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Throne of Glass Review

7/17/2016

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I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for so long, I had finals then I was travelling plus I was watching WAY too much Gilmore Girls so I’ve barely been reading. It was actually on the drive back from one of my trips that I downloaded Throne of Glass on an impulse because I did not want to watch yet ANOTHER movie in the car. If you’ve been here for a while, you may know that I tried to read Throne of Glass last year, but I dropped it because I really hated Celaena. I’m so glad I finally got through it because I can now join the fandom and understand what all the hype is about.

If you don’t know, which you probably do since I feel like the only person in existence who hasn’t read it yet, Throne of Glass is about a girl named Celaena Sardothien, who is an assassin. Actually, she’s the most notorious assassin in the country where she lives. Before the book, Celaena is captured and put in a labor which she is intended to die. After a year in the camp, she is taken out by the prince, who wants her to represent him in a competition to become his father's personal assassin. The book is filled with humor, action and, of course, romance.

I had so much fun reading Throne of Glass this time because I was able to get past the first hundred pages and into the good part of the book. I’ve found that with almost any fantasy book, you have to give it time to allow yourself to adjust to the world. The first time I read it, I had a lot of other books I could read instead, so I pulled out of the story the moment I got tired of world building. If you haven’t read it yet because you’re having a hard time getting into the book, I recommend trying to push through the first 100-150 pages and really isolating yourself from the idea of other books. I also recommend trying to read that first 150 pages in one sitting so you don’t try to delay continuing with the book. My other tip is, if you really can’t get into Throne of Glass, to try reading The Assassin’s Blade, which is the prequel. I read it after Throne of Glass but you can read it before or after.

The first thing I want to talk about is all the names. I love Sarah, I really do. She’s a great author and is a wonderful human being from all the interviews I’ve seen. But her character names look like someone vomited the alphabet. It’s like Ahren from the Selection series. I read it as AH-rehn, but then Christine pointed out that it’s pronounced AIR-rehn. Like Aaron. Yup :/ . So I tried my best to look up all the pronunciations that I needed help with because I want to get these names right, but it was frustrating for me and took away from reading.

Character names aside, I did enjoy Sarah’s writing. She has a very descriptive writing style without it going completely Wattpad and erupting with adverbs (if you’ve never read a FanFic, I’ll link an example of overly descriptive writing here). At some points, I did kind of lose her train of thought in the story, but that only happened a few times. One thing that did seem to irk me was how many times she mentioned that Celaena was blonde or blue eyed. It seemed to take away from the trait because she kept emphasizing it.

There’s not much to say without spoiling you, but I highly recommend this book, even if you aren’t a huge fantasy person. Come back when you’ve read the book so we can discuss it. Goodbye if you HAVEN’T read Throne of Glass yet!

So first of all, I need to vent about Celaena. I have grown to love her over the course of these books and really respect her, but she is so arrogant that it really frustrates me sometimes. The fact that she didn’t feel the need to train the night before a competition started against a bunch of other assassins kind of concerned me. I think a huge part of that was actually my fault because I expected it to be a lot more Hunger Games-y rather than Triwizard Tournament-y. I thought everyone would fight to the death and she would get killed super fast because she hasn’t trained in years, but the competition was actually a lot less intense than I thought it would be. I’m not saying whether I find that a good or bad thing, it was just different. I wish it was more intense because it would have been a lot more fun to read about, but I didn’t enjoy reading about any of the tests except for the poisons one and the final one. I still felt her arrogance throughout the book to really bother me, but I think that part of it is just her way of shutting fear out and other parts of it will kind of disappear over time.

I suppose now is as good of a time as any to bring up the love triangle. I typically hate love triangles because either (a) they’re forced on by the author and take over the entire plot of the book and/or (b) it is completely obvious who the main character is going to end up with. I think the only love triangle that I’ve ever read and felt was executed properly was the love triangle in The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. In this book, the love triangle is not forced on, it is definitely not the center of the book and I’m honestly not sure who she’ll end up with but I feel like it’s going to be Dorian. I feel like all the change she wants to instill is only going to be possible if she is queen and she kind of has to marry Dorian for that to work. From what I’ve heard, this is going to take a lot more twists and turns, so who knows, it might not even be either of them. As for the question of whether I am Team Dorian or Team Chaol, I don’t think it’s a completely fair question after just Throne of Glass because I feel like there was so much more Dorian time rather than Chaol time. I think I’m leaning towards Dorian, but that is truly subject to change. I don’t really like one more than the other, I think that Chaol is just more closed off about his feelings than Dorian so I know Dorian better.

Another character that I really want to talk about is Arobynn, even though we didn’t get to meet him. At first, I thought he was so nice for taking in this kid and keeping her off the streets. I thought of him as a father figure, like her Dumbledore. Then, we slowly learn about how cruel he was, making her break her hand and making her pay him back for teaching her then spending it all in a night. We’ll probably meet him at some point but I feel like it’s not going to be pretty. Did he disown her or something as a student for getting caught? I have so many questions about what exactly happened between them.

With the whole murder storyline, I suspected Nehemia immediately because she was the one who knew about Wyrdmarks in the first place and seemed to be hiding things. Even when Celaena saw Cain in the hallway all zoned out, I thought that was too obvious. It wasn’t until Celaena read this one line in one of her books about how the killer gets all the strength from the victims that I immediately knew it was Cain. I was disappointed in how long it took Celaena to make that conclusion.

While we’re talking about Cain, I want to talk about the final fight between the two of them. I was so frustrated the entire time when Kaltain came up to her with the wine and I was screaming in my head for her to not drink it but, of course, she did and she got poisoned. It was so stressful to read her slowly becoming dizzier and falling down and the stupid stick she had breaking. While it was a very important fight, I thought it was stretched out for a long time and the constantly shifting points of view left me really confused about what was happening with the visions she was seeing and if anyone else could see them. I also wanted to yell at Dorian to get up and go closer to Celaena because he just sat there telling himself to get up but he wouldn’t move.

I was also kind of confused about what was actually going on with Kaltain in the book. I know she is an opium addict and she gets terrible headaches, but the King and Duke Perrington mentioned something about testing mind control with her. I really want to learn more about the way magic works and some of the boundaries that it has because it hasn’t been described very thoroughly yet. I also think Celaena has some kind of magic because she keeps dropping hints about magic being outlawed and she’s extremely afraid of the King so there’s something she’s hiding from him. I think there also might be something to do with her identity since her parents were ordered to be killed and I’d assume she was too, so there must have been a way she fought off whatever poison or weapons they used on her.

I think that the other competitor, Nox, who she was giving lessons might reappear in a later book. I was so annoyed that she was giving him lessons because she shouldn’t be helping someone when she wants her freedom so badly she’s willing to cut Dorian off. I thought there might have been a romance on his end but I hope that doesn’t come into play or this love triangle is going to get a whole lot messier.

The whole Queen Elena deal was also kind of vague and I was very annoyed with her for Celaena. She just said “find the evil in the castle” and who knows what that means. Of course, Celaena figured it out but I would have been so angry with her. She also said something to Celaena about bloodlines, meaning that they’re attached in some way or she’s hinting at her heritage and not denying it. Again, I think there’s something about Celaena’s past that she’s hiding. Also, I find it kind of strange that Celaena and Elena sound so similar and wonder if that’s on purpose and is some kind of foreshadowing. I’m so angry about the fact that they changed Elena’s story to make it sound like she was some damsel in distress when she actually fought on the front lines with the king.

Now it’s time for some favorite parts!

I love the ball scene so much and you really get to see both Chaol and Dorian showing their differing natures like how Dorian is ready to ask her to dance while Chaol just kind of hangs back and watches her from afar.

The scene when Dorian gets her Fleetfoot, the puppy was so cute because he listened to her request about keeping Fleetfoot alive. I also love puppies so it was so cute to see that she had a little reminder of him.

I also loved the part when Celaena got her period she says something to Chaol like “I can’t be bothered to do anything right now” and Dorian comes in to try and cheer her up.

The last favorite part I can think of is when she was in the fight with that one guy, I think his name was Baron, and just wiped him out without even pulling out her sword. That was so funny, I think I actually laughed out loud for a solid minute because I was so proud of Celaena.

Those are all my current thoughts about Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. Please comment below letting me know what you thought of the book and also what team you are!

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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,

Caramel

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I'll Give You the Sun Review

5/7/2016

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Hello everyone!

Sorry I was pretty MIA last month, I had a bunch of different competitions I was at and haven't had much time to read.

I picked this book up on a whim after spotting it in the library and remembering all the hype over it and this book did not disappoint. 

I'll Give You the Sun follows a pair of twins named Noah and Jude who are inseperable. After a tragic accident, they stop talking to each other and completely destroy their relationship. The way this book is written is in a before/after plotline with 13 year old Noah narrating before and 16 year old Jude narrating after. It's honestly the kind of book you don't want to know much about before going into because the plot can easily get spoiled in a summary. 

I expected this book to be a contemporary novel, but it actually contains some magical elements. I still would not call it full-on fantasy, yet I was definitely taken aback by the sudden magic so do be warned. 

This book took me a while to get into, just because the beginning feels a bit slow and it takes a while to become invested into the story. Last year, I tried to read this book but I stopped before the end of the first chapter (no, I was not being quick to judge, the chapters are very long). You have to meet the characters and learn their quirks, then wait for the story to take off. About 200 pages in, the plotline took off for me and I finished the rest of the book in a matter of a few hours. The way it's written made me read physically slower as well, with the heavy metaphors that took a few seconds to digest. 

Both points of view had little quirks to them with Noah's being art and metaphors while Jude's were excerpts from a family Bible. I found the imagery from Noah's narration a bit jarring at first, sometimes saying how he felt in actions. His metaphors were like those in We Were Liars but I found myself quickly able to adjust. He also would paint beautiful images of how he felt, giving the trees and sky different colors based on his mood. Along with that, he'd stop at random moments in the story and create imaginary self-portraits with descriptive titles to show how he truly felt. They helped me understand his character a lot and how he wanted ro react to situations. In Jude's narration, she would point out different Bible excerpts based on an action that happened and what type of luck the action correlated to.

I wasn't a huge feeler on the emotional level with this book because I felt as though a lot of what happened was predictable. There were moments that made me sad or laugh, but I wasn't as affected by the feels as a lot of people have said they were with this book.

That's the end of my non-spoiler review, so come back when you've read I'll Give You the Sun so we can discuss. Comment below letting me know what you're currently reading as well as some contemporary suggestions that you think I would enjoy. Bye non-spoilers!

I loved both Noah and Jude and I was really surprised that there wasn't one specific narration that I enjoyed more. As I was reading each narrator, they became my favorite, but it would immediately switch with the narrator. When I usually read from multiple points of view, I tend to only like one point of view, but I was pretty evenly split with this book. I did enjoy Noah's a tad bit more because I loved his romance and also the language used.

Noah was an absolutely adorable character because he was so solidly himself. I loved everything about him, down to his phrases such as a "functioning umbrella." Some of the self-portrait titles were hilarious while others were heartbreaking and made me want to go hug him. His romance with Brian was adorable and made me so happy to read about, but I didn't like the way it ended. I wanted by ship to be together, but it felt way too perfect that Jude was able to suddenly get Brian to see Noah after years of ignoring him. 

I liked reading from Jude's point of view because she was broken in so many ways. Watching her piece herself back together slowly made me proud of her as a character because she had to go a bit backward to move forward. Her romance with Oscar felt a bit too predictable and also made me a little uncomfortable. Having them wait until she was out of high school would've made the ending a bit more realistic and I would've felt better as a reader. 

When we met Guillermo, I knew that he was in love with Noah and Jude's mom, which took away a lot of the big reveal for me. A lot of the plot felt predictable in that case, but I nonetheless enjoyed it. Guillermo was so much fun for me because he was such a lively person with Oscar and just reading about his sculptures made me wish I could see them in person.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading I'll Give You the Sun and am very glad I picked it up. Please comment below and tell me what you thought of it as well as what your favorite part was.

​Follow me on Instagram @once.upon.some.fangirls

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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,

Caramel
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A Study in Charlotte Review

4/8/2016

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Hi everyone!

Today I’m going to be reviewing A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. I’m trying a bit of a different style than usual, just to try some different reviewing methods and see what works best for me and provides the most effective review. A huge thank you to Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins for sending me an ARC of this book!

A Study in Charlotte is narrated by Jamie Watson, who is a junior in high school that just got offered a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a boarding school in Connecticut. He leaves his mother and sister in London, with his school right near his father’s house. While there, he meets Charlotte Holmes, the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes (yes, Jamie is the great-great-great grandson of John Watson). The two are forced to work together when there is a murder at Sherringford, with the two of them as the prime suspects.

I read A Study in Charlotte in two days, but the plot still felt a bit slow at points. Neither Jamie or Charlotte were completely honest with the other, causing for a lot of time that felt wasted in the case. While still entertaining, it felt like filler details that I was reading. I enjoyed taking my time with it, but I typically fly through murder mysteries in a day since they are usually so fast-paced and gripping. There was less urgency on the deaths this time, but I was interested in what was happening to the characters in their personal lives.

If you remember my thoughts on Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, I wasn’t a huge fan of the fact that so much of the story derived from Harry Potter. I was still able to enjoy the story, but it was a constant nagging thought in the back of my mind that it derived from someone else’s work. I had the same problems here because so much of the plot came from Sherlock Holmes, especially since the crime was exactly the same as that in The Adventure of the Speckled Band. While I understand why the author did that, I feel like it’s a bit of a creative cop-out and blurs the line between creative license and plagiarism. Obviously, the author is not plagiarizing or this book would not be published, but this writing method still is not something that settles well with me.

I’ve never actually read a Sherlock Holmes books or even watched one of the many adaptations, but the parallels were still explained well enough that I understood them. With the mention of any Sherlock Holmes story, Jamie explained the entire case, which was helpful for me to understand what was going on. He even mentioned the falsehoods that occurred in stories like The Adventure of the Speckled Band, which added to some play on the characters that they were “real people with real flaws.” Even the fact that Charlotte and Jamie only referred to each other as Watson and Holmes felt like they were toddlers playing dress up in adult clothes, but still able to make it work for them.

The book had a lot of fun, snarky humor that I appreciated. Charlotte was a sassy character in general, which added a lot of comic relief in the midst of the death in the story. There were also some really fun scenes, including the breakfast scene as well as the homecoming scene. In the breakfast scene, Charlotte and Jamie are ordering breakfast for each other and the waiter gets super cranky and retorts, “Happy 50th anniversary.” I just found it funny because no one would ever immediately react to a situation with that comeback, but it still worked.

That’s the end of my non-spoiler thoughts, so come back when you’ve read A Study in Charlotte to discuss. Please comment below about your thoughts on this new review format rather than just my regular general summary and character breakdown. Also let me know if you’ve read Sherlock Holmes and what story you would recommend for me to read. Goodbye non-spoilers!

Another one of my biggest complaints was that Charlotte somewhat felt like a manic pixie dream girl. As we got further into the book, she felt more like a real character because we got to know her better rather than just Jamie’s image of her. The way she was portrayed also seemed to glorify drugs until she said that Dobson raped her while she was on them. It didn’t seem to have affected her until the very last chapters, but I still felt horribly for her all the same. The fact that the nurse orchestrated it made me even angrier because it was such a bad thing to do to someone.

While I wasn’t Charlotte’s biggest fan, I loved Charlotte and Jamie’s relationship. I felt like there was the right amount of buildup to them deciding to be a couple, as this could’ve easily been insta-love. Even their friendship made me happy to see because Charlotte allowed herself to care about someone else’s life. It allowed for a lot of growth in both their characters and was very cute to read about.

The rules of being friends with a Holmes were very funny to me, seeing how many there were and how outrageous they became. Were they written in Sherlock Holmes, or are they unique to this book?

I knew that the nurse was going to be responsible for the murder before it was solved, but I liked that the author was able to include twists about her motives. I completely did not see her being August’s fiancee coming.

The part about the bugs being for the roommate Tom and the English teacher confused me just because Tom’s explanation was very abrupt. It felt sort of random and also a bit unnecessary. I thought it was hilarious that there was a police officer just sitting outside their dorm as they were fighting, but he didn’t even bother to check on them.

So those are all my thoughts about A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. Again, thank you to Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins for sending me an ARC to review. Please comment below what your favorite part was, I think mine was the breakfast scene, and if you’ve read Sherlock Holmes.

Follow me on Instagram @once.upon.some.fangirls

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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,

Caramel
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The 5th Wave Review

3/26/2016

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So, I'm pretty behind on the popular books, but I finally managed to read this.

I was taking a break from reading Shadowhunter Academy on my phone and I flew through this book. It was my first dystopian in a while, just because I've needed a break since my Hunger Games/Divergent/Matched dystopian binge.

I do want to watch the movie now and will probably review it once I get the chance to read it.

For those of you who don't know, The 5th Wave is about an alien invasion. Basically, a mothership appears and is just hovering over the Earth for 10 days, making no contact with humans at all to show friendly intentions or otherwise. On the tenth day, all the power cuts out. This is the beginning of the waves.

The second wave is flooding of all major coastline cities. The third wave is an airborne strand of Ebola. The fourth wave is the aliens coming down to Earth. There is time between these waves to allow humans to be wiped out before the next one hits.

Our story picks up after the fourth wave with a girl named Cassie. She's 16 and is still alive after all these attacks. That's all I'm going to leave you with because I don't want to spoil anything, but we do have more narrators than just Cassie.

Overall, I had a very fun time reading this book, it was the perfect blend of a lighthearted tone and seriousness. The characters are great and very real as well as a plotline that keeps developing as the story goes on. The reason I gave it 4 stars is because I found myself able to easily predict each development in the story and how it would play out. This often makes me sad in books because I want to be surprised and kept on my toes rather than just waiting for something to happen.

That's all I can say without spoiling you, so I advise you to go read The 5th Wave if you haven't already and to come back so we can discuss. Bye non-spoilers!

Okay, so I'm going to try my best to categorize this, but we'll see how this goes. There's more that I want to talk about than just my usual character breakdown.

Cassie: So, everyone always talks about how much they love Cassie, but I didn't find myself a huge fan of her. Sure, she had her likeable qualities, but not enough that I'd say she's an awesome character.

I appreciated that she was a real person with real concerns such as buying tampons and keeping up her hygeine. She was really funnily awkward, like how she kept wanting to say to Ben Parish, "Remember the babies?" It showed that she wasn't always composed, but she doesn't need to be either.

My problem with her was how naive she was, mainly when it came to Evan. With the Crucifix Soldier, she kept her head level and knew what she was doing, but the moment she met an attractive guy, all sense went away. She just accepted what he was before it actually occured to her to try and question whether or not he was actually a human. I also didn't like how fast they progressed in a relationship, but I guess Rick Yancey meant to show it as time moving slower when civilization is gone.

I love the fact that Cassie kept Bear with her through everything and had conversations with it regularly. I thought it was really funny and added a bit of sadness to show how quickly she had to age.

In the last part of the book, I liked her for her cleverness in breaking in and taking down the aliens herself. She didn't wait for Ben to come up with a plan, she just did the first thing that popped into her head and expected him to go with it. I like that she took charge and I definitely thing that she is going to clash with Ringer in the next book.

Just as a side note, I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned how it's so often in books and movies that stories rarely have two named female characters that talk about something other than a man. I am hoping that this series does not actually fall into that category. If you know any books that do or don't fall into that category, let me know in the comments. I'd be interested to see what you can come up with, maybe try applying the last three books that you read.

Ben/Zombie: I had mixed feelings about Zombie. I liked him for the most part, but he had these little quirks that made me want to hate him.

First of all, the moment he was introduced and we ignored his name, I knew it was Ben Parish. I don't know if Rick Yancey meant for this to be obvious or not, but I felt like it was a huge sign just blinking in my face. 

The story about his sister and how he left made me partially hate him but more so just feel bad for him. He kept referring to his sister as Sissy and, I mean no offense in this, but WHO CALLS THEIR SISTER SISSY? I just felt like it was a kind of strange nickname and didn't add any real depth to their relationship. The fact that he kept his sister's necklace made me love their sibling relationship a lot. I felt like there was such a strong sibling bond apparent in all the characters that I want to see more books where siblings don't get along because not all siblings are loving best friends.

I also loved the sibling relationship between Zombie and Nugget because it showed how he was healing from that loss. It was so funny that it came full circle, with Nugget feeling like both Zombie and Cassie were his siblings, which would be kind of awkward if they ended up together.

My main problem with Zombie was at the end, just because it gave a last impression of him being weak and needy. That was my main impression of him by the end of the book, which made me really dislike him. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't like him or his character, but more so that his character was ruined for me in those last few chapters.

Evan: Okay so I knew that Evan was the Silencer that was following her from the moment he was introduced. First off, he knew her nickname and claimed that it was from her drivers license, but YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE SAYS YOUR FULL NAME. Not only that, but he was just too perfect to be a human because you don't go through all of that and come out unscathed.

I was talking to my friends who had seen the movie about all of my theories when I was only 100 pages in and they told me that I wasn't going to enjoy the book very much if I kept up with all of my predictions. While it did bother me that I was so easily able to predict everything before it happened, I was still entertained by the execution of the story.

I did like Evan as a character and I think that his internal conflict will provide an interesting plot point later on. So, no, I don't think he died. I do think that Rick Yancey will carefully avoid putting him in The Infinite Sea for most of the book, but I do think that he'll make an appearance by the end. While I was upset that he disappeared, I do think that it was for the right reasons and cleared his name with a lot of readers.

Nugget/[CRAP I FORGOT HIS REAL NAME]: So Nugget was such a good character because, as sweet as he was, he kept pushing himself to keep going until Cassie came for him. Every time he said his sister was coming for him and Zombie tried to figure out how to let him down lightly, I was screaming in my head, "NO ZOMBIE THE KID IS RIGHT LET THE KID DREAM BECAUSE IT'S NOT DREAMING IT'S WAITING FOR THE END OF THE BOOK!"

Needless to say, I do think that the next books will be interesting to see how Cassie adjusts to having a little brother that knows how to shoot a gun and is faster than her. His innocence has been destroyed by the situtation and I think it'll be heartbreaking for her to watch.

Ringer: I loved Ringer so much because she wasn't afraid to let herself adapt to this new world. She knew that she had to be tough and wanted to thrive in this place so that no one would ever think of killing her, which made her such an interesting character. The amount of insight she had into everything was amazing and she was quick enough to jump to the conclusion that they were the fifth wave that she thought about it but didn't let it sit and keep denying it.

She's just super level headed even in all the craziness going on and doesn't allow herself to become weak, even if it means not getting attached to people. I hope to read from her POV soon because she's such an interesting character.

Ships: So I ship Evan and Cassie just because I feel like they have a lot of chemistry and also because Evan is so devoted to Cassie. They're cute and it doesn't feel one way like shipping Ben and Cassie would be.

I also ship Ringer with Ben/Zombie since Ringer needs to teach herself how to love again while Zombie is so quick to love and to trust. They have a good contrast and it would be a lot of fun to watch.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading The 5th Wave, even though there were a lot of plot twists that I found very obvious. I'm going to be reading and reviewing the next book soon as well as watching the movie.

Let me know what you thought of The 5th Wave and what your ships are in the comments.

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Miss Mayhem Review

3/23/2016

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In honor of the release of Lady Renegades, the final book in the Rebel Belle trilogy, I decided to review Miss Mayhem, the second book in the trilogy. A huge thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of Miss Mayhem for the release of Lady Renegades.

Lady Renegades comes out on April 5. Here's the Goodreads page along with where you can purchase it. Penguin Random House is hosting a series giveaway, which you can get right here. It closes on March 25, so make sure to sign up soon. It is US only.

​Since Miss Mayhem is the second book in the Rebel Belle trilogy, there's not too much I can say without spoiling you, but I'll link my Rebel Belle review here.

I enjoyed Miss Mayhem, but it was not as much fun as Rebel Belle. It was missing a lot of the humor that set Rebel Belle apart for me and there really wasn't a lot of world building that I wanted to see since it was such a unique world. There was a quick recap at the beginning which I would have found annoying but greatly appreciated since it has been so long since I read Rebel Belle. We still had a good amount of action and the end has definitely left me in anticipation of Lady Renegades.

That's all I can say without spoiling you, so go read Miss Mayhem, then come back to discuss!

Harper: Harper lost a lot of her humor that I loved in the first book. I was so frustrated with her when she kept refusing to tell David that her and Ryan had put a blockade on his visions because I knew that they would break up over that. She also struck me as very cocky with her Paladin powers and used them unnecessarily.

Her choice to enter the Miss Pine Grove pageant felt very rushed, not only on her end, but on the writing end too. A lot of the events that happened in this book, minus the end, felt just smacked together rather than thought out. The whole book felt both dragged out and rushed at the same time, with the slowly building plot around the Ephors and the fast changes in relationships.

I wished we got to see more development with Harper because it felt like she was just sitting in her character flaw of biting off more than she can chew. In Lady Renegades, I hope to see her start to mold into a better person rather than just a better Paladin.

David: I started to like David more in this book but the end still left me frustrated with him. He was constantly moping about not being able to see the future, which made him annoying to have in a scene. Since it has been such a long time since Rebel Belle, I felt like David and Harper were forcing themselves upon each other rather than actually wanting to be together. They were always busy with Paladin/Oracle business, so I never really understood how they thought they could manage a relationship together.

When David finally left in the end, I was still really angry, even though I wasn't his biggest fan. It made sense that he wanted to leave so life could go back to normal for Harper, but I know that he's still going to make extra problems. The ending felt strangely final and I kind of wish that it was the end to keep it from being cliche.

Ryan: I liked Ryan immediately from the first chapter of Rebel Belle and I still do like Ryan. He was accepting of David and Harper, despite all the weirdness. I wasn't a huge fan of Ryan with Mary Beth and was super angry when I found out that he cheated on Harper while they were still dating. I hope that it is addressed in the next book because I do need closure on that. 

I saw Ryan and Bee coming from a while away, but was still surprised that Bee never told Harper about it. I felt like Bee was throwing herself at Ryan a bit, like when she invited him with her and Harper to the fair. I do want to know a bit more about how Bee and Ryan happened in Lady Renegades.

Bee: While I did enjoy seeing Bee as a Paladin, it felt like she was also very cocky regarding her powers. I'm sure that there was a part of her that wanted to be a Paladin so that she could keep her powers.

It was sad to see that Brendan didn't remember who she was, but everyone else eventually remembered who she was. Will Brendan remember her later? It seemed strange that the conflict between them was not addressed again.

I also want to know what is going to happen with Bee's Paladin powers in the next book and if she's going to keep them in the long run.

Alexander: Alexander was super sassy, adding in some of the humor that I was missing from this book. He raised some questions as to whether or not the Ephors are textbook "bad guys" or trying to keep their world surviving. Also, did he die or is he going to come back in Lady Renegades? I found it very unclear, but I do hope to see him again.

The Aunts: Just a quick side note that I seriously love The Aunts. I was glad that Harper tried to make some effort to talk to them more, since it added in some comedy. The part during the pageant where her and Bee were fighting and her Aunt stood up clapping for no reason was hilarious (I'm talking about the Aunt who did it because she didn't know better, not the one who was hiding the actual fight).

I want to see them in the next book, although I don't think they'll be very prevalent since Harper is travelling to find David.

World Building: There wasn't a lot of development in the world building, so we didn't get to learn much more than we already knew. I felt like the Peirasmos was just thrown in to add a conflict, but not actually meant to do anything since it was "cancelled."

The bit about the Ephors fading was interesting and I do think that it'll be explored more.

I just want to know more about this world since there are so many things I don't know. I also don't know how any of them know what they're doing, since there isn't exactly a guide book.


Overall, I enjoyed Miss Mayhem, but not as much as Rebel Belle. Make sure to check out Lady Renegades on April 5!

Tell me what you thought of Miss Mayhem in the comments!

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Shadowhunter Academy Review

3/8/2016

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GUYS. GUYS. GUYS.

First off, happy Lady Midnight day! I'm so excited to finally be getting it and will have it in my hands very soon.

But, before you jump into Lady Midnight, you HAVE TO read Shadowhunter Academy. Don't wait for the bind up, there's some big stuff that happens here that you need to know.

It's definitely not a chore to read, I had SO much fun reading this, it's much better than the Bane Chronicles. If you have not yet finished the Mortal Instruments series, I advise you leave now and go finish those and DO NOT read the synopsis for this, as it contains major CoHF spoilers. Come back when you've read City of Heavenly Fire.

Okay, so Shadowhunter Academy follows Simon becoming a shadowhunter at the newly reopened Shadowhunter Academy. He's trying to get his memory back, rekindle relationships and choose whether or not he wants to join this world. It's not just about Simon though, we see a lot of old characters and different points of view.

The novellas get better as you go on, with the first two good but the rest are just much better. I binge-read these, taking a short break to read the 5th Wave, which I promise I will review soon.

If you have not read Shadowhunter Academy, go do so before picking up Lady Midnight. I've you've started reading it and have only read some of the novellas, you can read the individual reviews for the novellas or you can wait and read them all at once. BYE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!

Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy

Okay so Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy was not boring but not something super interesting that I would just sit down and keep reading. It had the necessary backstory that we needed and we met some new characters.

I already loved Simon's roommate George and HE'S A LOVELACE (well, sorta)! I wish that he could know about Jessamine and all that she did for everyone, but it's all okay.

Okay, what is even going on with the food? It becomes a running joke throughout the series, but I feel so bad for them. How are they supposed to body build if they can't eat the food. Isn't Simon a vegetarian? I'm pretty sure some of the food they served was NOT vegetarian.

I had a lot of Sizzy feels at the end, it's breaking my heart to see Simon reject her. YOU DON'T JUST REJECT IZZY LIGHTWOOD, SIMON! At the same time, I do understand that he needs to figure out himself by himself before he figures out himself with someone else. There were a lot of conflicting feelings, but I just WANTED THEM TO BE OKAY WITH EACH OTHER. Simon had no tact at all.

The Lost Herondale

So the Lost Herondale was also an okay novella, but it definitely set up some things that I think we will explore in either The Dark Artifices or in The Last Hour. Basically, there's another Herondale. Somewhere. Anywhere.

The story of how Tobias Herondale left to go save his wife from punishment for his leaving, was such a heartbreaking paradox. Did anyone else have a Rumpelstiltskin moment from Once Upon A Time? Let me know in the comments if you thought that too.

I really hope that Jace can find this other Herondale line and bring them back to the shadowhunting world.

The Whitechapel Fiend

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This was for sure one of my favorite novellas because we got to see my OTP Wessa as a couple living the family life. They're so cute together and such great parents. They were chasing down Jack the Ripper, who I actually don't know anything about, so I'll be looking into that shortly.

We got to see Jace and his interactions with Simon and he finally had the conversation with Tessa that I've been wanting to see since City of Heavenly Fire. They're all going to Idris together and I think Tessa will tell him about what it means to be a shadowhunter. Also, is it from Tessa that Jace has gold eyes from, or is it from the extra angel blood that Valentine gave him?

James was such a cute child, I loved him and his spoon. All the children made me so happy and I'm so excited to see the Herondale family dynamic in TLH, especially since parents usually take the backseat in these books, but Will and Tessa will surely be more involved.

It made me so happy to see that Jem was still a big part in their lives, despite his Silent Brotherhood. The kids know him as Uncle Jem and Will uses any excuse to call the Silent Brothers, which I find so cute and warming.

So much love for the "Wiggles" exchange, I've forgotten so much of Jace's sass because of the Shadowhunters TV show.

Nothing but Shadows

Nothing but Shadows is yet another amazing novella, where we get to learn more about the character of James Herondale. If you don't know, James is actually the main character of the other new Cassandra Clare series: The Last Hour.

We get to see how James was raised and I love that he was so close with his parents and how much love there is in their house. I can very strongly relate to James and how he's very shy around people, despite the fact that Will is such a charmer. It makes him a lot more real, especially since we haven't had a very shy main character.

James meets Matthew Fairchild, who everyone can't help but love. I was so sad to see James not like a Fairchild, especially because of the bond between the families, but Cassie resolved that nicely. They're going to become parabatai and be trained by Will, which I'm so happy for.

I really hope that The Last Hour picks up right from where we left off, especially because James in The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles) is much different from this novella. I want to see the journey of how that happened to him.

We get the development that James can turn into a shadow, which is probably a result of having demon blood from Tessa. This will surely come into play during TLH, I think it's a very cool ability and handy for him to have. It's also something we do see in The Midnight Heir.

They mention the character Grace a few times, who we also saw in The Midnight Heir. I think she is some kind of demon/child/thing that is the "daughter" of Tatiana Lightwood. She's the reason for James' heartbreak in that novella, so I wonder what happened between then.

We also hear that Henry really isn't doing well and that he has a hard time working on new inventions. Charlotte is only able to do so much, especially since she's the Consul and has a full time job. It makes me so sad that Henry, who is so full of life, has to be like that.

I love getting to see the relationship between Jem and James, knowing that he was named for him. James really thinks of Jem as a part of the family and I love that they're so close.

It made me so happy to see how James was protective of Tessa and willing to go through insults from racist shadowhunters just to spare his mother's feelings.

When Simon thought about wanting to become parabatai with Clary, I got so excited because this thought had occured to me a few months ago. I was just waiting for it to happen and hoping that Cassie would include that. I'm sad we never actually get to see the ceremony, maybe we'll get it in Lady Midnight.

The Evil We Love

The Evil We Love was an interesting story for me to read because we got to see insight on the exact relationship between Robert Lightwood and Michael Wayland. Robert really didn't have any strong feelings about anything except for Michael and I honestly think that Robert did like Michael back.

I hated the way Robert immediately rejected him, like he had some kind of disease. I pretty much hated Robert throughout the story, but that was the part I disliked the most. We learned that Robert Lightwood could not bear marks and almost died. This is probably a reason why Izzy and Alec know so little about their family, just because they don't have a good relation. His parents said they would rather he died than be a mundane, which is horrible.

We got to see how the Circle worked, with Valentine having such a complex mind that he made sure everyone thought they were the most important member there. It really showed how cunning he was in manipulation.

There were also some Sizzy developments, which made me proud of Simon and happy for Izzy.

Pale Kings and Princes

Pale Kings and Princes made me so angry because it shed even more light on just how racist the Clave is. Despite the fact that Helen Blackthorn was raised a shadowhunter and has done so much for them, the Clave would rather take mundanes in over her. I just- URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I feel so bad for her, but I'm excited that she's getting married to Aline. I wish she could be with Julian so he didn't feel like the responsibility of his whole family on him.

It was very interesting to hear how Helen was even conceived in the first place and the plot twist at the end killed me. I want her to know that her mom really did love her father and maybe even try to contact her. It kills me to see what a rough spot she's in.

Also, I HAVE SO MANY SIZZY FEELS! They're finally back together and I can be happy that my ship has not sunk.

Bitter of Tongue

Now I took a break during Bitter of Tongue, mainly because it was such a heavy story and made me really sad to read. Mark Blackthorn is doing his best to stay a shadowhunter and fight off the urge to act more like a faery. 

Every night, he names off all of his siblings names, which made me so happy and sad, especially that he chose to include Emma. I think a big part of Lady Midnight will be trying to get Mark and Helen back.

We got to go to Helen's wedding and see what kind of stress Julian and Emma are under. They have such a family dynamic but are forced to age so fast because of everything. I just want to give them a hug.

It was also a really funny moment to hear Simon list off every time he's gotten kidnapped. Poor Simon :(

The Fiery Trial

I really did not like The Fiery Trial, it was a very weird novella to read. The premise was kind of strange and it felt like the friendship of Simon and Clary was still just forced onto Simon.

The main chunk felt very unneccessary, but I do understand why Cassie put it in. Simon had to remember that he wanted to tell Clary about his feelings for her in City of Bones, since Julian feels the same way. One of the main conflicts in Lady Midnight is going to be that Julian and Emma probably both like each other but are parabatai, meaning they cannot be in a relationship.

It made me sad to see that, instead of rejoicing in the ceremony, Julian and Emma were just aged by the situation. They had the whole withered parents feeling that made me pity them.

I love that Clary and Emma talk, I think it's good for Emma to have some kind of role model that she can look up to. Another role model I want her to have is Jem, so I hope to see him in Lady Midnight.

Born to Endless Night

Born to Endless Night was my favorite novella not only because we got to see Malec but because we saw a return of our old gang. Magnus and Alec now have a warlock child who they found and they named him MAX LIGHTWOOD! A question that will be raised in the future is going to be who the parents are, but we all know the answer to the question of exactly how stylish this baby is going to be. It also makes me happy that Magnus won't be alone because he'll always have his son with him, even after Alec dies.

We got to see everyone fawn over the little baby and even got to see Mayrse and Robert work hard to accept Magnus as a part of the family. I enjoyed the heartfelt conversations between everyone.

SIMON FINALLY TELLS IZZY THAT HE LOVES HER SO MANY FEELS YAYAYAYAY

Alec, Maia and this new vampire named Lily have started this small council to deal with Downworlder issues. I love that Alec is finally coming out of his shell and becoming more confident in the shadowhunter he is. He's been through so much, especially in that conversation with Magnus where he talks about how he's afraid of letting their son down.

Alec and Magnus are going to get married, which I'm so ready for! I got my gold on and I'm ready to go!!

Angels Twice Descending

Now, when I heard that someone was going to die in this story, I instantly knew that it would be George. We all love him too much to live. When he died, I could not cry because I had just seen it coming from miles away. While I'm angry that he couldn't be in the city of bones, it makes me happy that he's with Jessamine instead, protecting the London institute.

Simon is finally a shadowhunter and he picked the name Lovelace in honor of George. I think he'll probably change it to Lightwood when he marries Izzy, but it still makes me happy. He finally got his memories back and he feels complete again.

Him and Clary are going to become parabatai soon, which will be very fun to see. Just a nice conclusion overall and it provides a lot of closure on Simon.


I had so much fun reading the Shadowhunter Chronicles, I'm so glad that I didn't choose to skip it. Let me know what your favorite novella was or if there was anything that I missed so we can talk about it in the comments! I'm super excited for Lady Midnight!

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Shadowhunters TV Show Review - Episodes 1 & 2 (that rhymes...sorta)

1/18/2016

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So it's almost finals week and I really should be studying but I've been working all day today, so I think I deserve a short break. To do more work. Fair enough?

I'd first like to start off by saying that, this week, we've gotten over 50 different people visit our site! This is incredible, thank you so much for stopping by and reading, I promise to update more, I've just been studying a ton. Please comment, I really want to be able to read comments and talk to some of you guys!

​Anyways, Shadowhunters has FINALLY come out and I have been so excited to discuss it. I wasn't sure if I wanted to break it down episode by episode, but I have a lot of opinions I don't want to forget, so here we go!

I'm going to start with my overall thoughts with the show, then break it down with "spoilers," but they aren't spoilers if you've read the books.

I liked the show, but it felt like ABC Family trying too hard not to be ABC Family. Izzy's outfits felt over the top, not like her at all, which just bothered me. I felt like they were trying so hard to re-brand that they made all these changes that add up. I wasn't a huge fan of the script or the fight scenes and the only actors that I honestly enjoyed were Alberto (Simon), Matt (Alec), and Harry (Magnus). I would recommend watching it, but keeping an open mind that it will (hopefully) improve as the show goes on.

I'm also really hoping for the blending of the storyline of the Infernal Devices (Will!), maybe like a season switchoff. Something really evil the producers could do is end this season with the big Jace and Clary reveal at the end of City of Bones (you know what I'm talking about) and then have next season only in London (the evil writer inside me is coming out).

Now it's time for spoilers, so I suggest you leave if you do not want to be spoiled, then you can come back and discuss it!
  • Clary - I wasn't a huge fan of Kat's version of Clary. I love Kat, she seems really enthusiastic about the show, but Clary just didn't seem as feisty as she is in the books. I understand that they needed the show to move along, so they couldn't have her reject Jace, but it really annoyed me that she did little things like accepting his hand to walk to the City of Bones. Her lines were quite poor, but that is more the fault of the writers than her. There were very cheesy ABC Family lines like "Mom, I'm just turning eighteen, I'm not going off on some big adventure." I just felt like there was too many cliches with Clary that just didn't settle with me. She also seemed really dramatic over the stupidest things like the disappearing biscotti. It also really annoyed me when, every time that necklace showed her something, she'd gasp really loud and clutch her throat. I understand the first time she did it, but the third time in one scene was honestly just overkill. She also didn't seem interested in figuring out how to defend herself or even asking for a weapon, but just assumed that Jace would protect her instead. Don't even mention her hair, it's practically neon but I'm actually getting used to it. Overall, I'm disappointed in Clary so far, but am hoping for improvement.
  • Jace - Oh gosh. Jace. I just wasn't convinced that he was Jace, I felt like it was someone trying to be Jace but actually sounding like a robot. From what I've heard, Dom is really great in other movies, but he just isn't doing well as Jace at all. His lines were really bad (again, not his fault), but he didn't make them good either. Instead it just sounded very slow and monotone. I also was bothered by the fact that he seemed way too open with Clary, by saying that he didn't know his mom and that his father was killed. Jace uses humor and sarcasm as a weapon to keep people from digging into his past, but this Jace did not. I don't like him nearly as much as Cassie's Jace and am honestly not sure if he'll improve since they already filmed a whole season.
  • Simon - Simon was probably my favorite character on the show so far. Alberto has read all the books and has a really good view of Simon, which I love. Even though his lines were not the best, he was able to deliver them in a Simon-esque way that made them believeable. He's not as funny in the show as he is in the book and I'm especially mad that they cut the whole "Jesus" exchange with Luke. Did anyone else find it funny that Simon chose to sing "Forever Young?" I sense foreshadowing... It's also great that the writers kept the changing "band" name, but the band is two people, so it's not really much of a band.I would like for them to improve his lines and also up the whole stalker feeling from Maureen, but I'm very happy with Simon
  • Izzy - I honestly hated Izzy in the show. Don't get me wrong, Emraude totally looks the part but I just the way she's written. [CITY OF LOST SOULS SPOILER AHEAD: Apparently, Cassie said on her Tumblr that Izzy doesn't know that her dad cheated on Maryse, so she's still a happy go lucky Izzy rather than the bitter, cautious Izzy. I'm really upset about this change, because it takes a lot away from her. END OF SPOILERS] The way Izzy dressed was honestly too much for me, I understand that she isn't as conservative as Clary but she's also not a prostitute. She also seemed way too interested in Simon and too accepting of Clary, when she's supposed to be guarded, especially with Simon. During the fight scenes, Izzy was the "distraction" when book Izzy would always make sure that she could be the first one fighting. Even when she lost Simon, Izzy would never COME BACK without him, but would keep looking until she found him. TV Izzy is Izzy without the amount of coolness and an upped "female characteristics."
  • Alec and Magnus - We didn't see a lot of Alec in the show, but I think he's doing really well with the character. There's a good amount of angst with him and he's very subtle with upcoming plot devices. Harry is doing well as Magnus, but I don't like the fact that they made Magnus run from the Circle. I know it's for a character arc, but it's honestly not a Magnus move. I'm super excited for the Malec episode, especially since they're two of the best actors on the show.
  • Special Effects - I don't like the special effects, they seem way too cartoonish. The runes aren't the greatest, I was hoping they'd look more black like old burn marks. The seraph blades look like lightsabers, I was kind of hoping they'd look like they were made of glass and have a very faint glow. The demons erupt into this gold glitter, but I was envisioning more of a black sticky tar, kind of like the tar from Mockingjay Part 2. Even the fight sequences are filmed very choppily and have this weird triple image thing going on that makes it even less realistic. When they apply runes, they swipe their steles rather than actually drawing it on, which makes no sense. Overall, I'm hoping that they improve the special effects and settle into them, but there is definitely a need for assistence there.

