Ugh!!

Hey guys!

I am so, so, so, so sorry for not posting anything for so long. I have been extremely busy. With work, trying to get into Pathways Academy, my birthday, and trying to get organized. I want to smack everything. -_- I hope everyone is well. I promise I'm coming back! Probably try to put up some reviews tomorrow, or later tonight. Yes, even though I've been too busy to get on the net as much I HAVE been reading. :)
I'll try to get into more detail about my absence later, as well. :)
Just wanted to let everyone know that, yes, I am still alive. Nor have I been abducted by any aliens or robots. Though, I wouldn't mind if Bumblebee, or Octimus and the rest of the auto bots abducted me! :D
A girl can dream, right? :D

Also, I have a kitty now! :D Who is attacking my valentine monkey as I type this... :|

Twilight FML!

Okay, a while ago Breanna from B is for Books sent me a link to this website called F*** My Life. I get on there every now and again to read some of the FML's because some of them are insanely hilarious.
I'm on FML right now and I found a Twilight one, so I though I'd share it with you. It's not really funny, but it did make me chuckle.
Here is the FML:

"Today, my girlfriend dumped me proclaiming she wanted someone more like her "Edward". I asked her who Edward was. She held up a copy of her "Twilight" book. She was talking about a fictional vampire. FML"

Awesome fictional characters will dominate the world someday. Seriously. I am now determined to find some more FML's that involve books and their fictional characters.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside by Beth Fantaskey

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside by Beth Fantaskey

Publisher: Harcourt (February 1, 2009)
Hardcover: 368 pages
Age Group: Young Adult

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Marrying a vampire definitely doesn't fit into Jessica's senior year "Get-A-Life" plan.
Enter a bizarre new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu who claims Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth and he's her long-lost fiance. He's arrogant, officious, embarrassingly protective, and, well, incredibly hot.
Armed with a copy of Growing up Undead: A Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica tries to imagine the transition from an average American teenager to a glam European vampire princess. But just when things start to heat up with Lucius, a devious cheerleader sets her sights on him.
Soon Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius's soul from eternal damnation. All of which leaves her to wonder: Wouldn't life be easier if she could just fall for a nice mortal boy?

First off: This wasn't what I was expecting when I first learned about the novel. At all. I mean, it sounded really, really good. But I thought it would be a little like all the other vampire books I'd read. I hate getting into a novel like that, because I love vampires and I love reading about them. So I was a bit worried when I first got this book.

But I was wrong! Oh, so wrong!

I never expected to love it as much as I did. This quickly made it to my number one favorite book before I was even done with it. (It shares a number one spot with Claudia Gray's Evernight.)

Fantaskey recreated the genre and made it her own. Which is extremely hard to do nowadays with the amount of Young Adult novels that are out in the book world. Plus the percentage of them that include vampires in them.

I can't remember how many times I cried while reading Jessica's Guide. And how many times I got completely ticked off with Lucius. At first I thought I was going to hate him throughout the book, but a little ways in I started to fall in love with him just as Jess was.

At first while I was reading, I thought things were moving a bit too fast. Too many things were happening and it was just the first chapter. But now that I'm done with it, I feel that if those things didn't happen as fast as they did, all the other events wouldn't have played out as great as they did.

I also loved how Fantaskey threw in some things from Lucius' perspective. It added to the story and really let you get to know him more, and how his mind worked.

I really liked Jess, too. She was an amazing protagonist. All her feelings were geniune and real and I felt I really got to know her throughout the novel. I feel as though she's one of my best friends. Which I love those feelings when reading a book.

I felt all the minor characters really added to the story too. They were all really interesting and I loved Jess' best friend, Mindy.

Fantaskey's style of writing was really great, as well. It all really flowed well and drew you in. I always felt as though I were right there, experiencing all the events that were happening throughout the novel.

Overall, it was a GREAT read. I will definitely be reading this again in the future. It's one of those novels where you have to reread them at least once or twice every year.
The end was very good, and it's great as a standalone novel. I was very pleased with the ending. But I'd still love to know more about the characters and the events that happen after the last page of the book.

