Category Archives: Books

Audio Book Review: A Mad Wicked Folly

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A Mad Wicked Folly CoverBook: A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller, narrated by Katharine McEwan

Published January 2014 by Listening Library|Run Time: 11 hours, 13 minutes

Where I Got It: from audible.com

Series: None

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

You can find A Mad Wicked Folly on goodreads & Sharon Biggs Waller on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes 17-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist – a nearly impossible dream for a girl. 

After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse – or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high-society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: Just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

What I Thought:

When I saw what A Mad Wicked Folly was about, I was intrigued enough to pick up and read it.  I went for the audio book, which I think was a semi-good decision, since I think I liked it better as an audio book than I would have liked it as an e-book.

Normally, characters like Vicky annoy me.  I’m just not a fan of female characters who seem a bit too modern and want to be independent and marry for love, especially when it doesn’t seem appropriate. However, I fully admit that I could be completely wrong, since I have no background in history, and often have to deal with what I vaguely remember from school, or the little I may have read on the subject.

But I found that Vicky wanting to marry for love and go to art school and make a living as an artist worked really for the book, especially given that she becomes involved in the suffragette movement in London.  I actually like that it was set in 1909 London and that the suffragette movement was the back-drop for the book, because I feel like it all went together really well.  I liked that there was the conflict with her family and with the world around her.  Granted, I didn’t particularly like her parents, but I also understood why they acted the way they did.  I did like her brother, though.

I get why Vicky acted the way she did, but I did feel like she was really selfish at times, and there were points, particularly at the end, where I really wanted to yell at her.  Mostly because her problems…she did kind of bring them upon herself, and if she had just listened and did what she was supposed to, she wouldn’t have been in so much trouble.  Still, I liked that over the course of the book, she finally came to the realization that she had to fight for herself, and make her own way.  I really am glad that she changed over the course of the book, and that she became less of a spoiled brat.

As for why listening to A Mad Wicked Folly was a semi-good decision…it has to do with the narration itself.  It seems like Vicky is pretty stubborn and spirited, and I really wish that came through in the narration. There were glimmers of it towards the end of the book, but I felt like McEwan didn’t really bring Vicky to life.  She’s not a horrible narrator at all.  I mean, I did finish it, so she was easy to listen to.  I just…don’t think she was the right choice to narrate the book.  I don’t listen to enough audio books to have a specific narrator in mind, but her narration just didn’t completely work for me.  She was pleasant enough to listen to, but it was just lacking that something special.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked the overall story, especially with high society London and all of the scandal that Vicky is in the midst of and how the suffragette’s fit into a very structured group.  And the narration- while pleasant enough to listen to- didn’t completely work for me because I felt like the narrator didn’t completely bring Vicky’s stubbornness and spunk through. A Mad Wicked Folly gets 3 stars.

Book Review: The One

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The One CoverBook: The One by Kiera Cass

Published May 2014 by HarperCollins|225 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: The Selection #3

Genre: YA Dystopic

You can find The One on goodreads & Kiera Cass on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers’ hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey… Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.

What I Thought:

I’ve really enjoyed this series, and I’m sad to see it end, because it’s different than a lot of other dystopic series I’ve read. But I actually think that this book is my favorite series!

Like, I really love the relationship that America seemed to have with her dad.  It was something we saw a little bit of in the previous books, but after reading this one, I wish we saw more of it.  Although…given everything we learn in the book, I’m not completely sure.  There’s so much we learn in this book- at least, that’s what it seems like in comparison to the other books- and I wish the dystopic elements of the book came through more.  I don’t mind the romance (even though it was predictable, and certain things that happened didn’t surprise me) but I felt like the dystopic aspect took a backseat.

Still, I was glad Maxon and America finally got it together, because that was one of the more frustrating parts of the entire series.  We still saw bits and pieces of their indecision and not wanting to admit to their feelngs in this book, but thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as the previous book.

