My Review of: In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey

In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Can the truth set her free?…

A part of Mercy died the summer her sister tragically drowned. Now Mercy has a chance to discover if Faith’s death was an accident—or murder. Her first step is to confront the lead suspects: a band of traveling gypsies—the last people who saw her sister alive. But Mercy finds an unexpected ally in Cross, the soulful musician in their ranks. He’s a kindred spirit, someone who sees into her heart for the first time in, well, forever. Yet stirring up the past puts Mercy in danger…

Suddenly someone is shadowing Mercy’s every move, making her even more determined to uncover the facts. With Cross by her side, she is ready to face it all, even if that means opening up to him, knowing he may one day leave her. What she discovers is a truth that rocks the foundation of her small river town—and a love worth risking everything for….

My Review: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, and honestly I didn’t want to like this book at first. It seemed poorly planned and thought out, the characters were all over the place, and it was just really sad. There’s a lot of things going on, the main character, Mercy, is ignored by her father, the town pastor, after her sister dies and then her mother commits suicide. Although that doesn’t actually happen in the book, it happened three years before, but it’s still sad. There’s a lot of mention of self harm and self harm scars, and a couple characters are a little cringe worthy in their personalities, they’re pretty invasive. Then, something changed. As I read further into the book, about half way through, I realized it wasn’t a sad story about being sad, it was a story that started out sad but developed into happiness. It’s about getting over being sad. I found myself drawn to the mystery surrounding Mercy’s late sister Faith, and I stopped procrastinating reading the book. I really started to get into it. Sure, it had a rocky start, but who doesn’t like young love, a travelling sideshow, and a mystery? This book really grew on me, and the things I found annoying about the characters at first turned into quirks. The end was exciting, although I had a feeling about that specific character when we were first introduced to them, and the epilogue was cute. I don’t like country music, or church, but this was a good read and you should check it out and give it a chance. Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews

My Review of: Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Sever by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Time is running out for Rhine in this conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Chemical Garden Trilogy.

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

My Review: A heart wrenching end to an awesome trilogy. I absolutely loved every bit of this book, and the first two books as well. We pick back up not long after the second book ends, with Rhine in the hospital after facing horrible experimentation at the hands of her father in-law, and still desperately searching for her lost twin brother. Rhine is strong, though, stronger than I could ever be, and smart too, and that makes her an amazing main character. I really liked how although the characters are developing at an accelerated pace, they still always seem like themselves at the end of the day. I also really liked how the characters who were separated for the first two books were seamlessly blended together to make the third and final book. I was sucked into the story line immediately, and after the last book I couldn’t wait to read this, and honestly didn’t know what to expect. The new characters were just so full of life that you really believed that they’d always been there, milling around in the background, living their lives. The story is extremely gripping, and I really got attached to the characters, and was sad when I reached the end of the book, because I won’t be seeing them anymore. It really was an amazing read that took turns I never expected, and it definitely will be one of my new favourite trilogies. Check it out! You won’t regret it. Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews

My Review of: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago – surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous – and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion…by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price – now that she has more to lose than ever.

My Review: At first, I could only vaguely remember the first book. I mean, I read it a long time ago. Then it started to come back. This series is chocked full of raw emotion, horrible situations, and the world it’s set in is so well put together that you really haunted by the things happening as you’re reading through the chapters. This book specifically, the sex slaves, the drugs, the experiments, even the way the characters react really sticks with you. Not a lot of books want to have things that real in them, and I really respect this series for being amazing, warts and all. You really believe that these things are happening as you’re reading through the story. I kind of pictured the city as looking like one of the cities from Fable, only without the magic and sword fighting, and better technology. So, this book picks up where the last one left off, Gabriel and Rhine have escaped their hauntingly stagnant lives in the mansion, left behind Rhine’s sister wives and the horrible Housemaster Vaughn, but now they face a new problem; Where to go. This is an extremely well written book, and exciting as well as heart breaking all at the same time. The characters are very real and well thought out, I really feel for them as I’m reading. I got attached. It must be such a hard life for them, living in such a broken world, and not living past their twenties. This is really an excellent book, and with such an exciting story line, it was hard to put down, and I caught myself thinking about it when I was able to put it down. Definitely my favourite book in the trilogy so far, I can’t wait to start the last book. Check it out if you get the chance, I highly recommend it! Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews

My Review of: The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars’ surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark’s not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills — and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength – he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive – but Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.

Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale.

My Review: What an awesome book. I loved every bit of it. Although I saw the movie before I read this, I was extremely excited to start it. The best part? The movie and book are almost exactly the same. So even though I knew what to expect, there were still exciting little surprises that the movie had cut out. The story follows a man named Mark Watney, who through an unfortunate series of events is mistakenly left alone on mars while the rest of his crew aborts the mission and safely escapes the clutches of a horrible sandstorm. It then switches between the point of view of Mark, the crew on the space ship Hermes, and many different people on Earth working on a way to rescue the lone astronaut. First of all, I love books about space, so this was a perfect fir for me. The characters are very lifelike and hilarious at times, and Matt Damon was really a perfect choice to play Mark in the movie. This book was honestly nerve wracking at times, and other parts had me literally laughing out loud. It sucked me in from the very first page. The world it is set in is also really lifelike and believable. Mark is hilarious, and very smart, as an astronaut should be, and he somehow manages to stay hopeful and optimistic throughout the story, despite being left behind on a deserted planet. I love how the viewpoints shift, it keeps things exciting, and humanity really came together to save him, and that’s really great. This is definitely one of my new favourites, and I recommend you check it out, or at least watch the movie. Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews

My Review of: My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can’t quite seem to catch a break. It’s not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells “Prom” in sparklers on her lawn…and nearly burns down her house.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank’s dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him—and his “work.” The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.

My Review: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and although it’s a little more plain than most of the books I’ve read lately, I’m so glad I requested it, and that my wish was granted. It’s such a good story, the characters all had their own little quirks about them, and they really jumped off the page. Not only were the main characters lifelike, but the background characters were well rounded as well, and you don’t see that enough in YA fiction. I loved the story line, it definitely could have been a true story and that’s adorable, and also not enough stories have blue collar families in them. On top of all that, the main character was a boy,m and his counter part was a girl who was a pyromaniac. I think that’s why I was interested in this book in the first place. This is a story about good kids who seem to be getting into trouble, when really trouble just seems to find them. I love how it’s written, I love the characters, and I love the story line. This book is an adorable tale of young love, and although they didn’t realize it at first, that’s definitely what it was. I’m glad they didn’t instantly fall for each other the moment they met like most books, and I like how it all wrapped up in the end. It’s definitely one of my new favourites, and you should check it out if you have the chance! Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews

My Review of: Crewel (Crewel World, #1) by Gennifer Albin

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: Incapable. Awkward. Artless.
That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: She wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen to work the looms is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to manipulate the very fabric of reality. But if controlling what people eat, where they live, and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and used her hidden talent for a moment. Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her dad’s jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because tonight, they’ll come for her.

My Review: Imagine living in a world where everything is perfectly weaved together. Everyone lives in sectors of this utopia, some segregation occurs, and everything is planned from the very beginning. Unless of course, you turn out to be a spinster, a girl with special abilities to work on the weave of the world. Then you’re torn away from your family and taken to a lush place filled with things you wouldn’t dream of having as a normal citizen, eating your rations. Doesn’t that sound great? Sure, until you think about the fact that not everything can be controlled, and some of the people running the show are dysfunctional. Nothing is what it seems to be. This book was a roller coaster from the very beginning, and I absolutely loved every bit of it. Adelice is a very strong and well put together character, and the world she lives in is well thought out, or even perfectly put together, if you will. I was sucked in from the very first page, and the cover is really pretty. It really suits the story. I haven’t read anything like this specific dystopia before, and that’s just another huge perk to this book. Honestly, there weren’t very many cons (if any) to this book in my opinion, and even the background characters are strong and lifelike, the story is exciting, and the world it’s in is well crafted (ha ha). I definitely will be reading the next book in the series, and if you haven’t already you should check out this book! Thanks for reading.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

View all my reviews