REVIEW: Saved by Allegra Skye

TITLE: Saved

AUTHOR: Allegra Skye

GENRE: YA, Supernatural

WHERE I GOT IT: Google Play store

READ FROM: October 25^th to November 1st, 2013

BOOK BLURB: Kiera and Amanda are twins. Kiera is always overshadowed by her sister Amanda. Everyone seems to prefer Amanda, even by the twins parents. So when they move and start in a new high school, Kiera once again feels like an outsider. This new town isn't what it seems though. Kiera meets a boy Cooper who is hiding a secret of his own. 

MY THOUGHTS: 

some things that really bothered me: (I'm pretty sure I stopped jotting them down after awhile.) 

- The twins parents are horrid people, especially the mother! Who treats their kids like the way she treats them. You shouldn't have kids if you can't love them both equally!

- SERIOUSLY I would NOT be driving her ANYWHERE until she put that seat belt on! Besides being dangerous it is also illegal and the way she was throwing a fit. Yeah you can walk there if your going to act like that. Most people put their belts on so I don't see why she flew off the handle like that! 

- The accident was just an ACCIDENT! It was not the fault of anyone! Here again, maybe you should be happy that one of your kids was pretty okay and that they both weren't severely hurt. OH wait! You don't care if Kiera lived or died, after all she should be the one on the hospital bed and not Amanda. 

- Explain to me how a day after this bad accident Kiera is strong enough to go to school but not strong enough to talk to the Police and tell them what happened? Sure she could just be too emotionally distraught to talk to them, but if that is the case she shouldn't really be going to school now should she! Especially where everyone and their uncle will be asking her a million and one questions about what happened!

- I hate how the mother is such a bitch that she refuses the let Kiera see her sister! OMG hello they are TWINS! Even if they aren't that close they still shared a womb together, there for on some level they still have a connection. Maybe it would help Amanda, wouldn't it at least be worth a shot.

- Also what kind of road as really deep ravines on either side of the road that goes behind a school. I cannot picture this for the life of me?

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I don't even know what to say about this book anymore. I finished it awhile ago and honestly have barely any recollection on what happened through the whole thing.

It follows in the same vein as the last book I read. Badly needed to be edited, it seems more like a first draft and I'm pretty sure that Cooper just comes out of nowhere. I won't be continuing with the series at all.

RATING: 1 star

REVIEW: Sworn by Emma Knight

TITLE: Sworn

AUTHOR: Emma Knight

GENRE: YA, Supernatural

WHERE I GOT IT: Google Play store

READ FROM: October 19^th to October 21^th, 2013

BOOK BLURB: Rachael Wood has to move to a new town when her father has to move for a job. She is the newbie of the school, things are going crappy for her until a football player takes an interest in her. But when he starts to act weird, she meets a loner of the school who doesn't seem to be your average teenager.

MY THOUGHTS: I don't even know what to say about this book. I only downloaded it off of the Google store because it was about vampires, free and I needed something easy to read. The only good thing about it was that it was fairly short.

The most frustrating part about it was that about half way through I realized that so far there has been no introduction to any 'person' that could be a vampire. We don't see him until almost the end and it was instant love. ~rolls eyes. She literally just was snubbed by her first true love, runs into this guy and then is madly in love with him. She just says oh well who knows why the other guy (I can't even remember his name that's how much I don't care about him) snubbed me but that's okay because I just met real my true love....again. 

She doesn't even know this person for a day and notices all these strange things about him. It ends with her demanding to know what he is and saying that if he doesn't tell her she doesn't want to see him. I mean really? He leans over to whisper and then it ends! I mean, come on, it would have been more effective to have the last line of the book "I am a vampire"! We KNOW he is one considering Sworn is book #1 of the VAMPIRE LEGENDS. GEEZ if the author was trying to build up suspense it really didn't work.

I rated it one star because this book seems like a first draft. There were lots of grammar errors, repetition of thoughts right after each other, and incomplete sentences. Also it really bugs me when things that are normally a common occurrence, but change all of a sudden and then switch back and then are not explained. For example Rachael (her name was Rachael right?) and her siblings always, ALWAYS, get picked up by their mother from school but conveniently one day she decides to walk home and meets the 'vampire'. There is no mention on how her mother knows she doesn't have to wait for her or anything. Wouldn't her mother worry or sit there waiting for a long time. It wasn't like it was planned that she would walk home. She literally walks out of the school and then decides to walk home and I think even mentions that this way she wouldn't be a debbie downer in the car when her sister shares her excitement with her mom about making the cheerleading team. Then the next day she is being picked up by her mother again. There are probably other examples but I don't remember.

