Sunday Wrap-up {1}

Our decision to do a Sunday Wrap-up was not based on any actions from The Story Siren. In fact, we'd been thinking about doing this post for a long time to combine a post with our IMM...and this is the result. Maxine will continue to list what books we received over the week and we will add a discussion post to the mix. It's an awkward time to start, we know, but we have to begin at some point, right? :) 

What we Got

Books mentioned: The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, Intangible by J. Meyers, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown, and The Glimpse by Claire Merle.

Those are all of our books! If you leave a link to your own book list/IMM we'll check it out :). Continue reading if you're interested in what Nicole has to say about the Book Arena.

The Book Arena

Where books battle it out! The Book Arena is where we take two similar books and compare their goods and bads...you can join in with all your suggestions! This week's picks are Legend by Marie Lu and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Divergent: The Good...

1. Lots of action.

2. Kickass heroine.

3. Extremely exciting setting and concepts.

Legend: The Good...

1. Multiple POV used effectively.

2. Lots of action.

3. Kickass hero AND heroine.

Divergent: The Bad...

1. No world-building.

2. Concept of 'factions' doesn't really make sense.

Legend: The Bad...

1. Not too much world building, but more than Divergent.

2. No suspense.

Conclusions...

Divergent is great if you're looking for action, a kickass heroine, and a very exciting setting and action scenes. Legend is great if you're looking for multiple-POV books that are done well, lots of action, and kickass characters. Both lack much world building, although the world in Legend is far more believable. If you're looking for some mystery in your dystopia, Divergent holds far more surprises.

Review: The Hunted by Alex Shearer

Goodreads | Amazon

In a future world where people live to be 150, humans have paid the price for their longer lives—the cost being their fertility. Children have become a commodity: they are bought and sold, won and lost, and worst of all, are hunted by the "kiddernappers" keen to make a quick buck on a big sale. 

When Deet wins Tarrin in a card game he rents him out to childless couples. They pay for Tarrin to play in their houses, and they pretend he's their child for an hour or two. But as Tarrin gets older, Deet is keen to secure his future, and his interest in "The Peter Pan" operation grows. By having "The Peter Pan," Tarrin would stay a boy forever. He would grow old inside the body of a young boy. 

While Tarrin faces a difficult dilemma, someone is watching him. Someone who has plans of his own.

An open letter to dystopians written before 'The Dystopocalypse'(and yes, that's what I'm calling it):
You guys were usually pretty amazing. Most of you were genuinely creepy and yet very relatable, and I could really see something that happened in your stories happening to the society we have in the future. Now, here's the question. WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS GONE?

Respectfully,
Hayley

As it turns out, at the back of charity book stores.

The Hunted was something I didn't really have high expectations for when I first got it- just another dystopian story which had an okay sounding blurb. This is a book that actually had me shuddering at the idea of the 'Peter Pan' project- in the middle of the day.

Now, unlike a lot of dystopians I read nowadays, it's not about some huge hero who goes and saves the world from this terrible, terrible injustice that is society. Tarrin's just a boy trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his life, instead of having Deet, his guardian using him like a money making machine. No uprisings here, and that was something really refreshing to read about. Sure, it's a bad life, but it's good to see a main character with a will to survive instead of being all self sacrificial.

Speaking of characters, I found most if not all of the characters in general quite well balanced and real.  The main character, Tarrin was likable, and while his innocence was a little tiresome at times, but in general I enjoyed how he grew and matured as a character, and got a backbone. I could understand all his frustrations, and I rooted for him pretty much the whole novel. As well as the main characters, I also liked pretty much all of the other characters, whether they appeared throughout the whole of the novel or even down to a few pages. Deet, being in most of the novel was particularly interesting for me to read about. Yes, he's technically the villain, but you get the sense he cares for Tarrin throughout the whole novel- though whether it's real is something I couldn't figure out the whole way through. It was great to see how this semi-villain acted and how real he was, even if he was creepy.

Deet wasn't the only thing that was creepy though. This book was creepy too, to describe it eloquently,  because of how close to reality it seemed, and how well Alex Shearer worked on building it up. Live to 150 using health products? On our way there already. Retain youthful until the day you die? Still working on that, but progress is being made. I loved the idea that humans would lose our fertility because of all the things we are putting into our body because of how plausible it would be, and in a way, it kind of worried me about what would happen to us in the future. Whether children would be scarce and become a sort of black market business. But that wasn't the most creepy and yet awesome part. I was genuinely freaked by the idea of 'The Peter Pan Project' that was a huge part of the novel here.

