Frozen Charlotte (Red Eye) by Alex Bell

Book Blurb (From goodreads)
We're waiting for you to come and play. 
Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind...Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins. Brooding Cameron with his scarred hand, strange Lilias with a fear of bones and Piper, who seems just a bit too good to be true. And then there's her other cousin. The girl with a room full of antique dolls. The girl that shouldn't be there. The girl that died. 








My Review: 
This review took me almost a week to write causing me to miss my usual Friday review. I am not so sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing but this book defiantly played with my mind. 
The plot in this book was fast paced most of the way through with only a couple chapters here and there where it slowed down. The chapters where the plot slowed down were usually the chapters where we got crucial information to help progress the story further and give it more depth. As you go deeper and further into the story it gets creepy and makes you question exactly what you know about the character because no one is ever as they seem. The second last chapter in this book where you find out what happened to the characters something like six months later was rushed and crammed with information. It defiantly was not as well written as the other chapters.
Sophie was a slightly curious character, although her curiosity sometimes made her stupid as it does with most main characters in horror books. Here a bang on the door which is probably the creepy dolls? Let's go check it out? They are probably a mad person that likes to kill and hurt people? Tea party time! Seriously. The sub characters each had their own background and were complicate and hard to understand on so many levels. I don't even feel like I know them now after I finished the book. 
All in all I give this book four out five stars.

The Summoning (Darkest Powers #1) Kelley Armstrong

Book Blurb (From Goodreads) 
My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? it's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House...before its skeletons come back to haunt me.



My Review: 
This is one of the best paranormal books that I have read in a while. I found it by chance in a book fair for $2 and bought the whole series and thank god that I did because I don't think that I could of waited to buy the next book.
The plot in this book was fast paced and complicated and refreshing in many ways. Each page pushed the plot along and there was hardly ever a dull moment. It showed Chloe's struggle well and how she is dealing with it and the complications that come with finding out that you can see ghosts as suddenly as she did. The action scenes were rare but well written. There was not much hand to hand combat but more of combat with ghosts when Chloe accidentally summoned them. Those scenes where scary, I don't think that I could of handled those as well as she did if I was in that situation and she handled them pretty poorly. The refreshing thing about this book was that there was no romance, which some people may find bad or annoying but almost every YA book today had romance in it and to see a book without it but still has lots of drama in like a gold nugget in my eyes. The mystery in this book was strong and created some pretty good plot twists which you (hopefully) will not see coming. 
Chloe was fairly easy to relate too purely because she is very close to my age. It's not often (or at least for me) where you read a YA book about a 14-15 year old because main characters are usually 16-18 or around those ages. It was interesting to see how her age affected her priorities. for instance she wasn't as interested in the boys in this book as an older character would be, she was more interested in forging friendships and maintaining them. Derrek was an complete ass in this book, which more or less made him my favourite. He was moody the whole time and complicated to understand but when he was with Chloe he slowly started to relax and we found out some of his background. Simon was interesting but not my favourite. His character seemed to be there purely to invoke drama between the girls of the book. 
Over all I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and I highly recommend it if you want a really well written paranormal book.

Blog Tour - Treasure Darkly by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek

Beware a Treasure Darkly…

(The stunning cover art is thanks to Amalia Chitulescu)

Seventeen-year-old Clark Treasure assumes the drink he stole off the captain is absinthe…until the chemicals in the liquid give him the ability to awaken the dead. A great invention for creating perfect soldiers, yes, but Clark wants to live as a miner, not a slave to the army—or the deceased. On the run, Clark turns to his estranged tycoon father for help. The Treasures welcome Clark with open arms, so he jumps at the chance to help them protect their ranch against Senator Horan, a man who hates anyone more powerful than he.

And he is not alone. His new found sister, Amethyst, thinks that's rather dashing, until Horan kidnaps her, and all she gets is a bullet through her heart. When Clark brings her back to life, she realizes he's more than just street-smart - and he's not really a Treasure. Amethyst’s boring summer at home has turned into an adventure on the run, chock full of intrigue, danger, love, and a mysterious boy named Clark.

TREASURE DARKLY, book 1 of the Treasure Chronicles

This young adult novel is a dark mix of steampunk, the paranormal and romance in a “Wild West” setting. 

Below is an excerpt from TREASURE DARKLY.  You can read more on the Curiosity Quills Press website.

“Looks like he did drink it up.” The general client spoke from the right. “Must’ve interacted with all that bloody hertum. Look at ‘im, he’s bleeding already.”

“What’s it gonna do to him?” the guard from the morning asked.

“Lots of stuff.” The general laughed. “When he touches the dead, he’ll be able to bring them back, and exchange that life for another. Perfect soldier, huh? We only have one vial ready and I was going to give it to a lucky fellow. Guess it will be this boy.”

“Whatcha gonna do with him?” The guard snickered.

“Have to be a test subject,” the general said. “Sure thought it was that Judy who stole my bottle. Pity I killed her. She sure knew how to make my pecker sing.”

Judy.

Clark’s mother.

Clark bolted off the ground and ran. He could hide in the hole under the shed behind the brothel. Mable never found him under there. He might be cursed with raising the dead—he’d already done that to the poor mine worker—but it didn’t mean he’d let them take him for tests.

###

You can read more about Amethyst Treasure in GEARS OF BRASS, a steampunk anthology from Curiosity Quills Press available now from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Our Reviews: 
***We received the eBook free as a review copy from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review***

Angelina:
I was really looking forward to reading this book, as it is my first steampunk novel and I really hope that I am not the only one who thinks that the cover looks amazing. I can definitely say that this book did not disappoint me at all. In fact, I feel like I have found a gold nugget. 

If you look back at most of my other reviews, you would find that I would comment that the beginnings are mostly kind of dull and that you have to power through those bits to get to the good part. But in this book, you immediately get immersed in the story and gradually, piece by piece, you start to understand that world better. It is based on a Wild West society with a lot of technology.  In the very beginning, I already liked Mable because she was so cute, innocent and adorable. It took me some time to adjust to Clark but he is a very likable character, he has amazing survival skills and best of all, he can do a roundhouse kick! Also, unlike most main characters, he actually plans stuff out and doesn't go charging into a suicide mission. Anyway, he can bring people back from the dead! If he sees his friend die, no worries, help is at hand! That is really cool. Amethyst was really whiny at the beginning, but then she started learning survival skills and she actually tried to fight back at times. Her romance with Clark though was always a bit awkward for me and I found Amethyst a but to flirtatious, but otherwise she was a strong character. 

The plot itself is pretty exciting, I found it kind of funny how on every page, a fistfight escalated immediately into a gunshot. The action appeared on every page and that was part of the reason of what made the reader want to keep going. It is really cool, how everything lead to the final ending.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I never got bored reading it and really recommend it to people who enjoy paranormal, romance, a bit of Young Adult and a lot of adventure. I finally give it 4 out of 5 stars! 

Jessica:
I actually really enjoyed this book. I didn't get much time to read the book (three days to be exact) but I didn't need all of that time, it was a one sit read for me which left me extremely dazed afterwards.
The plot in this book was extremley unique. Before I read this I checked in my read list and saw that I had never read a steam punk book, which made everything exciting and new. The world building was one of the best I have ever seen. Jorden Mierek really took her time with every little detail and left nothing unexplained. The main character, Clark, at the begging of the book acquired the ability to guide the dead back to the living world which was pretty cool, although it was a tad bit confusing at the beginning about how the drink brought about these abilities it was gradually explained over time. This book was filled with short bursts of action which made it extremley exciting, and the action never dragged on. In fact in never thought that this book dragged on once, Jordan Mierek created a steady plot and a great ending which summed up the books events nicely.
The character were all well developed. Clark was smart, could defend himself and was likable. He always put everyone else's needs before his, he always thought through his actions and hardly ever made a stupid decision. Amethyst was, at the begging of the book, your typical maiden in distress which I hated and I knew that some serious character development was going to have to occur
for me to like her and it did. She learned how to shoot, ride and became more considerate of others. She turned for my least favourite character into my favourite.
Finally I give this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Jordan Elizabeth, formally Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, is the author of ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, available from Curiosity Quills Press.  Check out Jordan’s website, JordanElizabethMierek.com, for contests and book signing locales.  Jordan is represented by Belcastro Agency and she is president of the Utica Writers Club.

