Review: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Plus One by Elizabeth Fama
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: April 8th 2014
My Rating: DNF

A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law. Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge--a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece--a Ray--in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol's violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn't forced them on the run together--a boy the world now tells her she can't love. Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day/night divide, Elizabeth Fama's Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

Plus One was another book where I fell hard and fast for the gorgeous cover, but unfortunately the book didn’t end up living to my expectations. The story had a lot of potential to go far, I was immediately sucked into this day and night divide; people were either Smudges (could only be up and about during the night or Rays (did everything during the day time). I was intrigued in finding out how this division first came about, and how people coped with the curfews in place. I know for one I wouldn’t be able to live the life of a Smudge. And plus when your family was divided like Sol’s family was, her brother had recently been transferred to a Ray and had no contact with her for the past two years, so had to care for her ill grandfather all on her own, along with going to school and working too. Sol really had a lot to deal with, but I liked how tough and resilient she was, she would literally do anything to care for her grandfather, even kidnapping a baby to see him happy.

The whole aspect of kidnapping the baby, mix up and being chased down was a part I really enjoyed, I couldn’t understand why and how the mix up would happen, I was dying to know who was behind it all. But most of all I wanted things to go back to the way they were for Sol, she had jeopardised a lot in taking the risk that she did, but I liked how she wasn’t all alone, the unexpected alliances she found in Jean and D’Arcy I did appreciate. I had a feeling of how things would develop between D’Arcy and Sol and I liked the slow burn relationship that came about. I didn’t really know if I could trust D’Arcy at the beginning, but as the story progressed I got to know his character more, the more I admired the risk he posed to himself and his family by helping Sol and to be honest he was such a sweetheart when everything was falling apart Sol. Also you know guy’s who continue to help or lurk about even when you’ve told them you’re fine, are the ones I could never resist.

The fact that I DNF’d Plus One was largely because up until a certain point the story went well over my head for me. I was truly invested in the beginning to find out what really had gone down, but after new characters were thrown in the mix and I wasn’t getting any answers you could say I sort of lost interest. I did want to find out how things would end for all our characters, but this year I’ve made the resolution that if a book doesn’t keep my interest up until a certain point, then I just admit defeat, instead of forcing myself through like I did with so many books last year, which is a real shame with Plus One as it had been a book which I’d really been looking forward to reading. Fama’s writing however was exquisite, so much so that I shall be looking forward to picking up more of her books. Hopefully they work out better for me than Plus One did.

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey
Publisher: Penguin UK
Publication Date: September 16th 2014
My rating: 4 stars 

THE 1st WAVE Took out half a million people. THE 2nd WAVE Put that number to shame. THE 3rd WAVE Lasted a little longer. Twelve weeks . . . Four billion dead. IN THE 4th WAVE, You can't trust that people are still people. AND THE 5th WAVE? No one knows. But it's coming. For Cassie Sullivan and the rest of Earth's remaining human survivors, the situation was already desperate when the 5th Wave hit. It's about to get worse. No one yet knows the depths to which Earth's conquerors - the Others - will sink in order to rid the Earth of the human infestation, nor have they guessed the heights to which the human spirit can reach. Characters introduced in Book One will come to the fore - and others will face the ultimate test.

I LOVED The 5^th Wave, so much so that I pre-ordered The Infinite Sea immediately. But being the mood reader I was I couldn’t get into The Infinite Sea no matter how many times I tried. So I was overjoyed when watching the film The 5th Wave (which I loved) reignited my enthusiasm to give The Infinite Sea another go and I’m glad that I did.

Things weren’t left in the best way in The 5^th Wave; I was worried that we wouldn’t be seeing much of one of my favourite characters that I had become thoroughly attached to. He’d gone on to show that despite being different he could still have strong feelings for another human being and how he put his neck on the line and the affection he shared despite lots of people not trusting him, made me want to have the faith that things would be okay. Once again the chapters were confusing to start off with as we didn’t know whose perspective we were being told the story from. I did enjoy the back story that we were able to get from particular characters, but once again I found myself gravitating towards chapters from my favourite characters. Even though the perspectives from other characters (like Ringer) were an integral part of the story, I wanted to go back to being with Cassie and find out what was going on with her and the others, so you could say that I was slightly disappointed of that small snippet we were given at the end and then left hanging for more! (highlight to  view spoiler) to be honest I was expecting more from Evan and Cassie, more of their romance to develop, it was clear that they perfect for one another. I love how with their kept promises, they always wanted to come back to one another and how Evan was always looking out for Cassie. But time really wasn’t on their side, with the odds stacked against the humans, them never knowing who was a human or not and the others upping their tactics, Evan and Cassie then could only make use of the time they had L

Despite this being my only complaint, I still enjoyed reading The Infinite Sea, I enjoyed the twists that Yancey gave us along the way (the introduction of Evan’s ex was a particular favourite of mine, and I enjoyed the anticipation of watching it enfold, honestly she was such a formidable force to be reckoned with). But also how when kids had hope that they were finally making some sort of progress, something else would kick off and all hope would get chucked out the window. But I liked how these characters continued to battle despite death and despair all around them, I especially liked Ringer’s strength as a character. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, I liked how Yancey sprinkled humour throughout the story, Ben was pretty banged up for the most of the story, but he was such a funny character, he was quick to bring a smile to my face with his witty comments. So overall although I didn’t end up enjoying The Infinite Sea as much I did The 5^th Wave, I will still be eagerly anticipating the release of The Last Star (thank goodness the release is just around the corner) to see how things will pan out for these characters that I have become far too attached to!

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Puffin Books
Publication Date: February 7th 2013.
My rating: 4 stars.  

This is not the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget. Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other. Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana. As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .

Well I’ve certainly been a fool for not picking up Scarlet sooner. I think that the fact that I didn’t enjoy Cinder as much as I was hoping, kind of put the rest of the books in the series on the back burner for me. But with the release of Winter around the corner and friends such as Allie, Rashika and Siiri encouraging me to give Scarlet a go, I’m glad that I finally did.

I was a fan of Cinder, but I absolutely loved Scarlet’s character, she was a strong and fierce and would go to any means necessary to get her grandmother back. Her grandmother had been missing for more than two weeks now, and the police were doing nothing about it, so Scarlet had no choice but to take things in her own hands, her grandmother had practically bought her up, and so she owed it to her. But she didn’t expect to get help from the mysterious Wolf, she’d only known him a day, he was willing to go above and beyond for her in her search for her grandmother. Could she really trust Wolf? And what were his real intentions? To be honest I fell hard and fast for Wolf, his protective demeanour, growls and green eyes were sort of hard to resist. But most of all I adored how he wasn’t really sure of himself most of the time, how he would shy away when Scarlet would question him, but also because he gave this vibe that he really didn’t want to lose himself when he was fighting and I was hoping that the time he spent with Scarlet would make him realise that there was a lot more out there such as tomatoes!

I have to admit that at first I loved the chapters we had with Scarlet and the Wolf, I wanted to be able to spend more time with them, and I could see eventually the time they spent together could end up developing into something more and I was up for this. But I did also appreciate the chapters from Cinder, I adored the introduction of Thorne, he was great at bringing humour at scenes when he and Cinder found themselves in dire circumstances. Also which other guy is willing to help a cyborg out and offer his ship to her when he knows nothing about her? I for one can’t wait to get more of Thorne in the next book. But most of all I enjoyed the small revelations that Meyer gave us along the way and how these two groups of people were connected. I couldn’t wait for them to get together; I knew they would make a formidable team.

Meyer has effortlessly reignited my enthusiasm for this series with Scarlet. Not only was Scarlet a farce to be reckoned with, the entire story had me eager for more from the very first page, there were tantalising tense scenes thrown into the mix, with me having no idea whether my favourite characters would make it out in one piece. But there were also subtle sweet scenes that tugged my heart strings that I hugely appreciated, because with all the betrayal and chaos being thrown at us, I needed it to give me the hope that things would be alright. Cress I’ve heard is a beast of a read, but with the great impressions that Meyer has left on me with her intricate writing and brilliant characters, I’m sure I will have a blast devouring it right up.

Review: Archetype by M.D Waters

Archetype by M.D Waters
Publisher: Plume
Publication Date: June 24th 2014
My rating: 5 stars 

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself. Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters. In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .

With pressure from Lauren, Rachel and Joy to start this series, Rashika and I finally decided to pick Archetype up and let me just say I can totally understand why this book was a favourite for them. I was the worst buddy reader ever (sorry Rashika), I ended up gulping this book in a few sittings, it was that darn good.

I’m always eager to read books that deal with memory loss so I was thrilled that Archetype was one of those books that dealt with this story line brilliantly. Emma wakes up with no memory of who she is, she’s told she’s been married to successful billionaire Declan for the last eight years, but Emma has no memory of this, she’s been told by Declan and her GP that this is all because of the accident that she’d had, but neither of them tell Emma a single thing about the accident, they say she isn’t ready for it. But how come Emma has these strange dreams of another life and of loving somebody else who isn’t her husband? So what is really going on and who is telling the truth? I had an inkling of what really could be happening, but when the truth was revealed it was certainly something that I never expected. I was really torn with what life I wanted to be real for Emma. There was Declan her husband who was always looking out for her, he would step in when Emma would voice her concerns over Dr Travista and he was willing to offer her anything she wanted. Although things didn’t seem right at times I could believe that he genuinely loved Emma. Also did I mention he was hot? *fans self* guys who wear suits tend to do it for me these days, especially ones that have buff bodies that fill up these suits nicely and have floppy sort of hair, that always tend to droop over that you constantly want to push it back into place (okay you can tell me that I’ve been imagining all the time). Also his scenes with Emma were hot; he made you forget this other person Emma had been dreaming about. I’m not going to say whether my feelings change or not regarding Declan as the book progresses, but there were quite a lot of major developments that Waters likes to throw your way that make you want to take a step back and take a whole lot of things into consideration. And then when this other person was thrown into the picture I was all like Declan who? I liked the way that Waters introduced this other character into the picture, by giving us snippets of him from Emma’s memory, it was clear that Emma and him really cared for one another, but how and when could have their love for each other taken place if Emma has been married to Declan for the last eight years? It just doesn’t make sense. And then the more and more memories Waters throws our way I thought I knew what had happened, but Waters then would throw a horrible blow our way that would have my heart and head reeling.

I really felt for Emma, she had no explanation as to what had happened to her and no one was really trusting her to give her any explanation. On top of that she had a voice constantly in her head telling her things, on occasions this voice would be helpful but then at other times Emma didn’t want to hear any more. And the thing was I was pretty torn up too about what Emma should believe, I was hoping that certain things would be true, because in my mind that would have been the better ending for everyone, but even that was twisted upon its head. I’m probably not making a lot of sense right now, but there’s not a lot I can say without giving so much away. This book really messes with your head in the best way with the endless twists and turns along the way. And the romance, my gosh I didn’t think my heart has recovered, especially by the last few pages, I had hoped that things would end up okay in book two Prototype, but when I read the last page of this book, I don’t know what to think. Readers who haven’t read this book yet, all I can say is listen to the hype, this book deserves all the five star ratings and so much more!

On the side note I actually ordered book two Prototype before I started Archetype, I had a gut feeling that I would need it straight away, but being the dufus that I am I didn’t realise that I would devour this book so quickly, so now I just have to sit here twiddling my thumbs for my book to arrive. I don’t think I can read anything else until I know what goes in Prototype.

Review: Salvage by Alexandra Duncan

Salvage by Alexandra Duncan
Publisher: Greenwillow
Publication date: April 1st 2014
My rating: 3 stars 

Salvage is a thrilling, surprising, and thought-provoking debut novel that will appeal to fans of Across the Universe, by Beth Revis, and The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. This is literary science fiction with a feminist twist, and it explores themes of choice, agency, rebellion, and family. Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. This is a sweeping and harrowing novel about a girl who can't read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. What choices will she make? How will she build a future on an earth ravaged by climate change?

Salvage was one of the toughest books to read, the beginning was what I struggled with the most. There was so much detail to get my head around and the way that everyone spoke in Ava’s world just took so much effort to understand. But I’d read a review which mentioned something which happened very early on, so I really wanted to know what the consequences would be next. I could understand why these two characters would assume that they were going to be married to one another and why they would do what they did and for me it wasn’t as if their feelings were insta love, okay we didn’t really know both characters properly but their feelings for each other seemed genuine to me. I didn’t like the way characters had to live in this world taking on wives and making them pregnant and moving on to the next. But I believed that Ava and Luck could have something which was stronger than what everyone else had and that maybe they wouldn’t follow down that same route that was expected of everyone else. 

Despite not liking this world that Ava was bought up in Upside, I was glad to see Ava was given the chance to make the most out of her life away from Space side. It did take some time adjusting to a whole different lifestyle, but when you’ve been instilled ideas from a young age, it’s kind of hard to look past everything else. But thankfully Ava did manage to grow into her own character and fully grasp and take advantage of what was available to her. Also this is when we were introduced to two fantastic characters in Perpetue and Miyole. Perpetue and Miyole were exactly what Ava needed, they both took her on no questions asked and when she was still suffering from what had happened above. I was too still kind of freaking out about it. But for me this is also when the book picked up for me incredibly, we got to experience Ava on an incredible journey trying to make a life for herself, but being able to through help in unexpected places such as Rushil. Rushil was the sweetest person ever, he took Ava in when she was a complete stranger and helped her when things were tight for him too. It was easy to see that there could be a possible love triangle looming, and in parts it did confuse me at times, as I wanted Ava to find luck, I believed that there was so much more left to them, and so I didn’t want her wasting time around Rushil. But then slowly Rushil started winning me over, that I was like Luck who? And also I’m easily swayed by a character with tattoo sleeves! But then when Ava went on to try and find Luck I wanted her to find him and be with him all over again. I do believe that some readers would be annoyed by this love triangle, but the two potential love interests weren’t in the picture together at all, it was more pinning for a character who wasn’t there and overlooking the best thing possible right in front of you. But at the end of the day I think Ava made the best decision possible.

