Review: Endless by Jessica Shrivington

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Series: The Violet Eden Chronicles #4
Pages: 470

Received: Received a copy from Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: October 1, 2013
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

LOVE WILL KILL US ALL

Violet Eden thought she was getting things under control. Then all hell breaks loose--literally. In the war between angels and exiles, she's about to face the biggest baddie of all time. Except she's not nearly ready.

The dark exile Phoenix is still messing with her head--not to mention her heart. And her undeniable attraction to Lincoln has gotten downright dangerous. When Hell unleashes its worst, Violet must embrace every facet of her angel self to save the people she cares about and the world as she knows it. But death is not the worst thing she will face...

My Review: *POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR EARLIER BOOKS*

This series is one of my favourites (I probably say that in all my reviews, because it is so true). I honestly don't know how to write reviews for these books without saying the same thing, about how amazing Jessica Shrivington has done with this story. So much comes to head with this book, and it made me crazy watching as things begin to unravel.

After the ending of Emblaze, everyone is on high alert with Lilith being released from the underworld. What can I say about this book, that probably hasn't already been said about this series. I love how Violet has grown over the course of the books and really come to tackle just about everything that is thrown at her, and at the end of the last book the biggest thing was thrown at her. Her mother has now come back... This on top of everything else that Violet must deal with would really kill anyone else, but despite all the issues I think Violet handles things well.

The one thing that slightly gets on my nerves is the back and forth between Violet and Lincoln. I just wanted them to make a decision regarding their position as soul mates, and it kills me to see them loving each other and yet also staying away, it just always seems like they can't make up their mind. I think this book was especially difficult for the relationship of these two.

Violet must come to terms with how her choices have affected her and those she loves, and now she has to make the biggest decision of her life to help save everyone around her. This book was the most difficult for me to get through of this series because of all the emotions. I really felt what Violet was going through and how hard any decision she made would be because of the consequences. The last few chapters really took me by surprise, realizing how some of these characters evolved and everything that had to happen for Violet to do what she needed to.

I can say I am very happy that there is another book coming out after this one, because the ending was disappointing for me and actually made me want to throw the book across the room. After everything that happens, the decisions that Violet makes (as much as I can understand) really made me emotional. Violet learns so much about herself in this book that things are difficult for her. I'm excited to see how Jessica Shrivington adds to this series, I'm not ready to say good-bye to any of these characters, they are too real for me now. 

Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 380

Received: Received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss

Release Date: January 7, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 689 688) is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Fried is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield.

Unfortunately, Friendship’s police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth’s best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth’s secret diary (which Ruth’s mother had asked her to read in order to redact any, you know, sex parts), sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship—where no one is a suspect—anyone could be the killer.

My Review:

Well this book completely deviated from where I thought it was going. I think the cover is an amazing fit for this book, the sweater with the moose on it makes you think the book is all cute and fun but then there is that one odd moose. Kathleen Hale's writing is interesting and I think the weird way that Kippy thinks really worked well, I loved the narration.

I always love books with a small town setting, it's the place I have always dreamed of living in since watching Gilmroe Girls. I adore the idea of living somewhere that everyone knows everyone else, it seems so charming. But the town of Friendship, WI quickly loses it's charm when a girl is found murdered (in quite a gruesome way I may add). The story revolves around Ruth's best friend trying to find the murderer.

This story takes some time to get used to the interactions between the characters, because of how awkward Kippy seems to be, but the story just sucked me right in that I wanted to know more about what was happening. The people of the town all have their own agendas and it's weird to see how the death of one girl affects everyone differently, and how the town takes to solving the mystery. Everyone just wants the town to go back to normal and have everything be safe and friendly, where the police drive around in cars with smiley faces on them (because that's not weird... right?)

I think the mystery was so well done and I was taken by surprise quite a few times along the way, especially as you learn more about Kippy herself. What is really interesting about this book is the way that grief is handled. There are many different people that must deal with losing someone close to them, and they all handle it differently, it was a great part of a creepy mystery story. I am very happy that I ended up checking this book out, it was so much more than I was expecting, a great start to the new year. 

Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Pages: 560

Received: Received an ecopy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: February 4, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

My Review:

A new year means a new book from Marissa Meyer, it's always so exciting to continue on with this series, and I am dreading the ending after spending so much amazing time in this world. Everything about this series just keeps getting better and more interesting. I don't know if my love for Marissa's writing can grow anymore and yet I find myself falling in love more and more with Cinder's story.

In this book we are introduced to Cress, a girl who has been trapped on a satellite and is an expert hacker. The only company she has is her computer. I really loved Cress, she was such an interesting character and she brings some new revelations to the story. Cress is such a great character, she is smart and she is so loveable, her interactions with the old characters is perfect and she fits in so well. I really enjoyed her storyline in comparison to the bigger picture of this series.

As we come closer to the wedding of Queen Levana and Emperor Kai, Cinder and her team are running out of time to help and they must put together a plan to stop, but they have become separated from one another. Everything starts coming together in this book and there is that much more action as we come closer to the big battle between good and evil.

We get to see more scenes of Kai which is amazing, I felt that his scenes give readers a different view. You really get to see how he is handling this position and how he really feels about everything that is happening. He tries to be strong because he wants to protect his empire. And there are some interesting revelations to Kai about Cinder, and you get to see how he reacts and how he really feels about her.

The reviews for this series get harder and harder to write because I don't want to give away the story, and yet I just want to tell everyone to go out and read all of these books! The story gets more intriguing and the way this book ends leaves me needing WINTER. Honestly this is one of the greatest series I have read in awhile, and every one of these books belongs on a special shelf. Everyone must read these books!!!