Review ~ Born by Tara Brown

Born by Tara Brown
Published: 09/19/2012
Pages:1300 Ebook
Purchased: Through Amazon in 2013
Ebook

Summary from Goodreads:
"It's us and them, Em. There are no regular people anymore."
Ten years ago when the world ended she ran for her life.
Five weeks ago the world she'd hidden from came knocking on the door of her secluded cabin.
Ten days ago she found salvation hiding amongst the dead.
Yesterday she went back for the living.
Today she wonders if she will live to see tomorrow.
What do you do when the world you were born to is gone?
Where do you hide when even your own body isn't safe?
Emma ran when her daddy told her to. She hid like he said she should. He was the first person she turned her back on. The first one she let die.
Ten years has gone by and she still lives by the simple rules he taught her when she was nine years old.
"Don't help anyone. Don't go where other people are unless you have to. Trust no one. Always pull the trigger."
Until one night she hears the worst sound in the world, a knock. A simple, timid knock, on the door to her cabin.
Only the voice of the brave little girl, ready to die for her brother, persuades Emma to open the door.
As her fingers turn the lock, she has a terrible feeling she will regret her decision.
But even as regret fills her world, so do love and companionship. Things she never imagined she would ever have again.
Everything comes at a cost, you decide what you'll pay.

My Thoughts:
So at first I loved this book. I mean I really did. I like the world she created, I even liked Em rough spots and all. I enjoyed Em and her struggle with should she stay safe or should she help another person survive? I really enjoyed watching Em move and transformed. I liked the fact that she was a kick ass survivor. I liked that her dad trained her to survive if anything should go wrong. I even loved the fact she had a pet wolf.
But then it all went to crap in a hand basket. Between a love triangle with 2 brothers, a preaching speech about how HORRIBLE the big brother is and let me tell you everything you need to know in order to understand what is going on by the big older sexy brother. Who will then tell you your stupid and physically hurt you yet you know you love him and you can't explain why. Then big tough Em gets all jealous about a girl one of the bros is sleeping with and boom acts like a 5 year old throwing a tantrum that results in her life being in danger. I wanted to give her more credit b/c she hadn't been around people for a long time, she is only 19 and well this is her first crush. However, I just can't.
I am not sure how this book went from good to bad in less then a chapter. Stupid Will. Needless to say while I hated it I still want to know what will happen cause we were left with a cliff hanging ending. So I bought book two. If the love triangle doesn't resolve itself or if Em stays stupid then I will not finish the series.

Monday Movie yay!

The movie was pretty good I have to admit I didn't expect to sit through the whole thing without some major eye rolling. That being said it could be that it was so PACKED with stars I couldn't help but wonder who would come out next to play LOL. The movie is pretty much this generations version of Outbreak but on a larger scale. It has it basic underlying issues. And really its out there to make us more aware which half of us won't be.

I did manage to get through the whole movie until the last five minutes before the dick behind me started coughing I so wanted to shout "really come on man didn't you pay attention to the movie COVER YOUR MOUTH" Gawd some people. Needless to say I was unaware of how often people touch their face and how easy it would be to have a HUGE global pandamic.

So I would recomend you go see this one... if nothing else for the sheer amount of star power and Jude Law's MESSED up teeth seriously I couldn't help but stare and keep thinking man that sterotype needs to die I mean British people have denist too! Lord.

Anywho Final Grade: C (good but not a keeper or re-watch for me)

Movie Monday

Okay so as you may or may not recall last week or so I was watching 3 teenagers while their parents went on a lovely cruise to the warm area known as Mexico. Meanwhile I was stuck in Kansas with our last minute snow and ice storm. Lovely no? So there I was stuck in Kansas with snow and ice and 3 bored beyond belief teenagers with no school. What was a girl to do? Well I hosted a Zombie Movie Marathon I did b/c hey none of them had ever seen the Resident Evil movies. So thus began our introduction to the wonderful world of Alice and well Resdient Evil.

First up was the first movie (duh!) and still to this day my favorite of the Resident Evil movies. This movie introduces us to the umbrella corporation in raccoon city which is an underground city. In the opening sequence we see a bustling city and someone breaking a container. In the next few minutes the city goes haywire and everyone there is killed. Flash forward to the lovely Milla Jovoich naked in the shower unsure of how she got there or where there is. From there we have secret police with Michelle Rodriguez involved, we have two people with memory losses and of course we have to go into the Raccoon City to figure out just what in the hell happened down there. Insert creepy music.

