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Life With Lisa: Ten Books I Had To Have But Still Haven’t Read

Life With Lisa: Ten Books I Had To Have But Still Haven't Read

Welcome to Life with Lisa! Recently I saw this post on a few different blogs that I followed and decided to make my own, and share it here on Burn Bright. Feel free, as always, to ...

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Serious Sas and Messy Magda

Serious Sas and Messy Magda

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that my first picture book is being released by UK-based publisher Books To Treasure this year. Most of you probably aren't even aware that I have a number of children’s publications to my name. Indeed, ...

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Bel Reviews: Stephanie Burgis’s – “Kat the Incorrigible” Series

Bel Reviews: Stephanie Burgis's - Kat the Incorrigible Series

This middle grade trilogy is set in the early 1800's and is and is very much Jane Austen-esk with it's emphasis on etiquette, propriety and high society. Book one Kat, Incorrigible, brings us in on a ...

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Lisa Reviews: Katie McGarry’s – “Pushing the Limits”

Lisa Reviews: Katie McGarry's - Pushing the Limits

“So wrong for each other ... AND YET SO RIGHT. No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even ...

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Night Creatures Available in USA

Night Creatures Available in USA

Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally you can get the series in either paperback or e-book from Amazon.com You can buy Burn Bright in paperback or ebook on Amazon right here. You can buy Angel Arias in paperback or ebook ...

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By The Bel: Sarah Newton

By The Bel: Sarah Newton

Author, speaker, consultant and media expert, Sarah’s expertise is working with gifted and talented young people who have the capacity to become high achievers.  She has an ability to raise expectations and aspirations of all young ...

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Krista Reviews: A. G. Howard’s – “Splintered”

Krista Reviews: A. G. Howard's - Splintered

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed ...

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Burn Bright Thank-Yous

Burn Bright Thank-Yous

Today, I have some important thank-you's to make. Firstly to my wonderful agent who I love to bits, who has kept the faith with me through all kinds of ups and downs. I never feel like ...

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Welcome to Life with Lisa!

Recently I saw this post on a few different blogs that I followed and decided to make my own, and share it here on Burn Bright. Feel free, as always, to comment down below with the ten books that you just HAD to have, and still haven’t read them.

1. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.

“Survival. Of the fittest.

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.
What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program – or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan – or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.”

2. The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff.

“Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement-left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate’s baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.”

3. Angel Burn, by L.A. Weatherly.

“Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.”

4. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.

“A mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

”

5. Firelight, by Sophie Jordan.

“A hidden truth.

Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away;if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.”

6. Wither, by Lauren DeStefano.

“By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?”

7. Fever, by Lauren DeStefano.

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.
Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago – surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous – and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion…by any means necessary.”

8. Fat Vampire, by Adam Rex.

“Doug Lee is undead quite by accident–attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever. When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night. But it’s just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her–hard. Yeah, he wants to bite her, but he also wants to prove himself to her. But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated–it’s not as easy as studying Dracula. Especially when the star of Vampire Hunters is hot on your trail in an attempt to boost ratings. . . .”

9. Halo, by Alexandra Adornetto.

An angel is sent to Earth on a mission. But falling in love is not part of the plan.

Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.

Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.

The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?”

10. Starcrossed, by Josephine Angelini.

“How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it’s getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she’s haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they’re destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.”

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays everybody!

I can’t believe 2012 is almost over, and that 2013 is just around the corner! I love the holidays, no matter which one it is, but I especially love Christmas due to the family aspect, the decorations, the gifts, food, and everything else.

One of my most favourite things about this holiday season is listening to all the music, whether in the car, in the stores while I do my holiday shopping, or at home while cooking, decorating, or baking cookies. Music just really gets me into that holiday mood!

Originally this post was supposed to list a few holiday songs that I enjoy listening to. But after spending a few days thinking about which ones to choose, I decided to write this post a little differently. Instead I have two amazing websites that can get all your favourite music in the same place, allow you to find new music and plays continuously. So you don’t always have to run back and forth to press play or choose another song.

Playlist

…is a good website for someone who knows exactly what songs they want to listen to. All you have to do is go to their website, make an account (which is really quick) and start searching for the songs you like.

Pandora

…is a good website for someone who doesn’t really know what songs they want to listen to, but knows the artist, or genre. You simply make an account and search up either the song, the artist, or genre, and BAM! There’s your online radio station constantly playing the music you love!

These websites are amazing, free and very simple – anyone can use them! I hope this helped you, and I hope you all have an amazing Holiday!

