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.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes&Noble / Book Depository

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

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.

Goodreads / Amazon/ Barnes&Noble / Book Depository

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.

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.

Goodreads / Amazon/ Barnes&Noble 

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: Taste Test by Kelly Fiore

If you can grill it, smoke it, or fry it, Nora Henderson knows all about it. She's been basting baby back ribs and pulling pork at her father's barbeque joint since she was tall enough to reach the counter. When she's accepted to Taste Test, a reality-television teen cooking competition, Nora can't wait to leave her humble hometown behind, even if it means saying good-bye to her dad and her best friend, Billy. Once she's on set, run-ins with her high-society roommate and the maddeningly handsome—not to mention talented—son of a famous chef, Christian Van Lorten, mean Nora must work even harder to prove herself. But as mysterious accidents plague the kitchen arena, protecting her heart from one annoyingly charming fellow contestant in particular becomes the least of her concerns. Someone is conducting real-life eliminations, and if Nora doesn't figure out who, she could be next to get chopped for good.

With romance and intrigue as delectable as the winning recipes included in the story, this debut novel will be devoured by all.

Goodreads / Amazon/ Barnes&Noble 

MY THOUGHTS
This was kind of an impulse read for me. I just recently found out about it and thought it looked like a fun read, so I picked it up! And it was a fun read! It was cute, shippable, with a little bit of mystery.

Nora knows how to cook. She's been helping her father out with his barbecue joint all her life, so when her favorite cooking reality show starts looking for new contestants, she signs up. She gets accepted and has to leave her hometown to participate in the competition. She has to prove herself against other chefs, including her snooty new roommate and the infuriating Christian Van Lorten. But in the mist of things, mysterious accidents in the kitchen are knocking out the competition, and they may not be accidents.

Going into this book, I was not expecting the mystery element, despite the fact that it's in the synopsis. I was expecting cooking, reality TV, ans shipping. I got all of that, but there was more to it. First of all, this is a fun read. I was really immersed in this book and finished it very quickly, not only because I wanted to know what would happen, but I was really enjoying it! This book definitely feels like a contemporary romance, but the mystery is there. The mystery element grows as the book goes on, until the very end, when it becomes more of a major part of the story. I liked the added mystery element because it did add something else to the book (besides romantic tension) and it didn't feel too overly done or dramatic.

I liked the characters in this book. Nora was a great MC, but I really liked her friendships in this book, both new and old. As well as her other interactions with characters. I thought it was well done.

As for romance, I very much enjoyed it. I shipped it. Of course, it's a hate-to-love romance, which is my favorite, so I had to ship it! My favorite part of these kinds of romances is the witty banter and yes, there is witty banter. Now, the romance is really predictable. Heck, a lot of this book is predictable, but it's still really fun!

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! It was enjoyable, with a fun idea, reality TV, cooking, ships, and an added mystery. It's predictable, but who cares, it was fun. It won't go on my all-time favs list, but it does get a spot on my "feel-good reads" shelf!

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

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