Title: Fated
Author: Alyson Noël
Book #: 1st of Series
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: May 22nd 2012
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Date Read (Throwback): October 20th 2012
Rating: ★★★★★ / out of 5
"You gotta adjust to the dark so the light can find you"
Summary:
Daire always knew there was something different about her- time would freeze while she could continue to move through it, and she would be followed by crows and glowing people- but it isn't until her mother sends her off to live with her grandmother that she learns what her purpose truly is.
And, she might just find how who the boy is from her dreams.The one who dies in her arms.
Review:
I loved this book.
At first, it felt as if it was going by a little too slow. However, I was soon sucked into it and could not stop! I think it was because this book was so different from the others I have been reading recently. For the most part, they consist of nothing more than a romancing boy and a challenge to be faced. (Most of those challenges because of said boy)
This book consisted of so much more! There was more challenge, major discovery, and greater tribulation.
Yes, there was a boy (twins in fact- Dace & Cade) and yes, the challenge Daire faces is because of one of those boys, but it didn't take center stage of the story! In all honesty, there were not very many scenes where the boys were even there.
And, the romance between Daire and Dace wasn't as much of a full on waterfall-effect as it tends to be in other young adult novels. There were steaming hot romance scenes with Dace, and Cade did try to court Daire, but there was so much more to the story than just that.
The focus was mainly on Daire, and her finally realizing who she is and at the same time strengthening herself and becoming all she can be.
The only things that really bothered me about this book were the scenes with Daire and her mother. Whenever they were together, they both acted like brats.
Overall, read this!
Quotes:
"Ignorance is one of the greatest evils known to man... With ego and greed trailing a very close second and third"
"Every time you point a finger in scorn- there are three remaining fingers pointing right back at you"
On My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/429584620
Title: Hemlock
Author: Kathleen Peacock
Book #: 1st of Trilogy
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publish Date: May 8th 2012
Pages: 404
Format: Hardcover
Date Read: October 17th 2013
Rating: ★★★ / out of 5
"You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."
Summary:
Mackenzie's best friend was killed months ago by a rare white were-wolf, the same one that has been terrorizing Hemlock for a while now. As a course of action, the Trackers, a gang of wolf hunters, have been brought in.
With tension rising between Mac's friend Jason, who is hell bent on joining the Trackers to avenge Amy, and Kyle, who she has just learned a the terrifying truth about, Mac must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to save the ones she cares about from destruction.
Thoughts:
I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed this one, despite my previous apprehensions. I still did not love it, though, and I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
__________
I think the author took a pretty unique approach to the whole "were-wolf" scenario. Or, at least in my opinion. I have not read many books with were-wolfs, so I don't have much experience to draw on. However, of the ones that I have read, they were still considered largely a myth. When getting into Hemlock?, I was surprised by the fact that people were so acutely aware of their existence. This made the story very interesting for me, and allowed for the first 3rd of the book to fly by. I thought it was a cool mix between science fiction and paranormal.
Mac, our protagonist, reminds me a lot of Tris from Divergent . She is very headstrong, and I liked her most of the time. But, then there were times were she would throw herself into the path of danger for reasons that, though admirable, were obviously too much for her to handle. All we need is Four there to set her back on track! I'll take one, too, while you're at it.
While those aspects of the story were pretty good and account for most of my pleasant rating, there was one aspect that really bothered me... The romance. I do not approve. Here is why:
If it were just Kyle who started showing his feelings for Mac, then I would approve. However, not only does Kyle suddenly start expressing his interest in Mac, Jason does, as well. Well, isn't that you're typical love triangle? I didn't think so. The fact that, only months after Amy's death, her best friend and her boyfriend are both suddenly falling for her other best friend, Mac, made me mad.
Not only this, but what also confused me was how the girl who constantly compares herself to other "more beautiful" girls in her life and states how average she is, and who has been playing third wheel (Kyle + GF & Amy + Jason &... Mac= double third wheel) for so long has just suddenly moved up on the ladder so high, so suddenly, just did not make sense to me. I really didn't care for the romance at all.
And, one more quick thing that slightly bothered me. I wasn't really a huge fan of the dreams that Mac had in which she could talk to Amy so fluidly. Though, I'm never really a fan of dreams being involved in stories unless their done a certain way. I'm just not one to believe any of those theories that dreams hold meaning.
Overall, this book really did surprise me, though, I don't think I'll be continuing this series.
Discussion Questions:
1. What was your take on the romance between Mac and her two best friends?
2. Were you Pro-Tracker or more on the side of the people fighting for were-wolf rights?
On My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/739143563
Title: The Calling
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Book #: 2nd of Trilogy
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: April 10th 2012
Pages: 326
Format: Hardcover
Date Read (Throwback): October 15th 2012
Rating: ★★★½ / out of 5
Remembering. Forgetting. I'm not sure which is worse.
Summary:Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is -a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.(Synopsis taken from GoodReads)Note:Before I really get into my review, I am going to try to sum up all of the information we receive in this book. So basically... (view spoiler)Review:I loved this book. I really liked page 188-189. Maya goes through such a revelation that I found myself questioning whether or not I do what she did. However, I think that it might have been a little too much to put in one book. The first book was semi-predictable and non-eventful, but the second one left my head spinning, almost to a nausea state. I also thought that nothing really happened besides them finding out all this information. The second book felt like an info-dump, really.Overall, can't wait to read the third!
On My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/433017835
Title: The Pledge
Author: Kimberly Derting
Book #: 1st of Trilogy
Publisher: Margaret K. McEdlerry
Publish Date: November 15th 2011
Pages: 323
Format: Hardcover
Date Read (Throwback): October 9th 2012
Rating: ★★★★★ / out of 5
Words held meaning, but voices held emotion.
Summary:
In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret.
As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review:
I loved this!
There were strong characters, romance (but not exactly insta-love), and spine-tingling action that left me wanting more!
Overall, would recommend :)
On My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/429533241
Title: Conjured
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Book #: Standalone
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Publish Date: September 3rd 2013
Pages: 368
Format: Kindle Edition
Date Read: September 2nd 2013
Rating: ★½ / out of 5
If my insides were a bookshelf, she thought, I'd be a jumble of volumes, stacked in random order and filled with blank pages.
Summary:
Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.
Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review: I received a free copy of this book for review.
This book had a very interesting premise, but, unfortunately, nothing made sense until literally the last 5% of the book. I'm sorry but that shit I don't like.
__________
The Characters:
Eve was not the kind of character I like reading about. Granted, she has a lot of.. blanks in her memory. However, in my opinion, she was a push-over, naive and completely lacked a substantial personality.
"You aren't old enough for coffee."
Eve nodded. She didn't bother to question the statement, not without Malcolm here.
While I liked her relationship with Malcolm, I thought her dependence on him was a way too "damsel-in-distress" like and I got tired of it quickly. Especially when situations like this happened. Eve also had this way of sounding like an incompetent 2-year old:
"Out," Eve said.
"Five?" Aunt Nicki asked. "But that's-"
"Shh," Malcolm said.
"Out, Eve repeated.
Her memory loss episodes were the worst, though. Not only did they not make any sense because we have no idea what is going on for the entire book, when she wakes up out of them, so much time passes. As they happen pretty much all the time, we never really get a good moment to get a good grasp of who Eve is.
I wasn't too found of any of the side characters, either.
The love interest, Zack, was a smart-aleck know it all who was so annoying. I literally did not see the appeal. At all. He is filled with completely useless facts that he has this urge to constantly share with Eve:
"Little-known facts about apples: apples are member of the rose family, it takes energy from fifty leaves to produce one fruit, and humans have been eating apples since at least sixty-five hundred BC. Bet you're asking yourself how a handsome guy like me who can't seem to stop talking ended up working in a library where the talking thing is not so condoned."
Actually.. Yes. That's exactly what I was wondering. Oh, and this is what he says to her when he first meets her:
"Glad you didn't freak when I said I wanted to kiss you. I'll wait for an invitation, of course, but I believe in being up front about these kinds of things. Prevents misunderstandings later. I don't want you thinking that we can ever be just friends. Unless it's friends with benefits."
Malcolm, her "protector", was almost pretty cool. I liked how he wasn't your typical white-guy-badass-government-agent. However, he did the one thing I cannot stand: Answering. Questions. With. Questions.
"Is she from my world?"
"You tell me," Malcolm said.
"If I knew, I wouldn't ask."
Points for Eve!
