Guys, I'm now officially a Leila Sales fan and she's going on my auto-read list! I absolutely loved This Song Will Save Your Life and it really deserves all the buzz it's gotten so far!
Oh man, I think so many people will relate to this book! Especially the bookworms among us who aren't natural social butterflies. Elise has a hard time fitting in at high school, or actually she's been having this problem all her life and the kids at school just don't recognize what an awesome person she is. Cause she is. I LOVE Elise! She's my kind of girl with her quirkiness and her love of music and her family! And I so felt for her! Kids can be mean and they don't always appreciate people who are different. And guys, I can absolutely relate to the feeling of not fitting in. I wasn't bullied or shut out for years like Elise, but I've had my moments. And it sucks. And I can't imagine going through that for years and still having Elise's spirit!
I adore Leila Sales' writing style! She deals with a pretty tough subject here and still manages to not make the book depressing even for a minute. I mean, I felt Elise's sadness, but it wasn't a dark book. I loved the voice she gave to Elise and she really knows how to tell a story!
And guys, can I just say how much I loved Vicky? Vicky is one of the girls Elise meets at the warehouse party and she is awesome. She genuinely wants to be Elise's friend and she's just a really good person. I love her and her claiming her own dance space, don't care if anyone thinks she looks crazy dancing!
There's a little romantic plot with Char, but while I see how he was good for Elise in the sense that he introduced her to new things, I was never really that into him. I mean, sure, charming and a DJ, but I never felt myself swooning over him. And I was kinda hoping for something else! And in the end I got my wish, so yay!
But while there's a little romance, This Song Will Save Your Life is about Elise and how she discovers herself and what she wants to do. And that it's ok to be yourself. And that is beautiful.
I know there's been a lot of buzz about this book and that can scare people off, but seriously guys, this book deserves it! It's a compelling story that I didn't want to put down for a minute once I started it! I got completely sucked in and it was just SO GOOD! This story will stay with me for a long time!
My rating: 5 stars
Made me crave: mushroom pasta
This book, you guys, THIS BOOK!!! OMG! I already knew that Debby and Kelly loved this book, but still, I cannot believe how much I loved The Burning Sky!! I don't even know where to begin! I read this over the space of 6 days and was excited EVERY TIME to get back to it! Know that it's not the book that made me take forever to read it, I've been SO BUSY lately that I hardly had time to breathe, let alone read. But let's get back to the part where I was EXCITED about this book! I've missed that feeling! I have read a couple of less than stellar books lately and it just felt so good to submerge myself in an amazing world again!
I totally adore both Iolanthe and Titus! They are both so incredibly strong and smart and charming and JUST LET ME HUG YOU OK?? I was rooting for them, even when Titus breaks Iolanthe's trust! They both want to do the right thing and OMG, I just, I cannot even be coherent about this! Iolanthe is awesome and powerful and brave and just generally my kind of girl! And TITUS! Did I ever tell you guys how much I love princes? Cause I do! And Titus is the right kind of prince, all swoonworthy and noble! He's created his whole life and the way he appears to the world around this task he's been given and I cannot help but admire his dedication.
AND YOU GUYS, THE ROMANCE!!! *SWOON* I wanted to shake them and just #@%& KISS ALREADY! These two definitely brought tears to my eyes and it was glorious! I loved that the romance wasn't the most important plot point, but it is there and it adds to the story and it made my heart happy!
I so love a good fantasy and Sherry Thomas really brought it with this debut novel! And there was so much for me to love! Two amazing main characters, solid worldbuilding, a romance that brought tears to my eyes and MAGIC! Be still my heart! And now the wait for the sequel will surely kill me... If you haven't picked it up already, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO READ IT!!
