Once and for all (by Sarah Dessen)

Synopsis 

Louna is a 17-year-old girl working during the summer to help her mother and business partner, William organize weddings. She meets Ethan right after one, on the beach before she realizes what sunsets and beaches can make her experience. One night. One love. One moment and it all comes crashing down. Ambrose, the annoying guy with no boundaries for women is also the inevitable second chance Louna has been waiting for.

I give

★★★★☆

It’s true there might be no plot to this story

The chapters have been building up to the painful moment of her tragic discovery spoiler
That her first love of 24/48 hours died in a shooting 

I think a better structure of the book would have been if her first love story was told parallel to her second chance however her 24/48 hour lasting love should have lasted maybe a week at least and she shouldn’t have exactly spoiler slept with him on the same night she met him.

 I loved how realistically annoying Ambrose was to the point where I found him deeply annoying. That shows how well of a  job the author had done by creating our dearest Ambrose but I’ll admit a hanging curl that he kept brushing away made me think of this

 not exactly attractive but that’s just me

The last 5 chapters have been an emotional rollercoaster where I almost cried about three times and got emotional the whole way through (we can blame the background music)

No character development but the read was so suitable for the weather and time that I let that and a few things slip

This book was more of a 3.6 stars out of 5

So Louna is a 17 year old girl employed By her mother And business partner William (they acted more like a married couple) and she’s got an entire summer working to organize weddings and everything wedding related but she only holds a few responsibilities like coffee and wrapping.

She meets Ambrose when he delays his mom’s wedding because his priorities are flirting with cute girls in parking lots. Fuckboy alert.

She drags him in and that’s when Ambrose darling is smitten by the young girl he can’t have. I’m still unsure about his age I think he might have graduated already so maybe he’s a college guy?

Her first love is another cute guy named Ethan of whom we already know how his story ends when the shooting is first mentioned in chapter 1/2

We both looked over at her. "What is it?" Jilly asked. She looked up at us, startled like she'd forgotten we were there. "Sorry. I was just... it's the news. There's been a shooting." I felt a prickle at the back of my neck, hairs raising up. 



Ambrose and Louna make a bet and the story revolves around who loses first spoiler him when he realizes he’s fallen for her

The only good thing we have between them is cake scene and dollar store scene and that’s it

"I'm not going to pretend to be engaged to Ambrose!"

"Engaged?" He grinned at me. "Oh, this should be fun."

"Should we talk motivation?" Ambrose said to me. "Want to develop our backstory? How long we've been together, all that?"

"No," I said flatly, jabbing a finger a picture of a cake, flowers trailing off it.

"I think," he continued, ignoring me, "that we met cute. Like, you dropped a kitten, and I picked it up for you."

"Why would I drop a kitten?" 

After writing all this I realize this book is more of a 3 but the experience was pretty great and I’m no longer having a readers block!

HELLO 2018!

Ashes to Ashes (Burn for Burn #3, by Jenny Han)

Goodreads Synopsis 

New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.

After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.

Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

Review

I give ★★★✩✩

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a burn for a burn, a life for a life. That's how this all started, and that's how it's going to end."

For starters, let me point out that Kat in the cover above really looks like someone incapable of putting together two pieces of clothing, why would someone wear a black bra under a white laced top?!

Back to the real topic, the heart-wrenching, heartbreaking, evil, evil book called Ashes to Ashes. The book with the worst possible ending I've had to come across EVER. Where do I even start? 

Well, from the beginning of course. 

The second book ends with us finding out that Mary is in fact dead. And she's a seriously pissed off ghost. Not only does she want to make Reeve's life horrible but she wants to literally actually end him. This is just beyond my expectations. 

