Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful–to beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you though you knew about faeies will be changed forever.

This was, in all honesty, a very silly book. I’m not sure I ever called a book “silly” before; you don’t come across too many silly books in the YA section.

Did I like anything about this novel?

Um…not really?

It wasn’t too painful to read. I can say that. I don’t think Aprilynne Pike’s writing is anything special, but it’s not bad. But everything else? The characters were blah. I didn’t connect or care about any of them.

And the “faerie” lore? Well, first, this is one book where it should have been fairy, not faerie. I think had Pike used the less common spelling, the book would not have annoyed me so much. I have this preconception of faeries being somewhat dark, powerful, mysterious. Yeah, they might frolic, but there’s tension in the courts. Fairy is more cutesy, more Disney-ish kind of stuff. And Wings? It falls into the latter category, definitely.

But that’s just me on the whole faerie/fairy thing.

No. What was REALLY silly about this book is what faeries ARE. Yeah. They are *SPOILER WARNING* plants. Plants? Are you kidding me? Seriously? Yeah, seriously. They are plants. Which okay, is kind of cool because it’s so different, except…I never really believed it. I never believed that faeries were plants for one minute because it just never made sense. And it was just silly. *END SPOILERS*

Really, my biggest problem with this book is that I think Pike was writing for the wrong audience? She throws in some YA elements (such as swearing and kissing), but it never felt like a YA novel. I really think that she should have toned it down for an MG novel; I probably would have liked it more.

And then there’s the fact that Wings is the first of four books. Really? Pike is writing another three books? May I ask why? Yeah, she left loose ends and I have no doubt that she can’t figure out more stories to tell in this world, but I don’t think it’s necessary. She could have sufficiently made Wings a standalone novel.

This is just a pity because the cover is so pretty.

I’m not a poet. So here’s a poem anyway.

~

They are always
so
excited.

And I always
welcome them.

Yet I wish them away.
And I always wonder
why they are
here.

Don’t they know
this place is not
what it was once?
Don’t they know
that the magic is
gone?

Or maybe
it isn’t.

It can’t
have changed
that much.
On the outside,
it doesn’t seem
like it has.
Sameness.
Except.
Except different
People.

After all,
you left.
And you left.
You all left.

And people cannot be
replaced.

But they don’t know you
Like I know you
So they can’t miss you
The way
I miss
you.

But do they know?
Do they know that
I
I linger?

Do they know that
I’m holding on to,
clinging to
the past,
the place of
former happiness?
That I hope
things will
go back
to the way they were
before they came?

Do they know that
I am a
ghost?

I am
a ghost.

They see my
outline,
blurred.
But they do not see me.
Not as you saw me.
They do not see
what fills me.
Not my dreams.
Not who I am.

And I do not
trust them
because they
are not
you.

And I grow
more
apart,
more
transparent,
unable to leave.

I fade.
Both there
and here too.
Because
I cannot
move on
like you have.

And I envy you.

And I miss you.

And I wish you back
with all my heart.

But I know.
I know that you are gone
forever.

And quite frankly, I don’t care. Sigh. I haven’t even decided if I’m going to continue blogging when I go to college. But who knows? I just don’t feel interesting. (Comments to the contrary may be deleted. You know who you are.)

So…

It really doesn’t feel like summer. The weather has kind of been all over the place. I do not like it. It messes with my sinuses, giving my headaches and making me tired. I went to bed early last night, and then of course, my mom had to come wake me up so that we could watch the end of the first season of Burn Notice. And of course, major cliffhanger and we do not have the second season. Go figure.

And she seemed surprised by the fact that I sleep on my back yet do not snore. She thought I might be dead, I’m that quiet when I sleep. Yet my younger brother persists in thinking that I am so loud. But he’s the one who snores.

Anyway.

I’m not doing this much this summer. Just waiting until 28 August. College! And a new blog. That will be exciting. Not as exciting as college, but I’m looking forward to just starting over with the whole blog thing.

I did re-shelve my books. I have over 560 books. That’s just fiction and not including stuff in the attic. I probably stacked about half of my books and I still only have half a shelf left. But I love the way my shelves look; they have so much more character now that they’re semi-messy. Seriously. The books aren’t even entirely in alphabetical order. I adore the crooked books. So haphazard. So awesome. And maybe it makes me look like I have more books than I do. I don’t know, though.

And I have some books that I can review, so I suppose that if I get really bored during the remainder of the summer, I could post reviews for those. I started keeping a reading journal, so I don’t feel any pressure to review books because I’m not as likely to forget things now.

