The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

 Title: The Assassin's Blade

 Author: Sarah J. Maas

 Series: Throne of Glass (#0.1- #0.5)

 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children

 Date Published: March 4th, 2014

 Genre: Fantasy

 Pages: 464 (Hardcover)

 Age Range: 14+






                                                                      Summary:

      Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam.

     When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes--and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn's orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn's clutches--and if they fail, they'll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives . . .

                                                                     Review:

     So, Sarah J. Maas strikes again. She writes yet another stellar book about Celaena Sardothien and her constant troubles. This "book" is actually a bind- up, a compilation of five short stories- each of them following Celaena as she attempts to repent for a crime that she committed against Arobynn, King of the Assassins. In the first story, she commits her crime, and later she repents. These stories were very intense, and I can't believe some of the things that happened.
      First, we get to see a lot more of Celaena's true self. We truly get to see some new things that we have never learned about her before, and a lot more of her personality. Celaena's personality in the original series makes a lot more sense, and I really do like her. In these stories, we get to meet A LOT more new characters. Most of these characters are only in this story- at  least that I've seen so far- but they are really nice and involved. Honestly though, I cannot say how much I hate Arobynn. There is not a painful enough way for him to die.
     I totally loved what happened in every single story. The only story that I didn't love was the last one because it was so intense, and because my baby... well, bad things happened to him. There wasn't a story that didn't have me on the edge of my seat, dying.
     Of course, after I read the last story, I texted Ashley in a pool of tears. She was really confused, but after I filled her in, she was still confused. But! She did give me half-hearted pats on the back from two hundred miles away, and she did let me whine.
      I cannot wait to read Queen of Shadows, and I am dying to have it in my hands.

                                      

Like It Never Happened by Emily Adrian

 Title: Like It Never Happened

 Author: Emily Adrian

 Publisher: Dial Books

 Date Published: June 2, 2015

 Genre: Contemporary, Romance

 Pages: 368 (Hardcover)

 Age Range: 15+ (underage drinking, language)








                                                                        Summary:

    When Rebecca Rivers lands the lead in her school’s production of The Crucible, she gets to change roles in real life, too. She casts off her old reputation, grows close with her four rowdy cast-mates, and kisses the extremely handsome Charlie Lamb onstage. Even Mr. McFadden, the play’s critical director, can find no fault with Rebecca.

     Though “The Essential Five” vow never to date each other, Rebecca can’t help her feelings for Charlie, leaving her both conflicted and love-struck. But the on and off-stage drama of the cast is eclipsed by a life-altering accusation that threatens to destroy everything…even if some of it is just make believe.

                                                                         Review:

     This is a major case of the-flap-is-totally-misleading. Maybe not exactly misleading, but definitely  not-a-proper-summary-for-the-book. From the flap, I thought this book would be cutesy little read about trying to stay away from Mr. Perfect for the good of your friendship. Instead, this book was really odd, sappy, hard to struggle through, and just... no.

     First off, this book might have been bearable if I could relate to any of the characters. Rebecca got on my nerves- A LOT, Charlie I really hated- from the beginning- and the other "Essential Five" characters kinda bled into one another. I can't even remember the other character's names and that is a very bad sign. The chick that was evil (you know who I'm talking about if you've read this book) I always hated her. The random guy that had no plot development, yeah he existed- I had no feeling towards him. Liane (I think?) I hated her too. I disliked the undergoing theme with Nadine and Mary, it felt unnecessary, and incredibly forced.

     In the beginning, the plot was very jumpy, and I kept losing track of where I was, then things cleared up, annnd I still got confused. The characters kept making references to things that the reader doesn't understand. The whole spin-off with Mr. McFadden was sickening. Honestly, I didn't care if he returned her feelings, or not- I just wanted him out of there. As a character, he wasn't bad, but i just couldn't stand that does-he-like-me relationship Rebecca kept shoving on him. And when she went in to kiss him... I had steam coming out of my ears.

     Basically, the only thing that I liked about this book was the cover. Even the writing was sloppy and immature.

