Captive by Aimee Carter

Captive by Aimee Carter

For the past two months, Kitty Doe's life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate the Prime Minister's niece, her frustration grows as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoats keep her in the dark. With all this happening she is also accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape and people are hunted by the wealthy. Kitty is learning the hard way that she can't trust anyone. 

I waited for this book for what seemed like forever, and I feel a little more than let down. The cover is just as lovely as the first (and has the same stunning surprise when the duster is removed), but the book is close to half the size of Pawn.

Like the first book Captive kept a steady pace through out the course of the novel, but sadly I think it suffered a small case of second book syndrome. People kept saying they didn't see some events happening but I did.  

I really loved kitty's spark and fireball personality in the first book and in this one she kind of fizzled out. Also it always seemed like she was purposely doing things to get others killed. I want to like Kitty, I really do and I'm hoping when the third book comes out she wins me over again. Sadly Kitty isn't the only one I'm not a fan of..... Benjy. I almost always go for the underdog or the best friend love interest, in his case I just don't care if he dies or not. I'm still, not so secretly, pulling for Knox. I mean with a name like Lennox Creed you sound like a total badass. With that being said Knox became pretty confusing in this book and my love for him also kind of burned out as well (yes a lot of flames were put out in this book). I just didn't understand most of his motives. Kitty is constantly questioning Knox (with good reason), but we never really get the answers we crave. Plus I don't remember Kitty and Knox hating each other this much in Pawn.

Though the plot was fast-ish paced and kept a nice flow I just felt like something was missing. I didn't get something I wanted.  Elsewhere was a lot more brutal than I thought it was going to be which made for a nice surprise and did give this story a little bit of an edge. When I was reading Captive I felt like it was a book I had already read before. Just nothing too new was brought to the table. There was just a lot of issues and "what the's" in this book.  

I will say I really enjoyed the ending of this book, but that's about it. It has it set up nicely for book three. So I will be continuing this series in hopes that book three blows Pawn and Captive out the water. (Fingers-Crossed!!) 

5.5/6-10 stars

-Angela

Moon Tortured: McKenzie Hunter

Moon Tortured: McKenzie Hunter

Skylar's death unlike most came at her birth. In a final ditch effort to save her unborn dying child Skylar's mother, a witch, scarifies herself  to get a super shade to inhabit Skylar's body. For twenty-three years, Skylar lived a life of oblivion, content with her simple job, loving adoptive mother and the monthly inconvenience of a full moon hangover after being sedated and caged when she changed into a wolf. After waking up one night in a strange room in Illinois, lacking memory and banged up she's rescued by the mid-west pack. Sounds good and all, but Skylar isn't sure she can really trust them.

I was gifted this book by McKenzie Hunter in exchange for an honest review. 

There are a lot of thing about this book that I liked. Skylar's 23, not an odd age like 15, and that she's a fem werewolf. The start of this book really gets things going. Skylar is attacked by vampires and her adoptive mother is killed. This face paced-ness keeps up through out the book. Skylar is sassy, sarcastic, and nosy all the things I love a leading lady to have. She did start out a tiny on the blah side but did grow to be more loveable. This urban fantasy read has a lot of world building as well. Something I felt a lot of books I've read lately haven't had. The only thing lacking in MT was the romance... Yeah I know, I know not all books need to have a romance to strong. But I felt like when one is sort of introduced that the author so go through with it and I think McKenzie with the writing style she has would write and amazing romance between Skylar and Ethan. I'm hoping as well with the next book that Skylar does branch out a little more and stops being such a lone wolf (pun intended).

Throughout this book I was left wondering who to trust and who not too, which keep this story from being overly predictable. The ending was unexpected and that really what you want out of a story.


6/10 Stars 

-Angela 

The Selection by Kiera Cass

When I read the description for this book, I knew straight away it was right up my alley. It sounded like a non-reality TV version of pretty much any dating show. 35 girls in a competition to get a handsome young prince? Add in a dystopian world and a few love triangles? Oh yes, this is definitely my kind of book.

