Review of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

In this retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, two sisters, Scarlett and Rosie March are Fenris (werewolf) hunters, forced to raise themselves after their grandmother was attacked and killed by a fenris when the girls were very young.


Scarlett, the elder daughter, put her life on the line during that attack to save her sister and in doing so suffered great mutilations to her body, and soul. Now as 18 & 16 year olds, an old family friend, Silas, comes back into their lives to help them fight the increasing fenris population. 


Scarlett's whole world is the hunt, it's what drives her, but Rosie has begun to question what else there is to life, with thanks to Silas. The two quickly succumb to their mutual attraction but must keep their feelings a secret from Scarlett. Rosie also begins to get involved in other activities besides hunting, more secrets from Scarlett. 


The fenris situation is escalating, the trio must find the potential new fenris before the main wolf pack - the Arrow do, but with Rosie unfocused and Scarlett too focused will the girls be able to work together again in time to save the potential? will they even be able to find the potential?


This book was ok. You can probably tell from my lack lustre review style that I am not a big fan. But I must explain, I don't think it is particularly the book that had the issue, I think it is me!


The story was good enough, the characters ok, a bit boring and dormant and the ending was predictable. The writing style is good, Jackson Pearce is a great writer, but I have this issue i've realised that my personal life really affects my reading and it sucks!


Having some issues at home, falling in love, my mind was unable to really get into the book as I was often wandering off to another place, so I took forever to read the book and couldnt concentrate properly. I hate when i do this, but im such a bloody dreamer I can never control my brain!


Anyway, If you like werewolves and modern retelling of fairy tales then I think you will really like it, but for me a 2/5

Review of Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Sophie Mercer has just been shipped off to a reform school for freaks like herself. That is witches, faeries & shapeshifters. She gets off to a rocky start getting on the wrong side of not only teachers but the popular girls too. Thankfully she befriends Jenna, the only vampire in Hex Hall and also begins a complicated friendship with Archer, a warlock, a sexy one, who just happens to be the boyfriend of It-Girl and number 1 enemy Elodie. 

Students begin to get injured, nearly dying, and the number one suspect is vampire Jenna, but Sophie knows it couldn't possibly be her friend. 

As the story unfolds we learn more about Sophie and her past and the School. As well as the truth to the attacks. It is really well written, one of those 'it-doesn't-feel-like-reading-it-feels-real' type books! Loved it. The characters are good, especially lead-girl Sophie. She is really funny and you can't help but fall in love with her. 

The storyline is great, and the ending really leads well into book 2, which I am trying to withhold from buying on account of my dwindled bank balance/massive tbr pile. But i don't think I will last too long. 

Hex Hall is a good fake world to be in. I give it 4.5/5

Review of Inside Out by Maria V Snyder

Trella is a scrub. Along with thousands of others. The scrubs are the bottom of the food chain, so to speak, Inside. They work and sleep and that is basically it. They are controlled by the Travas and envy the Uppers. Trella is known as the Queen of the Pipes. She knows the inner workings of Inside like the back of her hand. She has been plodding along not questioning her life until her friend, Cog, introduces her to Broken Man, the latest in Prophets. Soon, ideas of 'Gateway' the almost-myth exit from Inside begin to take over Trella's mind. Before she knows it she is the face of a rebellion. The scrubs are looking to her to make changes. And she is determined to to prove Broken Man wrong about Gateway. What she doesn't count on is believing him.

It was a slow start for me, I must admit. But about 2/3 the way in I was very hooked. It has a wonderful ending and a good lead into Book 2. I Liked Trella as a character. She is a little selfish and thats sometimes good in books, you may know from previous posts I dont like the goody-goodies.

The book is well written and I think it could be quite an enjoyable read for even younger young-adults. 

The plot is good and what I would expect from teen-girl-dystopia. There is a particular twist at the end which really made the book for me.

I give it a 3.5/5

Review of The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

It's been ten months since Grace Divine risked her life to save her were-boyfriend Daniel. Ten months since Jude Divine succumbed to the wolf, bit Grace and disappeared. During that time Daniel and Grace had been training to try and keep a balance of the newly acquired wolf powers growing inside Grace. Things get interesting when April and Grace get some clues as to the possible whereabouts of Jude and they meet Talbot, a sexy, hero-type cowboy figure. 


Grace and Talbot begin a friendship, a secret one. Daniel decides that training Grace is too much of a risk and refuses, but Talbot believes it is a good idea. Grace goes behind Daniel's back and becomes drawn to Talbot. Daniel is keeping secrets of his own and Grace begins to question who can she really trust.


This sequel to The Dark Divine was brilliant. I was ho-hum about the first book, but this one made me a fan of the series. It was more action-packed and the introduction of Talbot, and Katie Summers (a girl who Grace thinks is interested in Daniel) ensured an interesting love-square situation.


I also enjoyed that there was more than just the werewolves in this book, and it had some 'Buffy-esque' moments which, to me, is always WIN. I learned to like Grace in this book, where in the first I found her somewhat tedious. The cliffhanger at the end of the book was great and I can't wait to see where the Daniel & Grace story heads in the next, as yet untitled, book. 


I would recommend to people who havent read either book, to still read The Dark Divine first as i think as a stand-alone The Lost Saint would be a bit confusing for a new reader.


All in all I give this book a 3.5/5

Review of The Line by Teri Hall

In this dystopian tale, Rachel and her mother, Vivian, live on The Property with uptight Ms Moore. The Property is far enough away from the nearest town that the Government Enforcement Officer's don't pay too much attention. The Property is however right on The Line. The Line is a National Border Defense system put in place many eons before for the safety of all U.S citizens. No one can get in, but no one can get out.

Rachel's already over-zealous interest in Away, the land that occupies the other side of The Line, is amped up after she finds a recording device with a muffled plea for help, the device is from Away. 

Ms Moore owns the property and is very strict, but what is she hiding about Away? Rachel is determined to find out and Vivian just wants to hide.

This was a very quick read and for the most part it was enjoyable. The characters and plot were interesting enough, however I found it lacking in many ways. I think the shortness of the novel was a big part of this lack. Mainly, there was not much character development or build up to the events towards the end of the book. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it type book, which was a shame as it had real potential as I love all things Dysopia. The sequel, Away, will hopefully fix my disappointment. I have not phyisically seen it, but if it is as short as The Line, I will feel as though it was meant to be one book that has been split in half for sales purposes perhaps?


The character of Ms Moore was the most enjoyable in the book as I felt out of all of them she had the most interesting growth. The main character of Rachel was bland and I felt like we didn't really get to know her at all. The male lead and potential love interest, Pathik, was unappealing, again due to the little we actually know about him.


I recommend it if you have a few hours spare one day, but don't expect your socks rocked.


2/5

Review of Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Eff yeah, Unicorns! As an animal lover, I was excited by the idea of a book about Unicorns, evil ones or not. Rampant had been in my TBR pile for some time and through my super-high-tech method of choosing my next book (bits of paper in a hat held high by boyfriend and randomly drawn by me whislt on exercise bike) Rampant came out, and I honestly can't believe I had'nt read it sooner. IT WAS AWESOME.

It is about Astrid Llewellyn, a  sixteen year old girl who has grown up being afraid of Unicorns due to her mothers unnatural obsession with them. Lilith Llewellyn believes in Unicorns, not only that she thinks theyre killing machines who love nothing more than chomping on humans. Astrid hates the whole thing and refuses to go along with her mothers crazy ideas. That is until during a make-out session her sort-of boyfriend is attacked by one. 

Astrid is sent off against her will to Unicorn Hunter Boot Camp, along with an assorted group of young girls from all over the Northern Hemisphere and thrown straight into the very different world of formerly mythical beasts and her apparent destiny to hunt and kill them.

The book was wonderfully written and Astrid is so easily likeable. Another good aspect to the characters is that the ones you are meant to hate are so easy to hate, Diana Peterfreund has done a wonderful job at building up the characters.  

The plot is great, it was so enjoyably and exciting and to use a cliche, a real 'page-turner'.  There is a second book, 'Ascendant' which I am very looking forward to reading to see where things go next.

It is a stand out book for me as it is different to most of the other ya-fantasy fiction around, similar to Firelight, I liked that it was about something other than vampires/werewolves etc.

Some of the book may not be suitable for very young kids but nothing too bad. 

If you havent read it, I say, Do it now! Especially for the lovely little 'pet' Unicorn the girls have called "Bonegrinder" - Hello scene stealer! 

