Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Buy it. Buy it now.

 Feyre is a huntress. She thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to capture its prey. But, like all mortals, she fears what lingers mercilessly beyond the forest. And she will learn that taking the life of a magical creature comes at a high price . . .

Imprisoned in an enchanted court in her enemy’s kingdom, Feyre is free to roam but forbidden escape. Her captor’s body bears the scars of fighting, and his face is always masked – but his piercing stare draws her ever closer. As Feyre’s feelings for Tamlin begin to burn through every warning she’s been told about his kind, an ancient, wicked shadow grows. Feyre must find a way to break a spell, or lose her heart forever.

I bet you're wondering if Sarah J. Maas has done it again and created another world with kick-ass main characters. Basically, yes, yes she has.

I want to start talking about the fact it's retelling. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairy tales and my favourite Disney film so I've read a lot of versions of it. This one is completely it's own thing, however, reading it I noticed twists on the Disney film (though, one of those twist isn't actually part of the original final cut of the disney film, but first appeared properly in the musical and then was put back into the film in 2002 special which I own and have watched every thing off it several times. I am B&B geek so maybe Sarah J. Maas was not aware of that. I would have to ask her next time I get to meet her). Feyne's family set up is very similar to the tradition tale and I enjoyed the twist on the curse. This is a very good retelling, especially like that fairies are back in these one as that seems to be lost from the retelling I've read/seen and  it is currently my favourite book one (it would take a God to top the Disney one for me and even then they probably wouldn't be able to do it because childhood and great songs, check out the beast's songs from the musical).

On this book standing by itself, it pretty good. The world building is great. There is a interesting and deep history to this world. I really liked that the fairies appear in this world, since a lot of the other B&B story have replaced them with a witch.

The characters are okay, I like them and they feel real. Maas does interesting things with them in character sense. Now, the actual romance is not my favourite part of the book and their conversations together were sometimes, let say repetitive in the sake of not spoiling anything. But the side characters sure do make up for it and I love it. I do just want to say that there times when the "Romances" and other aspects make me uncomforable when I found myself reading this in public. Just beware, its once you get past the 100 page mark, I just know it was some point after that.

Overall, I gave this book five out of five Stars for Annoying Accessories.  I love this world and retelling. This is the start of the series and I will be pre-ordering the sequel which is coming out in May next year, though I do think the retelling (of Beauty & Beast) aspect will end with the first book but maybe I'm wrong.

I also have a video review/spoiler discussion.


I got this off NetGalley early for Review (of course, I pre-order a copy that came three weeks early) and is being published by Bloomsbury on 5th May 2015.

I'm only writing in my head.

It is once again Saturday, How? I feel like I have done nothing this week, I wrote very little and I haven't took proper account so once again I have failed Camp NaNoWriMo and myself. I always have such great plans but the more I push myself to do I fail. I've hardly been reading as well, for me, it would appear that I finished reading two books but one of those was audiobook.

I have been trying audiobooks again in attempt to get more stuff done and exercise. That hasn't been that successfully. On the first attempt at walking and that, I scraped the skin off the back of both my ankle and I haven't walked again. Yes, I'm just refusing to leave my bed. Of course, I have walked around the house and left for the supermaket. The skin has started to grow back so I should try walking in just a form of exercise soon, next week or month.

I'm generally a fail at 21. Let's all remember that when I'll probably say it about being 22, unless I get really productive or discovered. The chances are slim on both.

I'm annoyed by the fact I let writing slip, I'm annoyed I've done so little, I'm annoyed that I suck at driving and I think I might be getting worse. I am terrible.

I'm filled with stories that I want to get out. I am filled with ambitions that I wanted to get out and as of last week I have failed to have my posts up on time for the first time this year and this will be the second. Words do come to me in time. Probably because I don't force them on to the paper/scene even when they are terrible.

I'm going to go now and pretend to tidy my room, or knit a complicated mess whilst attempting to read at the same time. See you next week, hopefully on time.

Book Review: One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

Alek's family are Armenian? I had no clue.

Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Why bother, when their home cooking is far superior to anything "these Americans" could come up with? Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek’s parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshmen year of high school. He never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan.
Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. When Ethan gets Alek to cut school and go to a Rufus Wainwright concert in New York City’s Central Park, Alek embarks on his first adventure outside the confines of his suburban New Jersey existence. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend—he’s barely ever had a girlfriend—but maybe it’s time to think again.

