Chapteriosity

Review coming soon!

Dammit this thing is AWESOME!! Review to come!

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This thing is sooo sweet :')
Review coming soon!

Actual rating 3.5 stars

Okay so this is the first time I have ever read an adult book, (a zombie one at that) and I must say that overall, it was a positive experience.

To be honest, the beginning was rough to get into and I felt confused reading this. There were like TONS of medical terms I don’t understand (mind you, I’m only 14) such as proglottids, anaphylactic, and parasites Latin names. ESPECIALLY THE MIDDLE PART, this book actually sounded just like my biology text book! I was like what what WHAT there were SO MANY words I even never heard before!

Our protagonist, Sally Mitchell had a severe accident when she was 20. The doctors had claimed that she was clinically brain dead, but Sally miraculously survived after a tapeworm was implanted in her body. Unfortunately, Sally lost ALL of her memories before the accident and she had to relearn everything again, including English. Now six years after that, Sally is still getting therapy and medical check-ups at SymboGen, her health is constantly monitored by the company and her parents. Everything is fine...until one day, some people start transforming into empty creatures (*cough* zombies *cough*) and lose their humanity.

At first I thought Sally was going to be the cliche protagonist when she starts comparing her appearance with her younger sister. But I was so glad cause there’s no physical appearance talk after that! One thing that I found weird was how she can speak so eloquently even though she has only been learning it for six years. I mean, recalcitrant? Altruistic? Indubitably? O_O Possibly because her boyfriend is a doctor or because this is an adult novel but anyways, this could be just my issue cause I’m not a native and therefore my vocab is limited.

The first half was all mystery, the plot moves slowly that I felt bored and I was getting more questions than answers. However, when you hit the second half, things start to make more sense (there are even more biological terms in this part, I tell you again) and the book actually gets creepier and creepier and OMG THERE’S A TWIST I NEVER SAW COMING!! Really, I couldn't close my mouth for the next few pages!!

Leaving the scientific terms aside, I did enjoy Parasite, especially the second half – I was sooo engaged I couldn't stop reading! Plus, it’s such a breath of fresh air to see a love interest that actually has brain. I assume medical students would understand this book better but really, anyone would die because of those crazy plot twists. Parasite was a darkly terrifying, eerie and incredible read, once you get sucked into the book, there’s literally no way out until you have reached the last page.

One more advice, DO NOT GOOGLE ANYTHING!!! I was so curious that I googled tapeworms and oh my god they were soooooooo disgusting I might have been traumatized!! Well, I have learned my lesson. (Silly me, WHAT DID I EXPECT THEM TO LOOK LIKE?)

Thank you, Orbit and Netgalley for the review copy, this doesn't affect my opinions or review at all. :)

OH MY GOD. Does this mean I have to wait for another year just to know what happen?!!

Still undecided about the rating but I LOVED this book. That's all I can say for now. Full review coming soon. :)

OHMYGOODNESS I CAN’T BELIEVE I FINISHED THIS CRAP! *happy dance* It’s definitely a miracle I didn't DNF it, considering how annoyed I was with so many things. Even “annoyed” doesn't really covered my negative feeling. Reboot gets a solid one star from me.

Reboot was entirely a flat-fest. It has flat writing, flat protagonist and flat love interest. Thus, the romance also fell flat in my opinion. I know I’m overusing the word flat but really, there’s no better word to describe my feelings toward this book.

The longer you reboot, the stronger you’ll become, the less human you’ll be. Our heroine, Wren, died when she was twelve and 178 minutes later, she rebooted (aka “rose from the death”), making her currently the strongest Reboot. Now seventeen, Wren spends her time training newbies, but her latest newbie Callum (which she picked by herself, by the way) is the worst she has ever seen. Callum is only a 22, no matter how much training Wren gives him and no matter how much improvement he has made, he’s still way below Reboot standards. When told to eliminate him, Wren refuses and they both escape with the help of an officer.

