Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke book review

Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Release Date: August 13th 2013
Publisher: Dial
Series: Between (bk 1)
Pages: 366
Rating: 5 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. 

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back. 

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Review:


Initially i would read this book in 2014...it was on my reading list...was...exactly. I read this book within hours and i need more...more...more...more...
This book is the reason i want to wait for all the books of the series to be released so i can marathon those shit. It was that great. 

It starts with Violet thinking back at her grandmother talking about the devil and how nostalgia tortures her. Throughout the novel Violet (and the author) make sure that we get that she had a great friendship with her now dead grandmother. As the plot progresses Violet comes face to face with a boy that is both mysterious and dangerous,,,she finds herself doing and feeling things she never did before and that makes the reader want more due to the amazing vocabulary the author chose.

The characters:
Violet although eccentric in her own nerdy way is also sweet and loving and caring and a snob. In other words not the perfect protagonist we all have accustomed to and that makes this book original. I loved loved the way she annoyed me with her stupidity at some parts of the book. 

River is my new favorite protagonist. He didn't make it through the top 5 but definetely in the top 10. He is so mysterious and sexy and no matter his lies he still wins the reader. That means something right? I liked the way she annoyed Violet and how he evaded her questions all the time.

Luke and Sunshine are the same dull and crazy for sex people for me. They are the classic teens. Sunshine with her overconfidence and Luke the guy who pretends to be tough but he is softer than a blanket. I really liked that those two hook up a lot through the book cuz they are alike (a lot). I loved the subtle role of Luke as the old brother towards Violet but i hated the way she treated him.

The Grandmother: Well i am so sure that she will play a huge role in the following books. I wont spoil it for you but she also plays a role in this book too...she was one naughty belle when she was young.

The author did a good job developing the characters...making none of them perfect and i think that contributed in making the reader see them more human and relate himself with them. Big applause for that please.

The Plot:
I have to say that at some points i guessed a few things and i was right but i didn't expect the ending to be such a big surprise to me. That made the book a whole lotta better and a little more original. 
The author did a great job with the descriptions and the words making the reader feel like sitting next to Violet and River. I could smell the rain while reading certain parts and thats not happening with a lot of books. 


Overall this is one of my favorite books so far and i cant wait for the next ones to be released. I totally recommend it.

Towering by Alex Flinn book review

Author: Alex Flinn
Release Date: May 14th 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 304
Buy at: Barnes and Noble , Amazon.
Rating: 3 stars

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on.
Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. 

Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.

Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now. 


Review:

I finally finished reading Towering no...it's not that good. I thought that Flinn created a nice retelling of a classic story that every kid heard before going to bed but i was wrong. This book is nothing like beastly...it's inferior to it.

Let's start with the characters:
To be honest although i am a die hard for romance novels i hate insta-love. I want the characters to make each other suffer a little before confessing to each other, i want to feel this agony, this craziness that makes me turn pages like crazy in order to finally read the part where they get together and i didn;t experience that in this book...not at all. When Wyatt met Rachel it was boring and predictable...it lacked the sparkle. The author wanted us to feel the same thing as Wyatt and Rachel but her attempt fell flat. And no it's not the fact that i have read so many books that i find nothing fascinating anymore, because with Easy by Tamara Webber i was shivering with every scene i read.
Their relationship seems superficial and the only part that gives you a slight glimpse of their actual connection comes for a couple pages and then fades away in the author's rush to finish the book.

The Plot:
It was pretty good for a fairy tale retelling...modernly. I didn;t see the twist coming and to be completely truthful with you i didn't even had the slightest suspicion of what would happen.That was great of her.
Now what put me completely off was the ending. Although Flinn made a great job with keeping you reading ,choosing carefully her words did a terrible mistake (unforgivable) with the ending.

The Ending:
I found the last few chapters of the book completely stupid. It dind;t make any sense and i felt like the author wanted to get the book out of the way as fast as she could. It was rushed and not well written and i really wanted to give up on the last 20 pages. Why would you write a whole book and just change your attitude towards the end???? It was disappointing.


I don't know if i would like to spend my time reading this book on reading something else but i now know that i wont be reading any other books of Flinn unless something really good comes up. Although it kept me reading i would prefer it if it was a written a little more careful.

September Girls by Bennett Madison book review

Author: Bennett Madison
Release Date: May 21st 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 352
Rating: 4 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

When Sam's dad whisks him and his brother off to a remote beach town for the summer, he's all for it-- at first. Sam soon realizes, though, that this place is anything but ordinary. Time seems to slow down around here, and everywhere he looks, there are beautiful blond girls. Girls who seem inexplicably drawn to him. 

Then Sam meets DeeDee, one of the Girls, and she's different from the others. Just as he starts to fall for her, she pulls away, leaving him more confused than ever. He knows that if he's going to get her back, he'll have to uncover the secret of this beach and the girls who live here.

Review:

Well i don't know what to say about this book. I had no idea it would be paranormal fiction. when i started reading it i thought that it was just an indie book with a coming of age theme but no.
at some point people started falling in love and act weird until BOOM! mermaids appear. I was like wtf!!!

I enjoyed reading the book and especially the characters. it was truthful when it comes to family problems and seeing people close to you fall into the nets of depression and i liked the mermaid thing as much. it was original. 

The mermaid thing had nothing to do with Ariel or Syrenka. It was a totally different concept and i think it contributes to the fictional history of mermaids.

