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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Disquietus has commented on (65) products
Wolf by Wolf
by
Ryan Graudin
Disquietus
, November 19, 2015
This book is INTENSE. The world is as bleak and brutal as you’d expect from an alternate-history World War 2 story where Hitler wins. The writing is very good. A little heavy on the metaphors but otherwise exactly right for the action-packed plot and still completely engaging. I literally could not put this book down. I tore through it in a single sitting, desperate to see how it all played out. The characterization is great. Yael is wonderful. Even though she’s buried in guilt and self-doubt, she is so fierce and loyal and determined and I adored her. The character development of the other racers was also very well done. They never felt like villainous caricatures, even though it would have been very easy for Graudin to go that route with them. Obviously some of them are better developed then others, but overall I never felt like the characterization was lacking anything. The plot was also well done. Everything about the race felt well thought out and believable. The dangers of the route itself, the dirty tactics used by the other racers as they fight to finish, Yael’s desperation to keep to the plan and win. IT WAS JUST ALL SO GOOD. I liked the way that the story jumped between Yael’s past to explain the wolf tattoos and her present during the race, although I did find those parts less interesting than the race. Highly recommend.
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Vengeance Road
by
Erin Bowman
Disquietus
, November 19, 2015
Admittedly the story started off strong and I pretty much instantly liked Kate. She 100% delivers on all the promised rage, bloodshed & fierceness. Unfortunately every other aspect of the plot and characterization left something to be desired though. The character development was just flat out non-existent. Kate was easily the most fleshed out but she still never felt like a real, fully developed person. Jesse, Will and Liluye were all basically just trope-filled near caricatures. The treatment of Liluye was especially problematic. An Apache girl whose entire character is based on stereotypes and whose only role seems to be as moral compass and guide? No thanks. Because the characterization was so weak I just didn’t care about them at all. The plot was also a mess. While the pacing was good and I enjoyed how much action there was, everything else fell short for me. The first 40% or so started off strong and kept me engaged, but it became a total train wreck from there. Things got completely ludicrous, to the point where it almost felt soap-operaish. I saw the plot twists coming from a mile away. Also the romance aspect really bothered me. While I definitely briefly boarded the ship this was a story that would have been stronger without any romance at all, then the romantic interest turned into such a jerk that it derailed into a NOTP fairly quickly.
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Everything, Everything
by
Nicola Yoon
Disquietus
, November 19, 2015
So this book is 100% deserving of all the hype. It’s almost hard to believe that this is the author’s debut, it’s that good. The writing is phenomenal. Gorgeous, lyrical, smart and utterly enchanting, I was completely absorbed in Maddy’s story from the first page. Maddy is amazing. Even though she has this disease that keeps her confined to her house, she’s not bitter or resentful. She’s bright and cheerful and just so full of life. It was completely refreshing to have a character who embraces life and focuses on the positive things even when she has so many reasons to be angry at the world. Not to say that she’s always happy and doesn’t get upset at the crappy things that happen, but she is overwhelmingly a glass half-full kind of person and I loved her for it. And Olly was just charming. Their romance was adorable. Even though there were moments it felt insta-lovey I couldn’t really blame Maddy because I was pretty much instantly in love with him too. I also really loved the unique format used to tell this story. The e-mails, drawings, charts, lists and IMs added a unique touch. Admittedly I didn’t love every aspect of the story. It felt like a lot of the more serious things going on in Maddy and Olly’s lives outside of her illness were just glossed over and the ending was rather abrupt. There just could have been so much more but overall I really enjoyed it and I feel confident saying that anyone who loves cute, romantic, shippy books will enjoy this debut.
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A Darker Shade of Magic: Shades of Magic 1
by
V E Schwab
Disquietus
, March 18, 2015
If you know make even a little bit, then you know that A Darker Shade of Magic was my most highly anticipated title of 2015 (I mean come on ��" the author referred to it PIRATES, THIEVES, AND SADIST KINGS on Twitter, that just screams Angie Candy) and it did not disappoint, not even a little. When I first finished it, my initial reaction was as follows: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T RATE THIS INFINITY STARS? You know that really amazing, satisfied, content, indescribable feeling you get when you finish a book that’s just so utterly flawless you don’t want to move or think or do anything but pet the book and hold it close and whisper sweet nothings to it? That is what A Darker Shade of Magic will do to you. I am currently lying on my couch in a boneless state of wonderment and awe because this book ��" its story and characters and worlds are just so utterly flawless I’m incapable of moving, thinking or doing anything that isn’t ADSOM related. You’ll hear me say time and again, without hesitation, that Victoria Schwab is my favorite author of all time and A Darker Shade of Magic is her at her absolute best. I call her my Sun and Stars for a reason and it’s not just because she’s an awesome person (although that’s a big part of it) It’s also because she is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest writers of all time. Her books are the kind I want to turn into Horcruxes okay and this book would be my first choice. Umm okay so now that is just turning into an incoherent love letter to the author, I’m just going to say PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK NOW and expect a more coherent review closer to release. ALSO KELL AND HIS COAT ARE MINE." My feelings haven’t changed even a tiny bit in the month that has passed since then. This novel is pure perfection. More than anything, the characters are what made me love this book so deeply. I’ve said it time and again, but V.E. Schwab is the master of creating complex and vividly realistic characters that I can’t help but love. From hero to villain and even with some of the most minor characters I was obsessively (possibly unhealthily) invested in their lives ��" even when they were doing terrible or stupid things (okay maybe not the Dane twins, but definitely Holland). Kell is my ideal hero and I am completely in love with him. He’s loyal to a fault, charming, witty and brave to the point of stupidity. Really there was no hope for me by page 30: Ned lifted the child’s game gingerly, as if it might burst into flames at any moment (Kell briefly considered igniting it, but restrained himself). -ARC, page 30 He’s also got just the right amount of darkness. He can be cruel, bitter and disdainful at times and he also makes really really bad decisions. He mostly makes them for the right reasons, but still I found myself yelling at him to make better life choices more than once. This is really just more evidence of V’s excellent character building though. Kell is lovely and flawed and that makes him utterly perfect in my eyes. Our heroine, Lila Bard, is just as wonderful as Kell (okay maybe even a little bit more so). She’s 1000000000% one of the most badass women I’ve ever come across in literature. She is completely unapologetic, takes no s*** from no one and has zero f***s to give and will be the most wonderful pirate queen that ever existed (she’s already an excellent thief). She’s also incredibly smart and ~gets things in ways that Kell doesn’t, which I found refreshing. For example, I especially loved the way she views the black magic versus the way Kell does: Bad magic, Kell had called it. No, thought Lila now. Clever magic. And clever was more dangerous than bad any day of the week. -ARC, page 152 SHE IS JUST AWESOME OKAY. TEAM LILA BARD FOR LIFE. Of course I love all of the other characters as well. Dark, complicated, fascinating Holland (HELLO WHERE ARE MY HOLLAND PREQUEL NOVELLAS BECAUSE I NEED MORE HOLLAND BACKSTORY), charming and utterly delicious Rhy (ughhhhhhhh I dare you not to fall in love with him I DARE YOU), and of course the terrifying, villainous Dane twins, Astrid and Athos, the rulers of White London, who I may hate more than any other literary villains ever. AND THESE CHARACTERS HAVE THE BEST CHEMISTRY. Kell and Holland, Kell and Lila (“Sit down before you fall down, magic boy”), Rhy and Lila, Kell/Lila/Rhy I AM SHIPPING IT ALL I DON’T EVEN CARE. As for the writing, it is of course beyond words good. Schwab just has this way of using words and crafting sentences and paragraphs in ways that give me tingles every time I read them. The world-building and magic system in A Darker Shade of Magic manages to make familiar fantasy tropes feel fresh and new and fun, even when the things happening are very much the opposite of fun. Really I can’t say much more than that because SPOILERS, so you’ll have to check that out for yourself. JUST BE WARNED THAT THIS BOOK IS PAIN PAIN PAIN (as my Goodreads status updates make clearly evident): Really, there is no way any review I write will ever be able to do this book justice. Words are not my friends when trying to discuss a book I love as deeply as I do A Darker Shade of Magic. Basically, if you haven’t bought this book yet you need to do so NOW because your life will be better for having read it (and also infinitely more painful).
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My Heart and Other Black Holes
by
Jasmine Warga
Disquietus
, March 13, 2015
I'm so conflicted over this book. So conflicted in fact, that as I sit writing this review days after finishing it, I still haven't settled on a rating. My Heart and Other Black Holes was one of those very rare reads for me where, even though I didn't quite connect with the characters or become as invested in their lives as I normally prefer, I was wholly engaged with the story being told. The novel was very well crafted and the character development is nothing short of masterful, and yet for some reason I never connected emotionally, which hindered my enjoyment. The prose is wonderful. It managed to reflect the bleakness and despair of the characters mindset, while also maintaining an underlying tone of hope and humor. Aysel was a fascinating character and so realistic. She's dealing with a serious depression issue, one she describes as a black slug living in her stomach and sucking away all happiness. She's also terrified that because of her depression she'll someday snap and hurt someone like her father did. She's got a really bleak outlook on life, a fascination with physics and a sassy internal voice that I really appreciated. And then you have Roman. He's dealing with a terrible loss and an impenetrable grief. My heart hurt for him but he also frustrated me to no end. His selfishness, his single-minded viewpoint on things and the way he treats Aysel at times had me so irritated, and yet that frustration was part of the magic of his character development. His behavior, reactions, choices are beautifully realistic. Even when I was irritated with him I knew that anything different would be a disservice to the character and the story being told. As much as I appreciated the character development, I couldn't quite connect with either of them, and I was not a fan of the romance that developed. The story takes place over the span of a month, with Roman entering Aysel's life and changing everything. I absolutely loved their friendship and how the author used it to show the ways that simple human connection with someone who gets it and doesn't judge can change a person's entire perspective, but I thought the romance and I love you's happened way to quickly and didn't jive with the character's personalities. Another of the issues that I struggled with was how little Aysel's mom was involved. It's pretty obvious that Aysel has some problems & is exhibiting classic signs of depression, but rather than show concern and address the issue her mother just ignores her and that really just bothered me. Overall though this was a quick and mostly enjoyable read that I would recommend.
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Orphan Queen
by
Jodi Meadows
Disquietus
, March 10, 2015
If you follow me on Twitter, you already know I love The Orphan Queen. Actually, love isn't a strong enough word. I've loved hundreds of books, but few have ever reached this level of feverish adoration/ worship/ LOOOOVVVVEEEEEEEEE. The kind of love that required me to pre-order it after just a few chapters, to jump into every conversation where it's mentioned and to yell all over Twitter demanding everyone buy it. Speaking of this, YOU'VE BOUGHT THE ORPHAN QUEEN RIGHT? GO ON. I'LL WAIT. Young deposed royal fighting to regain her kingdom has become a pretty popular trope in YA fantasy lately but Meadows brings her own unique and fresh take and IT. IS. GLORIOUS. While Wil's kingdom, Aecor, was conquered by the Indigo Kingdom a decade ago, and Wil has now infiltrated their court to spy, they are by far the lesser of the dangers Wil is facing. The real danger comes from the toxic wraith created by people using magic that is slowly destroying the world. Magic Wil can use but doesn't fully understand and gah I really can't talk about the plot without spoilers and nobody wants that. But there is much spying and fighting and twisty turning things with a splash of political intrigue and I enjoyed every minute of. The story is engaging, the pacing is perfect and I wanted to live in this world forever. Another thing I adored was how the world-building is created in a way that never feels info-dumpy or slow. The culture of The Indigo Kingdom is very well developed and thoroughly detailed with unique customs, superstitions, sayings and even gestures that made it easy to believe that this could be a real place which in turn made it easy for me to fully immerse myself in the world. A lot of this world-building is shown through Wil's interactions with other characters which worked really well for me because I never felt bored by it or distracted from the other elements of the story. The magic system is very intriguing and really my only complaint is that I felt like we didn't get enough of an explanation of how it works or why using magic creates the wraith. This lack of explanation didn't distract from the story being told at all though. The character development is utterly masterful. Even the minor characters are realistic and complex and fascinating. Wil is the kind of heroine I love best in the world. She's fierce and brave and strong and smart while still having flaws and the kind of insecurities about her ability to be a good Queen that make you know she'll be a great one. She's also hilarious and I love it. She cares so deeply for the rest of the Ospreys and is so loyal to them (even though some of them really don't deserve it), you can't help but root for her. I may also be half in love with her. Which only took about 12 pages but seriously, how could you not be in love with her after this? "Do I look like a thief to you?" I reached for a look of innocence. "You look dangerous." I shot a smile. "Thank you." Before I considered the wisdom, I pulled a dagger and threw it. -ARC page 12 AND BLACK KNIFE. MY LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE. He is everything. Seriously. I really can't talk about him without spoiling a lot of things but I loved his characterization so much. Him and Wil are one of my favorite ships of all time. I love the complexity of their relationship (even the painful stuff) and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Also, this book features one of the hottest, swooniest kisses of all time because Meadows is the master of kissing scenes. Basically, this book has everything you could ever want: Great characters worth rooting for, an intriguing world, bad-ass fight scenes, delicious kissing, adventure and terrifying magic and you should be buying it and reading it right this second. PS: THAT ENDING IS CRIMINAL. CRIM.I.NAL.
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Scarlet
by
A C Gaughen
Disquietus
, January 23, 2015
I ADORED this book! So much so that I am grossly ashamed that it spent months just sitting on my shelves collecting dust. I have always loved the Robin Hood myth, and I’ve seen more movies and read more books based around it then I can count, but I’ve decided that this series will forever be my Robin Hood canon. Seriously. How can anything trump a version of Robin Hood with a genderbent Will Scarlet and young, moody, broody Robin Hood. You’re right. Nothing can. Like most of my favorite reads, the characters are what made this book for me. Scarlet is one of the most wonderful, memorable, inspiring heroines I’ve ever come across and I am just a lot a bit in love with her. She’s so strong and fierce and sharp and just the no-nonsense, take no bullshit kind of character I was born to worship. She’s also deeply loyal and has an underlying vulnerability that just makes you want to destroy anyone that opposes her. Obviously my second favorite is Robin. Rob just melts my heart. He’s young and he’s a bit moody and he’s trying so fiercely to protect his people even when it costs him and just so realistically written and ughhhhhhhhhhhh. I JUST WANT TO HOLD HIM AND STROKE HIS HAIR AND MAKE HIM LAUGH THAT’S ALL. Naturally I loved all the other members of Robin’s band, and the way they all interacted with each other and tried to protect each other and just I DIDN’T ASK FOR THESE FEELINGS OKAY. TOO. MANY. FEELINGS. While there is the hint of a love triangle it’s really not what you think it is and I loved the way it resolved. Scarlet and Robin are the obvious ship here and oh god the level of pain they cause. The. Level. Of. Pain. The writing was also a delight. Scarlet talks in a unique dialect that, while initially jarring, really worked with Scarlet’s personality and added depth to the story. It’s one of those cases where it definitely improved the story rather than detracted from it and I can’t imagine Scarlet without it. Admittedly, I didn’t find the plot to be world-changing or that entirely unique for a Robin Hood retelling and that detracted a bit from my enjoyment. It’s never fun when you can guess the twist half-way through the book. What I did like was that although the plot moves a little slowly, as do the revelations of some of the mysteries surrounding Scar’s past, it still somehow seemed to feel like a fast-paced book. I was completely engaged the entire time I was reading. Overall this was a wonderful book and I am both excited (and terrified) to read the next two books.
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Raven Cycle 03 Blue Lily Lily Blue
by
Maggie Stiefvater
Disquietus
, October 25, 2014
SQUASH ONE, SQUASH TWO (sorry I am tormented by not being able to actually listen to this song) Somebody on Twitter, I think it was Gillian, referred to this book as Blue Feels, Feels Blue and yes yes very much agree. THIS BOOK PUNCHED ME RIGHT IN THE FEELS YOU GUYS. Days later I am still reeling from the sheer emotion it pulled out of me (THIS IS NOT AN EASY THING TO DO. I have a cold black heart). Somewhere in the midst of reading Dream Thieves I became emotionally invested in these characters in a way I haven't felt since Harry Potter (or that vampire series none of us want to admit we loved). The kind of deep attachment that lets me know I will be haunted and wishing for more from them for years and years after their story concludes. Blue Lily, Lily Blue only served to solidify those feelings in the best way possible. Everything about this book was sheer perfection. The writing is gloriously beautiful and just speaks to my soul. There is really no other way to describe how perfect and engrossing it is. Maggie Stiefvater's prose is just utterly masterful. And the plot? The plot is insane. SO. MUCH. HAPPENS. I obviously can't go into specifics without spoiling it but SERIOUSLY I JUST. HOWWWWWWW???? HOW DOES ANYONE'S MIND CREATE SUCH A WONDERFULLY DETAILED STORY AND JUST KEEP MAKING THINGS EVEN MORE EXCITING AND TERRIFYING AND JUST. I honestly have no idea what to expect from book 4. I have lots of theories (most of them the wild conjectures brought on by an insane mind) but really just no idea how it's all going to end and that is both terrifying and exhilarating. As wonderful and creative the writing and plot are, the characters are everything. I cannot talk about them enough. They have taken over my life. I am pretty sure they are all me and the BFF have talked about via text for the last week. Seriously. My phone even autocorrects Gansey and Ronan's names to all caps. Even the mere mention of Ronan anywhere causes me to go into a rabid frenzy of glorious feels and capslock. He is my everything. Of course to say that Ronan is my favorite is only to mean that if he were to suddenly die in the final book I would be 0.000000000000001% more saddened than I would be if Blue, Noah, Gansey or Adam were to die. (GANSEY IS NOT DYING OKAY I DON'T CARE WHAT STIEFVATER SAID I REFUSE TO ACCEPT SUCH A REALITY). These characters are just so REAL. Even the secondary characters are gloriously developed and full of spark and personality. Calla is just a treasure. AND JESSE AND THE GREY MAN AND MAURA AND PERSEPHONE. I just can't with this series and these characters. THEY ARE LIFE. My favorite part about the characterization in Blue Lily, Lily Blue is how much these characters grow in this book, and how we see that growth through the way the other characters observe this, especially Blue and Gansey & Adam and Ronan. We see the best and worst of these characters through the lenses of their friends eyes. Really, Nikki put it so much better than me when she said in her review: "One thing I love about all of them is that we learn about them through each others’ eyes ��" not our own eyes, not really from some third-person describing them to us, but we learn the most telling things about them as they learn about each other." The friendship these five characters share is just so perfect you guys. They have the kind of bond amongst them that everyone dreams of having with another person. I think Ronan broke my feels the most when he says "...Do you understand? If they die, I die, too." BECAUSE IT'S JUST SO ACCURATE. (also if any of them die I will die too okay shhhhh I am not being melodramatic). Of course the paragraph that starts out with "But what she didn't realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another." is also great and perfect and probably my favorite paragraph in the entire series. These five characters share such a glorious all-encompassing friendship that it becomes as consuming for the reader as it is for them. Even the tiny insignificant moments involving Ronan and Blue, Noah and Gansey, or Adam and whoever had me falling apart with the glory of their love for each other. WE CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT RONAN AND GANSEY BECAUSE UGH MY FEELS AND THEY ARE THE CUTEST BFFs OF ALL THE BFFs. AND MY SHIPS OMG YOU GUYS MY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPS. They each have so many great moments together and I JUST. I CAN'T WITH THE CAN'T AND THE FEEELS AND IF I DON'T GET FACE SMOOSHING IN BOOK 4 I WILL DIE FROM DROWNING IN MY OWN TEARS. I can't say anything too specific about them because SPOILERS but lets just say all my favorite moments involve late night phone calls, undrinkable teas, Pig and mint leaves and mountain drives and hands on knees and secret plots and The Barns and casual looks filled with practiced disinterest that is incomplete and shopping carts and churches and JUST MY FEELS CANNOT HANDLE HOW MUCH I NEED THESE SHIPS TO SAIL. This book made me laugh and cry and scream OMG literally out loud and frantically text Nikki incessantly about all of the feels. GUYS THIS BOOK EVEN MADE ME FINALLY LOVE ADAM. He is finally starting to get it and grow up and now I just want to hug him. ALSO NEED MORE NOAH OKAY. These books never have enough Noah. So basically if you love gorgeous prose, amazingly developed characters, and shippy feels this book/series is for you.
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Second Star
by
Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Disquietus
, September 29, 2014
This book was hugely disappointing. I still can’t even think about it without the potential for a rage blackout. Peter Pan is my absolute favorite childhood story, so if there is a book/movie/tv show/etc. retelling it, you best believe I am all over it. Imagine my delight when Second Star popped up on my radar. Even after being warned off by several bloggers I trust, my excitement remained. I just love Peter Pan shaped things a lot okay and tend to be pretty forgiving of them. Even if they are horrible (see Once Upon a Time’s Peter Pan storyline) I almost always end up enjoying them regardless of the bad. Unfortunately that was not the case with Second Star. This book was just a hot mess. The only part of this novel I really enjoyed was the prose. It had the kind of gloriously atmospheric writing I usually happily drown myself in. While there were a few moments where I thought it came off as overly flowery and pretentious, for the most part it was all very beautiful and vivid. The author did an excellent job of setting the scene and making me feel like I was coasting through the southern California summer with Wendy. . My favorite scenes were the ones describing surfing, which made me really want to learn how to surf even though I am the most uncoordinated person in the world. She just made it sound so peaceful and joyful. However the total lack of characterization and horrible, horrible ending overshadowed the delight the writing brought me. Character development basically non-existent in this novel, and on top of that, the characters are all just really unlikable. Wendy is INFURIATING. While I can definitely sympathize with her grief over the loss of her brothers, she just makes one bad decision after another and it was too much to handle. The other characters were barely memorable enough to mention. I don’t think I can name a single one beyond Pete, Jas and Belle. I know Wendy has a high-school BFF who infuriated me, basically only showing up occasionally to be a horrible friend, but I can’t remember her name to save my life. As for the romance. I hate love triangles and this one was especially gross. While normally I am always Team Peter/Wendy, I couldn’t get on board with this ship at all. Pete claims to be in love with her but he clearly has no respect for her & her decision making abilities or really for any female in general. The way he treats Belle is reprehensible and he’s such a lying liar who lies with Wendy I can’t deal with it. As bad as he was, Jas (the drug dealer) was worse. He stalked Wendy (which naturally she just saw as him being “protective”), he was violent and gross. Just really really gross. To make it even worse Wendy gets a bad case of instalove with both. Within days of knowing Pete she is in “love” with him & then once she discover his betrayal she runs to Jas who she goes from hating to loving in about two days? Ummm yea how about no girl. Many nonsensical, bad choices later we get to a twist that I oddly didn’t see coming although it was blatantly obvious. And okay, if the book ended there I could have gone with it, we would have been cool. But naturally it didn’t end there and we get to the real end of the book which in a nutshell made the entire book pointless. I’m not even kidding. The only thing I can guess is that the author couldn’t decide whether she wanted the twist ending or the ending we got so she decided to go with both. I may have actually screamed at the book once I finished and then broke down into hysterical craughing over all the time I wasted on it. This was definitely not a book for me, nor one that I would ever recommend to anybody. I received this book for free from the NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Barricade in Hell
by
Jaime Lee Moyer
Disquietus
, August 15, 2014
Jaime Lee Moyer’s sequel to Delia’s Shadow is happily even more enjoyable than it’s predecessor. Returning to this world and these characters was just like visiting old friends. The mystery at the heart of the story was even creepier and more intriguing (child poltergeist? NO THANK YOU HARD PASS RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN) and the writing showed definitive improvement. Moyer’s writing has a quiet, steady beauty that greatly appeals to me. In A Barricade in Hell she has crafted an excellent story with fascinating characters that gives the reader a glimpse into historical San Francisco in a way that made me feel as if I was there with the characters the entire time. The many plot threaders were seamlessly tied together with perfect pacing. Gone are the overwhelmingly detailed descriptions that I found difficult to push through while reading the first book. The dual POV still works very well for this series. Gabe and Delia have very distinct voices and the switch between is never jarring. This time around we have two separate mysteries we are trying to solve. On Delia’s end there is a poltergeist haunting her husband while Gabe in investigating a series of disappearances and murders possibly connected to a visiting evangelist. It was all very interesting and well put together. If I had one wish for the plot though, it would be that I hadn’t solved it myself so early on. While there was one thing I didn’t connect until almost right before the characters did, I still figured out the rest of it way early. There is also a thing that happens in the end with Isadora and another character that I am still on the fence about. While I liked the end result, I’m not sure I like the way it came about, although it was definitely a likely thing to happen, historically (DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE I DON’T EVEN KNOW). Really the only actual fault I could find with this book is that I struggle to connect with the characters. While the character development is excellent, and I like all of them just fine (especially Isadora because she is flawless), I just don’t connect with them in the way I normally hope to with the books I read. Delia is an admirable heroine. She’s smart and brave, but at times she’s just a little too quiet and passive for my tastes. She also seemed to be lacking a lot of the spirit and sass I admired in her from the first book, although there are reasons for this I think. I also greatly missed Sadie’s brightening presence in this book. However, the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did without being able to connect to the characters is really just a testament to the strength of the writing. 99% of the time my enjoyment of a novel is directly correlated to how I feel about/connect with the characters. Barricade is one of those rare unicorns that I enjoyed completely based on the strength of the writing and plot. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or mysteries and especially if you like both. (I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)
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Sekret
by
Lindsay Smith
Disquietus
, August 01, 2014
I went into Sekret fully expecting to fall head over heels in love. Part Sci-Fi, part historical fiction, featuring a unique premise about psychic Russian spies during the Cold War? YES PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME. Then make sure it leaves no impression on me whatsoever, because that’s exactly what happened. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, but it was unmemorable in every way. Except for maybe Valya. I love me some Valya. I liked the beginning a lot, but once Yulia is captured and begins her psychic spy lessons the book takes a turn for the blah. The pacing is all over the place, and a lot of the plot felt like filler until it seemed like a reasonable time for the spies-in-training to start going on missions. And then once they started going on missions it was all rush, rush, rush. There were a few plot inconsistencies and the “big reveal” about the enemy spy they are supposed to be hunting was entirely predictable. Despite all this I did enjoy the novel for the most part, especially the ending. The romance was by far my favorite part of the book, and what kept me reading. There is a bit of a love triangleish feel to it at first, but it’s pretty clear early on who the superior option is. *cough* Valya *cough* The characterization was okay. I liked the variety in personalities, but I would have liked to know more of the secondary characters history and what motivates them. Yulia was naturally the most developed, but even she was problematic. Mostly because SHE IS SO DENSE. Early on she makes it clear that pretty much the only thing she cares about is her mom and little brother, which naturally means they are held captive by the KGB to make her cooperate. She also knows she’s living in a house full of spies who can read her mind, or whatever, and yet pretty much all she thinks about is how she’s going to escape. And this just makes no sense to me. I mean sure, maybe it’s natural to think about it initially, but when you know that thinking about it is putting your family in danger wouldn’t you, I don’t know, stop? Maybe I’m over-thinking it but it was one of those little things that just annoyed me in every instance. Overall everything about Sekret was just average. It was just intriguing enough to ensure that I will probably read the rest of the books once the series is finished, but not memorable enough to make me need them.
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Art of Lainey
by
Paula Stokes
Disquietus
, May 20, 2014
What’s that sound? That’s the sound of me finishing The Art of Lainey, rolling around on the floor clutching it to my chest and promising to never let it go. That could also be the sound of my Micah dance. NO BUT SERIOUSLY I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. It completely took me by surprise and blew me away with its awesomeness. This book has it all: it’s cute, funny, swoony and completely engaging. The writing, dialogue, pacing and character development are so well done. I just want to sing it’s praises until I make every single person I know read it. Now in all fairness, most readers will probably hate Lainey when they first meet her. She’s a little self-absorbed, superficial, dramatic, judgmental and stubborn (I mean she goes to extreme lengths to try and get back together with a boyfriend who breaks up with her for another girl just because she doesn’t want the perfect senior year she envisioned to be ruined). However I pretty much loved her from the start and she just got better as the book progressed. She just reminded me so much of one of my best-friends in high school that I couldn’t help but love her. I also knew that somewhere deep down she had to have a heart of gold if she still considered Bianca one of her best-friends when her other BFF Kendall (whose basically the worst kind of high-school mean girl ever) does not approve of the relationship. She’s just so well developed and realistic. TAKE NOTE PEOPLE THIS IS HOW TEENS SHOULD BE WRITTEN. Some might find the fact that she and the other teens drink and openly have sex to be objectionable but lets be real here-teens drink. They have sex. This is a thing that happens and I’m so appreciative of Paula for portraying it in a healthy and realistic way. Really, all of the characters are extremely realistic and well formed. Even Kendall and Jason, as dislikable are they are, were fully fleshed out and not just the cookie-cutter “bad guys” used only as plot devices to come between Lainey and Micah. They have their good moments and positive characteristics and it was so refreshing. Bianca is amazing. Smart, supportive, and brutally honest. She has a good head on her shoulders and is the perfect balance to Lainey. Their friendship just makes me so happy. They are so good for and to each other. She’s one of those secondary characters you love so much that you want them to have their own book, or at least a novella. I also love that she had her own little sub-plot with an adorable love interest of her own. YAY BEE. Oh? You want to know about Micah? Well Micah is my boyfriend. I have claimed them and I am determined to talk Paula into giving him to me. Naturally I’ll share him with Lainey. No, but in all seriousness he is basically my dream guy except for the gross smoking habit but I can pretty much over look that. A mohawk, tattoos, what seems like fantastic taste in music and he has a ridiculously sweet and adorable relationship with his mom and sister. HE. IS. PERFECT. This is not your normal YA love interest. He is not sugar sweet and sensitive and overprotective. He has all the best and worst qualities of a teenage boy and that’s what makes him so lovable. He is just a guy. A snarky, stubborn, goofy, perverted guy who also happens to be sweet, kind, sincere, and yes, sexy. Not to mention that he has a love for pastry cooking. Micah comes alive on the page in all the best ways. MY MICAH LOVE IS OUT OF CONTROL in case you haven’t noticed. The plot itself is magic. I’ve always been a sucker for fake-dating storylines and Stokes added a fresh spin on it with the incorporation of the Art of War. Laineys battle strategies are hilarious and her character growth is just so slow and subtle and realistic and guh. I CANNOT GUSH ENOUGH ABOUT HOW WELL DONE THE CHARACTER GROWTH IS IN THIS BOOK. The romance between Lainey and Micah is just fantastic beyond words as well. The fake dates were adorable and fun and I was swooning over every interaction even before they really started realizing they had feelings for each other. The first time Lainey realizes she wants to kiss Micah is still possibly my favorite moment in the book, only rivaled by their actual first kiss and the last page of the book. The romance has a very slow-burn feel to it and I spent most of the book yelling about how I just needed to smoosh their faces together (SMOOSH SMOOSH I SAY). They are officially one of my top five OTPs of all time. There were also just a bunch of little things I really loved. Lainey’s relationship with her parents. THE FACT THAT HER DAD OWNS A COFFEE SHOP and she gets to work there and has awesome coworkers. It was just one of those books that I want to relive over and over. The Art of Lainey has ensured that I will be read everything this author writes in the future, already added to my very small insta-buy list.
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Tin Star
by
Cecil Castellucci
Disquietus
, May 07, 2014
I know it’s still pretty early in the year, but I’m already calling it. Tin Star is the most disappointing release of 2014. I was looking forward to reading what sounded like an intense space thriller with a dash of romance (kissing is important to me okay). Instead I got boring, boring and oh wait-more boring. I don’t think I’ve ever been more bored by a book in my life. I can seriously say that I’ve read textbooks I found more entertaining than this book. The writing was just so dry. Everything was stated so concisely, so matter-of-factly that it ripped the emotion out of whatever was being described. Even when Tula was talking about Brother Blue beating her and leaving her for dead I felt nothing. In retrospect I probably should have seen this as a warning and walked away while I still could, but I’m an optimist and kept on going, figuring it had to improve at some point. Spoiler alert-I was wrong. And okay, I get that the author was probably shooting for this lack of emotion on Tula’s part, to point out how isolated she is and how being abandoned has made her more like the aliens she’s surrounded by than her fellow humans, but it just didn’t work. The dullness of her personality resulted in total apathy on my part. I simply did not care about anything that happened to this character at any point in the book. The other characters were pretty much just as bland as Tula. The human’s that crash on to the space station are cliched as all get out, and the “romance” the author attempted between Tula and the human boys was the most ridiculous aspect of the story by far. Insta-love in the worst way possible. However I did greatly enjoy the alien characters, especially Tournour and Heckleck. They were my favorite characters by far and added enough to keep me reading through the worst of it. So why did I keep reading? Well the world-building was pretty fantastic and I was curious to see were Castellucci was going with this story. Overall the plot is focused on Tula needing to get off of the Yertina Feray Space Station, tack down Brother Blue and get her revenge, which is not as easy as it sounds. Apparently it’s pretty much impossible to get off of these space stations. In the long run though the pacing was just too slow and the plot lacked the cohesiveness to make it work. The ending was rushed and lacked the payoff that I was looking for. There really isn’t much else to say. I definitely will not be continuing with this series.
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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
by
Black, Holly
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Once upon a time I was vampire obsessed. I would read whatever I could get my hands on, from Anne Rice to Stephanie Meyer to Laurell K. Hamilton and everything in between. But then vampire fiction took over the book market and I had to stop. The books became boring, predictable and at times just downright ridiculous. I became convinced that there would never again be another fresh, exciting, different vampire book that would resurrect my interest. And then Holly Black had to come along with The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and prove me wrong. This book is dark. Gloriously, wonderfully dark. The prose is utterly gorgeous. Luscious and atmospheric and just guh. It’s the kind of writing I just want to wrap around myself and live in. The world-building is extremely well done. I didn’t feel as if there were any glaring questions left unanswered about how the vampires became exposed and why the Coldtowns were created, but I also didn’t feel like I was overburdened with irrelevant information. It was a perfect balance. The pacing and plot are also fantastic. It was sharp and original and bloody and terrifying and just SO MUCH HAPPENS, including a lot that I didn’t expect but it never feels as if anything is being rushed. I even enjoyed the flashbacks into Gavriel’s past, although they were probably the most boring parts of the book. The ending was so satisfying, with the major plot points being tied up while still leaving so many possibilities open. I loved that Black didn’t wrap everything up in some happily ever after with a shiny bow on top. The ending is just as horrifying as the opening chapter in it’s own way, although not without being hopeful as well. One thing I also particularly enjoyed was that Black didn’t romanticize vampires. At least not in the way we are used to. While there is some romance, although it isn’t traditional by any means, (and sorry yes, totally swooning over Gavriel even though he’s a monster and not meant to be romantic at all) and some humans who are stupid enough to see the vampires and Coldtowns as beautiful and tragic and romantic, it is made very clear to the reader through Tana’s experiences that most of the vampires are self-absorbed, horrifying monsters who care little for anyone other than themselves. Best of all though are the characters. Everyone introduced was just so richly developed, with distinct personalities and motives. Tana is the kind of heroine I adore. Brave without being stupid about it, self-sufficient and just plain smart with just the right amount of sass thrown in. I just really enjoyed being in her head. I honestly don’t know what else I can tell you without spoiling it. This was one of my favorite reads last year, completely unexpectedly, and even if you’re totally sick of vampire books, this book will not disappoint. JUST GO READ IT NOW.
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Frigid
by
Jennifer L Armentrout, J Lynn
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This book was ridiculous. Sheer, utter ridiculousness. My hopes going into it were probably a little too high, but I’d heard great things about the author’s YA works, and a dear trusted friend of mine LOVED this book, so I thought it would be a good, if not great, read. I was wrong. So, so wrong. The writing itself wasn’t the worst I’ve ever come across. The pacing was decent and the dialogue was fairly realistic and there were definitely moments that I found entertaining and enjoyed. The were just few and far behind. Most of the story suffered from poorly developed characters that I couldn’t connect with and a romance that was lacking the depth and swoonyness that I was looking for. Sydney and Kyler were just completely dislikable. I spent 90% of the book wanting to punch one or both of them in the face. Sydney was the NA standard: the pretty girl who doesn’t know she’s pretty and is insecure in her sexuality because of one bad experience. I think this is what annoyed me the most. She admits to having sexual urges, at least when it comes to Kyler, but has decided that because the one guy she slept with described her as frigid this means that she must be and so no other guy will want her/enjoy sleeping with her. What I found most annoying/unrealistic about this though was that Sydney is otherwise portrayed to be intelligent and about to graduate with a degree in psychology, and I just found it completely unbelievable that somebody with her education would be this insecure because of what something one douchey guy said FOUR YEARS AGO. FOUR YEARS. I mean really. It was just super annoying. She just had zero backbone, cried far too much and acted like an idiot the rest of the time and it was pretty much unbearable. Kyler. I’m sure he is supposed to be all swoon worthy, and that some people might find him to be so, but I just found him disgusting. The whole man-whore thing? Not attractive. Ever. Especially when said man-whore states that when he has sex with women it’s always from behind, implying that any other way would be too intimate because it would involve looking them in the face. The very idea of it just fills me with rage. He obviously has no respect for women, and just views Sydney as some tiny little princess doll he’s put on a pedestal-an object that he can look at and must protect, but never ever touch. Oh, and just throwing this out there but if some guy ever called me baby as much as Kyler calls Sydney this (I mean we’re talking about every other sentence here) I would straight punch them in the face. Pet names are annoying to me in general but baby is the worst by far, and just came off as another way for Kyler to objectify and infantilize Syd. I found it impossible to believe that Kyler and Syd were in love. Their relationship was insta-love that the author tried to justify by having them be best friends beforehand but I just couldn’t buy into it. Not even the memories they shared of their friendship and growing up together could really make me understand why they were in love each other. Syd especially never explained what exactly it is about Kyler that makes her love him so much. It was just very disappointing. The plot itself had a lot of potential for cuteness. I yearn for good stories about friends and potential love interests being snowed in together and all the interesting dilemmas and character growth that could come from such a situation. However this book pretty much consisted of a lot of whining, sex and some random violence by creeps with a grudge against Kyler. It was all over the place. Frigid was simply a ridiculous, unbelievable romance with poorly developed characters. I would only recommend it to readers who like silly stories and smut and don’t really care about believably or connecting with the characters.
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Roomies
by
Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disquietus: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Roomies is a charming, light-hearted coming of age story that realistically captures all the fears and insecurities that come with graduating high school, starting college, and leaving home. The writing kept me engaged and flowed smoothly. This is a character driven story, alternating between the POVs of future roommates EB and Lauren. While I usually struggle to stay engaged in stories that switch between viewpoints, the switch in POV never jolted me out of the story. I never had any trouble distinguishing between EB and Lauren. The pacing was perfect, and probably most importantly, the character development was pretty good. Most of the characters were thoroughly developed, if not wholly likable. The cast of characters accompanying Lauren’s side of the story were noticeably better developed than those on EB’s side, and definitely more likable, and while this definitely detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book, it was still worth the read. I felt the growth of EB and Lauren’s friendship as they get to know each other through e-mail exchanges was well done and realistic. I can still remember the handful of awkward e-mail’s exchanged with my first college roommate, and the authors did an excellent job of portraying how easily things can be misinterpreted in digital communications. Their exchanges with each other also do a great job of showcasing the character growth each undergoes over the summer. While Lauren wasn’t a perfect character by any means, I definitely preferred her over EB. I would have been happy reading a book told entirely from her POV. She was simply easier for me to relate to: the fear, anxiety and yet overwhelming need for freedom she faces were pretty much the defining feelings during my senior year of high school. And while she was also judgmental at times and not so great with boundaries, I still enjoyed getting to know her. I flew through the pages telling her story. I especially enjoyed the focus given to her family and her faltering relationship with her high school best friend. I also felt that her summer romance with Keyon was very well done. I loved that it was an interracial romance that didn’t focus on or make a big deal out of the racial aspect. It was just a really fun, sweet relationship between two friends who developed into something more. What didn’t work for me was the character of EB. As a whole I found her character unlikable and hypocritical. And I really, really hated her romance with Mark. It left a bad insta-love taste in my mouth, and I was not a fan of how quickly she jumped into a physical relationship with him, especially considering how much she complains early in the book about her high school boyfriend only wanting sex. Not to mention how much she lies to Mark after she first meets him and into the early weeks of their relationship. Most frustrating of all was her relationship with her mother. EB’s pages would have been better spent exploring and repairing her familial relationships instead of focusing on her summer romance. While it wasn’t a perfect book, this is one I would definitely recommend to fans of realistic fiction, and would love to see as required reading for high school seniors.
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F It List
by
Julie Halpern
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This book took me completely by surprise. Raw, witty and emotional in a way that I just wasn’t expecting. There are so many “cancer books” floating around the YA book world these days and it’s difficult to find one that brings something fresh to the table and I was pleasantly surprised to find that The F-It List did just that. What really worked for me was that the story wasn’t some heartbreaking, emotional roller-coaster about the tragic effect cancer has on Becca and everyone in her life. Instead it’s a story that focuses on Alex’s journey and her learning how to come out of her head, deal with her own survivor’s guilt and be a better friend/sister/daughter/etc. Becca having cancer and asking for Alex’s help with her F-It List is what propels Alex on her journey of self-growth but does not overshadow it, which turned The F-It List into a story whose overall message was hopeful and uplifting rather than cry me a bucket full of tragedy tears, which was a nice change. It was nice to read a story that focused on all sides of the effect cancer has. Halpern’s writing was very well-balanced. It managed to be funny and emotional without being overpoweringly sad, and the plot moved at the perfect pace. However, the characters are the shining glory of this book. They were well-developed, smart, witty, and unflinchingly real and all just so likable. It’s rare for me to come across a book where I love and appreciate every character, from the major to the minor, but Halpern accomplished that in this book. Alex was so easy for me to relate to, despite her obsession with gross horror movies. She’s full of spark and attitude, but underneath that tough demeanor is a girl who is lost and suffering from some serious survivor’s guilt-both from her father’s death and because of Becca’s cancer. A lot of the book focuses on her feeling guilty over being healthy while Becca isn’t, and her coming to terms with this and discovering that it’s okay to be happy, to have nice things. Becca is almost the exact opposite of Alex. Bright and bubbly and full of life, despite her illness. I loved the way her and Alex balanced each other, and the fact that the two shared a real friendship. The tragedy of YA books for me is that they rarely portray real, honest, BFF relationships between two girls but The F-It List did not disappoint me. Alex and Becca genuinely care about each other, and it shows. I loved that they were both nerds (I fangirled over every BSG reference) and perverted and so obviously were willing to do anything for each other, despite the estrangement they suffered from early in the book. The scene where Alex shaved Becca’s head especially had me all chocked up on the feels. I loved that this book also showed two girls being intrigued by and enjoying sex in such a healthy, honest way. I know this may come as a surprise to some people but most teenage (and adult) women are perverts. We like sex and we like to talk and joke about sex and I loved that this book showed that in a healthy, honest way. Leo. Oh sweet, awkward, adorable Leo. I ADORED the relationship between Alex and Leo. Some may say that it developed a little too quickly but I actually thought it was pretty realistic. I knew plenty of people, especially in high school, who would go from just starting to talk to a guy/girl to fooling around with them the same day. Again, I thought Halpern handled the sex issue very realistically and healthily here. And while I may have absolutely DESPISED the way Alex treated him at times, I could definitely see it from her point of view and why she was afraid to let him too deep into her life. The F-It List was a fun, engaging and uplifting story filled with refreshingly realistic characters and a unique take on the “cancer” theme that I will happily recommend to everyone I know.
