Mini-Reviews (2) The Book of Ivy, The Halcyon Bird, Even In Paradise

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 Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel
Publisher/Date published: Entangled: Teen, November 11th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Plot in one sentence: Girl being manipulated by her father to kill the boy she's forced to marry who is the son of the winning family governing the nation, but wait, maybe he's not that bad.

Ok, so this one was just a bit bland to me, a lot of it felt like a whole lot of other dystopians and it didn't stand out to me enough to be special. I mean, I liked the developing relationship between Ivy and Bishop, but Bishop was a little bit too perfect for me and while thing started to get interesting towards the end, I wasn't really invested in this story. Also, I REALLY hated Ivy's father and sister, keeping things from her and just generally being manipulative bastards. And OMG Ivy, please grow a spine in the rest of the series, because holy wow, you could see it wasn't the right thing to do and still you went along with it? UGH.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: The Halcyon Bird (The Demon Catchers of Milan #2) by Kat Beyer
Publisher/Date published: EgmontUSA, November 11th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Sequel to the Demon Catchers of Milan in which Mia and her family battle more demons, namely the one that possessed her.

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

I liked diving back into this world that has a lot of Italian culture and family and demon catching badasses in it, and I really did love Mia's family because they're awesome. I had just expected a little more of this sequel, cause I remember really enjoying the first book. I was a bit frustrated with Mia's crush on her cousin and was relieved when a new love interest appeared on the horizon, even though she was majorly clueless about this, which was a bit annoying at times. But they were cute together.
Mia's demon majorly creeped me out, but with all the family's badassery, I was wondering why they still hadn't found a way to beat this demon for good. Or at least for the next fifty years or so. I mean, he's been killing other people in the family and just been a general nuisance, so why not destroy/banish/whatever him for good?
Anyway, I did really like this, but it didn't have that spark that the first book had.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: Even In Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
Publisher/Date published: HarperCollins, October 14th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Rich family has secrets and MC Charlie gets into a relationship with both siblings from said family.

I really, REALLY liked Even In Paradise. It made me pause and think about friendship and life and lot's of other things. But mostly friendship and how it is so true that sometimes when you are friends with someone, it's sort of like falling in love and then you also fall in love with their family and that is exactly what happens to Charlie, and I could SO relate.
I mean, the Buchanans are beautiful people, they're sparkly and shiny and have all the things that Charlie doesn't have and I can understand her being drawn to them. To Julia and to Sebastian, who might be a bit of a douche at times, but who really grew on me. And how can you not love their younger sister Oops? She was awesome.

From the start you know this isn't going to end well and there's this sense of foreboding overshadowing the whole novel. And I LOVED that! I was wondering how everything was going to go down and the twists and turns were amazing! Chelsey Philpot really knows how to write beautiful words that suck you in. This is a story that will stay with me for a while.

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of Soulprint by Megan Miranda

Title/Author: Soulprint by Megan Miranda
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, February 1st 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Alina Chase has spent her entire life in confinement. With the science of soul-printing now a reality, she is 'protected' for her own safety - and the safety of others - because her soul has done terrible things... or so she's told. When Alina finally breaks out of prison, helped by a group of people with unclear motives, she begins to uncover clues left by her past life that only she can decipher. And she may not be as innocent as she once believed. Can Alina change her future, or is she fated to repeat her past and face the consequences?

There is just something about Megan Miranda's writing that resonates with me. It's always a bit dark and gritty and she doesn't shy away from hard subjects and it really just works for me. I'm right there in the moment with the characters and just feel part of the story. And I love it!

And Soulprint was not an exception to this! I really got sucked into this world with all of its scariness that is souls transferring to another person upon death and science having found a way to actually identify your soul and thus being able to know who you were in your past lives. And to me that's REALLY scary. I mean, wow, something like that HAS to have major consequences, like Megan Miranda shows us in Soulprint, you could be judged for the actions of your soul's past lives. So much for innocent until proven guilty, right?

I really liked Alina. She's smart and brave and flawed and beautiful because of her flaws and it was easy to relate to her in her insecurities and her tentative forming of a friendship with the people who break her out of the island she's been kept in since childhood. I could understand how she was trying so hard to not be anything like June, her soul's previous identity. I mean, people are judging her for June's actions, so why would you want to give them another reason to think you're like her? I also loved how in the end she embraced her identity and learned to work with it and accept June.

