Book Review: The Trylle Trilogy (Switched, Torn, Ascend)

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 Trylle books, by Amanda Hocking. Let's start in order, shall we?

SWITCHED

When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

Nice Things First!

I LOVE the idea of the Trylle people, and their changelings being all over the country and such. I wish we had gotten a better idea of the people, though, in this first book, because otherwise it's mostly just focused on Wendy's confusion and what Finn is teaching her about Trylle. I think it would have been a better way to "show" this clearly faulty society by bringing Wendy out of her shining palace every now and then.

I wish there had been more about the Vittra in this volume because I was absolutely DYING to know why they wanted Wendy so badly, considering Queen Elora hardly seemed too thrilled to have her back home. I wanted to know why they were supposedly so different from Trylle, and why Finn, and everyone else they were mentioned around, hated them so much. That was intriguing.

Descriptions, descriptions and imagery for days!! I loved it, I could see the palace, and Wendy's room, and her human house, all in my head with Hocking's descriptions and writing style. It felt spot-on without being too long, dry, or distracting. Bravo!

The action at the end was thrilling, and made for some good reading!

Not so Nice Things, Next

I found Wendy as a protagonist annoying, especially when it came to Finn. I'm not a fan of "love at first sight" stories, and for Wendy this was a "lust at first glimpse" tale, no matter how hard she tried to "deny" it in the beginning. There didn't seem to be any point in the book when Finn wasn't being hot or cold simultaneously, often in the same scene, and I'm not sure how or why Wendy found this attractive, but she did, and so much so that she did not want to stay at the palace or be an semi-intelligent person if Finn could not be around. 

The plot sort of lost its momentum not too long after Wendy arrived at the palace, mostly because there wasn't too much pushing it forward, since it appeared that Vittra could not get into town. The biggest "event" was Wendy's debutante ball-thing, and training herself for that night, which get lost in the "OMG Finn is so HAWT"-ness.

Overall Impression:
Eh. 
I probably won't read it again, but I really liked the sequels, so I have to give it a decent review.

Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5


TORN

When Wendy Everly first discovers the truth about herself—that she’s a changeling switched at birth—she knows her life will never be the same. Now she’s about to learn that there’s more to the story…

She shares a closer connection to her Vittra rivals than she ever imagined—and they’ll stop at nothing to lure her to their side. With the threat of war looming, her only hope of saving the Trylle is to master her magical powers—and marry an equally powerful royal. But that means walking away from Finn, her handsome bodyguard who’s strictly off limits…and Loki, a Vittra prince with whom she shares a growing attraction.

Torn between her heart and her people, between love and duty, Wendy must decide her fate. If she makes the wrong choice, she could lose everything, and everybody, she’s ever wanted…in both worlds.

This book started out with a BANG! and kept the tensions high throughout! 

First Wendy is attacked by the Vittra after running away from the Trylle and back to her home and to her human host-brother. There she, Rhys, and Matt are abducted and taken to the Vittra castle *dundunDUNNNNN* where we meet MY NEW FAVORITE, Loki. Wendy doesn't exactly know what his game is yet, but he's sweet and pretty hot, and he's not too subtle about letting them escape.

When she gets back to the palace, political tensions between Trylle and Vittra, not to mention Wendy and Elora, are running sky high, and the histories of both types of troll are revealed to Wendy. 

There's a lot of worrying going on in this book, plus a lot of yelling and crying, between Wendy's fights with her mother Elora, and Finn. There's some side cuteness with host-brother Matt and Trylle friend Willa, but Rhys kinda disappears after they all go back to the palace (like, for the rest of the book). And we can't forget Wendy's new Tracker guard, AND LOKI!!! I wanted MORE LOKI. He is too adorable, and I wish Wendy could have seen how much he obviously cared about her, not like Finn, who would rather hide their feelings than ever put them first. 

Overall Impression:
I liked Torn much more than Switched, and I'm glad I stuck with the series.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5


ASCEND

Wendy Everly is facing an impossible choice. The only way to save the Trylle from their deadliest enemy is by sacrificing herself.  If she doesn’t surrender to the Vittra, her people will be thrust into a brutal war against an unbeatable foe.  But how can Wendy leave all her friends behind…even if it’s the only way to save them?

The stakes have never been higher, because her kingdom isn’t the only thing she stands to lose. After falling for both Finn and Loki, she’s about to make the ultimate choice…who to love forever. One guy has finally proven to be the love of her life—and now all their lives might be coming to an end. 

Everything has been leading to this moment.  The future of her entire world rests in her hands—if she’s ready to fight for it

Okay, I'm not going to lie to you; I didn't read this whole one. I mostly skipped around to get to the Wendy-Loki parts, and I still got a very good idea of what happened, so I'm good. 

It's been a few weeks since the end of Torn, where Wendy has made a temporary truce with the Vittra until she is the Trylle Queen. Tensions are still high, however, as the Vittra have naturally found a loophole in their "truce" and are still hurting Trylle. Not to mention Wendy is set to marry her friend but not-at-all-love, Tove. Oh, and Loki is now a Vittra fugitive. That's cool, because it means he's not Wendy's enemy anymore!

There is a LOT going on, with Vittra attacking innocent Trylle/other trolls, Loki totally trying to be a third in Wendy's marriage, and Queen Elora slowly dying, Wendy has a lot on her hands, and she tries to deal with in her own ways. This doesn't always work out well for her, but it forces everyone around her to act, and it keeps the story moving forward.

There's a little bit of heartbreak at the end, but I think it ends happily (concerning my OTP for these books), so that's all that matters.

