Tag Archives: Paranormal

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Die for Me by Amy Plum

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, but waited until the second book was closer to come out. I’m not the world’s most patient person, but the wait was worth it.

The story is unique, in my opinion. In the flood of recent Young Adult fantasy and supernatural novels, it was incredibly refreshing to find something that hadn’t been explored before. To make it even better, Plum has a wonderful way of writing that just sucked me into the story right away. I was equally interested in the revenant side of the story as I was the romance of the book. There was a perfect balance between the two and that can be difficult to come across, and I give Plum tons of credit for being able to pull it off.

Kate is a wonderful female character. She thinks about the consequences of her decisions and sets limits for what she can handle in a relationship (she even sticks with them). She makes sure she and Vincent are on as level playing fields as they can be and won’t take no for an answer when it comes to being kept in the dark. I just loved that she didn’t push herself aside for the relationship with Vincent and didn’t let him do it either.

Vincent is amazing. He’s romantic and yet the banter between him and Kate is just as wonderful as when he decides to be the deliciously sweet French boyfriend that he is. He cares so much for Kate that he’s willing to go above and beyond the call of good boyfriend duty to make sure she feels like staying with him is the right thing to do. He’s not overbearing and gives her the space she needs. I want a Vincent for my own life.

Die For Me was one of the best books I’ve read this year. It was romantic, sweet, and had enough action to keep me turning page after page. This is a book that doesn’t disappoint. Read it and you’ll fall in love with every word.

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I’m split on this book. If I look at it as a teen romance book, I loved it. If I take it as a paranormal book, I didn’t really like it. There wasn’t much of a balance of the two throughout the book and I think that’s why it failed to live up to expectations.

When it comes to the teen romance aspect of the book, it was really sweet and intense. Mara isn’t completely insecure when it comes to herself and boys, and while Noah was too much of a perfect character (tall, British, rich, speaks several languages…you get the idea) for me to completely love, he was still nice to read. I really loved their back and forth relationship. It wasn’t the typical sappy love where everything is sweet and roses. They don’t head over heels in love, but bicker in a playful way. For some reason, I really loved reading this.

As for the paranormal aspect of the story, I felt like it was ignored for a large part of the book. Mara questions things before meeting Noah, and then she becomes boy crazy and the paranormal part of the story just drops off. It picks back up again much later in the book, but it felt slightly rushed. There are too many left unexplained or let open, and while I understand that there’s a second book that will hopefully answer these, I still wish this book had offered a bit more in the way of explanation.

I will definitely be reading The Evolution of Mara Dyer when it’s released, because I do want to know how this story ends, but I’ll probably be going into it with lower expectations. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a confusing book with two personalities. If you’re reading for the love story, you’ll love it. If you want the paranormal, you’ll be left disappointed. I am holding out hope that Hodkin will conclude the series better than she started it.

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Fracture by Megan Miranda

The premise of this book was extremely interesting, but I felt like the book was a little lacking in the execution. It was a little hard to connect with Delaney, the relationship with her parents was a little strange, and I understood Troy’s necessity, but his character annoyed me a bit.

Delaney comes across as cold towards the people in her life she should look to most. Decker has to remind her to be nice to her friends when they come to visit her. Decker saved her from the lake and she even treats him with a harsh distance. She becomes a person her parents don’t recognize and she doesn’t really give them much respect. Granted, there are times when her parents don’t deserve that, but there are other times when they are just being parents that nearly lost their daughter and she acts like there’s nothing she can do.

I had a problem with Troy acting as God. I was really hoping he’d come in and be more of a helping force for Delaney; someone that can help her come to terms with what is happening in her life. Instead, he plays extremely hot and cold and has a major God Complex. I can see the need for that to wake Delaney up and make her see what she should be doing with her new life, but that doesn’t make me like it anymore.

There were a couple other plot lines left open that I wish had been dealt with. It would have given a little bit more closure to the book. I don’t want to name them, as to not give away spoilers, but there were just a couple issues with Delaney’s friends and with Troy that I wish had been explored a little more before the book ended.

However, even with those two major issues I had, the writing itself was amazing. Miranda was really able to capture the character’s emotions and get Troy’s mentally unstable emotions across. She wrote the human mind and its complexities very well. I was never entirely sure where the novel was going to go next and I really enjoyed that.

Overall, this was a good book that left a few too many things open for it to be a great book. It was an interesting look into how people deal with death and the aftermath of not dying. I’m glad I picked this book up to read.

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Crave by Melissa Darnell

I bought Crave after Amazon suggestions told me this would be a good book for me. Amazon has yet to steer me wrong, so I took a chance and bought it.

I was a little worried Amazon got it wrong after the first couple pages. It starts out a little awkward and slightly forced. The reveal of Savannah’s identity and the focus on dancing were just a little off to me, and while I understand their need for the rest of the story, I would have liked a little bit more polish to that part of the book.

However, the second half completely made up for the first. As soon as Darnell started in on the romance aspect of the book, I was in love. Darnell used the forbidden love idea that has been so prevalent in young adult books lately, but she made it unique and interesting. She was able to really bring out the emotions she was writing about and use them to make the novel even better.

One other little thing I had a problem with was the constant referring to Tristan’s “player” past. I never really felt like this was a necessary problem and only put in because it’s a young adult novel and that somehow equates to someone needing to play a player role. Tristan never displayed that “love ’em and leave ’em” mentality and I could have done without that being in issue in the novel.

Overall, this was a great book and really drew me in. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

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Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Usually, I find myself let down by the second book in trilogies. I feel like they’re just to be the set up for the final novel and not really provide much in the way of plot development. Hallowed managed to avoid this trap and was another fantastically written novel that made me fall in love all over.

The characters grew as people throughout the entire novel and we learned so much more about Clare, Jeffery, Clare’s mother and Christian. I wish there had been more Tucker Avery because I still swoon hard whenever I think about him in Unearthly. However, I understood that Unearthly was Clare and Tucker’s book and Hallowed was more about Clare and Christian. I can’t wait to see what the third book will be.

Now, about the love triangle. I’m not usually a fan of this plot device. Typically it’s thrown in there to provide a conflict for the main character. And in Hallowed, this is still true. But it goes so much deeper than that. It not only represents a choice between two people, it represents the choice between following the fate laid out before her and making her own destiny. She will have to decide between the angel and human sides of her and that’s what this love triangle is about. Not which hot guy she will pick, but what she chooses for her own person. And I love that Hand did this.

Aside from the characters and plot, the writing itself is gorgeous. You can connect with Clara and it brings a special touch to the novel that I’m starting to crave. That connection between me and the characters is something I absolutely love when I read. Feeling all those emotions makes reading more than just reading a book, but turns it into an adventure and an experience. Hand is amazing at putting words together that just pull me in and drag me along, but in the best way possible.

I can’t believe I will have to wait a year to find out how this amazing series will end. I’ll be anxiously waiting to see how Hand will conclude this wonderful series.

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Wanderlove by Belle Malory

I was looking for something a little different than my normal reads when I decided to pick this book up. I’m feeling a little mixed on it. I feel like parts were well-written and engaging, and other parts left me wanting more.

Part 2 of the book was my favorite section. I loved the way it was written and the story within it and I was left wishing there was more to that part of the story. I couldn’t put the book down during that section and was sad to see it end. I could have read an entire novel written around that part of the book.

My main problem with the rest of the book is I didn’t feel the emotion. I knew what emotion I was supposed to feel, but I just didn’t. There was a disconnect between what I was reading and what I was feeling. I also felt confused by some of the actions the characters took and the “I love you but I’m going to push you away anyway” plot being used in so many books these days could have been done up better. I didn’t fall in love with Gabe like Lola did. I knew I was supposed to, but I didn’t.

There were also some editing problems, but I was able to look past those for the most part.

Overall, this was a good book, but I feel like it could have been amazing. The idea is a unique one, but parts of the execution failed to come across. If you’re looking for something a little bit different, even if it won’t blow your socks off, this would be a good book to read for the price.

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Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

I was very cautious going into this book. The reviews for it were great, but sometimes those don’t tell the whole truth about a novel. Especially when it comes to Young Adult novels.

I’m incredibly happy I was proven wrong. Unearthly is a fantastic book that takes the basic elements of a Young Adult book and instead of becoming a cheesy book that makes me roll my eyes every other paragraph; it becomes a wonderful, realistic story about knowing yourself and teen love.

