June Wrap-Up!

Can you believe it? We're already half way through the year! Holy cow! 

Anyway, in the month of June, I read a total of 5 books, which is great because I was feeling kinda slumpy at the beginning of the month.

The first book I finished was Paper Towns by John Green. Holy cow, guys. This book was awesome. We follow our main protagonist named Quentien in his Senior Year of High School. He's not really feeling the end of the year, when a great opportunity arises to go on an adventure. One night, Margo Roth Spegelman knocks on his bedroom window and asks for his help with some things she needs to get done. After they have this awesome adventure around Florida, Margo disappears. Quentien spends the rest of the novel following the clues Margo has left behind to find her.

I really enjoyed this book. I think I might have liked it even better if I wasn't feeling slump-like while reading it. It's one of those books that I've assumed will pull me out of a slump, but when I've tried that in the past, it hasn't really worked for me. Anyway, I gave Paper Towns a four out of five stars.

The next book I read was The Heir by Kiera Cass. I'm not going to say much, as it is a continuation of The Selection Series, but let me just say that this book was amazing! I really enjoyed reading The Selection process from The Selector's POV. I gave The Selection four out of five stars.

The third book I read this month was Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page. Again, a really amazing book! We follow our main protagonist Amy Gumm whose trailer is swept up in a tornado and she lands in a place that seemingly is Oz from the fairy tale she read growing up. However, something is different. Not only is Dorothy back, but she's an evil ruler over the land. She has enslaved munchkins to mine Oz's magic and have it all for herself. 

This book was really awesome. I gave it like a four and a half out of five stars. 

The fourth book I read was the sequel to Dorothy Must Die; The Wicked Will Rise. I was kind of disappointed in this one. If it's the end, it has a really crappy ending and if it's not the end, I can't wait to read more. But, I'm really confused. I gave this one a three out of five star rating until I find out if there is going to be a third one or not.

The final book I read in the month of June was Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. This was a really awesome contemporary story about Anna, whose father ships her off to a boarding school in Paris where she meets St. Clair, a very attractive British boy. I really liked this one because there wasn't so much of an insta-love. Their relationship grows before they become boyfriend and girlfriend. They go through a couple of struggles together that really builds their relationship. It gets so frustrating at times because you can see that they are perfect for each other, but other than that, I found the story excellent and well put together. I gave Anna and the French Kiss a four and a half out of five star rating. 

I hope you all had a great reading month! July seems to have come so quick! I have classes starting up again on Monday, so I'm sure I'll have another Freshman Experience post up. 

I hope you have a good rest of the week!

Type at you later!

Shea

May Wrap Up/June TBR

Hello all! I hope you had a great reading month! I think I did fairly well with a total of six books read and a reading slump near the end of the month. Here's what I thought of the books that I read!

#1- Breaking Point by Alex Flinn

TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE!

While there is suicide in this book, and it's such a short book, you would think that this would be a horribly dark tale. However, it was not. Our main character, Paul, is new to his town in Miami. He doesn't have the best money situation, but he gets the opportunity to go to a prep-school because his mother gets hired as an office worker. He meets Charlie Good. Along with his group of cronies, Charlie and Paul start doing some vandalism and then, Charlie wants Paul to do something even worse. 

I gave this book a four out of five star rating. I feel that we can learn from this. We can learn how bulling really affects our youth from people experiencing it. I feel that it is a safe way to learn about this because it is not actually a true story and we aren't in danger of the characters coming out of the books to seek revenge on us. However, we must still take caution as to how we present this novel to a younger group of people. I honestly wouldn't read it until Junior year of High School.

#2- Lockdown by Walter Dean Meyers

Honestly, when I picked up this book, I thought I was going to be picking up a memoir of sorts, but it turned out to be a fiction novel.

Anyway, our main setting is a Juvenile Detention Center called Progress. Our main character is named Reese and he is only fourteen years old. What I find astonishing from this story is how much the kids, and I use that term lightly, have gone through and how they can commit these crimes.

