Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Top 15 Read in 2015

I have read so many wonderful books this year, I think it’s a new record! These books were not necessarily published in 2015, I just read them this year. These are all wonderful and you should definitely pick them up if you haven’t already!

1. Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer

 

The fourth and final book in the Lunar Chronicles series. It’s the PERFECT conclusion. The first book is called Cinder. These books are fairy tale retellings and take place in a future world; they’re a mixed of sci/fi and Fantasy.

  

 


2. Through the Dark by Alexandra Bracken

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A collection of novellas set in The Darkest Minds universe. Bracken is a wonderful writer so you should definitely go check out her books if you haven’t yet.

 


 


3. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

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My absolute favorite contemporary I’ve read this year (not that I read a lot of them anyway). It’s a heart breaking story about twins Noah and Jude who are incredibly close at thirteen but rarely even see each other three years later. The story alternates between past and present. It’s a beautiful book. Click here for the Goodreads page.

 

4. End of Days by Susan Ee

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The third and last book in the Penryn and the End of Days trilogy; the first book is named Angelfall. These books take place in a post-Apocalyptic world where angels have destroyed and take over Earth. This is a good series for fans of 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.

 

5. Fairest by Marissa Meyer

 

A companion novel for the Lunar Chronicles series. This tells the story of the villain of the series, Queen Levana. Learning her backstory was very interesting (I still hate her though).

 

 


6. The Rose Society by Marie Lu

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The sequel to A Young Elites by Marie Lu. This takes place in a Fantasy world and follows the journey of Adelina Amouteru, probably the most morally ambiguous YA protagonist I have read about. 

 

 


7. Where She Went by Gayle Forman

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The sequel to the infamous If I Stay. Personally, I prefer the sequel to the first book. This takes place three years after the first book and is from Adam’s point of view.

 

 



8. Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed

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This story follows a Pakistani-American girl Naila whose strict, traditional parents take her to Pakistan after they find out she had been dating someone. They force her into an arranged marriage and Naila finds herself cut off from her life in America. I loved this book way more than I thought I would.

 


9. The Young Elites by Marie Lu

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The first book to the Young Elites series. This is a Fantasy series very different from Marie Lu’s Legend series but just as awesome.

 

 

 

10. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

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Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them—in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul—they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course… read more in Goodreads

 


11. I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

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The first book to the I Hunt Killers series. This series follows Jasper Dent who is the son of the world’s most notorious serial killer. Jasper is brilliant, and these books are action packed and thrilling.

 

 


12. Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

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What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice? What if you never had to fall? … Read more in Goodreads.

 



13. What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me

This story takes place in a world where every person is born with two souls. One of these souls usually “faded” away by the person was around six years old. The people whose souls did not fade were known as hybrids. The main character was a hybrid; both her souls remained in her body though Addie was more dominant than Eva. It was a different experience reading from the point of view of one character who was really two people. Read more in Goodreads.



14. Winger by Andrew Smith 

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Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy. Read more in Goodreads.

 



15. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What's Left of Me


Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive – alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. Read more in Goodreads.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Review: “Then I Met My Sister” by Christine Hurley Deriso

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~o~Rating~o~
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Goodreads Synopsis: It's not exactly easy living in a shrine to your dead sister. Since birth, I've known that everyone loved Shannon. She was perfect--beautiful, smart, talented. And me? Not so much. My parents always expected me to live up to her greatness. But I could never measure up to her, so why even try?

This summer, I've started reading the journal Shannon kept just before she died . . . and suddenly nothing is what I thought it was. The more secrets I learn about Shannon and our family, the more everything changes. And as it turns out, facing the truth is no cakewalk, either.

~o~Review~o~

The blurb of a book doesn’t usually catch my attention but this one did. And it was fairly small so I picked it up. For a book I had never heard of before, it was an interesting and mostly enjoyable read.

Summer’s parents had her as a coping mechanism after they lost their daughter, Shannon, in a car accident. Her sister was pretty much the perfect daughter: straight A student, never acted out, etc. Summer hates being in her shadow so she tries to act as different from Shannon as possible. Then one day, her aunt gives her Shannon’s journal and Summer “meets” her sister for the first time.

Now, when I read the blurb, I was expecting Summer to be one of those typical rebel teenagers who go out of her way to do the exact opposite of what her parents say. Gladly, that was not the case. Summer was, for the most part, pretty sensible and smart.

Although the story had a romantic aspect, it was more focused on family and Summer’s relationship with her parents. While getting to know who her sister was, Summer was also getting to know who her parents were before the accident. 

The romantic interest, Gibs, was actually my favorite character. After some long and painful YA books with overbearing bad-boy boyfriends, sweet and intelligent Gibs was a nice change. And he was a good influence on Summer instead of the other way around which seems to be the norm these days.

