Book Review: The Winner's Curse

By Marie Rutkoski

Supplied by Macmillan

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love

They were never meant to be together. As a general’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can’t help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart. -Supplied by the Publisher (Macmillan)

     If I had been aware before I bought and read this book that it was the first in a trilogy, the rest of which has not yet been published, I would have waited...because I couldn't stop. And when that inevitable realization hit me at the end, with five pages left and WAY too much happened, I realized my mistake -I had just started the first in a barely started series. I try to avoid this situation as much as possible, especially with a story and writing as great as that in The Winner's Curse.

Things That Were Just Okay
      It was a little hard to get used to the history and society of the two very different types of peoples in this book. The few times it felt natural to get a little bit of the histories of the Valorians and the Herrani, they were too far apart to really get a defined picture of the cultures, accompanied by each individual character's prejudices.
      The "dual" perspectives have a way of excluding any other characters from really identifying themselves as anything but shadow characters and vehicles to show how the protagonists are more "progressive, rounded" characters.
      Arin's apparently sudden turn of affection for Kestral seemed to come a little out of left field; there wasn't a ton of turn-around for his opinion, or at least it wasn't expressed as much as it was through Kestral's perspective.

Things That Were Awesome
     AAAHHHHHHH THE TENSION! This is the definition of a forbidden romance, and AAAAAAHHHH THE BETRAYAL! and AAAAHHHHH THE POLITICS!! and AAAAHHHHH THE ENDING!!!!
     The writing style and technique is also excellent.

Basically, this book has earned a solid "OOF" to the heart that easily empathizes with fictional characters.

The Blonde's Rating: 4.5
GoodReads Rating: 4
Amazon Readers' Rating: 4.5

Thanks for reading!
The Blonde
Let me know what YOU thought of The Winner's Curse in the comments!

Rainbow Rowell Collective Review

Hey guys!

I have clearly fallen behind on my reviews and reads recently, and so to catch up, I'm doing collective and collaborative reviews. This round we've got all of the Rainbow Rowell books I've read in the last couple of months, starting with...

ELEANOR AND PARK

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.


I loved this book. I loved it so much, I recommended it to one of my toughest book friends!

I really felt connected to the main characters, and I could really feel the tension and emotions from each of them as they progressed through the story. I laughed and cried with them, I made an identical playlist to listen along with them, and I really disappeared into this book.

I was a little confused about Eleanor's living situation and what was actually going on in the dynamics between her family, even at the end when she's run away. Nothing about it is directly said out loud, and with the speed of everything happening at the very end, the actual explanation is sort of blurred over by the time Eleanor and Park get into the car.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to any fan of contemporary teen romance.

The Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

FANGIRL

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD I LOVED THIS BOOK

I'm a fan of fan fiction, and a recent graduate from college, and the two coolest plot points of this book were that it takes place during that awful, confusing, terrifying first year of college and moving away from home. The second awesome part was that it focused on an interesting art form that's definitely ignored in the writing world and the world of books, but is a HUGE aspect of being a fan of nearly any entertainment enterprise: fan fiction.

I really liked the integrated chapters and quotes from both the main character's fan fiction pieces, and from the fictionalized "real" book the fanfic was based on. I thought they were placed in the right places, and the story of each were very relatable to readers just coming of the Harry Potter-high.

I think Cath's everyday struggle with classes and relationships was incredibly relatable, especially for readers about to pack up and go to college, or readers who are already at college. The emotions and sense of awkwardness about everything was conveyed successfully enough so that I was taken back of a lot of my own time from my freshman year of college.

I was invested enough to begin having emotional reactions for Cath when certain characters would show up in the book, specifically her annoying, infuriating twin sister, Wren.

I'm on a tough line between thinking that Levi is a little too-good-to-be-real, BUT i've never been out in the MidWest, so who knows? Maybe there really are still gentlemen out there someone in the world.

The Blonde's Rating: 4.5/5

ATTACHMENTS

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

I read through this book so quickly. The characters and their situation was absolutely hilarious, and a little painful, too, knowing these character would likely never cross paths.

I was surprised by the technique used in this book to display the events of the characters that aren't Lincoln. The combination of letter style-and-prose was easy to adapt to and also very easy to read.

Overall, I felt like this was a great and unique concept, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

The Blonde's Rating: 5/5

Book Review: Of Poseidon

By Anna Banks

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom...

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

I'd never read anything by Anna Banks before picking up Of Poseidon, but the book had been intriguing me for quite some time, and so I finally broke down and bought the book (from my local indie bookstore, by the way -thank you Brookline Booksmith!).

I think I finished this book in 20 hours or so -I just couldn't put it down. Just when I thought there would be a lull where I could stop and do something else with my day, the chapter would end on something I couldn't and I couldn't just leave!