No blog tour is complete without a giveaway. Enter below for a chance to win a paperback copy of GEARS OF BRASS. You can find the giveaway in the side bar to the right. 

Cracked (Soul Eaters #1) by Eliza Crewe

Meet Meda. She eats people.
Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.

They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.

Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.

The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it. 

My review: 
I remember buying this book because of the first sentence of the blurb. Book blurb: Meet Meda. She eats people. Me: Good to know! 
The plot of this book was intense. There was so much action in the first 120 pages that when it met the 150 page mark (or around there) I had to put the book down, all I could think was: What direction is this book going in?? At that time I could not see what else could go wrong, and then 2 chapters later everything starts up again. It was fast paced, as you can tell, and start to finish action packed. The action was exciting and exhilarating and I just want more of it. 
Meda's point of view was just so funny and humorous. She could be in the worst case scenario where everyone is going to die and still crack jokes and make the scene funny. She is the only character in a long time which I have 'met' which actually happens to have her head screwed on right. She realizes a bad situation and she knows to get the hell out ASAP. She had her fair share of character development as well, at the beginning she was so hard and tough not caring about anyone or anything around her, and at the end it is like you are reading from the perspective of a completely different person. She is still tough and humorous but you can see that she is starting to let herself feel things properly. I am just going to skip over Chi and Uri because they were kind of like your typical, underestimate the 'helpless' girl and be the hero type of guys. Jo on the other had was...well... not stupid like them. She had lost everything from her family to her freaking leg (well she didn't lose it, it is just damaged and she can't fight like she used to). She had some pretty major trust issues, I don't even think that at times she trusts herself. She was so angry and sarcastic. I understand why Meda liked her, their personalities mash together so well and I really just want to see them be the best of friends. 
All in all I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My favourite paragraph which you just need to read: 

A daring death-defying quest to retrieve the Holy Spreadsheet from a battlefield of Good versus Evil, this sound like a job for... 

  Someone else. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Published in 1945, this powerful satire of the Russian Revolution under Stalin remains as vivid and relevant today as it was on its first publication.









My Review
We originally needed to study this book for English class as an example for an allegory (a kind of extended metaphor). To understand this book better, we also had to read about the history of the writer. George Orwell wrote this book during the Second World War and in that time, Russia had a change of leaders and Stalin was one of them. Orwell wrote this book as a parallel to the Russian Revolution. A series of events that happened in Animal Farm also happened similarly in Russia and certain attributes from people in the Russian Revolution were given to the animals. Like, pigs were the leaders (Stalin and Trotsky) and the rest of the animals were the followers. 
The overall plot of this book is that the animals wanted to overthrow the humans and the animals wanted to run their own farm independently. The pigs founded the rules of Animalism and that every animal is equal. While reading this book I started getting more and more annoyed at the pigs. I especially disliked Squealer because he was always bringing the news to the animals and fooling them, telling lies. While he was talking I was always thinking that the pigs could always find some kind of excuse for doing something forbidden. I liked Boxer and Clover though because they are so innocent and only want the best to happen.
The writing style was easy to read. It was mostly straightforward expect for when the writer didn't want to say that someone did something wrong in the book. As an example, Napoleon was left behind with the milk and all the Orwell wrote, was that when the animals came back, the milk was gone. Also the wording in the last paragraph of this book was kind of sad.
Somehow the writing style improved my final rating because I just couldn't put the book down and finished it in a day. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1) by Lindsay Cummings

Book Blurb (From Goodreads) 
Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

My review: 

This book has been on my goodreads to-read list for such a long time that I just had to read it. It took me 3 days to finish it, and to be honest I didn't even realize how far I was into the book until I finished it. It was a really quick and exciting read. 

The plot was fast paced from start to finish. It was a tiny bit confusing at the beginning because it was hard to see what everyone's true intentions were. Nobody was who they seemed in this book, not even Meadow or Zephyr. The action in this book was well spread out, meaning that we never got a boring chapter. When there was not action we were getting important information to move the plot along. There was a great plot twist at the end which I love and that ending just kills you in a good but also really bad way. Cliffhanger. I cried so many times in this book. I can't explain how fast a read this book is, you really just have to experience it yourself to understand. 

The characters in this book felt so realistic. Meadow, to me, was easy to relate to. She was always trying to act so strong that I think that she sometimes forgot that he was human too. The parts of the book where she broke down were both touching and heartbreaking. Throughout the book you could see how dedicated to her family she is. She would die for them and almost does on countless occasions. At the beginning of the book she was so desperate to impress her Farther, although as the book progressed you could see her becoming even more independent and moving away from that need to impress him. Zephyr was a completely different story to Meadow. I don't think that he knew how to hide his feelings. You could see that he was so broken inside because of the people that he was forced to murder. He tried to be strong around other people but he was not fooling anyone. He was a strong, almost fatherly, role-model for Talan. Although I do think that sometimes he needed Talan more than anything to hold himself together. If it were not for Talan I think that he probably would of died years ago. It is, in my opinion, thanks to her that we got to see him throughout the book in one piece. The relationship between Meadow and Zephyr sometimes did feel a little rushed and at times forced. It took them 5 pages after they met to fall in love, two pages after that to hate each other but after that it felt well paced. 

Finally is seriously enjoyed this book and I give it 5 out of 5 stars: 

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

Book Blurb (from Goodreads)
On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

My Review: 

 I was looking forward to finally picking this book up. I had heard a lot of praise for this book and I had pretty high expectations for it and it did not live up to them at all. I don't know  if this was because I was expecting too much (probably) but I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. 

The plot of this book was extremely creative and fresh. I have never seen another book with a plot line even similar to this, or that plays with the ideas of the book quite the same as Gayle Forman did. There were memories spread throughout the book, along with the chapters of Mia contemplating if she should stay. These memories were interesting at the beginning but towards the end started to feel repetitive. It always came back to her problems with Adam or her problems with deciding if she should go to Julliard or stay in her hometown. There was another problem that I had which was that the moments in the plot which were suppose to be sad (and they were), did not manage to make me cry. I was annoyed by this because I felt like I was missing out on something that everybody had experienced whilst reading this book. I never understood how the 'ghost thing' worked.I think that it may be her subconscious wandering, but I am actually glad that we never got an explanation, it kept that small sense of mystery in the book. 

  Mia was interesting at times, but I also found that at the beginning she was a bit bland. Her personality was a bit of, but towards the end her personality had developed more and I could understand her train of thoughts better. I did find that she did sulk around a lot during the book, but that is something that I can not really complain about because she just lost her family, anyone would sulk around if that had happened to them. Kim was the cool best friend of Mia's. I wish that we saw more of her (actually I wish that we saw more of every character apart from Mia). She was funny throughout Mia's memories and I feel like she was the glue between them, and was Mia's other half. I found Adam okay. I liked the idea of a classical musician and an emo-core band member (as Kim put it) dating. It made it interesting and complicated and they were both good for each other and shared the same love for music. 

Looking at my review I think that I should be giving the book 3 stars but for some reason 3 stars does not fully fit with my opinion on the book. I do not think that I enjoyed it enough to give it those 3 stars so without really knowing the reason why, I am going to give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Blurb (From Goodreads)
Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can't bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back...

The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king - for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?










