Blog Tour; Darwin's Children

Hello,
so another review! this book is another one I got from a blog tour and I really liked it. Here's the cover;

It is a paranormal fantasy book that follows a teenage girl called Jaycie Lerner who is a telepath, empath, and telekinetic and her family who also all have similar powers too. Her father has forced her into private school since up to this point she's been home schooled and her father wants her to gain some normalcy. She gets pysically trained by her 'mother figure' Allison. She very much tries to stay on the outside of social stuff until a strange woman tells her to get a job at a local bookshop and befriend Haley.

There is also a side plot of her romance with best friend Matt but it's not a massive part of the story which I did like because it wasn't a very interesting side plot but it added something to Jaycie's character.

Haley adds a lot to the story and is really my favorite character in this book. She has a lot going on that you get dealt to you in bursts and her dealing with this supernatural world that she's a part of but has never even realised is there before is the best part because mostly I hate it when in all supernatural books when a character finds out about it they don't freak out like most people would or completely deny it exists. This is where I think Haley was extremely realistic and I liked her for this. 

I loved Jaycie's whole family. Epecially her godfather who even though he is a brief visitor his power is super cool and he really cares about Jaycie. 

Allison was really cool too and I liked how she wasn't your typical adult character, she is Jaycie's trainer and has a hell of a lot of power within her. She's really over 90 years old but her power keeps her looking twenty as well as being able to heal quickly, run fast and be super-strong. really she has it all. Plus she goes on dates with a lot of different men which is another thing that is rarely seen in books. Promiscuous men yes. but women no.

I really loved the idea of evalution in this, that evalution isn't finished with humans and is still giving us abilities that aid our survival. I think it's really interesting to think about what that could mean!

So that's that.

Love,

Blog Tour; The Dream Metropolis

Hello!

Time for a blog tour!! So I got the book for review for this blog tour and I really liked it. I didn't love it as much as some other books I've read Lately but I did really like it. Here's the cover;

My explanation of this book might be rubbish but let's go with it. It's a novel set in a dream. Everyone's dream. A company have created this city where people can dream basically it's set in a world where everyone in the city is really asleep and it is all a dream and while they all think they are just dreaming but being given a chance to dream forever they are actually dreaming of real people who are also dreaming along with them. They get kind of skips in dreams and most of them do kind of control the dreams with their thoughts.

It follows quite a lot of characters which at first I thought was It's downfall but as the book went along and you figured out who people really were and their relationships with one another in the dreams and in reality it really became one of the most interesting parts. All the characters that it followed were completely different and very interesting and some of their stories did make me cry a little, especially Abele and Caine :-\ .

I did feel like sometimes we didn't really get to know enough about the world or the characters until the last second. there are still some people that I have no idea what their meaning was in the grand scheme of things. I do have to give this book and author major props for the fact that while inception boggles my mind even after seeing it three or four times I understood all the ins and outs of this dream world as it doesn't try to explain the ins and outs of dreaming and stuff. It gives you the world as it is and doesn't try to make you understand why it is the way it is. 

I loved the reasons why all these people decided that they wanted to dream forever. Like all their reasons for wanting to escape reality ranged from petty reasons that they could get over to big horrible issues that you can understand a person wanting to leave reality behind for. There were stories of people's dreams in the dream city that made me laugh and feel sad at the same time and they were basically really interesting. 

Overall I gave this book 3 Stars because while I wasn't fully engaged in all the characters there were some that I really loved and with as many POVs as there was in this book, I can't blame myself for disliking some of them. but the city itself and all the world building was excellent and I would definitely recommend it!

Love,

Book Review; Anomaly

Hey! 

So another book review.. I feel like my blog is becoming just book reviews, but I'm in a writing slump so... sorry. I got this book for the blog tour but that does not affect my feelings about this book or anything I say in this review. Here's the cover (which is pretty cool )

This is a christian fiction dystopian which really intrigued me as I haven't actually heard of any christian dystopians before but since I love dystopians I was thrilled to read this. The basic premise is that Thalli lives underground, a nuclear war made the whole earth inhabitable so a group of 10 scientists went under group and started rebuilding the society called The State. They live in pods and at this point in time there are only three generations who were all born out of test tubes and were designed for particular purposes. When the scientists started this society they ruled that it would be without the members of it having many feelings that weren't necessary to their jobs. Which means that Thalli is an anomaly since she does have feelings and is curious about this which she shouldn't question.

I really loved this book, It was the perfect mix of the Christian fiction and the dytopian. The world was really well built and I could picture it all in my head perfectly. The characters were well developed, I loved that Thalli was really trying to hide her feelings from her guardians and I hated how she failed since she'd done it for sixteen years but she was destined to fail at some point. This is really a story of how God will reach the people who let Him in whatever the circumstance. Even in a world where all feelings and religions have been abolished He still finds a way to show himself. 

