Ugly Love Review

Collen Hoover's Ugly Love is about Tate, too busy for love, and Miles, not interested in love. However, they are both extremely attracted to each other and come up with what seems to be the perfect no-strings arrangement. Miles only has two rules: never ask about the past and don't expect a future. Love will get ugly between these two.

Good lord I hate doing summaries because I try to make them sound mysterious and not give much away, but they always sound weird to me. Anyways, I LOVED this book! It blew me away so much. Sometimes new adult books can go in two different ways: either a really good relationship or an unhealthy one. Yes, there were times where I thought Tate and Miles were a little unhealthy but that was because Miles had some serious issues he needed to figure out. He also always did his best to never hurt Tate and he was always very clear about what he could and could not do. This book was also not about a relationship continuing to be unhealthy, it was about learning to conquer emotional issues and move on from them to become healthy.

This book is definitely more mature than YA books because the characters are in their early/mid twenties and there is some very vivid mature action that occurs. If you're not interested in reading that, it's fine, I just wanted to warn you guys. For those who think this is just a steamy and sexy new adult novel, you are wrong. There is so much more to it. It was interesting too because I would call out Tate for doing something and then she would realize it herself and scold herself for it. So the characters weren't entirely oblivious to their issues. It also brings to the front that even ugly love is love and it is so easy to get addicted to it. Tate says herself that she believes addiction is an illness and it can be so hard to pull yourself out of something messy. But Tate does stand up for herself and I won't talk about the circumstances because of spoilers, but I really liked her. She was so caring to everybody, especially Cap, who is my all time favorite character and I want him to be my best friend.

Also the cover of the book has a much deeper meaning that I just got and you can only get when you finish the book. However, it just made me want to cry.

So Ugly Love will be made into a movie soon! The man playing Miles, Nick Bateman, is extremely attractive if I must say so. His instagram is nick_bateman and I strongly suggest checking him out because this is just a taste of him:

The Stars Never Rise Review

Rachel Vincent's The Stars Never Rise is about a world torn apart by demons. The population is greatly decreased and closed off into cities ruled by the Church, with exorcists protecting them and fighting the war. The people must follow the Church's teachings or risk severe punishments. Nina Kane is a sixteen year old trying to provide for her younger sister, Mellie, as their mother is a deadbeat. However, when Nina finds out a secret Mellie has been keeping, all of her plans change. When Nina encounters an exorcist not allied with the Church, she must rely on him and his group for help.

So that is probably a super vague summary, but there are parts that are difficult to explain without giving spoilers. This book was different from what I expected though... First, I don't know what genre to put it in, is it high fantasy if it has religion and demons? Or is that bad to call that fantasy? I'll put it in its own genre I guess. Also, the cover makes the book a lot more dramatic than it is. Especially the "They will try to destroy us, but we are made to fly." Also there was some kind of butterfly theme going on that I don't fully understand. The cover has a butterfly and then each chapter title had a small butterfly. I think it's meant to symbolize the exorcists' transformations but when the book is about demons and stuff, I didn't feel like the butterfly symbolism really fit.

Now for the characters, I did enjoy the main character Nina. She put her sister first which I really appreciated because family should come first. She would do anything for her younger sister and I admired that. Slight spoiler but I think we all know the romance will occur... So I'm extremely picky about romances and I didn't really feel this one. I didn't think it fit in this book. I would probably be fine with it in a sequel, but this book was a lot about Nina and her sister and I wish the book kept that as the main focus. Instead, I felt like the romance was thrown in because every single YA book needs to have a love story. It occurred way too quickly and all of a sudden they were giving each other kisses goodbye and were acting too much like a couple. I'm a big fan of a slow build where characters can get to know each other and fall in love that way and I wish authors did that more often. In The Stars Never Rise, I'm pretty sure the book took place in two or three days. That is not enough time for me to get into a relationship, as I don't think that is very realistic.

Okay, sorry about my rant about romances. I did enjoy this book, it was different and more mature and darker than I expected and I really liked that, as I think some of the themes were more realistic. It is also easier for me to talk about the parts that I don't like, but I'm also a really easy going reader. I can read practically anything and I'll go with the flow. This also really helps me to see both the good and bad parts. I will read the sequel, as I am curious as to how the series will continue. Hopefully, I can get into the relationship more in the upcoming books.

The Stars Never Rise comes out June 9th!

Seraphina Review

I am so sorry I have not reviewed a book in so long! I have been in the worst reading slump. I also had a couple AP exams and I got addicted to The Mindy Project (curse you Fox for canceling it!) I have been reading this book so slowly and I finally finished it Saturday. However, yesterday was Mothers Day and both of my sisters came home from college so it was a little busy! Hopefully my reading slump is over and I can get back to reading and reviewing!

Rachel Hartman's Seraphina is about a world where dragons and humans live peacefully alongside each other. The dragons can become human and live in the human world. Except, the peace is an illusion. While the treaty is about forty years old, there are still a lot of tensions and hostile attacks against the dragons. Seraphina is a part of both worlds and has a lot to hide, she is an unusually talented musician in the court but does her best to stay out of the limelight. When a member of the royal family is murdered, she is drawn into the investigation with Prince Lucian. She has to constantly lie to keep herself alive and uncover the details of the larger mystery.

I'm not sure if it was just my reading slump, but I could not get into this book very much. I wasn't pulled into the world and I could only read a few chapters at a time without getting bored. I did not feel the romance at all either. Don't get me wrong, I know people who loved this book, I just did not love it that much. I've always loved dragons, Eragon helped with that obsession and this book interested me, but it was also a bit weird in my opinion. Seraphina was an alright character, but I never connected with her. I thought everything worked out too neat and nicely. In all of the minor and major climaxes, I blinked and it would be over. What was supposed to be an intense moment ended too soon with not much actually happening.

I thought it was also really confusing at times because it would use their world's terminology and not explain what a word meant. At one point I did not understand that one word was a title and the other was a name so I thought there were two different characters when there was really just one. I did not catch on to this until 300 pages into the book! I understand in high fantasy books there will be a different vocabulary, but I won't know what any of the words mean if they're not explained!

To be perfectly honest, this book will quickly fade in my memory. It was not memorable and while I will probably eventually read the second book, it will not be for awhile. Also, while I did not enjoy this book I know others do, it just wasn't a book that I liked. I am not against anybody who did like it, we all have different opinions which I like to keep in mind!