1
Followers
23
Following
Charmayne reads
goodreads refugee (still trying this out though!) A huge fan of quality YA and fantasy/-adventure. Also, 3AM reading sprees are the best.
Poison
3.5 stars (more to 4)/I didn't realize the author had passed away until after I'd finished the book./
A simple novel and a lovely adventure. I like Kyra.
Swear
Nina Malkin's writing style is...unique. It takes some time getting used to, and in all honesty it really isn't my thing.This book wasn't anything amazing. Yeah, there was a plot (hurrah) but it wasn't a plot that goes BAM. There was a complication that really, nobody seems to genuinely worry about, a bit of angst, lots of eccentric here-there 1920s narration and fun, and then a solution to the complication that's so absurd in its simplicity that it really doesn't make sense when you stop to think about it.
Really, you find a mysterious psychic girl who all but shoves the answer to your problem down your throat? Then after receiving enlightenment and some cool magic powers, you decide to give it all up to faith and love to fix your problem?
And then there's that issue I had with the dynamics of Sin and Dice's early relationship. How is Dice the bad person for kissing someone else after Sin's disappeared for six months? With Sin's history of flirting around and basically screwing the whole town, how come DICE is made to feel guilty? That's some serious backward thinking. I didn't feel good at all reading that part, it just felt really wrong.
This book was just...unimpressive. If there's another book out I don't think I'll be reading it.
Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles)
More to 3.5 stars, actually. It was a nice and smooth read, but didn't feel like a BOOK-book. It kind of felt like a filler :-( I'm sorry, Scarlet and Wolf.Here's hoping Cress will be better!!
The Raven Boys
4.5 starsThis is going on my special shelf along with Laini Taylor and Susan Ee and Marissa Meyer and all those four-five star worthy series. I don't even have to wait to read book two and three (Dream Thieves!! Hurry cross the ocean to me!) to see if it's worth going on my real-life shelf. I just KNOW it's going to be good.
The Evolution of Mara Dyer
I have henceforth decided that I will no longer judge a series by its first book.This book was GOOD, do you hear that?! It didn't meet my expectations, it smashed through them. It hooked me until four in the morning and kept me awake until five. The Evolution of Mara Dyer had just the right amount of creepy (which is actually a lot of creepy), great pacing, great plot development and the right kind of character and relationship development- whatever you need to really, really enjoy a book. I liked Noah so much more here. I felt for Mara. I felt for so many people. I basically felt for the whole book. THIS was what I had hoped [b:The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer|11408650|The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1)|Michelle Hodkin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1336655755s/11408650.jpg|13460686] would be and more.
Publication dates give me the strength to live through the year. June 10th- my birthday present a day late- let's go!!
edit (5/2/14): okay, I've reread it and I guess it's more of a 4.5 stars.
Champion: A Legend Novel
I read this a whole three weeks ago- that epilogue completely obliterated any complaints I might've had with the book for a while, and I didn't dare write anything for fear that my review would be overflowing with angsty tears.The epilogue just KILLED ME, man. It took an entire week of sobbing through fanmixes for me to finally accept that ending (THAT ENDING) and find closure!! But anyhow I still feel the need to rant a bit, so-
1) There seems to be something just a little off with June and Day's characters this time. It was unsettling and I didn't connect to their characters as well as before. I don't know if it's just me, but it feels to me like when you don't know your characters well enough (i.e. from the inside out) and you leave them on your writing table for quite a while, and when you come back to them something about them has changed and their thoughts don't fit quite right on the pages like they did in Prodigy. (Am I making sense? Probably not. Nevermind)
2) There was a lot more relationship angst than was necessary. (Again the thing about June and Day behaving slightly odd)
3) I don't really like politics and maybe that's why I prefer Prodigy to Champion, because June is the Princeps Elect for the most part of the book and I preferred her as Agent Iparis because ACTION. Over here it's just politics, politics, politics for the main part of June's story.
This isn't to say that I didn't like Champion, I loved it! (BUT THE ENDING HELP ME) overall, this book is going on my special shelf. because it's special.
Thank you, Marie Lu, for writing one hell of a series that I ultimately still really-truly enjoyed :-)
Prodigy: A Legend Novel
It feels a little bad to only give this a four. (A high four!!) I just feel like I've read so many amazing ones and my "standard" has been raised. Don't get me wrong I loved loved loved Prodigy, it was goooood. (Although there were a couple of sentences that were stilted- possibly overlooked during editing somehow?? I don't know) But it was a very, very good book and I'm just trying to get hold of Champion now. Damn you local bookstores you make my pocket cry:(
Divergent Untitled 3 Tpb
I'm a little unsure of what to think of Allegiant. The ending left me reeling and made it easy to overlook the book's flaws.1. The switching povs- yeah that was necessary but I had a tough time differentiating between Tris' and Tobias' perspectives.
