Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Soleil is a Smudge. A human who is only allowed to leave her home during the night. D'Arcy is a privileged Ray with national honors and on his way to becoming a doctor. They never should have met, but when Sol hatches a plan to kidnap her niece from the hospital, she and D'Arcy discover not only might they have a future, but they also have a past.

This book got a lot of hype, and with a cover like that, how could it not? But I will admit to mixed feelings about this book. The plot is a bit slow, and for the majority of the book there just isn't enough excitement to really hook me.

Sol is funny in her own way but she seemed kind of shallow to me. Not her character, because she was intended to be this really sweet, deep person, but for some reason her actions just came off as hollow to me. This made it difficult to really connect with her.

Sol and D'Arcy's relationship has zero chemistry, and so I couldn't get invested in that part of the story either. Some of the things they said were really cute and all, but I'm sorry, I just didn't feel like there was anything there.

The writing was fantastic. Fama is clearly extremely well educated, because her writing is languid and smooth with words that I've heard, but rarely read in a young adult novel. It's fitting that Marissa Meyer would be featured on the cover because their writing styles are very similar.

All in all it wasn't a bad book, but it didn't really hook me either. I just read it because I needed to finish it before it become overdue at my library, and I'd already promised to review it! It's not super emotional, so if you're feeling a little down, or your emotions feel bottled due to other high-stress books (like me right now) this is a nice relaxing book with some very interesting ideas.

I'm not sure if I'll be pursuing the series, but I guess I'll decide when the second book comes out.

Three Stars

Rosalie Williams

Plus One on Goodreads

Crash by Nicole Williams

After her family is uprooted by a tragedy, Lucy is off to a new school, in a new town, and all she wants to do is dance. Until she meets Jude. Resident bad boy, everyone has already written Jude off as a waste of space, but Lucy sees something more in him, and she's not about to give up on him like everyone else.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster. The writing is witty and funny, and I did laugh out loud like an idiot multiple times. But then it's also heartbreaking and sad and I broke down in tears at least twice. I'll admit that I stayed up until four in the morning reading this, and it tore me apart. So for those of you looking for a light read, don't pick up this book.

My first impressions of Lucy were pretty good. She saw a hot guy, and wanted his attention, so she got it. But when he opened his mouth and was a jerk, she decided it wasn't worth it. Unlike a lot of YA novels these days she didn't put up with his abuse, and seriously brushed him off. I liked that a lot. Further on in the book she also didn't cave. That's the thing, she's ridiculously stubborn. Sometimes I liked that, sometimes I didn't. By the end of the book I was pretty fed up with Lucy. She let Jude walk away too many times, and she didn't listen to him when he spoke. She has some major trust issues, and it bothered me that she never got over them.

"You can't be friends with the person you were meant to spend you life with."

Jude was funny but really sexy. However, I never got the really bad side to his character. Sure he gets angry at the drop of a hat, but he's never malicious. On the other hand, he actually was a bad boy, which was refreshing from all those bad boy wannabes that are in literature these days!

Something about Lucy's and Jude's relationship is extremely emotional and intense. Every word and action is carefully choreographed to draw you in and make you fall so deeply in love with them you feel like your heart is being ripped out. There are some really swoon-worthy scenes in this book, and it made me madder than hell that Lucy couldn't get over herself and just trust Jude.

"You didn't make me a better person, because no one can do that. You made me want to be a better person."

The only thing I really didn't like about this book, other than sometimes Lucy, was how much time it skipped. At the beginning it wasn't that bad, but then at the end the book just skips the entire school year and goes to graduation, and then it goes from graduation to the beginning of college. I hate it when main characters are away from each other like that, and the time skips just seemed like a cop out to me. I didn't like that Jude ignored her, and I didn't like that she let Jude walk away, and never tried to talk to him. This is what kept this book from five stars and my favorites shelf.

Although I may be bitter from the first two chapters of the second book (which by the way I'm not liking very much so far), this book really digressed from beginning to end for me. I wish it hadn't, because initially I really liked Lucy, and I loved her and Jude's relationship.

I hope that this series doesn't rip my heart out, because something I'm realizing about contemporary books these days, is that the authors love a tragedy.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Crash on Goodreads

Beware of Bad Boy by April Brookshire

After her parent's messy divorce, Gianna's mom remarried a nice man three years ago. She's totally fine with Scott, but not his arrogant son whom she's never met. After refusing to meet his dad's new family for years, Caleb's mom finally reached her limit on his partying, and sent him to live with his father. Completely different people, Gianna and Caleb both immediately hate each other. But they both see in each other something that's missing from their own lives, and that might just be enough to overcome anything.

"'Nice to meet you, sis," he said with a chuckle. I felt his warm breath on my ear as he added in a whisper only I hear, 'Wanna sleep in my bed tonight?'"

I've never really delved much into the contemporary genre, because I didn't think I'd like it much. But after reading Perfect Chemistry, I was hooked, and downloaded every free kindle book in that same genre I could find. Some of them–not great. This one–fantastic.

