Breaking Dawn Part 2

Title: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Director: Bill Condon

Writer: Melissa Rosenberg and Stephenie Meyer

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner

Grade: 85% or B

My Thoughts::
I know the Twilight craze is all over, and it was over even before this movie came out. And even though I'm not really a fan of either the books or movies anymore, I couldn't help but to go and see this movie. I will admit, I was excited for the conclusion to finally be here.

Even though some people complained about this book because it was a lot of build up and not a lot was actually happening, it was more interesting in the movie. It was cool to meet all of the friends of the family. I wish they would have spent more time showing what everyone's abilities are and how hard it is for Bella to develop her power. Besides meeting characters, not much HAPPENS, except a few good Reneesme things and then the battle part at the end.

The most interesting part of the movie for sure was the tricky ending. I don't want to give anything away, but if you read the book you probably won't be tricked. And even though I wasn't tricked, I still cried and felt a lot of emotions. Even more emotions were felt at the end of the movie while the credits started to roll. I started feeling really nostalgic. I've been thinking about Twilight since before I started High School, and now I'm in my second semester of college. So much has changed and it brings me back to an earlier time.

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Title: Dark Inside
Author: Jeyn Roberts
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 82% or B-
Buy It: Amazon 

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police—who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

My Thoughts::

This was another one of those books that looked soooo amazing when I first heard about it. Right when I read the synopsis for the first time I put it on my Amazon wishlist. Buuut...then it sat on my wishlist for months and months. The majority of the money that I spend on books goes to sequels that I've been waiting forever for, and it was a while before I bought it. Then I started it not really sure what it would be about because it has been so long.

I started the book with an open mind and a little bit of confusion. I did end up reading the jacket flap because I wanted to know what I was getting into. This definitely eased the confusion. This book had four point of views plus what I like to call the "darkness" POV. I think that this worked really well with this type of book. So many things happen in apocalypse like books but it is hard to say that it all happens to one person. The author was able to spread out different experiences to each character.

The story got pretty intense. In most apocalypse stories you have some sense of control. If it's a natural disaster, you know that it's over now and you just have to move on. If it's zombies or something like that, you just stay away from them or kill them. With this, even if you're not bitten or "exposed" to it, you can still become one of the crazy killer things. That is probably the scariest part, the fact that there is nothing you can do about it.

Several times while I was reading this book I almost gave up. I kept getting annoyed by the characters or it would hit a lull. But the last third of the book really kept me on my toes. I couldn't put the book down. The ending was just so amazing that I will definitely read the next book

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Title: House Rules
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Atria Books
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Adult
Grade: 87% or B+
Buy It: Amazon

Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject — in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's — not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect — can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?

My Thoughts::
After reading my first Jodi Picoult book, I find them very hard to resist.They always make me question myself and other morally and legally. I have to look at things from so many angles and see that the world isn't as black and white as we all want it to be. This book was no different.

Since we get chapters from Jacob's perspective, we actually know what is going on in his mind, his thoughts, and his motives. As readers we get frustrated with characters who don't reveal enough information to their friends and family, especially information that could change and help the situation entirely. I wanted to feel this way about Jacob because I wanted to believe that he wasn't guilty. If he just would have given the full story in the right way, he wouldn't be a suspect. But of course he couldn't do that and it wasn't his fault. It was the Aspberger's.

As for the plot, I was amazed. It is crazy how a lawyer can't ask if their client is guilty or not. This was even worse for Jacob, because if he was just asked to tell the whole story of what happened, there wouldn't have been such a huge disaster. I could really see the struggle of all of the characters. There was just so much evidence pinning Jacob as guilty, even though a lot of it was because of his Aspberger's. It shows just how little we concern ourselves with how we perceive each other and how we want everyone to fit the status quo, even those with disabilities.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot. I found myself staring off to space thinking about it and how the whole situation worked out. The ending didn't really surprise me though which was a letdown. I guessed the ending right away and I spend the entire rest of the book hoping I was wrong so I could get a twist like the end of most Picoult books. Too bad it didn't happen.

Ted

Title: Ted

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Writer: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane

Grade: 84% or B
 

My Thoughts::

For my 19th birthday I didn't really have any big plans. My best friends were out of town so I was just going to have a quiet night with my family. But then one of my guy friends wanted to see a movie for my birthday, so we got a couple of friends together. It took a while to decide what movie to see, since at least one of us has seen one of the top choices. But the popular vote was to see Ted, since those who saw it wanted to see it again.

This movie was so funny! I know that they were all pretty cheap jokes and not clever or anything really, but I didn't care this time. I liked that this was pretty much a straight up comedy. There was some romance, but that wasn't the focus. Since it was just a comedy, it was important that we did a lot of laughing, no matter how they got us to laugh. By the end of the movie my stomach was hurting from how much laughing that I did.

Most straight up comedies don't bother with any sort of real plot. It's just jokes on jokes during random scenes just to get as many laughs as possible, But Ted actually has a storyline going on and a sequence of events that lead up to each other. There was actual plot and development! The characters also had more depth than usual comedies. They worked so well together too! Their characters played off of each other's jokes and made it that much more funny.

Overall I think that if you're in the mood for some laughs, especially if you're with friends, watch this movie. It's one of those movies that references from it will follow you around for a while, so you might as well understand what they're talking about.

Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Title: Beautiful Lies
Author: Jessica Warman
Publisher: Walker & Company
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 81% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare kind of identical twins—so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they’ve lived with since their parents passed away, can’t tell them apart. But the sisters are connected in a way that goes well beyond their surfaces: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of distress. So when one twin mysteriously disappears, the other immediately knows something is wrong—especially when she starts experiencing serious physical traumas, despite the fact that nobody has touched her. As the search commences to find her sister, the twin left behind must rely on their intense bond to uncover the truth. But is there anyone around her she can trust, when everyone could be a suspect? And ultimately, can she even trust herself?

My Thoughts::
I've always had a decent interest in twins and I always liked to think that they could sense each other. Those were the immediate reasons why I wanted to read this book. The second reason was that I can't turn down a high stakes mystery. I knew the tension and suspense would be building so much in this book and I wanted in on it.

This book did something for me that is rarely done with books anymore: It surprised me. Sure, I was able to predict some tidbits, but I was unable to predict the outcome of the book. There were a couple of big twists that I could have never seen coming that totally made me do a double take. These twists switched around everything that you know so far and make you think about everything that happened so far in a completely different way. At times the plot got a little boring, but you still felt that urgency which made you not want to put down the book.

I liked that we get to know two characters very well just through the eyes of one. The bad thing is, is that this book is pretty much just about these two characters. The are a couple of characters off to the side, but not until the end do any of them matter very much. A couple of times while I was reading this book I had to really think and consider if the narrator was sane. She was unreliable at times and I wasn't sure if I could believe what she was saying. It had the feel of a psychological thriller many times throughout the book. My mind was being bent trying to understand and figure out what was going on.

Overall I think that this was a great suspenseful read that played into my interest with twins. I'm glad it kept me on the edge of my seat but I wish that there was some more character development going on.

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Title: The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride Series #1)
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 84% or B
Buy It: Amazon

Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel, and Maximum: six kids who are 98% human and 2% bird. They grew up in cages, living like rats, but now they're free. When the bloodthirsty Erasers -- half men, half wolves genetically engineered by sick and sinister scientists -- kidnap little Angel, the Flock embarks on a rescue mission full of nonstop action, adventure, and soul-seeking -- not to mention a little bit of saving the world on the side.

After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the "birdkids," who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose. 

My Thoughts::

This is one of those series that I've known about for so long but never imagined starting. There were just so many books and I was so behind. It's always a pretty big commitment to start a new series with a good amount before you would be caught up. But once I saw that the last book was coming out, I decided that it was time. I've read another book by James Patterson and enjoyed it, so I thought I would like these as well.

I wasn't really wrong either. As this is the first book, there is a lot of groundwork being laid out and getting to know the characters. But we also get our fair share of action. I was happy to see that things were really happening in this first book. I definitely got sucked into the story. There are so many unanswered questions that even though I didn't love this book, I still want to know what happens and get my questions answered,

The characters were all very uniquely different. It is rare that we get to know so many characters at once, but I think Patterson handled it well. Perspectives changed when necessary so we would know what was happening in each plot line. It kept the flow going very well and even made it more suspenseful because it always seemed to switch when I was desperate to know what happened next. This switch of perspectives allowed me to look into the mind of a few of the characters which made them much easier to get to know.

I honestly loved all of the characters. They all had completely different personalities that it was so easy to know who was who right from the start. I couldn't help but fall in love with the little one immediately, they were so precious. I seriously have no complaints about our main characters. The plot was of course thick with deceit scandal. I'm really excited to see what happens to all of them next.

Anteater-Boy by Dean Ammerman

Title: Anteater-Boy
Author: Dean Ammerman
Publisher: Kabloona
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 80% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

The school year is coming to an end and high school freshman Zak Dale wants a summer job to earn some money. His fish-eyed science teacher, Dr. Cyrus B. Fletcher, has a job opening but wants Zak to clean the science classroom, improve his grades, and deliver an award-winning speech to get it.

As Zak tries to prove he’s the best person for the summer job, he helps his best friend Miles search for the holy grail of junk food, falls in love with the beautiful and mysterious Mia Holmes, locates his missing grandmother, neglects his bladder-challenged dachshund, and takes a journey through the American Revolution with Darius Brown, his substitute history teacher.

My Thoughts::
It isn't on purpose, but I rarely read books from small publishers. I'm not sure why, but the biggest possible reason is that whenever I get emails about them for review I am rarely interested in the book that they are offering. It just isn't for me. Also, most of the books I haven't heard of or read reviews for, so I would have to put myself way out there to read something that doesn't seem like what I like. But this book definitely captured my interest enough for me to step out of my comfort zone.

I was happy getting to know Zak, because I always feel like I don't read enough books with male main characters. He was a fun character that had a really good and innocent heart. I really wanted him to succeed. But this brings me to one of my few complaints. Maybe it's because I don't read enough books with male narrators, but Zak seemed really typical and bland. I liked him enough, but he didn't capture my interest and make me want to learn all about him.

Not a whole lot happens, but since this is contemporary YA, I didn't expect explosions. The book went in a few different directions, including the romance. I appreciated the romance, but lucky for Ammerman, the book didn't need it. Miles was funny, so his scenes were very enjoyable. My favorite parts though are the ones that include the substitute teacher Darius Brown. It made the novel more than just another run of the mill story about an awkward teenager. It really made me think about some current and past issues that this country has with not only racism, but with race in history and what is taught.

Overall I think that Anteater Boy was a pleasant reading experience that was on the verge of being pretty meh overall until we get into history class.

The Goddess Legacy by Aimée Carter

Title: The Goddess Legacy
Author: Aimée Carter
Publisher: Harlequin
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 85% or B
Buy It: Amazon

For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aimée Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.

Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness….

Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal….

Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another….

James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others but never knew true loss before….

Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope….

My Thoughts::

I love background stories. I really do. I love seeing how people became the way that they are now and I love seeing how certain events created the circumstances that we now know. This didn't feel necessary for Carter's books until I read it. And holy cow, you need to read this if you've read the Goddess Test books. 

We get two very different types of stories in this book. The first type is about characters that we have misunderstood. These are characters that we kind of hated or at least didn't agree with their actions. But of course we forgot that they have a LOT of history to make them behave that way. The second type is of characters that we don't know much about. They don't play the biggest parts in the main books, but this gives us a chance to learn more about them.

