Review: "Free to Fall" by Lauren Miller

~o~Rating~o~


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.

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.

N 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. 

S 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.

I 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).

D 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.

E 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.

&

O 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.

U 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)

T 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!
  

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

~o~Rating~o~


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.