The Love That Split The World by Emily Henry

Review by: fmarie0112

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start . . . until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a preschool where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

Then there are the visits from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her, “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Where should I even begin with this review? I don’t know how to put my feelings towards this book into words. Between the “other worlds” and time travel and seemingly supernatural being, “grandmother,” this book leaves you trying to understand how all the pieces of the book will fall together.

Usually when you read a book you can understand what direction the book is headed, you’ll almost know what’s about to happen before the characters do. Emily Henry keeps you confused, wondering what the outcome will be, similar confusions felt by the characters. At no point are you positive what will happen next or do you figure something out before the characters do. This is what makes you keep reading until you reach the end.

I loved the book, but a fair warning, its slow in the beginning. Initially I found it hard to get started because it took a while for the main events to unfold, but once they do I definitely struggled to put the book down. Also, the book talks about some relatively complex theories about what “time” really is and time travel. When I was reading this I found it a little difficult to understand what they were talking about and I had to reread it a few times. I still don’t completely understand how these theories work, but I got the general idea and it didn’t get in the way of my understanding of the plot. Overall, I would probably give this book a 4/5 rating but I would encourage you to read it and form your own opinion on it.

A Court of Thorns and Roses Review

Review by: Shipperprincess52

This review may contain minor spoilers for A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury, both by Sarah J. Maas

Stars- 4/5

Summary- Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

Thoughts- It was just as good as all of Sarah J. Maas’ books. The characters were all amazing and the book was funny and sad at the same time. I loved Lucien’s character the most because he was just really funny. I didn’t really like Tamlin, his personality and the way he treated Feyre just bothered me. (I finished the entire series the same weekend I started it so after this will be my review for A Court of Mist and Fury. I won’t do A Court of Wings and Ruin since it came out a couple of months ago.)

A Court of Mist and Fury– Ahhhhhhh! I hated Tamlin even more in this book. At the beginning of the book Feyre was less awesome than she was in the first book, but then Rhysand happened and everything got better. (No more thoughts on that otherwise I’ll end up spoiling something.)

Age- 14+

Lifeblood (Book Review)

Review by: apiazza4

This review contains spoilers for Firstlife by Gena Showalter.

As Tenley “Ten” Lockwood’s Firstlife ended, she chose her realm in the Everlife. This decision, though, has many consequences as the war between Myriad and Troika continues. One of these is that the love of her life, Killian, is Myriadian, which means they can’t even touch each other without getting hurt.

Ten is a Conduit, which means she absorbs the sunlight and directs it to Troika. They need sunlight because it acts as a fuel for their bodies. There are only two Conduits currently in existence and the other one is in hiding so Ten’s role is even more important for Troika’s survival. Myriad realizes this, so they are doing everything they can to get to Ten, mostly by using Killian against her.

Another weapon they use against her is Penumbra, a disease capable of draining Troikans of Light. They placed it into two humans and there is a chance for it to be spread to more. Ten is the only one who can cure them but with all the fighting it is extremely difficult to reach them.

With no end in sight for the war and Ten’s life constantly in danger she realizes that everyone isn’t who they appear to be and that nowhere is safe anymore. A big battle breaks out in Troika and a lot of innocent people die. Ten really wants this war to be over and she will do anything to stop it.

I liked Lifeblood by Gena Showalter because it was suspenseful and I couldn’t stop reading. I recommend this book because it was very different and well written.

The Girl Who Could Fly

Review by: Glory Skyfire

This book, as you would expect, is about a girl who can fly. Her name is Piper McCloud.

When Piper reveals her powers in the middle of a baseball game, she expects her family and new friends to be surprised, but proud. What actually happens is that her new “friends” shun her, her overprotective family drags her home, and she has to hide from the paparazzi. When the mysterious director of a special school shows up at her farm and promises to teach her to control her powers and help her meet other people with similar abilities, Piper accepts.

When she gets to the amazingly futuristic Institute, she meets a group of super-cool kids who can control the weather, use telekinesis, and more.

Despite a cover review comparing this book to X-Men, the director of the Institute is definitely not Professor X. Dr. Letitia Hellion has an ulterior motive for gathering all these very special children… and if they knew what she was doing, they wouldn’t like it.

But eventually, Piper loses a friend, does some exploring and finds the flip side of the Institute: a mission to totally destroy everything that makes her and her fellow students special. Through rigorous planning, misunderstandings, a few fights, personality conflicts, and a lot of character development, Piper manages to convince the others that they should leave. But quite a few obstacles will be thrown in their way… including a betrayal.

Pros:

This book has a very sweet and true message that originality is a good thing and trying to squash someone’s natural gifts is not good for them.

The characters are all strong and well-defined. Piper has endearing strength of character and natural curiosity. The antihero was empathetic and intriguing. Even the most minor named characters have defining moments that serve to make them sympathetic.

The plot twists – There are two major ones I can think of, and while the first one is stunning while remaining logical, the second one had me empathizing with the villain – in a good way.

The setting – descriptions are very well done, which is natural, because the setting serves as a partial focus of several plot-lines.

The non-human characters – Forester has a very good imagination, and the descriptions during Piper’s out-of-bounds exploration were clear and totally easy to see.

Anything I don’t specifically mention below was probably good.

Quibbles:

Some of Piper’s portrayal is exaggerated and stereotypical. I feel that Forester should have shown more respect for her character’s uniqueness instead of throwing a few mildly insulting, unrealistic “old-timey rural farmer” clichés into a present-day setting.

The book is significantly darker than it seems at first glance. A main character is tortured. Several other sympathetic characters are irreparably harmed. One is killed. Everyone is out to get the main squad, and by “get”… I mean brainwash and practically kill. This is all described in painstaking detail. It’s more like “Whoa, things have just gotten unexpectedly horrifying,” than “Ooh, plot twist.”

The author is trying to be punny, and can’t figure out the right/write way to go about it. The Institute’s full name can be shortened to I.N.S.A.N.E. Also, the flying girl is Piper McCloud? Really?

There is a sequel, The Boy Who Knew Everything, but I would like to warn you not to read it. It doesn’t even approach the quality of the first book. The new characters are much flatter. The plotline adds so many irreconcilable elements to the world of The Girl Who Could Fly that I couldn’t suspend my disbelief and enjoy the story. The moral is saccharine and schmaltzy and is crammed forcibly down the reader’s throat. I couldn’t finish the second book, and it almost ruined my ability to enjoy the first one.

Summary of the Review:

I give this book a very precisely calculated 3.75 out of 5 stars. It’s worth a read, but possibly not a purchase, so see if your local library has it. I loved the characters, plot, and writing, but several other elements of the story were slightly lacking, which prevents me from giving The Girl Who Could Fly four stars. You’ll probably like it, so you should try it and let me know how it is.

 

Book Review of Keeper of the Lost Cities

review by mcr1220

Keeper of the Lost Cities is the first book in a series that is still being written.  The series is written by Shannon Messenger.

The book starts off with Sophie in a high school class in the real world.  She is only twelve years old.  She then runs into Fitz who tells her that she is not really a human – she is an elf.  Elves are not like the ones you would think of from Santa’s workshop or Lord of the Rings.  These Elves have special powers, or abilities.  Sophie has the abilities to read minds and a photographic memory, which is the reason why she is so smart in the human world.  During her time in the Elves land she starts to go to schools, and makes friends like Brianna and Dex.  She also learns that there are other species not just Elves.

This book was a lot of fun to read.  I really enjoy long books and this book was 512 pages! A bit longer than I normally read but I love longer books.

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

Review by: apiazza4

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan is the first book in The Trials of Apollo series. In this book, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus by his father Zeus, king of the gods, for starting the war with Gaea, the Greek earth goddess. He is turned into a 16-year-old mortal boy with none of his godly powers. Without Apollo (the god of poetry, healing, prophecy, and other things) up in Olympus, the oracles go silent. Oracles tell prophecies, the prediction of what is to come. Apollo meets a street girl in New York named Meg and it turns out she is a demigod, half-human, half-god.

Meg has a goddess mother and a mysterious step-father who has some big plans that become clear in the end. Meg’s real father was killed by “The Beast” when she was young. Apollo and Meg go on an adventure together to reclaim the stolen oracles and find the missing campers from Camp Half-Blood.

I liked the unexpected twists and the cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. I also liked that it was told from the point of view of Apollo, so you knew what he thought about the different events in the story. I would recommend this book because it is full of adventure and suspense, so you will never want to put it down.

Freya (Book Review)

Review by: apiazza4

Freya, the Norse goddess of love and war, beauty and death, has been living as Sarah Vanadi in a mental hospital. For years she has been growing weaker from the decreasing number of worshipers for her. Freya isn’t getting many worshipers at the hospital but she has nowhere else to go.

All this changes when a government employee comes to see her because he knows her true identity. He’s trying to recruit her to join his organization, Finemdi, that collects gods so they can get more worshipers. Freya is suspicious of him so she declines, but he won’t take no for an answer. He tries to take her by force, but she manages to get away with her meager strength. She and her new mortal friend Nathan create new lives for themselves in Orlando, Florida so that they won’t be easily found. Unfortunately, they meet Dionysus and he hands them over to Finemdi.

Freya will not stand for what they are doing to the gods they capture but has to play along anyway. She knows that she needs to open the eyes of the other gods so they can revolt against the government and be free. All of this comes at a price, but Freya is prepared to fight.

I liked this book because it included a wide variety of gods from different civilizations and I learned a lot of new myths. I recommend Freya by Matthew Laurence because it was interesting and I couldn’t put it down.