Tag Archives: YA Review

Mind Games by Kiersten White

22 Apr

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Book One in the Mind Game Series

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

I had some reservations about this book. Not so much because of what it’s about, more because Keirsten White was writing it. But, thank you Book Gods, my gamble to read this bad boy turned out a winning hand. Now, I will admit, I sound like a totally bitch when I said that. But White’s Paranormalacy series drove me bonkers. As I was reading it, I even went back to see if it was geared towards middle grade and not young adult, but it was def marketed towards YA readers. I mean who names inanimate objects?! You named your tazzer Tazie??

Anywho this is NOT a review about that series but a review about Mind Games. And I am happily reporting, with deep sincerity, that this series is definitely a YA read and a good one at that. White took a step away from the ghostie and goblin side of the paranormal and went down the mind magic path. Sooo much cooler. And more interesting. And different. And wonderful.

White’s whole writing style and profile as an author changed with this book. I was expecting this to still be a little teeny bopper-ish, simply because I was being judgmental, but from the cover to the summary to the subjects discussed, this series is much more advanced. Her characters are so much more developed, the plot is dynamic and intriguing, the switching narratives is engaging and the overall tone and texture of the book is well written. White gets into her characters and deals with very real, very rough and very intense emotions. It’s not frilly like her last series. Her characters are raw and gripping. Well, at least Fia is. Annie is just a selfish bia, but she makes a good contrast to her sister. And I’ve never read an assassin book quite like this. It’s got a modern day Graceling feel to it. And I looooved Graceling.

All that being said, White definitely proved me wrong with this book. She really grew as author in the years between Paranormalacy and Mind Games. The only thing that peeved me with this book is that nothing actually happens in it..? I know that makes zero sense but I could probably write a paragraph and summarizes all the things we learned about our characters. We will have to see how the rest of the series turns out, but this book feels kinda like a prequel rather than the actual first book in the series. We meet our characters, get some background, have a chapter or two of drama and action and then it ends. The constant chapter-long flashbacks kind of restrict us from moving forward with the plot. But that would be my only criticism. Which is pretty awesome for my bitchy, whiny self 😉

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Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

3 Apr

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Book One in the Throne of Glass series

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

This book has a special place in my heart. My blog is named after a quote that’s in this story and I actually stumbled upon the quote before I knew about the book. I read this phrase once and it resonated with me so much, I fell in love with the idea of it.

“You could rattle the stars,” she whispered. “You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.”

So because I think this is a magnificent quote, of course I had to read the book. And once again, female assassins? Yes please! (For some reason I have read a lot of lady assassin books lately…) And this one is beautiful. It’s rich and luscious with details and the characters are perfect for their positions. The way it’s written, with the three different narrators, adds so much depth and dynamic to the story you sink deeper and deeper into the plot with each POV. I was enthralled by the way everything developed, it was perfectly paced.

Oh and Celaena, our heroine. She’s brilliant. One part Assassin’s creed, one part dazzlingly gorgeous, mixed with a little girly girl love for dresses and jewels and sprinkle in a bit of family drama, unrequited love, and fey heritage? BAM! We’ve got ourselves a winner my friends.

While this book has a decent swoon factor (two tastey men to drool over), gripping action scenes, lots of twists and a captivating premise… the reason why I am NOT giving it 5 stars is because I did have one or two “issues” with the book. Sometimes things got a little far fetched… I never really understood the dynamics between the princess and the would-be mistress of Prince Dorian (she confused me, because she narrates at times but we never get to KNOW her). And then there was the constant alluding to the fact the Celaena is not 100% human. Is that why she’s such a badass? Why she ran away? Why someone taught her to fight? Sooo many unanswered questions! It was a bunch of foreshadowing that I just found annoying. It sets the readers up to ache for the next book, yes, I just think there was a better way to go about divulging those pieces.

But with that being said, this is a hell of a book. Calaena has some AMAZING zingers and one-liners that made me giggle. And she owns the big guys in fights! I think I reread that initial scene when she finally displays he talents four or five times because it was so awesome. Seriously.. female power

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Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

27 Mar

9565548

Book One in the His Fair Assassins Series

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

This came book came to me in a unique way. I had never heard of it until Amy was freaking out because it was super cheap on Amazon for Kindle. So I glanced at the concept, shrugged and said “eh why not?” and bought it. It sat for a few days on the iPad and the longer it sat waiting to be read the more intrigued I was by the concept. I felt like it was just burning a hole in my electronics just sitting, waiting, wanting to be opened.

