Review: Blaming the Wind

Blaming the Wind is not about blaming the wind for messing up your hairdo. No. The wind has no responsibility whatsoever for its actions. We on the other hand do. And claiming responsibility for those actions is what we're supposed to do, not to continue to blame the wind.

★★★★☆

 
Alessandra Harris, thank you for gifting me this book for reading and reviewing.
The story is told from four point of views. There are two couples who are neighbours and friends. Both couples have serious problems, that are somewhat life changing. Still there's no honesty nor trust in their relationships. When the troubles expand from the neighbouring house for the rest of the world to see, then it's time to confront the truth. And the truth after secrets is never beautiful.

Those of you who have undergone or followed another person who has had mental issues, divorce, abusing relationships, cheating, or any kind hard trouble in your lives, this book really might feel hard to read. Alessandra Harris tells the story without leaving any detail out. It's like following the characters in real life. The troubles and the basic things in life that should make you happy are written in so vivid detail that they feel real. It's quite common to forget that the little things in life we should be happy about are surrounding us almost everywhere. Blaming the Wind made me realise that. And it made me have more respect for my parents for my upbringing despite all the hard times. 

Shout out for the Relentless series!

I am melting right now. And yes, these things are melting for.

Following the story of Sara Grey, who is not who she thinks she is. Hiding secret powers from her friends, who have secrets of their own. But all things that felt secure in Sara's life disappear when a strikingly handsome, brooding and moody warrior marches into town. Through a chain of events Sara learns things some people rather not want to, if they want to keep their heads intact.

Just wanted to give you a shout of these books! And if you read the original trilogy now, it's not a long wait before Warrior comes out, which is in  September 2016.

Review: The Crown

★★★★★ 

You know the feeling when you know that something is coming to an end? You might be a bit cranky or start forgetting things.

The Crown is the end. It's the end in many ways. It's the end of the series, it's the end of the privilege to getting to know the characters. It's the end.

And it was an amazing end. Yes, like every Kiera Cass book, final solution comes in the last pages, but it's worth it. It's worth the journey to get there. I still must warn you, the journey might not be easy this time, because there is no room for corrections. After you've turned the the last page there's no more, except the acknowledgements.  

Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

I have no clue why I've got two copies of Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

 Will Grayson meet Will Grayson.

★★★☆☆

Will Grayson x2 is something what I've never read before. Something really weird that you hate for the first two hundred pages, then you like it for the next sixty pages, and the last around fifty pages are really good and you almost love it. In the end it leaves you very confused and unsure. You don't know if you really loved it or truly despised it. 

What I felt was somewhat in the between, I settled for three stars, which is the average of the feelings that I felt for the book. But in the end it doesn't tell you the truth. The truth is that it was a love-hate relationship.

I really liked the idea and the themes and all the separate things in the book, but as a complection, they didn't work out. As separate they were great. Individual little stories of friendships and love and life. Together it was messy. Especially in the first two hundred pages. After those two hundred pages they start forming stringd to each other and in the end they are tied together and you realise what they all meant. The thing is that, if you have the patience of a goldfish, you can't wait almost three hundred pages so you can start loving a book which will end within ten pages. You just can't.

As for the characters. They are exact opposites. I don't know if you can make the protagonist less important than the side character, but now I know that it is possible. Very possible. There could been a few improvements with the characters personalities, but then again thinking, that might have a made a bigger mess of the book. And since I am not an awesome author, I can't say which kind of characters would've been the best fit for this kind of story.  

And now that I've started rambling weird things, let's just say that this book has to be read as an actual physical paperish book. Not the audiobook. I made the mistake and started this as an audiobook, but after ten minutes, I changed to the paper version. Makes more sense to what happens.

Review: Becoming Phoebe

I did not know what I signed up with when I promised to J. Michael Neal to read and review Becoming Phoebe. (BTW I big thank you, if you're reading this!)

What I expected: Teenage drunkeness, bad decision, fooling around, and a bit of growing and learning. And hockey.

What I got: Bad decisions, a huge plate of growing and learning, and my own heart broken. And hockey.

Becoming Phoebe is not the book to be read in one night. It's like getting to know a new person. First introductions and small talk. After a while some personal information. When you are really best friends then the hard stuff, the heart-breaks and other life changing information. That's what reading this books was.

Also a lot of hockey. If you don't like hockey, don't worry. It's not that relevant for the reader to be a hockey-enthusiastic. Actually it's better if you are not. I, myself, didn't even like hockey. But through Phoebe, I learned that you don't have to like everything in order to continue doing things.

What's the value of friendship? What are friends for? What about your team members? Questions of the values of every single person in our lives could be presented indefinitely. To some of them, we can find answers. The rest of them, we can never answer or we don't have the courage to ask them.

Becoming Phoebe literally is becoming Phoebe. How do you become the person you are? Is it through the experiences that you come across or the hardships you have to endure. That's what you will find out. Becoming Phoebe isn't just a book. It's so much more.

''I don't have a clue. Life probably won't let you put the training wheels on now. I'm going to do the best I can to support you, though.''

★★★★★

Review: The Next Together

'' How many times can you lose the one you love? ''

★★★☆☆

Apparently quite a few times... Following Katherine and Matthew's story thorough history made me want to believe in eternal 'shout it from the rooftops' love.

Yes, I can say that I liked the book. The settings and background stories were great and in vivid detail. Which, I think, is awesome. It's what makes the story to feel more alive.  

If you like slow going books, this is totally for you. Not much happens and it gives you time to figure everything out in your own time. Nothing's rushed and the realisation can creep in to your head slowly and surely. 

Speed-readers should slow down whilst reading, the meaning of some things might slip unnoticed if rushed too much. And if you decide to pick up, don't you dare to skip any caption or note from this book. Every single word matters!

Review: An Abundance of Katherines

★★★☆☆

1. A prodigy learns, a genius invents new things. One can not be both.

2. Everything can be cured by a road trip.

3. Math can predict everything(, even love). 

4. The world is divided between dumpers and dumpees.

If seen as a whole picture, this book was really entertaining. I laughed, got annoyed and laughed again. It has faults too, but as a big picture, it's good.

What comes to the faults, is that I struggled with the characters and their development, or the lack of it. Yes, it's a short frame of time, that the book is based on, but still no changes in characters what's so ever. 

The thing with great books are that they leave you a bit empty inside. You just feel it in you. You feel exhausted and sad and happy, everything at once. In the end of An Abundance of Katherines I felt empty, but not the 'right' kind of empty. It was that, ''Okay it's over, so?'' - empty. That's why, I think, I only liked it, but not loved it. It had the potential though. 

I still highly recommend to read this! It's a light and super fast summer read.

Review: Dangerous Lies

★★★★☆

I was tempted to give this only three stars, but since it's a perfect book-hangover read, It gets its four stars.

Stella Gordon, not my real name, witnesses a crime at her home. Because of that, she is shipped of to witness security program to Thunder Basin, Nebraska. There she has to fit in to the tight knit society. Simple task, not easy to follow through though. And then there's the cliche boy...

I've read the Hush Hush - series before and last summer the Black Ice. If you've read them both, this falls into the same happy dappy category as the Hush Hush books. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but to get you some ground-level info.

Characters are very simple. No huge tricks or complicated personalities or anything. You get to know them really fast, but not too fast, because most of the information is sprinkled thorough the story-line. 

A plot-twist. Which book doesn't have even a minor one? I, honestly, do not know. Don't worry, you won't lose sleep over it, so you're safe. 

As I said earlier, it is a perfect book for book-hangover.

Review: Promises I Made

If you haven't read Lies I Told, do not read this! 

MIGHT CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS FROM THE FIRST BOOK!
Review for the first book here: Lies I Told

The heart wrenching sequel to Lies I Told takes you on a journey to find what you are capable of when you really want to, to face the consequences of your actions, and to forgive.

★★★★☆

 Parker is in jail and facing heavy charges. Cormac made Grace to follow him on their next con, to get the money to save Parker. But he Cormac never even tries to help him. Grace feels helpless and decides to take matters on her own hands. All the while Renee is still gone. 

What could go wrong when everything already is wrong? Grace's life is a huge mess and when she decides to travel back to Playa Hermosa to help Parker, she has to confront her past with all its pains and sorrows. And when she meets someone from the past, all the cards get revealed and the tables turn. But who will lose everything this time?

There was a bit charcter development on Grace side and a few mild plot-twists, nothing too major to kill you. Perfect for reading-slump prevention!

Review: Glass Sword

 ★★★★★

You know, when you read a good book.
 How? It stabs you square in the heart and does it without blinking. Maybe even smiling or laughing simultaneously.

Welcome to the enchanting experience of being torn between brothers and hating yourself for it. You might accidentally kill a few people as a side-dish, but that's collateral damage of reading. It's a very enjoyable journey of finding who you hate and who you hate the most. So hop on!

I must say I really loved Glass Sword. All the characters have developed so much, and all in the good direction as individuals. And Mare made herself a feeling, real human being again. She wasn't a little girl avenging wrong. But a warrior.

Since this is the second book into the series, I can't reveal anything else. Except that, that a certain chapter stopped my heart. Which, I think, is expected from Aveyard's book.

And with this happy quote from the book, I wish you a pleasant time reading! :)

Review: Giovanni Goes to Med School

Forgive me for the cracked screen... All blame is on the cat.

                             ★★★★☆

There's a first time for everything. And for me this was a first zombie anything.

Fortunately I didn't have to be even a little bit disappointed. Since Giovanni Goes to Med School is hilarious.

It goes somehow like this:
Giovanni is a med school student and works the night shift in the morgue. When an elderly lady dies and gets shipped downstairs with her, much alive, dog, Giovanni's life is not as it was before. And the lady is only the beginning...

Like I said hilarious.

I'm looking forward to read more of Giovanni and see how he survives with things that shouldn't have survived alive. Or are they actually alive?

And thank you Kathy Bryson for giving me the opportunity to read this! [sending a hug]

Review: All the Bright Places

★★★★★

Finch wants to die. He has all the plans made, but every time he tries it something comes across that makes him want to continue.

Violet is stricken with grief by her sister's death. She doesn't know how to be herself anymore.

They meet on the ledge of the school's bell tower.

And that's how begins a heart wrecking sad story that makes you gasp for breath in the middle of the night.

I didn't expect this to be this amazing. Reading All the Bright Places really was hard in a way. It was like needing oxygen while diving. You need it so badly, so you try to get to the surface but can't get fast enough. And when you get there, you fill your lungs full. Same thing with the reading. You rush forward, not breathing and then you get to a spot where you can breathe. You close the book and prepare yourself for the next dive.

I don't know which part of this book I didn't love. I loved Finch, the freaky guy. I loved Violet, the girl looking for herself. I loved Indianapolis and wandering and the memories and the offerings. And the big blue lake.

This book is a cause for a terrible book hangover, so beware. (Also you may fall in love.)

Review: Heores and Villains: Pawn in the Game

★★★★☆

First I must thank the author Tara R. for giving me the opportunity to read her book Heroes and Villains: Pawn in the Game.

I must say that if you are not confused whilst reading this you must own super-brains or something. With so many plot twists that come out of nowhere and character's decisions that seem so unlikely to the reader this book makes you want to bang your head to the table from time to time. 

''Love is a powerful emotion, they say. It has no boundaries, they say. Love can conquer all. But I had never known love.''

Don't get me wrong, it's not a love story. Nothing lovey dovey about it. It's a cross between violence and betrayal with an added bonus of mistakes, that kill people (as if they weren't dying fast enough already).

In a world where violent kingdoms compete with the number of how many of them has died, nothing can be good. They count their deaths to the higher unknown power and in return they don't get the higher power's wrath upon them. Except now. When the higher power has betrayal in their ranks and everything they've done for to keep them hidden and safe is ready to fall apart. 

In this world a young woman called Aurora is chosen (ooor ''chosen'') to be the saviour of the worlds, but there is betrayal again. The plot unfolds when you see allegiances pledged across enemies to kill person A, just so they can get rid of person B. And so on. Trust me, the alphabet will run out before you're fifty pages in. And it's amazing.

Those of you who have seen Lost will understand that everything is related to everything. And it'll blow your mind off. All the events in the book might've been foretold as their starting forces were kicking in but the author distracted your mind to elsewhere so you didn't notice it. Then later when you realise what happened you feel like running into the nearest wall because you should've seen it coming. Creepily genius, Tara, creepily genius.

 I really look forward to read the next installment to this book!

Review: Off to See the Wizard

★★★☆☆

Thank you to the author Clay Johnson for providing me a copy of Off to See the Wizard!

Good news or bad news first? Let's do mixed and straight to business.

When you have many characters it's hard to keep track of all of them. Especially if they are entirely different species and their goals are a bit different. This worked out well. No two character was exactly same.

Disappointing was that you don't get to know the characters better than an immediate expression and few pet peeves here and there. There's not enough time to form any "relationships" with them (which might work for someone).

Where the book was set? In a universe/world with 16 realms that are not introduced any further than that. Which is disappointing. I love to know about the world surrounding the characters. It helps the imagination to fly higher and it's so much easier to work your way through the book when you have even a bit of a clue where you are.

Unfortunately to me it felt like the book's plot had ran away. It's true that there was a straight line from the beginning to the end, but in most parts it made no sense. With a few less stops during the quest and jumps between the characters might have helped.

I am a huge fan of chapters (or other such breaks). I adore them, they give breathers. They allow you to put the book down and you can effortlessly pick it up again. I don't say that that chapters would've made this better, actually it might be impossible to set this story to chapters. I just thought go warn others.

Reading this book really was a quest. I'm happy I signed up to it!

Review: The Story of Lucius Cane: Book One

I got this straight from the author Vanya Ferreira.

★★★☆☆

 I think I expected something entirely different than this. Something more towards The Twilight - series... Could not be further from them.

The Story of Lucius Cane is a part of Lucius Cane's story. Actually you don't get much out of him, but you get to know half of the basics. 

Then there's the wolf. And the epic battle. And the confusing ending. 

All in all, this was a very entertaining short story. And because it was a short story it was quick to read. 

Lucius Cane is a vampire, who has his own ways. He's targeted by some mysterious (let's call him) guy. The guy has ordered the wolf to kill him. And when they confront each other in the epic battle, the story ends. With a mysterious voice...