Sunday, January 17, 2016

Review: The Girl From Everywhere

The Girl from Everywhere (The Girl from Everywhere, #1)Book: The Girl From Everywhere

Author: Heidi Heilig

Release date: February 16th, 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: Before I read this book, I was in a reading slump. I tried reading at least 5 other books, but I couldn't really get into any of them. But the moment I started reading this book, I was hooked. It has a perfect combination of adventure, family problems, time travel, and romance.

The only thing I don't like was the love triangle. There are two boys: Kashmir and Blake. I HATED Blake.. The funny thing is, he is an awesome character, and if he didn't get in the way of Nix (the main character) and Kashmir, he would be one of my favorites. However, this isn't the case, so I can still be heard screaming "just die already" to my book.

I definitely recommend this book, and I can't wait until the next one comes out! It's hard to believe that Heidi Heilig is a debut author, and I'll definitely be reading all of her future books!

-Serena :)

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

REVIEW: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

 A month or two ago, I was lucky enough to win a goodreads giveaway and I received an ARC of this book! I decided to wait a little while to read it, as I wanted to read the Throne of Glass series first (which is one of my ultimate favorites now!). But, after the excitement of ToG, I forgot about it for several weeks... Yeah. I actually FORGOT about a book. But eventually, I saw it on my shelf and read it in less than a day! That was actually two or three weeks ago, but I realized that I never reviewed it, so here you go :)

ALSO: I've decided to link the goodreads page to the book title (down below) so you can click on that if you want to read the synopsis and any other details.

23272028Book: A Study in Charlotte

Author: Brittany Cavallaro

Release date: March 1st, 2016

Rating: 3/5 stars

Review: Despite my rating of 3 stars, this book was definitely better than the average mystery book. It was fast paced, well written, and very well planned out. Best of all, it was a modern Sherlock Holmes mystery, only it wasn't Holmes and Watson, it was their descendants. This makes the book incredibly interesting to read, and not only because of the obvious reasons. Throughout the book the two main characters, Charlotte and Jamie, are practically haunted by their family history in so many different ways. There are murderers trying to replicate the killings from Sherlock Holmes stories, people who tease them about their families, and a really awkward relationship between each other in the beginning of the book. Thankfully, in turn each of those problems is resolved by the end of the book.

 I have only two reasons why I didn't give it a higher rating of 4 stars. The first one is that it wasn't a very memorable book, and even though I only read it several weeks ago, I needed to skim through the book before I could write this review. In my mind, part of what makes a book so good is when you can't get it out of your head for months after you read it. The second reason I didn't give it 4 stars is because I never really got completely submerged into the story, and often when I was reading it I would still be conscious of the real world (e.g., I was thinking about what I was going to eat for lunch at the same time as reading). This might have been because I was tired or I was hungry or something else along those lines, but it was still annoying.

Even though I could never be truly engaged in the book, I'd still recommend it, especially if you like mysteries!

-Serena :)

Saturday, January 9, 2016

REVIEW: The Siren by Kiera Cass

So this is my first review on this blog! *throws confetti*

Book: The Siren (click here for the synopsis) 

Author: Kiera Cass

Release date: January 26th 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: I loved this book! Just like in The Selection, there is romance that makes you ship the characters so much, the urge to reach into the book and push the two people is almost uncontrollable. However, unlike the Selection, this book is a fantasy novel! The main character's name is Kahlen, and she's a Siren, which means that she has to serve the Ocean for 100 years, and then she's free to return to a normal human life. It's really not that bad. That is, until the love interest is introduced. The problem- he's a human, and her voice is poisonous to anyone who isn't a Siren. So it's a romance without words. Which basically makes it 100x better. Oh, and did I mention that they bake cake? Like, TOGETHER.

So overall I LOVED this book and would definitely recommend it and I'd buy it ASAP.

-Serena 

P.S. If you have any recommendations on how to make my blog better, be free to tell me in the comments!

Friday, January 8, 2016

Hi Everyone!

Hey everyone!
As this is my first blog post, it will just be an introduction to how I'm planning to run this blog and a way that everyone can get to know me better!

So here's my plan:
 I want to post short reviews of YA books. Something I've noticed recently is how many blogs there are out in the reading community that post amazing reviews but are just a little too long. Sure, they might be great if you have enough time to read a several page review, but sometimes time is hard to come by, and let's be honest- I'd rather be reading an actual book. That is why I want to post a 1-2 paragraph review of books, so everyone can take 30 seconds to see a little more about what was good and bad, instead of taking 5 minutes to do the same thing.

On a different note, here are 7 facts about me:
1) I have two younger sisters, who's names are Sylvie and Charlotte
2) My favorite subject is actually science, especially the fields of Geology and Astronomy
3) I drink very large amounts of tea daily (about 5-10 mugs)
4) I love to do origami, and it's one of my favorite hobbies
5) I play soccer, and (on and off) take rock climbing lessons
6) My favorite color is blue, but I love green also
7) I love to visit national parks

That's it for now! I'll try to start posting reviews soon, and until then have a good day :)

-Serena