Tag: Mystery (Page 17 of 19)

BOOK REVIEW – The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner #1) by James Dashner

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner #1)
by James Dashner
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

I really enjoyed this one. From the very confusing and twisted beginning, this book had it’s claws into me and consumed me from the start. So many confusing elements and ways of life, we are left to wonder what is going on for most of the story. At one point, I started to get annoyed with how many questions Thomas would ask, but had to pull my frustration back a bit. Who wouldn’t wonder what the hell was going on? You wake up in a dingy metal box with people staring at you and you can’t remember a thing. Craziness.

What stuck with me throughout the entirety of this book was the creepiness of the unknown. Why are freaky, blobbish metal contraptions spread throughout the maze? What is their purpose? What is the point of living in a stabilized society with a danger lurking behind the oh-so-precious maze walls every night? So many things don’t make sense, but I realized with clarity that this was why I enjoyed the premise so much.

Most people seemed annoyed with the lack of answers. I thought it was intriguing. I actually wouldn’t have minded more Griever action than was given. I never could really visualize what they looked like completely, but I had an idea, and that idea was scary enough.

Thomas was a great male pov. I enjoyed most of this thoughts, and I liked his common display of heroics. He never once left someone behind, and he even attempted to break rules multiple times to save others. He was a really fun, loyal character to follow and most likely the reason I enjoyed TMR so much. His bond with Chuck broke my heart. Chuck, from what I gathered, was one of the youngest, weakest Gladers confined in the maze world. Thomas never once deterred from Chuck’s friendship, and I thought it was utterly heartwarming.

Newt was my other favorite character, followed by Minho. Newt was always sweet and funny. He generally tried to empathize with everyone and turned out to be a loyal comrade as well. Just a really fun addition to the story. Minho, while crazy or exasperating at times, was a supporter of the greater good as well. With these two characters’ support, the story seemed to flow that much easier and made it extremely enjoyable as well.

All in all, TMR had some different language I needed to get used to, but for the most part, it was easily adaptable and eventually became a part of the story. Overall, I would say this was a very fun read and completely unexpected. I can’t wait to start the next in the series and find some more answers and character development.

BOOK REVIEW – Silence (Hush, Hush #3) by Becca Fitzpatrick

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Silence (, )
by Becca Fitzpatrick
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

What a breath of fresh air! I was really starting to think I was never going to rate a book in this series more than 3 stars! It’s like Fitzpatrick has all these awesome, creepy ideas, but didn’t know how to execute them! Well, I am happy to say I really and truly enjoyed the third installment in the series and I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.

Patch is finally a guy I can relate to-protective, sweet, helpful, vulnerable, and jealous. Guys who are mysterious and quiet for each and every story in their series are not for me (well, that might be a lie, maybe I just couldn’t relate to Patch-whatever, moving on),

so I was ecstatic when I realized he had dropped the facade.

I have never disliked Nora, so again, Nora was cool, and it appears she has gotten a little smarter in her decisions. Sooo I liked her even more. What I liked the most, though, was the lack of Vee. That girl just drives me insane. She is loyal, sometimes funny, yes, but she really makes the stupidest decisions and aside from helping Nora, she is totally self-centered and thinks only of numero uno. So, yes, I was very happy with the lack of Vee in this installment.

Now, I am going to go out on a VERY shaky limb here and say that I don’t get Nora’s venemous attitude toward Marcie ALL the time. Yes, Marcie is a bitch, but in the past two books she honestly hasn’t been as bad as Nora previously described. More so in this story I feel Marcie was actually pretty decent. She, of course, has a hidden agenda, but she isn’t evil. Her father is evil-of course she has a ‘tude. We probably all have people we don’t like or didn’t care for in HS-I know I did. But the fact is, my senior year, we tolerated and talked to each other. It happens-people grow up and get nicer or, I suppose, more tolerable. Idk. That’s just my opinion. I’d much rather have Marcie plastered all into the story than Vee. She is WAY more interesting and makes funnier comments than the latter.

This is definitely my favorite in the series and I am happy to say it left me wanting more. There is an epic battle to come, from what I hear, and I hope it will satisfy in both action and peril. I can’t wait to see what happens in the finale of the Hush, Hush series. (haha, incidentally, Finale is the name of the last book, funny)

BOOK REVIEW – The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
by Michelle Hodkin
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

*sighs* I don’t know what went wrong here…and there really isn’t much I can say to justify why I feel this way without throwing a spoiler in every two sentences.

Was the plot line intriguing? Yes. Did I enjoy the first half of the book? Yup. Was the male lead undeniably sweet, attentive, and attractive? Absolutely. But here is the most important question of them all: Was Noah the ONLY thing that made me want to finish after 65%? It’s sad to say, but it rings true. Noah is literally the only thing this story had to offer. I was fooled by the first 100 some pages, I’ll admit that. There was cute banter between Mara and Noah and I thought this might turn out to be kind of fun. I mean, I chuckled a couple times to myself so I’ll admit that also. But the point remains-at a certain area in this book, and I’m not sure when, Mara went from being a poor, tolerable girl suffering from unfortunate circumstances to an annoying (let’s admit it) psycho who quite frankly was too dumb to deserve Noah and his help.

More than once I wished Noah could be taken out of this story and placed into another more well-rounded novel. But then we wouldn’t have a story at all, would we?

The dialogue became corny and forced, and the situations became so…I don’t even know the word….wonky? That I could hardly contain my laughter. (view spoiler)

The thing is, I feel that what can only be described as a cliffhanger was supposed to save the story. You know, make people want to come back for more. But sadly, while it was kinda cool (if not completely silly and unrealistic) it wasn’t enough to save what I can only label as a time waster. Yes, I wasted 4 days wading through this swamp of crap and have nothing to show for it. And more than that? I can’t stand the thought of spending 9.99 on the next installment, even if I was a little curious about this mysterious cliffhanger and the fate of Noah.

And believe me when I say this: Kris-If it wasn’t for you, reason numero dos, I most likely wouldn’t have kept going. So, yeah, thanks for not making this a total waste of time…essentially. lol

BOOK REVIEW – The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1) by Kimberly Derting

August 14, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1)
by Kimberly Derting
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

A quick, fast-paced read that I almost finished in one day. I literally had to slow down so I didn’t have two reviews to write in the same day because I was just reading THAT fast. TBF was one of those stories that while it wasn’t anything new or groundbreaking, it was fun and took me away from the real world for a bit. It was an escape from reality and it was a change of pace-it came at the perfect time.

He reached out, capturing her hand in his. He laced his fingers casually through hers. Violet leaned against him and the calm finally came, settling over her peacefully. And then he kissed her. Gently. Softly. Not on the lips, as she’d imagined so many times before, but on her forehead. The gesture was sweet and a little possessive. Violet hoped, maybe, it was a start.

I’ve been in two different funks lately-either the books I am reading are SO good that those following don’t stand a chance or I’ve been reading the same old same old and a change of pace is welcoming. Turns out that this time, it was a case of both. I read two or three awesome books in the last week that knocked me off my feet-and while that was refreshing, it also dragged me back into that slump where one of my favorite couples invaded my mind and made it hard to jump into another story (yes, I’m talking Dex and Perry via Ashes to Ashes). I didn’t realize it, but I needed a book to pull me away from my favorite ghost hunting duo and back into that happy medium where more than one couple will do, and this book was perfect for the job.

One of my biggest gripes in books is corny dialogue….and this book was stepping all up in it. BUT, for some reason, and I’m not sure why, I just didn’t care. The best part of it is, I didn’t have to just cringe and deal with it, it just skirted the issue-it would start something that otherwise normally led to full on unrealistic and forced banter, but it would stop before it got to that point. Not only that, the characters in question of being corny (i.e. the best friends and oh-so-present-enemies) were actually likeable. Yes, likeable. I think that plays a big part in my annoyance most of the time.

And even more than that, I hate when the author tells us what is happening or going to happen instead of letting it just show in the scene. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like when the author gives you a play by play of what’s going on instead of letting you decipher what it all means and then adding a quote at the end of the explanation in response to what’s ‘happened’. Probably not the best way to say what I mean, but it’s the best I can do. Luckily, I was so engrossed in the story that it didn’t seem to matter, and that made me very happy.

