Review: Unravel Me

Unravel Me

Tahereh Mafi

Released: February 5, 2013

Published by: HarperCollins

Description from Goodreads:

tick

tick

tick

tick

tick

it's almost

time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

So I just barely finished reading this book even though I am supposed to be doing my Euro notes that were due Friday for tomorrow's test. 

This book was a whirlwind of emotions. 

I usually try to refrain from swearing in my reviews but just for this one time, I think I can sum up this whole book with two simple words:

Holy Shit. 

The Plot. This is probably the most intense book I have read this year. Is it fair saying that while we are only brushing the beginning of February? Well...I am fairly sure that this will be the most freaking intense book that I will have read this year. Holy crap I went through every single emotion out there on the planet with this book. I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. I yelled at Kenji. My mom promised to take me to the loony bin. I screamed. I cursed. I threw the book against the wall. Just like with Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi uses the slashing out technique but not enough of it like the first one and some beautifully poetic words to describe everything Juliette is seeing. Her diction is AMAZING and it's what caused me to fall in love with the first one. 

The Characters. Juliette gets a rude awakening by everyone at Omega Point. Okay. Sure. Yeah I understand that they need her to focus, yatta yatta, etc. etc. But seriously? LAY OFF OF HER KENJI AND CASTLE OR I WILL FIND YOU. Okay. That's all I needed to let off my chest. Got to stick up for my girl. Kenji, can we please wash out your mouth with soap? You have a very colorful way of including vulgarity with every other word. Are you sure that's not your talent? James was not in it nearly enough and that made me sad. I love that little kid. Adam, you were too busy moping around after Juliette and Juliette, you are stupid. KISS AND MAKE UP. SERIOUSLY. *Tear* You two belong with each other. And now for my biggest insight:

Warner has a soul?

Warner has a name?

Warner has emotions? 

What are these feelings I am developing for this character? I cannot comprehend what is going on. I did not want to feel symphony for this guy, this totally gorgeous evil guy. This is not happening. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! AAAAAAAWWWW!!!! Excuse me while I go hide in my corner and rock back and forth as I contemplate these feelings.

Now that I am done with my psychotic breakdown, I may have to read Destroy Me now.  

A brief message to Juliette:

DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON ADAM! WARNER IS NOT A GOOD SUBSTITUTE MISSY!

Did I mention how much I hate love triangles? 

I wish I can jump into the book and give Adam a hug. We don't need Juliette. Right?

Right?

The Ending. Thank you, Tahereh Mafi for giving me another cliffhanger that killed me.  I'm sure that you and Rick Riordan would get along just swell. Ooohhhh this is going to be a long, long, long wait for me. I can feel it. I cannot wait for my friend to feel the same pain as me. Good luck Enjoy, Jonna. 

When does the next one come out? Please say tomorrow soon. 

And now back to sobbing my heart out Euro notes. 

Review by emotionally heartbroken Sammi

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Review: Through the Ever Night

Through the Ever Night

Veronica Rossi

Released: January 8, 2013

Published by: HarperCollins

So I have literally waited a whole year for this book and it did not disappoint. Since today is the Snowpocalypse and we have no school, might as well catch up on my poorly neglected blog. 

Plot. I could not put this book down. I annoyed my teachers. I annoyed my friends. I have been waiting for this book forever and I freaking love it. I laughed. I cried. I screamed at it a few times. About halfway through, I found myself asking "What happened to the happiness of the first two chapters!?!" While I'm hoping a certain character is not dead (WHY!?!), the ending was fairly happy. Okay. More like bittersweet. But I am praying for a happily ever after in the final book. Please let Perry and Aria live happily ever after! 

Characters. Roar was fabulous per usual. I wanted to hug Aria while she was with the Tides and everyone was treating her like crap. I feel like Perry was way over his head being Bloodlord but he pulled through in the end, thank God! I love all of these characters so much and whenever something bad happened to them, I was like "WHY!?!?! NOT THEM!!" 

I love the reference to The Phantom of the Opera and the Paris Opera House. I was in Paris last April and I absolutely loved the Opera House. Plus, The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite play/musical ever. I have seen the 2004 movie version like a bazillion times and the reference made my day. Really wish that I could hear Aria singing it.

So I highly recommend reading Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night. If you want a completely unique dystopian novel, then try these two. The story is beautifully written and will draw you in from the very first page. So go out and buy these books! Perfect for today's Snowpocalypse! 

