Title: The Winner’s Curse

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #1

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Publication Date: March 4, 2014

Source: library

About: Winning what you want may cost you everything you love…

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

This book. THIS BOOK! Where is my sanity?? Um, it went with the ending of this book.

I put this on hold on a whim when I saw my library had it, because I had seen several reviews on it. (Not necessarily good or bad – I can’t remember – but I’d just seen some hype/publicity about it and, let’s be honest, I totally judged the cover. It’s just… so… pretty!) Lemme just say: best. library. whim. ever.

For the life of me, I cannot remember a book that hooked me from the first chapter like The Winner’s Curse did. The last series I read super quickly would have been The Selection series by Kiera Cass – which was finished a year and a half ago – and even then I wasn’t hooked till quite a few chapters in. I was all aboard after reading two pages. I had no idea what to expect of this book – would I like it? (Maybe.) Did I know what it was about? (No.) Did I love the cover? (Heck yes.) It was, like I said, a WHIM! THE BEST WHIM OF 2016 SO FAR. (alright, so that’s not saying a lot. It’s January 31st. But still.)

The setting and world Marie Rutkoski created:

I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING I’M HYPERVENTILATING.

OMGOOOOOOOOOOSH. It was like nothing I’d ever read before! It wasn’t exactly in the past, nor in the future – it wasn’t historical, dystopian, or sci-fi. It certainly wasn’t contemporary. The world was something all on its own. That was part of what pulled me in: from the first page, it seemed the main character Kestrel was buying a slave. But it obviously wasn’t a historical fiction and the medieval-times feel world wasn’t sci-fi or dystopia. I WAS CURIOUS.

Then. Then: the romance. oh flying flapjacks. It was slower than usual YA books I read, which was awesome. So many books dive right into and I’m all “whoa. I’ve only known these people for X amount of pages and already they’re all over each other. Chill, peeps.” and with this… I had time to really get into Kestril and Arin’s heads before they realized their feelings for each other. And yet… it wasn’t too slow. It was a sweet romance. There’s no other way to describe it: it wasn’t naive OR wild, or crazy or fun or dumb or fast or anything. It was a sweet, innocent love but it wasn’t: the world they lived in forbade them to be together. Which meant it was a forbidden love, but not a love triangle – which again was refreshing since those get old fast – BUUUT. Something was still different about this scenario.

Kestrel and Arin are on completely opposite sides of the fence. They’re both fighting for two different causes. They disagree politically, which means when war breaks out, they must choose between each other or their people. It was fascinating. This was different for me, because I haven’t read a book where the two main characters are loving AND fighting each other. I really didn’t know how it’d end… and that’s saying a lot. I’m a good predictor.

And the writing! It was so poetic. There was some action in this book but it was still a poetic, beautifully-written story. I wanted to quote every page. Marie Rutkoski has talent there. Every line she wrote made me want to cry! It reminded me of a quote from another favorite book, The Book Thief: “If your eyes could speak, what would they say?” I feel like Rutkoski did exactly that. I don’t think just anyone can write like that.

“The silent, brilliant tension, like scribbles of heat lightning… He felt so vibrant. As if his life was a fresh, translucent, thin-skinned fruit. It could be sliced apart and he wouldn’t care. Nothing felt like this.”

Loved the 3rd-person and switching perspectives. The line breaks. (That sounds funny, but yes, I liked how there would be a line break after a paragraph. That was cool.) The cover, of course, is such a beauty. There wasn’t any content I disliked. I can’t think of a way to accurately describe everything this book is!

FIVE STARS.

would you read this book?? (if you say no, i just might be offended.) have you read it? thoughts? opinions? FEELS? i want to hear everything. 🙂

P.S. watch the book trailer here or below! I personally adore this trailer, it had me sold!

Anyone who follows my blog knows I am a big fan of Melanie Dickerson! I take great pride in owning every one of her books and I absolutely love talking and discussing them with bookish friends. They have everything! Romance, adventure, great biblical aspects, and I especially love her fairy tale retelling “Hagenheim” series.

Every book of Miss Dickerson’s I’ve read so far has such complex characters. The Golden Braid was no different. Rapunzel and Gerek both have fascinating back stories that I liked seeing unfold. By the end of the book, all of the characters had gone through so much development! It was fantastic, and I adored Rapunzel.

I also loved seeing previous book characters again in this one! I like how in every one of the Hagenheim books, old characters are back for a small peek at how their lives are going and what they turned out like sometime later. They all end up connecting in some way and that’s a really cool aspect of this series.

