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Monday, October 27, 2014

Unbelievable


**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

I have to admit, I was a little torn on whether I would read this book. I wasn't in love with the last book, and I was getting tired of the mystery of A. But I went for this book and I read it anyway. I'm glad I did.

This book starts with complete turmoil for our four girls.

Hanna is in a coma after being hit by A at the end of the last book. She had been going to tell the others about who A really was, since she had figured it out. Of course, when she wakes up, she doesn't remember that day at all. Well, that sucks. She'll eventually remember, and then things get interesting. Not only that, but her best friend Mona is starting to be nice to her again and her dad is actually taking an interest in spending time with her.

Aria is miserable. Ezra lost his job because of their relationship. Aria is still not allowed back to her home. To top it off, she's stuck living with her dad and his new girlfriend - the one who ruined her parents' marriage. She starts taking an art class and talks to Jenna, the girl they blinded. In these conversations, she learns something very important about The Jenna Thing.

Emily is shipped off to Iowa because she's gay. Totally harsh in my opinion, since she's being sent to probably the worst people ever. Emily's aunt and uncle are so repressive that they don't realize their children have been rebelling for months. She doesn't stay there for long, but while she's there, she meets a new girl who ends up appearing in Rosewood after Emily returns home. Her parents do become more accepting - sort of.

Spencer's life is, well, confusing. Her family knows that she cheated and stole her sister's essay, which has earned her a Golden Orchid nomination. Her mother insists that she shouldn't tell anyone that she cheated and that she will win this award. It's confusing and she's remembering things about Ali's last night, things that scare her.

The good thing about this book is that we finally discover who A is and why she's been blackmailing the girls. That was an exciting part of the book. There's also someone who ends up arrested for Ali's murder. I'm not entirely sure this person did it, but I'm sure that will be clarified in a coming book.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Entangled


I have to admit something to you guys. I went into this book feeling a little unsure. Why, you ask? Well, if you check out the reviews on Goodreads, this book does not rank well. So I thought for sure I'd have the same feelings as a lot of the reviewers. You know, bad character writing, characters reacting in a way that they really shouldn't, things like that. And while I agree that the characters should have reacted to certain things a lot better than they did, I didn't find this book as abhorrent as others did. I also finished reading the book, which, as you'll see by the reviews, a lot of people didn't do.

So, here's the story. Graylee is a witch. She has an identical twin sister, Charlene. Now, Charlene is, well, to be blunt, she's a bitch. She's a magical bitch. It makes for bad times.

The synopsis on Goodreads says that Graylee dies, so I was very confused when I was several chapters in and that hadn't happened. Then, it did, suddenly and with no actual "Graylee died" part. Just Graylee getting sick after eating some chocolate that her (kind of crazy) twin sister had made and then Graylee waking up, being confused because she's in her sister's bedroom.

Over the course of the book, Graylee discovers that she's now sharing Charlene's body, her mother had performed a resurrection spell that went wrong, and now the twins alternate days that they have control of the body.

Graylee has to figure out how she died and how she can get complete control of a body, all while pretending to be Charlene and finding herself in increasingly uncomfortable situations that her sister sets her up in on her days.

I genuinely despised Charlene. I found her to be a psychotic girl who would kill anyone who got in her way. She's revealed early on to have been blocking her sister's powers for five years because she felt threatened as the important daughter. She is truly a despicable character.

It wasn't a fabulous books, but it wasn't that terrible either. I actually enjoyed it and I was enthralled by the end and wanted to know if Graylee would succeed in getting out of her sister's body or not. Not a must-read book, but not one to actively avoid either.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Lush


This was an interesting book. I wasn't expecting what I got, so I was pleasantly surprised. But it was still kind of a slow book. But I'm hooked on dystopian YA novels

Bluebell is about to leave Training Tech, the school that all children of Concord are required to attend (and live at) from the age of 5 to the age of 17. After they turn 17, they are branded with an X or an O - determining their fertility. They also get assigned to their career path after they leave. They also finally get to spend time with the opposite sex - the first time in twelve years.

Bluebell decides that she will accept whatever her brand tells, whether she is fertile or not. She comes from an influential family, so she'll be able to secure a good place in life and not be relegated to Guardian at Training Tech.

But Bluebell's brand is not what anyone expected. She is branded as a Lush. She is so fertile that she will have no trouble producing many children. Not only that, but she becomes an ambassador for Concord. She is to be what people should aspire to become. A Lush could help bring the population back to where it should be.

Something isn't right though. Someone is keeping a secret from Bluebell and she is having trouble discovering what it it.

It was a fascinating story. It's book one of a trilogy, so I'm really excited to see what happens to Bluebell next.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Dark Matter Heart


This book confused me for about half of it. It's supposed to be a vampire novel, but the author kind of dances around the vampire subject until the second half of the book.

