Blind Me with a Lemony Kiss

•9 February 2010 • Leave a Comment
Alright my girly girls!!!  I need your help!!
WHAT?!! It’s not Friday?!! Who the hell let you out ?
 
Omg!! I just broke free from my cage but I have a good reason!! Girly girls!! Follow me down the yellow brick road and help sign the ballet!! I’m not letting that Angstgoddess win this!!
Win what?!!
 
Why the Golden Lemon for BEST  KISS  of course!!
She’s won enough!! I mean I love her, she’s great, and la de da!! But LADIES!!   How much more praise can we give her?  She’s had her time in the spotlight!! It’s time to hand it over to another cuz ladies……Blindward is going head to head with Wideawakeward!!!  And for reals I am so not gonna let that boy win!!  He’s won enough!! He’s won it all!! Let’s give BLINDWARD a shot!!
 
So,help me out kidderoos!!! PLEASE!!!  Take a sec outta your time and let’s get an UNDERDOG to win this one!!   Vote for “The Beauty Within” to win for Best Kiss!!  With your help we can make me a happy girl and Fragile go squee!!
Hurry before it’s too late!! Contest ends this Saturday!!
 
 
The Golden Lemon Website —————>  http://www.goldenlemonawards.com/
 
 
*brought to you by the President of Team Blindward For All.
 
 
 
 
Also, I should probably mention that Fragile’s first fic “Breathe Me” got a nod for Best Cherry Pop.  Vote for that too!! It will motivate her to thank me with a juicy Josef hubba hubba scene ;)
 
 
Well… what are you waiting for?  Don’t just stand there!! GO VOTE!!!

Beautiful Creatures Discussion – Week 3

•7 February 2010 • 5 Comments

SPOILER WARNING: This post discusses the plot of the book Beautiful Creatures. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further.

We are completely stoked to have our first completely guest-written post, and the kick-ass lady that’s done us the honor is FireCrotch from We Bite Pretty Hard. Without further ado, here we go!

I just want to take a quick second to thank Fragile hosting this awesome discussion and letting me take part in leading this week’s post. I can’t say that I’m a virgin like last week’s esteemed pair…I’ve been around the block a couple of times. Some might say I’m a discussion whore…I think I’m just looking for a good time. And without further ado, let’s get on with the discussion!

9.14: The Real Boo Radley

Trying to lose himself in The Catcher in the Rye long enough to fall asleep, Ethan quickly realizes that he’s not alone in his own mind. He calls out Lena for lurking in his thoughts even though she swears she was asleep. They realize that they are on their own for trying to figure out how Lena can drop in on his thoughts, and Ethan drops the “we” bomb. It doesn’t explode, but it’s sitting out there waiting for the moment when Lena realizes how deeply attached Ethan has become.

I hoped she couldn’t read all my thoughts.

Basketball. I was definitely going to have to spend more time thinking about basketball.

Oh Ethan, you are a dirty boy, aren’t you? Heh.

Another morning, another dream. Ethan wakes up soaking wet and late for breakfast. Amma serves up his eggs with biscuits and gravy (these breakfasts make me jealous) and a side of aggravation. Ethan causing trouble at school was an unusual occurrence and Amma was not happy about it.

“Don’t want to hear about any green eyes and black hair. It’s fixin’ to come up a bad cloud today, so you be careful.”

Seems Amma was in the lecturing mood, and Ethan could feel that bad cloud coming.

When Link pulled up in the Beater, Ethan was informed of the lynch mob headed by Gatlin’s finest…Mrs. Lincoln. The wonderful ladies of the DAR were “burnin’ up the phone lines” talking about the window breaking in English class and how Ethan’s girlfriend had a sordid past including living in a mental institution. Ethan was quick to jump off the girlfriend train, but Link wasn’t having any of it. With a final warning to lay low with his “friend,” Link pulled up to the school, greeted by the sight of his mother and the other DAR members crowding around Principal Harper.

Lena was sitting in the hearse furiously writing in her notebook. Ethan would not be deterred by her ignoring him. They connected through their thoughts. Ethan asked her if she could hear what the mother’s were saying to Prinicipal Harper. Lena responded by saying that she can’t read minds…well except for Ethan’s.

“It’s never been like this with anyone before.”

I wanted to tell her I knew how she felt. I wanted to tell her when we were together like that in our minds, even if our bodies were a million miles away, I felt closer to her than I’d ever felt to anyone.

Wowza! How romantic is that? But Ethan totally chickened out…he didn’t want to look like a pyscho being in love with this girl he hardly knew right? Instead he lamely responded with, “ Yeah. Girls say that to me all the time.” Ugh, I want to crawl into a hole and die for him.

They speak about the dream from the night before. Lena even had a mark on her wrist where Ethan had tried to hold on to her. They had both seen Lena sink into the darkness. Lena again warns Ethan to stay away from her, but he just ignores her warning. He is a smitten kitten if you ask me. He didn’t care that he was about to walk into a shit storm at school. He only cared about Lena…he could talk to her forever. *sigh*

Ethan asks about her birthday again and Lena quickly changes the topic back to the locket. Ethan relays the information he learned from the Sisters about the initials on the locket. He suggests that Lena ask her uncle about the locket, and she totally brushes him off and drives away from the school. Ethan was relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about her and deal with what was coming his way today too.

As he walked into the school Mrs. Lincoln asked him who he was talking to so intently. She then told him that Principal Harper was going to offer Lena an occupation transfer to another school.

“I’m sure you understand my meanin’. After all, you’re one of us. Your daddy was born here and your mamma was buried here. You belong here. Not everyone does.”

Mrs. Lincoln was out for more than banning books. She wanted to keep the outsiders out as well.

After the confrontation with Mrs. Lincoln in the parking lot, Ethan’s day became abnormally normal…until he got home to find Amma standing out on the front porch. She wanted to know if he had seen the girl again. Technically Lena hadn’t been at school. As he ran up the stairs he hatched a plan for after dinner. Ethan hated lying to Amma, but he had to find out more about the locket, about Genevieve, about Lena. He told Amma that Link was picking him up after dinner to work on a history project at the library. And just to make sure that Amma bought it, he ate 3 helpings of pulled pork before leaving the house even though his stomach was tied in knots. His mom’s best friend Marian Ashcroft was the head librarian and the second smartest historian in Gatlin. Ethan hadn’t set foot in the library since his mother died, and he knew that Amma wouldn’t even bother to check up on him there. Link honked the horn and Ethan fled the kitchen feeling guilty for lying to Amma.

Standing in front of the door to Ravenwood, Ethan was starting to have second thoughts about coming over uninvited. Lena opened the door and looked like she was ready to have dinner at a fancy restaurant…but she wasn’t happy to see him. She urged him down the front steps and told him that her uncle doesn’t like strangers. His guise of bringing by her homework was transparent. The jig was up, and then he heard the clearing of a throat…Macon Ravenwood’s to be exact. And there standing in front of Ethan was the elusive Macon Ravenwood…Gatlin’s own Boo Radley. He looked like a movie star from the 1940s, and his eyes…they looked like they were looking right through Ethan. Macon invited Ethan for dinner and wouldn’t take no for an answer. As Ethan stepped over the threshold he was taken aback by the transformation of the house, like he had stepped back in time…no longer was it modern and sleek. Boo Radley, the dog, wasn’t too happy about Ethan’s arrival.

Walking around, Ethan noticed a package from the library. Apparently Macon Ravenwood was a fan of Ethan’s mother. While Ethan was snooping looking around, apparently dinner had been served. When he walked into the dining room there was a feast that could have fed hundreds. As Macon Ravenwood was pouring his third glass of Scotch, Ethan decided it was time to ask about the locket. When he pulled the locket out of his pocket the lights went out, even the piano stopped playing. In the candlelight Macon Ravenwood looked sinister. Ethan put the locket away and decided it was time to go home. Macon wanted to know what the locket looked like. Lena piped up and said that they had found it at Greenbrier. Macon became agitated and said that Lena should not have gone there…that she was not safe.

“There’s no reason to keep anything from us because whatever it is that’s happening, it’s happening to both of us. And like it or not, it seems to be happening right now.”

As a vase of gardenias went flying across the room and shattered against the wall, gone was the movie star. Ethan was afraid of Macon Ravenwood and Ravenwood Manor. As quickly as the storm came up, it passed, however. Macon agreed with Amma and instructed Ethan to return the locket to Greenbrier. As Lena was seeing Ethan out, they froze before the painting of the woman in the entryway. She was wearing the locket…it had never been there before.

9.15: A Fork in the Road

Lena remained silent as Ethan drove the hearse back to his house. He drove past his street and kept going until he hit the “Welcome to Gatlin” sign and turned off the car. Ethan wanted answers. He wanted to know about the house, about her uncle, about anything. But the more Lena evaded his questions, the angrier Ethan became. Lena said that Ethan wouldn’t understand about her family…that he was angry because he was afraid. Ethan retorted that he wasn’t…and Lena laughed. The things she was afraid of, he couldn’t even imagine.

Ethan touched her arm and felt the electricity between them. A tear slid down Lena’s cheek. She didn’t want to tell Ethan for fear of losing his friendship, her last chance at being a normal girl. Just at that moment there was a rap on the window…Fatty. They quickly got moving and went back to Ethan’s house.

Ethan slammed the car door as he got out, knowing that if Lena drove down his street, he would never see her again. It was the fork in the road. If she didn’t pick him now, she would keep going and pass him by forever.

And then he heard her voice…she picked him! Lena and Ethan sat talking in their PJs on his front stoop. And then she came out with the truth:

She took a deep breath. Whatever she was about to say, it was hard for her. I could see her struggling to find the words. “The people in my family, and me, we have powers. We can do things that regular people can’t do. We’re born that way, we can’t helpt it. We are what we are.”

It took Ethan some time to register what Lena had just told him. So, was Lena like a witch? No she was a Caster. Part of Ethan wanted to hide in his bed, but a bigger part of him wanted to stay with Lena. He felt as if he had known all along. His silence made her nervous. And just like the tit for tat we all love so much, he showed her his crazy family. He pointed to his father’s study and explained how ever since his mother died he works all night and sleeps all day…how he never leaves the house. It broke the tension, and as Ethan looked at Lena smiling in the mooonlight, he imagined what it would be like to kiss her (do it!). Alas, he pushed himself up another step on the porch (boo :( !).

And then they laid there on the steps talking for hours. As Lena pulled away at sunrise, he watched Boo Radley follow her home. He put his hand on the doorknob, but amost couldn’t bring himself to open it. Ethan was scared…he had lied to her about not being afraid.

9.24: The Last Three Rows

Ethan had been hit by a ton of bricks. There were two places he wanted to be: with Lena or alone so he could think about her. Their relationship wasn’t defined, but at least he knew she thought of him as a friend. He thought about her every second. Better get the saddle out because this boy was whipped!

While spending time with Lena in Greenbrier, which he now thought of as their special place, Ethan asked Lena about her writing in the notebook. She wasn’t willing to share, but said that she was writing poetry. Perhaps one day she would let him read some of it. After the notebook thing didn’t go so well, Ethan then decided to man up and ask her on an actual date. After he asked her he stuck his dirty spoon in his book, a bad habit he picked up from his mother. Lena showed him one of the charms from her necklace that her mother had given her.

Lena explained more charms on her necklace…that they are little pieces of herself that she could keep even though the rest of her life was so tumultuous. While Ethan wishes he could have lived in one of the many places she has, Lena wishes she could have had more stability in her life.

Leading up to the date-non-date on Friday night, Ethan was going crazy. All he could think about was Lena and whether or not she had the same feelings for him that he had for her. I kind of like how he’s the girl in this relationship, heh.

Every day was like a day out of someone else’s life. Nothing had ever appened to me, and now everything was jappening to me—and by everthing, I really meant Lena.

Ethan was excited for the date. He had done lousy in his classes…great on the basketball court. Lena was waiting for him at the theater when he arrived. He should have known better since the entire basketball team was also going to the movies. Lena had had to face the entire high school on her own and when he reached for her hand he was hit with a confusion of the senses. They bought popcorn…extra salt, no butter, and Milk Duds, and headed into the theater. Lena had relaxed and he was feeling better already.

Ethan let Lena choose the seats and he headed to the back row. The only reason to sit in the back rows of the theater was for hooking up…and no matter how much he wanted to he wouldn’t do it in a place like this. He knew why she chose it. You couldn’t get any farther from Emily Asher than the last row.

