Thursday, June 30, 2011

Blog Tour: Love, Capri Style By: Lynn Reynolds

I don't have my review yet, but I will post it as soon as I have finished. And will link to it :3


I have a guest post from author Lynn Reynolds in which she answers two questions/topics I have asked so it's like a guest post/interview hybrid ^^

Enjoy!

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If you could make up one summer romance for yourself what would it be like?

I think I’d love the sort of summer romance my heroine Amanda experiences in Love Capri Style.

Amanda’s a slightly inept celebrity news reporter who gets sent to the swanky island of Capri to cover a music festival. Since the magazine she works for is paying for her trip she gets to travel in some pretty fancy circles. Then a dashing and handsome British playboy takes an interest in her, so she gets wined and dined at the best restaurants and parties. Amanda gets to travel first class, bask in the Mediterranean sun, have lots of delicious Italian food, and get romanced by a gorgeous rich guy with a British accent. Sounds like the perfect summer romance, which is why I wrote it ;-)

What are some things any aspiring author should know?

First - Don’t worry so much about perfection. Too many people write the perfect first chapter, but never go on from there. It’s more important to get the whole story down on paper – even if parts of the plot are a bit shaky. You can always go back and fix that stuff later; but you can’t do much of anything if you just keep revising the first chapter and don’t move forward.

Second – don’t be in such a hurry to get published. Really. I’d strongly advise taking some time to write several stories before worrying about getting published. Because once you’re published, you have to spend all kinds of time trying to publicize yourself, which means less time for writing. It helps to have a second or even third story all ready to go. That way you can get that into production quickly while you’re still learning all the ropes of how to publicize yourself.

Third – Relax and enjoy yourself. It’s the rare writer who actually becomes rich and famous. So try to focus on telling stories you enjoy. Entertain yourself, rather than trying to write what you think someone else will like!

Fourth – Read. It’s the best training out there for learning how to write!



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For this blog tour Lynn will be giving away a $15 Amazon gift card along with a copy of Colbie Cailat's CD "Coco" [EEKK I love that CD :3 ], which has the song "Capri". How do you win this awesome bundle? Well, COMMENT!! Not just on this tour but on other ones too, dates can be found HERE.


Wdebo :)

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Mile High Christmas-Breathe Carolina

Title: Mile High Christmas
Artist: Breathe Carolina
Language: English
TTS: None

Wdebo's Notes: I know it is VERY far from Christmas. But I love this song so I'll post it up anyways. This song is just so addicting, I really wish that if I ever go caroling that I can sing this and I will just scream out Kyle's part. Wait, scratch that. Me going caroling is not something that might happen, how about this, next time I get presents I scream that part out loud? :)

PRESENTS!! LET'S OPEN THAT SHIT UP!!

Listen and love!



Wdebo :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Random Entertainment Clips (26)

I love Barry and Stuart. They are some of my favorite magicians, sure they don't have the most skill compared to all of the other magicians in the world, but they are still one of the most entertaining magicians I have ever had the pleasure of seeing.

So in a fit of fangirling I have decided to post a few of my favorite videos by them.

Enjoy!


Most of my favorites are not allowed to be embedded so here are links to them...

Corpse Disposal Magic
The Magic Musical
Person in the Stomach Trick

Demon Possessed Tongue Trick


Automaton (A short from their TV series)


And a little Britain's Got Talent gag.


Wdebo :)

Saturday, June 18, 2011

You and Me (But Mostly Me)-Book of Mormon

Title: You and Me (But Mostly Me)
Artist: Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad [Cast of Book of Mormon]
Language: English
TTS: None

Wdebo's Notes: So my current life goal is to find a way to get to NY and watch Book of Mormon. GAHH I want to watch it so badly. I LOVE the humor in South Park and I have been listening to BOM songs non stop and just love them so much. And this is one of my favorites. AND it is a wonderful parody of Wicked. Yippee!!

Listen and Love!



Wdebo :)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

VACATIONNNNN!!!

So, I'll be away from home from home for basically from tomorrow till the end of June, because I'll be going on a cruise (eeek my first cruise!) and going up to Canada.

Just wanted to tell you because I have no scheduled any reviews and I wanted to give an explanation. But DO NOT WORRY I have brought a bunch of books that will be read and reviewed after my vacation. :)

Yippee! Excitement! Off to bed now to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

Nighty-night!

Wdebo :)

Random Entertainment Clips (25)

-ENGLISH SUBBED-

Haha. They are both so cute together.
Aww Show has actually thought out his wedding. I think it sounds so cute, I would totally want to watch. :)
And Butterfly's wedding is totally how I want mine to be. Taiwanese delicies FTW!!!!

