Book Review: Endlessly

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I'm a little behind on my reviews, but plan on getting caught up today. Today I'll be reviewing, Endlessly, the final book in the Paranormalcy Series by Kiersten White. 

Title: Endlessly
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Paranormalcy #3
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: July 24, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Paranormal
Purchase: Amazon
Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:

Evie's paranormal past keeps coming back to haunt her. A new director at the International Paranormal Containment Agency wants to drag her back to headquarters. The Dark Faerie Queen is torturing humans in her poisonous realm. And supernatural creatures keep insisting that Evie is the only one who can save them from a mysterious, perilous fate.

The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its fate rests solely in Evie's hands.

Endlessly picks up pretty much where Supernaturally left off. It's pretty much more of the same of the first two books, but without all of the original charm. Many of the characters just fell flat. Maybe Kiersten White ran out of steam by the time she got to the third book?

That's not to say that this book was bad, it wasn't, it just was not as good as the first two. Evie loses some of her spunk and fun in this book. Lend also is a lot less impressive (his romance with Evie too). I continued to like Jack (even after what he did in the second book). Reth was also more interesting in this book. It still was a really quick read. It took me less than 24 hours to read counting sleep time. The story still moves pretty quick like the other books in the series. 

About the storyline: In Endlessly, all of the paranormals start to gather by the pond out in back of Lend's house and around town. They want Evie to help them and send them home by opening another gate before it's too late and one can no longer be opened. Evie, who remembers what happened last time she opened a gate, does NOT want to and refuses. At the same time, someone new has taken over the IPCA and wants Evie either working for them or locked up for good. Raquel seems to be missing too as Evie hopes to get advice from her. Evie and Lend have another obstacle in their relationship. The Dark Faerie Queen is taking more and more human slaves into the faerie realm...let's just say there is A LOT that the author tries to cram into the final book. The book isn't that long either, which causes ALL of the above plot points to be very condensed.

Overall, if you have read the other books in the series and are looking to wrap it up, I would recommend this book. Beyond that I would not. I still look forward to checking out more of Kiersten White's books.

My Rating:

Book Review Supernaturally

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Today I'm going to be reviewing, Supernaturally by Kiersten White. It is the second book in the Paranormalcy series. Find my review of the first book here.

Title: Supernaturally

Author: Kiersten White

Series: Paranormalcy #2

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: July 26, 2011

Genre: YA Paranormal

Purchase: Amazon

At the end of Paranormalcy, Evie finally gets the normal, ordinary life she has always wanted. In Supernaturally, Evie discovers that being ordinary is kind of boring. She starts to spend her time in class daydreaming about vampires, zombies and other supernatural creatures attacking the class. However, her daydreaming about getting the bad supernaturals is about to come true when an opportunity to work again for International Paranormal Containment Agency comes up. Desperate to break the boredom she agrees.

Working for the IPCA does not turn out like Evie hoped when one mission after another goes wrong. Did Evie make the right choice in going back to the IPCA? Why are all of the paranormals looking at Evie weird? And what is she going to do now that her faerie ex-boyfriend Reth has found her?

I have to say this series and especially Evie has grown on me. Both the first book and this one were very enjoyable, quick reads. In Supernaturally, Evie is finding out that being "normal" is nothing like Easton Heights and can be a little boring, especially since Lend is off at college. Evie spends her time at school, doing homework in an effort to get into Lend's college, and working at the diner to make some money. Shortly into the book, Evie is found by Raquel and given an offer to work as a contract employee for the IPCA. Lend is against this idea, but she agrees to work with them anyways to add some excitement back into her life. She does have two conditions: "One: I am not Level Seven or anything in any system. I am not IPCA. If I don't like a mission, I  don't do it. It's totally my call." Second: "I want my credit card back." Evie also does not want to work with Faeries anymore. This problem is solved with new character, Jack. Jack is a human with the unique ability to travel on the faerie paths from place to place. He doesn't really like to get into how he is able to do that. Read the book and you will find out ;)

I have to say I like Jack. He is a bit mischievous and tends to get into trouble. I can easily picture him doing the things described in the book and Evie trying to keep him out of trouble. She wants to keep Jack and her IPCA life separate from her normal life. 

I know in some cases when there is a trilogy or series of books, the second book just is not as good as the first. I do not think that at all about this series. I like this book just as much as the first one, if not more. I like where the series is going. There is an extra mystery in this novel that really isn't addressed and I'm guessing that's what the third book or at least what part of the third book will be about. 

I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books by Kiersten White. 

My Rating: 

Book Review: Peaches

Today I'll be reviewing Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. This book has been described as a Ya-Ya Sisterhood for teens as well as a cross between The Breakfast Club and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Title: Peaches
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson

Series: Peaches #1

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: May 9, 2006

Genre: YA Contemporary

Purchase: Amazon

Official description from the back of the book:

Three Georgia peaches are in for one juicy summer . . .

. . . but Birdie would rather eat Thin Mints and sulk in the AC.

Leeda would prefer to sneak off with her boyfriend, Rex.

And Murphy just wants to cause a little mischief.

Together these three very different girls will discover the secret to finding the right boy, making the truest friends, and picking the perfect Georgia peach.

I'm not sure how this ended up on my to-read list, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the references. The Divine Secrets of Ya-Ya Sisterhood? Read it and liked it. The Breakfast Club? Great movie. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Love it. The book even has a blurb on the cover from Ann Brashares, "PEACHES is a sweet and delicious read." So, I picked up the book and started reading hoping for another wonderful coming of age story. What I ended up with was something meh. The book was okay, but nothing in it blew me away. 

In the book you follow three teen girls. Birdie is the daughter of peach farmer Walter. She has mostly been home-schooled by her mother, Cynthia, who up and left one day. Poopie is the other woman figure in Birdie's life. She cooks and cleans for the family and is basically the second in charge on the peach farm. The farm is not doing well and the summer could very well be the last peach harvest. 

Leeda is Birdie's cousin. Leeda's family is very well off. Leeda is always trying to get the attention of her mother, who only ever seems to have eyes for her perfect older sister, Danay. It's even worse now that Danay is about to get married, so it's all about the upcoming wedding. Leeda even attempts to get attention by dating wrong side of the tracks Rex. Rex is her crutch for dealing with her family.

The final girl of this trio, is Murphy. Murphy is the daughter of Jodee. Jodee had Murphy very young and is always going from guy to guy getting her heartbroken. They live in the local trailer park. Murphy tends to get teased about her mother. She is known to be a little looser with the boys in the town as well as a little bit of a troublemaker. She tends to pull pranks that get her into trouble. Murphy is also very smart, like 4.0 GPA smart. 

Even though the book mentions the girls' summer, it starts out with them all working on the farm over spring break. How did they end up there? Well Birdie lives there and is trying to help her dad keep the farm going. Leeda is sent there to be a comfort to her cousin since Cynthia left. Murphy, well Murphy got into trouble and instead of getting another mark on her record, she is sent to the farm to work over spring break. At the end of spring break everyone goes there separate ways and basically pretends they don't know one another.

As summer approaches, Murphy realizes she doesn't want to spend time in the trailer with her mom and her latest boyfriend. She goes and gets herself in trouble again and is once again sentenced to work it off at the farm over the summer. Leeda makes some offhanded comment to her mom about spending the summer with Birdie, but doesn't really mean it. When her mom takes her up on her statement, she goes along with it. And of course, Birdie live on the farm, so where else would she be. 

From there we follow the girls on their journey to friendship with a little bit of mischief and boys involved along the way. Your standard coming of age set up.

Even though I liked each of the girls just fine, it still took me awhile to believe in the friendship between the girls. I understood where the author was coming from, but had a hard time believing it myself until closer to the end of the book. In fact, even though the book was fairly easy reading, I found the majority of it to be just okay. If you keep reading, you will find the story picks up a little towards the end and at that point I finally found their friendship believable or at least more realistic. If the rest of the book would have been more like the end, I rate this book higher. Even so, the ending did raise up my original rating by half a star. 

