Legend series by Marie Lu (Awesome)

I'm going to do a mini series review of the Legend series by Marie Lu.  I loved the series and read the entire trilogy in about a week.  It was fantastic, and I loved it and think you will too!  (All of the reviews were from my thoughts as soon as I finished and were not at all influenced by the books afterwards.)

Legend:

The Cover:

The cover simply has the Republic's seal marking it.  The Legend it mentions is Day, of course.

Official Description:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. 
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets. 
Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills. 

My Review:

All of the reviews I've seen of Legend rather supported the-best-book-I've-ever-read cause or the-worst-book-ever-why-on-earth-do-people-like-it side. 
That said, I've been waiting on hold in the library for Legend for about two months now. Well, before that I requested it from the library and got it almost immediately, only to find it was in Swedish instead of English... I had to return that one and get a readable copy, of course. There was so much excitement and disappointment is trying to read Legend. I was so excited when I got it and for good reason! Legend was fantastic! I loved the way the story was put together and the characters and basically everything! It was a great book. 
Of course as soon as I finished, I started the next challenge: finding book two. (Why my library has the first and the third, without the second, I have no idea.)

Prodigy:

The Cover:

I'm not entirely sure what is on the cover... (If you have an idea, tell me in comments.)  But the prodigy mentioned is June.

Official Description:

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

My Review:

4.5 stars
Prodigy wasn't nearly as fantastic as Legend was, but it was still a good book. Quite a bit of the book felt like filler/ fluff. A good deal of the book was focused on Day/June's love story, which I didn't care nearly enough about, considering how much airtime it got. 
On the other hand, I really do care about the characters. While the storyline is a bit repetitive (the classic Book 1: terrible stuff is happening, Book 2: main character is the face of the rebellion, Book 3 (probably): they change the government system and the main characters love each other), I still enjoyed the story. Marie Lu had a slightly altered take on the story. Also, based on the very end of this book, she will most likely veer even further away from the classic YA Dystopian novel (Hunger Games, Delirium, Matched, etc.). 
I'm looking forward to read the next book because whether or not it's original, Marie Lu can WRITE!

*Update: This was also the book where June started to get on my nerves.

Champion:

The Cover:

I think the cover shows a rose on fire, just like Day's dream had in the beginning of the book.  The champion who is mentioned... Well, I don't know if anyone won.  Maybe it references the winner of the Republic/ Colonies war.

Official Description:

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion? 
June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position. 
But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything. 
With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion

My Review:

Champion was a wonderful book with a wonderful conclusion. It was on par with Legend while being better than Prodigy. I can't believe the series is over. I want more! To tell the truth, I can't even tell if I hated the ending of Champion or loved it... I am deeply satisfied either way though, so it doesn't really matter! A great, great book. I can understand why this series is so popular. Marie Lu is a truly talented author, and I hope she writes much more!

Series Phrase:

If you do that, you will have a revolution on your hands. 

Swarm by Alex South (Good)

*Note: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review*

I am usually up for a well-written zombie apocalypse novel and Swarm did not disappoint.  Some people don't read books about zombies simply because they believe the entire category to be overdone, but I do not believe that is the case.  In fact, the well-covered topic forces authors to do something original with the general premise.  Zombie novels are great because they are all so different and unique.   Alex South created his own niche in the zombie world.

The cover:

The cover:

There really isn't much to say about the cover.  It looks like zombies, which is exactly what it is.  The only comment I feel needs to be said is that Swarm isn't a comic book/ graphic novel.  It's a legit book.  For some reason, this cover makes it seem otherwise to me.  

Official Description:

John has a dead-end job, doesn't see enough of his friends, and struggles to find meaning in his life. These everyday concerns vanish on the night he’s jerked awake by screams. 
Frenzied figures roam the streets. A helpless onlooker, John tells himself that this isn't like the films. This is real life, with real people. 
He and his neighbours band together over a small supply of food. Tensions brew, and a difficult choice arises. Risk starvation, or attempt escape? Conflicted over the cause and scope of the apocalypse, the group struggles to work together. 
At first John clings to logic. The zombies do not drink or eat. Organic matter cannot sustain itself under these conditions, but things grow more complicated as the behaviour of the infected makes a drastic and inexplicable change.