Let me point out that I stayed completely quiet about the whole failed plan to make Alex miserable in the first book because he was in fact innocent, so their first plan to make Reeve pay for everything hurt way too many people. That should've immediately screamed MARY YOU'RE EVIL right from the start even though it was Kat's idea to put this whole thing together. Whom was also half responsible for this, and yet she gave absolutely no shit about it (may have never even mentioned how awful she felt about even coming up with the idea.) To be quite frank, and a bit of a cold-hearted person, Shepherd was more or less of a karma for Kat coming up with this plan to hurt Reeve, Rennie and Alex. BUT what was more infuriating was the fact that Kat was just another character in the third book. There have been no credits given to her. She saved Lilia and herself and risked her dog's life because of stupid, stupid Mary. Also, what happened to her aunt? She had a pretty important role in the first book and second one and then all of the sudden she disappears and Mary becomes the most awful, annoying and deadly ghost. Kat was introduced as this amazing, i-dont-give-a-flying-crap girl and then the third book just killed her off. I was rooting so badly for her and Alex to get together, because, I mean, opposites attract and he is described as sweet, romantic boy with artistic dreams and she's just a hopeless human. Just perfect together. 

To be honest, unlike many many other readers, Lilia was a character I liked. The fact that she was centred somewhat in the center of this  drama was what made me like her BUT HER CHOICE TO PICK ALEX AND BREAK UP WITH REEVE IN THE END COMPLETELY WIPED ANY GOOD EMOTION I FELT TOWARDS HER. The whole point of the second book was to get us to love the two of them together, Lilia and Reeve. They had to break so many kind of codes to be together. The excitement was slowly built and I was so excited their relationship would develop more in the third book but then SHIT HAPPENED. And authors are so evil sometimes. It took forever for them to get together. There were so many obstacles like Rennie's clingy long arms (at least that's how I imagined her and her friendship to Lilia.) and Lilia's loyalty towards Mary and Reeve's bro-code with Alex. But they had finally made it together and there was no going back and Rennie died because of it. Rennie died because of Lilia's relationship with Reeve and they still did NOT end up together. How is she so heartless? She said she loved him, they actually FELL IN LOVE AND SHE DID NOTHING ABOUT IT AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF. I wanted them together despite their differences in social status and studies. OPPOSITES ATTRACT DAMMIT! 

"I've fallen for the one person I shouldn't have. For the boy who broke Mary's heart. For Rennie's one true love. For Alex's best friend. It has to end here. Now."

NO IT DOESN'T!

The truth is that even though Lilia was in fact my favourite, after Reeve, she had suffered the least out of all of them. They all had one major loss, what was Lilia's? A piece of jewelry from Reeve? I got seriously mad whenever Lilia wouldn't put the energy to keep her relationship alive with Reeve. She was worried about what people thought about her more than actually being with him and enjoying the time they had together. For a main character Lilia lacked the strength and will to keep a relationship so complicated. In fact I'm convinced she didn't deserve Reeve. Maybe it was all pity for what happened to his leg. 

I may have also disliked Reeve at some major points for instance when he was with Rennie. Why did he just not freaking say no to her if he wasn't attracted to her? Why couldn't he just let her go and stop leading her on. I'd feel zero guilt if I ran into someone I actually liked and let go of the clingy person attached to me that I find UN-attractive. Reeve was just too much of a wuss to deal with his guilt and his problems and how the hell did he talk to Mary on Halloween and didn't totally freak out? If he did, why was it not mentioned? How come he hears Mary and doesn't deal with his shit by talking to someone? And isn't it a bit suspicious to just have your ghostly past pop up out of nowhere after so long? He loved Lilia? He should've told her. Reeve goes through So.SO.MUCH. I should've dedicated some ten minutes crying for all the pain he's had to endure. That poor bastard.  The thing is, Reeve was such a bad-ass character, so tough and strong and the quarter-something-American and he was popular and cool and everything and he couldn't HANDLE ANYTHING LIKE A MAN.