I would say pass on this book. I won't be reading the next in the series. I don't care for any of the character, nor what happens to them, and it really is hard to read with so many glaring errors.

RATING: 1 Star

REVIEW: Perverse by Larry Rodness

TITLE: Perverse

AUTHOR: Larry Rodness

GENRE: YA, Supernatural

WHERE I GOT IT: from the author for review

READ FROM: August 6^th to September 14^th, 2013

BOOK BLURB: 19 year old Emylene Stipe, a 2nd generation Goth, is shaken to the core when her make-believe world turns out to be real.

MY THOUGHTS:

I have to start off by saying that I absolutely love the cover of this book! I could totally see it hanging on one of my walls.

I really like how I was pulled into the story right away. Emylene is 19 years old and born to Goth parents. Her parents own a Goth night club downtown which makes Emylene pretty much royalty to the Goth community. She decides that she needs to break out on her own and rents an apartment. One day she stops off into an antique store and is compelled to purchase a drawing of a cabin in the woods. The next day she wakes up and sees something strange. There are footprints in the snow that were not there the day before.

This is such an interesting concept and I didn't expect the story to go in the direction that it did. I love when that happens! It was interesting to learn as Emylene did, who the girl in the drawing was, through Emylene's interactions with new acquaintances.

Emylene's world really was turned upside down, even losing a few years of her life, and having to deal with the aftermath of releasing a Vrykolakas (basically a vampire-like supernatural creature) upon the world. The twists kept coming and the ending was not at all what I had expected it to be.

This book was really good. The story, the characters, and seeing how a Vrykolakas viewed the world, were all very intriguing. It's actually refreshing reading a supernatural story that is 'dark' in nature instead of 'fluffy' (for lack of a better word) that seems to be the common trend these days.

(I was asked by the author to read and review this book honestly. I am so glad that I did!)

RATING: 4 stars

REVIEW: Gimme a Kiss by Christopher Pike

TITLE: Gimme a Kiss

AUTHOR: Christopher Pike

PUBLISHED: 1988

PAGES: 152

GENRE: YA Horror

WHERE I GOT IT: Own it

ABOUT BLURB:

Some secrets are worth dying for....

Jane Retton would never let anyone read her diary. After all, was filed with her wildest secrets – the sort of things she wouldn't even tell her closests friends.

Then something terrible happened. Somehow her diary ended up at school. And soon, everyone was reading her final, shocking entry. Some girls would simply die. Others girls would kill. But Jane Retton... she would do both.....

GIMME A KISS

NOTE: If your interested or read Christopher Pike in your youth you can read my recap of this book on my other blog Book Rat Nostalgic Reading.

FIRST SENTENCE OF THE BOOK: The girl looked scared.

MY THOUGHTS:

I had no recollection of anything that happened in this book what-so-ever. I'm actually not even sure if I read this one when I was younger. A few years back I was on the look out for any books by Christopher Pike and R.L Stine to complete my collection and this might have been one of them.

Regardless this book was fairly short at only 152 pages long. It is pretty similar to Fall into Darkness in that it bounces back and forth between the police station and events as they took place. Actually one of the main reasons for reading this one second was that I had read that the book that Ann based her fake death scenerio on, from Fall Into Darkness, was actually this book.

Jane Retton keeps a diary, except the entries are pure fantasy and didn't really happen. She is pretty meticulous at making sure that her diary stays away from unwanted eyes. One morning unfortunately, she was writing her latest entry  when she noticed that a cat was trying to eat her rabbit in the back yard. So what did Jane do? She left it open on her desk.

Later that day her latest entry was photocopied and distributed to everyone in school, an entry that detailed how her boyfriend Kirk and herself had sex. Kirk didn't deny it and everyone was staring and laughing at her.

She vows to get even by faking her own death and making it look like Kirk and Patty were responsible. Things didn't go exactly how she expected it to go. 

