Reached

Title: Reached

Author: Ally Condie

Series: Matched #3

Genres: Distopian, Adventure, Young Adult, Romance

Publisher: Penguin

Released: November 13, 2012

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

For Fans Of: Requiem, Hunger Games, Insurgent.

My Review: I wasn't at all thrilled with this book. It was a bit too choppy for my taste and I ended up just skimming the rest of the book looking for key ideas in the plot. Only I didn't find much. And I guess I must have missed a lot while reading "Crossed" because I don't remember half of the stuff that is mentioned in "Reached".
I'm not a huge fan of this writing style. It leaves me wanting more...conversations out loud rather than internal monologue all the time. I actually prefer her LDS adult books she's written to these. It almost seemed like she was trying too hard to finish this series off with a bang. Only it was more of a fizzle. Matched  was promising and then the series just went down from there when the sequel came out. I guess I'm just not a fan of this series.

The Storyteller

Author: Antonia Michaelis

Series: Stand Alone

Genres: Realistic, Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Publisher: Abrams

Released: 2011

Summary: Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?
For Fans Of: Anything really creepy and/or really sad and depressing.

My Review:  There are only so many things that can be said about this book, the first being that I was not a fan.  Although I found the premise promising, as the story progressed, and became darker and darker, I found myself getting lost.  Not in a good way.  Abel is such a torn and twisted character, and although everything in me wanted to like him, he is supposed to be the heroic lead after all, he was so seriously flawed that I could never get myself to that point.  I wish that I could say there were some redeeming qualities in the ending, but sadly there was nothing.  This is a book about a young man's life spinning out of control fast, and the girl he takes down with him.  It left a bad taste in my mouth. 

The writing, however, was very well done.  The stories that Abel told and the actual story itself were effortlessly weft together.  The mystery that runs throughout the novel is well written, and when it comes apart in the end it is definitely a surprise (which is usually the point of a mystery - correct?) The biggest problem I had was with the subject material, it was depressing not just mildly depressing either, all out pop a prozac depressing.  However, even though it wasn't for me, that doesn't mean you won't like it.  I think it is an accurate portrayal of how kids are growing up today, especially those that live in metropolises of both Europe and the States.  However, I, the suburban white kid who loves happy endings, found the material to be slightly disconcerting, un-relateable and heavy.

Halo

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Series: Halo Book #1

Genres: Preteen, Romance, Paranormal/Angels.

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends.

Released: August 31, 2010

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.

Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong. Then comes the brooding and popular new transfer, Jake Thorn... who just so happens to be in Bethany's class. Something about Jake seems to be hiding something darker, something more powerful than expected. That thing, and Xavier, distracts Bethany to a point that Gabriel and Ivy are concerned.

The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

For Fans Of: Hush, Hush, Fallen, The Mortal Instruments, Angelfall, and Angelfire.

My Review: In my angel genre obsession, I came across this book. I fell instantly in love with the cover. It is very beautiful. However I wasn’t too thrilled with the actual story.

Why I loved it:

1. The story of three angels coming down to help a town that is showing signs of darkness. And one of the angels is an Archangel. Usually no one ever writes an archangel into their story making them out nicer than other stories portray them. That was refreshing.

2. Having the story from a ‘new’ angel’s point of view. I liked how Alexandra described the feeling of having a tangible body was new to Bethany. It made me think of what it would be like to be human for the first time. Makes you enjoy being human all the more.

Reasons this book just didn’t fly with me:

1. Once again I dislike lead girls being portrayed as weak. I understand that Bethany is a new angel and hasn’t ever been to Earth before and this is a new experience for her, but it comes to the point that if you’re from Heaven, wouldn’t you see how the humans on Earth act and behave and know that we aren’t all good? Bethany was too trusting in the humans. This leads to my next number.

2. Angels are full of good. So wouldn’t they be able to sense if something was wrong or not of goodly origins? Bethany has a terrible sense of what’s good and bad. Like when she meets Jake. Shouldn’t she have been able to sense that something bad followed him around? Instead she trusts him too much. She sees too much good in humans.

