Ditched August Books

Here are the books I wound up ditching in August and why I ditched them.

TITLE: Belle's Song
AUTHOR: K. M. Grant
PUBLISHED: 2012 (2012 debut)
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical fiction
PREMISE: Girl goes on religious pilgramage. Pretty much it.
REASON I DITCHED IT: One word: BORING! Nicely written. But dull, dull, dull. The main character was flat as all get out and a whiny flat character at that and after about a hundred pages of me going "what is the point of all this?" I finally gave up because after a hundred pages if I don't care then I won't be motivated to finish your book.

TITLE: Glimmer
AUTHOR: Phoebe Kitandis
PUBLISHED: 2012 (another debut, gotta say 2012 class you all are not impressing me this year)
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal romance thing
PREMISE: A boy and a girl wake up with no memory of each other or themselves and try to clue themselves in.
WHY I DITCHED IT: Mostly time crunch. It was due in the library and I just wasn't feeling the book so I decided not to bother. Plus the main girl Elise was driving my last nerve with her judgemental slut shaming. Seriously YA authors: ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN SLUT SHAMING. It's really starting to get on my nerves to the point I will stop reading books that have it and don't even try to hide it. And please don't tell me that the main character being horrified to find out that she was blonde, a cheerleader, wore sexy clothes, and slept with her boyfriend was not in anyway slut shaming. That was another thing that bugged me about this book: stereotypes galore. Maybe the mystery would have been worth dealing with the super annoying characters and the slut shaming but somehow, I doubt it.

TITLE: Above
AUTHOR: Leah Bobet
PUBLISHED: 2012 (another debut)
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban fantasy thing.
PREMISE: Um....there's people with gifts a la X-Men and their hunted is basically what I got from it.
WHY I DITCHED IT: It was utterly confusing and the author failed to make me care in the first half of the book in order to make sense of all the confusion. I will say the world was interesting but I just couldn't understand half of what was going on because the author failed to explain any of it. 

Book Review: Losers in Space

TITLE: Losers in Space
AUTHOR: John Barnes
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: parody/science fiction/dystopian
PREMISE: A group of teens in the future have a plan to get famous in a future where fame is everything. But then things go wrong...
MY REVIEW: So this book is kind of difficult for me to review. A large part of me loved the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy sort of feel to it. I totally got what the author was trying to say with it and I dug the overall message. Plus the notes for the interested could sometimes get hilarious and I adore the snarkiness of the authors note in the beginning. If you think he's kidding about the "hardcore" science fiction readers, no. He seriously isn't.
On the other hand though...another part of me found it hard to get into. Mostly because I found the characters endlessly irritating. I don't think there was one character I liked. I mean the MC had her moments for sure but her intro was ruined by how just plain bitchy she was and still was through out the novel. Flawed characters are interesting sure, but when you find it hard to actually like anyone...that's a problem. Plus, as fun as the snarky tone of the book was, it dragged. Like a lot.I'd wadger about a hundred pages or so could have been cut. It's bad when you find the notes explaining things in the world more interesting then the actual plot itself.
So my conundrum is: I find the book well written and I like the ideas going on in it....but it's rather boring and I don't see many people, except for really big science fiction readers getting into this.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fans, parody fans, Terry Pratchett fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five broken space ships

Book Review: Shine

TITLE: Shine
Book 3 in the Shade Trilogy
AUTHOR: Jeri Smith-Ready
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
PREMISE: When Aura's boyfriend Zachery is taken by the DMP she does her best to find him.
MY REVIEW: This is a paranormal romance trilogy that I greatly enjoyed. Yes, there are a few flaws in it. I'm still a little fuzzy on a few things. But overall, this trilogy was strong and I am going to be looking into the author's adult books and I hope she does more YA. Because YA could use more of this.
Aura is a likeable heroine. She is proactive, she doesn't sit there and whine, she goes out and gets stuff done. Yes, a large part of the plot revolved around her love for Zachery but I actually buy this romance and see why they work so well so I don't mind it. It's actually a healthy relationship. Plus, Aura's friends are fabulous. Megan and Siobhan rock so hard. Can we marvel at the fact that there's actual female friendship in this? No frienimies stuff. It's refreshing to see. On top of that, the plot around the DMP is actually interesting and makes some sort of sense. This is a very interesting world that the author has come up with. Overall this was a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy.
I for one am very sorry that this trilogy is coming to an end. It's been a fun ride. Like I said, I hope the author writes more YA but if not, I'll read anything else she chooses to write.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read books 1 and 2, paranormal romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five shady agencies 

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Bookish Confessions

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

My Top Ten Bookish Confessions

1) I know my library card number by heart. I use the library reserve system basically all the time and the reserve system online requires you to put in your number every time you reserve a book so really it's my library's fault.

2) The librarians have gotten so used to me reserving a big batch of books every two seeks that they just put my books on the bottom shelf in a basket for me.

3) I hate the New York Times (and others) Bestseller List. Well, hate may be a strong word. But I strongly dislike how it makes mediocre and bad books popular, and how lazy book readers (ie people who don't actually read books all that often) use it to judge whether or not a book is worth it. If I had a dime for every casual reader who used the "well it's on the bestseller list so it must be good!" aruguement on me, I'd be a very rich girl. On the other hand, sometimes it does every so often point the way to decent books. So it's sort of a neccessary evil I guess for me. I dislike it, but at the same time it can sort of help.

4) I don't think I've ever liked or have been interested in a Oprah Winfrey book. I have read and liked The Color Purple but that was for class. I probably would have never been interested in it otherwise. Oprah's taste and mine just do not mesh at all.

5) I have never read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In my defense I plan on fixing this problem very soon so I can go see the movie. I have a rule where I don't see a book adaptation unless I've read said book.

6) I am a Nerdfighter...who has never read John Green. I know, I know, I suck. I have been to Green's nerdfighter sight and I read his blog and I think Green is a very awesome guy. I've just never gotten around to picking up his stuff. Again, I plan on fixing that sometime this year. Probably will be reading The Fault in Our Stars soon.

7) I don't hate Hush Hush as much as I know I should. To be clear, I don't think the books are fabulous. Patch/Nora is HUGE problamatic relationship, it's definitely cliche, and the writing is gag worthy sometimes. But...I get why people like it and I will be reading the Finale. I don't buy the books though because I refuse to support authors who have problamatic relationships like this in their books.

8) I read Twilight fanfiction. Mostly of the Leah variety. I tend to stay away from the Bella/Edward fics unless said fic has Bella becoming badass and dumping Edward's butt. What can I say? Twilight is one of the rare cases where I honestly think a large part of the fanfic writers are more talented then the writer of the original book.

9) I don't think Wuthering Heights is a romance novel and it irritates me to no end how people constantly call it one. WH is a gothic novel. That happens to have a romatic subplot. If one can call Catherine and Heathcliff's obsession with each other romantic. I particularly don't think it's romantic but I'm apparently in the minority.

10) I have had the Sabriel Trilogy on my bookshelf because it was given to me as a gift for about two years now but I haven't read it yet. Maybe I should get on that....

Book Review: Until I Die

TITLE: Until I Die
Book 2 in the Revenants series
AUTHOR: Amy Plum
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal/romance
PREMISE: Kate gets used to life with Vincent when startling things about the Revenants reveal themselves...
MY REVIEW: Well...I do feel this was a improvement over the first book. All my previous issues still stand though, especially when it comes to the piles of YA cliches that are in here. Number one being Vincent/Kate are a sappy and slightly bland couple. But they're still better then previous couples such as Patch/Nora so I guess it could be worse.
I will say though, this book actually made me like Kate. I had nothing huge against her in the first one, I just found her rather boring. Kate still has a long way to go before she becomes a fully fledged character but in this one she actually is sort of proactive. She takes steps to protecting herself, she doesn't sit back and wait for Vincent to give her all the answers, and she has quit it with the emo thing. All in all, a vast improvement from book 1 Kate. There were also some plot twists at the end I wasn't expecting so that was nice to see although I don't for a minute believe that Vincent is really dead. Please. I gaurentee you, he will be back next book. Probably just as Jules makes his move on Kate and then there goes the love triangle plot for book 4. Yeah, sorry I just don't have much faith in YA creativity. Been burned too many times.
But all in all this was a improvement over the second book though I still say the series as a whole is average. It's a fun average though and well worth a library read.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read Die for Me, Paranormal romance fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five pretty dresses

September 2012 Book Picks

Here are all the books in the month of September 2012 that I'm eager for and you can expect a review for in the future. Eventually.

YA:

The Diviners Book 1 by Libba Bray.-Because it's Libba Bray back to doing historical fantasy. Bring it.

The Lynburn Legacy Book 1: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan-Three new series out by three of my favorite authors. This September is like Christmas for me.

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron-Yay for more steampunk YA! I totally approve of this trend!

The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox-With a name like that, I have to give this a look.

Croak Book 2: Scorch by Gina Damico-I really enjoyed Croak which was a combination of Percy Jackson and Dead Like Me. Looking forward to book 2.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst.-Because I'm always up for a Durst book. She's such a wonderfully creative fantasy author.

Darkwater by Catherine Fisher.-A new book from the author of the very underrated Incarceron books.

Gone with the Respite Book 2: Dearly Beloved by Lia Habel-Dearly Departed was a fun read for me. Granted, zombies as a love interest will forever be wierd but this book made me like it.

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley.-Honestly this one I'm little wary of but I'm going to give it a shot because of all the buzz it's getting. Just don't be shocked if it turns out I don't like it.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan.-Fantasy sort of thing that looks like it could be cool.

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr.-Another favorite author with a book out this month. Did I mention it was a early Christmas?

Undead by Kirsty McKay-2012 debut that looks like a fun zombie romb. I'm in.

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.-It's Patterson. I'm pretty much up for anything he does.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett.-One of my favorite authors tackling Dickens? YES PLEASE!

Raven Cycle Book 1: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater-Because it's Maggie Stiefvater. Though I need to get to Forever...

White Rabbit Chronicles Book 1: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter-So I've tried Showalter before and was less then impressed. I'm hoping I'll like her YA books better then her adult ones. Besides, with a awesome title like that, how can I not give this a try?

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yasutaka Tsutsui. English translation of a very popular book from Japan. Some of you may know its anime movie counterpart.

Birthright Book 2: Because it is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin-Because I really liked All These Things I've Done despite it's slight emoness.

Adult:

The Revivalist Book 2: Two Weeks Notice by Rachel Caine-A fun UF series even if it's not very original. Although when I was in BN yesterday, I could have sworn I saw this book...;side-eyes BN;

Incarnation by Emma Cornwall-Awesome looking book about Lucy from Dracula who is not too pleased with her portrayal in the book. This sounds so awesome.

The Lotus War Book 1: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff.-Cool looking fantasy book.

The White Forest by Adam McOmber.-Fantasy that sounds like it might be fun.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.-Judging from the net I seem to be in the minority in the fact that I'm happy Rowling is doing something completely different from Potter. She's doing what authors should do: different things. Do I expect this to be the next Potter? Probably not. Do I expect to love it as much as I love HP? Nope. But it's Rowling so I'm sure the book will be good. I have a feeling poor Rowling is basically going to hear "Well...it's okay but it's not Harry Potter" in like every other review for this and probably every other book she writes for the rest of her life.

Spellmason Chronicles series: Alchemystic by Anton Strout-Fun looking UF. Though I have to say, the cover and the idea remind me strongly of the old Disney cartoon Gargoyles (an awesome show, watch if you can ever find recordings).

So those are the books I hope to read eventually for the blog from September 2012. How on earth I'm going to accomplish this, I do not know.

Stacking the Shelves: August 26th

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. Please forgive any typos you may see. I just bought a new laptop because my old one decided it was done working and I'm still getting used to the new keyboard which is different then the one I had. Plus I'm getting used to internet that doesn't quit on me every ten minutes...

So this week I actually got to a bookstore! So I may have went a little crazy with the books...Whatever, I'm making up for not buying books these past few months.

Downloaded to Kindle:

Austenland Book 2: Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale-What can I say, I got a kick out of Austenland. It was silly and predictable but it was fun and fed my Austen fix. I managed to snag this book when it was a daily deal.

Bought Books:

Anna Book 2: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake-The sequel to one of my favorite books from last year. Reading this one to gear myself up for Halloween.

Abandoned Trilogy Book 2: Underworld by Meg Cabot-Because I am a Cabot fangirl for life. Granted Abandon isn't my favorite of hers but I still think it's one of the better eighty million Penelope retelling myths that we got last year.

Parasol Protectorate series Book 5: Timeless by Gail Carriger-This series is my steampunk guilty pleasure. It's another series that is sadly ending, but hey, she has a YA series starting up in the same world next year so it's not all bad.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.-I loved American Gods and I can't wait to read the sequel.

Hex Hall Trilogy Book 3: Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins-Gah, I'm going to miss Sophie and friends so much but I can't wait to read this.

Paranormalcy Trilogy Book 3: Endlessly by Kiersten White.-Another trilogy that I'm really going to miss ( I adore Evie to no end) but it looks like White will be writing some new stuff and I'm all for authors trying out new things.

TITLE: Ripper
Book 1 in the new Ripper series
AUTHOR: Amy Carol Reeves
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fiction, mystery, paranormal
PREMISE: Abbie works at a hospital in 1888 when the Jack the Ripper murders start to occur.
MY REVIEW: I...wanted to like this more then I did. Unfortunitely it was just a bit to absurd and dull for me to say this was brillaint. On one hand the idea was interesting. I mean Jack the Ripper! Paranormal activity! This should have been right up my ally. Unfortunately Abbie tried my patience too much for me to actually like this book.
Abbie is frankly a Mary Sue. She doesn't feel like she belongs in the 1800s at all. I mean really author, a girl learning knife- throwing back then? People LETTING her learn knife-throwing? Are you serious? Abbie was clearly what the author wanted her main character to be like regardless of the fact that in the eighteen hundreds a girl like this wouldn't exist. Even if she grew up in Dublin. It doesn't help that she basically falls for William right away after a hand full of conversations, that there's a forced love triangle that was utterly pointless, and that it's utterly absurd that a police officer back then would seriously ask a woman for help in a investigation of a serial murderer.
Plus, it's honestly dull. I think I sleep read through the middle part of the book which is just a bunch of pointless drama that wasn't really neccessary. Look, I get that some liberties can be taken when you're doing a historical novel and especially when you're doing a paranormal historical novel. But there's liberties, and then just being completely unrealistic about how women were handled/treated back then. While there is some entertainment to be had here....it sort of just feels underwhelming.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fiction fans (who don't mind huge inaccuracies about the time period)
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five wtf endings

Book Review: Glow

 

 

TITLE: Glow
Book 1 in the Sky Chasers series
AUTHOR: Amy Kathleen Ryan
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction, dystopian, drama
PREMISE: Waverly and Kieran get tested as they're split apart by another ship coming and taking Waverly hostage.
MY REVIEW: Glow...is not a bad book persay. It just didn't really suit me at all. The characters were flat and boring. The situations were dark and all but really I felt it was mostly there to shock you and didn't really serve much purpose. And I didn't care for the way the author handled the religious aspects that much.
First of all: why is it every author who insists on putting religion into science fiction always tends to assume that Christianity will be the only religion practiced and that it'll still be practiced the same way? This bugs me to no end. What, Buddhism isn't around anymore? Jewish people are dead? Also apparently in the future, everyone is white. At least according this book. I'm sorry but considering how new Christianity is in terms of religion and how much even now it has issues, I find it really hard to believe this will be the only religion practiced. If that wasn't bad enough, I can't figure out what the author is trying to say here. Is she for religion or against it? Because in the beginning it really felt like she was writing the typical religious book: all good people are religious, all bad people aren't. Yadda yadda. But then suddenly there's a shift and then it's all the religious people are bad, everyone else is good! While I am not really a fan of organized religion (it's been used too much for people to make excuses for things like racism, slavery, the Crusades, etc for me to really be a fan) I think making all religious people out to be pious jerks...is not a good thing. For every rightous religious person I've met, there's also been a awesome religious person who's actually sat and read the bible and forms their own opinions about it. So I sort of think this is a big problem with this book. On one hand though, it does give people much thought so I guess it could be worse.
So honestly I'm terribly split on this book. I'm not fond of it that much. There's a good chance I won't be picking up the second. But it does open up the table for discussion about religion and I do think that's a good thing. I just wish the author had done it in better ways. Though I have to say the one thing that bugs me about this: WHAT DOES THE TITLE HAVE TO DO WITH THE BOOK? No really, does anyone know why this is called Sky Chasers? There were no Sky Chasers here. There was no glowing either. So what does the title have to do with ANYTHING?
WHO SHOULD READ: Christians (who are open-minded), science fiction fans, those that don't mind darkness in their YA
MY RATING: Three out of Five spaceships

Book Review: The Death Cure





TITLE: The Death Cure
Book 3 in the Maze Runner Trilogy
AUTHOR: James Dashner
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, adventure
PREMISE: Thomas and his friends try to run from WICKED.
MY REVIEW: Yeah...okay. Here's the thing: this trilogy has gone steadily downhill since the first book for me. While I wasn't crazy about the first, I got why it was popular and the mysteries were enough that I kept reading. But then the second book happened and things continued to be confusing. Now the third book has happened and honestly I still can't tell you what the hell happened in it. It makes no sense. Also that summary in the back is a total lie: THERE WERE NO ANSWERS. Like, at all. Really, Dashner? Really?
If that wasn't frustrating enough I still don't see any character developement happening here at all. Teresa's death was sort of sad but not as sad as it should have been because frankly I barely knew her to begin with. All I knew about her was that she could mind speak with Thomas (and this is NEVER EXPLAINED). I can tell you I found it extremely irritating that Teresa gets villainized by the guys because she has the sheer nerve to question them and everything they're going through. Minho calls her a pill. But Brenda comes along, betrays them, but then is welcomed back to the fold once she helps them escape and the boys just love her. I mean she never questions Thomas. Please, author. Just...please.
I'm sorry but this entire trilogy was sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. I still can't tell you anything about the characters themselves other then they hung out in a maze together. I still don't have my answers about who they are. I don't know what WICKED's deal really is. This trilogy as a whole is frankly dissatsifying. The next Hunger Games my butt.
WHO SHOULD READ: boys, those that liked the first two and aren't bothered by lack of answers.
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five unanswered questions. For the trilogy as a whole: Three out of Five for a dissatisfying ending and again: NO ANSWERS.