Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Before I start this review, I just wanted to apologize for not being on this blog for a while! I had so much to deal with the last few weeks of school (FINALS :( ) but now it's summer so I'll give you guys PLENTY of book reviews :D
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Synopsis: "Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes he very things we fear are those we need the most."


Title: PANIC
Series: None
Genre: Romance, YA Fiction, Suspense, Contemporary
Pages: 408
Ages: 14+
My Rating:
My Word: Heart Racing, freaking anxiety filled
My Fave Quote:
"But Autumn nibbled the blue sky with its teeth, tore off chunks of the sun, smudged out that heavy veil of meat-smelling smoke. It was coming. It would not be held out much longer.
It would bring rain, and cold, and change.
Just before that: the final challenge.
The deadliest challenge.
Joust" (375).
Review
I live in a bubble. Every day, I go to school, see my friends, go home, do homework, and repeat. My town is filled with some rich kids and seeing them waste their money on extra drinks in the cafeteria or wearing a new outfit a day makes me want to cringe. I've learned from an early age not to spend more money than I have to, and now I don't even have to remind myself. It's just a habit to conserve my money.

In Panic, many residents in Carp are poor. There is Meth Row, where Dodge and other poor residents live, and there is the trailer park, where the even poorer people live, including Heather. It was fascinating to read about their lives and their families and the trouble that they endured.

Not only that, but hearing people say "This novel is just like the Hunger Games! It such a copy." First of all, this book isn't set in the futuristic dystopia where you're forced to play a game to show power. This game was created by students and personally I thought this book was more exciting and thrilling due to the absurd stunts and tasks the students have to do. That said, the plot was definitely original and the different challenges made my heart race for these fictional character.

Speaking of fictional characters, the absolute reason why I got this book to be four stars were the characters, specifically Heather and Bishop.

“They had their own language, their own jokes. They were constantly touching each other too – pushing and shoving, pinching and hugging, like kids flirting on a playground.”
*sigh* best relationship ever.Literally, I was waiting for their perfect relationship to happen and once it did I could not contain my feelings.





Not to mention Dodge. He was absolutely perfectly imperfect and his and Heather's background story made me sympathize for them throughout the whole story. Nat on the other hand was a little annoying for the first half of the story and very reckless (not that all of them weren't). She was crying over the stupidest things and making horrible decisions. During the end though, she didn't bother me as much.

One of the things I didn't like as much was that Oliver kind of rushed the last challenge, and she never showed Heather resolve any of her problems, like with Bishop. She just skipped right to the epilogue. I liked the epilogue, but I think I would've been a lot happier if we got to read that scene.

This story was a quick and fun read, and literally had my heart racing for the characters as they went through each challenge. I figured out the twist at the end with Bishop when Dodge started suspecting it and I was shocked and mad at myself for not figuring that out sooner! This story was very creative and I can't wait to read more of Oliver's upcoming books!
★★★★

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Fragments by Dan Wells

Synopsis: "Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what's left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira's journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn't even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity's time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means—and even more important, a reason—for our survival."


Title: Fragments
Series: Partial Sequence #2
Genre: Science Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 564
Ages: 14+
My Rating: 5 Stars
My Word(s): MindBlowing, VeryCalulated
My Fave Quote(s):



"None of this is by accident, and we have to figure out what it all means. She paused. We have to. It's the same old argument I used to have with Mkele: the present or the future. Sometimes you have to put the present through hell to get the future you want" (pg. unknown)
 
“I chose to follow you," he said, and his voice was deep and rich. "And I'll find you again" (561)            
 
    
Review
 
 THIS BOOK WAS MIND BLOWING
 


I have to admit, the first 100 pages or so were dragging on a bit, but once you get past that...


This book is the sequel to the amazing book Partials and it was even better than the first if that is possible.

I don't know where to begin...everything was so perfectly planned and it was all carefully calculated and just at the end I was like WHAAAAAT?!?!?!

Plot
The storyline was fantastic. I was getting a little annoyed with Marcus's story coming in during random parts of the story, but as the story progressed, I realized that it all made sense and it fit together very well. Kira's story dragged on a bit in the beginning as they were traveling, but then shit just went down once they reached their destination.

