Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden Tabitha Suzuma

 

Pages: 454

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: June 28, 2011

Rating: 4/5

Points Earned: 17/17

Review:

Incest is probably one of the most taboo subjects in the world, but also one of the most fascinating. I know that pretty much every time I explained the book to one of my friends, they would respond with "Ew! That's so gross! I want to read it!"

The Whitely family might look like a decent family from a distance, but in reality, they are as about as dysfunctional as a family can get. Their father left five years ago, their mother is an alcoholic and pays more attention to her boyfriend, Kit, the third oldest, is in a gang, and Maya and Lochan are left to take care of their three younger siblings, as well as hide their relationship from the world.

This book is the pure definition of sexual tension. Lochan and Maya long to go "all the way," but they know that if they do and get caught, the children will all be separated and put into foster care, and they will get thrown into prison.

Talk about suck-ish.

This book goes back and forth between Lochan's and Maya's points-of-view. Lochan was by-far the more interesting character. Now, let's face it, Lochan's a pansy. Lochan also has a deadly temper. One second he's having a panic attack in the middle of class, the next he is strangling his brother.

Lochan has a hard time with talking to people outside his family. This worries the people at school because he refuses to participate in class. He never raises his hand, and he always has an excuse not to present a project. He definately has an extreme case of Disappearing Parent Syndrome.

Maya, on the other hand, was just there. I didn't really get a connection with her like I did Lochan.

Another thing was that their voices were quite similar. Somtimes I'd get confused with who's chapter it is. In the book, Lochan is described as a straight A student, and has a wide vocabulary. Maya, on the other hand, was an average student. I don't believe her voice should have been as intelligent as his was.

I really enjoyed the children in the story: Kit, Tiffin, and Willa. They all had such distinct personalities and they were all so adorable (Yes, even you Kit).

The ending was very sad. It brought me to tears. I did, however, see it coming. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it is pretty obvious if you put two-and-two together.

All in all. This was a great book. I do believe it isn't for everyone. No, it's not going to make you look at your sibling and want to do the nasty, but I do believe you have to be mature enough to take the whole thing seriously. As rare as it is, this does happen. It's nothing to joke about.

Soul Thief (Forbidden) by Jana Oliver

Soul Thief (Forbidden) by Jana Oliver

 

 

Pages: 324

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: August 30, 2011

Rating: 4.5/5

Riley is back, and has more problems than ever: her deal with Heaven, boys...Oh, and her father was ilegally reanimated by an unknown necro.

When we left off in The Demon Trapper's Daughter, Simon was gravely hurt, and Riley made a deal with Heaven so he will survive. Of course, this comes with a price.

Simon has changed, and not for the better. Who was once the kind, religeous <strike>freak</strike> boy, is now the self-righteous ass. He has it in his head that Riley and her father are in-line with Hell.

Even Harper thinks he's nuts.

Now, I wasn't a fan of Simon, even in the first book, so I'm happy this happened. Actually, his change made him more interesting to read about, and I was looking foward to his and Riley's encounters.

What I did't like was the new addition: Ori. Now, in the end, he is essential to the plot, but before then, I just found him to be just an add-on. A filler, if you will, until Riley ends up with who she's supposed to be with.

Ori was supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous, but I didn't see it. To me, he was just a stalker. Wherever Riley was, he'd show up. I dreaded every chapter with Ori.

We all know Beck is my favorite in this series. This may be because we get to get inside his head, like we do Riley.

In the first book, he was kick-ass. In the second, well, he's still kick-ass, but we also get to see some of his imperfections. Those imperfections make him even more charming and likeable (Did I just call Backwoods Boy charming?...Huh).

Again, my main problem with this was the font. It's tiny. I had no will to read it because of this. If it were bigger, I'd be more willing to fly through it.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 

Pages: 313

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Release Date: January 10, 2012

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

 

"I couldn't be mad at him for even a moment,and only now that I loved a grenade did I understand the foolishness of trying to save others from my own impending fragmentation: I couldn't unlove Augustus Waters. And I didn't want to."

To give a summary of The Fault In Our Stars would be nearly impossible without spoiling the entire thing. So, I simply gave you a touching quote from the novel.