In the mist of all of this I had to explain to the lovely people watching that no it was not zombies yet b/c to have zombies one must have dead people, which by this point we do. But, one must also bring back said dead people in order to get some serious zombie action happening. And when one kills the homicidal computer who speaks with a British accent that is keeping all the dead people dead well you can figure out that they will come back. Which they did in droves. 

Now those of you who haven't seen a zombie movie can figure out where this leads I hope but just in case you have to know that Michelle Rodriquez is in the movie and when she is in a movie she always dies so those in favor of this messed up actress I'm sorry but everyone knows that she has 2 things going against her. First she is a minority no minorities ever live through a zombie/horror movie (hence the black guy was the first to go) Second she is Michelle Rodriquez and well she never makes it through any movie alive... just saying. Okay so the only people to make it out is one Milla HELLO SHE'S LIKE IN EVERY MOVIE AFTER THIS ONE YOU CAN TELL THAT BY THE POSTERS and 2 well I'll leave that as a surprise. It does tie into crappy movie 2.

So my rating: B not the best but still the best of this series

Alright movie number dos or 2 for those of you who can't read Spanish... This was by far my least favorite movie it made no blooming sense and has no true value to the whole arc of a story line they have going other than Umbrella being the stupid corporation they were sent in a science team at the end of movie one and well unleashed the virus to the surface. So now we have Milla AKA Alice waking up in a hospital and stepping outside only to see a city in disaster because the dead have starting coming back. Alice meets up with some rag tag group a black guy (whom has already been bitten) a rough around the edges trying to be the next Alice chick whom I dislike with a passion and hoped beyond hoped she would be bitten, and a Asian news reporter (again don't get attached she dies). They are trying to get out of the city when a British man offers them the way out if and only if they will find his daughter and rescue her. 

So they agree only to meet up with the sexy Oded Fehr HOLY CRAP totally worth it to watch whew he's SWAT baby which means big gun. Anywho his team was trapped AKA left behind by the company when he tried to help a woman. So he is also contacted by said British man. But the corporation knows what's going on and has purposely set them all up b/c they want Alice to meet Nemesis (important b/c this is the survivor of movie 1 people keep up) Okay so during this time we also hook up with funny man Mike Epps and even though he is black he does make it to round 3. Alright so Alice and Nemesis go after it but to know the ending one must watch it I refuse to give away the winner. However, if you are smart you have already figured it out.

The crew manages to escape with little girl in tow no British guy though so be aware only to crash land the plane and Alice is captured. Next time we see her she is in a bubble and naked (come on its Milla of course she has to be naked!!!) Anywho once the bubble breaks we have a daring rescue involving none other than Oded WHEW!!!!

Rating: D there is really no point to this movie other than Oded so yeah not a favorite.

And we have moved on to movie 3 which will pysch you out at first b/c Alice wakes up in the shower again and you start wondering WTH?!?!?! Then you realize that she is dying in the hospital and her body is being dumped in a pile of Alices' which was a little strange. Then the explaination comes the virus has spread around the world PEPS yep watch out the zombies are everywhere. And those few humans alive well their just mean or well Milla kills them as she does with a Whiskey Tango bunch that tries to rape her. Needless to say I could've told ya that wasn't going to work out in your favor but hey we all must learn the hard way no?

This movie is scattered Alice is a loner and hooks up with Oded and Ali Larter (HEROES people Heroes) anywho hooks up wiht her character to help a rag tag bunch of humans trying to live. Mike is still alive but have no fear those of you who know of the minority game in horror movies neither he nor Oded (God rest his soul) live through this movie *headdesk* COME ON HOLLYWOOD Its ok for someone who isn't white to live through horror I promise!!!! Anyway its a trap Umbrella is trying to find Alice and knows where she is heading so Alice knocks on their door. The computers tells Alice she is the key for refusing the curse but she must defeat the evil doctor who kidnapped her in the last 2 movies and has injected himself with the virus in order to do so.

Fast forward and you figured out the winner b/c low and behold there is a 4th movie. The catch we discover that there is a GILLIZION Alices in bubbles and she decides to bring them all back to life watch out now!!!

Rating: B I did enjoy this one I Hated what happened to the men but I did like Ali's character and I liked the action go 3rd movie!!

Alright we have reached the final Resident Evil movie and the only one I hadn't seen before which was nice. This one had a few OH CRAP moments and a few duck your head but mainly b/c it was 3D no the kiddies and I didn't watch it that way but it still had some pop out and scare you moments. This one starts off with Alice and her clones attacking all of the underground cities. In the last city she is given the virus cure and becomes human again. Then she heads to Alaska where she left the last group of kids she rescued AKA Ali's group to see what happened to them.

Only to end up in LA in a  prison with people who hid out there hoping to find the place Ali took the kids too. Turns out it is a boat and now that the plane won't go again its up to Alice to get all the people to the safety of the boat. Problem they have a prisoner who is Wentworth Miller who is fine y'all just saying and second problem they are surrounded by MILLIONS of zombies and one pissed of mutated freak of a zombie. Add to it the zombies are getting smarter like 28 days later zombies so they are grouping together and digging through sewer to get food ect. Fast forward to fighting zombies a freaky shower scene and well you get to where the only ones alive are Milla, Ali and Wentworth on the boat to find out it is an umbrella corporation boat looking for victims to test on and the bad guy in the beginning is back and nasty might I add.

The ending had a twist which means another movie is on the way.

Final grade: C I wasn't impressed but I did flinch and scream at parts. I will watch the next one but won't pay money for it.

So how about you have you seen these movies? Do you agree?

Movie Monday

 Alright last week with being snowed in and unable to attend class I was able to squeeze in 2 movies YEAH!

 First up was Shrek 4 something I have been wanting to see but was scared to due to the whole Shrek 3 disaster. I have to admit I LOVED IT. Basically we start off with Shrek having the prefect life. Except its the same day after day... who can't relate to that. Add to it that no one is scared of him any more no one fears the Ogre. So after making a complete jerk of himself at his kids party he agrees to give one day of his life to go back and live the way it was when he was KING OF THE JUNGLE.

What we learn is that if Shrek did this he never rescued Fiona, never met Donkey, Puss in boats is spoiled and fat and well the King and Queen of Far Far Away don't exist. What happens next is Shrek trying to break the contract in order to get back the thing he wants. His old life boring and all. Can he do it?

I LOVED IT. I adored watching Shrek and Fiona falling in love in a different way this time. Watching Shrek try to fix all his selfish wrongs. Heck I even loved the moral behind it: You never know how good you have it until its gone. This is one I will definitely be adding to the collection and we will pretend like 3 never happened.

Final Grade: A

The Time Traveler's Wife was a different movie. I won't go out and say it was bad but I don't think I got it. There was a lot of hopping around, future Henry, past Henry and current Henry would even interact at times and I felt confused through most of the movie. What I did like was the whole Love story idea behind it. What if you could find the person you loved and started interacting with them from the time they were young what would happen? Or would it turn out where that person felt trapped as if they never had a choice in it?
I did enjoy it but I am wondering if I should read the book and see if that helps to clear things up. Other than that it was decent once I started catching on to different parts and the ending holy crap I cried. I know, I know but I still did even with all the warnings I still did.

Final Grade: C
good but won't watch again.

Did you see any good movies? Don't forget you comment you get to pick a book!

Movie Monday

So I've managed to watched only 3 movies since my last review which is kind of sad when you think about it.

 So the first movie I watched was Jackass 3D and no it was not my choice I was suckered into by a friend. Said friend who just HAD to see it and knew I would say no if I knew where we were going before she bought the tickets. That being said I have never laughed so hard or came so close to puking in a movie theater before this movie but my God it was freakin funny as all get out and WOW gross. The best part for me was Jared Allen who is an ex Chief's player he tackled Johnny Knoxville freaking lost my mind with this scene.

The things these guys do for laughs is amazing in fact the fact that they have been able to reproduce is even more amazing after what they put their bodies through. If you are going to see this movie I would suggest you not eat during, before or after for a while because if you are not laughing you are gagging.

Final Rating B

Next up is the movie that my mom has been wanting to see but it finally came out and she was able to see it. Red is a great movie and by far one of my favorites of this batch. I absolutely loved watching Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirrin and Bruce Willis with Jon Malkovich acting like washed up CIA agents. The plot was good and believable and can I just say that Karl Urban is FREAKIN HAWT I don't care who you are that man whew!!! He will be our Eye Candy Friday real soon I swear.

Okay so basically Bruce Willis character falls in love with the woman on the phone who happens to live in Kansas City BABY! But someone orders all ex CIA agents to be killed that happened to deal with a plan in South America. So they all get together to figure out why people are trying to kill them. There is a lot of action, there is some romance, some wonderful plot developments and well of course watching Helen Mirrin firing a machine gun kicked some serious butt.

