Title: Prodigy
Author: Marie Lu
Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Review:
Day 1 of 5 books, 7 days

Now that. That’s just not even fair!
Marie Lu has once again broken me!
I honestly didn’t like Tess at all in Prodigy. She was too much, too forceful, and it just didn’t seem like she was the same person she was in Legend. And it made me mad at Day, too! Day and Tess just never would have worked in my mind. If he viewed her as a sister for so long, I don’t think you can just change from that point of view.
June.
June knew what was going on in this book, she was on top of everything from the very beginning. And then she got sick! I was like 99% sure she was going to die or get seriously injured or something, but clearly in the mind of Marie Lu, I know nothing!
THAT ENDING!
I thought I was going to cry for sure. Certainly Day doesn’t die, right? Do I really want to read the last book to find out? I’m afraid to. One thing I don’t understand about characters that know they are going to die ahead of time, DO NOT push away your significant other because you think it will be easier when you die. It DOES NOT work that way! Ever!

Additional Thoughts:
This literally broke me a little, but I must push on to complete my challenge! Although, now I have to bump up Champion on my TBR list, because I probably won’t be able to hang onto my sanity for that much longer.

Next I’ll Be (Re)Reading: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title: Beautiful Darkness
Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Rating: 2/5

Goodreads Review:
Well. I didn’t remember how much I disliked this book until I was about 150 pages in and I started remembering things. Lena is terrible in this book. Ethan is a little too clingy. More so that he was before in the first book! Don’t even get me started on John Breed. He and Lena just…I can’t even. Like, how did Lena think any of that was a good idea? No matter if she thought she was going Dark or not. There were literally thousands of signs that pointed to “NO” all over that!
One thing I like about this book. Liv. Liv made this book. If Lena had gone Dark, Ethan needed to end up with Liv.

This book just doesn’t continue the amazingness from the first book. It’s disappointing and even a little sad, but I will nonetheless continue on with the third book…later. I’m certainly not in the mood for another book about Lena after this one.

Additional Thoughts:
I’m disappointed. I wanted to reread this series because I love the first book and I remembered the first book, but I didn’t remember the second or third and some parts of the fourth, but now I remember why I didn’t remember the second. It’s terrible! I must have pushed the memories of it aside or maybe there just wasn’t anything memorable at all. Very disappointing. I didn’t remember Liv, though, so that was a small plus when she came in, because I actually like her character. But honestly, such a huge let down from Beautiful Creatures.

Next I’ll Be Reading: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Title: The Iron Trial
Authors: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Review:
This book was interesting. It was interesting in the sense that I’m not entirely sure how it managed to fool me not once, but like 3 or 4 times. Without spoilers, let me just give a list of the things you think you’ll know, but really you didn’t.

1. The antagonist for the first book
2. The antagonist for the series
3. The protagonist for everyone

That’s just a few things that left me silently laughing to myself in shock like a crazy person. My point is, this is a great book for younger, middle school, early high school readers that want some humour at times! The main character isn’t perfect, which I think can teach kids (and adults) that they don’t have to be the smartest, fastest, prettiest, or the healthiest to make a change and be a hero!

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author(s): Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Rating:  5/5

Goodreads Review:
This book just doesn’t disappoint. It’s just SO well written and I love that it’s from a guy’s perspective, because most the time it’s from a female pov. Not to mention the story is uber unique. Most books that are over 500 pages or 400 for that matter, tend to have a lot of filler scenes that don’t really relate to the story and you could read the entire book without them and still understand what’s going on, but literally every single page of the book is worth reading. I can’t wait to continue my re-read of this series soon!

Some of my favorite things:
1. Ethan.
2. Ethan and Lena. ❤
3. Ridley, because Sirens and magic and general awesome.
4. The heartbreaking plot.
5. THE ENDING

For those that watched the movie, but didn’t read the book. You are missing out.

Title: The New Agenda
Author: Simone Pond
Rating:  5/5

Goodreads Review:
I think I might like this one more than the first book. I LOVED learning about Morray’s life before and about how he became the person he is 300 years later. It’s like you can’t help but feel sorry for him now, because we know so much about his past. The betrayal. The loss. The time he lost! So much pressure put on someone his age. Through the entire book I just keep cheering for Morray and Sarah, because for some reason I couldn’t stand Dru (I know why now). I’m so excited to get into the next book. Although now I have this weird thing where I want Ava and Morray to be together, but there’s Joseph and their daughter, Grace, in the way of that, so I guess I’ll just have to keep reading!

Additional Thoughts:
Seriously though, Team Morray.

Next I’ll be Reading: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and The Mainframe by Simone Pond

Title: The Witch Hunter
Author: Virginia Boecker
Rating:  5/5
Release Date: 6/2/15

Goodreads Review:
What. What. WHAT. WHAT!? There are reasons why we have “most anticipated” novels. This, this book right here is the epitome of “most anticipated”. The Witch Hunter drags you in from page one and keeps you wanting more after the last page. There’s so much emotion and betrayal and amazingness that I literally cannot handle it. I picked up this book with high expectations. Only a handful of times have my expectations that were high to begin with been surpassed. This is one of those times. I flew through the first 150 pages without even noticing. It went by so fast, because I kept turning and turning and turning the pages until BAM!!! half way through the book. Then the last chapter or so just magnified the awe. I needed to set the book to the side when I was finished, because I no longer felt worthy to be holding it.

Just a few things that are amazing in this book:
1. The main character; badass female that looks all cute, but is a raging fighter.
2. No instalove. Hardly focuses on love at all, but when it does, it’s perfect.
3. The plot. Unique, surprises you, keeps you guessing, makes you want more.
4. The other major characters. Don’t worship the ground that the main character walks on, make their own decisions, actually add to the plot and aren’t just there to be there.
5. Character development. Slow, not instant, but definitely noticeable by the end .

Long story short, you’re going to want this on your shelf when it comes out.

Additional Thoughts:
If you couldn’t tell from the above, I loved this book very much and it is now on the top of my favorite books for 2015 and possibly of all time. Certainly up there with The Wrath and the Dawn that I read a few weeks ago, which was also on my top three for the year. Now I only have one spot for my top three books for the year. I don’t know if I can do that, so I’m making it my top ten books instead.

Next I’ll be (re)reading: Beautiful Creatures by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia

Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Review:
As a book lover, I think the proper reaction to burning books is to flail around in mass anger and panic.
I like Fahrenheit 451 as much as the next person, it’s interesting and most people can agree that it’s very uncanny that Bradbury predicted so much of what we have today. The obsessions over TV and not talking to people face to face. Let’s not forget the cell phone. I don’t love this book, though. In my mind there’s a little too much description and that it can be confusing at times with the wording, but overall a wonderful book that certainly gives a message worth remembering.

Title: The Ice Twins
Author: S.K. Tremayne
Rating:  4/5
Release date: 5/19/15

Goodreads Review:
Woah. That was a whirlwind of craziness and confusion. The good kind. At first, I had a hard time getting into this book. It seemed like a simple sob story about how a family loses a child, but it was oh so much more. Sarah and Angus only have one surviving daughter, Kirstie, after a tragic accident. They move from their house to go to new place, an island where they hope to get a fresh start. Until Kirstie starts saying that she’s really her twin sister, Lydia.
This story revolves around Sarah as she tries to piece together what happened and which daughter is the surviving daughter.
This story got extremely confusing in some parts, because some people were calling the daughter Kirstie and some people were calling her Lydia. I couldn’t keep it straight most of the time. The ending, though. Wow. It was the most confusing, yet the most interesting part of the entire book. It’s one of those you just have to read to find out why.

Additional Thoughts:
This is a great book for suspense lovers and people that are into the supernatural, paranormal thing. The last few pages give you a glimpse into the future (six months in the future) on how the family is living and it makes you question the whole book. Overall, amazing!

Next I’ll be reading: The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker

Series – The Infernal Devices
Author – Cassandra Clare
Number of books – 3
Overall rating – 5/5

This is a great series. I would openly say that I love this series more than I like The Mortal Instruments. The story is so much more interesting, it’s almost always full of action. I actually love Will Herondale more than Jace. It’s difficult to explain just how amazing this trilogy is. Just read it.

Title: Tiny Pretty Things
Author(s): Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
Rating: 3.5 or 4/5 (can’t decide)
Release date: 5/26/15

Goodreads Review:
Bette is a drama queen, she is the top dog, the star of stars…until Gigi wins the spot that she so rightfully deserved. Or at least that’s what she says.

Gigi is the outcast. She is shy and expects to not get a very big part in…well…anything. Until she gets the lead in the upcoming performance. It’s not what she expected.

June has it all planned out. She knows who’s getting what and she’s completely focused on what she needs to do…there’s only one problem…she never thought about what part she would get.

These two lovely authors convey a great message about the cutthroat world of ballerinas and dance. Sure, dance is fun and people love to do it, but what do you do when you work your whole life for dancing and dedicate hours of practice just to be ridiculed by your peers and driven mad with harassment and rumors!? This book is the epitome of drama in…drama! I used to do ballet and I would never think that the soft, pink world of pointe shoes and tutus would be this savage and chaotic!
I simply couldn’t sympathize with Gigi. I know I was supposed to, but dang she was a showoff. Maybe I’m the only one, but I almost liked Bette more. Although, I would have loved to have the whole book (or a portion) from Cassie’s point of view. Cassie might have only been in the story a short amount of time, but geez I really liked her character. In my mind, June could have been almost completely eliminated and it would not have effect the book at all.
Overall, I’m thrilled to have gotten a review copy (a signed one nonetheless) of this amazing book. I recommend this to lovers of theatre and dance…or just drama. Lots and lots of drama.

Additional Thoughts:
I struggle with rating this. I feel like I didn’t love it enough to make it a 4, but I also feel that 3.5 is too low. The book was amazing, don’t get me wrong. I read the whole thing in a day, but it just wasn’t as interesting as I would have hoped in some parts and the genre in general isn’t my favourite, so I wasn’t as into it as I would have liked.

Next I’ll be Reading: The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne