REVIEW: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. She will dance and summon her tribe's deity, who will inhabit Liyana's body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But when the dance ends, Liyana is still there. Her tribe is furious — and sure that it is Liyana's fault. Abandoned by her tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her.



Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. The desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.



The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice — she must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate — or a human girl can muster some magic of her own.

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MY THOUGHTS

I've been reading books lately that I added to my TBR in 2012 and so far I have been unimpressed by these books. I was starting to worry that my taste in books has changed drastically. This book reminded me that there are some books I liked to read then and would still enjoy now. 

Liyanna is meant to be a vessel for a goddess and she has dedicated her whole life in order to be the perfect vessel. The day has come for the goddess to take over her body. Liyanna will die, but the goddess will save her people from the drought with her magic, so Liyanna sees it as a worthy sacrifice. Except, when Liyanna performs the ritual, the goddess does not come. Thinking that Liyanna has been declared unworthy, her people abandon her in the desert and search for another vessel to save them from the drought. Liyanna does not think she will survive alone in the desert, but a young man finds her. The young man is the god Korbyn, walking the desert in his vessel. He tells her that someone has been stealing the souls of the gods and her goddess has not abandoned her. She must help him find the other vessels and find the souls of the gods before it is too late.

The worldbuilding in this book was fantastic. This book has magic and mythology in a fantasy world, but there is such a real quality to this world. The gods and goddesses are as real as the desert sand in this world and I loved how this book showed the characters' mythology as a part of their world and something that could not be separated. I love fantasy books but one of the struggles I have with fantasy books is that sometimes they all feel the same. This book was refreshing because it has a very different setting than the typical YA fantasy novels, a different tone, and the overall premise was unique to this world.

Liyanna struggles a lot throughout this book. She has been raised that she is going to die on this specific day and when she doesn't, she has no clue what to do. Now she also has to deal with conflicting emotions because she wants to live, but if she lives, her people might not get the help they need. The world she lives in gives great power to the gods and goddesses, but what is significant about Liyanna is that she shows that she could be strong as herself. She is extraordinary brave in multiple circumstances and as she meets the other vessels, she continues to realize her own strength and the strength of the other vessels. I loved how this book showed the strength of an ordinary human and how much growth she had as a character.

There is very light romance in this book. Liyanna feels attraction for Korbyn, but it partially because Liyanna is the vessel for Korbyn's lover. This is not a major part of the book and Liyanna feels conflicted about pursuing him. I really did not want them to get together because it was extraordinarily awkward to think about. She does eventually find someone else. It was fairly quick, which threw me for a loop, but I appreciated the fact that this book focused more on the main plot and Liyanna's character rather than a romance. 


IN CONCLUSION

Overall, I really liked this book and was very impressed by the premise and worldbuilding. I had difficulty putting this one down, but as the book got closer to the end some elements felt more sped up than I expected. This is my favorite book I've read from Durst so far, but there are many others (some I already own) that I need to read and I look forward to reading them! (less)

I hereby give this book

4 Stars!

Meaning: I really liked this book!

Short and Simple Reviews: Untold & Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

This is a place for books that I didn't fully review.

Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)

Note: These books are 2 & 3 in the Lynburn Legacy Series. My full review for book one can be found here.

It's time to choose sides....

On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

A darkly humorous take on Gothic romance, Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legacy weaves together the tale of a heroine desperate to protect those she loves, two boys hoping to be saved, and the magical forces that will shape their destiny.

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Review

I had to reread Unspoken before this book to refresh my memory and to be honest I did not enjoy Unspoken as much as I did the first read. I gave it 3.5 stars. I liked this book, but I liked it less than Unspoken. I'm not quite sure why exactly. I think part of it was just my changing taste and part of it was just that I wasn't in the mood. This series is getting increasingly dark and a lot happens in this book. The characters are going through a lot and my heart hurt for them. This book continues the weird juxtaposition of humor with terrible/terrifying situations. Because of how dark the series is getting, this felt odd rather than a nice comic relief. What also drove me nuts was that many of the characters were doing stupid things/not listening to each other. The romance is a lot more evident in this book, but there's a lot of random spontaneous kissing and I had trouble keeping track of who kissed whom. 

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it

Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

This final book in the Lynburn Legacy is a wild, entertaining ride from beginning to shocking end.

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Review

It was hard for me to get into this book. I kept taking breaks from it until, only 40-something pages in, I put it aside for a couple of weeks. I was very tempted to give up on it. I wasn't feeling interested and not really in the mood. I was tired of reading about terrible things and stressing about the characters making terrible decisions. But, I really needed to finish the series, so I picked it back up. I ended up liking the rest of the book a lot more. The pace really picked up and I connected more with what was happening in the story. There was still a lot of terrifying things in the book, but I really wanted to see how the series would end. Overall, I liked this series, but I don't think it's really the type of series I go for anymore and Unspoken is still my favorite out of the series.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it

REVIEW: The Declaration by Gemma Malley

In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young. Children are all but extinct. The world is a better place. Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status. Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you’re on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can’t decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death.

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MY THOUGHTS
This was a very difficult book to read mainly because this takes place in a world that is incredibly disturbing with immoral people thinking it is okay to kill children. As I read this book I could not help but question: if immortality was manufactured, would something like this happen? I hope it never does.

In this world, most of the population takes longevity drugs which guarantee them living a very very long life. But if everyone lives forever, then there would be overpopulation, so everyone who takes the longevity drugs must sign a declaration saying that they will not have any children. If you don't sign the declaration, you can't take the drugs and you can have kids with the idea that they will eventually replace you. Those who have kids anyway get sent to prison and any kids are either killed or sent to Surplus houses with the purpose of training them to be servants. Anna is a Surplus, one of the best in her house, loyal. When another older Surplus is placed in the house Anna is worried. He is a rebel, always making a fuss, and Anna does not think he will last long. But, he keeps saying her last name, telling her that he knows her parents. Surpluses don't have last names and her parents are selfish horrible people. He must be lying. But what if the way she is taught to behave, the way the world is, is all a lie?

It has been drilled into Anna how horrible and selfish her parents are, how she does not deserve to live, that children are not natural, that nature wants the older people to live forever, and that she herself should not be alive and is simply wasting resources for those who deserve to live on the planet. It infuriated me so much. Of course, we know that it is unnatural to live forever, but this world has brainwashed an entire society into believing this because of the selfish want to live forever. I have thought for a while that living forever is a terrible idea, that it would have a negative impact on an individual's soul. (This is one of the reason's why I have issues with immortal love interests in some paranormal books). Because of how angry this book was making me, I had to keep putting it down and take a breather.

I felt for Anna in parts of this book because she is in such a terrible situation, but her situation is the best situation for a child in this world. It was difficult at times because she is so loyal to these terrible people, that she has been so brainwashed into believing the lies of this society. It was uncomfortable at times because she was so loyal to people who did not deserve her loyalty and who would not bat an eye if she were dead and would likely prefer children to be dead. This is a society full of older people and if you think the complaints older generations always have about "kids these days" is bad now, here you have an entire society of older people who have forgotten what younger people do for society and think of them only as monsters here to take their "rightful place". Again, it made me furious, but that was the point. When Anna does start to question things, I had so much fear for her because I really didn't know how this entire world could change to help her.

This book certainly made me think and took the concept of immortality and overpopulation somewhere I had not read before, but the book is still a dystopian book which meant that I was familiar with some of the dystopian concepts already. While I used to love dystopian books, it's not a genre I am usually wowed by anymore. There wasn't enough there in the characterization and the plot to make me love this book. This book mainly stressed me out.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I found this be an interesting dystopian, certainly a different way to approach the topic, but I'm not sure how I felt about this book overall. It was a lot of stress for a book. I have the sequel on my to-read list but I'm not sure if I am continuing the series or not.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Short and Simple Reviews: Secret Series (Books 2-5) by Pseudonymous Bosch

This is a place for books that I didn't fully review. Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)

Today on Short and Simple Reviews I'm "reviewing" books 2-5 in the Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch. I did not read book one recently at all, only the rest of the series, so those are the only ones I can remember enough to review. I really enjoyed reading this series, so if you need a fun middle-grade series to read, this series is a great option.

Dangerous secrets lie between the pages of this book.

OK, I warned you. But if you think I'll give anything away, or tell you that this is the sequel to my first literary endeavor, The Name of This Book is Secret, you're wrong.

I'm not going to remind you of how we last left our heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest, as they awaited intiation into the mysterious Terces Society, or the ongoing fight against the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais. I certainly won't be telling you about how the kids stumble upon the Museum of Magic, where they finally meet the amazing Pietro!

Oh, blast! I've done it again. Well, at least I didn't tell you about the missing Sound Prism, the nefarious Lord Pharaoh, or the mysterious creature born in a bottle over 500 years ago, the key to the biggest secret of all.

I really can't help myself, now can I? Let's face it - if you're reading this, it's too late. 

