Insurgent- veronica Roth

Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: May 1, 2012
525 pages
Goodreads page

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

"New York Times" bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian "Divergent" series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

So i cant really say too much about this book because i don't want to spoil the first one for those very few who haven't read it.
I will just skip to my opinions..
I was quite disappointed with this book, it seemed to me to be a filler book (a book that is necessary to take the story line into the next book). No questions were answered it only created more, and i feel like we should have got at least some answers.
Also there was still no real back story. I want to know how and why their society is like this, and although they did touch on it at the end it just wasn't enough for me.
It was just kind of bland and i had little motivation while reading it.
Things did happen in this book but it wasn't the gripping story line we got in Divergent.
Oh and the romance fell extremely flat for me, it was pretty much non-existent, like it was hardly a focus at all and i was hoping to see things blossom a little more. If you know what i mean ;)
Overall pretty disappointed, hopefully the next book can pull it together and rescue this series for me.

***
Three stars

Divergent- Veronica Roth

Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: May 3, 2011
487 pages
Goodreads page

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

So this was actually a re-read because i have had Insurgent sitting there since the day it came out but have been putting off re-reading this just because i have so many books in my TBR pile.
The first time i read this was before i started this blog so i thought i would do a review anyway.

Can i just say that the first time i read this i actually wasn't that into it, like it was good but i didn't understand the hype about it. I think its because i read it so fast that i didn't take time to enjoy it. By the time insurgent came out i had completely forgotten what happened, which is why i had to re-read.

The second time round i actually took the time to enjoy it and let everything sink in and i can actually understand the hype now. It really was great.
I don't think i need to explain what its about because I'm sure you have all read it so i will just skip to my opinion.
I love the world building, although i would like to learn more about the other factions (fingers crossed insurgent!). It was written in such a way that it felt so real.
And Tobias, oh man he is like the perfect guy. He is by far my favorite character.
The action in this book is so good. I pretty much read the last half of the book in one sitting because i couldn't put it down i just wanted to know what happened. Even when i had things to do i would tell myself 'just one more chapter' and five chapters later i was still sitting there.
A really great read and i recommend this for any dystopian lovers, or pretty much anybody should really give it a go

*****
Five stars

You against me- jenny Downham

Publisher: David Fickling
Published: Dec 2, 2010
413 pages
Goodreads page

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skillfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for ones family and for another.

Well to start off we meet Mikey and Ellie who are both on different sides of something bad that happened. Their fighting to help their siblings and when they meet their two worlds collide. They both have to decide what is right and what is wrong.
I loved both Mikey's and Ellie's characters they were both so well written and even though Ive never been through anything like this i felt like i could relate to them.
I enjoyed the story line, i found myself taking sides and really wanting to find out who did what. You do find out who was wrong and who was right and what really happened. The story is based more on Mikey and Ellie's relationship but i still was super into the story of what happened to these people.
I loved how Mikey's life was written and even though it wasn't a great life it seemed so real.
It was really touching to see that good can come from bad,
I don't have really have anything bad to say about this book, it kind of got a little slow in some parts but it didn't last long and it didn't bother me at all.
I really enjoyed this book, it was deep and meaningful and just a really great read. I recommend this for anyone looking for something that will hook you in, make you ask questions and make you think.

*****
Five stars

Confessions of an angry girl- Louise Rozett

Publisher: Harlequin teen
Published: Aug 28, 2012
272 pages
Goodreads page

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make:

…1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is nowenraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

(Sorry. That was rude.)

To start off we meet Rose whose dad has died over the summer and she is starting high school. We follow her trying to go through the struggles of high school while dealing with her fathers death.
Well i did enjoy most of this book, but unfortunately the ending just wasn't what i was looking for. It pretty much just ended without warning and i was left thinking 'ugh, what??'
There is a second book coming in 2013 called Confessions of an almost girlfriend, which I'm assuming will answer my questions but i just didn't like it. It wasn't what you would call a cliffhanger because I'm not desperate to know what happens I'm just more confused. Maybe this is what the author was going for? I'm not sure.
Other than that the writing style is great and i love Rose's character, she has such an entertaining personality. I wish they could have gone a little deeper with the other characters.
The 'evil cheerleader' thing is a little cliche but it was pulled off pretty well in this book and i actually enjoyed all the bitchiness.
Overall a pretty good read, just hoping when the next book comes along it will leave me less confused and get a little deeper.
Oh and also i really love the cover of this book, I'm not sure why because its nothing all that different but i just think its nicely done.

***
Three stars

The lovely bones- Alice Sebold

Publisher: Little brown and company
Published: Aug 29, 2006
328 pages
Goodreads page

The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder -- a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family's need for peace and closure.

The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished.

Sebold creates a heaven that's calm and comforting, a place whose residents can have whatever they enjoyed when they were alive -- and then some. But Susie isn't ready to release her hold on life just yet, and she intensely watches her family and friends as they struggle to cope with a reality in which she is no longer a part. To her great credit, Sebold has shaped one of the most loving and sympathetic fathers in contemporary literature.

This book was kind of just ok for me. I found myself very easily distracted.
The story is about this girl Susie watching her family from heaven as they struggle to deal with her death, it is told from her point of view looking down to earth.
I think the problem for me with this was that i had seen the movie previously and wasn't the biggest fan so i found myself picturing the movie throughout the whole book.
The story line was good and i cant really pick anything i didn't like about it but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested. Once i put the book down it was a struggle for me to pick it up again, i cant really pick why exactly.
The characters where kind of just meh (I'm so great with words :p) they didn't have a lot of depth and although i felt bad for what they were dealing with i didn't really feel much else for them.
The best parts of the book are pretty much written in the synopsis which kind of puts a downer on starting the story.
Overall it had a good concept but execution was a little off, i think this would be more enjoyable for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.

***
Three stars

The weepers: the other life- Susanne Winnacker

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Published: May 25, 2012
261 pages
Goodreads page


3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

This book was really enjoyable.
To start off we meet Sherry, who has lived in a bunker with her family for 3 years after the rabies virus infected the city. Her family has just run out of food so Sherry and her dad decide to leave the bunker in search for food. On their quest for food they come across the infected (weepers) and Sherry's dad gets taken while Sherry gets saved by Joshua. Joshua and Sherry decide to go look for her dad and the plot takes off from there.
The storyline in this book was great and i was hooked from the get go. Some of the dialogue can get a little robotic in the start, but it either goes away or you just get used to it and it doesn't affect the book as a whole.
The description of the weepers was great and i had a pretty gruesome picture in my head, but that could also be because of my crazy imagination.

I loved Joshua's character, he is brave and strong and a little mysterious. Sherry wasn't too bad herself but i would have liked her to have a little more personality. I would also liked to have seen their romance go a little further, but the romance is not the main focus in the book.

It was a really quick read, so i wish it was a little longer so that there could have been a little bit more detail but overall this book was great and I'm looking forward to the next

****
Four stars

July wrap up

The sky is everywhere- Jandy Nelson
Five stars

Carrier of the mark- Leigh Fallon

Four stars

Fifty shades freed- E.L.James
Three stars

Fifty shades darker- E.L.James

Five stars 

Fifty shades of grey- E.L.James
Five stars

I actually thought i had a slow reading month but i made it through 5 books which is pretty good. I really want to up it though.
My to be read pile is growing to an unnecessarily large size and i really should stop buying books but it is just so addictive!
Happy reading!