Despite this love triangle I was relatively able to enjoy Salvage; I enjoyed the chapters that Duncan wrote in Mumbai and the culture that Ava was able to take in. I also enjoyed the fact that Ava was given this chance to experience it, as otherwise I didn’t think that Ava would have been happy at all. Salvage was a book which could be a hard slog at times, but a book which I’m grateful I did give a go, so that I was able to experience the sisterly relationship emerge between Miyole and Ava and the watch Ava become the better person through sweet gestures that she had never had before.

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication date: April 29th 2014
My rating: DNF/2 stars

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

DNF at 70%

The Taking was one of those books which I went into with really high expectations, but it ended up being bit a of a disappointment. Just by reading the blurb, anyone would want to give this book a try; memory loss, kidnappings and unexplained disappearances. And whilst The Taking did start off by winning me over in the first few pages, it kind of petered off into something that I really wasn’t enjoying. Kyra has it all, a great family and she’s about to go off to college with her awesome boyfriend. But then she ends up getting into an argument with her dad and running away, all she can remember after that is a bright light and then waking up in the Gas n’ Sip five years later. I was intrigued what could have happened to Kyra, as time would tell Kyra seemed pretty much the same in the five years since she went missing, but everything else had turned into a train wreck around her. I did feel sorry for Kyra, everyone she knew had moved on, her parents had separated, her mother had got together with somebody else and had a child with him, her dad was no longer the strong figurative father that he used to be and her boyfriend had got together with her best friend. Seriously this is the thing that miffed me the most, why does this always have to happen? How many thousands of girls could there be living in their town, but Austin Kyra’s boyfriend decides to get together with his girlfriend’s best friend Cat instead. Then to top it all off, Kyra falls for Austin’s brother Tyler!! Seriously, okay Tyler was a sweet enough guy and had apparently been in love with Kyra forever, but still. 

Okay so swapping boyfriends aside, despite being annoyed by this, I found myself invested in finding out what had happened with Kyra, why was she still the same, (she still had a bruise from five years ago and an x-ray at the dentists showed her teeth were exactly the same too, even the crack in her tooth from five years ago). There were a lot of conspiracy theories flying about; her dad had thrown himself into research for the last five years looking for an answer. And I did want to know what was going on, but I think it just took too long getting there. I’m one of those readers that doesn’t DNF a book that often and instead tell myself to read another 10% and maybe something will happen, I always have that thought at the back of my head that by giving up now, I’ll probably miss out on something major just around the corner. And that’s exactly what I did with The Taking; I decided to continue reading a bit more, hoping that we would get a better insight into what was going on with Kyra. Instead we got random people lurking about claiming to know what was going on but never really explaining anything. Or Kyra being in constant denial about her feelings for Tyler! It’s a shame really as I really did want to know how things would end. But the more I read the more frustrated I became.

Mini-reviews: The Dollhouse Asylum and Twinmaker

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication date: October 22nd 2013
My rating: 2 stars 

A virus that had once been contained has returned, and soon no place will be left untouched by its destruction. But when Cheyenne wakes up in Elysian Fields--a subdivision cut off from the world and its monster-creating virus--she is thrilled to have a chance at survival. At first, Elysian Fields,with its beautiful houses and manicured lawns, is perfect. Teo Richardson, the older man who stole Cheyenne's heart, built it so they could be together. But when Teo tells Cheyenne there are tests that she and seven other couples must pass to be worthy of salvation, Cheyenne begins to question the perfection of his world. The people they were before are gone. Cheyenne is now "Persephone," and each couple has been re-named to reflect the most tragic romances ever told. Everyone is fighting to pass the test, to remain in Elysian Fields. Teo dresses them up, tells them when to move and how to act, and in order to pass the test, they must play along. If they play it right, then they'll be safe. But if they play it wrong, they'll die.

The Dollhouse Asylum had a lot of potential to deliver a solid story. Cheyenne was kidnapped (saved from the living riot as she’s been told.) The world that she’s taken to seems perfect, and it must mean something if Teo (her former teacher and crush) selected her as one of the few individuals he wanted to save. Cheyenne in my eyes was really naive. If some guy you shared a kiss with and supposedly liked you back kidnapped you with no explanation, wouldn’t you consider it a little strange?  And if he supposedly cared about you, would he really make you earn the vaccine that you truly needed to survive? That is what our “saviour” Teo does, he pairs up all the individuals he’s saved and tells them that they have to prove that they deserve their vaccine.

If this wasn’t enough, Teo wouldn’t let the people he saved keep their real names, but gave them names; Persephone (Cheyenne) Romeo, Juliet etc and had them host dinner parties, and of course to impress Teo you had to play your part as your character would otherwise no vaccine for you. I was quite interested at first to see how things would play out, to see if anyone would actually stand up to Teo, there were seven other individuals, so they could have overruled Teo if they wanted, but no, everyone stood by while Teo took control. Our MC in my eyes just got worse as the story progressed, her love for Teo soon turned to disbelief as she became to realise what a psychopath he truly was. And of course she turned her attractions elsewhere to Teo’s brother *eyes roll*. But even then her hatred for Teo didn’t completely go away and whenever Teo showed his sweet side, she found herself going weak in the knees, never really sure who she liked and how she would ever escape this horrendous world.

I have been told that Cheyenne does improve in the rest of the book; this would have been something I would have looked forward to see may be earlier in the story. There have been several promising reviews for this book, but this book was just not for me

 

Twinmaker by Sean Williams
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Publication date: November 7th 2013.
My rating: 2 stars

Clair is pretty sure the offer in the ‘Improvement' meme is just another viral spam, though Libby is determined to give it a try. But what starts as Libby's dream turns into Clair's nightmare when her friend vanishes. In her search for answers, Clair seeks out Jesse - a boy whose alternative lifestyle might help to uncover the truth. What they don't anticipate is intervention from the mysterious contact known only as Q, and being caught up in a conspiracy that will change everything.

Unless I read the blurb to Twinmaker completely wrong, I really was expecting something different entirely from Twinmaker. This whole idea of improvement and of potentially being able to do this by a few swift jumps I found highly intriguing and the whole jumping aspect of being able to go wherever you’d imagined in a few minutes was a concept I liked (remember the film Jumper everyone?) But for me Twinmaker took far too long to get things rolling. 

Clair and Libby both used the D-mat to get from place to place, both had been friends for a long time, but despite sharing everything they still had one secret between them. Clair had kissed Libby’s boyfriend Zep. The first few scenes I got with Libby, I knew she wouldn’t be someone I would like, and she was a person who took all the credit for whenever Clair had done something good and of course always wanted all the attention. I didn’t get to experience much of her relationship with Zep, but the time Clair spent with him, it was clear that they were a much better suited couple. Yes it was wrong that Clair and Zep were seeing each other behind Libby’s back, but their relationship wasn’t that great.

For me it took far too long to get the crux of the story, I wanted to know whether this supposed improvement which was available would work and what would be the consequences if it didn’t. Instead we had Libby who supposedly tried it acting like a strange person and not staying longer than two seconds for us to see whether it had even worked. Then we had people making accusations, dying and coming back alive and by that point I just couldn’t be bothered anymore with the entire different tangent this story took. I think I maybe could have stuck with this story longer if the focus had stayed more on what was going on with Libby, and I hadn’t been overwhelmed with other stories trying to take the focus. Twinmaker did seem to have the potential to provide a different sort of read, but in my opinion really needed much more in the beginning to keep its readers focused.

Mini reviews: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner and The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication date: December 10th 2013.
My rating: 3 stars 

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help. Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever? Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

These Broken Stars was another case of it’s me not you sort of book, which I’m really gutted about, as I’d gone into this book with extremely high hopes. The world created by Kaufman and Spooner is a majestic one, in a lot of ways it reminded me of the film Titanic; lots of passengers on board a spaceship (instead of a ship) on route to an incredible journey. Passengers on this ship were made of your upper class people and your normal soldiers. Again there’s an “invisible divide” between these people, but then a special pull emerges between our two characters Tarver and Lilac. Lilac is the daughter of well established businessman La Roux industries and Tarver is a recently commended soldier. In my eyes it was Jack and Rose all over again. But the disappointing thing was that Lilac wasn’t the sweet, considerate Rose that we knew, the earlier glimpses she gave into her true character in her first meeting with Tarver were quickly scuppered as she realised she had a reputation to hold. In my eyes I quickly came to the realisation that Tarver could do so much better than Lilac. I was mad at why she made the effort with Tarver in the first place, when the person underneath was condescending and had derision dripping off her.

Tarver was one of the sweetest guys and honestly if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book as much. When Lilac and him ended up stuck together, he took everything in his stride; he was considerate of Lilac even though all she did was chuck everything back in his face. I appreciated that he quickly learned to deal with Lilac’s outbursts with his dry and snarky sense of humour. Lilac did grow into her own character and I did appreciate the changes and sacrifices she was willing to make. You probably know that as any other person I enjoy a good romance, I knew which way things would go between Tarver and Lilac, but for once I actually wanted more focus on the other things going on around them; making sense of why they crashed, why it was taking so long to come and rescue them when Lilac La Roux was such an important person. I didn’t mind the sweet scenes between Tarver and Lilac, but maybe would have appreciated less focus on it *gasp*

There have been many praising reviews for These Broken Stars and I know several of my blogging friends have loved this book. For me what had started as a steady interesting read ended up being a hard slog and I don’t like my reads being like this. These Broken Stars has a truly beautiful world and a lot of potential to offer, I’m thinking that if I had started off on a different footing with one of the characters, then maybe I would have appreciated this book a bit more. 

