Snow Like Ashes

Title: Snow Like Ashes
Author: Sara Raasch
Series: Snow Like Ashes #1
Pages: 416 (hardcover)
Published: October 2014 by Balzer + Bray
(All links lead to the books' respective Goodreads pages)

Summary: Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

My Thoughts: I'm kind of new to the world of the fantasy genre, and just so y'all know, I loved getting out of my genre-comfort zone with this book. Anyways, let's talk about how BA our main character Meira is. When I first started reading, I had no idea what a chakram was, which is Meira's weapon of choice, and upon further investigation it's what's on the cover of this book, too. I think it was the little details like archery and chakrams and other weapons that added a little more flavor to the epic battle scenes.

The world building at the beginning was a little bit of an info-dump especially when it came to the royal conduits, which harbor magic.  Each of the four Rhythm kingdoms has one and each of the Season kingdoms has one except Winter whose conduit was destroyed by Spring's king, Angra. And each of the conduits is gender specific so, for example, only a female heir can control Winter's conduit and only a male heir can control Spring's conduit. It took me way longer than I care to admit to grasp this concept but hey, I'm new to this fantasy epic world building jazz, give me a break.

That's not to say that the world building wasn't good. No, the world building in this book was downright amazing. I loved this concept of Seasons being kingdoms, and even the Rhythms were fun to read about just to see how much they differed from the Seasons. It was so completely original to me and I couldn't get enough of it.

Now for the characters. Meira was a great, sassy heroine who don't need no man to fight her battles because she's a warrior in her own right. And when you get about three fourths of the way through the book, you really get to see her come into her own and shine. Mather was stoic, angsty, and broody most of the time which almost became tiresome, but I think the author Sara Raasch knew where the line was between broody and whiny and she never once crossed it with Mather. And then there's the Cordellan prince, Theron, who let's face it is quite the hottie with a heart of gold. I'm team Theron, what can I say.

With the characters and the awesome action scenes, it was easy to look past the info-dumpy beginning and I ended up truly enjoying this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to jump into the great escape that is the fantasy genre but still wants to read a good YA book. Also, I neeeeed it to be October 15th yesterday so I can finally read the sequel to this novel, Ice Like Fire. And I would like to thank this book for properly introducing me to the fantasy genre. I look forward to reading more of your ilk.
My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Alienated

Title: Alienated
Author: Melissa Landers
Series: Alienated (#1)
Pages: 344 (paperback)
Published: February 2014 by Disney Hyperion
(All links lead to the books' respective Goodreads pages)

Summary: Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

My Thoughts: When I first started this book, the info dump that is the first two chapters was a little disconcerting, but that's to be expected when delving into a new science fiction series. However, it wasn't the info dump or the alien terminology that put me off of this book, it was the hot and cold nature of the characters that did.

I liked Aelyx, our alien exchange student, better than his human host, Cara Sweeney. I could see where he was coming from especially when his customs and upbringing was explained. Cara on the other hand was quite the drama queen, lashing out and playing the "flaming redhead" stereotype to a T. Aelyx and his world a well built and so were most of the characters except for Cara's, it seemed. I didn't hate her character, but I feel like there's room for improvement for her in terms of temperament.

That isn't to say that there wasn't character development in this book. Aelyx goes from unfeeling and antisocial to a creature capable of feeling guilt, sorrow, and love. By the end of the book, you fall in love with this cute little alien! And even though Cara is still the stereotypical hot tempered redhead at the end of the novel, she is more likeable and able to control herself.

And Cara's + Aelyx = fireworks! From the the first time they started bantering about L'eihr vs. Human differences, you can feel the chemistry in the writing. That and the various action packed scenes are what really saved this book. When I got halfway through the book, I couldn't put it down.

I guess those were the points that made me want to continue on with this series. It may have some weaknesses but in the end, I really did like this read. It's a great, cheesy,  light, YA sci-fi read and I already have plans to read the sequel, Invaded, this summer on my next vacation.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Since You've Been Gone

Title: Since You've Been Gone
Author: Morgan Matson
Pages: 449 (hardcover)
Published: May, 2014, by Simon and Schuster
(All links lead to the books' respective Goodreads pages).

Summary: The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.

But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend.

Apple Picking at Night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um…

My Thoughts: After finishing this book, I had to actively try to find something wrong with it but I ended up pretty much failing. It was such a delightful, cute, and fun young adult contemporary novel! I read Amy and Roger's Epic Detour last year, also by Morgan Matson, and enjoyed it immensely so when I picked this novel up I had high expectations, especially when reading all the high praise it's been garnering. And I have to say, I was definitely not disappointed. I also have to say, I could totally see this book being made into a movie (yes, please).

I would even go so far as to say that this book exceeded my already lofty expectations (gasp!). The more I sit here and think about this novel and how well written, fun, and full-o'-feels it was the more I love it. The characters were fully fleshed out and multidimensional, the plot makes you want to keep reading until dawn, and it wasn't a forced plot and neither was the dialogue, which was very believable and had a natural flow to it.

My only gripe with this book is that sometimes it felt like Emily's family was neglecting her and that she didn't seem all that bothered by it and that sometimes (like maybe twice?) when Emily would be waffling about trying to think of reasons not to do a list item, you would grow frustrated with her. But that's it. I seriously can't think of anything else that would make this novel not deserve a perfect score in my book. Is it a high class, critically acclaimed, world changing, Pulitzer Prize winning piece of art? Probably not. But I don't read to feel intelligent, I read to escape and explore different worlds and to go on emotional journey and this book was perfect for that.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good coming of age, fun, summery contemporary read, like Matson's Amy and Roger's Epic Detour or anything by Sarah Dessen.  Heck, I'll probably be recommending this to anyone who's willing to listen to me fangirl because it was just that dang cute and loveable. After reading this, all I want in my life now is a life changing, adventurous summer where I make new friends, conquer fears, find love, become brave, go on a road trip, and discover my own inner strength. This book was seriously that inspiring to me and I can definitely say I will be rereading it in the future.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Pages: 227 (hardback)
Published: May 2014 by Delacorte Press

Summary: A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

My Thoughts: If you've heard about this book, then you may have been told to go into it blind which I'm just going to reiterate to you as well since that's what I did and it made me appreciate it just that much more. Subsequently, this means that this review will be quite short since I don't want to delve into too many specifics. BUT I will say why it got a 4 out of 5 stars and not a perfect score from me because I think that's fair enough.

First off, I don't know if this is how New Englanders or private island owning people talk, but oh my goodness it got pretty annoying at times. For example, before reading this book, I had never heard of the word "natter" before and I don't think I ever want to hear/read it again. It was grating having to read it over and over again and usually when the main character was being whiny about this or that. I mean, the main characters except maybe one sounded, for lack of a better word, a little snooty at times, especially when they became annoyed or cross about something.

Also, another reason why this book didn't get a perfect score was because yes it did hit me in the feels (they're still a little bruised but don't worry chocolate heals all book-caused feels) and yes it was a memorable book, but other than that it didn't wow me. I wasn't completely enthralled until the very end where, if you've read any other reviews of this book you'll know, there's a twist. The writing, however, was beautiful from beginning to end and had a lyrical feeling at certain points. I will definitely be adding some quotes from this book to my list of favorite quotes, because dang were they poetic.

Despite my 4 out of 5 rating, this was an excellent novel. If you like well-written contemporary, beachy mysteries, then this is your kind of book. And to be honest, that's my kind of book, too, which is why I will be on the hunt for more like this one for future reading adventures.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Madman's Daughter

Title: The Madman's Daughter
Author: Megan Shepherd
Pages: 464 (paperback)
Series: The Madman's Daughter (#1)
Published: January 2013 by Balzer + Bray
 (All links lead to the books' respective Goodreads pages)

Summary: Following accusations that her scientist father gruesomely experimented on animals, sixteen-year-old Juliet watched as her family and her genteel life in London crumbled around her—and only recently has she managed to piece her world back together. But when Juliet learns her father is still alive and working on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the old accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward, Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's insanity. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

My Thoughts: What a great thrilling read, am I right?!  Oh my lordy the suspense was palpable throughout this book and I absolutely loved the creepy and mysterious feeling it had, too. I mean after about the second chapter I had a hard time putting it down because it became so easy to immerse myself into this wonderfully rich and dark world.

 First off, I found Juliet to be a great protagonist for this story. She was a little frail and weak at times, but that gets explained later but other than that I thought she was a great central character to this book. I also enjoyed reading about Juliet's love interests, Montgomery and Edward. Their backstories became more and more complicated as the book went on and I could not get enough of it.

"Wait, TWO love interests? Is this a love triangle mayhaps?" you may balk at your screen. Why yes this book has yet another love triangle in a YA series, but it wasn't badly done. Quite the opposite, I think. Edward's love for Juliet was a bit insta-lovey, but he grew on me in time as did Montgomery and in true love-triangle fashion, I had chosen sides because that's what you do in situations like these. Edward vs. Jacob. Jem vs. Will. And now Edward vs. Montgomery. It is book law.

Oh and did I mention there's a twist ending? "TWISTS?! I LOVE TWISTS," you may say to your screen (because, like me, you talk to your electronic devices too much). Good! This would be a great book-match for you, dear reader. As for me, I too love a good twist and an even grander mystery, which is another reason why I enjoyed this book so much.

