Review: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess (Goddess War, #1)

He was Apollo, the sun, and he'd burn down anything that tried to hurt her... Cassandra and Aidan are just your average high-school couple. Or so Cassandra believes. Blissfully unaware that she was once a powerful prophetess, Cassandra doesn't even know thats god exist... Until now.

Because the gods are dying - and Cassandra could hold the answer to their survival. But Aidan has a secret of his own. He is really Apollo, god of the sun, and he will do anything to protect the girl he loves from the danger that's coming for her. Even if it means war against his immortal family...

To say that I enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood would be an understatement, and when I heard that Blake had released another book in my absence - on one of my favorite genres; mythology, as well - I was psyched. As soon as this book dropped through my door and onto my floor I had to read it.

I got through Antigoddess in two days, which is pretty slow for me but not bad going considering that I had two essays due in, a presentation and I was working extra hours this week. The main reason I was able to let these tiny insignificant other things overtake my main priority - reading - is because Antigoddess dragged in places. I felt like this book suffered the rare issue of 'first book syndrome' where there is so much information to digest and the author wants drastically to avoid the dreaded infodump that she spends the whole first part of the book developing this world and the history, and it made the book sort of dreadful to get into. The action comes in parts and doesn't really kick in until the middle of the book so I found it pretty easy to put this book down and do other things for a while. That is pretty regretful.

That being said, I did actually quite enjoy the book. It was fun, the mythology was well developed and I did really like the characters. My favorite by far was Athena, with Odysseus being a close second. Cassandra and Aidan were likeable and WHY! AIDEN!. That's all I'm going to say on the matter. They were, however, cookie-YA-cutouts and I found that the tougher, less 'typical YA hero and heroine' characters were my favorite. The tone bounced between fun and dark and I actually really enjoyed this.

I will definitely be reading the sequel, though for certain reason's it pains my heart to do so. So therefore, I have to conclude that Antigoddess was a little slow and a little washy, but it had great character's with fantastic dialogue and chemistry. I loved the tone of it and I can't help myself wanting more!


Book released September 10th 201 by Orchard
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Shelf Spotlight - 29th November


Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews and The Sunday Post hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Review: NetGalley/Edelweiss

Lola Carlyle's 12-Step Romance


Review: Print

Antigoddess (Goddess War, #1) The Witch of Salt and Storm Cold Spell (Fairytale Retellings, #4) The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend


Rock War (Rock War #1)


Bought

Frozen (Heart of Dread, #1) Teardrop (Teardrop, #1) Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss, #3) Say Her Name

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

Comment your list and I'll call by~!

Review: Sia by Josh Grayson

Sia

When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle. 

Sia had so much potential, and the start of the book was so strong for me, that it feels almost sad that I'm writing a pretty average review for this book. It started so well, I almost had chills for the first few chapters, wherein our gorgeous protagonist wakes up on the streets with no memory. Scared and alone, the first person she is approached by is a total creeper and Sia has no idea what to do. She's taken under a homeless woman called Carol's wing, and together they look after each other.

That doesn't last for long though, because just a few chapters in gets home, and this is where the story goes downhill. Sia's life isn't perfect, she lives in a big house with parent's who's company is going down the drain, an alcoholic mother and it turns out she was a total biatch back before she lost her memories. Sia tries to take back her previous life but is restless and uncomfortable, suddenly becoming all righteous and nice.

It's all very inspiring and happy and smiley, but it also reads like a made for Disney movie. It's all content with very little substance and I felt somewhat detached. It just seemed somewhat rushed in a way, like after one conversation with Sia her mother (who has had a bad alcohol habit for years) agrees to go to rehab, then she's better very quickly and none of this felt authentic. Sia's old boyfriend and old friends are pretty annoying and one dimensional - they are just the typical high school bully crowd - and they could have been developed a lot more. The only character I did really like was Kyle who is, thankfully, the main love interest. I didn't like how quickly the romance developed and how obsessed they are by the end of the book, but Kyle was a cool dude. He can stay.

Grayson's writing was simplistic, it read easily but didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. I finished the book in a couple of days and will probably forget about it pretty soon. It isn't, unfortunately, a book that will stay with me for a long time.

It was a nice read to kill time though.


Book released November 20th 2014
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (NetGalley)

Review: Every Ugly Word by Aimee L. Salter

Every Ugly Word

When seventeen-year-old Ashley Watson walks through the halls of her high school bullies taunt and shove her. She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.

Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

Whatever is at the top of your TBR list right now, ignore it. Go out and buy Every Ugly Word, grab a box of tissues and some snacks and allow yourself a good few hours to devour this book at once. That, i'm afraid, is the only advice I can give after reading this amazing book.

Let's face it, everyone has a bullying story. If you don't then count yourself extremely lucky. Everyone has been singled out for something which is wrong with them. In Ashley's grade, that's her. In mine, it was definitely me and now, at 21 years old, I can look back and say that I was a little crazy and I didn't really help my own cause. I was pushed to the very edge to the point where I cracked, and because of this I was really, extremely hit by Ashley's story. It was gripping, it was thrilling but more than anything it was real. It made me feel uncomfortable, not because of anything bad but because this author really touched on these feelings that a lot of people have felt themselves.