                                                  

     

Shadowhunter News: Shadowhunters Teaser

 Okay, so last night we were given two teasers for the upcoming ABC Family show, Shadowhunters....And they were pathetic!

I was super, super excited to watch the teasers! They said they were releasing 2, so I thought that they were actually going to show clips of the show! I was totally stoked!
But then I saw the teasers....And was unbelievably disappointed.

The first teaser was just the Shadowhunters title! That's all.

So, after watching the first one, I was like, "Okay, so that was a tease before the tease. They'll show something awesome next!"

Nope.
Second teaser was equally a bust.

If you've been keeping up with the show, looking at pictures and blog posts about it, then you know that they didn't show anything that we hadn't already seen. Again, super disappointed. I thought they were going to show something awesome, even if it lasted a second like the first teaser.

Later that night, I watched Christine's reaction to the teasers, and it made me laugh because Christine and her brother said everything that I and everybody else thought of the stupid, lame teasers that were released.

I laughed so hard while watching this last night lol. It made it somewhat better.

Something Real by Heather Demetrios

Title: Something Real

Author: Heather Demetrios

Publisher: Henry Colt and Co.

Date Published: February 4th, 2014

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 416 (hardcover)

Age range: 12+







            Summary:

    Seventeen-year-old Bonnie™ Baker has grown up on TV--she and her twelve siblings are the stars of one-time hit reality show Baker's Dozen. Since the show's cancellation, Bonnie™ has tried to live a normal life, under the radar and out of the spotlight. But it's about to fall apart . . . because Baker's Dozen is going back on the air. Bonnie™'s mom and the show's producers won't let her quit and soon the life that she has so carefully built for herself, with real friends (and maybe even a real boyfriend), is in danger of being destroyed by the show. Bonnie™ needs to do something drastic if her life is ever going to be her own--even if it means being more exposed than ever before.

                                                                        Review:

     Was this book as fantastic as I hoped it would be? No. Was it something that I've never seen before? No. Was it a page-turner? No. All of that being said, I thought that a lot of people would like the book (which really didn't affect my rating at all).
     First off, the characters. Bonnie/ Chloe got on my nerves SO much. She was incredible whiny, self-centered, whiny, bipolar, and have I mentioned whiny yet? She could never make up her mind, and her favorite thing to do was whine and wallow on a heaping mess of self-pity. We know that the author can write great characters, because Benny was a great person. He was funny, caring, and he just seemed like a good person. I feel like he would've been an amazing best friend and brother to have. Patrick, our love interest, was so average that I couldn't muster up any feelings toward him. Nothing made me go: "Oh, gosh, I like this guy" and nothing made me go: "Oh, gosh, I don't like this guy". I did, however, loathe Chloe's parents (all three of them), the show's producers/staff, and Chloe herself.
     The plot itself was fascinating! It was such an amazing plot- it was just very poorly executed. There was a lot of potential for really great things to happen within the plot, but the story spent way too much time worrying about Benny, worrying about Patrick, and worrying about Bonnie, that we lost sight of the real twist at the end. For the first two-thirds of the book, NOTHING HAPPENS. We putz around in Bonnie's life, but almost nothing of importance happens. And I mean it. This book could have been about half its size, and it still would've been long enough. I liked the twist at the end(ish), but I feel like it could have been drawn out more. No, not more pages of suspense necessarily, but more development, more repercussions, and more... well, drama. Everything ends far too perfectly for everyone, and I wanted to know what happened to the rest of Chloe's family in the book- the end was lacking.
     Okay, so, minor rant time... Were Bonnie's parents supposed to be villains? Obviously, MetaReel was a villain, but, in my opinion, Bonnie's parents were even worse. All three of her parents were absolutely awful- I couldn't find a redeeming quality in any of them. They were so distant and uncaring. According to Bonnie's mom, everything Bonnie complained about was just Bonnie trying to get attention. The mom became almost full-on abusive- verbally and physically. Overall, none of the parental figures sat well with me, and they left a sour taste in my mouth.
     All in all, the book was okay. The plot was so promising, but a whiny lead, and flat love interest, awful parents, and too much detail on little things led to a book that fell wildly flat.