Some of the things that I really liked about Of Poseidon are:
I was so happy to read something that wasn't a dystopian novel, I was already chomping at the bit to read it, but I was also grateful that it wasn't the typical "boy comes into girl's life and everything changes forever -and oh by the way, I'm a vampire" kind of thing (mermen are a totally different beast). I liked that Galen kind of had to tell Emma what she was pretty early on, because that made for an entirely different sort of interaction and connection between them than just:

From Pactressia.Tumblr.com

Boy: "hey girl, I'm a mystical creature"
Girl: "well, I'm a worthless human"
Boy: "no, you're a cool mystical creature too, but way more badass!"



I also really appreciated Emma's sassy defiance to Galen's concern/orders. Every time he left and tried to tell her what to do, I thought in my head "you go girl! tell him he can shove those orders up his fin!"

I appreciated that this wasn't just a "Little Mermaid" retelling, or a "I'm a mermaid and I'm afraid I'm going to kill the cute guy in class with my irresistible siren voice" story. It reminded me a little bit of the Pearl-Kale story in Debbie Viguie's Midnight Pearls, but Of Poseidon is it's own unique beast.

I was really interested in the politics of the Syrena people. I thought it was really interesting that there were two "breeds" of Syrena, and I wanted to know more about what was actually expected of the royal family that Galen and Rayna were clearly neglecting.

Some things that I didn't really care for:

From Disney's Finding Nemo

I was so sad we didn't get more time with Chloe!
From the fifteen pages we got with her, I really liked her personality, and I would have liked to see how this story would have played out while trying to either keep Emma's Syrena-ness a secret from her long-time best friend, or trying to get Chloe to keep her mouth shut about it! And OMG Chloe vs Rayna would have been such a great battle of sass.

I thought Rayna as an individual character was a little too over-the-top, and was sort of used as a foil after a while to get the plot moving forward again (think about it -every time information that was "just a little too awkward to blurt out" had to be shared, Rayna would pop up out of no where and ruin any secret Galen was trying to keep).

Overall, I found it compelling and different. The writing was a bit juvenile, but that kept the pacing quick and made it easy to read. I will admit that I guessed the ending from about chapter 10, but there were quite a few times when the book had me thinking I was mistaken!
And after that cliffhanger, I will DEFINITELY be reading the sequel, Of Triton.

The Blonde Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads Rating: 4/5
Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4/5

Thanks for reading!

Let me know what you thought of Of Poseidon in the comments!

Book Review: Cress

By Marissa Meyer

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Meyer does it again; another fabulous retelling, but also a great example of how she has created a unique and individual story and has continued to build it up to a larger climax in this installation.

from Instagram: theelunarchronicles

There are a hundred different reasons why I'm already so invested in The Lunar Chronicles, but just talking about Cress here, I was really only disappointed in a very small number of categories.

First, let's talk about what I really liked:

I loved how strange Cress was, and yet it totally fit her in terms of how she had to grow up and stimulate herself. Her little fantasies to get through difficult times were entertaining, and they were convincing as a coping mechanism for her loneliness.
One thing I was curious to know about was why she was so sympathetic toward Earthens, and not for Lunars. I think what was trying to get across was that her isolation from both Lunars and Earthens led her to seek contact through videos and news reports, which only come from Earth due to Lunars' aversion to photography and cameras. And from that research, she grew to identify more with Earthens than with the Lunars that locked her away in a satellite, but her loyalty was something I was wondering about most of the time.

OMG! The plan to ruin the wedding! (I won't put any spoilers here) But yes! Such a fantastically comical and impossible idea! Loved it, and the execution made me think of Oceans Eleven or maybe even a Sly Cooper video game. Just hilarious.

In this book (and Scarlet in particular to me) Iko just shines. Her personality really brings a lot of comical relief to what could be a really tense reading. I was so upset when I thought that her new body was going to be ruined and she was going to have to be the ship again, but things are great, and she gets to stay mobile! YAY!

And finally, POOR BABY WOLF!! Again, no spoilers, but awwwwwwwww. Every time he comes up, I just want to hug him. I'm pretty sure he's my favorite.

And my only issues remain minor, such as a need for more Scarlet, because she's just plain awesome and badass (but unfortunately, I understand the necessity of her absence -sorry, still no spoilers).

I could have done with a little more insight into Dr. Erland's PoV, especially when he started putting puzzle pieces together at the end.

Things I'm looking forward to in the finale:

I liked the introduction of Princess Winter, and I'm excited to get her story.
Can't wait to see what Luna is like!
Although I'm super nervous about how well Cinder will find Lunar revolutionaries. The team will have to be very sneaky to pull off any sort of "revolution" on enemy territory.

The Blonde Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 4.8/5

That's it for Cress, for other Lunar Chronicles reviews, click here for Cinder and here for Scarlet.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner. 

