Origin Review

Origin by Jennifer L Armentrout
Released: August 27, 2013
Series: Lux
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 400
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, so the fourth book in the Lux series is Origin. It starts right after the previous one left off, with Katy being captured by Daedalus. This one might be one of my favourites in the series because it's from both Katy and Daemon's point of view.

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back. After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he's facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? And will they even be together?

Luxen. Arum. Hybrids. Origins? The list of non-humans keeps growing, and it's not so black and white for who's good and who's bad anymore, not to mention the giant pile of crazy that is Daedalus. Daemon will do whatever it takes to get Katy back, and Luc can help him, but favours don't come for free.

Area 51. Secret weddings. And literally blowing up the vegas strip.

This book is action-packed from start to finish. It's a page turner that had me reading through the night. Most series lag somewhere in the middle but this one just keeps getting better and better!

July TBR

Hey guys, so I failed miserably at my TBR re-reads last month. However, I acquired a few books from friends that I'm going to try to work through this month!
- Briar Rose - Jana Oliver (I've been trying to finish this book for two months now..)
- Dreamland - Sarah Dessen
- A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
- Rook - Sharon Cameron
- Cinder - Marissa Meyer
- Scarlet - Marissa Meyer
- Cress - Marissa Meyer
I also hope to pick up The Heart of Betrayal (sequel to The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson) when it comes out next week.

Opal Review

Opal by Jennifer L Armentrout
Released: December 11, 2012
Series: Lux
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 452
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I've recently finished re-reading the rest of the Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout, so after Obsidian and Onyx is Opal. It starts up right where the last one left off.

After everything, I'm no longer the same Katy. I'm different...and I'm not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I'm capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won't turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever. 

Adam is dead. Blake killed him and almost killed Dee, too. But Dawson is back! Which is incredible, but he's only a shell of the person he was before the DOD took him. Beth is still with the DOD and Dawson will do anything to get her back. So naturally, Katy promises that her and Daemon will do whatever they can to help him get her back.

The problem is, Blake is the only one who knows where Beth is. And she just so happens to be where his friend Chris is too. I smell a trap. So of course Blake blackmails them into helping him get his friend back.

Blake is seriously one of my most hated characters in a book ever.

Enter Luc. Although a bit different (and slightly terrifying), Luc is one of my favourite characters in this series. Daemon and Katy seek him out for help, and he ends up giving them what they need to break into Mount Weather and rescue Beth from Daedalus.

The last chapter of the book was absolutely heartbreaking, but so well written. This book is amazing, and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

Onyx Review

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Released: August 7th, 2012
Series: Lux
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 416
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I just finished re-reading Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout and once again, I loved it just as much as the first time around. Onyx is the second novel in the Lux series.

Daemon's determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I've sworn him off, even though he's running more hot than cold these days. But we've got bigger problems. I've seen someone who shouldn't be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he's never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them - from me?

Katy just wants to get through senior year. She wants to be normal, have normal friends and do normal things. Daemon is determined to show Katy what he feels for her is real, and when a new boy, Blake Saunders, ends up in Katy's biology class and starts showing interest in her, Daemon's jealousy level goes through the roof.

But Katy and Daemon haven't told anyone about him healing her and their newfound connection. And now Katy can move things with her mind, and her and Daemon can still hear each others thoughts. To top things off, Katy see's someone she believed to be dead. Someone everyone believed to be dead.

Then someone reveals they have also been healed, or mutated, by a Luxen and they help Katy train and learn to control her newfound abilities.

This book has everything. Steamy kissing scenes. Teen angst. Jealousy. Betrayal. And death. I found the second book to be as much of a page turner as the first, and I don't think I'll ever stop loving this series.

Obsidian Review

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Released: May 8th, 2012
Series: Lux
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 400
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, so I just finished re-reading Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout from the Lux series and I honestly loved it just as much as the first time. For those of you who don't know, there are 6 books in the series: Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origin, Opposition, and Shadows is the prequel. I have the special collector's editions of the books, which puts the first two, the third and fourth, and the fifth and prequel together, so I apologize if my blurbs are different from the individual novels.

There's an alien next door. And with his looming height and eerie green eyes, he's hot...until he opens his mouth. He's infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, he marks me. Turns out he has a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal his abilities and the only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to him until my alien mojo fades. If I don't kill him first, that is. 

