Category Book Reviews

Jun 23 2015
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Series Review: The 2B Trilogy by Ann Aguirre

I Want it That Way by Ann Aguirre
As Long as You Love Me by Ann Aguirre
The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre

Series: The 2B Trilogy
Author: Ann Aguirre
 Rating: 4.25/5 stars

I’d like to start out by reiterating how much I love Ann Aguirre. Ever since I discovered her Sirantha Jax series a couple of years ago I have been eager to read anything she writes. My favorite thing about her has always been how well she writes relationships, so you can see why I was tickled pink to read her New Adult Romance novels. And you know what? The relationships were every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped they’d be.

I was chosen to receive a review copy of As Long as You Love Me after entering the Ann Aguirre’s Reviewer giveaway. I would just like to thank Ann Aguirre and Mel Jolly over at Author RX for selecting me as a winner. As it turns out, As Long as You Love Me ended up being my favorite book of the trilogy! But I’m getting a little ahead of myself…
                                                                                                                                                      

I Want it That Way

Of the three female leads in this series, I probably relate to Nadia’s personality the most. She’s a very determined and goal-oriented person, traits which helped her achieve her dreams and fight for what she wanted… Even if what she wanted was a studious/sexy single father who lived in the apartment below her. That’s a goal I can really get behind. :-) I thought the love story was really sweet, especially so because of the added element of Nadia’s relationship with Ty’s son (which was almost as fulfilling as the main romance itself). I’ll say it again: I love how Aguirre writes relationships, even the ones that aren’t amorous. I came away from this series loving the platonic relationships as much as the romantic ones.

I struggled with the rating of this one because I really enjoyed it, but at the end of the day there were a couple of things I wish had been done a tad differently. The pacing in certain places was a little off for me, dragging out conflicts a bit longer than I thought necessary. Because of that, I think it gave me more time to focus on my least favorite plot element. I tend to get a little frustrated with the “I love you, but I can’t be with you because of X,” where “X” is often a foolish reason fabricated in the character’s mind solely to keep the conflict drawn out. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, and it likely won’t be the last, but it wears on me a little bit. That said, I’ve never seen it handled quite as well as it was in I Want it That Way, so that’s something. I still came away from the novel with the feel goods and the satisfaction I’d hoped for.

4/5 stars
                                                                                                                                                      

As Long as You Love Me

While I related to Nadia in the first book personality-wise the most, the love story between Lauren and Rob was the one that really sang to me. Most of us have that person we crushed on throughout grade school – the one we would go out of our way to pass in the hallway, doodle his/her initials in our notebooks, and daydream about romantic possibilities with every spare moment (or was it just me?). Well, what if you got the chance to see what could have been with that person? That’s what Lauren got to do, and I got to live vicariously through her. It was awesome! All of the little moments she had with Rob were like little sparks of electricity flashing off the pages and I felt the emotional tingle of every last one of them. Perhaps this one appealed to me so much because of my specific ideal for a fantasy relationship, but the way it sits, As Long as You Love Me is now one of my favorite books ever. Okay, I’m done gushing.

…almost. I love this one so much it almost raises my ratings of the other two by extension – as I look back on the trilogy, I do so with a ton of affection and I think that’s in no small part due to book #2.

5/5 stars
                                                                                                                                                      

The Shape of My Heart

This one was my least favorite of the trilogy, but only because I found parts of it a tad depressing. The first third of the book focuses on Courtney and Max as they attend a funeral and, having suffered a loss in the family relatively recently, it made me a little sad. On top of that, we learned about all of the hardships Max went through as a kid and I basically just felt bad… until the romance started kicking in. I am confident, though, that the negative feels I had were specific to my circumstances, and I don’t think other readers will be similarly affected. Aguirre does a great job focusing on the relationship first, and on all of the peripheral events second, and if I hadn’t been so fixated, I would’ve enjoyed the story a lot more (although I enjoyed the love story from the very first moment). The awesome thing about Aguirre is, even when elements of the book made me sad, I still had that oddly addictive urge to keep reading. All of her books do that to me, though – she’s just such a great writer!

Fast forward to the last 2/3 of the book, and it was nothing but pure New Adult entertainment all the way through. Courtney was such a cool girl to read about, and I love that her personality stood out as distinct from the other two heroines. She is also one of the first bisexual characters I’ve ever seen as the main POV, so it’s nice to see a bit of diversity. I found her to be the least relatable of the three, and not because  she was bisexual, but because she approached life in a very “zen” way. It would drive me nuts not knowing what I was going to do next, yet she managed to tackle all of her problems without constantly stressing about them. She was always very true to herself, and getting to immerse myself in her perspective was easily my favorite element to the story.

3.5/5 stars
                                                                                                                                                      

Overall, if you’re a New Adult fan, I deem this series definitely worth your time. The romance is evoking, the characters are memorable, and the writing is superb! The 2B Trilogy will go down as three very compelling reasons why Ann Aguirre remains one of my all-time favorites!

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 19 2015
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Book Review: The Heir by Kiera Cass

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Title: The Heir

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection #4

Genre: Teen Dystopian [sort of]

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage for as long as possible. But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can’t escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests. Eadlyn doesn’t expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought.

The Review:

The Heir is one of the few titles that was a non-negotiable “I have to read it the day it comes out” type of book, as I’d been geeking out about it since it first cross my radar in late 2014. Thank goodness for nook digital downloads at midnight, because I was able to dive right in at 12:01 am (sleep be damned, it was SO worth it – The Heir was every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped it would be). It almost seems irrational to me how excited I was, but The Selection was such an experience, and it really hurt my heart to see it come to an end. I can’t describe the joy I felt when I realized I got to visit that world again, and with Maxon and America still around to boot! That might sound soooper cheesy, but I don’t care – I freaking love this series!

Can we talk for a minute about how incredibly appealing it is to watch one girl pick from a whole bunch of eligible bachelors? And how fundamentally more exciting that is than the other way around? Well, maybe not more exciting, but different, that’s for sure. I think it was really smart on the author’s part to give us a new twist on the story we all fell in love with (even though she didn’t have to stretch too far on the creative scale, I’m still impressed). The jury is out until I read all three books, but I’m already predicting I will like Eadlyn’s journey better than America’s. Here are a few reasons why:

In America’s journey, we only got to see her side of things, and I always wondered how the process was for Maxon (in fact, one of my favorite moments was in The Prince novella where we got to experience their first meeting through Maxon’s perspective). It had to be difficult for him to juggle all of those girls while trying to make a decision that’s best for both his country and his heart. Even though we got the best bits, we missed out on a lot of the details that I’m sure I would’ve found fascinating. What this new story did was allow me to become completely immersed in the process… and I ate up every page. It was so much fun seeing all of the boys interact with Eadlyn, and I had a blast trying to psychoanalyze all of them to figure out which boy would be the best match for her (which I didn’t get to do with America’s journey because, Duh! – she was totally the best match). The fact that Eadlyn didn’t want anything to do with the selection process bugged a few of my friends, but it didn’t bother me too much – I knew the boys would eventually start to win her over.

That’s another thing I liked – that Eadlyn was definitely her own person and a very distinct character from America (although you could see many similarities in their personalities – they are both stubborn and resilient people… the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree). I also loved that America and Maxon were heavily involved in The Heir and maintained the same personalities we fell in love with in the first trilogy (it’s a pet peeve of mine when parent characters we met as children morph into a “parental” mode and lose all personality. That definitely did NOT happen here – Yay!). There was also a neat dynamics between Eadlyn and her siblings, who added a ton of depth and charm to the story – I’m definitely looking forward to reading more about them.

My biggest criticism of the first trilogy was the world building/external conflict. I thought it was nowhere near as well developed as it could have been (although the things the author did well were so awesome it almost didn’t matter), but am happy to report that I think this time around the world building was a little stronger. Similarly, I caught a few plot holes within the first few books, but all the ones I thought I caught in this one the author eventually addressed – awesome! 