2. Too much explaining, too little action. Again that probably was necessary, but the explaining part didn't seem very well executed. Convoluted explanation? Yes. Confused and bothered reader? Yes.
3. It seemed a little unrealistic, how all that massive conflict was resolved. But I guess it works if you believe in Harry Potter and big generous values and the greater good. (I do)
4. And this might just be me, but Veronica Roth kind of overdid it with the foreshadowing??? I already guessed that Tris was done for after the conversation with Christina (she said she would never leave) and the cloud of happiness that followed Tris and Tobias after the happy sex. However, I didn't actually believe it would happen and boy did I cry when it did
5. WHY DID YOU KILL OFF TWO OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS
Wow, I have never cried this hard for a YA book before. (Except for [b:Clockwork Princess|18335634|Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, #3)|Cassandra Clare|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1376663659s/18335634.jpg|6309710] but that felt different) This book messed me up, but rightly so. I don't think it's as stunning as Divergent or as chilling as Insurgent, but it's a fitting ending to an amazing story.
I'm really going to miss this series.
Now may we have Tris back? Please?
1
Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices)
NO, CASSANDRA CLARE. YOU DO NOT RIP OUT YOUR READERS' HEARTS AND PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN ALL IN THE SAME DAMN EPILOGUE.Four stars because of reasons. I read this in seven hours straight through the night, so if I try writing anything coherent about this book right now I will fail spectacularly. I'll try later on ;_;
Lips Touch: Three Times
I'M SUCH A SUCKER FOR FAIRYTALE STORIES LIKE THESE.This settles it. I really, REALLY love Laini Taylor's writing. Her style, her rich imagination, her fantabulous vocabulary and her crazy mixed-up plots. It's all amazing.
I never expected this book to draw me in so much. It was /choked sob/ so beautiful!! Also, I LOVED the illustrations. Kudos to Jim Di Bartolo~ His work is amazing- it added so much more beauty to the stories.
The stories could have been fleshed out a little more though, especially Hatchling. It seemed more like a novella- I certainly wish it was.
What a /strangled voice/ wonderful way to blend folklore into modern fairytales.
Witchstruck
I just didn't enjoy this book...it was kind of flat for me and I felt a little uncormfortable reading it. Maybe it's because I'm simply not a history person; maybe it's because I didn't like Meg and the way she embraces witchery from the start. (okay duh she's a witch but I was rooting for Alejandro to influence her and change her ways!! Not the other way round. I should've known lol after all the title of said book is witchstruck, not prieststruck or religionstruck or something) I guess I didn't start this book with an open mind. Either way, the story was meh.WELL. ON TO THE NEXT BOOK
My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
Read this a few years back, and I remember something I couldn't stand all throughout. Treating your child as a simple organ donor for your other (obviously more loved) child, with hardly any thought for her emotional well being? NO. Just no. This book made me cry but that doesn't mean it's a good book. I didn't like the ending, I didn't get why Anna had to die (and donate her kidney to her sister anyway) kind of beats the whole point doesn't it?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A "murder mystery novel" about a neighbour's murdered dog ends up not being about the dog at all.I really liked this book. It was funny at times, and it was actually very sad. Probably going to read it again some time, because this doesn't read like a book that only needs to be gone through once.
Isabel of the Whales
So I took this from my younger brother's bookshelf a few days ago and read it on a whim!I wish the author had made Isabel a little older. It's ridiculous to have a relationship (with a whale) when you're eleven, and then hear the freaking whale love song of your life, AND then go on to have a human boyfriend when you're fourteen. Couldn't you have made her at least sixteen in the prologue, Hester Velmans? :( (I understand that there's a follow-up to this book, called [b:Jessaloup's Song|12379577|Jessaloup's Song|Hester Velmans|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347372704s/12379577.jpg|17360177], but it just doesn't really make sense in this book.)
But anyway, to the point, I think this book does a really good job of educating kids on endangered whale species and the importance of marine life protection, all while weaving it into a good and refreshing story.
Overall, 3.9 stars! (Heehee) I'd have really enjoyed this book if I was younger, say, four or five years ago.