Review of Forbidden by Eve Bunting

Title/Author: Forbidden by Eve Bunting
Publisher/Date published: Clarion Books, December 1st 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: In early-nineteenth century Scotland, sixteen-year-old Josie, an orphan, is sent to live with an aunt and uncle on the rocky, stormy northwest coast. Everything and everyone in her new surroundings, including her relatives, is sinister, threatening, and mysterious. She's told that Eli, the young man she's attracted to, is forbidden to her, but not why. Spirited, curious, and determined, Josie sets out to learn the village's secrets and discovers evil, fueled by heartless greed, as well as a ghostly presence eager for revenge. An author's note gives the historical inspiration for this story.

Forbidden should have been something that I could fall in love with in theory. I mean: it has a historical setting with a mystery and a forbidden boy, what's not to like? Well, it kinda didn't turn out as enjoyable as I'd hoped.

I never really connected to Josie. I mean, she's obviously been through a lot and then she arrives at her aunt and uncle's house and it's AWFUl, and I did like that she's curious to find out what exactly is going on, but other than that, I was just a little 'meh' about her. And maybe it's the fact that the story doesn't span a very long time, but I never really felt like we got to know her very well, I'm still not sure what kind of person she really is.

I had really big issues with the romance. I mean, Josie is really rude to Eli for no reason, while he's only trying to help, which bothered me. And then all of a sudden she's in love with him?? And she wants him to come with her when she leaves the town after only having known him for what? Two days?? I mean SERIOUSLY??? WTF?? This was such a huge intsa-love happening and I could not for the life of me figure out what they liked about each other and UGH! I mean, she was basically ready to die for him, WHERE IS YOUR BRAIN??

I was also pretty annoyed by Josie's aunt and uncle, they were cruel and the only reason we get is that the uncle was disfigured as a kid and he didn't like his brother, Josie's dad. I mean, what? So your ears are weird and that's the reason your a nasty person? I just cannot. And I'm still not sure what her aunt's deal was. And their dog, SO CREEPY! That thing was nasty and then it attacks a human and you don't take care of the wound an discipline the dog? WHAT THE WHAT??

I was horrified by the thing that goes on on the island that is the big mystery and I am even more horrified by the fact that this is actually something that used to happen way back when. But everything gets resolved so quickly and there was no real build-up for me, so the whole mystery isn't much of a mystery after all.

Basically this just didn't work for me, there were too many issues and WTF moments in a bad way and I don't think I would have finished this if I hadn't been stuck in a car for 7 hours driving back home from Berlin.

My rating: 1 star

Review of The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title/Author: The Fixer (The Fixer #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, July 7th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: When sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick is sent to live with her older sister, Ivy, she has no idea that the infamous Ivy Kendrick is Washington D.C.'s #1 “fixer,” known for making politicians' scandals go away for a price. No sooner does Tess enroll at Hardwicke Academy than she unwittingly follows in her sister's footsteps and becomes D.C.'s premier high school fixer, solving problems for elite teens.

Secrets pile up as each sister lives a double life... until their worlds come crashing together and Tess finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy with one of her classmates and a client of Ivy's. Suddenly, there is much more on the line than good grades, money, or politics, and the price for this fix might be more than Tess is willing to pay

I totally freaking loved this book, so much that it made me itch to write a review. Which hasn't happened in over a month. I blame all this on the awesomeness of The Fixer!

Mystery and thriller type novels aren't usually my thing, but for Jennifer Lynn Barnes I make an exception, because with The Naturals series she has proven that she's beyond capable of drawing me in that kind of story. And she once again had me absorbed, this time in Tess' story.
Tess hasn't had an easy year, she's been caring for her grandfather, who has Alzheimer's and she's been covering for his lapses, trying to keep everything afloat. And I SO felt for her, I mean, she's put her life on hold because she loves her grandfather so much and doesn't want to be separated from him. Imagine being a teenager and taking on that responsibility. I also felt that Jennifer Lynn Barnes portrayed the effects of Alzheimer's on a person really well. Having a loved one suffering from this disease is one of my worst nightmares, so seeing it in a novel always hits me in the feels.

But then Ivy, Tess' older sister by 17 years, comes back after being gone for 3 years, takes charge of the situation and whisks Tess off to live with her. And their relationship is complicated. There are trust issues and old wounds that reopen and it doesn't help that Ivy's job as a professional fixer means that she keeps a lot of secrets about a lot of powerful people. But I loved seeing them interact and how they grow and I'm really hoping things will get better between them in the sequel.

So there's a whole lot of politics going around and Tess sorta accidentally gets thrown in the middle of it through the sons and daughters of said powerful people, who she goes to school with. And obviously Tess and her friends don't go to an adult with their concerns at first, but decide to do a little digging themselves, and while I'm not sure if that could have happened in the real world, it is a thing of beauty to read about.
I LOVED Tess' friends, I mean, Vivvie offers to cheer Tess up by recapping her favourite romance novel and/or horror movie. That is my kind of girl. And ASHER. So much love for Asher and his antics and boyness. I love that he says things like "You say go away, I hear be my bosom buddy." He reminds me a bit of Sturmhond from The Grisha Trilogy and for me that's pretty high praise. I can also get behind Henry, who broods beautifully. But mostly, they are all smart and loyal and I constantly got the urge to just hug Vivvie and most of all Asher. I like it when that happens!

There are a whole lot of twists and turns, some I saw coming, some I did not even come close to. Mostly, it kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to read on and on and grumbling at work and social events that got in the way of this. It was intriguing and because I was so invested in the characters, I felt like I HAD to know right then and there. And though The Fixer ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger, it's mostly a promise of more awesomeness to come in the sequel and I liked it.

There's this amazing thing about Jennifer Lynn Barnes' writing that just clicks with me! I love her style and the voice she gave to Tess and how she mixes this fastpaced, exciting plot with heaps of humor, which always gets you brownie points from me. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading The Fixer, laughing out loud at certain passages and just not wanting to put it down. So yeah, I pretty much adored The Fixer and cannot wait for the sequel!

My rating: 5 stars

Mini-Reviews (7): The Body in the Woods, Making It Count, The Once and Future Duchess

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: The Body in the Woods by April Henry
Publisher/Date published: Henry Holt and Co, June 17th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

So I read this book on the airplane on the way to Morocco and so much of it was read in one sitting. If I hadn't been on an airplane, this probably wouldn't have been the case.
The premise was interesting, though having teenagers be part of a field search for a body seems sort of inappropriate, I mean evidence sure, but if there's a chance you'll come across a deceased person, I personally feel that you should only use professionals. And obviously the authorities don't approve of the main characters' quest to discover the killer themselves, DUH.

But hey, they do it anyway and find themselves in danger and one of them becomes the target of said killer and towards the end I was like, OMG, SERIOUSLY??? You should really know better than to walk right into this trap that's being laid for you!! Wow, you've been trying to find a killer and then it's like, yeah, ok, I'll go with this strange person, that totally makes sense.
Anyway.
The Body in the Woods was ok, but it wasn't a very exciting read.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: Make It Count (Bowler University #1) by Megan Erickson
Publisher/Date published: William Morrow Impulse, June 3rd 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

So I'm always looking for that next awesome NA read, and while Making It Count was a decent read, it wasn't that next great thing. The main character Kat is ok at first, but then she blows stuff way out of proportion and does the 'I'm not going to tell you what's wrong, you should be able to read my mind and figure it out' thing and it's ANNOYING. I mean, seriously, just tell the person you're in a relationship with what's bothering you! If we could all read minds, life would be way easier, but we can't ok? Also, I thought she had a shitty reason for staying in a relationship with a guy who was treating her badly at the start of the novel.

Alec was ok, he seemed like a good guy, but I didn't really swoon over him, which I would have expected, cause I like my men hot and nerdy. I thought their relationship could have been developed a bit better, because now it felt to me that they mostly had a physical attraction and that's it.
I did like that Making It Count deals with dyslexia, which is not something that you see a lot in YA or NA and I appreciate this being brought up, because a lot of people have it!

My rating: 2,5 stars

Title/Author: The Once and Future Duchess (Royal Entourage #4) by Sophia Nash
Publisher/Date published: Avon, May 27th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I liked The Once and Future Duchess, one thing I particularly enjoyed is that the heroine, Isabelle, is a duchess one her own, having inherited the title, which is pretty awesome, as that basically never happens in historical romance. I mean, there's always an abundance of dukes, but duchesses who are not married to said dukes are pretty hard to come by.
And I liked Isabelle because she is strong and intelligent and isn't afraid to go after what she wants. Our duke is also likeable in that he is loyal and just a good man, but this loyalty also got majorly in the way of the romance. I mean, so he promised her deceased father that he would make sure she married a man close to her own age and he's what, a decade her senior? It seems to me that this was pretty much the norm back then, but ok. So even though they love each other, he decides that he can't because of said promise.

