Everneath

Title: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Type: Young adult fiction
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 370
Main Characters:
Nikki Beckett
Cole - Everliving
Jack Caputo
Year of Release: 2012
Rating: 4/5 stars
Publlisher: Harper Collins/Balzer + Bray

Synopsis: Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's... (goodreads)

Review: Everneath was quite refreshing to me, a distinction from other books, maybe because it has a different feel to it. A lot of books bring out similiar moods in me, for example Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Fallen by Lauren Kate, they both make me feel annoyed at the author. But, when I was reading Everneath, I could actually feel the pain and inujstice the characters were in, not just read about it and let it process to my brain. It was a complete different experience for me.

  In the beginning, I admit, I was confused because of the random jumps between the present and past but I quickly got past that when I was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. I like how the author doesn't drop huge bombs on us, but tries to drop little hints so we're never bored. We slowly find out how Nikki ended up in the Everneath in the first place,and all the mysteries surrounding her prescence back on the surface.

  Just focusing on the mystery part of the story, I thought Everneath, would've deserved at least a 4.5 rating. The problem was the romance. I found that the love between Nikki, Cole and Jack should have been better written, it's too shallow. I know that it is too early for me to judge since this is just the first book in the series but I feel as if Jack and Nikki's feelings isn't true love yet, they need to go through more trials for the readers to grasp the potential in them.

As for Nikki and Cole, well, the author must be crazy to think that any reader would side with Cole! He never stops threatening Nikki about her friends, family just so she could help him with his selfish desire. How could he say that he loves her? I would much rather have Nikki with Jack and have a shallow relationship. Coming from me, that is harsh considering that I have a soft spot for the supernatural character

Overall, Everneath, was a pretty satisfying book besides the romance factor and I would be very interested in reading the next book.

Matched

Title: Matched
Series Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Type: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 366
Year of Release: 2010
Rating: 3.5 stars
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Synopsis: Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. (goodreads)

Review: Dystopia will be the new vampire, I'm sure of it. The Hunger Games and Divergent is perfect proof. When I first started reading "Matched" I thought it would be too. Matched has a perfect dystopian/utopian setting, a world where the government makes everything seem perfect. The catch is the word 'seem.' To the citizens, what the government does is always right, but there are secrets and mysteries that they can not understand and that is basically what the protagonist, Cassia, discovers throughout the book.

It starts with the matching ceremony, where the government picks the person each 17 year olds will marry. Cassia gets matched to her best friend Xander and feels perfectly content until she see's someone else's face on a microchip they were given. Ky, a boy she knows, was the face that appeared when Xander's face was suppose to. From that point on she starts to doubt in her belief of the society and, as she starts to get to know Ky better, she starts to doubt in herself as well.

This book was a good read, filled with details and poetic devices. That's the problem, the author stops to describe every little thing that Cassia feels or does so the story doesn't move along very well. The characters also seem very distant, their actions and speech are strange and that made them very hard to relate to. The only thing that stopped me from giving this book a lower rating was Cassia's thoughts. Her thinking is very unique, very deep and very conscious of everything that is happening around her.

Overall, Matched is a good book, maybe not the best book ever but still very unique.

The Chicagoland Vampires

Titles: "Some Girls Bite", "Friday Night Bites", "Twice Bitten", "Hard Bitten"
Series Title: Chicagoland Vampires 
Author: Chloe Neill
Type: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance
Pages: 341 pages
Main Characters:
Merit
Ethan Sullivan
Stars (out of 5): 4.2 stars
Publisher: NAL trade

Synopsis: Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago’s vampires announced theirexistence to the world-and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker… and this one decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.

Turns out my savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now I’ve traded sweating over my thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four hundred year old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects my gratitude-and servitude. Right…

But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I’m surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan’s attitude are the least of my concerns. Someone’s still out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival House? An angry mob bearing torches?

My initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war-and there will be blood… ("Some Girls Bite")

Review: *Note, this review includes "Some Girls Bite", "Friday Night Bites", "Twice Bitten" and "Hard Bitten". If you like vampires and paranormalcy, then you'll LOVE the chicagoland vampires. The plot is funny, realistic, seductive and at times, a bit sad. The series starts off with Merit (the protagonist), a simple grad student at the U of C (University of Chicago) getting attacked by a rogue vampire while going back home. Luckily that vampire didn't have enough time to kill her before 2 other vampires intervened. Ethan Sullivan, master of the Cadogan House and Malik, his second. The rogue vampire ran away and Ethan changed Merit before she  could die. That's how it all began, but what really surprised me was that the vampires had made themselves known to humans just a couple months before the book began. i was also intrigued by the organization of the vamps: vampires are apparently sorted into houses. There are 12 vampire houses in North American, each with their own master (who's in charge), and a second (who assists the master), some guards and and a head of guard. 

*Note* Points that separate this vampire story from others so far. 1. Humans know about vampires. 2. Vampires are organized like the government. And above all the houses is Greenwhich Presidium: a group of powerful vampires that has control over all the vampires, even the masters. It's like this: vampires in general are like the states of America, the house masters are the governors and the Presidium is the president. 

The first book , "Some Girls Bite", was sort of like an introduction to the series, Merit tries to fit in to her new life, characters are introduced, problems arise and so on. At first, I thought the story was a bit of a drag because there was only talk and not much action but that feeling quickly disappeared when Ethan and Merit noticed their feelings towards each other. Then the feeling quickly returned when they both rejected one another. I wanted to kick them both, Ethan: for being so inconsiderate and Merit: for being so stubborn. But even through all that, I loved the plot. People were getting killed (not that I love people getting killed) and Ethan and Merit had to figure out who was behind them under the pressure of the government and the media. Not a really unique story line, but still fairly interesting. The secondary characters: Mallory (Merit's best friend & roommate, who turns out to be a powerful sorcerer), Catcher (Merit's new-found sorcerer friend), and Merit's family (the esteemed Merits, new-money in Chicago and friends with the mayor) complicated matters and added more depth to the story line. *Note* Merit is Merit's last name.  "Some Girls Bite" ended on a small cliffhanger that wasn't enough to make me hunger for the next book but it made me curious enough to want to learn what happens next. 

The next 2 books in the series: "Friday Night Bites", and "Twice Bitten" was basically a continued version of the first book. We learn more about Merit, her history, her family and there are some new characters. One thing I don't like about the plot in these 2 books were that the problems were never really solved. Once 1 problem is halfway solved, another situation pops up so I think that these books can go on forever. My favorite part in the 3rd book "Twice Bitten" was when Merit's first name finally appears. I had hoped that Ms.Neill would reveal why she didn't use it but she never did, she only hinted in "Hard Bitten". "Hard Bitten was by far my favorite book in the series so far. The stakes are much higher and Ethan and Merit's relationship is also at it's breaking point. I also loved the twist in the story's end when when one of our beloved characters dies. It gave me a shock that I never felt before when reading a book. But I know for a fact that that character is going to come back. An author doesn't spend 4 books time describing a character for him to die in the middle of the series.

 Overall, the Chicagoland vampires was a pleasure to read, and i had an awesome time reading about Merit's adventures. Merit's one of those strong type of girls who can kick butt when she wants to and i can't wait until the next book in the series "Drink Deep" comes out. Unlike most people, I don't regret reading this series. I just needed some time to get over the shock and surprise of the last part of "Hard Bitten". But for those people who wants a lot of romance in their books, you might want to skip this series because it doesn't have that much romance, but it has enough to make me satisfied

The City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Series Title: The Mortal Instruments 
Author: Cassandra Clare
Type: Young Adult
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy
Pages: 485 pages
Year of Release: 2007
Main Characters: 
Clarissa (Clary) Fray
Jonathan (Jace) Wayland
Simon Lewis
Isabelle Lightwood
Alexander (Alec) Lightwood
Stars (out of 5): 4.5 stars
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Synopsis:  When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? 

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.... 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously 

entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Review: City of Bones was amazing! I loved how the events weren't draggy like most books and went from scene to scene with a lot of action and surprises. It never lingered on one problem for too long, and you see the main problem before long. And because of that, I literally couldn't put the book down, even as I was re-reading it! Each character, no matter how small had some depth to them and had a secretive side which made them a lot funner to read about. Jace is a shadowhunter who has a sad past but can't help falling for Clary. Clary was a mundane human until she was thrust in the shadow world and found out she was a shadowhunter to find her mother. Simon is a mundane that can now see the shadow world because of his love for Clary. Isabelle is a shadowhunter that puts up a brave front. Alec is a shadowhunter that has trouble with his feelings. This book also has a lot of sarcastic humor (mostly from Jace) that made the story light and playful as well as dark and spooky because of the supernatural. Not only did Cassandra Clare write about only 1 form of the supernatural she wrote about a lot of them such as vampires, shadowhunters/nephilim, werewolves, warlocks, fairies and even demons! And what's even more intriguing is how she managed to place them all in the same story world. Even the romance is suspenseful! It creeps up onto you, first little touched and flirting then, BAM! you realize what torture it was for the characters to hide their feelings. Clare loves to torture her characters!!And everybody knows that Simon's going to end up with Isabelle. There was always a bigger story behind everything, always a piece of the past that affects the future. Don't get me wrong, I love that but Cassandra Clare didn't explain the past thoroughly enough so readers can get a little confused. I guess it's not a good thing that I read the other books in the series before I wrote this because now I can't think of any questions we might ask at the end of the book but I can say this: It was totally worth it to read this book.