Review: Splintered

Splintered by A.G. Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was highly enjoyable. And I had no problem relating with Alyssa throughout her adventure. And I also liked Jeb... to an extent. and Morpheus..., well, with Morpheus I'm conflicted, because I had a problem with jumping back and forth: I liked him, but he was an arrogant ass-hat; then he was sweet and noble, but he was an arrogant ass-hat; then he seemed to be the ally you didn't want to lose because he was dependable, but he was an arrogant ass-hat... I also hated that he was mostly right about everything he told Alyssa.

For the past two days of reading this book, I had a very conflicting love-hate relationship with him. It was irritating, because I wanted to like him, but then again, I was also rooting for Jeb at moments -- other moments, I just wanted him to quit getting in the way because Alyssa had a mission to accomplish and he just didn't seem to get it. Between Jeb and Morpheus, I just didn't really have a preference for one guy or the other to win Alyssa's heart -- besides, it was a given at some point already who the OTP would be.

And so, not for the first time, this hopeless romantic actually didn't care if Alyssa ended up attached to someone in the end. I almost wanted the romance angle to get dashed. I mean, I really liked Alyssa -- she's spunky, she stubborn, she's resourceful, she strong, she determined... I like that she didn't just sit back and wait for people to come save her. This book was all around about how one girl could overcome anything thrown at her with enough will power and heart. I enjoyed the adventure she took on, and she proves more than anything that she is capable of taking on the world by herself. But for once while reading a young adult novel, I could have cared less about the romance angle. And I'm not quite sure why.

This book was written really well with a lot of great creations -- even for a story trying to re-hash all the crazy Alice in Wonderland elements that drove me up a wall just reading the original. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. However, I couldn't help but to feel a little disappointed that there was just something this story wasn't doing for me -- and I can't even quite put my finger on it. There were so many things that I really loved about this book... but something always seemed to fall short.

In a way, I kind of want to bump this rating up to a 4.5 rather than just a dinky little 4 by itself. Because at the very least, I was hooked and I'm looking forward to what the author could possibly come up with for the next book. I mean, as far as the story goes in Splintered, this book wrapped up rather conclusively that it could stand on it's own without any further additions to it.

This is a book I WOULD recommend though. It was definitely a great read.



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Review: Siege and Storm

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

My rating: n/a



I'm glancing at all the raving and the five stars and the first line of reviews that I don't want to read yet...

I NEED THIS BOOK NOW! Counting down until it's official release in June... Can I whimper?



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Review: Red

Red by Kait Nolan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



The actual rating is a 4.5 instead of a full out 5, but it borders so close to five that I decided to just give it a full out full stars. I loved this book and hate that I didn't finish reading it the first time I started. But there were still a few "hmm" factors that didn't quite hit it with me, except that I can't exactly pinpoint what it was.

I'm no good with reviews, so this will be short and sweet as I wax poetic about what I loved about this story.

First of all, I'm big on characters: their creation, their description, how well I can empathize with them from book start to finish, and the character interactions. The writing style and the plot could be mediocre and I'd still be drawn in if the characters were created and developed wonderfully. And to be honest, while at first I was uncertain about both Sawyer and Elodie, by the time I was 25% into the book, I was living both their plights and loving both of their tellings. Granted, I'm not one for first person POVs -- I much rather prefer third person. Of course, the majority of the young adult novels I've read have been first person, so I set aside my bias and went with it. In this case, there were TWO sets of first person POVs which took a little adjusting to; both voices were done rather well so that I could tell the difference between Elodie and Sawyer when it mattered. Overall, I devoured this one and kept telling myself that I needed to finish this book because I desperately wanted to know how things would turn out for Elodie. This is one of those times when I want to finish this book because I can't put it down and it's a good thing. Other times it's not so great if I keep wondering WHEN the book will be finished -- with Red, I hadn't even realized I was so far through it until I had no choice but to put the book down.

As much as I loved this story, however, I was rather frustrated with certain parts, such as the entire: "I'm a werewolf and I've fallen for a human and we can't be together" two-sided-ness of the entire situation. It was intriguing and first and quite necessary to show both sides of the story and the anxiety and angst, but then it went on for a while and I just wanted them to find out about each other and get on with the mating, snuggly, smoochy romance stuff.

But aside from that, which was probably my own personal irritation anyway, because it didn't take away from the overall book itself, I really DID enjoy Red a lot. I loved that Sawyer was such a great boyfriend in his domineering, alpha-male, stubborn way needing to protect Elodie. But I also loved that Elodie was also completely capable of taking care of herself just fine; the two made up for each other's weaknesses on a very subtle level. I mean, Elodie is a sixteen year old Search and Rescue team member with better survival skills in a wild life arena than most teenagers in a small city could even muster. I think that's pretty awesome in itself. She doesn't need a man to come to her rescue, because she'd be the one leading them out of a dense forest when they get lost.

At the very least (and I giggled a little bit) the "creepy stalker" vibes that Sawyer was giving off got addressed by both parties and acknowledged that: No, stalking and creeping around the girl's house to watch her is in NO way appropriate and borders on repulsion rather than romantic or charming. But in this case, I give Sawyer a bit of leeway because he was doing it out of concern for Elodie's safety... not just, say, watching her sleep in her bedroom just because he could. At least Sawyer feels bad about spying on her and he KNOWS it's creepy, even if he couldn't help himself with his alpha-wolf protective instincts and all.

At least he more than makes up for it by sticking to her side for better or for worse... oh yea, and he takes a bullet for her. I'm on board with this romance.

This has been a rather inelegant review... but I've been awake for nearing twenty hours (not just reading this book, but for other stuff like working eight hours), so I apologize for anything that doesn't really make much sense. Or sounds trite.



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Review: Just One Wish

Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was extremely addicting and enjoyable for a book I normally would brush off as cute teen fluff. Don't get me wrong, the reason I read it was because it sounded light and fluffy. Who doesn't like good fluff after all? But I thoroughly devoured the entire book once I had a chance to sit down and read it starting on chapter two. I like to give myself teasers through chapter one to see how things may start off. I hadn't expected myself to become so engrossed in this short and sweet little story.

Some things didn't happen as I had thought they would and the ending felt kind of abrupt, but overall, I really did like this book. Annika is one heck of a spunky kickass heroine for a modern age teen girl. I give most of the credit of my enjoyment of this book to her character: crazy, passionate, resourceful, and just the right amount of manipulative to get what she wants, but not too much to seem spoiled or irrational.

This book was tons of fun and I'm even trying to picture what Steve Raleigh actually looks like in green Robin Hood tights and tunic. Not having much luck though, but it'll probably come around at some point.



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Review: Palace of Stone

Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The first thought in my head is that I LOVE Shannon Hale. Ever since I first picked up a book written by her on a whim, I had decided that she was one of my favorite authors. Her attention to detail, her character creation, her ability to build such an intricate world and culture in each of her books is enough to make me a fan for life.

And of course, Palace of Stone does not fall short from her usual splendor. My only regret is that I hadn't read the darn thing all those months ago when it was first released. I got into it, but my mind ended up being elsewhere. Then, last night before heading off to work, I made the resolved to finally pick it back up and read it. I started from the beginning and in less than twenty-four hours, I'm completely finished.

I base my love of certain books on mostly on how reluctant I am to quit reading -- of course, a fast-paced read doesn't always indicate that I "couldn't put the book down" due to interest. In the case of Palace of Stone, I was hooked almost immediately and still can't fathom why I had set it down in the first place when I last started reading it.

Anyway, as I'm not exactly the best at writing proper reviews, I will simply mention a few things on my mind.

The rich culture and world of the Princess Academy story line itself was what kept me so keen on following Miri's journey. Because as I had mentioned in a blog post sometime last year, despite the story following Miri's narrative, there is so much more going on in the background, and all of it stands out individually as if you could just pick a random detail, a random side character and STILL be able to coax an entire back story out. This is one of the reasons why I love reading Shannon Hale stories.

Palace of Stone itself was no exception, and I enjoyed every little moment of it. There was a point towards the middle of the story where I DID become exceedingly frustrated with Miri. From my recollection, Miri was a strong, witty, and decisive girl who became the top student at the princess academy and saved all of her Mount Eskel friends from bandits. But there were some moments where she seemed to have lost a lot of that spunk in the middle of her wonderment of being in Asland and feeling insignificant all over again. For some reasons, it works since Miri has always had that belittlement complex and still needed to discover herself. A little bit of conflict stirs up a good story and for all it's worth, the story progressed wonderfully. Of course, that doesn't mean that I wasn't frustrated with Miri during that time and was thoroughly relieved when she came back to herself with her climactic resolution. I think I like the spunky and brave Miri more than the indecisive, uncertain Miri.

Anyway, overall, this was an incredible read and I'm glad that I finally got around to it.



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