Ranger's Apprentice : The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan ( And I think it would be kinda funny if you wrote your entire post in the title) :-)

Bracing for a final clash with the evil warlord Morgarath, the Rangers rally the kingdom's allies, and Will is chosen, along with his friend Horace, as special envoys to nearby Celtica. But the simple mission soon takes an unsettling turn - the Celticans have disappeared, their town abandoned. The scheming hand of Morgarath, it seems, has been far from idle. He has found a way to bring his legions over the once impassible eastern mountains and is planning to ambush the king's army in a rout. Now with help many miles away, Will and Horace are the only ones standing in the way of the dark lord's plans.They have shown great skill and courage in their training, but how will they fare in the face of true evil?
(Synopsis from GoodReads)

This was seriously amazing, guys. I mean, it literally left me holding the book limply in my hands, and my mouth agape. I really enjoy John Flanagan's writing style : He switches to characters' narratives all the time, and that's something I really love. Will is just the perfect guy. He's smart, humble, kind, and not bad with a bow and knives. Then there's Halt. I feel like such an idiot. I didn't even mention him in the previous post, when he is after all a main character. He is absolutely.... GAH. I cannot use words. One of my favorites. Horace is totally sweet; he isn't quite as smart as Will, or as daring as Will, but boy, is he good with a sword :-). And, finally, Evanlyn. I will not get into her, but I love her, and I hope she comes back into the rest of the series. I really do. The content : a couple d**m and h**l, and several uses of God's name. Overall very clean. And the end. OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO UN-EXPECTED. I was staring at the book, going, you have GOT to be joking--in a good way. A very, very good way. Overall, I recommend this series to anyone over 9; the writing style is pretty easy (I'm finishing 1 a day), and I hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!
READ THESE BOOKS!!!!!! -- JAM--

Ranger's Apprentice : The Ruins of Gorlan : Book 1 : By John Flanagan

Like the other 15-year-old wards of Castle Redmont, Will is nervous about Choosing Day, when each of them will be assigned to a different master for training. Though his dearest wish is to enter the Battleschool, his small stature prevents it. Instead, Will is apprenticed to the grim-faced, mysterious Ranger. Soon Will learns that becoming a ranger is more difficult, dangerous, and worthwhile than he had imagined. He earns the respect of his elders and the friendship of a former foe, but all this is prelude to the great adventure that follows, when his skills wielding a knife and keeping a heightened awareness of his surroundings become vital to the survival of his mentor and the safety of the kingdom.

My thoughts :
One of my friend's brother recommended this book to me. I had been wanting to read it for a pretty long time, but never did because they had never been recommended to me, so I was very excited when he told me I should read it. It was extremely enjoyable. Will was a very likable character, humble, cute, and brave. I loved Horace, from his evolving from a bully into a man. There weren't that many other major characters, but they were all awesome. Nothing bad, besides a few uses of d*** and that's it. 
The story was well developed and I think the pacing was very nice. I am in the middle of the 2nd one, and I am loving it. 
Signing off, 
JAM
(sorry for the review being so horribly short and choppy; it was written over a couple days)

Mission Impossible 3

Ethan Hunt is at it again. :-) Or, rather, it happened 6 years ago ( it was made in 2006). Hahaha. I have fallen, again, for the fast sprinters and the kick-butt, leave-me-alone-or-your'e-gonna-regret-it type guys. AKA Ethan Hunt, Jason Bourne, Aaron Cross, James Bond, Aragorn, etc.... ;-) And a ton more. But........ back to the review. Here be the synopsis (from IMDB) :


Super-spy Ethan Hunt has retired from active duty to train new IMF agents. But he is called back into action to confront the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian, an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team: his old friend Luther Strickell, transportation expert Declan, and background operative Zhen. They are to rescue one of his very own trainees, Lindsey who was kidnapped while on a surveillance detail of Davian. It soon becomes evident that Davian is well-protected, well-connected, and downright malicious. This forces Hunt to extend his journey back into the field in order to rescue his wife, Julia, and uncover IMF double agents in the process.

My thoughts :  I totally loved it. Ever since Ghost Protocol, I have loved Mission Impossible. My only little thing is that Ethan always has the different crew members. Okay, so 1, 2, 3 Luther is always on the team. But besides him and Ethan, different. Up there ^ in the synopsis, the new team members are Declan (acted by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen (acted by Maggie Q). I loved Declan. Of course, JRM is really, really cute, and his irish accent is totally awesome. There wasn't much "character development" in those characters, but I liked them a lot. Zhen was cool too. A new character is Julia ( acted by Michelle Monaghan) , and she plays Ethan's fiance then wife *sniff*. I wish that she was in all the other ones. That would be an improvement..... Now to the actual film itself. JJ Abrams directed it (Super 8), and it was his first ever major film (blockbuster). I thought he did a fantastic job. The pacing was just right, the action was almost no-stop without being overwhelming, and the CGI/ cinematography was beautiful. My only thing was the camera work. There were wayyyy too many shaky, really fast, too close zoom ups. Ergh, those always get on my nerves because you can't tell what's going on! But the rest of it was neat.

For the skipping : There are several short scenes that are pretty iffy : A scene where Ethan wakes up in bed with Julia (still his fiance). Then as Ethan is being drugged, there's a flashback with Julia undressing. Then some pretty big smooching right after they get married. One part Luther is asking Ethan if him and another agent had "something going on". My sister hit the mute button, so I'm guessing he asks blatantly. The farthest the cussing gets is s**t and and h*ll. God's name is used several times. The violence (haha, it's unskippable, unless you just don't want to watch the movie) was actually a lot stronger than the other ones, because JJ made it a lot more realistic ( cuts, bruises, etc),  and the bad guy - Owen Davian - was completely sadistic and a little crazy. *Spoilers in the following paragraph* In the beginning, someone is killed by a bomb implanted in her head, and it is slightly disturbing. In the very, very beginning(first scene) there is a "torture" scene where someone's holding a gun to someone else's head, and telling Ethan to tell him something. (He shoots her in the leg, then the scene ends with him pulling the trigger at her head) Very, very intense. 

Okay for mature 12+. 
Watch. This. Movie. !!!!!!!!!
One last picture for good measure ( totally full of MI awesomness, isn't it?)

Signing off,
JAM

Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

Hey! So here's the review for the book I won (see previous post) : (summary off of Amazon)

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In Abby’s world, magic isn’t anything special: it’s a part of everyday life. So when Abby learns that she has zero magical abilities, she’s branded an "Ord"—ordinary, bad luck, and quite possibly a danger to society. The outlook for kids like Abby isn’t bright. Many are cast out by their families, while others are sold to treasure hunters (ordinary kids are impervious to spells and enchantments). Luckily for Abby, her family enrolls her in a school that teaches ordinary kids how to get around in a magical world. But with treasure-hunting kidnappers and carnivorous goblins lurking around every corner, Abby’s biggest problem may not be learning how to be ordinary—it’s whether or not she’s going to survive the school year!

--

Oh my gosh I LOVE this book!!!!! It was so adorable and cute, and a blast to read.

So, I don't know about you, but my family doesn't do Harry Potter (and the like), and so anything with the word 'magic' in it raises some eyebrows in the house; You can guess I was slightly worried when I started that my mom was going to flag me on it, and have to read it first (which isn't a bad thing, it just takes her a  super long time to even start the book :) ) but she didn't, and I honestly wouldn't have the slightest problem with recommending this book. CRB never delved into the subject, and when it was talked about, it was just like normal everyday life-- as it's supposed to be in the book. The rest of it was very clean ( a couple references to smooching -- when they're talking about Abby's brother Gil's romance novels) and no swearing that I remember-- and I finished it less than 3 hours ago. I loved Abby, because she was funny, sarcastic -- something like me :P -- but brave ( not like me ;) ). I recommend this book 100% to anyone over 8. Thanks again to Sierra @Yearningtoread for the giveaway!!!!

~ JAM

Ordinary Magic

Hey guys,
So you might be wondering why I'm doing 3 posts in less than 24 hours....
Well, last week, I got an email from Sierra @Yearningtoread (TOTALLY check her out) notifying me that I had won her Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway giveaway!!  And today, look what I got in the mail!

Well, as you can see, I'm totally stoked. But then, when I opened the cover.....

So Sierra had said to name your favorite "ordinary" character and why. I said Roran from the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon). If you're not very good at reading mirror, here's what it says :

"Jane-

Congrats! You're right-

Roran is the most awesomely ordinary character!

Hope you enjoy the read!

Caitlen R-B "

For a second, I was like ," Who's Roran????" But then it very quickly came back, and I grinned. In fact, am still grinning. :D
Oh boy, I am so excited to dive right in!! So you can be expecting a review.... soon.
ADIEU! 
-Jane-