Second Chance Summer: Review

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Release Date: May 8th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon & Shuester
Pages: 468
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

Review:

I’m that type of reader that likes to read books that take place during summer, in well, the summer. So last week when the sun came out and the temperature got warmer and everyone was out working on their tans, I immediately took Second Chance Summer from my TBR pile in my room and got started reading by the pool. This book is the perfect summer read for countless reasons! Not only is the backdrop at a summer house and there’s cute boys and annoying siblings but there’s also major family issues in this book and I’m one of those readers who relates summer books to almost always having to have some sort of family crisis in it for me to fully enjoy reading it. I think I may the only reader who relates the two and likes it, but never the less I do.

Second Chance Summer is a pretty long book, it’s not one I could easily skim by the pool for a few hours and be done with, and it deals with a lot of emotional issues related to both family and personal growth. I really loved the length of this book because since it wasn’t just short and sweet every character had time to fully develop in this book and I got a perfect sense of who just all the primary character’s were. I also just in general loved the overall pacing of the book and how everything in Taylor’s life wasn’t fixed overnight and she had to continue to fix her relationships with all those around her day by day. And I know this sounds weird but as a reader I really loved reading how Taylor’s family came together, fell apart and then came together again. As a reader it was amazing to read because the pacing and timing of all the characters downfall with one another was just perfect and I felt the author really depicted the situation in such a real and honest way.

Relating to Taylor, the main character at first was a little difficult. We’re just so completely different, Taylor has a habit of running away (yes, physically running) from her problems and I’m the complete opposite, so there were moments that I felt a bit annoyed at Taylor at the start and felt like shaking her but as I read on I got a really good sense of who she was and what kind of person she was and I understood her. It was only then I wasn’t annoyed with her and even when she still ran away from her problems I understood her reasoning and logic and felt myself warming up to her quite quickly. I also have to say I loved how she made a visible effort to change; she’s definitely a hero in YA contemporary for that.

And of course it wouldn’t be a good old fashioned summer read without a good old fashioned summer romance. Taylor’s relationship with Henry, yeah, it was pretty amazing. I mean I wasn’t fanning myself or anything but it was definitely swoon worthy and I myself fell for Henry. I loved how their relationship also developed throughout the book too and how everything came together at the end for them.

“And I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need—love is all there is.”
― Morgan Matson, Second Chance Summer

mmer is definitely one of my all time favorite beach reads after The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han. The emotional depth this book goes to and the emotions it stirred out of me had me all over the place. I loved this book and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a summer read in, well, summer.

Sever(The Chemical Garden#3):Review

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Release Date: February 12th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia,
Publisher: Simon & Shuster
Pages: 371
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 2/5 stars
Summary: With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.
Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

Review:

This is one of those reviews I’ve been dreading to write for days. I really wanted to love this book, I really, really, really did. Having LOVED Wither and been seriously disappointed with fever I was counting on Sever to redeem the series in my eyes and remind me why I first fell in love with it. Maybe that was the problem, I was just counting on Sever so much that it had no choice but to fall short.

I feel like to do this book justice I should start of this review with something I did like about this book, the world building. Guys—after being practically left in the dark for two books about the actual world these characters lived in, we finally get some answers. Of course we only get them in the last little bit of the book but we get them nonetheless. The whole history of the virus was interesting and I did enjoy how Destefano managed the make it all make sense. Unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy much else of the book.

Sever simply lacked a lot of emotion for me. The beginning was kind of boring; the whole pacing of the first half of the book was awfully slow. On the plus side we finally get more of Linden in this one, and even though I know he wasn’t a favorite character for a lot of people I did love him in Wither and was just so disappointed with his little appearance in Fever. Remember how Linden hardly appeared in Fever and the main focus turned to Gabriel? Well in Sever Lauren Destefano, I guess wanted to make things equal and flip things around. The end result was an unsatisfying ending. This of course did not work in favor for another character and the romance. Sever was seriously lacking in the romance department maybe even more than Fever.