The story was okay but it isn't one of my favourites. I pretty much guessed the ending part way through the book though. The last bit of the book I find absolutely hilarious – but that might be because I am in shock at how unbelievable stupid one of the characters is and her reasoning behind things.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars.

REVIEW: Fall into Darkness by Christopher Pike

TITLE: Fall Into Darkness

AUTHOR: Christopher Pike

PUBLISHED: 1990

GENRE: YA Horror

WHERE I GOT IT: Own it.

READ FROM: August 17th to 18th 2013

ABOUT BLURB: They said she murdered her best friend. The trial is for murder. Ann Rice is dead. Her best friend, Sharon McKay, stands accused. But there is no body. And the three witnesses to the crime only heard what happened, and did not see it. Nevertheless, the prosecution is almost certain of victory. Ann was alone in the dark with Sharon on top of the cliff when Ann fell the 500 feet into the torrential river that claimed her life. There was only one route leading to the cliff, and all the witnesses can remember hearing the girls arguing before the fall occurred. Sharon's only defense is that Ann committed suicide. But everyone who knew Ann, including Sharon, said she was not the suicidal type. And they were right. Ann was much more then suicidal. She was obsessed.

NOTE: If your interested or read Christopher Pike in your youth you can read my recap of this book on my other blog Book Rat Nostalgic Reading. 

FIRST SENTENCE OF THE BOOK: The trial was for murder.

MY THOUGHTS:

So this is the first book that I have ever read by Christopher Pike. This book is what led me to discover other authors such as R.L. Stine, LJ Smith and Richie Tankersley Cusick. I think it was somewhere in the grades 5-8 that one day during choir practice my friend brought the book she was reading with her. It was this book. I remember that all my other friends were taking turns reading one passage out of the book. My friend basically told us - read this part and you will be hooked. She's right, I was. I really don't know what that says about me as a person or as a kid but it probably is where my love for supernatural/horror stories comes from.

If your interested in reading the passage here it is but be warned it is basically a big spoiler. If you want to skip it just look for the big end spoiler text.

“ The pants were tattered, the shirt and jacket torn. A coil of rope, perhaps as long as five hundred feet and entwined with heavy moss-covered stones, circled the lower body. No one in the school had approached Ann's incredible beauty, and even in that horrible moment of discovery, Sharon felt sad that she would never again be able to remember Ann as she had been. Sharon looked for only a fraction of a second before she clenched her eyes shut, but the horrible image burned to deep. The swollen black cheeks. The twisted purple mouth. The pink slit throat. It was a pity, Sharon thought, that Ann could no longer close her own eyes and look away from what was left of her body. But the fish in the river must have been hungry.

Ann's eyes were missing.” pg 180.

/END SPOILER

I think what made us all become obsessed with those books is that they were something different and they almost felt taboo to us. I mean just look at the subject matter of that passage up there. I'm pretty sure before that I was reading Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon and Sweet Valley high!

Reading this book again, brings back the memories of that day and my love for reading as a child. It's been so long since I've read this book. It's kind of amazing to me that I remember pretty much everything that happened considering how long it has been.

I really think Ann was crazy to pull what she did and I really don't get her hatred for Sharon since they were best friends for a long time. I understand why she says she did it but it makes me believe that she secretly was jealous of Sharon's success and achievements, maybe even throughout their whole friendship. Ann might have had money but she really didn't have any talents, she didn't have anything exciting happening in her life or to look forward to and her family were dropping around her. Such a deadly friendship! I almost feel sorry for Ann, especially when she sort of 'sees the light' so to speak but she still had to be some kind of evil person to do what she did. I'm also not convinced that Ann's boyfriend really loved her anyways, it seems almost like he was using her for the money. Who knows though maybe that last part is just over thinking the story and everyone's motives.

Anyways it was a nice trip down memory lane. I think I am going to dig out the rest of my books from my childhood and reread them.

Also check out my recap of the book with my comments on my other blog.

