Seventeen Ain't So Sweet

Seventeen ain't so sweet if you are living in the year 2025. When a person turns 17, it is by law that they must get the bar code tattoo on their wrist. What is presented to the people of America as just a means of identification, currency and basic medical history, the bar code tattoo is actually so much more and for most it is the end of their life. The first book was the build up of the world Suzanne Weyn was trying to bring across. The second book was the culmination of all the information given in the first one. Quite a bit of the second book was predictable but still interesting. Until it all of a sudden takes a very weird turn, one that I felt was reaching just a little too far. The ending was severely disappointing. It was too easy, everything the characters had been through and the fact that the word rebellion was in the title just made the finish line fall short. It was like listening to a very long, drawn out joke that has great potential and then hearing the punch line that turns out to be really silly. It made me wonder... what was the point? What a waste of time it turned out to be. The saddest part is that I really thought I was going to love this book.

Sweet Sixteen

Dystopian novels have always been a favorite of mine. There's nothing like a frightening future to make you realize that your life isn't as bad as you thought... or to scare you shit-less when you think of whats to come. When I decided to read Bar Code Tattoo, I think I was expecting something a bit more intense, something perhaps written like The Hunger Games. However, what I did get was a book that is a little more tame, not quite as suspenseful and slightly slower moving but the reality is that a book like Bar Code Tattoo is far more frightening than The Hunger Games because there is a better chance of it becoming our true future. It's hard to imagine that The Hunger Games could ever actually occur. When you think about both books it seems that our world may be leading toward a world like the one Suzanne Weyn created. Weyn didn't change our world all that much to get to her world, in fact she allowed something from her own life to initiate the idea.

15 Minutes of Fame

These books are not exactly something spectacular but I am very into them. So far they have both been quick, easy reads. The characters are well developed and interesting. One thing that bugged me while reading the second book was that it didn't seem the author was always very original with her descriptions, each time she would describe a feeling or emotion she would use the exact same words she used in the first book. I'm very happy that she left the second book off on a bit of a cliff hanger because the first book could have been a single novel without a sequel. Also switching the narrator of the story in the second book kept throwing me off a bit, I kept thinking it was Kayla speaking when it was really Lindsey.

Once Upon a Fortnight

I haven't read a book that is solely about werewolves in a long time. If it starts out about werewolves... vampires always come into play at some point. Or the book is about vampires and werewolves come into play eventually. Or there is, of course, the book about all things supernatural. I bought this series a while ago but hadn't gotten a chance to read them. Now that I have completed the first one... I really just want to continue on with the next one. And if I weren't ahead on my reading challenge I probably would ignore the desire to continue the series for now... but I am ahead and I can't wait to see what happens next.
There isn't much to discuss about this book, it's a pretty straight forward "supernatural being meets other supernatural being who doesn't know what she is and they fall in love" kind of thing... but its more than love, its fate. Being a woman, fate is always a desirable part of any book, even if there is nothing sci fi about it. I just happen to prefer when there is something sci fi about it.

This book is number 14 of 52 and number 3 of my first in a series challenge. Which means I have completed that part of my challenges.

Baker's Dozen

It is getting harder and harder to find cliche's using the number of books I am up to. I may not be able to continue with that idea too much longer.

My 13th book is also the 2nd book in my "First in a Series" challenge. White Cat by Holly Black is the first book in the Curse Workers series. I was relieved to read something so different for a change. Don't get me wrong, I love my typical vampire, werewolf, faerie, and fairy tales retold books but it's rare to find one that isn't some how similar to another one. This book had a fresh idea completely unrelated to the usual paranormal/supernatural theories (at least one that I haven't heard before). The only problem was the plot line was very predictable. There was never any suspense because you could pretty much see where it was going right away.

12 Steps to Recovery

Unfortunately there aren't 12 easy steps to recovery when you are talking about being a mermaid stuck as a human. Midnight Pearls was about just that. I love fairy tales retold and Midnight Pearls did not disappoint. Debbie Viguie managed to tell the story of The Little Mermaid in a somewhat new way, without losing the romance and basic idea behind the original. In the case of Adrianna/Pearl, she did not choose to walk among the humans but was kidnapped by the Sea Witch and forced to become human as an attempt to hurt her family. She grows up as a "normal" peasant girl after a fisherman finds her and he and his wife adopt her as their own. She is an ethereal beauty unlike any other human, which of course in a world like ours, makes her an outcast.
I know the ending was meant to be a happy one but I, being the pessimist that I am, felt it was a very selfish decision on Pearl's part. I was hoping she would really end up loving James and stay with him.
This was another book from my "Whats in a name challenge" filling the spot for a book with a jewel in the title.

The 11th Hour

Wake by Lisa McMann reads very much like a police report. The writing is very concise and to the point. Not a lot of flashiness, which actually made it a very quick and easy read. Despite the ease at which this book flows, it is not lacking in imagination and creativity. I enjoyed it very much and it was a big relief after the last book I read, which took me over a week to finish. It took me less than 24 hours to complete Wake. 
Though Lisa McMann doesn't go crazy with long, drawn out descriptions... she did manage to create characters that are well developed and who you can feel connected to. Throughout the story, I experienced Janie's pain, I experienced the love she felt for Cabel and the love he felt for her and I wanted desperately to see them end up together.  I have had this book on my shelf for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it. For some reason I thought it was on my list for my reading challenges but I was incorrect and have once again read a free choice book. I'm going to be done with the free choice books before I know it if I am not careful.