Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Goodreads Summary: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Why I Read This Book: I added this to my list forever ago because I liked the way it sounded, and the cover was so pretty. I added it to one of my challenge lists for April, and then one day at the library, it was on the shelf and I checked it out! I love when that happens!

Review: I always assumed I would like this book fine. The plot was different to something I would normally have read, but upon expanding my horizons, I knew that I would probably like this based on the summary. So when I started reading it, and didn't have a clue what was going on, I was a bit disappointed. It took me a long time to get through the first half of this one. BUT, then the light bulb clicks, and you finally understand this odd world, and the book gets FABULOUS. I didn't relate to the main character much, but I loved her. Karou is so interesting, and incredibly artsy (probably the main reason I didn't see any of myself in her, as I am not very artsy). I loved this book, and I think everyone should give it a go. I'm really excited for the second. Give it a chance though, if you don't love it at first. This is the first book in a series, and sometimes they can be a bit slow getting started. This one is sooo worth it though. You will be a bit afraid, sad, delighted, and there is a swoon worthy boy. It's fantastic.

Rating:

Book Reviews: City of Ashes, P.S. I love You, The Iron Daughter

Goodreads Summary: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
Why I Read This Book: Another series book that I am working through. I think I may have had this on a challenge list this year as well.

Review: I love the shadowhunter world, and this book was no exception. Clary and Jace are getting a bit weird, but whatever. I thought this was a good sequel book. Definitely moved the plot along nicely. Can't wait to get to the next one.

Rating: 

Goodreads Summary: A novel about holding on, letting go, and learning to love again.

Now in paperback, the endearing novel that captured readers' hearts and introduced a fresh new voice in women's fiction Cecelia Ahern.

Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed.

The kind of enchanting novel with cross-generational appeal that comes along once in a great while, PS, I Love You is a captivating love letter to the world!

Why I Read This Book: This book was on my Monthly Key Word Challenge list for February.

Review: I liked this book, but didn't love it. It was good. It tells the sad story of a widow trying to overcome her grief. I can't fully appreciate Holly's story, as thankfully I have never had to go through that. Even though it was sad, it was written in a generally light-hearted way so that it was still enjoyable to read and not miserable.

Rating:

Goodreads Summary: Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.
Why I Read This Book: This was my March book for the Paranormal Reading Challenge.

Review: This was a pretty good sequel to the first book that I really liked. It had enough in it to keep it interesting and surprising. I was happy with it. Some things happened that I definitely wasn't expecting, and also some good news in it as well, which I don't want to spoil for anyone so I won't say.

Rating: 

Long Over Due Book Reviews

In an effort to do so review catching up, I thought I would do a few posts with some multiple reviews. Also, some of the books I don't have much memory of, so this way my reviews don't have to be much more than a line or two. I'm going to do 3 books per post.

Goodreads Summary: The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.  In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire -- that is, if she makes it through the Change.  Not all of those who are chosen do.  It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.  She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.  But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.  When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

Why I Read This Book: I put this book on my challenge list for the 2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge because it had been on my TBR list for so long.

Review: I have still only read the first book of this series, but I think it may be one of my favorite vampire books so far. I like teen vamp books, but this one had all the good stuff without being really lame at times too. I read this book about 6 months ago, and honestly can't remember much except that I really enjoyed it. It was a bit confusing at first, but I look forward to getting to the rest of the series.

Rating: 

Goodreads Summary: Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over and age of enforced peace are dead...victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. 

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers. 

A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. 

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors. 

Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.
Why I Read This Book: I started this series last year because Game of Thrones was on my 2012 TBR Challenge list, and I loved it. I knew that I would have to continue this series. I am actually reading Book 3 right now.

Review: This book is full of complex charaters and plots, and sub plots, and sub sub plots, and there is a whole lot going on! It can be a bit confusing at times when non-main characters come out so infrequently, but it is a fantastic series. I loved this book and love this series. I recommend it all the time. The TV show as certainly helped in its popularity, however I haven't started watching (yet).

