Review: The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

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3.4

“Even if this whole thirteenth thing were true- this whole conspiracy of…us- do you think anyone would accept it?”

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The idea that there are these 12 families, The Circle, that controls the entire world was extremely fascinating because this is mostly done in fantasy novels or even paranormal. This usually is not the type of thing to show up in contemporary. It was easy to imagine that everything we know and thought was happening coincidentally was in fact being controlled by these families.

For example, it is mentioned in the book that War World II was started because of one family’s quest to acquire more land than they needed. Also, the Kennedy assassination was somehow connected to The Circle. Again, this was a fascinating topic. It is just one big book of conspiracies. Fictional conspiracies theories. The premise alone is what kept me reading. I also enjoyed how the author incorporated history into the book. I did not fact check it, but it sounded legit. And I’m sure somewhere down the line, I could see myself researching more about Alexander the Great.  

I’ve seen mostly positive reviews about this book, however, I can say that I don’t see myself joining the fan club anytime soon. Although I really really enjoyed the premise, the book did not deliver for me. It was simply okay.

There were clichés that were a little hard to swallow. The beginning felt a little unoriginal and the writing was a little boring. It felt like it was missing something. The pace picked up when the actions started, which I thought was nicely done.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but the death felt unnecessary. I would have expected the death to happen in the second or third book, because since it was in the first, it killed the realms of possibilities that could have been explored with that individual and the main characters. Also, it made some major plot holes.

Two main settings in this book are Paris and Istanbul. I feel like both these cities have character, however, I did not feel it as I was reading. There were lack of descriptions and it felt like they were in a boring town instead of these two amazing, colorful cities.

Even though I enjoyed the premise, it was complicated and hard to follow at times. I felt like it could have been explained a little bit more.

This book ended on a cliffhanger, and I think this was a good decision because there are more books. I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing the series. I’ve spoiled myself for the second book, so I’m aware of some of the plot points, romance, and surprises. I’m just not sure if I’ll be satisfied with what happens next.

Also, the third book comes out in 2017, and if the second ends on a cliffhanger, I’m not sure if I want to wait that long to see what happens next. However, I am tempted to read the next books for the purpose of figuring out if the author plans to do anything surrounding Avery and her dad.

Character Analysis

Avery felt like a typical YA heroine. The regular girl, who isn’t really regular, but instead the chosen one. She doesn’t know it yet, but everyone else knows it.  And because she feels like her mom is withholding information, she rebels. She felt a little two dimensional, and I didn’t really connect to her character or understand her decisions.

I think one of the major problems I had with the characterization of Avery was that she knew everything. I usually don’t have a problem when characters know everything, however, the thing with Avery was that she read every book and basically knew the answer to every equation. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it if there had been hints of her knowledge throughout the entire book. It felt like she got that random burst of knowledge whenever the plot needed her to have that knowledge. It felt a little inconsistent with her overall POV.

With typically love triangles, there is a “safe” guy and then the somewhat bad boy. Jack was the safe guy, and Stellan was the kind of/sort of bad boy. I enjoyed Jack a little bit more than Stellan only because I felt like I saw more of him throughout the book. However, both guys did not really stand out for me. There connection was not really there.

The love triangle is not as prominent in this book. However, as the series continues, I’m sure it is going to get more complicated.

Random Tidbits

• What does Avery’s school think about her absences?

• I chuckled at the name drop because I was not expecting it to happen.

• There were so many puns toward the end of the book.

• Did anyone eat in this book?

Final Analysis

The Conspiracy of Us is great in theory, however, the greatness of it is lost somehow in this book of tropes. The book is overran with unexciting characters and unspectacular events.

Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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4.8

No Mourners. No Funerals.

The book hangover with this one is real. It was a glorious ride, and I’m so sad that it’s over. This book was so rich, exciting, and complex; I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to read it. I struggled with writing this review for many reasons. First, I’m not sure how to describe this book in a sophisticated and organized way. Declaring that everything was AMAZING and OMG SO AMAZING is not really helpful to anyone. Second, I’m still in denial that this duology is over. Third, I’m not sure where to start.

It took me a while to get through the first couple of chapters of Six of Crows. This time was a little similar. Unlike with Six of Crows, the first chapter was the only chapter that dragged on. And once I pushed through it I was fully immersed. I think the issue was that the first chapter did not focus on the core six. It introduced a new character and I so desperately wanted to get back with the core six. I would not really call this a complaint; it is more of a personal opinion.

Once I got past the first chapter, this book had me on the edge of my seat. It was so thrilling and exciting. The twist and turns were amazing. I thought I knew what was happening, but I didn’t. I really want this to be a movie, because I’m sure that the cinematic version would be as beautiful as the book.   

In addition, to being thrilling this book was extremely stressful. I enjoyed these characters. They might one day be included on my list of favorite characters ever, and while reading this I was very stressed. This is not a Disney movie where everyone gets a happy ending. This is not even the second to last YA cliché dystopian novel. This is the final book. These characters are in dangerous situations, fighting for their life, and not everyone could make it out alive in the final book.

So as I read, I kept holding my breath because I was afraid that someone would die. I was preparing myself for the tears. I will not say if there was a death in the book. That would be too big of a spoiler. But I will say in general that this was an emotional book. Surprisingly, I did not cry. I stayed calm on the outside, while internally I was freaking out.

I think it is worth mentioning that this book is not going to give you everything you asked for. I wanted all the characters to get somewhat of a happy ending. Different people may disagree on whether that happened or not. I personally struggled with the end. I understood it, and I thought it was great. The issue I had was that it was not what I wanted. I wanted a solid happy ending because I’m selfish and really enjoy happy endings.

Instead, I got a hopeful ending. And I think that it fits the book more than the ending that I wanted. It made sense for this series to end like this. Having a rainbow and cookies ending with a box on top would have felt random, and Leigh knew that. She made a good call. So I’m happy I did not get what I wanted. However, for my own selfish reasons I’m still a little sad that there was not rainbows and cake.

A part of me is hoping that Leigh will write one more book. Since the ending was hopeful, I feel the need to be hopeful that there will be more adventures with these characters.

I’m not familiar with the Grisha trilogy, but I do know that there were some familiar faces that showed up in this book. So that is exciting for anyone who has read those books.

Characters

To vaguely sum up all of the characters, I will say that they all are diverse, beautiful, strong, and defined characters. I enjoyed all of them. Every character brings something unique to the group and contributes to the overall awesome dynamic. There was so much character growth in this book. And it’s sad that there will not be any more books.

Kaz Brekker is my problematic, yet lovable son. He’s so ruthless. He always has a plan. I could see how that could be a turn off for some people, but I enjoyed that he was always the smartest person in the room. I really like Kaz’s POV. And it was a little frustrating that it took forever for us to get in it.

Kaz and Inej. Inej and Kaz. As I even think about these two character, I get tears in my eyes. To say that I wanted them together was an understatement. I needed them together. The chemistry between the two were amazing, and they are just perfect. This was my main ship; I was literally ready to go down with them.

I was immediately drawn to Nina in the first book. She was so funny, so sassy. And overall amazing! It was interesting to see her have this new power and try to cope with the events that happened in last book. The issue I have is that we did not really explore what happened to Nina after the conflict had be resolved. There was not much closure with her. I wish there was one more chapter in her POV.

Jesper was extremely funny. And his POV was always refreshing. I loved his humor. I loved that we got more backstory in this book from him. I understood him more. It was interesting to see his gambling addiction being explored. There was so much depth with him.

Also, I enjoyed him and Wylan’s moments. They were adorable. And like every other relationship, it was interesting to see how it played out. The dynamic between the two of them was great.

Wylan is such a cute little cinnamon roll. I enjoyed being in his perspective and finding more about his backstory. He is adorable. And his story was heartbreaking, and I wanted to give him such a big hug.

Inej is amazing. And I think she might be my overall favorites. I admire her strength. Like every character in this book, she is so strong. She has had a rough life, and she is still fighting. I was so invested in her character arc. And I’m pleased with how it turned out.