Almost as a rule of trade, sequels are not as good as the first in a series. 
That is not the case with the Lunar Chronicles.

Anyone who read my review of Cinder knows that I was blown away by the characters, the world, and the story, and this sequel did not scrimp away from any of those details, either.

I'm a sucker for a strong heroine, and I got that in Cinder, and I was delighted to meet the kick-ass, no-nonsense Scarlet in this book. She is strong and defiant, but she's not perfect. She's one-minded, stubborn, and impulsive, all of which gets her into some serious trouble, but it also makes her three-dimensional and real.

I don't think I have a bad word to say about this novel. I'm infatuated with the characters, the tension and drama is constantly rising in stakes, the world-building is great -I love it all.

Normally I end up shying away from fairytale retellings; they just don't go well, in my past experience. But Meyer has surprised me twice, and I have full confidence she will do it again in Cress. The original story is fully recognizable in the current situation, but the story being told is so original and unique that it reads like a new tale. 

I am a little confused as to the reasoning behind the "wolf-soldiers" and their real purpose in the long-run of the story, but if I think of "moon" and "animal," my mind goes to either owls (not very ferocious or terrifying) or wolves (both scary and strong). So in my head, the connection between these wolf-hybrid people and Luna make sense.

Overall Impression:
    I loved this book. I love Meyer's writing style, and I will continue to follow The Lunar Chronicles through the final installment of Winter. I'm excited to see what's still to come.

The Blonde Rating: 5/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.3/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 4.7/5

Check out my review for Cinder, and [soon to come] Cress.

Thanks for reading,
The Blonde

The Unbecoming [and] Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
     It can.
     She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
     There is.
     She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
     She’s wrong.
     After Mara survives the traumatizing accident at the old asylum, it makes sense that she has issues. She lost her best friend, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s sister, and as if that weren’t enough to cope with, her family moves to a new state in order to give her a fresh start. But that fresh start is quickly filled with hallucinations—or are they premonitions?—and then corpses, and the boundary between reality and nightmare is wavering. At school, there’s Noah, a devastatingly handsome charmer who seems determined to help Mara piece together what’s real, what’s imagined—and what’s very, very dangerous.

      I was really excited to start this series this year, because I'd heard so much about it, and yet knew next to nothing about the story's plot. When I realized it was a psychological thriller, I got even more excited.

      Then I read the book. I kept waiting and waiting...and waiting for something to happen. All I got was a lot of gooey Mara-Noah relationship building, which would be fine...if the synopsis hadn't promised a psychological thriller. The writing is fine, makes for an easy read, but that's not all that makes a good book. We didn't really find out about her powers until the book was more than half over, and by then it was too late to really do anything superb with them.

     The book started off with the reader wondering two things: How did Mara's friends die, and why is she still alive?

    Technically both questions were "kind of" answered, but by the end of the book, the reader has so many more new questions that aren't answered or even really addressed that it doesn't matter if the first two were answered or not. I finished this book confused and frustrated.

The Blonde's Rating: 2/5
GoodReads Rating: 4/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 4/5

But I had already bought the second  book, so I couldn't NOT read it.

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.

She can’t.

She used to think her problems were all in her head.

They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.

She’s wrong.

My hopes weren't too high after the disappointment of "Unbecoming," but I was almost immediately surprised.

The second book in this series is instantly enticing, as if trying to make up for the lack of excitement from the first. The reader is constantly frustrated, as Mara is, by her family and peers not believing her, and the fear that strengthens its grip on Mara as the book progresses gets the reader's heart pumping. And in the back of your mind, a small part of you is asking yourself -is Mara Dyer actually an unreliable narrator?

Of course there are more questions than answers in this book as well, but the text invoked such a varied range of emotions from me that I didn't mind. When I wasn't terrified that someone -Mara's dead ex-boyfriend, the weird witch doctor from the first book, the crazy b*tch at her "troubled teens" school, or her suspicious psychiatrist feeding her more and more unnecessary drugs -was going to pop out from around the corner and kill her, I was SO frustrated that her family refused to listen to Mara. I mean, they've known Mara her whole life, why can't they believe that she wouldn't just lie about this kind of thing, or that she's not crazy? Especially Mara's brother! I thought she was on her side, and then he just turns on her! Awful!

And then you get lulled into a false sense of security with the cute and happy times between Mara and Noah, only to have it snatched back by some disturbing sleepwalking episode, or a weird dream that makes no sense!

Needless to say, this book also ends on a cliffhanger of cliffhangers, and I couldn't be more exasperated and impatient for the June release of "Retribution." 

The Blonde's Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.4/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 4.6/5

Recommendations: Obviously other people see something I don't in the first book, so yeah, go ahead and read it, but ONLY so you can get to the greatness of The Evolution of Mara Dyer.

That's all for this double-review,
Thanks for reading,

The Blonde

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 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