And Aunt Nicki.. well. She was just a bitch. I have to admit, though, she had a killer sense of humor:
"Oh, it's you," Aunt Nicki said. "I was hoping for something more interesting. Like a delivery of soap."
The Story:
Like I stated earlier, we pretty much have no idea what is going on until the last 5% of this book. At that point, though, when we finally learn the truth about the situation, it actually picks up. It was a pain for me to read through the first 95%, but a breeze through the last 5%? Yeah.. The ending not only gave us all the information we were looking for, but also wrapped the story up decently.
Overall, as a whole, only the very last part of this book was enjoyable. I wouldn't fully recommend it, but I wouldn't stop you from giving it a try if you think you might like it still.
Quote:
But she thought of the girl in the tower with a world laid out before her that she could not touch. "I want to be here."
On My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/694130469
Title: Sanctum
Author: Sarah Fine
Book #: 1st of Trilogy
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's/Amazon Children's Publishing
Publish Date: October 16th 2012
Pages: 433
Format: Hardcover
Date Read: September 19th 2013
Rating: ★★★★ / out of 5
What if I could find her? What if I could bring her into the sunlight? What if I could do in death what I hadn't done in life?
What if I could save her?
Summary:
A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance—hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone—she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review:
I'm really hesitant to read two types of books: ones that have too much hype and ones that have too little. This book didn't really have much hype, or at least I haven't seen much. I've only seen one or two friends read it, and haven't seen anyone else talking about it. For a while, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get around to it. Then, I was accepted for the sequel on Net-galley and that really pushed me into finally reading Sanctum.
__________
As we begin, we are introduced to a very unique protagonist, Lela, as she is starting her new life with a new foster parent. It is obvious from the start that, while she has been taken advantage of in the past, she is not a "damsel in distress" kind of girl. She is very hardcore, troubled and doesn't take anyone's shit. Because of her experience, she was also able to give some really straight-forward and "reality check" advice:
"Trust me," I said to Nadia as I turned off the water. "There's no better, happy place to go to. Running away from it doesn't fix anything. Turning yourself into a zombie doesn't either. Deal with your shit here, Nadia. And do it sober."
As hard it was to really relate to her, though, because of what she's been through, I really admired her. There were times when it became even harder to relate to her at all (view spoiler) but, in the end, I can't deny the fact that she is pretty kick-ass.
However, as the story progressed- and the love interest is introduced- I saw her personality started to change. She just can't stop thinking about Malachi and she becomes very love sick and angsty, in my opinion. During one of their few, first encounters, she says this which evoked some eye-rolls from me: *cues super dramatic voice*
As soon as I touched him, I knew it was a mistake
I started to disagree with more of her choices, ones that she made because of Malachi and her interest in him. I also began to hate how dependent on him some of her situations were. At the end of the day, though, she still was determined to find Nadia. Now that all of the beginning relationship matters are settled, I'm hoping that her focus will shift back to the new problem at hand.
Malachi himself was a pretty complex character. I have to admit, though, that I was not a fan of his answer-questions-with-questions technique. I never am. But he has a very troubled past, too, that you learn more about and I thought he was a very well developed character.
I think the rest characters were okay, but there were none that really left an impression on me.
What I loved most about this book was the story. This author creates a very unique concept of the afterlife, being split up in different versions of Hell depending on your sins. Not only that, but the selfish wants and humanly desires of the people condemned to these versions of hell are available to them... at a price.
"You see, if someone in the city wants a house, it grows. If they want a pagoda or a hut or a tower, it grows. All they have to do is want. Wish. Desire. Then the buildings take on a life of their own, fed by the wanting. But what comes of that wanting is never good. Or satisfying. Just... big. So the city grows, and the misery within it grows. Like a disease."
I thought this whole idea was very well thought out, built, and explored and I cannot wait to see what more we learns about this world in the sequel.
Overall, I was satisfied with this book. Lela is still a very like-able heroine and I think many people will enjoy reading about her. Mostly, I liked the story's concept, and I felt like that made up for the majority of my concerns.
Quotes:
The city planners in hell either had very bad taste or a strange sense of humor.
"Sit down, Lela. Let's work on you. What happened to your hair?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh. It's always that crazy? We need to get it under control before we go. It's just asking to be grabbed."
I eyed her spill of ebony hair. "And yours isn't?"
Ana smiled. "Maybe. But for those who try lose limbs"
In that instant I decided I liked Ana.
With every lift of my foot, I chanted, I am strong enough.
With every breath, I repeated, This is not real.
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/546804834
Title: The Rising
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Book #: 3rd of Trilogy
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: April 2nd 2013
Pages: 406
Format: Hardcover
Date Read : September 7th 2013
Rating: ★★★½ / out of 5
"Okay. Can you help? Or can you give us the name of someone who can? Please?"
"No," A pause. "I'm sorry."
She hung up.
Summary:
Maya and the two friends she has left are still reeling from the discovery of what they really are and what the people who are after them are willing to risk to get them back.
But the stakes are higher now- they are on the run with no way to find help, their friends are being held hostage, as well as their parents who may or may not know about their children's supernatural powers, and Maya fears that, without the proper medical care, she and her friends might succumb to the unknown side effects of their powers.
She will have to face friends, enemies and unexpected allies if she plans to ever get the answers she is looking for.
Review:
While this is far from being one of my favorite series, I can't deny that I love Ms. Armstrong's writing style. It hooked me again from the start of this book, and kept me engrossed the entire time, even when I wanted to give up on this story.
__________
I think the characters are good. Not great, but good. I really liked watching them all interact with each other and I can't help but admire the relationship Maya has with her two best guy friends. Corey and Daniel are a great support system, albeit one more serious than the other. The were pretty much always together, the three of them, and there's never a dull moment when Corey is around.
Maya is definitely a tough, very headstrong character and I admired her for it, as well. She is capable of making her own decisions and doesn't stand for anyone's B.S.
While we don't see the love interest, Rafe, as much, I actually didn't mind. The main focus in this book isn't so much so on the romance, but more on trying to figure out and fix their situation. I was really able to appreciate this and thank the author for not making Maya a complete love-sick mess. Yes, she misses Rafe, but she knows where her priorities lie.
This is where I had a few problems, though, which kept me from really enjoying this book and the series as a whole. I do like the overall idea of supernatural races being resurrected, and it's pretty cool that all these teenage kids have powers. Where can I get mine? However, there is just a lot of information to process. Maybe, for me at least, this series will require a re-read because I just have never been able to put together exactly who's who and what they want. There is a bunch of different "cabals", different experiments references, and a bunch of blurred intentions and shady motives. I was able to enjoy it based off of what I could put together, but I can't help but feel like I'm still missing something.
Another thing that was kind of a let down, was the fact that, like with the first two books, I wasn't really liking the flow of the plot. It just felt like a cat-mouse-chase that was exciting at first, but got really annoying after awhile. Maya and her friends would get some where in their search finally, only to have to run away from the cabal. Get some where again, and then run away. Get some where, run away. I almost just wanted them to get captured after a certain point, just so I didn't have to see them almost get some where again, only to have to run away. Again.
And, while this isn't so much so a problem I had with the book so I don't hold it against it or anything, does anyone else feel.. unsettled about the ending? (view spoiler)
Overall, as far as ending the series is concerned, I think this book does a decent job. I wouldn't mind seeing a continuation, though, because there is some unsettled business. Despite my reservations, I really do like this series. It was one of the first YA books that I read and for that, I feel a special connection to it. I also do love the writing style, and cannot wait to check out more of Ms. Armstrong's books!
Quotes:
"Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you guys supposed to be dead? Currently being chased by two Cabals? You're waltzing around Vancouver, eating in restaurants?"
"Hell, no," Corey said. "I never waltz. I do the fox-trot sometimes, though."
"You shouldn't have to put up with that," he muttered as they called out suggestions behind us.
"Every girl has to put up with that. It doesn't matter what color her skin is."
"Did she just call me cute?" Corey said.
Haley turned on Tori. "Did you just flirt with my boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend?" Corey said.
"Are you coming?" I ask Corey. "Or staying to flirt back?"
"Bossy, isn't she?" Tori said.
"Yeah, I think it's hot," Corey said with a grin.
Because sometimes fighting wasn't the smart choice. It was just the stubborn, proud choice.
"And I hope- really hope- that no matter what you decide, I'll keep on being your friend. Whatever happens, I don't want to lose you, Maya."
I brandished the knife. "If you say he takes care of me again, I'll have the Nasts open a time portal and send you back to the nineteenth century, where I'm sure you'll be much happier."
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/436929960