Ethan knew within the first 10 minutes who the murderer in the movie was. Lena wanted to know how they would end. “Happy. Very, very happy.” She laughed him off and reached in his pocket for the Milk Duds, only it was the wrong pocket and she found the locket. The couple in front of them shushed them and Lena dropped the locket. They both reached for it and were transported back in time.

Genevieve raced into the burning house hoping to find her mother and Evangeline. Two Federals were pouring silver into their government issued rucksack and they tried to catch her. She struggled to get away and then she heard the gunshot. The hand gripping her wrist relaxed. She heard two more shots and as she heard the third body drop she looked around to see Ethan’s gray wool jacked sprayed with blood. The smell of blood mixed with gunpowder and burning lemons.

The credits were rolling and Lena and Ethan just sat there trying to catch their breath. Lena was shaking and he held her. They had just watched a man die.

10.09: Gathering Days

After the movies, word spread like wildfire that Macon Ravenwood’s niece was hanging around with Ethan. He had been avoiding the lunchroom for days and finally decided to get it over with. The first time they entered the cafeteria together, Lena almost turned around and left. They walked over to the lunch line and got food. If Ethan would eat some carrots and celery, then Lena would sit anywhere he wanted.

In the movies they would have sat with the guys, but Gatlin wasn’t like the movies. By the time Ethan turned around to find Lena, she had already bolted.

That day after practice Earl was nominated to have a talk to with Ethan. He told Ethan not to head down this road. Ethan slammed his locker shut and left before he could tell him what he thought of his dead end of a road.

Link wouldn’t desert Ethan. They stopped at the Shop and Steal on their way home, and that’s when they met her…the second prettiest girl in Gatlin…and she knew Ethan. Turns out her name was Ridley…Lena’s cousin and had been sent to pick Ethan up for the Gathering, the High Holidays, family dinner. Even though he knew Lena would have invited him to come had she wanted him there, he knew he was going to do whatever Ridley asked.

Somehow they had made it to Ravenwood and Ethan had told Ridley things he had only ever told Lena. He told Ridley about his mother, his father, how he and Lena met in the rain…it took all his strength not to tell her about the locket and the visions. Upon entering the house Ethan felt that something was wrong. Ridley’s greeting from her mother wasn’t exactly the normal mother-daughter exchange. Her sister was prevented from jumping on her by some kind of force field. And Macon was surprised to see her. Ethan couldn’t seem to control his mouth or his feet as Ridley led him into the formal dining room. When Lena saw her cousin with Ethan, she dropped the tray she was carrying.

And so commenced a lovely meal with the family. Or not. Ridley came to push everyone’s buttons. She clung to Ethan and at some point he began to freeze. He thought he was going to die. Ridley was going on and on about Lena’s 16th birthday and how she was going to be claimed by the Dark and not the Light…how just a year ago Ridley was just like Lena. All of this information was going over Ethan’s head. He couldn’t absorb it all. The storm was upon them…Lena’s storm. And just before he blacked out he could have sworn he heard Lena shout, “Get the hell away from my boyfriend, witch.”

A chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea…please discuss…or discuss these:

1. Ethan and Lena have some pretty realistic dreams. What do you think of the drowning dream in particular?

2. Do you think Lena was afraid of telling Ethan her secret or do you think she was more afraid of not telling him the truth? The story is from Ethan’s POV, so how do you think she is really feeling?

3. The vision of Genevieve seeing Ethan shot…what do you think the significance is?

4. Who or what do you think Ridley is? What do you think she means about the Dark and the Light?

Thanks again to FireCrotch for her AWESOME discussion post! And don’t forget to enter Mrs. Vanquish’s awesome Beautiful Creatures giveaway in honor of our discussion!


The Storyteller

•5 February 2010 • 5 Comments

Most fairytales begin with Once Upon a Time
This one howerver begins in Birmingham.
 
Love can be found in the most wonderful of places.  On a bus, in the office, and even when there’s no where to call home.
Meet Alice
She works in a doctor’s office at a medical plaza near Five Points.
She goes to the same shop everyday for her morning cup of coffee.
She loves to read her horoscope.
She wants to believe.
Meet Japser
He sees the same girl pass him everyday.
He loves to tell stories.
He doesn’t have a real place to call home.
He believes.
It was drawn to my attention that I have never written a love story.  It was also brought to my attention that everything I have ever written (except for one thing!! There IS one thing out there) ends in tragedy.  I was basically challenged by two girlies out there to see if I can write outside my norm.  I love fairytales, I love my city of Birmingham, and I love Alice in Wonderland.  With those elements The Storyteller was formed.
The Storyteller was mainly inspired by the song “Romeo and Juliet”.
 
Remember the day that I was in my basement painting baseboards and griping about how I hate baseboards?  That was the day that an idea of a love story popped into my little ferret brain.  I was downstairs just painting away listening to “Sawdust” by The Killers when one of my favorite songs came on.
OMG!  I had a brainstorm.
 
I raced up the stairs with paint on my hands and just fan girl squeed to Fragile about my idea.  She squeed back and told me how much she loved the Dire Straits.
The Dire who?
 
No no no no!! The Killers ;)
LOL! Well, after an 80s rock lesson I learned that one of my favorite songs was indeed a cover.
 
The idea of basing the story around a statue called “The Storyteller” also revolves around Fragile.  One day we were discussing art.  You heard me! I can talk the talk of edu-ma-caters out there from time to time.  I had it in my head that if I pushed a piece of artwork on her it would make me squee and squee.
She didn’t dig it lol.
 
So, on Christmas day, Fragile and her hubbles came over to visit me and my fam.  I was talking to her about how I didn’t think my lovey dovey story would work with Edward and Bella.  After I picked her up off the floor (she passed out and I think might have even went into a state of shock because she just couldn’t believe that I wasn’t going to kill anyone) I came up with the idea of basing it near The Storyteller.
We fan girl squeed about who my Jasper would be.  I chose Andrew-Lee Pots from the SyFy Channel’s rendition of Alice in Wonderland.  (that’s right kids!  I know you have to remember me tweeting a few months ago about how HAWT Hatter was.  Remember now?)
 
With these thoughts in my head my story unfolded.
Then … Remember my hubz and cub left for the week of New Years?  That was the week I wrote “The Storyteller”.
So, kids… Forget everything you have ever read by me. There are no murders, no suicides, and nothing emo at all in this fairytale of destiny meets true love.  Take a little time out of your day to say, “OMG! I can’t believe Greta wrote fluff,”  cuz Girlies I did indeed and even have plans for more.
 
Happy Valentine’s Day!
 
 
Staring at the ground, she noticed the sidewalk change to brick as she neared the fountain of the Ram Man. She held her breath as she stepped onto them. There in her way appeared two scuffed up work boots with one shoelace untied.
 
“Mornin’, Darlin’,“ the owner of the boots said quietly.
 
Alice stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the shoes that were blocking her path.
 
That voice. She had heard it before. Was it possible that her Romeo had returned to his kingdom amongst the cement critters of lore? Slowly she drew her eyes upward, past a darkened pair of Dickies to a loud colored shirt underneath a golden leather blazer. With a face of innocence and wonder of boyish charm trapped inside a young man’s face, she noticed his cheeks were rough with honey-gold stubble, and his eyes were as blue as a cloudless day. The young Romeo leaned down so his face was level with Alice’s.
 
“Did you come early for a private concert?” Jasper said softly into her ear.
 

Beautiful Creatures Discussion Recap – Week 2

•4 February 2010 • 5 Comments

  

 

SPOILER WARNING: This post discusses the plot of the book Beautiful Creatures. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further. 

Hello ladies!  I’m so thrilled and tickled pink that you all enjoyed this past week’s discussion.  Erika (mypetpet/@efisch726) and I worked for about three days on it and nearly laughed ourselves silly.  That’s uber long time, huh?  But it was soooo worth it just to get a couple chuckles out of you.
 
LMAO this post was hilarious..
-Ruby
 
Hey girls, thanks for this Recap – actually I never read a recap like this but it was fun! So thanks for all your work!
-Mrs. Vanquish
 
Margaret Stohl mstohl

RT @fragilehuman RT @erikasbuddy…Beautiful Creatures Discussion http://bit.ly/cesdi4 <-OMG THIS IS PEE PANTS FUNNY (SPOILER ALERT!)

 
 
Out of the ordinary
 
The book is starting to get more of a plot, don’t ya think?  It seems like the characters are starting to take on a life of their own. I’m really hoping for it to get a bit more OOGATY BOOGATY in the upcoming chappies.
 
So, I’ve noticed the supernatural turn.  The breaking of the window and the mind reading or speaking or whatever you want to call it, the locket that takes them back. I’m happy it’s not just me.
 
 Supernatural turns? A haunted house furnished by Rooms to Go? Definitely moving into the surreal! J/k No, the supernatural elements are definitely getting stronger as Lena and Ethan have more contact. Lena and Ethan’s hallway meeting with sparks followed by the shattered window in the classroom almost had a Carrie vibe, and their newfound way of communicating definitely pings the out of the normal. Add on the technicolor dreams, flashbacks, whatever it is that Lena and Ethan experience through the locket, and boring old Gatlin is starting to look like there’s a lot more below the surface.
-SohphiaAnne

 

 

Some have you been tipped off by the weather and dreams
 
Yes, it’s just you…no, not really. I also loved Lena’s control over the elements, and I squee-ed LOUDLY when they started talking to each other in their heads.
-afragilelittlehuman
  
The telepathy was one of those moments for me. Like Fragile, I really love that Lena’s emotions cause the weather to change.
-Heather (Call of Duty Widow)
  
 I think we are SO seeing a supernatural turn to the story. We’ve got the weather and lights going crazy because of Lena, the strange vision/dream? of the past and then Ethan hearing Lena in his head
 -KatieDid

 

  

 
While others are comparing a supernatural connection with another series of books.
 
 
Yes, I was highly suspicious of this rain storm and then the glass thing – total HP moment as well.
-uhyesplease
 
Sure thing, the story starts to be more supernatural. It’s kinda slow but I like it that way. In this way you won’t have to jump into everything But this is the good thing in having a book written in Ethans POV, we learn the same things he learns or discovers. I especially loved the scene on the road with the thunder and Lena standing in the middle of the road and with her glowing green eyes. This mood in this scene was awesome and made me shiver!
The Broken Window also made me think that there is so much more about Lena!
Pleasse forgive me the comparison to Harry Potter, but this reminded me so much on the beginning of HP where things just happened just because he was angry! Totally Sweetness was when Lena made this things with the clouds!
Well not to mention this head-talking… Actually I think Ethan should be a bit more freaked to, I mean I would and he still has no clue what’s up wit Lena and why the heck they are so connected!
-Mrs. Vanquish

Oh come off it! You had to be expecting that from me ;)   Hawt is it not?  Oh yes, Harry! Touch me with your wand…..
  

 

Your own little Ravenwood
 
It looks like many of us have our own little Ravenwoods from where we grew up.  You know, that place where you would run to around Halloween and squee squee while you tried to trap your bestie into some sort of scary spidery place.  Quit looking at me like that.  I never ever did that to Erika muhahahahaha!!  Trust me… if I could have I totally would have lol!!
 
My town did not have really have a haunted house but we did have this old man recluse in our neighborhood that we were all afraid of. He never came outside, but if you stepped foot on his grass he would start banging on the window and we would all run screaming. Its like he just sat in his window all day waiting for someone to come along. He was creepy. We would dare each other on Halloween to go ring his bell. But he never answered.
-Brierbeck
 
Being an airforce brat I don’t have a hometown…But yes, there was always that weird lady who lived down the road, or even an abandoned fort-like thing out, near a ranch with a crazy guy who would supposedly would shoot you if you came too close.
-uhyesplease
 
Yes there was the really creepy house that was abondoned (still is) and falling apart, had the peeling paint, dilapidated front porch and creepy looking windows. We used to walk past it all the time when I was little never getting up enough courage to actually go in it…I still think it may be haunted! I mean why else has no one lived in it for ages?
-MyTwilife
 
 
I grew up in Chicago, where there are many legends of something being haunted, but in my neighborhood, it wasn’t about ghosts, it was about the crazy lady down the street who was rumored to have gone to the grade school with a butcher knife back in the day.
-One Pushy Fox
 
I grew up in Huntsville (AL), and most of the ghost stories had to do with the cemetery up the street from my house. The cemetery has graves from the earliest days of the city, and includes a section of graves of unknown Confederate soldiers. There’s also a playground next to it people call Dead Children’s Playground where ghost children swing on the swings at night.
-afragilelittlehuman
 
 
there is also the famous Cry Baby Bridge near my town and while I never heard the baby crying, we did park on it once and our car just turned off and would not start for quite a scary ass while! Oh the good old days!

