Monday, May 20, 2013

25 BOOKS CHALLENGE: MAY UPDATE

Hello everybody, I know it's been a long time... 

and I'm terribly sorry for not writing more about what I've read. But the truth is that I really haven't had a lot of time for reading during the last couple of months. In fact, I didn't finish any book at all during the month of April.
But I did read some books at the end of March and the beginning of May:


Source: Goodreads
At the end of March I read "The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden" by Jessica Sorensen. It's a contemporary romance, a bit like Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (which has been my favorite book this year so far!).
It was a really quick read, I liked the characters and I liked Jessica Sorensen's writing, but the plot was really predictable... I'm giving it a 4 out of 5. A sequel will come out in the summer, which I'm definitely going to read! Check out Jessica Sorensen's website HERE to find out more about her and about her books!






Source: Goodreads
I also read "The Secret Keeper" by Kate Morton in March. If you haven't read any of Kate Morton's books, please do check them out! They're all stories about two or three generations of families, children finding out about their parents' pasts and all that. I love Kate Morton's writing, but the best thing about her books to me is the fact that her books are so unpredictable. It's always the same with Kate's books: You're 50 pages from the ending and you think you know what's going to happen, but trust me: You will be surprised. I loved the Secret Keeper, and I'm giving it a 5 out of 5!
HERE's the link to Kate's Website, check out her other books!






Source: Goodreads
I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I only started reading City of Bones, the first book of the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare, last week. I've heard so much about Cassandra's books, but somehow the fact that the main character of the book is 15 kept me from reading it. Damn, how could I be so stupid?
I'm going to do a more detailed review of the whole series when I've read all the books. I'm giving City of Bones a 4,5 out of 5. I really loved the book, and I'm so excited that I found a whole new book series I can get into!
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the movie is coming out this summer (August 23) starring Lily Collins and (OMG!) Jamie Campbell Bower. CAN'T. WAIT!!!





25 Books Challenge: 12 out of 25 completed!!!

...(Yup, looking good!!)

Monday, March 11, 2013

Requiem by Lauren Oliver


Disclaimer: This review contains SPOILERS! Requiem is the third book in a trilogy. If you haven't read Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem yet, please do, the books are amazing. Only read this review if you have finished reading REQUIEM!

 

Source: Goodreads
 
Now, WHAT WAS THAT?



92% of the book read (according to my Kindle), Lauren Oliver talks about tearing down walls, I’m waiting for the story to come to an end, for things to make sense... And then: THIS. Freaking Acknowledgements. Really?



Don’t get me wrong: I really really liked this book. I did! There were scenes I loved. The Waterbury scene (Lena is so totally badass!), the mother-daughter-reunion scene. The scene where Hana and Lena meet again. Lena and Grace. Knowing what it’s like to be cured because of Hana’s POV. And so many more!



I just think there were about 50 pages missing in this book, because we don’t know what happens after the chaos in Portland. Did the rebellion win over Portland? I think so. But what happens to the rest of the country? Did similar things happen in other cities as well or just in Portland?

What happened to Hana after she left her husband to die in his house? Will she join the rebellion? I really want her to!



And most important: Who will Lena choose? I know she loves Alex more than she loves Julian (which I don’t understand, since we don’t really know Alex at all, and neither does Lena. Alex is this aggressive stranger who hates Lena when he sees her again. Why? What happened to him in the Crypts? How did he even get there? He was shot, for god’s sake!).



All in all, the book was amazing, minus the missing 50-100 pages. I read it in a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. Some things happened that I was so excited about. But the ending was so, so disappointing. I've always liked comparing the Matched series to the Delirium series. At the end of Reached, there is an election. We don't know what the results of the election is but things actually changed in Reached. In Requiem there is just this massive riot, people die, walls are torn down, but we don't know if there is any change!



Now, want to know what I think? There is going to be a Delirium TV show. An ending like this is PERFECT for a TV show, because they can do so much with it. There are so many parts in the book that are missing, there is so much free space for the TV show...

It’s just that I’m not a massive fan of books that get turned into TV shows (except Game of Thrones), because they usually change a whole lot (*cough* Vampire Diaries), and after a season or two, you can’t find what’s happening in books anywhere in the show.



I’m giving Requiem  a 4 out of 5. I’d love to give it a 5 because I loved Lauren Oliver's writing and the characters, but I can’t ignore the ending. I don’t hate open endings, but this ending was just too open for me. Too many questions were not answered... And although I know the Delirium trilogy is a TRILOGY I’m hoping for a sequel. And now I have to call Amazon customer service because I threw my Kindle agains the wall after seing the word "Acknowledgements". I have a Kindle Keyboard and the backside got loose. :(


If you want to find out more about Lauren Oliver, click HERE to view her website
                                                                                               HERE to view her twitter 

25 Books Challenge:  9 Books!!! 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

UPDATE: Books I read in February

I read three more books last month, one really disappointing one, and two books I really really liked.


I downloaded Hungry for You by Lyndsay Sands because it was a Kindle Christmas present on German Amazon... I don't recommend it. At all. I didn't have high expectations for this book, but it turned out to be even worse than I expected... It's a really badly written and unrealistic Vampire Erotic novel. But I still finished it, so it has to be mentioned since I'm doing the 25 Book challenge this year.

The other two books are by the amazing Colleen Hoover (author of Hopeless which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago).

Source: Goodreads

They're called Slammed and Point of Retreat, and they're about a girl called Lake (short for Layken) who moves from Texas to Michigan with her mom and her little brother. Lake meets this guy called Will. He's her neighbor, he has a younger brother he takes care of because their parents died... And there is an instant deep connection between Lake and Will. They fall in love with each other on their first date.
But everything changes when the two of them find out they can't be together.

Source: Goodreads
Sorry , I won't tell you why, you have to find out yourselves :D

I loved Slammed and Point of Retreat. I read both books in two days because I couldn't put them down, because they were that good. I especially liked the use of poetry in the book. On their first date, Lake and Will go to a Slam Poetry, and Will performs one of his poems. I've been to many Slam Poetry competitions myself and I loved the poems in the book, they added something special to the story.

Please go ahead and read Colleen Hoover's books, if you haven't already! She's an independent author with so so much talent, and I can't wait for the third book in the Slammed series!

If you want to find out what Colleen's been up to lately: Go check out her blog, it's hilarious: LINK

Oh, I almost forgot: 25 Books Challenge 2013: 8 Books already!!!

Update! Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi


Hey everyone! It’s been a while since my last blog post. First I had to study for finals, then I actually had the finals, and then I went on a skiing vacation to Austria...
But during that time I read a lot, and I wanted to post a QUICK update!

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi 

Source: Goodreads
This book is set in a dystopian world, different from any other world I’ve read about in YA. Population has been split into two parts: The Dwellers who live under the earth because the outside world has become too dangerous because of a substance called Aether (please don’t ask me how to pronounce this one. I have NO idea :D).
 
But there are also people living on the outside in a constant fight against the Aether.
The protagonist of this book is Arya, she’s a Dweller and I think she’s 16... Anyway, she is forced to leave her home underground and struggles to survive on the outside. On her journey she meets Perry who has lived his whole life on the outside. And even though the two of them hate each other when they meet, they need one another to get what they want, and end up... yes, of course falling in love. There HAS to be some romance in a YA dystopian novel, right? :D


I really liked Under the Never Sky. It was a quick read, I liked the characters, and I can’t wait to read Through the Ever Night, the sequel (which has already been released, I just haven’t had any time to read it. 

I'm giving it a 4,5 out of 5

If you want to find out more about Veronica Rossi, you can check out her blog: Link

25 Books Challenge 2013:   5/25 

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Book Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

I really want to talk about this book I've just finished. It's called "Hopeless" and it's by Colleen Hoover.

Basically it's supposed to be a YA romance.
Let me tell you the only thing YA about this book is the fact that the main characters are 17 and 18 years old. Apart from that there's NOTHING really YA about it. It has swearing and a lot sex in it without it being inappropriate.
I LOVED this book. So much. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that it's over.

Plot:

Source: Goodreads
It's about Sky who's 17 years old. She's been home schooled by her adoptive mother until she decides to spend her senior year at a public school. She's having a hard time in school because her best friend, Six, isn't spending senior year with her in Texas, but in Italy. Also, Sky kind of has the reputation of a slut because she's made out with so many guys. But nobody, not even Sky herself knows the reason why she never feels attracted to any of the guys she makes out with.
Until one day she meets Holder (that's his last name BTW) at the grocery store, and Sky develops feelings for him.


 

My Thoughts:

It sounds like a cheesy love story. It's not. The further I read, the more complicated and intense the story got. And the more I read, the more I fell in love with Holder as well. He's too good to be true, but he still has his flaws. He's no Edward Cullen who's more of a parent than a boyfriend to Bella. Holder has a temper and a secret, and he and Sky were just meant to be together.

I seriously encourage you to pick this book up, I'm sure it won't disappoint you.
I'm giving this book a 5 out of 5 because everything was perfect. I loved the characters. I loved the unpredictable plot (although I knew what had happened to Sky when she was a little girl from the beginning).
I don't know if I've ever read a book that has made me laugh out loud and cry on the same page. It was a roller-coaster ride full of emotions. I don't have enough words to express how much this book impressed me.

THANK YOU COLLEEN HOOVER! (And thanks for the sleepless night last night, and for keeping me from studying for my business law final tomorrow. Haha. It was worth it!)

I'm glad I found out Colleen Hoover has two other books out (not "Hopeless" related books), that are supposed to be really good as well. Now I know what I'll be doing when my finals are over in two weeks. Read, read, read....
Check out Colleen Hover's website for more information, news and all that good stuff!


25 books challenge: 4/25 (January 31)

Monday, January 28, 2013

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

It's me again! Today I want to talk about a book I finished a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't find the time to write about it because of finals. It's "A Wish After Midnight" by Zetta Elliott, which I discovered because it was only 99 cents on the Kindle Store the day I purchased it. 

Source: Goodreads

Plot:


The book is about 15-year-old Gemma who lives in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn with her mother and her siblings. She's not happy with the situation she's in because she wants to go to college, but her mother doesn't have enough money to send her, her siblings sell drugs and get in trouble, she thinks she's not pretty enough to ever have a boyfriend (ugh!) because she's "too black" ... and so on. Basically she wishes for a better life but nothing really happens... until one night she time travels back to the Civil War era Brooklyn and gets to know how hard life can really be.

My Thoughts: (Spoiler Alert!)


What I thought was missing in this book was an explanation. It might just me be but I didn't get the purpose of the time travel. Why did she travel back to 1864? To realize that 2001 has many more opportunities for her? How did the time travel thing happen? How long was she over there? What did Judah do to travel back in time? Many things were left without explanation. What happened to the family she worked for? The doctor, his wife, their little son, Nannie, the Irish girl, the black woman with her three children? And most important of all: What happened to Judah?

Judah's and Genna's "romance" didn't really feel real to me. It seemed like the author wanted to add that relationship aspect to the book. I didn't even like Judah, maybe because we didn't get to know him at all.

I felt like the book skipped over some exciting parts (like how the two got together) and focused on Genna's ongoing pessimist monologue. What she thinks of her mom, her Dad, her siblings, the white guy she met at the botanic garden…
Genna really could have traveled back in time earlier on in the book, because nothing really happened at all in the first part of the book.

But I don't only have negative things to say about "A Wish After Midnight". I really liked Genna as a character. At first her first person narration really went on my nerves because she repeated everything over and over, but Genna is a clever and likable girl. She's determined, fresh, educated… I have to admit I found myself somewhere in her, my self confidence isn't the best, either :)

All in all the book was a quick read, and I enjoyed reading it, but the ending and some parts in the middle of the book didn't satisfy me. 

I'm giving it a 3,5 out of 5.


Oh - I almost forgot something:

25 Books Challenge: 3/25!!!


Friday, January 4, 2013

Angelfall by Susan Ee

When I picked up "Angelfall" by Susan Ee this morning (at 11am to be precise :D ), I didn't expect to finish it at 9 pm. I downloaded the book because it was on sale for just 99 cents in the Kindle Store. The reviews were mainly positive, so I thought I'd give it a try. But I definitely wasn't expecting THIS.


Source: Amazon

  • Paperback: 290 pages
  • Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing; First Edition edition (August 28, 2012)
  • Available as: Paperback, Kindle eBook
  • Get it on Amazon.com











Plot:


The book is another YA dystopian novel (I know. I can't help it). Penryn is 17, her mother is schizophrenic, and her little sister sits in a wheelchair. Penryn's sister is captured by angels who have brought  apocalypse to the world. Penryn finds an angel (Raffe) who has lost his wings, saves his life, and takes him captive because she hopes to retrieve her sister with his help.  So the two of them embark on a journey to get his wings back and rescue the young girl.

My thoughts:


I just couldn't put this book down. The world Susan Ee created is so dangerous but real, and the characters so relatable that I HAD TO find out what happens next. There really was no point where I thought the book was boring. 

There's one thing I dislike about many dystopian YA books: Very often protagonists try to save the whole society and forget about what's good for themselves and their families. This wasn't the case in Angelfall, and I'm so glad about that. Penryn doesn't try to save the human world from angels, all she does is trying to save her sister. She's no super hero, she's just a normal person, and she acts the way a normal person would act in that situation. But still, Penryn is pretty badass. (And Raffe is probably one of the most awesome guys in YA fiction. Tobias aka Four (from Divergent), watch out! :D )


Angelfall is the first book in a series. I don't know how many books will be in the series, but hopefully the second book will be released soon (since Susan Ee finished the book with quite a cliffhanger)... 

 Rating:


I'm giving this book a 4,5 out of 5 because it was kind of short for my taste. But compared to ASoS by GRRM (a 1100 page book) which I finished yesterday any book seems short, I guess. 


So, keeping score:


25 Books Challenge: 8% completed (January 4, 2013)

  

 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

25 Books Challenge!

Long time no see! I hope everyone who reads this has had a Merry Christmas and a good start into the New Year.

I'm trying to read 25 books in 2013. I know a lot of people do the 50 books challenge (or even a hundred), but I don't have that much time... Last year I only read 22, let's hope I'll do better this year.

I've already finished my first book of 2013, A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, so only 24 to go!!! From now on, every time I finish a book I will post a short message on this blog to keep score.

 25 Books Challenge: 4% completed (January 3, 2013)



How many books do you usually read in a year? Have a great 2013 everybody!