I think what I love the most about John Green is that he doesn't insult his readers' intelligence. He doesn't dumb the story down. He gives you a well thought-out, beautifully written story about the tragedies of life.

He does this by sending you on a winding trail of laughter and tears (and let me tell you, I was tearing up in my Spanish class while reading this).

The two main characters in this story are Hazel and Augustus. They come together by the one thing that brought them together--cancer.

Hazel was diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer, and must live with it for the rest of her life. She is on medication for it, and must walk around with an oxygen machine.

She fully accepts that one day she will die.

Augustus, on the other hand, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. He now has a prosthetic leg, but hey, the cancer seems to be out of his body.

To him, he is on a rollercoaster that "only goes up."

They both seem to have an obsession with Peter Van Housten's An Imperial Affliction. They want to know what happens to everyone else after Anna, the main character in the novel, dies.

They do get a chance to find out.

Another character that stood out to me was Augustus' best friend, Isaac.

Like Hazel and Augustus, Isaac is a cancer survivor. He is now blind because of it.

Like most of Green's characters, Isaac is also very witty.

This book will have you thinking about it for well after you've read it. Green has a good way of making you think about your own life and how you live it. For some people, that's a good thing. For others, not so much, but this is a book worth at least trying.

Released by Megan Duncan

 Released by Megan Duncan

Pages: 260

Publisher- Self-Published

Release Date: April 1, 2011

Rating: 3.5/5

After a demon apocalypse kills their parents and everyone they know, 17-year old Abby Phillips, her brother, Carter, and friend, Max flee their home to travel through what has become the wastelands of America. When radio transmissions of a resistance offering shelter and safety cease, Abby is tempted to give up. Struggling to overcome life-threatening obstacles in their dangerous journey, Abby and her companions quickly discover there are much worse things lurking in the dark than they could have ever imagined.

Review:

This cover is KICK-ASS!

In a risk to save their neighbor by demons, Abby and Carter's father goes next door. He never comes back.

After hearing a radio transmission, they set off to New Mexico with their friend Max. Along the way, they meet a girl named Taya, as well as countless flesh-eating demons.

This book had a comma phobia, I swear. There were many sentences that obviously needed a comma, but there was none to be found.

Even if a book is self-published, there is NO excuse as to why the grammar is lacking. Give it to a friend to proof-read or something, please.

"It's ok Abby we'll make it," Max said but I could tell he could hardly believe his own words.

That above sentence is made up, but it is the perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Honestly, that could even be two sentences.

Oh, and if you aren't going to write out "okay," it should be written as "O.K."

Which is still bothersome. Just write it out. It is just two extra keystrokes.

Seriously, there is a red squiggly below the "ok" I wrote up there, and a squiggly below the one I just wrote.

That's a fun word.

Squiggly~

Beyond that, the only other thing that bothered me was that these four ALWAYS ran into some sort of trouble. It's like they have a sign over them:

"Demons! Come Eat Me!"

The funny part, though, is that they ALL made it out alive. Side characters died, but them? Nope. The four little teenagers are just SO skilled in the art of demon-slaying.

The characters are what made this story so fun to read. They all have their own personality, even if they are a little cliche.

Max is the sarcastic, humored one. Oh, and he is a major power-house, and a jock. (which seems to be quite universal when it comes to Max's in books. o_o)

Carter is the geeky one with anger issues.

Abby is the tough-chick who is secretly a crybaby.

And Taya is the young, emotional teenager. She is also quite the brat.

The relationship between Abby and Max is pretty realistic. They've known each other all their lives, and their feelings developed over time. And you can tell that it wasn't all out of lust.

Taya and Carter, though...well...They don't have much of a relationship, but Taya has a HUGE crush on him, just a day after they met.

This reminds me of the Grimm tale, "Snow White and Rose Red." Or, at least, an episode of an anime based off the tale.

Prince#1: Snow White, I love you! I have for a long time!
Snow White: Oh, Prince, I love you, too!
Prince#2: *feeling all left out* Rose Red, I love you (even though I just met you about 5 minutes ago >_>)!
Rose Red: I love you, too! (Well, he is hott...Wouldn't mind getting married. I mean, my sister is...)

Don't you love my little skit? I do.

