{Blog Tour} Book Review + Excerpt: Persistence of Vision - Liesel K. Hill

Today, as part of Liesel K. Hill's blog tour for her book, Persistence of Vision, I'll be sharing with you guys a book review and an exciting excerpt!

Title: Persistence of Vision (Interchron #1)

Author: Liesel K. Hill

Release Date: January 29th 2013

Publisher: Tate Publishing

Goodreads | Amazon

In a world where collective hives are enslaving the population and individuals have been hunted to the verge of extinction, Maggie Harper, and independent 21st Century woman, must find the strength to preserve the freedom of the future, but without the aid of her memories.

After experiencing a traumatic time loss, Maggie is plagued by a barrage of images she can't explain. When she's attacked by a creep with a spider's web tattoo, she is saved by Marcus, a man she's never met, but somehow remembers. He tells her that both he and her creepy attacker are from a future in which individuals are being murdered by collectives, and Marcus is part of the rebellion. The collectives have acquired time travel and they plan to enslave the human race throughout all of history. The flashes Maggie has been seeing are echoes of lost memories, and the information buried deep within them is instrumental in defeating the collective hives.

In order to preserve the individuality of mankind, Maggie must try to re-discover stolen memories, re-kindle friendships she has no recollection of, and wade through her feelings for the mysterious Marcus, all while dodging the tattooed assassins the collectives keep sending her way.

If Maggie can't fill the holes in her memory and find the answers to stop the collectives, the world both in her time and in all ages past and future will be doomed to enslavement in the grey, mediocre collectives. As the danger swirls around her and the collectives close in, Maggie realizes she must make a choice: stand out or fade away...

I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi novels. Give me lengthy descriptions and I'll get bored; don't explain anything at all and I'll be left confused and irritated. Thankfully, Persistence of Vision ended up becoming one of the few sci-fi novels that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The story had been quite slow to take off, but once it did, I simply couldn't stop reading. I was thrust into a world of time travelers and prophecies and underground - literally - movements that made this book really exciting. I pitied the main character, Maggie, because even though she knew little about the truth, she was being attacked by assassins with weird tattoos on their faces. Lucky for her, she had a savior in Marcus.

Aside from Maggie, I loved all the other characters in here. Each one of them had their own colorful stories to tell, making them relatable and feel like real people. They all had their own personal tragedies thanks to the collectives who were trying to pursue them, but it was in those tragedies where they drew strength to keep their humanity. They were all truly admirable.

The research made to support the plot was obviously extensive. The science was amazing. I know most of it to be true in real life, and the others I'm not sure about don't seem so far-fetched, either, adding to the haunting factor of this book. This book not only taught me new things, but also reminded me of the stuff I'd already learned. Reading it was like sitting through my Science classes from before, which I really enjoyed.

Persistence of Vision was a joy to read. It had all the elements that I love in a story: adventure, action, romance, and high stakes, and already I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

MY FAVORITE PART was when Maggie was re-learning her forgotten relationships.

RATING:

 

About the author:
Liesel K. Hill graduated from Weber State University with a degree in Creative Writing. She writes across three genres: scifi/fantasy, historical fiction, and crime drama. She comes from a close-knit family of fourteen and has very traditional views and values. She loves story-telling in all its forms, playing with her nieces and nephews, talking movies with her siblings, and any recipe with ‘dark’ and ‘chocolate’ in the title.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Excerpt

Cover Reveal: Wait for You - Jennifer L. Armentrout

I'm so excited to be sharing this cover with you guys today! With the swoony, steamy teasers that JLA has been posting recently, it's safe to say that I want this book in my hands now.

Title: Wait for You

Author: J. Lynn

Release Date: February 25th 2013

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

About the author:

J. Lynn, also known as Jennifer L. Armentrout, is the USA TODAY Bestselling author of the adult romance Gamble Brothers’ series, the young adult Lux Series and award winning Covenant Series. She pretty much writes everything—contemporary, paranormal, and fantasy. All of her books have one thing in common no matter the name or genre: kissing… and stuff. When she’s not busy writing, which is never, she’s usually hanging out with dog Loki, watching reruns of The Walking Dead, or procrastinating on the Internet. You can find out more about Jennifer by visiting the following websites:

Twitter | Facebook | Website

{Blog Tour} The Midnight Spell - Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye

Follow the tour here!

Title: The Midnight Spell

Author: Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye

Release Date: February 26th 2013

Publisher: Self-published

Goodreads | Amazon

Adam and Christy have been best friends since kindergarten. Always the perpetual outsiders in their small town in Texas, they’ve always had to deal with nasty comments from their classmates. Adam is called “gay” while Christy is called “witch.”

On both counts the bullies are right.

Their junior year in high school seems destined to be the same old same old until Christy decides to cast a love spell for Adam at the midnight hour. The next day an alluring and mysterious new boy enrolls at school and sets hearts a flutter, including Adam’s. Meanwhile, Christy’s mad crush on the handsome Ian seems to be going nowhere fast. Struggling to capture the heart of Ian while trying to come into her full witch powers is tough enough, but when a great evil arrives in town that threatens everything they hold dear, she realizes that finding a boyfriend is the least of her and Adam’s worries.

Soon Adam, Christy, their potential love interests, and their good friends Drifter and Olivia, will have to battle a force of darkness that has killed in their town before and will again.

About the authors:

Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters. Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.’ Rhiannon is currently represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry + Literary Media agency. You may contact her by sending an email to rhiannonfrater@gmail.com.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Kody Boye was born and raised in Southeastern Idaho. Since his initial publication in the Yellow Mama Webzine in 2007, he has gone on to sell nearly three-dozen stories to various markets. He is the author of the short story collection Amorous Things, the novella The Diary of Dakota Hammell, the zombie novel Sunrise and the dark fantasy novel Blood. His fiction has been described as ‘Surreal, beautiful and harrowing’ (Fantastic Horror,) while he himself has been heralded as a writer beyond his years(Bitten by Books.) He currently lives and writes in the Austin, Texas area.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

 

Giveaways!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Fave Quote: Legacy of the Clockwork Key - Kristin Bailey

Thanks for dropping by my stop for the Legacy of the Clockwork Key blog tour! You can follow the tour here.

Title: Legacy of the Clockwork Key (The Secret Order #1)

Author: Kristin Bailey

Release Date: March 5th 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

A teen girl unravels the mysteries of a secret society and their most dangerous invention in this adventure-swept romance set in Victorian London.

When a fire consumes Meg’s home, killing her parents and destroying both her fortune and her future, all she has left is the tarnished pocket watch she rescued from the ashes. But this is no ordinary timepiece. The clock turns out to be a mechanical key—a key that only Meg can use—that unlocks a series of deadly secrets and intricate clues that Meg is compelled to follow.

Meg has uncovered evidence of an elite secret society and a dangerous invention that some will stop at nothing to protect—and that Meg alone can destroy. Together with the handsome stable hand she barely knows but hopes she can trust, Meg is swept into a hidden world of deception, betrayal, and revenge. The clockwork key has unlocked her destiny in this captivating start to a trilogy.

I feel the need to start this review by saying that Legacy of the Clockwork Key was pure genius. The idea behind the Amusements fascinated me and made me wish they were in real life - which, considering the infinite capability of the human mind, isn't quite a far stretch - but thinking of the danger that Meg and her friends faced, I'm relieved that, for now, they exist only within the pages of this book.

From the first page, I was immediately transported to Victorian London and right into Meg's tragedy of a life. Her parents had just died, leaving her with nothing but the questionable kindness of one of her clockmaker father's old customers, Lord Rathford, who took her into his estate as a maid. It was very different from her comfortable lifestyle she'd been used to, but she knew it was better than starving and shivering in the streets.

This story was a great example of the saying "Some things are best kept secret." Meg was the curious cat, but her want to know the truth was inevitable because she felt like everything was unfairly taken away from her. I admired her, actually, because she chose to go on even when she learned of the imminent danger. 