And if she loved him she should've told him what was going on, or at least found a way to tell him without having Mary find out like an anonymous letter or some shit. BUT SHE DIDN'T EVEN TRY. She just cut him off and I wanted to burn the book right that second. Pretty sure the Goddamn author has done absolute no research on the meaning of love or the actions or anything. That was a cheap sacrifice. She should've found a way. AND IN THE EPILOGUE THEY'R JUST DONE. They've ruined the whole story for me with that. The rush was awful.
Let me get back to Mary. The character build up had absolute NO KIND OF CONNECTION TO THE THIRD BOOK. We meet sweet, innocent Mary in the first book and then the second we barely get anything on her and then suddenly she's the most evil person you'll ever come across. Because why, you ask? Because she killed herslef. HERSELF. Her fault she died. You want to end your suffering? You freaking grow up! Her reasoning for killing herself was pretty weak for such an insufferable, evil human-ghost. Her personality is so much stronger as a comparison to her old self. She's in fact weak throughout the whole first book. I get that she expected some kind of attention after coming back to Jar Island's highschool but that should've given her a hint when everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, except of the two girls, ignored her. And the fact that the only reason she even came up in the this book to just rant about her revenge plans and how she was so evil she wanted to burn everyone, I just  COULD NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE. I should've been wise and skipped every chapter involving Mary. AND GUESS WHAT FOLKS. She realizes everything was a mistake and wanted to make up for it for the smallest little act. LIKE THAT WOULD FIX LILIA AND REEVE. WELL DONE MARY YOU FAILED.  There was so much chemistry and love and beautiful things and it took an author 3 pages to flush it in my neighbor's toilet. I'm so devastated about it, you have no idea.
Alex is another example of poor character development. Normally after being turned down or rejected, people MOVE ON. Not Alex, he's a special kind of boy. He won't take no for an answer, i'm actually surprised Lilia doesn't feel harassed by his love towards her. He lacks every little aspect that makes up a good, strong personality. All he does is get mad and upset at Lilia turning him down AND HE GETS THE TROPHY IN THE END, YAY FOR HIM! To be honest Lilia's all to blame because she makes him believe there's a chance and he doesn't give up knowing he's got a 1% shot at being with her. Luckily the author is on his side. Me? Not so much. But what does it matter, i'm against this whole series. It's quite a shame because the hype was real on the first book. 

This book had so much more potential and it all went down the drain and i'm so so so so so sooooo disappointed you have no idea. They just threw in a death in Kat's family, they threw Lilia and Alex together after she's rejected him for THREE FUCKING BOOKS and they just made KAT have absolute no university and just forgot what happened to Reeve because I was honestly too disappointed with that epilogue that a wave of a long-term shock hit me and I still cannot get over it.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29 days later and I can NOT get over it.

Big Disappointment. 
Cheers.
Love.

Shatter Me (#1 By Tehereh Mafi)

I am a monster

I'm more than human

My touch is lethal

My touch is power

I am their weapon

I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Review

I give ★★★★☆

Even though it was more of a 3.5/5 stars, I think this book deserves 4/5 stars because I am not completely against it. I will continue the series and I will read the next few books. 

I was drawn by the beginning. it was so suspenseful and strange at one point, almost like listening to water drops in a quiet empty echo-y room. This is what the first few chapters were to me, until beautiful Adam was introduced and then it just got awkward, which I liked, I wanted to see where this book was going and so I read. 

I recommend no breaks. 

As I have stopped for a few days from reading the book, the idea of getting back and reading was a big no-thank-you-maybe-later. 

Juliette is such a different character, she thinks of herself as the monster, the villain of her story and the only to harm others. I think the fact that abilities are introduced in the book is beyond what I have read. Her personality seems complicated and lost and I hope to learn and find out more of her struggles in the next few days. 

Adam is a whole different story. It feels like he's this super-in-love-kid which is nice, but annoying. I was hoping he'd stick to being an ass just like the beginning when he was first introduced. It made Juliette's story more interesting. Perhaps if he was paid by someone else to get her out of Warner's walls and then falling for her, maybe that would've been better. Someone should write a fan-fiction of this book.. 

I immediately got attached to Warner, despite his odd name, the controlling-bossy-young-jerk. Yep, definitely the right description of what Juliette needs, even though Adam kind of balances out the monster she thinks she is with his kindness and such. I hate that she is Warner's weakness, that he directly falls for her words and actions. He's no idiot, so why does he act like one? Hopelessly in love with her is not the answer I want.  

Don't stop reading this book!

And

Don't stop with this book!

I believe Unravel Me will be better.

The Summer I Turned Pretty (by Jenny Han) Book Review

Blurb

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along

Review time.. 