As I mentioned before, 'The Peter Pan Project' was something that creeped me out completely (I blame watching the movie Orphan partially). The idea behind it is that as a child, you can be given this drug (illegally, of course) which will stop your growth on the outside, and that you would remain a child forever, or at least until you died. The descriptions in the story Hunted make it just so daunting, and yet with today's technology, you wonder whether it would be actually possible in the future and whether people would resort to that, considering the circumstances. In other cases, I probably would have found this idea ridiculous, but the way the author built it up made it completely plausible.

Plot wise, I'm not sure whether this is The Hunted's strongest points. Sure, it's interesting to see the world unfold as you find out more about it, but it never seemed to build up into a climax and the ending for me was a little anticlimactic, which is a little disappointing as there were just so many great twists in there. It was enough to keep me interested, though I would have liked it if they had amped up the action just a LITTLE bit more.

Overall, The Hunted is one of those dystopians that you kind of miss in the wake of super revolutionary heroes and crazy political leaders.  If you're looking for a cynical dystopian, The Hunted is definitely something you should read. Four stars.

★★★★

It was good

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Goodreads | Amazon 

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

I went into Legend with high expectations, and I came out with equally high spirits. Legend is one heck of a ride, with a cat-and-mouse game, two young people who could not be different bound together through fate, and a truly exciting story.


I'd been waiting for this book for a while as everyone seems to love it, and for the most part, I did enjoy it. However, the description does list the book as 'suspenseful', but I'm sorry to say that I didn't feel the suspense, wherever it was, at all. I'd pretty much predicted where this book was going from start to finish, and while I liked the nonstop adventure, originality and mystery definitely weren't features of this book for me.


This book was told using multiple POVs, which I really enjoyed (and I'm not being biased here, although I am currently writing using multiple POVs, so I found it educational as well :P). My last multiple-POV book was Jodi Picoult's Handle With Care, which simultaneously irritated me and caused me to excessively headdesk, so I was very glad that this book was done well. June and Day are both fairly likeable and developed characters, although what I did find mildly cliche was how there were so different and yet brought together. 


What this book also lacked for me was substance. Plot, world building, both of which are extremely important for YA dystopia, were both mysteriously absent in the story. And in some parts, it seemed like the author didn't really think about the plot long and hard. I just predicted what would happen in the story from the first glance at the synopsis, and that killed the story for me. Also, the world-building, which is what I always read dystopia for (not the romance!), was almost nonexistent. We are told about the oppressive government and how the Trial always favours the rich, but how did this place come to be? What happened to change our world so drastically? A few sentences woven in good places throughout the book might've done, but unfortunately, this book lacked even that tiny bit of world building.


At the end, what saved this book from my epic wrath was the author's writing, the action, and the romance. Like Veronica Roth, Marie Lu manages to write action scenes that make you squeal with delight, and while I didn't find this book quite as amazing as Divergent, the action was nonstop, fun, and fulfilling. 


While I thought the romance in this book was completely unnecessary, as June and Day could've become good friends or companions or whatever without being actually romantically involved, there must be some romance in YA. So under the circumstances, I found the romance pretty sweet. I was totally rooting for their (inevitable) relationship while I was under the spell of Legend, and I do hope to see MOAR of their relationship in the next book.


Legend seeks out to deliver a lot, but ultimately, it isn't quite my perfect dystopia. However, with fantastic writing, nonstop action, and a pretty cute couple, I would recommend it for fans of action who don't mind minimal world-building in what is meant to be a dystopian novel. Three and a half stars.

★★★

It was okay/It was good

Wating on Wednesday {18}

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we showcase books that have not yet been released.

Hey it's Maxine here and I'll be doing WoWs / all the other memes from now on. Yep my official position is the "meme officer"! I'm really excited because this is my first post on Teenage Fiction. Thanks Nicole for inviting me to join the team :)

Goodreads 

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it's too late. As Jem's health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves — even if it means never seeing the other one again?

I was certainly excited when I heard about the release of Clockwork Princess. Another dose of good Classandra Clare-ness! The Infernal Devices are one of my top series of all time - it earned five stars on my Goodreads. Apart from the love triangle DD: I found the plot and story.. ok I'll stop now since it's turning into a review.


So, what's your WoW this week? Leave a comment below and we'll be sure to check it out!

