After Life(Evernight #4) by Claudia Gray book review

First of all I would like to start of by saying that it's been a really long time since I have read/finished this book so I hope I get all the details done right. This installment is the continuance of Hourglass aka Evernight #3. The story picks up where it left off of (which I like considering I jump around a lot and tend to start other series before finishing the one I'm already reading. I know it's a filthy habit but I'm seeking help for it as we speak or rather type) any 

way 

I like when a series puts you back into the story so big thumbs up for that Gray. And then when the story actual picks up it leaves you wondering is this a new installment or are we still doing the same old same old. Bianca is dealing with being a ghost and trying to figure out what that means while trying to hold whatever is left of Lucas after he's been turned into a vampire . The thing about that is after a while the story started to repetitive.

And then the ending is what really killed it for me. Then ending reads like this( Stop Here If You Don't Want A Spoiler!) The ending reads like this “Lucas I love but I'm a ghost and your a vampire” “Damn its so hard being a vampire when your girlfriend is a ghost” “Bianca even though you already choose Lucas I still love even though your a ghost and i'll never have a true shot at you” “I'm Miss Bethany and I trap ghost for the purpose of one day restoring myself back from the dead” And really if you are dead and have been for centuries now why would restoring yourself be important how does that make sense that killing ghost would help you do that? I'm going to go on saying that I think Gray could have done better. And now my own personal rating system. Yay! * crowd cheering* The characters I'll give a 5 ½ out of 10 stars because I love that she used old characters that fans will recognize. The scenery/settings a 5 ½ only while they weren't described with such detail that made me feel like I was there they did however have something to do with the story itself. The plot a 4 ½ only of the repetitiveness , the cover art a 5 only because while it is not a jaw dropper it still looks better that the last one and finally the over all experience a 4 out of 10 because it was just an okay book nothing you would read again and again and again.

Will I read the spin off of this series ...mmm...maybe.

Hourglass(Evernight #3) by Claudia Grey book review

Hourglass is the part three of the Evernight series which follows main characters Bianca and Lucas as they run from the previously involved with Black Cross and now Charity Balthazar's little sister turned vampire, turned psycho and on top of all of that Bianca's health is failing. Can love survive three obstacles trying to tear them apart ? What's going on with Bianca's health?  Who will get to them first Black Cross or Charity?  I'm really on the fence about this book while I do enjoy the series and the twist and turns that came with it but things that Bianca and Lucas had to over come in the past were a lot but three things at the same time on top of being uneducated runaways with zero prospects on life.

  As I'm reading this I got the sense that their was no hope for these two lovers. I like love worth fighting for as much as the next person but this book came across as never going to happen. However I did appreciate the catch 22 of if Bianca doesn't become a vampire.....STOP SPOILER ALERT ! I f Bianca doesn't become a vampire then she becomes a rave which is Gray's word for ghost. Although I did think that was a lot for the couple to deal with I still thought that was very creative. 

   One more dislike and this one is a strong dislike. I didn't like when....STOP SPOILER ALERT!  I didn't like when Bianca was dying how Lucas offered her the chance to drink from him to save herself but in the process   he did not want turn vampire himself which I personally thought was selfish.  Okay now that I have gotten over my dislikes I think it's time for personal ratings! :-) For the characters I'll give them a 5 out of 10 stars.

  The scenery/settings a 4 out of 10 only because I thought that the scenery could be appealing to the reading and they came off as one dimensional and boring. The cover art a 4 out of 10 stars only because that too came off as slightly boring and unappealing. The plot or story line a  5  1/2  stars out of 10 and finally the over all experience a 6 out of 10 stars only because I enjoy this series and would like to read more from Gray and yes I will and have already started reading the next installment of this series.

