Below

Below is the story of Hokk and Elia. Hokk is an outcast from Below, a dark stormy plain, and Elia is a laundress from Above, where its sunny and beautiful but the lower and upper class differences are great. Hokk and Elia get throw together when Elia falls from Above and must hide from the guards on their flying mounts with Hokk's help. Hokk hopes to use Elia to end his banishment. Nothing goes as planned for Hokk and Elia as they travel across the plains to Hokk's city and avoiding the guards from Above.
It took me a few chapters to really wrap my head around the Above and the Below places. Above floats in the air on a giant mountain of a rock and Below is shrouded in clouds that keep Above afloat. I really hope during the series we find out about how this situation happened. It seems to take place far in the future of Earth. Once I got ahold of how the world works, the story was quite enjoyable. A few times I got annoyed with the characters' choices, but both are young and a bit immature so their choices made sense. And I like that Above seems to be slowly dropping from the sky causing problems for everyone, and that catastrophe that seems to be coming is something I look forward to storywise.
I received this book for review at Edelweiss.

Girl of Myth and Legend

Leonie is a seventeen old girl who is stuck in her routine of life. That is until she falls to the ground and begins to glow, which is the beginning of a brand new life. She is of a race called the Chosen, which her father has been hiding from her her whole life. She apparently is a Pulsar, the first in two hundred years, and everyone wants to control her, and she doesn't even know if she wants to be part of that world.
I enjoyed the world that the Girl of Myth and Legend takes place in. I felt like the pacing of the book was a bit off. The beginning was rushed, I'd have liked to get to know Leonie a bit more before she changed. And the travel to her new land I really enjoyed the wonder Leonie felt and the complexity of Korren, her kytean companion. I look forward to the next book in the series, and recommend this book overall as a good modern fantasy read.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

Dragon Round

Dragon Round is the story of Captain Jeryon, a naval captain who is on a mission to get needed medical supplies back to his plagued city. While the Comber is underway, it is attacked by a dragon. When dragons attack ships the ships rarely survive, but Jeryon manages to lead his crew in defeating the dragon but they sustain heavy losses. Jeryon wants to leave the dragon carcass behind so they can get back to the city with the medical supplies but his officers have other ideas and mutiny so they can render the dragon for its prized hide and bones. The Apothecary is the only one to stand against the mutiny, so the crew put both the Apothecary and Captain on a dingy with no supplies, oars, or weapons. They call it a "Captain's Chance", which to Jeryon it means his mates were too much of a coward to kill him outright.
I love Naomi Novik's books and The Dragon Round's description made it sound very similar. I really wanted to like it. However after the initial dragon training once they found his egg on the island, it started to lose me. It quickly became a story of vengeance which would have been fine but it seemed too easy. Also the characters who were the main characters throughout the first two-thirds of the book were barely present except in the background during the last third. Many new characters were introduced and took over the story as well. The concept was interesting but it lost me in the end by changing who the story was following. If it had briefly changed and returned to Jeryon or even the poth I could have stayed involved, but alas it did not. I wouldn't say it was a bad book, but when comparing to Naomi Novik's Temeraire series its comes up short.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

The Indian Family Kitchen Cookbook

I'm a glutton for cookbooks. I can't get enough of them. Some definitely are better quality than others. The Indian Family Kitchen is one of the better ones. The pictures are amazing and make the food look delicious.
This was not your typical Ethnic Cookbook either. I love cooking Indian but many times the recipes seem overly complicated or time consuming. Anjali Pathak takes Indian flavors and some traditional dishes and makes them accessible to anyone wanting to cook them. She twists dishes of other regions cuisines and gives them an Indian flavor profile. She gives you shortcuts to make traditional Indian recipes from an American kitchen with more commonly found ingredients.
There are a ton of recipes I can't wait to try and my mouths waters just skipping through the pictures. Anjali also in her short descriptions of each dish really brings you into her life with short stories of her inspirations for dishes.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Deadpool