Cons: The writing, though not bad, could have been better. And some of the characters felt a little one-dimensional to me, but that’s understandable since it was a small book and the author was mainly focusing on Summer.

Overall, it was a nice read.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Review: "Through the Dark" by Alexandra Bracken

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~o~Rating~o~

Warning: Through the Dark is a collection of novellas in the Darkest Minds universe. The following contains mild spoilers for the original trilogy.

If I had any doubts before, they’re all gone now. Alexandra Bracken is definitely, doubtlessly, my favorite Young Adult author. Her stories are magnificent, of-course, but it’s her writing that pulls me towards her books. It’s beautiful. 

I didn’t really know what to expect with Through the Dark because it’s a collection of novellas. I hadn’t read any of them before but I had heard great things about the first two. And Bracken did it again. I was laughing and sobbing during all three stories. I love the characters, both new and old. And I loved reading about this world again. As with all my favorite books, this ended way too soon.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

In Time: I started to really warm up to Gabe. And I had completely forgotten what happens to him (it’s been a while since I read In the Afterlight), so the ending shocked me. It was horrible! Poor little Zu.

Sparks Rise: I fell in love with Sam all over again. And Lucas was great too. I like him almost as much as Liam (I did say almost). I was so sad at how this ended, I’m glad I was able to move on to the next story quickly.

Through the Dark: My favorite one out of the three. They have a happy ending! I LOVE happy endings! And the old gang was back! Reading about their characters again was like meeting old friends after a long time; it made me really happy. It was also interesting getting to see how the country was doing after In the Afterlight. Not as well as I hoped but I guess you can’t have everything.

 

Friday, December 4, 2015

Review: “Winter” by Marissa Meyer

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~o~Rating~o~

Warning: this review contains spoilers for the first three books in the Lunar Chronicles series (the first book is called Cinder). Winter is the last book in the series.

I started this book the day it came out (first book I ever pre-ordered), and what an awesome decision that was. 823 pages of sheer Wow-ness. I am still unable to form coherent thoughts on this book. It’s over. *sigh* It was just SO GOOD! It had EVERYTHING I hoped for and more.

This book was probably the most fast paced out of the four. There weren’t any slow moments. None! Books like this is why the term page-turner was invented. Winter is definitely a page-turner.

Princess Winter’s character is fantastic (she reminded me of Luna Lovegood). Winter has gone crazy (she is always hallucinating) because she refuses to use her Lunar gift, which is unusual for Lunars. But she is also intelligent, more than people realize. And beautiful of-course which is why Levana made her scar herself when she was younger.

Every character has their own unique story. Marissa Meyer is one of the few YA authors who can pull off having several main characters and not force a few of them into the background (*cough* *cough* Blood of Olympus *cough* *cough*). Every character played a special role and helped in some way.

The relationship between the characters feel very real. Every pairing in this series is perfection. I completely fell in love with the relationship of Winter and Jacin. All the different friendship dynamics are also genuine; it’s clear that they truly are a group of friends who love and support each other no matter how difficult life gets.

This is an awesome ending to an awesome series and it won’t disappoint.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

The following is just a series of random thoughts I have about this book or the series in general:

Kai PROPOSED! HE PROPOSED! Well… kind of. He asked if Cinder would one day consider being empress which to my Kaider mind is a legitimate proposal.

The friendship between Scarlet and Winter was really nice. It felt more real than Scarlet and Cinder’s friendship at-least; I can’t remember those two ever bonding much. But then again, they have been slightly busy.

Scarlet and Wolf are FINALLY reunited!! Seems like forever.

But I would be lying if I said I loved everything about this book. The one thing I was confused about is Wolf. They supposedly enhanced him but I really saw no difference between his new form vs his previous form excluding physical features. I guess that might be the point Meyer was making about his love for Scarlet being stronger than whatever they did to him but it wasn’t explained very well.

I’m still confused on how Iko can love. I get that she has a faulty personality chip but how do you program a robot to feel emotion? I don’t remember if there was an explanation. Or maybe this is just way over my head.

There are so many parts I loved though, they easily trump the few parts I didn’t. This review nowhere summarizes all my thoughts for this wonderful book.

Review: “Nearly Gone” by Elle Cosimano

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~o~Rating~o~

Warning: I read this a while ago and am writing this review only now.

Goodreads Synopsis: Nearly Boswell knows how to keep secrets. Living in a DC trailer park, she knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with her classmates. Like her mother's job as an exotic dancer, her obsession with the personal ads, and especially the emotions she can taste when she brushes against someone's skin. But when a serial killer goes on a killing spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the newspaper that only Nearly can decipher, she confides in the one person she shouldn't trust: the new guy at school—a reformed bad boy working undercover for the police, doing surveillance. . . on her.

Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn't figure it all out soon—she'll be next.

Another book I would not have finished if it weren’t for something school related (Reader’s Rally, anyone?). Nearly (yes, that is her name) is kind of horrible. And the paranormal aspect of the book (Nearly can taste people’s emotions when she touches them) was completely unnecessary and unrelated. This could’ve been a perfectly good mystery novel if the paranormal aspect was missing. Instead of adding to the plot, it just made it more confusing and left a lot of questions unanswered.

And not to mention her horrible people skills. She has the perfect best friend: someone who knows her, has been with her through thick and thin, steals money from his abusive father so she’ll be able to pay rent. And who does she choose? The bad boy, of-course! Doesn’t every teenage girl?

This book frustrated me.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

One thing that really bothered me was her friendship with Anh. It never really seemed like a friendship. The tension is high between the two (they’re both competing for a chemistry scholarship); they barely talked let alone bonded. I didn’t understand why Nearly kept referring to her as one of her closest friends when she is always trying to avoid her. And let’s not forget that even when she CHOSE Reece over Jeremy, she would still always get jealous when Anh and Jeremy were together. Make up your mind!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Review: “Hostage Three” by Nick Lake

~o~Rating~o~
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Synopsis: Amy is forced to take a trip on a yacht with her father and stepmother. Aboard the Daisy May, Amy almost starts to enjoy herself… until one day, the ship is captured by Somalian pirates. The passengers aboard the ship are taken hostage. Amy finds herself drawing closer to one of the pirates, a boy who didn’t want this life any more than Amy wanted hers.

Hmm… lots of mixed feelings about this book. I still don’t know if I liked it. I’m rating this three stars Goodreads style which means it was okay.

My biggest issue with this book was the structure. I understand Nick Lake was trying to be stylistic by not using quotation marks for dialogues, but lack of punctuation bothers me. A lot. I definitely would not have finished this book if it wasn’t for something school related.

Going past structure, Amy bothered me quite a bit too before I started warming up to her. After her mother’s death, Amy desperately seeks her wealthy father’s attention by lashing out (you know, the usual: getting drunk; smoking; piercings; etc). Her behavior in the beginning took away any chance of me liking her but she was developed in a realistic way.

In a cruise with her family, their yacht is captured by Somalian pirates. The book explores the idea of Stockholm Syndrome, or tried to at-least. The romance between Amy and Farouz seemed forced and unrealistic. I don’t know how you can start to like the person who is holding a gun over your head (but to her credit, neither did Amy).

What I really liked was getting to know the pirates. Everyone steals for a reason and theirs is a pretty good one.

Friday, October 30, 2015

The Zombie Apocalypse Book Tag

A huge thank you to Cindy at Stranger Things Has Happened for tagging me! This is the Zombie Apocalypse Book Tag.

Rules: pick five books at random. Open a random page and the first character you see will be the one who answers the assigned question. Our job is to put together a team to survive the Zombie Apocalypse.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The first person to die: Daisy. I could not be happier. She can be torn apart by flesh eating zombies and I’ll sit at the sidelines taking pictures.

The first person you trip to get away from the zombies: Jordan. I like my team already. Not a big fan of Jordan either so this is completely okay. No regrets.

 

 

 The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan

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The first person to turn into a zombie: Annabeth. Noo! The last thing we need is a overly intelligent zombie coming after us.

The first person who trips YOU to get away from the zombies: Chiron. What?! He would never! He wouldn’t right? Maybe his little centaur legs accidentally tripped me when he was running away from Annabeth.

 

 

Matilda by Roald Dahl

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The idiot of the team: Miss Trunchbull. I’m surprised at how much this fits. Miss Trunchbull will definitely be the idiot of the team; here’s to hoping she gets eaten by Annabeth.

The “brains” of the team: Matilda. YES!! We’re getting somewhere people. I can see Matilda be the brains; I would not expect anything else.

 

 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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The team’s medic: Lady Catherine. Yeah… I don’t know how that would turn out. She would spend more time talking about herself than caring for the others.

The weapons’ expert: Elizabeth Bennett. As much as I adore Lizzie, I don’t know if weapons would be her thing. But hey, she is pretty smart so maybe…?

 

 

 

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix  by J. K Rowling

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The brawler: Umbridge. Hmm… mixed feelings. On the one hand, she is my most despised character. Ever. But then again, the woman is probably good at brawling.

The team captain: Harry Potter. Sure. I can live with that. Harry is a born leader.

 

 

 

You know what guys? I think we can make it. I got an okay team, could be better. This was great! Do the tag if you will it!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Review: “The Rose Society” by Marie Lu

~o~Rating~o~


Warning: This is the second book in the Young Elites series. The following contains spoilers for the first book, The Young Elites.

“Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends.
Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all…”

With authors like Marie Lu, who has written one of my favorite Young Adult series (Legend trilogy), I tend to let my expectations soar. With one of their series on my I-will-recommend-this-book-to-everyone shelf, I don’t even consider that they might be letting me down. With Marie Lu at-least, that is not the case. The Rose Society is the perfect sequel. If you thought The Young Elites was dark, Rose Society is going to be a big (and hopefully pleasant) surprise. Adelina is no doubt the most morally ambiguous YA protagonist I have read about.

This book introduces some new characters and old characters reappear. The characters, old and new alike, are developed in a very believable way. Adelina’s personality deteriorates so quickly, it’s hard to root for her. Teren, who may or not be the book’s villain (I’m actually not quite sure), is definitely Adelina’s villain but even his character has a rich backstory. The Daggers, who are supposedly the “heroes”, are not always very heroic in what they do (but their intention is the most good out of the three sides). Basically, everyone’s evil and should die (yes, I’m joking).

As dark and disturbing as this was, it felt like a very quick read. (It’s always funny how I just make the time to read when I really like a book, shoving aside all schoolwork. Probably not the best idea…).

This book was great This review no where near describes how much I loved it. Go read it!

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

I was fully expecting Maeve to bring Enzo back after that little glimpse of her in the first book. I don’t know how I feel about that yet… I didn’t like Enzo in the first one but his character certainly got more interesting.

I wanted more Raffaelle in the book. He’s such a complicated and intriguing character; I was a little disappointed he didn’t have more chapters. Teren’s point of view was also very interesting. His “godly mission” to destroy all malfettos is completely delusional but fascinating.

In the end, I think it will be Violetta who takes away Adelina’s power. It’s clear she will never be satisfied. For the first time, I really want a main character dead.

I am VERY excited for the next book. But I have a feeling I’ll have to wait another year. Crying face

Sunday, October 11, 2015

"The Opposite Books" Tag

Hello, everyone! This is The Opposite Books tag created by minhaestante over on Youtube. I was tagged by Stellah in The Little Book Nerd's Life.

The first book in your collection and the last book you bought.

The earliest book I have in my collection right now would be Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. I loved and still love the Ramona books to death. Those books are hilarious and heart-warming and the perfect series to hook a young mind to reading. The last book I bought would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I found it at Goodwill and jumped in joy. Jane Eyre is fantastic and one of my absolute favorite classics.

A cheap book and an expensive book.

Let's see... I have bought A LOT of books from used book stores so I don't know which one the cheapest is. My copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was only $0.25. The most expensive book would be Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan; it was $19.99 dollars of pain and disbelief. I regret buying that book to this day; it was highly disappointing and I refuse to take it as a legitimate conclusion.

A book with a male protagonist and a book with a female protagonist.

For male protagonist, I will choose I Hunt Killers series by Barry Lyga. These books are about Jasper Dent, the son of the most notorious serial killer in the world. Jasper is set on clearing his name when murders, very similar to the works of his imprisoned father, starts again in their area. These books are intelligent, violent and downright scary at times. I see Jasper as almost a teenage version of Sherlock (from the BBC show, not the books). For a book with a female protagonist (which is more than 90 percent of YA books these days)... I'm just going to go with a childhood favorite, Junie B. Jones. I have read every Junie B. Jones book, and if Barbara Parks chose to write more, I would still read them.

A book you read fast and one that took you long to read. 

A book that I read fast... I think that would be the Twilight series which took me roughly a week and a half to read in the sixth grade. A book that took me a long time to read would be Game of Thrones; I love that book but it took me almost two months to get through that whole thing.

A book with a pretty cover and one with an ugly one. 



I love the cover of A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. It's a YA Sci-Fi, about Marguerite, whose physicist parents have made a machine that can take you to parallel universes.










Winger by Andrew Smith. I like this book, but the cover is awful. The boy has a bloody napkin stuffed in his nose!





A national book and an international book. 

By national, I'm assuming it means United States (since that's where I am). I guess I'll go with Hunger Games since it is supposed to be a future United States. For an international book, I would choose Written in Stars by Aisha Saeed. It's about a Pakistani-American teen names Naila whose very strict parents takes her back to Pakistan after they find out she has a boyfriend. I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did.

A thin book and a thick book.

Hmm... the thinnest book I have read would be The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. It takes place during the post-Reconstruction era in America, and follows the journey of a biracial man having to choose between being black in a openly racist society or passing as white and betraying his heritage. The thickest book I own (as in the book with the most pages), would be A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin.

A fiction book and a non-fiction book.

Seeing that 98 percent of what I read is fiction, I'll go with my go to answer and say Harry Potter. One of my favorite non-fiction that I've read back in middle school is Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah. It's about her experience growing up in China during WWII, in a family that considers her bad luck because her mother died two weeks after giving birth to her.

A way too romantic book and an action book. 

I think, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi had too much cringe-worthy romance without needing to. Needless to say, I do not like those books. For an action book, I will say The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. It's sci-fi/Fantasy in a world that has been taken over by aliens who look like humans. It follows Cassie who for a long time believes she is the only human left on the planet.

A book that made you happy and a book that made you sad.

I think a lot of the times, the same book makes me both happy and sad. In the Afterlight, the conclusion to the Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken, made me feel both extremely happy and very sad. It was the perfect conclusion, but as with all my favorite book series, I never wanted it to end.

Want to do this tag? Go right ahead.      

Friday, September 18, 2015

Review: "Free to Fall" by Lauren Miller

18500665~o~Rating~o~
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This book pleasantly surprised me. Judging by the title and synopsis, I was sure it would be another YA romance taking place in the future to assign itself the sci/fi genre. What I found was a gripping story of an intelligent protagonist unraveling the mysterious past of her mother. To my immense relief, the romance didn’t take over the plot and what was there was relevant to the story. And it’s not often you find a Young Adult sci/fi standalone these days.

The concept of this world is fantastic and slightly eerie because I can definitely see our world turning into a completely technology dependent one. The way people are turning to their phones every two minutes, we are already headed there. While reading this book in the lunchroom in school, I would look up every few minutes and see most of the student body glued to their phones at all times. And seeing how there is an app for almost everything, we are not far from creating a decision making app that makes your decisions for you.

I’m not giving it five stars because I wasn’t a big fan of the character interactions. Rory’s relationship with both Hershey and North could have been developed a lot more.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

Even though he was barely in there, Beck was the character I liked the most. He thought for himself (very unlike Rory in the beginning). I was devastated when Rory met him at the Gnosis place and he had transformed into this submissive Lux user. A big part of the reason I was rooting for Rory to be successful was to get Beck back to normal.

Even though the solar flare was completely coincidental and a little too convenient with its timing, I really liked the ending.



Friday, September 11, 2015

Inside & Out Tag

Hello everyone! This is the Inside & Out Tag created by MathomBooks over in BookTube. I was tagged by Stellah in The Little Book Nerd's Life (you should check her out, she's awesome).

I Inside flap/Back of the book summaries: Too much info? Or not enough (Discuss)
It honestly depends on the book. Some books give you a glimpse of the entire plot while some don't give any clue as to what the story is about. Personally, I like to know the premise of a book before starting it to see if it is something I would be interested in. It annoys me when all a book blurb has is dialogue or a few sentences from one scene that occurs somewhere in the book because the entire time I'm reading the book, I'm waiting for that one scene so I can put the blurb into context.

New book: What form do you want it in? Be honest: Audiobook, E-Book, Paperback, or Hardcover?
I love holding new hardcover books. Not even reading but just holding because those things are beautiful. So yes, hard-cover. 

Scribble while you read? Do you like to write in your books, taking notes, making comments, or do you keep your books clean clean clean? (Tell us why)
Not in the least bit. Writing in books is a huge pet peeve of mine. I don't even like writing in my most loathed school books, using post-its instead. Books are meant to be read, not written on.

In your best voice, read for us your favorite 1st sentence from a book.
Slightly impossible since whoever's reading this cannot hear my voice. One of my absolute favorite start of a book though:
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I love this book to death; it's one of the very few books I can reread as many times as possible and not get bored. (Even though Orson Scott Card can be kind of a jerk).

Does it matter to you whether the author is male or female when you're deciding on a book? What if you're unsure of the author's gender? 
No, it does not matter at all. And it's something that shouldn't matter when you're deciding on a book.

Ever read ahead? or have you ever read the last page way before you got there? (Do confess thy sins, foul demon!)
No, reading ahead is another one of my pet-peeves. It ruins the fun of uncovering the book's secret as you keep reading.

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Organized bookshelves, or Outrageous bookshelves?
Definitely organized bookshelves. I don't have a specific order in which I put my books; they're mainly where they are based on size and whether or not the shelf has room.

Under oath: have you ever bought a book based on the cover (alone)?
I don't like buying books I haven't read in case I don't like them, so no. I have checked out books from the library based on their covers though (like A Thousand Pieces of You and These Broken Stars)

Take it outside to read, or stay in?
I take my books everywhere and I do mean everywhere. My purses have one requirement, they have to be big enough to hold at least a paperback.

I tag anyone who wants to do the tag. Tag away!
  