Katy Swarts might by one of my all time favourite characters ever, and possibly the one I can relate to most. She's down to earth, obsessed with books, loves her mom more than anything, protective of her friends, and she doesn't put up with Daemon's crap.

When Katy and her mom move from Florida to West Virginia before senior year, she quickly forms two very different relationships with the siblings next door. While Katy and Dee become best friends, Daemon wants nothing to do with her and makes it very clear he wants Katy to stay away from his sister. Which of course she doesn't.

Turns out Daemon and Dee are part of an alien race of Lux, called Luxen. Luxen are beings of light, and can control light and bend it to their will. Arum, are the opposite of Luxen. Arum are beings of darkness and shadows, and they are after the Luxens power.

I love the characters and the relationships in this book, and as always, Jennifer L. Armentrout delivers the best kissing scenes! I will definitely continue re-reading this series in the future.

June TBR

I'm dedicating June to re-reads! On my TBR shelf this month I have:
- Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
- Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare
- Clockwork Princess - Cassandra Clare
- Legend - Marie Lu
- Prodigy - Marie Lu
- Champion - Marie Lu
- Beautiful Disaster - Jamie McGuire
- Walking Disaster - Jamie McGuire
- Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
- Crescendo - Becca Fitzparick
- Silence - Becca Fitzpatrick
- Finale - Becca Fitspatrick
However, I've already completely deviated from my list and just finished Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (review up soon) and am currently onto the second instalment in the Lux series, Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

Four Review

Four by Veronica Roth
Released: July 8, 2014
Series: Divergent Series
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 304
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I recently re-read Four by Veronica Roth which are short stories from Divergent in Fours' point of view. I loved the Divergent trilogy so when she came out with stories from Fours' point of view I fell in love all over again.

One choice. 
One choice breaks free of his past.
One choice embraces his future.
One choice changes him - forever.
One choice will free him.

Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old-son of Abnegation's faction leader did the same. Tobias's transfer to dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened "Four," he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future - and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to become Tobias again. 

I love that the stories all take place during defining moments in his life. From escaping his father and his faction to becoming successful as an initiate and then in his new faction to meeting Tris. We always new that Four was dark, damaged and broken. Now we know why. We have a better understanding of his past, and a window into his head.

The writing in these stories was incredible and I will definitely keep re-reading this book.

Where She Went Review

Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Released: April 17, 2012
Series: If I Stay Collection
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 304
Stars: 4/5

Hey guys, I just finished reading Where She Went by Gayle Forman and I thought it was almost better than the first one. I loved that this one was in Adam's point of view, and we got to see how everything affected him.

It's been three years since the devastating accident... three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. 

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is a rising star at Julliard and Adam is a bona fide rock star, complete with tabloid headlines and a celebrity girlfriend. 

Then chance brings them together again, for one night.

As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and to each other.

I love that right from the beginning you get to see that although Adam has gotten everything he dreamed of for his career, it has affected him in an entirely different way than it should have. Three years after everything happened, Adam has crazy anxiety problems and he's on bad terms with the band. You get to see how dark and broken he is. How lost he is.

Then he stumbles across Carnegie Hall where Mia is performing that night and he goes to watch her show, and she invites him backstage afterward, and they end up spending the night seeing her favourite places in New York City.

I thought this book was as beautifully written as the first one. Overall, I really liked it and would probably read it again.

If I Stay Review

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Released: April 6, 2010
Series: If I Stay Collection
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 320
Stars: 4

Hey guys, so I just finished reading If I Stay by Gayle Forman and I really liked it! I thought it was really well written, and I enjoyed following the struggle and character development that Mia had to go through in order to make her decision.

On a day that started like any other...

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left - the most important decision she'll ever make. 

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving. 

At seventeen years old, Mia Hall is happy. She has a loving family, an incredible boyfriend, and she's going to Julliard to play the cello. On a snow day in Oregon causing an accident, she loses her entire family and proceeds to spend the day in an out-of-body-experience in the hospital watching nurses, her grandparents, her family, her best friend and her boyfriend come to grips with what has happened and try to convince her unconscious body to stay.

I actually really enjoyed this book. Aside from the outrageously tragic opening to this story, I love that Mia actually doesn't know if she wants to stay in a world without her family, or leave with them.

