[Picture taken from Wikipedia.com]

The movie was pretty good.  It was definitely left more open-ended than I thought the end of a trilogy would be.  The background of some of the characters seemed a bit altered from the way I remember it in the comic books, but I suppose that was to help the plot run smoother.  They weren’t huge changes, anyway.

There was a lot of violence, although it was pretty clean (no blood or gore).  There is a lot of sacrifice and patriotic symbolism, which was interesting.  I had never personally connected Gotham with America, but the two seamed together well.

The profanity wasn’t noticeable, and the one “sex scene” was treated with a lot of prudence (one passionate kiss and then a cut to the girl wrapped in a thick blanket poking at a fire in the fireplace).  So, considering a lot of movies lately that I’ve been afraid to even rent, this one was pretty safe.

I try not to publish any of the plot, although the twists were well done.  I think my favorite character was Selena Kyle (although I always seem to root for the girl “superheroes” in any of the films anyway.  I always feel like they have more complicated pasts).  Anne Hathaway did a decent job capturing the dual nature of Catwoman.

Overall, the Dark Knight trilogy promotes unity and learning to trust and believe in those closest to you.  This third movie is great, if even you haven’t seen the other two.  Though, I would definitely recommend all three.  :)

I’ve only read the first one of this series, and I will probably read the others, however it seems to have wrapped up all the questions in this book.  That probably means new questions will be addressed in the other books.

Maggie Stiefvater has a unique interpretation of the werewolf myth.  You still become one if you get bitten, but instead of the werewolf turning because of the moon, it actually turns because of the cold.  If it gets below a certain degree, the transformation begins.  After switching back and forth for several years, there will be one year when the person doesn’t regain his human form, and then they are a normal wolf for the rest of their lives.

The book is told from the perspective of both Sam and Grace.  Sam is the werewolf, who saved Grace when she was little.  Grace, ever since the attack, is obsessed with the wolves outside her home, particularly the one with yellow eyes  (it’s no spoiler alert that the yellow-eyed wolf is Sam).  When someone is bitten at her school and dies, the town starts a campaign to rid the wolves of their woodland home once and for all.  Also, this may be Sam’s last human year, but there may be a possible, albeit  dangerous, cure.

At first, the book seemed to be rushed to set up plot points.  I felt like a lot of it was underdeveloped, but I understood the necessity of the rush by the end of the book.  Stiefvater has a lot to tell you in a short amount of time.  I do like how they took a more scientific approach to the myth instead of interweaving a lot of magic.  It was a nice change from some of the other books I have read in the past (although don’t get me wrong, I love those books too).  Definitely a recommend.

This book was written by Gretchen Rubin, who is most known for her biographies.  She was inspired to pursue this project while riding on the bus one day, thinking about how much she wanted to have more gratitude in daily life, being a happier individual.

So, she divided her pursuit into eleven different categories.  Each category was divided into resolutions which she tracked on her resolution chart.  Then, in December, she attempted to follow all of the resolutions perfectly.

I really liked this book.  It reminds me of a toned down “Eat, Pray, Love.”  It definitely inspired me to look at life differently and learn more focused ways on self-improvement.  I’m all about self-improvement.  :)

However, she didn’t follow each pursuit perfectly.  She did learn from them, though.  It was encouraging to read along her journey, and perhaps I will make one of my very own someday soon.  I mean, we could all benefit from a little more happiness, couldn’t we?

I think it was Good Reads that recommended this book, based on all the Young Adult supernatural literature I read obsessively.  It was pretty good, reminded me a little of House of Night (although to be fair, I only read the first book in that series).

The story surrounds Sophie.  She grew up with her human mom and didn’t know she was a witch until she turned 12, when all Prodigium (witches, faeries, shape shifters) came into their powers.  Anyway, she misuses her powers, and she ends up in a reformatory school for Prodigium.

She finds out that before she arrived, there was a mysterious death of one of the students.  They all blame it on her roommate (who is a vampire), but something of course doesn’t add up.  Then, slowly, one by one, other witches in the school are getting attacked.  Again, the blame points to the vampire, but not everything is as it seems.

The second book surrounds her relationship with her father and her family history.  Her father is the head of the council that seems to be dwindling in numbers by death.  She learns that not everything in the first book is as it seemed, and she was arranged to be married when she was younger (it brings in that love triangle that so many people love to read about these days).

The third book, of course, resolves everything from the first two books (which boy is she going to end up with, will they vanquish the bad guys, etc).  There are some surprises in this book as well regarding more of her family history on her mother’s side.  I think I read both the second and third book in a day.

The story was really light.  Not all of the questions are answered in the first book, but by the end of the series, everything comes around full circle.  The one thing I actually really liked was that this author doesn’t change any of the folklore surrounding these supernatural beings (like Twilight does as well as other contemporary books).  I like the limitations, and they play well throughout the book.

If you are a really big Twilight/supernatural YA book fan, then I would recommend this series for a nice day on the beach.  But bring the whole series with you, the reading is quite easy.

After reading Heaven is for Real, I thought maybe I had become too worldly to understand God’s power.  I do that sometimes.  I get really involved and focused on one thing, and well, the rest of it kind of fades away.  But that didn’t stop me from picking up this book from the local library.

Oh my goodness, I had no idea how wonderful this book was going to be.  First, I didn’t find it in the religious section of the library (I know my Dewey Decimal system because I was a page during the summer on year in college).  Instead, I found it with the Dallas Fort Worth travel information.  So, I had no idea why this book was recommended to me by pretty much anyone I knew.

In a sentence, this book was one of the most beautiful testimonies of a woman of God, Debbie, carrying out her purpose here on earth, and the love she had and received from the two men in her life.  The book was told through two people, Ron (her husband) and Denver (a homeless man whose life was completely changed by this woman).  Debbie changed their lives and their hearts, and what blossomed was a beautiful friendship between these two unlikely characters.

It’s all about service and selflessness.  This one did make me cry several times for the pain and the joy that these three people went through to change the face of the homeless society in Fort Worth.  If I ever visit there again, I will definitely see it through new eyes.

Even if you aren’t from this area, I encourage you to check out this story.  It’s a wonderful story and truly God blessed.

Okay, I feel like a heretic for saying this, but I didn’t really get into this book.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing portrayal of God’s love for us, and the messages that God uses children to share.  I guess maybe this wasn’t the right time in my life to read this book.  My friend said that it was because I didn’t have kids that I wasn’t balled in a corner crying in amazement.  Maybe I just want to be surprised about heaven and not have definitive evidence that it exists.  Am I weird for that?

So, the pictures of heaven and the people that he met there didn’t really move me, but what did move me was the comforting message he had for his mother for her miscarriage.  I don’t want to give it away too much, but it was such an incredible message of peace.

Perhaps I will pick the book up again when I have had kids and give it another chance.  That’s probably the advice I would give to anyone interested in reading the book.  If kids aren’t in your picture yet, hold off to read this book until they are.  Although, I say that and there will probably be someone exactly like me who bawled their eyes out.  Read the book, and you decide.  :)

I picked one recipe for dinner that I had never done before, however I couldn’t do too many actual cooking recipes because I work 8 hours out of the day.  So, for two other recipes I chose shakes that I had never tried before.  One of them was a protein shake and the other was a splurge shake.

Now, I have tried several different ways to present recipes on this blog.  Sometimes I use pictures to illustrate like here, and sometimes it’s just a copy and paste of a recipe like here.  However, these are not my actual recipes, they are ones that I found other places, and I want to give these places props.  So, instead of simply copying and pasting recipes, I will put up pictures and a link to the actual site, then a short review.  These are great sites and deserve a looky-lou.  Here are the recipes:

Chocolate-covered Strawberry Shake from Eat-Yourself-Skinny.com

This was a very light shake.  I used a different protein powder, and it didn’t seem to dissolve well (there was a residue at the bottom, but it didn’t affect most of the drinking experience).  Still, it definitely did taste like a chocolate covered strawberry, and in the end, that’s what really counts.  :)

Lemon and Garlic Shrimp with Chickpeas also from Eat-Yourself-Skinny.com

Now, I don’t like chickpeas usually.  But the mixture between the spices and the shrimp was perfect.  Also, I got to garnish it with parsley from my kitchen windowsill herb garden!  Definitely something I would try again.

Reduced Fat Oreo Milkshake from Myfitnesspal.com

This was a “splurge” shake (and an excellent reason to indulge in reduced fat oreos.  I haven’t had them in FOREVER).  It was really yummy, although in the future, I will probably use less ice.  It was more like an oreo slushie, when I was thinking it would be creamier.

Today, I’ve been working on my private Facebook.  I created a cover photo with some recent pictures for my cover on my timeline.  I used Smilebox, only the free app portion of the site, but I don’t think I’m going to continue using it.  It was very easy to use and very clean, but a lot of the reviews say that it’s a bugger to cancel subscriptions (even though I never intended to divulge my credit card information).  Still, I got a nice collage from the deal, so I can’t complain.  :)

My smilebox photo

Hope you all are having a great week!

A friend recommended a series by Phillipa Gregory, starting with “The White Queen”.  I knew Gregory from The Other Boelyn Girl which became a movie some years ago.  While I didn’t read that particular series, I do love a good historical fiction.  So, I thought I would try it out with her more recent book series

The story is about the actual queen of England, Elizabeth Woodville, during the War of the Roses in the 1400s. The War of the Roses was a civil war between the Lancaster family and the York family over the crown.  Elizabeth’s first husband died on the Lancaster side and left her to raise their two sons.  So, she seeks out Edward IV, the York man who is claiming the throne, and ends up marrying him and eventually becoming queen.  Of course, that’s not the end of this story, only the beginning (you didn’t think I would give away the ending, did you?)

Gregory interweaves the true history with legend and magic.  Elizabeth’s mother was actually charged with witchcraft, which is a thread through Gregory’s entire book.  They are from the Burgundy family line which claims the water goddess, Melusina, as their direct ancestor.  Gregory uses that plus other legendary stories about Elizabeth throughout her book.  I like how Gregory extensively researches her stories so that they can be as close to truth as possible.  It’s both educational and entertaining.

The book, itself, is an easy read.  It gets a little intense at times, but never graphic.  As far as the amount of profanity, sex and violence, there is actually very little.  There is a lot of innuendo, but never outright graphic as I have seen in a lot of other adult novels.  If you like historical fiction or British folklore and history, this is definitely a book you will want to read.

My book for this month was “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.  It was recommended on Pinterest by people who liked the Hunger Games, so I thought I would try it.  I didn’t even really read the synopsis before picking it up at the library.  I just wanted to read a story without knowing anything about it.  And I really enjoyed this surprise.

When my husband asked me how the book was, I replied that it was both depressing and wonderful.  The story takes place in Nazi Germany right before World War II.  The book is mainly about a girl named Liesel and the death that surrounds her in her adolescent life.  In fact, the story is narrated by Death, himself.

The story starts out with death.  Liesel and her brother are on their way to a foster family when her brother dies on the train.  Liesel and her mother bury her brother in a no name town, and Liesel manages to steal a Gravedigger’s handbook from the graverdigger’s assistant.  Thus begins her illustrious book stealing career.  The story continues as she learns the importance of words, and also how words can give life to those around her and bring death as well.

Death discusses more than just Liesel’s life, taking in moments about the war and the concentration camps.  He also talks about a Jewish man named Max and how his life intertwines with Liesel.  Although one of my favorite quotes was when Death was discussing World War I and how the boys in that war “thought they were running towards each other, but in reality, they were running towards me.”

Another theme in the book was the beautiful descriptions of the sky.  When Death collects souls, instead of looking at the mangled bodies, he takes note of the color of the sky.  Liesel will describe the color of the sky to Max when he is in hiding.  The imagery and word usage in describing people and things in Liesel’s life were so gorgeous and brillant.

I definitely recommend this book, but read it between happier ones.  It really is quite depressing, but well worth it.

What books have you read lately that you would recommend?

This month I read “Best of Me” by Nicholas Sparks.  I don’t really read a lot of Sparks.  The stories tend to follow the same formula, however Sparks said that this book was a little different.  I got this book for Christmas, so I thought why not find out if it’s different or not.

The book surrounds the story of high school sweethearts, Dawson and Amanda.  They come from different worlds and once realizing what Amanda would have to give up, Dawson breaks it off at the end of high school.  Amanda goes on to college, marriage and raising kids.  Dawson leaves their hometown, disowns his jail-worthy family, and works on oil rigs, keeping to himself pretty much.

They both return to their hometown years later when a mutual mentor, Tuck, dies.  Tuck was there for Dawson during Dawson’s teenage years and for Amanda during her adulthood.  Seeing each other again brought on so many “what if” questions.  It doesn’t help that Amanda is already heartbroken over the death of one of her children and dissatisfied by her marriage.  In effect, she willingly explores this renewed passion she experiences with Dawson.  However, it brings her to have to make a choice.  Is she willing to leave her life behind her to pursue this relationship with Dawson, or will she stay where she is?

Honestly, this book made me slightly frustrated.  All I could think about was how flippantly Amanda viewed her marriage.  Yes, her husband was an alcoholic and their marriage was strained at best, but to use that as an excuse to explore a passionate relationship with someone else?  I don’t know.  That really hit me the wrong way, even if they were meant to be soul mates.

I know that it’s all fantasy, and I’m probably just over analyzing it.  It’s just…  Ok, first, if Amanda had this kind of passionate love for Dawson, why get married to someone else?  And then, just because things seemed to be perfect (because really the mentor set up things pretty nicely before he died), why throw away the promise you made to someone else because you feel like it?

The story has a few more twists and turns, although some of the turns are a little predictable.  There’s even a bit of a ghost story in there as well.  Would I recommend the book?  Well, if you are a Sparks fan, I would say to check it out and see for yourself.  It’s not written like his other books, but it does have a good flow to it.  The other characters in the story are interesting.  If you haven’t read Nicholas Sparks, I would suggest maybe his earlier stuff more.  If you are like me and have seen more of his movies than his books, skip this one and watch The Notebook again.  :)

I love reading Young Adult novels, particularly the sci-fi ones.

Yes, it all started with Twilight, but I have moved on from that particular series to another one about vampires.  If you haven’t read The Vampire Academy series, and you loved Twilight, then I would highly recommend it.  Richelle Mead is a pretty amazing author that pulls her story from Romanian mythology.  It has two different vampire races, the Moroi (who are born vampires, have magical elemental abilities, and live a normal life span) and the Strigoi (who are the typical vampires made from killing others by drinking their blood and are immortal).  There are also two other races. The Dhampirs, who are half Moroi and half human (or other Dhampir), have incredible strength and speed, and are the guardians of the Moroi.  Then there are Alchemists, who are humans that have taken on the responsibility of hiding all vampire activity from humans as well as recording it.  They also have a tattoo that protects them and boosts their immune system.  Everything is very strict and scientific for them.  Which is where the story picks up.

If you have not read the Vampire Academy series, I do not recommend this as your first book.  This is clearly a spinoff of the original series and answers questions left when that series ended.  However, if you loved that series, I think you will love this new book!

It follows the alchemists after the last book of the VA series ended.  Sydney Sage had befriended the main character of the VA series which labeled her as a “Vamp Lover” and almost sent her to the re-education center.  Instead, she is given one last assignment to prove that she hasn’t fallen away and is able to do her job.  There are other characters as well in the book that came from the previous series, namely Adrian, Eddie and Jill.  They have to take Jill (who is Moroi royalty) into hiding because of an assassination attempt on her.  Eddie is her Dhampir guardian, and Adrian is there to help keep up the facade.  They pose as family at a private school, and while Jill makes the difficult transition, Sydney uncovers other mysteries including a series of unexplained deaths and students at the school portraying tattoos that give them power, like the Alchemist’s tattoo.

There is some profanity in the book, which was surprising to me since this is a young adult book, so that was a little disappointing.  There are religious undertones since the Alchemists have a very strong faith in God and heaven.  She even has a conversation with someone about what was more important, eternal life or chasing after immortality on earth.  That someone preferred the chase since he felt he had more control over it (which in the end he didn’t), which I think is a good observation of our society as a whole.

Overall, it’s a pretty good book.  It’s a quick, fun, and easy read if you are looking for something light to read between two heavier subjects.  Although, again, if you haven’t read the Vampire Academy, definitely check that out before diving into this book!