Thursday, September 19, 2019

Exciting New Releases

Hey, it's Friday and today I thought I would share some of the new releases that I will be reading and reviewing in the coming days. Here it is...


1. All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

August 27, 2019

'The day after the funeral all our mourning clothes hung out on the line like sleeping bats. 'This will be really embarrassing,' I kept saying to my family, 'when she shows up at the door in a week or two.'

When Deena's wild and mysterious sister Mandy disappears - presumed dead - her family are heartbroken. But Mandy has always been troubled. It's just another bad thing to happen to Deena's family. Only Deena refuses to believe it's true.

And then the letters start arriving. Letters from Mandy, claiming that their family's blighted history is not just bad luck or bad decisions - but a curse, handed down through the generations. Mandy has gone in search of the curse's roots, and now Deena must find her. What they find will heal their family's rotten past - or rip it apart forever.


2. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

August 27, 2019

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .

What if their last shift was an adventure?


3. As Many Nows as I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl

August 20, 2019

In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. Told in non-linear, vivid first-person chapters, As Many Nows As I Can Get is the story of a grounded girl who's pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Cerebral, accessible, bold, and unconventionally romantic, this is a powerful debut about grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you've been all along.


4. 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

August 07, 2019

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.


5. How the Light Gets In by Katy Upperman

August 06, 2019

Since her sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan has basically given up. Her grades have plummeted, she’s quit her swim team, and she barely recognizes the people her parents have become.

When she returns to her aunt’s run-down coastal Victorian one year after Chloe’s death, Callie resigns herself to a summer of guilt and home renovations. She doesn’t expect to be charmed by the tiny coastal town or by Tucker Morgan, a local boy brimming with sunshine.

But even as her days begin to brighten, Callie’s nights are crowded with chilling dreams, unanswered questions, and eerie phenomenon that have her convinced she’s being haunted. Will Callie be able to figure out what her sister is trying to communicate before it’s too late?


6. House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

August 06, 2019

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson // BOOK REVIEW

"They had a secret, the two of them, and there was no better way to start a friendship than with a secret."
Book: Before She Knew Him
Author: Peter Swanson
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Synopsis: Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.

But when they meet the neighbours next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either...

What I thought about it...

This is my first book of Peter Swanson and I know this is definitely not going to be the last. This is a jaw-dropping thriller. Though at first we already know who the killer is – and I never thought I’d like a story that way cos I prefer to keep guessing who the culprit is – the story is progressed excellently that I didn’t expect the plot twist of this story. The twist was solid, amazing. It made my jaw dropped that I need to reread a few pages back just to make sure I was not missing anything and that I was really reading what I was reading. I didn’t see it coming, well I thought I know what’s gonna happen but then I reached the end and BAM! There’s so much more!

Though I didn’t finish it in a day or two because I’ve been busy with work and I was kind of worried that I may not feel the story because I kept putting it down, I was still affected by it that when some secrets were revealed about each of the characters I was sad and hurt for Hen, the lead female character. I like that Hen is strong and brave even if she’s battling with her mental health issues and her husband’s infidelity. Though I felt like I was more attached to Matthew’s character than I do with Hen’s and the reason maybe is because Matthew’s POV is much more interesting than hers.

Overall, this book is fantastic and as mentioned, this will not be the first and last book of Swanson that I will read.  This book is not a letdown and I will definitely recommend it to mystery-thriller lovers like me. This book is captivating, compelling and a quick-read.

MY RATING
★★

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald // BOOK REVIEW

“But there are no redos in life. You can’t go back and make things better. All you can do is live with it and move forward.”
NO SPOILER REVIEW!!!

Book: The Night Olivia Fell
Author: Christina McDonald
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Synopsis: A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

What I felt about it…

This is definitely a tear-jerker. We all know what the ending will be for Olivia just by reading the synopsis or just by looking at the title but still, five sentences before the book ends I was still hoping she’ll wake up… that there will be some kind of a miracle. And when it ended, I was sad – so, so sad – that it left a hole in my heart.

I felt it again – being incomplete when a book has ended. I felt like I lost a very close friend in Olivia’s character. Reading Olivia’s point of view excites me and it made me get closer to her. I so love girls with a strong personality though I can’t say that I agree with most of her decisions, especially the one that led her down there, overall I like her character.

I also like her Mom, Abi, although most of the times she’s so irritating (always cutting people off). I can somewhat relate to her because I’m some kind of an introvert. But what I don’t understand about her is she’s always pushing people away even the people who’s her only family. Also what got Abi to my nerves is when she started barging into other people’s home accusing them of murder. I pity her being left alone, that’s why I wanted Olivia to wake up, so Olivia would know how much her Mom loves her.

I always love a whodunit story. Even if I was just a few pages from the beginning, I kept guessing who the killer is. I kept talking to myself and creating plots in my head that I think will possibly happen. But in the end I was wrong, so maybe I was like Abi, accusing people of murder (lol!).

This book alternates between Olivia’s (past) and Abi’s (present) point of view. And I like books with alternate POVs. What I also love about this book is the show of a parent’s love to their child. It goes to show that parents will go the distance just to give their child what they think is best for them and in Olivia’s case, Abi wants to give her justice.

My Verdict

I posted the cover of this book in my Facebook story and a few friends asked me for a copy, now having said that, I will definitely recommend this, it’s a beautiful, heart-warming, tear-jerking read!

MY RATING
★★★★★ 

The Chain by Adrian McKinty // BOOK REVIEW

"The darkness keeps its own counsel."
SPOILER ALERT!!!

Book: The Chain
Author: Adrian McKinty
Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller
Synopsis: You just dropped off your child at the bus stop. A panicked stranger calls your phone. Your child has been kidnapped, and the stranger explains that their child has also been kidnapped, by a completely different stranger. The only way to get your child back is to kidnap another child within 24 hours. Your child will be released only when the next victim's parents kidnap yet another child, and most importantly, the stranger explains, if you don't kidnap a child, or if the next parents don't kidnap a child, your child will be murdered. You are now part of The Chain.

What I liked about it...

The whole idea of the story, its plot and setup is... wow.  It is like the modern day version of the ‘chain mail’ or ‘chain text messages’ from back in our elementary or high school days that if you failed to pass the message to a certain number of people you’ll get 5 years or 10 years of bad luck – or worse, no lovelife forever. 

What went wrong in the end...

It fell short on execution. I love the beginning of it, like I was at the edge of my seat while reading it and I can’t put it down because I wanted to know what’s gonna happen next but upon reaching the final chapter I was disappointed. The ending was meh.

Also, that was it for the people behind The Chain? I thought they were all so genius and stuff but that’s all (I won’t mention anything) it takes to put them down? (Ooops! Sorry). It is so frustrating that an FBI Agent got killed in a hand-to-hand combat with a frail, thin woman. Or maybe she was in the FBI cos of her brains? I dunno, this book left me with a lot of questions that I can barely keep up with work.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, still! It is a quick read and again, the story is so promising. I think it’s a popular novel since it has a lot of five stars and positive reviews in Goodreads. A lot of people are satisfied with the ending, too. And so I might still recommend it and discuss it with people who I recommended it to.

MY RATING
★★★☆☆

Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones // BOOK REVIEW


Book: Cruel Sacrifice
Author: Aphrodite Jones
Genre: Non-fiction, True Crime
What the book is about: On a freezing January in 1992, five teenage girls crowded into a car. By the end of the night, only four of them were alive. The fifth had been tortured and mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Her name was Shanda Sharer; her age--twelve.

When the people of Madison, Indiana heard that a brutal murder had been committed in their midst, they were stunned. Then the story became even more bizarre. The four accused murderers were all girls under the age of eighteen: Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. Veteran true crime journalist Aphrodite Jones reveals the shocking truth behind the most savage crime in Indiana history--A tragic story of twisted love and insane jealousy, teen lesbianism, and the sadistic ritual killing of a young Innocent girl. 

What I think about it...

Since it is based on true events, I will just share with you how I feel during and after reading the whole story. I won’t comment on what happened and I also can’t rate the characters because they are real people and the plot as well is real so I won’t be rating it.

When I was a few chapters into the book I feel sick. I can’t eat properly and I can’t sleep comfortably. If I wanted to eat, I will have to stop reading for a few hours (so I will not remember the gory details of what happened) and busy myself with work then I can have my meals. Also, for two consecutive nights I feel empty. I don’t know if it’s because of this book but during those nights I cried myself to sleep feeling down and broken. This is a very heartbreaking story. Sick. Twisted.

This book is written in a way that I can easily understand what happened the night before, during and after ‘the ordeal’. It documents the brutal murder of the 12 year-old girl Shanda Sharer in the hands of four other teenage girls. I must say that Aphrodite Jones is a story-teller. I like how she narrated every detail of the incident – even including the life background of each girl. There is no excuse for killing somebody, no excuse at all. But I just wanna say that one of the many things I learned after reading this book is that the guidance of parents is very, very important in a child’s growth, the environment they’re in is crucial as well. It reminds me so much of Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (ESV ver.)

By the end of this book, my eyes are welling with tears reading the statements of Shanda’s mother, Mrs. Vaught. Also my heart goes to Mr. Sharer. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to lose a child. For parents, there is no greater pain than to bury their child. 