My review:

In one word, I would describe this book as contemplative.  It focused less on the zombies and more of John's thoughts about the entire situation.  The entire book took on a bit of a philosophical tone, but it did not overwhelm the plot line of the story at all.  Alex South struck the perfect balance between being thoughtful and being exciting.  

My thoughts on the characters, however, were conflicting.  On one hand, I loved their relationships to each other.  Laura and John were in love and understood that their love was more of a reaction to their situation than a result of true compatibility   I thought that realization in particular was so rare to have in a novel.  Also, Mary and Tyler had a very realistic relationship to each other, and both of their characters offset the other to make them more complex and interesting, as a result. However, I did have an issue.  I was a bit unsatisfied by how much we knew about any of the characters.  Their backstories rather didn't exist or only appeared when convenient to the plot.  Even John, the main character, had an underdeveloped backstory.  It's understandable why that happened.  I can see that, perhaps, the point was that the zombie epidemic created a rift between the characters' past lives and current lives.  A life with zombies and one without.  But it caused me to have trouble imagining the characters throughout the first half of the book.  Eventually, all of their personalities became distinct and it wasn't an issue anymore, but I still wished I knew a little bit more about them.

All of that said, Alex South did a great job of distinguishing the characters' patterns of speech.  They didn't all sound the same.  They had different quirks on how they spoke, which added to the book.

I would recommend Swarm if you typically like zombie apocalypse books.  If you can't stand them, Swarm is probably not the book for you.  If you can, it is a entertaining, speculative read that you will most likely enjoy.  

Overall, I would give Swarm by Alex South a 4/5 rating.

*Note: This was the first book in a series.*

Phrase:  This is real life.  It can't be like the films.  

Misery by Stephen King (Amazing)

A week or two ago, I went into a used bookstore, and my dad bought me a copy of Misery because he had seen the movie and thought it was my kind of thing.  He was very, very right.  I found myself reading Misery from when I came home to 2:30am and then sleeping, only to begin reading again as soon as I awoke.  I had been looking forward to reading it since I brought it home, but I couldn't because I had this huge stack of library books that had "priority".  Anyways, I started reading it one night.  I planned to read a page or two to introduce myself to the characters and all that before I would officially begin reading it.  From my experience with Stephen King books (mainly The Shining and Pet Sematary), the first hundred pages or so go very slowly, so I figured it wouldn't make a difference.  I was wrong.  I ended up reading almost fifty pages before I forced myself away.  One thing you can say about this book is that it starts quickly, and without knowing it, you get sucked into this world.  This particular world that Stephen King makes is not supernatural in the least.  One hundred percent of it could have happened.  In a way, that makes the entire story more harrowing.
But I am getting ahead of myself.  Here are two versions of the cover; the one I read from and my favorite one.

The favorite:

The original:

The covers: 

The first cover is really neat.  It shows Paul's typewriter with the broken "n" key stranded in the snow.

The second cover shows Annie Wilkes's house in the middle of nowhere with the snow falling down, isolating those in the house from all others.

Description: 

Paul Sheldon is a bestselling writer.  After a crippling car crash, he is saved by Annie Wilkes, his number one fan.  Annie becomes his nurse and takes care of him in her house.  She asks for one thing from Paul in repayment for her services.  He must write a book for her, his best yet.  And if he doesn't... Let's just say that Annie has a huge temper, and no neighbors live close enough to hear his screams.  

Review: 

Misery was absolutely amazing.  Fantastic.  It completely occupied my thoughts for both of the days I was reading it, nonstop.  It had constant action and suspense.  It was absolutely impossible to put down.  The characters were super realistic in their own way.  I've never met a person like Annie Wilkes, but I could still see how she was thinking and understand her, even if it was in a twisted way. And Paul.  Paul was an amazingly complex character with so many different levels.  I felt pain for him, basically throughout the entire book.  

My only problem with the entire book was the segments of Paul's novel that were put in.  I couldn't quite get excited by the aspects of the book within the book.  But there were not many of those segments, and they did relate to what was happening between Paul and Annie. 

I loved Misery! However, I would both recommend it to everyone and to no one.  To clarify, I think it was such an amazing book that everyone who hasn't read it is missing out on a crucial part of life. And yet, it got pretty graphic and, basically, just not meant for delicate eyes and weak hearts.  I would feel terrible if I recommended Misery to someone and they couldn't sleep anymore, but it is such a good book!  You might be able to understand the issue here...