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Review: "These Broken Stars" by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What's Left of Me~o~Rating~o~
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These Broken Stars takes place in a future society where inter-dimensional travel is common and humans have "terraformed" quite a few planets already. The beginning of this book has a very Titanic feel to it. Lilac Rose LaRoux is the daughter of the richest man in the galaxy and Tarver Menrendsen is a decorated soldier from a humble background. The story starts with them atop the newly built Icarus, the largest inter-dimensional ship (I think that's what it's called) in the world. The ship is somehow pulled from hyperspace and "sinks". The two main characters escape on one of the escape pods and are stranded on a strange planet that appears to be terraformed but has no signs of life.

One of the main reasons I picked this book up is the writing. I started reading the first chapter in the library because I was bored and I was hooked instantly with the picturesque descriptions and the amount of details the two authors put into this world they created. Unfortunately for me, the descriptions seemed to get less detailed as the book goes on.

The romantic aspect of the book bothered me. I was already expecting it to be more romance than sci-fi but it just seemed very out of place considering their situation.

All in all though, it was a good read.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~

I didn't get attached to either of the characters which is strange for me. Maybe subconsciously I expected something to go wrong so I just didn't open up to either of them. Honestly when Lilac "died", I was more happy then sad. And I really don't understand how the "whispers" brought her back to life. Not quite sure on what the "whispers" are either. I guess I'm obligated to read the next book then to get my answers.


Monday, July 27, 2015

Review: “A Thousand Pieces of You” by Claudia Gray

~o~Rating~o~
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I liked this book but not as much I thought I would. I was expecting more sci-fi and less romance but overall it was a nice read. The book follows Marguerite whose parents have figured out how to travel in between dimensions. Her father had recently died and she sets out to find the killer Paul Markov who travelled to another dimension and kill him.

The entire time I was reading this book, I kept comparing it to “All Our Yesterdays” by Cristin Terril. Great book if you haven’t read it and both books have similar concepts. And I really loved the overall story line but it could have been a lot better. And there were still a lot of questions that need to be answered but there will be more books so I’m hoping the next installations will be more thorough.
And I have to say, this was the best book cover I have seen in a while. It is absolutely beautiful!

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
 
The idea of all these different dimensions existing was terrifying. A single decision you make could create an entire different dimension. And honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was proven to be true sometime in the future.

I thought Marguerite was way too impulsive at times, too quick to judge and made some rash decisions. And I really thought she should have told her physicist mother about the other two Firebirds because the mother would have most likely figured out the whole Theo-is-the-spy thing sooner. I mean, the woman figured out how to travel to other dimensions.

And a lot of the decisions Marguerite made as her other versions would have made things difficult for them. The Marguerite of Russia was to be married off to the Prince of Whales as a virgin bride. It seemed like Marguerite just did what she wanted and then went “Oops”. (For her sake, I hope Russian Marguerite remembered what happened.) And it was also because of her that Lieutenant Markov died. If she hadn’t ordered him to back to the encampment, he wouldn’t have had to go fight.

I wish the author developed their characters more. I understand their basic personalities but they weren’t in depth. Paul was the only character I loved in the book. He is intelligent and very loyal to Marguerite and her family who have pretty much adopted him as their own. He seemed more real to me than even Marguerite. And it wasn’t their dimension’s Theo’s fault but I still dislike him.

I am looking forward to the next book to see what happens with Triad and the dimensional spies.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Ultimate Harry Potter Tag


I've been seeing this tag for a while now in both BookTube and the blogosphere and I have no idea why I've waited so long to do this. I am a HUGE Potterhead so this should be fun.

1) Favorite book?
It's a tie between Deathly Hallows and Order of Phoenix. I love the final scenes in DH, I think it was a great ending for the series. And I love OoP mostly for the twins and all their pranks at Hogwarts before leaving for good. 

2) Least favorite book?
Half-Blood Prince. I love the book but not as much as the others.

3) Favorite movie?
Deathly Hallows Part 2. I think the directors and the actors did a phenomenal job with the ending. There are some scenes that I would like to change but overall, it was my favorite. 

4) Least favorite movie?
Half-Blood Prince. They left out so much stuff from the book and mostly focused on the romantic aspect; they could've done a lot better. 

5) Favorite quote?
There are so many quotes I absolutely love.  
"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're planning to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."
 I do love Luna 

6) Favorite Weasley?
Molly Weasley. That woman is the kindest most wonderful person and does not get enough credit. She pretty much adopted Harry as a son (even though they were tight on money) and was as much as his mother as Lily Potter was. 

7) Favorite female character?
Luna Lovegood

8) Favorite villain.
Dolores Umbridge. That woman deserve to be eaten by centaurs. Fenrir Greyback is a close second.

9) Favorite male character?
It's a three way tie between the twins and Neville Longbottom

10) Favorite professor?
Professor McGonagall. She is an awesome woman

11) Would you rather A) wash Snape’s hair or B) spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself?
Wash Snape's hair. Listening to Lockhart rant about himself seems way more trying. 

12) Would you rather duel A) an elated Bellatrix or B) and angry Molly?
Definitely Bellatrix. You do not mess with the Weasley mother

13) Would you rather travel to Hogwarts via A) Hogwarts Express or B) Flying Car?
Hogwarts Express. I've been wanting to ride that train since I read the first book. And the flying car is way too unpredictable.

14) Would you rather A) Kiss Voldemort or B) give Umbridge a bubble bath?
Give Umbridge a bubble bath; maybe I'd have a chance to drown her. 

15) Would you rather A) ride a Hippogriff or B) ride a Firebolt?
I would love to ride a Firebolt. And giant birds terrify me.

16) Is there a character you felt differently about in the movies?
Ginny Weasley. Book Ginny is WAY more awesome. 

17) Is there a movie you preferred to the book?
NOPE

18) Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?
I think they both did a wonderful job portraying Dumbledore.

19) Your top thing (person or event) that wasn’t in the movie that you wanted there the
most?
I have a few. 
  • That scene in Deathly Hallows where Dudley says Harry wasn't a waste of space. I really wanted that scene in the movies because it showed that there was still hope for at least one Dursley. 
  • The fact that it was Marietta Edgecombe who betreayed the DA in the book and not Cho Chang
  • A lot of the memories Dumbledore had collected of Tom Riddle got left off in the movies

20) If you could remake any of the Harry Potter movies which would it be?
Half-Blood Prince. I'll make it closer to the book or just add in more scenes; I have no problems with long movies.

21 Which house was your first gut feeling you’d be a part of?
Hufflepuff. I loved that house since the very beginning. Us Puffs don't get enough credit.

22) Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore?
To my immense joy: Hufflepuff. 

23) Which class would be your favourite?
Charms or Arithmancy

24) Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn?
Accio (the summoning charm); I'm a lazy person. 

25) Which character do you think you’d instantly become friends with?
Hermione Granger or Luna Lovegood. They're very different but I love them both. I'm bookish like Hermione so we'd get along. And Luna seems like she would be a very loyal friend. 

26) If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?
Invisibility Cloak. Raising the dead is scary and I'm not a dueling person. 

27) Is there any aspect of the books you’d want to change?
No

28) Favourite Marauder?
Moony. I think Remus is like the brains of most of the Marauder pranks but people just don't blame him.

29) If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be?
Fred Weasley, no doubt. I can't imagine George's life without his other half.

30) Hallows or Horcruxes? 
Hallows. Splitting my soul isn't really my thing. I'd much rather master Death.

If anyone actually read this whole thing, thanks! If you have a blog, do the tag!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Review: “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini

~o~Rating~o~
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I am a big Kite Runner fan so naturally I picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was not disappointed. I loved this book! I love how Hosseini’s descriptions actually take you to the streets of Kabul. Afghanistan has been under A LOT of turmoil over the past few years, decades to be more precise, and this book shows just how much hardship the citizens of this country have to go through on a daily basis (the women especially).

I thought it was a beautifully crafted story of brutality and suffering as well as strength and hope. This book kept reminding me of one of my favorite Mahatma Gandhi quotes: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body but you will never imprison my mind.” Both Mariam and Laila are two women living under a fiercely male dominant society in which they have little to no power but they never lost their spirit.

I’m giving it 4.5 stars because there were a few parts I had to trudge through because it was boring me. Completely worth it though.


~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
Many parts of the book were truly painful for me to read. When it comes to violence in Fantasy or Sci-Fi books, I enjoy it immensely, but it just feels so real when it comes to realistic fiction. I absolutely hated Rasheed and felt immense joy at his death; he had it coming. And I thought it was even more justified that he would die at the hand of Mariam who sacrificed so much for that undeserving bastard. I was cheering her on the whole time.

I have to say, I liked the ending a lot. Laila deserved a real and happy family.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Review: “Fairest” by Marissa Meyer

~o~Rating~o~
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Being inside the mind of Queen Levana, easily one of my most hated YA villains, was definitely intriguing. I couldn’t help but sympathize with her a little. It was nice seeing her background. Don’t get me wrong though, I would still rejoice if anyone from the Lunar Chronicles gang kills her.

Levana grew up as a lonely princess. Without any friends, neglected by her parents and constantly threatened by her older sister, the future queen. She also felt the need to constantly hide herself with her glamour because of her “ugly” face. It’s easy to see why she would be so bitter.

