Book Review: Solitaire - Alice Oseman

Title: Solitaire

Author: Alice Oseman

Release Date: March 30th 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

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In case you're wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that's all over now.

Now there's Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don't know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don't care about Michael Holden.

I really don't.

Solitaire is one of those books that just reeks "ominous". Everything from the cover to the summary and even the other reviews that I've read made me expect the emotional rollercoaster that this book is, but something about it just didn't work.

The book starts off slow as we are introduced to the characters. Tori, our main character, is the kind of teenager that I never enjoy reading about in fiction: angsty and demotivated. She has a lot of nothingness in her that seeped through the pages of the book, and at the same time it is her voice that will keep readers glued in. But although she had my attention, I had a hard time relating to her or any of the other characters, and I believe that is the reason why I failed to finish reading this the first time I picked it up: it was so damn slow and, in some parts, pointless.

We're so used to disaster that we accept it. We think we deserve it.

The story picks up when Solitaire, a prankster blog, starts wreaking havoc in Tori's school. At first the pranks are harmless and Tori, being as depressed about life as she is, could not care less about it. But as the pranks progress and people are harmed, Tori gets the resolve to find out who's behind the blog and put a stop to it. This is the part where I started rolling my eyes every few pages or so because it made no sense at all. I'm going to keep it at that before I spoil it for any of you guys.

It's so easy to assume you know everything about a person.

Although I have my reservations, Solitaire is one book that I will recommend to those looking for a read similar to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I would suggest picking it up with lowered expectations because I have never been this irritated by a happy ending.

RATING:

Book Review: A Drop of Night - Stefan Bachmann

Title: A Drop of Night

Author: Stefan Bachmann
Release Date: March 15th 2016

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Anouk has finally caught the break she’s been looking for—she's been selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace has lain hidden and forgotten ever since. Anouk, along with several other gifted teenagers, will be the first to set foot in it in over two centuries.

Or so she thought.

But nothing is as it seems, and the teens soon find themselves embroiled in a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have imagined. An evil spanning centuries is waiting for them in the depths...

I picked up this book in my attempts to lessen the unread ARCs in my bookshelf, and man, I sure wasn't prepared for this. A Drop of Night had me at "underground palace" - just how were they able to build one back in the days when technology wasn't as advanced as it is now? And for what reason? 

I don't believe in the whole "people are basically good deep down" notion. I think deep down is where people are the worst.

The story starts by introducing us to Anouk, our rude and angsty main character, who seems to think her life is the worst even when she's surrounded by opportunities to do whatever she wants. I think this is the one thing I dislike about her; sure, her parents regretted adopting her the moment her baby sister was born, but to take out that frustration on basically everybody else, even those who were trying to be friendly and helpful, was immature and wasteful, especially for someone supposedly as smart as she is. But moving on.

The all-expenses-paid trip to Paris is her way out of that life. Although she has taken many such trips to different parts of the world before, she thought this one would finally allow her to leave her dysfunctional family once and for all. She is joined by four other gifted kids who have no idea just how they were chosen or what the criteria were, but soon, the trip turns into a deadly nightmare that they have to escape.

This book is told in two ways: by Anouk, and by flashbacks to medieval France when the palace was in construction. The flashbacks built up a good amount of suspense that had me pulling at my hair, thinking just what in the world these aristocrats were doing - and hiding - under there. But while the flashbacks cooked up the mystery, the story as told by Anouk in the present provided the action. I don't want to go into much detail in order to avoid spoiling this for anyone, but believe me when I tell you that this book is not what you're expecting it to be.

Overall, A Drop of Night is an action-packed book, some happening so fast I had to reread for me to understand what happened which may have actually watered down the excitement quite a bit. Still, it kept me on the edge of my seat, feeling like I was one of the kids they sent into the palace, avoiding traps and hiding in panic rooms. This is one book I would love to see on the big screen.

RATING:

Book Review: Perfected - Kate Jarvik Birch

Title: Perfected

Author: Kate Jarvik Birch

Release Date: July 1st 2014

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: eARC from publisher

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Perfection comes at a price.

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.

