Dark Companion by Marta Acosta book review

 

Dark Companion is the story of one lucky orphaned teen by the name of Jane Williams who is scooped out out the hood or ghetto and transferred to a great town , great school , given a place of her own to live , money to spend and all because of her great academics. While preparing to attend this fabulous new school she is taken under the wing of the head mistress and her family. A family having two sons both attractive in their own way but Jane is drawn to the youngest of the two Lucky for reasons she can't understand even though not so much at the beginning but as time went on we discover is a total rich snobby jerk. There is a connection between Jane and Jack the older of the two sons but Jane refuses to acknowledge it because Jack is not as cute as his brother and was a jerk to her upon their first meeting and continues to be a enigma through out the telling of this story. Jane does make some friends in this academy but is constantly comparing them to her best and old friend that she left behind to come to this school. There are also some side characters like a top drug dealer, a head b*tch of school, some teachers, a pimp, a dead friend , the head of a group home and many more characters that help make up this story. But when Jane discovers the true reason she was brought to her new school is when the story truly starts to take off. Ok I have to say that I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters , I loved the way it was written , the setting both the place Jane originally came from and where she went the only thing I didn't care too much for was the down play of the whole vampire thing. It was obvious from the way Acosta described most of the residents of this new town that they were vampires. And then then when she went on to describe their abilities I was further pushed into thinking that this is a vampire book but then Acosta backs out of it by saying “no these people just have some weird condition going all the way back their European ancestors that just makes so pale , have a need and crave for blood and have some special abilities. As quoted by me “Huh?” I'm like sitting there thinking they are so totally vampires and not even the newer age ones were it's kind of hard to tell because they don't need blood as much or have that pale vampire look but these were like the normal as described vampires. And I'm thinking maybe Acosta backed out of the vampire thing because it's been so over done but it makes feel some kind of way when a writer committees the reader to think one thing and then makes that thing so obvious and then because of what that thing is they try to tuck their tales between their legs and say “oops sorry didn't mean to make another vampire book but since I did I just going to say they have some weird condition” I yes I know vampire books are getting a little played out and over done but be proud of what you wrote . Have the courage to stand up and say “hey world yes I did make another vampire book and anyone who doesn’t like it can kiss my a**”. Anyone now that I'm done rating it's time for my own personal ratings. Yea! Whoo! *crowd cheering * The setting(s) a 10 out of 10 stars because no matter where the MC=main character was it was described in such a way that I felt like I was there. The characters a 10 out of 10 stars . Why? Because I felt like every character had a purpose and everyone was exactly who they said they were and I loved it! The plot ...ok 9 out of 10 only because the person that turned out to be the real villain in the story was someone wasn't really there throughout the story and when you have a villain like that unless you create a spin off just for them so that they can tell their side of the story you can't fully understand their motives. Cover art 10 out of 10. And the overall book experience a 7 out of 10 only because of the vampire/ not vampire thing and that it ran a little longer than expected, Acosta had plenty of moments where she could had ended the book after it's climax but didn't and kind of felt like she was just trying to fill pages at some point. Would I read a part two if there's a part two …....h*ll yes!

Unearthly(Unearthly#1) by Cynthia Hand book review

 Unearthly is a story that follows the misadventure of a teen named Clara Gardener as she tries to for fill her heavenly ordained birth right which is called a purpose. All angels have a purpose in this and at the time or puberty is when all angels start developing their powers. Because of this purpose of Clara's her whole family of her brother and mother had to up root their lives and move from California to Wyoming and that's where the story takes off and takes place. Now as for the main character Clara I am a little on the fence about liking her or not . There are several times in the book that I considered her out right mean because of her her purpose. Meaning to say that her purpose involves saving this really cute guy that she spends most of her time obsessing over and thinking she should be with but if course he already has a girlfriend, and she's popular, pretty ...you know the drill. Now where I think she's mean is when her new friend Wendy tries to make her feel more comfortable at the school and even invites her to sit at her table and just really does a great job at making her feel welcome were everyone didn't do anything like that and at times Clara just out right blows her off about doing stuff together or ignores her when she's talking about her day or something important to her. That's wrong you don't do that to someone who has proven time and time again that there a good friend . Wendy and Clara's relationship take a turn for the worse when Clara meets another half blood angel kid like herself Angela. It's almost like Wendy disappears from the book and from Clara's mind when that happens. Another thing that bothered me about the plot and not the characters themselves is the whole she must fall in love with her assignment Christian. I was so thinking if her whole purpose is to save him why dose she have to date him even though he has a girlfriend already and even though Christian treated her like she was beneath him and his friends and even though Tucker Wendy's twin brother even before Hand wrote it that way was interested in her. I mean really why does she have to be in love with him in order to for fill her destiny. I agree with a lot of people when they say that adding the whole they must fall in love with each thing to the purpose made it a little less relevant and because Christian didn't seem like the skipping through the forest type I couldn't for the life of me imagine what would he be doing there at the time he's supposed to saved from the fire. Now there is a small fight scene between this fallen angel and Clara and her Mom but really it was so irrelevant that Hand could had just kept it out of the book all together. So to some everything up it's a story of teenage drama with traveling to a new school in a small town where every already knows everyone, self discovery, love with a hint of a love triangle, new friendships and unsure endings. But now it's time for my own personal rating! Yeah! Woo! Yea! *the crowd cheering * As for the setting I give this book a 10 out of 10 stars because Hand described the scenery so well it made me want to go and visit Wyoming so bad! The characters, just the side characters I give a 6 out of 10 because while they were interesting they had some annoying traits . The main character a 4 out of 10 stars because while she had a brain in her head she did come off as annoying when she kept trying to get closer to Christian and she also came across as self absorbed. The plot a 4 and a half stars because while the fallen angel theme in this book was original it fell short at the end and not just left you with a cliff hanger ending but a “what the hell just happened” kind of ending and finally the overall experience a 6 because even with all it's problems it still turned out to be a real page turner for me at least. OK see you next review. P.S the cover art wasn't all that exciting especially compared to some fallen angel books that I've seen with better cover art.