In case anyone here wanted to how “Arianna” and/or Ill-Fated were going…they’re not. They hate me. At least the feeling is mutual. So I started writing something new, something fun, just for the summer and just for me, so don’t even ask.

Also, expect a giveaway soon. Just as soon as I decide how to carry out the giveaway…any ideas?

I have to go to work tomorrow. Sigh. I do love my job, but…it’s still work. You know. But I also get to go to the library tomorrow because holds expire. I keep stressing about having too many books out from the library, but I don’t know why. I think I’ll be able to finish everything else.

…this is how Twilight SHOULD have gone.

• I have to write book reviews. Severely.
• It will suck if that bill goes through and the library loses major funding.
• It’s ridiculous that you have to wait like ten minutes for a nurse to look at that freaky TB test. I mean, seriously. wtf? Also, it’s ridiculous that they don’t read the forms they have to sign. Thank goodness I do.
• I wish people knew what they were doing because sometimes it seems like no one has a clue. And I like having a clue, thank you very much.
• Why are cell phones considered discourteous? It’s just carrying on a one-way conversation.
• An overweight, balding man playing a PSP in the waiting room? Looks totally immature. Also, the music (it sounded like a kid’s game) is way more annoying than a cell phone conversation. Especially since I’m a writer and eavesdropping is supposed to be a good activity. (Except I’m not nosy.)
• I’m currently addicted to Taylor Swift’s first album, especially when driving.
• I wonder if my characters hate their names.
• I never want to wake up at five o’clock again.
• Ani is pretty stupid in GG. I wonder if that’s intentional.

2-1.

Pittsburgh over Detroit.

In Detroit.

It was spectacular.

THE PENS WON THE STANLEY CUP!

I liked Zara’s obsession with phobias. I liked her voice.

You know…if you are old enough to out alone with your friends to a coffee shop, you are definitely old enough to know how to act in public.

Or so I thought.

Obviously, I realized that I was wrong as I de-threaded a straw from a hole in the table, threw away a hundred sugar packets (an exaggeration, but you get the point), and swept up spilled sugar from the floor.

Next time, if people are being too loud, I will tell them to shut up or leave because they might possibly be making a huge mess because they are immature morons who think they are oh so cool for hanging out at a coffee shop with friends and drinking mochas that have got to be sickening sweet due to the obscene amounts of sugar they seemed to dump into the coffee.

But maybe I should know that young teens with writing on their faces and talk like they need speech therapy and make nonsense noises and are just otherwise embarrassingly obnoxious aren’t really the kinds of people I want hanging around where I work. And maybe I shouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I should just toughen up and tell them to leave.

But would they listen to me, a teenager herself?

It just really pissed me off because there is absolutely no excuse to act like a complete moron in public. And that’s all they were doing. Acting like morons.

And they seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever.

I really wonder what is wrong with the world. I mean, teens want to be treated as adults and I keep saying that teens should be given more respect, but you know what? I totally get why adults seem to treat us like five-year-olds sometimes. Because sometimes? Five-year-olds are way more mature.

When Evie’s father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe’s company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two. As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . . who? 

So I am fetching the vacuum because my mom is pretty much making me do my chores on Friday (and okay, Friday IS chore day, but what’s wrong with Monday? Or Tuesday? Or Thursday? Or Friday? And I mean the Friday after the original Friday, of course) but my mom wants to have a clean house over the weekend and oh god I hope she doesn’t insist upon a clean house over the SUMMER when she’s home but whatever. Not the point. Except that Anilee likes messes. When she’s in charge of the mess, that is. She can’t stand other people’s disorganization because usually she can’t understand it, and Anilee likes to understand. But I’m sure you knew that already. You probably already knew that I am definitely not extremly organized, although I try to be.

Anyway, so I am getting the vacuum when I see a car in the driveway and one of my older brother’s good friends walking to the front door.

She tells me that they were meeting to go to the farmer’s market. 

Apparently, my older brother failed to mention to her that he has a job.

And then she invited me to go to the farmer’s market.

Except I have to do my chores and then I have to go get candy and then I must go work. Hopefully, people come. Last night was DEAD.

So…

I’ve been plotting a new story. I’m not sure what the most effective way to plot a story is, but I am trying. I like this story. It’s sort of a vastly modified version of my first novel. 

Sadly, Q, “Arianna”? It hates me. It really really does. I need a plot. And I do not have one. None. So I’ve kind of been considering skipping the first book entirely and going to the second. Which would be interesting. Because all the backstory would be gone. Might be kind of cool. I shall have to think about it.