Book Review: Tempest Rising

This post has been sitting around unfinished for far too long, and I finally got around to finishing it up. I'm still unsure of the best way to go about reviewing books, so bear with me. I've also decided to post in colorful font, just 'cause.

I rather like the cover, don't you? Especially that beautiful tattoo.

Book: Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Genre: fantasy
(as you can probably tell due to that mermaid tail. Though there are people who believe mermaids exist, so, you know, I guess it's realistic fiction for them)

Rating: B
or a 4 out of 5 stars. However, 4 out of 5 is an 80%, which, depending on the teacher, is typically a B-minus or a C-plus. So...I don't really know what to say.

Synopsis: Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

Good Stuff: First of all, mermaids. Definitely the thing that caught my interest. There's also surfing, which I think looks fun. I've never tried surfing, despite living near enough to the ocean, due to how ridiculously cold the water is where I live. This book has romance--a love triangle, in fact, between Tempest, Mark, and Kai. But the love triangle is intertwined with the ocean-or-land dilemma, so it's unique. I also found a satisfactory amount of foreshadowing, conflict, and suspense. There wasn't a huge plot-changing shocker, but that's not always necessary (though I personally rather like those). I also liked how the author described how some things worked in the ocean, but not using the horrid info-dump technique mistake, but using (telepathic) communication between Tempest and Kai. I don't want to include any spoilers, but Tempest did something very controversial that haunted her for the rest of the book, which I very much enjoyed reading.

Bad Stuff: It seemed a little unrealistic. Unrealistic is the wrong word to use here, because of course it's unrealistic, there are mermaids. (unless mermaids DO exist. a topic to be discussed later, though). But books like Harry Potter, I can imagine them happening. Even though the plot was interesting, it seemed a bit, ah, poorly-executed. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book, since there were lots of interesting and well-written parts. But it seems like Tempest was living in a planet that was very, very similar to Earth, yet not quite the same. (that doesn't make sense, does it?) And while I liked the foreshadowing, it seemed just a little bit too obvious. The second I read that hint, I totally knew what was coming next, but Tempest didn't seem to realize anything, which seemed, again, unrealistic. Also, I was fine with it, but there was some language. Nothing too horrible, so don't let that stop you from reading this book!

Recommended Readers: I'm never certain what to say here, but I have to go with 12 and up, just because of the mild language. And there's some physical romance, but it's just kissing, so...

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far in 2013

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I missed the Tuesday again...but oh well! Here are my top 10 books read so far in 2013! :)

 

 

 

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I'm a HUGE fan of The Mortal Instruments series by the same author, and Clockwork Angel is the first installment of a companion trilogy. EVEN MORE AMAZING THAN TMI. Wow. I absolutely loved Clockwork Angel! Go read it. Now. Just go. (or, if you haven't read The Mortal Instruments yet, read that first. You don't have to read TMI first, but it's better if you do)

2. Divergent by Veronica Roth
Do I really need to explain this, people who have read Divergent? Divergent is simply amazing. I stayed up until around 2 AM finishing it. There are books that I say that I "can't put down," but this book. I actually could hardly stand putting it down. I have a Divergent review in the works, but it won't be up for another few weeks at least. Everyone, you must go out and read Divergent. Go. Now. Read.
 

3. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Yes, this was on my last list of top ten to-read books for 2013! I just finished it a few days ago, and it was fantastic. A wonderful plot that was fast-moving, but didn't leave me confused. Magic, adventure, humor, mystery...really, this book is great! I highly recommend it, and I'll be posting a review soon. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

 

4. Spells and Sleeping Bags by Sarah Mlynowski

The third book in a series of four! This was by far the best out of the first three. It was absolutely hilarious, witty, shocking, and had a terrific ending. If you haven't read the Magic in Manhattan series yet, you should! (only if you're a girl, though). Even though there's magic involved, I can relate a lot to the narrator, and the book is very well written, with foreshadowing, realistic dialogue, humor, suspense...

 

5. Parties and Potions by Sarah Mlynowski

The last book in the Magic in Manhattan series! I still think the 3rd book was the best, but still, this book was amazing. Mlynowski is a fabulous writer...I'm always laughing out loud when I read her books! And as I mentioned above, very realistic dialogue...I can imagine everything that's happening perfectly in my head.

6. Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
This book had to do with mermaids, which I loved, since I am a huge fan of mermaids. There was also lots of conflict, strong emotions, hidden humor, foreshadowing, and a huge surprise in the ending. Overall a good read!

7. Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Is an explanation really necessary? This book was by Rick Riordan. Enough said.

8. Into the Dream by William Sleator
This book was published a long time ago...1979, I think. It's not exactly a YA or teen fiction book like I usually read, but it's really, really good. It has to do with ESP, dream telepathy...overall a fun read for people of all ages.

9. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
A modern take on Greek mythology. I would definitely recommend people at least in, say, seventh grade to read this book, because there is some mature content and the slightest bit of language. But still, the plot was really interesting, and there was a mystery that added suspense throughout the whole book.

Well, I have read wayyyy more than 9 books this year, but I just can't think of one more book that I really want to include on this list. So, there's my top 9! Right now I'm reading Geek Charming, which was also on last week's list!
Someday soon I'll post about China, but Blogger is being stubborn and I can't upload any pictures. So I might do a pictureless post, or maybe a post about writing.
Any plans for the weekend, anybody? Sound off in the comments! :)

--Audrey

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my TBR List

by The Broke and the Bookish

 

 

Before anyone points this out, yes, I do know that it isn't Tuesday. But I have a very convoluted to-be-read list, and I thought this would help me to organize it...

And, since I'm trying to post more, this is an automatic post idea every week! Yay! :)

 

So, let's get started. Top 10 books to read over the summer 2013... I'm not going to choose all books that are released this summer, since that would be way too hard. I'm also not going to include any rereads that I'm planning. In no particular order...

 

1. Legend by Marie Lu.

I'm ashamed to say that I have yet to pick this one up. I've read the synopsis, I've read the free online sample, and I'm very interested in this book, but I have not read it yet. Bad Audrey!

 

2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Now this one I would have never picked up by myself, since I rather disliked the Twilight series by the same author. (I know, I shouldn't judge authors by one bad book/series, but I tend to do it anyways) But my friend (who was, ahem, supposed to give me a guest post a long time ago) has been constantly nagging me to read it. I watched movie of this book, which I enjoyed, so I'll be picking this one up soon!

 

3. Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs

This is the second book in a trilogy, the sequel to Tempest Rising. I very much enjoyed the first installment, and am excited to read the second book. It's about a girl who must choose between being human or mermaid when she turns 17...I mean, she's already chosen by the end of the first book, but I won't spoil it!

4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
This is another book that I really have been meaning to read, but I always get distracted by other books, schoolwork, or in my case right now, a trip to China! But I just purchased Cinder on my Kindle Fire, so yay! I'm planning to read it once I get some free time. It's about a cyborg living in the future, and is a modern spin on Cinderella, as you probably guessed.

5. ttyl by Lauren Myracle
The first-ever book written entirely in instant messages! Now, Lauren Myracle is one of my favorite authors...I adore her series, The Winnie Years. I picked this up maybe 2 years ago, but there is some, er, mature content (not that bad, though) so I thought I should wait to read it. So now I'm going to! :) The instant messages between 3 sophomore girls.

6. Grace, Gold and Glory: My Leap of Faith by Gabrielle Douglas
This is Gabby Douglas's autobiography. For those of you who don't know, she was on the 2012 US gymnastics women's team. She is the all-around champion and also helped to win America the team gold! She's one of my idols, and I actually already bought her book, but haven't had the time to read it yet. I brought it with me to China!

7. The Selection by Kiera Cass
My friend (same friend who recommended The Host) told me to read this, and I also saw a review of it over at Emma's blog, which peaked my interest. It sounds a lot like The Bachelor to me, and I personally don't really enjoy watching that show, but of course, there are other factors to it (like a nation divided by a wealth caste system) that make it more interesting.

8. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
If you noticed, this is what I am currently reading. I decided to put it on my list anyway, since it was one of my top-priority books. So far it's really, really good!

9. The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman
I've heard mixed opinions on this one. Definitely some, ah, suggestive content and the main character is a teenage mother, which some people may not approve of. The narration is also very unique, according to many reviews I've read. I'm still very interested in reading this, though, because there's definitely been a lot of buzz about it.

10. Geek Charming by Robyn Palmer
Just a fun, fresh, entertaining read. It's about a high school "A-list" girl who is dragged into being the subject of a documentary, which is filmed a "F-list" boy. Disney made a television movie on this, according to my online research, but I haven't watched the movie. Anyway, it's definitely not what I'd expect to be a hugely thought-provoking read like The Dress Lodger or Gabby Douglas's autobiography, but still. Reading should be fun, too!

And there you have it, my Top Ten to-be-read books for the summer 2013! Now, these may not actually be my top 10, but considering they're what came to mind when I considered the topic, I think they're accurate enough. I'll be putting up reviews of these books as I read them! :)

So, it's about 6 AM for me right now! Off to go start another day in China! (I should really stop mentioning China...makes me sound too self-centered).

--Audrey
 

Really Quick, Guys. Please Help?

I need some help with my new profile photo! Please comment or post in the chat box to the right which photo you think would work best as my profile pic! :)
(oh, and I found a filter to use Blogger! Hooray!)

1.



2.



3.



4.





I don't own any of these images, here are the links to them in order:
1. http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6idfjU5Fs1rnylyqo1_1280.jpg
2. http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9mq7mOj381rfnm26o1_400.jpg
3. http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0oso0PSVf1rrx4oqo1_400.jpg
4. http://distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws.com/ec70f468c38a11e1b00112313800c5e4_7.jpg

Please vote, 1, 2, 3, or 4!
I'll put a poll up too, and after I get some votes in, I'll choose the one with the most votes! Please vote, it'll only take a second (especially if you use the chat box or the poll) and I'd really appreciate your input! :)

--Audrey

I'm Going off to China!!

AAGHHH. I AM SO SCARED.
I got up around 4 AM, then drove to the airport. Then I flew to Vancouver, Canada, which took about 2 hours. By the way, flying to Vancouver doesn't make the flight to China any cheaper, it's just a lot cheaper. So yay, I got to fly for 2 extra hours! Not. No. I already have a TWELVE (12, 12, 12! That's half of an entire day!) hour flight to China. I'm not claustrophobic (well, unless it's an extreme case) and I don't get motion sick very easily, but 12 hours. I am bound to get tired/sick/bored after 12 hours of sitting in a turbulent airplane 32,000 feet above the ground Eek.

So in about 10 minutes, I will be jetted off to Shanghai.
As in China.
Where I don't speak the language.
Where I look like a foreigner (and ergo am more than twice as likely to be pickpocketed).
I've never been there before.
I've never even been to Asia before (no, that's a lie. I think my plane stopped in Japan once or something, but that doesn't count).
And I'm not even with my parents.

I'm with my older brother, my godmother, and my godmother's two children. My godmother and her children are Chinese, and visit China every year. So at least I'm with experts, if I'm not with my parents. Now my godmother, she took the liberty of filming a street (yes, a street) for me when she was in China sometime last year. The drivers are insane. I don't want to be mean or anything, but THEY DON'T STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS. (unless you're like right in front of them). And actually that's what you're supposed to do in China, walk right out into the middle of a busy street where the honking is all one loud, steady blare, and don't worry about the cars charging 90 mph at you, because they have to stop if they don't want to run you over.
Talk about scary. I'd rather do a blind dismount of the balance beam. (and I really hate those).

I'm fine with honking, usually. I've been to NYC, and there is plenty of honking there. But the honking here is so...aggressive...and the driver's don't WANT to be cut off by a pedestrian, so what do they do? Floor the gas. (okay, maybe the don't FLOOR the gas, but they go a lot faster so that they won't have to wait for you). In other places, honking is a reminder that you need to watch out for another car. In Shanghai, the honking sounds like the drivers are screaming at you. It. Is. So. Scary. If I can somehow find the right website filters to do it, I'll upload a video of the streets for you guys. ARGH.

Well anyway, I have to go now...
Wish me luck!

--Audrey

Current Writing Works

So I know this is supposed to be a writing blog, but I just do not have any good writing to put up yet. Sorry! Over the summer I always do a lot of writing, so we'll see if I can get anything ready for my readers. Not that I have very many readers...sigh. But I don't want to like go around and beg strangers to come see my blog either. If you're reading this, please comment and tell your friends about my blog! And if you have a Gmail or Yahoo! Mail or FaceBook, PLEASE follow my blog. Please, please, please, please, pleaaaaseeee.....


Just so that people have things to comment about:
What are your plans for the summer?
I'm going to China. In fact, I'm leaving on Monday. EEK. Scared. I'm staying there for three whole weeks! Argh, I hope there's some way I can still practice gymnastics. Not that I'm extremely competitive or anything--I love gymnastics and I love competing, but I'm not good enough to go to a higher level than, say, regional competitions. Anyway, I don't want to abandon this already-fading-away-even-though-it's-only-even-months-old blog for three weeks, because then it'd really die. So I shall find a filter to (er, illegally) post on my blog! I won't abandon my (two) faithful readers! :) Thank you to Kiki and Hilda for frequently visiting and commenting on my blog. THANK YOU.

On a slightly more serious note, I'm getting all depressed about my blog, too. Like Fira was a while ago. Because there's barely anybody reading my blog. And there are some fellow Bloggers whom I follow, and I comment on their blogs very frequently. But they never come visit mine, which is really depressing.

Now, for what I actually came online to post about. My current writing works. Here's a list of the works I'm in the middle of writing, editing, or just dormant.

Currently Writing:
Paper Thin
Aerial (still working on the title. It's about gymnastics, and it's for the July Camp NaNoWriMo, so I haven't started yet, but I wouldn't call it dormant since I'm thinking about it)
Fade Out

Currently Editing:
Catnlyst (my April Camp NaNoWriMo novel)
A Day in the Life (my November NaNoWriMo novel)

Dormant Ideas/Stories:
Skyward (wrote three chapters, then stopped when April's NaNo rolled around)
Seaworthy (about three-fourths finished. This one I had worked on until November's NaNo arrived)
As I Always Say (just a vague idea)
Seven Seconds (a slightly more developed idea. I'm also considering titling it Run, Jump, Flip but that sounds a bit weird)

So as you can see, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and Camp NaNoWriMo are huge factors in my writing career. Well, not career exactly. My dream is to be published, but I'm not. Yet. If you have any ideas for a title of a gymnastics novel, tell me! And which do you prefer: Seven Seconds or Run, Jump, Flip? Are there any titles you particularly like/dislike?

Next post (or a post coming soon, anyway) I'll have a synopsis of my currently writing works and my currently editing works. Maybe a synopsis of Seaworthy, too, since I already know where it's going.

That's it for today! Make sure to sound off in the comments about your summer plans, and if you have any ideas about my story titles! Have a great day, everybody! :)

--Audrey

Travels, Birthdays, Illegal Blog Posts

I'm sorry, but this is going to be a really boring post about some things I plan to do over the summer. I posted a very brief list in the last post...here's that...

Learn how to write and eat with both hands equally. This could very possibly come in handy someday. I'm naturally right-handed, but I recently realized that I'm not too bad with my left hand either. Ambidextrous! :)

Learn how to knit with more than two needles. I can knit with two needles, and I can crochet, but I can't do that awesome thing with three needles that makes a hat. Oh, I also know how to loom knit and finger knit.

Study more SAT vocab. Not fun, but my mother will kill me if I don't do well on that test coming up in a few years.

Several gymnastics routines, mostly on the balance beam, that I need to nail. :)

Read more. Very fun!  My to-read list is about ten miles long.

Those are some rather specific things I wanted to learn. I'm also going to CHINA. Eek! I don't really speak Chinese much, unlike my friend Jasmine. Who is supposed to be giving me a guest post soon....hint hint.... I'm going to Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. I mean, I'll be stopping in more cities too, but those are the big ones. Unfortunately, China blocked Blogspot, so I don't know if I'll be able to post about my three week adventure. But, I know there are lots of website filters that let you access blocked websites in China (at least according to my Chinese godmother). So. Maybe I will be able to post (though, um, illegally). Fingers crossed! Those posts would actually be pretty interesting, wouldn't they? Except I'd have to find photos without me in them because I don't want to post a picture of my face.

Um. Other things. Gymnastics. I'm going to Detroit later! Yayyyy!!!! And I need to practice gymnastics routines, as aforementioned. I want to go to NYC, which is only one of my favorite cities ever, but I'm not going to. Sigh. On the bright side, maybe I can save the trip to NYC for May of next year for the Book Expo of America!

MY BIRTHDAY. I FORGOT. (ahem, yes, I kind of forgot my own birthday for a second there). June 11th! Anyone wanna guess how old I'm turning? Winner gets a guest post! :) If you've been a constant reader of my blog, it should be very easy. If more than one person guesses correctly, then they all get guest posts! Guess by next week, the 16th of June!

I have about ten half-finished book reviews sitting in my post drafts list. Which someday I'll actually complete and publish. Someday. Someday soon. Well, soon-ish, anyway.

I'm going to participate in the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo! Just because I'm in China doesn't mean I can't write! :)  I also plan to do more editing on the horrendous novel I wrote in April, which you readers (not that I really have many readers) will get to read! Don't expect that anytime soon, though.

Bye for now!

--Audrey

Wait, Wait, Wait. It's June Already?

June. As in, five months of the year have already passed. Every January I tell myself that this is the year I'm going to, you know, try new things and meet new people and all that. But I never do it. Sigh.

On a brighter note, my school is out! Which means no more finals or tests! (well actually, I'm taking math over the summer so I can skip yet another year of it. My mother is huge on getting me to skip years so I get more APs, for college and everything. College. SATs. *shudders* I'm not even that close to them yet, anyway). Well actually, I'm kind of close to them, considering my brother started SAT vocab prep in 7th grade. But still. My brother is much smarter than I am.

I want to post more over the summer, so I have decided that for the three months of June, July, and August, I will be posting at least 3 times per week. I will probably not acheive this all the time, due to my summer homework (gah), and some vacations (yay!). Right now I have like 20 unfinished posts waiting in my blogger dashboard, glaring at me to finish them. There's book reviews, original writing, recipes, tags/awards, and just some random things. And don't forget my totally awesome fangirly posts on Jace and Magnus and Clary (not that I really like Clary very much, but she IS the female lead...and the main lead...) Oh, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to The Mortal Instruments series. If you haven't read it, go read it. NOW. By Cassandra Clare, first book is City of Bones. My review is in a previous post here.

What to say, what to say... I'm going to copy Amanda and list some of the things I learned this year. I highly suggest you go visit Amanda's blog. She is witty and funny and very, very interesting. Her blog is much better than mine. Seriously. Go check it out.

My list is soooo boring. But I'm gonna try...

• Math, which basically means Algebra 2 and pre-calculus. I didn't actually do both in one year... My school is pretty weird. Mainly it was Algebra 2.
• Shakespeare analysis. Not going to go into the details, but let's just say that whole unit was ridiculously hard. I kind of like reading Shakespeare, but dissecting every last theme and metaphor and poetic element out of the literature is not enjoyable. At all.
• Like Amanda, I did learn the location of all the countries in the world and significant bodies of water (of which there are a lot). That test was hard, but I like knowing all the names of all the countries that no one has ever heard of, haha.
• SAT vocab. I hate looking at the lists of SAT vocab, because I've never heard of ANY OF THEM (well maybe a few) and then I have to memorize their definition, too. Argh. I really hope I get better at this before I have to take the test.
• Debates. This is actually a good one. I love debating, and I'm on my school's competitive debate team. I went to Boston to observe a debate once, too. That was really cool, but those debaters were SO GOOD I was changing my opinion every time one of them delivered a speech. Then there were the debates I participated in, six of which were twelve hours long. I went to Detroit for a 3-day debate thing, too. And instant debates, those are fun.
• Science...well. Physics, mostly. I like physics for the most part, though I think I prefer biology. I haven't done much chemistry studies, so I can't say about that. I built catapults and these chain reaction things, and lots of other stuff. I got an honorable mention in the county science fair, which is more than I expected. Didn't make it to the state or anything, though...
• That I love reading Charles Dickens.
• That the Wizard of Oz is actually a series of 3 books (who knew?) and that the other two books are better than the first one. Go read all 3 of them.

I'm gonna stop now. I learned more, I guess, but nothing is really worth mentioning. Now some things I want to do over the summer (besides the obvious stuff like go swimming and to the beach and all that)

• Learn how to write and eat with both hands equally. This could very possibly come in handy someday. I'm naturally right-handed, but I recently realized that I'm not too bad with my left hand either. Ambidextrous! :)
• Learn how to knit with more than two needles. I can knit with two needles, and I can crochet, but I can't do that awesome thing with three needles that makes a hat. Oh, I also know how to loom knit and finger knit.
• Study more SAT vocab. Not fun, but my mother will kill me if I don't do well on that test coming up in a few years.
• Several gymnastics routines, mostly on the balance beam, that I need to nail. :)
• Read more. Very fun!  My to-read list is about ten miles long.

Well, that's all for today!

--Audrey