Spellbound - Review

Spellbound (Spellbound #1)
by Cara Lynn Shultz
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Published: June 28, 2011
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Author Blog | Twitter

Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

Spellbound is an awesome paranormal-type book. Actually, I would call the genre modern fairy tale, because it really did have a fairy tale-is feel. I've never read anything like it, which is great. I love discovering new genres and crossovers!

Emma moves from her crazy stepfather to her rich aunt in New York, where she gets to attend an expensive private school. And she doesn't really feel that she fits in with all the other snobby students. But then she meets a boy called Brendan, who she instantly feels drawn too. When I was reading the beginning I thought "oh no, not one of these books again" And with that I mean the paranormal romance books in which a girl falls in love with a vampire/angel/warewolf/whatever and their love is impossible.

But I was wrong. Spellbound isn't one of those books. This book was so much more.Spellbound is twisted, extraordinary and not at all what I expected. It was a very interesting read.

And the ending? The last few chapters were so intense. I was holding my breath and didn't do anything than read. I needed to know how everything would end!

Spellbound is a great debut that paranormal romance and fairy tale fans will love. I'm a  bit confused about this being a series though. According to Goodreads, the next book will be released next year. But I think this book would've suited perfectly as a standalone and can't really figure out how a sequel would be written. I'm very interested in seeing what Shultz does with that!

Tower of Parlen Min - Reivew

Tower of Parlen Min (The Narrow Escapes of Ves Asirin #1)
by Matt Xell
Published: July 23rd 2010
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Author Blog | Amazon

Ves Asirin wins a trip to the Tower of Parlen Min. There, with 19 other children, he competes in the Sword Challenge; a series of puzzles and tasks, for $12 million. As fantastic and glorious as the tower seems to be, Ves finds that it keeps a dark and secret history that he has been connected to for over 150 years, a secret that will define his destiny ... if he can escape 'The shadow'.

Tower of Parlen Min opens up with a strong and mysterious prologue. A boy is sitting on a bus in the middle of the night. He's covered in blood, wearing other people's clothes and can't remember anything. Instatntly thousands of questions pop into my mind. These are the kinds of prologues I love. Exciting, mysterious and making you want to know everything about the characters and their story.

In the first chapter we get to know the boy when he has yet to experience the bus scene. His name is Ves Asirin, he's 11 years old, lives in an orphanage and has a very complex memory loss disorder. He gets to visit the famous inventor Jacobius Trent and participate in a competition called the Sword Challenge.

I really enjoyed this book. It has everything I love, fantasy creatures, puzzles, plot twists, actionfilled scenes and a lot of questions that you're dying to know the answers to.

I loved the idea of Ves' scrapbook that he filled with scetches and pictures of things and people to remember them. You were introduced to a lot of different people at the same time, but it was easy to keep track of just the most important ones. I adored Ves' friend Tammi, who nobody really liked because they thought that she's a witch. And the twins Andy and Anry we're so much fun.

The ending was epic with lots of plot twists and chocking answers on lots of questions. And it ends with a wonderful cliffhanger that leaves you craving the next book.

Ultraviolet - Review

Ultraviolet

by R.J. Anderson

Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

Publication date: September 1st, 2011 

Rating: 4/5

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.

This is not her story.

Unless you count the part where I killed her.

Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

Ultraviolet started as a very interesting and special book about a girl who's on a mental care against her will. She can't remember how long she's been there. Or how she ended up there. But there's one thing she remembers, having to do something with another girl's death. In the first half of the book you get to follow her as she tries to make life work at a mental care and wants to know what's really happening with her. But after a while the book takes a huge turn that totally blew my mind.

One of the first things that really drew me into the story was the writing. It was beautiful. R.J. Anderson is very good at writing detailed descriptions. I really felt like I was inside of Allison's head and saw the world through her eyes, even though she experiences the world differently than most people.

I can't really tell more about the book without spoiling anything. I can't even write which genre it is. So I'll just tell you guys to read it. It's a amazing book that shouldn't go unread.

Prelude to a Hero - Review

Prelude to a Hero (Wanted: Hero #1)
by Jaime Buckley
Publisher: On The Fly Publications
Published: May 27th, 2011
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Publisher | Author Blog | Book Website

Wendell is a young man who learns what his potential is while on a strange, enchanted world with a funny old wizard and ugly troll to mentor and guide him. Prelude to a Hero, the debut book about how Wendell came to be the one expected to save an entire world. . . by accident.

Quirky, unique and oh so funny. That's how I would describe Prelude to a Hero. This book is an intruduction to the awesome tale in which an awkward boy has to save the blue residents of a far away planet from evil. This debut novel is a epic story that will leave you craving for more.

The writing in Prelude to a Hero was incredible. The narrating and inner thoughts of Wendell (the main character) were really amusing. You know that awkward guy who never tries to be funny, but everything he does and says just becomes hilarious? Wendell is that person.

Now, for some reason the first chapter was really hard for me to get trough. I couldn't get a grasp on who the characters were and what was happening. I don't know if it was becuase I wasn't in a reading mood or something. But the next chapter, the one in which Wendell is introduced, drew me into the story and made me wanting to read more. So if you have a hard time geting through the first chapter, please don't stop reading. Because if you do, I'll feel sorry for you since you've missed a books this wonderful.

Parasite Positive (aka Peeps) - Review

Parasite Positive aka Peeps (Peeps #1)
by Scott Westerfeld
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Author Website | Author Twitter

Two days after arriving in New York for college, Cal loses his virginity to a girl who picks him up. From this encounter Cal picks up an STD, but this is an unusual one: it turns its victims into "peeps" -- parasite positives—raving cannibalistic monsters with unusual strength, night vision, heightened senses, and an affinity with rats. Cal himself turns out to be immune, but he's a carrier—he gets the strength and senses without the nasty side effects. But before he knows it he has infected others.

Cal is recruited by the Night Watch, a secret government organization that has existed for centuries to contain the disease and its victims. His first assignment is to capture all the girls he's infected. But soon Cal realizes that there is more going on than he has been told: the disease is changing in response to mysterious forces from under the earth that are waking up after centuries of slumber.


8 reasons to read Parasite Positive (aka Peeps)

1. It's a completely new take on vampires. They're kind of raw and zombie like in their eating, they hate everything that they loved in their former life and you can become a vampire by just kissing somebody who has the parasite.
2. This book is filled with a lot of different genres. It's paranormal meets dystropian meets horror meets zombie apocalypse meets romance meets action meets adventure ...
3. It's seriously action filled and fast paced. You will not be able to tare yourself away from the book because you have to know what happens next.
4. Some chapters are like essays about real parasites. They're super creepy and I freaked out all of my friends by reading those chapters aloud.
5. There was also a cute little romance going on. 
6. It was a very quick read which I read in one sitting.
7. The author is frickin Scott Westerfeld! He's awesome!
8. This book is simply just amazing and everyone should read it.

Beastly - Review

Beastly
by Alex Flinn
Ratin: 4/5

Movie on IMDb | Authors website | Goodreads


I am a beast. 

A beast! 

Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright. I am a monster. 

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll, stay this way forever ruined unless I can break the spell. 

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly...beastly.

When I first started Beastly, I had no idea that it was a retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. This was my first retelling, I've never picked one up because I didn't have high expectations for them. I would've passed Beastly if I knew that it was a retelling, so I'm really glad that I didn't know. It was wonderful and I hope to read more retellings in the future.

If you've read/seen/heard of The Beauty and the Beast, you know the basics of the plot. In this retelling, our beast's name is Kyle Kingsbury. He's rich, gorgeous and popular. In his world, good looks is everything. And those who hasn't got that, Kyle treats like shit. 

And being the mean guy he is, he pisses of a witch. She decides to get back to him, taking away his looks and making his outside as horrible as his inside. If he wants to get back to normal, he has to find a girl that can love his despite the way he looks. If they haven't kissed before two years after his transformation, he will remain a beast for the rest of his life.

As I said this is my first retelling, so I don't have anything to compare this with. But I think that Alex Flinn got the story into the present very good. And I loved the chat sessions with Mr Anderson! You got to meet other people who had been transformed / were thinking about getting transformed. 

This book has recently been adapted into a movie! It's in theaters right now. And hey, Alex Pettyfer plays Kyle and Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother) plays the blind tutor ;) I'm totally going to watch this one. 

Specials (Uglies #3) - Review

Specials (Uglies #3)
by Scott Westerfeld
Rating: 4,5/5 stars

This review might include spoilers if you haven't read the first books, Uglies and Pretties. Read at your own risk!

Tally thought they were a rumor, but now she's one of them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.


But maybe being perfectly programmed with strength and focus isn't better than anything she's ever known. Tally still has memories of something else.


But it's easy for her to tune that out - until she's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the new smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.


Review:


Tally's a special. She's a part of her best friend Shay's group, the cutters.  Their mission is to find the new Smoke and bring it down. I love the plot in Specials more than I did in Uglies and Pretties. Especially the last part of the book. But I can't tell you about it! Frustrating!

When I started reading Specials I was scared that I wouldn't like it. I had read lots of negative reviews on it and I was kind of disappointed by Pretties. I wanted to love Specials as much as I had loved Uglies. And gosh, I did. It was amazing! But the problem is that all the wonderful, lovely bits I love, happens in the last parts of the books. Or in the beginning, but still are huge spoilers. So I can't just ramble about all the parts I loved, cause then you guys would get angry at me for spoiling the book for you!

But I do think that this book would have been a good ending for the series. So I really don't understand why Scott Westerfeld wrote Extras. And I read that it's about some other girl, not Tally. Not that I'm complaining, I love that there's another book! I will be hard to leave the Uglies world, I love it! (Not all the brain lesion thingies, but god the technology!) How cool wouldn't it be with interface rings, bungee jackets, hover boards ..? Give me please!

When I got into the story and passed my awful non-reading days, it was a really quick read. I like the author's writing. It's very fast paced and suits the story well. Unfortunately I sometimes had to reread a page in the big action scenes, just to keep up with what was happening. But I can live with that in a book this good.

If you already haven't read the Uglies series, do it!

I Am the Messenger - Review

I Am the Messenger 
author: Markus Zusak


Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

Winner of the 2003 Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.


Review:


This is a amazing and interesting story. And Markus Zusaks writing, omg. I absolutely love it. I Am the Messenger isn't as good as The Book Thief (which I loved) but it's still a really, really good book.

I love all the characters. They have flaws, things they are good at, stuff they like. Just like a real person. It feels like I've gotten lots of new friends, just by reading this book. And Marcus Zusak writes wonderful dialogues! He's abandoned the he-said-this-she-answered-that technique and created his own, powerful way of writing dialogues.

The plot is brilliant. It is very well planned  and so smart. The only bad thing I can say about it, is that everything worked out so easily for Ed. He knew right away what to do and how to help the people. He figured out the clues without even really thinking. It just felt so unrealistic. But hey, it's a book! Things don't have to be realistic .. Right?