Review by Sammi

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Review: Hollowland

Hollowland

Amanda Hocking

Released: October 1, 2010

Description from Goodreads:

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

Wow. This was one book filled with nonstop, butt kicking action. The characters were amazing and believable. The descriptions of the zombies really disgusting and well written. Remy's dedication to her younger brother is outstanding and I love it. While this is not one of my favorite books from Amanda Hocking, it was still a really good read and I recommend it to people who want more action than a romance. 

Review by Sammi

Review: Elixir

Elixir

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Released: November 27, 2012

Published by: Spencer Hill Press

**CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM DEITY**

(Don't say that I didn't warned you)

Description from Goodreads:

Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex. 
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for. 
Even if it means making war against the gods.

Reading this was like a punch to the gut. Reading it multiple times since the first time is just personal torture. I NEED APOLLYON NOW. Let's review before I go completely crazy. Or even crazier than I already am. 

Plot. I just love Aiden's point of view. I just love Aiden. This novella made me cry. And yell. And basically make my mom decide that she should seriously consider taking me to the loony bin. 

Also, Deacon is awesome as well. The St. Delphi boys are delicious sexy the best brothers ever.

CAN WE PLEASE FIX ALEX!?!?! KATY AND I CAME UP WITH A WONDERFUL PLAN! 

(Which involves Caleb coming back from the dead, Seth dying, and Alex and Aiden riding off happily ever after into the sunset)

Excuse me while I go cry and scream in the corner. 

Alex on the elixir?

Cass demonstrates my feelings beautifully. 

Alex all evil and connected with the stupid idiot? I mean Seth. No. I mean stupid idiot.  

Thank you, Quinn.

Now that my feelings are all miserable and upset, why do I continue reading this?

That's right. Jennifer Armentrout is an AMAZING author and even though she causes me pain, I just love her writing. 

Now how long until Apollyon? This wait is killing Katy and I. We are slowly going crazy together. At least I have my roommate in the mental ward.  

If my totally unstructured and ranting of this book makes you want go buy it, then do it. PLEASE DO IT. You shall not regret it. Well...your heart will because it will be shattered into a million pieces. But you will enjoy every single bit of it. Every. Single. Bit. 

More-like-my-thoughts-than-a-review by Sammi

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Review: Everneath

Everneath 

Brodi Ashton

Released: January 24, 2012

Published by: HarperCollins/ Balzer + Bray

Description from Goodreads:

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.

Whew. Time for a review. I have been slacking. Stupid senior year. 

Plot. When I first started this, I was like "What the heck am I reading?" It did not take long afterwards for me to become hooked. The whole idea of the Everneath really interested me and it kept me wanting to know more about it. I quickly finished it later. Thank you lovely cliffhanger. I need the second book ASAP. 

Characters. I am surprised that I did not like Nicki that much. She did not flat out bugged me like Nora Grey (Hush, Hush), so I really don't know why I wasn't overly thrilled with her. Jack was pretty cool. I love his dedication to Nicki. But let's talk about the best character: Cole. I just freaking adore that guy. Usually I'm all for the guy that the girl was first with in the whole love triangle situation, but I really wish/hope that Cole ends up with Nicki (Which probably won't happen. That is why fanfiction was invented for a reason!!). They just seem like they would be a great couple, despite the fact that A) he tricked her. B) he feeds off of her emotions. C) he took her away from everything she known/loved. But other than that, he's a great character. Okay. Maybe I just have a weakness towards that name. 

So I am excited to read the next one. I am a major geek for all things Greek/Egyptian/Roman mythology and this is such an amazing and unique twist on the Persephone myth. It wasn't one of my favorite retelling of mythology, but still a really good read regardless. So I recommend anyone who loves mythology as much as I do to read this. 

Review by Sammi

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Review: Angel Burn

Angel Burn

l. a. weatherly

Released: May 24, 2011

Published by: Candlewick

Description from Goodreads:

 

They're out for your soul.
And they don't have heaven in mind...

Willow knows she's different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people's dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. she has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces and that he's one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.

 

Um. Wow. I was really surprised by this book. I went in thinking that it will be very similar to Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (Which is amazing. Go read it) and was completely blown away by the whole story.

 

Plot. Love it. I was never bored and I quickly read this from cover to cover. The only thing that really distracted me was the switching POV's. For Willow, it's was first person, which I was okay with because I was able to get into her head. Fine. But for Alex and some other characters, it was in third person that really threw me a curveball. A story with multiple POV's, HOW CAN IT BE!? The only other story I read with multiple POV's was the Beautiful Creatures books and that follows Ethan and the stories of the past. I became used to it by the time I finished, but that is really my only complaint.

 

Characters. I LOVE YOU ALEX. YOU ARE AMAZING AND PERFECT. DON'T CHANGE. Willow, you are truly unique. Love how good you are with mechanics. I am kind of jealous. I don't have a clue with what to do with my poor car, Jace. All of the people with the Angel Burn? You guys need to get a life and stop following those wackos. I worry about you.

 

Angels. It was really weird reading about angels being the bad guys. I have always viewed them as the good beings, the ones that will save us all, yatta yatta. This was nice to get another perspective on them. I just watched my first Doctor Who episode with the Weeping Angels and I will never look at statues of angels the same way again. So yeah. Angels can be bad also I guess. Dean and Sam, turns out you were right all along.

 

My one and only question:

 

If Willow and Alex are on the run from pretty much all of the wackos living in the U.S. why didn't they just, I don't know, dye Willow's hair a different color? It would have made much more sense than just hiding it under a hat. But that is just my thought.

 

So this was a pretty good read. If you are a fan of angels, try this one, because it offers a different perspective on them that I found pretty interesting. It is a really good book and I need to get my hands on the second one, even though Buffy has already spoiled half of the book for me.

 

Review by Sammi

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And now...Buffy's review on Angel Burn (which I am copying from her Goodreads account and she does not even know it...)

 

I will also apologize in advance for Buffy's vulgarity. I am working on filtering her mouth with her. (Love you lots, Buffy!)

 



I liked the concept of this book and how different Willow was without it seeming cheesy. Her relationship with her mother is so sweet but Aunt Jo I just wanted to slap the shit out of. Like jezum lady get emotional. I loved Willow's best friend! You go girly fight the power with the epicness of twitter.
Alex. Oh Alex. Did anyone else hear the song "So Seductive" when he did anything? Nope. Just me? Okay *in my head* SO SEDUCTIVE! Like I said before the concept was all dark and twisty, I loved that! I was thinking going into this book that its was going to be all "angel's are good" and happy shit. But that you open the book and get bitched slapped with an epic love story/ war.
One thing that I didn't like so much was how quickly Alex and Willow fell in love. It just seemed rushed. But the cabin scenes were lovely ;) I really do like Alex and Willow together. But this book would have been so much more wondefluff if Alex had been half angel, and Willow the bad ass in the Porsche saving his ass at the Church of Wackadoos.

 

Thank you Buffy for that lovely review. 

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Michelle Hodkin

Released: September 27, 2011

Published by: Simon and Schuster

Description from Goodreads:

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.

So...Happy belated New Years! With all of my mid-terms finally finished and over with (AP Euro, you are the bane of my existence) I can finally get back to the poor blog I have been neglecting. I read this a looonnnggg time ago, like last year long time ago. BUT I LOVE IT. 

Plot. Love. Never bored and was instantly hooked. This was one book that kept me constantly guessing and I was going nuts trying to figure out what the heck was going on with Mara. I really need to buy the second one ASAP. 

Characters. Well, hello Noah! He has become one of my top ten favorite fictional, sarcastic British guys, directly behind Mr. William Herondale! Love him sososososososo much. I really want to give Mara a hug. Poor girl! She is just so awesome and I love her! She is one of the rare heroines that did not drive me absolutely crazy. I did not yell at her once. 

The Cover. I'm just going to say that I LOVE the cover. It was the only reason why I gave the book a chance. I'm really glad I loved the book. But at my lunch table, we had the cover controversy, which leads me to suspect that my friends are positively nuts. 

COURTNEY: What the heck are you reading now?

ME: Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. It is fabulous.

JONNA: What is going on with the cover?

COURTNEY: He's groping her. 

ME: NO HE IS NOT! Read the book, then you will get the cover. 

EMMA: Sam, he is groping her. I'm sorry.

ME: Shut up guys. I never asked for your opinion.  

(I will always stick up for the cover. Plus, her dress is really cute.)

The majority of the peeps on Goodreads love the cover too. My friends are just odd (Though I love you guys!)

My thoughts on the ending:

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!?!?!?! HOW COULD MARA!?!?!?! UGH. 

So if you want a truly unique read, I recommend this one. It is amazing and will have you instantly hooked, trying to figure out what the heck is going on with Mara. I highly recommend it and if you won't read it because of the cover, or whatever, than I must question your sanity like I did with my friends. I am going to force them to read it because I know they will love it. 

Review by Sammi

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