Tag: Paranormal (Page 38 of 52)

BOOK REVIEW – City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)
by Cassandra Clare
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

GAH! That ENDING! That ending will be the undoing of me. What is it with authors and these cliffhangers?? I swear..if it wasn’t for the fact that book 5 is on my ereader as we speak, I’d go mad. *Long sigh* Ugh Ugh Ugh.

I don’t know what was going on with the first quarter of the novel, I don’t. I feel like I was an outsider rather than a part of the story. It was so foreign to me for Simon to be on the forefront-like, as in every scene was from his POV for a LONG stretch of time. Somewhere along the way, though, the story came back to me and I wasn’t so much of an outsider looking in anymore. I was a living, breathing character like the rest of them, watching from the sidelines as if I had a hand in the adventure. I became invested and intrigued again.

Once I was, I again, couldn’t put it down.

I liked the pace of the story. Now that the truth is out in the open, everything is in a whole new light and totally relatable, making this a favorite whereas I just couldn’t give the first two installments anything more than 4 stars because of the supposed “untruth”. I just could NOT get past that in COB and COA, but now I am totally for Jace and Clary, and can’t get enough of them. Maybe that’s why I am rating this so high whereas others are rating it lower than all the others. I just feel that nasty weight lifted off my shoulders and I can just enjoy what’s going on in the story and not whether they’re going to commit incest or whether there is a loophole. For me, that was what consumed COB and COA, because I just wanted to get past it.

Clary. That drive she feels? I get it. I UNDERSTAND it. The passion and loyalty she feels for Jace…the urgency? I can totally and finally relate to her after 3 or 4 books and I LOVE it. I can FINALLY get on board with this chick. She gives off emotion that makes you want to help her or sympathize with her, unlike in the previous novels where it was all just talk-just words. Words can’t make me obsess over a book. ACTIONS and EMOTIONS are what make me swoon, and that is why I love Jace. He has never been anything less than passionate.

The tortured hero bit….some say it’s overdone in romance….but not me. I eat that shit up. The tortured boy/man who has a weakness for whom he loves..yea, well the overused tortured hero bit is a weakness of mine and a total favorite. Hell yeah, I can live with that storyline. Keep it comin’. I devour it.

And Simon…oooohh Simon. How you have developed. I am now an avid fan of yours. Many times the author feels the need to drag out the love triangle bit, making one guy pathetic and grovel all the time. I can’t say she didn’t pull the love x 3 thing a bit too long in TID, but here in TMI, Simon is moving forward and he has great contenders to choose from. I really enjoyed him in COFA.

So to sum up-a great romance with oodles of drama, suspense woven into every chapter, Simon’s interesting love-life, tortured hero, tortured hero, tortured hero (Oops! Did I say that already?), a creepy villain, a return, and a pretty cool ending. I retract my earlier statement-these endings are f***ing awesome. So to those who didn’t enjoy COFA- that sucks, but I really enjoyed it and found it to be one of my favorites in the series. I personally can’t wait to start the LAST novel available to us until 2014…and I can say with absolute certainty that it will probably end with a doozy as well. 🙂

Purchase on Amazon or iBooks

BOOK REVIEW – City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)
by Cassandra Clare
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

One spoiler for those who haven’t read COFA…

So…this one took me a while to finish. I’m not sure if it’s because I read so many TMI books so fast or if something in the story just didn’t do it for me. I do have to say that I didn’t have this problem with any of Jennifer Armentrout’s long series so I might have just rushed reading these instead of taking it easy after the awesome third novel.

I still love the Jace/Clary dynamic. Jace is so devoted to Clary and she loves him with a fierce passion that draws you in and keeps you there.

I love Jordan and Maia and Simon and Isabelle. I can even safely say that I now love Alec’s character and his new found vulnerability. These characters have grown and shaped into such fun people to read about. They banter and get themselves into precarious situations that are hard to tear away from. Even Sebastion-I like a good villain. He is beyond creepy and crazy, so we get a little insanity added to the story as well. I know that’s weird…liking a villain and all…but I do. He was the only thing that kept the otherworldly situation interesting for me.

Which leads me to my next point…I just couldn’t get into the otherworldly plot. Maybe it was the constant change of setting, but more than most likely, it was the idea that Jace was, once again, not himself. I mean, how many times do we have to toy with Jace’s mind? Yea, steal him away, add some peril to the story, but quit making him all….not Jace. I LOVE plot twists and romantic yearning for the other (Save me, save me, I’ve been taken! or We are in different places, but I yearn for you! or I’m supposed to kill you muahahaha), but enough with Jace losing his free will. Much like the brother/sister scenario, the free will bit is being a tad overplayed and it becomes boring or not as exciting.

Certain things happen that made me cringe, made me applaud, smile, laugh, and do the happy squeal. The ending was awesome (the way I wish it all would have been paced), and I loved the club scene. It was beyond gross and disturbing, and I found it to be highly entertaining. So much happens that I couldn’t possibly recap, but overall I can’t deny that this series (generally/most of the time) excites me, and I have grown to love all the characters-even the villains. So I can’t wait for the 6th novel to come out, and the wait/anticipation will be good for me. Bye TMI, until 2014…..

Purchase on Amazon or iBooks

BOOK REVIEW – Crescendo (Hush, Hush #2) by Becca Fitzpatrick

August 19, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

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

There isn’t much more to say than what was already said in my Hush, Hush review, in the negative sense. Many of the same problems were present in this second installment. But that is understandable since it is, in fact, the same author. There were some things that were better, though. So I will just review on what I liked and what I didn’t.

What I liked: Despite the romantic turmoil throughout, I have grown fonder of Patch. He genuinely cares about Nora and he did his best to look out for her. I can identify with the jealous boyfriend type-only to an extent. If he is dating or screwing around with someone else, that act doesn’t fly nor is it cute. I love the creepy factor in these books.

It tends to be an undertone to each story and the scenes in which dangers lurk really get to me. It seems every time I get under the covers to read, one of those creeptastic scenes pop up and I have to look around a little in the dark room. Oh sure, I read all day with none of those scenes and then-BAM! Right when I get in bed, something that freaked me out would happen ha. And Detective Basso-FINALLY he listens to Nora. I couldn’t have been happier that he started doing his JOB. ‘Nuff said. I loved Nora’s badass demeanor when it came to Patch (i.e. There is a scene with his Jeep at the beach that I LOVED). Yes she was jealous, bitter, sad, and angry, but she also took action so many times I couldn’t help but to chuckle and agree with her actions.

What I didn’t/don’t like: Again, Vee has gotten better, but she still has this annoying quality that she needs to drop. She did improve, but not enough. I hated the fact that Patch was hanging out with Marcie incessantly. It was sickening to read about and he is just horrible with words to help explain himself when confronted….or worse, maybe he just didn’t care enough. This is all explained and went over at the end, I just can’t get over how I felt as the story unfolded. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t resolved, (for those diehard fans who might be reading this) I just had a very hard time digesting these sequences in the story. Again with the unrealistic-ness…so many conversations and scenarios are just full of crap. Not the paranormal or otherwordly parts mind you, but the damn dialogue, inner dialogue, or lackthereof.

I don’t know if this even counts as a review, but I felt shoddy not at least saying something about the book. I feel incomplete after I finish something and then don’t talk about it a little bit. So to finish up I will just say that I bet the third installment will be good and I am anxious to read it after a couple other ARCs I received first.

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