Oh. My. Word.

I just finished reading the most amazing book I have ever read. It's called The Mirror's Tale, by P. W. Catanese. Here's the back:

Bert and Will, the twin sons of the baron of Ambercrest, are best friends. They do everything together and can't help it if trouble just seems to...find them. But the baron is fed up and has decided that seperation will keep them out of mischief. One twin, he proclaims, will stay in Ambercrest for the summer, while the other will be sent to The Crags-a fore-boding, rocky outpost on the edge of the kingdom. It is there, hidden in a forbidden black chamber, that one of the boys discovers a bejeweled and mysterious mirror. What is the precious object? And why does it make him feel so...powerful? Soon the twins' kinship is replaced by dark magic and deceit, and a kingdom hangs dangerously in the balance. What becomes of one who is ruled by the forces of evil? And can brotherly love conquer a consuming quest for power?

Oh my word, the back portrays the book so badly. I was doubtful when I picked it up, thinking, "Well, it doesn't sound bad, maybe just a little boring, I guess I'll try it..."
I was completely blown away. Completely.
I highly recommend it. Here is a foreboding quote that filled me with dread:

It was thirteen years ago on a night as dark and cold as a crypt. She [a servant named Margaret] remembered how she shivered in her bed, and then heard someone awake in the inky halls of Ambercrest, hours before sunrise. Not the stomping boots of a guard, but the silky shuffle of slippers. A pale, orange light appeared in the slender space at the bottom of her door. She was already there with a hand on the knob when the rapping began. It was the baroness. "Margaret, I am with child," she said. "I'm certain of it now." "Wonderful news, my lady. The baron will be please." Margaret noticed that even at this late hour with no one about, the baroness had taken a moment to compose her hair. "Yes," the baroness said uncertainly. "They say a woman's face glows with beauty when she is with child. Let us hope that is true." There was a soundless interlude, and Margaret worked her jaw sideways and pressed her gums together to suppress a yawn. "May I be of service to you, lady?" "Of course. I must have something to eat. And it must be...eggs. That's what the child wants, I feel." "Right away, Baroness." With a lamp to light her way, Margaret went down the wide stone staircase, through the great hall and the dining room, and out the door of the keep into the bitter cold. The short walk across the courtyard and into the kitchen tower sent needles of pain into her joints. "No sense in waking the cook for this, I can manage it," she muttured. The eggs were kept in a wooden bowl on a shelf. Only one was left, but it was a goose egg and quite large. She picked it up, but her fingers were still numb from the frigid air. The egg slipped from her grasp and broke with a splat on the stone floor. Margaret sighed. She knelt to see if enough of the egg could be perserved. Holding the lamp close by, she stared at it for a long while, wondering. She shivered again, but not from the cold this time. Spilled from the single shell were two yolks, like golden islands in a clear sea. This can only mean one thing, she thought. But then her smile settled into a thin frown. One yolk remained whole, but the other had not survived the fall. Its fine skin had split, and the inner yolk oozed out, slowly and shapelessly.

On the back, it said one brother went bad, and this was SUCH a good example of foreshadowing, I just had to share it with you all. ^^

And a NaNoWriMo update...I'm only at 1,116 words. *winces* At least I'm only doing 20,000, not 50,000. But even so, I need to go write. *sips tea and flexes fingers, preparing for vigorous writing*