"It was funny how people were always telling me how lucky I was. Lucky to be so beautiful. Lucky to do well in school. Lucky to be dating Josh. Right now, when it came to stepbrothers, I was feeling decidedly unlucky."

Gianna is the kind of character I like. She's beautiful, really beautiful, but doesn't care. A lot of the book focuses on the transition of her relying on her physical beauty to her inner beauty. People always judge her based on the way she looks–especially Caleb–but she's not at all what they expect on the inside. She's witty and I love the dialogue throughout the entire book. She's exciting and fun, and while she might be a little whiny at some parts, she's a teenage girl, let's be realistic. Her dancing was a really fun part of the book, and the club exposure was a nice touch.

"Getting jealous over a guy like Caleb would be like getting jealous over a swing at a public park. It was free for anyone to have a ride." 

Caleb is a huge player, and super flirty. I love the things he says, and he owns up to the things he's done. Especially when him and Gianna are dating, he admits that he doesn't know how to be romantic, and I appreciate that because not every guy does. He is who he is, and Gianna accepts him for that. However, his development in this book is nice because he does go from a huge player to someone who wants to change their lives for the better. Sure he corrupts Gianna some along the way, but he also changes into someone who cares more about other people than just himself.

"Before I met Gianna, I'd thought I was living life to the fullest, wild and carefree. Now that I had her in my life I understood what it really meant to feel alive."

Their relationship in this is really good. They don't fall in love at first sight. In fact, it all starts with Caleb hitting on her just like he would any hot girl, and then blackmailing her into spending time with him. Of course, she gets him back, and to avoid any spoilers I'll just say that I literally laughed out loud multiple times during this book. It's a little strange because they're supposed to be stepsiblings, but here's why I was okay with it: 1. They'd never met before and had been living together for a week before they started getting serious. 2. They're NOT blood related. 3. They never seem like siblings! So yeah, I loved it.

There's not a moment where the story gets boring, because things happen right after the other, without every feeling rushed. I'll say this, a lot happens in this book, and that's exactly what kept me engaged and interested. I even read it twice, which I hardly ever do!

I love this book, and I've already read the second, and am dying for the third to come out! For a cheap/free amazon book it has very few editing errors, and they weren't that bad, and the rest of the writing was pretty good, so it didn't really bother me that much. Unfortunately, this book has raised the standard for contemporary romance for me, which means I've already ruined a genre that I've just started!

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

Beware of Bad Boy on Goodreads

 

 

 

Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter

With Derek gone Kylie can finally investigate her feelings for Lucas, but that doesn't mean they can be together. With his pack, and his grandmother, both against her, their relationship will be far from easy. On top of that, animals are saving her from death, and someone is trying to kill her.

The problem I had with this book is that it's really full of non-action. I think as the third book in this series it really stalled as far as plot goes, because really nothing happens. All the development happens in the last few chapters. Kylie has really long conversations with everyone she talks to, and nothing ever comes out of them. They talk in circles about the same problems over and over again, and it gets hard to stay interested. Even the big climax is pretty bad, because all the excitement happens when Kylie isn't there, and she just rolls in later. Then the confrontation leaves her completely unscathed, and someone else dead.

I had a lot of hope for this series, and absolutely loved the first book. But at this point I'm losing interest. The little progress Kylie makes as far as finding out who she is leaves you wishing the author would just tell you already. The love triangle is annoying because Kylie ends up not being with either Lucas or Derek for most of the book, and then when she finally is with someone, she expects him to be perfect and judges him for every little thing he does wrong. Newsflash, Kylie, you were ridiculously judgmental when you first showed up, so what if he's not perfect all the time?

All in all this installment left me frustrated, and not exactly dying to read the next book in the series. I'm afraid to wait though, because I feel like I've lost all my enthusiasm, and will end up never finishing the series. Either way, I really didn't like this book in the series, which bums me out because I loved the series at the beginning. The plot is too slow, and Kylie whines too much.

Two Stars

Rosalie Williams

Taken at Dusk on Goodreads

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Britney has a perfect life. She's beautiful, popular, and has a hot boyfriend. It's also all a lie. Alex is a member of the Latino Blood, a gang he joined to keep his family safe after his father was murdered in front of him. Alex doesn't back down from a bet, so when his friend bets him he can't sleep with the perfect Britney Ellis, he of course starts pursuing her right away. But as they become closer, and Alex starts to see the girl behind the perfection, can he keep his feelings from growing between them.

Perfect Chemistry takes place in a town called Fairfield just outside of Chicago. Born and raised in a small town in Montana, I can admit to being mostly ignorant about things that go on the in the night in cities. Gangs? Yeah, right. Not a single one in the entire state, so to say this book was shocking is an understatement. From the first page I was drawn in to the lively narrative, and the compelling stories of the two teens. They both have basically a separate plot going on during the story, until they become interwoven. It was exciting, and impossible to put down. This was a "stay up until four in the morning to finish in one night kind of read." As a perspective University of Chicago student, this book made me want to go more than ever.

Britney and Alex are both great character. The development in the book is fantastic, told from both their points of view. It's really fun to see Alex start to break down Britney's walls, and especially great when you know he's falling for her, even if he doesn't know it himself.