Meg was also smart enough to know and admit that she needed help. Thankfully, she found it in Lord Rathford's groom (as in the one who takes care of the horses), Will. A strong and equally smart orphan, Will was hesitant at first, especially when he finally had to bite the hand that fed him. Meg irritated me when she acted so ungrateful when Will refused to help her any further, but he soon relented and all throughout Meg's adventure towards the truth, Will proved helpful and necessary.

I saw it coming from almost a hundred pages away, but the romance between Meg and Will was really well-developed. It was fun to see distrust and uncertainty turn to loyalty and affection.

Overall, Legacy of the Clockwork Key was an intricate, well-paced, high-stakes adventure story that I really enjoyed. I easily read it in six hours because I just found myself desperate to turn the pages and see what would happen next. The ending satisfied while managing to make me more than curious about the sequel that I'll surely be devouring as well.

MY FAVORITE PARTS were the Minotaur and Icarus' wings.

RATING:

(cover from Goodreads.com)

My favorite quote:

I loved my father, and he loved me. Trust me, it wasn't enough.

About the author:
Kristin  Bailey grew up in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley in California.  As a kid she enjoyed visiting the beach, camping and skiing with her two  brothers.

Now she is a military wife and mother of two young children. She is also  terrible about spoiling her pets. She has one fluffy mutt, two cats who  think they own the world, and a fish tank with a quartet of fat fish,  and two secretive striped ninja-assassin snails.
In  the course of her adventures, she has worked as a zookeeper, balloon  artist, and substitute teacher. Now she enjoys writing books for teens  who enjoy mystery and adventure as much as she does.

Website | Twitter

Giveaway!

Book Review: A Song for Julia - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: A Song for Julia (Thompson Sisters #1)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles
Release Date: December 4th 2012

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Source: AToMR Tours

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Everyone should have something to rebel against. 

Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success. 

Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father's career and dominating her family's life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she's haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy. 

When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.

I admit, I got into this book thinking it was going to be an easy read, light and cute and fluffy. Yep, I ignored the blurb. Again. And I was pleasantly surprised. Again.

Julia Thompson and Crank Wilson both had tough teenage lives. Now in their twenties, they were still at odds with their parents and keep everyone at a safe distance to protect themselves from the hurt they'd tried so hard to run away from, so just what would happen when the lives of these two very similar yet very different people converge?

Julia was a woman to look up to; smart, beautiful, and confident. Unfortunately, that strong-willed persona was a mask to hide her tragic past, not overcome it. But still, she was slowly trying to build a life of her own and stop following her parents' plan for her. It was really fun to see her little bouts of rebellion against them.

Crank's facade couldn't be farther away from Julia's. He was the sexy, womanizing lead singer of Morbid Obesity who was realizing that he wanted something more than the one-night stands. It was fun to see him show his funny, sweet, thoughtful, and basically just freaking lovable side. This dude plastered a lot of stupid grins on my face.

The chemistry between these two was immediate and palpable, so it made me really sad to know that there were a lot more hindrances than I thought to their being together, especially for Julia because she certainly had worse experiences than Crank. And although he jumpstarted her healing process, he still got hurt along the way. I didn't like how, up until before the end of the book, Julia still hadn't gotten over her trust issues even when Crank did nothing but show his love for her. At one point, she said this:

Never again would I watch my own lifeblood pouring out of me into a bathtub because I needed people in my life. I was going to live life on my own terms or not at all.

I pitied her by then because she thought she was living on her own terms by pushing away everyone who cared about her, when really she was living it on her past's terms.

A Song for Julia wasn't a simple romance novel. It was heavy on family drama and touched on some sensitive topics that I won't name to avoid being spoiler-y. It was the story of two broken people coming together hesitantly and finding love. The romance fell to the side towards the end because of Julia's self-realization, but the story's closure was very satisfying... and it might have pulled out some tears from me.

MY FAVORITE PART was Crank sleeping at Julia's dorm XD

RATING:

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)

Stacking the Shelves {4}: January 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews, where we share recently bought, borrowed, won, and gifted books (print or ebooks)!

I really should learn to schedule these posts... XD

PRINT BOOKS:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - late Christmas gift from my brother dearest

Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1) by J. Barton Mitchell - *signed* won from The Sisters' Tale (review)

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry - *signed* won from author

Pure (Pure #1) by Julianna Baggott - borrowed

Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #1) by Fiona Paul - *signed* ARC won from Jamie Krakover

Book Review: Hooked - Liz Fichera

Title: Hooked (Hooked #1)

Author: Liz Fichera

Release Date: January 29th 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Source: signed ARC won from author (Thanks again, Liz!)

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

When Native American Fredricka ‘Fred’ Oday is invited to become the only girl on the school’s golf team, she can’t say no. This is an opportunity to shine, win a scholarship and go to university, something no one in her family has done. 

But Fred’s presence on the team isn’t exactly welcome — especially not to rich golden boy Ryan Berenger, whose best friend was kicked off the team to make a spot for Fred. 

But there’s no denying that things are happening between the girl with the killer swing and the boy with the killer smile... 

GET HOOKED ON A GIRL NAMED FRED.

I feel like the blurb promised a hot romance—which wasn't quite what I got—but true to its title, I was Hooked from page one.

The main reason for that was Fred Oday, the girl from the Reservation who learned how to play golf just by watching it. Right off the bat, I immediately worried about her because of her joining the all-boys golf team; I knew it wasn't going to be easy for her. She was painfully shy most of the time and, disappointingly, rarely stood up for herself when she was being bullied... but not on the golf course, where she showed her inner fire and left everyone's jaws hanging. It's also on the golf course where I admired her the most because she was no prodigy and her parents weren't able to provide for lessons—she worked to get that killer swing.

But that isn't to say Ryan Berenger didn't work for his swing. Although he was the typical spoiled jock, he did take golf seriously, too. I hated how he questioned yet still followed Seth's every whim, but it was nice to see him change from that pushover to a guy who stood up for what he wanted. I have to mention that his transition was slow, so I'd expect some people to hate Ryan for the most part of the book. I would know—I wanted to smack some sense into him, too.

I really loved Fred and Ryan's slow-building romance. It was believable because they're basically from two very different worlds, and that fact just made it so much sweeter. How I wish this book was full of sweetness, though. It is not, and that's mostly thanks to Seth, Ryan's best friend who got kicked off the team to make way for Fred, and Gwyneth, the girl who would always be found clinging to Ryan. They deserve being mentioned here because this homicidal douchebag and arrant bitch (god I hate using that word, but Gwyneth deserves it!) gave me murderous feels.

Another thing I loved was the golf. Before reading this book, I only had two thoughts when I encountered that word: 1) Tiger Woods, and 2) I walk in the middle of a freaking golf course to get to school. Oh, and I consider it a grandpa sport... Anyway, now I'll think of Fred and Ryan! ♥

The alternating perspectives endeared this couple to me, and the touches on bullying and racism made Hooked so much more than a YA contemporary romance novel. I loved the ending, and this early in the year, I am already looking forward to 2014 because of Played!

MY FAVORITE PART was Fred and Ryan's day at the golf club. Oh, the lurve.

RATING:

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Recalled - Cambria Hebert

Thanks for dropping by my stop for the Recalled tour! You can follow the blog tour here.

Title: Recalled (Death Escorts #1)

Author: Cambria Hebert

Release Date: February 15th 2013

Publisher: Self-published

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Love or Death? A simple question really. The choice seems obvious. But. What if you never knew love, what if your life was spent just trying to survive? What if you knew your fate before you were fully grown? 

And then you died. 

And you were given another chance. A better chance. 

This new life depended upon one thing: your job. And so you agreed. You thought it would be simple. You thought it would be cut and dry. 

It never is. 

And now you are left holding the fate of someone else in the palm of your hand and you have to make the ultimate choice. 

Love or Death?

Dex had been a homeless young man for years, doing whatever means necessary to survive - like he did the night he stole from Piper. But survival certainly wasn't in his head when, just moments after that, he pushed her out of the way of an oncoming bus and died for her. He expected to wake up in hell but instead came to in an office, in front of a man who offered him another shot at life - a better one, too - in exchange of killing. Dex accepted the job, and his first Target: Piper.