That's when things started to be mind blowing. Everything with Dr. Vale and the cure and the...the (view spoiler). Once the story got to there, it went from a three star book to a solid five star.

Literally as I was reading, my mouth was wide open and I was like "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD".

The Character
Let me just start by saying that I was waiting too long for that ending to come in the book with KIRA and SAMM.

I don't know how Dan Wells does it, but every little detail he puts into the book are so genius. He made all the humans actually feel human with their facial expressions and arm gestures and emphatic personalities. And he made the Partials seem human-but-not-human, like Samm feels strong emotions, but you can't actually see them because he is so used to using the Partial Link. If someone were to just look at him or talk to him, they'd see some stoic guy with an emotionless voice, but he actually feels and hurts and you can't tell. And he even tries leraning the human gestures and all WHICH MAKES ME LOVE SAMM EVEN MORE!

Kira...oh I love Kira, the "rebellious model" haha! She is so determined and aggressive and willing to sacrifice herself for mankind, and she was already added to my list of favorite main characters since the first book.

Basically Wells makes each person in this whole book different in so many ways that it feels so real. Heron, Marcus, Woolf, Samm, Kira, Afa, Dr. Vale, Calix, Phan, and so many more. Afa was literally the best out of all! :)

And one last thing. Kira and Samm's bond was PERFECT. It wasn't too much, like they weren't all "OMG I LOOOOVE YOU!!!" But it also wasn't too little. All Dan Wells did was add that little little thing in the end and that was literally all it needed for me to melt with happiness.

Overall I couldn't ask for a better sequel. The suspense, the deaths, the chaos, the feelings, and everything else mixed together made this story one of my favorites!
★★★★★

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Unbreakable (Unraveling #2) by Elizabeth Norris

Synopsis: Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?


Title: Unbreakable
Series: Unraveling #2
Genere: Science Fiction, BEST BOOK EVER, Suspenseful, Intense, LOVED, HOOKED ON, YA, Romance
Pages: 479
Ages: 14-18
Date I Finished: June 29th, 2013 (Great way to end June!)
My Rating: 5 Stars (huminahuminahumina *drooling*)
My Word: ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY

Review:
"We climb the stairs. They're sagging and crumbled in places, but we climb the anyway, and to make Barclay less nervous, I try to keep from touching anything. When we get to the fourth floor, I hear something. Correction. I hear someone. I can hear him singing."

OMFG....or maybe in the spirit of this book I should say "ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY" (haha Elijah). This book is too perfect for my horrible reviews, but I just need to get my feelings...OUT.

This book felt like I was in another WORLD where there is a multiverse, the "black hole", portals that transport u between each Earth. It's not even just these things that made it feel like I wasn't just reading words on paper; it was each characters. I LOVEDLOVEDLOVED the characters SO MUCH.

Speaking of characters, lets go right into that: First off, Ben and Janelle's relationship *o*. BEST THING EVER TO HAPPEN IN A BOOK. Seriously, each intimate moment made me squeal, smile, and become all giddy. BEN IS THE MOST AMAZING GUY I WOULD ASK FOR. He is perfect, and even though he made a rough mistake towards the middle of the book, he handled it so well. Alright, before I make a whole ESSAY about Ben, I have to move on.

Okay, Janelle was so kickass and she adapted to the tough situation quickly which is one of the things I love about her. The other thing I love about her is how quickly she thinks of a solution. Damn, if I was in the same place as her when she was trying to break Elijah out, and she had to jump through the fire. I would probably say "screw this" and kill myself. BUT, she found the best solution you can at a time like that.

Next, Elijah. Alright, since I want Ben to stay with Janelle, I'd probably pick Elijah has my newest fictional guy crush. The picture of him on the cover (all the way to the left) is so HOT, and his personality/attitude is awesome. He made me laugh a couple of times, and the way he talks to Janelle, as a friend is so nice/hilarious.

Now it's Cecily. Oh my god, her bubbly attitude and high spirits were all I needed to make me love her. She just makes every bad situation at least a little bit better with her optimistic remarks. She was a good add to this book, and I love how she gets along with pretty much everyone she talks to.

