Silver Jubilee

Switching from a book like The Dead Tossed Waves to a book like Born at Midnight is not an easy transition. Carrie Ryan writes so eloquently, the language flows and everything she writes just sounds beautiful. CC Hunter wrote a book that is much more of a teen YA novel. Don't get me wrong, I loved Born at Midnight, it was just difficult to move from one to the other so quickly. At first I was worried that Born at Midnight was going to be a teenie bopper book but it didn't take long to realize that it wasn't. It reminded me of the Percy Jackson series a bit, but came into it's own very quickly and turned out to be pretty original. One thing CC Hunter is very good at is leaving off on a note that drives you crazy... I cannot believe where she ended this book.... and now I have to wait until October to see what happened... Argh!
This book was my March debut author... had a little trouble ordering the book which is why I read it so late.
Just went on to my nook to see if I could pre-order the next book and instead I found a short novella the author wrote about one of the characters... and it was free. I love my nook!!

4 factorial

When I saw that the second book in Carrie Ryan's trilogy was about Mary's daughter as opposed to a continuation of her own story... I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it. I was very wrong to worry... The Dead Tossed Waves was even better than The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Though the main story is about Gabry, you do eventually learn about what happened to Mary and her friends after the first book ended. Mary is still as selfish, in this book, as she was in the first one. Everything she does is for herself or to make herself feel better. Gabry believes she is as selfish as her mother but I don't believe that. She may have made some bad decisions but not all of them were to benefit herself. She really did try to help her friends and correct her mistakes. Once again we see a love triangle among the lead characters, but Carrie Ryan was able to make it a completely different triangle... often authors make the books in their series far too similar and it becomes redundant. Nothing about this story was anything like the first one or anything else I have ever read. It was fresh, new and captured me fully in the first chapter.

23 is a happy number

Imagine being in a car accident, feeling all the pain that disaster can bring, feeling as if you have died and then waking up to find out that you are now inside a machine. The machine looks and sounds nothing at all like you used to. There is nothing left of your old self except some downloaded memories and history. Your body is gone, your voice is gone, your ability to eat, drink, use the bathroom, breath and feel... all gone. Your family did this to you because they couldn't bear to say goodbye to you and now none of them are happy with the decision they made. They start to realize that you, the machine, is not actually you. Maybe if it hadn't been an emergency and the bio-techs were able to create a machine that looked and sounded just like the old you, maybe then, people would accept "you" as you. Maybe they would want you around, your boyfriend wouldn't have broken your heart, your sister would still love you, your dad wouldn't cry and pray and your life would be the same. But it's not... your life is not what it used to be. Your friends are not your friends anymore. And you finally realize that there is no way you can continue to be around without accidentally hurting everyone you love. ... So... what now?
Guess I have to read CRASHED to find out.
SKINNED is a book I will never forget, and I hope the rest of the series is just as good.

Catch 22

 Besides being book #22 Boys That Bite is also one of my "Whats in a Name?" books, it is serving as my "book with a life stage in the title".  When I finish a good book I tend to feel slightly depressed because it is over. In this case, I'm happy the book is over but trying to write this review is depressing me.
I have been wanting to read  this series for a while... we all know I love vampires. I honestly can't find a good way to ease into my opinion of this book and there is only one word I can even think of using to describe it... LAME, LAME, LAME (I know that seemed like 3 words but it's all the same word, so we're good). The part of this book I enjoyed was in the end when Magnus and Sunny were in England. Then the very end became ridiculous again.
When I first started reading the House of Night books I was disappointed and didn't think I was going to continue the series, it started out somewhat like this book. I felt it was immature and very teenie bopper. I read the first two books of that series and then threw in the towel for about a year when I decided to try again and the books got better and better and I started to love the series. I don't think it will go like that with this series, I can't see them becoming any better.

