The Beginning of Everything by Robin Schneider Review

Title: The Beginning of Everything
Author: Robin Schneider
Published: August 27th 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

My Thoughts:

Now I know why the original Severed Heads, Broken Hearts title came from. The Beginning of Everything also fits well as an alternative title for this book. It's a good YA contemporary. I love the California setting because I grew up in SoCal. The book really reminds me of my high school years. Erza's character is really likeable. The accident changed his life and he's trying to figure who he really is. It's hard to transition to the popular jock to a nobody. He's feeling insecure and he feels that he doesn't belong. Then he met the people at the debate team and the new girl that may change his life. He also rekindle his friendship with his old best friend Toby. It's a good coming of age book. It's full of love, heart breaks, and loss. I really enjoy reading this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who's interested in a good roller coaster ride contemporary book.

Rush by Eve Silver Review

Title: Rush
Author: Eve Silver
Published: June 11th, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

My Thoughts:

Rush is sci-fi fast pace action packed book with the main character Miki, who trying to figure out what she is and why she got pulled into the game. She'd been through a lot and now she'll be fighting for her life with other teenagers. I really like Rush and the world Eve Silver created. There's a bit of high school life mix in with an alternate alien fighting game world. The tough part is that getting the highest score in the game doesn't necessarily mean you will survive the game. 

I also really like the Miki's two love interest in the story. I think the person she chose to be with really fits her. As for the Drau describe in the game, they were scary and the things they are doing to the humans are horrible. It's great to see Miki's character becoming stronger as the book progress. There were enough backstory on each of the characters that made the story solid. Eve Silver did a wonderful job with Rush and I really want to know what happens next.

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge ^O^

Last year I started out a bit late on this so let's try it again this year.

This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2014 - Dec 31, 2014.

Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Short stories and novellas are OK, too! Only books released in 2013 and earlier! NO 2014 ARCs or any books release this year.

There are 6 levels:

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children

My Goal: This year I'm aiming for 10 books for a firm handshake :)

TBR List for the challenge: (The list is tentative and may change throughout the year)

1. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
2. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
3. Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
4. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
5. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
6. A Monster Call by Patrick Ness
7. The Diviners by Libba Bray
8. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
9. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn



Want more info on this challenge or want to join the challenge? click here

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson Review

Happy New Year Everyone !! \(^0^)/ Hope you all have a fabulous new year eve and day. 2013 has ended and it's 2014 now so let's start with a book review.

Title: Steelheart
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Published: September 24th 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

My thoughts:

I like this book. Reading about antiheroes are always interesting. We always read about superheroes doing good things but what if the people use those powers for evil and becomes villain? Who would the normal people turn to for help. I really like Brandon Sanderson's take of this idea. The story is really good and I really enjoy the high octane action scenes in this book. David's character is likeable and he may seem like Epic fanatic but he has a good reason for it. Megan, his love interest, is an interesting character too and the rest of his Reckoners team are memorable and interesting.

I also really like the world building within this story too. Newcargo seem like a dark dystopian world that is mostly made out of stone and the is ruled by Epics. People are oppressed by Epics but there's still hope that there may be good Epics out there. Steelheart was a great antagonist. He appears complex. I wish there would be more interactions with him and the Reckoners team. The book really builds up to the last part wit the grand battle that reveals many interesting secrets. Overall, Steelheart is a great start to the series and it had many twist that will leave us wondering what will happen next. It's an awesome book and I'd recommend people who like action/ sci-fi adventure with antihero twist in it.

In the After by Demitria Lunetta Review

Title: In the After
Author: Demitria Lunetta
Published: June 25th 2013

Goodreads synopsis:

They hear the most silent of footsteps.
They are faster than anything you've ever seen.
And They won't stop chasing you...until you are dead.

Amy is watching TV when it happens, when the world is attacked by Them. These vile creatures are rapidly devouring mankind. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to escape—and even rescue “Baby,” a toddler left behind in the chaos. Marooned in Amy’s house, the girls do everything they can to survive—and avoid Them at all costs.

After years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she’ll lose Baby—and much more.

My thoughts:

In the After is really fun to read. I love Demitria Lunetta's writing. There is something about it that's raw and enticing. I love Amy's and Baby's relationship. Amy save Baby as a toddler and raise her for years. It's almost like a mother and daughter relationship. The first part of the book was fantastic and the rest of the story is just amazing. I really enjoy the post apocalyptic setting where humans are being killed by crazy aliens and the girls have to live in the world by making as little sound as she can because the aliens will attack you if they hear them make the slightest sound. It's like a zombie movie but replace the zombies with aliens. There's also a growth in Amy's character from a vulnerable teenage girl to a tough butt kicking heroine. She's trying to live her life the best she can with Baby and they would go and salvage any food that's left in the desolated world.

Another cool thing is that the girls are able to communicate to each other through sign language. They were able to adapt to what's left of the world and live on. And then not so good stuff happens that will take them leave their comfort zone. I don't want to spoil the story but a lot of crazy things happen. We'll get to see if Amy's parents are alive or not. We'll get to find out where the aliens came from and why are they killing people and the society that's left after the alien invasion. This series is a duology so there's one more book that will tie up the story together. I'd definitely recommend In the After for people who wanted to read a sci-fi book about surviving post alien invasion world that is griping, fun, and fast pace.

Updates..So What Happened Last Month?

Updates:

Hi everyone. How are you? It’s a few weeks before Christmas. I think 2013 is just going by so fast. November was a busy month for me. Once again I was having a difficulty finishing NaNoWriMo. I was unable to achieve my NaNoWriMo challenge this year T0T but I learned a lot from it. It’s really hard to write a 50,000 words novel in a month. The story I wanted to write ended up changing each week and the genre I chose to write about got shifted from contemporary YA to sci-fi YA unconsciously >o<. Therefore, I’ll keep the draft I’ve written and work on it in the future. The second and third week was hard because I couldn’t come up with any good ideas. This means I need to read more books and watch more films to get more inspiration. Maybe when I get some editing done, I’ll post a few chapters up for you all to read. Reading-wise.. I finished one book and I started three more. I have that habit of reading multiple books at the same time, which is not good at all. A few reviews will be posted up this month so be sure to look out for them. I also went to watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire last weekend and the movie was awesome. I love the casts and the story. It was just so good. There were some teary moments for me during the Victory Tour. I did finish reading Catching Fire earlier this year so now I really want to finish reading Mockingjay to see how it all ends.

On other note, I'm planing to finish Insurgent soon since Allegiant came out and I also want to know how it ends. In addition, I got my hands on two novellas: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi and No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige. I’m halfway through both of the novella so their review will pop up in the near future.

Lastly, a lot of my reading time this month got spent on reading lots of manga. I finish reading the last few volumes of Air Gear by Oh Great! which I adored. It's so much fun. I also caught up to Magi:Labyrinthe of Magic. This has become another of my favorite manga. I can talk all day about manga but these were two of the favorite manga I read last month.

If you would like to read more posts about anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture, please feel free to check out my other blog called Inside the Shell. Check it out --> here

I'd totally love to post manga reviews on this blog too but it goes along better with the Inside the Shell blog.

That's it for now and have a happy holidays. Happy Reading.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga Review

Title: I Hunt Killers
Author: Barry Lyga
Published: April 3rd 2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

My thoughts:

This book is awesome. I really love how Barry Lyga made Jazz's character on the borderline of good and evil. Jazz had an identity crisis and tries really hard to not be like his father, a serial killer. His best friend, Howie, is funny and a hemophiliac who gets to tag along in Jazz's crazy adventure. His girlfriend Connie is a strong female character that complement Jazz really well. The story has Jazz and Howie investigate series of death that is similar to Jazz's father's killings. People close to him are being targeted and the police wouldn't pay attention to Jazz's theory of a copycat killer. Then later the police was able to get him involve and that's where more fun begins. I enjoy the stories and I had a hunch of who the killer was. I'd definitely recommend this book to people who like murder mystery. There may be a few gruesome scenes but not too gory. It's always nice to have a protagonist who is in the grey area between good and evil. Be warn that the end of I Hunt Killers will leave you wanting to find out what happens next. I'd definitely continue reading this series.