So I read it.

As we all know, I am obsessed with early eras. (I have a knack for breaking everything electronic thus I am convinced I was supposed to live in the 1800s before ‘high tech’ happened.) That being said, I haven’t really paid much attention to the 1400s. What’s so interesting about it? It’s right before the most glamorous time period (Yay Tudors!) so it gets overlooked by authors of books because everyone, including myself, is so infatuated with the 1500s and beyond. But, this book was really excellent in capturing, what I feel is, the essence of the country and people during this century and was explained to us in a truly captivating way.

Plus… female assassins? That live in a convent like nuns? Who have attitudes and lusty romances?

Hook. Line. Sinker.

This is a looong book. 500 plus pages! But it flew like I was reading a 200 pager. Ismae is lovely. She’s a feisty, insecure, semi-horny but no idea what it means teenager, that could totally hold her own in a fight against Katniss or June from the Legend series. Talk about a kickass girl fight! Ismae is endearing. She’s had to deal with a lot of shit in her life; abusive father, abusive husband, crazy mother. And yet she overcomes it all and ends up being a wicked killing machine. But although she’s brainwashed for years into thinking one way, she has the courage and strength and, well, faith in humanity I guess, to see what’s real and true. She does struggle, and she does flail a bit figuring out where she stands, but that’s what makes me love her more. She *feels* like normal people do. I think a round of applause should be given to LaFevers for the character development.. it’s really beautiful.

And then the romance… it’s simple. Uncorrupted and sweet. It’s slow moving and innocent. Perfect for the story and the time period and character’s personalities. No InstaLove, no triangle. Just lovely. Lovely.

SO although this book is long, and it’s a bit slow in places, it’s really a great read. This is the kind of book you bring to the beach with you and you read alllll day and when you finally come out of your book coma, you have delish story and an awesome tan.

And the best quote ever… “Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?”

Touche, my friend.

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Prodigy by Marie Lu

1 Mar

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Book Two in the Legend Series

Rating: Five out of Five Stars

Oh my lovely little Legend sequel… Marie Lu I just want to give you a big hug! After I punch you for that ending. -_- Not happy about that.

But I will forgive you for breaking my heart because this series completes me. I pre-ordered this book the moment I could on Amazon and I woke up early on the release date so I could read before I went to work. I must tell you, when I opened my iPad and Prodigy was sitting there waiting to be downloaded I swear I could hear the heavens singing to me.

*Halleluiah angels sign on hiiiiIIIIiiiiigh*     

EEEEeeeee trying to tamper down my fangirling so I can write a somewhat coherent review.

Obviously, I loved this book. Legend was one of my favorite books in 2012 and I was sooo excited for the sequel (I had like 3 countdown clocks going.) Day and June are a wonderful mesh of powerful, independent and fierce characters. While they have a lot of similarities in the basic construction and characterization, I feel Lu made them much more separate in Prodigy then she did in Legend, she focused on giving them each their own voice. We are able to get a sense of their differences and their unique backgrounds this time around. It was great to see that Lu didn’t skimp on continuing to develop the two pro-tags in Prodigy because that seems to happen a lot in sequels of dystopias. Authors can get so caught up on world-building and the looming catastrophe that they forget that our peeps need to grow still in the second and third books. So yay for you, Lu!

And just like in Legend, the action and tempo of the story is perfect. Lu has a fantastic balance of inner dialogue, character interaction and fast fight scenes that creates a perfectly leveled plot. While Day bugged the crap out of me for bits during this book, overall I still love these two. June is most perfect badass heroine ever. She’s such a strong female lead and her emotions always match what I would expect from someone like her. ❤ ❤ ❤

SO yes, it’s wonderful. You all should read it. Hello, good bye. The End.

Oh and that bathroom scene…. dayyyuuuuum. I think the movie rating of this book just went up to PG-13 😉

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Splintered by A.G. Howard

27 Feb

12558285

Book One in the Splintered Series

Rating: Three (generous) Stars out of Five Stars

5 Stars for the cover. 4 Stars for the first and last 50 pages. 2 Stars for everything else.

To be completely honest… I read this because of the cover art. Splintered is some legit cover porn. It’s vivid, bright and in your face gorgeous! Every time I picked up the book to read I would drool over it. Stare longingly into her eyes… try to come up with an emotion she’s portraying…. It’s captivating.

With that being said, the actual story left me wanting. The first 50 pages I was instantly drawn in to Alyssa. I immediately understood her emotions and her reactions towards the situation she’s in. There was enough of the old Alice story layered into the beginning of the plot that I was infatuated with how things could play out.

But…. once the incident at the asylum happens with Alyssa’s mom and she trips into Wonderland and begins the real adventure we all expect from this type of book, it’s gone. Buh Bye Alyssa whom I love. Hello typical YA novel. Now, Wonderland spinoffs and rewrites are always interesting and I’ve read my fair share of them (The Looking Glass Wars is pretty awesome). This one intrigued me because of the dark gothic-ness of the story line. While it did have the surreal characters, dark and creepy and fantastical, it was overshadowed by the all the other junk I’ve seen before. Love triangle, 0-60 lovefests in one chapter, self depreciating teen heroine, blah blah blah.

I know that Alyssa has always loved Jeb and so the InstaLove isn’t exactly “instant”, but where’s the awkwardness of transitioning out of friends into a relationship? It goes from brotherly protectiveness to sexified makeout scence and then possesive creepiness. Ummmm awkward much? I didn’t understand the relationship at all, it was so poorly developed. And with the pro-tag being in this weirdly relationship-but-not and having a mistress status, (because um the dude HAS A GRILFRIEND YOU TRAMP) the plot when from fame to lame pretty quick. And gag me with how insecure she is. Weak weak weak! I can’t stand weak characters! And Alyssa, why don’t you want to be with the butterfly? He’s hot and looooves and you guys have matching tattoos! TWINSIES!

The story picks up a little at the end so it was nice to end on a high note. But the lack of character development in the love interest was such a disappointment I don’t really have a desire to read another book of Howard’s. Ever.  Or at least any time soon.

Sad day.

 

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To-Read Tuesday – Override by Heather Anastasiu

12 Feb

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Override by Heather Anastasui

Series: Glitch

Previous Rating: Glitch (Book One) – Four Stars

Release Date: TODAY TODAY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why I Am Excited: Glitch didn’t exactly get the best reviews from the bloggers I like but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I did have some problems with it, which you can read all about in my review of it, but overall it left me with a positive impression and got me pretty pumped for book two. It had some awesome girl-Neo Matrix moments! Chea! What I really loved about this insta-love between Zoe and Adrien (which makes it not so gag inducing) is that they are kinda doomed to fail. I mean,  Zoe is allergic to air and so they both have to wait to be together until she gets her vaccines, which Adrien lovingly gives to her…alright, I gagged a little there. But I like that aching and that not-so-perfect of a scenario love. It makes them work more for each other which gets me much more ingrained in their lives. Also, Zoe is kinda crazy and volatile which is freaking awesome!! Heroines who actually have to WORK at being good? Yessssssss.

What I Hope to See: *Contains Spoilers* If you haven’t read the previous books, LOOK AWAY! The version of Glitch I read gave me a sneak peek into the first chapter of book two. The chapter is basically showing us Zoe and how she’s going bizzaro trying to control her telepathy. It’s consuming her and she’s suffering because no one is there to help her control or understand how she’s supposed to react to these situations. And then at the end, oh snap! Her hiding place is raided and she must escape! Dun Dun Duuuuun!! I am slightly ashamed to say I was totally hooked lined and sinkered at this. Yes, it’s cliche but it suckered me right in. I really hope that Zoe struggles with this power and doesn’t just instantly solve her problems. I want Adrien and Zoe to have issues and overcome them and I hope that Max shows up and Zoe and him have a show down. That could be legit.

My Predictions: I am floundering on my predictions because it’s only book two and I am looking towards what I want to happen in the end. So these may be a little grandiose… but work me here.

  1. I think Adrien needs to be captured at some point. Zoe needs some sort of catalyst for her becoming this “leader” he has predicted she becomes. I think he could be it.
  2. Max has to come back into the story. He’s a social climber and although he helped Zoe and Adrien escape, I think the Community will welcome him back with open arms because of his unique glitch. This could also become a crutch for Zoe, she has to battle the fact that she left him there.
  3. I think another boy may come into the picture. Since YAs always like that love triangle and Max is on longer in the picture, is another man going to distract Zoe from the mysterious Mr. Adrien?  We shall see.

“History isn’t all fact–it’s just the story the victors tell to keep themselves in power. And it’s been a slow revision. The more time passes, the easier it becomes to reinvent the past.”
― Heather Anastasiu, Glitch

 

 

 

 

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Reached by Ally Condie

4 Feb

13125947

Book Three in the Matched Triology

Rating: One out of Five Stars

Oh Ally… Ally Ally Ally… Please don’t hate me for this review.

I just want to say that I hardly EVER give one star ratings to books. I feel like its cruel because people work their asses off to write books and stories and they have to endure sooo much to get their ideas published. So know that I tried. I REALLY tried to find a saving grace in this book, but I just couldn’t. This whole Matched Trilogy was just not for me.

I can’t count the number of times my eyes glazed over while reading Reached. And with my previous ratings of two stars for Matched and Crossed, I was tempted to not read the finale. But come on, how can you NOT read the last segment of one of the most popular YA books in the last few years?! It would be like.. sacrilegious. And the last chapter of Crossed made me want to find out what the conclusion held for Xander (love), Cassia (twatface) and Ky (blech).

My dislike is rooted in three parts. 1.) Writing Style 2.) World building/concept 3.) Characters.

1.) You could sing my a lullaby after I have been awake for 48 hours and it wouldn’t hold a light to how fast this book would put me to sleep. As much as I love reading it, poetry should not be a novel. Especially not a Young Adult dystopian novel. Give me a book of poems and I will read the shit out of it. But don’t try to write a 500 page book in all that flowery prose and expect me to stay awake. Seriously, even the “action scenes” were in slow motion and made me yawn. I just wanted things to speed the eff up. If Reached had been a 200 page book it would have been much more tolerable. But instead I had to suffer through 300 more pages of meh. Not my style. No thank you.

2.) While I think the idea behind this series was interesting and creative, book one was the only part that made me believe in the world. Book two was a bore and book three just made me go “WTF” the whole time. Listen yo, if you want to write a story about a dystopia and you want the concept to resonate with your readers, the world needs to keep developing over the series. I feel like Condie gave us a decent starting point in Matched but then dropped all world building in Reached. I wanted to learn more about the Society, about the Rising, about what happened to Ky and his family. But the bread crumbs were spaced soo far apart I kept losing interest. And then one character would stumble upon a clue and then “VIOLA!” all the sudden all three characters knew about it too?  Say wha?? How does that even happen?

3.) Um. Hate to sound harsh but… I think Cassia is my least favorite person ever. She was really supposed to be our heroine? She was the epitome of “book smart but not street smart”. She reminded me a lot of Gretchen from Mean Girls… just following the same stupid guy mindlessly when there are much better men right in front of her. Cassia also had the Gretchen tendency of latching onto to stupid shit and trying to make it happen. “Stop trying to make Xander’s love happen, it’s not going to happen!”

And why WHY is KY given credit for finding the cure? He was freaking passed out the whole time! He did NOTHING but act as a guinea pig unknowingly. AHHHHH! STAB MY EYES OUT PLEASE!
PJrXQKf

And poor Xander.. poor lovely precious smart wonderful Xander. Every time Cassia turns him down…
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So yeah… Didn’t care for anything about this book or series. And all I have to say to Cassia is:

WvP62W4

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Crewel by Gennifer Albin

30 Jan

11556960

Book One in the Crewel World Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

First of all, can we talk about that delicious cover? GORG! I love the colors, the swirls, the lips, the face. It epitomizes what this book is about and I adore an author/artist who can capture the feeling of the book and recreate it for the cover. Two Thumbs Up.

I was really excited for this book. I actually requested it from the library but got tired of waiting so just bought it as an ebook so I could start reading it righthisminute. That being said, I am not quite as excited for the sequel to this book. I loved parts and I struggled with parts. So my review is a solid middle of the road yellow dashed line.

My biggest beef I have with Crewel is how intensely different this world is and how there was exactly ZERO adjustment time for my WSOD. I spent the first 35% percent of the book rereading the description to try to get a sense of WTH this world consisted of. Then, once the Crewler sat down and explained everything to Adelice, our main character, it was like the beautiful flower of knowledge bloomed in my head and all was right in my bookworld.

But then Adelice kinda goes crazy nutso and doesn’t really think about the consequences and the trail of awful she’s leaving in her path when she’s making her decisions. Flip two chapters later then she’s awesome and heroic again. Plus three more chapters, she’s a twat. The End? She saves lives.

See? Do you see my problem? It was so hot and cold, love and hate, rooting for and totally against. I felt like the plot was a ferris wheel and it would slowly go up towards amazing, crest, and then move towards awful. Over and over and over. The world, once explained, IS impressive. I really liked the concept of it, science meeting fantasy meeting dystopia!?!  Oh hells yes! The actual concept of this book is completely unique and the storyline is decent. But the characters just don’t jive well. And then throw in an awkward tree point love story and BOOM, it’s all the crap we’ve see before. For once FOR ONCE could the book Lord’s Almighty just have two people like each other and be done with it? I can promise all the YA author’s out there that there are just as angsty teen topics to write about.

All in all, I don’t think I can adequately review this until I read the series because so much hangs on what happens in the next books. Jury is still out. Meh.

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daynight by Megan Thomason

28 Jan

16148038

Book One in HOPEFULLY the daynight Series

Rating: Five out of Five Stars

I have decided self-published books are my new “thing”. After the spectacular debut of Susan Ee’s Angelfall and Megan Thomason’s gorgeous gem of a book we have here, publishing companies need to get their heads out of the Twi-Hard’s  and 50 Shades of Crap’s asses and be smacked in the face with delicious stories like daynight.

My desperate need for all things dystopian novel got a real big present when I scored daynight FOR FREE on Amazon as a Kindle download. As I trudge my way through mediocre books, I like to have little treats as motivation. Daynight went from motivation to obsession in three chapters. This book is enthralling, captivating and I just want to devour and then savor everything about it.

Blake and Kira our the main narrators and hot damn do I feel intimately connected to them. They are magnificently developed. The true talent of an author comes through when I can see their pro-tags in real life and describe their reactions to decision that has nothing to do with the book. I adored Blake and Kira. They are loyal and lovely with so much depth in their characters they became real to me even outside the book’s confines. And then there is Ethan, our third point to the Almighty Love Triangle. While he is a front runner of Kira’s affection, I firmly place allegiance with Team Blake. Either way, the budding romances,  tantalizing affections, and the swooning feelings we get to hear to from all sides is enticing. All three narrators are perfect and beautiful and interesting. This story really captures the unique personalities of the human race; what we will do for love, what we will give up for what’s right, what strong morals and unwavering loyalty can do.

Daynight is dynamic and interesting and has secured a spot in my Top Ten Favorite Dyspotia’s. I am drooling over Thomason’s work and I am aching to read the rest of this series. Please oh please finish this masterpiece off! If only for my sanity 🙂

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Everneath by Brodi Ashton

23 Jan

9413044

Book One in the Everneath Series

Rating: Two out of Five Stars

Ugh this book. When I first read the description, I immediately put it down. The whole to-hell-and-back-plot and the dysfunctional romance sounded a little too tweeny Twi-hard for my taste. But then reviews started rolling in and it impressed some of my favorite bloggers so I put it on my “if I get around to it” shelf and was put on the long request list from the library. Then my friends were reading it and really enjoying it and all the sudden BOOM! It’s in my hands.

So then I was stuck with this book I wasn’t really excited about reading, which automatically taints my perception of the book. But even as I started reading it, I knew I wouldn’t like it. I didn’t connect with the characters, didn’t see the vavavavoom in the romance, couldn’t grasp the concept the way I like. It was exactly what I expected, “meh”. Be forewarned, this review does contain spoilers.

Nikki, the main character and narrator, annoys me. She’s “so afraid” of hurting people she just lies and lies and lies to them. Yeah, sweetheart, that makes perfect sense. Nikki spends the whole book trying to “make it up” to her family for ditching them for the Underworld. Which entails handing out flyers for her dad’s mayor reelection and ignoring her little brother, how sweet. Oh and the boy she is just soooo in love with that saved her from going insane after 100 years of being sucked dry of emotions? Way to not even TALK TO HIM for the first 3 months of your 6 months back. WHAT THE HELL. Nikki is spineless. She sits there and says it was  her fault for causing all these problems but she doesn’t DO anything about it. Actions speak louder than words, my friend. And all she did was talk. And whine. And sulk. Nikki only looked things up on the internet, maybe in a book or two but Jack did all the work. SPOILER AHEAD! And then sacrificed himself for her? After Nikki didn’t trust him, ran to another guy to fix things, was gone for 6 Earth months and then when she comes back she lies to him, ignores him, rebuffs all his advances for 5 and 1/2 months and in TWO WEEKS they are willing to die for each other? PUHlease. Shit is so not happening.

Needless to say, not exactly my favorite book. I do not plan on reading the sequel any time soon, if ever. Unless! Unless it has the meat and potatoes and she loves Cole. Because Cole is hot and feisty and deserves Nikki’s selfish self way more than Jack because he is also selfish.. and hot. 🙂

 

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