Maximum Ride - Nevermore by James Patterson

Also posted on my Goodreads account.


THE EXPLANATION

For those of you who haven't read the series, Maximum Ride is about a group of kids who grew up in a science lab, created by "mad" scientists. Long story short; they have wings. They have escaped the lab and are fugitives, on the run. I make it sound so interesting (not), but I really don't know how to describe it!



THE RANT

Wow, the end of Maximum Ride. I don't even know where to start with this. I've actually put off writing this review for a while now, but I need to do this. I must release the feels! Well, let me tell you, first, that MR was my favorite series, up until Angel (the book, not the person). I was obsessed with it. UP UNTIL ANGEL. I have always been in love with Fang, and when he left and treated Max like shit, I was dying inside. The fangirl in me was screaming, FAX FAX FAX! And I didn't really want to finish, but I felt like I had to see the series through to the end, after following it for so long. HUGE MISTAKE

THE REVIEW


SPOILER ALERT
Horrible. That's one word to describe the last book in the Maximum Ride series. Depressing. That's another. Makesmewanttokillmyself. Yet another. A horrible ending to a series that had great potential. I read reviews about it and didn't want to read it, but I did. Why am I so stupid?! I should have left it on the bookshelf and keep the series in my imagination, where there's really no end to it, if that made any sense at all. I bet it didn't. Just ignore that.

Max has become a completely different person. No longer the badass heroine that we all loved, she is now a boy-crazy beady-eyed lovebird. She didn't even think about Angel. She tried to pretend that she never existed, because it hurt to think about her. The Max I know would never do that. She would never give up on Angel, would search for her forever. But no, instead she's riding a motorcycle (?? how did they get a motorcycle?) with Dylan.

Then Maya dies because of Ari, which by the way, HOW DID HE COME BACK TO LIFE?! and Fang comes back to the flock. They find out Angel might not be dead, go looking for her, yadayadayada, find her and bring her home. I think they might have clipped her wings, but I'm not sure. I kind of skimmed. Really, it was the most I could bring myself to do.

Then it turns out Dr. Martinez (Max's MOM!!) was on the bad guys side. But then it's all okay because she was brainwashed.
The ending. Oh my God, I wanted to die. What happens is Angel tells Max that she's her Voice, and then Fang and Max make out, and then the whole human population dies, except for the mutants.
Overall, the book was rushed and left a whole lot of loose ends. A few (not all) of the questions I had after reading this book were:


1. What about Dylan?
I mean, I'm 100% Fax, but what about the other boy in this love triangle? He's probably gonna have to stay with the flock, so won't that be awkz?

2. What happened to the rest of the flock?
They were in a cave thanks to Dylan when the end of the world happened, so Max (and the reader) has absolutely no idea what happened to them.

3. What's with Ella?
She leaves this cryptic message 'I was meant to have wings' in the sand and is gone, so what the hell happened? She just reappeared with her mom.

4. Speaking of Ella
What happened to her and her mom? Did they survive?

5. Ari. WTF
How the crap did Ari come back, and why wasn't he nice anymore?


This book left me with more questions that I had starting it. Personally, I'd rather have not read it and finish the book in my imagination (that's a better way to say that).

I refuse to believe that the man who wrote the first few books could have written this piece of shit. I did like that Fax reunited, but that's the only thing I liked about this book.


END SPOILER ALERT

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Divergent by Veronica Roth -- Review

((I wrote this a LONG time ago on my Goodreads. It's a horrible fangirly review, so I may rewrite it later on.)) 
Well. This one's going to be hard to review because I'M SO freaking OBSESSED WITH IT!!
Let me start by saying that when I first read this book, I was so eager to see what happened next, that I kinda "skimmed" the whole book. Which I completely regret. It goes kind of slow at first, but it's all important. I wish I could go back and forget what I read, and read it the right way. But I can't. SO I re-read it. I have no idea how many times I've read this book, but it's a lot. 
I have so much to say about this book, i don't have ANY idea where to start Dx
Alright, I'll start with the beginning. 
GOD I CANT THERES TOO MUCH GOING ON IN MY MIND!!!
Ok, I think I should obsess first, review later.
F
O
U
R
ohmygod. four. *starts hyperventilating* Too much to say about four, so little time (meaning I'm lazy)
First of all, Four is so mysterious which I kind of liked at the time, but I'm so glad we learned more about him through the book. 
FOURFOURFOURFOUR


