Read in 2013

review to come

short answer, surprisingly good.

Read 3/30 to 3/31

Review:
"Greed has poisoned men's souls. Surface Dwellers have destroyed what was once beautiful and turned it into a ghostly illusion of what they call peace. But down here, we have real peace. There will be no fear, or sickness, hunger, hate, or greed. We have created our Utopia. And it is magnificent." - Mother, from Founding Speech

Evelyn Winters has an almost perfect life. Her concerns are few and her privileges many in the beautiful underwater haven known as Elysium. So what if she has problems with her memory? So what if things don't always make sense? One day a Surface Dweller comes and everything changes. Who do you trust when you can't even use your own experiences as a guide?

Renegade was almost perfect. I loved the setting. The underwater city was beautiful and the people just crazy enough to believe. Evelyn is a wonderfully unreliable narrator which led to a thoroughly confusing and fun read. It is told from first person perspective in the present tense which I know some people don't like but it is my personal favorite. The action felt real and the plot made sense without being completely predictable.

Gavin was a breath of fresh air for a romantic interest. He's not dark and brooding and mysterious like so many romantic loves are *cough Edward and Jace cough* but neither is he goofy and awkward either. He is warm and open and while protective he does it in a not controlling manner. He was likeable.

The only real flaw I found I in the book was it's portrayal of sex and the speed at which the characters fell in love. For a people who train their children on the ways of physical love so that their couplings will be successful they seemed very modest. At one point Evelyn even sees Gavin step out of the shower and gives him a once over without ever looking south of the waistline. I'm sure it was to maintain a PG-13 rating but it was unbelievable to me. What made it worse was that the 2 had sex in less than 3 days of knowing each other and were confessing their love shortly after that. I understand that they were in a very stressful situation and that the love was important in the end but it always feels a little rushed to me when that happens. Insta-like is cool. We've all been there. But this felt a little too much like insta-love for my tastes.

Overall excellent book. Recommended for anyone who likes YA dystopia with a little big of gore.

Read 3/3 through 3/9

Review to come

Sequels are hard. Usually they work one of three ways. Either they just serve to get form book one to book three, they elevate the story and amp interest even more or they fall flat. For me, Hallowed fell flat. It was okay but it wasn't anything new. Yet again Clara is torn between 2 boys and trying to figure out her visions. It was slow and a little boring but not bad enough to only get one star.

Review to come

Read 2/14 through 2/16

Review
I've put off reviewing this one because I'm not quite sure what to say. If you read the first one and liked it then you should like this one too. It's more of the same but without the mob element which is nice. It's still quick paced and exciting and the romance element is more in the forefront but it doesn't take over the story. I really liked the first one and if possible I liked this one more. Not really more to say than that.

Read 1/3 through 2/10 (it's my bathtub book)

Review
When We Wake is a book about the future. But I pray that it's not like any future I ever have to witness. I'm giving it 3.25 stars. I liked it, but the little things drag the rating down.

The good:
The characters were good. I didn't feel like anyone was too cliche and I was invested in their dramas.
The setting in Australia was new for me and I found it interesting.
The conspiracy seemed realistic.
At first the religious nature of the book annoyed me but by the end it seemed totally relevant to everything that happens.

The Bad:
Don't surround your MC with adults who are scientists and then make them seem stupid. Without giving anything away, there was one plotline that seemed really obvious to me but the Doctor that woke Tegan up couldn't even figure it out.
The slang. The author spent way too much time setting up slang that didn't feel likely or relevant to the story. I get it, language changes but it's not that important.

Overall, it was an interesting story. Slightly predictable but a nice effort.

Recommended to people who like dystopias.

Read 2/3 through 2/8

Review
Cinder was one of the best books I read last year. I was worried that Scarlet wouldn't live up to it but I was wrong. This book was great. I gave Cinder a 5 because it was innovative and unique and I loved it. I love this one too just I can't seem to bring myself to give it 5 stars. Defiantely 4.5 though. I like how even though these are characters we know from fairy tales they read like totally new stories. I love this series so far.

The story starts by introducing Scarlet, a farmer in France who is looking for her missing grandma. She meets a boy and the two of them search together. Cinder's story comes in later and we find her making the foreshadowed escape from prison and she picks up a new friend on her way out. The new characters were well rounded and I definately got just as invested in Scarlet's storyline as I am in Cinder's. Wolf especially was fantastic. He was everything I like in a romantic interest. I like a broken boy. It's my thing. And Thorne was an excellent addition to the cast of characters. The hardest parts for me to read were the brief moments we spent with Kai. He's broken now but in a way I can't take pleasure n. I can't wait for the eventual reunion I know will happen for him and Cinder. I just need that to be a happy ending.

Anyway, if you liked the first one you'll like this one too. If you haven't read Cinder then you are missing out for sure. And even more important, I need the third one now.

Read 1/31 through 2/3

Review
WORST BOOK EVER! Seriously. Do not read this. At times I drove the people around me crazy with my complaining about how truly awful this book is. So why did I read it? you ask. Because hopefully this review will prevent some poor soul from being tricked into reading it. I've never been this harsh in a review before but I'm not even sorry. If I could give this book .25 stars I would. That way people would still see my review but it wouldn't be lumped in with the other bad books I've read before.

Let's start with the concept. Teenage girl and her evil mother and co-dependent brother move to a new school district. Teenage girl meets boy and falls instantly in love with him. On her way home from school she rescues him from bullies and (view spoiler). She loses her journal which really has no point in the story other than to relate it to vampire diaries. Girl and brother get in fight. Boy asks girl on date. (view spoiler) Seriously, that's the story.

If you didn't pick up on it there let me tell you now that almost every vampire stereotype is in this book. Every time girl meets one she describes the bad ones as evil and dressed and black and the good ones as peaceful and dressed in black. We get it, vampires are goths.

Then there were the errors. I don't just me in spelling and grammar. I mean in sonsistency. There were so many head scratching moments. How does she get her phone at the end for one.

Also, the co-dependent brother was so lame. You can't talk about how you rely on each other to survive then send him away after one fight just so he doesn't get killed in the later scenes. Clearly Rice has never seen Supernatural.

Then there are the evil vampires. Note to authors. DO NOT introduce a character and expect me to take him seriously if you have him say anything about a master plan. It was like the cheesy villain laugh.

The insta love was ridiculous and soooo cheesy. I can handle insta lust. That's a real thing. But there isn't one centuries old vampire that is going to prefess his love for some new thing after just an hour. It's ridiculous. Girl seriously has issues. She latches onto just about any male figure in the book. I'm surprised she didn't hump the leg of the substitute teacher.

But perhaps the most irritating part of the book was girl, also known as Caitlin. She was so annoying. Whiny and selfish, I wanted to kill her the entire time. Then, when she starts becoming vampirelike she will suddenly become cocky and superior and think humans are beneath her to change back into her whiny self a few seconds later. She was all over the place.

It was way too short for it to have any kind of quality at all. Everything was rushed which is probably why it seemed so ridiculous.


Overall, this book was a waste of the $0.00 I spent on it and the 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

Read 1/21 through 1/31

Review
This was a hard one for me to rate. I feel like giving it three stars isn't quite accurate because people percieve 3 stars as average but for me it means exactly what it says. I liked it. I didn't really like it, but it was better than okay. Maybe 3.25 stars.

Anyway, overall the book was good. My main complaint is tat for such a long book, not very much seemed to happen. The romance drug out everything. There was alot of moaning and whining and dreading the future. But then the final sequence took what, 30 pages or so. It was a little anti-climactic. Plus, I've never known a guy who would notice and care about the things Ethan did. I'm a girl and I don't even notice what someone is wearing every time I see them. I get it, they wanted to describe her clothes but they could have done in such better ways.

Anyway, it was good. I liked it. I might read the next one. I will definately see the movie.

Read 12/29 through 1/27

Review
As far as sequels go, this was a pretty good one. Less smutty than the first which I appreciated, but in a way less fresh. Maybe it's because I read them so close together. Anyway, I'm glad they finally shed just a little light on the octopus thing and the mystery was just as interesting and compelling this time. I would give it 5 stars, but it felt less mind blowing this time so 4 1/2 it is.

Read 1/15 through 1/20

Review
Dreamless picks up pretty much where Starcrossed left off. Helen is on her mission and Lucas is keeping his distance the best he can. Enter, the hottie. You knew going into it that there was going to be a love triangle but I actually think it was handled well. I like Orion even more than I like Lucas. Drama ensues, fighting happens and then...

"It's not our talents that make us safe or dangerous, it's our choices."

