The Sar-Touched Queen Review

Maya is our protagonist in this debut by Roshani Chokshi. She has been born with a horoscope that only promises death and destruction and she becomes the outcast in her empire. This is the story on how her horoscope comes true in a way she didn't expect and how she deals with it. It's like a weird mix of Daughter of Smoke and Bones and The Wrath and the Dawn.

I don't know how to feel about this book. It's very disjointed in different parts and just when you think something starts making sense, the author throws you for a loop and you're left in the dark again. The elements of this book did not flow together and ultimately you're left with two stories mixed into one. The writing is very lyrical, much like The Wrath and the Dawn. In fact, it reminded me too much like that book. The same events with the love interest and the main character seem to happen and even the main character's themselves share similar traits and habits. It also shares the same reincarnate as Daughter of Smoke and Bones series. I found the resemblance in parts of the book very uncanny.

The main character was alright, but she wasn't unique. Neither were the other character's in this book. It just felt very did there, done that. I think the only thing that may have helped this book would be the Night Bazaar. I loved reading about that in the beginning and the weird things in entailed. Other than that, it wasn't a great book. It was a very meh book that is ultimately forgettable.

3/5 Stars

Please Don't Tell Review

Trigger Warning: Rape and suicide are discussed in this book.

Twins, Grace and Joy, are split apart by the actions of someone at a party. They aren't the way they used to be. Joy is getting blackmailed because she was caught on camera "killing" her sister's rapist. This is their story on how Joy deals with the blackmailer and how Grace deals with the effects of being raped.

These characters were raw. I felt so much for Grace and the mental damage that was done to her. You could see the changes in her character in the before and after. She became a different character emotionally. She was empty. She was depressed and she became suicidal. The author did not romanticize it. She showed a glimpse of what suicidal people actually think and go through when they try to take their life. It was powerful to read. Joy also had a dramatic character change and hers was a little more obvious than Grace's was, but it was also extremely intense. She felt it was her fault that she couldn't protect her sister against Adam and when she didn't know whether or not she killed him, it ate her up and just transformed her. I must add that I couldn't stand Preston and when Joy got around him, she acted so much more immature than when she was around someone else.

This is not an easy book to read and I can't imagine it was an easy book to write but I can say that the product was absolutely fantastic. It showed the effects of such a horrible crime and it displayed that some people don't believe that it's truly "rape" and I liked that she addressed it. It's not a fluffy book it was a book that needed to be written. I truly applaud this book and this author and I completely recommend it.

4.5/5 Stars

First Review

Disclaimer: I just wanted to say I have not forgotten about my blog! I'm in school now and things are pretty crazy so it's harder for me to read a book in two days. I'm still here though and I still love doing this!

Trigger Warning: This book deals with rape.

Firsts is the debut novel by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn and it deals very heavily with sex. Our main character Mercedes offers a "service" to take boys virginities in order for them to give their girlfriends a good first time which she didn't have. Her best friend's boyfriend ends up finding out about her and asks for it and eventually it gets leaked to the school.

These characters are stereotypes basically. They don't have much dimension to them and with Mercedes you lose some of her character from time to time because it changes. One minute she knows exactly what a boy wants just by looking at him and the next she's left confused and feeling complicated from the boy. She's very selfish with what she's doing with them because she starts doing it for her own benefit. Faye was the mysterious new girl who had absolutely no reason to even be in the book but she was there. Zach was the dream boy who stood by Mercedes through it all and then she found out she has been in love with him since they were mere children. Angela was the oblivious best friend who believed everything she was told. They were boring characters.

Throughout the book there's a lot of sexual innuendoes. It got to the point that I was very annoyed with how many there were. This wasn't the heartbreaking book that it said it was. This was a sexual, slut shaming, not going to fully address the main problems with the characters book. It was not well written and I didn't enjoy this book at all.

1/5 Stars

An Ember in the Ashes Review

An Ember in the Ashes was one of the most hyped books of 2015, and its second book, A Torch Against the Night has to be one of the most hyped books of 2016. I believe that An Ember in the Ashes lived up to the hype that surrounded it and it was a very solid debut from Sabaa Tahir. It follows a soldier, Elias, and a slave, Laia, and how they fight against the Empire.

I loved Elias. I thought he had dimension and was extremely likeable. He didn't conform to the rules even though he knew they could kill him for it. He cared for a slave girl even though there was a chance he would get that beat right out of him until he didn't care about anything anymore. He wasn't a jerk like so many other guys in YA can be. I thought he was a stand up guy in this book and has to be one of my favorite characters I've read about this year. I didn't enjoy Laia's character at first. She was very repetitive, but I felt for her with the things she had been through. I ached for her towards the end and felt her desperation on getting her brother out. When she was betrayed, I was shocked and angry at the person. This girl did everything he wanted for him and he never planned on helping her. I grew to love her in the end and she showed just how brave she could be, even when her life could be taken from her.

The writing was very hypnotizing. It felt like you were sitting around a fire while someone told this story filled with magic, betrayal, and so much more. This author is extremely talented and I am very excited for the second book which comes out August 30th.

4.5/5 Stars

Magonia Review

Magonia is the delightfully weird book by Maria Dahvana Headley. Aza is a young girl who has a mysterious breathing illness and is dying. Her lungs ae barely functioning and it's a countdown until she dies. She does end up dying and from there stuff gets weird. Turns out she belongs in a country above the clouds called Magonia. This book is her journey in trying to figure out what is going on in her life and how to go through it.

The characters wee absolutely amazing in this book. They felt so real and down to earth that I wanted to actually have friends like Aza and Jason. I mean who wouldn't? She's so sarcastic and yet so brilliant and he's so nerdy yet so lovable. It's the perfect duo. The character development through the book is through the roof. You truly watch Aza transform from her earth self into her Magonia self. When she goes through the tougher things, it's truly heartbreaking and you just want to be there and tell her everything is okay. Jason has anxiety and Headly does that well without making his whole character only about anxiety.

The writing was so beautiful and lyrical. I was just entranced by everything that the author was writing and I wanted more. This book felt too short for my liking, but it all honesty it was the perfect size for this story. It was straight to the point and there were not long explanations about what was going on. Could it have used a little more explanation? Maybe, but I thought it was perfect. She is one very talented author and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves magical realism and weirdness.

5/5 Stars

Beware That Girl Review

I recently finished Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten. Normally, I would give you guys a synopsis in my own words, but this book is way too complicated to explain on my own so I'm going to copy it from Goodreads.

Synopsis: For fans of We Were Liars, The Girl on the Train, and Gone Girl, this powerful psychological thriller with multiple mysteries is set against the backdrop of the megawealthy elite of New York City. Toten delves into the mesmerizing yet dysfunctional world of those who manipulate but seem ever so charming. With its gripping pace and Hitchcockian twists, Beware That Girl will keep readers guessing until the very last line.

The Haves. The Have-Nots. Kate O’Brian appears to be a Have-Not. Her whole life has been a series of setbacks she’s had to snake her way out of—some more sinister than others. But she’s determined to change that. She’s book smart. She’s street-smart. Oh, and she’s also a masterful liar.

As the scholarship student at the Waverly School in NYC, Kate has her work cut out for her: her plan is to climb the social ladder and land a spot at Yale. She’s already found her “people” among the senior class “it” girls—specifically in the cosseted, mega-wealthy yet deeply damaged Olivia Sumner. As for Olivia, she considers Kate the best friend she’s always needed, the sister she never had.

When the handsome and whip-smart Mark Redkin joins the Waverly administration, he immediately charms his way into the faculty’s and students’ lives—becoming especially close to Olivia, a fact she’s intent on keeping to herself. It becomes increasingly obvious that Redkin poses a threat to Kate, too, in a way she can’t reveal—and can’t afford to ignore. How close can Kate and Olivia get to Mark without having to share their dark pasts?


Actual Review: This book is more or less a Gossip Girl "thriller," if you can even call it that. The main characters are very controlling of the other and the whole mystery is very boring. There are themes in this book that get a little intense if you've been abused. There are events that are implausible. As I said before with another psychological thriller I read, the book should leave you satisfied with the ending. This book does not do a good job of that.