Ella is happy with her new role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome and rebellious son. He’s the only person who sees beyond the perfect exterior to the girl within. Falling for him goes against every rule she knows… and the freedom she finds with him is intoxicating.

But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving… and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.

Imagine a world where girls are genetically engineered and raised to become a perfect pet. Once they are of age, they are sold to the highest bidders, brought home, and treated like a labradoodle or what have you, pampered like a princess and displayed like a gold bar. The girls are expected to obey every single one of their masters' whims because if they don't, they will be put down like a useless K9 (a practice that I absolutely abhor, by the way). There. See it in your head? If you can't, you need not worry because that's exactly what Perfected is about.

Your sole purpose is to enrich the lives of your new owners. 

This book ended up being different from what I'd expected. Instead of a full-blown action-packed sci-fi/dystopian, I feel like I read a contemporary with a side of action, so don't go into this expecting the former. That said, I can say that the premise made Perfected nothing like anything I've read before. The idea of breeding girls to be sold and used in whatever way was just sick and disgusting, and the need to know the reason behind the practice made this book a must-read for me.

Maybe freedom wasn't a state of being. Maybe it was an act of courage. Maybe freedom was defiance and sacrifice and pain, something that couldn't be won without giving up something else in return.

Ella - as she's named by her owner - knows only a life of refinement and obedience, and as a pet, she's perfectly alright with that. Her owners are kind enough, and she's well-fed and more than well-dressed; she doesn't have reason to want for more. But soon she learns how it is to be treated like property, and although most readers will find her helpless - which she was, indeed - that didn't irritate me at all because she was raised to be like that, like a damsel in distress. It was hard to relate to her, but it was easy to understand her.

The romance aspect was sweet enough, but to be honest, I could have done without it. It didn't distract from the story, but aside from being a major motivating factor for Ella, it didn't add much more to it; actually, I think it's the reason why this book, though unpredictable and intense, dragged in the middle. Good thing it picked up towards the end, but the ending? Let's just say it made me go "Wait. What? That's it?", and not in a good way.

MY FAVORITE PART is Penn playing for Ella :3

RATING:

Book Review: Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong

Title: Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends #1)

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: April 8th 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

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In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.

Only this year, the souls will not be quieted.

Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.

I have never been more thankful that I'm patient with books than when I finished reading Sea of Shadows. The first seventy pages were such a struggle to get through as I was getting more questions than answers - although, looking back now, I think I was just distracted then - and I actually almost DNF-ed this book, but once I got past that and the action truly kicked in, oh lord.

I'm asleep, she thought. Or I've gone mad. Moria's tales have come to life, and that is not possible, which means I've gone mad.

Or the world has gone mad, and we're simply trapped within it.

This year's Seeking is the first that Ashyn would lead without the guidance of her mentor, the imperial court's official Seeker. But as the tradition has been performed for many, many years, no one thought it would go wrong. Until it did. Suddenly, monsters of olden tales aren't so fictional anymore, and Ashyn races to court with her twin sister Moria, the Keeper, to warn the entire country of the new dangers that fill their land.

Ashyn and Moria are two very different girls, their similarities ending with their appearance. Ashyn, the Seeker, is shy and kind, the one charged with going into the Forest of the Dead, their assigned post, to settle the spirits in it, so she learned little aside from the rituals she's to spend her life performing. Strong and rash Moria, on the other hand, is the Keeper who will stand watch during the Seeking to make sure that no spirits come out of the forest. She's well-trained in fighting and is as rough as her sister is gentle; they reminded me very much of Rose and Lissa from Vampire Academy. It was hard to connect with them at first, but once the going got tough, their unyielding love for each other, determination and strength, both inner and outer, really shone through. And despite a handful of stupid decisions that had me facepalm-ing, I really loved them both.

As the girls raced to reach the king, it was hard to guess who their real enemy was: the dangerous foreigners or the legendary beasts that had come to life, and their lack of breathing room had me frantically turning the pages. Admittedly, the world-building wasn't astounding, but it was enough to get by with and surely didn't distract from the pace of the story - as did the romance or, rather, romances, because both girls had guys to keep them company through their perilous journey. If you're someone who demands romance in your fiction, then you shouldn't be disappointed.