The ending of the book left off on a bit of a cliff-hanger. I am quite curious to see what'll happen. :D

The Demon Trapper's Daughter (Forsaken) by Jana Oliver

 The Demon Trapper's Daughter (Forsaken) by Jana Oliver

 

Pages: 340

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: February 1, 2011

Rating: 4/5

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

Review:

In 2018, the world is overrun by demons, and it takes demon trappers--as well as hunters--to keep them at bay.

Riley's mother died, and to pay off all her medical bills, her father had to quit his teaching job to become a demon trapper. He is notably one of the best there is, and people claim that even Lucifer's beings fear him.

Riley is training to become a trapper, and if she makes it, will be the first girl in the guild. But, when she is on a mission, she gets her ass kicked. She thought it was a level-one, but I believe they found it to be a level-three (or working with a level three...).

Then suddenly, when her father and her friend Beck go out trapping, her father is killed. Beck and Riley both are crushed by the event, and they have to protect her father from the necromancers that want him, as well as protect themselves from the demons.

Oh, and it'd be nice not to strangle each other while they're at it!

Really, my issue with this book was that it was sooo slow. Maybe it was my fault. It took me so long to get through one page. It literally took me ten minutes to read five pages.

Stupid publishers...Making me feel slow.

I loved all the characters in this book...Well, except one: Simon.

Oh, Simon. So God-fearing.

Get a life. You're annoying.

Simon would be the type of religious person to shove his beliefs down your throat. I don't care HOW cute or blonde he is, he was annoying. He did NOTHING wrong! Nothing!

Oh, an how Riley kept calling him "my boyfriend" made me want to chuck the book.

Then there was the other boy (man?) in Riley's life: Denver, or "Beck." Beck would be the tortured soul in this triangle, but he's also flawed and a total bad-ass hottie. Even for a red-neck.

Now, most would complain that his dialogue is annoying, but I didn't mind it. It added to his character. If he is supposed to be a Southerner, have him talk like one, you know?

The only thing I found weird about Beck...

"I was gonna screw 'er, but then I thought about somethin'...Carrie Underwood. Man, that woman is fine. I would do anything to get 'er in bed." (Not exact, but you get the picture.)

His obsession with Carrie Underwood is odd. C'mon, Beck-o, don't ya notice most to all of her songs are man-bashing? If you sleep with her, her next single will be all about your one-night stand.

Oh, and she'll key your car.

...

Did I mention that the covers to these books are GORGEOUS?! Both the U.S. and the U.K. covers are just outstanding.

I THINK I may like the U.K. covers a bit more, though. :)

If I ever get the chance, I'm going to go on The Book Depository and get those editions.

Oh, and why is the third U.S. cover unmatching? It has the format of the U.K. editions. SO confused. >_<

...

My friend Christina read the very last page of the book, and claimed that it was cheesy. I don't agree. As I have read the whole book and knew what was going on, I found it to be quite fitting to the rest of the story.

All-in-all, this was a pretty good story, and I'm already ready to read Soul Thief. >:D

Beck <3

Airborne by Constance Sharper

Airborne by Constance Sharper

Pages: 318

Publisher: ....... :D Self-published

Release Date: March 28, 2011

Rating: 2/5 stars

 

Avery knew she had a knack for attracting trouble, but even she is shocked when a six-foot-something harpie shows up on her doorstep. Coping with the existence of a mythological race? Okay. Unwittingly finding herself in the middle of a vicious harpie conflict? A little less okay. Having to rely on an arrogant harpie boy who gets under her skin? Now that is something Avery isn't sure she can handle.

 

Review:

 

** spoiler alert ** 

 

When visiting her brother in California, sixteen-year-old Avery finds a mysterious rock on the beach. Except, when she picked it up, it shattered, leaving a bruise in the palm of her hand.

On her first day back at her boarding in Alaska, a man, Mason, shows up at her door and tells her to give back the amulet she took.

He also tells her he is a harpie.

So now a group of evil harpies called The Band of Thieves (yeah, cleaver) are after her, and will stop at nothing to get the amulet.

Only problem--Avery is the amulet, now.

I really tried to love this book. I really did. I have never read a book about harpies before, so I thought it'd be cool to try this out.

