Welcome to the Creative Corner!

Hi! Welcome to the Creative Corner! This is going to be a site devoted to book-lovers like me who are always looking for a good read. I am going to do book reviews, recommendations, list off short stories and post some of my own. If you are looking for a good, reliable source for all things book, you've found it. So, again, welcome! Hope you visit my site again soon!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Restart!

Just to let you know, if you haven't already seen it, my last fanfiction was a bust. I mean, really, it was more just me saying what happen to the many characters in The Heros of Olympus series than a constructed, in-depth story continuation. Anyways, I've decided to try again with Leo and Calypso, since there is a huge margin for a story there from Calypso's point of view, especially since she spent eons on Ogygia waiting for him. What did she even do all that time, abandoned and alone? Anyways, here we go:


   Calypso was getting tired of Leo. He had only been there 5 days, and already she hated his presence. Yesterday he walked in the entrance of her cave, and she threw a pot at his head. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction at seeing him run away. He was bent on trying to escape, although she had already explained to him that it wouldn't ever work. The island's magic was probably closed for good anyways.
   And then she had to give him food. Calypso was sick of making food deliveries. She didn't think he could die here, and although that change would probably be welcome, he was still a person, and she didn't want to see him suffer. Lately she had just left it out away from her home and he would collect it later, but still, it was bothersome. He was bothersome.
  And let's not forget his clothes. The past 2 days he had burned through his clothes, and she didn't expect those habits to change anytime soon. She would have to weave him new ones each day. It wasn't exactly hard, but it was annoying. Why couldn't he have been another, more likable, more handsome hero?
   As she went to bed that night, she sighed. Her luck was completely rotten.

   Calypso woke up to the sound of the birds outside and to her fountain. She got up, got dressed, and went out to her garden to tend to the plants. Then Calypso saw the fountain. One satyr statue on the fountain was tilted sideways and the water was spewing over the fountain at random moments. She tried everything she knew how to do to fix it, but still couldn't manage to twist it and get the water pressure on again. Reluctantly, after 3 hours of work, she knew that she couldn't do it alone. She never had tried to fix anything like this, and she had no experience that could help her with this specifically. She had to ask Leo for help. She shuddered, but walked down to his makeshift camp and brought him up to fix the fountain.
   Leo solved the problem in under 5 minutes. he called it an 'easy fix'. Go figure. She thanked him, half surprised he wasn't rubbing it back in her face, but he seemed genuine about the whole situation. Odd.
   As she fell asleep, the last thoughts she had about him were ' . . . maybe he isn't so bad after all'.

   Over the next couple days, Leo had made a small forge and was working on a new project. Calypso had come down once to check on him, but the first thing she noticed was that all of the birds and other animals (which she had relied on for company during her long periods of loneliness) were running and flying away from that side of the island due to Leo's hammering and smoke. She voiced her complaints, but he just mockingly replied, "Oh, no, not the birds!" He still believed that there would be a way off her island, and continued working on. Angrily, she told him that she had brought down more food for him, since he hadn't eaten in 2 days. He looked surprised that she had noticed at all, as she had stopped picking up and carrying the food to their meeting spot (and had started sending her invisible servants to do it instead) and generally tried to ignore him unless she wanted to ask him a favor. He promised to hammer quieter, to which she said "Huh" in a dull, unimpressed voice. Just because he did her some favors lately did not make him any less annoying and imposing, and it certainly didn't make her like him any more. Calypso was determined not to like him at all.
   However, she was sick of making him new clothes each day, and so she decided to make him ones that were fireproof. she would have made them plain white, but then decided to look into the past and create them based on clothes he had already worn. If she was already weaving them with magic anyways, what difference did it make? It would be a surprise, and a thank you gift for the fact that he fixed the fountain and did a handful of other small fixes.
   When she went to drop the clothes off, she came up behind Leo and started talking. He dropped his wires and jumped. After a few seconds of staring at her mindlessly with wide eyes, he shook his head and took the clothes, then sarcastically said something about her really warming up to him. Calypso blushed deeply and angrily stated that she only had an interest in not making him new clothes all the time and explained that it was a thanks for all the other things he had fixed for her. He laughed when she started naming them off, but then his excuses began coming out slightly slower, and he looked just a little bit flustered. "You're really warming up to me," she repeated, though not to be mean. Right then, she was really having fun. As he showed her the Archimedes sphere he had been working so hard on, then promptly lit his shirt on fire, she tried not to laugh. It didn't work as he had hoped, but then Calypso suggested singing to clear his mind so he could think straighter. She sang a few lines, then stopped and opened her eyes. Leo was staring at her so hard it was slightly unnerving, as if she was the only thing there. She shifted slightly and changed the subject. "Any luck?" she asked. His eyes tore away from her with a struggle and he went back to the sphere, which he made work with ease this time.
   Scenes played out from the outside world. The last one was of a beautiful Roman roughly his age, flying across the ocean on a severely wounded and tired Pegasus. They were flying into a huge storm. Leo screamed, "No, not now. Show me what happens!" Calypso couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of jealousy as she asked him if the girl they just saw was his girlfriend. He stared at her as if she was crazy, and then proclaimed that he didn't have one but still needed to see more. Gaea appeared and tried to strike up a deal with her. In exchange for Leo, she could have any number of things, including Percy Jackson, who would be hers to "punish or love" as she so chose. But if her evil grandmother wanted Leo, that meant that he was vital to his team aboard his ship, and could tip the balance of the war. No. Gaea couldn't have him. Calypso wouldn't be swayed by the evil lineage of her family again like she was in the first titan war just because they were family. Leo was her friend, and she would have to help him get back to his ship to save the world.

