Descent of Angels Challenge

So, I was on Twitter the other day posting all the books I've read and will be reading and I get mentioned for the Descent of Angels challenge by @TruthBeToldBlog and @BooksOverBoys. Seeing as I've already read a few Angel books I said "Why not?"





So basically, what the Descent of Angels Challenge is, is I have to read one book every month until December 31st with a main character that's an Angel, or that the whole idea in the book is Angels.

Here's my list of books:

April: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Review
June: Torment by Lauren Kate
July: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
August: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
September: still pending
October: Still pending
November: still pending
December: still pending
 ~M.A.Chase♥

Fallen

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

Release date: 2009

Rating: 5/5

Publisher: Random House
Book Summary:

WHAT IF THE PERSON YOU WERE MEANT TO BE WITH COULD NEVER BE YOURS?


There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.


Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at Sword & Cross bording school in Savannah. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are screwups, and security cameras watch every move.

Except Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret. . .even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic FALLEN is a page-turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

Review:

This book was just as P.C. Cast described on the cover! "Sexy and fascinating and scary. . ."

Holy crap this book was good. It had a great plot, which I absolutely loved. It was goth. . . well not really. The school uniform, all black, church, Gothic style. That gave it a plus. I would have like gone to that school if it wasn't a boarding school for screwups. Really I would.

I loved the idea of her being attracted and having that vague feeling of familiarity to someone that she could swear she's only seen at this school. It made the story more alluring, more suspenseful, more thought provoking--I think. I could not stop reading! I would be in the middle of my Mathematics class rushing through the work--without making a mistake-- just so I could get back to reading about Luce and Daniel.

Which comes to my next thought, Daniel. Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. His personality I would give him like an A+ I love it. And his looks the way I thought them up? Oh. My. Gosh. I've tried to creat characters like this and I've never even come close to making it like that. I don't know I just fell in love with Daniel the minute he was introduced. If anyone, ANYONE would come up to me  and was like that I would be IN LOVE.

Luce. She's strong. Dedicated. Not a damsel in distress. And just like me. I love her. I was able to really relate and connect with this character. Even though the story was in third person I could really insert myself in the actions, in what was going on. I felt everything she felt and I could imagine Arianne and Gabbe.

This is DEFINITELY going to be recommended to my English class the next time we do book things.

Now. The cover.

I usually don't rate the cover of a book, I don't know, just never really thought about doing that. This cover gets a ten out of five. It is so beautiful. The girl, the dress, the way it is, is just so pretty. I absolutely loved it. This is one of those books that I judged the book by it's cover.  One of my friends too a look at the book and was instantly hooked.

Just everything about this book was awesome. If you haven't read this PICK IT UP!

~M.A.Chase♥

Pray for Japan

This morning I walk into my second period to see one of my friends (whom I call my Sensei because she teaches me Japanese) super sad. She tells me that Japan had just experienced a Quake and Tsunami.

I about died.

I love Japan and I love the people in it. I couldn't believe such a devastating thing happened to them. Eight-point-nine on the Richer Scale. You know what that is? It is VERY high. Then to top it off, the tsunami hits ten minutes later with no warning.

The death toll is in the thousands and thankfully I don't think it'll pass one thousand, but we never know.

I'm now praying for the families who've lost a loved one and who are now suffering due to the what has happened.

First Haiti,

Then Chile,

Then Japan,

California is definitely next.

Did you see how bad it was that in the MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN there was a WHIRLPOOL. I mean come on. In the middle of the Pacific? That is some intense stuff. The footage keeps playing on and on in my head.

Then to top off their bad news, that nuclear power plant is going to have a meltdown if it doesn't cool down soon. They've evacutated thousands of miles in radius of the area and they're slowly increasing that evacuation area. They're releasing radio active GASES into the atmosphere in order to think of any possible way to cool it down.

Just like in Haiti I feel absolutely helpless to the fact that I can't really do anything to stop this from becoming worse. Though, unlike Haiti, the people of Japan are well prepared for these sorts of things, their buildings withstood the earthquake, but unfortunately not all survived the tsunami. Another thing is, Japan will be able to rebuild itself from scratch, which is something Haiti wasn't able to do without the help of the United States and other countries.

