Acheron by Sherilyn Kenyon

Last night I finished reading Sherilyn Kenyon's newest noverl Acheron, which I had been waiting "patiently" for for over a year and 1/2!!

I just got my copy last Thursday and couldn't put it down so my boyfriend was pretty impressed when I finished the almost 900 page book before bed last night (it's actually two books in one).

I so much more than I had ever anticipated!! The first book chronicles Acheron's (the mysterious leader of the Dark Hunters in Kenyon's best-selling series) early life (11,000 years ago) in Didimos, in Ancient Greece, and Atlantis!! The book starts off with Acheron's birth as an Atlantean God of Distruction and the Final Fate. His mother, Apollomi, the Atlantean Goddess of Distruction gives up her beloved son to save him from the wrath of the other Atlantean gods by hiding him in the womb of a Greek Queen and tying his life force to her son so that she must raise him, however things don't turn out the way Apollomi had hoped, and as a human, Acheron is forced to live a terrible life. He is beaten and humiliated constantly by his "father", "uncle" and his "twin brother", he is raped and forced into prostitution and longs for a death that will never come. The only one who shows him any kindness is his human sister Ryca who shows him how to love and how to trust. Ryca becomes the mistress to Apollo and Acheron meets Artemis who at first professes to love him, but when push comes to shove she refuses to allow others to know about their relationship out of fear for her own humiliation and betrays him. Ryca is murdered, Apollo takes revenge on his own people the Apollites by cursing them and Acheron is murdered by Apollo. Apollomi takes her vengence by destroying the Atlantean Gods, sinking Atlantis and destroying Didymos. Artemis is forced to bring Acheron back to stop his mother from destroying the Greek Gods but their relationship is destroyed forever.

The rest of the first book details how the Dark Hunters came to be and why and how Acheron led them as well as his tumultous relationship with his mother who loves and adores him, would do anything for him and he loves her but they can never be together because she is imprisoned once again in Kalosis and if he were to ever go to her she would be freed and would destroy the earth which Acheron has sworn to protect.

The second book takes place in the here and now. Tory, a human archaelogist has found Atlantis (for real) and is ready to reveal it. Acheron is determined to prevent her from revealing Atlantis and his past to the world but he didn't count on falling in love. Having never really being able to trust a women since Ryca (he has Artemis, the evil Bitch Goddess to thank for that), he has a hard time giving in to his feelings for Tory but cannot resist. When Artemis and a group of humans bent on keeping Atlantis secret threaten Tory's life, Acheron (now known as Ash) must protect her.

I love how Kenyon made Acheron come to life. He had feelings and emotions that the reader could understand and sympathize with. My opinion changed about one character, Apollomi, while in other books she appeared to be completely evil this book revealed the loving mother who only wanted her son to be happy and wanted to protect and avenge him. At first I was hoping Artemis would be redeemed that the first book would reveal some sort of misunderstanding that her pride had not allowed her to reveal but nope...she is just plain evil and she showed that when she tried to kill Tory and all the times she tortured and beat Acheron. I have no sympathy for her character anymore.

All in all, an excellent read and I give it 5 stars!!!

What Happens in Vegas

I went to see the new movie What Happens in Vegas starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher last night with my bf. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. A little cheezy at the beginning but then quite funny in the middle and sweet at the end. I won't spoil it for anyone who may want to see it :P

A new job posting came up at work last week for a new US Fraud department so I applied. It will still be inbound calling but no selling so I hope that if I get it is will be a lot better than the marketing department, at least it is a change.

I started studying online for my Wedding Planner course. So exciting!! The first module is on etiquette and the engagement period and there's so much that I never new about, but it's all so interesting.

Sunday is my bf and my one year anniversary. Kinda exciting, it went by so fast!

I'm not reading anything right now, not even my driver's ed manuel :( I need to find something new to read.

The Wedding Planner

I've been talking about becoming a wedding planner for a long time. I'm very creative and I love to plan and organize and take charge of events. I've been talking about it till I'm blue in the face, and talking about how miserable I am in my current job, but I wasn't taking any action. I'm a bit of a procrasinator.

Yesterday I finally sat down after researching different Online Wedding Planner courses and I finally signed up for one!!! I put a down payment of $250 and set up for monthly payments and I should received my course material and online material in a couple of days!!!

I'm so excited and so happy that my boyfriend is being supportive. He said he was proud of me for finally taking the bull by the horns. I feel like a finally have a chance to get out of this place and start a career that I know I'm going to love! love! love!

I'll keep you posted :)

Me Drive?

I bought the updated version of the Ontario Driver's Handbook. I had a copy a few years ago but I didn't bother because I was too lazy. I think it's time now though that I learned to drive, even thought the roads would be a safer place without me on them :P

On an even better note, what wonderful weather we're having!! I went to my first bbq of the season yesterday and it was great. Here's hoping for many more beautiful weekends :D

A Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day outside. 8 degrees, sunshine and warm, I wish I was outside to enjoy it but i'm stuck inside a call center where I can barely see out the window :(

Things have not been going great at work. I've posted for new positions a couple of times and got turned down. They keep encouraging me to post saying that i'm a shoe in and they're sure I'll get the positions but then everytime they turn me down for someone else. I'm really getting fed up with the false encouragement and rejection.

The good news is in a week or so I will be taking some testing for a position with the Government. Hopefully something good will come out of it because I really need a change.

Even better news is Friday is supposed to be 20 degrees and I have the day off. Yeah!!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Anna isn't sick, but she might as well be. For the past 13 years she has been in and out of the hospital providing, blood, platelets, and bone marrow to her sister Kate who has a rare form of leukemia. Anna is the perfect donor, her parents had her genetically created to be a perfect match for Kate, and Anna has never complained. That is until they ask her to give her sister a kidney. Now Anna wants to break free and have her own life, but her parents won't give up without a fight.

This is a novel about a young girl who is loves her sister dearly but who also wants to find out who she is and have a chance at her own life. She knows as long as she is her sister's donor she will never be free to be her own person.

This is also a story about two parents who love their child so much, they are willing to cross moral and scientific bounds to save her. Many people this they are horrible parents, genetically creating one child to save another, but Anna's parents do love her very much. This is what makes the story so hard. If they were bad parents and were horribly cruel to Anna it would be easy to choose a side.

Sara loves both her daughters, but she continuely focuses her attention on Kate using Anna to save her and sometimes making Anna sacrifice her childhood for Kate's sake. For example, Anna wanted to go to Hockey camp but Sara wouldn't let her because if Kate became ill while Anna was away they might not get Anna back in time to save Kate. This leads to the question, what happens when Anna wants to go off to College if Kate is still around by then. Sara also ignores her son who turns to drugs, alchohol and arson to get her attention.

Anna turns to a lawyer to help her win medical emancipation from her parents to make her own decisions about her health and body. Anna's mother, also once a lawyer argues that Anna is not old enough to make her own choices medically and argues that Kate needs Anna.

Anna's father takes Anna's side. He understands that Anna needs to be seen as an individual and not just a vessel for her sister. He knows the Kate is ill and Anna is the only person keeping Kate from dying, but he also sees the suffering Kate goes through and wonders if it is time to let her go.

In the end however it is revealed that Kate asked Anna to start the lawsuit because she didn't want to continue on. She was ready to let go and die. Anna went along with it because her sister asked and it was a chance to finally be seen for herself.

The ending has tragic consequences with Anna dying in a car accident 1/2 hour after winning her court case, and Kate getting the kidney and going on to graduate from High School years later.

The book is field with questions. Are we responsible for our families wellbeing? is it okay to sacrifice one child to save another? Designer babies? and does a 13 year old have the right to make her own medical decisions at the cost of her sister and does her family have the right to force her to continue being a donar? There are no right or wrong answers.

What an amazing book, now I'm reading The Pact by Picoult, a story about a botched suicide pact that leaves a young women dead, her boyfriend being accused of murder and their families reeling.