Movie Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.


Actor Impression:
    As always, Jennifer Lawrence is flawless in her return to the screen, this time reprising her role as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. Her performance was more emotional and intense than the last movie required from her character, and the viewer was definitely pulled in by the character's emotional turmoil throughout the film.
     Josh Hutcherson definitely upped his game in this film, as well, but I think the character/actor that stole the film was Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. I've read the book, of course, but I didn't remember Effie being so involved in this one as much as she had been in the last one, but she quickly became my favorite character in this movie. She was more vocal and funnier, and Banks brought heart and character into the "tribute handler" in the most unusual and funny ways.
     I think all of the women in the theater were happy to see more of Liam Hemsworth, but his character and development in Gale were less than what we could have expected next to Katniss, Peeta, and even Haymitch (Woody Harrelson).
     Notable performances definitely need to go out to Philip Seymour Hoffman as Pultarch Heavensbee, Sam Clafin as Finnick Odair, and Jenna Malone as Joanna Mason.

Plot Impression:
    Once again, I'm impressed with how much the screenplay was able to stay faithful to (at least what I remember of) the original book. I only noticed one thing that was left out, and it really wasn't all that important (not that it would have been very hard to slip in, either.) Although I was a little disappointed that we didn't get the scene between Katniss and Peeta, as they watched all of the other tribute's Hunger Games victory tapes, and see Haymitch's win. I think that would have been an interesting scene, and really changed the way the audience looked at Haymitch and his "gruffness."

Overall Impression:
     This was a fantastic film, expertly costumed, written, and edited, and I loved how faithful it remained to the book. I think it is more than worth the movie stub price, and while I'm not a big fan of HUGE cliffhangers, there was really no way of getting around it in this book ["There is no District 12..."]

The Blonde Rating: 4.5/5 *****
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Hypable Rating: A- 

Now the real question for Mockingjay is...how the hell are they going to make that two movies? Or follow up THIS act? That will really be impressive.

That's all for now!
Happy Holidays!
The Blonde

Allegiant by Veronica Roth [UPDATED]

What if your whole world was a lie?

What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?

What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?


I promised myself and the few people I know that actually read my reviews that I wouldn't put in any spoilers for this book. I promised, but that means the review is going to be shorter than usual.

So this book was pretty good. I definitely liked its predecessors better, but it was a good, conclusive ending. I really hate "endings" that leave things ambiguous and unresolved, but don't worry, there aren't too many questions on the last page of Allegiant.

There were a few bits and chapters that I thought didn't seem to have too much impact or a necessity to the rest of the story, but those were few and far between. There were a couple of characters that seemed to act a little differently than what I was used to them behaving (See: Tobias chill-axing with Peter, of all people).

I really liked the changing perspectives between chapters, from Tris to Tobias, but it would sometimes create frustration for the reader when we knew what one character was thinking and doing, but keeping it from the other. Like, haven't we already figured out that that doesn't work, guys? You just end up fighting!


Overall, a satisfying ending with a little bit of frustration around the middle, but keep your tissues close by in the last 70 pages or so.

Blonde Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.7/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 2.9/5

Sorry, this review is a little lame, but i promised, no spoilers. Check out the Insurgent and Divergent reviews. They are spoilers galore.

Thanks!
The Blonde

UPDATED:

So I've had time to really sit on this review and my thoughts about the ending and the series as a whole, and I've heard about the crazy people and their death threats to the author, and how upset they were about the "shock" at the end of the book, and I've decided that I don't like this book as much as I thought I did.

I loved Divergent, don't get me wrong, and I actually really liked Insurgent, which a lot of my friends are saying they hated, but Allegiant just did nothing for me.

I will say that I still liked the switching POVs, but it seems pretty dumb now, knowing that, really, nothing is happening in this book.

Think about it. They're just sitting around, gathering "information" that doesn't really help or harm them until about the last 100 pages or so. In a book 550 page book, the last fifth of it shouldn't be the only interesting part.

While I will always appreciate well-constructed prose, it can't always make up for an overly drawn out finale. 

I'm re-issuing my rating to a 2.5/5 

and I'm giving the series as a whole a 3/5

Sorry for the update, I promise I will sit on and think more thoroughly through my reviews in the future.

The Blonde

The Book Hangover

The Book Hangover

I've heard the term, "book hangover" before, but I didn't realize just how much a good book is like alcohol until after I turned 21.

Think about it:

• Drinking puts your mind all out of whack, just like when you're in the middle of a good book, and nothing you say makes sense because all you can talk about is the story.

• At a family party, if you're drinking, you're probably doing it to isolate yourself from all of your relatives. I did the same thing with my books, when I would read at family gatherings.

• When you're reading too many books at once, you get easily lost and confused about who is who, which character belongs with which backstory, and where-the-heck-are-we-going?

• When you wake up the next day after finishing a particularly thrilling and involved novel, the wake of that story leaves you dazed and probably more than a little sad. And you probably have a headache from staying up so late to finish, and you don't really want to do much of anything but eat your feelings for that character you liked that died at the end.

• You tell yourself "I'm never doing that again" when you wake up this way, but in no time at all, you're back on that wagon.

I have found that there are really only two ways to combat and prevent a book hangover:

1. To not read.
2. To start about fifteen-thirty pages of a new book just before you finish the last one.

For me, option 1 is not a possibility, and it probably won't ever be. I don't want to be book sober, and I hope I never will be. 

Option two is one of my own making. I have determined that, by just-barely starting a new book in the last fifty pages of the one I'm about to finish, I can "keep the buzz" going when that first book ends in a blaze of glory. Instead of moping around and getting "hung-up" on that last book, I've already got something to look forward to, because I've read just enough of the new book to know who the protagonist is and what kind of trouble he/she is facing.

It's not a perfect strategy, but it works for me. If I wasn't constantly reading two or three books, I'd probably never have gotten over [SPOILER] Dumbledore's death [SPOILER] or, more recently, the end to the Divergent trilogy.

It's hard, ending something you've spent 150-700 pages working on. It's hard to let those characters go, but we have to accept that story has to come to an end. In some series, we learn the hard way that they maybe should have ended sooner than they did, but whatever. I've come to realize that overly empathetic readers like myself need to have multiple things to focus our thoughts and emotions on, or else we'll put our whole beings into the stories we have in front of us, and a part of us dies with the end of the book.

I'm not saying feeling strong emotions for books is wrong, but it isn't right to let it control you. It is fiction, it is not real, and we must learn to let go. I personally move on faster when I have something new to hang onto, like a new project, craft, or book.

This is not a step-by-step program to rehabilitate your addiction. It is to nourish it, and help you get addicted to great books, so when you do consume your "poison," it's not crap.

I am NOT by any means saying that alcohol and reading are the same thing, or that they are the same kind of addictions.

In fact, I encourage you to nurture your addiction to books. 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles)

     Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

     Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. 

     But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

     My first comment is this: why didn't I read this sooner!?

     I've had it for weeks, and I decided to deviate from my TBR list a little bit to push this to the top because Marissa Meyer was coming to town and I wanted to get my copy of the book signed. Halfway through, I was racing out to my local indie bookstore to get Scarlet so I wouldn't have to wait once I was finished. Something tells me the wait between Scarlet  and Cress is going to be unbearable.

      I really liked the way this was done. The elements of the original fairytale are evident in the book, but the setting and characters are so unique, interesting, and different from any other adaptions and recreations of the Cinderella tale that I've ever seen before. 

      I really appreciated the world-building that went on in this book. There was no giant paragraphs trying to describe the NEW WORLD ORDER or describing the "how the world got this way." It was done very naturally; the reader was introduced to new parts of the world as Cinder or Kai was approaching elements that were different than what the reader might have assumed. I loved the whole aspect of "cyborgs as lower class citizens" -it really adds a new dynamic to her relationships with the people around her.

      The Lunars are freaking crazy! I love to hate them, which is totally the whole point to them, I feel, which is great!

      Though I will admit, I TOTALLY called the "secret" ending by page 115. And, once suspecting it, all of the clues just seem like giant neon signs pointing to it until it is finally confirmed. Not that it deterred from the story at all, I just like being right.

Things That I Liked:

1. Dr. Erland; he's like the greatest loving uncle, or cool grandpa ever. Right from the start I wanted to like him, so I was really glad we got to, but I didn't really see too much of his "going mental" happening in this book. Maybe it's explored more in Scarlet?
2. Iko; poor little android! I loved her, and it made me so upset that Cinder lost her little partner in crime for so much of the book.
3. Prince Kai; he had such a sweet personality, and I liked his persistence in pursuing Cinder, and his complete disdain for Levana. He felt like a real guy character.

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. Adri and Pearl, Levana; I loved to hate this dysfunctional step-family and this stupid, mean, awful queen.

Overall Impression:

     What a cool, unique re-envisioning of this classic fairytale. I cannot wait to see how Cinder gets out of her predicament and continues on with her story in the upcoming books.

The Blonde's Rating: 4.5/5

GoodReads Rating: 4/5 

Amazon Buyer's Ratings: 4.5/5

Stick around for further reviews of The Lunar Chronicles books!

Thanks!

The Blonde

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle)

     Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. 

     Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. 

     Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after....

     
      Stiefvater comes back with the LONG awaited sequel to The Raven Boys and...it fell a little short. Though to be fair, this could be partially my fault. I was expecting a sequel as dynamic, new, and interesting as the first novel was, and I really shouldn't compare two different books...or should I?

     I wanted to love it. I really did. And it started off good. And it ended pretty okay. But that middle, man. That middle killed me. I finished three other books in the time it took me to get through pages 215-335. It just felt like everything that was happening in those pages was, well not filler, but reiterating things we already knew. The most exciting thing that happened was Ronan's dream lessons, and those were relatively low key compared to the opening when Declan gets his shit rocked by the Gray Man, or the terrifying fights with Ronan's nightmare monster things.

     That being said, the beginning and the ending were totally worth over-looking the middle. I have a newfound appreciation for Ronan's character and his background, and his powers are freaking awesome! In the beginning the reader learns a lot of new information very quickly, which is probably why it slows down before the ending (it needs time for that information to sit, saturate, and become useful, I guess). I loved seeing how the characters relationship dynamics had changed and matured, and we got some new characters that I just LOVED. 

     The ending was a little weak in some areas, but definitely strong in action! A dream monster fight in a sky filled with fireworks? Hell yeah! But the Gray Man's personal stand-off was a big underwhelming, especially considering all of the build-up during the book. But what exactly were Adam and Persephone doing? That was weird and confusing. Everything involving Adam in this book was confusing.

Things That I Liked:

1. The Gray Man; it was funny, I was wary about this new character, I was ready to dislike him and pin him as a villain, but i LOVE him! I hope he sticks around! I want him to be an over-protective father-like figure for Blue, especially while Maura is missing.
2. Noah!!! His scene with Blue in Monmouth Manufacturing both warmed and broke my heart.
3. Kavinsky; I know he's bad, but he's SUCH an interesting character, I wanted more! I was kind of hoping he'd be a recurring villain.
4. Ronan and his dad; what a great relationship.

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. Adam; Adam was a total turd-face jerk in this book. He was my favorite in the last book, but he just got mean in this one, and I didn't really understand the reason for it all.
2. Cabeswater magic; where the heck did that stuff go? It seemed like it was doing a whole bunch of cool things every chapter in the first book, then it just disappears? Supposedly this dream-draining magic has been happening for a while, so why is it so prevalant now?
3. Adam and Gansey; what the heck is going on? These guys are constantly telling themselves that they're like brothers, but then Adam is constantly picking a fight with him. 

Overall Impression:

      This book was definitely different from the first one, and I'm still figuring out if I like it or not. I liked that we spent so much time in Ronan's head, but the Adam-Blue-Gansey drama felt almost forced or inappropriate because we spent so much time outside of their heads. It felt like even the book was tip-toeing around Adam's issues, like it wasn't quite sure what was wrong with him. I enjoyed the new characters that were introduced in this book, and I liked the inclusion of more "realistic" issues, like the car races and the drugs. I was beginning to think the boys were a little too perfect. It was a good read, but just remember to push through those 100 pages in the middle, or you'll be stuck on this book for a while.

The Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.3/5
Amazon Buyers Rating: 4.5/5

Don't forget to read the review for The Raven Boys.

Thanks,
The Blonde

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

     Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. 

     Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

     Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. 

     Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

     Anyone willing to look back on my reviews of DeStefano's other novels knows that I wasn't particularly a "fan" of her stories, but I always appreciated her prose and style, so I was willing to give it another shot with this new story, especially with the idea of it taking place on a floating city, a la Castle in the Sky.


     I was delighted and enraptured almost immediately, and finished this first installation very quickly. This story gives the reader a wonderful and visual world to step into, with just enough similarities between our own world and customs so as not to lose the reader through extensive world-building. But it was different enough so that we always knew that we were not dealing with something we could handle "down here."

     I liked the main character/narrator of Morgan, and I struggled with her as she tried to appear normal, despite the reputation her brother's mistake landed her with. I didn't, however, really feel the isolation from the other students that the narrator describes. I can understand  how the other students her age might think that a "jumper's" thoughts would "infect" the whole family, but due to the fact that we don't get much insight into that time in Morgan's life, we don't really see or feel Morgan's issues.

      Two of my favorite characters were Lex, Morgan's blind, jumper brother, and Basil, Morgan's betrothed. I loved the complexity of Lex's character and his behaviors, but I wish we had gotten some more insight into how he had changed from his experience over the "edge."  And Basil is such a sweetheart, and loyal to a fault, but we don't get an real idea about why he loves Morgan so much, or why she finds it hard to admit as much back.

     With a character who's father is a part of the law enforcement of this fantastical world, I would have expected a more in-depth knowledge of the law system than what the narrator experienced. One of the opening sentences in the book says "On Internment, you can be anything you dream -a novelist or a singer, a florist or a factory worker", but the character never goes into that sort of process or what she would like to be, despite the fact that she does explain the marriage/betrothal process, as well as the process for requesting to have children. We know what many other different characters hope to have as their career, but I feel like knowing Morgan's wish and what she's good at would have helped the reader understand her a bit more. 

Things That I Liked:

1. Pen; definitely one of my favorite characters, she was complex and interesting, with some serious and interesting family issues, as well as an unwavering loyalty to her friends and her faith, even when they are opposing each other.
2. The subtle world-building.
3. The "jumper culture;" I thought the idea of jumping was really interesting, and I was intrigued by the idea of the rules forced upon those believed to be "high-risk."

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. The "religion;" it started out as an interesting undertone, but I  think it became too much of a main feature towards the end of the book. Just the totalitarian control of King Furlow and the fear of losing that control with the ability to leave for the ground would have been enough. I liked the idea of using this religion to add to the "freedom" of following the rules, but by the end, it got a little heavy for my taste.
2. The royal family was really really weird. I'm hoping they'll be explored more in the second installment (the princess, at least, since they're stuck with her, now).

Overall Impression:

      I really liked this book. I read through it in two days, and I enjoyed it the whole time. I thought the novelty of a story taking place on a floating city in the sky was very interesting and unique. I'm hoping for a bit more personal history for Morgan, Lex, and Basil in the second book, but otherwise, I think this was a solid start, much more satisfactory than the first Chemical Garden book left me. Basically, I'm really glad I gave DeStefano another chance.

The Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4.3/5

Thanks for reading,
The Blonde

The Chemical Garden Reviews:
Wither
Fever
Sever

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.




     I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book, considering I wasn't a huge fan of the plot in Jay's Juliet Immortal series, but I loved the language and writing style in those books, so I was more than willing to give her another shot. I'm glad I did, because I adored this book. It maintained the fairytale quality of the original idea, but completely turned my thoughts of it upside down in such a good way. 

     I loved the ups and downs of the main character, Isra. She was obviously a girl who took everything she was taught to believe to heart, and tried to be the best person and queen she could, despite the nagging in her head that something was wrong in her homeland. Her struggle with what she was taught to believe and what she felt was morally right came together poetically in the prose and the story.

