BOOK REVIEW: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Blurb: 

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all. 

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen. 

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

My Thoughts: 

I was so excited for this book because I absolutely loved Marie Lu's Legend series. However, actually getting around to reading it proved to be difficult. I read halfway through it three times before I finally finished.

That doesn't mean the book was bad, it just means I was distracted. In fact, this book was very good. It's like eating chocolate; once you start, you can't stop. 

I think the fascinating thing about this book is that it's written from the point of view of the villain. I don't think I've ever read a book like that before, and Lu did it wonderfully. I loved Adelina but at the same time I hated her so much.

This book was so addicting simply because it was so interesting. As I'm sure you could tell by the blurb, the plot is full of strange powers, caused by a deadly plague that killed several people and changed several more, marking them as malfettos. Adelina has silver hair and is missing an eye (although that was not technically a Marking.)  The characters are dark, mysterious, and very flawed. However, their intentions are good: to overthrow the Inquisition that burns innocent malfettos at the stake. 

Once you start reading this, I guarantee you will not be able to put it down. The language is written beautifully, the plot turns and twists more than a roller coaster ride, and the characters are unique and unpredictable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fiction. 

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I'm Back!!

I can't really give an excuse for my er... six months of absence.
School and everything just got tangled in a huge mess and I kind of filed this blog in the very back of my priorities.
Sorry guys.

What's happened since I was gone?
Well, first off... I've read a ton of different books. Here are some of my favorites: (that I will be reviewing as soon as possible, promise.) Yes, there are a lot of really pretty dresses.

I'll be back soon, with a whole new design for reviewing books!!

BOOK REVIEW: Atlantia by Ally Condie

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first cracked open Atlantia. Condie is one of those authors that I remain on the fence about; although I thoroughly enjoyed Matched, the next two books were a bit dry. 
And, despite the fact that Atlantia is about an underwater city, I also found it to be a bit dry. 

Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

This book is nothing like I thought it would be. The summary suggests that it’s about two disappearances, two missing girls. The entire book, I kept thinking… one of the sisters is going to go missing, and the other sister will embark on a quest to find her. That’s the only way the summary made sense to me.

Apparently not, because none of that happened.

BOOK REVIEW: The Fill In Boyfriend by Kasie West

The Fill In Boyfriend

Kasie West is my favorite contemporary romance author. Her stories never fail to make me laugh and tug at my heartstrings. The wonderful thing about her stories is that they always have a second layer- the entire purpose of the story is never the element of romance itself. Her stories are family oriented and have strong underlying messages of life, self-acceptance, and love. In The Distance Between Us, (my personal favorite) Caymen questions the absence of her father in her life and how she can continue to support her mother. In On The Fence, Charlie struggles to find her femininity in a house with only brothers and her father.

The Fill-In Boyfriend is similar to all of West’s previous stories in that it also contains another layer of solemness that adds a serious tone to the story. On the surface, the story is light and fluffy. Gia, the main character, is dumped by her boyfriend, Bradley, only a few minutes before prom begins.

Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

As I was pacing back and forth between the shelves of my school library, a title caught my eye. I’d seen advertisements of its cover plastered on bookstore windows and even in Walmart. It had been praised by several critics as one of the best Young Adult books of all time, yet I still had not read it. So, out of simple curiosity, I picked it up and started reading.

I wish I could say that I went home and fell in love with this book.  I wish I could say that I immersed myself into the pages and wasn’t able to put it down. I wish I could say that I didn’t force myself to finish it simply to write this review.

I wish I could, but I can’t.

Eleanor and Park was not the book for me.

The Sisterhood of The World Bloggers Award

 Guys!!! I got nominated for an AWARD!!! The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award!!! I was nominated by the lovely Shikha, Leah, and Nina over at The Overflowing Shelf. THANK YOU!!!!! 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Marissa Meyer

I am excited for this post the very most, because Marissa is one of the best and most talented authors that I know. 4. Besides Cress, Marissa has also written Cinder, Scarlet,  The Queen’s Army, and Glitches.

