Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Summary:(from book jacket) Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen year old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies- or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach them to their killers. Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But know that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the one person who can stop him. Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer- and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer...and becoming the prey herself.
  Review: I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked the premise of the story and liked the idea of Violet searching for a killer, but it didn't live up to my expectations. First of all, I felt like too much of the book was taken up by the romance aspect of it. It felt like it could have been any teen romance novel at some points. The romance and finding the killer seemed like two totally different story lines instead of fitting together like they should have. I also wasn't sucked into the storyline as much as I would have liked.
  On the other hand, I did really like the characters, especially Violet. She was a strong and determined character and yet was still relatable and fun even despite her ability. Her friends were also really funny. I liked Jay but he kind of bugged me throughout some parts of the book and he seemed kind of annoying. overall, though the characters were all really great.
  Despite, my problems with it I am still interested to see where the sequel takes the characters and how the story will develop ,it could go anywhere.  Anyone who thinks this books sounds interesting should still review it. This is just my opinion and I have heard a lot of good things about it from other readers. I will definitely be getting the sequel when it comes out to see where these characters go next. This book wasn't one of my favorites but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

This review may contain spoilers if you haven't read Beautiful Creatures.
Summary:(from book jacket) A few months ago, I believed nothing would ever change in this town. Now I knew better and only wished it was true. Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life- altering events happen. Sometimes life -ending. Together Ethan and Lena can face anything Gatlin  throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship.And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange  visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South where nothing is as is seems.
Review: This book is awesome. I absolutely love this series. This book, like Beautiful Creatures, was 500 pages long, but I enjoyed every minute of it. There was a lot of suspense and surprising twists that make me really excited to find out what happens next. The plot wasn't really all that fast paced but I never was bored. A lot happened over the course of the book and many surprises are revealed.  I love this series.
Every single character in this series is really great. Getting to know all the old characters better and being introduced to new ones made me want to spend some time in Gatlin with them, at least without all the supernatural stuff. Lena and Ethan are both really great characters. They are both so different from most YA characters. I also really like Amma.
  Anyone looking for an awesome fantasy series should read this. Garcia and Stohl know how to combine a small southern town and a supernatural world and have the result be amazing. I can't wait to find out where the story is going to go next but i know that it will be great.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Summary:(from book jacket). Brooklyn: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she's about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights' most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. Paris: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn't want- and couldn't escape. Two girls,two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine's diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There's comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal's antique pages- until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs fo Paris, Alexandrine's words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly terrifyingly present.
Review: This book is really good. I had heard a few things about this book and thought it sounded interesting. I didn't really have any expectations for it but it was so great. When an almost five hundred page historical fiction novel can grab my attention and not be boring or slow then thats when you have something special and this book definitly was. I don't read very much historical fiction but I think now i'm going to read more.
One thing that realy made this book stand out was the difference between the two perspectives. These two characters were living in different centuries and leading totally different lives. However, Donnelly puts these two girls togehter and creates an amazing story. On one hand there is the girl who is depressed at the loss of her brother and flunking high school. On the other, a girl living during the French revolution and doing everything she can to survive. There were also some small simalraties between the charcters that made it even more exciting to read. The plot wasn't all that fast paced but I never thought it was slow. My only problem was that I thought the whole last part of the book was kind of unnecessary and needed a stronger explanation.
  Another thing I really loved were the characters. they were all so unique. Andi, Alex, Vijay, Virgil and some others. All the characters in the book were really great which is not something I usually think. Andi and Alex were both awesome. Vijay and his mom were also really funny. Overall, I think anyone who wants to read and awesome book that tells an amazing story should read this.
 
 

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Matched by Ally Condie

Summary:(from book jacket). In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears in the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow-between perfection and passion.
Review: This book is awesome. I loved the idea of the society and the perfect life it brought but also having to make sacrifices in order to have that life. There were so many things that were really unique about the Society and what it would be like to live there and it made the book really interesting. It kind of reminded me of Hunger Games but at the same time it was so different. There were a lot of things going on and it wasn't only a romantic story, which I liked. I loved all the characters in the book. Cassia is a strong willed and independent character who is determined. Ky is probably my favorite character. He has a little bit of a bad boy vibe even though he's really not. I also really liked Xander though, his determination to help Cassia no matter what made me really like him. He is such a good and loyal friend to Cassia.
  My only problem with it was that the beginning of the book seemed a little slow moving and took me a while to get fully into it. However, once I did get into it I absolutely loved it so it doesn't matter anyway. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a great dystopian book to read.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

This review may contain spoilers if you haven't read Maze Runner.
Summary:(from book jacket). Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to. In the Maze,life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety...until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago. Burned by sun flares and baked by a new brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated- and with it, order- and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for the next victim... and meal. The Gladers are far from done running. Instead of freedom,they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. Thomas can only wonder- does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?
 Review: This book was awesome. The plot was really fast paced and there was a new surprise around every corner. Just when you thought you knew what was going on something changed. Although there is more information on WICKED and the reason behind the trials. This book also raises many new questions as to what is going on. I can't wait for the third and final book in the series where all the questions will hopefully be answered. This series is amazing. I do have some theories on how the series is going to end, but judging on the surprises in the first two books I'm probably way off.
  I really liked the characters in this book. All the characters form Maze Runner are back and I was glad. Newt is awesome ans Minho is hilarious. I also liked the fact that Thomas seemed different in this book. he wasn't as clueless and scared as he was at the beginning of Maze Runner. Don't get me wrong, there were several opportunities to be plenty scared and he is still somewhat clueless as to what is going on, but I think he has more confidence and determination to figure out what is going on. There were a few new characters in this book. the main one worth mentioning is Brenda. I liked her I just hope she doesn't become any more important than she already is.
  Overall, this book was as good if not better than Maze Runner. There were plot twists around every corner. anyone who has read Maze Runner will not be disappointed with this book. if you haven't read this series you definitely should.