Book Review: What's Left of Me

TITLE: What's Left of Me
Book 1 in the Hybrid Chronicles series
AUTHOR: Kat Zhang
PUBLISHED: September 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Alternate history/dystopian
PREMISE: In a world where two souls inhabit a body until one dominant soul takes over completely, Addie and Eva are dangerous because Eva, who should have went away when they were children never actually left...
MY REVIEW: This book was one of the more intrigueing premises that I read last year. What if two souls inhabited a body? What if it was expected that one would fade away by the time the kid was say five? But what if one soul doesn't WANT to go away? Granted, the two souls in one body thing is a bit wierd. I don't totally get how that can possibly ever work or happen but the author takes the wierd premise and runs with it in a way that lets me get past the wierdness of it all. In the end if you can make something work, then that's all I ask.
May I also say that Zhang's writing is lovely? Not terribly subtle at times, but still, compared to some books I've just read (Defiance for example which was so amateurish it's not funny) this authors prose just give me a major reader happy. Prose don't make or break a book for me (I can find it in me to enjoy Dan Brown after all and his writing is horrible) but I do appreciate it when authors have fabulous storytelling and writing capability and this author has both.
A few shaky moments aside, this was actually a very strong debut and one of the more well written and interesting premise of the year. Definitely look forward to more of this series that I hope goes into more of the world building because I want to know more damn it.
WHO SHOULD READ: dystopian fans, His Dark Materials fans (the soul thing reminded me a lot of the things that HDM talked about with the daemons)
MY RATING: Four out of Five souls

Book Review: Defiance

TITLE: Defiance
Book 1 in the Defiance series
AUTHOR: C. J. Redwine
PUBLISHED: August 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian/fantasy? I'm not sure. Romance
PREMISE: Despite limitations placed on her by her society's brutal leader, Rachel does her best to find her father, lost out in the wastelands.
MY REVIEW: So...Defiance. Um...it's not the worst book I've ever read. But...it's not very great either. To me, this is one of those books that if you turn your brain off while reading it, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more because then you can ignore the plot holes. And believe me, there are plotholes.
Also if you turn your brain off you can ignore the sexism in it. I know, I know, the summary makes it sound totally feminist, right? Yeah, no. Rachel very rarely actually uses these awesome sword capabilities we're told frequently that she has and much of her use is mostly love interest. Logan pretty much does everything in the book after she whines and prods him to do it for her. Oh and Logan is sexist himself. I seriously lost count how many times he moaned about this silly little twat who doesn't know her place. Yet, she still falls for him and they still have epic true love. Fabulous. Then there's sloppy world building galore. I still don't know if this is fantasy, dystopian, what. I'm leaning towards fantasy because I'm sorry there's no way in hell this could ever be a possible future. Please tell me how women would totally be okay with being required to have male escorts to go everywhere in the future.
There was some nice writing, a bit of a plot, and I got the feeling the sexism wasn't intentional on the authors part but that's no excuse. Honestly this book just felt unimaginative and it was definitely sloppy and could have used tons of editing. Library read only if you're really interested.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...not sure. Twilight fans maybe?
MY RATING: Two out of Five pretend badass girls

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten 2013 Debuts

This is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week: My Top Ten 2013 Debuts

So there are a lot of awesome looking debuts that I hope to read this year. I had a hard time narrowing down the list but here it is:

1) The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell-Promises me Tamora Pierce combined with George R. R. Martin. Not sure how true that is (last YA that promised me teen Games of Thrones did so not deliver) I'm always up for a book about a girl who wants to be a warrior of some sort.

2) The Dragon King Chronicles: Prophecy by Ellen Oh-Fantasy that sounds really awesome and has gotten lots of good reviews so far.

3) The Madman's Daughter Book 1: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepard-A awesome looking new trilogy that is based on the lesser known book The Island of Dr. Moreau.

4) The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett-Because I'm a sucker for teen sleuths and teen sleuths combined with paranormal? Sign me up.

5) Finishing School Book 1: Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger-Carriger's YA debut that is a new series that takes place in the same universe as Parasol Protectorate, my favorite adult UF/steampunk series.

6) Dance of Shadows Book 1: Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black-Ballet school paranormal? Yes, please.

7) Delusion by Laura L. Sullivan-Historical fantasy that I can't wait to read.

8) The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson-Awesome sounding dystopian/fantasy.

9) Poison by Bridget Zinn-Fantasy adventure type sounding thing that sounds right up my alley.

