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Wild Magic is the book that introduced me to Tamora Pierce's writing. I found it in a second hand book shop while on a drive from NY to FL as a tween. I got the itch to re-read this series right before leaving for my honeymoon after hearing Numair is going to be getting his own book(s), so I threw the quartet in my bag. Only made it through the first 1.5 books, which is a snails pace for me, but I had to pay a little attention to my new husband. lol I loved Wild Magic just as much now, on my third reading, as I did the first time I picked it up. There are a few times when I feel like character relationship development is a little rushed, which is why it gets four stars from me still, but even when having a blast at Disney World my brain kept wanting to return to Tortall and Daine's story. I'm torn between who I love more, Daine or Alanna. Will never fail to recommend these books to fantasy lovers of all ages.

Not quite as good as the first book. Some parts felt a little unfinished and it jumped huge spaces in time without warning or explanation. Still a very enjoyable book.

I originally read this entire trilogy when I was 13 and I related to Talia so much. At the time of writing this review I'm 28 and I still see pieces of myself in her and a whole lot of my thirteen year old self. I've re-read this book countless times over the years. I know it inside and out, but when I need a book that just makes me feel calm and at peace this is the book I pick up and it probably always will be. Original GoodReads Read: February 2011 Fourth GoodReads Re-Read: November 2015

This was a bit slow going to start. The first 100 pages (minus the appearances by Lisbeth) were pretty dry. I give Larsson credit for thinking things out, but at times it was a bit overwhelming and I would catch myself skimming and have to go back and re-read. This isn't usually my type of book, but it's definitely my type of movie. I *loved* the Swedish film. Strange that my tastes vary so much between formats. About halfway through I was hooked. Lisbeth is by far what makes this book worth reading. I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Finally done with this book. It was a major disappointment. I really thought I would love this series after reading Eragon, but I don't. The author seems a bit... pretentious. He likes to show off his vocabulary, but it doesn't fit the rest of the piece and he goes on FOREVER. This book could have been half the size and told the same story better. There were some parts that kept me enthralled, but for the most part I skimmed it. This book made very little progress in the story for how many pages it is (748). I'll probably end up reading the final book (if it ever comes out) just to see how the story ends.

I haven't been reading a lot this year, because Life has been very unkind to my hobbies, but I saw Leigh Bardugo talking about this on instagram one day and so I decided to check it out. So let me start telling you how much you need this in your life immediately. The comic is a work of brilliance. It tackles patriarchy and sexism in a way that will make you angry and empowered simultaneously. It makes you want to give the entire world the one finger salute and while healing it. It made me want to burn shit down and tap dance on my desk. I don't know. I just had a hell of a lot of feelings after reading this. OH OH OH. THE SHOWER SCENE. NO WORDS EXIST THAT CAN EXPLAIN WHAT I'M FEELING. Just read it. You won't be disappointed.

I'm a little bias, but (*_*)/ <) ) this'll / \ \( *_*) ( (> be / \ (*_*)/ <) ) awesome! / \

Edit: Looks like they updated the synopsis. ==== I hope this book is less offensive than the synopsis.

Oh man, I need the next volume NOW!

DNF at around 60% because I just can't even. Worst than the first one. Review to come.

This was just okay for me, but that might be because I listened to Yes Please directly after Leah Remini's Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, which in hindsight was probably a disservice. But whatever, this wasn't as funny as I was hoping it'd be, and I think I laughed the hardest at the last chapter. I think the main issue is just that Amy Poehler's life isn't as fascinating to hear about. And I realize this is a pretty odd thing to say given that this is in fact an autobiography an all. But I guess what I'm trying to say is... what was the point here? Was there something groundbreaking that happened in her life that demanded to be written about? Not from what I read. The narrative was choppy and Poehler flips to different parts of her life on a whim, not following any sort chronological order or sense. This made for a confusing listening experience for me at times. There were certain parts that I did find interesting: finding out how she and Tina met, Seth Meyers' narration, the controversy around her controversial SNL skit and... that's about it for the most part. The rest I could have easily done without.

OMG that ending. How is it possible for this series to be so consistently amazing?! Need volume 4 immediately.

This just keeps getting better and better. So addicted.

Insta-buy author. Yep.

This series just cracks me up!

Where's a time machine when you need one?

I encourage you all to read this beautiful piece by Kaye M.: https://medium.com/@gildedspine/this-... For more info: http://bibliodaze.com/2015/10/the-unb...

No stars. Disclaimer: I read to about 65%. Skim read to about 90% and read to the end. Also, this review will contain spoilers for the alternate ending that are not in spoiler tags. Years ago, when Twilight was in its prime, someone told me that Breaking Dawn was never supposed to happen. That it was the book where Stephenie Meyer was given free reign to do whatever she wanted because the series was so popular, everyone would buy it regardless of quality, and rake in big dough-cheese for her and her publishers. I don't really know how true that assumption is, but dammit if isn't true for Life and Death. Take me for example: I own all of the Twilight books, have read Twilight (just the first book) a total of 4 times, 5 if you include this (and I do), written about some of the good that came of the series (I'm not always a fire-breathing bitch queen), made fun of it, enjoyed parts of it, loathed chucks of it and everything else in between. I also attempted to re-read the series back in 2012 for this little thing I started called Project: HindSight, and had so much fun reviewing Midnight Sun (I really wish she'd finish that), but by the time I got to New Moon (the book I dislike the most), I just couldn't continue on and abandoned the project. Over the past few years, I've settled on generally disliking everything Twilight stands for while holding onto a morbid fascination and, begrudgingly, bestowing some sort of respect for a series that put YA literature on the map. So when I heard of Life and Death, literally the day it released, I knew I'd buy it. No questions asked. I was hoping many of the issues I had with Twilight would be corrected with this version. It had so much potential to be great! I never expected there to be huge drastic changes to the story -- I did expect it to be pretty much the same as Twilight, so believe me when I say that was the least of its problems. I won't bother reviewing this book, because it's essentially the same as Twilight and I've already written a review for that. Just swap around the pronouns in your head as you read it. In the forward, Stephenie Meyer opens with this: "But I've always maintained that it would have made no difference if the human were male and the vampire female-- it's still the same story. Gender and species aside, Twilight has always been a story about the magic and obsession and frenzy of first love." I don't think she was very successful. There were times when I wondered what Meyer was truly trying to accomplish here. Was she trying to basically say her novel features an unhealthy relationship even with roles reversed? As in, "Hey guys, my book is horrible either way!" Or was her goal to further highlight how Twilight had a lot of instances of sexism, including sexual violence against women? Because if so, then I suppose, yeah, she was successful. Here's a general run down: Beau is your classic Gary Stu who falls for The Ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Edythe. He has no aspirations to do or be anything until he spots the love of his life in his high school cafeteria. Not much has changed with our young, desperate lovers except for their pronouns, but Edythe is still a jerk/control freak/stalker and somehow less creepy than Edward. And Beau is still a very weak character and as interesting as the dirt beneath my shoe. There is an alternate ending which is essentially a pathetic attempt to pack New Moon and Eclipse into a clusterfuck of info-dumping. But more on that later. What I really want to talk about is the treatment of the female characters. I don't know how this was even possible, but reading Life and Death actually made me hate Twilight even more than I originally did. This is mostly because it became shockingly evident that certain scenes (sexual assault) were purposefully left out in this version because the characters didn't have vaginas. Lovely. Bella's attempted rape scene has now turned into Beau's assault scene. If you remember, in Twilight, while Bella is getting lost in Port Angeles, she runs into a group of drunk men who attempt to sexually assault her. This is made clear by their jeers ("Don't be like that, sugar.") and Edward's later dialogue. But for Beau, his assailants are a mix between female and male and have the intention of beating him up because they think he is a cop. The section is entirely re-written with more dialogue, a gun and threats of death. Then there is Rosalie's rape scene, now changed to Royal's assault scene. Instead of Royal being raped, he's tricked during the wedding and beat up within an inch of his life. Now, one could argue the time period and say, "Well, that's happened back then. It's just how things were." And, maybe, before I read Life and Death I could have seen that point. But when the two biggest instances of female sexual assault are completely left out when you swap the genders, oy, that's an issue. Now that is not to say I wanted to see men get rape in Life and Death. It's just a glaring problem where I now see those scenes as "Literary Rape," used as plot devices to add depth and sympathy to Rosalie's character, and to give Edward a reason to look super heroic in the face of rapists. Maggie Stiefvater said it best in This is a Post About Literary Rape: "I'm talking about novels where the rape scene could just as easily be any other sort of violent scene and it only becomes about sex because there's a woman involved. If the genders were swapped, a rape scene wouldn't have happened. The author would've come up with a different sort of scenario/ backstory/ defining moment for a male character." That is exactly what happened here. One could argue that Meyer wrote a more progressive version of Twilight with Life and Death and that's partly true to an extent. Edythe does appear to try to make her relationship with Beau as equal as possible. But there are constant references to the gender changes as if Meyer is trying to prove something to the reader, and they only seemed to further resign me to the fact that Meyer has no idea what she's doing. (Bold is mine.) His straight gold hair was wound into a bun on the back of his head, but there was nothing feminine about it-- somehow it made him look even more like a man. I fumbled for my wallet. "Um, let me-- you didn't even get anything--" "My treat, Beau." "But--" "Try not to get caught up in antiquated gender roles." She turned toward the cafeteria, swinging her bag into place. "Hey, let me get that for you," I offered. She looked up at me with doe eyes. "Does it look too heavy for me?" "Well, I mean..." "Sure," she said. She slid the bag down her arm and then held it out to me, very deliberately using just the tip of her pinkie finger. It was like Meyer was shouting me, "DO I IMPRESS YOU?!" And I kept going: In the hands of a more skilled writer, this might have been pulled off flawlessly. I found the changes she made with Beau's narration interesting. Meyer mentioned in the Forward that Bella is more flowery with her words, where Beau is not. This is a complete understatement. The one thing Twilight actually had going for it, was the occasionally pretty quote. I say occasional, because the novel contains too many short, simple sentences than I usually like in my books. In Life and Death's case, the writing has been watered down so much that it feels on par with See Spot Run. And I don't necessarily think this is a gender thing. Just because a character is a boy, doesn't mean he can't be articulate or well-versed. "Bonnie, there's something you didn't know about me.... I used to smell really good to vampires." Corny. So very corny. It's not uncommon to discover popular YA authors' inability to write convincing male POVs. *cough*Veronica Roth*cough* And I learned from Midnight Sun, that it's not exactly Meyer's forte either, but c'mon! This was really bad, even for her. The there's Beau's obsession with Edythe's unhealthy* body. Oh, god, I'm so disgusted with this part, and I don't really understand why it was included. "Her pale arms, her slim shoulders, the fragile-looking twigs of her collarbones, the vulnerable hollows above them, the swanlike column of her neck, the gentle swell of her breasts-- don't stare, don't stare-- and the ribs I could nearly count under the thin cotton. She was too perfect, I realized with a crushing wave of despair. There was no way this goddess could ever belong with me." Is this supposed to show Beau's unrealistic expectations of women's bodies? That only vampires can achieve this level of "perfection" that society constantly forces on us? Because there is no other explanation that works well here and I'm really trying to give Meyer the benefit of the doubt and throw her a bone. The issue with this theory is, there's no indication in the book that this is an unrealistic view. Actually quite the opposite happens later in that same scene: I had a new definition of beauty. Sigh. I don't think I need to go into why this is problematic, so I'll just leave that there for your critique. *Unhealthy, as in for majority of women, this is an unattainable beauty standard. Apologies if that came off as body shaming women/girls where that is their healthy. I'm speaking specifically about society's constant pressure on women and girls to be as thin as possible, many times to the detriment of their physical and emotional health. When Beau describes Edythe, he focuses so heavily on the sharp angles of her bones and it perpetuates the idea that these characteristics make her more beautiful than others. I find these descriptions irresponsible and feel there could have been a better way to describe her. So let's talk about the ending. This part will have spoilers beyond this point. This is your one and only warning. Yes, it's re-written -- horribly, if I'm being honest. During the scene with the ballet studio (which, BTW, Beau didn't take ballet as a kid because HE'S A BOY. *eyeroll*), everything is pretty much similar expect for the fact that Edythe can't suck out all the venom out of Beau's body, leaving him only one possible future: becoming a vampire super early and living happily ever after with his BAE, Edythe. I wouldn't have had an issue with the change if it had actually been written without the massive amounts of info-dumping. It reads like Meyer decided last minute that she wanted to only do 2 chapters of the gender swap (which she mentions in the Forward), realized she spent all of her deadline time on re-writing the entire book, and quickly wrote an ending hours before she emailed it to her editor. She crams the werewolf history, volturi history, rules of being a vampire, and Beau's human funeral altogether and it's just so goddamn messy. It also makes the insta-love look even worse because at least Bella had 3 other books and a pining Jacob to consider leaving Edward. It was just an overall hot ass mess that seemed so out of place. This is why I said they just let Meyer do whatever the hell she wants; half that stuff would have never flown with a debut novel or any novel that desired to actually be, you know, good. Would I recommend this and should you read it? Hard to say. My first response is, "Oh, god, no. Don't waste your money." $12.99 is an unacceptable price for an ebook (thank goodness for Kindle returns!). It doesn't really offer anything vital to the Twilight fandom/universe and is generally a horrible piece of writing that I want to fling stones at. But then the other half of me enjoys the suffering of my fellow book lovers and is considering purchasing this as a gag joke to both of my lovely co-bloggers. Because that's really all this trite, wish-fulfilling, wankfest of a re-imaginging is good for, and I really, really need to stop being so damn curious about everything. But anyway, I'm rambling when all I really want to say is... the ball's in your court now, E.L. James. I eagerly await your newest, fan fiction original book.

Loved! Adorable characters with just the right amount of snark. I approve! Review to come.

Different, addictive and delicious. Review to come.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with The Martian, but, look, that was a lot of fucking math. When I was a kid still in the "oh god what will I do as a career when I'm a grownup?!" phase, I had the brilliant idea that maybe I'd be a mathematician. The Martian has just reminded me why that was a shitty idea. I love sci-fi and I'm super fascinated with space, but yeah, this one didn't particularly spark anything in me. It didn't leave me hungering for the next page. It was just another audiobook that I listened to to get me to the next level in Candy Crush. But, some good points: - Very strong narration: if you listen to the audio, good choice! Kind of. The good news is, the narrator is fantastic. The bad news is, the audio makes it hard to skim pass the more boring parts like the math. You'll have no choice but to suffer through it if it's not working for you. - Excellent research: kudos to the author for all the research he did. I can't image how long it must have taken. The fact that he included all that math indicates how meticulous and deligent he is. I have nothing but respect for that. Even if it was boring to the tenth power. - Fascinating concept: if I were stuck on Mars, I'd probably lose my mind. So it did fascinate me to see what Mark would do in each situation. My fascination ended at multiplying and dividing potatoes. - Interesting characters: my favorite parts were of the characters at NASA and Mark's crew. Basically anyone that wasn't Mark. No wait, that's not fair. I think Mark did start to grow on me near the very end, but I can't say I was truly invested in if he lived or died. I would have been okay with either ending. The bad: OMG MATH WHY SO MUCH MATH MATH MATH I disliked that as soon as the book opened, Mark was counting potatoes. I understand why, and I get that the dude has to eat to survive Mars, but if you multiply that times my interest level, you'll get zero fucks. The problem I had was boredom. There just wasn't a lot happening outside of counting potatoes, multiplying water, something, something chemistry and science. It got to the point where I starting coming up with my own mathematical equations. For instance, why doesn't my rage times my boredom equal Mark's death? If only I could kill off characters with my mind. If only. So I got to the end of the book and it was a decent ending, I suppose. Again, it didn't spark any heightened suspense in my heart, I wasn't on the edge of my seat. I thought for sure this was going to be my kind of book and almost purchased the hardcover for myself. But then I remembered I don't actually like survival stories, which I guess explains quite a lot about why I didn't love it. This book would have been significantly better with aliens.