Anyway, Reese is on a sort of "work-study" program (I don't know really what else to call it). He is the sort of poster child for the program to see if it will work. He basically goes into a nursing home a few times a week so as to shorten his sentence. 

I didn't really like the story progression of this book. I felt it could be classified as more of a novella, or could have been longer and filled with more story. 

#3- Nothing to Loose by Alex Flinn

TRIGGER WARNING FOR PHYSICAL/SPOUSAL ABUSE

This book was very emotional for me, and as a person who has not experienced the abuse in the story, I couldn't imagine what someone who does go through this kind of abuse would feel. 

Anyway, Michel had run away with the carnies at his local fair grounds about a year ago when our story begins. He has the idea to chase after the girl he had fallen in love with. But then, the fair returns to Miami. Where his mother is locked up for a crime she hadn't committed. He is very emotional and tries to reach out for help, though not very well. 

This is such a short book, I'm afraid to say too much, so I'll just say one more thing. This book was very emotional. I gave it four out of five stars. 

#4- Fade to Black by Alex Flinn

I was on a roll with Alex Flinn books this month!

I'm just going to leave you with the blurb from GoodReads....

Three perspectives -- one truth
The victim: After his windshield was shattered with a baseball bat, HIV-positive Alex Crusan ducked under the steering wheel. But he knows what he saw. Now he must decide what he wants to tell. 

The witness: Daria Bickell never lies. So if she told the police she saw Clinton Cole do it, she must have. But did she really? 

The suspect: Clinton was seen in the vicinity of the crime that morning. And sure, he has problems with Alex. But he'd never do something like this. Would he?

#5. Eve and Adam by Michael Grant & Katherine Applegate

This story is a dystopian novel, but set in a more modern-day time period. But, other than that, this book is so hard to summarize. I don't want to give too much away, but at the same time, I want you guys to know enough about the book to pick it up. So, I'm going to try my best.

Eve is in an accident that causes her leg to be practically amputated. Her mother is a famous researcher that insists that Eve be transferred to her special hospital. The doctors put up a huge fight, but in the end, Eve's mom wins and she, Eve, is transferred to her mother's research facility. While Eve is there, something remarkable happens.

That's as much as I want to tell you, because there is so much jammed into the first part of the book. I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

#6. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Oh. Em. Gee. I fell in love with Daemon Black. I sort of felt like this might have been a sort of a Twilight-eque story, but I don't feel as though the relationship isn't as abusive or so quickly set on. This is such an awesome story, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. 

I gave this story a 4 out of 5 star rating.

June TBR-

I don't have much planned for the month of June, but I really want to read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and possibly start Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. But, I'm a mood reader, so we'll see at the end of the month! 

This was an okay reading month for me, but I'm hoping June will be even better!

Type at you later!

Shea

April Wrap-Up... AKA I Read a Shit Ton of Books This Month!

Hello all!

I hope you had an awesome April! It seems like it lasted so long, but it's over so soon too! I have read a whole bunch of books this month. Honestly, I thought I read some of them last month, but my GoodReads page says otherwise. I guess I'll stick to what that says!

Anyway, I read a total of 11 books and an essay this month. So, let's get on to the Wrap-Up.

The first book I read this month, or rather finished, was Wicked by Gregory Maguire. This book honestly did not live up to my expectations. It is a very seldom instance when I enjoy an adaption over the book. This is one of those instances. I prefer the Broadway adaption rather than the book. I think this may be because of the explicitness of the book, but I'm not sure. I have the second book, but I think I'll hold off on reading it for a little while. I gave it three stars.

The second book I read was Cinderella's Dress by Shonna Slayton. This was one of my favorite books that I read this month. I honestly thought it was going to be a fairytale retelling of Cinderella. But it wasn't. Basically, it was about this family who is the protectors of the three Cinderella Dresses (the ACTUAL dresses). It takes place during WWII and the main character's great aunt and uncle comes to the states from Poland with these dresses and are handing them down to the next generation. It was a really enjoyable book. I gave it four stars.