-MyTwilife
 
 
Just like MyTwilife, the town of Russellville where I grew up at also had a Crybaby Bridge.  From what I remember a woman drowned her toddler out at the bridge and every Halloween month the local teens and middle schoolers would go out to the bridge and leave candy there as an offering.  After you leave your sugary goodness treat you then  race back to your car and listen.  You’ll first hear crying turn slowly to laughter and once that stops…. you then race back to the bridge and your candy is GONE.
 
 
Swoon Diggity Swooned Out
 
I have a feeling that there’s more to the whole Genevieve/Ethan story.  I mean can you feel the heat?  Hello Darlin’!!  I really really want to know where this story is going and how it relates to our present day Ethan and Lena
 
Genevieve – Definitely more than a dream. Especially after the revelation that Civil War Ethan who’s in love with Genevieve is our Ethan’s ancestor, and that Lena’s birthday is on the locket, my first thought was that they’re somehow reincarnated versions of Genevieve and Ethan, and are going to relive some event – maybe related to Ethan’s dream where he tries to catch Lena as she falls.
-SophiaAnne
 
Ohh sure she will be an super important part. Somehow her story seems connect to our lovers and they and we have to figure out why and how! It seems definitely more than a dream because you can’t smell in a dream right?
-Mrs. Vanquish
 
 I think the whole Genevieve thing is definitely a vision of their ancestors pasts! Maybe Ethan & Lena are supposed to be their ancestors reincarnated? Or maybe they are supposed to fulfil whatever love/life their ancestors didn’t get to, or maybe their ancestors want them to figure something out for them or maybe I am way off and will laugh at myself later!
-MyTwilife
 
 

Very Superstitious
 
Now we know that Miss Amma has a bad feeling about this locket. But why? I’ve racked my brain and I can’t seem to come up with an answer yet.  I’m soo curious!! Where’s the Mystery Machine when you need it?
 
 The locket – There seems to be a whole lot more to Amma than we know. She clearly knows something about Genevieve and Civil War Ethan for that locket to get her so riled, and her warning Ethan to stay away from Lena and Ravenwood doesn’t seem to have the same motivation that the others in Gatlin might – she seems to have some basis for her warning, rather than the snap judgment of the others, although it’s not clear what that is. The comment she made to him – “You’re not ready,” stuck with me – what’s Ethan not ready for? And how long until we find out?!
-SophiaAnne
 
I thought the exact same thing.  Amma is totally warning Ethan about the locket but she’s soo not being clear about.  She knows something’s up! I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s some bad mojo related to that locket.  But what? 
 
  I think Amma knows what the locket is and who it belonged to. I think she may know quite a lot about the people inscribed on it and it scares her (obviously) and she does not want to tell Ethan about it. She may have even experienced something like what Lena and Ethan are experiencing right now. Time will tell…
-MyTwilife
 
I expected that the Genevieve and Uncle EthanX5 visions would give Ethan and Lena information they’ll need later. Either that or just more proof that they’re DESTINED for each other. Yeah, Lena, you heard me…DESTINED.
-afragilelittlehuman
 
The Lenas
 
 
My Lena is a combination of Emily Browning and Malese Jow. I haven’t found a picture of either that matches up with the one in my head but both girls have that innocent yet powerful look that I associate with Lena.
-One Pushy Fox
 
Lena: well Vanessa Hudgens who is extremely gorgeous, but unfortunately she hasn’t green eyes… Or Malese Jow who looks super sweet in Vampire Diaries with her curled hair!
-Mrs. Vanquish
 
Malese Jow
 
Vanessa Hudgens
 
 
 
 
 I don’t usually picture celebrities when I read, so I had a specific made up person in mind when I read about Lena so I couldn’t find exactly what I pictured Lena as, but Kristin Kreuk came close, you know the smallville actress?
-MyTwilife
 
 
and MyTwilife also included this nummy pic!  I love this!! I love it!!
 
Lena tempting Ethan in her underwear….. Does that happen?! I like to think it does somewhere in the story…
-MyTwilife
 
God I hope so!!
 
When I was trying to picture Lena, I kept coming back to Morena Bacharrin, the way she looked when she was on Serenity.
-SophiaAnne
 
Since I pretty much already answered most of the questions with my bud Greta.. I will just post my Lena Choosing!!!!! I have chosen Darlene Conner from Roseanne …Actually her real name is Sara Gilbert.. She was sooo evil awesome in the Roseanne show! I loved her!! Check her out and all her hotness…..
-mypetpet
 
All throughout this book I’ve only had one person in mind for Lena. My Lena is Amanda Crew.
-Heather (Call of Duty Widow)
 
 
Just like Scary Caterpillar Eyebrow Dude from last week (squees!!) a ton of you have picked the same girly as your own personal Lena.
 
 
First of all I love your choice for Lena! I don’t really have a certain person in mind because I’m not all that uppity up on younger actors these days.
-KatieDid
 
 Mine is totally Christina Ricci – from her 16 year old days….yes I’m old and not relevent. Deal. LOL
-uhyesplease
 
My Lena is kind of Christina Ricci but with big green eyes and minus the huge forhead.
-Brierbeck
 
 
 
And to answer the question that just has to be on every one’s mind
 
Do bats really not fly in the rain? <— asks the city girl
-afragilelittlehuman
 
Ok… you caught my bluff lol! Bats CAN fly in the rain but I’m sure it really messes with their sonar. HAHA! 
 
 
Uber special thanks to every girly out there that participated this week! We lovers you big time!!
 
 

Beautiful Creatures Discussion – Week 2

•31 January 2010 • 25 Comments
SPOILER WARNING: This post details the plot of the book Beautiful Creatures. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further.
 
 
 
Hey all!  How are my girlies doing?  Oh hi! I see we have a couple of new girlies floating around.  Welcome Welcome!!  As most of you know, I am Fragile’s little ferret sidekick and host of the spectacular “Thank Greta It’s Friday”.  (Greta/@erikasbuddy)  What?  I can’t plug myself?  Too bad! Muhahahahaha!!
 
How are you enjoying this beautiful book?  Isn’t it super fab and freaking dope? (check me out. I’m trying to appeal to a younger audience haha)
 
I’m so excited to be here today to tell you all about the chapters that I read.  Be warned! I speak in typos.  I can’t helps it.  Just ignore em.  I also brought my fabu bestest bestest bud along with me to help me out this week.  Please Welcome ERIKA! (@efisch726/mypetpet) 
That’s right my pet!! You can be the sidekick this week muhahahahaha!!!
 
How awesome for you to invite me my pet. I am Uber excited to say that all your typos have or will be corrected by me..because they drive me nuts! Let me say she already had 2 typos before i joined in!! HA HA.. Wow you all get to read us in action! If only you all could see us together or hear us on the phone!! I think we would drive you away!! :)
 
I’ve never done anything like this before so Ladies… be gentle with me.  I’m still a VIRGIN when it comes to hosting a book review.
 
DUDE! Get off my leg!! That excited you?  geez!!  Go sit over there and wait till I call on your ass to comment.
 
Please excuse my Pet.  She excites rather easily.
 
Well I’m a virgin at this too..so I had to hump something to pop our book review!!!
Now we can be newbies instead of virgins…. You know you enjoyed that hump!
 
So, where we last left off our sensitive little reader boy was off to FIND the MUSIC! Oh my my my my! He’s just has to get out of that school and clear his head and ditch and uhhh… that’s not something I actually condone.  I mean what is this teaching kids?  So, umm yeah….
 
Don’t even go there Greta.. You DITCHED all the time!! You DITCHER!!
 
Dude… I heard some freaky ass music.  Can I like borrow your car?
 
Why hellz no, First you gotta let me hear this freaky ass music.. HA HA HA..I would have to go with you just because thats how we roll!!
 
Anyways…. Let’s get this week kicked off
 
Yea let’s kick it already!!
 
 
Collision 9-11
 
 
Holy Crap! It’s September 11th!!  Dude! Did you notice that?
 
Woahhhh I wonder what year they did this????? Was I in Kosovo?
  
What was I talking about?  Oh right! the COLLISION chapter.
 
Well, like the poster child for proper education, Ethan ditches school to try to calm down and quit freaking out.  Apparently that hand in the clay and the song in his head was really starting to get to him.  He pulls out of the school parking lot and is super duper shocked that he has to turn on his headlights to see in front of him.
 
Wait a sec.  It’s raining!  Uhh… In the state of Alabama you always have to turn on your headlights when its rainingYea its the law! You’ll get arrested and ticketed and maybe even frisked if you don’t. So, ummm…. hmmmm…. that shouldn’t have been a shocker to him.  Maybe he’s just not old enough to know that.
 
Dude, thats like common sense now!! They made that the law in the early 90s.. I think
 
So, it’s dark and creepy out and THE STORM (da da da dramatic music) is moving in.
 
I counted, as Amma had taught me years ago – one, two, three.  Thunder cracked, which meant the storm wasn’t far off – three miles according to Amma’s calculations.
 
Now, Boy…. I’m not too sure that’s the most accurate way to figure when a storm’s gonna hit.  My grandma taught me that you’re supposed to look at the leaves. And when they flip upside down that means that the trees is going to catch the water and it’s about to rain
 
What the hell … leaves flipping upside down to catch water… uhhhhh dude leaves are not cups! They flip and turn different ways because of the wind, but they don’t stay flipped.  What Amma said was right! Thats how I do it! I count!
 
And off we go! Let’s get out of the parking lot!
 
Ethan pulls up to the street light (which apparently are pretty scarce in this town. )
 
Hey dude… Do they even have a streetlight in Littleville?
 
ummmmm …..yea at the police station LOL oh and lets not forget the County Line Package Store… They have one too!!! :) Let’s go get beer!! Give me your keys……
 
So, our Smallville Boy is trying so hard to find a radio station when OMG!!! — The song is B-A-C-K!!  Woah!!  
 
Well, after a tiny little freak out Ethan decides to play all Thelma and Louise and just DRIVE because he needs to get away from that song.
 
Did you not tell him that he should probably turn the radio off?  That would help quiet it.
 
No because the UFO above him had a magnetic force field that kept his radio staticy enough that the off button didn’t work!
 
But where on earth …. or maybe somewhere else …. MUHAHAHAHA!! is this song coming from?  It’s like it’s following him around like Scrappy Doo.  Small and annoying but somehow we’re gonna try to just ignore it.
 
Driving like a Duck out of hell (hey! IT’s wet and bats don’t fly in the rain) Ethan looses control of his bud’s car and starts spinning round and round and round (you can scream here if you like)AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW” until PLOP! the car stops… and these mega green eyes (that he thought was a deer?  Bambie doesn’t have green eyes) are staring back at him from the road.
 
(BTW… Green eyes, huh?  Hmmm… I’d like to get stuck on the side of the road in the pouring down rain with a nice pair of green eyes. YEAH BABY!!) My hubzz has green eyes!!! HA HA HA
 
So, the Green Eyed Something is standing in the middle of the road in a downpour doing some crazy Crocodile Dundee move and the car just suddenly STOPS.  (are you on the edge of your seat?!!)
 
Do you know who it was?!! DON KNOTS!!
 
NO!! It was Lena Duchannes standing out in the middle of the road in a poncho and uber green glowstick kinda eyes that sooo didn’t look human to Ethan (ZOINKS!)
 
 
 
Now, Lena is soo trying to act like it’s perfectly normal to be out there.  Wait…. so she ditched school, too?  And she’s telling our Boy to quit trying to run her over, her uncle’s creepy car broke down, and to chillax about those moon marks on her arm cuz her dog likes to gnaw on her, and to just leave her alone.
 
Ethan isn’t too cool with it all cuz he WANTS Lena to admit that she knows about the dream and the song and the fact that those two met in their sleep.
 
