherwise, he would be killed. So he sets out to find what women truly want only to discover that women want different things on the surface. Shortly after he meets an old hag, who tells him she has the answer of what women really want and she will tell him, if he promises to do as she says. He agrees and the answer she gives him is, women want to be in control. They want to be in a relationship with a man who will relinquish control to them, a man who will allow them to make decisions and act upon those decisions. The knight returns to the court and the ladies all agree that he is correct. The hag tells him, that since she helped him and she was correct, he must now marry her. He keeps his word and agrees. She asks him shortly after they are wed, if he wants her to be beautiful by day and ugly at night or to be beautiful during the day and ugly at night. He answers the question simply telling to do so what she felt was right, and she give him both beauty by day and night. Therefore making the point, if you give a woman the control, she will always make her man happy. This directly linked to Fifty Shades for me, and oddly enough, my professor made the same connection. In the Fifty Shades Trilogy  the relationship between Christian and Anna works simply because the control isn't solely his. She has the control and when she isn't calling the shots, she is choosing to do what she feels she should do, versus what she is told to. On many occasions, she is makes him question his own judgement by doing what she felt best. She is the exception in every way because every other woman he spent remotely any of his time on, was the rule and followed the rules, whether they were correct or not. In my opinion, The Wife of Bath's Tale isn't completely accurate by she isn't completely wrong either. I believe that woman want a strong man, a confident man, a mature man, who knows how to do his job and be a man. However they want said, strong, confident, mature man to know that some situations are better handled with a woman's touch. Anyone agree or disagree? Comment below. :-)

XOXO

Catching Fire

Since I'm still on my Hunger Games High, I read the second book of the series Catching Fire. Catching Fire continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and her family friends and the futuristic world that she lives in. After the Hunger Games ended with Katniss and Peeta winning because they chose to attempt to kill themselves with poisonous berries, the president of the nation, President Snow shows up at her house. Unknown to Katniss at the time, rebellions have broken out in the districts. President Snow makes a deal with Katniss, if she is able to convince him that what she and Peeta chose to do was an act of pure love and not of rebellion, then everything would be forgiven and forgotten. Katniss unknowningly showed the twelve districts that it is possible to stand up to the capitol. She started a fight she had no intentions on starting. So Katniss fixes her relationship with Peeta and puts on her face to show the citizens of Panem, and President that what she did, she did out of pure love. He however is unconvinced. With rebellions breaking out at every angle be it with the actions of one or a group, in order to keep things in order, President Snow decided that the way to "celebrate" the 75th Hunger Games, the tributes would be pulled from a group of the previous Hunger Games winners. This decision was made simply to show that even the strongest citizens in the districts cant over come the power of the capitol. Only three tributes have won the Hunger Games in District 12. Those three are, Peeta Katniss and Haymitch. Ultimately, a decision needs to be made as to who is going to play in the 75th Hunger Games and Katniss and Peeta find themselves in the arena for a second time hoping that they both can survive again. This book is a high. Reading this you feel as if you are Katniss, experiencing everything as she is. The good, the bad and the ugly. You cant help but root for Katniss and feel for her relationship with Peeta. It seems that the faked relationship is becoming more real. Katniss has a lot more to loose now than she did in the first novel. This novel makes you want to rebel just like the citizens of the other districts. It brews in you and causes you to want to fight for what you can see is right. Reading this book, I feel like I've been transported into this futuristic world, hanging on to the pictures symbols and words of these characters. The book is great. I can't possibly rave about the series more. And since I'm cheating I'll let you guys know I've already started the next book Mockingjay. Of the three books thus far I can say The Hungar Games is my favorite. Although Catching Fire is an amazing book it is a slow read and doesnt pick up immediatly. You need to take some time with it. The story is great it just tip toes at the beginning and doesn't pick up until the middle roughly. With the novel being 391 pages it can be slighty challenging to stick with it until it picks up, but trust me its worth it.