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Fangirl
by
Rainbow Rowell
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Coming up with the words to write this review has mostly been impossible. Nothing I could ever tell you about my experience with this book could give justice to how much I utterly love and adore and want to live within its pages. I’ve read dozens of amazing contemporary books this year, that I’ve loved to an insane extent, but Fangirl is the moon and stars and sun and ocean of books. I definitely fall into the camp of considering this a new adult book and it’s everything that I want new adult books to be. A beautiful, heart warming, realistic, and relatable story that explores family, love, friendship and self-exploration in a truly unforgettable story. There have been a lot of characters that I’ve related to this year, but none have resonated with me as much as Cath. An introvert who hides behind her computer screen and refuses to let anyone into her carefully built walls after her mother walks out on her family, there were times where reading about Cath was almost like looking in a mirror, in both good and bad ways. Part of Cath’s charm is that she is so obviously a flawed character. She’s equal parts funny, sweet, talented and caring as well as stubborn, self-absorbed and naive. It often feels as if she cares more about the fictional universe she writes fanfic for then the universe she’s living in, and really haven’t most of us been there? She is just so likable that seeing her character grow and step outside of that comfort zone had me cheering for her the entire time. REALLY HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE AND CHEER FOR A CHARACTER WHO HAS KANYE DANCE PARTY’S ON HER BAD DAYS? The writing is what I’ve come to expect from Rowell. You know, utter perfection. I loved the pacing and the way the story encompassed the entirety of her freshman year and all of the stories developments on a realistic timeline. Nothing felt rushed or like Cath changed her entire personality miraculously overnight. I love it when contemps get that right. The writing was smart, witty, poignant and 100% engaging. The story made me so incredibly nostalgic for my own freshman year of college, and made me remember a lot of things I thought I’d forgotten. It even gave me the urge to dig out all of my old journals that I have buried in storage somewhere. It was so realistic and engaging that I felt as if I was living the year right alongside Cath and the other characters. The one thing I really was not a huge fan of was all the excerpts of Cath’s fan fiction. I understand it’s purpose, especially the way it brings Cath and Levi together and such, but sometimes I felt like there was just a little too much. The short bits weren’t so bad, but the super long parts that Cath reads to Levi drove me crazy. I didn’t care about the fictional Simon Snow world (although yes, if this was a real series I would totally be all over it), I cared about Cath’s. I did think the reading aloud to Levi thing was adorable though. My best friend actually read Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows aloud to her husband, so when I read about that it made me think of that and smile because they are the most adorable couple I know. While the focus of the story is Cath’s self-exploration, her relationship with her family is a huge part of that. Naturally I related to her relationship with her sister and dad way more than I should have. Cath is completely thrown for a loop that her twin, Wren, doesn’t want to be roommates. Wren and Cath, while sharing the Simon Snow love, are pretty much complete opposites in every way and the distance that grows between them when they start college, even though they are going to the same school, obviously hurts both of them and I really loved seeing that dynamic explored. I don’t have a twin (although I’ve always wished I did because I totally always wanted to be the evil twin when I was a kid-thank you Sweet Valley High), but I do have a cousin whose only six months younger than me and is more like my sister than my cousin and we went through a similar phase when we went into high school and it was utterly devastating for me. Watching Cath go through that with Wren brought all of that back to the forefront and I loved seeing the sisters find that balance again, even if I didn’t particularly like Wren’s character. I also loved that Rowell actually created realistic parent/child relationships and explored them. Despite the fact that Cath is away at college and doing her own thing, her relationship with both parents, for better or worse, was definitely very present in the story. Also her mother is a horrible human being. As much rage as I felt at her for abandoning her family, I think I felt even more rage at her giving her kids weird names because she was too lazy to think of a second name when she found out she was having twins. I mean, Wren’s not that bad but Cather? WHO DOES THAT TO THEIR CHILD? Crap moms, that’s who. Of course the book has a totally glorious romance because Rowell is amazing at that. LEVI IS MY EVERYTHING. During my freshman year, I super bonded with my RA. I think he mostly took pity on me because my roommate was horrible and I was obviously lonely and socially awkward, but he was kind of my hero that year and I was half in love with him. He was just a truly good guy and helped bring me out of my shell more than I might have without him. Plus he let me sleep on the couch in his dorm room when my roommate stumbled in loud and drunk or insisted on sleeping with the TV on. Man, I miss that guy. Anyway, tangent aside, Levi reminded me of him so freaking much it made me sad and nostalgic and so so feelsy. I loved his character so much and the development of his and Cath’s relationship was so beautiful and perfect just thinking about it makes my heart sing. It was the perfect-slow burn and even when Levi did some thing that made me want to junk punch him, he still held my heart. Seriously Cath, if you don’t someday marry him, I will. Because that is totally a possible thing. As much as I love Levi and relate to Cath, Reagan was probably my favorite character. Her smart-ass ways and brutal honesty just spoke to me and I loved the balance she brought to Cath and the way she helped bring her out and obviously genuinely cared, even when she didn’t want to. As a sidebar, and not that anyone probably cares but I feel like mentioning it because I’ve seen it mentioned by lots of people, while reading the book I think I figured out why Rowell uses a fictional fandom rather than Harry Potter, which Simon Snow is obviously pulled from. She actually kind of gives us the answer when Cath and her professor discuss the difference between fan fiction and plagiarism and Cath argues that it’s not plagiarism if she’s not profiting of it. If Rowell had used Harry Potter, and still included the excerpts of the fan fiction Cath wrote then technically she’d be profiting off of HP fan fiction which would technically be plagiarism. Yes. I thought about it too much but at least its sensible. So yea. I guess I liked Fangirl. And think you should probably read it too. And if you actually read this monster of a review and all my crazy tangents, thanks for that.
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Damselfly
by
Jennie Bates Bozic
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. In the spirit of full disclosure, self-published novels always make me nervous, but Damselfly and it’s utterly unique premise made for an entertaining and though-provoking read. The writing was lovely. It was descriptive and engaging without ever feeling juvenile or repetitive and with the exception of some plot and character development issues, it was all very solid. The world-building was sufficient. Although I would have liked a little more information on how the world reached this level of desperation, it never felt like I was lacking any of the information necessary to understand the plot and character motives, so I was satisfied. I enjoyed Lina. Yes, she is naive and selfish, but she is also a young teenager who grew up completely isolated, so I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt. And I really felt for her and the situation she was put in. As a woman I find the idea of being forced to put on a public courtship and choose a husband out of a group of men I have no interest in completely disgusting and offensive. I can only imagine how powerless she felt. I enjoyed watching her handle the situation and admired her bravery even if I didn’t agree with all of her decisions, and often found myself frustrated with her stubbornness. Her character, and really the entire plot of the book, also explored the always interesting question of what exactly it means to be human. Although only six-inches tall and winged, Lina’s character often showed more humanity then the fully human characters of the story. All of the love interests, Jack and the Tom’s suffered some characterization issues. There are six Toms, but only two of them were developed in any way, Row and Blue. I actually really liked what we saw of Blue, and if I could have picked one of the Toms for her to end up with, it would have been him. Row was just…annoying. I think I was supposed to like him, but I just found him frustrating and irksome. The rest of them were just peripheral, although one of him and I just cannot remember his name, was also extra annoying because he was constantly pouting and acting like a spoiled child once Lina started showing a preference for another of them. As for Jack I just wasn’t sold on him, or his and Lina’s romance. Bozic did her best to show us the development of their relationship over the year leading up to where the story begins, but even these flashbacks scenes weren’t enough to make me care about their flight or feel like they were really “in love.” This was especially hard for me to believe when Lina spends a significant amount of the book also swooning over a guy who is not Jack and then being mad at herself about it. Maybe it’s just me, but I have a hard time believing that you are so in love with one guy that you are willing to sacrifice your future freedom to keep him safe…but you’re totally okay with making kissy face with another guy? That just doesn’t work for me. Overall I really enjoyed the story. The conclusion was very satisfying and everything I hoped for throughout the book. I still don’t feel as if we really have any answers as to how Lina’s species is supposed to be the answer to the world’s problems, but it wasn’t a big enough problem to distract from the good of the plot: engaging, well-paced and often amusing. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a fast and entertaining read.
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Poor Little Dead Girls
by
Lizzie Friend
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I tried to love this book. I went into it with high hopes, expecting something creepy and mysterious and entertaining and instead found something that was none of those things. Poor Little Dead Girls is more Gossip Girl meets The Skulls, full of cliches and some frankly offensive assumptions about my hometown and a very disappointing plot. The writing just didn’t work for me. There wasn’t enough character development to make me care about all of these over-privileged, shallow kids and our TSTL narrator. The synopsis promises the creepy and mysterious, and while there were plenty of scenes where some disturbing stuff was happening, the writing failed to build the atmosphere enough for me to actually feel creeped out or curious. Also, and this was just something that really bugged me, but if you’re going to make your main character mention her home state with some regularity, please do some research on that state. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and I cringed with every mention, because the descriptions were so inaccurate and filled with stereotypes. It really felt as if the author was getting all of her knowledge of Oregon from something like Portlandia and frankly, I found most of it offensive. All of the characters were poorly developed and, with the exception of the MC’s roommates, Gwen and Tris and her best friend, Jessica, were wholly unlikable. They were self-absorbed, shallow and did not have a single redeemable quality. I have a lot to say about all of them, but it was Sadie who bothered me the most, simply because she’s supposed to be our heroine and the character we root for, and yet her actions were some of the most offensive. She really was just TSTL. She’s abducted by a bunch of people in hoods, who drug her and assault her and ask her some pretty invasive and offensive questions, and yet she only halfheartedly worries about it and then immediately agrees to join the secret society as soon as they invite her? THIS MADE NO SENSE TO ME. I didn’t actually hate her though, until she walked in on a sexual assault and didn’t say anything to anyone until she later had reason to believe that the same thing had happened to her. LIKE REALLY? SOMEBODY GETS RAPED AND YOU’RE LIKE LA-DI-DA NOT MY PROBLEM…OH WAIT I MAY HAVE BEEN RAPED THAT NIGHT TOO, LET ME GET EVERYONE I TRUST TO RISK THEIR LIVES TO HELP ME INVESTIGATE THIS CREEPY SECRET SOCIETY I JOINED. So yea, there were character problems. The plot was also just incredibly weak. It seems to be based on the mystery of Sadie’s mothers history at Keating Hall, as well as the disappearance of another girl the year before, but there is very little investigation into it. It’s mostly just a mess of Sadie waxing poetic about how different she feels because she’s not rich, and then going to parties and getting wasted and wondering why she has weird marks on her body. And the big reveal of the secret society’s master plan was just so predictable and laughable. But what really bothered me was the resolution to the mystery of Sadie’s mothers involvement and the missing girl. As a woman I was just incredibly offended. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who plans to read it but it was just bad. Bad, bad, bad and again, a total cliche. Will I buy this book? No. Would I recommend this book? Not likely. Not unless the person is really into books of the Gossip Girl caliber.
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This Is How I Find Her
by
Sara Polsky
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. My actual rating of this book is probably around a 3.5. When it comes to this book I’ve got some seriously mixed feelings. Having grown up with both a bipolar father & mother, I was looking for, and expecting, a story that I could relate to that would reach me on an emotional level. Unfortunately that was not the case for me. While I could feel sympathy for Sophie, the book failed to pull any emotion out of me until about 2/3 of the way through the story. The writing itself was average. It wasn’t bad but it was a little too simplistic for my tastes at times. The bare bones conciseness may have been intended to show how numb, bleak and lonely Sophie’s life is but instead it caused the characters to fall flat for me, especially Sophie. While I definitely sympathized with her, I found her lack of emotion-whether it be anger, grief, joy, really any emotion, to be unbelievable and unrelatable. While I could understand Sophie’s initial numbness being a result of her shock and possibly some PTSD, I really felt as if she took too long to start breaking down those walls and showing real emotion which in turn made it impossible fore me to feel any emotion for her. While I do think that the growth she went through in this book after moving in with her Aunt Cynthia was well done, by the time she started standing up for herself and not blaming herself for the situation with her mother it was too little too late. The relationship in the book that really worked for me, and that I could relate to was the one between Sophie and her cousin Leila. The pain of losing your best friend because your caught between your parents, growing apart because your interests no longer merge and all of those difficult things that happen when you’re growing up, especially when your family essentially isolates you. While I didn’t love the character of Leila, I did love the way the author portrayed her relationship with Sophie and found their re-connection to be very organic. I do feel as if the author did represent bipolar disorder in an honest way. The writing style and lack of character development just didn’t work for me and made it impossible for me to emotionally connect with the characters and story.
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Throne of Glass 02 Crown of Midnight
by
Sarah J Maas
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This is all you need to know about Crown of Midnight: Chaol and the Chaol and OMG THE CHAOL. That’s all. Promise. What? That’s not enough? You want to know about the writing? The plot? Dorian? Celaena? Nehemia? The creepy king? Well fine then. Be that way. Make me talk about something other than Chaol. Just try it. I dare you. I adored Throne of Glass. It was one of my favorite books last year, and just as good the second time around. I also really loved the prequel novellas, and I insist that you read them before reading this book. But Crown of Midnight? This book was superior to Throne of Glass in every way. In fact it is the second best sequel I’ve read this year, placing between Siege and Storm and Unravel Me. It took the series to an entirely different level of amazing. There is SO MUCH going on in this book. It was overwhelming and mind-blowing in the best way. I enjoyed the plot of this one much more than the competition plot/murder mystery of the first book. Celaena is ordered by the king to kill an old acquaintance of hers, which serves as a catalyst for a much bigger adventure, full of twists and turns and utterly shocking (and heartbreaking) surprises. One thing Maas handled very well was the pacing. With so much going on, it would have been easy to rush through the small details to get to the important events, but I never felt as if the story was being rushed at all. Not rushing through the little moments was especially important in terms of character development. This is definitely a character-driven series and Crown of Midnight was filled with lots of great character development, especially for Chaol and Dorian, with both of them being forced to confront things they weren’t at all comfortable with, resulting in so many amazing moments that either made me squee or ripped my heart out or did both at the same time. I cannot gush enough about how much I love the characters in this series. Celaena, Nehemia, Chaol, Dorian. These are the kind of characters that stay with you, long after a book or even series concludes. Despite the fact that she makes her living killing people, Celaena is a heroine to root for. She’s suffered so much that it’s easy to understand her motivations and her reluctance to join any kind of rebellion against the king, even when you want to strangle her for her stubbornness and shallow vanity. I will admit, it wasn’t until Crown of Midnight that I finally believed that Celaena was as bad-ass/dangerous as the novellas and first book claimed. Rather than just telling us that she’s the biggest baddest assassin in Adarlan, Maas actually shows us that she is. There are so many awesome scenes of Celaena being amazing and yes, terrifying, And there are even more showing that she’s also still a young girl whose dealt with more heartbreak than any person should have to and still manages to find the strength to survive and fight back. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE HER? And Dorian. DORIAN MY SWEET PRINCE. We get some interesting, and unexpected, information about him in this book that both makes me excited and scared for him. He has so many great moments in this book, especially once he stops pining over Celaena, and I hate that he’s still left in the dark on so many things because as far as I’m concerned he’s proven his loyalty. He really doesn’t get enough credit or love. There was one moment in particular involving him and a decision he makes regarding his feelings for Celaena that made my heart melt and tears fall, even though I don’t ship them at all anymore. It will be interesting to see how his story progresses in book three. As for Chaol? Well as I said this book is so Chaol and Chaol and OMG CHAOL. Would you believe I actually went into this book still a Dorian/Celaena shipper? It seems utterly absurd to me because that flew out the window within the first chapter. The development of Chaol’s character and his romance with Celaena was utterly perfect and I want to live in every moment of it, from their morning runs to the late night talks to a certain waltz. Not to say that every moment was gooey and perfect. They both make some heartbreaking mistakes and assumptions that caused me all sorts of agony and tears. There was one moment especially when Celaena’s treatment of Chaol after a certain event was way over the top and made me ragey. Otherwise I loved every aspect, despite the fact that so much of their relationship makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO GET A HAPPILY EVER AFTER but I refuse to hope for one because I just don’t trust this author. I DON’T TRUST HER NOT TO CRUSH MY HOPES AND RIP MY HEART TO SHREDS IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE THIS STORY THE BEST THAT IT COULD BE. Of course I did find some flaws in the writing. The final scene in particular stands out, with it’s highly predictable “plot-twist” that I called within the first chapter of Throne of Glass, not to mention how utterly melodramatic it was. This didn’t stop me from reading it over and over again and flailing but still. I didn’t really understand why she drug out the “big” revelation of Celaena’s identity, when it is so obvious. Further, the world-building could use a lot of work. While we finally get something of an explanation of how the King was able to make magic disappear and conquer the world so easily, I still felt like we needed more of an explanation of how magic in this world works and motivations, etc. The only thing I have left to say is JUST HOW WILL I SURVIVE FOUR MORE BOOKS?
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Ricochet
by
Krista Ritchie
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Actual rating is a 4.5. I am such a huge fangirl for this series, and every time I submerge myself in this world it’s like visiting old friends. Ricochet focuses on Lily’s separation from Lo and her management of her own addiction, as well as delving a little more into the history of their relationship. It is also a lot steamier then the first novel. I probably should not have been reading it on a family road-trip, especially because I could feel myself turning red at certain moments. Not to mention having to explain to my family what I was reading about when I had to slam my Nook shut because my 8-year old niece started trying to read over my shoulder. But I digress. Despite only being a companion novel, Ricochet was full of character growth and plot development. Rather than just giving us back-story or another perspective of events like many companion novels do, Ricochet actually moves the plot forward and I really loved that. I really enjoy the writing style. While it’s obviously not perfect, no writing is, it’s perfect for the story being told. Yes, I could do without the melodrama and the frequent mentions about how rich they all are, and the clothes descriptions because I just don’t care about what anyone-in any book ever-is wearing. Those little flaws aside, what really makes the series and writing work for me is how character-centric it is. The writing shows a deep insight into human nature. Despite the fact the characters are very unlikable-melodramatic, entitled, and just plain rude at times-they are so well developed that these flaws never overwhelm there better traits, or make the characters come off as irredeemable jackasses. I never fail to feel real emotion for them, and I’ve fallen in love with all of them, even Ryke, flaws and all. And that folks is how good character development works. The secondary characters really shined in this novel, especially Daisy and Ryke. While I spent a good amount of the novel internally griping over there not being enough Connor and Rose (because there is never enough Connor in my life) I really enjoyed getting to know Daisy and Ryke better. I can also finally see why people are already shipping them, despite the seven year age difference. They do have some serious chemistry and that bantery spark I love so much, although they do have some seriously inappropriate conversations. Another aspect I particularly enjoyed was the focus on Lily’s family and the way she relates to her sister’s and parents. Her relationship with them plays a huge role in her addiction, and I enjoyed the fact that she could be as close and care as much about her sisters as she does, given her absentee father and cray cray mother (yes, I totally just used the term cray cray in a review). In a lot of books with these kind of family situations the siblings all tend to resent each other, but that’s not the case with the Calloway girls and that really shined through. Even though they aren’t all super close, and all suffer from different problems, they still want to be close. Despite the fact that Lo isn’t physically present in the novel, away at rehab, his and Lily’s relationship did have some nice developments. They give me all the feels, especially during the scenes that flashback to the early stages of their “fake” relationship in high school. It hurts my heart to think about how much damage they’ve done to each other without realizing it, and how much time they wasted. Yes, they have a horribly unhealthy, dependent relationship but they recognize it and they don’t play the victims. They are actively working on fixing it. I think that’s what makes them so likable despite how horrible they are to each other and others at times. The flashbacks make you understand how easy it was for them to form such a dependent relationship, and while I can’t relate to their addictions, I have plenty of experience in the kind of damage these kinds of unhealthy, dependent relationships cause to both the people in them and the other people in their lives. It was very satisfying to watch Lily and Lo come to terms with this and try to move past it, to let other people into their inner circle in a way that felt healthy and natural. This companion novel also puts a lot of focus on the way Lily handles her addiction, and her venturing into therapy and trying to work out why she is the way she is. While I really enjoyed these scenes, and the character development Lily goes through to reach the point where she can finally pinpoint why sex is her chosen outlet, there was one thing I really didn’t love about how her addiction was handled and that was the focus that was placed on Lo as being necessary for her to be cured. It felt like every time she talked about her “cure” she never seemed to believe like this was something she could do on her own, that she could only do it with Lo’s help, and for me at least that isn’t helping her move away from the unhealthy dependency of their relationship. I really just want to see Lily stand on her own two feet and see that she is strong enough and whole enough to not need mindless sex with strangers, or sex with Lo, to feel something. Either way I’m excited to see where her character goes from here. Ricochet was a sexy, satisfying interlude in Lily and Lo’s story that focused on family and moving forward. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
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Fire & Thorns 03 Bitter Kingdom
by
Rae Carson
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
As series finales go, Rae Carson rocked it with The Bitter Kingdom. As heartbroken as I am that the trilogy has come to an end, I could not have asked for a more exciting, swoon-worthy, satisfying conclusion for these beloved characters. Admittedly, there were a couple things I didn’t love about the book and I’ll get those out of the way so the squeeing can commence. The first was the pacing. I just felt like the book should have been a bit longer. Carson is trying to accomplish a lot in the book, with three seemingly impossible conflicts that our heroine and her trusted band of allies need to overcome, and the resolutions to each seemed to be just a bit too easy and rushed. While I understood on an intellectual level that Elisa needs to accomplish these things quickly or lose everything, I just didn’t feel that sense of urgency or even the danger. I would have liked things to have felt a little more tense and risky, as if there could have been a real loss, but that never happened, at least for me. The second thing I just didn’t love was the inclusion of chapters from Hectors POV. Don’t get me wrong-I loved being in his head, but I did not like the inconsistency of the POV switch. Every time it happened I ended up disconnecting from the story for a minute because I wasn’t expecting it. What I did love about the writing was everything else. Carson has a talent for painting visually stunning scenes, using humor to lighten otherwise emotionally brutal scenes, and character building. One of the best things about reading this series has been watching her writing improve with each installment and seeing all the loose threads that were introduced in the first two books tied together in glorious ,and at times, shocking ways. The world-building is so complex, especially when it comes to things involving the Invierno’s, that I really did not want to leave it behind. There were also a few plot twists that I did not see coming and absolutely loved. My only complaint plot-wise was how anticlimactic a certain scene involving Elisa’s Godstone felt but really that’s an insignificant complaint when you consider how exciting and engaging the rest of the story is. The characters. OH THE CHARACTERS. I am incredibly attached to Elisa and her companions. Fully fleshed out, three-dimensional, and 100% lovable, they feel like old friends and saying goodbye to them was bittersweet. I will miss them but I loved seeing their story come to a close with plenty left to wonder about. Elisa is one of my favorite heroines of all time and I cannot gush enough about her character arc. She grew so much over the course of this series, from being downright unlikable in the first book to the fierce, take no prisoners, utterly brilliant glorious queen she is in The Bitter Kingdom. I love her strength and determination and the fact that she is always willing to make the hard choices, to sacrifice if sacrifice is needed. SHE’S WHO I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP. Mara and Belen continued to make me squee and have all sorts of feelings that I normally wouldn’t have for a secondary couple if the characters weren’t as well developed as these two are. And STORM. Storm is such a surprise favorite character of mine. He had so many wonderful moments in this book, and I wish that we could follow him on his coming journey. Carson also introduces a new character in this book, Mula, who is instantly lovable and added so much to the story that I didn’t even realize was missing until her special brand of sweet, fierce, hilarious, loyal, adorableness was brought in. Of course, the crowing glory of the book, and really the series in general, is Hector. As one of my favorite bloggers, Gillian from Writer of Wrongs put it, when I was whining on Twitter about trying to put my The Bitter Kingdom feels into a coherent review, “The Hector in the book is well-executed and Hector-y. The plot is Hectorful, overflowing with Hector, Hector, and even Hector.” While that is a totally legitimate review in itself, I just have to say that his and Elisa’s relationship is one of my favorites ever because their relationship development is so freaking realistic and believable and lovely. I swooned over every one of their moments together, and laughed. I adored the way there first sex scene was handled. I just want a Hector. That’s all. In conclusion read this book because it was full of adventure, fun, fierce women and Hectoryness.