The two teens who broke Alina out, Casey and Cameron were SO my kind of people! They're kind and smart and know some slightly less than legal tricks and I loved the relationship between this brother and sister! They're really willing to do everything for each other and are a true family. Casey's computer hacking skills are pretty badass, but I'm particularly drawn to Cameron and his awesomeness. I loved the easy chemistry between him and Alina and how he just seems to get her and doesn't judge her and just FEELINGS OK?

This whole thing with June and what she's done and just all of it is a WHOLE LOT more complicated than it seems at first and OMG the intrigue! I totally loved it! Every time you think you know what went down, there's just this little thing niggling at the back of your mind that it doesn't quite add up and then there's a big reveal and I was like MIND IS BLOWN. It was amazing. And I loved how Alina doesn't go for the easy choices and the ending left me with a smile on my face, so yeah. I pretty much just loved this!

If you haven't read Megan Miranda's books yet, I'm saying you should get a start on checking them out! Fracture and Vengeance are a lot darker than Soulprint is, so this might be a little more accessible, but they're all amazing, so just go forth and read any of them!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Title/Author: Ensnared (Splintered #3) by A.G. Howard
Publisher/Date published: Amulet Books, January 6th 2015
How I got this book: bought it
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles... and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world - a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST 2 BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

It's probably no secret that I have a LOT of love for this series. I've discovered a new love for Wonderland and creepy crawlies (as long as they don't come near me) and suprised myself by falling for the 'bad' guy. And obviously I couldn't wait to start Ensnared, especially after the ending of Unhinged!

So over the course of this series, my heart has been broken a couple of times, and I felt torn, like Alyssa, between Morpheus and Jeb, but Morpheus just has been holding a special place in my heart, especially since Unhinged. And Ensnared only proved that I was right to prefer our favourite moth, because HELLO LOVELY! OMG, Ensnared just filled my heart with ALL the Morpheus feels and I just wanted things to work out for him and hug him and let him be wicked and himself and just ALL OF IT OK? I saw him be a better person at times because he loves Alyssa while at the same time staying his wonderful self. And I just love him so much.
The reason I'm leading with all of these boy-related feels is that I just can't keep them in and because I felt that the one issue I did have with this book is that I was just waiting for Alyssa to get over Jeb and be with Morpheus, because OMG, WHY NOT??? I mean, I felt like Jeb had given up on them and was holding her back and just. I was just over him. So Alyssa trying to win him back was just not what I wanted her to be doing. But I guess he does have his moments and all... I'm just not fully convinced by how this love triangle was handled.

I was really hoping we'd spend a lot of time in Wonderland, but AnyElsewhere is a pretty good second, cause it also has lots of weird and quirky creatures and a whole lot of magical things for me to love. I love how A.G. Howard always mixes in the creepy and the dark twisty things, it's awesome. And I love how Alyssa has learned to embrace that side of her, the Wonderland side of her. How she can be dark and vengeful and jsut amazingly powerful and a true queen. I loved seeing her accept and treasure these qualities.

Also, while I get how her dad is being protective and such, I still think he's also pretty annoying. I mean, UGH, I just didn't like him, he was also really trying to hold Alyssa back, even after he gets his memories back and it didn't feel just protective, but like one of those people who don't want their loved ones to rise above them. It never felt like he accepted her for who she is.

I loved how there were twists and turns and you never knew if you could fully trust anything you were seeing/reading and so, SO many of these twists revolved around Morpheus and I just cannot over how much love I have for him! He IS Wonderland and amazing! I totally loved how A.G. Howard handled the two sides of Alyssa and the effect of this on her heart and learning more about Red and just EVERYTHING.

To sum it up, I pretty much adore this whole series and REALLY want to go re-read it as a whole and it's also made me excited about reading Alice in Wonderland with my book club this month, which I was dreading a bit. It's dark and twisty and swoony and just a whole amount of amazing writing that I could get lost in for hours at a time! Also: MORPHEUS. Go read it if you haven't already!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of Searching For Grace Kelly by Michael Callahan

Title/Author: Searching For Grace Kelly by Michael Callahan
Publisher/Date published: Mariner Books, January 27th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: For a small-town girl with big-city dreams, there is no address more glamorous than New York’s Barbizon Hotel. Laura, a patrician beauty from Smith, arrives to work at Mademoiselle for the summer. Her hopelessly romantic roommate, Dolly, comes from a working-class upstate town to attend secretarial school. Vivian, a brash British bombshell with a disregard for the hotel’s rules, rounds out the trio of friends. Together, the girls embark on a journey of discovery that will take them from the penthouse apartments of Park Avenue to the Beat scene of Greenwich Village to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier — and into the arms of very different men who will alter their lives forever.

So this story is set in 1955, which is an important thing to remember and something that I didn't figure out till about 3/4 through the book. I'm not sure if that's my fault or if it was just the first time it was mentioned, but it's something to keep in mind while reading this book. And as I hadn't read anything set in New York in this time period before, it was very interesting!

Searching For Grace Kelly centers around a group of friends, at times they feel more like girls who casually know each other and sometimes share things, as they do live very separate lives while living in the same building. In the end I believe they were friends, but they just didn't always show it.
I liked Laura, I could understand wanting to break free from her mother's smothering parenting and the rules of society and just LIVE. A thing that bugged me was that even though she kept saying she wanted to be a writer, she never really did anything to try and actually BE one. I mean, throughout the novel she never once wrote a story, the only thing she wrote was in a diary and didn't even stick with that. But I liked that she was bookish and went to a lovely bookstore. I wish we had a bookstore like that one somewhere around here.

I also really liked Dolly, though I was confused by her love interest and in the end it makes sense, but OMG, at times I just wanted to shake Dolly because she was so down on herself and negative! She seemed like a lovely girl and she should have some faith in herself instead of constantly comparing herself to Laura and Vivian and thinking she came up short. I mean, I get it, we all do it, but it was hard to see her doing it.
Vivian never really grew on me, she was impulsive and made a LOT of bad choices and I'm not really sure about her family dynamic, but she worked with the other two girls.

There's a whole lot of drama going on in Searching For Grace Kelly, far more than I originally expected when picking it up. In the beginning I had some trouble getting into the story, but towards the end of the book I REALLY wanted to know what would happen and I'd actually forgotten about the foreshadowing at the very beginning of the book and so what happened at the end was a bit of a surprise for me. I think what gave this book a little extra was that I realised that my grandma was a young woman in this time period, starting a family and everything, and even though she wasn't an American, this made it a little more special to me.
But while it was interesting, I never really felt that connection to the story or the characters and I was very easily distracted while reading it. I did end up enjoying it and am glad I stuck with it.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (1): Tempting Mr Weatherstone, The Kiss Before Midnight, Arcana

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: Tempting Mr Weatherstone (Wallflower Weddings #0.5) by Vivienne Lorret
Publisher/Date published: Avon, November 25th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Penelope is in love with her neighbour Ethan, but he's set in his ways and she's looking for adventure.

So this was an ok read, it didn't have the sparks that I expect when I pick up one of Vivienne Lorret's books, but I liked how Penelope stood her ground and was determined to not just go along with everything. I wasn't really feeling Ethan all that much, he's just SO afraid to change anything that he almost lost out on love and it was just an immobilizing fear that I didn't really understand, which could also be partly because it's a novella and all the deeper workings might need more pages to explain? But they worked together in the end, so I'm good with this.

My rating: 3 stars

Title/Author: The Kiss Before Midnight by Sophie Pembroke
Publisher/Date published: Harper Impulse, November 13th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Plot in one sentence: Molly wants to repeat her kissing with her brother's best friend during the holidays, who hasn't called after they kissed the first time.

This was a pretty cute read, I like books set during the holidays and I really liked Molly's family! The thing that I was shaking my head at a bit was that everyone is an adult in this book and they kept making things unneccesarily hard for themselves. Also, I really didn't get why Jake kept doubting that Molly's family wanted him there, as they kept telling and showing him exactly that. But they were cute together and I always love holiday antics, but they lacked a teeny bit in the chemistry department and it didn't make me feel the feels.

My rating: 3 stars

Title/Author: Arcana by Jessica Leake
Publisher/Date published: Talos, November 11th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: A debutante with magical powers, hunted by a secret order after said powers.

I was expecting to love this book, go all out caps over it, because hello, historical fiction combined with paranormal and secret societies?? MY KIND OF BOOK. Only it never really happened and while it was ok, I never felt that spark between us to make me fall for this world. I mean, it was never exciting to me. Also, the main character Katherine had a few too-stupid-to-live moments and that always bothers me. It was a decent read though, but I'd just hoped for a bit more than that.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd

Title/Author: A Cold Legacy (The Madman's Daughter #3) by Megan Shepherd
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, January 27th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet — along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward — has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation — and her own intended role in it — forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST 2 BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

So I was a bit hesitant about starting A Cold Legacy, cause I didn't really enjoy Her Dark Curiosity all that much, but I'm happy to say that this was definitely a WHOLE lot better! I mean, seriously, while I didn't feel the urge to keep on reading with Her Dark Curiosity, A Cold Legacy definitely brought that 'don't-put-me-down' feeling that I love while reading!

So Her Dark Curiosity ended with the gang running away from London so as not to get caught because they'd murdered 3 influential men, and Edward had poisoned himself because he wanted to kill the Beast and took a whole load of cyanide, which has no antidote, so it should have killed him in seconds, right? RIGHT? But as there are a whole lot of medical miracles in this series, it doesn't and everyone arrives at Elizabeth's mansion in the middle of nowhere. And there they meet a whole new set of interesting characters and remember this is based on Frankenstein, so there's something brought back from the dead walking around and OMG IT IS SO CREEPY!! Seriously, I don't want to give away just who/what is the undead object, but I WAS FREAKING OUT BECAUSE HOLY WOW I CANNOT HANDLE THE CREEPINESS OF IT! There was this sense of dread and doom and just inevitable disaster and I LOVED it!

And seriously, I LOVE that Juliet is a scientist and with Elizabeth we have another no-nonsense female scientist and just YES! One thing that bugged me was that there were some inconsistencies with what I know about science, mainly that dead people don't bleed. Seriously, they just don't. Because if blood isn't being pumped around anymore, it stops flowing and when blood stops flowing, it clots. So if you've been dead for a while, you really just don't bleed anymore and it bugged me that they did in this book. Also, there's no point in giving a dead person an injection with medicine, cause again with the no blood flowing, it's not going anywhere and thus not doing anything. But that's just the medical professional in me talking and I felt that this was a mistake that could have easily been caught and edited out.

But aside from this detail, I was REALLY enjoying A Cold Legacy! I loved how there kept being twists and turns and things got even more complicated and Juliet really needed to look into her soul to decide what direction she was going to go with all of it and there was such character growth and she was just a lot easier to relate to than in Her Dark Curiosity. She was treading a fine line between scientist and mad scientist and it was an egde of your seat experience to watch.

So I obviously don't want to spoil anything about the end, but I'm happy with it. It gave me closure and it fit the series as a whole and I just couldn't put it down till it was finished, it was SO good!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Title/Author: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
Publisher/Date published: Little Brown/Poppy, January 1st 2010
How I got this book: bought it cause people *stares* kept book pushing it
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

So I'm way, WAY late to the party, but at least I joined in, right? Right. So now you can all stop staring me down until I read this, because I did it ok and you were ALL RIGHT so I'll totally let you do an I-told-you-so dance. Go ahead.

Ok, now stop.

Let me just say that I have absolutely no idea why I waited this long to read The DUFF. I mean, love-to-hate romances are MY THING, as are fake relationships and marriages of convenience and pirates and... Wait, I was talking about The DUFF. Let's get back to it.

So The DUFF brought ALL THE FEELINGS!! It was such an emotional rollercoaster and afterwards I was like WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE NOW??? So while that might be a little overdramatic (I know), I was really at a loss of what to do with the rest of my day. I mean, all these intense emotions had nowhere to go except for this review, so excuse me while I flail all over it.

At first I was like OMG Wesley is such a douche!! But then things and Wesley got better and I saw him putting up this douchebag front and being a totally swoonworthy boy and just FEELINGS! SO MANY FEELINGS! I mean, I experienced this hate-to-love thing right along with Bianca and that's what I want from a good romance-y book.

But The DUFF is SO much more than romance. It's Bianca, who is beautifully flawed and has a less than ideal family situation and I just wanted to hug her and tell her that she didn't have to be this strong all the time and that it was ok to trust in someone else. I could totally identify with her looking for ANY way to let off some steam and while it may not have been the best idea ever to go around jumping in bed with a boy who's rumored to have extracurricular activities like this with LOTS of girls, it wasn't the most self-destructive thing she could have done. And I get it. It's a very good way to distract yourself from the problems in your life.

I loved Bianca's friends, they were true friends and I just wished that Bianca had seen how much they loved her and genuinely wanted to know what was going on with her. And I could so relate to Bianca's feeling of being the DUFF, I mean, most people have probably felt like that at some point in their life, right? But really, I've felt like the ugly duckling in a group of friends and it's not a nice feeling. It makes you insecure and question things you'd never question otherwise and OMG it's just not ok. I loved that in the end, Bianca and her friends talked about it and just epic friendship moment, ok?

There was just so much to love about The DUFF, I mean, THE LETTER! OMG, I died. Seriously. I just had all the feeling and not just boy-induced feelings, but friendship feelings and I JUST LOVED IT OK?
So now the movie needs to get released here in Holland, cause MY BODY IS READY!
Also, excuse me while I go plot which Kody Keplinger book I'm going to buy and read next.


My rating: 5 stars