Clearly, I give it 5/5

Review of Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Oh lordy... Theia Alderson has spent her entire 17 years holding back, being exactly the girl her father wants her to be. But when she meets the gorgeous Haden, the girl she once thought she was begins to fray at the edges.

Theia is instantly drawn to Haden, he is hot and mysterious and bad, he is literally the man of her dreams - She met him while she was asleep BEFORE he turned up at school.

Theia is swamped with confusion over Haden. Why is he appearing in her dreams? are they really dreams or something else? Does he remember her at school? Why does he act like he hates her one minute and loves her the next?

The truth is terrorfying.

This book rocks, to say the least. It has so many lovely horror moments, more so than most paranormal romance books which are usually very angsty. While this has a sufficient dose of teen angst too, it also has some very vivid macabre scenes which I just loved. 

Theia is a good character who is in constant battle with herself over how she should and how she wants to act and think. Haden is appealing, maybe more so as he is similar to the protagonist in my own novel-to-be. The other characters all have their purpose and none of them particularly got on my nerves!


It is well written, very easy to get lost in. I love horror movies, and although I wouldnt call it 'scary' it has skeletons and monsters and all things that go bump in the night which was really cool. Gwen Hayes has a wonderfully demented mind, in the best possible way :)


The story itself is great too, again had some similar themes to my novel-to-be! I do recommend it to all you YA-Para-Rom fans out there, plus the cover is a front runner for my cover of the year! so beautiful :)


I GIVE IT 4/5

Review of Awakened by P.C & Kristin Cast

Book 8, eh? No it wasn't as bad as some of them. I am a fan of the House of Night and will definitely read everybook in the series. My main problem with Awakened was the same problem I have with most of the books. Zoey. And the general dialogue of the teens.

So Zoey and Stark are back from the Otherworld, Neferet is still a psycho, Kalona is still a douche with wings and Stevie Rae is in love with a bird. Good times? No! I didn't feel like much happened throughout this latest chapter, except at the end it got great with some unexpected and expected-but-good plot twists. 

I think if you are wanting to get into the House of Night books, it is worth it. I did enjoy Marked, Book 1 a lot. Don't try to start from Awakened though as it will make no sense at all!

So the characters. For some reason, Zoey drives me nuts. She is no Gabry, but I just can't empathise with her and have always found her to be the kind of girl I would not wanna know in real life. I hate the way the kids talk. I havent been 17 for awhile, but I don't remember talking that way, nor have I overheard anyone actually speak that way. For example: "I heart me some Jack" or "bullpoopie". And then there is Kramisha's poor grammer. It all is really irritating and childlike. 

This one can have a 2/5 because I like Rephaim and Cats. 


 

Review of the L.A Candy series by Lauren Conrad

I read the first two books, L.A Candy and Sweet Little Lies, a while ago now. I remember thinking they were alright. The books are basically The Hills in print form, so if you like the show than you would most likely enjoy the books.

I wouldn't call myself a massive Hills fan, in fact I gave up watching it a long time before it finished as it really started to get on my nerves, and I guess thats how I feel about the book series as well.

I was only a few pages into Sugar and Spice and I was already cringing. I always finish a book even if it isn't what I had expected, but I really struggled from those first few pages.

The story is this: Jane Roberts is a nobody from Santa Barbara who gets discovered when she she moves to LA with her friend Scarlett Harp. They get signed on to appear in a new reality TV show called LA Candy made by PopTV. They are cast with two other girls, Madison Park & Gaby Garcia, and meant to be insta-friends.

Jane begins dating a guy called Jesse but has feelings for a friend of hers called Braden. Madison gets jealous that Jane gets all the attention on the show and plans to destroy Jane's girl next door rep. Scarlett hates the whole thing and Gaby is a blip on the celebrity radar.

The fact that this story could pan over three books was odd, but then the fact that the Hills could be a show for so long was odd too. The only good thing about the books was Lauren's constant jabs at how fake the whole 'reality' tv thing is, which everyone knows anyway, but some parts of these books felt more fact than fiction.

The story is basically Lauren Conrad's life. It has the Heidi character, the Lo character, the Audrina and Whitney, even the Jason. 

I'm afraid, sadly, I don't know how it ended, I did what I never do and took it back to the library after three chapters. I just couldn't handle the way it was written. I could have probably finished it if i didn't have to read the words "Soooooo" and "Ummm" every paragraph.

I'm really sorry to anyone who loves these books or the show. I don't want to offend anyones tastes etc. and as I said I did like the first two enough, I think I've just been reading some really great books this last year or so and I really wasn't in the state of mind for the last installment.

I give the entire series a 1.5/5

Review of Penitence by Jennifer Laurens

When we left Heavenly, Zoe and Matthias were in Paradise, happy and in love. But now Zoe is back and hasn't seen Matthias since she died.

Zoe soon starts to see a new spirit, he reminds her of Matthias, but doesn't have the same comforting feeling she had around him. She thinks that he is her new guardian. She was wrong, so, so wrong.

Albert is an evil spirit. He thrives on pain and suffering. He is Matthias' father, hellbent on destroying his son and all that he loves. This of course, includes Zoe. 

Those around Zoe soon begin to make some horrible choices in their lives. Partly due to the horrid black spirits that ride their backs, spirits which Zoe can unfortunately see and do nothing about. 

Some of Zoe's friends begin to turn on her, the others seem to change into people unlike their true selves, the only person Zoe feels she can trust is Weston Larson (of all people). Weston is not only the boy Britt loves, but he is also part of the duo who tried to assault Zoe. 

Penitence is a great second book to Heavenly. It expands more on the notion of choices, good and bad and I really like the development of characters like Chase and Krissy. Weston was a real turn-around character in this book. He is one of the only people who seemed to learn from his mistakes made in the first book, thus why he and Zoe bond and he and Britt fall apart.

the runaway quote from the book for me was: "I've come to realize that our actions bring us peace or fear.” which I feel really gets the theme of the book. 


The book ends with almost everybodies lives in disarray due to the presence of Albert and the evil spirits. I feel something big coming with either Krissy or Chase and can't wait to get Absolution. 


Again, I can't fault Jennifer Laurens's writing style. It's great and obviously I enjoy the characters and plot, so again I give this book a 4/5


I apologise if this review is all over the shop, I am currently very ill and my head is spinning in a very un-user-friendly kinda way :)

Competition Time!

I am feeling generous! To celebrate, I am giving away 4 books. They are from Better World Books, which if you are not familiar, is a charity book site helping to promote and aide world literacy. 

The books are:

As they are charity books they are marked as 'Good Condition', not brand newies. 

To enter all you need to do is firstly 'like' the FB page (if you havent already) 
and MOST IMPORTANTLY please visit www.Storycasting.com and post your 'fantasy cast' for any of the books above and post the link on the FB discussion page, along with the book you wish to win.*


I know it may seem like a lot for some old books, but it is supporting a good cause!


<3 Misha 

*If you havent read any of the books, you obviously wont know who to cast etc. So if this is the case, simply cast your fav book and mention on the fb discussion page which book you want to win.

Review of Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw

 Eva and Gabe, Evangeline and Gabriel. Two young lovers existing in different times. Torn apart and determined to find a way back together.

This is a clever and beautiful book based on the epic Longellow poem ' Evangeline'. Shaw has done a brilliant job of writing from the POV of both Eva and Gabriel, skipping back and forth between time. 

It is very beautifully written and well portrays the angst both sets of young lovers feel. It is also a very easy read and I recommend reading the poem as well to really get the setting and emotions before reading the book.

 It's a story about love, about determination and about not giving up.

Here is the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem that inspired the story

I give it a 3.5/5

Review of Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Jacinda is not your normal 16 year old (but are any of the protags these days?). Not only is she part of a special race called the draki, which are descendents from dragons with the ability to shift into human form, she is also a fire-breather. This is exceptionally rare with the draki and thus making Jacinda a pretty hot commodity as far as mates go.

Although, after a bout of rule-breaking and nearly being caught by a group of hunters, including a mysterious (ahem and sexy) young man who finds Jacinda but lets her go, Jace's mother decides they need to leave the pride for the safety of her daughter who will certainly suffer the wrath of the Alpha.

In the human world Jacinda is none too pleased. Her twin sister Tamra on the other hand is over-the-moon. 

Jacinda must learn to adapt and accept the human world, something which she most definitely does not want to do as this means giving up her draki self - for good.


Things change however when, during her first day at new high school, she spots the sexy hunter who let her free - Will...


I kinda knew I would enjoy this book when I first heard about it. I am sucker for anything YA fantasy, but after a while the faerie/wolf/vamp thing can get repetitive. I think this is an original concept, I have always liked dragons as well so that aspect was pretty neat.


From the first page I was hooked. Sophie Jordan manages to instantly create another world that I longed to be a part of. Jacinda, as a lead, was not as annoying as some mains can be. The other characters were enjoyable as well. 


The writing style is simple, but not in a bad way, it was easy to read and entertaining which is generally how I like my books to be. 


I give this a 5/5 


(for future reference I rate things by a) general story b) main characters c) writing style)

Generation Dead - Daniel Waters

Zombies or ' Living Impaired' kids are country-wide. This is a strange phenomenon that is now an every day part of life for United States residents. However, most are not too pleased about this. 

For reasons unknown teenagers aren't staying dead. They awaken not long after death and attempt to return to normality. They attend school, and attempt to continue learning. When one particular Living Impaired decides to join the school football team it unleashes a rage inside a few 'normal' teen kids. 

Phoebe Kendall is a goth, the irony of dressing like the dead is not lost on her and best friend Margi in todays times. Phoebe is one of the few people who believe the dead kids should have the same rights as those living and when a friendship develops between her and new football team member, Tommy Williams, she begins to realise just how cruel society has become.

This book was hard to get into at first, but about a 1/3 of the way through I decided it was better than expected. It isn't a normal YA-Paranormal romance. It has strong undertones of prejudice and discrimination and is worth reading. 

The characters, however, were incredibley irritating. Especially lead girl Phoebe and sidekick Margi. Karen was hands down the best character in the book as was zombie-girl Colette who was by far the most interesting.

The writing style was good, but I felt detached from the characters and as I mentioned it was hard to get into.

2.5/5

Here is my storycasting fantasy cast

Review of Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

I had high hopes for Heavenly as I had been eyeing it off for quite some time. So when I finally was able to buy it and get stuck into it I wasn't disappointed.

These days there seem to be more and more 'angel' books, they are definitely the new vampires that's for sure. But Heavenly is more than just a cut-and-paste angel-mortal romance book. 

Zoe Dodd is a great character. When we meet her she is popular and an avid partier. She picks up guys to make herself feel better and abuses alcohol. I love this about her as a lot of the characters in books these days are goody-two-shoeses from the get-go and it gets a bit sickly after awhile. 

Everything for Zoe starts to change however when she meets Matthias,he is her autistic sister Abria's guardian angel. Matthias makes her realise the important things in life. I love the growth of Zoe herself and her love for Matthias throughout the book. 


Her family are really strong characters and I love the way the story builds up to lead onto the next book. 


It's more than a story about love, it's a story about family and making the right choices in life. I strongly recommend it (I am just over a 1/3 way through the sequel Penitence at the moment and can assure you it gets even better!)


I love the way Jennifer writes too. Her characters are very believable and the BFF character of Britt reminds me all too much of some of my own friends!


I give it a 4/5

Review of Matched by Ally Condie

This. Book. Is. Awesome.

In the Society everything is chosen for you. What movies you see, what books you read, who you marry...

Cassia Reyes has looked forward to her matching day for as long as she can remember. Everything is too good to be true when her perfect match and society-determined husband to be is none other than her best friend Xander Carrow.

The next day, whilst viewing Xander's match info, a face appears on her screen. It's not Xander. It's Ky Markham.

Before Ky flashed ever so briefly on her viewing disc, Cassia never had any reason to doubt what the Society does. After her 80 year old (therefore past his society-deemed use by date) grandfather gives her a secret poem that did not make it into the 100 poems allowed in the Society, and Cassia decides to share this with the newly intriguing Ky, Cassia's whole perception of life begins to change.

Why can't she read a poem she wants to read? Why can't she love who she decides to love?

Matched is simply perfect in every sense. I was sucked in from the first page and really didn't want to be sucked back out. The characters are all likeable and interesting and the plot is great. I love the dystopian genre and this is definitely up there with the best.

The writing style is immaculate. I love a book that makes you forget completely about real life, Matched is definitely this.

I recommend to anyone who likes the Hunger Games and the Uglies series.

I give it a 6/5!