Greetings and a Happy 2012 to all my wonderful readers out there! I have returned once again from the immense expanse known as the Internet (*cough* and work *cough*) to bring you some useful and interesting info on a peculiar device that we use every single time we use with our electronic workhorses. I’m talking of course about the mouse! The computer mouse, not a real one. That’d be gross 😛

The mouse was invented around the late 60s-70s and it was made of wood. Interesting eh? Anyways, it had no practical application in those days, so it was shelved along with plenty of other brilliant ideas that at the time many thought would just be a waste of people’s time and money. Then comes an interesting man and his team of fellow geeks and programmers called Steve Jobs, and acquires this idea from Xerox (that’s a story for another day hehe). Needless to say, in the 1980s, Apple released to the masses the Apple Macintosh, the first “affordable” personal computer for the masses. And of course, it included a mouse. This was an amazing revelation! And it stuck.

Fast forward to today. The mouse is as common with technology today as butter is to bread. It’s the primary tool we use to surf the Net, play games, design, draw and so on. It’s our modern day hammer.

Since I eat, breathe and sleep technology, I’ve had A LOT of mice. They come in all shapes and sizes and many are tailored for specific functions like gaming, design, ergonomics for those with Carpal Tunnel, and the list goes on. Since the list is so long, I’m going to recommend a few I’m using nowadays.

If you’re a PC gamer (high five!) you want to go with a gaming mouse. These are generally a tad more expensive than your run-o-the-mill optical, but the features you get to give you the edge make it worthwhile. They come with extra buttons, use laser sensors (don’t look at ’em) instead of optical, and they allow you to change the density of the mouse by adding or subtracting weight in the form of little metal pellets or discs. Gaming not your thing? I recommend the Logitech G-500 or the   Microsoft Sidewinder X5. Gaming not your thing? No problem!

Ever heard of a trackball? No? Well I’ll tell you. It’s a sort of mouse that instead of moving it about on your desk, it has a ball that you move with your thumb or index finger. It may seem strange at first but trust me you’ll feel the difference after several hours of surfing the web without your wrist hurting. I use the Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 and if you’re willing to give trackballs a shot, go for this one.

There really is no limit in what you choose here. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions!

Take care and have fun! (but be safe eh?)

Even after all the months of training to face the fire from her visions and fulfil her purpose, part-angel Clara made a choice that may have permanently  altered, not only her destiny, but Christian’s as well. As if dealing with senior year, a failed purpose, blackwing attacks and being torn between two guys isn’t hard enough, now she finds herself bombarded with a whole new set of visions. Visions with the shocking revelation that someone close to her will die in a matter of months. Just how much can one girl handle, even if she does have kick-butt angel powers? With a future more uncertain than ever, the only thing Clara can be sure of is that the fire was only the beginning.

If you have already been swept away by the first in the series “Unearthly”, you may be feeling the same sense of apprehension that I was with approaching the second instalment. Well don’t. Hand has again crafted a beautiful tale that will have you falling for the amazing cast of characters all over again and soaring along with a plot that raises the bar even higher.

In fact this also should come with a warning label: “entering this world of delights will leave you breathless with a racing pulse and dreams filled with smouldering hot angels and mortals alike”. Just like our protagonist Clara, Hallowed has a more grown up feel than Unearthly as we approach not only a whole new branch of issues and revelations that will leave you on the edge of your seat, but the loss of a loved character that will have you reaching for the tissues.

Not only has Hand firmly put her stamp on the angel sub-genre, she gifts us with characters that are some of the most realistic and honestly flawed that I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. Hallowed is darker and more adult than its predecessor, yet despite the darker context it’s not overly morbid and you will surprisingly walk away feeling light in spirit. The glimpse of Clara’s emerging maturity certainly helps chase any lingering sense of morbidity away.  And for those of you who have been dying to know the answers to those burning questions, you will get your wish and a few more fresh new ones to ponder. If you have Hallowed on your wishlist and you haven’t read Unearthly, I highly recommend you read it first. Trust me it’s worth the extra wait for the whole experience.

My only negative was that I was hoping to see Jeffery take on a larger role and to find out just some of the secrets he has been hiding, the ending does give me hope that this may just be around the corner though and plenty of theories on just what Clara will find herself facing next. And don’t be surprised if Team Edward and Team Jacob are replaced with Team Christian and Team Tucker. Just sayin’.

Hallowed- Cynthia Hand

Harper Collins

395 Pages

ISBN:978-0-7322-9261-4

“Ahhhhh!

Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series!! I loooove!”

Yes, indeed, you’ve witnessed just one, of the many fan girl moments I have. But trust me, this one is totally worth it!

The book I’m reviewing for you today is, Forever by (duuhh) Maggie Stiefvater; the final installment in herseries. PLEASE READ! I want to warn you guys though! I can get a bit excited, and babble the ending or other important things, so if you plan on reading this book or any other in the series, please don’t read the italic parts. Those are things I would consider spoils, and give away important parts. I would never want to ruin such a good series for anyone.

Okay so fan girl moment, check; spoiler warnings, check! Now to the actual review.

Maggie Stiefvater’s series includes three books, #1 Shiver, #2 Linger, and finally #3 Forever. What makes this series so special and unique, is that the cover’s color, is the same color used to print the font inside of the book! Isn’t that crazy??! I’ve never seen any other book, besides children’s books which do that! I think it’s amazing! I feel like this is a huge plus, why? Well people would want to see it for themselves if the font really is the same color as the cover, but to that, they would have to find a book, and crack it open. Which means there’s a huge chance that, that someone who took the time to check the font, might actually start reading the story.

While reading Forever in school, a few of my friends pointed out, that the cover gives them almost a Twilight kind of vibe. Yes that might be true. But no, Wolves of Mercy Falls is nothing like Twilight. It might have wolves, but it doesn’t have anything to do with vampires, nor is the story line even close to the same. But if you’ve read Stephanie Meyer’s series, and you haven’t had enough of a sweet and cute werewolf, than you should definitively pick up this series.

Throughout Shiver and Linger, we got two different perspectives, Sam’s and Grace’s, which I really enjoyed! You get to see what both of them are thinking, and they are truly feeling about themselves and the current situations their in. In Forever, not only do you get Sam and Grace’s side of the story, but you’re also getting Cole (the wolf selected to protect, take care of, and lead the pack once Beck is gone), and Isabel (the straight forward girl, would falls for Cole, but can’t admit it to herself).

These perspectives, do switch from chapter to chapter, but not in any specific order.

I absolutely adored Sam, he seems like the perfect guy, even with his horrible past. His relationship with Grace was one of the big things that made run out to the store, the day Forever came out, and buy it!

Grace on the other hand, is like no character I’ve read about. When she was younger, not only was she attacked but also saved by a wolf. She has weird parents, who care about her, but also let her do whatever she wants, hardly noticing that she’s still alive. Grace just isn’t the average Young Adult book, kind of character, I had a great time reading, and learning more about her.

Cole, the wolf who was selected to lead the pack, once Beck was gone, just like Sam, has his own past. I wasn’t sure if I liked Cole, the first time we meet him in Linger. He just doesn’t seem like the type of guy I would want to hangout or even be around. But by the time I was halfway through Forever, I grew attached to him. Now I like Cole almost as much as I do Sam!

Honestly, Isabel almost reminds me of myself. No I’m not rich, I’m average. And there’s no way my dad would hunt and kill animals, he’s just not that kind of guy. But the way Isabel acts, towards Cole, reminds me of myself when I was in middle school. I’ve never had a boyfriend before (at that time), and I didn’t really trust them. So if one tried to get anywhere near me, I would kind of just push them away. Which she does a lot with Cole.

I really enjoyed all of the characters, and their different personalities, no one was boring, or stuck up. Some how I could relate to each one in a different way, and that was one of the best things about this story.

The story line, and the ending was nothing I expected! Not even close, as I was reading the last page or so, I caught myself with my jaw dropped! I couldn’t believe what happened! Of course I can’t tell you, but I’m sure you’re in for a shocker! The ending was a bit open, I wish it would have left me more satisfied, instead of making me want more! But let’s just hope Maggie Stiefvater has another Wolves of Mercy Falls book up her sleeve!

• ISBN-13: 9780545259088
• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Publication date: 7/12/2011
• Pages: 400
• Sales rank: 786
• Age range: 14 – 17 Years

Welcome to another Life with Lisa! So everyone knows, that it’s now officially 2012, and at the beginning of every new year, people set goals for themselves! Some want to lose weight, do better with homework, or even just meet new people, make new friends and try new things!

Even though I want to do all of the above, most of my goals for this insane year, are for Turning Pages, and blogging. I’ve come up with a few different main points, that I want to discuss.

One of the most important and hardest things about having/reaching goals, is actually doing what you said you would, and keeping your eyes on the prize. A lot of people lose their way, only a few months into the new year, and just go back to whatever they were doing the year before.

Here are some of my goals:

Reviewing:

I want to write longer, more in depth, and interesting reviews. Besides that I want to write reviews more often, and have them published on a few different websites (such as Turning Pages, Burn Bright, Goodreads etc).

Youtube:

I have a YouTube channel, but barely ever find myself using it. This year I hope to use it every week for reviews and In My Mailboxes. Along with that, I want to find more different types of book related videos I can do!

Twitter:

I feel that Twitter is one of the biggest and most popular website bloggers, authors and readers use to communicate. I also have one, but barely ever find myself using it, so in 2012, I want to be able to tweet at least five tweets a day, and have a conversation with one person!

Goodreads:

This website, is a great place to repost all of my reviews, and I started doing that, but just was to lazy to keep going. Which I’ll be changing this year.

2012, is where I want to branch out, meet more people, authors and communicate with my followers. I have so many plans for this year, for both blogging and my personal life. I’m excited to get things started and kicked into gear!

Do you have any goals? If so, what are they?

Lisa! 🙂