EDIT Better Review, without as much obsessing

How does one properly write a review for their favorite book? They don't. Or at least, I don't. I have so much to say about this book, and a short attention span. I will try to make this make as much sense as possible, but I can't promise anything.
Summary: [spoiler alert] 
Beatrice Prior, born into Abnegation, the selfless, feels out of place. She thinks she is anything but selfless. Even though her aptitude test gives her results for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. That's why, when the choosing ceremony comes, she tranfers out of Abnegation and into Dauntless, the brave.
After jumping off a building (into a net) Beatrice meets Four, the instructor, and later love interest (<4), and renames herself Tris. She becomes friends with Will, Christina, and Al, all transfers. They help eachother through initiation. She then meets Dauntless initiates, Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene. They become friends too. After Tris is ranked first in initiation stage 2, Peter and his friends/thugs kidnap her in the middle of the night and dangle her over the chasm, claiming to have just been trying to scare her. Al is with them. Four saver her. She learns who Four really is (Tobias Eaton, from Abnegation) by going through his Fear landscape with him. After a long make-out sesh with Four, the next day in training, she gets scared and he yells at her. She runs off to her brother Caleb, in Erudite, and gets in trouble. Eric, the Dauntless leader, threatens to kick her and her friends out, to become factionless, when Four steps in. Turns out, he was just trying to protect her by yelling at her.
Then, all of Dauntless is put under a simulation run by the Erudite, to attack the Abnegation. All except the Divergent, Tris and Four. When Eric tries to shoot Four, thinking he was under the simulation, Tris shoots Eric, and they run off. Tris gets shot and is captured, Four stays with her and he is put under a simulation designed for Divergent "rebels". Tris is set to be executed, and her mother saves her. They then escape to the place where their family is hiding, but her mother is shot and killed. Tris kills Will. Finds Four, who is running the simulation, while under one of his own, and attempts to stop him. She has the chance to, by killing him. She turns the gun in her hands and gives it to him, unable to do so.
He comes out of the simulation and destroys the computer, freeing the other Dauntless from the simulation.
They escape and get on a train to Amity.
[/spoiler alert]

The characters in this book were amazing, so relatable and well developed, as well as the relationships between them. The plot was fast paced and interesting, had me hooked from start to finish.
The only thing about this book I didn't like was the name Beatrice. I had actually read the blurb, considering reading it, but when I read the name "Beatrice" I was totally turned off. I didn't like that name, and decided not to read it. It was totally stupid, and I will not make that mistake again. 

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When Lightning Strikes (1-800-Where-R-You, #1) -- Review

--Originally posted on my old blog and Goodreads--
I'd been planning to read this book for a while, but just now got around to it. I am so glad that I did. I read the first two books in half a day.

THE REVIEW

Wow, this book was great. Like, 4 stars out of 5 great! I didn't really like that it was written as the MC writing a police report, but I completely forgot about it while reading. I like the idea that being struck by lightning can give you superpowers, and this book really did a great job with that. I was hooked the whole way through, and really understood what Jess was feeling when she did certain things.
The characters were likable, and completely relate-able.
This book was well written and the ideas flowed smoothly. I am definitely going to read the rest of the series.

THE SUMMARY

This series is about Jessica "Jess" Mastriani, a 16 year old girl who, other than the facts that she tends to get into fights and only has one friend, is basically a normal teen girl. Until she and her best friend, Ruth, get caught in a thunderstorm and hide under metal bleachers. And she gets struck by lightning. They walk home, thinking everything's fine, but when she wakes up the next day, she knows where some missing kids are. Thus starts her journey.

