Ally

Mini review by phone!

I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy the rest of this series. Allie is a fantastic (if sometimes a little stupid) heroine who is always up for a fight. I love that she refused to back down no matter what and that she constantly fought for others.

The world that this book is set in is just amazing, and unique amongst all the urban fantasy I've read. While magic is there to use, it uses you right back, often making it dangerous to perform certain types if magic. For Allie, using too much not only causes her to become severely exhausted, but also results in memory loss, making it pretty difficult for her to keep track of her life. I really enjoyed this fresh outlook on magic. So often it's just there for anyone to use in large quantities and with no restrictions. I think it's interesting that Devon Monk decided to portray magic in this way, as it really adds to the story.

While I did enjoy the characters, my biggest complaint was Allie's relationship with Zayvion. I can totally understand her wanting to sleep with him. She's lonely, and enjoys a good romp! But I didn't feel like their relationship developed enough to merit what happened in the end. (view spoiler).

All in all, an enjoyable book. I'll definitely be moving on to the next one.

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Buddy read with Cory, Amanda, Brandi, FREEBIRD, JennyJen, and Barbara :D (August 6)

“If Mama is dead, I can’t tell anyone. If I tell, they’ll take me to the orphanage.”

Imagine you’re ten years old. You have no father, and your mother is alive, but not really there. But, still, she’s all you have. Imagine waking up one morning to find your mother dead, after years of depression and psychological issues. What would be your immediate reaction?

It’s hard to imagine what I would do as this child, but I’m guessing I would call the police first thing. That’s what we’ve been taught to do from a young age. But The First True Lie examines what would happen if this child made a completely different decision, and decided to go on as if nothing ever happened, while his mother rots in her bedroom.

Meet Luca, a young Italian boy living alone with his mother. Luca believes he is a ‘half-orphan’, meaning he has no father (though he has had to deal with a number of ‘dads’ throughout the years). We don’t really know how old he is, but we do know that his mother is still supposed to drop him off at friend’s houses for playdates. But Luca is living a lie. His mother is actually dead in their apartment, and somehow, he continues to go to school every day and live a complete farce.

In my opinion, Luca’s narration of the story was almost believable. We spend the entire story in his head, and for the majority of the time, it’s what I imagine a little kids head to be like. He constantly goes off on tangents when he thinks about how to deal with his mother’s death, and his mind hops from subject to subject with no warning. And yes, I do think that being able to take care of himself with his dead mother in the next room is also realistic, because isn’t that what he’s been doing all along? She was hardly present when she was alive, so it makes sense that he would be able to make some fish sticks for himself. However, the one thing that bothered me was the swearing. I don’t see why or how any young child would think the way Luca does. His mother often chastised him about swearing, and didn’t use the words frequently enough to set a bad example.

I don’t know if this book was supposed to end where it did, or if this was only a preview. If this is, indeed, the original ending, and you are the kind of person who enjoys a happy, concrete ending, then this book isn’t for you. But if you’d like to learn more about how pop culture can really affect children, this is definitely an interesting book. Luca’s reasons for not telling anyone about his mother’s death make sense in his mind, because of what he’s seen on television or because of what he’s heard adults talking about.

Overall, a lovely story. 3.5 stars

Some select quotes that broke my heart:

“There’s only one hope—that she’ll be resurrected, like Jesus. We’ve just begun the second, and who knows if it’s true that Jesus was resurrected.”

“Maybe I wasn’t able to make her stay in my life, to make her live for me at least. Maybe I’m not worth much at all, not for her, not for anyone.”

“Now the storm is here and we’re all about to drown, but Blue and I are still bobbing around.”

“If everything weren’t becoming so complicated, I’d say it’s all the same to me, that in some ways I understand her, that I understand if she was sick of living.”

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

I’m going to be honest with everyone here. The few reviews that are already up for this book are glowing 4- and 5-star reviews. That’s what I thought I would be giving this book when I first read the description. A mute girl whose best friend is deaf? I was already sold. But I was extremely disappointed with this novel. If it hadn’t been an arc, I would have stopped reading around 35%.

I really disliked the third-person narrative that the author used throughout the novel. I feel like Portia's feelings and inner turmoil could have been much better described through first-person. I felt so detached from her throughout the entire novel, that I ended up not really caring what happened to her. You'll see from the description above that another author compared Portia to Katniss. NO . There is no resemblance whatsoever. Katniss actually had some character development and has only a few rivals in terms of badassery. Portia barely developed at all (view spoiler), and she isn't a badass at all. In fact, I found her wimpy and pitiable, and not in a good way.

You know how a lot of us that read YA are complaining about how women are treated by alpha males? Well, the roles are reversed in this book. Portia treats love interest Max like cheap dirt. Ladies, this is the kind of guy we've been waiting for in YA. He's sweet and kind, and it doesn't hurt that he's musically talented. Unfortunately, he just takes everything that Portia throws at him, and basically gets abused for the majority of the story.

The other characters were just so contrived that I couldn't get behind them. I am not trying to belittle any of the hardships the characters had to endure, but I felt like the abuse was just kind of thrown in to meet a certain quota of damaged characters. If it wasn't Max, it had to be Portia's best friend! Then we had Jaqueline, who was literally only in the story to be a quirky French friend who loved fashion and hated the American accent (hence why she hangs out with someone who can't talk).

Another issue I had was the slow-moving plot. I skipped 100 pages in the middle, and just kept reading. I literally didn't miss anything except for the worsening of Portia's condition. Even the climax of the novel didn't grab me. I just wanted to finish it. And I HATED the ending. Why would Portia decide to distance herself from Felix after everything that's happened?

So, if you're looking for a quintessential YA story with instalove, a love triangle, bad Greek mythology, and lots of angsty scenes, this might be for you. Unfortunately, I could stomach Portia and thought both Max and Felix could have done better without her.

An ARC was received from NetGalley

3.5 - 4 stars

This past year, my family has had to endure many hardships, the greatest of which was dealing with my grandpa's death. Coming back from university to see a man who had once been so strong and healthy suddenly bedridden is something I'll never forget. But even worse, was watching him waste away, day after day. The doctors tried everything: his kidneys were failing, so they put him on dialysis; he was constantly nauseous, so they gave him special medicine; he had a chest infection, so they tried to get rid of it. But nothing worked. Each of these treatments usually led to another negative effect, until the point where my grandpa decided he couldn't take it anymore. Knowing he would die, he took himself off of dialysis, forced my family to take him home, and passed away less than a week later.

The reason I'm telling you this story, is that it really helped me sympathize with and relate to Emeline. The book opens with the most fantastic prologue:

"My father died with the taste of blood on his lips. To think that's why I now sat covered in blood. That's why there were red handprints on the walls, crimson footprints on the floor, and screaming streaks across my white dress"

"Now I had to choose. I could fight for my freedom-my sanity-or I could keep the promise I'd made my father. After all, it had been such a simple request made with blood-smeared lips"

To be honest, if this prologue hadn't intrigued me so much, I probably would have stopped reading this book around 30% in.

People deal with grief in various different ways. After my grandpa died, my mom thankfully channeled her sadness into pottery, as my Nana had asked her to make an urn for my grandpa. It was heartbreaking, but exactly what she needed. On the other hand, Emeline deals with her grief in a much more dramatic way. She descends into madness, what the doctors call 'hysteria' (more about this later). The house around her comes alive: the furniture is out to get her, imaginary people now occupy the empty rooms, and there is a beast in the room next to her, just waiting to see what she does next. At the same time, there are huge gaps in the story that really frustrated me. However, those are dealt with later, and I believe the author used this technique as a tool to introduce Emeline's madness and to describe the way things happen so someone who has been through such a shock. While it was well written, I would have stopped reading this book, as nothing really happened aside from Emeline ranting about the crazy house and trying to expel her madness. If it weren't for the prologue, I don't think I would have continued at this point. But, I am so thankful that I did.

Something happens to Emeline that shocks her out of her madness. However, it is still there, lurking. The beast still stalks her, the furniture still watches her, and the people in the empty rooms are ever present, but she manages to look past it all and invest her energy in something she loves. The problem is, it's illegal, and her cold and distant husband who is a lawyer, is tasked with persecuting people who are doing the same thing as Emeline. As you can imagine, everything blows up in the end, but it ended in a way I didn't actually expect.

Understanding the political environment and debates at this time was integral to Emeline's story. Stephanie Carroll does a fantastic job of fitting in issues of abortion and hysteria without info dumping. There was no 'pro-life', 'pro-choice' debate at the turn of the 20th century. Abortion was considered a crime, and people were sent to jail for it. Similarly, mental illness is not treated the same as it is today. A doctor diagnoses Emeline with hysteria, which was believed to have been caused by the uterus roaming around the body and messing with the brain. How crazy is that!? . Anyway, apparently one way to treat hysteria is by giving 'manual treatment' (ie. basically using a vibrator to stimulate an orgasm or giving a woman a hysterectomy). I just find these things so fascinating. The way madness/mental illness was treated is just so different that it's difficult to fathom. People who admitted to being mental went straight to jail, while in this day and age it is often used as a tool to keep them out. The book also deals with an issue that is even more controversial than these two: (view spoiler). I don't want to talk about it too much, because it plays a huge role in the book, and is still an extremely controversial issue today.

Aside from the masterful incorporation of these debates and issues, Stephanie Carroll also writes beautifully. Some of these passages really kept me going throughout the first part of the book:

"I imagined a splash of sunset color in the fall, the broad leaves turning orange, yellow, and a blazing red before blanketing the ground with a sea of fire"

"She could burst out into the world of grass, sky, and lavender, but she knew that if she broke through the barricade, everything she protected would crumble, suffocate, and wither behind her"

"It opened to reveal that all the furniture in the parlour was moving, dancing. The winding appendages of the bizarre tables and chairs were actually twisting and twirling. The legs were flailing, and the statues and pictures were sashaying."

In the end, I just really loved this story. I enjoyed watching Emeline's transformation, and seeing her challenged. I really liked the progression of her and her husband John's relationship. Supporting characters like Lottie and Ethel were well-developed, and the characters who conspire against Emeline are creepy and self-serving, yet possibly redeemable.

Guys, if you want some realistic historical fiction that deals with difficult issues, that doesn't allow a love story to overcome the plot, and that has you really feeling for the characters involved, go and read this right now.

Copy provided by NetGalley

Ok, so many of you warned me about this book before I started reading it. Even though I rated it 2 stars, I'm still going to continue with the series because it's apparently amazing. I'm not going to write a long review here, as so many people have already written about the Kate Daniels series, but I thought I'd put my two cents in.

The first word that comes to mind when I think of Magic Bites is boring . This book has 260 pages. I should have finished it in a few hours, but it took me days because I just couldn't get into it. Because of that, I couldn't remember who half of the characters were in the novel. (view spoiler). The murder mystery didn't hold my attention, and I was very confused about Kate's relationship with the victim (Greg?).

I also didn't find a lot of the characters easy to relate to. Kate, for me, was a stereotypical badass heroine with attitude. While I love a character with some attitude, I found hers to be insufferably annoying. Granted, she became a lot better about three-quarters of the way through the novel. Other than Kate, I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters: Curran, Crest, Derek, Nataraja (?)- they were all just kind of there.

The plot was boring, the world-building was a little confusing (though this could have been because I had ADD with this novel), and I couldn't wait to finish this book so I could start something else. Ilona Andrews, you're lucky I have so many of your fans on my friend list!

As I write the first part of this review, I am sitting alone on my bed at 1:30 a.m attempting to understand how the world is going on. After the tortorous ride that was Prodigy, I simply can't lay my mind to rest and go to sleep. Doesn't anybody know what just happened!? How is your life continuing after the tragic ending of this book? I just can't…

I honestly don't know what to say or where to begin. Marie Lu has snatched my heart from my chest and stomped all over it, and then run it over for good measure. I don't even know how to write this review without spoilers, but I promise I will do my best (view spoiler).

When I first started Prodigy, I thought it was as good as its predecessor, but it didn't draw me in as much. I was still intrigued, as we were almost immediately thrown into the mix of the Colonies, the Republic, and the Patriots. It wasn't until the lines between right and wrong, good and bad, became blurred that things really started to get interesting. And because the second half of the book was so devastatingly fantastic, I had to give 5 stars.

One of the reasons this book is so addicting is the characters. Marie Lu has a way of making you really care about her characters, and I don't just mean Day and June, but also characters like Kaede and Anden. I confess, I had a little fit of hatred at Thomas's brief appearance, and then marvelled at the way that Marie Lu made me hate him. (view spoiler). Ahem. The character I had the most issues with in Prodigy was Tess. It's like she suddenly turned bipolar; one minute she's the sweet girl from Legend, the next (view spoiler). However, I think my biggest surprise was Kaede. I can't say much without spoiling a large part of the story, but her actions (while I did see them coming after a bit) made me like her character even better. And I also really enjoyed getting to meet Anden in his new job as Elector Primo (don't consider this a spoiler, as it's mentioned in the blurb above). Let's hope he can follow through on his promises.

Another reason I liked this one better than Legend is the information we get about how the United States split into the Republic and the Colonies. A lot of people complained about the lack of knowledge and world building in the first book, but it was because of a lack of knowledge on the characters' parts, not poor writing. Day and June have been fed propaganda from such a young age, that they believe the Republic has always been the way it is. However, once Anden and the Colonies enlighten June and Day, we get a much better picture of the world. For those of you who are curious, check out this spoiler (view spoiler) If you read the spoiler, you might find some of it unbelievable, but that's where Marie Lu really demonstrates her ability to persuade the reader that these results were entirely possible. Or maybe I just liked the story so much that I didn't care!

Now, I know love triangles/squares/diamonds frustrate people to no end. For the majority of the books I read, I have to agree. But I didn't find that the 'love diamond' in this book overtook the plot. Obviously it made June and Day question one another, and resulted in more obstacles to their relationship. But I didn't find that the plot was sacrificed to the characters' whining about each other. And anyway, Day and June's romance will last forever (this is a real spoiler! -->) (view spoiler). How could you not stay with someone who makes you feel like this:

“Day makes me feel like I’ve never been kissed before. Like the world has melted away into something unimportant.”

I know Day is among my favourite male YA characters now. He treats Tess and June with respect, and has very real feelings and flaws. No perfect love interest here!

Like Legend, the plot was pretty fast-paced. I did find the middle a little slow when Day and June were away from one another, but it picked up about halfway through and I couldn't put it down. Between attempted assassinations, a plane chase, and the politics between the different players, there was little to complain about. We even got a little romance and a (view spoiler) bathtub scene!

Last but not least, that killer ending. I did NOT see that coming! How dare Marie Lu do that to us? Now I have to wait until November to find out what happens! REAL SPOILER (view spoiler).

This is me:



Excuse me while I go recover.

“Each day mean a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.”

*Sigh* I don't even know where to start. My heart is still hurting from the ending of this book. Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed almost every minute of Legend. I love post-apocalyptic books where everything that has been the status quo for years is disrupted by discoveries. Like in The Hunger Games, when (view spoiler).

Everything June thought was true is going to be challenged in this book. And it seems like she's the last one in her family to find out. I really enjoyed June as a character. She's strong and can take care of herself. Even if she sometimes does go weak-kneed in front of her love interest. For someone who has just found out that the world she has believed in her entire life is mostly based on false lies and propaganda, she deals pretty well.

And then there's day. Oh, Day. He is 100% one of my favourite boys in YA at the moment. I love criminals who are actually good guys. He's like a future-day Robin Hood. His love for his family really got me. In fact, any novel where main characters are trying to save their siblings always hits me very hard, as I have two younger siblings of my own. I can't say much else about him without getting into spoiler territory. But...can someone please explain to me how a half-Asian boy is born with white blonde hair? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!

I also really loved the supporting characters. Tess was a cute little addition to the novel. She reminds me a lot of Prim from The Hunger Games. Except much tougher. And then there's Thomas. I actually thought he was weird and creepy from the start. (view spoiler) My only complaint about the characters is their age. Day and June are 15. I don't know...obviously young people can do a lot. I just felt like I would have engaged better with the story if they had been older.

The post-apocalyptic world we are thrown into wasn't entirely explained. It seems as if the oceans have started flooding the coast of the US. Parts of Los Angeles, where the story is set, are under water. At the same time, the US seems to have broken up into the Republic and the Colonies. But, in this case, it seems like the colonies have the upper hand in terms of technology, while the Republic rations Internet and electricity use. I really hope that we get some more explanation in Prodigy, or at least a look at the Colonies!

Finally, the plot was well-paced. It was extremely quit, and wasn't sacrificed at the hands of the romance. I really enjoyed being in both June and Day's minds. As prodigies, it's interesting to read about how they deduce certain things and come to conclusions. It really helped move the plot along.

Overall, a good read. Since I just finished Rebel Heart, which was an absolutely fantastic post-apocalyptic novel, I can only give it 4 stars. But I've heard Prodigy is even better. I can't wait to see what Marie Lu has waiting for us.