Love has a way of shaking up more than a heart. Lost in Paradise is a journey of personal discovery. It's surprising, sexy and an emotional rollercoaster as well. Nicole is looking to heal a broken heart. Become a new woman. What she finds is love like she's never known before. Lacey takes her talents in an unexpected direction. Out of tragedy comes the courage to be happy.

Milton wrote a great poem but it's also a byproduct of its day - 1667 - and he views events and characters very much through the male gaze; as do all organized religions and which the poem references. Thus, the apple on the tree of knowledge was (imo) something a religious-minded white Portuguese male would regard as sinful. As it stands, the sin no longer applies. It is 2005, eating the apple amounts to doing just that; eating an apple. Unless you have the apple representing something else, i.e., update the sin attached to it.

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

What happens when you mix a half-merman with a reformed siren - all sorts of salty goodness! Ok so that might have been a little over the top, but this was a really great story. Both Zander and Ianthe were incredibly unique, but with just enough of the traditional lore mixed in to merge the two in a very believable manner.

This next edition of The World in Shadows series get very interesting. Winter is on the hunt for an artifact, sending Zander off on the chase. But he'll need a siren (his arch-enemy) to get the job done. He never expects to find Ianthe - probably the only siren on earth that won't kill him on sight - and now he just needs to convince her to join him in the treasure hunt.

Ianthe is so much, I'm not even sure where to begin. I love her personality so much - soft spoken, but quick to laugh, protective but not afraid to fight back or pull a prank or two (quite hilarious). She plays incredibly well off Zander and I just loved them together.

A couple times the story didn't quite live up to what it promised. A scene fizzled out or didn't quite build up the the excitement I felt like it should have. But others....well others went above and beyond and really pulled me away from reality into an amazing world.

I haven't had much time for leisurely reading (although my stack is seriously tempting me), but at least my school assignments have been fairly interesting, if at times somewhat tedious. 

I re-read Macbeth for an English paper, but I just kept wishing that I was back in high school English joking with my friends about Ian McKellen as Macbeth yelling at the ghost of Banquo. 

I also read The Wife of Bath's Tale a while back which, surprisingly, was actually pretty cool. I made a note that if and when I ever teach it, I would compare the Wife of Bath to Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. It was awesome to read a character like that in something like Chaucer- it made the language feel a lot less tedious.

Currently, I'm working my way through Paradise Lost, but it's slow going. Still, it feels like I'm accomplishing something as I read it. I think I'm enjoying it more because I just think of Supernatural as I'm reading. Also, it's in my giant English textbook, which I like to plop on a table and mark with washi tape tabs.

Alongside the first few books of Paradise Lost, my English teacher assigned a couple of chapters out of Gulliver's Travels. I just started reading the part where he's marooned on an island of intelligent horses and 'Yahoos', hairy animal-like savages who somewhat resemble humans. I've only read a few pages of it but it reminds me a bit of The Time Machine. I can't decide if I'm going to read the whole book yet.

I still read In Search of Respect here and there, but it's tough to read about the lives of people who really never even had a sliver of a chance at a good life. There are a lot of things that you don't really think about when considering why people can't escape extreme poverty. In one example I read, a neighbor of Philip's "subjects" (for lack of a better word) gets a good job at an office- a rare accomplishment and her first decent-paying job. She buys a new outfit for work- a bright yellow, tight jumpsuit. Her friends and boyfriend think she looks gorgeous and wish her good luck at her job- they don't even realize that the outfit alone will be enough to get her into trouble, and maybe even let go. They have no access to what "dressing nice" means in that situation. It's mind-boggling, but it's understandable- they're stuck in the bubble of their neighborhood's street culture, where "dressing nice" means something very different. 

I'm still keeping up with my readings in Freedom On My Mind for African American History class. Currently we're learning about the Underground Railroad... well, everyone else is learning about it. I already knew pretty much all that we've covered so far- I've had an interest in it since my dad taught me about it when I was very young. Harriet Tubman was ridiculously badass and if you haven't read much about her, you really should. 

It's been great reading epic works of literature and learning so much, but damn I can't wait to be done with this semester and get started on all my fun books!