Everless by Sara Holland

Everless by Sara Holland

Published: January 2nd 2018 by HarperTeen

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

I was extremely excited when I got my hands on this book. I loved the premise of this book and I was excited to see that other people had loved it as well. However, this book just didn’t live up to the hype for me. I was expecting something more than what I was given and I was left feeling relatively disappointed.

This book was extremely slow. I felt like it plodded along at a glacial pace and nothing seemed to be happening at all. Various things that were revealed as the book continued didn’t all come together until the last sort of 100 pages and I felt like things could have happened before this point to really help kick start this book. I had already guessed what was going to happen and who Jules was, so the ending wasn’t all that shocking for me either. There was one aspect of the ending that I wasn’t expecting and it didn’t really affect me in the way that it was probably supposed to because I had never felt a connection to that particular story plot (Don’t want to give away too many spoilers).

The whole thing felt extremely repetitive. Jules was doing things that a normal castle worker/person in her job would be doing and she was constantly getting angry at things that she was making no attempts to change. I felt like it was on a bit of a loop and it started getting old relatively quickly. I struggled to connect with her because I found her to be whiny and annoying – so I didn’t really care about what was going to happen to her.

There was one aspect of the book that didn’t make sense wen it tied into the ending. A good portion of the book is spent with Jules fawning over someone she can’t have but has been attracted to since they were children – basically written in a way that she was in love with him. So when the ending went down in the way that it did, I was extremely confused because it went against everything else that happened within the book and the other character relationships etc. It felt a bit whimsical and fickle in a sense.

I was drawn to Liam, more than his brother, from the beginning of the book. I have a thing for dark, broody characters (apparently there is something wrong with me?) and I didn’t really care for his more light hearted brother – who I felt that we were supposed like. I had guessed what Liam had done relatively early on, so when it was revealed at the end, it also didn’t surprise me as it probably should have done.

All in all, I found this book to be a bit predictable and slow – I was expecting better based off of the hype. I loved the premise and the idea behind blood being tied to time, but I really wish that something more had happened. I gave this book 2.5/5stars

 

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

Published: July 18th 2017 by Simon Pulse

Stop the Magician. Steal the book. Save the future.

In modern-day New York, magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives.

Esta is a talented thief, and she’s been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she’s there. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future.

But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.

I have had this book sat on my shelf since some time last year, so when I saw that book 2 is being released some time this year, I had thought I had better pick it up. The premise of this sounded amazing and I have had high expectations for it since I first heard about it pre release. However, this book just fell short of what I was expecting and I was left pretty disappointed.

The beginning of this book felt extremely jumpy and disconnected. It didn’t make a lot of sense until Esta really went back in time for what she was meant to do throughout the main portion of the book. The constant jumping around between characters felt relatively jarring and I struggled to get into the book because of it. It did start coming together when Esta went back for the book and that is when I started to enjoy the book a little more.

Carrying on from that point, there was no real hook for me. Whilst the story was enjoyable whilst I was reading it, there was nothing really compelling me to pick it back up if I put it down. The book didn’t stay in my head when I had to do other things and it failed to really blow Me away.

The plot itself was ok, if not a little predictable. I enjoyed myself throughout reading it and it was a relatively quick read – butI had predicted a major plot twist at the beginning of the book. It was missing that spark to really blow me away and it didn’t leave much of an impression after I had finished the book.

Another issue I had was that I didn’t feel any real connection to any of the characters. Whilst I enjoyed reading the interactions between Harte and Esta because they were sassy and fun, none of the characters really stood out to me. The characters and their personalities bled together within the multiple POVs because their voices were just all too similar.

All in all, whilst this book was a quick read, it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. The plot was ok, but it was reminiscent of other booksI have read in this genre, and was executed as well as others I have read. I gave this book 2.5/5 stars.

Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser

Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser

Published: September 22nd 2009 by Egmont USA

Str-S-d:
I’ll begin with Lucy. She is definitely first on the list. You can’t believe how it feels to be in the cafeteria and turn around and there she is staring at me like I’m some disgusting bug or vermin. Does she really think I WANT to be this way? I hate you, Lucy. I really hate you. You are my #1 pick. I wish you were dead.

The day after anonymous blogger Str-S-d wishes the popular girl would die, Lucy vanishes. The students of Soundview High are scared and worried. Especially frightened and wracked with guilt is Madison Archer, Lucy’s friend and the last person to see her the night she disappeared.
As days pass with no sign of the missing girl, even the attention of Tyler, an attractive new student, is not enough to distract Madison from her growing sense of foreboding. When two more popular students disappear after their names are mentioned on Str-S-d’s blog, the residents of Soundview panic.
Meanwhile, Madison receives anonymous notes warning that she could be next. Desperate to solve the mystery before anyone else disappears, Madison turns to Tyler, but can she trust him when it becomes clear that he knows more than he’s sharing?
The clock is ticking. Madison must uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances . . . before her name appears in Str-S-d’s blog.

This book was a complete spontaneous buy! I saw it in the bookshop and, whilst I had never heard of it, I liked the synopsis. Whilst I enjoyed myself reading this book, it was relatively predictable and I had already known who had done what. There was one twist that I wasn’t expecting, but that was about it.

I think my favourite part about this book was the mix between the blog posts with the comments posted below, the short snippets of what the missing people were going through (which didn’t go into much detail) and the normal story that accompanied it. The anonymity of the blog posts and the commenters as well as the lack of detail in the snippets of the missing people helped keep this book a page turner. I had already figured out who was who (blog, commenters etc.) based on the comments and the actions of the characters in the usual story layout.

Whilst I didn’t mind the MC, I definitely lacked a certain empathy for her. I didn’t feel the connection that I would want to feel in a book like this – I didn’t feel the connection between any of the characters and I often felt like the interactions were almost superficial. I didn’t feel the guilt or remorse or any of the other feelings that anybody would be feeling under the situation that she was stuck in – it wasn’t convincing enough.

The plot was definitely a quirky one, despite the lack of originality. It was fun and I enjoyed myself reading it. Despite the fact that I had already guessed what was going to happen, I really wanted to know for sure, and that definitely kept me reading it. Having said that, I did have some questions left at the end of the book, which I know will not be answered because each book in this thrillogy is a standalone – which means that, whilst it belongs in the same series, they don’t have any connection to each other.

All in all, whilst I enjoyed this read, I thought it was relatively predictable and I am hoping that the other two books in this series will be less so. I gave this book 2.5/5 stars.

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Published: September 20th 2016 by HarperTeen

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest.

I really wanted to love this book… but I was overly disappointed. This may have been my own fault because I hyped this up a lot to myself. I’m upset that I ultimately didn’t love this much as I wanted to, but the last 15% of the book is actually what gave it an extra star! There is a lot more wrong, for me, then there is right…

Firstly, there were WAY TOO many characters being introduced all at once! It made for a really confusing beginning, especially because I kept forgetting who everyone is, what their roles were and where they actually were. When I put the book down to do normal every day things and then came back to it, I actually had to go back some pages just to figure out where I was in the book – as well as who was who. I found it way too easy to forget which characters were with which queens and where these queens were in general geography of the book.

Another major issue I had with this book was that the plot was too slow for me. The book sort of plodded along at a less than average pace and it took ages for anything substantial to happen. Sometimes there would be something interesting, but it lacked the explanations to go with it, which then made it slow and confusing. I feel like there was definitely not enough information given about Beltane and I would have loved to have known more!

I also felt like the characters bled together sometimes? I sometimes forgot which characters I was actually looking at because the individual voices weren’t always there. This can become a major issue when dealing with so many different character voices and this definitely became an issue in this book for me!

