Teaser Tuesday and Tuney Tuesday--April 10, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Currently Reading: Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin

My Teaser: Some folks have a hard time with the way I think and talk. I see black and white and few to no shades of gray. 'Course, those critics grow silent when the man on the bridge is holding their kid 200 feet above the water or wrapping duct tape around their mouth. (pg 204)



My Song: If I were a boy--Beyonce

If I were a boy even just for a day
I'd roll out of bed in the morning
And throw on what I wanted
And go drink beer with the guys

And chase after girls
I'd kick it with who I wanted
And I'd never get confronted for it
'Cause they stick up for me

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I'd be a better man

I'd listen to her
'Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
'Cause he's taking you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed

If I were a boy
I would turn off my phone
Tell everyone it's broken
So they'd think that I was sleeping alone

I'd put myself first
And make the rules as I go
'Cause I know that she'd be faithful
Waiting for me to come home, to come home
(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/beyonce-lyrics/if-i-were-a-boy-lyrics.html)

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I'd be a better man

I'd listen to her
'Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
'Cause he's taking you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed

It's a little too late for you to come back
Say it's just a mistake
Think I'd forgive you like that
If you thought I would wait for you
You thought wrong

But you're just a boy
You don't understand
And you don't understand, oh
How it feels to love a girl
Someday you wish you were a better man

You don't listen to her
You don't care how it hurts
Until you lose the one you wanted
'Cause you're taking her for granted
And everything you had got destroyed
But you're just a boy

Response: I don't know why I like this song so much, but I can't get out of my head. If I were a boy I won't understand how it feels to love a girl, because I have never been in love. Several artists on the voice sang this song, maybe that is why it's stuck in my head. Cheesa and Naia both did a beautiful job. I love the voice, love music.

Post your own links below! Out, Rachel

North of Beautiful

Terra Cooper has always hidden her true self from the world, hidden her true beauty and her heart. She was born with a port-wine stain and has spent most of life covering it up with makeup. In doing so, she covers herself up, masks her identity. The rest of Terra, physically, is perfect. Flawless skin, teeth, hair, figure. She has a hot football player boyfriend, Eric, and a best friend Karin. Her mother's life is focused around getting Terra's face fixed through various methods. Her father makes extremely criticizing remarks at her and her mother. He's very controlling and verbally abusive. It's not wonder Terra struggles with her identity, when all anyone sees is her flaws. When Terra meets Jacob, her view of herself and her life is about to change.

I loved Terra as much as I could ever love a character, which is saying a lot. I identify with her so much. We both love maps. We are both artistas. We both have imperfections and flaws. We both went through journeys that changed us. We both want to travel the world. We both applied to Williams College (I did not get in and did not go there) We have similar fathers. And yet we still have people who love us. For who we are. Just as simple as that.

What I love the most, though, is how Terra grows in China. She's such a delicately crafted character, a masterpiece. So original and easy to identify with. There's so much wisdom in this book, and I wish I could just hold onto it forever. I wish I owned this book. I love the cover too, because it fits. A compass on her face, guiding her rather than her port wine stain. Because it's her focal point, until it changes. Until she understand the difference between beauty and true beauty. S know something to be as true as it ever was, there is a difference between the two.

Here are some quotes:

Getting lost is just another way of saying 'going exploring.

Beauty--real everlasting beauty--lives not on our faces, but in our attitude and our actions. It lives in what we do for ourselves and for others.

Inertia is so easy -- don't fix what's not broken. Leave well enough alone. So we end up accepting what is broken, mistaking complaining for action, procrastinating for deliberation.

True beauty seeps into you. It doesn't make you forget yourself, but totally the opposite. It connects you with everything and fills you with awe that you share the same space with something that glorious. Like a sunrise or a clear blue day or the most extraordinary piece of glass. And then suddenly...you have this epiphany that there's more to the world than just you and what you want or even who you are.

When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it. You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift.

There is real comfort in being quiet.

But even quashed rebellions leave us different. Because freedom may be a forbidden fruit in tyrannies, but once tasted, it is unforgettable.

What would it be like to look in the mirror and actually accept what you see? Not loathe the reflection, or despise it, or be resigned to it? But to like it?

For more quotes go here: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3272800

Teaser Tuesday and Tuney Tuesday--April 3, 2012

 
  It happens at the Miz B should be reading. Post your own links below and I will check them out.

My current read is: North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Teaser: What would it be like to fly around the world, be at ease in countries where the customs were as foreign as the languages themselves? Make enough money I could escape to the most expensive resort in town for a week and a half and not worry about the cost?




My song: White flag by Chris Tomlin

The battle rages onA storm in temptest roar
We cannot when this fightInside our rebel hearts
We’re laying down our weapons now

We raise our white flags
We surrender all to you
All for you
We raise our white flag
 The war is over
Love has come
Your love has won

Here on this holy ground
You made a way for peace
Laying your body down
You took our rightful place
This freedom song is marching on

(Repeat Chorus)

 We lift the cross
Lift it high
Lift it high (x8)

(Repeat Chorus)

Video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G5k7GUTRZ8

Response: I've been hearing this song a lot on Christian radio, and we sung it at my church last Sunday. And I found this cool video link, and when I watch it all I think is passion, surrender. This song reminds me that Jesus conquered the grave for us. We are more than conquerers because of Him in this life. One of the verse I like is "we surrender all to you, all for you." That verse just reminds me that God put me on this earth for a purpose, so I could be in a relationship with him. Another reason I like this song, is that it reminds me that the battle has already been won for me.

Struck Review

A girl struck by lightning hundreds of times holds the fate of the world in her hands

Struck is part of the Debut Author Challenge and is book 1 completed. I had heard all of the fabulous reviews about Struck, so I was eager to read it. I got aboard my first ARC tour naturally.

Struck is as good as everyone has said. Except when I looked closer. When a major earthquake devastates L sometime in the future. There is a man named Prophet who is convinced of the end of the world. He has his Followers who live with him in white tents. They condemn the world saying that only that all the rest of the world will go to hell. That the end of the world is coming soon. Mia Price wants nothing to do with the Seekers. She only wants to protect her mom who loses her mind a little bit more each day and her brother who wants to do whatever he can. When Mia meets Katrina, her world ends. The Seekers believe that those who are struck are meant to save the world, not condemn it. There's also Jeremy, a kid Mia falls in love with and who tells her to stay away from both groups. Mia thinks Jeremy can protect her, but Mia must learn to protect herself.

The characters in this book are strong, really strong. Mia always stays true to herself. Her brother is just as determined and strong as she is. Katrina in the Greek world would be Athena. She's so tough, brave, and never backed down and was one of my favorite characters. Jeremy is mysterious and dark. Mia's mother is calm and gentle, yet confused. All of the characters are very consistent, yet they all go through changes. Nice work on that, Jennifer.

As for the plot, it moves over three days before the storm and the day of the storm. The use of imagery is very powerful in this novel. The tower is the main symbol. Looming over the Waste and the center of the storm. The Waste stands for all that is lost and all that can be lost. The Rover represents a false reality that was before, and can never be returned. The poetry represents an entry way. In the modern world and Mia's, literature is a gateway. A place to somewhere else. The use of fortune telling and tarot cards are symbolize power and uncertainty. Anyways, about the plot. It's hard to exactly figure everything out, because so much is kept in the dark. At the end, everything comes out into the light, however.

The main problem I had with Struck is simply that it twists mankind around some. There is no one except God who can bring about the end of the world. There is no person who can control lightning or storms. There is no person who can cause an earthquake. This book deeply morphs what God has said in Revelation what the end of the world will be like. The redeeming quality is these lines: God is love. Tell the false prophet God is love. False prophet. False God." That is the utter, basic depiction of Struck's plot.

Note: I received this book as part of the Debut Author Challenge ARC tour. This in no way affected my review.