Book Review: Pretty Girl by Amy Heugh

I've been putting off this review for such a long time and decided to tackle it tonight. My attitude about it isn't getting any better so...here we go.

Blurb from Goodreads:

If there were one day that she could change it would be the day she was taken.

After her parents’ divorce, seventeen-year-old Izzy Scott and her mother move to the old town of St. Augustine to begin a new life, a life beyond the media attention and the memories of the traumatic experiences that left an everlasting affect on their family.

The former ballerina is trying to adjust to the outside world without suffering a panic attack and exposing who she is - all while getting through her senior year at a new school. That’s easy to say until she meets local boy Mason Winchester, a boy with a tragic past.

Mason has a reputation for violence, but a love for motorcycles. At the age of eleven he lost his mother to cancer and from then he has been running from something, but could never really get away.

Like any other angry teenager, he just wants to be left alone and to have nothing to do with anyone else because he believed that he had nothing to offer. That changes the moment he saw what was in the new girl eyes.

Tragedy wasn't new to either of their lives but among the secrets and the memories the one thing they both never excepted was to find hope.

Izzy is trying to work through a traumatic event in her recent past. She and her mother essentially run away to St. Augustine and try to start over. But it isn't so easy to brush off your own history and it tends to follow you around.  Izzy is a loner by nature and distances herself from the rest of her classmates but the problem with being the new kid is that everybody is curious.

Enter Mason. He's bribed into getting to know her better by one of the popular class jerks. He has a mess of his own baggage and Izzy and Mason connect on a level only known by the truly lonely. He sees this beautiful girl who has so much to offer the world but closes herself off. She sees a kind person surrounded by a brick wall that she feels that she can break through.

Mason...

Really? Really? You accept a bribe to meet a girl?  This isn't 10 Things I Hate About You. You should know better. It felt like a bad teenage rom-com...probably because we've seen this trope a million times. I've read it before. I've seen the movie. He's a walking cliche. Bad boy on a motorcycle? Hangs out by said bike after school? A girl getting on a random dude's bike and driving off with him? It seems like people would have a lot of issues with this. Namely, her parents. What about his aunt? I see some insurance issues in this.

Next...Izzy. If you are so attached to your twin brother, then why have you not talked to him for the first half of the book? Why haven't you talked to your dad? It felt like a lot of stuff was left out of their relationships and it would have helped the plot a lot. She was also too accomplished. She could draw, she was smart, she was a ballerina. Was there anything she couldn't do, besides let go of her past? She needed more flaws. She needs idiosyncrasies that would crop up. Make her terrible at math. Make her a complete brat. Give her a horrible attitude that doesn't miraculously get cured when she meets the man of her dreams.

The drama at the end didn't feel like enough, either. There was a fair amount of build up to the conclusion and then it was kind of underwhelming. 

Yes, it was traumatic and horrible and all of the things that should be but it wasn't handled well in the book. Mason was appropriately heroic and she forgives him for all of the bad things he did and for his deal with the guy at the beginning of the book.

Why can't a girl say "No! This isn't ok. Thank you for saving my life but we have some other stuff to work through." in one of these books? It's not normal to immediately going back to trusting someone. 

What I wanted:

What I got:

I'm sick of reading the same story lines over and over in YA. Let's inject a spark into the genre somehow. Please? I'm begging you.

Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This book is so effing hard to review.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is a wonderful example of a well created fantasy world in which there is conflict, love, battles, plot twists, and castes.

Think of this as a crazy mix up between Divergent, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Graceling. Power is decided by birth and your lot in life is based on the color of your blood. If you are not successful as a Red, you are sent into a decades long battle that you have no investment in.

Ok, let's start with something simple. The cover is stark and perfect for this book. There are only two colors and that reflects the whole theme of what is going on.  Even though the red part of it has a certain disgusting syrupy look to it, the message is effective.

Mare steals to survive and when she is caught by the wrong person, her life gets flipped upside down in an unprecedented way.  She was originally slotted to become part of the military, like her brothers. She was going to live and die by what the Silvers wanted for her. Mare had no purpose to them. She was a pawn. She was part of their game. Until...

“In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don't know if I'll ever smile again."

This book is effing magical. It has everything that a book lover would want. I adored the way that the characters are written and there is no doubt in my mind that some of the characters are truly evil.  Mare is a character with depth and when she is suddenly thrust into the world of court intrigue, what could have once been a romantic story transforms into a story of betrayal, inner strength and looking over your shoulder.

Cal and Mason are foils to each other and they play it well.  Cal is overconfident with his powers but has a heart of gold. He believes in what he does and knows that someday, he has to take control of the entire kingdom. Talk about pressure. Mason has the typical younger brother complex where he feels ignored by not only his parents, but also the kingdom. Who cares about the second in line to the throne when the first is perfectly healthy?

Only exception to the rule

I have one major bone to pick with Red Queen and it may get resolved in later books but it bothers me right now.  It did not feel like a dystopian book until they bring out the motorcycle. It's hard to imagine the world that Mare exists in having motorcycles.  Also, if they have motorized vehicles available, you would think that would be a bigger deal. But no. It isn't. There are no trucks, tanks, or rage machines. Just motorcycles and electric plants. That makes absolutely no sense to me. It seems like a major part of this war that they are in could be fought in a different way instead of just sending Reds out to be slaughtered like the army men we all set on fire when we were kids.

But you know what is the best thing about this book?  There is not one character that is perfect. There isn't somebody that is immune to the struggles and intrigue. Everybody plays a role whether they want to or not.

"Anyone can betray anyone."

"The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind."

"The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain."

I remember when I was starting Game of Thrones, a friend laughed and said "Don't get attached to anyone."  The same goes for this book.  Everybody will break your heart.

But that doesn't mean don't read it. Go get it. Now. Right now. It will make your day.

Sorry this isn't a more in depth review but this is all I can say about it right now.

Book Review: Vampire Academy

Sometimes, it amazes me how much a book can influence my mood. Some books are able to drag me out of a funk and get me excited about turning the page. Despite whatever crap has gone on that day, I find myself smiling while reading a good book.  I crave those days where I can fully immerse myself in wonderful prose and deep characters. 

Vampire Academy by Rachel Mead felt...shallow.  There was a world but we've seen it before. Yes, there are vampires out there in paranormal books/series. There's no real connection with anything else in this book. It just felt plopped down in the middle of nowhere where the outside world really can't interact. Which I get...but it felt like a cheap way of doing things.

I'm not a big fan of the cover either. That's not to say that simple covers are bad but this feels like a cop out in some ways. I would have liked it with just the letters. I would have liked it with just the girl in the background. But both feels like the artist couldn't make up her mind. And really? Red cover for a vampire book? It's been done. Do something else. 

Rose and Lissa have been on the run for a long time. Running from their pasts and obligations but also running from danger. Rose is desperate to keep Lissa safe, a Moroi vampire who helps sustain the regular population of vampires. When they are finally caught and brought back to their special vampire school, they are expected to catch up and attend classes like normal students. But the threat seems to follow them wherever they go.  Add in boys, forbidden romances and dead things that randomly crop up and you have a recipe for an interesting school year.

The differences between the different vampires was never fully explained, in my opinion. The why aspect of it seemed to be missing. Like the "why should I care" and "what impact does their own classification have on normal humans aka the vast population of the world". I hate it when authors ignore the fact that their books have to exist in a full world, not just a little bubble.  It makes it so there are very few real world consequences for their actions.

Also, what do they do? How do they make money? How can they afford to keep feeders alive and run a school and purchase expensive gifts?  It this like Vampire Knight where everybody is a model and an actress or whatever? Was this explained but only briefly so I found myself not caring?

Lissa was absolutely helpless in all things. She didn't even flail or freak out. She just turns inwards, hurts herself and expects someone to rescue her.  She is the definition of a helpless main character. Lissa is supposed to be protected in all things but why not have a way to protect yourself, besides relying on other people? I mean, most kings and princes in medieval times trained with a sword, even if it was just for show. Give them a gun! Give them poison darts or tasers or something! The Moroi are the epitome of sitting ducks in this series. I can't stand it when people don't even try to take basic cautionary measures to protect themselves. It's the same as not locking your car doors because one of your neighbors might see the thief and tell them to stop.

Rose was a bit more entertaining to read but I found her mostly unrealistic. It's hard work getting into shape and 4 or 5 hours of training each day would be enough to make it so that you are so tired, you can't even get in the shower. 

There was not any of that. You never get used to working out. If you stop getting sore, then you are doing something wrong and you aren't making yourself any stronger. If you are no longer hurting after combat style training, then somebody is going way too easy on you and you aren't learning anything.  Rose also has a reputation of a town bicycle and she acts like it is somebody else's fault in some ways. She never owns up to her past and confronts it.  She just hopes that she can let it die. No wonder there are rumors about them. You have to tackle your history and prove people wrong, not just ignore it when they trash talk you.  It is really hard for me to get on the side of someone that never seems to own up to her mistakes.  It makes her look more childish than she is. 

Christian was the only character that had depth to him.  He has a history and a reason for being the way he is.  I like the idea of an outcast coming to help people and he is a good character for it. He is strong and has good morals, despite his familial problems. I sympathized with him and I wanted him to have more of a role than the girls. 

Dimitri was basically a big hunk of man flesh that played the role of stoic love interest. It's not that I didn't like him, but I've seen him before. I got sick of the "comrade" jokes pretty quickly and he seems like an underdeveloped character that was there out of convenience. "Oh...I need a male complication to throw in!" *hurls a buff Russian man into the plot*

Also, there was no real threat of danger. The Strigoi are never truly scary in any of it and by leaving a significant portion of your population defenseless, the author is telling me that they aren't scary to her either. It's like being scared of tarantulas. Pretty logical in principle, but never an actual problem. 

Maybe I'm not over being a grump and I'm being ridiculous about this.  Maybe I have seen too many books like this. Maybe this is fallout from the Twilight books but this has definitely set me back a few steps when getting over my thing about vampire books. They have to be unique and if they aren't, I find myself being super critical and not liking them at all.

Book Review: Skeletal by Kathering Hayton

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

What the hell did I just read?

I'm still in shock. This book was a whirlwind of action throughout and I have a lot of conflicting feelings about it.

Skeletal is a story of a girl who was lost. Daina moved from town to town with her mother, changing schools three to four times a year, running from problems and never putting down roots. Daina is heavily independent and tries desperately to maintain control of her hectic life. She tries to prevent her mother from spending all of their money on alcohol and keeps her grades up. She never expected a bully to turn on her and make her life a living hell.

But this is much more than a bullying story. Daina is a fighter and she strives to make the struggles in her life building blocks. She tries to make friends and is happy for a short while. Life has a way of going to hell really quick and despite her best efforts, Daina gets sucked down a road that she never wanted to go down.

Daina is an interesting character but I struggled with her age, among other things. She was 14 in all of this. I understand that she had to grow up quick because of the life that she had but it felt too extreme. She didn't react in a relatable way. Certain things that would drive most teenagers into a panic barely phased her. I can understand rolling with the bullying but she lets everybody take advantage of her. Her mother, her guidance counselor, the bullies, the creepy guy in the bushes...I won't go further. She was a doormat. 

All the rest of the characters were severely twisted. Who does this? Even adults don't do this! It's so messed up. Maybe I am having issues with this because I've never experienced bullying in this extreme but I feel like most people haven't either. 

The administration of this school is unbelievable at best. NO SCHOOL WOULD IGNORE WHAT IS GOING ON. No school. At all. Know why? Lawsuits. The school would be shut down in a hot minute. And then teachers and administration and principals would be fired and possibly go to jail. It's simply not logical.

There were just so many plot holes. 

The paranormal element in this book was understated at best and left me a little underwhelmed. There was really no reason for the way things played out and I can understand having a ghost as a plot device but it didn't feel fully realized.

The end of the book was rushed and the conclusion was never fully explained. There was too much suspense and building on the front end to justify the conclusion.

In the end, I couldn't connect with the characters and there were too many missing parts for me to enjoy this book. Maybe I'm in a bad mood but this book was not for me.

Hearts Challenge!

Hello y'all!

Challenges are awesome.  They make you read and give you the opportunity to exceed your own expectations.  This one comes to us from Lovers of Paranormal and it is the HEARTS CHALLENGE!!!


This is going to be a co-hosting event with +Melissa Baez  @ Ever So Mela.


All it consists on is in reading books that have covers or titles with the colors red, pink, or white in them!

It starts on February 1 up until March 1, 2015

Melissa's ♥Hearts♥ Challenge:

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (aka hottest author in the realm)
Pretty Girl by Amy Heugh
Where the Road Takes me by Jay Mclean
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Sacrificed: The Last Oracle by Emily Wibberly

My ♥Hearts♥ Challenge:

Red Queen (aka the book everyone needs to read this year) by Victoria Aveyard
Pretty Girl by Amy Heugh
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Fake by C.L. Stone

How many books will you read in this challenge?