[TV Tuesday] One Tree Hill Series Finale Review

I wish I can say that I’ve been a One Tree Hill fan since the beginning, but that would be a lie. I caught up this past summer, which just my luck happened to be right before the seasons were put up on Netflix. So, I found links for the first eight seasons online and watched them all on my laptop. Pure hell, if you ask me. Having to locate links and watch on a tiny (compared to a tv) screen, but it was worth it. I had always wanted to watch One Tree Hill and I’m glad I finally did.

Unlike a lot of shows, OTH was given a full season to prepare for the end. I honestly, think that’s the best way to go. It’s certaintly beats cancelation after the last episode has been shot. They were able to give each character the proper ending, which Mark Schwahn did a great job completing.

Two of the series biggest characters, Lucas and Peyton were given their ending two seasons ago and while many fans complained that they didn’t return for the series finale, I am not one of those fans. They were given their happy ending and they kept that happy ending.

As for Haley and Nathan, one of my favorite couple of the show. I didn’t feel like the episode was really an advance in their relationship, but rather an advance in their son, Jamie’s life. All of Haley’s dreams came true as she said. This episode was about passing the torch down to Jamie and having him strive for his own dreams.

What a perfect ending for Brooke and Julian. I always felt like Brooke was always getting the bad end of the deal. But these past two seasons have really showed a Brooke that’s happier. Not only does she have a really great marriage with Julian, but she finally has children like she’s wanted for years. Add the relationship she’s wanted with her parents since the beginning of the series and she finally has her complete family.

Clay and Quinn are characters that were added after Peyton and Lucas’s departure. While some fans couldn’t put aside that difference, I fell in love with the relationship they had. They helped each other out through their problems. Adding in Logan and a marriage at the end of it was more of an ending that I could have imagined.

As for other characters such as Dan, Chase, Chris, Mouth, Millie, and Skills, I wasn’t really a fan of how their characters’ last season was going. However, the last couple of episodes have really tied in together where I found myself really liking their end. Dan’s death was, for lack of better words, beautiful. Mouth and Millie end up pregnant. Skills ended up with Bevin. Even Chase and Chris sort of got what they wanted.

As for the way the series finale was actually set up. It was perfect! Bethany Joy sung for the last time on the show. Of course, they had to bring in Gavin Degraw to sing the theme song one last time. They had to do that time jump because if it’s one thing One Tree Hill is good at, it’s time jumps. Everything about this final episode fit in to what OTH has been all these years.  The heart of the show started with friendship and basketball and the show ended with basketball and friendship. I can only hope that fans since the beginning loved it as much as I did.

[Book Review] Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Summary (from Amazon):
I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.
It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.
There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.
Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

Alex Flinn has really made me love fairytale stories! I love how she adds her own twist to them. Having just met her about two months ago, I heard her talk about her reasoning for wanting to re-write fairytales and that made me fall even more with her books. Cloaked isn’t just one retelling of one fairytale, but instead it is seven small stories colliding into one.

I really liked the way Alex Flinn portrayed her characters in this novel. She wrote each character in their own unique way. Each character had their mission. Each character had what they were striving for.

Johnny, a poor shoemaker who wants to be so much more but is too afraid at first.  His journey throughout the entire book was really exciting.

Victoriana, a princess use to getting everything she wants. She’s the girl you love to hate because you wish you were her.  

Meg, Johnny’s best friend who makes the book teen times better. Seriously, she was my favorite character.
Alex Flinn is such a good story teller. She knows how to grab one vine and make it into an entire tree.  I’m pretty sure that every single fairytale book that she writes is going to be a hit.

5 out of 5 for Cloaked by Alex Flinn.  

[Book Review] Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

Summary (from Amazon):

The third and final installment of the international bestselling Nightshade trilogy!
Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there's more at stake than fighting. There's saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay's wrath. There's keeping Ansel safe, even if he's been branded a traitor. There's proving herself as the pack's alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers' magic once and for all. And then there's deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is. In this remarkable final installment of the Nightshade trilogy, international bestselling author Andrea Cremer crafts a dynamic novel with twists and turns that will keep you breathless until its final pages.

 

Wow. Wow. Wow. I’m going to start off this review with saying, wow. Oh wait, I already said that.

First off, I just want to congratulate Andrea Cremer for wrapping up her series. (Even though it isn’t the end of what we’ll see from this world she created since she’s writing a prequel series.) Great job keeping us on the edge of our seats for a whole three books! Secondly, I want to applaud Andrea Cremer for staying true to that vision of the ending (which I will not spoil since she’s asked everyone to please not spoil anyone else) and not caving in to what the fans wanted. I’m sure it’s a tough spot to be in (and I actually had a small discussion with my sister about this), but I’m glad she didn’t fall into the pressure of pleasing everyone else.

With that being said, just because she didn’t give her readers the ending they were hoping for or expecting, doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to end a series. If you ask me, that makes her an even better author. Any writer can give their readers what they want. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl fall in love. Happily ever after. It takes a real writer with guts to twist things around and add some more to the happily ever after.

I’ll admit while reading Bloodrose, there were several moments in which I just couldn’t believe she was doing certain things to her characters. (I’m still not giving spoilers. You’re safe if you haven’t read.) I would look over at my sister (who had read the book before me because she called dibs) and found myself asking “Are you freaking kidding me?” But now that I’ve had time to think about it, she really did manage to surprise me. After all, isn’t that what writers want to be able to do? What writer wants to write a predictable and unsurprising novel? Luckily for Mrs. Cremer she doesn’t have that to worry about that problem. Honestly, I don’t think anyone could have guessed the ending she created

4 out of 5 stars for Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer.

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