I honestly went into this book not expecting too much, especially with the reading slumps I seem to always be in, but I came out of this reading experience happy and excited to get my hands on the next installment, Her Dark Curiosity. I haven't a clue where the story is headed but I'm anxious to find out!
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Pages: 305 (paperback)
Published: September 2009 by Speak
(All links lead to the books' respective Goodreads pages)

Summary: Who is the real Margo? Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...

My Thoughts: This is the first John Green book that didn't have me in tears, but I stilled enjoyed it immensely. That's not to say it wasn't moving. I was greatly moved, don't get me wrong, it just made me think more about how the world functions and our place in it rather than loss or finding out something about yourself or others when there is a loss, which was a big part of The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska, in my opinion.

In this novel, our protagonist Quentin is in love with Margo Roth Spiegelman (there is no other way to say her name other than saying it in it's entirety) from afar until she becomes a mystery. It's hard to give much more summary to the book than what is above without giving away any spoilers. But I think I can safely say that this book was more about Quentin discovering himself and what he wanted and not about unraveling the mystery that is Margo Roth Spiegelman.

That was my favorite part of the book. When it comes down to brass tax, this book was not a love story. It was more of a coming of age story if anything. And oh my goodness it was hysterical and intelligent and everything I hope for when reading a John Green book. The only reason why I don't give it a full five out of five stars is because I feel like it could have been about 20 pages longer. It felt slightly rushed when it came to the resolution of the whole thing and I was left wanting more rather than feeling completely satisfied with my reading experience.

With that aside, I recommend this book to anyone else who has enjoyed a book by John Green or has ever just wanted a smart and funny contemporary novel that makes them think in profound ways. I came to realize certain things about myself and others through this book that I might not have otherwise, and for that I am grateful. This is why I read books, so that I can have experiences such as these and get inside someone's head and understand them a little better without having to be them. (Oh no I'm getting mushy and emotional. The feels. thE FEELS!) I can definitely see myself rereading this book over and over again in the future.

As with most great and amazing books, I found it extremely difficult to put this one down. And as with most John Green books, I loved it from beginning to end.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Obsidian

Title: Obsidian
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Lux Series (#1)
Pages: 335 (paperback)
Published: May 2012 by Entangled Teen

Summary: 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.

My Thoughts:One of my favorite parts about this book was how much I could relate to it. No, I don't have a hot alien dude living next door to me with the ability to manipulate stuff and leave lit up traces on me (I wish). But it was nice and refreshing to see the protagonist be a book blogger like myself. 

Katy wasn't your typical clumsy YA protagonist that enjoys reading every once in a while but hides behind her awkwardness until she needs to be dubbed "spunky" as a plot device. She was unapologetically nerdy about her book blog and everything related to it and was herself from the get go around everyone, no strings attached. She didn't brood too much or pine after anyone, either, which was a relief seeing as how overdone that has gotten in some parts of YA literature.

Not only that but I like to think of myself as witty with the banter every once in a while, and that was in abundance throughout this novel. I mean this book was hilarious. First of all, I'm officially adding the phrases "sweet baby jesus," and "for the love of babies," to my vocabulary, fyi. Secondly, I was laughing and snorting out loud during many parts of this book, which let me assure you doesn't happen that often and it made me appreciate Jennifer L. Armentrout as a writer just that much more. Her humor felt effortless, which I loved, as did the connection between Daemon and Katy.

*Sigh* and what can I say about Daemon. Let's just say he reminds of a similarly named vampire on a certain diary centered vampire show that is currently airing on TV. Arrogant, conceited, hot, likes a girl he probably shouldn't like in the first place, puts family before himself, hot, deeper than he lets on, witty, hot, and has wonderful hair that you could easily take a nap in. These similarities are not necessarily a bad thing. Actually I think these traits are what made me enjoy him as a character in the first place, along with a few other differentiating characteristics, too.

The only thing I didn't like about this novel was how it seemed to jump ahead and skip too quickly through a scene. I almost got whiplash toward the ending considering how much happened was in just the last quarter of the book. Other than that, I was completely sucked into the storyline and couldn't put the book down. This book wasn't exactly high-brow by any means, but it was such a fun read.

I mean Daemon's world alone was so appealing, as well. I haven't read many alien themed novels for fear of them being too hokey, but this one was very enjoyable and actually quite believable when it came down to it. I didn't once think anything along the lines of "This is ridiculous," or "Who would possibly believe any of this," while reading this book. This novel definitely exceeded my expectations as a sci-fi alien novel as well as a YA book and I cannot wait to read the next book of this series.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars