Book Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I am so very behind with book reviews... Case in point, I finished reading this book at the beginning of April and have read, like, 17 other books since then... Please forgive me if I don't remember all the details! Also, this review contains "spoilers," so read the third paragraph with caution.

 

 

Before I Fall

by Lauren Oliver

 

 

Source: Borrowed a paperback copy from the library

 

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Contemporary

 

Synopsis:

With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman's If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others.

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

Review:

I have always loved stories involving time travel or reincarnation, and I adored If I Stay, so it was a given that I was going to read this book. I haven't seen the movie yet, and I'm really curious to know if I would like it more than the book. It seems like the kind of story that makes a better movie...

 

Sam is not a likeable character, at least not in the beginning. And I believe that's how the author intended her to be. She grows and changes as the story progresses and she lives her last day over and over again, becoming a much more likeable person, endearing herself to the reader.

 

***SPOILER ALERT***   The following paragraph contains spoilers

 

It took me a couple chapters to decide whether or not I liked where the story was going, but I did eventually decide that I liked it. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that she still dies in the end. I just kind of felt like what was the point? What was the point of her living her last day over and over 'til she "got it right," changing into a person you can relate to, and then dies anyway? What was the point of that?!

 

So, aside from the annoying, tragic ending, I liked the book. Would I recommend it? Not really. I liked it, but it really wasn't good enough or emotional enough to make me want to encourage someone else to read it. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, but I think I would have rated it 3.5 if I could have.

 

My Goodreads rating:

 

Book Review: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Carve the Mark

by Veronica Roth

Source: Pre-ordered from Indigo

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy/Science Fiction

Synopsis:

In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift.

Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power — something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.

Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get this brother out alive — no matter what the cost.

Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

Review:

*SPOILER WARNING*

This book was one of my most highly anticipated releases for 2017 and actually pre-ordered it (something I very, very rarely do!). It just sounded really good, and plus I had already really enjoyed Veronica's Divergent series so I was excited to read something else of hers. I'll admit that I got kind of nervous about it just before its release, with all the crazy hype and bad reviews it was getting. But, in the end I decided that I would just go for it - read it for myself and make my own decision, and I'm glad I did.

So, this isn't a very in-depth review (TBH, none of my reviews are...), and, not to make excuses, but that's mostly because it's been months since I read the book, many other plot-lines and characters have been introduced to my mind since, so I honestly can't remember everything that happened, and I tend to write these reviews away from home and my books, so I can't even grab my copy to flip back through. I have just been reading books too quickly lately to be able to keep up with the reviews. Which, I guess, is a good problem to have!? Anyway...

 

It took me a few chapters to get into the story. Part of the issue for me was the pronunciation of the names, but the author had made some videos in which she explained how to pronounce some of the more frequently used names, so finding those helped me get into it a bit more.

I liked Cyra's character, but I think really Akos was my favourite. I really liked Cyra's intensity and sense of rightness & justice... but Akos' loyalty and kindness won me over. I hated Cyra's brother and the way he used her, but it was kind of necessary for her character to become what she was. I also really liked the world. I tend to have difficulty picturing fantasy worlds, and honestly this was no different, but what I was able to picture from the descriptions was fun and different and I liked it.

I quite enjoyed the story, I found it intriguing and captivating, and I honestly couldn't see what the fuss was all about - but please, don't try to enlighten me. I've read some of the reviews and their claims, and I just can't agree with them based on what I read, which is still ok, right? It's still ok for people to have differing opinions? Sometimes I wonder... The only thing I was really disappointed about was that it's not a standalone, and so I have to wait ages for the sequel. Not cool. There should be a warning on new books, stating that they are first in a series/trilogy/duology/whatever so that we can prepare ourselves!

Goodreads rating:

Book Review: The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

 

 

Source: OwlCrate sub box (February 2016)

 

Synopsis:

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” At first, they’re just momentary glimpses—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

 

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It came in my OwlCrate subscription box in February 2016, and I was not immediately interested in it. In fact, the only reason I read it when I did was because I used it for part of the OwlCrate-a-Thon reading challenge in February (2017). I was convinced that this would be a weird book, and, in truth, it is. But not creepy weird, just blow-your-mind kind of weird!

I don't know why, exactly, but I've kind of made a habit of not doing any research into the books that come in my OwlCrate box before I read them. I guess I feel like the fact that somebody read it and recommended it is enough. They are a bit hit-and-miss with their books, for me, however. For the most part, they include books & authors that I have never heard of, and the covers don't typically draw me in (admittedly a pretty big factor for me). Some of them have been good, others have not. But I continue to give them the benefit of the doubt!

 

This is not a book I would have picked out for myself, based on both the cover art and the synopsis, but it was actually quite good. It is a bit of a thought-provoking book, and I like when a book forces me to think - not necessarily about hot, current issues, but just thinking in general. Why this book makes you think is because it raises questions regarding the space-time-continuum, and the whole story/situation revolves around an incident that caused a tear in said continuum which needs to be addressed if "he" is to live.

 

Certain aspects of the book were predictable (I totally called Grandmother's identity!), while others were not (did not see that ending coming). I like that type of story: I like not being able to tell what the ending will be right away, but I also want to be able to say, "I knew it!" sometimes.

 

The romance was sweet, the Native American stories were informative and interesting, and while I didn't understand a lot of the scientific parts I definitely appreciated the weird sci-fi elements. I also think that the ending, while unexpected and a bit shocking, is vague enough to be open to interpretation, and that both frustrates and satisfies me. :)

Goodreads rating:

 

Hello again!

 So, as promised, here is the first of a series of posts outlining the books I have read from January to August 2016. I didn't keep a record of the exact dates I finished each of these books, or how long they took me to read, so I'll just take my list and cover a few books per post. I will also try to add photos. These first ones aren't the best, but I'll try to make future ones Instagram-worthy. ;)

The Fate of Ten
{spoilers ahead if you haven't read the series}
At the beginning of the year, I was very much in the mood to finish off various series I had previously started and was getting weary of. Even though they are no longer my favourites, I feel the need to finish what I started. I was reading a couple at the same time, but only managed to finish The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore. It is the sixth book, released last September, in the Lorien Legacies series. I had been snatching the books up as soon as they were released until that point. But I wasn't really feeling the series anymore, so I didn't read this book until January. The seventh book, United As One was released this summer without much fanfare that I was made aware of. There is also a sub-series called The Lost Files which I never read.

As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the series in the beginning. It's a YA science fiction about a double alien invasion: the good guys (Loriens), whose planet was destroyed by the bad guys (Mogadorians). The nine Lorien elders sent their child-successors (called Garde) off to Earth with their trainer/guardians (Cepans) when their planet was attacked. They are all that's left of Lorien. Knowing that the Mogadorians would eventually find the children, the elders put a charm on them so that as long as they were separated they could only be killed in their numerical order, and the survivors all receive scars when the others are killed. At the beginning of the series, the first three have already been killed, and we meet Number Four (who goes by the name John Smith). As the series progresses, we slowly meet the other surviving Garde as they find each other. Once they came together the charm was broken, so now they are all fair game, so it is imperative that they all come together so that their Legacies (superpowers) are stronger.

This installment of the story picks up right where Revenge of Seven left off: the Mogadorians have officially invaded Earth and have New York City under attack, so some of the Garde are there fighting against the Mogs, while others are stranded in Mexico after finding the Sanctuary and awakening the Entity - the spirit of Lorien. Not much actually happens in this book to advance the story, except that we meet a few new characters, lots of Loriens get injured, and humans randomly become Garde.

That's really all I have to say about that. I'm glad I read it, because I do want to finish the series, but it wasn't great.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (a pseudonym of Catherine Webb) is another science fiction novel, which I absolutely loved! I believe I bought this one from Indigo merely because the title and cover caught my eye, and the synopsis was rather intriguing. It is a really interesting time travel/reincarnation story, which I always love.

Harry August keeps living the same life over and over, but he remembers everything from his past lives. At first this freaks him out, but eventually he finds others like himself and joins a community which helps him to adapt. As he progresses through his lives he is tasked with a mission, because of his special ability to remember everything, to help save the future of mankind. The time travel/living life over, is sometimes hard to get your head around, but I love that kind of mind bender. It's a great book and I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoyed Cloud Atlas and The Time Traveler's Wife.

The Arrivals
The next book I read was The Arrivals by Melissa Marr. This one I actually found on a trip to a Dollar Tree store in Vermont last year. I always check the books at Dollar Tree because you never know what you'll find there, and they're only $1 - can't go wrong, right?! The title didn't really do anything for me, but the cover art was interesting and then I recognized the author (I read and loved her Wicked Lovely series, about faeries), so I thought, "This should be great!"

It's a "weird west" novel set in an alternate universe, which appears to be a lot like an old Western. Featuring vampires, monsters, demons, and an Egyptian Pharoah... Somehow, murderers get transported from our world to this alternate universe where they band together (allied with the vampires) to fight off the monsters and demons and attempt to keep peace in the land, all the while trying to figure out how to get back to our world. It was kind of fun, but it was weird, you guys. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, unless you like that sort of thing.


Well, I think that's all for this post. Let me know if you've read any of these books and what your take on them was!