Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought I would hate this, mainly because it has a lot of things that I don't like. I don't like love triangles...actually, I really hate love triangles. It's one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to Young Adult novels. Why does there have to be two guys? Why? What's wrong with just liking one person and leaving it at that?

I also was wary of the Bachelor like theme. I've sadly seen one episode of the horrid show and I kind of find it incredibly distasteful and gross. Maybe it's because the guy (or girl) is in a massive love triangle.

Anyways, despite my misgivings I decided to read the book and it wasn't that bad. In fact, I liked it for the most part.

America Singer lives in a dystopian like world where people are categorized by numbers. The higher the number you have, the better you life will be. Also, your number determines what kind of carry you have. Fives, like America 's family, are entertainers. While Sixes, are servers.

Which brings us to boy number one in America's love triangle, Aspen, who is a Six. (Aspen, America...I see what you did there). America doesn't care that he's a Six, her family would be against it, and he doesn't like that America would probably provide for him more than he provides for her. Plus there is a law that tries to limit people from doing this.

Boy number two is Prince Maxon. He's holding a Bachelor like game, where girls around the kingdom have a chance to be proposed by him. America signs up, because Aspen told her to, and is chosen. America and Aspen break up, America goes to the castle, and starts to develop feelings for Maxon.

Now the triangle is complete.

America, for the most part, is focused on one guy during the novel and I did like her growing friendship with Maxon. I would have been fine if the novel focused more on this and America's growing feelings for him.

Some of the things that I found odd:

After America lets Maxon know that she's in love with someone else, she makes a deal with him. He keeps her at the palace for as long he needs her to be there for the Selection and in return, she'll give him insider information on the girls. It sounds like a fine deal to me, only America avoids most of the girls and the conversations she has with Maxon is almost never about them.

Sadly, this did bug me a bit because I wanted to see America interact with the girls. But we never really see that. A lot of the girls are interchangeable and for the most part I didn't really care for them.

And then there was..

While reading the novel, I felt like Aspen would show up during America's selection process. This was a given. I did think he would have some ties to the rebels, which would cause America to choose whether she wants to support the kingdom and Maxon, or the support the rebels/freedom and Aspen.

Instead, the book ends in a cliffhanger. Maxon doesn't even pick a girl by the end. This was disappointing, because for the most part I did enjoy this novel but then it ends abruptly. It didn't even feel like a full novel because of that.

I will probably read the next book to see if Aspen and Maxon go head to head...for the kingdom and not America.

Rating: 3 Stars

Review: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anee Peters

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I was recommended this book. They both deal with suicide and depression, so I got it and read it.

Even though I didn't love Thirteen Reasons Why, I still remember the book and how I felt reading it. On the other hand, after I finished, "By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead." I didn't feel anything. Not anger, not sadness, not joy. Just meh.

No that's not true. After I read the ending, I thought, "That's it?"

The ending was left open-ended, leaving it up to the reader to decide what happens to Daelyn. I don't mind this, I watch a lot of Asian dramas and some of the books and they love their open ended stories. So I'm fine with this kind of ending. In fact, sometimes it can evoke different feelings out of you, depending on your mood and mindset.

But for some reason, I didn't like the open-endedness of this novel. In the book, Daelyn wants to commit suicide, she's had enough of life and can't wait till she kills herself. She's attempted to do this a few times, but each time she fails.

Daelyn doesn't want to fail again, so she joins an online community that promotes suicides. The site provides different ways you can kill yourself as well as tips for the big day. The only condition is that you have to wait for 23 days before you kill yourself.

The site is disgusting and I didn't like hearing about it, because of the seriousness of the matter, but at the same time it was interesting. It does scare me that there are probably sites like this out there.

In any case, Daelyn joins and the 23 days commence. During this time she meets a boy named Santana who doesn't leave her alone. Daelyn can't talk, but he can't stop talking. [Later in the book you find out that Santana is dying, which does add a nice contrast to Daelyn's life. Daelyn wants to die because she's sick of life, but Satana is dying, but wants to live longer. (hide spoiler)] I don't know why he wasted so much time with her (at least at first), but it does make some sense later on in the novel.

The more Daelyn hangs out with Santana, the more she wants to live...except she doesn't. I never felt like she was willing to change her plans because of Santana. Did she like him, yea. But was she going to let that stop her? I don't think so.

Which is why the ending didn't sit well with me. I don't think it was written in a way that provided two options of Daelyn. Not only is her mind set on killing herself, but she doesn't want to change. She doesn't. And I'm not knocking her feelings and characterization. I'm not. But in order for the ending to work, Daelyn needed to have some self reflection and inner turmoil about suicide, especially after meeting Santana.

Instead, she wants to kill herself for 95% of the book, then near the end she struggles a bit, then goes back to how she was before.

I dunno, it just didn't work for me.

Rating: 2 stars

Review: Thumped by Megan McCafferty

Thumped by Megan McCafferty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not sure how I feel about this one. I liked Bumped, but Thumped disappointed me. Everything happened quickly, it was incredibly predictable, and the ending was a little too perfect.

The Good:

Um...I liked seeing more of this world. And the terminology that the characters use was interesting.

Even though he's a bit too love sick, Jondoe is still somewhat likeable. The fact that he's a major celebrity because he doesn't shoot blanks is funny.

Melody still kept me interested, despite the fact that she was a bit stupid in this novel. She does grow up a bit, but there is only so much growth you can do in a few days.

The Okay:

Zen and Melody's relationship was better developed in Bumped. Since there is an eight and a half month time skip, we don't see what happened once they realized they liked each other. It was almost as if their relationship stood still and that they didn't see each other until this book happened.

So when the two are talking about sex and love, it kind of made me wonder why. I do understand that in this world sex happens, but when it came to these two it seemed like Zen was a bit too desperate for that.

I also didn't like that Zen had a growth spurt. I liked that he was 'vertically challenged.' It made him different and stand out. Now he's getting offers to be the next Johndoe.

The Bad:

It didn't have the same feeling as the first book, so maybe that's why I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. The first book, while not perfect, was incredibly over the top and I'm assuming was meant to be taken as satire. In Thumped, it's not as over the top and instead of seeing more of their world, the story is bogged down by romances and boy trouble.

It was due to this that I got to see the characters a bit more and realized that they're not really that great. They're very one note and not developed properly.

But I think the thing that I didn't like the most was the lack of interaction between Melody and Harmony and I think this ties into the time skip problem as well. In the last book, the two were still trying to figure out a relationship between one another. During the time skip, they apparently talked almost every day and did their best to keep in touch. In Thumped, they only have a few scenes with each other and their interactions seemed different.

I'm still glad I read this, just so I could see the conclusion to the story. I just wish that it still had the same tongue-in-cheek flavour as Bumped.


Rating: 2 stars

Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"You're knocked up. Ready to pop. Due to drop. Do the deed. Born to breed. Went forth and multiplied. Fightin' the omnicide. You're the most important person on the plaaaanet....Babiez R U!"

When I read the blurb, I didn't think I'd like this. But after I learned that this was a satirical dystopian YA novel, I decided to give it a chance.

I think the key is to realize that this book isn't taking itself so seriously. Once you let go, this book was enjoyable. The plot moves quite quickly, since it's written in first person present tense (I don't know if it's just me, but I've been noticing that more and more YA novels are written like this) and only takes place within a few days.

After finding out she has a long lost twin sister Harmony leaves her Christian community to find and save Melody. Melody wants to become a surrogate mother, because teens are the only ones who can get pregnant so it's a lucrative business to be in, but it's also a sin. And Harmony is running away from something else and decides that this is the best way to reignite her faith in her community.

