Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

The thing that I love about this book series is the fact that Marissa Meyer manages to write different characters and different romances with her own style without it feeling like all of the characters are some variation on the same. Scarlet felt different to Cinder and Cress, dear Cress with her idealistic views and childish ways, is different to them both. 

I feel like I'm betraying Cress and Thorne if I say this here, after all this is their book, but Scarlet and Wolf are my fave Lunar Chronicles couple and I felt so heartbroken for the two of them in this book, I also loved the fact that we get to revisit Cinder and Kai in this book - Cress and Thorne are cute, but their romance doesn't develop in the same way as the first two couples and I didn't feel as invested into them.

Maybe the reason for that is that Cress felt to me like a weaker character than Cinder and Scarlet and as much as I liked her - she was so cute - she wasn't as kick ass as the other girls. She is lonely, and totally has a crush on Carswell Thorne even before he comes into her life, but this made me wonder whether her feelings were really developing from that at all.

I also feel like the plot in Cress slowed down a bit - I was still absolutely gripped but not as much as I had been for Cinder or Scarlet. Marissa Meyer's writing was as amazing as before, but the plot slowed down a bit, which unfortunately dampered my enjoyment a teenie bit.

That being said, Cress was a thoroughly enjoyable read, with great characters both new and old. Whilst the pace drooped a little, I know it will pick up in Winter and I cannot wait to get started on that!

Book released 4th February 2014 by Feiwel and Friends

Review: Dead Ringer by Jessie Rosen

From the moment Laura Rivers steps foot into Englewood High, she notices the stares—and they aren’t the typical once-overs every pretty new girl endures. The students seem confused and…spooked. Whispers echoing through the halls confirm that something is seriously off. “That new girl looks just like her,” they say.

It turns out Laura has a doppelgänger, and it isn't just anyone—it's Sarah Castro-Tanner, the girl who killed herself by jumping into the Navasink River one year ago.

Laura is determined not to let the gossip ruin her chances of making a fresh start. Thanks to her charming personality and California tan, she catches the eye of Englewood’s undisputed golden boy, Charlie Sanders, and it’s only a matter of time before they make their relationship official.

But something is making Charlie and his friends paranoid—and Laura soon discovers it has to do with Sarah Castro-Tanner.

What really happened to Sarah? Why is Charlie unraveling? And how does Laura Rivers fit into it all?

After all, she’s the dead ringer for a dead girl.

No... No... No!

Do you know what I hate? When a book is set up really well, and I'm getting really invested into the plot, then all of a sudden this big twist that the whole narrative has been leading up to hits and it completely blows everything that I have started to enjoy about the story out of the water and I'm left staring at the left over pieces of a story that could have been so much more.

When I first started Dead Ringer I struggled, I felt that the writing style was overly simplistic and I struggled to be absorbed into the storytelling. Still, I persevered, because that blurb promised me brilliant things so I wanted to see where it was going. We meet Laura, a relateable girl who moves to a new school and meets the most popular guy in town - the only thing is that she sort of looks like someone who died two years ago. I say sort of because even some of the characters say that Laura only slightly resembles Sarah (dead girl), so by this point I'm getting a bit interested but also not getting connected.

Then the proper story begins, and we realise that Laura's new boyfriend and his best buds had something to do with Sarah's death, and somebody knows... 

So the story starts to get interesting, then Rosen throws in this totally crazy twist that is supposed to be unexpected and really shock you into reading more but all it did was made me roll my eyes and sigh because it suddenly created hundreds of massive plot holes. After that, the book was ruined, the story became completely out there and not at all enjoyable and I was just waiting for the climax to happen  so that it was over... then it ends on a crappy cliffhanger and I was not a happy Jade!

This book had so much potential - and Rosen as a writer for YA readers does too, if she learns to show and not tell all the time - but it was just such a let down. If the twist had been something semi-believable that had me reeling, I would have really enjoyed this book... but it wasn't, so I didn't, and that is all I can say.

Book released 11th November 2015 by Full Fathom FiveBook received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

"No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better."

Teenagers at Wisconsin's Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes.

This book is just Joelle Charbonneau all over, and I love it.

Fr once, I appreciate the fact that an author has managed to take the point of view of a lot of characters and tie them together in a way that is both fluid and non-convoluted. I loved how well Joelle managed to create this confusion and resolve it all towards the end. Okay, so the ;big' reveal actually was a bit anticlimatic to me and took an edge off this book, but what happened in the 95% up to then was so much better and I would definitely need to read the sequel. I can't believe how much I was gripped by NEED.

I felt so sorry for Kaylee in this book, it seemed like everyone and everything was against her. She's ostracised for wanting her brother to survive, things are just going right between her and the guy she loves but is he really all he seems? There is a whole lot going against the girl and I loved how she stood against it even in the worst of times.

The story was nail-biting, heart-pounding mystery, suspense and action. These characters have their interactions caused needlessly by NEED and from start to finish I was gasping, guessing and clenching my fists in surprise and fear..

Overall, NEED was a fantastic book by an author that is solidifying herself as a favourite for me. Fantastic writing, dimensional characters and a gripping storyline. NEED will probably one of my favourites of 2015.

Book released 3rd November by HMH Books for Young Readers

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review