Saturday, September 28, 2013

Wrecked by Elle Casey

 

Summary:(from goodreads) An ill-fated Caribbean cruise and four teenagers: a nerd, a jock, a mouse, and a beauty queen…an island, a treehouse, some nefarious interlopers…life and death…fear and loathing…love and laughter. Follow Jonathan, Kevin, Candi and Sarah as they find their typical high school lives and their worlds totally WRECKED.
Review: This was just an ok book for me. The plot was pretty typical and I found myself a little bit bored at times. The characters also seemed pretty typical but they did change over the course of the book. My favorite characters were probably Jonathan and Sarah. They were both really interesting and Jonathan's facts were entertaining. I loved how much Sarah developed over the course of the book. She started out as a pretty typical character but I actually really liked where things ended for her.  Candi and Kevin were just a little bit annoying. Especially Kevin, he was probably the one who changed the least. I liked Candi but she wasted to much time worrying about getting in with the cool crowd that it got annoying after a while.  The things that happened on the island towards the end were a little bit ridiculous. I guess it sort of needed to happen but I felt like it could have been a little bit more developed.  I was interested to see that there is a sequel to this book and based on the way this book ended I will be interested to see where it leads.  Overall, this was a fun book and I will be reading the sequel eventually.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell


Summary:(from goodreads) Cath is a Simon Snow fan.Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone .For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind.
Review: I absolutely loved this book. The plot was simple I was hooked from the beginning. I could relate to so much of what Cath was thinking and feeling. This book was so real and relevant to so much of my life. The characters are a huge part of what make this book so special. Cath and Levi are some of the best characters I have read in such a long time. I loved them both so much. I didn't really like Wren or Reagan very much at first but as the story went on I liked them both a little bit more. I thought the book ended so perfectly as well, as much as I didn't want it to end at all. I love the snippets of Simon's story that we got to read. It added a lot to the story and helped me imagine the world that Cath was such a big part of. It's honestly really hard for me to put my thoughts about this book into words. I loved it. I am very excited about reading some of Rainbow's other books.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Best Night of your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando

Summary: (from goodreads) An all-day scavenger hunt in the name of eternal small-town glory. With only a week until graduation, there's one last thing Mary and her friends must do together: participate in the Oyster Point High Official Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt. And Mary is determined to win.Mary lost her spot at Georgetown to self-professed "it" bully Jake Barbone, and she's not about to lose again. But everyone is racing for the finish line with complicated motives, and the team's all-night adventure becomes all-night drama as shifting alliances, flared tempers, and crushing crushes take over. As the items and points pile up, Mary and her team must reinvent their strategy--and themselves--in order to win.
Review: This was a really fun book. The premise seemed fun and exciting and the book lived up to that promise. It was well paced and at 240 pages is a pretty quick read. I had mixed feelings about the characters. At the beginning of the book I didn't really like Mary that much. She was whiny and kind of annoying at times. However, during the second half of the book she changed quite a bit and was a lot more mature about some of the things that were going on. My favorite character in the book was definitely Dez. He was the character I connected with the most. Some of the issues that he was dealing with are more difficult then the petty relationship games that everyone else seemed to be playing, which honestly started to get annoying after a while. Overall, though this was a fun bunch of characters that were fun to spend some time with. The ending was pretty predictable but I didn't really mind because it was such a fitting ending. Although, I did have some issues with the book it was a fun and crazy adventure that I enjoyed reading.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Summary:(from goodreads) I should not exist. But I do.Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .
For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Review: The premise of this book was a really interesting and unique one. I didn't expect the plot to be as dystopian as it was. At the beginning it seemed like the book was going to be different than it was. I really liked that the book was told from Eva's perspective but I wish we had gotten some of Addie's pov as well. I liked both of them  a lot, even though there were times throughout the book when they were both being annoying. The history behind this world was interesting and I hope that we get a little bit more of it in the next book. The one thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. The events that unfolded in the last few chapters was kind of unsatisfying. There were a few things that really wanted to see happen at the end and they didn't. Based on where this one left off I am excited to see where the next book leads but there was so much more that could have happened it seemed like it was a little bit rushed. I did enjoy this book and will definitely be picking up the sequel eventually.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Sever by Lauren Destefano

This review may contain spoilers of previous books in the series.

Summary: (from goodreads) With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.
Review: This is the third and final book in this trilogy and it was by far my favorite. I liked all of the characters a lot more in this book than I did in the previous two. Linden was the one that especially grew on me. I didn't really like him earlier on in the series but I understood him so much more as his character grew. Reed was another character that I liked a lot. There were certain points where I wanted to slap him but overall, he was a good addition to the story. There were a few really surprising plot twists that kept the story interesting. My only problem with this book is that I feel like the world was not explored enough. A lot of information about how things were and what was being done to fix it was kind of skimmed over.  I liked the way the book ended but I wanted to know about what was being done to try and find a cure. I wish the ending hadn't felt so rushed. This is a good dystopian series and i am excited to see what Destefano has in store for us next.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Xbestia by Melissa Conway

Summary:(from goodreads) Twenty years into the future, bioengineered animals provide organs for human transplantation. Grafts of animal skin have replaced tattoos in popularity, which gives rise to a unique new demographic: xenofreaks. Bryn Vega’s father is head of the Pure Human Society and when she’s kidnapped by the Bestia Butcher, the most notorious of the criminal xenosurgeons, she assumes it's payback for her father’s anti-xeno activities. Scott Harding is her taciturn jailer-called Cougar because of the claws replacing his fingers-but Scott is not who he seems. Deep under cover for the Xenofreak Intelligence Agency, he’s been given unprecedented immunity to find the Bestia Butcher’s lair and do whatever it takes to bring him to justice. When Bryn is forced to undergo a radical xenoalteration, she discovers a terrible secret: her father is using The Pure Human Society as a front for his own purposes. His willingness to sacrifice his daughter to accomplish them sends her running to Scott for protection, and into the hard-core underground subculture of the very xenofreak society she once despised.
Review:  I thought this book was just OK. The premise is unique, but I thought there were some things that were a little bit confusing. There were a lot of characters and roles that were a little bit hard to keep straight. I also had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. Both Bryn and Scott were well written characters but they both annoyed me at times. The plot was entertaining and well paced but overall I thought the whole thing was a little bit drawn out. It seemed as if everyone was overreacting to everything. The actions of a lot of the characters didn't seem justified. The second half of the book was better than the first half and based on how things ended I am curious to see what happens next in the series. This book wasn't one of my favorites but it was enjoyable and I will be continuing with the next book. I hope that things start to make a little bit more sense.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Summary:(from goodreads) Be careful what you believe in.Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.
Review: I have been a fan of Hannah Moskowitz for a while now so I excited to get my hands on a copy of this book. It's different than her other books. This one has a magic element which I liked a lot more than I thought I would. It's hard for me to write this review because I can't pinpoint exactly what it is about this book that I liked so much. Rudy and Teeth were both really great characters and despite the circumstances they were relate able. i think the two of them is really what made this book for me. It wasn't really a book about magical fish but about the friendship these two develop. I was drawn into the story pretty easily. Despite the magic involved everything about this book just felt so real. Not sure how much sense that makes but it's true. The only thing that I didn't like about this book is the way it ended. I wish it could have had a more satisfying ending. I will definitely be reading more of this author's books in the future.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Summary:( from goodreads) After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
Review: I had mixed feelings about this book while I was reading it. I didn't really know what to expect going into it and was surprised by what I found. i haven't read that many books about aliens so I don't really have much to compare it to, but I thought the world building was done well. The alternating pov's really added a lot to the story. Ben was probably my favorite character. I found his pov to be the most interesting. There were a few things that were somewhat predictable. Because of the multiple pov's the reader knows more about what's going on than any of the characters which took away the element of surprise. The second half of the book was much more exciting than the first half. The characters were all so well written and believable. The way they react  to certian situations is understandable and that made me really like them. I was sceptical when I first started this book but i am glad i read it. Even if there were a few things that bothered me it was still a pretty enjoyable read.  Overall, I enjoyed it and am excited to continue with this series. I am curious about where the story will lead.