Book Recs and Stuff

Publishing date: March 2016

Genre: YA, fantasy, magical realism

Main character/s: Ava Lavender, her twin brother, Ava’s mom, grandma... Cardigan and Rowe- neighbour’s and friends of Ava, Gabe, Nathaniel Sorrows

Storyline: Ava tells a story of her family and of her life... but it’s not an ordinary family and not an ordinary life she’s had. That’s because Ava was born... with wings. 

Upsides: Original, capturing story, great characters with oddities and flaws but likable nonetheless, Ava is a wounderful main character- light as a feather so to speak- because she’s pure and honest and has a gentle soul. 

I also loved Cardigan and Rowe, and of course Gabe!  Wondefully enchanting story- even tho it’s not the genre I typically read (usually I like more fantasy than realism ;)

.Downsides: the backstory at the very beginning was dreary to me and too much information was crammed into my head from the very start. I think it could have been written better or shorter, or in a different matter cuz it was confusing to get a grasp of an entire genealogical tree of Roux-Lavender family.

Overall Rate: 4,7/5

Other Notes:

Publishing date: May 2016

Genre: fantasy, sci-fi, YA 

Main character/s: Cam, Lilith, Lucifer, and other people who are part of Lilith’s hell life... like her mom and brother, bandmates, and ofc her nemesis- The Popular Girl. 

Ah and Roland and Arriane make a cameo!

Storyline: Fallen series spin-off... where Cam is the main character and he’s the one who is given a chance to fight for his love. Luficer strikes a deal with the fallen angel: He can try to win over his long lost lover - Lilith, but it’s on the devil’s terms, in Lilith’s own personal hell and with only 15 days to spare. 

Upsides: Cam is the main character- finally. He was my fav from the very first book of the series. I wanted to know more of his backstory and all... 

Lilith was not a bad side-main character either. Along with her story and her hell’s life... and friends she acquired.

.Downsides: It was not as compelling as the main series and I knew where the story was going ... so the final pages didn’t left me gasping for breath in surprise. 

Overall Rate: 4,6/5

Other Notes:

Publishing date: July 2014

Genre: modern lit/ romance 

Main character/s: AJ Fikry, Maya, Amelia Loman, Nicole’s sister, officer What’s-His-Name

Storyline: AJ runs a small local bookstore, one day he finds some unexpected ‘gift’ that changes his life... 

Upsides: Interesting story and funny contradictory characters, lovely girl and love in the air...and yet a lot of realism and not much of rom-com flair! 

.Downsides: Too little pages! STORYLINE WORTH A MOVIE and yet less than 300 pages... it’s really a SHAME cuz it was good but many plots should have been explored in more details and not only treated superficially. 

This book has lot of potential (sadly not all of it was used)

Overall Rate: 4,5/5

Other Notes:

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Genre: YA novel, sci-fi 

Main character/s: Mare Barrow, Shade, Cal, Maven, The Queen, Other Rebels... who are very cool indeed! 

Storyline: Mare connects with the resistance and together they join a battle with their worst enemies- Maven and His Mother, and Time. They need to save the Red ones with gifts before Maven reaches them.... and fight their own weaknesses and doubts at the same time. Mare is not sure who to trust and how to protect her family from the evil. 

Upsides: SOOOO MANY GREAT CHARACTERSSSS!!

The plot twists and turns and it’s great! 

I am forever thankful that the love triangle was NOT the main focus of the story and was not resolved for a while... I had pleasure in reading the love moments in small portions and it left me space to enjoy the AWESOMENESS of actionand fight!

.Downsides: Killing off some ot the characters was NOT necessary. Really!? 

WHY IS MAVEN SO EVIL I TRUSTED HIM!!!!! ;( 

Nine Lives of Chloe King

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Overall Rate: /5

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Publishing date: June 2015

Genre: YA novel/Horror/Thriller/Mystery

Main character/s: Mara, Stella, Jamie, Noah, Jude, Daniel...

Storyline: Mara wakes up restrained, again. She can’t seem to be able to escape... somebody is always after her. But the only thing she cares about is Noah- she must find him, she must protect him,  but what if she’s the one who puts Noah in danger? What if Mara herself is deadly dangerous?

Upsides:  Jamie- I love the dude and his rs with Mara, also Daniel- a superbrother , I can’t stop thinking about him cuz he’s just so my type!

This part was the most exciting one- the darkest one and the most surprising one. I enjoyed it immensely!

Downsides: I cannot be bothered by the romance... I just don’t care about it so much... Noah is bland to me- I just have more feelings towards sadistic Jude than plain passive Noah.

Sadly rs between Mara and Stella was not explored... and it’s a shame! This book had great female characters and only Mara was given some attention - I say some, cuz I still felt like NOAH was the main point of this book... (but maybe I am a little too harsh)

Overall Rate: 4,4/5

Other Notes:

Publishing date: February 2016

Genre: YA novel

Main character/s: Nick, Norah, Nick’s band mates: Dev and Thom, Nick’s Ex: Tris, Norah’s Ex: Tal, Toni , Caroline: Norah’s friends

Storyline: Nick spots his ex during his band’s concert.... he freaks out and turns to his side to face Norah- she’s gonna be his gf for the next 5 minutes. And so the story of weird and wild encounter begins.... 

Upsides:  whole story spreads on only one night but carries a lot of meaning. It’s an easy read, funny, but still not trivial. Music in the background is a great basis - something I quite enjoy so a plus for that. 

Tris was the most surprising character - A+ cuz I did not expect that! You go Tris!

Downsides: I think Nick was kinda sad-beaten-puppy type... but okay... he wasn’t that awful! He was kinda sweet sometimes, but girls were MUCH more interesting! Wish the story evolved more about Norah and Tris and Norah and Caroline.... tho the title must have been changed then :P 

Overall Rate: 4.6/5

Other Notes:

I remember being drawn to the cover... And I hoped it would be two-point-of-view perspective story... it was not- but nonetheless, it was a good one!

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Overall Rate: 4.7/5

Publishing date: March 2015

Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Main character/s: Blue Sargent, Adam Parrish, Gansey, Ronan, Glendover’s Daughter...

Storyline: As Always the main goal is to find the mythical King Glendower... but there’s lots of different plots and it all keeps you on edge ;) 

Upsides: The characters are just great- I will forever be in love with Gansey... but honestly the whole Raven Crew is fantastic! 

And we get some new characters to entertain us in between the Gang-sey shenannigans 

.Downsides: I read it for too long and I couldn’t focus at first so... I cannot say the story was entirely coherent for me. But maybe if I had read it in a shorter time-span then I would enjoy it more! 

Publishing date: July 2013

Genre: reportage

Main character/s: Polish immigrants- various age and gender

Storyline: Collection of stories told by Polish immigrants in England ...

Overall Rate: 4/5

Other Notes:

Publishing date: July 2013

Genre: YA novel

Main character/s: Sutter Keeley, Cassidy- his gf, Ricky- his best friend, Aimee Finicky- the qirky girl, Holly Keeley- Sutter’s posh sister, Bob- Sutter’s boss aka Father Figure, Sutter’s ex girlfriends…

Storyline: Sutter is living a day at a time, party to party… then he meets Aimee and makes his mission to ‘save her soul’ … Amiee gets caught up in Sutter’s spontaneous lifestyle but she learns some things along the way. 

Upsides: It started of like a typical YA fiction but it was not entirely so… once I would have said that the ending was the downside of this novel, but rn I say-  I get it. I do. Sutter cannot move on- he doesn’t want to, he is scared to… And oh boy if I haven’t felt that way. 

Another plot twist- I was sure Sutter will fuck Aimee up and leave her in worse shape than before… but somehow I feel like he helped her in a way and let go off her- which was the best he could do for her. 

Sutter’s friends- Ricky and Cassidy mostly, were great… they knew they couldn’t help Sutter, they were not able to help him (cuz he didn’t want to be saved) and still they worried and tried to steer his actions and then intervened on Aimee’s behalf. 

Bob- he is really chill and a great guy, but he ain’t Sutter’s dad and it’s not his place to raise him and teach him… he tries tho… and belss him for this.

Downsides: I know that Sutter’s mom was supposed to be this absent parent… but she was invisible in the novel. She should have a chance to explain why she left her husband and so on. It would have helped Sutter imho.

Aimee was kinda bland… If I am being honest I liked Cass better- she was way better, more in-depth character. Aimee seemed like a liquid person- she tried to fit into every envrionment she was surrounded by… so I guess I disliked her passivity. I hope she’s doing better when Sutter breakes up with her. I really do!

Overall Rate: 4.5/5

Other Notes:

Sutter is a fucker, a typical jackass who does not give a single shit about anything. And yet- I liked him, I did not condonde his actions, but considering the trope he could have fucked up waaaayyy more! So let’s just appreciate he didn’t. 

I also felt for him.. more so in the end… cuz I feel that Peter Pan Syndrome and I get it. I do. And yet I know how lonely it feels and how sad one can be when everyone moves on and grows, and you are just stuck. U tell yourself that being NOW is the most important and that it will give you all the joy and purpose you need… but it’s a lie.  Sutter is hovering on the verge of adulthood and he cannot make the final step, he just can’t do that. 

Aimee sort of appears in his life makes it intense and meaningful and he has a goal but it was not about him changing but about him helping her. Sutter, essentialy does not change- he gains yet another reason to care only about the NOW, and he constantly convinces himsef that now is SPECTACULAR, that each and every NOW is special… but it is not, not unless you have some dreams some (even far-fetched) plans for the future. 

Publishing date: October 2015

Genre: YA fiction, sci-fi 

Main character/s: Rihannon, A, Justin- Rih’s boyfriend

Storyline: It’s the same story as in Every Day, but from Rihannon’s pov

Upsides: Rihannon is such an interesting girl, she’s just great- kind and trustworthy, genreous and not quick to judge... but she seems so fragile and tender; too good for this world, yet in the end she can do what’s best for her. 

Meeting A through Rih’s eyes was more interesting and gave me a new perspective and understanding to the whole story. 

Downsides: Bc I liked Rihannon so much I think she deserved better. And A thinking that they can choose for her was a shitty move. No one’s gonna replace A in Rih’s eyes so I shame them for trying to do that. And at the same time I root for Rih and Alexander cuz they are both such good kids...  kind spirits - I’d call them. 

A- seemed more likable in the first novel, this pov shows how selfish A can be at times and even tho Justin was not a good bf-material he was just lost and couldn’t be blamed for everything. 

Overall Rate: 4.5/5

Other Notes:

All in all it was a better novel than Every Day, but it couldn’t have existed without it ... so it’s a paradox really.