Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

June 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ink by Amanda Sun
Release Date: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: NetGalley
Rating: DNF
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

Review
This is the first time that I’ve reviewed a book that I didn’t finish on the blog and that’s mostly because I feel like I can’t give an accurate review without having read the whole book. I’m breaking the mold for this book because [according to my Kindle] I made it 65% of the way through the book and it was absolute torture the entire time. The plot of the book is actually very interesting and is most of the reason that I read for as long as I did. The story follows Katie, an American, as she struggles to make her way in Japan after her mother’s death. After getting involved with the wrong guy, she learns about these Japanese gods that once existed but actually still exist and he’s one!

Most of what I read was just a bunch of gibberish where Katie and Tomo fight about whether or not they can be friends, and then whether or not they can be involved. There’s some Japanese mobsters thrown in, a couple of friends that Katie doesn’t make until living in Japan for 6 months (what’s up with that?) and then — the only part I really liked — the kendo team that Katie joins. She really only joins to be around Tomo but anything to help a girl kick ass is alright in my book. Most of the drama was contrived and unnecessary and, honestly, didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I don’t know if it was the writing or simply just how the Japanese culture is and it didn’t translate well or I didn’t get it — I’m not sure, but I was rolling my eyes quite a bit.

Now the sticking point that made me up and quit the book for good was a scene in which Tomo attacks Katie in a hotel room. She thinks they’re finally going to be a real couple, they’ve only kissed once at this point, so she naively thinks that they’re just going to make out or something. But Tomo takes things to far and he keeps going at her even after she says no and it takes Katie hitting him and running out of the hotel to get away from his advances. Sexual assault. Okay, so maybe the author is going to actually go somewhere with this. WRONG WRONG WRONG. It turns out that Tomo attacked her so that she would stay away from him. It was for her own good. As soon as she realizes this, SHE HAS TO TALK TO TOMO AND TELL HIM THAT THEY CAN BE TOGETHER. How about no? The writing was already sub par but justifying date rape just sealed the deal for me. I don’t recommend this for anyone with half a brain.

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Taken (Taken #1) by Erin Bowman

June 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Taken by Erin Bowman
Release Date: April 16, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

Review
So you may or may not have seen my post a few days ago where I talked about author friendships and how they influence me. This is one of the times where I was definitely influenced by another author — Sarah J. Maas in particular, who is one of my favorite authors at the moment and happens to be besties with Erin Bowman, the author of Taken. The cover’s pretty, the description is intriguing and it’s being recommended by a favorite author — what’s not to love? I’ve had a very busy life alwaysrecently and I ended up picking up Taken when I was at a book signing for Sarah Dessen in April on a whim. It took me a little bit to get into the book, but once I figured out what was going on I was hooked!

So something you should know about me is that I’m a synopsis skimmer. I look for keywords and names and dates and locations. So I was a bit confused when I started reading and the main character was a guy! One just assumes, am I right? It’s not a bad thing and I don’t dislike male POVs but most books I pick up usually have a female main character/POV so it took me a bit to adjust, especially since I’m a skimmer and was not prepared for the male POV whatsoever. Fault 1 to Lauren. Once I figured out that Gray was a guy (totally could’ve been a guy, right!?) then things started to fall into place and I figured out what was going on in the novel.

Turns out that all the guys in the town of Claysoot disappear on their 18th birthday. Just poof into the air. No one knows where they go and no one ever sees them again. Pretty nefarious. It’s after Gray’s brother is taken on his 18th birthday, Gray finds some things in their house of his mother’s and brother’s that raise some questions. After some snooping around Gray finds out that one of the town leaders has some kind of contact with the outside world, which they’ve been told is pretty impossible — there’s this giant wall closing them in. He then begins to question some medical problems that he apparently faced as an infant and investigates the local healer’s records with the help of her daughter, Emma. Come to find out that he and his brother were twins! He’s 18! Why wasn’t he taken? Why did everyone lie to him his whole life?

In order to find out what’s really going on, Gray decides to go beyond the wall — something that no one in Claysoot has ever survived. Beyond the wall, he finds a world that he never expected and (surprise!) his brother is alive! When Gray gets his answers, it’s one of those awesome “AHA!” moments that makes you wish that you’d realized what was going on sooner. Bowman does a terrific job of creating a beautiful world. Her descriptions were perfect and I felt like I was standing everywhere she described — I mean, how perfect is a name like Claysoot for a town? And I think she deserves the most credit for doing such a fantastic job with the male POV. Writing from the other sex’s point-of-view is never an easy task and I think she found a wonderful balance. It didn’t feel like a woman writing as a teenage boy — it felt like I was reading what a teenage boy had written. I definitely recommend this one, especially those who like dystopians, and I will absolutely be picking up the next in the series next year!

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Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2) by Anna Banks

June 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Of Triton by Anna Banks
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Review
So the first in the series, Of Poseidon, was my first foray into mermaid books and it wasn’t the worst experience in the world, but I wasn’t blown away. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger though, so I was pretty interested to see where Anna Banks took this one! I mean, her mom is the long-lost Poseidon princess Nalia? Who would’ve guessed? We knew that one of Emma’s parents had to be Syrena because she was half-Syrena, but I was very convinced it was her father. When it started to pan out to be her mother, I devoured the rest of the novel and was ready for Of Triton to be released so I could see what happened to Emma and her mermaid friends!

Of Triton picks up almost immediately where Of Poseidon leaves off, with Emma just having confronted her mother with the news that they know who she is. We see Galen and Toraf rushing back to Grom to bring him back to see Nalia himself, leaving Emma and Rayna to keep Nalia from running away and/or hurting anyone else. It doesn’t take long for things to turn sour on both land and in the water when Nalia tricks the girls and is able to kidnap Emma and hit the road and Galen and Toraf reach Grom only to realize that he’s already been mated.

I had my issues with the first novel and I had my issues with this one as well. Mostly because it was so damn short so things were resolved way too quickly for my liking. I was actually really surprised when I got my copy and it was only like an inch thick. That’s teeny tiny by our YA standards! I wouldn’t mind if it had been short and really good but it was short with a lot jammed into it that just became obvious because nothing was fleshed out. Nalia and Grom are reunited fairly quickly even though Nalia makes a fairly big deal about never being caught by the Syrena. Then there’s all of these Syrena politics that come into play. That sort of make sense, but — again — it wasn’t really fleshed out enough to make a lot of sense.

My other big beef throughout the whole novel is Emma. She’s so immature. Literally there are multiple times in the novel where she tells herself to grow up. Yet she never does. Then her feelings about Galen are so back and forth that it’s like whiplash. She loves him so much but she doesn’t want to be mated to him. She wants to spend forever with him but she wants to go college — doesn’t she? She doesn’t really know what she wants. It feels like she’s missed half of the school year, how’s someone who’s supposedly excited about college missing so much school? I mean, obviously being kidnapped by your mom is unexpected, but there are some days when she’s just not at school and it doesn’t seem like she cares. When I was in high school, I was beyond anal about my grades and attendance. But maybe that was just me.

In the end, the book wasn’t bad but man there could have been more padding to make it interesting. More real conversations between Emma and Galen. A better explanation of the Triton abilities. Just a lot more. Then the end was fairly abrupt or could have been put into the next novel and the end could have been sooner. It was all just slightly odd at the end. But interesting too. I’ll definitely pick up the last one just to get some resolution.

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Unremembered (Unremembered #1) by Jessica Brody

June 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Unremembered by Jessica Brody
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

Review
Another book I picked up because Brody is part of the Fierce Reads Tour this summer and the blurb had me intrigued too. I’ve mentioned before that I’m drawn to stories where memories are lost so this was good! This book looked interesting and I was going to see the author! And there’s a plane crash! How very Lost-esque. Color me intrigued.

So Seraphina is the only survivor of a plane crash — like the synopsis says — but she’s not on the manifest. No one’s reported her missing. There’s not a scratch on her. And she has no memory. After being in the hospital for a few days and determining that she’s underage, the authorities place her with a family through child protective services. There’s nothing else they can do, right? She’s made the news so people are coming forward for her now, but no one can be truly verified. The only thing that identifies her is a locket that she was wearing when they found her. Dun dun dun. But then — as soon as she’s being taken to her temporary family — a boy comes forward and says that he’s going to save her! Does she know him? She doesn’t know. Of course not, she doesn’t have any memories.

