Tag Archives: YA

05.01.2017 · 3:00 am

Reading Theme ~ May 2017.

April showers give way to clear skies.
Long days with not as hot temps means spending evenings outside, stargazing.

Stargazing leads to wondering. (at least for the story writer in me.)

Then the ponderance of those age-old questions:

What’s out there in our universe? What’s out there beyond?

Do aliens exist?

If they do, would they be friendly?

Or are they out to off us for whatever agenda they have?

What would it be like to travel from planet to planet throughout the universes?

For someone who swears she doesn’t read sci-fi (Exceptions: Illuminae & Gemina), I have seemed to amass quite the collection of sci-fi books. Star Wars, alien abductions, UFO sightings, and a princess to name just a few. So I am going to try to take down my TBR list by tackling the most popular theme I have to be read.

Of course. Star-Lord and Han are essential to sci-fi goodness.

I’m thinking of starting with the X-Files books. After all, the show I loved in the early 90s started off with Fox Mulder searching for his missing sister after her abduction by aliens. And since I plan to read the believer, I also have to add in the skeptic, aka Scully’s book.

The X-Files ~ Agent of Chaos by Kami Garcia

The X-Files ~ Devil’s Advocate by Jonathon Mayberry

And you can’t do aliens without a little weird to go into it, so:

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

And no space theme is complete without a STAR WARS book or two:

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
(forever my Princess/General)

And then, a few series starters that I hope are great enough to want to read on:

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Extracted by RR Haywood

And just because both the cover and the title fit, I’m going to try to squeeze in:

From A Distant Star by Karen McQuestion

Quite a full list for someone who claims not to read sci-fi…

May’s Theme:

The Stars in the Sky

(which also happens to be the title of the book I’m writing and not talking too much about yet.)

Any books I should look into or a great one I’ve missed?

And though I’ve read and reviewed them, I still highly recommend:

Illuminae/Gemina by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

DJ, signing off. Hoping to catch you from another system.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

All gifs were found on giphy.com

The images are my own, screencaps as well.

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04.26.2017 · 12:31 pm

Review: The Crown

The Crown
The Crown by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here we are. The official end to The Selection series by Kiera Cass. Book two of the duology (IMO) and book five overall.

I feel cheated in a way. In others, I’m glad to finally know who Eadlyn chose. It’s a three and a half stars for me….

When this book picks up, Eadlyn has her Elite men chosen. Hale, he was one I had hoped would go far, though I sort of guessed his tale. Ean, I had no clue about. SO it was great getting to learn and understand. Fox, I wanted to win just because I thought of Michael J so much as I read. Henri…I had hoped for something…different for him (and in a way I liked his story). It was the “Lost in Translation” that I knew what was coming. And then Kile Woodwork. Oh, Kile. I think he was the one I was rooting for outside of someone else who I can’t mention without a ton of spoilers. He’d have been great.

SO COLOR ME SURPRISED when Eady chose not —. And while I sort of guess who she was leaning towards, I dare venture to say that her interactions with Kile threw me from the scent a few times. And UGH if those times I weren’t rooting for Kile.

It was Selection drama at its best!!!

I’m sure you’re asking why three and a half stars then. Well, while I enjoyed the story so much, I felt like it was rushed. We went from The Elite right into a final three into a two and into the end. It was flip-a-page and we’re already there. I didn’t think there was enough interactions with a few of the Elite and more with the final three…I mean, it felt rushed and like there were some major pieces missing. Again, IMO. Maybe I just wanted more between those finalists and Eadlyn. Just to see the “more” that gave her the mind and heart of who to chose. Because the final choice almost came out of nowhere, with the exception of one incident.

Confused by all of that? Yeah. Me too. It felt like she made a hasty decision.

I am happy with the ending, though. Ish. I’m still favor a certain Team—- for the win. (<~~~No spoilers!)

Overall, I recommend this series. Especially if you like shows like The Bachelor and Bachlorette (of which I have never watched so…) It’s unique in its dystopian ways and so familiar that you can’t help but to enjoy.

*PROM IS OVER. TIME FOR THE AFTER PARTY…* ~ APRIL 2017.

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04.25.2017 · 12:27 pm

Review: The Heir

The Heir
The Heir by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, book four of The Selection series… also known as book one of the duology. When I get a book or two in a series, I stop reading the descriptions so I won’t have any spoilers. (A total me thing.) So to my surprise, when I cracked this one open, it is NOT a continuation of America and Maxon’s story.

Sort of.

It’s about their eldest child, one of a set of twins, oldest of four, the one girl, Eadlyn. And this starts her rise towards being Queen of Illeá.

The problem is the citizens are in an uproar. The castes have been dissolved, but there are still people hating others based on money or jobs. The whole of Illea is upset with the monarchy. So King Maxon thought it might be nice to have something that the people could back, a Selection for his daughter and future queen, Eadlyn.

It was the Bachlorette version of the previous books.

All those boys. Right away, I had a few favorites. Eadlyn did not. She hated the whole idea of finding love in a group of thirty-five strange boys. Hated the idea of love, I suppose. And, as you know, love always finds a way. The problem is it seems obvious when it’s not.

And so it goes over and over. Through boy after boy. Certain ones stick out, but your pretty much left in the dark as to who the Princess Bachlorette will choose. Oh, the drama. Add in the fact that some of the favorite characters from the first set of books are still in the story…so it’s like you get to catch up and you get brand new stuff. Which I enjoyed very much. I did miss the rebel threats, though…

Anyway, I’m glad I wait until a series is complete before reading. (Did you know the first book of this series turned five years old yesterday?) Because this cliffie ending wasn’t one I wanted to wait on for a resolution…

I will say, that if you wanted to start here, you could pretty much jump right in without having read the first three in the series. It would help to understand what the Selection is and what Maxon went through, but it’s not totally necessary. Which is why, in my head, it’s not one giant series, it’s more two individual series that align beautifully.

*A PROM READ (IT’S THAT DRESS!)* ~ APRIL 2017

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04.24.2017 · 2:50 pm

Review: The One

The One
The One by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, reading straight into The One, the final book in the trilogy (Though there are two more after this, but I’ll explain in the next review)…

This was more a three and a half stars for me. Why?

I was excited to find out who was going to be Maxon’s chosen one. Though there had been hints here and there and everywhere else, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure he and America would wind up together. I mean, rumor had it he and Celeste, a Two–a model, beauitful and crown hungry–had…well, you know. And Kriss seemed like an abvious choice as she was always, “Yes, Maxon,” “Anything you say, Maxon,” “Anything you want me to do, Maxon.” I almost equated her to Rosie the Robot on The Jetsons. America was really the only one to put up a fight–against him, against the throne, against anything she didn’t believe in.

For a while there, I hoped that fighting with Rebels and Apsen upping his game was going to make America rise above the crop. It seems all she did was push everyone away…and yet bring them all closer. She drove me insane with her “I love Apsen”-“I love Maxon” yo-yo. I screamed a few times for being so in decisive.

And that’s all great, because I loved it.

Where it lost me, my heart, was the way the end felt so rushed. And the way Maxon said something to America…and the way the end happened…and I was infuriated! I felt like a MAJOR CHUNK of the story was missing. And after the last word, there was no way to get it back. My heart had an empty spot that needed to be filled.

*heavy sigh*

That’s why I read into book 4 without reviewing…which is in the far future from these three books. (Which is why I group the first three into their own trilogy and the last two into their own duology.)

Oh, to get some more of America’s story….

Still recommend for the high drama and wonderful story.

*A PROMPOSAL OF A BOOK* ~ April 2017

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04.24.2017 · 2:36 pm

Review: The Elite

The Elite
The Elite by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book made me want to scream!!!

America Singer made it to The Elite–the final six group of girls in a competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart. The problem, America was in denial and still holding onto Aspen Leger, her old flame from Carolina.

So America…One minute she thought she was going all in for the prince. The next, this Aspen character steps back into her life and she’s back to being torn. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! So that had her questioning everything. Then Maxon goes off and acts bratty or does something to make me mad because he’s driving her away. Then she does something that drives him further away. Then Aspen steps in trying to drive a wedge between them and take America back for his own…

*deep breath*

It’s insane! One minute I was rooting for the prince. The next, I’m rooting for Aspen. Then something else would happen and I’d be back on Team Maxon again…

When I say it made me want to scream, I meant that in the best this-is-way-too-much-drama-but-I-love-it-!!! way possible…

And that’s just The Bachelor part of the story. The other side has this confounding king (Clarkson, whom I hate!) and his people in revolt–the rebels of the north, rebels of the south. It’s almost so Hungar Games with the different places and different social statuses…You know you wantto be on the side of good, but as you read, you question which side is truly the best.

To say I enjoyed this book, would be entirely accurate. Read through it like that. *snap* And couldn’t wait to get to The One…the only thing is…and *SPOILER ALERT*…the Elite were still present. I thought it would be narrowed way down…Nope.

It’s really a great series. Highly rec this one.

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