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Goodreads | Amazon 

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Divergent was an action-packed, exciting adventure read. And while it was 1) far from perfect and 2) not my ideal dystopian, it was such a great story to flick through as I journeyed through the world of Future Chicago with Tris, and more often than not, I found myself gripping to my Kindle with a slightly scary ferocity as I turned the pages of this book hungrily.


I think the main reason for this book's success is the suspense and the action-packed tale. The future society that the author envisions really isn't realistic. I can't see our current world heading this way, being divided into factions. One of the main problems I had with this book was how the factions came to be. This bothered me right through the book--what would drive our society today into doing something like this? A huge war? An 'uprising'? We are really given no explanation, and I like plausible dystopias that make me think about the world, our governments, and where we're headed towards. Divergent didn't really do that.


The romance between Tris and Four was sweet, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. And while I don't really enjoy heavy handed romance, especially in a dystopia (think Matched), I think the story had the potential for a painful, beautiful, moving romance, in a Peeta-and-Katniss way. And a few scenes did that--I was particularly moved by the part where they were sitting together and Tris made an observation about how if things had turned out just a little differently, they might've been together in Abnegation, their future completely planned out and less uncertain. But for the most part, it just felt...cute. Nothing more.


I felt like there wasn't enough explanation for what a Divergent really was, but maybe there will be more in the next few books. And while I understand that a Divergent is someone who possesses qualities from each of the factions, how are they created? Is there something different about their brain? Somehow something was different when they were born? More explanations is something I'm definitely hoping for in the next book.


Now onto the good, and there are a lot of good parts. Divergent reminded me of The Hunger Games in the best possible way. It had some amazing action scenes, and I really gasped when Tris went up that tall building with the born Dauntless (no spoilers though!). The action scenes, the violence, the fights, and the thrill of being Dauntless really hit me in a big way, and I think Veronica Roth really has a talent for writing.


There weren't any flowery descriptions crammed in throughout the book and no info-dumping from what I was able to pick up. What I loved was that the author concentrated on the most powerful part of her writing--pure action--and the rest just seemed to fit into place like a puzzle. There were so many quotable lines, and I think they are so quotable because the writing is simple and effective.


While I thought the characterisation was excellent, there could've been more. I dislike books where villains are just straight villains with nothing more to them, and I'm getting that sort of vibe from the villains in this story. I'd like some more backstory, some more explanations. Despite all this, I thought Tris was an amazing narrator for the story, and unlike most YA books where I get irritated with the main character at some point in the story, I never did with her. She is portrayed as a thoroughly real person, a real character, and I loved that.


Overall, Divergent was an excellent read. If you're a fan of The Hunger Games, you'll love this. With a light romance, adrenaline-rushing action scenes, a badass heroine, and really effective writing, Divergent is a book I'd recommend to all adventure lovers. Four stars, and I've already pre-ordered the sequel. You know you can't go wrong with that ;P

★★★★

It was good

Review: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Goodreads | Amazon

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams

Usually I read through the prologue, do not understand it, finish the book, come back to reread the prologue and understand it.  Dreaming Anastasia was an exception, because I did not come back to reread the prologue.  I completely forgot there even was a prologue until I flipped open my book and found it there.  What does that say about this book?  Well, we can take it positively, but let's start with the negatives.


When I finished Dreaming Anastasia, I quite liked it.  It's a historical fiction book, with a twist on it, which made it quite interesting to read.  I also learnt a bit from this book, although at the end I was a bit confused which was true and which was false.  It did become a bit predictable by the last few chapters, and when romance fully developed it got a bit cheesy...


Oops, I got a bit sidetracked there.  I was supposed to be saying how not going back to reread the prologue was negative.  To put it bluntly, I did not go back to reread it because I didn't really care much for the beginning anymore.  You do need to know that this would be because I had the sequel sitting next to me, and a very special book to read.  This special book will be in Thursday's post, so do come back for it.


Another negative I found (completely prologue irrelevant) was the annoying font the author used for the letter/journal.  I'm still not sure which of those it is, because there is no possible destination for the letter to go, but it seems to be directed at a certain audience and was written in a journal format.  Never mind that though, the annoying part was trying to decipher the text itself.  To this day, there is still this one name that is written over and over in normal font and scribbly font that I cannot remember, probably because it first appeared in the scribbly font and I see that instead.  It was those parts that took the longest to read, but maybe it's because I am bad at reading cursive.  Maybe it's far too much of a fancy cursive.