So, this girl named America Singer is born into a musical family of a lower caste (the caste system is by numbers in this country) and has just came of age right at the same time the young prince is finally of age to look for a lady. All the girls from the country register in a lottery of sorts and get "randomly" chosen to come to the castle and basically compete for the prince. Sounds awesome right? Well America didn't think so. She already had a guy named Aspen who was even lower and poorer than her family but was super swoon worthy. Because of their differences in the social rankings, they both pretty much knew that being together in the future is a long shot, but they still longed and hoped. America doesn't want to sign up for the lottery, but her family really wants her to (especially her mother who is a little cray) because it really is a good opportunity for the family. You see, whatever girl wins becomes the princess but their whole family gets bumped up to One status (the highest, basically royalty only) which means they are set for life. Even if the girls don't get picked, their families receive a stipend while they are away. Money is money, especially when you're poor.

Anyway, so Aspen thinks America needs to at least enter the picking just so he can say in the future that he didn't hold her back. Well as luck would have it, she actually gets selected. America's pissed, her family is stoked, her and Aspen break up, and her world pretty much falls apart. She goes off to the competition ready to lose but ends up doing really well. The people of the country love her because she is real. She speaks to them and wants to meet them when the opportunity arises. America right away makes a BFF, Marlee, who turns out to be awesome.

America assumes she is going to hate Prince Maxon because of course he is super hot and royal so that automatically means he is going to be stuck up and awful... Only he isn't. And they hit it off really well. The rest is all cake from there, right? Except it's not. It's never that easy because c'mon, this is a YA novel.

 The process of girls getting cut and getting to know the other competitors was pretty enjoyable as well. Their are some bitches and some really sweet girls. The competition is pretty cut throat because some girls have been waiting for this their whole lives. Add in a douchebag king and a sweet queen and you've got some pretty interesting eliminations. By the end of the book the 35 girls are narrowed down to the Elite six, which is where book two picks up.

This was a super quick read for me. I really enjoyed the competition and seeing America change through the book. Where she ends up at the end isn't the same person she was in the beginning. It's a really cute read that I enjoyed. I loved the two sequel books as well. This series ranks in my top trilogies and I am super stoked when the author announced that their was going to be more in the series! Can't wait for The Heir next year

5/5 stars

The Raven Boys: Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys: Maggie Stiefvater

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year when she goes with her aunt instead to write down the dead's names. When a boy emerges from the dark and she's able to speak directly to him she knows from what she's been told her whole life that things are no longer going to be easy.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school where all the Raven boys go. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys... They're two things, trouble and bastards. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys- Adam, the poor shy scholarship boy; Ronan the moody mysterious one; and Noah the quite "loner" who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem as long as she stays away from dating. But now as her life becomes caught up in the bizzaro world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

I know I'm WAY behind on reading this series... But I'm really glad to be getting on board with it now. Sometimes I like to wait until there are several books out to pick up a series so I can Netflix it and go crazy. (That's what I plan on doing with this series.) 

Maggie Stiefvater was able to create such a interesting, rich, and quirky story. I didn't think I was going to even like this boo, but I've been won over. I will say though that there were some holes in this book... So let me break both the good and bad down for you... The characters in this book are larger than life. The boys (Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah) are all loud and each one completely different from the other. Blue is in a group all her own. I loved that she didn't look like every other girl in ya reads. She didn't have have hair that goes to her waist that happens to be an unheard of shade, or grey eyes, no she has short dark crazy hair and dresses like she rolled straight through the closest hot topic. I would normally hate that she was so quirky but the way she is written actually makes both her and her style refreshing. Blue also has no filter. LOVE! She says whatever comes to mind and has very little shame in doing so. All the characters kind of reminded me of the cast of Scooby-Doo. Especially since they are solving mysteries together. Even the sub-characters in this book hold their own. My favorite thing was the banter and sass that Gansey and Blue bring to the table. I mean right when they met I knew right away that I will love them as a book couple...

