The Sweetest Spell

I had a feeling when I first read the summary for this novel a couple of weeks ago that it wouldn't exactly have a believable factor. I mean, a girl who can churn cream into chocolate? That's as unbelievable as it gets. But I thought that the story would be interesting and maybe some sort of spin on the Rumpelstiltskin story. However, apparently this story is supposed to be a retelling of The Ugly Duckling fairy tale. I didn't really see that though. It was kind of shown in a way but not exactly to the extent of the fairy tale.

the synopsis of the book...
Emmeline is a member of division of a mythical kingdom that has been cast out by the rest of it's members due to history and prejudice (they are marked by their red hair and called "dirt-scratchers"), then she in turn has been cast out of her society for not dying when her dad left her in the woods to die because she has a physical disability. However, some cows surround her and he decides to take her back. Everything changes the day that the royal soldiers come to her village and take all the unmarried men away for a way during the annual husband market (a dirt-scratcher tradition that auctions off eligible men in the community for the women to bid on). After the men are forced into service, the village floods and Emmeline's favorite cow dies, but not before bestowing a gift upon her.

Emmeline washes up in Normal-Citizens Land by a dairy boy who finds one of his cows guarding over her as she lays passed out on the shore. He and his family takes her in and she is revealed to be beautiful and the dairy boy, Owen, who of course is a lady's man, finds himself enthralled by her. While showing her around, Emmeline accidently brews a bucket of chocolate that Owen's family tells everyone in town about.
Before Owen and Emmeline ever have any real substantial conversation that can function as the basis of a relationship, Emmeline is kidnapped by someone wanting to exploit his gift for his own selfish reasons. Owen gets stabbed, Emmeline believes he's dead and gets carried off and eventually ends up serving the king and queen. Owen goes after her despite his doctor's orders but ends up getting thrown in jail and sentenced to mining, Les Mis style. It turns out that everyone stolen from Emmeline's village including her dad, was forced into slavery to mine gold for the king and queen who have been imposing ridiculous taxes (there's even a tax on water) on their kingdom and that's where Owen ends up.

In the beginning of the novel, Owen read Emmeline the story behind why her and her people were exiled in the first place and I was sure from the moment I heard it, that the history was fake. And as it turned out, I was right. The current queen and her son (who is a homosexual) are Flatlanders/dirt-scratchers who dye their hair. If anything the real history seemed like a combination of the European history between Native Americans and African Americans. But with chocolate.

In the end, Emmeline discovers Owen's alive and they declare their love for each other, she and the prince run his parents out of the kingdom and she teaches other women from her village how to make chocolate and the story ends happily ever after.

how i felt about it...
The love story in this book really bothered me. First off, Emmeline and Owen probably only got a few days if even two weeks with each other before being separated for God knows how long. But by the time they meet up with each other again, they've supposedly fallen in love. How? There was nothing in the novel that convinced me of their genuine feelings for each other, other than Owen commenting on Emmeline smiling at him more-then she gets kidnapped! They never talked about anything really. They didn't have anything in common and it literally was not until the last chapter in the book that was in Owen's POV that he stopped referring to her people by the derogatory term "dirt-scratcher" (I think this name is a reference to farmers). What kind of guy who loves a woman of a oppressed group of people, insists on calling that group by the worst name for them possible? Like I said, I'm so not convinced.

Another thing I hated was the switching of point of view between Emmeline and Owen. You could tell they were written by the same person and the author didn't label the chapters by the person speaking. It was really confusing.

Another thing that bothered me was some of the writing and terminology. At several points in the novel, Emmeline and Owen refer to the most attractive guy in her village as "the most popular guy in the Flatlands". Number One, who says that during the time of kingdoms?And Number Two, what GUY says that either?
Also the story about the cow queen who first bestowed the gift of chocolate-churning bothered me.
The scene in which the prince and Emmeline team up so that they can get rid of his money and chocolate hungry parents seems so silly and 100% unbelievable.

overall...
Although I thought this was a interesting concept, I felt like the plot and the writing could have been wayyy better. The different character POV's should've been labeled with names, the characters could've been fleshed out more because they all seemed like cardboard cutouts. You know, the ones that have another piece in the back that holds them up. It was like the author tried to make her characters more three-dimensional but failed. 

Kill Me Softly

The cover totally throws off the actual story. It makes it look like a murder mystery or something and while there's murder and mystery it's so much more then what it is. But you know, don't judge a book by it's cover

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. It kind of reminds me of the Sisters Grimm series with a more grown up, harsher tone. Mirabelle runs away to find her parents grave and finds love instead. And not just love that consumes you but love that kills you.

And a love triangle The Vampire Diaries style because it's between two brothers. And surprisingly enough I didn't hate the triangle. It was so much more realistic then most. First she meets Blue and loathes him 100%, not attracted to him, no hints of more, just completely hates him. Then she meets his brother Felix and as a girl who is 15, grown up in a strict household where she couldn't wear make up or date (so probably hasn't been kissed or had crushes/returned crushes) she falls instantly for his charms. He puts her up in a room in the Valentine hotel/casino and she's gone.

What attracted me:
The town she's come to reminds me of Ferryport Landing in the Sisters Grimm. A bunch of magical beings relating to fairy tales reside in secret in a town together. But here they are all cursed and marked to show what exactly their curse is. While the whole idea of the fairies and curses and marks didn't exactly appeal to me, I did enjoy the psychology of living a life that was set for you, from beginning to the end. Of course, Mira just happens to also be one of these characters. It's a strange set up the way the curses work out, but anyway it turns out that Mira is a "Sleeping Beauty" and her prince is this guy named Freddie that she doesn't want. But instead of a spindle, her "spindle" is a razor".

That's what made Felix a slightly more three dimensional character rather then a cardboard cutout of a villain masquerading as someone charming. I just wish some of this angst that he feels had appeared when he tried to kill Mira.

But the rising action kind of deflated when the climax hit (Felix finding Mira in his Dead Girl Room--why is it that Felix's name is Felix but their mom named his brother Blue...one of these things is not like the other...). Because he doesn't hurt her and she tries to run like once and then they start making out but I wish it could've been painful--him stealing her love--because it kind of deflated the action. So she cuts her self with her spindle--a razor (Oh, that's why her godmothers only let her use Nair to get rid of unwanted hair. That makes sense) and falls into her Sleeping Beauty sleep. Then Freddie and Blue show up and instead of a fight with Felix or something to drive up the action, they quickly hack through the thorns, find Mira and save her in like 30 minutes. Then there's a party, she saves herself from being without Blue and that's the end...C'mon there was so much more you could've done with that.

if only, if only, if only...
I only wish that Mira's parents had made an appearance because the introduction to them just seemed like a device used for Felix to gain Mira's love/trust and to get her to town in the first place. She even gets their number and her guardians reappear at the end of the story but everyone's pretty much forgotten all about them. So there are some loose ends that need to be tied up.

Especially because Blue foreshadowed that the curse (he and Felix are correspondents of a Bluebeard story except because they are Romantics, they kill the ones who love them by feeding on their love) wouldn't allow him to just let Mira live knowing about his collection of dead girls. Hopefully there will be a sequel in Mira's POV and then others following up the stories of Viv (Snow White counterpart), Rafe (a Beast counterpart), Layla (the Beauty counterpart) and the rest. I was actually drawn in by this world and there are some loose ends that need tying up.

All and all, an interesting read.

Hidden [House of Night 10]

Sadly, I literally had to force myself to read this book. That's how bad or how far this series has come too. I remember when I first found Marked in 9th grade and how in love with the series I was. I found the next book or two and read them over that same weekend. But now...I'm so over it. It's like the authors just want to profit now. I used to go back and re-read the entire series before reading the newest installment (this was supposed to be over a lonnnggggg time ago) but I don't feel like doing that anymore.

So what I noticed was there were all these characters, so many that I couldn't keep them straight and half of them sounded the same dialogue wise. Like the boyfriends of Aphrodite, Zoey and Stevie Rae all sounding the same. THEY'RE DIFFERENT! I feel like Stevie Rae's boyfriend would be more reserved and quiet and definitely not PDA with Stevie Rae (even if it is cute_. And Darius and Stark wouldn't sound similar because Darius is supposed to be a grown man!

And another thing I noticed, for such a feminism society that this world is built up off of, isn't weird that pretty much every girl/woman who is evil is a slut?

~Neferet,

~Erin, after she suddenly decides that she likes Dallas after she and Shaunee stop acting like two-girls-one-brain and strips off her clothes and does God knows what with him.

~Nicole was portrayed as a slut as was Aphrodite before she and Zoey became friends.
Every girl who had chosen to be evil is shown to be a slut.

"Sluts equals evilness" is a stupid mindset not to mention sexist mindset that goes completely against everything that feminism stands for what with gender equality and what-not. Those who are branded sluts are shown to be victims of gender inequality.

