The YA Book Butterfly: Books

Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Obsidian (Book Review)

	Obsidian Jennifer L Armentrout Starting over sucks. When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up. And then he opened his mouth. Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. The hot alien living next door marks me. You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. If I don't kill him first, that is. Review: This was my second Jennifer L Armentrout book. After reading Cursed, and really liking it....I made sure to keep my eyes open for a copy of this one. The urge of looking for it was deepened when it was recommended to me by several people. I am so glad that I read this! The Characters: The characters were one of my favorite parts of the book! They were all so unique, and fun.....The main character Katy was a refreshing and unique take on a book blogger, and book nerd. She was an absolutely incredible main character and easily my favorite part of the book. The love interest Daemon grew on me as the story went on, (so if you are reading this and don't like him at the moment, I promise he will get better). Yes Katy could be described as annoying, and Daemon could also. But altogether I really liked these characters. The banter between the two of them was hilarious to read about. The Plot: Not so crazy about the alien style plot. But Jennifer made it work out. I would read anything by Jennifer L Armentrout just for her writing. Definitely one of the best authors I have read. As I said above, sci-fi/aliens are not really my thing. And this was my least favorite part of the story (and I know that it is the entire plot) but by the end the sci-fi had grown on me a little. And I actually was enjoying it. Overall I love Jennifer L Armentrout's writing. I would read anything by her. I finished this one and was instantly left wanting more, (which unfortunately wasn't possible at the moment) and although I haven't picked up the rest of the series yet, I definitely plan to. An easy 4 out of 5 stars to this one!

Obsidian
Jennifer L Armentrout

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

Review:

This was my second Jennifer L Armentrout book. After reading Cursed, and really liking it....I made sure to keep my eyes open for a copy of this one. The urge of looking for it was deepened when it was recommended to me by several people.

I am so glad that I read this!

The Characters:
The characters were one of my favorite parts of the book! They were all so unique, and fun.....The main character Katy was a refreshing and unique take on a book blogger, and book nerd. She was an absolutely incredible main character and easily my favorite part of the book.
The love interest Daemon grew on me as the story went on, (so if you are reading this and don't like him at the moment, I promise he will get better).
Yes Katy could be described as annoying, and Daemon could also. But altogether I really liked these characters. The banter between the two of them was hilarious to read about.

The Plot:
Not so crazy about the alien style plot. But Jennifer made it work out. I would read anything by Jennifer L Armentrout just for her writing. Definitely one of the best authors I have read. As I said above, sci-fi/aliens are not really my thing. And this was my least favorite part of the story (and I know that it is the entire plot) but by the end the sci-fi had grown on me a little. And I actually was enjoying it.

Overall I love Jennifer L Armentrout's writing. I would read anything by her. I finished this one and was instantly left wanting more, (which unfortunately wasn't possible at the moment) and although I haven't picked up the rest of the series yet, I definitely plan to.
An easy 4 out of 5 stars to this one!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

What do your friends/acquaintances say about what YOU are reading?

What do your friends/acquaintances say about what YOU are reading?

Some of the things that you may have heard....
"Young adult? What is that?"
"Why do you like to read so much?"
"Reading is for people who don't have a life."
"Why not read something worthwhile? Like adult books, or classics..?"

First of all, just because something was written a long, long time ago doesn't mean it is good...For instance.

The Age of Innocence

Sure, it is well written.....But honestly the entire concept and story line of this book was annoying. As was the main character!

Instead of reading that, I could read the beautiful literary novel.....

I wasn't crazy about the entire depressing story line. But one thing that can never be said about this book is it is poorly written. The Book Thief reads just as good as a lot of classics.

And I don't even want to get started on reading Adult not Young Adult books. The only difference that I see between the two, is that Adult are about (well) ADULTS! And the Young Adult books are about TEENAGERS!!

(Imagine that!)

I'd say most of the teenagers I have met, if they have picked up a book within the last year it has either been The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter, a John Green book, or Divergent. And the ones who have read John Green and Divergent are the ones that pick up about 5 books a year.

Never ever feel bad about your reading material if you love to read.

What have you heard said about you reading habits/material? Anything funny? Interesting?

Monday, January 20, 2014

Saturday, January 18, 2014

No One Else Can Have You (Book Review)

	No One Else Can Have You Kathleen Hale A quiet town like Friendship, Wisconsin, keeps most of its secrets buried . . . but when local teen Ruth Fried is found murdered in a cornfield, her best friend, Kippy Bushman, decides to uncover the truth and catch the killer. Since the police aren't much help, Kippy looks to her idol, journalist Diane Sawyer, for tips on how to conduct her investigation. But Kippy soon discovers, if you want to dig up the truth, your hands have to get a little dirty, don'tcha know. In this riveting young adult novel, Kathleen Hale creates an intricately plotted murder mystery that will keep readers guessing, laughing, and cringing until the surprising final pages. Review: The people who read this book are split into two groups..... The group that LOVED this book, and the group that HATES this book. Unfortunately I am now part of the second group. Five things I couldn't stand: First of all this is an incredibly boring book. Nothing excited me. Second the main character is super annoying. Third the writing is like reading a Pretty Little Liars book (and that is not a good thing) Fourth the murder mystery part of the book (which was supposed to be the main plot) was set up and executed terribly. Fifth there are some pretty disturbing jokes in here. I won't go into detail, but they were not funny at all. There are so many things just thrown into this book that didn't make ANY sense. I like my murder mystery's out there, where I can try and guess who it was before the end of the book. And where the facts are put out there, but the main character continues to find out things. The murder mystery was ultra confusing in this one. Everything felt so thrown in there. And I didn't actually feel like I was in a murder mystery. I felt as if I was in a soap opera where a main character is obsessed with some thing's, and where the main character has all of these previous problems which are never really explained...... One thing that this reminds me of is some of Shakespeare's work. His murder/comedy plays. But the differences between these is Shakespeare comedy's are actually funny. His writing is good. And he actually makes his story's make sense. I couldn't connect with the characters AT ALL, none of them. And I don't feel that way that often. This was one of my most looked forward to releases of 2014. And it was so disappointing. If (and only if) you enjoy the Pretty Little Liars series will I recommend this to you. If you enjoy awkward silly things being thrown into a (trying to be serious) plot..... I love thrillers and mystery's so much. And I wish that I had loved this one. I did finish this one, but I struggled. So, so, so disappointed. This had potential. The summary sounds amazing. But it didn't get there for me.

No One Else Can Have You
Kathleen Hale

A quiet town like Friendship, Wisconsin, keeps most of its secrets buried . . . but when local teen Ruth Fried is found murdered in a cornfield, her best friend, Kippy Bushman, decides to uncover the truth and catch the killer. Since the police aren't much help, Kippy looks to her idol, journalist Diane Sawyer, for tips on how to conduct her investigation. But Kippy soon discovers, if you want to dig up the truth, your hands have to get a little dirty, don'tcha know.
In this riveting young adult novel, Kathleen Hale creates an intricately plotted murder mystery that will keep readers guessing, laughing, and cringing until the surprising final pages.

Review:

The people who read this book are split into two groups.....
The group that LOVED this book, and the group that HATES this book.
Unfortunately I am now part of the second group.

Five things I couldn't stand:

First of all this is an incredibly boring book. Nothing excited me.

Second the main character is super annoying.
Third the writing is like reading a Pretty Little Liars book (and that is not a good thing)
Fourth the murder mystery part of the book (which was supposed to be the main plot) was set up and executed terribly.
Fifth there are some pretty disturbing jokes in here. I won't go into detail, but they were not funny at all.

There are so many things just thrown into this book that didn't make ANY sense. I like my murder mystery's out there, where I can try and guess who it was before the end of the book. And where the facts are put out there, but the main character continues to find out things.
The murder mystery was ultra confusing in this one. Everything felt so thrown in there. And I didn't actually feel like I was in a murder mystery. I felt as if I was in a soap opera where a main character is obsessed with some thing's, and where the main character has all of these previous problems which are never really explained......
One thing that this reminds me of is some of Shakespeare's work. His murder/comedy plays. But the differences between these is Shakespeare comedy's are actually funny. His writing is good. And he actually makes his story's make sense.

I couldn't connect with the characters AT ALL, none of them. And I don't feel that way that often.

This was one of my most looked forward to releases of 2014. And it was so disappointing. If (and only if) you enjoy the Pretty Little Liars series will I recommend this to you. If you enjoy awkward silly things being thrown into a (trying to be serious) plot.....
I love thrillers and mystery's so much. And I wish that I had loved this one. I did finish this one, but I struggled. So, so, so disappointed.

This had potential. The summary sounds amazing. But it didn't get there for me.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Nobody's Secret (Book Review)

Nobody's Secret
Michaela MacColl
Published April 30th 2013 by Chronicle Books
Source: ARCcycling

One day, fifteen-year-old Emily Dickinson meets a mysterious, handsome young man. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to know who she or her family is. And even more surprisingly, he playfully refuses to divulge his name. Emily enjoys her secret flirtation with Mr. "Nobody" until he turns up dead in her family's pond. She's stricken with guilt. Only Emily can discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he's condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets, blossoming romance, and deadly danger. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, this novel celebrates Emily Dickinson's intellect and spunk in a page-turner of a book that will excite fans of mystery, romance, and poetry alike.

Review:

I have always been a fan of Historical Fiction. But this does not carry into Poetry. Rest assured, Nobody's Secret is not about poetry....But it is about a poet.

If you do read Emily Dickinson's poetry, you might have gotten this story a little more. But to me it was just another Historical Fiction.

Which was not done so well.
The Characters:
I don't remember if it was ever mentioned about how old Emily is when this story occurs, but I think that she must have been older than she acted. I know that I say this in quite a few reviews....But this one Emily acted perfectly mature, but not so smart. The not so smart part of it could just be that Emily was a very adventures and curious person, which often led her to bad situations. I never connected with Emily, I never felt her emotions. The same was true with the rest of the characters in the book. I never really felt like I was immersed in the story.

The Plot:
The plot was just ok. Boring is one word I could use. After reading exciting, captivating books....Reading this one was really hard. I did end up finishing it, but it took a lot of effort.
Also, this one is labeled as Young Adult but it reads more like a Middle Grade book.
As I said above, if I knew more about Emily Dickinson and read more of her poetry I might have liked this book a whole lot more. But I don't know anything about her.

Overall I thought this one was ok. Boring plot. But it also just isn't my thing. I probably will not read any more by this author, but if you do know a lot about Emily Dickinson and enjoy poetry overall, give this one a try. If you are like me, and don't read poetry and don't know anything about Emily Dickinson I would definitely not recommend this one.
(2/5)