My Top 5 Most Overhyped Books

Before people crucify me for listing some of these books, I just want to remind everyone that these are my opinions. I’d love to hear which book(s) you think are overhyped and maybe we will, or won’t, agree on them. Bookish debates can be fun…. right?

Also, I’m not saying that these books aren’t good reads; I’m just saying that the amount of hype they have doesn’t match up with my perceptions. Because I did read and enjoy most of these books.

So, here are my top five most overhyped books:

5. The Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi

I used to enjoy this series. Or at least, I enjoyed the first book. Then I kept hearing about Team Warner and how amazing this book series was because of him. So I didn’t finish the series. I’m not sure if I’ll ever read Ignite Me. Warner was a horrible person in the first book, and I don’t think any amount of sob-inducing backstory will make up for the fact that he had Juliette torture a little kid.

4. The Mara Dyer Series by Michelle Hodkin

This is one series that completely baffles me. I read the first book and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Mara wasn’t that relatable and half of the time it sounded like she was on some kind of hallucinogens. Also, people go on and on about how sexy Noah is too. I don’t see it.

P.S. I’m also not a huge fan of the covers. They look like dirty pond water.

3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have a feeling this one’s going to get me a lot of hate. And honestly, I might have said that the hype was deserved with this book, if it hadn’t been for one thing: the dialogue. What teenager talks like that?! I know that there are highly intelligent teenagers out there, but this was ridiculous! Every. Single. Person. In. That. Town. Talked like they were a literary, scientific, mathematical, etc., genius. GAH!

2. The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

After what happened in Allegiant, I’m surprised anyone can still love these books. And it’s not the ending that bugs me. It’s the two points of view that were indistinguishable and the complete character changes that irked me. But even those could have been just minor annoyances if one other thing hadn’t happened.

***Potential Spoilers Ahead***

***Potential Spoilers Ahead***

***Potential Spoilers Ahead***

I’m just going to say that books should not create a world and then proclaim that everything in that world has been an experiment, basically that everything from the previous books was fake and set up. That’s disappointing to the reader and is a major taboo in children’s literature.

1. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who agree with me on this but who are afraid to say it for fear of the potential of being shunned from the bookish community: This series has a lot of hype. I think it’s a lot of undeserved hype. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good series, I read the first three books in less than a month, I believe. I simply don’t understand why everyone is so fascinated by these books.

The characters aren’t particularly exciting. They aren’t Celaena’s or Katniss’s. They don’t have a lot of excitement going on. (EXCEPT for Magnus and Alec. Those two are great.) Jace and Clary are just another YA paranormal romance addition to the YA paranormal world. Now Tess and Will/Jem, that was a great ending romance that does deserves some hype. Plus, the whole incest storyline was just plain WEIRD. And storylines like Clary’s have been written by other authors in a more detailed and fascinating manner.

So, those are my top five most overhyped and overrated books. What’s some of yours? Sound off in the comments!

Review: Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

Dead of Winter

Kresley Cole

(The Arcana Chronicles #3)

Publication Date: January 6, 2015

Hardcover, 336 pages, Simon & Schuster

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Can Evie convince her rival loves to work together? Their survival depends on it in this third book of #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole’s Arcana Chronicles, a nonstop action tale of rescue, redemption, and a revenge most wicked.

Heartbreaking decisions

Evie was almost seduced by the life of comfort that Death offered her—until Jack was threatened by two of the most horrific Arcana, the Lovers. She will do anything to save him, even escape Death’s uncanny prison, full of beautiful objects, material comforts…and stolen glances from a former love.

Uncertain victory

Despite leaving a part of her heart behind with Death, Evie sets out into a perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland to meet up with her allies and launch an attack on the Lovers. Such formidable enemies require a battle plan, and the only way to kill them may mean Evie, Jack, and Death allying. Evie doesn’t know what will prove more impossible: surviving slavers, plague, Bagmen and other Arcana—or convincing Jack and Death to work together.

Two heroes returned

There’s a thin line between love and hate, and Evie just doesn’t know where she stands with either Jack or Death. Will this unlikely trio be able to defeat The Lovers without killing one another first...?

My Review

What can I say about this book without giving away massive spoilers…? I guess I’ll just have to be as generic in my descriptions as possible. But I’m not sure that’s entirely doable for someone like myself. So please, try not to read my review unless you have already read at least the first book in the series. Thanks!

Kresley Cole does an amazing job when it comes to building worlds. The Arcana/P.F. world is so unique and awesomely insane that I don’t think I would have even thought about something like this in my wildest dreams. However, as much as I love Kresley’s writing, both adult and YA, I think she went a little overboard in this book with the amount of teenage love/lust angst in the love triangle she has going on.

