Key of Valor by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts invites you to join the ultimate quest for courage.

Fate brings three women together for a chance to unlock their deepest desires. Zoe is about to discover her true courageous spirit. She must find the Key of Valor - on the last of three dangerous quests that will force her to confront her darkest fears... or suffer immeasurable loss.

Grade: 23%

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

With The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and other beloved novels, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas sparks has given voice to our deepest beliefs about the power of love. Now he brings us the long-awaited follow-up to The Notebook - a story of an ordinary man who goes to extraordinary lengths to win back the love of his life...

After thirty years, Wilson Lewis is forced to face a painful truth: the romance has gone out of his marriage. His wife, Jane, has fallen out of love with him, and it is entirely his fault.
Despite the shining example of his in-laws, Noah and Allie Calhoun, and their fifty-year love affair (originally recounted in The Notebook), Wilson himself is a man unable to express his true feelings. He has spent too little time at home and too much at the office, leaving the responsibility of raising their children to Jane. How his daughter is about to marry, and his wife is thinking about leaving him. But if Wilson is sure of anything, it is this: His love for Jane has only grown over the years, and he will do everything he can to save their marriage.
With the memories of Noah and Allie's inspiring life together as his guide, he vows to find a way to make his wife fall in love with him... all over again.
In his powerfully moving tale of love lost, rediscovered, and renewed, Nicholas Sparks once again brings his readers his unique insight into the only emotion that ultimately really matters.

Grade: 87%

Additional Comments: I found this book to be extremely romantic. The way Wilson treats his wife when he decides to change his ways is really cute. I hope this book make Nicholas Spark's wife really happy (he dedicated this book to her). There was a while when I was nearly breathless. Once again, Nicholas Sparks has set the bar for the perfect man. I envy his wife if he treats her like the male characters treat their wives in his books!

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks comes a tender story of hope and joy, of sacrifice and forgiveness - a moving reminder that love is possible at any age, at any time, and often comes when we least expect it.

At forty-five, Adrienne Willis must rethink her entire life when her husband abandons her for a younger woman. Reeling with heartache and in search of a respite, she flees to the small coastal town of Rodanthe, North Carolina, to tend to a friend's inn for the weekend.
But when a major storm starts moving in, it appears that Adrienne's perfect getaway will be ruined - until a guest named Paul Flanner arrives. At fifty-four, Paul has just sold his medical practice and come to Rodanthe to escape his own shattered past. Now, with the storm closing in, two wounded people will turn to each other for comfort - and in one weekend set in motion feelings that will resonate throughout the rest of our lives.
In Nights in Rodanthe, Nicholas Sparks has written a timeless love story, reaffirming his reputation as America's foremost chronicler of the heart.

Grade: 65%

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.
Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She needs to feel alive.
Once again the monster takes over Kristina's life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the once person who gives her the unconditional love she craves - her baby.
The sequel to Crank, this is the continuing story of Kristina and her descent back to hell. Told in verse, it's a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage that it inflicts.

Grade: 95%

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap.
A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand.
Until he begins to read to her.

The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever.
Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolin in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautigul girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories... until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.
Allie Nelson, twenty-one, is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Still, the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape.
Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters.

Grade: 97%

A Tribute to Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks's books are amazing. Honestly, I've been totally shaken by every single book I've read by him so far. The following are the current books I've read by him:

• The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
• Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
• True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
• The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
• A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

I hope to read more Nicholas Sparks in the future. His newest book, which was released in September, is Safe Haven. I have yet to read this book, but when I do, I will post my review on TwilightWhales.