One thing that really annoyed me about this book was the attempt at a love triangle, it was really disappointing. Since I am a sucker for love I normally relish in a good love triangle but this one seemed forced. It only lasted about 5 chapters before it was resolved and ultimately her choice wasn't surprising and I really felt like it was a worthless effort in the way that ended up. 

I really loved seeing Thalli's friend Rhen who is in charge of the Logic for their pod and doesn't feel things like Thalli does. She really highlighted how different Thailli is from everyone else in her pod. While Thalli is always hiding her feelings out of fear of the scientists, as soon as Rhen gets a common cold she wants to report herself to the monitors who will eventually decide to kill her. She is completely ignorant to the fact that handing herself in will result in her death as even though she knows this will happen she believes that logically it is the safest thing for the rest of the pod.

I liked that instead of Thalli believing in God as soon as she was told about him and just accepting John's word for it she really had to see it for herself. He showed himself to her in little bursts until she felt his presence on her own and couldn't deny Him. 

It's such a different thing to a lot of the Christian fiction I read and to me it is a welcome change to accept popular genres and give them a little twist to make them belong in this genre. I would definitely recommend this book to any one really. As it is a really interesting read that will have you thinking about it after you've finished reading.

Love,

Book Review; Percy Jackson and the sea of monsters

Hey,
I LOVE PERCY! God this world is just amazing. here's the cover;

So Percy is thrown into another adventure along with Annabeth. Groover has been kidnapped and Thalia's tree is dying. the only way to save them both is for Percy and Annabeth to retrieve the golden fleece from the sea of monsters. As with the first book they go through a lot of dramatic battles with monsters which all make me think how scared I'd be if I was a 9 year old reading these books.

I love this world. I love all the gods and half bloods and everything about camp half blood. and I love Rick Riordan's style. Percy has such a distinct and funny voice that the whole book even in tense parts he had me laughing at the things he'd think of. I loved Annabeth's curiosity in this book and I really think she developed well but my favorite character has to be Tyson. He is a cyclops who at the beguinning of the book is just a huge guy who Percy goes to school with but later in Camp half blood Percy discovers he is a cyclops and is also a son of poseidon. but because he is young but looks older as he is a cyclops. he is very touchy and cute but he's so protective and loving of Percy even though through the entire first half Percy hates having Tyson as his brother and thinks Poseidon is trying to make him feel bad. I loved how absent Poseidon was because I think even though he did send things for Percy and Tyson he didn't really do much, like Hermes helped Percy out the most and that was just in order to help out his son Luke. I really loved Hermes and his snakes as well they were the coolest. Anyway read this book

Love,

Book Review; City of Bones

Hey,
Right this might be a short review because I  can't think of things that I can say that won't be spoliers so here's the cover;

So this book is a goldmine for any paranormal type book fan. It includes lots of different creatures from vampires and werewolves to Fairies and warlocks. Also the main creatures of the book, shadow hunters. They all live in Idris normally which is a country that's between France and Germany. but they live in cities and stuff in the mundane (human) world, to fight of demons from different worlds. Clary isn't aware of this world until the beginning of this book when she is plunged into it head first when she meets Jace, Alec and Isabelle in a club and witnesses them fighting off a demon.

I loved loved loved this book. So much that I went off today and bought the next two books in this series. I didn't think this book could live up to all the hype but it totally did. and lots of people say the infernal devices is even better and I can't possibly fathom how Cassandra Clare can beat herself... How are you doing this woman? 

There is a slight love triangle in this book but It's not one that you should worry about if you're starting this series because if the ending is anything to go by it's not going to be a problem in the rest of the series. Gosh the falcon story had me crying for days. then I told my friend and she cried... that story is heart breaking. Anyway enough of this because I'm going to spoil it. let's just say I loved it and you should read it. like now.

Love,

Book Review; Specials

Hi,

Another book review! Technically this means I've finished the Uglies series, apart from the companion novel which I will read soon. Yay for finishing series! So onto Specials, WARNING first though this will contain spoilers for both Pretties and Uglies but will be kept spoiler free for Specials.

Here's the cover I have;

So this book is probally my favorite in the series I think. It's so action packed and I loved Tally in this one. you learnt so much more about the world as a whole in this book.

So Tally has been turned into what she had always feared most ; a special. or more specifically, a part of the special circumstances called the cutters. They are different from other specials and they get their name from the fact that they cut themselves in order to feel 'icy' which is in theory the same thing as Pretties getting 'bubbly' but a little bit more intense. All the specials have like crematic bones and razer sharp teeth and a ring that can render people uncouncious and they are really bad ass agents. 

Thank you Scott Westerfeld for giving me the ending that I desired. Not giving anything away though.

I did hate that neither Zane nor David was really present in the book until they needed to be. and Tally never thinks of David EVER. I hate that about her because I Loved David the most and I really didn't like Zane. He just annoyed me. I think Tally really came to terms with the fact that she is the reason all of this is happening. for a comparison in the hunger games Katniss is aware all the time that she is the symbol of the rebellion, as soon as she starts to be it. she's the mockingjay and the girl on fire and she's very aware of what she needs to do as that symbol. Tally however is the reason all of this is happening and she didn't realise it until David spells it out for her. so she does stuff that is completely against what she should be doing for the smoke. I love how strong she is and that throughout this series she has just grown and grown and pushed herself out of whatever she's been put into. Like in Uglies she gets away from being an Ugly and becomes a Smokie. Then once she is turned into a Pretty she fights against being a bubblehead on her own and again gets back to the smoke and being a smokie for a little while. I won't reveal what happens in this book but she breaks out again. I really felt sorry for her though because I as a reader started to realise how much she has been put though at the hands of other people. She was turned into a pretty almost against her will, then she was again turned into a special against her will. She has a right to have an identity crisis when everytime she finds herself. herself is taken away and changed again. and although she always struggles to get back to it, she shouldn't have to do it. I loved the new city ( not sure if it's a spoiler); Diego. It really opened your eyes to the whole of the world rather than just Tally's town. Like how Tally's town is really the strictest and has the most rules against pretties and Uglies and how before I'd assumed every town has Specials but it's shown that Tally's town is the only that has them. I think the world building in this book was the best and Diego was very capitol esque, with crazy people getting surgury to look like they want with no restrictions. Tally got herself into a lot of trouble but I was really happy with the ending and I thought it'd be an ending I hated so Well Done Westerfeld. Video review will be recorded and edited and posted soon!;

Love,

Book Review; Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief.

Hi,
I finally understand all the hype. I loved this book. Here's the cover I have;

Yes it's the movie cover but it was 50p so I really don't care. So for those of you who don't know what the Percy Jackson and the olympians series is then you really should read it. It follows Percy Jackson a twelve year old boy who has been kicked out of 6 schools in 6 years, has been diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Then he gets attacked by his maths teacher/ a fury and boom! He finds out he's the son of a greek god. One of the big three; Poseidon to be precise. So to keep him safe he has to be shipped off to Camp Half-blood for the summer in order to make sure that monsters don't try and kill him. Which they do anyway but ah well. There are lots of other Demi-gods and it's really complicated like all the children of one greek god like in the same cabin at the camp and fight competitions together as a team. Since Percy is the only living son of Poseidon he's all alone. but everyone there is kind of his cousins. Told you it's complicated. 

I loved how all the green myths were weaved seamlessly into the mortal reality. The explanation of the mist causing humans to see events that were really work of the gods as terrorist attacks or wars against one country with another (it explains that the world wars were basically demi-gods against demi-gods) and all the feuds against the different gods like Annabeth who is one of Percy's best friends and the daughter of Athena, feels like she is supposed to hate Percy because Poseidon and Athena have a bit of a feud is really funny.

I loved how all the Demi-gods had parts of their parents in them. Like they would do things and Percy would say that he could see why they were the god of wars children for example. I kind of hated the gods. I know they have a lot to do but they are real jerks. They use the Demi-gods for quests because the only explanation I can see is that they're too lazy to do the jobs themselves and they feel the quests are beneath them. Poseidon claims Percy as his son only because he wants this quest doing by Percy otherwise he wouldn't have even bothered. so all the Demi-gods are a little bitter and don't really care much for their god parents. and I don't blame them. I loved that you don't really have to know much about greek mythology to get it. You need to know some of the gods maybe and that's it. otherwise we learn it along with Percy (from mostly Annabeth and Grover) or Percy teaches us it. which for a middle grade book I loved because If i was nine I would have loved learning about the greeks with Percy rather than from boring teachers at school. This is an excellent book for fans of harry potter I think. From what I can tell the series runs like harry potter does. each book starts at the beginning of Summer at camp half blood with Percy a year older and the themes in the book also being suitable for kids who are a year older. and You have to learn about the world of the olympians along with Percy just like with the wizarding world with harry. But by the end of the series I hope to be an expert! I will buy all the other book in this series! but I did not like the film I would have liked it if it wasn't tied to the book but it was extremely loosely based on this book and I hate adaptations that are loosely based, it irritates me. So video review to be posted here soon;

Love,