The point of this series is to highlight strong women who you may not know anything about. To inspire and to give hope where you may be left wanting. The women we focus on have done courageous, incredible and amazing things to shape the world and blaze trails for each and everyone of us to follow. Today we’re going to look at the most powerful woman in the American political system.

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton was born on October 26^th 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. Unlike many of her fellow politicians, Hillary attended public schools. At age 13 her political aspirations and beliefs were sent reeling when she found evidence of electoral fraud against Richard Nixon, and rather than throwing in the towel she instead put her support behind another republican candidate, Barry Goldwater, for the 1964 election. Hillary was, and is, an extremely smart woman graduating in the top 5 percent of her high school class in 1965.

Her college studies were also weighted heavily in political sciences. Her views were once again brought into question with the Vietnam War, she was said to have described herself as “a mind conservative and a heart liberal.” But Hillary was to find her fire after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr., whom she met in the early Sixties. She organised a two-day student strike and worked with Wellesley’s black students to recruit more black students and faculty at Wellesley College.

From here Hillary spent time studying at Yale Law School, and in 1974 she was a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington D.C, and we all know the rest of that story. She married Bill Clinton in Arkansas on October 11, 1975, in a Methodist ceremony in their living room.

From ’75 until the early ’90’s Hillary became the first woman to be made a full partner of Rose Law Firm, gave birth to their daughter Chelsea, and was a advocate for children’s and women’s rights.

As the First Lady of the United States of America, Clinton helped construct the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice, promoted immunisations against childhood illness and through coverage of Medicare gave older women the opportunity to receive mammograms to detect breast cancer. Not to keep things for women only she also helped get extra funding into prostate cancer research.

On January 21, 2009 Hillary Clinton took her oath as President Obama’s Secretary of State. She was in the Whitehouse of her own accord. Now things were going to get a little interesting as she had the platform to empower women globally, not just in her own back yard.

Mostly her role as Secretary of State was as a diplomat. She managed to ruffle a few feathers by speaking frankly about freedom of information, equality of same sex couples, and women’s rights. One of the highlights had to have been meeting with with Burmese leaders as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sought to support the 2011 Burmese democratic reforms.

Hillary’s last day as the Secretary of State for the United States government was on February 1 2013, and became a fully private citizen for the first time in thirty years. She wishes to stick to her philanthropic ventures, public speaking and writing more on her biography.

The world needs more women with her drive and intelligence. Makes me wonder if she’d take another swing at being the first American female President.

Soucre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton

This is only one of a few NetGalley’s I’ve been approved for over the year or more I’ve been a member. I chose Ink for 2 main reasons… the concept outlined in the blurb and the delicious cover art.

“On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene must move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school’s kendo team, she is intrigued by him… and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they’re near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings come to life.

Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan—and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.”

My daughter is a bit of a Japan-o-file and I thought what better way to spend a little time in her headspace than to dip into a story set in Japan.

Right from the cover art, which in the case of the NetGalley, paperback and the Kindle edition is a strawberry blond girl drawn in ink. She’s in profile with a spray of cherry blossoms and it’s all about simplicity and clean lines, yet extremely beautiful. Seems to me to be very Japanese stylistically.

Amanda has a talent for creating believable settings. I could envisage the cherry blossoms, the koi ponds and almost taste the food. I sensed (albeit as an outsider who knows very little about Japan) that Amanda got the culture right.

I really felt for Katie; uprooting and moving to a place where she’s as far out of her comfort zone as humanly possible. She has guts, and it showed extreme strength in character that she didn’t just crumple and become a stereotypical victim. She also does not bow to the bullies. Yay for strong female characters!

As far as action goes, it’s wild! Drawings that come to life are only part of it. I have great respect for the martial arts and I felt like I was in the room with the Kendo club, while they were practising. Though doing drills during a Japanese summer sounds like a hell I could do without.

I’d suggest anyone who holds any interest in Japan, pick this book up and give it a chance. There’s something for everyone, from mobsters, to romance and action to fantasy. Certainly an eclectic mix of elements that work in perfect harmony.

