Published: October 23, 2012 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Pages: 523
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

The truth about Mara Dyer's dangerous and mysterious abilities continues to unravel. 

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.
She can't. 

She used to think her problems were all in her head. 
They aren't. 

She couldn't imagine that after everything she's been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets. 
She's wrong. 

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?

 Holy. Crap. I--So. Many. Feels. 

Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Published: May 1, 2012 

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books

Author: Veronica Roth

Pages: 525
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. 

 Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. 

Insurgent was an interesting sequel. 

I didn’t enjoy it much as I hoped I would. Don’t get me wrong – this is a fantastic book – it just wasn’t up to the standard of Divergent.

“Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.” 

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Published: May 5, 2015 

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 416
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Fae

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore. 

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. 

 As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever. 

 Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

First of all, if you still haven't heard of Sarah J. Maas or read something about and from her, I don't know where you must have been hiding. This lady has her shit together and you can judge that only by the fact that she takes the time to make maps for her books. She takes the time to map out fictional regions and that's when you know stuff is about to go down.

Book Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Published: April 7, 2015 

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Author: Becky Albertalli

Pages: 303

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary

 

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Wow, I really enjoyed this story!

The characters were very real and relatable. The writing was exquisite and on point. The music choices were more than perfect (eg. Elliot Smith, Lennon, McCartney) and I want to hug Beck Albertalli for the effort and because this is one brilliant debut novel.

Book Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss #3)

Published: August 14, 2014 

Publisher: Dutton

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Pages: 400
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favourites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

Maybe my expectations for this book were way too high. I am still having trouble with how to rate this.

Book Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #4)

Published: September 1, 2015 

Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 656
Genres: High Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . . 

 She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

 Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonising crescendo that might just shatter her world.

I CAN READ THIS SO MANY TIMES and I will not get bored of it! (easily)

This is an intense book  let me tell you that. There isn't a space where there isn't something happening. My plans to read it as fast as I can crumbled miserably on page 40.

I was under so much pressure that I hadn't realised until after I finished this book. My whole existence seemed and felt lighter.

Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Mara Dyer #1)

Published: September 27, 2011 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Pages: 456
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
 It can. 

 She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. 
There is. 

 She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. 
 She's wrong.

I can’t get over the amazingness of this book. 

 I was freaking out, it was so creepy. 

Book Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Published: September 1, 2015 

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Author: Nicola Yoon

Pages: 320
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

 

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

 But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

 Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Received from publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

 2.5 - 3 stars? 

Book Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Published: September 2, 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Author: Sarah J. Maas 

Pages: 562
Genres: High Fantasy, Young Adult , Adventure

Celaena Sardothien has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak—but at an unspeakable cost. Now she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth...a truth about her heritage that could change her life—and her future—forever.

 Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena must find the strength to not only fight her inner demons but to battle the evil that is about to be unleashed. 

 The king's assassin takes on an even greater destiny and burns brighter than ever before in this follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Crown of Midnight.

 In terms of fantasy, especially where YA is concerned, this is some pretty exceptional work. YA doesn't do so hot with fantasy and barely touches High Fantasy, I assume because authors just can't manage it: boring romantic relationships swallow any interest I can have in character development or the world in which they reside in. And speaking of the world they reside in, it is bad AND boring. They are BORING. And boring universes in fantasy is just not the business.

Sarah J. Maas has something very good going on. Magic system development, an immense universe with a bunch of different countries and cultures and languages and dimensions.

Book Review: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Published: January 4, 2011 

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Author: David Levithan

Pages: 211

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary

 

A modern love story told through a series of dictionary-style entries is a sequence of intimate windows into the large and small events that shape the course of a romantic relationship. 

How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? 

"The Lover's Dictionary is told in the way as it sounds - it's essentially in a dictionary format and the uniqueness come from the fact that the story is told within each of the word's definitions.

Even if you didn't necessarily know what a word meant in the beginning, you get the entire picture within the snippets of story that were told.