Review: Need by Carrie Jones

title: Need

written by: Carrie Jones

series: Need #1

genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

page count: 306

publication date: December 23rd, 2008

publisher: Bloomsbury

Pain shoots through my head. Fireworks. Explosions. All inside my brain. The white world goes dark and I know what's about to happen.

Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.

She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.

This book had me at its first page. No, with its first word, even! Zara's obsession with phobias was genius and I loved it! However, somehow I lost my interest in reading it halfway. It all started off so amazing, but the whole idea just got boring after 200 pages or so.

Zara White has just lost her stepfather, and the author really focused on that. I have never lost a (step)parent so I can't imagine how it would feel like. I just thing it would be so empty, like a place that can't be filled. And that's how the author described it. Zara is not dealing with her emotional pain, and that's why her mother sent her to the mother of her late stepfather. Did this help her? Not really. Did it change her life? Hell yeah!

The mysterious stalker wasn't that mysterious. it was pretty obvious who and what he was. But that might just be me. I ususally don't have a hard time figuring out a books' plot. It made the book less interesting to me, and that was my main issue with this book. But I understand that as an author it's nearly impossible to find the balance between predictable and random. Too random will make everyone go 'Dafuq just happened' but predictable is equal to boring.

The characters weren't very kick-butt, but they weren't bad either. Zara White did impress me with her knowledge of phobias. Really, there are some crazy phobias out there, and Zara knows them all! The chapter names really made me enjoy the book more. They gave away a little bit about what was going to happen, but not to much. I love books with chapter names, it's so mucht better than just 'chapter 1'!

I would recommend this book to teenage girls who are looking for a quick and fun read. I give it 2.5 stars, but I might check out the next book in the series, I will give it a shot, because the story still has a lot of potential, as it was quite original and funny at multiple points.

Happy reading!

Mar

Review: A Stiff Kiss by Avery Olive

title: A Stiff Kiss

written by: Avery Olive

genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

page count: 247

publication date: February 12th, 2012

publisher: Crescent Moon Press

Who knew kissing a corpse would change everything?
Death always hits Xylia Morana too close to home, but she likes it that way. She hangs out with the terminally ill, attends random funerals, and every so often, when the weather is right, she sleeps in open graves.
But after Landon Phoenix, the high school hottie, dies in Xylia's arms, she sneaks into the morgue to say goodbye. How could she know stealing a kiss from his corpse would wake him up?
With Landon returned to the living and suddenly interested in Xylia, life has new meaning. But what Xylia doesn't realize is that by kissing Landon back to life, she's thrown Life and Death off balance. The underworld demands a body, and it might just have to be Xylia's this time.

 

**The author provided me with an ecopy of A Stiff Kiss. I was not rewarded for this review with many or any other means of value.**

A Stiff Kiss was so much better than I expected it to be! The book looked not extremely interesting to me at first, but once I opened it and started reading I just fell in love with the whole concept, the characters and the oh-so-addictive story.

Xylia is a goth girl, always dressed in black. She loves to hang out on graveyards, is always close to death. But she also has her girly side. She is in love with Landon, the most popular boy in school. Whe he dies while playing a soccer game, she kind of loses it. As close as she always is to the dead, she is to his dead body. She goes to the morgue and kisses Landon's dead body on the lips. And that's when the ultimate drama sets in. Landon wakes up from death, and the balance between Life and Death is messed up. 

It might sound like a cliché that Xylia -the outcast- is in love with Landon -the hottest guy in her school- but their story is anything but cliché. Landon does partly remember what happened, and he knows that he owes his 'second life' to Xylia, but doesn't understand it, neither does anyone. It is a whole mystery; how is it possible to wake up from death. 

As the story develops, my emotions took over. It was just so cute and cruel at the same time. Just as Landon and Xylia started to really get to know each other, they found out one of them was going to be taken by the Underworld, that demanded a body to maintain the balance between Life and Death. The story was so bittersweet it made me cry at multiple points, and that is quite unique, as I usually don't cry a lot while reading.