They don't hit it off at first and are awkward with each other, but all that changes when Melody is picked to bump with Jondoe, a celebrity sperm donor who is all the rage at the moment. He doesn't shoot blanks, so Melody's status will skyrocket once she has sex with him. But there lies our problem, Harmony sees him and twin switching and predictability happens.

The writing is smooth, so it was fun reading this. This is the first book by Megan McCafferty that I've read and I don't think it will be that last...especially since I want to know what happens next.

Even though this is a very tongue-in-cheek novel, the dystopian world that McCafferty created is an interesting one. A virus makes everyone but teens infertile. Celebrities are those who make babies and don't shoot blanks. It's interesting. Sadly, we don't get to see a lot of the world. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing though. It's bad, because I wanted to know their world more. But it's good, because it kind of makes the world seem like the one we're living in now only it has better technology.

The chapters do go back and forth between Melody and Harmony and while they do have distinct voices, it did throw me off at first because once I was getting into one character, the chapter would stop and I'd go to the other twin. But after awhile you get use to it.

The world and some of the characters are over the top, but the lack of details about this world does make it eerily similar to our own. Overall, this was a fun, quick read. It does end in a bit of a cliffhanger though, so you'll have to wait for Thumped to see what happens next.  

Rating: 4 stars

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was okay. Nothing spectacular. But out of all of the books, Mockingjay confused me at some parts.

When I read Hunger Games, I was able to read it through and not really miss anything. It was straightforward. I also felt that Catching Fire was similar in that sense. Mockingjay...there was parts that confused me and I had to reread in order to understand what was going on. This is even worse, because a character dies and I didn't even get it until a few pages later.

Another thing that I didn't like was the resolution to the love triangle. Technically there was, but let me explain what I mean. I hate love triangles. Everything about it annoys me, especially the Team Boy 1 Team Boy 2 cheer teams. Annoying. But I never really felt like the romance was developed enough to pick a side.

In Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Gale doesn't really have a personality and since Peeta is shown the most, you already know that he loves Katniss. It's one sided, because in Catching Fire Katniss pretty much chooses Gale. It's just that she wants Peeta to be there for her, which is kind of selfish and a tease but oh well. In the end, she chooses Gale.

Then she forgets about that in Mockingjay and the author changes Gale from having no personality, or having a revenge personality and Katniss isn't liking that. I almost feel bad for Gale, because he never really had a chance with her. Gale was made out to be a horrible jerk, but I never really understood why. Katniss didn't see what happened in District 12, he did and so he wants revenge. Plus, she mentions that he was always like this.

I hate love triangles, but at least give both guys a chance. In the end, she does go with one of them but that's due to outside forces and him being there while the other isn't. She doesn't choose a guy. She just lets things happen and stays with the one who is there. 

I also didn't understand how Finnick, who seemed perfectly fine at the end of Catching Fire, is a huge mess in Mockingjay. What happened to him?

The thing that I think disappointed me the most in the novel was the fact that we don't see many of the things happening, due to Katniss being asleep or in the hospital.

I did like Peeta's hijacking. I didn't like Katniss' reaction to the hijacking though.

I did like that Katniss mirrored her mother. She originally thought so badly of her for checking out, but Katniss ends up doing the same thing for much longer. I thought it was interesting to see.

I did like that characters died, because it's a war and it's expected to happen. It's mostly fodder characters though.

All in all, I felt like this was a bit rushed and not as exciting as the first two books in the series. I was ultimately disappointed with this.

Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked the second half of the novel much more than I liked the first. The first was pretty boring. Katniss is back at District 12 and going through life. She wants Peeta to be with her, but feels like she has chosen Gale.

I hate love triangles, especially one as badly done as this so I didn't really care much about Katniss' inner turmoil as she tried to decide which guy is right for her. If we had seen more from Gale, then I think I would have maybe understood this triangle more, but in the Hunger Games, we saw him in the beginning and in the end. Peeta was the main guy in that book and so we saw more of his feelings.

In Catching Fire, Gale is in the beginning and end and once again Peeta is the main guy in this book. I don't really understand how we're suppose to root for Gale when we hardly know him.

The second half of the novel is Katniss going back to the Hunger Games. I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this I was wondering why we had to do this again. But the more I read from it, the more I liked it. The allies were good and I really liked Johanna and Finnick. Both were smart and had a good head on their shoulders.

Katniss, was a tad annoying. And Peeta was either being carried or helped in some way. He was pretty much useless.

There was so much more that could have been done, but nothing happened until the end.

I have a feeling that Mockingjay will be better, so I'm looking forward to that.

Teaser Tuesdays: wk4

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm currently reading two books.

And the houses along the snow-filled road display their illuminations. Their promise of warm shelter is nearly inescapable...to animals, insects...and to humans alike.

pg 138 of Mushishi vol 4 by Urushibara Yuki

~-.-~

I kept looking for her the rest of that day, puzzled by her reaction. Like most people, I had no clue of her random connection to Hannah Baker.

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher (not sure the exact page of the book, since I'm reading the ebook version of this)

Leave a link to your teaser tuesdays and I'll be sure to check them out!

Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis:

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

Pages: 352 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Released: February 21, 2012

...not really sure what happened here.

After I finished Wither, I knew the first thing I needed to do was to read Fever...actually, the first thing I wanted to do was go to bed, since it was late at night. But once I woke up, I knew I would have to read Fever.

Fever takes place right after Wither ends and somehow, it just didn't do anything for me. My problems with Rhine were intensified in this novel and while I could forgive and overlook her behaviour before, I just couldn't do it here.

The main reason was, some of the stuff just didn't make sense at all.

Rhine wants to do something, but someone else ends up helping her. No, not really helping her. They actually do everything and Rhine just has to listen to them. This is fine with me though. What bothered me was the lack of sex. Hear me out.

In Wither, she never consummated her marriage with Linden, which I always had a problem with. He has sex with Cecily and Jenna, but not Rhine. Why? He respects her wishes, which was great. He's a good guy, but it still didn't make sense.

In Fever, Rhine is captured and placed in a prostitution ring. You think she's going to have sex, because her job is to have sex or be beaten, but it doesn't happen. Why? With Linden, I get that he's a good guy and wants to respect her. But Madame. She beats little kids, her girls, and drugs them. She doesn't seem like the type to just say, "It's okay Rhine. No sex pour vous."

I know you may be thinking something weird about me, but before I say anything more, let me just mention that I'm not a sex fiend or want to see Rhine get it on.

I don't.

But in both of those scenarios, Rhine having sex is something that is expected to happen, especially with how this world is. Instead, both Linden and Madame let her go. Linden has sex with his other wives, Madame gets the other girls to have sex with the paying customers, and Rhine thinks of ways to escape.

I dunno, it didn't make sense to me.

Anyways, let's talk about romance. Gabriel seems like the main guy, except he really doesn't do much in Fever. I feel bad, because even though I liked Linden more than him in the first novel, I excepted him to have a greater role in Fever. This sadly doesn't happen. Nothing happens to him and at the end of everything, he's not even in the picture anymore.

Overall:

I think by biggest problem with Fever is that it truly felt like a middle book. Wither was excellent and Fever, nothing happens. They run, get captured, get drugged up, run away, get sick, find a good place, get captured, cliffhanger......joy. Seeing the world and realizing that it wasn't as good as she remembered would have added some conflict between Rhine and Gabriel. Seeing how horrible the world is, would add more conflict in this book. Gabriel doing something would have added conflict in this book. Gatherers, who should be on the streets, looking for young girls and see the girls get captured, would add more conflict to this book.

I just wanted something more and sadly, I didn't get it. That being said, I do have high hopes for the next novel in this series. Once it comes out, I'm definitely picking it up and seeing how this trilogy ends. Can't wait!

