Book Review: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi

Summary via Goodreads:  Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew - about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam - was wrong.

Review: This book, being the conclusion to a series that has generated so much hype was much anticipated by myself and everyone else. I loved this novel, it was an absolute privilege to read such a powerful story. This book makes me so happy because it wrapped everything up and Mafi does such an incredible job at keeping things ambiguous until the very end.

      Over the course of the Shatter Me trilogy Mafi's writing style has started a conversation among readers and writers alike, the way she describes things and leeks her main character, Juliet's, mental state through every single word, sentence and chapter is incredible and cannot be overlooked. I adore the way these books are written and how well the entire plot is executed.

      What a wonderful way to end a trilogy and complete a story that has captivated all of us for so long. I myself finished this novel in a matter of hours, foregoing anything else that needed doing in favour of reading this. It is such perfection to read. a 5/5 star rating for me.

Quotes I love: “Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures.
No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.”
          
“And we are quotation marks, inverted and upside down, clinging to one another at the end of this life sentence. Trapped by lives we did not choose.” 

“His hands are holding my cheeks, and he pulls back just to look me in the eye and his chest is heaving and he says, "I think," he says, "my heart is going to explode," and I wish, more than ever, that I knew how to capture moments like these and revisit them forever.

Because this.

This is everything.”  
 

Book Review: The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft''s epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical-born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
Aoife Grayson''s family is unique, in the worst way-every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.
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     I love books about crazy people. It's one of my favourite things to read about. This book was no different I really enjoyed it. It was hard for me to get through because I wasn't really into that type of book at the time, but I still loved it. The author did i really good job of setting up the world that we travel through with Aoife and her friends in this book, which was something that I really liked.
     Something that was strange to me was the time line of the book. They talk about the 20th century, but they act as if it is before that. Almost as if our age of technology never even happened because everyone went crazy.
     I loved the characters in this novel though, they are all so smart and funny--espically the love interest who is so rugged and smart! These characters I felt like were perfect for the job of assiting Aofie in this journey. All the people just fit together in a great way. The ending of this book was really goos and it made me very excited to read the next one.
     This book is something that you really need to pay attention to all the way through, though, just so you know. Because I'm the type of person who tends to just skip through the description and head right for more dialog, I was unable to do that with this book though.
     The sequel is called The Secret Garden and it is currently in stores!

Book Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Perice

Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She''s determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls'' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett''s only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they''ve worked for?
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     This book is a really well done re-imagining of red riding hood. It contains really key elements from the orignal story but it is, in itself, its own book. The way the author does well with jumping from Scarlet and March's characters and keeping us informed on both of their lives and personal thoughts.
     I don't have anything to really say about this book that is bad, I liked every second of it and I will definitly be buying mose of the author books as i come across them.

Book Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she's about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights' most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn't want-and couldn't escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine's diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There's comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal's antique pages-until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine's words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.
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     I went into this book expecting not to like it at all. But I got through it in two days, I could not put it down for a second! I really found myself into it and being unable to wait and see what happens next! I was on the edge of my seat for this whole book and I was really happy to have picked this book up when I saw it.
     In other review I had seen, people had said the found Andi to be an annoying, sad and depressing character. I didn't find that in the least, I found her story interesting and something that really caught my attention. Her struggle was something that made my heart break for her, but I was rooting for her the entire time and could not wait for her to just be happy again! The love interest in this book is just so not typical that it's really interesting the way the author chose him and his personality to fit perfectly with Andi's.
     Jennifer Donnelly is someone who I had not heard of before this book, but when I began to read I just fell in love with the author's style of writing, it was so cool and so interesting the way she just described Andi's feelings towards herself and the rest of the world was incredible and really spoke to me as a reader.
     I do not like books about reincarnation or when the character finds the diary and all of a sudden they're connected some how. But this book is something that was so unlike the one's that I had read previously. BUT, the 'time travel' portion of this book is literally 50 pages, tops. So that wasn't a problem to me because it isn't why I bought the book in the first place but it could be a problem for others who thought that that was what they wanted to read.
This book totally get's a 5/5 stars from me though!

Book Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

When Clara Gardner learns she's part angel, her entire life changes. She now has a purpose, a specific task she was put on this earth to accomplish, except she doesn't know what it is. Her visions of a raging forest fire and a mysterious boy lead her to a new high school in a new town but provide no clear instruction. As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between the boy in her vision and the boy in her life, between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. . . . When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

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     This books was a really fast read for me once I got into it. I really enjoyed it. It was a new take on the angel aspect of Young Adult books. Clara is a very smart, funny and all around whity character in this novel. I enjoyed seeing things from her prospective in this novel because with her, it was never really boring. Other characters in the book were really well done in the fact that they each were so seperate and so different you just enjoyed the diversity in their personalitly's.
     The town that this book is set in is a sweet town that is very tight knit and is not keen to let insiders into their group. It reminds me a lot of my own town, which really made me smile because i can definitly relate to them and their attidude.
     Although the beginning of this story was kind of confusing because Clara knew more than we did and it was hard to work through that during the first few pages. It started almost like a sequel because I felt like we were supposed to know everything about her world already and we didn't. But eventually that evened out and we all were caught up in her life.
     The twist at the end of the novel regarding the love interest was one this still makes me smile as I write this review. It's one that I think you will really enjoy overall because it just ties everything up really nicely and makes it so nothing is left out of the novel.

     I really enjoyed this book and I reccomend it to anyone! The sequel Hallowed is out currently in Hardcover.

Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

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.

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        It has been so long since I have read a good vampire story. Since Twilight, I've been craving something good to devour! When I picked up this book, I was so excited to read it. I read it in two days and LOVED it. It was nothing like I anticpated though, which was so good for me! Everything was so unexpected, which made it all the more interesting.

       Allison's character is so brilliant even though she came from nothing, you were smiling the whole way through with her as she came to terms with what she was and evidently grew up more as the book went on. The way she handled her conflicts in the book was something that I really came to admire about her throughout this story, as she breaks away from her maker and is forced to do things on her own.

     The world building in this book is fantastic, honestly, it is like being transported into another time. With Julie Kagawa, this can be expected for those who have read her Iron Fey series, we know that she has the power to create a world so unlike any other.

     I am very pleased with how this book turned out and cannot wait for the sequel which hits shelves in 2013.

Book Review: Saving June my Hannah Harrington

                      

Everyone's sorry. But no one can explain why. Harper Scott's older sister, June, took her own life a week before high school graduation, leaving Harper devastated. So when her divorcing parents decide to split up June's ashes, Harper steals the urn and takes off cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going—California.
Enter Jake Tolan, a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession…and an unknown connection to June. When he insists on joining them, Harper's just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanor and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what Harper needs. Except…Jake's keeping a secret that has the power to turn her life upside down—again.

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       Hey Guys! I know its been a while but I've finially caught up on my reviews! So, I loved this book. I loved the characters and the setting. The way we follow Harper and her transformation from a confrused, angry and emotional teen to someone with a grasp of the life she used to have. I didn't find this book in any way depressing though--if that's what you guys inferred from the description. It's actually more focoused on Harper's life.
       Repeatedly in the book, Harper says that this trip she is taking is for June to have peace, but you all come to understand that this trip is as much for Harper as it is for her sister. It made me cry a little at the end--but in a good way! Because things were resovled and it left you feeling good about the book,you really feel kind of resigned at June's death and you can close the book knowing that Harper is feeling the same as you. In a book like this, there's something comforting about that.