This book's writing style fitted  the story perfectly. It is so much better to read romantic parts from 2 points of view, it gives you way moer insight into everything, and makes you feel as is you are standing right there in the middle of the story, next to Landon and Xylia.

Concluding, A Stiff Kiss is a YA novel that should get way more attention, as I believe every lover of PNR will love this novel. The characters were amazing, the story was super interesting and my emotions took over multiple times while reading. I give this novel 4.5 stars!

 Love, 

Mar

Other reviews of 'A stiff Kiss'

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Charade by Cambria Hebert

title: Charade
written by: Cambria Hebert
series: Heven and Hell #2
genre: young adult, paranormal romance
page count: 331
publication date: May 18th, 2012
my rating: 5/5 Stars!

Dying at the hands of a psycho was a shock. Having my life returned to me by an angel was incredible. Being named a Supernatural Treasure and being given Sam as my guard was pretty darn awesome. Acquiring a debt for it all - well, I should have seen it coming. Now here we are, fighting demons from hell, caring for a boy that I just don't trust and traveling to faraway places to return a treasure to its rightful place. Nothing is as it seems. Everyone wears a mask, everyone puts on a charade. It's up to us to separate the truth from the lies and reality from fiction. A hard task when my new reality involves fallen angels, witches and dragons...and did I mention hell? Anchoring me down through it all is Sam. Sam who must face tragedies of his own and is put to the test again and again. If we fail in our task, life as we know it - life as you know it - will end. Forever.

This review includes spoilers for Masquerade, the first part of this series. For my spoiler-free review of Masquerade, please click THIS LINK.

"Knowing that there is a charade somehow going on around us - I just haven't been able to see post it."

Pretty cover alert!! I saw that Charade was published, and only then I looked at the cover of it. And I was like; OMG it's Sam. He's pretty! I need this book now! (and more fangirling stuff). So I read it and I loved it even more than I loved Masquerade. And that is one of my favorite books of the first half of 2012! If you haven't read it you should totally check it out, it really deserves more readers and fans!

As soon as you start to read Charade, you are thrown into the story. No long introduction, but just BAM! book 2 starts. And that's amazing. Long introductions are easy for people that haven't read the first book(s) or people who have forgotten about it. I don't belong to either group for this book, so luckily there was no long introduction. Heven and Sam are still in love, and their romance is so cute! But there is the task Sam and Heven have to fulfill that makes it all so difficult. They have a scroll that has to be returned. That doesn't sound as a very hard task, but most definitely is. The whole world is depending on it. If the scroll falls into the wrong hands, life as we know it will end! Demons are haunting Heven and everyone she and Sam like. Life has never been more difficult.

This book kept on surprising me. The plot had some major unexpected twists and turns, and my interest was at its highest level throughout the whole book. All the time I was predicting what would happen, and all the time I was wrong. It might all sound cliché. In the first book they meet, in the second book their love is threathened by an impossible task, but this novel surely is not as cliché as it sounds. Not at all!

Heven is a kick ass heroine! I mean, Katniss like kick ass! She doesn't fight a lot, but at least she wants to, which really impresses me. Most of today's female YA characters are just good girlfriends, always listening to their boyfriends, but Heven is different. She really likes Sam, but also chooses what she wants to do for herself, not only what he wants her to do. And that's what I love about her, that she is so strong.


I give this book 5 stars because it's super original, highly entertaining and full of romance and suspense. Is there anything else a good book needs? Make sure to check it out some time soon!


Love,
Mar

Rapture by Lauren Kate

title: Rapture
written by: Lauren Kate
series: Fallen #4
genres: young adult, paranormal romance
pagecount: 452
publication date: June 21st, 2012

The sky is dark with wings . . .
And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.
In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates.
But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle . . .
In the fight for Luce, and for Love, who will win?

"Tell them it's happening. That an endgame has been initiated"

First of all I want to say the most positive thing about this book. The Cover. I abso-freakin'-lutely love the covers of the fallen series' books! Their covers, together with the interesting plot of the first book, lured me into reading this series. And to be honest, I'm glad it's done... 

Luce and Daniel's romance is weird, and I don't like it. It's so enormously cheesy! Daniel's love is 'everlasting' and Luce's love is destroying her. Literally! But their romance is the most important thing in the universe. The difference between good and bad. One tiny decision, and it could ruin everything.


There was some action in this book, which I kinda liked, but most of it ended with Luce and Daniel kissing because they didn't lose each other and whatever. But I guess some people like that stuff. Not me, I'm not that kind of girl...


The struggle between good and evil is a commonly written about subject. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. With the fallen series, I'm not sure whether I like it or not. I love the whole fallen angel thing, since they are such mysterious creatures, and their struggle between good and evil is fascinating, but still, that the entire series is centered around a tragic romance is not what I was looking for.


Since this was the conclusion to the Fallen series, I was expecting answers to all my questions. And I had a lot of them! Most of them were about Cam, Arianne and Roland, my 3 favorite characters from this series. But I didn't get my answers. And that's what dissatisfied me a lot about this book. I was expecting more.


Again, the cheesy romance was my main problem. Here's a short quote that states the whole problem:
"All he knew was that being seperated from Lucinda was not a punishment that he could endure. They had to be together."


Altogether I will give this book 2 stars. A book I would recommend only to the fallen fandom and other people who have read and liked the other installments in this series.


Love,
Mar

Giveaway (INT) + review: Florence by Ciye Cho

Today is the release day of Florence, a YA mermaid book written by Ciye Cho. You can read more about it in the blurb. Firstly I will review it, to give you a first impression of the book. Secondly. the author was so nice he wanted to do a giveaway of an ecopy of Florence. If you are interested, you can enter :) Enjoy!


title: Florence
written by: Ciye Cho
genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
release date: July 1st, 2012

Seventeen-year-old Florence Waverley is out of her depth. Literally. Kidnapped and taken below the waves to the mer world of Niemela, she is the ultimate gift for merman Prince Kiren: a human familiar tied to his side. But nothing is what it seems amid the beauty and danger of a dark ocean.


Every Niemelan has a role to play, from the mermaids who weave towers out of kelp to the warriors who fight sea monsters. But in trying to survive, Florence will end up in the middle of a war between the mer and the Darkness. A conflict that will push her between two brothers: Kiren, the charmer inexplicably drawn to both her and the monsters; and Rolan, the loner who has been pushing her away since the day they met. But in order to take a stand--and find out where she belongs--Florence will have to risk it all: her life, her heart... and her very soul.

After reading the first two chapters to see whether I should accept the author´s review request or not, I was completely hooked into this story. The main character, Florence, is one I could relate to very easy, which is one of the best things about this book. Also, it was about mermaids. I just read my first mermaid book, and I just fell in love with the whole mermaid thing. Mermaids really are fascinating beings!

The whole story starts with an introduction to Florence Waverly. She is not like the others, she doesn´t really look like they do, and above all, she doesn´t really feel ´home´. On a school trip, she gets kidnapped, and that´s where it gets interesting.

She is brought to Niemela, as a gift to Prince Kiren, but Kiren -and the other Niemelans- don't want her. After some time is is accepted, and she starts to live a normal life, except that it is under water. She finds out more and more about the world she now lives in, and about the Darkness, that might end the entire world under sea. She may even play a decisive role in the battle! 


Niemela is a wonderful world full of surprises, in which I'd love to live. Niemela, with every being living together in harmony, must be one of the greatest places you could possibly live. If only Niemela were a real life place, and I could breath underwater... 

The 2 boys in this book, Kiren and Rolan, both were extremely attractive, and if I were Florence I would be totally overwhelmed by them. The 'love triangle' , a phenomenon I usually don't like, was not annoying at all! It actually improved this book! Yay :)

The writing style of Ciye Cho is really nice to read. The book is not extremely difficult to read, but I still learned some English words from it, which I really like. It didn't take a very long time to read Florence. Actually, I was wishing for more when the book ended!

