Movie Review: The Avengers

Movie: Marvel’s The Avengers
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 143 minutes
Format: Regular and 3D
Rating: PG–13
Studio: Marvel Studios
Country: USA
Language: English
Official Website: http://marvel.com/avengers_movie/

Director: Joss Whedon
Producer: Kevin Feige
Writer: Joss Whedon

Music: Alan Silvestri
Based on: The Avengers by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson

Release Date: May 4, 2012
Find it: In a theater and Imax theater near you
Scores:

• Metacritic: 69/100 (critics); 8.6/10 (users)  
• Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh: 93% (critics); 96% (users)  
• My rating: ★★★★★

No wonder the movie has made millions, it’s amazing! It is the funniest of all the superhero movies to date. Now I want to see it again.

Did you saw Thor? If you did, know this, Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) is back and with a thirst for vengeance. If you didn’t saw that movie, Loki is Thor’s adopted little brother, who believes he is the only one fit enough to be king.

So Loki is back searching to get revenge on Thor by taking over Earth and subjugating every last human being, whom he compares to ants. Yup, according to Loki, we are ants and he is the boot. His weapon of choice to take over worlds? The Tesseract, known in the comic universe as The Cosmic Cube; it’s a self-sustained source of immeasurable power. Humans (world leaders) want to use it and uncover its secrets to solve the worldwide energy crisis –or so they say– while Loki has other plans for it. So naturally, humans are scrambling in order to avoid succumbing to Loki’s reign of terror. In comes Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) closely follow by Agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) with a plan, a last hope that will prove either the perfect solution or the biggest mistake ever; The Avengers Initiative.

Review: The City of Eternal Hope

Title: The City of Eternal Hope
Series: Standalone
Author: Rina Grant
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Length: 14 Pages (approximate)
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Free Download
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon

A good short story about the decisions we make in life and the consequences that arise from them. The City of Eternal Hope tells the sorry of Bhasset, a female demon, and her downfall from grace. Bhasset’s job is to lure unsuspected humans into willingly give away their souls to her. But when she sets her eyes on Tim she doesn’t realizes that her doom is close. This is a (as far as I’m aware) a kindle only short story of approximately 14 pages long. To tell you more about it will give away the whole plot, but if all you want is to read a quick story that makes you rethink your choices in life you can check this one out.

ARC Review: Gabriel by M.A Abraham

Title: Gabriel
Series: Elven Chronicles, Book 1
Author: M.A. Abraham
Publisher: Smashwords Edition
Length: 183 pages
Publication Date: 2012
Available Format:
Source: ARC in PDF supplied by the author
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon

Book Description:

"He has returned from the wars a hero to his people, savior of their Empire and honored as such, but his world is empty, despite the peace he has won for his people. There is no light where he lives, no soft touch to comfort him, to push away the darkness of his memories. He lives only to serve his King and the world he lives in. He is the High Lord General Gabriel Eagle Claw, Commander of the Combined Elven forces sent into the outside world to bring their people home he travels with his troop to the valley where he has been told they await his coming. She is like a forest creature, wild and free. Warrior trained alongside her brothers. She guards the life and spirit of the forests that surround them, as well as those who live in the valley with them. She also guards a secret, for she is more than just a simple Elven maiden tending to the care of the elements they live in. Bur when blue eyes meet silver each knows they have met their Life Mate, but such things are not as quickly accepted as they are recognized. He would have order in his ranks, she must be free to mark her own trail, he would bind her, tie her, control her. She would test his patience and will to the limit, and challenge his rights to own what she would not give freely."

One of the main reasons I love the fantasy genre so much is for its epic worlds and descriptions. The adventures have a monumental feeling with a wonderful lore supporting the main story arc. That is exactly what I got when I read Gabriel.

Books in News #6

A wrap-up of recent events, announcements, releases, or other news circulating the web.

Hello my amazing followers and lurkers and welcome to another edition of Books in News. Like I mentioned in last week’s meme, May is a pretty busy academic month for me so today’s meme will be on the short side. Sorry for that, I’ll try to make it up on future posts.

If you are a Jeaniene Frost fan you most know by now that a new spin-off series of the Night Huntress will hit stands next month. The new series, called Night Prince, will feature the always funny, hot, Romanian vampire Vlad Tepesh and his Leila, his love interest. Well, reviews from the ARCs of the first book, Once Burned are popping up in various blogs, among them, author Charlaine Harris added her two cents to what I know will soon turn into an avalanche of reviews. Another post and giveaway of the book is being currently hosted by Vampire Book Club.

Now let’s move on from vampires to witches. Kim Harrison’s next installment on The Hollows series has a new publication date. Lately the books have been published on February of each year, but not the next book. Ever-After, the next book about Rachel Morgan and her journey is expected to hit stands on January 22, 2013.

And in news of another of my favorite authors, the next book on the Fever Series, Iced: A Dani O’Malley Novel, is already available for pre-order. Check your favorite buying spot for the book. In the meantime here are the links to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

That is it for today, thank you for stopping by.

Happy Mother's Day!

In this and every day I want to congratulate the real superheroes of our lives. They are the queens of every household and the rock that holds us together. 

With or Without CAPTCHA?

Hello my amazing followers and lurkers, hope you guys are all doing great. I have an important question to ask you. What is your opinion about CAPTCHA?

