An EPIC Giveaway!

Dawn Metcalf is hosting an amazing giveaway with LOTS of prizes involved! Click here for more!

Giveaway!

I'm so bad at updating my blog now. I've been extremely busy. School is over in 2 weeks so I can work on the blog more when school is out! Yay.

Alice Marvels (my primary YA news-updater) is holding a giveaway! It's a big one too!

The grand prize winner will receive a KINDLE, and 8 runner-up will get a SIGNED book! :)

This is big, guys. So be sure to check it out HERE.

I'll be back soon and I'll update so much you'll get tired of me! :)

Michelle

Comatose by Skillet!

My new favorite song. Sorry if you aren't a fan of louder music. I just really love this message and of course Skillet's lead singer, John's voice. ^-^

Sorry everyone!

I haven't posted in 2 monthsss. Wow I didn't know it was such a long time with me gone. My apologies! I'd just like to announce a giveaway by the lovely Cindy Pon, author of the Fury of the Phoenix and the Silver Phoenix! She's giving away both of these books to a lucky commenter! Check it out here. I'll come back to talk with you all in a bit!

Oops... I did it again.

Haha. Sorry. Yet again I fail to update my blog daily. It's not like I have much followers anyways. :3

Today I had my guitar lesson. It was pretty good, my teacher helped me with parts I didn't understand.

I had a loooot to do today. I started working on my Geometry project at 7pm today and finished at 9:30. Then my brother decides to start on it at 10pm the night before it's due. Of course he isn't very skilled in cutting cardboard, or coloring with colored pencils, so I helped him until 12am tonight. I still haven't started studying for my two tests or work on my 2 paragraphs for Anne Frank due tomorrow. And it's 12:40am.... -__-''

To top it all off, since I have been really busy this week, I haven't been able to go to the library to get some books on the Cold War (my research topic for English). So I have to do that tomorrow. It's probably going to take like 3 or 4 hours just to get some books like it always does. ;-; And that is due Thursday.

Busy busy week. I haven't been able to read I Am #4. I actually lost it yesterday. I found it today in 7th period. It was in the desk under a piece of paper. Oops. I'm just glad no one stole it. You have to admit, it looks like a pretty good/valuable book.

I'm boring you now. I'll grab a song for y'all in a sec.

Michelle

Boston by Augustana

Here ya go. :) Changed the date to avoid confusion.

A Day To Remember-Have Faith In Me

Enjoy~(:

Moments Between Sleep - VersaEmerge

My current favorite song right now. I love it .. it is packed with meaning. :D "It's amazingly strange... how we all seem to change." Check out the band, they are my favorite band as well. They are extremely talented. Tomorrow is Friday! Yay.

If It Means a Lot to You - A Day To Remember

Sorry everyone. I've been really busy and I keep forgetting to give you guys a daily song. This is still for February 9th. I'll be posting a song for February 10th later. :) Anyways, I really like this song, it's catchy. Enjoy.

Blake Harnage - "Let Go" HQ

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a looonnng time. I've been really busy, so I truly apologize. Here is a beautiful cover from Blake Harnage, the guitarist in the band VersaEmerge. I love his voice.

Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt - Review

Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt

Publisher: Atheneum Books

Release Date: July 1st, 2003

Source: Borders

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“I have the feeling that I know who I am, only I'm not anymore.”

Dicey's Song was absolutely beautiful. I cried near the end.

Set in the 1980's, the second book of the Tillerman Cycle, Dicey's Song, picks up from the end of the Homecoming, the first book. The Tillerman children have been welcomed into their grandmother's house. Throughout the book, Dicey gets a job at a store and goes to school. She befriends a girl named Mina from her class. She also listens to a boy named Jeff play guitar every afternoon right after school. Their mother, who is in a hospital in Boston, isn't really talked about during the first half of the book.

As the story progresses, more problems and situations are introduced to Dicey. It becomes harder for Dicey to make decisions. Her grandma advises her to just hold on to her loved ones, but at the same time just let go. Dicey has never had to let go before in her life. She has to make one of the hardest decisions she has ever made.

I extremely recommend this book, and this whole series. Cynthia Voigt is a truly inspirational writer. I love her descriptions and how she plays out the story. She is very creative and a very deep writer. I plan to read some more of her works.

Dicey's Song will definitely play with your emotions and you will suddenly feel grateful for the things in your life. That is why I loved this book.

Fury of the Phoenix Giveaway

Hey everyone,

A friend of Cindy Pon (author of the Fury of the Phoenix!) is giving away an ARC of Fury, and a paperback of Silver Phoenix, along with a $50 giftcard. This book looks so interesting, I will definitely read it in the future. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is come up with a haiku and tweet it! For more information, click here.

Ciao,

Michelle

Afterlife Giveaway

Author Courtney Allison Moulton is giving away the book Afterlife by Claudia Gray. Check it out here.

Deadline is February 6th! Better hurry. :)

The Vespertine

I know I made an earlier post about the book, but I just wanted to let all of you know that The Vespertine is coming out in one month! Ready yourselves! So exciting~

Books, Homework, Mile

Ugh. What a long week. On Tuesday I went to guitar practice and I learned a lot of hard stuff that I don't think I can do. So I'm getting extremely unmotivated. I guess I have to practice more... I've only practiced twice this whole week...

