Book Review Slam!

Alright, I'm going to throw probably 4 or so book reviews into this one post, so please bear with me and don't curse me for being slow or gone for so long! I'll start off with the book I read back in late March and work my way up to the last novel I read.


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I wanted to read The Hunger Games before the movie came out, so I picked it up. When I first started reading it, I just couldn't get into the story. I did finally read the entire novel and I enjoyed it. Katniss is an incredible heroine and I loved her as a character. This book is very brutal in ways. I didn't like the story to being with, it's just extremely barbaric and terrible to put 24 children into an arena and make them kill each other. How is that even legal!?


I loved the story between Katniss and Peeta. He's a dear and I would so date him! After reading the novel, I did go see the movie and I found that the book, of course, was a lot better than the movie, because I felt that the movie was rushed. The book was beautifully written and I loved the whole story. In the future I will attempt to read the second and third novel of the series, but for now I've found I can't get into the second book, which is sad, but eventually I will finish it.


I gave The Hunger Games a 5 of 5 stars on Goodreads, it really did end up becoming one of my favorite reads of 2012 even though it's been out for a while as a novel. It's another reason why I truly do love Young Adult novels, there's an incredible mix of adventure with romance that just makes the story that much better.


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Sarah Beth Durst wrote a novel called Ice, which is based on the fairy tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" or I often call it the "Polar Bear King" fairy tale. I adored Ice and then I found out she was writing a story called Enchanted Ivy, which just sounded incredible as well.


Taking place at Princeton University, Enchanted Ivy is the story of Lily Carter, who wants nothing more than to attend her grandfather's college. The buildings of Princeton are adorned with many gargoyle statues. What Lily finds out is that to get into Princeton, she has to find the "Ivy Key" which is part of the Legacy Test. If you pass the Legacy Test, you are automatically accepted to Princeton.


As Lily starts the Legacy Test, she meets Tye, a totally cute college boy with orange and black striped hair. He helps her with the Legacy Test and Lily soon finds out that everything at Princeton isn't all that it seems... There's more to the University than meets the eye and Lily is part of it all.


I loved Enchanted Ivy, I devoured the whole book in one sitting, which I rarely do, but I had been dying to read this book so badly that I just didn't care. It met my expectations. The thing about it is, I'm very easy to please when it comes down to my novels, I rarely find myself upset or disappointed with a book, although there have been several, but Enchanted Ivy was a fun little read that I found myself wanting more of after I'd finished reading it.


I gave it a 5 of 5 stars on Goodreads because I adored it that much and badly wanted to have Tye as a boyfriend, he's my kind of guy and there's a real reason why he has orange and black striped hair!! 


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Ah, Divergent... what a book. As I read this book I had very mixed feelings about it. I just had no idea whether I wanted to like it or hate it. It just filled me with that much controversy. The book sucked me in from the first page but through most of the book I was either upset or in awe. Veronica Roth has written an incredible story. I give her props for this book.


Beatrice is part of Abnegation, one of the five different factions that the world has split into to deplete war and conflict. Along with Abnegation there is Candor, Amity, Dauntless and Erudite. Each faction does different things. Dauntless are the warriors basically, Amity are farmers, Erudite want knowledge, Candor cannot lie and Abnegation put other's before themselves.


Growing up in Abnegation, Beatrice should have put everyone before herself, have no curiosity, not ask questions, but she does and then comes the test to decide whether she will stay in Abnegation or if she's destined to be part of one of the other factions.


Beatrice does something bold, she switches from Abnegation and changes her name to 'Tris'. The girl has incredible courage and becomes a great asset to her new faction, even though her father is angry with her decision and she's shocked that her brother, who would've been the perfect Abnegation, chooses to go to Erudite.


Divergent is a brutal book in parts and I didn't know what to think of it. I finally found that I loved this book and it's one of my favorites. I gave it a 5 of 5 stars because in all honesty, that's what it deserves. It was a fresh take in the dystopia genre of novels. Yes it does have romance, but it's not in your face romance, it's subtle and I liked that. Definitely worth a read!


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I don't think a lot of people have heard of this novel. Zelah Green is germaphobic. She has crazy daily routines that she has to go through or else she can't function and has anxiety attacks. It was a very unique story and I thought it was a fun read. Zelah started her crazy daily routines after the untimely death of her mother who died of cancer. Before that, Zelah was just a regular girl.


Zelah's step-mother sends her away because of her extreme case of OCD and germ affliction. Being taken by a family friend, the woman chooses to take Zelah to a group home for teenagers 3 hours from home. Surrounded by teenagers who have their own problems, anorexia, cutting, mute, depression, Zelah feels that she doesn't have a problem.


I enjoyed this book and gave it a 4 of 5, it's not very well known but I chose to read it as my Z book in my ABC Challenges. It didn't have zombies or any type of apocalyptic things happening in it, so I was happy with this book. Plus Zelah is a lovable character who's just trying to make it through life without her mother and her drunk father. As well as deal with her step-mother who's a bit spoiled and childish compared to Zelah. She's obsessed with looking her best, having no wrinkles and staying young forever.... (Maybe she should take some tips from Elizabeth Bathory who wanted to stay youthful forever as well.)


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This was my first Gena Showalter book and I adored it. The Stone Prince is about Katie James who is unlucky in love, because she has First Date Syndrome and finds something to dislike about ALL the guys she dates. At six feet tall, she also wants a man who's taller than she is, which is half of her problem. Katie buys houses, fixes them up and sells them. Her newest buy is an old beautiful Victorian home with a "pleasure" garden attached. The garden has statues which are in different positions and different throws of passion.


One of the statues catches Katie's attention most, the statue of a very handsome and very naked man. The statue gets into her fantasies and she finds herself kissing the statue one night. To Katie's shock and surprise, the kiss turns the statue from stone hunk to real life, warm NAKED man in her arms.


Jorlan is nothing Katie wants though, he believes women are weak creatures who were made to please and take care of man and Katie will never let a man make her feel weak and inferior to them. Even after growing up with a father who believes the way Jorlan does.


Katie tries not to let Jorlan get to her, but the man infuriates, annoys and irritates her to her last string because he insists constantly on bedding Katie, because that's supposedly how a woman will love a man.


Jorlan was cursed and now has 14 days to make Katie fall in love with him or he'll be stone forever.


I loved The Stone Prince, I cried at the end of this novel, but it was such a good book that I had to give it 4 of 5 stars. The story is fun and the clashing of Katie and Jorlan made me giggle. Gena Showalter wrote a very good book, I will be reading more of her work as the years progress!


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Those are all my updates to date! I will be reading more and hopefully I will remember to write blogs about them!


On a personal note, if she's reading this, I would like to apologize to K.C. Neal and let her know that I will be reading and posting a review of her novel Pyxis. I'm sorry I didn't get through the whole thing, I will be reading and finishing it soon and I will put up several reviews for it on different websites! I owe it to you because you're such a sweetheart and were kind enough to give me an ARC of it. Thank you very much.