Where She Went by Gale Forman

The first book didn't affect me at all. I read all sorts of reviews where people kept talking about how the book moved them to tears. How they were using whole boxes of Kleenexes to control their waterworks. Okay then. That bothers me a lot because I read the whole book in an hour or so and not once did I have a problem with tears. Maybe it's just me, I believe I have an issue with connecting to books on an emotional level. Yes, that's probably it. I tried really hard to make myself cry in that one, to feel something, anything, but I got nothing. It was sad, yes, it touched your heart, and it was moving. Where She Went has a completely different feel to it. It would be unfair to compare it to its predecessor because this book tugged at the strings of your heart. If I Stay touched them, this one gave it a big, hard yank.

This book is told in Adam's point of view and it's much like its former, in the sense that you get to revel in the past where happiness seemed real. Adam's now a rock star, the profession he, at first, could only dream of. He's got a hot actress girlfriend, several hits topping the billboard charts and stardom people will do anything to have. But he's struggling. He can't get over the past. More importantly Mia. Getting through the day is labor for him. He has to take pills to relieve anxiety and he has to chant encouraging things in his head like mantras. Just to get through a single day. What bothers him the most is the fact that he has to go on tour for about two and a half months. He doesn't like it. Oddly enough, he doesn't want it. To get it out of my system, I have to say that I didn't like Adam. Much like Mia, he struggled with her accident, but much unlike her, he doesn't handle it well. He succumbs to his struggles, becoming annoying, melodramatic and downright rude. Yes, she did a lot to him that caused him a lot of trouble but after meeting her for this first time in years, he kind of acts like a dick. I will probably get crap from people saying that he is pain. Okay, so what? Keep in mind that I can't really connect on an emotional level with most books. Only at the end did this book really impact me. Adam's behavior annoyed the hell out of me and a lot of the time I was just like:

 

And this is just the PG rated version of my feelings. Things can get pretty R rated with me and trust me, you want to avoid going there. Anyway, back to the review. Moving on from Adam to Mia. This girl. Gosh she is strong. Even with Adam being a cranky little baby, she keeps up with him, puts up with his crap. Never once in this book does she let her past bring her down which is awesome. I love you Mia. I love you. She uses the death of her parents as a reason to go on, to become Julliard's rising star. Her whole family sits on her shoulders like angels, encouraging her to run the last lap and keep on running until she drops. And the really cool, sweet thing is, she doesn't want to forget them. Not much of a spoiler, but I'm still going to give a heads up. MINOR SPOILER ALERT! She hangs their pictures all over her apartment walls as a memory. So though they're dead, they're still alive. If that makes any sense. Come on, I know it does.

Mia was a breath of fresh air. And so were Adam's song lyrics. This guy may have been a piece of crap but during his "Time of Dying" (That's a song by Three Days Grace, give it a listen. I think it works well with this book), he's got all this pent up inspiration and eventually, he lets it loose. Here are some of his lyrics:

“You crossed the water, left me ashore
It killed me enough, but you wanted more
You blew up the bridge, a mad terrorist
Waved from your side, through me a kiss
I started to follow but realized too late
There was nothing but air underneath my feet"

-from the song "Bridge"

“Barrel of the gun, rounds one two three
She says I have to pick: choose you, or choose me
Metal to the temple, the explosion is deafening
Lick the blood that covers me
She’s the last one standing
- from the song “Roulette”

 Aren't these beautiful? Anyway, to close off this review I want to say that the songs and Mia were what made it whole. They're the only reason why I didn't chuck this book out my window. Mia. As I said before, I love you. Songs, I love you too. Adam. Please, imagine my middle finger sticking up at you right about now. I don't like you.
2 stars? 2.5 stars? You can be the judge of that.
        

Pretty Little Liars

     So now that I actually have free time, I will take it to my advantage. So far on my snow day I have: caught up on Pretty Little Liars (TV show) AND Supernatural (TV Show),  read my library books, studied for exams, written my papers, and done my homework. (I have this voice in my head shouting "I'M A FREE ELF!") So, back to doing what I love-READING and REVIEWING!

So many of you have seen those awfully cheesy, unrealistic and oddly colorful television previews of the T.V. show Pretty Little Liars. Yes, I do watch the show. Yes, it is just as dumb as it looks and I LOVE it! My guilty pleasure :) Anyway, I'm pretty sure I only watch it because I love their outfits and NOEL KHAN :) Lately, since the season has ended and left me wanting so much more, I've been reading the books. The T.V. show closely follows the books but has some major changes. Like WHY is Hanna so SO annoying in the books while she is alright in the T.V. show? Hmmm? Also, the whole Allison is alive thing is different in the T.V. show.

Anyway, the books were what I expected, not the best piece of literature, oddly entertaining, often having me groaning, and funny. I really like Spencer's character in the T.V. show and in the books she is alright. But in the T.V. show Aria is alright but in the books she is awful.  I just find Emily quite likable in both the T.V. show and the books for some reason.

The plot was, surprisingly the best part of the story. It was annoying at times but I enjoyed it all the way. *que Timeflies' All The Way*

So, in general I found the books an easy, nice, fluffy, quick read.
2.5 Stars

The Temptation of Lila and Ethan by Jessica Sorensen

Snow day! Who doesn't love a snow day? Most people spend their snow days shoveling their driveways, drinking hot cocoa and watching Spongebob Squarepants. Okay, fine, maybe I'm the only one who watches that TV show. But it's my childhood, I can't let it go! This time though, things were a little different. Rather than doing the above, I sat on a spinning chair and my eyes were glued to my computer screen all day. Do you know why? Because I finally found more Jessica Sorensen books online and I was not going to let the opportunity to read them slip by. So without further a due, let us delve into the realm of The Temptation of Lila and Ethan.

This is the third book in the Secret series and definitely not the best. Firstly, I want to address this issue I have with the title. The first book in the series is called The Secret of Ella and Micha (I honestly don't know if it's pronounced as Micah or Misha. I'm going to assume Misha because it sounds better). Nice flow, right? Then the first book of the Coincidence series, also by Jessica Sorensen, is called The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden. Also good flow, right? Then the third book of the Coincidence series is called The Destiny of Violet and Luke. That also has a pretty good flow. But the title of this one...It doesn't roll of my tongue with ease. I feel like if it were The Temptation of Ethan and Lila instead, it would be better, but that's not a very big problem now. So let's move on. So we have Lila, who's this gorgeous girl that enjoys drinking and being overly intimate (if you know what I mean...). Why? Because her family is a disgrace to families all around the world. They're always on her case, pointing out her every mistake and telling her just how big of a mess she is. Frankly, Lila is a mess, but that's okay, we all are, and taking into account just how bad her family is, it's pretty cool how sane she is. I did like Lila in the previous books belonging to the Secret series but here....meh. Constantly putting herself down, constantly traveling back to the past and loathing, constantly blaming herself. Come on, girl! Get it together! Repeatedly, she is told that it's not her fault. She's constantly being reassured but she chooses to ignore all the comments, causing herself to spiral down into a puddle of bad influences.
Then we have Ethan. Druggie, I'm pretty sure he's going to be an alcoholic, and a boy who doesn't look for relationships, rather, one night stands. The only serious relationship he's ever had is with London and good God, he has a really poor taste in woman. Ethan is attracted to Lila. Who wouldn't be? She's hot, fun to be around and has charisma that everyone else in this book seems to lack! But he's drawn a line that he can't cross. Ethan's family is dysfunctional too. Domestic abuse is ever present and he's worried that some day, he will turn into his messed up dad. I get that. And I appreciate how caring and careful he is with his girls. Ethan, unlike Lila, I liked. He's scary but caring. He's strong but really soft. He's got self control but not enough of it. He made me very happy. I loved him in the first two books, I loved him in this one because you really get to go through Ethan's mind and unravel him. Pick out his pros as well as his cons. You really can relate to this guy.
The story plot is like every other book out there I guess. Two people meet. Best friends, enemies, frenemies, people who never actually met before and are thrown into a situation due to perhaps past events. You name it, it's out there. So since this idea is like everything else, I had no expectations. Jessica Sorensen is a great author and I had no doubts that she could pull it off. She did it four times already, no problem doing it again.
Overall, this book was okay for me. Nothing special.
Two stars.

P.S. I love that cover to death! Simple but elegant, I love it (say the last three words in a singsong voice. It sounds better).

21 Jump Street the Movie

Yep, we are reviewing this movie a year late ;) Better late than never? Anyway the sequel is coming out this year! Woo-hoo! I'm probably going to see it the day it comes out. So this movie is about two best friends who are so close that they call themselves "brothers" in high school they weren't friends because Jenko (Tatum) was a underachieving jock and Schmidt (Hill) was the nerd who was obsessed with Eminem. They both go to the police academy and there they help each other with their weaknesses and soon become best friends. They soon get a job on 21 Jump Street and their job is to go undercover as high school students. While there Jenko and Schmidt switch spots, Schmidt becoming a popular kid and Jenko a nerd.

I loved this movie it was so funny (some parts weren't appropriate though)! So bad things first:

Cons:

•  I did guess the evil mastermind (as usual) but Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Nick Offerman, and Ice Cube made up for it with their funny words.
•  I didn't really enjoy the whole "role switching" part. (Jenko was a popular kid in high school and Schmidt was a nerd but in the reenactment their roles switched) and this caused unnecessary drama.
•  Also, the characters were not explained enough especially Eric (why didn't his parents care for him? Other than the fact his parents are rich we don't get insight to this.)

Pros:

• As I said, it was really funny!
• *Spoiler* when Jenko says he would take a bullet for Schmidt and then he actually does (aww so corny and cute!)
• Good acting
• Good graphics
• I like how Hill and Tatum were "brothers" it was really sweet
• The white suits for prom were so cool!
• I liked the action

I REALLY WANT TO SAY MORE!! But I can't as it is I have given away too much. So I can't! Just go watch it!!!

 3 stars :)

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

"Elena Hawthorne, do you take Ryan Stone, to be your husband?" the priest asked.
"I do."
"Ryan Stone, do you take Elena Hawthorne, to be your wife?" the priest asked.
"I do."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You many now kiss the bride."
I chuckle inwardly. Kiss? Puh-lease. This is not going to be a kiss....it's going to be way more than that...
I lean in. He leans in. And our lips graze...
And then I wake up. Ugh.
Going into this book, I was a hardcore Team Isaiah. When I realized that Beth wouldn't be with him, my initial thought was, "Ryan? Who is this....this...imposter?!" But I continued with the book with an open mind and oh my gosh, I was blown away.

For those who haven't read the first book in this series, you probably have no clue who either Beth and Isaiah are. Do not fear for Elena Hawthorne is here! Beth Risk is a punk. Natural bad ass. She dresses like a bad ass, does drugs and smokes and is best friends with Isaiah. Beth lives in a foster house with her aunt and uncle along with Isaiah and another boy, Noah. But I won't go into to detail about him. She lives with her aunt and uncle because her mom is a druggie and her boyfriend is an abusive douche bag. When something horrible happens, Beth's uncle Scott comes to the rescue (not really). He blackmails her into coming to live with him and if she refuses, he's going to reveal this big secret about Beth's mother. And unfortunately for Beth, she loves her mom too much for her own good. This is where Isaiah and Ryan come into play. Let me tell you ahead of time that there is no love triangle in those. Though both boys love her, Beth only reciprocates feelings for one boy. And that's Ryan. But let me talk about Isaiah first. You get glimpses of him in the first book, Noah's book, Pushing the Limits. He's a very nice guy; who's covered in tattoos and fixes cars for a living. Along with that, he's deeply in love with Beth. He has been for a very long time. He knows what's best for her and does what's best for her. You see him in action a lot. He's constantly protecting Beth from her mom and her boyfriend. He's promising to run away with her. He's protective of her when Ryan comes into the picture. You can't help but love Isaiah.
But I didn't love Isaiah as much as I loved Ryan. He's a baseball player who doesn't lose. Never. His two best friends are Chris and Logan, also ball players. He dated the hottest girl in the school before calling it quits. Colleges are chasing after him. And he's an amazing writer according to his English teacher. But he's not as perfect as he seems. He's got some serious family problems. If I delve into them, I feel like I would be giving you all spoilers and this book is too good for those. Meeting Beth is coincidental, talking to her starts as a dare. But becomes much more than that very fast. This boy is so endearing and dreamy! Beth isn't an easy target so he fights for her. She pushes him away, he just fights for her even harder. God, this guy was perfection.
Now. Beth. She is my favorite female main character as of now. This girl was a mess. A funny, lovable, crude mess. She is a complete witch. To Isaiah, Ryan, her uncle Scott, his wife Allison, her teachers and probably everyone else. She doesn't want to live with her uncle, therefore she lets her anger loose on those around her. Deep down under the spawn of Satan is a girl who's struggling. She's trying to come to terms with where she's living, who she's schooling with and what her mom is going through. For a good half of the book, she's a complete devil but the more time she spends with the Ryan, the less of the 'f-word' we say. She becomes a complete softie and it makes you see how much better Ryan is for her than Isaiah. Beth and Isaiah and the exact same. They wouldn't be able to develop at all, but with Ryan, her complete opposite, she completely transforms herself. Best of all, you witness that major transformation. And I loved every minute of it.
The cover for Pushing the Limits was okay. Colors were too dark for me. The cover for Dare You To is one of the best I've ever seen. The people on the cover look so cute and the rain is the perfect add-on. The details are so sharp, it's unbelievable. What do you have to say about the cover?
Warning: This book talks about some heavy topics. Drugs, abuse, alcohol, abandonment, daddy issues etc. Also the language can get pretty bad.
Ultimately, this book touched my heart. Screw what I said before about never getting emotional with books. This one brought tears to my eyes.
Four stars
 
I feel like I'm giving out a lot of four stars. Am I? I don't know. Either I'm giving out way to many or I just have a really good taste in books and they deserve them. What do you think?

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Is this book really for the adults of the young? For the children coming of age? Am I being conned?

But no matter. I can handle that. I, for one, don't mind intensity. And in Sweet Evil, the intensity level is set very high. I love that cover. I don't know if you do, but when I looked at the cover for the first time, I was like 'I must read this!' After I found out what it was about and looked at it again, do you notice that it replicates a sort of light and dark thing? Like on Anna's side, the forest has a little sun settling on it but on Kaidan's side it's pretty much black? If the cover designer was trying to attain that kind of symbolism, then kudos! If not....well...lets forget I ever said that. But setting aside symbolism, doesn't that cover look just amazing? The guy who is supposedly Kaidan....he looks amazing. Anna, too. The only think that irked me about it though was the cover girls nail polish. You don't really notice it unless you have a good close up. She's wearing nail polish, pink nail polish, hot pink nail polish. That doesn't even go well with that gorgeous dress! Who is her stylist?! I'm sorry, but I get really nit picky when it comes to things like this.

Leaving behind the book, let's move onto the actual story. It was pretty fast paced. When I was told there would be a road trip involved, I thought it would be in the last half of the book after we're introduced to certain topics. I expected Kaidan Rowe to be some new student and just like in every other book out there, Anna is inexplicably drawn to him. Then it's revealed that Kaidan is some weird species of being and that Anna is just like him and now they're supposed to produce supernatural babies together. That is exactly what I expected. That is not what I got (thank God).  Anna is the goody two shoes of the school. Doesn't do drugs, doesn't attend parties due to her overprotective no actual mother and she doesn't drink. But one day, on her birthday, her friend Jay takes her to a concert and now enter Kaidan Rowe. A smoking hot, bipolar drummer. He senses their is something different about Anna and he wants to know what. His introduction leads to a series of events unraveling. The road trip definitely does play a major part in the book but it doesn't take up too much time. It's started quickly and draws to a close even quicker. The second half of the book involves more angelic and demonic deeds.

Anna is a sweetheart. She's polite and treats her friends with care. But she's also very naive. To me, it actually makes her more real. She finds Kaidan hot, but she's not thinking about him every second. Only when he starts acting freaky (I'm not going to get into that), does she start to wonder. Despite him not being the best to her and having to perform rather disgusting things, she doesn't judge him nor does she treat him differently. She respects him and tries to help him. And as weird as it may be, she gives him a little bit of motherly information.

Kaidan Rowe is perhaps my topping the charts for book boyfriend. He's amazing and for once, I'm not exaggerating. PERHAPS A SPOILER ALERT! He's a demon, the son of the Duke of Lust. Because of that, he has to do certain 'lusty' acts. I can't say I mind though. Whenever Kaidan goes into 'lusty' mode, the book just gets so much better. Ah. Anna's different from his kind and it's been a while since this has happened, he's drawn to her. I like that. Things get steamy, then they cool down, then they steam up, then they calm down. I like how it's not too tame but not going overboard (thank God). But seriously, this guy is amazing.

Others worth mentioning are Kopano, Blake, Marna, Ginger, Pattie, Jay and Veronica. Pattie's a major character but she was kind of awkward. When Anna was going on the road trip, she specifically told the person who was taking her "Hands off, mister!" That's really weird if you ask me. Jay and Veronica are Anna's friends but they're not doing anything necessarily big to make a big difference in the book. The others mentioned above are Kaidan's friends, which means they are demon children. I loved them all, especially Kopano. What a softie!

This book is approximately 450 pages give or take 50 pages (I suck at estimations, I know). Usually that takes me half a day. This took me 2.5 hours. That's not normal for me.

This book has to be four beautiful stars.

The Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

“Remember my titles? I don't get poisoned, I do the poisoning. I'm the Princess of it.” 

So today, we have decided to review the book Poison Princess by Kresley Cole. The prologue of this book started off with some serious promise. It gave you this sense creepiness and mystery and the guy who is narrating...what a mess. He gave you this rapist feel, but that's only for a short while so don't let that scare you away from reading the book. He just added to my curiosity as to what would happen. So, naturally, I continued with the book, setting aside everything (my school work) just to get through with it. Unsurprisingly, thanks to the book, I scored three consecutive C's, but that's not the point. This book has its pros, but unfortunately, I think it's cons might just outweigh them.

<Gabby has to talk about this cover--excuse her...> WOW! That cover-the feels!!! I love the fire! And the font and the dress and the colors... and I could go on and on and on.... It just represents this book SO SO well :).

Starting with the pros:
1. Jackson Deveaux- this boy... Oh God. He's Cajun French and that just makes everything so much better, right? He's hot, angry and determined. If he wants something, he will get it. And his accent, dear Lord. The way he says partner, 'podna', just say that to yourself in your head. Doesn't that sound sexy?

2. The action- there's not much of it, but whatever we get is sufficient. I'm used to a lot of violence; I'm a naturally violent person. (Don't be scared, people, my sister has never actually armed anyone. Right, Elena? - Ari *glares disapprovingly*) Crown of Midnight by Sarah Maas is one of my favorite books and I have this weird affiliation with horror movies, so yes, this wasn't enough to satisfy my tastes since it is a post-apocalyptic novel but of all the action that we do get, it's a breath of fresh air. Especially from all the petty drama that goes on.

3. The ending. Wow. Just wow. And to think this book was going to make me rip my hair out. It is so intense, it's amazing.
That's it. That is. All. Of. The pros.

Now the cons:
1. Our main character, Evangeline, is sixteen and recapping her story before the Flash (the apocalypse) to rapist (the guy who I referred to earlier), Arthur. The thing is, she recaps almost a week before the apocalypse in explicit detail. I did this then, I watched this there, I talked to her about this. We learn that this girl has got issues early on in the novel but the author never specifies that she has anything like super memory so how does she remember everything so clearly. It's not like these few days are told in third person! Literally, she can remember not watching one episode of America's Next Top Model. She remembers her conversations with her best friend word for word. And I don't even remember her best friend's name cause I don't give a single ounce of a crap about her.

2. The supporting characters in those seven days. Mel (the best friend whose full name I cannot remember), Brandon (the "perfect" jock boyfriend), Clotile and Jackson Deveaux's other friend (who I couldn't care any less about). Why are they even here? Because SPOILER ALERT! (not really), they all die. We suffer through almost one hundred fifty pages of Evangeline talking to them, with the conversations sharing no relevancy to the story. Mel is overly fond of saying the 'b-word' for some reason, Evangeline is at crossroads about whether she should give up her V-Card to Brandon, she's trying to out slut Clotile and Jackson Deveaux's friends...why were they even there?Just..why?

3. Selena Luna- I wanted to rip her throat out. From when she was introduced, I didn't like her. She's described as a Lara Croft look alike and I hated that movie....so it all works out. Selena is rude, a liar and just downright selfish. Read the book yourself to find out more about this girl. Her only upside is that she's a complete badass when it comes to fighting.

4. Jackson Deveaux. Oh Jackson. He's a dick at the beginning of the book and it's really hot. He's a dick during the middle of the book and it's really hot. He's a dick at the end of the book, it's so not hot. He's apparently got reasons to be the way he is and frankly, they're pathetic. The way he treats Evangeline, it's like indirect abuse. Just disgusting. I'm not saying that Evangeline is innocent, she shares the blame, but she doesn't completely deserve the way he treats her.

5. Evangeline Greene, the main character. Pathetic, annoying, whiny. Did I say annoying? Kill me already. You get off on the wrong foot with this girl. In the first few pages, her rich as heck boyfriend is picking her up in his BMW or whatever and she's all dressed up for her first day of school. And she's not happy about seeing her boyfriend. She's disappointed. You know why? Because he didn't compliment her dress, or necklace or bracelet or anything else. Like, girl! What's wrong with you? Then apparently the school would fall apart without her and she waves to everyone at school because...I don't know why. And after the apocalypse? She can't hunt or cook or fix her own dang car, she's completely useless until Jackson Deveaux comes back for her. And just out of curiosity, how does Jackson survive the apocalypse when everyone just drops dead? Anyway, after the entrance of Selena Luna, Evangeline just falls apart. All she can think about is Jackson having sex with Selena and just how jealous she should be of them. I wanted to slap the girl. Hard.

6. Last but not least, the beginning. I had the biggest problem with this because what was its point. Yeah, Evangeline is a freak who has visions of the apocalypse and is an amazing artist. Ok, we get that, but what do you want me to do? Grovel over it? Her and Mel (the best friend in case you don't remember), are talking about guy stuff and Evangeline keeps talking about how loyal her boyfriend is and how much he loves her. She hates on Jackson and his gang and yells at him a lot. Come on! The guy has issues but he's not that bad! Now I wouldn't have such a problem with the beginning because we definitely could use with a little back story, but not 100+ of it. Especially 100+ of back story that pretty shares no relevancy with the story whatsoever.

In conclusion, though I wanted to rip this book to shreds several times, I will definitely continue with the series. The ending and the way Jackson says partner saved it for me. But I had high expectations for Poison Princess and it fell flat. 2.5 stars.