Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

This review may contain spoilers of previous books in the series
Summary: It's been three years since Adam's love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it... and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is L.A tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future- and each other.
Review: I absolutely loved If I Stay and so I was really excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel. I also really liked this one. The story picks up three years after the last book ended, which I thought was a good length considering what had happened. I loved the fact that the story was told from Adam's point of view. He is honestly one of my favorite characters ever and getting to hear his side of the story was really cool. I really liked seeing the ways that both Adam and Mia had changed since the end of If I Stay and even within this book. Mia is such a strong character. I loved seeing the way she keeps her family close to her heart even as she is still dealing with grief. I thought it was sad to see Adam so screwed up despite everything he has. He is such an interesting character. Honestly, those two are what make this book so good. If this book was full of average and boring characters it wouldn't be even close to as a mazing as it is. I don't want to let this series go and I hope there is more to this story. I also have to say that I was honestly surprised by the ending. I know I probably shouldn't have been, but I just wasn't expecting things to go that way.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Summary: (from back of book) A prodigal son. A dangerous love. A deadly secret. Grace Divine- daughter of a local pastor- always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood. Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother. As grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the one she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul.
Review: When I first started reading this book I didn't have very high hopes. I found some parts to be pretty predictable in the beginning. I thought Daniel's big secret was kind of obvious but it played out well enough. However, there were a few plot twists that took me by surprise and made the story that much more interesting. I did like the fact that Grace and Daniel were childhood friends instead of meeting accidentally wjile she is all alone at a new school.   I was really annoyed by the way it ended. It seems like it made everything else that the characters had worked for obsolete and pointless. I wish the story had taken a different direction. It would have made the characters journey more worth it. I thought the characters seemed average. Grace, Daniel and Jude were nothing special. I thought a lot of their personality traits were pretty stereotypical. I liked them all but they aren't characters I really loved. I am interested to see where the sequel goes even though it kind of seems like I know already. Overall, i did like this book and have higher hopes for the rest of the series.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

   Summary: (from book jacket) What if you knew exactly when you would die? Thanks to modern science, every newborn has become a ticking genetic time bomb- males only live to age twenty five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. When sixteen year old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape-  to find her twin brother and go home. But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.
Review: There were both good and bad things about this book. The world that was created was so detailed and believable. Although, the basis of how the virus came about is explained I wanted to know more about what happened to the world, and how everything came to be the way it was. I also thought the plot moves extremely slowly. the book was 358 pages and there was so little plot or character development I found myself bored a few times throughout the book. The main things that kept me from giving up on it really was the fact that I was sucked in to a vivid new world full of very real characters. I thought the Rhine's thoughts and emotions given her situation were so realistic I couldn't help but sympithize with her. I really liked her as a protagonist. To be honest, Rowan was in the back of my mind the entire time I was reading. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he didn't know where his sister was despite his best efforts to keep her safe.  The other characters were just as well fleshed out and real. Jenna was a really strong character that I liked, and I couldn't help but feel just a little bit sorry for Linden. I will be interested to see if the next book contains a little more action. Despite my boredom I am ready to give this world another chance.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Summary: (from book jacket) Survival of the fittest. The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water and practically no eyeliner. What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program- or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan- or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Review: I didn't enjoy this book. I picked up this book because I absolutely loved Going Bovine and the premise of the book seemed like a really great and funny story. However, this book didn't live up to my expectations. Although, there was a strong message of being yourself and not who everyone expects you to be. There were so many other plot twists that I thought were totally unnecessary. Namely the pirates and the whole MoMo B. ChaCha plot line and what was the deal with the corporation anyway. It is mentioned countless times but is never really explained.   I wanted to feel empowered and excited by a story of young girls discovering themselves. Instead, I just felt annoyed as the plot became more and more ridiculous. I also thought it was hard to keep track of all the characters during the story especially towards the beginning. There was also the fact that the point of view switched between at least 15 different girls which kept me from really identifying with any of them. I eventually got so fed up with all of this that I didn't finish reading it. So overall, I was really disappointed with this book I just couldn't get past all the ridiculous things going on.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Stay by Deb Caletti

Summary: (from book jacket) Clara's relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she's ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it's almost to late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is-and what he's willing to do to make her stay. Now Clara has left the city- and Christian- behind. No one back home knows where she is,but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won't let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough...
Review: This is the second book that I have read by Deb Caletti and I really enjoyed this one. I thought the plot was a little slow at first but once it picked up it was great. I liked the fact that while the story was largely focused on Clara and Christian's relationship there were other things happening as well. At first, I didn't like the fact that the story was split between past and present but as the plot picked up I started to enjoy it more.   The many mentions of ghosts seemed to give a scary aspect that kind of related to what was going on in the story.I thought all of the characters were pretty simple and i was able to relate to them. Even though Clara did some things that were kind of dumb sometimes I really liked her as a narrarator. Her family history added a lot to the stroy as well. This book is an awesome romance that has more going on then just a typical relationship. I'm finding that to be a pattern with Caleetti's books and I really like that and plan on reading more. Anyone who is a fan of a very character and family driven book mixed in with romance will like this one.