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Book Review: Billow

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Billow CoverBook: Billow by Emma Raveling

Published July 2012 by Mandorla Publishing|308 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Ondine Quartet #2

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Billow on goodreads & Emma Raveling on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

It has been six months since ondine Kendra Irisavie arrived in Haverleau, the hidden capital of the water elemental world.

Six months since she discovered her destiny as the sondaleur.

Six months since a series of devastating events left behind their mark. 

Now, as she enters the chevalier elite program in her final year at Lumiere Academy, Kendra continues forward on her prophesied journey against the Shadow. Obsessed with what she must do to keep those around her safe, she struggles to balance her powerful magic and the demands of her fate with the challenges of friendship, the complications of romance, and the bonds of family. 

Meanwhile, the threat of the Shadow looms larger. Kendra and her friends investigate a series of puzzling human and elemental disappearances in the city of Lyondale and uncover a horrifying tactic used by the Aquidae in the war.

When danger strikes close to home, Kendra must separate the truths from the lies and choose who and what to believe. 

Even if it means facing what she fears the most.

What I Thought:

I really liked Billow!  It’s such a great sequel to Whirl, and I just love this world.

As far as paranormal books go, this series is definitely different.  I love that it focuses on elementals- and water ones, which is really cool to me!  I liked seeing Kendra finally accept and make peace with being the sondaleur (or at least, make some good progress with accepting it) and she really struggled with everything that’s happened so far.

I thought she was still a bit too independent and willing to run off into danger by herself, but I liked that she finally started to realize that she needed help from others.  I really don’t blame her for being hellbent on revenge, with everything going on, and surprisingly, it wasn’t as irritating or annoying as I was expecting.  I think it’s because she finally realized that she needed help, and couldn’t do it on her own.  She did struggle, and that made her feel much more real to me than she did in Whirl, so it’s nice to see that change in her.

There were times when I was trying not to cry, because it’s a much more emotional book than I was expecting.  All of the characters had to go through so much and I feel like I understand them so much better after reading Billow.  I felt like there’s so much more to the characters than we see, and it was particularly noticeable with Tristan and Julian- but with Julian especially.  There were quite a few things that surprised me with Julian, but also with some of the other characters too, so I’m glad that they really came to life in Billow.

As for the romance, I think Julian is slowly edging out Tristan.  Mostly because Tristan is a selkie prince, and I have no clue how that would work out for both of them.  I do think Tristan understands what Kendra is going through, to a certain extent, but after this book, I think Kendra and Julian are a much better fit for each other.

Oh, and we get our first true glimpse of the Shadow!  I’m nervous for Kendra, but I want her to take down the Shadow so very much.  And I’d actually love to see the other elemental communities!  You hear about them, so I’m hoping I’m not disappointed when we get to visit them in the next book.

Let’s Rate It:

I’m really looking forward to reading Crest, the next book in the series!  Billow is a great sequel (much better than a lot of sequels/second books) and I’m really looking forward to seeing Kendra’s journey continue. Billow gets 4 stars.

ARC Book Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves

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Lies We Tell Ourselves CoverBook: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Expected Publication is September 30, 2014 by Harlequin Teen|Expected Number Of Pages: 376

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 Historical Fiction- Civils Rights/GLBT

You can find Lies We Tell Ourselves on goodreads & Robin Talley on Twitter, Facebook, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

What I Thought:

Lies We Tells Ourselves is such a great book!  I definitely recommend, and I’m so glad I read it!

It’s so realistic, and even though the book is fiction, it’s something I can picture happening.  I really liked the changes that Linda had to deal with, and I liked that she did change her mind as she spent more time with Sarah, and after a few events that she witnessed since her school had to integrate. As for Sarah, I felt like her story and personal growth didn’t happen to the degree that it happened with Linda, and that she didn’t really seem to get why integration was so hard for her classmates.

I love that both girls narrated the story, because you got to see both sides of the story, and that it’s not focused on side. Anytime I read a book that focuses on desegregating schools, I’m really struck by the fact that it really wasn’t that long ago that it happened- and that it’s a story that’s still relevant today.  There’s no doubt that some schools still get so much less than others, and that there is still a lot of tension in terms of race.  We’ve come a long way since than, but we still have a ways to go.

It really was hard to read at times, knowing that the things that happened in the book were things that happened, and it made me so angry at people.  But I also found myself rooting for Sarah and Linda because I wanted Sarah to be who she was.  It’s the same with Linda, and I was glad to see her change her mind.  It really is a good reminder that things were bad, and that they were a lot worse in some parts of the country.

I also liked seeing Linda and Sarah deal with their feelings for each other.  It worked so well with everything else going on, and it made the story much more interesting.  It’s not something I normally think of when it comes to integrating schools, but it did add something that I can’t place my finger on or even begin to describe.  Still, I think one of the big reasons why it worked so well is that you really see how far we’ve come on for so many things.

Each chapter started off with a lie, and I thought that brought everything together so well, because you got such a good picture of the different challenges that the characters faced throughout the book.  I also liked that Ruth, Sarah’s younger sister, narrated a chapter at the end of the book.  It would have been interesting to see her narrate part of the book, but I liked that she narrated a chapter because you really get the sense that it’s all going to be worth it in the end, and that everything they went through that year meant something.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Lies We Tell Ourselves!  It was predictable but I didn’t mind because the characters are memorable, and a lot of what happened was so horrifying because it’s so recent and vivid.  I didn’t fall in love with it, but it’s such an important read. Lies We Tell Ourselves gets 4 stars.

Book Review: The Princes In The Tower

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The Princes In The Tower CoverBook: The Princes In The Tower by Alison Weir

Published March 1997 by Pimlico|287 pages

Where I Got It: borrowed

Series: None

Genre: Adult Nonfiction/British History

You can find The Princes In The Tower on goodreads & Alison Weir on her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence – including that against the Princes’ uncle, Richard III. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to their murder and reveals how, why and by whose order they died.

What I Thought:

I’ve been meaning to read The Princes Of The Tower for quite a while, so it’s about time I actually read it!  I liked it but not as much as I thought I would.

As much as I love Weir, it’s a book you need to go into with some knowledge of the time period and the people.  I’ve read several books about the Tudors, but I know very little of the events that led to the Tudors taking the throne, so for a few chapters, I felt really confused by all of the names and events.

It definitely felt like Weir set out to prove that Richard III was the one behind the mysterious murders of the two Princes, and it did feel like Weir didn’t go into this as objectively as one would think.  She does make some good points, and Richard III does seem like the likeliest suspect, but I don’t know that he’s as evil as Weir would make him out to be.

Still, it’s a really good overview of the time, and the events that led to the reign of Henry VII.  There is quite a bit of information, and I like that Weir mentions sources from that time period.  I did get the sense that there’s not a lot we know, and that some of the sources may be sketchy.  Still, with some of the things that have come out over the last few years, with the discovery of Richard III’s grave, I’d be curious to see a more updated book.

Let’s Rate It:

The Princes In The Tower was an interesting read, and it’s a good overview of the time.  It did seem slightly biased against Richard III and it’s not the best for people who aren’t super familiar with the time period.  It still has some interesting things to think about.  The Princes In The Tower get 3 stars.

ARC Book Review: Queen Of Hearts, Volume Two: The Wonder

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Queen Of Hearts, Volume 2 CoverBook: Queen Of Hearts, Volume Two: The Wonder by Colleen Oakes

Expected Publication is September 23, 2014 by Sparkpress|Expected Number Of Pages: 238

Where I Got It: read on the kindle app, via netgalley.com.  This hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: The Queen Of Hearts Saga #2

Genre: YA Fantasy/Alice In Wonderland Re-telling

You can find Queen Of Hearts, Volume 2 on goodreads & Colleen Oakes on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

An Exiled Princess.
An Ancient Tribe.
A Dangerous Stranger with Unknown Loyalties. 