My rating: 5 stars
Made me crave: French toast
I'd heard AMAZING things about Breaking Beautiful, Jennifer Shaw Wolf's debut novel, but I haven't actually read it (I did pre-order the paperback, so this should be remedied soonish), which meant that I went into Dead Girls Don't Lie without expectations that were insanely high. And guys, it totally worked for me!Since I started my new residency, I have a LOT less free time to spend on reading and because of the bits and pieces I could snatch over the span of a couple of days, I struggled a bit at first. Because the book wasn't gripping me right from the start and there was all this information and rigidity and things I couldn't make sense of. But when I picked it up again on the weekend and just spent hours reading it: TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY! I finally connected a bit to Jaycee and started getting into the story and the creepiness of it.
Jaycee was a bit too much of a goody-goody for me, but in the end I started to like her. Though what Eduardo called her sounded about right to me: boba (which according to the book translates to naive, stupid, silly), focusing mostly on naive for me. She was so ready to trust everyone! I mean, at one point I was just screaming at her to try and see what was right in front of her and GAH!!
But I sort of get that she didn't see it, I mean, it's always easier when you're on the outside, right? I did like that she genuinely cared about people. And I respected that she was determined to be worthy of Rachel's trust in figuring out what had happened. I mean, she didn't necessarily go about it in the best way, but she did commit to it and I liked that.
Jaycee's dad REALLY annoyed me at times. I mean, ok, he wants to protect his daughter, but seriously dude, we live in the 21st century. The whole thing with her not having access to a computer at home and not being allowed to do pretty much ANYTHING a girl her age would want to do aside from school and taking away her cellphone and everything... That just bugged me. I'm a firm believer that you should just talk to your kid about the stuff you want to protect them from and not try to lock them up or something. I definitely felt that both her parents failed at parenting.
The small-town vibe that echoes throughout Dead Girls Don't Lie is something that I SO recognize! Everybody knows everybody's business, or at least they THINK they do. Don't get me wrong, small towns are cute, but they do have their disadvantages, especially when people living in it are scared of things and people that are different, or not from there. And Dead Girls Don't Lie showed this perfectly.
After the rocky start, I really got into the story and the pace went up and the stakes got higher and everything got creepier and I didn't trust anyone anymore and that was awesome! I'm not much of a mystery girl, but Jennifer Shaw Wolf definitely did it right with this one! I did figure out who had done it way before Jaycee did, mainly because I started to feel uncomfortable every time the killer was mentioned or in a scene.
I blew through the second half of the book and I'm really excited to get my hands on Breaking Beautiful as well soon!
My rating: 3,5 stars
***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES!***I very much enjoyed False Memory, the first book in this series and after that ending I was dying to find out what would happen next for Miranda and the rest of the Roses! So I totally squealed when I get my hands on an e-arc of False Sight! And while I didn't like it as much as False Memory, I'm still very much into this series.
In False Memory we discovered that Miranda is actually a clone and that she's the replacement of another Miranda that died recently. She's part of a team of teens trained to fight and they also have some really creepy supernatural powers. False Sight pretty much picks up where False Memory left off and we see the four of them trying to have a little bit of a normal life, going to high school. Which turns out to be a BIG mistake. Oh man, there was no easing into the story, it was BAM IN YOUR FACE because shit just got real! Something that was really shocking to me and that made me REALLY sad happened early on and it set the tone for the rest of the book.
Miranda is still a really strong character. She knows what she wants, but she also knows that you can't always have everything you want. I liked that she's not really ready to sacrifice herself for the greater good, she wants to live and that's ok. It makes her more human, I'm always amazed at anybody plunging themselves into danger seemingly without a care for their lives, because hello, you (usually) only have the one! That said, Miranda does make some rash decisions and she pays for some of them dearly.
I loved seeing the bond between the Roses become even stronger and there's such a strain on Miranda's relationship with Peter because he's also the group leader and has to do what's best for the group, but they're in love and UGH! They didn't have enough sweet moments, but they did have one towards the end and that broke my heart for them!
I wasn't really feeling the part where it turns out there are different worlds and the traveling between them and the CREEPY BEINGS that EAT PEOPLE. I mean, OMG, I could SO have done without meeting them! They were awful and I really think that they'll be in my next nightmare, because let me see this again: THEY ARE SO CREEPY! And they EAT PEOPLE!