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

Publisher: Viking Children's Books (April 16, 2009)
Paperback: 356 pages
Age Group: Young Adult

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Anke's father is abusive. But not to her. He attacks her brother and sister, but she is ignored, forced to be an invisible witness in a house of horrors. Believing she isn't worthy of even the worst kind of attention, Anke feels about as significant as the living room sofa. Until she makes the volleyball team at school. In a sport where you have to yell "Mine!" to play the ball, Anke learns for the first time how to make herself heard. As her confidence on the court builds, she finds a voice she didn't know existed. And it's not long before she realizes that if she can make people hear her while she's playing volleyball, then maybe she can be heard at home, too.

Okay, first off: this review is going to be extremely hard to write. I had very high expectations for Because I Am Furniture. I had never read anything by Chaltas before. But just the plot of Because I Am Furniture is a subject that needs to be heard. There are a lot of people out there having to put up with abusive people in their homes and family.

Once I heard the plot of this novel, I was very excited to be receiving it. Once it came I moved it up in my list. I flipped through it and found it really was a series of poems. Which I was a bit hesitant about, because I normally don't read too many of these types of books. But I started reading it.

I couldn't get fully into it. I kept reading, though. I went through it fast, since it was just a series of poems.

The overall plot for this novel is great. Anke was a great character, but I didn't feel I got very close with her. I was very glad with the outcome at the end. How everything turned out.
Though I didn't get very into this book, it still has left a part of it with me. Just because of Anke's story. What her story involves. The subject of her story.

I think everyone should at least read this once.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile(April 12, 2009)
ARC: 196 pages

Age Group: Young Adult

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"Just Listen," Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen.
"Stay," he says.
Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.

When I first saw If I Stay in the mail I was excited. The cover was simple, but beautiful. I had already read the synopsis on Amazon and on Gayle Forman's website, but I never really got what the story was completely about. I sat for a few minutes staring at the cover, wondering why the cover looked the way it did. Trying to see if it would tell anything about the story.

I admit, when I first tried to read If I Stay, I couldn't get into it. So, I moved onto another novel and came back to it at the beginning of April. I started reading and got farther into it, past where I had left off the second time, and I'm really glad I did.

This is one of those novels that really get you thinking about your own life as you progress through the story.

Though I didn't shed any tears at all, it did bring up a lot of emotions that made me stop reading it a couple of times. Especially when I was reading it on my break at work.

Mia was a wonderful character. The love she had for her family, best friend Kim, boyfriend Adam and music, especially her Cello, was extremely real. I could feel how much she loved them and I know it made her decision to stay or to go that much harder.

Usually I don't like when a book jumps from past to present, but in If I Stay it wouldn't have worked any other way and throw off as much emotion as it did.

Honestly, I don't even know what to really say about this novel. I'm having trouble with words and expressing my feelings about it. So please, forgive me.

Gayle Forman's writing was unique and a bit lyrical. It was easy to read, but at times confusing. It didn't take away from the overall story, though.

Overall it was a beautiful read and I will definitely remember it. A part of it will always stay with me, it really got me thinking about what I would do in Mia's situation and really makes me appreciate what I have. Even though my parents drive me completely insane sometimes, I know they love me and I'm not sure what I would do without them when it comes right down to it.

I'm horrible

I'm sorry that I keep writing that I am going to start keeping up with everything on my blog. I want to do that, I keep telling myself that I'm going to do it, right then. But then things get in the way and stop me. I have a lot of other things I need to keep up with, like my job and my school work.

Nocturnal Reviews means just as much to me as those do. It's my responsibility. But I haven't had the time to put up the reviews on the books I've read, nor had as much time to read. I know that if I managed my time more and get things done at that certain time. I'd have more time and be less stressed.

I just don't know how to do it. I keep telling myself I'll do it and then something messes it up. I wake up late, or something random happens and completely pulls me away from what I was going to do.

Anybody have any tips, or advice? It would be much appreciated.

But anyway, here I am, again, telling you all I'm going to try and keep up with it. I am going to try really hard to. Right after I publish this post I'm going to get my pile of books I need to put up a review for and start writing up reviews. I am so behind.

Also, you may have noticed I've been changing the layout a lot. I'm just trying to find one that is organized and reflects the blog and myself. It's extremely hard to find three-column layouts.

If anyone would like to see something special that is book-related/author-related on my blog, tell me. I want to make my blog the best it can be to help authors, publishers and readers. So if anyone have any tips, just tell me.

And if you're a new book reviewer, you should go to The Story Siren's blog. She has some great tips on her blog, even if you aren't new to the book reviewing world. She's been at this for a while and she has amazing content on her blog. Also, she's amazingly awesome! :)