Answering Your Question

So you had some questions about who those peeps were in the post below. Here are their books and a blurb on them. I added my comments in italics.
Chloe Saunders is your average teenage girl. She lives in Buffalo, with her aunt and attends an art school. She spends time with her friends, talks to boys, that kind of thing. Then she meets a ghost. This ghost is terrifying and grotesque. The interaction sends her into a breakdown, which gets her sent to a group home, Lyle House.

Lyle House is for mentally-ill teens who must work through their problems, or at least that is what it is advertised to be. Bizarre situations are occurring at this house, not only with herself, but also with other residents of the house. And no matter how much she tries not to believe it, Chloe sees more ghosts. Through strange events, the secrets everyone is hiding spills out, connections are made, and soon nothing is as it was thought to be. But with secrets.... there are always people who want to keep them quiet.

The start of this all seemed very Sixth Sense to me. I was hooked with the first chapter because it was the first "YA Horror" book that actually gave me the creeps. LOVED IT! The creepiness gets toned down a lot after the first chapter and the action seems to slow, but still good.

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Faerie intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning 21^st century faery tale.

I did read this but had no interest in really reading the next one. I didn't like Aislinn's actions or Keenan's. All the people in this books seem essentially selfish and the characters who I thought were interesting, I wanted to know more about, but they never got more than a paragraph; they were fillers to push the story forward.

'Folklore, mystery, and romance swirl together in a story unlike any other out there. I thoroughly enjoyed it.” —Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Lovely

“Twilight fans will love it.” —Kirkus Reviews

I LOVED THIS BOOK! The writing is very clever and the romance scenes are smoking (I feel like Jim Carey, now). I liked it because it took a creature from folklore that I've always been fascinated with and expanded it. Very creative. The second one was my favorite, to date, but number four comes out in January. We'll see what happens after that.

Grade 8 Up—Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox awakens after more than a year in a coma to find herself in a life—and a body—that she doesn't quite recognize. Her parents tell her that she's been in an accident, but much of her past identity and current situation remain a mystery to her: Why has her family abruptly moved from Boston to California, leaving all of her personal belongings behind? Why does her grandmother react to her with such antipathy? Why have her parents instructed her to make sure not to tell anyone about the circumstances of their move? And why can Jenna recite whole passages of Thoreau's Walden, but remember next to nothing of her own past? As she watches family videos of her childhood, strange memories begin to surface, and she slowly realizes that a terrible secret is being kept from her. Pearson has constructed a gripping, believable vision of a future dystopia. She explores issues surrounding scientific ethics, the power of science, and the nature of the soul with grace, poetry, and an apt sense of drama and suspense. Some of the supporting characters are a bit underdeveloped, but Jenna herself is complex, interesting, and very real. This is a beautiful blend of science fiction, medical thriller, and teen-relationship novel that melds into a seamless whole that will please fans of all three genres.

Next on my to read list. Optioned for a movie.

This opening book in a new series, The Immortals, will thrill many teen fantasy-suspense readers, especially fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Seventeen-year-old Ever survived the car crash that killed her parents, younger sister, and their dog. Now she lives with an aunt in Southern California, plagued not only by survivor guilt but also by a new ability to hear the thoughts of all around her. She tries to tune out all these distractions by keeping her hoodie up and her iPod cranked loud, until Damen, the cute new boy at school, convinces her to come out of her shell. Damen, however, is frighteningly clever—and has the strange ability to produce tulips from nowhere and disappear himself at critical moments. Noël (Saving Zoë, 2007) creates a cast of recognizably diverse teens in a realistic high-school setting, along with just the right tension to make Ever’s discovery of her own immortality—should she choose it—exciting and credible. Grades 8-10. --Francisca Goldsmith

I liked it a little. There was just something missing. Didn't like it enough to read number two. But I did like the romance. The end was good. Her little sister Riley was really just too annoying for me to care to endure more of it. BUT a lot of people like it and it was optioned for a movie. CRAZY!

The Manliest Man (or How Colby Let me Geek Out with the Geekiest)

So last night, Colby the awesomest, let me geek out with other nerds. I found out that Rachel Vincent, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, and Melissa De La Cruz and Alyson Noel were all going to be signing books at a bookstore in Pasadena. Pack up the kiddies, Colby came too. We tagteamed, but mostly Colby did all the work, and I had a blast! I was not the oldest one there, there were a bunch of other peeps there, but I was the only one with babies. They did awesome too, by the way.
Here's a pic of Colby and the kiddies in the back:

The festivities started with a Q and A earlier. I went in a bought their books (only two) so that they could sign one. I usually just get them from the library.
So we missed the Q and A.
They did have about 300 people show up. They threw out dog tags, key chains and shirts. The authors had a lightening round where the audience asked them 2-3 questions and they had 2-3 seconds to answer each question.
The best thing, in my opinion, was the trivia game and the raffle.
Two authors had advance copies (as in not out in stores now) and were giving them away to their biggest fan with the best recall. The authors asked a trivia question, then if you knew the answer, you raised your hand. The questions got progressively harder until there was only one person with their hand raised. SO COOL!
Then there was a raffle to involve you in a short story for the joint anthology They were putting together. If you won, you got to be saved, killed, made out with, tragically die, get ditched, dumped or whatever-ed in the short story. The person who won was actually the father of one of the teens at the event. Ironic. Still, so cool!
Then you got to meet the authors and have them sign your books. Here's me with Kelley Armstrong
and Rachel Vincent.

