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. 

ARC Review: The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier
Release Date: 11th March 2014
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Source: Netgalley
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

The Lost Sisterhood is the new novel from the author of Juliet, an Oprah's Book Club Pick published in 30 countries which has been picked up by Universal to be made into a feature film. The Lost Sisterhood tells the story of Diana, a young and aspiring--but somewhat aimless--professor at Oxford. Her fascination with the history of the Amazons, the legendary warrior women of ancient Greece, is deeply connected with her own family's history; her grandmother in particular. When Diana is invited to consult on an archeological excavation, she quickly realizes that here, finally, may be the proof that the Amazons were real.

The Amazons' "true" story--and Diana's history--is threaded along with this modern day hunt. This historical back-story focuses on a group of women, and more specifically on two sisters, whose fight to survive takes us through ancient Athens and to Troy, where the novel reinvents our perspective on the famous Trojan War.

The Lost Sisterhood features another group of iconic, legendary characters, another grand adventure--you'll see in these pages that Fortier understands the kind of audience she has built with Juliet, but also she's delivering a fresh new story to keep that audience coming back for more.

Do you like adventure? Does a good treasure hunt intrigue you? Are you fascinated by ancient history and mythology? Then perhaps you have come to the right place for this book provides you with a good mix of everything I just mentioned above.

There are mixed reviews all over the place about this book and it’s really easy to see why. Some people will love this and some people won’t. One reviewer described this book as the Dan Brown of women’s fiction and that is a very apt comparison because this book does have the same vibes as a typical Dan Brown book and your enjoyment of this book will largely depend on whether or not that sort of thing works for you. If you haven’t read any Dan Brown and are confused as to what I am referring to.. basically, do you like info dumps? Do you mind being stuffed with information? Avoid this if that doesn't appeal to you, but if you don’t mind so long as the topic interests you (which in case it did for me), dive right in but prepared for a couple of unrealistic things that may bother you.

I was in 3^rd grade when I first heard about the lost city of Troy and since then, mythology hasn’t let go of the grip it has on me. As soon as I came across this book and saw the combination of mythology, history and women’s fiction, I knew I had to read it and I was not let down. I went into this expecting a good adventure and that is exactly what I got.

This novel follows the story of two women, namely Myrina, who lived in the Bronze Age and Diana who lives in present day.

Diana is approached by a mysterious man who tells her that proof that Amazons existed has been found. The man proceeds to hand her an image to back up what he is saying. Diana is definitely vary but she is also intrigued because well she is passionate about Amazons and something about the writing in the image seems familiar. It turns out that the notebook her grandmother left her was written in the same language and so begins our adventure as Diana follows the same path Myrina did over thousands of years ago.

Diana for the most part is a pretty decent female lead. She is headstrong and can make her own decisions. She doesn’t let the men make her choices for her but instead does what she feels is right. She’s grown up, she can handle herself… for the most part. Sometimes she may need to be rescued and sometimes her decisions land her in icky messes but really the one thing that bothered me about her is how oblivious she can be. Especially with the whole thing about her grandma. It’s GLARINGLY obvious what’s going on there yet Diana was blind to that for a major chunk of the book.

Also, I do not buy the fact that this chick translated an ancient scripture in a manner of days. Uh.. NO. Even with the ‘translating dictionary’ Diana had (her grandmother’s notebook), it should still take more than a mere 5 days. Remember when I mentioned unrealistic things? Yup, this was one of them.

Myrina was an interesting character to say the least. Both Diana and Myrina get thrown into circumstances that turn their lives upside down, they follow similar paths but their stories are different. Myrina travels all the way to a city to find the Moon Goddess so that her sister can be cured of the blindness that came as a result of a fever. Myrina is a wonderful sister and more than that, she is a brave warrior. She is a hunter at heart and she is a strong female lead and a great leader. In spite of all these wonderful things about her, I never really liked her. I didn’t dislike her, but her story, while fun to follow, was not nearly as enjoyable as Diana’s. Perhaps this is because Myrina’s story has an underlying sadness to it. When you realize that all of this occurred in a past so distant, in a part of history that has been lost and might not ever be recovered, it makes you feel very melancholic.

