Novel Review: If I Should Die (Revenants, #3) by Amy Plum

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: YA Supernatural Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins/Teen

Publish Date: May 7th, 2013

Spoilers?:  Mild, nothing major, not the ending.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying—to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others—so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

What Will I Miss?:

I'm going to miss the characters in this series, the world it's set in, their version of Paris and how they explore it. I'm going to miss the surprises, however big or small they were. I'm definitely going to miss Kate and Vincent's relationship.

The Cover:

This cover, as well as the other covers in this series, and just generally pretty. They're fitting to the setting of the books, they give the feeling of love, which is a big part of the series. I just like them; they're not a favorite, but they're not really embarrassing, and I really don't mind looking at them.

Review:

This was a very good book, and a very good ending to the series.

So, Vincent is dead. Only not really, because he’s a ghost, invisible to the eye, but pretty clear in Kate’s head. Violette killed him, and is now trying to suck his Champion powers inside her, but it’s not working. Kate is sure that she can find a way to save him, to bring him back, and is determined to save him. And so she talks to her psychic friend, Bran, and then Jean-Baptiste’s old friend, Mr. Gold…

And that’s all I’m going to say about that. I don’t want to give away too much.

This was very good. Kate is fantastic, and Vincent is so sweet, and them together is just adorable and heart-warming. What happens with them in this book is very good, in many ways, and I think it turned out very well. What happened with Kate, in particular, was very good; I guessed at some of it, and was very happy to find out that I was right, and how exactly those guesses turned out.

I don’t want to get into too much detail about the big plot, because a lot happened, and it was very exciting, some of it surprising, some of it just plain good. It progressed well, and it ended very nicely, in my opinion. My only real problem with the progression is that, at times, it’s very slow. There’s stuff happening with the characters, sure, and it’s very easy to keep reading, but the big plot seems to come to a standstill a lot. For instance, when Vincent is stuck as a ghost and everyone is trying to find where he is being kept/where Violette is hiding and a way to bring him back, it just takes forever for anything to happen. They take so long discussing it and doing stuff close to home, which is smart, yes, but there is just so little action pertaining it, that there seems to be no rush and they have all the time in the world to find the answer, when they really don’t. That bothered me.

I like the romance in this series a lot. It’s just so sweet, and seems so honest, and is very believable, and the progression of it is done very well. Kate and Vincent are fantastic. I felt really bad for Jules, really bad at one point, and was surprised with what happened with him. I’ve never really seen that happen in a book before, and I liked the surprise of it. There was also a small romance for Kate’s sister, Georgia, and that was very nice as well.

I liked all of the characters—some of them I have a hard time remembering the personalities and characteristics of, but overall I like them. They’re fun, and they have their parts in the story that are needed. I like that there are so many people there to help them with everything. Also, Kate’s Mamie and Papy take part in a lot of the stuff, in taking care of the girls, making sure they’re okay, and even searching for answers, and I really liked them. So often in YA, the parental figures are never present, that it’s refreshing when they are part of everything, especially when it’s because they’re helping.

So. I was pleasantly surprised with this book, I really liked it, I thought it was a great conclusion to the series. And I look forward to anything that Plum releases next.

Novel Review: Until I Die (Revenants, #2) by Amy Plum

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins (HarperTeen)

Publish Date: May 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• “‘Um, yeah. I guess lying around reading books all day doesn’t do much for physical endurance.’” (Hardback, pg. 3) Ahh, if only…
• "He completed me. Not that I wasn’t a whole person on my own. But who he was seemed to complement who I was.” (Hardback, pg. 171) This is a thought that I have pretty much never seen before in a book, so I particularly liked it.

The Cover:

I like these covers. They're pretty, the setting in particular, and it fits for the setting. It also has the typical, girl-in-a-pretty-dress thing, but that's not a big bother for me. It's a little embarrassing, but not too much. Overall, I think it's pretty and fitting.

Review:

I put off reading this because I heard about a horrible cliffhanger, but now I have the third, and last, book, so I finally got to reading it. And I’m kind of glad that I waited, because I would not have liked having to wait so long.