RATING: 5 stars

REVIEW: The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise

TITLE: The Boyfriend App

AUTHOR: Katie Sise

GENRE: YA

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook library borrow

READ FROM: July 6^th to July 8^th 2013

note: I try my hardest to give a spoiler free reviews but sometimes when talking about a book it is hard to keep it that way. When that is the case I like to warn readers that my review will give things away. This review might have some things that could spoil parts of the story for you. I have indicated where the spoilers start so never fear. :) 

ABOUT BLURB: Audrey is a computer smart techie girl who enters a contest to win 200,000 grand and thus be able to attend a school of her choice after she graduates from high school. To do this she developed an app that matches you with the perfect match. It's when she takes the development one step farther, the boyfriend App 2.0, that things started to get out of control.

EXPECTATIONS: I really had no expectations when I started this. I requested it through my library on a whim while browsing their website.

CHARACTERS:

The Trogs:

Audrey McCarthy – she was an okay main character. At least in the first part of the book. I really began to question her morals during the second half considering she was messing with peoples brains.

Aiden Bailey – one of Audrey's best friend and the love interest.... I think. Audrey seemed to go back and forth between who she was in love with. One moment it's Aiden, the next it is Xander. I really never warmed up to either of them so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Nigit Gurung/Mindy Morales/Lindsay - Audrey's other two best friend, and her cousin Lindsay make up her small group of friends. Nigit and Mindy really weren't all that interesting to me at all.

Others:

Blake Dawkins - She is a royal b*tch. I think she might have been the only character in the book that I felt anything for. It was all anger and disbelief that someone can be soooo horrible – especially to adults. I really never saw what Xander Knight saw in her or really what she saw in him. Other then I guess claiming him for herself when she saw that Audrey was interested in him a few years before the story takes place. Some best friend she really was. Good thing she is Audrey’s ex best friend now. She is just a horrible,horrible person.

There were other random characters but they really don't matter. In fact I really found all characters to be pretty uninteresting.

WHAT I LIKED: There really isn't to much that I did like about it. The first part of the book might be the only thing. I mean at least the basic premise of the story was plausible then. I was at least somewhat enjoying the story. It definitely wasn't like an all time 5 star book for me but it was somewhat enjoyable.

WHAT I HATED: I really didn't like how Audrey explained her cool haxxor skills or her computer smarts. I don't really know why. It felt really preachy to me and like she was talking down to you because she figured you probably wouldn't grasp what she was saying even when she simplified it. That could be because I already knew and understood what she was talking about.

Once I approached the middle of the book an event happened that made me lose almost total interest in the story because it was just so far out there. I mean this event didn't even make any sense to me at all.

She does some things that I think are morally questionable and seems to not even care that she was messing with people's brains, emotions and lives without a second thought. All to win money so she could go to the college of her choice. It really bugs me that nobody questioned how and why the App worked. Even some adults were said to have used it!

WARNING: The section below contains spoilers. If you want to avoid them just pop on down to the final thoughts section.

<spoiler> Okay so she fries her phone on a battery and then starts to hear a buzzing sound. She starts to love whoever is around her uncontrollably and it so happened to be her cousin. If that wasn't weird enough, it also effects her cousin the same way when she goes close to the phone. We find out later that the company actually has some sort of secret technology that sends out a inaudible tone or sets of tones that brain washes the teenager using the phone to buy more of their products. As crazy as that is it would make sense that a company could potentially do that to drive up sales. But then why did Audrey and Lindsay fall in love with each other instead of feeling this urge to go buy something else of said company? Maybe I missed something reading that section but I was like 'what the shit is going on? How does that make any sense?'

I also find it hard to believe that she was able to hack into a multi billion dollar company without being detected. Maybe it could be possible but while I think she is pretty smart I don't think she is that smart. I would think a huge company like that is always targeted by hackers. She is also able to hack her way in in under 5 mins. Oookay with no trouble what so ever.

Also after she hacks into Nigit's fathers computer she finds evidence of blackmail. Would a head of company that large really leave a paper trail like that!! It's not like it was shut up about our sales revenue or something. It's shut up about this crazy study we did so that we can transmit noises to make people buy our shit. Yeah I don't think I would be leaving a paper trail like that.

Then she uses that technology and creates her app 2.0 and makes it so that if she points her phone at someone, makes eye contact, presses a button and they drop what they are doing, fall madly in love with you and then attack them with kisses. First of all who the hell wants a guy to do that. I'm sorry but if that happened in real life we would be calling the cops and accusing them of being a obsessive crazy stalker.