Paperback, 377 pages

Expected publication: July 1st 2013 by Harlequin Teen (first published January 1st 2013)

ISBN: 9781743641651 (ISBN13:9780373210718)

Return to Paradise is the second book, and takes place eight months after Leaving Paradise ends off. Caleb still hasn’t come back to paradise, keeping the promise he swore to take to his grave, and trying to build a better future himself. Caleb leaves behind everything his ever known and loved, including Maggie. But staying in Chicago isn’t as good for him as he thought it would be, and gets himself in trouble once again.

While Caleb left Paradise in hopes for a better life, Maggie begins her life all over again, with more independence and confidence. She is doing really well and even accepts an offer asking her to go on a three week trip, stopping different places to tell the story of her accident. But everything changed quickly and her three week trip turned foul, when Maggie realizes that Caleb is also going on the exact same trip. But not just to tell his story, like Maggie, but also to keep him from going to prison again.

Return to Paradise continues on with Maggie and Caleb’s story, but the secret Caleb promised to keep forever, isn’t so secret any more. The beginning explains both of their new lives; Caleb’s in Chicago, and Maggie’s in Paradise. The middle is their entire three week trip, which is where things turn sour for me.

The story was … steady. It was never boring but it was also never too crazy. While I enjoyed Return to Paradise, I liked Leaving Paradise much, much more.

Maggie and Caleb were both interesting and realistic (as realistic as any couple could be under such circumstances); I enjoyed reading about the two of them and seeing them together. But those things changed in this second book. Caleb and Maggie changed. The entire trip, the two were back and forth, and back again, about liking and wanting to be with each other. One minute they were in complete love, and the next they avoided or pushed the other away. It was confusing, irritating and frustrating!

And another issue I’ve been facing a lot lately (in books) are boys saying things to girls which no REAL boy would ever even think about saying. Caleb did exactly that at times he just blurted random things out without thinking about them first. Or one time that made me throw the book across the room, was when Caleb was blurting his feelings for Maggie, and then stopped mid sentence to tell us to just forget about it!! REALLY?!

Return to Paradise started off really well, and I was excited to see how things worked out for the two love birds. The middle wasn’t very enjoyable for me, it was too much back and forth, and confusing. But I do have to admit the ending rapidly recovered and I ended the story loving both Maggie and Caleb once again.

I love Simone Elkeles, all her books, and her writing style, so I’m sad to say that I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did her others.

Ballet is one of those things that you either love or hate. I’m a fence sitter to say the very least and my dance style boarders on a spider on a hot tin roof, and can in no way be mistaken for grace or beauty. However, I know the behind the scenes world of ballet is pretty cut-throat and nasty, which always makes for a great suspense novel. Black Swan anyone?

Dance of Shadows isn’t a typical boarding school/ university novel. Sure it has the stereo typical hazing, the secret society and the new girl falling for the cutest guy in school; but this one had me questioning the motives of the lead character.

Vanessa is living in the shadow of her sister, Margaret, who went missing from the New York Ballet Academy years before this story is set. She dons the point shoes and pliës her way into the academy, not believing that Margaret could have just run away. What she discovers will clear her sister’s name and open up a huge can of worms for the NYBA.

My issue was with Vanessa’s single-minded working to get into the NYBA, just to find her sister and then still having enough mental capacity to fall in love, go to classes and dance so well. I find it hard to believe anyone would get as far in a profession that is so difficult to break into in the first place.

The mystery elements in the story were entertaining. The characters and the settings were as you would expect. The rest is all just a little predictable.

What isn’t predictable is the cover art. A beautifully posed dancer with red petals making her costume is rather special but things get very interactive. Once you download the free app and hover your smart phone over the cover, the dancer comes alive. If you get the book and do this please let us know what it’s like.

If you liked the movie Black Swan, and enjoy boarding school novels, this one is perfect for you.

Twitter name: TheYelenaBlack

Paperback, UK, 369 pages

Published February 14th 2013 by Bloomsbury (first published February 12th 2013)

ISBN: 1408829975 (ISBN13: 9781408829974)

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!