The Quiet Concert

Top Ten Characters I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's Top Ten list is
"Ten Ten Favorite Characters I Would Want With Me on A Deserted Island"

Ashley's Top Ten

1. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter - With her truly awesome magic powers I would like to think she could get us off the island. At the minimum she would make the deserted island a lot more live-able.

2. Zuzana from Daughter of Smoke and Bone - She would provide great friendship and probably some comic relief!

3. Roar from Under the Never Sky - Roar could easily take on any danger we would encounter on the island. Not to mention I imagine he is beautiful company.

4. Peeta from The Hunger Games - I think it would be important to have truly loyal friends on this deserted island. Peeta is both protective and caring.

5. Arin from The Winner's Curse - Arin is both tricky, smart, and a good fighter. He was able to survive and fight for his people. He could definitely come in handy.

6. Day from Legend - Day can run away quite well but also fight for what he believes in. He takes care of his family and those he loves. Day is extremely agile and street smart.

7. Daemon from Lux - Not sure he would be the handiest or most resourceful but I think he would keep the tension high and provide eye candy.

8. Cress from The Lunar Chronicles - Cress is a computer/technology wizard. Even though I doubt the deserted island would have computers, I would just love to spend some time with Cress.

9. Captain Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles - He is witty, stealthy, and is excellent at escaping danger. Captain Thorne is also just plain awesome.

10. Roux from Also Known As - It is always good to have a best friend, Roux was a true best friend. A deserted island would seem a lot less deserted with a fantastic best friend.

After the End by Amy Plum

Title:After the End
Author: Amy Plum
Series: After the End #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date:May 6th 2014
Pages: Hardback, 322 Pages
Source: BEA 2014

Summary from Goodreads:
"I have no idea what is truth and what is fiction. I'm all I've got now. I can't trust anyone."
World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

Review

After the End took me almost two months to finish. It was a book I actually thought I was not going to finish; I would put it down for a week then pick it up again and read about 30 pages and just lose interest and put it back down. It was not until the last 100 or so pages that I powered through until the end.

"One of the first things Whit taught me was how to connect to the Yara. In order to Read --to make your will known to the Yara and receive an answer, if the Yara decides to grant you one -- you must go through nature."

One of my biggest struggles throughout the story was the 'magic/supernatural' aspects of the story. I just could not get behind the connection with Nature. I felt like there was just not enough explanation and when the connection, the Yara, was referenced I wanted to roll my eyes. Not to mention, the main character's name bugged me. While later in the book there is some explanation about the connection with the Yara, it felt both weak and underdeveloped.

Another major issue I had with the book was the plot. The plot was slow, about two weeks transpired throughout the book, it felt like it was just going on and on yet nothing was happening. Along with the dragging plot, the romance between Juneau and Miles was rushed and seemed rather forced. The POVs alternated between both Miles and Juneau giving the reader both perspectives of the slow moving events. I am struggling to put into words the actual struggle I had with the book. Below is an example of the awkward and heavy handed description of the budding romance.

"The touch of our skin sets off a reaction in me. I am immediately awake... 100 percent present. And it feels like a whirlwind of thorns is whipping around in my chest, stinging me all over from the inside. That makes it sound painful. It isn't."

The worst part is that even though it took me about two months to read and I did not like a lot of aspects about the story, I am still curious about what is going to happen in the next book.

Bottom Line

Unfortunately, After the End is not a book I am jumping to recommend, even though I really enjoyed the Revenants series. Even with the slow-moving plot, eye-rolling magic, and weak story line, the story had just enough intrigue to keep me from giving up - yet it was a difficult read. If you are really into being "one with nature," After the End may be for you, but otherwise I would pass on it.

Stacking the Shelves (81) - July 19th

Stacking the Shelves - hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews - features books that you bought, borrowed, rented from the library, received for review, etc.

Upcoming Reads

Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop

What books are stacking your shelves?

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title:Welcome to the Dark House
Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Series: Dark House #1
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date:July 22nd, 2014
Pages: Hardback, 368 Pages
Source: ALA Midwinter

Summary from Goodreads:
What’s your worst nightmare?

For Ivy Jensen, it’s the eyes of a killer that haunt her nights. For Parker Bradley, it’s bloodthirsty sea serpents that slither in his dreams.

And for seven essay contestants, it’s their worst nightmares that win them an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at director Justin Blake’s latest, confidential project. Ivy doesn’t even like scary movies, but she’s ready to face her real-world fears. Parker’s sympathetic words and perfect smile help keep her spirits up. . . at least for now.

Not everyone is so charming, though. Horror-film fanatic Garth Vader wants to stir up trouble. It’s bad enough he has to stay in the middle of nowhere with this group—the girl who locks herself in her room; the know-it-all roommate; “Mister Sensitive”; and the one who’s too cheery for her own good. Someone has to make things interesting.

Except, things are already a little weird. The hostess is a serial-killer look-alike, the dream-stealing Nightmare Elf is lurking about, and the seventh member of the group is missing.

By the time Ivy and Parker realize what’s really at stake, it’s too late to wake up and run.

What I liked

- The mood. Throughout the entire story I felt stressed and scared for the characters. The knot you sometimes get in your stomach when you think something bad is going to happen, well that feeling pretty much just stays with you through the entire book.

-The horror. Both the nightmares and the events that transpired were definitely scary. That being said, this is not a book I would recommend to individuals who dislike scary movies and horror movies. Welcome to the Dark House has its fair share of horror. It might leave you wanting to keep the lights on at night when you finish it.

-The characters. While I did have some issues with the characters, I did feel like the individual nightmares each character faced was unique and well suited to their personalities. Certain characters were very well rounded and well developed, I could just sense their unease through the story.

What I did not like

- The ending. When I watch scary movies I always look forward to the ending, the satisfying some how explanatory ending.When I do not get some conclusion in a scary movie I feel like it sticks with me more, in a creepy haunting way. This book just left me hanging, I felt like I just needed more, I am happy to see that it is a series so I can eventually get some resolution!

-The multiple POVs. 90% of the time I absolutely love multiple POVs, this time it just did not work for me. There were 6 narrators, each with their own background story and their own nightmare. Conceptually I thought it was a good idea, I just found that some characters did not have enough of a distinctive voice that it was easy to get confused. I would have to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to confirm who was the narrator.

Bottom Line

If you a creepy and scary horror book that might just give you nightmares, Welcome to the Dark House is the book for you! The multiple narrators had to face their nightmares and hope they could make it out alive; one character has a nightmare all her own that haunts and will continue to into book two.

Thoughts for Thursday (27) - What's for Dinner?

Welcome to Thoughts for Thursday! This feature is our outlet to talk with you about whatever we currently have on our minds. It might be bookish, it might not! Now for this week's thought:

Whats for Dinner?

This used to be a constant question in my house - even when I lived alone. Back then, I would cook the same meals over and over and just eat the leftovers for a couple of days. Now that I am living with my fiancé and my brother is staying with us for a while, I actually get to cook meals and not be drowned by the same leftovers time and time again. A bonus is that since they are guys, they are like human garbage disposals :)

The Pinterest Way

To fix this problem, I first thought, "hey I can meal plan by searching Pinterest and some cook books!" Well the first Sunday I tried that approach, it was quite a fail. It took forever, and I felt like I was going to buy half the grocery store and probably end up wasting food, since recipes often call for just a little of something and I would have to buy a whole bag/box. Don't get me wrong, I do love Pinterest for recipes and baking! It just did not work for weekly meal planning.

E-Meals

One day we stumbled across a Groupon for this meal planning service and thought "for ~$26 for a whole year why don't we give this a try?" We have been using eMeals for the past 8 months and have really been enjoying it. eMeals has a variety of meal plans such as Kid Friendly, Classic, Paleo, Clean Eating, Slow Cooker, Costco, and more. Once you select a meal plan, you get a weekly email of 7 recipes and a grocery list:

Here is an example of a meal, and if you go to their site you can see more examples of recipes and grocery lists! We do not like every single meal we get, but since we occasionally eat out or order pizza or just make something super basic like a salad and chicken, it evens out through the week. E-Meals also allows you to switch your meal plan - so if you are unhappy with kid-friendly you can switch to classic, etc. So we switch it up ever couple of months for more variety!

Do you meal plan? If so, do you use a service? What works for you? How do you decide what to eat every night?

Conversion by Katherine Howe

Title: Conversion
Author: Katherine Howe
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Pages: 432
Source: BEA 2014

Summary from Goodreads:
It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.

First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.

Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .

Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?

Review

This book is undeniably well-researched and well-written. Even better, this story was inspired by real events, and I don’t just mean the Salem Witch Trials, but the modern day Mystery Illness too. I loved the in depth glimpse at both and the parallels that Howe made between them. It was really, really interesting.

I think I watched, rather than read, The Crucible back in middle school or high school. I am familiar with the Salem Witch Trials but not well versed on the subject. I’ve forgotten most of what I knew and didn’t have all of the history in the first place. That being said, I loved Howe’s rendering of this time in history. As a bit of a history buff, I loved learning about the events that unfolded and how everything escalated and spun out of control. It’s kind of crazy and sad really…

But the story takes time to build, which made for an ending that was much stronger and more exciting than the beginning. I couldn’t read fast enough when I got to the final 3rd of the book but the first 2/3rds didn’t completely pull me in. I admit that I wanted the book to move faster.

I’d recommend this book to fans of Historical Fiction, individuals interested in the Salem Witch Trials, or those who don’t mine a slower paced book. It really is a compelling story in that regard.