The Woman in White - by Wilkie Collins

'In one moment, every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop... There, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth, stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white'

The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter becomes embroiled in the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons, and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with pyschological realism.

5 stars

This is one of the very few books that I've had to read for High-school and have actually enjoyed. Although the pace of the story and the way Mr. Collins describes his scenes is definitely nineteenth century style… the way he writes the perspective of his characters is not. He is the author that introduced the style of writing from the first perspective… carving the way for modern day writers. The Woman in White starts off with a young drawing master named Walter Hartright looking for a job… when he stumbles upon a very confused lady dressed all in white wandering the darkened streets of London alone… and that's when the adventure begins. The book is full of a slew of different characters whom I loved, hated, and even some who I had absolutely had no idea what to think of. From the jovial but annoying County Fosco to the brilliant Madam Halmcomb… The frail Laura Fairlie to the endearing Walter Hartright… and then the haunting presence of the Woman in White are but a few of the amazing characters you will meet in this novel. The book starts out fast paced as we are plunged into a new world and new a new mystery… and as the book progresses we learn new and startling things involving our main cast… but then it begins to slow down to an almost boring pace near the middle… Only to pick back up again at the end. I was originally going to give it a 4.5 star rating for various reason (i.e. being slow near the middle and some of the characters annoyed the heck out of me… and the pathetic frailness of a few female characters) but it's such a good mystery that I decided to give it it's current 5 stars despite that!

Halloween Costume

So this was my outfit for the costume party I went to. I was the female version of the Mad Hatter, crazy, colorful, and so much fun to put together! What do you think?

From left to right: Pat, Michael, Zach, Charles, me, Savanna. So, who did you dress up as for halloween?

Makeup Review: Tarte Foundation

(So, I was originally going to post this before Halloween but I forgot. :-O But here it is, better late then never!) I like makeup. You may have noticed that from a few previous blog posts I've done in the past. I like how it can be so creative and artistic - colorful, frightening, dark, innocent, mysterious. That's why I love this time of year! Halloween was originally called Night Before the Holy Ones. Basically the night before the feast day of the Saints. I don't like how society has taken something that had originally had been holy into something demonic, but I like the chance to show my creative side with all the different makeup opportunities! In the next couple of weeks I'll show the various costumes I've come up with for different parties I'm planning on going to. :-) But first I'd like to do my first makeup review! 

Foundation: literally my favorite makeup product. It is what covers all of our imperfections our faces; pimples, scarring, discoloration, wrinkles. But it wipes it all away! (...) Pretty much. I've gone through quite a few different foundation brands (I like a lot of them and still use them from time to time), but my favorite by far is the Tarte foundation. It is definitely better for your skin, they try to keep their ingredients very natural. That's why this is made with Amazonian clay! Interesting hu? Because of being made out of clay (LOL) it has excellent coverage, you don't need much at all which I love because I hate the "cakey face look." You do have to be careful though because using this you can get that look very easily. You really just have to experiment on how much of the foundation looks good on your skin. I don't use very much at all, but other people use a lot. Like I said you just need to find out what works best for you. And it has sunscreen in it! And extra bonus. ;-)

Book Update

So, I thought I might take a break from my hectic school schedual and give you an update on my writing life! It's been almost a year now since "Jazmine" was published and I know you all are wondering what the heck is going on with the 2nd book! Let me just say that writing the 2nd book in The Latanica Saga is going to be a bit more challenging then its predcessor. It isn't going to be as action packed (but there will still be plenty!) as the first book. I'm trying to go for a little bit of more of a mystery theme in this book - you guys aren't going to know who the bad guy is for a while and there is more then one! I'm also going to get into how Jazmine and Adrian will struggle to bring Luman back into Latanica and some of the opposition they will face. More about Jazmine's parents and her past will also be revealed.

Sadly, I don't think I will be able to finish it for a while. I wrote almost absolutely nothing during the summer and only have about 4 chapters so far from before. I'm having a major writers block with this one. "Jazmine" was so easy because I had nearly every chapter planned out in my head before I started writing. It all flowed onto the page with such ease I'm still amazed! With this book its a little harder. I'm still trying to get things sorted and am writing out the plot little by little. And instead of writing it in order like "Jazmine" (chapter by chapter) I'm going to just get the scenes I already have in my head and into my notebook and then connect the dots later. 

At least I know what it's going to be called. And the title is awesome. *drumroll* ... "Destiny's Hand"! Sounds cool, right?

So, wish me luck! Let's hope I can get this out before I head off to college... I'm sure I will but you never know how this is going to turn out. I might write it all and then decide I hate half of it and then rewrite it again! But I hope that doesn't happen and I'll be able to get this out to you guys soon!

Blog Changes

Yeah, I know. You guys must be annoyed with me for changing the look of the blog for the third time. But I promise, this one's going to stick for a while. I really like this new template and background! Besides the changes to the layout, I also changed some photos and added a playlist from itunes for "Jazmine" that you guys can play right away on this blog! No need to look up the songs individually now. Among other things, I'm going to slowly add more content to the "Fun Stuff" page so keep your eyes peeled for that!

So, I'm curious. What do ya'll think of the new look? Any suggestions or is it good? Comment down below on what you think and subscribe for more!

TOAM: Life of Pi

**TOAM: thoughts on a movie

I just saw this movie last week and it far exceeded my expectations. I thought it was going to be boring and more of like a documentary. Boy was I wrong! The story, the cinematography, the acting. It was all so good I couldn't look away! The emotional turmoil, life lessons and faith portrayed in this movie were wonderful! Speaking of faith I have to admit I was surprised when I read how many awards it got at the Academy Awards considering it did have so much Christian faith in it. People to tend to be offended or try and stay away from those topics as much as possible in movies which is a sad reality so this movie was really refreshing. The View on the Catholic faith was not negatory or heretical which I really appreciated. So, yes, go see this movie! Cry with it, laugh with it, and learn with it! You won't be disapointed, I promise. :-)

Teen Campout/Swing Dance Party 2013

So last week I put on a party for my Youth Group. We had a TON of fun with sports, games, BBQ, prayer, dancing. At the end they were all begging to do it again before school starts - we'll see. We had about four hours of sports and then another two of dancing. I couldn't even stand by the time we crashed to watch a movie at like 2am. Anyway, here are some pictures of our dance party on the patios and lawn. It was late but we didn't care!