Last adventure with Rose and the rest of the gang

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6) by Richelle Mead
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
594 pages
Buy it @ book depository

They come first.

My vision was growing dimmer, the blackness and ghosts closing in. I swore it was like I could hear Robert whispering in my ear: The world of the dead won't give you up a second time. Just before the light completely vanished, I saw Dimitri's face join Lissa's. I wanted to smile. I decided then that if the two people I loved most were safe, I could leave this world.

The dead could finally have me.


Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose - for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

Review: Richelle Mead was saving the best for last! This series has been a roller coaster of all sorts of emotions: surprise, excitement, annoyance & lots of laughs. After the huge cliff hanger at the end of the previous book I was looking forward to seeing how this might have ended. Mead did a fantastic job of wrapping up the series with everything tied up in a nice little bow. There was a moment there that I was a bit worried that she was going to go down THAT road (for all people who have read this you may know what I'm talking about) but she didn't, thankfully! 

I listened to this one on Audiobook, unlike all the others which I read. I thought I'd give it a go on Audio to see whether I enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed the story but not the narrator. She did a terrible job of the male voices. Dimitri & Adrian did not sound very good at all, it was very off putting! 

I took a star off only because of the slight predictability of the story and because of poor Adrian. I really like Adrian and thought he was hard done by, even though I knew Dimitri was always the one for Rose.

This series has been so enjoyable and I like that Mead was able to finish it before it got boring. After finishing this I feel content and happy with how everything panned out. I'm looking forward to reading the follow on series 'Bloodlines'. (Mainly because I've been told Adrian is a main character in it)


On the cover: This will be the last Vampire Academy book cover I will look at and wonder who the person on the cover is meant to be portraying... Whoever this chick is she needs to pluck her eyebrows!

What I'm listening to next: The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Have you read this series? What did you think of the ending? 

 

Inspiring Crafters

As a fellow crafter I have many people that I admire. I wanted to show off these talented people and their wonderful creations. And to top it off all of these people are Australians! Go Aussies!

{All pictures taken from their respective webpages - click on their names to go to their webpages}

Hungry Designs

This is a gorgeous Day of the Dead - Ariel Princess brooch.

I love Ariel so much and this is so cool because you can wear art on your clothing!

Whiskers Lane

A candle in a tea cup, how cute is that?

I love the idea of having a beautiful tea cup sitting on the table setting the mood 

and leaving your house smelling delicious.

That Vintage

That Vintage features Tasmanian Myrtle Wood Jewellery & other accessories.

I love the little birds & rabbits that are often shown on pieces.

Dark and Light creations

Too bad this isn't edible. 

Dark and light creations are funky and that little bit different.

Art Of Indigo

This is the candle I purchased from the talented Art Of Indigo.

Their candles are masterpieces and too good to burn.

Who inspires you?

A Tempestuous let down

Temestuous by Lesley Livingston
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Buy it @ bookdepository

"I don't love Sonny Flannery."
That's the lie Kelley Winslow told to protect the boy she loves from a power he doesn't know he possesses. Devastated, Sonny retreats to a haven for Lost Fae that's hidden deep underneath New York City.
But Kelley's not about to let things end in heartbreak. To get Sonny back, she's got to find out who's after his magick—and how to use her own. She's got to uncover who's recruiting Janus Guards to murderously hunt innocent Faerie. She's got to help rebuild the shattered theater company she called family. And she's got to do it all without getting dangerously distracted by the Fennrys Wolf, whose legendary heart of stone seems to melt whenever he's around Kelley.
The intrigue and romance that began with Wondrous Strange and Darklight come to a stormy head in Tempestuous, the breathtaking conclusion to Lesley Livingston's ravishing urban Faerie trilogy.

Review: I'm unsure how to start this review... It's been so long since I read 'Darklight', almost 8 months, and I've read a lot of other books in between so I've kind of forgotten what had happened at the end of the previous book. It didn't take me long to get back in to the swing of Lelsey Livingston's beautiful writing, but I felt like something was missing. I think that spark between Kelley & Sonny wasn't there for me or maybe I've read other books since where the connections between lovers is stronger than this. The magic and adventure wasn't there either. I would pick this up, read a chapter then put it down again because the story wasn't sucking me in. It took me nearly two weeks to finish this because of that reason.

I felt like there was so much build up during the first two books in to figuring out who the evil was behind it all that when I did find out, it was a let down. The reason I was let down was because I felt like everything was sorted out too quickly and was wrapped up too easily. Small thing to complain about, but it got to me. To give away the ending, it was happy (thankfully) and I will still think very highly of 'Wondrous Strange' and continue to read Lesley Livingston's books even though I didn't enjoy this as much.

To sum up, I don't know if it was the mood I was in when reading this or simply I had lost the connection to the series. Whatever the reason, I felt like it was a chore to read 'Tempestuous' which is very, very sad. (Still 3 stars because of my past love for these characters.)

Click here to read my review of 'Wondrous Strange' or here for my review of 'Darklight'.

On the cover: Such a pretty cover! Only it's a little bit too dark for me and I would've liked to see her ears so that I could see the slight pointyness of them.

What I'm reading next: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Have you read the last book in a series that disappointed you?

Rainbow Gradient Nails

"Rainbow: An arch of colors formed in the sky in certain circumstances, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or...Any display of the colors of the spectrum produced by dispersion of light."

Here's another nail post for all you nail lovers out there! Things that you will need to achieve this manicure

• White nail polish
• Multiple colours nail polish (I chose blue, green, yellow, orange and red)
• Make-up sponges
• Cotton buds
• Nail Polish remover
• Top & Base coats
• Glitter top as desired

 

{All the nail polishes I used except for top & base coats}

These nails look so amazing in real life but they were such a hassle to do. I thought to myself "Gradient nails using a sponge looks easy, I'll give it a try". But I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong!