The summer I turned pretty... I'm disappointed, I really, truly am. I expected way more. This story lacks details. "...I cupped the back of his head,moved it toward me, and kissed him. Tentatively at first, and then he started kissing me back, and we were kissing each other. His lips were warm and needy. He needed me. My mind went pure blinding white..." WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? She is freaking kissing her all-time crush and all I get is THAT?! What? WHAT?! I've been reading 260 pages to this moment and all I get is that? No, no, I'm not happy, at all. It's her first real kiss, her crush for as long as she remembers, I wanted more about what she feels around her, the setting, the air, smell.. etc. I want to throw the book at someone, too bad it's not too heavy. Belly is just... Not the kind I expected, she could have turned pretty by just being physically more improved, it's also the mature mind, and she didn't seem to let go of that. Her character was undecided and confused throughout the whole book. Does that make her more mature?  No.  She's been pouting and crying at every stupid thing, OF COURSE THEY WOULD TREAT HER LIKE A KID when she was younger. But I grew up around 4 brothers, so this might seem normal. I would treat her like a baby too, I'd even throw her out the window if I was Conrad or Jeremiah. Pfft. This deserves way less. There've been many attempted jokes, all of which I hardly laughed at. Cancer makes me sad, it was truly devastating finding out that at the end. I would rate it 3.5, because my expectations were higher. I liked the fact that it went back to how she was before, the thing is that I was confused, I didn't know which chapter was when, sometimes I forgot that she was looking back, the only thing giving it away was Steven's presence in her memories after he left. I hate the fact that she's 15. At 15, I don't remember being so... But everyone is different so I wouldn't count on my past to judge people simply because I'm sometimes still a kid and people tend to mistake my looks for a 14 year old. Anyways, the way she handles Cam, I thought that was stupid. Give the guy a reason for not answering his calls or texts or whatever. How would she feel if Conrad would avoid her. Things moved way too fast. This story lacks so much detail. I expected romance, the gooey kind,with awkwardness and suspense, but as her relationship with Cam got deeper, if it did, I couldn't help myself but dislike Cam more and more. His character was basic and I hated that. Total: 3.5 stars (more of 3) I wasn't happy with it, I liked the ending, and the first chapter that came along with it. But not enough to make me like the whole book. It felt like reading an empty book, no romance,no humor, not quite the summer-y feel I needed, especially since I read this at the beach. I do not want this happening in my dream summer

Onyx (Lux series, #2 by Jennifer L. Armentrout) Review

Blurb

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

Review

There are so many reasons to love this book. 

This is the type of story way out of my comfort zone. It's about Aliens, and suggesting I read a book about Aliens two weeks from today, I would have most probably thrown the book at you and laughed it off. I used to love sci-fi so much that I began to hate it. Now I'm open to all kinds of books.

Katy has changed so much since the beginning of the book, most characters do, however her change was drastic, it sort of became more visible towards the end of the book. Of course, her feelings towards Daemon might've been a huge part of her change considering how now, she feels responsible, and is willing to do whatever it takes to protects those she loves. I love that about her because not many characters, especially girls, tend to work towards wanting to fight and be equal to their 'other half' I suppose. 

Daemon is adorable, I think him wanting to be the one to take all the responsibility ads to his attractiveness, his humor is over the top in a good way, I honestly feel like I can't get enough of him, much like Katy. 

There was so much suspense in the story, so much that my heart lied all the way in my gut, I may have stopped breathing several times, the curiosity I was filled with was just amazing, no book has ever made me feel that way, especially towards the end. I was reading and reading and there was so much description that made time feel like a ticking bomb was placed in my head. And then it stopped when dissappointment took over, the end completely blew me away and took my breath. 

This is a full description of how a good book should always make me feel, that's why it deserved *****! 

Despite the fact that it annoyed me a bit that there were deaths, and that, as inhuman as this sounds, Katy felt guilty and responsible for the deaths, I think it may have just added to the irony of how human-like 'aliens' can be compared to actual humans. If that makes sense... 

The gooey romance stuff going on were, surprisngly, one of my favorite parts of the books. 

"Say it."

"Say what?" I asked.

"Tell me what you told me earlier."

My heart leaped into my throat. I'd told him a lot of things, but I knew what he wanted to hear.

And when she expresses how she feels, about how turned upside down she is. 

"And I never felt this way with anyone else. Like I'm falling every time I'm around you, like I can't catch my breath, and I feel alive-..." 

"..we just make crazy together..." 

THIS IS PERFECT! 

