Book 9: Insurgent

First off I'd like to start by telling you that this wasn't supposed to be book nine. This was supposed to be book ten, but I'm having a couple issues getting through my original book nine, so I stopped reading it for a day and read this book instead. I promise I will finish the other book, it will just take me a little longer than expected. So book nine is Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Tumblr

Buy it Now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble







*Spoiler warning! This is the second book in a series. If you have not read Divergent you may want to stop reading right now because there will be spoilers for it here.*

Book Summary:
Insurgent takes up where Divergent left off, Tris Prior has just helped to stop the Euridite simulation that was controlling the Dauntless causing them to kill the Abnegation. She and the remaining survivors (Four, Marcis, Caleb, and Peter included), must escape to the Amity grounds in hopes that they will be safe. When the Euridite and Dauntless traitors show up, they find themselves on the run, and the only people they can turn to are the factionless, who are large in number and who have been patiently waiting for their chance to usurp the factions.

In all the chaos, Tris must decide who to trust while trying to forgive herself for killing Will and overcome the grief of losing her parents.

My review:
I loved this book as much as I loved Divergent. It is fabulously written; Roth does a great job continuing Tris's inner struggle, only this time it is more about learning to forgive herself than trying to figure out what it means to be divergent - although she is still trying to completely understand this. Four's character was also written very well; I loved seeing him struggle between wanting to save Tris and wanting to let her go. Throughout most of the book, I wasn't sure what was going to happen between the two of them, if they were going to kiss or throw punches. There were a couple of surprising characters in this book, the one that goes from bad to good (well, semi-good) I totally called, but I was completely caught off gaurd by the biggest traitor in the book. I seriously yelled, "What?!" when the reveal occurred. I think the thing I like most about this book, however, was the ending. It definitely took me by surprise even though they've been leading up to that for the entirety of the two books.

There were very few things I didn't like about this book. One was the character of Tori (who in the first book helped to hide Tris's secret). All through this book, I felt like she had major secrets that she wasn't letting anyone in on, and by the end of the book, Tris begins wondering the same things. I'm hoping we find out more about her character in book three. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the way they dealt with Jeanine. I felt going in that it would happen that way, but I was really hoping that it wouldn't. I would explain more about how I feel about this, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book (after you've read Divergent) to anyone. Again, there is little, if any, swearing and only a few sexual references. There is one scene where Tris and Four get a little carried away, but there is nothing graphic and I honestly wasn't sure afterward if they had slept together or not.

So I am now (not-so) patiently waiting for book three, which doesn't come out until October. How am I going to make it through?!

My Rating: 9/10

Book 8: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

I recently joined some bookclubs on goodreads.com. I figured it would be a good way to read some books I wouldn't have otherwise picked up. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt was one of the books for the month of February for one of said book clubs.

Author Links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

Buy it Now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble








Book Summary:
In 1987 June Elbus is a fourteen-year-old girl who isn't understood by anyone. Anyone, that is, except her Uncle Finn Weiss, a renowned painter. Super shy around everyone at school and terrorized by her sister, she can only be herself around him. When he dies, far too young, from AIDS, she is lost. She has no one she can turn too except, perhaps, the one person she never suspected. Toby may be just the friend she needs to help her heal. Being the only person that loved her uncle as much as she did, he may be the person she needs the most to get her through.

My Review:
First off, let me say that this book is beautifully written, and based on the reviews on goodreads and amazon, obviously it has deeply touched a lot of people. I, however, am not one of them.

I really wanted to like this book, but I found the story to not only be quite dull but also really kind of creepy. The relationship between June and her uncle, and then Toby, came off very disturbing to me. June says numerous times that she loved her uncle, and she pretty much means she was in love with him. After he dies, she basically transfers those feelings to his boyfriend, Toby. It really bothered me that Toby, a thirty-something-year-old man, would spend so much of his time with a fourteen-year-old girl. I understand that many young girls develop crushes on men in their lives who they deem "safe" and this is what is happening from June's perspective, but that does not explain Toby.

On top of being slightly bothered by the entire book, there is basically no plot. There is no climax. There is nothing but the main character continually thinking and doing the same things over and over again. I kept putting the book down because I was bored, only to pick it back up again because I knew that if I didn't just barrel through it, I would never finish it. I found myself counting down the pages until the end of the book.

Finally, June's sister Greta is the worst portrayal of a sister ever! She is just plain mean and hurtful throughout the entire book, and then when the author explains the reasoning behind it, it is so stupid! I understand sisters being mean to each other; after all, I have a sister. But, I cannot imagine my sister, or any sister, ever acting the way Greta acts in this book. It made her entire character completely unbelievable for me.

All that being said, I would not recommend this book to anyone. I may be in the minority with this, but I just think you will waste your time reading it. I don't believe there is much swearing, but there are some sexual references, though nothing graphic.

My Rating: 3/10

Book 7: Still Alice

Still Alice by Lisa Genova has been on my to-read list for a couple years, but for some reason I never got around to reading it. I decided this challenge was the perfect time to pick it up, so I chose to read it as my seventh book.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Buy it Now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble








Book Summary:
Alice Howard lives a great life. She's in her early fifties, has a husband and three grown children, works as a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard, and is an expert in linguistics. After becoming extremely forgetful and at times disoriented, she goes to the doctor to find out if these are symptoms of menopause or something greater. From there her doctor sends her to a neurologist, where she discovers that she has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Told in month to month format, this heartbreaking story tells of how she progresses from simple misplaced items to forgetting her family.

My Review:
Since I can't afford to purchase fifty-two books this year, most of the books I've been reading have come from the library. Because they come from the library, at times I won't be able to read the book I really want to read. This is what happened to lead me to read Still Alice. I really wanted to read Insurgent (the sequel to Divergent) next, but I was unable to obtain a copy. Instead, I decided to read one of the books that I pulled from my grandma's shelf last month when I went to Wellsburg for her funeral. I am so glad that I did.

I really, really enjoyed this book. The story was so heartbreaking that I couldn't put it down. Having had two Grandmother's fall into dementia, much of this story hit close to home for me. Especially when it got to the point of her not recognizing her children and calling them, in her mind, "the mother" and "the actress". I've not done this in other reviews, but I'm going to go ahead and quote my favorite scene in this book:

--Alice looked at Lydia in pieces, close-up snapshots of her features. She recognized each one like people recognized the house they grew up in, a parent's voice, the creases of their own hands, instinctively, without effort or conscious consideration. But strangely, she had a hard time identifying Lydia as a whole.
"You're so beautiful," said Alice. "I'm afraid of looking at you and not knowing who you are."
"I think that even if you don't know who I am someday, you'll still know that I love you."
"What if I see you, and I don't know that you're my daughter, and I don't know that you love me?"
"Then, I'll tell you that I do, and you'll believe me"--

I absolutely loved this scene because it just felt so real and raw to me. As her youngest child and the one from whom she was most distant, it makes sense that Lydia would be the first she'd start to forget. This is one of the times where she is realizing that she's starting to forget her own child. Everything about this scene is perfect for me. And it's so true, once someone you love forgets you, you just tell them that you love them and hope that they believe you.

The only thing that bugged me in the book was her husband John's response to her. I totally understand why he was being distant, he couldn't bear seeing her descent into madness, but it still bugged me.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. It takes a little bit to get started, but the story is ultimately beautiful. There are a few swear word sprinkled throughout, specifically the f word, but I honestly believed, for once, it was well used in a book. Where the character was at emotionally when she used it, was exactly on point. Other than that, I don't believe there is much, if any, sexual references.

My Rating 9/10

Book 6: Diveregent

Still on a dystopia kick, I went with Divergent by Veronica Roth for book six.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Tumblr

Buy it Now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble








Book Summary:
Society has come to a breaking point, and in order to prevent war they have separated into five factions. The Abnegation believe the fall of society came about because of greed and selfishness, so they have given up all things considered self-indulgent and pledged to act selflessly. The Amity believe aggression to be the root cause to society's downfall, so they have chosen to be peaceful at all costs. The Erudite think ignorance is the issue and seek the never-ending path to complete knowledge acquirement. The Dauntless are the brave and courageous who believe society's true problem was from cowardice. Lastly, the Candor, who think human duplicity was the issue, took to always telling the truth and speaking their mind.

Beatrice Prior was born into Abnegation, but has always had trouble being selfless, as she knows she should. When her aptitude test ends up inconclusive, she struggles to understand why being a Divergent is so dangerous and chooses to leave her family and join Dauntless. As war between factions breaks out, she begins to understand what being a Divergent truly means and how she can use her ability to help those around her.


My Review:
This is my favorite book I have read so far this year. I seriously struggled putting it down the day I started it and was almost late for work. First off, the book is very well written. The characters truly came to life for me. By the end of the novel, I felt like I actually knew Beatrice (aka Tris) and Four (yes that's his nickname). Reading how Beatrice processes through everything was one of my favorite aspects of the book. She knows that she is different, but she doesn't fully understand why or how she is different. And since she's been told to not let anyone know she's divergent because of how dangerous it would be, she has no one to talk to about it. I also really liked getting Four's background. I guessed early on who Four actually was, but I liked that Roth keeps that a secret until Four feels that it is time for Tris to find out.

There honestly wasn't anything that I didn't like at all about this book. Everything about it was just fabulous to me. I would definitely recommend this to others. There is minimal swearing and a few sexual references. Nothing too graphic though; they basically just kiss a lot and talk about having sex.

My Rating: 9/10

Book 5: Crossed

Even though it took me a while to get into Matched, after I finished it, I really wanted to read the rest of the series, so for book five I chose Crossed by Ally Condie.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Buy it now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble








*If you haven't read the book Matched, you may want to stop reading this review as there may be spoilers ahead*

Book Summary:
Crossed begins a mere months after Matched ends, Ky has been sent to the Outer Provinces with other Abberations and Anomolies to be eliminated (though they are told they are going to fight the Enemy), and Cassia has been sent to a work camp by her parents in hope that she can get close enough to where Ky is located to escape and find him.

When Cassia mistakenly gets transferred to the provinces, she finds out that just a few days before she arrived Ky escaped with Vick, a fellow soldier, and Eli, a young kid, to the Carving, a place where they believe they will find the farmers, a group of people who live peacefully outside of the Society. Cassia and Indie, a friend from the work camp, decide to escape and follow Ky. After days of being in the wild, the two reunite. From there they must make a decision to either follow the farmers, who have left the Carving, or join the Resistance.

My Review:
I liked this book more than Matched. Since Cassia and Ky were already defined prior to this novel, Condie was able to go deeper into those characters and really dig into who they are and why they think the way they do. I really liked how even though Cassia dislikes the Society at this point and is contemplating joining the Resistance, she is still naive to the fact that nearly everything they have told her was a lie. She still ultimately trusts most of what she grew up with. It's interesting to see her work through that a little. I also liked that we got to see more of Ky's back story of growing up in the Outer Provinces and what happened to his parents.

My favorite thing about this book, however, was the introduction of the new characters. I loved Indie. Throughout most of the book, she was so mysterious that I kept going back and forth on whether she was going to be a good guy or a bad guy. Eli and Vick were also good character introductions, I enjoyed reading how Vick got to the point of going from being a citizen to being sent to the Outer Provinces to fight.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it is not really a stand-alone novel. It is most definitely the middle of a story. Nothing much really happens other than getting to know the characters a bit more than we did in the previous book, and the entire book just feels like a set up for the third book. I realize that most trilogies are written for the second book to be a set up for the third, but many of them still have a really good story that goes with it, this really didn't.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone; however, I would not recommend picking this up unless you've previously read (and enjoyed) Matched and plan on reading Reached. Like the first in the series, there is little, if any, swearing and no sexual references, only a bit of kissing.

My Rating: 7/10
 

Book 4: Matched

I love dystopian novels. From the moment I read The Giver in 7th grade, I was hooked. Recently there has been an overflow of dystopian novels coming out, from the Hunger Games trilogy to the Uglies series to my choice for book four, Matched by Ally Condie.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Buy it now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble








Book Summary:
Cassia Reyes is your average teenage girl who lives in a perfect world where she has no worries or hard choices because the Society makes them all. From what you eat to how you dress, where you'll work, and who you'll marry, everything is decided for you, even when you'll die.

On the night of her match banquet, Cassia learns that her perfect match is none other than her best friend Xander Carrow, but the next day when she looks at his microcard, it's not only Xander's face she sees but also Ky Markham's. Thrown, she's unsure of what to do or who to tell. When an official shows up to inform her that there was a glitch in the system and that Ky can't be her match because he's an Abberation, she's initially relieved. For some reason, though, she can't seem to get Ky out of her head, and after getting to know him better, she begins to question if the Society is as good as she thought it was.

My Review:
This is one of those books that going in, I just knew was going to be awesome and I would love it. I was sadly mistaken. Now, don't get me wrong, the book is good, I just don't think it's up to caliber with the other dystopian novels I've read in recent years. It wasn't until about half way through, that this book finally grabbed my interest. In general, the concept of the book is really good. The idea that the government literally decides who you are going to be through your entire life is an interesting one. I also thought Condie's writing style was lovely.

I, however, didn't enjoy the main character of Cassia. I just didn't really get her at all. Basically, she falls in love with this guy just because the Society has told her not to. Really? I get that she's just a teenager and they fall in and out of love quicker than I can snap my fingers, but I just think that sort of premise is a bit ridiculous, especially since the entire time she's trying to convince herself that she didn't fall in love with Ky for this reason. On this same thought, the way she treated Xander made me want to punch her. Yes, I actually wanted to punch a fictional character. I really liked the character of Xander. He is a nice guy who does everything he can for Cassia, and she basically blows him off. The character of Ky is much harder for me to review. I think he's a genuinely nice kid who's been dealt a bad lot in life, but it bugs me that he is friends with Xander and then pretty much does everything he can to steal Cassia away.

All in all, I would recommend this book to others, especially for young teens. I'm not sure that there is any swearing in this book, if there is, it is VERY minimal, and there are no sexual references. The worst it gets is kissing and talking of having kids, nothing more.

My Rating: 6/10

Book 3: The Magician King

For book three I went with The Magician King by Lev Grossman.

Author Links: Website / Blog / Twitter / Goodreads

Buy it now: Amazon / Barnes and Noble







Before I go into a book summary, let me first say that this is the second book in a series. The first, The Magicians, I read last year. I will try not to spoil too much about The Magicians here, but be forewarned that there may be spoilers to that book as I write my summary and review for The Magician King.

Book Summary:
This book picks up after The Magicians, Quentin Coldwater is now royalty in Fillory along
Julia Wicker, his crush from high school, and Eliot Waugh and Janet Pluchinsky, his friends from Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. As the story starts, Quentin has become bored with his life as king of Fillory and is searching for some adventure, something to fill his dull life. He decides to commission a ship so that he and Julia can collect back taxes from a remote island. Once there he learns of a magic key on a nearby island, and upon finding the key, he and Julia wind up back on Earth. Attempting to return to Fillory become his unintended quest. On earth he and Julia team up with Brakebills' graduate Josh Hoberman and his friend Poppy. Upon returning to Fillory, they find that the entire world of magic is in danger, and that only they can save it.

Parallel to this adventure, Julia's backstory is unfolded. Being that she is a hedge witch (meaning she learned her magic on the streets instead of in a school) her path was much different than that of Quentin's (which is told in The Magicians). After failing her entrance exam to Brakebills, Julia tries to find out anything she can about magic. After years of learning everything she can from the underground world of magic, she catches the eye of an elite group of magicians who, like her, failed their entrance exams but found a way to become powerful regardless. The group teaches her everything they know, but when they decide to further their magic by summoning a god, things go askew and Julia finds herself transformed.

My Review:
I knew going into this book that I probably shouldn't read it, but I did anyway. The reason I say this is that the first book was filled with swearing, sexual references, and graphic scenes. The only reason I read this one was because I wanted to know what happened after The Magicians, the same reason I will probably read the third book when it comes out.

The story itself is very engaging. It's a mix of a really dark Harry Potter with the magical world of Narnia. Some people feel that Grossman ripped off these books, and while I understand why they believe that, there were enough differences for me to feel that this was not completely accurate. I really liked getting to see Julia's background as a hedge witch in this book. After reading The Magicians and seeing how strict Brakebills is about how to use magic, it was very interesting to see the contrast of that in the underground world of magic. Julia quickly became my favorite character in this book, as I didn't really like Quentin in the first book, I still didn't really like him much in this book. He is not who I would choose as a main character in a book. No matter what happens to him, he's never content with his life. Every time he gets exactly what he wishes for, he is unhappy about it. Seriously, you are a powerful magician living as a king, get over yourself!

As far as storyline goes, I kind of felt like the quest to save magic took backseat to Julia. I didn't find that I really cared much whether Quentin and Julia returned to Fillory or whether magic was saved, I just wanted to read about how Julia became who she is.

All in all, this book was okay. I don't know that I would recommend it to people as there is some VERY graphic parts, including a rape scene, along with a TON of swearing. This is not a book for teenagers in any way. That being said, Grossman did end the story in a way that makes me want to find out what is going to happen in the third book, so I give him props for that.

My Rating: 4/10