Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Book: Everbound (Everneath #2)
By: Brodi Ashton
Published: January 22, 2013
Published by: Balzer and Bray

Description: Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love.

My Thoughts: We begin this story right where the last left off, with Nikki in the normal world and Jack in the Everneath feeding the tunnels. Nikki feels terrible for what happened, and wants to find a way to fix it, at any cost. 

The story starts off a bit drab. Nikki is extremely depressed and mopes most of the beginning of the story, and is absolutely obsessed with finding a way to get into the Everneath to rescue Jack. She’s not at all herself, and is obsessed with finding Cole to figure out a way to get to Jack. Unfortunately, Cole Likes Nikki, and wants her to stand by his side as Queen of the Everneath, so the fact that Nikki wants Jack doesn’t help her cause.

As you may assume, things don’t turn out too well, and though she eventually gets him to take her, things aren’t even the slightest bit safe for her or her companions. Her journey to find Jack becomes a journey that will change her in more ways than one, and may, in its way, be the end of her life.

Once I got into it, I was really hooked. Cole became a completely different person to me in the beginning of this story. I began to actually like him, and want Nikki to be with him instead of Jack. I began to trust him, and feel sorry for the hand he’s been dealt. Things happened between them and I was too excited to see the way Nikki and Cole would soon grow. In addition, we learned a lot more about the Everneath and how it worked, and why Human’s should never go there. Everything connected and it was quite interesting to read.

The end though…I can’t even say how I feel. It hurt my feelings, and smacked me in the face all at the same time. How dare I be so stupid! I won’t ruin it for you, because you deserve to learn the truth for yourself, just know it’ll make you angry for a second, though your feelings on the characters may or may not change. This book is not at all predictable, and I loved how the story was woven. I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy; Evertrue. This is a great series. My rating is 4.5 stars. 

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Book: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
By: Marissa Meyer
Published: January, 3, 2012
Published by: Fiewel and Friends

Description: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Thoughts: I went into this with absolutely no expectations, and came out of it loving a new series. I'm a fan of Cinderella all the way, but not really a fan of people taking it and putting a spin on it, besides the whole musical spin, or the regular Disney version. I like what I like. That being said, I absolutely loved Cinder. They took a fairy tale that I loved and made it so much better, and turned it into a story all its own.

It began much the same way Cinderella began. There's Cinder, the "slave" of the family who's "stepmother" and "sisters" take for granted and treat like crap, only in this one, one of the sisters likes Cinder, and Cinder has someone else as a friend. Then there's the Prince who she meets in the marketplace, only in this one, he comes to her for mechanical help, after all she is the most gifted mechanic in New Beijing. She's also a cyborg, a race of people who (from what I can tell) are people who encountered a traumatic event and were then "fixed" with the use of machinery. For that reason, they're seen as less than human, and property, and often treated quite badly.

There;s also this disease that's been plaguing the entirety of the world. They've been testing out the cures on the cyborgs, and after an unfortunate series of events, Cinder finds herself in the castle as a test subject. It's then that we learn that Cinder is quite special, and we learn what special really is.

I loved this book and will definitely be reading the next one in the series, Scarlet. It was so good. Though this story was definitely taken from Cinderella, it was different enough that you didn't feel like you were reading the same old same old all over again. Oh, and for those of you who think you know how this will end in terms of happy fairy tale endings, you don't. I absolutely loved Cinder, and I can't wait for the next one. I give it 4.5 Stars.

Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Book: Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)
By: Laini Taylor
Published: November 12, 2012
Published by: Little, Brown

Description: Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

My Thoughts: After reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone (DSB), I absolutely couldn't wait to begin Days of Blood and Starlight (DBS2). DSB left us as a cliffhanger with the split between Karou and Akiva, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen. DBS2, though I don't believe it was quite as addicting and amazing as DSB, was good and interesting in its own way. In my attempt to avoid spoiling the first book for everyone who hasn't read it, this review will probably be brief.