Rapunzel is one of my favorite fairy tales, so I was thrilled to be getting my hands on Melanie Dickerson’s newest retelling. I’ll read just about any Rapunzel retelling just because she’s Rapunzel, and if Melanie Dickerson is writing it? There was no way I wanted to miss out on it. That said? The Golden Braid definitely isn’t my favorite of these books. (In case you’re wondering, my favorite so far is The Fairest Beauty, the Snow White retelling.)

I had a hard time getting into it. It was a little slow for my taste at the beginning, and I just couldn’t seem to get into Rapunzel’s head very well. I really wasn’t very excited about the book until about 2/3 of the way. That was disappointing, because I had such high hopes for it!

What kept my going was Melanie Dickerson’s writing style. She also does such a wonderful job of capturing what it was really like to live in the medieval time period. Since I don’t read a lot of books in that time, I enjoy seeing that in her books. The detail is definitely something I enjoyed. 🙂

Mainly because I had a hard time becoming interested in the story, I am giving The Golden Braid 3/5 stars.

sound like something you’d read? have you read any of melanie dickerson’s books before? i can’t wait to hear what you all think of this book & melanie dickerson’s series!

SEE THE REVIEW ON GOODREADS

Title: Finding Audrey

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Delacorte for Young Readers

Publishing Date: June 9, 2015

Length: 288 pages

Source: library

About: An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this book, but gosh that was even better than what I imagined. Here’s the thing: typically with books I’ve read about social anxiety – from the stereotypical shy/introverted girl to a severe disorder like Audrey’s – that involve romance really disappoint. At least, the majority of the ones I’ve read have ended up with an exciting, out-of-the-box male character who pulls the MC out of their comfort zone (and in a lot of cases, go too far and I end up DNFing.) It’s cliche and as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve steered away from these types of books because of that. But Finding Audrey surprised me and I loved it!

This isn’t a romance. The romance is an (adorable) aspect of the book but it’s far from that. In fact, I’d call it a family book. Audrey’s family is hilarious and lovable (I mean, the first page I was just about rolling laughing: “Normal Mum-insane: Mum says ‘Let’s all do this great gluten-free diet I read about in the Daily Mail!'” MY mom (mum? ;)) had us go gluten-free at one point. It was relatable for me!) Audrey’s love interest, Linus, is sweet and swoon-able (is that a word? I’m making it a word) but it wasn’t the main focus.

Pssst. by the way, there’s the really cute book trailer thing you can watch here.

I also was beyond impressed by Sophie Kinsella’s ability to combine a serious issue like Audrey’s (her full diagnosis is “Social Anxiety Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, and Depressive Episodes”) with humor. That’s hard to do, but Kinsella did it well and amazingly. It flowed well and made me laugh. I sympathized for Audrey and was able to connect with her but I was also laughing out loud. (It’s been a while since a book has made me do that.) That was a nice combination because not every book about disorders or anxiety has to be all seriousness and sad. I think that’s a talent on Sophie Kinsella’s part.

I also loved that Audrey is fourteen. I’ve complained before about it being rare for a YA character to be so young, or an MG character being so old, so this was great. (I’m fourteen myself, and it was nice to have a character my age for once.) Although that brings me to a few of my downers, which is why I’m giving this book four instead of five.

– Audrey is, like I just said, 14. I was worried about the romance for a bit before I finally relented and decided to see what this book was all about. 14-year-old “romances” don’t usually pan out, and I didn’t want to read something that went too far with it or ended up being a flop (middle school drama’s not for me – which is really unfortunate since I’ve got to endure middle school this last semester, ha.) It wasn’t a flop but I don’t think it was very realistic. Or, I should say Audrey and Linus’ relationship seemed too mature for their age. I honestly could see Audrey between 16-18.

– Audrey’s older brother Frank swore several times throughout the book (pages listed at the bottom in case you’re sensitive to that) and it really bugged me. The book was sweet and innocent except for that and I really didn’t think it was necessary.

– I wanted to know more about the “unpleasant incident” that caused Audrey to break down into the state she is when the book starts! The book alludes to what happened (you find out shortly into the book but I won’t say because it is a small spoiler) but doesn’t go into great detail. I understand Audrey didn’t want to talk about it, but at one point Frank, her brother, is talking to a camera and Audrey isn’t around and… I just think there could have been some way to tell precisely what happened. I was disappointed I never got that.

But all in all, this book was a ton better than I expected: the adorable family dynamic, the humor, the seriousness and well-thought out development in Audrey’s condition… it was amazing!

4 stars!

have you read finding audrey? (or any of sophie kinsella’s other books?) thoughts? do you want to read it? can’t wait to hear from all of you!

