The Everlasting Rose (The Belles, #2) 
by 

Dhonielle Clayton

 

really liked it

bookshelves: 2019, arcs, beautiful-cover, cliques, dragons, fantasy,glbt, kingdoms, poc-on-cover, tragedy

thanks a million to Netgalley and Freeform for an e-arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Everlasting Rose, the sequel to The Belles is so much different then it’s predecessor. The sequel is just as dark, if not more, and just like The Belles the darkness is hidden. In The Belles, the darkness/evil was covered up with beauty and romance, but in The Everlasting Rose it’s hidden through Camille and her friends being further away from the palace (and Sophia) and having their own worries.

This book was interesting, and a good sequel, but to me it didn’t hit as hard as the first one did. The first one, was about how you can take beauty too far, and this book is about how to make the decision when too far is too far, and living with the consequences.

Camille is conflicted much more in this book, which I really enjoyed. She’s conflicted on who to trust, who to forgive, how to help save everyone, and more, and I loved her for it. 

I think The Belles will always a hold a special place in my heart, but this was a very good follow-up to the series.

Five Feet Apart, by Rachael Lippincott

Five Feet Apart 
by 

Rachael Lippincott,

 

Mikki Daughtry

, 

Tobias Iaconis

really liked it

bookshelves: 2019, beautiful-cover, book-subscriptions, computer-programmer-hacker, contemporary, disorders-disabilities, glbt,romance, tragedy

I really loved this book. It’s about CF (or Cystic Fibrosis) which is a condition where your lungs produce too much mucus and you can’t breathe. It’s fairly common, although not many people know a lot about it. It's a scary diagnosis as those with CF usually don’t make it past 40. 

The book is told through a dual-perspective. Stella is a teenage girl who is staying at the hospital being treated for CF. She always does her treatments, and follows all of the rules concerning CF (which there are a lot), and is hoepful about getting a lung transplant soon. Will, is a teenage boy who is staying at the hospital being treated for CF. He is over his condition, and doesn't follow hardly any of the rules, sometimes missing medications, and also letting his friends use his hospital bed. And then one day they meet.

I loved this story because it showed the real side of CF, of going to doctor’s appointments and having to worry every time you get sick, and of course of letting us see all the worry of the family and friends. But what was really nice was how this story gave us hope and made us fall in love with the characters. But not in a super cheesy way. 

Besides Will and Stella, Poe, who is Stella's best friend (and also has CF) was funny and too cute. He's in the sappy, but scary first love with another boy and trying to make it work, even though kids with CF have to be careful as getting sick could lead to serious problems. I loved his and Stella's relationship and I loved how eager he was to celebrate with Stella when things were good.

If you liked A Fault In Our Stars then you’ll probably like this one. And even if you didn’t like it, you’ll probably like this anyways. 

The only thing I didn’t like, was the bit of insta-love, but at the same time, the book had a story to tell and some points to make and the insta-love was kind of necessary.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful 

by 

Arwen Elys Dayton 

really liked it

bookshelves: 2019, audiobook, books-for-thought, bullying, cheating,disorders-disabilities, science-fiction, short-stories, thriller

I can’t believe this book was written in this day and age and didn’t immediately Sky-rocket into the Bestseller’s list. I picked this book up after Amie Kaufman, the co-author of The Illuminae series recommended it and a few others as undderated books of 2018. Amie Kaufman is one of my favorite authors due to her recommendations, books that she's written, and her general personality. If for some strange reason you don't like her books (or her recommendations) then this book may not resonate with you like it did for me.

This book isn't about following a specific character from beginning to end, but seeing sneak peeks into the lives of several different  characters through short stories. As the book progresses, we get more and more into the future, as is evident not only by the timeline, but also by the advancements in technology, and environment. 

This book has diversity in all forms, and combines body image and futuristic science fiction.