Stargazer(Evernight #2) by Claudia Grey book review

Stargazer is the second installment of the Evernight series which follows the fatal attraction love story of Bianca and Lucas . In this installment Bianca follows Lucas back to his Black Cross hide-away in an attempt to be with him while mean while ghosts are appearing at Evernight Academy with little to no explanation. Will Bianca be discovered by Black Cross? What's the reason for all of the ghosts suddenly showing up at Black Cross? And most importantly will Bianca and Lucas finally be together like they had always planned in this new adventure? These are the questions that I and a lot of you might have been asking yourself as this exciting and romantic tail plays out and just like the good writer Grey is she dose her best to answer these questions and many more without giving away too much of the next installment.

Okay there's Grey's praise now here come the slams. Sorry this would not be an honest review without them. I do like the appearance of unbreakable love that Grey portrays between Lucas and Bianca but at some point I just started saying come on let's be real here. These two are from two different worlds , heading for two different futures and completely has no hope of being together. When Grey started making something happen with Balthazar and Bianca I was kind of thinking yes! Finally! Bianca is moving on from Lucas and hooking up with someone more in her world, more her type, someone she has a snow ball's chance in hell of being with.

But huh this is a YA novel after all and it would be if everything was as simple as finding a guy that no body has a problem with you being with, a guy that understands what you are going through more than anyone else , a guy that is one hundred percent perfect for you and just taking him and being happy. No this is YA and YA should stand for not at easy. Bianca loves Lucas so much that she is willing to run away with him and right into the arms of black cross. I was thinking come on once again does the girl main character in every YA novel have to be the one to sacrifice everything for true love?!

Especially after the guy Lucas would not change into a vampire and sacrifice everything for her. Really?! No really? There is a point where Bianca straight up ask him to go through the change and he looks her right in the face and says “no don't ever ask me to that for you ever” So not that people should take their values from a book. Please people do not take your values from any fictional story! Please! But I couldn't help but wonder what a real impressionable little girl would think about the way Lucas was so unwilling to give up anything for Bianca but at a moment's notice Bianca was so willing to run away from home and her vampire nature for him. Hmm sorry Grey not liking that at all.

The characters in this book were just as lively as I remembered them to be . I would have to say that I did enjoy the side characters this time around as I think I did in the last installment. Besides the obvious hints of sexism in the story I did enjoy the plot very much. As for the cover art it was …..well nice. It wasn't breath taking but it was somewhat of an eye pleas-er to say the least. The scenery or settings of this book were really good as per my personal rating system I would give it a five out of 10 stars. And the overall book experience I would give a 7 out of 10 stars. And yes I will and have already started reading the next installment.

Um....I wish I had more to say about this book not for the lack of words but for the lack of remembering what I truly wanted to say …. just a word to the wise when you finish reading a book you should immediately start reviewing or I promise you that you will forget what cool and clever things you really wanted to say about it lol. Anyway babbling on here ...the point is besides a few minor annoyances I did enjoy this book and the this series and look forward to what comes next.  

Wide Awake Academy of the Fallen(Wide Awake Academy of the Fallen#1) by Daniele Lanzarotta book review

Wide Awake Academy of the Fallen is a story about a normal sixteen year girl that one day has her perfect little world turned upside down when she goes on field trip with her school and comes across a strange and crying girl that seems to be lost. When Kayla tries to help the girl she is turning on an internal switch that she going to wish she hadn't . Now she's seeing ghost and the only other person who can see them is a once popular and loved by everyone boy named Hunter . Hunter then volunteers to start hanging out in her room to stop the bad ghost Benjamin from having his way with Kayla. With all that time Kayla spends with Hunter a friendship begins to form a friendship that then turns into something more. Ooh okay I want to start off by saying that the cover art of this book gives me the creeps but in a good way. I love when cover art has the power to do that!

Now that's out of the way I will also go on record saying that I have been trying get my hands on this book for the longest time and when I finally did this book did not disappoint. As mentioned above Kayla has a pretty good life going for herself despite having been adopted and not knowing her parents from like birth. She drives a great car, has pretty and popular friends, goes to a pretty decent school in a good neighborhood. Has the popular jock-ish boyfriend but when she goes on a field trip and starts seeing this girl crouched down behind a display or something crying life just isn't same. Loved ,loved, loved how mysterious this book turned out to be . The whole seeing ghost thing is always creepy it doesn't matter if it's in a book or in a movie it's always interesting.