And while this makes for some real complication in their lovestory, it also made everything move incredibly slow! OMG, it took forever for him to start taking action and in the mean time it wasn't extremely exciting, though they did have wonderfully romantic moments together. I just would have liked for the pace to be a little faster.
But it was a pretty sweet story and I enjoyed reading it!

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

Title/Author: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, March 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up — terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

I totally loved The Art of Lainey and was really excited to learn that Paula Stokes had a new release coming up, and while I didn't enjoy Liars, Inc. as much as The Art of Lainey, it did have that same gripping writing style.

So Liars, Inc. is a mystery/thriller, which isn't a genre that I usually read, but that I do try every once in a while and it's by Paula Stokes, so I knew it should be good. And it really was. I struggled a bit at first, getting used to Max's voice and ignoring the confusion I always feel at this name, cause it's also my brother's name, but after that we were off to a good start. I did really like Max, he's a good guy at heart and gets in a lot of trouble, but sorta does it with the best intentions? Also, it's totally interesting to see his relationship with both Preston and Parvati, sometimes I got a bit of a Cruel Intentions feeling and it was all so convoluted and messed up and I totally loved when I finally started getting some answers!

I'm not spoiling anything by mentioning that Preston disappears, because the summary tells you this, but even knowing this, the events leading up to the moment when he actually disappears had me feeling this sense of impending doom. Paula Stokes really did a great job of getting the amosphere just right and it made me want to reach through the pages to shake Max and tell him to just TELL SOMEONE THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING. SAVE YOURSELF! So yeah, obviously I became invested.

Towards the end I started suspecting what had happened and I was partly right, but I hadn't realized the full extense of the craziness and the intrigue and just the whole of everything that was messed up. It was pretty fascinating. Do you know that hollow feeling that you get when you finish a book and you have all these questions left? Liars, Inc. isn't like that. I felt like Paula Stokes told me everything that I desperately wanted to know and then wrapped it all up rather nicely.

I was however a bit bugged about something at the end of the book, which is non-spoilery and doesn't really have to do with the story, but Max describes love as looking like 'a dog after getting hit by a car', WTF? I really hate this description because WTF?? I mean, vulnerable ok, but a dog after getting hit by a car??? REALLY?? Worst. Description. Ever. (and also now I feel sad because I keep thinking about dogs and other pets getting hit by cars)

Rant over.

But aside from that last bit that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth upon finishing this novel, I did really enjoy reading Liars, Inc. Paula Stokes really has a way of creating characters and a storyline that suck you in and make you care for them and OMG what a mindblowing conspiracy and craziness is happening in Liars, Inc.!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (5) Boomerang, For All Time, The Vanishing Season

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: Boomerang (Boomerang #1) by Noelle August
Publisher/Date published: William Morrow, July 8th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I enjoyed Boomerang, I'll admit that I wasn't as big a fan as some other people whose reviews I've seen floating about the blogosphere, but it was really fun! I liked both Mia and Ethan and could root for them to get together, and I liked that there was some real conflict, I mean, a job on the line is something that will effectively stop you from being together if the company doesn't allow coworkers to date. Which is a really annoying rule in my opinion.

The reason that Boomerang doesn't get more than 3,5 stars is that I felt that it started to drag towards the end, I thought that they were making it unnecessarily hard to be together and it was kinda annoying. Also, I could have done with a little less of them thinking about how hot the other person was. Ok, they're both hot, I get it, moving on. Please just start thinking about all the other stuff you like about each other.

But I did really like that Boomerang dealt with real people, real friendships and real jobs.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: For All Time (Nantucket Brides Trilogy #2) by Jude Deveraux
Publisher/Date published: Ballantine Books, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I really liked True Love, the first book in this series and was itching to get back to Nantucket and see others find their happily ever after. I need some good fluff in my life every now and then. But Toby and Graydon just didn't work for me the same way that Alix and Jared did. I never really FELT their chemistry enough to believe in it and sorry, but being together just because you can tell Graydon apart from his identical twin and that means you're "meant for each other" *insert eyeroll* is just not enough for me.

I do enjoy a good prince story and there was something real keeping them apart, but it just felt so old-fashioned! I mean, I get this in my historical romance novels and also in fantasy series and such, but in a contemporary romance? I was constantly wanting to yell at them to start living in the 21st century. Though I do realise that this might be the way things still work for royal families, it was still annoying.

So while this was an ok read, I was waiting for that wow factor that never came.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I'd never read anything by Jodi Lynn Anderson before, but I've heard amazing things about Tiger Lily and was excited to start The Vanishing Season. I did like The Vanishing Season, and I can see the potential of Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing, she really has a way with words. The plot for The Vanishing Season just wasn't as exciting as I had liked it to be.

I wasn't really invested in Maggie, Liam and Pauline and could see from MILES away where this was going, there was this sense of doom over the whole story for me. I don't really want to tell you about what happened, cause it will ruin the surprise and shock effect and that in itself was perfection. The ending of The Vanishing Season was basically what saved this novel and I am glad I stuck with it for that.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Title/Author: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) by Ally Carter
Publisher/Date published: Orchard Books, February 5th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Ok, so confession time: I've never read one of Ally Carter's before this one. I know. So many people keep raving about her Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series and they do sound really good, I've just never gotten around to actually picking one up. Which is why I was excited when I got approved for All Fall Down, because a mystery with political intrigue is just my kind of thing!

And I did like All Fall Down, Ally Carter's writing style is very engaging and it made me want good things for Grace and just find out what exactly had happened and what the heck was going on with the Scarred Man. I mean, one girl investigating her mother's death is fascinating, especially when it comes with a side of embassy politics and running through tunnels and quirky new friends!

I liked Grace, and I also liked that the way Ally Carter has written this story, you can't really tell if Grace is right or if she's actually imagining things, like everyone keeps telling her. There was constantly this doubt at the back of my mind, wondering if she really was chasing a ghost based on nothing. It kept things interesting. Grace was definitely not ok with her mom dying and there were so many secrets surrounding her death and I had really not expected the twist at the end of All Fall Down. I really hadn't. It was kinda out of the blue and I'm not even sure what just happened and honestly, the ending felt a bit rushed, but maybe that was how it was supposed to feel? To build up anticipation for the next book? I'm not sure.

I LOVED Noah. Noah is awesome. He just comes into Grace's room and announces they're best friends and then he behaves like a best friend and is just extremely lovable. He is just adorable. I'd love to see more of him and get to know more about him in the next book! I also really liked Rosie, who is a little girl ninja and up for the challenge of finding out what the Scarred Man is up to.
And I see some much approved of romantic potential with Alexei, who is pretty swoony and the brother's best friend angle always works for me.
Two people who were very present in All Fall Down without actually making an appearance were Grace's father and her brother Jamie. I'm really hoping we'll actually get to see them in the next book, because Jamie sounds awesome and I need some family members for Grace.

All Fall Down was an interesting start to this series and I did like it, it just wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be. I didn't fully connect to the story and I'm still looking for answers, but maybe that's just the way it is with series sometimes. I'm probably picking up the next book in the series, because I want to know WHY and HOW and WHO and just all of it.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Twisted Fate by Norah Olson

Title/Author: Twisted Fate by Norah Olson
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen, January 20th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: When Allyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit — shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him.

As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Allyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.

And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right — and wrong — she is about everything.

I was kinda expecting to either have my mind blown or to really dislike this book, but to me, it was neither.

Sydney and Allyson both have a distinct voice, they were similar in some ways, but mostly, they were two very different characters and it was interesting to get to know them. Though I think I might have a slight preference for Sydney, cause she seemed to have a little more common sense and while I kinda like that Allyson wanted to believe the best about people, when it's slamming you in the face that they're not good people some kind of alarm should go off. And Allyson's alarm was malfunctioning or she was ignoring it or whatever but I just wanted to shake her and go like OMG JUST SEE WHAT'S IN FRONT OF YOU!! She had a bit of too stupid to live going on and I very much dislike that quality in a character.

I didn't really like Graham, there was something off about him from the start. I did appreciate that we got a lot of different POVs and this way we also got a glimpse into his head and that was interesting. And a bit like watching a train wreck happen. Or maybe a whole lot like that. There were POVs from pretty much everyone who makes an appearance in the novel and seeing things from different sides was enlightening and it made me clue into the big twist pretty early on. But that was ok, because it added an extra something to the rest of the interactions between the characters.

But aside from that it was an interesting concept, it wasn't all that exciting. Or creepy. I had thought it might be creepy. I was also kinda wondering HOW exactly that twist that I was talking about came to be and WHY, but I never really got any answers and now I'm just left like this and it feels unfinished. I mean, I was sticking around for the unraveling of the big twist and then it never came and I feel a bit cheated out of that.
Also, this book suffers from absent-parent syndrome. Seriously, where are Mr and Mrs Tate? It's mentioned in the book that they are away a lot, but they should be home SOMETIME right? How do they fit into all this?

I think I'd just expected a bit more. It wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't all that good either, so basically I just had a 'meh' feeling throughout most of the book and I kept hoping the end would make it awesome, only it didn't. If you want to read a good YA novel with psychological elements, I'd suggest reading We Were Liars or Pretty Girl-13 instead.

My rating: 2,5 stars

Review of Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title/Author: Killer Instinct (The Naturals #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher/Date published: Disney-Hyperion, November 4th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerated father — a man he’d do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer’s psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer’s brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES***

Guys, I absolutely loved The Naturals, the first book in this series and obviously I was excited to read Killer instinct. And I was right to expect awesomeness again!

I cannot help but love Cassie, she's smart, she's loyal to her friends and she just wants to help people. The crazy stuff that went down in The Naturals definitely has its effect on her, but she's not letting it get her down and I respect that. Though I couldn't help but feel there should have maybe been a little bit more about the effects of it and I felt like it wasn't really being handled by adults. They didn't really seem to be all that worried about it. But other than that I was so with her in her insecurities about the boys and her initial dislike of the newest adult addition to the team and basically I just love her for her mind. It's SO creepy what she can do, yet so incredibly awesome. I really don't wish that I could do that, but following her thought process is very cool.

And the plot Jennifer Lynn Barnes crafts is just genius! I mean, I saw one tiny detail of it coming, but mostly mind = blown. There's so much more to all of it than you think at first sight and I loved being thrown for a loop a couple of times. It kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what the heck was going on! I read this book while we were on holiday in Rome and I even found myself thinking about it while we were visiting all these beautiful sights in the city, so that's definitely saying something!

One thing I'm going to address as well: the love triangle. There is one. And I really didn't mind it. It's very well done and let's just say that I'm happy with Cassie's choice.
I loved reconnecting with the whole set of characters, minus one for obvious reasons, and learning more about them, I love the whole group, faults and all.

Don't let Jennifer Lynn Barnes' innocent looks fool you, she has a devious mind! I totally loved all the twists and turns and just how real it felt and how I believed in what was happening and was sucked into the story and FEELS and just a whole lot of yes! You should definitely read this series, it's smart and has some amazing well-rounded characters. And just do it, ok?

My rating: 5 stars

Zoë stamp of approval:

(Just look at that smile :) tiny cat is tiny)

Review of Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Title/Author: Get Even (Don't Get Mad #1) by Gretchen McNeil
Publisher/Date published: Balzer & Bray, September 16th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the author as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common — at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought — and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in... and everyone has something to lose.

So I'm that girl that still watched Pretty Little Liars, even with all the drama spiralling out of control and everything cause that's my not so secret guilty pleasure. So obviously I was going to read this, cause it sounds a little like it, but in fact reminded me more of Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. And I really liked that as well, so all was well in the world.

I really liked reading about these four different personalities, though I think Olivia was a bit of a dudd, she was far less interesting than Bree, Kitty and Margot. I'm a bit partial to Bree actually, cause she's kickass and has the kind of romantic drama going on that makes me one happy reader. And obviously her best friend is AWESOME. I also liked how although they're working together, they don't necessarily get along all the time and the distinct personalities clash, with one of them typically being in the middle and trying to settle things.

I liked how Don't Get Mad was putting people who were bullying other back in their place, giving them a bit of their own medicine. It wasn't personal revenge, but more philantropic almost? But then people are turning up dead and Don't Get Mad is implicated and things just spiral out of control, with the killer trying to break up the group and everything, turning the girls against each other. It's the kind of intrigue that makes me go YES! and want to know what the heck is going on!

Get Even was a promising start to this series and I'm excited to see how it will all unfold in the next book!

My rating: 4 stars

Review of The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title/Author: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher/Date published: Disney-Hyperion, November 5th 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides — especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

YOU GUYS! THIS BOOK! I totally loved it!! I read it all in one day, which is even more impressive if you consider the fact that a huge part of said day was spent working! But I couldn't put it down until I finished it, it was THAT good!

I love Cassie! She's been through a lot and she's got her walls way up, but you know what, I get it. I can even imagine what it would be like to go into your mother's dressing room and find gallons of blood, but not your mother. It makes me want to hug my mom and be thankful that I've never had to face something like that. Cassie is smart and she's tough and I would have loved for her to realise that she deserves the love her enormous family wants to show her! Also: Cassie is so smart and so good at this profiling thing that it's creepy. But in a good way. I wish a had a teensy bit of her people reading skills.

And I LOVED the whole teenage crew! They're all sorts of brilliant and them teaming up was AMAZING to watch! I love their different personalities and pretty much every one of them is a bit messed up. And they all made for such interesting characters! Everyone had their own story and I may not know all of them, but I'm DYING to know! I really hope Jennifer Lynn Barnes will tell us more about them in the next book!

And of course I have a soft spot for the boys. Because: boys. I cannot help but root for one of them more, but I'll let you guess once you've read it which one is my favourite. To be fair, there is a love triangle going on, but it's not really 'love' when they're just getting to know each other and Cassie is confused about her attraction to both as well. And isn't calling any of it love. So I was surprisingly ok with it.

Towards the end I was suspicious of EVERYTHING and at one point I wanted to yell NOOOOOO!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? DON'T YOU SEE THIS IS HOW PEOPLE GET KILLED IN MOVIES?? So yeah, I kinda figured it out before Cassie did, but it was ok, cause it wasn't glaringly obvious from the start. Also: major creep factor! I mean seriously, it was SO messed up!

As I said at the beginning: I could not put this book down, I kept thinking about it until I managed to finish it and it was GLORIOUS! While it's about serial killers, the book didn't get dark and I just totally love Jennifer Lynn Barnes' writing! The pace was just right and kept me on the edge of my seat and GAH, can I just have the next book now please?? Cause I can only find that this is the start of a new series, but nothing about the second book! But PLEASE JUST GIVE IT TO ME!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of Dead Girls Don't Lie by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Title/Author: Dead Girls Don't Lie by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, September 17th 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Rachel died at two a.m... Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text.
Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before... before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue — starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth.

I'd heard AMAZING things about Breaking Beautiful, Jennifer Shaw Wolf's debut novel, but I haven't actually read it (I did pre-order the paperback, so this should be remedied soonish), which meant that I went into Dead Girls Don't Lie without expectations that were insanely high. And guys, it totally worked for me!

Since I started my new residency, I have a LOT less free time to spend on reading and because of the bits and pieces I could snatch over the span of a couple of days, I struggled a bit at first. Because the book wasn't gripping me right from the start and there was all this information and rigidity and things I couldn't make sense of. But when I picked it up again on the weekend and just spent hours reading it: TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY! I finally connected a bit to Jaycee and started getting into the story and the creepiness of it.

Jaycee was a bit too much of a goody-goody for me, but in the end I started to like her. Though what Eduardo called her sounded about right to me: boba (which according to the book translates to naive, stupid, silly), focusing mostly on naive for me. She was so ready to trust everyone! I mean, at one point I was just screaming at her to try and see what was right in front of her and GAH!!
But I sort of get that she didn't see it, I mean, it's always easier when you're on the outside, right? I did like that she genuinely cared about people. And I respected that she was determined to be worthy of Rachel's trust in figuring out what had happened. I mean, she didn't necessarily go about it in the best way, but she did commit to it and I liked that.

Jaycee's dad REALLY annoyed me at times. I mean, ok, he wants to protect his daughter, but seriously dude, we live in the 21st century. The whole thing with her not having access to a computer at home and not being allowed to do pretty much ANYTHING a girl her age would want to do aside from school and taking away her cellphone and everything... That just bugged me. I'm a firm believer that you should just talk to your kid about the stuff you want to protect them from and not try to lock them up or something. I definitely felt that both her parents failed at parenting.

The small-town vibe that echoes throughout Dead Girls Don't Lie is something that I SO recognize! Everybody knows everybody's business, or at least they THINK they do. Don't get me wrong, small towns are cute, but they do have their disadvantages, especially when people living in it are scared of things and people that are different, or not from there. And Dead Girls Don't Lie showed this perfectly.

After the rocky start, I really got into the story and the pace went up and the stakes got higher and everything got creepier and I didn't trust anyone anymore and that was awesome! I'm not much of a mystery girl, but Jennifer Shaw Wolf definitely did it right with this one! I did figure out who had done it way before Jaycee did, mainly because I started to feel uncomfortable every time the killer was mentioned or in a scene.

I blew through the second half of the book and I'm really excited to get my hands on Breaking Beautiful as well soon!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Title/Author: Hysteria by Megan Miranda
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ), February 14th 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: Mallory's life is falling apart.

Her boyfriend was stabbed. He bled to death in her kitchen. Mallory was the one who stabbed him. But she can't remember what happened that night. She only remembers the fear...

When Mallory's parents send her away to a boarding school, she thinks she can escape the gossip and the threats. But someone, or something, has followed her. There's the hand that touches her shoulder when she's drifting off to sleep. A voice whispering her name. And everyone knows what happened. So when a pupil is found dead, Mallory's name is on their lips.

Her past can be forgotten but it's never gone. Can Mallory live with that?

So guys, I'm not really much of a mystery kinda girl, but I will always pick up Megan Miranda's books because she brings the creepy and the excitement! I pretty much loved Fractured and was all flailing hands when I got approved for Hysteria!

Hysteria was a bit different from what I'd expected, from the summary I'd gathered it would be about Mallory discovering what happened that night. But it wasn't. It's more about dealing with the aftermath than the actual event. Megan Miranda made me connect to Mallory when I was a bit hesitant to. I mean, she killed a boy. And it's the uncertainty about how it exactly happened that kept me wondering, but 'what if', what if she didn't do it in self-defense? How can I like this girl when I don't fully trust her? So I went back and forth and Mallory is a bit all over the place and I LIKED that. It's not natural to be ok when you've ended a life, even if you didn't mean to.

I loved seeing all the past events unroll and seeing the whole tragedy for what it was and how teen romances can screw up a life. It was so interesting to work things about alongside Mallory, seeing things she hadn't realized before.
But I think that most of all I loved seeing the friendship between Mallory and Colleen. So often in YA novels I wonder how the characters can call themselves friends, but Mallory and Colleen were the real deal. There for each other, fighting but always making it right, just knowing each other through and through. Bonds like these are rare and should be cherished.

There was a definite creep factor and a couple of girls just kept me repeating 'witches be CRAZY', except, you know, with the word that isn't exactly PG. I mean seriously? There's something WRONG with some of the people that went to the boarding school Mallory got shipped off to.

One thing I couldn't fully figure out, so if any of you have read it, please tell me if I missed something here:
***SPOILER, LIGHT UP TO READ***
The hand on Mallory's shoulder: it was there, cause Reid saw it, but was it a paranormal thing or did Dylan do it? Because it never really said and I'm stuck on this. Help?
***END OF SPOILER***

I liked that there was a little romance, even though it definitely wasn't easy. And I really liked Reid, though I thought it was a bit weird that he didn't really seem to care that Mallory had killed someone, even if he believed it to be in self defense. I mean, it's got to be kinda weird right? Knowing that? If I knew a guy had done that I don't think my first thought upon seeing him would be to start something with him.

I was going to say 'the last couple of chapters', but who am I kidding? It's lucky that I'm working the night shift and had all this time to spare during the day, cause I just tore through this book in virtually no time at all! I was so in the story, it was wonderful! Megan Miranda has an amazing voice and though I think I loved Fractured more, Hysteria was a wonderful read and I will definitely be picking up her next release!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of Hanging By a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

Title/Author: Hanging By a Thread by Sophie Littlefield
Publisher/Date published: Delacorte BFYR, September 11th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two — that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.

And they're not the only ones hiding something.

Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed — or perhaps cursed — with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.

In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?

So you may have noticed I don't read a lot of mystery books, mostly because I usually guess what's going on WAY before the characters and it makes me want to shake them. But I was drawn to Hanging By A Thread because of the paranormal twist with Clare being able to see memories when touching clothes. Because that is just awesome.

And I was pleasantly surprised because seriously, I really enjoyed this book! Clare is a very likeable main character, she's smart and has a clothing style I don't really get, so it's probably cool and I'd kill to have her designing skills! She felt like such a real girl, trying to fit into the town she just moved to, maybe twisting the truth a little to get people to like her and genuinely wanting to get to know a boy her friend doesn't really approve because of his not entirely clean past.

And I did like the boy because he just accepted Clare for who she was and didn't think she was crazy and yeah, I kinda like that in a guy. So while I thought Clare was a bit naive for just trusting him despite his violent actions in the past, I do approve of the boy. Am I making any sense?

I loved seeing the murder mystery unravel and while I did guess who did it way before Clare figured it out, I was still pretty happy with the way things turned out!
The only thing I didn't really like was the interaction between Clare and her mother, they were constantly at each other's throaths and sometimes it seemed like they WANTED to be fighting all the time. Maybe it's because I love my mom so much, but I can't imagine treating her that way. So that kinda bugged me.

But aside from that, I really enjoyed Hanging By A Thread and it has convinced me that there are mysteries out there that are my kind of books, so yay!

My rating: 4 stars

The Poisoned House by Michael Ford

Title/Author: The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
Publisher/Date published: Albert Whitman & Company, September 1st 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "The year is 1856, and orphan Abigail Tamper lives below stairs in Greave Hall, a crumbling manor house in London. Lord Greave is plagued by madness, and with his son Samuel away fighting in the Crimea, the running of Greave Hall is left to Mrs Cotton, the tyrannical housekeeper. The only solace for the beleaguered staff is to frighten Mrs Cotton by pretending the house is haunted.
So when a real ghost makes an appearance - that of her beloved mother - no one is more surprised than Abi. But the spirit has a revelation that threatens to destroy Abi’s already fragile existence: she was murdered, and by someone under their very own roof. With Samuel returned to England badly wounded, it’s up to Abi to nurse him back to health, while trying to discover the identity of the killer in their midst. As the chilling truth dawns, Abi’s world is turned upside down."

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I appreciate it for what it is: a YA mystery/ghost story. On the other hand: it kind of fell a bit flat for me.

I wasn't feeling the whole mystery and I figured some major plot points out pretty early on. And towards the end, Abi had a completely too-stupid-to-live moment. And I'm glad it was only a moment, but seriously? Who would be stupid enough to go to sleep somewhere a killer can get to you? Seriously? How dumb can you be?

Anyway, there was the obvious villain Mrs. Cotton, the housekeeper, who is just plain evil. She drowns kittens. EVIL! I was horrified by what she was doing and other than spite, the reason behind this remained unclear for me. Which was another thing that bothered me.

However, I did enjoy this book and I didn't feel the need to put the book down and discontinue it, so there was some appeal. I liked Abi, she was a caring character and though maybe a bit naive, she was a pretty smart girl. I like smart girls.

I also liked the sort of epilogue, that chronicles the rest of Abi's life, because I always wonder what becomes of the characters I've just spend some hours with.

My rating: 3 stars

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Title/Author: The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
Publisher/Date published: Harper, August 9th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover and the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel. Whilst Eve tries to untangle the secrets surrounding Rachel's last recorded days, Les Genevriers itself seems to come alive. As strange events begin to occur with frightening regularity, Eve's voice becomes intertwined with that of Benedicte Lincel, a girl who lived in the house decades before. As the tangled skeins of the house's history begin to unravel, the tension grows between Dom and Eve. In a page-turning race, Eve must fight to discover the fates of both Benedicte and Rachel, before Les Genevriers' dark history has a chance to repeat itself."

It took me a whole week to read this book. For those who know me: this is long for me. Especially when the book isn't over 1000 pages, it's only 400. Somehow, I couldn't seem to focus on this long enough to read more than a couple of pages at once. Well, until I made myself sit down one night and just read it.

I'm not even sure why this was so hard for me. It may have to do with the switching POV and it not being always clear who was doing the talking (it's in first person for both the characters). This was a bit confusing and made me disconnect.

I think the biggest obstacle for me was that I didn't connect to either of the main characters. And maybe that I guessed the plot twists already, so much of the tension for me wasn't there.

I did like the story and was seriously horrified by some of the things the 'bad guy' in the book does. I mean, EVIL! Seriously! And noone was doing a thing to stop him, even as a kid, it's just awful!
This book also reminded me how absolutely horrible persons with a personality disorder can act, really it's so hurtful! If you read it, you'll know what I mean.

All in all, this book needed a little more for me to really enjoy it. A little more connection I think.

My rating: 2,5 stars