I totally recommend this book.

A Trick of The Light by Lois Metzger book review

Author: Lois Metzger
Release Date: June 18th 2013
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Pages: 209
Rating: 4 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.
 
Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Review:

I picked up this book from the new releases section at the local public library. Actually I didn't even look at the cover of the book or the title. Sometimes i like that..not to know what im gonna read.
So the books starts with Mikes subconscious describing a scene with Mike and his friend Tamio. Initially i thought that someone else was looking at Mike I had no idea that Mike;s self narrated the whole book and it took me some pages to understand it.

A Trick of The Light is a really really weird read. Last year i went through some excruciating dieting myself, taking out valuable food and eating only greens - which resulted in a life that maintaining control and never exceed the 1200 calories that i had set myself as a daily nutrition intake. Sometimes i had to go to the bathroom and throw up due to remorse that i ate 200 more calories. Does it sound crazy? Exactly that's what i saw in this book - MYSELF EXACTLY A YEAR AGO.

As we follow Mike through the book through his mind;s eyes we see a totally healthy boy going through their parents broken relationship and eventually divorce. He finds himself alone and completely neglected by his family. To his weakest point his mind makes him believe that everyone around his is the enemy. No one want good things to happen to Mike and that starts when Mike sees himself in a weird mirror that he is fat and later a comment that comes from his coach make Mike a completely different person. He is starting to work out and cut back on his nutrition intake. His only friend seems to be a girl called Amber that plays a huge role over Mikes downfall.

As the books moves on we see the aspects of anorexia and what can happen to people. How they change completely (body and mind) and how they see their surroundings. I never thought that this book will show the hidden aspect of anorexia and that it can affect boys too. The author did a really good job describing Mike and his thoughts and inner demons but also i loved that she payed attention to the fact that you can be helped and recover. She highlights the rehab centers and the actions that they take but also throws a message towards bad parenting and how a parent improves with methods after his child suffers an illness implying that parents should always be responsible and caring with the children.

She finishes a book with a great paragraph and i have to say that i will read this book sometime soon.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma book review

Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Release Date: May 27th 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Pages: 432
Rating: 5 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Review:

I didn't even know such book existed...someone recommended it to me and i thank them so much.
The author is british and i have to say that i admire her guts to write and to publish such a book...in the western world.

i have read a lot of manga that have to do with incest or brother - sister love and sex and all of that (Angel Sanctuary,Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru) there are also anime...
what i dpnt understand is why Asians seem to be a little cooler with that issue. i know that is genetically weird to have a physical relationship with your brother or with a cousin but i know that a lot of us have seen a cousin and thought something improper..its just the nature of the human...we love to play with fire and when something is off limits subconsciously we want to make it ours.

Apparently the book wants to teach us not to be so judgemental of people and their likes. through my early childhood to my late adolescence i experienced a lot of judgemental people and i dont really do that. i know a girl that she has a relationship with her brother (not a broken family) and i have no problem with them since they dont do anything to anyone.

of course i am not saying that everyone has to go and have sex with a family member cuz after a generation the earth would be full with hybrids due to genetic anomalies but i want to say is that things happen and instead of judge people we should put our feet in their shoes and think how we would react if we were them.

To the book
i have never ever read something like that in my entire life. the book itself it was provoking and great. i would not recommend a hormone-unstable teen to read this due to descriptive sexual scenes and the theme of incest. it falls under the category of young adult but i would totally put it under the category of adult.

the characters were greatly developed to the point i cried with them, laughed, anguished and *hhmm* wanted them epicly bad to find some time alone. the book itself is good written, i felt like i was in the same room as Maya and Lochie watching them.

To be honest with you i didnt really like the ending but thats just me. i could have turned out completely different and i felt it was not fair for the characters.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates book review

Author: Richard Yates
Release Date: February 1st 2001
Publisher: Methuen
Pages: 346
Rating: Dropped
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

In the hopeful 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler appear to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home in the suburbs. Perhaps they married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank's job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to crumble.With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.

Review:

I just didn't have the courage to finish the book.  I made a terrible mistake and watched the movie first which was really depressing and then by page 30 i lost interest in the book.

Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook book review

Author: Kristin Halbrook
Release Date: January 29th 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 272
Rating: 3 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

Will

Maybe I'm too late. Maybe Zoe's dad stole all her fifteen years and taught her to be scared. I'll undo it. Help her learn to be strong again, and brave. Not that I'm any kind of example, but we can learn together.

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can't run fast enough.

Zoe

Maybe it'll take Will years to come to terms with being abandoned. Maybe it'll take forever. I'll stay with him no matter how long it takes to prove that people don't always leave, don't always give up on you.

Review:

** spoiler alert ** 3.5 stars and thats because i didnt like the ending...its so not fair.

i loved loved loved this book. initially i didnt know if reading it would be a great idea because all of us know where the runaways end up. and i tend to be one of those people who think about a book for a long time after they finished it.

anyways i am so glad i read this book it was great!!!! 
the story was awesome and i liked that you could see the thoughts and actions of two people through their perspectives!!!

what i didnt like was the ending and that the main characters acted really really stupid at some points in the book.it felt like they didnt think before they acted which made me pull my hair is despair.

i totally recommend this book although i have to warn you that you will totally get dissapointed with the ending!!!