10) The Memory Chronicles Book 1: Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans-Sci-fi sort of deal that again, sounds awesome.

Book Review: Gunmetal Magic

TITLE: Gunmetal Magic
Book 1 in the World of Kate Daniels series
AUTHOR (s, since it's a writing team): Ilona Andrews
PUBLISHED: July 2012
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Urban fantasy, weres, romance
PREMISE: Andrea's life is kind of crappy right now but she's dealing. Then she gets a case that leads her back to her former lover Rapheal...
MY REVIEW: Sometimes you just need a enjoyable UF and Ilona Andrews definitely delivers on that. I've yet to read a book by these authors that I haven't liked. There are only a handful of authors whom I can genuinely say that about. Yes, there are somewhat formulaic plots but who the hell cares when you just want to hang out with these characters so much?
So I was ridiculously happy when I heard there was going to be a spin-off series about the side characters of Kate Daniels because I adore the side characters. If there's justice, Julie will get her own book (or series, pretty please authors?). This one didn't disapoint because it was all about my fav gal Andrea who is possibly more badass then Kate. If that's possible. True not much went on that wasn't expected but there was the usual fun mystery I've come to expect with this series and usual great chemistry from the main couple.
This is the enjoyment I've come to expect from a Ilona Andrews book and I can't wait to read the next one (and the next Kate Daniels book which is WAY TO FAR AWAY). But seriously, can Julie get her own book?
WHO SHOULD READ: Kate Daniels fans, UF fans, shifter fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five badass female shifters

Stacking the Shelves: Jan 13th

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week.

Just the usual library haul this week.

Drakon series Book 1: The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe. Adult series that I've already read and reviewed. Picked it up because the author has a YA series starting this year and I'd thought I'd see what her writing was like. Conclusion: love her writing/creativity didn't care for this particular book. I'm hoping the YA series will appeal more.

Crewel World Book 1: Crewel by Gennifer Albin-2012 debut that sounds awesome and that I've heard very good things about.

World of Kate Daniels Book 1: Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews-Spin-off series about the side characters of Kate Daniels? Sign me up!

Arcana Chronicles Book 1: Poison Princess by Kresley Cole. I've never read any of Cole's adult series, mostly because people compared her to Kenyon and Showalter and I'm not a fan of either of those authors. So low expectations for this one but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe it'll surprise me?

Confessions Book 1: Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro-Because myself really decided I needed to read another Patterson series even though I have yet to finish the Maximum Ride series nor have his other series really grabbed me. Maybe fourth times the charm?

Defiance Trilogy Book 1: Defiance by C. J. Redwine-2012 debut that I missed out reading when it came out. My bad. Not to be confused with the Syfy series of the same name coming out this year that looks kind of awesome.

Undeadly by Michele Vail-One of those Harlequin teen things that can often go either way on the quality scale.

Hybrid Chronicles Book 1: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang-Another 2012 debut I meant to read last year. Have heard several good things.

Book Review: The Smoke Thief

TITLE: The Smoke Thief
Book 1 in the Drakon series
AUTHOR: Shana Abe
PUBLISHED: 2005
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical fantasy, dragons, romance
PREMISE: A thief is confunding the London police. When Kit, leader of his tribe of dragons, helps out he discovers the thief is one of his own kind as well as his mate.
MY REVIEW: Sigh. This one started out really well. I loved the setting of it. Abe's writing is very nice, and hello: dragons. There simply aren't enough dragon books out there. This saddens me. Unfortunately it falls prey to it's own genre and thus is full of Harlequin romance plot cliches that somewhat dampan the creative idea.
Then there's Kit. Wow what a douche. Worse he's an Alpha Male douche. An extremely problamatic male lead as well. He has no problem whatsoever kidnapping the heroine and at one point basically says he would have no problem raping her as long as he could have sex with her. Wow. Just, really author? I find it troubling that this was completely glosssed over and of course in the end the heroine totally fell for Kit's charms cause they were "meant to be".
I liked the plot part of this book. It's almost enough to make me consider picking up the next book even though with that ending I'm not sure why there's more in the series. But the romance part kind of overshadows the good here so I have to say this is a library read only.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dragon fans, Firelight series fans, romance fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five could have been better then what it was books

Fiction Discussion 1

This is the first of what I hope will be a weekly or at least bi-weekly feature on the blog where I just talk about fiction topics. I love discussing stuff, particularly in tv/literature so if you have your own ideas about whatever I'm discussing please feel free to comment! I'll be talking about random things from any news going on in the YA world, movie deals, what's hot now, issues in a certain book series, common themes in YA, and my favorite: trope discussion which will probably be the most common topic because there are a lot of tropes out there. In fact, I'm going to start off with a trope this week.