And I heard how the authors don't/still don't plan for Zoey to settle down so that's why they keep adding all these guys. Okay, that might have made sense in the beginning. Zoey had been with Heath since she was little so it kind of made sense that she decided to try something new with Erik and then Loren came and took her virginity opening up a whole new relationship when Stark came along but this is ridiculous. Stark being all jealous and possessive and Heath coming back as (basically) a Minotaur is just skirting around the issue. By choosing one guy to date she's not choosing forever. You could leave the ending open to interpretation so that we can think whatever we want, but this is ridiculous.

Okay, I'm done ranting. Now my actual review: Nothing happened. 

• Erin turned evil/slutty and became Dallas' new girlfriend.

• Everyone realized that the bull-boy really is Heath.

• Kalona really is "Good" now.

• Erebus is revealed as his brother and shows up twice in the story.

• Erik's thoughts are revealed (he's actually more of a jerk/such a guy then  I realized so I actually enjoyed this) as well as his interest in Shaylin--or rather love interest.

• Zoey's grandma is kidnapped by Neferet and is saved.

• Neferet explodes into a bunch of spiders and is exiled by the High Council or whatever their name is.

• Damien gets a new love interest.

• Lenobia's new love interest Travis is revealed as her soul mate who died a long time ago and came back Heath style.

• Nicole starts turning nice.

The end of this series doesn't even sound appealing anymore now that Kalona is on the good side for real now.

I forced myself to read this and I probably will force myself to read the last two books because I don't want to have wasted all of this time and effort. But really, Cast family, this series was supposed to be done along time ago. I'm in college now; I have no time to read. Why can't you just be done like everything else these past two years: Gossip Girl, the Twilight movies, the Hunger Games trilogy, Smallville, and a bunch of other stuff.

End already!

The Evolution of Mara Dyer [Mara Dyer #2]

I know they say that Denial is the first stage of grief, but c'mon people, Noah is so not dead. That crazy Kells lady has every reason to lie to Mara. For one, after losing the one person who she loved AND believed her, it makes Mara more susceptible to whatever Kells wants. So stop crying!

And yay! Finally the mystery is somewhat solved. Book/Volume One left with the reader unsure if Mara was really crazy after all or if she did have some kind of deadly power. 

In Book/Volume Two it's revealed its Option Number Two! And we learned that Noah and Mara are intertwined in more than just body and soul but through their families history somewhat.

And yayyyyy! The author didn't fall prey to second-book-in-a-trilogy-filler disease! Because stuff actually happened. Revealing that whatever the heck is going on it is soooo much bigger then just Jude and Mara. I just wish I understood more what the flashbacks to the Jungle have to do with anything and what Mara's grandma and Noah's mom have to do with it and how did they know each other but I'm sure that the author won't have A Series of Unfortunate Events-syndrome and leave no stone/mystery unturned.

:D

And the story just gets more suspenseful but now it's time for Mara to stop falling apart and start really kicking some ass. Starting with Dr. Kells (talk about ultimate control freak) and ending with psychotic-ass Jude.

Nothing Like You

The premise seemed so interesting but the way the actual book is executed doesn't live up to the hype. If this book had been written by another author then perhaps Holly (the main character) and Paul (the guy she gives it up to, then starts messing around with even though he has a girlfriend) would've fallen in love and he would've made her feel after her mother's death. Or she and her guy best-friend-turned-love-interest turned nothing, Nils would have made up and been together and so would her and Saskia. Instead however the book is almost unresolved.

I understand why Saskia may not have really forgiven her but Nils...I feel like that could've been fixed. If they truly were best friends, I think it would have been completely realistic for them to make up eventually. Even if it was in the novel's future that we got a brief peak at.

One of the most unrealistic parts about this book:
After spitefully being nice to his girlfriend after Paul makes her mad Holly suddenly says that she "loves Saskia" and has to chose between having a friend or being with Paul which she isn't really.

What's attractive about this book:
This book was written with a kind of raw narration that is attributed to Holly's numbness after her mother's death rather then what might have been bad writing. She narrates almost like someone keeping a journal of their activities and whereabouts.

If only, if only, if only:
I wish that we could've gotten some more emotional flashbacks of her mom, and the relationship between her and her teacher a lot more helpful then what is told (you know, the old show-don't-tell rule). And an idea of how Paul and Holly slept together in the first place.

The title is called Nothing Like You which I feel is a reference to Holly and her mom. Continuously throughout the book people say that she looks exactly like her and it's shown that she feels nothing like her because of the choices she's made throughout her senior year but this isn't really elaborated on.

All in all, don't let the premise fool you. This isn't the normal YA realism romance novel.

Splintered [Splintered #1]

the premise:

Splintered is a novel, the first of a series or a trilogy, I'm not sure. About Alyssa Gardner, one of the illegitimate American descendants of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired Alice in Wonderland. However, ever since then, the female descendants of Alice all go crazy. They believe this is due to a curse bestowed upon Alice after she caused mistakes in Wonderland, but they couldn't be more wrong. When Alyssa decides to go to Wonderland in order to save her "crazy" mother from a electric shock treatment, she takes her best-friend-and-secret-crush, Jeb although part of her reason for going is to find the boy from her lost memories.

Yes, , it's another love triangle. 

Although I don't even believe that it should be such. Jeb is Alyssa's best friend and although there were times in the novel that he seemed a little sexist and annoyingly Edward-from-Twilight-y, he wasn't as bad as Morpheus. 

I cannot understand why people are Team Morpheus. The guy is not a good guy. He takes all the bad boy, mysterious guys from all other YA paranormal novels and turns them on their heads. He's a selfish, manipulative jerk who has been manipulating Alyssa and her family members for centuries and manipulates Alyssa throughout the novel until the end!

...But more about that later.

I thought the idea of the plot was semi-interesting, a girl who can hear bugs and flowers talk until I actually experienced it through the book and realized I thought it was quite stupid. Why would flowers or bugs say half of the things that Alyssa claimed she heard. But as the novel went on it made more sense.

Morpheus (whose name comes from the Greek God of Dreams) is the boy from Alice's childhood that her mother forced her to forget in her quest to save her from going to Wonderland. Only it turns out everything Alyssa and her past family members thought was wrong. This was actually one of the most annoying parts about this book. Every time we were told something, it turned out that it was wrong and we learned the "real story" ten more times! 

It turns out that the Alice who returned to Earth after her adventures in Wonderland isn't the real Alice Liddell. The real Alice had been locked up in a cage in Wonderland for 75 years while the Red Queen stole her life, married, had children and had grandchildren. Ha! How's that for an evil plan? Morpheus, who is the basically the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland wakes up as a moth, (he was turning from a caterpillar into a moth for apparently the last 75 years-who does that?) and switches the Red Queen and the real Alice's places for the last time. 

But when the Red Queen died, she forced him into making a promise that he has to abide by (another Wonderland tradition that is called Deathspeak) or he loses his soul. This is the reason that Morpheus manipulates the whole novel and Alyssa's existence. He trained her from when she was little (the only childhood he claims to have and this is the reason he claims to "love" Alyssa) until her mother caught wind of what was happening and forced him to leave her alone which works...until Alyssa comes looking for him. 

This is how the novel's events gets started. 

Everything that Alyssa does in the majority of the novel in Wonderland is to right Alice's wrongs (this is before she realizes that her Alice was not the real Alice) when she came to Wonderland the first time so that the crazy-curse and the bug and flower curse will disappear from their family. 

But it turns out that Morpheus is really training her to complete the tasks she has completed which is the only way she can become Queen-his Queen. At this point, the history we've come to believe is disputed again as we learn yet another version of what really happened when Alice came to Wonderland. I was confused and still don't understand what I learned. 

Anyway, Jeb dies and Alyssa uses a wish to wish that he had never came with her to Wonderland, the ghost of her crazy fake-Alice ancestor, Queen Red tries to take over her body but she fails, Morpheus seemingly dies and Alyssa goes home. There she and Jeb get together, Morpheus appears to say he's not dead and he hasn't given up on her and Alyssa's mom gets released from the crazy home.

Although I originally thought I would like this book, the writing in it was a little too disconnected for me and the novel was written in present-tense. But then the talking-flowers-and-the-bugs started to annoy me and so did the whole love triangle too. Alyssa should not even consider being with Morpheus, the guy is crazy and deceitful, but seeing how there is sequel coming out next year to this book called, Unhinged, I fear that the author will break the YA rule and stick Alyssa with Morpheus instead of Jeb. Or, actually since she met Morpheus as a kid then she met him first...

I'll probably read the next book in the series and finish it. I don't think it was a bad idea but the changing background story confused me immensely and I wasn't really invested in the main character due to the writing. Actually, and her own characteristics. I forgot that in the beginning of the novel, she steals almost $300 from Jeb's girlfriend and immediately describes it as borrowing the money and feels no remorse except once. That was completely unrealistic to me for the character we were supposed be sympathizing with. I didn't even get any sense of remorse when she starts making out with the girl (Taelor's) boyfriend, aka Jeb, later on in the book. 

But at least she's from Texas. :)