DBS2 started us off with a broken heart. It was slow, and angry and betrayed with hints of sadness, worthlessness and regret mixed in. I honestly didn't like it. Karou's life away from Akiva actually sucks, as his does without her, and the way they beat themselves up about it is even worse. I didn't like the skulking person Karou became. I didn't like her weakness and I was very disappointed in her. As the book progressed however, things got better. Karou got stronger and became closer to the person I expected her to be.

This will never be my favorite book of the series due to the sadness, and the darkness it possesses, but it was absolutely necessary. It works and makes this series so much more than any other. I loved all the characters again, even the bad ones. They knew how to really make me happy, angry, sad, or absolutely terrified (chapter 71 anyone?) and that's what I expect out of a book. It was well written and, since I listened to the audiobook, well read by the Narrator. It was perfect and imperfect at the same time. I both hated and loved it. I will give it 4.5 stars. The slow start bothered me, as did my constant unease/sadness, but it was necessary and was a wonderful sequel to DSB.

Review: Illumine Her by Sieni A.M.

Book: Illumine Her
By: Sieni A.M.
Published: March 2013
Published by: Self Published

Description: After being away for three years and graduating nursing school, Alana Vilo finally returns home to Samoa and knows nothing will ever be the same. Consumed with grief from the loss of her father, she buries herself in her work and the obligations that come with a large family.

While her colleagues anticipate the arrival of a mysterious benefactor, Alana remains unimpressed, until she meets him. Chase Malek is not at all what she expects of the philanthropist that has donated so much to help her island’s hospital. Young, handsome, and strangely knowledgeable of their local customs, Alana realizes there's much more to Chase than meets the eye. After a traumatic experience with one of her patients, her suspicions are confirmed.

Alana starts to resurface as she attempts to uncover all of Chase's secrets. As she starts to put the pieces together, she learns more about herself, and the walls she put up after her father's death slowly start to crumble. But now that she's opened her heart and let Chase in, will he even be able to stay? Or will his greatest secret of all keep them apart?

My Thoughts: I was a little hesitant to read Illumine Her when I received the review request from the wonderful Sieni A.M.. The story takes place in Samoa, and one of my most favorite stories of all time also takes place in Samoa. That book was the reason Samoa is on my list of places I want to visit in my lifetime. I was worried that this book might not live up to the hype I had in my head of Samoa and I was worried that I might not love Illumine Her as much as I wanted to. All my worries were unnecessary though because as soon as I got into the story, I was hooked.

Illumine Her is a story that follows Alana Vilo after she returns home from college and is beginning to work at the nearby hospital on her island. One day, an extremely handsome and rich man named Chase Malek comes by to donate a large sum of money to her hospital's efforts. Alana can tell that this man is somewhat different from everyone else she knows, but even after seeing his differences for herself, she still gets no answers, and he leaves the island. However, after a series of circumstances, and his appearance at her house for his friends marriage to her sister, they are thrust in each other's paths once again. This time, she does get a chance to find out his secrets and she begins to fall for him. Unfortunately, they aren't meant to be, because his secret is one that requires him to be away from her, and he has rules that he must follow, rules that don't necessarily allow him to be able to fulfill his purpose and follow his heart at the same time.

This story was so sweet and different and amazing. It was a love story in every sense of the word; love for one's family, love for one's purpose, love for one's partner, love for one's self, and love for one's country. I absolutely loved it. As a character, Alana has emotional issues that cause her to keep barriers up between her and others, and of course, Chase is able to knock down those barriers and save Alana. They love each other deeply and passionately. Their love is realistic, as are the events in this novel (with a few exceptions). Even the secondary characters were lovable. This wasn't one of those stories where the MC goes on some dangerous journey to fight bad guys and secretly kicks ass with only the use of a hairbrush and two chopsticks. No, Alana goes through life doing normal things, going to school, working as a nurse, hanging with friends and family and meeting a guy. She's just like me! There isn't so much drama so as not to be realistic, there's just the development of love, pure and simple, and it was refreshing in its simplicity.

Then of course, there's Samoa. I must go there. This book portrays it so beautifully. I love the family dynamics (though I don't know how much I'd love them if I actually had to deal with them), and community nature of the people, the beautiful landscape and just everything about it. This book just bumped it up a few notches on my list of places I must go.

There were only a few things about this book that I didn't absolutely love. The beginning was a bit slow and it made the story seem like it took too long to get to the point. I didn't see the plot points start until about one or two chapters in. It wasn't a big deal though and I still enjoyed reading those parts. There were also a lot of character speeches. Often, when having a conversation, one of the characters will talk for a long period of time, usually about how they felt about the other or about a particular subject and sometimes it felt a bit too lengthy for regular conversation. That too wasn't a big deal.

I am a romantic, and love reading love stories. I love to fall in love and I love to see people fall in love. I definitely fell in love with this story, and with Chase Malek.I would recommend this story to those of you who love love. Those of you who, like me, are hopeless romantics. I teared up at the end of this story and how beautiful it is. I give it 4.5 stars. It wasn't absolutely perfect, but it was darn close!

Sieni A.M is a fellow blogger. Go visit her blog here.

Review: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Book: Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2)
By: Ilona Andrews
Published: April 2008
Publshed by: Penguin

Description: As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.


When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a flare, Celtic god Morfran supersedes goddess Morrigan for witch coven worshippers of the Crow, and sea monsters from the Underworld enter via the Cauldron of Plenty. Kate starts looking for Pack maps and 13-year old Julia's witch mother, and ends up uniting shapeshifters and vampire zombie controllers to save the world.

My Thoughts: Once again Ilona Andrews crafts a book that leaves me wanting more, and feeling like a groupie because I love her books so much (and Curran)

Kate is a TOTAL badass. She's strong and has good morals and doesnt take crap from anyone. She always has some witty snappy remark and it's just so funny to watch. This is an entertaining series to say the least

A new character, Bran, was introduced for this book and I loved him. Ilona really knows how to introduce characters you just grow to love. I can't wait to read more in this series. 5 Stars

In terms of this series and my reviews, I think I'll post the next ones on mainly goodreads and give one big review here on the books I've read in the series once I'm somewhat caught up. I don't really like writing too many mini reviews, especially since its obvious that I love the series.

Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Book: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1)
By: Rae Carson
Published: September 20, 2011
Published By: Greenwillow

Description: Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.


Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

My Thoughts: Wow!!! That's all I really have to say here.

Elisa is a princess. A seemingly overweight (fat) princess who eats away her troubles and will soon be married to a King. She has no real self confidence it seems but is very kind and of course, she's the chosen one; the one with the Gemstone in her belly.

She soon learns that her marriage must be a secret one, for there is a lot at stake in the King's country. Even more, there are a lot of people who want the bearer of the gemstone, dead or alive, so she must keep the gemstone a secret. Add to that the mistress that very publicly has the heart of her new husband (who of course no one knows is her husband), who secretly spies and shoots daggers at her and you have the recipe for disaster. After she is kidnapped when the mistresses lady in waiting learns that Elisa bears the stone we reach a real turning point in the book.

Elisa is taken across desert and mountain to "save" a tribe of people. Of course she has no idea how she's supposed to do all this and the real treat is seeing how much Elisa changes and grows from a weak, fat, no confidence, pushover princess to...well you'll have to read and find out. Lets just say I'm no longer annoyed by this main character in the end.

There are 2 guys, the Husband/King who's handsome but I hate him because he has a mistress who he allows to be around his wife (i hate cheaters). He allows her to touch him and kiss him when his wife isn't far away, although he 's not daft (I always wanted to use that word. I hope I used it the right way) enough to show too much attraction to her. He's also pretty weak, him being a king and all.  The other guy is one of the kidnappers. He's great and I love him!!He protects her and is an all around sweet guy (if you ignore the kidnapping part). I'll admit the fact that I didn't like how quickly Elisa was willing to trust a kidnapper and see his beauty, but I let that go in the whole scheme of the book.

There's some real self discovery going on in this book, and real perseverance. Of course there was some love (this is YA after all) although not really any love triangle and not really any insta-love, but a few qualities that you could force into believing they exist. I loved it because it seemed kind of real. More like "I think I like you, so maybe I should see if I really do despite the fact that I have this husband who I don't really love, but could possibly learn to love eventually."

This is a good book that lives up to the hype. I would definitely read the next one in the series. I give it 4.5 stars.

Review: The Turning Tides by Derrolyn Anderson

Book: The Turning Tides
By: Derrolyn Anderson
Publication Date: March 11, 2012
Publisher: Self Published:

Description: Marina has been through a lot in the past year; she knows what she wants, and she decides to take matters into her own hands to get it. When a twist of fate takes her away from Aptos, she returns to find that her whole world has changed once again. A fortune teller’s ominous prediction seems to be coming true, people around her aren’t who they appear to be, and to top it all off, she’s being followed again.
Marina and Ethan only want to be together, but find they are being torn apart by their very natures. Can they overcome a final obstacle to build the future they dream of?

My Thoughts: Why oh why does this series have to be over???

Okay, so usually self published books get a bad reputation. People think the books suck and have bad grammar or something, but that hasn't been my experience with this series at all. Yes, there is a grammatical mistake maybe once or twice, but you also see those in major publishers books so it really doesn't matter. Besides, books with major publishers tend to suck sometimes, so I say, self publish or agent, I'll give it a try. I am so glad I gave this series a try. Like I said in some of my other reviews, this was my first mermaid book, and I loved every minute of it. There's just something about a book that affects you so completely that you spend time trying to figure out the best way to see if you may be a mermaid. (I wont go as far as drowning myself to see if I turn though.) It made me want to try my hand at surfing, and swimming, and all that wonderful stuff that Marina does. Oh well, we can't all be supernatural creatures....

This book picked up right after the last book. I hate spoilers of previous books so I will try not to give them. Ethan and Marina are still going strong and she's still not as trusting as she should be, but I dont blame her for it. It's hard to burden others with your problems. Marina's a bit naive, as I tend to be, so she finds herself, once again, trying to figure out why someone keeps following her when she visits the mermaids. She gets herself in all sorts of slippery situations (get it? Because she's a mermaid. HA! I just crack myself up.) and I really thought that this would be the time it all goes downhill for her but luckily it didnt because I love Derrolyn's sweet endings. Oh and I love me some Ethan. If only fictional characters could be real........ This was a great ending to the series that had me hooked from the first page.

That said, there was something I didnt like. At times, I just wanted to slap Marina. She made mistakes she should have fixed a long time ago and I got annoyed that she kept doing them. She argues with Ethan at one point and it just gets worse and worse and the way it all happens annoys me so much. Probably because it reminded me of the way things happen in real life and I didn't want real life, I wanted fairy tale. (Yea I know...that's my problem)

I'm so sad this series is over. I loved it and I will read them over and over. If there's anyone out there that know's how, please, oh please tell me how I can become a mermaid? The Rating I give for this book? 4.5 Stars.

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Book: Legend
By: Marie Lu
Publication Date: November 29, 2011
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Description: What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

My Thoughts: I loved Legend so very much. If only it were longer so I could stay in this world a bit longer (sigh)

Okay, you know when I'm lost for words when my review is as short as this one will be. Let me start off with the things I didnt like. Like I said in my intro, I wanted it to be a bit longer, but I'm just selfish that way. I also wanted a bit more romance, but at least the rest of the story made up for that. Oh yea. I hated the ending. Okay, I didnt really hate it. I just wanted like a branch out to the next story. Maybe a title or a little breif thing that said what to expect, but nope. The good? Everything else. No really. Everything else about this book was great. The Suspense was crazy and I (secretly) flipped to the end to make sure everyone didnt die in some catastrophic death that ruined all remaining lives on the earth, including me (because yea. I'm in this book too. Didn't you know? Okay I'm not, but really, thats how involved I felt). Luckily that didnt happen, I think.*wink* Any who, I loved, loved, loved, loved LOVED THIS BOOK. Go out and get it right now. Like right now. Why are you still reading this post? You should be leaving. Oh, you're waiting on a rating. Sorry, here it is. I give it 4.5 stars because it was great, but didnt have that extra thing to put it over the top (I needed the extra romance and more pages)