I'll start off by saying that this is a self-published novel, and there are quite a few grammatical errors, problems with font edits (Like with the chapter headings), and some of the chapters start in the oddest places (like at the very bottom of a page).

At first, it was whatever, but as the book progressed, I became more and more annoyed with the missing words and punctuation. Even if it is self-published, have a friend or someone you know look it over.

Now we'll go over some other things that bothered me.
The Plot:
Warning: Spoilers in this section

Alright, so, this book started out fairly simple, what with was stated above, but about half-way through, it gets complicated.

So, the reason Mason was searching for the amulet was because he was exiled from the harpie society. It was never clearly stated, but Mason was sorta a prince (or, his father was...). He was exiled because he supposedly made a bargin with The Band. If he gives them the amulet, they will severely injure his lover's fiance`.

...I think.

In all this, both his lover's finace` and his father were killed. He was exiled for both murders because he called them out right before being killed.

It took me forever to piece that all together...

The Characters

Let's start with our main character. Avery was pathetic. I believe all she did was get kidnapped about five times and swoon over Mason. There was really nothing to relate to...I can't even find much to complain about simply because she did nothing...

Then there is the lovely, violent, butt-face of a harpie, Mason. I'm sorry, but I have first got to say that his sense of fashion is TERRIBLE. I don't get the whole trench coat thing to hide hufe-ass wings. Won't that just make him look like he has a hunch? And she keeps saying he is really tall and lanky...

Slender-man with a hunch-back? No thanks...

Besides that, he was just...I don't know. Forgettable. He did have his moments of charm--like when he went ape-shit in the jail cell--but maybe that's because I love anyone named Mason...^-^

But you are not off the hook, Mister! D:<

Mason just started off as a complete douche.

*Shove* Oh, sorry, sometimes I have temper issues...

Temper issues my ass...

Now, most people would think that Mikail is the main antagonist, but he wasn't THAT bad. Adalyn, however...First, you kill your fiance`, then you get your lover exiled, and then you turn him in? Oh no, Sweetie. That does not fly with me.

Honestly, I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I may or may not be continuing the series, but it won't be on my priority list...

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

 

Pages: 398

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: Janurary 11, 2011

Rating: 5/5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Review:

So. Frexing. Amazing.

A new Earth has been discovered, and Amy goes along with her parents to be cryogenically frozen until the ship Godspeed lands.

It will take 300 years to get there.

But, Amy is unfrozen fifty years too early. She awakes to a world where everything is run by a tyrant, Eldest, and all the people on the ship are emotionless, except a few. Two being the ship's heir, Elder, and his best friend, Harley.

Together, they try to find out the mysteries of the ship, and who is trying to kill off the frozen passengers...

Across the Universe by Beth Revis is a frightening story, only because it is something that could happen. Maybe not in our lifetime, but not too far in the future.

Yes, this is obviously a Sci-Fi, but it is also so much more--distopian, mystery, a bit of romance. Not to mention GOOD, BELIEVABLE romance.

That is probably my favorite aspect of the book--the romance is not shoved down your throat. It's not fast. It started out as a simple fascination. Elder is the youngest person on the ship, and he has never seen someone with red hair, or anyone so pale (as everyone on the ship is olive-toned and has dark hair).

The antagonist, Eldest, is probably one of the most menacing characters ever. He rules with an iron fist, doing whatever he feels fit to keep the ship moving, even if it means taking people's free-will, forcing women to get pregnant (it's okay, they don't care~ :/), and killing whoever gets in his way.

Amy described him as being like Hitler. Yeah, this guy could be his twin.

This brings us to Amy, the odd-ball of the ship. The second she was unfrozen, she knew something was wrong with the ship. Amy is a smart heroine, and she actually does things to show it. She WANTS to help the ship, she WANTS to stop whoever is killing the frozens, so she TRIES. What's better is that she doesn't let her crush on Elder get in the way.

Elder was born on the ship, and lives with Eldest as his successor. He also feels there is something wrong with the way things are done, but he has been so corrupted by Eldest, he doesn't know what to do.

It doesn't seem right, but he knows no other way, so it MUST be right.

The story is far from predictable, and has so many twists and turns, it will leave you interested for more. The writing is also really well put together. This book has everything needed to be a five-star book.