Charmed

***SPOLIER ALERT*** this post will contain some spoilers so beware.

Charmed is the supernatural drama of three sisters who discover they are witches. The hit WB show ran from 1998-2006 and still shows episodes through it's syndication with TNT. I grew up watching the Halliwell sisters every week on my TV ready to see what was going on with the "Charmed Ones". Though I was never allowed to talk about the show as my Maternal Grandmother (Shirley) is hardcore Pentecostal and any mention of anything to do with witchcraft and paganism was a sin and deserved a huge lecture. Plus I was 7 when this show started so I had to be sneaky and watch it at my Grandma Georgia's (cause my Gram is cool). I digress. Anyways the show starts off with three sisters: Prue (short for Prudence), Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell who right after their Grandmother's death (:sob:) are living in the Victorian Style house in San Francisco called Halliwell Manor. The youngest sister, Phoebe, goes into the attic (which they have been unable to get into for year because the door was stuck) and finds a spell book. She reads a spell from the first page and it somehow awakens the powers in each sister. They are from a long line of witches dating back many generations and are the "Charmed Ones". Very powerful witches capable of tipping the scale of good and evil. It's a really good show I promise.
Eventually Prue dies (my brother said it's because the actress wanted more money). Leaving Piper and Phoebe at a loss of what to do. But they find out that they have a secret half-sister named Paige who can also become a Charmed One and complete the "Power of Three". I know this sounds like some horrible supernatural day-time soap opera but honestly it's just how I explain things. The show focuses on each sister and how they grow as witches and women. It shows the complications of relationships, family, and the battle of good and evil. The sisters also work with various offices of law enforcement as the villains they are usually fighting have left behind a trail of bodies. Some of the police are in on their secret, that they are powerful witches, but for the most part they just say that they are psychics trying to help. It usually works which kind of made me question how police handled crime scenes as a kid.
Each sister has a unique power.

Prue, the oldest, has the power of telekinesis, and eventually astral projection. She is also able to cook up potions and cast spells. Unfortunatly Prue dies at the end of season 3. Most of the fandom agrees that when she died she was reunited with her soul mate Andy Trudeau.

Piper (who is my favorite of the sisters) can "freeze" time. It starts off that she can only freeze small areas around her and it only lasted a few seconds. But as she develops more control over her powers she can freeze larger spaces or single items (falling things mostly). Later she also developes the power to blow things up. She also has the abilities of potion craft and spellcasting.

Phoebe is the youngest of the original three sisters and the middle child from season 4 and on. She has premonitions of the past and future. Later developing the power of levitation and becomes an empath. She learns martial arts from her demon boyfriend Cole and is skilled in potion making and spellcasting.

Paige Mathews is the half-sister of the Halliwells. The daughter of the Charmed Ones mother and her white lighter, Paige was given up for adoption because relationships between witches and white lighters are forbidden. Paige is telekinetic and can "orb" which is a skill for white lighters. It's basically teleporting. She does develop further as a witch and white lighter throughout the series. She also can make potions and cast spells.
Now for the eye candy of Charmed. Here are our leading gentlemen:

Inspector Andy Trudeau is introduced in season 1. He grew up with the Halliwells and dated Prue briefly in high school and through season 1. He is a San Francisco Detective and is usually assigned to the cases that the Charmed ones are involved in. He's more open to the supernatural than some of the "mortal" characters.

Leo Wyatt is the Charmed Ones white lighter and Piper Halliwell's husband. Their relationship is complicated because witches and white lighters are forbidden to be together. But he and Piper manage it and fight to stay together.

This is Cole. He is Phoebe's on and off again boyfriend throughout the show. He's a demon called Bathazar and sometimes he screws the Charmed Ones over. So he's a sometimes enemy, sometimes ally. He and Phoebe actually don't end up together in the end despite the fact that they deeply love one another. Phoebe ends up with a Cupid but since he was kind of thrown in at the last minute, to me Cole was always the one for her.

Here's Piper and Leo's oldest son Wyatt. Isn't he cute?

and here he is grown up. Still cute!

This is Chris. He's Piper and Leo's second son who time travels to the past to stop Wyatt from becoming evil. Chris sometimes is an ass but he's a loveable ass.
If all this wasn't reason enough to watch there's some fun characters I think my fellow Supernatural fans will appreciate.

Look familiar?

Yep that's Mark Sheppard playing a demon in Charmed!
What about this guy? Recognize him?

Why that's Misha Collins!

Charmed is a great show and you should definitely check it out!

My Love Affair with USB Heated Gloves

We interrupt your irregularly scheduled reviews of media to bring you this:

So I work at a Public Library and 99.99% of the time I am freezing to death. Then some of my coworkers told me about the gloriousness that is USB heated gloves and I fell in love. I just bought my first pair and they are a godsend. My hands are encased in a toasty warmth that is absolutely heavenly. Plus they’re fingerless so I can still type, but if I so desired they can become mittens. Seriously these make me ridiculously happy which causes me to want to shout my love for them from the rooftops of every building so that the world knows. I cannot convey how excited I am to have these gloves for the Winter.

I live in the “Hoth” portion of the country where our four seasons consist of Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction. Seriously here’s a picture of our state flower:

It pops up everywhere alongside the roads.

A hardy thing that even endures in winter (on occasion).

I digress.
So I live in an area where it’s not odd to see it reach temperatures of -40°F and it’s common practice to keep your snow shovel inside your house so you can dig your way out. Add in the fact that I have iron deficiency anemia and you have a really over exuberant human about USB heated gloves. I can use these babies in the car while I’m driving if I plug them into my car charger in addition to the hours they’re already clocking with me at work. I’m definitely going to buy another pair because I’m 10,000% sure I’m going to wear them out from all the use. But since they were only $12 I’m okay with that. Now I’m going to return to my winter hibernation with my beloved gloves, some hot cocoa, an electric blanket, wool socks, and thermal undies.

You can purchase the gloves here.

My Quasi-Participation in the 2015 Goodreads Challenge

Okay this rant is mostly brought on by this article on Book Riot and my struggle in 2014 to complete my Reading Challenge.

Last year I originally set my goal at 150 since in 2013 I had set it a 100 and read 113. I thought I should challenge myself except it didn't go as planned. I was frantically reading books, some I didn't even like all that much just to keep up. Every time I logged onto Goodreads and saw I was behind it stressed me out more than it should. I didn't have time to read fanfiction or even write and work on my own. So after accepting that 150 books was too much last year I changed it and set it to 120 and ended up reading 125 books. Now here it is 2015 and time to set a new challenge except I feel burned out, I want to read fanfiction and binge watch TV Shows and not worry about being behind on my challenge. So at the end of 2014 when I saw the above mentioned article it spoke to me on a spiritual level. I need a break to just read at leisure because I love reading I really do, but when something I love starts feeling like a chore it's time to make some changes. So this year I set my Reading Challenge to read one book. That's right, you read that right. One book. I know I'll probably far exceed that number, in fact I am expecting to, but I set it to one so I can relax and just see what I read this year. I'm taking the time so to binge watch Game of Thrones before the new season, and actually take my time reading to truly absorb every word on the page. I don' have to rush through books. I can reread books and not fret that I can't count them towards my goal. I can just stop and smell the roses... or spend six hours straight on Tumblr. Most likely the Tumblr option if I'm being honest. :) This also gives me time to do different things and invest time in my other hobbies, for instance I can finish some of my crochet projects I've abandoned and I have the time to help prepare things for my brother's wedding this November. (In which we're making all the flowers out of comic books and doing lots of other DIY decorations).

I'm expecting to get some well-meaning teasing from my co-workers and fellow book lovers at the Library but honestly I'm excited about the prospect of seeing what and how much I read when the pressure is off. So we can say I'm doing this in the name of science! I highly suggest you all read the Book Riot article I've mentioned above. It says all the things I'm feeling in a much more eloquent and organized manor. Everything the author talked about in the article I was internally screaming yes in agreement.

I look forward to reviewing more books, movies, and TV shows in 2015! Happy New Years and Happy Reading!

Until Midnight by Melissa Landers Giveaway!

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Supernatural

***SPOLIER ALERT*** this post will contain some spoilers so beware.

I have resisted talking about my all time favorite TV show long enough! I started watching Supernatural back in 2005 back when the CW was still called the WB and Smallville (my other great TV love) was still airing. I was obsessed from the beginning. I tuned in every Tuesday at 9pm (till they moved it to Thursday halfway through the season which was awesome because then it was on after Smallville) and then rented the DVDs from the video store to binge watch and fill the void the season finale left me with. So this show is very near and dear to my heart.

The show centers around the Winchester family who at the beginning of the show live a normal life. Mary and John have two sons, Dean who is 4 and Sam (Sammy) who is 6 months. Tragedy strikes right away in this show as the Yellow Eyed Demon (Azazel) is in Sam's nursery and it kills Mary and burns the family home down, leaving John determined to find and kill the thing that murdered his wife. He raises Sam and Dean to be hunters. Flash forward 22 years Sam is at Stanford going to college living with his girlfriend Jessica (Jess) and attempting a normal life. But that all goes to hell in a handbasket when Dean shows up and informs Sam that their father is missing and he needs Sam to help him find him because he's worried something's happened to John. So Sam agrees to go on this one hunting trip with Dean and help him find their Dad. They successfully finish the hunt their Dad went AWOL on and afterwards Sam goes back to his apartment only to find Jess pinned to the ceiling on their bedroom with a bloody nightgown before bursting into flames and burning their apartment down. The same MO as the thing that killed his and Dean's mother. So now Sam joins Dean to find their Dad and this:

The show is set up with a "Villain-of-the-Week" style and has a bigger plot slowly unfolding in each episode but

Plus there's so many amazing characters to meet. There's Sam

Dean

Bobby Singer

John Winchester

Castiel

Crowley

Ruby

Meg

The Trickster God (AKA Gabriel)

Lucifer

Chuck

The sexiest car that ever exsisted, the Impala (AKA Baby)

Just to name a few (of my personal favorites).