The plot was really interesting because I had never read about the Romanovs before.  In fact, before reading Dreaming Anastasia I had about absolutely zero knowledge on Russia.  Now I know a little, and I can't wait to read the sequel.  More important things stand in the way of me and the sequel right now, so my motivation to read it is dropping slightly.


Overall I liked the plot and the storyline, but along the way I could pick up a few negatives.  I must compliment on the cover, apart from the 'ghostly' man glaring in the background which is a bit creepy.  He probably represents the evil guy in the story, but it's creepy nonetheless.  I would rate this higher, if not for the 'demeriting' along the way.  I rate Dreaming Anastasia 3.5 of 5 stars.

★★★

3.5 stars- It was good

Book Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Goodreads | Amazon

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn't mess around. After all, she's learned all there is to know from her mother, who's currently working on husband number five. But there's something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy's rules. He certainly doesn't seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can't seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy's starting to understand what those love songs are all about? 

Here's the thing about this book- I REALLY didn't want to read it at first. As you can probably tell by some of my past reviews, I'm not the biggest fan of romance stories in general- just not my thing. So, while I was extremely reluctant to pick this novel up when my friend nagged me into it, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by Sarah Dessen's work.

One of my favourite things here was how well the characters were fleshed out- everyone had their little quirks, whispers of backstory, and even if it wasn't explained, there was hints that they were actual human beings- little subplots everywhere that strangely enough, fit in well. All the characters here were flawed to some extent, and I enjoyed that. None of the 'most-perfect/evil-person-in-the-world' syndrome, which you often see in today's YA fiction. Also, any boy protagonist who is capable of being sweet and not creepy will probably sway me over too- go Dexter!

Speaking of Dexter, he's also one of my favourite parts of the book- slightly shallow, but he was one of the most likable male protagonists I've read recently. Awkwardly charismatic, with an air of slight dorkiness, he's a lot friendlier than some characters I know, though he is somewhat...desperate. He's definitely not flawless, and has his own faults, but it's the openness he displays that is so refreshing, as it's something you see so rarely in YA nowadays. I really liked that, and that's why I've actually given Dexter his own paragraph. He and his potato songs deserve it.

Also, this conversation alone explains everything:

“I thought this was a cookout. You know, dogs and burgers, Tater Tots, ambrosia salad" Dexter picked up a box of Twinkies, tossing them into the cart. "And Twinkies."
"It is,"..."Except that it's a cookout thrown by my mother."
"And?"
"And my mother doesn't cook."
He looked at me waiting.
"At all. My mother doesn't cook at all."
"She must cook sometimes."
"Nope."
"Everyone can make scrambled eggs, Remy. It's programmed into you at birth, the default setting. Like being able to swim and knowing not to mix pickles with oatmeal. You just KNOW.” 


I should probably stop talking about Dexter here.


Something I also enjoyed in this novel was the plot- while it was predictable in a sense that the two love interests would 'get together' at some point in the novel, there were definitely things that I did not see coming at the beginning of the novel. For example, the emphasis on Remy's family and how it affected her was really interesting to me, and something I didn't expect. I also liked how it wasn't just about the build up of the relationship between Remy and Dexter, something you see oh so often in a love story, but rather about how the relationship continued to grow after they became 'a couple'. There is also a twist that isn't so twisty that I liked in the novel(which I'm not going to reveal), and I have to say that for me, it was definitely a high point in the novel.

There were a few, small details that irked me a little throughout the novel though, and for that I liked it just a little less.

Remy goes from being somewhat of a delinquent at first, doing all the wrong things and generally screwing up her life in the past, but by the time this novel takes place, she's going to Stanford and is 'extremely choosy' with boys. There is no explanation for this, and it just kind of irked me. Another factor I also found extremely annoying was why she was annoyed at her dad for dying. I mean, it was an accident, so why keep such a grudge on musicians? These were just some of the small details I didn't really like so much in the novel, but as I said- small details. Not that big of a deal.

Overall, this is a simple yet sweet novel with surprising edge to it, and I found myself really enjoying it. Even if you're not big on romance, I say give it a go. You may be surprised.

★★★★

Four stars- I liked it!

Meet a Blogger {4}

Who's the person behind the screen?

We all know and love our blogging community, but this feature is a chance to learn more about other bloggers and their habits. Today, we have Kristi from The Story Siren talk about her blogging and reading experience. Next week, it will be Lexie from Still Waiting for Books to Come True.

What inspired you to start blogging?I don't know if anything inspired me to start blogging. I didn't exactly know what a book blog was when I started blogging. I had a personal blog for several months, that honestly was really boring... because I'm pretty boring. It mostly consisted of what I was reading. I discovered there were blogs that were specifically about books, and decided that books would be much more fun to talk about vs. what I had for dinner that night.
What motivates you to blog?
Right now, I'd have to say it's less of motivation and more of an addiction. I love the books and the people and the experience.
What's your favourite place to read?Anywhere.
Do you have any books that you re-read over and over again?Not really.
I know that this is always a torturous question, but what books are you waiting on?So many. This type of thing changes daily because I always discover some new fabulous book... and oh I want it right now! Books to pine for posts are a good reference for this question. Or can I just say... all of them! Ha! 

Thank you Kristi! I'm sure many if not all of you know her already, but if you don't, she's on Twitter @thestorysiren. I hope you enjoyed reading the interview!

Also: Because I'm lazy, if you have any question suggestions for Lexie, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks!

In My Mailbox {11}

IMM is a meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we showcase all the books we got over the past week.

Nicole's Stuff

Clockwise: Paper Towns by John Green, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Exodus by Julie Bertanga, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Alvina's Stuff

Left to Right: Haunted by Joy Prebele and Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Prebele

ARCs

HarlequinTeen via NetGalley: Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

That's it from us! What did you guys get this week? Leave a link below and we'll check your IMM out!

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Goodreads | Amazon 

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q. 

Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

 Oh, this book. It has to be the funniest book I have ever, ever read.

While I have to admit that Paper Towns, unlike The Fault in our Stars, had many, many faults, it was witty, hilarious, and...awesome. There's no other word to describe it. Like Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns is so much more of a coming-of-age novel than The Fault in our Stars. It's about people who are young and in love and have the freedom to pursue their dreams. It's about how young and wild and free teenagers will one day step across and become Adults with Responsibilities without actually consciously realising it. Paper Towns made me realise this, that we make journeys towards becoming Adults, and that this journey is defined by tiny moments that we may not even notice.

The big problem I had with Paper Towns was that, unlike in The Fault in our Stars where there were parts of the text I marked in my brain as John Green Philosophical Ramblings, this book was chock full-of them, rubbing against each other. And it exhausted me to read, because (sorry, nerdfighers, but I must be honest here) it seemed like John Green forgot about the true meaning of the metaphors after a while and just started rambling for the sake of sounding philosophical. It just began blurring into long paragraph after paragraph of nonsensical metaphor. He overdid it this time.

Part 1 and 3 of the book were the best. While Part 2 felt like a try-hard author was writing it, John Green is a truly hilarious person, and what better way to represent being young and free than to have your characters [spoiler, highlight to read]go on an impromptu road trip?[end spoiler] I have to say that this book was the funniest story ever, and Margo, Q, Radar, Lacey, and Ben's adventures were terribly young and wild teenager but so fun to read about.

I liked Margo's journey, but I felt like the book built up to an awfully limp climax. And while I was kind of glad for the ending, all the same, it didn't feel right or true to this story. I'm not going to say any more as I think it will give the whole thing away, but yeah.

You know, I would recommend this book to anyone. To teenagers unsure of their identity, to adults wanting to experience youth again, and to anyone who wants to read a great story written by a great author. Paper Towns was so worth my time and I will continue to read and re-read it again and again. Four and a half stars for a book that was awesome and so full of heart.

★★★★

It was good

Moving to Teenage Fiction!

Hi there! So the big news at the moment is that our blog is moving from Nicole's Library to Teenage Fiction. Since the URL doesn't redirect from Nicole's Library to teenagefiction.org, we're sorry but you'll need to type it into your address bar directly ._________. Nicole's Library now redirects to Teenage Fiction. :)

But overall, we are very and ridiculously pleased with this new development and we hope that you'll join us on the dark side Teenage Fiction! We hope you enjoy the new blog.

Also, time for some explaining and introductions. I don't feel like I can manage the blog on my own any more with school and writing and everything, and I felt that the team was working well and that it wasn't fair for them to be doing so much under my name, so we purchased the domain.

I will also introduce to you Maxine, a new member of the team! She won't be doing any reviews but she's the meme manager. All of the WoWs and the IMMs will be posted by her. Other than that, life resumes as normal :)

Postcard from Hong Kong (Airport)

Got to get on the plane! This is all :)

Book Review: Girl Parts by John M. Cusick

Goodreads | Amazon 

What happens when a robot designed to be a boy’s ideal “companion” develops a will of her own? A compulsively readable novel from a new talent. 

David and Charlie are opposites. David has a million friends, online and off. Charlie is a soulful outsider, off the grid completely. But neither feels close to anybody. When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot designed to encourage healthy bonds and treat his “dissociative disorder,” he can’t get enough of luscious redheaded Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Parted from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up, knowing Rose isn’t real. With Charlie’s help, the ideal “companion” is about to become her own best friend. In a stunning and hilarious debut, John Cusick takes rollicking aim at internet culture and our craving for meaningful connection in an uberconnected world.

Girl Parts was definitely a strange and intriguing book for me. On one hand, I enjoyed the concept and the plot, but the world building was ultimately a little lacking for me which was really frustrating for me.

This novel is set in a near future- close enough that La-Z-Boys still exist and I think there’s even a reference to Blogspot somewhere, but the technology is somewhat advanced and many teenagers (boys only though, as it seems) are diagnosed with “dissociative disorder”, meaning they don’t socialise in real life and are unable to communicate with each other in real life. As a cure for this, a company invented “companions” (Doctor Who bells started ringing here with the red hair of the female protagonist) which helped them learn to treat it. David receives this treatment, and through a series of events, Charlie gets to know the “companion”, also known as Rose.

I was intrigued by this topic- after all, I’m pretty sure that I probably have a milder version of this ‘disorder’, thanks to tumblr and twitter, and I loved how the author took things that we had in today’s technology and expanded it to something that is entirely plausible. Not only that, I was just awestruck at the sheer irony of the situation- Cusick really impressed me here with how ironic he made it, and for some reason I found that incredibly hilarious. I’m a sucker for irony.

The protagonists were pretty interesting too, if a little cliched in their behaviour. There was Charlie, the nice, sensitive, smart guy, David, the very unlikable yet somehow sympathetic douchebag (to put it bluntly) and Rose, the robot girl. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m a girl myself, but I enjoyed how Rose developed from a robot to something with more of a backbone, a bit more of a personality, though it was slightly unnerving to see that, even in a novel, thanks to me watching Artificial Intelligence as a child.

However, there were a few things I felt was lacking.

Firstly, there wasn’t all that much plot build up. After the initial explanation of how the world works and Sakura was introduced, it was just left like that. No further explanation, and even when it appeared something was up, it was never explained (‘it’ referring to something spoilerish I’m not spoiling). It’d be nice if there was a sequel or something to explain it and continue the mystery, but it doesn’t seem like that’s happening, so I’m left unsatisfied with a ton of questions here for now.

As well as that, David was a jerk at the beginning of the novel. Now, that’s fine with me- character development is awesome, right? Well, not when there isn’t any. David started out as a jerk. He ended as a jerk. End of story. That was something I was really disappointed with, because I had really hoped that there would have been more character development, as it was such a promising area. A bit of a low point for me here.

Finally, one last point for this novel. There’s a lot of discussion about intimacy and relationships here, so if you’re particularly uncomfortable with reading about them (and crude references towards them) I’d suggest you steer clear from this novel.

Overall, I enjoyed the concept and the irony of this novel, though I was slightly disappointed by it’s build up and world building throughout. 3.5 stars with a round up to 4.

★★★★

Four stars- I liked it!

Guest Post: The Hunted Blog Tour

Today as part of The Hunted Blog Tour, we have author Kristy Berridge stopping by to talk to us about networking and her book.

A lot of people say that writing a novel can be extremely difficult, and to some extent it is, especially when it comes to perfecting grammar, spelling, sentence structure, collating information accurately, and presenting a story worthy of the reader. I am no exception to that, though admittedly, writing The Hunted and the preceding novels was not nearly as challenging as promotion and sales. There I was with a newly finished manuscript in hand, a great publisher behind me, a kick-ass editor, and lots of friends and family for support. But what the hell was I supposed to do now?
Yes, a small part of me expected that bookstores would magically know that my book existed, that bloggers and readers would automatically snatch up copies from Amazon, and that perhaps one day I’d be walking the red carpet on the coat tails of a movie deal. Naturally, I eventually floated back to earth after the perpetual high of realising that I was a published author, but I was also left a little bewildered, concerned if The Hunted Series might disappear into the oblivion of unread books.
So I took a leaf out of my protagonist’s book and decided that I would never give up, never stop trying, and never stop believing in possibilities. The trick is to work hard, work smart, and always broaden your horizons. For instance, a few months ago I didn’t even know what a blog was. Now I have one of my own, still gobsmacked that people tune in each and every day just to read what I might have to say – mind blowing.
Facebook and Twitter also play a major role in creating a wider audience for your voice. Just remember though, no one cares that you shampooed your hair yesterday or that you just made sushi for dinner. There are ways to entice the reader without boring them with the seemingly mundane details of your life. You also don’t want to constantly spruik your work or remind people that they should buy The Hunted. What? Another important avenue of promotion is networking. It pays to create a great network of like- minded individuals like bloggers, readers, and other aspiring/successful authors. These relationships are great for keeping you up to date with current events, the latest trends, and also offer other avenues of promoting your book whether through reviews, giveaways, guest posts, and blog tours such as this. Remember, always pay it forward! If one of your newly established network of friends helps you out, be sure to try and return the favour whenever possible. Good karma never hurt anyone. Lastly, believe in yourself and the work you’ve created – confidence, consideration and consistence are key.
Kristy