And…I actually warmed up to Celeste in this book!  I felt like I understand how she acted in the last two books so much better after reading this one.  Once she actually let her guard down a little, she was actually not that bad.  I get why we didn’t see it before, but I am glad she wasn’t who I thought.

Back to the break-ins and conflict with the rebel groups: after everything we’ve learned about them and how Illea got started, I was expecting more than what we get.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked what we learned, and I’m really happy with how things were resolved, but I did expect it to have more of an impact than what we saw in the book.

I did love the book, though, and I’m glad everything came together in such a great way!

Let’s Rate It:

I loved The One and thought it came together in a way that the other two books didn’t.  Still, I wish that it didn’t take the entire series for it to come together.  But I’m actually willing to overlook it, because it was hard to put down at times, and there were parts of that I was so glad we saw.  The One gets 5 stars.

Book Review: The Collected Autobiographies Of Maya Angelou

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The Collected Autobiographies Of Maya AngelouBook: The Collected Autobiographies Of Maya Angelou

Published April 2012 by Random House|1161 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-fiction: Autobiography

You can find The Collected Autobiographies Of Maya Angelou on goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 

This Modern Library edition contains I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in My Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, and A Song Flung Up to Heaven.

When I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published to widespread acclaim in 1969, Maya Angelou garnered the attention of an international audience with the triumphs and tragedies of her childhood in the American South. This soul-baring memoir launched a six-book epic spanning the sweep of the author’s incredible life. Now, for the first time, all six celebrated and bestselling autobiographies are available in this handsome one-volume edition.

Dedicated fans and newcomers alike can follow the continually absorbing chronicle of Angelou’s life: her formative childhood in Stamps, Arkansas; the birth of her son, Guy, at the end of World War II; her adventures traveling abroad with the famed cast of Porgy and Bess; her experience living in a black expatriate “colony” in Ghana; her intense involvement with the civil rights movement, including her association with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X; and, finally, the beginning of her writing career.

The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou traces the best and worst of the American experience in an achingly personal way. Angelou has chronicled her remarkable journey and inspired people of every generation and nationality to embrace life with commitment and passion.

What I Thought:

Maya Angelou really is quite the woman!  After hearing that she passed away, I knew I had to read her autobiographies. I read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings years ago, but it never occurred to me to pick up her other ones.  I really am sad that I didn’t read them earlier.

I’m actually glad I went with her collected autobiographies, because she did so much, and I felt like her life story flowed a lot better being able to read all of her autobiographies as a collective whole.

I loved seeing her life up to when she started writing I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and she had such an eventful life! It did get a little tedious at times, especially with All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes and A Song Flung Up To Heaven. All together, it was a definitely a marathon, and I think by the time I got to her last two books, I kind of wanted to be done with her autobiographies.  They were interesting, and I don’t want to take away from that at all, but I also wish I had taken a little more time with them.

It’s so easy to see how she became the person that she was- she is definitely a survivor, and always landed on her own two feet, no matter what happened to her.  I was quite surprised by some of things I read- like running a brothel, and traveling all over the world (and even making an effort to learn the language of every country she visited) and working for both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr…she is truly an inspiration, and I feel like we’re so lucky that she shared her story with us.

She really does have a way with words, and there were times when I forgot I was reading an autobiography. There’s something very poetic about the way she writes, and she has a way of feeling like she’s telling you a story.

Let’s Rate It:

I feel so honored to have read Maya Angelou’s story.  I feel like I understand her world so much better after reading her autobiographies, and I really regret taking so long to read them!  Reading them as one collective work was daunting, especially with her last couple autobiographies, but I also liked seeing her life as a whole, instead of in shorter stories. Her Collected Autobiographies get 4 stars.

Book Review: Five Ways To Fall

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Five Ways To Fall CoverBook: Five Ways To Fall by K.A. Tucker

Published June 2014 by Atria Books|343 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #4

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

You can find Five Ways To Fall on goodreads & you can find K.A. Tucker on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.

If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…

What I Thought:

I’m really sad to see this series come to an end, because I’ve really loved this series!  But I am glad to see Ben’s story, and I liked it more than I expected.

I loved that characters from the previous books made appearances in this one, and while I vaguely remember Ben from their stories, I’m actually glad he got his own book.  I loved the first 2 books, and really liked the third- which didn’t have that special something the first two had.  Five Ways To Fall brought that something special back.

I just loved Ben and Reese together.  They really have an interesting relationship, and I just loved how their relationship developed over the course of the series.  I also loved that the book was narrated by both Ben and Reese, and I loved getting to know both of them.  I especially loved the relationship Ben had with his mom and the relationship that Reese had with her step-dad Jack.  Especially Reese and Jack, because he took care of her even though he was no longer married to her mom. But seeing Ben and his mom showed that he really is a good guy, and why he acts the way he does.

And I really wish that Reese and Kacey met more, because there’s something about Reese that really reminded me of Kacey. I like to think they’d be fabulous friends, and they really would get along quite nicely. I really felt for Reese, and she’s definitely a survivor.  You can’t help but get drawn into her story and I really wanted her to come out on top!  (And up with Ben, of course).

It did get me emotionally at the end, but there were some really funny moments too!  Reese and Ben together were hysterical at times, but it works.  I really couldn’t ask for a better couple to end this series with.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Five Ways To Fall- not as much as Ten Tiny Breaths or One Tiny Lie, but more than Four Seconds To Lose.  I loved Ben and Reese’s story,  but I do wish we got more of Ben’s story, since the main focus seemed to be Reese.  Which is fine, since I really love her, but I was expecting a bit more of Ben.  Five Ways To Fall gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Earthbound

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Earth Bound CoverBook: Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike

Published July 2013 by Penguin|282 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Earthbound #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Earthbound on goodreads & Aprilynne Pike on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Tavia Michaels is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed her parents. When she starts to see strange visions of a boy she’s never spoken with in real life, she begins to suspect that there’s much about her past that she isn’t being told. Tavia will soon to discover that she’s an Earthbound—someone with the ability to create matter out of nothing—and that she alone holds the key to stopping the Reduciata, an evil society that manipulates global events for its own shadowy purposes. Tavia will ultimately have to make a choice: to come into her powers and save the world from the evil Reduciata or to choose free will and a love of her own.

What I Thought:

After reading Pike’s Wings series, I’ve been looking forward to reading anything new she had coming out, and so I started off with Earthbound.  Which is very different than Wings, but in a good way!

It’s a really interesting take on the paranormal, and I like the idea of people being Earthbound.  I liked the addition of the Reduciata and the good guys (I just wish I could remember who they were).  I liked that small details were added throughout the book, and that you had a fairly decent sense of the “mythology” of the world by the end of the book. Granted, I wanted to know more, but you learn things as Tavia learns things, so I’m sure there’s a lot more to come in terms of world-building.  I just wish the towns had more description to them, because I couldn’t get a good feel for them, and it was hard to picture.

There is quite the love triangle in Earthbound, which does make sense by the end of the book.  It definitely made the book more interesting, once things started unraveling.  But I also didn’t particularly care for either guy, and they really didn’t stand out a lot.  Still, I’m curious to see how things go with Logan, given what we know about this world.

Still, I felt like things were all over the place, and I felt like things were a tad uneven.  There were definitely some things I should have predicted, since they were pretty obvious.  But the plot is different enough that I’m willing to overlook the obviousness of some things.

Let’s Rate It:

I liked the mystery in Earthbound, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book to see where things go. I didn’t love it, but it’s definitely interesting.  Earthbound gets 3 stars.  

Book Talk: Book Signings Are Pretty Awesome

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Yesterday was pretty awesome!  I went to the book launch party for The Kiss Of Deception yesterday, and had such a great time!  I reviewed it earlier this week, so when I saw that there was going to be a book launch party/book signing at Mysterious Galaxy (a local sci-fi/fantasy/horror/mystery/thriller/suspense bookstore), I knew I had to go.

Kiss Of Deception And Swag

I haven’t been to many book signings, but they’re always fun to go to because going makes me even more excited to read the book.  And going to a signing for a book I’ve read was fun in a different way.  I really enjoyed The Kiss Of Deception and hearing Mary Pearson talk about all of the different inspirations for the book and how writing her Jenna Fox books inspired her to write this new series definitely made me want to re-read it already!  Reading the book before going to a signing definitely adds a different element to it- I have no idea how to explain what a difference it makes, but it does.  And I’m definitely excited to keep reading, because I’m so looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Kiss Of Deception Poster Collage

Like, I love that she was inspired by lost civilizations and true love and lack of technology.  There is definitely this feeling of a world that’s not necessarily medieval Europe (which is pretty common in fantasy), but something slightly older than that.  The different songs and stories and histories of the different kingdoms really added to that, and it really is one of my favorite parts of the entire book.  And the map in the physical book really helped see where everything was.

Having read an advanced copy, I don’t think the map was included, but that map, plus the one pictured above really helped see where everything was in relation to all of the other places.  That map is one side of a pretty awesome poster that was given out at the party!  The other side is the cover of the book, which is also the side that happens to be signed.  That part is a bit hard to see, but it is there.  The cover is pretty awesome, and it sounds like she’s pretty happy with the cover!  Plus, the bookmark has a little heart attached, which makes is really cool, because it goes so well with the book, and what it’s about.

Kiss Of Deception Signed

I definitely want to go to more book signings, though.  I’ve had a blast at the ones I’ve been to, so I’m definitely going to have to go to more.  I just…don’t know how to find out about book signings- well, not completely.  I’ve been to a few at Mysterious Galaxy, because I get their newsletter (and a couple of those few were in support of a friend), and I only recently signed up for the newsletter for another local independent bookstore (Warwicks, which is allegedly 30-ish minutes from my house if there’s no traffic, according to google, but it seems like farther away than that) plus one for the county library…which I think should cover most everything.  But I don’t know if there are other places to look, so if anyone has other suggestions, I am certainly welcome to them!

I love that I can look at a signed copy of book, and have very strong and specific memories attached to that book, because it’s definitely memorable.  Although…actually reading the signed book makes me nervous, because I’m way too freaked out that something bad will happen to it, so the signed copy is the nice copy that looks like it’s never been read…because I likely haven’t actually read that copy.  So, chances are, I’ll have a 2nd (e-book) copy of the book that’s my reading copy.  Not that I would take bad care of a signed book, because there is no way I’m eating or drinking near that book, and I would definitely use a proper bookmark (instead a paper clip or folding the corner of the current page) and I probably wouldn’t take it anyway. Other. unsigned books?  I’d probably dog ear them and whatnot because I don’t really care, but not a signed copy.  Or something someone lends, because I totally take good care of books that aren’t mine.

I am so glad I went, and I definitely recommend The Kiss Of Deception!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Book Review: Tirade

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Tirade CoverBook: Tirade by Cambria Hebert

Self-Published by Cambria Hebert in November 2012|396 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Heven & Hell #3

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Tirade on goodreads & Cambria Hebert on Twitter, Facebook, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Betrayal burns. Death hurts and the clock ticks…

Minutes and hours stretch into days. How long can Sam survive being confined in Hell? I have a plan… a plan with a lot of holes. I need someone who can make up for my weaknesses, someone who possesses the power that I lack. Riley is supposed to be off limits. He’s dangerous, he’s mean and he’s not to be trusted. But I do. 

Beelzebub is on a tirade, bent on revenge. I took what he wants and sent him into the flames. I will wear the scars of his punishments forever. But scars don’t scare me anymore.

On my way to free Sam I find my true path, a secret place and new allies. But in Hell nothing is easy… and everything is cruel. The only thing left to do is survive.

What I Thought:

One thing I’ve really liked about this series from the very beginning is how unique it is!  I liked Tirade, but not as much as I was hoping.  Still, it’s an interesting addition to the series, given everything that happens.

I’ve really come to care about Heven and Sam, and I just want Sam to be okay.  Same with Heven, and I think they’re such interesting characters, especially with everything that we’ve learned about Heven so far.  I didn’t see that coming but I knew there was something more to her character and the Supernatural Treasure angle. I’m glad we got to know Sam’s brother better, and I really felt for him in this book, mostly because we got to know the real Logan better.  And I just love how important Heven’s grandma is to her, because she really is more of a mother to Heven than Heven’s own mother.  And if there’s something I love, it’s grandparent-grandchild relationships.

I wasn’t expecting the possibility of a love triangle, but I don’t think it will turn into a full-blown love triangle. Which is good, because I can’t imagine Heven with anyone except Sam.  I’m still not sure what to think about Riley, but I do feel like I understand him a little bit better.  I’m actually curious as to how the end of the book will factor into the next book.

We spend quite a bit of the book in hell, and I really liked Hebert’s vision of hell- a dark, dreary barren place, and not the flames you’d expect.  Overall, this book is a bit darker than the previous two, and it makes me wonder if the next book will be darker, and how everything will turn out.

I didn’t like the dual narration as much as I did in the last book, but it still worked well for the book, given Sam’s in hell and Heven’s not.  It really does give you perspective on what’s going on with both Heven and Sam.

Let’s Rate It:

I liked Tirade, but it kind of seemed like it was bridging the gap between the first two books and the last book.  It’s definitely different than a lot of the other paranormal books I’ve read, and I’m looking forward to reading the next (and last) book. Tirade gets 3 stars.

ARC Book Review: The Kiss Of Deception

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The Kiss Of Deception CoverBook: The Kiss Of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Published July 8, 2014 by Henry Holt & Co.|339 pages

Where I Got It: netgalley.com., which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1

Genre: YA Fantasy

You can find The Kiss Of Deception on goodreads & Mary E. Pearson on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

What I Thought:

I’m so glad I read The Kiss Of Deception!  I don’t read a lot of fantasy, but The Kiss Of Deception seemed too interesting to pass up.

I thought that Lia not having the abilities she’s supposed to have as First Daughter were really interesting.  I can’t even begin to imagine having to pretend having the gift of sight.  I really felt for Lia as she started a new life and ended up places she never expected.  Lia narrates most of the book, but there is the occassional chapter narrated by both the jilted prince and the assassin, which really added to the book.  I think it’s because you get a slightly different perspective on what’s going on. And I thought the love triangle to be really interesting and well-done.  Things could go either way, and I’m really curious as to who Lia will fall for. They’re both mysterious in a good way, and I like that you’re not sure if they’re a good guy or a bad guy.

I loved that you had songs and stories scattered throughout the book, because they really added something to the different groups in the book.  It added something special to this world, and I can’t wait to learn more about the world Lia lives in. I felt like we could have known more about Lia’s world, but at the same time, I feel like there’s more to come.  And it really did feel like Pearson put a lot of work into creating Lia’s world, even if we don’t know every single little detail.  Come to think of it, I actually like that we aren’t overloaded with details of what every tree, flower and shrub looks like.  The details we have are necessary to what’s going on, and what will happen in the rest of the series.

I’m hoping the magic in this book is explored a little more in the rest of the series, because I found Lia’s lack of sight to be interesting.  And if maybe she has another ability- because there is definitely something special about her, and for some reason, I just think it would be interesting for her to have something different.  Maybe because First Daughters are supposed to have one ability, and her having something different would be an interesting twist.

Let’s Rate It:

There is so much more to The Kiss Of Deception than the summary would lead you to believe.  The hinted at love triangle is interesting, and I can’t wait to see how that develops.  I’m definitely looking forward to reading the sequel, which is going to be a long wait, since the sequel comes out next year.  The Kiss Of Deception gets 4 stars.

ARC Book Review: Torn Away

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Torn Away CoverBook: Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

Published May 2014 by Little, Brown Books For Young Readers|200 pages

Where I Got It: I got a digital advanced copy from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find Torn Away on goodreads & Jennifer Brown on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Born and raised in the Midwest, Jersey Cameron knows all about tornadoes. Or so she thinks. When her town is devastated by a twister, Jersey survives — but loses her mother, her young sister, and her home. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she’s sent to live with her only surviving relatives: first her biological father, then her estranged grandparents.

In an unfamiliar place, Jersey faces a reality she’s never considered before — one in which her mother wasn’t perfect, and neither were her grandparents, but they all loved her just the same. Together, they create a new definition of family. And that’s something no tornado can touch.

What I Thought:

After loving Hate List to pieces, I’ve been meaning to read everything else Jennifer Brown has written, and decided to start off with Torn Away.  Which I liked, but not as much as I was expecting or hoping to.

I think part of why I didn’t love it the way I expected to was that I love Hate List so much that it was going to take an amazing book to meet the really high expectations that Hate List set.

I liked that Jersey has to deal with people who are strangers to her, and that she starts to question the definition of family and who her parents really are.  I also liked seeing her deal with her step-father sending her to live with her only remaining biological family, because he’s grieving as well, and seeing her deal with the aftermath of the tornado.  How she was treated by some of the people in her life…they were so horrible to treat her the way they did, and she didn’t do a thing to deserve it, but I’m also glad that she found people who loved her and made an effort to be there for her.

Brown does such a great job at writing characters that you sympathasize with (like Jersey) and characters that make you really angry (like most of her remaining family).  That part was what I’ve come to expect in a Jennifer Brown novel.

There were other things I was expecting, but didn’t see in Torn Away.  I just needed more from Torn Away- more of the rebuilding and exploration of loss and grief in the wake of something that’s just HORRIBLE to deal with.  More about what her mom was like when she was younger, and more connection to her mother’s parents.  She did it so well in Hate List, and I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t there for me in Torn Away.  Torn Away felt really short to me, and I wish it had been longer- which might be why I feel like something was missing.  I was fully expecting to get emotional, and I definitely didn’t cry even though I was expecting to (and probably should have) at times.

Let’s Rate It:

I did like Torn Away, and how Jersey had to come to terms with everything that’s happened.  But I also wish there were to Torn Away, because things weren’t explored as much as I had hoped.  Torn Away gets 3 stars. 

Mini Audio Book Review: Hexed

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Hexed CoverBook: Hexed by Michelle Krys, Narrated by Tai Alexandra Ricci

Published June 2014 by Listening Library|Run Time: 8 hours, 34 minutes

Where I Got It: the library

Series: The Witch Hunter #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Hexed on goodreads & Michelle Krys on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

A stolen book. A deadly plan. A destiny discovered. 

If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world, she learns that her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie is about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

What I Thought:

Hexed was a fun book to listen to!  I definitely enjoyed it a lot- there were even points where I found myself talking at the book!  I will say that Hexed was predictable at times, but it was a fun kind of predictable.

I really liked Indie and the world she was a part of.  It’s different than a lot of the paranormal books I’ve read, mostly because it focuses on witches, and a war between witches and sorcerers.  I really liked the distinction between the two groups.  I liked that there was a chance Indigo would be a witch, and that it was something she grew into, and wasn’t born with.  At the same time, I wish we knew more about this particular witch-filled world, and I’m hoping we’ll see more of that in the next book.

I could relate to Indie, and I liked that she had a good friend in Paige.  They seemed to have a good friendship going, even if it took Indie a while to figure out that Paige wasn’t that bad.  I really didn’t get why Indie and Bianca were best friends for so long, but I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt, and hope she was a better person than what we see in the book.  Jezebel was interesting, as was Bishop, but I don’t have strong thoughts about them either way.  I feel like they’re both pretty mysterious, and that we know little about them by the end of the book.

I also liked Tai Alexandra Ricci as a narrator, and she really brought Indie to life.  She made the book a lot of fun to listen to.

Let’s Rate It:

Hexed was a fun but slightly predictable book to listen to, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of the paranormal world Indie lives in.  Hexed gets 4 stars.