Relentless and unpredictable, Sea of Shadows redeemed itself after its slow start and by the end, I was beyond desperate for the second one. A few people have mentioned that aside from the girls' journey to the palace whilst evading evil people and monsters, nothing much happens in here, and while that may be true, it's not something I can hold against the book because I would be lying if I said I didn't absolutely enjoy reading it.

MY FAVORITE PART is probably the ending because, like I said, it had me begging for more. The wait for the sequel is going to kill me.

RATING:

Book Review: If Only - A.J. Pine

Title: If Only

Author: A.J. Pine

Release Date: March 24th 2014

Publisher: Entangled Embrace
Age Group: New Adult

Source: eARC from publisher

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Sometimes it takes crossing an ocean to figure out where you belong.

It's been two years since twenty-year-old Jordan had a boyfriend—which means it's been forever since she, well, you know. But now she’s off to spend her junior year in Aberdeen, Scotland, the perfect place to stop waiting for Mr. Right and just enjoy Mr. Right Now.

Sexy, sweet (and possible player) Griffin may be her perfect, no-strings-attached match. He’s fun, gorgeous, and makes her laugh. So why can’t she stop thinking about Noah who, minutes after being trapped together outside the train’s loo, kisses Jordan like she’s never been kissed before? Never mind his impossible blue eyes, his weathered, annotated copy of The Great Gatsby (total English-major porn)…oh, and his girlfriend.

Jordan knows everything this year has an expiration date. Aberdeen is supposed to be about fun rather than waiting for life to happen. But E. M. Forster, Shakespeare, and mistletoe on Valentine’s Day make her reconsider what love is and how far she’s willing to go for the right guy.

A year abroad in Aberdeen, a new school, new people – I really wanted to like If Only, but after reading this roller coaster of confusion and aggravation, I now know that I can’t handle too much drama. Or, more specifically, too much boy drama.

See, this book had a lot to work with: the European setting, two equally-gorgeous love interests, and the smattering of entertaining secondary characters. So why didn’t it work for me? After hours of contemplating, I’m now pretty sure that that’s because the entire book only seemed to revolve around the main character Jordan’s boy problems. It’s been two years since she broke up with her first and only boyfriend so, according to her best friend, that time has practically given her virginity back. And now she’s determined to let go of her inhibitions and her newly-issued v-card to someone she meets in her year in Aberdeen.

Jordan had no idea, though, that her search for, as she called him, Mr. Right Now is going to begin as early as her train ride to Aberdeen. There she meets Griffin whom I fell for at first read. Hot and smart? Sold. Griffin is an unapologizing womanizer who admits that he doesn’t do long-term relationships, and that’s exactly why Jordan thinks he’s exactly who she needs: someone she can have fun with on her year abroad but can break up with a year later, no tears involved. But then, literally minutes later, she gets stuck outside the toilet with Noah.

His grin widens, and I struggle for air at the sight of it, not just because of its beauty but because of what put it there in the first place—a book.

No, I didn’t think Noah was gorgeous enough, but he’s a freaking bibliophile so I might have swooned a bit. Both guys had their setbacks – Noah’s being his freaking girlfriend – but I personally liked Griffin more because he’s honest, if nothing else, so I didn’t appreciate Jordan pining for Noah just because he, what, kissed better than Griffin? Because he had a worn-out copy of The Great Gatsby ready to be read in his backpocket? Sorry, but I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t see Noah’s appeal the way Jordan did; I hate cheaters and cowards, and the way he didn’t break up with his girlfriend but obviously wanted something with Jordan was simply cheating and cowardice. I’d take the serial monogamist any day.

But despite all my rants, I put up with all the boy drama in Jordan's life for the entirety of this book so that's saying something, right? I actually enjoyed it at first, but it got old fast and soon I just wanted to get it over with. The ending also didn't do it for me because I don't think the guy she ended up with was worth all the trouble, but maybe that's just me and my cynicism. Anyway, If Only had an easy humor that made me laugh more times than I could count, and classic literature lovers will surely love the numerous references made in this book.

MY FAVORITE PART was Jordan getting a tattoo if only (lol see what I did there? ;D) because I want one too.

RATING:

Book Review: Panic - Lauren Oliver

Title: Panic

Author: Lauren Oliver

Release Date: March 4th 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

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Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

Panic was an inevitable read for me. I mean, it's Lauren Oliver, so of course I had to read it. Being a big fan of her Delirium trilogy, I expected something equally thrilling and magical from this book, but while I enjoyed Panic, I didn't love it, and until now I'm not sure exactly why.

More than the characters, what intrigued me about this book was Panic, the game. Before I started reading this, I couldn't fathom why anyone in their right mind would want to do something life-threatening just to alleviate their boredom, so imagine my surprise when I found out that these fresh-out-of-high-school kids were actually playing for a pot worth $62,000 - an amount that came out of their own pockets. Jesus. Even I would join. But then I'd probably back out when things become pure insanity. Because that's how Panic goes: as the number of players lessen, the challenges get harder and more dangerous. I won't be too specific about this aspect because these dares are real jaw-droppers, but trust me when I say that I wish I could be one of the audience. 

But that's not to say that the characters weren't interesting at all, because they were. They each had their own reasons for joining Panic, but I'll focus on our MCs. Heather plans to use the money to finally get herself and her younger sister away from Carp and their good-for-nothing mother, but she has no idea just how much danger she signed up for - especially when she starts receiving anonymous text messages telling her to quit playing. Dodge, on the other hand, is not playing for the money, although he definitely needs it as well. Again, I won't get into specifics, but if you pick up a copy of this book, you'll learn early on his real motivation. The other players along with these two had problems and motives that people their age shouldn't have had, yet did.

And then there's the romance. At first I worried that not one, but two love stories would distract from Panic, but of course not. If anything, they upped the stakes, because if Heather and Dodge were to get what they want from the game, they had to sacrifice the needs of their hearts, especially when, one by one, people's secrets were unraveled. I kept second-guessing everyone in here, and that just made the book even more exciting.

As Panic escalated and started involving non-players, it didn't remain a secret to the adults who of course wanted to put a stop to it, but its organizers were shrouded in so much secrecy and anonymity that they couldn't be stopped - like the thrill of having absolutely no idea what could happen next disabled me from turning the pages. Although Lauren Oliver's writing wasn't quite like what I've read of her before, it was still beautiful and captivating as always. Panic is not a book for the easily-bored, but if you're one for patience, then I'm sure this will be nothing but enthralling for you.

MY FAVORITE PART was Joust. Holy crackers. 

RATING:

Book Review: Revelations - J.A. Souders

Title: Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles #2)

Author: J.A. Souders

Release Date: November 5th 2013

Publisher: Tor Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: Finished copy from publisher

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Six weeks after her arrival on the Surface, Evelyn Winters is no closer to unlocking the memories lost in her subconscious than she was when she first came. Isolated in a strange new society, Evie has only Gavin Hunter to remind her of who she once was.

But even with a clean slate, it’s easy to see that Evie doesn’t fit in on the Surface. And as her differences make her feel more and more alone, she can’t help but yearn for that place she doesn’t remember: the isolated city hidden in the depths of the ocean. Elysium. Home.

But she can’t exactly tell Gavin what she’s feeling. Not when he’s the one who helped her escape Elysium in the first place, and has the scars to prove it. Though the doctors say otherwise, Gavin believes that Evie just needs time. And if her memories don’t come back, well, maybe she’s better off not remembering her past.

But the decision may be out of their hands when Evie’s ever-elusive memories begin to collide with reality. People and images from her past appear in the most unlikely places, haunting her, provoking her…and making her seem not only strange but dangerous.

Evie and Gavin can’t wait around for her memories to return. They’ll have to journey across the Outlands of the Surface to find help, and in the end, their search may just lead them back to the place it all started…

(Spoilers if you haven't read Renegade.)

Revelations isn't quite the sequel I expected it to be, which doesn't make sense at all because it's not like I knew what to expect from this. Evie being out of Elysium and up in the Surface made for one unpredictable adventure all throughout, if nothing else. It was slow to start and I had trouble staying focused initially, but once the action started, it never stopped.