Taylor Kristine, manager of TwilightWhales, would like to name Nicholas Sparks as 2010's TwilightWhales Favorite Author.
If you would like to visit Nicholas Spark's website and check out his tour of Safe Haven or some of his other books, click on the link below:

Http://www.nicholassparks.com/

The Silver Kiss by Anette Curtis Klause

The nights was crips and sweet like apples... Moonlight lit the gazebo, tracing it with silver, but a shadow crept inside, independent of natural shades. She tense... she saw someone within. A figure detached from the shadows... the she saw his face... he noticed her and froze like a deer before a gun. They were trapped in each other's gaze. His eyes were dark, full of wilderness and stars... With a sudden acher she realized he was beautiful. The tears that prickled her eyes broke his bonds, and he fled, while she sat and cried for all things lost.

Zoe is wary when, in the dead of night, the beautiful yet frightening Simon comes to her house. She has seen him before in dark alleys, but there is something soothing in him that persuades her to invite him inside. Simon seems to understand the pain of lonliness and death, Zoe's brooding thoughts of her dying mother.
Sitting close to Zoe, Simon reveals his mystery to her. He, too, often thinks about death, for he is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge on his brother for the gruesome murder of their mother three hundred years before. Simon has been following this fiend through the centuries and across two continents, tracking him by the bloody trail he leaves behind, but Christopher has always escaped. Does Simon dare ask Zoe to help free him from this lifeless chase, his insufferable lonliness?
A suspenseful and romantic first novel, The Silver Kiss breaks new ground for young adults. Annetter Curtis Klause exquisitely conveys the eternal truths of life, death, and love in the shivery page-turner that will keep readers awake and on guard.

Grade: 43%

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Rose Hathway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken...

But since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy's iron gates. And now that Lisa and Rose's sworn enemy, Victor Dashkov, is on trial for his freedom, tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever.
Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal undead are on the prowl, and they want vengeance for the lives that Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most... but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

Grade: 82%

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

There was a time when the world was sweeter... when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats... when something happened to a seventeen-year-old boy that would change his life forever.

Ever April, when the wind blows in from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High.
It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he’d fall for was Jamie Sullivan; the daughter of the town’s Baptist minister.
A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out.
Landon would never have dreamed of it. Then a twist of fate made Jamies his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter’s life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would shouw him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably to the road to manhood...
No other author touches our emotions more deeply than Nicholas Sparks. Illuminating both the strenght and the gossamer fragility of our deepest emotions, his two New York Times bestsellers, The Notebook and Message in a Bottle, have established him as the leading author of today’s most cherished love stories. Now, in A Walk to Remember, he tells a truly unforgettable story, one that glimmers with all of his magic, holding us spellbound - and reminding us that in life each of us may find one great love, the kind that changes everything...

Grade: 100%

Personal Comments: This book really touched my heart, more than most books do. Lately, I've really been getting into books by Nicholas Sparks. He might even be my new favorite author. I think everyone in high school should read this book, because maybe then people would learn to understand the true meaning of love. I devoured this book in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. Nicholas Sparks takes his readers to places most authors would never dare to go. His books feed my heart and soul. He may not be the master of suspense or anything, but he's the master of the heart, which, in my opinion, is the greatest writing gift of all. I really want to read more books by him, but first, I have to finish Nora Robert's Key Trilogy, The Vampire Academy Series, and Ellen Hopkin's books. I'll tell you what, though, I picked up the book Shadowkiss by Rachelle Mead and tried to get into it, but it just didn't seem as good as A Walk to Remember. I'm getting sick of teenage drama novels. I prefer love stories that come from the heart. One of the things I liked the most about A Walk to Remember was how Nicholas Sparks made the men and women in the book equal. None was treated lesser. Though Nora Roberts and P.C Cast are good authors, I've noticed they tend to treat men like they're supposed to be a bunch of sexual sicko's. Nicholas Sparks, however, writes about what's truly in a man's heart. There is, actually, a quote in the book A Walk to Remember that says "Kissing Jamie was enough. There was no need to go to second base as long as I had her." So, all the authors out there that are trying to write some novel based on sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, they're just not going to ever be as great as this book was to me. Truly. I hope anyone out there who reads TwilightWhales will agree.

Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts

Only the man who broke her
heart can help find the key
that will save her life...

In the latest installment of Nora Robert's page-turning trilogy, the mortal trio of Malory, Dana, and Zoe are searching for the keys to a glass box where, according to legend, the daughters of a Celtic god are trapped. The prize: $1 million.
After Malory's completion of the first leg of the mythical quest, it is now Dana's turn to find her golden key. With her special love of books and knowledge, Dana works hard to decipher her clue while also preparing to battle an evil soul taker haunting her dreams. Luckily, she has the support of her frinds, her brother and, much to her dismay, renowned author Jordan Hawke, her ex-lover.
Still not over him, Dana finds it impossible to resist Jordan's help - or his sweet words and lingering kisses. But when a wonderfully passionate evening is followed by a night of terror, Dana fears no one will be able to save her. With time running out, she suddenly remembers a passage from one of Jordan's novels. Could it hold the key to successfully completing her quest?

Grade: 86%

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

I Felt Angry,
frustrated,
I felt I didn't belong, not in my church, not in my home, not,
in my skin.


Raised in a religious - yet abusive - family, Pattyn Von Stratten starts asking questions - about God, a woman's role, sex, love. She experiences the first stirrings of passion, but when her father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control. Pattyn is sent to live with an aunt in the wilds of Nevada to find salvation and redemption. What she finds instead is love anc acceptance - until she realizes that her old demons will not let her go.

Grade: 100%

Happy 42nd Birthday Hugh Jackman!

October 12, 2010

Hugh Jackman Fun Facts:

• Hugh Jackman's favorite food is sushi.
• Hugh Jackman's favorite word is "panache", which means a flamboyant confidence of style or manner.
• In the movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine:, Hugh Jackman's character is continuously battling Sabertooth. However, the actor who plays Sabertooth (Leiv Schreiber) is one of Hugh Jackman's friends in real life. He also costars with Hugh Jackman in the romantic comedy "Kate and Leopold".
• Before Hugh Jackman became a movie star and celebrity, he acted in the musicals "A Steady Rain", "Oklahoma", and his most known "The Boy From Oz" which he got a tony award for.
• Hugh Jackman met his wife (Debra Lee Furness) when he began acting on a popular Australian TV show called "Corelli".
• Hugh Jackman's movie "The Fountain" was his only film, up until now, where he had to travel without his family.
  
• For the movie "The Fountain", Hugh Jackman really did get his head shaved. The space scenes, however, were videotaped underwater.
• Debra Lee Furness is sterile, so the Jackmans had to adopt Ava and Oscar. They still love them, though.
• Hugh Jackman's favorite past time with his wife is skinny dipping. (Doesn't it make you wish YOU were his wife?)
• Hugh Jackman is currently working on the movies "Real Steel" and "Wolverine II". For "Wolverine II", Hugh Jackman has been learning yoga and Karate since the movie is supposed to take place in Japan where Wolverine is mentored by a Kung-Fu master. While filming "Real Steel", the amount of electricity needed to create the special effects caused a power outage throughout the entire city.
  

Key of Light by Nora Roberts

In Search of a magical key,
she may find the one that opens
her heart.

* * * *

United by divine intervention, modern beauties Malory, Dana, and Zoe are summoned by gods Rowena and Pitte to find three extraordinary keys that together will break an evil spell. Each key represents beauty, truth, or courage, and the ladies will receive handsome rewards for their services. Malory, with her exceptional knowledge of art, is chosen to go first. She exuberantly begins her quest with help from her new friends... and Dana's handsome brother, Flynn.
A gorgeous journalist, Flynn's immediately attracted to Malory and launches a seductive pursuit. Finding Flynn and his searing kisses wildly desirous, Malory falls hard for him... but love wasn't part of her plan - particularly when she has only 28 days to complete her quest. But when an evil presence plagues Malory's dreams, she has to embrace Flynn's love... or risk succumbing to the darkness.

Grade: 85%