Overall, it's an okay read, but I have definitely read better coming of age and friendship stories, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Ann Brashares being one of them. Some other good ones being: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman, and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

I do not see myself continuing with this series.

My Rating: 

Book Review: The Selection

The Selection by Kiera Cass is the first book in The Selection Trilogy.

In The Selection you follow America. All of the eligible girls between the ages of 16 and 20 are requested to fill out an application for The Selection. America reluctantly fills out hers as she is already in love and wants nothing to do with the competition or a spoiled Prince. She ends up being one of thirty-five girls chosen to compete for a chance at Prince Maxon's hand and therefore the crown. It is a televised event (a la The Bachelor). However, once America meets Maxon, she starts to question all of the previous plans she made for herself.

The Selection takes place sometime in the future after World War IV in Illéa (some distant variation of the US/Canada???). I would classify is as YA Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic Lite Fantasy Chick Lit. I know, that's a lot for a book. In this world, Princesses are married off to other Kings/Princes as part of a political match. Princes, however, marry a "True Daughter of Illéa," i.e. one of the people to keep up morale. In this society, people are in a caste system made up of numbers ranging from One (royalty) all the way down to Eight (the homeless). What you do depends on your number. People usually marry someone of their same number or some lucky girls gets to marry up into a higher number. When you marry you end up being the same number as your husband. And, of course, the higher the number, the wealthier you are. It is also possible (though rarely) to buy yourself up a number or two.

Our Main Character (MC) is currently a Five. Fives are artists and musicians. She is secretly in love with Aspen, a Six. Aspen encourages America to enter as he does not want any what ifs hanging over anyone's heads. They figure her chances of getting picked in the lottery of thousands of girls is pretty slim, but those that do get picked are automatically moved up to being a Three (an example of a Three would be a teacher), and of course, if you win you AND your family are automatically Ones. Also, those in the competition get weekly compensation sent back to their families. This is something that America's family desperately needs as most Fives, Sixes, and lower tend to not have enough money for food. Here is a better breakdown from the author.

So, Needless to say, Mrs. Cass has come up with a quite the world. 

The winning ladies are brought to the castle and given makeovers - pretty dresses, hairstyles, make-up, jewelry, etc...And while there is certainly competition between the girls they are told outright that no violence will be tolerated. If you hit, kick, or abuse a fellow contestant, you are OUT. Surprisingly enough, I actually liked the competition bits and how supportive some of the girls were for one another. I do not watch those types of shows. All while the competition is going on, they also have to worry about rebels, faceless rebels. What do they want? Why to they keep attacking? 

And of course our Prince is not at all what America expected. At first she just wants to be his friend, but does she really want to be more?

This is the type of book where you will either really hate it or really like it. I really liked this book and sped right through to the end, where I promptly wanted to throw the book (I read it on my Kindle, so I didn't) against the wall. Cliffhanger, much? So, while I would highly recommend this book as a little fluff chick lit, I wouldn't recommend reading it until the second book comes out in April 2013, so you can move right onto the next one. And please be aware, the books cuts off right when you are starting to get to the good stuff. I will definitely be checking out the second book, The Elite, when it comes out on April 23, 2013.

I can't think of any other books to recommend based on this book. I have heard, that if you like this book, you will probably like Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, but I can't confirm that yet as I am still reading it.

My Rating: 

Book Review: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White is the first book in the Paranormalcy series.


In the book you follow Evie. Evie thinks of herself as a normal, human, teenage girl even though she works for, and is the ward of, the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA) and is the only person who can see through paranormal's glamours. She has a mermaid for a best friend, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, and she thinks she might be falling for a shape-shifter. 

Evie has been a ward of the IPCA ever since she was eight. Before that she was bounced around foster care and couldn't remember her parents. 

When the book starts we follow Evie on a standard bag and tag of a vampire. After the paranormal is tagged a Faerie transports Evie back to the Center. As the book progresses, Evie thinks her ex-boyfriend, Remy is trying to harm her and and someone or something is killing off the paranormals without leaving a mark.

I have to say I found this book to be a very easy read and I really liked it. The story moves along at a nice pace. I found myself quickly progressing through the novel whenever I had a spare moment and completed the book in a couple of days. 

I found myself really liking Evie and her perspective. I think the author does a good job of representing a teenage girl who tries to kid herself into thinking she is absolutely normal, but is not. I like the show she is always watching and how excited she gets over normal teenage things, like a locker. I like how the author describes what Evie is seeing through each of the glamours, how each of the paranormals really look. Vampires are NOT pretty or glittery.

It's different from other YA books I've read. The closest thing I can compare it to is an adult novel, First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones, but in that book the main character is an adult and a grim reaper and a little more graphic in the love scene department. But if you like Paranormalcy and think you might like a more adult book, I think you might like First Grave on the Right. 

My Rating:

Book Review: Boundless

Boundless is the third, and final, book in Cynthia Hand's Unearthly trilogy.

You continue to follow Clara, who over the past few years/books, has discovered she is a very special part-angel, fell in love, been told she is destined be with someone else (not her love), and lost someone close to her. It's been a pretty rough few years. 

In the third book, Clara is trying to forget Tucker as she, Christian,  and Angela all head off to Stanford. From Angela'a visions, they know that is where Angela's purpose takes place. However, once there Clara realizes someone is following her and she keeps having her own dark vision (literally, is in a dark place and is very scared). What are the Black Wings up to? And can Clara ever really be safe and live a normal life?

My thoughts: I have to say I was really looking forward to reading this one. I really liked the other two books in the series. 

In this book, I like how Clara is trying to live as normal of a life as possible with her friends, but then that creepy bird starts following her around, she starts having scary visions, and her friend Angela starts acting strangely. I liked Clara's vision in this book the best or at least the description of it that Cynthia Hand provides. I can see where she has grown as a writer over the series. The mystery in this book is really good. I liked trying to figure out what was going on and what the visions were really all about. 

When I started with this series, I was all about Team Tucker, but as time went on I moved over to Team Christian. In this book I was hoping to get a little more Team Christian as Clara broke up with Tucker, partly in an effort to keep him safe, but broke up nonetheless. And they do try in this book. 

I think overall, I liked how this series ended, but I don't truly feel like all of the characters got a proper wrap up. The ending left me feeling happy and not happy at the same time. 

***SPOILER ALERT*** Some of my spoilery thoughts on the book. Don't read, if you don't want to know.

• Does anyone else like Cynthia Hand's version of hell? I found it to be pretty cool. I like how it was just below our world or on another plane of the world. Everything dull, gray, black & white, and no one really knew they were in hell. Very intriguing.
• I also found how Clara kept popping up in Tuck's barn very amusing.
• I like how we got a little bit more of Clara's Dad and how he helped train her and Christian. Glory sword? Cool.
• I don't really get Clara's brother Jeffery, I almost felt like his parts in the book because he had to be, because it would have been just weird for the author to completely drop him out. I felt like his part was a little stretched. 
• Christian, Christian, Christian, as part of Team Christian, can I just say I'm frustrated. Dang mind reading and Tuck popping up whenever there were about to kiss. Dammit Christian, you just needed to kiss her until she forgot about him. Oh, and Christian's ending! Ugh! Made me almost want to chuck the book against the wall. I guess I have some consolation in the fact that Tucker will eventually die and then there is the possibility, but really? So sad.

***END SPOILER ALERT***

This was the second series I picked up with Angels in it, the first being Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (a really good series). I think each has it's own pluses and I really liked both of them. So, if you read Hush, Hush, you might like this series, or if you liked this series, you might like Hush, Hush. Other books you might like: Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon and Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater 

My Rating: