Episode: Under the Never Sky Veronica Rossi

I had a love hate relationship with this book.  I hated the start but nead midway through the book, I started to love it. By the end, I was so loving it. 

I hated it at first coz it felt like I was missing a lot of things. I didn’t get it.  It was like I time travelled to an unknown place and time right in the middle of a war. All I wanted to do was run.  I landed on AG6 ( hope I’m not getting this wrong) not knowing what other places they had, why everything was rotten and why it seem like it’s not open to public or if there are people living there.  Then Soren and the guys started going caveman, no, it was more like ferraly insane (if the term exists hehe).  That part wasn’t really a problem since Aria didn’t understand it either.   Then I met my first disliked character, I don’t even remember her name now.  She was Aria’s best friend, the one who died.  She was whinny, it got realy irritating.  I think she was being that coz she has a thing for Soren.  Ok, I probably just made that up.  But it’s good her stint in the story was short or I would not have made it to the good parts.  Well, it was just the first chapter, so I read on.  

I came to a chapter titled Peregrine.  I was so dumb I didn’t realize the nickname for Peregrine is Perry.  So while going thru the Chapter, I kept looking for a Peregrine.  Totally my fault for being dumb.  Why not call the chapters about Perry, Perry since that’s what the majority calls him? Then the Aether.  I didn’t like that I didn’t knew what it was really since I’m very much into science-y parts of stories. Geek, yes that’s me. I thought of it as the ether they taught in science class that manifests like the Aurora Borealis.  It didn’t really help much. 

I guess the main problem I had was the world building.  It was built and it’s awesome but it was slowly built though out the story.  I’m impatient.  It’s not the books problem, it’s just my preference to know what I’m jumping into. 

The second thing I hated in this book was Aria’s snotty-ness when she got outside.  That’s probably what being terrified would do to some people.  I just found it too much I had to put the book down several times coz I got so irritated with her.  I like tension between the male and female protagonists before the romance, I just wasn’t able to stand her.    

I started to like the story when Roar showed up.  Aria started to lighten up and I began to start loving the adventure and their romance. 

I haven’t mentioned Perry.  He’s great.  He has a good heart and he follows his gut.  He’s strong and fearless.  He’s just great!  I can totally see him as a Blood Lord.  I loved the way he cared for his family and friends and Aria.  He was sweet, not in the flower giving kind, but in his own way. 

I read comments after reading the book and they always mentioned the romance.  It is a good romance.  It did not overpower the adventure but it was still strong. 

I’ve already finished reading book 2 and I totally loved it from start to end.  This series is a great adventure with a harshly sweet romance.

Episode:Going Under by Georgia Cates

I picked the book coz of the cover and the title.  I thought it would have some paranormal stuff or it would be eerie like the books I’ve been reading this month.  But it wasn’t. It’s contemporary but I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s a high school romance about a perfect girl, rich, smart, hot, cheerleader with a quarterback boyfriend and a poor, but hot, smart guy who’s forced to sell drugs so his grandma would let him stay at the house.  It was the usual story but it was still fun, nice read.  It also had its own OMG moments, the ending. I knew Jessie wouldn’t die coz I’ve read some pages from Shallow before I started Going Under but I still went “OMG OMG OMG” after reading the last page (last page before the epilogue).

I would have liked this better if Jessie’s life was played out as hard as the Fuentes boys in Perfect Chemistry.  I would have loved to feel the danger or at least the resentment of doing something he did not really wanna do.  I also would have liked it better if they didn’t fall to fast.  Jessie wanted to steal Claire from her boyfriend and he got her but she wasn’t stolen, he had her since the first day and he easily fell for her and he dropped the idea.  Then Claire had this plan to crush Jessie, didn’t happen. It just gave her an excuse to flirt with him.  If one of those plans played out successfully, I would have liked this more. 

My favorite part of the story would probably be the scenes with Jessie’s brothers.  They are adorable.  I loved Ozzy!!!

So, I don’t mention Claire much.  It’s not that I don’t like her.  She just didn’t make much impact; she was just Jessie’s love interest.  I actually liked Payton better than Claire.  Definitely gonna read Shallow.       

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

If February was my contemporary month, I think March is turning out to be my mystery, twisted, eerie month.

It started very eerie.  A girl with no memory wearing a garbage bag made me wanna skip pages to find out what happened to her.  Then it got eerie confusing then ended with me still confused as hell.  This book is unputdownable and something you wouldn’t wanna end, coz you still have tons of questions.  This should be turned into a series or have a novella coz I swear, after finishing, I was like “what the f*** happened? I think my copy is missing pages!!!”

Annaliese Gordon was last seen bloody just outside a high school party then went missing.  She was found a year later, at another state, not knowing how she got there, what happened to her and she has a feeling that Annaliese Gordon, the girl who’s supposed to be her, is not her.  At first I thought it was just some simple memory loss then as she recovered some memory and with the stuff Eric was saying, I thought she was probably an alien or a spirit with body snatching powers.  I would have been lucky if she was that so I’d at least have a word to describe her other than monster or a devil.     When we say “make a pact with the devil or make a deal with the devil” that’s her.  She’s kinda like the Devil of Love.  You make a deal with her to make someone love you in return she’ll take your body.  It’s a very inviting deal till it comes to the swapping bodies part.  It’s not really a swap since the old body turns to dust after Anna, her real name, takes your body and your life.  The take over process is grossly horrifying.  Fans of dark and twisted will love it, I did.  You’ll also love the characters coz they are all strange.  Eric is also a monster/devil who’ll help you get revenge in return for your body. Dex, he see’s death.  Kinda like Noah in Mara Dyer.  But the sick part is, he tries to take a video of it.  As the story progresses, the confusion regarding Annaliese’s identity get’s cleared up but Kate Karyus Quinn does not like making our lives easy.  As one question gets answered, another question pops up.  Some without answers.  Who’s the Physician? What’s the physician? What exactly does the Brujas do? Was Frankie born like that or was he also just turned into a devil of revenge like Anna turning into a devil of love? What are they really? Why doesn’t Frankie know of the Brujas? And what the hell happen after she turned in to the man Dex calls monster?  And how does the Physician chose the victims? 

I love this book but I don’t like having so many questions after I’ve turned the last page. It gave me a headache, a good but frustrating one. But if it was the author’s intention to get people confused and hanging till the end, this deserves the highest rating possible.

Another Little Piece is kinda like a modern twisted fairy tale that teaches us that we always have options.

Episode: The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

It is so twisted I felt like I was in an episode of Twilight Zone.  Things kept happening and my brain would try to make sense of it then it would get thrown off again.  Thankfully, there’s Noah to keep me grounded.  We’ll to keep Mara grounded.  There are a lot of reasons swirling in my head on why I like this book, I’ve listed down those that I wouldn’t make me sound like I’m one of them:

Rituals/superstition stuff

Handmade ragdolls with a note inside it and drinking chicken blood, (fresh chicken blood) is creepy.  That doll reminded me of a doll I had when I was little.  I swear it kept looking at me though it only had button eyes. Kulam or voodoo or witchcraft related stuff always creeps me out.  They’ve been around since forever and it’s said to be powerful.  Having elements of it added to the darkness of this story. 

X-men

 So we have the old, kulam stuff, and the new, mutants.  There powers are not fun or awesome as the X-men.  Theirs is twisted and mostly deadly. 

That Girl who was roomed with Mara and had Jude as her secret boyfriend and died!

I forgot what her name is but I swear she’s my favorite character.  She is insane.  In my head, she was like the exorcist.  Her character was so effective I wouldn’t wanna be left alone with her coz she might suddenly stab me or I might stab her in fear that she’d stab me first or coz she’s so damn crazy.

Daniel

He is one of the sweetest book brother.  I think he’s hot for being that sweet.

Jude

He is officially one of my favorite villain.  He didn’t show up much in the book but knowing that he master minded everything that happened made me wanna pound on him harder than Noah.  The doctor wanted Mara to be afraid, Jude made it happen. 

Noah

Shit, I still think I know him.  Remove the British accent and gazillion $$$, I know him, just can’t exactly say who he is.  I’m insane. I should be part of this story.

So I didn’t list Mara down as one of the reasons I liked the book, doesn’t mean I hate her. She’s a constant in constant evolution, if that makes sense.  I do have a favorite Mara scene.  It’s when she sees the doll in her underwear drawer, then Noah tells her how it got there. It was creepy.   

  I like The evolution of Mara Dyer. It felt like I was in a daze or more like on an alternate plane or inside a nightmare.  It didn’t make me sleepless or scared to sleep with the lights off but I kept thinking “how the hell did Michelle Hodkin come up with something like that?” The book is so crazy, I think I’m in love. I want more!

Episode: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

It was a strange, dark and scary ride. It was like a good nightmare. Good coz it’s not really in my head and I don’t need to wake up to get rid of it while being scary, twisted and totally unpredictable. 

The book got me right from the start, the Ouija board. I used to play that and it would always get creepy.  So when it spelled Mara, I couldn’t stop reading.  Then the faces.  I knew they were Mara’s memories but my mind kept thinking they were ghosts. Like 6th sense ghosts. Well, not really but it gave me the same feeling while reading. I’m pretty easy to scare.

I liked Mara coz she frustrates me.  She keeps a lot of things in her head which I think she should tell her brother.  She obviously cannot handle it alone but she keeps it all in, it’s frustrating! There’s also this thing with her and Noah.  Why wasn’t she paranoid around him? Is it coz of the gene thing? There was a point where I thought Noah was the bad guy. I know I’m so wrong, he’s not the bad guy but she should have not trusted him that easily, no matter how hot he is.  So Mara doesn’t do what my mind wants her to do, frustrating and I like it.

 Noah.  I like Noah.  Not coz he’s hot, every book has a melt your panties guy but coz he’s so familiar.  I don’t know how to explain it.  I don’t know if he reminds me of someone I know, or if he’s similar to some character I’ve read or watch, he’s just to eerily familiar.  Like I know him for real.  But I’m sure I don’t. weird!!!

Aside from the characters, I liked that this book can make you crazy, if you were Mara Dyer.  It goes from one traumatic event to another and then another.  If it were me, I’d go crazy and would start thinking I’m a death magnet and run away from everybody I care about coz they might die being around me.  I’m just curious why Mara never thought she was the one causing the deaths fast enough.  Maybe cause she was already getting crazy,  a little bit.

There are a few things I didn’t quite like. Jaime, I just don’t get him. Mara and Noah’s romance thing.  Too much considering the stuff going on. Just my opinion.

Mara Dyer series is something I’d surely finish.