I'm not sure what this particular trope/common plot idea is called on the TV Tropes Site but I'm sure it's on there (it's a very useful site for writing btw, check it out if you haven't) but I call this particular trope: All Feminine Girls are Shallow Horrible People trope.

You've probably seen a lot of this before. The most recent example I can think of is Hush Hush and the character of Marcie. Marcie is basically the usual mean girl who naturally is girly. As far as Nora and her friend Vee are concerned she's a total bitch. Now yes, Marcie definitely has flaws but I can't help but notice that through out Hush Hush Nora and Vee are just as horrible to Marcie as she is to them. In fact I recall several scenes where Marcie tried to extend a olive branch to Nora but Nora basically said yeah right and the feud continued. But of course Nora is the heroine so it can't possibly be HER fault.

Then of course there's Twilight. You'll be seeing Twilight pop up in a lot of these trope discussions and I apologize Twihards but frankly Meyer brings it on herself because she basically used every unoriginal idea out there. In Twilight Bella has so-called human friends. But she takes the time to point out how shallow these girls are because they care about things like looks and guys and aren't at all deep like she is because she reads. All though Bella took how long to obsess over Edward? Even more fun is when you read Midnight Sun which is the same book from Edward's point of view. Seriously, and I thought Bella was judgemental. She doesn't hold a candle to Edward "I'm better than everyone here" Cullen.

Let us not forget as well the wonderful book of judgement that was Halo. Seriously, how many times did Bethany criticize Molly and her friends because they liked make-up and going to parties and gossiping? Seriously, I lost count after the first five times. I gather it gets worse in the other two books but I pretty much refused to continue no matter how much my morbid curiousity kind of wanted to just for kicks.

Basically this is a super common trope in YA. It is done in different ways. Sometimes it will just be the cheerleader being the stereotypical mean girl. Sometimes it'll just be several catty comments about girls who like to party/dress up/have the sheer nerve to care about what others think of them. A lot of times it won't be subtle. Don't know about anyone else but I dispise this trope. I find it rather judgemental.

So why does it exist? Well I think it's for  two main reasons.

1) The writer thinks this will appeal to their main audience. There is this stereotype of the main YA reader: she's nerdy, she's probably not popular, she reads the genre for comfort etc. Now in the beginning stages of YA before Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games this stereotype of the YA reader MAY have had some kernal of truth but I'm sorry this isn't the case anymore. YA has pretty much become mainstream fiction. EVERYONE reads it, not just nerdy teen girls. I know women in their forties who regularly read YA. Hell, my mother in her fifties has read Harry Potter. So I'm sorry but this stereotype of the YA reader is simply just not true anymore and therefore this trope frankly won't appeal to everyone.

2) The writer thinks this will make their main character look better in the eyes of the reader. Going back to that whole stereotypical idea of who the main readers of YA are. Again, not true and again, won't appeal to everyone. Also I fail to see how not being girly makes one character better then the other.

So writers, please don't do this. I can think of much better ways of getting me to not like a character such as them doing crappy things to actually deserve my dislike. Sorry but I don't think them liking things like make-up/dressing up/being girly really deserves my dislike. You're also furthering the idea that girls who are feminine are horrible and frankly I find that horrible.

Great Examples of Books that DON'T do this annoying trope:
Unspoken/Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (Holly is the best character and she was popular)
Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter (the girls actually disarm something once in ball gowns)
Tortall series by Tamora Pierce (Alanna likes dressing up and doesn't give a damn who knows)
Paranormalcy trilogy by Kierstan White (Evie loves pink and totally bedazzles her tazer)
Pretty much all the Meg Cabot books (Lana's turnaround in Princess Diaries was a particularly wonderful middle finger to this trope)
Ghost and the Goth trilogy by Stacey Kade (Alona is possibly the best deconstruction of the popular girl that I've ever seen)
Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (Isobel is girly and badass)
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (Carmel is awesome and ;gasp; popular)
Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl (Ridley is the best in this. Yes, there is some shade thrown in the popular girls crowd way but that has more to do with their horrible attitude towards anything different and less to do with them being girly)

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2013

This is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

My Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013

1) Read at least 230 books: Lower from last year as I only got to 240 instead of 250. In my defense I was busy moving in the month of February.

2) Keep up on new releases. Did pretty well last year I think, I'm going to try and keep it up this year so the blog will be relevant.