Thank you so much, Kristy, and I hope you all check out The Hunted!
(P.S. This is being posted on Hayley's account by Maxine as Nicole is currently in China without internet.)

Blog Tour Review: Here by Denise Grover Swank

Goodreads | Amazon 

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before. 
Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

I recently read a few self-published books and they were mostly poorly-written, poorly-formatted, and just generally unappealing. And I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but some of them really have issues (mainly formatting and simple spelling/grammar mistakes) that need to be fixed.

Here was not one of those books. It was really great, a wonderful read, and I'm so glad I picked it up. Everything was really professionally done, so I could fully enjoy the plot and story as I would normally do.

The story opens with the main character completely broken and shattered. Her family is wary of her and keeps their distance, and she knows that everything will never be the same again. I was incredibly sympathetic of Julia throughout the story, and as she began to heal, I did get quite angry at her family, especially her dad, for giving up on her. I thought she was a well-developed character with faults, sure, but she was quite relatable (I did think about how I would've reacted if one of my friends died, and her behaviour would've been very understandable). I did think that the adults should've reacted more appropriately, been more kind, and given her more time.

There was a love triangle in this book which I was rather wary of, and still am. I think it was a little unnecessary and the author could've elaborated on more things such as the 'other side' (I will no post spoilers, my friends!), but then again, I am a little biased against love triangles and I'm sure that other people will enjoy it.

The 'other side' in the book was also extremely interesting, and while I was absolutely fascinated, I'm not sure I could follow along fully since I did get rather confused at times, possibly due to the info-dumping that . I think it's very important that authors of paranormal and dystopian stories ensure that the readers can follow along, even if it means having to spend more time on the world building and explanations.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style. It was simple but elegant and really sucked me into the story. And even though I did read different parts of this book separately which made the whole thing a little disjointed in my mind, the story is still fresh in my mind over a month later.

Note: I no longer give ratings to blog tour reviews. Please contact me if you would like more information or if you would like to provide feedback. A free copy of the book was provided for review purposes but did not influence this review in any way.

ARC Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Goodreads | Amazon 

In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity. 
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. 
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters. 
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad. 
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike. 
But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Note: since this is an ARC review, I have tried my very best to make it completely spoiler-free. Feel free to inform me if I accidentally slipped up and put in a spoiler!

I loved Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, so when I saw it on NetGalley and was approved for it (my first title--yay! I just felt the need to say that), I was really surprised and super excited.

I was somewhat convinced that there could no longer be good vampire books after Dracula up until now (blame Evernight and Twilight. Ick). In this story, Julie Kagawa is able to weave action-packed adventure after adventure with brilliant world-building and amazing characters. She's convinced me, much like J.K. Rowling did with her stories of magic, that there are still good vampire stories left to tell.

The Immortal Rules was initially a little daunting as it seemed impossibly long, but with each turn of the page, I realised just how necessary every single one of those pages were. I have to say that Kagawa does some absolutely brilliant world-building--there aren't many authors who can write a good dystopia without massive amounts of info-dumping, and she is the sort that can enchant you and drag you into the world.

The plot of this story was so action-packed and full of twists. When Allie joined the band of humans seeking the legendary city of Eden, I immediately had a nagging feeling at the pit of my stomach, and Kagawa continued to drive this suspense up and up and up. While I adored the Iron Fey series, I have to say that too much of the storyline was focused on the love triangle and who would ultimately end up with whom, which wasn't overly interesting. In this book, the plot is purely focused on Allison and her adventures as a vampire which is wonderful, and there is no love triangle! Go love-triangle free YA!

Another thing that the author captured perfectly was the monstrous nature of vampires. She doesn't pretend that vampires are really humans dusted with sparkly fairy powder--she shows how they are ultimately blood-sucking demons by nature. I am so glad she didn't take the Twilight route with this book.

There was a downside to the narrative. Maybe it was the writing style, but Allison reminded me of Meghan far too much. I don't know why, since Meghan is mildly whiny and Allison is self-sufficient and deeply badass, but that's the general impression I got. I guess I wanted a completely fresh start from the Iron Fey and although the plot in this book delivered that, the similar voices disappointed me a little.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty brilliant book, and Kagawa has renewed my interest in vampires. It was a thoroughly action-packed and exciting book with a great heroine, but I still felt like I was reading Meghan Chase at times (sorry, guys, I really don't know why, but it just felt that way). Four and a half stars for a fantastic story and great world-building!

★★★★

It was good


A free copy of the book was provided for review purposes but did not influence this review in any way.

Review: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Goodreads | Amazon 

Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong. Then comes the brooding and popular new transfer, Jake Thorn... who just so happens to be in Bethany's class. Something about Jake seems to be hiding something darker, something more powerful than expected. That thing, and Xavier, distracts Bethany to a point that Gabriel and Ivy are concerned.The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

Warning: extreme rant. Approach with caution. It also has a spoiler.

Oh, Halo.

Because I don't think I'll be capable of positive thinking after this, I should add that I did enjoy the writing in this book and that I really admire Adornetto for becoming a published author at the age of 14 (she published The Shadow Thief).

And now onto the negatives.

I am writing this review on Good Friday and I would like to mention that no matter whether you regard angels as mythical beings or not, angels are regarded as powerful, good, pure messengers of God. Actually, they're that way unless you're a YA author. The rules bend for you because you MUST accommodate that HAWT boy in your book!

The reason why I picked this book up was because of the overwhelmingly bad reviews on Goodreads. If you go and check it out, the whole first page is chock full of hilariously bad reviews, complete with stress-reduction kits and all (bang your head against a flat surface until you are concussed! Your stress will then be reduced!). And I was super excited to find this book in the library because I thought it would be bad in a FUNNY way.

Nicole, learn your lesson. An overwhelming amount of bad reviews are never wrong. Never pick up this sort of book again.

Let's start off with the location of this book and geography. Right now, I'm learning about the poverty line, population pyramids, that sort of thing. I'm learning about the overwhelming amount of people who don't have shelter, who don't have food, who don't have access to basic health care, who don't earn enough money to feed their families. Angels should go and improve lives of these people, right?

Wrong again, guys!

In this book, Gabriel, Ivy, and--yes, she is an angel, get this--Bethany go to a sleepy costal town where the siblings stay in a mansion, eat truffles, send Bethany to high school, and generally have a great time! This is sidestepped by the fact that there is a glaringly obviously villain who arrives at Bethany's school and then bad things happen.

After that, there's a happy ending. ALL IS WELL.

So basically, this is what the main characters in this story do to help life on earth:

• Ivy knits! And volunteers at an aged care facility! I do that with the Duke of Ed programme at my school too! Yay! I'm just as good as an angel!
• Gabriel teaches at a school and he's moody. And, OMG, because he's so cute heaps of girls are chasing after him.
• Bethany goes to school and, let's see...hmm, what does she do help people? Oh, yes, she falls in love with this guy and it's totally okay even though she's an angel because he's, like, totally hawt and it's so okay to love hot boys even if it's against the laws of heaven because he's, like, cute! She also occasionally snaps out of it and goes and volunteers at the aged care facility because, like, she needs to DO something, right? 

There are just...so many problems with this book I can't even begin to list them all. For one, the author fills up about the first half of the book (and I'm not even exaggerating here) with descriptions of le beautiful town and how great life is on earth. And then she spends the next quarter of the book building up to an achingly obvious conclusion. The fact that I could predict the ending the moment the villain entered the story didn't help either.

There's also the part where Bethany reveals that she's an angel to her human boyfriend, the moment when Gabriel hands her a credit card so she can go shopping for prom (I might add here that Adornetto is Australian, and in Australia, we have no such thing as prom. It's a SCHOOL DANCE or a SOCIAL), the part when she actually considers having sex with her human boyfriend. And while I'm at it, did I mention that she gets drunk and gets a hangover?

I could go on and on about this, but I think I'm going to stop here. Please don't read this book, and if you do need to, borrow it from the library. It's one of the books I can safely say I seriously disliked. One star.

★

This really wasn't for me.