Clara is a wonderfully written teen character. She’s mature, but still acts like a 16, 17 year old girl. She’s not whiny or weak, but instead she’s confused by everything happening in her life supernatural and normal. Her mother, unlike most YA parents, doesn’t disappear for most of the novel. There are parts where he mother isn’t there, but you never get the “disappearing parent syndrome” that seems to be so common these days.

The relationships are not the “just add water!” types so many books have these days. It’s not an instant love. There’s instant attraction, but that always happens in life. However, the relationships build over time and through talking and being around the other person. They are healthy and true and don’t feel forced, at all. It’s easy to understand why these people love each other.

The issue of God was handled flawlessly, in my opinion. When you write a story that centers on angels, you know God will come into play. Hand manages to handle this in a way that does not preach to those who don’t believe, but does not offend those who do. I applaud her for being able to write about something so important to so many people with as much grace as she did.

Tucker. I am in love with Tucker. He is such a wonderful boy and he is perfect in how much he cares for Clara. I swoon harder each time I think about him and can’t wait to read more about the relationship between him and Clara.

The one thing that bothered me a little bit about this book and what kept it from being 5 stars was how the purpose was played. I liked the idea of angels having one task to complete in their life, however I didn’t enjoy how it seemed most characters thought that in order to fulfill her purpose, Clara had to fall for Christian. I felt like that forced a relationship between the two when it could have grown instead.

I am incredibly pleased I decided to give this book a chance. It blew past my expectations and I can’t wait to read the next book.

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Hereafter by Tara Hudson

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure if I would, after reading other reviews of it, however I was very pleasantly surprised.

Out of all the paranormal romances there are, there’s something about those with ghosts that really draw me in. Maybe it’s because I really hope there are such things as ghosts, which would make these stories the closest to reality as they could, or some other unknown to me reason. Reading about the afterlife being tied to real life really interests me and I felt like Hudson did a great job in creating this story.

I really liked Amelia as a character, and going along with her as she discovered things about her life and death; seeing what made her what she was. Seeing her struggle with not knowing if she was a good person or not, what her past meant for her future and if she really had a choice in her afterlife was interesting to read and experience with her.

There were a couple things that kept me from thinking this was a 5 star book. The first was, while Amelia’s attachment and love of Joshua made sense, it was a little harder to understand why Joshua felt so attached to her. I could understand wanting to know more about her, and wanting to know what had saved him from dying, but I felt after that is was a little confusing. The other little thing that bothered me a bit was the very beginning of the book. It felt a little off, and not like the rest of the book. I’m not sure if I could ever be able to explain what I mean by that, but it just seemed…different and not as effortless as the rest of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it was a wonderful read. It’s definitely one of my favorite Young Adult novels I’ve read this year, and I certainly can’t wait to read the next book.

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I wanted to like it so much, I read the entire book hoping it would get better, even though all I wanted to do was give up. The only thing that kept this book from being one star was the writing itself. It was stunning, even if the rest of the story failed to live up to the hype.

It took forever for this book to get a plot started. There were pieces of information given and a beautiful setting described, but nothing really happened. I kept waiting for the challenge or duels referenced in the description to start, and they never did. The characters didn’t really have much depth to them until the final stages of the book.

The one saving grace of this book was how well Morgenstern can write descriptions. I could picture everything, in detail, in my head as I read. I could smell everything and sometimes felt like I could reach out and touch what she was writing about.

This book will appeal to some people. I am not one of those people. I need the writing to match the story and this book falls drastically short, in my opinion.

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Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I’m a little conflicted about this book. I liked some parts and other parts made me come dangerously close to just giving up on the book.

I enjoyed the attempt at mixing up the traditional YA book by writing in the lead male’s POV; however, he just didn’t seem male enough. As much as the 16/17 year old girls in Young Adult books don’t seem to fit the typical teen girl idea, Ethan was even further from the typical teenage male ideas. I can’t think of any guy I knew growing up that could focus on a girl’s clothing so much or how he was feeling towards her if it went beyond lust.

I did like the newer take on witches (Casters in this book) and their world. It was interesting to see a little bit different spin on the powers and abilities so many others have written about. It wasn’t entirely unique, but there was enough of a change to keep me interested.

The length of this book was entirely too long and the portrayal of the South is way too clichéd. It just didn’t work.

It took me nearly 200 pages to get interested enough to ignore the things I should be doing in favor of reading. This book just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I do know the select few friends I’d recommend this to. However, for the general public, I’m not sure it’s all it’s been made out to be.