Fiction in Fiction in Fiction

Omg what did I just read? Wow just WOW. Review to come closer to release date.---Firstly, thank you to Harlequin UK for this NetGalley

“I want to make it better but I can’t and I feel so hopeless.”This was so painful. My heart is still pounding right now. How can a book be so bleak, dark, haunting, heart-wrenching, raw, HOPELESS... yet so beautiful, full of love, faith and HOPE all at the same time?! I don't know how but Colleen has done it again.One of the most amazing books I've ever read. Hopeless dealt with so many issues perfectly, never overcrowding, but relentless in filling my heart with an endless stream of emotions.I laughed. A lot. I held my breath. A lot. And I cried. Hopelessly.There was just so much going on and I LOVED it - never has an author dropped so many bombshells, pulled so many twists and yet managed to keep the plot not only continuing, but flow seamlessly with those bombshells and twists. I’ve read so many books that tried to deal with too many issues simultaneously and it resulted in the characters handling too much and becoming confusing. Colleen managed to give our protagonist and her love interest so many problems to deal with, so many haunting secrets and each a past that overshadows and threatens to ruin whole lives (no I am not being dramatic – this is truth), in a perfectly relatable and understandable fashion. In the midst of so much conflict is the frail love that blossoms and blooms but could wilt at any moment. There is so much uncertainty and yet it’s filled with this gripping intensity that seized my heart.Everything about the characters was damaged, flawed, broken and at the cusp of the pain, seemingly hopeless. Yet they hold so much strength, love, understanding and faith that there was this all-rounded hope embracing everybody. From the beginning, Sky is known to make out with boys because it makes her feel numb. At first read, this seems ridiculous and slutty but I couldn’t help but accept her for this. In Sky’s voice, Colleen has made Sky’s actions reasonable which is amazing. Then we meet Holder, who manages to make Sky’s frozen heart beat again. There is instantly a spark but as with Colleen’s novels, there’s no insta-love, but realistic attraction and development of feelings. “I want to tell you exactly how I feel but there isn’t a single goddamned word in the entire dictionary that can describe this point between liking you and loving you, but I need that word.”“Live. If you mix the letters up in the words like and love, you get live. You can use that word.” They live each other. I loved that. The weight and importance of that word carries through to the end of the novel and it’s only near the end that we realise what living really means.Sky has got to be one of the strongest protagonists ever written. I’m filled with so much dread reading her – so many times did I go “oh god please no, let this not be real” as she’s had to endure so much. And she comes out so strong. Faced with betrayal of the strongest kind, nearly left with nothing she soldiered on. Never have I met a female lead so forgiving, so full of the capacity to love with a heart that should have died long ago – a heart shattered and in pieces yet still held together due to her perseverance. Her understanding, loyalty and COMPASSION are something I’m taking away from this book and taking upon myself to have. Yes her actions and feelings had THAT much of an impact on me. But she’s no saint, she hates too, and there is so much hate, fear, grief and just about every negative emotion thought of that I could associate with Sky. Some things are unforgiveable and realistically Sky doesn’t forgive but she learns to move on. All on her own. “The things that knock you down in life are tests, forcing you to make a choice between giving in and remaining on the ground or wiping the dirt off and standing up even taller than you did before you were knocked down. I’m choosing to stand up taller. I’ll probably get knocked down a few more times before this life is through with me, but I can guarantee you I’ll never stay on the ground.”That’s the beauty of this book and the romance – there is no co-dependence. Holder comes across as some delinquent bad boy in the blurb and I thought it would be something like Beautiful Disaster: two destructive people colliding and igniting (the fuel to one’s fire). However, each MC can stand on their own two feet because of sheer willpower and strength. And oh Holder really seems like the perfect love interest. He has this intensity about him that I was instantly drawn to. The words he said would sound extremely lame, cliché and stupid coming out of anybody else’s mouth, but in the light of the situations, his words provided a support for all parties involved – they held a power that gripped my heart and then made it explode. Holder himself is filled with so much grief, loss and hopelessness that every time he was able to smile and make others smile, I fell in love with him a little more. He’s selflessness incarnate.“And once again in my new world full of heartache and lies, this hopeless boy somehow finds a way to make me smile.”This is probably the most quotable book I’ve read since The Fault in Our Stars. Colleen’s writing surpasses the poetic brilliance that was Slammed and Point of Retreat, and reaches a new high point. Why stop at the sky when you can reach for the stars beyond? Because she did just that; the witty and sarcastic words made me smile and laugh until I cried while her passionate and hurting characters made my heart shudder and shatter. Her ability to combine different forms of prose into one is amazing – we had the poetry in Slammed/PoR but here we have memories/flashbacks. Having previously read a book with a flashback to a young child I was severely disappointed with the outcome in that book, but again Colleen delivers with a beautiful, innocent and scared voice of 5 year old Sky.“I don’t know what stargazing is, but it sounds like something I would like. I love the stars. I know my mom loved them, too, because she put them all over my room.”I’m not finished gushing about Hopeless yet because the best is yet to come: when I finished this book, everything just came together. The way Colleen managed to connect everything, to link every event, every character throughout was like an orchestra coming together as it reaches its heart-stopping crescendo in a symphony and you’re left with this ache afterwards that there’s no more.“The sky is always beautiful. Even when it’s dark or rainy or cloudy, it’s still beautiful to look at. It’s my favourite thing because I know if I ever get lost or lonely or scared, I just have to look up and it’ll be there no matter what...and I know it’ll always be beautiful.”

