Review: The Sixty-Eight Rooms

The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Cute, somewhat charming tale about 2 young besties who encounter magic in a museum, go on a magical learning journey, and gain some tools of knowledge they end up using in their "real" lives. I get that this book is intended for a much younger audience. But some books, like, (ahem) Harry Potter, make the crossover. This didn't. I was bored by it. Maybe I have to re-review this after my own kids read it and I can see what they think?

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Review: The Sixty-Eight Rooms

The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Cute, somewhat charming tale about 2 young besties who encounter magic in a museum, go on a magical learning journey, and gain some tools of knowledge they end up using in their "real" lives. I get that this book is intended for a much younger audience. But some books, like, (ahem) Harry Potter, make the crossover. This didn't. I was bored by it.

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Review: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As someone who has thought something was "wrong with me" all my life because I have so many "shy" tendencies, this book is very reaffirming. I'd recommend this to other introverts, but it's maybe even more important to extroverts or anyone who doesn't recognize the introverts around them. Lots of great insights, research, and even advice. It's about what it means to be introverted and how these personality types can actually be an asset in cultures and businesses (and families)) that seem so extrovert-driven. I wish this was a required textbook for business students, actually, because i'm sure it could solve a lot of workplace tension.

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Review: Sisters Red

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yeah, I did actually like the somewhat "horror-story" spinoff of the Little Red Riding Hood tale. What can I say, I'm into fairytales. But I like that there's 2 sisters, both telling their sides of the story, and that there's some conflict and dysfunction. Also plenty of action. The supernatural world living alongside the mundane world could have been even MORE original. And even though I like that Pearce exercised some self control and confined his story to ONE novel, thereby not forcing it to compete with other trilogies of its genre, this story could have been fleshed out even more into a series. At the end, I felt like there could be...more.

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Review: Born at Midnight

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Eh, I'm not sure I'm intrigued enough to finish it. Another formulaic story of a girl discovering a supernatural community and that she might be one of them. Falling for one teenage guy after another, or several at once, or at least just getting excited about kissing all of them. She's kind of a hussy, actually. And I'm kind of over it.

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Review: Scarlet

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yep, this series is fun. I like that the 2nd book isn't just a continuation of the "Cinderella" story. It actually introduces a new fairytale spinoff character: Scarlet, aka Little Red Riding Hood, and combines their 2 stories. There's magic, machines, dystopia, and even outer space. Sometimes the characters even reminded me of a group aboard the Millennium Falcon, evading enemies and recovering from skirmishes and bantering. It's good stuff.

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Review: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yep. I like zombie novels. And I like reading a novel from the perspective of a brain-eating zombie. And I'm sort of excited by the idea that a living girl could crush on a zombie that ate her boyfriend. I must be a wacko. But it's true. As usual, the book offers several worthwhile differences from the movie (to all those who saw the movie first). Not the least of which is the fact that there will be a book #2. Yaaay!

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Review: Never Go Back

Never Go Back by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How about that. I think I'm hooked on Jack Reacher. Good "crime thriller" action in the form of an army conspiracy that needs someone with just enough inside experience but outsider perspective to track the bad guy and get justice done by working a little outside the lines. Reacher's a likeable/somewhat unlikeable hero who as an ex-soldier is a little bit renegade, a little bit do-gooder, and a lot a bit brawler. I think I like him because he's not TOO likeable.

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Review: The Lovely and the Lost

The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I do enjoy this series. It feels fresh, exploring some gargoyle mythology in a category of young adult paranormal/fantasy literature that's already too packed with vampires and the like. It's a good compromise between a genre I can't get enough of and some original settings and characters. I like getting two somewhat separate but intertwined storylines between the 2 sisters. And yes, it's got some of your cheesy teen romance (which I tend to find contrived and overdone in about 90% of books I read), but it is one of the better-written novels of its class.

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Review: Manners & Mutiny

Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great series and a good ending to it. Seriously entertaining in the charmingest way. The only reason I can't give a 5 is because I am a great believer in JUST RIGHT endings that add an extra POW to any book and leave you wishing you could stay in the novel's world, and this ending didn't quite have that. I still highly recommend if you are in any way intrigued by an alternate Victorian London universe where girls go to finishing school to learn how to spy, use poison while pouring tea, wield bladed fans, combat paranormal creatures, and generally just kick butt while wearing fabulous dresses.

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Review: Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yes, it's another dystopia. But it's original. And I happen to like this stuff, ok? One person has evolved more as a result of human genetic interference and another as a result of Darwinian selection, and they have to learn to appreciate and help each other, which makes things interesting. Sure, I'll buy into it, and probably the 2nd one, too. Just try to ignore the edition with the pink cover.

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Review: Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yes, it's another dystopia. But it's original. One person has evolved more as a result of human genetic interference and another as a result of Darwinian selection, and they have to learn to appreciate and help each other, which makes things interesting.

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Review: Illuminae

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I did try. Maybe 100 pages wasn't enough of a try. I appreciate that the authors put so much work and detail into this thing. But in the end, it was WAY too much. This isn't a novel. It really is a thorough, complex, technical CASE FILE of so many different types of narrative (emails, illustrations, military reports, etc.) that it is nearly impossible for 1 person to digest and appreciate it all. In real life, this compilation of information would be given to a team of analysts to organize and then write up the summary. That's what I want. The summary (...and the story and the emotional angle of the characters). But that could just be me.

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Review: Illuminae

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I did try. Maybe 100 pages wasn't enough of a try. I appreciate that the author put so much work and detail into this thing. But in the end, it was WAY too much. This isn't a novel. It really is a thorough, complex, technical CASE FILE of so many different types of narrative (emails, illustrations, military reports, etc.) that it is nearly impossible for 1 person to digest and appreciate it all. In real life, this case file would be given to a team of analysts to organize and then write up the summary. That's what I want. The summary, the story, and the emotional angle of the characters. But that could just be me.

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Review: MILA 2.0

MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A decently entertaining book. Some of the plot lacked purpose other than shock value, such as the "tests" set up for Mila. I just felt like the book was trying really hard to be like Hunger Games or some other dystopian game-that's-really-a-war. So even though I couldn't buy everything the book was selling, it was entertaining enough for a few hours of mindless audiobook listening.

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Review: Cinder

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love that my library's audiobook app led me to this gem. I've discovered other novels that haven't been as good, but it's all worth it when you find one like this. What a fresh, fun take on the fairytale Cinderella story. Seriously. Cinderella a cyborg? Yes, please! (Bet you can't guess what the shoe looks like that she leaves behind on the stairs.) An alternate, dystopian reality where the world faces the threat of war from a lunar kingdom? What?? Yet it all works somehow. And it's intriguing.

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Review: Beautiful Redemption

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yes. A satisfying end to the saga. There are some beautiful things about this book, as with the rest of the series, such as secret messages conveyed via local newspaper crossword puzzles, the atmosphere of a rural southern town that permeates every aspect of the story, and the inherent otherness that all characters possess in their own way and which they each have to come to accept and understand in order to lead a fulfilling life. If that sounds too abstract, don't let it keep you from reading the book. There's plenty of magic and action and romance and suspense to keep you flipping pages without trying to analyze what it all says about the meaning of life.

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Review: The Winner's Curse

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hm. It was an interesting fictional world, with interesting culture tensions. The first half was, weirdly enough, more interesting than the 2nd half. Even though the 2nd half was obviously meant to be more intense and action-packed. It was just a little too contrived in the end. Too predictable. The characters should have been able to surprise me more. I guess it's hard to develop a romance that feels real when the two lovers in question find themselves pitted on opposite sides of a political upheaval.

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Review: Prudence

Prudence by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yes, Gail Carriger's cheeky yet proper voice is in full swing here. It's fun to read. The characters are as engagingas ever and the storyline is as droll as ever, with the main objective being to get to India to procure what could be the best tea EVER. Really, that's the plot. But then of course, there's the lineup of other subplots that enriches everything: shape-shifting heroines, flying dirigibles, werewolves, and romantic interests as diverse as they can be. I don't know that I was quite as captivated as with the Finishing School series, but still fun stuff. Definitely.

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Review: Red Queen

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Elusion

Elusion by Claudia Gabel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

An interesting take on an omnipresent virtual world that may or may not be a sabotaged technology that is harming its users. Entertaining fiction, with some mysterious twists and family drama. I'm just not sure it pulled me in entirely. The virtual world didn't feel inescapably, obsessively real in comparison to the "real" world, for one thing. Ready Player 1 and Eye of Minds both did a much better job making a virtual gaming world come alive in exhilarating and terrifying ways that make the reader feel like an actual, immersed user in the story. For another thing, the romantic interests felt contrived. Maybe I'm just over fictional teenage romance.

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Review: Red Riding Hood

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: Beautiful Chaos

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mostly I'm just relieved to see that there is a #4. The way this book ended had me very dissatisfied and would have earned the book no more than 2 stars. I did like how this book made Ethan more the center person of interest instead of just the boyfriend of the person of interest, Lena. Book 3 was a bit anticlimactic, though. It needed something more. More emotional intensity, more at stake, more of a physical journey. Compared to the way things escalated in Book 1 for example, this one just felt a bit stagnant.

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Review: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely riveting. A must read. I know the genres "a young adult surviving in a world after an apocalypse" and "the earth invaded by a secret alien race" have both been done before...but this stands in its own space. I'm SO excited for the movie now! Such an enjoyable, not-put-downable read. The characters were real to me, the storytelling was gripping, the action non-stop.

I also love a young adult novel that gets you thinking about human nature, and about yourself. What makes us human. What choices would we make in survival situations. Is it really survival of the fittest here on earth. Do humans survive on more than just evolutionary advantages. Does love really matter.

This was good stuff.

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Review: Gated

Gated by Amy Christine Parker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Had some interesting things about it. Not badly written. You can kind of compare this to the movie "The Village." Gated could have used a little more intrigue and a love interest that didn't feel contrived. But hey, the audiobook passed the time and kept me distracted for many a mile on the treadmill.

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Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The GoodReads description of this story is not even adequate or accurate. First of all, Ethan DOES see "it" coming. "It" being her 16th birthday where she will face the biggest turning point of her life. Second, this story is really about a mysterious girl who moves into a small, closed-minded southern town where everyone but Ethan immediately judges and rejects her. Ethan and Lena bond and in turn learn something about themselves, about the secrets of the town, about the secrets of the past, and about what it means to take your own destiny into your hands. There.

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