Lastly, Barclay. HE IS THE BEST. At one point, he'd be serious and do his kickass job, and another he would smile and drink tea and tell Janelle his childhood. He would be one of the fictional characters that I'd want to meet. I could seriously picture him in my mind, with short brown hair, bright blue eyes, his high jawline. Maybe a little like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but a little younger and with blue eyes.
description
That's him!^^^

Okay, now the overall plot (which I should've done before the characters, but whatever :) ) Once, IT WAS JUST A HESITATION, I thought it would be awesome to be in Janelle's world and have a multiverse, where you can portal anywhere and try to kill them bad guys and make out with the best guy I've ever met AKA BEN and have a BFF like Cecily and have an awesome guy friend like Elijah. BUT, I realized that then, basically most of everyone I loved on my own Earth would be dead, and I'd have a DOUBLE from another world which would be awkward... ALSO I'd have gotten so beat up and almost killed so many times that I'd probably need therapy afterwards. Anyway, EXCLUDING all of the killing and doubles and stuff, Janelle's life would probably be my paradise haha. Continuing, this book was so well thought out with the idea of the human trafficking between universes. Also, the different people (a lot of people from the IA) who were apart of it. ALSO, the Struz idea was AWESOME. Same with when Janelle sees Ben's double and knows it's not him :D, and the Ben sees Janelle's double, but doesn't realize that it's not her. >:( ;)

I think I covered everything, and I HOPEHOPEHOPE (I haven't done the research yet) that there is a third book. OMG THERE BETTER BE A THIRD BOOK!!!!!! Especially the last sentence of Unbreakable made it seem like there was a third book! "And we're going to face whatever comes next together."
★★★★★

Monday, June 17, 2013

Undone (Unraveling #1.5) by Elizabeth Norris




 
Synopsis
 
"Before the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.

Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris.

Before Ben Michaels saved Janelle Tenner’s life, Janelle saved Ben when he stumbled through an interuniverse portal into a completely new world. That day, he fell in love with the girl of his dreams. And he never forgot her.

Through three stories told from Ben’s point of view, learn how Ben and his friends discovered their ability to travel between worlds, how Ben first met Janelle, and how he pined for her for years before he actually got the chance to meet her, save her life, and capture her heart. And find out what happens to Ben between the cliff-hanger conclusion to Unraveling and the beginning of its heart-stopping sequel, Unbreakable."
 
Title: Undone
Series: Unraveling #1.5 (Novella)
Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance (What I usually read LOL)
Pages: 120
Ages: 14-18
Date I Finished: June 17th, 2013
My Rating: 4 Stars
My Word: MUST READ BEFORE BOOK 2
 
Review

GREAT BOOK. AHHH OMG I read this book BEFORE reading Unbreakable, but I'm typing the review AFTER I read Unbreakable, and trust me.....there's a big twist.

SINCE I read this book before the last one, I kind of found out what the "big twist" is in Unbreakable before it actually happens. There were some events that foreshadowed the twist that made me realize that the end of Undone is not so true as you'd THINK.

That's all I'm going to say about the end! Anyway, it was really awesome to get to view Ben's POV and how he realizes that his world is not what it used to be. I loved the events that happened and Elijah especially made this novella more interesting haha because he's to BLAME for all of the events happening in the 2nd book too ;).


 ★★★★

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

Synopsis: "After falling in love, Lena and Alex flee their oppressive society where love is outlawed and everyone must receive the "cure" - an operation that makes them immune to the delirium of love - but Lena alone manages to find her way to a community of resistance fighters. Although she is bereft without the boy she loves, her struggles seem to be leading her toward a new love."

Title: Pandemonium
Series: Delirium #2
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, OMFG AMAZING BOOK
Pages: 375
Ages: 14-18 (roughly around those ages)
Date I Finished: April 13th, 2013
My Rating: 5 (thousand) stars
My Word:LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE THIS BOOK AND JULENA (haha just made that up. Get it? Julian and Lena :') I crack myself up jkjk)

OKAY, before you start this long and capsy and quotey work of art down there just beware that this review is so screwed up. To try to organize it, I numbered each topic I want to say. I swear one day I will make a GOOD review with good vocabulary and writing...............yeah hopefully......

And I know I'm not supposed to retell stories in a book review so pleasepleaseplease don't read this review if you haven't read the book yet. I'M BEGGING YOU. This is more of a discussion review for readers who've already read the book!!!! Enjoy!

Here's a small review to the readers who haven't read the book yet: GO GET YOUR FEET OFF THE GROUND, SIT DOWN, AND READ THIS BOOK. Now once you've done that you may read the actual review.

Review:
"When I’m running, there’s always this split second when the pain is ripping through me and I can hardly breathe and all I see is color and blur—and in that split second, right as the pain crests, and becomes too much, and there’s a whiteness going through me, I see something to my left, a flicker of color […]—and I know then, too, that if I only turn my head he’ll be there, laughing, watching me, and holding out his arms.

I don’t ever turn my head to look, of course. But one day I will. One day I will, and he’ll be back, and everything will be okay.

And until then: I run.”


ALERT: MAJOR SPOILERS IN REVIEW. TOO LAZY TO HIDE THEM SO READ IF YOU ALREADY READ BOOK!!
This review is more like a discussion with quotes so seriously DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BOOK THIS IS YOUR 2ND AND LAST WARNING.
Also, another warning, there are a LOT of caps.(<--hehehe see what I did there?)

I LOVE LAUREN OLIVER'S WRITING. The beauty of words in this book pulls my insides out if that makes sense.

I have A LOT to cover in this review with quotes galore so bear with me!! :D I love this book too much!!!! Out of 5 stars, it was really hard for me to click the 5 because I would want to make it a BAJILLION STARS. Seriously, it has been TOO LONG since I read an actual really good book (AKA one of Lauren Oliver's books).

1) BTW TEAM JULLIAN. Ugh sorry I said "team blahblah" because now it sounds like Twilight and I never liked Twilight just saying. BUT seriously since Alex wasn't in this book until the veryveryveryvery end, I've grown to (*gasp* dare I say it) LOVE Julian and Lena together. I guess it's just the way he acts with her is adorable.

"'Are you cold?' Julian asks. 'A little,' I say... There's a pause and Julian rolls over onto his side and loops his arm around me, scooting forward so our bodies are pressed together, and I am cupped in the space around him. His heart beats through my back-a strange, stuttering rhythm. 'Aren't you worried about the delieria?' I ask him. 'Yes,' he says shortly. 'But I'm cold too.'...More silence. Finally, Julian says 'I'm scared.' He barely whispers it; but I can feel his lips moving against my neck, as though the words are being spelled there. 'I know,' I say, 'Me too.'... 'I'm less scared with you," Julian says." (236)

OMG SERIOUSLY THOSE TWO TOGETHER FOREVER.

2) Anyway, continuing with the story... MOST BEAUTIFUL WRITING EVER.

"Grief is like sinking, like being buried. I am in water the tawny color of kicked-up dirt. Every breath is full of choking. There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go.

Let go. Feel the weight all around you, feel the squeezing of your lungs, the slow, low pressure. Let yourself go deeper. There is nothing but bottom. There is nothing but the taste of metal, and the echoes of old things, and days that look like darkness.”


And another quote....
"I read once about a kind of fungus that grows in trees. The fungus begins to encroach on the systems that carry water and nutrients up from the roots to the branches. It disables them one by one―it crowds them out. Soon, the fungus―and only the fungus―is carrying the water, and the chemicals, and everything else the tree needs to survive. At the same time it is decaying the tree slowly from within, turning it minute by minute to rot.
That is what hatred is. It will feed you and at the same time turn you to rot.
It is hard and deep and angular, a system of blockades. It is everything and total."


I seriously would add a billion more quotes, but I'm already using so many quotes. D: Lauren Oliver has the words of a goddess. Everything she writes is beautiful, even if it was when Blue died, she wrote it so beautifully :'(.

3)I loved Lauren's way of using the then's and now's as chapters because it made the story more powerful.

4) Characters: So many new characters were added to the second book! I love all of them. Tack, Hunter, Blue, Sarah, Lu, Raven, JULIAN, and more ugh. OMG I MISS HANA SO MUCH IT'S KILLING ME. Even though, if you read Hana, the prequel, she did something that I didn't approve of that hurt LENA, but it helped Lena find Julian so that they love each other <3. But Hana was really one of my favorite characters. I love Raven too, although sometimes she was a little too tough on Lena, but the end of the book I fell in love with her for what she did :).

5) OMFG THE ENDING. KILL ME NOW. UGH WHY. Okay, I thought I liked Alex and Lena together in Delirium, which I did, but the end of Pandemonium changed my feelings for him. Here's the quote refresher:

“Promise me we'll stay together, okay?" His eyes are once again the clear blue of a perfectly transparent pool. They are eyes to swim in, to float in, forever. "You and me."

"I promise," I say.

Behind us the door creaks open, and I turn around, expecting Raven, just as a voice cuts through the air: "Don't believe her."

The whole world closes around me, like an eyelid: For a moment, everything goes dark.

I am falling. My ears are full of rushing; I have been sucked into a tunnel, a place of pleasure and chaos. My head is about to explode.

He looks different. He is much thinner, and a scar runs from his eyebrow all the way down to his jaw. On his neck, just behind his left ear, a small tattooed number curves around the three-pronged scar that fooled me, for so long, into believing he was cured. His eyes-once a sweet, melted brown, like syrup-have hardened. Now they are stony, impenetrable.

Only his hair is the same: that auburn crown, like leaves in autumn.

Impossible. I close my eyes and reopen them: the boy from a dream, from a different lifetime. A boy brought back from the dead.

Alex"


BEST ENDING EVER yet why would Alex say "don't believe her"? Doesn't he know that Lena thought he was DEAD for 6 months? Didn't he ever think that she would HAVE to move on with her life?

Anyway, best book ever written and I'm not even kidding. Julian and her seriously are perfect and I'm mad that Alex is alive-_-. #TEAMJULIAN (Ugh I did it again and added a hashtag...not good)HA! Maybe Alex can be with Raven!
★★★★★(x 1,000)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Unraveling (Unraveling #1) by Elizabeth Norris


Synopsis: Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she’s opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, Janelle knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her reincarnation, and Ben’s possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI-agent father’s files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what’s right in front of her: Everything that’s happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben’s sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

Title: Unraveling

Series: Unraveling #1 (sequel coming out April 2013 :( )
Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance,  Mystery, Suspense
Pages: 445
Ages: 13+
Date I Finished: August 8th, 2012
My Rating: 5 Stars
My Word/Phrase: BEN IS MINE

WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS SPOILERS NOT FOR THE EYES OF HOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ IT YETAlso, sorry for my horribly writen review with way too many spoilers down there. It's early and I'm tired!

"I'm still not a single step closer to figuring out what to do to stop this countdown.

Which means I've become obsessed with it-as if watching it tick might somehow make it slow down or at least not feel like it's speeding up.

Which is why at 5:10 p.m. on Sunday evening, I know the exact moment four days to Wave Function Collapse becomes three.

03:23:59:59" (pg 332)



THINGS I LOVED IN THIS BOOK:
-everything

YES. I love Ben, and Alex, and Jared, and her father, and Struz, and Janelle, and even Elijah. (Reid is not to be spoken about during this review -_- ) Yes, the characters were brilliant. (view spoiler)That's why I was so sad when I realized about half of them died at the end of the book :( Seriously, this book was fabulous. The only downside was that, during the beginning of the novel, I already had the book set up in my mind, like what was going to happen in the end and all that, but my idea was no where NEAR what actually happened in the book. And wow this book was well thought out from literally, the beginning to end.

Part of the reason for the five star rating I gave it was, honestly, the cover! I only like covers with actual people if they look the same as what I would think of them in my mind, and this cover fits EXACTLY to Ben and Janelle. (And Ben.....oh my...just..can I have him? Please?) Everything in this book fits so perfectly to the beginning where Janelle died from the TRUCK and Ben healed her to (view spoiler)Barclay helping Janelle and Ben and telling them about the multiverse. This book was seriously well thought out. The humor in this book made me laugh out loud and Janelle's personality was awesome (Her saying that she's a nerd by liking certain things or doing things when she was little. Also, her love of swimming.) And, from the "About The Author", this is Elizabeth Norris's first book. All I can say, this book has gone beyond my expectations (or rather, my idea of what will actually hapen in the book before reading it!) This book earned it's five stars and, oh my God I can't stop looking at Ben in the cover!

★★★★★