Review: The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace

The Truth About You and Me

Amanda Grace

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you Flux and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.

Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.

There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.

The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

Review:

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm a letter writing nut. I love writing and receiving letters (hint hint). So I was quick to request this book as soon as I read the blurb on Netgalley (that, and because I follow Mandy on twitter and there was quite a lot of talk of it there.)

This book is written entirely in letters (three?) from Madelyn to Bennet. And because of that, there is this connection that you develop with Madelyn, because you're reading correspondence from one wounded person to another.

Right from the start, you can tell that this isn't going to be one of those books where everything works out in the end. No sunshine, rainbows, and Happily Ever After. A 16 year old falling in love with her teacher is a relationship that is doomed from the start.

The basic premise of the plot is that a relationship built on a lie can never last. How one small omission of truth can lead to such terrible consequences.

I loved the characters. Both of them were totally believable, Madelyn as a young girl succumbing under the weight of  her parents' expectations, and Bennet as the young teacher who knows a relationship with a student would put him in a compromising position.

There was an ache in my heart the entire time while I read this book (finished it in under 3 hours, it's a short read) and a weird feeling of emptiness when I finished it. Call me crazy, but even though the ending was predictable, I was hoping for a tearful re-union. Didn't happen. But it doesn't make the book any less likable, just makes it more believable.

I think I'll go write a letter now.

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Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares

Kendare Blake

Rating: 5 stars

It's over? So soon? Already? Nooooo! I want more Anna! I want more Anna and Cas!

No? Okay. =(

Anyways, I ate this book up yesterday and oh-my-bloody-heart-and-soul, what an amazing treat it was. Tormenting, exciting and downright adrenaline pumping. I could almost feel as if I was a part of everything that was happening to Cas and Anna.  Also, the surprises at the end were so good.

It could have been a teensy bit shorter, the pace a bit faster but I'm willing to look over that because the plot was as good as of Anna Dressed In Blood. A sequel that actually was at par with the first book, you don't get that too often.

Read these books if you haven't! Dead girl stories don't get any better than this. I'll be re-reading this soon.

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Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood

Kendare Blake

Rating: 5 stars

Anyone who really knows me, would know about my obsession with blood and dead girls. So it was no surprise that I would want to read this book as soon as I saw it. (And the cover, oh, the cover!) Whether I'd like it or not was an entirely different story. I'll have you know, that I absolutely love Lenore. Poe's Lenore and Dirge's Lenore. But there are countless other books with dead girls that I can't even care to remember them, they were that bad.

The thing with horror books is that they can be as scary as you want them to be. When watching a movie, you get a package deal of horrific images that may scare or be just meh, depending on your own spook-o-meter. But books give you the liberty of imagining those scary ghosts and creatures in any way you want to, providing just the base. My imagination is crazy. Parts of this book had me freaking out and seeing shadows around my room. The fact that I read in absolute darkness (on my Kindle) may have contributed to my fears.

To be honest, in hindsight, this book isn't all that scary. It's about a young guy who kills ghost who are out wreaking havoc and murdering people. And then he comes across Anna, who is the most vindictive, bloodiest ghost he has ever faced. Saying more would be giving out spoilers.

But I have to say, after Lish McBride's Necromancer books, this is the only one that kept me up all night to finish it. I'll be reading the sequel soon.

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Review: Origin (Lux #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Origin (Lux #4)

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Source: Gift

The Short Summary:

Katy has been trapped by Daedalus. Daemon is going to get her back, no matter what.

The Summary (via Goodreads):

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

Review:

After two hours of fangirling, and screaming over the fact that I got this book on it’s release day, I started it with fear, trepidation, and a whole lot of excitement. The cliff-hanger at the end of the last book was excruciating and I had no idea how bad things would get for Katy.

In the name of all things alien, this book was amaaaazing! I ignored three courses worth of homework to finish this up (who cares about college when you can read about Daemon?)

Daemon is awesome, better than in all the previous books. Most of his dialogues actually had me clutching my Kindle for dear life.

“Did you think you could stop me? I’ll burn the world down to save her.” 

“I have no idea how I’m going to fix all of that, but I will. I will keep you safe. I will make sure that we have a future to hold on to and look forward to … I promise you.”

Daemon is so my book-boyfriend. *major swoons*

Okay, so the proverbial shit has hit the fan in Origin, Katy is in Daedalus, Daemon is no lock-down and his family and friends are trying to keep him from going to save Katy. Futile attempts? Of course. You can’t keep a Luxen like Daemon in chains. And he does what he wants to do, he goes to find Katy.

What the Daedalus plans on doing to the two of them will have you biting your nails and sometimes closing your eyes shut at the horror. In complete JLA style, the ending will have you on edge. This installment is as good as it gets.

If you’ve read Sweet Evil, or if you follow Wendy Higgins on Goodreads, you know that there’s a neat little surprise in the book.

A Sweet Evil reference that literally made me jump out of my beanbag for joy! For that alone, I’d give JLA a standing ovation. You, Madame, are amazing.

The Final Word:

I was a bit disappointed with a cover, it isn’t in-sync with the rest of the series, but the book is worth the read. Lux or JLA fans, go grab it!

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Review: Torn by David Massey

Torn
By: David Massey
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: July 30th, 2013

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Short Summary:

War-torn Afghanistan. A mysterious child and secrets.

The Summary (via Goodreads):

Witnesses to a mystery on the battlefield, a British medic and an American Navy SEAL confront Afghanistan’s fog of war.

In war-torn Afghanistan, a girl walks right into a hail of bullets: Elinor watches it with her own eyes. The young British army medic risks the line of fire to rescue her, only to realize the girl is gone.

To find the missing, mysterious child, Elinor enlists the help of an American Navy SEAL. But in all the confusion, with coalition troops fighting every day to maintain a fragile peace, does Ben have something to hide?

Elinor came to Afghanistan with the hope of changing hearts and minds: What she’s about to discover will make her question everything she ever believed about love and war.

A war thriller. A cross-cultural love story with an undercurrent of magic realism. A powerful debut set in modern-day, battle-scarred Afghanistan. This is TORN.

Review:

Just yesterday, I was telling a friend how I don’t like war stories. Damn. David Massey proved me wrong and I love him for it! Torn is bloody (excuse the pun) brilliant!

Ellie is a British medic who gets to see a lot more than she has been prepared for in her initial days in Afghanistan. Something that she wasn’t prepared for at all was that there would be ammunition in the hands of children and they would not be afraid to use it.

I absolutely loved how Ellie was able to form a relationship with one of the children who was caught. A young boy named Husna (Isn’t that a girl’s name? In Pakistan, it is.) It was cute to see how he began to trust her overtime and be comfortable around her. As a character, Ellie develops a lot throughout the book, which makes her so much more real.  And she likes My Chemical Romance! How can I not like someone who likes My Chemical Romance and goes on to quote one of my favorite songs?

There’s a lot of action throughout. And for someone who lives right across the border from Afghanistan and smack dab in the middle of the War on Terror, Taliban and drone attacks, it wasn’t an easy read. I don’t mean that in terms of writing, the pace and flow was as good as it gets. But parts of the book were a bit painful for me.

And then there was this one instance where Husna doesn’t take Ellie’s extended hand, which she blames on ‘a hundred years of sexist brain-washing.’ I might be wrong, but I didn’t like this because it isn’t sexist brainwashing. It’s culture. In the sub-continent and Islamic countries, men and women do not shake hands, or touch.

Other than that, I didn’t find a single fault with the book.

Oh and have I mentioned the mysterious girl in the blue dress? Hats off to David Massey for such an ingenious idea. I absolutely loved it!

The love story that was inter-weaved was really interesting too.

The Final Word:

This is a must read if you want a light-yet-serious take on war and how the lives of soldiers and civilians are impacted by war. It is gripping, at the very least. I was hooked!

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Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life
 By: Leila Sales
 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
 Release Date: September 17, 2013

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Short Summary:

A young girl who is on the bottom wrung of the social ladder finds her identity through friendship and music.

The Summary (via Goodreads):

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.

The Cover: I absolutely adore the cover! It is so beautiful and attractive, I would have requested this book based on the cover alone. Take a look at the letters in pink. They spell LOVE! How clever is that! This book gets full marks for the cover.

Review:

Music and not fitting in, two things I can totally relate to.  I don’t always enjoy Contemporary YA, but this book was really good.

I had a feeling this was going to be a sad, sad book, with themes like bullying, suicide and the likes.

I wasn’t hooked by  the first chapter at all. I resented Elise for thinking that she had to  give up her entire personality for the sake of popularity, only to move towards suicide if she didn’t get accepted socially.  Weird message. But after a couple of more chapters, Elise grew onto me and I began to see her growth. The pace and development of her character is stellar.

Leila Sales has crafted such amazing characters, they are all crazy in their own way but so very real.  Vicky was my absolute favorite, and Elise’s family is absolutely lovely. There is a lot of pain and courage in this story, but it is one that keeps you reading on because you want to know what happens to Elise.

Even if you can’t relate to Elise’s story, like me,  that is no reason to not read this book.  There are messages in this book that will do you a world of good, whether you relate or not, because being accepted means a lot to nearly everyone. There is an emphasis on self-discovery in this book, and the value of finding true friends and people who will accept you no matter what and let you be the way you are, let you do the things that make you happy.

The Final Words:

I am glad to have gotten the chance to read this book. It’s a remarkable story and will make an impact on your life, if you give it a try.

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