These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

                     Title: These Broken Stars
                     Author: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
                     Series: Starbound Trilogy #1
                     Publisher: Disney, Hyperion
                     Date Published: December 10, 2013
                     Genre: Dystopian
                     Pages: 384 (hardcover)
                     Age range: 13+


                                         




                    

              Summary
           It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 

          Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

                                                                     Review

          Well, here is instalove at its finest... Okay, so I'm guilty again. I LOVED this book. Even with all of its instalove glory. The writing was really lyrical and detailed. The bickering between Tarver and Lilac was so funny and cute! The description of the new planet was really clear. Sure, things got pretty dang confusing at the end, but I'm hoping that things will be explained more in the other books. Now, I loved the chapters where Tarver was getting interviewed. They confused me at first, but it's all made clear at the end, and that made them even more humorous.
         The characters in this book were FANTASTIC. there were only two characters for a majority of the book, but they were really well done. Lilac was your classic mouthy, rich, daddy's girl. And Tarver was a military bad boy. I love bad boys, and Tarver was no exception. Their bickering was SO funny and cute. It was funny how Lilac just kepy saying things like "My daddy will save us!" and Tarver would just go "Your daddy my left foot. Keep moving." I couldn't relate to any of the characters, or their situation, but I don't think that I was supposed to. I was supposed to let the characters hold my hand and walk me through the story, not become the characters.
         I did think it was slightly ridiculous how Tarver was stepped all over by Lilac in the beginning, and he just kept coming back to her. It's like the adorable, strong bulldog that just keeps coming back to get kicked. And Lilac was, of course, a witch in the beginning. But it was great to see the growth of both of these characters.
        The story was great. I was reminded of the Titanic. Ya know, the invincible, huge ship that has ton of people on it all of a sudden crashes, and everyone loses their cool because only a tiny fraction of them can possibly survive. DUN DUN DUNNN. It wasn't cliched though, which was very nice. After that, they survived on a planet until help could come of they could escape. Mentally, I played My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion for the whole book. It just fit perfectly. For real.
         Anyway, this was a great book, and I can't wait for book two!  Also, just look at how perfect that cover is! Ain't it gorgeous?

                                        

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

                       Title: Shadow and Bone

                       Author: Leigh Bardugo

                       Series: The Grisha Trilogy #1

                       Publisher: Square Fish

                       Date Published: May 7, 2013

                       Genre: Dystopian

                       Pages: 416 (paperback)

                       Age range 13+

                  Summary

          Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

                                                                   Review

          I'm very rarely left speechless after I finish a great book (usually, I start freaking out and singing about it from the tops of roofs), but for this book, I was left absolutely speechless. It took me a little while to get into this book at first. Lately, I've been reading a lot of contemporaries, and it took me awhile to get back into my dystopian mindset, but after thirty or so pages, oh man. It was great. I was able to finish reading in a few hours.

          The characters were all strong leads, and really fun to read about. I liked Alina. I think she made some mistakes, but I expected her to. She was a lot more average than I expected her to be, but I liked that about her- she was relatable. I hope she'll grow some more over the next books in the trilogy. I didn't like Mal in the beginning of the story, and I ended up... disliking him less? I didn't hate him, but I also still don't love him. Hopefully, I will like him more in the next books. I LOVED the Darkling, however. He was brooding, dark, mysterious, coercive, and rather evil. I am a terrible person, because I loved the bit with the Darkling and Alina. It was undeniably instalove, and I hate instalove, but I really, really liked this one for some reason. It just clicked. Now, I'm not gonna go crazy and say that I ship them, but maybe we'll flesh out their little sparks some more? Please? Also, I liked how we never really have a love triangle. Alina never really likes Mal and the Darkling at the same time. Very well done, Mrs. Bardugo.

          The plot isn't anything remotely new... I mean, the chick is a SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE, she is the key to utter evil supremacy or utter goodness, and then everyone fights for her while falling in love with her. Nothing new. But the whole story was so deep, and interesting, and dark, and in a new land, and fantastic, that it's impossible for this book to seem cliched.

          Overall, this book was fantastic. I think the first book ended at a great spot, and I can't wait to get my little hands on book two.

                                               

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Opal

Series: Lux Series #3

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Date Published: December 11, 2012

Genre: YA fiction, romance, sci-fi, supernatural, action

Pages: 452 (paperback)

Age Range: 13+




Summary

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.


Review

  
Things are getting steamy with Daemon Black ;)

I would say this book definitely had more of a serious note than the last one. Onyx was more fun, witty and quirky and there were a lot more Daemon and Katy moments that I liked.

Though there was the scene for their date at the Italian restaurant. Again, all I could think about was Twilight! Yes, I liked the series. I wasn't a crazy fan but I found it interesting and enjoyably cheesy--just like how I find this series. There are just a lot of things in this series that reminds me of Twilight.

I didn't like how protective Daemon was in this book. Other times it was understandable and he didn't push that hard about Kat staying behind, but in this book it seemed a little overboard. They argued about it quite a lot and I felt like Kat didn't get angry enough about the fact that he wanted her to stay behind for her safety. She was just kind of like, "Oh, he's just being protective; it's sweet." I mean, they had the conversation/argument more than once in this book. I would've gotten furious if he tried to tell me what to do.

Katy's mom didn't find them in bed together in this book (thank goodness we averted from having that embarrassing/awkward moment, again) but Kat and Daemon weren't just catching some Z's in this book...if ya catch ma drift.

Oh wow when Katy found out that Blake was sneaking into her room!! At first, I thought it was Dawson, did anyone else think that? I thought Dawson was having some weird feelings about Kat because he missed Beth, and Katy reminded him of her. Plus, she had that dream about Daemon sleeping next to her.

OMG THE ENDING!! THE ENDING!! Holy cow I was totally expecting Katy to get trapped somehow but I was NOT expecting Blake to betray them! They trusted him and he just....OHMYGOSH and then the scene with Daemon trying to get to Katy as the doors were closing and she was holding him back with the Source so he wouldn't get hurt from the lasers! It was SO SAD! I sat there when I finished the book for a good ten minutes just like "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED! BLAKE, YOU BASTARD!" Yeah....things might have gotten just a little intense...just a teensy weensy bit.

What's with these titles? Like, we have Obsidian, then we have Onyx, now Opal and then the next book is Origin! They all start with the latter "O". The cover is still pretty cheesy but it's loads better than the first two in the series.

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Onyx

Series: Lux Series #2

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Date Published: August 14, 2012

Genre: YA fiction, romance, sci-fi, action, supernatural

Pages: 416 (paperback)

Age Range: 13+




Summary

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense is here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we’re linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there’s this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that’s possible. Against all common sense, I’m falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…


Review


This series is cursed with cheesy book covers. The writing is also sort of cheesy at certain points, but I still enjoyed this book. I'm not huge on sci-fi but I find this series interesting and different from other things I've read. The characters are really great in this series! Though, who wouldn't love Daemon?

Oh my gosh, soooo much happened in this book. It felt like I was on a rollercoaster. I don't even know where to start for this post...Warning: I will be jumping from one thing to another in this post...I've had caffeine.

Why don't we start out with an "HA! I totally called it! In yo face!"? I totally called it about Blake! I knew he was up to no good! I knew it! I texted my co-blogger, Nadia, as soon as he came into the picture. Something was just off about him and I didn't trust him, at all. And then when he started training with Katy? Nope. Nope! Warning bells were going off.

Okay, about the onyx thing: I couldn't take the whole thing seriously....all I was picturing was Superman and kryptonite. I was just like, "Really? We had to rip-off Superman? I already think this book is pretty high on the ridiculously-cheesy list but now it's pretty high up there."
But I kept reading and thought it was neat how the author used it in the book anyway. This book also reminded me of Twilight in a lot of places...

One of my favorite parts in the book is when Katy's mom finds Daemon and Katy in bed together (they were legit just catching some Z's). It was hilarious and perfect. I couldn't stop smiling lol.

And ohmygosh when they did the book vlog post together! *sigh* It was very swoon worthy. He couldn't keep quiet as Kat talked--needless to say, it was adorable! He was totally charming, and totally into it.

Oh, and then earlier when Daemon said, "Maybe they're getting some bow-chicka-pow-wow" I was cracking up! All I could picture was this really hot guy (who almost always keeps a calm demeanor) using a high pitched voice to make this sound. It was priceless!!

The ending totally had me. The ending was like giving an addict cocaine or something, except I'm a book addict so it's a little different (I don't do cocaine...). I bought Opal the second after I finished this book. I don't care if I have eight unread books on my shelf, I'm reading the third book. Right. Now.

Okay, I think I've spoiled this book for you enough. Go read it!

P.S. I Still Love You Rant.....

          So, I'm gonna plunge right on in with my rant, but here a few things to know first: this is the second book in a series, I have NOT read the second book (it hasn't even been released yet), everything here is my opinion, I will be spoiling the first book (because it is necessary. IT JUST IS), and I LOVE this book with the white-hot passion of a thousand burning suns. Now that you know all of this, enjoy my weird, random, and rather unintelligible rant. I'd like to apologize before-hand when this rant makes almost no sense. Thank you for sticking with me. :) Without further ado, my rant:
          OKAY! So, To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, left off on a cliffhanger. A very major cliffhanger. One that is pure torture. Lara Jean Song writes: "Dear, Peter..." and the entire world ends. I was flipping the pages frantically, trying to see if I had magically missed anything. I even phoned a friend asking if my copy was missing a few pages. It was a very "interesting" day when I finished this book. It was even more "interesting" the next day when I saw that a sequel, P.S. I Still Love You, was to be released. I believe that this little boy's joy slightly pales in comparison to mine... but here ya go. 


          Anyway, the release date for the next book is: June 2nd, 2015. WHAT WAS JENNY HAN THINKING IN TAKING SO LONG?!?!?!



          To hold me over until then, I just HAVE to freak out about Peter's rival in this next book. Why? Because that's just what I do.
          First off, five letters were sent out in the first book. One to Lucas Krapf, one to Josh, one to Peter K, one to Kenny from camp, and one to John Ambrose. In the next book, Peter has to have a rival. The flap on the book already says so! SO? Who's it gonna be?
          Well, it can't be Josh. We already solved our issues with him. He is back where he belongs, in the friendzone. It can't be Peter because, well, he's already our eye candy. It can't be Lucas because he's gay (unless we have some book where the gay guy suddenly realizes that he's not gay). It can't really be Kenny from camp because he lives -what?- states away? That leaves John Ambrose McClaren. VICTORY BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION!!!



          In the first book, we meet John, but we never really have a moment of closure with him. Sure Lara Jean sees him, but she runs away before anything happens. AND there was that moment where John calls after her. AND he's from her past. AND he sounds like a great male rival.
          Okay, CASE CLOSED. My thought is that Lara Jean's new maybe love interest will be John Ambrose McClaren. Although, I really don't know......