When that detail popped up I thought for sure that I had this book nailed. It was like bam! Got it! I know what her power is! And then when Hunter started seeing the same things too once again I thought for sure that I had everything all figured out. But boy was I wrong. STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER!!!! So when at the end Kayla turned out to be a nephilim I was like floored. Seriously I think my mouth was hanging wide open at that point. I was so shocked because the book didn't start out as the typical fallen angel book with the whole seeing ghost thing and all. And Hunter being some kind I don't know half ghost or something was genius! Now I personal didn't care for Kayla's so called friends. I used the term so called because they didn't seem to about anything besides shopping and gossiping. Which made them very two dimensional.

Even with that it still wasn't that big of a deal to me because they weren't really important to the story like a lot of friends are in YA books. Her ex-boyfriend included were simply props and most of the story takes place while they are just in the background . Let me see is there anything that I didn't like about the book? At this point no. There really wasn't anything that flawed the book or made wonder what Lanzarotta was thinking. Okay so instead of going on and on about how good this book is I'm just going to let my personally rating system do the talking for me. The cover art I 'll give a 8 out of 10 stars, the cover wasn't just beautiful but it was related to the actual story plot and the character. The scenery/settings a 6 out of 10 stars because even though Lanzarotta is one of those few authors that when they describe a place you do get a feeling that you are there but I did wish that there were more scenery to choose from considering that most of the book was spent inside of Kayla's room. The characters a 8 out of 10 stars I really enjoyed both Hunter and Kayla and didn't mind the other characters being simply just props. The plot a 10 out of 10 I really enjoyed the mystery of it all and finally the overall experience a 10 out of 10 stars. Would you read this again? What do you think? :-)

A Beautiful Dark(A Beautiful Dark#1) by Jocelyn Davies book review

A Beautiful Dark is the story of a seventeen year old girl named Skye Parker who on her seventh birthday starts going through some changes. Changes that bring two mysterious guys into her life. Devin and Asher. Skye has to figure out what is it that both Devin and Asher want with her? Why does her eyes from time to time change from gray to silver? And what is they real story behind her parents death? Okay I will start of by saying that I did enjoy the mystery of this book. I mean the way Davies keeps you turning page after page wondering what's next to come is genius but..... that's all it is.

Wait let me clarify myself what I mean is it just plot to keep you interested but doesn't really give you anything to look forward to. Confused? Well let me put it this way the first couple of chapters when we the reader(s) still didn't know who Devin and Asher were and what is it that they wanted with Skye or we still didn't know what Skye herself was the story was interesting. But when the big reveal came that Devin and Asher were fallen angels(despite that even though they have the normal angel-like wings they claim that they are not) and they Skye is kind of like them but kind of isn't( whatever the h*ll that's supposed to mean) the story just kind of went flat after that.

What I mean by went flat is that there was page after page of nothing really happening. Skye goes to the mall. Next page Skye is hanging out with her friends. The next page Skye is having a party. Blah, blah, blah. Like I said nothing really happens. I think if I'm not not mistaken the book has 35 chapters and I think the big reveal happens at like chapter 19 or like 20 and this rest of the chapters are exactly like that depicted in the above sentences. I got the sense that Davies ran out of something important to wright so she just decides to fill the rest of the chapters with meaningless random teenage things that almost have nothing to do with the supernatural element of the story.

Now as for the supporting characters like guardians/parents, friends, teachers they were all great by my account. In the sense that they were all believable. I believed the character that they portraying. Um just a heads up there is like love triangle thing happening here between Skye, Devin and Asher but it is one that feel like wasn't well developed and kind of felt like one of those love at first sight kind of things and some  times that works in books(if done right) and some times it doesn't like in this book. Hey Davies next time you would like to do a love triangle thing give it some more time please I felt like no of the characters knew each other well enough to fall for one another.

Ok now it's time for my own personal ratings. For the cover art I give a 8 out of 10 stars because it is one the prettiest covers I've come across so far and the cover model looks strangely just like the author and the main character....hmm it would be super cool if that really is the author on her own book :-) The characters a 8 out of 10 stars everyone of them was interesting. The setting/scenery a 10 out of 10 stars Davies made me feel like I was really there in the scenes with the characters. The plot a 5 out of 10 only because wasn't expecting another fallen angel book and though that there was room to turn it into something different. Finally the over  all experience a 7 out of 10 stars because despite my complaints I did enjoy reading this book. And would I read another installment? Yes yes I would.

Passion(Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate book review

Passion is the third installment of the Fallen series and the Lucinda Price & Daniel Grigori love story. This installment picks up immediately where the last one left off with Luce stepping through an announcer and falling aimlessly through time to revisit her's and Daniel's past lives so that she could figure out why every time her and Daniel get together that she keeps dying? What really is this curse? Why are things different this time around? And what really makes their love so true and real? When the idea of Luce stepping through an announcer first appeared at the end of the second installment I though it was stupid , dangerous and reckless of her to go head long into the unknown back into the pass but after playing with the idea a little I then started thinking that maybe going back will help either help her understand why the death occurs so that way she can understand why they can't be together or how the death occurs so that she can return her current time and stop it from happening to her current self.

Both of which hopeful ideas would actually make sense but.... *STOP ! MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! * neither one of those ideas is what takes place during the plot of this book. Page after page after page after page of this book is nothing but Luce diving head long into the past and into all kinds of danger only to run into past Daniel and having him save the day and by saving the day you mean meeting up with Luce kissing her or coming into some kind of contact with her and then she dies a fiery death each and every time. There was even a part during this adventure(and by adventure I mean one long drawn out never ending story) where Bill Luce's mysterious traveling companion that only Luce can see or hear who also disappears when he comes into contact with any of the past fallen angels * hint, hint * tells her to possess her past selves to get a look at her own death from the their eyes.

When the suggestion came about I was thinking: 1. How the hell will seeing a death through eyes she has already seen through going to help break the curse. 2. In the likely even that her past self burst into flames how is she going to leave that body in time to save her current self? 3. From the very begging Luce has had apprehensions about bill so why the hell would she just listen to him with complete unquestionable loyalty? So long story short Luce does indeed possess her past selves only to see and kiss Daniel in different time periods and from different angles. During these meetings Luce gets so swept up in Daniel that forgets to ask him any questions, or to notice anything but him. Okay so your probably wondering one thing did she by possessing her past selves learn how to stop her own death from happening?

No! The answer is no well she dose learn that when her past self does burst into flames they are at peace when this happenings. Meanwhile Daniel,Cam and everyone from the ending of the last installment are on Luce's heels traveling through time to catch up with her but always arriving months, seconds or days too late. Also Luce is warned that her travels could possibly disrupt the future but she ignores the warning and continues to disrupt her past lives causing all kinds of chaos in the hopes of finding out the true about her's and Daniel's curse. Towards the end Bill tricks Luce or almost tricks her into quote unquote kill her soul and put an end to Daniel's pain and suffer. When Luce asks what will happen to her Bill just simply says your body will just come out of your past self unharmed , it'll go back to your time zone and live the current life of Lucinda Price but without the dramatic death that occurs each and every time you see Daniel.