Would I recommend it?

I don’t recommend it to those who have a faint heart but I would recommend it to those whose interests are of true crime and psychology.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch // BOOK REVIEW

"Turns out there's a reason they call it falling in love, because when it happens - really happens - that's exactly how it feels. There's no doing or trying, you just let go and hope that someone's going to be there to catch you."
NO SPOILER REVIEW!!!

Book: Love & Gelato (Love & Gelato #1)
Author: Jenna Evans Welch
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis: Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then Lina is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything Lina knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

What’s great about it…

I have so much feels in this book. Firstly, it was a cute and quick summer read. It is the kind of book I just needed before I get to start my mystery / suspense reads in the coming days. The whole story is kind of on the light side and it tear me up a little bit (which is good). Also the characters are all so adorable! I think Lina is cool and the way she loves her mother beyond explanation is just great (I can totally relate to that), her attitude towards Howard is commendable, although at first she was always dodging him and cutting him off (which I think is normal because he was technically a stranger to her) – she still showed him respect. She’s really friendly and always on the go. I commend her braveness to search for the truth. Her moment alone in the tower felt so vivid and realistic that I felt her ache for her mom. I love the other characters as well like Ren, Howard, Sonia and Elena. I love how caring and friendly they can be.

Secondly, it made me feel like a teenager again. It made me miss my old, summer days and my puppy crushes. Reading it paved way to happy memories of my teenage years – it made me feel nostalgic.

Lastly, I like it that I get to know more about Florence – the gelato, piazzas, different sculptures and other must-see places there.

What I liked less…

First, I kinda predicted how it will end. Midway through the book, I know what’s gonna happen and what’s inside that journal long before Lina finished it and it’s kinda upsetting -- knowing what's gonna happen next.

Then, it has a lot of Italian words into it and the book provides no translation (because of course, it is a first person POV and Lina doesn’t know how to speak Italian) though I don’t think that those are of much importance in the story’s progression, I just don’t like it when there’s something I don’t understand in what I was reading. So I have to either guess what they mean or put the book down to open Google translate. Here are some parts and you can try it for yourself:
I followed Howard across the big open space (piazza, he told me) and he held the restaurant's door open for me. A man wearing a necktie tucked into his apron looked up from behind his stand and stood a little straighter. Howard was like two feet taller than him.
"And tonight, how many?" he asked in a nasally voice.
"Possiamo avere una tavolo per due?"
The man nodded, then called to a passing server.
"Buona sera," the server said to us.
"Buona sera. Possiamo stare seduti vicino alla cucina?"
"Certo."
And
After what felt like ten minutes, the door slowly creaked open and I took a step back, half expecting to be greeted by Great-great-grandmother Alessandra. Instead, a casually dressed teenage girl stepped into the doorway. She was curvy with a diamond stud in her nose and thick black hair.
"Ciao, Lorenzo!" She threw her arms around Ren and pressed her cheek to his, making a kissing noise. "Dove sei stato? Mi sei mancato."
"Ciao, Elena. Mi sei mancata anche tu." Ren stepped back, then gestured to me. "Guess who this is?" 
My Verdict

Reading it reminded me of Anna and the French Kiss – though I vaguely remember the plot of it – I just know that they’re somewhat the same, it was still cute though. I might still recommend it when someone would ask me for a quick and adorable read. This book and a hundred scoops of gelato‘s similarity, for me, is that I can finish it all in one day!

MY RATING:
★★★★

Monday, September 2, 2019

We Set the Dark of Fire (WSTDOF #1) by Tehlor Kay Mejia // BOOK REVIEW

"In a battle between two men trying to control her, she'd chosen herself."
NO SPOILER REVIEW!!!

Book: We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire #1)
Author: Tehlor Kay Mejia
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian, LGBT
Synopsis: At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children, but both are promised a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her bright future depends upon no one discovering her darkest secret—that her pedigree is a lie. Her parents sacrificed everything to obtain forged identification papers so Dani could rise above her station. Now that her marriage to an important politico’s son is fast approaching, she must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society, where famine and poverty rule supreme.

On her graduation night, Dani seems to be in the clear, despite the surprises that unfold. But nothing prepares her for all the difficult choices she must make, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or to give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?

What I liked...

First of all, what a cover. I’m just a simple girl that whenever I see a good cover, I click Want To Read and read the synopsis. Well, the story and the whole concept are solid and unique. The setup is vibrant and vivid. I immediately fell in love with the main character, Dani. She’s so strong, committed to her role as a Primera, smart and is fiercely loyal to her family.

Also, the ending is so heartbreaking I was not expecting to like it so much.

What didn’t work for me...

It has an LGBT romance. Again, I’m not against LGBT community but I was not prepared for this. This isn’t my cup of tea. I thought there is something going on between Dani and Sota. I thought they are the ‘forbidden love’ that was hinted at the synopsis. Nice twist though, I didn’t see it coming. I admit I was not a fan but its hella surprising. Nice touch. 

Then there’s Sota’s character. I’m not sure if he’s a major character but I know he’s an important one but I felt like he’s just a background character. I wanted him to be more – to be more than just a vengeful rebel. I thought there’s more to him than that. His story is so sad and tragic but it felt lacking. He’s kind of just there, like he was made only to blackmail the Primera. I feel the same towards Carmen’s character, her story fell short and there’s not much explanation of her change of heart. I hope it revolves around Carmen on book 2 cos though book 1 is a third person POV, it only narrates Dani's. Also midway through the book I lost focus I don’t know why it didn’t hit home.

My Verdict

Still a good read, nonetheless. I may still read the book 2 (We Unleash the Merciless Storm) because I wanted to know what happened to the characters and I’m curious how the story will progress. All hail dystopian lovers!

MY RATING:
★★★☆☆

Sunday, September 1, 2019

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman // BOOK REVIEW


Book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Synopsis: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

What I liked about it...

Neil Gaiman is a story-teller. The chapters are beautifully written. There are very strong and vivid images from this book that will stay forever in my heart. There are even sad and scary ones like this one when the protagonist told his father, “Does it make you feel big to make a little boy cry?” that will haunt me forever.

Besides that, I can’t even seem to structure a concrete review about how good it is and I don’t quite know where to start. So I would just quote passages that I loved.
"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world."
"I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy."
"Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody."
"Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences. I was a child, which meant that I knew a dozen different ways of getting out of our property and into the lane, ways that would not involve walking down our drive."
What didn’t work for me...

There’s really nothing I don’t like about this book but what I kept on thinking is that the book is full of magic, obviously, and towards the end, I don’t quite understand what’s true and what’s not. Especially when the protagonist asked old Mrs. Hempstock, “Is it true?” and she answered, “Different people remember things differently, and you'll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not. You stand two of you lot next to each other, and you could be continents away for all it means anything.” That only, and maybe the lack of story about the Hempstocks, like, who are they really?

My Verdict

I loved this book, genuinely. I actually finished it in one sitting. I look forward to reading it again when adult life exhausts me and I will definitely recommend it to my book nerd friends.

MY RATING:
★★★★☆

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare // BOOK REVIEW

"It's all right to love someone who doesn't love you back, as long as they're worth you loving them. As long as they deserve it."
Book: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal
Synopsis: In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...

What I liked about it...

Cassandra Clare wrote it very well. Though there are some holes in the story, I thought it was okay. I didn’t expect the twist and turns and how it ended. I was so intrigued by the Epilogue, but not intrigued enough to pick up the second book.

What I liked less about it...

Tessa, I don’t like Tessa. I don’t think she ever felt grateful towards Will when he saved her from the Dark Sisters. She was never grateful to Brother Enoch when he healed her (she actually wanted him out the room). And with Charlotte, she never once said she was thankful to them when they let her stay at the Institute. She was, actually kind of bitchy. She was kidnapped, yes, and she was, maybe, confused because she suddenly has this super powers but that doesn’t give her an excuse to assume everyone who wanna help her will hurt her. I was totally irritated with her when she said this to Charlotte during one of the scenes when they’re trying to help and revive Nate, Tessa’s brother.
Tessa looked at Brother Enoch. He had opened the pouch at his waits and was setting objects down on the bedside table, slowly and methodically. Glass vials of powder and liquid, bunches of dried plants, sticks of some black substance like soft coal. “If anything happens to Nate,” Tessa said, “I shall never forgive you. Never.”
And...
“We trust you, Tessa. You need to trust us, too.” – Charlotte
“No,” Tessa said. “No, I don’t.”
She was totally, totally out of her way in here. And I thought it’s the end of the series for me. She’s so closed-minded and judgemental and such a push-over. I was kinda expecting a lot more from this because the hyped and reviews of this book is staggeringly high.

My Verdict

I think one of the things I’m stressed about when reading a fantasy series is that it has a lot of vocabulary and characters that I have to keep up with. I can’t come up with a definite conclusion about this book. As I’ve said, this is the end of the series for me. I have no interest in picking up book 2 and 3, but maybe someday, when I got over my irritation over Tessa Gray, I might continue reading the series again.

MY RATING:
★☆☆☆☆