I think this book tricks a lot of boxes, set partly in New York City, diversity with the main character being Armenian and this is gay romance.

Told in first person, Alek makes good narrator. The plot is enjoyable platform for these characters.
.
The characters are quite realisic and interesting. I really enjoy Alek's relationships with his family and bad mouthing them because if that isn't realistic then I don't know what is.

Overall, I gave this 3 out of 5 stars for water bottles in the sun.  I enjoyed reading this book but never left much of imprint on me, found it very hard to review for some reason, but it's nice to read good published LGBT fiction.

I got this for review off Netgalley. 

Hiding in the Camp Woods

I am a failure as a writer and I have fallen behind in Camp NaNoWriMo. I am so much a failure that I almost completely forgot about this post and this will probably the most I write today. I'm in behind in my book commits to myself. My reading has fallen behind and I actually forgot about Wednesday till it was 2pm and I was in a public garden. I only have one written waiting in the wings incase I degert to read review book that week. I have three other Netgalley books that I read and for some reason never got around to reviewing that I could write a small review about. However, the pass three weeks have had pre-written reviews go up and I don't like that, even if one of those was from forgetting to change the scheduled date.

I was planning to finish one of the two short stories I started but that was totally not happening. The latest one is turning into a novelle and a series. The first one has lost it spark but I'm determine to finish a least one thing in this month and I will share it with you or maybe I'll just give you chapter two to Video store or chapter six for some reason. I have apparently wrote nothing today which just great.

I have finished reading "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas, that's going to get a review but not sure I can put that up next week or not as some people like two weeks and others three before a review goes up but then again I also now have the physical copy of it that I brought from Waterstones so it's probably going up next week. I spent way too much time this morning trying to take a good selfie with it.

 I have nothing else to say so I'm off to waste time staring at random things on the internet instead of doing anything even close to productive.

Book Review: Love Hurts, edited by Malorie Blackman

 I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.

Malorie Blackman brings together the best teen writers of today in a stunningly romantic collection about love against the odds. Featuring short stories and extracts about modern star-crossed lovers from stars such as Gayle Forman, Markus Zusak and Patrick Ness, and with a brand-new story from Malorie Blackman herself, Love Hurts looks at every kind of relationship, from first kiss to final heartbreak.

This is a book of is mix of short stories and extracts from YA books which is just really disappointing. There is actually seven short stories, next to the 17 extracts. Of course, only 5 of those stories are original to this book. Extracts are weird because I feel like there probably major spoilers for the books they're from. I look at the ones that I had already read and would say yes, that was a spoiler and if I had wanted to read a part of this book then I would have brought that book. (To be clear I never brought this book, it a review copy like it says at the bottom). I have not read all this book, there are book extracts in here from books that I plan to read and would rather read the whole book the first time all together. I have read all the short stories, the extracts from books I've already read and books that I don't think I'll ever read.

Introduction by Malorie Blackman: Should I really review a introduction? I guess I could have did it in a jokey way, but no.

Humming Through my Fingers by Malorie Blackman: This is story in which a blind girl trolls a boy (to be clear I mean the internet definition and not the idiotic media's that thinks a troll is someone who sends people death threats). I like this story, it was good idea to start with the possible start of romance. 3/5 stars for ties.

Extract from More Than This by Patrick Ness: Did not read as I own and plan to read this book.

Extract from The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle: Did not Read.

Extract from If I Stay by Gayle Forman: This extract was good choice, if we doing extracts. But this is such a short novel that works better as whole as most novels do.

Tumbling by Susie Day: This story shockingly involves tumblr. Also BBC Sherlock. It was cute story about two girls meeting for first time in the real life after being best friends online. I give this for 4/5 stars for profile picts. I will not be bribed with Sherlock fangirls.

Extract from Trouble by Non Pratt: Did not read as I own and plan to read this book.

Extract from Rani and Sukh by Bali Rai: Did not read.

Extract from You Against Me by Jenny Downham: Did Not Read.

Extract from 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson: Did not read as I own and plan to read this book.

Extract from Junk by Melvin Burgess: Did Not Read.

Extract from Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman: Did Not Read.

Gentlewoman by Laura Dockrill: I got a pretty good feel for this story within the first few sentences. This is about Transgirl about to start living as girl during high school. The relationships were family, romance and friendship. The relationships could have been better developed. But I enjoyed the style of this and the ending was good. 4/5 stars for shapeless clothing.

Extract from Heroic by Phil Earle: Did not Read.

Miss Lucy had a Steamboat by David Levithan:Whilst a short story, in a way this is also a extract because it was originally published in a collection short stories by him: How they met and other short stories. I like this story, I'll probably pick up the actual collection eventually since I like Levithan and didn't know about it's existence. This is gays in high school, a girl's lack of public relationship. That description sucks. 5/5 stars for childish innuendos.

Extract from I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak: Did not read

Extract from Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith: Did not read as I own and plan to read this book.

Extract from Echo Boy by Matt Haig: I actually have a review of this novel. The extract comes from a really random scene of the book, also I think it would spoiler the relationship dynamics/plot for you if you read this extract. I also it not very romantic or lovie. Echo Boy is probably meant to be a romance story but it's not what I would classify as such in the first place.

Extract from Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma: Did not read.

Endless Love: The Valentine of Daniel and Lucinda by Lauren Kate:Well, guys you never guess what but this isn't original story either. The best part is, I was instantly confused when I started reading it so I google it and what you know it was from book of short stories that's part of Fallen series. No one reads Novellas that are in middle of series except by mistake. I feel like I have to google every story to find out where it came from (I did it's just these two that have appeared in other books). This is basically the same as extract as the characters talk about things I have no idea about never having read the Fallen series which is why I won't be rating it as I feel it doesn't work as a short story by itself.

Extract from Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick: Hm...I get why this here, though I only skimmed read it as I didn't feel like reading any of the extracts this far into my journey into this book. It make sense but I still see the point of a scene from the middle of the book. I'm finding it hard to positive to be about this book as I'm reviewing each story/extract straight after I read them in the order in the books.

The Liar's Girl by Catherine Johnson: A historical story about love and revenge. 3/5 stars for smells.

The Unicorn by Juno Dawson: This feels like the most serious of the short story, but then is told from the POV of gay old man about his Youth in the Navy during war and when Homosexuality was crime in Britain. Fun Topic and not what I was expecting from a story titled "The Unicorn".  I also now have the song In the Navy stuck in my head. I should probably rewrite that opening sentence but I shan't. I give this 4/5 stars for tattoos.

Extract from Northern Lights by Philip Pullman: I once attempted to read this book, but it was so bloody boring so I quit, I mean there was murdering and sneaking going on so no I will never read this whole novel. So I glance at the extract and thought nah so I did not read this.

Extract from We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: This is one of the better extracts and some what works by itself. Except for the whole lie that you should go into that book knowing nothing about it.

Overall, I gave this book 3/5 stars for random scenes. Even if the short stories had all been brilliant five out of five stories, I still wouldn't been able to rate this book 5 stars because of the way this book is marketed is sort of wrong. It pissed me off to be frank and I didn't even pay anything for it. I mean I would never buy a book of extracts, which is what this is basically and not good ones. The short stories have been added to convince you to buy it. Except for Malorie Blackman, the authors specifically mentioned in this blurb don't actually attributable anything to the book. The worst part is that original stories are good, even with the suspicion that their aim was to throw in as much diversity as possible. I'm not saying it a bad thing especially since Malorie Blackman is all about trying to diverse YA books and an anthology about love should involve LGBT. However, I don't trust non-disabled writers writing about disability because I have been badly burned and live in a world where on a majority people think "The Curious Incident in the Nighttime" by Mark Hamot is a good book and that is a rant for another post. If this had been only short stories, with another standalone five more stories (or three depending on length) then I could get behind this book. But it's not, so it's added to the "what could have been" list in my head. I can only recommended this book if some of your favourite writers actually have a original short story in here or you want a taste of some of these writers and don't care about spoilers (and have cash to burn). Though, if you see this in your local library get it. The short stories are at least worth a read if not to own. The fact this still got 3/5 stars and not 1 after bouts of annoyance I kept getting as I got deeper into the book, is to their credit.

I got this off NetGalley and it published by Corgi Childrens.

