A Glo-Worm Reads

Two things made me need to read this series: 1. Greek Mythology, 2. Kendare Blake.  I couldn’t even imagine what kind of story Kendare Blake could have in store for me. After Anna Dressed in Blood, I was ready for something creeptastically awesome. I was not disappointed. I mean, did you read that synopsis? It just screams for me to read more. I like to occasionally read books that are creepy. Athena has feathers growing from the inside out! Sometimes I just wonder how Kendare Blake thinks up these things, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t want to look into her mind out of fear of what else might be in there.

The gods are corrupted and dying in all kinds of nasty, unimaginable ways. And to keep themselves alive they are teaming up with each other and some of them are even EATING each other. That is disgusting! While there is a bit of talk of Zeus, we’re not really sure what it going on with him, if he’s even alive.

Then there are the reincarnations of memorable characters and heroes from the Greek mythology. Such as Cassandra, who has all kind of visions of the future, but no idea why because she doesn’t remember who she is. She can see the gods dying sometimes and sees some pretty horrible things happen. I’m honestly surprised she doesn’t lose it.

When I started reading this book, I just got sucked into Blake’s writing, again. I don’t know how she does it to me, but she does. I am completely looking forward to what happens next because I can’t predict anything with these books. The opposite always seems to happen. Which is good because I’m rarely surprise while reading anymore. If you’re wondering about this series, you should definitely check it out because this book was great. Especially if you like mythology, you don’t want to miss it!

A Storm of Swords is by far the best installment of A Song of Ice and Fire so far. There is so much that happens in the second half of the book that it becomes extremely hard to put down. It is a bit slow in the first half, but that’s only because it is building up for the completely amazing and event filled second half. Again, all I can say about Martin is that he is not afraid to kill anyone. I’m very afraid for the future of my favourite characters. Who are still Ayra, Dany, and Tyrion. How can I not love these characters? Ayra is just an awesome girl who is very determined and not afraid to get her hands dirty. I can’t help but feel bad for her though at times. Dany is the Mother of Dragons and is freeing slaves, how can you hate her for that? And Tyrion is just so sarcastic and amusing. One of the few decent Lannisters. We have been introduce to Jaime as a PoV in this book and its very interesting to see how there is more to him.

So once again there is a lot going on. There are a few moments that had me WTFing, even though this was a reread for me. I still was shocked for a few of the scenes and the brutality of them. But I can see the necessity of them. I’m always happy to read about Joffrey’s wedding of course, although some of results of the wedding do make me a bit sad.

Overall it’s  a great addition to the series that will keep you reading, break your heart and make you giddy. I wanted to immediately dive into the next book, A Feast of Crows, but since I’m reading these for a read-a-long I had to restrain myself. All I can say is that if you are looking for a great fantasy series, and can get past a few brothels and questionable relationships, this is a series for you. There are characters you can just sit and root for and ones you’ll hate. The books are very unpredictable, for me at least and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what happens next!

After reading Adaptation I knew I had to continue on with this series by Malinda Lo. I haven’t really read many alien books, so they are still a novelty to me but I think that this series is a great one. The writing style is easy to read and you are given the information you need, maybe not all right away but you get it eventually. I was once again hooked by the book right away and even though it had been awhile since I had read the first book, I picked it right back up. There is a bit of info dumping, but most of it I wanted and ate right up.

Inheritance  picks right back up where the first book left off. The world is still freaking out about the reveal that aliens do in fact exist and Reese and David’ lives are in chaos. They are followed by either cameras or special agents, normally both, everywhere. They have people trying to get them to agree to help them and spy on the aliens for them. They are blackmailed and their families threatened. Of course they have no choice but to help everyone and play double agents to keep their families safe. There are constant threats that are made towards them by the general population, which only gets worse when it gets out that Reese is a bisexual and had/has a relationship with Amber, an alien. Making Reese a bigger target than before as a “traitor to humanity”.

Basically there is a lot going on in this book. We get to learn a lot more about the Imrians and it’s all pretty neat. They have some dirty secrets of their own that are revealed. I believe this is the final book (only a two book series!) which kind of makes me sad because I want to see the Imrian’s world. I supposed I will have to check out Natural Selection, the novella from Amber’s PoV that has recently been released. Things are wrapped up fairly nicely, after a few incidents, like a kidnapping, and I didn’t really get bored at all while reading.

This series is a great YA, sci-fi and I will be checking out some of Lo’s other books because I really enjoyed this series. I love that she put in a bisexual love triangle, it’s really different from the normal love triangles and has a very unique outcome. So if you like aliens and are looking for a new sci fi, check out this series. It’s a nice short series that’s fun to read. Government conspiracies and all.

So this was my second Sarah Dessen book and can I just say that I’m ashamed I didn’t try any before now. They are just so darn good! The Truth About Forever was just so sweet and cute. I almost didn’t want it to end. Of course it had to and I was very happy with the ending. I just love how Sarah Dessen seems to be able to pull me in and make me feel so much for her characters, especially so quickly. I love that the books seem to go by fast and the next thing I know, I’m done. Most of all, I like how meaningful her books seem to be. They are full of feels both good and bad. They can have me sobbing one moment and laughing the next.

The story revolves around Macy, who everyone remember as the girl who watched her dad die. Macy is pretty much living a lie. She needs everything to go a certain way, no surprises. She is a good student, has a good boyfriend, is just the perfect daughter. A real good girl. Then her summer takes an unexpected turn and her plan for it is turned upside down. It was definitely an improvement from what it was, but not everyone, mainly her mom, thinks so. Macy ends up taking a part time job at a catering company after her boyfriend suggests a “break” over email (yeah, email. Ass.) and in turn meets such a different group of people than she’s used to. These people are not perfect and the job is chaotic, but it’s a welcome change for Macy, eventually.

I really love how throughout the story, we get to see Macy grow as a person. We get to see her finally grieve for her father and begin to realize that there is more to life than hiding behind being perfect. Things happen that we have no control over you just have to take them in stride. Things can only get better when they’re at their worst. Macy goes through so many changes and it’s just heartwarming to witness.

Then we have Wes. He’s a “bad” boy who has been to reform school. However, he has his own history, like everyone does and as Macy learns more about him, she begins to realize how great of a person he is. The two start a friendship and it’s perfect for Macy because it helps her realize a lot about herself.

Macy’s mom is present in the story, quite a bit. However she’s a workaholic since her husband’s death. She hasn’t grieved herself and when she notices that Macy is changing, well she doesn’t like it. Her daughter is perfect and going to have a great transcript. She doesn’t want her throwing it all away for people she doesn’t see as worth it. Needless to say, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her mom. I felt bad for her because it was clear she needed help herself, but she wasn’t helping her daughter out any by throwing herself into her work.

Overall The Truth About Forever was a very emotional read that I couldn’t get enough of. I’m very much looking forward to reading more by Sarah Dessen, she has won me as a fan.

So this was my first experience with reading Holly Black and I had heard a lot of great things about her. Unfortunately it took me a long time to get into this book and I’m not really sure why, I think it might of had to do with how the chapters are laid out. There would be a chapter for Tana in the present, then a flashback for Tana or one of the other characters and then back to the present with Tana. I don’t know, I guess it felt like I would just get into the mindset and reading about Tana and then all of a sudden I’m back in the past, even though something had just happened that I wanted to read more of. I had to read through this flashback to get on with the story and it would possibly even be for a different character. It just took awhile to get used to the changing constantly, which is weird for me because I have no trouble reading books with changing points of view normally (ex. A Song of fire and Ice).

As for the story content itself, it was a very interesting take on vampires. It’s an original concept that Holly Black came up with compared to other vampire novels and I did really enjoy learning more about it. It took about 150 pages for me to get hooked and keep reading and stop putting the book down. Once I was hooked though I had to finish it. In this book, if you get bit by a vampire you become infected. You crave blood and become colder and colder until you cave and bite/drink blood. Then you die and come back as a vampire. But, if you really don’t want to be a vampire, as long as you don’t cave and brink human blood, you can fight off the infection. It takes 88 days, but if you can get through that you are fine. Also, being bit by someone infected cannot pass on the infection, it has to be a vampire bite.

Now one of the things I liked about Tana, the protagonist is that she doesn’t want to be a vampire, but she gets a tiny scratch by a tooth and isn’t sure if she’s going to go cold or not. So she goes to Coldtown, a quarantined area where the vampires, infected, and vampire wannabees live. She goes because her mom was bit and infected and her father locked her up in the basement and the screams were horrible, so Tana doesn’t want to put her father and sister through that again if she is infected. Besides, that didn’t go so well. So off Tana goes with her infected ex boyfriend and a vampire (a slightly insane vampire) she rescues from other vampires to Coldtown to have themselves locked in. And nobody really ever leaves Coldtown once they are there.

Overall it was a great story, but the alternating chapters bothered me. There were also quotes at the beginning of each chapter, if you’re someone who reads them, I generally don’t. I did read a few and they were interesting but I would rather read them before or after I’ve read the book because I find it takes away the illusion by reading something else. I liked the writing and story, but because it took me so long to get into, combined with the alternating chapters, I’ve given it a bit of a lower rating than I normally would have. Still a good and unique vampire novel if that’s what you’re looking for, you should check it out. Also, bonus points for a standalone 

I have to admit, I watched the movie for this book way before reading it. When the movie first came out I didn't realize that it was based on a book, so I watched it before reading it. Well it's probably a good thing I did because if I had of read this first, I wouldn't have watched the movie. This is one of those rare cases where the movie is actually better than the book for me. Like way better.

For some reason, even though this book is only 183 pages, which would make you think it was fast paced, I found it really slow. I was wondering when anything was going to happen. Another thing that bothered me? I'm not sure how many times this book says "fuck" or some variety of it, but it was way too many times. Wait, scratch that, I looked it up and someone has it counted as 335 f-bombs in the 183 pages that this book is. Yeah, at least almost twice per page. Now I don't exactly have the cleanest mouth out there, but that just seems a bit ridiculous to me.

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I did finish the book and it was okay. I definitely won't be reading it again and it's not the first book I'd recommend to someone. I might tell them to watch the movie, it at least was censored. Sometime too much swearing is a bad thing. I don't care if the characters are in New York and if that's what it's like, it doesn't make for an enjoyable read. Plus the insta love thing that was going on? Not really that believable for me, especially when the two of them were still obsessing over their ex's, because they were. How can you claim to be falling in love with someone when you can't stop thinking about and comparing them to someone else. Nope, not really insta love for me, more like raging teenage hormones.

If you're interested in this one, I say skip the book and watch the movie.