My Review of A Hidden Magic

A Hidden Magic by Vivian Vande Velde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was actually a reread. I was looking at my bookshelves the other day and saw it. It was in my already read books group (as opposed to my unread books group) and picked it up because I couldn't remember a single thing about it, and the description didn't ring any bells. It wasn't until I was thirty plus pages in that I could definitively say I'd read this book before.

I've read other Vande Velde books and enjoyed them and have quite a few more on the TBR shelves, but this one was a little disappointing. It was very light on the characterization. There's a very lovely story here, but we're presented with only the barest bones of it. I feel it could have been easily twice as long. Jennifer and Norman's relationship doesn't develop. We're told they're in love and that's it. A little more relationship building would have been nice.

I feel this book is too lightly written. It hangs precariously between juvenile and easy reader. It could've been a lovely easy reader or an outstanding juvenile novel. The illustrations are lovely and some bits are great, but overall, I can understand why I forgot this book completely.

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My Review of Silent in the Grave

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up to read for the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. Considering this was the pick for February, you can see how far behind I am with everything. I was kind of surprised that the second pick of the group would be a non-urban paranormal mystery, but I found myself quickly engrossed in this Victorian mystery. While I couldn’t put the book down, I find the gloss quickly wears off due to fridge logic and an ending that seemed a little too scandalous.

The story begins with Juliet’s husband dying. Being a proper lady, there are many proper things one must do for the funeral. I liked reading about all the pomp and formality, made imminently bearable because Jane doesn’t care one real whit about them, but she follows through with it all because it is what one is expected to do.

I don’t want to spoil any of it for you because I do think it was very worthwhile read, but the fridge logic man…In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is TV Tropes definition of this handy term, “It refers to some illogical or implausible plot point that the audience doesn't realize during the show, but only long afterwards.” There are certain things I’m willing to let slide, but what’s revealed about Juliet’s husband seems a little too far-fetched. I mean they were married for years and had grown up together, but she did not know him at all it appears. How did that happen? And don’t tell me that back then, couples didn’t know each other, and some couples today don’t know each other. This wasn’t an arranged marriage, and they’d grown up together. I don’t know, I could’ve accepted some of the things revealed, but the stuff with hubby was off the charts.

And there’s one maddening spot in the book where the author pulls away and doesn’t let us see that is truly happening and it is maddening because of a later mention of a particular bruise and a fat lip that seemed to indicate something pretty sinister in my book, but doesn’t seem to be construed as such in this book. And I’m really trying not to be spoilery.

All-in-all the resolution of the mystery is where this book falters. I was really digging it until the end when everything started hitting the fan. Stuff just seemed to be coming out of left field. I was turning the pages going, “What?” And afterwards, I closed the book, slept on it, and the next day was going, “Wait, really, what?” Which is unfortunate because I’d loved the character progression of Juliet. Her slow blossoming was lovely to read.

I’m curious about the next book, which may be more tolerable if Juliet isn’t supposed to be lifelong friends with the victim and/or suspects. If she’s an outsider, it may all be understandable.

You may notice I haven’t mentioned Brisbane, our detective, except if you’ve read the book and know what the maddening scene refers to. Anyway, Brisbane was interesting. He’s still a mystery himself, and I don’t know how I feel about some of the revelations with him and I’m afraid if I think about him too much that he’ll go down in my estimation. I mean he’s a jerk, but he’s upfront about it, but really, he’s a first class jerk. Ugh, I'm thinking about him now, and I do believe I would've kicked him in the balls. Still, I really enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but I don't like thinking about it afterwards.

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We have an Anthem!

Here's the latest music video from the Guild. How did I not know about this until now?! Game On and Do You Wanna Date My Avatar are literally the only songs I've ever bought on iTunes. I've already watched this video over five times. It's great, and I hope you like it, too! Now I'm off to make my third ever purchase from iTunes. :-)

WARNING: Foul Language! You may not want to play it through your cubicle speakers.

My Review of Hunger Games: The Movie

So over the weekend, I went to see The Hunger Games. I'd read the book and reviewed it. I was optimistic about the movie because the book is an adventure story that would translate well to screen. It may be told in first person present tense, but that's to make the action more immediate. Sure, things about Katniss' personality would be lost with the transfer to screen, but with the casting of Jennifer Lawrence, I thought she would communicate Katniss' instinctive distrust of others well. I greatly admired her performance in Winter's Bone and think that was the role that got her chosen for Katniss.

Overall, the movie was good. I'm glad I went to see it. Will I trek out to the movie theater to see the second one? Probably not. I will rent it on DVD and enjoy it in my home. I don't go to the movies a lot. I prefer to watch DVDs. The movie has to be really special for me to make the effort to go out of my way. Johnny Depp basically can get my butt in a theater but not much else. (And OMG, I saw the trailer for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, and it looks like it will be a hoot. I may be going to the theaters again sooner than I thought.)

Getting back to the movie that I'm supposed to be reviewing, I thought this was a good adaptation. The script changes minor things. Some minor characters are not included, but it is understandable, and I liked the color commentary during the Hunger Games which wasn't possible in the book due to the narrative constraints. Stanley Tucci was wonderful as Caesar and bless them for keeping Caesar's hair blue. It was almost like I pictured it. (I pictured it a little more poofy.)

As for the two young male leads, Gale doesn't have a very big role in this installment so the actor didn't make much of an impression. I can't say yay or nay on him. The young man playing Peeta was very good. I was especially impressed with his interview scene with Caesar. I think he did a good job.

As for the adults, I already said Tucci was good. Elizabeth Banks was unrecognizable in her makeup, and I think her costumes and makeup helped her as much as her acting. She certainly stood out as Effie Trinket. The makeup people really deserve praise for her. The lipstick and fake eyelashes in this movie were unbelievably creative. I'm not up on current fashion, but if fancy eyelashes weren't hip before, I think they will be now. When Woody Harrelson was announced to play Haymitch, I believe the general consensus was he would be wonderful in the role, and the general consensus was correct. In fact, I think I like Haymitch more now after seeing Woody in the role. He'll be who I picture when I finally read Mockingjay. The fact is, I didn't really care for Haymitch in the books, I wasn't drawn to him. He had no charisma in the text, but Woody brings that and I think it was a quality Haymitch needed.

One complaint I have is the director's use of shaky camera motion and quick cuts to establish locations. This is very prevalent at the beginning of the film and made me groan. I whispered to my friend sitting beside me that I hoped the whole movie wasn't like that, and I'm not one to notice direction much, especially on first watch. After the movie, another friend complained of the closeups on mouths and faces. We often didn't get a good look at a scene because we were zoomed in on someone's lips. She wondered why they built impressive sets if they were only going to show them for five seconds.  I did notice this at one point briefly because the camera seemed to be having trouble keeping up with two people having a conversation. It seemed sloppy.

So overall, the actors were good, the adaptation was good, the sets and costumes were good, but the direction was a little lacking. I'd give the movie a letter grade of B. It would take an A grade to get me back in the theater to see the sequel, but I doubt my absence in the theater will hurt the profits much for the sequel. It is guaranteed to be a success.

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Results for "Should I have a Facebook Page?"

Well, it seemed pretty clear that I should have a Facebook Page. So, I've set up a Facebook page. There isn't a lot there yet because I don't know what to put up and because Facebook has been flakey. If you have any requests or possibly would like to 'like' me, go right ahead!

I've posted some never before seen pictures. (All of 2 currently.) My current profile picture is one of the early ideas for the cover of Scary Mary. I still really like it, and if I can come up with an idea that's similar for Stalking Shadows, I might just use it for the  no-date-set-yet realease of the print editions. I even put up a poll that everyone is welcome to chime in on. The banner picture is of my cat Caper. I didn't know what else to post because Facebook said the banner shouldn't have much text. I could post a cover image without text I guess, but didn't have the means for it, and that's a pretty darn cute picture of my cat.

The page is in the new format so it has a timeline, which seem pretty wonky to me, and as I mentioned, Facebook has been pretty flakey today. I don't know how much tweaking I'll do to the page. If Goodreads ever becomes compatable (they claim to not be currently), I'll add that to the page, but for now, I don't know what apps to add or anything, and I don't know if I should make pages for each book or not.

If you have any advice or suggestions, PLEASE SHARE! I'm not a Facebook native and could use all the help I can get.

I've added a link to the page on the sidebar and here it is as well:





Ugh! And it would help A LOT if Facebook would freaking load more than 50% of the time so I can see if the page looks right or not! If it doesn't load, it's most likely Facebook's fault.