 

Disclaimer and Review: Everybody is Sombody's Inspiration (EISI) by J Morgan

I have never done a review for a friend. Why? First, because I don't didn't have any friend who wrote any books; second, because I didn't want to feel pressured to write a good review because they're my friend and "Hey, you want me to do well dont you? What if I fail because of your review;" and third, because I am almost 100% sure that my decision will not be counted because everyone will think I gave them a good review just because they're my friend and if someone else buys the book they'll find out it's really a crap box of crap that they hate.

Then, when my friend, J Morgan asked me to review his book for my blog I (surprisingly) said yes. Why? Well he's the only friend I know in real life who actually likes books (albeit different books than me) and likes them enough to discuss them with me, and the only one who actually looked at my page to see what all the fuss was about (he wasnt interested in being a devoted, read-every-post follower but still, the one time visit spoke volumes). I was also a bit happy that he thought about me as soon as the book was written.

That being said, I want you all to know that this review is written as if he was not my friend. Did he get special treatment? YES! His book was pushed to the top of my list, but that's there the special treatment ends. If anything, I'm more stringent on him than I am on others b/c I want to be able to brag and not look like a fool. "Don't embarrass me J Morgan!" Ha! He asked that I provide a critical review and I take that as my cue to bash him if the book is horrible and scold him for ruining my life. (I'm a great friend, right?) Here goes....

Book: EISI (Everybody is Somebody's Inspiration: 1st Edition)
By: J Morgan
Publication Date: January 22, 2012
Publisher: Self Published
Description: People often look at a single person’s success and only see the end result. Many of them do not understand the underlying factors that go into turning a dream into a reality.

“Everybody Is Somebody’s Inspiration” is a culmination of different poems and essays that were written after an experience, or an interaction with one or more of the people who inspire me. Whether you realize it or not, you provide inspiration for someone’s life. This is not a difficult role to fulfill, but its importance is unmatched. Simply being who you are, and doing things the way you do is more than enough to fill that role.

Who will you inspire?

My Thoughts: This book doesnt fit into my parameters of normal reading. I like the unreal, paranormal, romance type of stuff, and this book is real; very, very, real.... but in a good way.

Told from the point of view of an African American male, this short series of poems and short stories is very deep. It embodies Soul and Rhythm and digs into your mind in ways I haven't encountered in quite some time. If the ideas and thoughts of a man were written, this would be it. Like a man, this book felt raw, rugged and unedited. I must warn you that it does reference some sexual content in certain poems, but it does so in a way that is classy and musical. I read it in about 20 minutes because I couldn't put it down (Its only about 30 pages or so) and it left me begging for more. There were so many poems I loved; "Laugh," and "Just another D**n emotion" were of my favorites. I literally almost cried while reading them. There were times when I wanted to laugh or cry or just wanted to hug someone. This series of poems induced so many feelings in me that I wasn't quite sure which way was up once I finished. I loved it. I believe there is a poem in here for everyone despite it's male POV.

That being said, there were a few things I would have liked to see differently. First, some of the poems seemed like they needed more verse, or perhaps I was being greedy. Regardless, on 2 of the poems I had hoped there would be a bit more poem to go along with my feelings, but of course, there were plenty of other poems that fulfilled. Second, I would have also liked to see some different points of view. I like getting insight into the way a man's mind works but I would have loved to see if he could have carried his poetry over to the woman brain. At times, because I'm a woman, I couldn't really understand the feelings he was explaining and so I couldn't really connect. Third, I wish the entire book would have been focused on one category. Although most of it related to romance and dating, there were a few others that seemed more like self help. It changed my mood too much at times. An alternative would be to separate the poems by type. If, for example, the book were segmented by the categories romance, self help, inspirational, etc. I would have felt better. The issues I had with the book were quite minimal though and didn't take anything away from my overall love of it.

J Morgan knows poems. EISI made me want to tear up, tingle, laugh, cry, be consoled, console, and everything else imaginible. Even more than that, EISI awakened me to the uncertainty of love and passion. This would be the perfect book for an audiobook or author reading because you would be able to really feel the flow of the poems. I give it 4.5 stars, not because the author is my friend, but because this book is just that amazing and thus, deserves it.

Okay, here come's the special treatment.... J Morgan's book will be available via Amazon's Kindle Edition here on January 22. Buy it! It's only $2.95. If you're interested in reading more about J Morgan before you go and buy his book, check him out at his locations:

  http://twitter.com/MorgansVeryOwn
 http://www.youtube.com/user/JMorganTV1
http://www.noisytenants.com/2nd-floor-blog.html

Review: Between the Land and the Sea

Good Morning Everyone. I am so exhausted with school already, so I took a break despite the fact that I have an assignment due at 11:59pm tonight. I NEED to get this review out before i forget all my feelings. I am getting so caught up in book two of the series already and dont want to mix up feelings!

Book: Between the Land and the Sea (Marina's Tales #1)
By: Derrolyn Anderson
Publication Date: March 30, 2011
Publisher: (self published)

Description: Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off of Aptos, California. Just weeks after moving to the beach town, sixteen year old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature.
If she can only survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just unlock the mystery of her past... and maybe even find true love.

My Thoughts: Derrolyn Anderson's Between the Land and The Sea is a great mermaid book that gives an in depth look at the myths about mermaids and makes you fall in love.

Marina has traveled with her humanitarian father all her life. Homeschooled, and made to meet many different impoverished people, Marina's grew up with only adults and therefore grew up fast. An assignment for her father to visit Afghanistan to help out some of the people left Marina in Aptos, in a house near the beach with her Aunt Abby. It is here, where she meets her first mermaid. This event changed everything Marina knew about herself, her father, and her mother.

I absolutely loved this book. It made me want to be a mermaid and go surfing and do fun stuff all day. I loved the love interest Ethan. He is gorgeous (of course) but also strong, protective and independent. I especially loved how the love blossomed betweeb he and Marina. he best friends Cruz and Megan were also wonderful. I loved the world created in this book.

I read a few reviews about this book prior to accepting it from the author, and many people stated that they believed that Marina's life was too perfect. She had a rich "aunt" that showered her with expensive clothes and cars and anything else she wanted, perfect best friends, a perfect boyfriend that automatically wants to do anything for you and an all around wonderful life that everyone seems to want. I'll admit that her life is pretty perfect, but thats what makes me love the book so much. Its crisp, clean, and refreshing (water reference) like a Disney movie, and I LOVE DISNEY MOVIES!!! Its like a book where love conquers all and when you're done you feel like you're waking from a fantasy world. I just watched The Little Mermaid this weekend because I was inspired from this book. It was both light and deep at the same time and I giggled out loud a lot while I was reading. I must admit that this book was definately cuter than cute!

That being said, there was one (1) issue I had with this book. Derrolyn's writing style is great but a lot of her sentences had the conjuction for to begin the description of the reasoning in the sentence. I would be like if I said, "I went to McDonalds, for now I was hungry." It just sounded weird and every time I saw it it brought me out of the book and made me focus on that one particular sentence. It happened like every 10 pages or so and kept taking me out of the flow of the book. Why not put "because" or "since" instead of "for now." I remember back in elementary school when my teacher was teaching us about conjunctions and she said "for" adds a lot of weight to the sentence and should be rarely used but I had no idea what she meant when she said it adds weight to a sentence. Sentences dont weigh anything! Nonetheless, I understand now, and that annoyed me the most in the book. Maybe I'm just a little picky, but I just didnt like that part very much.

Obviously, since that was my only teeny tiny complaint in the book (and since it had nothing to do with the story as a whole)  you can see that I loved this book. It was great and had me changing my mind from wanting to be a vampire for Halloween, to wanting to be a Mermaid. If only I could walk with that fin... O well. You MUST read this book! 4.5 stars