Review: Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore

Title: Angel Eyes
Author: Shannon Dittemore
Genre: YA, Supernatural, Romance, Coming of Age, Religious undertones
Star Rating: 2/5

Taken from Goodreads, "Brielle’s a ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake. Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption. 


Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start. A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive."

'Angel Eyes' by Shannon Dittemore is a supernatural, angel themed YA read with religious undertones.  While I didn't love this novel, there were some aspects I really did enjoy.  Jumping right to the point, I liked that Brielle wasn't your typical heroine.  Normally, our female leads are in a 'fish out of water' position.  In this case, Brielle was coming back from her 'fish out of water' experience.  She had lived and grown before the novel even started.  We are introduced to her when she's at a bit of a low point in her life, coming back from this big, life changing event.  I loved that.

Brielle, as a character, was a solid main character.  Her reactions and thoughts seemed natural and she was a pretty relatable character.  The other characters were also engaging.  Jake, the love interest, seemed to have more of a role in the story than most male leads in past angel themed novels.

The reason I didn't rate this novel higher mostly falls on pacing. The beginning and end were fine, but the middle dragged a bit.  I had to push through it, because I didn't want to give up on 'Angel Eyes' when I liked the characters and the overall storyline.  That being said, it took some skimming through the middle bits to get back to a point where I felt I should read word for word, page by page.

This novel isn't for everyone.  If you don't like books with slight religious undertones, 'Angel Eyes' might not be your cup of tea.  However, the characters and the overall storyline are worth giving this a looksie otherwise!  'Angel Eyes' gets 2 out of 5 stars and is available wherever books are sold.

Review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

Title: The Hunt
Author: Andrew Fukuda
Genre: YA, dystopian, action, slight romance
Star Rating: 2/5 stars

Taken from 'Goodreads', "Gene is different from everyone else around him. He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood. Gene is a human, and he knows the rules. Keep the truth a secret. It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood. 


When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him. He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?"

'The Hunt' is a quick read with a slightly similar storyline to the Hunger Games.  The idea behind the 'human hunt' is that the human population be controlled through means of a battle royale (of sorts) between the thriving alien species and the remaining human population.

As far as covers go, I like the cover design on 'The Hunt'.  It's an engaging cover with some fun elements.  I love the ripped cut out showing the two lead characters.

In all honesty, it's not my favorite dystopian read.  The pacing was off through the entire novel.  The beginning felt slow and the ending felt rushed.  I wasn't surprised at the big reveal 200 pages in, either.  I had it pegged very early on.

The world was crafted well enough and, unlike some dystopian worlds, I had no problem figuring it out.  The world has some unique bits that separate it from other dystopian titles, but also suffers from having too much backstory.

The long and short of it?  While the idea was an interesting one, for me, 'The Hunt' just didn't hold up.  'The Hunt' wasn't my cup of tea and gets 2 out of 5 stars from this little blog.

Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Title: Pure
Author: Julianna Baggott
Genre: Older YA, dystopian, dark, gritty, slight romance
Star Rating: 2/5 stars

Taken from 'Goodreads', "We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. 


There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. When a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. 


When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again."

A friend of mine mentioned 'Pure' to me a while back.  Supposedly, it was the talk of the town at a book expo she attended.  Because of that, I decided to take a stab at reading this novel by Julianna Baggott.  Let me tell you first that I, personally, think this novel is best suited to older YA readers.  It's a dark read and might not please the younger YA set, even if they liked 'The Hunger Games'.

The Negatives:

As far as page count goes, this book was *way* too long.  It took me 300 pages (almost exactly) to get to a point where I cared about the story and even then, I wasn't too overly invested in the plot or characters.  Part of my trouble with 'Pure' was the voice.  I can count on one hand the number of books I've enjoyed that are in present tense.  My mind was auto-correcting to past tense throughout the entire novel.  As you can only imagine, that made it really hard to get 'sucked in'.  I finished this book not because I was on the edge of my seat, but because I had pushed through hundreds of pages and felt I needed to at least see the story through.

Pressia lives in a world where people are fused with objects.  You'll walk down the street and see a girl with a dolls head fused to her hand, a man with a fan in his throat, or even a boy with birds stuck to his back.  There were some cring-worthy and shocking combinations described in 'Pure', not all of them easy to grasp.  That was the most difficult part to understand about Pressia's world.

Also, purely subjective, I was a little turned off by how dark the novel was.  I'm okay with dark, but usually like a little happy mixed in.  I'm not talking a musical number, but something-- some little ray of hope.  I didn't get any of that in this novel.  I finished it feeling a lot like I did when I read 'Mockingjay'. 'Pure' started on one note and kind of continued on that same note.  The one tone storytelling made for a pretty lackluster finale.

The Positives:


Who could resist this cover?  The colors, font, and design are just perfect.

As far as characters, I enjoyed them well enough.  Pressia was the most likable character of the bunch, followed by Bradwell, Lyda, and then Partridge.  Lyda's character wasn't explored in much detail, though she plays a major role in 'Pure'.  Still, however, she has more personality than Partridge.  If I were to choose my favorite character, the award would go to Bradwell.  He came off a little flat to me, but you know what, he seemed like a cool guy.  He and Pressia's banter in his butcher shop early on in the book was probably my favorite part of the novel.

Each chapter was told in a certain persons point of view.  Unlike some authors, Baggott didn't try to stick to a pattern.  Personally, I prefer that.  Some novels I've read have had alternating characters point of view and because of that, events felt a little forced.  While some of the events in this novel did seem a bit, er, contrived, the fact that the point of view didn't change in a pattern helped a bit.

Overall:

I like dystopian novels.  I've read 'Matched', 'The Hunger Games', 'Legacy', and quite enjoyed them. However, 'Pure' just wasn't my kind of book.  I didn't finish wanting to read more or even looking forward to the sequel.  If you like gritty, dark worlds, you may like this novel.  It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Review: Wired by Robin Wasserman

Title: Wired
Author: Roin Wasserman
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Perfect for: Well, anyone who wants to read the conclusion of the trilogy
Star Rating: 2/5 stars

Lia Kahn is a mech-- a machine with memories and feelings of the deceased Lia Kahn. 'Wired' is the third book in a trilogy that follows her, her family, and mech friends as they learn if peace can really be had between orgs and mechs.

Okay, folks, if the 2/5 star rating didn't tell you, I'm not a fan of 'Wired'. I was on board with her first two titles and typically recommend them for those looking for good sci-fi. This book, however, not so much. There are low points and very few high points in 'Wired'.

Let's start with the high points, shall we? 'Wired' showcased a lot of Zo, Lia's 'org' sister. We've seen the relationship crumble in the earlier books and it was nice to see the sisters rebuild their bonds. Their banter back and forth was cute, especially when Jude was involved.

Jude is the other high point of the novel, and for no other reason than I've always found him a bit intriguing. He's the Han Solo character who you have to root for, even if he's a scoundrel.

Now onto the shortcomings... And boy were there shortcomings! The main problem is the writing. Lia's voice has always been a bit hard to follow, but this was way worse. Conversations were hard to follow and action was just confusing. So many new plot elements were introduced, only to be left open-ended and unfinished.

Even the main story of this novel and this series was pretty poorly executed. I understand cliff hanger endings when you're reading the first or second book in a trilogy, but if you are finishing the story, never visiting that world again, why not at least resolve the main storyline? Preferably in a way that isn't completely confusing to the reader. I kid you not, I had a lot of trouble following the last few chapters. I still don't know what exactly happened to Lia. If you have any idea's, please leave them here, because I'd like to know.

This whole novel rubbed me the wrong way. I expected something that would wrap up Lia's story, but got a whole lot of crazy plot lines and no real conclusion. It felt a lot like the third book in a four book series.

I would NOT recommend this unless you have read the first two books and feel you need to finish the series. And what does that mean for me recommending the series to new readers? I don't know. Maybe I still will, maybe I won't. I really hope Wasserman is considering writing a companion following two specific characters (you'll know who if you read 'Wired') and left this book without much conclusion because of that.  Even as I think about that, though, I might be hard pressed to pick up another novel in this series...

This book was just highly disappointing.