Review: Shattered Souls

Author: Mary Lindsey

Pages: 326

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 4/5

Summery:
Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

Review:
I have mixed feeling about this book:  On one hand, I loved it.  On the other, I hate it.  And on the third (What?!  There's a third hand?! :P) it creeped me out.

First off, I have to say that the idea was really good.  The society that Lindsey created was very good.  The story line was great, the staging was great, and the writing was great.  There wasn't a dull moment throughout the whole book and the story flowed together perfectly.

The characters are big problem in this book:  they're all screwed up.  Lenzi is cheating on her boyfriend and lying to him about it.  Alden keeps things from Lenzi because she "can't handle it."  And Zak is a screwed-up jerk.  I really, really hate the characters in this book.  You are supposed to respect the female main character, but how can you do that when she's cheating on her boyfriend?!  Alden, as the male main character, should be irresistible.  I, however, found myself being repulsed by him treating Lenzi like she's weak.  I have no idea why Lindsey would portray females as weak.  Plus, Alden is a creep who is "turned on by fear and pain".  What?!  Zak, I would have to say, is my favorite character, and that's just because I feel bad for him.  Honestly, I don't know why he didn't just dump Lenzi's ass.  Maybe Lindsey was trying to portray him as noble and caring, but he came across as dumb and clingy.

I don't know.  For me, this just wasn't a great book.  Even the cover is creepy.  It looks like the designers cut a model in half and threw rose petals over her.  *shiver*

Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe

by Beth Revis

Series: Across the Universe #1

Release Date: January 11, 2011

by Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin)

Goodreads / Purchase

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

I haven't read many dystopian books, or books in general, that really disturb me.  And this was the first.  Usually when I read dystopians I'm not really bothered by how some company or organization is running everything, but in this book, I was really affected.

It was a good idea.  It really was.  And I loved that Revis went right into the story.  She didn't mess around and write ten pages for Amy's history.  She got that in in other, brilliant ways.  She wrote the book very well, and the story line was really great, albeit a little boring at times, but overall it was good.  The thing that really bothered me was the drugging.  They drugged the passengers to make them passive, to make them mindless drones, and that really bothered me, and really got me thinking.  Just the things they did to keep people under control was sickening.

I really, really liked Amy.  She was strong, confident, and she saw right through the facade Eldest set up.  She was kick-ass and defiant and I loved it.
Elder was okay for me.  Not particularly hot or cute or sweet, bu fine.  He didn't really have any personality and Revis didn't really develop him over the course of the book.
I hate hate hate hate hate Eldest.  I hate him about as much as I could possibly hate anyone.  He's evil, twisted, and delusional.  Why he would think that controlling people is right I have no idea.

All in all, a very disturbing read in a good way, and I can't wait to read the next book.

4 pink flowers

Review: Angelfire

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Series: Angelfire #1
Pages: 453
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: February 15th, 2011
Rating: 5/5

Summery:
First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Review:
I have wanted to read this book so bad and I'm so happy I finally have.  And boy, was it ever worth the wait.

WOW.  That's all I can say.  This is going to be a very bad, very short review because I can't describe it.  It was just amazing.

The story line was amazing.  The plot was awesome.  There were times when I was reading so fast, so caught up in the story, I actually didn't know where I was.
I loved the fighting scenes.  I'm so glad that Moulton described them with such detail.

And OMG.  WILLL!!!!  SO HOT!!  I can't get him out of my head.  He is hot, he's nice, and he's a bad-ass fighter.  Wow.  I think I may be in love.
I loved Ellie.  She was such a strong character.  And I love the role she played.

All in all, MOULTON BETTER RELEASE THE SECOND BOOK ASAP OR I WILL EXPLODE!!!

Review: XVI

Author: Julia Karr

Series: XVI #1

Pages: 325
Format: Paperback
Release Date: January 6th, 2011
Rating: 4/5

Summery:
Every girl gets one.
An XVI tattoo on the wrist--sixteen.

Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay.

Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help--and he just may hold the key to her past.

But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure...

For Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.