Talkie Talkie Time with Noname

Hello guys, no story this week because I just wanted to talk to you about life and stuff. Stuff can be interesting.

I'm still taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo with a novel instead of short stories. Though, I have calmed down a lot. The words poured out of me but I have just been dipping slowly from me. I might take a break from Video Tapes and I'm also just keeping referring to that novel with different names. I think the big problem that it has no real plot and the characters ain't distinctive enough from each other. I keep telling myself that it can be fix with editing if I'm still enamoured with this book by the end of the month. As of today, I'm still ahead of 50,000 word goal, with 19,221 words written in total. 18,562 words being from the novel.

The thing is that yes, today isn't over, but I've only wrote 750 words today, which is bad because for most days I have not been writing at least 2000 words, not even 1,667 words that meant to be my average. This is a worry as I'm spending three days filming something with the YFMC for six hours a day and I wrote okay when I was doing the three hour day but I know me and if I'm not writing now, I won't be on those days. If guys are interested in how I'm doing then you can find my novel stats on my Camp NaNoWriMo profile. I might do another short story to break up my funk or I'm just going to start throwing vampires into my novel.

By the Bye, I made the twitter that the main character runs in the novel where she mocks the company she works for: @24HourVideo

I have also been negating my Journal as I almost never finished writing an entry into it in one sitting. There was like a month where I wrote nothing even though I had thoughts I wanted to noted down and to express to the void. Lot of odd dreams not recorded.

Friday's video on my BookTube channel didn't go up, purely on the fact I couldn't be arsed to edit till Friday morning where I had a driving lesson. Also Monday's video is currently 30 minutes long because I don't feel like editing it into one video which it should be as I switch between two topics. It should maybe be three.

In terms of procrastination and what I've been watching. I've recently watched all of Brickleberry,  Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, started rewatching Courage the Cowardly Dog that it turns out I have seen the whole first series which unusual for shows you watched as a kid as there causally always one you've missed. I also started back on my quest to watch all the Are You Afraid of the Dark? I'm on to like the 5th episode of the seventh and last season so I be finished soon. May I just say that the last season starts weird with this three part story that revolves around the Midnight Society that seems more like it should have been the series finale, but someone messed up the run order. It also would have been better if there had got more of the actual original Midnight Society involved rather than just Gary and his brother's friends. Though, they probably weren't thinking in terms of the whole series and just the mini-reboot.

I'm still learning to drive and I'm still doing dumb stuff when doing it. I put too much gas on before changing gear but I have almost conjured roundabouts and heisting at junctions. Almost. Though, I could be doing them better in my own car.

The only thing left to discuss is the creative thing I did with others, which was claymation video. We all made our own characters and then came up with a story to match these characters. It ended up being a video game motif which is funny as there is a video game that was made using claymation. Having us make our characters without guidance was problematic as the characters were all different sizes and the main one was bigger than everyone else being getting her to fit in shot was hard. The characters were diverse. Some were humans, unicorn elephants, vegetable Star Wars parody, dragons from a volcano world and Mrs Vegetable Man. This is my favourite as it's is in love with female mermaid and the Mrs indicates he's a woman and there is a lot of last names with man in them. Kids didn't make the connect that we have a queer character in there by accident. He's at least intersex. He also started life as just a carrot creature. I filmed bits and bobs to document what we were up to and it's was edited and is on YouTube and I might do more of that this summer. Nope, you don't get to see it.

I kinda want to take over their YouTube channel as it needs work on a basic level and I want to make it more pleasing on a basic level.

As for my character, I went for the horror look and out of laziness. I got far too much for praise for the level of effect I put in. I did put some effect in but her design was from ease and influence by other people's styles. Also I'm doing work next to school kids when I'm old and have a art Higher. I actually just started adding to my set out of boredom and trying to make the perfect tree. In terms of my character info and stuff: she doesn't speak, has no name, she timeless, she is a tree creature and lives in forest.

 That's all for this week, enjoy the horror of my set till we meet again next week.

Farewell.

Book Review: Simon Vs. the Homo Sapian Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Timing can really effect your enjoyment of a book

Straight people should have to come out too. And the more awkward it is, the better. 

Simon Spier is sixteen and trying to work out who he is - and what he's looking for. But when one of his emails to the very distracting Blue falls into the wrong hands, things get all kinds of complicated. Because, for Simon, falling for Blue is a big deal . . . It's a holy freaking huge awesome deal.

This book mostly felt like a waste of my time, personally, not necessary yours. Simon trying to figure out who Blue is in real life goes to really dumb places, some that could have passed as notion but not even paragraphs should have been spent on the second guess. I want to give the author into trouble as though she was a toddler, I did even say "No, Bad writer" out loud.

I also just started wanting to nick pick this book so bad, for dumb stuff, like accurate American culture and morals. Also Simon is obsessed with Oreos and Oreos are disgusting and should be confined to the states. The title of this book came up in the book and I don't fucking get it. It's dumb. Congratulations you don't understand biology and the natural  want to fuck boys like a Homo Sapian should. (There is swearing in this which is a plus). It does however equal gays as being another species and with the LGBTQA+ history, thats is a terrible thing to do and coming from a Straight writer insenstive (she married, so straight passing and I can't remember if I got this as fact or not. She never talked about it). We are all Human Beings a.k.a Homo Sapians until we evolve into another one. So don't say something that impiles we not, especially don't call a book after that. Its the straights that say "No Homo" not us.

I also found the Pop-culture reference to be over-baring. The dog was called Bieber. Why would you do that, to a poor innocent creatures. Also the play thing is a bit weird and is isn't a play that's after the Christmas break bit odd or are American school like that, Winter break is always seen as the half cutting point of the year over here. Also why are the Soccer team randomly doing trials in the middle of the year? There seem to be a lot of stuff throw in without thought when it comes to the supporting characters.

Random drama pops up a lot. Especially, within Simon's girl friends (didn't go down the more interesting route). I've seen people praise the supporting characters but I found the things that went on them to have been unsatisfying endings. They just don't feel like real people or that Simon cares about his friends.

Also the bullying aspect was kinda dumb to have repeatedly, as Simon had no emotional reaction to it, out with the events. I think it was more for the development of other characters, and I personally find fault with books/media that uses someone else struggles to teach another character a lesson. Especially, when comes to minorities, even if it's not the main character. This definitely not the worst case, but the thing is that the character who develops is just an arse and did something terrible that's terrible no matter who does it.

I liked the email exchanges in this book and guess Simon and Blue's relationship. I think I would have prefer the whole book to be emails, well mostly, with the same ending.

Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars for a lack of understanding of Biology and History. I think the main problem is this book clashed with what I'm doing right now and almost grudge reading it right now instead of something with more plot which I guess is what I prefer when I have limited reading time.

Update: My rating is now 2/5 stars because my issues still stand at 13.9.16 and that title still annoys me and I can't get over how problematic it is. As 09.11.17, I still feel need rant about how bad this book is.

I got this book off NetGalley for Review and it's being published by Penguin yesterday (7th APRIL 2015) or it's been out since the start of April, books never seem to come out their expected published dates anymore.

Book Review: Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

My college roommate is hopefully going to be a skeleton.

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

This is the second book by Sara Zarr book I have read and reviewed (here's the video review How to Save a Life). The first by Tara Altebrando and I have no idea who wrote what. This book is in the point of view of the two roommates to be. They going to college (or uni as I would call it) and have been assigned the same room so they start emailing each other. 

The both characters were likable, realistic and their issues were nice contrast against each other.

In a lot of ways, this is a typical YA contemporary : Romance, personal struggles and family issues. All that growing up stuff and preparing to live without your family in the same building. But it was good and it was interesting to read about two characters that were in the same situation as me, going to uni after the summer. 

The plot was good, was little over top at the end but was understandable and realistic situation. 
The novel is told in first person, changing between each girl every chapter, which really works. The only thing is I don't like that its starts and ends with the same girl. I can get why they would do that but I like to be equal. We also have their emails to each other and placement in the chapter could be interesting.

Overall, I gave this 4/5 stars for someone else's snoring. It was nice little book and would recommend anyone who embarking on the journey to Uni/college.