One of the loop holes in Myrina’s story was her elder sister. I have no idea what happened to her. Perhaps I accidentally skimmed over the part (hey, the book was long!!), or perhaps it was never mentioned.

The world building is were some of the other issues arise. The scholars in this world are constantly looking down on women and I know this happens in the real world. I KNOW. But the extent to which it happens in this book kind of pisses me off. It seems overdone. Then there was also the thing about the female lead being half American and other scholars constantly mocking her for her ‘Americaness’ when according to her she was raised in Britain. Really? Are we really going there?

The author brought some original twists to the tales we know and some of them, well, some of them just didn’t work for me. They were believable. The author didn’t just pull them out of nowhere but sometimes some things don’t work for you and nothing can change that. There were also other things that the author threw into the mix which didn’t sit well with me but I learned to live with those grievances to enjoy the adventure I was on.

One of my other issues with this novel was the romance. No the romances. Neither of the romances were all that well developed. The romance is not the focus of either story (okay so perhaps Myrina’s tale has a tad bit more romance) but I never saw it coming. I mean I knew there was going to be a romance, but there wasn’t enough development in either case to make the romance more believable. They seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

With that said, Myrina’s romance, even with my annoyance of how it seemed random, was so sweet. It really just brought out emotions. Yes I was annoyed that Myrina willingly gave up who she was but then her romantic interest is just so adorable that it’s hard to stay mad. There is so much respect in their relationship and so much love and SO MUCH COMPANIONSHIP. They can tell each other things. They do get mad at each other but they are sweet together.

Diana’s romance was… iffy. Nick is not the best love interest out there. He has been lying to her since the dawn of time and has pulled her inside this complicated web of lies and really I have no idea how she could trust him after everything that he has done. I know I wouldn’t. Pretty face be damned (although I am not sure we know what he looks like exactly).

There are secrets, lies, ancient civilizations and heaps of mythology involved and if you’re looking for an adventure, this book does give you one.

But it’s best not to go into this book expecting to be wowed. Similar to a typical Darn Brown book, the excitement only lasts for the period you are reading the book and once you’re done, everything will fade away. This book makes for excellent brain candy and I’d recommend this to fans of Dan Brown but also to anyone who is looking to lay back and just chill with a good adventure. Don’t let the number of pages scare you off for they go by pretty fast and the book will be over before you know it. 

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. 

Review: Starling by Lesley Livingston

Starling by Lesley Livingston
Series: Starling, #1
Source: Bought
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository

Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name—the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family—with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods—is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Set against the gritty, shadowed back-drop of New York City, this first novel in award-winning author Lesley Livingston's epic Starling Saga is an intoxicating blend of sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action.

Starling was an interesting change from what I've been reading lately. On one hand, I was expecting it to be different, but on the other I was way surprised by the direction it went. At first, I was just really confused. We get thrown into the story immediately, with no real precursor to give us a hint at what's going on or anything. Talk about adrenaline rush, you know? When a naked guy drops out of the sky with a band of freakish zombie draugr, it gets kind of weird.

And to add more weirdness to the cake, the naked guy gets chapters. There is alternating points of view! Yay! My only problem with this is that sometimes in the middle of a chapter points of view would change to someone who's pretty much unrelated. It was always obvious when it changed, but still. There was a bit of shock there.

Mason was a little bit boring, to tell you the truth. Her chapters were way too formal for me to really just sink into the narration, and the Fennrys Wolf's chapters followed that tradition. Strangely, I was more okay with that because he was an otherworldly creature. But let's talk romance. I didn't feel like there was any chemistry or build up to the romance. They're friends, then they're not and they're making out. It was too fast for my taste, and like I said, there was no build up.

Throughout the first three quarters of the book, the story really went nowhere. There was info, mostly. A lot of info on Norse mythology, which was cool, and even more info about the school and the families who's children go there. The first three quarters really was just information. I feel like everything happened in the last quarter-- all the action was there.