Lisa x

Welcome to Life with Lisa!

With the holiday’s coming up, I love spending time online looking for new and interesting recipes, I could create and share with my friends and family! I love heading to the grocery store, picking up ingredients I’ve never even heard of, and going home to mix them all up and make something absolutely delicious out of them! But with the holidays nearing so soon, things can get a bit busy around here, so I usually plan out what I want to make around the beginning of November (for Thanksgiving) and December (for Christmas and New Years!)

My favourite thing to make this time of year would be cookies! There are so many out there it can be hard and stressful to pick the perfect type, but don’t worry! I have you covered with one of my favourite German recipes, Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars!).

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

4 1/2 cups sliced almonds

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Here’s what you need to do: (this recipe makes about 24 cookies)

(Don’t preheat the oven yet, it will take a while to get the dough made, and all the cookies cut out!)

1. Make sure the powdered sugar is sifted.

2. In a food processor put 3 cups of almonds and 1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar and process until the nuts are finely ground.

3. In a large electric mixing bowl whip the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While whipping the egg whites, slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, until the mixture is creamy and thick. If you want to decorate you’re cookies then make sure to set a little more than 1/2 of this mixture to the side.

4. Now fold the almond and powdered sugar mixture and the lemon zest into the electric mixing bowl to create a stiff dough.

5. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees.

6. Dust the counter you plan on using to roll the dough out lightly with some powdered sugar, so the cookies won’t stick, and will be easily removable after they’re cut out. Roll the dough out so it’s about 1/4 inch, you don’t have to be super accurate, but you don’t want your cookies too thick.

7. Cut the cookies and lay them about an inch apart from each other on the cooking sheet. Roll out the remaining dough again and continue you cutting out stars until there’s no more dough left.

8. Use a brush to spread the egg white and powdered sugar mixture on each cookie and then decorate as you wish with the remaining almonds!

9. Bake them until they’re light brown; which usually takes about thirty minutes or so.

(This recipe is a mixture between my mom’s recipe and a few I’ve found online! Since It’s just the beginning of December, I haven’t had the chance to make Cinnamon Stars this year yet. So I took a picture from online, so you guys know what the finished product looks like!)

Thank you so much for stopping by and I really hope you give this recipe a shot!

Welcome to Life with Lisa!

This weekend, I visited a local pumpkin patch, just a few miles away! I’ve never really been to onesince I usually just pick up my pumpkin at the nearest grocery store. But after going to this farm, and doing all the fun things we did, I’ll never just be “picking up a pumpkin real quick”.

While searching up a few farms online (I mean I had absolutely no idea where one was), I did find that a few different farms had different things to offer such as a corn maze, a haunted corn maze, a petting farm, a hay ride, a pumpkin patch, a place for the kids, and a store to buy other things. The farm with the haunted corn maze was almost thirty minutes away.

(But I still really want to go!)

On arrival at the farm, we had to buy wrist bands, that basically let the workers there know what package of activities we bought, and what we were allowed to do.

First thing we did was hope on the hay ride, which wasn’t too long, but it was still nice because it took us all around the farm, and it was pretty chilly out. After about ten or fifteen minutes it took us to the corn maze, where inside we had to find the meaning of nine hieroglyphics, which were each placed throughout this HUGE corn maze!

Since the farm was closing at six, and we got there at five we did have to a bit of hurry, so right after the corn maze, we headed to the pumpkin patch, and choose our pumpkins. In the end we bought two big pumpkins, and two small ones, and only payed around 11 dollars.

This was the first year of going to a farm and doing things like this, but I hope to do it every year from now on. It is so much fun, for anyone of any age, and there is so much to do!

Welcome to another Life with Lisa!

Growing up, I would always look forward to October, not only because of my Birthday, but because of the best holiday ever! What is better than dressing up as whatever you could possibly imagine, walking from door to door, with a group of your closest friends, saying nothing but three words, and receiving a hand full of candy!

Around the age of ten, I remember having dinner early (usually something healthy, since I’d be stuffing my face with candy later that night), and hurrying to finish my entire plate. I would quickly change into my costume (one year a alien, another a cow girl, and the most recent a lady bug), and grab my treat bag. Around five or six, I would dash out of my house and start with with my neighbour.

As soon as the door open I would simply shout “Trick or Treaaaat!”, and my neighbour would hand me four or five pieces of candy!

What’s better than that?!

So I hope you all have a great Halloween! And be safe!

Welcome to another episode of Liiiiiife with Liiiisa!! Hosted by Lisa herself!

Thank you, thank you!

We all know that the holidays are coming up fast, and that means, delicious food, family and friends, fun, gifts, decorations, and so much more! I LOVE the summer, I love laying out in the middle of the day reading a book, with my two dogs right next two me, enjoying the warm sun, and just being outside. But I also really enjoy the fall and winter time! There is so much to look forward to, and this month I’m letting you in on all the things I have planned, with the fall, Halloween and my birthday coming up!

(And this post itself, is just to let you know of the fun things and Life with Lisas coming up!)

Usually I wouldn’t plan out all the things I do, because usually they’re just a spur of the moment. But this year I did, so I could share with you guys, and maybe give you a few ideas for the holidays (:

So here are the posts and what I hope to include in each:

-Trick or Treating/Costume (The meaning of Halloween, Trick or Treating, and Costume Ideas)

-Haunted House (Haunted Houses and possibly Pumpkin Patches, I plan on going to)

-Carving Pumpkins/Decorating (Pumpkin purchasing, carving, designs, and decorating my back porch!)

-Baking/Goodies (3 Dessert Recipes, possibly goodie bags!)

-My Birthday (Anything! My cake, dinner, gifts, what my family, friends and boyfriend has planned, etc)

I hope you’ll be joining me in this crazy busy month, and maybe get a few ideas from these next few Life with Lisa segments! If you have any other ideas, for posts, or things I could add to posts, please let me know down in the comments!

Welcome to another Life with Lisa!!!

Even though I haven’t been busy, life itself has been pretty crazy! I would say I can’t believe I’m already a senior in high school, but I’m not, because I can believe it! Don’t get me wrong, I love going to school, I love high school, I enjoy learning, meeting new people, going to sports and other school events. But on the other hand, I want to get out in the world, and do something productive. I’m tired of sitting in classrooms for eight hours, five days out of seven, and waiting around for someone to teach me something I don’t already know.

So for the question, “Am I excited to become a senior?” Yes and no.

Yes because…

..I decided to do an entire wardrobe change. I felt that since I’m turning 18 soon, I should be dressing more mature. Instead of just throwing on something in the morning when I’m half asleep and not even sure if whatever I’m wearing matches, I should pack my school bag, and layout the clothes I plan on wearing the night before.

..I purchased my own agenda, to keep myself organized. My school actually hands them out for free on the first day of school, but usually their too small, and I just tend give up in squeezing my homework for eight classes in a two by four inch square.

..Instead of taking a lot of Advance Placement classes, I’m only taking one, and taking more educational but fun classes, such as Astronomy, Marine Biology, Creative Writing and Writing for College!

..New classes means meeting new people, and I love doing that!

..I enjoy going to school events, and cheering on my friends.

No because…

… I’m retaking both the SAT and ACT, just to see if I could get higher scores, which means study study study!

… I need to finally decide on what I want to do later in life, and I don’t really know yet! (I was thinking elementary school math teacher?)

… Projects!!

Even though I’m not as excited as many of my fellow classmates, I can’t wait to see what good times, and challenges senior year will bring me!

Welcome to Life With Lisa!

School is finally out! I know … what school goes until the end of June? But who cares, it’s over, I’m free, and now I can do whatever I want, pretty much whenever I want!

With all of this free time on my hands, I decided to do a lot of catching up (I hope to read every single book in my shelf by the end of the summer)! Which means, reading and reviewing series that I’ve been meaning to read for a while now, but just haven’t gotten around to them. I find myself having a hard time reading series, just because they do have more than just one book, not saying series are bad, but I just find myself picking up stand-alones, or trilogies.

Do you guys find yourself doing that too? Or is that just me?

The Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard!

*I have read the books 1-7 a year or two ago, but I never wrote reviews. So I hope to re-read, finish and review the entire series, before the summer is over!*

The House of Night Series, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

*I have read up to book four, but also never wrote reviews! I hope to re-read this series, finish and write reviews on them! The series is a little confusing but I hope to be able to finish them and write a review for each book!*

And the novellas…

The Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead.

*I just started purchasing and reading this series! I have read and reviewed book one, which I loved, so I hope to also finish this series!*

And the final series I want to finish this summer, is the Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare!

*In this series, I already read and reviewed books one and two, so I hope to continue and finish books three, four, and so on!*

I have tons of reading to do this summer, and I can’t wait to finally get things squared away and be able to dive into these awesome books! Do you have reading goals this summer? Comment down below, and let me know what they are!!

Lisa

Welcome to Life with Lisa!!

