TTT #46: Finished Series I Have YET to Finish

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

I am the WORST at beginning a series and not finishing it. I don't know why. Sometimes I forget about them because of the long wait in-between books. Sometimes I just lose interest. Mostly I think I just have a problem finishing things. I am not sure. Anyway, I am guilty of being a repetitive offender of this week's topic and sadly found it pretty easy to come up with a lot of series that are finished that I have yet to finish.

Finished Series I Plan to Finish

1. Pulse by Patrick Carmen - I really want to read these. I don't know why I stopped after the first one.
2. Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer - I have read 2 out of 5. Not bad.
3. Slated by Teri Terry - Once again I only read the first book in a series and then stopped.
4. Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan - I actually only have the last book to read, but I don't remeber much about the first two and will probably have to reread them.
5. The Pledge by Kimberly Derting - I hate to say it, but I only read the first book in this one as well...
6. Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - And this one.

Finished Series I Started but Probably Won't Continue

7. The Selection by Kiera Cass - I know I am in the minority, but I just don't think I can keep reading this series. One was enough.
8. House of Night by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast - I made it all the way to book 10, but I can't seem to find any motivation to read the last two books in this repetitive series.

Finished Series that I Have Yet to Start But Plan To

9. Shadowlands by Kate Brian - Because they sound really good and creepy.

10. Legend by Marie Lu - I am probably the only person who hasn't read this series.

Review: Defiance by: C.J. Redwine

Defiance (#1) by: C.J. Redwine (2012)

403 pages

Genre: YA/Dystopian/Fantasy?

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city's brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father's apprentice, Logan--the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city's top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor's impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

My Review

Defiance is… well I’m not sure. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t all that good either, at least not to me. If you noticed under my genre listing at the top I added a question mark, because frankly I have no idea what genre this book is. I didn’t get a sense of the time period, I think it takes place in the future from little things that are mentioned, but I’m not sure because there is like a dragon type creature in it and there aren't any cars or cell phones. I think it is in the future though because of a bad war or whatever, therefore they had to revert to the old ways of doing things, I believe they mentioned something about running out of natural resources, but I can’t be too sure. Obviously I don’t know and you should probably just ignore this paragraph of my review all together.

I loved that this book had dual point of views between Rachel and Logan. I'm all about getting inside both the female and male minds of a romance. I really liked Logan and how good he was at technology things. I didn’t like Rachel all that much, she rubbed me the wrong way, and was sometimes just idiotic. Oh and although this doesn’t have to do with the characters that much, I want to point out that they tree-jump, like monkeys, it is weird, and I don’t know how or why they started doing this. Okay, maybe I just need more history on this world Redwine created and I would have enjoyed the book a lot more. The Commander is the evil villain in Defiance, and although he is down right evil and creepy, he wasn’t very complex, at least not that we know of as of the first book.

There were some good action scenes, but nothing epic until the end of the novel where it was just a flurry of activity, which I did enjoy.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like Defiance but there wasn’t anything too outstanding about it. I would have liked it better if it had some strong world building. I guess that was my main issue with the book. I notice a lot of people really like this series though, so don’t let my review stop you from reading it. 

Previously On... T.V. Shows Get Recaps. Why not books?

Warning: This is a slight rambling rant about my horrible memory with a lot of Despicable Me cuteness. Sit back, enjoy, and share your own thoughts below.

I will admit that I watch a good amount of television. I recently became addicted to Downton Abbey and I have a soft spot in my heart for Psych, Vampire Diaries, Modern Family, and more. I won't keep going on, that would take a while, but when television shows do their little recap of the previous episode or ones even further back that pertain to the upcoming episode I'm not bothered, I actually love when I hear the words..."Previously on..." Unless of course I've been watching the show back to back and I don't need  a refresher but that is something totally different. So what does my rambling about television shows have to do with books? Well, to put it simply, we need those "previously on" recaps when dealing with books in a series or trilogy.

Have you ever read a book in a trilogy or series and then have to wait a year for the next one to be released? I'm sure you have. Well, have you ever pretty much forgotten almost everything that was in the previous book? Then you start reading and you are really confused. It looks something like this.

I have and I am completely guilty of this. This frustration came to me recently when reading Requiem and the last Sookie Stackhouse novel. But don't be fooled, this happens to me almost every single time. I read a LOT and I can't always remember every book that I read, at least not all the details. Especially when I don't get my hands on the new book in the series for a while after it comes out. So really usually it is more than a year since I last read the previous book. So one day a while ago I had an idea...

Every book in a series/trilogy should have a short recap at the beginning of the book.  It doesn't have to be long, just a page will do. Highlight the important events of the previous books and maybe remind us of the characters. That is all I ask. I doubt it will ever happen, but I can hope and rant about it on my blog. :)

So many times before I pick up a series where I left off I have to look up a summary of the book online to refresh my memory. It's a lot of work, but when I don't do that I usually end up confused. Therefore this one page would do wonders to my sanity.

This is me when the new book comes out that I have been anxiously waiting for.

This is me when I finally get my hands on the book, start reading, and realize that I don't know what is going on because of my horrible memory.

No one wants to feel that way. Therefore, I firmly believe that there should be a "previously on" version for books.

Heck, maybe as a blogger I should offer up some previously on posts on my blog for when new releases come out. Hmm... I'll have to brain storm more on that later since it may be difficult to do if I can't remember myself.

My rambling discussion post is now over. Discuss away! Do you think books should have "previously on" summaries at the beginning of a book?