Sarah (Escaping Through Books)
Also Known As
Added to my favorites shelf alongside her other books. Without a doubt, my favorite YA author!
Shadows (A Lux Novella)
I would love to see more novellas of this length. Too often, I feel like the prequel novellas or bridge novellas between books in series are not fully developed. This was my first intro to Jennifer L. Armentrout's books, but I plan on reading the rest of the series immediately.
Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
This was one of the first graphic novels I've read and the artwork in it is gorgeous. The book contains mostly black and white drawings, but there are a few drawings in color for pivotal scenes. The depiction of Bella is very similar to how I pictured her in my mind when I read the book more than four years ago. (Kristen Stewart was never really Bella for me.) I bought the Kindle version and enjoyed reading it on my iPad. However, I did not realize that this graphic novel covers only part of the book (even though it does say Volume 1... something I should have paid more attention to) instead of the entire story. This goes up through the meadow scene. Volume 2 is only available in print format and is not available as a Kindle purchase. If it was, I would probably buy it because the artwork is very well done. However, since I don't like having mismatched formats of books in series, I probably will not be buying Volume 2 unless a Kindle version becomes available. That's okay, though, as I enjoyed the first half of Twilight much more than the second half anyway.
The Spring Before I Met You (The Lynburn Legacy, #0.25)
This was a wonderful short story that definitely makes me want to read Unspoken. And it's FREE, which is awesome of the author and publisher!
I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life
I love Jimmy Fallon, but this book was a complete disappointment. I'm so glad I got it from my library's Overdrive system instead of buying it because it took less than 15 minutes to read and was not at all funny. It is definitely not worth a $7.59 purchase (the current Kindle price). I'm also not sure why it says that it is approximately 144 pages in the Amazon Kindle store, unless each sentence is considered a separate page. There's really only about 20 pages or so.
Crossing the Line (Pushing the Limits, #1.5)
I liked this short novella more than Pushing the Limits!
Seeds of Wither (The Chemical Garden #1.5)
The short story takes about 5 minutes to read. I'm surprised S&S didn't make this free, as the rest of it is promotional material (chapter excerpts from Wither and Fever).
Boundless
Very happy that this last book did not disappoint (like so many series endings seem to do), but very sad that this beautiful trilogy is over. I am really going to miss this world and these characters!
Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1)
How do you rate a book when on the one hand you couldn't put it down and kept saying "Just one more chapter!" but then on the other hand, the message of the book makes you feel very uneasy?I'll first mention that this book was incredibly addicting. I flew through the pages of my e-galley, and then also purchased the audiobook (narrated by Emma Galvin, who is a great narrator) from Audible so I could continue with the story when I absolutely had to put the Kindle down to run errands and do chores and all that boring stuff. I also like how this book was "new adult." I am thrilled that books with college-aged characters and college settings are becoming a new trend! So while I couldn't stop myself from flying through this book, I also felt incredibly uneasy about my feelings toward this book. I did enjoy the story, and yet... Travis was violent, had serious anger issues, and was overly obsessed with Abby. A million red flags kept going up because his behavior was oftentimes alarming and terrifying. While he never physically abused Abby, he had no qualms about beating up practically any male (besides his cousin and Abby's gay friend) who came within a 10-foot radius of her, which freaked me out. But... I was still rooting for the two of them even though he seemed like a stereotypical abusive boyfriend. See why I am so conflicted and feel so uncomfortable about this book?It's such an awkward feeling to both love a story, but simultaneously hate what it represents. I feel kind of ashamed to admit that I liked this book because the relationship in it is NOT sending a good message out there. I've seen other reviews mentioning that this book is exactly like watching a disaster... you can't look away, and yet you are horrified by what you see. I think that perfectly sums up how I feel about this book.
Unravel Me
Amazing! I will be buying the hardcover, Kindle version, and audiobook in February. I loved it THAT much!
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions
It's kind of impossible to rate an anthology... some great stories (Jeri Smith-Ready's "Bridge") and some not-so-great stories
Matched (Matched Trilogy Series #1)
MATCHED had a ton of hype surrounding it when the book was released at the end of 2010, but I just got around to reading it now despite owning the book since its release date. I think I held off so long because I sometimes have trouble fully engrossing myself in a dystopian world, so I kept waiting until I was in precisely the right mood for it. Luckily, the world of MATCHED worked for me, and while MATCHED did not become a new favorite dystopian novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book is not packed full of action like DIVERGENT or THE HUNGER GAMES, two of my favorite dystopian novels, but the writing is both lyrical and beautiful. As a result, Matched was not a book that I raced through with a pounding heart, but rather was a book in which I slowly savored the poetic writing.A love triangle was at the core of the story. I've always liked love triangles even though I know many readers are sick of them. At first I was rooting for Xander, Cassia's best friend and official match announced during the Matching ceremony. However, I enjoyed seeing Cassia's relationship slowly develop with Ky, a boy whose image appeared briefly after Xander's on her microcard containing details about her match. Cassia was always an acquaintance with Ky, but never knew him really well, so it was nice to see them get to know each other and gradually fall in love. The concept of this book was amazing and the world building was wonderfully done. The ending was not exactly what I hoped for, but the way in which the story ended really makes me look forward to reading the next two books in the trilogy.
The Faerie Ring
I admit that faeries are probably my least favorite paranormal creatures to read about, so I was hesitant about this book. The only faerie books I have really, really enjoyed would be Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series. I was surprised by how much I loved THE FAERIE RING and am now tempted to reread it this upcoming winter. This would be the perfect book to curl up with in December, the month in which this story is set. Perhaps I loved this book so much because the main characters are not fey, but rather are humans who live in a world where there is a delicate truce between the human world and the Faerie realm as long as the faerie ring remains safe and secure. I would consider this book to be more of the fantasy genre than the paranormal genre, and I have always been a fan of fantasy stories. The characters in this book were absolutely wonderful. Tiki managed to take care of her family of fellow orphans through her pick-pocketing skills, and it was impossible not to like Tiki because she was such a strong female lead and was so incredibly caring of her family. Her "family" members--Fiona, Shamus, Toots, and Clara--were so endearing and likeable, so much so that I wished that I could give them all hugs. The tension and eventual romance between Tiki and Rieker, a notorious thief respected among the orphans on the streets for his skill, was also very well-written. Rieker had me at "You wouldn't be here pickin' pockets, would you?"(the very first line in the book, in which he sneaks up on Tiki who was scoping out a target) because he was such a mysterious and intriguing character. Tiki wasn't sure whether she could trust Rieker to help her sort out the mess caused by her stealing the faerie ring from the queen at Buckingham Palace. The tension between Tiki and Rieker was great, and I loved the revelation of one of the secrets of Rieker's life. I also really enjoyed the 19th century London setting. I can't really think of anything that I didn't like about this book! The Faerie Ring was a great fantasy story and while I felt completely satisfied with the ending, I can't wait to get my hands on THE TORN WING this fall.
The Eternal Ones: What If Love Refused to Die?
I enjoy reincarnation love stories, but I find it challenging to find books with this storyline that seem original. I had high hopes for THE ETERNAL ONES, but ended up feeling pretty disappointed. The first half of the book was much stronger than the second half for me. I was engrossed during the first half because the premise of this story is interesting and I was very intrigued by how the story was set up. However, I kind of lost interest during the second half of the book because I struggled with connecting to the characters and didn't care much about Haven and Iain's relationship. The one character I really liked was Beau, Haven's best friend, because I loved their banter and interactions. Haven and Beau's friendship was developed well, but the romance between Haven and Iain, which was the core of the story, fell flat for me. Unfortunately, the unconvincing romance meant that the book didn't quite work for me. I am still unsure about whether I want to read ALL YOU DESIRE, the sequel, because strong characters are generally what motivates me to continue a series. Despite my lack of attachment to Haven and Iain, I am sort of curious about what comes next. Maybe I'll get to it one day, but I don't feel the need to pick up the sequel right away.
