Time to Play the Game!

First and foremost, I have to make a comment of last night's episode of Pretty Little Liars. As usual there was a cliffhanger and the plot is evolving slowly but that's on a good note. The girls tried to get rid of "A" but they're going to have to try a lot harder before life can be normal again.

This past weekend I read a brilliant book. This book The Westing Game by deceased author, Ellen Raskin, happens to be amazingly complex. I do want to give you a thorough idea of the context without giving away too much. Raskin's works al have a main theme: disguise. She likes to write fun mysteries usually targeted toward children/ young adults but everyone will enjoy it. The plots can be confusing but by the time the story is complete, every little detail falls into place.

The Westing Game involves a wicked old Sam Westing who decides to play one last trick on his sixteen heirs. Sixteen heirs, eight pairs of teams who are formed together for a reason. One of them is a bomber, one is a faker, one is a theif, some are plain liars ( only for a good cause though),and one paticular person hides valuable information from the other people.

I read this book last summer and because I decided to read this book again, I missed the signs leading to the culprit behind the mystery. As for the mystery, it seems that the wealthy Sam Westing is dead. The problem is Sam Westing has outsmarted his dear sixteen heirs. To be quite honest Sam Westing is similir to Ellen Raskin. Raskin leaves clues throughout her books and she makes sure every word counts. I didn't even realize the use of direction is used as clues to identity the solution of the big mystery until I finished the book, for the second time.

Be warned! There are more than sixteen characters mentioned in the book who are important. Reading the book over the weekend, I forgot who is behind the death of Sam Westing, and I was on the edge of my seat. If you can remember anything about this book, remember this: disguise. Some of the characters take on more than one role. Which characters do this? There's only one way to find out and that's by reading this brillantly worded and plotted book by Ellen Raskin.

Suspense!

Yesterday I watched the third episode of Pretty Little Liars on the ABC Family website. My TV has not been working, and I was deeply saddened by the thought of not being able to watch this weeks episode.

Pretty Little Liars is based on the book series written by Sara Shepard. The storyline revolves around four friends who reunite and find out that their friend, Allison who disappeared over a year in the TV show and three years in the book is now dead. All of the four friends receive text messages relating to secrets only Allison knew in addition to things happening in the present time. There is a beautiful mystery element of the unknown person sending the text messages to Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria. Who this person is I have not figured out yet. It could be Jenna the blind girl who is only blind because of Allison's decided to get sweet revenge on a so called Peeping Tom, Jenna's savior from that terrible nightm her stepbrother or someone else?

This mysterious technique reminds me of another book. I remember my eighth grade teacher reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak to the class and everyone wanting to know why the main character's, Melinda, peers refuse to talk to her once school began in the fall. My teacher didn't finish the book. In my high school years, a friend of mine read the book. I just had to know what happens in the rest of the book so I read it myself. Throughout the novel, Anderson doesn't reveal why Melinda feels the effect of isolation from the students until the end and that the same technique Shepard uses for her multiple books. If you haven't read that book I suggest you do. This book was made into a TV movie with the same title.

I always love reading books that are engaging and I love suspense. These two books are worth reading. Suspense is what keeps the ratings and sales high too!

Dating and Relationship Books

This is officially my first post. I recently graduated from the City College of New York with a Bachelor's degree in English, a concentration in Creative Writing to be exact.

With that being said, I recently read Become Your Own Matchmaker: 8 Easy Steps for Attracting Your Perfect Mate by Patti Stanger with Lisa Johnson Mandell. It was published a year ago but i wanted to wait until it was published in paperback. I know it sounds a bit cheesy to read a book like that, but I am curious on her take on the whole dating process. I have been a fan of her Bravo TV show Millionaire Matchmaker since last year and I absolutely love her bold personality. Even though the main idea behind the book is for a woman to get married in a year or so, she does bring up some valuable points on dating and relationships.

Another book with the same refreshing honesty is Crash Course in Love by VH1 host of Tough Love, Steve Ward and JoAnn Ward. I also happen to love watching this show just for the fun of watching it. The book is mostly written from Steve Ward's perspective and he is pretty blunt. With this book, the goal isn't aiming for marriage but for a committed relationship. It's definitely more realistic, not to say that Stanger's book is not the same, but it's definitely fun to read.

I always find it amusing to talk about love and relationships because everyone has an opinon about it.I might think this is okay to do but when you read it from a matchmaker's perspective, he or she might say that you are going about the dating process the wrong way. I'm sure mostly women would be interested in these types of book such as myself and it's always a good way to transition into another conversation-- one about love.