3) Actually read all those kindle books I buy. In my defense I do TRY and read them. I just finished my Perks of Wallflower kindle book and only have about six books to go so I'm not as bad off as say my mother who just got her kindle and has ten books she needs to read.

4) Finish the Women of the Otherworld series. Now that the series is actually finished.

5) Try out all those adult series that you keep glancing at in the library but never check out. I'm trying to make my books more varied in the adult reviews. I figure about half of them I probably won't get into anyway but at least I can say I tried them out.

6) Continue those adult UF series that you actually liked such as The Bloodhound Files, Elemental Assassin, Kim Harrison's series etc. etc. There are so many series where I've just read the first book and liked but never read the rest. I need to quit that.

7) Read Gone Girl. Yes, it's a bestseller but it sounds like a cool bestseller that I could get into.

8) Remember that you have Netgalley and actually use it. I was so bad about that last year...

9) John Green damn it. Read John Green already. This is actually a leftover goal from last year....;hangs head in shame; Personally I blame the Song of Ice and Fire books for distracting me with their awesomeness.

10) Keep up on actual book blog reviews. I'm all caught up at the moment so lets keep it that way.

Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

TITLE: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
AUTHOR: Stephan Chbosky
PUBLISHED: 1999
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary, drama
PREMISE: Charlie writes letters about his high school life after his friend commits suicide.
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing about Perks: I don't think it's the best book ever written. However I do think it's important and that it earns its place as a YA classic and that if you are a regular YA reader you should definitely read. I was in high school when this was published and remember it. I didn't read it at the time because I had sworn off contemporary YA then because at the time contemporary YA consisted of Judy Blume (who I had already read) and basically romantic boy meets girl and had cutesy formulaic plots that all were astonishingly alike. In other words it was what people tend to think YA is now even though YA has grown by leaps and bounds since then. So pretty much your only choice in YA were a few fantasy series (not nearly as large a section nor as varied as it is now) and romance (Meg Cabot had only just begun writing, PD didn't start getting big till the Disney movie which was after this). None of the books offered talked about serious things that teens face like teen suicide, LGBT issues, drugs, abuse, cheating, etc. for fear of ticking off the parent set. For good reason too because at that time the music censorship was in full swing. As I recall Tamora Pierce and Judy Blume got blasted for writing about sex and then beginning author Cabot herself even got criticized for being "inappropriate" (yes, really. They didn't like that Mia mentioned things like tampons or french kissing).
When you take all of that into consideration, Perks is most likely one of the first YA books to talk about these issues in a frank manner. I'm pretty sure Patrick is probably one of the first gay characters in a mainstream YA novel. Nowadays with books like Speak or John Green, Perks probably doesn't make todays teens bat an eyelash. Back then...this was kind of a big deal in the then quite small YA offerings. So I have to give the author all kinds of props for deciding to actually talk about the issues that most other YA writers simply did not talk about. Writing wise I do like what the novel has to say even if I feel parts of it are overdone. But if ever there was a book that basically showed what life was like for high-schoolers in the nineties, this book is it so even if I didn't connect with it strongly, I definitely got it and it brought back some fond (and not so fond) memories of the nineties. I suspect had I read this when it actually came out it would have resonated with me more.
So I'm sorry I don't think this book is the best ever written. However, I do think it's a decently written, sweet, remarkably honest contemparary novel (especially when one considers when it was written) that you should preferably read during your teen years and definitely read if you're a YA fan because I can say from experience that if you're a YA reader and haven't read this book, you'll get funny looks.
WHO SHOULD READ: Contemporary fans, drama fans, John Green fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five awesome english teachers named Bill


Book Review: The Golden Lily

TITLE: The Golden Lily
Book 2 in the Bloodlines series
AUTHOR: Richelle Mead
PUBLISHED: June 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, vampires
PREMISE: Sydney is doing her duty as a alchemist but is slowly starting to wonder if she's getting too attached to her charges...
MY REVIEW: I have the utmost fondness for the Vampire Academy series. These books are my crack and I have no apologies about it. Are they original? No. Are they groundbreaking? Not really. But they are entertaining as hell and Mead knows how to keep you addicted and weave a good story at the same time.
Yes, she is somewhat formulaic at times but the formulas work for her and she does switch it up so it doesn't get boring. But her strong suit are characters. Archtypes they may be, these are FUN archtypes who manage to get you attached. I am super attached to Sydney. I dare say I like her more then Rose. Because at least Sydney isn't dating a guy when she knows she's in love with someone else. I know Rose had her reasons but I still don't care for how she handled that at all. Sydney is a tad more mature and I frankly love her. She's still got the sass that I loved in Rose but with more level headeness that Rose didn't gain till the end. I also much prefer the relationship developement here over Dimitri/Rose as much as I did love that pairing.
If you loved Vampire Academy I have no doubt you'll like Bloodlines as well and the second book continues the series fun addictive quality. If you must read vampires, I suggest you read these.
WHO SHOULD READ: Vampire Academy fans, fans of Bloodlines, Richelle Mead fans, UF fans, vampire fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five sassy blondes

