Ashley (yAdult Review)

Originally posted yAdult ReviewEvery once in awhile I think to myself “damn I should have listened to Tina.” Please note: this happens more than “every once in awhile.” In the case of Dualed. I should have listened to Tina. While a solid book, it was also a let down in many ways. The premise is awesome. It is the story of a girl, who cried a river and drown the whole world, West Grayer, who grows up and trains to a fighter. She has to be like this because the day will come where she is given information about her Alt. A girl she has to kill to survive. A girl who is training for the same reason: to kill her Alt, in this case West.Yes, I know what face you’re making. Probably close to the one I was making: it seems very Hunger Games like. And while the death aspect is very much like Hunger Games not much else is.West is not at all like the character she could, or should, be. She could be strong and amazing and on the page she often fell a bit flat. When she was supposed to be scared and panic, I felt none of those emotions and just wanted the plot to move forward. There is a bit of a love interest, which I always find weird in this type of book. I understand one does not chose when they fall in love, or who they fall in love with however when the theme of the book is clearly focus on West being a kick ass heroine, it’s a bit weird to have her fault in love in the later 75% of the book. I do appreciate how Chord believes more in West than she believes in herself, but the romance was extremely lacking to me. Which, I’ve made clear throughout my book loving life: romance is important to me. Of course I can read a book without romance in it; however, if you’re going to use romance as a plot device, you better use it well.There were also numerous questions left unanswered throughout this book. Although there is a second book in this series, many of the questions should have been answered in this book. That disbelief though made it easier to enjoy this book. There was nothing really wrong with this book, but that being said, there was nothing about this book that was overly special or amazing and in this genre there needs to be that something.

Originally reviewed here at yAdult ReviewHere is an interesting tidbit about me: I am not the biggest Jane Austen fan. Most people/bloggers I know gasp at something like that being said. But it’s true. That being said, I enjoy Pride and Prejudice mostly cause I enjoy the whole banter and misunderstanding and the ending. So Pride and Prejudice with a Veronica Mars vibe? SIGN ME UP! I was so, so, so, excited to read this.Then I started it. And I got bored. Quickly. Vance’s writing is not to blame. Often an author’s writing is what causes me boredom and that is not the case with this book, I was just bored with the characters. I spent more time wanting to hurt Berry than I did wanting her to make out with Tanner. Adorable, adorable Tanner. Tanner who is witty and sarcastic and my favorite snarky, didn’t play off Berry the way I was hoping for. What really threw me off with this book is the fact it’s called Spies and Prejudice and it is very little like Pride and Prejudice. If I wouldn’t have been told it was supposed to be like Pride and Prejudice would have never gotten that vibe.Even with my reservations it is a light, cute read. Just not for me this time. Not with my current mindset.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewI read this book while extremely sick. This is not important to this review at all minus the fact I couldn’t breathe well. So there I am reading a book while focusing on my breathing only to cry for most of this book. While crying my eyes out on the couch reading this, I couldn’t stop looking at both of my parents going “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK.” I kept having to make it clear that while I was crying, and crying, and crying. I was crying for generally good reasons.This is the story of August, or Auggie. Auggie was born with a facial deformity that is never made clear exactly what it looks like because “it’s worse than what you think.” Told from multiple point of views Wonder is amazing. There is nothing about this book I can say that hasn’t already been said but you really need to read it. It will make you cry, it will make you hate people because yes people really are that mean, but it will also give you hope. So much hope.I finished the book, continued to cry, even though it ends on a good note and I looked at my parents and I thanked them. I put my parents through a lot of shit. I mean, who doesn’t, we’re their children. We’re supposed to, but they raised me the best they could, just like Auggie’s parents did. Even though this is told from multiple povs, you never get an adults view on Auggie’s life. The closest you get to an adult view is Auggie’s older sister who is a freshman in high school who had to grow up extremely fast once Auggie was born.There are very few books I’ve read this year that have truly changed me as a person but this is one of them. I also know that personally, as much as I love and adore this book (and I do) I will not visit Auggie often. Auggie holds a very special part of my heart but Auggie also brings up many middle school feelings that I cannot revisit often. But do I recommend Wonder? So much that I can’t not recommend it.