Supernatural is well known on Tumblr for being a show with lots of "feels" and a bit eccentric fandom. And I'm positive everyone and their brother has heard of Destiel or Wincest by now. (Though Cas doesn't show up until season 4

and personally I'm a Wincest shipper and believe any long lasting canon relationship is doomed because this show is about the brothers and the giant clusterfuck that is their life. So all pairings are basically crack-shipping. Sorry I just have a lot of feeling about ships...)
Anyways like I said this is my all time favorite show. I got Caitie addicted to it and I don't think she has ever forgiven me for the emotional trauma I have put her through. Plus we have a gif for everything in this fandom. Seriously.
So if you ever have considered watching Supernatural. Run. Run very far. This show will ruin your life, take up all your free time, and you'll start writing and reading fanfiction at 2am and wonder why you can be a productive and functioning contributing member of society.

It's an all consuming addiction! So flee for your lives!
...unless you're into that sort of thing. Then definitely watch it!

Also this show gives you the best life advice I have every had

Which is the title of the list Caitie and I have of what we would do to survive a horror movie which was posted on May 7th, 2014.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Attachments is another fantastic book by Rainbow Rowell (who I actually met and got her to sign my copy of Fangirl!) Attachments is about a twenty-something named Lincoln O'Neill who starts working as a Tech guy for a Newspaper and one of his jobs is to monitor the emails that employees send out. That's how he "meets" Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder, by reading their emails they send back and forth. So that's a little creepy, but it endears me to Lincoln because he really is just that awkward about people and he genuinely feels bad about reading their emails and invading their privacy.

Lincoln feels stuck in life. Stuck with where he is and has no room to grow and do something else which is really relatable to me at this juncture in life and he sees a bit of a kindred spirit in Beth who feels the same. She's stuck in a dead end relationship with a musician. (Rule #23 of Amanda's Rules for life: Don't date musicians.) Her boyfriend is also kind of a jerk (Rule #3: Don't date assholes or "fixer-uppers") but sometimes he's a bit endearing which makes it hard to decided if I want Lincoln and Beth together or if I want this tragic stalking to end with them never having met face-to-face.

As the story progresses we learn more about Beth and Jennifer. Like Jennifer is struggling in her marriage because she's afraid of taking the plunge and becoming a parent, though ultimately she does get pregnant and Beth is a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding which brings up a lot of conversation about how she isn't married and her relationship with the musician (whose name escapes me so we're going to call him Bill because I am unimaginative.) So Beth's sister's wedding put a lot of stress on Beth and Bill's relationship.

Meanwhile Lincoln starts to get the hang of adulthood (WHAT ARE THE SECRETS OF IT LINCOLN TELL ME!) He moves out of his parents house and quits his job to get one he actually wants to have and doesn't hate. But before he leaves he writes a note to Beth explaining that he has been reading their emails, that he's sorry and knows it was wrong but that they should probably stop sending emails to each other at work. The books starts to wind down and I'm fearful that my ship won't sail and it's just one of those bitter life lessons we learn about unrequited love and how to respect privacy in this modern age but then ships ahoy! Beth and Lincoln meet in real life when she's at a movie theatre to review a movie and he's there to watch the movie for funsies! So they have a pseudo date which leads to a real relationship!

I really enjoyed Attachments by Rainbow Rowell and I look forward to reading more of her books.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

So I got this as a free ebook on my Nook. It said it was about aliens in high school and I thought eh why not? I read it and then I was hooked. The main character Katy is pretty realistic and although this book follows the "Twilight Trope" that has become so popular in YA Fiction I feel like this book has something to offer.

First off when main characters Katy and Daemon first meet there isn't any insta love(YAY!). Daemon actually pisses Katy off and they spend the majority of the book fighting and basically being assholes to each other. Which was awesome. Katy becomes best friends with Daemon's twin sister Dee and Katy starts to notice weird things about the Black family and their close friends the more time she spends with them.

She finds out that their aliens and that the government has been basically covering up the existence of two alien races that have come to earth. The Luxen who are light based beings and the Arum who are dark based beings. Daemon and Dee are Luxen and Katy slowly gets tangled up in their world and ongoing battles with the Arum.

What I liked most about this book was Katy's character. She's funny, intelligent, runs a book blog, and basically a well rounded teenage character. She feels realistic to me as a sixteen to seventeen year old girl. The next thing I loved about this book was that they did poke fun at the similarities between it and Twilight. Jennifer L. Armentrout knows her audience well. Plus Daemon is described a super-hot but he's basically an asshole the entire time which I liked. He's trying to keep Katy and human at a distance after the disappearance of his and Dee's other brother and his human girlfriend. But Daemon and Katy undergo some really great character growth.

I have to admit after reading this book I bought the rest in the series as ebooks and I loved it. Sure sometimes I caught myself rolling my eyes at the characters because of their plotting and their attempts at being adults but I do that with real teenagers. All in all I would 100% recommend this book it made me laugh, it surprised me, it was predictable in some cases, but it was a great read!