She said, “Do you see how I’m wearing this apron? It means I’m working. For a living.
The unconcerned expression didn’t flag. He said, “I’ll take care of it.”
She echoed, “Take care of it?”
“Yeah. How much do you make in an hour? I’ll take care of it. And I’ll talk to your manager.” 
For a moment, Blue was actually lost for words. She had never believed people who claimed to be speechless, but she was. She opened her mouth, and at first, all that came out was air. Then something like the beginning of a laugh. Then finally, she managed to sputter, “I am not a prostitute.”

 From then on out I was waiting for them to hit it off. I love the way Gansey says things in the snarkiest ways that are oh so perfect...

“I guess I make things that need energy stronger. I'm like a walking battery."
"You're the table everyone wants at Starbucks," Gansey mused as he began to walk again.
Blue blinked. "What?"
Over his shoulder, Gansey said, "Next to the wall plug.”  

This does however lead me to the thing that I was a little disappointed in. It is made pretty clear from the get go that Gansey is going to either be Blue's one true love that she will kill, she will just kill him, or possibly both. So I was waiting the whole time for them to start at least flirting... Doesn't happen. They are both drawn to each other but neither acts upon it (sigh). Blue spends most of her time with Adam in this book. I loved that once I started to like Adam and was like whatever towards Gansey that their actual personalities started showing and I began to switch sides. Gansey really does win you over by the end of the book. Ya know once he stops acting like a total diva. Doesn't hurt though that he sounds so handsome, guess I can look past those little indiscretions.

I hear as the series goes on their romance blossoms, but I did want it in this book too. The other thing that was ehhh about this story is that at some points it gets a little confusing. I found myself having to read some paragraphs over again just to figure them out. But the two plot twist that happen both towards the end of the book are jaw dropping. Especially one of them that just came completely out of left field. This book does suffer from a little bit of a slow middle but the first and last part of the book more then make up for that. I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET MY HAND ON BOOK TWO! 

8.5/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(side-note: I hope they come out with new covers for book one and two because I hate the current ones and it was the main reason I put off reading it for so long.) 

Angela's October Reads

Angela's October Reads:

So October's reads were either hit or miss... Good news though they were (for me) almost all hits! I'm
going to do a review on my top pick then have a list of what I read this month following it. If it's been reviewed on our blog you'll be able to click the links and go straight to the review! If the link isn't below you can go to either of our goodreads and see the reviews there.

I really had more than one top pick this month. Stone Cold Touch, All Our Yesterdays, and Forbidden were all among my top picks for not only this month but all year. As far as misses go Nil, Unremembered, and Enclave all made that list. My top choice however is Taboo Unchained by C.M. Stunich. I figured since we've already done reviews on the other ones that now would be a good time to do one for Taboo.

I was recommended this book by a fellow goodreads friend, and I choose to go through and read it because it seemed like a book that would be 1) unlike anything I normally read and 2) completely out of my comfort zone.

This story is a lovely coming of age tale where two young teens fall in love and try to save the world from the evil government... JUST KIDDING! Taboo Unchained  is a 100,000 word stand-alone dark romance. It's recommended for Ages 18+. (There is a disclaimer at the front of the book for pete's sake and that right there is how you know I was going to be out of my zone...)  
 
Hold onto your panties, ladies. Lucas Carter is here to show you the dark side of the sheets.It is going to be so hard to tell you much about this book without really giving anything away. This book is a dirrrrrty dirty version of Dexter... Taboo was and wasn't what I expected it to be. I mean come on we all knew this book was going to be steamy, what I didn't know was that it would be was funny, page turning, and kind of romantic. This story even has a love triangle (NO ITS NOT WHAT YOU THINK ITS ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD). The things that would drive me insane in a book won me over in this one. Lucas refers to himself in the third person which was so annoying at first but as the book went on it both died down and was revealed to be a necessity to really show how dramatic his character was. He is also making a reference to "the beast inside him" or his "darkness" (which is what makes this so much like Dexter that and some people get killed/murdered). I will warn you this boy has a boner 99.9% of this book... It's almost to the point where he should probably see a doctor.
 
Oh and when I mentioned a love triangle I should have gone further into it and really said its more like a love pentagon with no real "love"... Yeah that made some and no sense. Mainly however the "triangle" is just between Mister Carter and two other ladies (I don't want to reveal their names). The two girls however are complete night and day which I loved. That and that neither of them were petty B's. The sex was all sorts of hotness and actually takes up a lot of the plot. However, this is one story where I actually feel like sex is necessary... Yeah never thought that sentence would EVER come out my mouth. Lucas Carter is everything you love to hate in a man and OH SO MUCH MORE!!!! The first thing he say, the first line in the whole book is "My name is Lucas Carter, and I'm a fucking God." ... He is so so so so so hot but trust me when I say you wont want to love him but you wont be able not too. 

Overall this is the best and most F-d up love story ever and will more than likely be you 2014 guilty pleasure. I gave this book 10/10 not a whore stars! And yes I was blushing the whole time I wrote this review.

-Stone Cold Touch: Jennifer L Armentrout

-Half-Blood: Jennifer L Armentrout
-Born at Midnight: C.C Hunter
-The Raven Boys: Maggie Stiefvater
-NIL: Lynne Matson 
-All Our Yesterdays: Cristin Terrill 
-Taboo Unchained- C.M. Stunich  
-The Bodies We Wear: Jeyn Roberts 
-Take Me Tomorrow: Shannon A. Thompson 
-So it Goes: Grace Elizabeth Collins 
-Push: Eve Silver 
-Moon Tortured: McKenzie Hunter
-Falls the Shadow: Stefanie Gaither (broke up with)
-Unremembered: Jessica Brody 
-The Kiss of Deception- Mary E. Pearson 
-Gravity: Melissa West 
-Forbidden:Tabitha Suzuma
-The Beginning of Everything- Robyn Schneider 
-Snow Like Ashes: Sara Raasch
-Enclave: Ann Aguirre 
-Say Her Name: James Dawson
-The Girl in Between Laekan Zea Kemp


(I feel like I'm missing something but can't seem to figure out  what... OH WELL)

  

  

Leah's October Reads

October was a really good book month for me. If you remember, I was planning on dedicating this whole month to The Mortal Instruments series. Well, that was my intention, but if you have ever read the series, you know how long the books are and how in depth they go. I kept finding myself having to take breaks in between books (even though I LOVE THE SERIES SO FAR!) because I was just so overwhelmed with emotion and information from this killer endings. I am currently about halfway through book three and taking a break because I am SO mad with everything that is happening to poor Simon. In the meantime, I've read lots of really awesome books. Seriously, some of my favorite books of the year was read this month. Here is my list, and I'll put my absolute favorites at the very end:

-City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
-City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
-Losing It by Cora Carmack
-Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
-I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
-These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
-The Jewel by Amy Ewing
-Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
-All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
-Pivot Point by Kasie West
-The Young Elites by Marie Lu
-Don't You Forget About Me by Kate K. Quinn
-Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
-Awake at Dawn by C.C. Hunter

October Favorite! 

 This is really, REALLY hard for me. Like I said above, some of my top books this where read this month. If I HAVE to choose, my top picks are Stone Cold Touch and All Our Yesterdays. Stone Cold Touch was highly anticipated for us because of how much we love Jennifer L. Armentrout and how awesome White Hot Kiss was. Roth made the Holy Grail of Book Boyfriends list because he is hot hot hot and so swoon worthy. Demon or not, he is such an awesome character that JLA developed. You want to hate him in this book, but it's only because the pieces of your heart are laying all over the floor. And the ending of the book..... OMG the ending. I may or may not freak out because I have to wait until July for book three. Alas, this book comes in second place (though it is very close) because my actual top favorite made me feel so many feels that I have no choice but to name it my top.

All Our Yesterdays is probably in my top five books that I have read all year, which should say a lot. I was kind of skeptical when I first read the synopsis because it sounded super action packed and intense but I didn't know where all it could go. I picked up the book and couldn't put it down. I was so invested in the characters, and every time I thought I had things figured out everything fell apart. It was so intense. I felt all the feels in this book, and again, this ending is what made it... The ending. I can't even talk about it without wanting to tear up. I don't know why I reacted so strongly towards the end except maybe it was just so unexpected for me. I had tears pouring out and was literally yelling at my book at the same time. But, you know, it wasn't just the ending of this book.. The whole thing was just nerve wracking and heart wrenching that it takes the cake hands down as my favorite for this month. I just can't explain it. You just need to go buy it.

Unremembered: by Jessica Brody

Unremembered: Jessica Brody

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage alive and completely unharmed is making news. She has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories what so ever. No one knows who she is, and DNA populated no answers as well. Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. With every clue only comes more questions. Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to of known her before the crash and says that they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?


ugh... WHY WHY!!! WHY!!! was this book so utterly predictable!!!

This girl (Seraphina) woke up from a plane crash and can't remember anything... I find that odd because it only took me to page 23 to figure everything out; why couldn't she!! I wanted to love this book but my eyes nearly fell out from rolling them so hard. First off I'll start with the "romance" part of this book... The two star-crossed lovers have absolutely no sparks between them. Their romance is more than unbelievable and weak. You want me to believe that this guy loves this girl even though they barely know each other and most of their time spent together is in brief flashbacks....

NO.

The story relies to much on the romance that doesn't live up to what it could have been.

Now to the "plot" part of this book... This book is suppose to be SCI-FI as well, yet nothing scientific is explained. The first half of this book is alright. The second half of this book is a delivery from the hot mess express. The characters in this book are boring as Hell. I can't even remember the love interest name I think it was like Zen or Sen or something lame, and I only remember the girl's because it was so dumb. If I had to read one more time about how this girl had a face sent from the heavens or eyes like oh my god again I was going to run out in traffic. This story also tries to work in time traveling and FAILS times ten on doing so. Then, as the truth started coming to light, I found myself more and more disappointed by the revelations. I want an author to have things come together and make sense or at least trick me into thinking that they do. Oh and considering the second half of the book is where the action is, that doesn't exactly speak well for it. Nothing about this book comes together. The plot, characters, and world building all fall short. By fall short I really mean there's really nothing at all to any of them.

This books title is Oh so fitting.

2/10 Un-Stars 

-Angela

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Stone Cold Touch: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Layla Shaw is trying to get things back to "normal"... But for a seventeen year old half demon half warden that doesn't seem like an easy task. Layla still has feelings for her hot warden best friend who is still off limits due to the fact that her kiss can suck out his soul. She definitely hasn't forgotten about Roth, the hot Prince of hell who sacrificed himself so Zayne the warden could survive. The boy drama is the least of Layla's problems. As her powers start to evolve and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever.When things finally look like things might actually end up in her favor hell will literally be breaking open, and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay


(Angela)--
Is there anything Jla can’t do!??? Stone Cold Touch is my new jam! I’ll start off by saying this book is even better than the first. I don’t know how I'm going to make it till June to read the third
one. Also I feel like I should warn you that this review is going to be a mess because I am currently frantically fangirling all over the place. SCT picks up right where book one left off. Roth is still kicking it in the underworld, Layla is still super depressed about it, and Zayne is still be all stony. Jla is the only writer whose love triangles NEVER bother me, and since this book is heavily weighed down with one it's a good thing she's mastered it. SCT does focus more on the relationship between Layla and Zayne, unlike book one where it was all Layla and Roth. I thought this was going to bother me but all it did was tear my heart to pieces by trying to decide whose “side” I wanted to be on. I was seriously texting Leah every ten minutes saying “ok Team Roth… No Team Zayne… Team Roth… No Team Zayne.” After sleeping on it… I know who I choose BUT I won’t let anyone know till book three.... Okay who am I kidding... IT'S ROTH! You’re probably at this point in time thinking the same thing I was thinking “No Roth IDK man”… NO! DON’T LET THAT CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT READING THIS because Zayne steps up his stony sexy game, and there is plenty of hot Roth to go around as well. But enough with the boys we can come back to them later… On to Layla. She starts becoming real B-A in this book. She’s slapping guys in the face with bibles, she's shifting, she’s fighting night crawlers, she's smashing hamburgers… oh and she is starting to figure out “what she is”. Her friendship with Sam and Stacey also has a lot more light on it in this book and I really enjoyed that as well. They're not the only ones friends that come more into play as the book went on as well. Dez and Nic start really shining towards the end. (Rumor is the sub characters like Zayne, Roth, and Layla's friends will play bigger parts in book three, fingers-crossed.) Of course like all of Jennifer’s books there are a lot of steamy scenes, and I'm not mad about it. Here's a tiny list of things Jla's writing has me looking at in a whole new-sexy-mood-light setting: Aliens, cookies, cheese puffs, kittens, glow sticks, Las Vegas, gargoyles, pure bloods, and pens... Whoosh someone bring me some ice tea while I swoon over some flashbacks.
There isn't a lot of world building in this book, which would normally make me rate it lower. However I'm still giving it all the stars because the plot had me pulling my hair out, the characters are amazing, and because of the two twist that come at the end of the book... THAT YOU WILL IN NO WAY SEE COMING!!!! OMG THAT ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's that good!

I know this isn't my longest review, but with Leah's following mine I'll leave it at this... If the gates of hell opening up mean the world could be filled with sexy Roth and his friends; then I would personally go down there and rip through those fiery bad boys.

10/10 Steamy Stars

(Leah)--
The first part of this book made me want to throat punch Roth across the freaking universe and back down into the underworld. Well, I pretty much felt that about him the whole book but of course his hotness and steamy demon charm had me hating myself for loving him. Zayne definitely steps up his game and he had my heart aching at the end. THE ENDING. OMG THE ENDING. WHATEVER YOU THINK YOU MAY KNOW ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN JUST GO AHEAD AND THROW IT ON THE FLOOR AND SET IT ON FIRE BECAUSE YOU ARE WRONG. I was blowing up Angela's phone as I was reading the last chapters because my head was about to explode. I'm not even ashamed to say tears were shed towards the end. Pretty much all the feels that are capable of being felt were felt at some point during this book. FREAKING AMAZING. Like Angela, I really loved how Stacey and Sam's friendship were included more in this book. Stacey is an awesome friend and I love her! I also really grew to love some of the other Wardens. Dez and Nicholai will always hold a special place in my heart forever now. I even hated Danika a little less in this book but I still didn't like her (NO I'M NOT JEALOUS OVER A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. WHATEVER). You also get a taste of more of the demon world which is pretty cool. Cayman also makes my list of favorite characters because he sounds awesome and is frequently the bomb during the book.

I'm still Team Roth FOREVER, but I wasn't mad about Zayne stepping up to side chick status in this book. I'm sure what happens between him and Layla will win over a lot of people and make them Team Zayne fans. I wavered a little during the middle, but my heart almost always belongs to the dark-side so I knew all along despite everything that happened and probably will happen next book that I love Roth. Roth officially enters the world of book boyfriends that is known as the Holy Grail of Book Boyfriends. It is an elite club featuring Daemon Black (Lux), Aaron Warner (Shatter Me), Noah Shaw (Mara Dyer), Edward Cullen (Twilight..haters gonna hate), Four aka Tobias (Divergent.. really it's just Theo James. I'm not ashamed to say that I worship at the alter of Theo James), and now Crown Prince Roth. This list reigns high above all the other book boyfriends and is sacred to us as fangirls. These dues have changed cookies and cheese puffs and all sorts of seeming innocent things into things you cannot think about without blushing. These dudes are the ones that just the thought of them makes you want to rip your clothes off and go running straight into the nearest icy lake or ocean.

I also cannot believe the ending of the next book will be decided on by a reader poll. IF ALL YOU PEOPLE OUT THERE IN THE INTERWEBZ DID NOT VOTE FOR ROTH THEN YOU'RE DEAD TO ME. Ok, not really dead to me but seriously if Layla doesn't end up with Roth at the end of the next book I may pull an Upper Level Demon move myself and rain fire and brimstone down on the earth.

Can I give this more than five stars? (According to Angela, YA books should be based out of ten stars, but what can I say I'm traditional) I'd give this 100 stars if I could. Seriously. Go buy now and lock yourself in a room because you're not going to come out until you're done with all 440 something pages.

5/5 stars

Don't You Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

This book was published recently and after seeing a ton of 5 star reviews on Goodreads, I deemed this to be my Halloween spooky read. The plot seems original and the cover was cool, so why not?

The story Skylar who lives in the town of Gardenville where no one gets sick or is unhappy... except every fourth year. Every fourth year the teenagers in town go nuts and something bad happens. Four years ago from when the story is being told, Skylar's older sister Piper basically murders 16 of her fellow classmates by making them play chicken with a train and then jump off a bridge. I think it's pretty obvious to say there is some sort of mind control thing going on with Piper. Oh, and 16 year old Piper is having some sort of illicit relationship with her 21-ish year old high school teacher Elton who happens to show up the night of the incident.

Anyway, so Piper ends up disappearing after the incident. There is a reformatory in the town where the crazy teenagers go, but it has never been confirmed if Piper is actually there or she is dead or missing or what. Skylar has spent the past four years pretty much trying to forget everything about her life because she is mourning Piper. She turns into a druggie off of these pills Elton (after the whole Piper disappearing thing he makes it his goal to reform the town and drug everyone into submission so no one goes nuts) and some wonder quints develop out of forget-me-not flowers (oh what a coincidence) that make you forget. They druggies that are hooked on them are referred to as notters. There's also some dude named Foote who I think eventually will turn into a love interest but he is constantly described as wearing a fedora, so that would be a NOmance in my book. There's also Jonathan who's sister LuAnn ended up in the reformatory but now she's out and talking about Piper or something... I don't know. I really don't.

This book falls onto the did-not-finish shelf for me after I got a little over 100pg in and pretty much had no idea what I was reading. I didn't even know what Skylar looked like. It just didn't jive with me, so DNF it is. Other reviewers rave about it and it's unique paranormal plot that supposedly happens, so maybe someone out there will like it more than me. It just reminds me too much of Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea which was an absolute WTF/hate read for me. No, just no.

1/5 stars

Nil: Lynne Matson

Nil: Lynne Matson

On the island of Nil, there's only one real rule... You have exactly 365 days to escape or you die. Seventeen-year-old Charley was sucked out the Target parking lot and woke up naked and on Nil. Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the hot leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she would have thought and falling in love isn't helping. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that she has to find a way to beat the clock, and quickly.

Ok so let me start off by saying that I'm pretty torn about this book. I both liked it and hated it. Mainly I just hated it. First off the insta love in this book was taken to a whole new level...It's overwhelming and takes up a majority of the story. There's less cheese in the diary section of Publix than there was in this book. To prove my point I give you:

Exhibit A: "Thanks for the company. And for this." I touched the delicate lei. "It's beautiful" "Not to sound totally lame, but it doesn't compare with the girl who's wearing it." Then he kind of groaned and laughed both at once. "man, that did sound lame, but it's true" "very lame," I agreed. "And I hate to break it to you, but I think your visions going." "my visions just fine... like I said, it's perfect..."

BARF right... and I bet you had a hard time telling which one was Charley and which one was Thad. If it wasn't for the titles on each chapter I probably wouldn't have known myself. There was NO difference between how Thad and Charley thought. Since we're talking about Charley and Thad let me tell you about them... Charley is a six foot tall super model look alike that has that Oh-what-me-pretty-noooo attitude that is beyond annoying! She does WAY too much swooning EVEN FOR MY TASTE. Then there's Thad the tall buff snow boarder who also happens to be an over six feet tall super model who has jelly beans for brains. And yes they fall instantly in love... That's only the first problem with this book. 

They are constantly talking about all the danger that's on the island. There's lions and tigers and bears oh my! Yet none of these things ever mess with them. You think a bunch of animals would eventually roll up to their camp and try to jack their food... NOPE, for the most part all the animals keep to themselves. (Except this one random cat thing that seemed like it held some kind of importance, but actually was as random as the rest of this story.) There also seems to be a pretty endless supply of food just lying around, along with clothes. Half the time everyone's crying about what's on the menu... BOOHOO and to think people out there in the real world are paying 10 dollars a roll for sushi and you just have it there for free. Hard life. Not to mention that the plants around them are edible... yeah you heard me, THE LEAVES AROUND THEIR CAMP ARE EDIBLE TOO. YET EVERYONE IS HUNGRY... HMMM HERE'S AN IDEA, GRAB THE CLOSET SHRUB AND EAT YA IDIOT. Something else I failed to mention was that they are fighting SO hard for their lives... no time for fun and games... Wait I spoke to soon, there's plenty of time. They play volleyball, go surfing, work out, they even have gliders (Another thing that was mentioned like once but was never brought up again). 

The island is also dripping with nosy mother f-ers. Everyone is all up in everyone's business, oh wait nope they only seem to notice Thad and Charley's drama EVEN THOUGH THERE'S LIKE FIFTY OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ISLAND! But back to what I know we are all dying to hear about... The love. It's awful! It's so over the top and annoying. They seriously fall in love in seconds. A new Ya book record. They are even dropping L bombs all over the place after just a few short weeks. Plus they are always using these "inside jokes" with each other OVER AND OVER AND OVER... Then Thad gives Charley this awful little nick name thing and I thought if I had to hear "Charley with an e-y" one more time I was going to set myself on fire! 

He pulled out his pineapple slicer, and with slow, deliberate stokes, Thad carved the first five letters of my name. Then he paused. "tell me how to finish... i-e or e-y?" "e-y" I answered. He chuckled "so right." "what's that suppose to mean?" Thad finished etching the y and blew on my name. Without turning he said, "because for your name to end in Lie doesn't fit. You're the most real girl I've met on or off Nil." 

If I was Charley I would have taken that knife right out his hands and slit my wrist because there's no way I'm going to make it another 300 days with this guy. As far as the plot goes, if you've seen the show Lost you already know whats going to happen. Just throw in some shimmering liquid light things that you'll need to be eaten by to be sent home, and you have Nil. I'm not kidding the comparison between the two is uncanny. Purgatory, parallel universes, weird animals, random people everywhere, and there's a strange maze looking symbol written on rocks all around. HMMM why does that last one sound so familiar... I just can't put my finger on it.

There are also so many plot holes in this story. Everything is just so convenient. Kids appear who know all these crazy traits... one is a baker who makes awesome bread... where the hell did the yeast come from? There's a carpenter who just happens to know how to build using wooden nails. LIKE COME ON GIVE US A BREAK! The kids on this tropical vacation don't even have to be smelly because they have some girl who knows how to make fancy soap! With no real world building involved in this story, besides a list of things that are on this island, Which include a sweet snowy mountain, volcanoes, and a wild flower field. The sub character in this book for the most part are pointless. None of the characters really care if they stay on the island or get off as long as they have their gf/bf with them. 

Guess I should say something nice about this book... The first like 40 pages of this book are cool, and the last 40 pages are cool too. I liked the ending mainly because it was the end, but I guess it was sweet too. Probably the best part of the whole novel. Over all this was a cluster-F of a book that could of made a cool trilogy or even a better standalone, if some of the fifty things listed above were fixed. I had high hopes for this book, and had heard a lot of good things about it... Sadly I was let down.

4.5/10 Stars

-Angela