Reading Slump? Possibly. Busy? Always.

Things have been crazy for the past week... I know nobody needs the full details of my life on here (let's face it, this place is mainly for books and music and pop culture and stuff) but a lot has been going on lately that has led to me... not reading enough to be worth it to post. My boyfriend and I broke up (long, COMPLICATED story), swim practice has been taking a lot of time up, and I haven't been trying as hard in school either so I need to get on top of that. Plus, I'm sick, and I just didn't feel like reading do to the fact that I can't breathe out of my nose.

But enough about that. On to what I DID read in this past week.

Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast. This book is another installment in the House of Night series, following new vampyre Zoey who has found out she has an affinity for all five elements and is therefore very special in her new, vampyrical world. (Is vampyrical a word?)

I didn't enjoy this book as much in the others in the series. If you've read this far, you'll know Zoey's soul has shattered and she is trapped in the spirit world. Meaning most of the story is told through her friends, Aphrodite, Stevie Ray, Stark, and Rephaim (who is admittedly not a friend, though I hope he will be sooner or later). This made the book a bit dull to me at parts because Zoey's voice was what I loved about the series in the first place. Think Meg Cabot only with a slightly southern twang, and more kick-ass-ish than Mia from The Princess Diaries.

But even without Zoey's tone, there are other parts I enjoyed that have stayed true throughout the whole series. Like how mysticism from every culture is merged: we have a bit of the Wiccan magic with affinities for elements and all that stuff, and then the vampyre lore, and then ancient Native American folktales detailing how the evil spirit threatening Zoey and her friends can be defeated. It all comes together, somehow.

However, this book kind of felt like an intermission between the last book and the next book. I think it'll all come together in the next installment.

Then there was Hush Little Baby by Caroline B. Cooney. When I was younger she was one of my favorite authors, especially for thrillers, before I moved on to Stephen King. I found this one by her I hadn't read and decided to give it a try, and maybe it was just my reading slump-ish mood, but I wasn't that impressed. Books like these entertained me more when I was smaller.

This book starts off with 16-year-old Kit going to her dad's house while he isn't home to grab a sweatshirt and running into her ex-stepmother. Who has a baby. And leaves him there. With only Kit. Kit doesn't even know this baby's NAME, let alone his parents, and now there's strangers calling the house to offer money for the baby. There's definitely more going on than meets the eye; the question is, will Kit be able to figure out what it is before the stakes are too high and more people get hurt?

As far as thrillers go, it wasn't the best, but it was (at risk of sounding like Miley Cyrus) pretty cool. Caroline B. Cooney does this thing where she mixes random observations of how we, as people, live our lives in with the action and at times it does make you think. And she does a great job at describing how the criminals' minds work.

I'll probably loan this to Adrie.

Now if only I could get this song out of my head:

Listened to it a few days ago and it JUST. WON'T. LEAVE. I really wish these guys had stayed together; they kind of suck when they're apart. Well, not suck, but definitely not as good. REUNION NEEDED, GUYS!