The last sort of 15% of the book had me hooked all over again. I was questioning whether I had actually read the book right in the first place because it seemed to jump up quite a few notches pace wise! Things got really interesting really quickly and there are now so many misunderstandings that could be used to form the most amazing plot! Especially the twist at the end! I cannot even begin to tell you guys who exciting the twist as at the end… mostly because I was not even expecting it in the slightest! I am interested to see where this author is going to go with this!

Mostly I was underwhelmed by this book in a major way, which is a shame! I wish I had loved it more – which may have been the problem to begin with! I was hyping it up way too much! I’m glad I didn’t call DNF about half way through like I was planning, just for that ending! I gave this book 2.5/5 stars.

With Malice by Eileen Cook

With Malice by Eileen Cook

Published: June 7th 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers

It was the perfect trip…until it wasn’t.

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last six weeks should be. She discovers she was involved in a fatal car accident while on a school trip in Italy. A trip she doesn’t even remember taking. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident.

As the accident makes national headlines, Jill finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. It doesn’t help that the media is portraying her as a sociopath who killed her bubbly best friend, Simone, in a jealous rage. With the evidence mounting against her, there’s only one thing Jill knows for sure: She would never hurt Simone. But what really happened? Questioning who she can trust and what she’s capable of, Jill desperately tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

Ok, so, I have had this book on my TBR for ages now. I was so stoked to finally get a copy because I was so excited to finally see what was going on with this premise. I had seen reviews about it being too much like Dangerous Girls, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. They were right. I should have listened! Whilst I did enjoy the book to some extent, there were a lot of things that were similar to Dangerous Girls, which was a major disappointment for me! I wanted unique! Anyway, here are some lists!

Likes:

• The beginning. Right from the very beginning, we are thrown into the events of what happened, with no actual knowledge of it. We know as much as the MC does and how much the MC family decides to disclose. The mystery of it all was what kept me hooked at the beginning.
• I liked the fact that the MC didn’t know anything that was happening because of the injuries she sustained. It was realistically done and this kind of thing does actually happen on a day to day basis.
• The use of Social media and the media in general was also pretty good. When something like this hits the news, people do tend to flock to social media to talk about what happened, whether it is good or bad. People also tend to be swayed pretty heavily by media itself, so whether they are spinning a good or bad light on the person involved, is generally the direction that comments on social media will take!
• The way in which it was written with interviews, news reports etc, interspersed between chapters was pretty interesting. We have the view from the MC and what she is hearing and getting on a day to day life basis and then we have it from the other side of people hitting social media, the media themselves and the police force and the people they are interviewing. It gave an extra insight into the characters from the opinions of the people who are supposed to know them because they taught them or they went to school with them etc. The extra insight helped to really get into the minds of the characters.

Dislikes:

• It was TOO much like Dangerous Girls. I don’t want to say too much… but the news reports, the way in which it happened in a country that is not the MC’s own, the doubt from people  around them, the way in which the case itself was built against the MC… even the ending was pretty similar! I was holding out hope that it would be something completely different, but it wasn’t… which was a shame! I don’t want a Dangerous Girls part two, I want something unique!
• The ending felt rushed. The explanation and the way in which it ended all happened way too fast. I think it could have may been stretched out from earlier on so that the build up was a little better. I felt like the build up toward to explanation was lacking and then I was info dumped by what had actually happened.
• Some of characters were really irritating! Like, the lawyer. Lawyers wouldn’t usually act like that (or so I would hope) so it felt a little unrealistic to me. HE was the kind of guy that constantly gets under your skin and you just want to punch him in the face. AS well as the father!
• It sometimes felt a little slow plot wise. I don’t know whether this was just me, but some parts were a little dry and I had to push myself through it!
• I wanted to see more from and about Nico! He was a majorly suspicious character for me and could have easily swinger around to him. I disliked him from the get go, but I still wanted more from him!

All in all, whilst I vaguely enjoyed this book, it was too much like Dangerous Girls for me to actually fully enjoy it. I was getting a watered down version of an amazing book where I wanted something unique and with its own story! I gave this book 2.5/5.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Find me here:

Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads