The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings #2)

  Sauron's forces increase.
The Ringwraiths return in an even more frightening form.
Saruman's army of Uruk Hai are ready to launch an assault against Aragorn and the people of Rohan. Yet, the Fellowship is broken and Boromir is dead. For the little hope that is left, Frodo and Sam march on into Mordor, unprotected.
A new number of allies join with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry, and Pippin. And they must defend Rohan and attack Isengard. Yet, while all this is going on, Sauron's troops mass toward the City of Gondor, for the War of the Ring is about to begin.

^^^ THAT BOOK COVER. OHMIGOSH.  FANGIRL PROBLEMS.

Anyway, what I liked!

Faramir and Eowyn. Ok, so some people don't like Eowyn for her "flirting" with Aragorn (even though she supposedly knew he and Arwen were basically engaged), but she and Faramir are soooooo cute! (ESPECIALLY IN THE MOVIES)
And of course there's the obvious likes: the plot, the drama, the characters, etc. etc. etc. J.R.R. Tolkien was such a great writer! What's not to love about his books? :D

Once again.....

Nothing! At all! 

:D :D :D :D :D 

Again, only some battles and the like. Also, Denethor was too depressed for his own good. (As clearly shown in the book and also the movies.)

There is no other possible rating to give this one...

Five stars in a heartbeat!!!

Have you read The Two Towers? What was your favorite part? Who was your favorite character? Have you read anything else by J.R.R. Tolkien? If so, what was it and how did you like it?

(P.S. If I forgot to mention any other awesome parts, don't hesitate to let me know in the comments section below! :D)

The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings #1)

  The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths were searching for a Hobbit. Frodo Baggins knew they were seeking him and the Ring that he bore--the Ring of Power that would enable evil Sauron to destroy all that was good in Middle-Earth. Now it was up to Frodo and his faithful servant Sam, with a small band of companions, to carry the Ring to the one place it could be destroyed--Mount Doom, in the very center of Sauron's dark kingdom.

  *hyperventilating*
EVERYTHING.
EV--ER--Y--THING.

 In my humble opinion, this is the best book that was ever written and ADFLKSDLFKJASDFLKJ HERE GOES FANGIRLING.

I LOVE the characters, the plot, the storyline, the settings, and if I could do anything at all it would be to live in Middle-Earth with the Elves.   

I have a confession to make.

Lord of The Rings is the only---ONLY---thing I obsess over. I better not hear anyone ask why.

It's a good thing someone already wrote some articles about it because I am too much of a fangirl to speak clearly on this subject. (well I probably could but...anyway...)

 The Lord of The Rings and the Five Dimensions of a Story

 How J.R.R. Tolkien Used Middle-Earth to Reveal Who We Are

Those articles, especially the first one, are sooooooo true.

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There is nothing to dislike about this. At. All. Some may disagree, but oh well. If you disagree I'd love to know why in the comments below. :D

I don't really think there is anything. Like. There's nothing bad. At. All.

There are some descriptions of battles, but they're not the kind that have you cringing, they're the kind that have you yelling stuff like, "Get 'em, Gimli!" and, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!" and the like. (at least that's what I do)

(btw, in the movies I think there are a lot of "YEAAAAAH SAM" moments)

*sigh* This one is super obvious. 

FIVE STARS AND NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

Have you read this AMAZING book? Who is your favorite character? What was the saddest part, in your opinion? Have you read anything else by J.R.R. Tolkien? If so, what was it?

*the ultimate LoTR fangirl*

The Scorpio Races

Some race to win.

Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Some riders live.

Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.




I am really thrilled to welcome you all to our new blog! I hope you enjoy reading these reviews as much as we enjoy reading the books and writing these reviews!

Oh, my goodness so I love this book to itty-bitty pieces and I will try (keyword: try) to put aside my fangirling long enough to write an actual review!

All of the characters are so amazing! They each are so fleshed out so well, and I read that the thing that is hardest to write about secondary characters is that you write them like secondary characters. But you should write each secondary character like they believe that they are the main characters. Stiefvater does a really awesome job of doing that. Every single character is really believable and they don't act like secondary characters (meaning: not everything they do revolves around the main characters) but like actual human beings. They all have motives and reasons for doing things.

I really love the main characters on their own. From Sean's way of saying everything in a few words to Puck's way of just really saying whatever comes to mind and running head first into things xD

Now I really love when an author incorporates a family essence into a book and Stiefvater did that really well! The three Connolly siblings fought, they got mad with each other, and yet they would do anything for each other. Plus that scene where Finn and Puck race is just adorable.

OKAY THE ANIMALS WERE ALSO AMAZING. Dove and Corr really seemed like real animals. And the way Stiefvater described the capall uisce almost made you think that you could go outside and see one! (not that you wanted to............)

And now we go to one of my favorite parts.....the romance. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for anything with romance in it, but one of the things that I loved about this romance is that it wasn't a major focus of this story. That is a big shocker coming from me as I've already said how I love romance. But I think that if the romance had played a bigger role, it would have taken some of the awesomeness away from the story. And yes, the romance was adorable but I won't say more because of spoilers :P

The plot was UH-MAZING. I mean, every single little detail was great! I honestly don't know how I put the book down. And the writing style is a little different than what I usually read. Stiefvater's writing style is so gritty and I want to say minimalistic (especially when writing Sean's perspective). But it doesn't make the story unpleasant to read. It's like part of the scenery. If she had written with a more flowery prose it wouldn't be the same. You wouldn't be able to picture Thisby with such clarity.

Just some little things, but the content was one of the things I disliked (duh). But more about that later.

And it was a little gorey is some parts. But that's to be expected when the plot revolves around a race with flesh-eating horses.

There were some references to a character's parenthood. Like, that character was an illegitimate child but they didn't use that word. 

There was also the word for a female dog, but I think it was only used once.

And there were some references about relationships (that's all I'm going to say but I think we all know what I mean) that could have been left out.

So I picked up this book because so many people in the blogosphere were raving about it. I actually didn't really want to read it, but I got it at the library because I happened to see it.

Oh

My

Goodness

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo glad that I did because this story is AMAZING! Then I did something that I don't normally do: I bought a hardback copy of this book. AAAAAAAAAAH. THE HARDBACK COPY IS SO AMAZING. I COULD JUST RAVE ABOUT HOW NICE IT IS TO HOLD IT AND THE COVER IS SO AMAZING. And I usually don't like books with their sleeve on but I've left mine on because the cover is just that amazing and the book feels so good with the sleeve on.

Anyhow, I give this a...

5-star rating!

Have you read the Scorpio Races? Who was your favorite character? Do you want to read it? Have you read anything else by Maggie Stiefvater?