I really liked Dex. He was a no-nonsense guy, practical and realistic, so it didn't surprise me how easily he believed and understood the fact about Death Escorts. I also liked how, throughout the book, he was constantly torn between self-preservation and selflessness. His hard life didn't give him much chances to do any good so he thought himself incapable of it, but his hidden kindness shone through in a lot of moments during his 'second life'.

Piper, on the other hand, made me facepalm more times than I could've tolerated. I mean, asking for a ride from a guy she hadn't known for more than five minutes and whose name she didn't even know, and then spilling her heart out to him during the said car ride? And even though the book was told in both Dex and Piper's perspectives, I felt like her character fell flat. Another disappointing thing was how the book started and ended without any explanation for Piper's visions, but I guess we'll know more in the sequel.

I also wasn't convinced by their romance. It happened too fast and without much basis, especially because on Piper's part, I felt like it was just physical attraction mixed with gratitude. At least at first.

All that said, Recalled was nothing if not fast-paced. I adored some of the secondary characters as well, namely Frankie, Piper's BFF, and Storm and Charming, two other Escorts, because they added so much more color to the story. Overall, Recalled was a fast, fun read that couldn't have ended better.

MY FAVORITE PARTS were Dex teasing Charming :))

RATING:

(cover from Goodreads.com)

About the author:
Author. Blogger. Latte Sipper.

Cambria Hebert is an author who wrote her first book at the age of fifteen. It was terrible. But the passion for writing never went away so years later when she opened her laptop and started typing she worked until she wrote a book that she hopes everyone will be as excited about as she is.

Cambria is obsessed with werewolves and is terrified of chickens (they are creepy!)She is an animal lover that would choose coffee over food and her favorite TV show is the Vampire Diaries (Hell-O Damon!)

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the book trailer!

Cover Reveal: Revelations - J.A. Souders

I absolutely loved Renegade so I'm really excited to be sharing the cover for its sequel with you, guys!

 

Title: Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles #2)

Author: J.A. Souders

Release Date: November 5th 2013

Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 320 (hardcover)

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Blurb to come!

Isn't it just gorgeous? I love it even more than Renegade's cover *points below*, which it contrasts yet it manages to go with it perfectly well. And it shows - okay, I'll shut up now before I spoil book one for those who haven't read it yet, lol.

Title: Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)

Release Date: November 13th 2012
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.

Her memories have been altered.

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

 Title: A Dark Grave (The Elysium Chronicles #0.5)
Release Date: December 25th 2012
Goodreads | Amazon

There is only one place forbidden to the people of Gavin's village; the island just off the shore, rumored to be haunted. Cursed.

All who venture to the island disappear.

But Gavin doesn't believe in such things. He is a hunter; since his father's death, he is the only one who can provide for the family. Silly rumors of ghosts aren't going to stop him from crossing the dark waters to the island in search of fresh game...

About the author:

J.A. Souders was born in the heartland with an overactive imagination and an overabundance of curiosity that was always getting her into trouble. She first began writing at the age of 13, when she moved to Florida and not only befriended the monsters under the bed, but created worlds for them to play together.

Because she never grew up, she decided she’d put her imaginary friends to work and started writing. She still lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband and their two children.

Where you can find J.A.:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

GIVEAWAY! (US/Canada only for print copies; international for e-copies)

J.A. is hosting a giveaway of a signed hard copy of RENEGADE, an e-copy of A DARK GRAVE (for those that don't have it, of course.) and signed copies of ARTICLE 5 and BREAKING POINT by Kristen Simmons.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Dark Promise - Julia Crane & Talia Jager

 Title: Dark Promise (Between Worlds #1)

Author: Julia Crane & Talia Jager

Release Date: July 28th 2012

Publisher: Valknut Press

Goodreads

Rylie has it all - great friends, dream boy, loving family. But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her perfect little world shatters. A stranger claiming to be her real mother appears with a secret: Rylie is a faery whose powers will be unleashed on her birthday. Captured and forced into a new life, Rylie struggles to keep everything she loves and discovers a terrifying truth: some promises cannot be broken.

