Sandy

The Replacement wasn't a frightening read (nor did I think it would be) but if you were the characters in their situation or even just a visitor to the town of Gentry, and you didn't know what makes this town tick you would know there was something off and you would quickly get into your car or whatever transport you used to get there and quickly leave and look back to make sure that nothing was following you. Because although The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff wasn't the kind of story that filled me with dread or made me cold with apprehension it was certainly the kind of read that made me stay up in the middle of the night to read it and pick up first thing in the morning. It was the kind of book that as you read it the rest of the world kind of goes still and quiet, it fades away into the background as if you are at home, at night, all alone and there is nothing else going on except the wind blowing through the trees. Case end point The Replacement was a creepily descriptive, atmospheric book.

In the town of Gentry everyone knows the town's secret but no one talks about it because to say it out loud would make the truth too horrible to bear and honestly the truth is a horrible, terrible thing. So everyone goes about their day as if everything is normal and when a little girl dies it's treated as a tragedy by everyone except the girl's older sister Tate because Tate knows what was buried as her sister wasn't her sister at all, it wasn't even human. And Tate has found someone she thinks could help her, our main lead Mackie Doyle but Mackie has his own issues - he's dyeing – iron, steel, the smell of blood - the very world is making him sicker by the day and he can no longer play normal because acting like everybody else means he won't last another day unless he makes a deal.

Brenna Yovanoff does such a wonderful job of stringing words together and turning them into sounds, sights and emotions. Before this book I had never come across an author who could actually make me truly hear music I was reading and because of her darkly beautiful, poignant style I was completely immersed in the world of The Replacement.

All of the characters were both unique and interesting and although our main character's one hope is to be mundanely normal many of the people in The Replacement aren't really normal at all except for maybe his best friend. From devoted Emma and fearless Tate, to the wacky inventive twins Drew and Danny and the otherworldly Janice and The Morrigan The Replacement is filled with a whole host of characters who although aren't too likeable, definitely fascinate and stand-out from the crowd.

If you want a book that's different from the typical YA, filled with beautiful descriptive writing and an eerie engrossing atmosphere then pick up The Replacement, you won't be disappointed.

I gotta say the first volume of this manga was OK, I wasn't loving the time traveling all that much but I gave the series another chance and two hooked me and now I've finished reading seven. I love this series its funny, its sweet, there is romance and as you get into later volumes a lot more action. Now I have to suffer and wait for the next volume like all the other fans.

But if you've been reading the Maximum Ride series or my reviews on the previous volumes then you know this. The kids might always get a break but it's always short lived and if Fang and the gang...ha-ha. If the guys think they are going to be able to just disappear then they are kidding themselves so I don't blame Max when she gets upset with their sudden “screw everyone else” attitude but despite her disagreeing with them she's outnumbered and has no choice but to go house hunting with Fang. No joke, they actually left the rest of the flock behind to go fly off and look for a place to stay. I understand that the flock are a lot stronger and more durable than your typical human being but what house are they going to find that is going to withstand a basic nuclear assault on the entire planet? Hmm? Besides this hard to swallow beginning the rest of the volume is fast pace fight scenes, wisecrack dialogue, and twist after twist.

Now I LOVE a great twist, a great twist is one you NEVER see coming but makes sense after its been revealed because the clues were there all along you just weren't paying attention at the time and that is what happens in volume 5 of Maximum Ride. There is a great twist, but and this is a big BUT that I can't go into great detail with because it would be a huge spoiler and you would hate me, the twist has to be one of the lamest clichés of all time and you are just going to be conflicted because it screams of being typical but it's also the only thing that makes senses and ties up the loose ends of the last 4 volumes. It also kind of makes the last four volumes seem like a total waste if you want to be all negative and I'm sorry that I can't tell you why but just read the book and you will understand. Maximum Ride, volume 5 will have your emotions bouncing all over the place especially with the cliff-hanger that comes out of nowhere. Yeah, thanks for that James Patterson I feel like I am still falling and waiting for volume 6 to show up and catch me.

I was so surprised by this book. Before I even started Clockwork Angel I was expecting it to be a mere three stars. It's a paranormal YA, and I knew there was going to be a love triangle and I had read so much mediocre books that followed this same pattern that I thought Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices was going to fall right into it as well but you know what? I was WRONG, SO WRONG. And I bite my tongue for judging this book before reading it.

As a complete newbie in the realm of Shadowhunters I was fascinated by the world Cassandra Clare had created about them, a world not only filled with nephilim aka Shadow Hunters but vampires, werewolves, warlocks, demons and more. A world where the Shadowhunters are the sort of police who make sure that the downworlders (paranormal folk) keep themselves in line and that the mundane (humans) don't find out about them. Mix that in with the time period and I wouldn't mind literally diving into the pages of Clockwork Angel for a few hours, I'd stay longer but I like my modern comforts.

Another aspect of the book I really enjoyed was the characters and the multiple points of view the story was told from. Tessa is our heroine but she's not the only one we get to hear from and I think hearing from different perspectives kept the pace moving steadily and allowed both the major and minor characters to develop naturally. It also made me really anxious for the upcoming manga adaptation since the story won't be all Tessa all the time because although Tessa is strong willed, kind and an avid reader she's not my favourite character in this book.

Perhaps not a literary masterpiece but if you're looking for something fun to read with a little bit of romance (the love triangle wasn't too heavy in this first book, thankfully) and a good amount of action and likeable characters I say give Clockwork Angel a shot.

Definitely a book I was hoping to re-read before posting my review because there was certainly a lot to take in as there always is with alternate universes but I didn't have enough time this weekend. Still, despite having to encounter new words for new devices and such I enjoyed this first volume and am sure as with many books things will become clearer once I get my hand on the second volume. Arata (the both of them) are two distinctly different characters with their own set of problems and unusually (in stories) things don't instantly get better once they venture off to the other side of the fence. For one boy's case his life just gets strange as he faces technologies he's never seen before and for another boy his life just gets worse as he tries to stay alive.

I didn't completely love it as I did with Watase's older works, it reminded me of Fushigi Yugi a lot, but the art is still as beautiful and the humour still present ^_^.

You know it took me awhile to give this manga a try despite hearing about it several times before and all good things. I kept reading the premise and it didn't appeal to me all that much but I was looking for a shounen fix and thought why not just give it a try?

Set in an alternate 19th century England Black Butler begins with Sebastian (the butler) bringing Ciel Phantomhive a fancy breakfast in bed, or should I say two fancy breakfast's because an Earl should have choices.

The scene quickly moves from Sebastian telling Ciel his schedule for the day to a scene where Sebastian is fighting someone in the mansion's garden and kicking their um butt rather quickly and without messing up his uniform or breaking a sweat. Turns out Ciel went to go find a martial art's expert in China to beat Sebastian so he wouldn't have to do any school work. Unfortunately he lost and this doesn't look to be like the first time him and his butler has made this sort of deal.

Its shown very early that Sebastian can do no wrong and the other staff at the Phantomhive mansion are in great awe of him and seem to be his little cheer leading squad because I can't think of any other reason for them to be in the mansion because despite being a maid, gardener, and chef none of them can clean, nurture or cook worth a damn. They actually make things a lot worst forcing Sebastian to come to the rescue. Its quite impressive how he can turn a torched garden into an exotic landscape or a completely inedible meal into a delicious dish. And what's even more peculiar is when someone comments on how amazing he is he explains it away by saying he's a butler. Its obvious that Sebastian and Ciel are hiding something because the young master is the only person unfazed by Sebastian's great talents.

A good set up to series we get hints to Ciel and Sebastian's back story without really being told anything really which of course has me curious. I'm also wondering about the other staff in the household wondering how they all became associated with such a mysterious pair of fellows and how Sebastian who is most definitely not human came to work for Ciel.

I also love the art work, it reminds me of the detailed Gothic like style of Matsuri Hino (Vampire Knight) and Jun Mochizuki (Pandora Hearts) which just has me loving the fashion and detail of the drawings.

A nice refreshing read I will most definitely be picking up volume 2 of this series and am sorry it took me so long to give it a try.

As a Dark-Hunter fan I loved this book but I think if I were a newbie as I suspect a few teen readers would be who may pick up this book I don't think I would have loved this book that much.

As a fourteen year old Nick Gautier (Go•shay) is just as sarcastic, charming, and smartass as his adult self and just a little jaded. You can't really blame him for a being a little negative though because our Nick's had a rough life. He lives in a one bedroom condo with his single mom who has to work as a Bourbon stripper to support her and her son. The kids at school don't make his situation any better by picking on him for things he can't control and the teachers aren't all that sympathetic let alone nice. Nick's a tough kid though, an AP student on a scholarship who loves his mother. Of course remember Nick is still a smartass and once he mouths off the principal and gets himself suspended things start getting a lot more interesting. Read more

I feel kind of guilty for not finishing this book because I won it off of Goodreads and since I did I had every intention of finishing it and giving it a review but after about 8 months of reading a bit, putting it down, picking it back up and reading other books I've given up for the moment.

It was a bit of a slow start but after I got over that hill the story really started picking up as more and more things were being revealed and coming together but then around page 57 what happens? We hit a flashback from the point of view of a character we hadn't had the POV of before and that would have been about 100 pages and I didn't want to deal with it anymore. Still I haven't lost complete faith, I'm lending it to a friend and if she can read it and likes it I'll pick the book back up and give it another try :)

Also don't go by what I say here if you want to read the book read it because I never finished it so how can I judge how it is when I don't really know?

I thought this was a lovely read and the illustrations are beautiful

This story had a bit of a slow start not too slow and not for very long but what I mean is that it didn't automatically grip me from the very beginning. Meghan, our heroine, is a sort of an outcast at school and she also feels that way in her own home. Her family is poor, her step-father doesn't seem to care for her all that much and at school the popular kids i.e the cheerleaders and jocks look down at her and tease her for living on a pig farm way out in the boondocks. But once I got pass the slow start, the set up of Meghan's life, and into the actual story I couldn't help but love this book more with every page. Read More

Chosen as the April book for my friend's and my two person book club The Unwritten Rule was a simple story. The main character Sara has liked Ryan ever since the eighth grade but Ryan is dating Sara's best friend Brianna and has been for almost two months. However, now it turns out Ryan likes Sara and he liked her before he and Brianna had started dating. Sara of course doesn't know this until one night in Ryan's car when he kisses her. Then of course her heart and mind are torn for the majority of the book. Sara's been put in an awful position, she really likes Ryan but Brianna has been her best friend forever and although Sara liked Ryan first Brianna went after him and got him, besides she didn't know Sara had feelings for Ryan so Sara can't really hate her can she? Read More

First Drop of Crimson was my first ever Jeaniene Frost book that will most definitely NOT be my last. read more

If you know me then you know I love cat and mouse scenarios. Our MC is on the run, in hiding, always aiming to be at least one step ahead of his pursuer. The adrenaline is high, mood intense and the atmosphere charged just waiting to shock you. Read more.

I was hoping that I would like this book but I unfortunately did not. We'll start with the positives, I liked that the setting of this story is not your typical high school. The atmosphere of Sword & Cross is secluded and dark. Their is a sense of mystery that hangs over the dilapidated buildings and unkempt grounds of the school and it suits the mood of the story well.

The students themselves are also not our typical cliques that we come across in YA books that are set in high school. Yes, Luce categorizes the students into stereotypes when she first sees them sitting outside but the minor characters she interacts with do not fall into these groups.

Now the negatives, I felt Fallen could have been written about any magical creatures whether vampires, angels or elves. The protagonist, Luce was frustrating and certainly not someone I would want to deal with. She didn't feel like a worthy heroine to me, she wasn't worthy of her friend Penn who I found to be a strong, smart and witty, independent girl and she wasn't worthy of Daniel who places her above everyone else.

I cannot see myself picking up Torment when it comes out later this year.

Recommended for fans of The Immortal Series by Alyson Noel.

Wow, a very good read and I appreciate how refreshing this book was in a sea of predictable and recently unoriginal YA. Proper review to come :)

If you need something quick and sweet to put you in a good mood then this miniseries would be it. Told from the point of view of, animal lover, Yuiko – Beast Master was one of those shoujo's with a unique premise but with all the familiar clichés. But before I tell you what I enjoyed about this story I must say I never would have given it a shot if didn't already love Motomi Kyoususke's current series Dengeki Daisy but because I do I did give Beast Master a try and am sorry I did not pick it up sooner.

The story begins with our heroine Yuiko trying to coax a cat to come to her, her neighbor's cat who likes to go out and because Yuiko loves animals so much she doesn't mind. Well she may not mind but the animals do. After Yuiko gets the cat in her arms and nearly crushes it with her affection he escapes up a tree after clawing her face, this is when Yuiko sees a guy in the tree. The next day Yuiko finds out the guy is a new student in her class and his name is Leo. Leo seems very serious and scary to the other students in the school but Yuiko who recognizes him as the guy who got the cat down from the tree the other day goes up to him and thanks him and we find out Leo isn't scary at all. He's actually quite adorable and sort of like an animal himself.