After detention, she goes with Rob Wilkins (senior hottie) to where the first missing kid, Sean, was supposed to be. He's there, all right. But he doesn't want to be found. Jess calls the police after they return home and they find him.

Jess keeps in touch with the missing children hotline- 1-800-where-r-u, and gives them locations daily. One day, the FBI catches her making the phone calls and offer her a "job" with them. Someone tells the media about her, and her house is surrounded with reporters. When her brother Douglas goes berserk about it, she decides that maybe the best thing to do is to go with the FBI.

When she finds out that the first boy she reported to the police actually had a reason to not want to be found, she goes to look for him and fix it. He had runaway from his abusive father that he'd been returned to, and she found him at the bus station. She buys him pizza and they talk about what to do, when the FBI shows up. They run, and eventually are both caught. They end up locked in the FBI base.

Jess calls Rob asking him to break them out. He does so, and causes a great amount of commotion. They go back to his house and stay the night.

Jess then decides to give Sean and his mother the $10,000 that she received for finding a kid to start over, and get away from the abusive dad.

She tells the reporter that she has lost her psychic ability, when she hasn't, to get the media off her butt.
The book ends with a police note that she should be watched.

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City of Bones by Cassandra Clare -- Review

WARNING: This review contains a HUGE amount of fangirl-ishness

THE SUMMARY

The book starts off with Clary (the MC) and her best friend, Simon, at an all ages club in their hometown, New York City. When Clary sees someone with a knife following someone into a back room, she follows, after sending Simon to alert the guards. There she meets Isabelle, Alec, and Jace. They were after a demon, but to her it just looked like murder, so she tried to stop them. Of course, with a seemingly mundane girl against three full fledged shadowhunters, it's not too hard to guess who stopped whom. Simon walks in and can't see the shadowhunters, and the demon is long gone by now. Clary says she'd just made a mistake and they go home. Then Clary's mom is kidnapped by a demon, and Jace saves her from another demon. I won't say anything more because I'd hate to spoil one of the best books ever!

THE REVIEW

I usually don't like 3rd person books. Usually. This 3rd person book, however, happens to be one of my favorites. It's actually perfect that it's in 3rd person, because it shows where other characters are and what happens to them, because they aren't normally all together. It also lets you know what each character is thinking and why they are doing what they are, so you get to get inside more heads than just the MC's. Though it did get a little confusing, at times.
The characters.. Oh mai God. They're amazingly written, described, and I loved watching their relationships grow. Namely Clace ;)
I loved the idea of a girl growing up not knowing she had anything special about her, and then BAM! One day her whole life's turned upside down and she figures out she's a SHADOWHUNTER!
This whole series is perfection, and I'll post the other reviews as I write them.

Oh, one last thing.
JACE JACE JACE JACE JACE JACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE OMFG JACE


Sorry, fangirl moment.

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Two Underrated Female Singers

I've found that the lesser-known singers appeal more to my music taste. They seem to be more friendly and communicative with their fans. Here are two of my favorite unknown singers.

Michelle Branch, a more known but underappreciated pop artist from back in '03, has been singing country, but now is making a comeback to pop. She has an amazing voice, and is pure talent. Her songs are so down to earth, and it makes you want to call her up and tell her how much she means to you, how much her songs inspire you. She is so beautiful, and she does NOT use autotune, she writes her own songs, etc. And, unlike most of the famous singers nowadays, there are NO slutty outfits.

Vanessa Carlton, pronounced as a one-hit-wonder back in '02, has gathered up her guts and made a comeback. Finally! She and Michelle Branch^^ could be twins, they are both so beautiful and great at singing. They write about the same things, but they both have their own style. Vanessa's music videos are pure, and clean, so anyone can watch them. She has a great, pure voice and like most of the girls I have listed, is so down to earth, she could be you, for all we know.

