The Avengers

I've wanted to see “The Avengers“ since I found out of it in the very beginning. I read that the critics said some nice things about it, the audience loved it and I was really dying to see it. So I went and thought that this movie did not live up to the hype nor my expectations. I’m sorry to everyone who loved it, but I thought it was just blah. 

                                         

I mean.. I looooveeee Robert Downey Jr. I love his portraying of the Iron Man. I like the sincerity of Captain America and Chris Evans. I love the power and presence of Thor (plus Chris Hemsworth is really swoon-worthy). I also think Scarlet Johansson’s beautiful and talented, but she’s not Russian and it was hilarious to see her portray one. However, I was glad that her accent (which at times wasn’t there at all and then out of nowhere came again) wasn’t that strong, because usually Hollywood goes over the top with the accents, so it was all good.

What I liked most about the movie was Tom Hiddleston and his Loki. I mean. Wow! Every time he was on screem the corners of my mouth just curled up in a grin. I liked this character from “Thor“ already, but this.. This guy’s absolutely worth the credit and this movie would’ve been nothing without him. I found it funny that Thor was the only character who tried to save Loki and get him on the right track. Well, of course there’s the whole half-sibling thing, but still. None of the other superheros gave him the chance to redeem himself or try to help him, they were all set out to destroy him.

Loved the reindeer comment. Loved the Hulk handling Loki in Stark’s apartment. Loved the bickering between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Loved the fights between the avengers, but what I did not love the 3D and the storyline. It was all so very and unbelievably boring. 3D kicked in during the 1/3 of the movie and I didn’t think much of it. I hated the storyline – it was so cliché and if it wasn’t for Loki and some jokes by Tony Stark I think I would have fallen asleep. There were too many characters and their issues were all different, therefore, there wasn’t any time left concentrating on them. I would have loved to see Loki even more and I think there should be a seperate movie about him only. With occasional clipmses of Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. of course.  Well, one can dream. I still hope this amazing character will get a movie of his own, he deserves it.

I think all Marvel fans should see it and I think everyone who loved some of the previous work by this studio from the past few years should go and check it out themselves. Even though I wasn’t that amazed by this piece of work, it was nice, entertaining and full of action. I just expected more.

The Vow

I’ve seen “Dear John“, “The Notebook“ and “The Last Song“ and loved all of them so I had high hopes for “The Wow“, but unfortunately I was left dissapointed.

It’s a love story about two young lovers who fall madly in love, live every day to the fullest and get married young. They have their problems, but they walk trough all of them together, side by side. Until one night they get into a car crash and everything they’ve bulit so far comes crashing down: Paige has a severe memory loss and Leo, her husband, has to win her heart . Again. She doesn’t remember him at all. Paige thinks she’s in love with someone else and doesn’t understand why she choose art over lawschool, why she’s married to someone who’s not the guy she though was the love of her life and why she’s not keeping in touch with her parents etc. Everything’s confusing and on top of that she’s hurting her husband who desperately tries to get her to remember their life, relationship, feelings.

I thought it was going to be great emotional movie, because the story’s got depth and is full of emotions, plus we’ve got the amazing, talented and beautiful Rachel McAdams and the handsome dance wizard Channing Tatum, but it honestly wasn’t that great at all. Yeah, I shed a few tears when Tatum’s character Leo had given up all of his hope, but that was it. I thought the chemistry was there, everything looked beautiful etc, but it could have been much, much better. Something was just missing. Also, the ending was really what the hell?! – I didn’t even get it was the ending until the credits startet running.

If you’re a fan of Nicolas Sparks’ work I think it’s for you, but in my opinion it wasn’t the best he has written. Anyway, my rating is like this due to the wonderful R. McAdams and her co-star – the always handsome Mr. C. Tatum. Too bad we didn’t get to see his moves in this one, but hey, we’ve still got “Step Up“ to enjoy.

Rating: 2/5.

Sweet Evil

Original Title: Sweet Evil 
Author: Wendy Higgins 
Release Date: May 1st 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Add it: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Embrace the Forbidden
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

“Sweet Evil“ is a debut novel from Wendy Higgins. I found it via goodreads and thought it had a beautiful cover + the description sounded intriguing. I gave it a try and I’m glad I did. It was a great, quick, emotional, fun and a quite dark read.

There were some very fun and interesting characters. We have:

• Anna – a descendant of an angel and a demon – who’s a great gal, but a little naive for my taste
• Kaidan (or Kai, however you like) – a descendant of the Duke of Lust – a boy who’s brought up by a horrible father and who in order to live has to work for Hell by seducing women and having sex with them. He has issues with trust, love and every other good emotion, feeling. He’s a drummer – I have a soft spot for musicians.
• Kopano – the Duke of Wrath’s son – although his father is a demon, he actually has a good father compared to the majority of the Nephilim. He’s a pretty decent guy: friendly, good-hearted, honest, supporting.
• Ginger and Marna – daughters of the Duke of Adultery – I think neither of them are driven by evil, but they want to live so they do as they’re told. Ginger is a bit brutal when it comes to socialising, but she’s not that bad either, she’s been trough a lot.
• Belial (Jonathan LaGray)– the Duke of Substance Abuse – he’s different form the other Dukes and Anna’s his first offspring. I really liked this character. Even though he’s described as bald, I cannot help but to imagine him as bearded Joe Lando (John Blackwell from the Secret Circle). I think his voice, look, presence, charisma could work as an advantege for this character.
• Patti – Anna’s human stepmother – she’s a little too emotional and sometimes a little fragile, but at times she can also be powerful. It’s easy to see that she loves Anna as her own. She’s very supportive.
• Jay – Anna’s human best friend – he’s awesome! He hasn’t got a clue about Anna’s heritage. He supports her trough some tough times. Oh, an he’s fun, too.
• Veronica – Anna’s human friend – she and Anna will get to know each other later on in the book, she’s a bit of fresh air, but I’m not that enraptured by her.

So that’s it with the characters. I also liked the storyline. Anna can see auras which reflect people’s emotions. When she becomes 16, she’ll see their guardian angels too. Anna doesn’t know about her heritage until her 16th birthday when her stepmother explains some of the story, but she doesn’t have the whole story for her. Anna meets Kaidan and Kai offers to take her on a roadtrip to the City of Angels (Los Angeles) to see her father (who’s in jail, by the way) and Sister Ruth – supposedly she’s got some information to share, too.

It’s a dangerous trip and the answers they get are even more terrifying than everything Anna’s ever imagined. She has to take a front row seat in the battle between Heaven and Hell and it’s hard to resist temptation when you’re a descendant of the Duke of Substance Abuse and you’re drawn to alcohol, drugs etc. Also, you find yourself in love with the descendant of the Duke of Lust. Oh, what’s more, he’s hot and cold. Like all the time.  You don’t know who to trust. You have a pure heart, but you’re expected to work for Hell in order to survive. It’s a very dangerous game Anna’s playing and there seem to be no winner in this one.

I was bothered by Anna’s crying all the time, because it got tiring at the end, but I guess she’s the way she is due to the environment she grew up in (which isn’t that bad at all, but Patti’s emotional, they have to make ends meet and have sacrificed a lot), plus her father has a soft spot, too. Also, I found it funny that Patti let Anna go on a roadtrip with Kaidan when she knew he was a demon and she’d known him for like 20 minutes or so, but eh, whatever, I guess it was necessary for the storyline.

I liked the idea of the Dukes of Hell and their descendants – the Nephilim. I found the Dukes captivating, because they honestly think they're better than good forcesa and they won't stop at nothing in order to get what they want. I also liked the characters, the plotline and I relly enjoyed that everything too time. It wasn’t like it often happens that it’s two-three weeks while everything goes from bad to worse, it took what? 8 months? Anyway, it was great that it took longer for the story to develope.

On the love triangle: I thought Anna and Kaiden had tons of chemistry, but Kopano’s just somekind of a fireescape for Anna, whether there should be a fire and she needed one, and I did not feel their chemistry at all. In my opinion, they’re better off as friends.

I was literally devastated by the ending and I want to read the sequel (no news on that one yet) so bad already. It was an intriguing story with some cool characters and creative writing. I very much enjoyed it.

Rating: 5/5.

Pure

Original Title: Pure (Covenant #3) 
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Release Date: April 3rd 2012 
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Add it: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

There is need. And then there is Fate...

Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome – especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom – so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do – and sacrifice – for her.

When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies – lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon... and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude... or killing her.

When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

Jennifer L. Armentrout’s second novel of the Covenant series is called “Pure“. In my “Half-Blood“ review I stated that it’s very similar to R. Mead’s Vampire Academy series and there were some elements similar to VA in this book, too, but as it progressed, it got more and more original, which, in my opinion, is absolutely fantastic!

In this book, the author concentrates more on telling the story of the pures and their place on the pedestal of the society. In an ideal society halfs and pures should be equals, but for now, it sure doesn’t feel like it and halfs are somewhat frowned upon and looked down on. I think this title represents the part of the society that is „pure“ and, also, pure love as in the sacrifice Aiden makes at the end of this book.

Alex must get used to the idea of her new destiny, but it’s hard when everyone around you at school treats you badly and thinks you’re a feverent supporter of daimons. Also, they blame you for the massacre commited by your mother and think you knew about it, but did not report it. Alex’s having nightmares about her mom and her followers. Moreover, she must commit herself to school, training with Aiden and training with Seth. She’s exhausted inside out. After finishing about one third of the book, something tragical happened for Alex and I must admit, I couldn’t keep my emotions or tears together.

In addition to her life in school, she must go and give her statement in front of the Council, where she is asked about the events that took place in Gatlinburg. What she doesn’t know is that the questions are not only asked in order to alanyse what happened in Gatlinburg, but also because some people think that Alex’s supposed to be in servitude until the end of her life and, therefore, she cannot commit herself to her new deistiny, therefore, they try to make her look guilty and sentence her into servitude.

I’m curious about why Alex hates Lucian so much, because he doesn’t seem that sleeky and bad as Alex seems to think, but maybe I’m just too blind to see it or want to see the best in people. I'll probably start to dislike him as the series progresses, tho.

On the lovetriangle (Alex-Aiden-Seth): Aiden’s pushing Alex away and leaves her alone when she needs him the most, but there’s still someone who supports her in every situation and helps her make it trough this whole mess – Seth. Trough a rough start with picking on each other during every single moment they share with oneanother, they start a friendship and you can easily see their chemistry as opposed to Aiden and Alex – their chemistry is not that obvious to an eye of another human being, because it's more on the inside than outside (although they're attracted to each other's looks, too). You can see Seth falling for her and she’s starting to think more of him than just a tough and hansome egomaniac. There’s only one problem: even though Aiden constantly pushes Alex away, there’re moments where he says something he shouldn’t. I was a feverent supporter of team Aiden, but after how he treated her (yeah, yeah for their own safety etc) and Seth was there trough every step of the way, I kind of fell for Seth. Now I’m torned. The sacrifice at the end of the book doesn’t make everythink okay, but it made it clear that Aiden loves her, although he shouldn’t. I’m sure that Alex, as Rose from VA, ends up with her true love in the end.

I liked Laadan from the new characters, but I think there was something fishy between her and Rachelle while she was still alive and I think there’s something up with this servant who Alex tried to talk to. I bet there’ll be some furies in the next book and I’m personally looking forward to meeting some of the gods who're supposedly walking among the humans. I’d like to know what they have to say to Alex and what they all think about this whole situation. Also, I liked the balls scene, pool scene,  drugged Alex, Seth, the ending of the book, Caleb, Alex’s suprise for Aiden and vice versa. I also liked that there seem to be some changes in the atmosphere of the society and I think it’ll be something to explore in the next ones.

My book included the first chapter of “Deity“ (Covenant #3), the e-book version had the pool scene from Seth’s POV (here’s the short version of it) which is quite interesting and different. I definitely want to read the next one which comes out in the fall, 2012. The more I read this series, the better it gets, hopefully the next one will be even more original, intense and entertaining. By the way, Armentrout recently announced that the series will have a fifth book as well, also, there’s a prequel “Daimon“ and a novella called “Elixir“ from Aidens POV will be published this year, too (by the way, these two are free for download on Spencer Hill's webpage).

Rate: 4.5/5.

Excerpts:

“Ever since I’ve met you, I’ve wanted to break every rule. You'll become the center of someone's world one day. And he'll be the luckiest son of a bitch on this earth.” 

“Aw, did you just fall?"
"No." I rolled onto my back, wincing. "I attacked the floor.”

“It’s not great. What kind of connection is this? A one-way hotline to Pervyville?” I took a step forward, on a roll now. 

“It’s disgusting. Freaky—stop laughing, Seth!” 

 

Reading order:

1. “Half-Blood“
2. “Pure“
3. “Deity“ (November 6th)
4. “Apollyon“ (spring, 2013)
5. “Sentinel“ (fall, 2013)

“Daimon“ (prequel)
 “Elixir“ (Aiden's POV, November, 2012)

Inspiration: Philip Phillips

All right, fellas! It's my first post under this "inspiration" tag. I'll put it under #music, too, but yeah, this is not just music.. I think this guy's inspirational and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him. He stays true to himself and his music and doesn't change who he is because someone else thinks it might do him good. I liked him from the very first moment I saw him on this year's "American Idol". By the way, he's got a darn awesome name. Hope you enjoy. He's got that something special in him and I bet we'll hear from him pretty soon. Lol, he just makes me smile and I love how much he enjoys what he's doing. Yeah. That's pretty much it, so.. Check him out, will ya :)