Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Reds are commoners, viagra order ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart…

My Review:

I had been hearing a lot of good, no, great things about this book for SO long. I knew that it was going to be a good book but for some reason I just kept putting it off. I owned a copy, even met Victoria back in April at YALLWest, and all that, but I just couldn’t make myself sit down and do it. For some reason, I finally sat down and did it and I can’t believe that I have waited this long to read it. Seriously. Because this was basically my face after I finished the book.

First off, Victoria is just a fantastic writer. She has you on Mare’s side right away. She immediately has you hooked into the story. Her world is incredibly beauty and I am so envious of her world building skills. Its flawless, and each page just overflows with intense imagery and believable realism. I’m just blown away by the story itself. The Reds and the Silvers, their story isn’t new, the oppressors and the oppressors…but Victoria has a way of making this story her own, making it unique and stand out. And I think a lot of that comes from the characters. You’re never really sure what side you want to be on, who to trust, who to like. Everyone has secrets, dark ones, and everyone is lying all the time, and its hard to pinpoint each character. You sort of keep reading because you want to get a handle on them but they keep surprising you.

Speaking of surprises, my goodness, Victoria has them at every turn. Every single time you think you have a handle on the story, or you even try to guess what could be around the next corner, she blows something up in your face and literally leaves you going, what on earth just happened…There is a huge climax toward the end of the book, that I obviously want to keep spoiler free, but she just completely yanks the rug out from underneath your feet. I honestly did NOT see that coming at all. And it totally broke my heart. How dare you, Victoria!

So with all that revelation, and the things that happen at the end, and all the action and quick events that lead unto the cliffhanger ending…I’m glad its only a mere handful of months until the release of the next novel because that book ruined my soul.

In all the good ways of course.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Stand-Off by Andrew Smith

September 11, 2015September 10, 20151 Comment

Genre:

Young Adult, information pills Contemporary

Pages:

448 pages

Part of a Series?:

Book #2 of Winger series

Release Date:

September 8th, page 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

It’s his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead, he’s haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team’s stand-off and new captain. And somehow he’s stuck rooming with twelve-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman—aka Ryan Dean’s girlfriend, for now, anyway.

Equally distressing, Ryan Dean’s doodles and drawings don’t offer the relief they used to. He’s convinced N.A.T.E. (the Next Accidental Terrible Experience) is lurking around every corner—and then he runs into Joey’s younger brother Nico, who makes Ryan Dean feel paranoid that he’s avoiding him. Will Ryan Dean ever regain his sanity?

My Review:

While this review will remain spoiler-free, there is no guarantee that there will not be spoilers for Winger. Please click here for that review.

I was so unbelievably excited to get my hands on this novel. It took so long, to me, for this book to finally hit the shelves. I’m also pretty sure I drove everyone insane by trying to get my hands on an ARC, which inevitably failed. Sigh. So I had to wait like the rest of you for this book to hit shelves.

I went to the book event at the Grove to go see Andrew and get my hands on it. He read aloud from it, and from beginning to end, I laughed. I knew exactly what I was in for once I started this book.

And yet I didn’t know. Let’s be honest, from the beginning, this is definitely an Andrew Smith book. It made me laugh, and it had that sort of randomness, that quirkiness that just makes me so happy when I read his books. Ryan Dean is still random and smart as hell and full of random thoughts. I love his drawings and I love the relationship that he has with Annie. That is absolutely beautiful. I love that it progresses and its not all sunshine and rainbows, but there’s work to it, like any relationship. I love that realism. I love the humor. The “friendship” between Ryan Dean and the Abernathy just had me cracking up the entire book, especially every time Ryan Dean told him to stop talking. It made me laugh so hard.

But what I love about this book is how much we see Ryan Dean change and grow up and deal with the things that happened to him in Winger. With Joey’s death brings a lot of problems for Ryan Dean West, and its interesting to see a character you know so well deal with that. He’s not the same person. He’s lost a bit of his goofiness, and he’s afraid to befriend anyone, because of what happened to his best friend. I think Andrew has a way of capturing it that’s just great. You’re laughing, like always, but you’re also right there with Ryan Dean, experiencing the same things that he is, and the panic attacks felt incredibly real. I experience them periodically and those scenes hit me hard.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to the sequel. I was just glad to have Ryan Dean back. Winger is one of my favorite books period. I definitely expected a lot of laughs, and a lot of randomness and a lot of really cool comics and drawings. All of that was delivered. But the super human story of Ryan Dean and his relationship with Annie and his relationship with his roommate, Sam, and dealing with all the things that are piled up on top of him…that was unexpected but completely beautiful. Because that’s one of the things that makes Andrew the incredible writer that he is; he’s able to be funny and emotional and romantic and a hundred of different emotions at the same time, and bring it all together for a really well-written, character-driven, fantastic story. Another absolute winner, and is now sitting on my “favorites” shelves, right alongside Winger.

