More Mini Reviews

More Happy Than Not – Adam Silvera – 5 Stars

I’m not sure what I was expecting with this one. It was something I bought on a whim. I think I was expecting something light and snarky. What I got was one amazing emotional gutwrencher of a novel. It was gritty, stark and realistic. The MC is struggling with a sucky living situation, his sexuality and his father’s recent suicide. He has a girlfriend who he likes a lot, but then a new guy comes into the picture making him question himself when he starts to realise just how much he likes this dude. The writing packs a punch, its very blunt yet provocative in the emotions the story brings out in its characters. There’s also a storyline involving some sort of medical procedure that makes you forget all the horrible things in your life. (There may be some side effects). It’s an emotional rollercoaster that made me cry at the end. I loved it.

 

Darkness Before Dawn  - JA London – 4 stars

This was a something I snagged a few years ago when it was a freebie on a Kindle daily deal. Something I stared at random a few weeks ago when looking for something to capture my attention. A bit of coverlust, I went into this one not really knowing anything about it. And found myself surprisingly impressed. Vampire dystopia! Great world building, even managing to be down right creepy in parts. Likeable heroine – always a plus. There was a love triangle that was totally obvious to where it was going from the second it started. Only thing I didn’t get with this one was the main character was supposed to be special somehow. I didn’t see much elaborating on that. She’s supposed to be a delegate between the humans and the ruling vampire party. I saw nothing particular special about her. Maybe something elaborated in the next book? Unique vampire lore. Fantastic twist at the end. Definitely a series I’d like to read more of.

 

The Night We Said Yes – Lauren Gibaldi – 4 stars

Oh this was an emotional roller coaster. Tells the then and now story of Ella and Matt, and their best friends Jake and Meg.  Told from how Ella and Matt met, from their breakup to Matt’s reappearance a year later and how Ella handles it was well as a few other dramas in between. Brilliant character driven novel with deep emotional connection. Manages to go from fun to heartwrenching and back again with some great character growth. I loved this one.

 

The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West. 3.1/2 stars

A reasonably entertaining read, I read pretty much in one morning after the first 10%. Don’t really have a lot to say about this one. I didn’t really connect much to the characters. MC Gia is popular and perfect with a set of really cool friends and one frenemy who she thinks is trying to push her out of her group. She’s dumped just before prom and talks some random guy into being her date. The plot is completely predictable as they wind up in various situations pretending to be a couple. Gia was shallow and obsessed with what people thought about her which got to be annoying. Particularly when she told her so called cool friends lots of white lies. Then got upset when they got mad at her. She did show some character growth towards the end. It was light, fluffy and kinda cute.

 

Fall Out (Lois Lane) Gwenda Bond – 4 Stars

The Smallville fangirl in me had a total blast with this one. While some of the technical aspects, the scifi stuff, the total immersion video game things went a little over my head and it was a bit hard to grasp some of the concepts, but it was still fun. I think that was because Lois was so well written. Snarky, witty, smart, dedicated and loyal. What else was immensely fun about this novel was while there were lots of familiar names and places that any Smallville or Superman fan would recognise, it managed to take the familiar and make it new, updated and original in its own fantastic way. Introducing new characters and villains with a great build up and conclusion. More please.

 

Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods & Royals #1) Eleanor Herman – 5 Stars

I loved this so much I got it in hardback as well as a kindle copy. I’m not really that fussed on how historically accurate it was, it was a brilliant piece of epic fantasy. Multi layered characters, brilliant world building, a unique take on magic and its own densely developed take on some familiar and unfamiliar mythology. Lots of characters, lots of different view points. The romance angles were the weakest part of it, but the rest of the story telling was so completely captivating it’s one of those cases where annoying romances are easily over looked. I loved it.

 

Not a Drop To Drink – Mindy McGuinnis – 3 stars

Survival stories are really not my thing. I ummed and aahed over this one for a while. I like dystopia, but not that much of a survival story fan. It was a review from Christina Reads YA blog that convinced me I needed to read this one. Took me a while to get to it, but I’m glad I finally did. One of the most brutal world buildings in a dystopia that I’ve come across in a while. Bleak and certainly uncomfortable in parts. The hardships over come by the main character showed tremendous strength, both physical and mental. But even throughout the hardships, I did like seeing how she could soften her heart without being weak as she learned to survive for herself but rely on and help others as well.  Little to no romance and a surprising twist at the end. I’m not sure I’m that interested in a second book in this series, but I would definitely read something else by this author.

 

Unspoken (The Lyburn Legacy #1) Sarah Rees Brennan – 5 Stars

This one was recommended to me when I was looking for gothic romance a few years ago. Another one I’d heard of for a while but never got around to reading. I loved it. Loved it from start to finish. Loved the magic, loved the characters, the world building, the setting, the writing. The brilliant bantery snark just made it all the more entertaining.

 

Rook – Sharon Cameron – ½ star. DNF at 25%.

Didn’t work for me. Dystopia. Very slow and boring. World building made little to no sense. No connection to any of the characters. Also didn’t like how they randomly spoke French in parts with no translation. It wasn’t mysterious or clever, it was irritating. Not for me.

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