So I'm pretty geeky, however I never had an opportunity as a child to get into comic books like so many other geeks. And now in my 30s it seems like a daunting task to start reading comics from the beginning. So going into movies based on comic books I'm limited knowledge wise to what I read on the internet and usually am pleasantly surprised. With Deadpool I tried not to read too much. I went in knowing he was a near immortal wisecracking anti-hero. I watched every trailer available and was really excited going into it.
Deadpool did not disappoint! I was laughing from the opening credits up until the end. It was a hilarious, epic romance action movie. And as an added bonus Ryan Reynolds has quite a few nude scenes which has nearly convinced my roommate's girlfriend to go see it. It is a bit scrambled at times, but it also matches Deadpool's scattered personality so it fits. Anyone who enjoys superhero movies, action movies, or funny movies will enjoy this I think. There is a lot of nudity, graphic violence, and sexual humor so it is definitely not for the younger crowd. You've been warned!

Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar! is a comedy by the Coen Brothers that takes place in the 1950s Hollywood. Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is the biggest star on Earth and is kidnapped with only a day left to shoot the biggest blockbuster of the year. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the studio executive trying to keep the studio running business as usual and putting out fires daily to keep their actors in line and avoiding unwanted news stories.
Not only do the Coen Brothers deliver a monstrous cast of heavy hitters, they also put out a great show. Every actor gives an awesome performance, but especially Channing Tatum as the "song and dance guy" Burt Gurney. Tatum shows his singing and dancing chops doing a six minute tap dance number that was thoroughly entertaining and is reminiscent of Gene Kelly.
There were a few twists that I didn't see coming which added to my enjoyment of the film, and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys the Coen Brothers' other works or loves the films of the 1950s.

Dirty Grandpa

Dirty Grandpa definitely delivers on its name. I generally will see anything Robert De Niro is in, and having him play a foulmouthed, horny grandpa is just an added bonus. Its been a while since I've really seen anything Zac Efron has been in, the last being 17 Again since I somehow still haven't seen Neighbors. I love the dynamic between Efron and De Niro. Efron is an uptight lawyer who's life has been planned out for him by his father and is about to get married to an equally uptight Julianne Hough. De Niro needs a ride to get down to Boca Raton and cons his grandson (Efron) to give him a ride. However, Grandpa's intentions are quickly exposed where he just wants to get laid after not having sex in 15 years. He again cons his grandson to going to Daytona Beach where things go quickly south for Efron's character.
While not necessarily an award winning comedy, it is definitely funny and worth a watch if you enjoy raunchier comedies. There is LOTS of nudity, drugs, and drinking, including Efron being nearly completely naked. (He definitely works out) If you are easily offended, its probably not the movie for you. Everyone gave very believable performances and De Niro as always is awesome. I especially enjoyed Hough's character, since I've been a fan of hers since she was a pro on Dancing with the Stars. And Aubrey Plaza's character while similar to most of the character's I've seen her play was comedic gold.
If you want to laugh, Dirty Grandpa is the movie to see.

Darkness Fair: Book Two in the Dark Cycle Series

Darkness Fair picks up shortly after Darkness Brutal left off. Aiden is trying to figure out his new powers, Ava is still stuck between the living and the dead, and Rebecca doesn't really know where she stands in the world.
The Dark Cycle Series definitely falls in the young adult fantasy category however the themes and dark themes and feel are much more adult than what I've normally read for young adult. Each character has been beaten down or broken for some reason in their life but they are still trying to save the world from the oncoming darkness.
The first time I started reading book one, Darkness Brutal, I didn't get pulled in right away. I had to put it aside for a month or two then I decided to give it another go. That's when I got sucked in and read the whole book in one day. I was pretty excited to see book two was available and I got sucked in quickly. So many dark fantasies dealing with angels and demons don't really show how good and evil people and the supernatural can be. In theory they are evil but they don't do anything too brutal or savage. The evil is usually more grand scheme. In this series there is the normal grand scheme evil but it also gets down and dirty with blood and gore and death. This is definitely not a normal young adult dark fantasy, but I really enjoyed the story and had trouble putting it down. It really shows that good doesn't always automatically win, and there are many young kids and adults who have really had it bad growing up and they are just doing the best they can do not only live but also survive.
I really recommend this series to anyone who enjoys dark contemporary fantasy. It feels like a rated R version of Supernatural at times.

I received this book for review at NetGalley.