The issues in this book are very serious. It's not the normal teenage drivel. Alex is in a gang, and Elkeles doesn't hold back in showing the brutality of that life. As I mentioned before, I've only ever heard of gangs in places like California, so reading what goes on was enlightening, and the motive behind joining, and the impossibility of getting out all fascinated me.

The romance is fun because at first of course Britney keeps him at an arms length, and she doesn't let him push her around. After they get together, it's not all hunkey-dorey. They aren't perfect, and their lives don't match well, so the dating thing isn't easy for them. But they have chemistry, so how are they supposed to resist each other?

I did anticipate the ending, I'm not going to lie. I knew what would happen, but that didn't make it any less fun to read, or any less intense. I did cry at the end, so brace yourself. The final few chapters gave me deja vu to my brother reading The Outsiders aloud to me while we were on vacation when we were little, and that feeling isn't unwarranted. Just saying, be prepared to shed a few tears, because it's impossible not to.

This wrong side of the tracks romance was realistic, intriguing, and intense. I couldn't put it down. I literally laughed out loud, and I cried at the ending. A fantastic look into the life of a gang member, and a beautiful cheerleader who is more than a blonde bimbo, I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Perfect Chemistry on Goodreads

Perception by Lee Strauss

A perfect human. Beautiful, never succumbing to illness, living an extended life, Zoe has it all. Until her brother goes missing, and her utopian world begins to unravel around her, with a mysteriously charming "normal" at the center of it all with her.

Perception was free off of amazon, and I always have my reservations about free books, especially because editing errors eat at my soul–they're so easy to avoid! But that's beside the point. This is giong to be a short review because I honestly don't have much to say about this book. I read it in one night because I got it for free and didn't have anything else to read. It was fairly short, and to my amazement, didn't have any editing errors (that I caught anyway)! So that definitely put me in a good mood.

As far as the plot goes it was fast-paced and didn't get boring. I appreciated that, especially since it was two in the morning and I couldn't have lasted through anything tedious or slow. There is action the entire time, and it kept me excited. I did predict the ending, but that didn't keep me from liking it any less.

The romance is fairly bland, unfortunately. It's there, and I appreciate the effort, and I do like Zoe and Noah together, but  I just didn't feel that spark, sorry! I liked how protective Noah was of Zoe, but I think there was a bit of a dichotomy in his character, which took away from the romance aspect of the book. Noah is originally portrayed as a self-confident, pushy, arrogant guy. But then about halfway through, all that goes out the window, and suddenly he's a devout virgin Christian. I personally liked the bad-boy side of him more.

Zoe tries to be that stubborn female protagonist that is so popular in YA these days, but she doesn't quite pull it off. Her stubborn attitude ends up making her look kind of stupid, especially since she always makes rash decisions, and then banks on Noah to get her out! There was no real substance to her character, so I didn't connect with her as much as I would have liked to.

All in all it was a nice one-night read, but let's just say I won't be investing the few dollars to buy the next book in the series.

Three Stars

Rosalie Williams

Perception on Goodreads

Chandelier by Sia (Official Video)

Admittedly, I have never reviewed or even discussed a music video before. But, after watching this video today I found myself unable not to mention it in a post.

First heard on the radio a few days back, this catchy beat caught my attention, and though I didn't understand most of the lyrics or the meaning, the song was effectively stuck in my head. So today, while working at my desk and listening to Coldplay's Fix You I glanced at the suggestions bar on YouTube and the strange still image of the video got my attention. I've watched Dance Moms, you see, and I recognized Maddie as the dancer. From the moment I clicked play I realized something was different about this video.

The choreography is intense, and the movements grip your heart and squeeze your lungs. There's something deeply disturbing and creepy about Maddie's facial expressions, and the story told in her choreography. So I asked myself, what is the message in this song that I am missing? The dance was too intense to go unnoticed, and so I realized there must be something more to this pop song that I wasn't hearing.

The meaning of Sia's single Chandelier has a "party girl" starts sounding fun with "feel the love," then sinks into the desperately "just holding on for tonight." At first it's "party girls don't get hurt," sounding like Keysha (or others) line. Lines like "I'm the one 'for a good time call'... they're ringing my doorbell, feel the love". But the darkness stands even in the very second line "can't feel anything, when will I learn?" The party girl isn't loved, she's an object, almost a call girl. She tries to forget with "1,2,3 1,2,3 drink." She tries to "live like tomorrow doesn't exist" partying so hard she'll "swing from the chandelier" (exposing everything)... But even so, she can still "feel my tears as they dry." The disaster comes with more than a hangover. "Sun is up, I'm a mess. Gotta get out now, gotta run from this. Here comes the shame." Sia pulls back the veil on the despair of partying "like tomorrow doesn't exist." 

MUSICinsideU Interpretation - Full Article

While the writing in that short paragraph leaves much to be desired, the meaning really hits home for me with the lyrics worked into the wording. Further delving into the subject I uncovered quotes from an interview with Sia that discussed this song, and she said it addressed her hopelessness and depression being trapped in the life of an artist, and her drug addiction.

I don't know who choreographed the dance, but whoever did had a strong hold on the message and Maddie conveyed it magically in this dark and intriguing music video.

Probably the best song and music video so far in 2014, it will be interesting to see what comes of Sia in the future, especially with her career in song writing really exploding. I'm no expert on music or films, but even I can tell that this is something special.

Rosalie Williams

Under Different Stars by Amy A. Bartol

Author of the The Premonition series, Amy A. Bartol introduces us to her heart-pounding new series a little farther from home than her past books. Kidnapped from earth and taken to another world, Kricket is thrust into a society that she knows nothing about, and that knows everything about her. A lost priestess born from two people who never should have been together, everyone wants her working for them as the world crumbles into war. But with hands pulling from every side, Kricket's only hope is to stay with the man she loves, the only one she can be sure is truly fighting on her side.

Amy's books have always had stunning plots that warrant an extremely fun read, but prior to this novel her writing has been insufficient to support the action of the plot. Without warning Amy has transitioned to a colorful author with the experience and skill to create, and transport us to an entirely new world. Fast-paced and exciting, this was a one-sitting read that I couldn't put down. I was hooked by the first chapter, and was never let go.

The cover art for this book has also graduated to a new level. From amazon-author chic, to a real marketing cover. This is the kind of book I would see on the shelf and buy just for the cover. Because who are we kidding? Everyone judges books by their covers.

"I'm stone...nothing touches me...nothing."

Kricket is a down-to-earth (pun intended) heroine who grew up fighting against an abusive foster system. In all the excitement we just barely get a glimpse into Kricket's past and what she's gone through, but it's enough to develop and attachment to her, and really appreciate her character. While she does fall for a guy, she also doesn't put up with him being stupid. Since she can tell when people are lying, she gets fed up with him denying what they are to each other, and I really respected how she put a stop to his evasion.

"You know–stop right there, because you can't say stuff like that to me. You can't just kiss me in the fountains and then say you only want to be my friend."

The world that Amy creates is as imaginative as all her other plots have been, and I'm in awe at the little details she thinks of that never would have crossed most people's minds. From the creatures to the technologies, once you get used to all the new words used to describe what she sees, you are in a world as colorful as Avatar.

"You could never be a temporary situation for me, Kricket. I know that once I have you, I'll never be able to let you go. I want you as my consort...until death do us part, and than forever after that."

Trey is dreamy and I know that in the next books that a deeper look into his character will make the reader love him more than we already do–it's impossible not to. He comes to care for Kricket for her personality as they travel through the forest to Rafe, and while they do spend time apart, it's like they're always just on the edges of each other.

"My heart has found its way back to my chest and now pounds in it like it had never been torn apart."

A stunning beginning to a whirlwind new series, we will all be waiting breathlessly for the next book. If you think you know Amy Bartol as an author, think again, because this blows away her past novels, and rockets her writing into a galaxy as far away as Kricket's home.

"The sky bleeds above me like tears of black and the pinpoints of light streak horizontally with the speed of eternity."

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

Under Different Stars on Goodreads

 

Fall From Grace by Christine Zolendz

Grace has had her heart broken. Not by men, but by God. The people she loves have died endlessly as she is continuously shoved into the lived of dying women, as punishment for loving an angel. She doesn't feel anything for men, until Shane. A tattooed, guitar playing rock star, not to mention a man-whore (pardon my language), Grace doesn't know why she takes notice of him. She has to find her angel, because she'll never love another.

First of all, all that talk about witty heroines, wipe it from your mind. I thought I knew witty and strong heroines. False. Grace is level-minded and hilarious, two traits I love in a main character. She likes Shane, she doesn't deny it, but she also doesn't fall all over him to be used and abused. Unlike most girls in books these days, he falls in love with her first, and she remains funny and charming the whole time. I really liked Grace to be honest.

Shane is hot and intense. He doesn't always say the right things, but in the end he comes around. Most of the time he tries to deny his attraction to Grace, but everyone can see how he feels. There is another book that tells the story from his point of view, and I cannot wait to read it.

Grace is beautiful, and because I'm a sucker like that, I love it when guys hit on her. It's amusing, I know, shame on me, but I can't help it!

There are a few mistakes, as any amazon publisher will have, but all in all it was really good. The writing is much better than what I'd come to expect from amazon writers, and best yet–the books aren't expensive and don't raise in price further down the series (I loath that)!

I very much enjoyed this, and it should probably be on the top of the amazon free books list. It has some adult content, while no actual sex, things get pretty heated (wink wink) so evaluate your maturity before reading this, it's not a young adult book.

Bravo

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Fall From Grace on Goodreads

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

The world gone in a flash, Evie and Jack band together in search of something neither know is alive. Constantly fighting with each other and the terrifying new world around them, Evie must accept that she is not who she thinks she is, and just when she and Jack may have a chance together, that secret might tear them apart.

I'm going to do something I've never done before in this review. Because of the intensity with which the book started, I had to begin the review only a few chapters in. I will end with my parting thoughts, of course, but I don't want to lose my opinion of the beginning.

The prologue is absolutely chilling. As with many of the books I review I'm listening to this on audiobook, and the reader is stunning. He speaks with a barely suppressed mania, which paired with the disturbing words, is enough to make you look over your shoulder. My skin literally rose in response to the scene, a chill shaking my spine. I've never had such a robust response to the beginning of the book, and it left me shaken. Arthur, the opening POV, is insane in a way that is hard to capture in the sentences of a book. His thoughts appear almost normal, save for the things he lusts after. I couldn't have imagined the mind of a serial killer better, and I know his thoughts will be trailing me next time I walk down the street in the dark.

Evie's world before the flash is bright and vivid. Kresley Cole does a fantastic job of immediately building the characters, their personalities, and their place in the world. The way she writes brings everything to life, without being overly descriptive. I love a book that is more like watching a movie in my mind, and this is exactly what I have found here.

The interactions between the characters have been witty and engaging. There are no long monologues that leave you bored and mind drifting, but make you cling to every word like it's the twist that I can feel building. After the introduction of new characters like Selena and Matthew, the dialogue can get a tad laborious, especially with her long and confusing conversations with Matthew. But all in all it does not take away from the book.

I'm not going to lie, this book is weird, and entirely heartbreaking. The characters are intense, realistic, and you fall in love with them so subtly that you don't even know it's happening until you are wrecked. They stick to their personalities, which can be so frustrating sometimes, and yet they are compelling an intriguing. For originality, characters, an exciting plot, fantastic writing, and breaking my heart, I award the first five stars of the summer.

Oh, and my opinion for hottest accent on a male has officially changed from British to Cajun French without a doubt. I'm moving to Louisiana holy hotness.

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

Poison Princess on Goodreads

Indebted by Amy Bartol

The third book in The Premonition series, Evie is struggling to find her place in the violent world of angels and demons. Pursued on all sides for different reasons, Evie must discover who she can trust–before it's too late.

The writing in this book is eons beyond the previous two books. The first two, while the plot, dialogue and characters were strong, the writing made me feel like I was reading a self-published Amazon book that I should have gotten for free or $0.99. But this was a 180 degree turn around as far as the quality of writing, and even the editing seems to have been stepped up for this novel, as there were far fewer errors. This leads me to believe that the second book was a bit rushed, and she spent more time on this one.

I loved the plot in this. I came to actually really likes Brennus, and I feel bad for him because he really does love Evie, but she can never love him. He is fiercely protective of her–a trait that I totally love–but also treats her as an equal. He fills her in on plans and while he wants to keep her safe, he allows her to participate. He's also startlingly compassionate, and the funeral scene was particularly moving for me. I love how Amy wrote their accents into their words, and I very much look forward to seeing what roll Brennus and the Gancanagh will be playing in the next book.

Reed really isn't in this book too much, but I liked all the scenes he was in. I do feel like his character may be slipping a little, because I don't feel the same chemistry between him and Evie that I did in the first book. To be honest, I was leaning a little more towards Evie and Brennus by the end of this.

Here's the thing though. People are always coming after Evie, and I love the plot, because it's exciting and fresh. But nothing really bad ever seems to happen to her. It's always red-shirts that are dying, and I feel like that makes it unrealistic. She's always crying about how awful her life is, and yet compared to most people (especially other people in the group) nothing terrible has happened, and yet they all treat her like she's survived worse things than them. Shall we recap? She hasn't been physically tortured (Russell, Brownie, Reed, Zephyr and probably Buns, though it doesn't mention it). She hasn't been raped (every girl in the Gancanagh castle). She hasn't had the love of her life turn on her (Reed, Brennus and Russell). So I just don't understand why Amy is making it out that her life is so bad. Sure she's always running, but she seems to have escaped the worst of it.

I'm very interested to see where the plot leads. I'm not completely sure if the fourth book is the last, but I think it is. The story ended with a lot of potential, and I hope that the ending lives up to the excitement of the rest of the series. I can honestly say I can't predict the ending, which is very new to me. I just hope that it's a good one, and doesn't ruin the series for me.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Indebted on Goodreads

Intuition by Amy Bartol

Taking place right where Inescapable left off, Evie is living with Reed and still trying to survive. After being attacked by non-Fallen angels, Evie realizes the risk that protecting her Reed faces, and decides to take matters into her own hands–even if it means leaving the man she loves.

The second book in this series is strong on plot, just as the first one was. There was one lull in the story that was a little boring, but for the most part it kept me invested. The narration switches to Russell at one point, which is interesting to see another perspective on everything that's going on. I do like reading from Evie's POV more, but it was a nice change.

While the writing did improve some, I noticed a lot more little issues with this one, like missing quotation marks at the end of a spoken sentence, or a word in the wrong tense. It didn't bother me too much though, and the writing was a little better so it makes me even more optimistic for the next book.

There's an introduction of a new "villain" in this book, and I really like his character. Brennus is intriguing because he loves Evie and will do anything to get her back, but unlike Reed's love for Evie, he wants her because she makes his life better, not so that Evie's life can be better. This dichotomy really shows the difference between Reed and Brennus' love.

The time Evie spends with Brennus is interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. The slow shifting of her thoughts and feeling toward the Gancanagh is really intriguing, and while I didn't want her to become one of them, it was just a really good part in the story after things got a little boring with her and Russell up in Canada!

I liked that Reed, even though Evie left him, doesn't hold that against her and try to push her away. He's upset that she did it, but realizes why she did, and accepts the blame for his part in her leaving. All in all I think it made them a better couple, and once they were together again it was like breathing a fresh breath of air after drowning.

I very much look forward to the next book.

Three Stars

Rosalie Williams

Intuition on Goodreads

Inescapable by Amy Bartol

Inescapable is about Evie, a young girl's first year at college. She leaves her adoring uncle to pursue her dreams at a nice college on a full academic scholarship. She is greeted, however, by a hostile sophomore named Reed, and a warm-hearted Russell, whom she suspects there is more to than meets the eye. Though she feels like her relationship with Russell has more to it than is apparent on the surface, Evie can't deny her attraction to Reed, who is quickly warming to her to.

I would like to preface this by saying that I read a negative review about this book before buying it. I saw how high the ratings were and since the only option I had for reading it was to purchase it myself, I wanted to get an insider's look at what I was spending my money on. I honestly wish I hadn't because the review tainted my reception of the first half of the book. The beginning of a book is the hardest part for an author, because they have to begin building unfamiliar characters, while simultaneously hooking the reading with an exciting plot. I think if I hadn't been so pessimistic to start off, I would have let myself enjoy the beginning more.

So let's start with the bad things, so that I can get them out of the way before highlighting all the great parts of this book. Most blatantly is the issue with writing. Most of the writing isn't terrible. It isn't These Broken Stars good (thought that's a high standard to compare things to) but it also isn't terrible. The biggest issue Amy Bartol has is with those little tag sentences at the end of dialogue. She uses them far too much, and doesn't understand how not to make them repetitive. "She said (insert adjective here)" was used far too many times. But keep in mind this is a debut novel for Amy, so my hope is that her writing will improve throughout the series.

The other issue I had was her repetition. These seems like a book that wasn't edited by someone who knew what they were doing. Amy would use a fancy new word, and then use it again in the next sentence, then we would never see it again in the rest of the book! It's easy to fall into that trap, because the word sticks in your brain and as you're writing since you just used it, it's convenient to just put it back in again (See! As I was typing this sentence "easy" came to my head immediately, and I had to pause for a moment and settle on "convenient", so as not to do exactly what I'm critiquing.) Another repetition I saw was in Buns' speech. She uses "sweetie" in literally every sentence. This really bothered me at first, but it isn't something I couldn't get over.

Now on to the good stuff!

The storyline was very exciting, and so much was happening I never really got bored. The secret at the beginning wasn't hard to guess, but there's a twist to it that I didn't see coming. I like also that as she began to gain power she didn't just become some super-ass-kicking-ninja-girl overnight as so many girls do in YA novels these days. She gains power, but it's "young", the way it should be.

The romance is really great. I hate the love triangles these days where the girl can't make up her mind and it ends up pushing both the guys away. Evie is very clear in what she wants, and doesn't tell anyone otherwise. Reed is beyond sweet, but also fierce and protective, which is basically the perfect male lead. Russell is great, but I think his character got almost handicapped due to the strange way Amy chose to write his dialogue. Usually when a character has an accent the author will simply introduce the character that way, and write their words in proper English. But nope! Amy chose to literally sound out is accent, and I did find that annoying and it detracted from his character. Besides people with southern accents do know you to say "you" they don't always say "ya". So all in all I am team Reed, but I'm hoping to see better development of Russell's character later in the series.

Evie is a good character. She's supposed to be smart, and all the allusions the author uses does make her appear very well read. The only downfall with this is that Amy chose to explain EVERY allusion to make sure the reader realized how very smart Evie was in understanding this or inferring that. I think it's safe to say that most intelligent people can understand the allusions without detailed explanations, because they didn't seem like Evie, they seemed like Amy trying to make us understand how great Evie was. If she'd left well enough alone, I think I would have liked Evie even more. In the end I did like Evie, she didn't annoy me to death, but I didn't love her either. Like I said, hopefully she'll be fleshed out a little more in the following books.

The ending is surprising and I can honestly say I did not see that coming. I'm usually very good at predicting endings and plot twists, but absolutely not this one!

Most of the worst aspects can be chalked up to writing inexperience, so I'm going to maintain faith that the series will get better as it progresses and her writing matures. Why am I not putting it on my favorites shelf? The plot certainly deserves to be there because I can honestly say I did really love the story. I think reading it again without the pessimism so fresh in my brain because of the review will make me like it even more. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book because there could be a really good world here. But it doesn't make the shelf individually just because of the poor writing. It's not the descriptions, it's not the dialogue (Because that was pretty good) it's basically just the tags on the dialogue that really took away that last star and a place on the favorites shelf. I wish a better writer had written with storyline because it is absolutely fantastic, and this book could have been so vivid.

I have hope for the rest of the series, and look forward to reading them. I just pray that the writing improves and the plot keeps being fast-paced and exciting.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Inescapable on Goodreads

Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore

Angel Eyes is about young ballet dancer Brielle, returning home after the alleged murder of her best friend Ali by Marco (Ali's boyfriend). Depressed and cold (physically and mentally) Brielle has a hard time adjusting back into her old life, especially after meeting hot (don't worry, only his hands are hot) boy Jake, who may have more connection to her past than she first realizes.

Angel Eyes isn't a long book, and yet I was unable to finish it. I listened to it on audiobook, and it seemed like it just kept going on and on. The writing is elementary and repetitive, and the storyline is slow, adding to the laborious listen. The point of view switches between Brielle, Damian and Kanin, the latter two being angels. The switches are confusing and unnecessary. They add a lot of length to the book which it could do without. The story probably would have been better with just Brielle's point of view.

There were a lot of factor which added length to this book when it shouldn't have. 1. The point of view switches which as I said before didn't add anything to the story. 2. The long internal monologues. Brielle and both the angels spend a lot of time mulling things over in their heads, and it ends up taking way to long. As a listener of this book I found my mind wandering a lot, and when I realized I hadn't been paying attention it was sad because I hadn't actually missed anything. 3. The descriptions of the celestial are long and confusing. The idea is definitely there for this to be very cool, but the writing just isn't the caliber necessary to pull it off. The descriptions are complicated and almost vague, though detailed. It's a paradox that I just can't figure out. The author was clearly trying to convey this deep meaning about fear and how it's so difficult to get over because Brielle can see how it clings to people and multiplies like black tar blah blah blah. But she is clearly trying way too hard, and her elementary writing style just doesn't pull it off. The overall confusion of the entire book makes the storyline much too long and for listeners it just doesn't hold your attention.

Another issue is that the audiotape was divided into 8 sections, all about an hour and twenty minutes long. The first week of the book takes place in the first 5, and the last 3 are about one afternoon. As you can imagine this makes the story feel very awkward. There is no emotional connection to the story, so this long climax does nothing to you.

There is no romance between Jake and Brielle. Their conversations are awkward if they're personal, or one of them goes off on a long rant and the other just sits there listening. For example Brielle telling Jake about her "dark past" or Jake explaining everything about the world of angels to her. The explanations are long, and Jake does a horrible job, so it's no wonder Brielle is so confused the whole time!

Finally, the finale is long and boring. The descriptions are far too long to be reasonable, and half the characters you have no idea who they are. The action is stunted and badly composed. The dialogue during the fighting is worst of all. There's either a really long and basic description of the movements with no mention of sound whatsoever, or there's only talking and you imagine the characters just standing there.

Dittemore needs to go back to writing basics and review how to incorporate the 5 senses into writing to allow the reader to connect more fully with the plot and the characters. I could not finish this book, I will not finish it, and I do not recommend it. I'm giving it two stars because I liked the beginning, but it just went downhill from there.

Two Stars

Rosalie Williams

Angel Eyes on Goodreads

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze

The Last Princess is a novel about the royal family after the devastating Seventeen Days destroy almost all of England. After the annual Roses Ball is attacked by Cornelius Hollister's army, only Princess Eliza escapes, thanks to mysterious help from a Sergeant. Siblings taken captive, Eliza sets out on a journey to avenge her murdered parents and captured siblings.

This was a one sitting book, and not in a good way. I knew that if I put this book down I would not pick it back up again, and since I own it, I wanted to have it read (I hate owning books that I haven't read). Reviewing my notes it's very difficult to decide what to say about this book. So let's start at the beginning.

The characters never become multi dimensional. Eliza sometimes shows courage, but then there is never a connection with her. She makes stupid yet valiant decisions, and it makes her an unrealistic heroine. Sergeant Wesley is innately kind, but as with Eliza, there is no connection with her character. Their romance is flimsy and practically nonexistent, when she suddenly declares she loves him.

There are a lot of inaccuracies in this book. Some mainly being the way the wild foxes acted in the forest. Wild foxes are extremely aggressive when they're starving. Living just outside of Yellowstone National Park, every year we get a story about a starving fox attacking a tourist. They don't snuggle into your hand. The other main one was the horses and more specifically the travel. Eliza travels 380 miles in less than a day on horseback. That's nearly impossible in a car, much less on a horse. Also, horses can't run flat-out for very long. Contrary to what John Wayne movies lead you to believe, you can't run a horse for very long or they die, and yes, True Grit got that part right, horses will run themselves literally to death.

So I will wrap up this short review by saying this: There is no connection with the story whatsoever. The writing is two dimensional and the characters are flat. The story lacks those things that make it seem realistic and draws the reader in. I considered abandoning it halfway through, but decided that it was necessary to read it to its conclusion. Unfortunately it was a waste of my day, and I wish I'd spent it reading a better book, or hiking, or cleaning, or baking, or doing classwork. Honestly, I'd rather do about anything than read this book again.

One Star

Rosalie Williams

The Last Princess on Goodreads

Born at Midnight and Awake at Dawn by C.C. Hunter

 

Born at Midnight is the first in a series of five books. Narrated in third person by the main character Kylie Galen, the story takes place in a Texas summer camp called Shadow Falls. We first meet Kylie as her father leaves her with her icy mother, and are told that she has a mysterious stalker who no one else can see. After being arrested at an underage party, her mother ships her off to a summer camp with all sorts of strange people, who do very strange things. Derek, a boy who resembles her ex-boyfriend (but even more attractive) takes an instant liking to her. We also meet Lucas, a boy from Kylie's past who she isn't sure remembers her or not, but still has a pull on her.

A quick disclaimer, I'm doing the first two books as a single review because I read the second before I wrote about the first, and unfortunately it did change my feelings, and I can't give the first quite the glowing review it deserves.

Therefore, the first book was very good. It held my interest and I instantly liked Kylie. Unlike many heroines these days, I found her reactions to the male protagonists to be better than most. She isn't overly clumsy (for some reason YA writers think this is an endearing trait to teenage girls, let me tell you, it's not) and she's beautiful, but doesn't flaunt it (that bothered me especially in the Vampire Diaries books). But the best thing was she was nice, without being a pansy. She cares about her friends and makes good decisions by them, but doesn't act like a wimp, or pretend to be nice to everyone no matter what.

So what, might you ask, changed my mind about liking Kylie so much? Well, I'll tell you, the second book did. The storyline is good and interesting, and so in that aspect I really enjoyed the second book. I listened to it on tape and managed to finish it in two days (that's about ten hours of listening). But like so many unfortunate heroines of YA these days, Kylie couldn't make up her mind about the boy she likes until it was too late, and he couldn't be with her anymore. It's unfortunate because in the beginning I liked that she didn't lose her head over the two boys, but in the second book she falls into the trap of every other YA love triangle out there.

SPOILER ALERT!

I can't write about the part where my feelings are the strongest without getting into details, so if you don't want to know, skip this paragraph! So here we go. Lucas is gone for most of the second book, which honestly didn't bother me that much, because I liked Kylie's relationship with Derek. But, like I said before, she couldn't stop thinking about Lucas, and eventually that came between her and Derek. When she finally chooses him, he is leaving the camp and says he can't be with her until she has her feelings for Lucas sorted out! Don't get me wrong, I like both Derek and Lucas, but Derek was there for her the entire time, and so I really wanted them to finally be together! To no avail I'm afraid.

END OF SPOILERS!

The end was very good. The finale of the second tied into the finale of the first, and I can see a sort of string stretching between them, and the overall storyline of the series is beginning to be flushed out. If you're wondering, no, Kylie does not find out what she is in the second book, but we do get some more clues. I've been grappling with whether or not to google what she is, because to be honest, the suspense is killing me and the third book is currently checked out from my library. But here's what's held my hand thus far: the mystery is really keeping me interested in the story. If I find out I'm afraid I'll just get frustrated because I know, and Kylie doesn't, and that's such a big part of the story I know I'd get angry.

So there you go. I liked everything in the first book. but Kylie really lost brownie points with me in the second. Hopefully she can redeem herself in the next book, because I'm not sure I can handle more of these cliche, overprinted YA love triangle mishaps.

Born at Midnight: Four Stars
Awake at Dawn: Three Stars

Rosalie Williams

Born at Midnight on Goodreads
Awake at Dawn on Goodreads

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles series. Told from the point of view of almost every character in the story, the complicated storyline begins to solidify. Cress fits seamlessly into the fold of the story, just as Wolf and Scarlet did. Any reservations about another character being added should be cast aside, because the almost 500 page book doesn't leave anything out. Cinder even gets a little romance *wink wink*.

Anyone who's read my reviews about the first two books will know how much I adore this series. Even with those high expectations, Cress absolutely did not disappoint. In fact, this is probably the best book in the series so far. There is a lot of action, and each character goes through a different part of the journey, so it never seems tedious. The twists are nonstop, but it isn't ridiculous. Loose ends that are all but forgotten from previous books jump into place, and resolve themselves perfectly. The planning that must have gone into this series is incredible, because not only does it have a creative and original storyline, but it ties in the traditional fairytale stories as well.

The romance is subtle, but that's something to be appreciated in itself. Since most of the original fairytales consist of the protagonists falling hopelessly in love with each other at first sight, it's important to reserve the reality factor in retellings. Thus while the romance may seem slow, it's a subtle undercurrent throughout the entire book, and is just enough to keep you satisfied. While the characters all mirror their ancient origins, Meyer has managed to thoughtfully bring a new dimension to their actions and words that brings them to life more realistically than the original stories.

Since this is the third book in the series I'm trying to be very careful about not revealing andy spoilers, because a lot changes in this book from the second. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has the time to dedicate to really sitting down and reading this series. The only thing that I find a little disappointing is that because of the complexity of the storyline, I imagine it will take more than a year for the next book to come out. A quick search has revealed a late 2015 release date on November 10th. The title is Winter, without an illustration yet. It will be interesting to find out if there will be another princess added to the story, or if the main cast will remain the same. Based on the title, I believe we will be seeing more of Queen Levana's stepdaughter, the frail princess who we were briefly introduced to in Cress.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Cress on Goodreads