I'm putting this aside for now. It's good, but I'm struggling to keep interest.

Black Widow, so basically, YAAAAASSSSS.

Jason Chan rocked the illustration and my co-blogger, Meg, designed the typography for this masterpiece of a cover. I'm in lurrrrrve with it. But not only is this cover bae, but you could win yourself a copy of the book on the blog. You need this book in your life.

My eye twitched after I finished Velvet. I rubbed it, it twitched again. Apparently, my eye didn't know what to make of Velvet any more than I did. Was it bad or was it good? Did I enjoy it or did I hate it? Is it possible to say yes to all of those questions? Just a heads up that this review is going to be even more convoluted that usual and skip around a lot. I regret nothing. At first glance, Velvet appears to be the same Paranormal Vampire Romance novel we've all read a hundred times. Girl moves into a new town. Girl meets Hot Guy who's never shown interest in any other girls in town. Girl almost dies, but Hot Guy saves her. Blah, blah, blah... romance. So if you are tired of this kind of set up, then prepare to be highly disappointed for the first 40% of the novel. That fact is, if Velvet had been published during the Twilight Era--let's be honest, it totally belongs there--it would have probably been a huge hit. But now, it has a lot working against it. Readers expect more from their PNR and the Twilight-esqe model is, frankly, played out. But moving on to what you actually really care about: was this any good? That is such a complicated question so, I will give an equally complicated response. Velvet is like an Oreo Cookie. It's not the best cookie you can have, but it will satisfy your desire for one. The end pieces are pretty terrible by themselves and the icing in the middle is just way too much high fructose corn syrup in one go. The cookie works okay when it's together, but still kinda leaves this weird aftertaste in your mouth. It's like your body subconsciously knows that you fed it a sub par treat and denied it a chocolate chip cookie. But at the same time, you find yourself reaching for another Oreo and your body is strangely okay with this. And after you've finished the entire pack, you end up craving a real Cookie. The first 40% is an absolute struggle. It features a ridiculous premise (Adrian's demon, vampire father wants to impregnate Caitlin to produce more vampire babies for reasons), awkward dialogue (though some parts are chuckle worthy) and scenes that is sure to make your eyes roll. In fact, most of it is so unreal, that I often wondered what went through the author and editor's head when green lighting this. I really hate to say that because it sounds like an insult, but it was so bad to the point of hilarity, which made me wonder if I was reading actually reading a satire. If that was the case, then bravo to both West and her editor because they nailed it. Oh shit. That's totally what Velvet is, isn't it? West purposefully stuffed every overused cliche into Velvet to both poke fun at PNR and attempt to write a better one at the same time! AHHHH, the world just came full circle! Or maybe I just read it as a satire to actually make it through the book? Also a possibility. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to really tell you guys how ridiculous the first half is. Many would say Velvet is just like Twilight. That's true, but not true enough. Others would say Velvet is nothing like Twilight. I guess, in a way, that's true, too. But again, not true enough, in my opinion. Velvet has an explanation for how vampires came into existence and it's as confusing as all getup, but at least the attempt is there. Then the love interest, Adrian, is actually a decent guy. He respects boundaries and goes away when Caitlin tells him to hit the road. So, I'd say Velvet is like Twilight with manners, science and a ridiculous/frustrating/fascinating plot. While I was reading Velvet, I found some parts so unbelievable, that I went to find out what inspired West to write it. What I discovered was something shocking... she was inspired by Twilight! She wanted to write a vampire novel with a slightly different spin and therefore, it is inevitable for this novel to be compared to its inspiration. Just like how we all love to compare Fifty Shades of Grey to Twilight. Oh damn, I just went there. Anyway, in many ways, she did improve on an existing Vampire Novel Template. She excelled where Stephenie Meyer didn't for me. And I can't believe I'm about talk about some things I liked about Twilight. WTF has this world come to? Twilight's beginning, while super slow, allows a good amount of build up for Edward and Bella to meet. I'm not referring to the insta love, because that definitely happened, but they had several interactions woven into Bella's boring life of cooking her dad dinner before things got started. Obviously, it goes downhill from there because the insta love arrives and sets everything on fire. On the other hand, Velvet doesn't have the same setup and it makes it harder for the reader to be thrust into the novel with no real introduction. As soon as the novel starts, suddenly, Caitlin is in trouble and Adrian is there saving her. "I nearly killed you, to keep you alive." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It was completely jarring to me because I was still trying to figure out who, what, when, where, why and WTF. And from then on there was a barrage of not-so-carefully constructed scenarios that forced the couple to be in close proximity. At one point the end up in a closet together and then a bed all in the same night. Yup. Adrian literally goes from not caring about any girl at the school to picking Caitlin up for school the next day. "You're here two days and he just offers to drive you home?" But of course, all these "happenings" are not without a purpose. I mentioned before that Adrian saved Caitlin from his demon vampire dad who wants to impregnate her. So it's his job to stay with her at all times to protect her. "What did you mean when you said you were my personal shadow?" He rubbed his eyes. "It means that you're in trouble." I frowned, waiting for him to elaborate. "For instance--that storm? Wasn't a storm." "The storm was not a storm." "It was a disturbance." I snorted. "In the force?" As per the usual characterization of a PNR heroine, Caitlin brushes off the impending danger until she finds out what he wants. And if those quotes made you slow blink, feast your eyes on this gem: "He wants to impregnate me? Like, with a baby that kind of impregnate?" "I understand you're upset--" "That does not even cover the middle finger of what I am feeling--" "--but please believe me that nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here--while we're all here, my family and I." "What about when you're not here?" I sputtered. "What about when I'm at home? Or when I'm asleep? What about my family?" "This is not--he won't rape you, or anything," he said, struggling for words and looking awkward as hell. "He'll make you want him. It's--what they do. It's a game." Because of course making someone want you, even when they actually don't, isn't rape. It's totally consensual! Like I said, the for the first 40% of Velvet, the struggle is REAL. But then something strange happened when I hit the cream filling. I started to enjoy Velvet. My friends, who had the misfortune of being there when I decided to tell them every painful detail about the beginning, are convinced I suffered from Bookholm Syndrome. They say Velvet took my brain hostage and I started falling for my captive. But I think the real reason is, once West ditched the cliches and let the romance develop, it wasn't half bad. Unlike Twilight, Caitlin and Adrian's romance is very slow burn. For most of the novel, they aren't "together" and don't particularly want to be, but they do have an attraction. And I have to admit, it was nice seeing their banter and watching their obvious feelings growing. West never rushed it and therefore made me appreciate it more. The only thing I have to complain about with this was that the sexual tension got ridiculous. Once Caitlin and Adrian finally admit their feelings for one another, the spend the night as his place, in his bed, clothes off, cuddling. I just don't buy that. Another thing Velvet did right was female friendships. Caitlin's best friend is considerate and kind as well as the other girls in the novel. They hang out outside of Adrian's presence, have sleepovers and talk about topics other than boys or Adrian. Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that Velvet completely passes the Bechdel test and that's something I never expected. Even some of my favorite YA novels fail at this. All good things came to a swift end when the final conflict caught up with the plot. Unfortunately, I was let down. I went through the entire novel waiting to find out more information about why Adrian's dad sought out Caitlin in particular only to discover nothing. I was given virtually no new development! It just ends on the same note it began, but with more romance. It was so frustrating! It feels like it was a cheap attempt to get me to read the second book and goddamn it, I think it worked because yes I'll fucking read the sequel and I'm not happy about it. UGH! Where's a real cookie when you need it?! I don't know if I'd seriously recommend Velvet to anyone. Well, that's a lie. I kinda do want some of my friends to read it because I'm super curious of what their face would look like while doing so. And now you all know what gift you're getting on Friendship Day. I'm an awesome friend. All jokes aside, I don't really know what to make of Velvet and I suspect its target audience is smaller than it would have been 5 years ago. If you are in the mood for cliche-filled vampire romance, double-stuffed with occasionally overly sweet, witty banter, smashed in between two, over baked, sad excuses for cookies, then this might be a good choice on a rainy day. Just remember, "C" doesn't just stand for Cookie, it stands for Crap, too. BAM! For you visual folks, here's a book talk video on Velvet. (Yes, I drew fangs on my picture. I had one job in photoshop.)

Cinda Williams Chima gave this book 5 stars. So obviously I need it.

It's always interesting to revisit books years after you've read them in a different format. The first time I read Throne of Glass, I wasn't really impressed with the writing, though I was relatively drawn into the story as a whole. However, this time around, with the audio I actually connected with the romance between Dorian and Celaena so much better. This just goes to show you that *when* you read a book and which *format* you choose can make a big difference on your reading experience. Which is why I think "reading objectively" is a steaming pile of horse shit. Anyway, I'm looking for Crown of Midnight now!

The audio wasn't as good as the print. Barely 3 stars.

Stunning cover is stunning. I think I love it more than the first one.

STOP. THE. PRESSES.

I guess this is as good time as any to re-read To Kill A Mockingbird.

DNF at 30%. I started this because The Jewel had an evil cliffhanger and I really wanted to know what happened to the characters. Well, upon starting The White Rose, I realized that I remember NOTHING from the first book, which made it extremely had to remain invested in this book. So once I found out what happened to the characters, my interest took a nose dive and I knew it was time to put The White Rose aside. If you enjoyed The Jewel, I highly recommend a quick re-read before jumping into this one.

I loved everything, everything about this book. *hugs book closely* review to come.

One conversation could have easily solved this plot's problem. ONE.

Everyone wants Jamie's body. Randall, Lord John Grey, Claire, that teen girl and... Me. XD

I don't even want to know what kind of research needed to be done to write this novel. The ending left a pretty big plot berg, but YOU was strangely addictive. What's even more strange was how Kepnes somehow got me to both root for Joe and be disgusted with him and myself simultaneously. Excuse me, I need to shower.

I'm not entirely sure about a rating yet. I liked it, but didn't love it. Thoughts: I think this would be a great read for younger readers or those who are not huge fantasy readers. The world building is simple and enough to give the reader a feel for the fantasy world without confusion. However, I couldn't help but crave more from it. I'm not sure if this was the book or if it's just the fact that I read it while I've been listening to the Outlander series, where Diana is famous for taking 300 pages to describe a blade of grass. Hard to say. I'll come back to this review later.

Final books are hard. Readers dive in with so many expectations, hopes and fears, and let's not forget the ships. I suspect it must be at least a little daunting for an author to want to give their readers everything and stay true to their story. Friends, for me, Marie Rutkoski has done just that. This story has taken me on a remarkable journey, capturing my heart and and melting my emotions in one fell swoop. The Winner's Kiss is a perfect conclusion to an expertly crafted series. And as always there are many familiar reasons to love the final installment as much as its predecessors while containing quite a few twists that kept me anticipating the turn of each page. Our protagonists, Kestrel and Arin, experience a lot of growth as previous choices finally reach shocking, climatic consequences, many of which I was unsure how they'd move past. I definitely didn't expect the changes Kestrel underwent; she is both the same and vastly different, exploring physical and mental strength of female characters. You don't need to be gifted with a blade. You are your own best weapon. The unpredictability of this novel is its greatest weapon as Rutkoski clearly shows she's not afraid to make you beg for your favorites' survival. She's heartlessly brilliant like that. What I didn't expect was how much I enjoyed Roshar's character. I give his sarcastic, witty remarks an A++ and loved how he reminded me of a rougher version of Sturmhond from The Grisha series. It was smart for him to have as much page time as he did since The Winner's Kiss contains romantic tension to the max with a few scenes causing me utter desperation--moments where I was throwing buckets of water out of my ship, lest it sink, screaming "Noooooooooo!" fiercely at my ceiling. I still admire the writing and how it manages to convey so much more than is actually written. It's made me re-think my stance on 3rd person narration, usually my least favorite. But the fact that I, too, now feel as though I can translate Kestrel and Arin's Epic Starring Contests, Roshar and Arin's Bromatic Body Language among a host of other tells, just goes to show you the quality of writing. No words are wasted, and always feel so carefully deliberate while still maintaining its raw honesty. Perhaps what The Winner's Kiss succeeds at the most is its ability to straddle that fine line between a character driven and plot driven novel. Neither side took over the other, out-shining or lacking in development. The relationships were given the proper amount of time and dignity. Not only is there a focus on Kestrel and Arin's, but also of another that's made very clear it's just as important, and maybe even more so. And, yes, in case you were wondering, this book does indeed pass the Bechdel test, something which I'm always pleased to see in a YA novel. The plot was excellent. Surprisingly detailed battle scenes, strategies and political maneuvers are at the front without making my eyes glaze over with confusion. And I loved that Arin's cultural religious beliefs along side Kestrel's disbelief was handled with a great amount of respect and love. It really highlighted an ongoing theme of tolerance and respect of others' differences, and that is so incredibly relevant. And, of course, I really enjoyed how the novel began and ended with A Winner's Curse, bringing the entire series full circle. Nice touch. I am fiercely in love with all things Kestrel and Arin. Their relationship struggle in the novel was so real. Finally a YA book where it's not the fantasy world keeping them apart, but actual real relationship bumps that plagues us all: break down of communication, acknowledgements of individual changes and growth, trust issues, accepting faults along with strengths, understanding personal struggles, guilt of hurting the one you love the most, forgiveness, and above all, mutual respect. Favorite quote: "He changed us both." She seemed to struggle for words. "I think of you, all that you lost, who you were, what you were forced to be, and might have been, and I--I have become this, this person, unable to--" She shut her mouth. "Kestrel," he said softly, "I love this person." It's sad for me to come to the conclusion of a favorite series, one that I never expected to adore so much. But I loved every minute of this ride and can't wait to revisit. Highly recommending. Excellent series is excellent. An ARC was provided by the publisher. No monies or favors were exchanged. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I'm not sure how anyone could given the subject matter, but it's probably one of my favorites of the year. Little Peach is raw and unflinching story of how one girl finds herself knee deep in the world of child prostitution. The subject matter is a heavy one, and Kern does not hold back the reality of Michelle's, AKA "Little Peach," world. Little Peach is a 200 page powerful story that with knee your feels right where it counts, make you curl into a ball and cry. Michelle grows up in a troubled home with her grandfather, her primary caregiver and protector. However, when he passes away, she loses all of that and is forced to find her own way. So she decides to go to New York in the hopes that she'll be able to stay with a friend. When she arrives, her plan falls through and she realizes just how dire her situation is, and is picked up by a seemingly charming and helpful boy named Devon. Desperate, vulnerable with nowhere else to turn, Michelle accepts his help and is swept into a world of drug addiction and prostitution. Devon, her "daddy," establishes himself as a new provider and protector of Michelle and the other two girls who reside with him: Baby and Kat. With promises of love and a new family, Michelle accepts her lot in life and becomes "Little Peach," believing this is the best that's out there for her. When your mother is a drug addict who chooses her slimy boyfriend over you, there aren't many options. Still, there are times when she regrets her new life, especially when she sees the mistreatment of the other girls and the horrors of her "family." Then there are times when she fleetingly finds peace and happiness: When she, Baby and Kat are "off duty" and enjoying a fun day. You can tell she longs for a normal life, one any girl should have, but the realities of her life continue to creep back night after night in the form of getting high and hotel rooms. It's a sharp contrast as she battles to hold onto her childhood during the day, while slipping on her adult personality every night along with the dresses Devon makes her wear. Michelle's voice is strong, broken and raw all at once as her narration flips between the story of how she became Devon's Little Peach and chapters told from a hospital bed, wanting to reach out to the social worker assigned to her case. The former displays a voice of innocence lost as Michelle tells of her time not only with Devon, but also with her grandfather. While the latter feels sharper and harder, more distant and tougher thanks to many of the horrible things she's encountered. It made me want to hug her and take all her pain away. Kern captures all of Michelle's longing, desperation, hopelessness and sadness perfectly. She creates a voice that can't be ignored or forgotten, one that begs us to for help and demands our attention, leaving the reader horrified, fascinated and disgusted all at once. The worst part of Little Peach is that everything thing in the book is real. There are no happy endings, no easy answers or closures. This is real life. And that's a hard pill to swallow to think that this is happening right now, even as you read this review. This book left me an angry, weeping mess and I know it won't ever leave me. Recommended for fans of Ellen Hopkins and Christa Desir's Fault Line and Bleed Like Me . **If you are interested in learning more about human trafficking and what you can do, National Human Trafficking Resource Center is a great place to start. Interested in more about Little Peach? Check out my Q&A with Peggy Kern to learn how she did research for her novel and enter to win a finished copy! More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

... Love isn't a choice. You fall for the person, not their chromosomes. I love walking away from a book learning so much more about people and the world around me. It allows me to peep into the others' lives and backgrounds, understand their struggles and fears. I'm very appreciative of authors who set out to bring awareness to topics such as this one: intersex. I've learned a great deal from Kristen's story and I'm left encouraged by the strength she showed. The biggest con for me was the writing style. At times it just felt too simple for my tastes, but that's my quirk, not None of the Above's. I'd recommend picking this one up, if for nothing other than broadening your understanding of intersex persons and challenging/exploring any pre-existing thoughts of what it truly means to be a woman. More thoughts to come soon. ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

I loved this one. An unreliable main character that is both firece and strong in every way. Definitely make sure this one is on your list! Review to come!

Red Rising for teens? Hmm... Red Rising could technically be cross-over, so I'm wondering if this would be aimed mostly towards younger teens in particular. Either way, I'm interested! :D

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Love, love, loved it! My heart aches for book three. Review to come closer to release date.

I really wonder if I would have liked this book more if I had read it with the rest of the world years ago. I can't help but compare it to dystopian novels that are out now, which isn't very fair because those authors have had many, many examples to get theirs right. So it's really hard for me to review this without completely ripping the book's throat out for its lack of world building and terrible pacing. On the surface, it's a great story, but I didn't feel any of the strong emotional connections others mention when they talk fondly of this classic. Also, the ending was ridiculous. There is no way a young boy and a baby would have survived in the wild alone. I do not buy that.

Three of my favorite authors writing a book together? WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT? JUST TAKE MY MONEY.

Come to me....

WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN CARE I KNOW IT SHALL BE MINE

YAAAAAASSSS VICTORIA YAAAAAASSSSSS. It's like an X-Men dystopia stuck in a high fantasy world on crack. Look, guys, don't worry about the love triangle. Actually, calling it a love triangle is very spoilerish and I wish I could further calm your feels, but alas, you must read it for yourself. Immensely loved this with very minor reservations and I can't wait for book 2! Full review to come!

I came really close to DNFing this book at 96% on principle alone because I was fed one thing in the beginning of the novel, only to be force fed something entirely different by the end. My Heart and Other Black Holes had so much potential--a lot of novel accurately described what it feels like to be depressed. So I was expecting a novel about discovering yourself, overcoming depression and finding something to live for. I was excited for it because it's a topic that needs more awareness and understanding. And for about 60% of the book, I got just that, but somewhere along the way, My Heart and Other Black Holes got ridiculously lost and confused. What happened? Be warned: Unhidden spoilers and very personal feelings ahead. Aysel is battling depression in the aftermath of a public tragedy that befell her family. Her father murdered their small town's star athlete, and as a result Aysel carries a burden of guilt of the incident. There's also a part of her that wonders if she, too, will end up like her father. She suffers in silence, never allowing anyone in, even former friends that stood by her after the tragedy, convincing herself that it's for their benefit to not be associated with her. In fact, she's convinced her own mother and siblings would be better off without her, too, going as far to remind her younger sister that they are half-siblings whenever she can. Her pain is real, and as someone who has suffered from depression and social isolation for the past 7 years and anxiety issues for longer than I can remember, I could relate to the "black slug" that she continues to reference throughout the novel. Depression is a hard thing to describe to someone who has never experienced it, and until I personally dealt with it, I can honestly say that I had no idea. Even to this day, I find it difficult to fully explain it to my husband who, bless his little heart, tries his very best to be as understanding as humanly possible. Fully understanding would involve him feeling this heavy thing and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, let alone him. But it's great that he listens and it's even better that he's there and has that want to understand. So as I was reading, I found little quotes that perfectly described feelings that I've felt and I read them out loud to him. Depression is like a heaviness that you can't ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a part of you; it's in your bones and your blood. If I know anything about it, this is what I know: It's impossible to escape. Aysel's voice felt very true to her situation and worked well with a topic as heavy as this. It never felt like it needed more or less of that something for me to connect with what Aysel was saying because I completely understood where she was coming from. I've been there; I'm still there. What people never understand is that depression isn't about the outside; it's about the inside. Something inside me is wrong. Sure, there are things in my life that make me feel alone, but nothing makes me feel more isolated and terrified than my own voice in my head. I also loved how Roman described how he felt about missing his little sister because it reminds me of how I feel when I think of my little brother. The hardest moments are when I miss her in the future. After my brother passed away, for a long time, I had moments where it was like a part of my mind was still in denial. I'd see a commercial and absentmindedly think, "Oh man, wait till I tell Steve about this" and then remember that I couldn't do that and have a long cry. Sometimes I still do that and it hurts so much because life has gone on without him, I've gone on without him, and that feels wrong and unfair. So I completely related to Roman's grief of losing a sibling. And strangely, even though, this book made me remember certain feelings, it never depressed me. It was more like a bunch of "I know that feel, bro" moments while reading. This is where Warga excels in My Heart and Other Black Holes and why the first 50% is so dead on. It's also why I said I was loving it around that marker. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. Sometimes I just want to have a heart to heart with the book I'm reading. I want to invite it to tea and a spot on my comfy couch and tell them one thing: Look, I know you're a YA novel, but you don't always have to have a romance. With the introduction to Roman, a boy who Aysel finds on a Suicide Partners forum, we get romance. Now, this is partly my fault, because if I actually read blurbs like a normal person before starting a book, I would have seen this part and ran the other way: Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each others' broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. This is problematic for me on so many levels. 1. Romanticization I want to make this clear: I am not saying any of this is authorial intent. As soon as you introduce teenage romance to a a topic as heavy as this, you run this risk of it being romanticized. I saw moments of this when Roman started saying things like: "You're you. You get it. you get all of it. And you're sad like me, and screwed up as that is, it's pretty beautiful." He reaches over and brushes his hand across my face, touching my hair. "You're like a gray sky. You're beautiful, even though you don't want to be." This gave me pause because one of the reasons why Roman liked Aysel was because she was depressed and wanted to kill herself. But I was willing to let this go because at this point it seemed like only Roman had these twisted feelings while Aysel was bothered by it. But he was wrong. It's not that I don't want to be. But I never wanted to be beautiful because I was sad. FrozenRobot of all people should know that there is nothing beautiful or endearing or glamorous about sadness. Sadness is only ugly, and anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't get it. I was further bothered when other characters started pairing the couple off, telling them they looked cute together. But I still had hope because Aysel hadn't completely lost her grip on reality... yet. If I have a boyfriend, his name is Death. And I'm pretty sure Roman is in love with him, too. It's like a love triangle gone wrong. Or maybe it's a love triangle gone right: we both get the guy on April 7. I would have much preferred if the romance was left completely out. What Aysel needed was understanding and a person she could talk to. If there's one thing I've learned about depression, it's that it can't be conquered alone. Having someone who can relate to your own situation, who knows exactly how you're feeling, without having to spell it out to them, is invaluable. I have a person like that in my life and she is amazing and thoughtful and strong and she's probably reading this review right now, wondering if I'm talking about her. (Yes, it's you, Kat.) I literally don't know what I'd do if I had never met her. She is my person. So I get the need for her to connect to someone. It does help, but this needed to be accomplished without romanticizing the situation and it wasn't. It's basically the same way I felt about The Fault in Our Stars : great idea, but the romance distracted from the central conflict and somehow made it all about their love. (Which is why I've been saying that Me, Earl and the Dying Girl is a much better alternative to The Fault in Our Stars.) Introducing this romance cheapened the story and the connection I thought I had to the characters. All of a sudden Roman is kissing Aysel, telling her how he wishes things could be different for them in another universe, but that she better not flake out on him come April 7th, that it changes nothing. It went from Aysel overcoming her demons and finding a reason to live to I'm in love with Roman, but he still wants to kill himself, let me save him with the new found love in my heart. And just no. 2. Love is the Cure-All There comes a point in My Heart and Other Black Holes where Aysel has this AH-HA moment (ironically, sometime after kissing Roman--gag me) and decides she really doesn't want to die after all. Apparently, all it took was someone telling her it wasn't her fault for what her father did and she magically gets over her depression. Why? Because someone she has grown to care about accepted her and changed her in less than a month. There was way too much change in her attitude and outlook on life and not enough catalyst to justify it. That deeply bothered me. I understand that she made a commitment to be stronger than her sadness, it was a great start. But depression is more than just sadness and is not something you can just decide to "get over" one day, especially if you've been suffering for years and are at the point where you are contemplating suicide. If the word "sad" were a bucket, depression would overflow it ten times over. Being depressed isn't a choice, it's a disease, a war within yourself. One where everyday is its own battle. It's not something that can be overcome by love alone. As awesome as that sounds, it's unrealistic. 3. Loose Ends Aysel did have people in her life who was trying to reach out to her before Roman entered into the picture. Instead of the reader seeing Aysel get the closure she's been desperately craving, we get Aysel worried over Roman and his suicide attempt. Of course, this is why the romance felt so out of place and inappropriate to me: it monopolized the central conflict--Aysel's battle--and morphed into it being about Aysel saving Roman with love. What I wanted was more closure with Aysel and her family. I was hoping we'd get to see them visiting her dad, finally letting her sister Georgia into her life, reconnecting with her mother, seeing a doctor for her problems. Asyel's broken family life was one of the biggest things that led to her depression and I was very disappointed to see this not addressed in the end. (Side note: I am scratching my head at Aysel's mother's decision making. She willingly left her daughter with her father knowing that he had violent tendencies? Never reached out to her further when she got remarried and had more kids? And then she was shocked to learn about her depression? Shocked that Aysel didn't come to her? HUH?) By that time I was at 96% of the novel, I wanted to rage quit because I knew the book couldn't pull off what I needed it to. I was right because the final scene is full of Roman in the hospital after his failed suicide attempt and Aysel there confessing her love. "Because loving you saved me. It's made me see myself differently, see the world differently. I owe you everything for that." So much no. My Heart and Other Black Holes could have been amazing. It could have been the book I'd recommend to really help people understand what it feels like to be depressed. The descriptions of grief were spot on and genuine. But the glamorized-suicidal-romantic-teen-love-fest killed any hope of redemption. I love a hope-filled story as much as the next person, and oh how I wish depression could just be cured with a little bit of love. I wish loving my husband and kids and them loving me in return could fix me. Love is a lot of things, but it is not a magic pill. This is real life, and real life is a lot more complicated and messy than that. What My Heart and Other Black Holes does do is give off a false hope with the road it took to achieving it almost impossible to attain. And that, frankly, depresses the hell out of me. ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

