Book Review: In the Shadow of Blackbirds

TITLE: In the Shadow of Blackbirds
AUTHOR: Cat Winters
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy, Paranormal
PREMISE: In 1918, young Mary Shelley almost dies but then is brought back and haunted by the spirit of a dead soldier she once liked.
MY REVIEW: I've wavered so much on this book. There are issues I have with it. Mary was kind of a flat character for instance but the story, the writing, and the more complete side-characters more than made up for her. So...ultimately...I'm going to say it was good.
The best thing by far, is the historic details. You guys know I'm all over these historic atmosphere books and Winters does it well. I could vividly picture everything. I wasn't confused for one minute. The research on this time period is fantastic. Kudos writer. Mystery wise...it was okay. Usual paranormal mystery du jour. Not super fantastic, but not horrible. It was interesting enough to get me through the book and I liked the paranormal part of it because it was a genuinely interesting idea.
So issues are here, but I think overall this was a really good debut. I think Winters will be one to watch in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: The Diviners fans, historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five aviator goggles

Book Review: The Program

TITLE: The Program
Book 1 in The Program series
AUTHOR: Suzanne Young
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopianish
PREMISE: Teen suicide has become an epidemic and the only hope for teens is The Program, where teens get sent to and come back completely different...
MY REVIEW: Like most dystopians lately, The Program was a good idea on paper. In actual execution...it was sort of a mess. This is the first Young book I've read, because honestly I had no real interest in reading her stuff beforehand. This was the first one of hers that sounded like something I could get into. But it just didn't click with me.
This is one of those dystopians you need to read with your brain off. Because if you read it while analyzing it, you'll be bothered constantly by the whys and the hows and the what the hell is this things that are never properly explained. Sometimes dystopians like this can work. In Delirium for instance, we know logically that love being declared a disease will never happen in a million years. But Oliver took that what if and made it a reality by thinking the world through and making it a scary reality. In this one, Young never really bothers to explain things like how on earth teen suicide becomes an "epidemic" (never mind how problematic that whole idea is, considering teen suicide is a real legit issue). If Young had took the time to go into details and give me background, etc. I maybe could have gotten into this more. But no, apparently I'm supposed to care about Sloane and her love troubles instead.
Except the problem is, Sloane? Kind of boring. Her love interest? Also dull. Her second love interest? A douche. I've gone over how tired I am of love triangles so I'll spare you that. I'll also spare you how annoying I find it when instead of focusing on the dystopian things in a dystopian book, authors focus on romantic drama instead because you've heard it all from me before.
But here's the thing: this is me. As a actual story...I guess it works. In a way. I imagine that the same way people managed to get into the Chemical Garden Trilogy people can get into this. Unfortunately for the author if I can't get past your dystopian scenario, then I'm likely not to enjoy your dystopian, no matter how romantic you make it. So I rec this for romance fans who don't read many dystopians. Dystopian fans....I'd go elsewhere.
WHO SHOULD READ: Chemical Garden Trilogy Fans, Eve Trilogy fans, dystopian fans more forgiving of sloppy world building, romance fans who read the occasional dystopian
MY RATING: Three out of Five pills

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2013 Book So Far

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

This week: Top Ten Books of 2013 So Far

Though we could do older books, for people's sake, I'm sticking to ones published this year. You don't need more gushing about Games of Thrones and Looking For Alaska because chances are, you already know about them.

1)Lunar Chronicles Book 2: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer-So far, this has been my favorite sequel (the sequel to Unspoken and the last Daughter of Smoke and Bone book haven't come out yet so this may change). It did everything sequels should do: deftly continue the story, introduce new characters who help the story along, and developed previous characters and plot. I seriously cannot wait for Cress.

2) Heist Society series Book 3: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter-Carters books are always a favorite. I have no doubt I will love United We Spy coming out in September as well.