Lucky Number 21

Starting the final book of the Dark Guardians series, I was a bit thrown by how the story was playing out. Each book in the series is in the POV of a different female character, since we had already heard from each of the lead female characters the author decided to introduce someone new. I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it because she wasn't someone I was already invested in. Then it seemed as though the author had taken small aspects of two other series to create the plot line and I wasn't sure how I felt about that since the other three books had all been very original. Hawthorne had, until the 4th book, created her own shifter world. And the last thing that made me hesitant with the book was the plot related to Daniel. There were several different ways I could see her going with it and I was afraid it was going to end up being very silly. Once it became obvious to me that Hawthorne hadn't done something ridiculous with Daniels character, I realized just how much I was enjoying the book. The other parts that seemed unoriginal had begun to grow into their own ideas and I had grown to love the new female lead. By the end of the book, not only was I overwhelmed with emotion but I was devastated to see it all end.
The first book Moonlight was excellent but could have been just a single novel since it did not end in any kind of cliffhanger, but I could have read an entire series based just on Kayla and Lucas and been just as satisfied. The second book Full Moon, although it was very good, it felt as though it was a rewrite of the first book with different names put in. But it also ended in a cliff hanger that made me really want to see what would happen next. The third book, Dark of the Moon was awesome. There was such a different feel and idea than the other books. And finally, the last book, Shadow of the Moon, though it seemed disappointing at first, it became something wonderful. All in all... I loved this series!!

Hindsight is 20/20

It's been a few books since the cliche actually described the book. This cliche thing turned out to be harder than I thought it would be.

I just finished the third book in the Dark Guardians series, Dark of the Moon. Being about werewolves/shifters, I was instantly drawn to these books when I saw them. I kept putting off reading them because I didn't really think they would be as good as they turned out to be. I read each of the first two in less than 24 hours and this one I read in less than 21 hours. They are a bit shorter than books I typically read which makes them a quick read but they are also written so well that I can never put them down. Rachel Hawthorne really understands what girls like to read about. No matter how much you love the fantasy/sci fi factors... its the relationships that help to keep us interested once we are drawn in. And the relationships that she has created are intense and everything a girl dreams about having herself. Can't wait to read the conclusion to the series.

19 eighty four

Dystopian novels have been around since the 1930's. Nineteen eighty-four is not the first one ever written but is definitely one of the most well know and remembered. Coining terms such as "big brother". Matched by Ally Condie is a book that I believe will, one day, be as well remembered and feared as Nineteen eighty-four. We all know now, that a future such as the one written by George Orwell has not occurred... yet, but there is always another future awaiting us and always new possibilities for that future.
Through history, many different types of civilizations and governments have existed, some have controlled their people and some have allowed their people to be "free". It may seem that we have grown as a species and have become more autonomous but it may not last, it probably won't last. One day our world may be just like the one Condie created in Matched. I for one hope I am not around when that happens. I never want to live in a world where the ability to create has been abolished, where you don't get to choose where you live and what you do for a living, meals are sent to your house, friends are not allowed inside your dwelling and you can't even run in public... but most of all, I never want to live in a world where you can't even choose who you spend the rest of your life with.
During the first half of the book I was wishing there was a little more emotion and intensity but once Cassia's love interest started to build, I realized that Condie had saved the passion for just that. She was able to make even the smallest signs of affection feel like the most lascivious scene ever written. Every time the couple held hands or looked at each other, I would get chills. I can't wait to see where that passion leads them and if their love will be strong enough to take down the Society.

18 to life

I was a bit disappointed in this book. I think after being disappointed in the first book in this series that I was hoping it would get better. Having expectations was not a good idea when starting this book. Valiant by Holly Black is the second book in the Modern Tale of Faerie trilogy. To me it was just a book about a bunch of homeless drug addict teens. The fantasy aspects of the book were lost. I also felt as though it wasn't a continuation of the first book... besides mentioning a couple of the faeries from the first book and then a quick glimpse of them in the end, it seemed like it could be a novel separate from the trilogy. From reading the back of the third book, it looks as though it is about the characters from the first book... which is just too silly if you ask me.
This was the last book I needed for my 2nd in a series challenge.