Review: Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han

Series: Burn for Burn #3
Publication Date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD

Synopsis: New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.
After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.
Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

“Life is long if you let it be.” 

WARNING. SPOILERS AHEAD

This isn't the first time I've read a series by Jenny Han. My problem with her books is that one book in the series will be so amazing that I can't stop reading, and different book in the same series will be so horrible I vow to never read her work again.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

The first book in this series was alright. It was really cute and I liked the characters, but it was a tad predictable, and I thought the "paranormal" aspect was stupid.
The second book knocked my socks off. I fell in love with the character even more, the plot line was so crazy that I couldn't stop reading, and the "paranormal" aspect had me yelling "WHY DIDN'T I SEE THAT COMING. So overall it was amazing.
Now the third/last book. The beginning was good, then in the middle you're patiently waiting for the action to start... and then it happens and its over in the blink of an eye. And once you read the epilogue, you go "WAIT WHAT? NO! This is so stupid."

The whole book was leading up to this ultimate battle between Kat and Lillia vs. Mary who is trying to kill Reeve. Now since Mary is a psychotic ghost you'd expect the battle to be crazy right? No, I swear it lasted like 10 pages and it was basically Mary going "Yay I've finally got you" and then "Oh wait, maybe I don't want to do this." and then "I'll save your lives instead" WHAT?

Now before I start talking about the ending, let me tell you what I was hoping would happen. There is an epic battle between Mary vs. Lillia, Kat and Reeve. The three of them are no match for Mary and just as they're about to die, Rennie's ghost appears and she says something like "These are my friends, I have known them for years and even tho I wasn't deserving of their love, they always loved me." and then it would be a Mary vs. Rennie battle where Rennie would win, go to heaven after making amends with her friends. Reeve and Lillia would be together, and Kat would go to Oberlin and become super smart and successful in the future.

The thing is, the part about Rennie's ghost was totally introduced in the story. In one of Kat's dreams, Rennie appears (just how Mary is doing) and right before Rennie disappears and Mary appears in the dream, Rennie says something like "Man I really hate this girl." Mary was the one who killed Rennie, so Rennie taking her revenge and saving her friends from Mary would have been the ultimate ending where she redeems herself. It could have been so beautiful.

Now lets talk about that ending. In the epilogue, Reeve and Lillia go their separate ways without ever talking again. First of all, you guys just fought a ghost, how do you not talk about that? Second of all, the romance the two characters shared was really intense and powerful, how does one walk away from that so easily, especially now that the one thing keeping you apart was gone and you could finally be together forever. 
Then Lilia says this 
“I remember what it felt like to fall in love for the first time. You think you’ll never love like that again. But you do.” 
Girl, I totally understand you. We have all loved and lost, no one forgets their first loves, and people do move on in their lives. It's natural and it happens all the time. But right after Lillia says this quote, we find out that she ends up with Alex... YOU HEARD RIGHT. ALEX. AKA THE FRIENDZONED GUY THROUGHOUT ALL 3 BOOKS, THE DUDE SHE NEVER HAD A SPARK WITH, EVER. What pisses me off the most tho, is that Lillia was Alex's first love. So she's basically a hypocrite for the quote I listed above. I would have been perfectly fine if she fell in love with someone completely new that we haven't encountered in the books, but just the fact that it was Alex makes me really salty.
Then theres Kat's ending. She never goes to Oberlin, which I was a little upset about because I was cheering her on, but its alright. She went to school the next semester and did good. BUT THATS ALL WE HEAR. Then we hear about how her dad dies and everyone comes back for a funeral, WHERE KAT AND LILLIA DONT EVEN TALK... What happened to their friendship? You don't kill a ghost with someone and then go your separate ways, that stuff brings people together. I wish Kat had a way better ending.

This book could have had such a wonderful ending. Unfortunately the authors ruined it completely. Not only did the book feel rushed since the main action was only a few pages long, but they also ruined the beautiful romance Reeve and Lillia, and made her settle for Alex which just feels wrong. And Kat had a quick sentence of an ending. Honestly, I kind of wish that I never started this series, because then I wouldn't feel the disappointment of this last book. I don't think I'll pick up another series by these two. Enough is enough.

Review: S.T.A.G.S. by M.A. Bennett

Series: (Possible Sequel based on ending?)
Publication Date: February 13th 2018
Publisher: Delacrote Press
Genre: YA, Thriller, Contemporary 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD

Synopsis: =One deadly weekend.

At St. Aidan the Great School, or S.T.A.G.S., new things--and new people--are to be avoided. Unfortunately, Greer MacDonald, token scholarship student, is very much a new person. She has just transferred to S.T.A.G.S., and finds herself ignored at best and mocked at worst by the school's most admired circle of friends, the Medievals.

So imagine Greer's surprise when this very group invites her to an exclusive weekend retreat at the private estate of the parents of their unofficial leader, Henry de Warlencourt. It's billed as a weekend of "huntin' shootin' fishin'," and rumor has it that the invitee who most impresses the group will be given the privilege of becoming a Medieval themselves.

As the weekend begins to take shape, however, it becomes apparent that beyond the luxurious trappings--the fancy clothes the maid lays out on Greer's bed, the elaborate multicourse dinners held in the Great Hall--there are predators lurking, and they're out for blood. . . . 

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

I thought I was really going to enjoy S.T.A.G.S. but I was just left very disappointed from beginning to end. 

First of all, the book starts off in past-tense from the main character, Greer's point of view. In the beginning, she mentions that a certain individual was killed and that she and a few others were the murderers, then she dives into the story from how she got to the school. Normally this type of thing works really well in mystery novels, where they reveal the killer in the beginning but then start the story and theres always some type of crazy plot twist. Yet this book didn't really have a plot twist, and I honestly think it revealed way too much at the beginning. It left me bored and not wanting to read the book, since I already knew what was going to happen.

The main character Greer, was alright in the beginning, but eventually I just ended up not liking her at all. She talks about how she's different, and she wants to be herself rather than worshiping the medievals and being just like them, but throughout her trip she slowly starts becoming more and more like them, obviously not the rich part, but the snobby, I think I'm better than everyone, evil kind of way. It honestly felt like her character development was going backwards, rather than forwards.

The romance in this book was absolutely horrible! In the beginning of the book, Greer mentions how much she dislikes Henry and the other medievals, but of course she ends up falling for him and his tricks the first moment he shows her any type of affection. Greer was described as a smart girl in this book, but man was she dumb for falling for this guy. Then of course she is so blinded by her love for Henry after he calls her beautiful once, that she can't even see that there is someone who actually likes her for real, until he says it out loud. Even then, it was kind of like where the heck did this come from? It was just not written very well.

The writing was alright, but wasn't the best either. If the book didn't do the "mystery" aspect of revealing that someone dies in the end, the action would have been really good. But of course since it was spoiled, it wasn't the best. The world-building was good, there were lots of good descriptions of the school and the mansion and all the land it contained. 

The reason why I'm giving this book two stars instead of one, is because of the ending. I found it absolutely hilarious, even though it wasn't meant to be funny at all. So in the end, Greer realized the mistake she made in trusting someone, who ended up being the "most evil" person in the book. I think this was supposed to be a "plot twist" but you could see it from a mile away!! In this moment, Greer was actually shook when she realized what was really going on, and I thought her stupidity was the funniest thing ever. For an elite school for super smart kids, you'd think they'd figure this stuff out.

Overall, I would not call this book a thriller or mystery at all. Although it was definitely not the book for me, if you've read previous books that sound like this and want to give them a try, then I'd say go for it, but if you find yourself bored in the beginning like I was, just give up. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Publication Date: January 2nd 2018
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: YA, Mystery, Contemporary 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD

Synopsis: Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town's lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she's a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter... 

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

Before I Let Go is a story about Corey dealing with the death of her best friend Kyra. When Corey hears that her best friend has passed away, she races back to her hometown of Lost Creek, Alaska to mourn the death of her friend. Kyra was never liked in the small community, even though her parents are very successful and well loved, Kyra's only friend was Corey. When Corey was leaving the town, Kyra finally decided to go to a psychiatric hospital to help her with her bipolar disorder. As Corey comes back to town, it turns out that Kyra never left, and in those 7 months that she was away, Kyra went from most hated person in town, to friends with everyone. When things don't add up about Kyra's death, Corey must uncover the secrets of the town and what exactly happened the past 7 months in order to solve the mystery behind Kyra's death.

This book was alright. It wasn't great, but it also wasn't horrible. It just floats in the grey area of "meh" books.

The book started off very slow. It felt like there were a lot of parts that were very repetitive, and other parts that were kind of pointless. 
On the plus side, this book was a fairly short and easy read (language wise). So you can definitely finish it in one day.

There was only one character I liked in this book, and it wasn't Corey or Kyra. It was Roshan. Kyra was a good person, from what we hear about her from Corey's point of view. If she got the right help she could have been a truly amazing person. I completely understand whys he did the things she did once Corey left the town, but I don't necessarily like them, with a little bit of thought and effort from Kyra's part the story could have turned out very differently. Corey was an okay character. We see parts of her growing up in Alaska and just how much she has changed in the 7 months she was away. It was a bit boring reading from her point of view, as it was very repetitive and for someone who's lived in this town before, she made a lot of mistakes where she should have known better. Throughout this whole story, it didn't really feel like Corey developed or changed at all, she is basically the same person at the beginning and the end of the story.
The character I loved most was Roshan. He is new to the town, and only arrived when Corey left. He knew Kyra, and helps Corey deal with her passing. When Corey gets in trouble he is there to help her without asking for anything in return. He's not like the others in the town, and will definitely follow his heart to do what is right. I honestly wish that he played a bigger role in this book.

The plot line was okay. The mystery wasn't that big of a mystery. It was really easy to tell what really happened to Kyra and how she died, early on in the book, even though Corey couldn't see it. The pace was very slow, the characters were boring. I didn't feel like there part of the book that really shocked me, there were no twists or turns in the book. It was basically a flat line right to the end.
A pet peeve of mine is plots with loose ends. There were multiple things in this book that weren't explained, and they were just left there without any answers.

Overall, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, unless you were looking specifically for an easy book to read with a plot line like this. I think with a few changes this book could have been a lot better.

Happy Reading,
Aneta 

Review: The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber

Series: The Evaporation of Sofi Snow #1
Publication Date: June 6th, 2017
Publisher: Thomas Nelson 
Genre: YA, Dystopia 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD

Synopsis: Ever since the Delonese ice-planet arrived eleven years ago, Sofi's dreams have been vivid. Alien. In a system where Earth's corporations rule in place of governments and the humanoid race orbiting the moon are allies, her only constant has been her younger brother, Shilo. As an online gamer, Sofi battles behind the scenes of Earth's Fantasy Fighting arena where Shilo is forced to compete in a mix of real and virtual blood sport. But when a bomb takes out a quarter of the arena, Sofi's the only one who believes Shilo survived. She has dreams of him. And she's convinced he's been taken to the ice-planet.

Except no one but ambassadors are allowed there.

For Miguel, Earth's charming young playboy, the games are of a different sort. As Ambassador to the Delonese, his career has been built on trading secrets and seduction. Until the Fantasy Fight's bomb goes off. Now the tables have turned and he's a target for blackmail. The game is simple: Help the blackmailers, or lose more than anyone can fathom, or Earth can afford. 

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

I loved Mary's Storm Siren trilogy, so I was expecting to love this one as well. I honestly had to push myself to get through it, it was so hard. I was bored, I didn't like the characters and the plot was extremely predictable. 

During World War IV, a planet of aliens arrived beside Earth and brought the War to a stop. Now, the world is split into 30 Corporations, where one team from each corporation must battle in Earth's Fantasy Fighting arena, the winners (and those deemed worthy enough) will become famous and rich, while the losers are sold to a life of misery. Sofi and Shilo are forced to enter the games by their mother, the Ambassador for Corporation 30, during the games a mysterious bomb goes off. While being carried to the emergency room, Sofi wakes up and sees that her brother is being taken away by the aliens, and later learns that her own Corporation wants her dead. Determined to find her brother, Sofi sets out on a mission to get him back from the aliens and make both of them evaporate. 

I honestly thought I was going to love Sofi, she's the type of character I usually adore in books, but for some reason I wasn't a huge fan. I didn't hate her, but I didn't like her either, she was very.. meh. 

The romance in this story was very weird. Miguel and Sofi dated a few years back. He ended up leaving, and Sofi was crushed. Turns out that Miguel still loves Sofi and hasn't slept with anyone since.. and now Sofi hates his guts. I honestly feel like this backstory is a little too much, personally if I was in Sofi's place I would never get back together with this guy, I never liked him throughout the book. When the two ended up having some moments it seemed very awkward and cringy. It's not a romance I could ever ship.

The first third of the book I truly did enjoy. It was basically the hunger games arena style, but the players could change the arena themselves to try to kill the other players. It was very entertaining and I was excited to see what would happen next. Then once the bomb went off and Sofi went on her mission things started to slow down and then the romance came in and I just wanted to put the book down. The main problem with the second part of the story was how predictable it was. I guessed who the bad guy was right at the beginning, and I was right. It was easy to tell that the "alien planet" wasn't actually a planet (how would a planet travel through space without being in orbit) and lots of other things.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately it wasn't the one for me. I hope that you enjoy it more than I did if you do plan on reading it.

Happy Reading,
Aneta

Review: All the Stars Left Behind by Ashely Graham

Series: All the Stars Left Behind #1
Publication Date: June 6th, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: YA, Fantasy 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: Relocating to Arctic Norway would put a freeze on anyone’s social life. For Leda Lindgren, with her crutches and a chip on her shoulder the size of her former Manhattan home, the frozen tundra is just as boring as it sounds. Until she meets her uncle’s gorgeous employee. 

Unfortunately, no matter how smoking hot the guy is, Roar comes with secrets as unnerving as his moving tattoos. And Leda doesn’t trust him.

Roar shouldn’t be drawn to the moody human girl with eyes that leave him weak in the knees. But when Leda gets shot by one of his enemies and survives, Roar finally understands why he’s drawn to her: Leda is exactly what he was sent to Earth to find. A weapon of immense power capable of saving his planet. 

She just doesn’t know it yet.

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

Oh the predictability and the cliches. It was all too much.

After the death of her father, Leda moves to Norway to live with her uncle. When Leda meets Roar, their world is flipped upside down and the two feel a very strong attraction for one another, the only problem is that Roar is an alien sent to Earth to look for the secret weapon to save his home planet. Will Leda be a distraction to his mission or will their attraction prove to be useful in finding the secret weapon.

Leda was a very good main character. If the situation was different I could definitely see myself loving her. She's very strong, and she doesn't let having a disability slow her down. She's definitely got the right attitude and is willing to go down fighting for what she believes. 

Yet, the reason I couldn't bring myself to love Leda, was because of the romance with Roar. I cannot tell you how much I hate insta love. The first time they meet you get the slow motion, no one else in the room but them moment, and when they hold hands their hearts flutter and they can't stop thinking about one another. Ugh the amount of eye rolls per chapter was on a new level for me. While this type of love may happen to some people, for 99% of the normal population, things like this don't happen. Then later in the story you get the, "Oh, it turns out we can't be together after all, but I still love you" type of thing. The romance is basically Twilight, but with aliens. Thank god there wasn't a love triangle, I'm pretty sure I would have DNF the book.

While this book is a fairly short read, the beginning dragged on so long that I couldn't get myself to pick up this book to keep reading, and I ended up dragging it out. There wasn't a lot of action or anything to keep the reader interested in the beginning of the story, unless you're really into aliens or insta-love. Around 70% the action started to pick up, but at this point the story became so predictable that you could tell exactly what was going to happen without having to finish the book.

This probably would have been a one star review, but I decided to go with two stars because I was really impressed with how well the author used diversity in her book. You have a main character with a disability, a transgender character, multiple gay characters, ect. Also I was extremely happy that the book was set in Norway and the author used terms and landscape from there, I would have loved to see more research, but I was happy with a book being set somewhere other than America. 

Overall, I really would not recommend this book, unless you are into the cliche type of story or are really into aliens. The author put in a lot into this book but unfortunately the romance and the plot needed some more work. Hopefully her next one is better.

Happy Reading,
Aneta

Review: The Descendant of Destiny by Marion Hill

Publication Date: August 6th 2016
Publisher: Red Mango Publishing 
Genre: YA, Religion? Fantasy?
Amazon ~ Goodreads 

Synopsis: Do you have to believe in destiny... to fulfill your own?

Diondray Azur never questioned his regular life. But everything changes when he learns that the true history of his family and his world isn't what he was taught. When he hears of the Book of Kammbi and its ancient prophecy, he sets out on a quest for the truth.

Diondray doubts the prophecy, which says it can only be fulfilled by the descendent of a great leader. As the challenges on his journey mount, all signs point to him as the one with a prophetic destiny.

He'll stop at nothing for the truth, but what will happen when he finds it?

The Descendant of Destiny is a fantasy novel with spiritual overtones. If you like rich new worlds, introspective characters, and thoughtful social commentary, then you'll love the first book in the United Kammbia series from Marion Hill. 

My Rating

1/5 stars

My Review

The Descendent of Destiny is a story of the spiritual journey of Diondray Azur. Born into the rich family, Diondray chooses to live among the poor and stay away from his snobby family. It isn't until he learns of his family history that he realized that his family has lied to him all these years, and that he is part of a prophecy that could unite the land together. After being thrown into jail for speaking the truth, Diondray receives help, and find himself on an adventure, not only to fulfil his prophecy but to find himself along the way. 

While I was blown away by the world building, character building and idea of the story, there was no action or good plot line to keep me engaged in the story. Unfortunately I found myself putting the book down a lot, and having to force myself to finish it.

The main character, Diondrey, is very likeable. He is down to earth and humble. We watch him develop from a naive boy to a strong man who knows who he is and is ready to take on the world. 

The world-building takes us through two cities, described in magnificent detail. We also get a hint of other cities that Diondray will visit in the future books. The world that Marion Hill created is wonderful and well thought out. The descriptions are amazing, and really help you visualize the world you're reading about.

The plot line of this story is basically a flat line. We see a little bit of action when Diondray is thrown in jail. I believed this would be the part where the story pick up but it remained at a constant level throughout the rest of the book. There is rising action to an event, but no big event takes place, so by the time you get to the end you kind of have a feeling of "That's it?" 

The book is very short and fast paced, its a quick and easy read, perfect for a bus ride or a road trip.

Overall, I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone. I hope that the future books in this series are more engaging.

Happy Reading,
Aneta 

Review: Soul Crossed by Lisa Gail Green

Series: Of Demons and Angels #1
Publication Date: February 25th 2015
Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: One Demon.

One Angel.

One Soul.

Josh lived a reckless, selfish life, so upon his death, escaping the eternal torments of Hell by assuming the role of a powerful, soul-corrupting demon is an easy choice. His first soul assignment doesn’t seem too hard: the mortal Camden is already obsessed with weapons, pain, and torture. If only Josh wasn’t distracted by Cam's beautiful friend, Grace.

Grace never expected to die violently at age sixteen, but now she’s an Angel, responsible for saving a soul. She can already see past Camden’s earthly flaws, so the job should be be easy. If only that handsome, playboy Josh would stop getting in the way.

It’s forbidden for an Angel to be with a Demon, so if Josh and Grace stop resisting each other, the results would be disastrous.

And only one can claim Cam’s soul. 

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

"I think evil isn't so cut and dry. Sometimes it wears the face of a friend or an average person. That's what makes it so insidious." 

She was killed by a drunk driver. Sent to heaven, Grace has been given the chance to become an angel, but first she must save Camen's soul, the boy who just might be the antichrist. 
Josh was the drunk driver that killed Grace, and ultimately killed himself in the process. Sent to hell, Lucifer gives him the choice of eternal torment, or helping him turn Camden to the dark side.
Angels aren't meant to fall in love with demons, especially ones who killed them in their previous life.

Soul Crossed is a very fast and easy read. While it doesn't take much to get into the book, the book itself is very predictable.

I really wish I could have liked this book more, it definitely had the potential because the storyline is very creative. Yet I didn't like any of the characters, and I predicted everything that happened in the book.

Grace is a very sweet and pretty girl. I loved how she was so nice and helpful, but she was also very naive, and an idiot at times. She just kept making mistakes after mistakes, its like she wasn't even focused on her mission half the time, which made me really mad.
I wasn't a fan of Josh as well, he was supposed to be this tough yet broken guy because of his father, but all we hear from him is "wow it sucks I'm a demon" and "Damn I wanna do that Grace girl." His part of the book was just boring.
And the only thing I have to say about Camden was that he is super creepy!

Of course the romance in this book was insta love. And it wasn't even the cute insta love where you're rooting for the couple to be together. No, this was the - I wanna barf - type of insta love. Of course they're attracted to each other right from the beginning, and then they think they're soul mates and care more about each other than the mission they were sent on. Seriously open your eyes people, you're already dead!

Overall, it had potential, but the crappy romance and characters ruined it. If you decide to give this book a try, I hope you like it more than I did.

Happy Reading,
- Aneta 

Review: Blood Red Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick

Publication Date: October 25th 2016
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: Russia wakes from a long sleep and marches to St Petersburg to claim her birthright. Her awakening will mark the end for the Romanovs, and the dawn of a new era that changed the world. Arthur Ransome, a journalist and writer, was part of it all. He left his family in England and fell in love with Russia and a Russian woman. This is his story.

My Rating:

2/5 stars

My Review: 

“There never was a story that was happy through and through.” 

If you're expecting a cute fairytale story, this is not the book for you.

I was really disappointed with myself after starting this book. Based on the cover and the short synopsis provided, I really did think that this book was about Russian fairytales. And I was right about the first 25% ish about the book. After the original beginning, the story dives into the history of Russia during World War I.

Usually I find the first part of books extremely boring, but this book was the exact opposite. The fist few chapters are filled with fun Russian stories, there's a story about a grandfather in a cabin with two little kids, the story of Rasputin, and the story of the Russian Bear. I really enjoyed the first part, I couldn't put my book down at this point. But once you hit part two, the story shifts into basically a history lesson on Arthur Ransome, and what was happening to Russia at the time.

I am a huge fan of Historical Fiction, but based on my past I tend to be a little biased with Russian history, so you can imagine how 'ecstatic' I was once the book started getting into the history lesson. I won't comment further on the history, just know that if you are Russian, or enjoy Russian history, then this is the book for you, if not then don't bother opening it.

I was so happy with the beginning of this book, if it continued in that style I would have loved to continue reading, but unfortunately it turned into something I despised. I really do recommend it to all historical fiction fans, especially if you like Russian history. If you do decide to give this book a chance, I hope that you enjoy it.

Happy Reading,
Aneta

Review: The Gender Game by Bella Forrest

Series: The Gender Game #1
Publication Date: September 24, 2016
Genre: YA, Dystopia
Amazon ~ Goodreads 

Synopsis: A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender. 
Women rule the East. Men rule the West.
Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus...

Ever since the death of her mother, Violet's life has been shadowed by bad luck. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now after two unfortunate incidents resulting in womanslaughter, she has been sentenced to death.

But one decision could save her life.

One decision to enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit. 

Everything about the patriarchy defies Violet's identity, but she must sacrifice many things if she wishes to survive the forbidden kingdom... including forbidden love.

My Rating

2/5 stars

My Review

I wanted to love this book so much, maybe my expectations were too high. UGH!

Violet's life has gone downhill, ever since the death of her mother and her brother being taken away. After killing two woman, Violet is sentenced to death, until the Queen of Matrus sends her on a secret mission to recover a missing artifact over in Patrus. Across the river in Patrus its men that rule, Violet is forced to marry a fellow undercover agent and work together to frame a security guard for stealing the artifact and returning it to Matrus.

I'm not sure why, but I did not like the story line at all. The main part of the story starts around 20% in when Violet is sent to Patrus. You'd think an undercover female agent, in a land where males rule, would stay quiet and do what she's told, yet Violet does the exact opposite of what she's told. I'm not sure if the author was trying to make her more relatable, but I just found Violet to be really ignorant and stupid. Rather than focusing on the mission, she chose to do what she wanted to do and start breaking all the rules. Everyone knows that in order do complete a secret mission, you have to go undercover and stay in the shadows, which is the opposite of what Violet did.

The romance in this story was very weak, almost to the point where it seemed forced. Violet ends up falling for the individual they are trying to frame, which is also the exact opposite of what a smart person would do. We see the character talking about their lives, while sharing the joy of fighting and self-defence but theres no spark between the two characters, they just act like best friends. Then out of no where, Violet has second thoughts about letting him fall under the bus for her mission and ends up kissing him... which basically comes out of no where.

The only part I truly liked about the book, was the ending during the last 5%. Thats when I thought that Violet was finally beginning to act like a sane person would in her situation.

Unfortunately I don't think I will be continuing this series. I really wanted to love this book, but it just wasn't for me.

Happy Reading,
- Aneta 

The Last Changeling by Chelsea Pitcher

Series: Faerie Revolutions #1
Publication Date: November 8, 2014
Genre: Ya, Fantasy, Romance
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Synopsis: A Kingdom at War . . .

Elora, the young princess of the Dark Faeries, plans to overthrow her tyrannical mother, the Dark Queen, and bring equality to faeriekind. All she has to do is convince her mother’s loathed enemy, the Bright Queen, to join her cause. But the Bright Queen demands an offering first: a human boy who is a “young leader of men.” 

A Dark Princess In Disguise . . .

To steal a mortal, Elora must become a mortal—at least, by all appearances. And infiltrating a high school is surprisingly easy. When Elora meets Taylor, the seventeen-year-old who’s plotting to overthrow a ruthless bully, she thinks she’s found her offering . . . until she starts to fall in love.

My Rating: 2/5 stars

My Review: The Last Changeling follows Elora as she begins on her quest to put an end to her mothers rule. In order to get the Bright Queen on her side, she must switch bodies with a human and pretend to be her, in order to take a boy back for the Bright Queen as requested. What Elora wasn't expecting was to make friends, and even fall in love.

This book has me torn form the beginning. While the book does have a lot of potential, it doesn't do much to impress you. While the idea of the world and the characters is good, it leaves you with a 'meh' feeling.

Elora is a character that I do admire. She's the Dark Faery Princess, which sounds like it would be super cool right? Well the book is set in the human world, so we don't really get to know about her as a faery other than the story she tells us. 
I tried my hardest to relate to her in some way, but I just couldn't. She was a 'good' character, but there was nothing amazing or impressive about her. Even though she was the main character, she seemed as plain as a background character that only gets mentioned once in a book.

I liked Taylor a little bit more than Elora. If it wasn't for Taylors point of view in the story I would have most likely stopped reading. After his brother's death, Taylor blames himself and has been secluded from family and friends until Elora arrives. 
Again, just like Elora there was nothing special about Taylor. In fact, I would actually say that he's even more annoying than Elora since he constantly wines and cries out for Elora not to leave him. Yet in his point of view there were some pretty funny moments that made me laugh which made his side of the story so much more enjoyable.

The plot of the story was alright. It seemed fairly predictable and there wasn't much action until the very end of the book. Either way it felt a little dry in most parts of the book.

The world-bulding wasn't great either. There wasn't too much descriptions and either way the characters didn't really go to many places other than the school and Taylor's house. As for Elora's land, we didn't get much description, just the basics of her story.

Overall, I would not recommend this book. I found it fairly boring and plain. There was so much potential with the idea of Elora's power but it wasn't fully used. While this book did have a really cute ending, I would not waste that much time getting to it.

Happy Reading,
-Aneta

Feuds by Avery Hastings

Series: Feuds #1
Publication Date: September 2nd 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: YA, Dystopian, Romance
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Synopsis: In this breathless story of impossible love, perfection comes at a deadly cost.

For Davis Morrow, perfection is a daily reality. Like all Priors, Davis has spent her whole life primed to be smarter, stronger, and more graceful than the lowly Imperfects, or “Imps.” A fiercely ambitious ballerina, Davis is only a few weeks away from qualifying for the Olympiads and finally living up to her mother’s legacy when she meets Cole, a mysterious boy who leaves her with more questions each time he disappears.

Davis has no idea that Cole has his own agenda, or that he’s a rising star in the FEUDS, an underground fighting ring where Priors gamble on Imps. Cole has every reason to hate Davis—her father’s campaign hinges on the total segregation of the Imps and Priors—but despite his best efforts, Cole finds himself as drawn to Davis as she is to him.

Then Narxis, a deadly virus, takes its hold--and Davis’s friends start dying. When the Priors refuse to acknowledge the epidemic, Davis has no one to turn to but Cole. Falling in love was never part of their plan, but their love may be the only thing that can save her world...in Avery Hastings's Feuds.

My Rating: 2/5 stars

My Review: Feuds is a classic Romeo and Juliet love story, with a fascinating dystopian twist.

In a world where people can be genetically modified at birth, Davis is meant to be perfect. From her intelligence to her ballet moves. When she meets Cole at a friends party, they fall in love at first sight. What Davis doesn't know is that Cole is not as perfect as she imagines him to be, in fact he's not perfect at all. Cole was not genetically modified at birth, he is poor and will do anything to make enough money to sustain his family, including taking a picture of him and Davis for money.

I had such high hopes for this book. I find the cover to be absolutely beautiful and the synopsis to be very intriguing. Yet when I started to read this book, I was disappointed from start to finish.

There was so many problems with this book, that I don't even know where to start. So I guess lets just start with the biggest problem of them all, the romance. Like I said this is a very Romeo and Juliet type love story, and I don't mean that in a good way. The characters fall in love at first sight (boring!) and then try their hardest to be together even though society doesn't let them. I guess that doesn't sound too bad from my explanation, but trust me when I say that this story is all romance, no plot what so ever. The things that these characters do for 'love' are utterly stupid and irresponsible, even though this is a Fiction novel, I can't see anyone actually doing things that these characters would.

Davis is a Gen, meaning genetically perfect. She is supposed to be intelligent, athletic and beautiful. Well she is athletic, that's sadly one of the only things I like about her. And I guess you could say she is beautiful, but she is one of the least intelligent characters I have ever met. I honestly think my dog is smarter than her. First of all, she couldn't figure out that Cole wasn't a Gen like her. If she truly was intelligent, she would have figured it out from super easy signs like Cole not having a DirectTalk (cell phone thing) or that he never mentioned his last name, where hes from, what school he goes to and things like that. Davis's character also does pretty dumb things, like sneaking out of the city where people literally want to kill her, just to see Cole, I mean how dumb could you get. There's even a moment in the book where she believes that she wants to die if she can't be with Cole. That might have been cute back in the fourteenth century, but now that just considered incredibly stupid, especially for someone who's supposed to be intelligent. Her character's perspective was just painful to read from.

On the other hand, I must say I liked Cole a little bit more than Davis. Don't get me wrong, he is still pretty stupid, but a tad less than Davis. I really do admire the fact that Cole lives in poverty, yet he has such a strong heart to try to raise money for his family. Now hes not supposed to be intelligent, or at least not as intelligent as Davis, but he still did some pretty stupid things. First of all, he gets offered a job get a picture of him kissing Davis. I don't know, but doesn't that just scream "RED LIGHT" to you? Obviously that picture is going to get out somehow, and you will be in a pickle when it does. I have no clue why he would agree to it, that just ridiculous. 
So throughout the book, we hear about how hes only in the FEUDS just for the money because he really want to take care of his family, yet near the end of the book he completely ditches his family all for Davis. I guess you could say that's kind of romantic, but when you look at character development, that send him back light-years! He pretty much just threw away his family, something that he's cared about for such a long time, to be with Davis, a girl who he recently met, who's dying from a disease where they haven't figured out a cure. I'm sorry what?!?!

The plot line of the story is.. well actually there isn't one. I couldn't tell what the climax was, or even if there was one in the first place. This story is all romance, and by that I mean all kisses, that literally it. There's tons of detail about what the characters think, but there's not plot line, or world-building. 

While I do think that this book has major potential to be great, because it really is a great idea about the Narxis aspect and the forbidden romance, it just isn't. If this book went through a major edition process, I feel like it could be a huge hit, but for now, I give it a thumbs down. And sadly I would not recommend this book to anyone, well maybe if you're a giant fan of forbidden love, but even then its a maybe. If you do decide to pick up this book, I really hope you enjoy it more than me.

-Aneta

Knight Assassin by Rima Jean

Series: not sure?
Publication Date: March 4th 2014
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
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Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Zayn has special powers she cannot control—powers that others fear and covet. Powers that cause the Templar Knights to burn Zayn’s mother at the stake for witchcraft. When a mysterious stranger tempts Zayn to become the first female member of the heretical Assassins, the chance to seek her revenge lures her in. She trains to harness her supernatural strength and agility, and then enters the King of Jerusalem's court in disguise with the assignment to assassinate Guy de Molay, her mother’s condemner. But once there, she discovers Earic Goodwin, the childhood friend who still holds her heart, among the knights—and his ocean-blue eyes don’t miss a thing. Will vengeance be worth the life of the one love she has left?

My Rating: 2/5 stars

My Review: Knight Assassin is a great new book, perfect for assassin lovers, and fans of books like Throne of Glass and Grave Mercy.

Zayn is very special, possessing a different kind of power she cannot control, because of this power and Zayn's refusal to marry, they are branded as witches. After being rescued by a mysterious man named Junaid, Zayn becomes the first female assassin and seeks revenge on those who did her wrong in the past.

Personally I had mixed emotions about this book. The characters, world and action weren't too appealing to me. I feel like if there were minor changes to this book I could have enjoyed it more, but most will probably still enjoy it.

I wasn't a huge fan of Zayn, I feel like this is one of the bigger reasons why I didn't like the book that much. I love the fact that Zayn became and assassin and decided to do something with her life. Yet her character is very whiny and sometimes illogical. There were many moments where I got tired of hearing how terrible her life is, it just got very repetitive and boring. While she did get a little brighter as the book went on, she wasn't very smart in the beginning, and even tried killing herself. I understand what she went through and that it was hard for her, but suicide is never the option and I felt like this book could have been sending the wrong message. 

I surprisingly liked Earic. I found him definitely more intelligent, kind and powerful than Zayn. He brings more of a sense of action into this story, and he's just so nice to everyone you can't help but like him.

I felt like the romance was a little underplayed. Zayn and Earic met when they were little and he saved her life twice. I'm sure that they had a crush on each other when they were little. When they meet again, they're almost adults and they just fall in love. This seems kind of unrealistic,and it made me a little mad when there was no awkwardness between them and they just plunged into a kiss right away. 

I am sad to say there was very little action in this book. For a title like Knight Assassin, you'd expect action on every page. But sadly most pages are filled with her being trained, complaining about her life, or trying to plan how to kill someone (which she fails at). I was hoping that she would be killing people left and right and be sent on missions, but there's none of that, and when she does kill people it's just during a battle which is a page long.

Now for the biggest reason why I didn't enjoy this book. I felt completely lost in the time period. I'm the type of person who hates feeling stupid, and knowing nothing about the Crusades time period or Syria in general, i felt really stupid because not much was explained. If you know your history, you will probably enjoy this book very much, but if you're like me and know nothing, you should probably research the history before reading this book, or you'll feel just as lost as me.

While this book did have some really good parts to it that made me laugh and enjoy the book a little, I couldn't find anything that made me excited and interested in the story. 

Hopefully, you guys find this book better than I did,
Thanks for reading.
-Aneta