Angel Burn

Willow is different: no, it's not because she dresses like a mechanic or has the ability to glimpse into people's futures. It's because she is a half angel. Unfortunately for humanity, angels have been feeding off humans' ether for years, and now they are literally killing off the world. Too bad Willow doesn't know she's half angel, or that she holds the power to send all the angels back to their own world and keep them from killing humanity. With the help of the confident, sexy CIA agent Alex, she might just get the job done...if they can survive. 

Seriously, this one of the most entertaining romances I've read in a long time. Alex's character was perfect: dangerous, brooding, get-out-of-my-way attitude. I loved that. What I didn't love was the fact that angels were feeding off of humans. I know it was supposed to be gross, but it kind of turned me off. Plus, I have an unspoken rule in my head that angels are good and only fallen angels are bad. I mean, if angels are bad, they're demons, right? God's rejects.  But I'm not so picky that I couldn't see past it. The romance was my favorite part of the book. I've seen some people label a few aspects of Alex and Willow's romance as cliche and cheesy, but I kind of liked that. It was a nice change from some of the serious, darker stuff I've been reading. 

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Angel Burn

Tag Meme

I was tagged in a book meme by the lovely Kris from A Book from Snowy River! The idea of this meme is to answer the tagger’s ten questions and then pass on ten of your own to ten more bloggers. It’s a fun way to keep in touch with your friends in the blogging realm. So here are the ten questions I was asked by Kris.

How did you choose the name for your blog?

Simple. I love writing, and I have a fascination with clever names. I also love the name ‘Liberty Bell,’ so I switched that around and went with “Writing Belle,’ which is French for beauty, of course. *wink*

If you could be any character in a book, who would you be and why?

I’ve often thought about this, and it occurred to me that I have a Hermione addiction. She’s one of my favorite book characters of all time, and she’s resourceful, brilliant, and courageous. And she has magical powers. The complete package, right? 

Ever since you started writing, have you met any authors of your favorite books?

Yes! I have “virtually” met P.T. Michelle, the author of The Brightest Kind of Darkness and Jennifer L. Armentrout, the author of the Lux Series and the Covenant Series. I’ve also met lots of nice new authors like Bridget Bowers and Summer Day.

What is your favorite cover art that you have seen?

 I love the cover for Tiger’s Curse, by Colleen Houck. I have an obsession with tigers.

Do you have a strict blogging schedule, or are you more relaxed?

I make it a point to post every other day, at least. It gives me time to get my books read and reviewed.

Is there a book you would love to have a sequel?

Absolutely. I’d like to see a sequel to Hourglass, by Myra McEntire, or The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch. I actually think there are sequels in the works, so my wish might be granted.

What is your favorite book to TV show adaptation?

Definitely The Vampire Diaries. There are a few things I would personally change about the show, and although it doesn’t follow the books at all, it’s still very

entertaining and contains all the core characters.

Everyone likes to shop for books differently, do you buy online or spend hours in a bookstore or library?

I browse for books online, then either go into the store and buy them or order them online. Or I get an e-book. But I get a ton of my books from the library, because mine carries new releases.

Do you prefer reading paperbacks or ebooks?

Both. I have an open mind, but I still like the smell of paper.

If you had to write a novel featuring yourself, what kind of character would you play?

Well, anything featuring me would be pretty boring, so it would have to be me somehow getting thrown into an insane situation. I’d probably play the slightly crazy book addict. Yeah. Slightly.

Now that you know all the deepest secrets of my soul we can move on. 

I am tagging the following blogs in this meme. If you’re tagged, feel free to keep the meme going by answering the following questions on your own blog and passing your original questions on to ten blogs!

Here are the blogs I tagged: 

Confessions of a Twenty Something Fiction Writer  

Bookhi 

INKYTOPIA 

Leigh Covington  

A Belle's Tales  

A Midsummer Night's Read  

Books Over Boys  

Summer Day (Pride and Princesses) 

Dizneeee's Wonderful World of Books  

Rants 'N' Ramblings  

  

Here are the ten questions! 

1.  What is your favorite book to movie adaptation? 
2. Who is your top book boyfriend/girlfriend?
3. What actor or actress do you think most resembles that character? 
4. If you could jump into any genre, what would it be and why? 
5. Do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction?
6. Pertaining to your sex, would you rather read a book with a male or a female protagonist?
7. Why do you love to blog?
8. Do you love books with a sense of humor, or do you prefer something more dramatic?
9. Have you ever met a famous author?
10. Where is your favorite place to read - and when? 

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Tag Meme

Desert Angel

Angel escapes from her mom's abusive boyfriend, Scotty, after he murders her mother and burns their trailer to the ground. But Scotty will track Angel from here to the ends of the earth for the mere thrill of the hunt: he wants her dead. Can she escape? 

I thought this book was going to be a survivalist thriller - the description kind of made it sound like Angel was going to brave a giant desert and survive in the wilderness while on the run from Scotty. But in actuality she runs from house to house, trying to anticipate where Scotty will strike next in his attempt to kill her. I liked a lot of the book, but I felt like I spent the entire story waiting for something to happen. The body of the book is one long lull in the action - with a couple of pages in the back to wrap it up. There are some thematic elements in the book that will fly right over most kids' heads - but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody under 15, unless they're already familiar with themes like graphic abuse and murder. 

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Desert Angel

Through My Eyes

Every once in a while I read a really fun biography, and I have to share it with you guys. Tim Tebow is a pretty famous figure in the media right now, and I decided to read his book because he seemed like such a good role model for kids everywhere, boys and girls alike.

To be honest, some of the technical football terms went over my head - just how many football secret play words are there? 'Oh look! It's another 'Thomas Edison Lightbulb Touchdown Pass!"' I don't know how he remembers all that terminology, but he does. It's actually extremely impressive when it comes to all the tortuous (yes, tortuous!) training he goes through to be a good football player. I got tired just reading about it. 

In case you haven't noticed by now, I'm not prime NFL material. 

It's a shock, I know. 
But football aside, Tim Tebow has such a wonderful story, and I'm glad he shared it through this book. He was originally going to be aborted as a baby, since the doctors told his mother that she would die if she carried him to term. Obviously, he wasn't aborted and he's gone on to have a brilliant career - both on and off the football field. His talent, but most importantly, his charitable efforts and great attitude are what set him apart from other celebrities in the spotlight right now. His story was actually very inspiring for me, at a point in life where you wonder if you have to "reinvent yourself' when you're going through college and break away from the beliefs that you were raised with. You don't. And it's nice to know that somebody still stands up for what's right, in addition to being unashamed of the gospel of Christ, which is ultimately the most important thing. +

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Through My Eyes

Hourglass

I love time travel. I think it's such an exciting concept as to how we could go back and time and change our pasts while tweaking the present and possibly destroying the future of the entire universe - all before breakfast. But seriously, this book was all about a girl named Emerson Cole (awesome name!), who has the ability to time travel. She decides to help a really, really handsome guy named Michael go back in time and save his adoptive father from being murdered. But there are way too many things that can - and do - go wrong.

I liked the time travel concept. I actually went into this thinking that it was going to be a corny book about a girl who has regular chit-chats with ghosts. But no! It was all about traveling through time. Plus, the romance between Emerson and Michael is pretty awesome. After I got done with the book I saw that this was a 2011 debut novel - with a sequel on the way (I hope!). This makes me think that some of the supporting characters will have a bigger role in the next book. Particularly Kaleb. (I could live with that) Overall, an awesome, fun and entertaining read!

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Hourglass

The Always War

Short books are pretty fun to read, and I settled down with this one on a Saturday afternoon. It is the story of an ex-military pilot named Gideon, a girl named Tessa, and a kid named Dek who get stranded in the enemy's territory - and discover that the war might not be exactly what they think it is. 

This book drew me in (I saw it in the library and the premise sounded awesome) and while the writing itself was great, there was a lot of confusion going on. I had the mystery figured out 1/4 of the way into the book. And I have to be honest: I didn't like Gideon. He ran around the whole time yelling "I surrender, I surrender!" and choking on sobs. Not the most stalwart soldier. At any rate, the brightest spot in this book was Dek, the snarky, brilliant street kid who stows away on their adventure. Even then, however, I felt like there were a few holes that weren't filled. I easily would have liked this book more if the other main characters - Tessa and Gideon - were more enigmatic. 

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The Always War

The Eleventh Plague

The Eleventh Plague has basically wiped out the earth's nations. The people who are left fight for survival in a barren wilderness - no electricity, no cars, no Wal-Mart. Things suck. For Stephan, his life is extra hard. His Grandfather and Mother are dead, and he's left with his dad. Until his dad slips into a coma and suddenly he is all alone. Luckily for him, he falls into the company of some friendly people who have created their own gated society called 'Settler's Landing.' Everything is going great...but can Stephan really fit into the so-called 'society?' Is there a greater danger lurking in the abandoned frontiers of North America?

I really liked this book. It took me a couple of hours to read - it's short and to the point, which is exactly what I love - and it details the post-apocolyptic settings in Stephan's world as realistically as if you were reading about shopping at a grocery store. Stephan is a pretty basic protagonist - but it's a pretty basic survive-or-die story. My favorite character was Jenny, the spunky, witty Chinese girl Stephan falls for. I've read a lot of post-apocolyptic novels in the YA genre, and this one has the same foundational storyline as all of them, but with a great narration. Jeff Hirsch is really an awesome writer

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The Eleventh Plague