Sunday, April 27, 2014

Die For Me

Title: Die For Me
Author: Amy Plum
Release Date: May 10th, 2011
Rating: 1/5

Hello everyone!
Up next is Die For Me by Amy Plum. For the first time ever, I will shamefully admit that I did not finish this book. I know, I know. How can I truly be a book lover if I ever put a book down before the last page? Well, I'll tell you.

Let me start out by saying that for the longest time I was genuinely intrigued by this book, I just never had the time to pick it up. I am always intrigued by books that take place in far away places like Italy, Spain, Rome, and in this case, Paris, France. The cover also helped (I think it's gorgeous.) However, once I started reading it I realized how incredibly cheesy it was. My first clue was that the two characters instantly fall in love. Second, every other event is skipped except those that have to do with our hero of the story. By the time I was on page 100, it felt like I was reading a Twilight spin off written by a 12 year old. I know that sounds incredibly harsh, but if you've ever tried to crack this book open, you know why. The plot is poorly thought out, the dialogue is extremely cheesy and hard to follow, the actions are those of a pre-teen in love. The only aspect I enjoyed was the Sci-fi zombie-angels.



This is one book I would not recommend to anyone over the age of 13.

Sorry for the rude and spiteful feeling of this review, I was just very disappointed. If you have read and enjoyed this book, just remember that we may just have different tastes!

Until next time, Keep Reading!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Darkest Minds

Title: The Darkest Minds
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: December 18th, 2012
Rating: 3/5

Alright everybody,
Time to get down to business. There is now a massive pile of reviews I must plow through. The next one I have for you is The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. I'll start off by saying this: I have no idea. Honestly, this book took me a couple of weeks to get through. And considering my track record of reading books, that's a lifetime. I just could not get sucked into this book. All around the internet all I've heard are great things about it, but I just didn't see them.

Warning: There are spoilers down below. Scroll to the last paragraph to hear my final (non-spoiler) thoughts.

First of all, we start out with quite an interesting back story. The protagonist, Ruby, lives in a society where all the children around her age develop powers that the older generation think are too dangerous. They get locked up in these camps to either live out the rest of their days or die depending on what level of power they have. Ruby is one of the highest levels but tricks the employees of the camp into thinking she isn't so that she can live. That's the interesting part of the story.

Next, Ruby gets chosen by a group called the Children's League and is shimmied out of the camp to join their forces. Only Ruby decides to spit in the faces of the League and runs away and finds a group of kids in a minivan. Zu, Chubs, and Liam. They have all been in camps similar, but not as severe as the one Ruby was in, but they organized a breakout led by the fearless and brave Liam. You can guess which one Ruby falls for.

Eventually they make it to a society of teens just like them. Escaped the system, strengthening powers, hidden away, desire to survive. They call it East River. Which turns out to be led by none other than the renowned and "cured" son of the president, Clancy, who also has powers. Of course a little romance appears between Ruby and Clancy. That is, until Clancy betrays Ruby and all of the other teenagers.

On the run once again, an injury occurs and in a moment of complete stupidity, Ruby calls the League to come pick them up. They give her an ultimatum; Work for us, or the boyfriend dies. Which do you think she chooses? However, the only way for Liam to truly be free is if she erases herself from his memory. And that, my children, is how this story ends.



Overall, this book honestly wasn't that bad. The back story was very well-planned and I did enjoy the powers and problems Ruby faced over the course of the novel. I guess I was just a little disappointed. I was expecting a great book because of all the fantastic reviews I found, only to find and eh that was alright kind of book. I guess my expectations were just too high. However, if you like books like Flecks of Gold by Alicia Buck, but not quite as exciting, then this book is for you. I would recommend giving it a try. Your opinion on it might be totally different from mine. I do not regret reading this book at all, I regret looking at the reviews on it first. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Until next time, Keep Reading!