But romance and plot aspects aside, the character’s never really won me over in Sever. I sort of ended up hating almost every character in the book, especially Rhine who I started to really dislike in Fever and then completely couldn’t stand in Sever. I just couldn’t figure her out and her logic made no sense to me! For example, there were a few situations in this book where all Rhine had to do was say something and she could prove just how bad a person Vaughn was but instead she closes her mouth and pretends everything’s fine. I JUST COULDN’T UNDERSTAND IT. She hated this man and hated that someone she loved was close to him but she didn’t really do anything about it, she just hated him herself and didn’t care what happened to the one she loved. IT INFURIATED ME. The one character I did quite not completely dislike was Cecily, who happens to be the only character to actually mature throughout this whole series.

All in all I was just hugely disappointed with this one and this series in general. While Sever proved to be a bit more interesting than Fever, with the two or three twists it did have I’m still giving it the same rating I gave Fever. The ending really affected me in a sort of negative way too, I felt unsatisfied by it in the end and a death of a character seemed so pointless to me as well. I really wish I could have enjoyed this one more.

Dualed(Dualed #1):Review

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Release Date: February 26th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia,
Publisher: Random House Books
Pages: 304
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Summary: The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.
Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Review:

West Grayer isn’t your typical kick ass heroine like I expected her to be. When I first read the blurb, I was immediately intrigued and expected to read about this total badass character that stops at nothing to kill her ALT and save her own life. What I actually got was not what I expected in the least—West Grayer is no badass heroine; she’s more of just an ordinary girl. Of course she knows how to kill and is put in situations where she has to kill to save her own life but she never once came across as the typical badass I wanted to find in Dualed. And truthfully I’m still trying to decide if that’s a good or bad thing.

I think I liked West as a character in general, even if she wasn’t what I first expected her to be. I also think I was able to connect with her and Chord very easily. I understood why West pushes him away and why Chord is always looking out for her. I understood why they feel this need to protect each other, and I understood why their ways of protecting one another varied so much from the others. Overall I enjoyed the characterization of both West and Chord so much and in some ways it’s the only real good thing in the book. But while I liked West as a character, some of her reasoning baffled me. She becomes a striker to get training to prepare her to kill her own ALT but then when the time comes to kill her West freezes up. I couldn’t understand West’ logic in becoming a striker, not to mention I didn’t understand what sort of training she got. It didn’t seem that much better than the one her school was offering her. And either way it didn’t really help if she still froze up.

The plot itself is interesting in Dualed but the pacing and execution just didn’t do it for me. The very beginning of this book had me turning the pages like a madman and my heart racing but it quickly went downhill from there. For starters I think it was just the whole pacing of the book. The transition from the very beginning of the book to twenty days into West’ assignment was just this void that really annoyed me. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it bothered me so much except t that I never really got a sense of what West did during these twenty days the book skipped over. Then I felt the book was just sort of rushed. And this is about the time where I tell you this book had all sort of crazy potential, if only it were explored. The author did throw in quite a few twists but I felt those two were just thrown in there and never fully developed. Overall I think the whole plot was underdeveloped and the pacing was just too quick.

Overall I think I was just deeply disappointed with this book. Maybe I just expected so much from it that when it failed to deliver, it catastrophically failed me. I have decided though that I am continuing on with the next book, the romance was definitely something I did enjoy in this book and I’m interested in how the author continues on the story. I’m also hoping we find out a bit more about the world building in this series since it wasn’t really explored in Dualed at all.

The Elite(The Selection#2):Review

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Release Date: April 23rd 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Romance,
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 334
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.
America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.
Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending

Review:

Reading this book was exactly what I needed right now. The Elite was full of so much emotion; it was intense, romantic and majorly conflicting. I was really just at that point where I seriously needed to read a book that played with my heartstrings, a book that would emotionally attach me to the story and characters. Sometimes, because I read just such a large amount of books they all just start to feel more or less the same to me. I really need to find a book with just that “spark” to have a big impression on me and completely consume me. The Elite had that spark I’d been craving for quite some time, I was 100 percent invested the story and didn’t let go off this book until I finished the very last page.

Reading The Elite is like having your heart pulled into a million different directions. What continues to surprise me about this series is just how much I love it. In all honesty, the idea of thirty-five girls competing to marry the prince and having it televised is pretty gross. In The Elite were down to the final six and the competition has only got more fierce, I’m still waiting for a part of me to seriously hate Maxon, you’d think the idea of a guy having his pick at a handful of woman would completely make me hate the him right? But funny enough, I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely moment’s in this book I felt like kneeing him in the groin like America had once done back in The Selection but there were also moment’s he made me completely swoon.

I think I have very different views on relationships than most people. I’m really simple when it comes down to it; if you’re unhappy in a relationship, leave him/her. If you feel isolated by your partner, talk to them. But even though the relationships were all over the place in The Elite, and so completely different than the views I uphold for relationships, the romance completely captivated me. The best way I can describe the romance in The Elite and everything involved with it is that it’s all justified. Everything makes complete and utter sense in this book. The love triangle, America’s insecurities, Maxon’s insecurities, and the whole keeping the other girl’s in the competition thing. Despite the fact that something’s that happened in the book just didn’t seem right with me or that my emotions were all over the place with the book, everything made complete sense.

Personally, I think the reason I just love this series so much is because of America. She’s portrayed in this book as not the strongest heroine and even cries a few times, but in all honesty that may be what I liked most about her. She’s under all this stress and it starts really getting to her at times in the book, but even after she breaks down she always does come back standing taller. When I said earlier the love triangle felt justified in this series, a large part of that had to do with how America handles the situation. She’s caught between her first love and boyfriend of two years and the one whose helped heal her from the pain of her once broken heart. Although the decisions does seem clear to me whose best for America, I can definitely see why her heart’s in two.

My one major complaint about The Selection had been how we didn’t really know much about how the country had been formed and its history. Luckily in The Elite we learn more about how the country was founded and get a bit of insight on the unglamorous things about its past. While it wasn’t ever a real main focal point in the book we defiantly do get some answers and a whole bunch of new questions were raised. Hopefully the politics of the country play a more prominent role in the last book!

The Elite really was just the pickup I needed to get me through my reading slump! I haven’t felt this emotionally engulfed by a book in so long so finally experiencing that feeling that almost seemed impossible to reach again was extremely reassuring. Reading The Elite was like intense, so much more than The Selection, and I have zero doubts that fans of the first book won’t fall in love with its sequel. This series is kind of like my guilty pleasure, just because it’s so unlike me to read something with this type of romance in it and because the first book was dubbed as a mix of The Bachelor and all my friends know I can’t watch that show without rolling my eyes. But despite my reservations I absolutely LOVED this book and this series proves to only keep getting better with every book.

The Goddess Inheritance(Goddess Test#3):Review

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Release Date: February 26th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Greek Mythology,
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 384
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: Love or life. Henry or their child. The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can’t stop her—until Cronus offers a deal.In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he’ll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.Even if it costs her eternity.

Review:

It’s been quite a ride for Kate and Henry in the Goddess Test series. I’ve grown to love every minute of their journey together so saying goodbye to this series was extremely bittersweet for me! I wanted this book so badly because I just HAD TO SEE HOW EVERYTHING PANNED OUT, but I also just didn’t want to start this book because I DIDN’T WANT THIS SERIES TO END!!! Aimee Carter couldn’t have given fans of this series a better farewell to our favorite characters and this beloved world.

The Goddess Inheritance raised the stakes in every aspect of the book there was love, hate, revenge, heartbreak, twists, and heartbreaking goodbyes. Every minute I spent reading The Goddess Inheritance I was completely engrossed in what was happening in the book. This book consumed me, every minute I spent not reading it I was constantly looking for ways around school to read it.

As always my favorite character in this series is Ava, it was weird reading this one and seeing just how different she was from the first book. She’s definitely grown as a character herself despite not being the main protagonist. Ava and Kate go throw their own sets of struggles in this book and while I know some people didn’t like it I personally found that it just added a whole new element to the book. I liked seeing not everyone be forgiven five minutes after they do something wrong.

Kate and Henry’s relationship faces its biggest challenge yet in this book. I felt so giddy during certain parts of the book when you could really tell how much they loved each other and their new born son, Milo. It’s been an incredible journey reading about these two since The Goddess Test because their relationship has just grown and evolved into this amazing one that I completely envy!

