Tag Archives: YA lit

Review: Outside In (Insider #2) by Maria V Snyder

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Title: Outside In
Author: Maria V Snyder
Publisher/Year: Harlequin 2/15/11
Length: 335
Series: Insider #2

Overview

Me?

A leader?

Okay, I did prove that there’s more to Inside than we knew.

That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion—between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we’re free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again—while still touching base with Riley, of course. He’s the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there’s outside and then there is Outside.

And something from Outside wants In.

My Thoughts

I love when we get a dystopian that’s a bit different from the others and this one is – at that.  While we get a lot of answers that were started from the first book of the series – there are still so many that are left unanswered.

When we left off from book 1, The ‘new rebellion’ had overthrown the Travas, they had established the Committee and the Uppers and Scrubs were now supposed to be working together.  Problem being of course that the Uppers felt like they didn’t have to work and the Scrubs felt like they shouldn’t have to continue to do EVERYTHING.   you can’t blame them right?

So, on top of all that, while Logan’s been trying to work through the network, there have been a series of problems – explosions, sabotage they’ve discovered, and they don’t know who’s responsible.  If that weren’t enough, the computer system has also been compromised – taken over by the Controllers – and when you learn who the Controllers are, you’ll find that it’s something that while semi-unexpected – it’s something quite expected.

The biggest bits to this story really are about trust and developing relationships.  I for one wanted to see something good happen for Riley and Trella, since they seem to be well suited for each other.  It’s never easy and after a few things happen, i think that there may ultimately be no hope for them.  Then there’s Trella and her ‘mom’ – she doesn’t want to go down the path of finding out for certain yet there’s really no reason to think otherwise.  There’s so much resentment there that i spend much of the book wondering what it’s going to take to get them on the same side.

Then there are all the others – Logan, Anne-Jade, Jacy, Hank and some newer folks.  You really don’t know who to trust, and when to trust them down the line.  That’s one of the great things about this story.  Just when you get comfortable thinking that they are going down the right path, catastrophe hits, and you realize that you’ve been trusting the wrong folks.

I don’t want to give anything away – but when we learn what’s driving the Controllers, all bets are off.  The questions that are left in my mind though are

1) what caused everyone to be put into the Cube

2) where are they going and why

3) since it’s so far away, will anyone survive?

Since i don’t think that there’s another installment to this series – these are all things that i’ll have to ponder which i’m fine with, it just would have been nice to have some of those answers.  anyhow – it was nice to find a new series like this and i hope that if you haven’t read it yet, that you pick it up.  Enjoy!

Review: The Queen (The Selection #.4) by Kiera Cass

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Title:  The Queen
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 12/2/14
Length: 72
Series: The Selection #.4

Overview

Before America Singer’s story began, another girl came to the palace to compete for the hand of a different prince….

Don’t miss this digital original novella set in the captivating world of Kiera Cass’s #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series. This prequel story takes place before the events of The Selection and is told from the point of view of Prince Maxon’s mother, Amberly. Discover a whole new Selection with this inside look at how Maxon’s parents met—and how an ordinary girl named Amberly became a beloved queen.

My Thoughts

I love when we get novellas from this series since they do a really good job of giving us a new perspective on characters.  I know that i’m not alone in wishing that i knew more about Queen Amberly and her journey through her own Selection and this was a great introduction to that.  The little downside that i’ll add is that it only teased a few things – and didn’t give us the full story – but definitely enough to make the full series make sense.

In this novella installment we meet Amberly after several of the girls have already gone home, with only herself and another Four remaining.  She’s really counting down her days until she’s sent home since it seems like it’s a caste thing at this point.  The background here which is different from America’s Selection is that we learn that Amberly has been ‘in love’ with Clarkson since she was seven, so this is a dream come true for her where as America really was ambivalent for her own Selection.

Similar to what we see in America’s story, there are close friendships that are formed – and i believe that some of those girls even appeared in The Selection.  Amberly is forced to deal with several of the same struggles that we saw prior as well, never knowing where she stands with the Prince, having to fight for her place among those that are more polished and we also get to see that Amberly has to really cope with her own share of health issues -which we learn is a result of where she’s from.

So in this short story – we see the love begin to develop between her and Clarkson, which makes him more human since he’s quite the bull in The Selection.  We also see that the way that he is as a grown man and the King is a direct correlation of how he was raised since his parents have at each other in a harsh way.  It’s like the best intentions aren’t quite met here and that’s something that was passed onto Maxon.