I empathised with Ashley, but she wasn't the only character which was multi-dimensional. I loved Matt, Ashley's caring best friend who she's a little in love with. He wasn't the perfect character, he wanted to be popular, he got annoyed at Ashley's drama and he was all around pretty flawed, but that's what made him a great character.

The concept itself was amazing - Ashley is getting advice from her older-self who she can see in the mirror, but her older self isn't all that open about their future. It's an amazing thought, and it's extremely well delivered. If this was any other book I might complain about why this wasn't explained and the few plot holes that the whole paradox thing causes and how they aren't stitched up all that well, however this book doesn't seem to require any of that. It just... works. That's probably massively down to the beautiful flow of Salter's writing and the way she makes this story come to love. The way the two tenses and perspectives stitch together to create this massive realisation at the end. It is fantastic, and I couldn't fault to writing style at all.

Overall, Every Ugly Word was hardhitting and even difficult to read at times, but it is also one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The writing was beautiful and the story was poignant and the book carries an amazing, self-security message.


Book released July 29th 2014 by Alloy Entertainment
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (NetGalley)

Shelf Spotlight: 22nd November


Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews and The Sunday Post hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

For review: NetGalley/Edelweiss

So I was trawling trough all of the books for the past few months for anything I may be marginally interested in and may have requested... a lot. Here's what I got!

Finding Harry Styles The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know Every Ugly Word Captive


Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) Siena Solitaire A Wicked Thing


Liars, Inc. The Memory Key Little Peach A Work of Art


The Creeping Twisted Fate Every Last Promise Charlie, Presumed Dead


Illusionarium Proof of Forever  Made You Up The Cost of All Things

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak Heat of the Moment Kissing in America (Kissing in America, #1) Emancipated


Leave a link to your haul and I'll call by!
Also, please feel free to follow via Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'!

Review: Linked by Imogen Howson

Linked

For years, Elissa has suffered nightmarish visions and unexplained bruises. Finally, she's promised a cure, and an operation is scheduled. But on the eve of the procedure, Elissa discovers the truth: she's seeing the world through another girl's eyes. A world filled with wires, machines and pain. Elissa follows her visions, only to find a battered, broken girl. A girl who looks exactly like her. A twin she never knew existed. Elissa and her twin Lin go on the run, but even after changing their looks and clothes, they're barely a step ahead of the government agents who are ruthlessly tracking them down. For Lin and Elissa are too valuable to let go, and the dark truth at the heart of it all is too shocking to risk exposing...

I was really excited to start Linked when I got it through for review, but university unfortunately stopped me from immediately devouring it. I did eventually get to read it and I did get through it in a matter of hours. It was intriguing, kept me guessing and didn't fail to shock me in the end.

However - with all the compliments I can give this book - I cannot fail to mention the issues that I had and regretfully, there were quite a few, As a start, I can't not mention how one dimensional I found every character. Elissa had all of the potential to be an interesting, dynamic character but I found her flat and boring instead, which is sad. Lin, her twin, was even worse. She was this confusing characature of a psychotic robot and I couldn't help but grow bored of her crazy/not-crazy act. The romance also fell flat, though there was some light there. It wasn't exactly instalove because the main character has had a crush on her love interest for a while and they haven't only just met. That was a saving grace, because it meant there was some tiny semblance of chemistry there.

The world building also fell short for me, with terms and slang coming out of nowhere with no explanation. However, I understand what Howson was trying to do - she was trying to avoid the inevitable sci-fi infodump - and it did work,somewhat.

The end did shock me, and I am still excited to read the sequel even though I had some faults with this, so I guess that says something.

Overall, Linked had some great potential but fell short on the execution in most areas. I will still read the sequel though, so I can't have disliked it that much!



Book released August 13th 2013 by Quercus
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait to Get!


So, an admission, most of these books have already been released. Plus I only have 7 of them!

However some of you may or may not know that I have been away from blogging for a while because of personal studies and other hobbies (Fanfiction, yo!) and now I'm getting back on my feet. Hopefully I will be getting some of these in the near future.

In pretty much no particular order!

1. Prodigy by Marie Lu - So I only just read Legend a few days back (I know! What have I been doing all these years?!) and omfg it was amazing (review to come). The end just had me gasping for air and the whole thing was just so gripping, so this is a definite must have for me.

2. Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughan - Scarlet was such a great read for me and I am so excited so see what happens next, after the Gisbourne thing! I love the setting and world in this fic!

3. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas - Ugh! I need this! The first two books just grabbed me and refused to let me go and I am sooooo desperate to get my hands on this and find out how Celaena and Chaol's story develops!

4. Cress by Marissa Meyer - Cinder and Scarlet were absolutely flawless. Cress takes my all time favorite fairytale so it had better be just as good. I seriously cannot wait to get this (Next months wages!!) yay!

5. World After by Susan Ee - Right. I adored Angelfall and I need this and the third one is soon so this needs to get to me ASAP. That's my reasoning at the moment. Ughhhh Penryn is one of my alltime favorite heroines.

6. Shadowplay by Laura Lam - Pantomime was... something different to anything I had ever read before. It tackles gender issues in a way no other YA book has yet, and yet it was magical and beautfiul and everything I never expected. 

7. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman - Seraphina was everything I love in a fantasy book, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel next year. May need a bit of a refresher though to remember exactly what happened in the first book!

Feel free to link up to your blog and I'll call in and say hi! 
-Jade