Falls the Shadow | Stefanie Gaither

When Cate Benson was a kid, her sister, Violet, died. Two hours after the funeral, Cate’s family picked up Violet’s replacement. Like nothing had happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to give their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth—which means this new Violet has the same smile. The same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all of the same memories as the girl she replaced.

She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.

At least, that’s what the paparazzi and the anti-cloning protestors want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that. She’s used to defending her sister, too. But Violet has vanished, and when Cate sets out to find her, she ends up in the line of fire instead. Because Cate is getting dangerously close to secrets that will rock the foundation of everything she thought was true.

In a thrilling debut, Stefanie Gaither takes readers on a nail-biting ride through a future that looks frighteningly similar to our own time and asks: how far are you willing to go to keep your family together?

I had received this book as a Christmas gift after my friend was enticed by the summary. Excited, I picked it up and brought it one of my fencing meets. My friend and I, both without headphones, decided to read the book out loud which may have been either the worst decision of the best decision we've made.

It took us little over a month to finish the book, and by the end we both agreed that we kind of really hated it. I don't know how much of it had to do with the fact that we were reading it out loud, highlighting the flaws, but there were several aspects of this book that irritated us endlessly. 

1. Characters 

These characters were boring and dull. This may seem a bit harsh but my friend and I had to give the characters different accents in order to prevent them from becoming completely two-dimensional. Jaxon magically became an immigrant from India looking for marriage while Cate took up an Australian accent. But not only were the characters dull, but they were also fairly stupid. They could have easily gotten out of the mess they were in, but continued to dive into a dangerous situation without any thought. On top of that, every interaction between the characters seemed unnecessary. Two characters would have a conversation for pages and pages that would essentially result to nothing. It was very very obvious what role each character played in the plot. For example, Seth was meant for comic relief, while Jaxon presented the "complicated" romance. 

There was even a point in the novel when the author simply forgot about certain characters. In one particular scene the authors forgets the presence of a small, yet dangerous side character and then proceeds to write several pages of pointless conversation between two completely different characters.

2. Plot

The plot had an interesting concept, but a poor execution. As a stand alone book I don't think it did a good job of introducing and resolving the issues it brings up. I'm not saying I want a sequel, but I just don't think the plot was resolved at all. 

3. Writing

There were simple grammatical mistakes in the book. I'm not a grammar Nazi or anything, and I've made several grammatical errors. But in something as revised and edited as a book, there definitely shouldn't be any. The manuscript has passed through the eyes of editors, authors, publishers, and not one of them was able to catch a simple grammar mistake. There is nothing that bothers me more than a hardcover published book having grammar mistakes and typos. There was more than one occasion where Gaither used "Violet and me" instead of "Violet and I", which is mildly ridiculous. There's something wrong if after several rounds of editing nobody notices this mistake. 

Another thing was that the writing was overly dramatized. To the point where it didn't follow simple laws of physics. Not like magic where people fly through the air because of superhuman powers, but people would "fly across the room" after being hit by a small teenage girl. I'm not saying she was weak, but unless this is some paranormal book she's definitely not hulk. 

All in all, I really didn't like this book. There seemed to be little action and way too much soliloquy from Cate. I may have liked it more if I had read it in my head, but reading it out loud highlighted the glaring problems and gaps in this book. Though I really enjoyed the experience of reading out loud, I did not enjoy the actual book. While it seems I'm being a bit harsh, this was my honest opinion of the book. My expectations were set too high by the synopsis, and the actual book fell very low below the bar. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this book, but I do recommend taking the synopsis with a grain of salt. 

Four: A Divergent Collection | Veronica Roth

Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened “Four,” he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.

I love seeing similar events from different perspectives. For Divergent and Insurgent we got to see primarily from Tris's point of view; only in Allegiant did we get the chance to see even a glimpse of Tobias. These short stories do a great job of condensing some important milestones in Tobias's life. We got to see the scrawny boy before transferring to Dauntless, his journey through Dauntless and even the origins of his rivalry with Eric. 

