In Which I Explain My Blog Negligence

So, back in September I started dating this guy.

This guy is great.

Things were going well. I was constantly shocked he kept calling me since I'm such a spaz and he's, well, not. But he did keep calling. This was a good sign.

Fast-forward to the week of Thanksgiving. He came over to my apartment and we were watching Castle (because Nathan Fillion is The Best.) and then said, "I have some news that's going to upset you." He then proceeded to tell me that he'd be moving to Singapore for a (kick-ass) new job. He'd be there for a year. He'd leave in January.

Now, sometimes I have this curious problem of overreacting. And y'all. I seriously overreacted. I turned into Bella Swan for about a week and a half. That lead to a lot of wallowing and not a lot of reading.*

Then after Thanksgiving, Boyfriend and I sat down and talked about everything and reached an agreement on how to proceed. (We are going to proceed, for those of you who were wondering.) But because he's leaving January 7th and I basically won't see him (with the exception of maybe two weeks when I take my vacation to go visit him.) for a year, I've been spending as much time as possible with him. Which means that I've been doing not a lot of reading and a lot of spending-time-with-Boyfriend.

But fear not! I love this here bloggy blog something fierce and I WILL return to it in 2012 when I will have beaucoups of time to read and blog and not be sad at all.

So! That's my story. Judge me as you see fit. Leave your judgment in comments if you so choose. And, above all, have a wonderful, fabulous, joyous, relaxing, delicious, merry, and bright holiday season!



*For the probably two of you who are curious about the status of my work-in-progress, it's still around. It's also be neglected due to my emotional derailment/realignment. But I'll start working on it again soon. Thank you for your concern. :)

Review: Between the Sea and Sky

Title: Between the Sea and Sky
Author: Jaclyn Dolamore
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Pages: 240
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Format: ARC Tour by Good Choice Reading (Thank you!)

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren—the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood—a dashing young man named Alander, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alander band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.—Goodreads


The problem with writing a book about mermaids is that the demographic of readers in YA is probably familiar with Disney's The Little Mermaid and will then, even if they try really hard not to, compare it to the beloved movie. As I picked up this book to read it I said, literally out loud, "I will not compare this to The Little Mermaid."

And then about halfway through I found myself thinking, "Esmerine is sort of a mix of Ariel and Belle." (And she really is.) I just couldn't help myself. But that aside, Between the Sea and Sky (btw, I adore the title) is a really sweet little love story.

However, I had a couple issues with the book. The first is that the main premise of the book—Esmerine leaves her water world to search for her sister Dosinia when she goes missing and Esmerine is JUST SURE she's been kidnapped by those evil, lustful human men—annoyed me. I couldn't understand why Esmerine never considered that Dosinia had run away (this isn't a spoiler, as it's in the description provided to Goodreads by Bloomsbury). It was just so obvious to me and I sort of wanted to slap some sense into Esmerine.

Then, and this is admittedly a small thing, I couldn't ever figure out what was going on with the time period. Sometimes the clothing and settings and even speech patterns used seemed very Renaissance, and then without any reason at all, it would switch to something akin to Jazz Age America. It probably shouldn't have been such a big deal, but I was seriously distracted by it.

In the end, the story is very sweet. If you love mermaids and quests for identity and run-away sisters and like books that are light on the sexytimes, you'll love this book.