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the format that throws people off, or makes them shy away. It’s technically told in several short stories, but set in the same world further and further apart. The first short story/ tale is told maybe during our day and age, or maybe a few years in the future. It starts with a few gene modifications and eventually progresses and it’s amazing to see the progression over the years.

I thought all of the stories were really insightful and also very scary at times. Towards the end, the last two stories get kind of graphic (in the “i might puke” kind of way) and very scary and become even more scary knowing how the first story started and how likely we are to get to this point.

I don’t want to give too much away, but if you’ve ever wondered about the advancement of science, gene modification, if and how we’ll defeat diseases, or how far is too far on changing the appearance of our bodies, then this is the book for you.

I think even people who aren’t as likely to read science fiction, would enjoy this book as well. This book could technically be considered science fiction, but more of a beginner's guide. Since the way it's told, the reader is eased into the switch from the book being on the more contemporary side, and slowly progressing into more science fiction. 

Glow: Book I, Potency by Aubrey Hadley

Glow: Book I, Potency 
by 

Aubrey Hadley 

it was ok

bookshelves: 2019, arcs, beautiful-cover, bullying, cliques, drug-abuse, no-barely-finished, science-fiction

I had a feeling I was going to struggle with Glow from chapter one. There were issues with the writing style (which I’ll go into later) that were present from the beginning. However, I was hopeful that the plot, and character development would be enough to save the writing, and I’d still like it even if I didn’t Love it.

Glow follows Harper, a home-schooled teenager with a strict mom, who has her on a curfew that Harper thinks is unfair, and occasionally tries to break it. Harper just wants to play soccer with her friends, and while she’s out, she sees something crazy, like unexplainable crazy. Her town along with other cities in the world are infected with Maasai Mara Sleeping syndrome which is a nice way of saying: first you get sick, then, you die.

The plot, really goes crazy from there. After the first 20%, we’re hit with a plot twist that is maybe a little over-the-top, and a little rushed on the execution. After that, I found it hard to stay interested and to continue reading as the twist was a little too forced on the reader, and a little too crazy. 

The writing ends up hindering most of the book, as it’s written in present tense which can already be a hit and miss, but especially for this book, as so much of the story is told to the readers and not shown. Adding this to the present-tense writing style and, the book draggggggs.

The characters also weren’t as likable, or unlikable as I wanted them to be. Harper has been thorough a lot in this book, and yet she’s boring and kind of flat. She doesn’t hardly get mad at her family (especially not to their faces) which she has every right to. And her main character traits: her love for biology and soccer, are kind of forgotten at some point and never mentioned again. And there were several times where she made a few comments (even just in her head) that bothered me. At one point she thinks:

I struggle to keep my face straight. If he wants to destroy the human race to get revenge on a few bullies, it’s not wonder he wasn’t popular.

This is already a kind of mean thought, but coming from someone who’s never gone to public school? The guy just confessed to complete strangers how he was bullied in high school, and how that’s when he realized the world wasn’t what is should be. Which he’s right. There shouldn’t be bullies in a perfect world. 

The actions of many other characters bothered me too. Harper's family especially seems to act unreasonably at times, and after awhile, she never thinks about them again. 

At the end of the book, I felt as if I still didn’t know her as a character, that there was nothing unique about her, other than maybe her genetics. Harper felt too flat for me, not likable, or unlikable as a character, and never really showing any true emotions.

Overall, this just wasn’t for me. It was very difficult to get to the end, and if I hadn’t received an ARC, I probably would have DNF’ed it.

**i received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

A Curse So Dark and Lonely (A Curse So Dark and Lonely, #1) 
by 

Brigid Kemmerer 

 

really liked it

bookshelves: 2019, abuse, disorders-disabilities, dragons, falling-off-of-a-cliff, fantasy, glbt, killer-female-lead, kingdoms, possible-future-purchase, retelling, romance

A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a twist on the tale of The Beauty and The Beast, set in present-day Washington D.C., but the main character is stolen from her time and taken to a new world. After staying on the look-out for her brother, Harper Lacey, gets involved when something starts to go wrong and is stolen in hopes of breaking a curse for a prince. But, the twist is, this is the last chance they'll get from the evil enchantress. 