Either way, I was more involved with Misery than any other book I've read in a long time.  It wasn't awesome.  That word is too mundane to describe a book like Misery.  It was amazing, fantastic, heart-stopping.  It was so much more than awesome.  I highly, highly, highly, recomend Misery to all who can handle reading about a little misery.

Phrase:

so vivid!

The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare (Awesome)

I'm going to do a group mini review for The Infernal Devices series.  I loved the series so much!  To be fair, I started the series off with an incorrect idea of what it was about.  For some reason, I thought the series was basically just Magnus's backstory.  I was terribly wrong, but I loved the series all the more for its unexpected plot line!
(The reviews were all written right after I read whichever book I'm mentioning. )

CLOCKWORK ANGEL:

The cover:

To tell the truth, I'm not sure which character is on the cover.  I am about 90% sure that it's Will Herondale, but it could be a completely different character.  Above the series title, Tessa's clockwork angel flies.  

Official Description:

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.
The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them....

My review:

I really liked Clockwork Angel.  It was such a great book.  I had forgotten how much I loved Cassandra Clare's writing.  She is truly a fantastic author.

I read the first five books in the Mortal Instruments series before I read Clockwork Angel. I would NOT suggest this to readers. Read Clockwork Angel, at least, right after City of Glass and before continuing the series. My ordering of the books caused me to be about 99% certain that I know what Will's hiding. It kind of built a sense of dramatic irony around it, instead of curiosity, which is what I am sure was intended. 

(*Note: You can actually read them in whatever order.  I still suggest the above ordering, but it turned out that I was wrong about Will's secret...)
All of this doesn't even mention how GREAT the book was. I had high hopes because Cassandra Clare is an amazingly talented writer, but I was afraid that working with different characters might not go as well. This was not the case, by any means! The storyline was completely engaging and exciting. The characters were very well written and the plot complex. All in all, a fantastic book! I am going to find (and read) the sequel as soon as I can!

CLOCKWORK PRINCE:

The cover:

This cover also shows whom I believe to be Will starting with a torch.

Official Description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

My Review:

I don't think I've been as frustrated by any other book more than I was with this book. It made me want to let loose a grutal scream as many as twenty times throughout the book. (Some of those times, it actually happened.)
However, unlike the normal frustrating books, Clockwork Prince tackled the problems in the correct ways. A character would do something and the effects would be terrible, but I could find no fault with how they handled the situation. 
I LOVED this book. Thinking back on it, while the book was super fast-paced and plot driven, there was not very much that happened in regard to the villain of the story. This, surprisingly, had no effect what-so-ever on the way I enjoyed the book. 
I had a slight issue with Tessa at one point. She would be making some commentary on some event, and I could only think of one thing, "Please, please do not make this a love triangle." Then, as the book progressed it morphed more into, "She's going to make this a love triangle, isn't she?" And then, finally, "She went and make this a huge love triangle." For me, anyway, love triangles just make unnessary tension, an unneeded hatred between the guys, and disappointment in about half the readers at the end of the series. 
Besides the love triangle, I loved watching all of the character's relationships evolve and shift. They are all fully developed characters with their own habits and personalities. Together, you could never know how they would behave. 
A lot of Clockwork Prince simply tugged at my heart strings. As Will's secret was slowly revealed, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for him. 
All in all, Clockwork Prince was a worthy sequel to Clockwork Angel, and I can't wait to read Clockwork Princess. (In fact, I couldn't and went ahead and started reading it!)

CLOCKWORK PRINCESS:

The cover:

It shows Tessa, like she always is, reading a book.  The bridge (significant with Jem!) is in the background, and she wears her clockwork angel necklace.

Official Description:

Tessa Gray should be happy—aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

My Review:

I imagined this series's end many times. None of them came even close to the majesty of this book. Clockwork Prince was easily the best book in the Infernal devices series, which really says something when you think of all the other great books included.

Cassandra Clare easily solved the issue of the love triangle with such elegance that I believe that all writers should take heed of.  

In a show of how much I loved all of the characters, I had to fight tears while reading the epilogue.  Thinking about epilogues, Clockwork Princess had one of the only truly good and necessary epilogues that I've ever read.  It was perfect.  This book was perfect.  This series was perfect.

Series-long Phrase:  Demon Pox!

BZRK: Apocalypse (BZRK #3) by Michael Grant (Awesome)

I received BZRK: Apocalypse a few days ago as an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy).  Once I found out, I practically burst from excitement!  I've been a fan of this series from the first day that the first BZRK book came out (link is to my review of the first in the series).  Also, Michael Grant is one of my top-ten favorite authors of all time.  I read the Gone series first, followed by BZRK, and then Magnificent 12 series.  While all of Michael Grant's books so far have been spectacular, they greatly vary from each other.  However, I imagine that if you read Gone and liked it, you will like BZRK as well.  I loved both.  And the conclusion to the BZRK trilogy was, in a word, breathtaking.

The cover:

This series tends to have symbolic-seeming covers.  This one seems even more cryptic than the others.  It might show a mind shattering as madness overcomes it, or, maybe even, blood splattering around a crumbling world?  I honestly have no idea.  But the cracks on the word BZRK make sense, as much of this book is about the organization of BZRK cracking.  Overall, I like the cover, but it doesn't necessarily show anything.

Description:
Death or Madness.  Those are the only two options for the members of BZRK, and neither will be easy to avoid.  Sadie is suddenly thrust into leading the New York branch of BZRK into an impossible battle against the Armstrong twins.  Vincent is still struggling to recover from the lose of his biots.  Bug Man is on the run.  Lear seems to be setting them up for an impossible task.  And a mysterious person appears to be turning normal, innocent people into crazy, murderous lunatics.  But, how can the BZRK members possibly survive when even their own thoughts and memories are compromised, not to mention those of the people around them? Death or Madness.  Those were always the options, but in BZRK: Apocalypse, they might become reality.

Review:
It was a great, great book.  From about page 170 onwards, I just sat reading in a sort of trance where I did not exist.  Nothing around me did.  I forgot I was reading.  Nothing grabbed my attention away as the scenes played out in front of me.  I can always tell I am reading a truly spectacular book when all that exists, while reading, is the book and the characters and situations inside it.

I was shocked by how far Michael Grant went.  Not a single character was safe. Anything could've happened.  In a way, the insecurity of the character's positions made the entire book far more intense and riveting.  Some books seem to have no danger, since you know the author won't kill off the characters.  Do NOT be lulled into that false sense of security by Michael Grant!  No one was safe.  Death or Madness, they could all fall.

One of my only complaint in this beautifully executed book was that one of the story lines followed a helicopter pilot, and the little plot line really didn't seem necessary.  Sure, later in the book, she played a role, but I didn't feel like we needed quite as much from her point of view.  That leads me to my second small issue with BZRK: Apocalypse.  Practically none of the book was told from Noah/ Keats's point of view.  It was as if he went from being a main character to being just a supporting character next to Sadie.  It made sense for the plot line, but since he was my favorite character, I wish he had had a larger role than the one he had.

The plot line kept twisting as it became a race between several villains to bring about the apocalypse on their own terms.  I was completely thrown quite a few times.  I actually gasped aloud at one point. You will not be disappointed by the bulk of the conclusion to the BZRK series.

All in all, a great book.  I loved the story.  The very end (an epilogue, which I am not a big fan of to begin with) did not quite satisfy me.  However, it was not in the sort of way that I did not know everything I wanted to know.  The story was complete, but I didn't quite like the way it was tied up.  It just didn't seem to fit quite right to me.  However, most endings in books, that are not open-ended, leave me feeling the same.  Slightly disappointed in what becomes of the characters.  That might be why I hate epilogues.  There is always a feeling that that is not how the characters life should've ended up after all the excitement is over.

I would highly recommend BZRK: Apocalypse! You need to read the first two books first, but it's worth it!  It comes out October 14th in the USA (it might already be out in the UK, but I don't really know).  I suggest going ahead and reading it as soon as it comes out!

Phrase:
Death or Madness.

Elixir by Ted Galdi (Awesome)

*Note: the author gave me a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing*

I read the book cover's description before I started reading.  It sounded really interesting, and I was not disappointed.  The book centers around a super-smart kid, which I was really excited about.  In my opinion, smart main characters are an underutilized characteristic of books.  

All of that aside, here is the cover:

In  my opinion, the cover nicely sets up the tone of the end-half of the book.  It shows a rush against the clock, while Sean is racing away from well dressed men with guns and towards a girl.  The cover shows a high level of intensity.  It's also a tad bit "murky" which leads to build a level of uncertainty, just like in the book.

Description:

Sean Malone is a genius kid who cannot help but solve problems that have plagued lesser minds for years, or even centuries.  But, some problems were never meant to be solved.  And when they are solved, many very powerful people rush to cover them up.  In any way they can, even if it means doing terrible things.  The situation worsens when Sean's girlfriend comes down with a terrible disease and Sean is her only hope of living another day.

Review:

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Elixir.  Once the story got going, it really got going!  I found myself so sucked into the storyline that my eyes were just flying across the pages, without even noticing as the hours ticked by.  All of that said, the beginning was a little slow.  It was still exciting and interesting, but it didn't cause me to be as invested as I was by the end of the book.

The characters had a nice depth to them.  Especially Sean, who we got to see a good glimpse into the mind of.  In fact, in a vague sort of way, he reminded me of Colin from An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, if only in the ways he thinks about his own genius. The supporting characters all had their own personalities, as well.  They were easy to see as separate people with separate lives, which is a detail I always appreciate.  

The book was so exciting! There was practically non stop action, especially at the end.  I cared about the characters and worried about what would happen to them.  It was a great book, which I would highly recommend.  It will be officially published on August 5th, and I hope you will go read it!

Phrase:

What was in that shampoo bottle?

Voyagers by K.L. Nappier (Good)

*Note: This book was given to me by the author for the purpose of reviewing*

I didn't a strong idea of what Voyagers would be about until I started reading it.  It wasn't really what I expected but not in a bad way.  It was simply different than the usual book.  I would probably classify it as something of a Historical Paranormal Mystery.  It worked well in distinguishing its storyline from other books in that way.
Without further ado, the cover:

The cover shows the Passage (a "road" to the afterlife) and a figure who I believe is Aridite, the angel sent to guide Aaron and Greta.

Summary:

Greta, a scandalous, beautiful woman who forcibly lives with her cousin, is murdered.  Aaron, a newly appointed priest, witnesses her murder and is murdered, himself, as a result.  But they do not simply pass on.  Instead, an angel named Aridite comes to them and sets them a task so that they can pass into the afterlife: solve their own murders.  However that plan proves to be more complicated than it seems when Aaron and Greta discover how much they don't know and attempt to uncover a conspiracy that threatens everyone they cared for when they were alive.

While Voyagers started out nicely and finished nicely, a part of the middle did not satisfy me.  There was a sequence of about 4 chapters that was simply a large flashback.  I'm typically not a fan of flashbacks, so while important information to the story was told, I found myself wishing for a small summary instead of chapters of details surrounding the past events.  

This is not to say that I did not enjoy the book.  I did.  In fact, the second half had me absolutely riveted while the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.  

I was happy to find that the characters were not one dimensional, but had a few layers of conflicting thoughts and emotions that gave them some nice depth.  

The novel gave me a nice sense of closure once i was done, which was nice.  There were very few loose strings which failed to be gathered up again by the end.

I also liked the shifting emotions between Greta and Aaron as the book progressed.  They added an element of interest to the story.  I could never tell how they would react to each other.  Whether they hated or loved one another.  It added some drama to this ghost tale.  

The whole book was set in a time era before present day, which changed many of the events occurring in the story and showed a nice representation of what living in that era could be like, especially for women.  

All in all, Voyagers was a good book that had a few slow moments, but many redeeming qualities and a great ending.  

Phrase: That could cause you to move towards Ghost hood.

Updates

Hello, everyone! I've officially updated the Coming Out Soon and the Movies Based on Books pages.  So go check those out, if you want to.  Also, I've been considering posting a lot of tiny reviews from books that I will take from my goodreads account, just to give everybody a larger selection of good books to read while not being as thoroughly reviewed.  If you have an opinion on the matter, please comment and let me know.  That's all for now.  Thanks for reading this!

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Amazing)

I was really excited about reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  This might have stemmed from either (or both) the fact that John Green wrote part of this book or the fact that not one but both of the main characters were named Will Grayson.  I have been liking John Green at an alarmingly fast increasing rate starting about a month ago.  I am working my way through reading all of his books while watching his amazing youtube channel, vlogbrothers.  (It's the best youtube channel in existence, check it out!)  My second compilation to read this book was simple yet may be confusing.  I have noticed that if there is a supporting or main character named Will in any type of fictional story, he will become my favorite character.  I'm not sure if its because I connect them all with my favorite character of all time, Will from Ranger's Apprentice (link to my review in labels), or because writers make the same type of character and decide to name them Will.  Maybe it's a mix of both, but nevertheless, it caused me to be super excited about this book because, well, there are two of them. I was not disappointed.
The cover:

The cover shows what I think are the stage lights for Tiny's musical. It might just be a pattern, but that's how I like to think about it. 

*To distinguish the Will Graysons, I am going to call one "Will Grayson" and the other "will grayson" *

Summary:
Will Grayson and will grayson have very different lives.  Will Grayson is a relatively normal guy, but his best best friend, Tiny, is different.  Tiny is gay and huge.  At the same time, will grayson lives in a different city where he is in love with a man who he talks to on the internet.  In a bizarre twist, both Will Graysons meet during a crazy, perhaps life-altering night.  Their lives collide together, and they might never be the same.

I loved this book! It was so great in every possible way.  The characters were all realistic with their own motives and personalities.  The potentially confusing area of "Which Will are they talking about?" was a nonissue, and the characters were different enough that it wouldn't have been a problem even if the writers didn't do the strange writing technique for will grayson.

Speaking of which, the strange writing technique was that the second Will Grayson's chapters did not have capitalization.  I know that that sounds confusing and terrible, but it actually worked really well for his character.  It may seem like a shock at first, but I found that I didn't even notice it after a little while.  Both Will Graysons were amazing characters with similar problems and vastly different ways of dealing with them.

All in all, this book was amazing, lovely, hilarious, and just plain meaningful.  I feel like a more complete person after reading it, and I know you will too.  I read it in a single day, and HIGHLY recommend it.  Please note that it is geared toward a more mature audience than what I normally post about, but it is worth reading anyway!

Please go out and read this book.  You'll love it, and join my on my new mission to make everyone alive read Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Phrase: Phil Wrayson

Shade by Marilyn Peake (Good)

*Note: This book was given to me by the author for the purpose of reviewing.*
The cover:

I must say that I don't like the cover.  All in all, it gives the wrong type of mood for the book.  Also, it doesn't tell me anything about the actual book.   Is this a story about leaves?  If so, I read the wrong thing.  Either way, I have an issue with book covers like this.

Short Summary:

(Note: I'm taking the summary from the back cover of Shade instead of writing it like I normally do.  The jacket did a nice job, so I thought I'd use it.  The summary also matches the tone of the book perfectly.)

Thanks to her offbeat mother, Shade's full name is Galactic Shade Griffin.  Having a name like that while being the new girl in school is pretty much catnip for bullies.  The summer before Shade's junior year of high school, her mother breaks up with yet another boyfriend and moves them once again to a new town.  This time, they movie into a dilapidated old house where Shade has an entire attic bedroom to herself- at least until she discovers it's haunted by the ghost of a teenaged boy named Brandon Yates.  When Shade's best friend goes missing, she turns to Brandon for help.  Working as a  detective in the case of her missing friend, Shade wanders into a situation much more dangerous than she had ever expected.  It turns out that Brandon's not always on call when she needs him.  Shade must then confront the reality of whether or not she has what it takes to be a hero.

My review:

While Shade at first seems like a ghost story, it is set up more as a mystery book with the characters racing against the clock to find the missing girls.  The characters were all pretty developed and nicely rounded.  The plot was very exciting, adventurous, and interesting.  The ghost element of the story definitely gave a nice twist to the ordinary mystery book.

One of my only issues with the book was that some of the plot points seemed predictable.  I understood what one of the clues meant a long while before the characters did.  Also, I thought that Shade's friends took some of her hard-to-swallow facts very lightly.  As a reader, we know she's telling the truth, but I would imagine her friends would be more skeptical.

All in all, Shade was very different than the usual mystery book.  It had a nice plot and characters.  The only real issue was the large trust of Shade's friends.  It was a nice book that is worth reading if you have extra time.  It is not the first book on my suggestion list, but it was good.

Phrase: Even the goth girl has a normal name!

I am going to try to post much more often of this blog, so please check back!