Posts Categorized: Review

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Review: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

Posted by 19 Comments

I received this book for free from Hachette Book Group in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: Unbreakable by Kami GarciaUnbreakable by Kami Garcia
Series: Legion #1
Published by Little Brown BfYR on October 1st 2013
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller, YA
Source: Hachette Book Group
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

What a nail biter! Unbreakable has a creepy cover with an equally freaky story. For all of you supernatural thriller fans out there this one is not to be missed!

I made the mistake of starting this book at midnight; a book that has crazy happenings and intense goosebump-worthy scenes right from the beginning. Every page had me delving deeper and deeper under the covers just so I would stop imagining hellish demon ghosts at the foot of my bed! And by hellish demon ghosts I mean exactly that! You won’t find Casper in here. By page 32 my heart was already pounding from the horror of this unexplained supernatural evil that started to haunt Kennedy. Ok if I’m being honest, I kind of loved it. I’m a sucker for horrors and even though I freak myself out reading them I can’t stop myself! Kami vividly describes these vengeful spirits in the eeriest of ways. I could imagine them clear as day and feel their coldness seep into my skin. From evil ghosts children holding mangled dolls, to faces that flick from a child’s to an old woman’s, to bloated and bruised faces rising from wells; it’s all wonderfully horrific with a sense of anxiety that never lets up.

At first, Kennedy is not sure exactly what’s going on but she knows it’s nothing natural. Soon she meets twins Jared and Jack who explain that she’s part of a secret society of demon hunters. This is where we meet the intriguing cast who make up the Legion. The character development is not the book’s strongest component, however. Due to the action-packed nature of the plot, we get no backstories and few occasions to get to know them. In turn, the group dynamic is not dominant which could make a big difference in how much heart this series possesses. I still found the characters fun to journey with. I enjoyed Priest the most. He’s perceptive and intelligent; the one exuding the most personality. Seeing he’s the baby of the gang also evokes a sense of protectiveness towards him.

Another area that could have used work is the romance. Although it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book per se, I would have much preferred if it had been non existent. For one, it felt like it was added for no other reason than a perceived necessity in today’s YA market. Secondly, using my sub-par deduction skills, I concluded she falls for this guy simply because he’s hot. Lastly, there’s a bizarre maybe-triangle that forms between Kennedy and the twins. I say maybe because we’re never certain of where everyone’s feelings lay. It could be a love triangle, or it could be a single love interest with a “protective older brother”. Don’t let this romance deter you, however. Despite it surfacing regularly, I didn’t find it to be a very significant part of the plot. As such it’s hardly a nuisance, it simply didn’t strengthen the book.

Fans of Supernatural (the TV series) will find similarities in both story arcs and tone. To defeat this demon they need to find a certain weapon, which means a lot of visits to the most terrifying places – an abandoned prison and a home for children for instance. Like the ghosts themselves, the descriptions of these places are thoroughly chilling. The horror aspect is the book’s strong suit, and if you go into it wanting an entertaining, scary read you will be highly satisfied despite it’s flaws. It focuses and succeeds at being a fast paced thrill ride with plenty of terror, dread, and suspense!

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Review: All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Review: All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Posted by on 09/24/2013 • 23 Comments

A strange, yet captivating book; All The Truth That’s in Me gives a reading experience like no other. I can’t say I’ve read anything quite like this before. It’s different! This is the best, if most simple way to describe it.

The way this book is written is as if, especially during the first part, we’re seeing a story unfold through bursts of random flashes of a life. There’s an editor’s note at the beginning of my copy that describes it as “a pinhole narrative – you start out looking through a tiny hole that allows you to see only a fraction of Judith’s world, and as the story goes on, the pinhole widens” It’s the the perfect way to exemplify the storytelling style. As you can guess, it’s not…

Review: Find Me by Romily Bernard

Review: Find Me by Romily Bernard

Posted by on 09/20/2013 • 24 Comments

Find Me has a fairly strong beginning with dashes of tense, well written scenes. This made me sure that it would be an entertaining read if nothing else, but unfortunately it ended up being mostly boring with too much of the same old same old.

