Archive for July 2012

Let me just gush about how much I loved this book.. and I totally did not expect to love it. (AT
ALL!!!)

 I loved loved loved loved Sam and Jase's relationship. When Sam ran into Jase's arms after the disastrous car ride, I felt so safe, and I felt exactly how Sam felt. They were very mature, and I loved the condom purchasing, because that was hilarious. I loved the way they handled the sex and virginity stuff. It was a lot more refreshing than the stuff I've read before.

This book was not a typical chicklit. The twist's were great and intriguing, and the plotline was great. It may seem to start off as a typical romance book, but the real issue that comes up is adding oil to the fire.  It just made me love the book even more. Clay was a crazy asshole, and I loved Tim. I kind of wanted to kick him in the beginning of the book, but he just became precious and awesome. Oh, and Nan can go shove it. Academic dishonesty is not the way to leave what you hate behind.

Then, I felt that Samantha was very relatable, even though she did live a cushy life. She works two jobs; that is exactly like me, and she hates the smell of bacon, oil and coffee. Oh, did I mention that I work at a fast food restaurant and that I hate it too? She was super mature, and I understood all her decisions. Unlike some heroines...

Also, her mother was written really well. Grace came off as uptight, OCD, and neurotic, but I'm glad she did the right thing in the end. I understood her "EVERYTHING IS IN SHADES OF GREY SAMANTHA" logic, and I wish that the book stuck to that, instead of the somewhat happy yet vague ending.

However, all in all, this book really hit the spot, and can really surprise you. Highly recommended.

Kody Keplinger's stories may be typical in their plot formats, but they stand out somehow with her unique writing. Her writing really captures the essence of troubled teenagers and I feel myself relating to them really well, even if I am nothing like them, I am a teenager too. The fucks, bitches, whores, may take a while to get used to, but I slowly accepted it. Because... that's how teenagers speak. Duh.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Maybe because Whitley was so crazy in the beginning and I really didn't know what to think of her. At times, I wanted to grab her shoulders and holler into her ear, saying "LOOK HERE YOU STUPID GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOP DRAGGING YOURSELF INTO THIS MESS"!

I also felt that her attitude really pissed me off, but I understood it... because I relate to her situation with her parents etc.

This is pretty realistic in terms of the whole family thing, and I think I really gave my heart to Whitley for that. I also really liked Nathan because he was such a cute dork, and Harrison (who I didn't expect to show up in this book)! He was so nice to Whitley and I'm glad we got to see more of him, because he was only mentioned in the passing in The Duff. In terms of the romance, you could say that it's very unrealistic, but at least it was written well. Having a one-night-stand with a boy at a graduation party, taking his virginity, and becoming his stepsister is very unlikely. But it was definitely fun and hilarious to read about. I had a lot of "Oh my god" moments while reading this.

Lastly, I thought that Kody Keplinger manages to capture the personalities of troubled teenagers well, but Bianca and Whitley are nothing alike. They may seem like it at first, but I went back to re-read The Duff, and they definitely are different. Bianca has friends, she's accepting, she's sarcastic, but she's soft. Whitley is just plain hard and it takes forever to crack that shell of hers. The way that Bianca and Whitley described Hamilton was so different, that I didn't even realize it was the same setting. Bianca never really mentioned it's "boring-ness" but Whitley really brought it out and made me sort of see the town in a different light.

All in all, I felt that Keplinger brought out her writing well in this novel, even if it wasn't a stellar one!

★★★☆☆ Rating: 3/5stars

I would have given this a way higher rating if there weren't so many open-ended questions that I was waiting to be answered... but then again, this is a standalone. I was really curious about whether the Posts were actually immune to another Reduction, etc.

I felt that the Posts and Luddites were written extremely well, and their positions, standings, and manners were depicted perfectly in a manner that was easy to understand and relate to. Luddites were the "smart" ones. Posts were inferior, even though they had done nothing to deserve it, and they were no less than the Luddites. 

The post apocalypse world was written pretty well, and realistically. This could also be seen as a warning to us, right? Haha. As if I could find any places that sold exclusively organic food with no genetic modifications without breaking my wallet. How did the Luddites do it?

I felt that the characters were definitely complex but they didn't develop much. I especially loved Ro, and at the end of the book, when Elliot gave her the name Tomorrow, I had shivers going down my back. It was so perfect and symbolic to the novel, and when they boarded the ship, I truly felt hope for their post-apocalyptic world! Everyone was easy to sympathize with and my heart especially broke for Kai and Elliot. What a jerk!