Evie is supposed to be a sixteen(or is she seventeen now?) year-old girl. And love triangles can sometimes be wonderful additions to a storyline. I mean, who doesn’t like hunky man-flesh in their books? BUT, Evie’s character took things waaaaaay too far. She was constantly thinking about “Should I be with Jack?” or “Should I be with Aric?” or “Aric will be lonely…” or even “Jack is sooo dreamy” I just felt that Evie needed to grow a pair, especially when they kept forcing her to choose. She needed to say, “Look here. I’m a strong, bada$$ woman who doesn’t need your manly-macho crap!” Alas, she never did say anything like that.

Plus, I really don’t understand the appeal of Team Death. He’s a douche. A douche who seems to like to prey on women. He reminds me of Warner from Shatter Me. Everyone likes him, but they forget how despicable he was. Sure, you can feel sorry for him, but that doesn’t excuse his behavior. Whereas Team  Jack has been busting his butt to help Evie and everyone else. I think her decision should be obvious. (But as I said earlier, she should have just told both of them to BACK THE *bleep* OFF! After all, the apocalypse was going down; they had more important things to be worrying about.)

I loved the new characters Kresley added. These books have sooooo many awesome people with unique powers that it’s like a dirtier (as in actual dirt), grittier X-Men! I could totally see myself reading spin-off books about the other characters in this series. I’d just be bummed about there being a lack of Jack. Even the villains in this book were so weird and creepy that they made me love them (see what I did there?).

Moving on from all that, I had only one other problem with the book—how short it was. This issue was helped by the book’s ending. I mean, WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS, KRESLEY!? What kind of ending was that?! You did that to us in the second book and then we had to wait more than a year to get any sort of closure! I can’t go through that again. (Also, there’s an event that I just KNOW is going to happen and have been waiting for since Endless Knight but still hasn’t come to fruition yet. I can’t wait another year for this reveal Kresley!)

In the end, I love most of the characters in this world and every time I pick up the sequels in this series it’s so easy to remember what happened. That being said, I’m more than ready to pick up book #4 any day now. Preferably yesterday.

*Note: I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Which Team Are You? : Altered by Jennifer Rush

 
I basically just post a book series every week and have people vote on what team they are. I know the YA Sisterhood does the YA Crush Tournament, but I just want to find out how much you guys like one love interest over another, in one series.

Last week's poll was over Team Jared or Team Ian from Stephanie Meyer’s The Host. Team Ian won!

 

So for this edition of “What Team Are You?” I’m going to ask you who your pick of hunky man-flesh is from the Altered series by Jennifer Rush is. 

You can choose from:

1)      Sam

or 2) Nick

I’m Team Sam… I think. I’m not entirely sure. To me, Sam’s hotter, but Nick has a very intriguing backstory. If you had to choose one, who would it be, and why? If you haven’t read the books that are out right now (How is that even possible!?), who do you think sounds more appealing from the Altered summary below.

They were made to forget. But they'll never forgive.

Everything about Anna's life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch, at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There's Nick, solemn and brooding; Cas, light-hearted and playful; Trev, smart and caring; and Sam . . . who's stolen Anna's heart.

When the Branch decides it's time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape. Anna's father pushes her to go with them, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs.

On the run, with her father's warning in her head, Anna begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about herself. She soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they're both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Which Team Are You?

Team Sam

Team Nick

Poll Maker

Favorite Cover of the January YA Releases

My favorite January release cover is…

Reborn

Jennifer Rush

(Altered #3)

Publication Date: January 6, 2015

Hardcover, 336 pages, Little Brown Books

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

An action-packed, romantic, and suspenseful third book in the Altered series.

The Branch is in shambles, but Anna, Sam, Cas, and Nick can't rest easy. Remnants of the organization lurk unseen and the flashbacks to their old lives are only getting stronger--especially Nick's.

Following scattered memories and clues from his Branch file, Nick sets off alone in search of answers and in search of the girl who haunts his dreams. But the sleepy town where she lives in full of secrets and Nick soon learns that uncovering their shared past may have deadly consequences.

My Thoughts

I love the blue color here. It’s soooo pretty. Plus, the cover model for this book looks a lot better than the second. This one is very smexy.

What’s your favorite cover of all the January releases?

Dean Winchester Friday

Dean Winchester (or sometimes Jensen Ackles) Fridays make me a very happy fangirl. You'll see why when you look at the picture.

Hee hee. I love this episode.

Thoughts on the Insurgent Trailer

I know, I know. Once again, I am late to hop on the trailer-reaction-and-thoughts game, but I decided to post my Insurgent trailer thoughts anyway.

So… Umm… Yeah…

I really don’t know what to say about this trailer. Sure, it looks alright as a movie. Like, if it wasn’t a YA book series, it would be interesting to watch—not sure I’d go see it in theaters if it wasn’t though. But to be a movie based on a book series, this is just strange.

I’m not a huge fan of the Divergent series. There’s too much hype surrounding it now and it’s been years since I read the first book—and after Allegiant’s ending, I’m kind of over the whole thing. So when I started watching the trailer, I thought I had just forgotten everything because I didn’t remember half of the stuff that showed up, but apparently a lot of other people who viewed the trailer on Youtube had the same problem as well.

I honestly don’t know what to think about the monumental changes happening for this movie. Veronica Roth had input in the film, so if she seemed okay with the changes, maybe it won’t be completely irrelevant to the plot. But then again, maybe these changes mean they’re willing to completely change the storyline of Allegiant. And if so I’m all for that, simply because that book was AWFUL. Plus, Insurgent had a second-book-syndrome thing going on. It was nothing more than a filler book, so maybe the writers had to bring together a more action-packed story.

Those are my brief thoughts on the Insurgent trailer. Comment below to share your thoughts!

Waiting on Wednesday: Fall with Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, what's really got my pages in a twist is...

Fall with Me

Jennifer L. Armentrout

(Wait for You #4)

Publication Date: March 31, 2015

Paperback, 384 pages, Avon Books

Genres: New Adult, Contemporary

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Eleven months ago, bartender and weird-shirt-wearing extraordinaire Roxy and Officer Reece Anders had a one night stand. Well, kind of. She’s been in love with him since she was fifteen, and he wishes that night they shared never happened. She’s sworn him off forever, but the past and future collide, forcing her to rely on the one man who broke her heart not once, but twice.

Her best friend since birth has been in a long-term care facility since he became a victim of a hate crime years ago, and the person who put him in there is out of prison and wanting to make amends with him and Roxy. She’s not sure she has room for forgiveness in her and when she begins to receive frightening messages and is on the receiving end of escalating violence, she thinks she knows who is to blame. The man who already destroyed one life already.

But Reece isn’t convinced. The threats are too personal, and even if Roxy doesn’t believe him, he’s not willing to let anyone hurt her. Including himself. He’s already messed up more than once when it comes to Roxy and he’s not going to let history repeat itself.

My Thoughts

I still haven’t read the third book in this companion series thing. I need to buy them all in paperback so I can add to my JLA collection. ;)

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Review: Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger

Let the Storm Break

Shannon Messenger

(Let the Sky Fall #2)

Publication Date: March 2014

Hardcover, 381 pages, Simon Pulse

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Whirlwind romance and breathtaking action continues in the sequel to Let the Sky Fall, which Becca Fitzpatrick called “charged and romantic.”

Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn’t know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn’t believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who’ve betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?

My Review

It feels like I read Let the Sky Fall years and years ago. But it’s only been a little over a year and a half ago. Surprisingly, I remembered a lot of what happened in the first book, so reading this one wasn’t that difficult. Kudos to you, Shannon Messenger. I love it when an author can make a book memorable enough between the gaps of series release dates.

However, I wasn’t as sucked in to this book as I was with the first one. I loved the characters Audra and Vane. They each had their own fantastic back stories, yet they were still able to grow into semi-new people by the end of the book. With this book, I didn’t see a lot of character development happening. Vane and Audra pretty much did whatever they wanted to do, regardless of the consequences. I was disappointed in them.

Also, Vane was supposed to be the king of his entire race, yet he was constantly getting injured, or getting in the way of things. I understand that he can’t get violent, but I don’t understand why he had to be so inept at everything.

This book felt like it was simply an introduction to the villain of the series—since he didn’t show up in the first book. It had a major case of second-book syndrome.

Although I had some issues with the book, it was still a good read. It just didn’t have as much character development as the first book. It had a little more world-building, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have, had it been written more in-depth.

All in all, Let the Storm Break is a good book, but not a great continuation of the series.

*Note: I purchased this book myself.

Made for You by Melissa Marr Book Trailer

Which Team Are You? : The Host by Stephanie Meyer Edition

I basically just post a book series every week and have people vote on what team they are. I know the YA Sisterhood does the YA Crush Tournament, but I just want to find out how much you guys like one love interest over another, in one series.

Last week's poll was over Team Puck or Team Ash from Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series. Team Ash won! 

So for this edition of “What Team Are You?” I’m going to ask you who your pick of hunky man-flesh is from The Host by Stephanie Meyer. 

You can choose from:

1)     Jared

or 2) Ian

I’m Team Ian because Jared is a jerk! If you had to choose one, who would it be, and why? If you haven’t read the book (How is that even possible!?), who do you think sounds more appealing from the The Host summary below.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

Which Team Are You?

Team Jared

Team Ian

online poll creator