Sunday, June 14, 2015

Book Review | Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone

Author: Morgan Matson
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Page Number: 449
Genre: Contemporary
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads: 
It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
 

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

 Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not? 

Kiss a stranger? Um...

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?
 

Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?

My Review:
Why, hello! Long time no see :D
ANYWAIES:

Since You've Been Gone was an excellent start to the summer. It was bright and beautiful, and the cover. Just admire it. I loved everything about everything in this novel, and the most important thing I learned from this story? Make sure your car has a roof so that water doesn't come spilling onto your iPod when it rains, disabling the loop function ;) Just kidding, just kidding. Friendships were the biggest part of this story, not romance, friendships, not family, but FRIENDSHIPS. <3 YA needs more of these books.

Emily and Sloane are best friends. But, what would you do if your best friend leaves right before what you thought was going to be the best summer ever? 

This book was hilarious and heart warming, it crushed my heart to pieces but somehow mended it as well, and it was the type of story I now know only Morgan Matson can do for me. The main characters were so amazing (except for Sloane, Sam, and Gideon), I loved how Emily discovered who she really was, and also discovered who every one of her friends really were. This book was really a book about discovery and I just loved it so so much. Frank is so cute and adorable, and asdkjfla;sdlfaj;sdflkaj;lksdfadsf, and smart and loving and caring, and omfg. Emily was really strong, instead of crying when she realized Sloane was gone, she set out to find out where Sloane had gone. I really liked how Emily even made more friends: Dawn and Collins, and Frank, of course. Emily's character development in this book was incredible. 

“He looked right at me as he gave me a half smile. "You're the brightest thing in the room", he said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. "You shine."

In conclusion, this book was beautiful and amazing and cute and heart breaking, but it's the little things that matter the most. And in a well ordered universe, everyone would read this book. 


Quoteable Quotes: 
“Nothing worth doing is easy. Especially not in the beginning. But I'm not about to give up.”  
“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”
"I think it's harder to be the one left behind."
"In a well ordered universe..."  

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄

Beatrice

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Book Review | This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World

Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
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Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Page Number: 390
Genre: Scifi
Publication Date: December 23, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads: 
The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

My Review:
(You might notice I'm going back to out of five snowflakes ;) )
One word-insta-love. That ruined it all. I enjoyed These Broken Stars a lot, and seeing all the pretty good reviews on Goodreads, I was expecting more than this. I was disappointed. Quite a bit, as you can tell. (I'm going to just list because I'm lazy and yeah! :D)
1. Instalove. I hate hate hate hate hate insta love. If you're going to have romance, I'd like to see some development, please! Jeez. It's been like 2 weeks since I've finished this book, and I still have no idea how they got together, and I feel nothing for their romantic relationship like I did with Lilac and Tarver. Also, they broke up, and hated each other, but loved each other...but what??? Seriously, your world is dying, and you're yelling at each other? Why? Why. Why.

2. World Building. I know it's in the same galaxy thingy as These Broken Stars, but I read These Broken Stars a year ago! Instead of refreshing and reviewing the galaxy again, I forgot everything. Also, I felt like the authors didn't mention the world much, they just assumed it was there. 

3. Plot. The plot was all over the place. Things were happening at random times, random things happening, like, what??? We were just here, talking, and now we're fighting for no freaking reason? No. Please. No. It was very obvious, the random, if any plot twists they threw in. They made no sense, and really shouldn't be there. Also, it felt very similar to Legend by Marie Lu. I found myself comparing the two, which is bad, because if I start comparing, which is pretty rare, it's probably a sign that the book's plot feels familiar to me.

4. Characters. I actually appreciated Jubilee, but Lee? Really? I know you're trying to be unique and all, but no. For example...
Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.
So in the beginning of the synopsis, they're calling her Jubilee, and then they're calling her Lee? When my friend first saw this, she was all like, who's Lee? And I had to point out to her the JubiLEE, which is really ridiculous. However, I did enjoy Jubilee as a character, although she did annoy me sometimes, acting all dramatic. Flynn was the typical male heroine, nothing funny about him, although I did like his sass ;) There were too many minor characters, with all the same voices, and I confused them WAYY too often.

5. Writing. Kaufman and Spooner's writings are pretty different, but they really blended well together in this book. I dunno...it's probably just me.

Final Rating: 

❄.5

Beatrice

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

May Wrap Up!

In the month of May, I read 13 books, which isn't too shabby. (but I still have 6 more reviews to do XD).
Let's get started, you know the drill. Click the title to see my review (if I have one)

I started out the month by reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Falling into Place by Amy Zhang, The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stievfater, Free to Fall by Lauren Miller, This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner, Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski. 

And no, I didn't include The Comedy of Errors because I had to read that for school and it was blah. 

Red Queen by Victoria AveyardFalling into Place by Amy ZhangThe Beginning of Everything by Robyn SchneiderAn Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa TahirThe Dream Thieves by Maggie StiefvaterFree to Fall by Lauren   MillerThis Shattered World by Amie KaufmanSince You've Been Gone by Morgan MatsonSiege and Storm by Leigh BardugoRuin and Rising by Leigh BardugoA Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. MaasThe Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Book Review | Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Free to Fall

Author: Lauren Miller 
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Publisher: HarperTeen
Page Number: 496
Genre: Dystopian
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads: 
What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness?

What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?


Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results.

Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school.

Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

My Review:
Free to Fall was at my local library. I don't know what made me pick it up, maybe it was the face, but boy oh boy, was it good.
I read it EVERYWHERE. At the grocery store, during class, and even in the shower, I think!
BUT-
Let's get into the good parts.
Free to Fall wasn't a unique dystopian, but it was more scientific. I really hate it when in dystopians, they don't explain things in the very last book in the trilogy. Free to Fall is a standalone. I know, can you believe that? They make standalone dystopians now?! But instead of shoving a bunch of sciency things to you at the end, Miller sprinkles clues in the pages, really making you think what you are reading. Oh, and the plot twist. I didn't see that coming, but if you did read it carefully enough, you'd probably see them. It's not that Miller makes it obvious that it's coming, she just drops bits of info, just to make you wonder.

The characters weren't the strongest point in this novel, I'll admit, however, I did somewhat enjoy them.

I really loved the relationship that was developed between Rory and her friend, Hershey. I was glad that instead of having the main relationship be a romance, Miller actually put a romance and one - no, two friendships, which was very important in this book. The romance was a bit iffy for me, but it wasn't the majority of the novel, which was good.

The pacing in the beginning was slow, pretty slow. The ending though. The ending made up for it.
Holy schist, the ending. Wow. That was probably the best dystopian ending ever.
 
Final thoughts: Free to Fall was a entertaining dystopian that I would recommend for fans of Legend or Divergent. It's certainly one of my favorites now!

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄

Beatrice