The only thing I wish there was more of is Cronus! I think he’s such a fascinating complex character and although he obviously plays a large role in this book I just wish here could have been more opportunities for him to be him and truly shine!

The Goddess Inheritance was honestly the most perfect ending to this series that Aimee Carter could have given us, her readers and beloved fans. It’s a bitter sweet ending but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I can’t wait to see what else Aimee Carter gives us in the future!

Let the Sky Fall(Let the Sky Fall #1):Review

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5

Release Date: March 5th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy,
Publisher: SimonPulse
Pages: 416
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.
Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.
When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Review:

Let the Sky Fall was that book that caught my eye a few months back on goodreads because of the gorgeous cover, and with an intriguing synopsis to match I knew I just had to read it. I’ve been disappointed lately with a lot of the debut author books this year so going into this one I was a bit weary. I wanted so bad to love this one and felt like my heart wouldn’t be able to take it if this one turned out to be a not so thrilling read for me. I’ve been disappointed by debut author books way to much this year. But guys—I loved this book. Like, fist pump the air like in The Breakfast Club kind of loved it! Everything was perfect, the plot, writing, characterization, and even the swoon worthy romance!

Shannon Messenger creates such a unique story for us, I have truly read nothing like it. The sylph mythology in the story was probably the most interesting part of the book. I loved the whole idea about the four different types of winds, the north, south, east and west. The most exciting part of reading this book for me was that I couldn’t help but picture the whole book play out in my head. Shannon Messenger writes with such great detail, picturing everything was simply easy.

Let the Sky Fall features two of the most understandable protagonist I’ve read this year. The dual narration between Vane and Audra really worked in the books favor. I was completely invested with the two characters’ from the start. Reading from Vane’s POV was definitely my favorite out of the two, being inside his head was a lot more interesting since he’s just learning out the sylph’s and what they are and who he really is. He’s coming to turns with his future and understanding his past and reading that was my favorite part.

Like I said earlier Let the Sky Fall features a really swoony romance. The romance between Audra and Vane was just perfectly paced throughout the whole book. I was surprised at just how invested I really was with their romance because they themselves take their time before they decide to do anything about the inevitable connection between them. The romance does dominate a lot of the book but I felt that also worked in the books favor, their each other’s first real emotion experience so it made sense that they had such strong feelings towards each other. They also have this sort of forbidden love thing going on but overall I’m happy with how it all panned out.

Overall, I’m really happy I loved Let the Sky Fall, because like I said earlier if I hadn’t I my heart may have just broken a bit. The ending leaves us with closure for the overall book but leaves a lot of things to look forwards to in the next installment in the series.

Nobody But Us: Review

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Release Date: January 29th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary,
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 272
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Library
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Summary:

Will
Maybe I’m too late. Maybe Zoe’s dad stole all her fifteen years and taught her to be scared. I’ll undo it. Help her learn to be strong again, and brave. Not that I’m any kind of example, but we can learn together.

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Zoe
Maybe it’ll take Will years to come to terms with being abandoned. Maybe it’ll take forever. I’ll stay with him no matter how long it takes to prove that people don’t always leave, don’t always give up on you.

Review:

Nobody But Us was one of my most anticipated reads for 2013, being compared to If I Stay by Gayle Forman I had the highest of expectations for this one. You guys know just how much of a sucker I am for any book by Gayle Forman, so when a book’s compared to the great works of Gayle I just had to go read it! Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find it in myself to love it like I wanted it too. I was expecting a similar reaction like the non-stop crying and heart wrenching moments I felt in If I Stay since it was compared to it, but I ended up not even coming close to those emotions. Most of the time during the book I was aware of what the author was trying to make me feel in certain scenes but I just didn’t actually connect with it and feel those emotions.

My biggest problem from the start of the book was just that I didn’t connect with the characters. Zoe and Will weren’t perfect characters, they had their flaws and both came from complicated pasts. Zoe’s fifteen and trying to escape her abusing father and Will’s just trying to escape his miserable past on the night of his eighteenth birthday.

Zoe and Will have a very dysfunctional relationship that I quickly realized was doing more damage to both of them than good. Their relationship was just extremely unhealthy, I couldn’t find it in myself to feel anything towards the couple. While I did enjoy reading about Will and being inside his head, I couldn’t stand naïve little Zoe at all. There were so many moments in this book I just wanted to shake her for doing the wrong and immature thing.

From the very start of the book the romance already exists between these two characters, normally I’m not really a fan of this because I genuinely find it hard to then connect with the romance if I don’t see it form between the start with the two characters and like I had expected I just couldn’t connect with their relationship. This may have been a more “It’s me…not you” thing though.

Nobody But Us did get better towards the end. The second half of book started to focus less on the romance between Will and Zoe and more on the consequences of their actions and the reality of the world around them. I enjoyed the book more towards the end when Zoe and Will really had no choice but to face their demons.

The Indigo Spell(Bloodlines #3):Review

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Release Date: February 12th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy,
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 401
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch–a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood–or else she might be next.

Review:

The Indigo Spell is officially what sold me on this spin off series. While I liked Bloodlines and The Golden Lily I wasn’t entirely feeling it. I was in one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” sort of relationships with this series until, The Indigo Spell. This book had everything, a swoon-worthy romance, Seat gripping action and a CRAZY ending. The whole book was extremely intense, I think this is the first book in this series where I felt 100% invested in the whole story and all the characters.

Sydney keeps improving as a character with each bloodlines book. My connection with her continues to grow deeper as the series goes along, and I felt that in The Indigo Spell she had the most character development. Sydney’s come a long way since when we met her in the VA series and at the start of bloodlines. She’s beginning to question the Alchemists and everything she stands for, and for the first time in this series she’s beginning to make HER OWN DECISIONS. Sydney doesn’t have to be blackmailed or manipulated to help people in this one, she’s constantly looking for answer’s herself and settle where her own loyalties lie.

One of the most interesting things in The Indigo Spell is Sydney’s use of magic. I love her slow building towards her use of magic and how at first she was so reluctant and scared to use it in past books but now she’s slowly relying on it. I think her acceptance of her ability to use magic just show’s how much character development she’s gone through in this series. Another example, would be how Sydney freaked out when Adrian pulled her into a spirit drea, earlier on in this series. in The Indigo Spell, Sydney actually found comfort in Adrian’s spirit dreams in order to keep nightmares away.

So, while were on the topic of Adrian I have to say if anyone thought he wasn’t swoon-worthy before, there’s no denying it after The Indigo Spell. The connection between Adrian and Syndey was written so beautifully and the build-up to some of the most swoon-worthy moments in this series has been nothing but perfect. I have to be vague in this review about them because I’m scared anything I’ll say will be spoilery, so i’m being very careful. I’m still waiting for Jill to get her love life figured out too, she’s been through so much too that I really just want her to get the ‘right’ guy for once, hopefully in The Fiery Heart we get to see this!

The mystery element brought along with Marcus Finch really added to the intrigue in this book and brought out one of the most powerful Syndey moment’s at the end of the book. The Fiery Heart, book four in the bloodlines serie’s is looking to be EPIC in my opinion and I can’t wait to read from both Adrian and Syndey’s POV!

The Golden Lily(Bloodlines #2): Review

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Release Date: March 12th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 480
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she’s supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she’s been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Review:

The second installment in the Bloodlines series left me dying to read the next one. Thank heavens I have a copy at home of the third book or else I would really not know what to do with myself. While I had enjoyed Bloodlines, I don’t think I fell completely in love with the series until this book. The Golden Lily takes all that ground work that was established in Bloodlines and raises the stakes.

We see Sydney really grow into herself in The Golden Lily. Her beliefs are constantly being questioned by other’s but by the end of this one I felt she really started questioning them herself as well. There were times I really liked her in this book and then there were times I wanted to shake her personally. She constantly takes one step forward in anything she does and than two steps back While she’s more comfortable with the Moroi and Dhampir than other Alchemist’s she still has Alchemist beliefs and teachings drilled into her, this was a bit annoying actually. There were so many time’s I just wanted to yell at her and say “HAVE YOUR OWN BELIEFS AND OPINIONS, STOP LISTENING TO OTHERS!”

The romance in The Golden Lily, also really shines. There was romance pretty much everywhere in this book and I loved how it wasn’t like an insta-love sort of thing, but it sort of crept up on the characters. The romance also wasn’t limited to two people, but I felt a majority of the main character’s in this book experienced some sort of love interest in this book, that isn’t to say everything was neat and tidy and happened without conflict. No, quite the opposite really. What I’m continuing to love about this series though, is the relationship growth between Adrian and Sydney. She see’s him as a himself, not a moroi, and not a delinquent teenager, and I really think Adrian needs that,

The Golden Lily wasn’t nearly as suspensful as Richelle Mead’s other books but I enjoyed it all the same. In my opinion, the book very much focuses on a few sub-plots and the character growth of each character. There were parts that seem very YA contemporary in this book espeically when it came to any of the romance stuff, but it was a nice refresher all the same.

Eleanor and Park: Review

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Release Date: February 26th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary,
Publisher: St.Martin’s Griffin
Pages: 320
Goodreads Page: Click here
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.

Review:

“ ‘Eleanor & Park’ reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.” - John Green

Dear John Green, you have managed yet again to rearrage the scrambled thoughts in my head and form them into coherent sentences. Eleanor and Park can officially be considered one of my favourite contemporaries ever (along with all of John Green’s books).Eleanor and Park is a simple love story set in 1986, yet there love story is simple, it is never easy and they both know it.

Eleanor is a red head with the nickname “Big Red”. She’s just returned home after spending a year living away after her stepfather kicked her out, being made fun of for being overweight she is shy and quiet. Eleanor lives in constant fear of being kicked out yet again, and shares a bedroom with four of her younger siblings, but she never complains. Park is half-korean and lives a completely different life than Eleanor. While not being a social outcast, he decides to seperate himself from the social clicks at his school.

Eleanor and Park sit together on the school bus on their way to school and back. The way their relationship slowly unfolded and evolved over time was so well paced, everything between them happens very gradually. At first they don’t talk at all and after sometime Park notices Eleanor reading his comics over his shoulder, he then starts lending some comics too her and later they begin to talk about their mutal love for music. The relationship between Eleanor and Park felt extremely honest; there both conquering the world and the endless steroeotypes. They prove that love is really blind, that it doesn’t matter how you dress or how much you weigh or what social class your family comes from, if you love somebody none of that will matter. I felt completely invested in their relationship and love how Rainbow Rowell describes the varouis tensions between them from when they first meet to the end of the book.

Everything about this book I could classify as perfection– the characters, plot, writing,  80′s music references…EVERYTHING. There wasn’t an apsect of this book I merely thought was “okay” the whole book was just extremely honest and beautiful. Rainbow Rowell writes Eleanor and Park’s love story so beautifully and protrays teenager’s in a way that’s actually realisic. During the dual narrative I felt like I was inside a teenage boy or teenage girl’s head.The 80′s music references were always my favourite parts to read and I love how Eleanor and Park both found a sort of salvation through music, especially from songs and artists I still listen to today and continue to be my own salvation.   

Reading Eleanor and Park is a lot like falling in love. Rainbow Rowell depicts the experience of  falling for your first love so honestly and real, from the grazing of each other’s fingertips, to holding their hand. To waiting by her locker after school and staying over at his house for dinner. Everything they go through really did just bring up my own memories, made me think about how insanely nervous I was in this situations. Eleanor and Park really just reminded me of what it feels like to be in love with somebody. To wake up and have somebody worth seeing and getting up for. To have sombody to find comfort in.

While the book’s main focus is the budding relationship between Eleanor and Park, I felt like the book was also so much more than that. It touched on a lot of major topics like bullying and poverty and a few other ones I’m afraid to say because they might be spoilery. I could go on forever about how amazing this book is and I still wouldn’t be done explaining it to you. I feel though, as if my review hasn’t even begun to some up just how much this book meant to be. LIKE, IT MEANT THE ENTIRE WORLD! Eleanor and Park really was just that type of book I really connected with and couldn’t put down. My heart broke half of time reading this and soarded high into the sky the other half.