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Pages: 368 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Released: March 22, 2011

Can I just start by saying that this book was fantastic? Because it was. It really, really was.

When I opened the book and read the first chapter, I knew that this was going to be a great book. The plot can be summed up in two sentences. *ahem* Rhine is captured and is bought by a Housemaster who marries her, along with two other girls. She wants to go back to her brother, but must play by the rules in order to find the perfect moment to escape.

From this summary, you will probably realize one thing. This book, mostly takes place in a house. A rich house. Despite this being a dystopian novel we don't really get a sense of this, because of the location. There are hints, for example the first chapter when the Gatherers show up, when certain characters die, despite their young age, and when Rhine tells us about how Rowan and her survived out in Manhattan. Other than this, not so much is shown.

So if you are looking for a heavy dystopian novel, this one might get you disappointed. But you should still give it a try.

The characters, for the most part, are fleshed out nicely. I do think Rhine was slightly naive about her situation, but she's young so I forgave her. I did love Rhine's sister wives, Jenna and Cecily, though. Jenna was a fantastic character, who was smart, observant, and knew how to play the game. Cecily, while naive like Rhine, did show that she's observant and can make things happen for her.

I liked the interactions between the sister wives and their husband. Linden, despite some of his problems, made for a better love interest than Gabriel.

Overall:

I really loved this book. So much so that once I finished, I went out and got Fever. Yay! In terms of dystopian novels, this is different, but it does have a good premise and an interesting story.

I liked it!

Review: Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Synopsis:

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place--and the man--she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D--a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.

Pages: 336 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: William Morrow
Released: May 17, 2011

I haven't read a book in a long time. Somehow, I was busy with school and life to actually have the time to pick up a book and read it.

When I went to the library to pick up some graphic novels/mangas I saw this and somehow I was drawn to it. The cover (with the old house) was creepy and the blurb sounded delicious. For the first time in a long time, I was truly excited to pick up a book.

Then I started to read it. This is the first book of Melissa Marr that I've read, I know her by her Wicked Lovely series and can tell that she's a talented young adult novel. The problem with this book is that it is marketed towards adults, but the writing sounds like something you'd find in teen fiction. Nothing wrong with that if done correctly, but it didn't work here.

The characters. There are actually three issues I had with the characters:

1. Rebekkah is annoying. Byron is whipped. And for the majority of the book (especially the first 2/3rds of it) they talk about nothing except their angst for each other. I felt suffocated just reading about how much Byron loved her but how much Rebekkah couldn't handle commitment, but still wanted him but couldn't. Add on to the fact that they are apparently destined for each other and this little reader couldn't handle it. It was just too much. The entire time they were together, I wished that either one of them died or they broke up.

2. The rest of the characters are very flat, with the exception of Daisha and Elizabeth. Daisha is shown quite a bit, but I wish we saw more of Elizabeth. From the two chapters that she showed up, she was a really interesting character. Her mother is power hungry, but she just goes with the flow afraid of the consequences. She knows her mother is wrong, but she's afraid. Interesting. Except she doesn't show up and after all is said and done, she didn't even need to be in the book.

3. The villain. No spoilers, but the villain was pretty bad. The problem here is that...hmmm, how can I explain this without spoiling? The villain is predictable and one that makes absolute sense. It's just that the villain didn't show up for most of the book and their actions in the latter half didn't make sense.

~-.-~

Overall:
The plot, by itself, is interesting. It just wasn't executed properly. Was it creative? Yes, I think Melissa Marr had a lot of great ideas in this book. Was the writing great? Sadly no. As an adult novel, it didn't work. Had this been written with teens I think I might have liked it a bit more. Rebekkah and Byron's angst wouldn't have been as annoying, because I could blame the hormones.

The premise of the book makes it exciting and when I picked this up, I felt that. Sadly, the execution and the characters are a different story.

1 star