Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky was my choice in The Story Siren's YA Debut Author Challenge for the month of February. It was a hard one to get into, and not because it wasn't a good book. It was. But it took a while to get going.

Veronica Rossi wrote in the 3rd person, and from the point of view of her two main characters. At the beginning, I found this a challenge. One moment it's Aria's point of view, and the next chapter is Perry's. And since it was in the 3rd person, you never got a real sense of their voice.

Aria lives in a world where her people live in pods and fear the outside world (they call it the Death Shop due to cannibals and Aether storms). Her people spend most of their time in virtual reality Realms, rarely living a day in the Real. One day she is exiled from her pod city and begins a journey with an outsider named Perry, in hoped of returning to her pod city.

Perry, meanwhile, wants to be the Blood Lord of his group. His nephew is kidnapped by the Dwellers, and he sets out to find him.

Being from 2 different worlds, neither is happy with the other, but we all know that can change.

Asides from changing back and forth between points of view, I also had a hard time with the actual characters. I liked Perry, but Aria rubbed me the wrong way. It did take getting half way into the book before I felt like I was going to smack her. Other characters were brought in, and once I started to like them, they were gone.

Happy Birthday Scott

Scott's conference in Toronto ended on Wednesday.

Thursday was his birthday, 

and he did not want to spend the day on an airplane,

so he spent a few days with his dad and his brother.

That meant, we had to postpone our little celebration.

So today is Scott's Lusakan birthday. 

Every year, since Ethan was 8 months old,

Scott's been given a kanga shirt for his birthday.

Ethan has the same shirt.

When we learnt we were moving here,

I figured I needed a back-up plan.

I like the matching shirt tradition.

But didn't think I could do a kanga shirt.

So over, the summer, I came up with a new plan.

I thought I'd make this birthday a theme.

Baseball shirts for a gift.

and a football shirt for a cake.

(No criticism regarding Liverpool allowed)

Happy birthday babes.

Toy Story Waffles

I made a mistake.

A horribly, fatal mistake.

Last Sunday, 

I thought it would be fun to make some waffles for breakfast.

A couple of Christmas' ago,

Ethan got a cool Toy Story waffle maker

from the Tasty Baker. 

Being the non-domesticated mom,

I've yet to use it.

Well, not only did Ethan love his waffles,

he wanted them for breakfast on Monday too.

Good thing there were some left over.

This morning Ethan woke up

and informed me he was hungry.

He wanted...

you guessed it,

waffles for breakfast!

What have I created?

Will this be a regular Sunday expectation?

Writer's Workshop - Rose Ceremony

4. On The Bachelor a rose is given to the women he could really see himself spending the rest of his life with. What six things in your life would like to give a rose to and why?

It's been awhile since I've joined MamaKat.

And I couldn't think of a better way to join her Writer's Workshop once again.

It's obvious that I would give roses to Ethan and Scott. 

What's not to love about these two?

So, since we know they would get roses,

I'm not counting them.

Instead,

let's look at some of the really important things in my life.

Latte.

Oh how I love you.

You warm me up on cold mornings.

You bring me comfort.

You make books more interesting.

Will you accept a rose?

Body Shop Lip Butter.

I use to like lip balm,

until I met you. 

 Now I cannot imagine my life

without you.

Will you accept a rose?

iPhone

When you first came to me,

I didn't understand you.

But now, 

I cannot live without you.

Please accept a rose.

iPad

With my wonderful iPhone,

I never thought you'd be needed.

Oh, but I was wrong.

I love you so.

Would you accept a rose?

Shoes

When I'm feeling down,

a new pair cheers me up.

It doesn't matter if I gain weight,

or loose weight,

you still look great

(on me).

You make me feel taller

(those wedged heels help).

Will you accept a rose?

Books

Or more specifically

my vampire books.

Anne Rice,

JR Ward

you bring such entertainment.

Everytime I open one of your books,

I enter a completely different world.

(One that does not sparkle!)

I could not imagine my life with you.

Please accept my rose.

Could you imagine what my life would be like,

if I could not sip on a latte

(with my great buttery lips - lol)

while reading on my iPad

and wearing a great pair of shoes?

Such horror!!!!

52 Weeks of Happiness

I came across Leigh and her Happiness Project

a year and half ago.

I joined her Happiness Project and loved it.

I'm thrilled to have completed an entire year this time around.

Somehow, I must have messed up my math,

as I hit week 52 last week, 

and Leigh has hers this week.

But that doesn't mean I didn't find any happiness this week.

Consider this my bonus.

I love Fridays.

Not only does school end at 12:30,

but we get the market.

My favourite part of the market is Natalia.

Natalia has fresh, organic food. 

Amazing bread.

But my favourite is her Happy Meal.

This is no McDonald's.

Her Happy Meal includes;

an amazing salad, 

a smoothie,

a slice of bread with pesto spread

and a dessert.

Happiness is a Happy Meal.

Anathema - Megg Jensen

Don't you just love getting things for free?

This book was a free Kindle book, and it looked interesting, so I thought, why not? I wasn't enjoying the current book I'm reading, and knew this was a short one, so it was a perfect fit. PLUS, the power was out for a few hours. Just enough time to read this book. 

Anathema is the 1st in the Cloud Prophet Trilogy.

Reychel is a slave girl. She has never been outside. She sleeps in a room with 40 other slave girls. Every morning, they shave their heads. There are no mirrors, so they rely on each other. Reychel's job is to spend the day washing dishes, in a dark room.

It's the morning of Reychel's 15th  birthday. Not a day she's looking forward to. This is the day her master's symbol is burnt to the back of her scalp. She wakes up in the morning to find her best friend missing and she has upset her master before the ceremony. 

But suddenly, someone helps her escape. And now Reychel finds herself in a world she's never known, with people thinking she can help them.

I loved that this book got me hooked right away. It was a fast pacing book, with a character I loved. 

Now, let's see when the second book comes out. I'll even pay for it! 

An Open Apology

The best part of living abroad, is all the different cultures and accents.My mates and I always get into conversations on how we pronounce certain words. We even laugh at each other. It's fun. We never tease someone who's not there. We basically poke fun at one another.

What isn't fun is having people say you make them cringe.

Yes cringe!

Ok, so no one actually came out and told me that, but recently I was involved in a discussion where some acquaintances commented that when they see the word learnt, it makes them cringe.

Cringe!

Are you kidding me????

So then it got me thinking.

OMG.

I must really make some people cringe. 

And so, I would like to apologise.

I'm sorry I make you cringe with the use of the verb learnt.

I'm Canadian and learnt British spelling.

I mean not to offend by spelling colour and favourite with a u.

Grey is spelt with an e not an a.

Yes, my son wore nappies

and not a diaper.

We throw our trash in the rubbish.

I buy my food at the supermarket

and my medicine at the pharmacy.

I watch a movie at the cinema

and go to the theatre to see a live show.

My rain boots are called Wellies.

I'm not sure where that comes from.

Some mates call them Gum Boots.

Ah yes,

I have mates. 

I do make sure I disappoint everyone.
Scott hates the way I pronounce
tomato.
He says I must remember I'm a Canadian
and not British.

Oh, and my British mate hates how I think that
ferry and fairy
are homophones.

However,
I do not think that
ant and aunt are.

I was living in Korea when I read my first Harry Potter book.
I borrowed a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
I later bought a copy of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 

I do hope my apology is accepted,
even though I spell apologise
with an s not a z.
(That would be zed not zee
unless singing the ABC song)