Summer is coming up fast (thank goodness! school has been stressing me out!), and right now is the time to pick up the perfect light read books for either the beach, road trips, or even just for tanning out in the backyard! Don’t know what kind of summer novels to pick up? No worries, Lisa’s got your back :)  (These books are novels I’ve already read, or really want to!)

Any of the three Summer series books, by Jenny Han!

The Summer I Turned Pretty

“Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer–they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.”

It’s Not Summer Without You

“Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started–at Cousins Beach.”

We’ll Always Have Summer

“It’s been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college– only, their relationship hasn’t exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It’s time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever”

Pretty much any Sarah Dessen book rocks as a summer read!

Along for the Ride

“It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.”

The Truth About Forever

a long, hot summer…
That’s what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy’s father.

But sometimes unexpected things can happen—things such as the catering job at Wish, with its fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister’s project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a boy with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl’s world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to wonder, Is it really better to be safe than sorry?”

Besides Sarah Dessen, Nicholas Sparks books are also a great choice!

The Last Song

“Seventeen year-old Veronica “Ronnie” Miller’s life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father… until her mother decides it would be in everyone’s best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie’s father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story about love in its myriad forms – first love, the love between parents and children – that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that deeply felt relationships can break our hearts… and heal them.”

The Notebook

“A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn’t understand. Until he begins to read to her. The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever. Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories. . until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.

Allie Nelson, twenty-nine, is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Still, the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments, and fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters.”

Stephanie Perkins also has a cute series out that would also be perfect reads!

Anna and the French Kiss

“Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near – misses end with the French kiss Anna – and readers – have long awaited?”

Lola and the Boy Next Door

“Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit — more sparkly, more fun, more wild — the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket — a gifted inventor — steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.”

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

“According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.”

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

“In this modern take on “Pride and Prejudice,” Elise Benton, who has just moved to California, is a junior at an exclusive prep school where, in spite of her initial bad impression, she finds herself attracted to the moody and handsome son of Hollywood’s most famous celebrity couple.”

Amy and Roger Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.

“Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew–just in time for Amy’s senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she’s always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy’s mother’s old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she’s surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road–diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards–this is the story of one girl’s journey to find herself.”

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

“What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there’s a new guy in town who threatens her starting position… suddenly she’s hoping he’ll see her as more than just a teammate.”

These are just a few of many awesome summer reads! If you know any that either you have already read, or are dying to read comment down below! We would love to know!

Who knew that something so pretty, fluffy looking, and fun to play in would become such a big problem? Who knew I would be out a whole week from school, because of this fluffy mess (I needed a break anyways, but still!)? Who knew that after about the third day of school closure, things were getting old, dangerous, and cold?

Snow! How could snow cause so many problems?!

So if you didn’t know, I live here in the states, in the Northwest to be exact! We’re used to the cold, and the rain, but not twelve or more inches of snow! When it hit us, it was all fun and games at first, school was out, I had more time to read, do homework and just hang out. But after about the second or third day, I was tired of being cold, stuck inside, and not being able to see ALL of my friends from school.

That fourth night, I remember going to bed, and watching the news. Listening to the reporter telling us that snow was sure to melt by the next morning, and that schools would open up again if not in the morning, it would be at least a late start. Well, that report was VERY WRONG!

I woke up the next morning, with a good foot of snow in my front yard! I’m not even sure if you would consider it snow, since the top layer was frozen ice. The streets and trees were covered in this ice! I couldn’t believe my eyes! And again school was out!

I remember going to bed Wednesday night, hoping and praying it would go away, and go away fast (come out suuun, where are you?). All that night, I would randomly wake up to my printer turning on and off, being super loud, and doing, who knows what. At that time (middle of the night) I didn’t pay too close attention, I just wanted to go back to bed.

But I should have known, I should have payed attention to the clues!

The power went out! Not just a hour, or two. Not even just one day, but three! Three days without power! Lisa can not survive without Internet, checking her email, or blogging! The first day without power wasn’t too bad, since Josh was over, and we were having fun. But after the first night, the house was freezing, and we basically had nothing, but my small radio!

But I stayed strong and survived!

My friends are all okay, my family is safe, and none of my neighbors are hurt! We’re all fine! But within this last week, I learned tons of lessons!! The biggest one being, is always stayed prepared for anything, have flashlights, candles, and tons of canned food ready for any possible emergencies.

Even though the power outage sucked, I hope you guys enjoyed this week’s Life with Lisa, and make sure to check out my blog post on Turning Pages, and learn different ways to prepare for power outages!

Lisa

 
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