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Review

When I read The Name of This Book Is Secret I thought it was fantastic! For some odd reason though, I did not get around to continuing the series until now, almost seven years after reading the first book. I think I tried to check this book out from the library, but it wasn't available so it was forgotten. This book does a great job of catching the reader up on previous events with little footnotes and summaries for those like me who couldn't remember the first book. I actually got into this book fairly quickly and I immensely enjoyed it. This is such an odd series and I love it for that! Some elements in the book feel so random, but everything is still so thought out! I really love how the book is narrated and how Bosch engages the reader, the book written as if talking to the reader, and all the measures Bosch goes through to keep the secret hidden! Overall, even though it has been a while, I was still able to enjoy this book and my feelings towards the series remain positive. I also made sure to check the next book out of the library immediately so the same mistake wouldn't happen again.

I hereby give this book

4 Stars

Meaning: Amazing!

Between the pages of this book lies the secret to the best-tasting chocolate in all the world. I promise, your taste buds will tingle. Your palette will sing! Oh no, have I accidentally tempted you to read this book? I will warn you, however, the most delicious things are never good for you...and this story is particularly scrumptious!

In this tooth-rotting adventure, Cass's mom has been kidnapped by the evil dessert chef and chocolatier, Señor Hugo! The ransom...the legendary tuning fork. Can Cass and Max-Ernest find the magical instrument before it's too late? Will they discover the evil secret ingredient to Señor Hugo's chocolate success?

If you're tempted, take a taste, but just remember...this book is not good for you. 

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Review

The Secret series continues and just like the last book, I found this one to be enjoyable. There is a lot of oddities going on in this book, just like the last one, and I found it amusing keeping track of all the weird situations that Cass and Max-Ernest end up in. I felt bad for Cass because her mother had been kidnapped and she couldn't tell anyone else what was happening. There is a lot of chocolate in this book, which is why it's not good for you! I thought the uses for the chocolate were interesting although some parts in this book made me want to not eat chocolate. Same goes for the tuning fork. I thought it was really interesting, but putting an unwashed, hundreds of years old object in food and drink drove my OCD a bit crazy. The narrator continues to interrupt the story in interesting ways. As this book drew to a close, the reader gets a lot more information (a lot more than the narrator likely intended!) and ended in a very suspenseful way!

I hereby give this book

4 Stars

Meaning: Amazing!

The Secret Series continues in this dangerous and daring fourth adventure.

Cass finds herself alone and disoriented, a stranger in a dream-like, medieval world. Where is she? Who is she? With the help of a long-lost relative, she begins to uncover clues and secrets--piecing together her family's history as she fights her way back to the present world.

Meanwhile, back home, Cass is at the hospital in a deep coma. Max-Ernest knows she ate Time Travel Chocolate--and he's determined to find a cure. Can our expert hypochondriac diagnose Cass's condition before it's too late? And will he have what it takes to save the survivalist? 

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Review

Other reviewers found this one to be lacking compared to the other books. I can see why because Cass is wondering in time, but unconscious in our time. Meanwhile, Max-Ernest is trying to figure out how to save her. This does sound a bit boring, but I actually really liked this one. It was actually my favorite one so far. I love time travel, so I liked seeing that come into play. It was also interesting seeing the history of the Midnight Sun and the Terces Society. The book also touches on how written history is not always accurate. Cass's character is really strong in this one, in fact, she becomes a stronger character with every book. The Secret is, of course, still secret, but Cass is close to figuring it out. Again, the narrator is fantastic, just like the last books in the series.

I hereby give this book

4 Stars

Meaning: Amazing!

The finale to the New York Times bestselling Secret Series!
I always feared this day would come. A secret is meant to stay secret, after all. And now we've come to this: the fifth and final (I swear!) book in my saga of secrets.
A class trip to the local natural history museum turns dangerous, or perhaps deadly--and I don't mean in the bored-to-death way--when Cass accidentally breaks a finger off a priceless mummy. Forced to atone for this "crime" of vandalism, Cass and her friends Max-Ernest and Yo-Yoji go to work for the mummy exhibit's curator, only to be blamed when tragedy strikes. To clear their names--and, they hope, to discover the Secret--the trio must travel deep into a land of majestic pyramids, dusty tombs, mysterious hieroglyphs, and the walking dead. Egypt? Or somewhere much stranger . . .

In the midst of it all, the Secret still lurks. You're out there, reading and talking about it, and now my life--and chocolate supply--is in the greatest danger yet. So please, with a cherry on top, I'm begging you: you have to stop this!

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Review

So the Secret series has come to an end and the Secret is out. No, I'm not going to tell you the Secret. One thing I can say is that opinion on the Secret is divided. Some folks were disappointed with the Secret, others weren't. I'm of the latter. Honestly, I fully expected to never get the Secret. I fully expected the Secret to having been ripped out of the book by Bosch. I also read A Series of Unfortunate Events and was extremely let down by the fact that I got absolutely no answers, just a lead-up to answers. So, I was already on guard and you know what? I am satisfied. I actually think it's kind of funny and completely fits the tone of the series. Also, there were many other things that were answered that had nothing to do with the big Secret because there were other things that were more important. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this series and maybe one day I'll have to reread them when I want to read some fun middle-grade books. I don't know if I'll read the author's other series because I'm not sure how he will translate to another series, but maybe I'll pick it up one day.

