Holly's Book Reviews

 A huge thanks to Random House Children's & Netgalley for allowing me to review this book. All opinions are my own! 

You can get your own copy September 1st!

  Madeline Whittier has lived her entire life inside of her house due to a rare disease (SCIDS) that causes her immune system to be extremely weak and causes her to react badly to virtually everything. Inside of her house with a specialized air filter, she lives her life ordering all of her needs online and from there they are disinfected and sealed air tight. She's never wanted anything more...until new neighbors move in next door. That's when she sees Olly for the first time, and her world opens up into a new perspective. 

~~~~~~~~

    Before I even begin reviewing the content of this book, I'd like to mention the BEAUTIFUL cover. And the title? GENIUS. As you go through life, everything changes and I really do believe that is one of the most important parts of growing up. To be under 'house arrest' your entire life prevents you from living. Mrs.Yoon did such an amazing job on this novel.

   Now, for the part you're all here to read. Once you crack open this book, you'll quickly find that it's not only a book, but someone's life. I know, I know. That's almost every book's aim, to follow someone's life as it changes and to show how the character grows over time. However, I don't think you'll find an example better than in this book. Madeline has literally spent her last 18 years of life home bound. You often hear people complain that they want to go home but what if that was the ONLY place you could go? You'd be quick to change your mind.

    Being home at all times with only your mom and home nurse as company, you would think that one would quickly spiral into a deep depression. This miraculously doesn't happen. Our MC Is an exceptional female character who strives to only see the best in everything. I do think this contributes to her never experiencing anything truly bad in her life (that she remembers, at least) and so she automatically assumes that there is nothing she should think of as sad. (For example, being stuck in her house 24/7 with no real human interactions.) I wish I could remain as optimistic as Madeline but life doesn't always allow that. 

                                                          RELATIONSHIPS 

    What's odd is in the beginning and for most of the middle of this book, Madeline had me completely fooled that her interactions were good enough and was enough to get her through her entire life. Friday dinners, movie nights, and occasional (more like rare!) visits from her online teachers. I feel like she coped with the lack of humans (that brings emotions, tension in the air, etc.) by spending all of her time reading and doing school work. She had MANY school projects and it was filler time until she slept or had another scheduled activity. 

  OLLY

    What do you mean I'm writing a whole area of Olly? Whaaat? But in all seriousness, Olly is perfection. He's been put in a horrible position and yet is still so sweet and sensitive towards other people. I loved his personality and how he didn't push things when the situation didn't call for it. While I feel it was a bit insta-lovey, in this case I found it was completely acceptable. Though, I AM left with questions about his life before he showed up in Cali. He said he'd been in love before, but not the same way it was with Maddy. GIMME MORE! Maybe we will get a novella of his life before? ;D

 QUALITY OF LIFE

    Yes, this is an odd category. Yes, it is something that people tend to overlook. Let's talk about it. You go about your daily schedule and whether that involves school,work, or other activities, there is normally at least some amount of choice in your day. And do you know what happens when we choose? We are happy. Not only happy, but living. 

   This book brought up something so important that I can't NOT mention it. To live and to be happy are not the same. You can be happy but that doesn't mean that inside you are content with everything in your life. Never settle for anything less than your dreams. Again, Nicola Yoon brings up valuable life lessons. 

QUOTES

~Please keep in mind that this is an ARC and that these quotes may be changed in the final edition~

   This book had so many wonderful quotes that I have to share my favorites. 

   ** "You can find the meaning of life in a book."

   ** "I am not lonely, Mom." I snap. "I am alone. Those are different things.""

   ** "Sometimes I reread my favorite books from back to front. I start with the last chapter and read backward until I get to the beginning. When you read this way, characters go from hope to despair, from self-knowledge to doubt. In love stories, couples start out as lovers and end strangers. Coming-of-age books become stories of losing your way. Your favorite books come back to life."

   ** "Sometimes you fall off prematurely. Sometimes you get so damaged by other pieces of luggage falling on your head that you don't really function anymore. Sometimes you get lost or forgotten and go around forever and ever."