   In the nest week, Calypso had completed all the tasks Leo had given her to help out with, such as gathering supplies, weaving rope, and making rigging and sails and had started pitching in with some of his. They were going to make a boat that he could ride out of Ogygia on. The unofficial rules that said he couldn't eat with her seemed to be abolished, and they were eating dinner that night when he started talking about the machine shop that he would open, and how he could hire her. He added on, "We could even provide entertainment. You could sing and I could, like, randomly burst into flames." Calypso laughed, and inside, her heart did a little flip. He remarked on how funny he was, and she tried to kill her smile. "You are not funny," she replied. She was trying, actually making an effort not to like Leo, who she had despised when he first arrived. He would leave anyways. She wouldn't fall for him like she had every other hero and have her heart broken. And yet . . . the ideas he shared with her, however, about him coming back for her, and them starting up a shop were really sweet. Her heart just wasn't entirely with the program.
   She asked when he was going to be able to leave, sure that Leo would be just as antsy to get off her island as he was when he arrived, but he answered 'about another week' with a completely calm voice, as if staying a little longer wouldn't bother him anymore. She wondered why that had changed now.
   Leo, as dinner was ending, surprised her again by bringing up how he wanted to fix his metal dragon and then come back to rescue her. She explained once more how it wouldn't work and how she couldn't leave, but he sounded so sure of his plan it was hard to believe what she was telling herself anymore. He went back to his plans for the boat when a small raft appeared on the beach.
   Calypso hurriedly crammed Leo's supplies onto the boat and told him to hurry, since she didn't know how long it would stay for. The raft only appeared for those she fell in love with though, which meant . . . another hero would break her heart again. Leo, seconds later, shared that thought, although he voiced it aloud. She replied by telling him not to push his luck, and not to make her any empty promises about coming back. no man found Ogygia twice.
   When Leo began to argue with her, she kissed him, and then shoved him onto the raft. His voice was unusually high. As the magical raft floated away, tears streamed down her face. She wiped her face furiously as she stormed up the beach, retreating to her cave.

   Calypso, within the next month, had packed everything she would need to take to the outside world in 2 light suitcases. She always kept them on the beach, so if, by some miracle, someone came back for her, she would be ready.
   Years and years and years past on Ogygia, and still nothing. She stopped going to that part of the beach. Calypso told herself that nobody would come. Her slim hopes were dashed.
   One day, she woke up exceptionally early. She felt strange, and somehow wanted to go down to that stretch of beach again. She called her invisible servants to go with her in case she needed them. Something would happen today; she could feel it. Calypso waited until sunset on the beach when she saw a shining glint of metal in the sky, followed by loud whoops of joy. She smiled slowly.


 
 . . . And that's the end. Sorry it was so long, but I tried hard not to make it overly sappy and stuff yet still fit it in with Leo's account of what happened in The House Of Hades. Hope you enjoyed this!

Just to let you know . . .

I have just updated the Creative Corner by adding a Google Search Bar to my blog. This will allow anyone on the blog to search for their favorite posts and such. I am still deciding whether or not to keep it indefinitely, but for now, it's going to be here as a tool at your disposal. Just search the words in the box, and every post related to those words will appear. Thanks!

Friday, July 17, 2015

The Missing, Book 8

The Missing, Book 8: Redeemed by Margaret Peterson Haddix is finally coming out. YAYYY! It will be the conclusion to this riveting series and will elaborate more on the prospect of Jonah having a new twin brother (yeah, I wasn't really expecting that in the last book . . .). Here is the new cover:



Here is the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Redeemed-The-Missing-Book-8-ebook/dp/B00BSAOFCA  
And here is a link to Haddix's site: http://www.haddixbooks.com/home.html 

Also, Redeemed comes out on 09/08/2015, so look for it in the fall! 

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Pennyroyal Academy

* * * * */ Five Stars ( it just made it to five, since it had lots of twists I personally wasn't expecting!)

Genre: Action, Adventure, (some slight) Humor, Fantasy, Loss, Mystery, Suspense, (and a tiny sprinkling of) Romance

In this enchanting and magical book by M. A. Larson, a girl is lost in the woods for the fourth night in a row. She doesn't know who she is or what she's doing there, but she has a sneaking suspicion that if she doesn't get out soon, she'll be dead one way or another from any number of separate causes. She is walking around with only spiderwebs to cover her and is caked in mud when a witch captures her. She escapes with the help of another boy who is trapped, whose name is Remington, and who tells her that he is heading to the famous Pennyroyal Academy to train as a knight. Advised by him to go there as well to become a princess, she and him travel there together, where she signs up to train. She soon makes new friends, who help her come up with the name Evie, she begins her training and learns how to fight witches with compassion, the proper way to jump out of towers, how to make dresses, unarming and defeating boys in battle, and much more. But will Evie ever find out who she really is and save all her friends from terrible fates, or will she be kicked out of school and doomed to never belong anywhere?
I really enjoyed this inventive novel. It kind-of reminds me of the book, 'The School for Good and Evil' that I wrote about a while back. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a thrilling adventure mixed with a dazzling, whimsical setting and a riveting mystery. It is sure to be a widespread crowd-pleaser!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy (late) 4th of July, viewers! Enjoy this video of the Macy's 2015 fireworks display in the spirit of the holiday! 


Fablehaven

* * * */ Four Stars

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Humor

In this awesome book by Brandon Mull, you meet Kendra and her cheeky brother Seth, who are dreading spending time with their grandparents, since they haven't ever reached out or know much of anything about their grandkids. They are only taking the kids in because they have to, since their parents are going on a family cruise. Which, apparently, didn't include the children. As they settle in on their grandfather's estate, which is apparently missing their grand-mother, they begin to notice strange happenings, such as the fact that there is a creepy old lady struggling with a rope in the woods, and that all of the butterflies and such are attracted to mirrors. Soon they learn the truth about the strange estate they are on; it is actually a secret magical preserve called Fablehaven that shelters the creatures inside of it; both good and evil. During the equinox, Seth opens the window, allowing demons and other such creatures of darkness into the house, where they steal away their grandfather and terrorize the rest of the staff. It's up to Kendra and Seth to right their wrongs, save their friends and family, and prevent all of Fablehaven from falling. But can they even make it out alive?
I am a fan of Mull, and I really like his work and this series, but I wish that there was more elaboration on this first book, which is why it got downgraded a star. Anyways, I recommend this novel to anyone with a taste for excitement and a yearning for an amazing adventure.  

Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark

* * * * */ Five Stars 

Genre: Action, Adventure, (some slight) Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Futuristic 

Meet Finn Whitman. He and four other teenagers were selected by the Disney company to be models for their new programs, DHIs; Disney Interactive Hosts, or designated holograms that will show visitors around the parks. The money they received and the lifetime passes to Disney seemed too good to be true, and they accepted these gifts along with other freebies openly in exchange for having their faces plastered all over the major Disney outlets. What they didn't realize was that the holograms aren't just to show visitors around; each night, the band of fives' consciousnesses are transported into their hologram, and they explore the parks while they are suspended in sleep. But the dangers are very real. Whatever injuries and traumas happen while you are a hologram are there on your physical body in the morning, and that isn't all they need to worry about. You could be captured and rendered unable to return back to your human self, trapped as a hologram. You could die. Finn Whitman and the others are discovering the dark side of Disney; one where the villains (who call themselves Overtakers) want to overthrow the heroes and take over the parks once and for all. It is up to the Kingdom Keepers to stop them. Can they succeed in defeating the forces of evil, or will they fail, and the Disney magic be lost forever?  
I adored this creative book by Ridley Pearson. It was beautifully written and I loved this amazing blend of mystical magics and real-life situations. It is sure to be a real success and an instant hit with anyone who reads it!