{Review} What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

What I Thought Was True
by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Pages: 410
Format: Paperback
Release Date: April 7, 2015
by Speak (an imprint of Penguin)

Goodreads / Amazon

Gwen's whole life is about to change. Gwen Castle comes from a long line of fishermen and housecleaners who support Seashell Island's summer visitors, and she expects her life to go the same way. But then she discovers that Cassidy Somers—also known as her Biggest Mistake Ever—is working on the island for the season. And though she tries to avoid him, fate keeps pushing them together. Sparks fly and secrets are revealed as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about her life, herself, and the people she loves—with what really is.

It's been a couple years since I reviewed a book...let's see if I still got it.

This book wasn't particularly bad, it wasn't particularly amazing. It just was somewhere in the middle. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood, maybe I wasn't patient enough, but I found myself skipping some parts to get to the action. It was a well put-together story, there were serious aspects and undertones so it wasn't just a mushy love story like the books Gwen's mom reads, but I didn't really feel like having to think, I just wanted to read about their relationship. It had a message, a purpose, and I respect that. But at times it seemed like the story was moving incredibly slowly, and like there were filler events to just take up space. I also found it hard to accept the whole premise, I guess because I'm a bit older now it's kinda weird to me to think these seventeen year old are constantly getting it on and falling in love. I feel like the story was also kind of drawn out, it got to be repetitive after a certain point and that was when I skipped some sections, because I just wanted to finish the book. I feel like the story could have been told in about fifty pages less. But I loved the humor in this book, there was so much personality jumping off the page. The romance was also very interesting, it was a very unique dynamic. I enjoyed seeing the emotions behind something that just happened, and then how it became more. I liked the idea and the execution, it was just a bit drawn out and prolonged. I really enjoyed Gwen, she was very confident and not afraid to speak her mind, and I really respect that. Cass seemed like a really good guy. I liked how they had both made mistakes and had hurt eachother, so there was no person who could lord something over the other. It was a very stable, even relationship, and I enjoyed seeing that.

All in all, an enjoyable book, but not something to remember forever.

2.5 stars

Other Books by Huntley Fitzpatrick
    
My Life Next Door - Goodreads / Review
The Boy Most Likely To - Goodreads

{Review} A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Vampire

by Bella Forrest

Series: A Shade of Vampire #1

Pages: 149

Format: Paperback
Release Date: December 14, 2012

by Bella Forrest

Goodreads / Purchase

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood. She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine. An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains. Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince. Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night. Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

*A copy was provided by Bella Forrest for review purposes*

Even though it’s a small book, I think that A Shade of Vampire has all the qualities of a book twice its size.  It had good world building, good writing, and a good story line.  I loved how Forrest managed to explain the world and situation without making it boring, and how she moved the story line along quickly and efficiently.  With this being such a short book, it is hard to not write an insta-love, but Forrest did a great job of building and growing the romance so it didn’t come across of too sudden or fake.  The staging was awesome, and the ending was a completely crazy and thrilling.  But it was also a happy, sweet ending.

Forrest did a fabulous job of developing her characters.  I really loved the romance, and Derek and Sofia.  Derek was nice, caring, sexy, yes, but also cute and adorable.  Sofia was strong, defiant, and didn’t take any crap.  Their romance was so sweet and genuine, and believable, it was so nice to read.

This being the first in a series, and leaving off with a bit of a cliffhanger, I can’t wait to see what Forrest does with this world and the characters in the next few books.

2.95 pink flowers (random number, I know)

What other bloggers thought:

Book Mark Belles

A Diary of a Book Addict

The Book Babe

Vivid Fantasy Reads

Reading the Paranormal

Good Choice Reading

Review: Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky
by Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Pages: 374
Release Date: January 3, 2012
by Harper

Goodreads / Purchase

Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland - known as The Death Shop - are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild - a savage - and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile - everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

After reading so many rave reviews about this book, I couldn’t wait to read it.  I think I might have gone into it with too high expectations, because it wasn’t that awesome.  The idea was a really good one, and I liked how the story got going from page one, and the staging in the beginning was really good, but I just didn’t like this book.  I think the main reasons were the writing and the main character, Aria.  To me, the writing was kind of disconnected, and I had to reread sentences several times to get the meaning.  The world and situation that Rossi created was really great, and I really wish she could have been able to finish it off with her writing, but sadly she wasn’t.

Really the main reason that I both hate and kind of love this book is the characters.  I’m going to start with what I hate, and that is Aria.  In a book like this, the main female character has to be really strong and kick-butt.  Aria was weak, whiny, and, for lack of a better word, a bitch.  Even though Perry saved her life several times and took care of her, she was never grateful, and kept on calling him “Savage”, which was kind of a huge insult in this book.  She was stupid, annoying, stubborn, and just totally not the kind of character she should have been.  For these reasons, I can’t figure out why on earth Perry actually liked her.  Because of the situation he was in, he couldn’t let her die, but I don’t know why he put up with her being such a whiny kid and actually ended up liking her.

Even though the idea for this book was really original and I liked the setting, the not-so-awesome writing and the annoying main character brought the books rating down for me.  And honestly, I feel bad for Perry, because he’s got to deal with Aria’s attitude for a whole another book.

2.5 pink flowers



Review: What We Saw At Night

What We Saw At Night
by Jaquelyn Mitchard
Pages: 272
Release Date: January 8, 2013
by Soho Teen

Goodreads / Purchase

Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the “daytimers.”

On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love, Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about the people she trusts the most.

*A copy was provided by Soho Teen for review purposes*

I can honestly say that I have never read a book like What We Saw At Night…but it doesn’t automatically follow that it was an awesome book.  I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in it.  While the idea was really good, I feel like the story moved a little too slow, with a lot of unnecessary info-dumps throughout the book, which I usually just skipped.  There wasn’t a lot of action, but the plot was kind of complex, and it was interesting.  The writing was pretty good, and I liked how Mitchard got right into the story, but I just didn’t really click with this book.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this cast either, although, I will admit, they made the book more interesting.  I think the most interesting character was Juliet.  She was definitely spirited, but also kind of annoying.  She wasn’t exactly the best friend you could ever ask for, and she was kind of mean as well.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Allie either. She didn’t really have much personality, and she was kind of boring.  Rob was my favorite character in this book, and that was mostly just because he was pretty nice and he was a guy ;P

I really wish I could have liked this book a bit more, but I just didn’t really enjoy it.  What with the slow storyline and the meh characters, I had to give this book a not-so-great rating.

2.5 pink flowers

Review: The Dead and Buried

The Dead and Buried
by Kim Harrington
Pages: 304
Release Date: January 1, 2013
by Point

Goodreads / Purchase

A haunted house, a buried mystery, and a very angry ghost make this one unforgettable thriller.

Jade loves the house she's just moved into with her family. She doesn't even mind being the new girl at the high school: It's a fresh start, and there's that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade's little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade's jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn't.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who's seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade's school — until her untimely death last year. It's up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer.

*A copy was provided by Point in exchange for an honest review*

This is probably going to be a pretty short review, because I don’t really have a lot to say about this book.  In the beginning of this book, I was really loving it.  the writing was awesome, the idea was really original, and the story line was really good.  But I can’t help but be a little disappointed in this book.  For one thing, I don’t really feel like the mystery part of the book was very well executed.  The way the main character found out who was guilty wasn’t very well done, and the motive, while kind of believable, wasn’t that good either.

This cast of characters is average.  There is the love interest, and the main character; simple.  And that’s kind of what the characters were: average and simple.  There wasn’t really a reason for me to hate Donovan and Jude, the love interest and main character, but by the same token there wasn’t really a reason to love them either.  Jude was smart, nice, and pretty cool, and Donovan was cute, nice…and that’s about it.

After absolutely loving this book in the beginning, it went downhill, and ended up liking only a little.



2.5 pink flowers

Review: Daimon and Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Daimon
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A Covenent Prequel
Release Date: May 10, 2011
by Spencer Hill Press

Amazon / Goodreads

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards... and that she'll never be prepared for that duty.

According to her mother, that’s a good thing.

But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return—the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill.

The daimons have found her.

Even though this book is the prequel to Half-Blood , I read Half-Blood first, and I think it was a good choice. The prequel made more sense because I had already read the real story and knew what would happen. It was an action-packed 60 pages, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing was good, and I loved how it led right up to when Half-Blood began. Alex was as kick-ass as in Half-Blood, so I really enjoyed that. And, the funny thing is, I enjoyed the prequel more than I enjoyed the first book :P

4 pink flowers

Half-Blood

by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Covenent #1

Release Date: October 18, 2011

by Spencer Hill Press

Amazon / Goodreads

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

*A copy was provided by Spencer Hill Press for review purposes*

This book had been on my TBR for forever.  I’d heard nothing but rave reviews about it, and I had a copy lying around, so I picked it up.  From page one, I loved it.  It went right into the action and really explained things well.  The writing was good, and I was all geared up for a fast-paced, kick-ass thriller.  But, once Aiden was introduced and started to train Alex, I noticed some parallels with another novel, namely, Vampire Academy.  And, as I read on, they just kept on growing, until it looked like Armentrout had taken Vampire Academy’s entire plot and changed a few names and premises.  Here are the similarities:

Half-Blood: Aiden is the super-hot trainer of Alex, but he’s off-limits because he’s a Pure.

Vampire Academy: Dimitri is the super-hot trainer of Rose, but he’s off-limits because he’s also guarding Lissa and it would distract him and Rose.

Half-Blood: The story is set in a world where everyone is scared of Daimons, zombie-like beings who will feed off of humans, halfs, and pures, but mostly Pures because their aether gives them more energy.

Vampire Academy: The story is set in a world where everyone is scared of Strigoi, zombie-like beings who will feed off humans, Dhampirs, and Moroi, but Moroi mostly because their blood gives them more energy.

(MAJOR SPOILER ALERT FOR BOTH BOOKS!!)

Half-Blood: Alex’s mom is turned into a Daimon.

Vampire Academy: Dimitri is turned into a Strigoi

At first I thought it was just a coincidence that the two books were pretty much the same, but then I realized, it wasn’t.  Armentrout basically copies Vampire Academy.

The story started off fast-paced and thrilling, but after that it just kind of died down and was medium/slow paced.  The writing was good throughout the book, but the plot was see-through most of the time, especially when we find out what Alex is.  The climax was really good, but I could have done without the boring ten pages after that.  I still think this is an okay book because I loved Vampire Academy, and Armentrout was smart enough to copy a book everyone loves.

Like in Vampire Academy, this is a super kick-ass cast.  The romance is AMAZING (the more forbidden, the better it is, I always say).  Aiden was so freaking hot.  He’s not as good as Dimitri but pretty darn close.  And Alex is super kick-butt too.  But I do think she was kind of stupid and violent, so I don’t like her as much as Rose.

This book had so much potential, but I think it would have been a lot better if it was more thrilling, and wasn’t a rip-off of Vampire Academy.

2 1/2 pink flowers

Review: Waking Storms

Waking Storms
by Sarah Porter
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Release Date: July 3, 2012
by Harcourt

After parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce just wants to live peacefully on her own. But her tranquility doesn’t last long: she receives news that the tribe is on the verge of collapse and desperately needs her leadership. The tribe’s cruel queen wants Luce dead. Dorian, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save, is determined to make her pay for her part in the murder of his family. And while the mermaids cling to the idea that humans never suspect their existence, there are suddenly ominous signs to the contrary. But when Luce and Dorian meet, they start to wonder if love can overpower the hatred they know they should feel for each other. Can Luce fulfill her rightful role as queen of the mermaids without sacrificing her forbidden romance with Dorian?

*A copy was provided by Harcourt for review purposes*

*Warning: There are some minor spoilers ahead.  Ye be warned.*

It's always hard to write a sequel and make it as good as the first book.  Some authors have managed it, but, unfortunataly, Sarah Porter is not among those select few.  The first book was thrilling, interesting, and I couldn't put it down.  This one, unfortunately, wasn't like that at all.
I feel like I probably would have liked this book a bit more if not for the romance.  It was just down-right annoying, and seriously, I hated it.  First off, it was a total insta-romance, and I hate that.  Literally, they met one night on a beach, and then the next day they were in love and kissing.  Second, Dorian was so demanding and kind of a jerk, and seriously, I knew it was going to end the way it did.  The romance was a hugely epic fail, and really ruined the book for me.
In the first book the writing was amazing, but in this one it wasn't that good.  Porter used a lot "likes" and "I means" and didn't punctuate the sentences correctly.  Here are a few quotes:

"Maybe we could, I don't know, like freeze one of those heads while you were singing?"
~Page 266, uncorrected ARC edition

"I can't tell.  I mean...maybe some guys would think she was."~Page 267, uncorrected ARC edition

"I mean...didn't you really like him, Luce?  Like, seriously?"
~Page 116, uncorrected ARC edition

It absolutely drove me nutss that the writing wasn't good.  I've never read a book that sounded so (and I hate to say this) dumb.  There was absolutely no build to the events at all, total insta-romance, and just annoying writing.  It was a good idea and a great story line for a second book, and it set up a third book perfectly, but the writing just didn't cut it for me.
I don't think I've ever hated the main boy character as much as I hate Dorian.  He was so demanding, annoying, and kind of mean.  He's the kind of guy you don't want to be in a relationship with because he won't treat you right, will cheat on you, and dump you.  I honestly don't know why Luce didn't dump him after the first time he asked her to change, but I knew it wasn't going to end well.
In the first book, I really liked Luce because she was strong, independent, and stood up for what she thought was right.  I still think the same about the third thing, but the first two don't apply to her anymore.  She was totally dependent on Dorian, and it drove me nuts because she was such a stong character in the first book.
There are only a few books out there that I've read that aren't romantic, and Lost Voices was one of those few.  I almost wish Porter had stuck to that and not incorporated romance.  Or, if she really wanted romance, at least build it up and make the guy likable.

2.5 pink flowers