ARC Review: All That Glows by Ryan Graudin

Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

Title: All That Glows
Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: none
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: February 11th 2014

Rating: 2 stars

Review:

All That Glows seemed exactly like the fun, amazing read that everybody needs from time to time. With a premise and cover like that, this could only be awesome, right? Unfortunately, Alll That Glows wasn't nearly as fantastic as I wanted it to be, but it was fun to read.

One of the biggest problems is the instant love. A lot of the plot and the characters' decisions hinge on the romance, and that element fell short. Emrys and Richard have had what? Three encounters? and then they start speaking of love. Oh, and don't forget that Richard doesn't even remember one of those encounters because Emrys wiped his memory. But oh no, they absolutely love each other - the kind of soulmate, undying love. Uh, how about no? That's just not how it works. These characters don't even know each other that well and all of a sudden it's love? Later on, Graudin tries to explain this by saying that they had some kind of soulmate-connection thing going on, but I couldn't believe in that. Even soulmates can have a well-developed relationship.

Strangely, I didn't even mind it all that much. While I definitely don't approve of it and while it lowered my rating, I found myself not caring too much that there was instant love. This book is really light and admittedly, fun. I had fun reading this and that definitely helped every flaw this book had. Unfortunately, I thought there were quite a few flaws, aside from the insta-love.

The characters, for example, felt underdeveloped and bland to me. Especially the side characters were in dire need of a personality. While it wasn't so bad that they all felt the same to me - they did have different personalities - the (secondary) characters felt really bland to me, making it hard for me to connect with them. The characters also don't seem to grow throughout the book, with the exception of Richard. But that's only because I consider stopping with drinking and partying growth: personality-wise, not much changed.

What I also found unbelievable - although this isn't a major issue - was that Emrys always wore skirts. She's supposed to be Richard's guardian and has to be able to fight off creatures both with her magic and through a physical fight. I don't think a skirt would be a great choice for that, seeing as most skirts confine your movements. Pants would be a lot better and safer. Seeing as the Fae take their job seriously, I found it a bit unbelievable that Emrys would trot around in a skirt.

I have to say, though, that this book did surprise me. Although I probably should have, I didn't figure out who the evil mastermind was until it was revealed to us. I was totally led on the wrong path, and since I'm usually able to figure out who the culprit is pretty well, this definitely is a compliment for Graudin. In retrospect, I really should have known who it was, but I didn't figure it out while reading.

In all, this book has some serious flaws - like the instant love and the bland characters - but it was also a lot of fun to read. All That Glows did definitely surprise me. If you don't mind the aforementioned flaws or are just looking for a fun read no matter how good it is, I would definitely recommend All That Glows to you.

**Review copy provided by HarperTeen (thank you!). No money or favors were exchanged to alter this review.**

ARC Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Title: Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Series: None
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 28th 2014

Rating: 2 stars

Thoughts:

I was raised to marry a monster.

My feelings for this novel can be summed up in one word: disappointed. The premise sounded fantastic: a Beauty and the Beast retelling! Then the cover was revealed and it was absolutely beautiful. But when I actually read it...

Cruel Beauty has quite a lot of Greek mythology, something I didn't expect. I normally love Greek mythology, but I felt it was out of place in Cruel Beauty. This novel tries to do a lot: a retelling, Greek mythology, the paranormal aspect... It felt a bit messy and didn't resonate with me. I'd have liked this more if it had chosen one or two aspects instead of three.

The biggest letdown, for me, was the romance. The romance is a very important aspect in this book: a lot of the plot and the character's decisions depend on the romance, and unfortunately, it fell short. At the beginning of the book, a slight love triangle is forming, but that is resolved quite early on. Unfortunately, both sides of the triangle contain instant love.

On her first night in the castle (I think), Nyx meets Shade. She suspects he could be an ally and decides to kiss him. While I personally don't know if that's the right way, I could get over that. However, after two conversations and one kiss both characters start speaking of love. 

The air stilled in my lungs. If that was not a confession of love, it was near enough.

and

Last night he had as good as said he loved me, and I thought I loved him in return.

I was really sad this happened, because it's very unrealistic and basically ruined the book for me from the start.

After all that happened, Nyx and Ignifex's relationship blooms. I think there was supposed to be sexual tension between the two, but I didn't feel it at all. The most enjoyable thing about their romance was their banter about the ways Nyx planned to kill him. Their relationship, like Nyx and Shade's, is majorly underdeveloped. She starts seeing good in him and she kisses him at a certain point, and I felt I didn't even know Ignifex yet, let alone start seeing his good side. Their first kiss was awkward too. I think it was supposed to be in an I'll-kiss-you-to-make-you-shut-up manner, but I didn't feel it at all. I was litterally like "Wait... They are kissing now? Why?". Their relationship also progressed way too quick. Once again, she starts speaking of love too soon: I still felt like I didn't know Ignifex all that well and he certainly hadn't deserved anyone's love yet. Their romance was such a key point in this book, and because it failed, the rest of the book seemed strange as well. Some major plot points and decisions depend on this romance, and since I didn't feel it at all, the decisions of the characters just felt strange.

Then there's the plot itself, which was confusing, to be honest. I felt certain things weren't explained enough and it made me confused and I didn't understand everything that was going on.

The only thing that I really did like was the writing. There were certain moments that were described beautifully and the prose really fit the feel of the book.

In all, I am majorly disappointed. The romance fell flat with its instant love, and since a lot of the plot depends on the romance, that fell flat too. Not only that, but the plot was confusing, and I felt the book was trying to do too much with the addition of the Greek mythology. I'm just really, really disappointed. However, I have seen several people who absolutely LOVED this book, so if you think the romance won't bother you, give it a try!

ARC was provided by Balzer + Bray. Thank you! No money or favors were exchanged to alter this review.

Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Title: Requiem

Author: Lauren Oliver

Series: Delirium

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: March 5^th 2013

Source: Bought

Description: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

Review: The Siren by Kiera Cass

Title: The Siren

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: None

Publisher: iUniverse

Publication Date: July 1^st 2009

Source: Bought

Description: "You must never do anything that might expose our secret. This means that, in general, you cannot form close bonds with humans. You can speak to us, and you can always commune with the Ocean, but you are deadly to humans. You are, essentially, a weapon. A very beautiful weapon. I won't lie to you, it can be a lonely existence, but once you are done, you get to live. All you have to give, for now, is obedience and time..." 

The same speech has been given hundreds of times to hundreds of beautiful girls who enter the sisterhood of sirens. Kahlen has lived by these rules for years now, patiently waiting for the life she can call her own. But when Akinli, a human, enters her world, she can't bring herself to live by the rules anymore. Suddenly the life she's been waiting for doesn't seem nearly as important as the one she's living now.

Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Thoughts:

“You must never do anything that might expose our secret.”

The Siren follows Kahlen, who was supposed to die 81 years ago, but instead became a Siren. About once a year, she has to lure humans to their death to feed the Ocean by singing with her Siren voice. If she serves the Ocean one hundred years, she gets a full life of her own after that. But because her voice is deadly, and she is a weapon, it’s impossible for her to bond with humans – so she gets very lonely. Until she meets Akinli, and falls in love with him.

So, I thought this novel held a lot of potential. There aren’t many books written about Sirens and the subject basically begs for a kick-ass, flawed heroine. I mean – your voice is deadly. You’re beautiful. You can practically rule the world. Unfortunately, this novel fell short for me.

It starts off quite slow. In the first 100 pages or so, not much happens except Kahlen constantly saying how she’s so very lonely while travelling to all the awesome places (Brazilia and Paris, anyone?). Because Kahlen is only whining about how she’s so lonely and she hates the Ocean and her life, I didn’t really like her. At all. Honestly, I was expecting a kick-ass heroine who enjoyed her power maybe a little too much, instead of, well, Kahlen.

Fortunately, the novel picks up after Kahlen decides to work with the hearing impaired. This made me like her a little more because she was finally acting and doing something that could even be described as ‘noble’. Then something happens (not saying what due to spoilers) and Kahlen gets very angry with the Ocean, refusing to speak to Her anymore and even be in Her anymore. It’s then that she meets Akinli, who is achingly (see what I did there? No?) beautiful and takes her to his home, while she pretends not to be able to speak and suffer from memory loss. And then they fall in love.

This is where my real issues with this book lie. Because there’s insta-love. A particularly bad case of insta-love. I quote:

I want to stay with you forever, I thought. I love you. I love no one like I love you. I’d give you anything you wanted.

This is after they’ve spent two days together.

I don’t know how many times I’ve said this and how many times I’m going to, but this just isn’t realistic. I mean, how can you love someone that much after two days? I just don’t get it. And even worse, their relationship is co-dependent too. They’re both like “I’d die without you!” No you won’t. 

And yes, maybe the insta-love can be explained, or least Kahlen’s part of it. She has been lonely for 81 years, so it could be that she would immediately think she loved someone if he shows any kind of interest in her. However, nowhere in the novel is being hinted at this, and it wouldn’t explain Akinli’s love for Kahlen. So sadly, I think it is just insta-love.

Also, I hate how Kahlen was at times a mini Bella Swan. Like in this passage:

Akinli had just pulled back from me, and the look on his face… He looked like he truly couldn’t believe how lucky he was; that it was beyond all reason that he should get to kiss me. Hadn’t he known it was the other way around?

If you replace Akinli’s name with Edwards, this could have been straight out of Twilight.

And there’s something else, which I have been seeing a lot lately: the sexual assault. Why must the femininity of the main character always be objectified? Why isn’t is possible to write a book with a female lead without a scene like this? Especially if the scene really has no use at all.

“Well,” he thought aloud, “if you’re not going to scream…” He ripped my shirt, Akinli’s shirt, open.

And Kahlen doesn’t want to scream or say anything because it might kill her attacker -_- Please, please, if you ever get assaulted, scream. Scream and kick and do anything to save yourself. Even if it hurts your attacker. Especially if it hurts your attacker. Please.

The ending and Kahlen’s sister Sirens were the only things I genuinely liked. I really loved Ifama, even though her appearance in the book is very short.

All in all, a huge disappointment. I saw all these glowing five-star reviews, but sadly, I didn’t like it at all, due to the main character, the nature of the romance and the unnecessary assault.

Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When I first saw this on Goodreads, I cheered. A new novel from one of my favourite authors!



Then, I saw I could request an ARC of it. I went crazy.



Then, I got approved to read it.



I cozied up and started reading.

And oh, I wanted to love this. I really, really did. But sadly, this just wasn't for me. But, on the bright side, it did inspire me to create a shelf named 'it's not you, it's me'. Because that's how I feel about this. Because there are going to be lots of people who will devour this, cry because it's over, give it five stars and gush about Mastermind Mead.

I am just not one of those people.

So, Gameboard of the Gods is this sci-fi/urban fantasy/dystopian about Justin March, who was exiled but now called back to the RUNA, a futuristic American country. He's supposed to solve a murder mystery, gets a gorgeous guardian named Mae Koskinen and gets involved with gods. Sounds good, no?

Unfortunately, it was boring. And like, really boring. I only kept reading because I was hoping that it would be less boring, that there would be a major surprise, or a mindblowing ending that would earn the book five stars no matter what. I try to always finish a book, but damn, I was close to DNF'ing this.

That doesn't mean there was no action. Oh no, there were plenty of fighting scenes. But still, it was really hard to keep my attention to it. I'd be reading it and then go...
"... Ooh, nice song on the radio!" *starts humming*
"... God, my dog is so cute."
"... Is there food anywhere? I'm getting hungry."
"... Why did it suddenly start raining?"

... Yeah. I had to say to myself "You ARE going to finish it, and NOW at that!" to finish this. And even then, I read it reluctantly. *sigh* I'm just so disappointed, because this should have been my new favourite book of 2013.

One thing that didn't help was the worldbuilding - or rather the lack thereof. At first, I had no idea what was what, which country did what, etc. Don't get me wrong - I like it when an author has guts and throws you into a world with no hand-holding, but I would have liked more information there. I finished this and I still don't know how everything happened.

This doesn't mean that this was an awful book, though. Like I said, many people are going to love this. One thing I really love is how Mead creates real, flawed characters in every book she writes. Justin and Mae were both very readable and and very flawed. That's good, because really, who isn't flawed?

NOBODY.

And while at times Mae reminded me of Rose with her mad fighting skills and battlelust, and Justin reminded me of Adrian, with his drinking and women-addiction, they were also very distinct of the Vampire Academy cast. This shows Mead's skills, because it can be very hard to create a character that is a little like some other character, but is a whole other person (if that makes sense).

Also, Mead's prose is as always steady and very loveable.

Basically, I can some this review up in four words:

Unfortunately, not for me.

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm probably the last person on earth to read Harry Potter The Mortal Instruments, but I've finally done it!

Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly blown away. It was - to me- okay to read, just something light. But I'd never call this literature.

I didn't like the writing. It was just.. weird, really, and a bit juvenile. There were also spelling mistakes: once it said "though" instead of "through", for example.

And.. the predictability. I saw every plot twist coming. This might also be because of Clare. Every time she drops a hint, she doesn't just drop the hint but also dances in front of it, singing: "LOOK! A hint! A hint! Right here, you see?" There were also a lot of little errors, such as:

"Do they bloom every night?" "Only at midnight," he said.

It might be just me, but as far as I know, midnight IS every night. *sigh*

In Hoc Signo Vinces. "What does that mean?" she asked. "It means, 'by this sign we will conquer'(...)"

As far as I know, "vinces" does not mean WE will conquer. Usually, the -s stands for "you".

Ginny Clary also wasn't likeable. She has this 'best friend' Harry/Ron Simon, and he's very sweet toward her. When the Shadowhunters go all bitchy, he stands up for her. Then the Shadowhunters go all bitchy on Simon, I expected Ginny Clary to stand up for him too, but instead we get this:

For a moment it looked like [Simon] might resist [Isabelle], but he caught Clary's eye across the table as she shook her head slightly. He subsided. Head up, he let Isabelle lead him from the room.

Ginny Clary, you are a fucking bitch.

(view spoiler)[ Predictable:
But Raphael was laughing. "You missed," he said, and grinned for the first time, showing pointed white incisors. "You missed my heart."

Wait, so Raphael is a vampire? WHOA, never would have guessed that. *heavy sarcasm* (hide spoiler)]

And this was so obviously a fan-fiction, Harry Potter was everywhere.
Clary = Ginny
Simon = Harry/Ron
Jace = Draco
Luke = Lupin
The Mortal Instruments = The Deathly Hallows

*sigh*

But I have to admit, it was an addicting read. That's why it got two stars instead of one.