In My Mailbox #11

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we spotlight the books that we have received for review, swapped, or purchased that week. 

Library:

Borrowed:

I've already finished Wintergirls. It was heartbreaking but really really amazing. I have technically already read What Happened to Goodbye but I'm rereading it now. I don't know anything about Passion Blue but I thought it looked interesting, and my friend loved Legend so she's letting me borrow it. (Another friend of mine hated it, so I don't know what I'll think of it...haha)

ANOTHER UPDATE: This month I have been really sucky at posting things, and I hate it. So much. I wish I could post more stuff, and I resent the fact that I'm lazy and can only post once or twice a week, but my schedule is out of control and I'm barely fitting in time for this post. Again, so so so sorry, I feel totally out of the whole blogosphere. . . and also feel like I've abandoned everyone. 

I am expecting a less hectic May so hopefully I'll be posting like crazy again come next month. Love ya'll, I had to schedule this post since I'm going to a Bat Mitzvah this weekend ;)

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: review

Book: Clockwork Princess
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Infernal Devices, #3
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 568
Source: bought
Links: Goodreads
Stars: 5/5

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy. Tessa Gray should be happy- aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her. 

MY THOUGHTS:

*spoiler free section*

Clockwork Princess broke my heart. More than once. was the book that caused my heart the most pain. Each sentence was like a sword, tearing through my heart, the cuts getting deeper and more painful as the book progressed. And yet, this book is one of the most uplifting books I've ever read, despite being tough on the heart.

The story is romantic and inspiring, the characters luminous. At first when I started this series, I wasn't sure that I liked Tessa. I disliked how all the attention revolved around other people saving her, not her saving herself. Although this was but a minor complaint (I don't believe I ever mentioned it to anyone before), Tessa in Clockwork Princess was a different girl from who she was before. Her character was beautiful and radiated off strength, truth, and beauty. This cast of characters is one of my favorites that I have ever come across, because of the way that Cassandra Clare makes us as the readers so attached to them in ways I can't properly explain through words. She compels her readers to be deeply and emotionally involved with her characters. There was something deep and gorgeous in the demeanor of the characters, and that is why I adore this series so much.

Jem and Will are, of course, integral puzzle pieces to the story and I loved both of them as much as could be. In this book, Jem was his sweet, understanding self. Although he was the one that was ill and slowly fading away, Will is by far the more tragic one. He is self-destructive and suffering deeply from all of the trauma and pain inflicted on him in his life. My heart broke for Jem, but I think it broke the most for Will. Even though it was clear that Jem loved Tessa, Will's love was fierce, brutally irrevocable, and tragic. The only words for Will are beautiful and tragic. And yet as he radiates off tragedy and heartbreak, he also has a wry sense of humor and was still, deep down, Will Herondale, with his sarcasm and ability to make me blush or laugh out loud. He was perfect. And you know when I say perfect, I mean seriously flawed, but in a way that makes the character beautiful.

*spoiler section BEWARE*

I have left my review spoiler-free for way too long. The spoilers are just waiting to spill out, because they are really what caused me the most heartbreak in this book.

I could not believe it when Will and Tessa slept together right after Jem died. Even though I ship Will and Tessa that just didn't seem right. I wanted their love to develop gradually after Jem's death, not just explode suddenly like that, and it seemed as though Tessa was just waiting for Jem to die so that she could be with Will, even though that wasn't the case, it felt like it . I almost threw the book down in disgust. But then--there was this one sentence in the book, that made me feel differently about this.

"Can one forget a thing that, however unwise, was beautiful?"

And yes, I realized, it was beautiful. It showed that two people cared for each other in a profound and lifelong way. Then I read this quote:

"They say you cannot love two people equally at once," she said. "And perhaps for others that is so. But you and Will--you are not like two ordinary people, two people who might have been jealous of each other, or who would have imagined my love for one of them diminished by my love for the other. You merged your souls when you were both children. I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did."

 And that paragraph was I think the most beautiful in the entire book.

I can't believe that Cassandra Clare made it so that Tessa could end up with both boys. And if you're reading this even if you haven't read the book, then it's not what you think. Tessa is with both Will and Jem, and she made all of her fans equally satisfied. I'm having a hard time putting my feelings into words at the moment so I'm sort of pacing around the room thinking about what I could write without sounding like a complete psycho. But I'm just going to leave the whole love-triangle stuff like that.

Before I read the book I spoiled it for myself. Not only had I read spoiler reviews on Goodreads, I also took the jacket of the book off and looked the family tree before I started it, and there were HUGE spoilers back there, and I think I would've enjoyed the romances better if I hadn't spoiled them for myself, but a family tree can't tell you everything, and there were still some unexpected twists with the character romances.

Cecily and Gabriel are one of my favorite couples in the book. (One of) my favorite quote from the book:

"Cecy," he said, and closed the distance between them, though it was not much, and then he was kissing her--his hands awkward around her shoulders first, slipping on the stiff taffeta of her gown before his fingers slid behind her head, tangling in her soft, warm hair. She stiffened in surprise before softening against him, the seam of her lips parting as he tasted the sweetness of her mouth. When he drew away at last, he felt lightheaded. "Cecy?" he said again, his voice hoarse.
"Five," she said. Her lips and cheeks were flushed, but her gaze was steady.
"Five?" he echoed blankly.
"My rating," she said, and smiled at him. "Your skill and technique may, perhaps, require work, but the native talent is certainly there. What you require is practice."
"And are you willing to be my tutor?"
"I should be very insulted if you chose another," she said, and leaned up to kiss him again.

AH! I LOVE GABRIEL! ***SWOOON****

Sophie and Gideon also ended up together! I'm so happy! :D And Sophie became a Shadowhunter?

You know what, I should nickname myself, "The Spoiler Machine".

The ending of this book was absolutely insane. It filled me with newfound emotions that I didn't even know existed. I can't even express what I felt at the end, just that it was a mixture of grief, happiness, glee, and a lot of other nameless emotions in my head that captured the essence of what it is like to read a great book. I could say so much more about this book but I'll just leave it at that, and now I have to go off and read other books, but it's possible none of them will be quite as good as Clockwork Princess. 

Favorite Quotes from the Book: 

"I don't think you can fight because you're wearing a wedding dress," said Jem. "For what it's worth I don't think Will could fight in that dress either."
"Perhaps not," said Will, who had ear's like a bat's. "But I would make a radiant bride."

"You know that feeling," she said, "when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing close around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged around a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside."

"Miss Cecily," she gasped, and then her eyes went to Will. She clapped a hand over her mouth, turned, and bolted back into the house.
"Oh dear," said Tessa.
"I have that effect on women," Will said.

There are lots more, but these are the ones that I marked. I could sift through the pages and find hundreds of quotes that I loved, but I suggest you read the book and find them for yourself. :)

Emotions I felt during Clockwork Princess:

~Cover Talk~

I have been fangirling over this cover for months, but it is even more beautiful in person! When I saw this book at the bookstore for the first time, I literally gasped and sprinted up to hug the book to my chest, marveling over its beauty. Beautiful Tessa reading a book--what could be a better cover than that? Not only is the cover beautiful but the content inside is amazing. The cover literally glows and radiates beauty and power. I just love it. 

Review: Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

Book: Dreamland
Author: Sarah Dessen
Release Date: May 11, 2004
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 250
Source: bought
Stars: 5/5

Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real. Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known. He's magnetic. He's compelling. He's dangerous. Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else--her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him? 

MY THOUGHTS:


Disclaimer: The following review might seem slightly melodramatic, but trust me, it's not melodramatic for me

Sarah Dessen has delivered something that is not typical of her books. She has delivered a haunting, heart-pounding story of a girl who struggles to find out who she is. The book was raw and intense, words that I seriously cannot believe I'm using to describe one of Sarah Dessen's books. But to be honest, this one seems to have a silver lining surrounding it, making it truly different and unique from her other books. The other books, of course, are wonderful--anyone who knows me knows that I am a diehard Sarah fan. But this one--just something about it was beautiful, even though the book was filled with painful, tear-worthy scenes that made me clench my fists so hard that my knuckles turned completely white.

If you've ever read a Sarah Dessen novel, then you know what you're coming into. You can expect a fast-moving, slightly addicting story with a strong and unique heroine, whether he be a tough and no-shit Remy or a quiet and transparent Caitlin, and a guy, whether he be a clumsy and lovable Dexter or, in this book's case, a penetrative, dark, and enigmatic Rogerson. Even though I knew that there would be a teenage protagonist and her boyfriend, I never would have expected this. I didn't know what I was getting into when I went into this book, and I have to say, it gave me a surprise. Even though Sarah Dessen's books are sometimes slightly mindless, this one radiated off desperation and pain. Through the pages, I could feel Caitlin's pain, her sense that things weren't real and she was in some kind of dreamland, and after I finished it, my head and heart felt sore, as if something had been repeatedly twisting them up into knots.

As a character, Rogerson was interesting. And I hate to use the word interesting as it is so ambiguous, but interesting perfectly describes his character.  The reader doesn't get a great sense of him, other than the fact that he is exceptionally smart and, ultimately, abusive. The way he treated Caitlin made me so angry that sometimes I wanted to tear the pages of the book (don't worry, I didn't), or read faster, hoping that his abuse would stop.  But then, Caitlin mentions several times that his father beats him, so Rogerson's pain is taken out on Caitlin. This by NO means makes it okay (it's the most not-ok thing ever...) but it made me think, Hell, what's wrong with the world? Why are people so unhappy? And why do they take it out on people that they love? Because to be honest, I think that somewhere deep down, Rogerson loved Caitlin, just like she loved him. But through his anger and emotional struggles, he didn't love her, he abused her.

Caitlin reminds me, coincidentally, of Echo from Saving Zoe, in the sense that her older sister is really, really beautiful and amazing and sets the bar for the younger sister's success extremely high, and that she is almost trying to be her sister now that she is gone. Of course, Caitlin's and Echo's sisters were gone in different ways, but still, the books seemed like practically shadows of each other. Sisterhood is a really mind-boggling concept. My sister is 10 years older than me and is beautiful, smart, and successful, you name it. Although we are ultimately fairly equal, I have often felt as if I have to be just like her, even though no one ever told me this directly.

I couldn't stop thinking of the song Haunted by Taylor Swift as I was reading this book. For those of you who don't know, the song goes: "Come on, come on don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out. Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted." Although Taylor Swift is clearly not singing about physical abuse, the song seems to run deeper than what she is actually singing about, and I every time Caitlin expressed her fear of Rogerson, it seemed like the song was on repeat in my head.

When I was reading this book, I felt so much pain by it that I wanted it to be over. I wanted Caitlin's pain to end and for the ending to somehow be happy. And while this book ending was not happy, it also wasn't tragic like I expected it to be. Although this is kind of a bold thing to compare it to, the feelings I got reminded me so much of how I felt during The Fault in Our Stars--like I wanted it to end so the pain of the characters could be over. For a while, during the book, I just silently cried, tears running down my face. And when I finished it, I was all set to give it 2 or 3 stars because of how terrible it made me feel.

But then I was reminded of the fact that if a book makes that strong an impact on you, then it must be a good book because the writer is doing a good job. So instead, I give it 5 stars because of the way it made me feel empty.

Dreamland was a mysterious, haunting book. Although I seem to say this about every Sarah Dessen book, this one is the one that REALLY stands out, and I think the silver lining around it will always stay there, making the experience of reading this book an incredible experience. Just writing this review, reflecting on my thoughts, has realized how much this book made me think about life in general. A beautiful book. Sarah, you've done it yet again.

Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Book: The Immortal Rules

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood of Eden #1

Release Date: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 485

Source: bought

Links: Goodreads | Amazon 

Stars: 5/5

IN A FUTURE WORLD, VAMPIRES REIGN. HUMANS ARE BLOOD CATTLE. AND ONE GIRL WILL SEARCH FOR THE KEY TO SAVE HUMANITY. 

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters. Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad. Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike. But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for. 

MY THOUGHTS:

In reality, when faced with death and the great unknown that came after, my survival instinct snatched wildly at whatever lifeline was offered.

Best. Vampire. Book. Ever. Written.

As someone who is openly derisive and mocking of the whole vampire craze, I wasn't sure what to expect from The Immortal Rules.  It had a potentially interesting idea but I felt that my scorn for vampires would pretty much cloud over all the good stuff in it, despite all of the insistent pleas from friends that I should read it. However, upon reading this book, I am compelled to think otherwise, because this book was so beautifully written and structured that I could hardly keep from dancing around my room after I finished it.

Allison Sekemoto is a street rat when the book opens, a Fringer who every day struggles to both survive and help those around her survive. As an Unregistered (a human not forced into being a vampire's blood bag, but also a human who does not receive food), some days she feels as if she is right on the verge of death. Then, when she discovers cans and cans of food outside the city walls, she realizes that this food is the key to her survival. Guiding her "friends" to the food, the group is attacked by rabids, and before Allison dies, a vampire finds her and gives her the choice. Either she can die. Or she can become a vampire, the thing that she loathes the most in the world.

You can tell from that somewhat vague recount of the opening of the book that  The Immortal Rules is haunting and not for the faint of heart. There was lots of murder, blood, and violence in this book, but the way that Julie Kagawa told the story made my heart twist in anticipation for the next event. Her writing made me pretty much wonderstruck. It enraptured me from page on, and the sequence of events was perfect, each event slowly bleed (ha-ha) into the next, was just magical. I never knew what to expect throughout the time when I was reading this book, and I find myself clinging to the plot and writing, devouring it as if it were 100 spoonfuls of chocolate frosting.

Allison, as the heroine of the book, went through her highs and lowes throughout the book. At times I felt she was being stubborn and inconsiderate, and at times I totally got her. It was interesting to see what Julie Kagawa did with her character throughout the book. Despite the fact that she was now a bloodsucker, Allison gripped onto her humanity stubbornly and even though her vampire instincts overpowered her at times, she still seemed as if she were a normal girl (if not a little jaded from her years of near starvation) which was why she did such a good job disguising herself amongst the humans. Although Allison went through her ups and downs, I think, now that I've finished the book, that it's safe to say that Allison ended up being a pretty stable protagonist.

The love interest of this book, Zeke, stole my heart in ways that I didn't think were possible. His determination, bravery, and unconditional love for those around him made him lovable and tragic at the same time. In addition, he is completely sweet and protective and trusting. Although he was hurt, confused, and frightened when he found out what Allison was (a vampire), he came around and trusted her, despite her longing for his blood (now that was the only part I found a little creepy). The ending of the book is tear-worthy and I can't wait to see where Julie Kagawa takes this series.

I also liked Kanin although I don't think of him as a potential love interest for Allison, although I know that some people might think of him that way. *****SPOILER ALERT: I hope that Allison can save him, but also come back to Zeke, who she loves.*****

I hesitate not to say that this was not only the best vampire book that I've read (not that I read that many vampire books) but also the best paranormal romance I've read in a long time, possibly ever! No question that this book deserves the 5 stars that I have awarded it. This book was pure, utter bliss, and has also opened my eyes to the fact that not all vampire books are bad.

Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling
by Elizabeth Norris
Pages: 445
Format: Finished Copy
Source: Bought
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Baltzer + Bray
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diago with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar , and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means that Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother,Jared.
And that was before she died... and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down the days to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

I'll say in truth that I never would've looked twice at this book were it not for the fact that I got an ARC of its sequel. I am not the type for complicated science-y books, but this one seems to be an exception. When I was reading it, the world around me seemed to fade away, the sounds around me becoming faint echoes and only the words that Elizabeth Norris wrote pounding into my mind.

As a writer, Elizabeth Norris is truly talented. Not only does she provide her readers with an intriguing, completely out-of-the-box plot, she provides thought-provoking characters and an intriguing love interest. I'll start with this idea that she has come up with for her readers. In this book, high-schooler Janelle Tenner is hit by a truck out of nowhere one day toward the end of the summer. Inside of her, Janelle knows that she has died. But then, she is suddenly revived, seemingly by the strange loner Ben Michaels, a boy who she has never talked to, though she's gone to school with him for years. I'm not going to spoil the rest for you, but there are some fascinating elements that make up the rest of the story--Janelle's being brought back from the dead only a fraction of what the book is about.

Our heroine Janelle definitely kicks butt. She's witty and down-to-earth, and on the outside she seems tough and not-taking-any-shit. But really, she struggles to act like the adult in her family--her mother is bipolar and her father a full-time FBI agent. It's up to her to take care of her younger brother, Jared. One of the things I liked the most about Janelle was that she was completely no-nonsense, even with her relationship with Ben.