3) Bhinian Empire series Book 1: City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster-A fantasy/mystery and one of the more creative YA books I've read in awhile. It saddens me that it hasn't become more popular.

4) The Archived Book 1: The Archived by Victoria Schwab-I know I'm in the minority here, but I loved this book. I guess it was just too quirky for people or something.

5) Finishing School series Book 1: Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger-I loved the Parasol Protectorate series and it's YA spin-off series did not disappoint me. I can't wait for the second book in November.

6) The Madman's Daughter Trilogy Book 1: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepard-Despite a somewhat shaky middle (and a forced love triangle) this book wound up being a rather decent sequel/expansion of sorts on The Island of Dr. Moreau. Considering the evil cliff hanger, I eagerly anticipate the sequel which apparently is going to involve Frankenstein this time. Bring it.

7) Poison by Bridget Zinn-I love quirky fantasy books (hence my love affair with Pratchett and Dianna Wynne Jones) and this fantasy has that in spades and is just plain enjoyable.

8) Unraveling series Book 2: Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris-Unraveling was a surprise favorite from last year and I wound up loving the sequel just as much.

9) Sister Assassins Book 1: Mind Games by Kiersten White-While I maybe didn't love this as much as the Paranormalcy Trilogy (and believed me, I loved that quite a bit), I did still enjoy it quite a bit and can't wait for the sequel.

10) Shades of London series Book 2: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson-Johnson never disappoints, I loved this just as much as In the Name of the Star, if not more so.

Others I enjoyed that didn't quite make the cut: Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans, Everbound by Brodi Ashton, Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Also Known As by Robin Benway, Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore (literally just finished yesterday), The Essence by Kimberly Derting, Just One Day by Gayle Foreman, Spellcaster by Claudia Gray, Boundless by Cynthia Hand, The Dead and the Buried by Kim Harrington, The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa, Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers, Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley, Prodigy by Marie Lu, Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead, Unbroken by Paula Morris, Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi, Altered by Jennifer Rush, Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, Orleans by Sherri Smith, Icons by Margaret Stohl, 17 and Gone by Nova Ren Suma, Pivot Point by Kasie West, and The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell.

Now you know how hard making this list was for me...

Book Review: Pretty Girl 13

TITLE: Pretty Girl 13
AUTHOR: Liz Coley
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A girl who was kidnapped returns thinking she's still 13 when she's actually 16...
MY REVIEW: I have mixed feelings about this one. Part of the reason it's taken me awhile to post a review is me trying to figure out if I even liked it or not. At the end of the day, I do think it's a good book. But, it probably wouldn't be like the first book I would read if given a choice.
The thing about these type of books is one has to be in the mood for them. It's very good at exploring emotional things and the character study of Angie is very good and I loved Coley's writing. There were just random things about it that bugged me but those were mostly my hang ups and don't necessarily ruin the entire thing. Like I didn't get the point of the teen drama with the back-stabbing friends. I felt the slut shaming aimed at Angie's former friend and one of her personalities was strange considering what happened to Angie while she was gone.
So...there were great things about it. But there were also things in it that I really just don't understand why the author felt the need to have them (the entire plot with Greg and Liz for instance). But for a first novel, it's not bad.
WHO SHOULD READ: Lifetime movie fans, fans of pschology type scenarios
MY RATING: Four out of Five it's complicated characters

Book Review: Requiem

TITLE: Delirium
Book 3 in the Delirium Trilogy
AUTHOR: Lauren Oliver
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, Romance
PREMISE: Lena deals with the return of Alex who no longer loves her as the world falls apart around them.
MY REVIEW: As everyone knows, endings of trilogies can often be tricky things. There is always that difference between what the reader wants to happen (usually meaning everyone winds up alive/happily ever after) and what the author feels is the right way to end things. Usually that upset can cause massive problems (again, I point to Mockingjay which was a perfectly decent ending but readers kept on wailing about it and still grumble about it to this day. I've given up arguing with people who go "well Hunger Games was good but the third book sucked" because I know that discussion is just not going to end well for anyone). So when the complaints about Requiem came in, I wasn't too shocked and took it with a grain of salt because same things have happened to trilogies before.
This is the one time where I kind of understand why people don't like the ending. It's very...abrupt. I feel if this was a four book series and this led up to the finale then everything would be great and I'd be anticipating that next book something fierce. But this is the final book and the ending...isn't really an ending. It's one of those open endings and I frankly don't really care for those. So yeah, the ending of this is a huge problem. I liked the rest of the book just fine. It continued to be great at showing just how much we need love in our society because that fuels things like passion for things, compassion, and essentially our humanity. I love that this trilogy celebrates not just romantic love but all kinds of love from friendship to family love.
So...not the greatest ending. Trilogy is still good and I love the ideas Oliver explored, and as always, the writing is fantastic. It's just not the best ending to a trilogy I've read. I don't think it ruins the entire trilogy like I've seen some people claim, but it's not the best.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read books 1 and 2, Matched fans, Wither Fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five what was that? I don't even know, endings

Book Review: Icons

TITLE: Icons
Book 1 in the Icons series
AUTHOR: Margaret Stohl
PUBLISHED: May 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Dystopian
PREMISE: Ever since the aliens took over Dol and Ro have been in hiding. When they're discovered, their lives change.
MY REVIEW: This is a tricky book to review. I liked it. I didn't love it as much as I loved, say Beautiful Creatures, but I do think it was good. However it has a writing style/way of telling the story that I'm sure will drive some readers mad. It actually took me some getting used too and I liked the book.
The story is interesting enough. It's maybe not the most original thing in the world, but it's entertaining to a degree and has enough of it's own ideas to not be a rip-off of things. It's fast-paced, there's enough romance and action and it's a good lead in for a bigger series.
It's just one of those that isn't going to necessarily appeal to everyone. Which is probably why it's gotten so many mixed reviews. So I liked it, and look forward to the next book, but I rec it with the knowledge that there's a fifty percent chance that the book won't appeal to you.
WHO SHOULD READ: Beautiful Creatures fans, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five alien detention centers

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR List

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

This week: Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR List.

Well, I have a HUGE TBR list. I've managed to knock a few out this year, but they just keep adding awesome looking books. So for your sake (and mine), I'm going to just do books that are being published this summer (up until September 22nd which means Battle Magic and the second Lynburn Legacy book sadly can't make the list).

1) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman-It's Neil Gaiman. Nuff said. Released today.

2) Abandon Trilogy Book 3: Awaken by Meg Cabot-Me, looking forward to a Cabot book. Who's surprised? Yeah, no one. Released July 2nd.

3) American Fairy Trilogy Book 2: Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel-I loved Dust Girl. It was one of my favorites of 2012. I can't wait for the sequel. Released June 25th.

4) Strange and Deadly series Book 2: A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard-I had a good time reading Something Strange and Deadly last year, plus I love me my steampunk. Add in zombies and it was pretty much a given I would enjoy this series. Released July 23rd.

5) Mythos Academy series Book 5: Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep-Always up for an Estep book. Released July 30th.

6) Starglass by Phoebe North-Pretty Cover, awesome sounding summary. I'm in. Released July 23rd.

7) The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White-White handling Egyptian Gods? Sign me up. Released September 10th.

8) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black-It's Holly Black. Plus I loved the short story this is based on and can't wait to see its expansion. Released September 3rd.

9) Gallagher Girls Book 6: United We Spy by Ally Carter-I'm torn between epic sadness and epic jubilation that the final GG book is coming out. Released September 17th

10) Raven Cycle series Book 2: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater-Raven Boys may not have been my favorite thing, but it was still damn good and I can't wait to see what comes of waking the ley lines. I have a feeling this one will be more interesting then the first. Released September 17th.