So those are my thoughts on the first two Shadowhunters episodes, let me know what you think in the comments. I'm going to try and live tweet the fourth one, just because of finals, so make sure you stick around for that.

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Winger Book Review

12/22/2015

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​Hi guys,

So I'm crammed on an airplane right now and on the verge of hysterical sobbing because no one warned me about this book. I'd gotten endless recommendations to read it, especially from Butter, who absolutely LOVES Andrew Smith. When I was picking out books to bring with me on my trip, this made the list, and something about the sarcastic tone of the book pulled me right in.

I actually read most of it on various planes, compelled by the writing style of Andrew Smith. Even though the book was severely lacking in a well-defined plot, I couldn't get enough of the story and characters, mainly because I had a bunch of different theories all regarding what was going to happen to all the characters. This book has a very lighthearted tone, but that takes a huge plunge right in the last 30 or so pages.

Reading it, I was expecting something that was really more on the shallow side than on the intense philosophy side, thus making it the perfect book for a vacation. What I actually feel now, is very VERY upset. The amount of feels associated with this book is not light at ALL, so please take that into consideration when you decide to read this book.

Oh yeah, a summary might be good. Now, I didn't know anything about Winger going into it, except that it was about rugby. Honestly, you really don't need to know anything about the book to go into it, and I'd even count knowing that there was a very feels-intense ending as a spoiler. For those of you who want to know some more about it, Winger is about Ryan Dean West, a fourteen-year-old junior at a high school for rich kids whose parents choose to send them away. He's on the varsity rugby team, so his only real friends are with him on the rugby team. For his junior year, he gets moved to O-Hall, where all the 'bad' kids go, away from his friends and stuck with people he really doesn't like. The book mainly covers his junior year and how he deals with changes that are going on in his life.

I'd probably give it around a 4.25-4.5 stars (I know, the decimals, but I love decimals), since I had some problems with Ryan Dean, but some of the other characters and the way Andrew Smith handled Ryan Dean's character made up for it.

Now, it's time for my spoiler-filled rant, because I can't with the feels anymore. If you haven't yet read Winger, go read the book then come back to discuss it with me. Trust me with this book, you want the full effect.
  • Ryan Dean: Let's just take a moment with Ryan Dean because, most of the book, I honestly couldn't stand him. He was cocky, extremely womanizing, he had a one track mind, and couldn't figure out why in the world everyone didn't like him. I thought he was alright, until he decided to play poker and get drunk doing it. When he had his hangover, I just blocked out the whole event in my mind, saying that he'd learned his lesson not to drink. But then he goes, later in the book, getting drunk AGAIN. Come on, Ryan Dean, please value your fourteen-year-old brain. But that paled in comparison to the way he treated women. Every time he introduced a new female character, he always had to talk about how attractive he found them, using various scales and always coming up with a little nickname that he used every time we saw the character. He led Megan on, but claimed that he was in love with Annie. Whenever Ryan Dean talked to Joey, he always brought up the fact that Joey was gay, saying things like 'in a non-gay way' or 'that's the gayest thing I've ever done' when Joey was around or just with his friends. It bothers me to no end that people, especially the male population, continue to be so insecure about their sexuality that they always have to clarify what they're doing. In summary, Ryan Dean West was a living, breathing contradiction, which is exactly what saved him for me. He was a true teenager, really unsure of what he was doing and what had consequences. His intentions were good, but he could never keep up with a solid plight to approach executing them in the best way possible. I really enjoyed the fact that Andrew Smith hadn't chosen an indie approach to his character by making them a well versed, philosophical being, but instead making Ryan Dean someone who had no idea what was going on with him, since that rang the most true for me. The only moment that I remember entirely liking him was during the dance, just because he'd realized who he'd let himself become and tried his best to correct all of his ways. I actually shipped him with Joey and hoped that they would have a moment during the iPod scene. After having finished the book, I really wonder even more now if Joey would have died if that had happened.
  • Joey: I cannot stand it one second longer, so we need to talk about Joey. Joey was just this moral compass kind of character, he was such a GOOD person at heart, despite being in O-Hall and all the other negativity surrounding him. During the entire book, he was the one who was always telling Ryan Dean to get his act together and stop being the little brat he kept acting like. I absolutely loved Joey, he understood exactly what came along with coming out, but he didn't let that stop him for even one second from being exactly who he knew he was. Joey was just a lovable character during the whole book, but my favorite scene with him was probably during the Screaming Ned scene, just because he only saw the good in Ned. He drove around town and got stuck in a creek out of the pure goodness of his heart at 3am to drive an old man home. The reason, at least the reason that I see, that Ryan Dean liked Joey so much is because Joey was so fully accepting of Ryan Dean, even though he was only 14 and kind of a jerk. Joey treated him exactly how he treated everyone, which was one of my favorite things about him. I honestly thought that he was going to end up with Ryan Dean by the end of the book, especially at that last scene when he just had this look in his eyes while they were talking. I'm so upset that he died, since he was the only character that I truly liked in the story.
  • Annie: Annie was...boring. I really didn't think too much of her. She was smart, artistic, athletic and that was really all there was to her character. She always kept telling herself that she couldn't like Ryan Dean, but I really didn't feel too much anticipation towards it. I was honestly kind of bored with Annie, which is possibly because Ryan Dean idolized her, so there really were no faults to see. There weren't any particular moments when I had very strong feelings of like or dislike towards her, just a constant blah type feeling.
  • Overall Thoughts: So I really did enjoy reading Winger, despite my problems with some characters. I was very entertained and will definitely be reading Stand Off once I get home. I'm a bit confused because everyone did say that Winger ended on a cliff-hanger, but there really isn't too much that seems like I need a dire answer to. Honestly the book could've survived as a stand-alone with an abrupt ending. I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy the second book, especially since there will be a lack of Joey, but I'm still going to give it a try. I loved the little cartoons and graphs in there, but I loved the hardcover design even more, with the actual picture on the front, then a full watercolor marker sketch mirrored. I had a lot of fun with this, since it was my first Andrew Smith book and I hope to pick up his other books soon.


Thanks for reading, make sure to keep up with all of our OUSF updates by following us on the links below!

Caramel
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Mystical Book Review

12/10/2015

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First off, I want to thank Michael Weekly for giving me an ARC of his book in exchange for an honest review.

Mystical is a fantasy novel about witches, specifically a novice witch named Eliza Rose who is learning more about the world of mystics (non humans). She knows that she is a witch and has a broomstick (which is not for flying) but absolutely no idea about anything else in her life as a witch. That is, until, mystics just begin popping up around her and trying to kill her since she’s going through the equivalent of witch puberty, which allows her to gain skill and try and learn to harness them. The mystical world includes witches, mermaids, elves and shifters as well as corrupt versus innocent types of each species.

So I enjoyed this book, but I did have a few problems with it as well.

The book starts out right away with Eliza’s mother telling her that she’s a witch, with absolutely no plot build-up whatsoever. I felt like a lot of different points didn’t really have much tension or buildup, so the major plot drops just felt very easy to miss. Along that line also went the stylistic choices, where there would be long paragraphs of time standing still and describing everything, then a quick sentence where everything changes. I found it very easy to get lost in what was happening, especially during the combat scenes, just because time wasn’t moving at a consistent pace in the writing.

There were a lot of info dumps in the book, which really confused me because I felt like the world would’ve been easier to understand if things had been introduced slowly rather than all at once. That said, there were still quite a few info dumps in the last part of the book, even though the info dump style should really be eradicated around halfway through the book.

Parts of a chapter felt very repetitive, like this paragraph:

“The shifter weaves its head around. It looks like it is half snake half human. A shifter.”

Throughout the story, I felt like portions of the plot repeated over and over again, so I found myself confused about what already happened and what was new. Something very similar to that was the method of planning that the characters had, where they would say they were going to do one thing, then do something completely different on that same day. I wasn’t sure if the time was jumping around or whether the characters really did toss plans out the window that easily.

The last problem I had while reading this was that there were so many characters introduced so fast, I found myself starting to mix up who was who or completely forget characters. Some of them were never named or named very late in the story, which also really bothered me because I didn’t understand who was on the cover until about ¾ of the book through.I didn’t really feel very connected to the characters, since their personalities weren’t varied too much, but I did like Donovan.

Despite these issues, I still did enjoy myself while reading this book. It was an entertaining read, written in a way that was very relatable to teens, even if it wasn’t always the most comprehensible. I was really intrigued by the format of the world, but I got a very heavy Mortal Instruments vibe from it, that I hope disappears in the next few books.

Again, a huge thanks to Michael Weekly for the opportunity to read his book!
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Twilight Book Review

10/19/2015

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I've gone done it.

Not only have I managed to start and finish a book in the midst of a huge reading slump, I managed to read a 550 page book in a weekend. Take that reading slump!

So this probably shouldn't have been the book I chose to binge read considering the fact that some of my most anticipated releases came out this month, but at least it got me reading.

Now, I'm going to start off by saying that the reader in me mostly enjoyed this, but the writer and critic in me did not. There is a difference between rich detail and excessive detail. The former providing clever imagery without droning, while the latter just seems to give you details that don't add anything to the story. I felt like this book had so much excessive detail to a point where Stephanie Meyer was mentioning every single meal Bella ate, and exactly what she ate. This does not add anything to the story, and honestly just frustrates a reader, especially when they have little time to read. 

I also felt as though the characters were rather flat. Although there was a TON of description, especially towards the character's actions, they didn't seem to have much personality. They felt very two-dimensional, and not as though they could be real people you meet. I'll get into this a bit more in my spoiler section.

This book is 3 stars on my scale, because it was an entertaining story, but was lacking in the writing. I feel like a lot of the hype surrounding it is about the storyline, which is somewhat amusing to me. When people let themselves become too attatched to the actual book, what I've found is they start to overlook the technical aspects of the story. As a reviewer, it is my job to point out the technical aspects as well as the entertainment level, and find a proper balance. I feel like some of the effort gone into imagining Bella's countless meals could've instead been spent trying to add more dimension to the characters.

Now, if you haven't read this book, go read it and come back so we can discuss it. Bye non-spoiler people!

Ok, so into the character dissection we go:
  • Bella: Bella was...annoying to say the least. I feel for her clumsiness factor, I'm one of the clumsiest people I know, but no one is THAT uncoordinated. And this is coming from someone who fell off her bike whilst biking on FLAT GROUND and skinned half of her face. Her character needed more depth than what we got in the book. She was such a perfectly made character, always doing her homework and making dinner, but adding the flaw of her clumsiness didn't make her any more real. If anything, it made her look even more fake, like "Look! Here's a character that's almost perfect, but wait, she's the clumsiest person to ever have stumbled upon the earth, so she can't be criticized as perfect!" Characters need to have more than one or two flaws to be a good character, and their words and actions should help characterize them. The fact that we were inside her head and still could not feel much towards her meant that Stephanie Meyer really needs to work on more realistic characters. Bella was also annoyingly stupid, wanting to become a vampire right away so she could "be with Edward forever." Did anyone else find it absolutely ridiculous that by page 300 they said they loved each other? I am by no means an expert in the love department (or even qualified in that matter), but even I know that it takes more than 300 pages since meeting to declare it love. I felt like adding this just seemed to belittle their relationship, making it seem rushed rather than genuine. I didn't like Bella's character most of the time, but I'm hoping I'll get to like her better as the series goes on.
  • Edward: I don't know what to say about Edward. I thought he was one of the better developed characters. Even though he had all of his powers and his way over Bella's heart, he was somewhat of a showoff and was always on the verge of losing control. I felt like the scene where he's sucking the poison out of her blood added a lot to his character because it showed that he really wasn't sure of his strength to fight his vampire instinct. On the other side, he seemed too protective towards Bella too fast. He'd barely talked to her, yet had the impulse to save her life from the car because he 'loved' her. I just felt like the romance went too fast on both sides of the relationship, which just cheapened the whole thing. Also, was anyone really freaked out by the fact that he WATCHES HER SLEEP AT NIGHT. I think what bothered me more was how quickly she got over it. I probably would've slapped him or something because that is an invasion of privacy, and is in NO WAY cute. To any men out there, don't watch your crush sleep at night. It's just disturbing.
  • The Cullens: I feel like there isn't enough to say about each Cullen to make them separate bullet points, so I'm just going to lump them all together. I loved Carlisle, he was a way better father figure than Charlie. As a character, he was one of the most developed just because we learned of his battle against his nature. Esme was also a great mother figure, but not a whole lot to her. I'm hoping we get to explore her character a bit more because she seems like she would have a very interesting backstory. On to the children, I had mixed feelings. I loved Alice, she was a very strong character, and opposed the side Bella showed of being a girl. Instead of being a weak damsel in distress, Alice was a strong (inside and out) figure who still had a feminine side. I loved that Bella didn't mention her beauty every time she saw Alice, because it allowed Alice to be seen as more than just beautiful. Rosalie, on the other hand, was only described for her beauty, and I'm hoping that we can learn more about her. I think she has her reasons from staying away from Bella (not that I blame her) and I'd like to know more about her character. Jasper really intrigued me with his ability to read emotions, but we didn't get to know him much just because he kept his distance from Bella. Something similar with Emmett, too. He was a nice person, but didn't have much to define him as a character.
  • Charlie: Honestly, Charlie just seemed like a nuisance to me. His only real role right now is to just be an incentive for Bella to stay human. He doesn't really do anything for himself or Bella, and seems to have no interest in her. I wish his character had a bit more life to him, and I hope we see that in the later books.

So those are my thoughts on Twilight. I've already started New Moon and I'm hoping to get a review up for that. At this point, I think I'm going to get rid of series reviews just because they take too long to write, and the memories of the first book become quite fuzzy by the time I finish the last book.

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Comment your thoughts on Twilight and whether or not you think I should watch the movies.

Recommend any books that helped you get out of a slump.

Thanks for reading!

​Caramel
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