This book was beautiful written, and the addition of flashbacks of Mia's life with her family, her music, her friends and her boyfriend added so much character the story. I also really enjoyed that there was a large music aspect to this story.

Overall I thought it was a good book and would probably read it again in the future. I've already started the second one, Where She Went so hopefully it's just as good.

The Young Elites Review

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Released: October 7th, 2014
Series: The Young Elites
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 368
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I recently re-read The Young Elites by Marie Lu and it was just as amazing the second time around.

Adelina is one of my all time favourite characters and watching her journey is truly incredible. The things she has suffered, endured, and overcome are heartbreaking, and just when she thinks things could finally be okay, they get turned upside down.

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina's black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family's good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever's survivors are rumoured to possess more than just scars - they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites. 

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it's Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all. 

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they've never seen. 

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side and that Teren is the true enemy. However, the lives of theses three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that don't belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her. 

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt. 

The characters, the storyline, and the writing of this book are all extraordinary. This book had me on the edge of my seat, barely able to turn the page fast enough. I easily dove head-first into this world and into these characters.

I would definitely read this book again and again, and I can't wait for the second instalment, The Rose Society to be released later this year. If you haven't already read Marie Lu's other series, Legend, I encourage you to pick it up as it is equally amazing!

Belzhar Review

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
Released: September 30, 2014
Series: n/a
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 272
Stars: 3/5

Hey guys, I just finished reading Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer. I have very mixed feelings on this book. I initially picked it up because of the cover, and then bought it because of the summary.

If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be at home in New Jersey with her sweet British boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She'd be watching old comedy sketches with him. She'd be kissing him in the library stacks.

She certainly wouldn't be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, signed up for an exclusive, supposedly life-changing class called Special Topics in English that focuses - only and entirely - on the works of Sylvia Plath. 

But life isn't fair. Reeve has been gone for almost a year, and Jam is still mourning.

When a journal-writing assignment leads Jam into a mysterious other-world she and her classmates call Belzhar, she discovers a realm where the untainted past is restored, and she can feel Reeve's arms around her once again. But, as the pages of her journal begin to fill up, Jam must confront hidden truths and ultimately decide what she's willing to sacrifice to reclaim her loss.

From the New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer comes a breathtaking and surprising story about first love, deep sorrow, and the power of acceptance. 

When Jam's boyfriend dies she goes into a terrible depression. When her parents no longer know what to do with her, they send her to The Wooden Barn, which is essentially a school for emotionally unstable teens. In her Special Topics in English class, she meets four other students who have all gone through terrible things as well, and they begin to bond over their experiences and their journals.

I thought the style of writing in this book was great, although I couldn't care less about the main character. I found her to be very detached and a bit whiny which just didn't personally appeal to me - I was more interested in the side characters.

Up until the ending I was fairly interested in this book, the plot and storyline were interesting and I liked how certain poems and things about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath were woven into the story.

However, I did not like the ending at all. When I found out the truth behind the gigantic delusion in this book it was an instant turn-off for me.

Overall I thought it was a decent book up until the ending. I more than likely won't read it again.

Stitching Snow Review

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis
Released: October 14, 2014
Series: n/a
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 336
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I just finished reading Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis and I thought it was incredible. For those of you that don't know, it's a re-telling of Snow White.

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet, once known for lush landscapes, is now filled with violence, fear, and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his new wife as they attempt to punish the princess's captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back - but that's assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mine. 

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Danes arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid. 

In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets (and a poisonous queen). With the galaxy's future - and her own - in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival. 

Essie - Princess Snow - is incredibly strong and brave, although she's running from a terrible past. Her mother is dead and her stepmother wants her dead. To save her life she flees from the castle as a child and spends the rest of her days on Thanda working with the mining drones.

This book has incredible characters, and some of my absolute favourites were the drones! Ticktock, Clank, Clunk, Cusser, Zippy, Whirligig, and Dimwit. The steampunk aspect of this retelling was done phenomenally and I thought it added so much character to the story.

I also liked that the love story in this book takes a long time to evolve and is not just instant attraction and love at first sight.

This book had me reading well into the night, and overall I thought it was a great read.

