Friday 6 February 2015

Mini Reviews

Friday 6 February 2015
I like to talk about the books I've read but I don't always have a full page of thoughts about each book. Mini Reviews is a post in which I collect a few books I've read recently and share my thoughts with you guys.


All Fall Down by Ally Carter - All Fall Down is a fast-paced YA mystery novel. Ally Carter is the author of one of my favourite series so I had the utmost faith in this book and it definitely delivered. Grace, a teenage troublemaker, is convinced that she's seen her mothers murdered on Embassy Row where she is living and decides that she won't stop until she's stopped him from murdering again. There are a few twists in this book and at the end I was a little confused but not overwhelmingly so. I did find Grace a little irritating at times and I would find myself willing her to shut up or to get to the point but it didn't detract from the overall experience of the book. 4/5 Stars. 


The Fame Game by Lauren Conrad - The Fame Game was a difficult one for me. On one hand I enjoyed it because it was just an easy read, there was nothing complicated about it. On the other hand I didn't enjoy it because there was nothing complicated about it. Nothing really happened in The Fame Game until the last few chapters and until the last few chapters I wasn't sure that I wanted to pick up the next in the series (I'm still on the fence, but I definitely wouldn't pay full price). It was just an 'okay' read to me. I was expecting a lot more drama since it was centered around a reality show but unfortunately that didn't happen, maybe if I'd connected to the characters then I'd have given the book more stars but I found myself being bored by their story lines. 2/5 Stars.


Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour - I won this book in a give away as part of the diversity reading challenge that I'm taking part in and before I won the book I wasn't sure if I was totally interested in the book, I just knew that it was beautiful and I wanted it on my bookshelf. All I have to say is that I am SUPER glad I won this book. Everything Leads To You is beautiful in an old-yet-still-new-Hollywood kind of way. The writing is mesmerising and the whole book in its entirety feels so glamorous. It's hard to explain how completely wonderful the book is without doing it an injustice so I'll just leave you with a few comments: I was told the book is set in New York and just in case you've been told the same, It's not. The book is LGBT without that being the main focus of the story. I so often read diverse books or LGBT books where the mere fact that they are gay is the main focus of the whole book and it's irritating (A piece of advice to authors: People who are attracted to the same sex are still people who are shaped by so many different things not including their sexuality, please write them as such). It's adventurous and descriptive and oh-so vivid with it's imagery and it makes me want to fall in love and fall out of love and fall back in love over and over again. The book reminds me what it's like to be a teenager and to be in love with someone who you don't know outside of the way your thoughts shape them in your head. I've said this before and I'll say it again - Everything Leads To You is a BEAUTIFUL story, a BEAUTIFUL book it's just BEAUTIFUL so you should READ IT. 5/5 Stars.

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon - Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. The first time I read this book I gave it a 2/5 stars and for the life of me I cannot think why. Maybe I was tired when I read it? Maybe I had briefly lost my mind? Either way this book is SO good. It's a fast paced paranormal read with a mystery element throughout with Renee trying to find out what happened to her parents and why tragedy surrounds her school and most of all why they all seem to be linked. The romance is a big part of the overall book but isn't overwhelmingly annoying or 'in your face' despite the amount of swooning that occurs. Dante is intelligent, beautiful and witty. He's probably one of the best paranormal love interests that I've read in a while. The ending was surprising (although one of the big 'revelations' was somewhat predictable) and had my heart racing. From the middle of the book right to the end it had me on the edge of my seat. 4.5/5 Stars.

4 comments :

  1. I haven't read any of these other books, but I'm so happy to see that you loved Everything Leads to You! It's one of my favorite that I read last year, and I still can't get it out of my head. Definitely a go-to rec if someone wants to read a contemporary book!

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    1. I definitely think it's one of those that even the biggest haters of contemporary will find something to connect with.

      Thanks for the comment, Kayla!

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  2. I really enjoyed Dead Beautiful, and I was disappointed that it seemed to fly under most people's radars when it was released a few years ago. I was really fascinated by the paranormal elements and the myths that Yoon created for her tale. I wasn't at all annoyed by the romance that developed between Renee and Dante either, which is kind of a big deal for me because I'm usually not a fan of romance in books that delve into the paranormal.

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    1. It definitely is one of the better paranormal reads that I've read..and I've read a lot (curse my pre-teen 'I only read books about the paranormal' stage).

      Thanks for the comment :)

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