Title: The Heir & The Spare

Author: Emily Albright

Publisher: Merit Press

Publication Date: January 18, 2016

Source: The Fantastic Flying Book Club

About: Family can be complicated. Especially when skeletons from the past pop up unexpectedly. For American Evie Gray, finding out her deceased mother had a secret identity, and not one of the caped crusader variety, was quite the surprise. Evie’s mom had a secret life before she was even born, one that involved tiaras.

In this modern day fairytale, Evie is on a path to figure out who her mom really was, while discovering for herself what the future will hold. Charged with her late mother’s letters, Evie embarks on a quest into her past. The first item on the list is to attend Oxford, her mom’s alma mater. There, Evie stumbles upon a real life prince charming, Edmund Stuart the second Prince of England, who is all too happy to be the counterpart to her damsel in distress.

Evie can’t resist her growing attraction to Edmund as they spend more time together trying to unravel the clues her mother left behind. But, when doubts arise as to whether or not Edmund could ever be with an untitled American, what really ends up unraveling is Evie’s heart. When Evie uncovers all the facts about her mom’s former life, she realizes her mom’s past can open doors she never dreamed possible, doors that can help her be with Edmund. But, with everything now unveiled, Evie starts to crack under the pressure of new family responsibilities and the realization that her perfect prince may want her for all the wrong reasons.

Nopeity nope nope. I hate to be such a downer in a review, but this book was just not for me.

Let me start from the beginning: as a follower of the Fantastic Flying Book Club, I got an email about the blog tour and the book. (You can submit an application for the book you want to receive an ARC of and if you are chosen, you get to be apart of a blog tour promoting the book with reviews an such.) It’s such a fun website and I’ve been apart of it once or twice before. I was stoked for The Heir & The Spare. I mean, the cover alone looked amazing.

I was expecting a Princess Diaries meets The Prince and Me. (And it really was just that. MINUS the plot.)

(But let’s face it those movies – and book – are classics and can’t be re-created.)

But either a) I misjudged the cover and synopsis or b) it’s very misleading or c) IT’S JUST NOT FOR ME. And I think it’s a mix of the latter two because I have many complaints.

#1: It’s cheesy. Like, Ghouda-Swiss-Cheddar-Colby-Jack-Monteray-Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cheesy. And normally, I don’t have any problem with this because I love cheesy. I EAT IT UP. (Pun intended.) But then there’s a difference between cheesy and plot holes, and that’s where this book falls apart I think. (Though cheese DOES have holes in it, right? Ha. Ha. Ha… okay never mind me.) This is the main issue, because underneath comes a whole slew of problems that really only leaves the synopsis. It’s a tough one, this book. :-/

#2: There’s no setting, and quite honestly I feel that zero research went into the book. The main character, Evie, attends Oxford University in England. I was thrilled because I love books set in England! I’m just in love with the idea of all things British, and I was excited to learn a bit about the scenery and setting and such. But… NOTHING seemed to tell me “different setting here, she’s in a big name school in a different country” because based on the descriptions (or lack thereof) Evie could easily be in a plain college in Nowhereville, USA. And that was a total let-down. As for the research portion, Evie’s love interest is the PRINCE of England. I think more detail about how a commoner from America would fit with a royal of another country would go well together would have been much better, because… PRINCE Edward didn’t seem to have a royal thought in his head about it.

#3: Insta-love guys. Mega insta-love. I haven’t read a book with such insta-love before, truly. Evie looks at this guy and she’s all “dear lord he looks tasty” and I do mean it was that fast and silly-like. This goes along with the cheesiness, but I wouldn’t have a problem with that if it didn’t go so fast. And while we’re on the topic of romance, it did not sit well with me. Evie and her love interest didn’t seem to have a relationship so much as she had a kissing-fling with him, and that highly annoyed me. It was a whole drama-saga-up-and-down-rollercoaster type “relationship” (if you want to call it that, but I digress) and it exhausted me.

#4: The main character seems too immature for her age. Evie is nineteen in the beginning of the book, and turns twenty about half-way through. But she’s so daft and rash she bothered me, a fourteen-year-old. She had no further aspirations for herself: she considers dropping college and returning home to Seattle at one point. But she attends Oxford University. I assume you have to work very hard to make it to a university like that, but she considers dropping it like a hot potato just because exams and relationship are “too much.” It drove me bonkers. And I also have a more personal complaint as well: Evie had no respect for herself. She goes way far way fast with this prince of hers, but still doubts his feelings for her and whether or not they are, in fact, boyfriend/girlfriend. Um. WHAT.

It frustrated me so badly I can’t even express myself in a single post. Moreover the fact that she wasn’t the smartest character when it comes to relationships, I hated it because personally I feel that’s a bad example for any reader who picks this book up. I just hate characters who spend the book wondering what their relationship status is. Because that’s why it’s a personal opinion of mine: that shouldn’t even be considered a plot. I believe relationships should be taken far more seriously and with much more care, and it Irritates The Heck Out Of Me. *rant over*

I did enjoy a few things. Evie is a likable character. Lemme put it this way: she craves Netflix marathons, sweatpants, and pizza. And she’s an avid fan of Jane Austen and other classic novels. The story itself is nice enough; easy to get into, and very short. So if you’re looking for a very light romance go for it. Frankly my dear… I just wasn’t attached enough to the characters or book to care about anything. (if you caught that go you!) Wasn’t my cup of tea.

2 stars.

so what do you do when you read a low-rated book? how do you feel about cheesiness? and tell me: british accents do make everything better right?!! oh and the princess diaries or the prince and me? 🙂

Title: Austenland

Author: Shannon Hale

Series: Austenland #1

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Publishing Date: May 29, 2007

Length: 197 pages

Source: Library

About: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

This book was all fluff and positively adorable. I watched the movie two(ish?) years ago and it was hilarious, so I sort of knew what to expect already and I was curious as to how similar the book and movie were. (They were almost exactly spot-on which was great.) It’s a light book and 100% easy and care-free so there’s that.

There is quite a big difference between books and movies though (as we allll know!) and that is the characters! Sure, in the movie I understood Jane’s obsession with Jane Austen and how all her relationships went sour… but I didn’t really know her as well as I would have had I read the book first. But truthfully this book was so light and short I’m still not sure I got to know Jane all that well. She was very flippant and indecisive and that really got on my nerves. The whole book was basically Jane questioning herself.

I did love the 3rd-person narration though. It was kind of odd, because this is a contemporary novel yet the main character goes on a vacation where everything is 1816-style and “Austenesque.” (Hence the name Austenland!) It was an interesting setting, something I’ve never really read before.

The romance is the main center of the book of course, but since I’d already seen the movie I knew how it’d end. Still… it didn’t really develop until about two-thirds of the book. This was part love triangle but it was SO frustrating. Jane is a lovable character but also so irritating! (Think America Singer in a different book and much less developed.) The ending was very sweet and AHHH SO ADORABLE. It’s been so long since I watched the movie and I missed the romance between Jane annnnd… The Unnamed Suitor.

Also… one of the guys in the story really looked more like this:

(On the right)

Annnnnd I imagined him like this:

(on the right)

Yeeeahhhh. The first guy is from Austenland the movie and the second is from Becoming Jane. Guess I’m getting my Austen-related movies confused. XD (On a sidenote, Becoming Jane is amazing.)

Also: being at least a little familiar with Jane Austen and her books (Pride & Prejudice primarily) would probably be smart before reading this book so you could appreciate the jokes and actual setting a bit more. This Austen fan prides herself in reading P&P (stumbling through the words but hey I did finish) in the fifth grade so it was pretty hilarious and relatable.

Sooo… overall, this book was iffy. There were some pretty fun parts, I liked the narration, the ending was perfect… but I did have some complaints.

Three stars!

so tell me! how do you feel about jane austen? (fitzwilliam fan over here! haha! … ha… ha) do you think this is something you’d read? have you seen the movie?

Title: The Hired Girl

Author: Laura Amy Schlitz

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Publishing Date: September 8 2015

Source: Barnes & Noble

About: Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future.

Inspired by her grandmother’s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her sharp wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a comedic tour de force destined to become a modern classic. Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) takes its reader on an exploration of feminism and housework, religion and literature, love and loyalty, cats, hats, bunions, and burns.

I’m Did I like it?? Did I not like it? Hard to tell. You see, the first half of this book was absolutely amazing. I was so in love! I felt sure it was going to be a 5-star, but then once I got to the half-way mark it just went downhill. I have some complaints… but I also have several good thing to say, so stay tuned! (or stay reading…) 🙂

L I K E D . . . 

– The time & setting: 1911 Baltimore, which was fascinating because I’d only ever read one other book set in this time period, and I loved learning about the fashion and culture and everything in between. It’s definitely a time I want to learn more about, and I haven’t read a historical fiction in so long!

– The diary-style of the book. Again, this was so refreshing! I want more of these in YA! I love them so much, and Laura Amy Schlitz did a fantastic job at it. (Plus it makes me want to write in my journals more often…)

– The main character Joan. She’s sassy yet feminine, which is a nice combination. So often in MG and YA literature that I read, girls can’t be strong (physically and mentally) and like pink and frilly dresses. But Joan was girly and a shopaholic… and was stubborn and worked hard. I loved this! If anyone knows me, I’m a girly-girl and I appreciate pink and dressing up… but there aren’t many girls like this in YA, which is sad. I’d like to see more of this in historical and contemporary, and it was great. Joan was romantic, and absolutely hilarious. And as an added bonus: she’s a bookworm!

“I think I would rather have a cat than a sweetheart, after all. They are less trouble, and even the handsomest sweetheart is sadly lacking in fur.” – The Hired Girl

– Laura Amy Schlitz’s writing style. I basically wanted to quote the entire book. It was so poetic and the language was rich and challenging, at times, to read. (At least definitely a higher reading level than other books in this particular age the book is geared towards.) I want more books with words I haven’t known since kindergarten, and this was one of them! I definitely learned some new ones, which brings me to my next point.

“Great works of art are universal, and in them we behold our everyday struggles and homely joys.” – The Hired Girl

– The religious viewpoints: Joan is Catholic. And her employers are Jewish. I enjoyed learning about both religions (I am Christian, but Protestant – not Catholic – so I did learn a good bit about Catholicism.) A good portion of the book was about Joan wanting to take a Sacrament – to become an official Catholic – but meanwhile trying to tell the Rosenbachs more about her faith. (Which I admired a lot.) This isn’t labeled as Christian Fiction, but it surrounds a great deal of Joan’s faith and learning about the Rosenbachs’ faith. (For example, Joan does the dishes on the Sabbath since her employers and their other servant are Jewish and don’t work on this particular day of the week.)

– Joan is 14! My age, yay! I feel like in Middle Grade 14-year-olds are either made too immature, to match that of the younger audience, I suppose. Or too immature in Young Adult (because there’s an age gap between the older audience) or too mature (to match that older age group.) It’s frustrating, and in general there aren’t that many 14-year-olds in either genre, so in the rare occasion when they are focused on… it’s not done right. I liked Joan and felt she was nicely portrayed as far as her age goes. (I mean, I can relate.) 😉

D I S L I K E D . . . 

– Alright, so let me lay this out for you: Joan is our 14-year-old heroine. She runs away from home and the Rosenbach family hires her and takes her under their wing. But Joan lies about her age to get the job: they think she is 18. A whopping 4-year-gap. Meanwhile, later in the book (towards the middle, and this is where my complaints began): she falls in love. With a 21-year-old Jew. 21. First I thought this man was 18, which is still quite a gap. And though he believes her to be 18 (0r at the very least 16 or 17) and I do realize this was a different time and things were done differently… quite honestly, it weirded me out. At first, I will admit, I swooned. I’m 14! I’m a romantic!

But theeeeen… this is where Joan really bothered me.

– SHE IS SOOO NAIVE. And let me rant here, because this why 14-year-olds don’t shouldn’t snog (I like that word ok? ok) about with boys – particularly that of an older age: 7 YEARS. No. I do love that in this time and book, people placed a higher importance on kissing and boys giving girls gifts. (“Miss Skraggs, if {spoiler removed} has been kissing you, and buying you gifts, you had every reason to believe you were engaged.”) but Joan thought she was stinking engaged. She went on and on about how much she loved this dude, and how they’d run away to Paris together (yep. Paris.) and comparing it to Jane Eyre and all her romance books… and I’m sitting here like:

I just didn’t like that. And I knew something was going to go wrong there.

– This book could have been much shorter. It is a decent length (Goodreads says it’s 400 but my copy is only 387) but at around 250-300ish I was pretty much done. I was getting annoyed with Joan and I felt that the last good bit was surrounded the “romance” (which, as I said before, made me a bit uncomfortable.)

4 stars! (Not bad for the first read of 2016.)

overall: i did have several complaints. buuut i had a lot more good things to say – especially that this book had a lot of interesting aspects that i don’t see in mg or ya a whole lot. so! let me know in the comments! is this something you’d like to read? have you read it before? tell meeeee!

Title: Now That You’re Here

Author: Amy K. Nichols

Series: Duplexity #1

Publisher: Knopf Books For Young Readers

Source: borrowed from a friend

About: In a parallel universe, the classic bad boy falls for the class science geek.

One minute Danny was running from the cops, and the next, he jolted awake in an unfamiliar body – his own, but different. Somehow, he’s crossed into a parallel universe. Now his friends are his enemies, his parents are long dead, and studious Eevee is not the mysterious femme fatale he once kissed back home. Then again, this Eevee – a girl who’d rather land an internship at NASA than a date to the prom–may be his only hope of getting home.

Eevee tells herself she’s only helping him in the name of quantum physics, but there’s something undeniably fascinating about this boy from another dimension… a boy who makes her question who she is, and who she might be in another place and time.

WOWZIES THIS BOOK. A huge shout out to Hayden Beth for getting me to read this (a good friend of mine from home school co-op whose mom happens to be friends with the author, Amy Nichols – SMALL WORLD RIGHT?) and I am so excited that I’ve finished it. The page-turning events and adorableness of the characters kept me reading and I have to say I was not disappointed.

First things first: THERE’S A SEQUEL. That I really need to read. Luckily Miss Hayden has lent it to me so now I’ve just got to get around to it, and that is why I am confused about a lot of things. I’m *hoping* (and I am sure they will)  a lot of things are explained in the sequel. Like: Hayden, what the heck is “Red December”?

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I WANT TO KNOW. I’M DYING TO KNOOOOW.

The main character Eevee, and the other main character, Danny are cuteness overload. Now I do have one complaint: they barely knew each other at first annnnnd it went a little too fast for my taste. I could have gone a little longer with the whole getting to know you phase and THEN the actual romantic relationship between them two. But then they did get to know each other and I was so in love with them!! Yaaaasssss. 

And they were lovable. The character development, by the end at least, was well-done and I was satisfied with the getting-to-know-you part. I got to understand Eevee a little bit and why she was so type-A and very diligent in school. Danny… well, he still confuzzles me. But most boys do, even fictional ones. Another reason why I’m excited about the sequel. But as for the majority of the romance, I think I was on the same page as Hayden.

The world and setting of the story… very descriptive, as expected. The main character Danny has somehow come into a parallel universe (switching places with the Danny of this other world) so of course he’s sort of in the same world, but not really. Which is why I liked the nice comparison of Danny’s world to Eevee’s. You get a teensie peek inside what Danny’s world is like – apparently the Cold War didn’t end, unlike ours today, so it’s definitely… different. Again, excited for the sequel to find out more about the other world Danny comes from.

(Or made-up history! Haha!)

I liked the setting of Eevee’s world too though. The cliche high school set-up and the typical mom and dad personalities… they were familiar when some dude had come from a crazy, unfamiliar, and scary parallel universe -which I would be flipping out about if I were in this situation – and that was a nice balance. And the genius science teacher (Mac) who used to work for NASA and is Eeevee and her friend’s go-to man for all things smartsy. Who then helps get Danny back to his world. Kind of gave me a Doc and Marty McFly type feel, you know?

On that note, the whole book was kind of a mix of the movies “She’s All That” and “Back to the Future” and I loved that. Bad boy meets science geek (She’s All That) meets science-y sci-fi stuff and different worlds (Back to the Future)

I really feel like this is something I have never read before. At least, it’s the first parallel universe book I’ve read. But beyond that, it just had it all! The romance, the sci-fi, yet still the familiarity of our 21st-century-modern-day-world, the humor, the easy-to-love-characters, the mystery… AHHH I JUST LOVE IT!!

Four stars all-around. Pleeeeaaaaseee read it because it’s… well. Let the minions explain it:

have you read this book? do you want to? (you better!)

Title: Red Queen

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: The Red Queen Series

Publisher: Harper Teen

Source: library

About: This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart …

First: sorry I missed my review yesterday! Busy  busy stuff. But here it is today so I’ll get into it! 🙂 If you haven’t read Red Queen, you need to get on top of your game. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s the next big thing!

I was wary about it because… whale, I judged the cover. Because… BLOOD. I don’t do blood. It grosses me out and… no. I avoid it at all costs. I’m not touching a book with blood on the cover.

BUT. But. Secretly, just a little bit, but don’t tell anybody… the cover is kind of endearing to me now. Now that I’ve finished the book. And know what it’s all about. Because it’s kind of amazing.

There is an official book trailer, but ignore it because it’s not that great. Just watch this.

The beginning: I was hooked. Futuristic, dystopian world. Boy best friend & a supposedly “ordinary” teenage girl. Yes, a tad cliche, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for an old plot line.

So yes. I enjoyed it. Thoroughly, actually.

The middle was slow but there were cute boys (I have a vivid imagination) so that kept me reading. Buuuuut. Buuuut… I got bored. At times, there just WASN’T enough action and information! And I get frustrated easily. It took me six days to read this book, and only because I don’t like DNF’ing a book. And also maybe because I’m still (despite getting annoyed many many times over other certain books) a faithful reader and I hoped it would get better.