Firstly I started with just a base coat and applied all the colours to the makeup sponge in a line (like the picture below) and pushed it onto my nail but nothing seemed to come off. So I applied a very thick amount of the 5 nailpolish colours and tried again, only to achieve the same results.

I then had a thought "Maybe if I applied white nail polish it would work", it didn't! I have no idea what I was doing wrong and why the polish wasn't going onto my nails in a rainbow pattern. The only colors that seemed to be rubbing off the sponge and onto my nails were the blue and red.

So, I removed all the nail polish and then re applied the white and started all over again. This time I used separate make-up sponges for each of the five colors like the picture below.

Below are the step by step pictures of how I applied each of the colors.

1. Apply white nail polish

2. Apply the yellow with the sponge to the middle of your nail

 

3. Apply the orange using the sponge toward the tip of your nail

4. Apply the red with the sponge to the tip of your finger.

5. Apply the green with the sponge to the top part of your nail.

6. Apply the blue with the sponge to upper part of your nail but still leave some green.

As you can see in the above picture that it was quite messy using the sponges (especially when that is my right hand pictured so I was using my left hand to apply the colors). I poured some nail polish remover into the cap of the bottle and then used LOTS of cotton buds dipped in the nail polish remover to rub away the excess color on my fingers. Below is the end result.

I decided that a glitter top coat would give my manicure that extra bit of something, 

What do you think?

It's Coraline not Caroline!

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
162 pages
Buy it @ bookdepository


When Coraline explores her new home, she steps through a door and into another house just like her own... except that it's different. It's a marvelous adventure until Coraline discovers that there's also another mother and another father in the house. They want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to keep her forever!

Coraline must use all of her wits and every ounce of courage in order to save herself and return home.







Review: I saw this movie when it was released and thought it was really awesome. The whole idea of having a world where there is another mother and another father with buttons as eyes is a creepy, but unique idea. I found the book was slightly different to the movie, although it has been a long time since I saw the movie so I could've forgotten certain aspects. Coraline is so cool and quirky, It would be awesome to spend time with her. She's such an interesting girl that you can't help but get connected to her right away. Every thing her parents suggest her to do in the holidays is BORING, she wants excitement and adventure, little does she know that is exactly what she gets. The mysterious part of the story in which Coraline has to find a way to get out of the other house is interesting enough, it keeps you intrigued but is fairly simple to figure out what is going on. So in saying that I think the story is suitable for readers of all ages although some younger children may be scared of some of the themes in this book.

To sum up I gave it four stars because I was left wanting a little more. I felt like the other mother didn't get a good comeuppance for her terrible deeds. On a side note, Neil Gaman was the one narrating the audiobook and it was great! I love when an author does the narrating of their own book because you think they would know how the characters should sound.


On the cover: Obviously this is the movie cover, which funny enough I prefer to any other cover. Usually I hate the movie covers on books because most of the time they get actors to play the characters and they look nothing like how they're described in the book. I love the button for the 'O' in Coraline and the cat as the 'L'. Also, the moon is a button and the tree is a hand creeping to snatch up Coraline. This cover is creepy and interesting at the same time. Love it!

What I'm listening on Audio to next: Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Have you seen the movie? Which did you like better?

There and Back again...

Since the release of "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first movie in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, I have been a huge fan. I know I'm not like those people who read the books first and was a fan because I was only 14 when the first movie come out so I hadn't even heard of the books. But that was what started my love for J.R.R Tolkien's world. Now with the release of "The Hobbit" coming ever closer I'm getting excited that I can once again step into this world for another adventure. Below are the two trailers that have been released so far. It gives me shivers watching them.

With about 11 weeks to go til the movie is released, I know my excitement is building.

Are you looking forward to 'The Hobbit'?

I've had better

House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?


Review: This started off so well, but by the end I was thinking "Just get on with it already!". I've read a couple of fiction books on Aspergers and when I saw that Picoult (a favourite author of mine) had written a book on it too, I had to read it. I was very let down I'm afraid (it seems my favourite authors are doing that to me lately). So as always with Picoult's books we have different characters telling their story. In this we have 5 characters: Emma (the mother), Jacob (the son with Asperger's), Theo (the younger brother of Jacob), Rich (the policeofficer) and Oliver (the lawyer). What I found very frustrating (that I haven't found with her other books) was that sometimes one of the characters would repeat something that has already been said by another character. I don't think it's necessary for another character to mention something again, it just bogged down the story for me. Another thing that got frustrating was Jacob. I don't know anyone personally with Asperger's but I didn't find it believable that someone who had Asperger's would be speaking the way he did. I've read "Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon which is from a young boy's point of view who has Asperger's Syndrome, for me that felt very believable while this didn't. Another rant moment that I got so angry with was when the lawyer and the mother never wanted to ask Jacob what he actually did! I thought to myself "Come on people, he told you he tells the truth", fair enough the lawyer didn't want to know how he commited the crime but as a mother wouldn't you want to know what your son did. But, I guess if Jacob told them what happened truthfully then the book would've been a lot shorter and everything would've been wrapped up quicker (still annoyed me though). I hope you've been able to follow this review because I wrote it still fuming....

Overall I think this book went far too long and it could've been finished in less pages. On a side note Jacob reminded me so much of 'Sheldon' from the "Big Bang Theory", I swear Sheldon has Asperger's!

On the cover: I assume that's the mother wrapped in her son's patchwork blanket. She's looking off in the distance probably wishing her life had turned out differently...

What I'm listening on Audio to next: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Have you read any books my Jodi Picoult? Which is your favourite?