     The "beast" character of Gem was an interesting personality, and a great antithesis to Isra and her lifestyle. He was unique and I liked how he was constantly battling his desire to escape back to his tribe, his will to stay to save his people, his want to kill Isra and all the other Yuanians, and his attraction to Isra.


Things That I Liked:

1. The use of the roses and the legend that binds them all to the domed city; it was a really cool, very dark, and creepy legend of how the city is kept "alive" and it really helped add another level to the book.
2. The changing PoV narration from chapter to chapter. It really helped capture the inner conflicts of each character, and it made some of what they were doing make a lot more sense.

Things I Didn't Like:

1. The "villain" -the corporeal villain in this story was actually kind of lame. We never actually got to see him be truly villainous, and while he was scheming and clearly evil, in his head, he was doing what he thought was best for his family. But he had almost no character development, and that's lame.
2. The ending; not the happy, fairytale "everyone lives happily ever after" ending, but the one before that, with all the action and city collapsing and everyone dying. Everything happened very quickly and yet very slowly. We find out that Isra has been holed up in her tower for three freakin' months, not doing anything, but also that we have no idea if Gem is alive or not, or where the HELL he is, and then the villain has a chance to do something and then he backs down like wimp to his stupid weakling son, and then EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL OMG!! It was a lot of nothing kind of happening until Isra was out of the tower, and then the fairytale ending comes into play which was great.

Overall Impression:

     I liked this story. It was something interesting and different from an author I wasn't previously enthusiastic about. If you're in the mood for fairy tales, check this one out.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks for reading!

The Blonde

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

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

      Insurgent takes place immediately after the conclusion to Divergent, leaving the narrator, Tris, feeling hopeless and lost in the remains of the world she's always known. 

      This installation of the series is just as dynamic and excited as the first, though in very different ways. The first focuses on the drama and danger of making it through initiation, while the danger is much more prevalent in this book as Tris, Tobias, and the other left-over Dauntless struggle just to find a place to collect their thoughts. They are constantly being followed and attacked by Jeanine Matthews and the other sadists at Erudite, and it's difficult to determine who they can trust and who they can't.

     The inclusion of the factionless as high contenders in the "new world order" creates a really cool and dramatic dynamic between the other factions, Tris, and especially Tobias, and the tension is constantly running very high. Couple that with the various reactions of this "war" by the factions Amity and Candor, both of which Tris spends time in under "sanctuary," there's a lot of political tension running through this book. 

     Another thing that was VERY prevalent in this novel was Tris's inner drama and conflict with her emotions. Insurgent was a lot darker than the first book because Tris was constantly battling with her guilt over killing her good friend, as well as the guilt of doubting Tobias and being unsure if her feelings for him are as strong as his for her. The pressure of keeping her guilt secret from those around her threatens to crush her more often than not, and especially later in the book, she has a lot of self-sacrificing, almost suicidal thoughts. This was not what I was expecting from Tris, especially when her guilt refuses to let her hold a gun to protect herself and those around her.

Things That I Liked:

1. I loved the inner conflict with Tris and her darker emotions. While I don't think every YA reader is in the right place to read this sort of conflict from a "children's" book, I think that kind of conflict is very real and intense, and gives the story a whole new level of depth.
2.  The Tobias-Marcus-Evelyn drama saga is pretty interesting, and instead of frustrating, it's actually enjoyable to see Tris kind of immediately hate Evelyn for Tobias, and just always hate Marcus but know that he's got something she wants. This aspect of the story also allows the reader to know that Tris is a reliable narrator because she is not just following around her boyfriend, she is thinking for herself and trusting her instincts, which are always attractive traits in a main character.
3. emotions.
4. THE SECRET.

Things That I Did Not Like:

1. THE SECRET ENDING
2. Tris's utter lack of concern for her life/clearly not thinking about the consequences her actions could make on those around her. We learned in the last book and relearn a few times in Insurgent that Tris is not dumb, that she usually thinks through her decisions. But she rushes into a lot of stupid things in this book and it's very frustrating to see her self-destructive behavior and have the only person pointing it out be Tobias. The second frustrating part of this is that Tobias is only pointing out her flaw and not TRYING TO HELP HER because giving her ultimatums is NOT HELPING.
3. The faction jumping. By going around to all of the different factions for help, the reader is submitted to lots of new surroundings and lots of new characters to remember, and it gets very confusing who we like and don't like by the end of the book.
4. emotions.

Overall Impression:

      I seriously enjoyed this book, possibly more so than its predecessor (large gap time in reading notwithstanding). It was dynamic, dramatic, and intense, and yet the storyline wasn't complicated, despite all those D's. It is an engrossing read, one of those "you are no longer my friend-this book is all the social nourishment i need" kind of books. I got to the end, turned the page and made this kind of face:

because I couldn't believe it ended where it did.

Not happy.

The Blonde's Rating: 4.5 of 5

Goodreads Rating: 4.3 of 5

Amazon.com Buyers Rating: 4.6 of 5

Go read this book. Also, Divergent was pretty cool, too.

Thanks!

The Blonde

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

      Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything changes when she is awarded a prestigious internship at a posh Chicago hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous strangers: the powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.


      As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

      Basically I picked this book up because it was in the YA section and it was published by the house that I'm looking to get an internship with. Don't get me wrong, it's totally my kind of thing in terms of genre and stuff like that, but it did seem a little "tame" for what I'm used to. 

     You can definitely tell that this is a new/debut novel. It wasn't bad by any stretch, but there were definitely parts that could have used a good editing. There was a lot of the "we went here, and then we did this, and then we went there" kind of thing, and while the reader definitely became accustomed to the sense of "routine" that these characters were going through, it was harder, later on, to get the sense of shock when something totally busted up that routine and they learned something crazy! Like, i don't know, that they're boss is the freaking DEVIL.

     It just seemed like Haven was a little too...cool about everything. I didn't feel her freaking out about the whole "my co-workers are literally demons from hell" thing, and she took the information about her being an "angel candidate" very well. I thought it was also a little strange that, for someone who wanted to get this angel person on her team, Aurelia didn't really try very hard to give Haven the whole "life can literally be everything you've ever dreamed" treatment. Especially for someone who didn't trust her, I would have thought she'd try to have her literally like glued to her side to make sure she's not off doing her own thing and figuring things out.

Things I Liked:

1. I liked the character of Dante, even though he sort of goes AWOL for a majority of the book. He seems the most emotionally and personality charged character in the whole piece.

2. Lucian. I liked the idea of him, but that's kind of all we get for him -an image and an idea. The main character doesn't spend enough time with him to get to know what's actually going on in his head, though.

3. The Lexington. I wish we could have explored it a bit more, because I LOVED the bits of history thrown in, as well as all of the cool passage ways and secrets that it seemed to have. 

Things I Didn't Like:

1. The Prince and his noticeable absence. I feel like when both Aurelia and Lucian were failing in getting Haven on their side, Satan totally should have stepped up and tried to, like, charm her or something.

2. The Outfit. I wished they'd been more nasty to Haven or something. They needed personalities, otherwise it was just really super boring whenever they were in the scene. I liked when Haven tried talking to Raphaella and Calliope in the beginning though, because that at least let me know that they could actually speak.

Overall Impression:

      This was a good first novel. It definitely could have been edited a bit more (it totally didn't need to be 500 pages), but it was a really cool idea and I think it has some good potential for a series. I just want more Dante...and Lucian. I'm really glad he's coming back in the next book. You totally saw Havance coming a mile away, but I kinda want to know more about Lucian. (Not that there's anything wrong with Lance, it was just too obvious).

The Blonde's Rating: 3 of 5
Amazon's Rating: 3.5 of 5
Goodreads Rating: 3.7 of 5

Thanks for reading!
The Blonde

Don't forget to check out the second book in the series, Infatuate, out now.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

     In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

     During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

     I've been hearing a lot about this book in the YA-reader circles and there are lots of reviews raving about it, so I decided I wanted check out what all the buzz was about. And needless to say, I had HIGH expectations for this book because of all of the hype surrounding the book and the upcoming film adaption.

     And guess what...it lived up to my expectations.

     I will admit, it started out sort of slow, and I sort of had to force myself to keep reading for the first couple of chapters, but sometime around when Tris changes her name and moves to the Dauntless camp, I found it difficult to put the book down. Before I realized it, I was engrossed in this story, and the writing was incredibly well done and the story steadily became more dramatic, exciting, and enticing. It's easy to see (after finishing the book) why so many people are excited for the final installment, to be released in October.

Things That I Liked:

1. I really liked Four. He has the greatest personality, and I love his veiled interest in Tris, although there was a point, like, two pages after meeting him where I said to myself "he's that kid that was abused by the Abnegation leader."

2. The action; the story was narrated in Tris's head, but because she is an action-oriented character, there isn't a lot of long thought-passages of her trying to make a decision or thinking about her situation.

3. The fear landscape/simulations were a really cool idea, and I totally didn't see the use of them coming up in the end-scheme of the big turning point in the book. I thought it was a really interesting use of the simulation and it really makes the reader think about morality and the owner of the responsibility of people's actions.

4. Tris's struggle with "becoming" Dauntless but being unable to be completely Abnegation. It felt real and relatable, and I really admired how she handled her issues.

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. Peter is a b*tch. But he is a good villain, I guess.

2. Eric. I know nothing about him except that I was supposed to hate him and indeed I did.

3. Is there, like, a history, or some kind of origin story for how the factions came to be? Like, it's obvious this supposed to be a dystopian version of Chicago, but how did Chicago as we know it now get to the point it is in during Divergent? What's going on in the rest of the world?

4. It would be really cool to know what exactly it means to be Divergent, because from what I can tell, it just means that you are indecisive and can actually think for yourself.

Overall Impression:

     This was a really interesting novel, and I'm really excited to see where things go from the end of the first book. It's clear that the next two books are going to be very different from the first one, so it will be interesting to see if the style can stay the same.

The Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.6/5

Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5

To read the review for Insurgent, click here.

Thanks,

The Blonde

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

      Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

      Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

     As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

     I picked up this book, expecting it to be a one-hit wonder similar to Meg Cabot's Abandon series, where a girl has infatuated the keeper to the Land of the Dead, but I was pleasantly surprised! This was a really unique story with an original plot and a shocking ending, leaving me very excited for the sequel.

     Things That I Liked:

     1. The cover -it is gorgeous, and I can't get over just how pretty it is.

     2. The main character, Nikki, is strong, courageous, and self-sacrificing, prepared to spend the last of her short time back at home helping her family and bringing relief to others rather than satisfying herself. 

     3. The mystery: yes there is the mystery of Cole and the other Everlings and how they live, but I think the readers were only given a small taste of the bigger mystery in this story, which is that of the Everneath's queen and the ruling class, and their existence. 

     4. The timeline: the majority of the story was in a conventional timeline, but whenever the story reached a point where Nikki remembered something significant from her past, the text would go back to that moment, with each chapter/break subtitled with the time and location, to minimize confusion to the readers.

     Things That I Didn't Like:

     1. I was unclear about the location of "Park City" where the story takes place. Normally this wouldn't make much of a difference for me, but there were a few mentions about being a town known for American Indian tourism/memorabilia which made me wonder about where this was taking place, as well as the local river rapids and mountains that seemed easy to drive to. But overall, not a big deal, in fact, a very small one.

     2. Cole's motivation: I didn't like that he wouldn't explain anything about how he and Nikki would "make a run for the Everneath throne." Obviously the queen is very powerful and knows a lot of information about her Everlings, so how would these two be able to not only keep Nikki's existence a secret, but then fight her for her ruling status? 

     Overall Impression:

     This was a really interesting story, and I really liked the voice in which it was written. The prose was well-written, and there were few holes left by the end of the book. The ending was shocking, and left for a satisfying cliffhanger to have you scrambling for the sequel.

Blonde Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.2/5

Goodreads Rating: 3.8/5

Stay tuned for my review of Everbound, the sequel to Everneath; there will NOT be a review for Neverfall, the digital novella companion to Everneath.

Thanks for reading,

The Blonde