While reading the books to this series it was at times hard to remember that these are ancient beings, except for Kate. It was fantastic to see some important moments in their long lives that made them the characters that we see in the books. I can really say that I understand the characters and the decisions that they are making now. 

I had some serious problems with a few of the characters while reading the other books. They seemed selfish, irrational, and just plain cruel. They still weren't right, but some pretty crappy stuff happened to them so I can't help but sympathize with them know since I know where they're coming from.

Overall I think this was an eye opening read that fans of these books will definitely enjoy.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 84% or B
Buy It: Amazon 

So wrong for each other...AND YET SO RIGHT.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can PUSH THE LIMITS and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her HOW TO LOVE AGAIN.

My Thoughts::
Frequent readers of my blog know that this is exactly the kind of book that I would have loved a few years ago. Now my favorite YA books involve a government conspiracy of some sort. But I still enjoy the kind of books that used to be my favorite when I first started reading YA lit. I love taking the journey back and this book definitely helped me remember why I loved these books so much.

The characters in this book were so enjoyable. Echo had her problems, and the book was centered around her solving them. I really liked her with Noah. Noah wasn't too shabby himself. The best thing about him was that he didn't try to fix her. He knew that she was trying to figure stuff out, and he was there for her, but he didn't try to control her life.

The pasts of both Echo and Noah kept me reading much later than I should have been. It was seriously heartbreaking learning what both of them have been through, Echo especially. Echo finally remembering what happened to her was a truly touching scene that brought some tears. I was glad that she had Noah to help her through it all. I was rooting for them the entire time.

I could feel Echo's frustration of not knowing what happened to her. While reading the book I had a couple of theories going but none of them were completely right. Having people around you that knew what happened but not telling you must have been terrible. 

McGarry tackles a lot of issues in this book and does it really well. The book is very serious without it being dark and depressing to read. At the end it was uplifting because you know they are going to move passed the past and they have each other to help them through it.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Title: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Writer: Seth Grahame-Smith

Starring: Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper

Grade: 88% or B+

 

 

My Thoughts::

So when I first found out about this movie, I couldn't really take it seriously. I mean, come on already! Are we just coming up with ridiculous ideas now to make things more interesting? It just seemed way too out there, even for me. But my friends were really into it, so I agreed to go see it with them.

Oh, I am soooo glad that I put my reservations behind me and decided to go see it. I get a happy feeling when movies start at the end. They will show the last little bit and at the end they will continue on from that last bit. I'm not sure why I like it so much, maybe it's because it feels more like a story is being told when they start at the end.

I love the way that they added in so many historical elements. I'm not all knowing when it comes to history and I'm sure there were some references that I didn't pick up on, but the ones that I did sucked me deeper in the movie. Just seeing how the vampire stuff fit in so well with Abraham Lincoln's past and the Civil War made me want to believe that it was true.

The action scenes were also pretty darn impressive. They weren't just explosions and luck, the characters in this movie planned out some pretty sneaky stuff. I loved that there was thought put behind what was happening so you could see why things happened and turned out the way that they did. The ending was also AMAZING. That last little scene where Lincoln is going off to the theater. We all got that reference, right?

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

Title: The Drowned Cities
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 88% or B+
Buy It: Amazon

Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.

In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man—a bioengineered war beast named Tool—who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.

My Thoughts::

I enjoyed Ship Breaker so much and I was very happy to read this companion novel. It's so cool getting a back story on one of the most interesting characters in Ship Breaker as well as getting to know some more fascinating people. Even more so I loved learning more about the world that Bacigalupi created and how some of the destruction happened.

Mahlia was great, in fact all of the characters were great. What I love so much about them is that, especially when it comes to females, it isn't some awesome novelty and surprise when the female is strong and determined. To live in this new world that is the norm, so Mahlia got to be a character and it wasn't some crazy big deal. I love this because authors never make a big deal when a boy is strong and independent, so why should they for a girl?

My favorite part of dystopian or futuristic novels is the world building and finding out how everything got the way that it is. At the end of Ship Breaker, I was left wanting to know sooo much. Since this book took place before Ship Breaker, there was a lot of new information given that cleared up a lot of questions that I had.

The action in the novel was so great. It wasn't over the top, but it was very gripping. I got to know the characters so well that I felt connected to them and wanted them to be fine. So when they were fighting and near death, I couldn't help but hold my breath.

Overall I think that this was a great development for the world that Bacigalupi is building. There was plenty of action and it was great with characters, especially Tool. I was so sucked into the novel at times that I couldn't be distracted.

Rock of Ages

Title: Rock of Ages

Director: Adam Shankman

Writer(s):  Justin Theroux, Chris D'Arienzo, Allan Loeb, and Chris D'Arienzo

Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, and Tom Cruise

Grade: 85% or B

 

My Thoughts::

Okay, so I'll admit it..I'm a suck for musicals. And since I played Karaoke Revolution back in middle school, I loved songs from the 80s (since that was more in the budget I suppose). Mix these two together and you get a movie that I find very fun much to watch and sing along with.

I was never much of a fan of Tom Cruise. I didn't dislike him, but I was never impressed by his performances or enjoyed the movies that he was in to any large extent. So he really wowed me in this movie. I had absolutely no clue that he had such fantastic singing abilities! And he took on the rockstar persona soooo well! I tell my friends that I only like Tom Cruise when he's playing Stacee Jaxx.

This movie had a very scattered plot going on though. Is it about Stacee Jaxx going solo? Is it about his relationship with the reporter? Is is about the relationship between Sherrie and Drew? Is it about Sherrie and Drew becoming famous? Is it about keeping the Bourbon Room from becoming bankrupt? Or is it about the clash between the protesters and Stacee Jaxx/The Bourbon Room? You see it is all of these things and none of them are at the forefront. It is just mixed all together with even more elements involved as well. 

Overall this was a fun movie to watch, if only for the amazing performances and songs and of course, Stacee Jaxx (being very very sexy..ugh..)

What Happened to My Sister by Elizabeth Flock

Title: What Happened to My Sister
Author: Elizabeth Flock
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Adult
Grade: 83% or B-
Buy It: Amazon 

Nine-year-old Carrie Parker and her mother, Libby, are making a fresh start in the small town of Hartsville, North Carolina, ready to put their turbulent past behind them. Violence has shattered their family and left Libby nearly unable to cope. And while Carrie once took comfort in her beloved sister, Emma, her mother has now forbidden even the mention of her name.

When Carrie meets Ruth, Honor, and Cricket Chaplin, these three generations of warmhearted women seem to have the loving home Carrie has always dreamed of. But as Carrie and Cricket become fast friends, neither can escape the pull of their families’ secrets—and uncovering the truth will transform the Chaplins and the Parkers forever.

My Thoughts::
I read Me&Emma almost 2 years ago. I still remember the shocker at the end and the uneasy feeling that it left me with. It didn't look like a sequel would be released, so I sadly realized that the ending was for real and that was the end of it.

Even though I enjoyed reading the first book (who doesn't love shocking endings?), this one was even better. We get another narrator in this book which really helps. Carrie is so young so she's a pretty unreliable narrator, especially considering how the last book ended. Having this new narrator also puts a little spin on the story and puts some things in perspective.

So much is cleared up in this book, which makes me extremely happy that I read it. You can just feel how Carrie must feel being so young and so unsure of her memories. She is being told something from one person (her mom) who she loves and wants to trust, but she has memories that contradict what her mother is saying. Even though Carrie doesn't really think it, as readers we think she is making up memories because her even younger years were so horrible.

It was so heartwarming to see Carrie interact with the Chaplins, who are in the position that the readers are in. We think our problems are so big, but then get a reality check when something more terrible comes along. Learning about the truth of Carrie's past is very sad, but I was happy with the conclusion. Her mom got what she deserved and Carrie finally gets a family and happiness. Not to mention the surprise at the end of this book as well.

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

Title: One Breath Away
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: Harlequin
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 87% or B+
Buy It: Amazon

In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom. Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.

Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands. Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.

As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

My Thoughts::
Any book that can give me the feel of a Jodi Picoult book without all of the court mumbo jumbo that is kind of hard to understand and takes me out of the story. When I read the summary of this book I was immediately interested. I felt invested in the story already and wanted to see how things would turn out.

Usually multiple narrators makes the story choppy and hard to understand because there is too much going on and it's hard to keep track of everything. But with books that take place in such a short amount of time you want to get as much out of the story as possible. It was done very well in this book. Things moved fluidly from one character to the next and did it in such a way that kept up the suspense until the big reveal at the end.

Let's talk more about this suspense and mystery. Through each narrator's chapters they ask the same question; Who is is in the school with the gun? Each character offers different clues and different ideas about who it could be. Everytime I thought I knew something about who the man was, another character would disprove my theory. I was kept guessing until the very end and I had no clue. That was the best part. Usually I'm able to figure it out before the reveal, but this time I couldn't.

I was able to connect to all of the characters in different ways which made me see the story from several different angles. You can see how carefully the narrators were chosen by the author because they all just fit together perfectly and help you get the most knowledge about the situation.

Overall I think this was a book that can really hit you hard because of it's serious content. There was plenty of action and suspense to keep you on your toes the entire time.

Book Tour: The Sundered by Ruthanne Reid Review/Giveaway

Author's Site / Twitter / Facebook

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Title: The Sundered

Author: Ruthanne Reid

Publisher: 4th Floor Publication

Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 84% or B
Buy It: Amazon  

Harry Iskinder knows the rules. Don't touch the water, or it will pull you under. Conserve food, because there’s no arable land. Use Sundered slaves gently, or they die too quickly to be worthwhile.

With extinction on the horizon and a world lost to deadly flood, Harry searches for a cure: the Hope of Humanity, the mysterious artifact that gave humans control over the Sundered centuries ago. According to legend, the Hope can fix the planet.

But the Hope holds more secrets than Harry knows. Powerful Sundered Ones willingly bow to him just to get near it. Ambitious enemies pursue him, sure that the Hope is a weapon. Friends turn their backs, afraid Harry will choose wrong.

And Harry has a choice to make. The time for sharing the Earth is done. Either the Sundered survive and humanity ends, or humanity lives for a while, but the Sundered are wiped out.

He never wanted this choice. He still has to make it. In his broken, flooded world, Hope comes with a price.

 

My Thoughts::

I've been a part of several book touring sites for a while now yet this is the first tour I signed up for. Since I feel the responsibility that comes with being a tour host is great, I was really picky in choosing the book's and authors that I would want to represent so personally. Once I saw the synopsis for The Sundered, I knew that this was the book to break me out of my touring shell. I was wildly interested in the plot and could hardly hold myself back to wait to read it closer to tour.

Even though my expectations were so high along with my excitement levels for this book, I was not disappointed. We jump into the story right away which initially led to a bit of confusion. Thankfully the world and it's customs are explained thoroughly starting almost right away. The mystery along the way is enough to keep anyone interested, but we also get action, suspense, a little romance, and betrayal. And of course let us not forget the ethical questions that are on the shoulders of our main character.

The characters didn't pop out of this book for me, except for a few. I liked our main character Harry, but The Sundered Ones he traveled with overshadowed him. I became much more interested in the storyline than I did in Harry. I did like him though, and that was enough for me. The Sundered Ones that we get to know are so compelling and I loved Harry's conversations with them. The little clues that were given always brought something to light while also causing us to have more questions. I felt like I was alongside Harry, trying to figure everything out and what the solution could be.

The ending of the book was a real shocker and a scary...almost pleasing, turn of events. Usually an ending like this would be my favorite part of the book, but not this time. Instead I loved the questions that this book made me ask myself and the revelations that I've had to make about what the human race is capable of. If this book interests you at all, do not pass it up!

Giveaway!
Ruthanne is giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one commenter at every stop. She is also giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card to one commenter at the end of the entire tour. You can comment on as many blogs as you like. GO COMMENT TO WIN!! Be sure to include your email address.

Check out the rest of the tour!
July 9: Sweet Southern Home
July 9: REVIEW ONLY Journey of a Bookseller
July 10: It's Raining Books
July 10: STOP 2 Welcome to My World of Dreams
July 11: Hywela Lyn (Romance That's "Out Of This World")
July 11: Long and Short Reviews: SFF Guests
July 12: REVIEW ONLY Pavarti K Tyler
July 12: STOP 2 Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
July 13: Castle Macabre
July 13: REVIEW ONLY Bombarded With Books

What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

Title: What I Didn't Say
Author: Keary Taylor
Publisher: CreateSpace
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 80% or C
Buy It: Amazon

Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.

His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.

When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.

My Thoughts:: 
There were a couple of things that made me want to request this book on netgalley. First of all, I feel as if I don't read enough books that have a male main character. The best I do on a regular basis is when a book has two narrators and one of them is a boy. But it is rare when I find myself totally enveloped in a male's perspective. Another reason I requested this book is because I wanted to delve into a down to earth novel without the gears and whistles that my current favorite genres have.

Jake was a great main character. He was very fleshed out. Once and a while he would get frustrating for me as a reader because he would be so down and I couldn't understand why. But yet, I wasn't really supposed to understand why because Jake barely understood it either. Him and Samantha blended well together and each had a lot to give to one another. It was interesting to watch their relationship evolve.

Rarely do I enjoy a book this much whose main plot seems to be majorly about the love interest. But as you read, it becomes more than that.  I liked the underline messages that the book included. My favorites were that you can't really judge a person based solely on what you think about them, and there is always a bright side and you could have it much worse. You can never assume things about people until you really know what their life is like.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Title: Snow White and the Huntsman

Director: Rupert Sanders

Writer:  Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, Hossein Amini, and Evan Daugherty

Starring: Kristin Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron

Grade: 84% or B

 

 

My Thoughts::
I didn't plan on seeing this movie. I love going to theaters to see movies, but in most cases they are movies that I've said "ooooh I want to go and see that when in comes in!" while watching the previews. But my friends wanted me to go to the movies with them and this is what the rest of them wanted to see.

I think retellings of stories are great because you're able to appeal to a new and different audience. While the original Snow White movie was directed towards children, this movie was aimed at young adults. I haven't watched the original Snow White or read the book in so long that I won't be comparing this new movie to those. I'll let it stand on its own in my mind. And it does, the characters have new personalities and the story is different in many ways.

The evil witch wasn't just an evil witch. She was power hungry with a very tortured past. I always love it when I can feel some sympathy for the bad guy. I felt connected to most of the characters this way. We are able to learn about their pasts which somehow make us feel like there is more at stake. More than ever we don't want them to die. Except for the witch and her brother of course, but their evilness overtakes any sympathy gained in the film. I really liked how the dwarfs were used in the film and the history we get about them.

The acting was pretty good. I know a lot of people like to complain about Kristen Stewart, but out of most of the big time actresses, I couldn't imagine anyone being a better Snow White. Plus I think this role was awesome for the type of actress that she is. The other actors did a good job as well, especially the witch and the huntsman. SWOOOOON was all I could do whenever that huntsman was on screen.

Overall I think that this movie had a good amount of action without foregoing the storyline. With decent acting and a hot guy, you should see this film.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Acquired: Won
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 80% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

My Thoughts::
It happened to me once again guys. I had the wrong idea of what this book was about. For some reason I had it in my head as a dystopian read. Corrupt government, forcing people to race in these deadly races and there was no choice about it. The summary just sounded like this. I couldn't understand until I read the book why people would choose to be in the races year after year. Since I love dystopian and that was what I was hoping for, I was a little let down. But not for long.

Once I got used to what the book was ACTUALLY about, I started to enjoy it. Learning about the island culture was really cool and I was able to see why people would choose to be a part of the races even thought they were so dangerous. Though I couldn't help but be mad when people didn't want to include Puck. Tradition is important, but I didn't see a reason for them to not what women to be involved. This added to the conflict in the story and made it more interesting. Even though we do get a little bit of history, I wish we were told more about the water horses and what the world is like.

Puck and Sean were both really great characters. It's easy for me to read about characters and make connections to their likeliness of characters in other books. But it was harder this time. The dynamic of their lives were more old fashioned along with their interests. Plus I've never read a book like this before. Puck's younger brother was so adorable and I loved whenever he was there. I also enjoyed the American horse buyer from Sean's chapters. It's rare to find side characters that you can connect with and get to know along with the main characters.

Overall I think that the plot was new, the love felt real, and the characters were genuine. Though a bit boring at times, I liked this book.

Purity by Jackson Pearce

Title: Purity
Author: Jackson Pearce
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 85% or B
Buy It: Amazon

Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives — in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.

Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision — to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity.

My Thoughts::
Originally, I didn't know if I wanted to read this book because I didn't know if it was for me. The summary made it sound like there would be a lot of talk of religion, which isn't really something that I'm interested in and can sometime make me feel uncomfortable. But the plot still sounded good and humorous, so I gave it a shot anyway.

Thankfully, I didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable when reading this book. Except of course when I'm supposed to. When the book did turn towards religion it didn't try to convince the reader of anything or be pushy. It simply explained the main character's thoughts about it that I am sure a lot of people have. I actually liked this because each person has to come to their own decision about religion and the book makes a strong point in making sure that people know that there is no "right" choice, it is just about what feels right for you.

That was also the same point that the book makes about sex. Everyone will make their own choices according to what feels right for them. Our main character Shelby was so funny and really a great person. She was someone that I could imagine hanging out with. Actually, I can imagine hanging out with her whole little group of friends. So few books that I read bring a decent amount of characters that aren't just stereotypes of high schoolers. Though they weren't completely original, they were a step up.

Overall I think the book explored two very important issues while also making the reader laugh and connect to the characters. Though who Shelby ends up with in this end is no surprise, I was very pleased by it. 

Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti

Title: Keep Holding On
Author: Susane Colasanti
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 83% or B-
Buy It: Amazon 

Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself—and for the love that keeps her holding on.

My Thoughts::
I haven't read much before by Susane Colasanti, but I've heard a lot of great things about her books, so when I saw this one on netgalley my interest was already piqued. Add in the fact that in talks about an issue that I care a good amount about, bullying, and I couldn't resist requesting it.

At first I was worried about this book. I felt so sorry for our main character Noelle. She was in a pretty bad situation with her mom and she gets bullied a lot. I could see how she would have given up fighting at this point. It takes so much energy and makes you wonder if it's even worth it if it hasn't worked before. But I couldn't help but be annoyed when she found it so hard to believe that a guy actually liked her and kept thinking that she wasn't good enough. But then I realized that this is the result that bullying can have. It has the ability to take away all self worth, and that was a tough thing to see.

My only complaint about the book would be that at points it makes it seem like Noelle needs Julian there to make her happy and her life bearable. That he will be her savior and protect her at all costs. Sure, I thought he was a pretty good love interest, but he wasn't very developed so I didn't form any attachments. Thankfully, Noelle is able to make her own self happy without the constant assistance of Julian and proved herself to be very kick ass.

Overall I think this book was a great lesson on bullying without is looking very much like a lesson on bullying. Although the romance wasn't the great, it showed Noelle how worthwhile she is, so it served it's purpose. If you love it when people take a stand, read this book.