I wish I could say otherwise, but Dark Promise disappointed me despite my lack of expectations (which often saves a book for me).

The main reason why I didn't like this as much as I wanted to was the main character, Rylie. She was spoiled, stubborn, weak, and helpless. I mean, sure, her life was ruined when she learned she wasn't human, but the way she handled it really irritated me. Dare I say, I think human!Bella Swan was even better than Rylie, human or faery. At least Bella didn't annoy me. 

Now, as to the helpless part. Rylie was captured by dark faeries because of her "strong" powers - which, I found out, wasn't really that mind-blowingly amazing... - and she only tried to escape once, towards the end of the story. All the while she was thinking "I'm gonna find a way out of here", but I think I misunderstood 'here' as 'away from the dark faeries', when really she just meant 'this suffocating room'. And out of the room she got, yes, but only while her captors took her for walks around their beautiful land, pretty much like a dog on a leash. At one point, she thought that dog part herself, but all she did was whine and act like a kid who was kept away from the candy bar.

So now that I've established my hate dislike for Rylie, it's time I talk about the other things I didn't like about this book. First, the story was slow to take off, but I guess it was nice to see what Rylie's life had been like before she learned of her real identity. Second, the romance with the third side of the love triangle (I'm avoiding a spoiler here) progressed way too fast for me to approve of, but by the end, my heart was already aching for Guy #2. Perhaps it was because his character was more fleshed-out than Adam's, Rylie's human boyfriend.

The neat writing offered some consolation to this book, but, after reading all my rants, it's obvious that I can only recommend this book to those who are immune to annoying main characters and shallow plots. There will be a sequel, but I don't think I'd bother to check that out.

MY FAVORITE PART was, well, none.

RATING:

Book Review: Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: November 15th 2011

Publisher: Harper

Source: Bought

Goodreads

I have a curse.
I have a gift.

I'm a monster.
I'm more than human.

My touch is lethal.
My touch is power.

I am their weapon.
I will fight back.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

Imagine living in a bleak future Earth with a touch that can kill, parents who don't want to believe an abomination such as you is their child, and a society that is afraid of you. Yep, that would be Juliette Ferrars' life.

Juliette was an okay protagonist for me. She was half-sane and half-sure most of the time, but considering her harsh childhood, I couldn't really blame her. I admired her, actually, because despite it all, she still retained the good in her, not blaming anyone but herself for having a touch that could harm others. She was fragile, having been isolated in a cell for 264 days, but she matured greatly over the span of 300 pages.

Now let's talk about the boys. Tahereh Mafi's goddamn lickable boys. First there's Adam, Juliette's heavily-inked but totally sweet hero whose character, unfortunately, fell flat. I liked him, sure, but he was too simply written compared to Warner - I think that's the reason why the blond, green-eyed pyscho hottie has earned a lot of fans... including me. If I were Juliette, I'd absolutely hate him too, but Warner was complicated enough to intrigue me and make me fall for him, and I just know (as of this writing, I haven't read Destroy Me yet) there's a lot more behind his bipolar ways. But after my Shatter Me re-read, know that I'm now completely torn between these two guys. (I'll just pretend Kenji doesn't exist to save myself from further division.)

The first time I read Shatter Me, I gave it a 4.5. That was last year so my best guess as to why is because of the unusual writing. It took me a few chapters to get used to the italics, the strikethroughs, the run-on sentences, and especially the heavy use of metaphors - some of which required double takes to make sense - but I soon loved it. It made it very easy for me to relate to Juliette because her voice sounded so real.

Full of questions about hope, love, and humanity, Shatter Me truly is a one-of-a-kind book. There is a lot of action towards the end, which I really enjoyed, and the X-Men-y reveal really got my hopes up for the sequel (which is now sitting right beside me but I can't get to it yet because *sobs*) and also to meeting Tahereh Mafi on March 2! ♥

MY FAVORITE PART was Chapter 26 because it pulled half of my being into being in Team 26 because it was like all the chapters before that was building towards it and then after that everything goes boom. Intense, I tell you.

RATING:

A solid five. Haven't given that in while.

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)