Random Post: Flower Etymology

Perhaps you're taken aback by the title. It's a blog about books, not about flowers. But let's just say that you can guess what might happen in a book with a flower on the cover (or let's just say my imagination and geekiness know no limits XD).

My target is Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Yep, you're familiar with the shimmery beautiful flowers on the cover. This time I won't be *cough *cough researching *cough on all the books. Just three of them. Half-Blood, Pure and Sentinel (Actually, I find out that the flower on Apollyon's cover is Lily. But damn, that's a little too hard to talk about. Deity, on the other hand... well, I can't  make out what flower that is. Same for Elixir and Daimon).

Half-Blood:

Flower on the cover: Hibiscus

Meaning:

1. It represents a sunny summer (uh, I can't see any direct relations between a sunny summer and what happened in Half-Blood )

2. It means "delicate beauty" among Europeans (Okay. The book is called Half-Blood. I'm sure they're beautiful at some point. But delicate? I can't see halfs as DELICATE. Unless you're telling me this is about the whole plot itself. Then I'm speechless)

3. It means "royalty" (i.e. great honor, respect and warm welcome) in historical tradition (Honor? Perhaps so. Respect? Probably not. Warm welcome for Alex? Not so much, huh?)

4. It means "welcome and hospitality" in Japanese (That sounds a little weird to me. But who knows?)

5. It means "wealth and fame" in China on one hand (I'm sure the pures are more wealthy and famous...)

6. It also represents a very special appeal of young female virgin in China on the other hand (If you read the whole series, you can say halfs are... well, virgins in one way. That is a whole lot of weird though)

7. It means "immortality" in Korean. In a wedding. They use Hibiscus to represent the immortality of love (Ah, I like this one. Half-Blood is the start of... you know, every romance involved in the whole series)

***
Pure:

Flower on the cover: Rose (Don't be so excited just yet)

Color of roses and their meaning (I'm not going to list all of them because the list is simply too long):

1. Red: love, beauty, courage and respect, romantic love, congratulations, "I love you, "job well done", sincere love, respect, courage & passion (Basically it means love in most situations. But wait, the flower is not red)

2. White: purity, innocence, silence, secrecy, reverence, humility, youthfulness, "I am worthy of you", heavenly (Well, it's kind of white. Reverence, humility is fitting. I mean, the halfs have to respect the pures completely. Heavenly... well, maybe godly will do :D)

3. Yellow: joy, gladness, friendship, delight, promise of a new beginning, welcome back, remember me,  jealousy,
"I care" (Jealousy, huh? Interesting... And promise of a new beginning? Maybe Alex (from Delirium) should give one to Lena. But hey, the flower on the book is not yellow either)

Now on to the big bad question: What is the meaning of a blue rose?

(Reminder: there's no natural absolute blue roses in nature)

Blue: The unattainable, the impossible

See that? Unattainable. Impossible. That certainly fits into the situation of Aiden (and all the other pures). The one being that is unattainable to halfs/Apollyons like Alex. Sad. But true. 

***

Sentinel:

 (Warning: Predictions are involved)

Flower on the cover: Tulip (Oh. My. Gods)

Meaning:

1. Red: Basically it's a declaration of true love (Aww, you know what that means...)

2. Yellow: It means "there's sunshine in your smile" and cheerful thoughts (Cheerful thoughts appeals to me. But it's not yellow. But hey, it's not red either. Although that wouldn't be much of a problem...)

3. Cream colored: It means "I will love you forever" (Another swooning. You know what that means. And the color is dangerously close to the color of the flower on the cover. Yeah, I know it's gray/silver. But damn)

4. White: It symbolizes heaven, newness and purity (There are things tickling in my mind but I can't make out what they are. I can only tell you that there are good stuff and bad stuff)

What I gain:

Well, not just the cover itself. The blurb also helped. Here's a sentence from the blurb:

"Alex must face a terrible choice between destruction of everything she loves and her own destruction. "

Well, we know for certain Alex would rather choose her own destruction than the other way around...

And there's a sentence from a teaser from Sentinel:

1. "And he would wait forever for me, just as I would wait forever and a day for him."

Here's what I gain from the cover, the blurb and the teasers

1. Sacrifices has to be made. Huge, irreversible choices. (From the blurb. That's obvious)
2. Tulip means "perfect love" in general (From the cover)
3. It's gray/silver (From the cover)
4. It's definitely Alex saying the second teaser (Way to state the obvious. But that means a lot)
 
What I think about these facts:

The tulip is gray/silver. You know what that means. Aiden for sure. And tulip means "perfect love" in general. That we can confirm. The closest color are cream color and white. White tulips symbolize heaven, newness and purity. It's a good thing... in most ways. Cream colored tulips means "I will love you forever". Well... that depends on what you think. 

On the other hand, Alex saying that a he (I think he's Aiden) would wait forever for her. That terrifies me a little because... a suicide mission might be well involved (Actually, it's already involved).

In general, what I think is:

Either Sentinel is going to end really heavenly (HEA ending), or it's going to end really tragically.

Reasons:

1. Heavenly: Heaven. Newness. Perfect love. Eternal love. It can't get more obvious

2. Tragically: The whole perfect love and eternal love thing can be twisted into a tragic love loss kind of stuff. And the teaser bugs me. A LOT. 

(Ugh, just thinking about a possibility of a tragedy makes my head explode. It's like the wait for Clockwork Princess all over again. Except things are more certain... and uncertain at the same time. That's really unsettling.)

Okay, time to snap back to reality and... go for my textbooks. *Sigh
 

Deity and Elixir: Review and Stuff, Flashbacks of Covenant series

Time for some Deity! Yeah, the original release date is November 6th. But I got my Kindle edition so... I read early! And I thought I told you guys before that I have had Elixir even before I got my hands on Deity. And one more, I accept JLA reading challenge hosted by Deity Island, so I will post flashbacks of Daimon, Half-Blood and Pure. That's gonna be a long post.

"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "


Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

***
Warning: If you haven't read Deity, be careful. Spoilers below.

I gotta say, this is the best book by JLA so far! Better than Pure, and even better than Onyx! There are more intense feelings than in Pure. More angst and love. The stakes are higher than ever. And man, the plot is so much better than in Pure! Even though it starts out a little bit slow, it's still, one of the best books ever!

I think the guys who read Deity ARC is quite correct about this book. Yes, there is so much more Aiden in Deity. Finally he admits his love for Alex (Hallelujah!). I've (or we've) waited so long for this moment! In the end of Pure... well, I sort of hate him. Like really hate-him-in-the-guts feeling. He hurt Alex so much in Pure even though he tried to protect her from being put into servitude. Now I can't even understand why I had that kind of feelings in the first place. He is so FREAKING sweet to Alex in Deity. And yeah, I feel really, really bad for him when he was heartbroken. In this part, you don't disappoint us, JLA. I LOVE IT!

On the other hand, there are not so much Seth. Not as much as in Pure. I thought there will be more of him. I sort of miss him especially when he is absent for most of the parts. But now, I hate him in his guts. I can't believe he uses the Apollyon bond to control Alex. I truly thought he is a good guy in Pure and he cares about her or even love her in his own way. Well maybe he really does love her, in a twisted way. But what he does to Alex is unacceptable. But I guess that's a part of the story.

There are so much shock and humor in the book. The best is probably... Alex's dad's alive. That guy... that Brown Eyes, is Alex's father. And he's a freaking half-blood! Than why doesn't the elixir work on him? Or some other halfs? I have a feeling that it's Lucian's doing. Speaking of Lucian, he is the most crazy lunatic I've ever seen. What does he think he's doing huh? He just wants to be more than a god. He's not fucking saving those half-bloods. He's so damn selfish. He lies to Alex. And worse, he controls Seth to get on Alex. I hope he die. 

Another shocking yet very funny thing is the true identity of Leon. He's a god. AND he is Apollo. I was like WHAT!?. Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking at that moment. But you might ask, "What's the funny part?". Well, the funniest part is that he doesn't act like a god. More like he's an overgrown child, like Alex had said. Isn't that gods' suppose to be wise, or at least, act wise? I can't stop laughing while Leon/Apollo act like he's even more childish than Alex. No wonder he's such an Apollo fanboy. He IS APOLLO.

The part tha Alex died... it was one of the most heartbreaking part. Alex can't just die like that. This kind of death is so lame for her. If she's truly gonna die, she deserves a hero death. And seeing that Aiden is lost... oh, it's just so hard to carry on yet addicting. Another one is of course, when Hades' trying to take away Alex's soul. I just don't understand why I have a thing for death situations. I just don't freaking understand. Maybe because I'm Scorpion? Maybe it's for the best. Because it's even harder to see Alex lost her control over herself.

Once again, really. This is the best book ever. I don't know about Opal and Apollyon or other books. But for now, I really enjoy reading this book once again. It's just so addicting. It's a little sad that there's no daimon issues here. But I guess this is the smallest and only imperfect thing now. Can't wait for Apollyon after Deity, especially after Elixir.

Rating: 9/10
_________________________________________________
And now it's time for Elixir:

Summary:

Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex.
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for.
Even if it means making war against the gods.

 ***
After reading Deity, I immediately started reading this short novella. Yeah, it's short. But it's so intense. The homicidal Alex... I can't even begin to imagine how hurt Aiden will be. It makes me want to kill Seth. How can he do this to her? Controlling her, hurting her? Seth is a heartless beast. I will have to confirm that even though I don't want to.

Reading Aiden's PoV is one of the freshest experiences. In the past I could only have a glimpse of what Aiden's really thinking in extra stories like Chapter 1 and 2 in Aiden's Point of View and the kiss scene in the cabin. Now is the full perspective occur between Deity and Apollyon. Now his feeling for her is fully exposed. He can't deny that anymore.

His guilt that he had to put Alex into Elixir nearly undo him... and me. I know this is for the best, and I know the effects will not last more than four days. But I also understand why Aiden hates this idea. Alex is definitely the last person on Earth that is willing to be put into Elixir. And seeing Aiden pouring the thick blue liquid down to Alex's throat... well, you can guess what I was feeling.

A calm and and quiet Alex is the most ridiculous idea. Yet, here she was, in Elixir. The compulsed young frightened girl with no memory of who she really is is the wrongest thing. I don't blame Aiden, Marcus or even Apollo for this. I blame Seth and Lucian for that. They make this happen. They kind of force Aiden to do this. I hope Aiden will kill Seth. Or better, Alex will do this. I can't wait to see what will happen in Apollyon. Why April is so freaking far away?

Rating: 9.5/10

***

So it's time for some flashbacks! I reviewed them once, so I'm not gonna write an essay about each of them. But I will still write some new comments or rough ideas of what I think about the books. 

Let's start with the prequel, Daimon.

So the prequel is here, and comparing this to Shadows, Shadows is better. I think I said that before... But this one is awesome too. The still-normal live for Alex is better than nothing. And the chase? It's sad, trying to stay alive by running. But now I've read Deity, and some part of me thinks that it may be better if her mom's still alive. She will stay relatively safe. Now she's not safe. But I guess there will be no stories to tell if she's safe with her mom in mortal world.

Full review: http://bookcommentsandstuff-katy.blogspot.hk/2012/08/daimon-review.html

And now it's time for Half-Blood

Half-Blood is kind of the start of all things (although I should say that Daimon is the prequel of Half-Blood). The first encounter (well, not the first, but still, kind of first) of Alex and Aiden is  weird enough. They trained together, they bicker with each other is somehow entertaining. But I know better than just these stuff. Aiden have had a thing for Alex since he was in Atlanta. And you remember that Leon was there to help Alex? Now I want to choke out my laughter. A god was there, and they aren't even aware of him. Who can imagine that Apollo is among them? And the appearance of Seth... I don't really like him in Half-Blood. Not to the point of hate, but still, dislike him. Now I hate him more than anything else because he tricked Alex so many times. I guess having flashbacks is really good for us, because some things have to be answered afterwards.

Full Review: http://bookcommentsandstuff-katy.blogspot.hk/2012/08/half-blood-review.html

Finally, it's time for Pure.

Pure... well, I don't know what to say about Pure but uh... I think it's awesome. Like I said before, I kind of hate Aiden for hurting Alex when all she does is to admit her love for him. She doesn't deserve that. And the death of Caleb... he's one of my favorite characters. Seeing him die is no easy task for me. But I moved on. And Seth is getting much sweeter in Pure except now I know that the actions are to trick Alex into his arms and drain her Apollyon power. I don't understand Seth. I don't know if he truly cares about her or not. I hope that some of his human parts are not drained, but I guess it's stupid to think so because now he sides with Lucian.

Full Review: http://bookcommentsandstuff-katy.blogspot.hk/2012/08/pure-review.html

So... challenge accepted!

If you wanna take this challenge, go to this page and follow the instructions.

http://deityisland.blogspot.hk/2012/11/jla-reading-challenge-for-november-jlarc.html 

And lastly, giveaways and blog tours of Deity. Want some giveaways? Go to the pages below and make sure you follow the instructions.

http://deityisland.blogspot.hk/2012/10/deity-island-gets-face-lift.html?showComment=1351418370392#c6910706465001186593

http://www.stuckinbooks.com/2012/10/deity-by-jennifer-l-armentrout-tour.html?showComment=1351593170895#c8711894402350519438

One more little thing: Apollyon's second early summary

Alex is now 18... and nothing will ever be the same again. War is coming, and when the gods are involved, no one is safe.

I can't wait for Apollyon. Hope that April will come soon enough.

Half-Blood: Review

I've finished reading Half-Blood and it's great! Check out the summary:

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

***
Man, this book definitely sends tons of shockwaves to me. Jennifer never ceases to amaze me at any point. One of the most amazing book ever. I bet Pure will be more shocking. 

The most frustrating part is that the Covenant's rules are HARSH (makes me think of The Law is harsh, but it's the Law)I know that Alex is definitely something different from the halfs (I can sense it right from the scene that the daimon said to her when he tried to drain her --what are you?) But in my opinion I don't think that's the reason why she can't have her training lessons again. I feel bad for Alex. But while this is the most frustrating part in the book, it's a good setting. Otherwise the book will be way less exciting.

Reading the part that Alex's mom is not dead is one of the biggest shock in the book. Because I think she is really alive as a pure than a daimon. Turns out she is a daimon, walking around Deity Island and killing people. This disappoints me, because in my pov, daimon equals dead.

Another shocking part is that Kain is a half-blood daimon when he's brought back. I like Kain right from the first chapter of the book. I can't see why he has to suffer all these thing. And worse, half-blood daimons are often trained and immune to titanium. This is bad news. Real bad news.

The kissing scene is, as always, fierce and sweet at the same time. Guess I can just say every LONG kissing scene is sweet and fierce. But I really wanna just shoot Leon in the face when he knocks the door. Come on, give them a minute, okay? I always hate interruption.

And the fighting scene between Alex and the daimons (including her freaking mom) is just plain awesome. Alex is a real smart girl. And she is quite brave. Facing many daimons at the same time definitely not the best moment in her lifetime. Jennifer can definitely write the best fighting and battling scene. I hope that the Covenant series will be made into movie.

The appearance of Seth actually annoys me. Because he acts like a total jerk-face and perv. I don't know what happened in Pure, because some guys really love Seth. But right now I really want him to leave Alex alone. Putting aside fate and the annoying stuff, Alex and Aiden are so meant to be. Again the rules are so harsh that pures and halfs can never mix together. Ugh. Screw the Council and the Covenant. I know that Seth plays a big part in this, because he is Apollyon. But I really hope that he will stop screwing around and let Alex be.

Of all the characters I love Caleb most. Why not Aiden? Because somehow I want to punch him in the face when the book started. And I love Caleb right from the second he appears in the book. He is fun. He is caring. He is the best friend everyone wants to have. But don't get me wrong, I also love Aiden. It's just Caleb is really, freaking, nice.

Somehow I can say that the extras are the most perspective part that we actually knows what happens in a boy and a girl's relationship. And the extra from chapter 16 from Aiden's PoV is the best extra of the best. I know that he cares for her right from his first sight. But reading his PoV is the fiercest part of the book. And I actually hated Leon for interrupting them. God, things are so NOT working out in their place.

The Christmas Special is the sweetest extra EVER. I think I would instantly melt if someone did this for me. It's like heaven on Earth. Jennifer is one of the best writers, ever. I really love the Christmas Special, and I hope that there will be more extra scene once Deity hits the bookstores.

Rating: 9.5/10

*******

Oh and one more thing for TMI fans. You should see the pages right below to check out the photos of the TMI cast! They are really rolling now. Lily as Clary, Jamie as Jace, Jemima as Izzy, and Kevin as Alec. See the photos and reports from the links below. =]

1. http://tmisource.com/2012/08/20/shadowstalking-day-1-allies-report-from-the-set-of-city-of-bones/ 
2. http://tmisource.com/2012/08/20/tmi-set-day-1-set-report-from-inside-clarys-house/ 
3. http://tmisource.com/2012/08/20/tmi-set-day-1-humility-coronels-report-from-the-city-of-bones-set/
4. http://tmisource.com/2012/08/20/first-look-jace-clary-isabelle-and-alec-on-city-of-bones-set/
5. http://tmisource.com/2012/08/20/first-look-lily-collins-as-clary-on-city-of-bones-set/