Hello my fellow geeksters! Phil is back and with a vengeance! Forgive my long disappearance as I’ve been uber busy with a truckload of projects. Argh! It’s hard to keep up!

Nevertheless, I am here and ready to present you with some food for thought.

We all know the netbook has been around for some time. Some of us have bought them, others haven’t. With the onset of the iPad and all the other tablets that followed, so many of us are picking them up faster than the companies can say “ker-ching!” That puts these little guys in a bit of a pickle, as I shall now explain.

You see, netbooks are still full-fledged computers. Sure, they are smaller, cheaper and slower, but they can run (almost!) everything a normal laptop can run. Need to browse the Net? Send Emails? Create Word documents, spreadsheets, etc? No problem! They’re also great for when you’re on the go and you need more functionality and less space.

However, these guys have been falling behind since the onslaught of the tablet. They’re not new, as the first tablets came out in the early 90s (so last century!) but they were horrible (and ran Windows *shudder*). Apple turned that around in 2010, and now for every Android tablet sold, they sell 25 iPads. Not bad eh?

These things pretty much run everything a netbook does & more. And with the recent release of the Kindle Fire for $199, you have something a lot cheaper than the iPad that has a browser and Amazon’s AMAZING book selections & more.

So really, are netbooks dead? Do they still have a fighting chance in a market with so much competition? I’ll let you decide and feel free to post comments below.

Tata for now my friends! Keep it crazy, keep it geek! 🙂

Avery Hood cannot remember too much of the night her parents were murdered. Her brain is protecting her from the horrid memories that lurk just under the surface. Ben is the new boy and he’s beautiful, he’s different and his eyes flash silver. He only has eyes for Avery, but when he can’t remember the night Avery’s parents were murdered, it sets off warning bells. Who is the guilty party, and what really is the truth behind the local stories of strange creatures in the forests?

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It has ample suffering from the grieving Avery and the struggle she has with making nice with her estranged grandmother, Renee. There’s a small bit of romance and it is sweet enough to outshine the gore of the opening scene, where we see the pieces of the fateful night as Avery remembers it.

I had to do a double take in a couple of places where I thought I was rereading Twilight all over again, but thankfully, Ivy dodges out of those particular scenes rather quickly. Avery and Ben are not Bella and Edward, by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t think you would catch Ben dead in a Volvo, and Avery is no victim. Even if you borrowed this one from the library, it’s worth the day or two it’ll take to get through it. I think I’ll even go see if I can find the second book in the series, Moonrise, it looks like it’ll be fun.

Ivy Devlin – Low Red Moon

http://www.ivydevlin.com/

ISBN: 1599905108 (ISBN13: 9781599905105)

Published September 14th 2010 by Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books

Paperback, 244 pages

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyuKN5XUxSA&feature=channel_video_title

After a summer of training with her grandmother Vovo, in Brazil. Yara has returned to attend Pendrell Academy for her senior year. She is still as smitten with her boyfriend as she was last year and after a summer away, things are looking good. But upon meeting a stranger with some dangerous secrets and a very angry ghost on her first day back home, things start to go downhill for Yara and her friends too fast. Moving back to Pendrell has Yara’s family concerned for her life, but this time Brent’s life is the only thing Yara is concerned about.

There are changes happening at the school: the construction of a new building on the site of the old haunted grounds; a new headmaster who seems to have taken a personal interest in Yara and her friends. Not to mention the fact that Yara can feel others projecting and she knows it’s not her or Brent doing it. When the mysterious stranger turns up attending her school, things are looking bad and Yara knows she’s being followed. Let’s not forget the angry ghost, Sophia, who has decided to make Yara’s life a living Hell. Yara will have to make some very difficult decisions to try to save not only her life, but those of all her loved ones.

The second book in the trilogy blew me away, it has an immediate grab on the reader with the introduction of the clues and action right away. It’s a paranormal mystery that really focuses on  the school and its history. All the characters play a part in this puzzle and the 2nd book takes off right into the continuation of the story from the previous book. It’s all one story that continues to grow and become darker and more intense with each volume. Now that Yara and her friends are graduating this year, it will be interesting to see where the third book takes us—and I have my hopes up to maybe see a little bit of Brazil in the final chapter of this trilogy.

Indelible by Lani Woodland
Hardcover, 416 pages
Expected publication: September 27th 2011 by Pendrell Publishing
ISBN 0982729723 (ISBN13: 9780982729724)
series The Yara Silva Trilogy #2

Welcome to this October’s very first Life with Lisa! Update on my life: Crazy! I have tons of things going on, but I kind of like being busy, so it’s okay! I have to study for SATs and ACTs, I have normal school to worry about, my home life is busy, and blogging has been wild as well, and I’m loving it. Burn Bright just came out with our book club, so I have tons of reading to do there, Elixir, Monster High books 1, 2, and 3, Burn Bright and, finally, Angel Arias.

October’s book, though, is Elixir so if you want to join in the fun, make sure to check out our Burn Bright Book Club webpage. At the end of the month, a few of us reviewers here on Burn Bright will be discussing the book, things we enjoyed and things we didn’t enjoy as much. Yeah, some of us are married or dating some of the sweetest guys in the world. Someone who shows you off to his friends, likes watching a movie and cuddling together, or just someone who you can all around have a good time with, BUT! Yes, but! We can also have movie star crushes! What’s wrong with liking it when a guy (a very cute, and worked out guy) takes of his shirt in a movie? Nothing.  So, this Life with Lisa post is just about my top 3 cutest actors, and if you know me, you should know who my number one is!

#1. Taylor Lautner.

I promise it’s just a coincidence, that my boyfriend looks almost like him! (Holy Toledo! – Ed.). (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, Shark Boy and Lava Girl, Valentines Day, Abduction).

#2. Ryan Gosling.

(Crazy, Stupid, Love, Drive, The Ides of March, All Good Things).

#3. Justin Timberlake.

(Bad Teacher, Friends with Benefits, In Time, The Social Network).

Burn Bright Book Club Webpage!

Hi Everyone! Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3? …..Does this mic work? I have another book review for you guys, and it goes perfectly with the month of October. Today’s lucky book is Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen; another e-book from Netgalley. I just finished it yesterday, and couldn’t wait to start writing my review!

Beyond the Grave was something new, something I hadn’t read before. I really enjoyed Mara Purnhagen’s writing style and I can’t wait to read more of her works. You might find this a bit dorky, but I love watching those paranormal ghost hunting shows. I don’t really know why, but I do and they interest me. I can’t watch them at night, right before I go to bed, because I am the biggest scaredy cat, and will just end up being having nightmares. But still, what isn’t cool about talking to the dead? You might even be able to communicate with one of your family members who had already passed away! But for Charlotte and her family, this is normal, and this is what they do. They go out to haunted houses, churches, prisons, and hospitals, searching for any kind of paranormal activity, recording their finds and making DVDs and TV shows. Watching it on TV is cool, but I don’t think I would ever want to actually do it!

In their most recent case, in a haunted prison, a entity, named The Watcher, actually attacked Charlotte’s mother, leaving her in a coma for months. Not only do Charlotte, and Shane almost lose their mom, but in a way their dad too. Instead of continuing on with his day to day life, and finishing the project they started, he barely ever leaves the hospital. Months have passed and Charlotte’s mother still hasn’t made much progress. Her family depends on the money that comes from the DVDs they make and sell. Not having enough footage means that they won’t be able to finish a DVD, and won’t earn any money. Without their father’s permission (of course, who would send their kids to the place their wife was almost killed?), Shane, Noah, Trisha, and Charlotte head back to the haunted prison to get some more footage.

Things between Noah and Charlotte have always been great! Noah seems like the sweetest guy in the world, never wanting to hurt or lie to Charlotte. But after coming back, things between Noah and Charlotte seem different; Noah isn’t being himself, and is acting distant. Not knowing what to do or who to turn to, Charlotte finds herself on the door step of her former high school enemy, Bliss. Putting their differences aside, Charlotte begins telling Bliss about everything that’s going on with her mom and dad, and even about the difference in Noah’s attitude. After losing both her mom and her boyfriend, Charlotte’s ready to do anything to get her family back. Which includes going back to the prison for the third time, to finally close the gate.

If you haven’t read Beyond the Grave, you definitely should! And what time better than now? It’s October and we should all be reading something scary 🙂

Mara Purnhagen – Beyond the Grave

Published by Harlequin 23 August 2011

Paperback, 256 pages