Hosts: Show and Butterfly
Guest: None (Live, I think)



Wdebo :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Daughters Break the Rules By: Joanna Philbin

Title: The Daughters Break The Rules
Author: Joanna Philbin
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 276
Publisher: Poppy
Release Date: November 2, 2010
Geared Towards: Teens
Extra Info: This is the second book of The Daughters series.
From: Publisher (Review Copy)

"I'm back, she thought as she headed toward the subway. I am so very, very back."


Summary (From B.O.B): After leaking a story about the family business, impetuous high school freshman Carina Jurgensen is cut off by her billionaire father. Always resourceful, she fibs her way into a job as a party planner for New York's annual Silver Snowflake Ball. But when Carina finds out that the party committee expects favors and freebies from her dad's A-list connections, she must make a choice. Does she get real about her downgraded status or pretend she's still the ultimate heiress?

Wdebo's Review: When I first started I wasn't sure how easy it would be for me to get into the story since I had not read the first book in the series but once I started it was easy to understand exactly what was happening. Though when I first began, I really enjoyed it (Most likely because I was also reading Lord of the Flies on the side and The Daughters Break the Rules was a good escape from the depressing-making object that was LOTF); however, as the novel progressed I quickly found myself though liking the storyline which was fun to read, but I found myself hating it also because of the characters, mainly Carina Jurgensen, and hating a main character does not make reading enjoyable.

The writing was good, it was clean, it was crisp and fun (I realized I'm going to use that word a lot, just warning you all :) ) Though it did not wow me at all, it was enjoyable. And the story was interesting to read about, I know I personally a small *cough* part of me has always wanted to be rich and it was cool to see the "life" of a rich girl and the people around her. As entertaining as it was from the beginning onwards I found the storyline to be too rushed. Everything flashed by quickly, there was an element of fickleness especially prominent in the beginning that I wasn't too keen about.

As stated above, I disliked Carina very very much. She is not the first rich teenager I have read a story about so it was not her snobby-ness that bothered me, she actually wasn't that snobby she was just totally childish and she was also in denial about her childishness so she kept saying things about how she was grown up and mature and not like all of the other rich kids her age, but she obviously had no idea what she was talking about. And even when she matured in the story she still annoyed me. It was most likely because even though they were high schoolers they still acted like total children, when I was first reading the book I thought they were elementary schoolers because they seemed so childlike. And all of the other characters seemed unreasonable and were unlikeable to me.

Cafe Cover Chat: I think the cover is cute in the innocent/childlike way. (B-)

All in all, though I was not a big fan of this novel for stated reasons above, those who have read and enjoyed the last novel will probably enjoy it more than I had.

Grade: C+

Wdebo :)
~~~~

Currently Listening To: Smokahontas By: Attack Attack!
Currently Reading: Passing Strange By: Daniel Waters

Friday, June 10, 2011

Stay By: Deb Caletti

Title: Stay
Author: Deb Caletti
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 320
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Geared Towards: Teens
From: Publisher (ARC)

"But if fate is a shape-shifter, then love is too. It can be, anyway, in its most dangerous form. It's your best day, and then your worst. It's your most hope and then your most despair. Lightness, darkness, it can swing between extremes at lightning speed-a boat upon the water on the most gorgeous day, and then the clouds crawl in and the sky turns black and the sea rages and the boat is lost."

Summary (From B.O.B): Clara's relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she's ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it's almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is-and what he's willing to do to make her stay.

Now Clara has left the city-and Christian-behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won't let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough...

Wdebo's Review: [Note: I read this book a couple of months ago so like my last review, this review may not be an accurate portrayal of exactly how I felt after reading the story. And I totally apologize in advance for my babblings, but I do have an excuse! I am writing this after my Summer bed time and am very very sleepy atm.] When I first started the book, I was skeptical as to whether or not I would enjoy it or not. Obsession in relationships is a very deep topic to write about especially in the case of YA novels, and to tell you the truth, depth in YA novels make me feel eeh, it's admirable but truthfully I would rather read a fun, cliche lol story about a clumsy/nerdy girl who falls for and in turn is being fallen for by (does that make sense?) some sexy basketball player. But enough of my randomness (Sorry, Summer makes me go on tangents.)

When it began I really was sure I was only going to like it somewhat, there was no doubt in my mind if Deb Caletti could write or not because, holy crap, her writing is wonderful, heart string tuggingly beautiful, but it was that quality that made me iffy towards my actual enjoyment of the novel (as can be seen from my giant blob of randomness above). I admit that in the first few chapters I loved yet disliked it at the same time, to me, it felt like the times when I read mind-probing, deep thinking inducing stories on fan fiction, it is amazing and lovely but there is something that feels off. Caletti's topic felt like something that could be discussed better in an older book, yet it had a teen aspect to it so it does make sense that it would be a part of YA, YET it still felt off, like it should have belonged in its own section between YA and adult.

However, as I continued to read, I fell deeper and deeper into the story, I craved it more and more until I reached that point in my book reading journey where I just could not put it down, like serious hard-core, sitting-on-the-edge-of-my-seat unable to tear my eyes away from the page kind of feeling. I remember reading the last part of the novel and feel like my heart was going to leap out of my chest because it was so wonderfully written, the emotions, the actions were all woven tightly together so it felt as if I was just running alongside Clara, feeding off her feelings.

I was not a big fan of Clara, not sure why, we just never really clicked. I didn't become BFFs with any of the other characters either, which was saddness-making.

Cafe Cover Chat: I love this cover, so pretty, except I'm not the biggest fan of the model's shirt. (A)

All in all, though me and Stay had a bumpy ride in the beginning it was quickly smoothed out and became a wonderfully addicting and beautiful story that I enjoyed. I can't wait to read more by Deb Caletti!

Grade: A-

Wdebo :)
~~~

Currently Listening To: Bewitched By: BOTDF
Currently Reading: The Daughters Break The Rules By: Joanna Philbin
Currently Thinking: Summer, how I love thee.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Nine Paths to Chloe King: Seventh Path

Hello, my beautiful blog readers. I have forgotten to post about how I am currently playing the "Nine Paths to Chloe King" game for ABC Family's premiere of "The Nine Lives of Chloe King" on June 14th.

I still remember reading this series in Middle School so I really want to see how it plays out on TV.

Anywho, the first part of this path is to show y'all the "Foe" symbol. So, here it is...


There was a small clue which consisted of a business card, a pen and an envelope (I would show it but I'm lazy right now :/ ) and it led me to this video.



Yep! Chloe King's enemies right there. [See, that's why I posted the symbol of "Foe"] =]]

There are two more paths. Can't wait to see what's going to happen next!!

Wdebo :)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

A&L Do Summer By: Jan Blazanin

Title: A & L Do Summer
Author: Jan Blazanin
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 288
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Geared Towards: Teens
From: Publisher (ARC)

"'This is my first summer in Cottonwood Creek and our last summer in high school. We're going to soar from the depths of anonymity to the peak of notoriety. By September, Aspen Parks and Laurel Piedmont will own this town.'"

Summary (From B.O.B): After a year in rural Cottonwood Creek, Iowa, city girl Laurel is still adjusting to a place where parties take place in barns, guys ride around in pickup tracks, and a killer senior prank involves getting pigs into the principal's office. Fortunately, she has her best friend Aspen on her side. The real problem is that neither the country girl nor the city slicker have boyfriends, nor any prospects for getting them. Clearly, they need to raise their profiles-and they have a summer to do it.

Wdebo's Review: [Note: I read this book a while back so my review might not be exactly what I thought when I first finished the story.] Looking at the summary, the first impression you get is that this is a story with Laurel as the main charcter, so when I first started the novel, that is exactly what I thought and I was very surprised when I realized that the story was from Aspen's point of view. In the beginning, I felt that Aspen was too childish for my taste, but the childish aspect of her personality gave me a comforting feeling and reminded me of the books I read in middle school. (A point I will touch on later). Later, Aspen seems to grow up some and she adopts a fun, calming tone of voice.

Aspen has a very sarcastic tone of voice that in the beginning which took a bit for me to get used to and enjoy but after the story progressed I enjoyed it more and more. Like I stated in the beginning, there was a middle-schoolish flair to the story. There was a childish fun to voice and the story itself; however, at times it felt strange because there was that feeling to the story and yet they were talking about more "older" subject matter like sex or stuff along that lines. So I would be reading and feel like I was a middle schooler reading my middle schooler books and all of a sudden I would hit one of those moments and I would be confused for a bit before I realized just what type of story I was reading.

The incidents in the story were very amusing and fun to read about even though I groaned everytime Aspen got herself into a situation where it was so obvious that nothing good was going to come out of it.

I liked Aspen's character but I was not a big fan of any of the other characters I felt them to be too annoying and hard to like.

Cafe Cover Chat: I'm not the biggest fan of the cover but it does add to the whole middle school flair that I was thinking about. But I do like the little heart in the corner, it's cute. (B-)

All in all, a great summer read that is light-hearted and enjoyable that gives a sort of middle grade feel to a YA novel.

Grade: B

Wdebo :)

Saturday, June 4, 2011

GRADUATION + Boats and Birds-Gregory and the Hawk

Hello my lovely blog readers. The time has come! I am going to graduation tonight. *EEKKKK* Well, after graduation I will have lots and lots of time to just laze around reading (Ubber excited for that). Anywho, hopefully I don't trip or fall tonight *Eep* Wish me luck!

Title: Boats and Birds
Artist: Gregory and the Hawk
Language: English
TTS: None

Wdebo's Notes: I love this song! So beautiful, this song just makes me happy everytime I hear it. :)

Listen and Love!



Wdebo :)