The main character, Harper, has CP and she’s still such a badass. (Not that it was surprising) But she was such a realistic badass (or as realistic as you can be when dealing with fictional worlds and magical creatures) never letting anything stop her and always trying to learn how to better herself. Literature, and YA literature really needed her. 

The plot, although a little slow in the beginning half, never felt slow as we were getting used to the setting, getting introduced to the characters, and learning about what the minor characters knew of this world. 

The magic in this story was also done really well. Nothing ever felt confusing, and I felt like it added a lot to the story. The evil enchantress was involved throughout the whole story which was also an interesting take on the original tale which isn't often shown in retellings. It also made the story a little more creepier, and helped the reader gain a greater understanding into the relationships involved.

Also this book has almost 500 TALL PAGES and it reads super fast. The plot and character development are both really interesting and nothing really drags the story, and yet somehow nothing is rushed. What is this sorcery?

The only thing I didn’t like, was something that was suggested at the end, and a lot of people might miss it, but it made me feel icky. There is a very real possibility that what I thought I read was wrong, and will be explained better in the second book, and if that is the case, I will absolutely move my rating up.

Overall, I’d recommend for fans of Beauty and The Beast as this is a retelling, and A Court of Mist and Fury, as it felt most similar to this specific retelling.

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1) 
by 

Roshani Chokshi 

really liked it

A cross between National Treasure And Six of Crows with a Slytherin twist, The Gilded Wolves is a unique story about friendship, family, and revenge.

The Gilded Wolves is set in 1800s France in which a group is on a mission to track down a magical object known as the forged.

The characters are memorable and you instantly want to be friends with all of them. They all are fleshed-out and well-written and I found it easy to follow along with their jokes and to keep track of the six of them.

A lot of the characters also had diverse qualities, ranging from the LGBTQ+ spectrum, to mental health representation, to multiple different nationalities represented. There's a character for everyone to feel seen by. In addition, they're all quite fantastic, and so their personalities are sure to touch the hearts of multiple different types of readers. 

The pacing is quick and throughout the book I felt as if I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next heist. And once one adventure had finished, the next would begin quite suddenly. 

The one problem I did have, was that the world was kind of confusing. Either because of the writing style, or the author intentionally saving some of the world-building for later, or because the world wasn’t developed enough, it was difficult to understand at times. I finished the whole book and I still have a lot of questions about what happened and what some of the rules of the world were. I typically don’t have problems with fictional worlds being completely fleshed-out in book one, but I found this world to be lacking and almost hindering to the reading experience. 

Overall, I liked the story, and found the characters to be a joy to read. I think some readers may be confused and find it difficult to read or even finish. But I will continue on with the series to see if the world-building is more developed in future books.

You by Caroline Kepnes

You (You, #1) by 

Caroline Kepnes 

it was ok

bookshelves: 2019, abuse, adult-fiction, audiobook, cheating,computer-programmer-hacker, drug-abuse, psychological-what-nots,thriller

In One Line: This had some thrills, and was definitely creepy. But it mostly just felt like a teen boy’s rambling on his sexual desires. 

You follows Joe as becomes obsessed with a young woman he meets one day while working at a bookstore. He stalks her, going into her apartment, stealing her things, and even resorting to murder in order to be the "guy of her dreams."

Joe is basically crazy, and while the book fell flat for me, it was very interesting to hear his rationalizations for what he continued to do in order to be close to Beck.

There were a couple other dislikable characters, and I think that's one of the reasons this book fell flat. In the end, there just weren't enough characters that are really unique or likable. 

The ending was anti-climatic. I was hoping for a big surprise reveal to make the whole story come together and have me wanting to reread to find out how I didn’t guess it. But it was just kind of expected and a little boring.

Ethan, a character introduced about mid-way point, really saved this book in my opinion. Very funny, and funny annoying.