Dinah, the former Princess of Wonderland Palace, has been chased into the wilds of Wonderland after the brutal murder of her brother and the ruin of her impending crown. Now, as her half-sister Vittiore sits on the throne beside her Father, the brutal King of Hearts, Dinah finds herself alone in the forbidding Twisted Wood with only Morte, a homicidal beast, for company. 

Hunted by the King and his army of Cards, Dinah struggles to evade those who long for her head, including Cheshire, the King’s clever advisor, who is slowly tightening his grasp around her. Spurred on by her rising terror, the former Princess finds herself at the center of a web of conspiracy reaching far beyond the Palace and deep into the mysterious Yurkei mountain tribes.

Even with the balance of an entire Kingdom at stake, Dinah knows something that her allies and enemies do not: that the most dangerous conflict of all has already begun as she battles the enticing rage that beckons her ever closer as love slips further from her grasp.

The second book in the bestselling and award-winning Queen of Hearts Saga, The Wonder takes readers back to the most wondrous and curious places in Wonderland, and continues this darkly addictive tale featuring one of the most infamous villains of all time.

But be warned…not every fairy tale has a happy ending.

This is the story of a princess who became a villain.

What I Thought:

I am such a fan of this series!  I love seeing Dinah and her journey to becoming Queen Of Hearts.  This is such a dark book, but I loved seeing a different part of Wonderland in this book.  It really is a vivid, dark place than you’d ever think possible, and I like that we’re getting the story of a villain and their path to become the villain we all know from the book.

There are quite a few things we learn in this book, and everything started making so much more sense- things definitely start falling into place, and this book is where Dinah goes from scared girl we see in the first book to the young women determined to take back the throne we see in this one.  She’s really changed, and her journey is far from over.

Some of my suspicions from The Crown were revealed in this one, and there’s so much more I want to know…like, I’m pretty sure that some of what we learn will have a huge impact on Dinah in the next book, but what we have yet to find out are the details.  I just don’t know how to talk about things while not giving anything away, so I’ll have to settle for being vague for the moment.

I really do feel for Dinah, and she’s such a sympathetic character.  And Morte!  He’s really taken me by surprise, and he’s a great character.  And the Yurkei and the Spades…there are so many characters I really feel for, and I don’t blame them for acting the way they do.  I’d feel the same way if I were them.  I really do feel like I understand the characters a lot better- even the ones I still don’t like!

I’m really excited for the next book, and I can’t for it to come out!

Let’s Rate It:

I really do like this series!  It’s such a different take on Alice In Wonderland, and Oakes does such a great job at making you root for some characters and hate other characters.  I love how dark it is and how you can see so easily how a character becomes a villain.  The Wonder gets 4 stars.

ARC Book Review: Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel And The Pulse Of History

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Mademoiselle CoverBook: Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel And The Pulse Of History by Rhonda Garelick

Expected Publication is September 30, 2014 by Random House|Expected Number Of Pages: 608

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

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-fiction/Biography/Fashion

You can find Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel And The Pulse Of History on goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 

Certain lives are at once so exceptional, and yet so in step with their historical moments, that they illuminate cultural forces far beyond the scope of a single person. Such is the case with Coco Chanel, whose life offers one of the most fascinating tales of the twentieth century—throwing into dramatic relief an era of war, fashion, ardent nationalism, and earth-shaking change—here brilliantly treated, for the first time, with wide-ranging and incisive historical scrutiny.

Coco Chanel transformed forever the way women dressed. Her influence remains so pervasive that to this day we can see her afterimage a dozen times while just walking down a single street: in all the little black dresses, flat shoes, costume jewelry, cardigan sweaters, and tortoiseshell eyeglasses on women of every age and background. A bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume is sold every three seconds. Arguably, no other individual has had a deeper impact on the visual aesthetic of the world. But how did a poor orphan become a global icon of both luxury and everyday style? How did she develop such vast, undying influence? And what does our ongoing love of all things Chanel tell us about ourselves? These are the mysteries that Rhonda K. Garelick unravels in Mademoiselle.

