Defending Taylor Review

I got a pdf copy of Miranda Kenneally's Defending Taylor through netgalley, a website that's become one of my new favorite things. While I've heard of some of Miranda Kenneally's other books I've never read them before, but I quickly realized it's a little like Stephanie Perkins and where the characters in the books have some kind of connections.

Defending Taylor is about the daughter of a U.S. senator who gets kicked out of her boarding school when she lies to cover for her boyfriend. All of her hard work to be captain of the soccer team and the intense classes to get that 4.2 GPA and her plan to go to Yale is put into jeopardy. Now, she has to go to Hundred Oaks High, a public school where the classes aren't as good and her new soccer team hates her. The only person who sympathizes is Ezra, her childhood crush who is back in town.

The first part of this book I was rolling my eyes like crazy. It was attempting to portray Taylor as this rich girl who is still perfect and nice to everybody. It was a little disgusting to see how she viewed herself as wealthy but still so kind to the poor! Her housekeeper Marina and how only she knows what is good for team building on the soccer team. She was portrayed as being above everybody yet still so generous so everybody loves her. Gag. Yes, wealthy people can be good people but when this was just thrown into my face so I would like Taylor's character, it came off as so fake to me. Thus, I was originally going to give this book only one or two stars (which I almost never do!). However, once this over-the-topness stopped and the book became more about the story instead of how perfect Taylor is, I found myself enjoying it more.

There was some good stuff about finding out what you want to do, instead of just doing what's expected of you. I enjoyed the fact that it took into consideration that Taylor killing herself to do well wasn't okay and that we should all relax at times and enjoy the small things. Yes, preparing for the future is important, but I never want to look back on my life and have no good memories.

Overall this book was just alright to me. It's not a book that will last in my mind and it was just an easy romance read. It had some feminism qualities and the romance was okay, but nothing was strong enough to stand out in my mind. I will probably read some more of Miranda Kenneally's books though because sometimes I enjoy and need something easy.

Defending Taylor comes out July 5th!!

Zenith Review

When I first met Sasha, I had no idea where life would take her! We met during volleyball tryouts freshman year and were both too intimidated by the coach to continue the sport lol. I'm so proud of where she's gotten in life though!!! <3 <3 <3

Zenith is the first part to a series by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings, Andi is the captain of the all-female crew of the spaceship, The Marauder. She's called the Bloody Baroness and when her ship is captured by someone from her past, she's sent on an unexpected journey. Meanwhile, Nor, the ruler of a planet across the galaxy is plotting a vicious plan.

This book was a lot of set up, which made me upset when it ended so quickly. It's just the first part of the saga and it definitely left me wanting for more. Who wouldn't be excited about space pirates!? And they're all women and unashamedly brutal. So far, there's not too many male main characters and I love it. Strong women are something I always get excited about and so far it's being done very well in Zenith. I'm so excited for the next part because this was just an introduction to the characters and the storyline and I can't wait to see where everything goes. It has a lot of potential to grow and stand out as an incredible sci-fi novel. I look forward to seeing how the Mirabel Galaxy is laid out and built, as world building has always been one of my favorite things when I read.

One thing that kind of bothered me was the use of the word "fike". It was supposed to replace the f-word, but anytime the word was used I didn't think it worked correctly. The characters so far are brutal and aren't afraid to kill, there was lots of blood and the word "fike" just didn't match up with that for me. I needed the dark and grittiness in the imagery and vocabulary to match up a bit more. I'm also more mature (19) so I hear the f-word a lot more in daily life, so I get that to a younger audience they might not be as bothered by it. That's just my opinion though.

Overall, Zenith has so much potential in my mind. I just wish I could read it all at once instead of having to wait!

Zenith is currently an ebook, so go download it from amazon, iBooks, or any online store right now!

One Was Lost Review

Natalie Richards' One Was Lost is an intense mystery thriller, which isn't the typical kind of book that I read. I couldn't stop reading though as I was scared of what would happen next to this group of kids. They're a group of high schoolers who are required to go on some type of life experience trip and they go on a remote hiking trip with two of their teachers. About halfway into their trip there's a flash flood that separates the group. Sera is one of the four with one of the teachers and the next morning they wake up with words written on their arms. The words are "Deceptive", "Damaged", "Dangerous", and on Sera's arm is the word "Darling". Their supplies are destroyed and they're groggy from some sort of drug. It quickly becomes clear that they're being hunted.

This book was a pretty quick read for me as it was constantly ending chapters with some kind of cliff hanger. I don't read horror or thrillers all that often cause they freak me out a little and so with this book I couldn't stop reading until I knew the conflict was resolved. Maybe a little clichéd at times, but during a traumatic event you can't expect things to be rational and these are teenagers who are already  typically irrational. They also would have no idea how to do anything in a situation like this and I know I would get incredibly paranoid if I was being hunted in the woods so that I would start suspecting anybody and everybody.

I wish I had gotten to know the other characters backstories more though and what happened to them after everything. There were hints towards Jude and Emily's lives but I was never satisfied. After I finished the book, I immediately wanted a few chapters more or a whole other book where it's after everything and going back to high school. The readjustment and the school's perception of what happened would be so interesting in my opinion.

Overall, I was surprised by how attached I got to this book and how it kept my on the hook the entire time.

One Was Lost comes out October 4th, 2016 and I will definitely be recommending it!!!

Blood for Blood Review

Ryan Graudin's Blood for Blood is the sequel to Wolf by Wolf so there will probably be spoilers to Wolf by Wolf in this review! Wolf by Wolf is amazing though so go read it and then come back for this review!

Blood for Blood takes up right where Wolf by Wolf left off. Yael has just shot Hitler, only to discover it was not the real Führer. Instead, he was a skinshifter like her. Now, Yael is on the run and the rebellion has just begun. She's joined by Luka and Felix as the question for how far you'll go for your loved ones is overshadowing them.

My apologies for the short and vague summary, when I like a book I never want to give too much away and let me just say I LOVED this book. I was in a bit of a reading rut and it took me a while to finish it, but it was so good. It was darker and more intricate than the first book in my opinion and I loved all the characters. I was waiting for them to try and do a love triangle with Luka and Felix, but thank the lord that did not happen. Instead, the mistrust and deceptions were much more realistic and the relationships never felt forced to me. I may not have liked Felix, but I understood him and probably would have done much of the same things as him.

I love Yael and so many times in this book I started crying cause she has gone through so much and I just wanted her to be happy and to have peace! I also thought for some reason that this series was going to be a trilogy, so towards the end I was just thinking it wouldn't be resolved since there was going to be a third book! But it quickly became apparent to me that this was the final book. This was a little more mature since it does have some really dark themes, as many World War II and holocaust books do.

This is still very fictional even though it takes place in the 1950s, so you can't compare it fully to real history. It's not meant to be 100% factual, there are skinshifters for goodness sake, but I honestly loved this book and I'm going to be searching out Ryan Graudin's other books now!

Blood for Blood comes out November 1st, 2016 so go and get it!!!

A Torch Against the Night Review

A Torch Against the Night is the sequel to An Ember in the Ashes, which was originally supposed to be a stand alone. An Ember in the Ashes didn't end like a stand alone in my opinion, which was why I was so excited to hear that there was going to be a second book! If you haven't read the first book, you probably shouldn't read this review, just a warning for possible spoilers! And if you haven't read it then you really should cause it's amazing!

A Torch Against the Night takes up right where An Ember in the Ashes left off, with Laia and Elias on the run from the Empire. Their mission is to free Laia's brother from prison, as he has knowledge that can help the Scholars rebel against the Martials. Helene's new duty as the Blood Shrike is to hunt them down and execute them.

This book didn't stand up to the first one in my opinion, it was still good but the journey to the prison is the majority of the book and when this happens, often times the only plot going on is romance between characters. It was a much slower book so it felt like the romance took the spotlight. I'm really picky about my romances and when I want a romance focused book I'll usually read a contemporary realistic fiction. Now I could tell that Sabaa Tahir doesn't mean for the romance to be the only important part of this story, but when I fell in love with the character development and struggles in An Ember in the Ashes, this book just wasn't as good.

There wasn't as much action with Elias and Laia, so it gave me the chance to fall in love with Helene's story. I sort of wished there would be less Elias and Laia chapters so I could read more of Helene. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that learning about the kind of person she is and following her trials was more of what I was hoping for.

The end of the book definitely picked up the pace and had so much more action, thus I am still eagerly anticipating the next book. While I preferred the first book, I am still hooked on this series and highly suggest it to everybody!

A Torch Against the Night comes out August 30th!