REVIEW: Until I Break by Kara Bietz

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Two boys: One is a star athlete and top student with a deep-seated need to prove himself. The other is a chip-on-his-shoulder quarterback who will never settle for second best. When gunshots echo through the halls of Broadmeadow High School, whose finger is on the trigger? A year before the shooting, Sam North has a bright future as well as a problem that nobody else seems to see Ace Quinn, his neighbor and teammate. For years, Ace has been bullying and harassing Sam, yet he's managed to deftly conceal his actions and threats from the rest of the world. As Ace's secret rage intensifies, Sam becomes more desperate to stop him. But how far will he go? And what if Ace takes his threats even farther?"

I really, really wanted to love this one. I thought that a book about bullies and a shooting would pack a lot of emotional punches, but it just fell flat. The book starts with an interview with Sam after the shooting. There was a lot of tension during those scenes, especially because I had no idea who shot whom. It goes back and forth between the interview and the year prior to the shooting. Sam is a good kid with a promising career in sports, but he has to deal with being bullied by Ace Quinn. The scenes between Ace and Sam sometimes felt overdramatic and I had a hard time believing that NO ONE noticed how much of a jerk Ace was being. I also kept wondering why Sam didn't tell any other adult. It bugged me that he didn't even tell his friends the extent of it, so his friends just thought he was being jealouserk Ace was being. I also kept wondering why Sam didn't tell any other adult. It bugged me that he didn't even tell his friends the extent of it, so his friends just thought he was being jealous. Sam was seeing a girl that he had known forever, but I did not like her. She led Sam on, she wouldn't let him call her his girlfriend, she disappeared for days and ignored him . . . she was annoying and I hated that Sam was so obsessed with her. She was really one dimensional too because she was supposedly friends with Sam, but I didn't see it. There was nothing to make her stand out. As for the boys, it got to the point where I honestly didn't know who I was supposed to hate. I thought I knew who the shooter was, but there was a bit of a twist with it. I didn't really like the ending. I thought things ended a bit too neatly and it seemed like the victim was blamed a bit. I don't really understand how or why because it was only briefly mentioned in the epilogue type chapter. This book just fell flat for me.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Skip this one.

REVIEW: Heartless by Leah Rhyne

I received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

In a contemporary take on the Frankenstein tale, Jolene Hall is dead – sort of. She can walk, think and talk, but her heart no longer beats. After being abducted and subjected to horrific experiments, Jo wakes up to find her body is a mosaic of jagged wounds and stapled flesh. Jo has a choice: go to the authorities, or team with her best friend Lucy and boyfriend Eli to save herself. She wants to know who turned her into a monster, and live to see another sunrise. On a trip deep into the snowy White Mountains, to a hidden laboratory filled with bodies of the dead, Jo and Lucy find more ‘creatures’ just like her. Part body, part machine, run by batteries and electricity, these girls are killers, created by a shadowy Order with a penchant for chaos…and murder. To make matters worse, a photo on a wall of victims reveals Lucy is next in line to be "recruited” into this army When Jo’s physical condition takes a turn for the worse, and the and the Order kidnaps those she loves most, saving her best friend and the man she loves might just mean sacrificing herself...or what’s left of her. 

I am having a few problems writing this review and putting into words exactly what I didn't like. I hate when that happens. I loved the premise of this book. A retelling of Frankenstein where the monster is a teenage girl just sounds all kinds of awesome. The problem is that the premise didn't really live up to what I pictured in my head.

The very beginning of the book was great. It started with Jo telling about how she wound up dead and the horror of waking up in a morgue. I loved the friendship between Jo and Lucy. It was very sweet and realistic and I loved that Jo counted on her even more than she counted on her boyfriend, Eli. That doesn't happen in books very often so that was refreshing. It's hard to describe where it went wrong. I think some of the dialogue and interactions were just over the top. The dialogue seemed cheesy at times, especially between Jo and her parents. And then some of her friend's reactions were a bit off. Every time Jo told someone else that she was dead, I expected a bigger reaction or more shock. But maybe that's just me. 

Speaking of over the top, let's talk about Jo basically falling apart (physically) as they try to figure out what happened and how to fix her. Another reviewer compared it to a cheesy horror movie and I think that is the most accurate description. The descriptions of her smell and her broken bones that she couldn't even feel and her bones that were showing were just all too much. It was also predictable. There were a couple of people involved in what happened to Jo and the second they were introduced, I said to myself, "Yep, that person is involved." And there were SO MANY SIGNS. I thought Jo, Lucy and Eli were all basically idiots because they couldn't see any of that stuff sooner. I wanted to scream at them so many times. And then the resolution of why everything happened was just crazy. I know you have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief anyway with a story like this, but it just seemed a little too unrealistic.

I also didn't like the romance part of the book. I didn't like Eli. He acted like a jerk at times. Seriously, who yells at a dead woman? Ugh. There was no chemistry between him and Jo and I never understood what Jo saw in him. So I didn't root for them at all.

I really wish this book had been better, but alas, it just wasn't for me.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Skip this one.

DISCUSSION: How far would you go to read?

I love reading.

Let's file that little piece of information under the heading, "Duh."

I will literally read anytime, anywhere under any circumstances.

One such time actually caused me to have a lingering fear of fire. I was a teenager and the power is out. I don't remember what book I was reading, but I remember that I was at a really good part and did not want to stop. I was not going to let a little power outage stopped me. My mom had lit some candles and I was holding one next to me so I could see my book. I must have been holding the candle a little too close to my head because suddenly, my hair was on fire.

Luckily, my stepfather noticed quicker than I did and he was able to put it out pretty quickly. But now, I am scared of fire. And candles. I try to keep myself a safe distance from all flames. That's probably a good thing anyway, right?

I also insist on reading when I have a migraine. My husband told me other day NOT to read because my head was really hurting and it would hurt my eyes. But what did I do the second he turned his back? Yep, picked up my book.

There has been one time where I just was not able to read and that was on a flight home from Italy to the United States. We were going through some pretty bad turbulence. And I mean bad. The plane was shaking and there were a couple of times where the plane actually dipped and it felt like we were in free fall for a second and like we were going to crash. That has been the one and only time where the circumstances were just too extreme for me to read.

I guess feeling like I am going to die is a real mood killer.

So can you read anytime and anywhere? Do you read while you are sick? Any fun stories about the lengths you would go to in order to read a book?

Top Ten Tuesday - New to Me Authors

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They feature a different top ten list every week. This week's topic is my favorite authors that I read for the first time this year.

1. Ryan Graudin

2 V.E. Schwab

3. Marie Rutkoski

4. J.K. Rowling

5. Kim Holden

6. Taylor Jenkins Reid

7. Jennifer Mathieu

8. Emily Henry

9. Robin Benway

10. Emma Donahue 

What are a few of your new-to-you authors? Are there any on this list that you absolutely love? Any on this list that you haven't read yet? If not, what are you waiting for??

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! It goes until the first of the year.

November Wrap-Up

I am linking up to both the Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer and the Sunday Post @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

November has been an amazing month! My husband and I visited Tromso, Norway for Thanksgiving and had such an amazing time. I do think that's one of the most beautiful countries I have been to. We saw the Northern Lights, saw some whales, went reindeer sledding, and even ate some tasty reindeer. It didn't actually snow until the last day we were there, but we still had such an amazing time. It was freezing, but I love the cold so that was a bonus. It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure. 

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

I am quite sure that these pictures don't even begin to give Norway justice, but you get the general idea.

On the blogging and reading front, I feel like things are going really well. I am still a bit behind with some of my blogging duties (I swear I will reply to all your comments soon!), but I am out of my blogging and reading slumps. Woo-hoo! I have read some amazing books this month (and a few not so good ones, but you can't win them all). 

I have also been really good about not requesting ARCs. I have only requested (and received!) one in the last two months and that is one I was really excited about. This ARC hiatus has really allowed me to catch up on my current batch of ARCs, as well as read some of the books that have remained unread on my Kindle.

And I won a giveaway hosted by Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight! I have already received my book and I am so excited to read this one. 

It's kind of a retelling of Hansel and Gretel and it's set in Poland during World War II. I have no idea how I first heard about this one (maybe a blogger??), but it gets really good reviews and the premise sounds amazing

My blog also turned two this month!! I really can't believe I have been blogging for two years. Honestly, it feels like longer. My blog and I have had our ups and downs, but I still love doing it. 

I read seventeen books this month.

Here are a couple of my favorite reads:

Here are my most disappointing reads:

How was your November? Are you getting excited for the holidays? What was your favorite book for the month?

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! It goes until the first of the year.

REVIEW: The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention center after his mother and sister fled the violence of a distant homeland, Subhi has only ever known life behind the fences. But his world is far bigger than that—every night, the magical Night Sea from his mother's stories brings him gifts, the faraway whales sing to him, and the birds tell their stories. And as he grows, his imagination threatens to burst beyond the limits of his containment. The most vivid story of all, however, is the one that arrives one night in the form of Jimmie—a scruffy, impatient girl who appears on the other side of the wire fence and brings with her a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it herself, she relies on Subhi to unravel her family's love songs and tragedies. Subhi and Jimmie might both find comfort—and maybe even freedom—as their tales unfold. But not until each has been braver than ever before. 

This was such a sad book and it was made even worse by the fact that this stuff really happens. This is the story of Subhi. He was born in a refugee camp and has grown up there. I think he's roughly ten years old and he has no idea what life is like on the Outside. Basically, him and everyone else in the refugee camp are waiting for someone to tell them that they can live on the Outside. All of the families have their own stories and their own heartaches. He soaks up the stories and memories that the adults tell him because he doesn't know anything else. I loved his imagination and his sweet innocence. The conditions that are described are awful, but he really tries to make the best of everything. I loved when he was talking about the "pebbles of happy." It was an interesting choice to make the narrator o such an awful experience the voice of a child. It takes away some of the sadness because the child is just so innocent. 

So why didn't I love this book more? I think it was the character of Jimmie. I didn't feel like her character was developed enough and I thought her chapters were a little flat. I didn't know much about her dad or what he did for a living or anything about her brother. I also didn't really get why she kept sneaking into the refugee camp. I just didn't know enough about her to know her motivations.

This book had its moments of sweetness and its moments of sadness and it really shined a light on a situation that doesn't usually get much attention. It was a good book, just not as good as it could have been.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Borrow this one.

REVIEW: Bad Boy by Elliot Wake

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is December 6, 2016.

Vlog star Renard Grant has nothing to prove: he’s got a pretty face, chiseled body, and two million adoring video subscribers. Plus the scars on his chest and a prescription for testosterone. Because Ren is transgender: assigned female at birth, living now as male. He films his transition and shares it bravely with the world; his fans love his honesty and positivity. But Ren has been living a double life. Off-camera, he’s Cane, the muscle-bound enforcer for social justice vigilante group Black Iris. As Cane, he lets his dark side loose. Hurts those who prey on the disempowered. Indulges in the ugly side of masculinity. And his new partner, Tamsin Baylor, is a girl as rough and relentless as him. Together, they terrorize the trolls into silence. But when a routine Black Iris job goes south, Ren is put in the crosshairs. Someone is out to ruin his life. He’s a bad boy, they say, guilty of what he punishes others for. Just like every other guy: at heart, he’s a monster, too. Now Ren’s got everything to prove. He has to clear his name, and show the world he’s a good man. But that requires facing demons he’s locked away for years. And it might mean discovering he’s not such a good guy after all.

First of all, I just want to say that I ADORE Elliot Wake's (formerly known as Leah Raeder) books. I was so excited about this one and it's not easy to say this, but I was a little disappointed. So let's start with what I loved: every single thing about Ren. I thought the author did an amazing job of writing about Ren's transition from female to male and all the feelings that went along with it. It broke my heart that his family basically thought of him as dead and that his best friend couldn't accept him as a boy. I know the author drew on his own experience with this one and it shows. Wake did not shy away from writing about his transition; there was so much depth there. Wake also had chapters that described Ren's vlogs over the years where he described his feelings regarding his transition. It was so emotional and thought provoking. Another thing I did like was the romance aspect of it. Ren meets Tamsin, a sexy woman who likes Ren for exactly who he is. I wasn't sure what Tamsin's motives were at first or if she was a good guy or a bad guy, but there was no denying the amount of chemistry between them. 

The part that I didn't really like was the whole vigilante group thing. There were characters from other Wake books in the group and while I enjoyed seeing those characters again, I thought it was a bit over the top. I absolutely loved Laney from Black Iris, but I did not like her in this book. In Black Iris, Laney spent a lot of time trying to get revenge on people who had wronged her and I got that. But in this book, the vigilante group was basically a group of people who set out to hurt men who had wronged women. I didn't understand the point or what they hoped to accomplish. Laney even mentions at one point that getting revenge doesn't help the victim so what was the point? It seemed as if they were getting revenge for revenge's sake and it kind of ruined the Laney character for me. Also, the way they operated and some of the things they did were just way over the top.

This book was still a good one, just not great and not what I was expecting.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Borrow this one.