That first paragraph basically describes most of the book because any kind of progress that Seraphina makes is moot because she doesn’t really know if it’s relevant or not, what with the whole memory loss issue. And of course there’s the boy, Zen, whom she instantly loves because of course she does. Why wouldn’t she trust her temp-family more than this boy who randomly shows up every now and then (and is usually followed by trouble)? It’s not like they don’t ignore the fact that she’s familiar with cars and refrigerators but has never heard of the internet or cell phones. Not your typical teenage girl, obviously. Then of course there’s this weird barcode-like tattoo on her wrist that isn’t a tattoo at all. But what is it? She has no idea.

I was frustrated through most of the novel because Seraphina is a very, very, VERY weak female character. Sometimes it’s easy to forgive weak characters if they have attitude or gumption or ANYTHING but Seraphina doesn’t have a personality or much of anything. The only decisions she really makes are bad ones that seem to get her into even more trouble with various different people. And the fact that she seems to care so little for those around her, especially her temp-family who took her in when she had no one else. She pretty much runs all over them and gives them nothing in return. So nice, yes?

It doesn’t seem like I enjoyed this story much does it? Well I didn’t see the plot twist coming at all. Maybe because I was too busy grumbling about how annoying Seraphina was but the reason for her memory loss, for her being in the plane crash, EVERYTHING is pretty cool and different from what’s out there right now. It definitely bumped up the story for me. Once I figured out what was going on, the book moved from possible-DNF status to “I gotta see what happens!” status. I’m glad I finished it even though I didn’t like most of it because the last little bit was fun. It is going to be a series and I probably won’t read the rest of the books but this one wasn’t so bad.

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Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu

May 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: Digital Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

Review
Once I read Legend from Marie Lu, I had to get my hands on the next in the series — Prodigy — as soon as possible! If you haven’t read the first in the series then I advise that you don’t read this review because there will definitely be spoilers for Legend in here! Just a forewarning. It’s so difficult when reviewing series to keep from spoiling previous books, but it’s the name of the game, I suppose.

I’m just going to get to the part that made this a 4-star book instead of a 5-star book then I can talk about all the good stuff, okay? So the beginning of Prodigy picks up right where Legend left off — June and Day just having escaped Day’s public execution. The Patriots have only agreed to take them so far so then they’re on their own — what now? So far, the first book and the second have covered a maximum of two months, although I think I figured it up when I initially read it was only 3-4 weeks, and the characters changed so much that just had a little beef with it. I think reading the books back-to-back and not waiting a year in between like so many others, made it much more noticeable for me. There was all this character growth, especially for June, that we didn’t really see. Between Legend and Prodigy, it was like she aged years although only hours had passed and we had seen almost everything she went through. I don’t know that this is really Lu’s fault as much as it’s the fault of the writing process. Not many books take place in such a condensed period of time and I feel like maybe it would have been better if she’d written the series in succession instead of taking time apart. Character-wise at least. But this is just me being overly critical. I know that it’s nearly impossible for authors to write like that, but in a perfect world, right?

So the good part? Everything else about this book is pretty perfect. June and Day remain pretty badass, determined to take down the government who have their own agenda, and are willing to do almost anything to achieve that. They join up with the Patriots in Vegas and undertake a massive plan to undermine the government and overthrow the new Elector Primo. Shouldn’t be to difficult, right? Day changes his looks, June pretends that she was being forced to help Day and she infiltrates the government. The further involved they get, they begin to wonder who they can trust. Are the rebels who they really claim to be? They were slow to trust them to begin with but now it seems that everything everyone tells them could be true or they could be manipulated just as they were before. Who’s really in control?

With only each other to trust, June and Day have to decide what’s best for them and, ultimately, what’s best for the country. There’s so much to take into account, including what impact their actions will have on the other America — the Colonies. Wouldn’t everything be better off if the Colonies were in power and the whole land were reunited to recreate the Unite States? It’s easy to think that, especially since little is actually known about the Colonies. Everything that’s known about the Colonies is what has been taught by the Republic and since we’ve established that the Republic can’t be trusted, what they’ve taught about the Colonies can’t be trusted either.

SO BASICALLY NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED. Have I established that well enough? And Lu does a fantastic job of leaving Prodigy off on a sort-of cliffhanger. It’s more of an emotional cliffhanger than anything else because you know that something big is about to happen in the next scene and then it’s over. Theres no other way to describe it. To say that I’m excited for Champion, the final installment, is an understatement. It doesn’t hurt that I’ll get to see Marie Lu at YALLfest just days after its release either.

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Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu [Again]

May 29, 2013 by 2 Comments
Legend by Marie Lu
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: Digital Copy
Rating: ★★★★★
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
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.

Review
I don’t know why I put off reading this series for so long — probably because I thought it was just another dystopian series. Boy was I wrong. While it is a dystopian series, the characters are a bit younger than most of our YA dystopian main characters and the plot is fairly unique, at least I haven’t read anything else like it. And Marie Lu’s writing was spot on. Her stark descriptions were very reminiscent of Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games even though they’re too very different series. I wish I was a better reviewer in that I could show you comparisons between the two, but I hope you can take my word for it. The settings and characters couldn’t be more different but the words are the same. It’s just damn good writing.

The story centers around Day and June — both living on two sides of the same city — and the truths that they learn about Los Angeles, their government and themselves. At first I was hesitant because the characters were slightly younger than I’m used to in my YA books so I wasn’t sure if that was going to be a big deal in their maturity or overall content of the story, but it really had little effect on the novel except to show how strong the characters actually are by doing what they’re doing at such a young age. So if anyone else is nervous about the age when they begin, like I was, I don’t think it should be an issue for you. The setting in Los Angeles that Lu creates is fantastic almost post-apocalyptic with little to no electricity, animals living on tops of buildings and overall shabbiness to the entire town — like it’s run through the wash cycle a few times too many.

Day acts as the Robin Hood of Los Angeles and steals various things from the government and gives them back to the poor and occasionally destroys some government holdings. He’s a street rat and has always grown up in the slum sectors of the city and the government has wronged him in a very specific way — although that’s something for you to find out on your own — so he has his reasons for doing what he does. June, on the other hand, has always grown up in the nice part of town, has gone to the best schools and has excelled at everything she’s done. She’s now the most recent college graduate at 15 and has joined the police force to search for her brother’s killer — Day.

Lu has hit the trifecta with this novel — a great setting, fantastic characters and an intriguing plot…and her writing doesn’t suck either. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I really did like this. I usually do like dystopians but I really liked this one. I kind of wish I had like a 50-point scale so that I could be more accurate in how much I like a book. In the end, I would put this just a notch below Divergent and The Hunger Games, probably on the same level as the Delirium series in terms of just how good it is. And, I hate to say this, but I think that this could be a really interesting movie or TV series so I’m hoping that it gets optioned! Seeing June and Day brought to life would be awesome and I think that the plot and setting are perfect for that.

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Reboot (Reboot #1) by Amy Tintera

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Reboot by Amy Tintera
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Digital Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

Review
I’m not quite sure why I decided to read Reboot but it had just come out and I was looking for something to read before I went to sleep as I had finished the book I was reading earlier in the day. I always have to read before I go to bed. It’s like a soothing mechanism. Anyway, I had just gone on a romance novel spree so this seemed like a good alternative, plus I’m not much for of a “robot” book person. Reading this one right before bed turned out to be a bad idea as I got really into it and ended up staying up until 3 when I had to get up at 6. Oops.


I can’t really regret it, although I was exhausted the next day, because I ended up thoroughly enjoying the book. For Tintera’s debut, I felt that this was really strong and a great concept, and although probably not the most unique, quite a fun read. I know that the market is flooded with dystopians right now and I debated whether or not this would be considered dystopian or sci-fi, but I think it’s truly sci-fi in the end. While it is set in the future with an overbearing government (classic dystopian!) there are such advances in science and technology that it’s impossible to deny that science fiction overrules the general dystopian aspect. So those that fear this is another run of the mill dystopian – think again!

The novel begins when we meet 178 as she’s out on a mission. She’s looking for a human for committing a crime and HARC has given her orders to take him into custody. This is what she does. As a reboot, someone who has come back to life, this is how she lives her life — full of missions provided by HARC, emotionless and following a fairly strict regimen. I’m pretty sure we don’t even learn her real name, Wren, until the second chapter because HARC (the government) is more concerned with the reboots’ numbers than their names. Their numbers are the minutes that they were dead before they rebooted. The longer that they were dead, the less human qualities that they’ve retained in their new state and the easier they are able to take and follow out orders. It’s kind of like the SATs of dying. How long can you stay dead until you come back? The higher the score — the better!


Wren’s world is shaken when a new batch of reboots comes into her facility and she meets Callum 22. He’s hopeless. He was only dead for 22 minutes. Pennies compared to the incomparable Wren 178. Callum doesn’t mind being a reboot so much as he minds all of the rules that HARC has in place for the reboots. Why does he have to eat what they give him? Why does he have to train and become a soldier? Why why why? He has all these questions that Wren isn’t particularly ready to answer. He also raises some questions that make Wren question herself. Why do they say you don’t have as many emotions? Why are we both reboots but we’re still different? The opinion that she’s had of her life as a reboot for the past 5 years has completely gone out the window by meeting this one person. And that’s all it takes doesn’t it — one person? Either way, Wren is completely blindsided by these personal changes the come about as well as some changes that HARC puts in place. They begin running life threatening tests on the reboots. They aren’t going to risk her, precious 178, but what about the few reboots that she cares about — Callum included? She has to do something!


A lot happens in the novel, plot-wise, that I won’t spoil, but in the end I felt that this was more a coming of age novel than anything else. It was about Wren finding her place in the world — and continuing to do so — outside of an arbitrary number that the government has assigned her. Even as a reboot, she’s still a person with unique thoughts and abilities, right? She shouldn’t be any different from anyone else. It’s the beginning of a revolution that she never saw coming and never really wanted. It’s like being told your whole life you’re a shoe and then waking up one day and realizing you want to be a hat instead.* Overall, Tintera’s writing was intriguing and solid. The characters were engaging and the plot kept me engrossed. I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series and I think Tintera shows great potential as a new author!

*Cupcakes if you get that reference.

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Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon #1) by Anna Banks [Again]

May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: Digital Copy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

Review
Much like Crewel, I picked this one up because Anna Banks is going to be in my neck of the woods for the Fierce Reads Tour next month. While I loved Crewel, I wasn’t as big a fan of this one. It wasn’t a bad book, but mermaids just aren’t my thing really — I liked The Little Mermaid growing up (and I still do) but otherwise I’m kind of like MEH. So I was a bit nervous going into it — what are mermaid books even about and/or like? Do they talk about smelling like fish? Do they think humans are weird? Are they just like us? Do they have a separate language? Inquiring minds, people.

Banks addresses most of these things because the main character, Emma, is a human who knows absolutely nothing about mermaids (or the Syrena as Banks calls them.) It all begins with Emma going on vacation with her best friend’s family in Florida when she literally runs into Galen. It’s cute, if a bit overdone. Galen thinks there’s something about Emma and Emma obviously thinks he’s hot but she’s on vacation, nothing can come of it, right? That all turns on its head when her best friend is attacked and killed by a shark. During the attack Emma is able to talk to the shark and somehow get it to leave her alone. This is when Galen knows that something is definitely up with her.

Before I go further, however, I must address the fact that Emma’s best friend was African-American (extremely cliché with a weave and fake nails at that) and then killed within the first five chapters of the novel. As a rule of thumb, I try not to let race alter my opinion of a novel or think of it at all while reading. Sometimes it’s impossible — Hooked is a prime example, as is Eleanor & Park which I DNF — and while this time it’s not impossible, I felt compelled to point out that I felt it was in bad taste. I felt it wholly unnecessary to portray the character that way and then play into so many clichés and tropes (one of the biggest being that black people can’t swim/always die in the water even if LL Cool DJ did survive Deep Blue Sea.) So that irked me a bit and we weren’t even into the meat of the story!

Once we get the meat, it does get interesting, however, so I do need to give Banks points for that. It turns out that Emma is Syrena but she can’t transform once she’s in the water. Add to that, the fact that she can speak to sea creatures? It’s a special gift given to special descendants of Poseidon — Triton’s gifts are a bit different (I might also have them backwards so apologies if I do.) Anyway, they can’t figure out how she’s Syrena because both of her parents are human and Emma is certain that she wasn’t adopted. She and Galen do some investigating, with the help of a doctor who is in the know about Syrena, and make some shocking discoveries, leaving for quite a cliffhanger. There were certain aspects that I was expecting but others that I weren’t, so the end was actually quite exciting.

Finally, the love story is fairly cliche but easy enough to get behind. Galen is kind of an asshole, but it’s not your typical asshole, as he doesn’t understand a lot of what actually happens in a human relationship. He’s not abusive or anything like that, but he kind of stalks Emma a bit and doesn’t realize that isn’t okay because HEY HE’S A MERMAID. He truly hasn’t interacted much with humans outside of his assistant and the trusted doctor, so the excuse is viable and not like the Edward Cullen “he’s a hot vampire” excuse. Galen is ok, I’m not super attached to him, but I wasn’t bothered by his borderline overbearing moments because it is early on established that he is not human and does not know how to even pretend to be.

The things that saved the book the most for me were the characters, who were quick witted and feisty, and the interesting storyline. There are royal mermaids included! More appeal to me. While there were some drawbacks, I felt like the good parts were good enough for me to continue on with the series. This is Banks’ debut novel and I found her writing quick and fast paced, which I enjoyed so I’m hoping that her writing evolves because I think she shows a lot potential and with the right plot and characters — who knows! I would give this a “quick summer read” status.

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Crewel (Crewel World #1) by Gennifer Albin

May 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★★★
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Enter a tangled world of secrets and intrigue where a girl is in charge of other’s destinies, but not her own.

Sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has always been special. When her parents discover her gift—the ability to weave the very fabric of reality—they train her to hide it. For good reason, they don’t want her to become a Spinster — one of the elite, beautiful, and deadly women who determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die.

Thrust into the opulent Western Coventry, Adelice will be tried, tested and tempted as she navigates the deadly politics at play behind its walls. Now caught in a web of lies and forbidden romance, she must unravel the sinister truth behind her own unspeakable power. Her world is hanging by a thread, and Adelice, alone, can decide to save it — or destroy it.

Review
I originally read this book because Gennifer Albin is going to be part of the panel coming to my area as part of the Fierce Reads Tour and I wish that I’d found it sooner! Dystopians are a dime a dozen these days, but I continue to love them and any author that can make them new and exciting will get my attention, which is exactly what Albin does in Crewel. From the very beginning, her prose grabbed my attention and I knew that there was no turning back.

From the very beginning Albin makes us weary of the government as Adelice has to control this ability that she has, one that we’re not privy to for a bit longer. If the heroine is hiding something from the government then she must have good reason right? Except her parents are the ones telling her to keep it a secret and she’s not exactly sure why. They don’t want her to become a Spinster – she knows that – but she doesn’t know why. A Spinster is a female taken by the government after a series of tests and used to help shape the fabric of the universe. Sounds kind of cool right? I mean, I thought so, but again her Adelice’s parents don’t want her to be a Spinster so something’s got to be up with this whole Spinster business, right? Soon enough we get a glimpse of just how important the Spinsters are to the government when Adelice accidentally lets her power show.

Now Adelice is taken from her family and put in the control of this government that cares little for her and more about the image that she projects. (Isn’t that just like every government, though?) She meets a bunch of interesting characters, including the man who she’s seen on TV all her life and is now vying for a bigger leadership role. She’s treated poorly and soon learns that this is actually uncommon among Spinsters — that she’s a special case — and she’s not sure whether this is a good thing or not. They aren’t afraid to treat her poorly, so just how negligent and abusive will they get? Once she arrives at her Coventry, where the Spinsters all live together, she soon learns that even though she is special there is also a lot of politics involved in being a Spinster and she best play her cards right if she wants to stay alive.

All of this is taking place while Adelice is trying to learn how to work the fabric of the universe along with the other Spinsters. And I mean fabric literally. There are threads for people and places and things. It’s really quite intriguing and Albin describes in a way that I never could, so I recommend that you just read the book to understand it entirely. Either way, Adelice is trying to learn how to use her ability and hone it properly while still navigating the politics of being a highly recognized Spinster. (She’s very TALENTED! The government has made her a poster child, of course!) And none of this has made her particularly popular with her peers, but she tries very hard to not make enemies. Her one attempt at making a friend backfires so wholeheartedly that I don’t think she even so much as speaks to her other peers afterwards. Either way, as we’re reading and learning about this wonderful new world that Albin has created, Adelice is learning just as well. Just like the movies, the government has glamorized and sugar-coated just what the Spinsters do and now that she’s forced to do the actual work, she’s not sure that she can. Oh and did I leave out the part about her being the next head Spinster (called the Creweler)? Yeah, there’s that too.

Oh, and there’s a love triangle. A good one at that. I didn’t really pick a side, although I did, but then by the end I was kind of in the middle again. It’s difficult to explain, really. Albin throws some whammies out in the last quarter of the book that I wasn’t expecting at all and had me up into the late night reading so I don’t want to spoil anything, the love story included. Overall, this book was a surprise hit for me and I’m so glad that I read it (no matter the circumstances) and I’m definitely going to try to pry some details about the next book out of Albin come June!

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The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Elite by Kiera Cass
Release Date: April 23, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

Review
I debated about reviewing this book and then I debated about actually posting my review but part of the reason I blog is that I want to express myself. If I didn’t post this review because I was scared I might hurt some people’s feelings or people might judge me, then that would be silly. I’m entitled to my own opinions just as everyone is and, although I’m aware of the drama associated with this author and series, I still like the books. Nice authors don’t mean good books and mean authors don’t mean bad books. So I’m reviewing this and that’s all there is to it.

So I didn’t review the first novel, The Selection, here, but I really enjoyed it. I even reread it before The Elite came out and it got me ready for this one. It reminded me why I liked this series (royalty!) and where I stood in the love triangle (Prince Maxon!) If you haven’t read The Selection, the series is set in the not-so-distant future when North America has gone through two more world wars and is now known as Ilea and has a royal family instead of a president. We’re not quite sure exactly how all of this came about because America, the heroine, isn’t sure herself. No one is really taught history like we’re taught history today – and they history that they are taught is very selective. A very dystopian monarchy. Because a monarchy isn’t something that most people would be amenable to, the royal family appease the people by marrying a commoner and that commoner is chosen by a process known as ‘the selection.’ Through a series of fights with her secret boyfriend, America ends up in the selection process and vying for the heart of Prince Maxon.

Now we’ve reached the top 6 contenders and ‘the elite’ stage of the selection and America is still in the running! Not only does America have feelings for Prince Maxon, which she never expected, but her ex-boyfriend is now a palace guard and isn’t going away without a fight. Add to that, there are rebels from both the North and the South attacking the palace for reasons that America is slowly starting to understand. As her feelings for Maxon grow, so do her doubts about her abilities to be the princess and future queen of Ilea. Not only is the selection a competition for Maxon’s affection, it’s a competition to see who can be the next queen of the country. I mean – can you imagine? I can’t imagine being Kate Middleton (sigh…luff her) who endured years of trial by fire with the British royal family, but to be put through an actual competition against other girls? That’s absolutely awful.

All this internal turmoil is happening while America is still competing against five other girls. Some of the girls are her friends – Marlee is one of her best friends – while others will do anything for the crown and when I say anything, I mean anything. They’re forced to work and learn how to be princesses together, while still being pitted against each other. Each girl is there for a specific reason and America knows that the only person keeping her in the selection is Maxon himself. The other girls have connections overseas, strong connections within the country or are simply favorites with the public. Politically, there are many reasons for them to be in the selection but America has nothing to bring to the table except that she’s from one of the lower castes. I’ve left out the caste system too, haven’t I? It’s pretty much what it sounds like although there are some details that you’ll read about in the book that are pretty interesting.

Without spoiling anything, there’s a lot that happens in this book both plot-wise and character-wise. We learn a great deal more about Ilea and its royal family as well as the rebels that seek to overthrow them. America grows right in front of our eyes as she learns more, grows up and is forced to deal with more than most other 16-year-olds her age do. There were a few moments when I was a bit nervous about where things were going, but Cass definitely knew what she was doing from the beginning. There are reasons for everything that happens and a lot is explained in the end, before even more questions are raised. It wasn’t the middle novel of the series that I was expecting and I was happily surprised with the events that took place. I’m looking forward to the last in the series, The One, next year!

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