“Days were darkened by clouds and the blue cast of Aether. Nights were brightened by the same. They flowed together, the edges blurring into an endless day. An ever night.”It’s very rare that the second book in a short series/trilogy is actually good; even rarer that it’s better than the first book. I had extremely high hopes and expectations going into Through the Ever Night because well… come on how amazing was Under the Never Sky? And then there was the hype around it. Well, TtEN exceeded ALL my expectations and was simply outstanding. I felt ALLLLLLL the emotions reading this. I felt giddy, happy, sad, raw, heartbroken, mad, nervous and just the whole emotional rollercoaster.Let me start my saying that, again, HOW AMAZING WAS VERONICA IN COMING UP WITH THE TITLE? I mean we had “A world of nevers under a never sky” for UtNS – a phrase so simple, yet so eloquent and held such power and meaning I was blown away when I read it. Now we have “Days were darkened by clouds and the blue cast of Aether. Nights were brightened by the same. They flowed together, the edges blurring into an endless day. An ever night.” This phrase too was put together so perfectly; it was poetic and flowed and again explained the title (and story). I loved loved LOVED it. She just has a way with words. On that note, it was so obvious that Veronica’s writing had improved! I thought she was really good as a debut author in UtNS but I was just wow’d in TtEN. The way things were described were so detailed and exact I really felt it. And I think that’s the hardest thing for a dystopian – creating a world previously unseen and unimaginable.Examples:“Funnels struck down, each one louder, closer, sending searing waves across his skin. A sudden shriek exploded in his ears; then a flash of light blinded him.” There were lots of suspenseful moments like this throughout that had me biting my lip and holding my breath.“The way was tight, shadowed as a tunnel and crowded with people, their voices echoing off stone and stone and more stone. Gutters were strewn with filth, and a fetid scent carried to her nose.” I loved the imagery used – the “stone and stone and more stone” really gave off the echo effect.I loved all the characters – old and new. We can see how Aria has grown into such a strong, young woman with so much fight in her. We see Perry struggling between choosing love and leadership – trying to balance the two and how his love for Aria has made him softer and more compassionate. Roar was simply amazing here. He went through so much losing Liv in UtNS but there’s so much he had to face in TtEN; I felt so many emotions reading about him and what he had to endure. I just want him to be happy ya’know? *SOBS* But despite love being a major theme, it’s hard to come by – loyalties are questioned and it seems everybody gets hurt at some point. And I loved that it wasn’t easy – it’s not some instalove-happily-ever-after. “There was nothing more painful than hurting someone you loved.”The whole book was a journey and a journey for each character in finding themselves. Faced with issues of sacrifice, family and belonging (I can’t believe I just wrote that but yes, belonging), nothing is easy. “She’d been seeking the comfort of a place. Of walls. A roof. A pillow to rest her head on. Now she realised that the people she loved were what gave her life shape, and comfort, and meaning.” We think home and belonging in a place means a physical place, but a lot of the time home is wherever the people we love are. I loved all their realisations and their growth

Absolutely love Noah Shaw!

