WINNING WILL MAKE YOU FAMOUS. LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.
In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.
This book is definitely the best I have read in a long time. I have always had a thing for dystopia/science fiction, but the Hunger Games blew all the others out of the water! It was so refreshing to read a book where the beautiful girl (who doesn't think she is) falls for the "dark and mysterious" bad boy but there's this whole dystopian plot twist and so she joins the rebellion, but nothing is as bad as it seems blah blah blah.
BUT I was saying, the Hunger Games was amazing; I read it in about 4 days, which is a record for me! The whole thing was electrifying and intense: the characters (loved them all), the setting (brilliant) and the plot. Especially the plot! It had me guessing all the time about was going to happen next, and I was practically always wrong.
Katniss was a great main character; she was focused on what she wanted and her need to survive was very real and believable. She was the kind of girl I'd be friends with! It was refreshing (as I said earlier) to see her not focused on boys, but on more important things (I'm not saying that romance isn't important!). Her relationships with Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, Prim, Effie, Madge, Cinna and her mother were all wonderful, (especially with Peeta, my new favourite male character!) and I especially liked her relationship with Rue, despite Rue's tragic end that left me emotional!
The Capitol's cruelty was horrifying to read about, but it was extremely well written (as was the whole novel) and Suzanne Collins's idea was original and thought-provoking. I'm currently reading Catching Fire and I'm officially a Hunger Games convert! I can't wait for the film!
Look out for reviews of Catching Fire and Mockingjay in the immediate future!
Rating: A* (exceptional!)
Betray your family or your first love... what would you choose?
Evie can't believe her luck when she meets Peter - a handsome, mysterious ex-GI who served with her stepfather in the war. But when she falls for Peter, she finds he has dark secrets, and a strange control over her parents. When a shocking death occurs, Evie's world is shattered. Torn between her family and the man she loves, Evie must betray someone. The question is... who?
This book took me AGES to read. I think it was because I was trying to take in every word and every phrase and every sentence, to try and make it add up in the end, because I found that the littlest things were essential to the plot, and appearances were very deceptive.
This book intrigued me right from the start. The first chapter opens to Evie in a hotel room with her mother. Why are they there? What has happened? What is going on? And then the story bursts right in on Evie's family: Joe, her stepfather, Beverly, her very attractive, glamorous mother, and Grandma Glad, her battleaxe grandmother. They all live in Gladys's house in Queens, New York, and what follows is a startling, yet thrilling story.
Evie was a great character. She is possibly one of my favourite book main characters in a long time. Yes, at first, she was naive, but aren't all fifteen year olds? I fell for Peter just as Evie did; he was charming and wonderful and just so incredibly handsome. Evie kept me at a distance, but purposefully, as Judy Blundell clearly didn't want to give the plot away. The plot twisted and turned and there were many surprises along the way, and the massive plot shock in the middle made me reel. The final pages were emotional, but I loved reading Evie's character development, the way she had to grow up, the realizations that she made about the adults around her, and the way she discovered the truth that had been there all along, but that maybe she'd purposefully overlooked.
I understand why she lied. I understood her motivations and her realizations and her loyalty not only to her family, but to Peter also, and the ending blew me away.
Rating: A+
I'm Annabel. I'm the girl who has it all. Model looks, confidence, a great social life. I'm one of the lucky ones. Aren't I?
My 'best friend' is spreading rumors about me. My family is slowly falling apart. It's turning into a long, lonely summer, full of secrets and silence.
But I've met this guy who won't let me hide away. He's one of those intense types, obsessed with music. He's determined to make me listen. And he's determined to make me smile. But can he help me forget what happened the night everything changed?
When I read Just Listen, I was going through my 'I won't read anything' phase, where I didn't read books, or magazines, or really anything. But one day I was out shopping and in a bookstore, and so I decided to buy this one, because I liked the sound of it from the blurb. Actually, it sounded amazing. So I went home, and read it, and this book basically got me reading again, and I haven't stopped since.
From the outset, Annabel looks like she has the perfect life. Now, Annabel was a great character who I really found to be relatable and extremely likable, even though at first I thought I wouldn't like her, because she wouldn't be the kind of girl who I would be friends with. So, something terrible happened at the end of year party, and Annabel can't forget it, and it seems that her 'best friend' Sophie can't either. Let me tell you something: that Sophie is a bitch. Oh, the times I wanted to shake her and slap her and tell her to get a grip. But that's writing for you. The twist of what happened at the party didn't come together until practically the end, and I was like "OMG!" and it really took me by surprise!
On the first day back at school, Annabel finds herself alone, having alienated her ex-best friend Clarke, and Sophie is calling her names on sight. Then, she meets Owen, a loner and outsider who is obsessed with music. All types of music, even random stuff like Gregorian chants and classical stuff and techno and rock and screeching violins. Owen was fantastic!
Basically, this novel blew me away, and Sarah Dessen's writing is astounding. She really makes you feel like you're in the book, feeling everything that her main character is feeling, and she describes everything and it's just WOW. More Sarah Dessen reviews/love-ins are coming soon!
Rating: A+
A boy, a girl, and the possibility of something real...
Seniors in high school, Sara and Tobey couldn't be more different. She wants to get into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara's other goal is to find true love, so when popular Dave asks her out, she's thrilled. But Tobey always creeps into her thoughts. Lucky for Sara, one of Tobey's goals is also to make her fall in love with him. Told in alternating points of view, Sara and Tobey's real connection will have everyone rooting for them from the minute they meet!
The blurb of When It Happens also features a Kirkus review, which says "Chick lit for girls who think". I think this summarizes this novel perfectly, as it was a quick, yet well thought-out read that I really enjoyed. It is different from normal chick-lit because, again, Susane Colasanti's books feature deep topics, and have, dare I say it, intelligent protagonists, like Sara, who I really identified with, because not only was she smart, but she wasn't distracted from what was important in her life and knew what she wanted.
I bought this in San Francisco, and it was a fast-paced read (I read it in a day or two). Susane's writing really captured me and I like how her novels revolve around fate and true love, without making them sappy or annoying or predictable.
Overall, a fantastic read from an author who's other books I am looking out for!
Rating: A
I've noticed something recently in (mostly) contemporary YA. In fantasy/paranormal/dystopia you can get away with weird names, but in contemporary YA, which is supposed to be REALISTIC, I see these female main characters getting guys' names. Examples?
RYAN(!!)
MCLEAN(!!)
HUDSON(!!)
I mean, really??? Who calls their daughter Hudson? (I apologize to any female with this name!) Or Ryan?!?! Some names, like Alex or Spencer or Parker or Courtney, you can get away with, but some just take it too far. Why can't contemporary authors call their characters something ordinary like Jessica or Hannah or Laura? Kudos to authors like Elizabeth Scott and Susane Colasanti, who use well-known first names in their novels. Trust me, this makes novels far more relatable to and their situations more lifelike, and so therefore they sell more copies!!
*rant over*
although, I do have a fondness for the name Eddie, as used by Courtney Summers in "Fall for Anything" :)
Love, A
(aka thebiggestbookshelf)
There's a difference between falling and letting go.
Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after? So why is she so unhappy?
It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: she's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect guy?
But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in - and as Lauren's craving for Evan and, moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce - Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice... before one is made for her.
It took me quite a while to read this and to think about what I thought of it. So, here goes:
In life we don't always make the right choices, or even when we have made what we perceived to be the 'right' choice, it ends up being the one you should have avoided at all costs. Lauren made bad choices: I accept that. I make bad choices, and I'm nowhere near perfect either. And although I understood her and what she did and what she thought, there was something in me that didn't like her. I didn't relate to quite a lot of her personality, I didn't like the choices that she made, and sometimes I thought she was stupid and annoying and I kind of wanted to punch her. I hate that she cheated. I like to think that I would never do such a thing. Lauren kept saying she was wrong and she knew it was wrong and she felt awful to Dave when she cheated! And yet SHE STILL KEPT DOING IT! Arghhh! That was exasperating!!
I liked Dave. Was I supposed to? Even though I knew that she was really meant to be with Evan and I loved their relationship - once I actually started to think of Evan as a person and not kind of like a two-dimensional cardboard cut-out - I still liked Dave. He was a really great guy, if maybe a little obsessive about how perfect Lauren and their relationship was, and I kind of thought that Lauren WAS stupid to give him up. Even though she and Evan were adorable. But still. Dave wasn't perfect, even though he was perceived to be. He had a few little flaws that were noticeable, like he didn't talk to Lauren when he saw her with Evan, and even though I knew he could tell that Lauren wasn't "fine" like she always said she was, he never dug deeper.
I didn't get why Lauren and Dave didn't talk. She obviously wanted more from their relationship and I know he was religious and all, but she could have just talked to him. Dave was slightly annoying in that sense, that he didn't see that his girlfriend wanted different things, but I still really liked him.
The secondary characters were brilliant. Evan was kinda sweet, and Gail was great. Even Katie was a good friend, despite Lauren's difficulties with her, and I also liked Lauren's dad. It was quite emotional at the end when they finally talked about Lauren's mom!
Overall, Bloom was a engaging read and the plot did keep me interested, but Lauren was a bit of a let down, to be honest. But she was a real character, and not a stereotype, which maybe just saved this novel.
Rating: B
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.
I was in one of the many Borders' branches in Las Vegas last summer when a sales assistant stacking shelves asked me what books I liked. Then she recommended me this one. I read it in about a day, and I enjoyed it so much. Grace's voice really struck me - as did Sam's. They were both lovely characters and I immediately searched the west coast of America to find the sequel, Linger. Maggie Stiefvater writes amazing books, but this series is by far my favourite. It's a great mix of fantasy, mystery and romance that kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. I recommended it to all my friends and quite a few of them have read it, which is wonderful. The secondary characters weren't as involved as they could have been, however, and I found Grace's parents really annoying and self-centered, but maybe I was supposed to feel that about them. Overall, a breathtaking and outstanding read by Maggie Stiefvater, and I loved the artwork inside the cover.
Rating: A