I’m not going to lie, I struggled with Matthias in the first book; I was so scared that he was going to kill Nina in it. Spoiler alert, he did not kill Nina. I think I enjoyed his character development the most. It was interesting to see him realize that his community were the ones that were in the wrong, and I found it interesting to see him develop to this extremely lovable guy. I did have an issue with how his story arc concluded. It felt a little unnecessary and anti-climactic. He deserved more.

He and Nina were adorable. I was completely here for the two of them together. There was so much laughter and love and they fit together like a perfectly shaped glove.

Final Analysis

Crooked Kingdom is a rush. An emotional, heart pounding, stressful, seat gripping rush that takes the crown for the best YA book I’ve read this year. The diversity in this book is outstanding, and everyone should read this duology.

Review: Everyone We’ve Been by Sarah Everett

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3.6

I first would like to say how in love I am with the cover. It is such a gorgeous cover. I’m tempted to buy the physical copy just because it would look so pretty on a book shelf. Also, I’m thrilled that a person of color is on the cover. It adds to its beauty. Okay, enough about the cover, let’s move on to the content inside.

This book really shined in the beginning. The mystery was intriguing, and I was excited for what the book would explore. I was so ready to add it to my list of favorites. But then the second half was a letdown for me. The path that was being taken was not as interesting as I once hoped it would be. Things felt a little repetitive, and I found myself looking for that new and emotional aspect that the book had at the beginning.

Without entering spoiler territory, I would say that there were two huge mysteries/plot lines in this book.  To make it easier to describe, one mystery was about her family and the other was about the boy that no one but her can see. They both were intriguing in the beginning, however, as the book went on and we found the hows and whys of them, it felt repetitive.

We find out details surrounding the family thing first, and I was shocked and surprised about it. I liked the reasoning behind it. It was emotional and interesting.

A couple hundred page later, the other mystery is solved and it is the exact thing that happened before. This time it was not interesting or exciting because it had already happened. Again, I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the boy. However, the reveal and outcome of it was sort of disappointing.

I think this was the first book by Sarah Everett. And I can’t wait to read more. I really enjoyed her writing style. This book was told in past and present tense. And I thought she did that nicely. It flowed very well, and for this type of story it worked. Most of the time flashbacks can be boring, however, in this case it was very interesting.

Characters

I enjoyed the main character, Addison. Her POV was refreshing; and she was just a great character overall. She was extremely realistic. I liked that, like the readers, Addie had no idea what was going on. It was nice to see her work through the conflicts and come out on top. I enjoyed her character growth at the end, and I was happy about the choices she made in the book.

One thing that I found interesting about Addie was that music was her cover and she hid behind it. She didn’t want to go to Juilliard because if she majored in music or went to Juilliard, it would define her and she’ll be hiding behind it again. That is not something that she wanted to do, instead she wanted her life to be bigger than that. I don’t know, but I thought that was an interesting route to go with a character. I liked it.

Final Analysis

Everyone We’ve Been has a gorgeous cover that would look great on a book shelf. It does have a great POC main character. The first half outshined the second, and it felt a little repetitive. All and all, I would recommend this book.

Review: The Goal by Elle Kennedy

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3.4

This book was decent. I usually try to stay away from books with a plotline like this, because I always feel like the book does not do it justice. Sometimes unnecessary added drama is involved or I feel distanced as a reader and do not really connect to the story. However, I did enjoy this one. Every aspect of the plot fit the story. Also, we got to see the individual character’s grow. I understood their motives and reasoning for doing what they did.

One issue I had with this story is that the pacing was extremely slow in the beginning. Since the main plot is spoiled in the summary, I kept waiting for it to happen. It finally happened around 50%. If it had not been spoiled, I would have been okay with that because it would have been unexpected. However, it was. And like mentioned earlier, I kept waiting for it to happen, which made the beginning of the book drag on.

Another issue I encountered was that there was no concept of time. Time moved extremely fast in some places and slow in others. It was hard to see how much time has passed, and it felt kind of jumpy. With a story like this, I feel progression is an important main aspect to the plot.

Characters

I enjoyed the main characters. I thought they were flushed out nicely. And I also enjoyed seeing them grow. They fit nicely together. I enjoyed that Sabrina mentioned that it was not love at first sight for her. This was very nice because it destroyed the instalove trope.

Tucker was a sweet heart. He was extremely mature, and I really liked him as a character. I liked that Sabrina was so focused on her dreams. In the book and in some reviews, a lot of people had problems with her, but I liked her.

I had read the other books in this series, however, I do not entirely remember names or storylines. So when past characters kept showing up, I had no idea who they were. I can’t really credit this as a con because it is mainly my fault, but I felt like there were too many side characters. I think that if I had been dedicated to this series it would not have bothered me because I would know them. But I’m not so it felt cluttered with random characters who were supposed to seem familiar.

Although it is not necessary to read the other books in the series, I would recommend that you do if you plan to read this one. Simply because of the character appearances, and also because this plot sort of begins and takes place in The Score.

Final Analysis

The Goal offers a great romance with two likeable characters. The character development is good. It does feel a little jumpy at times, and it could be deemed as too cluttered with characters. However, it is a decent book.

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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4.4 Stars

I must admit that it took me more than a few times to get passed the first chapter. I purchased the hardback first and then the kindle version. Because of my lack of interest, I gave my hardback copy away.

A couple months, later I decided to try again, this time with the Audible version. I have an hour long commute two times each week, so that would be the perfect time to listen. In addition, listening while walking to class would help me knock it out.

Even after finally getting passed the first chapter, it was still a hard stay interested. I think maybe because I was confused and was not used to the world. I had not read the Grisha Trilogy, and I think that maybe if I had it would have been beneficial. Also, sometimes it takes a while for me to get into a fantasy novel.

However, around the fourth chapter, I completely started to understand the hype. I was intrigued with the plot and also the characters. I dreaded those moments where I had to stop listening. At chapter 19, I decided that if I wanted to finish this book before the sequel came out (September 27), I needed to stop listening to the audible and read it on my own.

I finished on September 23, 2016, and with great confidence I can say that this probably was my second favorite book of the year. When I finished, I screamed because I was a little angry that it was over.

This book was epic. My heart was racing because of the action; I teared up a couple of times. I felt so many emotions while reading/listening to this book. I was fully intrigued with every aspect of the book. It is a great, exciting heist story. It is very unpredictable with so many twist and action that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The pacing was fast, but it worked. I felt like I needed to take slow breaths because my heart was beating so fast.  

Even though I’m done with the kindle version, I still want to finish the Audible. Again, I really enjoyed this book.

Characters

It’s been a while since I was truly got invested in characters from a new book. I loved every one of the characters-Kaz, Nina, Inej, Matthias, Jesper, and Wylan. I cannot wait to see them again in the next installment. Each one of them deserve so much happiness.

I understand why people love them so much. They are all so diverse, and I would not necessary classify them as the good guys. Because they are not. They each have had a rough life. They do what they need to survive. And I found their motives for what they did very interesting.

This is a dark book, however, the characters’ banter brings a special type of light. I found myself laughing so hard at some of the stuff that was said. There are some really good character dynamic and also relationship building. Everything was not rushed and had to time to develop smoothly.

I do not want to spend too much time describing why I enjoyed the characters, because I plan to go into more details with each character when I finish the second book.

I also do not want to go into too many details about the romance because this book was not centered on romance. It solely focused on the buildup of each one. It was sort of like a backdrop. I’ll probably cover more of that with my review of the second book. But I must say, I am here for each relationship that Leigh Bardugo has set up. I had seen mentions of the relationships on Youtube, Twitter, and Tumblr, so I was aware of which direction Leigh planned to go before I read the book.

This is such an action packed book, and every time there was a hint of romance it took me aback because even though I was aware, I still was not expecting it.  I think because I was so captivated with the action, that I would have been okay if there was not any romance involved.

Having those small hints of romance made me squeal so hard because I got to see the relationships develop at a nice pace that did not over take the plot. I enjoyed seeing the developmental stages. And I also enjoyed seeing the moments when characters realized that they might be in love. I do not want to spoil anyone, but yes, I cried at a character’s realization of love.

Final Analysis

Six of Crows is an exciting, thrilling book that will leave you wanting more. It might take a while to get into, but once it starts you will not want to turn back. The characters are so amazing and diverse. This book will not disappoint you.

Review: You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross & Mark Perini

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This is going to be extremely hard to review this book without wandering into spoiler territory. But let’s do it!

To sum up the plot, Finley is a model who is trying to be more “edgy.” Eddie has a secret; actually he has a few secrets. The two meet at a party. There’s some alcohol involved, and they have a one-night-stand. I don’t want to go into too many more details, but yes, of course they form a friendship and slowly start falling for each other.

This is an overused plot in NA, however, if done well it can be highly intriguing and leave an everlasting impact on the reader. I read this book yesterday, and as I write this review I am having a hard time remembering character’s names and arcs in this book. It wasn’t highly memorable for me. Granted, I do remember the -gasps- huge reveal but only because it frustrated me. You Before Anyone Else was frankly okay and just another book to add to the shelf.

I really don’t want to spoil the book, so I’ll vaguely talk about the big secret. I’m not a of fan this type of storyline. I have yet to read a book that does this topic justice.  I feel like sometimes it is used to add unnecessary drama and keep the main leads apart. The emotional impact isn’t really explored.

This book started off strong, but as it progressed it sort of lost its momentum. The first half and second half of the book felt like two different books. The first half focused more on Eddie and Finley bonding and being open with each other. It was cute, and I was beginning to see some real developments in their relationship. However, the second half got a little messy with the big reveal. There was so much legal drama, and it just got boring.

This story probably could have been wrapped up in 200 pages. But instead it dragged on and the total page count was around 400.

Writing

Both Finley and Eddie’s narrative was written the same which made it hard to tell between the two. Other than that, the writing wasn’t bad.

Characters

This book had two likable main characters, however, they were just a tad dull.

Finley was overly sweet. I didn’t have a problem with that. The issue I had was that I didn’t understand the character. Her motive and reasons for somethings did not make any sense. For example, why was she so against her and Eddie entering a relationship? He had already told her his first secret and there was no hint of the bigger secret yet. He was extremely sweet to both her and her family. I think this goes back to the idea that the characters were a little dull and not very flushed out.

I do like how at the end she found her dream. Not her mother’s or father’s dream, but hers. I was content with how her arc wrapped up.

I wouldn’t classify Eddie as the “bad boy.” He made some mistakes as a teen, but that does not mean he’s a bad boy. He was sweet, and he was trying to grow up and take some responsibility. Unlike Finley, I was a little confused about why he made his end decision. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support a decision like this.

But with the material given, it felt sort of out of nowhere for him to reach that conclusion. He was so dead set on this goal and in a few thoughts he completely changed his decision. Maybe I just felt that if this type of storyline was going to be introduced the payoff should have had a more emotional and impactful ending. Instead it felt flat and the moved on with a nine month time jump.   

Romance

The romance was cute, and they worked well together. It was a healthy relationship and the two benefited nicely from having each other.

In the beginning, I thought that it was paced nicely, but as the second half rolled around, it lost its wonder. I found myself questioning whether Finley should end with Eddie. It was not him, just the situation.

Although I believe it was cute, I felt like it was missing something. I always say this and what I’m referring to is that I believe that it needed an extra spark. Something that makes me smile like an idiot when I read about the two or a wondrous word that comes to mind when I think about them.

When I think about Finley and Eddie, I can’t really think of words to describe them. Like mentioned so many words ago, the book is not memorable, and neither is the romance.  

Final Analysis

You Before Anyone Else started off strong, however, as the pages increased the potential decreased. The characters are lacking a few three dimensional elements, but the romance is cute.