Saturday, March 31, 2012

Short and Simple: Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

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Spell Bound - Rachel Hawkins

This book is the last in a trilogy, Hex Hall. I just LOVED the first two books, so I couldn't wait for this one! But, it unfortunately disappointed me... :(

My Review: 
This book was pretty good! I found this book to be a tad disappointing though.
Firstly, real teens do not talk like Jenna and Sophie. I should know since I am one! We don't joke around at every second. We can be deep. So, I felt the dialogue in this book was forced. :/ Plus, the humor just wasn't hilarious anymore. :(
Second, the writing seemed a little amateur-ish. Maybe it's because I've been reading mature books, but it seemed like this book was for children. That's how bad it got. (Even though there were some cuss words in there and suggestive stuff...)
The love triangle in this one was disappointment. (Seems to be a recurring word!) Let's be honest- Cal never stood a chance. I hate pointless love triangles so much!!! :( I felt Rachel Hawkins took the easy way out too... and I'd love to explain how but it's a major spoiler. Let's just say that I felt no need to do that and there could've been a better solution.
I also found myself easily distracted from this book. It took me FIVE days to finish... that's saying something! The ending didn't tie up all of the loose strings unfortunately so it left unsatisfied.
The action was pretty well done and the twists were nice as well :)
DESPITE all of my complaints, it is a good book and it's worth reading!

RATING: 3.5 STARS!

xx Jennifer

Monday, March 19, 2012

Short and Simple: Dreaming Awake

Synopsis of the prequel can be found here and this book's synopsis can be found here.
My Review:
I found this to be a huge improvement from Falling Under! Her prose was incredible. Her writing flowed so well and it was hard to step away from the book! The romance was so incredibly steamy which is good once in awhile, if you know what I mean. ;)
I forgot most of Falling Under (the prequel) but Gwen Hayes managed to refresh me on all the necessary events that occurred in the previous book, which is crucial to the whole book's development!
My only fault in this book was that this whole plot/story seemed totally unoriginal. I mean... bad boy likes girl but could potentially kill her, tries to stay away, can't resist, end up together... Doesn't that sound like most YA these days? Ugh. Despite the imitative story line, her prose was amazing and I'm definitely reading her future books! :)

Friday, March 16, 2012

Short and Simple: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Hi everyone :) This is my first review, so here we go...

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Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

Boy oh boy did I love it! *Takes deep, deep breaths*Lena was so strong and brave, which is a relief these days. I found it easy to connect with her, as well as Julian. Julian was really easy to love, even with all of his silly beliefs at first!
The plot was excellent! I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for what would happen next, throughout the whole book!
The layout of the book was confusing at times, switching from one timeline to another. But other times, it was pure genius! I felt the "Now" and "Then" were two separate stories and whenever I had to switch to the other one, it would usually leave me at a cliffhanger- just pure genius! This layout made the reader read more, you just couldn't!
The writing was lyrical and stunningly beautiful. In Before I Fall and Delirium, I didn't love the writing to be frank. The descriptions were so long, and it was just too easy to skim and get distracted. But in this story, there was definitely more action and dialogue to keep the reader enraptured and interested!
There was one thing I felt the author should have focused more on. She needed to really recap everything that happened in Delirium. Because some readers, like me, forget EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING in the prequel. Coming into this, I did not know the main character's name (Lena) and the love interest. Or the premise. So, when the author referenced these different places and events from Delirium, I was SO confused.
Other than that, this book was stunning!
5 stars!
I recommend this to dystopian and romance lovers. :)
(WARNING: Please be ready for a stunning cliffhanger and be prepared to be on some emotional roller coasters. Thank you.)

xx Jennifer