REVIEW: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

            Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

            Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan….

            But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

            Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

            Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

            Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words…and she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

            For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

            I am livid and I want to vomit all at the same time. Fangirl is simply too perfect for this world and I am unworthy. Is the year 2016 or 3016? I don’t know if I, or the world, was quite ready for this book, but there is one this I know for certain. Rainbow Rowell be killing it! If this isn’t the new classic, then I don’t know what is. I know I wasn’t the biggest die-hard fan of Eleanor and Park, but Fangirl is still so much better. Not only is it one of the few books in YA dealing with the beginning of college despite the fact that there be turbulent waters there and the kids are all still teens, but Fangirl is also relatable and honest.

            It took a while for me to finally get around to reading this one, but I am so glad I did get to it because this book is absolutely one of my new favorites. I want to reread the book right now, and that’s saying a lot because I’m not the biggest rereader (I know, throw rotten produce at me). Rowell always seems to get her characters to perfection level. It’s amazing really, how incredible the characters are in Rowell’s books. She makes them and their problems completely relatable and honest and true.

            The protagonist is Cath, and she’s not the typical YA strong, independent, and sassy girl who fights off corrupt organizations and saves the world. No. She’s a girl in love with writing, and more so in love with writing fan fiction. I too am one of those girls, and I know there are countless more out there in the same shoes. She’s real, and it’s easy to see how all her personality traits tie back to her family and her upbringing. I think that’s the most extraordinary thing about Fangirl, that I know the exact moment that made Cath into the girl she is and exactly why she (and even her sister Wren) tick the way she does. And it was all show, not tell.

            I’m head over heels in love with this book, and I honestly do not have a single back thing to say about it. Every single character, moment, and action was perfection, and every single word made me begging for more. That’s all there is. Oh, and Levi is the most adorable human being ever. Done.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

            Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met…a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

            But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

            The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

There are 99 reasons to love Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, and most of them revolve around the protagonist, Kami Glass. Not only is Kami a strong, independent girl who don’t need no man, but she’s the knight in shining armor to not one but two damsels in distress. She’s a sass-a-frass of a girl with the wit repertoire of Loki from Supernatural. She’s a badass girl, and her best friends are too.

Angela and her brother, Rusty are the new kids to town. They’re not let in on town secrets, but they’re fine with that. They don’t care for gossip or social interaction. They like naps, and Rusty teaches self-defense. Rusty has taught Angela and Kami to be the badass girls they are today. Holly, on the other hand, is a bit of a natural badass. She drives a motorcycle and all the boys flock to her like bees to honey. Angela and Holly bond over their mutual distaste for boys and their boyish ways. It’s clear that they are absolutely in love with each other!

Along with her two best friends, Kami’s gang includes two damsels in distress. These damsels are none other than Jared and Ash Lynburn of the infamous Lynburns. I mention the gang members because they really make the story interesting. I love the cast of characters in Unspoken. I didn’t know a supernatural, gothic romance would have such a great cast, but it really does! I really didn’t know that it was going to be such a powerful and savvy females novel.

Aside from the characters and roles they had, the plot was amazing as well. There aren’t a lot of stories in YA that I’ve seen that involve imaginary friends. I think that’s probably something more prevalent in middle grade where kids are actually shifting out of having imaginary friends. It was great to get to read something dealing with such a theme. I loved it, and I think Brennan really handled the problems that would arise from finding out your imaginary friend is real quite well.

I’m incredibly excited to sink my fangs into the rest of the Lynburn Legacy. I can’t say that I found too many cons in the first book of the series. I really hated Jared’s mother, but I think that was the point. The one thing that stuck out to me as odd was how much Jared and Kami were one. Now, let me get to the point before you tell me how that’s the point.

Kami is such a strong character and Jared is too. Clearly there was the question throughout the book about where one person ended and the other began. Jared knew everything about Kami, but Kami really never knew a lot about Jared, and it felt obvious how different they were. Yet, Uncle Rob kept mentioning how their bond made them basically the same in a way. It might have just been something Rob had to say to get his way, but it’s odd to think that some of Kami’s personality is there because of Jared. I wonder if that will make Kami’s character read a little differently in the next book, and I don’t really know if I want that but shouldn’t that be the case? Odd.