So says the wise and proud Helen. It's almost like she knows just how stupid she's going to end up being in the end. Don't get me wrong, I liked this book. I liked it more than I liked Starcrossed for sure. I just think Helen made some terrible choices in this book that led to the events at the close. But isn't that the way these hero stories always work.

Read 1/20

Review
Sometimes a short story is meant to connect two stories, sometimes it's just a taste of what will come in a full length novel to follow but this one is a short story in the truest sense of the word. It tell's a complete story with no promise of more to come. If there were a full length would I read it? You bet your ass, but there was something so sweet and innocent that I hope he doesn't write more. Maybe it would ruin it.

Read 1/15 through 1/20

Review
This short story companion to Delirium is told from the point of view of Hana, Lena's best friend. It takes place during the events of Delirium and offers us a second perspective. It was in some ways better than Delirium. It was shorter for one, and that meant the author couldn't drone on for multiple pages about the same feeling. Sorry, i really didn't like Delirium. So why, you ask, did I read this if I didn't like the first one. The answer is simple. I liked the stry but not the way it was told. I was curious about Hana's motivations. And, it offered me a little reminder of the first before I try to read the second, which will probably takeme months to finish. Overall, I liked it, but not too much.

Read 12/29 through 1/13

Review
What a way to kick off the new year. This book was amazing. So much better than I ever thought it could be. K. A. Tucker is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and I find myself wondering why so much fanfiction is getting bought up by publishing companies when there are books like this getting missed.

I really can't rave about this one enough. It was one of those New adult books. You know, the ones that bridge the gap between young adult and stuffy grown up books. It's the perfect genre for me. Just a little bit of perfectly written racy content (with the exception of one not quite plausible orgasm) with a lot of story mixed in. The characters where wonderful and Trent was beyond dreamy. More importantly, none of them were perfect and they didn't try to be. Every one was beautifully broken in a way that made them all fit together perfectly. I laughed, and for sure I cried and ten tiny breaths my just be my new stress relief mantra.

READ IT! What more can I say?

Read 1/13

Review
This one is a short one so the review will be too. It was exactly what a short story should be. A hint, a taste of what the full length will be like. I'm ready for the book now.

Read 1/13

Review
This short story about Leslie and Niall and Irial was a lovely follow up to Ink Exchange. I've only read the first three books of that series so without knowing what's going to happen in them, it was nice to see where Leslie's story takes her. It was dark and real and as always, Leslie is a beautifully broken character but she seems to be making great strides. I really liked it, for a short anyway.

Read 1/7 through 1/11

Review
I'm having trouble knowing the exact rating.

It's hard to say whether I liked this book or not because reading it was difficult. It was hard to force myself to finish it and it felt really (I mean REALLY) predictable to me, but at the same time, I'm interested in the rest of them.

If you do read it, skip the prologue. All it does is ruin all the possible twists in the book. I don't know why she included it but it was annoying and cryptic but at the same time gave so much away.

Not recommended for anyone who knows anything about Greek mythology. Really, don't read it. She pretty much makes the Gods

Read 12/28 through 1/5

Review
Hereafter is like no ghost story I've ever read before. It was sad and hopeful, scary and joyous and both a tragedy and a love story. I spent the whole book not sure of where it was headed and even after finishing I'm still not sure what the eventual resolution will be. What I do know is that going on the journey of self discovery with Amelia was entertaining and heart breaking all at the same time even if it didn't always make sense (haven't they ever heard of google?). It was definately a little cheesy some times, but I kind of prepare myself for that when I start what is obviously a ya romance.

On my Kindle, 15% in

I seem to be stuck about a hundred pages in on this one. Putting it down but I plan on finishing later.

20% done

Started 2/10 and gave up 2/13

Gave it 75 pages which was 20%

The main character was soooo annoying. Whiny, bratty, spoiled and stupid. She was a mean girl.
The author was too out of touch to write YA. Teens don't care about Coach purses anymore. Also, don't put your characters in situations where they would cuss and then have them say stupid things instead. Commit or don't do it.
Also, could this book be any more obvious as a cautionary tale against *gasp* teenage sex. If you have sex you are either a slut or stupid. So obnoxious.

Started 12/29 and gave up 1/16

Gave it 20% on my kindle

Too Slow
Too Boring
Felt too much like a romance
Reminded me aof a bad Assassin's Creed story