I wanted to punch him for the majority of the novel unfortunately. :l

Anyways. This is a fantastic retelling of Austen's Persuasion and the way Peterfreund kind of "fooled" us by thinking that this was going to be a futuristic tale, we were wrong in a way. It was futuristic, but not in the "advanced technology way."

It was like a rewind into the past... but in the future! And yes, it made sense.
This was a cleverly thought out novel, but I felt that there was room for a lot more development and the ending was too hastily and perfectly tied up. 


I wish there was a sequel because I would DEFINITELY read it!

★★★★★ (5/5stars)!!!!!! First off, I would like to say that this book was perfect. Amazing. Crazy good. Echols isn't afraid to reveal the underbellies of society, and she shows that the underbelly isn't always bad as well. Good can come out of it. Like Leah.

Let's start off with the cover. The girl with her crazy flying hair seems irrelevant at first, but you read into the book, and realize that her hair is pretty important. It's mentioned a lot of times. Then, the title. Perfect. It was a motif throughout the whole book and wound its way through everything Grayson and Leah said. It was an amazing thing to work around, and it just held up the book so well. Grayson and Leah ran on adrenaline, and every time the word "rush" was mentioned, I wanted to scream in delight. It was absolute PERFEEEECTION.

Alright, you might be shocked to read about Leah at first. The poor trailer park girl with the crazy mum who lost her virginity when she was fourteen... but she manages to escape her past and finds a passion. And that passion saves her from going down the wrong road. People judge her so hard, but she manages it so well. She doesn't let it get to her, and not in those obvious ways that usual YA heroines display it. Her narration skims over the judgemental people, and she doesn't need to point it out. It just shows that she's strong, and doesn't let that shit get to her. Leah is amazing.

And yes. I was a bit repulsed when they first mentioned her smoking, but when Mr. Hall made her quit... I pumped my fist! The smoking was very realistic. Yes. It's something that happens but I'm happy that the author pulled Leah out of it. It made me really happy because Leah had become a friend to me. I wanted the best for her.

The romance is written really well as well, and yes. Leah and Grayson is such a rush. The deaths, were also very realistic. I'm sorry that they happened, but they really left a mark on the characters that made them so much more interesting to read about, and made everyone so much more complex. (Although, I did resent Molly a bit at times.)

If you're looking for a well-written, well-paced, WELL THOUGHT OUT BOOK, THIS IS IT. I can't think of any flaws at the moment. It was sooo good. PLEASE READ IT.

★★☆☆☆ (2/5stars) This might be a little hard to read if you haven't previously trudged through historical romances. The style of this book is very traditional to the historical romances that I've read, so some people might not be used to it. It can be hard to get into. I thought it was rather cutely written, although I've seen this same type of format in a lot of other historical romances. Obviously Fredericks is going to be rich and the one who will marry Althea. Anyone can see that. The evil stepsister thing was a little typical and I found Althea such an annoying meddling girl at times... but then I felt that it was such a part of her character that I couldn't hate it. I also didn't expect Frederick's to be the one who paid for all the repairs. There isn't much to say about this book because it's such a light read and doesn't have much depth.

★★★★★ 5/5 stars!!!

This was such a lovely end to a gem of a series. If you just base this series off of it's appearance, then you are completely wrong. Yes, it is labeled as a "children's" book but it's a lot more mature than you would think it is, and the main character Desi is really mature for a 13/14 year old. I was NOT that mature when I was that old!!! Lindsey Leavitt should have at least made Desi 15/16... But oh well.

Anyways. This novel reaches beyond the scope of the hey-let's-just-invent-magic-for-the-sake-of-using-it-for-this-agency-and-the-plot-and-not-mention-it's-uses-for-world-peace-and-shit. It actually asks the question "If we have this magic, why don't we use it for the greater good of the planet? which is totally something that I don't see often. Did I mention that this is labeled as a children's book?

The ending to the series' conflict was realistic. Using subs' magic and stripping of their memories sounds reasonable to me, (I mean, for the sake of the plot of course lol) and if Facade had been doing it for so long, it would be unrealistic for Desi to suddenly just change everything. Genevieve offering them to run another branch of the company made sense, and I guess everything just wrapped up really nicely for me!

I don't get why Leavitt had to throw in that doubt of whether Reed was the one subbing for Prince Karl... but it did add some spice to the book. Reed and Desi are really cute! BUT I JUST CAN'T IMAGINE DESI AS A 13/14 YEAR OLD. Leavitt you are too mature to be writing about a 13/14 year old.

All in all, I really loved this series. The synopsis sounds really stupid and kiddish, but the prince/princess/royalty/magic thing is handled really well and there's some cute romance in it.

 If you're looking for a guilty pleasure read or you're just bored out of your mind, read this. It's awesome :3 Leavitt is a surprisingly awesome writer.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Seraphina is a well-spun tale that will touch your heart, grapple you in with hooks and refuse to let you go. The world is unbelievable, each character sparkles like a gem and finally, an amazing plot spun with fine golden threads holds this story together.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) Wow. What a doozy. I originally had anticipates something more clean-cut but Harkness surprised me. She wrote Elizabethan England quite well and the Roman Empire was really great as well. She captured the essences of each world perfectly and I loved everything. Each character was absolutely lovely and I gave my heart to SO many of them. Jack, Annie, the Earl... Each of them were so likeable! Especially Goody and Corra. Harkness also inserted a lot of side events that sometimes bored me but I absolutely LOVED Philippe. He was a great father figure, and his interactions with Diana made me smile. Speaking of fathers... We get to meet Diana's! Stephen was exactly how I imagined him to be. (Plus, his appearance was very unexpected for me too.) ALSO. Marcus and Phoebe. THAT IS MY NEW OTP. Oh my god. I love them. We only got a short introduction of them... and we didn't even find out how they got together!! Darn you Harkness. I was looking forward to that. :-(( BTW ANYONE NOTICE CORRA? THAT TOTALLY REMINDED ME OF THE LEGEND OF KORRA. In this novel, we really get to see Diana and Matthew in their married life, and I felt that that their relationship was so much better written than in the first book. They had real issues, and they got through them in a realistic way... and I actually really loved their dynamic in this book. Surprisingly, they actually handled the miscarriage less severely than I would have imagined. Overall, I felt that the "darkness" Matthew was experiencing was quite realistic and wasn't extremely eye-roll-inducing like in other vampire books. Funny... Diana even talked about those sappy vampire rape books in the novel. That made me laugh. (lol) Anyways. although Harkness really indulged in the world and spent a great deal of time within it, I felt that the pacing worked well, and everything was really well written. Highly recommend!!! (Albeit it is a bit long... but you should be used to that.)

I received this Advance Reader's copy thanks to Marissa Meyer herself! Many thanks.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

Phew! I finally received this long awaited ARC! (Funny enough, it was squished into my tiny apartment mailbox, but came out perfectly intact.)

First Impressions
The fairytale twist in Cinder is a bit different than I expected, but I'm totally down for it. Wolf was a fantastic character (although I thought his introduction was a bit hilarious for some reason) and the only word I can use to describe him and Scarlet is... sexy.
The novel started off slightly slower than I expected, but it definitely picked itself up. I didn't really like Scarlet at first, because she seemed like a typical hotheaded young lady. When the POV switched to Cinder, I was really glad for the first half of the book. Scarlet was a little bit too angry for my liking. I guess she sort of redeemed herself with Wolf!

Characters


Cinder, of course, was absolutely fantastic. I could tell that she was still wavering in her resolve, but she proved to be a strong lead in the end.

Scarlet, bored me at times with her cliche lines and feelings... I think Cinder was too much of a refreshing POV for me! I slowly came to admire her bravery in the face of adversity, and also her weaknesses, which were of course... merely human weaknesses. She couldn't help them.
An interesting switch in  POV from Cinder who was always mistreated and had many doubts, to Scarlet who is loud, angry, and strong. 


P.S. WOLF IS HELLA SEXY.


...and last but not least, what I liked and didn't liked. It was a bit slow going with the introduction but it slowly picked up the pace towards the end and I felt that this novel paced the story for Cinder, and allowed her to gather her thoughts and come to a resolve. Scarlet's plot seems independent, but I'm sure she'll play an important role in the novels to come.

What I didn't like was that I felt that I was being dragged along, whereas when I was reading Cinder, I was on my toes constantly.

What I liked was the refreshing originality, romance, and overall plot.
Seriously looking forward to the next novel. OASIDFLKASJF (I might have to wait the same time as everyone else next time though D:)

-vivian