My first problem with this book is character development – or the lack thereof. We’re told Wick is this great hacker, a trait meant to impress but never felt genuine. All she does in this book is track an IP. Not only is the ability to dig up public information not hacking, the few examples we get are weak and some of it inaccurate. When you get a Facebook notification email, digging through the header would give you the originating IPs for the message’s relay…

Review: 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Posted by on 09/17/2013 • 21 Comments

For an entertaining thriller, 3:59 does a good job. Some of it is overwhelming or far fetched, and specific parts made me cringe, but it’s an action packed read that’s great for a quick thrill.

With a title like 3:59 you already know that this specific time is important to the story. So from the start, the time stamp shown on every page works to keep us on edge as we know that something is coming – and soon. Then 3:59 hits and something bizarre does happen, but we can’t make sense of it quite yet. All we know is it’s ominous, and it’s likely due to her mother’s experiments – meaning science, and alternate universes.

This is when Jo starts coming into the story. First via dreams,…

Review: A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron – Blog Hop, Day 6

Review: A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron – Blog Hop, Day 6

Posted by on 09/16/2013 • 12 Comments

With the same atmosphere and wonderfully charismatic characters as the first book, A Spark Unseen is a good sequel to The Dark Unwinding, but I felt somewhat bored while reading it. Even though the pacing in the first book was unhurried, I still found myself entertained by the characters in such a way that I hardly noticed. A Spark Unseen, on the other hand, while it did have the same fun personalities, much of its time is spent expanding the now thicker political layer. Not being a big fan of strong political plots – especially in historical fiction – I had difficulty staying focused during this one.

I can’t say that there is any lack in character atmosphere in this sequel. We have our good old Katharine who…

Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Posted by on 09/13/2013 • 27 Comments

What an amazing, awe-inspiring book! This Song Will Save Your Life is emotional and beautiful; a story that will bring out your happy-tears by its conclusion!

Once in a while there are books where you get to fully and completely connect to the main character to such a degree that you experience it all as if it was your own story with your own emotions. This was one of those books for me. Elise made it incredibly easy to love her. She’s funny and smart, but she has never fit in with her classmates. She has an artist’s soul, giving all her passion to what she loves; not awarding great importance to frivolous things like fashion or gossip unsurprisingly makes her an outcast at school. The struggles she faces by…

Thornhill Tour Stop: Review + Guest Post

Thornhill Tour Stop: Review + Guest Post

Posted by on 09/11/2013 • 15 Comments

I’ve got a great guest on the blog today, lovelies! Kathleen Peacock is here today as part of the Thornhill blog tour to talk to us about Werewolves vs Vampires in the most hilarious – and realistic – way! First let’s have a look at what I thought of this gorgeous sequel!

The long anticipated sequel to Hemlock arriving at my door was no doubt the highlight of my week. I greedily tore into it a few days later, bringing me back into the turbulent lives of Mac, Kyle, and Jason. As usual with sequels, I think I would have loved it more had there not been such a large gap of time between reading this book and its predecessor. Things did eventually…

Review: Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Review: Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Posted by on 09/10/2013 • 18 Comments

With such an addicting writing style I can see why this author has made a ton of fans from her previous books, Vicious was my first by Victoria but it definitely will not be my last. In fact, I already have The Archived on its way to me!

First to note should be that this book is not YA, it’s Victoria’s first adult book. Characters are in their 30s and you can tell by the maturity of the storytelling (which is ruthless and violent). Personally, I was pleasantly surprised as I was well overdue for an adult book, particularly a merciless paranormal read such as this. Vicious is ultimately a story of revenge. It’s told in an unusual time lapse, where we don’t have a story from A to Z,…