My Review: 
I was looking forward to reading this book the moment that I has bought it. After the ending of Crown of Midnight  the wait was torture.  
The book moved slowly at the beggining and I have to admit I did not really enjoy the wait until the action started. The action started around the last 200 pages. There were also some new characters introduced.  The main new ones were Rowan and Manon. Manon did not have anything to do with what had happened in the other books. Her story was not as interesting as I had hoped it would turn out to be and I found that it was a little bit difficult to read the chapters about her without drifting off. Although I do think that her story would be better as a novela to go along with the series. I do not see how her story helped move the plot along. That is my only complaint about this book.
Celaena at the beginning of this book was annoying in her grief. She was not herself and was often not thinking straight. The further through the book we got, we could see her develop into an even stronger character then she was at the beginning of the series. It was nice to see her not holding back for once. She was finally embracing who she was. She also developed aspects of herself which made her more relatable. We got to see a lot of Chaol in this book. He developed a strong rebellious side which was good to finally see in him. I was annoyed with him however, because he did not know what side he wanted to be on. Throughout the book he was on the fence between the two sides and loyal to two different people with different intentions and at the end he finally tipped. We did not get to see a lot of Dorian in this book. Although we did see enough of him to realize that he was developing into someone who would make a strong king for the land. He managed to get control of his magic with little explanation which I still find confusing and do not know how he managed it. He found a new romantic interest in this book, which was good for him. I think that it defiantly helped him through these tough times and to forget about his relationship with Celaena. Rowan is a new character that has come into the plot. I never knew what to think of him. Since he was Fae, he was unpredictable. One minute you hated him the next you liked him. He was hard on Celaena, but he always had good intentions. He is still a mystery, there were some precious moments when we saw from his perspective. Even then we didn't fully understand his actions (most of the time), but we did see what was going on in that head of his. Manon is an Ironteeth Witch, in the Blackbeak clan. She was suppose to be heartless and cold but as the book progresses you can see her soften and become more calm. She has anger built up inside her which she needs to let out, in order to fully embrace her less 'cold' characteristics. You could see that she cares deeply for those around her which is evident in her last chapters. Even though she is sometime interesting to read about, I am not sure if i would be happy to read about her in the next book though, because of her irrelevance to the progression of the plot, although this may change in the next book.  
All in all I give this book 4 out of 5 stars: 

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
ONE CURSED DEMIGOD. 
TWO NEW HEROES.A QUEST TO UNLEASH THE GOD OF DEATH..... 
Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, has woken from a very deep sleep and come face to face with two snake-haired ladies who refuse to die.
But they're the least of his problems. Because Percy finds himself at a camp for half-bloods, which doesn't ring any bells for him. There's just one name he remembers from his past. Annabeth.
Only one thing is certain--Percy's questing days aren't over. He and fellow demigods Frank and Hazel must face the most important quest of all: The Prophecy of Seven. If they fail, it's not just their camp at risk. Percy's old life, the gods and the entire world might be destroyed.....


My Review
As soon as I finished the previous book, I hurried to get started on this book because finally, we get to meet our all-time favourite hero again, Percy Jackson!
In this book we get to join Percy on an adventure to save the Roman camp called Camp Jupiter and his new friends while battling memory loss. Percy doesn't remember anything except the name Annabeth. How sweet is that? Of course Percy also found some new friends called Hazel and Frank and the story is told out of all three perspectives.
The characters were very interesting and all of them had some sense of humour (some more than others) and most importantly, Hazel and Frank had some secrets that took some time to find out. Percy was as awesome as always and managed to deal with the memory loss pretty well. His perspective is always told in a snarky, sarcastic kind of way (just the way we like it). We also get to meet some important gods and in this book you can really sense the difference between the Roman and the Greek gods. My favourite  god was definitely Terminus, Roman god of boundaries. He is hilarious because he always gets so mad when demigods break the rules and he wants everything to be perfect.
This time I didn't feel like the story progressed without me knowing, like in the first book. Instead I already got used to the idea of Roman gods and just rolled with it. I must admit that I was pretty confused with the Roman Camp layout and the rules. I didn't understand stuff Like the Fifth Cohort or the daily routine of Camp Jupiter but I did get used to it after the book started explaining it in some more detail.
Overall, I was really happy that Percy was back and I don't have any real complaints about this book so I am giving it 5 out of 5 stars!

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper. His best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids”, as Leo puts it. What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea — except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father, a famous actor, has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.

My Review
 I was actually putting off reading this book because I think I got a little to attached to Percy Jackson and didn't want to move on to new heroes, even though Percy will be here in the series. But I must admit that the new heroes were pretty cool. The plot was pretty good but ll the while when the basic world of gods and myth was being reintroduced to the heroes, I felt that too many things were suddenly added because this book is taking place just one, two months after the previous book. I mean, that suddenly you find out that Camp Half-Blood always had a mental, bronze dragon? When did that happen? My point is that a lot has changed and it took me some time to get used to that. This also influenced my final rating.
This book was written in third person, out of the perspective of our three new heroes: Jason (the odd one out), Piper (secretive girlfriend) and Leo (the joker and weird fire dude). I didn't really like Leo's perspective that much even though he was constantly making bad jokes and had a funny description, but his story wasn't really as interesting as Jason's and Piper's because they are keeping secrets. And (YAY!) the old characters we know and love like Annabeth are also mentioned. Besides that, a lot of other new gods were introduced, new friends and everything.
It also happened, that you get a bit too attached to creatures and when they die... yeah...
Overall though, I made some points above about the book that I didn't really like but I still loved it and give it 4 out of 5 stars!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Book Blurb (From Goodreads) 
'Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them'

This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are also no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christopher decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could have ever predicted.

My Review:

 My dad was with me in the book store and he took this book out of the shelf and told me that if I agree to read it he will buy it for me, because he wanted me to read a YA 'classic'. So obviously I agreed to read it next and review it so here is my review. I am also going to do this review a little differently. In this book Christopher made a lot of lists about things so that is how  I am going to present my review. In a list about things I did and didn't like about the plot, characters and writing style. 

The plot:

  likes: 

1. The mystery was different from anything else that I read because it was about a dog
2. About 150 pages in there were multiple mysteries
3. I liked the idea of some one writing a murder mystery book about someone writing a book about a murder mystery which had happened to them and were also giving us updates about the progress in the book in the final copy, confusing isn't it? You would get it if you have read the book

  Dislikes: 

1. I can not really find one to be honest.... 

The Characters: 

  Likes: 

1. Christopher was an interesting character to read about, especially with his disability. He had such an interesting perspective on the world
2. Christopher's dad always had good intentions for him, and I think that he would of made a good dad if the circumstances were flipped. 

  Dislikes: 

1. I had a hard time imagining Christopher as a 15 year old. I know that this is what was suppose to happen because that is what part of his disability causes but it didn't make it any less annoying to be imagining a 15 year old as a 10 year old.
2. Even though I said that Christopher's dad had good intentions for him, they were seriously flawed. He ended up being my least favoutrite character. 
3. I can't talk about anyone else because that would bring up spoilers about the second mystery 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars, because:

1. Even though there were no flaws in the plot does not mean that I did fully enjoy it, it still took me a long time to read
2. the writing style did annoy me, even though that was how it was suppose to be.

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Blurb (from goodreads) 
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

My review: 
This book was full of twists and turns and full of exhilarating scenes. I would not say that it was better than Throne of Glass but it was defiantly not bad. 
The plot of this book was interesting. It was going one way and just when we were accepting the information that we were given the book took a violent turn in a different direction. Their were plot twists at the end of the book which I will talk about at the end in a spoiler part of this review. This book defiantly had some brilliant fight scenes which got your heart speeding. It was a page turner from start to finish. If I were to pick one place that annoyed, me it would be how Celaena had reacted to a specific event and would not leave her room. I did not enjoy the time where she was just sat and felt sorry for her. You're Adarlan's Assassin! Pull yourself together! Okay, maybe that is a bit harsh. However, it did not have to go on for as long as it did. Even here I am being a bit picky to find something to try  and complain about. I don't really think that I am doing very well at it though because I understand how Celaena reacted and I respect that. 
There was defiantly some developments in the characters throughout the book which were interesting to watch. I will start of with Dorian since I think that he probably developed the most. I loved how Dorian has stuck with his humor and is still a bit rebellious towards the king/his dad. I wish that we could of seen more of him like we did in throne of glass. He defiantly managed to get his head together and become wiser and focus on the things that are important. Celaena, to be honest, scared me in this book. The fighting scenes where she got the killing calm were eery but also extremely bad ass. I found that, we found a lot more interesting things about her past and origin. I also found that, she seemed a bit confused in this book, as in, what she actually wanted. We got to see a lot more of Chaol in this book as well. I found his past interesting (since it was mentioned multiple times in the book) and liked the scenes with his farther. I preferred how he acted when he was around Celaena and vice versa. I wish that he were a bit more like Dorian, humor wise, but it didn't matter because I felt like Dorian was Chaol's missing half and I like to see them talk together. I just wish that they were not arguing half the time. Nehemia was again one of my favourites. I liked how she was so into the rebellion and she really showed more passion for it in this book. She kept a sense of mystery throughout the book which kept you guessing about her. Mort, the skull, was hilarious. He was by far the funniest character in this book. He had snide remarks at the most inappropriate times which made the book have huge laugh out loud moments. I think that every book needs a character like Mort. He was my other favourite, next to Nehemia 
SPOILER CAREFUL DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!
So this plot twist at the end. I was not expecting Celaena to be Fae and the heir to the Terrasen throne. At first I was angry about this because I felt like I had been cheated. It was so big that it should of been hinted at least once in the book. Then I sat back I looked back at my memories of text from both of the the books, and realized that there were actually so many subtle clues. The way how Nehemia had said to Celaena at the end of the first book, magic calls to magic. Celaena also had such a talent with the Wyrd marks and never talked about her past. I also never really thought about it but when it was mentioned that the rightful queen of Terrasen was working with the rebel group, Celaena was so certain that, that person was a fraud. And it makes sense because she is the heir. The clues all fit and now I am just astounded at how blind I was to not fit all of the clues together. The plot twists were defiantly well placed and done.
SPOILERS ARE OVER YOU CAN CONTINUE READING NOW!!!!!!!! 
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars: 

Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Book Blurb (from Goodreads)
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

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.

My review:
 If you have seen Alecto's 5th wave review you will know about the reading arrangement the we made. If you haven't here is a brief explanation: We saw that we did not have many books in common that we both loved so we each chose three books from our favourites and the other had to pick one book out of the three to read. Alecto chose the 5th wave and I chose Across the Universe by Beth Revis, purely because it sounded like something that I would like. Do I regret my decision? Unfortunately yes...
I love dystopians, I love Sci-fi put them together and you have made the perfect book for me right? Wrong. The plot for me in this book, was to stretched out and boring. I could identify parts of the book which were suppose to be exciting but unfortunately were not. There was two chapters in this book (one after the other were something unnerving happened to Amy) which were exciting and got my adrenaline pumping. I finally thought that the book was going to get better but alas, it did not. It only lasted for two chapters and then everything calmed down again. I wish that Beth Revis had pulled out that section of the book a little bit more because it was the only part of the book which I generally liked. 
This next paragraph will contains a large spoiler! Please do not read this if you have not read the book!
Beth Revise had a attempt at a plot twist which is great, good for her, but I do not think that it worked out quite in her favor. At the end, we found out that it was in fact Elder who had taken Amy out of the chamber. This is all good and that, but my problem with it is that a secret was not hinted in the book. The was no guilt in Elder no should I tell her should I not. Not even a hint of remorse until the end of the book! That is not right. You can not just suddenly give the character a huge secret that has been there from the beginning. This probably frustrated me more than it should and I don't know why. Another thing that bothered me about this is when he does tell Amy about this 'secret' she is okay with it so fast. That would of been the perfect time for some good old conflict between characters but no. Unfortunately not. 
Okay spoiler bit is over you can read from here on!
I am going to talk about Amy and Elder at the same time. They are both so similar it was annoying. If you are going to make a book a duel perspective you have to do it right and give the two completely different  personalities and characteristics. I should be able to open the book to a random page and be able to go ah that its Amy's perspective or ah that is Elder's perspective. I was not able to do that. I sometimes had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to check whose perspective I was reading from. I found Elders character bland and although Amy had her brief sassy moments she was a bit bland and boring as well. 
Overall I would say that I would say that I am just one of those people that end up not liking a popular book. I am sure that it is a great book to some people and I would recommend that if the book blurb does sound interesting to you go give it a shot. Do not let my review put you of, it is just my personal opinion. 
I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.

The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1) by Rick Yancey

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
The 1st Wave took out half a million people.

The 2nd Wave put that number to shame.

The 3rd Wave lasted a little longer, twelve weeks... four billion dead.

In the 4th Wave, you can't trust that people are still people.

And the 5th Wave? No one knows. But it's coming.

On a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs. Runs from the beings that only look human, who have scattered Earth's last survivors.

To stay alone is to stay alive, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope.

Now Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death.

My Review
Let's start by explaining what Jessie and I agreed on, one day. We noticed that we don't have a lot of books in common. So we recommended books to each other and then we had to choose on of the recommendations and we had to read that chosen book. So, I chose "The 5th Wave".
Basically, this book is about aliens invading and destroying the Earth and killing the humans. Their attacks were called "waves". The book is told out of many different perspectives, like Cassie's, Zombie's, Sammy's and the Silencer's.
I love Cassie's perspective. She is so sassy and her commentary is hilarious. One of her funny lines in the book was Oh there's an alien apocalypse, quick grab the beer! That was really funny.
Evan Walker was a slightly irritating character. He was so timid it was so frustrating and weird and then he started going all killer-style and then he becomes a really cool character.
The plot of the book was generally really good. On my newly invented machine, the Excite-ometre, out of a scale 1 out of 10, 10 being "Omg, I can't take it anymore!" I would give this book 5 or 6 because there was action but not necessary a lot. But I liked the idea of aliens taking over and the book was pretty original.
Overall, with the hilarious commentary and the plot, I can give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

The Wizard Heir (The Heir chronicels #2) by Cinda Willamas Chirma

Book Blurb (from goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it's not his attitude that's the problem: it's the trail of magical accidents - lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his powers are escalating out of control.

After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys' school on the coast of Maine. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students' powers to serve his own mysterious agenda. 



My review: 
This book is too long! Cinda Willamas Chirma could have easily cut of 150 pages of this. It started of good and exciting and ended with long conversations about wizard politics...
The original plot of the book was good and could of been stretched out over a longer period of time. The beginning felt a bit rushed which was a pain because it was the only part of the book where adrenaline was really pumping through my body which is a feeling which I really like whilst reading and I feel like I have been robbed of it in a book which had the potential to give the reader that feeling 24/7. The ending on the other hand just seemed to go on forever. It was all about wizard politics and what was going on. Which was great for history and would be good in small doses, but do not revolve the whole second half of the book about it. Yes you still had action but not as much as I was hoping for. 
Seph was my least favourite character. Which sucks because he was the main character and I had to see the most of him. His character felt a little bland and like there was something missing. I could not relate to him in any circumstances which is a trait which most main characters should have to help make the book appealing to readers. I was glad to see Jack and Ellen come back into the story. It felt like old friends were coming back from the dead. I love their characters and my only complaint for them would be that we didn't get to see enough of them. I would of liked to have some clearer updates on their life together. 
The descriptions in this book were very clear and easy to imagine. Although it was hard to keep up with who was talking because the point of views were switching back and forth without warning. At the end we even got the point of view from someone who we barely know anything about! I had to retrace y 'steps' and figure out just who exactly was talking. 
I give this book 2 stars. I defiantly suffered the-curse-of-the-second-book-in-a-series-of-5-books-which-could-really-just-be-one-book.