Life is full of sadness. It's part of being a woman. Our lives are lived for the sake of others. Our happiness is never factored in. I'm not sure what I expected from Written in the Stars, but it definitely wasn't what I received. Naila's story of a forced, arranged marriage both shocked and horrified me to the point where I had to put the book down several times. It reminds me of how I felt while reading Little Peach, except I knew going into that one was going to be hard. I didn't expect the same level of anger and heartbreak as Naila's situation went from not-so-great to down right horrifying. Naila is hiding a secret from her parents: She's in love with a boy named Saif and if her parents were to find out, they'd be furious. The choosing of her husband is left to up to them, with no input from her. As a result, This may see like too much involvement for some, but for Naila culture, it's a deep level of trust and love for her parents that motivates her to accept this... kinda. The problem is that since she has found someone who she's fallen in love with, she no longer wants that for herself. But the worst does happen, and Naila suddenly finds herself whisked off to Pakistan, far away from the boy she loves and a life she wants. Written in the Stars really opened my eyes to the issue of forced marriages and arranged marriages. Before reading this novel, I personally couldn't understand why someone would be okay with any form of an arranged marriage, but Naila's story has really shown me that a forced marriage is NOT the same thing as an arranged marriage. I really loved Saeed's guest post at YA Highway, where she goes into detail about the different forms of arranged marriages and I encourage you to check it out and learn new things! Naila is coerced, drugged and imprisoned during her "courting process." She doesn't want the life that her parents are choosing for her and tries desperately to escape. This, obviously, is completely wrong and a form of abuse. There was a part of me that understood her parents' concern for Naila. I too grew up in a very religious household where I wasn't allowed to go to school events and parties or out with friends. Thankfully, I was given a lot more freedom and my parents became more understanding while I was in high school. So I understood why her parents were strict: they viewed it as a way of protection for their daughter. Unfortunately, they completely crossed the line and abused the trust Naila had in them by forcing her into a marriage she didn't want. They are a perfect example of having honorable intentions, but horrible, horrible actions through unreasonable justification. They fully believed that what they were doing was for the good of Naila and they viewed her relationship with Saif as a threat to her future. It also seemed like they were angry that Naila took away their "right" to choose her mate. There were just so many complex parts to their relationship. What I really enjoyed was the writing style. It's very simple in nature, which originally concerned me. But I grew to appreciate it more as the story went along because it allowed for Naila's vulnerability to truly shine through. There weren't any fancy prose or deeply metaphorical phrases to distract the reader from what was actually happening. Naila's circumstance was enough to completely captivate me from beginning to end. I also appreciated Saeed's Author's Note at the end that mentions forced marriages can happen in any culture, country or religion and is condemned by all. This was such an important distinction because there are some cultures and religions that get a lot of flack about arranged marriages in general. I love how she makes the reader aware that an arranged marriage is a loving arrangement between all parties and that no one should be forced to do anything they don't want. This is also why I think it was smart that Saeed left out mentions of any of the characters' religious beliefs. I know this may be a fear of some readers, but it was very tastefully done and Naila's religion is not blamed for what happened to her. The only blame placed is on the people that did this to her. To conclude, I'm so happy I read Written in the Stars because it's helped me understand so much more about arranged marriages and forced marriages. It's books like this that make me incredibly grateful for the We Need Diverse Books campaign to help put more books like this on the market. I'm really excited for what Saeed writes about next. ARC was provided from publisher for an honest review. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars Like most people, I have a strange and unexplainable fascination with all things Tudor, especially Anne Boleyn. Frankly, she was a badass in her own right and impacted English history so much even though this wasn't fully appreciated until many years after her unjust sentencing and beheading. Plus, I happen to love the Showtime TV series The Tudors for three very delicious reasons: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Henry Cavil and Natalie Dormer. Meyers in particular was a spectacular Henry and it made my heart so happy. (Then I saw him in City of Bones earlier this year and had a sad.) So when I happened to see this modern day, teenage retelling of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, I was all over that thing like white on rice. I had some questions and reservations as a lot of peeps did, I'm sure, but I held out hope for something awesome. I shouldn't have. Mild spoilers ahead. This is going to sound really harsh, but I'm not sure how else to put it: Anne & Henry is a cheap, watered-down, trivialized, cliche-filled re-imagining of one of the most epic tragedies in English history and I wipe my hands of it. The really sad part? Anne & Henry started off great for me. I really felt like Anne's character captured Anne Boleyn's cunning and confidence perfectly. She was bold, in your face, unapologetic and had sass for days. I loved her character, even until the end. Her slow decent into despair over losing Henry's favor was the strongest point of this novel and the only saving grace, to be frank. Everything else kinda pissed me off like noting else. The biggest issue I had was that Anne & Henry's story just doesn't seem to translate well into a modern day, teenage-angst-filled contemporary. Let me set the scene for you: Henry is the president of his school's student council, an aspiring politician and belongs to one of the most influential families in that community. Anne, on the other hand, is from poorer beginnings, her mother marries into wealth and moves to Henry's community before the start of the novel. No one accepts Anne and her mother, naturally, but of course, Henry notices Anne immediately and can't seem to shake her from his head because she's not like the girls he's used to. >insert dramatic side-eye here< Oh wait... Meyers has a gif for that. If you're familiar with what happened to the real Anne Boleyn, then you already know the bare bones of the plot. Henry's closest friends and confidants don't care for Anne and feel she poses a threat to him. So they conspire to set her up. This part of the book is true to history. But, as I said before, this is much smaller scale. In real life, many people disliked Anne because of her Protestant beliefs and because her relationship with Henry led to him annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his excommunication from Catholic Church and, eventually, the English Reformation. So how do you do this on a high school scale? Simple answer: you don't because you can't. In Anne & Henry, people dislike Anne because she simply "doesn't fit in" and isn't "the right girl" for Henry. She also is painted as a bad influence (she rides a motorcycle, drinks, is comfortable in her body [read: slut] and distracts Henry from his future goals of eventually becoming president) and gold digger. Anne doesn't dramatically change Henry's views or the school or the community. She registers as nothing more than a blip on a radar. There's no evidence to suggest ANYONE thought of her after the events in the book. (The only real similarity I could pick out is that favor of the people remained with Catherine throughout the book.) So it's in this way that I wonder what the point was of writing a re-telling? Take out all the historical names and I probably would have pegged this as a random YA contemporary with casual slut-shaming. In many ways, the novel trivialized the real Anne's story because she had bigger problems other than just losing her teenaged boyfriend. I'm not usually a fan of YA novels that rely on the whole "even though I'm 16 years old, I plan to be with this teen boy forever and ever because I'm in love" trope. I get that those feelings exist, I do. But those stories fail more often than they succeed for me because I don't connect well with those relationships. And that's pretty much exactly what happens in Anne & Henry. The passion is fast and strong, which, unfortunately, didn't work well with the pacing and made it bodyrock onto the insta-love dance floor. And at one point, I was starting to get frustrated by the lack of sexy times because of all the sexual tension I was getting pounded with (hahah, puns). Thankfully, there is exactly ONE and it's your standard issued fade-to-black scene, and thusly, very anticlimactic. Actually everything about this novel was pretty anticlimactic and after the 50% mark and I struggled to stay interested. Even after the motorcycle accident, which was supposed to be the climax, zero fucks could be conjured. Meyers and I were extremely disappointed. Then the last 75% descended into ultimate frustration because of Henry. Anne & Henry is told in duel point-of-view and we have the unfortunate calamity to be in Henry's head when he's at his worst and being a colossal dick. He blames Anne for their drunken motorcycle accident (because it made him look bad, not because he could have gotten hurt!); blames Anne when his best friend, who he knows she hates, is found in a picture kissing her; blames Anne for the entire Party from Hell even though he knows his friends purposefully got her drunk, set her up and took advantage of her. Then he held a mock trial to expel her from school, her charges ranging from cursing on school grounds to accidentally damaging school property. Such a catch, this one. I know the biggest question here is this: Does Anne lose her head? And to that I answer: yes and no. It's metaphoric and I think the only persons to really grasp the metaphor is Anne and the reader. So by the end, I was angry for Anne's sake because like history, Anne's trial was unjust and a heaping pile of dog shit, but as a modern day retelling, it doesn't conjure up the same amount feelings. Historians can look back at the real Anne's trial and see the holes, but I'd like to think with advancements in science, thinking and hindsight, that helped contribute to the finding of those holes. But Anne & Henry has the benefit of modern technology and hard evidence, most of which Henry had available to him and chose not to use just because and it completely conflicted with the kind of person Ius developed from the beginning. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that I was secretly hoping that Ius would break the mold and give Anne some sort of justice. But maybe the peace of mind comes from the fact that she did not, in fact, literally die in this retelling. Still, it would have been nice to see heads roll... Should you read Anne & Henry? I don't know. It's not a book I can put my seal of approval on, but I won't smack your hand if you were picking it up in a bookstore. I'd definitely say this is one feels like a library rental more than anything else due to the reduction of history's most iconic figures to high school stereotypes. But on the plus side, it's a fairly short read, so there's that. As for me, I'm going to do the same thing I did when I saw Jonathan Rhys Meyer's performance in City of Bones... ...and pretend it never happened. ARC was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

3.5 stars. Writing reviews for contemporaries are the hardest for me, especially the ones that involve Important Topics About Life. Mosquitoland is such a novel, so if this review seems lacking, it's because of my inability to properly convey thoughts. But I'll humor you. The running motto of Mosquitoland is "Mim is not okay," and she really isn't. She's a hot mess, if I'm being perfectly honest. The girl has had a rough life, one that many teens her age have to deal with: she's watched her family crumble and it, ultimately, led to her parents divorcing, her dad remarrying a month later and moving from Ohio to Mississippi. So when Mim learns her mom is sick, she steals her stepmom's tin can filled with $800 and purchases a Greyhound ticket. Along the way, she runs into an interesting and strange cast of characters that leave significant impressions on Mim. The strongest part of Mosquitoland, and the part that immediately impressed me, was the writing style and Mim's voice. The novel is narrated two ways: What's actually happening to Mim on her trip and diary entries that form a letter to a character named Iz. The latter tells of her life prior to the move and allows the reader to see what happened to her family. This coupled with a few flashbacks from Mim from time to time, paints a picture of the life she desperately misses with her mom. She also gives a List of Reasons for why she is embarking on the journey in the first place. Many of them range from seemingly pointless (her "war paint"--more on that later) to the obvious (her mom may be dying). The two narrations never felt jarring and worked well to compliment each other. Together they pieced together Mim's life without resorting to the dreaded info-dumping that commonly plagues many YA novels. Mim is also very pretentious, in my opinion, but not annoyingly so like a John Green novel. Simply put, she has a very realistic and fresh voice. She's witty, and while she doesn't always make the best decisions--because let's be honest, her entire trip to Ohio was probably a bad idea in hindsight--she learns and grows a lot. But back to the writing because I just realized I completely dropped that teaser and moved on. (See, I told you I'm terrible at this Reviewing Contemporaries thing.) The best thing I could say about Mosquitoland in this regard is that I just wanted to quote the hell out of it. Beautiful, beautiful writing galore. I'll take this time to fill this spot with a few of my favorite quotes. I think about how quickly things have changed for me. But that's the personality of change, isn't it? When it's slow, it's called growth; when it's fast, it's change. And God, how things change: some things, nothings, anythings, everything... all the things change. You spend you life roaming the hillsides, scouring the four corners of the earth, searching desperately for just one persons to fucking get you. And I'm thinking, if you can find that, you've found home. I swear, the older I get, the more I value bad examples over the good ones. It's a good thing, too, because most people are egotistical, neurotic, self-absorbed peons, insistent on wearing near-sighted glasses in a far-sighted world. And it's this exact sort of myopic ignorance that has led to my groundbreaking new theory. I call it Mim's Theorem of Monkey See Monkey Don't, and what it boils down to is this: it is my belief that there are some people whose sole purpose of existence is to show the rest of us how not to act. So those are some things I loved about Mosquitoland and because this is a review, regardless of its Blog Tour Status, I must mention to you some of the negatives and possibly confusing qualities of the novel. There's a little controversy surrounding the trailer. Mim has this thing she does when shit gets really rough: she takes out a tube of lipstick (her "war paint") and paints her face in the tradition of Native Americans, mostly in secret and never in public on purpose. Now, to be fair, Mim is partly Native American. I say "partly" because her mom's mom is part Cherokee. Mim herself acknowledges that this makes her one-sixtieth Cherokee, but it never stops her from continuing to play up the Native American whenever she feels like it. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that Mim was not raised knowing much of anything about her Native American heritage. But even today, there are times--most notably when I wear my war paint--when I really feel that Cherokee blood coursing through my veins, no matter its percentage of purity. So from whatever minutia of my heart that pumps authentic Cherokee blood, I pass this phrase along to you: have a vision, unclouded by fear. So from what I gather, her "war paint" is a way for her to feel strong in situations that are tough. What's even more interesting, for lack of a proper word, is that she does seem to know this is wrong and potentially problematic: I wonder: What would it be like if she walked in the room right now? If she found me painting my face life some politically incorrect Cherokee chieftess? What would I tell her? The truth, I hope. That in my longing for originality and relational honesty and a hundred other I-don't-know-whats, this action, while strange and socially awkward, makes more sense that just about anything else in the world. And even though it's cryptic and more than a little odd, sometimes cryptic and odd are better than lying down for the Man. Maybe I would tell her how the war paint helped get me through a time when I felt like no one else cared about what I wanted, or who I was. Maybe I could muster the courage to speak those words so few people are able to say: I don't know why I do the things I do. It's like that sometimes. This might not be an adequate explanation for some readers, and I don't blame them. It's puzzling and I still don't think I get why she chose to use the lipstick as war paint of all things (and a good deal of me would have preferred that she didn't do that at all). However, it makes me question if that was the point. Did Arnold include this to make us question Mim and her actions? I will now take you back to more good from Mosquitoland: We also have a fascinating cast of characters, none of which are completely good or evil: Walt, a teen boy with Down Syndrome; Beck, and older college boy who Mim crushes on; Kathy, Mim's stepmother who Mim chooses to label as The Bad Guy; and Mim's Dad who believes she is mentally ill. They all serve purposes that are woven into Mim's journey to Ohio, allowing Arnold to touch on a variety of topics such as mental illness, personal accountability and even rape. There's a lot of that goes on in Mosquitoland and it's pretty much impossible for me to go into it all without writing my own book, and I've already written so much more about it than I thought I had in me, so I'll just leave you with this: Read it for yourself. It's certainly readable, enjoyable and will definitely make you question a multitude of things. It's deep and layered, one of those books that might make you consider reading it a second time to pick up on the things you missed the first time around. But there's one thing I do know: I'll be watching David Arnold for future books (in a totally non-stalkerish way, I assure you) and you should, too. Win a copy here. Finish copy was provided by the publisher for review. No monies or favors were exchanged for a positive review. More reviews and other fantastical stuff at Cuddlebuggery.

I randomly thought about this book today, as I usually do every once in a while. My mom, awesome lady that she is, fueled my passion for books at a young age and this was one of the many books she purchased for me. Out of all of the books I owned as a kid, this is the one that I remember the best and read the most. It's been YEARS, maybe over 15, since I've read it and I still have vivid memories of reading this and crying. In fact, I think this was the first book EVER that gave me all the feels. I still remember the signature line from the book: "Love you forever. Like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby, you'll be."

Really cute!

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book yet. I'll have to think on it.

DNF'd at 75%. Sadly, this just isn't holding my interest. This had a really cool concept, but the plot does nothing for me.

I think I just felt my heart explode in my chest from all the cute! Review to come, but put this on your list, people.

Actual rating is somewhere around 3.5 stars. The Wrath and the Dawn has all the elements of an amazing story. It has a strong heroine, intriguing plot, moral ambiguity, a complex cast of characters that inspire all sorts of internal emotional turmoil. Basically, set phasers to LET ME LOVE YOU. Even for those like me who haven't read A Thousand and One Nights, can appreciate the rich setting and visually stunning descriptions. And I can't tell you how happy I am to say that I really enjoyed The Wrath and the Dawn and I'm hoping many of my friends will give it a chance. Sharhrzad (Shazi), desperate to avenge her best friend's murder, decides to volunteer as tribute to be the next wife of the Caliph of Khorasan, Khalid. He's known as a ruthless ruler, who kills all his wives at dawn the day after he weds. Why is a mystery to everyone including Shazi, who really doesn't care either way, and I don't blame her. Of course, as the reader can surmise from the synopsis, there's something more going on than meets the eye. As Shazi gets to know Khalid, she learns he's not what she thought he'd be and is conflicted that she finds it increasingly difficult to hate him, and more importantly, to kill him. And while that is all going on, we have Tariq, who, for all intents and purposes, was Shazi's boyfriend/betrothed before she took on the suicidal task of killing the Caliph. He struggles with his own feelings of Shazi's impending death (really, no one expected her to live to see the day after her wedding night) and is determined to rescue her at all costs. Little does he know, Shazi falls in love with Khalid and things get a little... messy. Told in a 3rd person point-of-view, The Wrath and the Dawn seeks to cover a lot of story, which it both succeeds and fails at. I'm not usually a fan of 3rd person because it makes me feel detached from the characters and their feelings, but in this case, it worked out well for me. The reader is able to get a good feel on all the characters' intentions and struggles, and that's a feat consider how many characters are introduced over the course of this novel. The downside to this is that I wasn't able to fully connect with any characters on an emotional level, let alone the romance, because it simply didn't get much page time. For that reason, I would have preferred for this book to have been longer OR less page time for the supporting cast for at least the first half so that I could see Shazi and Khalid's interactions more. I didn't have enough build up to have the emotional response lines like these should have set off: "My soul sees its equal in you." And... "Love is--a shade of what I feel." Believe me when I say these were beautiful scenes, but I didn't swoon, and that makes me rather sad. Currently, the romance is getting huge praise from other reviewers, so your milage may vary, but, I felt it lacked a certain spark. The writing itself is very lovely and flows in a magical fashion befitting the setting of the novel. Ahdieh's set the perfect tone with her descriptions and the dialogue was both thought provoking and witty a good portion of the time. Some of my favorite lines came from Despina, Shazi's handmaiden: "We women are a sad lot, aren't we?" "What do you mean?" "Strong enough to take on the world with our bare hands, yet we permit ridiculous boys to make fools of us." "I am not a fool." "No, you're not. Not yet." This is probably why 3rd person worked so well in The Wrath and the Dawn. The characters and their interactions always felt genuine and personable and not flat like cardboard. They weren't always likable, especially Khalid with his tug-a-war like personality, but he was consistently complex. I would guess that my feelings toward him mirrored Shazi's frustration at his lack of trust. He spends much of his time trying to atone for what he's done, but can't bring himself to fully trust her with his secret and the reason behind the deaths of his previous wives. Yet, while beautiful and lush in its own right, The Wrath and the Dawn is not without its faults. You do have your obligatory mentions of the love interest's eyes and how the female main character seems to be the only one to ever truly bring the love interest out of his broken shell. The former is what bothered me the most throughout the novel simply because I couldn't really see what it was about Shazi that he was drawn to. Was it her snarky bluntness? Her beauty? The fact that he didn't understand why she volunteered to be his wife, knowing what her fate would be? I have no idea. I was also a bit surprised (and disappointed?) that Shazi's only plan to survive the dawn was to tell the Caliph a story and deliberately end it on a cliffhanger as the sun rose to generate anticipation from Khalid. Well, okay. It certainly gives new meaning to stories having power, that's for sure. [Again, I haven't read A Thousand and One Nights] Then there were times when Shazi felt deliberately obtuse when it came to Khalid and his secrets. When there were multiple attempts on her life and Khalid himself jumps to save her and reprimand those who tried to do her bodily harm, she still continues to blame him for the attempts. That seemed odd and out of character for Shazi since she is written as very observant and sharp. To her credit, she does start to question happenings shortly after, but this misstep felt too contrived and forced. The final 30% is where this novel truly shined for me since all chips are laid out on the table and characters' true intentions are revealed. I admit to being pleasantly surprised and saddened by one in particular. The stakes will definitely be higher in the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger and I look forward to seeing things get complicated. Also, I'm really hoping for a magic carpet ride. All in all, The Wrath and the Dawn is a strong start to a promising new series. The pros in the novel far outweigh the small cons, which could admittedly be attributed to my cynical mind and lack of a functioning heart. Don't let that stop you from picking this up. ARC was received from the author in exchange for review. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

This One Summer is worth a read for the breathtaking artwork alone. Check it out: Unfortunately, the story didn't do much for me. I really liked the idea of a summer of firsts and lessons, but when it was all said and done, I don't really think the main character learned anything. There's some slut-shamming done and she never understood why it wasn't okay to say certain things. Though her friend did correct her a few times, she seemed to just write it off. The book also never felt like it actually had a climax at all. It largely felt like a summer of revelations that was witnessed by the main character, but she doesn't seem to have a strong reaction to most things either way. As a result, it was very hard for me to place my feeling about her and I'm left wondering what the whole point was of the book. But again, the art is beautiful.