I loved Jay and Violet-I loved that they grew up best friends and did everything together and still did everything together. It made it so adorable when they finally expressed their attraction to one another and only added to the compatibility they clearly already shared. Although, you guessed it, corny, I loved every minute they were together and every minute leading up to it.

There was suspense, there was jealousy, there was protectiveness, and there were climactic parts that actually had me scanning the pages at lightning speed. I was utterly surprised at the creepy undertone and the idea that young girls were being abdcuted and killed all around our two main characters. It was more than I could have asked for as a filler and I will surprisingly continue this series forward. I can’t wait to see what suspense lays ahead of our girl, Violet.

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BOOK REVIEW – More Than This by Patrick Ness

August 14, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

More Than This by Patrick Ness
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Here is the boy, drowning.

A story built around false truths and a misinterpretation of life, we start this story not knowing where our main character is or where he will end up. We don’t know if he’s truly dead or truly alive, inbetween life and death or in Hell. But we saw him die….didn’t we?

**“I wanted so badly for there to be more. I ached for there to be more than my crappy little life.”**

I’m no beginner to Ness’s dark style of writing, so I was fully prepared when I started this one. Not quite sure what to expect, I went in with an open mind and a hopeful attitude that I would fall in love with another of his stories.

While I didn’t add another to my favorites shelf like his Chaos Walking trilogy, I did get to experience another expertly written novel that had me on my toes the entire time.

He really is alone in whatever hell this is.
Completely and utterly alone.

Solitude. Solitude shapes the entire story. I can’t even begin to explain the depression our main character feels because of this common thread, and I won’t try. Why? There is literally no way to give anyone a synopsis without either giving something away or confusing them more. But I CAN focus on themes and other areas, so I will attempt to talk about those areas instead.

But then he thinks, No. Because you can die before you’re dead, too.

As Seth starts trying to figure things out and move forward with whatever he is supposed to be doing, we start to see his demeanor slowly become unhinged. Seeing flashbacks everytime he falls asleep (or is he really in the moment, reliving it because of it’s vital importance?) we start to see how he was in that freezing ocean in the first place.

The loneliness. In his accumulating exhaustion, the terrible loneliness of this place swamps him, just like the waves he drowned in.
No one here. No one at all besides him. No one.
Forever.

Getting darker as the story progresses, we wonder how anything good can possibly come from anything that can possibly happen. But, even within the darkest of the dark moments, Ness has a heart-you can see it in everything he writes, see it in every ink-stained page he has produced-his characters always have such big hearts and always burst with so much passion, and even though he’s the reason for many harsh events within his novels, you can’t help but see how strong the characters become because of these events and why Ness chose to do these things in the first place. We see the effects of carrying a burden and how it influences our most important life decisions, making this another story where we learn a lesson while we’re being entertained.

Billions and billions of stars. Billions and billions of worlds. All of them, all those seemingly endless possibilities, not fictional, but real, out there, existing, right now. There is so much more out there than just the world he knows, so much more than his tiny Washington town, so much more than even London. Or England. Or Hell for that matter.

I undoubtedly loved the story and all the mystery surrounding every page. I was pulled in and fell hard once again for the obvious breaks and abrupt cuts at the end of sentences that purposely leave us in the dark and wondering what the character was going to say, adding more to the mystery. It’s like one of those movies that keeps adding layers that confuse you and keep you asking, ‘where does he come up with this shit?!’. It’s amazing and unbelievable at the same time, but he never makes you feel like you can’t or won’t ever understand-he never makes you feel unintelligent. We are all just a part of the game.

A book… it’s a world all on its own too. A world made of words, where you live for a while.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I do feel it was a little over the top at times, making it hard to guess what was behind the next cornerat every turn. It eventually started making since, but was a little too much before we got to that point. I still laughed, teared up, felt deeply, and enjoyed characters who I won’t name immensely, even if things were stagnant at times. The action gradually escalated, making for a fantastic finale that had me on the edge of my seat and begging for more. I will continue to watch for new work from Ness, and I will always be wowed by the intricately layered worlds and characters he creates. If you haven’t read a novel by him, I encourage you to do so-you’re missing out.