The Kiss of Deception Review

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
Released: July 8, 2014
Series: The Remnant Chronicles
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Pages: 496
Stars: 5/5

Hey guys, I just finished reading The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson  which is the first book in The Remnant Chronicles and I absolutely LOVED this book! I don't think I can actually express how much I loved this book..

A princess must find her place in a reborn world. 
She flees on her wedding day.
She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection. 
She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.
She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan. 

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance. 

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive - and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other is an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets - secrets that may unravel her world - even as she feels herself falling in love. 

The one thing that totally blew my mind and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time was that every so often, there would be chapters in the point of view of "the prince" and "the assassin" and it constantly kept you guessing which one was which. I thought I knew, and I was totally wrong.

Lia goes through a heart-pounding journey of love, courage, loss and deception. She flees the kingdom on her wedding day with her best friend Pauline and they try to start a new life in a quiet village.

When Kaden and Rafe show up, Lia finds herself entwined with both of them in more ways than she knows.

Overall I thought this book was phenomenal. I could barely put it down. The characters and the storyline are both very beautiful and mesmerizing. I would definitely read it again.

Winterspell Review

Winterspell by Claire Legrand
Released: September 30, 2014
Series: n/a
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 464
Stars: 4/5

Hey guys! I recently read Winterspell by Claire Legrand, which is a retelling of the Nutcracker. To anyone who doesn't know the original story, it was a novella written by E.T.A. Hoffmann entitled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which later became the famous ballet, The Nutcracker. 

This is actually the first fairytale retelling I have ever read, and I actually quite liked it. There were a few parts that had me confused or questioning certain character actions, but I thought overall the story was wonderful. I easily fell into the world that the author had created and I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. I also loved the steampunk aspect, I thought it was well done and a very interesting take on the story.

The clock chimes midnight, a curse breaks, and a girl meets a prince... But what follows is not all sweetness and sugarplums. 

New York City, 1899, Clara Stole, the mayor's ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother's murder, she has secretly trained in self-defence with the mysterious Drosselmeyer. 

Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes. 

Her home is destroyed, and her father is abducted - by beings distinctly not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas, bound by a wicked curse. If they're to survive, Clara has no choice but to trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets - and a need she can't define. With the dangerous, seductive faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won't leave Cane unscathed - if she leaves at all.

Inspired by The Nutcracker, Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale about love and war, longing and loneliness, and a girl who must learn to live without fear. 

This story is dark and twisty, and full of hatred stemmed from a war between the humans and the faeries. The humans hate the faeries because they do not understand their magic, while the faeries hate the humans for cutting them open and experimenting on them, and understandably so. Anise, the evil queen in the story is born of both human and faery lineage, and ruling Cane through fear and her magic.

Clara lives in a 19th century New York City where her mother has been brutally murdered, her father is the drunk mayor and the head of Concordia (the mafia), and her Godfather Drosselmeyer tells her odd stories and teaches her how to defend herself in his shop.

Nicholas was the prince of Cane when Anise murdered his family and overtook the kingdom, placing a curse on Nicholas. He resides, trapped in a statue in Godfathers shop.

When Anise's magic finds the statue, Clara ends up awakening him and setting him free from his curse. After Clara's father is kidnapped and taken to Cane, Clara and Nicholas set off after him to find him and hopefully attempt to reclaim the throne for Nicholas.

There are many twists and turns, action, love and war. Overall I really liked this book and would read it again in the future.

May TBR

On my TBR shelf I currently have :
- Endgame: The Calling  - James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton
- The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey
- The Kiss of Deception - Mary E. Pearson
- Stitching Snow - R. C. Lewis
- Belzhar - Meg Wolitzer
- The Fallen: The Fallen and Leviathan - Thomas E. Sniegoski
- If I Stay - Gayle Forman
- Where She Went - Gayle Forman
- Reborn - C. C. Hunter
- The Longest Ride - Nicholas Sparks
- I Heart London - Lindsey Kelk
I just finished Winterspell by Claire Legrand (review up soon) and am currently reading Briar Rose by Jana Oliver, but I don't know what to read next! Suggestions? I hope to get through as many of these as I can, including some re-reads this month!

Book Review Newbie!

Hey guys,

I'm a huge, huge book worm and I love reading all the reviews everyone writes about my favourite books so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and give it a try! Please let me know what you think, and your thoughts and feelings on any of my reviews!

:)