Switched By: Amanda Hocking

Title: Switched
Author: Amanda Hocking
Pages: 330
Level: Young Adult
Published: January 3, 2012

When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel — all because of Finn Holmes. Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken...though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth — and he’s come to take her home. Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become....


Review:


This book was super good. I've read a lot of reviews for it and they're either really positive or they down right hate it. I thought that the story line was really original. I mean I haven't read too many books about Trylle. You'll know what I'm talking about if you get 20 pages in.


I loved Finn with all my heart. I'm not even exaggerating. Although, just like the last book I read, this sounds extremely romantic and then once you read it there is hardly any romance at all, which bugged me.


I thought the plot pace was good, but there wasn't a clear plot line. At the beginning there was but after she "takes a journey to a magical world she never knew existed" it gets a little muddled and you're left sitting there like "what the heck is going on?!".


Not many questions were answered, actually I don't think any were. And as much as it was frustrating Wendy, it was frustrating me even more.


Although, I did find some faults in this book, at the end of the day, I still really enjoyed it.

Cover: 3/5

Character Rating: 4/5

Style: 3/5

Development: 3/5

Overall: ****

Fated By: Alyson Noel

Title: Fated
Author: Alyson Noel
Pages: 384
Level: Young adult
Published: May 22, 2012


Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.
There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

Review:

What first drew me to this book was the cover. Ultimately it's what makes me buy a book, I know that's supposed to be bad, but whatever. I actually thought the cover was kind of cheesy, so it made me want to read the summary. And, I was actually really intrigued.

The plot line was something completely different and really refreshing. I thought it moved at a good pace. I am a hopeless romantic though and from reading the summary it sounds like a romance, but that's on the back-burner and isn't a main focus (which was a bummer).

I really liked the story and I couldn't put the book down. I felt that the book led up to the climax for a major part of the book and the last 20 pages everything had to be wrapped up. So, by the time I got to the end, I was yearning for more.

Although I really liked this book, I am a little skeptical. Alyson Noel always writes these amazing books. BUT the first one is always the best and then she just carries out the series for an infinitely long amount of books which makes me end up hating them. I'm hoping she doesn't do the same for this series, but you never know.

Cover: 3/5

Character Rating: 4/5

Style: 4/5

Development: 4/5

Overall: ****

Divergent By: Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 496
Level: Young Adult
Published: May 3, 2011


In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen.
But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

Review:

When I first started reading this, I couldn't put it down, well, I couldn't ever put it down. From the first five pages I was already mesmerized by the setting. I would love to live in a world where you choose a faction, it seems so much more interesting than life now.

Anyways, I absolutely loved this book. It was beyond my expectations. I loved the plot line and actually the only part that I found somewhat boring was the last 20 pages because it wasn't like the rest of the book.

While I was reading this it kept giving me deja-vu of when I was reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer, not because the plots are similar, but because I had the same sort of feeling when reading both. They both made me jealous because I wasn't living in the actual story.

I cannot wait to go and buy the next one, I'm sure it wont disappoint. Seriously though if you want an AMAZING book to read, definitely go pick up this one because it will blow your socks off.

Cover: 4/5

Character Rating: 5/5

Style: 5/5

Development: 5/5

Overall: *****

Feed By: M.T Anderson

Title: Feed
Author: M.T Anderson
Level: Young Adult
Pages: 240
Published: 2002


Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains.

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

Review:

When I first picked up this book and read the synopsis, I absolutely fell in love with it. I had already declared it one of my favorite books because it seemed so great.

It certainly did not live up to my expectations. One of the many things that I didn't like about this book was the language. The author said that he spent time in malls and reading text messages to come up with the language, but the book was published in 2002 and no one even talks like that now.

Second, from the first page I felt that I was reading the sequel in a series. I had no idea what was going on from the very beginning. The plot was so confusing because I thought the book was a sort of dystopian type novel and it wasn't. I really didn't understand either because the characters would get lesions as a sort of fashion statement and from up above it says "an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to here and now". Oh really? So now we get lesions? I had no idea.

Also, in the middle of a chapter there would be  advertisements because the feed was constantly advertising to the characters, but I wasn't a character so why would that be put in the book? It just didn't make any sense.

I also didn't like any of the characters. I found Titus to be rather annoying because at the beginning he was so ignorant and at the end it seemed like he hadn't changed. He was also so oblivious to his friends being rude to Violet.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book one bit. I was just reading to finish.

Cover: 2/5

Character Rating: 1/5

Style: 0/5

Development: 3/5

Overall: *

Rot and Ruin By: Jonathan Maberry

Title: Rot and Ruin
Author: Jonathan Maberry
Pages: 458
Level: Young Adult
Published: September 14, 2010

Rot and Ruin is the story of Benny Imura, a 14 year old who needs to find a job by 15 or get his rations cut in half. He lives in America, except this America is zombie infested. Benny tries to find a job anywhere he can get one, but no one will hire him. This leaves him with no choice but to apprentice with his cowardice and boring big brother Tom. Tom is a bounty hunter out in the rot and ruin. But Tom is different from other bounty hunters, he doesn't just go out and kill zombies for cash. He is a closure specialist, someone who kills zombies who were once part of their client's family. Out in the rot and ruin Benny learns all about the right and wrong in the zombie infested world.

Review:

Well, let's start off with the fact that generally my type of novel is realistic fiction so this was out of my comfort zone. I find post-apocalyptic zombie stories better for movies and television than I do for books. It's just not my cup of tea, but I gave it a shot anyways.

This book was okay, I felt that reading the synopsis and then reading the first 250 or so pages that there wasn't a clear plot and it was all just a really long introduction.

After the plot was introduced it got better and I was mildly interested, but only mildly. I felt that because it took so long to get into I had already given up on the book and I was just trying to finish it.

I'm not sure if I'll be reading the second one, you might enjoy it if you like reading about zombies, personally I don't.

Cover: 3/5

Character Rating: 3/5

Style:1/5

Development: 0/5

Overall: ***