Don't know what CAPTCHA is? CAPTCHA is that image that you see with scrambled letter and/or numbers whenever you are going to post a comment in most sites nowadays. It is used to verify that the computer through which the comment is being made is handled by a human instead of a bot. This, in turn, helps to weed out spammers from actual followers. But it seems that it also deters people from commenting at all.

The wonderful ladies at the Vampire Book Club were asking their followers to voice their opinions on the matter. Apparently, the topic on how much people dislike this feature has been doing the rounds on the net with an impressively big number of bloggers, articles and videos on how to get rid of this feature. I'm sorry to say that I was oblivious to it, so thank you Chelsea for that great post.

Some CAPTCHAs are simpler than others, some are almost impossible to read. I have to admit that when the CAPTCHA is too difficult to read I give up on commenting altogether. My question is, do you?

For the time being I have disabled this extra step from my blog to see if it makes any difference when it comes to new comments. Still, I will love to know your honest opinions on this feature and whether or not you are happy to see it go. Please answer the following poll and express your opinions on the comments section below.

Poll:

Is Captcha Stopping you from Commenting?
	Yes, I hate captcha!
	Sometimes, depending on the captcha.
	No, I comment regardless
pollcode.com free polls

The Third Fate Blog Tour

Hello my amazing followers and lurkers, May is going to be a bit of a busy month with me hosting four Blog Tour Stops. The first one was last week's Gabriel and its author M.A. Abraham, and today I'm welcoming author Nadja Notariani who brings her novel The Third Fate for you to get a taste for. So please, go ahead and...

Meet the Author:

Nadja Notariani was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania in 1971. Her upbringing included very diverse environments, affording wide and varied richness of ethnic and religious tradition. Raised in both an Italian/Mediterranean American home and a traditional German household, Nadja gleaned the unique benefits of viewing the world through two widely different lenses.

Nadja currently resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her published titles follow.Claiming The Prize, a contemporary romance.Her Dark Baron, a historical novella.The Third Fate, a paranormal romance, published in late March, 2012.

Books in News #5

A wrap-up of recent events, announcements, releases, or other news circulating the web.

Welcome back my amazing followers and lurkers to another ‘Books in News’, your go-to meme for book related news.

First of all let me apologized for last week’s miss. May is the end of the road for the academic year and this is the month that we are stretched thin by the professors. Last weekend I was so overwhelmed by work that I didn’t had a chance to even look for some news.

Now, while searching this week I did come across some of the news from the previous week so I’ll incorporate them on this post; a two in one sort of post, please bear with me.

Let’s start the mega post with the previous week, the one between Sunday April 22, 2012 and Saturday April 28, 2012.

Exclusive content from the next installment in the Mortal Instruments series has been and will continue to be posted on Mundie Moms, one of the main go to blogs when it comes to all things TMI. The series of posts are called City of Lost Souls Celebration and they will continue until May 7, 2012. The posts will include deleted scenes, press release, snippets, and more.

In Hunger Games news, Catching Fire has begun its pre-production process, while the DVD (and I’m assuming Blu-Ray) release can be expected to hit stands around 5 months after the movie’s theatrical release day. Since they movie came out on March, we should be expecting it by the end of August. Meanwhile, the newspaper The Guardian did an article on “the woman behind the phenomenon” and her lack of public appearances.

Gabriel Blitz Tour

Hello my amazing followers and lurkers, today I have a special treat for you. My first Blitz Tour! (Also known as a Blog Hop) To celebrate the occasion, we are being visited today by author Mary Ann Abraham who is here to talk to us a bit about her debut novel “Gabriel” and to give us a slight insight into her mind and the mind of her major characters.

For my review of the book go HERE.

So without further ado, let’s give a warm welcome to M.A. Abraham:

In my mind the kiss of death of any story is slow dialogue. A book that is not moving is one that is apt to get thrown across the room in frustration. I think that reasoning follows through with most anyone who reads. Sure there are people who read books I consider dull, people who think any book that is not academic is not worth reading. I am sure there are people who think Gabriel silly and without purpose. It is not a story that is meant to have a major purpose; it is meant to be entertaining. I hope I reached that goal. It is meant to make you chuckle and shake your head with the things that happen at times between the proverbial covers. It is also meant to show love in all the different forms it can take.

ARC Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Title: The Peculiars
Series: Standalone Book
Author: Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Publisher: Amulet Books
Length: 354 Pages
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Reviewed Format: eGalley through NetGalley
My Rating: ★★½☆☆☆

Description: 
Lena Mattacascar has lived all her life scared of what she might be; hiding her abnormal hands and feet fearing that someone will recognize her as a Peculiar, not knowing if she truly is one. On her 18th birthday her mother hands her over a letter left by her deadbeat dad which prompts her to pack her bags and travel to Scree, a territory believed to be the home of all Peculiars to try to find her long lost father. Will she ever see him again, or will destiny have another plan for her?

Lena, as the female heroine and main character of the story, was –for me– a bit disappointing; she began as a strong character and somehow was replaced halfway through the story. I like my heroines to be strong. Lena’s insecurities were so deeply rooted on her need to be accepted that she let others dictate her actions instead of taking ownership of her situation. She is constantly just waiting to be rescued and relies on others to be able to do anything. Strangely, that is not the character that we meet at the beginning of the book. From the get go Lena seems to be ready to find out her father and just try to make it on her own. However, as soon as she arrives at the first point on her destination she completely develops the damsel in distress syndrome. Even when she ‘takes matters into her own hands’ she is just ignoring the evidence right in front of her and letting other characters’ decisions and actions determine her moves and her path.