**If you have heard hype surrounding this book and are wary of purchasing it, I would recommend that you do. This book has ups and downs but is simply beautiful and makes you appreciate the little things. This comes out on September 1st. Get your own copy, you won't regret it!**

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
★★★

  This was nothing special but I was glad that we are able to see the start of Sam and Celeana. :)

The Assassin and the Healer
★★★★
I loved the novella so much more than the first! This novella made me love Celeana even more but made me question how she can flip her humanity on and off so quickly. I hope that we see Yrene later in the series. ;)

The Assassin and the Desert
★★★★★

This novella was AMAZING. I loved seeing the Silent Assassins always talked about in the Throne of Glass series! The friendships and the trust going on there was very much needed for Celeana. She's not had it easy and I think that helped to toughen her up and still (at the same time) lighten her heart to let her know that darkness doesn't always win.

I LOVED the characters and the plot in this...And that twist? Shot me in the heart!

The Assassin and the Underworld.
★★★★
Hmmm...I'm not sure what I expected from this. I enjoyed it but the title lead me to believe it would have more fantasy elements to it and not just referring to more along the lines of people who do wrong. Not to say I didn't like this because I really did! The title is a bit misleading,though.

Celeana (as always) is such a kick-ass character! She doesn't let bribes allow her to do wrong, she follows her heart...Even if that means getting herself into trouble. This is one of those rare moments when Celeana finds herself in peril and who better to save her than Sam?

The romance in this is sweet and subtle, not overwhelming like it was in parts of Crown of Midnight. Definitely not looking forward to Sam's death in the next one because that's obviously all that's left.

The Assassin and the Empire.

   All I can say is 'yessss'. This novella was so satisfying and heartbreaking. I hated seeing Celeana so low and yet it only helped her blossom into the amazing person she is now.

     This is the second book in a series, spoilers will be present.

     I went into this book with no expectations as I disliked the first one. For most of the book, it followed exactly what I thought it would....immature characters who can't seem to get over themselves. 

     Blaire seems to have a knack for running away whenever anything becomes slightly complicated. I've never seen the 'strong and independent' female that had to deal with the death of two important people in her life and the disappearance of the only parent figure she had left. She's completely impulsive and that's not a good characteristic to have because she is -you guessed it!- PREGNANT,

     I figured it was only a matter of time before Ms. Glines puled some sort of card that made the characters seem  that they were meant to be and what would be better than to add a baby to the mix? The only issue is that both of the parents are extremely irresponsible and Rush...well he can only seem to think about one thing at a time. Whether that is Nan or Blaire, he can't seem to even GOLF without stalking his girlfriend.

     I DID,however,like that Blaire finally got over herself and realized that the baby is as big a part of Rush's life as it will be hers. She can't go on and NOT tell him until she's about to disappear. Ugh. These books. 

Holy fuck. This book was disgusting and all over the place. I'm not even going to give a description of this book because I need to rant. 

     Somebody PLEASE explain to me why this has such high ratings and wonderful reviews? This book glorifies sleeping with family members. Specifically, STEP SIBLINGS. WHAT THE HELL?! Why would you ship this? Why would you write a book about them falling in love? It's disgusting. From the moment they met each other, they were drooling, KNOWING who each other was. 

     And can we talk about how Rush sounds like a pervert all the time? "Oh..my sweet sweet Blaire." It sounded like a 50 year old man talking a child into having sex with him. I also understand this is under the adult genre and I truly don't mind sex scenes, but watching your step brother have sex not once, but TWICE? You need therapy. I myself have 3 step siblings and cannot stop being disgusted by this.

     Rush had stalker tendencies and always got his way. Same with Nan. I understand poor little rich girl had such a rough life, but does she have to be such a bitch to everyone? The only person she seemed to ACTUALLY care for is Rush and this leads me to believe it is (or was) more than just brother/sister caring. She acted like she was queen bee and at the end, I wanted to pull those girls off of her head.

    I liked Blaire at first. She was a country girl who needed  place to stay while she worked up her way to being independent. This,however, fell flat when she goes weak-in-the-knees for the first hot boy she meets. They become obsessed with each other and it was weird to read. This book wasn't romantic or sweet, it was like watching a messed up TV show. 

     The romance was not even cheesy, it was plain terrible. Poor girl comes from small town to rich town with 'secrets' and falls in love with the rich guy. Guy is creepy and even though she 'tries' to stay away, he has a pull. She changed said guy from a player to a true romantic. I think I would have been bothered less by this if there wasn't so much build up of a supposed huge secret. 

     I also want to touch on the fact that she never even gave Woods a chance. He was nothing but sweet to her and she blew him off like he was dirt. She complained about people treating her that way but she was no better. Did she clean her little room under the stairs so that when the maid returned she wouldn't have to clean after ANOTHER person? Ugh. 

     Let's also talk about the bad grammar. I'm not perfect, but dang, you have editors check this for you and yet this book had the writing of a 13 year old.

 Overall- Truthfully the only gripe I don't have about this is how fast paced it is. I'm going to continue on with the series solely because I checked out a bind-up of the first 3 books in this series. Lord help me, they better improve.

     After missing for nearly two years following the crash of their plane, Lillian Linden and Dave Hall must lie. To protect themselves and their families, they tell alternate versions of the events that played out on the tiny island they found themselves stuck on. Told from alternating time periods and POV's, we dive deeper into the internal struggles of being a survivor. 

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     I went into this wanting to read a contemporary mystery novel and this sooo delivered. We first meet our characters when they are preparing for the last interview (due to a contract) they will ever have to give after their time on an island in which four people (including an infant) passed. As the story progresses, not only does the timeline change, but so does the perceptive.  Told from both Lily and Dave's POV's,we get to see an intimacy that almost felt like I was violating these fictional character's privacy reading this novel.

     In the beginning I was a bit confused as not much explaining was going on, but we read about Lily's panic of sticking to the lies. The first time we went back in time with her POV, I was in love. She made the best out of a less than desirable situation when she's stuck on a trip with her mother-in-law who is constantly telling her ways to 'improve'. This varies from looks to how she acts, when Lily is just a bashful woman who prefers to view the beauty of the world in her corner with a book. Even before everything fell apart, Lillian was kind to a stranger who was struggling...and this is where our story seems to begin.

     Dave, a man who is slowly dying inside with the dreams of being a father and a dying marriage.  When we first meet him he seems so...sad. Like the light was being drained from his eyes. The time on the island seemed to HELP him regain some of himself that I think would have been forever lost had things not happened the way they did. 

     While Kent was a large part of their story and yet not at all, I feel that his bitterness WAS directed from the fact that the first day she told him that it was her fault, when in reality Theresa should have sat down earlier, even if it had been upfront with Kent. I'm not saying it's anyone's fault, but her death could have been prevented if she had worried about herself and not only the passengers. I'm not sure her death meant as much as the author made it seem. Yes, he was hurt, but no I think he used it as an excuse to be hateful to our MC's. 

     I think the thing that bothered me the most about this is how many time Lillian's EYEBROWS were mentioned. Also the fact that their lie was weird. It was fluent enough and there would be less court to go through, but a lot of the lies were unnecessary to fit with the truth. Like Paul. Or even how Margaret died. It still feels like something was left out. Genevieve said she died from blunt force trauma to the HEAD, but the would was treated more along the lines of the back/side of her head.  Maybe a mercy killing? I dunno.

     Overall, I really enjoyed this and the ending made me cry. I felt that it was wrapped up a little too sweet and fast but I'm not complaining.  It was bittersweet and all I want now is more of this author and maybe a short story to give us more of these characters and how they deal with all of the emotions and slowly fading feelings when all they will ever want is to protect one another.                                                       

     The Fab Life follows Kihanna as she discovers her father isn't a lowlife as her mother always told her, but a billionaire. Sent to live with her new-found daddy with no explanation, Kihanna has to adjust to this secret life filled with scandals and money.

     I picked this up for free from the amazon kindle store, get yours here. 

    I was looking through my infinite list of books on my kindle when I came across this sitting in my library. I was feeling pretty bad that day (I think I had a stomach bug) and needed something from my normal genres to distract me. The title seemed silly and girly, so I opened it up and began reading.

WRITING

     The way this was written felt very juvenile. The author has a tone of a young woman and it felt like this may be her debut novel. The language wasn't always consistent as it would shift from how you would normally hear teens talk to words you'd find in City of Bones. I think that for this particular series the writing style fits, though. Kihanna is immature and I feel the writing is going along with how the character acts. I'm looking forward.

  PLOT      

I wasn't too sure where the plot went with this one. I liked the idea of a mindless read, but before I knew it I had finished it and was staring at my kindle in a W-T-F state of mind. The plot was obviously thought out at one point and I feel that maybe it was a rough outline and then the author decided to spice it up. The book never really dragged on for me, it just seemed like something was missing. But after that end... HECK YES. 

I did suspect the 'twist' with her mother, solely because of the phone calls and how she acted skittish. I also found it strange that such a caring mother (hey, teachers have to have a lot of heart to deal with what they see in the classroom)  would send her daughter off with a practical stranger. Unless maybe the have always stayed in contact...

CHARACTERS   

 Instead of making my way down the list as I usually do, I decided I'd just do a little summary of my thoughts. 

~ I enjoyed all of the character in different ways. While I wanted to jump through the screen and punch a few (maybe break a nose *wink wink*) of them, I think they all have really secret pasts and I want to get into them. There has to be more to them then what was stated. Maybe they all hate each other because they got into something really bad? I don't know. I want more scandal!

     OVERALL

     I enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and got my distracted from my churning stomach. The end really through me through a loop, map props to the author. I usually see weird things happening a mile away, but I was surprised. Excited to see what's next!

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to review this honestly, but this book was NOT for me.

Let me start out by saying that I love the Paranormal genre and like books with creepy aspects, but this was just boring. The author spent a lot of time putting in more detail than necessary and it almost felt like a Stephen King novel. Kate was a pathetic main character and I ended up putting it down around 45-50%.

    Branded is set in a dystopian world in which you are punished for committing one of the seven deadly sins. Imagine a place as large as a city being used as a dump site (The Hole) for those even accused of committing on of the sins, and it is severely under-guarded. (Yes there are tons of guards but they are there more for making sure the property isn't damaged.) With high walls and no way out, Lexie must live her life in a dangerous place with new mysteries popping up at every corner.

    From about 30 pages in, I KNEW that this story would either revolve around finding her brother or father. I'm not sure how the beggar recognized her eyes unless he was truly old enough to have known her father, and from the story, it seems like her father was very loved. I won't like, I thought Keegan was a terrible leader. He's protective but overbearing. He sees his sister for the first time in years and he decides (still imagining her as his BABY SISTER) that she should fight and risk her life. So glad he's dead. 

    From the beginning it was obvious that she and Cole would 'fall in love'. He was never harsh like the others and pretty much let her do anything she chose to. Cole was a pushover and I really believe that in this case, he is a traitor to his country. Yes, he believes that someone shouldn't be treated badly, but he literally abandoned his job and killed the Commander. 

    ABOUT THE COMMANDER. It's her stepfather? What the actual fuck? And her stepfather is the Doctor's brother? (I can't remember his name, this book is that forgettable) WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING? I feel like it was a last moment attempt to get people to buy their next book. 

    While I'm not dying to read the next book in this series, I do want to continue on.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Pajama Press for providing me with a e-book review copy!

I tried. With this book, I really tried. I had never read a book set in Iran and with all the stuff on the news, I was definitely interested to see if a book could be accurate in an area I'm not that experienced in. I think that this book did what was happening in the 80's well, as it displayed different opinions with the events happening. I enjoyed reading about Farrin's character as she has so much love in her heart but was never shown that love back. Her mother was too busy playing hostess to care for her daughter and constantly threw insults at her. There were sweet moments in the book, but overall I struggled to get through it. It was written very simple, but for a reason I can't place, this book wasn't for me.

  “It isn’t that the lies are too beautiful to resist. It’s that the truth is too hideous to face.”

