Molly Reviews: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Pages: 387

Publishing Company: Square Fish

Publication Date: January 8, 2013

ISBN: 1250007208

My Rating:    

Synopsis: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review: HOLY COW. This book was absolutely worth the hype. If you're looking for a modern take on a common fairy tale then you've found one. Even though Cinder is based on the classic tale of Cinderella it is still a completely original idea with the integration of Cyborgs and a deadly illness. Marissa Meyer is an amazing author and I love her style. Although the plot twist was still very predicable, I thoroughly enjoyed Cinder. I'm actually surprised it took me this long to read this book because I love modern takes on fairy tales. I highly recommend it and can't wait until I can get my hands on the sequel!

Sarah Reviews: The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies #4) by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Fall of Five

Author: Pittacus Lore

Pages: 416
Publishing Company: Harper Collins

Publication date: August 27, 2013
ISBN: 9780062239204

My Rating:

Synopsis: The Fall of Five is the fourth novel in the New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series by Pittacus Lore. The Garde are finally reunited, but do they have what it takes to win the war against the Mogadorians?

John Smith—Number Four—thought that things would would change once the Garde found one would change once the Garde found one another. They would stop running. They would fight the Mogadorians. And they would win.

But he was wrong. After facing off with the Mogadorian ruler and know they are drastically unprepared and hopelessly outgunned. Now they're hiding out in Nine's Chicago penthouse, trying to figure out their next move.And when the Garde receive a sign from Number Five—a crop circle in the shape of a Loric symbol—they know they are so close to being reunited. But could it be a trap? Time is running out, and the only thing they know for certain is that they have to get to Five before it's too late.

The Garde may have lost battles, but they will not lose this war.

Lorien will rise again.

*Spoilers if you have not ready ANY books in this series. You have been warned. *

Review: After neglecting this series for a while, I finally decided it was time to pick up the latest addition to this series. It took me a while to get back into the story but I loved it! The book starts right away with intense actiony stuff! I loved seeing all the garde members grow and mature and how they were all dealing with the effects of the battle in New Mexico. The book was a little slow in the beginning but the action really picked up in the end. My only complaint was that the betrayal of a certain character was very obvious but in the grand scheme of the series, it was a great twist that I had not been expecting. I'm interested to see where we go from here. There are so many new ideas brought into to play and I'm really looking forward to how this will affect the remaining garde. I also sympathized with Sam and Sarah who felt like useless humans most of the book. I'm so proud of them both and how far they've come. OH OH!!! How could I forget Sam and Six- AWWW! The ending was so intense that while reading it I was like, oh no, oh no, this book's gonna end on a low note. It was so shocking and I'm so nervous for the next book! Our heros are scattered and shaken and on the run once again.

Until next time fellow readers, may the force be with you.

xoxo Sarah

Molly Reviews: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Pages: 400

Publishing Company: HarperCollins

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-06-197807-4

My Rating:

Synopsis: I’m pushing aside 
the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana
and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

Review: Wow. I liked this one a lot more than I liked the first book. Pandemonium chronicles Lena's time in the wilds and also on a mission for the resistance. I thought Lauren Oliver did a wonderful job sorting the two out and building relationships and profiles for new characters.

I love the Invalids and I love Julian and I just think this book was beautifully written. Delirium was a good introduction for this book. If they were all combined into one volume, the pacing would be perfect and it would all make sense. The settings were described very well and I felt like I was actually in the book with characters. I can't wait to read Requiem and I hope it's just as good!!

Win an Arc of Cress, Give the Gift of Cinder

Hi everyone! I'm Sarah. And the first post I'm doing is to win an arc of Cress, the third book in the Lunar Chronicles. For those of you who have never read the Lunar Chronicles, let me enlighten you. The first book, Cinder, follows a teenage cyborg and skilled mechanic named Cinder. However, when her step sister gets the plague, her step mother volunteers Cinder to be experimented on to find a cure. This is considered to be an "honor" for cyborgs. While Cinder is being experimented on, the scientists find something unusual about her which changes Cinder's life forever. It is a very futuristic take on a classic fairy tale. It is amazing and if you haven't read it yet, what have you been doing? And this brings us to the contest:

Part 1: Lend this book to a friend and explain why you chose them.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

For this I chose my fellow blogger and friend Molly. Molly and I both adore reading and share similar tastes. I know Molly will enjoy this fairy tale twist and all the unique characters. It is full of action, romance, wittiness, and jaw dropping moments. I mean that ending-whoa! Happy reading Molly! Can't wait to discuss with you and hear your thoughts!

Until next time fellow readers...keep calm and read on!

xoxo Sarah

Molly Reviews: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

Title: The Spectacular Now

Author: Tim Tharp

Pages: 294

Publishing Company: Ember

Publication Date: October 20, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-385-75430-9

My Rating: 

Synopsis: So, my girlfriend, Cassidy, is threatening to kick me to the curb again, my best friend suddenly wants to put the brakes on our lives of fabulous fun, my mom and big sister are plotting a future in which I turn into an atomic vampire, and my dad, well, my dad is a big fat question mark that I’m not sure I want the answer to. 

Some people would let a senior year like this get them down. Not me. I’m Sutter Keely, master of the party. But don’t mistake a midnight philosopher like me for nothing more than a shallow party boy. Just ask Aimee, the new girl in my life. She saw the depth in the Sutterman from that first moment when she found me passed out on the front lawn. Okay, so she’s a social disaster, but that’s where I come in.
Yes, life is weird, but I embrace the weird. Let everyone else go marching off into their great shining futures if they want. Me, I’ve always been more than content to tip my whisky bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now.

Review: This book....this book. Tim Tharp did an amazing job writing this book. I laughed, I cried, I threw it at a wall. He knew exactly how to manipulate the readers and he knew that he had to make the novel as realistic as possible. He definitely accomplished that. You really can't be angry about the way that the book ended because you know that that is probably what would have happened if this was real life. I'm still hopeing for a sequel even though I know there won't be one. The ending left things open ended letting the reader wonder. If you don't like that type of ending then don't read this book because you will be a very unhappy sunflower.

This books was beautifully written and had a good amount of character development and the settings were beautifully described. I truly felt like I was in the book. Tim Tharp, thank you for writing a book that was fun to read and had the most realistic ending I've seen in a long time.

Big News!

Hey guys!

So this is going to be a very quick post since I'm on a place right now but I'm VERY happy to announce that my friend Sarah will be joining me on this blog!!! She will be posting reviews and we'll be making book talks and having tons of fun together. So, I'm sorry if the blog isn't looking it's best in the next couple of days, because I'm going to be adding a bunch of things to the blog to include her :). So yes, lots of updates and fun things will be happening in the future and I hope you guys enjoy it!

See you later,

Molly

Molly Reviews: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Pages: 441

Publishing Company: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 2011

ISBN: 978-0-06-17683-5

My Rating: 

Synopsis: Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

Review: It's taken me a little while to review this book. When I read it, I rushed it and I wasn't really enjoying myself while I read it because I was basically forcing myself to finish the book. Now that I've started reading the sequel and given myself some time off, I have come to appreciate the novel. I thought that it was stupid and rushed into things, but then I realized that it was just an introduction and of course it was going to leave things open ended. I mean come on, Molly; it's a trilogy. I still don't think it deserves a rating of four or five hearts, but it's definitely around the average rating. I would reccomend this book because it's a new take on dystopia, but I'm not going to be rereading it anytime soon.

November TBR

Hey guys. So since November is upon us, I've decided to do a TBR pile so I can better organize myself and figure out what exactly I'm going to be doing. I'm currently reading two books so those will be at the top of the TBR pile and the rest I will pick from what is currently on my bookshelf that intrigues me the most.

1. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I started Pandemonium over the summer but was left unfinished because I had to return it to the library. However, when I went to ComicCon they had the entire Delirium trilogy and the novellas signed!! Of course I had to get them! So now I'm currently reading it. It's been rough especially with band but since band is over I can devote almost all of my time to reading.

2. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I'm reading this book currently as well so I figured I should put it on the TBR pile haha. It's amazing and I'm scared to finish it because apparently people cried and yeah. It makes me nervous.

3. Requiem by Lauren Oliver

The final book in the Delirium trilogy. I can't just leave this one hanging. Sarah said that it was a tear jerker so I have to read it because curiousity is getting the best of me.

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I'm a little behind....Allegiant just came out and I already have it on my Kindle so I kinda need to read Insurgent before I skip to the end.

5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

This should be self explanatory.

6. Reached by Ally Condie

I don't really have a reason for not reading this one yet. It's the last book in the Matched trilogy and I just want to see how it ends.

7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I should've read this book a while ago but here we are. Plus, contests are fun.

I think that's good enough for this month. We can call it the month of the trilogies. Oh well! That's all for now! Talk to you soon!

Xoxo,

Molly

Molly Reviews: Crossed by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Pages: 367
Publishing Company: Penguin
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
ISBN: 0525423656
My Rating:  
Synopsis: Cassia and Ky both narrate their quests crossing the ochre mountainous Carving to reach their love. She seeks the resistance, The Rising led by the Pilot, but does he? New teen friends red-haired Indie, fishing Vic, and chatty Eli 11, join them. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

WARNING, THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS...I'M NOT SURE.

Review: I was very disappointed with this book. Crossed is the second book in the Matched trilogy. Matched was very well written and I thought that it was an amazing book. Crossed feels like a waste of paper. There was a lot of writing that was unnecessary; such as when Cassia and Indie were going through the Carving by themselves. I didn't think that section of the story needed to be as long as it was. 
I also feel that there didn't have to be two narrators. Yes, it answered a lot of questions about Ky's past, but I feel like the best part about Ky is his mystery. Knowing more about him now makes it harder to keep everything straight. It was also very difficult to keep who was narrating straight. I kept getting confused and had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to figure out who's story I was reading.
Crossed didn't even begin to start holding my interest until around the 200 page mark. Ally Condie also went from calling the Carving to the canyon in the middle of the story which really annoyed me. The romance was also extremely mediocre and childish and I wanted to slap Cassia across the face. 
In the end, I will still read Reached so that this story will be finished, but I at least hope that Reached  has a climax.

Top Ten Books I Resolve to Read in 2013

Happy New Year!!!
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful winter break. I am absolutely dreading going to school tomorrow. This break was not long enough. Anyways, this weeks Top Ten Tuesday is about the books that we are going to read in the New Year.

1. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin : I don't know why I haven't read this book yet, seeing as I own it and it's been burning a hole through my desk for the past few months. I definitely have to start this series this year.
2. Frostbite by Richelle Mead : I absolutely loved Vampire Academy and I definitely have to read the sequel this year. These books are just too good to pass up!
3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green : I got this book as a gift for Christmas and it finishes my collection of John Green books. I am extremely excited to read this one.
4. Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater : These are two books that I have been dying to read for the longest time. I was thrilled when I found these two books over the summer. They're signed as well.
5. Cinder by Marissa Meyer : This book has gotten such good reviews and I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't read it yet!!
6. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith : Again, another book that has been read by everyone except me!
7. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein : I have to read it sooner or later. I mean come on, it's The Hobbit.
8. Guardian of the Gate and Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink : The first book in the trilogy was absolutely amazing, I had completely forgotten that she had finished the series. I have so much to catch up on this year.
9. My Stephen King Compilation from Barnes & Noble : I just love Stephen King, he's an absolutely amazing author.
10. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor : This book just looks so good and I feel like I'm one of the few people who hasn't read it yet.

That's all for this Tuesday! I hope you all have a wonderful week :)

Love,
Molly