Tag: Young Adult (Page 134 of 159)

BOOK REVIEW – Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) by Wendy Higgins

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1)
by Wendy Higgins
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

****I don’t think there is a spoiler, but after reading the synopsis some might disagree-Don’t want to ruin anyone’s perception of the story****

I was skeptical when I first started this novel. Even as I began reading, I had my guard up-I haven’t had the best luck with the whole Angels and Demons thing. I will admit I wasn’t sure how I felt about Anna, the main character. She was pure and clearly never did anything wrong…*yawn*

But then she stumbles upon Kaidan Rowe…the best thing to ever happen to an angel based story. He is the opposite of her in every way, and I couldn’t love him more. Even though he is on the darker side of the story, he is hard to dislike, even harder not to love. And no-before anyone assumes, it isn’t the over-used, tired plot where all of a sudden Anna wants to be bad so she can allure Kaidan. Nerp. Maybe it’s just me who thinks that is an overused storyline, maybe not-but the point is, Wendy Higgins did not feel the need to take it that way and I love that.

I thought I knew where Sweet Evil was leading, but I really had no idea. The farther the story progressed, the darker it became. Surprisingly, though, there’s a tenderness to the story that I never expected, and it’s those sweet, tortured moments that made me fall in love with the story and wish it never ended. Yes-I could have read many more pages to get more snippets of the glorious Kaidan Rowe. There isn’t a climactic battle scene that tests the strengths of Anna and her friends as they fight to the death, dang-it, but there’s still a foreboding sense of dread that hooks you and draws you in, and it makes you happy with what you receive. The build-up to what might or might not happen is satisfying, and can only be a catalyst to what will happen in book 2, Sweet Peril. I just hope I am able to fill the reading abyss of madness until then-I can’t wait for the end of April!

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
Sweet Evil #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Sweet Peril #2 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Sweet Reckoning #3 Reviews: Jen
Sweet Temptation #4

BOOK REVIEW – Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
by Cynthia Hand
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Damn it. I just finished and I don’t know what to think. It was good-most definitely. But cleary, CLEARLY I must read on to see what will become of this now convoluted mess. It’s definitely what I feared-a love triangle. Or is it? I’m not quite sure what to make of the ending. I’m thoroughly confused with what I’m feeling.

Clara is on this Earth for a purpose, a destiny if you will, and she has to put together every piece of the puzzle to be able to fulfill it. There’s a fire, a boy, and a forest. She and her family find themselves moving to Wyoming where Clara is to fulfill the almighty prophecy, the purpose of her being. From there we are thrown into her world as a high school student struggling to fit in and ultimately get closer to the boy she is meant to save.

I found this novel to be a very well rounded story with very little room to become boring. In fact, I was fully engrossed in the story and devoured it in 24 hours. I started reading so quickly near the end that I swear I read over some important information (a bad habit of mine) that I should have probably grasped hold of-oops.

However, my largest gripe is that there are two incredibly attractive, sweet boys. I hate this. I hate when there are two viable boys to choose from. It nags at me as I read, no matter how strong a connection is between the two people who seem to really care for each other. I always find it hard to get attached to one, because alas, all of a sudden something catastrophic happens and all of a sudden the lead heroine is in love with the other guy. So, of course I’m skeptical at this point, and I hate that unsure feeling. But I must say I do love one boy in particular, and he seems to be running in the forefront at this moment, so for now, that is fine with me. But be warned, I guarantee it will be heartbreak city if something happens, and there are still at least two more books as far as my knowledge goes.

Overall, this was a fun story that didn’t go as dark as it could have (except for a certain furry creature whom we have no idea if he lives or not-she kind of left us hanging there-tune in for that update…), and I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect-for now. Personally, I like a litte climactic suspense. I’m sure the author is saving that for the rest of the series…I just hope there isn’t a massive amount of heartbreak. I don’t handle that well lol. So as I finish this review, I find my fingers itching to purchase the next in the series, oh wait, just did ;). With that, I will start Hallowed and attempt to gain a sense of what will come of this angel-blood, Clara.

BOOK REVIEW – Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1) by Isaac Marion

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
by Isaac Marion
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

At the start of the book, I think I expected a warm and fuzzy latter half. There were not many deliveries in that department, and that isn’t a bad thing necessarily. It just wasn’t what I would have thought. Zombies eating people? Of course-I understood that concept and totally expected it. Boneys (not sure if that is the correct way to pluralize the names of these creepy creatures), not so much. They were so odd and so…frightening.

Whenever they were in the story I felt a sort of chilling effect throughout my body. They honestly just creeped me out.

We find ourselves in R’s mind as the narrator. He can imagine things in his mind, he just can’t entirely express them to those around him-like all the other zombies. R is already kind of the outsider of the zombie group when we enter the story, but only because he feels remorse for eating the living. He can’t help what he is or that he was plagued with this disease, he just knows he’ll deteriorate if he doesn’t eat, no matter how morally wrong it is to him.

One fateful day his gang attacks a group of humans that includes Julie, his love interest. He ends up protecting her, and thus brings her back to his lair. We see visions of Julie’s, and her dead ex boyfriend’s, past as a result of the aforementioned attack. I think this is what really turned me toward not liking the book as much. I felt bored and less sympathetic to Perry’s character the more we see the visions. At one point I felt bad, but I just got tired of him being a part of the story. I think I wanted it to be mostly placed in the present, and a lot of the story was not.