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Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
by
Katie Alender
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This book is a prettily packaged liar. It had a great premise, one that had me expecting a creepy tale of dead queens and a murder mystery with a tinge of buried family legacies. Plus, you know, PARIS. Sadly the execution just didn’t work for me, as the story ended up being more of a morality tale about embracing yourself and being a good person than the creepfest the blurb suggests. Alender’s writing style is simplistic at best. I’ve never read any of her previous books, but her work in this one gives me the impression that she hasn’t quite grasped on to the golden rule of show, don’t tell. The plot itself was inconsistent and even boring at times. The murder mystery, featuring the ghost of Marie Antoinette and a secret order made up of French nobility, wasn’t even a tiny bit scary. It was predictable, boring and It served more as a backdrop to the story of Colette embracing her true personality, becoming a better person and finding real friends who aren’t as selfish as Hannah, right down to the fact that the only people the Queen’s ghost kills are people with personalities similar to Hannah’s. The book would have been much more enjoyable if the it had been focused on the history of Colette’s family, her current family dynamics, the secret order, and of course the serial killer ghost. The biggest reason this book didn’t work for me was Colette herself. Her backstory and personality are, to put it simply, poorly built. Colette used to be one of the wealthy girls at her private girls, until her parents divorced. Although it’s never outright stated, if you read between the lines you are led to believe that Colette’s father was her families primary source of income and once he and her mother divorced he suddenly stopped helping them financially. Apparently Colette lives in a world where child support “doesn’t exist. Colette is also the kind of girl who believes that one only does nice things so that people will like you or so that they will “owe” you. She is the kind of person who says things like “It’s not my fault that I want to spend the summer and senior year in New York with my dad, just likes it’s not my moms fault that my dad left her.” I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist. In short Colette is a shallow, vain, self-absorbed, one-dimensional character who is wholly unlikable throughout the book, despite the fact that the author makes several attempts to make it seem as if this isn’t really the case at all, that Colette isn’t anything like the friends she is glued to. One glaring example of this is the frequent mentions that are made of Colette being mistaken as a French native, because she doesn’t where a lot of makeup or dress over the top like Hannah and Pilar. It’s tedious, to say the least, and failed to accomplish what Alender was obviously attempting to do. The poorly built characterization is consistent throughout the book. The supporting characters are all cookie-cutter cliché’s. Colette is “best friends” with the two richest and most popular girls in school, Pilar and Hannah. Hannah rules the group with an iron tongue and Colette and Pilar spend most of the book sacrificing their wants to keep her happy so that she doesn’t defriend them, right down to a scene where the girls are picking out dresses for a costume party and Pilar picks one that makes her look ugly because Hannah doesn’t want anyone to look pretty, besides herself of course. Hannah, and the shallow popularity she represents, are obviously the big obstacle that Colette has to overcome. Much of this book was also highly unrealistic, and I’m not even talking about the serial-killer ghost. What bothered me particularly is that we are expected to believe that Colette is on a school-trip to France, with only one chaperon, who rarely appears and allows Colette to go off on her own at night, with their unknown tour guide, while there is a serial killer on the loose in the city. On top of that, she later tells Colette that she allowed it because she knew Colette wouldn’t have done anything inappropriate with Jules because her friends would never approve of somebody like him (again, paraphrasing). The only parts of the book that I truly enjoyed were Colette’s interactions with her love-interest and tour guide, Jules. Jules was easily the most likable, enjoyable character in the story, and his scenes were a refreshing change of pace from the dryness of the rest of the characters. Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer had all the right ingredients to be a fun and creepy paranormal read, with just the right amount of romance, but the sloppy execution and flat, unlikable characters made this an unenjoyable read for me.
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Moon & More
by
Sarah Dessen
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t particularly like it. I tried desperately to love this book as much as I’ve loved all of Dessen’s previous works, but it just wasn’t in the cards. A lack of plot, one-dimensional characters, and no resolution made me glad I waited to get it from the library rather than buying it. Dessen’s writing is always solidly good, but this time around it felt a little lazy in places. For example, the title is mentioned at least three times in the first couple of chapters. I stopped counting after that, but I’m sure it popped up more times. I also felt like the book was completely lacking a plot. Emaline is a HS graduate, working at the family business, totally unsure of what she wants to do with her life. Her world is basically turned inside out by the arrival of her bio-dad and half-brother, when her father comes to town to put his recently deceased aunt’s house on the market, as well as her relationship problems with long-term boyfriend Luke that conveniently start with the arrival of the more sophisticated Theo. It had all the necessary ingredients, but the execution was shoddy. The book mostly centered on Emaline hanging out with Theo and waxing poetic about how she wants more out of life, with no real resolution to any of these things. If Dessen had focused the plot on Emaline’s relationship with her family and resolving her issues with her father, the story would have worked a lot better. The character development also left much to be developed, with most of the characters being one-dimensional clichés. I simply couldn’t connect with any of them. If I’m being honest, Benji and Emaline’s best friends Daisy and Morris were the only characters in the book that I actually enjoyed. Those were the scenes that really shined for me and kept me reading the book. Emaline was too passive, frustratingly naive and at times annoyingly self-absorbed. The only moments when I enjoyed her character was during her interactions with her half-brother, Benji. It also didn’t help that I pretty much instantly disliked her family. Her mom and sisters were invasive and pushy, and nobody seemed to give much consideration to her or her feelings which drove me crazy throughout the book. Now, it is entirely possible that this is one of those “It’s not you, it’s me” situations. I always struggle to connect with characters who have big, invasive families like Emaline’s because my family was not like that at all. For the most part, especially in my teen years, I did what I want with little to no parental input or supervision. So I tend to get easily frustrated when I come across families where the parents are actually involved in the MCs lives, and irritated with the MC for letting their families push them around. One thing I really did enjoy was that the plot did not involve a love triangle like I feared. Both romances fell flat for me, and I didn’t particularly like either Luke or Theo, so if the book had been centered on Emaline trying to decide between the two I would have definitely DNFed it. While Luke was definitely much more likable than Theo, I wasn’t sold on Emaline being a good fit with either of them and found myself bored and frustrated during scenes that featured Emaline with either of her love interests. I did enjoy the first day or so of Emaline and Theo’s romance but that was it. After the second kissing scene it was just a mess that I usually skimmed through. I will give the book points for being realistic. As much as I disliked them, Emaline’s dysfunctional family was 100% believable as were her romantic interests. And while I disliked the fact that there was nothing resembling a resolution regarding her relationship with her bio dad, that is probably more realistic then them suddenly understanding each other and developing a close, loving relationship. The Moon and More was solidly written, but it just didn’t work for me. However I’m sure other Dessen fans will love it and so I would recommend it if you enjoy her previous works and other contemporary YA novels.
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This Song Will Save Your Life
by
Leila Sales
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Actual rating of this book? Infinity stars. My dear friend Molli was nice enough to let me borrow her ARC of this book, and I will forever be grateful to her, because this book changed my life. I’ve read a lot of contemporary YA novels, especially over this past summer, and I’ve loved most of them. Even in my late twenties, I find it easy to relate to the journeys that contemporary YA characters go through, as they struggle with finding their identity and their purpose, and the many other issues that come up in those pivotal years. But never have I come across one that has touched me so deeply as This Song Will Save Your Life. The synopsis barely touches the story held between this books pages. What sounds like your typical run of the mill, coming-of-age story is actually a powerful, deeply moving tale of overcoming the crushing hopelessness and loneliness that comes from feeling as if there is no place for yourself in this world by being brave enough to change and find your passion and realize that who you are is ENOUGH. As much as I loved this story, it was not an easy one for me to read. It was a brutally emotional experience. I laughed and cried and raged, both at Elise and at other characters on her behalf. I felt her loneliness and her triumphs as deeply as she did. More times than I could count I found myself having to set the book down just so I could get control of my own emotions. the second chapter in particular was the most brutal chapter I have ever read in my life. It was horrific in it’s honesty, and brought on many a painful flashback. Sales’ writing is stellar. The story moves at a perfect pace and the characters are well developed and interesting and 110% realistic, as are the events that guide Elise’s journey. Elise is a character I instantly connected with. So many of her thoughts, ideas, rationales and beliefs about herself and her life have passed through my head. At times being in her head was like reading one of my own diaries from my teenage years. I went through similar experiences of bullying in middle school, especially 7th and 8th grade, and throughout my freshman year of high school and it was so easy to understand her viewpoint on her classmates and the options she thinks she has. Kids are cruel and going through that kind of torment day in and day out is draining and eventually the hopelessness crushes you. But Elise is stronger than she realizes. She is smart and witty and her voice is refreshingly genuine. She’s also self-absorbed, naive and utterly oblivious to the truth of most things. As much as I loved, related, and wanted to protect her, there were just as many moments when I wanted to shake her and give her the much needed wake up call she doesn’t get til the ending. I adored most of the secondary characters as well. Elise’s family was great, although I do wish they had played a bigger role, especially her younger siblings. Her new friends, especially Vicky and Harry were a huge highlight for me and I immensely enjoyed every scene they were featured in. As for the love interest, Char? HATE. While I could understand his character, and the purpose of his character, it didn’t stop me from cringing every time he was mentioned, from the moment he is introduced to Elise. I recognized his type from the start because he’s the exact type of guy I’ve always found myself attracted to and so of course I wanted to protect Elise from him. He was an interesting character, and the story was stronger because of his presence, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to strangle him. Repeatedly. This is one of the stories that will effect every person who reads it differently. Not everyone will be able to relate to Elise’s circumstances, but I think they will be able to relate to her loneliness and being misunderstood. This Song Will Save Your Life is a well written story, with an engaging plot and well-developed, genuine characters that I strongly encourage you all to read.
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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
by
Tucholke, April Genevieve
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Now that I know this book is my spirit animal and may be the love of my literary life, I finally feel free to admit that I went into it utterly terrified that I wouldn’t love it. I’ve been looking forward to it since December, and was afraid that I had over-hyped it- that it couldn’t possibly live up to the expectations that I’ve built in my head. That fear only increased once I started talking to the author on Twitter, who is a fellow Oregonian and utterly delightful. There is nothing worse, in my opinion at least, than adoring an author as a person and then finally reading their book and discovering you hate it. I’ve had it happen a couple times and it makes me feel terrible. But thankfully this did not happen at all. From the moment I met Violet I was utterly entranced by this book-by the characters, the setting, the writing, everything. As intriguing as it is, the plot synopsis really doesn’t do the book justice. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a spooky, gothic mystery/horror story, filled with monsters and murderers, small-town legends and family secrets and morally ambiguous characters who will worm their way into your hearts. It is dark and utterly terrifying, filled with deliciously surprising twists that you’ll never see coming. I am both in love with and terrified by Tucholke’s imagination. The last few chapters literally had me clutching the book to my chest, tearing at my hair and squeezing my eyes shut in terror. I wasn’t even this terrified when I went and saw The Conjuring a couple weeks ago. There were also tears involved. I don’t even know how I’m going to sleep tonight, honestly. I could go on and on about how enamored I am with the story she has created, but I won’t because I don’t want to spoil it for ya’ll. JUST DON’T READ THIS BEFORE BED. OR ANYWHERE EXCEPT A BRIGHT, SUNNY PLACE WHERE THERE ARE NO CHILDREN ANYWHERE AROUND. April’s prose is gorgeous. It’s vividly descriptive, and while it is heavy on the adjective and metaphor use at times, it worked for me and the story. It’s as atmospheric and haunting as the house Violet and her brother live in, as sleepy and charming as the town of Echo and I wanted to wrap myself up in it. She has a talent with words that makes me deeply envious and just a little bit in love with her mind. I wish I had more coherent things to say about it, but some things simply just are, and cannot be expanded on without me repeating myself. I loved the writing. I adore the plot. But I worship the characters and they are what made this book my new favorite of the year. The cast of characters in this book. Guh. Violet was the only one I trusted at all while reading it. Everyone else was a suspect. And even her I didn’t entirely trust, because from the moment a certain thing is revealed, she becomes an unreliable narrator. I still adore her though. I couldn’t say that she’s a necessarily realistic character, but she is a likable one. She doesn’t talk or think like any teenager I’ve ever known..although she did remind myself of me a little bit. I could relate to her love of coffee and feelings of abandonment, and her use of strange words in conversation that nobody else uses, because she spends more time with books than people. Although it’s never outright stated, you get the sense that her grandmother was her best friend growing up, and it shows. She’s stubborn and brave and also incredibly naive and lonely. I admired her as much as I wanted to shake some sense into her, or give her a giant hug. I’m as conflicted over River as Violet is. I went into this knowing that he’s not trustworthy and so I was determined not to fall for him. But he’s just so charming and seductive and seemingly vulnerable at times that I found myself falling in love with him a little bit, despite myself. On the other hand he’s also a sly, creepy little lying liar who lies and I hated him and spent a lot of the book wanting to stab him in the face. He blends the truth with the lies so well that I couldn’t tell up from down. He’s morally ambiguous in a way that I love and hate and he haunts me already. I also loved that their relationship is never portrayed as some beautiful, epic, swoon-worthy, insta-love conquers all thing. It’s creepy and unhealthy and addictive-something that both characters readily admit. While I’m sold on their obsession with each other, this is one of those pairings that I’m not sure I necessarily want to get an HEA. The other major players-Violet’s twin brother Luke and their neighbor Sunshine were also wonderfully fleshed out. My feelings for Luke are also conflicted. On one hand, I spend a lot of the book wanting to punch him in the face because he’s a sexist jerk wad, on the other I could see that he did love Violet in his own way and if there is any kind of relationship I understand, it’s brother/sister ones. I really hope to see their relationship get more development and focus in the next book. Sunshine is fascinating. She’s a vixen and a bit of a mess and not entirely likable. But she’s funny and sweet in her own way and added much needed humor to the story. Even the minor characters, Jack and Neely are well-developed. I can’t say a lot about Jack without spoiling things-but I liked his spark and am glad my suspicions regarding him are correct. The jury is still out on Neely. He’s charming and I don’t entirely trust him and his intentions toward Violet, but I am looking forward to hopefully seeing him get more development in the sequel as well. Basically, all of the characters are fascinating, a little bit mysterious, well-developed, morally ambiguous, and completely unique. I loved and hated things about all of them-much like I do with actual people, and I am sad that my time with them had to end. This book is the total package. The writing is gorgeous, the story is phenomenal and the characters are refreshing unique. I would literally sell me soul to get my hands on the sequel, that’s how in love I am with this world. So GOOD JOB APRIL. GOOD JOB ON RUINING MY LIFE.
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Rephaim 01 Shadows
by
Paula Weston
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It's no secret that I have a love/hate relationship with books featuring an angel theme. With a few exceptions, I mostly love to hate them. I was pleased to discover that Paula Weston's Shadows is one of those very rare exceptions. I really enjoyed Weston's writing style. Overall it hits that perfect balance between descriptive and concise that I love so much. Descriptive enough that I could easily visualize the characters, setting and action, but not so flowery that the important details got lost in the padding. There were definitely moments when the writing was just a little too simplistic, but it never felt juvenile. The world building was solid, and offered a unique twist on the Nephilim/Rephaim lore. While most angel-themed books tend to center on the Nephilim, I have yet to come across one that approaches it at the angle Weston does and I'm extremely excited to see where she is going with it. Another plus in the writing column is that all of the characters were well developed, and likable for the most part. I enjoyed Gaby's attitude and sense of humor and I'm intrigued by the Gaby that we don't know, the person she was before the accident that killed Jude and took her memory. At times she walks the edge between likable and irritating, but she never crosses it. While she sometimes does and says things that I found to be frustrating, she always managed to redeem herself in my eyes. I liked that she is older than most YA heroines, and that while she spends most of the book in the dark about her past, she never came off as weak or frail. While she isn't the badass that the other Rephaim say she once was, she worked with what she had and I found that admirable. While I enjoyed seeing her in action, my favorite Gaby moments were the ones where she was thinking about Jude. Much of the emotion in the book is centered on her heartbreak over losing her twin, and I wanted to cry right along with her at times. Jude came to life through her memories, and felt like another supporting character, which was excellent. Shadows also has a great supporting cast of characters. I ADORE RAFA. Yes, I find it annoying that he is keeping so many secrets from Gaby and that he has a man-whore reputation, but I believe that underneath all the bluster and egotism is a genuinely good guy. I also really loved Maggie and Jason. I hope their relationship progresses and that we see lots of them in the remaining books. I also really liked the way Weston handled the development of all the relationships in the book. Maggie and Gaby's friendship is a great, and I love how supporting Maggie is despite everything. Of course there were times I was frustrated with Maggie's over-protectiveness, but not so much that I ended up disliking her. And yes, I was sold on Rafa and Gaby's relationship from their first meeting. While I did have some concern about it turning into an insta-love situation, especially since Gaby was dreaming about him before meeting him and they were making out within an hour of meeting, but thankfully it never went down that road. The fact that they have at least a hundred years worth of history, even if Gaby doesn't remember it, makes me even more interested in seeing how their relationship progresses. I JUST WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Of course there were characters I hated, particularly Daniel, Nathaniel and Simon. Daniel's brand of blind loyalty is always terrifying, especially when that loyalty is directed at someone like Nathaniel, who is obviously a lying liar who lies. Simon just irritated me in general, and came off as sleazy to the extreme, but that was probably just me. Shadows is a solid debut with a unique premise and a fantastic cast of characters. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
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Delias Shadow
by
Jaime Lee Moyer
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Before I get into the important details of this book, can I please just talk about how much I LOVE this cover. It’s so gorgeous and perfectly fits the content within. Delia’s Shadow is an honest to goodness ghost story. Set about a decade after The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Delia Martin returns home to San Francisco for her best friends wedding, haunted by a ghost she calls Shadow. Shadow torments Delia with nightmares of her murder thirty years ago, a murder eerily similar to those of an uncaught serial killer who appears to be killing again, catapulting Delia into a hunt for the killer. Moyer promises the reader a good old fashioned ghost story and murder mystery and she does not disappoint. I adored Moyer’s writing. It’s gorgeous, rich in detail and highly atmospheric. I also greatly admire the amount of research that must have gone into this book, I looked a few things up while reading and everything seemed to be spot on. While the book does also features the dreaded dual POV, switching between Delia and Gabe, it worked well with the story. Sometimes POV changes can be disruptive, but that wasn’t the case here. They flowed seamlessly into each other and I enjoyed getting to see things from both characters. For the most part I also really enjoyed how descriptive the scenes were. Although I haven’t yet had a chance to visit San Francisco, it was easy to picture myself there through Moyer’s descriptions of the architecture, weather and scenery. Moyer paints lovely visual scenes. What made this a less than perfect book for me was the simple fact that as lovely as the writing was, at times it was just a little too heavy and moved just a little too slowly for my, especially during the first 30% or so of the story. There were a few times when the detail was overwhelmingly too much, especially when I’m reading a long paragraph detailing what the characters are eating. I really loved the story being told here, and it kept me spooked and anxious/impatient for answers throughout. Moyer kept me on my feet the entire time, accomplishing something incredibly rare in a mystery novel: I actually didn’t figure out who the killer was until a paragraph before it was revealed. That never happens. I’m ridiculously good at guessing the who/why. It was creepy in all the right places and her ghosts definitely had teeth. I only had two major complaint about the plot. The first is is that we never get any real explanation about why Delia has the ability to see ghosts, or why she didn’t see them after she moved. I really wish this had been explained more, but I’m hoping it will be more of a focus in later books. The second is a pivotal scene that happens towards the end with Gabe that I felt was just too rushed through. It was one of those blink and you miss it scenes and lacked the emotional punch it should have had. As for the characters, Delia’s Shadow is filled with tons of great ones, all well-developed and likable. Delia is lovely. Down to earth, brave, intelligent and with just the right amount of sass, she’s one of my new favorites. And of course I fell utterly in love with Gabe. He has an old-soul vibe and a quiet strength that charmed my socks off. I also really loved all of the the minor characters, Sadie especially. She was a breath of fresh air when things got too dark and a perfect balance for Delia. Of all the characters though, Isadora was my favorite. She’s strong, unconventional and mysterious and I hope there is much more of her in the future. The relationships between Gabe and Delia, Delia and Sadie, Nick and Sadie and Nick and Gabe were all fascinating as well. This is a group of people I would have loved to have been friends with. I especially enjoyed the romance between Gabe and Delia. Despite the quick progression of their relationship, it felt completely organic. Given the high stakes environment they are thrown into and the amount of time they are spending together, it felt natural for them to fall in love so quickly. I also loved that their romance did not overshadow the more important aspects of the plot. It was just a quiet, steady presence that added rather than distracted. I really loved this book and I want ya’ll to be excited about it too. It was a wonderful debut and I look forward to getting my hands on a finished copy, as well as future books.
