The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Summary: Kestrel is a general's daughter in stolen land and in a stolen house. In a few years she will have to choose between getting married and joining the army, neither road seeming ideal to her.When she stumbles upon a slave auction she feels compels to buy Arin , a blacksmith who she will soon begin to have feelings for.

4/5, 85%

Good book that i'm for some reason really invested into but I can't quite figure out why. My negatives outweigh the positives but I can't bring myself to put it any lower than four stars. I was entertaining and grabbed onto my emotions.

I think this should've been two books or some of it shortened, the first and second half two different stories. It was also too long and then end dragged on. The world building could've been better, but it's made up for in the second book. One of my biggest problems, which is also a big problem in the second book is the angst that's annoying and they need to get over with.

Overall, good book but real long and dragged on.

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Summary: The second novel in the Winner's trilogy. Will Give spoilers to the first novel, The Winner's Curse. Kestrel is now betrothed to the Prince of Valorian and in between party after party she wraps herself in a blanket of spying and treason. Arin keeps himself busy with trying to enlist allies for Herran and battling with his mind over his thoughts of Kestrel's true feelings.

3/5

This was a typical young adult YA second in a trilogy book. A filler book where the couple is fighting and not much happens. The only thing different, and the only thing that kept my attention was the ending. Me, getting angry at the main characters for not just telling each other that love each other and getting over with it. It was slow and angsty as well.

Although I wasn't very fond of this book I am still for some reason really invested in this couple and want the next book. like, now. The ending killed me. Very Brutally.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Rating: 4 Stars 


Summary: Laia is out on her own after the Masks set her house on fire, killing her grandparents and her brother ending up in jail. Elias is a day away from graduating and becoming a Mask, and the hopefully successfully running away. When Laia strucks up a deal to get her brother out of jail by being a spy as a slave at the Mask school their lives intertwine. 

This is what I needed. The can stop reading you look up and it 5 in the morning kind of read. The edge of your seat can't tear your eyes away read. The blinking through your tears and snatching them away quickly so you can read on. The hitch in your breath when you think predicted something bad will happens. The stop in your breath when something bad happened.  

Pros: Kept me engaged from the beginning, a great set up for the following books. Plot and storyline great. 

Cons: World building could've been better and the dialogue sometimes got long, speech and peachy and cheesy. I would find myself zoning out and skipping. Most characters weren't that fleshed out.

Great read. Great set up. Would recommend to people who liked the Legend Series by Marie Lu and The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas or just fans of dystopians. 

The Body Electric by Beth Revis

Rating: 4 Stars

Summary: Ella Shepard lives in the future. Her mother is sick, her father died a year ago and her memory is faulty. 

Beth Revis' first series, Across the Universe, was my favorite series for a really long time. It's also one of the few series I've read more than once. When I heard Revis was writing something new I was really excited and I've only waited this long to read it because I wanted my own physical copy. Comparing the two, The Body Electric and Across the Universe, I definitely liked Across the Universe better. They are two very different books, and it's also incredibly difficult to compare a standalone to three separate books.

I had a couple problems with this book. I thought the pacing was off. The beginning was kind of slow but the ending, and the last 100-200 pages felt really rushed.I wish I got to know the supporting characters more. Other than Ella, the protagonist, and the antagonist, none of the supporting characters were really fledged out. I don't even feel really connected or knowledgeable about the love interest, Jack. I also got kind of a insta-love feel because of that, which you'll know is weird if you've read the book.

However, I liked pretty much everything else. I read it really fast, in a couple hours. Every five minutes I was like "stop at the next chapter" then next thing I knew I was at the final page. Apart from the first a hundred pages the entire book kept me on my feet and engaged. I was really fast paced and I flew through it. I liked the mystery, and although I guessed the overall twist there were some details that really shocked me. The world building was really good and interesting and the nod at Godspell made my heart grow three sizes. I really like Ella, I thought she was a really strong character and likable. The writing, particularity the parts with the bees, was amazing  I think I should also mention the gorgeous cover. The format of the rest of the book, the font and the chapter illustration, is also really pretty. 

Overall, I really liked this book and wouldn't mind a couple novellas about Jack, Xavier and Julie. Definitely read this if you enjoyed her previous books, Across the Universe. 

In the Afterlight and Sparks Rise by Alexandra Bracken

In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken is the third and final book in the Darkest Minds trilogy There will be spoilers for both the first two books, The Darkest Minds and Never Fade.


I loved the first two books, but didn't enjoy this one just as much. And it's a hundred percent my fault. I didn't remember who a lot of people were (Like Cate and Nico) or what they did. (It took me about 150 pages to get into the book but once I did I pretty much finished it in one sitting. Like, staying up until the sun comes up to finish it type of thing, which I haven't done in a while. A lot of the characters annoyed me, like Ruby, Liam and Cole. Definitely Cole.

I really liked how it went full circle at the end. Ruby started at Thurmond in The Darkest Minds and ending there in this books. It was one of my favorite parts when they were telling the story at night and Ruby revealed her plan. I wish after they escaped Ruby found them again, especially Sam, and...I don't know they all thanked Ruby or something. However, I haven't read the Sam novella yet, Sparks Rise.

Edit: I just read Sparks Rise and I should've known to read it before hand, like you have to read In Time before Never Fade. Why was I so stupid? (Spoilers coming) I'm crying. I'm crying more from those 100 pages than the 500+ in In the Afterlight. It's so sad, my whole body feels it. I fell like I could throw up from the sadness. I went back and reread the parts with Sam in In the Afterlight and now I'm 10x more sadder. I want to throw up. I need a glass of water. My hopes were so high in the beginning I was overcome with happiness. But once they started to escape and I realized Lucas was the guy Ruby noticed in In the Afterlight I was so struck with sadness I had to put my kindl down. I sat it down, walked away and didn't think I could finish it.  It hurt me so much knowing what would happen next I couldn't finish it. I, of course, did and now I regret picking up Sparks Rise.

Another one of my favorite parts was when they found Zu. My heart grew three sizes, and then some. I gasped out loud when Zu started talking in the interview, even though I kind of guessed she would talk eventually. When Ruby and Liam found Vida and Chubs, even though I've been calling this since the first time they met, was shocking. I think it was how they found them. I laughed so hard when it happened.

I can't really finish this review anymore, for I am crying over Sparks Rise. I can't believe a novella can do this to me. Reading In Time I was like this is the best novella I've ever read, but it was outranked. In Time was really good, but it didn't leave me with this sick feeling like I feel now. Alexandra Bracken, you are one cruel mistress. This has become more of a Sparks Rise review than In the Afterlight review. I should change the title. All in all, I can't really sum up my feeling for In the Afterlight right now cause it's being overshadowed by its novella. Is that a bad thing?

Undivided by Neal Shusterman

 The fourth and final book in the Unwind dystology, so they will probably be spoilers. Rating: 4 Stars                                                                                                           Which kind of ruined this book for me was I was never really sure this was the finale book until about the last chapter. This just left me in a state of panic and confusion and anxiety if there was enough time to wrap everything up. I don't have that intense feeling about this book, there wasn't any lasting huge effects. Nothing that made me want to cry, after the book (although there were moments during the book). I only had one big problem with Undivided, which was there was so much focus on Starkey, who I do not care about at all, I dont even hate him enough to care about him, I'm just tired of him. There was so much focus on him, which left not much room for who I care about, Connor, Risa, and Lev. There also wasn't a conclusion for Bambi, who I actually liked, which, now that I think about it, makes me angry. 

       Overall, I think this series was a little too stretched out, but really good overall. The first, two, i think are amazing and if you haven't checked them out already, you really should.

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Rating- 3.5 Stars
This is a sequel, book 2 to the 5th wave series, and will probably have spoilers for both books.

     I really, reallly, really enjoyed The Fifth Wave, the start of this series, but this one was kind of... boring. It had an amazing prologue but after that it took me a long time to get into it, then it would change books (chapters kinda) and it would take me forever to get into it again. I didn't (still don't really) remember any of the gang other than the main people, which left me very confused. It took me forever to read it and left me really confused. I'm not sure who's dead, who's where, who's almost dead, did we really find anything out in the book?? I felt like there was a aha! moment in this that I didn't pick up on.

Even though the story didn't do it for me, the writing, like it was in the last time was beautiful. All of his characters, especially the new one(s) are amazing (are they dead????). I think it was the characters who kept me reading (Even if I don't remember half of them, I still have ghost memories of caring for them).

I don't think i'm in the right place to tell you if you read it or not, I think i just read this in a really busy time and I didn't obtain the information in should have.(Is he dead??) I know however I will read the next one(s?) and hopefully reread both The Fifth Wave and this one by the time it comes out. (We all know that isn't going to happen)

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Rating: 3 Stars 
 Sequel to All These Things I've Done. Mafia princess has an on and off relationship with mafia in the slight future.
Eh. I read it a couple weeks ago but I just realized I didn't put up a review and don't remember much but I will trek on. It definitely wasn't as good as the first, it was really predictable and the "plot twists" weren't interesting or shocking. Anya annoyed me because she never did anything but whine or doing the stupidest option available, while in the last one she was badasss and I loved her. My favorite part was when she was in Mexico and I the boy she met there was my favorite character. Win and Scarlet also got annoying, especially in the end with their stupid decisions. I know I enjoyed it, I gave it 3 stars and read it considerably fast but i think its just me wanting to know what happened, but to stubborn to look it up. Overall I thought it was okay, i'll be reading the last one, but i'm not sure if i'd recommend it.

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Rating: 4 stars

     Mafia princess in a slight future (2083) dystopian, trying to distance herself from mafia. Also, Romeo and Juliet. And chocolate.

     Okay, its less cheesy than my synopsis and actually pretty good. I really loved the narrator. She had her head on straight and for the most part, her priorities in order. Her demeanor also wasn't always perfect and she made mistakes, which was good. I wish she pulled the mafia princess card more, but I v respect her for not. The characters were very relatable and interesting. I liked the writing style but it seemed inconsistent. I thought Anya's NBs were too infrequent that it caught me off guard when it happened. Another long note, instead of only one, I think would have helped too.

      I've also read Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, and I really enjoyed them both. I didn't read the summary as i was in a hurry at the library and I picked it up since I liked her other work and I went into it thinking it was a cute complementary where a girl loves chocolate or something. Then I thought it was some AU 1920s  and then I got frustrated at the rest of the series' covers.
 
 I did enjoy the book but it didn't feel like a dystopian, or even the future. There is very little change from then and now, which is okay, but it's marketed at a dystopian. There should've been more urgency about the lack of water, which I think is going to be expanded on in the later books, but there needed to be something in this book to differentiate the time. I wish they had a dialect or more futuristic things, other than the iPad type things. Also, i'm still confused as to why chocolate was banned and I feel like there should've been more about the caffeine ban.

  Overall I did enjoy the book very much, I read it all in one sitting. I really loved the characters and related to them. However the lack of world building and dystopian characteristics, and the inconsistent writing style was frustrating.