Excitement abounds, and some Books

What a crazy few weeks! I was actually hoping to have posted back on the 5th for my little brothers birthday but got caught up and now here I am. So I must say a very Happy Belated Birthday to a wonderful younger brother whom I need to stop calling my little brother cause, well, lets face it, you've been taller then me since middle school. I love you lots kiddo and am so happy for you and your hot new wife, love!
On some other news, I haven't told many people, but I have been applying for graduate school for the coming fall. I received 2 rejection emails and was disappointed over the past two weeks, but was not devastated because the programs were not really what I wanted anymore. This past Wednesday though, I received an email from the one I wanted and I was accepted! I start in the fall and am SO excited! Thanks for the congrats from my family and friends so far! I was bouncing off the walls for a good 24 hours and now am coming down from my high. I know it will not last long and soon enough I will be thinking "what the hell did I get myself into..." but for now, I will enjoy the euphoria.

Now the books. I recently finished a couple of reads, one being The Host By Stephanie Meyers whom also wrote the Twilight Series. Slight spoils to come so those of you whom are planning to read stop now. This being her first "adult novel", I was expecting a bit more from Meyers writing and also after finishing the Twilight Series maybe see a growth in her writing skills. I felt that this was not the case at all. It was a very long book too and I felt she could have edited out about 200 pages. Though the writing and length were not what I had hoped for, the story did keep me engaged and wanting to finish. One thing about Meyers, she definitely has a topic that will keep you plugged in. I did skip a few chapters at one point just knowing where they were headed and found that I hadn't missed much at all once I picked back up in the next chapter. It's interesting though how Meyers seems to create these protagonists that are very much self-sacrificing and always thinking about others. This was shown through Twilight with Bella and now in The Host with Wanderer. Hmm. It's an okay read, but be prepared to feel like your not going anywhere till the very end.

The second book I finished was The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares whom wrote The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I haven't read the Sisterhood, but did listen to the first one on CD on a very long drive once with Bobo in the car and thought it was a good story that kept me interested. I've also seen both the movies too, but I don't think movies are really good representations of books most of the time. Anyway, it is a book meant to be read by a pool or on a beach enjoying the sun and summer fun as described in the book. It was fun and fast to read but nothing too exciting I felt. The plot was pretty predictable and at first the writing was a bit strange to me due to what I believe was reading too much first person from Meyers, but soon things picked up. So save this one for your swim towel and sunglasses! It made me crave summer even more!