I loved both characters in this story, Yuiko is funny and brave despite getting herself into typical damsel in distress situations and Leo was a cross between cute and smexy but mostly just cute. I couldn't fully believe that because he grew up in the wild all his life that he would act more animal than human because he isn't Mowgli he was actually raised by his father and guardian Toka-san but I let it slide because hey this isn't a series that should be taken seriously but even if it's not to be taken seriously Beast Master could have been great if the plot was just fleshed out a bit more.

Still the story was an interesting and fun read this mangaka knows how to keep her readers laughing and awing and her males stands out in the sea of bishounen that seem to plague this genre.

The foundation of this story is that Natsume also inherited from his grandmother, along with his gift for seeing spirits, is the Book of Friends. The Book of Friends is a book filled with names of spirits or Yokai that his grandmother had tricked into putting their names in the book. And whoever possesses the books control the Yokai to do whatever they like and they can kill the spirit by destroying the page that holds their name.Read More.

The Dark Divine was wonderfully enjoyable and refreshingly different. An easy read and engaging plot that had me finishing this book as quickly as I possibly could. read more

Now this was a story that had me glued to the pages. Thank-you to my friend Reeshe for giving this and its sequel (The Exiled Queen) to me for Christmas because as soon as I had picked up the first and read it I had moved on to the second.

This book excelled in my two loves - great characters and great word-building. Cinda Williams Chima has a boundless imagination and she knows how to use it to make a fantastical adventure story.

The Demon King is told from two very different POVS that of Hans Alister reformed thief lord and that of Raisa ana'Marianna princess heir to the Queendom. Both Han and Raisa are obviously two characters raised in very different settings but they were both characters that I had grown to like very quickly. Han is a charming former criminal trying his best to make an honest living while taking care of his sister and mother while Raisa is quickly approaching her sixteenth birthday where she will be required to choose a husband. What I liked about Raisa though was that she wasn't moping around at the prospect of having to get married. She sees it as a duty and she considers each option not with her heart but with who would be best suited to help her rule her kingdom and make it prosper, it also doesn't stop her from flirting with the occasional guy and having a bit of fun because she knows that it will have to end when she turns sixteen.

Both characters are brave and smart and by position and circumstance their lives are pulled into great danger and towards each other.

There are wizards, royalty, street gangs, and clansmen all swirling around in the world of The Seven Realms and although there were certain parts of the plot that were entirely predictable the way the story was written made me not care in the slightest.

Thanks to my wonderful friend I was able to borrow her ARC of Hush, Hush and I just finished reading this book a few minutes ago and must say that I loved it! I need the sequel now and this book does not officially release until next month, how am I going to survive the wait? The characters were thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining, the protagonist her best-friend and Patch were each hilarious in their own right and I enjoyed a certain aspect Nora and I shared and was happy to completely understand her when that aspect of her life presented a problem (would give you more details but I don't want to spoil).

What I can say though is Hush, Hush is as hilarious as it is suspenseful and dark, and Patch is as terrifying as he is addicting.

The book had me hooked from before I read it and still has me in its clutches long after I've put it down.

Very entertaining and easy to read. The author is a good story teller. There were a ton of characters though which made it hard to really connect or care about the side characters so when things happen to them it didn't really have as big of an emotional impact as I would have liked. I really enjoyed the world of this book, the plot and the two main characters however. I am interested to see where this story goes.

I don't know how you properly review a book about the true loss of a child. It was sad, funny, honest and if you have suffered the same loss, know someone who has or you just want to feel something deep, read this book.

It was difficult to decide whether I liked this book or not. In the beginning I did and in the end I did but there were moments, several moments, throughout the story where I couldn't help but not care anymore or moments where I just skimmed the pages to move forward and other moments that had my eyes glued to the pages. It funny how divided these moments are into their separate little parts of the book because there are four parts. Read More

After the ninth or tenth time Twig was almost killed I thought that was all this book was going to be about - Twig's next struggle to NOT die - and for the most part that's really what it was, the poor boy had been almost eaten, bludgeoned, drowned, digested and a number of other things more then I can count, and by the time I finished chapter 11 I had to wonder what was the point of all this? Was this book just a series of events or was there a reason for all of it?

There was, believe me and because there is an underlying plot and not just a series of adventures strung together I love this book. read more

I need more of these women stories

Beautiful artwork and friendship. I hope there are more stories about these women in the future. I feel like we just got the beginning of their stories.