Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu
Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: Penguin
Published: April 2013
Page Number: 305

Summary:

 

From different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths...

Until June's brother is murdered, and Day becomes the prime suspect.

In a shocking turn of events, the two uncover what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths to which their country will go to keep its secrets.

 

Review:

 

I have to say, I'm slightly disappointed in this book. A lot of my friends have raved about it, so I thought that this would be amazing...but it wasn't. The writing is beautiful, some of the best I've read this year. The story captivated me and flowed like a movie, but there were a lot of flaws for me that just made my time reading it, boring.

 

June and Day are amazing characters to follow, because both of their lives are completely different. June has money, is way ahead of her age and is famous because of her perfect 1500 score. Day comes from the poor side and "failed" his Trial, only to be carted off and tested on.

 

When Day apparently kills June's brother, she swears to get vengeance. And I think that's where my problem lies. It's cliché, it's not original and it bored me. The forced relationship between these two was horrible and I just could not connect to them as a couple. June pretended to be someone else and within two or three days they were saying (to themselves) that they really liked each other, despite only having spoke once or twice. I know that everyone hates the relationship and I'm just another one to add to the list.

 

Another flaw for me was that it wasn't actually perfect. In June's POV (Point of View) Day's hat had fallen off and was left on the ground, but then in Day's POV he had it on. I can't see how that is possible and stood out like a sore thumb.

 

Despite these flaws, I did really like the idea. The writing was gorgeous and held my attention until the end. June and Day are great characters on their own and you can definitely connect with them, but I just wish that there was more to it. It was extremely short and not a lot happened in terms of action. Most Dystopians that I've read (Divergent, Slated) had the right amount of action and romance.

 

Overall, I didn't really love it. I did like it. My final rating was 3/5 Stars!

Review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover

"Seriously beautiful and unique. I have no idea why I waited so long to read Slammed."

 

 

Title: Slammed

Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Contemporary/Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: January 2012
Page Number: 352

Summary:

 

Layken's
father died suddenly, leaving her to gather every ounce of strength to be a pillar for her family, in order to prevent their world from falling apart. Now her life is taking another unexpected turn…

Layken's mother gets a job which leads to an unwanted move across country. However, a new home means new neighbours… and Layken's new neighbour is the very attractive Will Cooper.
Will has an intriguing passion for slam poetry, and a matching passion for life. The two feel an irresistible attraction but are rocked to the core when a shocking revelation brings their romance to a screeching halt.

Layken and Will must find a way to fight the forces that threaten to tear them apart… or learn to live without each other.

 

Review:

 

You all know how much I love Colleen Hoover. Her books are always beautifully written and have deep messages hidden within them, and this one was no different.

 

Slammed tells the story of Layken, a teenager who falls madly, truly and deeply in love with her teacher. For me student/teacher relationships are normally a big no-no, because most of them have a huge age gap of up to ten years, but this one was only three years and both Layken and Will were adults.

 

Once I started reading Slammed for my 24 hour read-a-thon I never knew how much of an affect it would have on me. Page after page, after page. I continued to read and I literally could not stop. I was intertwined into Layken and Will's story of love and hardship. Some of the slam poetry was beautiful, like seriously beautiful, and only one really stood out for me and gave me goosebumps. It was Will's poem.

 

I used to love the ocean.
Everything about her.
Her coral reefs, her white caps, her roaring waves, the rocks they lap, her pirate legends and mermaid tails,
Treasures lost and treasures held…
And ALL of her fish in the sea.

 

Yes, I used to love the ocean,
Everything about her,
The way she would sing me to sleep as I lay in my bed
then wake me with a force that I soon came to dread.
Her fables, her lies, her misleading eyes,
I’d drain her dry
If I cared enough to.

 

I used to love the ocean,
Everything about her.
Her coral reefs, her whitecaps, her roaring waves, the rocks they lap, her pirate legends and mermaid tails,
Treasures lost and treasures held.
And ALL of her fish in the sea.

 

Well if you’ve ever tried navigating your sailboat through she stormy seas,
you would realize that her whitecaps are your enemies.
If you’ve ever tried swimming a shore when your leg gets a cramp and you just had a huge meal of In-N-Out burgers that’s weighing you down,
and her roaring waves are knocking the wind out of you,
filling your lungs with water as you flail your arms,
trying to get someone’s attention,
but your friends just wave back at you?

 

And if you’ve ever grown up with dreams in your head about life,
and how one of these days you would pirate your own ship and have your own crew and that all of the mermaids would love only you?
Well, you would realize…as I eventually realized…
That all the good things about her?
All the beautiful?
It’s not real.
It’s fake.
So you keep your ocean,
I’ll take the Lake.

