Mundie Moms

Friday, May 3, 2013

SHHHH It's a SECERT SHADOWHUNTER Project and It's Been Extended!



Good news for those fans who have been at work and school all week long and haven't had the chance to take part in our Secret Shadowhunter Project, you still have time! You have asked us to extend the project and now we have! So now you have until Sunday 11:59 pm PST to send in your photos!! Be sure to send them here mortalinstrumentsmovies@gmail.com

In other exciting news, YOU GUYS ROCK! We have hit our goal on the number of pictures we were looking for, and we can't wait to see how many more you guys send in. This project is going to be epic, thank you to all of you. More info about the project will come shortly from myself, FangirlishTMI SourceHypable & Page to Premiere.

Sony Launches a New Tumblr: Mind of Simon Lewis

Sony Pictures, also known as Mortal Movie on Twitter, has created a fabulous new tumblr page for our favorite vampire, SIMON! Check out his page here. I'm looking forward to seeing what things Simon posts.... his first post is about Band Names.

Book Review: Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike


By: Aprilynne Pike
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: April 30th, 2013
Source: ARC to review from publisher
4 Stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto. 

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

Clash meets sass in this uproarious modern-day retelling of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel

What happens when you take an unrepentant mean girl who's dead, and can't move on, a new guy in town, a mess of left over drama, a bit of romance, and some fun? Life After Theft, Aprilynne Pike's newest release, has a great mix of ghosts, romance, and has a touch of humor similar to that of Ally Carter and Kiersten White. Much of this story focuses on Jeff, and the mean girl ghost Kimberlee, who's trying to fix all the wrongs she did while alive so she could move on. As the story progresses and the more we find out about Kimberlee, the more we learn about the secondary characters, who in my opinion really steal the show.

I loved getting to see the story from Jeff's point of view, and being able to more fully understand Kimberlee, her friends whom are really more Jeff's friends now and why things are the way they are. Confusing? I promise it's not that way when you're reading the book. I'll be honest, I couldn't stand Kimberlee. I mean I liked her at first, but the more I got to know of her through the other characters, and find out from her through Jeff, the less I liked her. She really was a mean girl, but interesting enough, towards the end of the book I ended feeling sorry for her. She redeemed herself a little too late for me to really like her more, but she does change to some degree. Her progression is one that was spot on, and I wouldn't have excepted it any other way. This girl had some problems, and being a ghost didn't change those for her, and I liked that aspect of her story. There's more to Kimberlee than just her mean actions and what she has to live with now (or live without).

One of the things that Aprilynne cleverly does in this story is she made me realize there is much more to each of her characters than meets the eye, and much like life itself, everyone has a story to tell and everyone has a reason for their actions. Some are intentional, some are not, and some are mistakes that characters wish they could correct. It was interesting to see how each of the character's lives have been woven together, and how Jeff jumps into the mix with it all. I liked Jeff. He's a good guy who really is trying to help Kimberlee and fix the problems that those who used to be Kimberlee's friend or I should say those who knew her before she died, are now stuck with. My favorite character in this story is a secondary character, Khail. Oh Khail! What a great character. It wasn't just for the fact he would do anything for his sister, and love interest Sera, he really is one of those all around good guys who is admired by his team mates and fellow classmates, and so easy to like. Okay fine and I'm sure he's hot, but really he is an all around fabulous character.

Can I just say how much I enjoy that this book is a stand alone!? There isn't enough stand alones out in the YA world, and I LOVE that this one is! We need more books like this. OKay, back to Life After Theft. I enjoyed this book. It was one of those fun, fast paced books I spent the afternoon reading. Aprilynne Pike stayed true to the teenage voice of her characters. She tackled realistic teenage issues, and did an excellent job at staying true to those issues, and the reactions many teens would have to them. Kudos to Aprilynne for tackling/mentioning a variety of topics that teens face in real life, drugs, drinking, sex, being gay, friendships, the dramas of growing up, lying, stealing, being true to yourself, love etc. That doesn't mean these things were heavily mentioned in the book, because they're not, but they are mentioned and some topics play a bigger role in this story than others.

Life After Theft has the perfect amount of realism mixed with the right amount of paranormal elements, and given a touch of humor, and romance. As I mentioned before, I enjoyed this book. If you're an Aprilynne Pike fan, please don't go into this book thinking it's like her Wings series, it's nothing like it. Aprilynne is a diverse writer and it really shows in this book. I'm looking forward to reading whatever she's got coming out next!

Book Review: Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris


By: Elizabeth Norris
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: April 23rd, 2013
Series: Unraveling #2
Source: ARC from publisher to review
4 Stars: I Enjoyed It!
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads
My review Unraveling

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?


Just as thrilling and unpredictable as Unraveling, Unbreakable is another action packed, Sci-Fi mystery that's hard to put down. Elizabeth doesn't hold back with her plot twists and shocking discoveries. Just as I think I have things figured out, she throws in another twist that makes it harder to really figure out what's going on, and let's just say that again, nothing is what it seems, nor is everyone again, who you think they are. Not being able to predict the outcome of this story is one of the things I enjoyed about it. 

Character wise, Janelle is definitely in way over her head with her operation in this book. She's on a mission to uncover what exactly is going on, and what Ben has to do with it all, if he is indeed behind everything that's happening. She wants answers, she wants to protect her brother, and get to the bottom of everything going on. She's tougher than she was before, but still needs help. Luckily she has my favorite character from this sequel to help her out, Agent Barclay. I didn't mention him in my review of Unraveling, but I liked his character in that book, and I love him in this book. He seriously made this book for me. I know he's not the main character, but he plays a huge role in Breakable. There is so much to his character that we find out about here. He's just one of the pieces that connects everything that's going on in this series. If Elizabeth gave Barclay his own story, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat. 

 I loved the introduction of some new characters who only deepened the story's mystery and twisted secrets. I'm not sure I can really mention some of the characters except to say that they add to some of the tensions and action packed scenes that take place through out the book. Again, Elizabeth isn't afraid to kill off some of her characters. There's one character's death that literally made me want to throw the book, and yell NO! Not that I would ever throw a book, okay I only did that once and the book wasn't very good. That's beside the point. As a reader I hate it when a character's life is sacrificed, though it says a lot about that certain character. At the same time, I respect an author who does this, because it adds a whole new level to the book. While it breaks the reader and the characters who admire this person, it also makes the remaining characters that much more determined to fight for their cause, and it makes me cheer the remaining characters on even more. 

Setting wise, I liked being back in this world. Things are definitely different for the characters. They are learning to move on and pick up the pieces from their grieving over the death of someone close to them (that happened in Unraveling), and because their world is different than it was before. There's a lot more action, some romance, and plenty of moments that made me laugh, especially between Barclay and Janelle. My only issue again was how often the f-word is used. I know that doesn't phase a lot of people, but used a little too much and it totally starts to bug me. I get that this is how one character talks, but it was a little too much for me, again. Other than that, I enjoyed the book. It's a great sequel, and things wrapped up nicely. The entire series has exceeded my expectations. Now I'm waiting for Elizabeth's next book to be out. 


Book Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris


By: Elizabeth Norris
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: April 24th, 2012
Source: arc/book from publisher to review
Series: Unraveling #1
4 Stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet

Aliens, supernatural powers, the end of the world, and romance. These are just a few of the things that you'll find in Elizabeth Norris's Unraveling. In what I'd best describe as a Sci-Fi/Mystery/with a whole heck of a lot more, Unraveling is a book that fans of YA will enjoy. I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan, and I enjoyed this book! Elizabeth Norris writes in way that is both interesting, entertaining, and educational. Yes, I said educational, because I might have learned a thing or two about physics while reading Janelle's story. Let me just say, either Elizabeth is a genesis or she spent a lot of time doing research to write this book. Even though there's this interesting storyline happening that deals with aliens being on our planet, the threat of the world ending, some romance, and a murder (or two) mystery happening, I loved the details and theories that were a huge part of this intriguing story line. I wanted more of them....

The Writing. Elizabeth Norris has this great blend of humor, the "what if", mystery, and something else that I can't quite point out what it is, that makes this book so hard to put down. From her characters, to the plot, the setting and everything in between, there was something about this book that hooked me. Now I will say the only thing I wasn't a fan of, was how much the f-word was used. I'm just not a fan of that word, and it doesn't who you are, if you use it more than 5 times in a YA book I'm not going to like it. Plus this word was used in a some scenes that really took me out of what could of have been a much more emotional moment had that word not been used the way it was. I'm talking about the one towards the end. BUT, aside from that, this book has some solid writing. Despite this books size, I seriously couldn't stop reading it. I swear I say this a lot, but this is another book that no matter how hard I tried to pace myself, I didn't put this book down until I finished reading it. I was hooked, and couldn't stop reading. Even though it's a 400+ page book, it is a fast paced read.

The Characters. I loved the characters. Oh yes, even the twists with some of them. I liked that Elizabeth didn't give me everything there was to know about all of them right off the bat. The more the story goes on, the more I got to know them. Talk about twists, there is plenty of them! Not everyone is in this book is who you think they are, or who they first say they are. And remember how I mentioned this was also a murder mystery? Yeah, Elizabeth isn't afraid to kill off a character either. I might have gotten a little choked up over this character's shocking death. I was really blown away at the way in which Elizabeth allowed Janelle as a character to grow and change during this time. This character's death really effects her, as it should, and it was the cause for some changes and rash decisions on her part, which I can't say that I blame her. As a reader, I'm really glad that she allowed for her character to change and really be effected by this. It made the story feel more realistic and made me connect with Janelle on a different level that hadn't happened until this point.

I loved the family dynamics and the friendships in this story. These are what molded the story together. These relationships added more depth and layer to a story already rich in detail, and made it realistic, and relatable. Speaking of relationships, I wasn't a huge fan of the relationship between Janelle and Ben at first, but it was one that the more I read about it the more it made sense. Not that all relationships need to make sense, but this one is one I understood. I got and understood the connection they had, and slowly but surely it grew on me more. One of my favorite relationships in this book is the one between Janelle, her brother, and their family friend Struz. I don't know why, but I love those secondary characters who play this over protective role in a character's story, which Struz does. It wasn't hard for me to like him right off the bat.

Talk about an unpredictable page turner! I'm so glad this is the first in a series, because there is so much more I need to know. I loved the twists and answers I got in Unraveling, but man a live I'm dying to find out a whole heck of a lot more more in Unbreakable. I NEED more! Huge kudos to Elizabeth Norris for hooking me and making me fall in love with another Sci-Fi. All I can say is I'm looking forward to reading more Elizabeth Norris books.


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