True facts: I almost DNF'd this book because of the writing style alone. There's just no other way to say this, but it was just so damn purple. Some of it was really nice, like so: "This is what I want: I want to grab my brother's hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders." Other times I felt like I was stuck in paintball war of words: "My heart leaves, hitchhikes right out of my body, heads north, catches a ferry across the Bering Sea and plants itself in Siberia with the polar bears and ibex and long-horned goats until it turns into a teeny-tiny glacier. Because I imagined it." Then some of the time, it made me laugh: "For the record, I'm in the midst of a penis panic attack." Only to feel like I was drowning in a rainbow ocean: "He floated into the air high above the sleeping forest, his green hat spinning a few feet above his head. In his hand was the open suitcase and out of it spilled a whole sky of stars." WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? I think I'm way too much of a cynic to jive with this kind of writing. It was like Shatter Me went on an acid trip and threw up all over my pages. Still, I'm impressed with Jandy because both Noah and Jude's chapters were VERY different from each other, containing two different narration styles. Honestly, she pulled it off well. I never had trouble figuring out whose chapter I was reading: Noah liked to abuse metaphors and Jude talked in fragments to her dead grandmother. How Jandy managed to do this so flawlessly is beyond me, but clearly it's the mark of a very talented writer. Your love for I'll Give You the Sun will depend entirely on how you feel about the writing style. It's can be VERY jarring in the beginning, but the story itself is good. I loved how it wasn't necessarily a love story -- though, there is the cutest romance between Noah and the boy next door that I wanted so much more from -- but a story about second chances and the relationship between siblings. But I really have to talk about the scene between Noah and Brian where they are in Noah's room together... figuring things out... and wow. I did not see it going there and was rather pleased Jandy didn't shy away from such a powerful moment for those boys.

BELLY DANCING. YES. Want to win a signed ARC and a bunch of other signed books? Silly question. OF COURSE YOU DO. Check out the giveaway up on the blog!

Christine Heppermann handles female issues in such a unique and interesting way in Poisoned Apples. Her poetic style is quirky, witty and deeply real, highlighting numerous problems with gender inequality girls face throughout their pubescent stage into adulthood. Keep in mind, however, that she also somehow manages to infuse these with classic fairy tales we grow up on. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and other themes like Prince Charming are merged with issues such as sex, eating disorders, body image, social pressures, sexism, abuse and more. And as an added bonus we're treated to mesmerizing photographs like this: For the most part, I really felt like I could identify with many of the poems in one way or another, especially the ones on body image and the society's outrageous beauty standards for women through use of mainstream media. I love how she questions what beauty is and what it means to be a woman. But I supposed what I liked best was Heppermann's ability to convey these messages in very little words. Take, for example, Photoshopped Poem: Some say the Before poem had character. This poem is much more attractive. With the Healing Brush Tool I took out most of the lines. I left in a few so it wouldn't look unnatural.The way the poems are written are so very clever and smart. Some even made me chuckle a bit with her use of sometimes unusual places, phrases and items. Simon Says, the Abercrombie dressing room and even G.I. Joe's all seem to find themselves in the pages of Poisoned Apples. I've found myself re-reading some of my favorites at random times of the day and I seem to take something different away each time. Also, guys, THAT COVER. Now, I will says that there were some poems that completely went over my head, but that's mostly my fault for being genuinely terrible at poetry. Alas, even Steph Sinclair has her Kryptonite. That doesn't change the fact that this tiny book, only 128 pages, is probably one of the most memorable that I've read this year and I want as many of my friends to pick this novel up. It feels like this one could get easily overlooked at a bookstore and that's a real shame because Heppermann's bold style is bound to leave marks and open dialogue. It's not to be missed. ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review. No monies were exchanged. More reviews and other other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

Saints is the companion novel to Boxers and slightly shorter. It tells the story from a young Chinese girl who converts to Christianity during the Rebellion. It was interesting to see the same events that played out in Boxers seen from the other side, but all in all, I don't think this was as strong as Boxers was. I will say, though, that while you could probably read either first, I'd go with this one last since it does give the final piece to both books' endings.

Well, this was terrible. I hated everything but the cover. I'm proud of myself for finishing this The Queen of the Tearling even though it's turned out to be one of my most disappointing reads this year. HarperCollins was really pushing this title marking-wise, and while it's not considered YA, they did offer it to quite a few YA bloggers for consideration for review. I had to be the special person to request it. I wish I hadn't have done that. The Queen of the Tearling tried to do a lot of things and that's its biggest problem. You can't have a high fantasy, historic society set in the future and NOT do any type of world building. You can't have set rules up in your world only to break it because MAGIC. It's not nice to tease the reader from the very beginning of SECRETS and have you supporting cast dangle it in from of us like a carrot for the entirety of the novel and NEVER TELL US by the end. Because that's exactly what happened. It really made me question what the point of the novel was considering I learned nothing new about the plot or characters by the end. I'm also surprised this was marketed as Adult to YA readers when it really is just a poorly plotted MG fantasy. For all this book had going for it -- and it had a lot, including a movie deal with Emma Watson attached to star! -- I expected so much more. I expected to be blown away, and maybe that was part of the problem, but really the level of SUCK contained in The Queen of the Tearling is baffling. I don't recommend it at all.

I don't know what I was expecting when I first started reading Boxers, but it certainly wasn't a war. That may give you pause, but I went into this one blind. I didn't read the synopsis and had only seen a few of the illustrations at the BEA last year before deciding I wanted to read it. Overall, it was eye-opening and violent. I enjoyed the way Yang told a historical story with fantasy elements and was impressed with the amount of detail. I also liked how religion itself was handled. It plays a huge role in the story and I never felt it got too preachy either way. It's very violent in nature, just as the Boxer Rebellion was, so I'd recommend this one for mature YA readers and up.

My original review for this book consisted of the following statement: Ugh. So boring. And for some reason those three words have kinda pissed peeps off and landed me in some hot water elsewhere. But no matter. I feel like enough time has passed for me to give my true feelings. So here they are: This book is mediocre. There's nothing special about it. Nothing groundbreaking is contained in its pages. In other words, it's average. And that's what a 2 star rating for me is. I'm one of those reviewers who actually goes by the Goodreads ratings. 2 stars means I liked it, but it wasn't awesome. It also means I can see why others liked it. What it doesn't mean is that the book has no redeemable qualities or that your love for it is misplaced. I also want to point out that I really like Sabaa Tahir and have had the wonderful opportunity to meet her in person. She's truly lovely and I'm happy her novel has done so well. So take several seats if you've come here to troll me. Good day, sir. So anyway, now that that's out of the way, back to An Ember in the Ashes. Sometimes the problem with being a book blogger is that I know too much. Publishers love getting bloggers involved in campaigns to help promote their books because it's a fantastic way to generate hype and buzz for a title. Unfortunately for me, this sometimes means books are overhyped BEFORE I even get an ARC, let alone a finished copy. So the expectations I had for An Ember in the Ashes were ridiculously high and probably impossible to meet. I think my primary issue with An Ember in the Ashes is that it bit off more than it could chew and, therefore, only began to scratch the surface. The halfway developed characters made for uninteresting, multi-POV narration. Even though I listened to the audio version, it only mildly helped the situation. And usually when I run into characters who aren't fleshed out completely, there's the plot to compensate, but not even that worked for me because everything moved at a snail's pace with no clear indication which direction the finish line lay. Laia's role as a rebel was probably my least favorite aspect of the novel. Not only was she absolutely dreadful at it, but the rebels seemed shocked to find Laia hurt on a number of occasions. Things like this was worthy of an eyebrow raise because Laia was attempting to spy on the most dangerous person in the story, The Commandant, knowing that their previous spies were tortured and killed. So why are Laia's bruises a surprise? Elias' POV was no better, to be honest. He spent most of his time mulling over his constant mommy issues and romantic feelings for his best friend. So basically, it was a lot of wangst that I could have done without. Also, he pulls a bit of a dick move that momentarily made me saw red. Not to mention Elias' character arc seems to revolve around a Prophecy and I'm just kinda over that in YA right now. Still, since this is a 2-star review, there are some things that I did like. - The commandant was a fantastic character. Deliciously evil and sadistic in all the right ways. She seemed to remain the most consistent and interesting throughout the book and I found myself enjoying scenes that she cameoed in. - Elias' best friend, Helena. Even though I didn't exactly care for the romance, I enjoy the tension it created and that it caused his best friend to have more page time. She was such a badass and I loved her. Also, I started seeing some forms of a love rhombus and oh god please don't. - The battle near the end was a surprise I did not expect. Tahir ended up killing off a few side characters I didn't realize I actually cared about. The audio narration was especially wonderful during that part. All in all, it's not terrible, but also not knock-your-socks-off-amazing either. I don't feel invested enough to read the sequel since I found this one to be such a chore to get through in the first place. However, if I start seeing whispers of a Laia and Helena ship starting to form in book two, I might just need to rethink everything I thought I knew.

The narrator is amazing. She easily is able to flip back and forth from female voices to male. She also has not probably doing the really howt scenes. Also, also, don't listen the real howt scenes while driving. This audiobook should come with a warning. Reasons why I liked it: - Very well researched. The author did a great job bringing the time period to life. - Developed and interesting characters. They feel real and all leave me with conflicted emotions. They're created with such a complexity that at times I either loved them or hated them. - Detailed writing made for a great audiobook. It's possible I could have gotten bored of I had read the print instead. - Excellent plot. I'm eager to find out more about the stones and how the time traveling works. Also, I'm wondering how Claire's involvement will alter history. - Solid romance. Though I had a few reservations about Claire and Jamie's relationship, I quite liked them together in the end. Things I didn't like: - The spanking scene. It's not because it happened, but Jamie's reaction to enjoying it. No matter how much I think of it, it bothers me. However, I'm thinking that may be authorial intent: For us to question societal influences of different time periods and its effect on human behavior. - Too detailed at times, so much so, that it detracted from the scene. - I don't buy Jamie's overnight transformation from Virgin Boy to Super Freak. Bottom line: I really enjoyed it and will be continuing the series. If you are interested in tackling this book, I highly suggest the audio version (the narrator is excellent) as it can drag a bit on the less interesting scenes. Also, HOLY SHIT HAVE YOU SEEN THE SHOW?

Actual rating: Strong 3.5 stars Listen up, Fantasy nerds. I'm going to give you six very good reasons why you should make The Girl at Midnight a priority on your TBR list. 1. Do you like snarky dialogue? Yes or yes? Echo's snark game is on point. I personally love a main character who can pull her own weight and let her snark flag fly free. There were several times where I legit laughed out loud. Considering I am a robot, that was impressive. Well played, Grey. 2. Are you on the market for a new book boyfriend? Yes or yes? Who doesn't enjoy a troubled, brooding, howt dragon-humanoid type guy? Amirite? Even though The Girl at Midnight isn't exactly centered on the love life of Echo, she does have moments where there's noticeable romantic tension with Caius, the Drakharin prince. Honestly, I ship it like Fedex. 3. Do you enjoy vivid descriptions in your novels? Yes or yes? One of the best parts of The Girl at Midnight is the writing. Grey takes her characters to various parts of the real world and the fantasy world, allowing plenty of opportunities for her to show you her way with words. From artifacts, food and architecture, I always felt like I could easily picture the scenes. 4. Do you enjoy stories with great friendships? Yes or yes? I was surprised that The Girl at Midnight took care to include other relationships that were not romantic. In a lot of YA there is special emphasis placed on the love interest, and I'm cool with that. But it's always really great to see the same about of attention applied to friendships, specifically between two female characters. The friendship between Echo and Ivy is prominent from the start and remains a big part of Echo's story until the end. Not only is Echo mostly concerned for her friend instead of a potential love interest, but she and Ivy have conversations that don't always revolve around boys at all. In fact, I would guess that majority of the time they are talking about something entirely different. This was one of my favorite aspects. 5. Are you a fan of Daughter of Smoke and Bone? Yes or yes? The rumors are true. The Girl at Midnight does feel a lot like Daughter of Smoke and Bone, especially in the beginning. They both feature an orphan, human girl, living amongst fantasy creatures. They both struggle to be accepted by the characters in the fantasy world. And they both have a connection to someone on the enemy's side that they don't understand at first. However, somewhere along the way, The Girl at Midnight stood a part from Daughter of Smoke and Bone thanks to the romance not being in the forefront and a well-timed plot twist. I'll admit thinking it would go in the same direction that DoSaB did, but was pleasantly surprised by the end when I was wrong. They didn't personally distract me from the story, but I can see it being an issue for other readers. The good news is, considering the ending, I doubt we'll continue seeing those similarities in book 2 anyway. But if you enjoy stories that keep you guessing, involve traveling to different cultures, ancient wars and the like, you'll probably not mind the similarities. I know this is also compared to The Mortal Instruments, but I honestly do not see the parallels at all. 6. Do you like series that don't end in a cliffhanger for each book? Yes or yes? Thankfully, this book does not end in a cliffhanger! There will be 3 books total, but I feel like I'll be okay waiting for book 2 since things were wrapped up nicely. But I will not turn down an ARC. *ahem* (I am shameless.) More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

WHAT IS THIS I MUST HAVE IT.

This is the book I wish received more attention than The Fault in Our Stars. Unlike the aforementioned novel, it doesn't glamorize a terminal illness and try in any way to make light of the situation. In case that offends anyone, keep in mind that I did enjoy TFIOS, but I just think Me, Earl and the Dying Girl had a more powerful message. This isn't going to be a book for everyone. The protagonist is an anti-hero who will anger the reader and make you wish he were a real person just so you could slap some sense into him. He is flawed in every possible way, but he was so realistic, that I couldn't help but to kinda like him. Maybe. In a strange turn of events, Greg finds himself hanging out with Rachel, a girl in his class that was recently diagnosed with cancer. And he hates it. In the beginning he feels a sense of obligation to spend time with her because she's dying. He gets that she's dying, but he doesn't understand how to handle it, and as a result, says some pretty offensive stuff to her and is just a general jerk. But he keeps trying to do better, visits her in the hospital and tries very hard to make her laugh until her last day. "There was just something about her dying that I had understood but not really understood, if you know what I mean. I mean, you can know someone is dying on an intellectual level, but emotionally it hasn't really hit you, and then when it does, that's when you feel like shit." Greg showed a lot of growth in the end from going from a character who didn't seem like he gave a shit to one who became obsessed with helping a friend, who didn't realize how much her dying was affecting him. "And the point of Rachel the Film should really have been to express how awful and shitty that loss was, that she would have become a person with a long awesome life if she had been allowed to continue living, and that this was just a stupid meaningless loss, a motherfucking loss, a loss loss loss fucking loss, there was no fucking meaning to it, there was nothing that could come out of it..." What I loved the most was how Me, Earl and the Dying Girl showed a teen who didn't know how to deal with losing a friend, something I'm sure many teens don't understand. Death sucks. Seeing it happens just multiplies that times 1,000. There are no heroes in a story like that. I appreciate that Andrews showed that side. Also, bonus points for completely getting Earl's character and family right! POC that actually sound and act like POC!

