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The Young Elites by: Marie Lu

2/19/2016

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The Young Elites by: Marie Lu
Synopsis: 
Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites. Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.
It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.
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Alright... its review time!!! 

IM SORRY BUT MARIE LU HAS TRULY LET ME DOWN.

While it pains me to say it, this book was only mediocre. I am a HUGE fan of Marie Lu’s Legend trilogy so I was very optimistic when starting the Young Elites. Sadly, it did not meet my expectations. This book is described as being a story that is about the bad guy, not the hero. I’m a sucker for badass female characters so I was definitely intrigued. Instead, we just got this whiny main character who would make these grand statements about revenge and how she was going to “burn down the world” and “make everyone cower in fear” but then who would proceed to fail every mission and cry. For example, her constant mistakes almost led to the deaths of 5 of her friends and family members. Adelina was just extremely hard to relate to and I felt like there was little to no character growth happening. 

Also, while I was intrigued by the plot and the idea of this illness and its effects, I didnt really understand the world itself. I don't really know why because I usually don't struggle with this in fantasy books but I just found it very difficult to imagine where things were happening and what they looked like. While there was a map in the front of the book, I still didn't understand where all these countries were in relation to each other, what they looked like or how the royalty/leaders worked. Because of this, I wasn't enjoying the story because there was no clear image in my head of what anything looked like. Very disappointing. 

While I really struggled with the characters and the fact that the world building was a little less then stellar, the plot and premise behind the story has a lot of potential so I do plan on continuing with the next novel. While this book doesn’t even begin to compare to Legend, I’m willing to give it another shot. Wish me luck!

Happy reading nerds! Sound off in the comments with you opinion on this novel!
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Made You Up by: Francesca Zappia

12/26/2015

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Made You Up by: Francesca Zappia
Synopsis: 
Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. 

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.
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Alright... its review time!!

This was just so disappointing.


So I joined my schools bookclub (nerdy, i know) and this was the first book that we picked. And when I say "we", I really mean everyone voted for this expect for me. I wanted to read Lets Get Lost by Adi Alsaid but what ever, I was outvoted 20 to 1. I was excited to give it a try though because a) it has a GORGEOUS cover and b) the synopsis sounded pretty decent. The main character in this book is named Alex and she has schizophrenia. I knew next to nothing about the mental illness so I must say, reading this book and talking about it in my book club has definitely educated me. I was just really disappointed when I finished it because while the plot had a lot of potential, I felt like it was executed very poorly.

I just really don't feel like I took anything away from this book. More importantly, I just didnt feel like there was a solid plot. Like I finished it a couple hours ago and I honestly don't think I could tell you how it ended, I was that bored while reading it. I just feel like the author was really trying to write a book that was philosophical and life changing but failed. It was sorta fun getting to know the characters in the beginning but after that, things became predictable, weird and just straight up confusing. Maybe this was meant to reflect the main character's schizophrenia but as a reader, it made the story hard to follow. As much as I wanted to love this book, I just couldn't get into it 

Happy reading nerds! Sound off in the comments with your opinion on this novel!
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Just Listen by: Sarah Dessen

2/16/2014

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Just Listen by: Sarah Dessen
Synopsis: Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything" — at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store.

This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.

Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.


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Alright... review time! 


**Do NOT read this review if you have not read this book**

**1.5 stars**

I can't even put into words how disappointed i am with this book. This book was slowing predictable. There was basically zero romance which annoyed me and I didn't even find Owen very likeable. His reaction to what Annabel went through was really weird. I felt that after spilling her entire life story he would have more of an reaction. The main character Annabel... ugh, she annoyed me sooooo much. She was so oblivious to how people around her were feeling (Clarke and Owen especially) and I felt like she didn't try very hard to make friends or keep her friendships going. I found her to be very helpless. She didn't stand up for what she believed in (except for music) and she let Sophie control her for to long. She saw how wrong and abusive she was but she did nothing to defend herself or her friends. Ive had many friends like Sophie and by letting Sophie do what she wanted Annabel just gave her more power. I can't even begin to explain how much that angered me. 

The book I read before this one was Hopeless By Colleen Hoover and it also had to do with sexual assault and that book i found was more believable. It showed the mental and physical struggle the victim went through and the repercussions of rape. It also showed the reactions of the victims family and her boyfriend. I found the fact that Annabels mom went into a deep depression after Annabels grandma died and then her daughter gets raped and she doesn't even cry or freak out. That just doesn't sit well with me. I guess everyone does deal with grief in their own way though.

The only thing I liked about this book was that I was able to relate to a lot of the stuff Annabel was going through and felt, even if i didn't agree with how she delt with it. This is my personal opinion but this book was a total let down. I don't plan on reading anymore of Sarah Dessens books. I don't recommend this novel.


Happy reading nerds and sound off in the comments with your opinions and reviews on this novel! :)
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Fallen By: Lauren Kate

11/28/2013

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Fallen By: Lauren Kate
Synopsis: There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her.


Alright.... Its review time! This review will be fairly short because I don't have much to say about it and there will NOT be any spoilers so don't worry if you haven't read it! Any-who, I was aimlessly wandering the isles at my local Target when I came upon some books that where on sale. Fallen was marked down to $2.99 and even through I had heard some mixed things about this book I thought I would give it a try so I bought it. Plus the cover is absolutely gorgeous! I finished this book last night and to be honest I didn't really enjoy it. 


I felt like it had a solid start and an interesting story line but as the book progressed it made less and less sense. At the beginning I liked both of the main guys (Cam and Daniel) but after a while they both started to irritate me because Cam was too clingy and Daniel was always "hot and cold". Also the main character Luce was kinda dumb in my opinion and she wasn't a very consistent friend. She kept ditching all her friends and her family to chase after Daniel. That was really frustrating because she wasn't very loyal. Also one of the biggest turn offs for me was the ending. It explained NOTHING! I was left completely and utterly confused! For a supernatural YA fiction novel to be successful and enjoyable the reader has to at least know what was going on! 


I don't really recommend this book. It was a fast read and had a few good romance scenes but nothing special in my opinion! Id give it 2.5 stars! Happy reading nerds and sound off in the comments with your opinion on this novel!
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    Jamie

    Avid reader, music lover, total nerd, night owl, chocolate addict, 24/7 try hard

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