Creme Brulee and the Hunger Games

Hey Everyone,
I finished the Hunger Games and the book definitely was a good read. I wouldn't however consider this to be a quick read. The book is time consuming and even though its a book that you cant blow through in a day, its still is great. Reading it is a total body experience. You have to take your time to read this one. You have to savor it like creme brulee. Its a creme brulee book. lol Reading this was my first time reading a dystopian novel and I really enjoyed it. I Think what made me love this book is Katniss's incredible strength. Her ability to go to the ends of the earth for those who she cares about most. She volunteered to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games, cared for her mother after her father died, took care of Peeta and helped nurse him back to health. She is the strong, smart and capable of knowing how to asses a situation and how to act on it accordingly, and if she cant help, she'll try to save face for your sake. I dont want to give away too much of the story but the way the games ended made me shed a tear because you can see that something is there between them, whether it wants to be realized or not. Comment below if you know exactly what I'm talking about. Since this book is so good, I'm going to continue with the trilogy and I've already started to read the second book Catching Fire. In the mean time I'm going to look into more dystopian novels. I think this book may have started something for me. So when you read The Hunger Games. Savor it like you would creme brulee :-)

The Hunger Games

Hey Everyone! I started a new book while I'm in the process of blogging about the ones I've already read. I started the Hunger games and so far I'm really into it. The hunger games takes place in a world where the country is broke up into district. District one holds the capitol and people in power and its each districts job to produce something to insure of everyone's survival. District 12 being the mining district is the poorest off all 12 and it is the district where Katniss is from. Katniss is a 16 year old girl who takes the place of her sister to compete in a series of games promoted by the government where two tributes are chosen randomly and made you fight to the death and the winner receives a house food and wealth for themselves and their family. This selection of people occurs in each district annually and the age ranges chosen are between 12-18. Being chosen is dreadful although the government forces people to watch. The main character Katniss at 16 chooses to take the place of her 12 year old sister in order to save her life, but in volunteering to fight in her place, she gives herself a death sentence. At the moment I'm on page 168 of 367 and the games have just started. The book grabs your attention and immediately pulls you in, which is different for me because typically i ready sappy love book, so for this book to interest me and for it to be so rugged, i like it. It's a different feel for me. The main characters are: Katniss, the female tribute from district 12 who takes her sisters place in the Hunger Games, Peeta is the male tribute from the district and he is the bakers son. He seems really quite and reserved and although Katniss likes who he is, she tries to distance herself simply because in order for her to live she must insure his death. Gale, is Katniss's best friend. Haymitch, who is the District 12 winner of the 50th Hunger games. Finally there is Prim or Primrose, who is Katniss's little sister who was initially chosen for the hunger games. The book is off to a good start and its really holding my attention at the moments its making me interested in finishing the trilogy. Then of course I'll watch the movie. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts and when i finish the book. Bye guys!

Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed!!

 Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed are both AMAZING books. The books follow Christian Grey and Ana and their relationship. In Fifty Shades Darker shows what happens between Christian and Ana after she walks out on him, at the end of book one. She decides to come back and try to work on their relationship simply because she loves him and their time apart was the hardest time she's ever had to experience. They resume their relationship but if nothing went wrong then their would be no story. So the drama begins when one of Christian's ex-submissive decides to start stalking both Christian and Ana putting her life in jeopardy. The book is amazing as expected. It made my day reading this book simply because the story is so well written. I think y favorite part of the novel is the scene when Ana is sexually harassed by her boss and she defends herself and Christian becomes extremely over protective and decides to kick his butt and then has the owner of the company fire him. This sounds like a very gruesome part of the story but i love this scene simply because it shows even though Ana is completely capable of handling herself, she does still go to him for protection and comfort and its not a situation where she needs his help, she simply wants one. Plus Spoiler Alert!!!!! Christian proposes to Anna in this book and lets just say that Mrs. Robinson isn't exactly happy about the proposal. Mrs. Robinson and Lelia are some of the ex submissive who have been getting in the way of their happiness but it doesn't stop these two which is why i loved this book. There are 537 pages in this book but the book goes by quickly. So quickly that i read it 3 times and didn't realize how long the book was especially since i finished it in 48 hours. If you loved the first book, you will definitely love the second.