Both Tuesday and Wednesday night I fell asleep doing my homework. Both nights I started homework at around 9pm. FAIL. Today I started at 11pm. Lol. And I'm slacking... right now it's 11:59 pm and I've only done one assignment. But this time I'm sitting up so I don't fall asleep.... -.-;

I'm currently 67% through Dicey's Song! Then I will read I am #4 for my bookclub. By the way, I just have to mention that I actually, for the first time in my life, won a book! It was a giveaway from goodreads, and the book is Emily and Einstein. I think it's a more adult-ish book so I'm giving it to my mom to read. :3

Today we ran the mile. It was my first mile in 10 weeks or so, and after I couldn't breath and my throat was so sore from breathing too hard. So whenever I cough or laugh it hurts. :( I got 8:04 for the mile, which isn't bad.. since my record is like 7:40. :)

I have had my contacts in for 70 hours or more, since I fell asleep both nights I didn't have time to soak my contacts in solution. Goodnight everyone.

September by Daughtry

Sorry, didn't have a song yesterday. Enjoy!

Everywhere by Michelle Branch

An old song that I love. (:

Fireflight - What I've Overcome

Heard this on the radio today. :) Enjoy.

The Vespertine

The Vespertine is a book about a woman named Amelia who goes to Baltimore to search for a husband by her brother's request. She starts to have visions, which later begin to come true.

PJ Hoover is giving away an ARC of The Vespertine. The deadline is February 4th. Better hurry and enter! If you do manage to read the Vespertine, please tell me how it goes!

PJ Hoover's Giveaway

Secrets - One Republic Lyrics

I like this song :).

River Flows In You - Yiruma ft. Anne Manda

I've always been a fan of Yiruma's "River Flows In You". When I heard this version of the song, I was blown away. This is a really beautiful song.

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto - Review

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Release Date: August 31, 2010

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“A man in love can do extraordinary things, I don’t care if you’re an angel, you’re my angel, and I won’t let you go.”

I finished Halo by Alexandra Adornetto! I must say, the general idea is really interesting, but it is very obvious that the majority of her ideas came from Twilight. A few examples are people's eyes turning from vivid colors to coal black, going to a nearby city to buy prom dresses with her 2 friends, "There are 2/3 things that I am absolutely certain", etc. It is pretty annoying as you progress into the book, because I felt I was reading Twilight over again, but with even more helpless, selfish characters.

3 angels are sent to Earth on a mission to fight dark forces in Venus Cove, a small beach town in Australia. Beth, the youngest and most naive angel, is sidetracked from her mission and falls in love with a teenage boy named Xavier. Beth and Xavier form a very close relationship, which is against the laws according to Heaven. The majority of the book is lacking in plot or conflict, and is usually Beth going around with Xavier and her friends at school or at restaurants and stores.

Xavier's and Beth's love for each other is pretty sickening. They are apart for an hour and Beth feels like she could die. About 150 pages of the book repeats over and over their "undying love" for each other and that Xavier is all Beth thinks about when they are apart.

My favorite character in this book is Gabriel. He is reserved and wise in his choice-making. I believe Ivy was made too happy, joyful, etc. Gabriel has a cautious personality, and is always looking out for his siblings.

Even with all these major errors in the book, I still find Halo a somewhat enjoyable read, but I know it failed to satisfy most of the people on here who reviewed it. I guess I'm just into this kind of (empty) story.

UNEARTHLY

Cynthia Hand's new book Unearthly came out on January 4th! Have any of you guys read it yet? It looks super good, I'm thinking about reading it. Cynthia herself is actually holding a giveaway contest for this book! It ends January 31. Here's the link:

Cynthia's Book Giveaway Contest

My goodreads, books, my crave for Andes Mints.

Hey Everyone!

As you can tell, I am back to Blogger. I totally forgot about this for a year (or two). I have some updates:

My Goodreads account! Goodreads is totally addicting, I got into it in December (sorry this does not open into a new window/tab):

Michelle's Goodreads Account

Also, you should join the awesome book club that I am in on Goodreads! :

Kids/Teens Book Club

The members are extremely nice and know what they are doing when it comes to discussing books and the like! I really enjoy being part of the club. : )

You can keep track of all my reviews and what I'm reading and stuff on my goodreads account! Speaking of my current reads...

I just finished Halo by Alexandra Adornetto. It was okay I guess. I really liked the plot but the author was very unoriginal. I will be reviewing the book soon, so watch for it. : )

So, since I'm done with Halo, I am going to start reading the second book in the Tillerman trilogy, Dicey's Song. I read the first book, The Homecoming, for an English book report, but I loved it, so I decided to buy the second book. It is an extremely sad story about 4 homeless children, whom their mother abandon due to the constant stress she experienced from being a single parent. I'm really excited to read it!

RANDOM: Lately I've been eating Andes Mints. They are soo good. LOL. Who else likes them? (8 But my favorite is still Twix. o_o

Gentleman HaHa (not Lady GaGa)

Meet Gentleman Haha! Haha, I know this is old but it's really funny. I'm back to Blogger guys! :)