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The Cuckoo's Calling: Cormoran Strike 1
by
Robert Galbraith
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Oh I have such a strange relationship with this book. Overall, I really enjoyed it and was utterly enthralled by the plot and characters. However, I also fought tooth and nail to get through it, spending an entire week reading it-something that very rarely happens to me. The writing is intricate, with a well-paced plot and wonderfully developed characters. I really enjoyed the fact that we actually see the investigation progress, step-by-step, having the clues laid out in front of us as Cormoran pieces it all together. We get every bit of information that he does, which kept my opinion of the murderer constantly shifting. I really thought I had it figured out about half-way through, but I changed my mind again about six more times and still got it wrong. The surprise at the end was the most wonderful and utterly brilliant twist, I could never have saw it coming. Given that the reader does get all the same information as Cormoran, I like to believe that if I focused on the clues and taken notes I might have figured it out too. Creating realistic, fully fleshed out characters is a special talent of Rowling’s, and this novel does not disappoint in that regard. Cormoran himself is a new favorite of mine. A little bit mysterious, a whole lot of funny, and unconventional, I was rooting for him from our first introduction. He’s also got a brilliant mind, a knack for noticing the little details and comes across as just a genuinely good person, which was refreshing. I particularly enjoyed his interactions with his half-sister and Robin. The other characters, from his temp-secretary Robin, who is smart, tactful and surprisingly funny, to the victim, Lula, are all just as well-developed. Although dead, Lula came to life again across the pages, as Cormoran pieced together the details of her life and death. Each character added something new and interesting to the story, keeping it from becoming tedious and repetitive. If you couldn’t already tell, the plot and characters are what made me fall in love with this book and kept me reading. What didn’t work for me was how overly verbose the prose could be. As I told a friend on Twitter, I felt that at least 1/4-1/3 of this book could have been cut without damaging the plot or characterization at all. For example, I really did not need to read an entire paragraph describing a staircase. It just isn’t necessary. I also was not a fan of the scenes where Cormoran would be interviewing someone, and then suddenly start making random internal observations about the environment in which the interview is taking place. These details added nothing to the story, and were unnecessarily distracting. This made it difficult for me For the most part though, I thought this was a wonderful, interesting story and I really do hope there is another Cormoran Strike book.
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Code Name Verity 01
by
Elizabeth Wein
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This reviews is a difficult one to write for two reasons. Firstly, because there truly are no words to describe how completely and utterly in love with this book I am. Second, because I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t read it for the many twists and turns it will deliver throughout his pages. This book will mess with your mind and your heart and will utterly entrance you. So what can I tell you, without ruining the story? The writing is brilliant. It’s evocative, perfectly paced, subtle, and at times painful. One thing that caught my attention, and still haunts me, is how casually Verity describes the torture’s her Nazi interrogators put her through. Rather than fully descriptive scenes that allow the reader to visualize the agony she suffers at their hands, Verity mentions them in an off-handed way as if it is the most normal thing in the world, which really just emphasizes how horrifying her circumstances are. Verity’s narration is brilliant and powerful. She will make you laugh and cry and mourn and want to hug her tightly. I honestly can’t say much more without ruining it. What I loved most about this book was the real story being told, that of the friendship between Verity and Maddie. Very rarely do I come across a strong female friendship in the YA books I read, and Wein did an incredible job of developing Maddie and Verity’s relationship across the pages of Verity’s letter to her captors. They are two strong, courageous women faced with choices nobody should ever have to face and the glimpses we get into their adventures together before Verity’s capture is a perfect balance to the horror’s Verity faces after being captured. It is a love story in the truest sense of the word. I have so much more that I want to say, but can’t for fear of spoiling a story that should never be spoiled for a new reader, so I will leave you with my initial review of the book… You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read this book. You must read
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Distance Between Us
by
Kasie West
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
My actual rating for this book is more of a 4.5-4.7. The Distance Between Us is one of those books that stuck with me for days after I read it. I’ve actually been putting off writing this review because while I love it, I’m not really sure how to put that love into words and I’m sorely tempted to do what I swore I never would and actually use gif’s in a review. I really, really, really LOVE this book. First off, can we talk about how gorgeous this cover is? So much swooning over it. I need those shoes. The writing was wonderful. Descriptive without being overpoweringly so, I could easily visualize the characters and the town they live in. West is simply a great storyteller. I’ll admit that I was a little leery going in, as the whole rich boy/poor girl trope is overplayed and usually dull and predictable, but West gave it a fresh, interesting spin that completely engaged me. The plot moved at just the right pace, most of the characters were easy to relate to and wholly likable, and there were a few twists that surprised even me. One thing I particularly loved is that Xander and Caymen actually do date-like things. They go on adventures together and have phone conversations and actually do things that couples do, actions that are sadly missing from many YA romances. And there is an actually well written female friendship in this book. Caymen and her best friend Skye talk, and confide in each other and hang out and do things. It’s awesome. For the most part, I really liked Caymen. Her dry, sarcastic sense of humor, her wit, and her approach to life were all so easy for me to connect with and relate to. However I found myself extremely frustrated with her constant inner monologue over how terrible it is that she’s falling for a rich guy and how terrible rich people are in general. Yes, her prejudices are justifiable to an extent given her mom’s history, but after a while that kind of blind prejudice becomes too much. Don’t get me wrong. She is a wonderful character and I loved her narration. I just could have done without her indecisiveness about some things. As for Xander…he quickly made it onto my list of top ten book boyfriends. If Daniel Sharman (who I am ridiculously obsessed with as you probably know if you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr) were a book character, he’d be Xander Spence. Xander is adorable and sweet and funny. He has charming traits like bringing Caymen pre-sipped hot chocolate and he looks great in a suit. He is also frustrating, oblivious, stubborn and flawed. He’s such an interesting character and I want more of him. My secret dream is to one day see West write an outtake or something from Xander’s perspective because wouldn’t that be lovely? The secondary characters were great too. Skye is a perfect compliment to Caymen, and her boyfriend Henry is…odd but charming. Even his friend Mason is a great character, if a bit pushy. My favorite of the secondary characters by far was Xander’s grandma, Mrs. Dalton. She is an absolute doll, as charming as her grandson. Really, what I saw of Xander’s entire family is great and I wish there had been more of them. The romance between Xander and Caymen is also perfectly and realistically built. It develops slowly, especially since both of them think the other is already in a relationship with somebody else. They become friends first, and they just have a wonderful dynamic and so. much. chemistry. If you enjoy subtly flirty, witty banter and adorable things like pre-sipped hot chocolate then you will adore their relationship. As I said before, I particularly liked that this relationship did not fall into the typical rich boy/poor girl pattern. Xander does not fall for Caymen simply because she’s a “normal” girl unlike all the rich model/actress types he’s used to dating. His family doesn’t treat her badly because she’s poor and obviously only using him for his money, etc. They are simply two people who connect after a chance meeting. It’s organic and charming and exactly what I’m looking for out of my fictional romances. While this book was very well put together over all, there were a few plot points that just didn’t work for me. While I appreciated the relationship between Caymen and her mom to an extent, I really just had a difficult time liking Caymen’s mother. They are supposed to be super close and yet she doesn’t seem to have any respect for Caymen’s ability to make her own decisions about people. And I really was not okay with how much she lied to Caymen. I understand the need to protect your child, but Caymen’s almost an adult and some things should not be lied about. As a result their relationship just fell flat for me. I also did not understand the point of the “triangle” with Caymen, Xander and Mason. Since it never really became a love triangle as we know them, Caymen is never truly torn between the two guys, it seemed like a lot of wasted plot that could have been better spent on something else. And some things simply just didn’t make sense. One glaringly obvious one for me was Caymen’s mom freaking out about a website Caymen created for the doll shop, and the book leads us to believe this is because she’s afraid of someone using the website to find them, which seemed like a serious overreaction to me considering she is still using her real name and they live in the same town she always had. Any P.I. with half a brain would be able to find them so it seemed really pointless. And it just bugged me. The Distance Between Us was by no means a “perfect” novel, but it was perfect for me. Funny, realistic, sweet and utterly charming, it was a perfect summer read that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys contemporary YA stories.
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Splintered 01
by
A G Howard
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
In the spirit of full disclosure, I will preface this review with the fact that I really did not like this book. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I hated it, but I did scream in rage at it multiple times, and throw it across the room once I was finished. The reason I am giving it a 3 star rating, after almost an hour of internal debate, is solely based on the fact that while the story did not work for me at all, the writing itself was lovely. I can definitely understand why so many people raved about it to me, even though reading it was a bitter struggle for me the entire way through. I will start with the positive. I love the cover. It’s so so gorgeous and definitely captures the spirit of Howard’s Wonderland. More importantly, the writing is good. Lush and evocative, lyrical and dark, and so incredibly descriptive. A.G. Howard is an incredibly talented writer. It was very easy to visualize Alyssa’s Wonderland. And what a Wonderland it is. This is nothing like the one you grew up with. It is dark and scary and seductive, and everybody you meet has a secret agenda. So why, you ask, if the writing was so good, do I dislike this book so strongly? The story itself just did not click with me. The first 160 pages were a battle to read through, dragging on and on until I just about reached the point of marking it as a did-not-finish. It eventually picked up once Alyssa made it to Wonderland, becoming fast-paced enough to hold my attention as Alyssa journeyed through this netherworld, trying to make sense of the trials set before her. I will say that the twist at the end took me completely by surprise, despite all the clues that were dropped throughout the novel. What really sealed the deal on my dislike though is that I did not like any of the characters. Alyssa was tolerable, at times. I enjoyed the fact that she’s this punk rock skater girl with a morbid desire to shut the bugs up she hears by sticking pins in them and turning them into artwork, but she was so frustratingly oblivious about so many things that seemed so obvious, and so wishy-washy about her feelings for Jeb and Morpheus that I just couldn’t connect with her. Her best friend and crush, Jeb had me in a constant state of rage. Some may find his over-protectiveness and need to control Alyssa’s every move charming, I just found it really freaking annoying. He claims to love her and yet he has no respect for her ability to make decisions for herself which, for me at least, translates into having no respect for her, period. Morpheus is creepy and definitely repulsive at times, but I still preferred him to Jeb because even though he’s a lying liar who lies, he at least seems to understand Alyssa and respect her to an extent. I will point out that while I was not a fan, I can definitely see this appealing to most anyone else who enjoys the young adult and fantasy genres.
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Psych Major Syndrome
by
Alicia Thompson
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This book is a hidden gem that everybody should be reading. A fantastic cast of characters, fresh writing, and a swoon worthy romance? YES YES YES. Psych Major Syndrome is one of those rare books that just sang to my soul, from the moment I read the first sentence, the book I wish I’d had in my hands during my freshman year of college. It was so relatable and realistic and I never wanted it to end. The closer I got to finishing it, the more excuses I would find to stop reading and do something else because I wanted to live in Leigh’s life for just a little bit longer. Leigh is a freshman at a small liberal arts college, and Psych Major Syndrome details her journey during this pivotal year, where she learns how to balance new academic needs, new relationships, a preoccupation with sex, and all of the other changes that come with leaving home and being on your own for the first time. She’s one of those characters I loved instantly, even more so because I could strongly relate to her, right down to her penchant for badly written romance novels. She’s just so well-rounded and normal. She’s smart and witty but she’s also naive and blind to the obvious and has that tendency to over analyze every little thing that I think all girls can relate to. She brought out all the emotions that you want to feel when reading. I cried with her and laughed with her and of course had moments when I wanted to strangle her for being oblivious or stubborn. Thompson’s writing is fresh, witty, quirky in all the right ways and utterly charming. It just warmed my heart and caused me to constantly grin like a maniac while reading. While the story does contain some clichés, a couple of scenes that made me cringe and some moments that I wish had been better developed, they were not enough to distract from the story being told. The plot moves quickly and fully engaged all of my senses. All of the secondary characters were also just as well-written and developed as Leigh. Her best friend/roommate Ami reminded me so much of my college roommate/now life long best friend it was almost like deja vu. Ami is artistic, vocal and absolutely the voice of reason. She’s not afraid to tell Leigh or anyone else how it is and I love it. She’s one of those secondary characters I would love to see have her own story told one day. As for the two love interests, I have a lot of feelings. Andrew is Leigh’s high school sweetheart and the world’s biggest douche bag. Seriously. He actually had me Hulk smash raging every time he was on the page, to the point that I actually threw my book across the room. Of course I picked it right back up and hugged it close but still. I can’t remember the last time I hated a character this much. Rude, condescending, self-absorbed. If you don’t hate him from the moment you’re introduced to him you are doing something wrong. His roommate Nathan is pretty much is exact opposite. 100% swoon worthy, sweet, charming and caring, he’s pretty much the perfect guy. It also doesn’t hurt that he play’s guitar, walks around shirtless and has some issues of his own that make him an observer of human nature. While both of the guys could have been developed a little better, Nathan was definitely more fully developed than Andrew and is total book boyfriend material. And although I guess this could be considered a love triangle, it never really felt like one. The development’s in both of the relationships felt completely realistic, which was refreshing. This was a perfect contemporary YA read for me and I look forward to any future works from this author.
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Etiquette & Espionage
by
Carriger, Gail
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
These 3 star reviews are always the hardest to write. It’s easy to gush about books I love, or rant about ones I didn’t, but discussing the ones I just feel indifferent about? SO HARD. Etiquette and Espionage wasn’t a bad book by any means but no matter how hard I tried, it just could not grab my interest. What I did love about it and what kept me reading was the characters, despite their unfortunate names. Sophronia was a breath of fresh air. Spunky, adventurous, blunt and just so much fun! All of the secondary characters, right down to the malevolent Monique were also very well done and fascinating. I would love to get more history on the schools professors and Headmistress as well. This was also the first book I’ve read in the Steampunk style, and I actually greatly enjoyed it even though it was a bit of an adjustment. Carriger’s world is fabulously well built, with just the right balance between the traditional Victorian time period and the alternative technologically advanced Steampunky universe. What didn’t work for me was that I felt like nothing was really happening at all. It took 110 pages for me to become invested in the storyline and only about 60 or more pages for me to lose interest again. There is lots of underhanded girl snark and lots of Sophronia exploring the school but not a lot else, which made for a very boring, if well written, read. However, it was intriguing enough that I will be checking out Carriger’s other books and I will probably read any sequels to this one.
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Dust Lands 02 Rebel Heart
by
Moira Young
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I am still debating my rating of this book. I’m not even entirely sure what I just read. It’s predecessor, Blood Red Road, is one of my all-time favorite books, so naturally I was excited to read a sequel, despite feeling that it worked well as a stand-alone. Now, after reading Rebel Heart, I wish that Moira Young had left well enough alone. The writing itself isn’t bad. I enjoy the unique dialect that Saba and the rest of the inhabitants of her world speak in. It fits the story and world so much better than a traditional writing style ever could. It’s simple without being simplistic. The vivid descriptions made it easy for me to visualize the brutal environment and the action-packed, fast-pace of the novel kept me reading even when I was screaming in rage at everything else. If I can say nothing else positive about the story, I can say that there is never a dull moment. My problem with the book is the characters and the complete and utter lack of growth for any of them. Saba is definitely flawed. Selfish, stubborn, and very often unlikable, she is also loyal and brave. She loves deeply and blindly and all of these traits were what made me fall in love with her originally. However the likable traits are almost non-existent in this follow up. Saba seems to have changed completely between the two books. The change in character also happens about mid-way through this book, a complete and utter 180 that had my head spinning. She makes so many bad choices in the later half of this book, choices that seemed utterly inconsistent with the Saba that I knew from the first book, that the love I had for her was killed entirely. Generally I have no problems with flawed characters making bad choices. They are usually my favorites. Unfortunately many of Saba’s actions make no sense to me and its impossible for me to accept what I don’t understand. The plot itself is also chaotic and much of what happens seems to be pointless and unnecessary. There is no real explanation of why DeMalo is so obsessed with Saba and why he believes that the two of them are the key to changing everything. I also feel like the whole plot line centered around Jack’s “betrayal” is ridiculously cliched and I found it impossible to believe that Saba would fall for it, making her later actions all the more frustrating and uncharacteristic. I can’t even began to describe how enraging and out-of-character I find her involvement with DeMalo to be, especially considering how everyone she does care about is fighting against what he is trying to do to their world. Honestly I’m not sure that I’ll read the final book. I’ll always have a deep love for Blood Red Road, but so much of where Young took this story has completely ruined my enjoyment of it overall.
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Addicted to You
by
Krista Ritchie
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This book people. It was not at all what I expected. Honestly, given the fact that my first foray into the NA genre was the Too Far series by Abbi Glines, I pretty much just expected some soap opera worthy antics followed by lots of graphic sex. And yes, I know, I should never make assumptions about one book based on other books but I’m only human. Sometimes I do things I shouldn’t. Regardless, Addicted to You blew my expectations out of the water. The writing, the characters, the story. It was heartbreaking, intense, and absolutely beautiful in its own way. This is definitely a character-driven story. Lily, Lo, and their relationships both with each other and their families are the driving force. It was so hard not to fall in love with these characters. Despite the fact that they are addicts from incredibly rich families living overly privileged lives, they are so easy to empathize with and even relate to at times. I adore that they are comic book nerds who go to Comic Con. Is their relationship a healthy one? Absolutely not. It’s co-dependent and enabling and they have a long way to go before they reach a point where it can be called healthy. But it has the potential to be. It’s honest and it’s true and heartbreakingly beautiful and I have a lot of feelings about it, obviously. I think it’s just a sign of how good the writing is that the Ritchie’s have taken these two characters who most people would find to be utterly detestable and turned them into ones that you just root for. Even when you’re disgusted with them, you still love them. Lily especially was a lot easier for me to relate to than I expected her to be. Obviously I couldn’t relate to her addiction, although I could empathize with her. While I’ve never been addicted to anything, I come from a family of drug and alcohol addicts, including both of my parents and maternal uncles, an experience that I felt made it easier for me to understand the characters even when I couldn’t sympathize with them. While I couldn’t relate to the addiction, I could relate to her self-loathing and isolation and loneliness. One sentence in particular really struck a chord with me, possibly more than any other I’ve ever read “I guess the only way to be close to me is to inject yourself in my world because I won’t make the move to enter yours. That’s horrible, isn’t it? Does she frustrate and piss me off and make me want to throw things at her? Yes. All the time. She’s an addict with no apparent desire to change her lifestyle, one who uses her addiction to justify enabling the addiction of the person she loves most in the world. If that doesn’t piss you off you’re doing life wrong. But like the future Lily see’s for Lo, distant and bright, I have that same hope for her. I also loved the minor characters, especially Connor and Rose. They were a breath of fresh air when things became too intense. The relationship between Rose and Lily just makes my heart explode with joy and made me want to give my own sister’s a giant hug. And while I’m not Ryke’s hugest fan, I appreciate him and his purpose. The writing, while not perfect, was still very good. Just the right balance of descriptive, evocative, and raw without being simplistic or juvenile, I was sucked in immediately. Yes, there were some moments and plot twists that had me rolling my eyes but they were not enough to overshadow all of the good. I was so pleased with how well researched the addictions were. While I don’t know anyone with a sex addiction, I did once write a research paper on it in college and while my memory is a little blurry on it I felt the subject was handled with grace, tact and honesty. And as someone with firsthand experience dealing with both functional and non-functional alcoholics I was 100% satisfied by how Loren’s problem was handled. I often hear people say that a functional alcoholic can’t possibly exist but I know for a fact that they do and Loren is well written evidence of that. I’m also a huge fan of how tastefully the sex scenes were handled. Lily’s sex addiction is a dominant force in the book but the scenes of her with both the random guys she picks up and Loren are never overtly graphic or ridiculous. They are tasteful and realistic and well written. There were scenes that broke my heart and some that yes, slightly disgusted me, and others that just made me want to hug her and fix all of her problems. And then there were the scenes with Lo that had me swooning and fanning myself and just falling utterly in love with him. Honestly, the best scenes are the ones between Lo and Lily that are building-up to the sex. They just make me all swoony okay. It’s so obvious that they are completely in love with each other and neither are willing to risk what they have with the truth and it just made me sigh and sad and swoon all at once. If you are looking for a gooey read of two damaged people magically fixing each other’s problems with their epic love, this book is not for you. This book is draining and brutal and the last few chapters literally felt like someone had dug their hand into my chest and were slowly ripping my heart out. But it is also a compelling and beautiful story, excellently written and researched, with honest, realistic characters that will tug at your heartstrings and make you want to pull your hair out all at the same time. I look forward to the next installments and will definitely be recommending this to others.
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Darkest Minds
by
Alexandra Bracken
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
By the end of its prologue, The Darkest Minds reached a fist into my chest and gripped tight onto my heart, it then proceeded to crush it, and my soul, into tiny little microscopic pieces of dust until the last page. Bleak. Devastating. Brutal. Brilliant. This book will break you apart until you’re a quivering heap of tears and you will still want more. This is what dystopian fiction should be. Ruby’s world is a horrific one. Most of the United States child populations has been killed by a mysterious disease and those who did manage to survive it have developed paranormal psychic abilities. Once the government catches on to this they start rounding the kids up into what are effectively concentration camps, under the guise of “rehabilitation”, outright killing the ones they consider the most dangerous-those ranked as yellows, oranges and reds. It’s without a doubt the most disturbing dystopian world I’ve ever come across and Bracken throws the reader into it without mercy. The writing is brilliant, haunting and utterly draining. There were multiple times when I had to pause my reading to close my eyes and just breathe. Bracken’s world-building is rich in detail, the action is intense, heart-stopping and the story is perfectly paced. However the best and brightest part is the characters. Ruby, Lee, Chubs, Zu. They were all fantastically built, complex, multidimensional, amazing, lovable. I cannot gush about them enough. Despite trying to keep myself emotionally distant from them because this is one of those worlds in which you just know that nobody is safe, they all wormed their way into my heart. Ruby is precious. I feel so immensely protective of her. She’s suffered through the worst that the human race has to offer, lives in terror and has moments where she feels weak and powerless and yet she is so incredibly brave and resilient. She could have easily let herself drown in self-pity and misery but she never lets it happen and that makes me love her all the more. And the moment when she finally embraces her power is some of the best writing and character development I have ever seen. I was drowning in tears and love and pride. As for the rest of the group? Lee is just an utterly charming southern boy, brave, loyal and true. Chubs, while frustrating at times, with his tough as nails attitude won me over most in the moments when he was tender and vulnerable. And Zu is such a sweet, funny girl. I really appreciated how developed this whole group of character was, and the bond between them all was my absolute favorite part of the story. The sweet blush of romance that develops between Lee and Ruby was also a surprising highlight and felt completely organic, slowly developing over time as they learn to trust each other. This book also holds what might be the creepiest villain I have ever come across. There are actually multiple villains, all with their own secret agendas, another aspect that I really enjoy, but of the two we get to know up close through Ruby’s interactions with them, there was only one that I felt was truly evil. I hear a lot of talk about how Warner (of The Shatter Me series) and the Darkling (of the Grisha trilogy) are the creepiest YA villains but compared to the one in this book they are sweet little puppies. My skin is still crawling and I actually had to force down vomit at two particular moments. TMI I KNOW, but necessary to emphasize my point. The Darkest Minds started with a bang and ended the same. I was left openly sobbing, feeling as if my heart had been wrenched out of my chest and desperate for the sequel.
