Tag: Jessica Brody Review

Book of the Week-Unforgotten

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I’m hoping that this is the book that is going to bring me out of the nonstop reading slump I’ve been in since the second week of January. I would have read this all in one night but I got sleepy, purchase and then busy with school and such. But I powered through it in about a day and a half, drug with lovely responsibilities in between and I’m so proud of myself haha. After it took me two weeks to read Cress (which I LOVED), I was feeling down on myself as a reader!

Leave it to Jessica Brody to bring me back with a bang!

Here’s this week’s Book of the Week!

Unforgotten by Jessica Brody 

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GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Genre:

Young Adult, Science Fiction

Part of a Series?:

The middle novel to Jessica Brody’s Unremembered Trilogy

You May Like if You Liked:

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

Age Recommendation:

13+

Plot Summary:

From GoodReads:

After a daring escape from the scientists at Diotech who created her, Seraphina believes she is finally safe from the horrors of her past. But new threats await Sera and her boyfriend, Zen, at every turn as Zen falls prey to a mysterious illness and Sera’s extraordinary abilities make it more and more difficult to stay hidden. Meanwhile, Diotech has developed a dangerous new weapon designed to apprehend her. A weapon that even Sera will be powerless to stop. Her only hope of saving Zen’s life and defeating the company that made her is a secret buried deep within her mind. A secret that Diotech will kill to protect. And it won’t stay forgotten for long.

Packed with mystery, suspense, and romance, this riveting second installment of Jessica Brody’s Unremembered trilogy delivers more heart-pounding action as loyalties are tested, love becomes a weapon, and no one’s memories are safe.

My Review: 

Please note that while this review will not have spoilers for Unforgotten, it will for Unremembered. You can read my review for Unremembered here. 

Woohoo! This book is finally out guys! I read Unremembered right after WonderCon last year, which was in very early April. Nearly a year ago. And immediately after reading Unremembered, I thought, ‘WHAT? What kind of cliffhanger is that?’

And I think that’s what made me so happy about this book. There is no fuss and bother. It jumps right into the story. While Sera explains plot points from the first book, to remind of those details that we may have forgotten since our last read, she goes face first into the story. We are immediately in 1609, with Zen and Sera, hiding and trying to have some semblance of normalcy in their life.

What I love even more about this novel is that after the build up of the world that we get in Unremembered, we get action and uncertainty, lots of kissing and so much adventure in this novel. We are literally hurled into this novel. Sera and Zen are immediately in the story. There’s no build up. That was the purpose of the first book and Jessica did that well. But now that we have the story, now it’s time to question everything and to go on a whirlwind chase to find out the truth and for Sera to find out if she can ever just have a normal life. There is a ton of action and a TON of time traveling, hem, excuse me, transession, and I love that. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up which time period I’m in or where I am in the world while reading but I like that. Sera’s world is turned upside down and all around, and the book makes you feel that with her.

I was very excited about the reappearance of a character I never thought we’d see again: Cody. I won’t go much into his part in the novel because, well, spoilers, but let’s just say if you’re a Cody fan like I most definitely am, you’re going to love his part in the novel. I was squealing with excitement every time the name “Cody” appeared on the page.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how much I really liked the new character. When…”they” made their first appearance, I was immediately in dislike mode but they honestly grew on me to the point that I am eager to see what happens to them. I am not sure how I feel about them, I’m so conflicted! I feel like its an incredibly real and compelling character and they immediately became a favorite for me. I can’t say much more than that because its so incredibly spoiler filled and you guys know I try my very hardest to keep my reviews spoiler free. But if you go into this book and meet this new character, and you’re unsure, give them a chance. They just might surprise you.

I’m incredibly impressed with this novel and I love how you can see Jessica’s confidence in her ability to write science fiction just double in this novel. The first one was very good, and this one is great. She really brings it all together, and creates this crazy, beautiful, sci-fi story, full of action and romance and humor and fun. And she leaves me wanting to have the third novel in my hands, like, days ago. Seriously. Is this a possibility? How can I possibly wait to see what happens next…

The Last Word

I decided not to do “Ratings” or “Recommends” anymore. I felt it didn’t quite do the review justice. Instead I’ll be doing the last word, which basically wraps up everything I say above if you’re too lazy to read all of the above. This will tell you either to buy the book, borrow the book or to just stay away.

For Unforgotten, its a definite buy. I mean, if you’ve read Unremembered, I can’t imagine that there’s a single bone in that reader body of yours that isn’t dying to get your hands on this sequel. But if there is some buyer’s doubt, rest easy now, and get out to the bookstore and buy this book. Its action packed, but it also creates a beautiful internal battle for Sera, for so many things, and the decision she makes in the end leaves me panting for the third book.

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I hope you enjoyed this week’s Book of the Week!

Check back next week for more!

And go out and read some Jessica Brody!

Book of the Week-52 Reasons to Hate My Father

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Yesterday, link you read my recap of the first stop of the Fall Fierce Reads Tour, sale featuring Jessica Brody, Leigh Bardugo, Gennifer Albin and Ann Aguirre. One of the books that I picked up, to support the store and get it signed, was 52 Reasons to Hate My Father…the only YA book that I have NOT read of Jessica Brody’s.

Today I had an immense amount of free time, and gobbled this up in a matter of HOURS. I’ve been reading SO many fantasy and sci-fi books, and ohmygod the amount of dystopian novels that I’ve been reading, that it felt SO good to get back to some good ‘ol fun contemporary novels.

So check out my review, spoiler free as always, of this fun book!

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody 

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GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Genre:

Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Part of a Series?:

Nope

You May Like if You Liked:

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler, The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Age Recommendation:

14+: Only because Lexington’s casual use of alcohol may be a bit much for some kids. Other than that, story wise, its probably appropriate for 12+

Plot Summary:

From Good Reads:

Lexington Larrabee has never to work a day in her life. After all, she’s the heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Larrabee Media empire. And heiresses are not supposed to work. But then again, they’re not supposed to crash brand new Mercedes convertibles into convenience stores on Sunset Blvd either.

Which is why, on Lexi’s eighteen birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund. But if there’s anything worse than working as a maid, a dishwasher, and a fast-food restaurant employee, it’s dealing with Luke, the arrogant, albeit moderately attractive, college intern her father has assigned to keep tabs on her.

In a hilarious “comedy of heiress” about family, forgiveness, good intentions, and best of all, second chances, Lexi learns that love can be unconditional, money can be immaterial, and, regardless of age, everyone needs a little saving. And although she might have 52 reasons to hate her father, she only needs one reason to love him.

The Good:

Normally I write a “The Bad” section but I didn’t do it this time, because I honestly really couldn’t come up with anything. Maybe others won’t agree with me, but this book was perfect, for me, right now. I completely enjoyed it.

Honestly, I loved it. Like I said earlier, literally everything I’ve been reading lately has been sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, dystopian and I’ve been really needing to read some contemporary lately. Badly. So this is beautiful and much needed. I read it in a matter of a couple of hours, and spent a lot of time laughing.

If you’re ever met Jessica Brody, you can definitely see her own voice in her novels. She makes me laugh, she’s silly, she’s kind of what I imagine myself as in the future, hopefully just going up and being silly and making people laugh.

Her stories have a lightness to them, while still having a great story with good lessons, and addressing real issues. In this novel, she addresses the idea of an absent parent and what kind of effect that has on a kid. She always addresses children born into luxury and what that does to them as well. While we’re watching Lexi struggle with her minimum wage jobs, in order to earn her trust fund, it can be easy for you to want to punch her in the face. Most people reading this book aren’t rolling around in thousands of dollars, able to do whatever they want, and buy whatever they want, whenever they want. I’m the girl who sits at home, watching her shows and working on her blog, while eating a nice bowl of spaghetti-os. So Lexi can be frustrating.

But I think that’s the point. Lexi is a frustrating person in the beginning of the novel. She’s wrapped in her luxurious lifestyle, and is so focused on her “poor me” attitude, due to her mother’s early death and her father’s barely there presence. She doesn’t really see past herself. But the more you get to know her, the more she grows on, and then the more she endears you. I loved Lexi. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and sure, she was a brat, but she learned from experience, the way we always do.

Plus, I just liked the idea of it too. The whole riches-to-rags thing is not a new thing; we’ve seen this story before. But her story was funny and unique and different. Her father forcing her to work a different labor intensive job each week was awesome. It was a chance for her not just to be in another person’s shoes, but in a ton of different shoes. Its a way for Lexi to learn much more about herself and about other people, and I think it was fun. Plus she didn’t lose her money, she just had to earn it, and I think that’s the beauty of the story. It started off as her desire to have her trust fund, but it takes on a life of its own as the story continues.

Plus, cute guys, come on. Luke is adorable, and he is so straight and moral and hard working and it reminds me of my boyfriend, who I had to smack a couple times in the past six years in order to have a little bit of fun. Luke and Lexi have influences on each other, and its so fun to watch their friendship unfold.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Definitely. I have loved all of Jessica’s books and I hope I’ll find time soon to dive into her adult novels as well. She has a great way of telling a story, and weaving humor and fun into it as well. Her novels are easy, fun reads that can put a smile on your face, and cheer up your day. If you’re looking for a break from all the “feels”, this is a great book for that.

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I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Book of the Week! Make sure to check this book, and others, by Jessica Brody soon!

So much awesome is coming soon: NaNoWriMo, book reviews for Jennifer Armentrout’s Sentinel and Marie Lu’s Champion, and even a couple of interviews! Super excited!

Happy Reading Everyone!