On to Fifty Shades Freed. Fifty Shades Freed is an amazing end to an amazing trilogy!! The book completely keeps your attention by starting you off with the wedding and honeymoon of Anna and Christian and the couple continues with their life as Mr. and Mrs. Grey. Unfortunately, someone tries to break that happiness. Jack Hyde, Ana's ex-boss, decides to take vengeance on Christian Grey because he not only had him fired, but he and Christian have a connected past, one that Christian doesn't even realize and he is angry at how their lives turned out so he takes his anger and frustrations out on his family and Ana. Ana's life changes when she finds out some news that others would find exciting but Christian would be leery of and the two them have to work together despite their fears and figure out a solution. 551 pages long, this book is another fast read and it ends the trilogy beautifully. I am amazed with E L James. Her writing style is one of a kind and although others try to imitate her, no one else has been able to get it right thus far. This novel is beautifully written and even though I've read them three times, these seem like books i will reread over and over again.  5 stars for all 3 books. AMAZING. E. L. James, you have anew fan and I'm waiting patiently for more books by you!!

Jane Austin Ruined My Life

My love of Jane Austen, and a happy ending grabbed my attention for the Novel By Beth Pattillo, titled Jane Austin Ruined My Life.  For those of  you who don't know who Jane Austen is, she was a 19th century writer responsible for works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility. Each of Austen's novels end in happily ever after, which is why her novels ruined Emma Douglas' life. Emma Douglas, after finding her husband on the kitchen table, in a compromising position with his teaching assistant, packs up her belonging and moves to England with the purpose of finding the Jane Austen letters as well as clearing her name. In the process of finding out about these letters, Emma finds herself in a manner in which she never thought possible. She realizes that love isn't a happily ever after but something that requires work and has progression and it's okay to figure out who you are before you decide to fall in love. In finding herself she finds that Jane Austen and her had a lot more in common that she thought and although she wrote about great love, love lost is something they both experienced. The specks of the book are as follows. The book is 270 pages long, and its an okay read. It may require a you to stick with it rather than give up on it in the beginning but other than that, the book is really good. Since i am a sucker for a love story this book was right up my ally, but i liked it because its not just about the love of another but the love of yourself. What girl doesn't love a book about self love. In rating this book i would give it a 4 out of 5 stars simply because it has a rocky start. But if your looking for a book that combines the past with the future and has to deal with great writers than this is the book for you.

Bared to You Introduction

Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry I have disappeared for an extended period of time. I was in the process of getting ready to head back to school and then I had to move in. In my time away, I have completed 3 books. I finished the Fifty Shades Trilogy, Jane Austin Ruined My Life, and The White Queen. All of which were great books and I will be posting reviews of soon. But after reading those books, I was on a Fifty Shades high and I wasn't quite ready to come down just yet. So I decided to look into books just like Fifty Shades, and in doing so I stumbled across Bared to You, by Sylvia Day. This is another book that I have been reading on my iPad and honestly, I'm warming up to the idea of not having a hard copy, it just bothers me when it dies and I'm no where near a charger. On to the specs of the book. The book is 357 pages long and the main characters are Eva, and Gideon Cross. Currently I'm on page 220. I immediately noticed a difference in the writing of this book. The things that i raved about in Fifty Shades were the same things that turned me off about this book. The story line is similar, but this books is something I consider raunchy. Now if your into raunchy sex books then this is the book for. I however, am a stickler for language. I love reading a book and having the ability to understand and picture whats being done without reading direct language and the language in this novel is very direct. Eva and Gideon meet for the first time when he picks up up off the floor of his office building after she helps another woman pick up her dropped change and the moment they lay eyes on one another, Eva feels an immediate sexual attraction. She expresses these feelings to her bisexual, male model roommate. Never did she imagine she would actually get the opportunity to date and have relations with this man, but it wouldn't be a story unless these two characters connect. In the long run they begin a relationship and cross many obstacles, including her admission of a dark incident that occurred in her past, and her visually seeing his. So far this book is frustrating me. I like the story line, but reading this after Fifty Shades you can tell the writing is rushed. I'm trying my hardest to finish this book while remaining as object as possible, but its very hard. I'll post my final thoughts as soon as I've finished reading.  Have a Great Day

Foundation??