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Satellite: The Satellite Trilogy, Part I
by
Lee Davidson
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I tried really hard to love this book. It got off to a great start, but unfortunately somewhere around the 50% mark it lost steam and fell apart. In Grant’s world, Guardian Angels are called Satellites whose purpose is to keep humans who have suffered great tragedies in their lives on their written path’s. There isn’t a lot of explanation about why it’s so important, or why Grant’s fiancee doesn’t appear to have a Satellite of her own for most of the book, or what needs to be done to stop tragedies who fall off their path’s from becoming Rebellions. The writing is decent. It didn’t blow me away, but I wasn’t cringing at every sentence either. Although there was some cringing over some of the cliches/stereotypes this book contains, especially about tattooed/pierced people all being “weird.” Davidson’s writing style is very concise. The descriptions are good, but they are never flowery. I can easily imagine the scenes that are being painted but at times the bare bones style was very distracting and pulled me out of the novel. One thing I really enjoyed was that the scenes in which the reader is pulled into Grant’s memories are seamlessly done, without being distracting or pulling me out of the story. Grant is an interesting narrator. There are too few male narrators in the land of YA books and I wish that weren’t so. Grant is snarky and very much a typical guy, at least compared to the guy’s I know. He doesn’t do “feelings” talk, he eats more food than a body could possibly hold when he’s not even hungry and he cringes at the idea of clothes shopping. He’s also really pissed off about being dead and it shows. While I liked Grant, I just couldn’t love him, and that had a lot to do with his stubbornness. He spends too much time moping over Tate and comparing everyone to his dad (major daddy issues this one). I just expected more from him. One thing I think could be improved is the world building. I didn’t think there was enough focus on the Satellites and their training, or on the history of the program. There just wasn’t enough back story to get my invested in the importance of this program which made me not care about whether Grant succeeded in it or not. Since this is the start of the trilogy I can hope there will be more information in the following books, but this first one definitely could have used more. I also felt like Davidson was just trying to accomplish too much in this book. There are tons of little plot points and none of them are fully developed enough. All of the conflicts were rushed through without any real explanation and I just couldn’t keep up with what was going on. What really made this book work for me and kept me reading is the characters. I LOVED LOVE LOVED Willow, and I loved the way her and Grant interacted together. The other side characters are really great as well. I fell a bit in love with Tate and her brother’s myself through Grant’s memories. This book had the potential to be really great, but there was just too much going on and not enough development to make it work. However I am definitely invested enough in wanting to know how it all works out that I will be reading the sequels.
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Gameboard of the Gods Age of X Book 1
by
Richelle Mead
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This is truly an outstanding novel. The writing was exactly what I’ve come to expect from this author: beautifully crafted, intricately detailed and character-driven. My favorite part of the book was the world building. Rather than explain the dynamics of this post-apocalyptic world all in the first chapter like many do, Mead reveals it gradually, spread across the whole of the novel in a wonderfully organic way. I particularly liked the fact that the RUNA government isn’t necessarily an inherently evil one, as many of them are in dystopian novels. There are definitely aspects of it that are shady, but I can also see the benefits of living in such a society and why it inspires such blind nationalism in Mae and Justin. The development of the plot is also incredible. The story starts with a bang and there is no lack of heart-pounding, breathtaking action, but it is the intricate blend of mythology into this technology driven world that is truly gripping. I do have to admit that when Mead finally reveals which god is following Justin around I had to be really angry at myself because it was totally obvious in hindsight. Especially given the fact that I used to obsessively study and compare all the different pantheons of gods when I was flirting with becoming a Wicca in my early twenties. The characters? There are so many its hard to keep up sometimes. The novel is told from the viewpoint of three: Mae, Justin and Tessa, and I will focus my discussion on them, although I really loved all of the secondary characters, especially Justin’s connections in the cult sects. Seeing the story unfold from three different perspectives is not as distracting as it could have been. I didn’t love it, especially during the times when it would take a couple of pages for me to be sure who was narrating, but I didn’t hate it. I do have to admit that I don’t really understand why Tessa’s perspective was necessary, other than to perhaps give us a view of RUNA from somebody who does not see it as the greatest country in the world. Otherwise, she seems kind of pointless to me. Mae on the other hand. Oh how I love Mae. She’s so many wonderful things at once, so fierce and brilliant, fragile and strong and just the kind of woman I want to be when I grow up. Justin is the worst though. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Adrian, of Mead’s VA/Bloodlines series’, but where Adrian’s narcissistic, self-destructive personality is balanced by his charm and giant heart…Justin is just a mess. I can understand that he’s damaged and afraid but he does and says some pretty unforgivable things. I kept trying to like him but I just couldn’t do it. Hopefully he’ll redeem himself later but for now I’m just going to put him at the top of my No column. Honestly the best part of his character were the two ravens providing some very entertaining dialogue in his head. While I don’t like Justin at all, I did appreciate the development of his relationship with Mae. While they are physically intimate pretty early on, a sex scene that was very tastefully done, I can appreciate why he’s torn over his feelings for her, I just hate the way he hurts her rather than just be upfront with her, especially once she begins to accept the idea that there are supernatural godly forces at work in their universe. I’m curious to see how their relationship develops, even if I think she deserves better. What I didn’t love about the novel, other than Justin of course, was that no matter how hard I tried I could not lose myself in it. It took me days to read it, even though I started it while I was on vacation with nothing better to do with my time. My favorite thing about reading is that feeling I get when I lose myself completely into the books world. I forget that I’m reading a story and instead live it with the characters. This was not the case with Gameboard of the Gods. It just couldn’t engage all of my senses in the way I needed to make it a truly enjoyable reading experience. However the story and characters were intriguing enough to keep me going and having me truly looking forward to the next book. I also must point out that I really really loved the chapter titles. They were so much fun.
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Golden
by
Jessi Kirby
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Here’s what I want you to do. Put on Goodbye Town by Lady Antebellum (and don’t ask me why this song encompasses this book for me because I could never explain it). Read Golden as you fly back to the place that used to feel like home but doesn’t anymore after leaving the place that feels like home but isn’t and just sob and sob and sob and then just when you think you can’t cry anymore, start writing your review and sob some more. Now if that’s too much crying for you, skip all of it, but do read this book because it is wonderful. It just sang to my soul. I’m in a place in my life where I can relate to both Julianna and Parker which made this a perfect read for me. Even if I wasn’t, the wonderful characters, romance and story-telling would have made this one of my favorite contemporary YA books of all time. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This is a line from a Mary Oliver poem that pops up throughout the novel, one that resonates deeply with me as I have been pondering this question pretty deeply this year. Golden is a story about change, choices, taking chances, one of those magnificent coming-of-age stories that will mean something different to everyone who picks it up. Parker’s story is so easy to relate to and one that is absolutely believable. The progression of her journey was completely realistic and moved me in a way that I don’t think I could every really explain. She grows up and into herself and I left this book confident that Parker was going to conquer the world, and make choices that she wants to, rather than ones that she is expected to. I can’t talk about this book without mentioning how much I LOVED the characters. I adore Parker, although there were times I wished she would have had a bit more of a backbone. Her mother drove me crazy, and I just wish that it hadn’t taken Parker so long to stand up for herself. Parker is such a realistic and lovable narrator. Sweet, witty, brave, I just want to be her friend. Her best friend Kat, while being the polar opposite of Parker, is just as lovable. She’s feisty, unflinchingly honest and not afraid to make the hard decisions. And Trevor? SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. I was in instantly charmed by him and fell in love with him over the course of the book as his relationship with Parker slowly progressed. My only complaint is that I wanted more. I love the slow-burn build up and they have so many sweet, poignant moments but I wanted to see more of them as a couple because they give me all the feels. The only part of Golden that didn’t really work for me was the story within the story about Julianna, Shane and Orion. It was just a bit too unbelievable for me, but I still loved the way everything tied together and played out in the end. Even if I think Julianna’s actions were ridiculous and selfish, my heart broke so hard for her. Golden has so many things to recommend it: A road-trip, a mystery, wonderful friendships, blossoming romance and a bittersweet feeling of hope that I think will appeal to readers of all ages, whether they be 18 or 28 or even older than that.
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Fallen World 02 Lives We Lost
by
Megan Crewe
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Nobody is more surprised by how much I enjoyed this book than I am. I’m not sure what changed between the first book and this one, but it made all the difference for me. The second book in the trilogy finds Kaelyn and her small group of survivors-Gav, Meredith, Tess and Leo, leaving the island to take the cure Kaelyn has found to the mainland. Cue a grand roadtrippy adventure through a desolate Canada-in the heart of winter-and once I started the book I couldn’t put it down. The first thing I noticed was that the journal style narration of the first book was gone, and while I didn’t mind it much I definitely preferred this more straightforward narration. The writing continued to be excellent. I always struggle with visualizing while I read, but Crewe’s descriptions of the scenery and the danger surrounding this group made it easy for me to put myself there and see it all happening almost as if I were watching a movie. The development of the characters and their relationships is very well done. With a few exceptions the decisions they make felt realistic and understandable for me. I found myself finally able to connect to and care about them, which was my primary issue while reading the first book. I am particularly fond of Gav, who is charming and probably the bravest of them all. The development of his and Kaelyn’s relationship is completely organic and as normal as any relationship between two teenagers can be in the middle of an apocalypse. The friendship between Kaelyn and Tess is also a particular favorite of mine. It’s so quietly beautiful and brought out more emotion in my than any of the other dynamics in the novel. What didn’t work for me was the rough beginnings of a love triangle between Kaelyn, Gav and Leo. I found this completely unnecessary. We know that Kaelyn had a crush on Leo before he left the island, and him returning to the island and revealing that he had the same feelings for her all along felt very forced and predictable. This book was also completely void of the slow as molasses pace of the first. Instead each page is filled with plot development, intense action and some truly terrifying moments. I found myself curious about the mystery person chasing after the group and the cure and whether they might have played a role in the development of the virus, or whether they are just taking advantage of the situation. The developments in the last few chapters left me worried and anxious. I know I’ll definitely be reading the last book
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Fallen World 01 Way We Fall
by
Megan Crewe
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I had such high expectations for this book. A zombie-less apocalyptic YA? I was all over it. And then I found myself completely underwhelmed. It’s just so boring, lacking both likable characters and the kind of brutal action you’d expect from the desperate human race during such a situation. Although I didn’t mind the slow-pace initially, as I expected it to be that way as Crewe showed the island slowly become overcome by the virus, the snail like pace never lets up and I finished the book feeling like I’d just walked a five mile marathon only to find there was nothing waiting for me at the finish line. The premise itself is intriguing. A common cold like virus strikes a small island community and quickly decimates the population, leaving the few islanders not affected driven to animalistic like behavior in a desperate bid to survive. As a study of humanity it’s interesting, if predictable. On one end of the spectrum you have citizens like our narrator, who are doing what they can to maintain structure and help others and on the other you’ve got those who would rather kill and terrorize their fellow survivors in an attempt to horde all the remaining supplies for themselves and naturally the government almost immediately writes the entire island off in an attempt to contain the virus. The story is told from the perspective of a sixteen year old girl in a journal written to her ex-best friend who moved off the island just before the virus struck. The writing itself is good. The destruction of the virus is well portrayed and although too slow-paced for my liking, the sly and unobtrusive way it spread throughout the island was terrifying. I know I’ll never look at another itchy, sneezing person the same. Most of the characters are likable, and some of them even react in understandable, natural ways. What fell flat for me and dropped the novel from a 3 star rating to a 2 star was Kaelyn. I just couldn’t make myself care about her, which then made it hard for me to care about any of the other characters or events. She was almost robotic, showing very little emotion, other than the expected shock and disbelief, as the people closest to her drop like flies. Frankly I found her reaction to the destruction around her to be unrealistic and at some points even unlikable. The only admirable quality she had, and really the only time a bit of personality seemed to shine through, was her desperation to keep her young cousin safe. Despite the high quality of the writing, the slow pace and unlikable characters made this a very difficult read for me to finish. I am happy to say though that having just finished the second book in the series, it does get better.
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Archived 01
by
Victoria Schwab
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Victoria Schwab is a literary artist. By the end of the first chapter of The Archived I knew, with absolute certainty, that it would be one of my absolute favorite books, one that I will recommend to everyone I know until I’ve forced them all to read it. This is a book that tackles so many painful issues: love, loss and the destruction grief can wreak on a person and relationships. It’s got a lot of wonderful features to recommend it: beautiful writing, wonderfully real characters, murder, mystery, some action and a tiny bit of romance, but it’s the painful choices and questions that Mac is faced with, specifically how far would you go and what would you risk to bring back someone you thought you’d lost forever? The premise of the novel is unlike anything I’ve read before, and it was one that instantly grabbed my attention. Parallel to our world are the Archives, where each life, called Histories, are kept. Between the Archives and our world is a hallway that functions as a type of limbo and sometimes the Histories escape out of the Archives into that limbo world, particularly the older and violent ones. Our protagonist, Mackenzie Bishop, is a Keeper, named by her grandfather at the unheard of age of twelve. The Keepers have one job-return escaped Histories from back to the Archives before they escape into our world. When Mac’s family moves into an old hotel, The Coronado, that has been refashioned into apartments, her role as Keeper becomes a full time job, one that is dangerous and that she must keep secret from everyone in her life. I could endlessly wax poetic about Victoria’s writing. Her prose is simply beautiful. Vivid, lush, haunting, this is a writer who knows how to tell a story. Every page is drenched in emotion, bringing me to tears and laughter as Mac comes to terms with the loss of her brother and her changed family dynamic. One thing I really appreciated was the way the author wrote in flashbacks of Mac’s training with her grandfather, Da, a character I came to love as we get to know him through her memories. Oftentimes jumping between past and present is distracting for readers, especially me, but Victoria handled it seamlessly. The worlds of the Archive and the Coronado and the characters that inhabit them are brilliantly developed. Mac herself is a wonderful narrator, one of my new favorites. She’s incredibly authentic and it was easy for me to fall into her head and feel as if I was taking this journey with her. Like any teenager whose faced with so many hard choices, she makes mistakes, but they are understandable ones, and easily forgivable. I know that if I had been in Mac’s situation and it had been one of my brothers, I would have torn the world apart to find a way to have them back. I would have grasped onto any hope and told any lie. Part of why I admire her so much is the fact that despite the mistakes she does make, her choices are still much better than the ones I would have made. Mac’s sort-of love interest, Wesley Ayers is utterly delicious. My first love was a boy in guy-liner and black nail polish and I’ve always been attracted to the look so its no wonder I fell for him at first sighting. His charm, bravery, and ability to understand Mac and forgive what others might not find forgivable only cemented my love for him. I immensely enjoyed the development of their friendship. There isn’t much in the way of actual romance between them, which I loved, because I found the flirting and the build-up of their friendship to be so much more enjoyable and realistic then if they had immediately fallen into some ~forbidden romance. I can’t wait to see how their relationship develops from here. Really, all I want in life is more Wesley.
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Of Triton
by
Banks, Anna
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
As sequels go, Of Triton is a solid effort by Anna Banks. Her writing style continues to be one of my favorites: fun, fresh, nicely descriptive without being too much and really just 100% enjoyable. The book immediately picks up where Of Poseidon left off, as the truth of Emma’s Syrena parentage is revealed and she is thrown into a non-stop whirlwind of adventure and political drama, packed into too few pages. One of the few problems that I had with this book is it’s length. Everything happens too quickly for me, and there is never any time to stop and process the developments. For that reason many of the major plot points don’t feel as if they are ever fully developed. The revelation of Triton’s gifts and who has them as well as the political struggle were particularly glossed over and not developed enough for me to find myself truly invested or excited about them. I really wanted more explanation of the Syrena political structure, and why it is possible for them to put the Royal’s on trial and why all of the Royal’s are suddenly on trial over Nalia’s existence. I also feel like we never understand the purpose behind the villains grasp for power. You know that he wants to take control and wants to change the system but it’s never clear what changes he wants to make or why he wants to make them and that definitely lessened my enjoyment of the story. Hopefully the final book, Of Neptune, will get more into those points. My favorite part of the story continued to be the characters. Emma is as sassy as ever, and reveals herself to be a bigger bad-ass then I think anyone realized towards the later half of the book. She’s definitely no pushover. She stands up for herself against her mother and everyone else who would rather she just sit idly by and let everything work itself out. She’s not afraid to take big chances and even when she’s unclear about what she really wants to do about her Syrena heritage and her future, she never comes off as whiny or annoying. She’s one of the realest teenagers I’ve come across. My love for Galen continued in this book. I have the biggest crush on him. Even when he’s frustrating me with his over-protectiveness of Emma and always seeming to believe the worst about Toraf, he still makes me swoon. He’s particularly adorable when he’s being embarrassed around Emma’s grandfather. I don’t have much to say about the Galen/Emma romance because while it still gave me the warm and fuzzies, I feel like they definitely have some growing to do and need to have some real conversations about the future. There’s a definite lack of communication about some real issues that they need to address. Emma might not realize this but Galen definitely should. I would have definitely liked to see some more conflict and realism in this relationship. Rayna, Toraf, Nalia and Grom and the King of the Poseidon tribe (is that the correct phrase? I don’t even know) aka Emma’s grandfather were also character highlights for me. I still want a series starring Rayna, or at least a novella because the girl is boss and her mate person (husband? what do they call them? another thing I forgot or never knew) is also boss and a favorite and I want more of them. While I definitely enjoyed the first novel better, Of Triton was a solid follow-up. And though the ending was conclusive enough that I would have been fine without a third book I AM SO SO SO EXCITED to have more of these characters and their story in Of Neptune.
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by
Saenz, Benjamin Alire
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
If I had to use one word to describe this book it would be beautiful. The story, the characters, everything. This is not my usual kind of book and it’s the first time I’ve read anything dealing with this particular issue but I feel like Sáenz handled it flawlessly. The first thing I fell in love with was the writing. It’s the kind of writing that I want to endlessly gush about it. Sáenz has a talent for conveying an overwhelming amount of emotion in very few words. His simple prose and utilization of short sentences and chapters is usually not the kind of writing that works for me, but his writing is so lyrical and evocative that I was instantly engaged and couldn’t stop reading until I was done. His is the kind of writing that gives you the sense that every word was selected with great love and care. The second thing I fell in love with was Ari, and through his narration I fell in love with all the other characters as well, from Dante to the dog Legs. It was so easy for me to relate to Ari, despite the fact that we have nothing in common other than an overwhelming sense of loneliness. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye, who is one of my favorite narrator’s ever. Ari’s mind and narration is honest, thoughtful and of course beautiful. It is also brutally painful and caused me to have all sorts of aching emotions. Honestly, as I was reading I felt like I was growing up right alongside Ari. Dante and both sets of parents are also lovely. While the book is told exclusively from Ari’s POV, it is so easy to feel as if you understand Dante and the parents just as well as you do Ari by the end of it. Sáenz developed all of his characters masterfully and there is not a one who is not a complexly layered fully developed individual. So often in first person narrations the secondary characters do not get the development they deserve but that never becomes an issue here. However it is the relationships that are hands down the best part of this book. Dante and Ari’s friendship is completely organic and realistic. The love the parents have for their sons, their insight and understanding of these boys made my heart melt because they are the truest child/parent relationships I’ve ever read. This really was one of the most honest, thoughtful, and genuinely realistic books about the importance of family, love and finding yourself that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This is the book that should be studied in every high school and I will be recommending it to everyone I know until they all read it.
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Shadow and Bone
by
Leigh Bardugo
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This would probably be more accurately described as a retro review. With Siege and Storm releasing tomorrow (FINALLY!!!!!!!!) I thought now would be a good time to ignore the pile of new releases I’ve got waiting for me and re-read Shadow and Bone. This in itself should tell you how much I love this series, because I never have time to re-read books anymore, especially when it has been less than a year since I read them the first time. That being said, I loved this book even more the second time around, if possible. When I first read it last September, I couldn’t read it fast enough. This time around I savored it and honestly, I could probably wax poetic about it endlessly. I LOVE THIS SERIES/AUTHOR SO MUCH YOU GUYS. Even more exciting is that if everything goes according to plan, I will be meeting her tonight after work at a signing at my local Powell’s! I love the way Leigh Bardugo writes. The world she has created is so intricate, and beautifully built that I had no problems visualizing it and imagining myself there. I WANT TO BE A GRISHA SO BAD. I loved the Russian influence, and I cannot wait to revisit it, and explore it further with Alina in the sequels. Alina is a fantastic protagonist. I found it so easy to relate to her. While she’s definitely cynical, naive, lonely, and lacks self-confidence at times, she is also smart, incredibly powerful, has a big heart, and has a backbone (I mean really, would you talk back to the Darkling?) and I just love her voice. She went through a lot of growth in this book, and I felt my heart breaking right along with hers at certain moments, but I also squeed with elation at her triumphs. This is a girl that you absolutely believe could change the world. Mal. The first time around I wasn’t enamored with him, which I know partly had to do with the fact that he is absent for a good part of this book. I may have also prepped myself to dislike him because I was absolutely (and maybe still a little bit) rooting for Alina/Darkling. At the end of my first read, I didn’t dislike him per se, but I was disinterested. However, this time around I made myself keep an open mind, and I found myself charmed by him. While I probably won’t ever find myself swooning over their romance, the strength of their love is pretty amazing, and there are a few moments that made me go awwwwww and even cry. I look forward to seeing where it all goes. I’m just so conflicted when it comes to Alina and these men. THE DARKLING. Yes, I saved the best for last. This character you guys. Never have I felt this conflicted, this emotional about a villain. He just makes me want to keyboard smash everywhere. Intellectually, I know that I should not be this invested in him. As the (surprise but not really) villain, things are probably not going to end as happily for him as I would like, but he stole my heart and I don’t want it back. On my first read, I was just as seduced by him as Alina was. How could you not be? He’s mysterious, seductive, tortured, and 120% swoon worthy and they have so many gorgeously written moments together, you just want them to be happy forever after. My heart literally (but not really because I’d be dead) shattered when his plan was revealed. I was devastated. My twitter/Goodreads status updates are pretty clear evidence of that because my whole feed from the time I was reading it was about how much love I have for him/devastation that he’s a villain. I was curious to see how I would view his early actions in the book, knowing what I know now, and whether my feelings would change but that was not the case at all. He had me sighing and yearning and swooning just as much this time around. Of course there were certain parts that had me cringing and angry and yelling NO! WHY! DON’T DO THIS BABY YOU CAN BE BETTER…and this is before the big revelation! Maybe I’m crazy, or in denial but I still refuse to believe that he is fully evil. He’s definitely a fanatic, and morally ambiguous with a sinister agenda that probably won’t end well, but if loving him (and him/Alina as a pairing) is wrong, I never want to be right. It would probably be easier to take if I didn’t absolutely believe that his feelings for Alina are real. He wouldn’t be so angered by them if they weren’t. And if you were wondering, yes, Baghra’s revelation of the truth is just as devastating the second time, as is his actions following that. He says and does some pretty terrible things that literally had tears streaming down my face, but I still can’t not love him. Even when he disappoints me. I am eager, excited and terrified to see where he, and this series, go next.