3. I could tell that Alexandra wrote this when she was really young. It had a very Jr. High/early High School feel to it. I felt like her writing was too juvenile. I would imagine this book would be an excellent read for the younger age. Being a librarian I wouldn’t have cataloged Halo as young adult. It’s definitely clean enough for the younger generation.

Wrecked

Author: Anna Davies

Series: Stand Alone

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Released: 1 May 2012

Summary:  courtesy of goodreads.com Ever since the death of her parents, Miranda has lived on Whym Island, taking comfort in the local folklore, which claims a mysterious sea witch controls the fate of all on the island and in its surrounding waters. Sometimes it’s just easier to believe things are out of your control.    But then a terrible boating accident takes the lives of several of her friends, and Miranda is rescued by a mysterious boy who haunts her dreams. Consumed by guilt from the accident, she finds refuge in late-night swims—and meets Christian, a boy who seems eerily familiar, but who is full of mystery: He won’t tell her where he is from, or why they can only meet at the beach. But Miranda falls for him anyway…and discovers that Christian’s secrets, though meant to protect her, may bring her nothing but harm.    

For Fans Of: Between the Sea and the Sky and Forgive My Fins

My Review: I’m pretty sure I was supposed to learn something from Wrecked, and that something is that pseudo mermaid tales and I don’t get along. At. All.  So basically, this was my final shot and I won’t be reading any more.  Don’t get me wrong, Wrecked was a good story.  It had it’s moments of severe aggravation amongst characters, but all in all the story was really solid.  It held with the same ideas throughout, and the characters didn't go all bi-polar, so that was a bonus. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for Miranda, but at least it was consistent sorrow.  However, what I wasn’t planning on the ending.  I won’t spoil it for you, but I will admit I was kind of bummed.

I dislike books that are sad, and Wrecked was a pretty sad book. Interesting because of it’s source material being mermaids and sea creatures, but not one that I would pick up.  Like I said, I am officially banning myself from reads that contain anything involving mer-creatures or things from the ocean.  Because of this bias, I’m giving it two pie, but normally I would have given it one.  It was just so darn sad, I kept having to ask myself why I was reading it.  Man, I've got to stop picking up books based purely on the cover art!  And no more mer-whatever!

Storm

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Series: Elementals # 1

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Kensington

Released: 24 April 2012

Summary: Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming . . .

For Fans Of: Immortal City, Storm Dancer, Wrecked, and Unraveling

My Review: Maybe it’s just been the last little while, and it’s more of a personal thing, but this book kind of bothered me.  Don’t get me wrong, the author is incredibly talented, and the story is really fantastic.  I love the idea of a family that can control the elements, especially when that family is four fantastic looking brothers.  The villains were also quite…villainous.  As in: I got angry at them in my head villainous.  If they actually lived in my real life I would have wanted to run them over with a truck.  Or a steam train 1850’s Western style.  Not kidding.   

But...that was also my problem with it.  Becca has to go through a lot of crap in this book. Seriously.  I felt SO bad for her throughout most of the book.  And some of the things that happen to her seriously made me cringe and my stomach turn over.  They were NOT the kind of things that I wanted to read happening to the heroine.  I feel like it’s okay to send your heroine through some bad crap, but the way that this was illustrated in Storm made me want to rip my hair out or barf or something (not in a good way).  I understand that life is not rose pedals and rainbows, but a little bit of happiness never hurt anyone did it?

I loved the family in this book, and the villains were a particularly evil brand, but I just wonder if there could have been a little bit more of a balance between good and evil?  I wanted Becca to be happy more often, when really she spends the bulk of the novel sad, confused, and scared of what's happening.  Becca is a smart heroine, but I almost felt like that Kremmerer was focusing so much on how the two main lovebirds weren't right for each other that by the end I didn't really care either way.  Like I said: maybe it's me, but I really had kind of a hard time with this one.