Raised in rural poverty and orphaned early, the young Chanel supported herself as best she could. Then, as an uneducated nineteen-year-old café singer, she attracted the attention of a wealthy and powerful admirer and parlayed his support into her own hat design business. For the rest of Chanel’s life, the professional, personal, and political were interwoven; her lovers included diplomat Boy Capel; composer Igor Stravinsky; Romanov heir Grand Duke Dmitri; Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster; poet Pierre Reverdy; a Nazi officer; and several women as well. For all that, she was profoundly alone, her romantic life relentlessly plagued by abandonment and tragedy.

Chanel’s ambitions and accomplishments were unparalleled. Her hat shop evolved into a clothing empire. She became a noted theatrical and film costume designer, collaborating with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, and Luchino Visconti. The genius of Coco Chanel, Garelick shows, lay in the way she absorbed the zeitgeist, reflecting it back to the world in her designs and in what Garelick calls “wearable personality”—the irresistible and contagious style infused with both world history and Chanel’s nearly unbelievable life saga. By age forty, Chanel had become a multimillionaire and a household name, and her Chanel Corporation is still the highest-earning privately owned luxury goods manufacturer in the world.

In Mademoiselle, Garelick delivers the most probing, well-researched, and insightful biography to date on this seemingly familiar but endlessly surprising figure—a work that is truly both a heady intellectual study and a literary page-turner.

What I Thought:

When I saw this biography on netgalley, I was intrigued because I know the name, but not the person behind the name. Unfortunately, I didn’t like Mademoiselle as much as I thought.

It was very interesting to how she got into fashion, and what her early life was like.  It did get very repetitive at times- it was tiring to read that Chanel wanted to re-write her own life over and over and over.  Mademoiselle was very detailed and had a lot of information- too much information for me.  There were times when I skimmed the book (mostly at the end of the book), just because I couldn’t take in any more details.  For me, there was so much detail that nothing really stood out to me. Sometimes it felt like names and events were thrown at me.  And it felt much more like we got all of the different people and events that had an influence on Chanel personally and professionally, and not a lot about Chanel.  I know that they all had a big impact on her life, but I wish I walked away with a better sense of Chanel.

I did like that there were photos and quotes from Chanel herself scattered throughout the book.  It made Chanel much more real to see her own words throughout the book.  It also seemed like a very objective look at Chanel’s life, but as a result, it seemed a little dry, and I would have liked the little something extra that seemed missing.  I do think anyone who’s curious about Chanel and anyone who’s into fashion will like this book.

Let’s Rate It:

Mademoiselle got a little too detailed and was a little too repetitive at times, which made it okay for me.  It’s still an interesting look at the person who started this huge and iconic company.  Mademoiselle gets 2 stars.

Book Review: Pure

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Pure CoverBook: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Published September 2012 by Grand Central Publishing|431 pages

Where I Got It: borrowed a copy

Series: Pure #1

Genre: YA-ish Dystopic/Post-Apocalyptic

You can find Pure on goodreads & Julianna Baggott on twitter, facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters…

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost–how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash…

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss–maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

What I Thought:

I really liked Pure!  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but as I kept reading, I became more and more fascinated by this world.  I mean, the Detonations happened, and people are fused to whatever happened to be near them when they happened.  Like fans or doll heads…and for some mothers, their children are fused to them.  It’s an odd, scary world, and it’s one I wouldn’t want to live in.

This world is so vividly dark and oppressive and horrible, and the fact that some people are okay just because they happen to be in the Dome- at least, okay in the sense that they don’t have this damaged bodies.  I feel like there’s so much more to this world than what we get in this book.  I’m definitely intrigued enough to keep reading the series- not right away, as this series can wait, but I’m intrigued enough to keep going.