Final Rating: A (I will be buying this one on DVD)

Okay I have to say this was the biggest disapointment of all of them. I thought this would be like the original happy and a little sad but still filled with laughing. UH no I ended up balling my freakin eyes out through the whole movie. The comedy that was in it wasn't enough the rest of the time I ended up wondering why I was watching a kid movie to cry.

Basically Andy is going to college and well the toys get sent to daycare by accident only to discover that being played with ALL the time isn't the best thing in the world. So needless to say its Toys break out while Buzz turns Spanish and while that was cute it wasn't enough to lighten the seriousness of the movie. Lord help me but I just didn't care for it.

Final rating: C

Movie Monday

Alright this is another catch up week hopefully by next week I will be able to talk about Red (the newest movie I watched) Sadly only one of these movies was finished the other 2 were DNF and the parts I suffered through were F's! But atlas you can't win them all.

Okay first up is Ethan Hawke's movie Daybreakers. I did enjoy watching this movie it was a nice take on the whole Vampire thing.

Basically most people in the future have decided to become a vampire to live forever and never grow old. Problem: they are running out of blood to survive on. B/c those that decided not to turn are harvest for blood until they run out. Ethan has determined that he doesn't want to be a vampire anymore and in fact never wanted to be but he's in charge of finding out an ulternate blood source. But he hits a snag when he runs into a group of humans who know how to turn a vampire back into a human.

All and all this movie was very interesting and I did enjoy it. I'm not a huge Ethan Hawke fan but hey he does well every once in a blue. If your into semi-scary (not really) vampire movies I highly recommend this. I however, will never need to watch it again which is why I only give it a

Grade of: C

Next up was The Book of Eli and it might just be that I'm burned out on the end of the world type movies but I just could not get through this movie to save my ever loving life. In fact I doubt I even got to the half way point and maybe I should've b/c everyone at works swears this is the movie to watch that it was one of Denzel's greatest.

And yet it did absolutely nothing for me. I had no desire what's so ever to watch it any further or to learn about it. It didn't make me even want to learn what the hell the book of Eli was b/c let's face it I just didn't give a crap.

Grade: DNF

Lastly I attempted to watch the Girl with the Dragon Tat. Mainly b/c everyone is reading the book here at work and I thought well maybe I should watch the movie firs then go from there.

Well that turned out to be a HUGE mistake the sad part I thought the movie was good right up to a very Graphic RAPE scene. Man I hate that. I didn't have a clue that even happened in the book let alone that it would be so graphic in the film. But there it was. Did it benifit the plot NOPE there was absolutlely no reason to have it in either that I can tell. Needless to say I had to stop after that scrub my eyes out and pray that nightmare didn't come haunt me later in the night.

So had that scene been missing I think this movie would've been one of my favorites as it stands its a DNF. Oh and PS this is the Sweedish version maybe the American verison will be less graphic but I will wait for reviews before diving in to that one.

Final Grade: DNF

Movie Monday

Okay this week we have 3 movies that I've been trying to review for a while. So they will be sweet and to the point. God willing!

First up is Legion!

This movie was surprisingly good. I didn't think I would like it and let's be honest the whole Angel saving mankind thing has been over done (or maybe I just think so b/c of Supernatural) but it turns out I really enjoyed it. Plus I was forced to watch it by co-worker who swore it was "like the best EVER!"At first I was worried b/c I can't watch scary movies at all I really, really can't. But this one wasn't so much as scary as it could've been.

The creepiest part was the little boy which OMG freaked me out for days. If you've seen this movie you know what I am talking about. For some reason I really liked the girl that played Charlie and I am starting to grow on that name as well which is werid cause usually I'm anti-boy names for girls.

Anyway Charlie is pregos and her baby will save man kind. Michael is going to stop the angels from killing the baby b/c if he does then Humans can live. If he doesn't then well we are all doomed. The catch Charlie works in a no named resturant in a no named small town and they are all trapped in the diner when the angels attack to kill the child.

Final grade C (good but not good enough to watch over and over)

Okay next up is Battle Royale which the whole reason I even picked this movie up was due to reading the book it's based on. The book AWESOME the movie not so much.

Of course keep in mind the movie is Korean and the book is based in Japan. So the movie changed the names of the kids which turned out to really confuse me and it too liberities with adding in characters which again confused me. The subtitles were not bad and easy to follow but overall the movie had a different feel to it.

I would only recommend this movie if A) you haven't already read the book, and B) if you are into foreign films and enjoy them. Since I only like the romantic/dramatic flicks in foreign lanuages I didn't care for the violence b/c it was just a little more over the top then I am use to but then again I'm not much of a fan of violence.
Final rating D

Lastly was Despicable Me with Steve Carell and I have to say I watched this movie a LONG time ago in fact I watched it when it first came out in the theaters.

This movie is so freakin cute and sweet I LOVED it. Made my animated movie of the year. It was funny and loveable at the same time and that is hard to accomplish. Not to mention it delt with some seriously hard issues like being abandon as a kid and finding someone to love you. Or about being evil and told to be evil only to discover being good isn't so bad.

This movie had me laughing and crying it had me wanting it for Christmas. There's not much more I can say other than this is a great movie to take both kids to and to sit through as a parent!

Final Grade: A

Movie Monday

Whew can you say BEHIND!!! Good Lord and the sad part this week's movie is the latest one I've watched so next week will be a massive collection of CATCH UP. Mainly b/c I plan to watch RED this weekend with my momma!

Okay so my mom had a birthday back in September and SWORE she didn't want to do anything for it. So I asked her to go to the movies with me. And she said OKAY. The first movie we went to was Expendables. The only reason we even went to this one was due to her "I want to see the movie with the OLD ONES in it." I'm like Mom what are you talking about what old ones? She said, "you know the old action guys like Bruce Willis and stuff." I said okay and we found Expendables turns out she meant RED. LOL. Anyway so we watched it. I actually didn't think it was all that bad.

If you're into shoot up and kill them while making a lot of things go up in a ball of fire then this is the movie for you. The thing I really enjoyed about this movie was the humor. And yes the lines were cheesey the writing wasn't the best but my God at times I couldn't stop laughing. And after all isn't that what its about about when watching old people try to relive their glory days LOL.

Well after watching this movie mom asked me which movie I would've picked and I said I wanted to really watch Inception.

Turns out that was the best decision I made b/c mom decided to end her birthday night with this wonderful movie. OMG I can't describe this movie at all its that complex and wonderful.

I know there are people out there who either hated it or loved it I happen to be one of those who ADORED it well mom did too which was great. Its been about a month since we've watched it and we are still talking about it.

This movis is about a man who goes in and steals things through your dreams b/c when your in a dream you never know it isn't real. Take that and amplify it and you truly have a wonderfully written and directed movie.

The cast alone should drive most people insane on how great it was. It had everyone from Leo to Joseph to the girl who played Kitty Pride and Juno. To well here's an official list:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. Can you believe all the actors they got in there.

Of them all I loved Leo's character and Joseph's character those two were excellent together and I hope they do another role together. As always I love Ellen Page she is an excellent actress who is really starting to come into her prime.

Anyway although the movie is complicated and some hate it while others love it I truly think this is a movie you should for sure go see!

Alright so for this week I give:

Inception: A rating for sure!!!

Expendables: I give this movie a C rating while enjoyable not a favorite of mine.

Ninja Assassin Movie Review

First and foremost you must keep in mind that I am a history major and while this is not my time period I do know somethings about Ninja's that being said this a pure entertainment movie b/c the historical facts are MESSED up. Now moving on. The movie itself is HELLA gory so again not for the weak of heart. There is a messed up kind of love story going on that would be sweet if the female involved wasn't so stupid.

Needless to say this guy in the picture is the good guy going against the gang of ninja's he calls a family. He was an orphan that was taken in by a cruel man who taught him to be a ninja so that he could carry out bad deeds and kill people so his master could earn money. The day the master and fellow brother killed his lady love is the day he left.

This story is told through out the movie via flashbacks of how cruel his master was he is cruel through nothing but torture.

In the meantime enter stupid lady reporter who wants to "unmask the ninja clan" via a story even though her source of information was killed very badly. Even though she is told repeatedly to LEAVE IT BE she continues the desire to unmask them. So the good ninja comes and rescues the stupid reporter in the process facing and killing numerous ninjas and the big bad man who killed his first love.

You now have the story just throw in as much blood, guts, gore and super cool ninja moves and WHAM you have said movie.

Now it might sound as if I didn't like this movie the truth is it was okay nice little action flick.

Grade: C

Lesson Learned: Leave the FREAKIN ninja's alone especially when you are warned.