Tag Archives: Young Adult

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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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Divergent by Veronica Roth

This book was not what I expected. So many reliable people told me this book was amazing and that I would love it and I wouldn’t be able to put it down. It was decent, not amazing. I don’t love it; in fact, I barely like it. And it was very easy for me to put down.

I’ll start with what I did like. When there was plot progression, it was fantastic. The last 70 or so pages of the novel were the ones I couldn’t stop reading. Roth wrote the action very well and in a way that made it easy to picture without being oversimplified. However, the majority of the book is initiation training and trials, which slowed the novel down incredibly, in my opinion.

I didn’t feel connected with Tris and more to the point, half the novel, I kind of wanted to slap her. There’s written a strong female character, and then there’s taking it overboard. Tris takes it overboard quite a bit. In her attempt to distance Tris from the Abnegation, she goes so far as to seemingly lose a moral center. Being brave and facing your fears (aka Dauntless) doesn’t mean losing your ability to feel for other people. I have a major problem with Tris throughout the novel when it comes to this.

The relationship between Tris and Four feels…uncomfortable. I don’t buy it. There’s never a real connection and it’s hard for me to feel like there’s a real chance at a relationship there when they haven’t really spent much time together that wasn’t being used to train for the trials.

Unfortunately, because I’m curious and have a hard time telling myself no (even when I know better), I will probably be reading the next book just to see what happens. I’m really hoping it will surprise me and be better than the first.

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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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Destined by Jessie Harrell

The story of Eros and Psyche is one of my favorites in Greek mythology. There are so many points where they could have turned away from each other and it would have made sense, and yet their love prevails and they spend eternity together. As a bit of a hopeless romantic, I love that.

Harrell’s take on the story, while refreshing, wasn’t what I was expecting. When the story was only Eros and Psyche, I loved it. It flowed and told their story beautifully. However, when other characters came into the mix, it became awkward and it was harder for me to like.

The dialogue is written in 21st century terms, and that really took me out of the story. Reading one of the characters say “crap” was almost like a slap to the face. I was immediately thrown out of the story and had to focus to get back into the flow. Eros and Psyche also had a strange, almost teenager-like attitude towards their respective parents through the book. While it was slightly more understandable for Psyche, I still felt like it made no sense and took me out of the novel.

Overall, this was a decent book. The story of Psyche and Eros is told in an interesting way, even though I felt like it could have been so much better.

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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.

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Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne

I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much this book moved me.

I could feel the pain Liz was going through each time I turned the page, and the anger she had at the world around her. I had more hope for her than I’ve had for any other character in a long time. She was such a strong character, with so much determination to not let the mistakes of those around her bring her down to their level.

I wanted to shake some sense into the adults in this book. They are flawed and not very good human beings, but as horrible as they are, it is written so wonderfully there are a few you feel a tiny bit of sympathy for. You learn enough about why some people are they way they are that, while it doesn’t excuse them, it makes their behavior believable. Each person is the way they are for a reason, and after you learn those reasons, each character becomes a real person.

I was incredibly touched by this book and will tell every single one of my friends they need to give this book a read.

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Pure by Julianna Baggott

I’m not even sure what to write about this book. It was yet another dystopian novel, and yet it wasn’t. Because the future painted in this book is one that people can actually think of. Each time the Detonations are mentioned, it’s hard to not think about what could have happened, had the Cold War ended very differently.

People remember what the world was like before, and they see what life has become after. Life has been changed so much, and yet there are touches of the old world thrown about to remind the survivors of what used to be. This eerie collision of the past and present creates one of the best settings for a novel I’ve ever read.

Pressia slowly became one of my favorite examples of a strong novel heroine. She does not have the physical strength to compete against others, she can’t scare attackers away with just her looks, she’s not the most creative thinker, and yet she gets things done. She finds strength in her hope and compassion, in her drive to remember the past and who she is. She wants to prove people wrong, and to prove herself wrong and to find something better in the dark world she lives in.

Partridge finds his strength when he sees just how imperfect his seemingly perfect world is. He’s hunting for his mother and he sees just what has happened to those people that weren’t lucky like he was. It makes him want to fight for those people and what he knows to be right, not what he’s told is right.

The one hitch I found in the book is how easily some things slide into place, or are explained. It seems like some aspects of the story were made to fit easier into the story instead of present a problem so the story could progress a little fast. While I understand why it was done, I do wish a few parts of the story hadn’t been so easy.

I was completely drawn into this story and am already wishing I had the next part of the story. I can’t wait to see the next part of Pressia and Partridge’s story.