Mini Review: You Look Different in Real life

Book Review: You Look Different in Real life

 Book: You Look Different in Real life
Author: Jennifer Castle
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Source: Edelweiss


For the rest of the world, the movies are entertainment. For Justine, they're real life.

The premise was simple: five kids, just living their lives. There'd be a new movie about them every five years, starting in kindergarten. But no one could have predicted what the cameras would capture. And no one could have predicted that Justine would be the star.

Now sixteen, Justine doesn't feel like a star anymore. In fact, when she hears the crew has gotten the green light to film Five at Sixteen, all she feels is dread. The kids who shared the same table in kindergarten have become teenagers who hardly know one another. And Justine, who was so funny and edgy in the first two movies, feels like a disappointment.

But these teens have a bond that goes deeper than what's on film. They've all shared the painful details of their lives with countless viewers. They all know how it feels to have fans as well as friends. So when this latest movie gives them the chance to reunite, Justine and her costars are going to take it. Because sometimes, the only way to see yourself is through someone else's eyes.

Smart, fresh, and frequently funny, You Look Different in Real Life is a piercing novel about life in an age where the lines between what's personal and what's public aren't always clear

[ Goodreads]

Review:

I read You Look Different in Real life in less than 24 hours. You Look Different in Real life tells us the story of Justine and how when she was 6 and 11 she took part of a documentary along with four other children.  Five years have passed once again and there are plans of making a documentary of their lives at 16. Justine at first is against this idea as her life has not how she pictured it to be. She also does not speak to the other participants in the documentary other than her friend Felix and this also makes her uncertain about the documentary. 

You Look Different in Real life was a quick read and I was interested in what was going to happen to the characters even though I found the plot to be predictable. I figured out much of what I would say are major plot points straight away.   I also didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters and even though I was interested in what was going to happen to them I didn’t really care what happened to them. Justine got on my nerves at times but I liked that she wanted to rebuild some of her friendships with the others and not go back to where their relationships had ended before. 

What I Rate This: 3/5

Book Review: The Rose Throne

Book: The Rose Throne
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Publisher: Egmont Usa
Publication Date: May 14th 2013
Source: Netgalley

Ailsbet loves nothing more than music; tall and red-haired, she's impatient with the artifice and ceremony of her father's court. Marissa adores the world of her island home and feels she has much to offer when she finally inherits the throne from her wise, good-tempered father. The trouble is that neither princess has the power--or the magic--to rule alone, and if the kingdoms can be united, which princess will end up ruling the joint land? For both, the only goal would seem to be a strategic marriage to a man who can bring his own brand of power to the throne. But will either girl be able to marry for love? And can either of these two princesses, rivals though they have never met, afford to let the other live?

[Goodreads]

Review:

The Rose Throne tells us the story of two very different kingdoms and the two very different princesses who inhabit them.  Ailsbet is the princess of Rurik and Marlissa (Issa) is the princess of Weirland. Rurik values the magic of Taweyr the man’s magic of power and death. Weirland is more concentrated on neweyr the magic of growing and life. Both these princesses believe they are meant to help fulfill a prophecy that will unite their lands and magic as one.

The Rose Throne was an enjoyable book and I liked many aspects of it. The princess though very different where strong in their own ways and they both wanted what was best for their kingdoms. Ailsbet was especially strong and unique. She at times can be unlikable and does not make friends easily but you can tell she does care, especially for her brother and the kingdom. She is not a unkind person but she has to keep a strong shield of indifference surrounding her, for reasons I will not give away. Issa was the complete opposite of Ailsbet, but was strong in her own ways. Her magic of newyr is one the most powerful in the lands. She is also has a strength in her because she is willing to put aside her own feelings and needs for those of her country and the future of all her subjects.

Ailsbet’s father the King was a maniac and would go to any length to get what he wanted.  But he is one of the parts that made The Rose Throne interesting. He was a great antagonist for all the main characters in this book. I did hate his many of the actions he took in this book but they made the story more interesting and I had fear that the main characters might not have a happy ending because of him. Not being able to guess the ending and what would happen to these characters was a definite plus. 

There was no insta-love in this book but I still could not enjoy the romances at all. Issa’s romance seems to be random and as if the author had no one else to pair her with so she choose a character. I also did not like Issa’s love interest at all and felt as if he didn’t truly care about her, just the kingdom of Ruirk. Ailsbet’s romance is not as central to the novel as Issa’s but that made me glad because I felt that she didn’t really care for her love interest and that he just annoyed her more than anything.

The beginning I found to be a little slow as I had a hard time getting the names of the magic and the kingdoms straight. All the names where unusual but I didn’t find they made the story better, just confusing.   There were also some slow parts throughout the book and I would have enjoyed there to be more action.  Then the ending really bothered me because it seemed to be cut off. I expected there to be just a little more to explain what happened to a certain character at the end but was left with nothing. But even with the abrupt ending what happened to some of the characters at the end was different than I expected which made the book overall more interesting. 
  

I think this book is worth a read but maybe borrow it from your library if unsure.  With an unexpected but lacking ending, I do think it will hold many readers interest.

What I Rate it: 3/5 Stars 

Mini Book Review : The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

 
Book: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Poppy/Little Brown
Publication Date: January 2nd 2012
Source: Purchased as a ebook for my Kobo

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. 

[Goodreads]

Review:

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight begins with Hadley missing her plane by four minutes. She is due at her father’s wedding the next morning in London and missing this flight can be seen as just bad luck. But when she meets Oliver it seems her fortunate has changed.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight was a quick, cute read.  I honestly don’t have too many thoughts about it.  I enjoyed Hadley’s character and I definitely felt for her and the situation with her father.  There where so many times I wanted her to yell at her Dad or storm away from him but I was happy with the end result between the two.

Oliver, the love interest who Hadley meets after missing her first plane, is a cute character and seems like an interesting person. I liked how he tried to keep Hadley calm on her plan ride. They seemed to have a real connection and not forced by the author. 

The ending is predictable and one you can expect from a cute, fun read like The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. But I still enjoyed the ending and am glad it happened how it did.  I am glad this is a stand-alone because I want to keep the happy ending in my mind. If you enjoy cute, fun, quick reads you will want to pick this up!

  

Book Review: The Goddess Test

Book: The Goddess Test
Author: Aimee Carter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: February 26 2013
Source: I purchased this at my local bookstore! (Indigo)


Love or life.
Henry or their child.
The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

[Goodreads]

Review:

The Goddess Inheritance begins around nine months after the events of Goddess Interrupted. Kate is still a prisoner of Calliope and Cronus and she is ready to give birth at any moment. Calliope still is jealous of Kate and wants nothing more to see her dead, and to have Henry. Cronus has other plans in place for Kate… He will spare humanity if Kate promises to become his and leave her life with Henry and the Gods. 

I overall enjoyed the Goddess Inheritance more than both the previous books. The plot had more action and had more intense moments then in the last two books.  I felt plenty of different emotions while reading this book, anger, frustration, annoyance, excitement and happiness. Even though I feel the plot was more interesting than the past books I still had some problems with other parts of the book.

Kate has definitely become a more interesting and strong character over the course of this series.   She was really protective of her family and was willing to put them before herself. She would not back down without a fight and wouldn’t let the other Gods make her seem insignificant or incapable of fighting for her beliefs. But I did have some problems with her. The way she treated Ava throughout most of the book really got on my nerves, and I found her very annoying during these parts. For all her talk of doing whatever was needed to protect her family, she would not accept Ava’s reasons for doing the same thing. I truly believe Kate would have done exactly the same thing if she was in Ava’s situation. Even more, just by the other actions she took in The Goddess Inheritance.

 I liked Ava in this book and I really felt for her situation. She did what she had to and you knew from her actions that she was very sorry for it.  She tried her best to make Kate understand and to gain her forgiveness. I also enjoyed James character and wish he had more parts in the novel. He brought some lightheartedness to a novel was full of intense unhappy moments. 

Henry is a character that I really did not like and is one of the main reason I lowered my rating. I don’t see him as having a very big personality. He seems pretty bland to me. I have never been a big fan of his throughout the series anyways so I didn’t expect that to change in this book. He seems like he is never fully formed, and I hate how his life is all about one person… 

Overall I did enjoy this series and I will pick up the next book Aimee Carter writes.  There was actually the first chapter of her next book printed in the back of the Goddess Inheritance and it seemed pretty interesting! But I would say this is more of a series to borrow for me then a series I need to have on my self .

What I Rate it: 3/5 Stars

 

Book Review: The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

 The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

Publisher: Candlewick Press
 Publication Date: September 6, 2009
 Pages: 223
Source: I purchased this on my Kobo.

Review:

Set in Victorian England The Agency tells us the story of Mary Quinn. Mary Quinn was orphaned as a young child and as a resort has to turn to thieving.  Mary gets caught thieving and is sentenced to death.  Fortunately before that can occur Mary is taken by the women who run Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. When she turns 17 she learns that the school is actually a cover for an all-women’s spy agency, and she learns that she will be given her first assignment!

I liked the character of Mary quite a bit. She could keep care of herself and did not allow others to walk all over her. She also acknowledges when she has done wrong and made a mistake.  The only problem I had was I do not believe in the times this book was set in Mary would have been able to all she did in The Agency.  James the other main character in The Agency was also an enjoyable character. I liked his and Mary’s relationship and how it developed very slowly. At first James is very frustrated by Mary but learns to care for her. They had some great banter and knew how to push each other’s buttons.

The Agency was a little predictable at times. I knew pretty early on who was responsible and how the mystery would fit together.  I also knew how many of the characters relationship where going to develop and what would happen to them. This caused me to take off a star. I know it would have been more enjoyable had I not been able to guess what was going to occur in these situations. 

If you want a quick read , that might be predictable The Agency would be a read to check out.

What I rate this : 3/5 stars. 

Book Review: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Series: Women of the Otherworld, Book #1

Publisher: Vintage Canada
Publication Date: 2009, Original Publication: 2001
Pages: 422
Source: I purchased this myself at my local Indigo.

Review:

 
Bitten begins in Toronto where our protagonist Elena is trying to fight off her basic nature. See Elena is a werewolf and as she is now living with a man she finds it hard to find time to escape and change. Soon Elena’s problems will get even bigger when her pack master Jeremy contacts her about a situation that is taking place and requests her help to fight some mutts (werewolves not in a pack).

The main character of Bitten is Elena. She is the only female werewolf in the whole world. Overall I would say that she is a pretty likeable character. She was tough, independent, and knows how to take care of herself. She doesn’t take anything from anyone and cares about what happens to the other important people in her life. She will look out for them and put herself in harm’s way if necessary to protect them.

These people who Elena would do anything for are her pack. It consists of Jeremy, Clay, Logan, Antonio, Nick, and Peter. I enjoyed the pack dynamics. They were all very close and looked out for on another. Jeremy is the pack leader and I really enjoyed his character. He was kind and thought everything through, never making rash decisions.

Clay and Elena have had a romantic relationship in the past and he is the main love interest in this book. This is an adult book so there are some sex scenes in Bitten. I do not think there where to many and I understand why they were added. These sex scenes between Elena and Clay do help show how their relationship works and the two do have chemistry. But Sadly Clay was not my favorite. I understand the certain things that have happened in his life made him the way he was but he was very arrogant and just expected Elena to be all over him.

The plot was interesting but at times I felt it moved very slowly. I would find myself skimming some pages especially towards the end. The climax also felt very rushed and was not what I wanted out of it. The ending seems wrapped up but I do believe that there are other books in this series that contain Elena. As the ending was pretty much wrapped up I do not think you have to read the others in this series to end Elena’s journey.

If you enjoy paranormal romance I do believe that you should read this and that you would enjoy it. Just be prepared for some slow parts during the story, and a main love interest who can sometimes be pretty arrogant.

What I rate this: 3/5. I might pick up the next in the series but I am not sure yet!