This book seemed to move rather slowly. It’s not action-packed, it focuses a lot on Kate and Vincent’s relationship, along with a reasonable amount for the other characters. It’s rather character-based, although there is still some action. It doesn’t seem like very much is happening, but there actually is. And for some reason, it’s really easy to get sucked into the story, to keep wanting to read, and for the pages to go by rather quickly.

The descriptions of the places that Kate goes are rather well done. I get a good image of where she is, and I can easily tell that Kate is enjoying it, is relishing in the view. Also, I like that the Eifel Tower is not the centered Paris Place in this book; it tends to be the main event for most people, is always the thing showed and thought of when Paris is brought up, so I’m glad that Kate sees so much else, and that the Eifel Tower only gets a couple small mentions, in this one and the first book.

I’m still a rather big fan of Vincent and Kate; Vincent is a sweetheart, and Kate is very active and pretty smart, which I like. The romance between them is well done, and a lot of focus is placed on it, which I think is good. There are also several romantic scenes between the two, and the only upsetting thing about that is that they’re so tiny.

I haven’t grown as close with the other characters, and some of them are kind of hard to remember what their personality is supposed to be, just because the time with them is so little. I do like Georgia, Kate’s sister, as well as Jules, and Ambrose seems funny, although I don’t feel like I know the last two well enough. We met some new characters in this book, and I kind of already guessed what was going to happen with them, so I wasn’t surprised.

I think my biggest, and really only, problem with the book was that I didn’t feel very intense emotions throughout any of it. At the end, for example, when this big climax happened, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing what Kate should have been feeling. I think she should have been hurried, rushed, but she didn’t seem to be. And that kind of bothered me. That’s really the only reason that the rating is only a light 4 stars, instead of higher.

The ending, though, was a rather bad cliffhanger. It’s just mean, and I’m not very happy about it. I have several theories on where the story could go from here, some of which regarding the very end of the book, and some regarding the Champion business, but I’m not going to talk about them here, just because they would be full of spoilers and I don’t want to ruin that much. I’ll just leave it at: I’m very excited to read the last book.

As soon as I finish this review, in fact, I plan on starting it. I’m not even giving the series a break/pause to read another book, like I normally would. I’m fully ready to see how this series ends, and very excited for it.

Novel Review: The Rising (Darkness Rising, #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Supernatural/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins/Teen

Publish Date: April 2nd, 2013

Spoilers?: Minor/Vague.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis (may contain spoilers!):

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it's not like they can just go to the authorities for help.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.

But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.

Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy.

Something Specific:

Quotes!:

• "I'm not sure which was more condescending--calling us kids or thinking we'd respond better if they humored our delusions of maturity." (Maya's thought when a guy calls them children, then amends it to young adults.) (Hardback, pg. 184) I knew exactly how she felt just there, and I'm sure a lot of other teenagers do, too.
• "If it was love, why was it so complicated? Shouldn't I just be able to turn to one, and say, 'It's you. I want you.'" (I ommited a tiny bit of one line to avoid spoilers, just so you know.) (Hardback, pg. 386-387) I just liked her sentiment on it, honestly.

What Will I Miss?:

• I'm going to miss all of the characters, both from this series and the previous one. All of their relationships, particularly the ones with the parents.
• I'm going to miss the romance between the main characters.
• I'm going to miss the twists, even if some of them were expected--pretty much what Armstrong did with the series, while I wait for whatever she releases next. 

 

Review:

This was a very satisfying ending to this series, even more satisfying than I thought it would be.

Some things happened in this book that I wasn’t expecting, some of which I definitely should have thought about but hadn’t. Pretty much all of which were good. The characters from Armstrong's first YA series, Darkest Powers, showed up, although they showed up later than I thought/hoped they would. Either way, it was very nice to see them again. And it was nice to see how all of the characters acted around each other.

The ending for all of the subjects, the agreement that they all decided on, was something that I wasn’t really expecting, but something that I’m very happy about. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I thought that it worked really well, and fit very well for all of them.

The romance also took a turn that I wasn’t expecting. Usually it’s very obvious from the beginning where the romance is going, who the main love interest is, but for me it wasn’t here. And I really liked how it ended. It fits better, makes more sense, and is generally just very nice. From the first book, it looked like it was going to be one person, in the second book I was a little conflicted although still sure it was going toward one person, and then somewhere in this book, I was starting to think that maybe I was wrong. And I was. But it turned out even better than I was expecting, and I’m really happy with how that happened.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m just really happy with how things turned out. For all of the characters, for the romance, for the parents. For everyone.

I want to gush a bit about what happened, but I’ve decided not to spoil anything, so I’m just going to have to stop there.

Now that this series is over, though, and this book had a pretty definite, non-cliffhanger ending, I’m really wondering what Armstrong has planned next. I hope she’s working on something else YA, or at least planning to, sometime soon. Whatever it is, though, I’m sure to pick it up. Until then, I’m probably going to have to catch up on her Women of the Otherworld series, seeing as how I’ve only read two of the books, and there are a lot more than that out.

The Cover:

I'm not a very big fan of the covers for this series. They're just not very exciting, or eye-catching to me. And they all look much too similar, as are the titles, in that's it's very easy to get confused as to which book is which in the series. Embarrassing Factor isn't very high, though, I don't think. 

Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

4.5 of 5 Stars

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Review:

The prologue of this book was misleading. It's in Shelby's point of view and it made me think that she was adding even more character chapters. I was confused at first, but glad when I realized that this isn't true. After that chapter, it's Grace's point of view. And we find out that she's been a wolf for a while, and Stiefvater is practically teasing us as we wait for her and Sam to get to see each other. And then in Isabel's chapter how long it's been since the end of the last book, and that apparently she hasn't been talking to Cole either. And we find out that Cole has been leaving her messages that are funny and sad. And Sam has been dealing with Cole and with trying to find out how to fix and find Grace while missing her.

I love all of these characters even more now. They are all so different from each other, with their own voices and problems.

Isabel is harsh at nature, and she's trying to resist Cole and deal with her family. We see her get closer to her family some, mostly her mother, while staying away from her father until she decides to stick up for the wolves. And I love seeing her fall for Cole, and get emotional over him as she tries not to. I like also that she doesn't put up some huge wall between them or do some big denial thing, she just tries to stay away from him and reverts to being harsh.

Cole is still dealing with Victor's death and his family, and slowly finding that he doesn't want to lose himself completely. It's nice seeing him become not so self-destructive as he finds that he prefers being Cole to being Wolf. And his attraction to Isabel is nice. He doesn't seem to think about it a lot, and instead we get all the scenes in her point of view, but it's obvious how he feels by what he does around her, and he's always the first one to make a move.

Sam is such a sweetheart. He has to deal with Beck and how he might not know him as well as he thought, and with Grace. We get most of the romantic moments in his point of view, which is just so cute. He thinks about her so much, missing her and wanting her, and it's so obvious how much he loves her. And he gets so embarrassed around her, it is so cute.

Grace is dealing with her parents and friends and being a wolf. I like that her parents take a role in the series, because parents don't as much as they should sometimes, but they are just so unreasonable sometimes. Mostly her dad. It's good that she's standing up for herself, it's nice to see how she's grown up from running away from them.

I just love the romantic aspect of the book. It's obvious how much Sam and Grace love each other, and it's so sweet and true. There isn't a lot of actual kissing, at least, not enough of it for me, but with how Sam and Grace are affected by each other and how much they think of each other, definitely ups the swoon for me. They're just so cute together.

There's some swoon between Isabel and Cole, but they're kind of a side story to Sam and Grace. There's still definitely an attraction, and obviously something growing between them even more than the last book. There's also a bit of kissing, which is cute, and also not enough to sate me. There's seemed more of a relationship still growing, whereas Sam and Grace's was already there and obvious.

I'm a little skeptical to how the scientific parts were explained, and how the supposed mostly-cure works, but I'll live with it. And the ending is a little open. It doesn't give as much closure to everything as I'd have liked. I'm going to forever believe that it worked for Grace and her and Sam live happily ever after, or at least mostly. And that Cole followed Isabel, if maybe after a while as they talk long distance, because I don't want them to separate and believe they wouldn't be for too long. I do believe, though, that the relocation would have worked.

Despite it being open, I do think it's a pretty good ending and I rather enjoyed the book. Even if I'd have liked some more kissing scenes, or just more scenes between them all later. Because I love the characters so much.