BOOK TAGS⇢ GRIT-YA ⁝ CONTEMPORARY (MOSTLY) REALISTIC FICTION ⁝ TEEN SEX AND DRINKING
MY THOUGHTS⇣
I thought this was going to be dMY RATING⇢ 2¼ ✰STARS✰
BOOK TAGS⇢ GRIT-YA ⁝ CONTEMPORARY (MOSTLY) REALISTIC FICTION ⁝ TEEN SEX AND DRINKING
MY THOUGHTS⇣
I thought this was going to be different than it was. I thought it would focus on addiction and then working to break the addiction. But it wasn't, not really. It was really just a booze-fest for teens, heavily laden with bad decisions, and overly clueless parents. If nothing else, you could use this book to teach your teen what not to do. I guess someone young might like this sort of train-wreck of a story, but it wasn't really a good fit for me.
BOOK DETAILS⇣
BOOK COVER⇢ AMAZING...LOVE THE MINIMALIST DESIGN GOING HERE. SADLY, IT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS BOOK. SETTING⇢ SAN FRANCISCO, CA SOURCE⇢ I OWN KINDLE EBOOK eBOOK LENGTH⇢ 231 PAGES
⬥HIGH FANTASY WITH AN URBAN APPEAL ⬥POISONINGS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS ⬥INTRIGUE ⬥MAGIC ⬥ADULTMY RATING⇢ 4.3 STARS | GRADE A-
THE KEY POINTS OF THE STORY⇣
⬥HIGH FANTASY WITH AN URBAN APPEAL ⬥POISONINGS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS ⬥INTRIGUE ⬥MAGIC ⬥ADULT ROMANCE (DEFINITELY NOT YA) ⬥GARGOYLES
THE DEETS⇣
AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ Lauren Fortgang BOOK COVER⇢ I liked the cover on Book #1 better...but it's cool. SETTING⇢ Bellona & Andvari SOURCE⇢ Libby Audiobook (Library) AUDIOBOOK LENGTH⇢ 12 hours, 40 minutes
MY THOUGHTS⇣
Despite excellent narration, an intriguing plotline, and exceptional action scenes, I found myself not into this quite as much as I was the first book in the series, but only slightly. The best part and a new addition to this series were the gargoyles...I've never read anything with gargoyles before...and I quite liked this author's take on them. Who knew a stone could be so lovable.
If I had pinpoint what it was about this book that I didn't care for, it would have to be all the lies and deceptions going on between the two main characters. I guess I thought Evie wasn't into that kind of drama and whatnot. Overall, I will continue with the series and I'm still hanging in there until the end, Book #3, Crush The King is due out March of 2020.
⬥Young Adult ⬥A Love Story ⬥Coming Of Age ⬥A Tragedy ⬥Domestic Violence ⬥Splash of Mystery ⬥Open-Ended Ending ⬥With MY RATING⇢ 3.5 STARS | GRADE B-
FEATURING⇢
⬥Young Adult ⬥A Love Story ⬥Coming Of Age ⬥A Tragedy ⬥Domestic Violence ⬥Splash of Mystery ⬥Open-Ended Ending ⬥With Audio Smashingly Performed by Caitlin Kelly & James Fouhey
MY THOUGHTS⇢
The writing is exceptional and the plot has a lot going for it...Two kids who are directionless but likable (they are all mostly directionless, anyway). A sweet love story with a dubious break-up but maybe they can get it back, or maybe they can find a way to at least be friends...especially when a tragedy hits them. The tragedy even has a bit of a mystery to it. With all that it feels like it should be a winner. But sadly, it was missing something. For me, that something was an actual ending. By leaving it the way she (the author) did...with considerably more than an open-ended ending...I feel bereft without some kind of closure.
Vampires Dystopian-ish Like A Slightly Skewed Version of Our World Quarantined Vampire Towns Kick-Ass Heroine A SmaMY RATING⇢ 4.7 STARS | GRADE A
FEATURING⇢
Vampires Dystopian-ish Like A Slightly Skewed Version of Our World Quarantined Vampire Towns Kick-Ass Heroine A Smattering of Romance Stand-Alone
With Audio Performed by Christine Lakin
MY THOUGHTS⇢
I've had this on TBR for an eternity now, and I should have read this sooner. The ratings for this are all over the place...and I am one of the readers who found this to be a refreshingly real (and I use that term loosely, of course) take on vampires. As real as a Dystopian/Apocalyptic/slightly skewed version of our world with a Vampire Virus-like premise can be, anyhow. We still have electricity and even the internet and teenagers are still trying to find the ultimate party. So, not so different...just the added element of Coldtowns.
The writing is excellent, the Vampires are scary, the MC is kind of badass, the romance is minimal and lastly, the audio version of this is quite fantastic. It has music, either at the beginning of a chapter or the end of one. Scary music gets me every time, what can I say. Christine Lakin does a pretty good job with the narration, also. If you haven't read this yet, and you like a totally different vibe of Vampires than the Twilight Series, I highly recommend it. Especially, on Audio!
THE BREAKDOWN⇢
Plot⇢ 4.8/5 Narration Performance⇢ 5/5 Characters⇢ 5/5 The Feels⇢ 4.7/5 Pacing⇢ 4.5/5 Addictiveness⇢ 4.5/5 Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5 Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4.4/5 Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 5/5 Originality⇢ 5/5 Ending⇢ 5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ It is kind of open-ended... _____
Book Cover⇢ It's okay...but I can't help but think that it may be the reason it's taken me so long to read this. Setting⇢ Mostly Springfield, MA Source⇢ Audiobook (Library) Length⇢ 12 hours, 6 minutes
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...more
My Advice...skip the Audio version on this series...
๏ Highlights ๏
Dystopian/Fantasy Lies & Betrayals YA Revolution Crappy Narration Book #1 Rating: ☆3.8☆
My Advice...skip the Audio version on this series...
๏ Highlights ๏
Dystopian/Fantasy Lies & Betrayals YA Revolution Crappy Narration Book #1 Rating: ☆3.8☆
With Audio Performed By Justine Eyre
๏ My Rating ๏ ☆2.5☆STARS - GRADE=D+
๏ My Thoughts ๏
I really need to quit listening to books narrated by Justine Eyre because I really do not like her voice inflections/tonality or whatever you want to call it. I thought I could get past it, but I can't. If I finish this series, I need to wait about a year to do it, maybe then I can listen to her narration without cringing.
Overall, it's difficult for me to say how I feel about this second book, I was hoping the story would wow me enough and make the lack of good narrator unnecessary, unfortunately, it didn't do that. I didn't really find the content exciting until the last half hour of the book. Otherwise, I just found it boring. This series is well-loved by many, so my experience shouldn't influence you too much, other than to the skip the Audio, maybe. This is one that should be read.
MerPeople Killer Mermaids Lake Superior Setting Insta-Romance
With Audio Performed by MacLeod Andrews
๏3.2 Out Of 5 "Lies Beneath" STARS
๏ Highlights ๏
MerPeople Killer Mermaids Lake Superior Setting Insta-Romance
With Audio Performed by MacLeod Andrews
๏ My Thoughts ๏
Lies Beneath is not a bad story, more like a meh story. The idea behind it is an interesting one, mermaids who kill to survive and live in the Great Lakes...seriously killer Mermaids are kinda cool. Unfortunately, the idea of it is cooler than the actual story. Some Authors have the ability to pull a reader into the story and make them really feel it, but I didn't feel that with this Author. Initially, I was drawn to this story because the setting is Lake Superior, being from Michigan, I thought it was super cool to have a setting close to home, even though it was a part of Lakes Superior by Minnesota, I still kinda dug it. The narration was decently done, Macleod Andrews doesn't usually disappoint. I did not know until a couple of days after I finished this that it has two more books...I thought it was a stand-alone. The ending did kind of leave it with things unsaid, but I was fine with that. So, I honestly don't think I will continue the series.
๏ MY RATING ๏ ☆3.2☆STARS - GRADE=C+
๏ Breakdown of Ratings ๏
Plot⇝ 3.2/5 Narration Performance⇝ 4.5/5 Characters⇝ 3.5/5 The Feels⇝ 2.3/5 Pacing⇝ 3/5 Addictiveness⇝ 3.3/5 Theme or Tone⇝ 4/5 Flow (Writing Style)⇝ 3/5 Backdrop (World Building)⇝ 3.5/5 Originality⇝ 4/5 Ending⇝ 3.7/5 Cliffhanger⇝ Meh...not really. ๏ ๏ ๏ Book Cover⇝ A bit deceiving, since the pov is from a MerMan Setting⇝ Lake Superior, North Shore in Minnesota Source⇝ Audiobook (Library) ๏ ๏ ๏ ...more
3.8 Out Of 5 STARS for book #1 in The Winner's Trilogy
๏ Highlights ๏
Heavy-ish on the Fantasy Light on the Dystopian YA Revolution Enslavement Romance (of3.8 Out Of 5 STARS for book #1 in The Winner's Trilogy
๏ Highlights ๏
Heavy-ish on the Fantasy Light on the Dystopian YA Revolution Enslavement Romance (of a sort)
With Audio Performed by Justine Eyre
๏ My Thoughts ๏
With over 80,000 readers and an overall rating of 4.01 on Goodreads, you know that there are a few people who loved this, sadly, I'm not one of them...but I did like it, and I will more than likely keep listening to the series. I might have liked it more if I had read it a few years ago...but reading it at this point...I feel like the writing and the overall story was there but I wasn't.
๏~ I found the world to be somewhat indiscriminent...it felt like a fantasy (with fantastical names and such) but also felt like a future dystopian-like society too. Which does it want to be? There is no magic system...but this I actually liked because I've been feeling like it's (magic) really played out lately. The ending came out of nowhere to me...and I'm still a little confused about how it came about.
๏~ With the exception of Kestral and Arin, there is very little character development, but even they feel kind of wishy-washy to me. It's as if the side characters were just inconsequential.
๏~ The romance left me wanting more. Do they like each other or not, is it enough that they do...this is what will keep me listening to series, ultimately. I do love a good angsty romance, and I feel like the potential is there for that. You know, with their people at war with each other and all.
Or...
My disappointment in this could stem from the fact that I listened to this right after listening to Daisy Jones & the Six (and I freaking loved that) and I couldn't really get into the right frame of mind for it...like a book hangover kind of feeling. I don't know???
The Audio was okay but could have been better. I can't seem to stress this enough...if you have pov's from both a female and a male character, then you should always have both a female and male narrators.
๏ MY RATING ๏ ☆3.8☆STARS - GRADE=B
๏ Breakdown of Ratings ๏
Plot⇝ 4/5 Narration Performance⇝ 4/5 Main Characters⇝ 4/5 Secondary Characters⇝ 3.5/5 The Feels⇝ 3.7/5 Pacing⇝ 3.7/5 Addictiveness⇝ 4.2/5 Theme or Tone⇝ 4/5 Flow (Writing Style)⇝ 4.2/5 Backdrop (World Building)⇝ 4/5 Originality⇝ 4/5 Ending⇝ 4/5 Cliffhanger⇝ Of course... ๏ ๏ ๏ Book Cover⇝ It's pretty Setting⇝ Herran, a peninsula conquered by the Valorians Source⇝ Audiobook (Library) ๏ ๏ ๏...more
The cover and the narrator are the only recommendable aspects of this story...everything else is questionable...except maybe the ending. I found the ending to be almost perfect, everything except for how they got there in the first place...
Overall, for me, the story has believability issues...so many aspects of the story just didn't sit well for me. I'm surprised I gave it a chance at all...because teacher/student romance isn't really my thing...especially when dealing with high school age kids. Just goes to show what an excellent cover can do for a story, at least for someone like me.
๏ MY RATING ๏ ☆2.8☆STARS - GRADE=C-
๏ Breakdown of Ratings ๏
Plot⇝ 2.5/5 Narration Performance⇝ 4.5/5 Main Characters⇝ 2.5/5 Secondary Characters 2/5 The Feels⇝ 2.5/5 Pacing⇝ 4/5 Addictiveness⇝ 3.8/5 Theme or Tone⇝ 2/5 Flow (Writing Style)⇝ 3.5/5 Backdrop (World Building)⇝ 4/5 Originality⇝ 2/5 Ending⇝ 4/5 Cliffhanger⇝ Nah... ๏ ๏ ๏ Book Cover⇝ Striking, love the color... Setting⇝ Wisconsin near Lake Michigan Source⇝ Own Audible Audiobook ๏ ๏ ๏ ...more
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