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Pivot Point
by
West, Kasie
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This was one I was super eager to read and had high expectations for because it’s gotten so many rave reviews, but by the end of the second chapter I wasn’t sure I’d even finish it but I kept pushing through though and it definitely paid off. While it’s not my favorite book ever, it had an intriguing world and enough action to keep me invested, and the ending was vague enough about Addison’s future that I will definitely be reading the sequel. I loved the idea of Addison’s super power. Now that I’ve heard of it, it’s the one that I would most want to have. Well, it or flying because I would love to be able to fly okay. And I really liked Addison, most of the time. She was funny and not at all the pushover I was initially afraid she would be. However, I wasn’t as invested in her and her life as I should have been. There were times though that I could empathize with her, even though I felt that she was kind of an idiot. It really wasn’t until the last few chapters that I really started to enjoy her though. There is a love triangle as well. There was a clear winner to me right from the start, but I won’t spoil it for you, although I think it’s pretty obvious. They have this great connection, and watching them figure it out was the best part of this book, and seeing more of them together in the sequel is a primary reason I am looking forward to reading it. And while the other love interest was definitely compelling and charming in his own right, once I figured out what his deal was, I was left feeling utterly repulsed and slightly violent. While he’s not evil per se, he is definitely not a good person and I hope that she doesn’t try and drag this triangle out further. My favorite characters in the book were actually the secondary characters, Trevor’s best friend Rowan and Addie’s best friend Laila. While they both definitely have some not admirable qualities, mostly Laila, they were the ones that added the spark that I was missing from Addison and left me smiling. Laila gets a lot of criticism, because she is pushy and does some pretty questionable things, but she’s also got a big heart and is easier for me to relate to than Addie. I wouldn’t mind seeing her get a book of her own. What I didn’t like so much about the book was the writing itself. While it wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read, it frequently had a juvenile feel to it, and a lot of the descriptions of people’s reactions seemed very unrealistic to me. I couldn’t just sink into this world or these characters, which to me is the mark of great writing. And the way each chapter alternated between the different potential paths was very distracting initially. Once I adjusted it was fine, but it just wasn’t what I expected. Despite the negatives, it was definitely an enjoyable and intriguing story, and I was actually really surprised by the ending. I look forward to the next installment.
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I Hunt Killers 02 Game
by
Barry Lyga
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Best advice I can give you for reading this book? 1-Don’t try to eat anything and 2-DO NOT START READING IT BEFORE BED. The book is huge, but the material definitely deserves the length, and I figured that I would read half and then crash. Naturally by the time I reached the halfway point I was too invested to stop, and then I finished and had to write this immediately in the hopes that my brain would process it enough for me to sleep. I’ll admit the book got off to a slow start for me. There was some seriously gruesome killing going on, a cop acting very suspiciously and my precious baby Jasper caught in the middle of it. I found it difficult to get invested, and there were some moments when the writing just turned me off completely, because of the utter improbability of it all. In particular the driving force of the plot-that the NYPD and FBI would actually be so desperate that they would pull in a 17 year old boy as a consultant on a case…and then at times be visibly afraid of this kid? I had an incredibly hard time buying it. I also had an issue with the multiple POVs and the complete lack of character development. I could see why it was necessary to advance the many different plot-lines, but switching between Jasper and Connie and Howie and the killers was incredibly distracting at times and sacrificing any kind of character evolution for action? Not cool. After reading I Hunt Killers I expected this book to be full of interesting character studies. The reason I loved that novel so much had less to do with the serial killer vs boy-detective thriller plotline then the exploration of Jasper’s messed up head, and the constant nature vs. nurture internal struggle that he was going through. That novel was one of the most brilliant studies of human psychology that I’d ever read, and I was expecting something similar here, and was disappointed to find it more of an action packed cat and mouse thriller. Other than that the writing is enjoyable. Lyga definitely has a plan and the complexity of it really showed towards the end. I especially liked what the “game” ended up being, although I was definitely angry at myself for not putting it together. Lyga’s writing is also incredibly evocative, funny, and very human at times. Jasper’s internal struggle between right and wrong, humanity and serial-killerness (terrible word choice, I know) is palpable. He’s one of the most complex characters I’ve come across in years, and I really enjoy being in his head. I just wish there had been some kind of development in his character in the 500+ pages of this novel, but I finished the book feeling as if he was in the exact same place as he was at the end of the first. As for the other characters, I don’t have much to say. I enjoy Howie, and I don’t particularly like Connie. I’m invested in her relationship with Jasper only because he is, and I am terrified to see what he would do if something happened to her. I just find her to be immature and like every other teenager in the world she thinks she is brilliant and invincible and that nobody could possibly trick her. She makes a lot of bad choices because of this. I had a lot of problems with her actions in this book, if you couldn’t tell. As I was reading this I also found that I don’t particularly like the way that Lyga writes women. They are either victims, insane, or needy. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it. It’s just the way I feel. Overall though I enjoyed it. It was creepy and intriguing and there were multiple OMG moments that made it impossible for me to put down. While there wasn’t as much to invest me emotionally, there was definitely enough action to engage my interest. And after the major cliffhangers of this ending I am desperate to get my hands on the next book.
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Here: On the Otherside Series, Book One
by
Denise Grover Swank
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the synopsis, but it had a creepy cover and was only 1.99 for the e-book, and it was entertaining enough to have been worth the money/time. By the end of the second chapter you realize you’re dealing with parallel universes. If you don’t I don’t know what to tell you. Our world, and one in which the U.S. gets hit during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I haven’t read a lot of books featuring parallel universes like this, which made it a refreshing change from a lot of the books that I’ve been reading lately. We don’t get as much exploration of the alt world as I would have liked though, but what little we see is very intriguing. Naturally there is a love triangle, although this one didn’t annoy me as much as they usually do. Mostly because I don’t really care which boy she chooses. I had an extremely hard time buying either of the pairings, because it’s obvious that they aren’t really able to distinguish Julia from her counterpart in their universe. Despite that though, it’s easy to see why Julia is falling for both of them. They are each charming in their own ways, and I imagine it’s a bit of a rush to have two handsome guys obsessively in love with you. The writing was decent. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever read, and was pretty repetitive at times, but it also wasn’t the worst I’ve experienced. The overuse of the words sneer and smirk was especially annoying. I’m pretty sure I saw them at least once on each page. And while the idea of the parallel worlds was interesting, there wasn’t a lot of development of it. My only other gripe with it is that it is very slow-paced for the majority. It isn’t until very close to the end that we finally get some answers, and some action. But there were still a lot of parts that I really enjoyed and I am definitely planning on reading the sequel at some point. I would recommend this if you are looking for a fun read to kill time without a lot of emotional investment.
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The Elite
by
Kiera Cass
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
The Elite was one of those books that had me on edge the entire time I was reading. I loved The Selection. It was one of my favorite books last year, and I was eager to get my hands on this sequel. I can’t say that I was disappointed, because I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t love love love it either. My feelings settled on somewhere between a 3 and 4. There were definitely times when I felt like a lot of the plot was pointless, but the writing was still solid and there was a ton of character development. I am so torn when it comes to my feelings about America. I loved her in the first book. She was sassy, funny and had some serious back-bone and that is my favorite combination. In this book I found myself screaming at her continuously, at her naivety, her stubbornness and her general bad life choices as far as I’m concerned. However, without all of that, there wouldn’t be much of a story would there? This book was definitely centered on America’s development and it was very well written and realistic. She had to grow up and face some hard realities and while it was frustrating and heartbreaking to watch her stumble around, it is also what makes this such a great story. I can’t imagine going through what she is, between the vicious (literally, these girls are crazy) competition for a man that she is definitely in love with and her own doubts as to her ability to lead her country beside him, but I’m definitely rooting for her. Even when she’s frustrating, and you know she’s making a bad choice, she’s a truly likable heroine. Maxon. My feelings for him are so conflicted. While I prefer him over Aspen, there is definitely a large part of me that thinks America deserves better than both of these boys. I hate love triangles, and usually have no problem picking a favorite. Maxon won me over in The Selection, but by the end of this book I didn’t particularly like either of them, which may be a first for me ever. This surprised me, because I was even more in love with him after I read The Prince novella, but a lot of his decisions in The Elite made me so angry. While I can see things from his perspective, and to an extent understand the choices he makes, I don’t have to like them. And I have serious rage over the way he treated America at times, because my heart broke right along with hers and I don’t like that feeling at all. I’m going to try and keep an open mind in the final installment though. I have a feeling that he still has some secrets that might change everything. My dislike for Aspen only grew. I honestly just don’t buy his “great love” for America. This mostly comes down to the fact that he knows its treason for him to pursue her, knows it could get them both killed, and yet he continues to do so and without much subtlety at all. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m of the opinion that if you truly loves somebody you don’t do things that are going to endanger their life. There was a slight development of the sub-plot involving the rebels, but I remain disinterested in it. I still don’t really see what point there is to it, other than to serve as a catalyst to create intimate moments between Maxon and the girls. I don’t particularly care whether they succeed in overthrowing the government and caste system. I don’t even hate the caste system that much. I’m more interested in Maxon just deposing his father and making changes to the country that way. I’m eager to get my hands on the final book, and see how everything ties together.
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Unearthly 03 Boundless
by
Cynthia Hand
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
It’s been a couple of weeks since I read the conclusion of the Unearthly trilogy, and I’m still processing my emotions and yes, obsessing over this world and these characters. I tried to make this as spoiler free as possible, but I can’t guarantee anything so read at your own risk. My feelings for the first ¾ of the book ranged anywhere from fascination to excitement to rage to elation. It was a roller coaster of emotion. The writing was still great and the story-telling detailing Clara’s journey of self-discovery and battle against fate still intriguing, but there was so much happening in this book it was overwhelming at times. By the end of the book though, you can definitely tell that Cynthia had a plan all along, and she does not disappoint. Really, the only parts of the book I didn’t like were the exploration of the Christian/Clara relationship. Seriously. It’s the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5. And it doesn’t even have to do with the fact that I’m Team Tucker. I actually found myself sympathizing pretty hard for Christian, and even growing to like him. Some of the stuff involving him just made my heart hurt and want to hug him. But at the end of the day, I just felt like the whole “Christian and Clara are soulmates” thing was overplayed and pointless and it annoyed me enough to lower my rating. Of course my love for Tucker continued throughout this book. While a good amount of the book takes place in California and therefore Tucker wasn’t physically present for much of it, he was constantly present in Clara’s thoughts, so it wasn’t a loss I really felt. I love the fact that Clara keeps popping up in his barn unintentionally. Those were definitely highlights for me. I won’t say that there weren’t times when he had me want to scream angry things at him, but this boy is just so sweet and real and he has this just, glorious moment before the climax of the book that had me swooning all over the place and if you aren’t Team Tucker after that I can’t be friends with you. He loves Clara so much and it’s beautiful. This book was really heavy on plot development, and action. Angela, her purpose and her family history on the Angel side come to the forefront in a big way and it is just awesome, for lack of a better word. While she definitely will never be my favorite character, I actually didn’t hate her in this book and even came to respect her. The action in the book was magnificent. There were a couple of nerve-wracking “OMG” moments, and one that nearly stopped my heart and yes, had me sobbing all over my precious Nook. The conclusion of the Black Wing storyline will forever be a favorite of mine, and the epilogue of the book had me swooning all over the place and naturally wanting more of these characters. I’m definitely sad to see this series end, but I can’t wait to see what this author writes next.
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Unearthly 02 Hallowed
by
Cynthia Hand
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I was a little nervous going into this book after how much I loved Unearthly, mostly because the middle books of trilogies tend to be disappointing, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how good this book was, despite the fact that it was also utterly heartbreaking. The heart of this book was the development of the world of the angel-bloods, as well as some serious character and relationship development. A lot of information is thrown at the reader, including some pretty interesting and intriguing surprises about Clara’s own family. The writing remained strong, and you can definitely tell that Hand has a well thought out plan for this world and these characters, even though you’re still not quite sure what it is and whether it will be good or bad. Clara and Tucker continued to cause me a lot of feelings, both swoony and heartbreaking. These poor kids definitely do not have it easy, but who said love is easy right? I also had a lot of feelings about Clara and her mom and Jeffrey and how much I love this family. The story line involving Clara’s mom was surprising, but very well done. The only parts of the book that I didn’t enjoy was the development of the Christian/Clara ~soulmate story line. My indifference to Christian turned into outright hatred in this book, because he is just a pushy self-righteous little brat who can’t take a hint. I get where he’s coming from. I do. I understand that he’s in love with Clara, and thinks they are ~meant to be. But I don’t think that justifies him having zero respect for her feelings and her relationship with Tucker. Can you tell that I have a lot of opinions about this? Overall, while I enjoyed this book, well except for that one Christian related moment that caused me to throw my Nook across the room in a rage, it didn’t stand out for me. There was plenty of great plot/character/relationship development, but there wasn’t as much action as I would have liked.
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Unearthly 01
by
Cynthia Hand
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I cannot gush enough about this book. Just thinking about it makes me want to keyboard smash all over the place. I put off reading it, despite hearing great things, because after the disappointments of the Fallen and Hush, Hush series’ I decided that maybe books about Angels and Nephilim just weren’t for me. However my friend Lauren convinced me that this series was utter amazesauce and I’m so so glad she did. First of all, Cynthia Hand can write. Descriptive, evocative, gorgeous, truly good writing. It was easy to pull myself into this series. The way she writes her characters makes it impossible to not sympathize and relate to them, despite the fact that most of them are supernatural beings trying to save the world. Clara is one of my new favorite protagonists. She is sassy, funny, and a serious bad-ass. She is also vulnerable, and I found myself wanting to hug her on more than one occasion. And of course there are times when she is self-absorbed, oblivious to other people’s feelings, and frustrating as hell. Basically, despite the fact that she is part angelic being, she is also a teenage girl, and a realistic one at that, which is harder to find in YA then it should be. She is truly a heroine worth rooting for. I also love love love Clara’s family. Clara’s mom is frustrating at times because of all the secret keeping and half-truths, but I can understand why she makes the choices she makes. She just wants to protect her kids. Her little brother Jeffrey? The boy just makes my heart hurt. I have a soft spot for little brothers. Most of my frustration with Clara centered on her being so oblivious to him and the fact that he was going through some major stuff. I just wanted to hug that poor boy and tell him it would all be okay. I suppose I should say something about the love triangle. It was the one thing I absolutely hated about the book, and really as far as I’m concerned there is no contest. TUCKER ALL THE WAY OKAY. Now I’ll admit that I spent a good half of the book fighting my love for Tucker, trying to force myself to hate him, because I was sure that given the fact that Christian was obviously Clara’s ~soulmate, they would be endgame, but it is impossible to hate Tucker. It’s like Cynthia pulled my dream guy out of my head. Gorgeous, sweet, funny, understanding and a cowboy? It’s grossly unfair that he is fictional and that men like him do not exist in my part of the world. I mean really, how can you not fall in love with a boy who sneaks money into his sisters pocket for prom shoes? Really I could gush about Tucker forever, so I should probably just stop while I’m ahead. I’ll just say that the development of his and Clara’s relationship from disdain to friendship into such a deep love was beautiful and never felt anything other than organic and will have you swooning all over the place. Honestly, the only characters in this book I didn’t love were Christian and Angela. Actually I shouldn’t say I disliked Christian, I was just indifferent to him. He’s boring. But Angela has to be one of the most annoying characters I have ever come across, and I spent most of the book convinced she was evil. I’m still disappointed that she wasn’t.
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Just One Day
by
Gayle Forman
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
Just One Day was a gorgeous contemporary read. It gave me all the best kind of feelings, including resurrecting my suppressed desire to be an expatriate. Really, it only took two chapters to make me want to sell everything I own and hop on a plane to anywhere but here. I went into the book thinking it would be a swoon worthy tale of angsty romance, and while there was definitely some swooning, some romance and some angst, the true heart of the book was Allyson’s journey of self-discovery. Allyson was one of those characters I just instantly connected with. She was easy to relate to, because like her, I’m at a point in my life where I’m a little lost and knowing that a change needs to happen but not knowing what direction to take. I doubt there is a person in the world who hasn’t felt that way at some point. And of course there are times when Allyson’s naivety and occasional lack of a backbone, especially when it comes to her mother and her best friend, are very frustrating, but watching her pull herself together and become her own person was nothing short of inspirational. Forman’s writing is brilliant, and the voice she gives Allyson makes it easy to feel everything she is feeling, and to understand why she feels that way, even when you are internally screaming at her to make better life choices. I don’t really have a lot to say about Wilhelm. While I didn’t hate him, I didn’t love him either. My feelings for him are pretty ambivalent. He’s definitely mysterious, and charming in his own ways, but I have to admit that I didn’t really understand how/why Allyson fell for him as fast and quickly as she did, or why it affected her so deeply. It just wasn’t one of those romances that had me squealing all over the place. That being said, I’m looking forward to getting into his head in the follow-up, Just One Year. This was just a really great read, as I’ve come to expect from this particular author, one I’m sure I’ll revisit again and again.
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Fire & Thorns 02 Crown of Embers
by
Rae Carson
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This book has me so hyped up and excited that I actually had to make myself a cup of peppermint tea to calm myself enough to right this. I have so. many. feelings. This was one of those books where I sat there the entire time internally yelling at myself “WHY DID YOU WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS?” Of course the reason why was that I wasn’t particularly enamored by its predecessor and wasn’t expecting the sequel to be much better and so I just set aside and now I hate myself for it. I have never been happier to be so so wrong about something, and my love for this really makes me want to go back and read The Girl of Fire and Thorns again because I’m thinking I must have just been having a bad week or something when I read it. Anyway. ALL OF THE FEELS. Most of them are centered around Elisa and Hector and their epic love of course. If these two don’t get a happy ending, especially after the ending of this book, I am going to be an ugly person to be around for a while. Watching them slowly acknowledge their love for each other, both to themselves and to each other, had me so moony eyed. It was beautiful. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried. Multiple times. Especially when Elisa was thinking about marrying him off. I just kept screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and then ugly crying. On the bus. Because I’m cool like that. I won’t even get into the ending because I have more feelings than I can contain until the final book comes out this summer. Another favorite of this book was Elisa. I had a hard time with her and her lack of self-esteem in the first book, so it was refreshing to watch her come into her badass, deity chosen, royal self in this book. Of course she had her moments of frustrating naivety, especially when it came to how obviously Eduardo and the General were playing her, but watching her branch out on her own, especially in the last third of the book was some seriously fantastic character growth. The last few pages were definitely my favorite, especially when she dismissed a certain least favorite character of mine. Seriously though. I have to concede defeat and say that Elisa is a new favorite heroine of mine. She absolutely won me over in this book. It would have been easy for her to just succumb to all the pressure and get led around like a little puppy by the Quorum, or even to say screw it all and run off with Hector, but she refuses to take the easy route. She stands her ground, and fights against her feelings for Hector because she knows she has to do what’s best for her kingdom and not herself and I had to admire it, even while the shipper in me was screaming in agony every time she talked about making him marry someone else or refused to let him believe she returned his feelings. Other character highlights included Mara being adorable and Belen redeeming himself in the best way, and I also really liked the Storm. And of course the little prince was adorable as always. I can’t even get into Tristan. I was leery of him at first, of course, but I love him so so much and I will be so upset if he doesn’t survive the next installment. The writing was fantastic. It was good in the first book, but it just took on a life of its own with this installment. The pacing was perfect. The action never stopped and it fit perfectly with the turbulence of Elisa’s reign and her struggles to come into herself as ruler. SO MUCH HAPPENS. The action, political intrigue, danger and magic are non-stop and so intense. I was so immersed in the book that I almost missed my bus stop, and continued reading on the twenty minute walk home from the bus stop, which is basically like risking death for me because I’m likely to walk into oncoming traffic on a good day with no distractions, let alone when I’ve got my nose glued to a book. Everyone just needs to read this series now so I have more people to flail with.
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Siege and Storm
by
Bardugo, Leigh
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I do not promise that this post will have anything resembling coherence. I am just so incredibly blown away by this book. Stayed up until 3:30 a.m. finishing it, crying for an hour afterwards, then not being able to fall asleep for another couple of hours because I couldn’t stop thinking about it, blown away. I don’t even know where to start with this review because I have so many feelings to process. I was so excited to get my hands on Siege and Storm. Excited enough that on the drive home after purchasing it I may or may not have been stroking it and repeatedly cooing “my precious.” And I was not at all disappointed. If this book does not convince you that Leigh Bardugo and the Grisha series are the best thing out there in the YA world, I don’t even know how to talk to you. The writing remains spectacular. Gorgeous, and evocative, I just want to drown myself in it, and read it again and again. In fact I will probably take it with me on vacation next week and re-read it just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. And find all my favorite quotes. The world Leigh has built is so incredible and complex, the relationships, characters, countries. I can’t even wrap my head around her talent, but I can tell you that it is everything a Fantasy book should be. Alina is my favorite protagonist in the history of all the protagonists. I loved her in the first book, but pages 103 and 232 of this one sealed the deal for me. She is glorious, magnificent and yes, terrifying. She truly comes into herself in this book, embracing her power, her connection with the Darkling, the reality of her relationship with Mal and the fact that she is no longer the scared little orphan girl she was when she first came to the Little Palace, and never will be again. While she is definitely frustrating at times, and still has her moments where she is scared and doubtful, she is all about kicking ass and taking names in this book and her journey was the best part of this book. Her last words in the novel literally gave me chills and I cannot wait to see what she has up her sleeve next. Siege and Storm also introduced three new characters who I am madly in love with. Sturmhond is everything he was hyped up to be. When I first heard about his character, I had some suspicions about his true identity and I may have let out a little AH HA I KNEW IT when I discovered I was right. Leigh constantly surprises me, so being right about this made me extremely happy. I can’t properly express his charm and wit and how much his presence adds to this series. While I don’t ship him with Alina at all, I can definitely see why the pairing appeals to my fellow readers. The golden-eyed twins, Tamar and Tolya are also new favorites of mine. I enjoyed them immensely. I should probably talk about Mal too. I’m so conflicted by him. While I don’t love him as much as my other book blogging friends do, I don’t dislike him at all. I’m not sure why he seems to be getting so much hate in other reviews I’ve read of this book. Yes, some of his actions are definitely frustrating, but I just couldn’t be mad at him over them because I empathize with him. He’s loved Alina his entire life, even when he didn’t realize it, and he isn’t quite ready to accept that she is no longer that same girl. It’s hard not to swoon at that kind of love. At the same time I do find the whole concept of your first love being your only possible true love to be incredibly boring, which is why I couldn’t sell myself on the idea of Mal/Alina, even though I tried. I appreciate their relationship and the love they share but I don’t think it’s sustainable because they are not the same people they were before Alina discovered her power, and people outgrow each other. It’s a fact of life. Honestly I don’t even know how I feel about the so-called “love triangle” of this series. Part of this is because while the romantic relationships are important aspects of the series, they are by no means its driving force. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Alina ended up alone at the end of everything, so I don’t want to get myself invested in any pairing, but despite my best efforts my heart still aches and yearns for the Darkling/Alina. If my feelings hadn’t already been sealed on this in the first book, and survived despite his truly horrific actions toward her, pages 418-419 and two particular lines: “I’ve seen what you truly are and I’ve never turned away. I never will.” and the “And he was my monster, too” line would have done it. The Darkling and Alina are connected, through their powers and because, at least in my probably slighltly deluded mind, their souls are made of the same stuff. They need each other in the elemental way the darkness and light have always needed each other throughout time. One cannot survive without the other. Of course I could be reading way too much into it all. Just let me have my delusions. Naturally, I saved my discussion of the Darkling for last because he is the dearest to my heart (I’m still sad that I don’t live in the anywhere near Hollywood and couldn’t go to the Siege and Storm release party and get one of the Darkness Never Dies totes) this may take a while. I was anxious going into this book, because I’d heard that he was absence for most of it, but I did not feel that absence at all. While he wasn’t physically present as much as he was in Shadow and Bone, he was seeped into every page of this book, constantly in Alina’s head, which caused me to have a lot of emotions, most of them the exact opposite of everyone else. Every scene with him caused my heart to ache and tears and pulled so much emotion out of me, but it was the scenes on page 238 and again pages 418-419 in particularly destroyed me and left me sobbing like a baby. He causes my heart more conflict than any character, ever. I hated so many of his actions. The way he treated Alina, his new creations, what he did to Baghra, the way he seems to have been completely corrupted to the point of being wholly irredeemable at this point. Most of his actions in this book were horrific. I can’t deny that. One in particular had me wanting to rip his head off out of sheer disappointment, especially after having read the recently released Genya POV piece, The Tailor. But I just do not share the same feelings of terror and creepiness that my fellow readers seemed to have. Maybe it’s because I have never been scared of the dark, maybe it’s because I have a thing for characters who aren’t afraid of themselves or doing what needs to be done, even if the rest of the world thinks it’s obscene, but I finished this book more in love with this character than ever. I may not agree that everything he does is necessary, some of his actions were probably definitely done because he has been utterly corrupted by his desire for power, but I can understand why he does them. Part of that I’m sure has to do with being in Alina’s head while she faces an inner conflict over her power that I suspect, and hope, the Darkling faced before he became what he is now. I could be reading way more into this than is actually there, but I have faith in Leigh and I just can’t believe that the Darkling is only about being creepy and scary and all about being desperate for more power. While I fully expect my love for him to cause my heart to be shattered to pieces in the final book, I can’t deny the fact that if loving him is wrong, I never ever want to be right. I honestly can’t even think of anything to criticize about this book, other than my constant need for more of the Darkling, but the entire series could be written from his POV and I’d probably be saying the same thing. I know that I will be reading these books again and again while I wait for the final installment.
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Shatter Me 02 Unravel Me
by
Tahereh Mafi
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I am in love with this book. The writing you guys. It’s almost criminal how good it is. It’s the kind of writing I want to sink into and wrap around myself and live in forever. Tahereh Mafi has the most gorgeous way with words. Descriptive, evocative, painful and all sorts of other adjectives that can’t possibly give justice to her magic. She writes like no one else out there and even though it probably shouldn’t work, it does in the best possible way. And her characters. These beautiful, complex, tortured, hopeful, amazing characters. Juliette just blows me away. This girl feels so much and her mind is so beautiful. There are times when her self-loathing literally had me crying. She’s such a complex character and watching her slowly accept herself and this immense, overwhelming, earth-shattering power of hers was an amazing reading experience. She’s still got a long way to go. She’s still angry and confused but she’s finally starting to come out of her shell and make her own choices and I can’t wait to see where they take her. Adam. I honestly don’t know how I feel about him. Or Warner. Going into this, it’d been long enough since I read Shatter Me that I couldn’t remember how I felt about any of the characters, and since I haven’t yet read the Destroy Me novella, I was looking at these boys and this triangle with completely fresh eyes, and I love them both. I literally cannot choose. Juliette and Adam are beautiful together. I cannot handle how much Juliette loves Adam and how much Adam loves her. It’s beautiful and painful and I really want them to have their happily ever after. And it doesn’t hurt that because of Mafi’s gorgeous way with words it is easy to picture just how amazingly sexy and passionate Adam is. There were times when he was definitely frustrating, but this boy is dealing with so much, including a couple of revelations that rocked the foundation of his world, so I think he can be forgiven for feeling and acting the way he does about certain things. And it breaks my heart because I know that things are probably going to get worse for him before they get better. Warner. UGH. I fought so hard not to fall for him. But then Chapter 62 happened and that was the end of everything in the world for me. Seriously. I think I read it 3 or 4 times before I could move on. It might be the greatest chapter in YA history. Or maybe that’s just me. But on to the more important stuff. Warner is definitely flawed. He’s done some horrific, unforgivable things. Thing’s he doesn’t apologize for and he’s definitely got a long path to redemption, if redemption is even possible. Warner and Juliette have such intense chemistry, and once again Mafi’s talent with words had me struggling not to fall in love with them as a couple. They just connect in a way that Adam and Juliette don’t. They could be the best or worst thing for each other. I especially enjoy them because Juliette doesn’t know how to handle Warner at all, which definitely has its fun moments. While there is a part of me that not so secretly hopes that they find a way to keep each other, I’m trying to harden my heart because the much more realistic part of me doesn’t see a way for Warner to survive this war. As for the other major supporting characters…I’m not sure how I feel about Castle. I’m definitely on the fence about him and don’t trust him at all. I look forward to Warner’s father’s death immensely and Kenji is my favorite person ever. If you don’t love Kenji I can’t know you, and if he doesn’t survive I will cry forever and ever and never forgive. Even though it may seem as if he’s just there for comic relief, there is definitely more to him than that. Maybe we’ll get a Kenji novella. That would be awesome.
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Anna & the French Kiss 01
by
Stephanie Perkins
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
So I recently re-read Anna and the French Kiss and I thought it would be fun to post another retro-review like thing. Although I was so saddened to hear about Isla being pushed back my thoughts and support are with Stephanie. And let’s be honest, I love this author and her writing so so much that I would patiently wait for Isla forever. If Anna and the French Kiss doesn’t make you laugh, swoon, cry and sigh in longing, you’re doing it wrong. Out of all the contemporary YA out there this is by far my favorite, and really there is not another book in this world that makes me this giddy, or that I enjoy reading as much. Even when things are sad or frustrating and my heart feels like it is going to burst, these characters still turn me into a giggling mess of goo. I love everything about it. It is charming and fun and just plain GOOD. The writing is so beautifully descriptive that although I have sadly never been to Paris, it was easy to imagine myself there. And Perkins characterizations are just brilliant. Her characters, from Anna to Dave are SO REAL. She fleshes out her secondary characters in a way that you don’t often find in literature today, and writes some of the most believable teenagers I’ve ever come across. The intricacies of the way all of these characters relate with each other are also sheer brilliance. Her relationships, from the families to the friendships to the romances are what really make this story, and although they could have easily been superficial or a corny cliché, they never feel contrived or over-the-top, which is a feat in itself, especially with such a huge cast of characters. Anna. ANNA IS JUST THE COOLEST PERSON EVER OKAY. I want to be her best friend. She’s quirky and sarcastic, and yes, awkward and insecure but also smart and just hilarious and even when she does things I think are sheer stupidity, or is totally blind to something I think is obvious (*cough* St. Clair’s lurve for her *cough*) I can always relate to her. She’s what I consider a Unicorn in the YA world-an actual realistic teenage girl. One who is not a victim to the circumstances around her, simply reacting to events thrown at her, but rather someone who is pro-active and actually living her life and dealing with the situations she creates. And Étienne? SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Just his name makes me swoon. Étienne St. Clair of the big heart and perfect hair and romantic ways. He’s a genuinely good guy and it shows and you can’t help but feel for him, even when he (and Anna too of course) is mucking everything up. Their relationship is one of my all-time favorites, because the progression of it is so realistic. Too often romances in literature today are capital LOVE at first sight, and then the reader is left playing catch up, trying to understand why these characters are instantly in love with each other. That’s not the case for Anna and St. Clair at all though. While there is definitely an immediate spark, because they have some seriously AH-MAZ-ING chemistry, they progress through all the stages of friendship, to ignoring the feelings and being angry about the feelings and accepting the feelings and then being angry and confused about them and this all actually takes time. Their relationship works because they had to go through it all and developed this incredibly solid best-friendship first. They have to work through a lot of crap to get to a place where they can be together and it is beautiful to see. I think it is also worth mentioning that the friendship that Anna, Étienne, Mer, Josh and Rashmi share is now one of my all-time favorites, and the best part about this book other than all the swoon worthy Anna/ Étienne moments. They are such a fantastic group of characters and I love how tight they all are. Even though they fight (because friends fight okay) there is obviously a solid bond and a lot of love in this group of people. My biggest hope is that we will get to see them all reunited in Isla and the Happily Ever After because how can you have a book about Josh falling in love without all of his best friends around? HOW I ASK YOU HOW?
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Of Poseidon
by
Anna Banks
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
After hearing Anna Banks describe her books at the Fierce Reads event, especially Galen, I knew I had to read them. So I immediately bumped them up my to-read list and I am so glad I did. This was the perfect post-Siege and Storm read to heal my heart; funny, cute and romantic. I love mermaids. I was that kid who insisted on watching The Little Mermaid pretty much every day for months after the VHS came out, and when it re-released in theaters in 1997, I saw it at least half a dozen times. Despite my love for them, this was my first foray into a mermaid book and it was a perfect one. I was immediately hooked by the first paragraph and refused to put it down until I’d devoured every word. This is not an action-packed book. It’s one of those novels that is really built on the strength of its story, its characters, their relationships to each other and the world building, rather than epic battles and fights for survival. The writing was refreshing. I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions, and since I always snort when I start laughing really hard I received multiple LOOKS from my family. While I did find the switch in POV between Emma and Galen distracting at first, I eventually adjusted. Reading from Galen’s POV was a blessing. He’s so awkward at trying to be human and that was definitely a highlight for me. The characters are great. The teens all have authentic voices and are filled with snark and Emma’s mom is just right in her over protectiveness. I enjoyed the detail of the Syrena culture, although I do wish there had been more underwater scenes. Really the only negative thing that I can say about the writing is that if I never hear the phrase “Ohmysweetgoodness” again, it will be too soon. Naturally there were a few things that bugged me, but none of them were big enough to retract from my immense love for everything else. Like Emma, the woman in me was immensely offended at Rayna being mated to Toraf without her knowledge or consent…but then I reminded myself that they are a different species with different customs and it’s pretty obvious that the two are completely in love with each other so I let it go. I also did not like that it took so long for Galen to fess up to Emma about the truth, or the fact that he treats her like property at times. I loved the characters. Emma is one of my new ultimate favorite protagonists. She’s no-nonsense, has a temper, is a smart-ass, and is definitely gullible and frustrating at times but she’s also incredibly brave and lovable. She gets hit with some major stuff, essentially having her entire world turned upside down in just a few short months, starting with a shark attack that kills someone close to her, but she still manages to keep herself together and stand up for herself and her beliefs. I do feel like the shark attack is glossed over and her reaction to losing the person isn’t as realistic as it could be, but I’m sure having Galen around to distract her played a big part in why she wasn’t overtaken by grief. Galen. Excuse me while I key-smash. AKJKLFASDFYEDCOABDF! Okay. Now that I have that out of my system. I fell in love with him almost instantly. It’s not even just that he’s hotness personified. He’s just such an incredible character. He’s sweet, loyal, determined, brave, loving, stubborn, awkward, oblivious, and just so real. It would have been so easy to portray him as the clichéd , egotistical, I am prince here me roar and boss your life around, alpha-male kind of character but Banks avoids that and instead created this complex and beautiful man-boy. Yes, he has moments that make you want to tear your hair out, he can be possessive and domineering and a know-it-all, but those moments flesh out his character rather than dominate it. And the romance between Galen and Emma? SWOONY SWOON SWOON. I have a lot of feelings about it. This is not one of those romances where the couple is obviously EPICLY DESTINED SOUL MATES that are instantly in love the minute they awkardly (and adorably) collide into each otehr. Yes, they obviously have some rare connection that is vaguely mentioned, but I didn’t feel like it was ever fully developed or played upon. Rather we get some delicious tension and the slow-burn of Emma and Galen getting to know and understand each other and fall in love based on that. The romantic tension is just. Gush. I love it and them. If anyone deserves a happily ever after, it’s these two. The supporting cast is also amazing. Rayna is another favorite female character for me, and I would love to see something from her POV at some point. She’s fierce and hilarious and I just want to hug her at times. Toraf is also great, even when he’s being pushy. I would read an entire series about these two alone tbh. This was such an enjoyable read. So go pick it up. Now. Go.
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Under the Never Sky 02 Through the Ever Night
by
Veronica Rossi
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
I read the first books in this series, Under the Never Sky, a couple of months ago and was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it, and was eager to get my hands on this sequel when it arrived and I have to say it did not disappoint. The world that Rossi has built is one of the most compelling I’ve read. I’m fascinated by the mystery of the Aether, and was excited to get more information about it. I loved delving deeper into the world of the Outsiders, and seeing how all the clans/tribes/whatever they are called interact with each other. The character development was fantastic as well. I love the Aria/Roar/Perry dynamic and I have such a soft spot for Roar. He’s by far my favorite character and I loved watching the friendship between him and Aria grow. They are good for each other, and kept me smiling while Aria and Perry were separated. The romance between Aria and Perry was swoon worthy, I just wish there had been more of a development of it in this book. Things I didn’t like so much: I did find some of Perry’s actions super annoying, and his jealousy and suspicion of the friendship between Aria and Roar to be a little out of place. The guy can smell their true feelings, but we’re really supposed to believe that he thinks they are having an affair? It made no sense to me. I also was pretty bored by his story line for the most part. Aria and Roar’s adventure was by far the more fascinating and I found myself getting annoyed with the narration switch because I got so invested in what was happening with them that I just didn’t care about what Perry was up to. I won’t deny that this one got to a slow start for me, but once I got through the first few chapters I didn’t want to put it down, and I’m eager for the next installment.
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Ever After Rachel Morgan 11
by
Kim Harrison
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
The Hollows Series is easily one of my top ten favorites. The characters are compelling, the writing is truly excellent, the action is heart-stopping and the romance is just guh. Gorgeous and swoon worthy, giving you all the feels that good romances should give you. But my absolute favorite part about this series is that although classified as a paranormal romance, unlike most others of its genre, the romance doesn’t dominate the books. You’re not reading page after page of graphic sex scenes with a splash of plot thrown in. Rather, The Hollows series gives you all the action and character development you could hope for, with just enough romance thrown in to make you fangirl ever time Trent Kalamack shows up. And to be honest, one kiss between Trent and Rachel is hotter than many of the sex scenes I’ve read in other books. Ever After, the 11th installment of the series, is the best yet. Of course my favorite part of the book is all of the Trent and Rachel awkwardness and flirtation. I’ve been a Trent/Rachel shipper since book one, despite the fact that he’s sometimes also Rachel’s biggest nemesis. This book was filled with the great romantic tension, and of course denial, that has come to define their interactions in the last few books. This installment was also filled with some serious action and heavy-duty development of not just the characters, but the demon’s world in the ever after. This book gave some great insight into how the demon’s interact with each other, as well as their past and Rachel’s slow acceptance of her place among them. The book was filled with Al and Newt scenes, which brought their own special brand of hilarity. They might be the best characters in the series. I loved seeing just how far all the characters have evolved from the first book, whether it was Trent and Rachel working together, rather than against, or Rachel and Quen’s almost familial interactions with each other, not to mention Jenks living with a fairy. It’s fun seeing all these characters who have worked against each other for so long becoming family to each other, even if they don’t realize it themselves. I also enjoyed the lack of Ivy in this book. An unpopular opinion, I know, but she’s always been my least favorite character and her absence did not bother me one little bit. Things I didn’t like about the book: The return of Ellasbeth. Mostly because I know Trent is going to choose his duty to his people and marry her rather than choosing his own happiness and being with Rachel. Even outside of that Ellasbeth is just a really bad person. Also was not amused by two characters coming to their demise off-scene. I felt the readers definitely deserved better than that after growing attached to these characters over multiple books. Also, I really don’t understand why Nick isn’t dead yet? HOW DOES HE KEEP SURVIVING? It is a mystery, but hopefully he’ll die before the end of the series. I can’t believe there is only two books left.
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Delirium 03 Requiem
by
Lauren Oliver
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
This was a hard one to rate. It definitely falls somewhere between a three and a four, but I leaned toward three because I hated the ending THAT MUCH. It was such a cop out, at least as far as I’m concerned. Overall though, I liked the book. I adore Lena. She’s a badass, and one of my favorite heroines ever, partly because unlike a lot of female YA narrators, she’s no pushover, and she doesn’t frustrate the hell out of me. The decisions she makes are the ones I would make, and so it’s easy to get in her head and see things from her point of view. Of course that can be a double-edged sword because my heart kept breaking right along with hers every time Alex was involved. I loved their last scene together, of course, but every single moment between them, no matter how small, had me both going awwwww and eeep and nooooooooooo all at once. I feel like I should mention Julian and Lena here but since I was never all that invested in their relationship I don’t have much to say. I like Julian as a character, I think he’s pretty freaking amazing and brave and adorable, but Alex had my heart from day one and that didn’t change with his “death”. I do wish there had been more of Julian in the book of course, because he definitely deserved more closure than he got. Of course I loved all the action in the book. I’ve come to expect it from this series, and it didn’t disappoint. Naturally there was the one shocker moment towards then end that I never saw coming, although now I feel like I should have, and I actually cried a little, although I didn’t care much about the character involved. What I didn’t like was basically everything involving Hana. Maybe because I never liked her character from the start, and because I never read her novella, I just found it hard to get invested in her storyline. I felt bad for her, definitely, and it was interesting to be in the head of someone who’s had the cure, but I feel like those chapters were wasted on her POV. If we had to have two narrators I would have preferred it be Alex, or any of the other “invalids”, but I can also understand what Oliver was trying to do by showing us the side of the war from this view point. So while the final installment isn’t nearly as good as the first two, it was still enjoyable. At least until the last few pages.
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Lost Girl
by
Sangu Mandanna
Disquietus
, April 27, 2014
The Lost Girl was in a word, underwhelming. Not to say that it was bad, it was enjoyable enough, and well written. It just didn’t blow me away as much as I expected it to The concept of the echo’s was definitely intriguing. The book provides a very vivid description of just how the Weavers create the echoes, and it is all together fascinating, disturbing, and to be honest, stomach turning. I had a hard time eating after reading that particular page. But I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to things like that, so others might not find it gross at all. And as I said before, the writing was very good, beautiful even, and I enjoyed the fast-paced nature of the novel. There were parts that definitely felt as if they were being rushed, but overall it worked well. My primary issue with the book was that I just couldn’t care about the characters or what happened to them. I enjoyed Eva. She’s funny, smart-mouthed, and a bit of a bad ass, which is pretty much my favorite combination of traits. I enjoyed watching her develop her own identity separate from Amarra. Her interactions with Amarra’s siblings were particularly enjoyable for me. Of course I also found Eva very frustrating at times. A lot of the decisions she makes seem very nonsensical to me, but I suppose there wouldn’t have been a story to tell if she’d do things logically. Another favorite was Eva’s Weaver, Matthew. He was intriguing, and I would read any sequels just for more of him. What I didn’t enjoy about the book was basically every other character. The love interest, Sean, fell flat for me. I couldn’t get invested in their relationship, which made it hard to get invested in their fight to be together. The other supporting characters produced emotions ranging anywhere from sheer rage to plain old frustration.
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