I will admit though, that Tris and Tobias have very similar stories as they go through Initation. Eric is essentially Tobias's "Peter", Amar is essentially his "Tobias." There were just a lot of parallels, and I'm not sure whether they were intentional or not. 

One scene that was particularly striking was the jumper section of Initiation for both Tris and Tobias. When Tobias was an Initiate, he was the last jumper, which somewhat explains his respect and awe at Tris for being the first jumper. I honestly will say that I loved seeing these similarities and differences between Tris and Tobias. 

I will admit though, I like Tris's voice a lot more than Tobias's. In terms of writing style, they are very similar, but Tris is more about the action, she doesn't seem to spend as much time as Tobias does thinking about everything, which is both good and bad. It felt like Tobias spent a whole lot of time just thinking about what the Erudite were doing and what Dauntless should be doing, and a whole lot less doing. 

This may have been intentional but Tobias's takes on certain events seemed to go by much faster than Tris. For him, it seemed as though Initiation lasted a week or so, when in Divergent it lasted a couple months. This was probably done in order to keep the short stories short, but I still wish we had gotten a bit more detail on some events. 

Did you guys read these short stories? Which one was your favorite? Let me know in the comments below! Mine was definitely the super short chapter at the very end that had events of him and Tris interacting. 

Fairest | Marissa Meyer

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her "glamour" to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story- a story that has never been told... until now. 

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

My only reason behind buying this book was so I could read the first few chapters of Winter previewed at the end of this book. Tumblr told me there was a chapter showing some flirtation between Kai and Cinder, which I NEEDED. Of course, that was chapter four of Winter, and my book only gave me the first three chapters of Winter. 

Needless to say, it was a very frustrating time for me, and as a result I was extremely disappointed with this book. After my disappointment curbed, I decided to backtrack and read Levana's story. I might as well, I already had the book. 

Levana's story was interesting to say the least. But although it explains her tyranny, it by no means justifies it. Throughout the entire book I pictured Channary as Kourtney Kardashian and Levana as the younger Kim Kardashian, though I'm not sure why; the faces seemed to fit the personalities. 

Levana was entirely cringe-worthy in this book, especially her "love" story with Evret; pretending to be his wife, forcing him to marry her, etc. It made me very uncomfortable. She has some kind of sadistic part of her that makes me fear for her mental sanity. She's not evil, she's not misunderstood, she's just not sane. In a completely medical way.

My favorite part of this book was the glimpses of the baby cast we saw. Princess Winter, Princess Selene (Cinder), Jacin, and even Kai. 

I just want it to be known that Channary shipped Kaider before any of us.

I need Winter. In my hands. Now. 

What was your favorite part of Fairest? Let me know in the comments below! Mine was definitely seeing the baby versions of all the characters we already know. They were so adorable! 

Cress | Marissa Meyer

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Where do I even start with this book? Hands down, the best book in the series (so far). I loved everything about this book except for a total of three things, which I will get into later. 

If you haven't gotten into this series yet, I highly recommend it. In comparison, the first two books aren't as good, but it's definitely worth it for Cress! 

I'm going to jump straight into my spoiler-filled discussion, but I will link my reviews to both Cinder and Scarlet if you want to check those out before this one. 

Spoiler-Filled Discussion

Where do I even begin. Immediately in the first chapter we're introduced to Cress, though I immediately liked her more than I liked Scarlet. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we saw a glimpse of Cress in Cinder, so we had some idea what connection she had to the entirety of the plot. 

We jumped immediately into the action when Sybil came to Cress's satellite and essentially ripped the gang apart. By kidnapping Scarlet and severely injuring Wolf, we knocked out my two least character, which I was surprisingly ok with. 

I loved that we switched mainly between Kai, Cinder and Cress's perspectives, because to me those were the most important ones and the most interesting ones. 

I thought it was an AMAZING coincidence that Thorne and Cress landed in Africa which just happened to be where Cinder landed to find Dr. Erland. (Do you note the sarcasm there?) While I'm glad the gang is back together, that was entirely way too convenient. 

Cinder particularly grows in this book. Previously oppressed by her stepmother and stepsister, she used to be so hesitant in taking up any roles of responsibility. But as this book progressed, she finally understands what she needs to do in order to prevent this war and steps up to take the responsibility. She even harnesses her power and completely crushes Sybil. She is, without a doubt, my favorite character in this book and I can't wait for her to dethrone Levana and take her rightful place as Princess Selene. 

Dr. Erland was also an interesting character during this book. I liked seeing him again, though his connection with Cress seemed way too rushed and just thrown in there. Unless that information plays a useful role later in the book, I don't think that was necessary. If anything I'd rather have seen a little more interaction between them. They talked all of two times in this book and one of those times he was acting as though he had bought her to conduct scientific experiments on her. 

The plan to stop the wedding was by far my favorite part. Iko was fantastic, infiltrating her way through the android catering staff. The entire plan worked perfectly until Sybil recognized Cress's amazing hacking skills and went after them, but even then she was beat so hard by Cinder and the gang. 

THEN we go to kidnap Kai. Cinder just shoots him and drags him with her to the Rampion, talk about commitment. God, I love her. 

We finally get to see some Kaider in this book! About time. But before I proceed to fangirl about the couples, mostly Kaider, let's just talk about how DUMB Kai is. Don't get me wrong, I love him to death, but he's so dumb. 

Kai: So, what do you guys plan to do, overthrow Levana....unless...you guys found Princess Selene?!

Cinder: *nods* Yeah we did. 

Kai: Ohmigod where is she? Is she the blonde chick? 

Cinder: No. 

Kai: How bout the red-head? 

Cinder: Nope. 

Kai: Um...where is she??? 

Cinder: I should tell you, there's something different about her. 

Kai: Um...ok. 

Cinder: She's missing a few limbs. Ya know how she was badly burned by the fire. She may or may not be cyborg. 

Kai: I- um ok. Can we meet her? 

Cinder: *sighs* It's me. I'm Princess Selene.

Kai: *stares in shock* You're kidding right. 

Me: 

I can't tell if he was just in denial or honestly could not figure it out from all of the bits and pieces he's found. But I'm glad he's funny and hot because intelligence doesn't seem to be a strong point for him. 

Finally, it's time to get a good portion of fangirling in. I love love love Kaider, I love Cress and Throne (Crone?), and I hate Wolf and Scarlet. 

When Kaider kissed: 

When Crone kissed: 

Cress's slight obsession was a bit cringey, but once she began to suppress it a little, Crone got so much better. I love their cute awkward relationship. 

When Wolf moped over Scarlet: 

He's known Scarlet for like two weeks and is claiming they're in love and I'm honestly not buying it. They're relationship is way too cringe-worthy (and not in the good way). 

Concluding thoughts: I need Winter. 

I have by no means covered everything in this book, so let's start some discussions down below! 

What are some of your predictions? I think Kaider should make out a bit more, and then of course defeat Levana, get married and have a peaceful nation, happily ever after. 

Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

I'm not going to lie, I was fairly disappointed with this book, to me it seemed like a filler book, simply bridging the gap between the first and third book. 

As this is the second book, I will be going into a spoiler-filled discussion, however if you haven't read this series and are a fan of fantasy/dystopian books, I highly recommend this book. If you want to know a bit more about the world, I'll link my spoiler-free review of Cinder as well

Cinder | Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Yet another highly hyped book I was hesitant to read. Though after finding a wonderfully priced hardcover copy on BookOutlet, I caved and bought it. It wasn't until months later I actually picked it up and began reading it. My reasoning was to wait until Winter came out so I could binge the entire series together. Nonetheless I read it and really enjoyed it. It's somewhat of a fusion between the typically dystopian setting and the fantastical fairy tale world. 

The characters were honestly amazing. I loved Cinder, I loved Kai, I loved Peony, I loved Iko. All of them had such distinct personalities and I loved their interactions with other characters. 

In an effort to keep this review fairly spoiler free, I'm not going to talk about the plot all that much, but I will say that I am incredibly excited to continue the series! 

If you've read Cinder, let me know in the comments below what your favorite part was! 

The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer | Laxmi Hariharan

A YA thriller, with strong dystopian undertones and a kickass protagonist, taking you on a white knuckle ride through a disintegrating Bombay City. 

A girl desperate to rescue her best friend.

A cop willing to do anything to save the city he serves. 

A delusional doctor bent on annihilation. 

When Ruby Iyer's best friend is kidnapped by the despotic Dr Kamini Braganza, she will do anything to rescue him. Anything, including taking the help of the reticent Vikram Roy, a mysterious cop-turned-rogue on a mission to save Bombay. The city needs all the help it can get, and these two are the only thing standing between its total destruction by Dr Braganza's teen army. As Bombay falls apart around them, will Ruby be able to save her friend and the city? Will she finally discover her place in a city where she has never managed to fit in? And what about her growing feelings for Vikram?

While the plot itself was fascinating, I couldn't find myself getting into the book all that much. There are several reasons why and I'll get into each of them. 

1. Writing Style 

Personally I like dialogue over detail. I like things happening and people talking over the detail of a setting, and personally I thought there was too much detail and too many analogies for my taste. Several sentences at a time would be dedicated to setting up the scene, which isn't necessarily bad, but to me it felt like too much. I would frequently skim these long paragraphs of description and ended up missing crucial information to further the plot. I wish more of the substance was focused on the characters and their relationships, which brings me to my next issue.

2. Characters/ Relationships

I didn't feel any type of connection with the characters. I was super excited when Vikram and Ruby's romance started, but the way it played out wasn't how I was expecting it to be, and I didn't exactly love the way it played out. The relationship between Panky and Ruby was mediocre. Though I did feel their relationship was strong, it didn't strike any emotional chord in my body. 

Like I said, I think the plot was fairly intriguing, I especially loved the bomb/terrorist scenes, but the plot alone wasn't enough to get me completely hooked. Another thing I liked about this book was the frequent plot twists near the end. I thought those were well done and did a good job of wrapping up the whole book, making connections to the events and thoughts from the beginning.

Overall, I wish I liked this book more but if you are someone who is extremely visual, this book does a really good job with providing a large amount of sensory information about the setting. The plot was interesting and action-packed so if you're someone who enjoys a good thriller, you should definitely think about picking up this book. 

Crown of Midnight | Sarah J. Maas

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached. 
It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far more loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closet relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances- not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for. 

Slowly I'm being entangled into this web of intense plots and realistic to-die-for characters as the plot gradually transitions from the simplicity I thought it was going to be to the complicated mess it will become.

There's honestly no way for me to discuss any part of this book without spoiling some aspect of it, and every part of this book should be experienced firsthand. So if you haven't already done so, definitely give this book (and series) a try, you will not regret it.

Undivided | Neal Shusterman

Teens control the fate of America in the fourth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman.

Proactive Citizenry, the company that created Cam from the parts of unwound teens, has a plan: to mass produce rewound teens like Cam for military purposes. And below the surface of that horror lies another shocking level of intrigue: Proactive Citizenry has been suppressing technology that could make unwinding completely unnecessary. As Conner, Risa, and Lev uncover these startling secrets, enraged teens begin to march on Washington to demand justice and a better future.

But more trouble is brewing. Starkey’s group of storked teens is growing more powerful and militant with each new recruit. And if they have their way, they’ll burn the harvest camps to the ground and put every adult in them before a firing squad—which could destroy any chance America has for a peaceful future.

One of the many things I learned from this book are there are more than two sides to every war. We typically see war as a team vs. team thing, but it's so much more than that. Every individual, every group views the war differently and in order to come to an agreement, there's so much compromise. As the fourth and final book of the Unwind Dystology, Neal Shusterman does a fantastic job of wrapping up the fate of each character, while still presenting a fast-paced storyline. 

I'll admit,a year ago, when I read Unsouled, I didn't know there would be a fourth book, and I was a bit upset that the series wasn't coming to a close. But after reading this fantastic conclusion, I'm so glad this got its own book. If you haven't read the Unwind Dystology I highly recommend it. In addition to entertaining the typical dystopian audience, I feel like it hits some crucial points that our society still has yet to figure out.