I hereby give this book

4 Stars

Meaning: Amazing!

REVIEW: Rae of Hope by W.J. May

How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?

Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.

Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?

As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future. 

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MY THOUGHTS
I downloaded this book as a freebie ages ago because it sounded interesting and I figured why not? It was free. Sadly, I did not enjoy this book. I had to force myself to finish this book because I had already DNF-ed another freebie this week and I didn't want another DNF. My feelings towards this book did not change as I continued reading. Needless to say, this will not be a positive review. I don't like writing negative reviews, and I don't write negative reviews often, but I need to review this book for a challenge and get out some of my emotions.

Rae gets a mysterious letter from the mail Guilder Boarding School. Her Uncle sends her to the mysterious school and she finds out that everyone at the school is part of a special group of people who have supernatural abilities. At the age of sixteen, a tattoo (or tatu) magically appears on the individual's body along with a special power. The tatu appears on the arm if it is a male and on the lower back if it is a female (because it is "sexier"). Rae is reeling because her Uncle has kept this secret from her for so long. It doesn't help that people expect her to be just like her father, who died with her mother in a mysterious fire (Rae was the miraculous survivor). Rae's father used his ability for evil and her mother also had a tatu, even though it is forbidden for two individuals with a tatu to be together. Guilder expects Rae to be extremely powerful, but Rae must wait until she turns sixteen.

It's obvious from the synopsis that this book has some Harry Potter similarities.
-Rae is an orphan
-She is essentially the girl-who-lived, surviving a tragedy that took her parents
-She is expected to have great power and her name makes people gasp
-She gets a mysterious letter from a boarding school in England
-She is told that she is a wizard tatu person?
-She has a headmaster she confides in and trusts
-A teacher who hates her for no reason

If you took Harry Potter and made him female and his father Voldemort, it would follow a similar plot (but would be a lot better than this). The thing is, even though the plot obviously borrows from Harry Potter, this book could have been interesting. The concept of the tattoos/tatu was an interesting one, especially with the combination of superpowers. I love reading books with superpowers and I liked seeing all the potential abilities. When Rae discovered her ability, I thought that that was one of the more interesting parts of the book (even though I guessed the full extent of her ability early on). There was just too much that bothered me about this book though.

A big problem I had with this book was that I just did not care for Rae. Rae was very judgemental and I had trouble identifying with her. The book was oddly written in the first place because everything is in third person, following Rae, but a majority of the book glimpses her inner thoughts which are italicized. This made it an odd mix of third and first person and very annoying, especially since most of these inner thoughts were not necessary to know. Some of these thoughts were very mean for someone I was supposed to be rooting for.

Very early on in the book, Rae comments on the "stuck-up" girls on the bus on the way to Guilder. These girls don't even talk to her, whisper, or whatever. They just weren't friendly and, here's the kicker, they were blonde. Rae also says that they weren't thin, pale, and tall like her (because Rae is not like other girls!). Which means that the girls were likely curvy, tan, and/or short and because of those attributes, they must be snobs! Here's a newsflash: They weren't "friendly" to you probably because you're a stranger? Who isn't even going to your school? I know I'm focusing a lot on this little moment, but this happens again when she meets Haley, who, you guessed it, is blonde. Haley ends up being a mean girl in Rae's mind. Yes, Haley is not exactly nice, but if Rae actually talked nicely with Haley, this would not have been a problem. Rae's thoughts about other women and her idea that she was "not like other girls" is a really damaging idea. It's a trope that really hurts women and causes them to, very early on, think bad thoughts about other girls just because of their looks or interests. If you want to hear more about it, Claudia Gray wrote a great article about how damaging this idea is. This is one of the reasons why I was very stuck on how Rae was portrayed because it shows a very negative few on how women think and how they interact with other women.

What really made me scream "What?!" out loud was this:

"Yeah, Rae'd like to meet this Beth and throw rotten bananas at her, along with a few moldy tomatoes. Might as well make sure she's wearing something white and very expensive so it ruins everything."(pg. 88)

WHAT IN THE WORLD?! For context, this is about Beth, a girl Rae has never ever met. Beth is Devon's (the guy Rae likes) girlfriend. Yeah, Rae wants Devons, but this seems like an incredibly mean thing to think about someone you've never meet and know absolutely nothing about. She also thinks that Beth is a jerk and doesn't deserve Devon because she called Devon's fox tattoo/tatu "cute". That's a jerk move? Eventually, Rae meets Beth and... the blondes strick again! Beth is blonde, curvy, and "olive-skinned". Oh no! Beth is not nice to Rae (because she shows up all hot and Devon is paying attention to her) and actually says to Rae that she must have gotten into her school because one of her parents slept with the dean! WHAT?! Who even says that to a complete stranger to start a conversation? Of course, the only reason this happened was so we would see that Rae was right! Beth is mean and doesn't deserve Devon. That was the ONLY reason for this ridiculous dialogue and there were much better ways to show the reader this. Again, it shows a very negative view of women.

Another major problem I had in this book was that no one talks or acts like a real person. None of the dialogue sounded real and a lot of folk's actions made no sense. Keep in mind, this book takes place in England but everyone uses American slang. Everyone felt like a stereotype instead of a real person. There were so many characters to keep track of too and because many of them did not have strong personalities, they were forgettable and I kept mixing people up.

The romance was also an issue. If the plot was like Harry Potter, the romance was like Twilight. Rae is so hot that every guy at her school literally wants to be with her. This is not an exaggeration, it is even said in the actual text. Three or four guys were even trying to date her throughout the book (all of them having interchangeable personalities). Why though? What made Rae so hot? This started before she even got her tatu when people still thought that she was going to be like her evil dad. Is it because she is just "not like other girls"? I'm just so tired of this trope. It just needs to stop.

Rae, of course, wants Devon who has a girlfriend and I honestly saw no chemistry between them. It was complete insta-attraction on Rae's part. Devon saves Rae from irresponsible construction workers and a board from crushing her (What book does that remind you of?). Devon then tutors Rae by teaching her about tatu history, but I really didn't see anything between them. Partly because during three different sessions, they talk about almost the exact same thing. Rae asks him three times about what tatus her parents have and he answers her during three different sessions. There really did not seem to be chemistry, which made any romance between them feel forced.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did not like this book. Maybe it's another book I would have liked if I read it when I was younger, but I don't know. I just could not ignore some of the problems this book had, some I even found damaging. I will not be continuing the series.

I hereby give this book

1 Star

Meaning: I did not like it

REVIEW: Between by Jessica Warman

Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

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MY THOUGHTS
For some reason, I find books about the afterlife interesting. This book isn't quite about the afterlife, but it has been sitting in the TBR pile for a long time and I'm surprised that I hadn't picked it up until now.

The book focuses on Elizabeth. On the morning of her eighteenth birthday, Elizabeth wakes to find that she's dead, her body fallen over the side of the yacht. She doesn't remember how she died or even the last few months of her life. Her death seems like an accident, but Elizabeth isn't sure. With the help of another ghost, Alex, Elizabeth tries to remember her life up until her death.

Elizabeth was a hard character to understand at first. She's pretty, popular, and rich. Her personality sometimes came out bratty and I found her a bit frustrating. As the story continued, I grew to understand Elizabeth's character and what exactly was going on in her mind leading up to her death.

This book is interesting because even though it has paranormal elements, such as having someone walk on earth after their death and entering their memories, this book was also a mystery. The mystery was also surprising for the most part. There were a few elements I guessed ahead of time, even though I wished they weren't true, but there was also enough to keep me guessing.

This book gets very dark and emotional. This was to be expected since it deals with death, but it also dealt with other tough subjects such as guilt, blackmail, mental health, etc. It was very hard reading this book as it got closer to the end because even though Elizabeth got on my nerves at first when I started to understand what she went through, I had to realize that no matter what, Elizabeth is dead and did not get a happy end in life. Alex didn't get a happy end in life either, but gosh, I can't even articulate how much change he went through.

IN CONCLUSION
I thought this was an interesting read. I'm not sure what prevented me from giving this book 4 stars. While I thought this was a very interesting, albeit dark, read, I think part of my misgivings with Elizabeth in the beginning, as well as parts of the end (which felt off), affected my rating. I do think that this book is worth a read. I have not read any other books by Warman, but I may need to read more from this author in the future.

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

Meaning: I liked it, but it wasn't quite amazing.

Short and Simple Reviews: Fury's Fire & The Eternal War

This is a place for books that I didn't fully review.

Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)

At the end of Siren's Storm, the Sirens were defeated, and now the town of Walfang is once again a peaceful beach community.

Or is it? Gretchen and Will are still haunted by the memories of the night the Sirens were destroyed—Gretchen because she can't remember what happened and Will because he doesn't know how to tell Gretchen what he saw. He doesn't even understand what he saw, but he does know now that Gretchen is more than what she seems, more than a human girl. And at the same time, he is more in love with her than ever.

Gretchen knows there's something wrong, too. She feels like an alien in her own body, but she doesn't know why. And she feels a presence stalking her at every turn. Have the Sirens returned to Walfang? Or has some other force come to claim her?

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Review

I was wary of picking up this book because I originally read the first book, Siren's Storm, eight years ago in 2011. To be honest, I had no recollection of anything that happened in that book, just that it had something to do with sirens (and I probably got that idea from the title). Thankfully, it was not incredibly difficult to get into this book. The book does remind the reader of the events of the last book on multiple occasions. Part of this was because Gretchen did not recall the events from the end of Siren's Storm, so she is trying to remember things. Some details were still foggy for me, but I knew enough to follow the story and understand the characters. 

While this book was dual POV, there was a stronger focus on Gretchen in this book as she is trying to understand what exactly she did at the end of the last book and she has a threat against her. There is a lot more transformation for her character, which I can't go too far into detail because of spoilers. Overall, I don't have strong feelings for this book. When I finished the book all I felt was glad that I got a book off of my TBR instead of any emotions attached to the book. It was an okay read and I can say this series is complete, but there wasn't really anything more there for me. 

I hereby give this book

2.5 Stars

Meaning: It was okay

Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.

But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history...

A time wave has struck that alters the entire history of the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln has followed Liam into the present from 1831and now the world is in a dangerous state of limbo...

If the TimeRiders can’t return Lincoln to the past, the Civil War will never end. Can Maddy persuade two colonels on either side of no man’s land to cease fire long enough to save the future?

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Review

This is yet another book where it's been a few years since I've read the previous books in the series. This series does a really great job of catching the reader up since most of the books have a contained story. I love time travel and I find the entire concept of this series fascinating, so I was glad to get back into this world and see these characters again. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this book though. In the beginning, I was very entertained by this book. The Time Riders find out that Abraham Lincoln has died before he was supposed to. They go back to save him, but Lincoln overhears them when they think he's unconscious and he follows them to the year 2001. I found this entire part interesting and seeing the effect this had on the time was also interesting because what would the world look without Abraham Lincon? But as the book continued the story felt a bit slow. The characters were mostly either trying to fix the time machine or traveling to get back to the time machine. Overall, I did like this book even though I felt like I had to push through the second half of the book. I would like to continue this series, but it looks like this is the last book at any library near me. It seems the rest of the series was not published in America so I may have to order the next book online if I wish to continue.

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it

REVIEW: Undead by Kirsty McKay

Out of sight, out of their minds: It's a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.

The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.

But they've changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

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MY THOUGHTS
I read this book as part of my Cleaning Out My TBR challenge. I originally added this book to my TBR in 2012 and lately, I've been wary about those books on my TBR added in 2012 because my tastes have changed a lot since then and I haven't had a whole lot of luck with them. With this book, I'm glad to say that I actually did enjoy it. It was an entertaining and thrilling read!

Bobby has recently moved back to the UK and what better way to get to know her school classmates than to join them on a ski trip? At least, that's what Bobby's mother thinks. So far, no one seems to want to talk to her and the trip is feeling like hell. On the way back from the trip, their bus stops by a cafe. Bobby decides to stay inside the bus, but her classmates wander off for lunch, with the exception of Smitty, the trouble maker who is told to stay on the bus. Things seem normal until their classmate Alice comes running back to the bus claiming that everyone else is dead and one of their newly dead teachers tried to grab her. This can't be believed until they see for themselves that their classmates and everyone else in the cafe is dead, but is walking towards them. They have to find a way to escape, but that's easier said than done when you're in a snowstorm, in a bus running out of gas, and no way out of town to escape the surrounding zombies.

I admit that I was surprised by how entertained I was from this book. The plot sounds like it comes straight from a cheesy horror movie. The book does feel at times like you are reading a cheesy horror movie, and it does start out that way. Our main cast is isolated, in a snowstorm, with no way to get help. Bonus points that they are young people. The longer in the story, though, the more complicated the storyline gets. I just kept wanting to turn the pages in this book because I wanted to see the characters make it out of this dangerous situation. There was never a break in the action in this book and the thrill level just went up and up and up.

The story also takes the typical zombie plot into absurd directions. Sometimes the absurdity of the book was difficult for me to take in or believe (that's what makes it absurd!). Oddly enough, though, it worked for the book. For instance: <highlight to view spoiler> The carrot juice and the carrot man. I guessed early on that this was the cause of the zombie virus, but it's such an odd premise! Also, I am now going to be very distrustful whenever someone tries to give me a free food sample.<end of spoiler> The absurdity also brings some humor into the story, from the witty banter between the characters to the unconventional methods the characters use to kill the zombies.

The characters in the story seem to be, at first glance, the stereotypical characters. Smitty is the rebel, Alice is the princess, and later we also get the nerd. Bobby, our main character, is likely considered to be the average one, which works for the story because we need someone who we can relate to because we certainly can't relate to the situation, but as the story continues Bobby becomes more than just the average girl. One of the difficulties I did have with Bobby's character, though, is her history. Her history eventually becomes important, but for most of the story we don't know her history or it is vague. This is understandable since we don't want to take a break from the action to learn her story, but some parts of her history seem to affect her deeply and have changed her. Not knowing much made her feel less developed.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did enjoy this book. I found it to be very entertaining, equal parts thrilling and absurd. I give this book a rating of three stars, which is my "I liked it" rating. While I enjoyed reading this book, the book did not make me think or make a huge connection with me, it was just a fun read. The book ended in an abrupt way that made me immediately put the next book on hold, so I will be continuing this series.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it.

Joining The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019!

Hello, hello! I decided to join The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019! In the challenge, I'm supposed to read books that came out before 2018 (and have been on my to-read list since before the start of 2018). I had already joined the Cleaning Out the TBR Closet 2019 Challenge on Goodreads, but I haven't been writing reviews for the books I've been reading. I've found that my own reviews are really helpful in determining whether to continue reading a series or an author. In the Goodreads challenge I am reading books I added to my TBR between 2012-2016, which means reviewing is very important because my tastes have changed! I want to focus on the same years, but I really want to dwindle my 2012 and 2013 TBR piles.

Here are the numbers for the piles at the time of writing this post:
2012: 102 books
2013: 172 books
2014: 265 books
2015: 295 books
2016: 295 books

Obviously, I will not be reading all of these books! I mainly want to cut down the 2012 list in half (or more) and get the other lists down a little bit. Some of this will be reading books, maybe even dnfing them, and taking some off of my TBR altogether!

Because I like to keep organized, I will be periodically updating this post.

2012

Read and Reviewed

Read and Need to Review

DNF

2013

Read and Reviewed

I may add the other years later! 

Feel free to join in this challenge if you're interested!

REVIEW: Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt

Mia is always looking for signs. A sign that she should get serious with her soccer-captain boyfriend. A sign that she’ll get the grades to make it into an Ivy-league school. One sign she didn’t expect to look for was: “Will I survive cancer?” It’s a question her friends would never understand, prompting Mia to keep her illness a secret. The only one who knows is her lifelong best friend, Gyver, who is poised to be so much more. Mia is determined to survive, but when you have so much going your way, there is so much more to lose. From debut author Tiffany Schmidt comes a heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting story of one girl’s search for signs of life in the face of death.

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MY THOUGHTS
This is a difficult book to review. I was very much invested in this book, but the characters in the book are not really likable and made some dumb decisions. Yet, they are all dealing with a difficult situation.

This book is about Mia. She and her friends have plans for the summer. Except Mia has been getting large bruises lately and a visit to the doctor tells her that Mia has leukemia. Instead of getting a tan this summer, she will be spending time in a hospital getting treatments. Mia does not want to tell her friends what is happening. She tells them that she is spending the summer in Connecticut, but when school starts and she is still sick, she keeps piling on the lies. All the while, Ryan, the boy she occasionally hooked up with, wants to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Then there's Gyver, her neighbor and one of the few people who know her secret and who she has grown closer to during her treatments.

This book did keep me interested throughout the book in such a way that I did not want to put it down. Part of this was hope that Mia will see this through and hope that she will finally tell everyone what was happening. Mia keeping her cancer a secret was a big problem of mine. I really wanted her to tell everyone because I knew that the longer she went without telling, the worse the outcome would be. Mia bottling up her secret was a stupid decision and it frustrated me. Part of my frustration was that Mia seemed to think that it was her choice to do this when in fact her mother was to blame. Mia's mother was passive-aggressive throughout the book, she would say what she thought Mia should do and Mia felt like she could not disagree with her mother. It was her mother's idea to not tell Mia's friends and when time went by and Mia wanted to tell her friends, her mother would convince her once again to not tell them.

Even though I had trouble with Mia's character, I place most of my blame of her unlikable character to her mother who influenced so much of Mia's behavior. This is why this book is complicated to review because even though many of the characters were unlikable, I can't really judge them because they are also in a really tough situation. Mia has her mother influencing her while Mia is also trying to keep up normal pretenses and undergo treatments. She also has to deal with the idea that she might not survive this. She keeps most of this bottled up because she does not have friends, for the most part, to rely on. She has Gyver and, later, Ryan, but she can't even always depend on them.

Which brings me to Mia's friends. [highlight to view spoiler] I wish I could say that when they found out about Mia that they were supportive of Mia, but they weren't. When her best friend learns she drops Mia as a friend. Great friend, right? She treats Mia terribly after that in such a way that I couldn't really understand how they could've have been friends in the first place. This is where the unlikable and character morals come in again. I can understand that her friends are hurt that Mia told others before them and that backing away was their own way of coping with the fact that Mia might die, but there are ways to be much better friends. I won't excuse their behavior, at all, but this is such a difficult situation and none of the characters really knew how to react to this kind of trauma. [end of spoiler]

There is also a slight love triangle in this book. This was odd to me at first because I don't typically see love triangles in contemporary YA, but this book was published during the heyday of love triangles. There was not as much of a focus on romance in this book per se because Mia is having enough trouble as is, but she does struggle with some feelings. What I did like is that both guys were there for Mia and tried to help her out. Neither one was perfect, but everyone in this book (and in real life) have their faults.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, even though I struggled with some of the characters, I did like the fact that it portrayed people having faults and trying to help understand the difficult situation they are in. Many of the characters, in fact, grew and changed throughout the book. I did think this was a great book even though it deals with tough subjects. This is the first book I read by this author and I may look into her newer titles someday.

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

Meaning: I liked it, but it wasn't quite amazing.

REVIEW: Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin

THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from. 

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MY THOUGHTS
I read this book for my TBR challenge in which I read the oldest books on my to-read list. I added this book to my to-read list in 2012, the same year this book came out. The copy that I have in my possession is an ARC copy which I found at a used book sale a couple years back. I mention this only because I hope that some of my complaints about this book got solved before it was officially published but I doubt it.

The book begins with a prologue where the main character, Freya, is struggling because she and her mother are being taken somewhere and she is trying her hardest to make sure her brother, Latham, does not disappear from her memory. Then, in the next chapter, Freya wakes up in the year 1985. Her, her mom, and her sister have just moved back to Canada from New Zealand after her father dies from an odd gas explosion. She is starting at a new school but can't help but feel distanced from her reality. Nothing feels real to her and she starts to question her own memories and the world around her. During a trip to a museum, she sees a stranger outside, but he doesn't seem like a stranger to her. She has a nagging suspicion that she knows him and this suspicion will cause everything she thought she knew about her life to be upended.

One of the factors that were fascinating about this book was the concept. Taking a dystopian premise but placing it within 1985 is one I had not read before and was likely why I wanted to read this book in the first place. Besides the prologue, the entirety of the book takes place in 1985. We spend a better part of the book following Freya around as she tried to remember things. This dragged the plot along a bit, but I did not mind it too much because I liked the friends she made and it did create a mystery on what exactly was happening with her memories. What I had trouble with is that roughly 200 pages in Freya goes is hypnotized to remember her past and we end up with a very very long info-dump. Freya actually gives us a whole entire chapter in which she discusses world history from the 2020s to 2063. That is a lot of world history and I was unable to process it all. Then, after this info-dump, she refers to some of these events, but I had no clue what she was talking about because 4o years of world history dumped onto me in one chapter is a lot to process!

The information I did process from the info-dump was really interesting. Martin uses some really interesting ideas and does create a frightening and technology-based future, but it was too much all at once. Why couldn't there have been alternating chapters between 1985 and 2063? That would have been easier to process and would have held my attention a lot more. From the prologue and synopsis, I already knew that the future would come into play at some point so it would not have ruined the suspense, it may have actually added suspense. After the info-dump, the pacing really sped up, but now it was too fast because I hadn't processed everything and other points of interest <highlight to view spoiler> such as Freya's visions of the future and her future self making a cameo<end of spoiler> were passed over too quickly.

Freya did work as a main character. There is definite growth in her character throughout the book as she tries to grapple with what her memories tell her about herself and what she really believes about herself. She also has to deal with who she is as a person if she grew up in a different environment without the freedom she has in 1985. There is a turning point where her character changed because her childhood memories have changed.

There is romance in this book which is not all too shocking. I liked how they worked as a team to overcome the challenges they faced and tried to understand what exactly was happening. I did not have any particularly strong feelings towards their relationship, although at points it did seem too fast. Part of this is because I did not quite understand what their relationship with each other was before they were placed in this situation. The book wasn't really clear on that.


IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I loved the concept and idea behind this book but I did not love how the idea was executed. I was not a fan of the info-dump and I think just that info-dump alone caused further problems in the pacing in the book. The ending of this book was pretty open-ended, which I actually think worked for this book. There is a sequel to this book but I will not be reading it. This book seems like it does better as a standalone.

I hereby give this book

2.5 Stars

Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite