Writing A Book

I've been working on writing my own YA novel and I figured I'd share an exerpt from the first draft.

  Aila had never been happier or more confused in her whole life. As Allan turned away, she thought about what a difference today had made in the future. Her future. There was a strange tingling in her stomach that she wasn't used to.
  That's when she heard the screaming.
  It was distant at first, almost like a high pitched buzzing. She whipped around to find the source of the noise. There was something light pink running towards her. Then as Aila squinted against the afternoon sun, she could make out a mess of light blond curls... Oh, no. It was Nyra. She'd never liked Aila to begin with, but she'd also been in love with Allan since they were toddlers.
  Nyra was screaming, and running way too fast. Aila was frozen from shock and confusion until Nyra was less than three feet away. By then it was too late. Aila was stronger, but Nyra outweighed her small frame by at least thirty pounds.
  Nyra slammed into Aila, causing the both of them to tumble down the hill. Aila could feel Nyra pulling her hair and digging her fingernails into her skin deep enough to draw blood. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Nyra had landed on top. Aila was pinned.
  She struggled as much as she could, but Nyra pressed her knees on to Aila's arms. She could barely breathe under the crushing weight of this girl. Aila could do nothing. Not even when she saw the gleaming silver dagger.

To Be Continued...

Just So You Know

I haven't stopped posting on either my blog or my twitter, it's just hard when your home computer has a really bad bug... I promise there'll be more posts soon enough!

It's Been A While...

It's definitely been a while since I last posted on here, so I've decided to give some reviews on the books I've read since then.

Tilt, by Ellen Hopkins: This book was so real... I loved it. It was really easy to imagine these kids actually going through these kinds of things. I could even connect with the characters; they seemed so three dimensional. Most of the realistic fiction books that I've read have characters that seem just thrown together, and they usually have exaggerated  issues. But Tilt was way better than that. I'd probably give this book five stars.

The Burn Journals, by Brent Runyon: This was a decent book. I'm not going to lie, it did drag in a few places, but most books do. It was nice to see someone actually recover from being suicidal, instead of the typical idea of the battle inside a teen's head. This story had an ending that could be open to any possiblities, just like Brent. It definitely wasn't my favorite book, but I'm really glad that I read it.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld: Wow... just wow. I think I found my new favorite book... Well, maybe second favorite. (The Graceling series was AMAZING!) It was one of the best sci-fi books I have ever read. Granted, I don't think this book would be for everyone, but I thought it was incredible. I won't spoil anything, but I can promise you will be blown away by the ending. The only minor issue with this book is that when "the bad thing happens" you're not completely surprised. It's almost like the writer gave you multiple warnings... although he probably did. Read the book and this post will make more sense!

His Dark Materials

Firstly, I'd like to say that all of these books were completely amazing. I'd suggest that if you are at a higher reading level and can handle the literature, you should read this series. Usually this book wouldn't catch my attention, but I took a chance and I'm really glad that I did.

The Golden Compass: It had me hooked right from the start. What could be better than a girl sneaking around where she's not allowed, and having to hide in a closet about to get caught? It sounds kind of dumb when I say it, but if you give this book a chance, it'll snare you just like it did to me. It also doesn't hurt that this book is totally action-packed.

The Subtle Knife: This one is probably my favorite, but I can't quite decide. At first I thought the book was in the wrong place, and the bookstore messed up. The story doesn't start with Lyra, and that made me want to read it even more to see where she was and what this boy had to do with her story. Of the three books in this series, I'd say this one had the most going on.

The Amber Spyglass: This book was completely AMAZING. Everything's been working up to this, and now that it's finally here, I didn't want it to end anymore. Although The Subtle Knife probably had the most action, the things going on in The Amber Spyglass were way more intense. This book was also able to get me thinking, so occasionally I had to put it down and consider everything that was happening.