Tag: Reviews

Historical Fiction, Home, Mystery & Thriller, Thriller, Young Adult

Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

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Ratings:  ☕☕☕☕☕ (5/5)

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  • An incredibly brave, kick-ass heroine torn between doing right by her family and pursuing her own dreams? Check.
  • Struggle for feminism and freedom? Check
  • A filthy rich, high society family with dirty secrets and skeletons in their closets? Check.
  • A fast-paced, cardiac arrest inducing mystery? Check.
  • Swoon worthy, bittersweet romance? Check.

If you like all of the above, then you are bound to fall in love with Jennifer Donnelly’s These Shallow Graves–an epic, thrilling, page-turner story about an elite young woman who gives up all the glamour of her high profile life in the pursuit of truth and justice.

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I did. I really did. In fact, this book was so wonderful that I’m having an extremely hard time writing this review. How am I ever going to sum up the perfection this novel is in a 1000+ word review?

Continue reading “Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly” →

Dystopia, Home, Self-Published/Indie, Young Adult

ARC Review: Chained (Cage of Lies #1) By Susanne Valenti

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Ratings: ☕☕☕

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I received this book for free in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Normally I’m very reluctant when it comes to reading self-published or “indie” books because previous experiences weren’t exactly positive. While Chained by Susanne Valenti may not be on my top 10 list, it’s certainly much better than most self-published books I have ever read.

The Writing: One of the things that drew me in about this book was the writing—it was quite simple, but the world-building was amazing. I particularly loved the description of Harbor City; the imagery was incredibly vivid and I could easily picture the complex system of skyscrapers and connecting towers in my head. In fact, one of the strongest points of the book was the way the surroundings and the events were described—for most of the book, the writing was so lifelike that it was easy to dive in to the dystopian world the book was set in.

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Home, Young Adult

Review: Shattered Blue (The Light Trilogy#1) by Lauren Bird Horowitz

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Ratings: 4/5  ☕☕☕☕25953603

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I started this book with low expectations—and by the time I was a little more than halfway done, I was convinced this was going to be one of the best books I have read—only to be sorely disappointed by the last quarter of the story. In spite of this—I’d still recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and fae stories—this book may not be without its flaws, but it’s not a completely waste of time either. To put it in a nutshell—Lauren Bird Horowitz’s debut novel Shattered Blue is a roller coaster ride.

The Writing: Lauren Bird Horowitz is one fantastic writer who creates characters that will just come to life. Her writing is definitely one of the highlights of the book for me—I loved how real each character felt, Continue reading “Review: Shattered Blue (The Light Trilogy#1) by Lauren Bird Horowitz” →

Home, Young Adult

Review: Somewhere In Between By Katie Li

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I received this book for free in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Ratings: 3/5  ☕☕☕

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 I really want to give this book good ratings because there were so many parts that were brilliantly written. Katie Li is a talented writer, one I would definitely want to read more from, and while her debut novel Somewhere In Between is a beautiful story that will transport you away from the real world, it has several issues which are preventing me from putting this particular on my best-reads list.

The Writing: Katie Li’s writing is very simple and yet has a sort of charm to it that will  draw you in. Her descriptions of the surroundings—both in the real world and in the in-between place—is so lifelike that you cannot help but feel like you are actually there, Continue reading “Review: Somewhere In Between By Katie Li” →

Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1.5)

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Ratings: 5/5 ☕☕☕☕☕

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Before I start my review…

OMG WARNER!!!

Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1.5)

Oookay now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to the actual review, shall we?

When I read Shatter Me, I knew that Tahereh Mafi was a brilliant writer, but I never knew exactly how talented she actually is until I read Destroy Me—a novella from the perspective of Warner, a ruthless powerful young man of questionable sanity. And while this book did meet all of my expectations, there were still many things that Continue reading “Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1.5)” →

Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh mafi

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Ratings: 5/5  ☕☕☕☕☕

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Despite the five coffee cups, this is not a book I would recommend to everyone because of the following reasons–

1) This is a depressing book, seeing as how our protagonist is a psychologically unstable teenager who had suffered years of verbal and physical abuse from everyone around her, including her parents.

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Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: The One (The Selection#3) by Kiera Cass

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Ratings: ★★★★☆

18635016This book started off terribly but got progressively better in the middle, and then went spiraling downhill again in the end. In fact, up until reading the very last chapters, I was ready to give this book four stars–it was even better than The Elite–and I hadn’t been expecting that–but then Kiera Cass had to ruin it with a loosely tied plot.

The Writing: The writing was just as good as the other two books, except that in The One, it was a lot less predictable and a lot more entertaining than in The Elite and in The Selection. Once again, Kiera Cass had me Continue reading “Review: The One (The Selection#3) by Kiera Cass” →

Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: The Elite (The Selection#2) By Kiera Cass

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Ratings: ★★★☆☆16248068

I have to thank shinichimegumi123 from When Curiosity Killed The Cat for encouraging me to continue with this series, because it did get better, just like she promised it would. Many of the problems I had with the first book The Selection were fixed here, and while this is still not the best book I have ever read, I definitely enjoyed reading The Elite much more than I enjoyed reading The Selection.

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Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: The Selection (The Selection#1) by Kiera Cass

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10507293Ratings: ★★☆☆☆

Oookay…where do I start?

I have a love/hate relationship with this book and at the moment I’m leaning towards hate, because even though this book was very well written and works great as a romance novel, in the beginning it promises to be something more than a mere love story, despite what the blurb and the trailer (check it out here) says. And yet, by the time I was done, I realized it had failed to deliver.

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Home, Young Adult

Review: Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy#1) By Anna Jarzab

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Ratings: 5/5 stars ★★★★★

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Parallel universes? That is so Fringe.

Review: Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy#1) By Anna JarzabI am a huge fan of science fiction–fringe science–in particular, which covers everything from teleportation to reanimation to mind reading to…yep, you guessed it…parallel universes.  It’s a concept I am very familiar with, and I also know the main theory behind it so of course, when I heard of Anna Jarzab’s Tandem, I instantly wanted to read it.

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