Katie and Olivia are roommates and best friends. The point of view also switches between the two. First person goes to Katie while third person goes to Olivia. Some people may enjoy that, but I didn't particularly enjoy that. I felt it should've been left all one p.o.v. I think third would've done this story better, but it is what it is. Both characters are very dry with their own mental issues which is the "norm" at the school they attend. It even says that someone is going into the stay in hospital for something. I just didn't see anything relatable with the characters or what was happening with them.

The plot.....oh wait there was none. There was no plot to really follow until the end and even the ending didn't have a great plot ender. A lot of things didn't fully make sense within the book. It just wasn't a fantastic book. Nothing worked for me inside this book and I'm not even going to rate it because I would give it  0 stars.

Faling Kingdoms Review

Falling Kingdoms is the first in the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes. I could not really tell you what it's about because nothing happened.

This book was not my cup of tea in anyway and I don't love the style or writing or world building. It took the whole book to get to any type of conflict and when it did, I was left underwhelmed. I think characters were just killed off because the author may not have known what to do with them. Their deaths all came at weird times except one. The writing style was extremely bland and I didn't share any emotions that the characters went through. The characters were also poorly written and were all two dimensional. I'm trying to get back into fantasy and this hasn't helped my quest at all.

2/5 Stars

The Leaving Review

The Leaving is the newest (debut?) book by Tara Altebrando and it's the aftermath of 5 kids coming home from an abduction. There were originally six but one, Max, didn't return home and now the kids have to figure out who took them, why they were chosen, why Max didn't return, and how to retrieve their memories. The plot is really hard to explain because it's so intricate. There are three point of views: Lucas and Scarlett (they were apart of The Leaving), and Avery (sister of Max who was abducted). I would not recommend reading this book on an electronic device due to the grammatical and formatting errors that occur.

The characters in this book were just okay. They were all exceptionally bland and Scarlett and Lucas sounding so extremely similar they could just be continuations of each other's chapters. Avery was a complete brat and I wanted to strangle her half the time. She was upset because her mom was crying all the time and then she was disappointed her brother didn't turn up dead. Then, she was completely focused on Sam and Luke and she was so self-centered that I couldn't stand her. She has to be my most hated character I have ever read and I've read some pretty bad characters. The secondary characters were nothing special and I'll be lucky if I remember in them in a day. This book was just not strong in the character department.

This plot could've gone crazy places. There could've been such amazing curveballs that you would've never guessed who took them or why or anything else. Instead, it was so painfully obvious that it hurt. I wasn't sure at first but when one of the character' were introduced oddly I just knew that they had a connection with their disappearances and they did. There were also holes in the plot and we never figured out why something happened and who was doing it. This is one of the most disappointing books that I've read of 2016.

1/5 Stars

A Darker Shade of Magic Review

A Darker Shade of Magic is an intense book about a young man named Kell who can travel into different Londons. They're not parallel universes per say, but they're definitely connected and he's the only one who can travel through them. He meets a girl named Lila and this book is their adventure through the different Londons and trying to stop a stone from destroying his world.

This book is amazing. Victoria Schwab is a fantastic writer and her books are so captivating and spellbinding. I feel like I'm apart of the world I'm reading when it comes to her books. This book does have a few different perspectives, all in third person, but it works so amazingly well. You want to get inside all the character's heads. At least I did. I needed to know what was happening and why all those things were happening. Black London was extremely mysterious and it kept it's mystery which I loved. Some authors give a book a little mystery and lets it die away. It never did in this book, and it never gave us too much. This book did end on a good note so I'm kind of surprised it's getting a trilogy, but who wouldn't want to know what else these characters are getting into? Hopefully Black London will be explored.

All the characters were wonderfully written and felt realistic. I didn't think any of them were outrageous or crazy. Kell is such an easy protagonist to love and Lila is the badass heroine sidekick that spiced this book up. The characters remind me a lot of August and Kate (This Savage Song) and it almost seems like same characters just different plot, but if it works why change it? I was shocked by one characters betrayal. I figured he wasn't on Kell's side but I didn't expect him to turn his back on him. It added so much to this book though.

5/5 Stars

This Is Where It Ends Review

This is not an easy book to read; some people may not be able to handle the events that happen in this book. This book will not leave you with happiness, but it will leave you with hope. This book is controversial with the topic. This should be read by everyone. This book is This Is Where It Ends. A book told in a 55 minute time span filled with panic, anger, sadness, regret, and hope. May we never forget hope in an event like this.

I don't know how to write a review on a book like this because frankly I don't know what to say about it. I was left devastated by the events in this book. This will show you what some people have actually gone through. Not everyone agrees with the portrayal of the shooter, but most of the readers reading this have never been in an event like this and we will never get inside a shooters head. How do we know this is not how they are? How do we know this is? This is realistic fiction but fiction nonetheless and the author did this to how she felt the character may be. Personally, I think she did amazing. The shooter was not all evil. He had dimension to him. He was shown in good light and bad light. His ex-girlfriend defended him thinking that he could not do such a thing. His sister did everything in her power to prevent him from hurting more people. He was a person. He had is bad and his good sides like everyone else. His bad side just got the best of him in the end. These four perspectives may seem like it was too much for a book that is only 287 pages, but I thought it showed different connections that people may have had with the shooter. You had his sister, her girlfriend that he was jealous of, his ex, and a protective brother who had it out for him. How could you not form a connection with any of them? Especially seeing them in an event like this, it made me root for them and hope that they would all end up okay. They don't but that's the reality.

This is a hard book to review for. I can't even put stars on it because I don't think a book like that should be rated like that. This book needs to be read and absorbed and thought about. This is a book that will leave you uncomfortable but it should. This is what our world is going to. Everyone should be very worried.

More Happy Than Not Review

*This books deals with the topic of suicide, depression, and drugs*

More Happy Than Not is the debut novel of Adam Silvera and follows a boy named Aaron who lives in a rough part of NYC. During the story, he meets a guy named Thomas and starts developing feelings for him. When he gets denied, he wants to have a memory altering surgery to help him forget about Thomas and being gay. This story is quite emotional and follows a young man who can't quite accept himself though others have.

This book got quite a lot of hype when it came out and I expected it to live up to it but for me it did not. I'm not really into the writing style of this book. There were certain phrases repeated 14-15 times and when it's a book that's only 200 and something pages, it get a little annoying. Now, I know that it is set in the Bronx and people talk kind of different since it's not the best part of town. I lived in New York for most of my life so I do know, but it was still annoying at how hard it seemed to be ghettoish. The plot twist that so many people were shocked about didn't shock me in the least. I guessed it long before it happened. It just seemed to obvious.

I thought the main character was extremely young sounding. For all the things he had been through, he didn't seem to mature at all. Instead, he decided to run from his problems and forget that it ever happened. I just didn't agree with the idea that someone could decide that they were going to forget something that happened in their lives. It left a bad taste in my mouth. None of the characters wowed me. They were your average kids that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and are a little messed up from it. Aaron's obsession with Thomas was a little weird. If the kid isn't gay, I don't know why you're trying to convince him that he just hasn't come out yet and you'll wait for him. You can't force your sexuality on someone else no matter how much you want that person. This was happening non-stop in the book: Gen with Aaron, Aaron with Thomas, and Aaron with Collin.

I'm the minority here with this book because it does have such amazing reviews and I'm sitting here wondering how on earth it got as many good reviews as it did. Maybe I'm picky and just looking for things not to like. Who knows. I wouldn't say it's a fantastic LGBTQ+ book. Don't listen to me though.

2/5 Stars

Made You Up Review

*This novel deals with a main character that's schizophrenic. In case this triggers anyone, I just wanted to let you know.*

Made You Up is an explosive novel about an unreliable narrator with schizophrenia. In the novel, you as the reader have to determine what you think is real and what you think isn't. It's crazy and there is some major curveballs that will knock the breath out of you.

I truly enjoyed this novel and all that it offered. This book does not focus strictly on the idea that she has this problem. Instead, it focuses on how she deals with it and her adventure through high school as being a normal teenage girl. It does not paint schizophrenia in a wonderful light. It does not show all the "good" (there are no good things with this disease. Believe me. I know someone who has it) aspects of this illness. Instead, it shows how scary it can be and how much it can affect the person. I did hear there was a psychology textbook studied to get the information to write this book and whether or not this is true, it was still wonderfully written.

The characters are wonderful. Alex is an amazing narrator with such an interesting and witty sense of humor that I don't think everyone will like it, but I did. She didn't wallow is self-pity or hide away from the people who teased her and made fun of her. She rised above that and came out stronger in the end. Miles was a fantastic love interest. He riled her up, made fun of her for silly things, tested her, and pushed her. Their romance was not instalove. It was not love at first sight. It took time and effort, and they fought a lot before they finally realized they liked each other and even then their relationship wasn't easy. They had to work at it like any normal relationship.

This story will have you guessing and crying and laughing and falling in love with this beautiful story.

5/5 Stars

Harry Potter - Update

Hello everyone! Elle and I have decided to not post a review for the second book in the Harry Potter series because Elle was on vacation and we were both so busy while reading it that not posting a review would be the best thing to do. There will be a review up for book three very soon. I hope you all understand. Happy reading!

This Savage Song Review

This Savage Song is the newest novel by Victoria Schwab. It follows a human, Kate, whose father controls the northern part of Verity, and a monster, August, whose father controls the southern section. Verity is over run with monsters that are created by crimes. August and Kate will end up trying to prevent a war while each dealing with betrayals.

The story was extremely confusing at first; I almost put the book down because I was so confused. It takes about 20% for it all to start coming together. The writing itself, though, was very haunting yet beautiful which fit perfect with the story. The concept was unique and very enjoyable.
There is no romance between the characters which is extremely rare in YA. It was refreshing to see a guy and girl just be friends. The characters were also just realistic and lovable. They had such realistic qualities and I loved them both so much.

I would recommend this to fans of Cassandra Clare since both stories are urban fantasy and have a lot of similar elements.

4/5 Stars.

Update

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted in a few days and it's just because I've been crazy busy. I went on vacation for a few days and my kindle died so I just got a new one and I'm trying to figure that out. I am currently reading The Crown's Game but I'm not in love with it so far. I hope to get back to my regular review schedule soon. Bye guys!

A Gathering of Shadows Review

I recently just finished A Darker Shade of Magic which is the first book in this series and loved it. This book takes place four months after the events of the first book. As I had said in my review of the first book, the first book could've ended as a standalone and I still believe that after reading this book.

Not a whole lot happens in this book to be quite honest with you. I was left very unimpressed with the plot because there was none. This book didn't advance the plot in anyway. Was it entertaining? Sure. Was it interesting? Sort of. After this book, I lost my love with this series. I wanted more. I wanted more with Black London and the magic and everything else. Instead, Lila is all the sudden a magician and may be an Antari at that and we're left with quite a cliffhanger. This story also had the games and only the last 3 pages finally had action at the meet up between Kell and Holland. By then it was too late to salvage my feelings towards this book. I sang high praise with V.E. Schwab, but I'm starting to wonder if she can truly write series or if she's better of writing standalones. I don't know. This is short because I don't have a lot to say. I'm just disappointed.

2/5 Stars

The Loose Ends List Review

The Loose Ends List is a novel about loss, death, and forgiveness. Maddie, the main character, finds out that her gram is dying and is taking them on a death-with-dignity cruise. Though at first she doesn't want to go for fear of seeing death, she ends up going and making friends with some of the other passengers on board along with getting a boyfriend. This novel was made out to be hilarious and heartbreaking, but was pretty brash and a little insensitive at times.

This was one of my most anticipated books this year and I could not be more appalled and disappointed by this book. The family that this book is surrounding is rich and uptight minus the gram. The main character was insensitive calling the stocky family onboard "Ornaments", the new guy on board "Gollum", and calling other people rather rude nicknames. I guess that was supposed to be funny but I personally found it shocking that an author would write a main character like this. She also had IBS, but it was put into this "hilarious" light on how she "ruined another thong due to her IBS" or something along those lines. I know that there are people who have this and it's not funny or fun to deal with. Gram was a pretty good character, a little out there, but she managed to be an okay character. The rest of the family was either drunk or out there and I don't have anything good to say about any of them. I was more attached to the secondary characters than the main ones.

There's some serious insta-love in this book. Maddie lays eyes on Enzo and claims that she's in love with him. He was a bad character all by himself but them together was cry-worthy. He pressured her to smoke weed (even though she said she would never do it), he got her to drink, and have sex. Her virginity was a long joke through the whole book which was completely unnecessary. It was brought up so many times and it was as if her family was pushing her to have sex. I have no idea what realistic family does that. She mourned the loss of her boyfriend leaving more than the loss of her gram. It was all just really backwards.

I must say though, I did like the idea of a cruise travel book. I haven't read any books where the main character travels by cruise so this was new for me. Each stop was beautifully described and I had a clear picture of every destination that they landed on. I think this was probably the only thing I liked about the book.

I'm surprised so many people liked it, but maybe they read the main character's tone different than I did. 1.5/5 Stars.

With Malice Review

With Malice is a thriller and a mystery that follows Jill, who is accused of murdering her best friend after she ends up surviving the fatal car accident. She doesn't remember anything that happened before, during, or partly after the accident. She now has to piece together what happened while trying to hold on to her innocence. Included in the book are interviews with family members and witnesses, text messages, and other little things that make you feel as if you're piecing together the crime also.

I typically do not read thrillers after being disappointed by We Were Liars. I figured they were all probably similar and I wasn't missing out on much with this particular genre. That being said, I still decided to pick this book up for some reason. The idea of Jill not having her memory and being blamed for this kind of intrigued me and I saw some hype surrounding this book when it first came out. This is an enjoyable story if you don't expect too much of a shocker at the end.

Jill was a good protagonist. I was cheering for her and hoping that she was innocent and that there was more than what met the eye with the accident. I wasn't expecting a happy ending with her story though she got one and that left me extremely disappointed. There was also a character growth with her towards her feelings toward Simone, and while they were understandable the end still left me shocked and a little upset. I didn't expect her to go so cold towards her, but then again Simone was never a real friend so justice was served in a way. None of the other characters were super involved with the story except Anna. She was a fantastic friend to Jill and was what Jill needed at the time instead of everyone coddling her and pretending her life wasn't changing forever.

Honestly, I'm quite disappointed with this book and as I said before than ending was pretty cold, but I was intrigued with this story the whole time and while I did guess that it was who it ended up being, I still guessed a few other people in the process.

3.5 stars/5 Stars

City of Lost Souls {The Mortal Instruments Book Five}

This is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series, so if you have not read City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels I suggest you go back and read those before you read this book.

Wow. This book was intense. There was so much going on in this book I can't even put it all into this review. This book wasn't one character heavy. I felt that there was just enough of each character narrating it. As you all should know Sebastian, Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern is his birth name, rose from the dead with the demon Lilith. Jace and Sebastian are now bound together and if one of them gets hurt the other gets hurt as well, if one of them dies they both do. Sebastian controls Jace's mind and what he does and when Jace is actually himself he has no recollection of what happened when he was being controlled. The Clave was searching for him nonstop but other things got more important and less Shadowhunters were ordered to search for him. Obviously Clary, Isabelle and Alec are infuriated with this decision and they decide to try and find Jace on their own. Of course they have Simon, Isabelle's love but she doesn't know it yet, Magnus, Alec's immortal boyfriend, Jordan and Maia. Jace and Sebastian come for Clary at Luke's house and let's just say people don't go unscathed. While no one is paying attention Clary sneaks out and waits for them to come back so she can join them to take them down from the inside out. Clary has a way to communicate with Simon but its a secret and I will not tell you because it's pretty cool. When Jocelyn finds out Clary left she's furious. Magnus, Alec, Simon, and Isabelle summon a Demon and an Angel. One of them helps them one of them doesn't do them any good. Eventually Clary gets her Jace back, somehow someway she does. That's all I will say about this intense book and I left out a chunk of it for a reason, its shocking what this person does. Thank you so much for reading!
Happy reading!

If I Was Your Girl Review

This book is about a transsexual teen named Amanda who has to deal with a relationship and friends and no one knowing who she truly is. This is an extremely important book for people to read because it shows the struggles of a trans teen in this brutal world. It's 2016 and we still aren't accepting of people who are different than us. We shouldn't care because it doesn't concern us and they aren't hurting anyone. They're being who they are and isn't that the most important thing? That being said, I didn't love this book. So I'm going to split this review into two parts: characters and plot. I have a lot to say about some of these characters.

Characters
1. Amanda (main character)- Amanda was a good main character, but not one that will stick out in my mind for years to come. She's extremely brave for the things she has to go through and she never had self-pity for any of the troubles life put her through. She was a little young sounding for almost being 18 but that's no big deal. A very average character.

2. Bree- I don't know what happened with her. She was introduced as the chill girl who Amanda found a friend in. I never saw any hints that she ever felt affection for her, but all the sudden at the homecoming dance she outs her? I didn't truly understand that. It also seemed extremely out of character for her.

3. Chloe, Layla, and Anna- I'm combining these three because they're rarely seen without the others. They were fantastic female friends and how friends should be. They didn't leave Amanda when Bree did what she did to her. In fact, I think they only got closer and this is how girls should be. Instead of shaming each other, create a tight bond that can last forever.

4. Grant- I hated him since he was first introduced. One minute he was hot and the next minute he was cold for what reasons? I felt he was also bossy and kind of rude towards Amanda. He was just a bland love interest.

Plot
I didn't see where there was a plot in this book at all. I thought this was going to be more about Amanda transitioning, and it was more of the aftermath with some flashbacks of when she started the medicine (I forgot the word. I'm so sorry). I think the only time anything really happened was at the end which seems to be happening for a lot of the books I've been reading lately. I just don't think this was the story I was expecting and that's nothing against the author.

2/5 Stars.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone {Harry Potter Series - Book One} Review

This review for J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is going to be a little different than the other reviews we have done. Since we read this book together we are going to review it together. Onto the reviews folks.

Elle's Review For This Novel

What happens in the book is described quite nicely in Redda's review so I'm not going to repeat what she said. I'm actually struggling with writing a review for this book because most of it has been said and done already, but let's do another review. As we all hopefully know, this book series is about a wizard named Harry Potter. This is also my first time ever reading it.

This could be because I'm going into the Potter game pretty late, but I thought that this wasn't anything new. It's just another chosen one story who has enemies and came from a less than desirable home who all the sudden becomes someone completely new. That's nothing new in any genre. This book in all honesty did not have a plot until the end. It was just about his adventures at wizarding school, and if you look closely you'll also see that the book didn't follow any specific plot until the end, as most books do this. That doesn't mean it was a bad book; I still quite enjoyed the shenanigans that the gang got into. I just lost a direction with the book.

The character's were your average stereotypical characters. Nothing new with them either. I loved Ron (yes more than Harry) and didn't like Neville or Malfoy (does anyone like Malfoy?). Hermoine was a typical know-it-all and Harry was a decent main character. Nothing that blew me out of the water.

Now, I know this review may be harsh as this book is directed more towards kids, but I look at books a little more critically than some people and I don't just like to give a book 5 stars because it's popular. Booktubers do enough of that. To conclude, I don't see what all the hype is with this series as it is just an average book series. but I think it's because it's what people grew up with and I'm not knocking that.

4/5 Stars.

Redda's Review For This Novel

When I was younger I attempted to read this book and I just could not get into it whatsoever. But today I am glad to say that I am so enthralled with this book, and series for that matter, I just couldn't wait to finish it. Reading with your best friend is the greatest thing/feeling with books like these because you get to discuss and fangirl over characters, together. Now, my favorite character of this book, was Rubeus Hagrid, better known as Hagrid. 

Harry Potter is a Wizard but he doesn't know that until Hagrid comes to tell him. But let's back up just a smidge. Harry lives with his aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon, and his cousin Dudley. Harry showed up on the Dursley's doorstep when he was an infant and it's a whirlwind from there. The Dursley's didn't want anything to do with Harry because Petunia and Vernon knew he was a Wizard because of his extremely powerful parents, Lily and James Potter, who died in a "car accident." Harry believes his parents died in a car accident, but that isn't the case whatsoever. He lived in a cupboard under their stairs almost all of his life that he lived there and had hand me down clothing from his, much larger than him, cousin. Other than his hand me down clothing, Harry has very few belongings.

On one very unusual day Harry gets a letter, he'd never gotten a letter before, so Mr. Dursley opens it and he doesn't like the contents of the letter and he never lets Harry see it. Letters keep coming and eventually, some time later, Hagrid shows up to tell Harry what's in the letter and that he's a Wizard. Also I love the way Hagrid is written and the way he speaks. He sounds like a pirate but a nice pirate that's really cool. Hagrid takes Harry to get everything he needs for school and such and it's a whole new world for Harry. He's famous. And at Hogwart's he befriends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron and Hermione teach a lot of things to Harry about the Wizard world that he didn't and couldn't learn in the Muggle world, even though Hermione was raised in the Muggle world she is very well educated. Anyways, this is all of the book I will spoil for you, there is so much more to it! I hope you enjoy this series of double reviews! Happy reading! 

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall Review

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall is about Sarah, a 16 year-old girl, who wakes up dead at Mall of America with no recollection of who killed her or why. In fact, she deals with trying to believe if she was truly murdered or if she suffered from food poisoning.

This was a great novel that gave a more lighthearted look at death instead of grim reapers and deciding on whether you belong in Heaven or Hell. It's based in Mall of America, which I said above, and that type of setting was absolutely wonderful to see used as a death place. It only added to the lightheartedness of this novel. This book does hold a bit of mystery to it because there isn't a reason as to why the person killed Sarah for a good portion of the novel and you're just left with the question, "Why?" Granted, you will find out and it'll be sort of obvious as to who did it and why if you pick up the clues. It was a super predictable novel, but it was a fun one so I can't complain.

The main character Sarah was a fantastic narrator. She was witty (trying a bit too hard sometimes), funny, and actually cared about her family and the dead people around her. In all honesty, all the characters has such diverse personalities. It was absolutely refreshing to see. I think as a whole this novel did a fantastic job at being positive with relationships between characters and being relatively positive with the whole death scene. I would read another book by this author hands down.

4/5 stars.

The Rose and the Dagger Review

The Rose & the Dagger is the second and final book in The Wrath & the Dawn duology. It picks up directly where the first book takes off and is more about Khalid trying to break the curse and readying for war with his uncle if need be. This review will have spoilers.

As with what happened with the first book, this book took a little longer to get into for me. The writing is still absolutely beautiful in this book, but something was holding me back from truly enjoying it at first. This book is slower paced than the first one I feel and the first half of the book felt like one huge filler until the end. Shazi is in a camp, that Tyriq took her to, trying to get back to Khalid and learning how to break the curse. Towards the middle of the book, they learn what to do to break the curse though it's never explicably told if what he was told broke the curse. Towards the end of the book is when the action actually picked up. Shazi was taken again and finally Khalid was forced to go to war with his uncle. I think the plot got lost a little in this book and some of the characters were lost among it. I expected this to be a quest to break the curse and it being a lot more complicated then what it was.


I questioned what Shazi's objective in the book was. She was mostly a pawn for other people's game even though she swore she wouldn't be. I mean, she was kidnapped from one place to another with so many betrayals and lies it was hard to keep track of. I didn't really understand Irsa's point in either novel. She didn't do much for me, and the only time I felt something for her other than indifference was when Rahim died. Khalid and Tyriq were still true to form in this book and I was thankful that neither changed too much.

I liked the first book a lot more than I liked this book but this one was still spectacular with the world building and descriptions. 3.5/5 Stars.

City of Fallen Angels {The Mortal Instruments Book Four}

This is the fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series, so if you have not read City of Bones, City of  Ashes and City of Glass, I suggest you go back and read those before you read this book.
This book had a lot more of Simon and Jace's perspectives in it, but I'm not saying this as a bad thing. Simon, as all of you should know, is a vampire and he can be in the daylight, which all vampires except him can't be in the daylight, everyone calls him the "Daylighter." Simon tries to live as much as a mundane life as possible. Obviously drinking blood and going away to Idris for two weeks is not mundane like at all. After his Idris visit his mother, who knows nothing about him being a vampire or going to Idris, is a lot less chill than she was in the past. He is expected home at certain times, she waits up for him and she started drinking. Simon's mother starts snooping around his room after she has had enough of it and you can imagine what she found. But that's enough about Simon.
There is a new character introduced and his name is Kyle, he's part of Simon's band, that has at least a dozen names by now, and Kyle is a very important part of this book. Later on you will find out that Kyle isn't who he says he is. OH! Also I almost forgot. One more thing about Simon. He has two girlfriends and that gets him in deep trouble.
Jace. Where to begin with him? Well, he is still deeply in love with Clary and he helps train her to become a Shadowhunter. Throughout the whole book he has these nightmares, I won't tell you about what, but it makes him very distant from Clary. The confusing part but not so confusing part is that every time he sees her, he makes out with her and she always asks whats wrong and he never says. But finally he tells her after Clary stands her ground and gives him an ultimatum after a..uhm..incident happens or nearly happens. Clary and Jace *attempt* get him some help but..I'm not telling you what happens after that!
Also Luke and Jocelyn are getting married!! This was a great book. I love Cassandra Clare's writing style and all of the characters she brings into these books.
5 Stars

City of Glass {The Mortal Instruments Book Three}

Hello Readers! I know it's been a while since I've posted something, my apologies! But I am so interested in this series and normally I can't put these books down but with the school year coming to an end, it took me a little while to read this book. Now let's get into this review shall we? This is the third book in The Mortal Instruments series, so if you have not read City of Bones and City of  Ashes, I suggest you go back and read both of them before you read this book.

This book takes place in Idris. And somehow (I know how I'm just not telling you) Simon, who is now a vampire and is not allowed in Idris, is dragged into Idris and then thrown into prison not long after he arrives with Jace and the Lightwood family. Clary opens her own portal and Luke tries to stop her from entering and ends up going in after her. They both fall into Lake Lyn from the open portal and it's poisonous to Clary and she almost dies from the lake. Luckily she has Luke there and Luke has someone to help him in Idris. This is only the beginning of the book. Five people die, of those five one comes back to life. A handful of new people are introduced and a few of them play a large part in this book. Some people profess their love to one another and you'll just have to read and see who these people are! That's all I will spoil of the book! My next review will be up when I finish the fourth book in this series, City of Fallen Angels. Happy reading!

5 Stars

A Court of Mist and Fury Review *Spoilers*

This review will have spoilers. If you have yet to read A Court of Thorns and Roses, I encourage you to read that now. This book also has some explicit scenes so beware if you are a younger reader.

A Court of Mist and Fury is the second book in the ACOTAR trilogy. Feyre is now in the Night Court with Rhysand and it's the journey of her events after Under the Mountain. She is trying to heal herself and the hole that Tamlin leaves after he betrays her in more than one way.

This review as a whole may be an unpopular one as a whole. I picked up this series again after several attempts with the first book because I heard that this book is legions above the first book. That's not actually what I got, but I did see improvements with characters and the way things were written. This book overall was just okay with some shocking parts throughout the book but the end being the most shocking part and a cliff hanger. Same recipe as the last book.

Feyre darling's character definitely matured in this book. She is dealing with the events that took place under the mountain and is not just ignoring them or acting like it never happened. The author does a great job at reminding us what happened and not blowing it off like so many other books do. She does eventually heal but it's not instantly. It takes time. We got such depth with Rhysand's character and why he does what he does. I fully enjoyed diving into his court and seeing how the infamous Night Court works. I personally have never loved the Spring Court and when the book got the change of scenery it was much appreciated.

As I said above, the recipe of this book was the same as the last one: a few surprises throughout the book and give this explosive ending that leaves readers wanting more. I was not shocked by many of the things that happened in this book and that may be because it was kind of obvious. Tamlin's alliance with the king of Hybern was less than shocking. He was obsessed with Feyre and would do anything to get her back. It's kind of disturbing. Feyre getting mad at Rhys not telling her that she was his mate was just petty. Little things like that in the book just bothered me. I won't say that this is a bad book because it's not, the writing just isn't where I was expected to believe it was.

I am left rather disappointed with this book. I think Sarah J Maas is a wonderful author but this series does not compare to Throne of Glass. I give this book a 3.5/ 5 Stars

Gena/Finn Review

Gena/Finn is a novel told strictly in IMS, text messages, blog posts, and all other media related things. Gena and Finn are two girls who meet after bonding over liking the same tv show. It follows them as their relationship goes from friends to more than friends. It's an intense novel and not for the lighthearted. I actually finished this book in a day but this review won't be up until two days from now.

As I said before, this book is very intense. It's not the feel good story I thought it was going to be and this book made me laugh and cry with the characters. I loved the characters personally. Gena a little more than Finn because she was closer to my age and I understood what she was going through, but both were fantastic. I thought their relationship was a little unhealthy though. They started out s strangers, turned into friends pretty fast, and then they were meeting and developing more than friends feelings and becoming a little obsessive with each other. I LOVE PIE. I have nothing against internet friends and I know they're valid, but I thought the friendship moved way too fast to be realistic. I've never had an internet friend before so I could be wrong. The middle and ending was absolutely insane. At times I felt it was odd and out of place, but for the most part I realized where it went in the story and realized it fit well. (It was a huge event. You'll know what I'm talking about if you read it).

I know the two authors wrote their own character and it was flawless. The two characters had their own voice and was distinct without being two different and feeling like I was reading two different stories. To show how the fandom and the show brought these two together, the blog posts and text messages were excellent. You saw them interact directly with the fandom and the fangirls and it was just excellent. The mental illness part of it was done excellently and it wasn't the only thing that book was about.
4/5 stars

Love & Gelato Review

Love & Gelato is the debut novel of Jenna Evans Welch. It takes place in Italy and follows a girl, Lina (Carolina), who must figure out why her mom sent her to live with her father that she hasn't known for 16 years. It holds love, mystery, and a feel good story.

This book gets major points for being set in Italy. The author actually spent her high school years in Italy and you can definitely tell. The detail is phenomenal and you really feel like you are in the country also. That's about all I felt went well with this book. The setting brought this book together but the characters made this book fall apart.

The main character was dry. She had no substance or personality about her, and she mainly focused on herself and why would her mom do this to her and all that teenage angst. Ren was annoying and moody towards the end of the book only to end up with the main character (insta-love happens). The only interesting person was the mom and her journal entries and even then at times I didn't love it. I knew her dad wasn't Howard once he was introduced and Lina had an idea, but she spent the whole book trying to make sure it wasn't him. A good part of this book wasn't necessary.

In all honesty, that's what this whole book is about. Lina trying to figure out who her dad is and falling in love with Ren. That's the mystery of this whole book so it's kind of hard to say much else about it. If you love Italy or books about Italy, I definitely recommend checking this book out even if it's just for the setting.

3/5 Stars.

Books That Have Made Me Cry (With some spoilers)

There are two types of readers in the world: the over emotional ones and the stony ones. This will separate the strong from the weak when it comes to a sad scene in a book. A favorite character dies: will you cry? Or will you persevere and hope they come back to life in some mysterious way? WHAT WILL YOU DO? Okay, enough of the dramatics. These are the books that have made me shed a tear, let out a silent sob, or made me throw my book against the wall in anger and collapse into a puddle of tears asking the universe why this had to happen to me because I'm a relatively good person once in a while.

1. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater: So, I don't know if you all know this but I love The Raven Cycle. It's actually on my list of top series and Gansey is one of my many fictional boyfriends. As we all may or may not know from my other review, Gansey dies (I still haven't accepted it so I like to pretend it never happened). Yes, he comes back to life and Cabeswater is now apart of him, but still. My boyfriend is dead and then Noah disappeared from the book at the end. I was upset. Very very very very upset. You have no idea. Then I just cried because the series was over. Sadness all around in this book. Don't read this book. Let the characters stay alive in your mind in Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

2. Every Last Word by Tamera Ireland Stone: This was a fantastic book about a girl who deals with OCD and starts to come into her own. She makes a friend with a girl named Caroline and is introduced into Caroline's friends. The whole story is beautifully executed and shows OCD so well. It's not a story built around OCD. It's just a story with a character who suffers from it. Well, it turns out that Caroline was dead the whole time. I was upset to say the least when that came about. She befriended the main character, brought her into her own, got her and her crush together, all to find out she's dead. The worst part is it was from suicide. Upsetting.

3. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven: This book is about a boy who is bipolar and a girl who loses her sister in a car accident and blames herself for her sister's death. They become good friends and even lovers in this book. Then Finch offs himself. When Violet describes how she sees him when they pull him up from the water, is absolutely devastating. You see what suicide does to the people around you who love you. I knew Finch would die, but I still wasn't quite prepared for it. He was a good character and I loved him and Violet together.

4. Allegiant by Veronica Ross: This ending was just cruel. Everyone knows what happened because either you've been spoiled or you read it, or you've been spoiled and still read it but you know. And you may accept it but I don't. Only during death did her original faction finally show who she was. Cruel.

5. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson: This book follows a girl whose father is dying and her family decides to have one last family summer together. She doesn't really want to go to her summer house because there are memories and people up there that she's done wrong. She goes up here anyway and the summer turns around for her. Then her dad dies and it's so painful and I can't. You just have to read it. These book deaths are all sad. Only the first one has a decent ending.

This is just a very short list of my long list of sad books. I can imagine you can see which group I fall into with the emotional or stony people. Yeah.... Have a good day and don't read sad books!

The Crown Review *Spoilers*

The Crown is the 5th and final novel in the Selection series. It's a part of The Heir that follows Eadlyn and her selection. This series as a whole has gotten a lot of hate and a lot of love but The Heir and The Crown especially has received a lot of hate. I can understand why, but this series was never meant to be stimulating. It's just meant to be a fun book series that you didn't have to think about. This series does come with its faults and problems as all books do. This is a spoiler review on The Crown.

When it was announced that The Selection series was getting two more books 20 years in the future, I was pretty disappointed. I felt that the series was wrapped up nicely and I wasn't sure that the spin off books would live up to the other three. Turns out I was right. I couldn't stand Eadlyn as a narrator and she was extremely self-centered. She didn't get much better in the second book. She was still very self-centered even when her mother was recovering from a heart attack. There was no character growth with any of the characters. Her choice that she made was not surprising and I'm just extremely disappointed in both books in this series.

2/5 Stars

Everything, Everything Review

Everything, Everything is the debut novel of Nicola Yoon that follows an 18 year old girl, Madeline, who has a rare autoimmune disease (SCID) that stops her from going outside and being a normal teenager. This book shows her struggles with the sickness and what happens when she meets the right boy to get her to start living.

There's almost no complaints I have about this book. It was just that good. The writing was wonderful and light hearted even when dealing with such a topic as SCID. The main character took it all in and understood that she couldn't do things like the other kids even if she wanted too. I will admit she was a little childish sounding, but since she hasn't left the house in 18 years and had been so guarded I can completely understand that. Olly was such a good character and I loved that he didn't feel bad for her. He tried to make her feel normal, and most kids wouldn't do that. HE put in effort to try and see her even though the process is long and arduous. He was just a good kid who didn't have the best life at home but never let that stop him. I can't sing enough praise for these two characters and how well they fit together in the book.

I will say I couldn't stand the mother and she gets a whole paragraph for this. From the first page that she was introduced, I couldn't stand her. I understand having a sick child and needing to protect them, but she just needed to be with Madeline (main character's name) 24/7. She couldn't go anywhere so she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. At the end of the book I realize now why she was the way she was and I completely respect it. I still didn't like her, though. I just respected her reasoning for protecting her daughter.

This book has extra little things in it like IM messages, drawings, schedules, and other stuff like that. I feel those things only add to a reading experience because now you're even more in the characters lives and get to see things happening first hand instead of them just describing it. The ending was completely shocking at something I didn't see coming at all. Sometimes, I can pick up on little hints that give stuff away but not this time. Not even close. Yoon just executed this book so flawlessly and beautifully and I can't wait for her next book in November.

5/5 Stars

Falling into Place Review

Trigger Warning: This book deals with the topics of suicide, depression, abortions, drugs, along with a few other heavier topics.

Falling into Place is the debut novel of Amy Zhang, and it deals with girl named Liz Emerson who crashes her car into a tree and tries to make her suicide look like an accident. It's told both in the present and in flashbacks with a mysterious narrator. There will be spoilers on a few things so beware.

This book left me feeling a whole lot of different emotions: hope, disappointment, and sadness. This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a great book either. I had problems with characters and the narrator and topics and everything else. This was just not my type of book.

We'll start with characters and the narrator first. Liz, Kennie, and Julia are three best friends who have been inseparable since 6th grade. They've been to parties, have humiliated people, been through Kennie's abortion together. They did everything together. These characters are the definition of preppy high school girls. They're mean and they humiliate people without caring. They're what everyone wants to be like but no one actually likes. Julia wasn't bad because she was different than the rest of them, but she was into drugs so was she really any better than the rest of them? I don't know. None of these characters left a real impression on me. I was rooting for Liz to live, but I felt no connection towards her. The narrator is supposed to be "surprising" and "shocking" but I guessed it 10% in the book, and I couldn't have been more disappointed. I expected someone crazy or someone who used to be friends with her until they grew up but she always still cared for her. No, that's not at all what happened. It was her/her imaginary friend. The story lost so much to me when I realized it. That's not surprising or shocking. It's kind of a cop out narrator; where's the imagination in a narrator?

The book surrounded the party scene with the drugs and alcohol and the whole nine yards and it felt too cliché for the popular girls to be at the best parties drinking the best alcohol or doing the strongest drugs. I just wanted more from this book. I didn't love the way the book was written with the flashbacks and the nonlinear writing style. I guess I expected a completely different story than what I got and that's okay. I was left uncomfortable with some of the scenes and left missing something from others.

2/5 Stars

A Court of Thorns and Roses Review

I attempted this book over winter break last year and only got 35% through before I gave up. I tried it again and loved it more than I liked it before, but I still didn't love this book. This is Sarah J Maas' other book series. The second book A Court of Mist and Fury is out now.

This book is *loosely* based on Beauty and the Beast but take the loosely very heavily because I didn't see any similarities between Beauty and the Beast and this book, and I think that's why I didn't like it the first time around. I thought it was going to be more closely of a retelling than what it actually was. Now that I know what I got into this time around, I could accept it for what it was. This is not one of her better books and I think her other books does leaps around this book, but I also heard the second book gets better and I'm quite excited to read it.

This book is just average. The writing was very repetitive with certain phrases and it lost its punch or effect after its repeated for the 5th time in 3 chapters. Nothing really happens in the first half of the book other than Feyre getting taken by Tamlin (not a spoiler). Then I feel the plot kind of disappears until the second half of the book and we're tossed into a whole different plot it feels. It also did a lot of jumping around and I was left very confused through parts of it. 

Tamlin had amazing character growth through out the book and so did Lucein for that matter. They felt so real to me and I fell in love with all the characters except Feyre. She wasn't a bad heroine, but I also compared her to Aelin (or Celaena) quite a lot. That was probably my fault. 

This book does have a little mature content so read at your own risk. It's nothing too shocking, though. Overall, I'd give this book a 3.5/5. 

The Unexpected Everything Review

The Unexpected Everything is the newest novel by Morgan Matson. Andie, the main character, like to have everything planned out and when her summer takes a turn, she has to try and go along with it having no plan on what this summer will have in store. It is a feel good story filled with friendship, first love, and everything else you would expect in a Morgan Matson book.

I love Matson's books. I think her writing is phenomenal and she writes beautiful summer stories. That said, this one is no different. It had all the elements of a typical Morgan Matson story, but I thought this one was lacking on quite a few things:

1. Plot. There was a plot in the beginning of the book and then by about 50% through we lost it. I thought the book could've wrapped up nicely around that. Andie had figured out her summer plans, she had a new boyfriend that she actually cared about, and her friends and her were still together. Of course that's not what happened and a bunch of stuff got added to the book that probably didn't need to be added. I was just lost on what the second half of the book really had to do with the first. Drama was added that didn't need to be, and I know we all appreciate a nice long contemporary read by a great author but this one was unnecessary.

2. Predictable. I know most contemporary books seem to be pretty predictable and Morgan Matson's books are not necessarily excluded from this but they're also so good that you can ignore the slight predictable element. This one was too predictable. I could've told you what was going to happen from 30% in because it happens in almost all summer books. The relationship crumbles because either someone intervened or the girl got scared about the way the relationship was going, she gets into a fight with either all her friends or one of her friends, she goes and chases the guy and tells him she loves him, her friends take her back in an emotional state, and everyone lives happily ever after. (Sorry if I ruined the plot for you, but I know that you know that you've read a book like this before so did I really spoil you?)

3. Characters. I can honestly say I liked only one character and it wasn't even the main character. I couldn't stand Andie at first. I thought she was stuck up and felt she was entitled because she was a senator's daughter (I don't think he was a senator, oops). When Clark was introduced and her relationship with him grew I saw changes in her that seemed to have resulted from him and I started to like her a bit more. I didn't care for Bri or Toby. I felt they were basically the same character and I just wasn't impressed. I did like Palmer, though. She was laid back and the most sane and normal friend out of the bunch.

Even though I had a lot of complaints, it's still a great book. It just wasn't up to my expectations. I rated it 3 stars out of 5. Here are some of her other titles you should definitely check out:
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Since You've Been Gone
Second Chance Summer

Reading Habits Tag

Hello everyone! Things have finally calmed down at my place and now I can focus more on reading. Since I'm currently in the middle of The Unexpected Everything, I decided why not do a book tag? This is my apology for my lack of posting in the blog and to do something fun and interesting. As the title says, this tag is about my reading habits and what I do.

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

No, I do not. I read anywhere and everywhere in my house, but you can probably find me curled up on my bed with a book.

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Both. If I know where my book mark is then I'll use that, but if I don't then I'll just tear off a random piece of paper.

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/certain amount of pages?

I prefer to stop at a chapter if I can get myself there. If the chapters are really long and I don't have the time to read until the next chapter, then I'll just stop at what page I'm on.

4. Do you eat or drink while reading?

If it's meal time and my mom doesn't care, then yes.

5. Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?

Music. I feel like it adds to the reading experience; when I'm listening to music and reading and the song just makes perfect sense with the book, I get even more into the book. Music and books go together. I mean even authors do playlists with their books.

6. One book at a time or several at once?

When I was younger I used to read multiple books at once, but now I'd rather read once and let it have my full attention then attempt to read two or three and lose track of all the plots of the books.

7. Reading at home or everywhere?

Everywhere.

8. Reading out loud or silently in your head?

Silently. I used to read out loud but now I'm able to read silently with no problems. I will read out loud if a sentence doesn't make sense to me or something is particularly shocking.

9. Do you read ahead or even skip pages?

Yes. Sometimes a book is just too good and I can't wait and I skip pages. I'm also known to spoil myself because the mystery of what happens next just eats at me.

10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

It doesn't really bother me if I do break the spine or keep it like new, but I don't go out of my way to break the spine of a book. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.

11. Do you write in your books?

Absolutely not. I only take notes if I'm reading on my kindle but a pen or pencil will never touch the pages of my books.

Thank you all so much for reading!! This was just a little more about me and some of my reading habits that I have!

The Wrath and the Dawn Review

I'm going to try doing this review a little different so let's see how this goes.

The Wrath and the Dawn is apart of a duology by Renée Adieh (I'm not sure if I spelled that right). This book has romance, a touch of magic, and murder

Summary: This story follows a young girl named Shahrzad who tries to avenge her best friend's death. She plans to kill the caliph but her plan will go haywire when she develops feelings for him. This is based on A Thousand and One Nights.

What a rollercoaster this story was. I originally tried to read it twice before this but put it down due to lack of interest. I finally gave it another shot and am so glad I did. The writing is fantastic and lyrical and beautiful. The character development was out of this world. You saw Shazi mature even though she was already a pretty mature character. Khalid grew into his own and I started rooting for him over Tyriq. The world building and descriptions put you straight into the story. I will admit some of the middle eastern words confused me, but I didn't realize there was a glossary in the back (I read on my kindle). I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this book and can't wait to get my hands on The Rose and the Dagger.

5 Stars.

Update

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't posted anything. I probably won't for the rest of the month of May and the beginning of June. My library closed :( and I just have been in a reading slump every time I try to read on my kindle. I'm also moving so I'll be busy doing that and getting settled. Redda may have a review up for City of Glass when she finishes that so look out for that! I hope you all have a great day and hopefully I'll be back sooner than I thought.

Queen of Shadows Review

Queen of Shadows is the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series. This book is explosive and fast paced and another brilliant installment in the series. This is going to be a rather short review as I will not spoil anything within this book. I highly recommend these books to everyone. It's so exciting and refreshing and fun.

This book I know has some mixed reviews. Some people love this book and others feel like it was a filler book. I personally loved the book. It started bringing the series in a different direction and I can only imagine what this author has in store. I will say that for awhile it put me into a reading slump so I had to back away, but once I came to this story I was fully immersed in the world and the characters again. There did seem to be a lot of waiting and anticipation going on in the book which had me a little uninterested in parts of the book. The ending was explosive like any book in this series and I'm highly anticipating the next book.

Flawed Review

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern is a book about a perfect society and if you fail or step out of line in anyway you are branded with an F and are officially flawed. The main character, Celestine, witnesses something that she is not supposed to react to and will ultimately pay the price for the decision that she makes. She will become the poster child on not what to do. Her family and her relationships will never be the same.

This book is your average dystopian. A "utopia" that a character lives in until they see the flaws (see what I did there?) in their society and try to stand up for what they believe is right. Well, in this society it's a lot harder because ethics plays such a major role in how the society functions and the rules. I absolutely hated the beginning of the book; I'm not going to pretend and sugar coat it. I liked the idea of the book premise outside of the book. I didn't like the book premise going into the book. Seeing it played out only made me angry at the character and all the other "perfect" people in this society. But I know, it's a book. Chill. So I did. It was only a matter of time before the main character effed up like we knew she would and when she did it wasn't even that bad. Morally, she responded the correct way, but the town got all hysterical. (I actually don't think this paragraph had a true point at all.)

I didn't enjoy these characters. They were extremely boring and I think they were boring because of the society that they lived in and they couldn't really express themselves. The most interesting part for me was the court room and the judging day for her. That was probably the most that happens in this book. The rest is her dealing with the repercussions of being flawed and having to adjust to a new style of life. I just didn't like the idea of people frowning down on someone because they made a mistake that was most likely a morally and ethically correct decision.

I think the dystopian genre is dying; it had its run with The Hunger Games and Divergent series but now its losing steam. This story idea is not new. There are other stories very similar to this. I thought  of Matched  for some reason when I read this series. Syfy and fantasy are really becoming dominant forces in young-adult fiction. I hope a good dystopian book comes out that knocks everyone out and revives this genre because I did love it. I loved the picture perfect societies they did only to have someone knock it down and slowly rebuild it into someone better. Until then....I shall be waiting.....

3 stars.

Carry On Review

Carry On is a novel by Rainbow Rowell and it's the fanfiction from her other novel Fangirl. While you could read Fangirl before diving into the other novel, it's not necessary and wouldn't stop you from understanding the novel.

I know a lot of people feel as if this is a Harry Potter rip of but since I've never read Harry Potter I'm not spoiled or upset in this way. In fact, I loved the novel; the second half was much more entertaining than the first half. It just got so excited and I was captivated with the writing and the relationship that was starting to grow but wasn't one hundred percent there yet. Rainbow Rowell did amazing on this novel, and other than Eleanor and Parks this is one of my favorite novels not just by her but in general.