… And it did. Fifty pages before the last. Soooo that was frustrating. Yes, I was interested at some points throughout the middle of the book because. Well I can’t spoil anything. But TWO BOYS. Brothers, to be exact. A girl at war with her heart. And her country, for that matter. Which happens to be ruled by said two brothers. It wasn’t COMPLETELY dull. I was interested! Enough to keep reading!

And I just get too attached to characters in general. Any book, really. They can be sucky but I’ll love em.

And really, I’m giving this book the benefit of the doubt because it’s the first of a series (possibly a trilogy, to be exact, but I’m not positive and I’m too lazy to look it up.) The point is, it has a great plot set up. Most of the time, in series I get ridiculously involved in (The Selection, The Lunar Chronicles, The Ascendance Trilogy… the list goes on) the first book is never my favorite. So when we’re talking about the middle of the first BOOK, we’re really talking about only a sixth of the actual story. I’m giving it time. (Look at me being all giving & nice.)

The romance was squeal-worthy. Confusing. But squeal-worthy. A roller coaster, to be sure.

NOW. The plot twist. Ahhhhhh the plot twist. I spoiled it for myself.

I READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THE SECOND BOOK WHYYYYYYY. Fair hint: DON’T DO THAT.

I wasn’t that surprised about it when I spoiled it for myself. First I was like: “OOHHHHH MY GOSH NO EMILY NO” and then I was thinking: “Daggumit no way jose.” And then: “I don’t think I would have seen it coming.”

It’s true. I’m far too gullible and trustworthy and it would have shocked me. So if you’re not a professional, no-emotions-must-not-get-attached-absolutely-no-way-kind-of-person… then you might see it coming. But if you’re trusting and naive like me, then you’ll be utterly shocked. To put it in a nutshell: it was a great twist. I didn’t – wouldn’t have – seen it coming.

Sooooo… minus one star for the slowness. And, as much as I hate to do it, minus half a star for the sort of same/same plot line. I’m getting a *little eetle weetle* sick of these books. C’mon, YA, I want new stuff.

BUT it does get 3.5 stars for the sheer wonderfulness of Victoria Aveyard. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

so what about you? do you want to read this book?

Title: Winter

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Source: Sam’s

About: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

5 stars!

Pssst. Hey you. Before you read this review, I suggest you check out my reviews for the three others in this series: Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress. Then come back here and fangirl with meeeeee!! 

Well. I finished.

I did it and I’m screaming on the inside and quickly dissolving into puddles of crazy fangirl and my stomach is doing somersaults over the cuteness of the people in this book and the crazy mess they turned me into.

I just CAN’T BELIEVE I FINISHED! So… let’s see… I began reading Cinder on November 7th and just finished the last book, Winter, on November 27th. Twenty days, everybody. Twenty days I read this series and it’s been an ongoing wild-emotional-crazy roller coaster of feels and squeals and I don’t know where to begin. 

Winter, the last book in The Lunar Chronicles, is 827 pages long. EIGHT HUNDRED and twenty-seven pages. I was largely intimidated by this gargantuan size, and it took me an excruciating six days to finish. (Thanksgiving week, family coming in, all that sad stuff that takes my mind off of reading, *sigh*) I whizzed through the first three in two weeks, so I was a sad little human when it took me that long to finish. I wanted to know the ending SO BADLY! (Mostly cause Brooke and Izel kept holding stuff over my head, geez…) But even though the book is larger than what I typically read, and I was preparing myself for a few bored spots (I know I know what is wrong with me?!) there was not a single page where I was not immensely captivated by the perfection of Marissa Meyer.

The first page and I was in love with the newest character, Princess Winter. You see, she’s crazy.

No, I mean REALLY crazy. She’s a Lunar – that is, someone who lives on Luna, which is the moon – and all Lunars have a so-called gift to manipulate people into seeing anything they want them to see, to do anything they want them to do. But Winter has decided not to use her “gift,” and it’s making her hallucinate and literally lose her mind.

But she’s positively adorable! Naive and sweet and pretty much flawless. I was hooked.

Then there’s the rest of the gang from the past three books that I was eager to catch up on: Cinder, Iko, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf (*squeals*), Cress, and Thorne (*swoons*) Everything wrapped up so perfectly. Beforehand, Scarlet and Wolf were my main squeeze, guys. But I don’t know, in Winter… Cress and Thorne were pretty cute. Basically: all the couples in this book are totally swoon-worthy. Including Winter and her crush Jacin. I LOVED THEM ALL.

I was a little sad that I only got to know Jacin and Winter for one book though, because by the end of the book it still seemed like they could use a little character development. Even though of course I adored Winter, I still wanted her to be healed, so she wouldn’t be so crazy and this way… I don’t know, she could actually make sense of her mind and I could get to know her a little better. At least, see her in part of the book as her normal self. That said: the way Jacin looked at her as this perfect little baby and adored her so so much even the way she was… he was so selfless and I really loved this little romance going on and how Jacin loved Winter even through her craziness.