And then, with no warning, the ending hits. It was open and unexpected, and it really left me wondering what was going to happen next. I'm excited to find out! All in all, Starling was a surprise. It may not have been super awesome amazing, but it was interesting paranormal read.

Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Publisher: Scholastic
Date Published: September 17th 2013
Buy: Amazon | BookDepository

Goodreads Summary

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

“He danced on the knife’s edge between awareness and sleep. When he dreamt like this, he was a king. The world was his to bend. His to burn.” 

It took me about a week to finally gather my wits about and write a review for this book. Believe me it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s just so hard to sum everything this book did to me in just a couple hundred words but it’s not just that, how do I even describe what this book put me through, how it made me feel?

This book was actually completely different from what I expected. I was also scared out of my mind when I went into it because what if it didn’t live up to the first book? What if it didn’t make my heart soar the way the first one had? What if I only came out with a heavy heart because this book didn’t live up to my extremely high expectations?

The funny thing is even as I say that, I know this book didn’t live up to my expectations. That is not to say I was disappointed, I just expected so much more (if that makes any sense). There was this (seemingly) big chunk in the middle where I just never wanted to open the book again because I was so frustrated by what was going on. It made me want to scream on top of my lungs. But I (wo)manned up and continued reading (after I took a break for a couple of days, I am not THAT brave).

If you’re reading this you’ve (hopefully) read at least one book by Maggie and you know the magic she is capable of working. It was there in this book too. She just writes in such a way that you get goosebumps and she knows just how to tug at your heartstrings. In fact I just opened my copy of Dream Thieves and read a certain scene that has my heart pounding.

“In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys.” 

I wasn’t a huge fan of Adam in the first book and throughout most of this book I still ‘disliked’ him but by the end of it, Maggie changed my mind. I have no idea how she does it, how she can manipulate my feelings so easily. Adam, as we know, sacrificed himself at the end of the last book and you can really see how that has changed him, he is so angry for most of the book and a lot of the frustration I felt was because of what he did, which is why I was so happy when he finally came to his senses.

In the last book we didn’t get a lot of insight into who Ronan really was but this book, this book was his. And I grew to love him and his complexity. You wish you could give him a bear hug and make it all go away but you know he’d hate you for it.

Sadly there wasn’t nearly enough of Noah in this book to make me happy. He is one of my favorite characters and I really felt his absence. Hopefully the next book in the series will remedy that.

Gansey, the center of the puzzle, the glue to everything else. He has a special place in my heart as some of you might know. This book only reinforced everything I felt for him. He was just so lonely in this book that it broke my heart, Ronan was busy messing around with Kavinsky, Adam was busy being a prideful jerk and Noah was basically flickering in and out. I still think that won’t change in the next book. Gansey is so busy holding everything together and taking care of everyone that I don’t think anyone realizes that someone needs to be there for Gansey as well.  

Blue showed a lot of character development but honestly I don’t even know what to say about her. We all know she is a strong and awesome female lead. Plus I paid a lot more attention to the Raven Boys then I did to her (guilty).  I have to say though, I never get tired of reading about her family. They are just such a weird and fun bunch.

The only anomaly I felt was with The Grey Man. I know most people loved him but I didn’t. I really hated how Maggie portrayed him; as a hit man with a troubled past who with love could become a good person. Haven’t I read about too many tortured 'bad boys'? The fact that Maura gets involved with him bothered me even more. I, like Blue, seem to feel a certain protectiveness (I don’t think that was the word she used but I cannot remember which one she DID use so don't mind) for Butternut and I have my theories about who he could be. If they pan out, I wouldn’t want her to be with The Grey Man. Plus there are some stories that just need a bad guy. Everyone cannot be good.

The plot of this book isn’t actually that great. All the different POVs make it feel like it’s all over the place. Like with the Raven Boys it is initially slow and then speeds up but unlike the Raven Boys even though the plot was initially slow, it didn’t bother me because there was so much exploration going on into their characters.

While I wouldn’t say this book suffers from the middle book syndrome, this was definitely a bridge, a good one at that, but one nevertheless. This one was more about the players then about what they were seeking.

It all works to make us anticipate the next book even more because the way this one ended and it sucks that I have to wait another torturous year. 

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Publisher: Scholastic
Date Published: September 18th 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

Note: This is an old review I wrote ages ago, I am posting this now because I am going to post the review to the sequel pretty soon.

I am guilty of reading this book because of the pretty cover. It took me a while to get to this though because at first I was really excited and then I kept on reading the synopsis again and again until I wasn’t sure whether I should read it or not. I hadn’t read any books by Maggie before this and well although people said Shiver was great, it didn’t sound like my kind of book (I went on to read it later and loved it). So I went into this book really hoping it would be good.

I think it’s the kind of books that captivates you at the beginning and then slowly becomes more interesting. The prologue and the first chapter were both amazing but then after that things became a little slow. In most books I would have given up, but somehow Maggie kept me interested.

She slowly revealed its and bits about what was going on and she built on everything. I loved how she focused on the characters, building on their relationships. I loved every single one. I loved Blue’s relationship with her aunts and with her mother. I loved the friendship between the boys and how they opened up to Blue slowly. I also loved how Maggie explored each individual character. Some may say that Ronan wasn’t explored enough but I think she did that on purpose. It shows the mysteriousness of his character. He is the dark brooding boy and I loved Maggie’s approach on this kind of character. Ronan is so different from the cliche brooding guys and that’s why I love him.

Then we also have Gansey. I wish there were more guys like Gansey in modern YA because I loved his determination. I loved how he messed up and he wasn’t always sure how to act around people (like with Blue in the beginning) but he always cared about his friends.
Adam. Adam was a rather interesting character because even though most people say he is a sweet boy. He isn’t. I love how Maggie makes him seem more real because no one can be completely nice. Everyone has a dark side and so does Adam.

Noah the last boy in their group is one of my favorites. I find him cute. How he is always petting Blue’s hair because it is always messed up. I wish we would get to know a little bit more about him.
Now for our female lead Blue, I like her. From the summary you would think that all she did is swoon over the guys. It’s actually the last thing she does. She is pretty involved in the whole research and even though there is something going on between her and Adam, it isn’t focused on because there is something a lot bigger going on. I liked Blue’s character as well, she was determined and stubborn.

I really cannot wait for the next book because even though this book is concluded rather well there are a lot of questions hanging around and I haven’t even talked about some of the other things going on in this book because well I could go on and on about it. This book is pretty complex and I know that quite a few people have trouble with the “slowness” of the book but hold on because it is worth it.

Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Series: The Goddess Test, #1
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 19, 2011
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Every girl who had taken the test has died.
Now it's Kate's turn.

It's always been just Kate and her mom - and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld - and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy - until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride and a goddess.

If she fails...

I finally picked this book up because I was in a "mythology mood" and I thought this might be the read for me. Based on reviews and such, I was fairly excited about starting The Goddess Test. But...turns out that it really wasn't for me.

Let's start with Kate, shall we? Kate was... she was suffering from one of the greatest (and most fiendish!) of all book personality disorders - The Bella Syndrome. She was so whiny and self centered and I just couldn't fall for her as a character. She was so off-putting! To make matters worse, I found her to be very immature. I like for characters to have some semblance of personality, which is why I didn't like Kate. Her personality was as flat as the page it was written on.

The romance between Henry & Kate was also flat. At first, I felt like it had a little bit of potential...but. Can you say "Stockholm syndrome"? Because that's what was going on here. Henry was so morose and quiet, so we never really got to know him as a character. He really wasn't in The Goddess Test very much at all.

A lot of things didn't add up. And when I say "didn't add up", I mean that they really didn't. Maybe it made a little bit of sense in the end, but the things that made sense were ridiculous, and they pointed towards a fate (and plot point) that should have been obvious to Kate from the beginning, because I was sure questioning it.

I know that I've already talked about Kate a little, but I feel like she's worth revisiting. In the beginning, I was all set to like her. At about two chapters in, though, I was ready to kill her. She meets not one... but two boys that are "interested" in her within the first ten minutes. At the beginning of the second chapter, she begins the dreaded "pretty" speech. (I wasn't conventionally pretty, etc.) Then, suddenly, she has a "friend". Quite truthfully, I saw no development on the part of friendship. It was awkward.

At least there was no love triangle, though. That was a plus. You know what was a minus, though? The plot. I predicted most everything that happened. I wanted to be surprised, but... it wasn't meant to be. All in all, The Goddess Test just wasn't for me.

Rogue Descendant by Jenna Black

Title: Rogue Descendant
Author: Jenna Black
Series: Nikki Glass #3
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Publisher: Pocket Books
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

No longer the leader of the Olympians, Konstantin has now gone into hiding. Konstantin is vulnerable, and Anderson believes now is the perfect time to destroy his nemesis. He orders private eye Nikki Glass to use her powers to locate Konstantin, and she balks at the idea until a series of attacks leads her to believe that Konstantin is gunning for her and Anderson instead of remaining safely in hiding.

Nikki’s search is complicated by Cyrus—Konstantin’s son and the new leader of the Olympians—who threatens retribution should his father be killed. The complications mount up as Nikki begins to suspect that Konstantin might not be behind the attacks after all. The only person who hates Konstantin more than Anderson does is Anderson’s estranged wife, Emma, who has joined the Olympians. And Nikki knows Emma would be more than happy if Anderson and his people embroil themselves in an all-out war against the Olympians—a war they cannot hope to win.

As Nikki tries to figure out who the true enemy is, she deals with her tumultuous relationship with Jamaal, who struggles to control his death magic. But being loved by a descendant of a death goddess is the least of Nikki’s worries…

This won't exactly be a review, since my focus is going to be Jamaal (or is going to start of that way... being who I am.. I am probably going to end up talking about something else).

Jamaal is a very interesting character in the sense that my feelings for him have changed so much over the course of the three books. 

In the first book, when he was first introduced, my reaction wasn't exactly positive. I didn't want him to be a love interest. I didn't want Nikki throwing herself at a guy who was more of an asshole then anything else. In fact, throughout the first book all I wanted was for Blake and Nikki to get together. That didn't happen though (I am going to get back to the whole Blake thing later).

In the second book I was starting to warm up to Jamaal but I still wasn't exactly comfortable with him. He seemed too much like those annoying tortured boys you find in YA. 

The 3rd book changed everything though, I went from being okay with him.. to developing serious feelings for him. It's because there is so much more to him than the classic bad boy. There is a certain depth to him that wasn't really explored until the 3rd book. We know he is secretive about his past and all that jazz and isn't exactly a social bee, but it wasn't until the 3rd book that it finally hit me that I had to stop blaming him, if he were the guy who fell in love with someone trying to save him right away and became a mushy gushy weirdo, it would take away the essence of his character.

After being alone for so long and not trusting anyone, he cannot just become unglued at the smallest act of kindness, there is going to have to be more than that.

I appreciate how determined Nikki is though, if the author decided that maybe she should add another complication to this mess by making Nikki's attention fray to someone else, I would have been extremely pissed. I love how she is determined to break that shell of his no matter what. It shows that she really cares. Plus I love how it isn't all about the attraction. She admits that she is a bleeding heart and feels a connection to him because of how SHE grew up and feels the need to fix him.

Although I admit to hating every single one of the interruptions that happened throughout this book but that's how things were sadly.

Back to the topic of Blake. I was majorly disappointed when Jenna forced Blake and Steph together. First it seemed too easy. Second, they cannot ever be happy together unless Jenna does something to extend Steph's life, which will piss me off so much. I don't want things to be so neat. Which is why I really do not want them to end together. I keep on hoping that there is something else going on b/w the two of them that we don't know about but who the hell knows.

Enter Cyrus and that seemed like the perfect solution. I WANTED Cyrus and Blake to get together because it seemed like they still had feelings for each other. After this book I am not so sure if that will work out. But.. I swear if Cyrus were a girl instead and if this book were a YA, what he did would have been romantic and that is what freaks me out the most. 

The plot in this book was umm (give me a sec to think, I need to get Jamaal out of my head) good. For me the charm of this book was Jamaal and Nikki's budding relationship. The plot was well paced and fun to read but nothing out of the ordinary. 

I am so glad though I finally finished this book because it gave an uplift to my downward spiral of bad books. 

Silver by Talia Vance

Title: Silver
Author: Talia Vance
Series: Bandia #1
Publisher: Flux
Date Published: September 8th, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

“As I step into the room, a silver flash blurs my vision. Before I can take a breath, the world falls away.”

Brianna has always felt invisible. People stare right past her, including the one boy she can’t resist, Blake Williams. But everything changes at a house party where Brianna’s charm bracelet slips off and time stands still. In that one frozen, silver moment, Blake not only sees her, he recognizes something deep inside her she’s been hiding even from herself.

Discovering she is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth, Brianna finds herself questioning the truth of who she is. And when she accidentally binds her soul to Blake, their mutual attraction becomes undeniable.

But Blake has his own secret, one that could prove deadly for them both.

Bound together by forbidden magic, Brianna and Blake find themselves at the heart of an ancient feud that threatens to destroy their lives and their love.

I needed to read a mythology so I finally caved and read this. The summary left me a bit vary because the whole soul binding thing usually ends up with fake and forced romance. This wasn’t the case in this book. It totally worked. The romance got better and better until well I loved it (which wasn’t till the end of the book). You see Brianna knows that not all of their attraction was real and that some of it came from the connection and well to some extent they get to know each other so it really does work. I like how their connection works as well. I am so freaking glad I read this because Irish mythology is totally awesome and I cannot wait till Gold comes out. Right now I am in the crazy brain fried mode so I probably won’t be able to do justice to this book.

It really is good. All the characters are interesting. I do wish her relationship with her parents was explored a bit more but I like how she does tell her Mom stuff in the end. She trusts her mom enough to do that which makes me happy because you see so many heroines that keep so many secrets. Brianna even realizes that she shouldn’t have kept secrets from Blake but she had to. She admits when she was wrong and I like the realism of her character. Blake was a rather interesting love interest. I didn’t like him at first because he sounded like a popular womanizer and it annoyed me that Brianna liked him. I guess it’s the kind of thing that well most girls do have crushes on the popular cute guy. Cannot be helped but as we got to know more about Blake I started warming up to him until well I loved him as well. The author really does a good job with both the characters. She doesn’t make them flat out lovable instead she gives us the chance to warm up to them and love them.

This series looks promising and the mythology aspect is rather unique, different from what I’ve read before (seeing its Irish folklore). It may possibly be one of the best I’ve read but that would be decided with further installments in the series).

Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Pure 
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: the Covenant Series #2
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Date Published: April 3, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads summary

There is need. And then there is Fate... 
Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome--especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom--so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do--and sacrifice--for her. 
When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies--lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon... and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude... or killing her. 
When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

Holy cupcakes!

The beginning of the book was kinda slow and it reminded me too much of Vampire Academy! 
Thankfully the book picked up and I fell in love with Seth… See this is why I hate love triangles! I always fall for the “wrong” guy… anyway Seth is just I don’t know hot? Spontaneous? More fun? Than Aidan. I still like the dude but lighten up (and stop being so similar to Dimitri or I will slap you with a chair) 
I really hope that Alex goes for Seth (and no I’m not picking sides) but if she does go for the other guy that would mean the book won’t be so much like Vampire Academy (yay *happy dance*) but I have a feeling I won’t be dancing, which sucks because I can break a move. 
I have a love/ hate relationship with this book. I love the story, but hate the fact that it’s so similar to Vampire Academy! I can’t deal with that. Nothing can ever replace my love for Vampire Academy well maybe if Adrian was standing in front of me expressing his undying love for me… But that is still a maybe (unless he was shirtless then I would chose him over VA) 
I do remember why I love this series though. Jennifer creates some really hot scenes! And by hot I mean you will burn yourself. 

~ Anyway I read this book last year and although I love it. I’m not I’m-going-to-marry-this-book-in-love.