Also Audrey finds nothing wrong with using people this way to win an app contest so she can go to school. Yeah I really think your father would approve of that. Also at one point she says that she actually made the signal stronger then what the company used. Soooo your messing with peoples brains, using them as guinea pigs without their consent (I realize that the company was also doing this but still). Who knows what the long term effects are. Is is just soooo wrong on so many levels. I really started to hate her which is sad since she is the main character! Also wouldn't the company realize what she did? How did everyone in the world that heard about the app and downloaded it not QUESTION why it worked or how? I think I would be a little horrified if on the news or twitter or somewhere I hear that there is an app to make any guy/girl fall mad shit in love with me. Yeah I really want that. What happens if the app is turned off or technology is interrupted as it sometimes is? I mean really! This is after all supposed to be set in this time frame of our world. GOD she even admits that it would be 'fake' later on in the book when she was considering using it on Aidan. So then WHY did you think it was okay AUDREY? Don't you want something REAL? UGHHH so frustrating!</spoiler>

FINAL THOUGHTS: Okay I need to stop ranting lol. I really just expected something different then what I got. Like I said before, the first part was okay and enjoyable but when she developed the second version that it crossed over into totally unbelievable fantasy. This just wasn't for me.

RATING: 1 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Death Cure by James Dashner

The Death Cure

TITLE: The Death Cure

AUTHOR: James Dashner

GENRE: YA, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic,

SERIES: Book #3 of the Maze Runner Trilogy

WHERE I GOT IT: Borrowed from the library

READ FROM: March 03 to 05, 2013

note: I try my hardest to give a spoiler free reviews but sometimes when talking about a book it is hard to keep it that way. When that is the case I like to warn readers that my review will give things away. This review might have some things that could spoil parts of the story for you. So read with caution.

BLURB: They cracked the secret of the maze and crossed the scorch. Now WICKED has one more task for them and that is to finish the blueprint for the cure. Just one thing, Thomas knows that he can't trust them to tell the truth.

WHAT I HATED: I was SO disappointed with this book. I loved the first one and thought the second one was okay but I had really high hopes for this one. I was totally disappointed. I started skimming parts near the end because I just wanted it to be done!

I felt that parts of the book really seemed to drag. This was probably due to the fact that once they made it to their next destination something happened that stalled them for awhile. Then once they finally started moving to the next point they were stalled again. I just wanted them to get to the end point so I could get some answers. It's almost like in a suspense movie. The person is running away and getting so close to the safe spot, that your sitting on the edge of your seat biting your nails hoping they make it but knowing there is the possibility that the won't. .

I was really hoping that Thomas would get his memory back. As bad as it sounds I was practically cheering when WICKED was going to force him to go through with the procedure because I wanted some concrete answers. On the other hand I can understand why Thomas wouldn't want to remember anything but since he was one of the most mysterious characters I felt like he should have anyways. But once it seemed like that wasn't going to happen I expected maybe learning something from Teresa but she was barely even in the book! 

CHARACTERS: I feel that Teresa and Thomas had so much potential to make the story really interesting considering we get snippets of how they were involved with WICKED from a young age, how they could communicate mentally with each other and how they had a big part in the development of the maze. I really wish that Dashner would have chosen to let us in on a bit more. The whole thing is shrouded in so much mystery that we are left to make up our own minds and to be honest I really don't like that. There is just to much left unanswered for my liking.

While I was interested in Teresa, I really hated Brenda. The only point I saw for her being there was to make Thomas continually debate about who he should be with. It got annoying after awhile. Sometimes love triangles can be interesting, this one definitely was not. Plus was she a WICKED spawn or was she really on Thomas's side and in love with him? It doesn't seem like it could be both since Wicked really doesn't seem to be “good”?

ANOTHER THING I HATED:  I also was so disappointed with the letter Newt gave Thomas to read at the right “moment”. I was willing Thomas to read that note at least a half a dozen times and when he finally did I had to reread to make sure I read it right. I was thinking it was going to be something profound, something moving, something that made me think. Instead it was 'if your my friend, kill me when I get past the gone”. WHAT!?!?! Why couldn't he have just pulled Thomas aside to ask him that and make him promise then? I mean come on Newt! You can't tell him he will “know” when the time to read it is and when he doesn't, get all mad at him because he let you down! Seriously. If it was that important to you that he kill you right after you go crazy you should have taken him aside and made sure he understood! Not leave it up to a letter you wrote! I get maybe that would have been a hard conversation but still at least he would have known your wishes. Considering the world that they are living in there are a million possibilities why Thomas wouldn't read the note at the 'right time'! I felt sooo cheated that there was all this suspense leading up to reading that note and that was all we got.

PLOT: I really did believe that WICKED was close to a cure. I really, really, really did. Even though the explanation on how they were going to reach that really didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. So I was hopeful when Thomas went back.

Then rat man said this: “Thomas we need your brain” I knew at that point (and was slightly disappointed because the story was totally going in a direction I didn't expect) that rat man, and quite possible all of WICKED were all way past the gone and had been for a really long time. UGH!

Then Teresa DIES! WHAT? But to be honest, while it shocked me I found I really didn't care. She was barely in the books anyways so I was not attached to her at all. I was sort of appalled that Thomas basically was like 'meh that sucks.' 

WHAT I LIKED: I actually found that their style of swearing/slang humorous for some reason. “Those Cranks are way past the Gone.” I have a feeling I might be saying 'what the clunk' a lot or thinking people are being real 'slintheads' for awhile.

THE ENDING: While there was an ending of sorts, I was left with so many more questions. Like what was the extent of Thomas and Teresa's part in building the trials? Why were they able to communicate telepathically to each other? How did they learn that? Why can't everyone do that? Who is Chancellor Paige? Why didn't we learn about her sooner? How did they think this research was going to help them find a cure? Why did they find everything so necessary? Why didn't WICKED hire more munies to oversee their research? How did WICKED think it was going to solve the flare infection? Why didn't WICKED send immunes to this magical start over place before they discovered failure!? Was WICKED really good? Sigh, I could go on.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I have to give Dashner a high five for being very creative in this trilogy. He did create an interesting world, even if he left us with a million more questions then we started with. I guess I will have to use my imagination as to what happened to the ones that were sent to start over, even though I don't want to. I just really wish that I wasn't given such a free rein to come up with my own conclusions. I may have ranted a lot with this book but it really did make me think a lot about the story.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE TRILOGY: As a whole I really loved this series, I think maybe to go on as far as to say, one of my favourites even though I didn't like book 2 and 3 nearly as much as the 1^st one.   I'm actually pretty excited to see that the first one is being made into a movie. Should be interesting to see when it comes out. 

My final thoughts on the trilogy is this: is WICKED really good? I can't really decide. I think their quest to find a cure was a good thing but I think they way they went about it was bad. Who knows maybe they were already starting to go past the Gone when they decided the trials were the only way to go. I guess we will never know. Your thoughts?

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

TITLE: The Scorch Trials

AUTHOR: James Dashner

PUBLISHED: October 2010

GENRE: YA, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic,

SERIES: Book #2 of the Maze Runner Trilogy

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrowed from the library

READ FROM: February 28^th to March 2^nd 2013

NOTE: I try my hardest to give a spoiler free reviews but sometimes when talking about a book it is hard to keep it that way. When that is the case I like to warn readers that my review will give things away. This review might have some things that could spoil parts of the story for you. So read with caution or skip down to my final thoughts on the book.

ABOUT BLURB: Solving the riddle of the maze was supposed to be the end but instead the Gladers find that WICKED is not done with them yet and has given them the task of crossing the scorch, the most burned out and dangerous section in the world, and get to a safe haven in two weeks time. It's not as easy as it sounds since the Cranks are at every turn and WICKED is up to their old tricks again, throwing variables at them that not even Thomas would have expected. Will they finally find answers and a cure in the safe haven?

WHAT I HATED: I was a bit disappointed by this book considering I really loved the Maze Runner. For the most part it was good. There were new pieces to the puzzle thrown into the mix but it really didn't answer anything. I really didn't expect all the answers, after all there is another book but DAMN I wanted something!

Instead we are giving a small explanation for the point of the Trails that made me scratch my head because I fail to see how mapping patterns in the “kill zone” would help them create a cure for the flare. I just don't understand the logic. The only thing I can think of for that to be true is if the flare was actually a mental disease. Yet we know that can't be true because numerous times we are told that the flare was a man made disease that got out and spread rapidly. I only hope that we will get answers in the third book but from what I have been reading I am not expecting much. Which makes me think how can you write a trilogy with no answers!?

