Tag: read

Review: The Elite (#2) by Kiera Cass

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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The Selection began with thirty-five girls.
Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?
America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America’s chance to choose is about to slip away.

What can I say? I finished this book in a day. I might have been sick and in bed resting at the time, but it’s still rare for me to get through books this quickly! I can’t help it or control myself, these books are so addictive even though I can still see the problems with them.

For one, not much happened? Which sounds weird to say because I got through it so quick, but even though not much happened I still enjoyed the slight plot. If I’m right in saying, this book started with 6 girls in the Selection and ended with 5. But I have to say, I did enjoy the other details, even if they seemed a little absurd sometimes.

“You know you’ve found something amazing, and you want to hold on to it forever;”

As with book one, America did kind of annoy me but I still can’t help but like her sometimes! But I have to say, predictability has officially gone out the window…yay! I can’t believe that I honestly didn’t know where this book was going, and I think that’s why I wanted to carry on reading so much.

“and every second after you have it, you fear the moment you might lose it.”

The love triangle thing does get a little old, I’m not going to lie. There were some times when I kind of wanted to push America off a cliff at points for not being able to decide what she wants. But even though America does annoy me, I can’t help but relate to her struggles sometimes. I’m a hopeless romantic and I couldn’t help but understand why she was confused sometimes.

So again, this series continues to win my heart in the end. I can’t help but love this book and I can’t wait to start the next one!

★★★
3 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

This book honestly really surprised me! I thought I was over cutesy YA romances like this but it turns out I can’t help but have a soft spot for them. And it also turns out that my friend Amy knows me even better than I know myself, because she sent this to me knowing how much I’d love it!

Before I start, this book isn’t perfect. I’d rather finish on the good, so I’m going to start with the little bad there is. Even though I enjoyed it, it is predictable and all of the characters have their…problems. For example, there was a few places that made me cringeeee. Basically, Molly (the main character), talks to her cousin Abby and the conversation almost suggests Abby is a slut because she slept with her serious boyfriend of 4 months. Why is that even a consideration? It’s up to Abby whether she sleeps with her boyfriend or not. If they were ready at 4 months, great. If they were ready sooner, great.

“You would matter. That’s the thing. I get into this weird place sometimes where I worry about that.”

But apart from a few little things, I did love this book. I had to put myself into my mind a year or two ago, but I couldn’t help but really enjoy this. It is exactly how I felt when I was Molly’s age and crushing. She felt so real to me. I love how much I could relate to her and her situation. Molly wasn’t perfect but who is? And this book was so diverse, with so many LGBT and POC characters! Sometimes I struggled to remember Molly was still growing up (I was a little more mature than her at the same age), but that was just her as a person, and I could sympathise with that.

“I’ve never told anyone this – not my moms, not Cassie – but that’s the thing I’m most afraid of. Not mattering. Existing in a world that doesn’t care who I am.”

Maybe this book says something about me, because I feel like I’m one of the only readers who didn’t find Molly a little annoying because I found her so relatable. I loved that Molly suffered with anxiety and that was part of her character. I loved that she was fat and that was discussed in relation to how she was feeling. I loved her addiction to Pinterest.

So overall, this book feels like a guilty pleasure to me. I just couldn’t help but fall completely in love with it. Molly is the perfect representation of a 17 year old girl with low self-confidence. Her story, and the stories of the people around her, brought tears to my eyes even though I kind of knew what was about to happen. If you love romance and have a secret obsession with contemporaries, please go and read this. It’s beautiful and perfect and includes many, many Mini Eggs. It’s the definition of cute and fluffy, but it warmed my heart so much.

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.
After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.
The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval…the games have only just begun.

I loved this book. But did it capture my heart? Not exactly, and that little fact makes me want to cry. You see, Legendary, for me, had a hell of a lot to live up to. Caraval was something extremely special, and it absolutely captured my heart. When I finished that book, I made mood boards and playlists. It made me feel like magic was really woven between the beautiful paper pages.

And although I still really loved and admired this gorgeous book, I don’t feel as though my heart has been captured right now. It’s really hard to describe what was wrong here, but I’m going to try. For a start, it took me a week to read. And yes, that’s a personal thing, and I have a lot on my mind at the moment, but I just didn’t feel as though I needed to be inside the pages of this book all the time. Trust me, there were parts when I couldn’t stop reading, but it wasn’t so constant.

“Her heart was still a little heavy,”

Let’s talk about the things I love. Well, I love Tella. I felt as though there has been enough space between the first book so I wasn’t too sad about missing Scarlett as a narrator, and I really liked Tella’s character. She just felt real – she had her own difficult decisions and confusion and she didn’t always know where her life was heading. I loved her struggles and her torture, because it made her the relatable and lovable girl she is.

I also really enjoyed the story and other characters. I liked the way Legendary explores Tella’s relationships and friendships with not just her mother but with many other characters. They provided a really interesting development for me, and I did want to read on to find out which paths Tella was about to choose. Can I just also mention something? THE LOVE. AHHH. Okay. So Garber still leaves me shipping couples, and the romance was definitely the best part of this book for me. God, Garber knows how to write romance and kisses.

“but she’d decided carrying it around would only maker her stronger.”

So thinking about all this, compared to other books, this one could easily be 5 stars. However, I can’t help but compare this to Caraval. And that makes me feel as though this series has just lost it’s vibrancy. I really wanted more vivid descriptions of the world and game itself, as I remember Caraval being very setting heavy. And that’s the reason why, I’m sorry to say, I’m going to give this one…

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they’ll find seven months after the invasion? 
Meanwhile, Kady’s cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza’s ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha’s past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 
With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Wow, unpopular opinion much. I know there is much love around this series and I’m sorry, but my opinion seems to be the complete opposite of what everyone else thinks. Oops.

Oh my god. I didn’t think it could get any worse, but reading my review of Gemina, I think I actually liked this one even less. The bottom line is, I was just even more confused because there are way too many characters in these books! Let’s just have a quick throwback to me a couple of years ago when Illuminae came out. I was where everyone else was, fangirling over this new book with a completely new style of reading. I honestly think it was just so refreshing to read something so different, but since then, both books that followed just seem like retellings of the same world. I can’t help but feel that success, rather than love made the authors release the other two.

“May we meet again on distant shores.”

And another thing I hate about not only having so many characters, but also the camera surveillance way this story is told? I felt so damn detached. Yeah, this book is emotional and yeah, I loved the poetic parts. But I still don’t give a damn what happened. Sorry for my cold heart and black soul.

Like 80% (at least) of this book was just boring and I couldn’t focus. Only a small number of pages actually made me feel like I was invested or involved in the book at all. But on the other hand, this really small amount of pages…were awesome. I loved them, I felt completely in the world and I felt the emotion. And I guess I do have one popular opinion, because I LOVE AIDAN. Like, I flicked through the whole book looking for those black pages. I loved his parts, and I wanted so much more. If only the book was just AIDAN…

“Some place fine and far from here.”

But that’s where the good stuff ends, and other than that, I was so disappointed. I wanted it to all end so I could read better things. I’m glad I managed to finish this series, but that’s about it.

Well don’t let the fact that I disliked this one put you off – it’s such an unpopular opinion after all!

★★
2 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Last Place on Earth by Carol Snow

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Daisy and Henry are best friends, and they know all each other’s secrets.  Or, so Daisy thinks, until she wakes up one morning to find that Henry and his family have disappeared without a trace. Daisy suspects Henry’s disappearance is connected to their seriously awkward meeting the night before, but then she finds a note from Henry, containing just the words “SAVE ME.”  Deeply worried, Daisy convinces her unemployed brother to take her on a rescue mission into the California mountains. As they begin to home in on Henry’s exact location, they also start to find some disturbing clues… clues that call into question everything Daisy believes she knows about her friend.  Why is he so hard to find? What kind of trouble is he in, exactly? And most importantly, who is actually saving who?

To start, can we just take a look at this cover? I picked this up for myself as a little present for being accepted into university, and it was definitely a cover buy. But it actually didn’t disappoint – at least not completely!

This book is definitely a page-turner. It’s so quick and easy, I read it in a matter of hours and I never really read that quickly! It’s quite enthralling and entertaining, and I did really want to know what was going to happen in the rambling plot. Talking of the plot, it started really well. The first 50-100 pages completely captured my attention, and then things get strange. In fact, this book turns weirdddd. And I’m a little weird, but it might even be weirder than me. It just turned into something I wasn’t ready for, or expecting at all.