Fun Facts:

Family/Pets: I have a husband, Jesse, and three cats: Callie Jo, Blackie, and Stormus Enormous.

Where you live: Tacoma, WA, USA, in the house Jesse built (literally)

3-4 Hobbies or things you do in your spare time: Eat, cook so I can eat, go antique shopping, and I pretty much enjoy any sort of live entertainment (concerts, musicals, stand-up comedy, etc.)

Favorite ice-cream flavor: Chocolate chip cookie dough

Childhood dream job: Writer!! Though I also went through a stint where I wanted to be a fashion designer.

Favorite movie: I don't know that I have one... Pride and Prejudice, maybe?

Favorite scent: Fresh-baked cookies.

Interview:

How did your idea for Cinder come to you? What inspired you, if anything?

It began when I entered a writing contest in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories. My two prompts: set it in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of Puss in Boots and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of sci-fi fairy tales! A couple months after that I was drifting off to sleep when the lightning bolt struck: Cinderella… as a cyborg! I crawled out of bed and spent about an hour brainstorming and jotting notes. Thus, The Lunar Chronicles was born.

What did you want to be when you were a kid growing up?

A writer! Always a writer. Though I also went through periods where I wanted to be a Broadway actress (before I realized that I can't sing) or a fashion designer (before I realized that would require learning how to sew, which seemed like a drag).

Did you plan for the Lunar Chronicles to be a dystopian fairytale? Were they originally supposed to just be a fairytale? Just dystopia?

The initial concept I had was to write futuristic retellings of fairy tales - so I knew I wanted to give science-fiction twists to some of these classic stories. I had that idea in mind even before I knew which fairy tales I was going to retell! But I don't really think of them as "dystopian." With the exception of the plague and an impending war, the world that Cinder lives in isn't half-bad. It's obviously not perfect, but I think 126 years of world peace is something for Earth to be proud of.

Do you have any future writing plans?

Many! I hope the Chronicles are just the start of a long writing career. Right now I have one confirmed book that will follow this series: HEARTLESS, a prequel to Alice in Wonderland focused on the Queen of Hearts. I'm very excited about it!

Who is one of your favorite characters in the Lunar Chronicles?

I honestly adore all of my characters - even the evil ones! - but my favorites to write are Iko and Thorne. It's the funny characters that excite me the most, because I feel like they tend to write themselves, and I'm never quite sure what crazy thing they'll say or do next. It's so much fun to put them in a chapter and see what happens.

Was Cinder always the lost princess, or did you decide that ending later?

When I first outlined the series, I left it fairly open - it was possible that it could be Cinder, Scarlet, or Cress. But by the time I'd finished the first draft of Cinder, I was pretty sure it was her, and DEFINITELY sure by the time I finished the second draft.

What was your favorite scene to write in the series?

My favorite scene actually takes place in Book 4: WINTER, so I obviously can't tell you much about it. But I've had the idea from really early on, and I can see this scene so clearly in my head. A lot of chapters end up having a movie-like feel to them in my head, but this one really felt like watching a movie when I wrote it. I only hope my writing can do it justice so the readers experience it the same way!

Did you have to delete any scenes? What were some alternative character names?

Ha! I have entirely deleted DRAFTS! Two major characters have changed their names. Captain Carswell Thorne was originally Alexander Woods (but Woods and Wolf were too similar and I kept getting them mixed up), and Princess Winter was originally Princess Ebony (but that was before I realized she was black, at which point the name Ebony just seemed like a cliche). Oh, and when I was naming Cress, I spent about twenty minutes wanting to call her Arugula, lol.

Hey Guys!!

I know that I've really sucked at posting in the last few months... this summer has been very busy.. I've been out camping a lot and haven't had any wifi in order to post. Now that I'm finally home, I thought I would post a few things within the next few days!! Here are the books coming out in July and August!!