This is the first time I've ever given a YA book I wanted to read, a bad rating. Especially one that was so raved about, looked so promising and had me really looking forward to reading it. To say I was extremely disappointed is an understatement.The following is going be a very ranty, ragey review...I was having issues with this as soon as I started and 6 pages in I wanted to stop reading. 12 pages in and I wanted to hurl something at my poor laptop where I was reading it from. But friends encouraged me to continue and see how it ended and I thought "well maybe this'll get better". By the last page I was like "UGH, meh". So I thought, "ok I'm going to take a shower and try to think about all the good things in this book and give it a better rating and review". I spent the whole time in the shower trying to come up with the good and just ended up cringing. 20 minutes later and the best I can give this book is 2 stars *extremely sad face*Having read self-published books before I know there are indie authors out there who can write really good quality and engaging stuff. This just made me want to shy away from self-published books forever Q_Q There is something called an editor. I'm sure even a self-published author can ask a friend - or friends (much needed in this case) - to read through and pick up simple things... LIKE SPELLING MISTAKES, GRAMMATICAL AND PUNCTUATION ERRORS FML. It was like Moseley had written something straight out, not bothered reading it through herself and decided it was ready for the general public. NO JUST NO. It's impossible NOT to pick up all those mistakes proof-reading the FIRST time. The second and the third time should have reduced them even more. Having a 3rd party read this should have reduced the amount of errors exponentially. If I'm writing an essay that exceeds 1.5k words, I always read through it multiple times and then send it to other friends who don't do that subject, and ask them to proof it for me for just the general stuff. I don't think that happened with The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window. Even reading this half-asleep at 4am in the morning I could pick up so many errors.Let's break this down into all the issues I had:Issue #1: Tense. There was so much switching between past tense (which is how most things are written) and present tense. Example:"I definitely preferred it when he looked at me with the angry eyes, than when he looks at me with the soft eyes. I don’t like that at all, it made me feel uncomfortable, it always made my hands shake."First sentence is in past tense, half of the second is in present tense and then switches back to past... wtf. "I definitely preferred it when he looked at me with eyes than when he looked at me with the soft eyes. I didn't like that at all, it made me feel uncomfortable, it always made my hands shake." Would have definitely flowed better. This tense problem caused the whole book to be really staccato; explanations wouldn't flow through because the sentence didn't seem like it had been put together properly.Issue #2: Voice. The voice of the MC Amber was just really horrible. She talks in the same style in chapter 1 when she's 8 years old, as the rest of the book when she's 16. The first chapter wasn't a memory either. It was happening in the present and then chapter 2 skips 8 years into the future. An 8 year old does not say "He was a cute kid, with blond hair and grey eyes with brown flecks in them." when describing their brother. I would expect more immature language that's innocent and naive. But at 16, one would also expect quite sophisticated language from the first person perspective, but no.Issue #3: Perspective. The way this was written, it didn't feel like first person. I felt more like a third person at the way things were being recounted. I wasn't Amber, I was an outsider looking in. Which brings me to...Issue #4: Telling rather than showing. This is the biggest no-no EVERRRRRRRRRR and my pet peeve of books. I got TOLD so many times how "adorable" Liam is. "He gave me his adorable puppy dog face" - I would have liked to know what his puppy dog face was. Did his blue eyes widen? Do the edges of his eyes crinkle, does he pout? WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? There were these facial expressions used that I was told rather than shown and so I couldn't really feel the emotions associated with them. This relates to my next issue...Issue #5: Word choice. Extremely, extremely poor word choice. If for some reason your vocabulary is lacking because you're blanking or something then you can highlight the word, right-click it, pass your mouse over the "Synonyms" option and find similar words in Word! OR you can ask a friend "what's another word for... or how can I phrase this better?" OR THERE IS SOMETHING CALLED A THESAURUS. Fml the amount of times I was told Liam or some other was "adorable" made me want to head desk."That speech was so freaking adorable!" p53 - No... that speech was more "heartfelt" or "sweet" (for lack of better words). The speech bares the person's heart and Amber reacts with "freaking adorable"."He really was adorable." p114 - Other words include "understandable" or "patient" because that would have been more fitting for the situation at p114."He really was just too adorable..." p168"I really did have the most adorable boyfriend in the world." p183"Liam was still the most adorable..." p185And that's not even half of it. Then there was the sheer amount of "cooing" going on..."he cooed," p5, p24... basically it was "I cooed", "he cooed", "she cooled", " cooed" SO MANY BLOODY TIMES I WAS GONNA RIP MY HAIR OUT. 14 matches in a book that only has 253 pages. What ever happened "she whispered sultrily" or "he said so smoothly it was like warm honey" OR SOMETHING OTHER THAN A SOUND A BABY MAKES?*FLIPS TABLE*Oh wait there's more...Issue #6: Writing about abuse/sexual assault. This is a touchy subject and while writing about such situations is extremely hard to get right, writing about the emotions STEMMING from said situations shouldn't be too hard. So I'm sad to say that half the time I didn't feel the fear/angst/distress/cold/emptiness/hurt/powerlessness/self-blame/questioning/loss of confidence and whatever emotions that usually comes. I was TOLD of being afraid. But yeah half the time I didn't feel it. I SOMETIMES felt the powerlessness... but not really. There was no loss of confidence, barely and emptiness and need to hide. Half the time said character was happy she really was, their popularity general "being 16" life, wasn't a facade for the cold fear inside. Apparently it's there, and I see it come out sometimes but I don't know, I've read other books that deal with sexual assault and they were written exceedingly better. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect her to think about it day in and day out because it happened long ago but it's meant to be haunting. Sure she has her nightmares and fear of hugging (even from girls wtf but who am I to say) but I didn't feel it. Basically... I HAD NO FEELS. ZILCH. NADA. ZIPPO. HOW EVEN?Issue #7: No feels. Yeah I can't get over this. This book made me feel nothing. I didn't get scared, I didn't feel sorry for the MCs. I didn't cry, my heart didn't hurt. I didn't feel raw where situations were MEANT to leave me feeling heartbroken and empty. It was a whole big "MEH".The only reason why I'm giving this 2 stars at all is because I thought Liam is the type of guy young girls should strive for - the sweet guy next door who is supportive and responsible. That's the only thing I liked - that he was responsible. And that's how guys should be.Some people like this... I mean it's cute I guess but don't expect a literary masterpiece. I think this is something that a Year 12 HSC student would cook up in the Belonging creative section the night before when they run out of ideas - like me. I think even I used a broader choice of words in that 40min I had to write.Excuse me while I go stick my head through a wall to try expel this book from my thoughts. Such a shame, this is only my 2nd read of 2013 :(