So... this sound potentially badass, no?

DNF'd at 52% 1. Abusive Love Interest: I really tried to love this, but when it was apparent that it was impossible, I would have settled for "like" instead. Unfortunately, none of the 52% that I read convinced me to stick it out until the end. Instead, I was given Malek, the abusive asshole, who I'm told later, is a part of the love triangle. It's possible that this could be a bit of Stockholm going one, but I couldn't care less at this point because I've lost interest. He throws her against a wall hard enough to cause a knot to form on her head and bruises her arms. Nalia makes excuses for his behavior, Malek feels guilt and I'm sitting here fuming. The way the novel was going, it conveniently had a reasoning for his behavior (he just can't help he's a violent (view spoiler)[half-Ifrit (hide spoiler)]!) and I just could not. 2. Boring: NOTHING happens in the first half. Nalia goes shopping, talks about her past life, goes dancing, talks about her past life, goes to a party, and talks about her past life. There was just way too much set up and not enough action. 3. The World-Building Didn't Feel Organic: The characters would be in the middle of dialogue and all of the sudden we have to have a 3 page flashback or history lesson. It felt out of place and disrupted the scenes. They also felt forced, and for this to feel like it was upper YA, I was constantly underwhelmed. It's like Demetrios spent so much time trying to build an atmosphere, describing so many things at once that they ended up conflicting with the story she was trying to tell. 4. Just... NO From her fingertips to her elbows, the henna-like tattoos of her race crawled over her cinnamon skin I really, really hate when a non-white character's skin is described with food. I was excited that this book featured diverse characters, but disappointed with how they were described. As much as I was looking forward to this book, it's just not be for me.

This is the first review I've ever written where I'm leaving a book unrated. I both loved and hated this book equally. There were parts that really frustrated me, bored me, excited me, and completely hooked me. I'm not even sure what Red Rising is really classified as. One half of the book feels very Dystopian/sci-fi while the other half reads like an entirely different genre, perhaps High Fantasy. If I were to even attempt to describe what this book is I'd say image Gladiator and Lord of the Flies having an illicit love affair on an acid trip. Their baby would be Red Rising. How do I fit a book like that on a 1-5 star rating scale? Darrow is a Helldriver on Mars, drilling in mines with the belief that one day his people will live on the surface once the planet is ready. He and his people live under strict rules. While Darrow is more than happy to keep his head down and do his job, his wife Eo, has a different dream. She considers her people slaves to the Gold, the ruling class, and wants to take action to free them from their chains. Through a course of unfortunate events, Darrow finds himself on the surface disguised as a Gold, and with the help of other rebels, enrolls in the Academy with an ending goal to rise in the ranks of the Gold's society. The only problem is that the school is literally a war among the students. I was initially drawn to this book because of the interesting premise and the glowing early reviews from my friends on Goodreads. I was a little surprised to not have heard of this book, but was eager to find out what the fuss was about. The only thing that worried me was that a few of my more critical friends had either DNF'd or gave it a lower rating. As I started reading I could immediately see why so many gave up. Red Rising's beginning is very slow and often times a little dull. I did struggle through the first 100 pages and almost gave up myself a few times. Darrow isn't the most interesting guy to read about in the beginning and I didn't really connect well with him at first. HOWEVER When Darrow goes through his transformation and enrolls in the school SHIT GOT REAL really fast. I don't know what I was expecting when he got the academy. Desks, chairs, tests, teen drama on a grander scale, probably. What I didn't expect was for Darrow's first test to include killing a boy with his bare hands, placed in a House Mars with other killer teens with the expectation to conquer the other Houses through warfare. I mean, WHAT. That's the part where I had to go back and re-read the blurb, because WHAT WAS I READING? (Let me just say I can see this all playing out marvelously on the big screen. No wonder they optioned it for a movie.) So naturally I abandoned Real Life and become hopelessly addicted to the story. Darrow, a boy filled with rage due to the injustice placed on him as a Red, is placed in House Mars with a bunch of other hotheads and psychopaths. Due to their nature, it's hard for them to agree on anything and the House quickly becomes divided with the stronger tribe being controlled by Titus. The House struggles to find food and water, some resorting to eating animals raw. Tensions continue to rise between the Housemates until it ultimately results in a few brutal deaths. The Houses continue to battle between each other in a battlefield that resembles many High Fantasy stories, complete with castles and Grecian allusions, while their teachers watch on. For Darrow, winning this "game" means more than just getting a better career option in the Gold's society like the other students. It means being in a position of power to help the rebels free the Reds from slavery. Over the course of months, battles are lost/won, enemies are made and alliances formed. Darrow begins to see that it's not just Reds who are trapped within their color. What I loved most about Red Rising was the action and premise. I don't think I've ever read a book that had such a jarring genre mesh up that actually works to the point where it feels like you've read two different books at once. The strategy of the battles and ambushes were well thought out, the characters were well-developed and the world building very rich, reminding me of The Bone Season . There are a lot of slang words that initially turned me off because there's so much and each color (think: caste system) has their own. The terms blooddamn, glorydamn, and goodman were the three that seemed to annoy me the most, but by the end, I felt I really had a good grasp on it all. I also enjoyed Darrow as a character and his development from a person who was willing to stay under the Golds' boot to someone who was willing to poke the lion. I'm not sure at what point I started rooting for this guy, but by the end where Darrow is going HAM on everyone, I was completely entertained and couldn't turn pages fast enough. He reminded me of Huntsalone from The Seven Realms series in that way due to how tactical he had become. I also have to agree with the other reviewers that say Darrow is a Gary Stu, Mary Sue's more perfect and cuter brother. Ha. It's so true. He's one of those The One characters where it can only be him that brings the society to his knees. No other Red has gotten as far as him, who is as smart as him, has been this awesome. He does have his moments where he does fail and almost die, but for the most part he's The One. I personally didn't really care because I was having too much fun by the end, so there's that. If there is one thing that really bothered me it would be the way rape was handled in the story. I understand that in times of war this happens and I wasn't bothered that it was included, but it was the way it was used to develop certain characters that did not sit well with me. This is one of the reasons why I'm just unsure what to rate Red Rising. The rape really bothered me to the point where I saw red, mainly because it was so unnecessary. But, at the same time, I did really enjoy the novel. I'll go into that deeper in my spoiler tag. (view spoiler)[Titus' character was one that I felt lacked. His entire back story involves a tragedy where his wife was raped by Golds. So in an effort to gain revenge, he decides it's only fair to rape Gold women from other Houses who were captured during different battles. This is not a great way to use rape in a story. Titus' character is demonized and therefore viewed as unredeemable by the reader because he's done The Ultimate Bad Thing by raping women. This later justifies his death and makes Darrow look like a savior. Then, while Darrow and a female character are camping out in a cave, boys enter and sexually assault her while Darrow is away. He comes back to see her in her underwear tied up. He punishes these boys by hunting them down and killing them. Again, he is the awesome savior of women. Later, another situation of almost rape comes up when Darrow is in charge and he's left with the responsibility of punishing the criminal. Rape in that situation was used as the catalyst to make Darrow out to be The Ultimate Hero for stopping rape. Why is it that most of the Bad Guys are sexually assaulting women just for Darrow to come swooping in to the rescue? Using rape to condemn certain characters and raise others up is tasteless, in my opinion, and is a complete turn off. The sad thing is that Red Rising didn't need any of it to show the brutality of the Academy's warring Houses. There was enough killing to go around to prove that point. Having your female characters sexually assaulted just because they have vaginas and because rape must be the worst thing to happen to a woman is not the way to go. (hide spoiler)] The ending was nothing short of entertaining. Lots of planning, revenge, battles and death. Just how I like my action. There really isn't a cliffhanger, thank goodness, but I REALLY want to know what happens next. I'm wondering if Golden Son will have as much action given where Darrow is headed next, but Pierce Brown has convinced me that I need to stick around to find out what happens next. I would recommend this to mature YA readers as this is considered Adult with crossover appeal to the YA audience. If it feels like you're stuck on those first 100 pages, take heart, the second half will blow your socks off, sucker punch you in the kidneys and feed your innards to the dogs. But you'll like it. ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review. No monies or gifts were exchanged. More reviews and awesome things at Cuddlebuggery.

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow. My brain can't keep up with my emotions! There are very few times when I actually wish I could give a book more than 5 stars. VERY FEW. And yet, this is one of those times. I am blown away. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. Review to come.

I really don't know how to review this book, guys. It was such a mindfuck that I'm not sure the right words even exist to describe this, but I'll try. It's dark, twisted and strange. On some level, I knew what the twist was -- which is my only criticism -- but the final one at the very, very end? WHOA. What the fuck did I just read? Unfortunately, I can't really talk about any aspects of this novel without completely giving it away, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. If you enjoy psychological thrillers, unreliable narrators, weird characters, this book is for you.

Putting this on hold for now.

Seriously, Kasie. ANYTHING you write, I will read.

"Love makes us such fools." Ava Lavender's family has a history of tragic love stories. Her great-grandmother, Maman; grandmother, Emilienne; and mother, Viviane's stories are all told through this generational saga exploring themes of love and love lost. And then there is Ava, the girl born with wings, where the story truly takes shape. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is magical realism at its best. "Older" Ava, our narrator, opens with a powerful prologue that instantly hooked me and set the perfect tone for the novel. She navigates through her family's history--along with her own--with a lyrical prose that maintains a whimsical and traditional fairy tale feel despite the sorrowful themes. She tells multiple stories of not only her family, but of others who indirectly crossed paths with the women of the Roux/Lavender family, adding to the surreal experience. There are disappearing people, ghosts, birds, and a subtle magical thread weaving it all together that never feels logical nor out of place. There are times where I wasn't sure if what Ava was telling me were true or fabrication, but it held an addictive quality that urged to me continue turning page after page late into the night. The theme of love was an interesting one because while it does include stories of men and women, Walton, focuses primarily on the women of the Roux/Lavender family and the long term effects their failed relationships and mistreatment of men had on them. I'm not entirely sure if this was intentional or not, but my mind couldn't ignore the common situations many women in real life go through depicted in the novel: loveless marriage, single parenting, sexual abuse, etc. For each of the women, naivete is both their charm and curse. It's their hope, willingness to give their hearts freely and complete trust that leads to their heartbreak. Ava is different from the other women since she appears to be more cautious due to her sheltered upbringing, however, even that ultimately leads to her downfall. The villain felt both literal and metaphorical for me as a reader and where I feel the novel shines the brightest. There is a physical antagonist in the form of an evangelical stalker obsessed with Ava and her wings. But on a deeper level the villain also manifests as the women's own sorrows and their inability to heal and move on from the past situations that led to so much pain. It leaves them broken, isolated from the community and guarded even from each other. It isn't until "Younger" Ava's tragedy that we start to really see a change in that aspect. If I have one form of criticism it's that I was hoping to find out more about "Older" Ava. Much of the novel involves relating "Younger" Ava's family history all the way until after the climax, but we never really have a glimpse into what becomes of "Older" Ava. The prologue asks the question of where she came from she is since she's born with wings and I was searching desperately for that answer, but it never came. Or at least in the way that I thought it would. But that's just part of the novel's charm--its answers always slightly out of reach, constantly maintaining the air of mystery. Perhaps there wasn't an answer to actually give or it was just another metaphor for the family's struggles. Or maybe what I really need to do is re-read the book because clearly Walton's novel is not yet done with me. Overall, I'm both impressed and dazzled by Leslye Walton's debut. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is a novel that has so many layers that it demands your attention. Written with the finesse of a seasoned writer, it's stunning, magical, strange and, of course, very beautiful. Highly recommended. === ARC was received from the publisher via YA Books Central. This review first appeared on Tor.com For more reviews and other fantastical things, check out Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

I read Random early because it was right after I'd finished Fault Line and I was hoping for a book to give me similar feels. I was drawn in by the original cover, which featured a cell phone cord in the shape of a noose. Since I've been on this contemporary kick, I thought this would be right up my alley. It wasn't. So much potential wasted! The sad part is that I was hooked right until the final reveal. I'm shocked that the author dropped the ball so late in the book, though, it's only 200 pages, so a relatively quick read. (view spoiler)[WHAT IN THE HELL: The whole point of this book was to show the main character that her actions had led to the suicide of one of her classmates. But the way this was done... ugh. It's the night before her trial and her brother, best friend and the boy friend of the dead teen decide to trick her into staying up all night. How do they do this? By making the boyfriend call her and pretend he's going to jump off a cliff if she doesn't try to help him. HUH? (hide spoiler)] The worst part is that the main character learns nothing by the end and I was left wondering what the point of the book even was.

This is one of the best YA novels I've read in a long time. I read the entire thing in one sitting... which is EXTREMELY rare for me. Thoughts: I loved it overall, but there's something about it that I can't put my finger on that didn't completely wow me. I think it was the final twist and how I expected to be shocked. But I'm thinking that's a fail on my part more than the book because Haas clearly gave me all the clues I needed from the beginning. She simply planted enough doubt to make me question if I was correct all the way till the end. The beauty in the novel lies in the way Haas wrote the flashbacks and how she played with the psychology behind friendship. Very well-written. I remain impressed.

DNF. I thought for sure I would love this since a few of my friends highly recommended it to me, but I hated it. The main characters are terrible and underdeveloped. Let me count the ways: Iolanthe is virtually a Mary Sue and can do no wrong. She is The One with the power to save them because of reasons and has the BEST of luck. *wink, wink* Prince Titus is a spoiled brat that wants everything his way. He even tries to manipulate Iolanthe several times to get her to do things by preying on her feelings. There's also a romance that came out of nowhere, horrible world building (GAH, this is a fantasy novel, FFS!) and info-dumping all over the place. Also, I hated the narration. Maybe I should have not gone with the audio, but I tried the print too and it's just a big old NOPE for me.

I am nothing except this: a girl reborn of the deep ocean silence, meant for nothing but vengeance. Oh boy. This book left me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't flip pages fast enough to uncover the truth! Frances was such a fascinating character and I took her in, rage, flaws and all. If this isn't on your TBR list, fix that. I can see fans of Dangerous Girls eating this one up. I know I did. Review to come. -------------- Oh, Carrie, what have we here? Something else to haunt my dreams? You know I can't resist.

Believe me. No one feels more sad about this rating than me. On the Fence was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2014. I love everything about Kasie West. Her books are usually ridiculously cute, have snarky characters and just speak to my soul. But not this one. This one was pretty un-Kasie West. The romance felt very unrealistic in a sense that it took the main character forever to figure out the love interest liked her. There's only so much of that I can tolerate when it's so completely obvious. However, On the Fence's biggest issue was its predictability. I knew how the book would end right from the beginning and had long before figure out the SECRET everyone was keeping from the main character. This novel just fell really flat for me.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars I should start this review with a disclaimer: I am friendly with this author and I have a lot of respect for her as a fellow blogger. However, I hope to review this book with as little bias as possible. Also, this is a review of an early e-ARC and I've been informed that the finished copy may have had a few significant changes. I'll try and indicated that, but I haven't checked the e-ARC against the finished copy, so please keep that in mind while reading this review. Initially I was very excited to start Unbreathable because not only is Sci-Fi one of my favorite genres, but I also love when books take place on different planets or in space. I figured Unbreathable would fit the bill since it's toted at a Sci-Fi adventure. Unfortunately, I didn't end up loving it as much as I thought I would. 1. Pacing About half of Unbreathable's problems could have been solved if the pacing was a little slower. The beginning was entirely too fast and didn't give the reader a chance to get to know the main character, Lissa. Instead, we are dumped into a situation, given a brief background and expected to simply keep up with the events that followed. The problem with that was that Lissa supposedly undergoes quite a bit of character development after she starts combat training. Afterwards, we are told how much of a shy girl she was, how she was now stronger and more confident. But since we didn't get to know Lissa before that event, there was nothing there for me to make that connection or see that growth. Laziaf's writing style also conflicted with the pacing. The use of short sentences and very descriptive passages was lovely by itself, but made the book feel like it should have been moving slower vs. the events happening back to back. 2. Character Development I didn't connect with any of the characters and disliked them for the most part. There's an evil queen, an evil brother, the love interest, the girl with the power to save everyone. It was all very run of the mill and lacked depth. Why was the queen evil? What was her motivation? It felt like she was evil for the sake of being evil. There was also Mia's character that confused me. What was her purpose besides being a filler character? There wasn't anything more to these characters besides what their role involved plot-wise. Why did Lissa seem to forgive everyone, even the bad guys? Oh, you've killed off people forever and even tried to kill Lissa and her family/friends and now you're dying or you're sorry? No problem! Lissa will forgive you! Not every character can be redeemable, but that is exactly what happened in Unbreathable. It didn't make Lissa seem forgiving or mature, but the contrary: naive and lacking self-preservation. 3. The Romance & Plot If you prefer your Sci-Fi with a stronger romantic focus, then there is a chance Unbreathable will be for you. However, if you are like me and prefer the romance to take a backseat to the plot and action, Unbreathable may disappoint you. Even though the events and plot moves fast, the romantic scenes were well-written and were clearly the strongest parts of the novel. In fact, if Laziaf's next novel were a contemporary romance, I'd be all over it. As for Unbreathable's romance, it tried to do entirely too much. There was the main romantic arc between Lissa and Julian that could have been sweet had it had proper time to develop. Then, there was the side romance between Lissa and Rowen that was strange, creepy and uncomfortable. At the same time, the main focus of the book is supposed to be the race for earth, but those parts are rushed just to get to the next kissing scene (the best parts of the novel were the kissing scenes). I would have liked if Unbreathable made up its mind on what kind of book it wanted to be. Did it want to be an epic love story with a Sci-Fi backdrop (Space Opera) or did it want to be the action novel that it was marketed as? Trying to accomplish both of these things, left the book wide open to plot holes and, ultimately, feeling incomplete for me. I didn't really buy the love between Julian and Lissa, though, this may be due to the beginning moving too fast. Their feelings did seem to develop very strongly and quickly, allowing Lissa to call Julian "The One" not long into their relationship. This was very unbelievable to me since Lissa had been raised in isolation from everyone besides her father. She had zero experience with boys and love (something she admits to), but somehow ends up falling for one of the first boys she interacts with. Then, enter Rowen, the bad boy. I believe his romance with Lissa was introduced to give Lissa more choices, but he was not redeemable in my eyes and I really don't understand why Lissa liked him, and eventually, confessed to loving him in the span of a few days. (This may be one of the things that is changed in the final copy.) I just couldn't ship these peeps. In conclusion, Unbreathable didn't measure up to my expectations. I needed more plot, more character development and better world building to connect to the story. While the premise promised an exciting adventure, I found it lacked the action and finesse to pull it all together. e-ARC was provided by the author for an honest review. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars What the hell am I? I thought. Too old to be a real teenager, too young to drink. Old enough to die in a war, fuck grown men, and be completely confused about what I was doing with my life. One of the most important points I see argued when it comes to the classification of New Adult novels is, where does it fit? The debate seems to be evenly spit with each side categorizing it as either YA or Adult with a smaller portion claiming it is of its own category. And I get, because it is a hard to place, especially when YA itself frequently blurs the lines. In the case of Unteachable, however, I think the above quote really nails down what some are trying to say. There is a time in our lives when people feel neither teenaged or adult, neither fully grown or child-like. Certain privileges are afforded to you, while others remain outside your grasp. Through it all, you struggle to find a way to fit into this small space that passes by in the blink of an eye. It would be a mistake to call Maise your average teenager, because she's far from that label with her drug dealing mom and broken home. Forced to grow up at an early age and take care of herself, she sees the world entirely differently than her classmates. But she also seeks out older male lovers to fill the void of a male figure in her life. Thanks, Dad, for leaving a huge void in my life that Freud says has to be filled with dick. Maise is blunt, unpredictable, hot-headed, strong-willed, independent, flawed, brave, passionate and insecure all in one. After a night of of passion with a guy she meets at a carnival, she finds out that he is her new film teacher. Instead of breaking things off like she probably should have, they explore the limits of their relationship. Secret meetings away from school and make-out sessions after class make up the most of their relationship. But things get complicated when other classmates start to notice Maise's odd behavior and familiarity with their teacher and the risks the couple start to take. My face lit up with dark glee. "I can be discreet. I can be Harriet the fucking Spy." Unfortunately for Maise, she was no Harriet the Spy. And if anyone remembers what happened to poor Harriet, she got sloppy and found out by the end. The moments when Maise did a few stupid things had me shaking my head. It was fascinating to see their relationship because Maise constantly wondered what it was about Mr. Wilke that attracted her. Was is a legitimate connection between two people? Or was it just the taboo of having private after school sessions her teacher? Is falling in love with someone twice your age gross, weird, amazing, or all of the above? The secrecy insulated me in a vacuum-sealed bubble. I could only ask myself, How does this feel? Is this good? Is this right? And the only answer I ever got was my own echo. I couldn't help but wonder if Maise was even emotionally ready for such a relationship when it seemed to turn into an obsession for her. Suddenly, keeping Mr. Wilke was all she could think about, she second guessed herself more, she got desperate for his attention and jealous. But at the same time Mr. Wilke displays uncertainty of the "rightness" of his actions and struggles with his feelings for Maise. "I can't hold on to you. You're like that shooting star. Just a trail of fire in my hands." I admit to being drawn to this book simply for the taboo factor. As much as I love YA, every once in a while, it's nice to branch out to something completely left field. I mean, realistically, there is only so much pent-up sexual frustration, coupled with teenaged wangst, I can take before my head explodes. So thank goodness that Unteachable was around to give me the sexy times and love in such a poetic, lyrical way. Part of falling in love with someone is actually falling in love with yourself. Realizing that you're gorgeous, you're fearless, and unpredictable, you're a firecracker spitting light, entrancing a hundred faces that stare up at you with starry eyes. What I loved best about Unteachable was Raeder's prose. I love how Maise is a pretentious protagonist without actually seeming unrealistic. *Cough* The Fault in Our Stars *Cough* I love how hard I could relate to her feelings of not truly fitting into her world or society. I love how she could infuriate me on one page, make me laugh on another and root for her fiercely by the last. I love how Raeder's prose wrapped itself around my brain like a blanket and set off fireworks in my mind. "I'm not pulling the age card, I swear. But there's something I believe. You should love something whole you have it, love it fully and without reservations, even if you know you'll lose it someday. We lose everything. If you're trying to avoid loss, there's no point in taking another breath, or letting your heart beat one more time. It all ends." His fingers curled around mine. "That's all life is. Breathing in, breathing out. The space between two breaths." And I love how by the end of this book I cared so deeply for the characters, my feels fell out of my eyeballs. Very rarely do I see myself re-reading a book, but, guys? THIS BOOK. I would re-read the shit out of it. In fact, I would read anything Raeder wrote. Unteachable is a gem that gave me a bazillion happy sighs. It's lyrical, brilliantly addictive and passionate. HIGHLY recommended. *And since Unteachable had so many delicious sexy time moments and it's a Kindle lending title, I'm sending it to Kat for some Cuddlebuggery Reading Time. ;) More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery Book Blog. -------- Oh wow. This book, guys!

Guys, HE MAKES CUPCAKES RAIN FROM THE SKY. I love reading this one to my kids and it never gets old. It's such a charming and cute story about jealousy and envy told in a way that is funny. The illustrations have legit GLITTER on the pages and the cover. This made my daughter eternally happy. (Okay... so me too. :D )

DNF. I think I may have enjoyed this more if I had read it instead of listening to the audiobook. The narrator's voice was so robotic and made me want to slam my head against a wall. I fell asleep a lot and had to keep restarting chapters. I also don't really understand what was happening? The world was ending? Bugs were invading human bodies? Oh, well, not a single fuck was given that day. I was interested in the MC's struggle with his sexual identity, but the cons I mentioned kept me from continuing the story long enough to find out how that's resolved. Whomp, whomp.

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Actual rating 2.5 stars. This might change after I think more on it. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Margot and Lara Jean, the banter between Lara Jean and Peter and the Harry Potter scene with Josh and Lara Jean. The novel had a few high points, but it didn't consistently hook me scene after scene the way I was hoping for. Still, I can completely see why it's a beloved book by many of my friends. Full review to come maybe.

Recently, I've been reading really depressing books that have both horrified and fascinated me. But out of all of them, Charm and Strange and now Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock takes the cake for tackling tough, taboo issues. In this case, suicide. Now, the last suicide book I've read was Thirteen Reasons Why and this book can easily be compared to that. But instead of the story being told from tapes from the deceased and another MC, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is told play-by-play from Leonard himself. His voice is real, broken, hurt, confused and relatable. He wants to be seen, remembered. He wants people to acknowledge his existence. So on his 18th birthday he takes his grandfather's war gun trophy and sets out to kill his former best friend and himself. When we are introduced to Leonard, he immediately fills the reader in on his plans, though the ultimate reason why is revealed along the course of his day as he gives away personal items or gifts to four people he regularly interacts with. While Leonard calls them friends, we find that this doesn't accurately describe those relationships. Two mostly tolerate or accept his presence in their routine, but unlike most of his peers, they communicate with him in some way despite being weirded out by his differences. Leonard is vastly different from his classmates and that is quickly apparent in his reasonings and speech. He sees the world and challenges things normal teenagers wouldn't think about. This doesn't do Leonard any favors regarding his popularity, but he brushes this off as ignorance on their part. The thing about Leonard is that he's such a smart character, but he never comes across as pretentious like some characters from other equally morbid novels. (This is me giving The Fault in Our Stars the stink eye.) It's easy to see why he's misunderstood and underestimated, but such a shame to read about such a lonely kid. His situation depressed me on a serious level and I just wanted to give this guy hug. He doesn't have friends his age or even the support of his family. His mother spends her days in New York, living her dream working as a designer and his father is nowhere to be seen, leaving Leonard to mostly fend for himself. Thankfully, Leonard is not entirely alone and when the climax hits, he does begin to see there are people who care about him. If there is one piece of criticism I do have it was the way the Letters From the Future were introduce. In certain chapters of the book, the narrative and setting switches and their isn't any notice. I'll admit to be completely caught off guard to this and confused as to how it held any relevance to the story until after his teacher mentioned them in class. Leonard also has moments when he references footnotes in his narration, which is generally not a style that I love since it causes me to flip back and forth from the footnotes to the story. Word to the wise, reading this one on your kindle might be a royal pain in the ass. All in all, I'm really glad I decided to check Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock out. It's a very different story, the kind I'm not used to reading. But just like Thirteen Reasons Why and Charm and Strange, it's one I'll probably be thinking about for a while. Highly recommended. ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review. Thank you! More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars One of the biggest reasons for me wanting to read 3:59 was because it took place in a location very familiar to me. Like many other readers, when I hear about a book that's set in my state or near my hometown, I feel this incessant need to read it by any means necessary. Unfortunately, 3:59 proved to be one big fat disappointment. The book follows science wiz Josie Bryne who starts having dreams at 3:59 of a girl who looks just like her. As her own life begins to fall apart around her (she finds her boyfriend and best friend sleeping together, her parents divorce and she loses her job), she desperately wants the life she catches glimpses of when she sleeps. The girl Jo seems to have everything Josie wants: A perfect boyfriend, happily married parents and a perfect life. But when she finally gets the opportunity to cross over to Jo's world, she learns things are far from perfect. This sounded like such an interesting concept with it being pitched as Parent Trap meets Event Horizon. I don't even know what Event Horizon is (Okay, so Kat says it's a really scary horror movie. 3:59 is neither of those things.), but Parent Trap (the one with Lindsay Lohan before her life took a decided turn for the worse) is one of my all-time favorite movies. Throw in some sci-fi alternate universe action and I'm totally there. Sadly, 3:59 bares no resemblance to Parent Trap at all and I really need for Harper to stop this whole "Awesome movie/book/concept" meets "Even more Awesome movie/book/concept" thing that they do. Frankly, they are usually so far off and misleading. It's like they're overcompensating for their novels. And let me tell you, there was some serious overcompensating going on for 3:59. The Writing Style: So I took 3:59 with me one afternoon while I journeyed on the metro to my favorite children's book store. I read exactly 5 pages and had a sinking suspicion that this book was not going to be my thang. The writing style immediately had a very choppy weird feeling that never felt natural or smooth even as the novel progressed. There were inner monologues from the narrator found in between each section of dialogue, making the exchange seem very long. Someone would say something to Josie and then there'd be a paragraph monologue about what she was thinking or a bit of info-dumping. I couldn't help but to wonder what Josie would be doing in these time spans instead of answering the character's question. Was she staring at them while her brain worked to keep up with her mouth? Perhaps. Flat Characters: I don't think there is a single character in this book that I liked or saw growth from. Everyone remained exactly the same from beginning to end. The narrator tells us that Josie had changed, that she was smarter and stronger, but I never got a sense of any of that. Each character had one trait that they encompassed and that's basically what they were for the entire novel. The Plot: 3:59 relies heavily on science to explain why things are the way they are. It's supposed to be clearly logical. Josie and her friend, Penelope, are supposed to appear smart. And I do appreciate McNeil having intelligent female protagonists solving the mystery. My problem was that since the science behind the book was so very complex, I had an extremely hard time seeing a high school student (or several of them!) knowing that much at such a young age. Is everyone a physics prodigy and able to keep up with all those formulas? Josie just happens to know more physics than her teachers? But, okay. Maybe I could get behind this idea if all the science jargon didn't create so many opportunities to info dump. Let's be honest, hardly any readers will know what Josie knows. So whenever Josie and Penelope went off of their science talk, there was conveniently another character in the room asking for the For Dummies version. Look, I am not the kind of reader who is easily impressed with an author's ability to recite Big Science Words. So I need to be able to see some type of explanation, and I never really got that. Instead, I got more questions: Where did the mirror in Jo's room come from despite Josie never having one in her room until she moved it there? Why did Josie only start having the dreams recently even though the connection to both worlds had been open for 6 months? Then we move on to the actual logical fails 3:59 was filled with. There's this part in the book where Josie and Nick go on a tour of Fort Meade (a highly guarded military facility that houses different government divisions like NSA) where they are given a tour by one of the Directors. Somehow, Josie convinces the Director (because he's attracted to her) to give them a tour of a floor they have no business being on. Somehow, conveniently the halls are deserted. That is so inaccurate, I can't even. Then she conveniently leaves her purse on that floor in the bathroom only to later bat her eyelashes at the Director for his access card so she can retrieve it alone. I understand that this is fiction, but Josie was given way too many free passes in this novel. I don't care if she batted her eyelashes so hard that her eyes got stuck in a permanent twitch, there is no way someone is handing over their security badge at the Fort. And there is no way she would make it back up to that same off-limits floor with no one stopping her. You can't just walk around the Fort unescorted. It doesn't happen for security reasons. Where was the research done here? But I get it. Sometimes you just have to go with it when it comes to some books (hard as that is for me most times). This book was supposed to be built around scientific logic, so I expected basic common sense rules to be applied in other aspects as well. Clearly, I was asking too much because later in the book, Josie just thinks to ask her father (in the alternate universe) to steal a government laser from Fort Meade. The exchange went ridiculously something like this: "Hey, daddy? Can you steal that government laser for the highly guarded military facility? I need it. I love you so much! xoxoxo!" "Anything for you, princess! Shall I pick you up some Burger King on the way out the Fort?" Are you kidding? For Josie to be so smart, I am actually surprised she thought this was legit a possibility even after her real mother specifically told her to trust no one. Then, right after a character is brutally eaten to death by the nox (creatures that haunt the alternate universe and eat people) right in front of Josie and Nick, these fools start making out right there. Things get hot and heavy, Josie has a moment when she realizes she's in love and she reaches up and grabs the dude's severed ankle. "OMG, I freakin' love this guy I'm making out with!" "This is so hot." "Oh, shit. Is that a foot? Gah! How did this body get here?!" "Oh, right. He just died." Gag me, please. It was there 3:59 and I had a strange turn of events. The book went from giving me a lot of these moments: To where I could barely suppress a laugh: Honestly, though, I was still being entertained... just not in the way the author probably intended it. Insta-Love: So as if this couldn't get any worse, this happens: She'd never felt this way with her ex-boyfriend. This was something different. Something deeper. Even though they had only known each other a few days, Nick knew her better than anyone else, and loved her even more because of it. - Quoted from 3:59 ARC, page 348. Sure, sure. She's in love with this guy even though they've had maybe a handful of conversations (all of them related to the plot and had nothing to do with actually finding out things about each other), one of which was sparked by him pointing a gun at her. Boyfriend of the year! I never once felt the connection between the two. They were these character stuck in this situation and randomly, romance was thrown in because, hey, every YA book has to have its romance. (Obviously, that was sarcasm.) But in the end, the romance didn't add anything extra to the reading experience and felt contrived and forced. Predictability: However, I might have even forgiven all of that if only the entire mystery hadn't been so predictable. I know 3:59 is being pitched as a sci-fi thriller, but I never once felt the urgency because things were so painfully obvious. I knew who the bad guy was, what happened to her parents, who was attacking the humans, etc. Josie is depicted as a really smart protagonist, but again, spouting off science words is not enough if the reader is two steps ahead of your detective. The really sad part is that the mystery wasn't bad at all, but really lacked better foreshadowing and a much tighter plot. If I've already figured out the mystery by 50%, there's really no reason for me to stick around. Not only was the plot predictable, but the character actions. And this is where I feel good old fashion character growth would have helped. Josie, as trusting and sweet as she was depicted, was, frankly, TSTL. I don't think this was intentional, but when you keep telling the reader how smart your character is, but they continually do really dumb things, it rarely works for me. To Conclude: In the end, 3:59 didn't live up to my expectations. Had the plot and mystery been tighter, the characters better developed and the romance cleaned up, I would have probably really loved this one. Would I recommend this? My first reaction is, "Eh, no." But I do think if the above doesn't bother you much in novels, you may enjoy this one. I would, instead, strongly recommend checking out a sample to see if the writing style works for you and then abandoning all sense of logic at page one. 1 star because it's not the worst book I've read .5 star for somehow keeping me entertained despite my frustrations ARC was received from the publisher via Young Adult Books Central. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

There are so many lessons to be learned in the pages of Bluebird from bullying, loneliness, dealing with loss and letting go. I'm so very impressed with how Staake manages to weave all of these points together in only 40 pages with pictures alone. Bluebird follows the story of a young boy who is friendless and the victim of bullying at school. He's excluded from group recess activities and teased in class. Meanwhile, a small bluebird watches the boy and proceeds to follow him after school releases. A friendship between the two is forged and it's put to the test during a tension-filled ending. Bluebird really surprised me with the fact that I didn't think it would be so deep. I expected a usual picture book along with text to read out loud to my daughter. Instead, Bluebird is told entirely through beautiful illustrations shaded in black, white and blues. Each page is also broken into smaller panels to depict the next part of the narration and the passage of time. I was immediately taken with style because it reminds me of children's graphic novel, but much more simplified. However, my 5-year-old had difficultly understanding what was taking place in the book because it's not a style she is used to. In fact, the first thing she said when we started reading was, "Where are the words? I need the words!" So it's a bit of a learning curve for younger readers, but what the narration lacks in simplicity makes up for with the fascinating illustrations. The ending to Bluebird also surprised me and I'll admit to not realizing the severity of what transpired until after I went back and re-read the blurb. It seems like the ending is set up in two ways. Based on interpretation and readiness of the reader, the bluebird can be seen as either suffering a non-fatal injury or ultimately dying. This was a very clever and makes the book appear more universal to all readers despite age. Final verdict: Bluebird is an unexpected gem and touches on tough issues in a very delicate way. It's the perfect book to use as a gateway for open discussion about loss to a younger reader, and moving story about letting go for all. Finished copy was received from the publisher through Young Adult Books Central for review.

This is an example of when a companion novel doesn't build on the awesome of an already existing story. Easy is one of my favorite books of all time. I loved every page, but Breakable? I barely remember what happened. Landon's POV isn't as interesting as Jacqueline's and was a chore to read at times. Other times, when he does have some interaction with Jacqueline, he comes over very stalkish, which I was disappointed to see. Still, I did relatively enjoy it more than Kat did.

When I first picked this book up from BEA, I wasn't very interested because I saw the word "witches" and thought, "NOPE, NOPE, NOPE." Even in my review policy it states that I don't review books about witches. Why? Well, because of Harry Potter. I didn't want to sit and compare the two and I had a feeling that I would. What made matters worse was the fact that ended up being toted as The Next Big Thing from The Hunger Games to, you guessed it, Harry Potter. So it's a good thing this book was nothing like Harry Potter. Upon finishing Half Bad my first thought was, "HOLY SHIT!", so I went to Goodreads to see what everyone else thought. It's interesting to see how split most people are on this book, and it's not hard to understand why. The enjoyment of Half Bad is going to largely depend on your ability to adapt to the writing style. How do you feel about second person? How do you feel about first person? How do you feel about flipping back and forth from those two different point-of-views? If you answer is, "I can dig it!" then let's roll through the meadows together as I wax poetic about how awesome this book was. But if you answer is, "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it," then Half Bad might not be your cup of tea and I've got only one thing to say to you: Half Bad is brutal and spares no punches as we are introduced to the main character, who lives in a cage. A cage. Immediately my interest was piqued. I knew this was a good sign for me because I'm the kind of reader that struggles with most book beginnings. However, the perils that Nathan endures really horrified me, and as terrible as it sounds, I couldn't stop reading about it. There's nothing bright and sunny about Half Bad and the majority of it involves Nathan being ridiculed or tortured from a very young age because his father is the most hunted black witch. And so Nathan grows up alone in the community of white witches who despise him. He desperately wants to be accepted and not judged purely on his parentage, but no matter how hard he tries, the Council of White Witches continue to send restrictions: -Any contact Nathan has with a white witch has to be reported -He goes to the council for yearly assessments, where he is questioned about the father he's never met -He can't have his Giving Ceremony with out permission (Think: Rite of Passage for Witches) -He can't travel anywhere without first having permission It gets pretty ridiculous with the amount of rules place on a child, but the Council has their prejudices, and it's clear they don't plan to let up. Nathan, who's only freedom included traveling to Wales every once in a while, refuses to ask permission for travel. Yet, his half-brother (a white witch), who genuinely cares about him, begs him to reconsider. That scene was one of the saddest in the book for me. Later that night, when I am getting undressed, Arran has a go at talking to me. I guess Gran has asked him to try. He says I should "rethink," "perhaps ask permission to go to one place in Wales," and some other stuff like that. Adult stuff. Gran's stuff. I just say, "Can I have permission to go to the bathroom? Please?" He doesn't reply, so I throw my jeans on the floor, get on my knees and say, "Can I have permission to go to the bathroom? Please?" He doesn't reply but drops to his knees with me and hugs me. We stay like that. Him hugging me and me still stiff with anger at him, wanting to hurt him too. After a long time I hug him back, just a little. But somehow in all the abuse, Nathan finds a little happiness in a girl named Annalise. Their romance was both short and sweet, and inevitably would fail since it's forbidden for white witches to fraternize with black witches. (I want to take the time to point out that this is NOT a Paranormal Romance.) Sometime later, he ends up living in a cage outside. The writing, as I mentioned before, flips back and forth from second to first person in the beginning, but tapers off and settles on first person present tense. I personally loved it because it's so different from other books. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a novel with second person that wasn't a Choose Your Own Adventure. I felt like I could really get into Nathan's mind and understand how he felt. It also made certain scenes more intense because it forces the reader to imagine themselves in his situation. So imagining my hand being burned off from acid wasn't fun, but different. Kat and I happened to be reading this book at the same time and had similar thoughts about it being difficult to read at first. It was very depressing in the beginning to see a child being mistreated and tortured. I don't often encounter that in most of the YA novels that I've read. But it does remind me of the same feelings I felt while reading The Hunger Games in that respect. The scenes don't fade into black, Nathan screams throughout some of them and they just felt very visual and hard to process at times. I'm not a reader of horror novels nor a watcher of scary movies that have a lot of violence, so my tolerance level for this might be low. However, I do think those scenes are where Green truly shined. Plus, they'll make for a great movie. When I went through and read a few reviews, some mentioned the implications of race since Nathan is a black witch being persecuted by white witches. It's interesting because I never really thought about it that way. Looking back, I suppose it is there. The black witches and white witches are different races in a way, but I viewed it more playing on the long accepted mythology that black witches were evil and white witches good and simply putting another spin on it. In any case, I wasn't offended by anything intentional or unintentional. Strangely enough, even though Half Bad is about witches, there's not much magic in it. There are a few instances where there are spells mentioned and used, but the vast majority boils down to witches making potions. There are no wands or cloaks or three-quarter platforms. I think this was smart, otherwise, would we see a lot of comparisons between Half Bad and Harry Potter floating around. As far as I can tell, they don't have anything in common besides the same paranormal creature. As much as I loved the narrative and premise, I do agree with other reviewers that mention the second half isn't as strong as the first. This might have something to do with how violent the first half is, and therefore, a lot more engaging to read. I don't know if that's the right word, but the first half is definitely more interesting. However, I still enjoyed the second half because if the book had been filled entirely of violent torture, I don't think I could have continued reading. The second half mostly involves Nathan, newly escaped from the Council, searching for a black witch named Mercury who can give him his three gifts on his 17th birthday. The ending took me by surprise due to the reappearance from a certain character. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I am eager to continue this series. Do I think it's the Next Big Thing? Who knows. But it's a damn good book. ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

Romance and gargoyles! Woo-hoo!

I've been disappointed by too many "mermaid" books. I hope this one delivers.

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So so so so so so GOOD. Review to come. In the meantime, win my ARC here!: https://twitter.com/cuddlebuggery/sta...

It's time for Rainbow Rowell and I to break up. I didn't want to admit it, but after reading all of her books now, I can safely say her writing style just isn't for me. It's like that time I cheerfully broke up with Cassandra Clare, though, admittedly, over different reasons. But this time it hurts. It wounds me to realize that I can't join in with all my friends, ride the Rainbow iz Queen bandwagon, roll around in a meadow of flowers that magically whispers witty Rainbow Rowell quotes and feast at the Fangirl banquet. I know it may seem foolish to be disappointed. I mean, what can a person physically do? No book can be universally loved and I did give it the good old college try. Here's the thing: For all intents and purposes, I should have loved Fangirl. The strange thing about my reading experience with Fangirl is that I actually deeply connected with all of the characters on a personal level. As a person who suffers from anxiety and has dealt with a father who was admitted to a mental hospital when I was a teen, I sympathized with Cath. I remembered those feelings of craving independence from my sibling as Wren did. I understand having an intense passion for a fandom and being at midnight parties, waiting for the next book in your favorite series. I even connected with Laura's inability to handle life as a mom. In a lot of ways, quite a few of the experiences these characters dealt with, I have dealt with. For that reason alone, I gave this book an extra star. Unfortunately, that was not enough for me. Rainbow Rowell lives and breathes characters. They are fluid, realistic (for the most part... Eleanor & Park excluded), memorable, flawed, and relatable. These aren't the type of characters that stay on the page. They shout, scream and jump out at you because Rowell is just that good. But it's also her flaw because that's all she writes, characters. In fact, many times it feels like her stories have neither a beginning or an ending, with the reader viewing a piece of a character's life through a small window of time. So I'm convinced that Rowell can't plot her way out of a brown paper bag. I know that might anger some of you, but hear me out. Fangirl is a very character-driven novel and doesn't actually have a plot. Rowell's created these characters, placed them in situations and forced them to react to said situations. She's great at that. But where does the book go from there? Which direction are the characters moving? What are they moving towards? What's the goal of the novel? These are some questions I've asked myself through every one of her books. And I often feel like I'm floundering around in her prose like someone who's gone swimming in the ocean drunk. Everything around these characters is static. Only they move from point A to point B to further the story along. Because of this, if you don't happen to fall in love with the characters early on, the story doesn't work. Rainbow Rowell's characters ARE her stories. One thing positive that came out of reading all of Rowell's books is that, I've learned that I am not the character-driven sort of reader. I'm more of a reader that needs a strong plot to see me to the end of the book. I can deal with unlikable characters or characters that have issues if the plot can save the day. I have the patience of a fruit fly and if I'm expected to sit around reading about a character who is waiting for something to happen to them, then forget it. You've lost me as a reader. The second issue I had with Fangirl was Rowell, once again, tip-toeing around elephants in her stories. Her novels are so focused on her characters that she never addresses things that feel essential to the plot. With Fangirl is was the slash fic and how it relates to fandom. With Landline it was the magical phone. With Eleanor and Park it was race and Park's self acceptance. It's the same formula for each of her books over and over again. Step 1: Develop characters for half the book! Step 2: Introduce something heavy to center my quirky characters around something. Step 3: End the book without tying up loose ends because they served my purpose and Honey Rainbow don't care. It's the most frustrating thing about her books! It's like she dances around the heavy stuff on purpose! There is almost always something that feels deliberately left out, basically anything that could remotely make the story more interesting. Which leads me to my third point... Fangirl is boring. While I could relate to Cath, she is the dullest person to read about ever. The only scenes that she showed life with was either with her dad or Levi when she suddenly had a personality and wanted to be witty. Those scenes were the best in the book and what kept me reading. But they were few and far between and I started to question why this book was over 400 pages. Not even the fan fiction or cute romance could save this book. And let's talk about this Simon and Baz fan fiction. Clearly it is a homage to Harry Potter, yet, Harry Potter happens to exist in the same universe as Simon Snow? No, I don't buy that. That's a plotberg if I ever saw one. The fan fiction sections in the novel really didn't do much for me. This isn't because it wasn't good, but because it didn't have enough page time for me to attempt to connect with the Simon and Baz. I did feel like bashing my head in when Cath would read Levi the long sections of her fic, so I guess they did spawn some type of emotional reaction in me, albeit, not a positive one. Also, did Cath ever finish her fic? Rowell wrote so much about Simon and Baz and just completely left that open... AGAIN FRUSTRATING. Side note: I'm really curious to see how Rowell manages to write Carry On, Cath's fan fiction of Simon Snow, without people directly comparing it to Harry Potter. I mean, essentially it's Draco/Harry fic. But since monetizing fan fiction is now a thing, *cough* Cassandra Clare, E.L. James *cough* who am I to stop her? To conclude, Fangirl ultimately let me down, but I'm not entirely disappointed that I read it. I learned something about myself as a reader and I did gain a few good laughs from the clever banter. I wouldn't call this a terrible book, and hey, it was better than Eleanor and Park. So there's always that. I'm such a goddamn hipster, I swear. More reviews and other fantastical things at Cuddlebuggery.

Damn. That kissing scene at the end was pretty HOWT.