 

Depite this book being very moving, there was also a lot of funny moments. One of my favourite moments was when Caulder and Kel decided they wanted to be cancer infested lungs. It's obviously a serious topic, especially as Layken's mother has lung cancer, but I loved that she made them the outfit because it could be the last time she ever got too.

 

Another favourite moment was Lake's poem in class.

 

According to the thesaurus... and according to me... there are over thirty different meanings and substitutions for
the word
mean.(I quickly yell the following words; the entire class flinches- including Will)
Jackass, jerk, cruel, dickhead, unkind, harsh, wicked,
hateful, heartless, vicious, virulent, unrelenting, tyrannical, malevolent, atrocious, bastard, barbarous, bitter, brutal, callous, degenerate, brutish, depraved, evil, fierce, hard, implacable, rancorous, pernicious, inhumane, monstrous, merciless, inexorable.
And my personal favourite—asshole.

 

Slam poetry is all about expressing yourself and sometimes when you feel so much then it bursts out of you. All those feelings combust together and create something unusual, but real. Very, very real.

 

You should never let this book fool you. It may be a Young Adult novel, but the message behind it is deep. In fact there are a few messages in this book that really were very relatable. Layken was just one character with her story, but there was also Will and his story, Layken's mother's story, and Eddie's story. And the best thing is that I understood every single one of them.

 

I'm still thinking about this book. I'll still think about this book in a few months time. This book was pure perfection and nothing can ever change that. I give this book 5/5 Stars! (I'd give a million if I could, Colleen.)

 

 

 

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon starts on October 18th

 

 

Now, I have heard of Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon, but I've never actually taken part because I like my sleep too much, but this year I will be taking part because I finally have a lamp in my room. Yay! Anyway, my plan is to read two books during the 24 hours, but I will have more on standby in case I

 

A) Finish both books

 

B) Can't get into one of the books

 

This way I won't be wasting time choosing which books to read after. Plus it means I can focus solemnly on reading and drinking tea.

 

 

BOOK ONE: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini.

 

Pages: 518

 

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton meets Lucas Delos for the first time, she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands.
An ancient curse means Lucas and Helen are destined to loathe one another. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen next...

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK TWO: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini.

 

Pages: 384

 

Lily's life never goes according to plan, and after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class Lily wishes she could just disappear.
Suddenly Lily is in a different Salem - one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruellest of all the Crucibles is Lillian . . . Lily's identical other self in this alternate universe.
Lily realizes that what makes her weak at home is exactly what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. It also puts her life in danger. (Summary shortened)

 

 

 

 

BOOK THREE: The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard.

 

Pages: 272

 

In Beacon Heights, Washington, five girls—Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker—know that you don’t have to be good to be perfect. At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they realize that they all hate Nolan Hotchkiss, who’s done terrible things to each of them. They come up with the perfect way to kill him—a hypothetical murder, of course. It’s just a joke...until Nolan turns up dead, in exactly the way they planned. Only, they didn’t do it. And unless they find the real killer, their perfect lives will come crashing down around them.  

 

 

 

 

BOOK FOUR: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken.

 

Pages: 488

 

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

 

 

 

 

 

So...that is my short TBR for the 24 hour read-a-thon. Like I said, I only plan to read the first two, but if I finish them then I can continue with the rest. My survival kit for the 24 hours is books, tea, tea, food, more tea, chocolate, more tea, hour nap, tea and then more chocolate.

 

What are you planning to read for the 24 hours? Will you survive?

 

To sign up:

 

Read-a-thon website

Sign up post

Times

 

 

Sit down and pour yourself a cuppa.

Bout Of Books 11.0 TBR!

Here are the books I plan to read for the Bout-of-Books 11.0 Read-a-thon. The read-a-thon is held to inspire people to read more and achieve their goals for each day. Your goals could be to read 150 pages per day, they could be to read the book and then watch the movie adaptation, or they could also be to read 3 book during the read-a-thon. The goals are up to you.

Obsidian and Half-Blood by Jennifer L Armentrout.

 

 

 

Shatter me by Taherah Mafi and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

 

 

 

 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

 

 

 

 

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

 

 

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

 

 

 

Bout of Books 9.0 - Goals

For those that don't know what Bout of Books is... here you go:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

There were my Goals:

1. Read 'The Coldest Girl in Coldtown' by Holly Black. Also review that on Youtube Channel.

2. Participate in at least 2 challenges.

3. Read and watch 'Carrie' by Stephen King. Also post review on blog.

4. Get through at least 112 pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

However, due to having an exam next Monday I cannot take part in this read-a-thon anymore! I am so sorry, but I need to revise for it and therefore, will not be reading as much. Thanks.

Bout of Books 9.0

That's right, bitches! it's almost that time again. Time to get our read on with Bout of Books! And, if you're thinking, is he participating, then you, my friend, are correct! Go forth and sign up on the Bout of Books blog! You won't regret it!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team