Also looking forward too: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake, Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst, second Hybrid Chronicles book, Dancer Daughter Traitor Spy, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay, Still Star-Crossed, and hopefully will finally be reading Bitterblue, the final Sookie Stackhouse book, A Dance With Dragons, and catching up on the Elemental Assassin series and Women of the Otherworld series.

Book Review: The Rising

TITLE: The Rising
Book 3 in the Darkness Rising Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, werewolves/shifters
PREMISE: Maya and her friends search for answers as they are hunted by the St. Clouds.
MY REVIEW: Once again, I'm stuck not really having much to say about a series that I've reviewed quite a lot. You guys know by now that I'm a Armstrong fan and that I'm basically all over this series.
Wasn't totally thrilled with the ending of the love triangle but since I was always Team Daniel, I'm not hugely upset by it. I'm just bothered by how Rafe basically took the choice out of Maya's hands. That bugs me. At least allow the person in the middle of the love triangle enough respect to let them make up their mind, damn it.
But the love triangle was never a make it or break it thing for me in this series so not a big deal. Other then that issue, I enjoyed the book as always with this series. Especially since we got to see Derek/Chloe.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, Kelley Armstrong fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five skinwalkers

Stacking the Shelves: June 16th

Sorry this is late, work and Father's Day stuff got in the way.
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week.

Bought at Barnes and Noble:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green-Yes, I'm officially on the John Green bandwagon, even if I still wish people (namely literature snobs) would stop acting like he's an anomaly in the YA section. Green is good, but he's not the only good writer in YA like I've seen a few people claim. Green himself would tell you this isn't the case (because he's awesome like that).

Hex Hall spin-off book 1: School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins (or Hex Hall book 4. Whichever)-I totally forgot this was coming out! Strange, I've seen next to no reviews for it...

Won in Giveaway:
The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny-Historical fiction debut I won in a goodreads giveaway.

Bi-Weekly library haul:

Goodnight Family series Book 2: Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore-I'm always up for a Clement-Moore book (she's seriously underrated) and I adored Texas Gothic so I can't wait to read this follow up which involves my favorite character from Texas Gothic: Daisy. Bring it.

Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley-YA debut I've been meaning to read.

The Engelsfors Trilogy Book 1: The Circle by Sara Elfgren and Mats Strandberg-YA debut/new trilogy that looked interesting.

Strangelets by Michelle Gagnon-YA debut that sounds...interesting.

Wasteland Trilogy Book 1: Wasteland by Susan Kim and Laurance Klaven-YA debut and new trilogy.

The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni-YA debut (seems to be my week for them...) that's a historical mystery of sorts.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters-YA debut that's a historical paranormal mystery thing that sounds like it's made of win.

The Program Book 1: The Program by Suzanne Young-Never read anything by Young before (no interest before) but this one sounded interesting and I've heard good things.

Book Review: I Hunt Killers

TITLE: I Hunt Killers
Book 1 in the Jasper Dent series
AUTHOR: Barry Lyga
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery, thriller
PREMISE: A boy whose father was a serial killer hunts down a copycat killer.
MY REVIEW: This is one of the many books that, had it not been for the blogosphere, I likely wouldn't have bothered to pick up in the first place. I just plain didn't have any interest last year, but these past few months, with the release of the sequel, this book has gained a large following and I've seen it recced right and left and that got me curious. Say what you want about the blogging community, it is good for getting me to look at books I otherwise wouldn't, and for that I do love bloggers (even if we sometimes don't see eye to eye on books).
So is it good? Yes, definitely, but a few things did bug me. For instance, I wasn't crazy about the fact that all the women in the series were victims in some way. Even Connie, awesome as she was (and can we revel in the fact that for once, the female love interest is a PoC?), was routinely manipulated by Jasper and she never really went beyond her role as "I'm the supportive awesome girlfriend". She was a fun character, but she didn't exactly do much and she was probably the best female character in there. That and some plausibility issues made me not love the book as much as everyone else, even if I do think it's a good book.
The main thing for me in this book is the character study of Jasper and how the author goes into the psychology of nature vs nurture, etc. I just love when authors explore characters like this and make you think about the uncomfortable things and Lyga most certainly did that and he did that well. I will definitely be reading the sequel which is out now and apparently made of awesome.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dexter fans, James Patterson fans, those not afraid of gore
MY RATING: Four out of Five knives

Book Review: The Girl With the Iron Touch

TITLE: The Girl With the Iron Touch
Book 3 in the Steampunk Chronicles series
AUTHOR: Kady Cross
PUBLISHED: May 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Steampunk, Romance
PREMISE: Emily is kidnapped and her friends search for her.
MY REVIEW: What can one say about the steampunk chronicles? They're campy fun and they pretty much stay that way.
This one stayed pretty much on the same level as the other two though I kind of wanted to smack Finley and Griffin for messing around every other moment while Emily was gone. It also felt disjointed at times, like the author was afraid there was too much action going on so here, have a cute moment with our couple even if it's really out of place.
So if you loved the first two Steampunk Chronicles books, chances are you'll enjoy this one too.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first two books, steampunk fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five clockwork contraptions

Thank you to Harlequin Teen for the Net Galley

Book Review: Strands of Bronze and Gold

TITLE: Strands of Bronze and Gold
AUTHOR: Jane Nickerson
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Retellings, Historical Fiction
PREMISE: A retelling of the Bluebeard fairytale set in the eighteen hundreds.
MY REVIEW: I wanted to like this one way more then I did. Certainly it was ambitious. I liked that for once, the author chose a lesser known fairy tale instead of the usual Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast/etc. Granted, I don't really know the Bluebeard fairy tale all that well so I can't vouch for how well it's translated here. So this review is mostly focused on the story itself.
I loved Nickerson's writing. She's very a vivid story-teller. I literally could picture everything and had no problem understanding what was going on. So I may or may not pick up another book she's done. However...there were things in this that bothered me way too much. Number one was the slavery angle. It was white savior trope and badly done white savior trope at that. I could go on about how bad it is but I'll spare you my ranting. There also was a problem where every time it got to some of the darker aspects of the tale, the author suddenly shied away and would focus on lighter things like dresses or romance. It was kind of frustrating because some things in here were interesting but never explored the way they should have been in favor of  the lighter things.
So it was a good idea....but I kind of wish the idea had been in the hands of a more seasoned author.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five this could have been better frowns

Book Review: Venom

TITLE: Venom
Book 3 in the Elemental Assassin series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Gin finds her sister Bria in a unexpected way.
MY REVIEW: There's really not much about this series I can add that I haven't already said in my previous two reviews.
I love that Estep didn't drag out meeting Bria. I love that we don't get a dragged out waffling where Owen is concerned. Estep manages to avoid all the pitfalls of most UF long series and still makes it damn entertaining.
In short, still good. Can't wait to read more.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read books one and two, UF fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five snowflake necklaces

Book Review: Looking For Alaska

TITLE: Looking For Alaska
AUTHOR: John Green
PUBLISHED: 2006
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Realistic Fiction, Drama
PREMISE: Miles goes off to boarding school and meets the girl of his dreams: Alaska Young.
MY REVIEW: Reviewing books as big as this is always hard for me because really, what can I say that hasn't already been said about this book? You probably already know about the Catcher in the Rye illusions, how Alaska is a deconstruction of the manicpixiedreamgirl trope, and so on and so forth.
So I'll just say this: I really liked it. John Green is a great writer, I get why he's a big thing and the hype is totally deserved (even if it's maybe a bit overdone as usual with most hype). I am now most definitely going to be reading his other stuff as soon as I can get to it. I have a lot on my tbr owned books pile so bear with me.
I will however also say this: please please please stop acting like John Green is the ONLY good writer in the YA category. I direct this mostly to the outsiders of YA. Most YA readers/bloggers probably know this already, but Green is not the only good writer in YA. In fact, much as I loved Looking for Alaska it's not terribly different from other YA books I've read such as 13 Little Blue Envelopes, or If I Stay. Yet I never hear Maureen Johnson or Gayle Forman referred to as literary greats even though they write very similar stories. I have to say that bugs the hell out of me.
But that is not John Green's fault. He'd probably the first to tell you he's not the only author in YA worth reading. Because from what I've seen in his (very hilarious) vlogs, he's pretty humble about everything. So yes, John Green is a good author, you should totally read him. But he's not the ONLY good YA author there.
WHO SHOULD READ: John Green fans, Maureen Johnson fans, Gayle Forman fans, Stephanie Perkins fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five thumbs up

