Review: Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Unremembered by Jessica Brody
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication date: 28th February 2013
My rating: 3 stars

A catastrophic plan crash leaves one survivor: a girl with no memory. Who is she? Where does she come from? Nobody knows and no one comes forward to claim her. Haunted by a looming threat she can't remember and plagued by abilities she doesn't understand, she struggles to recall who she is. But every clue leads to more questions. And she's running out of time to answer them. Her only hope is a boy who claims they were once in love. Alone and on the run, who should she trust? And what if she discovers that she is safer with a past that stays unremembered?

Books dealing with memory loss is my biggest pet peeve, I enjoy the entire concept; of for whatever reason a protagonist loses their memory and spends most of the story trying to discover who and what they were before the accident. But I’ve never found a novel which deals with memory loss which has totally wowed me. I’ve found that novels which take a light hearted approach to this such as What Alice forgot, I’m more likely to enjoy, where as those with a big conspiracy theory behind everything tend to confuse me even more. Unfortunately Unremembered for me falls into the latter category. Despite starting off fun, with Violet trying to find her place in her foster family and forming a relationship with her witty step-brother Cody, the path the story followed kind of dwindled off into strangers lurking in the shadows and accusations being thrown about all over the place of who Violet really was. I quite liked the first half when Violet and Cody become their own little detectives and did their own investigating, the second half unfortunately I didn’t like at all.

For me personally Brody attempted to throw too much into the mix, I barely got my head around what Violet was and then we had all these individuals popping up claiming to be “friends” of Violet, who could she trust? I liked getting into the back story into Violet’s life, but after everything I didn’t find it all that exciting. The romance also thrown into the mix didn’t win me over either, I usually like my action packed novels layered with a sweet romance. But the relationship between Zen and Violet had no substance for me, I enjoyed getting the small flash backs into how they once were, but now I wasn’t too confident that they could get that back.

The first half of Unremembered began solidly for me I even had the initial excitement that finally I had found a decent story dealing with memory loss. But the second half just went over my head. I’m not sure that I will be continuing with this series, but I definitely want to try Brody’s other books I have a feeling I may have more luck with her contemporary novels.

If anyone has read decent books dealing with memory loss, I would love to know your recommendations.

Review: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date: March 19th 2013
My rating: 3 stars
Audio-Book 

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

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.

My review for Clockwork Princess won’t be a conventional one.  I’m not going to re-cap a book when you’ve already read a million reviews on it.  If you’re reading this you’ve probably read book one and two and know what’s going on, or mostly anyways.  If you’re like me, the year and four months between books meant a lot of “what the heck?” moments trying to remember details. 

So I guess I’m the odd one out here, because there is a SEA of 5 star reviews for this.  I couldn’t bring myself to rate it above 3 stars.  I almost gave 2 stars after finishing because I was so ruined by the epilogue. 

Let’s start with the positive first:

The puzzle of Mortmain’s intensions and how Tessa fit in was satisfyingly revealed and resolved.  I loved the action and adventure, and all the secondary character stories.  I adored the sweet romance between Gideon and Sophie, and the cute and spunky one between Cecily and Gabriel.  Seeing how these played out was such a treat.  I had several giggles from the scones-under-the-bed scene, to Cecily’s rating of Gabriel:

“Five?” He echoed blankly.

“My rating,” she said, and smiled at him. “Your skill and technique may, perhaps, require work, but the native talent is certainly there. What you require is practice.”

“And you are willing to be my tutor?”

“I should be very insulted if you chose another,” she said, and leaned up to kiss him again.

Bridget surprised me with her kick-ass skills.  She was like a fiery-haired goddess!!:

The automaton went down under Cyril’s assault, as Bridget, a flying menace of red hair and steely blades, sliced her way past Cecily to Charlotte’s side, shearing the arms off two automatons with her sword before whirling about, her back to Charlotte, as if she meant to protect the head of the Institute with her life.

 

*****DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ CLOCKWORK PRINCESS. SPOILERS AHEAD*****

I LOVED Tessa and Will finally together.  Their piercingly sweet declarations of love stole my breath and brought tears to my eyes!!  The inscription Will wrote to her in A Tale of Two Cities, oh-my-heart!! Their intimate moments were full of longing desire and love.  I was swooning so hard!!

He kissed the side of her mouth. “I love you. God, I love you. I waited so long to say it.”

  

Now the “not-so-much” for me:

THE LOVE TRIANGLE!!  I DETEST love triangles!  One person flitting about between two others just drives me nuts.  If you can have feelings for someone else, you do not truly love either one of them as deeply as you should.  It’s a heart divided, so you are never being fair to either party.  Neither gets what they deserve: a person who loves them and ONLY THEM. 

With all that said, I have to say I never really truly bought Tessa’s romantic love for Jem.  I never felt it come through, it always IMO, read like a plot device.  Something contrived to keep your attention.  This is the reason I was always Team Will.  Not because I didn’t like Jem, but because I never thought Tessa truly loved him as she did Will.  She only agreed to Jem once she thought her love of Will would never be returned. After they were engaged it seemed like she treated it as a duty, rather than being so very happy.  On a side note, I don’t feel the same for the love-triangle between Adam, Juliette and Warner (From Shatter Me).  I detest it, but I do feel love/lust come through for both Adam and Warner.

I DID NOT CARE FOR THE EPILOGUE ONE BIT!! It basically ruined the romance between Will and Tessa for me.  The book ends with Tessa and Will engaged and meeting his parents, but we don’t see them after that.  We don't get to witness any of their time together, in love over the years. The epilogue begins with Will on his death bed.  Did I want to witness that?  No!!! Then what felt like two seconds later, Tessa is meeting up with Jem and they get together.  She tells him she loved him the whole time she was with Will, loved them both equally at the SAME time!!! What the heck?!! Why can’t you pick one person and be loyal with you WHOLE heart to that ONE person?!!  I don’t buy into this whole, you-weren’t-jealous-of-each-other-because-you-were-parabatai bit, AT ALL!  Will was jealous!! We read about it.  No Tessa, no Cassandra, I DO NOT LIKE how you cheapened what was supposed to be a love of a lifetime.  And Tessa and Jem meeting each other secretly each year did not sit well with me either.  It smacks of an emotional affair to me.  None of this was fair to Will or Jem!!

This is not my only issue with this series.  I didn’t care for the wait in between books, and I know that this may be a little unfair to the overall story.  But it did impact my enjoyment.  There was no re-cap whatsoever, so I felt a detachment to the story because I couldn’t remember half of what happened in the previous books!  Slowly things would come back to me or I would ask a friend (thank you Bethany!) to refresh my memory. 

In the end I mostly enjoyed the story until the epilogue, but I won’t be picking up any more books from The Mortal Instruments series or from The Infernal Devices for a very long time.  At the very least until they’re all published.  

Giveaway: Slammed & Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

      

Hello readers! Recently, I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely Colleen Hoover at an author event signing. There were a lot of authors so this was more of a sign and dash than an event where you could ask loads of questions. Even so, I had a wonderful time with my book-buddy, Arlene from Winterhaven Books. Plus, I got SIGNED books!! Of course I wanted to share the love so I have a few copies I'll be giving away.  The first set is Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover.  You may or may not know I ADORED both of these books.  Although, I only reviewed Slammed on the blog (you can read my review here).  I guess I was too lazy to review Point of Retreat, or maybe too emotionally exhausted.  At any rate, both are amazing IMO and I know Slammed has been optioned for a movie. These books were originally self-published but some smart and enterprising person at Atria Books scooped them up!

Colleen Hoover signing all my books! Squee!!

The giveaway is for a SIGNED paperback copy of both Slammed and Point of Retreat.  The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Just fill in the rafflecopter below for a chance to win.  Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Mini-reviews: Turning Amber and Breathless

Turning Amber by Sarah Alderson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: February 28th 2013.
My rating: 4 stars

Meet Amber - Thrift Store employee, mood manipulator and human lie-detector - she's forsaken boys (because all of them have one-track minds) until the day she meets Ryder, who has an uncanny ability to make her forget all her previous notions about the male of the species. But Ryder's mixed up in some seriously dangerous business and not even Amber's ability to deflect raging psychopaths and defuse any situation is going to keep them from being drawn into it.

“People talk about sparks flying, about electricity jolting and I know better than most that those things are true. When two auras collide, in good ways and bad, sparks can fly. But this is different. There are no sparks flying when Ryder and I shake hands. There are no electricity jolts. Instead, the feeling is akin to diving into an ice-cold river. Instantly I’m swept up in a rushing eddy, and then whipped away on a wild current. It’s total surrender. No fight. Just pure adrenaline thrill ride.” 

Turning Amber gives us a brief yet tantalising insight into the characters from one of my favourite series, Hunting Lila; Ryder and Amber. I admit I never really paid much attention to Amber and Ryder before, maybe because they didn’t have the chance to shine amongst such a fine set of characters, but I’m glad Sarah Alderson decided to give us this sweet novella of how it all began for them both. 

Amber has the gift of reading what a person’s like by the colour of their aura, it makes her a great judge of character, but it also makes her realise what’s most important to her; and that’s being honest. And that consequently doesn’t make her the most popular person but that’s the way she is. Having Amber’s gift people would assume would be hugely beneficial; you get to know what a person’s like before you properly know them. But Amber doesn’t see it this way, as at some points when everyone’s auras are blurred together it can be excruciatingly overwhelming, so Amber doesn’t consider her power a gift at all. 

Despite having to go through a tough time, Amber was a resilient character; using her grandmother’s teachings she tried to use her gift to the best of her ability. It was fun watching her stumble across Ryder and come to the realisation that she wasn’t the only one with a rare gift. Honestly I had forgotten what Ryder and Amber’s gifts were. So it was great getting to learn about these characters all over again. And watching the relationship bloom between the two. 

Turning Amber was a joy to read; with glimpses of favourite characters and uncovering secrets, this was the perfect lead up to Hunting Lila. I hope we get more fun novellas from these wonderful characters as they truly do hold a special place in my heart.* 

*At the time of writing this review there were no immediate plans that I was aware of, of further novellas from other characters from Hunting Lila. But then Sarah announced this. Which totally 
made my day! 

Breathless by Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Publication date: April 30th 2013.
My rating: 3.5 stars

Too many secrets. Not enough time. Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic. But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive. His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark. He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace.

Breathless was yet again another charming instalment in what has quickly become one of my hottest favourite series yet. I have discovered that anything with the name Merrick on I will read and anything with the name Brigid Kemmerer the same goes. 

As my love for these brothers has been established numerous times I was quick to snatch up a copy of Breathless, I needed a Merrick fix and I needed it now! Nick in my eyes has always been the quietest Merrick brother, well if you have a twin like Gabriel around it's kind of hard to find your own light to shine in. But this novella made me love Nick even more, (I know I say this with every single Merrick brother, but that is beside the point), he already has tons of pressure; with helping Michael with the family business, thinking about whether he wanted to leave his family and go to college or not and then this new revelation happened, which I so did not see coming. Having brothers like the Merrick’s I could see why Nick would always quash these feelings down, but I suppose at one point it just became a little too much for him. 

I always adored Nick in the previous books and my reasons for doing so are easily justified with this thrilling novella. Nick in my eyes is always the gentleman, always one to put others before himself, the way he went out to help girlfriend Quinn, when she was in a tight situation I admired. I hope over the upcoming books Nick finds the confidence and support that he needs to get the happy ending he truly deserves. 

Breathless gives us a nice little teaser into Nick’s personal life and leaves me with the biggest dilemma; I have no clear favourite Merrick brother anymore, it’s just so hard to choose between them. I’m pretty sure when Spirit is released in May, I will probably be adding Hunter to my list too! 

Review & Giveaway: The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston

The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: May 14th 2013
My rating:  4 stars

She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.

Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.

But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.

Anytime I hear mystery, romance, and danger as descriptors for a story my ears immediately perk up.  I love the thrill of trying to piece together a mystery, and the way my heart rate races when reading suspenseful scenes.  Add in a romance that makes me swoon, and you have my favorite type of read!  The Rules For Disappearing ticked all those boxes for me. 

Meg, the name she goes by now, has been moved six times in the last year as part of the Witness Protection Program.  This time seemed different and more urgent.  She was awakened in the middle of the night, and made to change her looks drastically before being whisked to the next location.  Meg has been worn down by all the moves, forced to leave anyone she gets close to without a word.  She’s determined to make this move different by isolating herself so that it doesn’t hurt so badly when she inevitably gets yanked out of this town.  Meg is also determined to find out, once and for all, what the heck her father did to get them into this mess!  Her family is slowly starting to come apart from all the stress, and she wants all this to end.   

When she enrolls into her new school in Louisiana, not all goes as she planned. She gains the attention of Ethan, one of the popular boys at school and immediately he picks up on an inconsistency in her back-story.  Also, her mother is coming apart at the seams, drinking herself into oblivion everyday to the point of jeopardizing her life.  Add to this, Meg has the distinct feeling that someone is following her.

It was easy to be consumed by this story.  If I met someone in real life who was in the Witness Protection Program I’m sure I’d have them cornered while I peppered them with questions of what it was like.  I got this from Meg as her story is revealed little by little, and I wondered right along with her, what happened?  I couldn’t help but feel bad for Meg and all her family went through, to find out how outgoing and popular they all once were and then to see them in the state they’re in now.  I was rooting for them to get some answers and resolutions, so they could heal and get back to their normal selves. 

Ethan undermines Meg’s plan to isolate herself because he just won’t give up on her.  She can’t resist him even though she constantly feels she should.  He sweet, gorgeous, and all-to-smart for Meg’s own good. *sigh* This is one of those romances where you just want to give Meg a little shake, and yell at her “let him in!!”  Fear not my fellow romance junkies, nothing to fret about! 

The Rules For Disappearing was an addictive read for me and I only put it down when I had to (darn real life!).  Ms. Elston wrote a captivating debut and I plan on picking up anything else she writes!

 

I  really enjoyed this story so I thought I'd share my ARC copy with one lucky reader.  The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Just fill out the rafflecopter below for a chance to win.  Thanks for stopping by and good luck!!