Basically…the whole book made me feel like this…

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi

August 21, 2015August 17, 20151 Comment

Genre:

Young Adult, visit web Contemporary, Romance

Pages:

304 pages

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

June 16th, 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Before Matt, Ella had a plan. Get over a no-good ex-boyfriend. Graduate from high school without any more distractions. Move away from Orlando, Florida, where she’s lived her entire life.

But Matt—the cute, shy, bespectacled bass player who just moved to town—was never part of that plan.

And neither was attending a party that was crashed by the cops just minutes after they arrived. Or spending an entire night saying “yes” to every crazy, fun thing they could think of.

Then Matt abruptly left town, and he broke not only Ella’s heart but those of their best friends, too. So when he shows up a year later with a plan of his own—to relive the night that brought them together—Ella isn’t sure whether Matt’s worth a second chance. Or if re-creating the past can help them create a different future.

My Review:

Dear Owl Crate,

Thank you SO SO SO much for putting this in your July box. Seriously. Thank you. I had never heard of it before I found it in my box, and it sounded so good and I knew that I had to dive into it. And I’m so glad I did.

This book was SO fabulous and awesome and so good and I’m so excited for it, and I just kind of want to shove it in everyone’s faces, like, guys, this is Lauren’s debut novel and its wonderful and you need to read it.

First off, her voice is just great. She writes in alternate voices between the Ella in the past and the Ella of the present, same character but she writes them so perfectly. Its the same person both times, but you can see the growth and the change and all of that between the two and I think that’s a really hard thing to figure out, and she does it just beautifully. I was hooked on both versions of Ella super fast.

Plus its a summer novel. It has the big summer feel to it, you know? When you get out of school and everything seems possible. Summer is this huge blank slate and all you can think about is how beautiful and open and blank it is and how its just going to be the best summer ever. And you get that in both of the summer nights we see in this book. I love that. I don’t get that feeling as much as I did when I was younger and didn’t have to work and all that so its nice to get that feeling in the form of a book.

And its just a great story. Matt and Ella, Jake and Mia, and everyone they encounter in their crazy adventure? Its just great. I love them all. They’re all flushed out, and you put them together and they just create this beautiful story. Its high school and its romance and its uncertainty and its mistakes and running around, doing stupid things, and I miss that sort of thing sometimes. Its just a great story. First love, adventures, I loved every single moment of it.

Thank you Owl Crate, you sold me as a fan of Lauren Gibaldi. This book was incredible and I can’t wait for more to come out. I’m anxiously awaiting.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

August 20, 2015August 17, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, online Contemporary, cialis 40mg Romance

Pages:

283 pages

Part of a Series?:

Book #1 of the Hundred Oaks Series

Release Date:

December 1st, 2011

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she’s ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he’s also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan’s feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart’s on the line?

My Review:

I had a lot of incredibly high hopes for this novel. Really high hopes. When I heard it was about a girl that plays football and is goal driven on football and it had romance as she kind of falls in love for the first time…I was so sold. Especially since the rest of the series follows a bunch of other sports.

We know how I get when it comes to sports novels.

And I was just disappointed with the book. I loved the character of Jordan and I super loved the character of Sam Henry but honestly, no one else really sold the book for me. The concept was definitely there, and its what kept me turning the pages. It had a ton of potential. The story was there. You have Jordan struggling to prove herself as a girl quarterback, especially with her famous quarterback dad, and she wants them to take her seriously, but she also is a girl and has feelings for boys too and its HARD. The potential is there and I think that’s why the book was such a disappointment to me. It was RIGHT THERE.

The biggest issue I had with the book was that it was so incredibly rushed. Everything felt rushed and I had a hard time keeping up with everything. The writing felt rushed, the feelings, the story, the character development, all of it. It was like whiplash sometimes. The writing just felt like it was rushed. I wanted the author to slow down at times and just let me enjoy getting to know the characters and that sort of thing. Often times, I just felt nothing because I didn’t feel like I was given the chance to really care. It all happened too fast.

I’m definitely going to be reading book #2 because I always like to give an author another chance but I’m going in with less expectations than I had for the first book, especially since book two is that magical sport, baseball. Wish me luck!

Rating:

3.75 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: How to Love by Katie Cotugno

August 19, 2015August 19, 20151 Comment

Genre:

Young Adult, ed Contemporary, Romance

Pages:

389 pages

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

October 1st, 2013

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

My Review:

I have to admit…I was pretty wary when it came to reading this book. Not that I thought it was going to be bad. I try to go into a book with as positive attitude as possible because I find if I expect it to be not so good, it tends to be…not so good. But I’ve heard such mixed reviews! People either love or they hate it, and those kind of books make me nervous because seriously, I always tend to end up in the “hate it” category. Well, my friend Alex of People Like Books convinced me to read it and I bought it in anticipation of meeting her at RT and…well I’m glad I did it.

The book is weird. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t know how to explain it but the way its written, with the flashbacks, its just weird. Like, I think you’re supposed to like Sawyer, you’re supposed to be rooting for him when he comes crashing back into Reena’s life but the flashbacks showcase what went wrong in the past and sometimes its incredibly hard to get past that. For Reena, its been years, she’s moved on, he’s changed, that sort of thing, but for the reader, its still kind of fresh and new so that was hard for me.

But what made this story the story that I grew to love was Reena and her family and her daughter. It felt familiar because I’ve had a similar story (won’t go into much more detail there, sorry) so it was an immediate connection there. But there’s something about her that makes you want to root for her. She works her ass off, she loves her daughter, she tries so hard to please everyone and falls short, and she is still hopeful and she still believes. I think its so great.

Because of Reena, I believe in Reena and Sawyer and that’s why I fall in love with them and their relationship. Reena is an incredible character and I want to root for her and her daughter and her dream to travel everywhere and write about it and I believe in Sawyer wanting to make things work and I really did love it. I love the dynamic of the two and I loved that we had a romance wrapped around a couple that had a baby. Its beautiful. There just isn’t enough of that.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Upside Down by Lia Riley

August 10, 2015August 2, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

New Adult, rx Contemporary, this site Romance

Pages:

384 pages

Part of a Series?:

Book #1 of the Off the Map series

Release Date:

August 5th, buy more about 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she’ll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He’s never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.

My Review:

I’m not going to lie. It took me awhile to get into this novel. My friends and I recently started our own little version of a book club, and this was my choice for the club. It caught my eye at Target and it had a blurb from JLA, who I adore so much, so I decided to read it. I ended up really really liking this book but I must admit, it took me a bit to get into it.

It starts off slow and I think that’s the problem with it. I have a hard time connecting with Talia right away and I’m not sure why that is is. She’s similar to me in ways and she lives in California, in a part of California that I’ve been lucky enough to visit, and, funnily enough, is the basis for the fictional town that I’ve created for my own NA series. Its not until she’s in Australia, going to school, and still struggling with the things she tried to escape in California…that’s when I finally connect with her. She’s sort of run away from her problems but her problems have followed her and the book becomes about her facing them head on and that’s when I finally got hooked. Her struggles, her insecurities, her anxiety and OCD….that is when she became a real person to me.

Then enter Bran. Who, by the way, is sexy as hell, and now I really want to go to Australia and meet a tortured Australian boy who will show me an amazing time in bed. Moving on, I adore his character. I love the tortured boy thing a lot and we know there’s a lot going on there with Bran and its frustrating but it only makes you love him more. He has trust issues, he’s had his heart broken before and he obviously has this connection with Talia but he’s unwilling to just take the plunge.

The two of them have a lot to deal with it, especially when it comes to the past. When they connect together, it takes a lot of time and a lot of push and pull, but they eventually are able to open up to each other and share their struggles and become closer because of it. Their romance is beautiful and heartbreaking all the way to the last page. I didn’t realize that this was a series and even though the ending of this book is absolutely beautiful, I know there’s much more that these two have to go through in the future and I can’t wait to dive into book two and read more about them.

Rating:

3.75 out of 5 Stars