I sent this book for review by way of BookBrigdr. It's published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Novel thing: Nail Polish in a Video Store

Hello guys, I promised you a new bit of fiction and here it is. I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo again, hopefully I'll be able to complete it properly and wrote this from a prompt from Awesome Writing Prompts on Tumblr. If you look through them then you could probably guess what prompt this is and what element is currently missing from the story. It's a work in process so I'm not sure how long it will be by time its finished, but let's label it a short for now as it what I intend to write for this Camp NaNoWriMo. 

Nail Polish in a Video Store

I sat in what had to be one of the last video stores in the world, painting my nails black to match the mood the store gave me. I couldn’t complain, it was a job until this place finally closed down or I left for uni, which was in three months time. I couldn’t decide which was most likely to happen first. Every day (except Tuesdays) I expected to show up for work, only to be told that store was finally closed, my manager Tulisa in tears despite the years of warning.

Tulisa cries over everything: me getting a job here, me applying for uni, me getting into uni, Ted managing to get a job at the local supermarket. Now, that was reliable work. I had tried and failed to get a summer job there.

I’m certain I only got a job here because I was the only one who applied. My main evidence was from the fact that we had yet to replace Ted and a “Help wanted” sign had been in the window for a months. We didn’t really need that much help, but legally I wasn’t meant to work noon to 2 almost every day.

I had suggested to Tulisa that we just cut down the hours, but she said the regional manager said no. I was surprised out to find out that our general manager still cared. I mean we were meant to be 24-hour-Videos but we had let that slip with people not owning video-type players anymore. I hadn’t saw one in at least five years till I started working here. We’re the only ones watching the tapes. The dvds went out now and again, and there was one guy who came in every weekend and rented Resident Evil on PlayStation 1. Why we had the video game was mysterious as why we still functioned as business.

It was a Friday night so I was expecting him any minute and almost done with my third coat of polish. I was planning to put a full bottle on my nails to see if that would stop it from chipping as soon as I finished. The bell ranged, alerting me to potential shoplifters. I didn’t lift my head and smile like Tulisa had trained me to do. I should probably turn off the slasher film that was playing, but it was 10pm at night and if it was a kid they’ve probably seen worse if they out this late. It was from the 80s and the gore was bad and fuzzy anyway.

“I saw the job wanted sign,” a deep voice says next to me. I jumped; I hadn’t heard them walk up next to me. Fuck I messed up my nail; I switched off the pathetic gore fest before looking up.

I look up to see some pale guy, in a long leather jack. He almost looks like he’s from the 80s.

“The manger isn’t here,” I burst out. God, he was attractive, I mean my type. I cough into my hand to calm myself. I didn’t know who he was so that probably meant he was too old for me and I was leaving in three months. I’m just startle because he made me jump. That’s it.

“I mean, you’ll have to come back when the manager’s here”.

“When will he be here?”

“SHE’ll be here tomorrow,” I say now annoyed, I hate that everyone always goes with male pronouns.

“See you then,” he says and walks straight out the store. Being annoyed left me with him walking out the door. If he shows up tomorrow then I guess we’re working together.

I put him out of my mind and get back to work. I still have half a bottle left.

***

 The next morning I’m welcomed to Tulisa behind the counter, smiling at me even though I was late fifteen minutes.

“How is my Assistant Manager today?” Assistant Manager without anyone to manage was hollow. Though, Ted had gotten a job at the supermarket with that title. I miss Ted; he was fun to talk to. He was a pothead who had been working here from when this place made a profit and he made me do nothing.

Tulisa on the other hand, still takes this job seriously and we do the sad version of working here: Trying. Tulisa is middle age so doesn’t quite get how impossible it be to keep this place going. It must be losing a fortune or our best customers only came on a Tuesday.

“Fine, how is my Manager today?” Looking for another job, I hope.

“Well, I think we’re finally going to be able to fill that job,” She says happily. I guess Tall, Dark and handsome has some competition. “And he wants to work nights as well so maybe we’re be able to go back to actually being 24-hours.” She nervously laughs.

“I thought for the store to be open, you need at least Assistant Manager to be in,” I ask cautiously.

“Company policy says so, but it also says we’re to be open 24-hours. If being so short staffed and you’re having school…”

“I don’t have school any more, I can work all the nights you want me to.”

“Honey, I meant university, you’re going in September, it be good to have a someone trained up to replace you.”

I stared at her blankly, we weren’t replacing Ted. She was replacing me. My chair wasn’t even cold.

I slammed my bag down behind the counter.

“I’m going to change the specials,” I say walking to the front of the store and began tearing down the displays in the window. I was meant have done it Thursday, but my clipped nails were more important. I don’t why I was angry; this was just a dumb job to run the summer out. I had it since I was sixteen and it was my first job but that wasn’t problem. I never saw this place lasting longer than I did. It had been here since I born and I expected it to leave when I did.

I had claimed down by the time I had put the sign up saying we were doing 3 for 2 on Tapes/DVDS/Games with a free bag of popcorn with every tape that goes out. Meaning I get to eat a lot of popcorn before it goes out of date. I continued to avoid Tulisa by genrising and alphabetising the shelves. It’s a good thing I did, considering I found “Space Sluts II” in the kids section. Or maybe Disney will really do anything for money.

“Alex we have interview for 5pm, help me come up some questions?” Tuilsa asks me as I finished with the “Adult” section. I just found “Home Alone” in here; I do not want to think about that.

“Sure, we do have to figure out how to ask if she willing to prostitute herself to our league of loyal customers without directly saying it.”

“Alex,” she sounds exasperated, but that might be from the fact one out of ten customers hit on us. It had been one in five, but old Mrs Cumbles only had eyes for Ted. She gives us weekly updates of his “young muscles”. That might be worse than being hit on by an old man who couldn’t decide on my gender. Whether he called me “Girlie” or “Son”, it was always followed by some weird come on.

“He’s coming in at six tonight.” I raised my eyebrows at that.

“A bit late” I stated. Tulisa usually left me at it at five.

“Yes, but he said he couldn’t come in any early.” And we really need someone else to list as working at Midnight. I was going to miss the money, not that I had spent any of it.

“What about your kids?”

“An extra hour alone won’t hurt them and my Rupert is almost thirteen now.”

Yes, trust the S1 with the P1.

“Maybe you should go home at three and come back for the interview”

“What if the Regional manager comes in for surprise inspection?” It would be about time. In the two years, I had been working here, I hadn’t met him.

“I’ll say you had to pick up your kids early.”

“Okay, I’ll go and check them on now.” I checked my watch, it was already three.

“See you then,” I said awkwardly as she walked out the door. I sat down and got my nail polish out.

***

It was five forty-five and Tulisa wasn’t back yet. Should I be worried?

God, I hope this guy wasn’t the early type. I paced around the store, was I going to have conducted an interview myself? This was when Tulisa came through the door, her kids in tow.

“Sorry, Rupert was being difficult,” she frustrated. “Pick a video from the kids section, under 12 Rupert.” It was good thing; I had depornalise the kids section.

“It’s okay, she hasn’t showed up yet,” the bell ranged as I said this to a hooded guy wearing sunglasses and leather gloves. What is he a spy?

If this was a normal day, he would just be a weirdo customer. But all bets on him being my potential co-worker. I felt a tugging on shirt.

“Alex, do my nails like last time?” Tulisa’s five year old wined.

“Not now Rupert,” I said knowing it was Louisa who had attracted herself to me.

“I’m not Rupert,” she giggled before letting go to look at the animated films. I walked behind the counter and sat down. The guy followed me and stood in front of the counter.

“Yours,” he asked slyly.

“Yes, it’s especially hard time during their 40s,” I say sarcastically. He took off his glasses.

“So is the manager here now?” he smirked at me. God, it was the guy from the last night. I nodded.

“Hello, you must be Mister Graves?” Tulisa asked as she ignored her children running through the alleys. I guess I have to re-organised the tapes tomorrow, or maybe I get the new employee to do it.

“Yes, that’s me,” he said.

“I am Tulisa Black and this is Alex Grimm,” Tulisa said making me realise that our team would be gothicly cliché if we hired this guy. I was the only gothish person we needed.  To think this used to be ran by a Black and Smith. Arr…maybe we should get Ted Smith back to balance this place out.

“I am the manager and Alex is the assistant manager.” Why ain’t I getting addressed by my surname?

“Alex will take you into my office while I deal with em, our current customers.”

“Follow me Graves to our lair,” I said I lift the counter thing to let him through the back with me. I direct him to the cramped office that I haven’t been properly in since I was interviewed. I pointed him to the chair I had sat in and dumped myself in Tulisa’s chair, picking up the clipboard with the questions I had made up, once I finished my newest nail polish coat.

“So Mr Graves I have some important questions to ask you to decide whether or you’re suited for this job. First, I would like to start with if you would be willing to change your name to something less ‘Goth’?”

“No, I’m quite fond of my name.”

“That will definitely count against you,” I say kidding on to write notes on the clipboard. Instead, I’m drawing what I think his skull looks like. “We’ve been told that we have too much of Goth theme going on with our names, it why we had to let Alysa Darkness go.”

“But the eyeliner and blue hair is okay,” he smirked at me.

“I fulfill the gothic stereotype working in a video store, which bring us to my next question, would be willing to dye your blonde and wear fake tan; it would be just for three months?”

“What happens after three…”

“Sorry, my…the customers took longer than I thought, let’s start the interview,” Tulisa interrupted.

I smile and stand up from the chair for her. She sits now as I stand against the shelves of broken tapes, where Ted had stood during my interview. He hadn’t started the interview with pointless questions while Tulisa rounded up her kids.

“I hope you and Alex were getting along.” He smiles while I do my best to keep my face blank.

“Your c.v. and references were very impressive,” Tulisa said in her professional voice.

The interview went for a similar vein, till Tulisa’s seven year old Leannah came through the door saying the DVD had went staticly like that horror film.

“If you have any questions, I’m sure Alex will be able to handle them,” Tulisa said as she left the office. I sat the sit back down.

“When do I start?” he asked as soon as Tulisa left.

“Between a day and six thousand years,” I say tonelessly. “We call you tomorrow to let you know.”

“I can’t wait to hear from you,” he winks at me. I draw a blank on how to respond to that.

He stands up and grabs my limp hand to shake it. He walks out of the office. Tulisa comes in soon after and I’m still sitting in her chair.

“Isn’t he great?” Tulisa says happily. “We’re lucky to get him, no idea why he would want to work here.” Wow, that was unusually negative for her. “He’ll be starting tomorrow at five, I’m sure you do a good a job of training him.”

Great, I got to deal with him on one to one bases for three months. This was either going to be great or terrible. 

 ***

Hopefully Continues Next Week...

 I'm off to write or something, comment what you think.

Book Review: Capative by Aimée Carter

A character that shares the name with Goddess of my country.

The truth can set her free
 
For the past two months, Kitty Doe's life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, in a hostile meritocracy on the verge of revolution, Kitty sees her frustration grow as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoat rebels she is secretly supporting keep her in the dark more than ever. 

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she's accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape. 

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she'll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in—but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?

This is the second book to The Blackcoat Rebellion Trilogy, if you've not read the first one, I have a review of it.

Kitty is an idiot, nothing she does will ever change my mind about it. She does idiotic stuff at least every other chapter and it so fucking hard to read. Unlike the last book, there's no sense she knows what she doing is dumb and this time I did want to violently shake her (this sentence is reference to my review of the first by the way). The supporting cast should not be deeper and more interesting than main character. I think we might to have seen Kitty grown in this book, but I'm not sure she really learned from the mistakes she should have.

The plot while I interesting, I feel Carter gets us there the wrong way. Everything relays on Kitty making the wrong mistakes, which are often and she never learns from them. Also they is attempt at forshadowing in this book, but too obvious and with everything else just felt like repetition of the book's plot points. Also not sure how I feel about the main character's disability being used as a plot point, especially a plot point that feels seems sort of obvious with everything we told.

Also things that happen to certain characters feel pointless. Maybe there be a reason for it in the right book, but right now there doesn't. There also this love triangle thing going on, it doesn't do anything and really hope it doesn't just go BLAM in the finial book. In this book, the romance doesn't feel like it plays much into the plot but that might because of how distant I have became from Kitty so I didn't care at all. Kitty could have ended up in a blender and been turned into paste and would not have cared.

Overall, I gave this book three stars out of five for stylish jumpsuits. I really want to know how this Trilogy ends. This world is interesting, it just a shame that the main character is annoying. Hopefully, the next book will be less reliant on Kitty doing something stupid. It still a good book once you get past Kitty's short coming.

I got this book for review off NetGalley and it was published by Mira Ink December last year.