Abandon By: Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Pages: 304
Level: Young Adult
Published: April 26, 2011




She knows what it's like to die. Now Death wants her back.
Seventeen-year-old Pierce knows what happens to us when we die.
That's how she met John Hayden, the mysterious stranger who's made returning to normal life—or at least life as Pierce knew it before the accident—next to impossible.
Though she thought she escaped him—starting a new school in a whole new place—it turns out she was wrong. He finds her.
What does John want from her? Pierce thinks she knows... just like she knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven. But she can't stay away from him, either, especially since he's always there when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
But if she lets herself fall any further, she might find herself back in the place she fears the most.
And when Pierce discovers the shocking truth, that’s exactly where John sweeps her:
The Underworld.


Review:


To be honest, I really can't find anything wrong with this book except maybe how short it is. I fell in love with John instantly, and I'm not over exaggerating either.


Pierce may have annoyed me at first, but I grew to like her. 


Actually, there was one more thing that I didn't like about this book. I know that this was a re-make of the classic myth, Hades and Persephone, but there were a lot of details that were singular to this book. I found it very confusing because Pierce would talk about something that had happened in the past and not until after you were left confused, was it ever explained. This was the case for every single event that happened in the past.


Overall though, this book was super good, it left me wanting more, which is exactly what books are supposed to do. I can't wait to go and pick up the second installment Underworld.

Cover: 4/5

Character Rating: 4/5

Style: 3/5

Development: 3/5

Overall: ****

Sweet Venom By: Tera Lynn Childs

Title: Sweet Venom
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Pages: 352
Level: Young Adult
Published: September 6, 2011


Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.
Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.
Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.
Gretchen, Greer, and Grace, three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Review:

My grandma originally brought this book home for me and one of my biggest pet peeves is when she picks books out for me because she doesn't know what I like.

I think I put off reading this book for 5 months. When I first started I was annoyed, but it was only because I hadn't given it a chance yet. The book really wasn't that bad.

I found the overall plot line not so existent. Not until maybe two hundred pages in was there any form of plot line, but even then it wasn't clear.

The characters also pissed me off. I found Grace to be way too energetic and annoying. I didn't like Gretchen because she seemed like a rude....person. Greer (what kind of name is that) was also annoying because she was such a brat.

BUT, for some reason I kept reading and found myself enjoying the book.

I finished the book and was completely in shock. Not because there was a cliff hanger, because there wasn't.  There was absolutely no solving to anything. No questions were answered. I felt as if the entire book should have been the first hundred pages of the book. I guess she really wants her readers to pick up the second installment to find out the answers.

Cover: 3/5

Character Rating: 2/5

Style: 3/5

Development: 1/5

Overall: *** 1/2  

Pathfinder By: Orson Scott Card

Title: Pathfinder
Author: Orson Scott Card
Pages: 672
Level: Young Adult
Published: November 23, 2010


From the internationally bestselling author who brought us Ender’s Game , a brand-new series that instantly draws readers into the world of Rigg, a teenager who possesses a secret talent that allows him to see the paths of people’s pasts. Rigg’s only confidant is his father, whose sudden death leaves Rigg completely alone, aside from a sister he’s never met. But a chance encounter with Umbo, another teen with a special talent, reveals a startling new aspect to Rigg’s abilities, compelling him to reevaluate everything he’s ever known. Rigg and Umbo join forces and embark on a quest to find Rigg’s sister and discover the true depth and significance of their powers. Because although the pair can change the past, the future is anything but certain….


Review: 


Oh, where to start. When I picked up this book, I thought it sounded interesting and even though it isn't something I would normally go for, I decided  I would try it out anyways. Before I even continue, I'm going to be honest when saying I didn't finish it. I had about a hundred pages left, but it was too much to continue on.


From the first page I was confused. I think that was a major turn off for me and it left me not wanting to continue on, but I managed to defy all odds and continue reading. 


Another thing that I didn't like was the time period, I have a hard time reading anything that isn't in this time period, it's normally really boring (any books that I've read anyways.) I don't want to bash everything though. The characters were really interesting, I didn't have any problems with any of them and they were all fairly likable. 


Another turn-off, probably the biggest, was at the beginning of every chapter there was another story going on. I didn't mind that so much, but the fact that there was so much physics going on. ugh. Not just the stories at the beginning of the chapter but the entire book. I had no idea what they were even talking about and am surprised I even made it through most of the book. 


For example, they had 19 jems, but they had to hide them. So when they went back to retrieve the jems they realized there were only 18. And they just knew that their future selves had went back into the past to steal one, so they had to go back in the past to hide it. I don't even know, but somehow in the end they ended up with 19 again.


I guess if you like weird, confusing, old time books, then you'll have a great time reading this. Personally, and obviously, I did NOT.

Cover: 4/5

Character Rating: 4/5

Style: 1/5

Development: 3/5

Overall:  **

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger's Curse

Author: Colleen Houck

Pages: 448

Level: Young Adult

Published: January 1, 2011

Synopsis:

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Review: Witcha had told me that she liked this book series a lot but she wasn't sure I was going to like it.I decided to read it anyways because I heard a lot of good things about it. Well yeah, I didn't like it. The main character had a very cliched personality- the damsel in distress. The plot, seemingly different, was not different at all. It is the same love triangle that has been retold a thousand times over. Another thing that bothered me was when Ren, the tiger, turned into a human, I couldn't picture him as the hot guy he supposedly was. All I could picture him was like this:

So when there was that little bit of romance between the main character and Ren, I was just like, EW. 

So yeah, I didn't like this book a whole lot. 

Cover: 5/5

Character:1/5

Style: 1/5

Development: 2/5

Overall: *

The Golden Lily By: Richelle Mead

Title: The Golden Lily
Author: Richelle Mead
Pages: 418
Level: Young Adult
Published: June 12, 2012



Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?


Review:


The anticipation for this book was absolutely killing me, you have no idea. I ordered this book off some college bookstore website because I could get it personally autographed, see picture below :D

Anyways, it was published the 12th and it was supposed to ship the 12th, well long story short I had to wait an entire week before it finally arrived, which I think is outrageous. I had already read half of it online by the time it arrived. 


The book ended up being beyond my expectations, the first one was really good, but it wasn't like I was absolutely yearning for this one, but it ended up being better than Bloodlines. 


I really didn't like Adrian at all in Vampire Academy I thought he was a creep, and Rose should belong with Dimitri. That being said, I absolutely fell in love with Adrian, he made me swoon so much, like seriously. I think it was because he really cared for Sydney and he noticed all the things that she thought no one did. I shipped Sydrian (Sydney+Adrian) so hard, I cried every time there was a good Sydrian moment.
i.e when Sydney drinks the slush for him, you'll know what I'm talking about when you read the book.


This book could not have been better, it was so amazing, I can't even. Ugh. 


I can't believe that Richelle Mead is making us wait until February 12, 2013 until the third comes out, The Indigo Spell.


If you are even hesitating to read Bloodlines, or this book, you are out of your freaking mind and need to read it ASAP. 

Cover: 4/5

Character Rating: 4/5

Style: 5/5

Development: 5/5

Overall: *****