I loved R, he was a great hero, don’t get me wrong. I loved that he was so protective of Julie and that he was different than other zombies, I just didn’t like the supporting characters-like Julie’s dad, the past of Perry, and some of the hornier zombies…those scenes were kind of disturbing on a whole other level.

Honestly, I will most definitely see the movie, but as a book, I don’t feel better for reading it. I didn’t dislike it, and I didn’t love it. It is placed somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I loved the insight to R-he was a sweetie. On the other hand, I don’t entirely know how I felt about Julie; she was just okay. I liked her enough, I just didn’t find her to be my favorite heroine in a novel. So, for those of you who love the offbeat romance or zombie path alike, I feel you will like it. For me, I will just simply remember it and chalk it off to a quick, okay read.

BOOK REVIEW – Requiem (Providence #2) by Jamie McGuire

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Requiem (Providence #2)
by Jamie McGuire
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Eeehhhh….I don’t really know how to rate this-It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was just..ok-and that makes me sad becuase after the first, I figured the intensity would only pick up. Instead, it goes into great detail about Nina’s history and the history of…well….I suppose religion? I wouldn’t know because suffice to say, I skimmed at least 50% of this novel-I know, tsk tsk. I just couldn’t get into the story. Which sucks. A lot.

I love Claire, and I love Jared. I even love Ryan(now), but even these great characters couldn’t save this heavy-in-religious-history novel. I just felt bored the whole time. Near the end I will give it kudos, because all of Nina’s dreams finally seem to come in handy when the action ensues-brief, but thorough action.

Lastly, I am going to say I don’t know why there is so much love for this Kim character. I disliked her in the first and I loathed her in the second. She is a very obnoxious, in-your-face annoying character. Just because she is a little in the know in the second does not give her more of a right to be even snarkier. That’s all I will say on her character.

All in all an ok novel, just not really a novel I would recommend to those around me. If it weren’t for Jared I doubt I would finish the third and final installment in the series, but I am an avid reader through and through, and I will finish this series…eventually. I would rather start others on my TBR list before I come back to Eden, which says a lot :/ I never separate series if I don’t have to. Some will love it, some will hate it-guess you’ll have to read to figure out which one of those categories you are.

BOOK REVIEW – Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

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

Yeah…This is one of those books where the reviews show that people either love or hate it, with not much inbetween. Well, I fall inbetween. While the beginning was very promising, too many stupid things happened for me to just come out and say I loved this book. There’s only so much improbability a person can take and I definitely went over my personal threshold of tolerance for what I could handle.

Let’s start with our girl, Nora.

She actually isn’t too bad. She’s not the brightest cat in town, but she is somewhat relatable. Patch begins sitting next to her in class and immediately gives Nora the heebie jeebies. Probably for good reason. The whole story she is trying to figure out if he is stalking her, yes stalking, and who is a friend and who is out to kill her…because someone has her number.

This leads me to the improbability throughout the story. I, as I have stated countless times before, am a romantic to the core, so I read a lot of stupid, unrealistic novels all the time-hell, probably every book I read is unrealistic. But Hush, Hush? Yeah, I really rolled my eyes quite a few times. I mean, at the end it makes more sense, I guess, but it still doesn’t justify some of the actions she gave and received.

Which leads me to my next point. O.M.G. Her friend Vee is probably the worst best friend ever. Sure, she does a lot of great things for Nora, but more often than not she implies Nora is overreacting or that she is judging people incorrectly. Plus, how many times does Vee run off with the real creeps in the story? What a DUMBASS. She reached the peak of annoying at an alarming rate. Your friend is telling you not to trust someone, but you are more than willing to run off with them all the time? I can’t even begin to explain all the things this chick does that cause Nora more grief than she’s worth.

And the secondary characters…I’m sorry, cops DO NOT act that way. I know there are stories in the news where cops are corrupt or don’t do things right, but these cops were just plain mean to Nora. One of them calls her crazy and literally laughs everytime she says she needs help. That is wrong and it drove me insane. What a jerk.

Speaking of JERKS….a lot of people say Patch is a creepy, perverted jerk. Well, I have to say I was expecting a lot worse. He isn’t bad. I might even go as far to say he was a sweetie…from the middle to end. Honestly, I could tolerate his shit. I just didn’t fall head over heals for him like I thought I would.

All these things should make me so mad, but because I was so impartial to what happened to everyone, each scenario just pulled a reaction from me like Meeehhh….All my GR friends who read this seem to have LOVED it-I got excited when I saw all of their reviews. You know that feeling when you just KNOW that you’re guna love the book you’re getting ready to read? I wanted so badly to fall in love with another series and to gain a new angel book boyfriend…but I just didn’t. Couldn’t. This story was a fun, engaging read, but it most definitely wasn’t up to snuff with all my other favorite paranormals. Maybe the series will grab me eventually, but even as I’m reading crescendo, Vee hasn’t learned her lesson, stupid shit is still happening, and I’m still not possessed by Nora and Patch’s relationship. I guess we’ll see.