I'm afraid this is goodbye.

I've decided I will no longer be blogging here. Posts were very infrequent and I felt that running this blog was becoming some sort of chore.

However, I can still be contacted through these places:

• email
• my personal blog
• fanfiction.net [I've restarted my account and my fanfiction will be displayed there]

I will still be around the blogging community, but just not updating this blog. [: I hope you all understand.

Thank you and see you on the internet!

Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter

[This review may contain spoilers.]

Pages: 317

"Fireheart is a ThunderClan warrior cat now, but danger still lurks in the forest - and possibly closer than he thinks. With the chill of winter setting in, the cats of rival RiverClan are growing restless, while WindClan is weak and facing threats from all sides.
"As tensions build up to an explosive climax, Fireheart faces not only imminent battle, but betrayal from within his own Clan."

First Look: The prologue is about WindClan cats trying to sneak into Twolegplace, and it gives you a preview on what the book will be centered on. The first few chapters feature Fireheart and Graystripe adjusting to the warrior cat life, instead of being just apprentices. The two cats are still as close as ever, and nothing could break the bond they shared.

Characters: Each of the cats are presented in the story have their own personality. Some characters, such as Cinderpaw, are very energetic and outgoing, while others, such as Tigerclaw, are strict and tough to other cats. The personalities of each cat were very real, and it made it seem like they were humans instead of just cats. I personally liked Cinderpaw and Yellowfang, their personalities and characteristics really spoke to me and I just adored them.

Setting: I think that Hunter did an okay job with describing the setting of the story. I could picture it in my mind but I felt like she didn't really describe them as well as she did in the previous book. It wasn't as vivid and I wasn't really sucked into the story.

Plot: There are a lot of storylines in this book; Erin talks about how WindClan is feeling weak, how ShadowClan and RiverClan are trying to take advantage of that, and how ThunderClan is trying to settle the feud between the Clans. She also talks about Fireheart's kittypet life, and whether or not he should go back to it. She adds a few bits in about the Ravenpaw-Tigerclaw feud. Hunter also talks about the friendship of Fireheart and Graystripe, as well as the Romeo and Juliet-esque love story between Graystripe and Silverstream, of the RiverClan. There are new apprentices for the two cats as well, although after Graystripe gets sick, Fireheart is responsible for training both of the cats. Finally, Bluestar has lost yet another life and is now on her final one. It is very confusing but Hunter talks about several themes, such as fitting in, friendship and romance, which makes it more interesting.

Conclusion: After Brindleface's kits and Cloudpaw, Fireheart's sister's kit, escape to find extra freshkill for the Clan, Bluestar suddenly starts acting like a mother. Brokenstar attempted to attack ThunderClan, but they caught him, nursed him back to life and actually welcomed him into the Clan... for now. The rest of the Clan goes to attack RiverClan, and after a talk about RiverClan and Silverstream, Fireheart and Graystripe are friends once again. What a lovely way to end a story.

It was a great book; Hunter never fails to entertain her readers and make them want to turn every single page to see what's happening next. The Warriors series is quite an amazing one.

What's the next book on my list? The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien.

Summer Goals

Its officiallly summer, so this post will talk about my goals for the summer break. I got out of school last week but I was awfully busy to post then.

Anyway, so here are my reading and writing goals.

My reading goal for July is to work on finishing my 'To-Be-Read List,' I currently have six books on that list, not counting my current book, Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter. I calculated that if I finish Warriors by Wednesday I can start on my list on Friday. If I read a chapter an hour from 10am to 12am the next day I can read about 15 chapters. That means I can finish each book in 1-2 days, maybe 3 if there are more than 30 chapters.

My August reading goal is to work on reading all of the other books I have and maybe review them. I doubt I'll be reviewing them all, since most of them are parts of a series, but I guess I can do something similar to what my friend Brooke does at her blog, Paper Mountain, The Wonderful Week of [name here]. I might do that for the Warriors series but I'm not too sure as of yet.

My July writing goal is to finish rewriting and revising my fanfiction, which I still haven't decided where I'll be posting it. Also, I've been working on planning out a new story, which will be about saving the Earth. I want to at least finish planning it out and starting the first draft for it.

My writing goal for August is to finish writing that save the Earth story I talked about in the previous paragraph. I guess that's about it.

I will be focusing on writing this month and August will be my reading month.

What are your summer goals?

An Update

Hello everyone! Sorry for the posting gap - school has been a bit overwhelming the past four weeks - but I am now off for summer break.

I just thought I would let you guys know that I deleted my fanfiction.net account. This means that the links to the chapters in my story are not viewable at the moment. However, I will keep working on my current WIP but posting it on here instead.

I was going to be working on editing the posts with the links to the fanfiction and posting the chapters, but I realized that you guys would not be able to read chapters one and two.

I need your advice, guys. What should I do?

Anyway, chapter six is fully written but I will not post it until I figure out my dilemma.

I will be back tomorrow! (:

EDIT: I have deleted all the posts containing the chapters and have decided to post the full story once I finish it. I'm aiming by the end of June.

Beware of the Ank Touch.

I'm sure you all have heard of the amazing Diary of a Wimpy Kid series? Well, these kids at my school, they invented a game similar to the imfamous Cheese Touch that they have in the series. But, instead of touching a rotten piece of cheese to get "infected", you have to touch this weird kid named Ank. He's totally disgusting and no one really likes him, to be honest. If you don't want to get infected, you had to cross your fingers. I think its totally ridiculous but I have to play anyways or else I'd be a loner until I passed it on.