loved and adored.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewThis is one of those books as soon as I started I couldn’t stop reading. It had been on my TBR list for awhile. I was lucky and got on the hold list at the library early and it came in just around the time a fellow blogger (and someone I harass a lot on twitter cause I want her to be my frand) Jamie. While I don’t always agree with Jamie, I see where she comes from when she reviews a book, this book it was easy to tell that she loved and adored it and that gave me hope.Oh did I love and adore this book. Told from the point of Danielle in essay and journal form, one comes to find out we all have a fe0a1c64beba11e2a2ab22000a1fb84b_7bit of Danielle in them. For example, Danielle’s brain works a lot like mine does, where it gets fixated on one thing and doesn’t let go of that. My brain does that extremely well. Which I understand not only says a lot about Danielle, but says a lot about me. I also related to her essay writing because she very much writes the way she thinks which often equals word vomit, something her teacher doesn’t always approve of for formal writing.Throughout her senior year Danielle goes through a tremendous amount of growth that is not only recognizable to herself, but to those around her. Danielle is hilarious, often without meaning to be, because she is so authentic and true to herself. As Danielle has OCD it is interesting to see how that affects her daily life, and it does, but at the same time she has a strong support system through Daniel, her aunt, and this hilarious elderly British woman.This book is not all light heartedness, though. Danielle goes through a growing period with “the love of her life” while at the same time dealing with the fact she is getting memories back that she once forgot.Roedy Vaughn has written a stellar debut novel. I cannot wait to see what more comes from her, because if it is anything like Danielle and her love of the Dude, I will be happy to read it.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewSo picture it, you’re the ‘trouble’ maker at school. You’re the one who gets caught doing the things no one should be caught doing. You end up doing a major prank that ends up with you getting caught by the Superintendent. Your luck, the Superintendent is overwhelmed and although he writes down your name, he writes it down on the wrong sheet of paper. This means instead of getting a phone call telling you that you’re in trouble, you get a letter in the mail stating that you have been accepted into the Gifted Program in the school district.This is exactly what happens to Donovan, told not only from his point of view, but various classmates and adults, we see how this shapes his world and the world of those around him. It is clear from the very beginning of the novel (and the school, ASD) that Donovan doesn’t belong in this school, but slowly his classmates actually work to save him, he has made the school better. Because he really is what they need.Donovan’s experience is off to a rough start at the school when he goes into homeroom and begins to ruin the robot that they are making in robotics. I mean, it didn’t really need that arm did it? Spoiler: it did. However, he becomes a prize for the robotics team. Donovan has played video games long enough to know how to use a joystick and use it well. This of course is a hint to many of his classmates that “hey! Something isn’t ‘normal’ about this kid!” He also saves them from summer school by working with the school on saving the sex education program in unique way.Donovan getting into the gifted school also brings his family together in a unique way that none of them ever saw coming and as an adult reading this book it was nice to see.My one major pet peeve of the book was the characterization of the “nerds,” the gifted students. As one of those people who was in gifted classes not all “nerds” are like that, and while it worked well for this story, I would have been interested in seeing how this would have been handled without all of the stereotypes. However, still an enjoyable read.

DNF. Couldn't finish.

Originally posted at yAdult Review3.5 Stars.Ahhh yes. Our first “New Adult” review. Mostly because I have shied away from New Adult, because really it’s a whole bandwagonsportsball I have issues with and should probably write a post about. Anyhoo, this book as an intro to New Adult was not a bad introduction. This book is about football, or as my BFF calls it “sportsball” “handegg” or any of the above. I bring this point up, because Tina knows next to nothing about football but still knows the QB of her local team. Or the player with the long hair on her local teams rivals team. This is the story of Rachael, Rachael who knows nothing about her local football team including what the quarterback looks like. To be fair, I know nothing about my own local football team, mostly because I support my homestate football team; however, I still know what local football team players look like. That may have been my main pet peeve throughout this story.That being said, the story still flows well even with this plot-fall. Rachael is snarky and stands for nothing. She has a ton of feminist rants and judges herself when she makes mean comments that she knows she shouldn’t. Rachael legit calls her self out for slutshaming. That is so rare lately it was a nice breath of fresh-air to see. Between her snark and rants it was like this weird mixture of Tina and I, which is probably why I enjoyed her. Also, this story is from Rachael’s point of view, so while she is bitching about life events it is easy to see where Ryan, her love interest, is coming from as an outside viewer. Rachael assumes that Ryan is this dumb jock. I mean, he’s quarterback for the local NFL team, that isn’t hard is it? Well, when she finds out that Ryan studied military history her mind was blown (as a person who herself studied military history this reader had a moment) in the best way possible.There is a lot of growth throughout this book on both sides to the point you actually wish the two would stop bickering and just make out. Of course the bickering does lead to some awesome making out. There is also a lot of insecurities on both sides which leads to more bickering to more hot make out scenes.While there was nothing overly wrong with this book (again nice NA to enter the genre with) I felt it moved too fast in parts and too slow in others, with certain aspects that were just not believable. Her randomly getting into the party, her bonding with all the guys, them loving and protecting her, her having no idea about football players. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and Parr’s writing style and of course Ryan.