AND THAT ENDING!! OMG!! I'm so happy I found on Dan's website that there will be a third book because it cannot end like this!! Though I'm slightly creeped out by how they are probably going to try and fix it, but still. So yeah, while I wasn't feeling False Sight as much as I was False Memory, I'm still invested in this series and am looking forward to finding out how it will all end!
My rating: 3 stars
Made me crave: FRIES, lots of FRIES
You guys, I so LOVED this book!! I mean, I already suspected I was going to because hello, it's Sophie Jordan and her historical romances are among the best in my humble opinion, but that I would stay up till 2AM to finish it? Yeah, I hadn't expected that.I love Sophie Jordan, her writing is always spot on and engaging and just makes me BE there in the moment with the characters with my heart racing, breath hitching, stomach clenching and just all of that good stuff! And How To Lose A Bride In One Night really brings all of these elements and I just loved it! It is a bit darker than her other romances in that some horrible things have happened in both the hero's and the heroine's lives and they are slightly broken because of it. But it was still beautiful.
I really liked Annalise. She was so naive at the start and she loses that and gains some street savvy and just more confidence and a better sense of herself as a person throughout the novel. I loved that after she wakes up in a gypsy tent after being tossed overboard by her new husband, she decides she's not going to be a victim again. It takes a few tries to get there and to truly be strong and now cower in a corner, but she gets it and I respect that.
And guys, our hero Owen is just so beautifully broken! I mean, I know there are people who are attracted to this and want to fix things, I'm not really one of them, but I just wanted to hug him and tell him it would be alright. He has a good soul and it has seen some awful things, many of them from his own doing and he's decided love and marriage aren't for him because of it. He owns up to his brokenness and he was just so trying to do the right thing by Annalise and I really thought he was exceptionally patient, not pushing her for details on her life before he found her. I probably wouldn't have been that considerate.
These two butt heads beautifully! It was really sweet to see them grow more and more towards each other and falling in love and it takes WEEKS! YAYYYY! I mean, you can't tell me you love someone you've met yesterday, that is just bogus and these two take their time falling in love and it is AWESOME! I had tears in my eyes for so many of the scenes and not even just the obvious ones! Sometimes there would just be a line that would make my heart clench!
Oh, and can I just say that I am absolutely horrified by the original tale that inspired this book and that I'm much more satisfied with the way this one ended and that I can totally understand her having to explain to her daughter that no, that is not how it should be!
So I stayed up till 2AM to finish this because I could just not put it down! And the boyfriend was even sound asleep next to me (usually this triggers my sleep switch as well) and I STILL just kept on reading and it was GLORIOUS! There were real problems and just GAH GO READ IT! IT IS SO GOOD!
My rating: 5 stars
Made me crave: it was the middle of the night, I don't really eat then
So I've heard people compare this to 13 Reasons Why and I have to admit that I haven't read that, but guys, the message of this book will definitely stay with me for a long time! I really liked Matthew Quick's writing style. It's to the point and it definitely FELT like I was in the head of this teenage boy who is about to end the life of one of his classmates and then his own. And I really liked all the little footnotes that explained some of Leonard's thinking and made his personality shine through!
I cannot believe how much I liked Leonard. I was hesitant at first, because I mean, he's about to do this awful thing and I didn't really want to like him, but I ended up really rooting for him and wanting to fix everything for him and just hoping everything would be ok! Leonard is one of those people who really thinks about everything he sees. He makes some unlikely friends and I really felt that he honestly wanted to give them a present before he left this earth and he wasn't trying to make them feel guilty about what he was about to do. He genuinely wanted them to have it and I liked that.
And I came to love some of these friends! I adored Walt, who is a substitute father/grandfather figure for Leonard and they watch Bogard movies together and quote the lines to each other and this relationship was just so special! I loved it!
I also loved one of his teachers, Herr Silverman. And I could easily see how I would have been very much annoyed by this teacher as well as a teenager. I probably wouldn't have appreciated his wanting to shake everyone's hand when they entered the classroom, but now I see how special it is.
Seeing the story unfold and finding out what it was that made Leonard come to this point in his life was heartbreaking and just, I just can't. I truly believe that if his mom had been paying closer attention this wouldn't have happened. If she just hadn't turned away from him and ignored it and had offered him help... There are just so many missed chances here and while I was so hoping that things would change in that regard, sometimes they just don't. And you have to make do with what you do have.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock had such a powerful impact on me! I'm still thinking about it and I feel that as a doctor, this is something that I should learn more about. I mean, of course I do know about the signs and such, but really, I want to help people before it gets this far. If The Silver Linings Playbook is anywhere near this good, I'm definitely reading it!
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: chocolate ice cream
Guys, I have a confession to make: I hardly ever read self-published books. I know, I just have been burned a couple of times and now I just don't really read them anymore. I know there are probably some gems out there, so give me your best recommendations if you do read them!BUT I really enjoyed some of Courtney Milan's traditionally published books, so when I heard she was going to self-publish this series, I decided I wanted in on the action! And guys, her writing is so good!!
I totally loved this plot in which an heiress is deliberately seeking to make herself unattractive to eligible men in order to stay unmarried and be able to look after her sister, who is diagnosed with a form of epilepsy. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if their uncle, who is their guardian, wasn't intent on limiting her sister to the house and trying all different kinds of treatment that may or may not always be good for the girl. And seriously, there was some REALLY messed up stuff going on! I mean, I get that people had no idea what they were doing in medicine generally back then and that in 300 years people will say that about today's medicine, but really, it is just so harsh! I mean, burning her to make her 'snap out of it'?? Seriously? That is just cruel. I totally cringed every time something like this was mentioned, because it's more like torture and has absolutely nothing to do with healing someone.
Ok, so medical rant done.
ANYWAY. I really, really liked Jane. She was so brave and she was not afraid to humiliate herself and was just so wonderfully funny when she was deliberately being unattractive! I loved how she told people exactly what she thought of them and insulted some of them very creatively! And I loved that she kept calling Oliver 'Mr. Churchill' when she of course knew that his last name was Marshall. And seriously, I wish I could have seen all the horrendous colors the was dressing herself in! The gowns sounded outrageous and I loved it!
I liked Oliver. He is truly a good guy, even though I lost him somewhere halfway through the novel, when he became a coward and toward the end when he said the completely WRONG thing and was just GAH! OMG, I wouldn't have faulted Jane for just turning her back on him and never wanting to see him again. I really wanted to slap him right then and there. UGH.
I did really enjoy the romance between these two. They were not looking for it in each other, but they just can't help themselves and it is beautiful for the first part of the novel. And then it sort of fizzles and Oliver is being an ass and well, I couldn't fully get into it after that. I really wish the awesomeness of the first half of the novel had continued through the end, because then this would have gotten the full five stars.
Oliver does redeem himself at the end and he does this really AWESOME thing that made me warm up to him again, and I really liked the epilogue.
So this was a succesful foray into the world of self-publishing! I really liked The Heiress Effect, but there was something missing in the last part of the book to make me truly love it. I also wanted to strangle Jane's uncle who is a horrible ignorant man.
My rating: 3,5 stars
Made me crave: water melon
Guys, I love fairytale retellings. I love fairytales and all these retellings are just adding that extra bit of depth to them that I so, SO love! And The Fairest of Them All was definitely a lot darker than the original tale!I love that Carolyn Turgeon is combining two of my favourite fairytales: Snow White and Rapunzel. And seriously, we're told in the summary that Rapunzel turns into Snow White's evil stepmother, but really, I was so rooting for that girl! She had an unconventional upbringing by Mathena Gothel and actually had amazing abilities with also a really cool link to her hair. Mathena teaches her basic herbal treatments and some spells, women mainly visit them looking for a cure to their heartache.
Rapunzel mainly grows up surrounded by women and it pretty naive in spite of her hearing about other women's heartache over men and I could see how she would get carried away when she met the prince. I mean, sure, it all progresses VERY quickly, they forget to actually forge a relationship before falling into bed together. And of course, things can't end well and the prince ends up leaving to marry another girl, leaving Rapunzel heartbroken.
This experience and some of the awful things that happen to her after really shape the rest of Rapunzel's life. And I can understand how she could change into a less kind person. She has to be to get what she wants and she's been hurt herself. The mirror really does urge the jealousy on and Rapunzel gets caught up in it.
And then we have Snow White. Who I LOVED when she first enters the scene as a little girl, but then she changes as well and it's easy to see how Rapunzel, who I felt really wanted to love her, would develop a grudge against her. It's easy to see how things spiral out of control from there and it's a bit scary as well, because it makes the traditional evil queen seem so human.
I love how everything unfolds at the end, I love the dark twists to this beloved fairytales and I love how Carolyn Turgeon made it all come together and that ending! Seriously! That still kinda broke my heart, though it's also filled with a little hope for the future. This is definitely recommended, though keep in mind there is some very mature content.
My rating: 4 stars
Made me crave: rhubarb
Guys, I love novels like this one. I love the plot of three girls teaming up to get back at the people who have hurt them. LOVE. So I was really excited to start this and GUYS IT WAS SO GOOD!!I really liked that we get introduced to all three girls before they start to plot their revenge, so I could get a feel of what motivates them before we start the actual nasty business. They come from different backgrounds and each of them had their own distinct voice and I liked that. I was never confused as to who was narrating the chapter because you could just tell by the writing style who it was. And it was AWESOME! I love Kat for being a badass and Lillia for her protectiveness of her sister, I'm still sorta warming up to Mary, but I'm guessing she'll play a much bigger role in the next book! I love how these three girls form an uneasy, sort of uncomfortable friendship and a pact to exact their revenge together.
And boy did they have it coming. Really, especially Kat and Mary's targets. I wasn't wholly convinced Lillia's should be taken down, but hey, it was fun to read about! They come up with some pretty harsh stuff and really targeted each person's weakness. It was seriously messed up and that's what I liked about it. I mean, if you're gonna take someone down, you better not do it half-assed you know? These girls aren't interested in playing nice, they got hurt and they want these people to be hurt as well.
And seriously, the whole setting? EPIC HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA AT ITS BEST! Books like Burn For Burn make me happy that in Holland we don't really have high school football/soccer and cheerleading. I mean, we had popular mean kids, but nothing like this.
I got sucked into this story and just breezed right through it because I could not put it down! It was amazing and I wanted to know more and GAH! I'm so happy I don't have to wait for the second book to come out for a year!! :D This is definitely a perk of hopping onto the bandwagon late!
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: couscous (with chicken, peaches, raisins, mint, pecan nuts, ALL OF THE GOOD STUFF)
Ok, so I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical of this particular plot, but as Sophie Jordan made it work in Once Upon a Wedding Night, I was willing to give it a shot. There's something that has been drawing me to Scottish men lately. Might be the kilts...Anyway.
Virginia is in a desperate situation, her husband died, and before the sneaky little bastard died, he spent all the money Virginia had brought with her into the marriage on lands and houses that would be entailed right along with everything else, leaving Virginia, his mother and sisters penniless. So Virginia's mother in law devices a plan that has Virginia sleeping with a man out of wedlock to try and produce and heir. Right now, cause otherwise the world might not believe it was her late husband's offspring. So what's a girl to do but get on with it, ride to Scotland and seduce the man she actually wanted to marry to begin with? YES EXACTLY.
I could see where Virginia was coming from. She's never really gotten any parental love and this new family has embraced her so wholly that she feels responsible for them. And she's pining for Macrath anyway, so why not go with it? I felt that she was a bit too naive, because really, how do you not see coming that this proud scottish man will have a problem with this when he finds out?? I mean SERIOUSLY? Let me say it again: SERIOUSLY??? She says she loves him and then she just USES him without telling him what she's doing and UGH! That is not love. I couldn't understand that after he's trying to get her to stay with him in Scotland, she doesn't admit to her problems and try to see what his feelings would be towards taking in her new family as well. I mean, he has a big enough house for it.
And Macrath. While I did like him and his big heart, I felt like yelling at him 'Dude, you can do better'. I mean, she's hurt him AGAIN, secretly born his son and is trying to pass him off as the heir of another man and is basically just being a huge pain in the ass. I'd say cut her loose and try your luck with someone else. I couldn't see how they could get past this. Especially without really communicating about it. It all just went POOF and they were happy together again. I mean, really, show some backbone. It's ok to not be ok with something like that.
So I feel like I'm sounding very negative about The Devil of Clan Sinclair. And it wasn't that bad really, but there were some things about the characters and the storyline that rubbed me the wrong way. I very much liked the flashbacks to the time Virginia and Macrath were courting the first time around, these moments were so sweet! I could actually see where the love had come from between them and their characters were pretty similar. I also liked the quiet moments with their son and how Virginia broke convention by caring for and nursing her son herself and not leaving it to a wet nurse.
I did enjoy myself while reading this book, but I also found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit and was at one point actually rooting for the relationship NOT to work out simply because it felt wrong and there was no communication whatsoever and that always annoys me. But I'm glad they did end up together, because they had sweet moments. I'm sad there weren't any kilts though.
My rating: 2,5 stars
Made me crave: rucola soup
Guys, why have I never picked up Awkward?? I mean, seriously, Invisible is totally my kind of book!! I loved Marni Bates' writing style! It's funny and quirky and totally engaging and I loved it from the minute I turned my eyes to the first page of Invisible! I love it when a cute contemporary deals with actual teen issues aside from the maybe less plausible plot of having her two friends get famous overnight, and Marni Bates totally made it work!
Jane sees herself as Invisible. And so does half of the school. She's embraced her nerdiness and as long as she has her best friends, she doesn't really care that she's not part of the popular crowd. And I like that. You create your own happiness and all that. But this turns into a problem when her friends actually do start having more of a social life and not really having time for Jane anymore. So now Jane has to decide if she's ok with her friends seeing her as an Invisible as well.
Guys, I could recognize so much of myself in Jane! I'm that girl who tries to avoid confrontation and who knows she's not sticking up for herself enough. And I loved seeing Jane grow as a person and overcome some of her fears and just branching out and meeting new people! She's challenging herself and I like that! And really, while her best friend Kenzie bored me at times (maybe this would have been different if I'd read Awkward?), I really enjoyed reading about her new crowd, including the school newspaper photographer and a Notable girl. Mostly because these people push her to be honest with herself and are maybe truer friends throughout the happenings in Invisible than her 'best friends'.
So Jane lands herself into some funny situations and falls in love and does all of it with a certain flair that I found totally endearing! I love that in the end she stands up to her friends and I was totally reminded of Dumbledore with the 'it takes greater courage to stand up to your friends than to your enemies' speech. And I loved that!
I breezed through Invisible and while I wasn't entirely sure about the romance going on, in the end it worked for me, though at times it felt like they were barely friends, let alone in love with each other. Invisible was such a lovely read that I'll be sure to pick up Notable (the next book in the series) when it comes out!
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: french fries
I don't think I can even count the number of times Julia from The Broke and the Bookish has recommended this book to me, and stickler for order as I am, I decided to first read The Duke and I and from there on slowly make my way through Julia Quinn's backlist and OMG GUYS, BEST DECISION EVER!!! And also: worst decision that it took me so long to get to this one after reading The Duke and I!
To give you fair warning: i don't think I'll be able to stop gushing about this book for a while.
I completely fell in love with both Kate and Anthony. I thought he might make for an interesting hero as he did amuse me in The Duke and I as the very protective brother of Daphne. I love that both Kate and Anthony are so devoted to their families! They truly do care about their siblings and it shows and they are just good people. I loved that they go head to head and that Kate isn't afraid to tell him exactly what she thinks of him and how much she disapproves of him as a potential match for her sister. These two sparkled off the page and their interactions were just amazing to watch!
And seriously, within moments of starting the book, Julia Quinn had me smiling like a madwoman, because I was enjoying myself so much and she brings the wit as well as the swoons! I'm REALLY glad I was alone for one part of the book, where Anthony and Kate chase Kate's dog Newton all over Hyde Park, because I could not stop giggling and even laughing out loud! It was awesome! I loved the sibling rivalry between the Bridgertons and the comedy this brings in the form of a pink ball for Pall Mall and just *sigh* I love this family.
Kate and Anthony had amazing chemistry and OMG THE SEXYTIMES WERE SEXY! YES! All the swooning over Anthony in all of his sensitive man moments and just TEARS! I totally cried over parts and I'm not ashamed to admit it. My little romantic heart is still thanking me for picking up this book, because it was just SO GOOD and Anthony and Kate are so right for each other and there was tension and heartbreak and SPARKS and just ALL OF THE GOODNESS.
I really liked The Duke and I, but I LOVED The Viscount Who Loved Me! It's everything I want in a historical romance and I love how Julia Quinn brings the funny! I'll makes sure not to wait this long again before reading the next novel in the series! The Viscount Who Loved Me goes straight to my favourites shelf, highly recommended!
My rating: 5+ stars
Made me crave: crispy M&M's
I wanted to love this book so badly, especially because it has DRAGONS in it and I love dragons! But sadly, we never hit it off.I really struggled with Lora as a main character, I couldn't connect to her and I actually didn't think she was a very nice person. I get that growing up the way she did, she had to be tough, but I don't know, something in her attitude just rubbed me the wrong way. I think this goes along way to my disconnect from the story in general, because I couldn't find myself rooting for her.
And seriously, I'm a bit tired of the love triangle always popping up. Lora, who never really had anything, now all of a sudden has two attractive boys running after her and there's insta-love going on with one of them and I don't know, it just did not work for me at all. Maybe also partly because I was rooting for the boy she didn't have the insta-love with, he seemed a far more interesting character than either Lora or Jesse. Though seriously, please stop having his pet name be Mandy, because UGH THAT IS JUST NOT MANLY OK?!
Ahem.
I did like the dragon- and starlore and thought these abilities that Lora has could have been expanded on aside from her turning to smoke and turning up somewhere else naked (a lot). I was fascinated by her ability to command people using her powers and then it just vanished. I would have loved to see her grow a bit more into all of it and just play around for a while.
I do have to say that the writing was beautiful, Shana Abe really knows how to turn a sentence. But it wasn't engaging and her characters weren't relatable and it all just fell a bit flat for me. I really ahd to push myself to finish The Sweetest Dark and wasn't even all that devastated at something that happens towards the end, which if I had been truly invested in this story, I surely would have been.
My rating: 2 stars
Made me crave: nacho cheese tortillas
So I've read some books by Nicola Cornick before and while the last one didn't work so well for me, the other two were wonderful and heartwarming and just all of the good things I want in a historical romance novel. So I was really looking forward to exploring the world of Scotland and lairds and KILTS with her. Sadly, there were no kilts. But it did have so many of the other things that I love that I'm willing to overlook this. I really liked our heroine, Lucy. She's been through a really traumatic experience and I like that it hasn't left her unaffected. I mean seriously, you can't face something like that and just be ok. I also loved that at first we meet her and Robert before they both go through these traumatic experiences and are still young and hopeful and just really sweet. I loved the moment between them and was actually kinda sad it doesn't get referenced all that often.
So Lucy is a bluestocking and it's known in society that she writes legal letters. However, it's not known that she also writes erotic letters and I really had to laugh at this! I mean, really, it's funny that this perfect little virginal lady is writing letters that would probably make your ears burn (though we never really get to see any of the letters, sadly) based on what she's read in some of the naughty books in her library.
And here's the bottom line: I believed the romance between Lucy and Robert. They made a wonderful couple and once they started opening up to each other, it was SO GOOD! I did think that Lucy's issues got resolved a bit too easily and don't think that Robert's prowess in the bedchamber is the answer to this. I mean, hello, communication? I get that she loves him, but is that really the key to unlocking her fears? I'd say that she has a solid reason to be afraid and it got swept aside pretty quickly after being such a big issue for a long time.