Book Review: Furious

TITLE: Furious
AUTHOR: Jill Wolfson
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mythology redux
PREMISE: Three girls have had enough of the rotten treatment they're getting in their school and become furies.
MY REVIEW: Sigh. WHY is it so hard for YA to do a decent book with furies? The only books I've read that have done furies in a logical/tolerable way is the Starcrossed series and the furies weren't even the main thing going on in that book.
Like another fury book, Fury, this one tries to tie in furies to modern day high school. It's a great concept but once again: bad execution. The writing is decent and I like how the author tried to follow the greek tragedy formula but she made the same mistake of Fury: she didn't make her characters likable. I do get that not all characters HAVE to be the best person in the world. I mean if that were the case, Game of Thrones wouldn't be popular. But you should at least make them tolerable or help the reader understand where they're coming from and why they are acting the way they are. A lot decisions the girls made in this book didn't make one lick of sense to me and that's mostly because the characters are poorly developed stereotypes who aren't given clear personalities.
The take on furies was interesting, but the rest of it was just a mess. I really wanted to like this one more then I did. Maybe from now on I'll just avoid YA books with furies. It seems YA doesn't really know what to do with them.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the Fury Trilogy, greek myth fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five hot messes

Book Review: Nameless

TITLE: Nameless
Book 1 in the Tale of Beauty and Madness series
AUTHOR: Lili St. Crow
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling mash-up
PREMISE: In this UF take on Snow White, Cami was discovered and adopted nameless and mute. Now sixteen, she starts to learn the secrets of her birth and heritage...
MY REVIEW: I tried to get into this one. It's a retelling and I love retellings. But this one just didn't click with me for some reason. I can't put my finger on why. I think part of it is that I don't particularly see this as a Snow White retelling. It was more a story that had some illusions to Snow White (there's an apple for instance, a hairpin which is part of the original SW, and the hunter), but bears little resemblance to SW. It kind of bugs me when authors say it's one thing, but really it's just the bare minimum to pass as that thing because that thing happens to be popular and sell well in YA. Saw it in Showalter's Alice in Zombieland, and it's the same deal here.
Though at least this is more tolerable then Alice in Zombieland even if it didn't click with me. I can imagine other readers getting into it, particularly those of the UF persuasion. I just have read way to many similar stories to this to really call it original.
So this was...okay. I'm just not very eager to continue it. Sometimes books just don't click with you and it's not that they're really bad, it's just you and the book. That is what happened with me and Nameless.
WHO SHOULD READ: Once Upon a Time fans, Alex Flinn fans, fairy-tale mash-up fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five apples

Book Review: Unbreakable

TITLE: Unbreakable
Book 2 in the Unraveling series
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Norris
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction, Adventure
PREMISE: Janelle's world has been changed forever ever since Ben left, now she has to work with an unlikely ally to find him as well as people who have gone missing from her own world.
MY REVIEW: Unraveling was one of those happy surprises for me last year. It hadn't gotten tons of reviews so I knew little about it beyond the summary. I wound up loving the hell out of it. So much so that Unbreakable has been one of my anticipated books of the year.
And it did not disappoint. Norris builds one what happened in the last book and takes the story to Fringe territory. As someone who just recently started to watch Fringe (only on beginning of the second season) I love this. But it's also not a total rip-off and manages to be it's own unique thing.
So if you loved Unraveling, chances are you'll love the second book just as much. This is a great sequel, I can't wait for the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Unraveling, Fringe fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five parallel universes

Book Review: Foretold

TITLE: Foretold
Book 4 in the Demon Trappers series
AUTHOR: Jana Oliver
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban fantasy, Romance
PREMISE: The demon trappers series comes to an end as Riley helps Rafe solve a murder from his past and confronts the evil that has been haunting her.
MY REVIEW: Well, if you're a demon trappers fan who was mainly there for the Rafe/Riley stuff, you're in luck. This book makes it happen and neither die.
If you wanted more from this series because you felt it could have more...you may be slightly disappointed by a rather predictable ending.
But it ended in a way that satisfying for all so really, can't complain too loudly.
WHO SHOULD READ: Demon Trappers fans, UF fans, Richelle Mead fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five grade 5 demons

Stacking the Shelves: June 2nd

Apologies for lateness, I had a weird work shift today...
This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews that tells people what new books we've received over the week.

Bi-Weekly book haul:

Darkness Rising Trilogy Book 3: The Rising by Kelley Armstrong-FINALLY off of reserve. Yeesh. Took three tries to get this.

Vampire Huntress Legend series book 1: Minion by L. A. Banks-Me trying out the UF series that I should have read long ago.

Elemental Assassin series Book 3: Venom by Jennifer Estep-Already reading and am loving it as always with Estep.

I Hunt Killers Book 1 by Barry Lyga-2012 book I originally had no interest in, but have seen a few rave reviews about and so have changed my mind.

Colors of Madeleine Book 1: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty-Start of a new trilogy that sounds interesting.

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson-2013 debut that looks awesome.

Icons book 1: Icons by Margeret Stohl-It's going to be interesting reading Stohl's book (as well as Garcia's book coming out later this year) and seeing what their writing is like separate from each other. Plus, this one sounds awesome. It's one of my anticipated books of the year.

Book Review: Boundless

TITLE: Boundless
Book 3 in the Unearthly Trilogy
AUTHOR: Cynthia Hand
PUBLISHED: January 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Angels, Urban Fantasy, Romance
PREMISE: Clara deals with college, growing up, and trying to move on from her breakup with Tucker.
MY REVIEW: Last books in trilogies are always tricky things. Everyone always has those things they want to happen and usually it doesn't and people will ultimately get upset about it (see Mockingjay backlash). While I didn't love EVERYTHING about Boundless, it was good and satisfying ending.
I will say there were a few things that disappointed me. The baby thing was really unnecessary but then I tend to get twitchy eyed whenever YA tries to tackle teen pregnancy because they are never handled properly unless it's specifically about teen pregnancy and even then... Plus it was just a whole one-eighty for Angela's character. Honestly, I didn't get the purpose of that whole story line at all. As someone who loved Angela...that annoyed me. I also felt annoyed by Christian's exit because that was rather unresolved in my opinion (and I'm not even Team Christian) but I have a feeling the author is doing that to give us a spin-off about Christian. So I wouldn't be surprised if we get an announcement about a book (or series) for him soon. Such is the way of the YA publishing world. Another one who could possibly get a spin-off is Jared because again: many unresolved issues.
But at least I got my Team Tucker ending but really, even that was kind of obviously going to happen. I would have really been shocked if she had ended up with Christian. I wouldn't have been dismayed (I never put much stock into these team battles really, even if Tucker was my favorite), but I would have been surprised. But this brought Clara's character full circle and it ended her story so really I can't complain too loudly even if I don't like everything that happened.
WHO SHOULD READ: Unearthly Trilogy fans, angel book fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five feathers