Book Review: The Iron Wyrm Affair

TITLE: The Iron Wyrm Affair
Book 1 in the Bannon and Clare series
AUTHOR: Lilith Saintcrow
PUBLISHED: August 2012
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Steampunk, mystery, urban fantasy
PREMISE: In a alternate history universe where magic is a part of the every day, Emma Bannon needs Clare's help to solve a mystery for the crown.
MY REVIEW: This is the first book of 2013 I have read. Literally, I read it on New Year's Day in one sitting. It's a pefectly decent book. It's typical steampunk noir stuff that is a kind of mixture between Sherlock Holmes and The Dresden Files.
As such it's not very original. But still, if you're a fan of this steampunk mystery thing that has gotten popular, it's a good time. Bannon and Clare are your typical mismatched pair trying to solve a crime while working out their own issues. It's a fairly straight forward plot, the writing is average, the characters are average but not really fleshed out yet.  Basically it's good for if you're in the mood for steampunk mystery that you don't have to concentrate on.
So not a bad book by any means. It fills that demand for steampunk that has come up in the market and it's a fun read for a afternoon. Not going to make waves in the book world but good for those of us who are hooked on steampunk.
WHO SHOULD READ: Steampunk fans, Sherlock Holmes fans, Dresden Files fans, mystery fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five wise-cracking sleuths

Book Review: Mystic City

TITLE: Mystic City
Book 1 in the Mystic City series
AUTHOR: Theo Lawrence
PUBLISHED: October
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, fantasy, romance, drama
PREMISE: Aria is engaged to the son of her family's political rivals. She's been told they had a passionate affair and are madly in love but she doesn't remember any of it.
MY REVIEW: This was the last book I read in the year of 2012 and I have to say it wasn't a bad way to end the year. Not going to lie, I mostly read it for the cover. It's even prettier in person. Then it promised me X-Men combined with Hunger Games and Matched. Well, that just makes you have to pick it up. Now I will say, I don't see where the Hunger Games comes in. But I definitely see the X-Men allusions as well as the similarities to Matched (but thankfully this is not as dreadfully dull as Matched).
This book is clever and is building on this emergence of dystopian/fantasy that I've been noticing (and am all for by the way). Aria is a nice character. Not a brilliant one but I'm pleased to report that she has a backbone, cares about others, and gets that the world doesn't revolve around her starcrossed romance. Her love interest is actually a likeable guy (really nice change) and I actually want these two Romeo and Juliet wannabes to work out. However the strength of this book is more the interesting world that Lawrence has built and the fact that there's always something going on. Lawrence does not bore me to tears with melodrama (though there is some) or constant declarations of love. For once a romance inclined dystopian didn't bore me. Also nice to see was nice writing. Lawrence has great dialogue and nice prose that don't go overboard but aren't bland.
So this was a decent debut. I definitely give the author points for making me interested in a dystopian when one considers just how crowded with dystopian YA has become.
WHO SHOULD READ: Matched fans, X-Men fans, dystopian fans, Urban Fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five Romeo and Juliets who are smarter than Romeo and Juliet

Book Review: Magisterium

TITLE: Magisterium
Book 1 in a series?
AUTHOR: Jeff Hirsch
PUBLISHED: October 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian/Fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Glenn has always lived on the edge of the Rift with her father until one day changes everything she thought she knew.
MY REVIEW: So I've never read Jeff Hirsch's stuff. I know of him. I've heard of The Eleventh Plague and thanks to my anal need to compile release lists for my YA Shelfari group (and for my own benefit, not going to lie) I know the guy is prolific. This is the first book of his I've actually been interested in though. So my thoughts are...mixed to be honest.
On one hand: LOVE the creativity going on in here. For once a world felt fresh and like nothing I expected. I didn't feel that deja vu feeling I often get while reading YA fantasy/dystopian. It was a nice feeling. The plot was also a nice one. Fairly straight forward and not overly complicated though. Glenn...was up and down as a character to be honest. This was mostly focused on adventure so I feel characters got sacrificed a bit for "lets go on a quest! Look, cat person!" Romance wasn't bad but not the point so I can't really bitch about it too much. The writing was pretty average.
So honestly this book was a bit of a mixed bag. It's nice if you're looking for something a bit different but part of me felt it was rather rushed, particularly at the end. I put a question mark at the series part because I felt the author left room for a sequel but none has been announced that I know of yet.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those looking for more adventurey type dystopian/fantasy
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five cat guys

Book Review: The Lies That Bind

TITLE: The Lies That Bind
Book 2 in the Liar Society
AUTHOR: Lisa and Laura Roecker
PUBLISHED: November 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Realistic fiction, drama, mystery
PREMISE: Kate starts getting messages from her dead friend Grace and starts investigating her friends death again.
MY REVIEW: Now we're talking! I was somewhat lukewarm to this series last year. It was fun but a little TOO much like Veronica Mars for me to call it original and I didn't think it was as good as Veronica Mars. While the VM alluisions do continue to persist in this series, it has started to pull away and become it's own thing and it's become stronger as a result.
Still not thrilled about the romance part because I just don't get the connection between the two but character-wise, mystery-wise, and plot-wise this was all a giant leap forward. Writing is still average but not cringe-worthy or anything.
I am far more satisfied with this second book then I was the first book. If like me you were ho hum about the first, give it a second chance. You may find yourself surprised. Now I'm really looking forward to book 3.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of The Liar Society, Veronica Mars fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five sassy girl detectives

Book Review: Finale

TITLE: Finale
Book 4 in the Hush Hush series
AUTHOR: Becca Fitzpatrick
PUBLISHED: October 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Angels, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Nora leads the Nephilem in a war while hiding her relationship with Patch.
MY REVIEW: When I think of Hush Hush I don't think of it with anger like I know most readers do (with good reason, there's tons of problems with this series and all complaints are pretty legit), I think of it with sadness. This series had SO MUCH potential. I mean that second book made me so hopeful that I gave it a higher rating then I probably should have. Unfortunately Fitzpatrick doesn't really think outside the box and thus the series basically wound up being a HUGE let down. I mean, talk about a anti-climatic ending.
One would think a war between angels would be interesting, right? Well, apparently not. See, apparently angels really care about who their leader is dating instead of you know, winning the damn war. So we're treated to a utterly contrived scenario where Nora has to hide her relationship with Patch. Again. Because she's never done that before. And Marcie...oh how I weep for Marcie and all her wasted potential as a character. Marcie could have been the Cordelia of Hush Hush because she's just as awesome, but no...she gets slammed and judged and slut shamed instead. Complete. Utter. Waste. Don't get me started on the completely predictable ending. I'll give you a hint: the only one that dies is a character none of the main characters even care about.
So this series honestly just makes me sad. It could have been ten times better then it actually was. This is like Twilight where I wish the idea had been put into the hands of a better and more ambitious author who wasn't stuck in Epic True Love land.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, fans of the first three books
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five cliches
RATING FOR OVERALL SERIES: Two out of Five sad sighs for such wasted potential

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Resolve to Read in 2013

Happy New Year everyone. So much for that world ending in 2012 stuff, huh? So New Year, new Top Ten Tuesday. Appropriate. This is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books I Resolve to Read in 2013:

1) The rest of the Song of Ice and Fire books-Feast of Crows has been sitting on my shelf all lonely like for about three months now...

2) Anansi Boys (and his two short story books and his new one that he has coming out) by Neil Gaiman-Because it's Neil Gaiman and American Gods was one of my favorite reads last year.

3) The Sabriel Trilogy by Garth Nix-Got this box set for my birthday like two years ago and I haven't picked it up once. I feel really guilty about that...

4) The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Up and ready to go on my Kindle. Hopefully I'll get to it this month.

5) Any John Green book-Meant to last year. Stuff came up.

6) Gunmetal Magic and the newest Kate Daniels books by Ilona Andrews-For some reason I failed to pick up any Andrews last year. What was wrong with me?

7) Iced by Karen Marie Moning-Also totally forgot about Dani's book ;smacks forehead;

8) Finish The Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong-Got up to the halfway mark last year. Lets see if I can get to the final book.

9) Son of Neptune, Serpant's Shadow, and Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan-I'm woefully behind on my Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles crack. I feel really bad about this considering my love of this series.

10) Infernal Devices 2: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare-Seriously, why haven't I read this yet?