Heartbreak: Book Reviews

It's been over a year since I've written a book review so I have decided to gift you all with two!

Really, these are just two books that I think I need to sit down and write about because maybe then I can finally wrap my mind around them and heal a little. I apologize for any weirdness that comes out while I'm writing, I'm running off of gallons of coffee and 2 hours of sleep.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

In the last book review I gave a very brief summary on my feelings towards Clare's Shadowhunter series, and it still holds true. I love her books, every single one of them. She does an amazing job with character and plot development and her writing is impeccable. The Shadowhunters are a group of nephilim who protect mankind from Downworlders (demons, vampires, etc.) but let me stress, this isn't a vampire/warewolves series. It features said "beings" but not in the typical sense- a change I very much enjoyed. For a summary of the latest book (without major spoilers) go here. 

This book broke my heart, and in a mostly-good way. This little trilogy features a love triangle and sigh  I really love me a good love triangle. This one is by far the best love triangles I have ever encountered because I loved all three characters. I did not care which one Tess (heroine) chose and I was happy for her choice, even though my heart broke for the man she didn't choose. 

But here's the thing and if you're planning on reading this series, you might want to stop reading now:

She chose (in the previous book) Jem who is slowly dying because of a drug addiction (that totally wasn't his fault) and who I picture looking like this:

Yummy, right? This is Top and I love him.

So I went into this book certain that Jem was going to die and- I kid you not- I cried every time he did something sweet. Which is all the freaking time! And then he died and my soul broke. Will, the other man, was Jem's best friend and both he and Tess were not present for Jem's death. Will, who is connected to Jem on a spiritual level (it's a ritual thing) felt it when Jem passed and my soul broke more. When Will informed Tess of Jem's passing and she cried for the second time in the series (which is pretty darn rare for a YA) I died. Then it turned out that Jem wasn't dead, just changed, which you would think would be a happy thing. It wasn't. Not really. All the characters, and myself, had to mourn the Jem he used to be and it kind of sucked. Tess ends up agreeing to marry Will (happily, I might add) with Jem's blessing, but she's immortal and outlives him. 

This is probably the worse summary ever, and I'm only talking about the love triangle. I love every character in this book and I loathe the villains to the point of love (that totally makes sense). 

Tess' story (from beginning to end) is rather tragic and messy, but it is so worth it for all of the happy moments. I feel like I know her and all the people in her life intimately and I weep for all of them. Only one other author was able to move me to such a degree and I am certain that this is a story I will never never fully heal from. And it was so worth it. 

 I can't seem to recall who actually said this

now onto the other review:

Lover at Last by J.R. Ward

Let me begin by saying that I have not finished this book- I am only a third of the way through and I believe that this is as far as I am going to go. This is book 11 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and yes, this one is all about vampires. It is also considered erotica (though I wouldn't classify it as that, but it is a bit racier than your standard romance.) This book as been four books in the making and is a boy-on-boy novel and I have been anxiously awaiting it's arrival. But I am incredibly frustrated by it. My biggest complaint for this series is the villains. The main baddy is called The Omega. Yeah. That's it. The Omega is a black blob of gooeyness who corrupts people by putting his goo in them and turing them into vampires that smell like baby powder. It makes me miss the days when vampires sparkled. The Omega has a right hand man (who changes because they keep dying) and Ward seems to enjoy spending a ridiculous amount of time on them- what they're doing, what they're feeling (or not in the case of erections) and she has pretty much taken the surprise out of their actions. I don't care about them and I don't want to read about them. Alongside the lessers (baby smelling vampires) are The Bastards- another group of warrior vampires who kill the lessers and loathe the Black Daggers. I like one of them, but could really care less about them as a whole.

So, the problem with this book? It was meant to be a novella. I think she intended to be a shorter story (even with all the build up) because she wasn't quite comfortable with writing a m/m story and/or was sure her audience would like it. I happen to really enjoy m/m novels so I was thrilled to learn that she had decided to turn the novella into a full-lenght novel and a ~600 page one at that. But she didn't turn a Qhuinn/Blay novella into a novel. She took a Qhuinn/Blay novella and inserted stupid side stories about the goddamned villains, turning it into a 600 page collection of short stories. Not really, but that's what it feels like. And I have hated every moment of it. I wish she would have just published the novella. So I quit. I rarely give up on a book, but I just cannot proceed. I prefer to have the happy, functional, and super kinky Qhuinn/Blay love story that exists in my head rather than have their creator ruin it. Also- her name spelling is just plain fucked up. I'm sorry, but get over your god-forsaken obbsession with adding the letter "h" into every freakin' word! Just give them normal names! Fhury, Zhadist, Tohrment, and Qhuinn just makes you look stupid.