If Armstrong looks a little distracted it's because the brother of one of the teen girls was asking the authors to sign his stomach. Hey, if you've been dragged along, you've got to make it interesting somehow.
I've got to add another book to my reading list because some of their books, I didn't know about. A few were talking with movie peeps for a movie option! SO COOL!
Hubsters and kiddies were fantastic! At one point we divided and conquered and Sam stayed with me. They were just awesome and Colby was amazing! Thanks for letting me have SO MUCH FUN! That's what best friends are for, right?

Movie Previews

Okay, I had some down time today and I looked at a bunch of new movie trailers. These ones really struck my fancy
Life as We Know It

Bollywood film: It's a Wonderful Afterlife (Not the best trailer, but the only one I could find). Go to Apple.com for the other one.

Megamind (There are two trailers and the second looks better)

And The Fighter

Fabulous Dinner at Sam Woo's

You know you're stuffed when finishing a fortune cookie is impossible. We ate ourselves silly! Not many white people there. We were the whitest thing there besides the rice.
I could have sworn a lady that passed the table was Grandma High. I almost did a double take. There was also a Chinese only menu- Chinese Chef's menu. We needed Grandma to translate to order anything from that menu.
Sam was great and some ladies at the table next to us stopped their meal to admire his good looks.
Jackson was in fits because all he really wanted was peanut butter. He didn't eat anything. So the iPhone came out and he was entertained and the meal was suddenly more enjoyable.

First dish: Winter Melon Soup. It's a good light soup. Colby and Becca had never had it before and really liked it.






Lettuce Wraps: Very different than PF Chang's, but delicious. Same concept, different recipe

Followed by: Canton Whole Steamed Flounder: This was indeed an entire fish. It was fantastic! They de-boned it at the table. We attacked that first and the most because the fish just wouldn't keep. It had shredded scallions on top. (Becca and Colby's favorite)




Orange Peel Beef: Just delicious; Way better than Ginger Beef (Grandad's favorite)
Hong Kong Crispy Chicken: The salt and pepper seasoning makes the dish. We all thought of Danielle as the pink and mint green shrimp chips came out.Roasted Sam Woo's Special Duck: Moist and tender; It was really very good. Tasty!

Shrimp with Chinese Broccoli: They were huge shrimp. Oh, wow! A pile of shrimp.








House Special Chow Mein: All kinds of seafood like lobster, squid, scallops, shrimp, octopus, even huge black mushrooms, Chinese sausage and minimal veggies over thin noodles (Nana's Favorite)

Hong Kong Style Dungeness Crab: Deep fried and crispy; pretty showy
Steamed Rice
Watermelon Slices and Fortune Cookies
For only being four people, we did a really good job of finished the food. All in all, we took home half a bird and half the beef dish and the chow mein. We really only picked the goodies off the top of that one. We were just too full.
The place was packed when we left. Lined up out the door. We arrived just in time to beat the dinner rush. They waiters were like a machine, clearing tables with incredible speed. But we still didn't feel rushed to leave. We couldn't anyway. We were too full. Luckily the drive home was 40 minutes long so we all had time to digest our dinner so we could walk, not roll, out of the car.
As soon as we finish this post, out comes the Marie Callendar's banana cream pie. Can you keep a secret? We really just posted this to make you all jealous. And because we miss you.

Satisfied customers. I can't believe we forgot to get a picture of Nana and Grandad, the founders of the feast! And what a feast!

I'm Geeking Out About It!

So, I started reading Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent. Before that I read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr and I LOVE the Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong (Canadian author-woot woot). I've also read Beautiful Creatures (some of it-I couldn't finish), and the Immortals series (read the first, but lost interest) by Alyson Noel. I know about the Blue Blood series by Melissa De La Cruz and even tried to read one. I have heard of the Morganvilles Vampires series, and seen the cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. ALL OF THOSE AUTHORS ARE GOING TO BE IN PASADENA SIGNING BOOKS AND A Q AND A SESSION FOLLOWS! I'm geeking out about it! They all write fantasy or YA horror. Supernatural romances. So excited!
The only way to make it better would be to add Suzanne Collins and J.K. Rowling on the list. I've met Meyer and got a picture of Orson Scott Card at the BYU bookstore so, I'm set with those books.

My Newest Favorite Book

For me to say I have a favorite book is like limiting myself to one ice cream flavor. I LOVE THIS BOOK! It's a trilogy. I seem to have weakness for them. This writer is what I would call fearless. At least in the first one. The second and third were good and I want to read them again to savor the moment, again. I wish I could have taught this in 8th grade. Don't even read the jacket cover because it doesn't do it justice. In fact, I came across this book two years ago and read the back and put it down again because the book jacket was terrible. Just read it.

He Fell Asleep Like This