What i miss though is that we dont see Amberly’s journey to the end – we only get close-ish.  We see what Clarkson is willing to do to keep her around and what tests he’s laid out, what secrets he’ll keep – but still, we don’t really get to see that culminate in his choice and ultimately the birth of Maxon.  I’d love that bit of the story.

Nevertheless – i think that it’s great that we got this bit, and it’ll hold me over until we get to read The Heir which will be nice since it’s the continuation of America and Maxon’s story i believe.  Enjoy!

Review: Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3) by Veronica Rossi

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Title: Into the Still Blue
Author:  Veronica Rossi
Publisher/Year:  Harper Collins Pub 1/28/14
Length: 400 Pages
Series: Under the Never Sky #3

Overview

he earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi’s epic Under the Never Sky trilogy, and sequel to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Through the Ever Night.

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it’s time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

My Thoughts

I’ve been waiting some time now for the conclusion to this trilogy, wondering what was going to happen, who was going to make it and who was going to double cross whom.  We weren’t left wanting in this conclusion.

At the end of Through the Ever Night , book 2, we see a merging of groups, the Outsiders and the Dwellers are left to work together in a sense, because Reverie has been destroyed by an Aether storm, and while some of the dwellers were able to escape with Hess, some were left behind, or chose to go with the Outsiders.  Soren, Hess’s son is one of those, and he comes to play a very important role in book 3.

Also in book 3, we are still dealing with the emotions between Perry and Roar, a brotherly bond that seems to be broken, and the rift somewhat caused by the death of Liv, Perry’s sister and Roars beloved, and partially by Aria – because she chose to leave to save Liv with Roar, and Perry thought that she was leaving him.

All complicated, but you do have to remember that they are still just barely adults – so this is a nice thing to deal with.  In addition to all the relationship struggles, the storms are getting worse, reminding everyone of what happened when the Unity happened, when the storms became somewhat constant and there was no way to avoid them.  That’s when Pods were formed and people were cast out into the wilds to fend for themselves.

This story takes us on the journey of the Tides and surviving Dwellers trying to survive literally, while trying to get their hands on a means of transportation to get them all to the Still Blue.  they also need to rescue Cinder since he’s the only one that is known to be able to control the Aether and has a chance of getting them through the barrier of an Aether wall that’s surrounding the Still Blue.  This is the basis for a majority of the story.

What i really enjoyed here is that while i like to pride myself on knowing who’s going to be on which side, and who can be trusted, i kept second guessing myself.  I never knew if Soren and Hess were on the same side, on the side of the Tides, or completely at odds.  While we knew Sable’s motives, and knew that they were evil, we didn’t know the motivations of all of those among the Horns, his tribe, and were left to wonder who was going to be a help or a harm.

There’s a lot of anxiety in the sense that you don’t know who’s going to survive and make it through, and even if everyone will find the Still Blue and if it’s what the expectations and theories say that it is.  I enjoyed the journey, but I don’t know if i enjoyed the end.  There’s a piece that i wish was a bit different, but i think that maybe it would have been a bit too much of a happy ending and who wants that right?  I think that there’s a need for certain characters to not make it to the end, and for some to find new friendships in odd places.

It gives you an interesting take on life in the future, although i still don’t know what caused the Aether storms.  I think that there was a hint about some magnetic field thing happening, but i typically prefer when a dystopian story gives us a back story to understand as well.  not a huge flaw here, just something that i’d like to understand more.  I guess the only question that remains is if we’ll get another novella about any other characters now that the trilogy has ended.  we had the nice story about roar and liv – so i wonder if there’s more that can be done given what we saw occur throughout this series and towards the end.

Review: Endless (The Violet Eden Chapters #4) by Jessica Shirvington

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Title: Endless
Author: Jessica Shirvington
Publisher/Year: Sourcebooks Inc  10/1/13
Length:  480 pages
Series:  The Violet Eden Chapters #4

Overview

LOVE WILL KILL US ALL

Violet Eden thought she was getting things under control. Then all hell breaks loose—literally. In the war between angels and exiles, she’s about to face the biggest baddie of all time. Except she’s not nearly ready.

The dark exile Phoenix is still messing with her head—not to mention her heart. And her undeniable attraction to Lincoln has gotten downright dangerous. When Hell unleashes its worst, Violet must embrace every facet of her angel self to save the people she cares about and the world as she knows it. But death is not the worst thing she will face…

My Thoughts

Each time i begin reading the next installment in this series, i wonder what’s going to get thrown at us next.  I mean, seriously, there’s so much pent up frustration between Vi and Linc that i really wonder when they will make the choice to be together – and while we got the big proclamation from Lincoln at the end of the last book, i still wonder if they are going to join souls. BIG conversations on this happening throughout Endless.

Where we left off in the last story, Violet and Phoenix end up releasing Lillith from Hell and along with her comes Evelyn, Violet’s mother.  SHOCKER right?  So now the questions lie in what’s going to happen since we know that Lillith wants to kill off all of those that are yet to embrace so that there won’t be any more Grigori.  She’s downright evil!

Everyone treks to the Academy in New York where Violet’s mom and dad are put in a cell, and violet is forced to train to be ‘tested’ to determine if she’s fit to be a Grigori.  While all of this is going on, Dapper, Steph and Onyx are trying to track down the ingredients to the healing potion that’s been a secret for ages that will hopefully save the world.

Griffin and Lincoln continue to reinforce the need for Violet to hide some of her powers since no one other than them knows that her angel maker is The Sole and that she’s so powerful.  Could mean for big problems.

Of course, nothing ever happens w/o Phoenix showing up and making things even more complicated.  What we get in this 4th book though is a reminder that there’s actually a nice guy in there – the same guy that Violet sort of fell for at the very beginning, but the question really becomes whether he can be trusted or not.

A lot happens in this story – we get to see resolutions to a lot of stuff, however i have to say that my heart was breaking and i was getting a bit teary as i was in the final few chapters.  It’s nice when you see things resolved as they should be, but that doesn’t come without a price.  Characters that we really grow close to die, and that’s never a good thing.  I’m also really sad about some of the decisions that had to be made towards the end for everyone’s ‘safety and happiness’ but i guess we’ll get to see how that plays out since i’m happy to say that i saw there’s another installment coming out in a few months.

My never ending questions with this saga are:

1) will violet and Lincoln ever get together, stay together and be happy?

2) What’s next with Phoenix – he really is a roller coaster in this series

3) is the relationship with Violet’s mom and dad destined to be?

4) are we done with lillith yet?

5) what does the bargaining that Violet did at the end mean – are there going to be repercussions?

enjoy!!!!

Review: Horde (Razorland #3) by Ann Aguirre

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Title: Horde
Author: Ann Aguirre
Publisher/Year: Feiwel & Friends 10/29/13
Length:  432 pages
Series:  Razorland Trilogy #3

Overview

The horde is coming.

Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they’re not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce from the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn’t run. With her knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade’s love.

Ahead, the battle of a lifetime awaits. Freaks are everywhere, attacking settlements, setting up scouts, perimeters, and patrols. There hasn’t been a war like this in centuries, and humans have forgotten how to stand and fight. Unless Deuce can lead them.

This time, however, more than the fate of a single enclave or outpost hangs in the balance. This time, Deuce carries the banner for the survival of all humanity.

My Thoughts

I’ve been trying to read this final installment of the series for quite some time, and finally finished it.  I don’t know why – but when i started it back a few weeks ago, i got only a few chapters in and it wasn’t sticking.  Lucky for me, i had a long plane ride yesterday and picked it back up to read since it’s airplane friendly reading…..and i’m thrilled that i finished it.

In this third and final book of the series, we are finding ourselves hanging in the balance again – where something needs to be done to kill the Horde of freaks before they kill the humans, and Deuce needs to find a way to convince people that they need to fight.  The Huntress in her comes out full force in this story and we see her growing up quite a bit.

After making an agreement with Colonel Park to get information from one of the other settlements, she has been given permission to try to create an army that’s not tied to one town, but that will band together to fight at One.  while at first she finds little success outside of her settlement, she continues to push forward.  Through the help of traders that are trusted by the other towns, word begins to spread that they are forming, fighting small battles and winning, and somehow manage to gain more recruits.  Deuce finds herself with a set of new confidantes that are amazing resources to him.

What’s really nice about this book is that we see a lot of relationship development and that really helps bring the plot along.  there’s the continued struggle with Deuce and Stalker on how to make any friendship work or not….and how to make it work with Fade.  Tegan begins to come into her own as a medic since her skills are needed now more than ever because of things that happen in Salvation and across the land.  Deuce helps put her ‘family’ (the Oaks) back together and grows it too…and she reunites with Stone and Thimble somehow

Now i’m kind of sad to see the series end, since i really enjoyed where it took us.  There were characters that were adored that didn’t make it to the end of the book, and that made things all that much more bittersweet.

the off point for me though is that usually i find an epilogue to be really helpful and a great way to provide closure.  I’m not sure that this one really did that – or was necessary  but i get why the author wrote it.   Is it bad of me to hope that maybe there will be another novella that would give us another look into the underground and maybe where their story continues?  i feel like there’s room for it now that Topside keeps changing.  Just a thought – Enjoy!

 

ARC Review: The Torturer’s Daughter by Zoe Cannon

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Title: The Torturer’s Daughter
Author: Zoe Cannon
Publisher/Year: CreateSpace Independent Publishing 12/11/13
Length:  274 pages

Overview

Overview

When her best friend Heather calls in the middle of the night, Becca assumes it’s the usual drama. Wrong. Heather’s parents have been arrested as dissidents – and Becca’s mother, the dystopian regime’s most infamous torturer, has already executed them for their crimes against the state.

To stop Heather from getting herself killed trying to prove her parents’ innocence, Becca hunts for proof of their guilt. She doesn’t expect to find evidence that leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about the dissidents… and about her mother.

When she risks her life to save a dissident, she learns her mother isn’t the only one with secrets – and the plot she uncovers will threaten the lives of the people she loves most. For Becca, it’s no longer just a choice between risking execution and ignoring the regime’s crimes; she has to decide whose life to save and whose to sacrifice.

It’s easy to be a hero when you can save the world, but what about when all you can do is choose how you live in it? THE TORTURER’S DAUGHTER is a story about ordinary teenage life amidst the realities of living under an oppressive regime… and the extraordinary courage it takes to do what’s right in a world gone wrong

My Thoughts

I was in the market for a new dystopian to get into, since i’m always interested in what POV they would take things – would it be a society that’s formed based on over throwing the government or was it a result of disease or war?  In this case we learn that it’s in response to something political, but that’s about as far as we get.

We are first introduced to Becca when her best friend Heather calls her to get her out of 117 which is a processing center where ‘dissidents’ are taken once they are arrested.  Dissidents here are the ones that are against the government and must be killed or held captive until they are proven to be useful. 

This night is really the turning point for Becca since her life begins to change from here.  While her friend Heather is released, Heather’s parents are not, and it’s from Becca’s mother that she learns that Heather’s parents were dissidents.  this opens Becca’s eyes to the fact that maybe all that she knows isn’t the truth, and she begins to question everything.  She wonders if her mom is lying to her about everything and what can be believed.  While she tried to stand up for Heather in school since everyone now thinks that she’s one of the opposition, Becca finds herself in the line of fire as well.  It’s through the help of a boy – Jake that she feels like someone is on their side. 

Jake has a past of his own, he used to live in their town and ‘disappeared’ for a few years, only to return now.  Becca is quite skeptical of his presence, and wonders if he’s a spy or is looking to do more harm than good, even when he seems interested in her. 

So, what we get here is a story that’s quite YA in nature, with bits of Dystopia peppered in. 

What frustrates me about this story though is that we get ZERO backstory.  what i mean by this is that we have no idea why society is the way that it is and what happened to make it this way.  We also really only get to scratch the surface on anything.  meaning relationships and the sort.  It took me a little time to get into the story at first since i kept waiting for something to happen.  with the opening being as exciting as it was, Becca running in the middle of the night to save her friend, we go downhill from there.  I still to this moment have no idea what the dissidents actually do, if they are talking about overthrowing anything, or what exactly the deal is.  

If this is a series (i’m not sure if it is, although the ending implied more to come) then i think that the 2nd installment really needs to take us a step back to understand things.  I also think that there needs to be a bit more character development since we get a tease of what life was like when Becca’s parents were together, but i’m curious if her father will play a bigger role in the future?

so…all in all, average – i’d love to get someone else’s opinion on this.  The good news for you guys if you don’t get ARCs, it’s available for $0.99 today online if you want to pick it up and see for yourself! 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Torturers-Daughter-ebook/dp/B009UEVWCW

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-torturers-daughter-zoe-cannon/1113578832?ean=2940015509359

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=1230000026330

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/247175

 

Review: Endless by Amanda Gray

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Title:  Endless
Author: Amanda Gray
Publisher/Year:  Month9Books 9/10/13
Length:  315 pages

Overview

Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumble onto an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought—like a past life! Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her dreams who has now appeared next door, was there, too. Jenny is forced to acknowledge that Nikolai has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny, and Nikolai race against the clock—and the Order—Jenny and Nikolai discover a link that joins them in life and beyond death.

My Thoughts

I’m new to this author so i really didn’t have any expectations. From what i gathered from this story, i was expecting to get a ‘lovely’ YA story of a girl who was coming into her own, with her fair share of things to cope with.  namely the ability that others don’t have.

What i really enjoyed though was the way that we were taken on their journey.  There’s a great tale of discovery where we see what’s expected in the relationships that are developed between our main characters – Jenny, Nikolai and Ben.  I’m always one who roots for the underdog which Jenny seems at the onset, but it’s quickly turned around that there’s more that’s going to develop and you want her to be happy and with the right person…in the right time.

I can’t say that it was overly deep – but then again i wasn’t expecting that in this instance.  I wanted to suspend my reality for a bit which i did, and i wanted to follow anxiety and wonder of discovering that you may have shared something in the past with someone and that they are in your present for a reason…no matter how right or wrong that is.

I hope you guys enjoy this – just don’t have uber high expectations, take it for what it is.

 

Review: Revenge Wears Prada (Devil Wears Prada #2) by Lauren Weisberger

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Title:  Revenge Wears Prada
Author: Lauren Weisberger
Publisher/Year:  Simon & Schuster 6/4/13
Length:  400 pages
Series: Devil Wears Prada #2

Overview 

The sequel you’ve been waiting for: the follow-up to the sensational #1 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada.

Almost a decade has passed since Andy Sachs quit the job “a million girls would die for” working for Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine—a dream that turned out to be a nightmare. Andy and Emily, her former nemesis and co-assistant, have since joined forces to start a highend bridal magazine. The Plunge has quickly become required reading for the young and stylish. Now they get to call all the shots: Andy writes and travels to her heart’s content; Emily plans parties and secures advertising like a seasoned pro. Even better, Andy has met the love of her life. Max Harrison, scion of a storied media family, is confident, successful, and drop-dead gorgeous. Their wedding will be splashed across all the society pages as their friends and family gather to toast the glowing couple. Andy Sachs is on top of the world. But karma’s a bitch. The morning of her wedding, Andy can’t shake the past. And when she discovers a secret letter with crushing implications, her wedding-day jitters turn to cold dread. Andy realizes that nothing—not her husband, nor her beloved career—is as it seems. She never suspected that her efforts to build a bright new life would lead her back to the darkness she barely escaped ten years ago—and directly into the path of the devil herself…

My Thoughts 

I can’t say that i had the highest expectations of this story – but i think that i was kind of hoping for more.  I really enjoyed Devil Wears Prada and the movie was a decent interpretation.  The problem now though is that since i’ve seen the movie endless number of times, those are the images that i have in my head and that means that all of the characters in this sequel have to be the actresses/actors and that’s just not right!

So let’s just start with the overview of this story – granted i know that they write things to lure you in, but what you get in the first handful of chapters jive with this but the whole story isn’t necessarily based on it all.  I was expecting a bit more drama in a few places and we didn’t get that.

What we DO get is a new found friendship between Emily and Andy which is nice.  They had a hate hate relationship back in the runway days, but after re-meeting at a cooking class, being paired together and realizing that it’s not because of themselves that they hate each other, the start to bond.  It’s a nice thing for andy given that she’s alone (single since the breakup with Alex), her best friend Lily just moved to Colorado and her parents are getting divorced.  Emily is just what the doctor ordered.

Also, we see that Andy is quite strong on her own and we get this throughout the book.  After giving Miranda the big ‘F U’, she’s managed to land on her feet professionally and parlay that into something great and amazing both on her own and with the help of Emily.

So, as I was reading this story, there were things that i knew that were going to happen, things that i kind of hoped wouldn’t happen, and a thing or 2 that i was actually a little bit surprised about.

Where this leaves me?  My questions for you to think about as you read:

1) How does Miranda fit into everything and is she as bad as we remember, or worse?

2) how strong is Andy and Emily’s friendship really?

3) What’s going to happen with Andy and Max?

4) Do you ever wonder about Alex and Andy?  we know that Andy does….:)

so….an average 3 out of 5 stars i’d have to say…not bad but not amazing.  Happy Reading!

Review: The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass

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Title: The Elite 
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 4/23/13
Length: 323 pages
Series: The Selection #2

I had been waiting far too long for this 2nd installment to come out and finally – yesterday came and i was a happy camper.  I really wanted to take time away from work to read but of course that never happens.  So, finally when i got home around 8p i was able to pick up the book, and read it straight through to the end.

The Plot:  We pick up the story coming out of the ending of The Selection where Prince Maxon has decided that because of the rebel attacks, he was going to skip some of the individual eliminations and go straight to narrowing down the group to The Elite 6.  Because America wasn’t fully sure where she stood with Maxon and her feelings towards Aspen, she didn’t know if she was for certain staying, however we all know that Maxon has significant feelings for her and she was the final girl chosen to remain.  So this is where the story starts off.

The girls, Celeste, Elise, Natalie, Marlee, Kriss and America are the remaining girls.  Instead of such casual activities, the girls are asked to take on more and more in preparation for one to be the princess.  They are given ‘projects’ to show if they are able to handle and understand the responsibilities that they will undertake as well as allow the royals to see which girl the country feels best about.  (since we know it’s not all about how maxon feels, it’s really about the puppet-master his father).

As the story progresses, we see that Maxon continues to be completely ‘in love’ with America and gives her far more attention than he does anyone else.  America is completely confused about what she wants since she’s decided that she’s going to see where her relationship with Maxon goes, but she’s still connected to Aspen since he’s not willing to give up.  It’s really hard and we see some of the 17 yr old angst come out with America.  In this story much more than in The Selection, she tends to be a bit wishy washy and i actually wanted to smack her a bit.

Going back to the girls for a second, we know that Celeste is vying for the crown more than Maxon which is fine, Elise realizes (some what) that she’s there for her ties to New Asia, Natalie and Kriss are there because they are ‘nice’ and America is there for ‘passion’   If you remember back to the Selection, Marlee and America had some tension and the reason behind it comes out more in The Elite.  you get real clarity on what’s going on there and it makes for a great story and tense scene.

So as this story progresses, we see relationships really changing.  We see that Maxon really wants things to work with America but she keeps going back and forth, because she’s jealous, because Aspen is in her head about things (good and bad) and she’s really uncertain of herself (which is totally fair).

Where this story leaves us off is a cliff hanger of sorts.  personally, i’m rooting for The One (book 3) to go a certain way however i’m not sure what’s going to happen. i kind of hope that it’s a REALLY LONG final book of the trilogy since there’s a lot that needs to be resolved.

So back to the format that i had in some earlier reviews, here are my questions:

1) Who does maxon choose?  America, Celeste and Kriss seem to be front runners

2) Who does America choose?  Maxon or Aspen

3) Do we think that Maxon is playing games with everyone? or is he true to what we see?

4) is Maxon’s father the king like Gergory Illea?  Is that somethign to worry about?

5) what are the rebels searching for?  why do they keep attacking and will everyone be safe?

6) Will America use the phone number that she got from the Italians for anything and how will that help since Italy isn’t quite an ally yet?

so many questions  – and we have to wait until 2014 i think for answers.  happy reading!

Review: Walking Disaster (Beautiful Disaster #) By Jamie McGuire

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Title: Walking Disaster 
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher/Year: Atria Books, 4/2/13
Length: 438 pages
Series: Beautiful Disaster #2

I love the trend of stories that are done in the male lead’s POV, and this was exactly that.  I think that we can all happily say that the story of Travis and Abby was one of great passion (be it good bad or otherwise) so it was nice to see it from Travis’s side of things.

What i really enjoyed about this story is that while in BD we got the sense that Travis had this past that made him into a tough guy, it’s really more to the point that his mother’s passing was the reason that he was the way that he was.  His mother’s parting words were to ‘fight for what you love’ and because of that, he found that he was wary of loving and then found that it was really hard to do that.

The journey that walking disaster took us on was one of jealousy and uncertainty.  i think that Travis really didn’t think that he was worthy of anything, of being good enough for someone that was good and even that he was worthy of his family.  he grew past the struggles of a father who had a hard time adjusting to being a widower and 4 older brothers that were tough guys on their own.

Regardless, i think that it was a nice perspective – there were a few scenes that we didn’t delve into in this installment since in BD they were solely about Abby, but there were also pieces that we got to see in this that we missed out on.  We saw more of the gritty side of things – with Travis going to the local bar/club a lot more since that’s who he was.  we saw his relationship with his fraternity brothers which i don’t know why i don’t remember that much from BD

All in all, the BEST part i think was the epilogue in this installment.  I didn’t think that we were going to get that story at all – and i think that i was a FANTASTIC addition and closure to the whole story.  If for nothing else, this just shows that you can have a ‘stand alone’ story with a reverse POV and wrap it up all nicely so that there’s no want for another book in the series.  NICELY DONE is basically what i can say about this book.