I used to hate Romance, the idea, the image, the everything, it was just so not me, some books however, make it worth the wait. The first book showed no signs of gooey stuff, it was just them two fighting and arguing and when it finally got to this, I was relieved, and happy and it's definitely worth the wait, if I had to wait one more book for those, I would. 

Obsidian (Lux, #1 by Jennifer L.Armentrout) Review

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is. 

Review: 

Maybe the reason as to why I fall for books like these is because I have recently started reading any kind of Romances, so I'm just like awww... at every small, tiny moment. 

This book completely blew me away. I started reading and ended up sleeping at 5 a.m. 

I've been into book characters with the annoying-type of attitude for as long as I remember and this book had everything I wanted. It had the no-gooey-romance stuff with perfect proms or dances or whatever you call them, and it also didn't have the "I magically love you right now" but the "I'm extremely attracted to you, let's not call it love" kind of thing. I'm extremely pleased with the ending and despite the fact that I'm still having a hard time picturing how the true alien (Luxen) form looks like, I think picturing an-almost-human-shaped-sun would do. 

There's a lot of humour, all very successful, I think I couldn't finish a chapter without a smile on my face and the awkwardness is just, I can't find the right english word, or any word in any language for that matter to describe how I felt towards those moments. 

Any changes I would've liked: 

I would have liked Ash to be more 'bitchy', I think it would have added to the humour.

What I loved: 

EVERYTHING! 

Daemon sounds like a real bad-ass, compared to the previous main-guy-character, he's a good twist, a change I might've needed. He's basically everything a girl wants in a guy, and green eyes, again, I'm in love with green eyes, so that was a bonus I very much loved. 

I'm hoping the book covers are based on the characters. He fits well with the description in the book and it's definitely the type of guy i'd see in his place. 

He is perfect. 

This is perfect. 

As for Katy, I love the name, definitely fits the character, duh, I think her use of 'inappropriate' language adds to the fun of the situations she occasionally gets in. It's funny, and I admire each and every attempt of making everything awkward, it really makes me feel uncomfortable when Daemon tends to put her into this awkward position where she can't do anything but shrug it off as if nothing happened because it would be too painful to think about it. Painful in the sort of hilarious way. 

Dee is simply cute, I picture this super vulnerable, naive, cute girl with curls and big green eyes, like those expensive dolls you find in an antique shop. I think she's great, and maybe I was a little frustrated with Daemon being so overprotective, but as the reasoning developed, I started to understand. 

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3, by Richelle Mead) Review

Blurb

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.

Review time.. 

I'll admit, seeing, whom I'm assuming is, Markus on the cover of the book gave me a number of doubts. I thought Adrian would be completely exterminated from the story and it had me worried, A LOT. 

This book was different. I mean, it was different from the two previous books. It's the characters have changed completely. It's great don't get me wrong, it's exactly what I wanted and expected, it's cute and really romance-y, and I believed  the previous books didn't have much of that, so this book definitely makes up for it. 

I like all three books equally so far, but this book had the best ending. My brain started creating all those awkward scenarios with Sydney hiding from her sister and trying to act colder towards Eddie, Angeline and Jill and especially Adrian. I think, and I hope the next book will be full of humorous situations, because honestly that's pretty much all I can picture at the moment. 

I don't have a lot to say about this specific book, except that it involved a lot of problems at once, I felt like my head would explode along with Sydney's as I read every responsibility she had under her nose, it tends to be overwhelming when trying to keep up with everything. 

There was little mention of the gang, which wasn't as fun, despite Angeline being the real issue, I would have liked a bit of Jill moments, even though I might have had enough of her in the first book. 

Oh, Richelle Mead, excuse me if I ask but what's with obsessing over blue eyes. If I'm not mistaken, all guys introduced in the book have blue eyes, except Adrian, but still, I have barely imagined different faces with the same eye color. And coffee and sweet stuff. I found myself craving pies and other desserts while reading this book. I, just like Sydney, obsess over calories consumed and pies and other desserts are just no fun to keep away from. 

I like how Sydney wants to be who she wants to be and not what people expect her to be, so I admire her, and her courage for going against everything she was taught just because it felt right, yet wrong at times. 

I've grown very fond of the characters, the past 3 days have been all about the Bloodlines series, I'm taking a break because I have one last book to read before buying the last one.  

Much appreciation, I adore these books, I've become a huge fan of Richelle Mead's works and hope to read more from her. 

Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2, by Richelle Mead) Review

Blurb

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. 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

No, no, no. The book was not supposed to finish like that, I wanted to put a stop to my obsession, it seems like I failed. 

So first things first, what is up with Brayden? I'm sure as hell that Sydney is way smarter than I am, so it should have been easy to spot what an idiot he is. And if Brayden was that smart, he should have done a brief check on what girls like: COMPLIMENTS (I think they tend to just make situations more awkward, but whatever.) But still, Sydney's the best he'll ever strike. 

Second: If I were to take a sip at every mention on Sydney's car 'Latte', I think I would have drowned in a dozen gallons of LATTE. I couldn't bear to keep myself away from coffee while reading. Unluckily for me, when I was reading the first book, I was fasting (No food, no water) and occasionally found myself craving a cup of coffee. 

Third:  I was so, so, so happy at the fact that Adrian's character came floating on the surface compared to the other characters. I got to know him better, Sydney got to know him better, and well I might've gotten more attached to him than she did, but I believe it's what made the book so great. No Adrian, no goody goody stuff. 

Fourth: I absolutely liked the fact that Sydney was so confused as to what she was supposed to feel when she got kissed, when she went on a date, what was appropriate, and I just might've related to her in so many ways at that point, which is very rare because all characters in the books I read seem to magically have a past of boyfriends and whatnot. 

Speaking of magic... I KNEW IT! I knew she was going to use the blind spell, hell, I guessed it from the moment it was mentioned, also I knew about the tattoo and it's significance on Trey's back, I knew he was evil, I think the author intentionally made sure the readers wouldn't get too attached to him, just enough so they would not be disappointed by revealing the sad truth about Trey. 

I like the twist involving Eddie, Angeline and Jill, that love triangle, thankfully it's two girls against a guy instead of the typical stuff with two guys, one girl, despite the fact that, that might have also been there with Mikah and Eddie, however it didn't exactly get to the point of it being annoying, Eddie's decisions were reasonable and I came to appreciate his loyalty and admiration towards Jill, overall I found it cute. 

Vampire hunters?! What- 

That was a bit surprising, not completely, after the way the last book ended, I actually believed this whole idea of a vampire-hunters group would just fade away, clearly it played a major part, and it was different however I wanted more action, maybe Adrian should learn how to throw some punches and start defending Sydney for a change, she's got magic on her side, what's he got? Art skills, which as an artist myself, have come to appreciate that I share so many things in common with him. So yeah, I expected that to be an excuse for the both of them to start learning how to fight, but the sign up classes with Wolfe was a good bonus to their abilities. 

OVERALL: Don't be surprised but I LOVED IT! 

The humor, the characters, story, and as some things may have come off as mysteries, either I'm a genius or they were too obvious. I could be taking into account every little detail, so that could be it.

Insurgent (Divergent series #2, by Veronica Roth) Review

Blurb

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Review time!

I'll admit to one thing, it took me a while to finish the book, if anything, I think I partially found it boring. It felt like it was all about TRIS FEELING BAD. It basically revolves around the idea of trust but all Tris tends to do is lie and lie and lie to the ones she loves and it's just so overwhelming. She hides how she feels, she hides what she knows and most of all she hides what she feels, and then when Four or Christina find out what she's been hiding, she feels bad. IT'S ALL ABOUT TRIS FEELING BAD. I don't know what to say about the book, I liked it, I was able to finish it, so it was THAT boring, I've read worse, definitely worse, but I would have liked more of "Happy Tris" and that would be very unrealistic if she would have been happier, due to the world falling apart and all those hidden mysteries, but it was in the last 100 pages that I started enjoying the book, which is why I gave it 4 stars. 

It was a book I liked, however was a bit disappointed when Tris seemed to just throw herself out there for the sake of others, despite Four point on that, I had gotten to the point of disrespecting her because she no longer valued her existence. 

I was beyond happy to find out that Christina made peace with Tris and everything was good between the friends, also that she later on started confiding in her by telling her what she knew, so much appreciation on that. 

Overall, it was a good book, I hoped it'd meet my expectations though, which were a lot higher.