"Oh god," he whispers, reaching his hand behind my neck and bringing my lips to his. "Let's let the whole fucking world explode this time"This is what I imagine The Fault in Our Stars to have been like if it was high (on pot). The Sky is Everywhere has to have been the most unique book I have ever read. Witty, quirky, raw, emotional and every phrase was so relevant, meaningful and full of life I'm still left wondering how Jandy could put so much power into those words.I loved absolutely EVERYTHING about this book. There is not a single fault I found with The Sky is Everywhere.Let me start with the writing. A book's plot don't mean jack if the writing can't draw the reader in. The opening lines of the novel "Gram is worried about me. It's not just because my sister Bailey died four weeks ago, or because my mother hasn't contacted me in sixteen years, or even because suddenly all I think about is sex. She is worried about me because one of houseplants has spots." are freaking brilliant! And then she describes her Gram as "all six feet and floral frock of her", while her uncle Big has a voice that "trumpets as if from stage or pulpit; his words carry weight, even pass the salt comes out of his mouth in a thou-shalt-Ten-Commandments kind of way". And this only the FIRST page!Some of my favourite lines in this book (my #1 is at the beginning of this review):- "I look into his sorrowless eyes and a door in my heart blows open.And when we kiss, I see that on the other side of that door is sky"- "'This is Doug,' Marcus says just as Joe says, 'This is Fred.''Parents couldn't make up their mind,' the newest Fontaine offers. This one is positively deranged with glee. Gram's right, we should sell them.""In fact, I'm going to tell Sarah we need to start a new philosophical movement: messessentialism instead of existentialism: for those revel in the essential mess that is life"LIKE OMFG HOW AWESOME ARE JANDY'S CHOICE OF WORDS? "Positively deranged with glee" I loved that soooooooo much! And yes I think I'm a messessentialist.The writing was just so fluid, eloquent, poetic and descriptive in a way I've never read before! The whole thing was like some epic poem that I could understand and appreciate. The symbolism of the sky was really beautiful - I could really relate because of this poem from Kingdom Hearts and this Japanese movie (Koizora ~ Love Sky), both of which talked about the sky being everywhere - the harmony of always being watched over wherever you are.Now omg the characters were all so beautiful and perfect and flawed in a lovable way! Our main character Lennie (named after John Lennon) is grieving over the loss of her best friend and sister Bailey, leaving her damaged and falling for two different guys: her dead sister's boyfriend Toby who is as damaged and in as much pain as Lennie, and the new boy in town Joe Fontaine whose "Bat. Bat. Bat" eyelashes and beautiful smile make Lennie forget her grief. Both boys are so adorable and sweet. Toby is so heartbroken and the only one who understand is Lennie and despite her kissing him, I couldn't blame either of them. Their love and sadness over losing Bailey caused them to come together to try get over that grief. Then there's the beautiful Joe Fontaine who is like happiness incarnate with that smile of his (it seems all the Fontaines are "deranged with glee") and long as fk eyelashes. Other characters like Gram, Big and Sarah are so distinct and crazy I couldn't help but fall in love with them all!The story itself doesn't really going anywhere, it's slow and almost languid but in a beautiful I'm-cruising-along-the-beach sort of way. It does progress and I loved the pace - the way Lennie grows and finds out about herself, what Bailey was to her, how she deals with everything and becomes the person by the end.This is seriously a YA everybody needs to read."If anybody asks where we are, just tell them to look up."