So this book ends up being just completely absurd. Without giving away a lot of spoilers, it felt incredibly strange and random and I was left almost laughing with the pure anti-realism of it all. It’s cool that Snow wanted to explore something unique and not really covered in YA, and in some ways I think it’s done really well, but also what what what.

Talking of weirdness, this book also includes a family called the Dunkles. This family has 7 children with names all beginning with K and they were, of course, home schooled. Can I just confirm, as someone who was home schooled for 6 years, WE ARE NOT THE DUNKLES. Some of us are actually pretty normal, and live in normal houses with normal, conventional families. And personally, I don’t want my home schooling years to be represented by the Dunkles.

After all that negativity, I still can’t say this book was bad. If you take it at face value and don’t expect a great work of literature or a masterpiece, it’s really entertaining. Sure, there are mistakes and plot holes and it’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a fun adventure all the same.

★★★★
3.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world. 

This book broke my heart. And it made me feel so whole. I love that this is a duology, even though I adored these characters and the world and I didn’t want to leave them, it just kind of works. And as excited as I am to hear about King of Scars, this duology is just perfect as it is. Yay for duologies.

I’ve always said the hardest books to review are the ones you loved the most, and I am completely standing by that sentence right now. This book was set in a magical world, with beautiful words and in depth characters. I just can’t match up to that.

“She smiled then, her cheeks red, her cheeks scattered with some kind of dust.”

Just going to give a little shoutout to Emma, who inspires me so much and who wrote a review I love. I wish I could be that good with words!

I’m shocked at how much I enjoyed this book compared to Six of Crows. I’m not saying it was bad – far from it – but I just enjoyed this book so much more. Maybe it’s because I now class myself as a fantasy reader, and with every fantasy book I love I find the gateway to the genre open a little more.

Maybe I enjoyed it more because we explored much more of the world in Crooked Kingdom, and I love how the book followed a number of locations. And can we just talk for a minute about character development. Hell, I have never seen an author define their characters so well. I felt so close to each of the 6 POV, and I think that’s so rare in YA, to know exactly how each character is feeling in relation to the whole story and each separate character. To see the differences and definition in each beautiful soul and exactly how they work together like clockwork is so impressive.

“It was a smile he thought he might die to earn again.”

I might not be the best with words in these situations, but I do want to say something. This book shines. It is a rarity. It is 3D in a world of 2D. It is a, simply, an absolute gem. And if you love fantasy, please, I beg you, go and read this series.

★★★★★

5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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You may also enjoy: Six of Crows review

Review: The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
Four very different lives are about to become entangled.

The last time I saw my friend and co-blogger Pete, he gave me a book! It’s also one I’ve wanted to read for a long time – especially since his great review back in September.

I adore how unique this book is, and I felt it’s honesty. I felt the genuine, heartfelt location of 1970s Alaska so insightful and interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite the same, involving such a different set of characters and locations. Much like other books with more than one POV, I did find it hard to get into each character and their individual stories, but I ended up liking the differences.

“I’ll never understand how certain things that happen to us can climb under our skin and make us someone new. Big things can do it — like Sam going missing.”

This book strikes me as important. It tackles subjects I’ve never read about before in such detail, such as the statehood and problems Alaska and it’s people faced. It talks about growing up with abusive parents and not knowing your own family. It faces teenage pregnancy and the struggles of growing up.

I love how each character meant a lot, even the families and parents. Too many YA books focus entirely on romance, but this book felt like so much more. It talked about the relationships we have with our families and friends, and how we as people help and support those we love. It wasn’t just relationships or friendships, it was about everyone.

“Small things can do it, too, like having a stranger fall to pieces in front of you. I’m beginning to think that everything changes us to some extent.”

The focus of this book is how our lives intertwine and combine, no matter what. It talks about how we all work together, even though we have different backgrounds and interests. It talks about togetherness and the respect we should have for one another. I felt this book is so important, and definitely one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

★★★★★
4.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood… life before she became a vampire.
All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don’t draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn’t know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.
Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as her. As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

Ugh. It was difficult enough to get through the cheese fest books that are Twilight, but in the end, the hopeless romantic inside me still loved them. But this book was one constant cringe. For a start, I don’t even know who this Bree girl is. Isn’t she in like a tiny scene of the third Twilight book? And she is never introduced as a character in her own right, she’s just this random young vampire. And I know she’s young, but BFF clubs? Ninja clubs? What the hell? They’re adults and teenagers, not little kids in spy club.

“It was shockingly weird to touch another person after a whole life – because the last three months were my whole life – of avoiding any kind of contact.”

Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I’d read it just after Eclipse or even just after the series, but a year on, I was not in the mindset for this book. As great as parts of this book might be simply for the mind-building, it was just nothing in it’s own right. It was flat, 2nd characters and a lot of pointless stuff I really didn’t understand.

“Like touching a sparking downed power line, only to find out that it felt nice.”

I have to say though, this book wasn’t unreadable. Like, it was vaguely okay even if I didn’t really enjoy it. It had some kind of slightly interesting parts and characters, like Fred, for example. But I can’t get over the fact that I just didn’t connect with any of them, or really care. In the end, Bree didn’t seem to care much about herself either. It all just seemed really rather pointless.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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As he climbs into the sidecar of Hagrid’s motorbike and takes to the skies, leaving Privet Drive for the last time, Harry Potter knows that Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters are not far behind. The protective charm that has kept Harry safe until now is broken, but he cannot keep hiding. The Dark Lord is breathing fear into everything Harry loves, and to stop him Harry will have to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. The final battle must begin – Harry must stand and face his enemy…

This book is so bittersweet. I’m really happy and so sad at the same time…because I’m no longer in Hogwarts. I’m no longer taking a magical journey with Harry and Hermione and Ron. But I DID IT. After 18 whole years on this planet, I FINISHED HARRY POTTER.

Anyway, enough about that – I have a post scheduled for Tuesday all about my overall HP journey – let’s talk about the last book.

“We’re all human, aren’t we.”

The thing I really noticed in this book is how complicated and complex the storyline is. Hallows, Horcruxes, Hogwarts, fighting. Along with all of the personal parts of the plot (their romances, friendships and families), I felt Harry mature with the story and I loved reading about his thoughts.

I have to say even though I loved this book, it could be a little too complicated for my liking. In fact, I had to read the last couple of chapters in my room, on my own, in complete silence, to be able to fully understand everything that was going on.

The only thing I have to mention I didn’t like in this book was it was very hard to adapt to not being in Hogwarts. As awesome as it was travelling the British countryside, I did want so badly to be back in the castle.

“Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”

Honestly, my head is in such a mess right now because I’m so confused about not being in the magical world and how I’m going to adapt to not reading about Harry and his friends. I can safely say I loved this book, but it’s so hard to get the words out! So let’s finish up this review with a star rating…

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

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When Dumbledore arrives at Privet Drive one summer night to collect Harry Potter, his wand hand is blackened and shrivelled, but he does not reveal why. Secrets and suspicion are spreading through the wizarding world, and Hogwarts itself is not safe. Harry is convinced that Malfoy bears the Dark Mark: there is a Death Eater amongst them. Harry will need powerful magic and true friends as he explores Voldemort’s darkest secrets, and Dumbledore prepares him to face his destiny…

The crying as begun! I’ve always been told the last book is really sad, but I didn’t know it started early. So I’m leaving this book as a complete emotional wreck and I just hope I can get across in this review how the book made me feel.

I’m definitely back to loving these books again – they do improve again after the 5th book! Not back to the standard of the 3rd or 4th, but still, I really enjoyed this one. As I had already been told, they do continue to get darker, and I found the plot a lot more complex! But I really enjoyed that, as there is a lot of progression as the book goes on.

“It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high.”

As well as maturity in story, I’m enjoying seeing Harry progress too. Seeing his friendships and relationships grow is a pleasure, and I loved his lessons with Dumbledore. For such a complex story, I really applaud how Rowling still managed to include Harry’s feelings, especially as he grows and matures.

However, I have to say that even though this book does progress, I found most of it kind of…relaxed. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but the pace was definitely slower until it sped up at the end of the book. It didn’t make it boring – it just made it comfortable.

“Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.”

I’m really excited for the last book and to finish this series – but I’m going to miss the world of Hogwarts so much. It’s a story I haven’t stopped loving and I don’t think I ever will. Bring on the tears. Bring on the emotion. Bring on Deathly Hallows.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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