And it was also interesting to learn more about Levana’s step-daughter princess Winter. I’m very excited for Winter the fourth book of the Lunar Chronicles.

Review: “Captive” by Aimee Carter

Captive by Aimee Carter~o~Rating~o~
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I tried to like this book, I really did. Did I like it though? No. The first book in the series, Pawn, was much better in my opinion. Captive started off really slow and the main character Kitty was acting like a brat during most of the book. It took a long time for me to actually get into the story and even when I did, I was not as invested as I wanted to be.

~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
I would say though Carter’s description of Elsewhere was interesting. In the last book, it seemed like Elsewhere was this giant forest where the rich went to “hunt” down the poor who were accused of crimes. Witnessing that it was almost like a town was unexpected.

The big reveal about Kitty’s background was also unexpected. I don’t know what I think of that just yet. I kind of liked knowing that the only reason Kitty was chosen was because of her eye color and not because of her heritage. I am excited to see where this leads though.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Review: “What’s Left of Me” by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me~o~Rating~o~
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This was one of those books I just randomly picked up from the public library not expecting much from it. I was very pleasantly surprised. What's Left of Me was very impressive for a book I hadn’t previously heard about.

This story takes place in a world where every person is born with two souls. One of these souls usually “faded” away by the person was around six years old. The people whose souls did not fade were known as hybrids. The main character was a hybrid; both her souls remained in her body though Addie was more dominant than Eva. It was a different experience reading from the point of view of one character who was really two people. I thought Kat Zhang did a wonderful job portraying the two souls.

I’m really looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy. I think these books just might make their way to my favorite shelf.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
 
I’m giving it four stars because of the lack of explanation when it came to the hybrids. Why were people hybrids? Or is this just an alternative universe? Hopefully the sequels will explain better. I’m excited to see where this goes.

Disney Book Tag

Disney Book Tag

This is my first tag! This is exciting stuff! I believe the tag was created by Kat from Katytastic. Being an avid Disney fan, this tag just had to be done.


The Little Mermaid

For this I picked Cinder from Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a fairy tale retelling of Cinderella that takes place in a future world. For one, Cinder is the outsider in her family living with her stepmother and two stepsisters. And then she's an outsider to her world because she's a cyborg.


Cinderella

For this I picked Tris from Divergent by Veronica Roth. Divergent, as I'm sure most people know, takes place in a future dystopian world where everyone is divided into five different factions. Tris goes through a major transformation. Beatrice Prior went from the simple, self-less Abnegation to Tris a brave and fearless Dauntless fighter.


Snow White

I just had to pick two casts because I couldn't choose one. First the Ender's Game cast from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I have loved the Ender's Game characters for years now and every time I re-read the book, I fall in love with them again. The characters are written with beautiful depth. And second the characters of Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. All the characters in these books are very believable and the amount of personality Martin put in them is extremely impressing.


Sleeping Beauty

There are quite a few books that put me to sleep, school textbooks making the very top of the list. :D On literary terms though, I would have to pick either Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. I tried to get through these, I really did; not a success.


The Lion King

Many of the YA characters had something traumatic happen to them as children. I picked Ruby Daly from the The Darkest Mindsseries by Alexandra Bracken.For those who don't know, the Darkest Minds series takes place in an alternative U.S.A where the nation was devastated by a plague that killed most of the children and those who didn't die developed superpowers. Ruvy goes through a LOT in this book and I think she is one of the strongest female heroines in YA so far.


Beauty and the Beast

The original question for Beauty and the Beast was: "a beast of a book that you were intimidated by but found the story to be beautiful". But I don't usually get intimidated by long books, I tend to love reading longer books. So I changed the question to: "A book that you hesitated to pick up because of the cover but ended up loving". I know people are always saying "don't judge a book by its cover", but we all do it anyway. I picked City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I first picked it up when I was in 6th grade and the cover just did not appeal to me but I'm glad I read it.


Aladdin

This one took me a while for some reason. I am going to pick The Boy Who Lived (Harry Potter for those of you who don't know). Growing up in an abusive home, Harry probably wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He gets that wish granted. He finds two very loyal friends, he finds a place he could call home and he finds his true family. Granted his life isn't the best even in the Wizarding World, but I guess you can't have everything.


Mulan

A character who pretends to be someone else. I picked June Iparis from the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu. She goes under cover to follow the criminal/legend Day. I love these books wholeheartedly and June is probably the most intelligent YA heroine out there.


Toy Story

No way could I pick just one book. I want them ALL! Only the good ones though, the bad ones are free to stay trapped in their respective stories.


Disney Descendants

I would say the villain I most love to hate would be Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. I'm pretty sure everyone hates her. President Snow from the Hunger Games series is another one I would love to see the dead body of.

I hope you liked it!