Overall, if you love to the Selection Trilogy as much as I did, there’s absolutely no reason why you wouldn’t love The Heir just as much. :-)

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 10 2015
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Mini Book Review: Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson Title: Elantris

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Series: N/A [Thus Far, Anyway]

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Yet each of these demigods was once an ordinary person until touched by the mysterious transforming power of the Shaod. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling. Arelon’s new capital, Kae, crouches in the shadow of Elantris. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden, hoping — based on their correspondence — to also find love… [continue reading]

The Mini Review:

I have been trying to write this review for well over a week now and I’m not quite sure why it has been so difficult (I mean, how hard can it be to compose a paragraph or two?). I really enjoyed Elantris, which is no surprise considering it’s a Sanderson. There’s something really nice about picking up a novel and knowing it’s going to be good. It contained everything I’ve come to expect from such a great author – fantastic and relatable characters, cool magic system/magical beings, and excellent writing. In the whole scheme of his works, I think Elantris falls somewhere in the middle (keep in mind everything I’ve read from him is 4-Stars or higher). I found countless similarities to his Mistborn trilogy, so if you liked that one there is an excellent chance you will like this one (and vice versa). In fact, there wasn’t anything I DIDN’T like about it… Sanderson strikes again!

Other books you might like:  

by Niki Hawkes

May 27 2015
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DNF Q&A: Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep

Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep

Title: Killer Frost

Author: Jennifer Estep

Series: Mythos Academy #6

Genre: Teen Paranormal

Rating: 0 stars (DNF)

The Overview: I’ve battled the Reapers of Chaos before–and survived. But this time I have a Bad, Bad Feeling it’s going to be a fight to the death … most likely mine. Yeah, I’ve got my psychometry magic, my talking sword, Vic–and even the most dangerous Spartan on campus at my side, in Logan freaking Quinn, but I’m no match for Loki, the evil Norse god of chaos. I may be Nike’s Champion, but at heart, I’m still just Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl everyone at school loves to gossip about. Then someone I love is put in more danger than ever before, and something inside me snaps. This time, Loki and his Reapers are going down for good … or I am.

The DNF Q&A:

This is a reviewing feature I’ve been eyeballing on one of my favorite book blogs There Were Books Involved for a couple years now because I think it’s an excellent way to talk about an unfinished book fairly. I’m incredibly grateful because Nikki (the brains behind the blog, who has a most excellent name)  kindly allowed me to steal the idea and questions for my own blog. As my list of “amazing books to read” continues to grow, I find I have less and less time and patience to devote to the books I’m just not enjoying. I never would have considered DNFing a book ten years ago, but then I came across a quote, “Read the best books first, for you might not have the chance to read them all,” and have since made it my personal mantra. Life’s too short to read books you’re just not enjoying. So let the Q&A begin!

Did you really give Killer Frost a chance?

Yes – especially when you consider it’s book 6, the final book in the series. The series took a nosedive around the fourth book, and I’ve been just trying to get it over with ever since (which is an awful sentiment – who wants to read anything “just to get it over with” like it’s a chore?). As harsh as that sounds, I did try, making it halfway through Killer Frost before putting it down.

Have you enjoyed other books in the same genre before?

You mean all of the YA Paranormal books that I can’t live without? Yes, I’ve enjoyed those. Here are some of my favorites:

Yes, Twilight is on there. Leave me alone.

Did you have certain expectations before starting it?

Sadly, I think I expected exactly what I got – senseless rehashing of the same concepts over and over again; the random enemy attacks with no discernable strategy; and no real depth of character. Maybe that’s not totally true – maybe I expected more going into the finale of the series, so was even more disappointed when faced with the same issues I’d been noticing all along.

What ultimately made you stop reading?

Frustration that I had already invested so much time in this series and it STILL wasn’t showing any improvement. As I mentioned, I read more than half of this book before finally putting it down, and at least 75% of that half was dialogue and speculation about what the problem was… very little action. Then the bad guys would sporadically show up, gloat, take something, then leave. Same stuff, different day. I ended up taking five minutes and skimming, reading only the first and last paragraphs of each chapter until I got to the end. And you know what? I feel like I got the entire essence of how the story ended without any of the fluff.

Another colossal disappointment was the great concept that never lived up to its potential. All of the students at Mythos Academy are descendents of Spartans, Ninjas, Valkyries, and many other kickass entities throughout history. They all attend this school to learn how to harness their powers and use them to fight the bad guys. The trouble is, aside from a handful of sparring sessions in the gym, none of those great ideas are explored anywhere THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SERIES! I wanted to attend school with the characters and learn with them, kind of like what I got to do in the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books, but instead all we got to do was hang out at the library… A lot. Don’t get me wrong, library was a cool setting, but there were no classes there and everything seemed to revolve around it. I can’t seem to find the exact words to describe how disappointed I am in what I feel is the promise of a school for magic-users unfulfilled. They might as well have been at a prep school that offered a few fencing classes rather than a school for gifted kids. Such a great idea completely unrealized.

Was there anything you liked about Killer Frost? 

This book specifically? No. The series in general? Yes – I really enjoyed the first two books and thought the concept behind the whole thing was really creative. It just failed on delivery. I honestly think it would’ve been a lot stronger condensed down to three books – I’m positive Estep could have included all of the main conflicts and cut out all of the endlessly repeating plot points and speculation. Maybe if she had made the school a bigger part of it… Bah – I’ll never get over that one.

Would you read anything else by this author? 

Honestly, I’m not too sure anymore. I read the first book in her Spider series and enjoyed it, but now I’m almost afraid to keep going. What if I invest all of that time and wind up just as disappointed in the end? Maybe if I allow myself to stop reading as soon as I see it going south… what a sad sentiment.

So you DNF’d the book – would you still recommend it?

No… I don’t think so. Perhaps the first three are recommendable, but why encourage someone to read a series that doesn’t really go anywhere?

Overall, I’m bummed.

I’m also curious if I’m the only one who felt this way about the series… Did anybody else happen to finish it? What are your thoughts?

by Niki Hawkes

May 22 2015
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Mini Book Review: Ever After by Kim Harrison

Ever After by Kim Harrison

Title: Ever After

Author: Kim Harrison

Series: The Hollows #11

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: The ever after, the demonic realm that parallels the human world, is shrinking. If it disappears completely, so does all magic. It’s up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to avert catastrophe and keep life from changing… for the worse. While saving the world is important, it isn’t Rachel’s only motivation. There’s also the small fact that she caused the ley line to rip in the first place, setting off a chain reaction of unfortunate events. That little mistake has made her life forfeit unless she can fix it. It’s also made her more than a few enemies, including the most powerful demon in the ever after—a terrifying entity who eats souls and now has an insatiable appetite for her. He’s already kidnapped her friend and goddaughter to lure her out, and if Rachel doesn’t give herself up soon, they’ll die. But Rachel has more than a few impressive and frightening skills of her own, and she isn’t going to hand over her soul and her life without one hell of a fight. She’s also got a surprise: elven tycoon Trent Kalamack. With this unlikely ally beside her—a prospect both thrilling and unnerving—she’s going to return to the ever after, kick some demon butt, rescue her loved ones… and prevent an apocalypse before it’s too late. Or, at least that’s the plan…

The Mini Review:

Ever After wasn’t my favorite book of the genre, but it was still a dang good book. I’m fascinated with the ever after itself (where the demons live), and loved learning more about how the magic involving it and the Ley lines worked. It seems like this series is building towards an epic ending and I’m both excited and sad to see it finish. I currently have two more books to go before I get there… I’m savoring them. Ever after advanced the growing friendship between Rachel and Trent, but not as much as I was hoping for at this point. Although I did learn a little more about Trent’s Elvish heritage and even more about Al the demon, which always makes my day. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention gargoyles! The gargoyles, specifically Bis, got a greater role in the story and I loved every sequence involving him and his kin. Overall, aside from gushing about all the things I love about this series, that’s pretty much it. I enjoyed it as a continuation and am eager as ever to pick up the next one. The Hollows is my favorite urban fantasy series, and I recommend it strongly (although it did take a couple of books before I realize just how much I loved it).

Trouble on Reserve by Kim Harrison

I read this novella immediately after Ever After and have to say I was a bit disappointed. I think coming off of this amazing, slow burning story that provided a satisfying ending left me unprepared for a little ten page adventure without any real resolution. When I picked it up I was thinking it was going to be a seamless continuation from where Ever After left off… not so much. I almost wish I had read it with a bunch of other short stories because then maybe my focus would’ve been a bit different. I guess it just goes to show that expectations are everything. I’d recommend it, but not for the same feel-goods I recommend the main series for.

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Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

May 21 2015
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Book Review: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

miss mayhemTitle: Miss Mayhem

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Series: Rebel Belle #2

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

The Overview: Life is almost back to normal for Harper Price. The Ephors have been silent after their deadly attack at Cotillion months ago, and her best friend, Bee, has returned after a mysterious disappearance. Now Harper can focus on the important things in life: school, canoodling with David (her nemesis-turned-ward-slash-boyfie), and even competing in the Miss Pine Grove pageant. Unfortunately, supernatural chores are never done. The Ephors have decided they’d rather train David than kill him. The catch: Harper has to come along for the ride, but she can’t stay David’s Paladin unless she undergoes an ancient trial that will either kill her . . . or make her more powerful than ever.

The Review:

I want to start out by saying that I love Rachel Hawkins and think her writing is some of the most charming I’ve ever come across. Everything she writes is a lot of fun, and I can’t help but get a bunch of feel goods every time I read one of her books. That said, Miss Mayhem might be my least favorite thing I’ve read from her so far. I just didn’t think there was enough substance and plot advancement to really grab me. Perhaps if the trilogy were complete and I devoured it from start to finish I wouldn’t feel this way, but after waiting a full year for its release and looking at another full year before the conclusion, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

Thing I love most about the first book was the developing love story, but this one just didn’t seem to have the same sweet, romantic flair. I’ve noticed a prevailing trend in YA that goes a little something like this: Book 1 – romance sparks and the characters fall for each other. Book 2 – they fight or break up because of situation “x” keeping them from being together. Book 3 – they figure out how to make it work anyway and live happily ever after. It’s so formulaic that it sucks all of the romantic tension out of a series. Sometimes it doesn’t bother me, but in this particular case it felt like the entire plot revolved around romantic struggles… I guess what I’m trying to say is, I was hoping for more.

And even the plot elements that were there weren’t developed as well as I thought they could’ve been. For example, at some point Harper had to go through several trials to prove she was a worthy Paladin. The trouble is, the trials did not come across in any sort of official capacity, but were almost incidental. I’m not really sure why she passed/failed because the rules were never established. What a wasted opportunity! I feel like if I had read about an epic, well-conceived testing of Harper’s skills, all of my other objections would have gone by the wayside in a heartbeat. Instead I’m left wondering what could’ve been…

One last thing I didn’t enjoy was the questionable decision-making within this book. Some of Harper’s choices just did not make any sense to me. Her decisions were irrational, erratic, and didn’t follow any sort of logical pattern… Frankly, her actions felt more like they were implemented to advance plot points, rather than because that’s what the character would actually do. I’m not saying the characters always have to make smart decisions, what I’m saying is I’d better be able to at least see the logic of those decisions over other options. Harper is a smart girl, but I don’t feel like her actions were consistent with her character in this book.

Sheesh, I feel like I’m really beating up on this book, which isn’t totally fair because it was not a bad book by any means – Hawkins has just set such a high standard up to this point that I’m really judging it against what I know she’s capable of. If you want to know all the things I really love about the series, check out my review of the first book, Rebel Belle. Overall, I wouldn’t necessarily dissuade anyone from picking up the series – the first one was good enough in my opinion to allow for forgiveness of the second one… I would just recommend waiting a little bit until the release date for the third one gets closer. I will definitely be finishing out the trilogy, so that’s gotta count for something, right?

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes