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: 

Awesome Book Prices!

It is the winter holidays right now and I hope that we are all having an amazing time where ever you are right now (even at home it is great to celebrate Christmas!). So anyway, I was strolling around when I was on holiday and went into this small convenience store. There wasn't anything special until I stopped in my tracks: there was a huge carton full of YA books in perfect condition. But that's not the only thing. One book, costs ONE euro each. ONE EURO FOR ONE BOOK EACH!!!!! And they were proper YA books! That is such an awesome deal. I'm finished ranting now, I just needed to get that out to the book world out here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Depending on where you are from, you may have already celebrated it, or you may be part of a different religion. But for those of you who like me celebrate it today, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope that you all have a great day!

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!

Jaleigh Johnson - "The Mark of the Dragonfly"

Jaleigh Johnson

This time I am introducing, Jaleigh Johnson, author of "The Mark of the Dragonfly"! I wrote a review on it as well, so check it out too HERE!

1)      What inspired you to write your book "The Mark of the Dragonfly"?
Much of the credit belongs to the 401 steam train, which is loosely based on the real-life 401 Southern, a restored steam locomotive on display at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois.  I have always been fascinated by trains, and when I first encountered the 401 at the museum, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.  I knew I had to write about this train, that it belonged in a story.  Even the steampunk/fantasy world of Solace grew from my fascination with the 401.

2) What books influenced your life the most?
One of my favorite books growing up was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.  Reading that book, I felt like I could step into that world.  I wanted to be friends with Meg Murry and Charles Wallace, to go on adventures with them.  I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction and the idea of disappearing into fictional worlds.

3) What is your working (writing) schedule?
When I’m on a deadline, I try to get in at least 1000 words a day.  Writing is something that I’ve always had to ‘fit in’ around my day job, housework, time with family, and the general demands of life, but if I can stick to that 1000 words a day, I can finish a draft of a novel in a few months.

4) What would your reaction be if you were also "magically" good with machines?
*grin*  Complete shock.  Unlike Piper, I’m not at all mechanically gifted, so I’d be very surprised if I woke up one day with that kind of talent.  It was a lot of fun writing about someone who does have the power to be able to see a broken machine and know what needs to be done to fix it.  She has a bond with machines that makes her unique, and I loved exploring that.

5) What are you working on now? What is your next project?
At the moment I’m working on a companion novel for The Mark of the Dragonfly.  It’s set in the same world of Solace, but it follows a new set of characters in a different part of the world.  I’m really excited about it!

Don't forget to read her book "The Mark of the Dragonfly"

We're on the roll!!

I am happy to announce that I have successfully interviewed another author. This is like our second  interview this month already (keeping in mind that it isn't easy to get interviews)! I introduce, (drumroll) Jaleigh Johnson, author of "The Mark of the Dragonfly"! I will post the interview soon, but meanwhile, check out my review on her book HERE.

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.