Book Review: Hush, Hush

review_hushhush

you can find the book at:
GoodReads | Author’s website | Amazon | Bookdepository
my review:
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

HUSH, HUSH is the story of Nora Grey and how her life becomes anything but average when she is seated next to the new kid, Patch Cipriano, in her Biology class.

This really isn’t much of a review. Just me complaining, really, of how extremely terrible this book was. I’m not going to even follow my usual review format because I don’t think this even deserves a well, written review. Even if I absolutely despise a book, there’s usually a couple of redeeming factors but with this, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing

  • Ok, who lets a gym teacher teach Biology? I understand if he was a supply teacher but, no, this school let this poor excuse for a teacher teach Biology. (and half the stuff he was teaching I’m sure didn’t have anything to do with Bio)
  • This is also the same coach who allowed a male student to openly harass a girl in class, in front of the entire class by telling everyone exactly how to tell when a girl is turned on
  • Nora brings it up to the teacher that he’s ignoring her basic right as a student to not be harassed like that in school. His response? Just wait it out. And then proceeds to tell her that she should tutor the very boy who is making her uncomfortable.
    • No teacher should condone the abuse Patch does to Nora. 
  • I’ve seen Patch very high on YA Book Boyfriend lists and now that I’ve read it… I’m so confused as to why? Even if he does he better in the next book, his behaviour now is frankly quite disgusting and it’s quite scary to see people crown him as an amazing love interest.
  • For a girl aiming for the big Ivy league schools, Nora shows no sign of actually caring about her grades. The idea of Nora being smart is just told to us. We never actually see how smart Nora is. (Every chance she gets it’s ruined because she’s distracted by Patch the trash)
  • Patch sends the majority of this novel just stalking and sexually harassing Nora. And it actually confounds me that we’re supposed to be swooning at this. Are we really supposed to be finding a boy who continues to make unwanted advances on a girl who has repeatedly told him that she doesn’t like him attractive? He is manipulative, abusive and just plain disgusting.
  • “If rape, murder, or any other miscreant activities were on Patch’s mind, he’d cornered me in the perfect place. ” That is what the PROTAGONIST thinks of HER LOVE INTEREST.
  • Very stereotypical female enemy. You know the drill. I think the words slut and bitch were chucked around.
  • A pathetic excuse for a best friend. I liked Vee to start with. She was almost a redeeming factor but halfway through she stopped being a best friend. No best friend would make you go out with a guy you’ve told her is making you uncomfortable. Vee is the worst and their friendship is just so BAD.
  • One example of Vee being the shittest friend I’ve ever seen:
  • “He dragged me out the front door and shoved me against the house.”
    “But he was drunk, right?”
    “Does it matter?” I snapped.
    “Well, he has a lot going on. I mean, he was wrongly accused of being messed up in some girl’s suicide, and he was forced to switch schools. If he hurt you—and I’m not justifying what he did, by the way—maybe he just needs … counseling, you know?”
    “If he hurt me?”
    “He was wasted. Maybe—maybe he didn’t know what he was doing. Tomorrow he’s going to feel horrible.”
  • I ALMOST DROPPED THIS UGLY BOOK. YOUR BEST FRIEND TELLS YOU THAT A BOY ATTACKED HER AND YOU BRUSH IT OFF BECAUSE HE WAS DRUNK? WHAT KIND OF A FRIEND ARE YOU?

I’m going to stop here because that’s all the sections that I bookmarked but I think you get the gist. I hated everything about this book and its attempt to justify harassment by covering it up as a so-called love story is actually quite worrying.

Paperback, 391 pages
Published October 13th 2010 by Simon & Schuster BFYR
ISBN: 1416989420

Book Review: Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)

review_paperandfire

you can find the book at:
GoodReads | Author’s website | Amazon | Barnes and Noble |

my rating: ★★★★☆

Ink and Bone was one of my favourite reads of last year (and as you can tell, it became one of my favourite books ever), and I’m pleased to say that overall, Paper and Fire is a worthy sequel.

PAPER AND FIRE follows Jess and his friends as they attempt to save on of their own from the hands of the Library. But it ends with them being on the run and targets of the Library’s deadly automata. This sequel was much more intense and brutal than the first as no one is safe from The Archivist.

I’ll always prefer the first book but PAPER AND FIRE was no means a disappointed but an exciting development to the series. It was amazing to enter the world of The Great Library again. Caine’s ability to write believable, diverse characters is just amazing and she is excellent at pacing and this series has so much going on to keep readers entertained. It was interesting to delve deeper into the world that the Postulants live in and, especially, about the Library and its violent methods of control.

Continue reading “Book Review: Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)”

Book Review: Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance

28550408you can find the book at:
GoodReads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Author website

my review:
Rating: ★★★★☆

~ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review~

Claudia loves art but never truly understand what’s really under the surface until Pim appears in the painting she sees. She learns that Pim has been trapped in the world behind the canvas for centuries by a witch, and Claudia is now his only way to break the spells that keep him bound in the world of art. Using ancient magic, Claudia enters the world but finds that nothing is truly as it seems on paper.

Behind the Canvas was an exciting read, a really cute story that was filled with adventure. I really liked the anecdotes that appear at the end of each chapter after an artist was mentioned, it was a cool addition to the story though I felt some notes do drag on a bit and take up a bit of space but you do learn some interesting things if you don’t know much about art, like me. They did at first appear too academic to grab my attention but they’re actually really witty and do give better contextual knowledge. What I loved the most was the concept and how it wasn’t set in a random fantasy place but actually links with the real world and the way it works shows clear and deep thought in its creation. (Let’s just hope no one tries to  place their hand with yellow gloop on the actual Mona Lisa…)

However, I felt like the relationship between Claudia and Pim was severely missed out. It skims part where they get to know each other and I felt it should’ve developed that section a bit more to see how their friendship grew but, nonetheless, the way they really cared for each other did come through. I just felt like it was missing something in the beginning.

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Publication: February 23rd 2016 by Feiwel & Friends
ASIN: B012N46PXQ

 

Book Review: Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine

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you can find the book at:
GoodReads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Author website

my review:

Rating: ★★★★★

“The truth was what the library wanted it to be.”

Set in an alternative world where the Great Library of Alexandria survived the fire that resulted in the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world. The Great Library is now a separate country, protected by its own standing army, grown with vast power, with its own unquestioned and unrivalled supremacy. Jess Brightwell has been sent to the Great Library as a spy for his criminal family.

Continue reading “Book Review: Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine”

Book Review: The Awakened by Sara E. Santana

26847637you can find the book at:
GoodReads
Amazon
Author website

my review:
NOTE: I’ve already posted this review when I was apart of The Awakened Blog Tour but I wanted to post it again because the review is buried underneath so much blog tour stuff.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

~ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review~

Zoey Valentine’s life revolves around avoiding her irritating next door neighbour, Ash, and surviving the constant self-defence classes her police officer father makes her take. That is until the zombie apocalypse hits the USA, and the entire country is thrown into a frenzy. What seemed like an unusual illness, is actually turning everyone into a zombie-like state. Except, they’re much faster than the usual. When Zoey learns that the US government decides to bomb every major city, including her home city NYC, she finds herself on the run with her father and Ash in a desperate dash for survival.

This book was really great, in some sense, was really guessable in certain scenes but the way Santana writes makes it a really interesting read with a great cast of characters, each different in their own unique way. I enjoyed the doses of humour and heart within the novel and alongside Sara’s writing style which is easy to follow and compelling to read. She has the makings of a decent storyteller with this fast-paced debut novel.

Anyone who actually read my reviews knows that no good book ever goes unscathed. What really dragged this down was mainly due to certain aspects I personally didn’t like.

I think I’m the only person so far that didn’t like Ash? No offence, but he’s so irritating! Despite he does change in the end, and he ends up with Zoey. But, honestly, I didn’t find it cute that Ash was just terrible to Zoe since she was little. And Zoey knows it but yet she was still attracted to him? If I was being bullied by a boy and would in no way have some sort of attraction to him. Honestly, I would have ditched him the minute the apocalypse started. Despite Zoey telling him explicitly, she doesn’t want to be near him, he continues to flirt with her despite having a girlfriend and she’s already said no? And then when another survivor lowkey flirts with her, he gets annoyed? I just thought that behaviour was problematic and he should’ve backed off a bit.

Also, what was going on with her dad? I honestly hate it when adults assume boys teasing girls means he likes her? Her dad wanted them to get together despite Zoey CONSTANTLY telling him he’s been bullying her at a young age and the way he puts Ash on a higher pedestal than his own daughter was extremely worrying. He does kind of admit it in the end and apologise, but overall, the only character I found myself rooting for was Zoe. The romance in this novel was a bit off to me. Ash and Zoey literally pick the worst moment to get all hot and steamy, especially towards the end.

Kindle Edition, 317 pages
Published by Oftomes Publishing (first published December 1st 2015)
ASIN: B017AD8K9W

Book Review: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel (Themis Files #1)

25733990you can find the book at:

GoodReads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Author website

my review:

Rating: ★★★★☆

~ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review~

When a young girl fell into a hole, no one expected to find her lying down on a large metal hand. Year later, that same girl is now helping to find, all over the planet, the missing pieces. Each uncovered from under the earth. They don’t know who put them there or the reason why. But through series of transcripts, conducted through an unknown voice, we follow a group of scientists and military personnel trying to assemble the pieces and uncover its strange powers.

I think this book maybe the weirdest I’ve read this year. But I liked it. I’ve been told its in the same format as World War Z and Illuminae, and now I’m seriously considering bumping those two up my TBR list.  The format itself makes it so interesting to read, and I’m loving this format! The premise is also fantastic. I love the idea of us humans scrambling over this gigantic  robot which is thousands of years more developed than us in terms of tech. There’s so much political, moral and ethical drama when they realise its potential as a weapon against alien forces.

However, although the science behind was so interesting to read. I did find myself dropping at some parts because the science jargon became too much, and felt so overwhelming. There was also a huge case of telling than showing, and  I think that just maybe because of the format, we don’t experience any of this with them (aside from a few scenes where it done over the phone) and only know what happens after it all actually happens.

Overall, what a book! Such a wild science fiction novel with an ending that made me so mad that I’m reading an ARC. I need the sequel now!

Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Expected publication: April 26th 2016 by Del Rey

ASIN: B015F0JSTS