I am so disappointed right now.

So there you have it. My past three days in a nutshell.

On an unrelated note, I start my new job on Monday.

Operation GOSS

Warning: This is going to be long.

Before launching into GOSS (get organized, stop spending) here's an update:

I "won" NaNo- hit 52k words (give or take) but the novel itself is not exactly finished. There is still the editing and such to do. But a goal accomplished is still satisfying.

Christmas came and went. So did Thanksgiving. So did New Years. They were all nice, but not fully appreciated as I was in the throes of NaNo and then a three-month long panic attack over having to grow up. Christmas craftiness: 2 paintings, 2 quilled monograms, 2 scarves, and 1 giant stuffed penguin. Pictures will be posted on those some day.

The hubs is now the SAHD.

After what felt like hundreds of applications, and fewer interviews, I finally got hired. Its not a dream job, but since I don't really know how to become a person who thinks up names for nail polish colors, it's not a horrible job either. And, lets face it, I am super happy to just have a job. The job: taking calls for Starbucks. Because people actually call that 1-800 number. The problem: they keep pushing back my start date and I've been looking forward to starting work. Weird, right?

I opened an etsy shop. There's nothing in it right now since I'm still trying to make more things to sell in it (and procrastinating like a crazy person) but one day I will sell paintings and quilled artwork.


So what is GOSS? I told you already. Why GOSS? Because everything I do needs some catchy name that I then turn into an anagram. I'm just that cool.

Our biggest spending area (outside of cars and the house) is groceries. The biggest problem is impulse buying and since we used to go to the grocery store every other day, that added up really quickly. So to eliminate the chance of impulse buying, I decided to try something different. Here's what we're doing now:

I went to this this site, liked what I saw, then sat down and came up with a dinner menu for the month of March. I don't have every day assigned a meal, some just have "leftovers" written in since we always have leftovers.

Our calendar. Originally purchased to write down appointments and book releases (March is going to be a fantastic reading month for me!) Dinner is on the bottom line.

Then I put together a grocery list for the entire month. It was hard and I'm not sure exactly how we're going to keep all of the veggies fresh until they are needed (still working on that.)

One side of "The List." 

My guess is that we will have to go to the store one more time since we don't have our chest freezer up and running yet and can't store milk the way the woman suggests until we do.  Also, you get a lot of funny looks at the store when your shopping cart is overflowing. I almost wanted to yell that that's not the reason why I'm fat.

The vehicle after shopping. Thank God I cleaned my trunk out last week!

I tend to keep a well stocked pantry, but I had to restock this month since we apparently run out of a bunch of spices, cooking wine, and various cooking oils all at once. I've had a few people ask how I keep a stocked pantry and the simple (and perhaps snooty) answer is that we cook at home more than we eat out, which means I need a stocked pantry. I almost always buy more of something when I run low; I know what we need and use so I keep those stocked at all times. Since I know that's not a helpful answer, this list contains what we keep on us at all times and then some.

Finally, I've been making my own bread for a few months now. I have yet to find a sandwich bread recipe that I love, so I've been using my french loaf recipe instead.

I also do my own canning. It's an expensive hobby at first, but saves money in the long run, especially since we're planning to start our own garden this year.

They're growing! Well, the onions and garlic are. Not so much the basil plant. And yes, I started some veggies indoors. In my craft room.

We also make our own broths. Right now we only have beef broth, but once that stupid turkey taking up a huge amount of space in my fridge thaws, we'll make broth out of that (in leu of chicken.) I just picked up a pressure canner (insert huge squee here) so I will start to can broth, tomato sauce, and veggies! Yay!

 So that's the haps. Sorry if this was uninteresting for you. I'm super excited about it.

I'm also more than happy to share recipes and cookbook recommendations if peoples want them.