Pure was hard to get into at first, because I wasn’t quite sure what was going on- and it does take some time to get into the book.  Once things get going, it was pretty interesting, even though I wasn’t completely sure why bombs were dropped, and why it’s so important that the earth regenerate itself.  I’m not sure if I missed something, or it wasn’t explained, or if it’s something we’re getting in the other books in the series.

I’m also not sure about the multiple narrators- I actually didn’t mind that Pressia and Partridge narrated, as the story focuses on them.  You really got a sense of what things were like and how different things were, depending on whether you were in the dome or not.  Every once in a while, you’d get a chapter from one of the other characters, which made it interesting, because you got all of these different perspectives.  At the same time, it meant that there was a lot to keep up with, and that made the story a little less enjoyable.

I think this book leans more towards the adult end of the spectrum, but at the same time, I think it’s something older teens would like to.  So it’s kind of YA, but it’s kind of adult too.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Pure, more than I thought I would!  I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series, because I’m curious about quite a few things.  Pure gets 4 stars.

Book Talk: This Reading Slump Thing Is Absolutely HORRIBLE

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Book Talk is a new feature where I talk about bookish, non-book review things.

Book Talk

So, two Book Talk posts in a row!

All because of this stupid reading slump that I’m currently in.  It’s weird, because it’s the first reading slump I’ve experienced since starting the blog…and the first one I actually remember paying attention to overall.  I’m sure I’ve had them before, but it was also something I didn’t think about before the blog.

As much as I love reading, I just don’t want to read.  I have zero interest in reading, and it’s something that I’ve slowly slid into.  It started out innocently enough with not being super-excited about anything I was reading, and I just figured I’d come out of it with a really awesome book.

But that hasn’t happened, and I’ve really felt it over the last 3 or 4 weeks, to the point that I just want to watch something on Netflix or crochet.  With as much I’ve read the last few years, it was bound to happen- I’ve read hundreds of books since I start posting book reviews, and I think the constant reading and having anywhere from 4-6 books going on was bound to burn me out eventually.

I just really hate that reading, which is such an important part of my life, is something I have no interest in doing.  

And I just don’t know what to do.

I mean, I feel guilty that I’m not reading like I used to, and I feel like it makes me a horrible reader because I have no interest in this thing I love so much.  I’m a reader, and I’m always to be supposed to be reading, even when it’s the last thing I want to do.  I’m so torn, because I feel like making myself read will make it better, and not reading means I’m somehow inferior to people who aren’t in a reading slump…but I don’t want to force myself to read because what if that makes it worse?  And if I don’t make myself read something, will I ever come back to reading?

Now that I see the words on the screen, it seems so stupid.  I’m a reader, and I always find my way back to it.  I know it sounds cheesy, but I really have to trust that I’ll come back to it in my own time.  I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself in terms of my reading life, and while I know that it’s okay to not always be reading and to do other things, there’s still that part of me that feels weird about not doing something I feel like I’m supposed to be doing.

Maybe, for now, I just need to read at a slower pace, read fewer books at one time, and not be reading constantly.  What’s a little weird is that when I do read, it’s enjoyable and fun.  It’s just that getting myself to read is the hard part.

It’s just frustrating because I don’t know how to deal with it.  It’s all new to me, so I’m just trying to figure this thing out, and how I can get out of it.

I don’t know that talking about this slump I’m in has given me a better idea of what to do, but I am feeling a lot better about this reading slump, and I’m really feeling like I will come out of.  And that it’s okay to have one sometimes.

Has anyone else experienced a reading slump?  And how did you get out of it? Or suggestions or advice on how to change things up?

  Have a happy weekend!

Book Talk: Cookbooks

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Book Talk

Book Talk is a new feature where I talk about non-book review bookish things.

Today is all about cookbooks!  I really like to cook and bake (but I prefer baking), and I feel like I’m always talking about the cookbooks I buy when I do my currently obsessed feature.  It just seems like the perfect time to talk about what I look for in a cookbook and why I’m so drawn to them.

I definitely like simplicity as far as cookbooks go- I like ingredients that I can get at one of the several grocery stores near my house.  I definitely like recipes that are simple and easy to make, and not overly complicated, with a lot of steps or ingredients.  I also look at how much certain ingredients are used- mostly spices, oils and vinegars- because if I’m going to buy cardamom or champagne vinegar or coconut oil, I really want to make sure it’s something I’m going to be using quite a bit.  I just don’t want a random assortment of spices that I only used that one time because it definitely takes away from the space I could be using for things I actually use on a regular basis.

While I’m a big fan of e-books and audiobooks, I actually prefer my cookbooks in print.  I have no problem setting up my laptop on a counter with a recipe I found on a blog or on pinterest.  But it does make me nervous, because I tend to be messy when I’m cooking (much more than normal cooking messes) and knowing me, I’d spill or splatter something all over my laptop.  I don’t mind as much if food splatters over the pages of a cookbook, but I’m really hesitant to have my computer right next to the stove.

And with print, I love pouring over every single recipe to see what I want to make- I just love marking which things I want to make, and adding notes when I do make things.  Things like if I’d make it again, if I made it at all, and any notes I have about the recipe, and why I would or wouldn’t make a recipe again.  I could do these things with a digital copy, but for whatever reason, I’d rather do this with a print copy.

Actually, now I’m curious if a majority of cookbooks are even available as e-books.  I’m sure some are, but it’s not something I’d even think to look at.  For some reason, I can’t see cookbooks being a big thing in terms of e-books.  And cookbooks are pretty visual, which is why I can’t see a lot of them being an e-book.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and if it’s what someone prefers, that’s cool with me.

I feel like cookbooks say a lot about people- what they like to cook and eat, and cookbooks definitely say a lot about the people behind them too.  I’ve never really thought about what my cookbook collection says about me- and going off of that, you’d get that I really like to cook, but not that I love to bake.  But other than that…I’m not really sure.  I may have to think about this.

And I’ve never thought about this before, but cookbooks do tell a story- certain smells and foods bring up certain memories, and they’re such a good peek into a certain place and time.  Like, I love seeing recipes from the 1800’s or some other time period.  It’s just so interesting to me to get a peek into a time and place where people ate something completely different than I do, and it’s cool to see how much has changed.

I know I’ve rambled a lot but I can’t help but love cookbooks!  Have a happy Thursday!

Books I Couldn’t Finish: Breathe and Gated

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Books I Couldn’t Finish is a sporadic feature where I talk about books I couldn’t finish.

Today’s books are Breathe and Gated.  For some reason, they seem to come in bunches, so I have a couple more!

Breathe CoverBook One: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

What’s It About? Years after the Switch, life inside the Pod has moved on. A poor Auxiliary class cannot afford the oxygen tax which supplies extra air for running, dancing and sports. The rich Premiums, by contrast, are healthy and strong. Anyone who opposes the regime is labelled a terrorist and ejected from the Pod to die.Sixteen-year-old Alina is part of the secret resistance, but when a mission goes wrong she is forced to escape from the Pod. With only two days of oxygen in her tank, she too faces the terrifying prospect of death by suffocation. Her only hope is to find the mythical Grove, a small enclave of trees protected by a hardcore band of rebels. Does it even exist, and if so, what or who are they protecting the trees from?A dystopian thriller about courage and freedom, with a love story at its heart.

Why I Couldn’t Finish It: I honestly don’t remember why I couldn’t finish it- well, mostly.  I remember being pretty disinterested (well, obviously, since I couldn’t finish it) but I just couldn’t care about any of the characters or what was going on.  And I remember being kind of confused about what was going on, because it wasn’t really explained.  I had no idea what the Switch was, or why the oxygen levels changed so dramatically, and I didn’t care enough to see what had happened years before.  It kind of made me feel like I was missing something some essential piece of knowledge that was needed to know what was going on with the book.  And it does make me sad, since the whole premise of the book is actually REALLY interesting.  I just wish it were for me.

Gated CoverBook Two: Gated by Amy Christine Parker

What’s It About?  A fast-paced, nerve-fraying contemporary thriller that questions loyalties and twists truths.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Lyla Hamilton is a loyal member of the Community. Her family was happy to be chosen by Pioneer to join such an lovely gated neighborhood. Here, life seems perfect.

But after meeting Cody, an outsider boy, Lyla starts questioning Pioneer, her friends, her family–everything. And if there’s one thing not allowed in the Community, it’s doubt. As Pioneer cleverly manipulates his flock toward disaster, the real question is: Will Lyla follow her heart or follow Pioneer over the edge?

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to understand why anyone would join a cult. But Gated tells the story from the inside looking out, and from behind the gates things are not quite so simple. Amy Christine Parker’s beautiful writing creates a chilling, utterly unique YA story. Perfect for fans of creepy thrillers and contemporary fiction alike.

Why I Couldn’t Finish It: The thing with Gated is that I wanted to like it.  It really is interesting that after 9/11, the guy in charge of the Community started to put this group together.  I really was reminded of a cult, but as I kept listening…well, this group is really messed up.  I get why they joined the Community (but hated how Lyla blamed herself, even though she was 5 at the time of a family tragedy).  I hated that she was in need of rehabilitation because she can’t shoot a gun- and it’s even worse that the outside world is full of people who will harm them, so you need to show no hesitation to kill.  The people outside this community are already seen as ghosts, because their destiny is to die, and Lyla is wrong in that she still sees them as people.  I get that this is a cult, and that seems pretty typical for cults, but it just got to where I was so angry at Pioneer that I really couldn’t listen anymore.  He’s just such a horrible person, and he made the book hard to get through.

My General Thoughts:

I like the idea of both books, and I wish I liked them!  I just couldn’t get into either book.  Because a world where oxygen is regulated is really scary, and a book about a doomsday cult are books I’d be into…these 2 just didn’t happen to work out for me.

Books I Couldn’t Finish: The Random Edition #2

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Books I Couldn’t Finish is a sporadic feature where I talk about the books I couldn’t finish!

It’s time for another round of books I couldn’t finish!  I feel like I just posted a couple, and now I’m posting another one! Granted, I waited a while before posting those two posts, but still…I have had a few more books that just didn’t work for me.

Silence CoverBook One: Silence by Natasha Preston

What’s It About? For eleven years, Oakley Farrell has been silent. At the age of five, she stopped talking, and no one seems to know why. Refusing to communicate beyond a few physical actions, Oakley remains in her own little world. 

Bullied at school, she has just one friend, Cole Benson. Cole stands by her, refusing to believe that she is not perfect the way she is. Over the years, they have developed their own version of a normal friendship. However, will it still work as they start to grow even closer? 

When Oakley is forced to face someone from her past, can she hold her secret in any longer?

Why Couldn’t I Finish It?  I couldn’t relate to Oakley at all, and I found that her unwillingness to talk was just really grating.  You know there’s some really big reason why she isn’t talking, and I hated how whatever got her to stop talking was just hinted at. I’m sure it’s explained later on in the book, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.  And it seems like no one else cares that she’s not talking.  Everyone just accepted it as normal, and it was like no one even bothered to figure out why she didn’t talk.  Plus, I didn’t like Cole, and thought he was kind of a jerk.  Like, the way he started to freak out because she didn’t text him back right away…it just didn’t seem right to me, and it seemed unwarranted.  Coming from someone who doesn’t pay attention to these kinds of things…you know something’s up when I notice it.

Anywhere But Here CoverBook Two: Anywhere With You by Kaylee Ryan

What’s It About: Allison Hagan has not lived the life of a normal teenager. Her parents died in a car crash when she was ten, and she has been living with her elderly grandmother who happens to be her only living relative ever since. Allison became best friends with the boy next door, Aiden. Aiden’s family has taken her in as part of their own, which is why when her gran insists that she live in the dorms at college, Allison chooses to attend the same school as Aiden.

Liam MacCoy is a college senior and quarterback of his college football team. Liam is rumored to be first round draft pick for the NFL following graduation, as is his best friend, Aiden. Liam has one focus and that’s football, that is until his little sister introduces him to her roommate Allison. Since he met her, he hasn’t been able to think of anything else.

Liam is not a relationship kind of guy, and Allison wants it all. She wants the romance and the family that she grew up without. Will Liam overcome his fear of relationships as well as the tangle of friendships to give Allison everything she wants?

Why Couldn’t I Finish It? I normally relate a lot to characters like Allison, but I felt like she forgot about her grandma way too fast after going to college.  For someone who was so worried about her grandma, and who didn’t want to go away to college, her transition to college life was a little too unbelievable, especially for someone who seemed really shy, sheltered and studious.  Seriously, it seemed weird that she would shed that image as quick as she did.

Book Three: A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir

A Dangerous Inheritance CoverWhat’s It About? In this engrossing novel of historical suspense, New York Timesbestselling author Alison Weir tells the dramatic intertwined stories of two women—Katherine Grey and Kate Plantagenet—separated by time but linked by twin destinies . . . . involving the mysterious tragic fate of the young Princes in the Tower.

When her older sister, Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen, is executed in 1554 for unlawfully accepting the English crown, Lady Katherine Grey’s world falls apart. Barely recovered from this tragic loss she risks all for love, only to incur the wrath of her formidable cousin Queen Elizabeth I, who sees Katherine as a rival for her insecure throne.

Interlaced with Katherine’s story is that of her distant kinswoman Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king. In 1483, Kate travels to London for Richard’s coronation, and her world changes forever.

Kate loves her father, but before long she hears terrible rumors about him that threaten all she holds dear. Like Katherine Grey, she falls in love with a man who is forbidden to her. Then Kate embarks on what will become a perilous quest, covertly seeking the truth about what befell her cousins the Princes in the Tower, who may have been victims of Richard III’s lust for power. But time is not on Kate’s side, or on Katherine’s.

Katherine finds herself a prisoner in the Tower of London, the sinister fortress that overshadowed the lives of so many royal figures, including the boy princes. Will Elizabeth demand the full penalty for treason? And what secrets will Katherine find hidden within the Tower walls?

Alison Weir’s new novel is a page-turning story set within a framework of fascinating historical authenticity. In this rich and layered tapestry, Katherine and Kate discover that possessing royal blood can prove to be a dangerous inheritance.

Why Couldn’t I Finish It?  I was really overwhelmed by the amount of information!  As much as I love Alison Weir, I just couldn’t get into it.  I love her non-fiction, and what’s really cool about her historical fiction is that it comes from people she’s researched a lot for her non-fiction.  So her historical fiction is always pretty historically accurate/authentic, because she’s done all the research.  (By the way, I definitely recommend her historical fiction if you’re a stickler for historical accuracy). Katherine Grey’s story wasn’t that bad in terms of the details, but Kate Plantagent’s story was.  Part of it is that I’m not too familiar with the Wars Of The Roses, and the events that lead to the Tudor Monarchy.  Which might be why Kate’s story felt so overwhelming.

I found that I just couldn’t care about Kate or Katherine- it was hard to care when I felt like facts were being thrown at me.  I just wasn’t a point where I wanted to get past all of the details to get to the rest of the story. And while Kate and Katherine both narrate, I felt like it was a little clunky- it felt like the book was randomly switching between the two women.  It changed frequently enough that I couldn’t really get into either character.  Just as I was getting into one narrative, it would switch to the other.  After about 50-60 pages, I got frustrated and knew it was time to just walk away.

My Overall Thoughts About All Three Books:

These books just weren’t for me.  I really wish that I liked them, particularly A Dangerous Inheritance, but they are definitely great books for other people.