More information on Japan is to come. I wait anxiously hoping and praying that things in Japan will stabalize for them. This isn't something I see everyday. You can see it in their faces in the videos taken by people that at first they thought it was something normal, a small quake that will pass just like the rest.

It wasn't. And they knew it even before the sirens went off that it was more than just an earthquake.

I'm currently watching the Japanese broadcast;

So far 430 people are confirmed dead and 200 are believed to be.

8000 Japanese troops are being sent to aid the earthquake-hit areas.

Please help pray for them as we prayed for Haiti!

~M.A.Chase♥

B&N take me with you!

I have no books.
I have to finish reading Iron Queen in 15 days or my netgalley thing is going to expire on me before I've finished it.
I'm behind on homework.
Neh.
I wish B&N take me with you! I would work there and ALL the stress of school and stuff will slip away and I will have books to read and stuff!
But yeah.
I've been super busy lately.
With AP, State competition for Thespians, writing my own WIP, guitar, I can't do it all at once.
Reading was one of the things pushed to the side.
Urgh, why can't I have more time like I used to in the beginning of the year? -___-

~M.A.Chase♥

City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Release date: 2007
Rating: 5/5
Publisher: McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Book Summary (back of the book):

When Clary Fray heads out to Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder. Much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered in odd markings. This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons--and keeping odd werewolves and vampires in line. It's also her first meeting with gorgeous, golden-haired Jace. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with vengence, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in an ordinary mondane like Clary? And how did she suddenly get the sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . .

WARNING: There may or may not be spoliers in this review. Just saying, if you haven't read the book then, yeah, don't read this.

On to the review;

Wow. This book was good.

I started reading this in B&N one day, and like after that I couldn't stop thinking about Clary and Pandemonium. Then for Christmas this book was one of my gifts. (: I think this was like the best gift I got. I was that excited. It took me a while to start it.

Anyway, when I did. I couldn't put it down.

It was AMAZING.

Jace = <3

I so wish that thing with the thing, with the thing during that time didn't happen that prohibited this person from being with this other person because that thing with the thing just got me all sad and mad.

*cough*

The plot was great and it really had me hanging for some parts. I mean, poor Simon! I got so scared. "/

There was a lot of action (which I enjoyed), romance and Shadowhunter kick butt stuff!

I cannot wait to follow Clary and the Shadowhunters into the next book, (:
~M.A.Chase♥Review:

Laura Kreitzer Guest Post: Human Trafficking

Hello Literary-Folk!

My name is Laura Kreitzer, and I’m the author of the Timeless Series and the Summer Chronicles. This week I would like to alert everyone on a colossal crisis that’s gone unnoticed in the world: human trafficking. That’s why I’ve asked hundreds of blogs to be involved with spreading the word on this issue that’s become close to my heart.

As an author, and someone whose life is put in the spotlight, I keep most people at a distance. Only a handful of my friends know the whole me and the events from my past. But this week I’d like to share with you a part of myself that the outside world doesn’t see (and a part of me I don’t like to share). I was emotionally abused for five years by someone I thought loved me, my mind beaten into submission. Though the turmoil I went through doesn’t penetrate as deep as someone forced into slavery on the worldwide market for human trafficking, I can sadly relate in some ways: imprisoned, my life dictated down to what I wore, ate, where I went, whom I spoke to, where I worked, when I slept, bending to his every whim. He did not sway, even when I cried through some of the more traumatic things he had me do. I was a slave in my own home. In my desperation for freedom, I held out a gun and asked him to just end my suffering. I was desperate.

I can’t even imagine how many women (and men) in the world are in a similar situation. What’s even worse, I had it mild compared to the children that are sold for labor or sex. Surprisingly, the good ol’ U.S.A. is reported to be the host to two million slaves. Did you know this? Because I certainly did not; not until I was preparing to write my newest novel: Phantom Universe. The main character, Summer Waverly, was stolen as a child and sold as a slave to the captain of a modern-day pirate ship. From a loved child who only knew “time-out” as punishment, to being whipped into silence was something I knew nothing about. So I researched deeply into human trafficking and the psychological effects of torture of various types that one would endure in these circumstances. I felt shaken at my findings and knew I had to tell Summer’s story. (Read a sneak peek here.)

A storm began to brew in my mind; transforming, morphing, twisting, and expanding into this massive, black cloud. I had to bring this tragic atrocity to the forefront. My own emotional experiences, mixed with the research I did on human trafficking, made me feel an intense connection with Summer, and to all women who’ve been through this kind of brutality. The cloud ruptured and rained all over my computer one day. It took one month to write Phantom Universe, the first in the Summer Chronicles. I was so consumed by the story that I wrote nearly nonstop, only breaking for necessary tasks like eating, showering, and occasionally—very occasionally—sleeping.

Though the book I’ve written would be classified as Science Fiction, or as I’d like to call it, Dystopian, the emotions and psychological aspects are not Science Fiction—they're real. Reviewers have said many amazing things about Summer, this character who is so real in my mind and who I cried along with as the words poured from my soul onto my screen.

“I admired Summer's strength and ability to adapt,” says CiCi’s Theories. “I felt tied to her emotions,” Jennifer Murgia, author or Angel Star admits. And Tahlia Newland, author of Lethal Inheritance, remarks, “Summer is strong and smart in mind [. . .]”

Through her overwhelmingly horrendous past, Summer goes on more than just a physical journey in Phantom Universe, she goes on a psychological one as well; growing beyond her mute state to persevere and survive in a new world beyond the whip she’s so frightened of.

Now that the release date is here, I’m excited and terrified to share this story with everyone. I’m emotionally tied in every way to the words I’ve written, because they’re more than words. More than just a story on a page. Beyond the fictional aspects, there’s a real issue that needs to be addressed: human trafficking must be stopped. We shouldn’t sit idly by while this continues to plague us. Our world’s children—our nation’s children—are being affected. It’s time we take action!

Earlier this month Phantom Universe hit Barnes and Noble’s top 100 Best Selling list. I’ve decided to donate 10% of my sales from Phantom Universe, until the end of February, to the DNA Foundation.

“DNA hopes to help abolish modern day slavery, deter perpetrators, and free the many innocent and exploited victims. We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person.”

—From DNA Foundation’s Website

I ask that you spread the word to everyone you know. Look around on the DNA Foundation website and find a way to get involved in ending human trafficking. Take action today. Everyone has a voice—you have a voice. Will you have the courage to use it?
___________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Laura for the encouraging and inspiring words that you've given us. Spreading awareness about human trafficking helps those two million people that are forced into slavery in the United States.

~M.A.Chase♥

I Am Number Four!

I Am Number Four!

I got it for my birthday and since I've just finished City of Bones I thought, "Hmm, let's pick up this book and start reading it before February 18th"

Why before February 18th? Wait, you don't know? WHAT ROCK DO YOU LIVE UNDER?! *cough* Just kidding. Anyway, February 18th is the day that I Am Number Four is coming out to theatres.

I wanna read the book before I watch the movie. Sure, the book is always better than the movie. I know. I learned my lesson with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I wanna read the book though. I mean, come on the trailers look pretty good.

Besides I wanna know what I'm going to go watch BEFORE I actually go and watch it. For some reason it gives me a sense of tranquility to think that I'm not going to watch the movie FREAK OUT then read the book and picture the actors as the characters. (I tried reading Twilight after I watched the first movie, Robert Pattinson is now always in my head when I think of Edward. . .yeah, that's bad).

Anyway, here is a summary of the book from the jacket. Enjoy:

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you've ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books--but we're real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and to become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you withough you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

And Number Three in Kenya.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

Isn't that a bone chilling jacket summary? It makes you wanna pick up the book and read it, huh? Well DO IT.

Thank you. Have a nice night!

~M.A.Chase♥