Intelligent life forms: Necessary or Not

Hey there readers!!

I hope everyone’s holidays and New Years were amazing and fun. I know mine were. I got to spend time with my family and my amazing boyfriend Nick. I also finished up my fall semester in which I passed all my classes, which is pretty darn good considering one of them I wasn’t sure about at all. Right now I am on winter break and have a couple weeks before I have to head back to the school grind again.

                Upon making a list of the books I need to put on here I realized I have fallen really far behind. I have a long list of books that need to be put on this blog, so I’m going to try and release a new blog every week. Possibly every Monday, but again we will have to see how that goes once school starts up again.

                Now my last entry was the wrap up for the Sarah Dessen books and I did mention that my next book was going to be a little different than the others I put on Reading Racer. Why you might ask, well that’ because I realized I have a tendency to read funny or romantic books. This isn’t a bad thing buuuuut, I bet for you readers it can get pretty stagnant. So, this week on Reading Racer we are going to be talking about Fragment written by Warren Fahy .

                Ok I’m not going to lie it does have a bit of romance in it, not much. It is very much a SciFi book, but I thought I’d give you a bit of a heads up. This book will definitely peak many people’s interests because not only is it a book but there is a movie adaption for it as well, with the same name. I must admit I have not seen the movie yet, but I do intend on watching it and if anyone has seen it let me know how it is.

                Not only is it now a movie, but the whole premise of the novel is wrapped around theories of evolution. Most of our known habitats have been impacted by humans in some way or form whether it is from industrialization, deforestation or merely the miniscule act of exploring a new place. Everywhere we go as humans we manage to leave a footprint. Our presence creates a ripple effect that can impact everything from the migration of animals to the smallest change in genes which can lead way to evolution.

                That is what this book is about. What happens to the evolutionary pattern of an island when it hasn’t had any human contact for thousands of years? Will intelligent life still form or is intelligent life the bane of all existence and eventually lead to nature’s downfall? This book brings up a lot of interesting ideas on evolution from DNA having a huge part in the death of an organism to sex following the age old idea of predator versus prey. I also found this book even more interesting because as I was reading it I was actually learning about some of the concepts in my Biology class and I have to admit I nerded out about that a lot.

In this book, you follow different characters point of views as Hender’s Island is discovered by a reality TV show. Due to the uniqueness of the organisms US governments are called in, as are scientists from many fields. Fahy’s characters are colorful and lively and represent various different thought processes that we would find in the world today. For example we have a scientist who plays on people fears of humans’ impact on the planet and we a scientist who thinks intelligent beings are a necessary step in evolution.

                If you love science read this book. If you don’t love science, well read this book anyways because it will engage you almost instantly. I guarantee it. Well I think that is all for now! 

Keep Turning those pages readers!!!

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Love and all things Dessen

Hey there readers! I know I know I haven’t been on in ages. I’ve had a lot going on lately. I’m back in school so I haven’t had much time to do much else. In fact, at this moment I should be studying for my statistics exam on Wednesday, but I think I need a break from studying! A lot has happened in my life since my last post. Well obviously school started back up that’s something big. I also got accepted in this program/group at my school called WiscAmp. It’s pretty much a group for minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, aka STEM fields. It’s been really fun so far because I get to meet people who are focused and it has helped me be focus too.

                On top of all things school that are going on, there is something else I’d like to disclose. About four months ago I met someone and we started dating. J Yep, I am in a relationship. It’s been the best four months ever! He seriously is the bee’s knees. Haha. His name is Nick and he and I have a lot of similar interests, which makes out relationship that much better! In case you girls out there are wondering, yes he is very very handsome!

Seriously though...I love him...

 

                So, it’s fitting that I mention my love life on here for this post because I will be wrapping up my whole Sarah Dessen segment! At long last! I realized I had to reread a few books because it had been awhile since I had read them and couldn’t quite remember all that had happened in each book. Tisk tisk on my side. I also hadn’t read one of her books which Nick (as mentioned above the best guy ever) bought it for me. ^_^

***Future reference if you find a guy who goes out of his way to buy you books….well you better snatch him up***

                Alright so the starting book for this blog is….. Someone Like you. This story follows two girls Halley and Scarlett. They are best friends and virtually inseparable. Scarlett meets a boy named Michael and they start dating. A tragic motorcycle accident occurs and Michael dies. Leaving Scarlett heartbroken. Halley is there to help her friend and through Scarlett she meets Macon, Michael’s best friend. Halley’s mother does not approve of Macon because he is wild and free and for once Halley wants to be free too. She dates Macon and discovers that maybe being free has its own downsides as well.

 

                Halley not only has to deal with a new relationship and a mother bent on keeping her under toe, but she also has to deal with something she never thought she would have to deal with. Scarlett is pregnant with Michael’s baby. Things might never be the same again.

                The next book is called That Summer, which is about a girl named Haven. Haven is very tall. At 15 she is six feet tall. She hates it. He sticks out like a sore thumb. He parents are just recently divorced. Her father was cheating on their mother with the weather woman. She has a sister named Ashley. Ashley well too put it nicely is kind of is a bitch. She is getting married in the summer and is very selfish through the book.

                Haven is tired of it all. Tired of the wedding. Tired of people staring at her because she’s tall. Tired of the job she has. Tired of always being treated like she’s too young to know things. She just wants things to go back to a time when things were great. A summer in which her parents were together, a summer where Ashley was dating this amazing guy and they always included her, a summer where things were perfect. However, what Haven doesn’t understand is that perfect isn’t always what it appears to be.

                Now, I’m not sure you guys noticed or not, but the two above books were actually condensed into a movie called how to deal, starring Mandy Moore called How to Deal. The movie is pretty decent. It doesn’t really follow the ending of either book but it does take most of both plots and tie them in very nicely together. I totally suggest watching it if you are a fan of Sarah Dessen.

 

                Our third book is called Keeping the Moon. This is about a girl named Nicole “Colie” Sparks. Colie’s mother is a fitness guru. She’s famous. They were both really chubby, but then lost a lot of weight. Colie because she was chubby, got made of fun in school,  and never had many friends. She was a loner. This summer her mother was going overseas to tour for her fitness line. And Colie was going to Colby, a small town which is mentioned in other books of Dessen’s, where she will be staying with her very artistically eccentric aunt.

                Colie hates this, but she really has no choice in the matter. Her first day there she gets made fun by a waitress at café. She judges everyone she meets from the bitch waitress to the stoner guy who lives under her aunt. She is better than everyone. She doesn’t need friends. Until she realizes just how wrong she was about everything. Her being judgmental was her being afraid to open up.

                Our last book is called Dreamland. It was on Caitlin’s 16^th birthday when her sister Cass ran away. Her perfect-can’t-do anything-wrong sister up and ran away with a guy who worked on TV. She was meant to go to Yale and do great things, but she threw it all away for love. Caitlin was so used to being overshadowed by her perfect sister. But once her sister is out of the picture her mother throws all her effort into her. It’s nice, but annoying.

 

                Caitlin decides to create her own path. A path that Cass didn’t have claim too. She joined cheerleading and one night at a party she meets the dark, handsome and incredibly smart Rogerson. He’s perfect. He’s mysterious, he’s dangerous he is everything Cass would never have gone for. Caitlin falls for him fast and hard, but she doesn’t realize that love doesn’t just make you feel good, it can make you blind and numb as well. Rogerson isn’t all what he appears to be.

That's all for this blog post!! Now I have sufficient exhausted my lovie dovie side for a bit so expect something a little different on my next post! :)

Keep turning those pages readers!!

Yes, some more Dessen. So what? :-P

Hey there readers!!! The semester is officially over and I am very happy to say that I have passed all my classes! I was very surprised considering I struggled a lot but hey now that doesn’t matter. See ya later physics, biology and chemistry and hello to next semester which is almost going to be a repeat of the same classes just the next level. Awesome right? Oh well, I passed!! *Happy Dance* Haha.

                No I am just going to enjoy my summer and read as many books as I want hopefully post a little more on here than I have been. As long as work doesn’t get too crazy! This past week I and my fellow co workers worked almost 80 hours talk about intense. I mean for those of you who watch Grey’s Anatomy you know that the surgical interns work about that many hours a week. It makes me feel great amounts of empathy towards those characters and makes me wonder whether surgical interns actually work that much? If anyone has an answer to that please leave in the comments below. :-D

                All right, now down to business! I am only about a third of the way through all of Sarah Dessen’s books. However if you guys are reading them then you must know how amazing of an author she is. The books on this post are going to be Lock and Key, the Truth about Forever, and The Moon and More.

                One of the hardest things that people have a hard time doing is accepting help from others. It’s especially hard for those who actually need the help. It’s something to do with the human pride. We feel that we should be able to do everything and anything because we are human. It’s part of the human condition.  Ruby, who is a character from the book Lock and Key, is no exception to this. Her mother abandoned her and left her in a dilapidated home to take care of herself until social services stepped in and took her to live with her estranged sister, Cora. 

                Cora has the perfect life. She has a beautiful home, an amazing husband and a job. She had everything and Ruby didn’t want any part in it, but like all things she didn’t have a choice. She stayed living there and tried to reconcile her past with her present. She got a job working at kiosk with a woman named Harriet. She befriended the smart perfect boy next door Nate. Everything seems to be going well until the one person she thought would never need help needed her to save them. You will have to read it to find out more!!!

                Death affects people differently. Some use it as a means to push through obstacles. Others use it as an excuse to be lax on their life. Some, well they pretend a death doesn’t happen at all. Macy ( Truth About Forever) was close with her dad. They went running every morning, until one day she wanted to sleep in late and he went by himself. That was his last run. He had a heart attack and passed away. Macy having changed her mind went to catch up to him and saw the whole thing happen.

                Fast forward a little bit and it brings her to saying good bye to her nerdy boyfriend as he goes to Math Camp and hello to a summer of working at library with two girls who have great disdain for her. As she emails her boyfriend and dares to say I love you to him and he breaks ups with her because of it. Some boyfriend huh?

                One day she accidentally finds herself helping out a woman and her catering company, called Wish, where she meets some of the most unusual people Wes, Bert, Kristy and Monica, and she befriends them. She becomes exceptionally close to Wes. They play a game called Truth. One person asks the person a question and the other person must answer. This game brings them closer together and Macy must confront many things that she has been trying to keep in her past.

                The Moon and More is about a girl named Emmaline. She lives in a small town with her mother. Her father lives in another state far away. The only thing her and her father have to talk about is her education. It’s the summer before college and she is dating a perfect boy named Luke, but she begins to wonder if perfect is enough.

                That summer a film maker and her assistant come to the town to make a documentary about a local artist who has been MIA for years. This is where she meets Theo. Theo thinks Emmaline is smart. Way too smart for the small town of Colby. Suffice it to say she and Luke break up and she starts seeing Theo. Theo is big city type and he doesn’t get a lot of the small town things that people from Colby get.

                To make things more confusing her father and little brother come to stay in Colby for the summer as her father goes through a divorce. Two men who think Emmaline can go way father than Colby, but neither know who Emmaline really is. Is perfect all that really matters? Shouldn’t we always strive for the moon and more?

Keep turning those pages <3

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Dessen, Dessen and More Dessen

Hey there guys!!! Hope everyone has been doing alright lately! I’ve been really busy with school and such. Actually busy is an understatement, I’ve been pretty stressed out. It’s amazing how some college professors expect you to go to lecture three times a week, have a three hour lab, a discussion class and expect you to spend 15 hours of week outside of class focused on the class, all the while having to go to other classes and do the homework for those classes. That doesn’t even include work and family obligations! So suffice it to say I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. However, I only have a month left to go and hopefully I’ll have passed my classes so I won’t have to worry about taking them again next semester. >_< Yes I will admit that there is a small chance of failure in at least one of my classes, but oh well. Life happens.

                So anyways on to business and books. As I said in my last post I am going to be doing a few blogs on Sarah Dessen’s books, but instead of just doing one book at a time I decided to combine a few of them together at a time. I hope you guys don’t mind! I kind of forgot just how many books she really had. The three I am going to be writing about today are This Lullaby, Along for the Ride, and What happened to Goodbye. 

                Now as I have said before Sarah Dessen’s books have main female characters who eventually discover that they are stronger than what they originally thought they were. To me a lot of her characters young girls should be able to relate to them. They could be real and they have real problems. Some authors find that difficult to do, but  not Dessen. She does it immaculately.

                So first off we have This Lullaby. Remy is the name of our female star. She’s an average girl with three best friends, Chloe, Jess, and Lissa. Her mother is a romance writer who is about to get married to her fourth husband. Her brother was a deadbeat until he got a new girlfriend. Her idea of love as cynical as any of us young women can be towards it. In her mind she saw it all through what her mother went through. From her musician father who left when she was a baby, leaving Remy with a song about her called This Lullaby,  to husband number four, whom her mother will be marrying at the start of the book. 

                Remy doesn’t quite believe in love, obviously, when you see your mother go through a lot you tend not to. However, all the changes when she meets Dexter. Dexter who is messy, disorganized, irresponsible and in a band.  Her plan was to just have him around for the summer before college and break up with him, but as the summer draws to her close and her mother deals with another heartbreak, what will Remy decide to do? I guess you will have to read. J

                The second book up is What Happened to Goodbye? The main lead in this book is McLean. After her mother cheated on her father and left him for the other man McLean decided to live with her dad. The problem? Well he traveled a lot, meaning McLean had to move schools a lot. To most people this would be less than ideal, but to Mclean this was the most ideal situation ever. Every school she went to meant a new identity that she could adopt. She could be anybody she wanted and she liked that. All it started with was a new name and it went from there.

                But what happens when she slips up and uses her real name? she soon realizes that it takes a lot more than just a name to be someone else. It takes real friends, a connection with family, and it takes faith in one’s self to really understand who you are.

                Now Along for the Ride is about a girl named Auden who is smart, driven and determined. Her parents had gotten a divorce and her father moved to a town called Colby. It’s a small town and from me to you readers it is also the setting for a few other books of Dessen’s. Auden’s parents had gotten a divorce and she went to stay with her father for the summer, which also meant staying with his new wife and her new baby sister. This summer was supposed to be preparing for college, reading her text books and getting ready for school.

                Auden ends up with a job at her stepmothers clothing store taking care of the finance books. She becomes friends with the girls who work there and also befriends a mysterious and quiet Eli. Auden suffers from a little bit of insomnia so when she runs into Eli late at night they bond, but what happens when Auden realizes she’s getting to close to him and she starts feeling like she’s slacking off on preparing for college? Well…..read and find out!

                Alright guys hope you enjoyed this one! Don’t forget to follow and keep checking in for new updates!! Keep turning those pages!!

SIlence is so loud.

                Hey there readers!! Long time no blog huh? Well I am back!! I’m halfway through spring break, which means halfway through the spring semester at UW-Milwaukee, which is really, really exciting for me!! (Huge smiles going on here!! :-D) This semester had been tough and well my grades aren’t too bad, but who said taking biology, physics and chemistry was going to be easy?

*Crickets chirping*

Yeah exactly no one! However I still plan on getting through this summer with my head held high! Woohoo!

I have some really good books coming up here and I really hope you guys all enjoy reading them!!! These next few books are going to be from my favorite author Sarah Dessen. Dessen is a young adult writer and she has written several amazing books!! I always like to think of them as coming of age books. Most of her books follow a central female character that has to overcome a challenge in their life of some sort or another. All her books are amazing believable. A handful of them are even centered in the same “universe” so while you read one book you may accidentally come across a character from another book! I’m not going to lie, I geeked out the first time I noticed this. Yep, it’s official I am a nerd!

                Ok! So first book up on the Sarah Dessen spree is called Just Listen. Annabel Greene, is beautiful, popular, a model. One night at a party, a scary experience with her best friend’s boyfriend and she becomes ostracized from the life that she once knew. She has no friends, a modeling career she hates and on top of that one of her older sisters, Whitney, is suffering from anorexia.

By chance she befriends weird but handsome Owen. Owen is big and very much into music. Not just socially acceptable music but music in every sense of the word! He listens to water dropping, if he could. Through his want to enlighten her in musical tastes they become friends and in a sense he helps her overcome her demons.

This book is in itself of book of learning. That’s what is so great about Dessen’s books is that they give you something you can walk away with after having read it. For instance Annabel, the queen of people pleasing, learns from Owen how to stand up for herself and to say what she means. Her sisters Whitney and Kirsten help her learn that every situation has a different perspective based on the person whose eyes you are looking though. She also learns that all it takes is one moment to change everything, for the better or the worse. It can lead to forgiveness, it can lead to the loss of friends, and it can lead to the finding of love.

Read it and love it because I guarantee that that is what is going to happen!

Keep turning those pages!