Lena’s not having any of it.  Maybe she thinks this is Ethan’s way of flirting… or maybe she knows.  Dude…..you know she knows!!! Its soo obvious, we just have to keep pretending …If she knows then she’s soo not admitting it and decides that she’s just going to go home. Hello duh..She’s running away from the truth!!! Ethan has a hiss hiss (remind you of anyone?) LOL and insists that he’ll take her back to her uncle’s house.  Lena figures that he’ll kill her with his mega insane driving skills and that maybe walking in an open area with lightening flashing all over the place has to be safer than hitching a ride back with The Duke of Hazzard.  Ethan promises to be super safe and convinces her to get in the car.
 
They get in the car and well…. you know…. guys dig wet t-shirts and long wet hairEthan kinda oogles her.
Her black T-shirt and jeans clung to her like she’d fallen in a swimming pool.  Her gray vest dripped a steady stream of water onto the pleather seats. 
Well, being the smooth operator that he is, Ethan gets Lena to take off that pesky …. vest?… I can only figure it was a vest. Dude it was her Poncho!! Dork!! You even just wrote that! HA HA HA AWESOME!! He wants her…He says 
You should probably take that off.  It’ll only make you colder.
So, I’m going to assume its the vest “PONCHO” because I can’t imagine the authors trying to get an under-aged girl, sopping wet in a car with a boy, out of her shirt in the first 46 pages.LMAO For REAL!!!  NOW… If I were to have wrote it lol!
 
And while Lena is making herself a bit more comfortable Ethan decides to TURN ON THE HEAT.  Ok Ladies… they are in a car…. In the front seat, no doubt,  and Lena is COLD and Ethan is not… and he’s all like “Hey, I felt some mighty fine electricity running through my bod when I touched you.  I’m gonna warm you with my heater.”
 
What were you thinking of? Did you see it too?!!  (yeah… I’m hopeless!!) It’s such sweet Hotness!!!! I love it!
 
While on their way to The Haunted Mansion .. *cough cough… I mean Ravenwood Manor (even that sounds like a haunted mansion name.  Like maybe some ghost named Casper should be living out there), Ethan notices the numbers written on Lena’s hands.  He decides not to ask her about that because he was just being you know.. eyeing her… so instead he decides to ask Lena why she’s in Gaitlin.  Lena tells him that she’s lived in different places her whole life and now she lives here.  SO then!! Ethan learns that her parents are DOT DOT DOT DOT Dead!!  (ok! I squeed!!  Is that wrong?  She’s an orphan and needs a shaggy boy to… wait… shaggy boy… I’ve been making all these Scooby Doo references and I just realized we have a shaggy boy! OMG! So, like LENA could be Velma and…. I’m rambling aren’t I?  … anyways… I thought that was cute.  Plus, since Ethan doesn’t have a mom they have something to bond over) BONDAGE….Its gonna happen!!
 
Now… who is kinda thinking that Lena is in charge of all that rain?
“Looks like the lightening’s gone.”
“I’m sure there’s more where that came from.”
“Maybe.  But not tonight.”
She looked at me, almost curiously.  “No.  I think we’re done for tonight.”  Her eyes looked different.  They had faded back to a less shade of green, and they were smaller somehow — not small, but more normal looking.”
Damn.. Lets crack that glowstick again!!
 
I mean uhhh….. her eyes?  I mean… think about it!! Doesn’t Storm’s eyes on X-men change colors when she controls the weather?  Well, that’s what I think.
 
Lena is finally home and they do the shuffle the feet and look at the sky kinda “Ok… (i love you)…. it was nice seeing you (i dream of you)…. thanks for the ride (i have a secret)…. see you aound … (after i go to sleep)” goodbyes.
 
Lena goes into the house but before she gets to the door, Ethan tells her about how Mrs. English has a bum eye and how Lena might want to move so she doesn’t have to talk to her in class.  Lena just smiles a sexy little “hey this will make a great ending *wink wink” and tells the boy that she’s cool with it.
 
Ethan pulls out of Ravenwood to go home, but before he does, there on the passenger seat is a little silver button. Can you say awwws?  I was so thinking GLASS SLIPPER (you thought that I was going to referr to another movie weren’t ya? haha!)
 
Before I let my pet tackle the next chappy, I’d like to take this time to let you girlies in on a little secret.  I had my son read Beautiful Creatures up unitl the end of this chappy.  I even had him write his thoughts about this chappy down for us to see just how a 12 year old boy thinks when it comes to fangirl swoon.  My son is normally only a fan to Harry Potter and Captain Underpants.  This is what he thought:
Broken Glass 9.12
 
Ok Dude… You tackle this chappy 
 
So my views go here??
 
yeah, they go here. 
 
Awesome…So we begin with Ethan waking up from an awesome sleep, but he was sad because he didn’t have that dream again? He misses it already! He even checks his hands for dirt in his nails and looks around for dirt in his bed, but everything was peachy.. He was clean.  Ewww!!! He checked his hand?  Dude! So, we have a 16 year old boy sitting in bed looking at his hand and uhhhh…. That’s a little TMI
 
He checks his iPod for the moon music..but it was not on there..
 
Link picks Ethan up and Ethan apologizes for leaving his car soaked and smelling gross. So Link continues by telling Ethan he’s crazy and peeps are thinking he’s acting all weird.
Ethan soooo wants to tell Link and spills that he has seen Lena and tells Link the whole story!! Link was freaking out and couldn’t believe that Ethan drove Lena home and asked if him if he saw “Him”.. They can’t stand to say Old Man Ravenwood’s name!!! Ethan was all like ” No , man I didn’t see him..”
 
They get to school and Ethan goes to English class. He has all these thoughts running through his head about Lena and her necklace, her shoes, the clothes she’s wearing, Everything a guy must think of that turns them on…  yeah baby! He was thinking about her in that wet t-shirt back when she was in Link’s car.  I bet it was an uber turn on fantasy thing - while all these thoughts go through his head She bumps into him and they touch and holy cow SPARKS flew!!  The lights above them actually shorted out..weird!! Talk about the energy going through them.
 
So after the blushing and OMG’s..Lena sits back in her spot, in front of the teacher. The teacher with the bum eye as Greta mentions previously.  haha! You sited me. That’s awesome!  So crazy Ethan was like “I’m gonna sit by my woman”… and sits right next to her!! Everyone in the class was gasping!!  GASP GASP !  Like ‘I can’t believe he is going to sit in front of crazy teacher and right next to crazy girl’, but instead of complaining they all go and join Ethan  up at the front of the class too (One of the chicks name was Emily and another was named Eden). They didn’t want Ethan to be lonely…AWWWW how sweet!!! Dude..He’s like sooo not into them!  I knows!! He’s all like… Go away you non Lena-chicks… I’m trying to Woo my Woman.  You two are so cramping my style and getting in the way of these smooth moves I’m trying to like woo her with.  Scat!  So all these chicks are like “This class is such a bore Blah blah blah…did you read the chapter of this boring book” They were all being like..THIS IS MY PREY.. He’s mine… Not yours… without really saying it. Making sure that Lena gets their attention. Lena was like “whatever” basically and got her notebook out and started writing in it.  Emily notices this and starts texting with her phone..  She’s tweeting it
 
The teacher continues on with her “To Kill A Mockingbird” book lesson  (FYI! Erika has never read this book. She’s a loser Girl that made me read it for her then she copied my test back in like 12th grade) and start talking about Small town settings and racism…. This makes these girls Eden, Emily and others start mouthing off about Lena. Ethan just sits there in amazement and doesn’t say a word but talks in his head and Lena responds back to his thoughts …And responds back in his head  where Ethan doesn’t realize and blabs out ..out loud. So he is sitting in class laughing at the voices’ response in his head .  Ethan notices Lena write numbers on her hand “151″ and wonders why she did that…  It was code for -YOU DORK!
 
So the  girls continue ragging on Lena the further along the teachers talks and discuss about characters from the book discussion…Ethan is hearing these sharp noises of “SHUT UP” in his head over and over..She’s trying to clear her head of the blabbity girls. Lena finally gets up out of her chair and towards the pencil sharpener by the window to try to escape the girls comments that are continuously making her mad… Ethan starts hearing “STOP IT” “STOP IT” over and over again and louder each time…. Then finally “ENOUGH!” was shouted so loud in his head..Glass from the window just shattered all over the place. Everyone in the class is screaming…  Crash! Ahhhhh!! scream scream!
 
Ethan looks up to see if Lena is ok  cause he’s sensitive like that  and notices her just standing very still and pale. In his head he hears her say “I didn’t mean it” and Lena storms out of the classroom… Now all the chicks in the class all think that Lena hit the window and broke it and was blaming her for the window.. They were like She was trying to kill us BLAH BLAH…teachers calms the class down and the weather outside started getting BAD!!!  muhahahaha!! Here comes the STORM!
 
Greenbrier 9.12
 
Greta: so you ready to start this?
Erika: ummmm yea sure
Greta: ok uhhh… so… u start
Erika: uhhh so is this a test?
Greta: hells yeah… stand up in front of the class and tell me your opinion on how the story was like told
Erika: So basically we will start with Ethan running down the hall…Chasing after his woman!!
Erika: This is not his first time seeing people up and run out of school apparently!!!
Greta: I knows! And people are cool with this? Where the hells is the assistant principal and his paddle? OMG! We couldn’t do that!  And he just passes by the bio lab and gives Link “THE LOOK” that dudes must like knows and just totally scores his keys… again!!
Erika: I have actually never seen anyone write LOSER on peeps lockers either… MAYBE there Forehead!! With there thumb and finger!! Shaped like an L!!
Greta: I guess those students are more creative.  They must have glitter and glue and markers and stuff
Erika: OMG I know..its like he runs down the hall and Link was like in AUTO mode and just threw his keys at Ethan!! I was like…UHHHHH HMMMM
Greta: It must be a secret guy code for “hey my woman needs this”
Greta: So our little boy goes running after his woman and winds up at her spooky uncle’s house cus he just KNOWS that shes gonna be there
Greta: and he knock knock knocks on the door but nobody is home

Greta: then he starts messing with these moon things in the wood and pushes on em and BOOM the door opens
Erika: So image this…in the car and the clouds and darkness seems to be back
Greta: are you trying to be deep? LOL
Erika: of course!!
Erika: but also you mention the door!!! ummm who would just go and start pushing on things
Erika: Then OMG that black wolf or dog pet!!
Erika: Staring at him
Erika: but he also notices like the stairs and the furniture was like BRAND new! like the IKEA truck just dropped a truck load!!
Greta: HAHA!! Ikea!! I was thinking ETHAN ALLEN but Ikea is cooler. That reminds me… we so need to go to one and go all 500 Days of Summer out in that store
Erika: EXACTLY!! We will when your Ass gets here
Greta: So then he’s like “oh noes the bow wow is gonna eat me” and runs like crazy down this path thing that’s like out in the front yard or something and winds up at this crumbly wall thing
Erika: yea…the wall just seemed to come from nowhere and he totally hears her talking to him and SMellls her deliciousness of lemons and rosemary!! and
Greta: I know this other story about this dude that likes to SMELL this chick… but she doesn’t smell like lemons… she smells like strawberries
Erika: so he untwines his way into the garden like thing that had the Lemon trees and vines of Rosemary
Greta: I know… coincidence? I think not muhahahahaha
Erika: and sits next to her
Greta: I think that’s like foreshadowing or something… right?
Greta: And she’s all like … Go away
Erika: yea go away what are you doing here
Greta: And he’s all like “I was uber worried about you. You ok?”
Erika: Why did you follow me….nobody likes me…nobody wants me BOOOHOOO SOB STORY
Greta: I knows!!! And he’s all like “hey baby! I think we dig each other and I want to dig you and you know you’re my dream girl. Just admit it”
Erika: yea so then he really starts to dig with his hand and woah a locket appears
Greta: No way dude!! Your skipping ahead…. What about the whirly cloud… she’s like fluttering her hand around trying to be all artist emo and this cloudy cloud is like spinning with her hand and then it ends up in the shape of a moon then like an etch-a-sketch she waves it away
Erika: oh yea!!! That was way AWESOME!!! she made it swirl and then it had a circle in it and the she like wiped it away!!!
Greta: I was kinda jealous… I wish that I could do that. I want to be able to control nature.
Erika: yea me too!! reminds me of some commercial!!
Erika: with coffee or tea!! with the steam…… BLANK
Erika: it made a heart!!
Greta: So THEN… Ethan’s all like I wanna touch you or something… I think he wants to touch her… so he like grabs onto that rock thing that they happen to be lying on and he touches this hard thing and he’s all like “hey, whats this” and he touches Lena and BOOM they’re in the land of the civil war
Erika: yea and they could smell smoke
Erika: and everything around them was up in flames
Erika: all the surrounding plantations
Erika: everything was burning and even these lemon trees…
Greta: And there’s this chick named Genevieve watching her mom’s lemon trees (gasp) burn down
Greta: I had to figure out how to spell it

Erika: lol lets call her Gene!
Greta: So, G’s mamma was the one who grew the trees. She uber loved them and her Daddy bought her 2 trees over in Ga and she planted them in Sc
Erika: the yea like from Savannah?
Greta: She had like a green thumb so her Daddy bought her 28 more trees and the neighbor chicks were jealous and wanted their own trees but they couldn’t make them grow because they didn’t have the lemon skills that her mamma had
Greta: yeah I think Savannah
Erika: yea funny how all the neighbor chicks couldn’t get their lemon trees to grow!!! but Gene got hers to grow! but she took really good care of them by covering them up with cotton blankets and shit like that!
Erika: She kissed her trees and hugged them everyday!!
Greta: tree hugging hippy
Erika: they were her babies
Greta: she petted them daily
Erika: but what about the rosemary vines?
Greta: oh yeah… were they there?
Greta: They were there before they went to the land of oz

Erika: I don’t think they mention it…
Greta: I don’t either… they mention it when Ethan is trying to get to his woman in the real world
Erika: see these rosemary vines so make me think that they are like Ivy Vines…
Greta: there were ivy vines on the Ravenwood house
Erika: yea like my moms house!!!
Erika: AWESOME!! My mom loved them dang vines!!
Erika: ok so yea matrix shit is going on now!! and then when its done…they check out the locket even better, and find out OMG that’s my birthday!!
Erika: Lena’s B day
Erika: feb 11th?

