ARC Review: Grim by Christine Johnson (Anthology)

Title: Grim
Author(s): Christine Johnson (Editor), Kimberly Derting , Sonia Gensler , Tessa Gratton , Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins , Amanda Hocking , Ellen Hopkins, Shaun Hutchinson, Julie Kagawa, Malinda Lo, Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Jackson Pearce, Sarah Rees Brennan, Dia Reeves, Jon Skovran, Jeri Smith-Ready
Publication: February 25th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: Parnormal, Fantasy
Source: Provided by the kind publisher..

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today

-- My Rating --

4/5 Oscars: Really liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     When I found out that these talented and famous authors were publishing such an anothology, I was as excited as everyone else in the Paranormal and Fantasy genre. I love it when these two genres are mixed up, so I was very, very pleased with these short stories.

+ The Key by Rachel Hawkins: THREE STARS. I thought this would be a romantic love story from the start but it was anything but. This is a very interesting introduction to this anthology that is quite short, but the ending will put you off. I liked it.
+ Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready: THREE STARS. This one was really, really imaginative. I LOVED the idea of the Figments and how they are attached to people and how they thrive on imagination and belief in fantasies. You might not get what I am saying at this moment, but this book was really fun in a cute kind-of-way.
+ The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo: THREE STARS. This was really creepy with a paranormal vibe about it. It's the kind of story, that even when you finish, you don't really get what just happened, but you liked the mysterious part. I felt like that, even though the end was a bit of a stretch and there were things that irked me.
+ The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron: THREE STARS. This one started with a very twisted beginning and I thought it would take a dark path that I love. But it didn't. Actually, this one was really mild and didn't interest me a lot. I kind-of breezed through it without giving it much thought. This is a kind of quest journey that I am sure some people will adore.
+ Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell: FOUR STARS. This was the kind of story that has some moral aspects that are just wrong. Not cruel, not bad, just you know, deep inside, that this is as disgusting as it can be. So, I loved how our main heroine handled her relationship and all the things that came without. A gown made of sunlight? You will sure be interested in this.
+ Before The Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins: TWO STARS. This is a star-crossed lovers story about a girl going on a journey to rescue her beloved. This was just boring and I really hate that. These kind of stories just can't interest me and i finished this as fast as I can. Moving On.
+ Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton: FOUR STARS. I really liked this one. As a hopeless romantic I am, I am in love with the whole Beauty and the Beast theme and this really executed it well. Tessa Gratton expressed a ton of emotions in the span of such a short story and I fell in love with the Beast. The end was romantic and happy and just what I expected.
+ The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa: TWO STARS. I expected a lot from this one. It's Julie Kagawa, after all. I really like her writing style but this story was just not the same and kind of stupid, really. I mean the characters. they're just silly and i didn't want to care for them, at all. This was a turn-off but the witch mythology was interesting.
+ Untethered by Sonia Gensler: FOUR STARS. This is one of my favorites in the anthology. The author used one of the most amazing techniques, that I LOVE in both movies and books. Don't really know what it's called, but it's when the author builds this whole world and this story and these characters, and in the end, she just turns everything upside down, the story ends, and you are left flabbergasted, mouth-wide-open, standing in awe of the author's talent. This is that kind of story.
+ Better by Shaun David Hutchinson: FOUR STARS. This was a really good science fiction story. it's the kind of story that can be turned into a series and will surely succeed. I liked the whole imaginative little world of the story and the characters and end, OMG! the end felt wrong and right at the same time, and I was really shocked.
+ Light It Up by Kimberly Derting: THREE STARS. Our lovely main characters in this story, Hansen and Greta, does their names ring a bell? Yape, Hansel and Gretel. But with a really modern twist and a really creepy old man instead of the witch. This is like the kind of movies that not just scare you, they make you feel disgusted. WHICH I just love.
+ Sharper Than a Serpent's Tounge by Christine Johnson: TWO STARS. This was a very weird story but with a very interesting twist and premise. I can't really tell since it will be counted as a spoiler but I asure you that it was interesting, just not my kind of story, or if longer, not my kind of book, at all.
+ A Real Boy by Claudia Gray: FIVE STARS. Officially, my favorite story in the whole series. I loved Claudia Gray's writing and I loved her characters. Rowan is such an amazing character and i wanted to feel her stretched out in a whole series, not just a short story. The beginning, I really liked and the love story it contained I really loved, but the end was the best of all. This was the most memorable one.
+ Skin Trade by Mira McEntire: THREE STARS. This reminded me of the typical paranormal romance. The likes of Twilight and the others. It doesn't really have anything in common with Twilight, but it has become a habit that whenever I read something with a damsel in distress and a guy who wants to hide his feelings for her while hiding his true cruel nature, it just screams TWILIGHT at me. The ending was very interesting, if not a bit chilly and gross.
+ Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan: TWO STARS. This was just silly and weird and something that I just didn't get. So, our beast here is a guy from the modern world who has been trapped in the castle and he was plain annoying. I hated him and he kind-of destroyed the story, for me.
+ The Pink: A Grimm Story by Amanda Hocking: THREE STARS. This was a really cute short story with a touch of romance in the fantasy world. I really liked the characters and hated the bad ones, as I always do. It was a really great story, just not AMAZING.

+ Sell Out by Jackson Pearse: THREE STARS. The whole concept of this story interested me a lot but the execution was not perfect. And it was just too short. I wanted more from the characters which I didn't get. But I'm not complaining and kissing people back to life is really intriguing concept to behold.

Review: Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Racing Savannah (Hundred Oaks #4)
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Publication: December 3rd 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Owned
Goodreads

They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

-- My Rating --

3/5 Oscars: Liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     So, I have heard a lot about Miranda Kenneally and her debut novel, Catching Jordan. Her take on sports and kick-ass protagonists definitely had me intrigued and I was glad that I finally got the chance to read her book. although I have not read the other three books in the series, I am planning to.
     Savannah just moved into the Goodwin farm, her father got a job working with horses. Savannah always knew she had a thing with horses, so when she gets the chance to take care of one, she is delighted. But she knows that there should be no encounters between her and the Goodwin son, Jack. Because Jack is kind-of her boss, and it's forbidden to have feelings for him, even though he flirts and teases her and makes the butterflies in her stomach dance.
     I have always been a fan of the taboo romance theme. This was not such a big deal, if you look at it closely. Since Savannah is poor and Jack is rich, their statuses are different and a romance between them seems impossible. Miranda Kenneally knew how to perfectly capture Savannah's insecurities and hidden feelings from the world. I loved getting to know the girl beneath the hard exterior and I fell in love with how cute she was, even though she did a LOT of stupid things, which I cannot mention. You might as well read the book and find out.
     What I really loved about this book was the reference to horses. It's familiar in Miranda's books to have some kind of sport in them, but this one was definitely different. Racing is so intriguing and dangerous and for a girl to do that, the author definitely needed to capture the perfect background and make it believable. Which she succeeded at totally.
     This book was really good. But the reason it got three stars is that , apart from a couple of points i mentioned, this book was a typical contemporary romance. I wanted something unique and i wasn't sure that I really got that. So, this is my opinion and a lot of people might actually like this much more than I do. So, read for yourself and judge!

ARC Review: Me Since You by Laure Wiess

Title: Me Since You
Author: Laura Wiess
Publication:  February 18th 2014 by MTV Books
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher..

Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding—in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That’s how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old—a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger’s shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother — and herself — from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

-- My Rating --

4/5 Oscars: Really liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     I am definitely not familiar with the author. And anyone who has been following this blog for a long time, knows that I have a knack for trying out new authors that I know nothing about. I really didn't put a lot of expectations into this one but it took me totally by surprise.
     Rowan's life is boring enough, for a high school student. But things take a different turn when a man decides to suicide on the bridge near her house with his little kid. This devastating incident takes its toll on Rowan's father, the police officer on the scene and one of the witnesses, Eli. Life will never be normal again for Rowan, and a while later, the person she loved her whole life is going to leave her and she has to cope with it alone.
     This is a very dark read. It doesn't seem like that in the beginning , considering Rowan and her actions. She is a rebellious teenger who hates being under the control of her strict parents. It almost feels like she does things just to piss them off. Then her officer father witnesses a suicide by a man and his kid, and this changed everyone. This book takes a dark side when another suicide happens in Rowan's family. This book is mainly about suicide and the aftermath of it. How it affects the people who are left behind,not the people who are gone.
     Rowan undergoes a lot of changes through the course of this book. Not exactly for the better, but not for worse, either. She just develops and grows up, which is something we need to do in our lives, sooner or later. Her relationship with her mother was a focal point in the story and i loved watching them cope with being left alone with their extreme sadness. It was a refreshing take on the whole aspect of grief and what it really means.
     There is also a romance in this story and it was so beautiful. Eli is a broken guy, too. With his father dead and him witnessing a suicide, it changes him a lot. But together, Eli and Rowan try to fix each other and slowly, you fall in love with their determination and everything about them. Watching this whole reckless, sweet, and loyal love unfold was surreal for me.
     The end was definitely not what I expected and it took me a little by surprise but it also healed my broken heart over the events in the book. Although this book might be a bit too dark for some people, I really couldn't find anything wrong with it. IT was thought-provoking and intense and it left me with a lot of thoughts, for later, I'm sure it would be for You readers, too.

ARC Review: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Heartbeat
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Publication: January 28th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...

Life. Death. And...Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.

But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma-the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia-New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge.

Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for love?

-- My Rating --

4/5 oscars: Really like it.

-- My Thoughts --

     I have only read one other book of Elizabeth Scott's, and it was a really catching and amazing story but not deep. It was cute in a happy way, but this one was much deeper and more complicated and emotional, which I loved.
     Emma's life turned upside down when her mother died. But her stepdad is keeping her alive for the baby inside her. Emma hates to see her dead mother hooked on tubes and her stepdad making that decision without her. And her new growing feelings towards Caleb, the bad-boy she would have never even thought about before.
     Elizabeth Scott tackled a very new subject that I have never read about before. Keeping a body alive when the brain is dead, for the sake of a baby inside the womb? It's a very refreshing idea and I loved how the author explained and developed it. Seeing the characters' reactions toward the whole thing in general was also new.
     The main character we see is Emma. Who is as three-dimensional as any normal person. I could hear her voice inside my head, her feelings in my heart, it was like she was just here, with me. I felt extremely close to her, and her development was obvious in the course of the novel.

     The romance is at its peak. I loved the interactions between Caleb and Emma. They are two opposites that feel like they could never get along, but they do. Their shy, emotional love story makes you remember your own love and how amazing it made you feel. The ending was amazing and it left me teary-eyed with its vulnerability and honesty. Elizabeth Scott definitely knows how to write the most real of contemporaries. And it's recommended to everyone with a soft side and a love of emotional reads!

ARC Review: Alienated by Melissa Landers

Title: Alienated (Alienated #1)
Author: Melissa  Landers
Publication: February 4th 2014 by Disney Hyperion
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

-- My Rating --

3/5 Oscars: Liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     Well, when I received this book for review, I was intrigued. I really like ANYTHING that deals with aliens and their generation. Their ideas, their lives, it's all so interesting! And although this book didn't satisfy all that, it was cute, altogether!
     Cara is thrilled to host the first ever exchange program between humans and the L'eihrs. But when Aleyx, the cutest alien she has ever seen, arrives, she can't even stand him. And the feeling is mutual. And it seems like a huge group of humans want the L'eihrs off of Earth and out of their lives, and that only fuels more problems.
     The idea of this book is more towards the contemporary genre not the science fiction one. It's a story of two teens falling in love, who are not fit for each other but still try to make it work. I would have liked some more world building, because i felt like it was lacking a bit in this aspect. I never fully understood the differences between the aliens and us, but i have to say that I liked the information that was provided. 
     The romance is sweet , cute but nothing serious. It's the kind of high school romance that you know, might not be forever. I don't know what the author will do with this romance for the future books in the series, but I am hoping that she'll make it more mature and long-lasting. I did like the main characters, not at first, though. I didn't like Cara and Aleyx's arrogant attitude towards each other, but they did grow out of it. So, the character development was really evident.

     Although this book is not the best science fiction book out there in the blogging world, but it is interesting, nonetheless. And I know that it has a lot of potential so I am waiting for the author to show us more of this interesting world!