Book Review: Fractured by Sarah Fine

Really all I have to say about this book is:



Seriously. This book is amazing. If you've read the first one (Sanctum), then you should most definitely read this one. If anything this might be better than the first. 
The characters are so real and have such growth in each book. I love, love Lela. She's a great protagonist and such a badass. She's everything I hope to be. Malachi is great. That boy is wonderful and I want one for myself. Their relationship is real and goes through similar emotions that other couples do. (I would say situations but I don't think most couples fight spirit-infested people.) 
The angst! Oh, the angst. It was heart-breaking to read but so well done. Ugh. 

BUT THE ENDING. Oh man. I am so happy I had the third one with me on hand. I would've died if I had to wait to read it. This is left with the worth possible cliff hanger ever. It's so sad and everything. Oh my God. Just-just read it. Seriously. You will not regret it. Okay, maybe you will because of the emotional trauma this will cause. 
This is definitely one of my favorite series.

Read: April 2015
My Rating: 5 stars / 5 stars

Book Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."
"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....
"I dare you..."
If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....
Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.
But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

I love me some romance. I've read the third and fourth in this series before reading this one (the second in the series). It doesn't require you to read them in order but you would recognize the characters and it would follow the timeline. 
This has been my favorite of the three I've read so far. I'm a sucker for the cliches/tropes in romance novels/movies. This one was the "Dating this girl for a bet and oh no, I actually love her". I loved it. I really loved it. 
I could really relate to Beth, surprisingly. I was trying to figure out why I liked this so much and really liked reading from Beth's POV- then it hit me. She is constantly running away from her emotions and any person who wants to show love/affection for her. I'm constantly thinking in other novels that I'd run away if I was put in an emotionally charged situation, but they never do. Except this time. I liked it. Others might not. 
Beth is also a badass. I was scared of her but also wanted to be her friend most of the time. A goal I hope to achieve later in life. 
Then there's all that angst. I love angst. Angst means a cute and wonderful make-up or at least some kind of comfort that's all fluffy. Of course dating someone on a dare is a sure-fire way of getting a lot of angst and I wasn't disappointed. So this also serves as a warning if you don't like angst. (Which I enjoy. For some reason.)
I should add a warning for a possible trigger to anyone who does not want to read about physical abuse or drug abuse. This book deals with it, but it's not the entire time. But just letting you know.
This book is on my "to-buy" list for sure. I want to be able to re-read all the swoons and angst over and over again.


Read: April 2015
My Rating: 5 stars / 5 stars

Book Review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.
Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart

Colleen Hoover has been in my periphery for a while now. I've heard nothing but great things from her books but hadn't had the time or the books to actually read any of her work. 
Then I found this at the library.
It was pretty good. I know this is one of her older ones but it wasn't gush-worthy. Still good.
While I liked the writing and how the story flowed, I did not enjoy the insta-love (instant love). I like my characters to gradually fall in love and only admit they love each other when one of them is about to die. That's how you do this stuff. (I know that's weird. I read a lot of sci-fi adventure stuff.) These guys met THREE days ago and they're already in love? No, that is not okay. I don't care how many cute moments you guys have, you are not in love.
The whole conflict on why they couldn't be together wasn't the best of plot twists. I mean, it's definitely conflicting, but come on. (SPOILER!! Do not read if you want it to be a surprise!!) If you find out that you really like your teacher, romantically, don't do anything. Ever. It's over until you guys leave or graduate. DO. NOT. DO. ANYTHING. (END OF SPOILER. You're safe now.)
But, alas, this is a fictional universe, so they can't hear me. I know I probably sound like a heartless person for saying not to do anything when it's "love" but come on. I would never do anything if it meant the person I "love" would suffer for it. Whatever. 
Despite disagreeing on every decision the characters made, I did actually enjoy it. I might read more of her stuff and probably not the sequel to this; but definitely more of her stuff. Eventually. I really liked all the romance and swoons in this. Just not why/how/whatever they were happening.

Read: April 2015
My Rating: 3.5 stars / 5 stars

Book Review: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.
Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the pretty cover.
I've read Heather Demetrios' other novel, Something Real sometime last year and really enjoyed it.
This one blew that out of the water. 
I loved this book. So. Much. It was written beautifully, the characters were real and compelling, the story was great and the heart-breaking moments were heart-shattering. I went around the house for days as I read this saying "Ugh, it's sooo sad" "Whyyyy" and a lot of groaning. 
When I first read that this was most likely going to end up as a romance novel with a girl falling in love with a boy who had just come back from war without a leg- I was hesitant. I was afraid this was going to be some weird romanticizing of amputees and war veterans. It wasn't, to my delight. She also didn't ignore it. It wasn't a quick mention in the beginning and then you forget about it until it's mentioned later. It was just... there. I never pictured Josh (the love interest & sometimes narrator) without his prosthetic, unless specified that he didn't have it on. The author wrote it as a normal thing that happens, which it is. I really loved how she did that. Thank you.
God, this was heartbreaking. It wasn't because of what you're probably thinking. It was the normal things that happen to everyone when they start dating or doing that thing in books and movies where they're basically dating but not officially. And then one of them goes off and messes everything up. That's what happened. So much angst and sorrow and FEELINGS. Prepare yourself, if you decide to read this.
I would so recommend it and I can't wait until I have enough money so I can buy this.

Read: April 2015
My Rating: 5 stars / 5 stars

Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Avegard

**School started and I ran out of books to review. I'll try to keep up slightly better this time.**

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.
To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.
Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

So this was pretty hyped up. I didn't really remember what the story was about because it had been awhile before I actually got the book in my hands.
I recommend reading the blurb before you read the book. (Sounds like common sense, I know, but trust me. It'll help.)
It took me a few pages to get used to the setting. I was thinking Game of Thrones when I should have been picturing Hunger Games. It reads like a medieval/fantasy novel but it's sci-fi? Really weird but also really cool.
I loved this new idea on the whole dystopian/rich vs. poor/government vs. the people story that's been going around recently in the literature world. I loved the red blood vs. silver blood with powers. It was interesting and enjoyable to read. That whole aspect of the story was great.
The not-so-great part was the romance. I knew there probably would be romance (which I'm totally fine with) but it felt out of place. Like it was thrown in haphazardly without developing any real relationship. There is a love triangle, which I normally would stop reading the book at that point, but in this one it sort of serves a purpose. Still didn't like it but, whatever. Mare Barrow (the protagonist) fell in love waaay too quickly. I get that you like him but it's not love. Love takes awhile, I don't care if you guys hang out in life or death situations- slow it down. 
The ending was pretty good. Began to see it coming as the book progress but it was a nice plot twist. I think the person who does the big plot twist should have had a different power because it would've made all this much more intense. (Spoilers? I tried to be as vague as possible.) 
I might read the next one if I get around to it, but I won't actively seek it out. 

Read: April 2015
My Rating: 4 stars / 5 stars