Okay I’m done giving brief summary over here. Wren is my biggest problem over here. Technically, the longer you reboot, the less human you’ll be so Wren is supposed to be emotionless as hell. She said that there was no human left in her, that she didn't cry and she also didn't date. But there’s this new guy, Callum, she’s his trainer because he begged her to try training lower numbers so they could have a better survival rate – and that means him. Her relationship with him in the first 130 pages was like a teacher and a student (skip some moments in which Callum tried to “flirt” with Wren and Wren “feeling” something about Callum). Then right on chapter 14, they were supposed to be training, but you know what they’re doing?? Dancing. Yeah, right. Awesome. And a few pages later, there’s this paragraph:

“I was overwhelmed by the urge to grab both fists, yank them behind his back, and kiss him. I had never kissed anyone, but I swear I could feel his lips against mine everytime I looked at them.” – page 141

Just whaaaattt?? And no, not only that. She also wants to “lace her fingers through his” and “pull him closer to her”. Usually, I don’t mind these lines/actions in other YA books but in this case? Wren is supposed to be badass, calm, stoic, and EMOTIONLESS – keep that in mind, how come a single practically human guy makes her more hormonal? That’s if she still has hormones too. (She actually still has plenty of them, does she?)

I also have lots of issues with the love interest, Callum. He’s such a softie that he refuses to hit or kill someone. His character is very boring and lack-of-depth – as flat as an ironing board LITERALLY. I was so tired of his cheesy speeches I could have ripped the pages but then I quickly realized that I spent money on this crap so I better take good care of it. Even if it’s a horrible book.

Now, if two irritating characters get together, what would happen to the romance? If you guess an absolutely horrible romance (or any negative adjectives, actually) then congratulations! You are correct! Here, let me give you a cookie as a token of reading my ranting so far! *hands out virtual cookies*

I have one word, three syllables: INSTA-LOVE.

So one moment they just met, chapters later Wren disobeyed an order to eliminate Callum so they both escaped. Not long after that they kissed. And then a few pages and some paragraphs later they kissed again. There was A LOT of kissing and when I say A LOT, I am not kidding, guys. I counted there were TWENTY-FIVE kisses from middle of the book until the last page. It’s so sickening to read them act all lovey-dovey to one another AS IF THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE WORLD. This is too fluffy to be a dystopian novel. Ugh, if in the first book there are around 25 kisses, I can’t imagine how many kisses will be in the second book. 50? 100? I don’t know and I don’t intend to find out. Let’s just say that I won’t be continuing the series.

"[...] He grinned as he unhooked my helmet and kissed my cheek. “I’m driving here,” I said with a laugh as he kissed me again. [...] I grinned as he kissed me again."– page 359

No, I’m serious. Those three kisses happen in one page, in less than four paragraphs. It's not a heavy make-out scene but still? There were much more important things to do.

And not just the romance and characters, the plot didn't really make sense either. Well, it did make sense in the beginning but as we got to the middle of the book, things started to drag and there were so many unimportant scenes in my opinion. The plot was predictable and full of cheesy twists. Sometimes the pacing was slow, yet all of a sudden it became fast and then back to slow again. One thing that I found to be outright silly is when Wren wanted to break into a high-security building, her allies said that it would be nearly impossible to get out once you were inside due to the tight security, and there were also cameras and so and so. BUT Wren managed to do all that easily that her allies sound like they were exaggerating before. Well, not that I was expecting more dangers cause in my opinion, they got away quite easily from the previous obstacles. Or the writing made it sound too easy. Speaking of the writing, it’s so boring and flat and more like... lack of descriptions.

Oh, and the ending was really anticlimactic.

Reboot was a very disappointing dystopia, but it actually has an interesting concept. Alas, it’s completely wasted in a 365-page of boredom, fluffiness and inconsistencies.

***

Read more reviews here.

