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In The Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken

10/31/2014

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I'm so sorry for not posting this review when I finished this spectacular book, I've been so busy recently. Every day there's always a test I have to study for or an essay I have to finish. It's exhausting, actually. I'm hoping it's just this overwhelming since it's almost the end of the first term. Well, hopefully the second term will be easier and I'll have more time to do the things I want, because honestly I'm not having a lot of time to do anything besides school work these days, but since field hockey just ended that should help a little. Seriously, I'm not even getting enough sleep these days. Okay, so that's my excuse for not posting a lot recently. For now I think I'll just try to post my book reviews on the weekends and try to schedule them for the week. So if you want to keep up with what I'm reading and stuff then become friends with me on goodreads! go to my about page to find my goodreads ;). 
Back to the book. In the Afterlight was great. I liked it a whole lot better than a lot of dystopian endings. But still, this book was a little disappointing, I'll admit. Maybe it was because we were confined in the same space for most of it, overall though, I highly enjoyed this book. It didn't live up to my highest expectations but it was certainly well written and intriguing. I'm giving this book a 10/10 stars. Why? Because, like I said, it's well written, the plot was well thought out the characterization was amazing and chemistry was realistic.  I think that Ruby is a great, strong female protagonist and I love reading from her point of view. Liam was a little aggravating in this book, but I still love him all the same and Cole. Ah, Cole. If you guys didn't know, Cole is my favorite character in this series, followed closely by Ruby, Liam, Chubs, Zu and Vida. So pretty much I love all of Alexandra's characters. They're so well written and well thought out. I hear Alexandra is writing another series and seriously, I'm so excited to read it. The only character I really HATED. Was CLANCY FREAKING GRAY. I just wanna kick that asshat in the family jewels. Even more now. I loved that we got to see more of Cole in this book. I know a lot of people were like "EH! Cole is so annoying! Liam!" I like Liam guys, don't get me wrong, but don't diss Cole for it. It's not his fault about what's going on between Ruby and Liam. Cole really gets Ruby and that made me love him even more in this book. It's obvious that Cole cares a lot about Liam by the way he acts when he thinks Liam gets hurt or is in danger. He just doesn't know how to show it, and I get that, Cole, I really do. So yeah, if you insult Cole I'll get pissed off because I'm always going to be on his side of things. Where Liam's that sweet boy next door, Cole's more of the bad boy and as you all know, I do love my bad boys. I won't lie, I'm Cole biased in these books. So if you don't like that, well that's fine (kinda you're just making me sad) but I do and nothing is going to change that. Oh, and Alexandra, if I'm honored enough to have you reading my review (probably not, but if you are, I LOVE YOU!) I know you said you didn't want to write a novella about Cole, but I would love to read more about him and I feel like there's a lot you could cover there. 
If I were to be able to choose a color I think I'd want to be a blue. Being able to control minds or set things on fire would be awesome but the price that comes with that would be too hard for me to bear, I do so believe. I think I'll just stick to having telekinesis. 
If you haven't read this book series at all yet, where have you been? This is one of my all time favorite series so go pick up the first book right now even though I may have slightly spoiled you. The first book is called The Darkest Minds and is written by the ever amazing Alexandra Bracken. 

SPOILERS TO IN THE AFTERLIGHT BELOW


Okay so I read the first three chapters of this book before it actually came out. And OMG Cole! When he and Ruby are having that talk about being monsters, my heart just went out to them. I'm glad that Ruby was able to find a sane person who could understand her feelings and see where she's coming from. Liam, Chubs and Vida just couldn't understand her on the same level as Cole. And I loved the growing friendship between the older Stewart and Ruby in this book. 
Seriously, when they found Zu I was just like... what? It was definitely not what I was expecting, I thought it'd be a little more complicated than that, but all in all it was great having Zu back, and when she spoke. awdskbgwukb
Before I forget,  let's cover the small tidbit of Sam, shall we? I feel like we should've seen more of Sam in this book. Like if you're going to write a novella about her and get us interested in her, at least give us more of her and Lucas in the last book. We hardly saw her at all and we only saw Lucas once, I think that Alex could've used Sam and Lucas a little bit more in this book. 
"They don't burn do they? Not like us." COLE! There were so many inspiring lines in this book. And if you've been following m blog for  while now, you'd know that I do love my inspiring quotes as well as my humorous ones. 
"What they don't tell you about forgiveness is this you don't give it for the other person's sake, but for your own." 
When Cole and Liam got into that physical fight, omg I thought that Cole was going to like, accidentally light his brother on fire or something. On the fire topic, I seriously thought that they'd be in a fight (like with the government) and Cole would have to use his power to save himself and that's how Liam would find out. Instead, Cole just tells Liam, I found that rather surprising to be honest. 
Ruby and Liam's relationship was so frustrating in this book. Most of it I was just screaming in my head JUST TALK!!! They seriously needed to sit down and as Clary Fairchild/Morgenstern/Fray would say, DTR, define the relationship. And they only did that at like the end. Which was why it was so frustrating, but I think that was the point. It was so awkward when Ruby found Liam's cheat sheet. They just had this like, heated make out session and then she reads this thing that makes her think he doesn't trust her. I get where Ruby is coming from though, I feel insecure about everything, especially my relationships, in life, too, so even though I thought she was being over-dramatic, I could see her angle. 
I think we all knew that it would't be Nico going into Thurmond. It was obviously going to be Ruby. It makes sense, it started there so it felt appropriate that the book should end there. I wasn't expecting that going into the book, so kudos to you, Alex. 
Haha Gav! I loved that little side thing, how he was being a dick and then Cole scared the shit out of him. Cole Stewart, I love you. 
Another thing that annoyed me about Liam, some of his decisions were so impulsive in this book. Like when he went out to get food, or when he 'left' to get Liv. I do think that Ruby should have stood up more for Liam when he and Cole were in fights, but I don't think Liam should've been so impulsive just because he wanted to be involved, although some of his ideas did help. Just as a little add in, I would've loved to see what happened when Cole told Liam he was a red and a few more of Cole and Liam's interactions in this book. 
Okay. I was avoiding this for the whole review but I guess I have to cover it............. When Liam and Cole went 'scouting' I knew something was going to go wrong. BUT WHY?! WHY ALEXANDRA WHY?! *weeps* Why did you kill off Cole? D: As soon as Nico said a Stewart was dead, I knew it was Cole. 1. Because I was kind of preparing myself for it the entire book and 2. Because I knew Alex would never kill off Liam. But I want Cole back *pouts*. Seriously, I almost took a star off because Cole died. I kept telling myself that the video was fake and that Cole would pop back in any minute, but...No. Seriously you have no idea how excited I would get whenever I saw a capital C coming up. So here is why I hate Clancy even more than I did after Never Fade, which I didn't think was possible. HE KILLED COLE. That little bastard killed my baby. He set the whole freaking thing up. UGH! I wanted to see him dead SO badly in this book. When his mom was shooting him, I'll admit, I felt no empathy or remorse for him. I usually feel a little empathy for all the characters but for Clancy? No. When his mom was shooting him I got pure joy out of it. Okay maybe not pure, but joy and satisfaction. He killed Cole and so Clancy and I will never ever ever ever be on the same page, not like blog wise because we already are, but like page as in same ideas or side. UGh. Someone please go mortally injure Clancy and give him a slow painful death. 


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Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

10/22/2014

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Wow. This book certainly meets the Jennifer Armentrout book expectations, aka IT WAS FANTASTICALLY AMAZING. The action scenes were intense and exhilarating while the romance really hit you in the right spot. As usual with Jenn's books, we have a bucketload of snarky comebacks and remarks, which I particularly enjoyed. The character chemistry was intriguing and the character building was great. Also, you can't help but get attached to Jenn's wonderfully created characters . I'm giving this book an 8.5/10, it was an astounding read. (you guys like my all my adjectives? haha) Stone Cold Touch is the second book in the Dark Elements series, the first book is called White Hot Kiss. No matter how romance-y the covers look and how romance based the synopsis sounds, these books are most certainly not centered around the romance. 
The concept for these books is new and quite different from anything I've ever read before. Okay so there are these things called Wardens, also known as gargoyles. That might put you off of the series but I promise you, it's every bit as fun as the Lux books and the Covenant series. The gargoyles protect the earth from demons, so pretty much they're Shadowhunters who can switch into a stone form and fly without a demonic motorcycle. But the demons are nothing like Cassie's demons. These demons are... mhmmm. I can give you one word for the demons that will make you want to read these books, Roth. What? That didn't immediately make you want to buy the book? Huh? I'm confused. Haha, so anyway the demons are pretty much like humans, but, you know, more demonic. Yeah, that was a bad way of explaining, you guys know I suck at summaries. Anyway, Roth is a sexy hot Crowned Prince of Hell, we'll get back to him later, though. So the Wardens have unveiled themselves to the world, but they were forbidden to tell the humans about the demons so pretty much people think "They're just like us! Except they are incredibly, inhumanly attractive and can fly and turn to stone!" Except some people are against them and yeah that's not really important in the first book. 
The main protagonist of this series is Layla, who is part demon and part Warden. How that happened, I have no idea. (haha I do but you'll have to read the first book to find out) In the beginning of White Hot Kiss she lives with the Wardens, and more importantly, with Zayne, the hot and incredibly protective Warden who is her best friend and also happens to be her long time crush. So you ay be thinking, okay, so she's like, in love with him, so this is one of those "I'm in love with my best friend but I can't tell them and they have no idea how will I ever live" books. Yeah, no. Layla's problem is this, her kiss is deadly. *Cue dramatic music* since she's half demon, if she kisses anyone she'll suck out their soul, and get a high, but the high part isn't really important right now. Can you see the problem now? If Layla kisses Zayne she'll steal his soul. That's where my personal favorite of this series, Roth, comes in. Roth is a demon, the Crowned Prince of Hell, if you want to be specific, and since he has no soul... well, he's completely kissable. Along with the kissable thing, he's totally hot and has that bad boy attitude that nearly all girls find intensely attractive (except apparently my best friend... how awkward). He also appears to have an interest in Layla. blah blah blah a lot of dramatic stuff happens that I can't tell you or else that'd be a spoiler and really, White Hot Kiss is just an amazing book so go read it, I promise it's not centered around the romance (which I wouldn't particularly mind but whatever). I read this book back in August so I won't lie, I don't remember all the specific details so if you want to read my review on that, click my category that says 'Jennifer Armentrout' Or "Jennifer Armentrout books" I can't remember which. 

Oh, and guys! Don't forget that our favorite author, Jenn, is doing something that's never been done before. What is that You may ask. Well my friend who hasn't been on the social network much lately, Jenn is letting US choose who Layla will choose in the last book. Just click here to vote for anyone *cough* *cough* Roth. I mean Zayne is fine but- ROTH. Like I said in my review of White Hot Kiss, I like Zayne as Layla's friend better than her lover so seriously, go vote for Roth. 

Now, without further ado, let's get to the spoilers! :D
SPOILERS BELOW FOR STONE COLD TOUCH
Ah! I loved this book so much!!!! Very enjoyable, as expected, this is why Jenn is one of my all time favorite authors, she never disappoints. The humor was well, hilarious and the chemistry was just perfect. 
That part when Zayne walks in when Layla is changing. Haha. Don't forget it was a back bra. 
They said "Okay." "Okay" twice in this book to each other, should I be worried? Haha, seriously guys, you have to go vote for Roth! Okay, you don't have to but I'd really appreciate it. 
When Roth returned I just kinda screamed, dropped my kindle, ran around the room for a minute then dropped back down and continued reading. And I may or may not have been laughing and possibly fanning myself (yeah how old fashioned is that?) from ROTH that's really the only accurate thing I can say about that/. 
Aw and then when Roth said he saved Zayne so Layla could 'Have him' askfh fwascihwfashvwd that was so selfless of him and seriously even though I find the bad boy exterior immensely attractive, if they don't have any other traits like selflessness or caring underneath the exterior (also them being hot to extremes doesn't hurt) kinda puts even me off. (Haha I just described my type bad boy who's extremely attractive that uses sarcasm and pushes people away to hide his real self, or something along those lines, black hair and blue eyes certainly helps too.) 
Did any of you guys find it super cliche when Roth pushed her away? It was like, uh, dude, we all know you love her, it's obvious. Though, their relationship didn't change that much and their witty banter was unceasingly enjoyable. Honestly, I don't mind cliches that much anyway. 
"I wasn't sure what was worse, molesting Roth and having him hide in the bathroom or that I'd tasted a soul." 
Let's talk about the ending, shall we? OH MY LORDS OF HEAVEN AND HELL that was not expected. The main plot twist I thought was that it WAS Layla and not a Lilin and then I thought the ending would be like Zayne crashing in, Roth and him getting in a fight then Layla leaving with Roth to protect Zayne or something like that. Yeah, most definitely not what I was expecting the actual ending. Sam?! Really? That makes me sad though, even though we didn't get to know him that well I thought he was cute. A nerdy cute boy is also attractive to me. And seriously think about how Layla and even more, think about how Stacey must feel. That book seriously shouldn't have ended like that, but kudos to you for the shocking plot twist, Jenn. I seriously CANNOT WAIT UNTIL EVERY LAST BREATH.... And if she doesn't choose Roth I'll be increasingly disappointed... but I'll still love the book. 
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The Young Elites by Marie Lu

10/19/2014

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If you don't know, I am a huge fan of the Legend Trilogy written by Marie Lu, so I went into this book with great expectations. Sadly I was a little disappointed. While Legend just dove right into the story, the beginning of the Young Elites was rather slow and took a while to pull me in. Actually I only got into the story in the last few chapters. It slowly grows on you, I think the next book will be better but this book all together was not too impressive. Adelina was an interesting character to see the story from, like Marie said she's a lot more dark than June or Day. When both the Legend protagonists 'walked in the light' as Marie said, Adelina most definitely did not. She'd been cast aside her entire life, so she's in a very dark place when the book begins. 
I'll admit I started this book a while ago, but after getting sixty pages in I'm rather ashamed to admit that I wasn't too intrigued and put the book down for the longest time. I will most definitely keep up with this series, even though the first book isn't my favorite, I see a lot of promise in the concept. 
The writing style, as usual, was great and the prospective was, as I said before, was intriguing. I highly recommend this book to you if you enjoyed the Legend Trilogy. When I was reading the Young Elites I was also kind of reminded of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (ITA comes out so soon! I'm so freaking excited). And when I was reading the Shatter Me Trilogy I was reminded of The Darkest Minds a little. This book is kind of a mix between Shatter Me, The Darkest Minds put in roman-ish times. While I didn't particularly enjoy the Shatter Me books, I seriously am in love with The Darkest Minds (if you haven't read those books, where have you been???) I liked this book better than Shatter Me, I'll give it that. 
Here's the summery: 
I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all. 

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen. 

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt



I really liked the character building of everyone in this book, especially Adelina and Enzo's. And I did like both Teren and Enzo. 
I'm giving this book a 7/10 stars, it was enjoyable but since the beginning was so slow I couldn't give it an 8. 

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE YOUNG ELITES


I don't have much to say, but I just wanted to mention the ending. Seriously, I was not expecting Enzo to die, the authors don't kill the main characters until the end and it was very obvious that Enzo was a main character. I could tell already from his death that we'd be seeing more of him and the epilogue just guaranteed that. If Maeve can bring people back to life and she was in an alliance with Enzo I can predict that she'll be bringing Enzo back in the next book or possibly the next. At least I hope she brings him back, I like him.
Did anyone else feel bad for Teren? I did and I think it's pretty obvious that he'll come over to the Young Elites eventually. Either he'll sacrifice his life to save them or he'll be the key in helping them win. 
Okay there was hardly a love triangle in the Legend Trilogy but did anyone else sense a kind of Teren, Enzo, Adelina thing? Only the next books will tell.... 

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The Maze Runner Movie

10/18/2014

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I never wrote a book review on The Maze Runner, but I can tell you right now, I really hated that book.No offense for those of you who enjoyed it, I have nothing against you, but I just did not enjoy that book. The concept was great, but the way it was written really irked me. The book was very repetitive and things popped up into Thomas's head at the mist random moments. It was definitely my least favorite book that I've ever read. Now this is one of the few times in my whole life that I'll ever say this, so read carefully, the movie was better than the book. I'm giving this movie an 8/10 stars. It was really enjoyable and had great action sequences. I think that it helped that we didn't see directly into Thomas's head like we did in the book, that made it pretty boring. Also, in the book there's that weird telepathic thing, I'm glad they got rid of that. 
The movie was so short though, only one hour and fifty seven minutes, so they really had to cram a lot of information into that, they also cut a bunch of parts out, but I didn't really mind since it still made sense. A smart thing the writers/producers did, was find an attractive male lead that was fairly well known. I, myself, didn't watch teen wolf, but if you do, you'll definitely know Dylan O'Brien, he's an excellent actor, I'll give him that. 
My favorite character from The Maze Runner is/was Newt. I am very pleased with who hey chose to play Newt in the movie, though I wish he had a bigger part. The guy who layer Newt was also really thin, like he seemed kind of like he had a twiggish build. But his cuteness and accent made up for it, no worries there. Like I said before I wish Newt was a bigger part of this movie. In the book he and Thomas become a sort of friends but there wasn't really enough time for that or even getting to know Newt that well in the movie which I found rather disappointing. 
I didn't particularly like the actress choice for Theresa, she just didn't really fit the part for me. Though, all the other actors chosen for the parts I think were excellent. The guy who played Gally was the same guy who played (Augustus?) From the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and he had the perfect look for Gally, just like all the other actors (Besides Theresa) fit their parts well. Alby and Minho were just as I imagined them. 
The Maze, the grievers and the plot seemed a lot more intense and interesting for me than they did in the book. When I was reading the book I was immensely bored, but when I watched the movie, I was disappointed when it was coming close to the ending. I think I'll definitely go to see the next two movies if they make them, but I still plan on not continuing this series unless someone gives me a very good reason to. 
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The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

10/15/2014

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AMAZING BOOK. I'm still a huge fan of Kasie West after reading this book, it was a lot of fun, had a great romance and some pretty interesting plot twists. If you didn't know, Kasie West is the author of On the Fence and Pivot Point, both books I enjoyed immensely. I'm giving The Distance Between US an 8/10 stars. Very enjoyable, though I 'll admit I enjoyed On the Fence more. Here's the synopsis: 

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.



Really good, if you ever need to be put out of a mourning period, Kasie West's books are certainly go to books. Sorry for the lack of posting lately, and the lack of posting to come, I'm having some issues going on right now, plus I'm in a bit of a reading slump, as soon as I get out of that I'll finish The Young Elites and review it for you ;) 
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Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

10/14/2014

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This is the fifth and final book in the Heroes of Olympus Series. I'm sorry for not posting this review sooner but... I didn't want to say goodbye. And I am also lazy. But mostly I didn't want to say goodbye to this fantastic story. You really should read this series, but this is the sequel series to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books so go read those first. Percy Jackson is a fantastic book series, yeah it's middle grade but any age can enjoy the series and you really will if you give it a chance, which I think you should. And DO NOT judge the book off the movies, those two movies were a humiliation to the Percy Jackson name. Don't even get me started on The Mortal Instruments being a TV show. There better be a recast and it better follow the plot line. Or else... 
Back to Rick Riordan's books. Both the Heroes of Olympus and Percy Jackson books are a lot of fun to read and if you want a quick funny, exciting read, then these are the books to turn to. I will admit I was a little bit disappointed with Blood of Olympus. I've been waiting like five years for this book and it just didn't feel like an ending, but I'll get to that in the spoiler part of the discussion. I'm giving Blood of Olympus an 8/10 stars, though it was very nearly a 7. This book just had so much potential that Rick didn't use. Namely PERCY JACKSON AND ANNABETH CHASE. I went into this book thinking we'd get at least one of either of their point of views, but do we? NO. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Frank are SIDE CHARACTERS in the book. Not main characters, that's Jason, Piper, Leo, Reyna and Nico. Now, I never had a gigantic problem with Jason like the rest of you, but that doesn't mean I want to have fifty million chapters from him over Percy. Like I get that it started with these three and 'should' finish with them. But ACTUALLY it started with Percy Jackson. When he defeated Kronos, yeah yeah, Jason defeated Krios or whoever but did he get a book on it? No. I also really love Reyna and Nico, like the POVS were enjoyable, I just wish there was more Percy Jackson in this book. Nico was my favorite character in the Percy Jackson books, aside from like the main characters of course, but I have always loved Nico so finally seeing from his POV was fun. Piper also had an interesting point of view, like Jason, a lot of people are annoyed by her but I just don't care about her. Before going into this book I said that I'm okay with Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel and Leo dying. Just not Percy or Annabeth. Like seriously, I don't really care that much about the rest of the seven like, I enjoy their separate stories, but Percy and Annabeth are the most important. Now, don't hate on me for this, but I don't see why everyone loves Leo so much. Like I like him, but I don't love him.
My favorite books would probably go like this 
House of Hades 
Son of Neptune 
Mark of Athena
Blood of Olympus 
The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero was actually really good, but just compared to the other books it was nothing. I still remember reading that book. When I was in third grade I got really into the Percy Jackson books so once I finished that I got obsessed with Greek Mythology, which I still am today. (Just less.) For Percy Jackson I'd say 

The Last Olympian 
The Titan's Curse
The Lightning Thief 
The Battle of the Labyrinth 
The Sea of Monsters

When I was younger I didn't like The Battle of the Labyrinth or Sea of Monsters and even though I like them now, I still enjoy the other books more. 

SPOILERS FOR BLOOD OF OLYMPUS BELOW


Ugh Octavian was such an annoying butt in this book and I don't like how he 'died with honor' he didn't! He just flew screaming past Leo and blew the frick up. No. At leaf he probably went to the fields of punishment, well, he better have. 
"If she told him to war his vegetables he might actually do it." 
I loved the line when Percy said "What if we promote, like, Adidas shoes?" I was just cracking up then. Like I said before, I REALLY missed Percy and Annabeth in this book, it was really disappointing that we didn't get either of their POVS and it was spectacularly disappointing that my two favorite characters of the seven were side characters maybe even background characters. 
God of Olympus, when Orion was like, oh yeah, all the hunters are dead, I got really worried for them. Surprisingly enough, Phoebe's death depressed me, even though we hardly knew her. 
"No merchandising rights!" Ha. I also didn't enjoy watching Jason save Percy under the water, that just really annoyed me, but that was a very Percy move that Jason pulled.      
I thought there might be a Reyna Nico relationship for a bit, I mean Nico could be bi, but then I reminded myself that no demi god would heal Reyna's heart. Though, Reyna and Nico do have a pretty cool parabatai - ish relationship. 
They all had gelato and.. Frank got an apple. Lol. Frank, buddy, I'm lactose intolerant, too, I just ignore it and get really bad stomach aches ;) 
"Don't mention haiku." 
"Take the big Canadian dude!" 
Reyna, Horse Friend. I get that that was a really big honor and all,  but I can't help but crack up every time I try to say that seriously. 
So earlier before I started reading this book I looked closely at the cover and saw Jason wearing glasses and had the biggest WTF moment. I thought maybe the artist messed up or something, haha. 
Dear Raziel, the battle with the giants was so amazing. When Percy and Annabeth were captured akjdla bf. AND THAT WAS FROM PIPER AND JASON'S POV WTF. Then the fighting with the gods, I loved that, but I wished we had more point of views on that. 
I totally ship SolacexNico/WillxNico. Seriously, their relationship was amazing, I don't care what you say. Haters gonna hate, hate, hate.... 
I think probably my favorite part of fighting with the gods was the fates fighting or Aphrodite and her rose petals. 
"But... Kym who?" 
(not real script) *scratches back of neck and raises hand in embarrassment* "She's one of mine" 
I loved when Reyna is shouting all these epic sounding commands in latin and then Percy goes... "Greeks! Let's um fight stuff!" 
Bye bye Octavian, that part literally gave me so much joy. 
When Nico said he was staying afuwdhvf; od dear gods that hit me right in the feels, I've always wanted the best for him and this seems to be going into a happy ending for the Son of Hades. 
Even though I have no particular love for Jason and Piper, the part when they were under the stars in the end was particularly cute. 
"Missile screaming like a little girl." And that was Octavi-ass's last words haha. I guessed Leo got blasted to Calypso's Island right after they said he was dead, Rick's just too nice not to give all his characters happy endings. 

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Alienated by Melissa Landers

10/8/2014

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I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot of fun, there was humor, adventure and the perfect amount of romance. Seriously if you haven't read this yet, go pick it up, now! It's a one sit down read. PLUS Jennifer L. Armentrout is the blurb. Guys you have to read this if you're a JL Armentrout fan. So there was a fair amount of drama in this book, which I quite enjoyed and the chemistry between Aelyx and Cara was spot on. I'm giving this book a 7.8/10, I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to you. I apologize for this review's shortness, I have had a crap load of studying to do this week, but my next review should be pretty long its on Blood of Olympus which I finished earlier today. Then I hope my review on The Young Elites will be nice and long but before I read The Young elites I plan on reading The Distance Between Us so I don't stay caught on a certain Perseus Jackson. Also I apologize for saying defiantly instead of definitely a lot, spell check always says "Oh! I'm stupid so use defiantly!" Ugh. -_-
Back to this story it has a very interesting concept that when you hear about it, it just sounds weird but once you start reading, you'll get sucked in. This book is dual POV coming from Aelyx and Cara. Cara is a normal, human while Aelyx is a L'eihr (Is that how you spell it?) There's an exchange student program between L'eihr and Earth so Aelyx comes to stay with Cara and pretty soon their lives getting pretty screwed up. 
Here's the synopsis: 
Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.  

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.



I'll definitely be ordering the next book in my next book shipment :D. I seriously advise you to read this book, especially if you enjoy sci fi novels, this is the perfect pick for you. 
xoxo
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Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

10/7/2014

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Not my favorite book I can tell you that, it's one of those, waiting to get into it books but never actually getting into it. Maybe I didn't like it because I was doing a crap load of homework so I was under a lot of stress, still am, actually, I'm er, still procrastinating, see I'm doing this on the same day as my Pivot Point review so... Wow, by the time I post this review I'll probably be over halfway through Blood of Olympus... EXCITING! :D So I didn't take many notes while reading this aka I took one so this will be a spoiler free review. But I'm just going to say, Aria, you got your first period at seventeen? I envy your life. Not actually your life kinda sucks but... So Under The Never Sky is a book told from dual points of view. One from Aria, a girl living in the realms and one from Perry a 'savage'/ someone living outside the realms/pods. Ugh whenever they said pods I always thought of dolphins. I wasn't particularly impressed by the characters, especially the two main characters since I found both Aria and Perry pretty predictable. 
6/10 stars, that's my rating for the book. I gave it a 3/5 on goodreads and was tempted to give it like a 5.6 or something, but the ending was.... slightly interesting, bumping it up .4 points and making me willing to buy the second book, a lot of the time I've found the second book in a trilogy is better than the first.... or it gets worse, like the first is amazing the second it eh and the last is like, why did I ever read this? My examples for that are the Hunger Games and Divergent. Jeez, Mockingjay and Allegiant were just bad. 
From what I got from it, Under the Never Sky is a dystopian? Correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. But Under the Never Sky is a dystopian novel following Aria and Perry's adventure. It all begins when Aria hasn't been able to contact her mom for the past five days, so she befriends the son of the head of the security, hoping to find out what happened to her mother. turns out the son of the head of security, aka the asshat is a crazy evil lunatic. He takes Aria, her best friend Paisley and some of his friends outside the pod, locking them out. Some crazy stuff happens and the asshat ends up catching everything on fire, and like trying to kill/maybe rape Aria and Paisley. Aria saves Paisley but then Soren, oh yeah, that's what the asshat's name is, Soren jumps her and is like acting like an animal so then Perry shows up and saves her blah blah blah. (No offense to those of you who loved this book, I just wasn't impressed) Eventually Aria is tossed out of the realms, Perry finds her and they, grudgingly, have to work together, for Aria to save/find her mother and Perry to save his nephew. 

Here's the real synopsis: 
WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.



So this not high recommendation for me, but you know, it you want to read it, be my guest :) tell me your thoughts on the book in the comments. Did you enjoy it? Do you think I should go back and read it?? I don't know, tell me your thoughts if you want, I'd love to hear them. 

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Pivot Point by Kasie West

10/6/2014

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I can now officially call myself a Kasie West fan, because I've loved all of her books I've read so far, hopefully I'll be able to say that after I read The Distance Between Us. I'm giving this book a 7.8/10 stars. I really loved the story and the plot. It may sound confusing at first, but you'll get it once you read the book and Raziel it was a good book. The storyline was great and the the writing style fun. I'll admit I wasn't really in the mood to read this book when I picked it up, but I soon got sucked into the fantastic world that Kasie created. Seriously, I can't wait to read Slip Second. 
This book is told from the perspective of Addie Coleman. She's special, she has the ability to search. Meaning that she can see into her future, kind of like divination but she can only see her own future, BUT she can see the different outcomes of her choices, so pretty much Addie always makes the right choice. But one day Addie's entire life fall apart. Her parents decide to get divorced. Addie's father is moving out of the supernatural world while Addie's mother is staying. Now Addie has to make a choice, go with her father or stay with her mother. So Addie does the obvious thing, she searches in the future to see which future will be the best for her. In one future she captures the attention of the hot popular quarterback, and in another future she falls for a cute sweet boy... When each future holds so much for her, which will she choose?
By the Angel this book was surprisingly good, I seriously think you guys should read it if you haven't, I think you'll really enjoy it. 
Here's the real synopsis:
Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

AH! I stayed up till like one in the morning reading this even when I promised myself I'd go to bed early because I had a crap load of homework the next day. Seriously though, this weekend I finished four books and started five. Here are the books I read this weekend: 
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer
Pivot Point by Kasie West 
Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
And I'm almost done Alienated by Melissa Landers
I'm hoping to get my review up of Under the Never Sky by tomorrow, but of course that'd involve actually writing it and god of olympus I'm behind. I need to do my homework (I'm currently procrastinating whilst my friend/study partner is marathoning reign.) Since I did homework all weekend I felt like I needed a break anyway and as surprising as it may be, blogging is a break for me. I have this blog for you guys so if you have any requests for any books for me to read or any comments or thoughts, I'd love to hear them :). Actually the first part was a lie, I don't just blog for you guys. I blog 50% for you guys and 50% to let out my inner geek, but seriously I would love to hear your guys' thoughts on the books I review, comments are welcome.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR PIVOT POINT
At the beginning of this book I thought that she came from a family of searchers, but I was even more intrigued when I saw that everyone had different abilities. I don't think I'd particularly want Addie's power, the future is the unknown and I kind of like the surprise of it. l mean it'd be really creepy if I knew who I was gong to marry then I'd act REALLY weird around him, and I'm already socially awkward around boys I like. I really enjoyed the word definitions at the beginning of every chapter, they were pretty entertaining. 
"I like books. They're pretty," So do I, Addie, so do I. 
Okay I couldn't help but snicker when I found out the official name of Addie's ability was DIVERGENCE (um, divergent fans out there? Do you know what this means? It means a extremely intelligent blonde is going to come after her and try to kill her) 
"It would really bring out your eyes." I love how she disguised her eyes to look like they were brown when he said then because then he looked at her eyes and was just like "....crap..." 
I will be honest at first I liked Duke, but I also really like Trevor but I liked Duke more. My guess on who she would choose was Trevor though, but I changed my mind after Laila died, she'd never willingly let Laila die. I also switched to Trevor halfway or so through the book, he's a really sweet guy, don't you think? I love him. This book really could've been a stand alone, but I'm glad Kasie gave us a sequel because I want to see Addie's real interaction with Trevor, apparently it's not so good from what I read from the synopsis of split second. Arg. That one won't fit on my book shelf, I mean, Pivot Point barely fit. Want to see my bookshelf? No? too bad. 
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Can you even see Pivot Point? I don't think so, it's very tightly stuffed on top of Unearthly. Yeah, I'm gonna have to start piling books on the floor until I can get some shelves. Eh, yeah, I'll find some way to get Pivot Point and Split Second together, see, I'm one of those people that HAS to have the series touching. No matter what. Back to the book. 
I loved it when her two fates crossed in a way. The one when she went to see Duke's game and faintly remembered Trevor from... something and the one where she and Trevor were hanging out at the game. I think her faintly remembering Trevor was one of the first hints that she'd choose staying with her mother/Duke, because it shows that Laila erased Trevor from her memory and it makes sense now, though when I read it I thought it was part of herself, the one living in the present, remembering him from the other path. Even though I found I like Trevor better by this time, I found it really cute when Duke got pissed off at 'Poison' for threatening Addie. 
I was laughing in embarrassment for Addie when she friend zoned Trevor, like telling him he was her best friend and everything, seriously girl, you need to work on your social skills, he obviously doesn't want to be just friends. 
I felt like practically crying at like 12:20 AM when I read the part where she forgot Trevor. Breaking her promise to him. I found it intriguing that Trevor actually thought about what was happening being a search, I certainly wouldn't think that if I were him. But when he said he wanted her to choose him but if she didn't to promise she wouldn't forgot him.. AH! The feels. Thinking back on it, it's a lot more emotional now that she broke that promise, to save Laila. I seriously got so depressed when I thought about that today in Spanish and then all I wanted to do was go home and reread Pivot Point. 
Bobby. I was not expecting that. Were you? Like, I thought he was creepy and all, but I never thought he'd be the antagonist. Ugh, he's so... so... I can't think of a word. Wow apparently I need to expand my vocabulary. (That was reference, any of you get that one? If you can guess what that was based off of I'll be impressed, feel free to put it in the comments below). I was also surprised to learn that Duke's ability actually wasn't telekinesis, but it was mood controlling. 
All in all I found this book fascinating and like I said before, seriously cannot wait to read Split Second. 
(Synopsis for Split Second) 

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.
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Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer

10/5/2014

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Sacrifice is the fifth and final book in Brigid Kemmerer's Elemental Series. I read the first four books back in the beginning of June, I'm not sure if any of you were there back when I put my review up on them but if you were, you'd remember that I enjoyed the first book but then it went kind of down hill from there. Sacrifice was a lot better then Secret, Spirit and maybe Spark, in my opinion, though a lot of my problems with the series didn't go away. The main problem I had while reading this series is that each book is centered around one of the brothers (and Hunter's) life. Each of the books are dual POV one from the brother's (and Hunter's) point of view and the other is from the brother's (and Hunter's) lover/to be lover (or current 'lover'). First off it's very convenient that each brother gets a girlfriend in that short amount of time and second, in the first book you get attached to like Chris and Becca and then you like never hear about them again. I want to know more about them and in most of the books they just get together by the end so you never get to see them together besides tiny little mentions of them here and there. Like in this book Becca is literally mentioned like once maybe twice and Michael's brothers are in a minimal amount of scenes. ALSO we don't even see Quinn or Becca. Ever. Seriously, I want to see them, if you're going to introduce them and let me get attached to them and write more books, Brigid, then you have to give me a little more on them! It was the worst in this book, which I found really annoying, I really wanted to see more of Nick, Chris and Gabriel, mostly Gabriel, in this book. I also at least wanted to see Becca and Quinn. I get that yeah, brothers aren't that connected in their brothers' love lives but I think that Chris would want to have Becca around in that we-might-die-any-second time, don't you think? Like I said before, we also hardly see Chris, Gabriel and Nick in this book, I get why, but  I feel like since their Michael's family we should see them more than we did. Like seriously, we saw more Hunter than the other Merrik boys. 
I'm giving this book a 7.8/10 stars, aside from my large annoyance about not seeing anyone really but Michael, Hannah and Hunter it was pretty good. There was a good mystery in the story and it had some pretty exciting scenes. I think that this world has a lot of potential and that these books were pretty enjoyable but I feel like Brigid needs to work on her story a little bit more. Like this book didn't feel like the last book, I could be wrong in thinking this is the last book, but I'm pretty sure it is so... Okay, maybe I'm also complaining a little about the story because we hardly saw the other brothers in this book too and if you couldn't notice, that really bothered me. But also from Brigid's other books, all her character deaths are really quick so you don't really have time to really see it. Like her characters die in one sentence and then it's pretty much done besides a bit of mourning. 
So anyway that was my half rant on the books, if you read that I might've spoiled you a little, so sorry, but you should read this series because a. Jennifer L. Armentrout (one of the best authors EVER) recommends it b. it has an interesting world and some good action scenes. 

SPOILERS BELOW FOR SACRIFICE


Now I don't have too many notes on this book but I really wanted to mention some of my thoughts to you guys so here they are. 
It was really sad when Michael had to tell the boys that they were going out of his custody for a while and when they were talking about what would happen if a Guide found them I just felt really depressed for the Merriks then. 
I was pretty suspicious of Irish from the beginning, no author will bring in a character as much as Brigid brought in Irish if they don't have a part to play in the story and even though Irish's part was really small, I was pretty suspicious of him being a Guide. I'll say I was close there since he's a fifth. 
From the moment that Hunter was talking about how his Uncle liked distance things like bombs and guns the thought popped in the back of my mind like is his uncle alive? I pushed that thought away because I was like, no that's not possible but... somehow it was. I don't get it though, Jay said something like about how being dead changes you. How in the world did he come back to life? Like did they just bury him alive? But I kind of find it hard to believe they'd miss the part where he was alive so...?
"Then do both." AW that moment though. 
I loved how Hunter pulls out his gun and so does Tyler and Michael's just kinda there like ".... I don't have a gun." 
Back to the quick deaths, Hunter had a really quick death, for being there for all the books it's just like he blew up. Okay. And Calla's death was really quick. Like Calla the last book ended on a 'cliff hanger' of Calla being back but the first time we really hear from her is when she talks for like seven seconds then dies. Um... I feel like Brigid could've done something a little more from Calla there. 
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    Anji Cooper

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