Probably the best book I've read by Abbi. Cannot wait for the next one!Review to come.

“Instead of dropping me like a one-night stand, you could’ve had the decency to break up with me instead of leaving me wondering for three years…"I actually liked Where She Went even more than If I Stay! Gayle just has this way with words (I know, I keep saying that) that manages to bring out all these emotions in me. I thought If I Stay was a hard review to write, but Where She Went has taken me over 2 days! Ah but so worthwhile :DAlong with Mia’s absence, we see what fame has really done to Adam – despite being a famous rock star and essentially achieving his dream, Adam is a wreck. He’s paranoid, emotionally distant and music is a chore for him. Seeing him like that made my heart ache so much. And yet I couldn’t hate Mia or blame her for any of that. Anybody that’s read If I Stay will remember the fateful words Adam spoke to Mia.“I'd make that promise a thousand times over and lose her a thousand times over to have heard her play last night or to see her in the morning sunlight. Or even without that. Just to know that she's somewhere out there. Alive.”For me, reading Adam’s voice was more painful than Mia’s in If I Stay despite how bleak If I Stay was. As Adam and Mia spent their night in New York together, Adam’s thoughts were plagued by his memories of three years ago but especially the question of why Mia left. Each thought is filled with this pain and longing and left me wondering how a love like theirs couldn’t withstand everything. But I think that’s the amazing thing about Gayle’s stories – she doesn’t sugar coat anything; it’s reality.“There are so many things that demand to be said. Where did you go? Do you ever think about me? You've ruined me. Are you okay? But of course, I can't say any of that.”Following the brilliant structure of If I Stay, Gayle utilises the flashbacks to take us back to those three years Adam went without Mia, but more importantly, those two years he did spend with her. For all of Mia’s insecurities, we see Adam’s love and devotion to her. The flashbacks build up to the bittersweet present and the confusion both feel at having come together on such a (fateful?) night after so long. Music also played a big part in this book. Using lyrics at the beginning of a chapter to imply or foreshadow events isn’t uncommon. But getting those lyrics right is another thing completely. Gayle did the amazing job of writing her own lyrics based on Adam’s band and ohmygoodness were they meaningful! The way everything is layered so that when you peel them back you’re left in awe of what each layer means and how it all comes together, retaining the whole text’s integrity? Yup, this is one mind-blown reader.I didn’t think it was possible to FEEL so much – both him and me (as the reader). I felt everything that Adam felt: his anger, his grief, his angst and his heartbreak. His actions over the past three years as a result of these emotions were definitely questionable but I could never be annoyed with anything he did. The character building was simply superb.“And it’s like, Mia, don’t you get it? The music is the void. And you’re the reason why.”Reading Where She Went made me believe that true love exists.But do second chances? READ AND FIND OUT ;D“You don’t share me. You own me.”

"It's all just a matter of time, and part of me wonders why I'm delaying the inevitable."Definitely one of the most moving books I've ever read, Gayle Forman writes a bittersweet tale about life, death and making choices. I sobbed, I laughed and I hoped beyond hope that Mia would stay.I've been putting this review off for so long because I didn't know how to write it. Consequently, I haven't done my review for Where She Went (the sequel) yet either because I felt like I had to review if I Stay first D: This was possibly one of the hardest reviews to write because I felt so much sadness and hope reading this and I just didn't know how to form all my emotions and thoughts in to words.Gayle Forman really has a way with words. The voice she creates for Mia is intelligent, mature and so full of love I was hooked on the first page."My dad smiles and taps on his pipe… He also wears bow ties. I am never quite clear on whether all this is sartorial or sardonic."Within the first 3 pages, Gayle has shown (not told) that Mia's family is a close one. Her ex-punker dad now turned middle-school teacher, her ex-punker mum who now works at a travel agent, her younger brother Teddy who is 8 and lives high off coffee, and 17 year old Mia herself, are all connected by their love of music. Their family is a happy one: Mia teases her adorable, hyper younger brother and her parents joke around and are extremely lenient due to their rock days."Dad and I guffaw at the same time. Mom makes cereal and toast. Dad's the cook in the family."You might be thinking "ok why is Jaz telling me this? Doesn't this spoil the story? What is the point of this?" Well for those of you who haven't read this, you'd find it out in the first 2-3 pages anyway so it's no spoiler. Why am I telling you this and what's the point? The point is to (try) and establish the warmth that is Mia's family. They're not perfect, but they're honest and love each other. And this is what made If I Stay so painful. Because that one car crash tore Mia's whole family apart.Stuck in a sort of limbo, Mia watches as they take her ruined body from the wreck, operate on her and watches as she fights for her own life. But the question is, should she bother fighting?The course of the novel is a series of flashbacks. As each event occurs in the present (an operation, a visit from a family member, a visit from her friend and boyfriend), a flashback ensues. This was the most beautiful thing about the book - the way Gayle structured everything. Each present event is LINKED to a flashback. For example, when her best friend Kim comes to visit for the first time, Mia remembers how she and Kim met. Or when Teddy is brought up, she remembers the day he was born. The structure was absolute perfection. As we watch the chronological clock wind in the present, Mia has built us a picture of her entire life - family, friends, boyfriend, musical life. And the great thing? Not once was I confused about the present or the past. Everything is defined so clearly and yet it flowed so wonderfully - absolutely seamless."How is he [Adam] going to know that I'm actually early? That I got to Portland this morning while the snow was still melting? [About the accident]*'Have you ever heard of this Yo-Yo Made dude?' Adam asked me. It was the spring of my sophomore year, which was his junior year."See how Gayle has made it so that while Mia worries about Adam not knowing she was in an accident, she flashes back to their first meeting? I KNOW RIGHT IT'S AMAZING AND I WAS JUST MINDBLOWN AT HOW SIMPLE YET FLUID THIS WAS!!!The flashbacks are all so meaningful, each one a funny friendship or family moment, a nervous touch, a declaration of love.And ah the romance! So bittersweet and full of love. My heart went out to Adam…"Adam is crying and somewhere inside of me, I am crying too…" ohgoodness I'M CRYING TOO MIA.But the whole point of the flashbacks? To show what Mia had, what she has lost, what she still has left and ultimately, is it worth it for her to stay?I can't remember how many tissues I used up reading this… DON'T READ IN PUBLIC I TELL YOU!"If you stay, I'll do whatever you want... But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too… And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay."

To say this was amazing doesn't do it justice. Just when I think I have the plot figured out, Cynthia Hand goes and drops ANOTHER twist and ANOTHER bombshell on me and I'm left gasping for air. And she does it in a way that explains everything and leaves no plot holes how even.Review to come.

OH MY SWEET GOODNESS THIS WAS AMAZING. CYNTHIA HAND I LOVE YOU, I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT TWIST AT THE END.I've been putting off reading this for years now simply because, when I first saw it, the Australian cover reminded me too much of Fallen and I thought "ick". And then I read how it was about angels and I thought "this is way too similar to Fallen no thanks". PEOPLE. I STAND CORRECTED. UNEARTHLY WAS LITERALLY UNEARTHLY. SO GOOD! Better than Fallen! I had to go out and buy Hallowed straight away today!I like how the part-angel thing with Clara is established. There's no horrifying revelation with teen angst; the reader immediately knows what Clara is and what any part-angel can do. We know what comes easily and what doesn't which I really liked. Clara isn't perfection. That made this perfection.Also. NO INSTALOVE THANK THE HEAVENS OR PART-ANGELS OR ANGELS OR WHATEVER. I love how even though her visions show her Christian, she has feelings for another boy. I love the love triangle.The writing style was witty and sarcastic and it's one of those that makes you wonder if the author was serious or not - I love the open ended-ness of that and how there are some things the reader is left to interpret on their own.I just loved everything about this. Except the cover. I hate the cover I have. I should have bought the Australian cover. At least then it would match my Hallowed and Boundless in the future. I also hate how I cracked the spine of this. I will buy the Australian cover. That is all.Wait no. TUCKER AVERY I LOVE YOU

Like practically everybody that's read The Selection, I wanted to read it because of the gorgeous cover. Luckily for me, I didn't have particularly high expectations since I've read many other people's reviews.I think I'll start by saying this book has a lot of potential as my friend Mariam put it. I generally liked the story and some of the characters but there were just too many things I disliked to make it anything more than "ok".It only took me like 4~5h to read this in one go and each turn of the page felt like a guilty pleasure: the book itself wasn't that great but it was insanely addictive in that I really wanted to know what happened.Let's start with the bad because I like getting the icky stuff out of the way first:- I didn't really feel the dystopian side of it. Everything was too light and not as bad as they should have been?- The writing was a bit immature for my liking. It wasn't due to lack of complex/descriptive words but more that the syntax wasn't sophisticated enough and the semantics not as in depth and symbolic as other books I've read.- The romance between Aspen and America was so fake. Everything seemed so forced I don't even know how to explain. Maybe it was just me?- Aspen was an absolute jerkface. Everything he did seemed fake and a front. He didn't seem selfless at all, rather his actions all seemed calculated, selfish and filled with way too much pride. He SEEMED to care for America and "love" her but I'm sorry I just didn't buy it. Him being "thoughtful" of her and their future just didn't seem that thoughtful. And the way he was being "responsible" and doing the best by America just seemed so FAKE. Yes I used the word fake here way too many times but honestly there's no other way to describe it. Fake/unreal/forced/imitation whatever synonym used there's no denying what it is.- And now proceed extremely long rant where I go into detail how FREAKING SIMILAR TO THE HUNGER GAMES THIS BOOK WAS:-- Each caste had a particular role/specialised in a particular industry. E.g. Fives (America's caste) were artistic and I think it was Fours that were agricultural. Ahem sound like the Districts much? But a lot cleaner? This is what I mean by the dystopian side of it not coming through. Being forced into art just doesn't seem as bad as being forced to mine I'm sorry.-- Aspen looks a helluva lot like Gale. Both have dark hair and are devoted to their families and their sole provider - "man of the house" without a father present. Like Gale, Aspen doesn't show how much the girl he loves means to him until it's too late-- Maxon is blonde like Peeta and both are protective of the girl they care for-- America enters the Selection and stays because of the money it would provide her family... woah doesn't that sound familiar?-- Gavril Fadaye sounds a lot like Caesar...-- May is the adoring, gorgeous little sister. OMG DID SOMEONE SAY PRIM?-- America acts 'herself', she's the most natural of the selected girls and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Hrmmm I know of another dark haired heroine who wasn't afraid to speak her mind either...-- Katniss' gown of red fire when she went on her interview with Caesar made her stand out... OH LOOK AMERICA'S IS RED AND SHIMMERY AND MAKES HER STAND OUT AS WELL WHEN SHE'S INTERVIEWED BY GAVRIL... Ok maybe I'm nitpicking here but seriously I couldn't overlook thatThere might have been other similarities. I swear as I was reading this I wanted to get out my phone and just jot them down but I couldn't be bothered - wasn't worth my effort.Also some of the names were just plain wtf. Tiny Lee is actually Tiny. Who names their kid Tiny? And Bariel um what? Sounds like barrel. America I'll accept I guess. But Aspen? Skiing anybody?That's a shitload of bad isn't it? So now onto the good:- I liked America's voice throughout this. Even though she reminded me of Katniss a lot, I liked her honesty.- The connection between Maxon and America was cute. It wasn't instalove thank god but was slow and even America isn't sure of what she feels for this inexperienced prince.- Maxon's character seems genuine. His sheltered lifestyle has led him to not understand many of the more intricate details with regards to relationships. Actually any detail really. It was adorable seeing him try.- There were more serious and pressing issues than just the prince looking for a wife. A new vulnerable country at war is always a problem: I would have REALLY liked this issue to be explored more. Not from the perspective of just seeing raids and screaming girls but some actual political juice!- I'll admit the Selection itself was pretty exciting, I liked seeing what girls had what qualities and would have liked this explored further i.e. what each girl listed as her talent that could have possibly led her to being picked but hey this'll do- The King and Queen are mysterious characters that leave room for exploration; the reader begins to question their intentions (well I did)Overall, I WILL read The Elite just to see how things turn out. Guilty pleasure as I said.

OH HOLY DAIMON BABIES NO. HEART IN A MILLION PIECES RIGHT NOW. NO JUST NO. DAEMON. KATY. WHY OMG. SOMEONE HOLD ME -ROCKS IN CORNER-Ohmygod this was amazing. Armentrout really knows how to end on a cliffhanger -sobs uncontrollably-I think out of the 3 Lux books so far, this has been the most REAL. My emotions were just everywhere throughout this.There were so many changes to the characters - Dee, Katy, Daemon among others (no spoilers here) and it showed just how much each of them had been through and what each was willing to risk and sacrifice for those they loved.As usual, Katy and Daemon's snarky/witty remarks were interspersed with the more trying issues making me laugh and cry at the same time.So many relationships are tried and tested throughout Opal and I loved it. Things aren't easily fixed, trust isn't easily given but so easily broken. Trust really was an overarching theme that came in the form of a sheet of frost - one slight disturbance and it would shatter. Katy is made to question who is truly her friend, but it turns out those we thought were friends can be used as a weapon.There was also so much grief and hurt I was so proud of Katy - how she made it through everything and has become such a strong young woman by the end of Opal. Looking back at the timid girl we met in Obsidian she's almost a different person. She will do anything to protect those she loves and she really understands the weight of those words and their consequences which I loved.Daemon was a constant pillar of support and love making him even more amazing. AND GUISE WHEN YOU GET TO THE END OMG. WE SEE THE REAL DAEMON. WE SEE HIS EMOTIONS AND IT'S LIKE AN INFINITE NUMBER OF KNIVES ARE PIERCING THE HEART.I admit that there were some really useless sentences/paragraphs chucked in and I was like "what was the point of this?" but those can be overlooked in the amazingness of this book. Armentrout's writing is sophisticated and quirky as usual and Katy's voice extremely real. To sum it up as Dee would say “Oh, dear God and baby Jesus in the manger!”

AMAZING. LOVED IT. BLOODY BRILLIANT. REVIEW TO COME

Oh poor Alex and Aiden!The two have been through so much but it just doesn't end does it?I was a blubbering mess while reading this. Written in Aiden's POV we can really see his feelings for Alex. Any doubts anybody had about the power and intensity of those feelings he has for Alex are immediately diminished as soon as the eyes hit the first page.This was written so beautifully and my heart was breaking all over the place - for Aiden, for Alex, for Marcus, Lea even Apollo. After finishing Deity I had hopes but Elixir just sent them crashing down - but it didn't totally dispel that hope... as Elixir taught me "there is still hope".And my hope is that their love can conquer all.

WHAT NO IT DID NOT JUST END THAT WAY. NO. OMG. AMAZING. AIDEN ST. DELPHI I LOVE YOU. I CANNOT REVIEW THIS RIGHT NOW. I'M NOT CAPABLE RIGHT NOW SHIT SHIT SHIT WHAT JUST HAPPENED