I liked that Robert had to work to get Lucy to say yes to him, even when he'd compromised her and that she shows that although it's handy to have a man protect her, she can do a little protecting herself as well. There was some nice evil intrigue going on in the background and all in all it was a lovely story!
Though I wish there'd been a kilt somewhere in there.
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: mushroom pasta
So I'd heard some mixed things about Mind Games before starting it, some people seem to love it, others REALLY didn't like it. I'm glad to say I fall into the first category!Confession: this is actually my first Kiersten White book, though I do own the whole Paranormalcy series... I suck.
I'd expected Mind Games to be about the world where girls can have mental abilities outside of the normal awesome things girls can do with their brains, and while it's about that, I felt that it was mostly about the bond between Fia and Annie. And I LOVED that! I loved these two girls who were true sisters and were truly looking out for each other and had the unconditional love going that SHOULD be there. This is what family should be like, sticking together no matter what.
Both Annie and Fia are strong in their own way and incredibly vulnerable and I loved that we switched between their POV and get a full picture of what is going on and what this means exactly for each of the girls. They definitely had a distinct voice and I never once forgot who I was reading about, though the switching back and forth in time meant I had to pay attention at the start of the chapter as to where exactly in the storyline we were. But seeing these flashes of their past years really added something extra to the story, so I was good with it.
What's happened to Annie and Fia is heartbreaking and they've been through so much, but they haven't given up, which I completely respected. Annie can't see, but she's dealing with it. Fia has had to do some horrible things, and while this has left her a little broken, she's hanging on and holding herself together. And they are so protective of each other! I'll say it again: I loved the bond between these two! LOVED!
I did prefer Fia's chapters, her bit of brokenness lent for some really interesting stream of thoughts and it actually reminded me a bit of Shatter Me in writing style. And I totally loved Shatter Me, so this worked very well for me :)
And OMG, THAT ENDING!! EEEE! I did not see that coming and I'm so happy that I already have the e-arc of Pretty Lies loaded onto my ereader, because I can seriously not wait until February 2014 to know what happens next!
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: fresh mint tea with honey
***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS IN THE SERIES***Guys, it's not secret that I love mythology in YA and this series is a really good reason for why I love it so much! It has all the good stuff: gods, evil doers, awesome mythological creatures and weapons and I just love so many of the characters!
The issues that I had with Gwen in earlier books are pretty much cleared up by now, she's definitely grown as a person and is now a kickass person. Seriously. She can actually kick ass: HOORAY for her not being the damsel in distress anymore! She doesn't feel good about killing Reapers, but she does it, because she knows it's either her or them and she'd rather live another day. She's not the helpless girl she was and so much of her awkwardness has gone away, I love it! She's learning to overcome her problems with her powers and has toughened up quite a bit from when we first met her!
I was kinda sad we don't see much of Logan though, that Spartan boy really makes for some awesome scenes. He's sweet and strong and he really cares about Gwen and it was heartbreaking to see him doubt himself so much because of what happened to him in the last book with the whole being possessed by Loki thing and all. He kinda ran away because of it and I really appreciated that Gwen calls him out on it at one point. She does have a point and someone had to say it, though maybe it could have been done a little less harshly.
Also: we meet another mythological creature: gryphons and they are AWESOME! Seriously, the black rocs are totally scary, but gryphons rule. I totally love this side of the mythology and it added another something to the story. And I'm so happy Nyx is still around! That cute little furball of a Fenrir pup is so adorable! Nyx pouncing on Hello Kitty totally made me laugh!
So we learn a little more about the plans of the reapers and the gods and about Gwen's mission and it made me excited for things to come! I wonder when the epic fight will actually take place, but for now I'm good exploring this world and hanging out with all my favourite warriors, Alexei being one of my new favourites from the last book. He's just so cool!
I also think that the writing has gotten so much better over the course of the series! I love what Jennifer Estep is doing and it made for one entertaining afternoon full of action and fun.
My rating: 4,5 stars
Made me crave: Nibb-Its