Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Title: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods and Monsters #1)
Author: Kelly Keaton
Page Count: 320
Book Website: http://kellykeaton.net/
Published: Feb. 22, 2011
Source: Friend loan

Ari is unique- she always has been, and always will be. It's not because of her personality, but because she has silver hair that won't change in any way and bright teal eyes that stand out in any situation. Ari grew up in foster care- she loves her parents, even though they're not biological, and she wouldn't change that they were the best thing to happen to her... But she wonders who she is... Really, what kid has bright silver hair before they've really even started aging? So, that's where the book starts out. It has some romance in it, and there's some confusion, but eh...

Overall, though, I have to say this book was a fair read. It wasn't anything amazing or extraordinary. I read it very quickly, with not much thought to put into it... These are the types of reads I like to get into during the school year because it doesn't take much, whereas my school work takes a lot of my mental power... By the end of the day, I was ready for it, and I read it within like three or four nights of eh.. 20-30 minutes before I decided to sleep.

(Must apologize for the short review, I'm at school. xD)

My Love Unscripted review from a while back got the most views out of any. Actually, it's the only one that has over 20 views. That post is over 600 views, and for that, I think people who come across this blog will be interested in this information.

So, if you don't go to Tina Reber's website regularly, you wouldn't see this. I'm here to tell you about release date information. I was informed via goodreads and Reber's page that it would be released August 31. Well that changed. I went to the page today, to see if it was out, and this is what shows up:

This is exactly what we've been waiting for. If you have an e-reader or don't mind reading via computer screen, go find it in a few days. If not, we have to wait until January 29, 2013.

Happy excitement and all the feels. :D

Keep up with Reber updates via this link to her official website, and keep reading!

Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Page count: 213
Book Website: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Stephen-Chbosky/1843916
Published: Feb. 1, 1999
Source: Friend suggestion, also wanted to read before the movie came out. :)

So first off- I want to explain the hiatus that I'm breaking now. College- simple as that. This book took me quite a while to read, not because of difficulty, but but because of time restraints. Anywho, let's get on with the review.

Logan Lerman as Charlie in the film adaptation
of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sept. 2012

This was totally not the book I expected it to be. Actually, I don't know what I was expecting- this wasn't it. The format is unique, for the main character writes letters to an unknown recipient to tell them what happened. The names aren't correct, because he doesn't want anyone to know who he is. The correct names don't really matter, because the whole book is mostly about his freshman year in high school. To be honest, I don't know how old Chbosky is, but he has his main character sounding surprisingly innocent. These days, you don't get that very often, and it took me off guard. Charlie, the main character, is very innocent, sweet, and sensitive- much like a young child and not so much like the fourteen year old he really is. This could be that he was 14 back in 1992, and I was just being born; times really have changed. But right from the get-go I felt like he was special in some sort of way, not a "normal" teenager (if there really is such a thing, right? xD). He likes school, and he doesn't mind when his favorite teacher Bill gives him extra books to read- actually he loves reading and the stuff Bill gives him interests him. To contrast Charlie with myself, I wouldn't necessarily give my best friends "To Kill a Mockingbird," as well as some other more "classic" reads as graduation gifts. I'm not that kind of reader, my friends aren't either... 

Anywho, besides school, the book deals with peer pressure, underage drinking and cigarette smoking, drug use, masturbation, and a whole range of things any high school student today at least knows about in the fifth grade- just from the detailed health classes schools give nowadays. I just about got a kick out of this part where Charlie asks if the reader knows about masturbation and how it feels. He explains it in  a serious tone, and it just made me giggle. With the teenage pregnancy rates, anyone these days that will get their hands on this book will have already known about this. 

Emma Watson as Sam in the film adaptation of The Perks of
Being a Wallflower, Sept. 2012

Drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes are a huge bit of Charlie's life once he gets to some friends. Sam and Patrick are siblings by marriage, and those are his two best friends... I really don't want to blame them, but if he wouldn't have met them, Charlie wouldn't have started these things. It leads to depression and a two month long hospital visit toward the end of the book for Charlie. 

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. I know I'm way late to the party- this book came out when I was just a wee little kid, oh gosh... I was 7 years old. The reason I heard about this book was because of a friend, and then the movie with Emma Watson is coming out in a few weeks and I didn't want to see before reading. I hate when I do that. And any Harry Potter fan who loves Emma has to go see this movie, she looks beautiful in it! Plus, we get to see her act out an American accent. It's going to take some getting used to.