As far as make-up and i are concerned, I dont claim to be any sort of expert, I know how to do somethings and others I leave to the makeup artist of the world. But what has gotten me COMPLETELY stumped is finding a foundation that works best for me. I have normal to dry skin and the one thing that I absolutely hate is the look and feel of cake face. I thought the idea of wearing foundation was to even out your complexion or give your face a finished look, not scream to the high heavens "I HAVE ON MAKEUP!!" I happen to be a lucky since my skin is pretty even, so when I wear foundation I'm not really looking to cover up anything, I'm simply wearing it to give my face a complete look. I often go looking for my holy grail of foundations, the one that feels great on my skin, looks good on my skin, complements my skin, and doesn't dry me out. It seems however, that those expectations are hard to find, especially since I'm dark skinned.

My foundation search has taken me from drug store make up to department store makeup and everything I've tried has never perfectly matched my skin. Its either too yellow or too red. I've tried liquid, powder, foundation sticks, foam, tinted moisturizer and never has it done exactly what I wanted it to do. So I've decided to settle. My settling combination is MAC's Studio Fix Fluid in NW55 and MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Deep Dark. On Summer days, i'll conceal under my eyes and simply use the Mineralize Skinfinish, and on nights out, i'll conceal and then use both. This combination works for me for the moment, but I'm still looking for my holy grail of foundation. Have you had any foundation drama? Whats your favorite foundation? Why?

Blown Away

Hey Everyone,

First I wanted to say Happy Father's Day! I spent mine with my family and we had a good evening. I cooked dinner and it was really sweet. We bought my dad a cookie that said # 1 Dad, and he really enjoyed himself. Now, to the book. So I finished Fifty Shades of Grey and I now understand why the author wrote a trilogy because, this book definitely leaves you wanting more. I have fallen in love with this book, it was amazing. I finally reached the sex in the book lol, and honestly, it was HOT. The first time Ana and Christian consummate their relationship is a definite page turner. What attracts me to the book the most is, even though the sexual acts in the book are really graphic, the author doesn't make it raunchy. Her word choice is some what classy, so much so that she never says the words "penis" or "vagina". The reason why that's relevant to me is, the sexual relationships that Mr. Grey has had in the past, "the fifteen", have all been non-emotional relationships where he has some what objectified women, or at least used them for his total pleasure. He's even had these past women sign contracts so they are legally bound to doing all that he asks on his terms. When Ana comes into the situation, however it is very clear that she is nothing like any of the previous women he's dealt with before. In understanding that, to describe their sex acts using the scientific terms of their body parts, in my opinion would have taken away from how special Ana. When the two of them are together, Ana is more than a vagina and Christian is more than a penis. When they have sex, its very passionate, its love making, even though they aren't always having "vanilla sex", or "sex without toys or added extras."

One of my favorite parts of the book is the emails between Christian and Ana, its funny to read their interactions via email, and how Ana, comes to terms with their agreement, it's funny and a little sweet. The emails show how spunky Ana is, even though she doesn't seem to think so.


I love this book, and if I have to rate this book based on stars with 5 being the max, i would rate this book a five. The story is amazing and it really does live up to the reputation that its received. The book is good without the sex. The sex simply enhances the story, it makes you look at Christian as a human being oddly enough. Because without his sexual preference, he would be seen as perfect and we all know that no one is perfect. His taste in sex humanizes him, because without out it, he a filthy rich guy who starts dating the girl who's virginity he takes and they both fall in love, and that would have been an unlikely story. The book is very easy to get through, it's a quick page turner, its not the type of book that you would need to force yourself to read to get into. Your grabbed within the first 10 pages.  As I've previously said the book is the first of a triology, the other two titles are Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed.  I do plan on reading the next two books, because this one really blew me away. The author doesn't have any other  books at the moment, but I will be waiting patiently for anything else she releases.

Hey everyone,

I've been slacking, big time. This week has been kinda hectic for me so I haven't been reading as much as I would have liked to. However I am currently on page 50. The book is good so far. Nothing drastic has happened other than the meeting of the two Main characters, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, and her sleeping with him without sexual contact. I know that I said in my last post that I genuinely want the book to be good, and not good because of the sex, but I keep asking myself when is the sex gonna happen?  Don't get me wrong, sex doesn't make the book, but all of the steamy things I've been hearing about this book, I want to read the sex, lol. The book keeps you interested, you see the chemistry between the two characters and you cant help but wonder what will happen next. It seems like every time they lock eyes or every time they touch I hold my breathe. The anticipation is there completely, and I can see why this book is so good to women. The moment you realize there is an attraction between the two characters, every woman in the world either puts herself in Ana's shoes, or plays her conscience. You laugh with her, yell at her, you become embarrassed when she trips, and you get swept off your feet when Christian and Ana have a moment. An example of this is: After Ana does a photo shoot with Christian for the article that caused them to meet, he invites her to coffee. She goes, and after they leave the coffee shop, she is almost hit by an biker. Christian grabs her out of the way, and holds her close. Their lips are practically touching. When reading this I began hyperventilating like I had just been saved and was repeating in my head, "Oh shoot they're about to kiss." Unfortunately however, they don't. I like Ana was super disappointed. Writing about this is making me want to read right now, so I'm gonna go read and I think you all should find a copy and read it too. Bye

Oh Me, Oh My, Fifty Shades of Grey

Hey Everyone,
So as promised, its Monday which means I'm introducing the book of the week. This weeks book is Fifty Shades of Grey. I have been hearing about this book and Trilogy so much that I decided it may be time for me to read it. The only issue i have been having is getting my hands on a copy. Thank goodness for ebooks. So, even though I would prefer a hard copy, I'll read on my iPad. Ok, on to the specs. The book is by E.L. James and and is 356 pages long. Unfortunately because the book has been getting so much press I have assumptions on the book. I'm trying to read this book without being biased but I do have high expectations for this book. One of my expectations is that I hope the book is genuinely a good book and not just good because it's full of sex. But I guess we'll see. I'll keep you updated.

The Books

Books are the only thing in my twenty year old life that I can honestly say have been here since the start. I've always loved reading, so much so that I've read every book in my elementary school library and joined a book club in high school. But as a college student I've been finding it difficult to choose between reading books for enjoyment and grabbing Spark Notes for a safe grade. So since finding a balance has been an issue I had given up my favorite past time and directed all my attention to my to writing extremely long papers on people and things that I'm not interested in. But school is out now and I'm trying to get reacquainted with my oldest and dearest friend. So this summer, I'm going to read. I'm going to read so much, that it makes me sick. I'll be reading books from the New York Times Bestsellers list, books recommended by Oprah, online websites, as well as books recommend by friends, family, and even you guys. And the best thing to do with a book after reading is talking about it.  So I will be reviewing what I read, giving my honest  opinion of the books. My likes, my dislikes, the highs, the lows, good, bad and ugly. From this not only will I have something concrete to do this summer but, it will almost be like the greatest homework assignment ever! Or for me at least.

Here is my plan:
Every Monday I will start a new book. And I will post "the specs" of the book. i.e, title, author, number of pages, how I found out about the book etc. From there, every time I read the book or put it down, I'm going to talk about it, being sure to mention what my thought are of the book so far. Finally at the end of the week, I'll give my opinion of the book without giving away the ending, and say whether or not I'd recommend the book to anyone else and why or why not.


This all seems simple enough but i think my biggest challenge will be balancing this as well as my life, but I'm going to try at it and see what happens. I believe books can be just as much fun as, movies and television and I would love for other people to see that.  After all reading doesn't always have to be fundamental.