Rating: 

Goodreads Summary: Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out—orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act—in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. 

Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.
Why I Read This Book: This book was on my 2012 TBR Challenge Reading list, but I had put it off so much that it actually ended up on my 2013 TBR Reading Challenge list as well! Someone from work heard I wanted to read it, and brought me in their copy to borrow, and that was how it got moved up the list.

Review: I really loved this book. I remember when the movie came out and I wanted to see it, but knew I should read the book first. I'm so glad I waited, I read the book and watched the movie a few days after. And the book was SO SO SO much better. I actually did a post about this book comparing it to the movie awhile back (you can see that post here). I loved the story of Jacob it was incredibly engaging and this was a great book.

Rating:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Goodreads Summary: Life of Pi is a masterful and utterly original novel that is at once the story of a young castaway who faces immeasurable hardships on the high seas, and a meditation on religion, faith, art and life that is as witty as it is profound. Using the threads of all of our best stories, Yann Martel has woven a glorious spiritual adventure that makes us question what it means to be alive, and to believe.

Growing up in Pondicherry, India, Piscine Molitor Patel - known as Pi - has a rich life. Bookish by nature, young Pi acquires a broad knowledge of not only the great religious texts but of all literature, and has a great curiosity about how the world works. His family runs the local zoo, and he spends many of his days among goats, hippos, swans, and bears, developing his own theories about the nature of animals and how human nature conforms to it. Pi’s family life is quite happy, even though his brother picks on him and his parents aren’t quite sure how to accept his decision to simultaneously embrace and practise three religions - Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.

But despite the lush and nurturing variety of Pi’s world, there are broad political changes afoot in India, and when Pi is sixteen, his parents decide that the family needs to escape to a better life. Choosing to move to Canada, they close the zoo, pack their belongings, and board a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum. Travelling with them are many of their animals, bound for zoos in North America. However, they have only just begun their journey when the ship sinks, taking the dreams of the Patel family down with it. Only Pi survives, cast adrift in a lifeboat with the unlikeliest oftravelling companions: a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Thus begins Pi Patel’s epic, 227-day voyage across the Pacific, and the powerful story of faith and survival at the heart of Life of Pi. Worn and scared, oscillating between hope and despair, Pi is witness to the playing out of the food chain, quite aware of his new position within it. When only the tiger is left of the seafaring menagerie, Pi realizes that his survival depends on his ability to assert his own will, and sets upon a grand and ordered scheme to keep from being Richard Parker’s next meal.

As Yann Martel has said in one interview, “The theme of this novel can be summarized in three lines. Life is a story. You can choose your story. And a story with an imaginative overlay is the better story.” And for Martel, the greatest imaginative overlay is religion. “God is a shorthand for anything that is beyond the material - any greater pattern of meaning.” In Life of Pi, the question of stories, and of what stories to believe, is front and center from the beginning, when the author tells us how he was led to Pi Patel and to this novel: in an Indian coffee house, a gentleman told him, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” And as this novel comes to its brilliant conclusion, Pi shows us that the story with the imaginative overlay is also the story that contains the most truth.
Why I Read This Book: I have been meaning to read this book for ages, it was actually on my 2012 TBR Reading Challenge list and I never got to it, so it got put on my 2013 TBR Reading Challenge list as well. I finally picked it up as I knew I was going to want to see the movie coming out.

Review: Whew, what can I say about this book that that lengthy summary doesn't? This was such a fantastic book! It was a bit slow getting through part one, as I was like "what is even going on?!" But when you get to Part Two you just can't put it down! I see what the hype is about with this book, and I can't wait to see the movie!

Rating:

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

My first book of 2013! Yay!!

Goodreads Summary: A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ...

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
Why I Read This Book: I'm not sure its possible at this point for J.K. Rowling to write a book that I won't read, however this was very generously gifted to me, and I read it right away. This wasn't on any of my official reading lists, but as it was published in Sept 2012 it does fit the parameters for the 2013 TBR Reading Challenge.

Review: This was a great book, but it's definitely different than Rowling's Harry Potter series. The book has really good character development, but it doesn't have much action. I think that this type of book isn't for everyone, and some of her fans may feel let down. I was not one of them, I enjoyed the small-town politics story, and the going-ons of everyday people after strange events. Younger Rowling fans shouldn't read this, but her NA and adult will probably like it. Its definitely on my favorites list, as the book does really make you think about things. Without spoiling things, it really is a great read.

Rating:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Goodreads Summary: Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. 
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Why I Read This Book: Initially, I had marked this book as 'To-read' without thinking too much about it. I knew it was popular, and it sounded good, so fine. Then I decided to make it a 2012 TBR Reading Challenge book on the list I officially made for that. I owned the first book, and that was what I had based making that list on. I put it off and put in off in favor of shorter books. Then, I had some friends start raving about the TV show, and I wanted to watch too. But, I said no Jessica, read the books first. So I am. I always figured I would like the book but for some reason I was not overly excited to read it (old-timey fantasy is not one of my 'normal' genres).

Review: Wow, this book was fantastic. It was extremely detailed, and have several different sub plots which helped you get to know the characters better. I am not normally drawn to fantasy books, but I have read a few and liked them all (with the exception of when I tried to read The Hobbit, but I think I was too young for it when I started that). Often I prefer to watch fantasy things that read them. I loved Harry Potter, Narnia, Fablehaven as books and movies, but they were written for a younger audience. I often find with fantasy books for adults that they are SO detailed that I lose interest and find them a bit boring. I did not find this with A Game of Thrones at all, it was exciting pretty much right from the beginning. I think it helped that you didn't really need to keep TOO many characters straight, as is often the case with massive world building novels. Since there was about 8 different POV's the book was told in, you got an indepth look at the 5-6 characters that were closest to them, and I was able to keep most everyone straight.

I don't want to say much about this book, because I don't want to give anyone spoilers, but even if you think this isn't "your kind" of book, I would still give it a try because it is seriously a great read. It's pretty long thought, just under 900 pages, and its only the first of a long series! It goes without saying (but I will say it, because that's kind of how a blog works) I really look forward to A Clash of Kings! (book 2)

Rating:

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

Goodreads Summary: Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.
Why I Read This Book: I don't remember when or where I first heard of this book, but I thought it sounded interesting, so I got it from the library.

Review: I really liked this book. It was exciting, and captivating, and overall a great book. The story is unlike anything I have ever read so far (not to claim there isn't others like it, I just haven't read them) so it was great to read something different to me and really enjoy it. I loved the relationships in the book, and found myself having a lot of the same feelings as many characters. I was conflicted when they were, stressed when they were, and happy/scared/worried/etc when they were to. It was well written, and I thought it was fantastic. I have read the Twilight books as well by Meyer, and although I enjoyed them, this book is so much better. I know that they are filming a movie about this, and I can't wait to see it. I have heard rumors about there being a sequel to this book too, which I'm not sure about my opinion on. I think this book could easily stand on its own, but it is always nice to know what the author decides to do with the characters. Either way, this book is great, I recommend you go read it!

Rating: 

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Goodreads Summary: One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. 
Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.


Why I Read This Book: Obviously I had to read this book, as I read the epic-ness that was Divergent.


Review: I loved this book! I thought it was a fantastic 2nd book in this trilogy. It did a great job of answering a lot of the mysteries of Divergent while still keeping you guessing and being surprising. I tried to avoid all reviews of this before reading, however I did glimpse a piece of one somewhere (can't remember where) but it said something about overhearing stuff in obvious hiding places. I don't normally talk about other peoples reviews, and I tried really hard to avoid ones about this as I was so excited to read it (my stupid brain was reading before I knew what was going on!!) but, I have to say that is not that accurate. I think that is something to say about this book when you are just looking for negative things to say. Of course they may have hid in some places that seem like they should be found (like under that bridge) but if you are enjoying the book, your brain will make it so that when you visualize that hiding place, it is good. To me, I pictured the bridge to be wide planked, so that if you were under it, you would easily be concealed... see what I mean. Book descriptions are not soooo good that you can't create what it needs to be to work in your mind, and if they are, then either your reading it wrong, or the author is doing to much telling and not enough showing. You should be able to use your imagination a little bit too :)
Anyway, now that I have rambled about that enough, wow, was this book good. I thought the changes in Tris were pretty believable, she has done a lot of growing from her Dauntless training, but here other faction qualities which make her Divergent come out as well. And, I thought Roth also did a good job of showing she was still just a young girl. (I actually really liked that in the book it was pointed out by someone that she picks which she wants to be when its convenient for her - because don't we all? When I was younger, and I wanted to stay out late, or do something that I wasn't allowed it was all "but Mom, I'm 16 now!" but when I needed something done for me... different story!). I also thought the Divergent qualities in Four were subtly evident as well. I liked a lot of the supporting character development too. I was genuinely sad when some were killed off. I am so excited for book 3! I look forward to just learning the title!

Rating:

The Millennuim Trilogy by Steig Larsson

Goodreads Summaries:
Book 1: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. 


Book 2: The Girl Who Played With Fire
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazineMillennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.

But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all


Book 3: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
Lisbeth Salander—the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels—lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.

Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.


Why I Read These Books: These books came highly recommended by a number of people I work with, so much so that for our office secret Santa I was given the first in the trilogy as my gift. When I was about half way through it, I ordered the next two online.


Reviews: If you have read these books, you know it takes about 100 pages of book one to really get into them. I'm going to try and do this without spoilers, so this will be a pretty short review (but mine always kind of are, I don't want to ruin anything!). First off, Larsson is a very detailed writer, so much so that he kind of over explains some things. For example, in book one, you are bombarded with the Vanger family. There are so many of them, that I was thinking "OMG, I will never remember all these people". You only really need to know few, but you get tons of details on ALL of them. Other than the books being a little dry because of this reason, they were fantastic. I loved Lisbeth as a heroine in this story, and I was so into this series. I'm not normally one to pick up a political mystery but maybe I should be, because these books were fabulous. I can definitely say they were totally worth the hype. My favorite was the second one, as it had the fewest dry parts. The boring bits were the only reason all three weren't 5 star reads!


Ratings:

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Summary: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Why I Read This Book: I was a big fan of the book Clockwork Angel, also by Clare, and set in the same 'world' in a different time period. I am intertwining these two series' by reading them in this order:

Clockwork Angel (The Inferal Devices)
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments)
City of Ashes (TMI)
Clockwork Prince (TID)
City of Glass (TMI)
City of Fallen Angels (TMI)
Clockwork Princess (TID)
City of Lost Souls (TMI)
City of Heavenly Fire (TMI)

She claims it doesn't matter what order you read them, so after I stressed for awhile, I settled on this order based on absolutely no rhyme or reason. Since there are 6 books in one series, and 3 in another I thought this was an epic reading plan.


Review: I really loved this book. The Shadowhunters world is one of my favorites. After reading Clockwork Angel, I knew a lot of the things that Jace teaches Clary from when Will taught Tessa, but it was awesome to read again, as you pick up things you missed last time. I loved the story, it was really engaging, and I can't wait to read the next book. There was ONE thing that did get a little bit on my nerves though... Clare does not need to use so many similes to describe the runes scars. I've got it, they are there, all Shadowhunter have them. I no longer need to know that they were like lace, or like a random pattern of snowflakes, or... if you read these books, you get the idea. No more similes! You do not need to mention them on the same person over and over. A new person, sure. It can help identify that they are a Shadowhunter without just saying "they are a shadowhunter" but, seriously, I have a pretty good grasp on the imagery the scars hold. Otherwise, awesome book, I would recommend it to anyone into paranormal stuff or magic too. These books are fantastic.

Rating:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Goodreads Summary: Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.


Why I Read This Book: This had been on my TBR list forever, but with a movie coming out that I really want to see, it gave me that extra push to actually go out and get it.


Review: I loved this book. It was fantastic. At first, I was a little confused by it, as all the characters seem to be introduced at the same time, and I was like "how will I ever remember all these people?!" but that quickly sorted itself out. I can easily see how someone could read this book and think there was nothing really special about it at all. It is just a guy who is a little weird writing about what happens to him in some letters. You do really need to peel back a layer to "get it" I think. As the book suggests, you need to "participate" in the story to feel how I think you should about this. If you haven't gone to high school, I wouldn't recommend this to you at all. Or if you went to a stuffy high school, but if you are a relatively normal person, who had a relatively normal teenage experience, and you "get it" you will love this book.


Rating:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Summary: I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, 
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Why I Read This Book: Did you read Delirium? If not, go get it now! If so, you know perfectly well why I read this book.


Review: Loved! This book was a little confusing for the first two chapters until I got the hang of the "then" and "now" bit. The book was super informative why being totally aloof at the same time. I was absorbed in it, if I hadn't been in the middle of exams it would have been a one sitting read, and even still studying all the time it only took me 3 days (BF does not understand how stopping reading a text book to read a book can be considered a 'break', BF is so silly). The twist and turns in this book were pretty surprising, and at first I was confused as Lena seemed so different, but it all came together as the book went on. I had pre-ordered this book, and then when it came I put off reading it because I was looking for a copy of 'Hana' and couldn't get one. I decided to read this anyway, does anyone who read Hana think I should have waited??

Anyway, I can't say much else without spoiling, but get your butt in gear an go get this book!

Rating:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Goodreads Summary: Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. 

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door

Why I Read This Book: Since I loved Anna so much, it only seemed natural to check this book out as well.


Review: I really liked this book, a lot. It was cute, and completely unputdownable (not a word, so what). Perkins writes in a way that even though you know it`s going to happen, you are dying to know when, and how so badly that you just. can`t. stop. reading! The story is similar to your average YA contemporary love story, but it just feel so genuine, that it is also different in a way. The character Lola is very eccentric in the way that she portrays herself to the world, but she is still just a teenage girl, and she acts like one as well. It seems Perkins has been criticized in some reviews for the "zany" way Lola acts, but I didn't think it took away form the story, it actually added to it. As much as I can't picture someone dressing like that in real life, I think this side of Lola was done for a reason that was very much an integral part of the story. Overall, there was only one small problem I had with the book, and it was that the characters Anna and St. Clair were in this book (not my problem, I was happy to see them!) but the problem was that in this book they didn't really act the way I would have pictured from their characters in Anna and the French Kiss, it seemed they were just written in to this one to call it a sequel of sorts, but they actions fit whatever Lola needed from them, and not necessarily what I could picture from them as developed characters from another book. Minor peeve, but nonetheless, I didn't really like that.
Overall, great book, full of all the necessary warm-fuzzies I read these type of books for!


Rating:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Goodreads Summary: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

Why I Read This Book: The one is so popular around the blogosphere, and has such great reviews, I couldn't not pick it up. Also, I love me a little teen contemporary romance :)

Review: Oh Anna and the French Kiss, how did I love thee, let me count the ways! No particular order:

• The setting! Paris, I love it! I took a school trip to Paris when I was 17 (Anna's age in the first half of the book) and the nostalgia for the places she visited was overwhelming. I could just picture me and my best pal Anna (yes, that is the real name of my real life friend who I went with!!) exploring the places described in the book. I love reading books set in places I have traveled.
• Short chapters! This propels you in to reading longer than you had planned! You get hooked in a book, and since the chapters as short, you keep going "I'll just read one more, then go do whatever I'm supposed to be doing"
• The characters felt very real, I mean, there was drama a plenty, but it wasn't just for entertainment, I could picture myself and people I know making those exact decision when we were that age. Sometimes the "he-said-this-but-means-this-so-she-did-that-when-she-should-have-done-this" seems fake, and you groan at the poor choices authors make, but here I could see myself ignoring some situations and then blowing up in others just the way Anna did, because she's 17-18 and that's how 17-18 year old's act! I also liked the realistic teen drinking scenes, because yes, that is exactly what happens when high school students drink!

Overall, I really really liked this book, and I totally understand all the hype surrounding it. It was quick, fun, and charming to read, I loved it!

Rating:

The Hunger Games Trilogy

*warning, I am doing a review of all three books in the series, so there may be some small spoilers*

Book One: The Hunger Games


Goodreads Summary: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Why I Read this Book: I read this because it's extremely popular, to be honest. It was recommended 

by a friend, and I like the way the summary sounds, so I bought it as an e-book.

Review: I really liked this book a lot. It was fast paced, and exciting to read. I read a lot of the reviews (that didn't contain spoilers) before I read the book and I found, like with most series that take off, people either love it, or they hate it. I personally think the majority of people who 'hate' it just don't like that everyone else liked it, so they pretend not to so they feel cool (or else they wouldn't have put the same hateful review about the second two because they wouldn't have read them!!) But that's a little off topic.

Back to the book, it was very hard to put down, every chapter left you with a little bit of suspense. I don't always love when a book is totally in one persons perspective, but Katniss' ability to read people very well helps fill in some blanks. Katniss is a very strong lead character, she was very easy to like most of the time. However, I found myself relating more to Peeta in the story, but I liked them both. Their relationship was the main story of the book for me, with the Games being second. I love how there were so many issues in the book as well; hunger, political corruption, dehumanization and desensitization. It is a great book to be taught in school for these reasons.

Rating of Book One:

Book Two: Catching Fire

Goodreads Summary:Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol. Catching Fire maintains the adrenaline rush of Suzanne Collins's series launch.

Why I Read this Book: Well, because I read The Hunger Games and loved it, and this one is next.

Review: At about half way through the book I didn't think it was going to live up to The Hunger Games. It was very, very similar as it got started, with the exception of the Quarter Quell surprise. There were a few moments that were exciting, but for the most part I felt like I was just being told the same stuff from the first novel. The relationship between Katniss, Gale, and Peeta is difficult to really get into. Katniss doesn't seem to actually care about either of them, she just wants to put them into a little place in her life where its convenient for her, and it makes her come off as very selfish, which I didn't really get a sense of in the first book. Unlike Bella from the Twilight series, Katniss doesn't love either of them, and it's kind of annoying. The novel begins to get more interesting when they arrive in the Capitol to get ready for the Quarter Quell. From here on the book is good, which made me give it the 5 star rating I do. But, if I had been reading these books when they came out I think the cliffhanger at the end would have made me want to beat my head against the wall. I was able to overlook it because I just picked up the third book right away. But, if I had to wait for it, I think it would have decreased my love for the book. You shouldn't end a novel with that, it's really unfair to your reader. This is definitely a 'middle' novel in the trilogy, and it reads like that too, with nothing being resolved, just more conflict and buildup to the next book.

But, all that being said, it really did like it, and I jumped right into Mockingjay as soon as I finished the Catching Fire.

Rating of Book Two:

Book Three: Mockingjay

Goodreads Summary: Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

Review: I didn't bother with 'Why I Read This Book' as it is quite obvious. I didn't like this book as much as the first two, and it was for one glaring reason: people who had become very important to me in the story, such as Cinna and Finnick, did not get enough attention when they were killed. Especially Finnick. It was just, ok the mutts got him, move along. Katniss hardly even reflected upon his death at all. For all the whole series talks about how affected she was by Rue's death in book one, the complete disregard for other, just as important (to Katniss and the books) characters is terrible. Other than that, I thought the book was a bit slow for a lot of it. The battle scenes were a bit rushed, and the District 13 stuff was very drawn out. I liked the story line, and I was very pleased with the ending. I can't say too much more than that.

Rating:

Total Trilogy Review:

I really liked this series a lot. I can't wait for the movie to come out in March 2012, I think it's going to be really good. I loved the story, and the underlying messages without.

Obviously I didn't love every single aspect of the novels, but that's okay. It was still a great series, and I would recommend it to almost anyone.

Overall Trilogy Rating: