Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed Josephine Angelini
Published: June 2011
Publisher: MacMillan Children's books.
Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Destiny brought them together. The gods will keep them apart. When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton meets Lucas Delos for the first time, she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands. An ancient curse means Lucas and Helen are destined to loathe one another. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen next...

I spent a good week or two trying and failing many times to get into this book. To say that the first two chapters were atrociously boring would be a massive understatement. Just getting into the authors perspective of the book was annoying, not to mention the conversation between Helen and Claire the two best friends. I felt like they were 12 year olds trying to be funny.

Although the beginning of this book is hard to get into it is very much worth sticking out! Helen and Lucas the gorgeous new boy on the island seem to hate each other so much that Helen tries to kill him on their first encounter. So far Helens’ life has been normal and all of a sudden she is seeing three women cry blood at school, she keeps dreaming of a dry desert and waking up with dirt all over her sheets. Not being aware of what she is and how big of a role her and Lucas will play Helen begins to understand her kind with the help of the Delos family.

I love Greek mythology! It’s so incredibly interesting but so confusing! So many gods and so many offspring’s and so much drama! I was scared that it would take me a long time to get the grasp of this story but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it all rolled off the pages. Josephine managed to not only keep me in with the promise of cute guys but also with the amount of drama only gods could have invented.

Helen is an interesting character, to say the least. Although she’s annoying I can relate to her and most of her feelings. But all of the characters in this book seemed recycled for me. This was just another twilight book disguised as Greek mythology. I’m not saying that it’s necessary a bad thing but I am saying that Helen’s character reminded me a lot like Bella. Jerry, her father would have gotten along well with Charlie. The way that once Helen’s and Lucas’ relationship progresses he turns into a massive worry and tries to shield Helen from all the bad in the world screamed Edward, but a much less pale and sparkly one. The mother hen of the family Noel. By far the most loving mother in young adult book I have encountered in a while! But apart from the fact that she was the only human in the family she still managed to remind me of Esme in Twilight. The twins and hector. Classic Jasper, Alice and Emmett.

It wasn’t just the characters that screamed out teenage vampire book for me. It was the fact that Lucas slept in Helen’s room/ outside her room just like Edward did with Bella to protect her. I won’t mention all the other comparisons because I don’t want to spoil this book for anybody that has yet to read it. But I do suggest that you take the chance to read this.

Starcrossed has been a fantastic start of a thrilling series and I hope that it gets better from here. Although there have been times when I wanted to shoot myself because of how cringy it sounded or how stupid some of the cliff-hangers were it’s a really fun read. 

Movie Review: Divergent

I was going to write a short book review but I haven’t actually finished a book recently (terrible I know) and I don’t want to overwork whatever brain cells I have left to try and remember what I thought of a book I read years ago. Being the genius that I am I remembered that I haven’t actually shed light about what I thought of the Divergent movie. Scandalous as that is.  

I was very late to join the dystopian train; I read Divergent about a week before the movie came out as I never thought I would like it; how wrong was I. Therefore I didn’t bother getting too hyped up about the movie even though I was excited to see it. Usually I stalk everybody involved on twitter or try to find out as much as I can but with Divergent I didn’t bother. I knew what I needed to know and I was excited enough.

When I first watched the trailer my heart sank. I loved the actors, I loved the plot but I hated the trailer. I was certain that the movie was going to be terrible and I would end up hating it. It just seemed to me that Evan Daugherty (that’s the guy who wrote the screenplay) missed all the important aspects from the book. I basically judged a movie by its trailer. One of my friends from class was watching a leaked version and I kept glancing at the screen trying very hard not to surrender to the pull of wanting to watch the movie alongside her before the UK’s release date. I know it’s probably just the jitteriness of the guy holding a camera in a cinema and being a bad person for doing it illegally which ruined the quality of the image; from my glances at the screen the whole thing just looked a mess.

So I managed to watch it a month or two after it came out from my lack of enthusiasm towards the movie and my thinking of it being ruined by Evan. I watched it in the comfort of my bed and I was sitting gaping at the screen half the time. I absolutely loved it. The fact that one of my favourite books came to life in front of me was amazing; and the fact that it was done so incredibly well amazed me even further. Neil Burger the guy who directed this along with the Illusionist which is one of my movies to watch when I’m ill in bed for some reason…

So to sum up my big mess of a review which I just noticed mostly centres around the fact that I wasn’t excited to see this film… the movie was great. I think it captured the world beautifully, it also had my name in on the scoreboard so that is always a plus. The one thing; actually two things that I would love to see would have been the love interest between Tris and Four. I feel like if I haven’t read the book I wouldn’t have known they were meant to be so in love. During the movie it seemed to me as if they just had small crushes on each other and nothing more. The second thing that I think every single fan of the Divergent series would have loved to seen was the whole entire book fit into this movie. I will forever be saying this whenever an adaptation is made. The whole book must be in the movie somehow.  The whole production team was great, all the actors were fantastic, the script writer didn’t mess up and the lovely director did a great job. 

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
Date Published: 3rd June 2014
Publisher: Roaring Book Press


Goodreads Summary
Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

Let me set you the picture. You go to a high school party; people are drinking; everyone is hooking up with each other. Next day you go into school and you’ve managed to be the talk of the town. And it wasn’t because of your impressive beer pong skills either.  

In a town where everyone knows everyone and apparently knows everyone’s business the rumours about Alice and what happened at a party is what everyone is talking about. Supposedly Alice had sex with two boys at a party; and the school just cannot seem to forgive her for this. Especially when one of the boys dies in a car accident.

Let me quickly talk about the book first because I have a ton to say about this “sleeping with two guys in one night shazam” I thought the book was rather good, more than good but not exactly mind blowing. In the book you don’t get to hear from Alice until the very end, it’s mostly just what happened and how they are connected to the night and to Brandan’s death. It was a really great idea to write this novel like that. Not only did each character get to have their say but Jennifer had the opportunity to develop each character further and make them each stand out. It’s hard to make a character seem real if they aren’t a big character or the main one so kudos to her.

The story is also a bit more of a fresh teenage story. It openly talks about sex and parties and there’s some swearing in the book. I don’t know if it’s just me but I think a lot of YA books avoid these things like the plague. So all in all a good story which was written beautifully.

Now let me get to my rant about the storyline. Yes sleeping with two guys on the same night is bad, yes in my eyes it does make you slutty and it’s not something that should be done but IT WASN’T JUST HER. THERE WERE TWO GUYS AND THEY SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN CALLED SLUTS AND WHORES AND PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE MADE THEM FEEL BAD TOO! This annoyed me so much. It annoys me everyday whenever I hear someone say “Oh you banged her?! You’re such a dude/stud/cool” and then the girl has to feel ashamed because she gets called a slut or a whore or not pure. DOUBLE STANDARDS. It doesn’t matter whether or not Alice did have sex with two guys or not in the book. The fact that she lost her bestfriend pretty much because of this, all the rumours and everything was horrible and the guys didn’t get anything for it (well apart from one dying) This just angered me so much. I loved the book but seriously; and no it isn’t the authors fault because it’s exactly how it is in real life and I’m actually glad that she did write it this way but ugh!

Okay rant over. Now go read the book. 

(OLD) Review: The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan

Series: Brothers Sinister #2

Release Date: July 15th, 2013

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Miss Jane Fairfield can’t do anything right. When she’s in company, she always says the wrong thing—and rather too much of it. No matter how costly they are, her gowns fall on the unfortunate side of fashion. Even her immense dowry can’t save her from being an object of derision.

And that’s precisely what she wants. She’ll do anything, even risk humiliation, if it means she can stay unmarried and keep her sister safe.

Mr. Oliver Marshall has to do everything right. He’s the bastard son of a duke, raised in humble circumstances—and he intends to give voice and power to the common people. If he makes one false step, he’ll never get the chance to accomplish anything. He doesn’t need to come to the rescue of the wrong woman. He certainly doesn’t need to fall in love with her. But there’s something about the lovely, courageous Jane that he can’t resist…even though it could mean the ruin of them both.

This may just be the best Historical Romance I've ever read.

I cannot even remember why I picked this up (I have short term memory loss issues), I just thought it would be a good idea and boy was it ever.

This book kind of just gets rid of quite a bit of tropes that are common in the genre. You don't have rakes, you don't have perfect characters, the beauty of these characters is not important, the characters are presented as individuals instead of a unit. It's almost as if Courtney wrote this book with me in mind.

While I enjoy the usual historical romance, they are usually guilty pleasures, not something extraordinarily unique. This one though, this one was special. The only other historical romance I can think of that made this happy was Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas.

I have to start with Oliver. He was PERFECT. Like where can I find one perfect. He is a bastard and has always been shunned his whole life because of this. His parents have always been encouraging and great but that didn't protect him from the experiences he had when he went to college, which caused him to disappear inside his own cocoon, making him forget about how his own rebellion against society. He molded himself into what they expected from him instead of what he believed. In spite of all that you can still see his determination. He will do whatever he can to get what he wants, but he'll let you know if he's about to destroy you to get there (or maybe he just really liked Jane). But my favorite thing about him was that he wasn't a rake. Half the historical romances out there have either rakes or angry young men for male leads but Oliver was neither. Oh he was angry but he wasn't a controlling douche bag. He was a sweetheart. His inner struggle was heartbreaking to watch. It helped that he wore glasses and that his looks were hardly mentioned in the book. The female lead did not spend a billion hours swooning over how hot he was (even if he was pretty damn hot).

Jane was pretty damn awesome too. She is also a bastard but she embraces it more readily than Oliver and society doesn't mind her as much because of the fact that she is rich as hell. She was extremely clever, it was hilarious watching her repel all these people by just being..kind of nice. Jane lives a lie. Well it isn't exactly a lie but an exaggeration of her own personality which no one accepted anyway. She is doing all of this because she cannot get married, well not while her sister is still under the care of their uncle. He may have good intentions but he does all the wrong things in the name of Emily's well being. Some of them scary as hell. So she needs to stay there to protect her baby sister. But going back to Jane, she is this wonderful female lead who isn't ashamed. She may be alone, she may not be particularly happy but she never loses her back bone. She is strong and wonderful. One of the things that I really loved about her was how that even in the end, when she got her own HEA, she didn't let go of her 'out going ness'. She didn't lose the characteristics that made her, well her, even when there was no need to repel guys.

The romance though. It still makes me grin. It's slow to develop and starts off with friendship instead of you know, insta love. There isn't even insta attraction. Jane wants to get Oliver off her back while Oliver pities her. Even he doesn't initially see through her armor. Which is incredibly refreshing because it would be way too convenient if he did. It's really fun watching Oliver, in particular, struggle with his feelings until he comes to the realization ON HIS OWN that his life would suck without Jane. Jane again surprises me when she doesn't give up everything she is to be with this guy. It's not the fact that she didn't give up everything but the fact that she realized what she would be losing if she did that. She would be losing herself. I don't make to make their romance sound morbid, it has tons of fun banter and swoon worthy moments as well.

The secondary characters are awesome and I enjoyed Emily and Battacharya's story as well. It was sweet and lovable, just like them.

I also enjoyed Jane's relationship with her sister. It was so heartwarming. Although let me just say because I really need to get it out of my system, I AM NOT THAT KIND OF SISTER. Man I really do hope that someday someone will write a story where sisters aren't so NICE to each other.

In the end this is a wonderful historical romance and I am pretty sure I'll be re-reading it sometime in the near future. Hell for the first time I actually want to read the sequel although I doubt it will live up to the awesomeness of this book. I DEFINITELY recommend this book to fans of historical romance who are getting tired of the tropes.

Review: The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead  
Series:  Bloodlines #3
Release Date: February 17th 2013
Publisher: Razorbill
Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she finally tracks down the elusive, enigmatic Marcus Finch – a former Alchemist who the organisation denies exists, and who lives in shadows, on the run. With Marcus's help, Sydney realises that the group she's been loyal to her whole life has been hiding the truth from her. Is it possible that her golden lily tattoo might have more power over her than she thinks? As she struggles to come to terms with what that might mean, Sydney is compelled to use her growing magical powers to track down an evil magic user who is targeting powerful young witches. Using magic goes against everything she always thought she believed, but she realises that her only hope is to embrace her special blood – or else she might be next. Forging her own way is harder than Sydney ever dreamed. Maybe by turning off her brain – and following her heart – she'll be able to finally figure out where she belongs.

I started reading Vampire Academy and all the books that followed back in 2011 with a massive love for them! Three years later and I still love Richelle’s work!

Now I usually despise a spin off series as they are never anything like the original and I had a hard time getting used to Sydney in the first two books. However, I love these books, I love Richelle’s vampire world, and I cannot help myself and love this little baby too.

Here’s why I love Richelle’s books

•      They contain very, very cute boys
•        There is always action
•        Humour is never far away
•        Did I mention the cute boys? Yeah well, they are also smokin’ hot with amazing personalities!
•      Also Adrian is mine.

Richelle never fails to deliver on these.

Sydney tries to ignore what happened between the (very) hot vampire Adrian and her, and get back to her alchemist duties as well as rebelling and looking for Marcus Finch. Who just happens to hold all the answers that Sydney is seeking about the organisation that she believed and was born into, who may or may not be lying about working with the Warriors. Not only that but Sydney is continuing with her magic use while an old witch is seeking younger magic users to suck out their life force and put them into a coma.

I love the whole rebelling against the Alchemist’s and that’s what’s making me like Sydney at the moment but the whole magic using bit just isn’t working for me. It’s just so boring! Even the witch hunting was a massive snooze fest for me.

I love all the books in the VA series and I love this spin off, but the way the books are arranged is getting slightly boring for me. There just aren’t any surprises for me anymore, every book follows the same structure of starting off from the last book, which is great. Then a problem occurs or some mission that carries on for most of the book, which then turns into the problem-solving chapter of the book ending on a somewhat positive note but with a small hint of a problem for the next book to continue to.

The fact that Sydney and Adrian and now together isn’t a surprise for me either.  Obviously this was going to happen. I just wish I could beat Sydney up and take my rightful place next to Adrian and live with him forever and ever until the day we never die.

But apart from that I loved the book. The characters developed so much and I know them each in such a way that I can even imagine what they will say and their reactions and they just feel like a small family to me. :’) 

ARC Review: Banishing the Dark by Jenn Bennett

Banishing the Dark by Jenn Bennett
Previous review: Binding the Shadows
Series: Arcadia Bell #4
Release Date: May 27th, 2014
Publisher: Pocket
Source: Net Galley
Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Complicated does not begin to describe Arcadia Bell's life right now: unnatural magical power, another brush with death, and a murderous mother who's not only overbearing but determined to take permanent possession of Cady's body. Forced to delve deep into the mystery surrounding her own birth, Cady must uncover which evil spell her parents cast during her conception…and how to reverse it. Fast. As she and her lover Lon embark on a dangerous journey through her magical past, Lon's teenage son Jupe sneaks off for his own investigation. Each family secret they uncover is darker than the last, and Cady, who has worn many identities—Moonchild, mage, fugitive—is about to add one more to the list.

Note: This review may or may not be incoherent. Do not blame me. Blame the fact that I just finished one of my favorite series.

It is kind of hard to believe that one of my favorite urban fantasy series has finally come to an end. I was late to the party but for the past year I’ve loved and re-read this series and become a huge fan of the author and it’s so sad to let a series you loved finally go.

This series is perfect, you have great characters, a great supporting cast, great romance and entertaining plots. This book was no different, however this time around we were also introduced to Jupe’s POV.

Cady and Lon never fail to amaze me. They are such strong and wonderful characters. You just cannot help but like them. They both have their moments but at the same time they are just so lovable. They both have insecurities but it’s been so much fun watching them grow over the course of 4 books. From being too scared to say those 3 words to finally admitting them. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express how much I love the two.

Their romance is still as wonderful as ever. There was a twist at the beginning that initially brought things down for me. I wasn’t completely sure it would work out well and I was too scared that I would end up raging instead of enjoying the romance between one of my favorite couples but I shouldn’t have worried. Jenn has it covered. She pulled it off and I loved their romance this time around as well. Lon is a little withdrawn in this book but he has his reasons and I kind of love how he is giving her room.  He gives her the space she needs but at the same time he is so supportive. Not that that’s a new thing. There are things he doesn’t agree with, wishes there was another way but he doesn’t stop Cady because he respects her as a person even though all his instincts are screaming at him to shove her inside a closet and protect her to the best of his ability.

One of the drawbacks of this novel for me was Jupe’s POV. I know many people have been looking forward to this and I am pretty sure it’s me and not his POV that makes it difficult for me to enjoy reading those bits. For the past three books I’ve observed Jupe from an ‘adult’ point of view so I think of him as the ‘cute little kid’ (and he is indeed adorable) but the change to his POV kind of just makes it hard for me to see him as a kid and forces me to see him as a teenager. Which just makes things a little awkward for my brain. With that said, I still adored Jupe in this novel.

Priya; however, not so much. I felt like Priya took advantage of Jupe’s need to be an adult to manipulate him into doing something that could cause him harm and so I wasn’t Priya’s biggest fan in this book.

The plot was strong in this one. Jenn did not disappoint with the finale. I was on the edge of my seat eagerly awaiting the final showdown. Emotions ran high. There was action and there were also amazing paranormal bits.

The epilogue, predictably, did not work for me. Epilogues are not my thing and I can only think of one off the top of my head that I actually loved to death. I always find them to be too HEA and it just reinforces the fact that the series has come to an end and these characters that you’ve come to love will no longer have amazing adventures.

Writing this review is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do this week (and believe me, my week has been hellish). It’s so impossibly hard to say good bye and you know what, I’ll do it with a smile on my face knowing that I wasn’t let down and that Jenn didn’t disappoint me.

This is a series I will recommend to everyone until well the end of time because Cady and Lon are full of win and everyone should get to appreciate their brilliance. 

Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Series: Beautiful #1
Release Date: January 1st 2011
Publisher: Atria Books
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

I read this book last year but I remember being absolutely in love with the book. Now thinking back on it I’m not too sure. There were bits and pieces I wasn’t too keen on from the start; like Travis’ whole “I can beat anyone up” attitude and the whole bad boy look; but he was really flirty and charming and he somehow grew on me.

Good girl Abby Abernathy doesn’t drink or swear and she always has the appropriate amount of cardigans in her wardrobe. Just the average goody too shoes. Then there’s Travis, muscles, tattoos and just a bad boy sex appeal about his whole being. When the two collide betting against each other about Travis winning a fight they have no idea that their world will be turned upside down. (Okay maybe not upside down) If Abby wins Travis has to stay abstinent for a whole month, but if Travis wins Abby must move in with him for the same amount of time. Easy enough, except they fall in love.

Seems like a very original story line right? Not exactly. The whole good girl, bad boy routine has been done by everyone. But we still love it. The book actually reminds me a lot of Wait for You by J. Lynn, and that’s what’s slowly putting me off this book right while writing the review.

While I was reading the book I was mesmerised with the characters! I could somewhat connect with Abby, and Travis was a walking God for me with the bod covered with tattoos (the muscles not so much) the idea of the characters is about as original as hipsters right now. However Jamie McGuire was able to put a spin on these two love birds. They had their own personality, and the characters grew to life within the book.

The idea was more original than the whole good girl bad boy routine. The fact that Travis who was a player had to stay abstinent for a whole month was entertaining. I actually wanted to see this happen. But then I would not have witnessed the relationship between Abby and Travis blossom while they were playing house. Them living together was actually quite fun to read about, it made me want to find my own Travis and move in with him.

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Erm no. The book wasn’t intense, it was dangerous at one point in the whole book; and addictive is a strong word. The book is great in the now. Looking back on the book it seems almost silly and kind of hard to imagine that I was so in love with it. Just the whole idea and the description of the characters looks boring and bland. WELL it isn’t. The book is great, but you have to read it to believe it.

ARC Review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens
Release Date: February 25th 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins Childrens Books
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

An edgy, realistic, and utterly captivating novel from an exciting new voice in teen fiction.

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

“I’m fresh out of happy”

Aren’t we all? With my philosophical thought of the day out of the way, I can focus more seriously on this review. Which is going to be hard when all I want to do is NOT write this review. Am I allowed to post my incomprehensible notes and call it a day? I am not whining or lazing off, I just have no idea how to write a review for this book.

I don’t know where to start.

Should I start with the highlight of this book or the main character? Or perhaps the one drawback of this book as a whole.

I went into this book with a very vague idea about what I should expect. I hadn’t read any of the reviews and even when this book tempted to read them, I didn’t give in. I marched on and well I think it was for the best since it gave me the opportunity to read without any sort of bias.

This book opened on a very touching note. It opened not with the main character as the centre of attention but someone else who was dealing with the aftermath of a heart wrenching tragedy. The main character who understands what it’s like to lose something, understands pain is the one who walks up to offer comfort to the said person. She doesn’t push him, she doesn’t say anything, she just comforts him with her presence and that’s scene was just touching.

The main character, as you can guess, was raped and this book’s focus is on her healing process. She hides her pain and her misery so as to save her family and friends the pain it would bring them. She blames herself for what happened and she has no outlet for all this pain so she scratches her neck. She hides in the closet and tires to count vents or anything to take her mind off of what happened, anything that will let her get some sort of sleep. Anything. Alexi is not a completely likeable character. Her actions are understandable, you sympathize with her but it’s hard to admire her all the time because she is so afraid. She cannot bring herself to openly admit what happened (she hates using the ‘r’ word to describe her rapist), she sympathizes with her rapist and she refuses to tell anyone. However, unlike some of the other female protagonists I’ve encountered in similar situations, she doesn’t close herself off from family and friends; she is still social to a certain extent. Her story is just heartbreaking. It closes a fist around your heart and makes it hard to breathe because of the amount of sadness rolling off the pages.

Bodee is the highlight of this book. WITHOUT A DOUBT. He is one of the most unique male leads I’ve encountered and I may or may not have fallen in insta-love with him. I don’t know how to say anything about him. I don’t. He is just the most wonderful person ever. He never pushes Alexi but supports her in his own way. He is heartbroken about what happened with his mother yet he still has the ability to stay strong for Alexi. He is not ultra-hot, nor bulging with muscles. He isn’t the Goth kid. He is just the kid no one really cares about and sticks a label on (his was Kool-aid kid) and as you get to know him better, you cannot help but fall head over heels for him.

Captain Lyric also held an important part in Alexi’s healing journey. He remains anonymous for the most part but his identity wasn’t a secret to me. It was blaringly obvious and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier about being right. I loved his reasons for doing what he did because without him Alexi would be lost. She wouldn’t have survived. She needed something to look forward to and he gave her that and I just love his role in her journey.

The romance, as everyone can imagine was sweet and slow to develop and just all around wonderful. I just wish I could hug these two individuals and take their pain away. I love how they were supportive of each other and always gave the other a shoulder to lean on and their journey from acquaintances to friends to something more was beautiful.

The one thing that really nagged on me was the identity of the rapist. I guessed it at one point but it wasn’t because of some subtle hint. It was because of what I know from other rape cases. It was almost random. I felt like the author chose that individual for the emotional impact it would have on the reader and it bothered me. There weren’t enough hints and the attitude of the individual was not consistent in the two halves of the book. I get what she’s trying to do here, she is trying to tell us that a person isn’t always a monster, things aren’t so black and white but in my world, they kind of are. My heart broke for the family and not the individual. The individual was in the wrong and that is that. I don’t really care about whether they are good or bad, when you do what they did, there are no fucking excuses.

In the end though, this book was so emotionally powerful. It was touching. It was heart wrenching. And it was just beautiful.

This is a story about finding yourself; about putting back the pieces after life strikes at you and about healing and I would definitely recommend this to fans of What Happens Next or people just looking for a story that doesn’t completely mess up with such a touchy issue. 

ARC Review: Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep

Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep
Series: Mythos Academy #6
Release Date: February 25th 2014
Publisher: K-Teen
Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

I’ve battled the Reapers of Chaos before–and survived. But this time I have a Bad, Bad Feeling it’s going to be a fight to the death … most likely mine.

Yeah, I’ve got my psychometry magic, my talking sword, Vic–and even the most dangerous Spartan on campus at my side, in Logan freaking Quinn, but I’m no match for Loki, the evil Norse god of chaos. I may be Nike’s Champion, but at heart, I’m still just Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl everyone at school loves to gossip about.

Then someone I love is put in more danger than ever before, and something inside me snaps. This time, Loki and his Reapers are going down for good … or I am.

With this book comes to end to a series I’ve adored for almost 2 years. I’ve anticipated each installment eagerly and devoured them rather quickly and it breaks my heart a little to finally have to let go but at the same time I can genuinely say that I am satisfied. Estep did NOT disappoint with the finale. Perhaps there could have been a little less cheese but in the end the conclusion was well done.

The beginning had me a little vary. Logan and Gwen were not back to normal and there was still a certain distance to them. Logan was still heartbroken about what had happened back in Crimson Frost and I was a little worried at this point. I thought Midnight Frost would have ironed out some of the bumps but it hadn’t. With the kidnapping of her grandmother things became even worse and well.. I was worried I’d have to spend the whole book like I did Midnight Frost but there was nothing to worry about because that was sorted out easily.

Gwen is a very likeable female lead. She always makes a point to understand people’s points of views even if they don’t line up with her own. She may not agree, hey no one asked her to, but she respects other people’s opinions. Especially when it came to the situation with her Grandma. She HATED Linus for not trading the candle but at the same time she realizes she would have made the same choice had she been in his position because there is too much at stake. Gwen isn’t a hero. Yes she is Nike’s champion, yes it’s up to her to end the war but she isn’t a savior. She very much needs help from other people. She isn’t some lone wolf who can take care of everything on her own. She also takes responsibility for her actions and is loyal to a fault. She loves her family and is willing to do anything for her grandma and this just adds up to make Gwen a relateable and very down to earth female lead.

This series also has some of the most adorable relationships ever. From the one she shares with her friends, to the one with Logan, her family and Nickamedes. I love how her friends are ACTUALLY GOOD FRIENDS. They see through her bullshit with an ease that only true friends can. They support her and back her up and are willing to help her no matter the cost. Logan was also the sweetest guy ever. You probably wouldn’t have expected it in book one but he isn’t a bad boy cliché. He is ADORABLE. The two are the cutest couple too. Gwen doesn’t want to drag him into her mess not because she doesn’t trust him or couldn’t use help but because she doesn’t want to make him choose between her and his father and you can tell Logan is glad for that, later, even when he doesn’t say it and even when he actually HELPED. I love Grandma Frost and her relationship with her Grandma is adorable. It always makes me want to give mine a huge squeeze (accept that I am an awkward hugger). My favorite relationship in this series it the one between Nickamedes and Gwen; they’ve come such long ways since the beginning of the series, from barely containing their animosity to truly caring for each other. AND THEY FINALLY HUGGED.

All of that aside, I AM SO EFFING HAPPY ABOUT THE BATTLE SCENE. Holy crap Estep wrote an amazing battle scene. One that did my proud. The scenes before the battle were perfect. Dripping in tension, you could feel the emotions rolling off the pages. I was nervous, scared, frightened and really hoping that everything went well. When the battle commenced, I kid you not, there was music playing in my head. IT WAS PERFECT. The battle was VERY WELL DONE. I don’t think I can emphasize that enough (even with all my caps locks) because well it’s the thing we’ve been looking forward to since the beginning of this series. The show down. The end of it all. The fate of the series, whether I would like it or not, was all dependent on that one bit. The battle. And it didn’t let down. Emotions ran high, things were tense, and everyone was on the edge (including me).

My biggest qualm about this book was the aftermath of the battle. I was running on a high from the wonderful battle scenes and the high was ruined by an overload of cheese. I didn’t like Show Spoiler

how Nickamedes and Metis ended up together. I don’t know why it bothers me so much but it did. I HATED IT.

One of the biggest plus points of this series is that the gods are actually kind of cool. They aren’t some kind of joke. They are serious beings with a shit load of power.

I still cannot quite wrap my head around the fact that this series is over. Admittedly, it isn’t a favorite or even an out of my mind experience, but I had a certain attachment to this series. Gwen was a great female lead and her adventures will be missed. To those who haven’t started the series, I’d definitely recommend this to you if you’re looking for a cute/fun series to latch on to.