     After the events in The 5th Wave I thought for sure that any sequel couldn't compare...and I was right. Picking up not too long after it left off, the new crew is together on high alert. For the first half of the book, a lot of it is catching up to where we currently are and it dragged on. While I did enjoy parts of the book, I feel a lot of it could have been cut out. 

       CHARACTERS

   CASSIE/SAM: Not too much happened that caused me to change opinions on them. Cassie is still badass, Sam is distant but still a little kid. 

    ETHAN/GRACE: Uhm?? Random back story and even though I still am #TeamEthan, I feel like Grace cause conflict inside of him. This book is a lot of "promises are important" and I appreciate that even in the event of the world ending,there are still people realizing that to win this war, you have to do your best. That said, it couldn't have been easy to see Grace and have all the old times play out like that. To know the world will end and all those in your human life will parish...how can you switch off the feelings?

    RINGER: I didn't put her character with the other's because I'm...indifferent about her. She was magically chose for all of the secrets to be revealed? Erm. Okay. After learning more of her backstory, I feel like she's weak for shutting it all off. So, her dad was a drunk. Big whoop. Whatever, I really don't care. If anything, I hope that this 'hub' stops her pathetic attitude. 

    TEACUP: She's young...but that doesn't excuse her stupidity. I understand that she was afraid she'd lose the one person she has left to cling on to in the world, but her actions caused a lot of issues. I hope the kid is okay,though. 

    BEN: Zombie. Ah. He clearly has developed strong feelings for his new group and it kills me that he's so stubborn. He doesn't trust his gut instinct and I can't tell if that's because of Cassie,feelings for Ringer, or general concern for his group that caused him to over analyze and stop. I hope he changes.

    RAZOR: What the frig happened??

    POUNDCAKE: Not too much to say. His story made me a little uneasy and I have a feeling the little boy who blew up at the beginning was his brother. Rest easy, Cake. 

POV/PLOTLINE

    I didn't enjoy the first half of the novel, especially Ringer's part. The last half of the novel was SO GOOD and made me sit on the edge of my chair, desperate for more words. 

    I will definitely be looking out for the next one!

   I read my first Lois Lowry book in sixth grade. It was Number the Stars and while I found the story sad, it didn't impact me in a way that The Giver has.

   A few months ago, I sat down with my family and watched the movie of The Giver and it captured my attention the entire time. It follows our MC Jonas as he experiences all of the muted motions of life. Everything is laid out & chosen for you- from your hair,clothes,food, and even when you are permitted to learn how to ride a bicycle. They don't comprehend true happiness or anger, but more along the lines of annoyance and something that would make you giggle.

  This isn't a review of the movie, but I did enjoy the movie just a bit more. I like to think that your 'friends' would look out for you and not accept the brainwashing they've been through their entire lives. But then again, isn't that all we are? From the time we are little we are taught specific things by our parents that are mostly backed by society and we believe them to be true. What would YOU do if in your career someone pulled you aside and told you that the life you are living is not the life that used to be?

    The movie didn't clearly explain that once the Giver shares the memories that he no longer has them and I think that was a very important part of this book. He shares real emotion and the only way to truly make someone understand is to have them go through the emotions, not just have a definition of it. When Jonas had the first few memories of bliss, I dreaded him going through pain and suffering. While I'm lucky enough to have never have suffered, I hear about it everyday on the news and from the mouths of those around me. The job of the Giver cannot be easier because how can you explain pain to someone who doesn't know what joy is? 

   Overall, this book will make you question the world and your customs. It also gives you an outlook on life that everybody should keep in mind on days when they are feeling down. Life is BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING, and while we may have to struggle to reach a place where it all clicks, I wouldn't trade a moment of it.

"I will teach you to love death. I will empty you of grief and guilt and self-pity and fill you up with hate and cunning and the spirit of vengeance. I will make my final stand here."

    WOW! This was my first ever Rick Yancey novel and I was so not disappointed! The 5th Wave follows 16 year old Cassie Sullivan as she survives through the invasion of Earth. After watching both of her parents' deaths, the only thing she knows is that she MUST find her young brother who was taken on a yellow school bus with mysterious soldiers. Along the way she meets a boy who makes her question everything she thought she knew.

    I absolutely loved this. Whether it was the writing, the plot, or the characters, this book is always going to be a favorite when it comes to sci-fi. I've never really read an alien book before because Hollywood has worn out the effects of it. I've always compared it to the zombie Apocalypse (and I won't like that I was hoping the corpses would revive) and I'm surprised in the way this topic was approached. We've all wondered if aliens would be friendly and if they'd truly 'come in peace'. This felt very realistic. The flashbacks worked wonders for truly giving the sense of how humans process and how we deny when things go wrong.

    CHARACTERS

  CASSIE: I felt that Cassie was perfect as our MC. She acted like a 16 year old WOULD in the event that this happened. She froze,panicked,adapted to the situation,and even cried herself to sleep at night. She was very "this is how it needs to be, not what it would have been months ago." Of course, I can't blame her for confiding in the one person who seems to be the one for her. Coincidences, huh? 

ETHAN: He literally sounds like a Teddy- Bear. Can I have an Ethan?? I was always wary of him, but I'm glad that things ended the way they did.I hope that he's okay because he's like Super-Man and I could get so lost in this boy's eyes! I'm really wanting the next book in the series ( I think it's a duology? ) before I explode with feels.

SAM: Sam is the sweetest kid ever. I wanted to hug him and tell him that it'd be okay, that he just had to hang tight and become a good judge of character. They always say that things have to become really bad for it to get better & this kid has seen way more than he's needed to in his short life. Oh god, the flashbacks? My heart broke and then melted into a puddle. He had to grow up and in his time at the camp, he lost a piece of himself and I'm afraid this may not end well.

BEN: Still unsure about this fella. 

PLOT

     This book. This book set my brain on fire, in a good way. After we received more information about the other's, I had to put the book down and process this in the real world setting. My setting. How many things are in our daily life that we are unaware of? I ended up talking the ear off of my stepdad ( who is a fellow geek so he didn't particularly mind ) and I've come to the conclusion that the world is very scary and it's a wonderful thing that we don't know everything. 

   Seventeen year old Sky has been home-schooled and kept away from technology for her entire life. Her only real connection to the outside world is her best friend and neighbor for almost her entire life, Six. Together, they convince Sky's mother to let her attend public school for her senior year when Six travels out of the country. Left to find a guide to a new world, Sky runs into more trouble than she can handle.

  "My lack of access to the real world has been replaced completely by books, and it can't be healthy to live in a land of happily ever after."

   Our MC (main character) is (for the most part) your average contemporary female character. She's lonely,mostly friendless,and lives in a world in which she doesn't understand. This is why it made little sense to me as to how she had all these boys constantly at her house. Uhmmm?

  I understand that she lived under a very strict roof, but what in the world possessed her to break her mother's rules so crazily? So many things could have gone wrong. She could have been raped or murdered because she barely knew the boys sneaking into her house! Her friend attends school and could have easily invited her to hang out with those boys, but instead they made poor decisions.

   Speaking of poor decisions, can we talk about Dean? I immediately thought of Supernatural. Can you imagine teenage Jensen Ackles? From the moment he met Sky, he was creepy. Following-you-to-your-car creepy. And he happened to live near her most of their lives and they never met...except for that ONE time she went running that far? Mhm, very likely. 

   For the most part, I DID like Dean. I enjoyed how you would never know what he was thinking or what he was doing when he wasn't with our MC. He opened this huge bag of curiosity I had inside of me and I feel that was never satisfied. He told Sky that there were things to him that she didn't need to know, couldn't know. Even with this dramatic backstory, I feel I still know nothing about him besides the fact that he has anger issues and stalker tendencies. I WILL,however, give him credit for sticking up for Sky and telling her the truth when she asked. 

   Overall, this book was nothing special. I wish there were more flashbacks and the backstory was set up better. It was rushed [spoiler]and the murder that later took place would have been tested for evidence...I mean come on. HE WAS A POLICE OFFICER. [/spoiler] I'm tempted to pick up the companion novel to see what else I can get out of this. All in all, if you are reading Colleen Hoover for the first time, I suggest reading Maybe Someday.

    Mare Barrow is a 17 year old girl who lives in a world where the color of your blood determines your place in society. Born with Red blood and raised not knowing when her next meal will be, Mare one day becomes a part of the Silver blood society. She soon experiences all of the extravagant parts of being in a world with lies and secrets, and she may never know who to trust again.

   First off let me tell you how much I enjoyed Red Queen! While it wasn't entirely original, I could enjoy it for what it is. I love fantasy novels, especially ones which include division among the people/creatures in the universe. The aspect of being judged by the color of your blood appealed to me because we have been judged off of skin color...Could you imagine having every disadvantage because of something you were born with?

    In the beginning of the book, Mare was presented as a strong character who was determined to do anything for her loved ones, but for some reason that changed a bit throughout the book. While the entire time she was focused on Kilorn, I feel like she forgot about her family. (Which I thought was a bit funny considering she is mourning a sibling and destroyed another's chance at ever making it successfully in this world) While she was going through Protocol, Training, and Lessons, she became more drawn into the world she was in and who was around her at that moment instead of those who had supported her from day one.

    She forced most of the people she was friendly with into doing her bidding and I couldn't find it in myself to pity her. The 3.5 stars is for everything/everyone except for Mare. I cannot give credit to a book that has such an awful MC. With this in mind, I have HIGH expectations for the unnamed sequel!

In "The Glass Sentence" we follow a teenage girl named Sophia. Her uncle is a famous cartologer who is doing his best to influence Boston to keep the borders open for trade and travel, when one day she returns to a messy house, a missing uncle, and a strange boy in her library. She must find Shadrack and discover the truths of the past and future.

Wow! This is a great start to what I think is a series. (Although it may be a duology)

I loved how the author weaved this story together, as I was automatically intrigued by the synopsis. A book about different parts of the world being DIFFERENT ERAS? Sign me up! While this is well written, you could definitely tell that it was written for a younger audience. All the "horrors" our character supposedly faces are basically nothing. Sure, she's had a rough time lately and is brave, but she never faced what would come with being abducted by a mad woman. She was simply questioned.

I would like to see S.E Grove write for a more mature audience as they are very creative! That aside I found this book very interesting and loved how different character's back stories connected with one another. The last page only made me want "The Golden Specific" more!

4/5 stars

SUMMARY:

When Darren hit the city with Mr.Crepsley and Evra, the fun quickly disperses when bodies are discovered in the city. Is Mr.Crepsley to blame? Can Evra and Darren stop these horrid things from happening or will they lose their lives saving the innocent?

REVIEW:

I love Darren Shan. This is only the third book I have read by him, but his writing is amazing. His writing is simple, fast paced, and well thought out.  While you can tell that this is more of a middle grade series, the gore is still there. Whether Darren is in a slaughter house or watching a murder happen, the simplistic details are still fairly graphic. 

I thought that this book was very well thought out. There were so many little plot twists. For example, the intro of this book almost gave me a heart-attack! I love Mr.Crepsley's character and the thought of him purposely killing humans? NOOO!  

I enjoy that Darren's character doesn't blindly accept everything. He understands that even the undead need to have morals, or even THEY can become disrespected and cast out. I like the realistic struggles he has. It's not been an entire year and of course, the pain of missing his life is still a huge hole. Meeting Debbie was good for Darren, and I'm a little heart broken that he had to leave her...like that. It was sweet for him to decorate the tree and leave her with this last reminder of him. To let her know he listened, he cared. 

DEBBIE:

Speaking of Debbie.... her character was very enjoyable. When we first met her I was sure that her character would be some kind of trick meant to distract Darren or possibly even kill him. They had an instantaneous friendship, which is completely realistic. You meet new people and sometimes you just....click.

Debbie helped Darren keep his cool. She accepted Evra and I feel that given time, (even immediately) she would have accepted him as well. She was a very down to earth character who helped to show Darren that compassion for others is something you shouldn't lose, It can make you weak, but it also makes you feel alive. Everybody deserves someone in their life that shows them that it's okay to hurt and that it's okay to care.