In My Mailbox

In my mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren. So onto the books:

 Bitter End - I loved Hate List by Jennifer Brown so couldn't wait to get my hand on this one. Having read it already I can say it was pretty amazing. Jennifer Brown is quickly becoming one of my favourite athours.


Beauty Queens - This story sounds amazing! Plus I haven't read anything from Libba Bray in such a long time!

Uncommon Criminals - I really enjoyed the first in the series and couldn't wait to order this one, hopefully it will be as good as the first.

Delirium - I'm currently reading Matched at the minute and heard that this was in a similar vein to it. Plus pretty much everyone has raved about this title!

Rampant - Whats not to like about killer unicorns? This will be my first unicorn book, so I am super excited.

The Red Pyramid - I really enjy finding out about ancient Eygpt, and having just visited most of the ancient temples along the Nile this year I decided I wanted to read this.

Can't wait to see what everytone else got this week! :)

Question:
What keeps you reading beyond the first few pages of a book, and what makes you want to stop reading a book and put it back on the shelf?

Answer:
I don't think you can truely judge a book until you have read around 150 pages, nothing would put me off a book that much after a few pages that I'd want to put it down.

After 150 pages in a book that I feel is going no where I will put it down, my reasoning for this is that there are plenty other books out there that I might enjoy more than the one I am reading. I also feel sometimes you get compeled by the hype of a book and feel that you need to read even though you know it is not for you, to them people I think that you will find a book that you enjoy so much more than that, if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work, move on to a book that you will enjoy!

Hate List

Hate List - Jennifer Brown

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.
Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

This book is so hard to review, I don't think I have rad anything like it in a long time, if ever to be perfectly frank with you. This book makes you think so much about what life is worth, mistakes you made and how you treat people. Not everyone is bad just because of one incident where they made a mistake. The whole book will leave you with tears in your eyes and your emotions running roit for a few days after, I couldn't pick up another book for a long time after. Even know a few weeks after finishing the book I am still thinking about it.

I personally love the writing style of Jennifer Brown, it seems that she really knows how to captivate an audience and produe just the right amount of drama and emotions at times when the book needed it.

The plot is told by the present, newspaper articles and memories that Valarie has of better times. This works really well and incorporates different perspectives into the novel. I think that a big advantage with this book was the ending, while I could have read more about Valarie I was glad that the story ended in a way it did. It finially seemed although her life was getting back on track and people were starting to trust her again. The ending leaves it wide open to your own perspective and opinion on what happens next.

Valarie is a great character, she knows she's not perfect and tries her best to do right for herself and others, though the waty she gets treated both at home and at school were dreadful. Her parents aren't the best at their job, her dad almost doesn't care about her and her mom just worries about how Valarie will hurt others in the future, there seems to be no one to trust in her life apart from her doctor. At the shooting Valarie saved the life of Jessica, when Jessica realises that Valarie is really struggling at school she starts to talk to her become her friend, I didn't like the way Valarie handled this as she basically dismissed her straight away, yet she was proably the only person she could turn to if she wanted help.

My favourite character had to be Nick, even though you aren't meant to like the bad guy through the flashbacks Valarie had you found possably more about him than any other character in the book. He wasn't a monster the newspapers made him out to be, he was normal, he liked to impress his girlfriend, go to the movies, read and hang out with his friends. Yet there was a darker side to him, that maybe others did help to incourage, those that bullied him, made fun of him and made he life a misery of a day to day basis. He was also a victium and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

Overall this is a very thought provoking book and one that I will perhaps pick up in a few years from now to see if I feel the same way. The book is possably one of the best I have ever read and I hope others out there pick it up and give it a chance. I don't think it would get pciked up by UK publishers because of the content, as the plot isn't something that is an accurance in the UK however I would urge people everywhere to read it as this isn't a book about a shooting but one about how lifes are shattered and built back up!
 

Flash Burnout

Flash Burnout - L. K. Madigan

Click.
Saturated self-portrait: Blake, nice guy, class clown, always trying to get a laugh, not sure where to focus.
Click.
Contrast. Shannon, Blake’s GF. Total. Babe. Marissa, just a friend and fellow photographer. Shannon loves him; Marissa needs him. How is he supposed to frame them both in one shot?

 Where do I start? I loved this book, it is perhaps one of my favourite books of the year! Blake's character is like someone you haven't met, but want to know really badly.While the story is certainly a simple love triangle, tthe character more than make up fo it.

The story revolves around Blake, the self proclaimed class clown, his girlfriend Shannon who is the one he loves and his friend Marissa who is going through her own problems. This causes problems from the outset, Shannon I feel is too needy, she needs Blake around consitantly although she has an argument with him about him saying it is alright for her to go round his whenever she feels like it. Marissa life it pretty much falling apart, even more so when Blake takes a photo of her Mom passed out in an alleyway. This is when Blake realises that he cares for her, yet he can't show it because he feels Shannon won't like the fact that he is helping another girl out. It's the classic love triangle, panned out from the boys perspective. This is something I rarely see in YA, especially a YA book from a female athour.

I didn't really like Shannon as a character, I was mostly cheering for Marissa throughout, while Marissa had her problems she generally seemed although she really felt for Blake, even if he couldn't see it. I feel that the characters would have developed more if there was more focus on Shannon, you don't really find anything out about her. Her parents play a horrible trick on Blake which had me in hystrics, as it would be something I would do.

There were so many things about this book that I loved, I can't possabley name all of them, howevr I would recommend this book to everyone. Even boys! With it being wrote from the male perspective you notice things about situations that you would perhaps not, girls think totally different to guys and this book proved it! I even got my boyfriend to read and this is totally not the kind of book he would read. I honestly have nothing but positives for this book, although I do feel the ending was rushed and maybe to perfect.

In My Mailbox

So, this is the first time I've done this. In my mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren. So onto the books:

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
This book seems quite interesting it has Greek mythology themes throughout which I love! I can't wait to read this, I've haven't really heard a bad review about the book and isn't the cover amazing?

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Can't wait to read this one, it's about a skeleton detective whats more to like? I love books that contain a little bit of mystery and crime, this book seems to have everything I would want in a book.

Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson
I haven't heard much about this book, though I have seen it doing the rounds a little bit at the moment. It seems a kind of mystery with supernatural elements. I really only got it for the cover, though I think I will be reading it soon.

The Iron King

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa

My name is Meghan Chase. In less than twenty-four hours I'll be sixteen. Countless stories, songs and poems have been written about this wonderful age, when a girl finds true love and the stars shine for her and the handsome prince carries her off into the sunset. I don't think it will be that way for me. Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school...or at home. When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical fairy king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face...and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

 This book took me a while to get into, but once I was into it I loved it. I couldn't stop reading this book and would totally recommend it to others. I thought the characters were ok, but I think the thing that had me hooked was the Fey world, NeverNever. The mythology of the world and setting had me hooked I wanted to find out as much as I could and felt that this book let me explore a different Fairy story to which I am more familiar with.


The story focuses on Meghan who is half fey, her father being the Summer King. She does not know this at the beginig of the book, but when her brother goes missing, she sets out on a quest to find him and bring him back home. Her best and at times I felt her only friend Robbie helps her get to NeverNever, through a waredore (Narina?), she learns that Shakesphere's A Midsomers Nightdream was wrote about the fairy world and because of that Robbie (Puck) will not dissapeare altogether. The fairy world is based upon dreams and beliefs from humans that there is more out there, the world NeverNever reminded me alot of Neverland from Peter Pan. 

Although the story is unique I can't help but notice little details from other stories and I think that in a way it is made obivious what stories these are and it takes a little of the magic away from the book. Alog their travels Meghan meets Grims, a talking cat, this was my character of the book! I loved the way he spoke to them, how he knew more tha Ash and Puck at times and how he always looked out for himself no matter what! Yes, actually that moveds me onto another point, in the fairy world if a fairy helps you, they can ask for anything in return. Meghan knows this when she asks Ash to help her, yet when she thinks she knows him better she questions and gets upset that he will still get his end of the bargain. This annoyed me so much, as she knew this would happen, she was warned by Puck not to accept but she did anyway and then she does not expect Ash to take what he wants? Meghan was so naive at times it did make me want to throw the book across the room.


The book is really good, and I would totally recommend it. The first 70 or so pages are slow but after Ethan (Meghan's brother) is taken the pace intensifys and the book, story and characters come into there own. I loved the part where it explained why Puck and Ash could not get on. There is a lot f history between the characters and I think that in the future books, it will only be improved upon.
 

Here Lies Bridget

Here Lies Bridget - Paige Harbison

Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don't worship as attentively, teachers don't fall for her wide-eyed "who me?" look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she's always loved - Liam Ward - can barely even look at her anymore.
When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she's wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression.

 The tagline for this book is perfect, 'Can death be a fresh start?'. The prolouge opens with Bridget thinking about who would actually miss her if she were to die, who would be at her funeral, who would be at her bedside in hospital. She decides that they only way to find out is to crash her car. As you can tell, the only person Bridget thinks about is Bridget.


The main problem I had with this book was Bridget as a main character, I understand that we needed to hate her so that the ending would become apparent, but I kind of wanted a little time to get to know the real Bridget. It seems that this book was wrote so that the reader would gain an insight into the world of Bridget and feel her emotions and suffering and her eventual renewal of herself. I personally don't think Bridget had any emotions, other than self centtredness. I actually enjoyed the book more when Bridget had no one to boss around and no one was talking to her, I feel that, that moment was the only time we saw the real Bridget.


The story is split into three parts, before the crash, the events leading up to it. In limbo, where she got to feel what others were feeling because of her actions and after the crash, where she tries to make it alright. Before the crash I wanted to scream at her for the lies she told, the way she treated her so called friends and step mom. She seemed to have no idea how she was effecting others around her, she put her defences up straight away when she thought others were going to turn on her. This was her eventual downfall! While in limbo she has to step into the shoes of all the other people she has hurt in the past few weeks, the time frame for this ranges from her being young up until a few days before. This was the part of the book I enjoyed the most, I loved the way she what was happpening and she could see why these things were affecting those around her, yet she was powerless to do anything. In my opinion this was the best written and most entertaining part of the book. The last part I felt was rushed, there was only a few pages of after the crash in which she is given the chance to change all that has happened. I would have liked to have seen more and then maybe seen a little into the future to see if she had kept up her promise.


The book was well written, you can not deny that, however it would have been more enjoyable if Bridget was a more likable character. The book is fantasic for a debut book, and I look forward to reading more from the autor in the future. I hope there is a follow-up, maybe in a novella just to see what happened after the story ended. I think that the book does make an interesting read, it is fun and quick and won't bore you. However be warned you may end up hating Bridget!!!