Don't Even Think About it by Sarah Mlynowski

*This book was received as an E-Galley in exchange for an honest review*

Title: Don't Even Think About it
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Contemporary/Paranormal
Release Date: March 11, 2014

"We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots. We were prepared for some side effects. Maybe a headache. Maybe a sore arm. We definitely didn't expect to get telepathic powers. But suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking. Our friends. Our parents. Our crushes. Now we all know that Tess is in love with her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That, um, Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper.

Since we've kept our freakish skill a secret, we can sit next to the class brainiac and ace our tests. We can dump our boyfriends right before they dump us. We know what our friends really think of our jeans, our breath, our new bangs. We always know what's coming. Some of us will thrive. Some of us will crack. None of us will ever be the same.So stop obsessing about your ex. We're always listening." - Goodreads

THE STORY:

I had so much fun reading this book. The story is quick, fun, entertaining, and filled with a cast of quirky characters that keep the reader involved. Even though the writing isn't particularly outstanding, and neither is the plot, the whole situation was just so fun to read about. It was also interesting to get such a wide variety of thoughts and perspectives. 

THE CHARACTERS:

There are far too many to talk about individually, but they were each so fun to get to know. Each and every character has its own personality that shines through, and it is never too difficult to tell them all apart. Obviously there will be certain characters that people will gravitate to as they read, (for me it was Olivia and Cooper), but all of them are great. I would love to read more about this great gang of characters.

MY THOUGHTS:

This book was so addicting, I had trouble putting it down. After having such a bad month of reading, this book was exactly what I needed. I had so much fun while reading this, and if there is ever another book released with this cast of characters, then I will definitely be picking it up.

STAR RATING: ★★★ 1/2

Knight Assassin by Rima Jean

*This book was an E-Galley sent to me in exchange for an honest review*

Title: Knight Assassin
Author: Rima Jean
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: March 4, 2014

"Seventeen-year-old Zayn has special powers she cannot control—powers that others fear and covet. Powers that cause the Templar Knights to burn Zayn’s mother at the stake for witchcraft. When a mysterious stranger tempts Zayn to become the first female member of the heretical Assassins, the chance to seek her revenge lures her in. She trains to harness her supernatural strength and agility, and then enters the King of Jerusalem's court in disguise with the assignment to assassinate Guy de Molay, her mother’s condemner. But once there, she discovers Earic Goodwin, the childhood friend who still holds her heart, among the knights—and his ocean-blue eyes don’t miss a thing. Will vengeance be worth the life of the one love she has left?"
 - Goodreads

THE STORY:
I feel like this book had a lot of ups and downs. The beginning was painfully slow, and just when the book would start to pick up, it would suddenly slow back down again. I felt as if a lot of the things I was looking forward to were things that kind of got brushed aside. I wanted to know more about her training, I wanted to get all of the gory details about her time with the assassins, but instead there were just a lot of confusing time jumps with very little explanation as to how she learned her physical skills, as well as how she learned to control her power. 

The two main things which were supposed to be plot twists within this story, I found to be very predictable. In fact, one of them we as the readers actually know from the beginning due to the fact that the main character repeatedly says that it can't possibly be the case. Over all, considering how much potential the plot of this book has, I found it to be a let down.

THE CHARACTERS:
I almost don't want to step into this particular pool of water because it is deep, dark, and full of slimy, distasteful things. There is basically nothing good that I can say about the characters in this book. I found the main character to be whiny and rather pathetic, even though she was supposed to be so strong and powerful. Her thought process was annoying and repetitive, and not to mention her rather bad case of nearly insta-love. The only thing saving this book from insta-love is the fact that the two characters have known each other since they were small, and just haven't seen each other in many years. I probably would have enjoyed Earic a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that he is very two dimensional in the book. We don't get a whole lot of back story or personality from him, we merely see him react to the situations which he is put into.

I am not going to discuss any of the more secondary characters because, even though most of them had something to do in the way of plot and moving the story forward, they remain very undeveloped and it is hard, as a reader to find anything worth discussing about them.

MY THOUGHTS:
This book has taken me so long to read, even though it is arguably very short. I was so excited to dive into it when I read that it was going to be a story about a vengeful female assassin, but I found that it just couldn't hold my attention, and what little information we do get about the assassins and what they look like and what their training is like seems as if it all comes from Assassins Creed games. My hopes were high going into this book, and they came crashing terribly down. I do not recommend this book, and I doubt that I will read any more of this series, if that is what it is intended to be.

STAR RATING: ★ 1/2

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye

My friend Joy, the same friend who leant me Once Upon a Marigold, leant me this book, and I honestly finished it almost entirely in one sitting. This girl knows the type of books that I like to read.

"Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries- or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away, and because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there, much to everyone's surprise, she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is! "
 - Goodreads

THE STORY: 
I absolutely loved the story. I thought that it was cute and fun and sweet. This is exactly what the world of fairytales needs: A story about a completely ordinary girl who still falls in love and lives happily ever after. The book is super short, but that doesn't take away from the story at all. Over all I just really enjoyed the plot and Princess Amy's story.

THE CHARACTERS: 
Most of the characters in this book, we don't get to learn a whole lot about. We don't get to see much of the King and Queen's personalities, or Amy's sisters. In fact, we don't even really get to learn much about Peregrine, aside from what we get in the last few scenes of the two of them together. Princess Amy is the only character that we can say we get to know. I absolutely loved Amy and her adventurous spirit, and I like that she just accepted the fact that she was ordinary, and never seemed to let it get her down. I think that she is a great role model for young children.

MY THOUGHTS:
This is a book that I will most definitely be reading to my children when I am older. I think that it is such an important story for them to know, and it is just so much fun that I think they will still enjoy it, even though it isn't your classic fairytale. I just loved this book.

STAR RATING: ★★★★★

Waterfell by Amalie Howard

I would like to start off by saying thank you to my friend Alyssa for giving me this book for Christmas. I was so excited to dive into it when I unwrapped it. The book had only been out for a couple of weeks, so it was very exciting.

"Nerissa Marin hides among teens in her human form, waiting for the day she can claim her birthright—the undersea kingdom stolen from her the day her father was murdered. Blending in is her best weapon—until her father's betrayer confronts Nerissa and challenges her to a battle to the death on Nerissa's upcoming birthday—the day she comes of age. 

Amid danger and the heartbreak of her missing mother, falling for a human boy is the last thing Nerissa should do. But Lo Seavon breaches her defenses and somehow becomes the only person she can count on to help her desperate search for her mother, a prisoner of Nerissa's mortal enemy. Is Lo the linchpin that might win Nerissa back her crown? Or will this mortal boy become the weakness that destroys her?" -Goodreads

THE STORY:

I have only ever really read one other Mermaid book, and was so excited to dive into this one. However, I will say that this is most definitely NOT a Mermaid book, even if it has been made to seem that way. A vast majority of the book is spent on land, with only snippets of information about the underwater world that these creatures called Aquarathi inhabit. In fact, due to the fact that they only spend one chapter in Waterfell at all, there is practically no world building. What I thought was going to be an epic tale of Merpeople War ended up being a story heavily centred around insta-love and the main character pining away over the guy for the rest of the book. The story had so much potential, but it just didn't live up to it.

THE CHARACTERS:

Lets start with Nerissa, our main character. I had such conflicting feelings about her for most of the book, until finally I just couldn't stand her any more. The part of her that I liked at first was that she was a bit of a nerd. She liked anime and made references to some of my favorite television shows and movies. However, the references started to get weird, inaccurate, and began to sound forced. What I didn't like about her came from the two polar opposite sides of her personality. One one side, she was so cocky. She always said how she was the most powerful being, the strongest and the smartest, and basically that she was just better than all of the humans because of the fact that her species is 'more evolved.' However, as soon as really important events begin to happen, she becomes weak, pathetic and whiny. Her every thought was quickly filled with nothing but Lo, the love interest, which were often repetitive and annoying things to read. Over all, I just ended up really disliking Nerissa.

Lotharius, or Lo as he is known as throughout most of the book, was just as annoying, however for more biased reasons on my part. He is a complete and total slacker who seems to expect that he will be able to live off of his mother's earnings for the rest of his life. He has no work ethic, doesn't show up to school the majority of the time, and when he knows that he is making someone else, who was always doing her best at school, start doing the same thing, he just lets her keep doing it, and tries to find reasons to get her to leave school with him. I understand that the last bit if fairly normal for teenage couples, but as a person who has always valued education in my life, it is ridiculously annoying to see someone throw it away because they are too lazy to do it, especially when they are obviously very intelligent, as Lo seems to be.

The only character who I even kind of liked was Jenna, Nerissa's best friend in the human world. She is smart, loyal, and willing to do anything to help the people she loves. However I still found that her reactions to some things were not quite realistic. She doesn't freak out when she sees Nerissa's true form, which I will repeat IS NOT A MERMAID. The most realistic thing she does is get a taser to keep herself safe from the other Aquarathi, who she realizes may not be as friendly as her friend and her family.

I would talk about Nerissa's family, Echlios, Soren, and Speio, but I don't really know what to say about them. Echlios and Soren did their jobs, and Speio is a very slimy, unreliable character. That is basically all there is to them.

The evil character Ehmora would probably have been better if we had gotten more of her in the book, but as we don't really learn anything about her until the last fifty pages or so, we don't even really get a true feeling of villainy from her. She just comes off as being a defiant person, or maybe a bit deviant as opposed to seeming truly evil.

MY THOUGHTS:

Over all, this book took me almost a month to read while reading other things in between because I just couldn't get into it, or read more than one or two chapters at a time. I was very disappointed with the story and how things went, along with how the characters made me feel while I followed them on their adventure. The next book in the series comes out on July 29th of this year, and there is a part of me that would like to read it, just to see what happens, but I don't think that I will be doing so, especially if it is going to let me down as much as this one did. 

In a nut shell, I didn't enjoy the book, I really disliked the characters, and I don't really recommend this book to anyone.

STAR RATING: ★★

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I have been so busy with other things in my life that reading sort of got pushed to the side. However, when I was finally able to sit down and read this book, I absolutely loved it.

"Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone." - GoodReads

THE STORY:
The story is just so ridiculously cute and fluffy. It was so much fun to read, and yet it still manages to address some very important issues. I love how easy it is to relate to the events in this book as a current first year university student. Everything that Cath goes through is so accurate. I can't say enough that I loved this story.

THE CHARACTERS:
First of all, I adore Cath. I know that a lot of people have issues with how closed minded she is, and how resistant she is to change. However, I understand how she is entirely. I felt a lot of the same feelings that she felt when she was moving away from home and being rather antisocial. It is very difficult to accept the things which are happening around until someone is willing to help you through. obviously I relate so much to her, and I find her story to be insanely comforting in my own life.

I have a love/hate relationship with Wren. I didn't think that  I was going to like her very much in the beginning of the book, but by the end of it she had grown on me. Without her, the story would not have been as dynamic as it was and I truly enjoyed the drama that she brought in.

I absolutely adore Reagan. I loved her kind of rough and tough attitude, and how vulgar she could be. I found her to be fabulous comic relief and I loved how unlikely of friends she and Cath were, but how well they really did get along and understand each other. She ended up being a very good friend to Cath, which was exactly what she needed.

Finally, I really want to talk about Levi. I am utterly in love with Levi. I love that he is so accepting of Cath's strangeness, I love that he is always happy, and I love that he is willing to do anything for the people that he loves. Levi has officially raised my standard for men. Thanks Rainbow Rowell...

MY THOUGHTS:
As I have mentioned a couple of times, I absolutely adored this book. I didn't like it quite as much as Eleanor and Park, but I still loved it. I have Attachments, and as soon as I am caught up in all of the books that I have to read for review, as well as the other book that I am half way through, I plan to pick it up. I am sure that I will enjoy it as much as both of Rowell's other novels.

Rainbow Rowell, you have officially managed to become one of my favorite authors!

STAR RATING: ★★★★★

TARDIS Tuesday #1

Hello everybody and welcome to the first instalment of TARDIS Tuesdays! Earlier today I uploaded the video  version of this to my channel, feel free to check it out here!
"It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement." - GoodReads

The TARDIS travelled through all of time and space to bring me The Book Thief by Markus Zusak! This is potentially the LAST book that I thought I would be talking about on the first ever TARDIS Tuesday, but the TARDIS doesn't lie!

I read The Book Thief in July of  2013, and it started out as being the book that I read on my breaks at work, but soon evolved to be such a big part of my summer life that I couldn't put it down until it made me cry non-stop for approximately half an hour. The book quickly became one of my favorites of all time for oh so many reasons.

THE STORY:
First of all, the plot itself is amazing. The idea of a young girl who is finding her way in Nazi Germany while having her life narrated by death is such a unique and eye-opening concept. There was never a time when I was bored in this book, and while there were literally no surprises, as Death frequently told the reader what would happen later on, there is still a huge shock factor when those things finally come to be.

THE CHARACTERS:
The characters in this are also amazing! Every single one of them is unique and dynamic. If you manage to make your way through this book without loving every single one of the main characters, then you have some strange sort of superpower, and honestly I don't know that I would want it for myself. I found myself to be so attached to all of the characters by the end of the book that everything just tore my heart to pieces. However, if it hadn't been able to do that to me, I don't know that I would have liked the book as much as I did, and I absolutely loved it, if you haven't gathered that already from all of the gushing that is currently flooding this post.

MY THOUGHTS:
I don't know how many times I can say I love this book in a single post before it becomes overwhelming, so this will be the last time, I promise. I can't wait to read more books by Markus Zusak in my future, and I am sure that I will love all of his work just as much as I loved The Book Thief!

RECOMMENDATION:
So what book could I possibly recommend to readers who loved this book as much as I did? Well, I honestly don't have a recommendation that you will ever love as much as this book, but I do have one that just might be emotional enough for it to be considered in the same ball park, and that is Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.

"1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most." - GoodReads

This book had the same emotional range as The Book Thief and took me for approximately the same roller coaster ride. I found myself laughing several times in this book, and then bursting into tears at others. The book is so touching and is an amazing coming of age story, and I truly believe that if you loved The Book Thief, that you will enjoy this one as well!

So that's it! TARDIS Tuesday has now had its first instalment! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I will see you next week with another review and recommendation!