I LOVE BEN. I'm not exaggerating. I TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH BEN. He was just adorable and perfect (ok, not perfect, but you know what I mean) and totally cute and amazing. And now I have added yet another book boyfriend to my ever-expanding list. Sorry, Four, you might've just been outshined by Ben <3 <3 <3 I could go on and on and on about him, but for your sake I won't. :P

The one thing--and the only thing--that I think could've been slightly improved was the fact that until about 3 days before the supposed apocalypse no one was rushing around urgently to save the world. I mean, the world was going to end. So. . . um, isn't it better to start earlier rather than later?

This one was most certainly a page-turner! I stayed up late to finish it, and the exciting and grabbing plot was just scrumptiously amazing. 4.5 stars!

In My Mailbox #10

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we spotlight the books that we have received for review, swapped, or purchased that week. 

Bought:

1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

2. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

3. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

What did you guys get this week?

Link me up!!! :)

Review: Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel

Saving Zoë
by Alyson Noel
Pages: 230
Format: Finished Copy
Source: Borrowed
Release Date: September 4, 2007
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Stars: 4.5 out of 5

It's been one year since the brutal murder of her older sister, Zoe, and fifteen year old Echo is still reeling from the aftermath. Her parents are numb, her friends are moving on, and the awkward start to her freshman year proves she'll never live up to her sister's memory. Until Zoe's former boyfriend Marc shows up with Zoe's diary.

At first Echo's not interested,doubting there's anything in there she doesn't already know. But when curiosity prevails, she starts reading, becoming so immersed in her sister's secret world, their lives begin to blur, forcing Echo to uncover the truth behind Zoe's life so that she can start to rebuild her own.

Prepare to laugh your heart out and cry your eyes out in this highly addictive tale as Alyson Noel tackles the complicated relationship between two sisters and shows how the bond can endur elong after one of them is gone.

Saving Zoe is a truly heartbreaking, luminous book! I started this book late last night and stayed up until I was completely wiped out, and then woke up this morning and finished it. A light page-turner, but this book certainly has a layer of sadness and hollowness that Noel portrayed really well.  Her writing made the book glow, and it was a definite improvement over Faking 19. This book made a beautiful impact on me and I don't think I'll be forgetting it any time soon.

In this book the main character Echo (isn't that name, just, perfect?) is 15 years old and faced with the ever-present weight upon her shoulders that her older sister, Zoe, was murdered the year before. Her mother takes "happy pills" but as Echo says, Despite the external mask she puts on to people who don't know the family well, her mother's eyes are "more vacant than ever". Echo remains silent and seemingly clueless, entering her freshman year in high school tentatively, knowing people are pitying her and thinking of the tragedy that became her family.  Echo's character really shines. At the beginning of the book it was hard to get a sense of what kind of person she was, but towards the middle of the book, her character came out in several ways, most of them being small. I could relate to Echo more than Alex because Echo is only a couple years older than me and she seemed to be going through the basics of high school. Even though I've never been to high school I could relate.

Echo's name is perfect for her character. Whereas Zoe was the sister who was determined, bold, fearless, and as Echo says "the one that people will miss", Echo was merely a vague echo of her sister's defined personality. Her sister's personality was like a scream--loud and clear--and hers could get strong but grew faint and faded after some time. I don't know if Noel meant for the reader to interpret it that way, but that was definitely the way that I analyzed it. Although Echo struggles to find who she is, because most of the book is spent with her trying to be the person who her sister was, her character was unique and slightly tragic.

A great portion of this book is Zoe's diary, and I usually loathe books with diary entries mixed in with regular narration, just because it provides unnecessary confusion and also I find it hard to stay focused on both ends of the story. But for this book it worked really well. The combination of Zoe's bright and (figuratively) loud entries and Echo's quiet and reserved narration really made for an awesome combination.

All in all this book was just spectacular! At times the storyline slowed down and then picked up so fast that I hard a hard time keeping track of some things, but I only minded it a little because the book just positively astounded me. If you're looking for a chic-lit that has at least some inner layer of intelligence and won't lower your IQ score, then this is definitely the book for you.

Review: Faking 19 by Alyson Noel

Faking 19
by Alyson Noel
Pages: 224
Format: Finished Copy
Source: Borrowed
Release Date: March 1, 2005
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Stars: 2 out of 5

On the surface, 17 year old Alex has it made; she is beautiful and smart. Plus, she's best friends with M, the absolute most popular girl in school. Feeling bored with their fancy Orange County suburban town, Alex and M decide to check out LA's glitzy nightlife scene.

Pretending to be 19, Alex and M meet Trevor and Connor, two rich older guys. At first Alex can't believe her luck--she gets to hang out at hip Hollywood houseparties and downton LA clubs. There weekend trips into the city become the perfect distraction for Alex, who is secretly struggling with her failing senior grades,her absentee father,and her clueless mom.

But after the initial fun wears off for Alex, she is forced to reevaluate her cfriendship with M., who is hiding some secrets beneath her perfect Burberry clad exterior...

Chic-lit, for me, is a guilty pleasure. I don't read a whole lot of it, and the only chic-lit author I really like is Sarah Dessen. I was expecting this book to be cheesy, girly, and mindless. And it was, but you could tell that Alyson Noel tried to add a layer of depth to it that just didn't really end up working out that well.  Alex, 17, is beautiful, popular, and smart. But she's failing all of her classes, despite her talent for writing that she has been secretly hiding away. Her parents are divorced, her father has no interest in her life, and her mother is lonely and vacant. Her best friend, M, is even more beautiful and more popular than she is. So to get away from their seemingly sucky lives, Alex and M visit LA and explore the  clubs and meet older guys. And even though the premise seems remotely interesting, and the cover is your typical chic-lit cover, the inside of the book wasn't so great. The staging was atrocious and the writing was absolutely terrible. There were also grammar mistakes which I almost never see in books. I have to admit, I was disappointed with this book, especially since my friend said it was so good.

I think what made this book so uninteresting to me is that it wasn't very relatable. I've never faked my age to be with an older guy or anything like that (obviously :p). This book revolves around the lives of two 17 year old girls, and needless to say I couldn't relate to anything that they were talking about. There didn't really seem to be any central plot line, and that drove me crazy. I kept waiting for something interesting or action-packed to happen, but it just didn't. It seemed like a typical mindless read.  The writing wasn't too great either. Noel would write something and then repeat herself two sentences later. The paragraphs were long and rambling, and sometimes I just wanted to scream, "Get to the point, Alex!" Speaking of which, Alex, as a character, drove me insane. All of her decisions were immature and stupid. I knew that she was under stress with everything with her parents, but she drove me up the wall. I also hated M, her best friend.

This book was just your typical chic-lit and I didn't see anything special or note-worthy about it. Sometimes there would be good moments where I'd want to keep reading but this was a fast read that didn't make me think at all. The characters and writing were what really annoyed me, though, and I really wish I liked this book more. Hopefully there'll be some better reads next.

PS. So sorry for the rambling review. I feel like it wasn't very good... I'll do better next time, promise!

Au Revoir, March!

So I know it's already April but I completely forgot to do a monthly roundup post yesterday so today's the day to do so!

I had a great month. The month seemed to disappear right before my eyes--I can't believe it's April already! For the first half of the month, my mom was away visiting my sister across the world, and good news--my sister is moving back to the US next year. I'm so, so excited. She'll only be 2 hours away from our house. My dad took care of me when my mom was gone, and since my dad can't exactly cook, it was 2 weeks of eating just takeout--not that I minded ;P

I'm really sorry but I can't do a video this month since I don't have enough time. Today's my last day of spring break so really I'm just focusing on spending time outside (it seems like spring has finally come) and reading.

Other highlights of the month:

-The beginning of tennis season. (I mentioned this somewhere before, but I made varsity! :D)
-I went to New York City and saw Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway and bought about 1000 books at the Strand.
-My cousins came for Easter- They're all under the age of 6, but they're so cute and it was fun to see them.
-Mostly though, I read 10 books this month and reviewed 8!

1. Burn For Burn (Burn For Burn #1) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

2. Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Gracia & Margaret Stohl

3. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

4. Angelfire (Angelfire, #1) by Courtney Allison Moulton

5. (The) Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 

6. Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

7. Slated (Slated #1) by Terri Terry

8. Tiger's Curse (The Tiger Saga, #1) by Colleen Houck

9. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

10. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

As I said in my Best of the Bunch post, I think Unspoken and The Perks of Being A Wallflower were my two favorites ;)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great March, and hope you have a fabulous April!