Posts Tagged: Review

Monday, July 15, 2019

Cute But The Science is Lacking: Blastaway by Melissa Landers

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I received this book for free from Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Cute But The Science is Lacking: Blastaway by Melissa LandersBlastaway by Melissa Landers
Published by Disney Hyperion on July 9th, 2019
Genres: Adventure, Middle Grade, Sci-Fi
Source: Disney-Hyperion
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
two-half-stars

Kyler Centaurus isn't your typical runaway. All he wanted was a quick trip to the legendary Fasti Sun Festival. Who wouldn't want to see new stars being born? Um, try Kyler's entire family. They couldn't care less about mind-blowing wonders of science.

When an accidental launch sequence ends with Kyler hurtling through space on the family cruiser, the thrill of freedom is cut short by two space pirates determined to steal his ship. Not happening!

Luckily, Kyler bumps into Fig, a savvy young Wanderer who makes a living by blowing up asteroids. She could really use a ride to Earth and Kyler could really use a hand with the pirates.

But when Kyler learns the truth about Fig's mission, the two must put aside their differences long enough to stop the threat of astronomical proportions racing towards Earth?

While I never got the chance to read Alienated, I have read Lander’s romance novels so when I heard about Blastaway, I was immediately onboard. I expected something akin to Alienated (even though I hadn’t read it) and in my excitement, missed that Blastaway wasn’t YA. It is middle grade. I read middle grade so that didn’t really turn me off but this book wouldn’t really hit the mark for adult middle grade readers the way it would for middle grade middle grade readers – aka the intended demographic of the book.

Blastaway is incredibly cute and I love that it uses its sci-fic setting to draw attention to very real world issues in an accessible manner to younger readers. My biggest issue – keeping in mind that I was not the intended audience – was that a lot of the science was lax? There were many things that weren’t really thought out evolution-wise when it came to wanderers. This wouldn’t even have been a particularly difficult problem to fix, the book could have been set way way way into the future rather than just 500 years.

It also heavily relied on pop culture references from this century even though the book is set 500 years in the future. This is definitely me being nit-picky because I realize that having those references makes this futuristic world more accessible to younger readers but for me, it took away from the sci-fic experience. I wish that instead of trying to tone down this world, Landers explored it a bit more and tried to ground readers in it in other ways. 

The plot is also riddled with lucky coincidences that propels it forward without having to work around the struggles of being two runaway children on a ship on their own, trying to stop an evil plan to take over the universe and potentially harm both humans and wanderers. 

So, Blastaway is not a particularly dense book but I do love that it also explores familial relationships as well as friendships. Kyler struggles a lot with finding a place within his family. He constantly feels like an outcast and pre-teen hormones probably don’t make navigating those relationships easy. It’s definitely clear to the reader that his family loves him just the way he is but I loved watching him come to terms with that. I also loved his and Fig’s blooming friendship. They are both very stubborn people and I loved that even though they were quick to become friends, they also had their ups and downs. 

Overall, I feel like this book would be more appropriate for elementary school readers rather than middle school ones because this book feels younger than the ages of its characters. The kids who love adventures sans adults, love the running away from home stories (as I did at those ages) will gobble this book up.

two-half-stars

2.5 Hot Espressos

Review: City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

Posted by on 03/04/2019 • 0 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of Kelley Armstrong ever since her Women of the Underworld series. While this one isn’t paranormal, it still has an air of fantasy in it when we’re taken into this secluded town where people go to escape their tragic or criminal past. 

This town is hidden from the world, and as you can guess comes with a side of mystery and even horror. Casey is brought there to try and find out why their people are disappearing and coming up murdered. The whole seclusion aspect makes this story so compelling and eerie. It’s sort of like a post-apocalyptic world where you have limited supplies and every skill is put to good use, and wandering off a bit too far from the edge means you’re likely…

Amazing Secondary Characters: Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean

Posted by on 07/09/2018 • 1 Comment

Sarah MacLean is one of my favorite romance authors and after finishing The Day of the Duchess. I was eagerly anticipating the start of a new series and some new characters to fall in love with. I think the best way to state my relationship to this book is that while I wasn’t as invested in the storyline of the two main characters, I was incredibly invested in the overarching plot of the series and the placement of this book within it. I LOVED the secondary characters and I am eagerly awaiting their stories in the future installments. 

SO. I didn’t love Wicked and the Wallflower but I am in love with the The Bareknuckle Bastards series?? The question marks at the end because I feel like that is a confusing statement and…

A Well Written, Character Driven Novel: Fire Color One by Jenny Valentine

Posted by on 01/27/2017 • 3 Comments

Fire Color One is usually not the kind of novel I would find myself enjoying but I was thoroughly swept away by it. I love character development but I don’t really tend to enjoy books that are solely character driven. Fire Color One is primarily character driven. There is definitely a plot but it revolves around character revelations. Not around actual happenings. Yet it somehow managed to sweep me away till I had somehow run out of pages to read (*shakes fist at book for not being longer*)

This is a novel about grief, about relationships and a little bit about some revenge (and I am totes petty so I am all about the revenge life.) I think part of the magic of this book comes from how well the relationships…

Review: Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake

Posted by on 06/02/2016 • 3 Comments

I read this book a while ago, but have been totally slacking on actually writing reviews. I’m sure that you all have noticed. I am going to try to do my best with this since I get hazy on details if I wait to long. I really did like the characters, and I thought they had good chemistry. I haven’t been reading a whole lot lately, but I have been really into contemporary novels and this one was one I did enjoy.

Hadley is a bit of a rough character. Her father cheated on her mom, but they are still together, but it’s not really a happy place. Her mother tries to make her father as annoyed an uncomfortable as possible, and he tries to act like it’s all okay….

Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

Posted by on 11/17/2015 • 13 Comments

A fantasy with a Chinese-inspired setting? An isolated village high up in the mountains, full of deaf people? A heroine who regains her hearing back and aims to use it to make a difference? WOW, BADUM-TSS!

On a perfect, ideal day, this would have been an absolutely great treat. Just from these few sentences, we can already feel the diversity of the premise!

But, alas, it is not a perfect and ideal day, because this book is boring and dull as hell. But hey, there’s one thing positive from this: I’m done with it! Yay!

First of all, let me just say that I’ve read the first book of Vampire Academy and I’ve read her GAME OF X series which I absolutely, absolutely adore (to the moon and back). I’ve seen what…

Blog Tour: The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe – Review and Giveaway

Blog Tour: The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe – Review and Giveaway

Posted by on 02/26/2015 • 18 Comments

This book was very refreshing. The MC was such a fabulous voice and I really liked reading this from his POV. While I didn’t always like the character, he was really wonderful and I felt for him. I loved the writing and how he would be telling us something and create a scenario, then tell us that wasn’t what really happened. It was entertaining. He was bright and creative.

Billy was one of those characters that you really feel. He is not the stereotypical rich kid at all. In fact, he doesn’t really care about any of that and he sometimes thinks things would be easier if he was not the child of rich parents. Not to mention the death of his sister that is a constant ache for…

Review: There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

Review: There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

Posted by on 12/25/2014 • 4 Comments

After reading the synopsis for this, I was super excited to read it. It sounded like a fantastic thriller that would keep me on the edge of my seat. The writing style bothered me at first, but when I realized there was a reason that it was written that way, it was easy to just go with it. There was plenty of action and an emotional element to it, though I didn’t quite feel the level of emotion I wanted from it. There was also a really weird part of the plot that had me scratching my head. Like, I wasn’t aware that there was a paranormal or magical element to this. Anyways, I feel like I’m babbling, but it all makes sense when you finish the book.

Shelby…