Review:
Wow.  This book is really, really complex.  The plot is so good.  Zarr did such a good job writing this book to make it look like Nina had no way to make all the problems right, but I was really impressed with how she did it.

When I started reading it I thought, Wow, I'm not going to like this book very much, because Zarr came up with all these new abbreviations for everything, like PAVs and feLS, I had no idea what they were.  But as the story progressed and grew I finally figured them out and started to really enjoy it.  The plot is simply amazing.  There were so many elements and things going on, I don't know how Zarr kept track of it all.

When Zarr first introduced Sal I didn't really like him at all, but towards the end he started to show his sensative, caring side and he grew on me.
I love that Nina's mom was a strong, defiant woman that saw through the facade the goverment had put up.
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Ed.  That guy is a slime-ball.
I felt so bad for Sandy at the end (not telling what happens).  Although she was completely swept up in being a sex-teen, I kind of liked her and really hoped Nina would make her come to her senses.

All in all, a really good dystopian novel, and I can't wait to read the second one.

What do you think about this book?

Review: Fury

Author: Elizabeth Miles
Series: The Fury Trilogy #1
Pages: 370
Format: Hardcover
Publish Date: August 31st, 2011
Rating: 3/5

Summery:
It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.

Review:
I really, really, really want to like this book (well, I do kind of like it) but the negatives outnumber the positives.  By a lot. ):

In a well written book, the story builds on itself.  The author drops hints here and there to give the reader clues to what this book is about.  Mermaids, unicorns, werewolves, ect.  But Elizabeth Miles didn't do that.  She went on and on for about 200 pages about Chase and Emily's social life, and at the end of every chapter they see someone looking through their window.  That does nothing.  That doesn't help the reader figure out what's going on, what creature is out there, or why.  All it says is that Emily and Chase are popular and that someone is looking at them.  The one good part of the book was the end, and that was pretty much because I finally found out what the heck was going on.

I really wish that Elizabeth Miles had incorporated more into the story, had dropped hints and had things happen.  The only things happening were Emily making out with Zach and Chase running around after Ty.  And that would be completely fine if Elizabeth Miles had just gone for a real-life, chic-lit type story, and not even mentioned supernatural.  But, as the wrote it, it didn't work out.

There really isn't any boy to swoon over in this book. ):  Zach's a jerk, Chase is an idiot, and J.D. is sweet but not swoon-worthy.  Although he is my favorite guy in the book.

The mistakes Elizabeth Miles made were beginner's mistakes, and as she learns more and writes more she will learn to make the plot complex and build the story up.  I really hope her next book shows all she will learn.

OTHER COVER EDITIONS:

What do you think about the covers?  And the book as well, of course? :P

Review: Hooked

Author: Catherine Greenman
Pages: 276
Release Date: August 9, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4/5
Cover Rating: 4/5

Summery:
Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.
Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.
This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

Review:
I know this is totally random and weird, but I got this book out of the library, and I think I may have been the first to read it.  That has never happened before and I'm really excited about it. :p
Ok, enough with the creepy statements and to the review.

Although I really enjoyed this book, there were some things I didn't like about it.  The romance was too quick.  They meet, talk, whatever.  That's fine.  But then they go on a date, have their first kiss, fall in love, in one evening.  And then soon after they do "it" all the time.  Thea was kind of easy.

Will was kind of creepy, and I didn't completely like him, even in the beginning.  And it wasn't just his eye; it was the things he did and the people he hung out with  He just wasn't what I would call "good boyfriend material."

I like and admire Thea for sticking with Ian and taking such good care of him and having him in the first place.  Although, I do think she messed up getting pregnant in the first place, I think she did the best that she could with the following situation.

Ian sounds so cute and perfect to me.  Which, I will admit, isn't saying much since I love babies and think they are the most adorable things ever.  Even animal babies. (Pandas are the cutest ;p)

You've just got to love characters like Carmen and the dad, and I guess the mom as well, although I didn't like her.
Carmen was so nice to Thea, helping her and all, and I really liked her.  I also really like the dad.  I thought he was a real jerk in the beginning, but after Ian was born, he started to soften up, and that's when I really started to like him.

What are your thoughts on this book?  Leave comments, I love them. (: