Hurricane Sandy - I'm Back

Hey guys just want to say I'm here and alive. Sandy hit pretty hard and we took a lot of damage but hopefully it wasn't deadly, at least not for everyone. I do know that the jersey shore is basically destroyed and my heart goes out to the ones who lost their homes and family members all, not only in Jersey, but everywhere that got hit.

I just got my power last night but was a couple of days without it I know some places won't be getting power until the end of the month. Also gas lines are crazy! waiting in gas lines would go from 1-2 hours but I've seen people on there for 5+ hours now! It got to the point where they had to create a schedule because we're running out of gas. The license plates that their last number is an odd number can only get gas on odd numbered days. Even numbers at the end of the license plates can only go on even numbered days.

 
The lines go out for so long that people are forced to wait to get only 10 dollars worth at times. Not to mention those people who are waiting outside to fill up for their generators. 

Aside from that a lot of places are closed like clothing stores, fast food chains and everything else. Supermarkets have no produce, dairy, not meat and fish for us so we're forced eating canned and boxed foods. 

A lot of food has been thrown out because of having no power which is beyond horrible. The streets at night are pitch black which unfortunately is the perfect place for assaults. The weather is dropping down and we're expecting snow next week. With no power we have no heater and being forced to wear layers and layers of clothes to keep warm. Not that much but it'll only get worse.

Some places have been so destroyed that the people who worked there are no jobless for a few months, if not forever. Because they might not ever open again. Port authority of Newark for example. 

If you look on the streets people look completely lost and as if they don't know what they're doing and then there's the asshole drives that take advantage of no lights to drive like dumb asses. 

Schools have been closed and will continue being closed until the end of next week. Many high school students have missed their SATs because of this and even colleges missed their midterms.

I hope everyone who was hit the best and that we all get back up on our feet with a speedy recovery. But it seriously feels like the world has changed for us all.

And now we find out that next we're getting hit with a snow storm, and last year that this happened in October it knocked our power out for a couple of days. Seriously Jersey is getting hit by everything this year. 

I do wish everyone is getting everything back on track and I'll always be there to help out as much as I can.

Here Comes Sandy

Hey guys! Just want to let you all know that Sandy should be hitting soon on the East Coast and if anyone else like myself are on the East Coast, I wish you safety and to remember to stay indoors. Have plenty of candles, flashlights and canned food ready in case the power goes out.

This will also be a cool time to cut down your TBR pile as you have nothing else to do but read. So stay safe and I'll see you all soon. If the power doesn't go out I'll still post and keep with the updates. But if not, I'll see you all later when we are all safely back with power and stuff. =D

Book Review: Ten

Title: Ten
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Pages: 294
Publication: 18 September, 2012
Rating: A for Acceptable
Copy: Received by HarperCollins Publisher

Review: Who doesn’t love a good murder story? I mean seriously, we go out in big groups and pay close to fifteen bucks just to see a bunch of teens make bad choices and get killed by one person. As pathetic as it sounds, it’s very exciting watching the gruesome ways they get killed and what the motive behind it all was. So when I heard about Ten by Gretchen McNeil I just knew I HAD to read it. Finally, HarperCollins Publishers sent me a copy and I couldn’t wait to dive in.

I knew that I would enjoy the book that was centered around murders and I did enjoy it. There were just some things that were a bit off. I should break this into parts so that no one here gets confused. The story. I enjoyed the story, I immediately tried to predict who the murder would be and hoped that I was wrong. And it was fun seeing who was being killed one by one and knowing that my predictions were possibly coming true. I kind of wished that it didn’t stick to the cliché of who makes it towards the end and who doesn’t because it kind of killed the mood but whatever.

I enjoyed the different ways that the killings were portrayed, as odd and cruel as that sounds. But seeing it connected to the motive was actually pretty cool. There was specific ways each one died and it was because of something they had previously done. Kind of like Saw only less gruesome and less of a chance to survive. But the characters, that’s where things started to get complicated.

I truly did like the characters to a certain extent. I felt like a novel of this type should’ve been a bit longer and possibly not YA because it just doesn’t give me that same factor as movies or adult books. While some of them I cared for, others I couldn’t even begin to worry about that someone was after them. One minute they were there and the next minute they were gone. I could try to explain this by comparing to another book about dying teens but it wouldn’t help. It just didn’t give me enough to care about them.

My main problem was with the main character. Again, I did like her character but there were certain parts where she really pissed me off and not in a good way. Not in a, “this character is so dumb omg!” but more in, “why did this author just do that, she ruined a good thing.” You might not see a difference but there is. When you’ve just seen someone dead from being hanged, you don’t think of certain things. So when the guy you like gives you a tap on your kiss, you would think about it for a few shocked seconds and then move on. At least, a normal person would. But Gretchen McNeil went out to give us some inner dialogue that Meg, our heroine, thought.

When the guy she likes T.J. gives her a tap kiss before doing something dangerous her immediate thoughts were, “He kissed me. What does this mean? I hope my best friend Minnie didn’t see. What if she saw, what will I do or say?” Mind you they’re in the forest, trying to find something and have barely escaped falling from their lives, and all she can think about is if Minnie saw the kiss from where she is. Which is inside of the house. She even looks to see if there’s a view of it. Again I repeat, she almost fell to her death and they’re in the middle of a storm outside. It completely ruined the mood and felt so forced and so crappy that I knew this book went away from five stars.

But aside from the forced romance scenes that were so spaced out it made no sense, the book was alright. It seemed a bit cliché at parts but the end truly surprised me. The writing was also good and flowed great and kept me reading non stop. Although, some parts just seemed a bit too convenient like certain deaths, I still managed to overlook that. My only problem is that I am now still on a quest to read a killer book about a killer. And I’ve learned my lesson to not check YA.

Tuesday's Novel Spotlight (45)

Hello beautiful people! You all look very wonderful today, or at least your computers do. It's like you're glowing and it must be because of the books being released today! Which are some amazing finale books! And I just realized all three are the final books of the series!

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick! I still haven't read Silence by Hush, Hush was the very first ARC that I have ever gotten so it'll be cool to finish a series that I've been since before the very beginning!

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl! I'm currently reading Beautiful Darkness so I have a while before I reach the end but I just want to own this book because the covers are amazing in person and I can't wait to see them all together in person.

The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima! Another series where I've been with it since the first book. I can't wait to see how it ends and I know it'll be crazy. Also, can't wait to see the covers together! 

I seriously need to get these books ASAP because it's making me crazy not owning them! Let me know in the comments which of these books you're waiting for or have already bought!

Find me on other place;

Twitter: @SubtleChronicle

Facebook: The Subtle Chronicler

Goodreads: Michael Araujo

Monday's Novel Talk (51)

Hello everybody! Welcome to Monday, the worst day of the week. Blah!

Anywho, I've been reading a lot or so I think.

I'm currently on page 94 of Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl and it's getting good. I loved the first one and I can't wait for the movie so I'm excited to see how this one pans out. If you haven't seen it already, below is the trailer to Beautiful Creatures which will be out February 2013!



So let me know what you think of the trailer down below and what you're currently reading!

Stacking The Shelves (2)

Holy Shiznet! I haven't done one of these in the longest! But I've been getting books like crazy! Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by the beautiful and ever-wonderful Tynga from Tynga's Reviews! Ever since that drama went down Tynga took it upon herself to create an awesome and new meme and came up with this one. The purpose is to show the books you got during the week to help others find things to read and see what new books are out there.

This week I got 9 books sent by HarperCollins Publishers!

So let's start off!

Justin Bieber: Just Getting Started will be given away to a friend of mine who likes Justin Bieber. I don't exactly like him enough to read about him. The same goes for One Direction Behind The Scenes which will be given to a different friend who is in love with them.

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White I now own a Hardcover copy which is awesome and I can add to my collection now!

Warriors Box set will be given to my nephew who I will buy the other books for him.

Wildwood and Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy lead vocalist of The Decemberists I can not WAIT to read these. They give me a Narnia feeling, love the cover art and the way it feels. I might save these for December along with Big Nate In A Class By Himself by Lincoln Pierce which is a Holiday book.

And that's all I got, some pretty exciting things in there that I can't wait to read. What did you stack your shelves with this week?

You can also find me in these awesome places;

Twitter: @SubtleChronicle
Facebook: The Subtle Chronicler
Goodreads: Michael Araujo

Page Views Reset?

So an hour ago my page views were normal and now I check and it was reset back to 0! Which sucks! I had thousands and thousands of page views and now it's as if I've done nothing. Even on the posts page it says 0 even though the comments are still there. It's as if I never had page views! As if I just started and now I'm up to 60!

AND NOW I JUST CHECKED AND IT'S BACK! ALL 70,000+! of them! Sweet merciful Zeus! Did you guys get this problem or just me? I know some others also got them!