Altogether I give this book 4 stars, and I truly recommend you to buy it, or at least enter the giveaway to win it! A book everyone who likes paranormal romance, mermaids will love, and a fun read for all!

book trailer: 

the Giveaway

Do you want to read Florence, too? Please enter this giveaway. Don't leave your email address in the comments!

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about the author: 
Ciye Cho lives in Australia and works as a graphic designer. He writes YA novels in his free time--and his head is often lost in the clouds or some place far from reality...
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Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

title: Vampire Academy
written by: Richelle Mead
series: Vampire Academy #1
genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
page count: 332
publication date: August 16th, 2007
publisher: Razorbill

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...


Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Oh my, I had heard so much about Vampire Academy. Everyone had read it and loved it. Still I was worrying, what if I didn't like it? What if I found it to be too much like Twilight or House of Night. And it was another vampire book. Still, when I entered the book store and found some very cheap copies of the first 3 installments in this series, I couldn't resist buying them. So here I am, reading Vampire Academy, and falling in love with this series. Yes, I fell for it. I fell hard.


The one thing I loved most about this book was Rose. Rose Hathaway is the most kick-butt character I have ever encountered while reading. Even more kick-butt than Katniss. And Katniss won the Hunger Games! Rose is the best protector ever. Hard from the outside, and caring from the inside. And I still am not sure which side of her I like best. Probably the kick-butt side of her :)


Secondly, all other characters were so amazing! Lissa, the Moroi princess and Rose's best friend, can be arrogant, but most of the times she is nice and herself. Her royality hasn't turned her into a royal bitch! Then there were all the other royal people, and they were royal bitches. All of them! And of course there was Dimitri *fangirl alert* Oh my gosh. Dimitri seems like the perfect boyfriend. Hot, good fighter, nice to girls, all of it. I just kept on forgetting that he was 7 years older than Rose, and that they shouldn't be together because they should.


The plot of Vampire Academy was interesting and full of suspence. First I had a hard time figuring out what exactely Moroi, Strigoi and Dhampirs were, but with my awesome reading skills (ahem) and Greek skills (yes, I have been taught some Ancient Greek) I quickly got it. No single use of vampire in this book -except the title- is a pro. I have read too much Vampire books, and they don't interest me anymore. More zombies please?


I can't really discuss the writing style with you because I read this book in Dutch (I should have read it in English, I know)


Altogether Vampire Academy is a great Young Adult novel all teen girls will like (even I liked it!), and I will definitely read the next books in this series.


I rate this book 4/5


Love, Mar

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

title: Lies Beneath
written by: Anne Greenwood Brown
series: Lies Beneath #1
genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, merfolks
pages: 303
publisher: Delacorte books for Young Readers
publication date: June 12th, 2012

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

First of all, what a beautiful cover!! Secondly, Lies Beneath was my first book about mermaids ever, so I had no idea what to expect. I have never given much attention to mermaids, the only mermaid thing I have ever seen on TV in Disney's the Little Mermaid and the movie Aquamerine. I was expecting all mermaids to be like Ariel, all nice and friendly and girly, but only after reading the first chapters I was sure I was 100% wrong about them. They were badass killer mermaids!

Right after opening this book I was sucked into the story, told from Calder's -a merman- point of view. Calder was a great character, although he reminded me of Edward from the Twilight Saga at some parts of the book. The only thing he does is lying, not because he wants to, but for his sisters, who are definitely more kick-ass than he is. I absolutly love the whole woman on top thing :) Maris is the kind of annoying, but also the most dangerous of the mermaids. She wants to avenge her mother's death, and is prepared to do everything for that. Then there is the sweet one of the 3 sisters, Tallulah, and to me she seemed a porcelain doll, breakable but extremely beautiful.

The plot of this stories was very original. Killer mermaids, teenage romance, family drama, the whole package! Some passages made me smile, others made me sad. But at the end some of them just made no sense, and even annoyed me. I can't say much about it without spoiling, so I won't... But I was not very happy about it. 

Anne Greenwood Brown's writing style is not very special, but pleasant to read. It was not extremely hard, so I didn't have to pick up a dictionary every minute, and it had little pieces of poetry in it. I really love poetry, although I am really bad at understanding it... Furthermore, it was written from a single POV, which I really liked. Most of the books I read are written from multiple points of view, which sometimes confuses me. 

I give 3.5 stars to Lies Beneath, a very original YA romance with something for everyone, which I would recommend especially to people who have already read some other mermaid books and are looking for another gread mermaid book.

Love, Mar

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. This was done via Netgalley, an organization that connects readers with publishers and distrubutes eGalleys. I did not recieve any money or other payment for this review.*

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

title: City of Lost Souls
written by: Cassandra Clare
series: The Mortal Instruments (TMI) #5
genre: Young Adult, paranormal romance
pages: 520
publication date: May 8th, 2012
published by: Simon and Shuster


Don't read the blurb or this review if you haven't read the first 4 parts in this series and are intending to do so, there are some massive spoilers included in it, which I couldn't prevent using.

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.


No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?


Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.


And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

When I recieved this book I immediately started reading it, and I didn't put it down. At all. This book is dangerous for you! You will not eat, sleep or talk to anyone for as long as it takes you to finish it! Don't start reading it the night before finals. You'll fail! 


Clare has done it again! A whole new shadowhunter book, and some new massive turning points in the plot that kept on surprising me. How on earth can she think of this?! I try to explain TMI to my friends sometimes, but they don't get it. There are so many crazy things happening. I'm like: 'So there is this girl, and she is a shadowhunter. Then her mother is abducted by some evil guy who turns out to be her father. Then she meets this gorgeous boy, and she falls in love, and then he turns out to be her brother. Then there is this other boy she kisses. The first boy she loved isn't her brother after all, the second boy ís. He turns out to be evil, like her father. Then there is the best friend, who becomes a powerful vampire. And he is friends with some werewolf girl. Meanwhile, they save the world from demons a couple of times, meets some very strange people, gets some special powers, ... . Then they free her mother. The mother marries her best friend, who is a shadowhunter / werewolf. Then the boyfriend of the girl dies and is resurrected by the angel. But he is bound to the evil brother, who also died. They both live. -end of part 4 -" and they're like DAFUQ did you just say?!


Sometimes it annoys me that Clare's books are so crazy, sick. This is the 7th shadowhunter, and the idea is getting older and older. I love shadowhunters, don't get me wrong, but 7 books and 2 more that are coming soon is a little bit overdone.


The characters show development. Some just a little, some changed 100%. My feelings about certain characters definitely changed while I was reading this book! Some of them were acting enormously selfish 'in the name of love'. Give up your life for your lover's life is stupid. I mean, when you die either (s)he becomes extremely depressed and wishes (s)he had died, or (s)he doesn't give a  sh*t and just goes on with his/her life, so (s)he wasn't worth dying for. 


The thing with all the dramatic romance is the thing that really freaks me out about this book. Yeah, love exists, we know that. But seriously, it seems as if no-one can be single. Almost every possible combination of 2 has been used in one of the 5 books in this series. And the worst thing is, you read more bad than good things about their relationships. 


CoLS is told from multiple points of view, but still is very easy to read. I read it in a couple of hours only, which is pretty quick for me. Next book I so hope I can read parts from Magnus's point of view! He is like, the most awesome character of this whole series! Team Magnus <3


This book has got everything a TMI fan looks for, but it isn't the best part in the series. It is awesome, crazy and depressing and heartwarming at the same time. Yay for Magnus!


rating:
I have been thinking for a very long time about my rating. Finally I decided I would give it 5 stars. But only just... 