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My Struggle w/ Anxiety

I have had anxiety for as long as I can remember, though that doesn't say much. I'm 15 years old, and don't remember half of my life. I've had some traumatic events happen to me, and I guess I just wasn't strong enough to properly deal with them. From my understanding, it all started when I was a young child, a toddler. My father had anger issues and occasionally hurt me and my siblings. It wasn't bad enough to get him sent away, so there was really nothing we could do about it. Being a little kid, I actually thought that I deserved it.
My anxiety didn't really come out until first grade, when my mom got sick and almost died in front of me. I thought she was dead, and that made a huge impact on me. After that, I had horrible separation anxiety, so school was, obviously, horrible. My 1st grade teacher did nothing to help, in fact, she just made it worse. She was horrible. I think that's where the anxiety about school started.
In 2nd grade, I switched schools to a private school because I was way above my grade level, and we just hated the school system. I went to the private school for 2 years, 2nd-3rd grade, and it was mostly fine.
Then, in 4th grade, I went to another elementary school in the district, and it was okay, not as good as at the private school but I made it through.
When I switched back to the first school in 5th grade, everything went to crap. I don't know what started it, probably the memory of 1st grade. I didn't want to be in class. I wanted to go home. I used to hide in the bathroom stall and skip class, usually crying.
6th grade was different, because I went to a middle school that year. It started off okay, but then it got worse, and stayed that way through 7th grade. I sometimes ran out of the classroom and hid in the bathroom. I couldn't go to gym. I thought everyone was out to get me.
In 8th grade, I finally did it. I walked out of the school. I tried to walk home, and got way lost. This resulted in a suspension, which was exactly what I wanted. I mean, no school for 2 weeks? So then it became a reasonable option in my mind. I still haven't been able to shake this. I've been suspended upwards of 7 times for that.
9th grade was shit. It started off okay, but then about 1/6 the way through the year, I was put on half days, which I started  being unable to attend even that. Most days I stayed home for fear of feeling anxious. Eventually, I got online courses, which I didn't do because they reminded me of being in school. I almost failed.
Almost.
I hope that 10th grade will be better.

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Why Freelance is for Anyone - Earn Even More!

Since joining Triond back in 2011, I have been searching for ways to make more profit from my writing. Recently, however, I stumbled upon the art of Magazine Freelancing. Magazines are businesses- they need to earn money. Most magazines cannot fully rely on their employees for content, and that's where freelancers come in. You send in your work or ideas to them, and then they offer you a certain amount of money for it, and unless you're super famous on Triond, it's going to be way more than you earn here a month! I'm not saying you should stop writing for Triond, but keep in mind that you can earn more for certain articles.
Most magazines have a website. If you already know what magazines you are interested in writing for, look them up and find the website. At the bottom of the page, there should be either a link along the lines of "Write for us". This is their way of saying "freelance" without making their business seem unprofessional. Once you click the link, there should be instructions and guidelines about what to submit. If they don't have that section, check out their "Contact us" section. You can always email them directly asking if they accept freelancers.
I have sent in two different articles to The Dollar Stretcher, and have been paid about $125 for the both.
A few tips:
1) Don't get discouraged by rejection.
When you get that email that says ‘Unfortunately…” don’t get upset! It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer at all, it just means that your article wasn’t the best match for the website. Don’t give up, just keep trying! Also, don’t think this means that you can’t submit anything to that website ever again ; they would love to hear from you again!
2) Write your best, nothing less.
You won’t earn much money from your writing if you aren’t going to put 100% into it. You should want to be proud of your writing, so put everything you have into it.
3) Be professional when emailing magazines.
This doesn’t mean you should sound like a robot; just make sure you spell everything right, use correct punctuation, and refer to the person receiving the email as if they were your boss. Treat them with respect and they will return the favor.
I found this directory of freelance magazines to be VERY helpful. Check it out here.
http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/index.php

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