I have a sudden urge to read this. Guess I have to suppress that for now since I don't have a copy yet :(

Being a PJO/HoO and Greek mythology fan, I felt that I would love this. So I finally finished it and honestly I thought it was boring. Sure there were essays that I liked (such as Jenny Han's Eeny Meeny Miney Mo(m): Picking Your Very Own Godly Parent) but I felt that reading this was like a chore or school homework I had to finish.

Well, I did finish this book.

However...I dragged my ass and skimmed through the second half.

This book is a collection of essays from other authors about PJO series. It wasn't THAT bad, really. In fact, I learned cool stuff about Greek mythology through this book and I found some parts to be really funny. But I thought the Greek mythology sorta backfired and it started to get very tedious reading about all of them it was impossible for me NOT to skim. I doubt younger readers would find this fascinating enough...

Thank you Smart Pop Books and Netgalley for sending me the galley, this doesn't affect my opinions at all.

***

Read more reviews here.

This Song Will Save Your Life (aka TSWSYL) easily becomes one of my favorite books of the year, one of the best contemporaries that I ever read. Everything in this book is so relatable and believable I could even see a movie playing inside my head when I was reading.

The MC Elise is such an amazing heroine. Sure she has her own flaws but her voice is so realistic and I had no trouble relating to her. I haven’t been through as many things as Elise, but there were times that I agreed with her points, understood her feelings. There were sentences and paragraphs that made me stopped reading for a while and stared at my laptop screen and read them over and over again because I couldn't stop myself from comparing to my personal experience.

“I was not going to give up. This was a new year, I was a new girl, and I was going to use the next thirty-five minutes to make new friends.”

(Yes. I seriously thought that too on the first day of middle school. On the first day of every term actually. I've always been a naturally shy person so yeah... expect me not to make friends easily in real life...)

My social problem isn't as big as Elise, definitely not so big that I ever think of suicide, but Elise’s attempt of committing suicide seems pretty reasonable to me. In my opinion, when you see it from the outside, it’s so easy to say that suicide isn't the answer. But this time around, we get to see it from the inside – a mind so desperate – a girl who is facing a problem so big, a girl who feels unloved and rejected... And Leila Sales manages to depict Elise’s emotion genuinely.

I don’t see this book as an entertaining read, I see this book as an emotional read but occasionally, Elise’s funny side makes brief appearances.

“I mean, yes, I wanted to look like a cool person, but I didn't want to become impoverished in the process.”

“Furthermore, if I tried to overdose but didn't succeed, then I would run the risk of living, but being severely brain damaged. I am already socially disabled; I didn't need to be mentally disabled on top of that.”

This isn't an unpopular-girl-gets-a-hot-guy typical kind of story. While there’s also romance, This Song Will Save Your Life is more like a journey-to-find-and-accept-yourself kind of book. Elise is an outcast in her school. She tried committing suicide once but she failed and some time later she discovered new friends and her passion for DJing. Elise’s character development is brilliant, the story itself is brilliant, asdfghkl everything was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. I could just talk about how amazing this book was and quote every passage that I found extremely relatable but then this review would be too long cause I might end up quoting the whole freaking book. YES IT’S THAT GOOD.

Okay now my review is starting to get a bit uncontrollable.

I loved every single character in this book. I loved Vicky, Harry, Mel and even Char and Pippa – they all play a part in “changing” Elise. I loved how the romance turns out and that made me admire Elise even more. Oh my gosh and the ending is perfect too. I cannot ask anything more from this book. It was such a perfection and I cried several times and I tell you what – I DON’T usually cry when I read and I didn't cry when I read TFIOS (just got a bit teary). But This Song Will Save Your Life was such a touching book I got tears all over my face on the last 100 pages. Everyone should read this book – it was inspirational, realistic, extremely relatable... I think I ran out of adjective to describe this fantastic read.

Wow. Now I’m craving for more Leila Sales’s books.

Thank you so so much, Macmillan, for giving me an opportunity to read and review this magnificent book. But trust me, this doesn't affect my opinion at all. And note that the quotes are taken from the eARC so no guarantee that they won’t be altered or removed from the finished copy.

***

Read more reviews at my blog

That cover is so pretty.

Bailey used to be a duo with her sister, Julie – She was the songwriter and the fiddle player while Julie sang and played guitar. One day, a record company exec discovered Julie and signed her to a contract, snatching her away from Bailey and making sure that Bailey stays under the radar because it would be bad for their public relations. For a year Bailey has been acting rebellious until one car accident – thanks to her drunken boyfriend – gets her sent to her granddad’s house in Nashville. There, she plays gigs in a mall and meets a boy named Sam.

Bailey is a complicated character in my opinion, but somehow I could relate to her, being the underdog and all. Her parents gave up on her dream, told her to pursue another career (and literally control her life) so her younger sister Julie could shine brighter. Bailey seems...bitter in the beginning, but once I got to know her reasons, I couldn't help but to sympathize with her. She isn't always likable, but I was so glad that in the end she finally stands up for her dream. Now, I have things that I didn't like about her but I will point it out later in the romance section.

The love interest in this book is Sam. He seems like a sweet and friendly guy when he is first introduced, however as the story progresses, we get to see his darker sides. Turns out he's quite a player but he actually has a broken heart (though he never shows it). I was honestly mad when I knew his true intentions -- he wants to use Bailey!! He’s an ambitious and manipulative musician, I think his character totally ruined the book for me.

I found the romance between Sam and Bailey too rushed and unappealing (it is sorta insta love) in the beginning. But luckily Jennifer Echols doesn't take the convenient route – their relationship is rough and bouncy although they kiss so early. So the middle of their romance was quite good, I thought. Until Bailey finds out that Sam was using her (because her sister has a contract) but Bailey doesn't seem to be... mad. I mean, yes, she WAS mad at some point, but she quickly "forgives" him. And goes back to him. Dude, he was toying with you!!

One thing that I found to be unrealistic was the parents. I mean, come on, what kind of parents do THAT to their children? You can't just ditch one of your child and focus on another just because he/she is much more successful.

The concept of this book is definitely intriguing. I have never read a book about country songs before and I think there aren't many YA books that mention country songs so I guess it's a plus. However, the concept was overshadowed by the infuriating character (Sam) and bad romance. While I enjoyed this book at some point, Dirty Little Secret falls in the "meh" category for me. There are so many things that could have been better, but no, this book disappointed me.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. This doesn't affect my review at all.

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Read more review here.

I read this book on PulseIt.

This review also appears on my blog.

***

This is my second DNF this year and I tell you what – it was really bad. I really want to finish this book, just to see perhaps the last third of the book is at least good enough. Well, as you can see, my original plan failed and I DNFed it when I was 59% of the book.

I don’t know how to put this to words but basically, Linked was soooooo boring that I had no link or connection or whatsoever with any of the characters (see what I did there?) Elissa and Lin – they’re really dull and unlikable. Their chemistry or relationship (or whatever it is) came out as fake to me and I wouldn’t care if they died. Elissa seemed too perfect... too kind? Or too innocent? I hated her.

“Stop it! I can’t – if you don’t see how awful it is to put all those people in danger and not even think about it, not even care, I can’t talk to you. I don’t know what to do with you.”

– Elissa to Lin
Is it just me or that line does sound cheesy/insincere/fake?

And there’s Lin. This girl has been through a lot so she was quite tolerable at first, but gradually I started to dislike her too. She has this “superpower” called electro kinesis. And she forgets about it when she needs it the most. Wonderful! *That’s sarcasm, obviously* She gets really selfish in the middle of the book and that annoyed the hell out of me. (15 or 16 people are in danger because of YOU, girl. Thank God she finally listens later.) She rarely listens or obeys the order – wait, Elissa doesn't listen in the beginning either. Elissa is also inconsistent because she wants Lin to stop “killing people” (translation: stop using her electro kinesis, I guess?) but then a few pages later she wants Lin to use her power to get them out of the bad situation?? That happens a few times.

The other characters, like Cadan (I’m sure he’s the love interest) was pretty dull too but he was still tolerable. He’s Captain Jim Kirk from Star Trek wannabe. GAHHH, to put it in short sentence: I didn't care about the characters. Couldn't connect with them at all. I rarely hate characters so much but this book... It made me want to scream every existing and made-up swear word at the characters!!

I’m sorry guys if this review is very confusing and doesn't make any sense because this book was a mess in my opinion.

The worldbuilding is very confusing and there were chunks of paragraphs of info dump about the history of Sekoia – don’t know how it’s spelled correctly but it’s the place where Elissa lives. Don’t ask me anything about worldbuilding cause I understood NOTHING. The pacing is unbelievably slow for a book which is about running away from the government.

All these issues probably come from the writing. I guess it’s meant to be like beautiful prose but it came across as boring and repetitive and too distracting? There are A LOT of paragraphs without any dialogues at all. I got tired of reading it that I skipped a few sentences/paragraphs and I DID NOT MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT. If you like this quote then you’ll probably enjoy the book more than I did:

“She landed on her side, with a jolt that knocked the breath out of her, and before she could even gasp, before she could even register that she’d landed on the roof, that she was okay, she hadn’t missed it and gone plummeting through miles of empty air – before she could even register the clang that meant Lin must have landed as well – she was sliding. Down and down over cold smooth metal, no handholds, no friction, completely out of control, down and down and around and around, the sky and the sun and the silver flashes of steel spiraling with her, faster and faster, around and around and down and down. Every moment she expected to go flying off the edge, flung out into the empty air.”

-- Elissa after she falls off a roof or something (I already forgot about it.)

Can anyone explain what the hell is happening??

Linked failed to impress me in any freaking area I couldn't help but to DNF it. I didn't connect with the dull characters, I didn't like the dull writing, confusing worldbuilding and slow pacing. I did not enjoy this book. 59% -- that’s all my brain could take. I was in the verge of punching my laptop screen and I couldn't torture myself any longer. This book didn't work for me.

What feels like the weirdest night of my life floats naturally through this house, as if random guests are an everyday thing and leftover lasagna is the cure for every ailment. An hour ago I didn’t belong anywhere in the world, and now I’ve been recharged with several hugs and one forehead kiss, and there’s a bed upstairs with clean sheets on it just for me. Sometimes the dumbest thing you’ve ever done is actually a work of genius in disguise.

The motocross concept is what got me hooked in the first place. Honestly, I knew absolutely nothing about motocross before I read this book. I was as clueless as Hana when it comes to this sport and luckily there are some explanations about motocross terms so I wasn't as lost as I initially thought. The explanations are done nicely without being too info-dumpy so I was able to process the information.

Hana is an okay main character, but I had mixed feelings with her. I think the author successfully portrays her as a teenage girl who has this massive crush on a guy, the way Hana pays attention to her appearance whenever she wants to see her crush. While Hana didn't really stand out to me as a character, I really liked her friendship with Shelby. Shelby just seems like an awesome girl who is fun to be with. I think she’s quite mature but can be overenthusiastic as well, like when it comes to motocross obviously! The other secondary characters such as Molly and Teig are likable too.

There’s a love triangle blooming between Hana, Ash (Shelby’s twin) and Ryan. Ash is – hands down – my favorite character in this book. He may look like a criminal with those dreadlocks, but in the inside... he’s pure goodness! He’s kind-hearted and definitely not an arrogant jerk. He’s honest, patient and just like Shelby, Ash is also mature to the point that he thinks that “looks aren't everything”.

"Sorry Shell, I just don't want you changing anything about yourself to win the attention of a guy. Especially a motocross guy." He [Ash] puts his forehead to hers for a moment. "You're way too good for that, okay?"

Ryan is the complete opposite of Ash. He is clean-cut and handsome too but his attitude is way too arrogant for my taste. I felt the romance is a bit rushed and I think Hana falls in love – or extreme attraction whatever that is – too fast that I had difficulty buying it. However, I really liked how this book ends, it concludes the story well. Overall, it’s a nice and light and enjoyable summer read. :)

***

This review also appears on my blog.

This review is also available on my blog.

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We get to know Alex's childhood, what happens to him after the last event in Delirium, how he escapes from the Crypts and his own journey of finding Lena in the Wilds. Honestly, this short story was a bit boring for me. And confusing. But I did liked some parts of it and even though I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, I still like Alex's character. Here is my favorite quote:

“Sometimes I think maybe they were right all along, the people on the other side in Zombieland. Maybe it would be better if we didn't love. If we didn't lose either. If we didn't get our hearts stomped on, shattered: if we didn't have to patch and repatch until we're like Frankenstein monsters, all sewn together and bound up by who knows what. If we could just float along, like snow. But how could anyone who's ever seen a summer - big explosions of green and skies lit up electric with splashy sunsets, a riot of flowers and wind that smells like honey - pick the snow?”

This review also appears on my blog.

***

Cover impression:
It does look gorgeous and I’m a sucker for gorgeous covers – that what made me buy this book in the first place. I guess we all judge a book by its cover at some point, don’t we? ;)

Thoughts:

Actual rating is 4.5 stars.


When every girl in Baalboden needs a male Protector and doesn't know how to fight, Rachel has been taught by her father how to use weapons, how to defend herself and how to survive in the wilds. Needless to say, she’s a very kickass and headstrong heroine. Throughout the book she faces a lot of terrible things and that makes her break down and lose control sometimes. I think it makes her character more real, but to be honest I found it a bit...scary...when she goes outrageous. Logan is unlike any male character I've ever encountered in YA books so far. He’s an inventor which means he’s a super smart and a tech-head, not those typical hot bad boys. Despite his geeky side, he’s also a tactician and strong fighter. He thinks before he acts and he always tries to keep his promises, no matter how bad the condition he gets stuck in. (Off Topic: I don't how anyone picture Logan, but I kept getting a younger Chris Pine while I was reading this!)

However, things don’t always go as planned and C.J. Redwine is definitely not afraid to add twists and turns in the story. The pacing is a bit slow for my taste but I had no trouble enjoying this book because there are no dull/filler moments and I loved reading about Logan and Rachel’s journey. Defiance and its characters are so well-written that I didn't want to stop and I stayed until midnight to read this book. The romance is really good too and more importantly, it doesn't take over the main plot. Some people might consider it as insta-love but to me, it’s definitely not cause Rachel and Logan technically have known each other since they were kids.

Defiance switches POV between Rachel and Logan. Worst case scenario (lol, Logan’s style! xD) is the voices get meshed up together and you have no idea who is who. Although you can tell the narrator by the name written on the chapter beginnings, I didn't need them to identify the narrator because Rachel and Logan have distinct voices. Logan is the more calculating and analytic one in my opinion. Rachel’s emotion is also written fantastically and speaking of the writing, I think C.J. Redwine has done a great job! It wasn't hard for me to picture the actions and the setting.

Although I had no trouble imagining the setting, I did get confused a few times and I felt the worldbuilding was not solid enough. I mean, this book has dystopian elements (Baalboden is surrounded by Wall which separates the city from the Wasteland; the leader of the city is a very evil and dictating; rebellion is mentioned a couple of times) but it also contains post-apocalyptic survival and there’s a hint of fantasy (dragon-like creature called the Cursed One which lurks in the Wasteland). And this book seems to be in a medieval era but it has technology at the same time. However, the worldbuilding is actually very unique and interesting. Too bad there’s a lack of explanation or backstory in this book. Then again, worldbuilding usually doesn't bother me. Maybe we’ll get more in book two Deception?

This is probably one of the longest reviews I've ever written so far. Defiance is truly a fantastic read with its genre blending, strong main characters and plenty of actions including twists and turns. I gotta say that I’m so glad to judge a book by its cover this time! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have read this lol