UPDATE! SWITCHING TO WORDPRESS

Hey, my lovely followers and friends. I have made the switch to WORDPRESS. It seems so much user friendly. They actually have an app that I can use. I will see if BLOGGER ever decides to update some things. Here is my new blog address:

booksarethenewblackblog.wordpress.com

Come join me at my new home!

Gemina by @Amie_Kaufman & Jay_Kristoff

I had to battle between 4 and 5 stars. 4 stars just had to win out because I had some issues with the plot and the aliens. 

I’m really surprised that I like this series so much. I had so many people recommend Illuminae and loved it after I dove in. I will say, I was skeptical that I would enjoy the format. It’s very different than anything I have ever read. These books are told through emails, video logs, chat rooms and letters to give you the plot. 

This book has all new characters. I didn’t realize this until I started getting into it. I was confused at first :-P. I loved Hannah! She was so awesome and didn’t take crap from anyone. I really liked all the characters though. The plot felt a bit slow at times but I think that was because it’s a lot of video logs and we don’t really get as much from the personal side. In Illuminae there were a lot more chat room convos and emails sent back and forth. 

One of my issues was the alien monsters. It just felt so forced and really kind of odd. It didn’t fit into the book as easily as the first book. I was more annoyed than scared by them, if that makes any sense. It just didn't flow with the plot. 

I will say that Aiden might be one of my favorites. His dialogue is really witty but at the same time makes you think. 

There are a lot of plot twists in this book but the romance was so predictable. It’s okay, it’s a YA book. 
This was a great book! I really enjoyed it and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. The book itself is just gorgeous, I’m really loving this style. 

A Torch Against the Night by @Sabaa_Tahir

This book was just fantastic!! I seriously love Elias and Laia. Honestly, I like all the characters in this series, so far. I REALLY want to know why this author is trying to kill me!! That ending.. are you kidding me?!

I loved that we learned SO much more about this world in this book. We learn about the magical elements and what is really going on. We also get to know who the actual villain is too. We also meet MANY new characters but also lose some. This book flips back and forth between the POV of Laia, Elias and Helene.

I hate what the author did with a stupid love triangle. I understand how it’s essential to the plot of the book and the Silver but COME ON! Ugh. She’s totally into Elias, right?! Then things change and I’m not really okay with that but then things change again! LOL.

Helene…   poor girl is just going to be a tortured BROKEN soul from now on. I really never knew if she would actually hurt Elias. She goes back and forth and in the end, I think she might have. We will never know.

I’m taking a minute to talk about Afya. How have I not heard more about her?! She’s such a badass and she is really climbing up the ranks to one of my favorite characters! She was awesome in this book and I’m so hoping she will be playing a bigger role in the next book.

If you are looking for a book with happy endings, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU! I mean, who knows what happens in the final book but this book is just pure torture for all the characters. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great book but it’s definitely not your typical, “happy ending-ish” book for any character.

I’m absolutely so upset that I have to wait until 2018 for the next one!!! I was so hoping it would come out this year but it is not :(

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

I took this book on vacation and I had no idea what it was about. I have an anxiety when it comes to flying. Of course, this book is about a plane crash!! Are you kidding me?! Guess it's my fault, for not seeing what this was about first. haha. 

Anyways, I kept having this book recommended to me but sometimes I'm skeptical. I really liked it. It's so intense that it made my plan ride fast. I just couldn't put it down! You have all these different possibilities and you have no idea, which way the author will take you. 

I really liked the writing. I had a hard time not pulling this back out, right away (after landing). I love how he delves into each of the character's lives and we get more of a background of ALL the characters from this crash. Throughout the rest of the book, we jump from past to present day. I didn't have an issue with this but more about the addition of too many characters later. 

After the fall, aka crash, there are two survivors. Scott ends up saving he and the boys life by swimming to shore. What!! I would have died for sure. I'm terrified of what's in the ocean and I cannot imagine it. It's amazing how he actually makes it to shore, with a boy on his back. As Scott is thrown into the limelight and being pegged a hero, for saving the boys life, all kinds of media comes after him. His life is opened up, while he's trying to stay in hiding. It's amazing how quickly he turns from the hero to the suspect of fowl play. 

