Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent (Divergent Series #2)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 95% or A
Buy It: Amazon 

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

My Thoughts::

I loved Divergent so much that it took my a long time to finally read its sequel, Insurgent. Book in trilogies, sagas, and series seem to want to stretch the books out for as long as possible, and since this book would be in the middle, I was worried that it would be dull. However, that was definitely not the case.

Almost every faction in the book started to really get on my nerves, even the factionless. None of them were seeing the big picture and just wanted to preserve themselves, even though as readers we could see that they were doomed. I was happy though that we get to know all of the factions better in this book. We're able to see more differences and similarities between them. This added dimension to the choices that the factions made as a group, and even individually.

Tris is kind of caught up in herself in this book. She tries to see passed the bullshit of some characters and wants to get to the bottom of things, and she does this eventually. But first we had to deal with her too trusting or too wary attitude. She would get suspicious, but about the wrong people or for the wrong reasons. It made the book a bit frustrating to read but it also added tension. And to Tris's credit, even I wasn't sure who to trust. I was very surprised by some of the actions of characters that I thought I could trust

The plot thickened so much in this sequel. We finally get to learn the motives of Erudite and get the even bigger plot of why they are all there in factions in the first place and what is outside of the fence. The next book can NOT come soon enough! Seriously, there was so much racing through my mind. The last book better be really thick with details. I don't care if I like any of the characters in the last book, the plot is shaping up way too well for me to care!

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.

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories

 

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's top ten is...

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories (waiting in line for a new release, meeting an author, or some sort of great experience with a particular book that was unlike others)

1. Breaking Dawn release party at Borders. That was the first time I ever preordered and the only release party that I had been to. It was so fun to be around other fans and playing trivia games.

2. Preordering The Fault in Our Stars. I was so excited to get a signed copy because John Green is my favorite author.

3. I love the release of every new book in the Gone Series by Michael Grant. I feel like the fan base is small enough and excited enough that it's really personal.

4. Reading You Maybe and If We Kiss by Rachel Vail. They are what entered me into the YA world.

5. Reading the Pretty Little Liars Series since 7th grade with my best friend. Oh my goodness, those books were such a fantastic mystery and made great discussions!