The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication date: December 31st 2013.
My rating: 3 stars 

Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how. Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how. One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love

The Promise of Amazing really gave me high hopes that it would deliver something amazing. It had a pretty cute cover, but also the premise to this sounded fantastic! I was hoping it would be the perfect autumn/winter book that I could snuggle with whilst drinking my praline mocha. But alas this wasn’t the case. Don’t get me wrong there were several adorable moments between our characters Grayson and Wren which I appreciated. But I was kind of left wanting more.

For me the attraction between Grayson and Wren was insta love, normally I can overlook this aspect if I’m able to find some redeeming qualities in our characters. But with our characters truly acting like love sick puppies so very early on, it was hard to find their infatuation with each other truly believable. Wren was a decent character; I actually liked reading from her perspective, but you could say my feelings for her were luke-warm. She made it a hard time to root for her when she was always unsure about what she wanted; one minute she wanted Grayson, and the next she didn’t, then she was back to being in love with him, but then was having feelings for somebody else. These ‘other feelings’ that she was experiencing for someone else I actually found more believable than I did about her feelings towards Grayson. I actually wouldn’t have minded exploring this possible route (highlight to view spoiler)it seemed that Luke was a changed person too when around Wren, and despite everything that he did I at times did  feel quite sorry for him. 

Whereas with Grayson I was expecting so much, but he ended disappointing me in so many ways. I know he believed he had his back against the wall, but if he cared about Wren so much, wouldn’t it be best to be honest with her? His love for her was always apparent, but he was a bit clueless about how he went around showing it (highlight to view spoiler) giving her a stolen necklace and flirting with another girl and then lying about it afterwards to me he really didn’t deserve Wren. Another thing which let me down was this massive thing that Grayson couldn’t deal with and which made him into this character that I didn’t like. It was resolved way too quickly. (highlight to view spoiler) Luke changed his mind about Amsterdam way too quickly, considering it had been his dream for so long and his sole reason for being hell bent on destroying Grayson and Wren’s relationship . It had me thinking what was exactly the point?

The promise of Amazing unfortunately wasn’t for me, which I am extremely gutted about. I was hoping that the further I read there would eventually be something that would win me over. But I think I just eventually got more annoyed. 

Review: Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone

Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: October 8th 2013
My rating: 3 stars. 

Calling Anna and Bennett’s romance long distance is an understatement: she’s from 1995 Chicago and he’s a time traveler from 2012 San Francisco. The two of them never should have met, but they did. They fell in love, even though they knew they shouldn't. And they found a way to stay together, against all odds. It’s not a perfect arrangement, though, with Bennett unable to stay in the past for more than brief visits, skipping out on big chunks of his present in order to be with Anna in hers. They each are confident that they’ll find a way to make things work...until Bennett witnesses a single event he never should have seen (and certainly never expected to). Will the decisions he makes from that point on cement a future he doesn't want? Told from Bennett’s point of view, Time After Time will satisfy readers looking for a fresh, exciting, and beautifully-written love story, both those who are eager to find out what’s next for Time Between Us's Anna and Bennett and those discovering their story for the first time.

With the way things ended in Time Between us I thought things would be a lot easier for Anna and Bennett in Time After Time. They had both been through so much heartbreak, that I was hoping that they would finally get the happy ending that they both deserved. But I guess that living in different times wouldn’t mean the easiest of relationships.

This time around in Time After Time we got our pov from Bennett. I adored Bennett in Time Between Us, but it took me a really long time to get used to reading from his perspective. I was used to Anna telling us the story and hanging around with her friends Emma and Justin in Evanston, whereas when I was in San Francisco with Bennett I felt sort of detached from his friends. I wanted to go back and hang around in Evanston. So having Bennett going back to see Anna was probably my highlight of this story.

Once again Bennett and Anna had many obstacles to face in order to maintain their relationship. Their relationship was such a beautiful one, but could they really still be together? Some of the things Anna and Bennett decided to do in Time Between Us did really have me worried about some of the consequences they would have to deal with afterwards. This time around Bennett continued to “change” things but things quickly went wrong and this time Bennett had to constantly decide whether this change would work out for the better or not. It was clear that all he wanted to do was be with Anna, but he had to constantly think of the bigger picture, how could this affect everyone else?

Once again Tamara Ireland Stone delivered a poignant story in Time After Time, it may not have struck a chord with me as much as Time Between us did, but if you was a huge fan of this book, I recommend picking this book up too!

Review: Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Publisher: Doubleday Children's
Publication date: October 25th 2012.
My rating: 4 stars 

  

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet. Why would they? Anna is sixteen in 1995, fiercely determined to leave her quiet town and finally travel the world. Bennett's seventeen in 2012, living in San Francisco and trying to control his ability to travel through time - an incredible gift, but also an unpredictable curse, which constantly threatens to separate him from the people he loves. When Bennett suddenly finds himself in Anna's world, they are inescapably drawn to one another - it's almost as if they have met before. But they both know, deep down, that it can never last. For no matter how desperate Bennett is to stay with Anna, his condition will inevitably knock him right back to where he belongs - and Anna will be left to pick up the pieces.

Time Between Us was a gorgeously written story that deals with falling in love, making choices and if we decide to choose things differently how would this end up affecting our lives in a major way? I’m probably not making much sense right now as I’ve just finished reading the last page of this gem of a book, but in Time Between Us Tamara Ireland Stone develops a sweet relationship between two characters and sprinkles it with a special time travel twist. 

Time Between Us went way beyond what I was expecting it to be. I had recently devoured another time travel book and was in the mood for another time travel book and a bit of romance. I’m pleased to say Time Between Us delivered in these aspects and provided so much more. It had a nice mystery aspect to it with us not really knowing what was going on with the new boy Bennett. I didn’t like Bennett at all at the beginning, he constantly blew hot and cold which frustrated me to no end, and it was clear that there was something strong between him and Anna but for whatever reason he continued to be closed off and a grump about it. But I admired Anna’s resilience and thought her best friend Emma’s (who was exactly what best friends should be like) encouragement went after Bennett once more. I’m so glad that Anna did because the relationship which emerged was one of the most sweetest and beautiful ones yet. 

I kind of had a feeling that there would be heartbreak along the way for Anna and Bennett and to be honest this is how I like my romance in stories to be, I want my characters to have a battle through tough hurdles and really fight for their relationship. And this is exactly what Bennett and Anna had to do. But the hurdles they had to deal with were so different to what a normal couple had to deal with. With Bennett’s ability, it was that they could only enjoy themselves so much before something out of their control could take everything away in an instant. 

Time Between us not only had a poignant romance it also featured many beautiful places; Vernazza Italy, La Paz Mexico and Ko Tao Thailand, I loved having that feeling of being able to be whisked away to another place anywhere in an instant and being able to forget the rest of your troubles behind. 

Tamara Ireland Stone truly wrote an exceptional story in Time Between Us. I liked how she didn’t leave it easy for our characters Bennett and Anna that they had to constantly try and savour each moment as their last. The twists thrown in I extremely enjoyed, as I was constantly left guessing until the very last page. Time Between Us was a book which satiated my latest addiction of time travel books. Now all that is left is my own Bennett to turn up and whisk me away to some place else. 

A big thank you to Rebekah for reading this with me.

Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
Publication date: 1st August 2013
My rating: 5 stars

Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet. Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture - being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future.

Wow this book was utterly amazing. I know I’ve read some great reads this year, but All Our Yesterdays will definitely stand out from among the rest for a long time to come. What I loved most about this book was that I hardly knew anything about it before going into it. I read the blurb ages ago and was totally excited, but when I started reading I was utterly amazed and surprised with what Terrill had planned for us.

The basic crux of the story is time travel, two characters Em and Finn are dedicated to changing the future, it’s crucial they do this, as all the future entails for them is torture, and heartache, it is pretty much a bleak future no one would ever wish upon. At first I had no clue as why Finn and Em were hell bent on changing the past, we were given a brief snippet into what they had to deal with, but as the story progressed we got to learn the horrible truth I was so surprised but also a little bit hurt. Because the story alternates with flashbacks to what’s happened in the future and what’s happened in the past, I found it so hard to comprehend just how significantly a character could change. We were shown painstakingly obvious evidence right in front of our eyes, but maybe because I didn’t want to accept that this particular character in the past and in the future could be the same person. It kind of broke my heart, as I actually started this book with this character being my favourite. They did have a lot to deal with and so I could fully understand their slowly changing behaviour. But they were so lost I just wanted to hug them. And then I felt even more wretched for feeling sorry for them when I was given snippets of their tender and caring side after everything Em and Finn had been through. Seriously Terrill sure knows how to trample all over your heart.

Finn and Em were amazing characters, I adore the insecure and under confident Em in the past and the tough and still torn Em of the future. She reminded me a bit of Tris from the Divergent series, she was at first always unsure about herself, but she proved herself to be one fearless and clever character. I loved the banter between her character and Finn, and just their entire relationship; it had changed so significantly that I was just glad they were constantly there for one another.

The entire concept that Terrill created was just so unique in my eyes. I’m not typically a person who reads time travel books, but Terrill’s immense world building and gorgeous writing lured me in from the very first page. (You should have seen my kindle it was full with highlights of passages which ripped my heart). Terrill has also the knack of creating characters that you never want to let go, the characters in this book were fresh, charismatic and always bringing something different. I adored watching their friendships develop and how each character tried to deal with so much inner turmoil along the way.

All Our Yesterdays was a wonderfully executed debut, it had everything I love reading about; flawless characters which show exceptional growth, a scary but totally realistic world, non- stop action, a story which kept me on my toes with me having no idea which way things could end and of course a nice pinch of heartache. But it also had many things which make me eager to jump into books of a similar genre. Terrill has weaved a beautiful story in All Our Yesterdays and for that I encourage you all to pick it up.

Also to give you all a heads up I'll be away at Kent/London for the next couple of days, I will have a review up one day next week, but probably won't be around to comment, I'll probably be lurking around Twitter as usual, but will be back commenting hopefully next Friday!

Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

Parallel by Lauren Miller
Publisher: Scolastic UK
Publication Date: June 6th 2013.
My rating: 4.5 stars.

Two worlds. Two separate identities. Two guys. A collision of parallel universes leaves 18-year-old Abby Barnes living a new reality - every time her parallel makes a new decision. Never-without-a-plan Abby is forced to cope with the consequences of waking up in a life she has no memory of creating. With chapters that alternate between our world (Here) and the parallel one (There), Abby's Here comes complete with a Yale address, a new roomie, and birthday blind date with a super-hot lacrosse player. In the parallel world, Abby's still navigating senior year class schedules, college applications, and her relationship with Astronomy Boy at her high school. This story explores the nature of identity, the role of cause and effect in young lives and the defining power of choice.

“Your path will change. Your destiny doesn’t”

Parallel is a book which has been receiving the most conflicting reviews from my friends, with a few not finishing it, some two star ratings and a few four star ratings. Books with mixed rating are ones which often intrigue me the most. I also tend to have a weird track record with these books, with my last couple of one’s ending up as memorable reads.  Also I’ve noticed that parallel worlds seems to be the new trend in YA, this is another concept I’ve been hugely intrigued by especially when it’s done well and the book leaves you all frazzled.

Parallel was a book which ticked off a lot of boxes for me, despite the initial slow start, I’m not the most patient reader. But I’m glad I stuck out the sluggish start, as I was just left mind blown afterwards. Miller took a really unique concept and really flipped it on its head. Due to a cosmic entanglement, the world Abby lived in ends up colliding with a parallel world. The Parallel world is set a year and a day behind the current world, with the parallel self creating new memories for the current self and erasing all the memories the current self may have created. The only person that could remember this had happened was Abby. This concept is a lot to take in but Abby was lucky that her best friend had been studying under one of the professors, who established and believed this theory in the first place. Caitlin was a great best friend despite things not being great in the past year due to Abby in the parallel world. Caitlin was the friend Abby needed the most in the most confusing situation ever. Abby in the parallel world was causing a ruckus, with things being completely blown off course and endless dreams and happily ever afters being destroyed. Because of this I was quick to side with our current Abby. She found herself in a mess with no control over what could happen. I truly hoped that she could get back to things the way they used to be. But as the story progressed I began to hugely appreciate parallel Abby and her world. Miller did a great job in toying with my feelings, there were so many end results possible through the course of the book, and I was up for nearly all of them.

I immensely enjoyed how just one little decision could change Abby’s current world in an instance. It truly had me thinking about all the decisions I had made in the past and if I had decided something else would things have ended completely different? Parallel was such a thought evoking story, never have I found myself so caught up in the two worlds at the same time. Abby’s world was everything to me for the five days that I read this book, I hated all the normal day activities that I had to do such as going to work because it cut in to my crucial reading time. Another thing which made Parallel stand out for me as a brilliant read was its characters; I seriously loved them all even when parallel Abby screwed things over. Even with a potential love triangle couldn’t ruin this story for me because I found myself totally invested and totally torn with who I wanted Abby to be with. Both guys were really different to one another and definitely brought the swoon factor in their own respective ways. With all the chaotic things happening I really looked forward to these sweet and tender moments

Okay I’m totally digressing; this is what these guys do to me. As you can tell from my mini-novella of a review I absolutely loved Parallel, Miller in my eyes has written one of the best debuts of this year. It had crazy twists and turns which were totally unexpected, it had some truly heartbreaking scenes, moments which had me frightened that everything would be screwed over in Abby’s world and some really dreamy scenes. If this year you are on the lookout for a brilliant debut which truly takes the concept of Parallel worlds up a whole another notch I highly recommended Parallel, you seriously won’t regret giving the wonderful story a go.