Whoa, longest review ever, and I still haven't put down all my feelings about this book... !
xo Mar

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

book: Shiver

written by: Maggie Stiefvater

series: Wolves of the Mercy Falls #1

genre: YA, Paranormal Romance

pages: 390

publication date: January 1st, 2009

publisher: Scholastic Press

first thoughts:

I read this book for the second time, and I still loved it, and decided to review it. Read it in 2 languages now, and I must say that English was the best one, as usual :) Also, there is a movie coming *hopefully...*^^ The cover of this book is so pretty! It's one of my all-time favourites :D I already reviewed #3 in the series, Forever.


the book: 
the cold.
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why.


the heat.
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace...until now.


the shiver.
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human—and Grace must fight to keep him—even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

my review:

This is one of those series that appears to have haters and super-lovers, but nothing in between of that. So I'm breaking that 'rule' and become one of those in-between'ers... 

The whole romantic love story totally kind of freaked me out at the beginning, when the girl is in love with a freaking wolf, but turned out to me ok when she fell in love with the boy. Actually, Grace was my main problem *and actually one of the only problems I had with this book* that bothered me. She seems Bella-ish in the first piece of the book. When you later find out that her character has depth and isn't annoying and whiny at all, she is a great character, but still... 

Sam, the wolf, is a totally loveable character, and I , of course, fell for him :s Really, he is one of those YA boys that isn't bad boyish, which is great. The best thing about the romance and characters in this book was that there is NO LOVE TRIANGLE *yeah, it's true, this book is truly amazing on that point* How great is that?! Thumbs up, Maggie Stiefvater!

The plot of this book includes something for everyone. It has action, romance and even something to laugh about. Still, there isn't happening a lot, but it didn't really matter to me, because the romance just totally made the story epic to me. And I don't even like romance :o

The plot of this story is nothing very special, but the way the story is told was just so good, that you could race through the pages. The story is almost poetic, and since some parts of Sam's POV are including song lyrics, they become even more poetic ^^ Too bad that it was impossible to translate it right :c Go English!

final thoughts:
A an amazing book filled with romance, some werewolves and important stuff about low temperatures in the colder part of America that is every teenage girls' dream


rating:
4 stars :)


movie news:
Check out the IMDb page of the movie for news *if there will be a movie etc.*:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520490/


xo Mar

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

book: The Immortal Rules
written by: Julie Kagawa
series? Blood of Eden #1
genre: dystopian, young adult, paranormal romance
pages: 485
publication date: April 24th, 2012
publisher: Harlequin Teen
source: ARC from Netgalley


first thoughts:
First of all I want to thank Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for giving me to oppotunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review. I devoured it! I had never read any of Julie Kagawa's books before, but this book made me realise that I seriously needed to start this series! Beautiful cover!

the book:
In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.


Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.


Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.


Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.


But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

my review:

This book was definitely worth the anticipation! I couldn't really find anything I completely disliked in this book. Great characters, great plot, great writing style, beautiful cover. Oh, now I know what I didn't like. The wait for the next book... Cliffhanger alert!

Allie is a new YA heroine. She kicks butt and is a hot vampire chick. Amazing, right? She has to become the thing she despises most, or die. And her choice to become somthing she hates shows that she's a fighter, she won't give up. Also, it shows that she is a survivor. Allie is a great role model, smart, great sense of humor, very human -even though that's impossible for her- and no fear of what's coming. The other characters were amazing, too. They're looking for Eden, the 'holy' city where you can live without the vamps, and are very religious. They believe in a world without vampires, a better world. I loved Zeke, even though some of his actions really pissed me off...But everyone makes mistakes, right?

The plot with had many interesting turns to keep it a nice and anything-but-boring read, even though it was almost 500 pages. The dystopian world displayed in this is horrifying. A world ruled by vampires, and with  crazy zombie-like monsters with vampire powers lurking around every corner of the abandoned streets, trying to grab you and eat you? No thanks! Then I'd prefer to live in a world like we live in now! I start to see a pattern in all YA distopia I read, Lots of horrible futures in which the way of living seems to be returning to the way the people lived around 1700-1900. Lack of technology, lack of food and a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Not that I don't like it, just that I always thought dystopia should be great, and amazing, so that people want to live in the future, or invent the future. *I was a few years younger and many books earlier when I thought that way*

Vampires get a whole new image in this book. They are displayed as kings, rulers of the world, but also as nice people, who don't like to drink blood, but just have to do that in order to survive. These new vampires were very interesting, altough they didn't win it from Stoker's dracula. No vampire can win it from Dracula.

A wonderful new series filled with action, romance, hard decisions and blood-red tears, with a new heroine that every reader will love. 

rating:

5 stars - highly recommended!

xo Mar

The Vampire diaries the Awakening and the Struggle by L.J. Smith

book: The Awakening and the Struggle
written by: L.J. Smith
series? The Vampire diaries #1 & #2
genres: paranormal romance, young adult
pages: 492
publication date: July 26th, 2007
publisher: HarperTeen


first thoughts:
I loved the TV series *watching season 3 now* and I had been thinking about picking this book up for a long time, so when I walked into the library and I saw it on their shelves, I just couldn't leave it there. So I borrowed it. And I read it :) *wasn't that obvious*

the book:
Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.


Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.


Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.

my review:

Well, first of all, after seeing the TV series this was very confusing. The books were nothing like the TV series, but I think that was a good thing. Otherwise I'd already know what was going to happen and stuff, and now it was all one big surprise. Great!

The characters are great here, even though they are the usual love triangle. 

The standard recipe for a love triangle:

1) take a beautiful girl that can't choose between boy a) and boy b)

2) take 2 boys ( a and b) that both love the girl. One should be sweet and kind, and kind of boring. The other one, however, should be a total bad boy from the outside, who's actually sweet from the inside, but never shows. 

3) now add a lot of drama and awkwardness, and your love triangle is complete!

The love triangle in this book was very much like that, but I honestly didn't care. The amazing thing about the vampire diaries is that it includes vampires, witches and all other kinds of things, but still is easy to read and easy to process for your brains.
The first and second book both were equally great, IMO. I couldn't stop reading this.
I can't review part 2 properly without spoiling part 1, so I won't do that :s
Well, I prefered part 2 over part 1, which is very strange, because most of the times I don't like sequels at all, but this one was good, mainly because Damon was in it <3 *sigh*
The girl *Elena* was a little bit whiny at some parts of the book, but not annoyingly whiny, if you get what I mean. The love triangle in this book was not boring. It wasn't a triangle, actually, more like a 2 hot boys 1 hot girl book. Most of the times those books are just not my thing, but these ones definitely were!
After reading this, I watched a new episode of the Vampire Diaries, and I immediately saw things I had never seen, because of the new info the book had given to me. So that was awesometastic, because I love the tv show :)


A must for every The Vampire Diaries fan, and definitely not boring when you've already watched the series!


rating: 4.5 stars


xo Mar

Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

book: Deadly Little Lies
written by: Laurie Faria Stolarz
series: Touch #2
genres: young adult, romance
pages: 288
own / library / borrowed
publication date: November 6th, 2009
publisher: Hyperion books CA


first thoughts:
I have already read and reviewed Deadly Little Lies (Touch #1). *find it HERE* I recieved that book from Netgalley. I liked that book, altough I did not entirely fall in love with it. Still, I was very intersted in reading the sequel. So that's what I did :)

the book: 
Since Ben abruptly left town, Camelia has been studying everything she can about psychometry, and wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow rubbed off on her.

my review:

This book was not what I expected it to be... Again, the twilight-effect. More about that later ;)

The characters did develop a little, but not as much as characters usually develop between the first book and the sequel. There was an amazing character added to the series, which I can't really talk about without spoiling the book, so I won't...

There were some great plot twists, that kept the book a little interesting, but most of the book was just about the same topic repeated time after time, which is one of the things that bothered me about the first part in the series, too.

Now I will talk about the twilight-effect. In book 1 I said: "They become Chem (biology ) lab partners. The girl falls in love with the boy, even tough he is totally out of her league AND does only show how much he hates her. Then she figures out that there's somthing wrong with the boy but she just does not care and then she finds out that he kind-of-killed his ex and she still loves him" and now, in this book, the twilight-effect continued. This was just like New Moon. Ben *Edward* runs away from Camelia *Bella 2.0* and a new boy *Jacob* enters her life. The two boys don't like each other and stuff. Not that the girl attemps suicide in this book ;) Just that I keep on seeing the similarities, and how they keep on irritating me.

The writing style of the author and the pace of this book both were above average, and it was very easy to read this book. A quick and enjoyable read! It might not have worked out completely for me, but I'm sure that lots of other people will love this book. when I browsed through my friends who rated this book on goodreads, I saw mostly 4- and 5-star reviews :)

So yes, I get that others liked this book, but the twilight-effect kept on showing up and kept on annoying me throughout the book. Apart of that, the story wasn't even that bad c:

rating: 

2.5 stars

xo Mar

Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

book: Chosen
written by: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
series? House of night #3
genres: young adult, romance, fantasy
pages: 307
own / library / borrowed
publication date: March 1st, 2008
publisher: St. Martins press


note: This review will include spoilers for part 1 and 2 in the series. I did not review them. I did not hate, them, but did not love them, either. Just neutral, I guess :)

the book: 
Dark forces are at work at the House of Night and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-father in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres. But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…

review:

Okay, to be honest, I am getting a little tired with all the vampire stuff. *wow, did I really just type that? :o* Luckily, House of Night is not the usual vampire stuff. *okay, actually it is*

I stopped reading this series after part 2, but I picked up book 3 because one of my friends who doesn't like to read at all recommended it to me. And when someone doesn't like to read but still likes a book, it must be very good, right?

So the storie of Zoey, the super-annoying whiny girl / slut continues. She has got everything you can want as a vampire fledgling. She's got friends, she's healty and she's very powerful. Those 3 things make her very popular. Still, I think a real girl like her won't get any friends. She's so ho-ish. I mean, she's got 3 boyfriends :o *no, that's not a typo, I actually meant 3* And the funny thing is, they're all different species. One is human, one is fledgling and one is vampyre. She's so lucky *ahem* I mean, 3 boyfriends, and neither of them cares, even tough most of them know about each other. And then Zoey is there, and she knows she has to break up with at least 2 of them, and she just is so weak that she cant. I mean, she is the most powerful fledgling there is, but she cant just break up with 2 of her boyfriends? I mean, she won't lose her real boyfriend or something.. If everyone on that school were like her, there wouldn't be enough boys on the world to be their boyfriends. And that would be horrible, wouldn't it? :)

Okay but enough about Zoey. The actual story told in this book wasn't that bad c: Zoey's life gets more miserable, and I don't care, since I don't like her anyway. But it's her own problem. Who the Hell gets 3 boyfriends?! *sorry, it just freaked me out. A LOT*

There were the 3 boyfriends, Erik, Heath and Loren. Zoey should have gotten rid of Heath long before, but they are bound with their souls or something. Erik is the hot fledgling boy, and the one she should be with. He is the one that "knows her as she is, understands where she has been, accepts what she has become, and still allows her to grow" (Shakespeare ^^) And then there is Loren. He's the super hot TEACHER *goddamn Zoey* crushing on your teacher is not okay. Kissing your teacher is worse.

Back to the main story, that is mainly about the 3 boyfriends and the dead Stevie Rae, IMO. Okay, so Stevie Rae is not-quite-dead after all. *intersting twist in the plot*

Well, life at the house of night continues, and so does this series full of Drama. A quick read with lots of interesting twists in the plot and a great ending!

rating: 3 stars!

have you read the house of night series?

Love, Mar