Throughout this whole book, I had different conclusions and none of them were right! This book is a decently fast read. The reason I dropped this a star was because once you hit the middle of the book, something is lost and the end is just so-so. I don't particularly like how he introduces the issues with the aunt's life. He introduces too many more characters and it just takes away from plot. It started out so strong, until about half way. The ending was just okay and I was a bit disappointed after I finished. Overall, this is a good book and I liked it! 

Book Recommendations

I've been in a reading slump.. I would love some recommendations for books!! Please comment with your great recommendations! 

True Letters From A Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

This book really reminded me of “To All The Boys I Loved Before” by Jenny Han. Really, it’s kind of similar, in the fact, all his letters that he writes to people get sent out. Well, not all of them but still. Really this book is just about James trying to come out to his family and friends. 

I felt like this book was not really true to how things would really play out. I don’t buy that his girlfriend and friends would be so accepting right away. I think that’s more of a fantasy and things would play out more how Mark handled things. The way that he casually tells his best friend that he’s into him and he’s just like.. okay, thanks. That’s hard for me to believe. It’s also annoying to me when the main character does not take responsibility! He’s trying so hard to figure out who sent the letters, without really doing anything about it. The ending is just okay, it really fell flat for me. I guess, he’s mostly happy, so that is good. 

I think mostly because of how I kept thinking of Jenny Han's book and so this just really didn't hit well with me. 

Highly Illogical Behavior by

This book could have been much better, if there was more delving into these characters. My biggest issue is that things are kind of just left open and unanswered. We don’t get any ideas what was going on between Lisa and Clark’s relationship. Why was he acting so aloof? I mean the whole time, the author is basically setting up Clark to be gay. Does he changes his mind at the last minute? Was he trying to trick us by being predictable and then throwing a twist? If he’s not gay, what were the problems between him and Lisa?

 Then take Sol and his anxiety. I kept waiting for the big reveal of why he had such a horrible panic attack in school. I kept thinking that there was some issue with a friend or someone found out about his sexual orientation and wasn’t nice. We don’t really get anything just that it happened. I guess those things can happen but I felt like he kept leading up to something and never got there. 

I didn’t really like Lisa’s character at all. She’s trying to “fix” someone’s psychological problems, for an essay, with no experience at all. At the end, I feel like she still didn’t really learn her lesson. The only characters that I really liked from this book are Sol’s parents. They were great! They added some humor and made this book so much better.

 I just felt really unsatisfied with this book as a whole. It’s a great concept but really bad execution. The ending just felt rushed and really random too. We then didn’t’ get any clarification on any of the big plot issues, just an ending.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

This is my second Ruta Sepetys novel. I really liked all these characters, well besides Alfred. I do get what she was doing. She was showing how those, who really believed the Nazi philosophy to the core. 

I think that she did a great job with the secondary characters too. I loved them all. My favorite by far, was Emilia. Oh, the shoemaker and all his wisdom. I was devastated when he jumped into the ocean. In this book there are 4 POV’s throughout the book and we flip back and forth to all of them. Every chapter is a different one but chapters are anywhere from 2-4 pages long. This makes for a very fast read.

 To me, the most amazing and phenomenal chapter is when Emilia is dying. She sees her daughter, mother and brother. She’s so happy and realizes that she’s okay. What a beautiful scene to see when you are dying. It made my heart so happy to think that she was so very happy at the end. I think this girl has the most growth and character development, besides maybe Florian. The way she seems so childlike to find out that she’s 8 months pregnant. She tries so hard to believe that it’s her boyfriends and that they love each other, when the truth is more horrific. She then wants nothing to do with the baby but then Florian comes in and saves the day. He restores her hope and in the end she trusts him more than anyone. I really do hope that he did justice to her memory because she is one heck of a person and mother.

 Like I said, this was a quick read. I read it all in one day, in a few hours. The only problem I had was that sometimes I would get lost between the past and present. Sometimes we would just be thrown in the past and I had no idea, until I’m halfway through the chapter. Overall, I really liked this book and you can bet that I did cry at the end. What a tragedy. I just don’t understand how so many people can have so much hate. I feel like this really relates to the world right now and it’s terrifying. The rest of the day, I was in a depressed mood from this book. It amazes me that this is one of the worst losses of life in ship sinking history and I have never heard of it. Ever. The very first I have heard of, Wilhelm Gustlof  is in this book! That just seems crazy to me. 

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

This book was very intense. We have three different POV’s and each of their chapters kind of digs into their home life a little more. You learn more about each character, even though, they don’t know these things about each other. These three best friends are in their Senior year and struggling with what to do next in life. One is trying to get into college, another is trying to deal with his father’s ugly scandal and the other is just trying to lay low, from his abusive father. 

First we have Dill, who is the one who is trying to live with his father’s very public fall from grace. He was a pastor that got caught with child pornography and is now in prison. He is being bullied at school and people are shaming him all throughout his town. He has his parents debt to worry about and they are forcing him to help pay it off. He’s also dealing with some serious depression throughout this whole book. One thing is evident, he’s in love with his best friend, Lydia. She’s about to go off to college and he’s jealous and sad. 

Speaking of Lydia, she’s very well off and has a different upbringing. The world is hers to take and she is doing just that. She has a very popular blog that has media attention and she’s becoming well known. She’s got a few things to learn about her friends though. 

Then we have Travis, who is my favorite. He is always laying low and would rather be in his fantasy world or in the Bloodfall world. He’s sweet and caring and just really reminds of like a gentle giant. He’s a big guy and he has a very rough home life. He's quiet but somehow always really relevant to the story. 

These three characters have so much growth in this book and become better friends by the end. I love how the author had such an amazing way with words. I mean, there are times I was just bawling in this book. It will HIT you hard, not even kidding. I love and hated this book at the same time. I had planned on reading 100 pages when I picked it up but ended up finishing it 4 hours later. There are some things that move kind of slowly in the plot but it’s not enough to lose interest. The first 1/3 of the book is just a few days span but then the last 1/3 of the book is months on end. So it does take a while to get into the plot and really get going. There are two parts of this book that have stuck with me and I can’t get them out of my head. 

“Some fall in glorious ways. One green fields of battle as old warriors, surrounded by friends, fighting for their homes, fighting cruelty.

Some fall crawling in the dirt of Forrestville, Tennessee, in the dark, impossibly young and alone, for no good reason at all.” 

“Knight, proud in victory, proud in death. Let your name evermore be a light to those who loved you. Let white flowers grow upon this place that you rest. Yours was a life well lived, and now you dine in the halls of the Elders at their eternal feast.” 

I really liked this book. It made me think and made me hug my husband a little tighter last night. You don’t know when you will take your last breath and you don’t know what kind of life people are living at home. Always be kind and always be brave, just like Travis.

Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks

I'm not sure why I wanted to read this. Maybe, I was hoping that the previous book was just a big miss and he would be on track again. Boy, was I wrong. This book is a little better than, See Me, but not by much.

There are a few things that really bug me about this book. First, there is so much disconnect. He would add a snippet or story from the past, at the beginning of every chapter. Sometimes I had no idea why or what it meant. Some of them were important to the book but not most. At times, it felt to be just too much. Not to mention, this book is almost 500 pages long! That's way too long. Some of his best are a lot shorter than this. I don't know if he had to fill a quota or what but it made for a pretty boring read. I will say that I read it in one day. It's basically all I did though. I had to return it to the library soon and there were so many holds. I plowed through and I was disappointed. 

Second were the characters. I really had a VERY hard time liking Russ. He had no backbone, whatsoever. He was the "nice guy but too nice" but he accepted that. He let his wife just manipulate and rule his every move. The worst part is that he KNEW what she was doing and still said NOTHING. He never once, stood up for himself or his rights to his daughter. He does nothing to fight back and never tries to correct any of her misconceptions.  Then in the end, she still gets what she wanted. It made it a lot harder to like his character. 

I will say that the bond between he and his daughter was nice. I did like reading about that part. His sister was the only character that I really liked. I loved Margie but I feel like what happens is just so last minute. It didn't really make much sense to me and it was so predictable. I feel like he did it to her just for the sake of doing it. 

Another thing that annoyed me was the past girlfriend, Emily. She was a tad bit annoying and I really didn't like her. Their time together just didn't feel genuine and forced. I think that whole situation was just really too fast anyways. I'm sorry, I just didn't care for them as a couple. 

This book wasn't terrible, it wasn't as bad as the previous. I will admit that I did shed some tears around the end. I will say again, I think his wife was a lot more involved with his writing. The tone is completely different. I don't really want to read 3/4 of a 500 page book about a failing marriage. Then try to force a love story with the past girlfriend. I just couldn't get behind this book. It does not feel like a true "Sparks" book. I was a huge fan but now I will not pick up another of his books! He's either lost his touch or his wife took all the greatness, in my opinion.

The Thousandth Floor by @Katharine_McGee

 

 

 

Well... I really try not to read too much about a book anymore. Sometimes, I like to just go in blindly with no opinions. Now, I enjoyed this book but it wasn't the greatest thing either.

 

Have you ever watched Gossip Girl? It really reminded me of the show. The upper new Yorkers with their fancy cars and lives. This is set way into the future with flying cars and all that. The thing that really sticks out the most though, is the amount of drama. Just like Gossip Girl. I was really getting some nostalgia, maybe that's why I liked it.

 

I will say that a lot of this is pretty predictable but I didn't know who the beginning was about, until the very end. Ugh, I was so hoping it wasn't that one! I will say that it's a pretty quick read and the plot moves along pretty well. I'm definitely going to read the next book. I won't be counting down the days but I will keep it on my TBR list. I feel like the next book will have even more drama!

 

This is the type of book your read as a guilty pleasure or something that is just for amusement. When you feel bad about your life, read this. You will feel so much better. At least, it's not you!

Illuminae by @ Amie_Kaufman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have ever read this, if it wasn't for my co-worker. She was using this book in a ton of her bookstagrams- hey becca!

 

I loved this. It was probably one of the most interesting formats, I've ever read. This book is told in a format of recovered hacked emails, videos and transcripts. It's actually, quite impressive. I wasn't sure how she was going to get me to connect but she did. There is so much going on visually too. You get so many cool pages in this book. There's black pages  where the text scrolls through or shoots out to make them look like stars. It's so different and I really liked it.

 

Now, onto the characters... I really loved Kady and Ezra. They were not only funny but smart and really love each other. Their hacked emails to each other where some of the best pages of this book. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely a lot of cheese in the romance area.

 

I might be in the minority here but I really did not like Aiden. Ugh, I don't trust any type of AI anyways. It naturally freaks me out. I don't think that what he did in the end really made up for all the horrible things that was done throughout the book. I just couldn't stand him! The lies and tricks! Ugh.

 

Anyways, this book does start off slow. You are trying to figure out what is going on and trying to connect to the characters through email. Slowly, things start to unravel but the great thing about this book is that things start to grow and build, until it just blows up in the end! I mean, it really does get fantastic by the end! The ending was just awesome! I'm glad that I waited so long to read it because the next book will be out soon!  

Empire of Storms by @Sarah_J_Maas

 

 

 

I could not wait to start this book and find out what was in store for Aelin and our group. I really became busy and was not able to write a review right away, which sucks. I'll be honest, things have become a bit fuzzy, since I've read a few other books between then and now.

 

This is by far, the best book of the series, in my opinion. It's still a monster of a book, especially for YA. The difference for the size, is that the plot is so much better. There is instant action and it doesn't stop, until the end. I did not feel the page numbers at all. I actually tore through this and didn't get bored at all. I LOVED how everything just started coming together in this book. We are finally getting somewhere!

 

I already love all the characters in this book but I really got to know them in this book. We get to know them all much better. One of the characters that I really loved in this book was Manon. We finally, FINALLY, get to see her away from the "pack." I was really hoping that she would cross Aelin and her gang and I got it. Manon's character is 100 times much more interesting in this book. I really can't wait to see what happens next. I think her and Aelin are just great together. I love the banter.

 

I really did like Elide and Lorcan's story but I felt that it was too predictable. So, it felt a little flat for me. I can't wait to see what becomes of Elide though. I feel like she's going to be pretty important later. There's some corny romance at times in this book. It is a YA, so I can look past it.

 

My favorite thing about this book was Aelin. Honestly, she's just so awesome. Things just kept going so horribly for them and I kept waiting and waiting for her to do something awesome. She actually does things that are unpredictable and selfless. Just when you think she's going to use her cunning brute force, she doesn't and it's beautiful. The end of this book will leave you so hungry for the next one. I cannot wait for the final book to come out. I can't wait to see how this all goes down!

 

This book has so much more sub plots, twists, turns and depth than the previous books. Sorry, this is so random. I don't think I'll be as busy now...hopefully. :)

 

The Nest by @Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch"

That's basically what this book is about. The Plumb family is like any other family, haha.

This book is about 4 siblings who are entitled brats. Yep, that's about the gist of it. They are really not a part of each other's lives. Until one night, one of them makes a huge mistake that ends up having dire consequences for all of them.

Their father always used to say, " don't count your eggs before they hatch," and what did they do? Just that! They knew that when the youngest would turn 40, they would have a pretty nice inheritance. Well, when things change and that is not the case, these siblings come together. Their main goal: Repayment.

They all feel like they will be different people, if only, they could get their inheritance. They will pay off their debts and loans and be so much more .. free. The whole time I'm reading this book, I'm thinking how it's their fathers fault. They counted on this money their whole lives and tried to live above their means because they saw a bail out in their future. What a curse.

Parents, don't promise your kids an inheritance. Just have it be a nice surprise. lol

I did like some things about the book, reading about their horrible messes, made me feel better about my life. I didn't like any of the characters really, they were all so unlikable. Overall, this book was just okay. If you want to know what your kids will do when they have a big some of money promised to them later in life and then it's wiped away, read this book.

Truly, Madly, Guilty by @Liane_Moriarty

Oh, the disappointment. Okay, maybe I'm being dramatic. I'm just so sad that this is a 3 star book.

I love her other books. LOVE. I've been waiting for this book and was so excited when it arrived! I cracked it open and decided to ignore adulting. Who cares about chores and laundry?! Am I right?!

Anyways, this wasn't bad but it just wasn't great. I think it's more just okay, really. I'm so used to Moriarty grabbing me and having such an emotional punch at some point and it never came in this book.

The story had a lot of potential. You get this group of people who have something terrible happen at a party and you never really get to know until you are towards the end of the book. I think that might have been my issue with this one. We are just trying to figure it out by the way these people are interacting with one another. Now, I get why everyone feel the way that they do, but some of it was just weird.

I really didn't like the relationship between any of the characters, I didn't really like many of the characters at all, really. They were so selfish and so rude to each other. I hope that my best friend never talks about me that way. They were all just so hard to relate too and boring.

Actually, the best way to describe the whole book was boring and too long. When I finished I felt unsatisfied, like this is it?!

A Court of Mist and Fury by @Sarah_J_Maas

I wasn't sure how to go about reviewing this. I had so many mixed feelings. I'm not sure if anyone else has put off a review for a while and read many other books and have forgotten specifics?

I'll keep it sweet and short.

I liked it better than the first book but I feel like it's a completely separate book all together. They just feel like worlds part.

Same as the first, this book is WAY too long. She could have cut out half the book and it would have been much better. Nothing really good happens until pretty much the last 150-200 pages.

The ending was awesome and basically the 4 stars. I love how Feyre becomes such a bad@ss! I really liked Rhysand much better than Tamlin too. I'm excited to see what happens next!