Fiction in Fiction in Fiction

4.5 stars. Still sobbing. This was beautiful. Review to come.

Ah the feels. This was so sweet. ADAM. NICKY

Give me book 2 now!

Butterflyingly breathtaking! The slam poetry was even more gorgeous than the previous books and I didn't think it was possible for Will Cooper to be anymore amazing but woah THE FEELS! Will and Lake officially have no more secrets, they stopped carving pumpkins and there's absolutely no point of retreat. I didn't think I could cry anymore but Colleen had me tearing up to the last page. What a beautiful ending. My sweet? My sweet is this book.

*Read purely for Homecoming* Eeeep I love that sensual side of Dimitri and Rose is as funny as ever. So cute! Can they just please get married.

Somewhere between 2.5 - 3 stars. I really wanted this to be better than The Selection. As I was reading I was trying to look for things that would make me give it more stars. I WANTED to give this more stars. But sadly, The Elite fell short of hitting the mark. Whereas I read The Selection in one hit and found issues with it, I still generally enjoyed it. Unfortunately, with The Elite there were so many times I was so frustrated I just wanted to put this down and stop. America frustrated and annoyed me like never before. She was pathetic, constantly just diving into things without considering the consequences and as much as I tried to like her compassion, there are times and places for it. She was too naive, not fit for the princess role. I liked that she tried to tackle the bigger picture but she did so in a way that brought about negative results more than anything. Overall I thought she was just stupid.The only decent character in this whole thing is Maxon. If America had some grey matter in that pretty head of hers she would have chosen him ages ago and be done with. God woman, just admit your feelings for him and be done with it. Aspen already broke your heart once and it's already evident he can't accept a sweet gesture from a girl. MAXON

"Because some things are so real you can feel them to your core. It doesn't matter where you go, they go with you. Anywhere."From nearly the beginning I had my suspicions and from the middle I had a feeling about how things were going to end. But the way everything played out. WOAH. Absolutely amazing!I loved all the characters, Sabine was smart, practical and I loved her voice. She was so believable and relatable - and that's something really hard to achieve in a story like this. I followed her through each of her lives perfectly; I felt her qualms about each life, what she liked about them and the love she had for each of the people in them.“I want to live each day once, to the best that I can live it.”Secondary characters like Sabine's little sister Maddie (my absolute favourite) really enhanced the story and added to the difficulty of Sabine's conflicting emotions for each of her lives. I think it's rare to see such a loving sister bond between siblings with a 12 year age gap. Despite her rich friends in her Welleseley life having a materialistic exterior, I saw that underneath they really did care for each other. I really liked Sabine's family in her Welleseley life, hiding behind the money and clothes, her mother really cared for her and her brothers would come to her aid at any time. I loved that about them.“If things feel right for you, then they probably are. But if they don’t, I know you’ll listen to that too.”I can't come up with a fitting word to describe Ethan. Wise? Caring? Sweet? Selfless? Amazing? Loving? Yes all of them and many more! His role in the book was perfect - forget the fact that he's the love interest - he taught Sabine the beauty of living, showed her that what she has isn't a curse, but a gift. The power of living. Gah everything he said was so quotable!“We only exist because others see us.”What I really loved was the juxtaposition Between the Lives provided. On one hand, Sabine is living two lives, having lived twice as much as everybody else but she's sick of the living. On the other hand we see how ephemeral life is - how easy death can come about. We want to live, but is it worth living every day twice like Sabine? If death is the answer, is it the RIGHT answer? This book portrayed all these things perfectly, especially in regards to choices and existentialism – how would Sabine’s choices in her lonely world affect her future?“What if you’re giving up something you don’t even have yet, a future in this world that would give you more happiness than you could have ever imagined?”The perfect love. Ethan. Again Shirvington shows how fleeting everything in life is. But what wonderful things can bloom in such fleeting moments. Ethan and Sabine’s romance is one of these. The course of the book doesn’t play over very long but during that time, the bond that develops between Ethan and Sabine is amazing. They’re so very different yet so perfect for each other. There was no insta-love, but there was definitely attraction and slight hostility during the beginning. In a way, the two of them needed each other – to show one another what they’re missing in life – but there was never any co-dependence. The encouragement to live because of yourself was always there. Their romance was sweet and Ethan was always there supporting Sabine even when she didn’t know it.I can’t find a single thing wrong with this book. The pace was perfect, the characters all amazing and the plot was so original I loved it! I also love books that have a cyclic nature so that by the end, it becomes full circle and I have this completed feeling in me – that all the questions and things that got mentioned in the beginning get answered create a perfect ending. And this book did exactly that.Between the Lives made me think, it made me really appreciate life, it made me cry (A LOT, for like 30 pages straight) for what could have been but also gave me hope for the future. Jessica Shirvington never disappoints.“I was lost. But you found me, between the lives.”

There are not enough stars for the amazingess of this book. Dante Walker is badass!

IT HURTS. It hurts so much somebody make the pain go away. SOMEBODY HOLD ME. OMG THAT ENDING WHY. WHY. Why won't the pain STAHHHHHP. I'm never going to get over this book. So much darkness, so many lies, so gutting and so filled with love. I don't know how I'm ever going to recover.

“The notebook exploded with pages as it trailed down, the papers catching in the air and filling the room like rain. They twirled and twisted as they came down, white edges framing thick lines of black ink and charcoal.”Ink is one of my most anticipated releases for 2013. Ever since I saw the cover and read the synopsis last year I was eagerly awaiting its release, and when I was approved for the eGalley I was so excited! The concept is so original and the idea of Japanese mythology, art and cherry blossoms really had me hooked as I’m quite interested in Japanese culture. Sadly, Ink wasn’t as good as I was hoping it to be. I was so looking forward to it. I really wanted to love it. I really wanted to give it 4 or even 5 hearts/stars. But alas I just couldn’t. Ink was still an overall enjoying read (hence 3 hearts) and I’ll definitely be buying the physical copy.My biggest issue was with the female protagonist, Katie Greene. She was one of the most annoying main characters I have ever read. I like a character who questions thing, but Katie was borderline stalking! She just wouldn’t stop following Tomohiro around, even when it nearly got her killed. And in such situations she was utterly useless, all she would do was scream and cower in fear. Also, holy crap the amount of times this girl cries. I really wanted to slap Katie and tell her to grow up – she’s 16 not 5 for Pete’s sake! I don’t want to use the word cry baby but I think she came close to it. As female MCs go, Katie was one of the most infuriating ever. I understood that she was really sad and lonely about moving to Japan, especially with the reasons behind it – but I also thought she was a bit ungrateful to her aunt Diane who was doing everything in her power to make her feel welcome. Katie spent a lot of time moping and not enough appreciating what was around her!“It was too awful. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I stood to leave.”Secondary characters wise, I thought they were very reminiscent of those in J-dramas. There’s the hyperactive best friend who’s all kawaii and then there’s the two love interests. Both of which are insanely good looking and of course one of them starts off as a friend and it’s obvious he likes her but she doesn’t see him that way even though he’s kind to her and rescues her more often than not. Can I just say I really like Jun?I generally liked Tomohiro. He’s the troubled teen who is extremely talented but because of some dark secret in his past he’s distanced himself from others and stopped doing what he loves. I could sort of understand his moodiness and brooding nature with the burden he had and I generally liked his protectiveness of Katie. It was really cute and I think Sun actually captured the Japanese teenage culture really well with the way the characters acted around their crushes. I could really see the difference in Tomo-kun’s demeanour as opposed to someone of Western culture when he tried to express his feelings.“Ore sa… Kimi no koto ga…” (I, you know… About you, I…)I really couldn’t handle the insta-love in Ink. The speed at which Katie’s feelings developed for Tomohiro (I think this is partly attributed to her stalker-like nature) was unbelievable and their relationship from there was just happening too fast. It was cute and sweet at times but I thought the romance should have been slowed down a bit. Insta-love is what really ruins the reading experience for me and I have to say that in this case, a lot of my hopes of the story died when I realised that Katie was falling for Tomohiro way too quickly. There was also a near co-dependence in the way the two couldn’t stay away from each other – more so Katie (again… stalker-ish nature).“I knew that I couldn’t live without him, even when he was infuriating.”“… and then the softness of his lips pressed against mine and the world caught fire, everything light and flame and burning.”The pace was a bit unsettling at times with the way Katie just rushed into things and believed everything instantly. I mean, if I started seeing my sketches moving, I would 1) think I’m hella tired 2) think I’ve been staring at the paper too long 3) have let my imagination run wild 4) have gone nuts. And yet Katie, despite questioning her sanity once, instantly thinks it’s Tomohiro that’s doing it. This left me really sceptical because nobody in their right mind should be jumping to the conclusion that moving sketches are the result of others… so of course I thought Katie wasn’t really in her right mind – JOKES. Maybe. I could see Sun trying to take a step back sometimes and have Katie question herself, but it wasn’t enough with the way the story was progressing.There were actually some really good things about Ink, I like to get the bad out of the way first and then concentrate on the good!The plot itself was extremely original and I did really enjoy reading about an entirely different world and culture. Sun described Japan so vibrantly I want to go back there again. Her incorporation of Japanese mythology was also really nicely done. I liked her take on the story of the gods and the way this was weaved into the present.And the world building, woah! Such gorgeous descriptions, everything was really picturesque and I could feel the oriental touch through her writing. The use of kendo, mentions of food and especially cherry blossoms, really made me feel like I was in Japan. Sun’s use of Japanese further enhanced this and I loved it – she never overused words, and when she used phrases it was never telling, but rather, showing what they meant which I really thought was an achievement!“The entire park was bathed in pink, thousands of petals floating on the breeze as if it were raining sakura… Cherry blossoms littered the gravel paths, the bright green grass and the sluggish moats that pulled the petals from the park.”I think I should also have a special mention to the formatting of the book. I’ve seen pictures of the physical copy and it’s gorgeous! Heck even my eARC was so pretty! There are elegant sketches throughout, chapter headings have intricate ink drop patterns, page corners have adorable little sketches and cherry blossom petals add a refreshing touch throughout the book.Despite some setbacks, Ink is a commendable debut by Amanda Sun. A unique story that blends modern Japan with myths of their Gods, amidst a brilliantly built world filled with delectable foods and falling cherry blossoms.“行ってらっしゃい” itterasshai (Go and return safely)

Firstly, thanks to Bantam/Random House for this NetGalley

Insanely adorable. This was so sweet I wish there was more!

Absolutely amazing. I loved this even more than Angels' Blood. I can really feel Raphael's love for Elena now. And the devotion of the Seven never ceases to amaze me.

Perfect ending OMG this book made me cry so much

ohmygod Conrad... my heart it hurts so much QQ

4.5 stars. Gah I love the Seven. Their loyalty is so ingrained into their beings and it's so FIERCE. Illium