Cor moves to the Pacific Northwest from LA. He has a number of issues. He's "allergic" to the sunlight. He doesn't sleep much, or at all. He also has this knack for attracting trouble without wanting to.

When a series of murders that began in LA follow him to his new town, he has to rush to figure out who is doing this, and trying to frame him. People that he comes in contact with end up dead. Even stranger, they end up dead, with their carotid artery opened and their blood drained. You know, like a vampire would do.

Cor is a vampire, except he doesn't really come out and say it until he's trying to find The Creeper, the man he suspects is committing these horrible murders and framing him.

I don't know. It was a good book, but there was just a lot of alluding to vampirism without coming out with it. But, I will admit, it's much better than some of those vampire novels that gained all the popularity (I'm looking at you Twilight).

This is only book one of a trilogy, so I'm hoping that the next two have more of the vampire story to them.

Perfect


**Book 1 * Book 2**

I didn't love Perfect as much as I enjoyed the first two books. It seemed a little bit forced comparatively.

It's the same basic premise. The four former best friends are still being messaged by the mysterious A. And A is still a mystery. But this time it's worse. A has started spilling secrets about them.

Emily is starting to feel like she might actually be gay. Her feelings towards Maya are growing. Because of how Emily feels her parents would react if they found out, she makes their relationship a secret. Until the secret gets out. The chaos of this will be horrible.

Aria has been kicked out of her house. Her mother can't stand the sight of her because Aria knew about her father's affair. Not only that, but she still has feelings for Ezra, her AP English teacher. When that secret gets out, it's really bad. I'm sure that in the next book the consequences of it will be explained more.

Spencer gets nominated for a prestigious award for an essay she stole from her older sister. She's finally getting attention from her parents while her sister is being pushed to the side. But she should have known that the plagiarized paper wouldn't be secret for long. She is in so much trouble.

Hanna's life seems to have started deteriorating. Her best friend, Mona, is starting to distance herself. So Hanna is going back to old habits of binge eating her feelings. Her father won't talk to her, either. Hanna ends up humiliated because of A's cruelty. Her fate is actually the cliffhanger of this book.

I'm still patiently waiting for A's identity to be revealed. I'm sure it has to be at some point, right?

Friday, October 17, 2014

Atlas


Wow. What a book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did, I could not put it down.

Kala Hicks is a sniper in a super elite special ops team. The team that she is on gets a mission one night that changes Kala's life forever. The mission? Killing the president - before he makes Air Force One crash in Washington DC. Her commanding officer/boyfriend Jack forbids her from killing the president, saying that he has to be the one to do it. But Kala knows she is the best shot, so she shoots and kills the president.

What happens next is so surreal and life changing that Kala thinks she was either drugged or is going crazy. See, what happens is that she blacks out after shooting the president and in her "dream" she sits talking with Atlas (Greek god Atlas) about a mission that she is now forced to do. Every four days, she has to commit an act of atrocity or the world as she knows it will end.

Every time she sees a clock now, she doesn't see the time, she just sees a countdown to the second that the world will end if Kala does not complete her mission.

I really enjoyed this book and I think it will be a series, so I'll be keeping my eye out for more books about Kala in the future.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Glinda of Oz


**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7 * Book 8 * Book 9 * Book 10 * Book 11 * Book 12 * Book 13**

Wow. This final book of Oz was dark. Ozma and Dorothy go to visit two groups of people - the Flatheads and the Skeezers. These two peoples are preparing to go to war, which Ozma finds horrible. So the two girls head to this remote area of Oz to prevent this war.

They visit the Flatheads first, and these people are as described. They have flat heads and they carry their brains in cans. A little weird, but I found it really creative. Dorothy and Ozma meet the Supreme Dictator of the Flatheads, explain that they want to prevent the war, but the Su-Dic (as he is called), does not want to prevent this war, so he announces that he will hold the two girls prisoner until after their enemies, the Skeezers, are defeated and then he can decide what to do with them.

Naturally, the girls escape and head to the island of the Skeezers to hopefully persuade them to stop this war before it starts. But the queen of the Skeezers is a very proud woman and she refuses to bow down to Ozma as her Ruler. When the Flatheads begin their attack, Queen Coo-ee-oh makes the island sink to the bottom of the lake, with Ozma and Dorothy with all the rest of the Skeezers.

The darkness of this book really comes in the uncertainty of Dorothy and Ozma getting off the island of the Skeezers. Ozma's magic cannot raise the island, and the Wizard and Glinda are doubtful that they will be able to. It really has a major section of will they get free or won't they?

Now, I'm not going to spoil the ending, so if you would like to know if Ozma and Dorothy get off the island in this final book, you'll just have to read it for yourself.