Before I say anything at all, I would like to apologize for my negativity in this review, and just because this book didn’t really tickle my fancy, it might tickle yours. I just want to give my honest opinion, nothing else.

I was asked to review Breathe on digital audio, and when I realized it was by Abbi Glines, I couldn’t turn down the offer. I’ve read many reviews where people were raving about her stories, the characters featured within, and her writing style. I’ve been meaning to pick up some of her books, and when Breathe was offered to me, I couldn’t resist.

I was excited to finally get it started and see what everyone in the blogging world was talking about… but my excitement was a bit short lived.

Audio books are perfect for listening to when your hands are full, when you’re writing book reviews, or doing chores, etc. So yes, I do read other books in between, while I listen to audio books, because I can’t carry my computer everywhere I go. But while listening to Breathe I read a total of three other books!

I read The Vincent Boys also by Abbi Glines and loved it, while listening to Breathe (not at the same time, but you know what I mean)! It gave me motivation to continue listening to the audio book.

Breathe follows the story of an average teenage girl named Sadie, and a teenage boy rock star named Jax. Sadie isn’t only taking care of herself, she is also taking care of her pregnant mother. Jax is done with his tour, and is ready to spend his summer away from the cameras and fans, hanging out with his family in private. But for Sadie things aren’t that easy, bills are due, and Sadie has to go to work at a mansion, hoping to fill in for her mum.

One thing that really bothered me about Sadie was that before she even met Jax, she was constantly telling herself that he was this rich spoiled guy who is used to girls’ attention, and that she’ll do anything she can to avoid him. But I think we all know that this never works out, or ends up happening.

The two seem to always be around each other and throughout Breathe the two teenagers confess their love. They hit a few bumps in the road, and work them out again later.

To me, Breathe felt a bit forced; the story (poor girl, rich guy), and the romance. Having read The Vincent Boys and falling head over heels for it, I found Breathe didn’t match up as well. The relationship between Sadie and Jax was too much instant love and overall the flow in the story, and the background between the two main characters felt a bit rigid.

I really liked the entire idea behind the story. The synopsis pulled me in but the execution of the idea wasn’t really to my liking.

Again, I apologize for all the negativity but I just wanted to give an honest review. I have heard rumors though, that the rest of the Sea Breeze series is good, so I’ll probably give it another shot, and see how it goes!

At the end of the sixteenth century, religious upheaval brings fear, superstition, and doubt to the lives of mortals. Yet unbeknownst to them, another world lies just beyond the Veil: the realm of the Sithe, a fierce and beautiful people for whom a full-mortal life is but the blink of an eye. The Veil protects and hides their world…but it is fraying at the edges, and not all think it should be repaired. 

Discarded by his mother and ignored by his father, sixteen-year-old Seth MacGregor has grown up half wild in his father’s fortress, with only his idolized older brother, Conal, for family. When Conal quarrels with the Sithe queen and is forced into exile in the full-mortal world, Seth volunteers to go with him.

But life beyond the Veil is even more dangerous than they expected, and Seth and Conal soon find themselves embroiled in a witch-hunt—in which they are the quarry. Trapped between the queen’s machinations at home and the superstitious violence of the otherworld, Seth must act before both of them are fed to the witch-hunters’ fires…

Hardcover, 368 pages  Published February 19th 2013 by Tor Books (first published 2010)

In his youth Seth is an outcast in his own village and his older half brother Conal takes him under his wing. It’s not long before Seth develops an unbreakable bond with Conal and becomes tenaciously devoted to him. When Conal is cast out to the Otherworld Seth follows unable to live a life without Conal in it.

Beyond the Veil in the Otherworld, humans are in the midst of hysteria surrounding witchcraft. Under the guidance of Conal, Seth must learn the ways of the mortals and how to stay under their radar. When Conal is taken by the Minister, under the allegations he has been practising witchcraft, Seth must make the decision to show his brother mercy and kill him, or watch him burn.

Neither side of the Veil are ideal worlds. The Sithe are also going through a time of war and anarchy. Disagreements between Queen Kate and Lenore the witch cause upset within the Sithe families and sides must be taken.

It is a time of war and rampant paranoia. Love and compassion are hard to come by and laughter is almost completly unknown and most enjoyment found in teasing and antagonizing your friends for reactions. When love does come into the picture, it is more for companionship than romance.

Firebrand is a dark, depressing and often times war-fuelled story of the evolution of the Sithe and Mortal worlds during a time of darkness and fear. Though both sides of the Veil are dangerous, the Sithe’s actions are by far the scariest and the mortals have no clue what’s in store for them. Heartbreak abounds and yet determination to fight against the evil is what pushes the story forward. The book leads into the hint of a prophecy and hopefully book 2 will focus on finding the answers to prevent the utter destruction of both worlds. 

Diana Pinguicha review the first two PS3 releases in the Uncharted franchise and give us the thumbs up.

Last week, I had some spare time with my boyfriend’s PS3 (I do not have one, unfortunately). Since I had started Uncharted a year ago and never had finished it due to time constraints, I decided to give it another go.

To me, the first Uncharted is, and always will be, the first Tomb Raider with better combat, prettier graphics and an Indiana Jones wannabe as a protagonist who goes by the name of Nathan Drake. You have the sceptical sidekick Sully (my favourite thing in the game) and the mandatory love interest in an action flick, Elena.

The story’s your standard treasure hunt with a snarky Nathan for comic relief, but I won’t lie, compared to most games you get nowadays, it’s more entertaining. Combat is the unfortunately common cover-shoot-cover, with the added frustration of using the sixaxis (Sony’s first attempt at imitating the Wiimote) to throw grenades. Also, Sully’s pretty awesome and Elena is not a completely hopeless damsel in distress, which is good.

I finished the first game in a couple of days (playing around 3 hours a day) and it went smoothly. The puzzles were a bit too easy for me, but newcomers to these types of games will probably find them slightly challenging (I know my boyfriend did). It’s a good enough game, with decent action and an OK story – but nothing over the top. My biggest disappointment, really, was that the writers decided to throw all realism down the drain in some curse-mojo stuff that was completely unnecessary.

Then came Uncharted 2 and by all that’s holy in games, it’s, thankfully, so much better than its predecessor. Nathan and Elena broke up for some reason which I never cared to know and wasn’t explained to me, so we get Chloe for most of the game. Chloe is everything Elena should’ve been as a love interest: feisty, fearless, kick-ass and with a dose of understandable survival instinct. Really, I adored her and was so glad she stuck with me throughout most of the game. That woman’s fierce.

Uncharted 2 has better combat, too. Grenades no longer require the sixaxis, so you can actually use them properly. Enemies are smarter too, so you have that extra challenge, and more varied, with riot shields and all. You can also be a ninja, which I absolutely loved and did whenever I could. Weapons respond better and more differently than in the first and hand-to-hand combat was fixed to something far superior. Truly, the combat was so much fun! Not to mention you have helicopter chases, car chases and train-hopping! Uncharted 2 plays like an action movie, but it does so incredibly well. There’s tension in the right moments and it never drags out for too long. The chases are filled with adrenaline and a joy to go through. It’s pure uncomplicated fun and while I do enjoy drama and complex stories, Uncharted 2 was a very welcome break of all that.

Another big difference between the two games is that Uncharted 2 looks impossibly more gorgeous than the first instalment. The different settings are lush and vibrant or subdued and messy when they need to be. In a war-torn city, you get the sense of conflict and destruction; in Tibet, you get the cold and the loneliness and in a certain mythical place, you get lush trees and blue fire. The graphics are a work of art and I can’t praise them enough. Uncharted 2 is worth playing just for the scenery alone.

Finally – and yes, I do have to mention this. The puzzles are still easy for me, but Nathan’s little notebook now has added humour. I found myself selecting it on purpose just so I could see his “SKELZOR!”, the different expressions of Sully and, of course, the famous “Skully”. It had the most hilarious trophy ever, too. I won’t spoil it, but it’s related to a swimming pool and a famous game and it had me laughing out loud.

So, if you own a Playstation 3 and somehow haven’t played the Uncharted series, you definitely should. They’re short, fun games, filled with entertainment. If you have to decide between one or the other, you should definitely go for the second, as it’s above the first in every sense. As for me… I can’t wait to get another break with a PS3 and finish the trilogy!

It’s no secret I love baking. The satisfaction of making a cake from scratch is awesome. But, let’s face it, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day, or ingredients in the pantry to do that. This week, a very special member of my family turned 13, and I needed a cake big enough to feed at least fifteen people – plus leftovers, because chocolate cake is even better the next day. I was also seriously stuck for time and inspiration. So, I cheated and here’s how:

What you need:

*3 packets of ‘White Wings’ brand Rich Chocolate Cake (or similar – but not mud cake because melting chocolate over a saucepan of water etc is not for cheats). These packets required adding softened butter and 2 eggs each – so 6 eggs all together.

*1 Betty Crocker brand Milk Chocolate Frosting. I love this stuff, and use it even when I’m not cheating.

*Aprox 40 miniature Kit Kat chocolates (buy the multi packs)

*Various packets of chocolates. I used: Freckles, Ferrero Rochers, Jaffas, Miniature Oreo Cookies (again, cheaper in the multi packs), Smarties or M&M’s, Maltesers and Chocolate Finger buscuits.

*Ribbon.

How it’s done:

I used a rectangular cake tin 22cm x 28cm and 7cm deep. Grease and line the tin with baking paper, set your oven to the instructions on your cake mix. Make and bake cake as directed – allowing for extra baking time because you’re using 3 cake mixes. Mine took almost 2 hours to bake.

Allow cake to cool COMPLETELY on wire rack. Seriously, give it an hour or two or you’ll regret it later when all your chocolate decorations fall off. Trim the top of your cake so it’s perfectly flat.

Smother the whole thing with the chocolate frosting. Using a little extra frosting for glue, surround the outside of your cake with Kit Kats as a border. Use the ribbon to tie around the Kit Kats, not only does this give the cake a little bit of extra wow, but it helps keeps those suckers from falling off! Use the chocolate finger biscuits to divide up sections – making sure each section is wide enough for whatever you decide to put in them eg: I measured using the Ferrero Rochers and the Oreos. Fill your sections with plenty of yummy chocolate goodness, bearing in mind contrasting colours etc.

That’s it. Done. So easy, so quick (except for baking time). And such a show-stopper!

Chris Kneipp checks in with us about The Wolverine.

The Wolverine is the next instalment in the X Men series and its spinoffs, (not to be confused with “Wolverine,” which was the first spinoff.)

Hugh Jackman does a great job in the lead, as he puts back on his white singlet, adamantine claws and steps back into the role of Logan, the immortal mutant Wolverine. He’s hard not to like, both the actor and the character, and he brings the character to life as he reveals more of the tortured soul behind the claws.   

The story begins in 1945 Nagasaki, Japan, as the Atomic Bomb drops onto the city and Wolverine saves the life of a Japanese guard, Yashida, from the firestorm.

We are propelled into the present and find our hero living like a hairy hermit in the woods. Why? If you haven’t seen X Men Last Stand you’ll find this bit of the movie a little hard to understand and I found it quite slow, even having seen the earlier movies. It plods along until we meet Yukio (Rila Fukushima) the red haired, butt kicking Samurai. I think she was the stand-out of the movie. Playing a Ronin, (a masterless samurai), her arrival signals the end of the movie’s slow part.

Without giving too much of the plot away, Yukio brings a message to Logan.  Yashida is dying and wants to give him a gift. The gift turns out to be mortality. After hundreds of years of life, Wolverine has the chance to live out a normal life and die, instead of outliving everyone he cares about.

It was at this point I pretty much knew where the movie was going and there weren’t a lot of surprises, but you don’t go to see these action films for the plot right? You go for the action. Once Logan emerges from the wilderness, you get all the action you can handle.

Particularly good fun, is the fight scene that takes place in and on top of Japan’s high speed Bullet Train. The director, James Mangold seems to say stuff believability let’s just have a good time, and we do.

When the last fight is over, Wolverine goes back to his abnormal life and as the credits roll, the film makers give us one tantalising last scene. As with most movie series lately, we are given a clue as to what comes next in the franchise, so don’t leave as the credits roll or you’ll miss it.

Now I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed the whole X Men franchise, and though some have been better than others, it’s all just a bit of “park your brain at the door,” action and fun. When it comes to comparisons with X Men 1-3, First Class and Wolverine, The Wolverine is not the best of the franchise, the plot holes and predictability letting it down, but it’s not the worst either. This movie doesn’t add much to the whole mutant X Men back-story, but it’s an enjoyable filler while we wait for the next in the series, X Men, Days Of Future Past, to be released May next year.

The Wolverine is still showing in the cinema’s and if you’re just looking for fun and action, buy the ticket and see it on the big screen. If you’ve got the other movies on DVD, then it’s worth adding to the growing collection when it comes out, most likely around Christmas time.