I also found numerous sentences that rubbed me the wrong way. I hate the use of the phrases “all to well” and “it was all he could do”. I don't know why but they bug me and I noticed it a lot in this book. So much that eventually I started focusing more on that then the story itself at one point which was a shame.

CHARACTERS: I also have started hating Thomas. I found his lack of understanding of why Teresa “betrayed” him annoying. Like seriously? You should be royally pissed at WICKED for making her do that not start to boo hooing about how he can't believe she still did it. She should have let you DIE Thomas she didn't because your her FRIEND so FORGIVE HER ALREADY! It really makes me question if he would have done the same for her if the situations were reversed? He seemed to really distance himself from her once the new “love” interest Brenda came on scene. I can't really decide if this is supposed to be a love triangle or what because I really don't find it to be that convincing if it was. I hated Brenda right from the beginning and I never really saw Teresa and Thomas ever getting together anyways.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I really do like the concept and the strange twists that are thrown at us but I hate that we never get any answers. I really want there to be a really good reason for everything, I really really do! I hope that the last in the trilogy gives us some answers because I felt like the second book gave just gave us more questions then answers. Right now I still don't see the POINT of what WICKED is making them go through. I don't see why if the flare infection is contagious and transmitted so easily why are these people who are immune not in a laboratory being tested to find out why they are immune. What makes them so different from everyone else?

Having said all that I’ve come to realize that even though I love the YA genre and ever since I challenged myself to actually think about a book I finish more critically then I have in the past that I am still looking through and reading this as an adult. Reading the reviews from younger readers makes me feel that maybe I am just being too critical of any story and that maybe I should enjoy the book for what is is and not be so picky.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

TITLE: The Maze Runner

AUTHOR: James Dashner

PUBLISHED: October 2009

GENRE: YA, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic,

SERIES: Book #1 of the Maze Runner Trilogy

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrowed from the library

READ FROM: February 24^th - 27^th 2013.

ABOUT BLURB: Thomas wakes up in a cold dark metal box, not remembering who he was or how he got there. When the box is opened he finds himself in a place called the glade surrounded by a group of boys roughly around his own age. There is no way out of the glade save into a maze that shifts every night. Even that isn't danger free since grievers come out and night and will kill anyone that gets in their path.

EXPECTATIONS: I knew that this was a popular YA series so it peeked my interest. Having just finished 'The Kill Order', I was interested to see where the hype for the series began. The story sounded very unique and interesting to me.

WHAT I LIKED: Wow, just wow. This book kept me on edge from the moment I started reading it. It was really hard to put down. It kept you guessing right from the beginning and I could feel Thomas's frustration at not getting clear answers right away. The whole concept was interesting. I found that just the thought of the slug like creatures they call the grievers sent a chill up my spin every time they were talked about. But then again that makes sense since I really DO NOT like any thing resembling a slug or worm or any other squishy thing like that.

This was one book that I couldn't even puzzle out what was going to happen next since everything was so unexpected. I actually liked the writing in this book better then in 'The Kill Order'.

CHARACTERS: I was intrigued by Thomas's character right from the beginning. We know that he isn't just regular like the other boys but special somehow. I also had a hard time picturing Chuck as a 13 year old in my mind, since he seemed so innocent and defenseless. Every time he was around or mentioned I kept picturing him as a 5 year old. He probably was my second favourite character next to Thomas. I guess maybe that is how we are supposed to picture him though.

HOW IT ENDED: (possible spoilers so read this section with caution if you don't want anything spoiled.) The ending was a surprise but by that time I already figured that there was going to be that twist. I still haven't figured out how this 'test' would help find the cure though or how it is connected to the aftermath of the flare. I hope that in the second book there is more explanation of this. Also having read The Kill Order already I am left to wonder what happened to the little girl that Mark and his friends risked their lives to send through to the people supposedly not effected by the virus. I mean wasn't she supposed to be able to provide a vaccine since she was immune? Why develop this test if they had her? What happened to her? Hopefully some of my questions will be answered in the next book.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I loved this book so much that I rated it 5 stars since it would be something I would definitely consider rereading at some point. It will be interesting down the road to see what I will pick up the second time reading this that I might have missed the first time. I loved the whole mystery of the maze and the metal box. I am looking forward to reading the second in the series.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Kill Order by James Dashner

