Archive for category: YA Fiction

Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess

by Cassandra Clare
5 out of 5 on Goodreads.com

Tessa Gray should be happy – aren’t all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa’s heart, will do anything to save her.

Yes, I’m almost 30. Yes, I real YA fiction. YA fantasy. No, I don’t care if you think that’s lame or I have a bad taste in books.  I really loved this series — more thank Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Clare’s other series, The Mortal Instruments. This book now takes the #1 spot of my favorite YA book. I’m one of those people who reads a book and falls into it — they consume me. But no book has ever over taken me like this one.

I can’t give a review without spoilers. All I can say is read it. Read the entire series, if you haven’t. Enjoy a love triangle unlike any other — all three sides are equal, one would never do something to hurt the others. Pure, selfless love. (Also known as agape…see my tattoo for reference) Above all, enjoy the ending. It may be too “happily ever after” for some. Too easy of a way out, but I like my stories tied in a bow.

A head’s up: I cried the entire last 50 pages. You have been warned.

Click Read More for spoilers!

March 23, 2013 0 comments Read More
Six and a half

Six and a half

Clockwork PrincessThat’s how many hours I sat in my bed (minus one trip to the bathroom) and read Clockwork Princess cover to cover ending a series I was extremely attached to. The book came out days ago, but it took me a while to bring myself to read it, knowing it would mean it was ending.

Book review to come once all of the extreme feels have calmed dow.

March 23, 2013 1 comment
Over You, by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus

Over You, by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus

Over You

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

4 out of 5 on Goodreads.com

When seventeen-year-old Max Scott got her heart broken she didn’t just sit at home sobbing into her ice cream and obsessing over her ex, Hugo’s, latest Facebook postings. Well, actually she did. But she also decided that no girl should have to be tortured like that, so she read through all the psych books, Oprah transcripts, and historical precedents she could get her hands on and came up with a foolproof program to get over being dumped.

These days, Max is the go-to guru for heartbroken high-school girls all over NYC. But when Hugo shows up in her neighborhood, suddenly Max is so busy trying to avoid her own ex that she isn’t able to help anyone else with theirs. As Hugo invades her life all over again, Max’s carefully controlled world starts to unravel. With her clients’ hearts hanging in the balance, Max will have to do the seemingly impossible: get over her ex once and for all.

This story was adorable.  I don’t think I’ve ever described a book with that word, but it’s the first word that came to mind.  High school may have been eleven years ago for me, but the summer between my sophomore and junior year in college I had my heart BROKEN.  Two years of dating down the drain and The Ex was now with one of my friends. I would have loved for a Max to help me out of my insanity.

Luckily, I had friends who did pick me up off of the floor and into the shower.  And I eventually had my Moment, though it took years instead of weeks and I remember walking away and being like YES YES YES THIS IS IT!

The point of my relationship history is that I’ve been through it. So completely exactly through it, as most girls (and guys) have whether it was a short passion-filled month or years of dedication.

Over You is written for a YA audience and isn’t one that I see crossing over to a general adult audience like many in the genre are these days.  But the characters are great, the storyline is relatable from all angles, and I highly recommend it.

August 29, 2012 0 comments
The Forsaken, by Lisa Stasse

The Forsaken, by Lisa Stasse

The Forsaken

by Lisa M Stasse

4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com

As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.

The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

I started this book five hours ago and I’m now sitting down to review it, if that gives any indication into how addicting this book is.  The book was always moving.  There was always something happening.  Even when there could have been stretches of time — like traveling through the terrain — where they could just well, tramps through the woods looking at how green the trees are.  Nope, BAM, something happens.  There were no “defining moments” which I actually LIKED.  It was all slowly unraveled and each event was remembered, even when they moved onto the next.

I really enjoyed the characters, especially Alenna, which is surprising since I normally can’t stand when a story is told in first person present tense via a female character.  The girls normally drive me crazy.  I liked that the romance never truly takes center stage, though towards the end their teenage love is hard to chew.

While the book was great, it sticks at 4 stars because I could call half the stuff that was going to happen (except for one major one towards the end, which was a big WTF moment).  This is not a bad thing, since obviously I still read and enjoyed the book, but the mystery was a bit gone because of it. It has nothing to do with Stasse either.  It’s just that so many of these dystopian books have been done that a pattern has formed.

All in all, it was a great book and I look forward to the sequel!

August 11, 2012 0 comments
Once, by Anna Carey

Once, by Anna Carey

Once

by Anna Carey

3.5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She’s living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past—and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together—but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

This book was full of plot twists I DID not see coming at all.  Like, so many plot twists I can barely review the book without giving away a million spoilers.  The one thing about this book compared to its predecessor — Eve KIND OF started to annoy me.  Not like, legit annoying me, but there were multiple instances where I scrunched my face up at.   I’m not very attached to the Eve and Caleb relationship, but their devotion to each other is heartfelt — and they really never give up.   The last chapter of the book is probably the biggest shock of all.  I didn’t know how I felt about it until hours later when I realized that Carey did something not many author would ever dare to do…and it makes me very eager for the next book.

August 2, 2012 0 comments