Mistwood by
Leah Cypess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I am a little torn about this book. There are parts I liked and parts that I think were not developed enough. I liked the premise of a creature tied to a king to protect them and the plot was pretty good too. It was the characters that I felt where not developed enough. I felt Isobel very cold and standoffish and considering what she is (or thinks she is) I think was ok but I still wanted a little more about her thinking. At the end she basically "loves" the king but I just didn't feel that. The king who comes and gets her I think is where I really wanted more. He seemed really cardboard and static and I really wanted to like him but I just didn't connect with him.
The twist at the end was great and we were given clues that this was the real story. Soooo overall an ok book that needed more characterization but had a good plot and world building.
13 to Life by
Shannon Delany
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well I must say I have looked for this book EVERYWHERE and finally found it at Half Price books~ I must say with as much hype I have heard on the blogs about this book I was not let down. I really liked Jess and she came across as a real teenager to me as well as her friends. I liked Pietr (Peter) and his family as well although the beginning was straight from Twilight (ugh hate that book!). I must say though that this author writes much better than Meyer and although Twilightesque (sp?). I think this story is much better written and came across way more realistic. I liked how Jess didn't like Peter for most of the book and he eventually grew on her (he is the ultra silent type and growls at crush boy~what's there not to like about that?). I didn't like her crush boy either and felt that there was something off about him and this was really not resolved and hope is explored more in the next one! Also her friend/rival that she tries to reform is pretty creepy. While I get the idea not sure if I would do such a thing. Again I think there is more here and while be addressed in the next book. Peter's family sounds cute too and hope we learn more about them.
While definetly not ground breaking the writing was great and characters well developed. The story developed slowly (not drawn out but you are not just thrown in and expected to figure out what is going on), and I kept reading trying to figure out what is up with crush boy, the friend, and will she like Peter? I read this book in one sitting and it flew by quickly and I sooo didn't want it to end! This author will definitely be added to my buy list! Can't wait for the 2nd and I think I heard there is a 3rd.
Solid by
Shelley Workinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was recieved through Paperback Swap and is an ARC (at least says on back).
I must say it was a pretty quick read. I thought over all was good with some editor errors that kind of confused me a little. Not a lot but about enough to notice it!
The story starts off really quickly with Clio already at the special school and does a good job of catching you up on the situation. It was a little slow in couple of places but it did pick up. I felt the teens believable and they talked pretty realistically (at least to me as an adult no kids but a teacher). I liked Clio and the kids over all but there was some questions that I had about Jack like what was his power? He was there but nothing was said. Also most of book was talking about "getting" the powers to come out/work but not really "using" them persay until the end. So sort of a mystery/thriller style for most of the bbok.
I was left wanting to know about these teens and their powers so I think that the writer did a good job with the story even though it was a little predictable. The romance was sweet too with one kissing scene.
Firespell by
Chloe Neill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ok let me start out by saying I LOVE Chloe's Chicagoland Vampire series. So when I saw she was writing a teen series this was an automatic add to my tbr (to be read) shelf. The problem is that I don't buy teen books I only check them out from library. Soooo the public library didn't have it so I checked my district's high schools and middle schools and one school had it YES!!
Well I started it about March 1st but some big names in Adult Paranormal were releasing books so this was put down in favor of that. Well today I picked it back up and was wowed by the outstanding writing of this book. Loved the characters from the "mean" girls/brat pack to the geeks/weirdos that were the Enclave 3 adepts. Interesting outlook on magic and gaining/keeping it. Loved that there was a werewolf in the mix and hoping he becomes a love interest to Lily (love me some shifters!). Must say that Chloe continues to up her world building skills with this series. The teen characters were believable and the story line keep me guessing about her parents, what power she would have, how the other students/friends figured into the Dark Elite and how was Foley involved? This was all wrapped up really good and while it was a short book it was tightly written. There were still questions that were unanswered but this is a series so there will be more in the next book. For instance: are the brat pack involved in the Dark Elite (seems like a coinincedence that they would just leave her in the basement), why did Lesley become so friendly (again seems like maybe she knows something?), what exactly do Lily's parents do and how is Foley involved, who was the head guy of the Dark Elite, why did Sebastian help Lily, and the biggy why was Daniel put in charge of Enclave 3 and how will he effect the enclave?
For parents: This book was realitively clean with little to no sex, alcohol, drugs or violence. There was minor violence but no death.
The Space Between Trees by
Katie Williams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I so wanted to like this book but I just kept waiting for something to happen! It was so slow and then when I thought something would happen nothing did. I think there was a lot of missed opportunities. The Deadly Sister had a similar story but was sooo much better than this!
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