Next, I read The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. I also watched the movie and did a joint-review of the two which you can find under the tags Silver Linings Playbook and Matthew Quick for easy access to them. See that to learn my thoughts on the book! I gave it a four star rating.

After that, I read, or rather finished, Macbeth by William Shakespeare. I had to read this one for school. It was honestly one of the better Shakespeare plays that I read in my school career. Either that, or I've just grown to like Shakespeare more as I've gotten older. I gave Macbeth a three star rating.

Next, I picked up the Hush Hush Series by Becca Fitzpatrick. This consists of Hush Hush, Crescendo, Silence, and Finale. Honestly, I don't think the titles go with the story at all. It's basically a twilight-esque love story between a fallen angel and a mortal. Don't get me wrong, Hush Hush was one of the best books I've read so far this year. But the rest of the series (and especially the last book) got too much like Twilight for my taste. Twilight is an okay book, but the similarities were there.... to the point where the main love interest has lots of money, several expensive cars, overly eloquent houses, and takes it upon himself to see that the main protagonist is safe. During the last book, I rolled my eyes several times. I gave Hush Hush a five star rating, but Crescendo and Silence got four, and Finale got three.

This was the time that I was admitted into the hospital to have my appendix out. That was an experience in itself, let me tell you. But in the three days I was in the hospital, I read two full books. They were just simple ones with easy to follow story lines, but they kept me occupied whilst there. I read Wicked Little Secrets and Deadly Little Sins by Kara Taylor. These are the last two books in the Prep-School Confidential books and they are actually pretty good. If you like the Gallaghar Girls Series by Aly Carter, I think you would enjoy these as well. I'm not going to go into the books, since they are at the end of a series, but I gave them four and three stars, respectively.

It was then that I was forced to pick up A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. This is the man that wrote Gulliver's Travels, so I thought this piece of satire would be an okay read. No, it was not. He is writing that to control the population problem in Ireland, that people EAT BABIES. What has the school system come to? I gave this one star.

Lastly, I read Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. I thought this book was very insightful. I, as someone who has never encountered the Prison or Legal System, thought that we are shown how women can come together as a family and become protectors of secrets and each other. Now, the book is slightly different than the Netflix Original Series. They use different names and there is A LOT less sexual content. Aside from using the F-Bomb a gazillion times, the most sexually explicit scene was when she explains how these two inmates were bringing in contraband, which turned out to be a box full of Dilldos. *shrugs* It wasn't bad. I gave it four stars.

As for Dewey's Read-A-Thon, I'm marking it as a fail. When I was awake that day, I ate and took medicine, and then went back to bed. Oh well. I'll try again in October. :)

And my appendix? I'm recovering quite well. I'm still a slow mover and can't bend over yet. But I'm mobile and am walking around much easier. I get my staples out next Thursday.

And one last thing.......... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND BROOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beginning of the Week Update/March Wrap Up/April TBR

Hello all! This post was meant to go up yesterday, but I had a whole lot of things to do that I couldn't miss and then when the day was over, I had to do homework. And then after that, I just wanted to sleep!

Anyway, here is my Beginning of the week reading update.

So, over the weekend, I didn't actually get much reading done. I've managed to get to about page 175 in Wicked. It's finally picking up speed a little bit. The beginning was so slow, and at this point, I'm not sure if we needed all of that background information. But, I still have a chunk of reading left to go, so we shall see.

Since this post is so short, I also wanted to include my March Wrap-Up. As you know, I read all seven of the Harry Potter books this past month. Let me just say that it was AWESOME! I had forgotten a bunch of the smaller details that they didn't include in the movies. It was great to see Peeves again and more of Dobby and Kreatcher. I really wish they had included Kreatcher in the movies. His character arc is one of the best of minor characters I think there is. He goes from practically hating Harry, Ron, and Hermione to thinking that they are okay people. He even manages to stop calling Hermione a "mudblood".

One of the biggest things I think I'd forgotten was Phineious Nigellous Black (I know that's not spelled correctly, but I'm too lazy to look it up! :P). Even though he was such a minor character, he was rather important in the final book. When Hermione took his portrait down and put it in the beaded bag and then blindfolded him, I realized how important this was to the story.

If you want, I can create a separate post for my feelings on each book.

And as for the end of the month, I started Wicked by Gregory Mcguire. As you can see from above, I've only read about 175 pages so far.

As for a TBR for April, I'm not really sure what I'm going to read. I don't have a "Spring Break" at my High School, but we do get an extended weekend for Easter, so I'm hoping to be able to finish at least Wicked if I haven't before then.

I was able to pick out the books I wanted in my Easter Basket so, I think I will read some of those (I will have a proper haul up when I actually receive the books, because I've forgotten what some of them are!).

One of the books was Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman, I know that for sure. I want to read that before the new season is released on Netflix in June, so that's on my TBR for this month. I'd also like to start the Throne of Glass series as well as finally get to Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick and Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox. And of course finish Wicked. I'll keep you posted through my weekly updates and end of the month wrap up.

I hope you guys are having a great start to your week. It's snowing here again......... So much for Spring.

But anyway,

I'll type at you later!

Shea

February Wrap Up: The Month of Luuuurve

So, since February is the month of love, I decided to read a whole bunch of Young Adult Contemporary novels.

Book #1: Confessions of a Not It Girl by Melissa Kantor read February 1, 2015

Although I read this in a day, it wasn't one of the best books I've ever read. Jan Miller, pronounced Yahn, lives in the Upper East Side of New York whose best friend is rated a magazine's Top 20 under 20. She has a normal teenage life but she is also privileged. I don't know if I would classify this as YA or more so Middle Grade. I have my reasons for this.

The way this novel is set up, there is very minimal plot line. So little in fact that as I'm writing this a month later, there are no big stand outs for me. It also compares a lot to The Clique Series and the Secrets of my Hollywood Life series in the way that the girls, though in this novel they are in high school instead of junior high, they are privileged, go shopping and eating out way too much and are seriously boy crazy. That's  something that's not in my taste to read about, but that could be in someone else's taste.

I had originally rated this a 4 star. But, I may be dropping it down to a 3.

Book #2: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin read February 2, 2015

Another book I read in a day! Anyway, this book follows our main protagonist, Naomi, who has had an accident and suffers brain trauma. As a result, she suffers from amnesia. She doesn't remember being on yearbook staff, why her friend Will calls her "Chief", her boyfriend, or playing tennis.

But then, she meets James. James is the one she thought was her boyfriend when she woke up in the ambulance after falling. James said that he was her boyfriend so he could ride in the ambulance with Naomi to make sure she was okay. But then he mysteriously disappears.

Until Naomi returns to school. Turns out, James is a student at her high school and the reason she had never seen him before, other than the amnesia, is that he is a transfer student and a few years behind schedule. Anyway, long story short, James and Naomi start dating.

As the novel progresses, we learn more and more about the character of Will and his philosophies. He's co-editor-in-cheif of the Yearbook with Naomi and he is generally a nice person all around. He doesn't really like James, or the person the amnesia has made Naomi become. She stops coming to Yearbook meetings all together. But Will sort of blames himself for her fall. But I'm not going to say why, you'll have to pick up the book!

I gave this book a solid 4 stars. My typical rating for a contemporary story. I would have given it a 5 if there was a little bit more back story. But overall, it was a good book.

Book #3: Silence of Six by E.C. Meyers read February, 2015*

This book blew me away. I'm sure by now, you've all heard a synopsis of this. Basically, our main protagonist Max, has a best friend named Ethan who commits suicide via live stream broadcast to the entire school during a public event. That was televised.

I don't want to say much about this book, you should read it yourself. But I want to warn you that this book is centered around "hacktavists" and some of the technical jargon was tough for me to understand.

But it was an excellent book. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Would have given it a full 5 star rating, and may if I read it again in the future, if it was easier to connect with some of the characters.

Book #4: If I Stay by Gayle Forman read February, 2015*

Another YA contemporary novel, imagine that! ;)

This book is about Mia, who is a prodigy on the cello. She is so good that she has an audition to Juilliard. But, for most of the book, Mia is in a coma from a car accident that she was in with her parents and little brother.

But, you may ask, how is this novel put together? Well, the novel is composed of mostly flashbacks. We see Mia interacting with her family before her car accident. We don't get much view on the car accident itself, other than her parents were DOA.

The chapters alternate with flashbacks and Mia being in the hospital. You know how people in movies in comas are always able to see and hear and comprehend what is going on around them? That's how Mia's hospital story is told. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I gave this book a solid 4 star rating.

Book #5: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick read February, 2015*

I really enjoyed how teen romance was captured in this YA Contemporary novel. We follow our main character Samantha, who lives on a small island of the coast of Connecticut. She is a trust fund baby and her mom is state senator. And her mom hates their neighbors and anything to do with them.

Sam is coping with two summer jobs and the craziness of her mom's schedule. When one day, she meets Jase Garrett. One of the boys from the family next door. As you may guess, a romance kindles between them. They keep it secret from Sam's mom in the beginning. They don't want Sam's mom to be any more crazy than she already is. And anyway, her mom is busy with a boy-toy of her own.

Sam is quite comfortable with all the members of the Garrett family and even babysits on occasion, without her mother knowing of course. Suddenly, her mom's election agent (<- is that even a thing, or did I make it up?) intervenes with Sam's relationship and things spiral from there.

I gave this a 4 star rating. Typical for a contemporary from me. :)

So, what did you read this month? Did you have a theme like me? Or did you just pick whatever you liked off of your bookshelves? Let's discuss in the comments down below!

Type at you soon!

Shea

*I didn't save the exact dates in my goodreads account, and I didn't want to guess. :)

January Wrap-Up!

Hi guys! I hope this finds you well!

I've had a pretty good reading month with five books read. :) I'm not sure how I'm going to be reviewing books, so I'd like your help with that! I will be having a January Wrap-Up on my YouTube channel in a few days, but I want to have written reviews as well. Would you prefer reviews once a month in a giant chunk of a post (like this one?) or one as I finish a book? I want to make you happy and I would enjoy doing either! Let me know! 

Okay, so, here is what a chunk book-review post would look like. 

Book #1- Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matsin read December 30th 2014 to January 2, 2015

Since You've Been Gone was the first book I read in the year 2015 and it was a great start to the year! If you don't know, Since You've Been Gone is about two best friends. They have been friends for about three years and Sloane has always left these lists for Emily to complete. But, Emily has never fully completed one of these lists. They always seem silly to her. But one day, Emily gets one of Sloane's lists in the mail after Sloane has suddenly disappeared. Emily can't even get in touch with her over the cell phone. This sort of "bucket list" has thirteen items for Emily to complete in the Summer before their Senior year of High School. 

By the end of the novel, Emily is surprised to find that she has completed all of the items on the list (even the one involving a fake ID, which she never thought she'd do). She has it in her mind that some way Sloane will reappear or contact her in some way now that she has finished the list, but no such thing happens.

Emily has grown up a lot in this novel. There are flashbacks scattered throughout the book that show Sloane and Emily's friendship. We can see her growth a lot between flashbacks and the present. Emily conquers her fears and even makes some new friends, which is a surprise because she relied so much on Sloane's company to bring her true self out. But, I'm going to leave it at that.

I rated this a 4 stars, but I'm leaning more towards a 4.5. It was a great book to start out my reading year! I'm really surprised at how much I am enjoying Contemporary novels. I never thought I would love them this much! But, I do! Since You've Been Gone is a funny and witty Contemporary that has just a touch of romance. It really shows the importance of friends in tough times and how much new friends can impact your life. :)

Book #2- Uglies by Scott Westerfield read January 2, 2014 to January 12, 2014

Uglies was one of those books that took me ages to read. It wasn't because it wasn't a good book, because it was, it was because of the meaning behind it.

Uglies is the Dystopian story of a world where once you turn sixteen, you become "pretty". Surgically. You are made to meet the standards of what the world has dubbed pretty. 

In this story, there are three stages of life. The littlie stage, from birth to age 12, where you live with your pretty parents in a pretty town. Once you turn 12, you are sent to Uglyville to live in dorms where you get your schooling and such. Then at 16, you get the pretty operation and are able to move back into PrettyTown. 

Our protagonist, Tally, can't wait to turn 16. She is the oldest in her dorm and her best friend has moved into PrettyTown and is living his new life to the fullest. Our book opens with Tally sneaking into PrettyTown, Uglies aren't allowed there. She pulls some tricks and almost gets herself in some serious trouble. But then she meets Shay. (I was so thrilled with this character name. Can you guess why? :P)

Tally and Shay form a fast friendship. Tally even picks up the skill of hover boarding which proves useful later in the story. A few short days before Tallys, and Shays for that matter, Shay tells Tally that she is going to run away and not have the surgery done. Tally is shocked. She has never heard of an Ugly who doesn't want the operation done. But Tally has no choice but to let her go into the unknown "smoke". 

On the day of Tallys operation, unforeseen circumstances lead her on the trail of Shay with a very peculiar locket. 

I gave Uglies three out of five stars. It was a good novel, don't get me wrong. But the way this society treats young people, and older people for that matter, reflects much too strongly on how many people in today's world view themselves and compare to those with perfect bodies. I will eventually be picking up the rest of the trilogy and the companion novel, but that may be a while down the line. 

Book # 3- Angels and Demons by Dan Brown read January 14, 2014 to January 24, 2014

This was my first adult read. Ever! It was a great book to start out this new reading experience! 

Angels and Demos is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. (I have yet to read The Da Vinci Code, but I am planning on picking that up sometime soon. I just need to give my brain a little break to cope with the new writing style of adult rather than ya.) Our male protagonist, Robert Langdon is a religious scholar of sorts out of an Ivy-League University (Harvard, I believe. Don't quote me on that as I am typing this at 12:21 am on a Sunday and do not feel like looking it up.). One day, he is called by the director of a Science Corp. called CERN. He is very adamant that Robert come to his facility as soon as possible. He will even send a private jet. 

Langdon boards this jet with the thoughts that he is going to upstate New York, as he was told the journey would only take an hour. Turns out, he would be crossing the ocean to Switzerland (again, don't quote me on that detail. See previous parenthesis.). When Langdon arrives, he is brought face to face with the institute's leader, one Maximillion Kohler. Mr. Kohler has a condition that makes him wheel-chair bound. But, being the physicist that he is, he has rigged this chair up with several devices. 

Anyway, Kohler brought Langdon to CERN because they have a very peculiar case before them. One of their researchers is dead. The next bomb shell? He's a Catholic Priest. I won't go into details about why a Catholic Priest is studying science, the book explains it much better than I ever could. But the real reason Langdon is called in is because there is a word branded on the mans chest. Illuminati. A secret "brotherhood" thought to be extinguished for decades. 

When the Priests adopted daughter and fellow scientist returns to CERN, she and Robert set out on an epic journey through Italy where the Pope has just passed away and the election for the new Pope is taking place. All being covered by the media, of course. 

This was an almost perfect novel for me. I gave it a 4.75 out of 5 stars. The only issue I had was how they treated the Catholic Church, the Pope, the Cardinals, and the chamerlo. I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to anyone looking to branch out into reading adult books. 

Book # 4- Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White read January 25, 2014 to January 29, 2014

This book was amazing! It's a magical realism novel in a sort of Historical Fiction world. But the locations in this book, I don't think, ever existed.

Basically, we have an "Island Rat" from the island of Melei who comes to the main land to go to school. She wants to study Math, but the fact that she is a female holds her back from this. She instead opts to study History. The subject that her estranged father teaches. Basically, she black-mailed her father into paying for her education.

The magical realism comes in the fact that the nobles of this society are indeed magical. Some have very little magical ability and others are very strong in their ability. It all really depends on how their parents were adept in the magic skill and what and how the nobles studied.

We meet Jessamin, our main protagonist, as she works for the kitchen and maid staff of the hotel she is living at. This is how she pays for her board and meals. We meet Lord Finley Ackerly (aka Finn) who is one of the nobility who has magical powers. He tries to stray far from Jessamin because he is afraid that he will put her in a dangerous situation. Until one night, Jessamin's soon to be best friend, Eleanor throws a gala and Jessamin comes face to face with the man that Finn was trying to protect her from. The story grows from there.

The only issue I had with this book was that the ending came far too quickly for me. I sort of wished we had a dual-perspective at the end to see Finn's emotions as the climax unfolds. Or that this stand-alone novel would be expanded into a series.

I gave Illusions of Fate a 4.75 out of 5 stars and I look forward to reading it again in the future!

Book #5- Beastly by Alex Flinn read January 30, 2014 to February 1, 2014

I decided to add this book because I read a majority of it in January and finished it on the first day of February. If I had spent any longer reading it, I would have included it in my February wrap-up!

Anyway, Beastly is the Fairytale Retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I read the original Fairytale a long time ago, but just recently saw the Disney movie. Comparing to the original Fairytale, it was very different, but, there were a lot of ways we could see that it was based off of this tale. As for the Disney version, it was similar, but we could tell that it was based off of the original Fairytale and not the Disney version.

Anyway, we meet our main protagonist, Kyle Kingsbury at his prestigious prep school where he is nominated for a school dance's royal court (don't get me started on this, but I hate dances royal courts. If you want, I can do a whole separate post on this). Anyway, he is going to the dance with one of the most popular girls in school, Sloanne. The big thing about this is that Sloanne wants an orchid corsage and Kyle winds up with a white rose corsage. The reason for this is because Kyle also asks a "weird goth chick", Kendra, to the dance as a prank. SHE is the one who wanted a single white rose corsage. When Kyle gives the corsage to Sloanne, she throws a hissy fit.

When the two arrive at the dance, they meet Kendra. This is when Kyle pulls his prank on her and attempts to embarrass her in front of the entire school. But, Kendra never seems to get embarrassed. So, Kyle is still stuck with this single white rose corsage. He gives it to the girl taking tickets at the front door.

After the dance, Kyle gets home where Kendra is waiting. Turns out, Kendra is a witch. She casts a spell on him to turn him into a beast. Her reasoning for this is that because Kyle is so ugly on the inside, he should have an exterior to match. He has one saving grace however, giving the rose to the girl at the door of the dance. Before the dance started, two rose petals fell off so, Kendra says he will have two years to have true love's kiss and break the spell.

When Kyle's dad finds out, he takes him to several doctors to try and get the process reversed, to no avail. So, Kyle's dad locks him in a "tower" (or, ya know, a brownstone in Brooklyn.) with the maid and a blind tutor. The story develops from there.

I gave Beastly a 4 out of 5 stars. It was nearly perfect. The only part I really didn't like was Kyle's attitude. But, that's his character and there's nothing I can do about it. But this is one of those books where I finished it and I immediately wanted to pick this one up and read it again!

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Well, this was an extremely long post. Let me know how you feel about posts like this for reviews, if you would like spoiler reviews, or what. I hope you had a great reading month! I'll have a video up on my YouTube channel soon! 

Shea