“Kill your soul” Really ? That makes no sense your soul is apart of who your are so in theory if Luce was to kill her soul shouldn't that kill her as well? And another question that's bothering me how could she possess her past selves if she herself is not a spiritual being or a ghost? If a normal person went back in time with some sort of time machine they would not be able to find themselves from the past and just touch them and possess them. I do understand that this is a fictional story but that makes no sense even in fiction without the explanation of someone having spiritual powers. And the most annoying thing is Bill tricks Daniel into going back to before the angel fall when he should have been looking for Luce and once he realizes that he's been tricked he just goes along with it? What? So Daniel tries to sneak in a loop hole to his punishment that if Luce goes back in time in one of her life times and gathers all the information that she needs and then still chooses him or whatever else her choose would be then she'll be free to grow and to I guess live a normal life.

Question. If Luce really wanted to know the reason for her death couldn't she just had asked Bill to take her to her very first life? If you want to know something wouldn't it help to go to the very front of the information? Instead of randomly skipping through time like randomly flipping through the pages of a book? Luce learns nothing, this entire trip through time was a waist of time at the very end the only reason the reader learns why Luce keeps dying when her and Daniel get together is simply because it simply is. We're left with the same amount of information that we started with. If your still wondering what it is like to read this book just imagine getting bits and pieces of information to a puzzle only to have the pieces not fit or make any sense then to get to the end of the puzzle and to discover that the key to the puzzle is …. it just is the way is. When Kate learn that mysterious teenage love, information that makes no sense and really bad cliff hangers does not make a good book or a good series.

For the cover art I give this book a 4 out of 10 stars this cover isn't as pretty and captivating as the other two covers in this series. The characters a 4 out out 10 stars they were just as dumb and boring as they were in the part two of this series and the characters that were actually exciting barely had any parts through the whole book. The setting/scenery a 4 ½ stars out of 10 only because the descriptions took me to different countries that other wise I would probably never travel to. The plot a 3 out of 10 and the overall experience a 3 out of 10. Will I read this again? I'm giving Kate one last chance to redeem herself assuming that Rapture is not the last installment like Kate has quoted.

Sweat Evil by Wendy Higgins book Review

The story Sweet Evil is a story of unobtainable love, new and great friends , sadness and one teenage girl's fight to take control of her own life. Anna Whitt is a 17 teen year old girl whom is adopted a an early age and lives her life as a normal teenage girl with a few hidden secrets. She has good hearing, night vision and can see people's auras.

Anna's life begins to change when she meets hot band drummer Kaiden Row and discovers that he too has the same powers she has. Together they go on a journey across country to the place of Anna's birth to find out more information about what Anna is? Why is she different from the others of her kind ? What is her connection to Kaiden? And what little information does her incarcerated farther have for her?

These are all the questions twist and turns that arise during the heart beating ride that is Sweat Evil. Higgins paints nephilim in a different light than any other writer ever has. We always assume nephilim were good because they are the sons and daughters of fallen angels who would do anything to get back into God's good graces. But not in this book! It has been a while since I loved every character in a book and thought them all to be believable.

The only real complex I have is Patty allowing Anna to drive clear across the country with some dude that Anna and Patty herself barely knows? I was thinking come on that is not real. And yes I do know that this is a fantasy fictional book and sometimes if you look to deeply into these stories you find an abundance of things that would not happen in real life but that was completely unbelievable. There is no way a mom adopted or natural would allow their 17 year old daughter to drive across country with some shady -looking teenage boy that she has only seen for the first time.

I don't care if he has enough money to pay for fifty gold elephants to personally carry her there. That whole scene is unbelievable! Um … really I think that was my only real gripe with this story, everything else made good sense and was in good timing...so with out further ado here's my personal rating system. Whoo! * crowd cheering * For the cover art I give a 10 out of 10 stars it was a beautiful cover and it is one of the few covers that actually resembles the characters described in the book. Great job! The characters a 10 out of 10 stars, the plot a 10 out of 10, the scenery/settings a 10 out of 10. The way Higgins described her places made me feel like I was actually there and I haven't felt that in a while! And finally the overall book experience a 10 out of 10. Whenever you are sad because you've finished a book and even sadder because you realize that you do not have the sequel in your personal collection and begin to feel like you are empty inside then that was one hell of a book you've read! Will I be reading the next to come? What do you think?