I'm going to split this review into first half and second half because of my differing opinions on the two sections of the book. The first half was slow and was more explaining Simon's back story and how he got to Watford and it had nothing going on. I actually almost DNFed this book at page 150 because I thought this whole book was going to be like that, but then I saw Baz was about to be introduced in 10 pages and I continued on with the story. As I said before, I'm certainly glad I did. Towards the end of the first half of the book, it does start to pick up pace as two mysteries emerge and a love triangle (sort of) comes to light. Most of the characters actually bothered me in the first half and Agatha and Penelope continued to bother me in the second half. Agatha didn't care enough and Penelope was too bossy.

The second half was so much better than the first half. You were thrown into the mystery with the characters and trying to figure out along with them who killed Baz's mother while also seeing Baz and Simon's relationship start to play out beautifully. The killer was quite predictable and I guessed it since the beginning of the book that it was who it was but overall this ended up being an amazing book. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.

(A/N: I haven't finished Crown of Midnight yet so that's why there's no review up. I had to take a break.)

The Raven King -Review *Major Spoilers*

This review will have spoilers from the book series The Raven Cycle. If you have not read it, I encourage you to pick up the first book The Raven Boys. Do not read this review if you have any interest in this series.

This is the last book in the wonderful Raven Cycle quartet. There was a lot going on in this book. Now we all knew in the beginning of the first book that a). Gansey was meant to die and b). Blue would probably be the one to kill him. This whole book series is about their adventure through the magical Cabeswater and them trying to figure it out I guess. In this last book, Cabeswater is dying and so is Ronan's dreamscape. Anything affecting him will affect the forest since he is the one who gave it life in a physical form. Gansey, while trying to help Ronan, is also searching for his own magical item per say: Owen Glendower. He does find him but it ultimately disappointed with the results and then basically everything goes to crap in the book. Everyone almost dies and it's a complete disaster. But I do have one word for you guys: Pynch. 'Nuff said.

I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed with this book. I had been anticipating this book since I read Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue because I was hoping everything was going to tie together and we were going to get this explosive ending. We did. Sort of. I don't think everything made sense in the book and I'm confused why some of the characters were ever put into the series in the first place (Piper, Henry, and Artemus). I didn't see a real reason for them and I felt the series could've done just fine without them. I will tell you what disappointed me to no end: Gansey did not end up finding Glendower. He was long dead by the time Gansey found him and tried to ask for a favor. A huge part of this series was Gansey trying to find Glendower and I was really upset when they found him and he'd just been dead the whole time. I didn't see that coming and not in a good way. Blue is also part of the tree people which confused the living crap out of me and truly made no sense in the book. Gansey does die like the author promises and no he does not stay dead. He'll come back because Ronan will beg for Cabeswater to do something to give them back Gansey. So he lives on.

I think for a book itself it is an amazing book. I love how Maggie Stievater writes because it's beautifully written and lyrical. As the end of a book series, I think it could've been a little different. I wish it had answered more questions or just be a little more cohesive because as I said, huge chunks of this book was lost on me only making it more complicated with more questions that were never fully answered. I would still invest your time in these books because the characters are extremely loveable and I loved all of them as if they were real. It was a bittersweet end to an incredible and weird book series. 5 stars.

If you for some reason still read this review without reading the other books but still want to read the series, here are the other three book titles:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

I am back with another book tag! This time with unpopular opinions because everyone knows I have a lot of them. I also love book tags. Here we go.

1. A book or book series that you did not like
For this question I'm going to have two answers and I might get hit for both of them: A Court of Thorns and Roses and Fangirl. I couldn't stand the first book at all. I thought the writing was trying to hard to be lyrical and instead it was just boring and fell flat in so many ways for me, but I am planning on trying to reread that book so many I will change my opinion. As for Fangirl, I felt nothing for any of the characters. I thought Cath was too whiny and her sister way too rude and I wanted it to be over so badly. I have a review for Fangirl on the site somewhere so if you want my full opinions you can check it out down below.

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love
I loved the book Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver. I love her writing style and adored the book Before I Fall and this book did not disappoint me either. She captivated me through the book with the perils of the two sisters and the ending was explosive. I was extremely shocked and blown out of my mind. I don't know if this is a super popular book now but I know it was at some point.

3. A love triangle where the main character did not end up with the character you wanted
This question is a little harder for me because normally I just root for whichever love interest the main character leans towards most. I did come up with an answer. I chose The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo because I absolutely hate who Alina ended up with and I hate the ending of the third book. I have a lot of pent up anger about that last book and the little things that decided to go on.

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for
SYFY AND HISTORICAL FICTION. There is something about those two genres that put me into a deep, dark reading slump so I avoid them unless the book really captivates my attention.

5. A popular or beloved book character that you do not like
I do not like Mare from Red Queen. I did like her character in the first book but the second book rolled around and I was very turned off by her character and how she was starting to act towards other.

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into
I don't like Jesse Andrew's writing style. I find it rude and over the line of just being sarcastic. I have read Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl and was completely turned off from the story and the characters. And there was also a certain word dropped in the book that sealed this books fate and this author as an author to avoid.

7. A popular book trope that you are tired of seeing
I'm sick of the character not existing in the end even though it was involved in the whole story. Like the end of We Were Liars and technically Vanishing Girls. There's just something about becoming attached to a book character to find out they never existed and it was figments of the main character's imagination.

8. A popular book series you have no desire to pick up
I have no real desire to pick up The Winner's trilogy. I know it has a lot to do politically and I'm not really into politics and how the world works. I like action or magic and other things like that. I will also probably never pick up the 5th Wave series either. That book series has never interested me. Aliens and floods and stuff like that. No thanks.

9. As the saying goes "The book is always better than the movie," but it what cases is this not true?
 This is not true for the Hunger Games movies. I hated the second book of the series but loved the movie. I honestly loved all the movies of the Hunger Games a little bit more than the books.

Let me know if you agree with these or disagree or what your own unpopular opinions might be!

Intimidating TBR Tag

I have seen this tag around YouTube everywhere and I thought it would be extremely fun to talk about my TBR and do my first ever tag. At first I thought it would be weird to do one on a book blog but I looked around and others have done it too so I don't feel so bad. Here we go!


A Book You Were Unable to Finish

I for whatever cannot finish The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. I've tried 3 or 4 times but there is something about the writing style and the voices that only get me 50 pages in before I get bored and move on. The whole idea of the book intrigues me, but once I actually sit down and read the book, I lose whatever was getting me excited to even read it.

A Book You've Yet to Read Because You Just Haven't Had the Time

I haven't had time to read The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand. I know it's a book that has to deal with suicide and depression and I haven't had the time to fully immense myself in a book with that magnitude of feeling. I just finished Heir of Fire and am going to take a break before I start Queen of Shadows so I might try to read this book soon.

A Book You Haven't Read Yet Because It's Brand New

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson came out today and I haven't read it, but I am extremely excited to read it because she is one of my favorite contemporary authors.

A Book You Haven't Read Because of a Different Book By The Same Author
That would have to be Throne of Glass. Obviously. now I have read  Throne of Glass series but I was really apprehensive to read this series due to me thoroughly disliking her other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses. I hated this book and I figured that if her other series was written like that then I probably would end up disliking her and being the odd one out. Thank goodness they are not written in the same style and I love Throne of Glass.

A Book You Haven't Read Yet Because You Just Haven't Been in the Mood

I think in general I haven't been in the mood for fantasy. I am all fantasied out with the series that I have marathoned. I just need some good light-hearted contemporary and take a break from hi-fantasy.

A Book You Haven't Read Yet Because It's Humongous

The Diviners will probably be the answer to that. It's not huge but it is also historical fiction so now I feel like I'm going to be forcing myself to read that book which will make it feel that much bigger.

The Most Intimidating Book on Your TBR

My most intimidating book is Winter by Marissa Meyer because it's over 800 pages and I have extremely high hopes for this book.