Anyways, I was tagged by the awesome Brooke a few days ago. I'm just here to pass this around. Before I tag people, I have been left with a set of questions:

Do you think you're hot?

I just took a shower... Of course not.

Upload a picture or wallpaper you're using at the moment.

This has been my profile picture for everything lately. XD

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?

Today, at lunch. I had chicken nuggets [because, ya know, I'm a kid] and it was insanely good.

The song[s] you've listened to recently.

There's quite a lot. Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way, Shane Harper's self-titled album and a bunch of Greyson Chance songs are the ones I can remember.

What were you thinking as you were doing this?

Why the hell am I not out for the summer yet?

Do you have any nicknames? What are they?

Well, a  lot of people call me Izzy because my real name is too long and too formal. My mom's friends call me Bella. I've been called Iz once or twice, some people call me Isabelle, and Jason called me "The Smart One" once. XD

Tag 8 Blogger friends...

1. Brooke [I'm tagging her back because I don't have enough friends. I'm a fail. XD]
2. JiJi
3. Ezmirelda
4. Ponytails
5. Madeline [Three times is a charm, Madeline.]
6. Tizzy
7. Felicity
8. Jonan

Who's been listed as number one?

Brooke! Brooke and I have been friends for a little over a year, but I am not sharing how we met.

Say something about number five.

Madeline is totally awesome and extremely determined... Enough said.

How did you get to know number three?

I was looking around Google for a review on Elixir by Hilary Duff so I could get a preview of the book before buying it. Ezmirelda's blog was the first result so I visited it, read the review, and then read most of her blog posts. I liked the blog and it all went from there.

How about number four?

I was just looking around the Blogger community to see who was around my age. I found Ponytails's blog and we became friends.

Leave a message for number six.

Tizzy, I'd like to get to know you better. I consume your blog often, and you seem like a really interesting person.

Leave a lovey-dovey message for number two.

Dear JiJi,

I have been so horrible in keeping in touch. I'm hoping that will all change this summer. I know I haven't been talking to you in school or through email, but this summer I'd to change that. How about you invite me to my house and we'll go from there?

Love,
Izzy

Do number seven and number eight have any similarities?

They are both the same religion is all I can think of.

Its your turn, guys. (;

Redwall by Brian Jacques

[This review may contain spoilers.]

Pages: 351

"It is the Summer of the Late Rose, and the gentle mice of Mossflower Wood are gathered at the ancient stone Abbey of Redwall, celebrating a year of peace and abundance. But a sinister shadow has fallen across the Abbey. For it is rumored that Cluny is coming- Cluny, the terrible one-eyed rat and his battle-seasoned horde; Cluny, whose vow is to conquer Redwall!"

First Look: Matthias portrayed in the first few chapters is just adorable. He's very small, clumsy and timid and I thought Jacques portrayed that quite well. I especially loved the bit in chapter one, page 13 where Jacques mentions Matthias's enormous, clunky sandals. It really gave you a mental picture on how small the mouse really was.

Characters: I love that each of the Redwall characters had their own personality. Some characters like Basil Stag Hare were very comical and humorous, others like Constance the Badger were very loyal and strict. And you can't forget about Cluny's infamous horde, most of which were very menacing and villainous. Each of the characters had a very original personality and they all had their own traits that made them them. My favorite character is Silent Sam. Jacques portrays him very well; I felt like I could even hear the sucking sounds he made with his paw!

Setting: The settings in this book are very vivid. Jacques describes the places in the book quite well. I was able to visualize better with the setting drawn out in my head, and it made me get into the book more. All the details that Jacques used to make the setting come alive felt like I was able to step into the book and see everything that was described.

Plot: Cluny and his horde are trying to take over Redwall. They have been trying to steal the Abbey's rare tapestry of Martin the Warrior for a while, and once they took it, it has been a full-fledged, epic war between the citizens of Redwall Abbey and Cluny's infamous horde. The book takes you through lots of twists and turns as you find out if the citizens of Redwall are winning or losing. There are several subplots, one being the Matthias-Cornflower romance and another one with the sparrow Matthias meets, Warbeak. They add character to the book and make it seem less like just another talking animal book.

Conclusion: After several deaths, some good and some bad, the citizens of Redwall have defeated Cluny's infamous horde. With Matthias killing the leader of the pack, Cluny, and then the Joseph Bell ringing its last bell, Jacques is genuinely an amazing writer, especially with victory scenes. However, the good news had to come to an end because Abbot Mortimer, the father and founder of Redwall, dies at the end. A painful and sad death indeed, before he passed, the Abbot knighted Matthias into a Warrior Mouse and  a champion of the order. Cornflower was deemed as his wife, and his sword was renamed as Ratdeath. Then, exactly one year later, good news erupted: Silent Sam learned how to speak.

This was a good book, all in all. I would recommend it to ages 12 and up, due to the intense action scenes and deaths in the book, but this was an amazing book. Brian Jacques might have passed away already, but his legacy will always live on through his craft.

What's the next book on my list? Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter.

A Scorching Award

My first award! And apparently, its burning hot. Thanks to Brooke for awarding this to me and lighting the match.

There are no instructions [and no need for the ten or so facts about yourself, thank goodness] so I'l just list a few bloggers whom I think deserve this award.

I don't know a lot of bloggers, just thought I'd let you all know.

Ezmirelda
Tizzy
Ponytails
JiJi

I will be notifying you all. ^_^ Thanks again for the award, Brooke!

PS: Expect a review of Redwall by tonight. I am on page 341.