Overall Impression:
Like I said, it's a bit of a "blurred" impression, given how much I actually read, but it's a pretty good one.

Blonde (blurred) rating: 3.5/5

SERIES IMPRESSION
Much like my feelings on the Mara Dyer books, you must PUSH yourself through the first one to get to the goods in the second and third.

Do I recommend this series? 
Sure, but I found it at a slightly more juvenile reading level than some of the other books I've read recently. This makes it seem a little young, but it also makes them fast reads. That balances it out, I'd say.

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.

Golden by Jessi Kirby

      Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

     Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

     Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

     It's been a long time since I could honestly say I've read a satisfying book, and I am delighted to say that  Golden has broken my streak of unfulfilling reads. It's been a while since I've read a purely "chick-lit" book (I think it was Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride) and this was a great leap back into the genre.

    Parker Frost was definitely a character I could relate to in terms of her small-town home, her relationship with her mother and her best friend, and her love and desire for the romantic, dreamy way of life to play out in reality. I felt that Parker was relatable in the way her thoughts work and her decision-making process. 

Things That I Liked:

     I really appreciated how the story remained focused on Parker's relationship with Julianna's journal, and the story of her relationships with her friend Kat and her crush Trevor were always back-burner plots.

     I thought that it was really interesting how Parker's vision of Julianna's "local legend" status changed for Parker as she read the journal. I wasn't expecting the revelation in Julianna's journal, and I definitely wasn't expecting Parker to be able to actually solve a mystery no one in her town knew needed solving. 

     I liked that the expected conclusion for the Julianna-plot came, but in a way I wasn't anticipating, and I definitely didn't see Parker's personal "conclusion" coming as it did. 

Things That I Didn't Like:

     I think my one complaint for this story is the lack of view on Shane, Julianna's boyfriend, but ultimately this book was focused on Julianna, her journal, and what she wrote in it. There wasn't much involvement of Shane and his thoughts and feelings because they both weren't sharing the journal and Julianna can't read minds.

Overall Impression:

    A great, easy, and entertaining read from a new-to-me author. I had very few issues with this novel, and I highly recommend it for a summer read!

Blonde Rating: 4.5/5

Amazon Rating: 4.4/5 

Goodreads Rating: 4.2/5

I hope you'll pick up a copy of this book and enjoy it as much as I did,

Thanks!

The Blonde

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

BLONDE BOOK REVIEW:

 My first review for this blog is taken from my other blog, and it is on Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, the first book in the Raven Cycle series. I want this to be here because I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think this review belongs here.

The Raven Boys -Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there — known as Raven Boys — can only mean trouble.

[WARNING -this review may contain spoilers.]

Indeed, the Raven Boys, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah, prove quite a bit of trouble for Blue, who is just trying to make it through high school without falling in love. 

As always, I love Stiefvater's writing, and I couldn't resist the urge to ask for this book for Christmas -I would have bought it myself back in September when if first came out, but I had a lot going on in my fall semester. Anyway, Stiefvater manages to write both mundane and disturbing instances sound like poetry, or lyrics in a song. If you haven't read any of her other books, I encourage you to pick up The Scorpio Races -it was so incredible and such a great story, and can't stop talking about it, a year after reading.

Things that I liked:

        I really appreciated the different personalities and characters of the three main Raven Boys (we don't see a heck of a lot of Noah in this first book, so I can't really talk about him that much). One of the things that I really admire so much about Stiefvater's writing is her ability to balance a number of different characters and their own personal stories into the major storyline of the book.
        I utterly loved Gansey's unintentional insults and obliviousness to other people's feelings and principles, despite his obvious intelligence and focus on his passion. 
        Adam is a little too self-depricating for my taste, but overall I really liked him and his personal principle to make his life what he can by his own power; and I'm not-so-secretly rooting for him and Blue to get together, and not the hinted Gansey-Blue future romance. Although, I am a little concerned about how he survived the weird ritual and what it means about his "person" in the coming books.
        Ronan is a little hard to love, as he is in the story, but not because he's aggressive, gloomy, violent, but because his character is full of unresolved secrets! GRRR! I just want to know how his father died and what kind of strange power he really has to make ravens out of his dreams and his thoughts.
        Blue is less of a mystery than her mother and aunts and weird family psychics living in her home. I would, however, love to know if her power-that's-not-a-power is going to transform in anyway to help the Boys find their ancient king.

        The story is a new kind of quest that I haven't really seen done this way before, and that intrigued me a lot, especially because I picked up this book for the author, not so much the story. I liked how the individual aspects and journeys of each character sort of fell into place as the book moved along, and the mystery that came along with the magic Blue and her Raven Boys discovered helped make the story even more interactive.

What I didn't like:
Not finding out who Blue's father really is.
Not finding out how Ronan's father died. Or what his problem with his brother and the rest of his family is.
Not knowing what the heck is happening with that weird tree.

        Getting so lost in the story that I didn't realize there wasn't enough time/pages in the book to actually get to plot points that have been hinted at earlier in the book, and then failing to accept that this book was the first in a series that has yet to be fully published, and not a stand-alone novel.

Overall Impression:

While I was extremely disappointed to discover that this was the first in a series that I'll have to wait for, I was enamored by the mystery in this book, as well as the characters and their personal histories, of which readers haven't completely uncovered just yet.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5
Amazon/Goodreads Rating: 4/5

The second book in the Raven Cycle series, The Dream Thieves, is now available for pre-order and will be on sale on September 17, 2013.

That's what I've got to say on that!
Thanks!
THE BLONDE