Celebrating Easter with these Cool Awards

pic credit: http://iowagrasslands.blogspot.com

Happy Easter, friends! I hope everyone's having a wonderful celebration! Well, I decided to celebrate this one with some awards I’ve been nominated for. Big thanks to Uzoma for nominating me for The Beautiful Blogger Award, the Sunshine Award, and the Hug Award. Uzoma is a friend, brother, artist, and a blogger. His writings really inspire me. His short story, WHEN YOUR KILLER COULD HAVE BEEN A CHILD SOLDIER won the March edition of Isuu’s online short-story contest. I encourage you all to stop by his blog, 85 Degrees when you can. The post for the Beautiful Blogger Award is long overdue, and I hope he pardons me for the delay.

Award No 1:

BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD

The Rules:
1. Copy and place the Beautiful Blogger Award in your post.
2. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Tell 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers for the Beautiful Blogger Award, tell them by posting a comment on their blogs.

Now 7 Things About Me:
1. My favorite time of the day is very early in the morning, and that’s when I write best.
2. I love video games. Yeah, I can brag about playing all of the Call of Duty series by Activision, except for the most recent one: Black Ops II. I love the Resident Evil series too.
3. My favorite meal is garri (cassava), ofe onugbu (bitter leaf soup) and smoked meat.
4. I cannot do without music. But I can write without it!
5. I love good horror movies.
6. Avatar, and Stranger Than Fiction are my all-time favorite movies.
7. My favorite colour is blue. I’m fond of green too.

My nominees:
· Robyn
· Athina
· Megan
· Florentine
· Vanessa
· Sophia
· Scott

Award No 2:

SUNSHINE AWARD

Uzoma’s Ten Questions:

1. What inspired you to start blogging?  Honestly, I won’t say I was inspired. I saw blogs online and thought it’d be cool to have one too. You can check out my post, Writing and Book Blogging, a New World for more on this.
2. How did you come up with the name of your blog? I wanted a blog where I could post anything about creativity – music, writing, movies – anything related to the arts. Writing and Books, though, are my main focus here.
3. What is your favourite blog that you like to read? I like blogs that talk about arts.
4. Tell about your dream job. I’ve always wanted to make an income from writing or music. Though when I was younger, I wanted to be an actor.
5. Is your glass half full or half empty? This is a tough question and I’m still thinking about it.
6. If you could go anywhere for a week’s vacation, where would you go? The Caribbean Islands.
7. What food can you absolutely not eat? I haven’t tasted anything yet I’d absolutely not eat. 
8. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Milk chocolate!
9. How much time do you spend blogging? Seventy percent of the time I spend on the internet is on reading blogs, commenting, doing memes and other fun stuffs bloggers do.
10. Do you watch TV – if so, what are some of your favorite shows? No, I’m not a TV person. I spend most of my time on the computer. But I love Nat Geo Wild’s Dangerous Encounter with Brady Barr.

My Nominees:

· Robyn
· Athina
· Megan
· Florentine
· Vanessa
· Sophia
· Scott
-      Nitzan

To those nominated, these same questions apply…

Award No 3:

HUG AWARD

The HUG Award© was initiated by Connie Wayne at A Hope for Today, which promotes hope, love, peace, equality, and unity for all people.

The HUG Award© is for people with an expectant desire for the world, for which they: Hope for Love; Hope for Freedom; Hope for Peace; Hope for Equality; Hope for Unity; Hope for Joy and Happiness; Hope for Compassion and Mercy; Hope for Faith; Hope for Wholeness and Wellness; Hope for Prosperity; Hope for Ecological Preservation; Hope for Oneness

This award also:
- recognizes and honors those who help keep hope alive in our current world, which is plagued by war, natural disasters, and economic recession. They nurture hope, in any of the above areas (in italics), by the work they do, or in their personal lives with things such as blogging, public speaking, charity work, etc.
- is for people who, without giving up or compromising their own religious, spiritual, or political beliefs, are able to nurture hope and respect the dignity of all people.
- is for those who, without bias or prejudice, use their resources and gifts to make the world a better place for everyone.
- is for people who have a hope or an expectant desire that the work or talents they use in things such as blogging, public speaking, charity work, etc., will make a positive impact on the world.

My Nominees:
· Robyn
· Athina
· Megan
· Florentine
· Vanessa
· Sophia
· Scott
-      Nitzan

PS: For the nominees, you are not under any obligation whatsoever to take the awards. 

Thank you, and I wish you all a wonderful Easter.

Feature and Follow #6

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week’s question: What is your guilty pleasure as far as reading? Is it a genre, or is it a certain type of book?

Hmmmm… guilty pleasure? I love reading good detective novels, especially the ones with a sick, twisted villain and a great, perceptive protagonist. Should I feel guilty about reading them? Please don’t hesitate to recommend if you know any good ones. Thanks!

How about you?

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below so I can follow back!

Book Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Legend (Legend #1)
Author: Marie Lu
Released Date: November 29th 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.
*Goodreads Blurb*

MY REVIEW

Legend is set in futuristic Los Angeles, now a Republic at war with its neighbors. Did I enjoy this book?

Yes, I did.

I was captivated from the beginning, and the opening sentence is one of the best I’ve ever read: My mother thinks I’m dead.

I was hooked.

And the second sentence makes you even want to read more: Obviously I’m not dead, but it’s safer for her to think so.

Why is it safer for her to think so? You have to read this amazing book to find out for yourself.

Legend is action-packed, has lots of suspense, the plot is fast-paced, the writing is good, and it has a little touch of romance. Well, I was happy I wasn’t reading another Romance novel categorized as YA. The book is written from the point of view of two characters: Day, the most wanted criminal in The Republic; June, prodigy of The Republic, only citizen with perfect scores (1500) in the Trials. Even though I thought the world building lacked in some aspects, I still loved the book, still had mental pictures of the settings in my head. I loved being taken to the streets of the Lake sector, a place I can as well call ‘The Ghetto’.  The street life kept reminding me of Dickens’ Oliver Twist and James Colliers’ Chipper, except that characters in this one were older.

I loved the POV switch between June and Day. It lets you know what’s going on in their heads. If the book were written from the POV of Day only, I think I’d hate June. I didn’t have any problem with recognizing each character, although Day’s narrative was printed in bold letters.

Day’s voice is that of a tough, bad-boy, street-hardened guy, while June’s is softer, contemplative, and strong-willed. Both characters are resilient, but if I have to choose who I liked best, then I guess it’s Day. I admire his sacrificial spirit, always been there to help his family. And that’s another thing I loved about this book – the close family ties. I cared so much about it.

Legend has other lovable characters. There’s Tess, Day’s sidekick. She’s younger, vulnerable, and near-sighted. But she’s strong. She knows how well to fix an injury with bandages. I cared for her just like I cared for the main characters. Then there’s Kaide, another tough girl, who gets into skiz fights. And I liked John, Day’s older brother, who supports and is very protective of his family.

If there’s something I didn’t like about Legend, then it’s the world-building. I wish I had more mental images in my head like I do when reading other good YA Dystopia books. I also thought the word-count was too low, compared to other YA Dystopia novels.

I can’t wait to read Prodigy. But I hope it’s more enjoyable than Legend. That being said, I present my five Stars (*****) to Legend, and I commend Marie Lu for this wonderful debut. I’m also looking forward to the movie.

Movie?

Yeah, I think it’s typical of good YA Dystopian books.

Feature and Follow #5

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week’s question: Activity! Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon…so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture.

Well, I live in a tropical area (Southeastern Nigeria), so I have warm weather all the time. I don’t really like reading outside because I might spend the time killing mosquitoes or bugs instead of reading the book in my hands. So my favorite reading spot is inside my room, on the bed, safe from the mosquitoes, safe from the distraction.

It’s still dark over here, so I couldn’t get any good picture. I’ll update the post with fresh picture when day breaks. Below is an old picture of the view from my window. Do you like it?

How about you? Tell me about your favorite outdoor reading spot.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below so I can follow back!

Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (Divergent #2)
Author: Veronica Roth
Released Date: March 1st 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
*Goodreads Blurb*


                                                                     MY REVIEW
Honestly, I didn’t enjoy INSURGENT as much as I enjoyed DIVERGENT. It would have been a perfect read, but I had some issues with it. I won’t talk about those issues now; first I’ll talk about what I liked in the book.

INSURGENT is one book filled with surprises and a lot of revelations about the dystopian world and characters the author created. After imagining what some of the other factions might look like and how the people live inside them, I get to experience it myself here. I was transported to the Amity, then the Factionless, then the Candor, and finally to the Erudite. I was also brought back to the Abnegation. Thus it feels like I’ve lived in all of these factions. The author describes each scene so well I could picture everything in my head. The writing is good, the sentences and paragraphs flows so well, and the pace is fast – I kept turning pages after pages even after deciding I would stop, do something else and then continue reading again.

My disappointment, however, were the two main characters, those two people who made me fall in love with the first book, that kick-ass heroine and the mysterious, quiet guy: Tris and Four (He’s referred to Tobias almost throughout the whole book, but I prefer the name Four) I felt like Tris and Four were replaced by completely different people. Yes, I know that characters in a book, especially in a series, ought to go through some changes. But they seemed to develop into characters I wouldn’t care to read about. Four changes from the cool guy he was in the first book to some annoying guy here. He keeps secrets from the girl he loves, he’s always angry with her, he always screams at her, even though he knows all what she has passed through. He just wasn’t the supportive and cool guy I liked in the first book. Also, he was more like a secondary character in this one.

Tris is worse. I was put off by her too much whining. She is quite different from the tough, resilient character I got to know in the first book. Yeah, I know it’s hard to get over the death of your loved ones, and it’s harder to put guilt behind you’ve killed a friend, but at some point you just have to put everything behind you and move on, considering the kind of dangerous society you live in, and considering the fact that a lot of people want you dead. Tris was so full of indecision in this one, and I wondered whether she’d borrowed the traits of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. At some point I felt like screaming at her, “Come on, Tris. Pick up that gun and shoot at your enemies!” I hope she’d have gotten over the guilt trip in the next book, if not I’m never, ever going to forgive her.

Also, I didn’t like Tris' over-recklessness in this one. She keeps putting herself in danger even when she doesn’t need to. Four says it better here: “I love Tris the Divergent, who makes decisions apart from faction loyalty, who isn’t some faction archetype. But the Tris who’s trying as hard as she can to destroy herself … I can’t love her.”

Yes, Tris, I can’t like you when you keep reminding me that you’re just a character in a book. I liked you better in the first book, where you felt so real to me. Concentrate on the external conflict, instead of allowing the conflict inside you to consume you.

Somehow I think the tension between Tris and Four was overdone. She lies so much to him, and Four in turn keeps secrets from her. For much of this book, apart from the exciting action scenes, and the beautiful writing, Tris does nothing more than feel sorry for herself, or get into romantic quarrels with Four.

Despite my disappointment with the main characters, I’d say it’s a good read, and the action kept me going. The book ends in a cliffhanger, leaving me wanting more. But I can do nothing but wait for the third book, which has no title yet. I can only call it DETERGENT in the meantime.

Four Stars **** to INSURGENT.

Check out my review of DIVERGENT here.

Happy Reading!

Feature and Follow #4

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. The general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week’s question: What is a book you didn't like that all your friends raved about or what book did you love that wasn't popular?

I will talk about a book I love, which isn’t popular. That book is The New Man by Femi Ademiluyi. A novel set in a fictional African society, where corruption is the order of the day. At first the protagonist Ayo Badejo tries to remain upright in his new place of work but he is soon consumed by the corruption around him, and then becomes a changed person. I love this book so much, it’s one of my favorites, but I hate that it isn’t popular. Even on Goodreads, all I can see is just two ratings, mine and some other guy’s. *sad face*

How about you?

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below!

The Joy of Freedom

pic credit (http://jmkempster.wordpress.com)

23rd August last year, I was involved in an accident. I fractured my right leg, and since then I’ve been in my hometown receiving treatments as well as recuperating. If you read in my post about the accident, I mentioned I was being treated in a traditional orthopedic clinic. There, their methods are quite different from what you may know. Bandages and well-carved sticks are used to form a cast around the broken leg.

Since then I’ve been in the bondage of those bandages and sticks. Sometimes they’re tied too hard against my leg and I’ll be in pains for few days, until the next check-up day when the doctor would change and retie them.

And that’s why I’ve been happy since Monday after going for the weekly check-up; the doctor decided that I didn’t need the bandages and sticks anymore, since my leg is now on the mend.

I’m not only happy because I’m free from the bondage, I’m also happy because in a little time I’ll be done with going to the clinic for the check-ups, which means that I can move back into the real world again, maybe get a job as well as further my education. It doesn’t mean, though, that I’m leaving this writing and book blogging world. It’s an awesome community that I look forward to been in forever.

Writing this post makes me remember a call I received from a friend sometime in February. After asking about my health and how I was faring in my hometown, he sighed and then said, ‘This accident has caused you wasted months but everything’s going to be fine.’ I said, “Thanks,” and after I dropped the phone, I pondered over his words.

Were these months really wasted?

I knew the answer was “No!” First of all, I’m still alive, and during the period since the accident, especially after my discharge from the clinic, I’ve read more books than I usually read, I’ve finished the third book in my YA Urban Fantasy series, I’ve been seriously editing The Road Taken, I’ve found a clear direction for my blog, and last but not the least, I’ve met more awesome writers and book bloggers, all of which makes me believe there was never a wasted moment at all.

My appreciation goes to my family, friends, fellow writers, and book lovers, and to everyone who’s been supportive all these while. I say a big THANK YOU to you, and may God bless you all.

Feature and Follow #3

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community. If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers. But you have to know, the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me. This is my second Feature and Follow, and general the rules are:

·  Follow the Feature and Follow Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
·  Follow the Featured Bloggers
·  Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
·  Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
·  Follow Follow Follow as many as you can. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
·  If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. Thanks!!

Here’s this week’s question: Confess your blogger sins! Is there anything as a newbie blogger that you've done, that as you gained more experience you were like -- oops?

Well, my first blogging mistake was creating The Creative Forum without actually having anything in mind to blog about. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, Writing and Book Blogging, A New World, a part of me did that because I thought it was cool to say, “Hey, could you visit my website?”

Now I know what I want to blog about: writing, books, and I love making friends with other bloggers, writing my thoughts on each book I read, and doing fun memes like this one.

How about you?

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. And don't forget to leave your link in the comments section below!