Greta: 2-11-1865
Greta: OH OH OH!! And Ethan’s initials

Erika: LMAO
Erika: Partial
Greta: ECW & GKD
Erika: Ethan is ELW
Erika: so they both think this is weird.. I see it as a quinkydink

Greta: And Ethan’s like “HEY” Let’s touch that locket again… I wanna see if we go back
Erika: yea and it didnt work!! BUMMER
Erika: So then Lena was like I gotta go
Greta: Yeah… and she’s like DON’T FOLLOW ME
Erika: and Ethan was like no don’t go…Puts hand on shoulder!!!
Greta: and Ethan is all like “BUT I LOVE YOU AND YOU SMELL AND WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS”
Erika: You strong FRAGILE GIRL
Erika: and OMG the numbers on her hand!!!!! 151….She spilled it to him!! because he sooo wanted to know what the numbers meant
Erika: its the days left till her birthday!!!!

Greta: So, yeah…. she soo wanted ETHAN to know what the numbers meant… Do you think she was hinting for a gifty?
Erika: ummm maybe a special party to feel uber special!
Greta: that was her secret code for “hey baby… I’m gonna play hard to get and you’re gonna want me later. Well, you already want me now but I’m gonna play mysterious stranger and then you’ll want me even more”
Greta: I think Lena wants him… she just doesn’t want to admit it….. OUT LOUD… say it hahaha!! say it!!!

Erika: So …hey baby you hear me talking to ya in your head…. i know you want me!!
Greta: I know… what was that all about… they were like having conversations inside their brainz… and no one is freakin?  I’d be a little freakin
Erika: its freaky to know this because even the song…he comes near her and the music plays??….or I can’t find my bitch..play your music so I can find you!! its called Hide and go seek music action!
Greta: lmfao!!!!!
Greta: that’s her GPS

Erika: yea…don’t need numbers for that!! just some tunes
Greta: she’s got a musical one.. or that’s like the  jingle bell u put on ur cats collar
Erika: is she turning the music box behind his ass to make him think its in his head! that’s a good way to fuck with a guy!!!
Erika: oops I said FUCK
Erika: can I say that
Greta: LMAO!!! I just spit on my lapy
Greta: I think you can say FUCK
Greta: So let’s wrap this SHIT up
Greta: so, Lena reminds the boy that she turns 16 in 151 days and that she’s no good for him and he’s all like yeah you are and she’s all like “baby I’m Deep
Greta: and then leaves
Greta: and ethan is standing there in that garden thing

Erika: Yea she has way to much DRAMA and says BACK OFF
Greta: we should probably somewhere mention that they were at Greenbrier not Ravenwood when they found that locket… that’s probably important
Erika: oh yea!! So they were at Greenbrier when they found the locket!!
Greta: yeah you dork hahaha! u knew that
Greta: pay attention smack smack

Erika: Smackings are awesome
Greta: i know I enjoy smacking you
Erika: ok so It ended with a “stay away from me”…..but this made him wanting more of her
Erika: THE END
Erika: lol
Erika: I love this abuse from Greta!!
 
 
 
The Sisters 9.12
 
My my my my! When will Ethan learn? You can’t keep secrets in a small town. Of course Amma found out that Ethan ditched school… again!! And she has to hear all the juicy gossip from her sworn enemies from the prissy prisses of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and Link’s Mom.Wow such nosey people… dang cant keep secrets..How the heck did we not get caught on all our sneekin secrets  we did around my neighborhood!!! HA HA!! I even had a guy jump out of my 2nd story bedroom window, with holly bushes on the ground!!! We kicked ASS Greta!!

 Ethan figures he probably shouldn’t tell Amma the truth because that might just send him to the loony bin so instead he talks about how the preppies were picking on Lena and how it was a good little boy thing to do to defend her. WUSSY

Amma’s not buying any of it and wants to smackity smack the boy. Smack Smack Smack!!!

 Ethan goes into how he just wanted to make sure that everything was coolsville with Lena after the window busted and then he shows her the locket that they found and Amma nearly has a cow. Dude She had more than a cow!! She had a Longhorn! She runs around and grabs some goodies (all the while Ethan is following her when he should be in the kitchen) and makes him wrap the locket up in a handkerchief, drops it into a leather pouch, sprinkles in some black powder (I really want to know what the powder was!) (I honestly think it was charcoal to absorb all the bad things), then binds it all up with some twine. Then Amma tells Ethan he can’t play with Lena anymore and to go bury that locket in the ground from where he found it.

 Any girlies know what Amma is telling Ethan to do? I know… but I don’t want to wreck it for ya ;) So, I’m gonna keep my yapper shut!! I smell a mystery a brewing!!

IT’s a Witchery conspiracy!!

Instead of following Amma’s directions, Ethan decides that to keep the locket and just drives around for a while until he figures the coast is clear and he could go back inside.

 The next morning, Ethan wakes up and snags the locket out of the shoebox where he had cleverly hidden the mystery locket and has to go visit with his crazy (Ethan’s word not mine) great-aunts – Mercy, Prudence, and Grace – also known as The Sisters.

 Now, to me, the SISTERS reminded me of the SISTERS in “The Secret Life of Bees”. They all have names that mean stuff (In the BEES their names were months), they all live together, and each one has a distinctive personality.You know why????…because its a southern thang!!

Ethan gets to The Sisters’ house after having to bypass one of Amma’s hoodoo (that’s right kids! I’m getting a sinking sensation that Amma might be into Hoodoo. I’m not 100% but it really kinda sorta feels that way) charms and finds out that there is an E-mergency. Apparently, their Yorkie got a good couple of whacks (Damn Animal Abuse Case!!) in from Grace because she wasn’t wearing her specs and must have mistook the poor puppy duppy as a rather large dust bunny. Well, if you know anything about old southern women it’s that they really lovers to over exaggerate every little thing. So, the Sisters are a hootin’ and a hollerin’ that their doggy is about to go to Heaven when in reality the poor thing just broke its leg.

The gang gets back from the dude that runs the local feed store (who posed as their vet since it was just a bum leg) and The Sister’s housekeeper, Thelma is there. Thelma is pretty much their babysitter who Ethan’s dad hired back one day when Grace almost burned the house down. The Sisters race in to spread the gossip about today’s adventure and Ethan is uber bored with it all and starts to fiddle with the locket in his pocket. Thelma is all pretty pretty shiny shiny with it and so Ethan tells her where he found it at. Oh dear TACO BELL DOG!! Are you mad boy?!

 The Sisters notice that the handkerchief that the locket is wrapped up in bears the same sign as an old tarot card reader with the same last name as AMMA’s. (GASP!)

The aunts pass the locket around and Ethan finds out that the date on the back of the locket isn’t just Lena’s birthday but is also the exact same date that the Union burnt most of the town…. the part that survived was Ravenwood. (gasp gasp gasp!!) Yea of all places..

 That’s when we learn that funny things happen out at that Ravenwood house…. A man in a tall hat walks around from time to time, a brother winds up missing, a wolf has been seen there. WOLF? Like the same wolf that Ethan saw? Maybe maybe!! Yea exactly!! Freaky Freaky

 Ethan also learns that -dot dot dot – the set of initials -ECW- stand for Ethan’s Great x5 uncle – Ethan Carter Wate. Come on you type all those greats!! Great Great Great Great Great!!!  No.  Shut-up dude! You keep interrupting me.  ANYWAYS…..

 I was Shocked! This just happens to be an uncle whose had his name taken off the family tree (in my household it would have been the Bible) all because he decided War! What is it good for? And stopped fighting for his southern brothers. I am singing…”WAR..What is it good for..Absolutely Nothing!” 

 Ethan asks about the other set of initials -GDK- but the Sisters weren’t really giving Ethan the information that he’s hunting for. “I won’t tell you my dirty little secrets”!!! I changed the song for ya…

Since its Saturday night that means that Ethan needs to drive the Sisters to Church. ON A Saturday Night???………..

 Are any of you from the south? Nope..Well YES.. Ok I am Well, let me tell ya. Peoples down here go to Church A LOT! That is NOT an exaggeration! From where I’m from half the town rolls up their doors at noon on Wednesdays because that’s a church night. Even the Post Office closes! Yes it does so if you got shit to buy that day..you better do it early!! Or else your screwed..Unless of course you have a big ass Wal-Mart

While Ethan is listening to the sermon and the room is Thanking the Baby Jesus, Ethan starts zoning out and flipping the locket mindlessly between his fingers between his legs HA HA HA. That’s when he hears her. Hears who? — LENA!

Ethan. Stop. You Don’t know what you’re doing.
Lena was in my head.
Put it away!
The room started to disappear around me and I could feel Lena’s fingers grasping mine, as she was there beside me –

 

Turns out they’re staring at the past. Is it real? Could it possibly be the story that the Sisters just shared with Ethan?

Genevieve is watching Greenbrier burn to the ground. while those Yankee dogs are just looting the house when all of the sudden… OH HALE YES! — Ethan comes up behind Genevieve and whipsers into her ear all smooth talking gentleman-like. (Can you say confederate swoon ala swoon!!??!!) SWOON ME BABY

They have an uber intense swoon swoon moment full of hand descriptions and longing stares and “Darlin’ I missed you.” Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!! I’ll never leave you again… I will just leave my soldiers behind because I am a coward!!

 

Then Genevieve’s heart is broken and she pretty much has a Scarlett O’Hara moment when she learns that her family has been eaten alive by the flames that was taking over Greenbrier. There’s nothing to go home to….. but Ethan’s there. — both of them AWWWW SWOONDIGITY SWOOOONDOUBT………..
 
Hmmmm… I think we’re done my pet.  That’s our post.  It was awesome that you stopped by and helped me with it.  Now go home and start reading up for next week.
 
Discussion Questions
 
1.  Now that you’ve seen mine and Fragile’s Lena who is yours?  (BTW our Lena is played by Emily Browing)
 
2. Did the town that you grew up in have any haunted houses and or places?  The town that my Pet and I grew up in had a haunted bridge.
 
3. Are we starting to see the supernatural turn in the story? Or is it just me?
 
4. Where do you think Genevieve’s story is going? Do you get a feeling that it might be more than a dream?
 
5. Why do you think the locket frightened Amma?
 
Thanks for stopping by!  Remember to come back on Thursday to see the awesome recap!
 
 
 
 
FYI – All pics were taken from mine and Erika’s hometown of Russellville, Alabama.

 

 

The Hubz Wants In

•29 January 2010 • 13 Comments

OMG!  It’s happened.  The HUBZ wants in!!

What do I do?  Do I scream? Do I stomp my foot and say “Hells NO”?  Do I hold my breath till he says “OK I won’t?”

Want to know what I’m talking about?!!!!

I can’t believe it but…. The Hubz wants to read TWILIGHT!!! NOES!!!

 Ok… quit acting like this is the greatest thing in the world and that you wish that your hubz was sensitive enough to want to pick up a copy.

You don’t get it…. My hubz is NOT SENSITIVE!! He’s a 12 year old boy trapped in a 29 year old body!! NOES!!!  DUDES!! He’ll make fun of our Sprakly Sparkles and Broody Broos and I just don’t know if I can take that.

For example… Have you heard this one?  “Want me to stick my wiener in the freezer?  You can imagine that you’re doing it with Edward.”

 OMG! KILL ME!!

 But, I guess it is possible that he might learn something from all this if I do let him read it. Like not to say “I bet you’d let Edward bite your boob”.

 Uhhhhhh….. ummmmmm…… hmmmmmmmmm….. yeah.. maybe, but that’s not the point!! 

The point is I don’t see myself really loving him knowing all our Vampire secrets.

 So, ladies!  I gotta ask for your help.  What do you think?  Do I let the hubz into our world of Sparkles?  Or do we keep him in the dark with just a glowstick?

BTW, I heard we have  a Birthday Boy in the audience!  That’s right… a BOY!  Today is Fragile’s DH’s birthday!  Happy Birthday!

Now, I promised Fragile that I would wish him the happiest of birthdays in a mature manner.  That means with NO ROB PORN.  Apparently he doesn’t dig that  kind of stuff.  So, I’m only showing the backside of him

Hmmm… well, I tried.  The fact that she TOLD me it was his birthday kind of raises my eyebrows lol.  I mean come on now ;)   How can I pass this up?

So, to make it up to him I asked two special ladies to stop by and wish The Fragile Husband many happy returns.

  Happy Birthday Fragile’s DH! I hope you have an ANGELIC one!!

Beautiful Creatures Discussion Recap – Week 1

•28 January 2010 • 10 Comments

SPOILER WARNING: This post discusses the plot of the book Beautiful Creatures. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further.

Looks like we’re off to an awesome start!! Is everyone enjoying the book so far? I’ve already squeed a time or too and my my my I bet that fan girl swoon *thud is just around the corner. You know it has to be. So, how do my chickies feel about it so far?

Fragile, first off a huge thanks for hosting this book discussion. I wouldn’t have picked this book up except for how much you were tweeting about your enjoyment of it and still, without the book discussion, it might have languished on my “to-read” list for who knows how long. And I’d be missing out on the wonderment that is BC.
– One Pushy Fox

I love how the book starts! It had me thinking WTF from the get-go!
– Ruby

I love Love Love Love Love Love lovey love this story.. It make you really think of the many different things going on surrounding the relationship and accounts coming together to seem like one connection.
– mypetpet

I must say the first couple of chapters boggled my little brain. I think I was looking for the immediate love like Twilight and although it is caturing my interest, i still have yet to get really into these characters.
– Ivy Lane

I was super surprised to read a guys POV but it doesn’t bother me at all. Isn’t it funny how lately so many books are written in a certain POV? Or I should better say they just became now so popular. Well, it has a certain charm, you know what’s going on in the ones head but all the rest remains unclear.
– Mrs. Vanquish

I’m hooked and intrigued and can’t wait to see where this will go.
– SophiaAnne

Now that’s just fabtastical!! Super excited that all my little loves are having such a swell time reading. BUT! Is it possible that we can all Fan Girl-up and visit the quaint town of Gatlin? Does anyone have a map?

So is Gatlin, SC a real city like Forks, WA? I haven’t done my research on that yet…I will after I post this though!!
– mypetpet

I totally googled Gatlin, SC to see if it was a real place – looks like there’s no place to have a tourism boom ala Twilight in SC. Though based on the mention of Lake Moutrie, which is real, it looks like it would be down towards Charleston and towards the coast, rather than upstate SC. (loves Google Maps)
– SophiaAnne

/* fragile interrupts as usual */

As I said in the chapter post, I grew up (and still live in) Alabama. My hometown was pretty large (~175K) for Alabama standards, but DH’s hometown? Isn’t even considered a city by the US Census and isn’t on most maps. The entire county he lived in had 35K people, and his graduating class had around 30 (it was the largest they ever had at that point). Everybody knew everybody’s business, and DH says most people there were related by blood, at least distantly. (He moved there when he was in 6th grade and was always the outsider.) To me, Gatlin sounds like a bigger version of DH’s hometown.

What did other Southerners think?

As I said.. I grew up in MEGA SMALLSVILLE and yeah… everyone knew everyone. Everybody was in ANYBODY’S business and if your last name was ADERHOLT or HESTER or DeVaney then you were the big balls of the town. I sooo get this! So, the story is very acurtae with small town gossip.
– Greta

I think one reason I was intrigued by this book from the start is because of the setting – I grew up in a small town one state north of the imaginary Gatlin, and though we weren’t as immersed in Civil War recollections, being mountain folk, the other elements ring very true – how everyone knew each other and each other’s business, the social pecking order built on arbitrary things, the limited access to everything, and the general claustrophobia living there entails…when I was a teenager it felt very suffocating, and much like Ethan, I was counting the days to escape. Although some elements feel slightly exaggerated by Garcia and Stohl for effect, for me they did an excellent job of capturing the flavor and feel of a small Southern town overall.
– SophiaAnne

I live in the south and the school I went to was big, but it didn’t stop people from being judgmental!
– Ruby

Well I grew up with Greta just up the street! Talk about a small town, we were in it! This small town surrounded us with rumors about everybody! Anyone ever watch the movie Steel Magnolia’s? Well if you have then you will totally understand me…Get this, growing up, I woas told that I can’t hang out with Greta because she’s a bad influence!!!!
– mypetpet

Hey, mypetpet: you do know they were right about Greta, don’t you? ;)

I grew up in a small town in Southwest Virginia. Some people don’t really consider Virginia to be part of the South but I always have. I feel the book does a great job in its portrayal of a small town. My town is a lot like Gatlin. Everyone knows everyone’s business. There are NO secrets here!…In the book the local hang out is the “Stop and Steal” but the “cool” hang out when I was in high school was the parking lot at Hardee’s. haha! *shakes head while mumbling crazy small town people*
- KatieDid

P.S. KatieDid, I totally think you’re Southern.

Even the ladies from outside the South thought the book’s depiction of a small town rang true:

I grew up in the countryside of pennsylvania, but cannot honestly answer question one well. It seems typical of small town life.
- Ivy Lane

I was raised in the Southwest, in a State that didn’t have much to do with the Civil War, but we did have our fair share of small towns around. Of course we had the jocks and cheerleaders who looked down on anyone who wasn’t them, but a lot of people were different by the way they acted and how they dressed. I guess I can’t really relate to the outsider situation just because you looked different.
- marie

I did not really grow up in a small town, but several of the same principles apply all over. There are the popluar kids and the outcasts and the popluar kids can be very cruel no matter what the size town. I am sure a small town is worse since everyone knows everyones business.
- bierbeck

Well, I’m from Germany and honestly we don’t have towns like this. Sure, we have small towns but you are super fast in a nearby bigger city. So I can’t really imagine that. Although I have been in the States a few times and hubs and me also drove around quite a lot and sometimes I saw towns where I thought “wow, what are they doing here? Where do they shop and what do they work?” As I said it’s hard coming from Germany to imagine towns like that.
- Mrs. Vanquish

I can relate to Ethan in so many ways. I grew up in a small Central Illinois town, population 2500. We moved to my father’s home town after my Grandfather died, my dad wanting to be closer to his mother. No movie theater, no stop lights, all we had were 6 bars, a bowling alley, and a real Italian pizza place. There were 26 people in my class until our school district consolidated with two other towns my senior year. This catapulted my class to a whopping 65 people strong. In a town and school this small, everyone knew your business.
- Heather (Call of Duty Widow)

I love LOVE books about the south. I’m from the boring old midwest and I’ve always been drawn to Southern lore – it’s so mysterious to me. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to read this book, in fact.
- Rain

I have never lived in a small town and even though all teen-agers experience peer-pressure, I can’t even imagine how intensified it must be to feel that pressure in the crucible that is a small town. Just the idea that everyone from my high school (which had over 300 student just in my year) would have known the most intimate details of my personal life makes my skin crawl. YIKES!!!!! There’s your horror story right there! LOL!!!
- One Pushy Fox

I’m not sure if you got it from my post, but you’ll definitely get it from my comments on on the rest of them: I LOVE ETHAN! Oh, yes, so much so that, if he were a vampire, I’d have to add him to my vampire org chart (and we all know who’s CEO, right?). Anyway, I really love that the book is from Ethan’s POV.

Note to Stephenie Meyer: We <3 the male POV hard. Three words for you, babe: finish Midnight Sun.

Anyways, I could completely understand why it took Ethan, who admittedly was not a fan of the status quo, a little while to decide his need to know the new girl was more important than what the minions around him thought. While it’s sometimes hard to do those things as a college student or adult, it’s almost impossible to do as a teenager, when all you want is to be liked and accepted.

I love the fact that Ethan is able to overcome his fear of being unpopular, even if he hesitates for a moment!
- Ruby

Ethan seems like your typical teenager, wanting to get away from his typical world; outside of his comfort zone, per se. He seems lonely depsite being one of the “in-crowd”.
- IvyLane

I believe it’s going to be extremely hard for him, and I don’t see how it would be any different if Ethan and Lena were in college or adults. I can only see it being different if they both suddenly moved to another town, or possibly another state.
- marie

Poor Ethan wil have a hard time when people finally realize his whole fascination with Lena. Although I’m not sure if he really cares later on. He is so focused on her and getting to know her and finding out about his dreams that it seems to me right now as if he’s willingly paying the prize. …Adults also judge easily people just from the first sight. But they are mostly not that obvious about any disproval like kids… University is a place where so many people are studying at the same time, so at least in Germany there are always groups of people clustering and other which are more the loner. But nobody cares as much as in High School
- Mrs. Vanquish

I’m not sure how HARD it will be for ETHAN to face the disapproval of everyone because he digs Lena. I’m not too sure he’d care… BUT!! I do think this would be a bit different if he was an adult (I’ve never been to college so I have no clue if there are cliques there). In High School its all about the cliques and who sits where and who wears what and who saw who. BUT… as adults… I think it would be a tad different. You’re more mature and aren’t going to worry much about who has cooties and who has the antedote.
- Greta

I think Ethan will have a very hard time going against his friends for Lena since he does seem to be very much a part of the “in” crowd. I think it would be different if they were in college or adults because peer pressure should become less of an issue as you get older. I know that is not always the case, but it should be.
- bierbeck

I think Ethan wrote Lena off because of the crowd he was with at the time. He doesn’t of course think that because he was so curious at who she was, her name, what she looked liked, and was even thinking if this girl could be the one..It’s all a peer pressure mentallity, which I think is very acceptable. We always have the different thoughts in our heads that nobody knows about!
- mypetpet

Ethan does judge Lena at first and I don’t think he even realizes it. He is somewhat your typical teenage boy but then he’s not. Ethan knows what will happen if he goes against his friends and pursues Lena. I think this will be a good thing because if he really wants to get out of Gatlin and be different he needs to learn the ways now. I think it might be different if they were in college but not much. They might not have as much drama but would still be facing the same complications.
- KatieDid

But, as a few of you pointed out, Ethan’s upbringing may give him the edge he needs to survive his judgemental peers:

Ethan’s a 16 year old boy, and he’s never had the kind of distaste directed at him that the cheerleaders direct at Lena from the start, so it probably won’t be a cakewalk at school to face disapproval. But he’s portrayed, to me, as having a slight edge in facing the disapproval of the town than perhaps Link would, for a couple of reasons. First, his parents weren’t the run-of-the-mill Gatlin parents – both are professors, and Ethan’s own awareness of the irony of the town’s obsession with the “War of Northern Aggression”, the banality of the Emilys and Savannahs, etc., suggests he’s never been fully in step with his classmates to start with – although he’s taken steps to fit in by joining the basketball team and hiding his love of books. But his mother’s death seems to have also numbed him to the point where he’s checking out already on what they think – he mentions that he barely practices basketball, doesn’t always hang out with the team as expected, and he’s collecting brochures for colleges far away and counting days until he leaves. So while facing the disapproval of the town probably won’t be easy, he’s from a family that’s probably always been a little out of step, and he doesn’t care that much about their opinion anyway. What probably will be harder is facing Amma’s disapproval – she does seem to be someone’s opinion that he values.
- SophiaAnne

I got the impression from the start that Ethan was more different than he was willing to admit to himself. I agree with SophiaAnne when she says that while facing the disapproval of his peers probably wouldn’t be a cakewalk, he appears to have a slight edge in that his parents aren’t cookie-cutter townies (in fact his mother isn’t even originally from Gatlin). So while I think it will be difficult, if Lena is the girl he’s in love with before first sight, I think he would. He’s doesn’t appear to be so flighty as to let peer-pressure get in his way.
- One Pushy Fox

I think Ethan knows that he will be ostracized if he pursues Lena. He has lived in Gatlin his entire life and has seen the outcome of such decisions. Being the son of professors makes it easier for him to do something different. It also helps that his mother, who was an outsider, was such a great influence on his life. The values she had instilled in Ethan made it easier for him to follow his heart. I believe things would have been much easier for Lena and Ethan if they were in college. There aren’t as many tight knit groups of people when you’re in college, unless you join a fraternity or sorority.
- Heather (Call of Duty Widow)

/* fragile turns the reigns over to Greta */

And Squees upon Squees cuz I’m just so uber happy that you all little duckies lover love mine and Fragile’s vision of Ethan. But let’s take a looksy at who YOU ALL have picked as your own little fantasy swoon daydream.

I love your Ethan! It’s so funny bc just today I posted my picks for the Hunger Games and I picked WM as Peeta. Good choice for either, imo.
- Rain

I had a harder time picturing Ethan, since we’re seeing everything through his eyes, rather than him. A young Josh Hartnett was probably the closest mental image I had.
- SophiaAnne

OMG I know I’m such a dork, but I picture Ethan being a tall guy, well duh they said he’s a basketball player. I also see him having curly dark hair. He eats like a horse without gaining any weight. Reminds me of my hubzz..So is anyone curious to know who my ethan look-alike is? A young American Pie Jason Biggs..LOL Yes I know I’m a dork!
- mypetpet

Oh, right from the start MY Ethan has been Steven R. McQueen (Jeremy from The Vampire Diaries).
- One Pushy Fox

As for “my Ethan” i would have to say Cody Linley is my Ethan.
- Ivy Lane

But it looks like the most popular Ethan swoon swoon is from a show I have never even heard of.

Ok my Ethan is kind of weird. My daughter has been watching the new Nickelodean show Big Time Rush alot lately so when I started reading this one of the boys from that show popped into my head. I do not know his name, but for those of you who have seen the show he is the one with the dark blonde hair, bushy eyebrows and big nose. He is really not that cute, its just who happened to pop into my head, I have no control.
- bierbeck

*fragile whispers* His name is Kendall Schmidt.

…and others of you tended to agree:

But now thanks to Bierbeck, the Big Time Rush guy with the huge eyebrows is in my head.
- Heather (Call of Duty Widow)

He looks pretty tasty to me – nom nom nom nom. What? You don’t like wet boy? You know you loves him. I mean JUST look at him! Glistening and beefy and ummm… hmmmmm…. yes… This is a mighty fine Ethan choice. I do believe I have found a new boy to cyber stalk *wink wink!

But ladies! Don’t hate the brows! Even if they are uber scaring looking.

Thanks to Bierbeck this guy is going to haunt my dreams with the huge caterpillar eyebrows if I picture Ethan. Those puppies are going to be the worst old man eyebrows later, they may come to life and eat a few people!
- Heather (Call of Duty Widow)

Just remember… I fan girl swoon over the bushies! Do you? You knows you do ;)

Whew, so glad to get week 1 under our belts – don’t forget to check back on Sunday for our next discussion post!!

And thanks again to all our lovely commenters  this week:

SophiaAnne ~ Ruby ~ marie
bierbeck ~
Mrs. Vanquish ~ mypetpet
Heather (Call of Duty Widow) ~ Rain
One Pushy Fox ~ Ivy Lane ~ KatieDid

And here’s hoping MyTwilife gets her book soon *fingers crossed*

Beautiful Creatures Discussion – Week 1

•24 January 2010 • 25 Comments

Here it is: the first BC discussion post! Here’s how the book discussions I’ve participated in usually do things: the post recaps the plot for that week’s chapters and ends with a few questions to get the discussion started. When you comment, you don’t have to answer any or all of the questions, and you can and should discuss anything from the chapters you want. The questions are just fodder and not meant to limit the conversation.

That said, here’s our standard disclaimer:

SPOILER WARNING: This post details the plot of the book Beautiful Creatures. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further.

Before: The Middle of Nowhere

The book begins with Ethan Lawson Wate introducing us to his town and his family. His father describes the people in the town:

There were only two kinds of people in our town. “The stupid and the stuck,” my father had affectionately classified our neighbors.

His father, a writer whose family had lived in Gatlin, SC, since the Civil War, divided the townsfolk into two camps: those “bound to stay” vs. those “too dumb to go.” Gatlin is a small town, stuck in their version of the past. Ethan’s family is different, made initially apparent by their refusal to use the common town euphemisms for the Civil War.

Everyone, that is, except my family. We called it the Civil War.

Tomorrow is the first day of Ethan’s sophomore year at Stonewall Jackson High, and, while he hopes something might be different, he’s sure it won’t be.

…I already knew everything that was going to happen – where I would sit, who I would talk to, the jokes, the girls, who would park where.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

Of course, the minute you assume nothing will ever change, that’s when everything does.

Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

I never even saw it coming.

9.02: Dream On

Ethan has dreams, dark, vivid dreams about a girl he can’t see but who makes his heart race. On the first day of school, he dreams they’re falling, and he can’t catch her. There’s mud, then green sparks. But, in the end, he can’t save her.

There she slipped through my fingers, and all I could feel was loss.

Lemons and rosemary. I could smell her, even then.

But I couldn’t catch her.

And I couldn’t live without her.

The voice of Amma, the Wates’ housekeeper, wakes Ethan up. His window is open, and it’s raining outside. He thinks about his dream, which he’s been having for months. All he can ever remember is the girl and how much he doesn’t want to lose her.

It was like I was in love with her, even though I didn’t know her. Kind of like love before first sight.

He never sees or remembers seeing the girl’s face, but he knows that losing her made him sick inside.

As he gets up from the bed, he still has he iPod buds in his ears, and there’s a haunting song on it he doesn’t recognize: Sixteen Moons.

Sixteen moon, sixteen years
Sixteen of your deepest fears
Sixteen times you dreamed my tears
Falling, falling through the years…

When he gets up from bed, his sheets are full of and his fingernails caked with black mud…and it isn’t the first time it’s happened. Showering the mud away, he tries to forget the dream. He can’t forget it or the girl in it.

I was sixteen years old, I was falling in love with a girl who didn’t exist, and I was slowly losing my mind.

No matter how much he scrubs, he can still smell lemons and rosemary.

When he goes downstairs, Amma has made him breakfast. Amma is their housekeeper, but she’s also Ethan’s surrogate mother, having taken care of Ethan practically his whole life but especially after his mother’s death. A crossword fan, she has a penchant for spelling words when she uses them. Just like a parent, she feeds him to help him grow and scolds him about his appearance. Amma’s also superstitious, leaving charms and dolls around the house to ward off evil. She is the boss of the Wate house.

But Amma was anything but a mild-mannered old lady. She was the absolute authority in my house.

Ethan’s dad is a hermit, staying in his study night and day working on a new book, and has been since Ethan’s mother died the previous April. Ethan rarely sees him.

Ethan rides to school with his best friend Link (Wesley Jefferson Lincoln, ’cause you know we Southerners will use all three names the minute you’re in trouble *wink*). Since Link is the only one with a car, he drives them to school in his Beater, blasting music as he pulls in front of the house. The music is by Link’s band, Who Shot Lincoln, who are pretty horrible. Still, Link dreams of going to New York and becoming a famous musician. Ethan is envious, because he doesn’t really have a plan of his own.

I didn’t want to end up like my dad, living in the same house, in the same small town I’d grown up in, with the same people who had never dreamed their way out of here.

As they ride to school, past the old houses of town, Ethan asks Link if he put the strange song on his iPod, but Link doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When Link isn’t paying attention to the road, Ethan tells him to watch out for a car passing in front of him. It was a black hearse.

Maybe it was an omen. Maybe this year was going to be worse than I thought.

9.02: New Girl

Ethan and Link arrive late to school, passing the truant officer parked in front of the town’s only grocery store, and are soaked by the time they make it inside. Caught as they walk in, they’re given after-school detention.

The small town mentality of Gatlin extends to the school. Teachers have known all the students since practically birth, and they’ve already decided who the smart and stupid ones are. Ethan, who didn’t reread To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my favorite books ever, btw) over the summer, fails his first quiz in English. Ethan loves to read, and he has a map on his bedroom wall where he marks places he’s read about and wants to visit.

In chemistry class, he’s made lab partners with Emily, who hasn’t liked him since they went to last year’s formal together and dumped him before the dance was even over. She is like all the other girls in Gatlin, and Ethan isn’t interested in any of Gatlin’s young ladies.

I wanted someone different, someone I could talk to about something other than parties and getting crowned at winter formal. A girl who was smart, or funny, or at least a decent lab partner.

Ethan’s history teacher is Mr. Lee, who apparently only teaches Civil War…um, I mean the War of Northern Aggression history. It’s in history class that Ethan first finds out about the new girl at school. He and Link hang out in the hall after class, hoping to see her. No such luck, and they go to their next class, American Sign Language, which they take along with the rest of the basketball team.

Basketball? Yep, that’s right. Ethan is a jock and has been since an eighth grade growth spurt (he’s 6′2″ now). He’s smart, emotional, athletic, and tall. *swoon* Oh, yeah, and sixteen *smacks self*…what was I saying?

The basketball team always sits together at lunch, and one of the other players says he’s seen the new girl.

Link asked the only question that mattered to any of them. “So, is she hot?”

“Pretty hot.”

“Savannah Snow hot?”

Savannah Snow is on the cheerleading team with Emily, and she is (at least in Gatlin) the epitome of the perfect girl. Leggy, blonde, and tan, Savannah is the cheerleading captain and one of the girls who formed the base of the team’s pyramid. Emily, on the other hand, was the top of the pyramid. Their respective positions on the pyramid mirror their positions in the social structure at the school.

When Emily got tossed, the pyramid went on fine without her. When Savannah moved an inch, the whole thing came tumbling down.

Ethan thoughts rest solely on the new girl, and he even wonders if she might be someone he’s dreamed about. Savannah and Emily fill everyone in on the new girl, letting them know that she’s not acceptable in their circle. Her clothes are all wrong, she’s pale, and she’s in the wrong family. The new girl is Old Man Ravenwood’s niece. Based on this information, Ethan decides that the new girl is probably not his dream girl.

Macon Melchizedek Ravenwood is Gatlin’s version of Boo Radley and lives in a run-down house on an old plantation. The new girl, his niece, moved in with him two days before. If nothing else about the new girl brands her a freak in the eyes of the clique, being related to Ravenwood certainly does.

That’s the thing I hate most about Gatlin. The way everyone had something to say about everything you said or did or, in this case, wore.

After school at basketball practice, Ethan plays flawlessly, able to sink every shot he throws. From the outside court, Ethan can see the entire parking lot, and he sees a black-haired girl looking at him from the driver’s seat of a black hearse. He misses his next shot. Other players on the team confirm that she is indeed the new girl. Almost as soon as the girl drives away, Ethan and the rest of the team are caught in a downpour.

The bad omen wasn’t just a hearse. It was a girl.

As he stands in the rain, Ethan gives up hope that this year will be any different than any other.

9.02: A Hole in the Sky

When Ethan arrives home, the dinner waiting for him is cold, Amma’s punishment for him being late for school. Amma’s pissed, and, as he eats his cold fried chicken (btw, there’s a lot to be said for some good, cold, leftover fried chicken *yum*) and mashed potatoes, Ethan apologizes and gets back on Amma’s good side. As they talk, Ethan mentions the new girl, who, of course, Amma already knows all about. Ethan finally gets a name.

Lena Duchannes. Pronounced, in the South, to rhyme with rain.

Amma warns Ethan not to mess with “things you don’t know anything about.” A respected tarot card reader from a long line of card readers, Amma often speaks in riddles. When Ethan asks her for more information about Lena, her response isn’t any more straightforward.

You watch yourself. One day you’re gonna pick a hole in the sky and the universe is gonna fall right through. Then we’ll all be in a fix.

As Ethan’s father emerges from the study for his nightly meal of coffee and Shredded Wheat, Ethan continues to ask Amma for information, which Amma continues to refuse to give him. When she speeds out the door, Ethan’s father asks Ethan what he’s done to her. Turns out Amma raised Ethan’s father. Their conversation is brief but nice before Ethan’s father returns to the grief that’s swallowed him since Ethan’s mother died.

The last five months had been hard for him. He had really loved my mother. But so had I.

As his father walks away, Ethan tries to pull him back, into conversation and into his life. He manages to ask his father about Macon Ravenwood, and his father says Macon is a recluse. Ethan realizes that Macon and his father have that in common. Ethan stops at the study door, remembering the one time, when he was seven, he went in and read his father’s manuscript. His father had been furious, and Ethan didn’t understand why his father kept himself shut off from him. He still doesn’t understand.

The next day at school, Lena is all anyone wants to talk about. The town gossip calling tree is in full force and stories, true or not, are circulating about Lena. The boys at basketball practice however, are only talking about the freshmen girls new to the dating pool. It started at the grocery store, were all the players were expect to meet on Wednesday mornings.

Finally, in the hall, he sees her:

But all I could see was a beautiful girl in a long gray dress, under a white track jacket with the word Munich sewn on it, and beat-up Converse peeking out underneath. … A girl who didn’t look like she belonged in Gatlin. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

When one of his teammates declares Lena off-limits because “she’s a freak,” Ethan confronts him. His teammate makes it clear that any interest in Lena would not be looked upon kindly in the halls of Jackson High. When Ethan walks into his English class, who does he find there? Lena, of course :) And she catches Ethan staring at her.

The English class, taught by Mrs. English, has one rule: sit in the back. Mrs. English has one glass eye and can only see the front row. If you sit in the back, you don’t get called on. Lena, not knowing the rule, sits in the first row.

Emily walks in and immediately begins to taunt Lena, knocking over her back bag and taking Lena’s notebook. Before Lena has a chance to really get up in Emily’s face (come on, don’t act like I’m the only one that wanted to see a smackdown *wink*), Ethan retrieves the notebook, gives it back to Lena, and sits in the first row with her. At the end of class, Ethan turns to Lena, but she leaves the room without speaking. He notices what she has written on her hand: 156.

Despite feeling like maybe he shouldn’t , Ethan can’t stop thinking about Lena and sees her everywhere. He knows she doesn’t fit in and she’s not like everyone else. And still he thinks about her. He finally realizes why this bothers him:

It was that she made me realize how much I was just like the rest of them, even if I wanted to pretend I wasn’t.

One day, as Ethan sits in ceramics class and attempts to mold clay, he hears a viola play the mysterious song he found on his iPod. The music is beautiful and haunting…and better than anything he’s every heard anyone in Gatlin play. When he imagines the words, however, they’re different in his head. The room begins to spin wildly around him, and, suddenly, he’s inside his nightmare, struggling to hold onto the mysterious girl’s wrist but losing his grip…

The teacher’s voice brings him back to the room, and he notices a girl’s hand has been smashed into the clay on his wheel. He knows the hand is hers. Running to the music room, Ethan rushes to find out who was playing the music. He smells lemons and rosemary. He asks the music teacher who he’d heard playing, and, before she can finish her sentence about the new girl and say the name, he runs away.

After classes, Ethan borrows Link’s car. He knows the only person he could have told about the girl, the music, and the visions was his mother, and, absent her, he’s on his own. Link’s keys in hand, he ignores Link’s warnings about missing practice and angering Amma.

His hand wavered as I grabbed the keys. “Don’t be stupid.”

I turned and bolted. Too late.

Food for thought

1. I grew up in what’s considered a big city for Alabama, but I certainly had my share of experiences with the small towns around us. If you’re from the South, do you think the book’s portrayal of a small Southern town is valid? If you’re not from the South, how does Gatlin compare to the small towns where you’re from?

2. Ethan says he hates that everyone in Gatlin judges people, but he does the same thing himself when he writes off the new girl the first day in the lunchroom. When he finally sees her, however, she’s all he can think about. How hard will it be for him to face the disapproval of everyone if he pursues Lena? Would it be any different if they were in college or adults?

3. You’ve now seen mine & Greta’s Ethan – who’s your Ethan? (P.S. Next week you get to see our Lena.)

Okay, folks, comment away!  :)

Greta is just an acronym for Great

•22 January 2010 • 10 Comments


You ready Girlies?!!!!!

I have a good feeling about this post!  I really do!!  So, where’s my theme music at? *searches through records.

~ This week it’s all about me ~~

! The Greta Spectacular !

Many of you should know by now that I am super obsessed with my own name. I really don’t think my parents realized the can of sparkles they were unleashing when they named their child this.  Cuz, ladies… My name is AWESOME!!

*GASP!! Don’t tell me that!!!!  My name is Fabulousness sprinkled with baby unicorns!!!

But what out there shares the same name of freaking awesometacularness besides myself.

It’s been my observation that every dang German Shephard out there that is NOT named HANSEL is named GRETA.

Kids, quit naming your dogs after me ;)   Can you not think of a  different German name besides the one that I’m rockin?   I’m requesting to be named after something a tad bit more exotic.  Next time you get a flamingo I want you to think of your old pal Greta ;)

Of course there is no way that I can leave out my namesake.  That’s right Girlies!  I was named after her ;)   YUP YUP!!

The way the story goes is my dad wanted a STRONG German name to call his daughter and as luck might have it they thought of Greta Garbo.  Now, if you ask my Dad today he’ll tell you that he doesn’t remember such things, but I asked my grandma once why my name was spelled with just one ‘t’ and not two and she said, “Well, that’s because that’s how Greta Garbo spelled it.”  SO, I asked her.

I believe her ;)

Did you know that I have my own butterfly?  YUP YUP! It’s called the Greta Oto

You NORMAL un-Greta-like people would refer to it as a Glasswing Butterfly, but now you know better ;)

And over in Hobbitland guess what?!!! I’m a river AND a bridge!!


Who knew?!!  Gee… maybe I should be nicer to Hobbits now considering they were cool enough to name a bridge and a major waterway after me ;)   … I’ll think about it hehe.

When I originally thought this post up in my head about a month ago there were just two things I wanted to share you.  Girlies, I’ve saved the best for last ;)

Did you know that I have my own movie?


Fragile is well aware of this because I was bouncing off the WALLS when my bestest bud, ERIKA, myspaced (that’s right ladies… I have a myspace.  I realize it’s not cool anymore but that’s how I roll lol) about it and I about squeed my little brains out.

It’s about  a 16 year old name GRETA (played by Hillary Duff which I am totally cooleys with!!) who is shipped off for the summer to live with her grandpaprents (in their retirement village!!) because her mom would rather focus on her latest relationship (omg!! How BELLA is this?!! well, not really but kinda haha.  Gimme this! LMAO!) than focus on her spitfire of a daughter.


As the story goes on you learn that Greta is a sassy firecracker who is bent on killing herself by the time she is 18 years old. She carries around a little notebook full of idea on the best ways to off yourself (don’t worry girsl…. I think it’s mainly just the hormones talking) but in the end…. wait a tick…. go rent the movie and find out ;)

If you liked JUNO then you are going to lover love love this movie!!  And do you want to know a secret?  I was blubbering at the end. It touched me THAT much ;)

The most important GRETA related topic…. Did you know that I’m a story in the FF world?!!!!!

It’s true!! I am I am!!

This was a complete and utterly wonderful surprise to me ;)

Back when we were playing Secret Santa I recieved a keychain in the mail (OMG! Do you remember my rant about not being able to find me name on a keychain?) with this hawt and sexy Red Riding Hood cozying herself up to a wolf

Of course I squeed like the little fangirl that I am, jumped around, and nearly had a heart attack.

MY NAME!!!!

But… there was more :)   On the bottom of the keychain it said “My Most Favored Weapon”

Well, I scratched my noggin at that but I didn’t fret.  Why wouldn’t I be someone’s favorite weapon.  Of course I had NO CLUE what that meant …. because there’s MORE!!

OnePushyFox was my Secret Santa!!  I e-mailed her my thankies and THEN she e-mailed me MY STORY!!

O-M-G!!

Ladies!! I present to you the bestest Greta story out there in the world of Twilight FF ;)

-Teaser to “Monster”

Monsters are everywhere. Even when they dress up like everyone else, they’re still there: lurking; waiting; biding their time. Killing monsters is my gift. Death is my art and I craft it lovingly, skillfully; dealing it out to the mortal and immortal alike, however my master demands. It is my honor to serve the leaders of our kind. When I was called into the throne room, I had been told that I was being given another such task, but the particulars had been left to my master to explain.

“Greta,” he murmured lovingly as I bowed before him. “My most favored weapon.” I looked up at the man I adored. Caius was my maker as well as my master and I loved him more than any daughter had ever loved her father, more than anything in this world. He stroked my jet black hair, pushing the last few errant strands behind my ear before cupping my heart-shaped face. “There is a task I must give you, a dangerous one, and you must not fail me.”

My body tensed with the desire to give him whatever he wanted and the fear that he doubted my abilities. I would never disappoint my father. There was no point to my existence other than to serve him. Failure was not an option.

Want to read the rest of ”Monster”?  Click HERE for fabulousness!

OMG Fact: The name Greta has made an appearance on the top 1000 most popular names since 1885. It did drop off of the chart, however, between the years 1983 and 1998. In 2006 it ranked at number 680. Its highest popularity was in 1932, when it ranked at number 318.

The Beautiful Creatures Wonderment Kick-Off Post of Amazement

•21 January 2010 • 28 Comments

Alright my Girly Girls!  It’s finally here!  Fragile and I have been pumping you up for nearly two weeks and all green lights are go!

Let’s get this party started and sink our little fangs into this beautiful book.

First off… let’s make sure that you have all the proper equipment.

The Beautiful Creatures Survival Kit

Book full of fan girl swoon: CHECK

Phone near reading spot to call up BFF at an OMG moment in book: CHECK

Threaten hubz that if he doesn’t give you enough peace and quiet during swoon time that you are willing to talk through entire length of Super Bowl: CHECK

Tissue nearby just in case there’s a tear jerker: CHECK

Bribe the cubs with promises that if they’re good during quiet time they’ll be rewarded with greasy fast food: CHECK

Lappy nearby to post your awesome thoughts and comments: CHECK

Got all that?  Well GRAVY!!

I’m ready my lovelies to get lost inside a new fairytale.

#region fragile speaks

We are so excited about the first discussion post, which will go live on Sunday. We are also incredibly grateful for the ladies who will guest post over the next several weeks and for all the pimpage the discussion has gotten on your blogs and Twitter. But your most important contribution has yet to be made:

Comment…pretty please…every week. We can’t have a discussion without the input of all you dedicated readers out there.  Even if you think you have nothing to say about the chapters, come visit us. You’ll be surprised what might occur to you once you read the recap and other people’s comments.

And remember, no comment is stupid…unless that comment is “I don’t understand why you people think Rob Pattinson is hot.”

See, even Rob thinks that's a stupid comment.

Now, if you’re like me, you love to get on the web and geek out over your new discoveries. Being the ultimate (and humble) geek that I am, I thought I’d share my list of BC-related links with you. When you want to put the book down (you won’t) or you’re tired of reloading the blog to see the new discussion post go live (give your mouse a break and follow us on Twitter), take a look at these sites:

Beautiful Creatures o-fficial website: http://beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/
Beautiful Creatures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beautiful-Creatures-the-Book/78607677903
Beautiful Creatures YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BeautifulCreatures09

Kami Garcia’s blog: http://kamimgarcia.typepad.com/
Kami on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kamigarcia

Margaret Stohl’s blog: http://www.margaretstohl.typepad.com/
Margaret on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mstohl

#endregion

Now my dear little ducks, I do believe we are ready to begin.  Let’s have a fabulous time in our nighties, lounging in bed with a bottle of wine, and a really fab book in our hands.  Because remember Girls: No matter how much your hubbles complains that you are spending way too much time with that beautiful book and not enough time on the couch while he eats chips and watches the Colts… he can’t deny it… Bookworms are the best breed of woman out there.  We’re smart, literate, and oh yeah baby … SEXY!!  Now, crack open that book and fangirl-up.  This promises to be a book we won’t ever forget.