After suffering unknown injuries during their escape from Elysium, Evie feels lost and alone in a world she's never known before, and she keeps having "blackouts" where her brain seems to revert to her Enforcer training, endangering not only herself but everyone else around her as well. I knew that EMF field bit at the end of Renegade would come to haunt her, so this wasn't a surprise to me at all, but it sure was sadistically enjoyable to see Evie go through those blackouts because it just meant that her job in Elysium was far from being done.

As Evie travels the world topside, trying to find a cure to her strange illness, we now get to learn just how devastating the apocalyptic event that shook this fictional world was and how the humans above sea level coped with that. It irked me how Evie had it somehow easy at first, so I was relieved to find out that it was other people's hidden motives and not her charm that brought her where she needed to be.

In this sequel, Evie is quite the polar opposite of who had been in the first book, but it's understandable. Now, she's the one in a world new to her so she's the one who requires help, although that's not to say she was helpless. Oh, no. She may have lost her memory, but definitely not her willingness to take matters into her own hands when she sees fit. Admittedly, that put her in a lot of trouble, but what fun is a book without trouble?

With more time they spend together and the more people they spend it with, it is inevitable that Evie and Gavin's relationship would encounter its own hurdles. And, oh, man, I really thought they'd be done for. Gavin was with Evie through everything - well, almost everything - but that doesn't mean he agreed with her the whole time. He often irritated me because of how unreasonable and prideful he was, but turns out there is actually a reason for that - a reason that is yet to be known but has been hinted at a lot. Seeds of a love triangle were planted in this book, but for now, there is no reason to worry about that, and I sure hope Souders keeps it that way.

All in all, for me Revelations didn't surpass Renegade but although I feel like not much progress was made in this book with regards to the series' overall plot, I still enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to the third book because that one has a lot to tackle.

MY FAVORITE PART was

"And what, pray tell, do you know about sexual practices that involve straps?" There's laughter in his voice.

I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin. "I am well-versed in the ways of mating." I frown. Where did that come from?

"You are, are you?" he says, still laughing. He threads my arm through his. "Well, then, do tell. I'm obviously not as 'well-versed' as you."

:))

RATING:

Book Review: Faking Normal - Courtney C. Stevens

Title: Faking Normal

Author: Courtney C. Stevens

Release Date: February 25th 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

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Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

A searing, poignant book, Faking Normal is the extraordinary debut novel from an exciting new author - Courtney C. Stevens.

Faking Normal turned out to be nothing like I thought it would. That blurb gave little clue as to what to expect, and I certainly didn't expect all these feels.

Faking normal is a skill I learned seventy-seven days ago.

I've read quite a handful of books that are similar to this, so it wasn't hard for me to guess what Alexi went through that fateful summer night, but Faking Normal differs from them all because it kept me guessing 'who' did it. I suspected everyone - and by everyone I seriously mean everyone, even her dad (messed up, I know) - so yeah, nice work, book, for keeping me confused.

Alexi is a complicated character. I questioned her way of thinking at first, because her reasons for a lot of things (this is me trying not to spoil you) were hard to fathom, and I actually thought I wouldn't understand them until the end. For most of the book it seemed like she had given up and I hated how she inflicted pain upon herself because she thought she was to blame for what happened. Her growth was slow enough to be realistic, and it truly was something to behold.

Bodee, on the other hand, is very easy to love. It's rather naive of me to say this, but I just don't think he can do anything wrong. We all knew at least one Bodee from high school: the outcast, the ignored, the forgotten. He isn't your run-of-the-mill, panty-dropping gorgeous male character, but he made me swoon. He is quiet and understanding and open-minded - just kind, proving that attitude trumps looks, any day. It was heartwarming to watch them evolve from acquaintances to friends, two broken people who found a common ground in their pain, and I really liked it when they decided to take things slow, not because it would complicate Bodee's stay in Alexi's house, but because they both knew that it wouldn't be right to start a romantic relationship with the way they were.

Faking Normal is another case of sad, beautiful, tragic, and it warmed my heart, made it bleed, and then messed with my tear ducts. A lot of lessons can be learned from this story of healing and loving one's self, and the beautiful prose doesn't hurt, either. There is a plethora of secondary characters who are just as complex and interesting as the main ones - I can give try to give you ten more reasons to pick this up but I'll go with read this!

MY FAVORITE PART was when Bodee covered the vent above Alexi's bed. My feels.

RATING:

Book Review: Into the Still Blue - Veronica Rossi

Title: Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

Author: Veronica Rossi

Release Date: January 28th 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC from publisher

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Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

Into the Still Blue is the final book in one of my most favorite post-apocalyptic series. Series-enders are bittersweet reads, and I would have put off reading this because I didn't want to reach the end of Aria and Perry's journey, but the need to know what happens won.

With the Aether getting worse and worse, resembling what happened during the Unity, Aria and Perry have no choice but to move their entire tribe of Tides and Dwellers to the Still Blue. After the events in Through the Ever Night, they have an idea of where that safe haven is, but getting there is their new problem.

This is the hardest part of the journey for everyone. As much as Aria and Perry want to stay together with their loved ones - most importantly, each other - they cannot, because they both carry the weight of getting their people to safety. And this is where this couple have always stood out. They are young and in love, but they are not stupid and reckless. They have both grown so much since the first book and are truly capable of leading almost half a thousand people and going against an abominable villain whose eyes I wanted to claw out with my bare hands. They also complement each other perfectly: Aria evening out Perry's edges, and Perry giving Aria the strength that the world was taking from her. Most of all, they both know that a dangerous mission such as theirs requires sacrifices, and they go through with it even at the expense of their own happiness.

Aside from Aria and Perry, their best friend Roar is another favorite of mine, so heartbroken Roar broke my heart. His easy demeanor is gone after suffering a terrible loss, but this is where his friendship with Aria shined through the most. She is there with him through it all, and I just love how their relationship never borders on romance and how close they've become in less than a year - six months, if I remember correctly - almost like Perry and Roar who grew up together.

Chock-full of equal parts unpredictable action and emotion, Into the Still Blue is undoubtedly the best in the trilogy. It made me giggle like a schoolgirl (because lovesick!Perry is just adorbs), laugh more times than I could count, and cry like I was the one who'd taken a beating. This last book answers all the questions and provides a beautiful ending, one that is more than satisfying.

MY FAVORITE PARTS were Soren being Soren. With all the tension and worry that this book caused me, the spurts of laughter that he brought out of me were more than welcome.

RATING:

Book Review: Olivia Twisted - Vivi Barnes

Title: Olivia Twisted

Author: Vivi Barnes

Release Date: November 5th 2013

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: eARC from publisher

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Olivia

He tilts my chin up so my eyes meet his, his thumb brushing lightly across my lips. I close my eyes. I know Z is trouble. I know that being with him is going to get me into trouble. I don’t care.

At least at this moment, I don’t care.

Tossed from foster home to foster home, Olivia’s seen a lot in her sixteen years. She’s hardened, sure, though mostly just wants to fly under the radar until graduation. But her natural ability with computers catches the eye of Z, a mysterious guy at her new school. Soon, Z has brought Liv into his team of hacker elite—break into a few bank accounts, and voila, he drives a motorcycle. Follow his lead, and Olivia might even be able to escape from her oppressive foster parents. As Olivia and Z grow closer, though, so does the watchful eye of Bill Sykes, Z’s boss. And he’s got bigger plans for Liv…

Z

I can picture Liv’s face: wide-eyed, trusting. Her smooth lips that taste like strawberry Fanta.

It was just a kiss. That’s all. She’s just like any other girl.

Except that she’s not.

Thanks to Z, Olivia’s about to get twisted.

If there's one thing Olivia Twisted made me realize, it's that I had no idea what Charles Dickens' classic book is about. Seriously. And I dare call myself a book addict.

Okay, back to this retelling. Uh, holy mother of shizz, talk about awesome! I wanted to read this book because of the computer hacking, and you don't know how happy I am that it didn't disappoint in that aspect—not that it disappointed in any aspect. I was hooked right from chapter one, with Liv's and Z's engrossing voices.

It's hard not to like and relate to Liv. Not counting all the horrible stuff with being a foster kid—which I pitied her for—she really was just a simple girl: shy, uncertain, innocent. And prideful, too, which she showed the most when she took Z up on his hacking challenge, knowing that that was exactly what he's doing. Being a computer engineering student, I know that feeling all too well. Anyway, she did irritate me one time. It was unbelievable how Liv was so... good. Like, for someone who'd been through a lot, I'd imagine Z's job would be easy for her to stomach. Or maybe that's just me and my messed-up morality lol.

Now let's talk about Z. Oh, Z. He was a walking enigma, and with his long-ish blond hair, black leather jacket, sexy glasses, and oh, a freaking Ducati, he's as swoon-worthy as a guy can get. Plus, he's an expert in social engineering! He wasn't all tough and manly though; he cared genuinely and deeply for the other kids in the group home he was in, putting their needs and safety before his own.

Even with Z's douchebag act at the start of the story, the attraction between him and Liv was immediately palpable. And when that turned into a full-blown romance? Yowza. They were sweet and steamy (nothing R-18, don't worry) but also mature, showing just how much they'd been hardened by their experiences, and that was sad and heartening at the same time. And they were perfect for each other, really, because they both wanted a better life for each other.

Exciting and intense all throughout, Olivia Twisted is the kind of book that I would just love to read again and again. I'd say I want to read the next chapter in Liv's and Z's lives, but nah, I'm happy with how the author left them in the end. They both seriously deserved a break, anyway.

MY FAVORITE PART was the epilogue :3

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Book Review: When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) - Ingrid Jonach

Title: When the World Was Flat (and we were in love)

Author: Ingrid Jonach

Release Date: September 3rd 2013

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: finished copy from publisher

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Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.

Oh, wow. I've read quite a few sci-fi books in this sub-genre—I refuse to say which because it's a big fat spoiler!—but not one of them rocked my socks off as much as When the World Was Flat (I'll refer to it as WTWWF from this point on) did. Ingrid Jonach knows how to captivate her readers right from the first page with a perfect balance of awe-inspiring prose and unforgettable characters.

WTWWF is a book that slowly but surely and deftly revealed its secrets. The matter of Lillie's nightmares was shrouded with utter mystery, making me think this story was psychological or something, and all of my theories were stabs in the dark—it's that unpredictable. A book that keeps me guessing is a book that keeps me reading, and this one was seriously unputdownable.

The characters in here are ones I imagine I'd enjoy reading about even if they were to be written into a whole other story. They all had this depth to them, not to mention a shared sense of humor that had me chuckling several times.

"If he takes you to an abandoned farmhouse, slaughterhouse, warehouse," Sylv ticked them off her fingers, "nuthouse, trainhouse—"

"Trainhouse?" Jo and I asked in sync.

Sylv grimaced. "I would have said train station, but I was going for a theme." 

And then, just a few sentences later:

Sylv shrugged. "You can thank me when he turns out to be a serial killer. Or worse."

"What could be worse than a serial killer?" Jo asked.

"A virgin?" Sylv suggested with a smirk.

I can talk about Lillie and Tom at length, but really, all you have to know about them without being spoiler-y is that they're complex, lovable characters, and I'd much rather talk about their romance. Lillie and Tom had a love story to rival Luce and Daniel's (from Fallen by Lauren Kate, so if you've read that, *wink* *wink*). Although Tom initially came across as having the emotional and social capacity of a rock, I don't know how Lillie got the idea that he hated her. He was the unfriendly new kid, but if I were her, I wouldn't take it that just because he wasn't all smiles meant he hated me. Or am I forgetting a flip-off scene here? Anyway, all the pushing and pulling equated to holy sexual tension! And I really liked that even though their emotionally-frustrating relationship got the spotlight, it didn't take up the whole stage. The other characters, particularly Lillie's best friends, moved forward with them—a good thing because if you can't tell from the quotes above, I really loved them too.

The science behind this book was not unraveled all at once, which really confused me at first, but not to worry, I assure you that everything made sense in the end. And speaking of, it's hard to decide whether that ending was more on the bitter or the sweet side; I feel a longing smile forming on my face when I think of it.

MY FAVORITE PART was Jackson's peer pressure moment, and the scenes following that :3

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