Tag Archives: YA novels

Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

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Featured imageI just realized after my last post that I never posted my review for this book.  My bad.  As with my other reviews of mid-series books, there will be spoilers from the previous, so if you haven’t read Throne of Glass then don’t read after the cut. ‘m totally serious about those spoilers! I bolded (is that even a word?)  the text and everything.  I’m not going to hold anything back so you have been fully warned.  Unless of course, you don’t mind the ending of Throne of Glass being spoiled for you or the happenings and goings on of Crown of Midnight then by all means, read away.

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Series You Should Check Out: The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan

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While reading Scarlett Undercover (which I’m enjoying very much) I was reminded of another great series, The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan. These books are similar to Scarlett Undercover in that they have a Nancy Drew feel with a Person of Color heroine.  That’s where the similarities end though.  The heroine Kami Glass wants to be a journalist, so she sets up a school newspaper to cover all the hard hitting news in her small village Sorry-in-the-Vale.

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In this story of Gothic tale meets Nancy Drew, Kami already stands out in her small English village because she is half Japanese. But, to make matters worse she also has a peculiar habit of talking to the voice in her head.  This voice belongs to Jared who is a real person.  They are each other’s best friends and confidantes. Both of them have no doubt the other exists but no one believes her about Jared so the other kids just think she is crazy.  But, that was in the past and thank goodness Kami has someone who knows she’s not crazy. Angela, Her friend who moved from London, just wants to nap.  Anyway, back to the school newspaper.  The biggest story in Sorry-in-the-Vale is the return of the Lynburns.  The family that ruled over the village for years.  Over a decade ago, the family mysteriously left their mansion without a word but they are now back.  The village is on edge and Kami is determined to figure out the reason for the Lynburn’s return.  Not to mention there are a lot of weird things going on.  Things get a little complicated when Kami meets Ash Lynburn and even more complicated when she meets Jared Lynburn.  You know, Jared.  The voice in her head in the flesh.  Kami always knew that Jared was real but meeting him is so unexpected.  Of course, things heat up and get crazy in town. Soon Kami, Angela, Angela’s brother Rusty, their friend Holly, Ash and Jared begin to investigate a murder of a schoolmate and the history of the Lynburn family and the town.

Kami is beyond likable.  She’s amazing.  She’s smart, funny, clever, loyal and stubborn. She will stop at nothing to find the truth and help her family and friends.  Her friends are loyal and there for her all the way.  They bring all of their skills together to solve the mysterious happenings of their village.  Kami and Angela’s friendship is really beautiful.  They are truly different people but they love and respect each other and are always there for each other.  Friendships like this between two girls isn’t often depicted in YA Novel.  In so many stories and like so many movies, girls are seen more as rivals than friends.  So it’s always refreshing to see girls being just girls.

There is so much more to say love about this series.  There was so much to love.  I didn’t even talk about the Sorcerers and Kami’s family.  She may have the best father in a YA novel ever. All  I’ll say is that you have to read them.  You won’t regret it.

Quick Review: Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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Featured imageI will say this for Nick Gautier. His life is never boring. He would tell you that is a bad thing but it’s way too entertaining.  I don’t know even where to begin to talk about this book without spoiling the previous books so I’ll keep this short. I’ve already talked about this series before so you know how I feel about Nick and his friends. Instinct is no different.  It’s the same snarky Nick as always.  He gets into trouble but always talks or finds away out of it by staying true to himself.  He’s not about to let destiny take control of him and his future.  In the past books, he’s friends had to really step up and help him out but this one, he was basically on his own.  It’s been two years since he found out who he really is and who his friends really are and is finally starting to come into his own.  I know there are a couple more books to go but I feel like we are starting to see the endgame for the series.  Also a bonus is that all of these books are very fast paced and fast reads. Nick is always tasked with multiple crisis’ that seemed to have  nothing in common yet always do that keep him going back and forth between the two but the reader never gets tangled or confused as to what’s going on.  You are there for the ride as is Nick.  So Yeah!  Well done.  I’m looking forward to reading the next book.

Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

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Featured imageEmber is the kind of character that is likeably annoying.  On the one hand she’s brave, loyal and fierce.  Her wide-eyed curiosity is charming.  On the other hand, she’s stubborn and doesn’t know how to listen to directions which usually leads to something bad happening.  Whether it directly leads to it or is just enough to distract her friends that make them make stupid mistakes, It always leads to trouble. Despite her faults I’m still rooting for her.  After the cut contains spoilers for Rogue and the first book Talon. So if you haven’t read Talon and planning on it, best not to read further.

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Review: The Replaced by Kimberley Derting

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Featured imageI read this a month ago so I have sort of forgot what I wanted to say about it.  (Note to self: Make notes while reading)  So this is going to be a sketchy.

The Replaced is the sequel of the The Taken. It’s about Kyra, who is abducted by aliens for five years but to her she has only been gone for hours.  In those five years, she hasn’t aged a day but everyone else has.  Her boyfriend is now in college and dating her best friend, her parents are divorced and her  Mom is remarried and has a child.  The most interesting development is that the younger brother of her ex-boyfriend, Tyler is now her age and is of course hot.  As Kyra tries to piece together what happened to her, she falls in love with Tyler, finds other abductees and discovers a conspiracy with the government and the aliens that abducted her.  I could go on but I feel that would spoil The Taken so I  leave it here.

The book is good and just okay. The characters a likeable enough but not completely memorable.  I liked it enough that I’ll read the next book.  The ending I found intriguing as I think we will finally get some answers as to what the aliens want with us.  I think that has been missing from the plot so far:  the reason why teenagers are being abducted and then returned after their DNA is changed so that they age more slowly.  Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is it’s a good book.  I’ll try to do better the next review.

Reader Problems

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You know when you are reading a book.  You love it.  You love the characters.  You become invested in one or two of the characters. For this instance, you are involved with two.  You want them together.  You totally ship them.  They are finally realized they are in love with each other and finally, FINALLY, do something about it.  They are happy.  You are happy.  All is great and then realize that you haven’t even reached the half way point of the book and there are at least two more books to come.  You start to panic because you know the happiness your characters feel now is not going to last that much longer.  Something bad is about to happen.  You accidentally read the synopsis of the next book in the series, so you know there is a death is coming.  Now your even more frazzled because what if it’s one of your beloved!  NO!  It can’t be!  They are HAPPY!  Can’t they be happy?  You want to turn away and stop reading but you can’t.  It’s a like a car accident as much as you want to look the other direction, you can’t help yourself from looking straight ahead.  So you keep reading towards the inevitable.  Hoping for the best but bracing yourself for the worst.

That is exactly where I am right now in the The Crown of Midnight.  Something book is about to happen.  I just know it and I’m not prepared for it.  Nope, not at all.  Pray for me brothers and sisters readers.