That’s the only con I have, but it could just be my imagination.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

            Danica Shardae is an avian shapeshifter, and the golden hawk’s form in which she takes to the sky is as natural to her as the human one that graces her on land. The only thing more familiar to her is war: It has raged between her people and the serpiente for so long, no one can remember how the fighting began. As heir to the avian throne, she’ll do anything in her power to stop this war—even accept Zane Cobriana, the terrifying leader of her kind’s greatest enemy, as her pair bond and make the two royal families one.

            Trust. It is all Zane asks of Danica—and all they ask of their people—but it may be more than she can give.

            Along with Tithe by Holly Black, Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes prove to be my all-time favorite books. I don’t reread a lot of books (I find the act silly when there are so many new books that come out every day and plenty more old ones I have yet to read), but I do reread these ones and have many times.

            The thing that draws me back to Hawksong time and time again is partly the characters and partly the premise. Danica is a strong princess not afraid to get her gown a little bloodstained and her crown a little bent. She’s determined to stop the war between her people and her rival, at any cost. This is a characteristic that I absolutely admire. It’s a simple betrothal sort of tale which was really popular back in the early 2000s, but there’s so much more depth because of the premise and the characters.

            At its core, Hawksong is a love story, and getting to see the development of that pure love between the main characters is really what sets this story apart from others in the young adult world. A lot of YA books rely on love of the star-crossed destiny sort, but this book offers up something much more real with a slow burn. Danica never really sees when she falls in love with Zane and neither does the reader. Its just a natural love story set in the middle of a war-ravaged world where two nations have very little trust in the other. But they trust their leaders, and its very interesting to see two nations try to mend after being at war with each other for so long.

            This book is definitely underrated. There are so many great things in this book that really pertain to our world now. We are currently at war with another nation and that has caused much distrust, and I think this book really sheds a lot of real-world lessons that were pertinent in 2004 and still are twelve years later. So yes, it may appear to be a silly love story to some, but it is way more than that. This book will always be one of my favorites and I encourage everyone to read it.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: All In by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Three casinos.

Three bodies.

Three days.

After a string of brutal murders in Las Vegas, Cassie Hobbes and the Naturals are called in to investigate. But even with the team’s unique profiling talents, these murders seem baffling: unlike many serial killers, this one uses different methods every time. All of the victims were killed in public, yet the killer does not show up on any tape. And each victim has a string of numbers tattooed on their wrist. Hidden in the numbers is a code—and the closer the Naturals come to unraveling the mystery, the more perilous the case becomes.

Meanwhile, Cassie is dealing with an equally dangerous and much more painful mystery. For the first time in years, there’s been a break in her mother’s case. As personal issues and tension between the team mount, Cassie and the Naturals will be faced with impossible odds—and impossible choices.

My first thought when finishing this book was that this series (but I used an expletive or two in place of that word) just got real. I’ve read a lot of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ books, so I’ve noticed the trend of rising thrill and kill. All In is quite similar in plot-twist-thrill level to her book The Fixer. There was a lot of plot twists, reveals and unveils in the first two books of The Naturals series, but this one far exceeded them. The more that Barnes rights crazy, twisty plots, the better she gets at it.

But do too crazy and too twisty of plots come at a price? A.K.A. the heavy price of losing the believability of the book? Luckily, All In, was still believable, though this is a problem some books pay. I think that’s one of the perks of having a long-running series, because you can initiate the plot twists in the first book, and then escalate them the further and further into the series. I guess in this way, Barnes is a bit like a serial killer.

By the end of the book, I quickly deemed in my favorite Naturals book to date. I cannot imagine how insane The Long Game will be if Barnes keeps up her escalating the thrill trend in her Fixer series. There were a few things that All In lacked, however, and those are the things that I’ll go into next.

When I first saw the cover and title of this book forever ago, I just knew that Barnes was going to delve into Sloane’s character and background more. I was excited and not entirely let down. So far, Sloane’s character has been incredibly analytical and unknown. She’s an open book with an unorthodox love for caffeine and numbers. This book brought her back to her roots, and I really expected to see interactions between her and her father. However, we saw a relationship blossom between her and the brother who never knew who she was.

While I was fine with the introduction of that new relationship, I still wish there’d been more with her father (though then the book might have been too similar to Killer Instinct). I certainly hope more of Sloane’s father comes up later on in the series. The main problem I had was that there wasn’t enough emphasis on Sloane’s story. It was still entirely Cassie’s story, and in a way that saddened me. Every new reveal led right back to Cassie, which is superb plot writing but I also thing it might be too much. Too coincidental.

This leads me back to the believability issue that arises in books laden with thrill and twists. Do many links between twists and the main character can sometimes lead to someone thinking the story is too coincidental which flaws the believability. I think Barnes is treading a thin line with all the links and, if not careful, she could hinder the story’s believability. I’m still a believer, but the final twist Cassie’s mother might be too far for me. Now of course, I believe in making everything personal for the protagonist, but the link with the mother and the potential link to Lia are almost too close.

I loved all the twists and turns, but I hope it doesn’t get too linky and end up wrapping together like a nice, pretty present. I like things put together perfectly, but that could end up far too coincidental for even me.

The characters were great, though the interpersonal relations weren’t the best that I’ve read from the series thus far. I understand that Cassie has chosen Dean, but her relationship with Michael seemed so different than usual. On top of that, I not too fond of the Cassie and Dean show. It seemed to level this book, and if there needs to be interpersonal tension it should be between them. Cassie should not have told Dean her secret before everyone else. She should have told Sloane since Sloane confided in Cassie, and left Dean to find out during the game like Michael. That would have been good.

I’m incredibly excited for the next book in the series. Things are getting quite intense, and I’m ready to see where Barnes takes the series now. I was let down by Killer Instinct, but the series has definitely stepped it up. Although, I’m getting really creeped out by this Fibonacci sequence. It keeps showing up in my books!

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Tithe by Holly Black

            Sixteen-year-old Kaye is modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.

            First off, Merry Early Christmas everybody! Second, Tithe by Holly Black is hands down one of my all-time favorite books ever. That being said, there are still a few things that could have been better, favorite author/book or not.

            The first thing that still jars me a little to this day, even after many a reread, is the awkward continuation of the book after the tithe ceremony. It was just such a good time to end the book but then it weirdly continued on. Sure, there was still more of the story to be told, but it just felt like the end of book one.

            Granted, I totally understand book deals and all that mumbo jumbo so there probably wasn’t a potential two-book deal or anything even though there needed to be one. The rest of the story had to be told, but with it came an uncomfortable hump in the story.

            Another thing that bugged me was the very end of the book. Seriously, Kaye? If you’ve read the story, you’ll understand my frustrations with her.

            Aside from that, there’s only praise from me. However, if this were any other book, that hump in the middle would have docked the book at least one whole star. It’s that awkward.

            Let’s get to the characters: they’re grungy and flawed and totally real. A lot of people will call these urban characters too over the top and unreal, but hellooooo it’s a book and I’m not entirely unconvinced that urban teens aren’t identical to those in the book.

            I think Kaye is an awesome protagonist. She’s lived her whole life on the move and not only has this made her fiercely independent, but also quite sassy. And I love sassy. She straight up commands a faerie knight to kiss her ass. Lovely.

            Corny is also a great character, mainly because he’s such a raw character. He’s homosexual, but not in the overly effeminine sort of way that is way overused. Corny is such a ****ed up character (excuse my wingding), and that’s refreshing. You don’t get to read a lot of characters like Corny, especially not in YA.

            Then there’s Roiben, with whom I am completely in love. Sure, it’s a little unreasonable. I’m a piddly blogger, and he’s a sexy faerie knight in love with a pixie. It could still happen!

            All of the characters were great though, and that definitely helped my eyes glaze over the awkward plot humps and hurries. It’s Black’s first solo book, so there’s obviously going to be a few mistakes. The fact of the matter, however, is that this book is dark and gritty when not so many are in the YA world (at least not back when Tithe was published). It really opened not only my eyes, but also those of the YA readership to the dark potential of faerie tales, and that’s a rather amazing accomplishment.

            There are plenty of people either on the love side of the Tithe fence or the hate side. Not many dare to sit on top of the fence, including myself. I’m clearly living in a condo on the love side, and that’s not likely ever going to change. Tithe is definitely a great book to check out if you love stories involving dark matter and faeries. Happy Holidays and Happy Reading. May your presents be plentiful with books.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

            I am where dead children go.
            Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they’re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on.
            Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen’s skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While the neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There’s just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host.

            There aren’t a lot of books that come around with fresh writing in the young adult world. The young adult world is largely controlled by trends. Rin Chupeco’s The Girl from the Well brings a lot of things into the genre that had not previously been there.
            The Girl from the Well reads like a horror film, which is reasonable since the legend Okiku belongs to be the same legend from which the film The Ring was born. I knew from the first chapter, when I was introduced to Okiku and her spine-tingling profession that I was going to love the book. Girl who hangs upside down and kills murderers? Sign me up! But not only are there a lot of really spooky scares, but the writing is superb. Plus, the Japanese lore shined through beautifully, as did all of the characters.
            There weren’t a lot of things I thought could have been done better, honestly. The only thing that stuck out to me as annoying was the lack of emphasis on the fact that if the demon inside Tarquin dies, he dies too. This wasn’t really showcased well; only in tiny little actions do we see it. I definitely think the ending could have used a little more build up in this department to make the ending pop better. Then there was the awkward shift between the U.S. and Japan that was obvious. There was just too much of a lapse in time between leaving the U.S. and finally going to Yagen Valley, and it was awkward.
            But that’s pretty much it for the cons. The characters were all amazingly well rounded, and the method of making Okiku the narrator/protagonist/omniscient POV was perfect. There were so many places that we as the readers needed to be, and Okiku being the main character provided for that.
            This might be my shortest review because the book was just brilliant. The lore, the horror, the characters, the plot. I loved it all. Plus, it’s still NaNoWriMo while I’m writing up this review, and that means I’m a little busy. But at least I’m not neglecting my other duties. Seriously, though, check out this book if you love horror even slightly as much as I do. I think this book could bring some great new ideas and stories to the young adult genre.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Doll Bones by Holly Black

            Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friend for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing…and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll—who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity…

            Now I won’t lie. This review might just be a little bit of a love letter to Holly Black, so be forewarned. Ever since I first read Tithe, I fell in love with Black’s style of writing.  She’s always able to turn the most mundane, non-special of settings into something completely magical. With Tithe there was the industrial-ness of the setting that made it deadly for the fae, but then there was still the magical undertones and secret world. Doll Bones really brought me back to that enchanting feeling, but in a new way.

            The setting in Doll Bones is really anything but magical. All the magic occurs in the minds of the three main characters—Zach, Poppy and Alice. I really connected with these three because I was absolutely one of those kids that played make-believe with dolls for “too long,” but I never really stopped. I just moved mediums and became a writer! But it was amazing to get to see this ordinary world through the eyes of a group of friends with extraordinary imaginations.

            Since the world was ordinary, there wasn’t a lot of apparent magic, just whatever the kids came up with. There was, however, that little pinch of creepiness that Black likes to sow in all of her book. Most all of the adults, when looking at the friends, saw four kids instead of just three because of Eleanor the haunted bone china doll. It was the perfect amount of eerie to take the book to the next spooky level.

            The book was really a perfect look at childhood and growing up (and how much it sucks). This quest to lay the china doll to rest is sort of these kids’ last chance to be together and go on adventures like they’ve done so often throughout their lives so far. This is the last quest before they have to grow up, and that makes the book almost even more terrifying.

            What I would have really loved to see in this book is a more omniscient POV. The majority of the story is told through Zach’s eyes and that made him immediately a dynamic character. Poppy and Alice, however, were not so dynamic. I found myself getting confused as to which girl was which, and I think getting to see a little more about them would have been great. Of course, at the same time I loved the mystery of being in one, singular person’s POV.

            I honestly didn’t find much else to be wrong with the story. I think everything worked really well and I absolutely adored it. Holly Black has yet to let me down.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

            Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls-school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in sever different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

            Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission—falling in love.

            You know when you read a book and you know that only a total teeny-bopper-hopeless-romantic-uber-girl should like such a book? And then you realize that you’re 23 and apparently fall under that category because of how much you adore said book? Well I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You is one such book for me. I won’t lie. I’ve kind of avoided the Gallagher Girls series solely because it seemed a little too girly-chick-flick-ish for me and because of my fear that I’d love it despite such reasoning. I read Ally Carter’s Heist Society and then I read her All Fall Down and they were both really good, so I decided to finally give this one a chance. And here I am, giving this book five stars because I absolutely loved everything about it.

            All the details that were overkill for The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, were on-point and just enough for this book. No detail was out of place or unnecessary, and that’s what I love about Carter’s work. She’s gives a lot of background detail and lingo like it’s everyday small-talk, but in such a way that there’s no overkill! It was perfect and I fell head over heels for the school, the world, and the characters.

            I wish I could have gotten to know Cammie’s classmates better because of the final exam. These were her sisters in a mission and I wish I’d known them like sisters. The stakes throughout the book could have also been higher, especially since the book is a part of a series. While I loved Cammie’s desires to be a normal girl, I still think there should have been more fear for the consequences. I was never worried that, assuming Cammie got caught, that she’d ever be expelled or given memory-erasing tea. I feared it more for her best friends, but not so much for the headmasters’ daughter. You feel me? There could have been a stronger motive behind Cammie’s desire to be normal of course, and there really could have been some sort of minute plot to carry on through this book and into all the others. These were all nit-picky things though because I though the book was solid. A little bit too stand-alone, but super solid.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

            Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

            She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is.

            She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

            That’s it. It’s done. I’m officially on the heart transplant list after this book caused the implosion of my heart in my chest and the explosion of it out my mouth in the form of rainbow vomit all over the floor. I love this book. The book made me realize a couple of tropes I adore, that I’ll be adding to my list.

            In the end, this book is really just what I needed after my last book. One of the biggest issues that bogged me down in the last book I read, was what kept me reading this book during every inch of free time I had just to finish it (seriously, I started a new job today and every single second of free time had me reading this book like water in a desert). The chapters were succinct, and the descriptions were both heartwarming and terrifying at the same time. This book was a perfect mesh of creep-topia and shoot-me-in-the-foot-love.

            Starting with the creep factors brings me to one of the new tropes I’ve realized I love. Broken, female, protagonists. I love characters that are insane (literally in-the-psych-ward-insane). Michelle Hodkin gave just the right amount of schizophrenia in this book. I believed that Mara had PTSD and I believed the things she saw. It was the little details that brought it all together. Starting and ending with the Ouija board bit was so awesome and just Mara avoiding looking in reflective surfaces was perfectly eerie. I had no idea what to expect, and that was so refreshing and scary!

            The love part brings me to another trope. Opposites attract (cliché, I know). This one was a little different from the usual “opposites attract love story,” however. They clearly liked each other, but they fought it and just the way it was written was very opposites falling for each other. I am just in love with Mara and Noah. They’re perfection-incarnate. The things that Noah said to Mara towards the end of the book when things were getting revealed made me die inside from warm and fuzzy things. I think I could do a whole post on all the things absolutely pristine about their ship and love (but I won’t).

            Another thing that was done amazingly in this book were the plotlines. There were clearly multiple plotlines in the story and they all interlocked, but were clearly separate lines. The love story. The mystery of the asylum. The murder trial. Clearly separate, but oh so interwoven. It was amazing writing that Michelle Hodkin did in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I feel like so often writers put too much focus on one plotline and the overall story ends up flat. This story was 5D it was so deep.

            Of course, every story has its flaws and this one did have some toward the end. The story got very murky when Noah wakes up Mara with the news about Joseph. I wasn’t sure if it was dream or not until after Mara wakes up after the Mr. Lukumi bit. I was reading it and thinking “is this all a dream?” and I think it’s because Noah knocking on the window just came out of nowhere without any good buffer. I wish the murder trial story mingled into the overall story at least one time between that scene and the creepy phone call. It just needed something. Then there’s the Mr. Lukumi part that was just weird. I felt like I tripping or something, and it was just too rushed and weird.

            After that, though, everything started falling into place and truths were revealed and it was crazy! There were just so many brilliant things going on in this book that they all far outweighed the awkward flaws toward the end. I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time and I am so happy I finally have because I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to everyone (I already am).

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

            I found myself whispering, “Do you think we’ll ever discover all the secrets of the universe?”

            I was surprised to hear Susie’s voice answering my question. “That would be a beautiful thing, wouldn’t it, Ari?”

            “Yeah,” I whispered. “Really beautiful.”

            “Do you think, Ari, that love has anything to do with the secrets of the universe?”

            Dante can swim. Ari can’t. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari’s features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.

            But when Ari and Dante meet, the bond. They share books, thoughts, dreams, laughter. They teach each other new vocabularies and begin to redefine each other’s worlds. And they discover that the universe is a large and difficult place.

            This is the story about two boys, Ari and Dante, who must learn to believe in each other and the power of their friendship if they ever are to become men.

            For me, this was that book that I literally had to hug after I finished it. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a book like I love this book. It shocks me how much emotion this little book evoked in me. I think I love coming-of-age stories. Not only that, I love homosexual ships that sail. This is a little-known fact about me.

            Aristotle, or rather Ari, was a great perspective to hear the story from. He was just a boy battling a war inside of him just like his parents were battling their own. He wasn’t a man yet, and he didn’t know when it would start. Ari’s voice was beautiful and the ending of the book had me crying from happiness.

            Then there’s his best friend, Dante. He’s charming and the kindest boy ever. He introduces Ari to a wealth of new things, and it’s amazing to see the beginning of their relationship. SPOILER: Ari saves Dante’s life and that’s where you see the cogs turning. The doctor asks why, when it could have killed Ari, and Ari responds that it was a reflex. Saving the love of your life should be a reflex. END SPOILER.

            The way AUTHOR wrote the book was also gorgeous. Every chapter ended on a sort of thinker from Ari. There were a lot of little moments like that throughout the book  where Ari was just trying to figure life out (his to be more specific), and I loved them all. I kept wanted to get to the end of the chapter because I loved them so much. But I also loved starting the next chapter. It was an endless cycle.

            The only thing I don’t think I liked were how Gina and Susie’s characters weren’t a constant or consistent thing throughout the book. They did their purpose, but I wish they’d been consistent. Granted, the only friend Ari ever needed was Dante.

            Did I mention the ending killed me? I have to go buy this book and read it again it was so good. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. Beautiful, beautiful book, and I really can’t say more lest I look like an obsessed maniac. Everyone needs to read this book!

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

I have to say that I know this book was going to be good. And yet I still had no idea. The word “hfedosanvdjksnvjdfiuh” comes to mind for how I feel. This is exactly the kind of book I love to read. Dark, beautiful, fantasy. The places that Laini Taylor paints in this book are astounding. Prague is nitty, gritty and yet charming in a macabre way. I adore that.

I love that the title played such a role in the story, as well as the little breaks, which let to the next part of the story. Everything tied together. What was great was that Karou knew almost nothing about her family’s world, but it didn’t feel like that. She didn’t ask unnecessary questions, she just figured it all out through time. It kind of helped that she’d probably asked all those annoying questions before we entered the story since she lived there. Either way, it worked.

The characters were amazing. I loved everyone. Brimstone was greatly depicted in that he was a complete mystery, but it was clear that he cared very deeply for Karou. Kaz was a fun ex-boyfriend character, and I kind of wish he’d caused more mischief or just been there a little bit more. Zuzana was my favorite with her quick repertoire of hilarious remarks to cause total embarrassment for her best friend at all times.

The one character I wasn’t total in love with was Akiva. I don’t know if it was because of his part in the story, or if he just wasn’t as vivid a character, but he just didn’t pop like everyone else. Sure, he was gorgeous, but I’m more of a “what’s on the inside” kind of gal. His point in this book was to assist Karou in figuring out who and/or what she is. He did well in that aspect, and he was enticed and fell in love with Karou as all books should go. Yet still, something just wasn’t perfect.

Oh yeah! The ending. He keeps a huge secret from Karou until the very end of the book (like the last chapter before the epilogue), and I’m not talking about her identity. He should have told her the repercussions of his action from the very beginning. She’s talking about change, but he neglected to tell her that change has already come. It really made me angry, and I really just wanted her to slap him (in the face, and without a glove on). But it all piqued my interest and I’m going to get the next book and read it up before the final installment is released.

All in all, I definitely recommend this book. It’s incredibly beautiful to read and it offers up a new idea of what “heaven and hell” are like. That was great to read. I love new ideas, and this book had it all. It was beautiful and captivating, and I had no idea what to expect.

XOXO Tia