Lovely Vicious Series by Sara Wolf

Seventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she’s lost eighty-five pounds,changed her wardrobe/hair, and moved to the nowhere Ohio to help her mom escape a bad relationship. All the girls in her new school want one thing and that's Jack Hunter. The only thing Isis fells for him is her fist against his face... and now it's game on.

I fell upon this book after seeing the reviews and I knew it would be a book I'd read in the near future... Seeing the cover had me move it too the top of my list... I Cover Lusted hard for books one and two. Oddly, even though this isn't a perfect book series, I'm pretty sure it's the one that just got me out of my reading slump.

The Lovely Vicious Series was surprisingly good! The lack of polish is actually what won me over with this read. The story follows two main characters. Isis and Jack. When I first started this series I thought, "Jack is a great character and all... Like Jack you're cool, BUT DAMN! Isis stole the show!", She is amazing! I haven't laughed that loud while reading in so long. Isis is the "ex-fat girl" who has recently moved to a new town. She winds up at one of the parties the popular girl from school throws. While at this party she ends up sticking up for a girl that our leading male, Jack, is making fun of. By sticking up for I mean she punches him in the face. AND IT IS AMAZING! From then on out Isis and Jack are in a prank war. Isis though a little insecure, due to being burned in the past, is still a strong leading protagonist. Doesn't hurt that everything she says is hilarious!

“Did you have fun? How many boys did you make out with?” She asks. “Seventy. At least.” “How many shots did you take?” “Fourteen. I let go of the wheel halfway home and Jesus drove me the rest of the way.” 

For the most part she oozes confidence. I absolutely love that she doesn't take bullying laying down. She stands up for herself and doesn't let the haters get her down. I love that she says everything she's thinking, and every time she thinks out loud I died... Just so funny. I liked that even through all that witty banter she finds ways to slip really quotable beautiful lines in. Jack is your typical Ya hottie. He is the Ice Prince that leaves a trail of broken hearts all while looking like an Abercrombie model. Their relationship was something I would usually complain about because there is a lot of build too it, but I really enjoyed their banter and overall loath for one another. The sub characters like Wren, Kayla, Sophia, and Avery I personally didn't care for. Kayla is Isis' only friend, Avery is her enemy, Sophia is Jacks kind of gf, and Wren is the nerd. That's all you really need to know about them. Sophia does become a little more important in book two but I still stand behind not caring about any of them. I will admit that as the series went on my point of view on the leading characters changed. Books one and two I was in love with Isis, but by book three I was over her. Jack however I loved by the end. Book three really made him stand out. I didn't think he was swoon worthy till the second half of Brutal Precious (book 3). He stole my heart in that last novel.

“Living is really weird. You never get used to it. But it happens anyway. And sometimes you find things that make it a little more comfortable, and you try to hold on to those things, and the tighter you hold, the faster they slip away.”

As far as the plot went I thought it was enjoyable. It stayed constant. I will say that if it wasn't for Isis in Lovely Vicious and in Savage Delight and Jack's development in Brutal Precious I would have had a laundry list of complaints about it. The bullying aspect was a little much. Some parts of the story

become a little too convenient. Any and everything involving the principal got on my nerves. Along with any part about Isis' ex, Will... And the story for the most part is rather predictable. Even with all that I still enjoyed reading it. For the most part I knew what the big secrets were, and I saw most of the endings events coming... I did not see that last few sentences in book one or two occurring however.

I mean seriously when everything starts happening at the end of Savage Delight I was like "WTF?! NO SARA NO! YOU CAN'T DO WHAT I THINK YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO! NO! WAIT NO!!!!!!" The ending of book two, of all three, was my favorite. It got really deep and ended wonderfully. I do think that book one and two were way stronger than book three, and I wanted more out of the last book. With how the first two ended I was hoping to be wowed by the finale. Sadly, I got an ending I saw coming and was a little underwhelmed. I do think the great thing about this series was it left me wanting more and had me wanting to finish the series. Again I wish they would have gotten stronger as it continued, there were a lot of predictable moments, but the way Sara Wolf writes will have me reading her writing in the future. Overall I was pleased with this book and it gave me the push I need to rock out April.

8/10 Stars 
-Angela 

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

"Old enough to screw, old enough to crew"

I actually started Red Rising last year and it ended up going in my "DNF/On Holf" list on goodreads. At the time it just wasn't want I wanted to read... BUT seeing as in it's the start of a new year I said I was going to go back to that list and finish every book on it (there's around 11). I am so thankful I did this.

Originally I got about 90-ish pages in and it was just so slow... So this time knowing some of what was going on I powered through the first part of the book and when I hit the second half I wanted to smack myself in the face for even putting it down. If I would have known that the second half of the book would have hit like a train I wouldn't have stopped in the first place. I also, like everyone else I know whose read this, am having a hard time placing this book... Is it Sci-fi? Is it YA or NA? Is it Fiction?... I don't know and I don't care I just loved it. 

I will repeat though the first half of this book is slow. Once I hit the other section I completely understood why. Pierce does an amazing job in world building and setting up the story to have this amazing POW effect towards the end. On to the actual review though.

Darrow is a Helldriver on Mars. He is drilling mines with the hopes that one day people will live on the surface. This world is ruled under strict laws/rules. Darrow is all about keeping a low-pro and just doing what needs to be done. His wife, Eo, however doesn't feel the same way. Disgusted by how the Golds rule she wants to take action to free everyone from the way things are. The relationship between Eo and Darrow is so much more than sweet. I feel a lot of times male writers either hit or miss the mark when it comes to capturing relationships, and Pierce hit the bulls-eye. After several events take place Darrow ends up on the surface of Mars disguised as a Gold. After which he enrolls into an Academy with the goal of rising up in the Gold ranks. 

“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”

 

The Academy however is not what you would think. THIS IS WHERE THE STORY REALLY HAPPENS! THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD HAVE PUSHED MYSELF TO GET... Once he is enrolled all shiz hits the fan. Darrow goes from this mundane kind of boring character and truly transforms into someone that is even hard to describe. Just this off the charts growth. I thought this story was going to take kind of a feeling like The Testing had too it, but I was so so wrong. I was excepting the school to start off norm and then become something insane. What I didn't expect was Darrow's first test to be killing a boy with his bare hands. I didn't expect his character to be thrown into such warfare. I didn't expect all hell to break loose or this story to go from zero to sixty so fast. I know I'm saying "I didn't expect" a lot during this review, and again I don't care, because this book wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be.

The thing Red Rising has going for it besides the complete turn around in plot, was the surprising amount of action. I ended up feeling like I read two books at once. The first half was this world building, low key gem and the second half was this action packed book that could and will play out amazing on the big screen. There are so many surprises and action packed into the last half of this book that I swear I said "WHAT THE F DID I JUST READ" probably 50 times.

Character development was another thing that Pierce mastered, with such grace. If I would have read Red Rising last year it probably would have gone as my "biggest surprise read of 2014", sadly it didn't happen for me then... But thankfully it got my 2015 reading year off on the right foot. Also can't thank him enough for how he ended the book. (it wasn't on a cliffhanger and for once I'm really glad about it.)

Red Rising if you can't tell, took me by surprise and I can't wait to read Golden Son. This is a book you need to experience.

8.5/10 Stars 
-Angela