Review: Rapture by: Lauren Kate

Rapture by: Lauren Kate

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

464 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

Spoiler Alert! This review contains information from the first books in the Fallen series.

Summary: In the last book of the Fallen series, Daniel, Luce, and the rest of the fallen angels, along with some allies, are in a race against time to stop Lucifer before he erases everything from existence back to the beginning. Luce knows more about her past lives than ever before thanks to her trip through the announcers in the last book, and this helps their chance of saving the earth.

Review: I know there are a lot of people out there that love these books. The reason I picked up the first one a couple of years ago is because there were posters for it all over the library and bookstore. I gave in and read the first book and all the other ones after. Why did I put myself through this torture? Okay, torture may be a little too harsh of a word to use, but I can’t really tell you. I think it may be because I had never read books about fallen angels before and I was curious.

This book was better than the others, but this series should have ended a book earlier. The plot line just seems a little too repetitive, Daniel and Luce, Daniel and Luce, Daniel and Luce, past and present, past and present. This was the series’ main downfall, well that and the fact that the plot can be so confusing that I can’t even follow what is going on. I feel like that unless you have read the earlier books in the series recently (or maybe not even then) this book may be too confusing to follow. 

On a good note, this book did provide a new and exciting turn of events, except that it didn’t last long and it didn’t occur until the end, but it 

The big question is… do we finally find out what happened with Daniel and Luce from the beginning? I will tell you right now that you do get an answer. Searching for this answer is the only reason I kept reading this series. I will state that besides all the negative things I have said about this series I will give props for its conclusion. It is worth reading this last book just for the closure.

Rating: 2/5

Review: Demonglass by: Rachel Hawkins

Demonglass (A Hex Hall Novel) by: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Hyperion Book

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

Spoiler Alert! This review contains information from the first book in the Hex Hall series.

Summary: After discovering she is a demon, Sophie must make a choice. Her powers are dangerous and she believes that the only way not to hurt anyone she loves is to go to London with her father for the Removal. All the while she is missing Archer Cross, her crush who also happens to work for the group trying to get rid of supernatural creatures, The Eye.

Review: The first book in this series, Hex Hall, wasn’t one of my favorites, but I have the need to finish a series once I start it so I went ahead and checked out the second book. I found Demonglass to be more attention grabbing and actually make me care a little bit more about these characters. Even though this still isn’t one of my favorite books it was a nice quick read and I will still read the next book.

There are two things I really enjoy about this book. One, there are a lot of interesting creatures and people in Sophie’s drama filled life. Although some of the supernatural creatures are not new to the young adult supernatural fantasy novel there are a few things that are different. Not many of these books focus on demons and this book’s main character is a demon. Second, Sophie has a unique and witty personality and I enjoy the banter she has with the other characters. I would have to say that Sophie is a pretty good female heroine in a young adult novel. She is strong, becomes more mature as time goes on, and of course she is funny.

Luckily although this book doesn’t take a lot of mental energy to read, it does have some pretty exciting action. On the other hand, the one big twist in the book was completely easy to call in advance. This was disappointing. I know I read a lot and can easily foretell the plot twists in most novels but there is usually still a small surprising little something that happens, but not in this book.  I will however tell you that the ending does leave you with enough mystery to want to read the next book.

When and why you should read this book: Read this book if you read the first one. Read this book if you want an easy read. Read this book if you like young adult fantasy books with a lot of interesting supernatural creatures.

If you haven’t read the first book in this series I’m not sure I would say it is worth it to read this one. It was unique compared to other young adult fantasy novels, but nothing too exciting. I really enjoy reading young adult novels but this one just doesn’t stick to my mind as much as many others do. 

Also, you definitely need to read the first book in this series before reading this one. There is a quick recap of the events that occurred in the first book but not enough to be very helpful. 

Rating: 3/5

CHECK IT OUT!

I found this great website with hilarious "book confessions." You have to check it out. Although these are really funny they are also partially true. Okay, perhaps some of them are definitely true. :)  


http://bookfessions.tumblr.com/

Here is one from that website. Enjoy!

Library Loot #2

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

My Library Loot
I hope to actually get around to reading all of the books I got from the library this time. Last time I got sidetracked because a new book I had been waiting for just came out. (Shadow of Night by: Deborah Harkness)

Wife 22 by: Melanie Gideon
I read about this book online on a must read summer reading list so I figured I would give it a try. 

The Calling by: Kelley Armstrong
I read the first book in this series because I enjoyed an earlier series by Kelley Armstrong and so I decided to go ahead and read the second one.

There but for the by: Ali Smith
This book has received great reviews and has been on my reading list for some time and it was finally at the library!

The DIY Bride Crafty Countdown by: Khris Cochran
My wedding is only 5 weeks away and although I have pretty much done all of my DIY projects I decided to check out this book anyway for any last minute helpful ideas.

Review: A Discovery of Witches by: Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy) by: Deborah Harkness (2011)

Publisher: Viking Adult

592 pages

Genre: Romance/Vampires/Mystery

Summary: Diana Bishop, a witch that wishes she wasn’t who no longer practices magic and is also an established professor, gets her hands on a lost manuscript that deamons, witches, and vampires all want a piece of. Things start to get a little crazy with the discovery and Diana leans on Matthew Clairmont for help, a 1,500-year-old vampire. Diana’s life is turned upside down and she must figure out why this manuscript is so important and she must rely on Matthew to keep her safe until she decides to do something about being a witch.

Review: If you like vampire romances with some action and no teenage drama then this is the book for you. I instantly fell in love with this grown-up vampire (but so much more) love story. This review may seem a little vague at times but I want you take the time to read the book and uncover all the mysteries it has to offer by yourself.

Matthew Clairmont, the vampire love interest, has qualities just like every other vampire you read about or see in movies, but Harkness has managed to make Matthew a little more complex and the vampires in her novel a little more real. I can just picture these vampires living in our world unnoticed. Harkness’ little additions to vampires and vampire life in her novel are interesting and give the reader a little something different. I won’t give any away but let’s just say she uses the basic vampire stereotypes humorously.

Diana is no heartsick teenager. She is complex and a much credited professor. She has her moments of being childish, such as her refusal to use magic, but she also has some good reasons behind her actions. How Diana handles her relationship with Matthew is more appealing than the average teenage vampire love story. She stills shows those love struck qualities but on the mature end. I know Diana and Matthew’s relationship seems to progress a little quickly but given the circumstances I can’t say that I blame them.

The best part about this book is the amount of mystery and action that occurs. This is not just a love story about a witch and a vampire. This is about much more. My emotions ran high when reading this book. There are a few twists and turns that will keep your heart pounding. Also, this book takes some thought to read. The characters go into depth when talking about certain science and history subjects. Harkness makes it easy to follow what is being discussed but this book does take more brain power than the average vampire romance, but I would have to say that is a good thing.

Once you start reading this book I don’t guarantee that you will stop until you have read the last page. I know some people have called this book Twilight for adults, but it is better than that. If you liked Twilight you will probably like this book, but if you didn’t like Twilight you will still like this book.

Rating: 5/5

Review: Fifty Shades of Grey by: E L James

Fifty Shades of Grey by: E L James

Publisher: Vintage

528 pages

Genre: Steamy Romance

Summary: Anastasia Steele, soon to be college graduate, has to interview a young entrepreneur by the name of Christian Grey. The meeting, although interesting, doesn’t go that smoothly. They run into each other later and their “relationship” begins. Ana discovers that Christian, although rich, has some very dark secrets. She must decide to follow his rules and give in to his controlling personality, or let go.

Review: I have no idea where to begin with this review. I have mixed feelings about this book. I can tell you that out of curiosity I ended up reading all three of them. I wasn’t even going to read this book because of the reviews I have read that say how horrible it is to women. But I gave in because some of my friends kept telling me that I needed to give it a try. I don’t regret reading them, although they shouldn’t be as popular as they are.

These are not the best well written books. I also want to note that I can kind of see the similarities between Twilight and how some people call this Twilight for adults. Read this book if you want a raunchy story and a quick thoughtless read, if you know this before starting the book then you won’t be disappointed.

Just like I’m sure you have heard about in the news, this book is very sexually graphic. This book isn’t for the faint of heart or the person who doesn’t like a lot of sex in their books. Although this doesn’t really bother me when reading I can say two things about this book in particular. One, some of the scenes were a little too intense for me and was a little too kinky and domineering. Second, there was so much sex that at times I would skim over those passages just to get to the plot of the story (the plot in the second and third books are better and actually interesting and exciting, the first one is more of an introduction type book).

 Now let’s focus on Mr. Grey himself. Does he treat women like slaves? Yes. Does he have to be in control in the bedroom? Yes. Sometimes are his actions nauseating? Certainly. On the other hand, Mr. Grey is one messed up guy. The reader won’t find out how completely messed up he is until book three, and this may be one of the problems people have with this book. I’m not saying that what he does is okay just because he had a really bad childhood that wasn’t his fault, but it helps us understand his actions a little better. It was hard for me to like Christian, although he sounds like he would look pretty hot, that is all he really has going for him, oh and maybe that he is a billionaire. He does get better though and by book three I actually really like his character. He has his moments in the first two books where you can't help but swoon after him, but it isn't until the third book when you can stop hating him so much.

Ana is up next. I’m going to say that I am not a huge fan of her in this book. She comes off as spineless and annoying. I will tell you that she gets better in the other two books but you have to make it through the first one to find out. I ended up reading the next two books out of curiosity.

If you are looking for quick steamy summer read, then check this book out. If you make it through the first one you will want to read the other two, which I guarantee are better than the first. If anything I couldn’t put these books down no matter how bad they may be.

Rating: 3/5

Review: Bitterblue by: Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue by: Kristin Cashore (2012)

Publisher: Dial Books

547 pages

Genre: YA Fantasy

Summary:  This book takes place 10 years after Graceling when Bitterblue first took the crown when her dad was murdered. Her dad, King Leck, hade a Grace which included mind control. During his reign over the kingdom he abused, killed, tortured and more to the citizens of his kingdom. Bitterblue is trying to restore order in her kingdom and finally give people they peace they need. She encounters many hardships while trying to discover the truth of her father’s reign and become the queen she was always meant to be.

Review: I really enjoyed this book, but I still feel like it could have been better, but that may because I had to wait 3 years since Fire came out and my expectations may have been too high.

There are many people that say this is a stand-alone novel and you don’t have to read Graceling to be able to follow what is happening, but I slightly disagree. Although you can follow what is going on in the book I think you would enjoy it more and understand it more if you read Graceling first. It has been a couple of years since I read Graceling and it was frustrating at times when I had to wait to get things explained to me because I couldn’t remember what happened in Graceling. In the end it helps to have read Graceling first.

 I enjoyed reading about Bitterblue’s struggle to become a good Queen after her horrible father. I found her character to be frustrating, loving, caring, funny, and exciting. I enjoyed following her midnight excursions out in her city outside of the confines of her castle. I also found all of the different puzzles she has to figure out to be entertaining, because as the reader you will be trying to put together the puzzle pieces on your own and hoping to solve the puzzle before Bitterblue. There were good surprises, although some of it was pretty easy to find out before they happen.

There are only two things that I had a real problem with. One was that was that this book wasn’t as full of adventures and battles, but I like books that have a lot of action. I also want to give you a heads up that this isn’t really a romance book either. Although Bitterblue does have her first relationship it isn’t an integral part of the book. I don’t need there to be a lot of relationship stuff in my books but I do enjoy more than this book gives you. On the other hand you get to see a strong young woman grow it into a Queen, and it is always nice to have young adult novels with strong female characters that don’t need a man or anyone else to tell them what to do. After years of just doing what everyone tells her to do Bitterblue finally starts taking control of her own life and gets a handle on running the kingdom.

My favorite part about the book is that they incorporate and bring back the characters from Graceling and Fire. The book wouldn’t have been as good without the presence of Katsa and Poe and their all around awesomeness.

It is definitely worth your time to read this book; especially if you are a fan of Kristin Cashore’s other novels.

Rating: 4/5