Originally posted at yAdult Review2.5 starsI liked this book? It’s hard to explain. I started it, put it down, picked it up three weeks later and didn’t give two shits about what I previously read and continued on. I then went on to finish and was like “oh. okay. next?!” Which is sad d9e3038cb37011e2b68522000a1fb1ee_7because I love Stohl. I love the series that she wrote with Kami Garcia and I had such hopes for this novel and I was extremely disappointed. I was so glad when I found out that I had won a copy of this novel once the shock wore off. Mostly because my parents were all “DID YOU ORDER ANOTHER BOOK!?” and I was all “NO! I SWEAR THIS TIME NO!” It was such a pleasant surprise, and it was the old cover which I love!And then I started to read it at a quick speed devouring it until it got to this weird slow lull and I had no interest in reading it. This also has to do with the fact that I saw The Host mid-reading this. Now they are nothing alike minus the fact that they both have to with aliens, but that was enough to force my mind to take a break. When it dawned on me that the published date was coming near and that I should probably finish it I decided to.So finished it I did and it was okay. Stohl built it up so there was a lot of tension and plot occurring but in the middle (where I stopped) there is a good 100 pages where nothing happens. Nothing. There is a bit of a love triangle (of course there is, it’s YA). And even with the aliens throughout the novel, this novel felt more dystopian-like than alien-like. This book is the story of Dol and her best friend Ro as they find themselves held prisoner by the Embassy. At the Embassy is where one of the ‘twist’ occur. They find other Icon children. This is where I originally put the book down because it seems like Stohl had problems getting out of this twist. Her world building is strong, but it is hard to appreciate when you as the reader are wading through a lot of muck trying to get to the good story.Because this is told from Dol’s POV one is suppose to be sympathetic for her but instead she made me roll my eyes a lot, including during the love triangle part in which I was like “JUST GET OVER IT” which continued to add to the part where I was just so bored. I could feel parts in which I was skimming because I just wanted the book to be over. I went into this book with expectations and sadly they were not met.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewThis book has been on my TBR list for as long as I can remember. The fact that it took me this long to read it is more a reflection on me than the book, seeing I did not pick up this book until last week. This book did not let me down at all. I actually couldn’t put it down and the fact that I have to wait a year for the next book slowly kills me. Thankfully Schwab ends this book quite nicely. Thank you no cliffhanger!Told through flashbacks and present day, this book is the story of Mac(kenzie) who works as a Keeper. She is a Keeper for the Archived, a place that collects the dead like they are books in a library. As a librarian I found this to be completely fascinating. Schwab worked through every little detail and let nothing go overlooked which made me fall in love with this book even more and look forward to book two, a lot. By use of flashbacks it was easy to understand how Mac got her job as a Keeper through her Da, who ultimately meant the world to her. It becomes clear from the very beginning that Mackenzie is not a typical YA heroine: she’s extremely close to her grandfather, she can kick ass, and she doesn’t like to touch people or animals. The later is because she can hear what she calls the “noise” from their feelings and thoughts and understandably that effects her.Of course no one is allowed to know about The Archived. Which means her parents do not know, and yet they never question where she goes at all hours of the day. She comes up with extremely lame excuses and they are perfectly content and okay with said excuses. This is in part because she lost her brother Ben and they know she is still adjusting to life after, they all are.The mystery and twist occurs when Mackenzie realizes there is someone else with this gift/curse along with the same time that someone is messing with the Histories and something bad is happening in The Archived. Through excellent storytelling Schwab has the reader waiting for more, me included.

Solid 3.5. review to come.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewThis book is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” I wanted to love it. I was drawn to the cover and the storyline yet I could not get into this story for the life of me. It was extremely slow and drawn out to me. Although I finished this book a little bit ago and am just getting to the review now (thanks school! Love you 5ever) I’m still stuck on my feelings on the novel.While I couldn’t put the book down it did begin to lose my interest about half way through. That isn’t because of Shepard’s writing or storytelling. Her imagery and her ability to keep the story during the time period was spot on and perfect what was making me lose interest was sadly the actual story. There were parts that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about the awkward love triangle, even though it was extremely well executed I just sadly just didn’t care. I didn’t care about the father/daughter story (which goes against everything I know) mostly because her father was so horrible that I just didn’t care about him. Shepherd made Juliet’s father a certain way on purpose and while he was well written he made me rage so much it was hard to care. There was also an animal death in the beginning portion of the book which killed probably the whole story for me. I’m sadly one of those people who’s like “human death?! whatever! animal death?! NOOOOOO” Oh in the name of science? Still not helpful.Even with that in the beginning of the book I still pushed through part because Juliet Moreau is a kick-ass character. I enjoyed her but didn’t always enjoy what she did, even if I got why she did it. She was feisty and sassy and my type of main character. She is why I stayed with this book and continued on with her story even if is slowly hurt me throughout. I would read Shepard’s books in the future because her writing sucked me in and made me turn every page; however, I’m not sure I would continue to read this exact series because it was a bit much for me in certain areas. But it’s not a remotely bad book, it’s a solid book, just again, it’s not the book, it’s me!

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewRecently when I had no books out from the library (which just came to pay me back when all my holds came in at once) I decided to browse the new children’s book and this was on the shelf. I love Lauren Oliver’s writing. I love middle grade. I had to read it. And it was already on my goodreads TBR list, so really I had to.In The Spindler’s, Oliver takes the typical fairy tale plot and makes it her own. At the center of the novel is Liza who one day wakes up and notices that her brother is no longer himself. Yes, he looks the same and yes, he acts the same but she knows in her heart of hearts that he is no longer her brother. Liza knows what happens. She knows that the Spindlers, spider creatures, have taken his soul. Her favorite babysitter Anna warned her about the Spindlers before she went to college. She must retrieve his soul or what is the shell of his body will disintegrate into dust. No pressure right?While Liza tries to tell her parents that “hey now, something isn’t right here!” they of course don’t listen to her and she is the one who must save her brother. Liza takes the steps into saving her brother. She goes into the crawl space in the basement and of course ends up in a deep hole (of doom — as I called it throughout.) Liza is prepared though, Anna prepared her for this moment by telling her about Below. Liza also gets a tour guide throughout her time in the Below. Her tour guide Mirabella freaked me out, to put it nicely. Mirabella is a rat, who is the side of a person. She also wears clothing and a wig. The image of Mirabella still gives me the heeby-jeebies. Oliver is that good about her characters, I will give her that, they stick with you for quite some time.While the journey Liza goes on is nice and quite fairy tale like it was not an Ashley book. I can see why others loved it, but I just did not.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewAs I made it clear here, I love and adore the first book in this series. The way the author writes and portrays her characters was spot on. The second book in the series continued with this portrayal. I made quite a noise when I was approved for this ARC because I was just that! excited! I barely found out that there was a sequel and then I found the ARC and book noises were made. Probably for the best that this was an eARC not a physical copy because it would not have been pretty.This book picks up quickly after the first book in the series finishes, in the middle of a new caper no less! I had high expectations for this book for many reasons. Love of the first book, love of the storyline, etc. I promise you it didn’t not let me down. One could easily pick up this book without the first book and know immediately what was going on. The recap was amazing without seeming so “THIS! IS! A! RECAP!” which was much appreciated. In Don’t Look Now, good friends Peter and Noa are separated. Peter is still hacking, trying to figure out what happened in Noa’s life and essentially the systems working on breaking it down. While this is going on Noa is with Persefone’s Army which at this point is a modern day Robin Hood saving people from the worst.The worst, which has happened to Amanda, who throughout this novel you continue to not trust. Or maybe you do, and if you do can you please tell me why you trust her? She gives me bad vibes (which I know, is so cliche to say).Obviously Peter and Noa continue to have trust issues with everyone in this story who aren’t each other. The interesting part of the trust issues is that it gets in the way of them moving on with their lives and of course the oh so important plot. Noa slowly starts to trust Zeke, a fellow member of the army, who, while he doesn’t understand all the minute details of Noa’s life, is okay going slow and waiting for her. It is very sweet and endearing to not have a boy in a teen novel be demanding and be like NOW NOW NOW.It is hard to review this book without giving too much away, not only about the first book in the series, but of course this book. I will say that while the book nears the end of the novel we’re getting closer to what happened and the soon downfall of it all but we’re still left hanging for the third and final novel of the series.Solid 4.5. review closer to publication.

While a solid book it wasn't for me.

Originally posted at yAdult ReviewA lot of my friends loved and adored this book which gave me hope for it; alas it was not the book for me. It has an awesome concept but lacked proper execution to make it as awesome as it could be. While this was an extremely fast paced book it was still a let-down.This is the story of Evening (E.V…Eve), who after a car wreck, comes to find out she is not at all what she thought she was. She is smart and quick witted enough to find out that she heals extremely fast. While she is at her mother’s company “getting better” she is convinced she is going to die of boredom. While she is on the verge of dying of boredom her mother is all “hey! Why don’t you create a boy with this technology we’re working on.” Of course Eve is a teenager, she is all about creating a perfect boy, this of course doesn’t make Solo happy, but he has spent most of his life keeping his emotions at bay.While Even is working on said perfect boy, she comes to the realization her mother is not everything she thought she was. As we quickly find out this book is overly predictable. Little to nothing shocked me about this book. What happens when you create the perfect boy and then you don’t care about him? What happens when you find out your parents are what you thought they were but instead have secrets?Told from three points of view, Eve, Adam and Solo the authors writing shines, but the book did not. It often felt like they were trying too hard to make it funny instead of taking this in the direction it could have been taken in.