Best Books I Read in September

Hey people! I don't know about you, but I've been reading a lot of good books lately and I want to share a few with you! :D

Here goes nothin'!

Winter Turning by Tui T. Sutherland 

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Man, this was a great book. The first part of the Wings of Fire series was good but not great. And now that we have a new set of dragonets to read about, it's just been fabulous!! The main character for Winter Turning was fun to read from his point of view. The main character, Winter, and another dragon named Qibli have the greatest snappy remarks to each other all the time.

If you haven't started Wings of Fire you totally should!

Matched by Ally Condie

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I loved this book so so much. The writing style was a tad bit hard to get into but once I was in, I was totally in! XD The book wasn't so much about romance as I thought it would be, but that was completely fine. It was such a bittersweet book, just enough sweetness to counter the bitterness. And the story was so beautiful, gah! I just love it so much. XD

Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins

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Yes, I know this is middle grade book but sometimes those are just to cute to resist. XD And this book was definitively cute. The plot was sweet, the characters were adorable, and the different types of magical abilities was awesome. ^.^ And the humor in the book was so perfect for the book. I like this book a ton. :3

 Spell Hunter by R. J. Anderson

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I read this book years ago and for some reason didn't like it that much. I reread again last month and I LOVED IT!!!! The way the fairies did things had a magical feeling even if they weren't magical anymore. The author has such a different take on fairies and it's awesome! Also, the romance was so darling between the main character and the boy. :) I think I may now have a minor crush on Paul... >.< XD

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

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Oh my goodness! This book was the darlingest thing ever!!!* I can't even!! I love this book soooooo much. Reading about all the characters you know and love as younger kids/tweens was adorable. This series, The Lunar Chronicles, is probably on my top list of book series. The characters were just priceless and the romance was the sweetest thing ever. (I could fan girl over Kai for forever...) 

If you haven't read that series yet, you must stop reading this and head straight to a bookstore and buy 10,000 copies to read and give to your friends. (Cause, trust me, you'll be recommending this series to everyone who you meet. It's that good.)

*Yes, I know "darlingest" isn't a word, but it should be!

The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

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The author who writes this book is so creative. He takes the fairy-tales we know and turns them completely upside-down! I love the mystery and adventure feeling in this book. It may be a reread for me but it feels like a familiar book and a whole new one at the same time.* The humor can be a little boyish at times but I still find it funny. XD Most of the time, anyway... :P

*Maybe because I forgot a lot of what happened... Or it's that good of a book.

The Return by Dayna Lorentz

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DOGGOS! HOW CAN YOU NOT READ A BOOK ABOUT DOGS???! This was the last book in a trilogy called Dogs of the Drowned City and it was really sweet. Because dogs. I loaf doggos so much. XD The ending of the book was perfectly bittersweet. And the cover is so awesome! Shep and Callie are the cutest dog couple ever. <3 

Half Upon a Time by James Riley

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You may or may not be able to tell by now, but I love fairy-tales, especially retold fairy-tales. So this book was very fun to read. I liked how it was a different take on people from our world going to another one, because the main character was from the fairy-tale world and the second main character was from our world. ^.^ The author sense of humor was clever and sometimes just kinda kooky. Even the author's bio in the back was funny. XD

Behind the Gates by Eva Gray

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Truth be told, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. But it was way better than I first thought! I don't think I've ever read a dystopian book where it takes place at a boarding school and this one did. The characters's personalities were all unique from each other, so that was a plus. XD I liked how all the characters had to each use their skills to figure out what actually was going on at the school. And the boys that are in the book for a little may possible be the best thing in there. XD 

What books did you read last month? Have you read any of the books I talked about in this post? If not, YOU MUST READ DEM ALL!!!!!! (Kidding! XD Maybe, sorta, not. :P)

A Study in Scarlet - Book Review

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't posted in forever!! I don't really have any excuses why I didn't post, I was just being lazy. Sorry.

As you know from one of my last posts called a Small Art Post, I had said I bought the book A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read it in the middle of August sometime. It was really good and way different than I thought it would be. I guess, I was kinda excepting Nancy Drew feel but the main character is a guy (obviously!) and it being old fashioned. XD

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Yeah Points

• The main characters are just so kooky together.
• Sherlock is super smart and comes up brilliant thoughts on how to solve a case.
• There's some humor and it's funny. XD
• I could not figure out the mystery! (I think that's a good thing... right?)
• There's a bit of romance in the book.

Nah Points 

• Well, in the middle of the book, they switch the point-of-view completely. Like, the first half of the book is from Watson's view and then the second half is telling the whole tale of how the murderer came to be. (AKA. the first half is London and then, boom! It's in the New World/U.S.! Like, what? How could you do that to your reader?? I had a bit of a hard time getting into the second half because it felt like a totally different book. But it was still good. ^.^) 
• And I could not figure out the mystery. (Bad-ish because the author doesn't give enough clues and you don't even know who the murderer is before they are caught. And I kinda like knowing the villain before you know they are a evil mastermind.) 

To sum it up, it was a good book and if you like mysteries, you should read it!

Mocha, the Cutest Dog I Know

Hullo, everyone!

I felt like doing a post about an adorable little dog I know called Mocha. Mocha is a little Yorkie Pomeranian mix I walk every few weeks with my sister, Lostfairy. For the past two or three years, we dogsit her for a week or so in summer and sometimes a weekend in the school year.

Mocha has a pretty big personality; she's sweet and a wee bit sassy. (Beware: if you have any bag that rustles, she will think it must be her bag of treats. And she will sit and be a very good little dog so you will give her a treat. And if you don't hurry up and give her what's in the bag, Mocha will start whimpering and standing up on her hind legs to grab it.) She likes to lick quite a bit. If you have her on your lap, she most likely start licking your knees or something. She likes licking her toys, her couch, other people's couches, and basically whatever is in reach of her tongue. If she gets too cold in the winter when you're on a walk with her, she'll just stop and shiver. (Then you have to carry her home.)

Here's some pictures of her.

Isn't she so cute?!

Mocha is so sweet looking when she's sleepy.

She loves eating our grass, so she probably looking for some delicious greens when the picture was taken. Teehee! 

Mocha's hair got so long one time that her owner put her hair in a ponytail.

This is lovely closeup view of Mocha...

She looks so sad! And cute!! 

Dis is Mocha when she recently got a hair cut. She looks so tiny!

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On a side note, I read The Scorch Trials by James Dashner a while back. It was good, but kinda violent. But thinking back on it, I enjoyed and I want to read the next book in the series. There are some things in the second book that make me curious about what the third book will have in store.

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What did you guys think of Mocha? (Isn't she just the cutest?) Have any of you read The Scorch Trials? 

Small Art Post

Hi guys!

As you can tell by the title, I'm going to be posting my art today. I haven't been drawing that much lately so the art I'm showing is from a few months ago and a couple of weeks ago. 

I did this chibi adventurer girl a few months back. It was fun making up my own chibi pose and outfit. I love doing girls with long hair! So much more hair to color. (I love coloring hair). 

I like how my mossy rocks turned out. But I don't like how my trees roots look. That is for sure a point in my art that I need to grow in. 

Okay, when I first started drawing this guy, I was planning to make him Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time. But that did not work out, at all. Captain Hook looked like a teenager, not an adult. For some reason I couldn't get him to age. So I decided to just change it up completely. And that's what turned up. 

I think the eyes look good. (Yes, one is smaller than the other, but who cares? It's okay not to be perfect.) The smile is pretty good, too. I see things I would like to change, like the ears, for example. (Now I know for next time to make sure the ears are a good and proper size.)

This is the one I did a couple weeks back. I wanted to draw someone that wasn't just a head shot but not a full length picture either. 

Those hands were hard. I had to draw them so many times and they still didn't go out the way I wanted them to. I had inked them and then taken another look at them and saw they were awful. So I whited the worst one out a bit. Then I inked it again. And since the ink was done on white out it didn't dry that fast so I accidentally smudged it. I was like, "Phooey. Now it's wrecked." Then I realized I could improvise. So I drew a about of little black lines and smudged those, too, to make it look like I had smudged it on purpose the first time. 

I enjoyed picking out the colors for the magical smoke. And I rather like the way her hair is colored. 

A while back, I had started watching Book 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender with my friend on a sleepover. And we watched one where there was a blind girl in it. I really liked the way the artists made her eyes look blind, so I kinda tried to do that myself. I think it worked out pretty good. 

Here's a picture of the blind girl, in case you don't know what she looked like. 

Now that I'm looking back at her and my picture, they aren't quite the same but that's okay. 

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A week and half-ish ago, my sisters and my mom and I had a girl's day shopping. I bought the first Sherlock Homes book. It looks like this:

I have never read any of the Sherlock Homes mysteries, but I want to give it a try. I think I read it early August. 

And then I also went to a giant craft store and got a big set of colored pencils. (I saw some brush markers but they were really expensive, so I didn't buy any.) But I'm really excited about using my own set of colored pencils! I got a pack of 74! This is what my box of pencils looks like. 

I haven't used them yet, but when I do, you guys will get to see the first picture I color with them!

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What did you guys think of my art? Have you ever read Sherlock Homes? What do you like to use best for your art; markers, colored pencils, online paint, regular paint or something else?

The Steadfast Pen - Blog Launch

Hallo, everyone!

Today is going to have a special post! My brother, Josiah Dyck, just launched his blog last Friday and he asked me to do a blog launch for him. (I said yes, of course. Wouldn't want me to be a mean sister, now would we?)

His blog is called The Steadfast Pen. (Nifty title, right?) He is going to do posts about books and writing and a bunch of other cool things on there! You can check out his blog here.

So for this blog launch I'm doing an interview with him. My sisters and another follow blogger did blog launch interviews too.

Here's links for them all:

• Adventure Awaits - Tracey Dyck
• Animal Jam Jumble - Lostfairy
• Musings of an Elf - Christine Smith

My interview with Josiah is about bookish things because this blog has to do with books. (Obviously.)  

The Steadfast Pen Interview

Chloe: What's your favorite book genre?

Josiah: Ooh, that's an easy one! My favorite genre is fantasy, particularly YA fantasy. Though I suppose some series I like are placed under the MG fantasy section, so there's that too. I also like action/adventure, along with other genres, but fantasy is definitely my favorite.

Chloe: What book world do you wish you could live in?

Josiah: I'm going to give a twofold answer and say that, if the world had to be one of my own creations, I'd choose either Yashan from my Darkened Slumber story or the world in The Portal Chronicles, which I have yet to rename. (The original name was too similar to other made-up world names.) If I had to live in someone else's world, I would probably pick Middle-Earth or Araluen (from the Ranger's Apprentice series).

Chloe: Which book character that you have read is most like you?

Josiah: Boy, I've read about a lot of characters; choosing one is gonna be hard. Maybe Hal from the Brotherband Chronicles, or perhaps Sam Hopkins from Crazy Dangerous. Hal and I are both creative people who can sometimes be overlooked by others, and sometimes our ideas don't work out because we missed a small detail, which frustrates us to no end. Sam feels very relatable because he wants to do the right thing, but he can get scared about what he has to do. He's willing to see past what others say and dig down to the heart of the matter. I dunno, these two guys feel similar to me in some regards.

Chloe: What is your favorite book? (Besides the Bible. ;D )

Josiah: There goes my answer. XD Well, I can't really pick just one book or series that's my favorite. But one of my favorite stand-alone books is Vigilante by Robin Parrish. Because, you know, I love superhero stories, and this one had a lot of amazing themes in it, with great character arcs and interesting characters. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Chloe: Do you like reading classics?

Josiah: Depends on the classic, I think. I mean, I love The Lord of the Rings, Jules Verne's stories, Hamlet, etc. But I feel there are some classics I just can't get into, and won't ever read, such as The Pilgrim's Progress or Pride and Prejudice or anything like that. The classic has to interest me in some way to get me reading it. 

Chloe: What main book genre have you never read?

Josiah: I have never, and probably will never, read horror. Creepy thrillers I can handle. Horror is a completely different story, and yes, that pun was intentional. It's a genre that tends to get very weird and dark very quickly. (My original answer was going to be romance, but I have read a romance trilogy, so I couldn't use that as my response.)

Chloe: If you could only read three books for the rest of your life and nothing else, what would they be?

Josiah: Seriously? I have to pick only three books? Well, if I have to. I'd pick the Bible (particularly in the Voice translation), Vigilante by Robin Parrish, and Burning Thorns by Christine Smith. Those were the first three answers off the top of my head. If I thought about it too long, I'd never be able to decide. XD

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Chloe: Have you ever read Peter Pan, if not would you? (If you haven't read it and won't read it, you are no longer my brother. XD Kidding! Maybe.)

Josiah: I have never read Peter Pan in my life, and I never will . . . just kidding. I might pick it up sometime, especially if our sibling relationship is in the balance. I'd have to see if it's my kind of classic story.

Chloe: What is the most hated book you have ever read?

Josiah: Vanish by Tom Pawlik is one of my least favorite books that I have ever read--and the sad thing is that it's a Christian fiction story. I hate it when Christian fiction authors seem to think that they can get away with a poorer quality of writing and cram preachy messages into it. I don't remember a whole lot about the story, but what I do remember is that I slogged through it and didn't enjoy it. The premise sounded decent, but the execution was sloppy. I can't recommend this book to anyone, even though it won an award. I'm really not sure how.

Chloe: What's your favorite villain? And why?

Josiah: I have many favorite villains, but Lord Burleigh from the Bright Empires series by Stephen R. Lawhead. Why? Because he's a ruthless and roguish gentleman, which makes for a pretty awesome villain in my books. And then there are other reasons that I can't disclose, due to spoilery things.

Chloe: What's your favorite weapon that you have read in a book?

Josiah: I'd have to say the Word from the Beyonders trilogy by Brandon Mull. Again, I cannot really give my reasons why because they involve spoilers. Just go read the series yourself and you'll see why!

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Chloe: How many pages is a happy length of a book for you?

Josiah: Mmm, I'd have to say 300-450 pages is a pretty comfortable length for me. Anything less than the 300 feels too short in my mind, for the most part. If it exceeds 450 pages, and it's not an interesting book, I can get bored of reading the same book--if that makes sense.

Chloe: Which book series have you wished would be longer, but it isn't?

Josiah: I'd have to say either the Montmorency series or the Imperial Commando series. The last book of the first series ended off on a huge cliffhanger, and there was never another book, which was frustrating. The Imperial Commando series had picked off where the Republic Commando series left off, but there was only one book published. I had wanted to find out what happened to the characters, so it was disappointing that I never did.

Chloe: Which book would you really want to be a movie and why?

Josiah: It's not really a book, but I want the Ranger's Apprentice series to be adapted into a movie. Then again, it'd probably be multiple movies. If they have a big budget and a great cast, they would make awesome movies. At least, that's my opinion.

Chloe: If you could only talk to people about one book, which one would it be?

Josiah: I'm going to exclude the Bible for this question and say . . . one of my own! XD I really don't know. I can't choose just one book to talk about. I'm just going to pick a random one and say A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull. Like I said, picking one is super difficult.

Josiah: Thanks for having me here on your blog, Chloe! ^_^

Chloe: You're so welcome, bro! I liked reading what you had to say about books.

What did you guys think of the interview? I hoped you enjoyed it. And if you want to read more of Josiah's stuffins click here!

The Throne of Fire - Book Review

A few weeks ago I read The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan and I kinda feel like doing a little review of what I thought of it. (Beware if you have not read this book there may be a few spoilers!)

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This book was kinda meh for me. I didn't feel like I connected with the characters as much as I had with the Percy Jackson series. It was good, but just not quite the same quality as Mr. Riordan's first series.

Yeah Points  

• The Kane siblings can be a funny pair.
• It has a cool looking cover!  
• The chapter called The House of the Helpful Hippo had an interesting idea about forgotten gods. 
• The Duat is definitely a place I don't wanna go to... (And that's a good thing when it comes to reading books.)
• As far as creepy looking bad guys go, Vlad is totally up close to the top.
• Ra was a hilarious old man, who spoke gibberish.
• Anubis is a awesome looking character. (I mean, who wouldn't like a thousand year old god that looks like a teenage biker complete with a black leather jacket?) 

Nah Points

• I'm not sure what to make of the "balance between Chaos and Ma'at." It's a little weird, to be honest. 
• Sadie uses God's name in vain a few too many times. 
• The belief in Ma'at feels a lot like it's trying to be like Christian belief but in the wrong way. 
• Vlad sacrifices a demon to the god Chaos.
• At one point in the book, it makes it sound like Moses from the Bible was a Magician (AKA. it was the power of the gods that made Moses able to part the waters).

All in all, I wouldn't say this was the worst book ever. But it's just not my favorite. 

If you have read The Throne of Fire, what do you think of it?

Summer Bucket List

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Hey guys! Sorry for taking an unsaid hiatus from blogging for a month! I'll try to do more blog posts this summer.

Wow, I can hardly believe it's summer! (Well, technically speaking it's not summer till June 20th, but it sure feels like summer out there! So I think it counts to say it's summer already, right?) I love almost everything about summer. The birds are singing outside. The grass and trees look so much more livelier. There's no school. More time to read. Beaches to go to. Ice cream to eat. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Even yellow dandelions make things look cheerful.

Yes, it's true, I love summer.  

And to celebrate summer, I'm going to do a Summer Bucket list.

My Summer Bucket List:

• Hang out with my family lots
• Draw lots more manga
• Bike as much as possible
• Read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (never read this book, but I got it at a book fair and heard it's good)

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• Eat lots of candy
• Read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (I love this book so much, I have to read it again)
• Paint online more
• Write my essay for school that I was supposed to actually do in the school year, not in summer

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• Read outside lots
• Read more of the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage (the first book was so awesome)
• Learn to cook and bake things better
• Keep up my daily journal that I started this month
• Blog more frequently
• Read a play (anyone have a suggestion on which play?)
• Draw chibi tons
• Buy books
• Read a classic
• Rollerblade and skateboard more 
• Have the best summer ever! 

What's your favorite thing about summer? What did you think of my summer bucket list? What's on your summer bucket list?