Evermore by Alyson Noel

       Evermore is the first book in The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel. After an accident that took away her parents and her younger sister, Ever Bloom finds herself as the only survivor and with the ability to see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story only by touching them. Living with her aunt Sabine now, Ever isolates herself from everyone else at her new school, only talking to her best friends. When a new guy named Damen Auguste comes to her school, Ever will discover a world of secrets and mystery.
      Getting into Evermore was really difficult, I never actually got into it I just forced myself to continue to read it hoping it would get better towards the end. The book felt slow and the main character, Ever, sort of annoyed me at times. I felt sympathy for her because she lost her family and got abilities she'd rather not have, but it felt like she felt sorry for herself too much. I'm sure this will change as the series progresses and she discovers herself but in this book I didn't enjoy it. 
      What I did like about this book was the concept, I like the idea of psychic abilities and I find it interesting. The book isn't about vampires or werewolves which is great because it's something different. Al in all I give the book 3 out of 5 stars because I see potential for the story in the later books.

(247 words)

Crime Is Pride

                                    Think: all men make mistakes

But a good man yields when he

Knows his course is wrong,

And repairs the evil: The only

Crime is pride.

      
        Crime is Pride I believe is very accurate and true. The quote is saying how a person should know when they are wrong and when they are doing something that is wrong. A person then, sometimes, knows how to fix their problem or tries to fix it even if they don't know how. The quote says how there's nothing wrong with being wrong as long as you're willing to fix your problem and admit to being wrong. And the final line of the quote is saying how pride can overtake a person and the way they look at everything ethically and morally.
       An example that relates to this quote is if a student gets a wrong and different answer to an algebra problem than their friend and the the friend explains why it's wrong and the student admits it and sees how he's wrong is what the poem is saying. But if the student only believes that he is right because he really believes it even though their friend showed him why he's wrong, then that is the pride getting in the way.
       Pride can be a dangerous thing is what the quote is overall saying. An example would be infamous men like Hitler who always believed to be right and they stopped at nothing to enforce their beliefs on others, where did that pride lead men like Hitler? They were typically captured or even died because they never admitted that what they were doing was ethically and morally wrong. In the beginning, before Hitler had power, he was making mistakes by discriminating on the people he was against but he took that mistake and transformed it into a crime by going so far as to making innocent people suffer. Since he didn't admit to his mistake, that ultimately became a crime and it is what caused his downfall.
        Mistakes that are transformed into crimes just because you believe to be right is what I believe the overall message of this quote is exemplified by the students and their algebra homework to people like Hitler.

(345 words, not including quote)

Start By Writing Your Story

           Every person out there has their own way of coming up with an idea when you have to write an essay for language arts. Usually though, you take inspiration from something you know about in your life or have some sort of interest in (obviously because no one wants to write about something they don't want to learn about, right?). Have you ever realized though, that when you start writing about something you know or you want to understand and learn more about, you end up writing that essay for language arts, or whatever class it's for, much more smoothly or easily. Most people don't like writing, especially writing essays for a class. Writing doesn't always have to be just for class though.
       Authors make a living by writing their own stories, by putting down their own ideas on paper and breathing life into characters that wouldn't have existed today if it weren't for them. Thanks to authors out there such as J.K Rowling and Suzanne Collins, they've given us characters that a lot of people adore like Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen. Through their stories, authors teach us lessons which we take as we go through our lives. Though you may not think so, books and authors and their writing impact us in some way at some point in our lives. I'm sure that if you haven't had a book that has changed your life, I'm sure you will soon at some point in the future. It's just impossible to go through life and not have a book impact you in some way, impact in the way you think or in the way you live your life. 
       Authors have a beautiful job. They create a world, they create characters, they create misery and happiness and they teach us a lesson. It's amazing to think that all of this is possible in just a few hundred pages or so. That's one of the reasons why I adore writing and why I'd love to be an author one day whose work is recognized and why everyone should try writing their own story in some way, whether it be by journal entries, a novel, or even poetry. 
       Writing can be difficult though. Like anything, a lot of time and effort needs to be put into your writing, it doesn't really matter what it is you're writing, anything you're writing should show that you put the time and effort into it. I think the most meaningful pieces of writing, are the ones that have had the most time and effort put into them.
       If you're writing journal entries, it's not too difficult to write because you just find the format that is best for you. Sometimes I write my journal entries in poetry format because it's less words, yet you're able to capture what you're trying to say perfectly but sometimes I feel like really getting into detail and by the time I'm done with my journal entry I have three to four pages in my journal filled, both back and front. 
       When writing poetry, it can literally be about anything. If you want to write about love then write about love, if you want to write about that delicious chocolate cake your mom makes then you can write about it. Poetry i endless possibilities. 
      Another form of writing would be writing a novel.  Writing a novel can be really difficult and it takes a lot of time. The novel I wrote took me 10 months to write and finish, I'm still in the process of typing it up and so far I have like three or four chapters typed up out of twenty something and I'm at about 10,000 words. I personally prefer to hand write my novels first though, I'm not exactly sure why, I mean I'm pretty fast at typing but I prefer writing my novels in $10.00 journals (yeah, I know, that's outrageous but it's what I do). It can also take a lot of time to research if you need to research and it takes a lot of notes and outlining. I personally don't outline and I choose not to, outlining just isn't for me, I just go along with my story and I even end up surprising myself when I'm writing. So, if I surprise myself I'm sure the readers end up just as surprised. When you're writing, the characters just end up writing the story for you, they develop their own minds and you're just the person putting pen to paper. Which is what every story should be like, I personally believe. 
      Sticking to writing a novel can be difficult though. I have many notebooks lying around with stories I've started but haven't finished and I probably won't finish since I'm really focusing on a specific series right now. 
      In the end, writing whatever you want in whatever format you want to is just amazing. Because with your writing you can change a life, as cheesy as that sounds it's true. I never really realized I loved writing until I picked up a book by an author I hadn't really heard about, Cassandra Clare, back in eighth grade. Thanks to her and a lot of my language arts teachers, I've come to realize my love for writing, and one day I want to be able to impact others with my writing. To think, my love for writing started because of someone who started her own story. 

(910 words)

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

        Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare is the last book of The Infernal Devices Trilogy. It was released on March 19, 2013 following Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince. Clockwork Princess picks up a few weeks after where Clockwork Prince left off. 
       Tessa Gray, is preparing herself for her wedding to one of the boys that she loves and is struggling with her love for both boys, who also happen to be best friends (who also have a deeper bond than just friendship, they're like brothers) Will Herondale and James Carstairs. 
       For the last few weeks, it's been quiet since Tessa's enemy (Mortmain, also can go by the Magister), who's after her, hasn't bothered her or any of her friends. But those peaceful, quiet weeks are over when Mortmain steals away all of the supply of a drug that James (Jem) Carstairs survival depends on. Throughout the book, Tessa and her friends try to save Jem and try to save the Shadowhunter race, which Mortmain is dedicated in getting rid of. Along the way, Tessa tries to figure out who her heart really belongs to.
        This was one of the best books by Cassandra Clare, I have to say. The rest of her books are amazing and she's like my favorite author but I definitely enjoyed this one because it was constantly surprising me. I've said this before because it's true, usually I can predict the outcome but with this book I couldn't. Every time I thought I knew where the story was going I was proved wrong. 
       Though the story does have love in it, the love story/ triangle doesn't dominate the entire book like it does in a lot of young adult fiction. Yeah, it is involved because she loves both boys in different ways and they each lover her in different ways to but it's not always about the romance. 
      There's a lot of action because all the characters are trying to stop Mortmain from destroying the Shadowhunters which happens to be very difficult when he has a robot army preventing them from stopping him. Then there's the fact that Mortmain likes to be behind the scenes, he's not the easiest person to find especially when at one point the main characters didn't even know his true identity. 
       The characters all develop a lot, you see drastic changes in characters you didn't really expect to change and it works. By the end of the story you come to adore all the characters! You care for the characters and your heart breaks for the people who are hurt in the book. 
       All in all I enjoyed Clockwork Princess and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. 

(447 words)

Still Into You by Paramore

        Paramore by Paramore is the self-titled album for the band, Paramore. It's the fourth studio album, which was released on April 5, 2013, and the first album to not have two of the founding members, brothers, Zac and Josh Farro. The album has 17 songs and includes singles, Now which was released on January 22, 2013 and Still Into You (which is the song/ music video I'll be reviewing) which was released March 14, 2013.
       One of my favorite songs from the self-titled album would be Still Into You. I'd say it's my ultimate favorite, I enjoyed Still Into You because the song is fun and catchy, it's really upbeat and if you watch the video it totally catches the fun and upbeat tone it has to the song. The video includes Paramore just dancing around and riding bikes around the house and at one point it includes the lead singer, Hayley Williams singing as the other two band members Taylor York and Jeremy Davis ride around her in their bikes. Later on in the video, it includes shots of the lead singer, Hayley Wiliams, in a large bed in a pastel colored room as she's singing. Then there's a scene where where there's a light show of fireworks shown against the wall of the house. My favorite part of the video is when the band, Paramore is outside playing with sparklers while fireworks are going off in the background.
       The song basically talks about how you and your loved one are no longer together after having a sort of messy breakup and how you should probably be over them now because that's what's best and you're still not, you still care about them now as much as you cared about them before. Even though the song is really catchy, I think it's still possible to have an important message at the same time. And the message that I get from the song is rather simple which is I still care about my loved one and I always will, even if we did have a fallout, they'll always be an important person in my life because they had a major impact on me and that's never going to change.
       I enjoy the song because Paramore is still as great as ever and this song is the evidence for that. Even though I'll miss Josh and Zac Farro, Paramore is still a good band and it seems like all the members are happy with their lives right now. I give this song 5 out of 5 stars and the music video too.

(431 words)
        

Why You Should Read Classics

         Have you read a classic before and actually liked it? Even though you don't like to admit it, and I don't know why, I'm sure you've encountered one that you didn't mind reading. I know that when we're in school we have to read books we'd rather not read, we'd rather much read a romance novel such as The Notebook or a sports story or a paranormal book.
But I think reading classics is a good thing! It exposes you to different genres that you probably wouldn't have gotten into if you weren't "forced" to read whatever classic. I've read a few good books because of school and gotten really interested into new authors. Freshmen year I didn't mind Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, I've always enjoyed that time period in history and reading Great Expectations helped me learn a few things and I enjoyed the story.
         Another positive about reading classics is you learn new words. I feel like the books written these days don't have as much new vocabulary as classics, probably because we're not really taught those words these days which is a pity because learning new words is always great!

         Classics also teach you lessons. I know that each book has a moral but I feel like the lessons of classics teach you a lot more. The impact classics have on you is a lot more than books I read that were written now. To me, the classics, have always stayed with me longer. There are few books that written in these days that have stayed with me.

        Sure, there will be times when you don't really like one book but that's true with every genre. Sometimes you really love one book but completely hate another book, in the same genre. You shouldn't let genres limit you though, don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone and try something new every once in a while. 

        Some of the books I've enjoyed include, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and Macbeth also by William Shakespeare. Currently I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, who is probably best known for writing The Three Musketeers, and I like it, it's about 1000 pages or so.

         But if you're looking to try something new when it comes to reading I would definitely recommend giving classics a chance.

(410 words)

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

      Clockwork Prince is the second book in The Infernal Devices trilogy, following the first book Clockwork Angel and the third, and final book, is Clockwork Princess which was released about a month ago on March 19, 2013. These books are written by the same author who has written The Mortal Instruments Series, Cassandra Clare. Clockwork Prince was published about two years ago on December 11, 2011. The cover shows one of the main characters, Jem Carstairs. 
       Clockwork Prince starts off where Clockwork Angel left off. Tessa Gray, the protagonist, decides to stay at The Institute in London (set in Victorian London). While she's there, she becomes allies with the Shadowhunters, in ancient race dedicated in killing demons in order to protect humans. 
       Tessa stays not only to discover her heritage and unravel secrets her parents hid but she also stays to help and support her new friends. As she becomes closer with Jem Carstairs, Will Herondale tries to rid himself of a curse that's starting to make him lose everything.
      My second time reading this book and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time. The characters are amazing and entertaining. They all have their own issues their dealing with and it's really interesting seeing how they get from one situation to the next. The adventures the main characters go through (Tessa, Will, and Jem) together is really interesting because you're constantly surprised and I;m not usually surprised when I read books but the first time I read this book I was and this second time I noticed things I ddin't notice before. 
      Love triangles are typically not actually love triangles. Bot guys will usually love the same girl and then the girl will only actually love one of the guys. When Cassandra Clare writes, she makes sure that it's definitely a love triangle which means that the main characters usually loves each guy just as much as the other. And in this book you start to see the development of that love triangle. In Clockwork Angel, you have the relationship between Will and Tessa but in this relationship you start to see Jem and Tessa. Cassandra Clare writes love triangles in such an amazing way because from reading her books, you always know that the love these characters have for one another is so pure and selfless, there's just no competition between the boys in this series because they're best friends and they all want each other to be happy. 
      The action in the book I think is a little less then the first book. There aren't really any huge action scenes, just a lot of investigating. Though the book lacks a little action, the secrets and the investigation make up for it. 
       I give Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare 4 out of 5 stars. 

(470 words)