Mini Reviews: Crash by Lisa McMann and What Really Happened in Peru by Cassandra Clare

Title: Crash
Author: Lisa McMann
Series: Visions #1
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Date Published: January 8, 2013
Buy: Amazon

The only books I’ve read by the author other than this one are the first two books in the Dream Catchers series. The two books are similar in some ways but different in others, I want to compare the two but I cannot seem to. I want to say Crash is better but then I remember something equally good about Fade or Wake. I did give this one a higher rating though by 0.5 because of the ending. Lisa is full of surprises. Her books are original in ways you won’t find in the YA genre and I love her for it. 

Jules is a great character, she is determined and hardworking and smart and makes good choices. Even though Jules is in love with Sawyer, she never acts like a jealous or insecure person, whereas Janie (the main character from the Dream Catchers series) was slightly insecure. Her determination is evident from the fact that even when Sawyer was clearly telling her to let it go, she didn’t, she didn’t care about what he thought, she had to do it for herself if not for him and so it was her decision in the end. The plot is great and so are the other characters, I recommend this book to everyone.

Title: What Really Happened in Peru
Author: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Bane Chronicles #1
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Date Published: April 16, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Oh Magnus. I am so excited for the rest of his tales. I think it might be possible that this set of short series becomes my favorite.

It's nice to learn more about Magnus. He is a charming, funny guy but he has his own set of insecurities. In the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices you don't really see the other side of him. We all assume him to be a happy guy and that's exactly what Magnus wants. He hides from his own insecurities because he doesn't know how to face them. What he wants is for someone to appreciate him for who he is. His mother committed suicide after she found out what she was and most of his human lovers give up on him after a while. It's not that nice of a life.

Ha, I make this short story sound sad but it's not, it's hilarious because common it's Magnus, he is always going to make things awesome because that's what he does. 

Although I really do hope things work out for him and Alec in CoHF because Magnus (and Alec) deserves it. He deserves a chance.

ARC Review: Bang by Lisa McMann

Title: Bang

Author: Lisa McMann

Series: Visions #2

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: 8th October 2013

Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

Jules should be happy. She saved a lot of people’s lives and she’s finally with Sawyer, pretty much the guy of her dreams. But the nightmare’s not over, because she somehow managed to pass the psycho vision stuff to Sawyer. Excellent.

Feeling responsible for what he’s going through and knowing that people’s lives are at stake, Jules is determined to help him figure it all out. But Sawyer’s vision is so awful he can barely describe it, much less make sense of it. All he can tell her is there’s a gun, and eleven ear-splitting shots. Bang.

Jules and Sawyer have to work out the details fast, because the visions are getting worse and that means only one thing: time is running out. But every clue they see takes them down the wrong path. If they can’t prevent the vision from happening, lives will be lost. And they may be among the casualties…

Lisa McMann has officially become one of my favorite authors. I read her Dream Catchers series (not the last book because apparently it was disappointing) last year and fell in love with her unique writing style and the way she could create characters that I just loved. When I found out she had a new book at the beginning of this year I became really excited and read it as soon as I could. I loved Crash and Lisa didn’t disappoint with the sequel, Bang.

I got approved for this earlier this year but I waited a long time to read it because I didn’t want to have an enormously long wait for the next book in the series.

I actually have no idea where to start with this review, there are so many things I could talk about and I cannot seem to be able to put my feelings down on paper. I really do hope this review is at least coherent.

As I mentioned before, Lisa writes the most amazing characters. You cannot help but become involved in their lives and eventually fall in love with them.  I think this is one of the few books with somewhat bad parents that I don’t mind because Lisa presents them in such a way that you cannot really resent them (except Sawyer’s parents… them I do not like but I’ll get back to them later).  Jules’ father is a very interesting character.  At the end of the last book we found out his big secret. It actually helped me understand him better. I just couldn’t seem to dislike him in this book. I just wish we got to learn more about him. I feel like he could be a great parent once he gets over his own guilt.  Jules’ mother is an equally complicated character and I feel for her. She is stuck in a mess where her children don’t understand her (it’s complicated) and she doesn’t really have anyone to support her and tell her it’s okay to take a break once in a while.

Now to Sawyer’s family. I really do not understand them, this is probably because they author didn’t spend too much time talking about them but I am curious as to why they are such assholes. Why they treat Sawyer the way they do and why the hell they would abuse their own child because of someone else.

I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about the other characters because we all know about how awesome they were from the previous book, but I just want to say that I am just so happy that Lisa can write teens that are relateable, they act like real teens yet they are smart. They all come with their set of insecurities but they work together in such a way that you just want to hug them and tell them how proud you are. I also love how none of them actually want to be heroes that go out and save the world, they don’t want to be dumped with this responsibility, but they do it anyway because they have to. I am also glad that Lisa didn’t create a cliché for Trey’s character (since he is gay).

The relationships are pretty strong too. Like the one between the three siblings? Golden. They help each other out but they also act like real siblings. They aren’t all lovey dovey. They love to mess with each other (and manipulate ;)). 

The one relationship that I was looking forward to seeing more of was Sawyer and Jules’. I mean they just got together at the end of the last book. I’ll admit to being a tad bit disappointed (for reasons I don’t fully comprehend), I mean they had a great relationship but something seemed to be missing. They were supportive and their worlds’ didn’t completely revolve around each other. Their relationship wasn’t completely based on love or lust but a mix of both and I was glad for that because it seemed like a realistic teenage relationship. As for the relationships between parents, they are a little iffy but I am pretty sure we’ll see more development there in the next books.

One thing that did manage to surprise me was the fact that I wasn’t very curious about the science behind the visions. I am curious being and I tend to question things a lot and the fact that I didn’t really question this speaks for how captivating the plot of the book was. I love how they break down details from the visions and try to piece together the clues. It’s really entertaining to see the whole thing unfold and then the actual scene, those always make my heart beat a little (a lot) faster.

This book was a great sequel and I am glad it didn’t disappoint. I definitely recommend this to the fans and if you haven’t read the first book? What the hell are you waiting for? GO READ IT! I command you to.