The plot line? Sublime. I couldn’t put it down for a second. It was… just… AMAZING! 

Lucky for me that my mom bought me the copy of Winter… even though I got a little cream cheese pie on the cover… (yup I dropped a pie for Thanksgiving, imagine what a klutz I am) because I’m so excited to own it because it is DEFINITELY a re-read (or maybe a “skip-to-my-favorite-parts-read.”)

I’m just a pile of feels. I need help. I need understanding. Thank goodness I have all of you because I’d go crazy if I couldn’t talk to someone about this! So TALK! Go to the bottom of this post and spill your heart out. I don’t mind if the comment is long or rambly or what ’cause I NEED HELP OMG!

Oh and before I forget – thank you all so so much for forcing this series into my hands. I promise I won’t turn my nose up at another sci-fi book again because I have been proven wrong, imagine that. I’VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER! I’ve got a feeling this is one of those books that will lead me into a whole other genre of awesomeness, so thank you for that. Love ya!

Farewell, Lunar Chronicles. Until I get my hands on the short stories…

Title: Cress

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Source: library

About: In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Psssst. Hey you. yes, you. If you haven’t already looked, take a peeksie here and here for my reviews of Cinder and Scarlet, the first two books in this series, The Lunar Chronicles.  There’s no spoilers in any of these reviews so go wild and then read the books and come back here to talk to me about them! thanks. -emily 

Oh. My. Stars.

I skipped a shower for this book. I stayed up till 1:30 A.M., which, unlike most teenagers, is a rare thing for me. I wouldn’t let myself eat until I finished the next chapter. I am LOSING MY MIND! And I keep telling people that I cannot believe myself, that I cannot be enjoying a complete sci-fi book, but oh my flying pancakes I’m head over heels!

Wheeeeeere should I begin??? Ummm. Oh. CRESS. The newest character in this four-book series. Every book adds a new perspective – Cinder and Scarlet, and now Cress (short for Crescent), and together they shall save the world from evil Queen Levana of Luna. (Aka the moon.) Meanwhile, the girls have some pretty smokin’ dudes who tag along and the whole series is this epic romance-sci-fi-fairy-tale thing. So Cress, the newest character, is a Rapunzel retelling.

Fun fact: I LOVE Rapunzel. Even though the only thing I really have to compare Cress to is Disney’s version and various other book retellings… I love her. Also… I love her prince. Typically in a retelling, the characters of the fairy tale have the same personality and background story (with a twist, obviously). And Rapunzel is one of my favorite fairy tales. I’ve also always had a crush on Eugene (or Flynn, whatever floats your satellite – HAHAHA) and Cress’ “Eugene” – Captain Carswell Thorne – is hilarious. I loved how things get serious and he’s there ready to crack a joke! And he’s cute, according to my wild imagination, so win-win!

“That’s true. I am rather attached to my nose.” – Thorne

I have to say that Cress is my favorite character thus far. I think she’s a lot like me (at least more like me than Cinder or Scarlet) and she’s so sweet and naïve and GOSH, I just want to pinch her cheeks and give her a big hug. She’s a romantic – she fell in love with Captain Thorne before she even met him, which… For me… I can relate to, cause I fall in love with some people after only knowing them for two pages. 😉 She’s also just… ADORABLE, I can’t even describe it! So yes, loved Cress.

I missed Scarlet’s perspective though! I didn’t get a lot of her but I’m sure I will in Winter.

“Do you think it was destiny that brought us together?” – Cress

Cress is the definition of a page-turner. The whole crew was split up for the majority of the book, so I liked switching perspectives from one person to another. It got pretty tense there for a while, but I loved the scenes where everyone was together, goofing off like normal teenagers in between saving the world.

“You can help me pick out a tiara after we’re done saving the world.” – Cress

Can I also mention the length of these awesome books?!! This one was five hundred and fifty pages! And – get this – Winter is EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN! 827! So if you’ll excuse me Imma read that now.

Oh – but before you go – enjoy this video with quotes from The Lunar Chronicles that will tear your heart out and make you cry because IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.

so have you read the lunar chronicles? whatcha think?? how do you like thorne?!!! (be still my beating heart. *sigh*) which character’s your favorite? (cress for the win!) and which book is your favorite?? (mine is scarlet or cress so far, i can’t decide! on the one hand MORE WOLF in scarlet but gosh cress was amazing too…) talk to you below!