TITLE: The Kill Order

AUTHOR: James Dashner

PUBLISHED: August 2012

GENRE: YA, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic,  

SERIES: Prequel to the Maze Runner Trilogy

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrowed from library

READ FROM: February 21 to 24, 2013

ABOUT BLURB: Solar Flares destroy the earth and cause a multitude of problems forcing those left to fight for survival. Mark and his good friend Trina are lucky to be alive, having escaped New York City from flooding caused by the flares. Now they have settled into a community with other survivors trying to piece back together a life empty of family and loved ones. Unfortunately disease is spreading quickly. Mark and Trina are convinced that there is a cure and race to find it before it is to late.

EXPECTATIONS: I was getting set to read the Maze Runner trilogy but discovered that he had written this prequel as well so I thought I would read it first.

CHARACTERS: I'm sad to say that I never really felt too much of a connection to any of the characters besides Mark. I felt like some of them were only there so that something could “happen” to them, sort of like the red shirts in the original Star Trek series.

WHAT I LIKED: I liked how we are thrown into the mist of the story after the flare and how we are slowly shown through flashbacks of Mark how they came to that place. The book really sucked me in right at the beginning. I really liked how the whole thing was like a puzzle slowly coming together.

WHAT I HATED: I didn't like how it seemed to drag on after awhile. I was really hooked at first but there is only so much that I can take a character getting knocked down, punched in the face, getting into a fight or defending himself before it becomes really repetitive. After all of that I want to know why nobody ever commented on the bruises he must have had on his face! It just seemed like it was run here, get into a fight, get away, run here, get into another fight and so on. I get that this is how it probably is in Mark's world giving the circumstances but still it made the book drag on and on.

I also found some interactions between characters, mostly between Alec and Mark to be very awkward and fake. It mostly happened when they were joking with each other. It made me start to hate the characters because of it. By the end I didn't care what happened to them which makes me sad because I really want to love the characters.

HOW IT ENDED: The ending was okay but it seemed to take forever to get to that place. I was relieved when I knew the end was near because like I said before they were constantly in a fight it seemed. I get that it is a chaotic world and that most people have been infected with a disease that made them go crazy but still!

FINAL THOUGHTS: The world they live in is a very interesting place. I view it as a potential future for the world that we live in today if we don't take care of our planet. While I didn't really love this book I am looking forward to reading the Maze Runner trilogy.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

TITLE: The Book Thief

AUTHOR: Markus Zusak

PUBLISHED: December 2007

GENRE: Fiction, YA, historical fiction,

SETTING: Germany

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrow from the library

ABOUT: The book follows a young girl named Liesel Meminger as she struggles with life in Nazi Germany during WWII. It is told through the eyes of Death, who first ran into her standing over the grave of her brother. He is intrigued by her and witness's her stealing her first book. Death follows Liesel and watches her as she struggles to find her own place during a horrible time in the world's history.

EXPECTATIONS: I really had no expectations before I started reading it. I knew that it was a popular book that many seemed to really like so I thought it was time to finally read it for myself.

WHAT I LIKED: I liked the unexpected and unusual narrator of the novel, that being Death. Often throughout the book I kept wondering why Markus Zusak decided to tell it this way because to me without all the Death bits the story would have held it's own rather nicely. I think the story was told beautifully.

WHAT I HATED: I didn't like some of the descriptions Death used sometimes. I notice it more at the beginning though. Some of them left me scratching my head trying to figure out what he meant by them. I wish that I would have jotted a few down before I returned the book so I could have given a few examples. After I got deeper into the book, however, they either never jumped out at me or there weren't anymore.

HOW IT ENDED: Did I like the ending? Yes and No. The ending was pretty sad, not that it was too much of a shock since Death at one point tells us that it wasn't going to end well. It's funny though that even though when he spoiled the ending to his own story and then backtracked to the events leading up to the end I kept hoping that it would end differently, that maybe Death was actually wrong. The ending was sad but at the same time it wasn't. I don't want to give away the ending so I will just leave it at that.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I thought this book was excellent. I loved the narrative and I loved listening to Death tell us about Liesel and her life. I thought it was well written. Another book I could not put down.

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars.