Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Publisher: Fewiel & Friends
Series: Flawed #1
Pages: 368
Received: Received a copy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: April 5, 2016
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Goodreads Synopsis:

The Scarlet Letter meets Divergent in this thoughtful and thrilling novel by bestselling author Cecelia Ahern.

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.

She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything.

My Review:

Oh, Cecelia Ahern, any book with her name on it already has my heart and I will jump for anything written by her. She quickly became my favourite author years ago... long before I started blogging, so when I heard she was writing a young adult book that seems very different from what I'm used to loving, I needed to experience it myself. I'm glad I picked this book up because it is Cecelia Ahern and like I said I will never say no, but it was interesting to see her attempt to write outside of her usual comfort zone. Honestly, I did enjoy the story, but at the same time it is a story I've seen many times before and I can say that I would rather stick with her usual adult stories. 

This was definitely an interesting idea for Cecelia Ahern, but it just felt like other books I've read in this genre, and as a reader I could see things coming. Mind you I will say that Cecelia Ahern gives us a great villain in this book that is truly creepy and there is still more to learn. I did enjoy parts of the book, Celestine has always been the good girl, but one day she makes a decision that not only changes her life but that of her entire family. Celestine begins to see that not everything is truly black and white, not everything can be explained perfectly.

Right at the beginning I could see how this was similar to The Scarlet Letter, and I loved how that was inserted because it does make things interesting. Those that are marked as "flawed" are looked down upon from society and are very restricted, just like Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, except the flaws in this go to any tiny thing that is seen as corrupt. I did enjoy how Cecelia Ahern took this quiet girl and made her into a person who could change the world, everyone can use her actions to get what they want.

Honestly, despite this book being similar to so many other dystopians out there, Cecelia still added her own flare to it, and for that I did enjoy parts of it. But I can definitely see myself sticking more with her adult books, those are what I've really come to love from her. It's nice to see an author attempt to step out of their comfort zone and try something different, and many people will really enjoy this book, but for me I've seen too many of these stories lately. 

Series Review: Death Sworn and Death Marked by Leah Cypess

Publisher: Greenwillow
Series: Death Sworn #1
Pages: 344
Received: Received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss

Release Date: March 4, 2014
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Goodreads Synopsis:

When Ileni lost her magic, she lost everything: her place in society, her purpose in life, and the man she had expected to spend her life with. So when the Elders sent her to be magic tutor to a secret sect of assassins, she went willingly, even though the last two tutors had died under mysterious circumstances.

But beneath the assassins’ caves, Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love. She will struggle to keep her lost magic a secret while teaching it to her deadly students, and to find out what happened to the two tutors who preceded her. But what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world.

Publisher: Greenwillow
Series: Death Sworn #2
Pages: 400
Received: Received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss

Release Date: March 3, 2015
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Goodreads Synopsis:

A young sorceress’s entire life has been shaped to destroy the empire controlling her world. But if everything she knows is a lie, will she even want to fulfill her destiny? The sequel to Death Sworn is just as full of magic and surprising revelations, and will thrill fans of Leigh Bardugo and Robin LaFevers.

At seventeen, Ileni lost her magical power and was exiled to the hidden caves of the assassins. She never thought she would survive long. But she discovered she was always meant to end up, powerless, in the caves as part of an elder sorcerer’s plan to destroy the evil Empire they'd battled so long. Except that Ileni is not an assassin, and she doesn't want to be a weapon. And, after everything, she’s not even sure she knows the truth. Now, at the very heart of the Empire—its academy for sorcerers—the truth is what she seeks. What she finds challenges every belief she holds dear—and it threatens her fledgling romance with the young master of assassins.

Leah Cypess spins an intricate and beautiful conclusion to Ileni's story. In the end, it may not be the epic decisions that bring down an empire, but the small ones that pierce the heart.

My Review:

I was very excited for these books when I heard they about them, magic and assassins together in one, everything about it seemed so intriguing. I expected the books to be very action packed and full of adventure for readers, sadly I was a bit disappointed with what I ended up getting from these books. The covers of these books offers up a dark story with a fantasy feel to it (I kind of thought Lord of the Rings when I saw these covers to be honest lol).

Death Sworn is the first book of this series and introduces us to Ileni who has grown up in the world of magic, but as she has gotten older she has started to lost her magic and she ends up being sent to be a tutor of magic to the assassins. Ileni begins her own mission, now that she is stuck in these caves, to find out what happened to the last two tutors that were there before her. With this I was expecting a lot of action to happen, especially with such a dark idea behind the book, but sadly I was left a bit disappointed, it seemed that the magic and action kind of fell by the wayside (though there was a bigger story that did keep me somewhat interested). I wanted to know what really happened to the tutors, and to find out what the assassins are really after, Ileni soon learns that everything she was taught may not actually be the whole story.

I enjoyed Ileni's insistence on finding the truth and that is what kept me going through this series. Ileni is strong and she is devoted to making a difference, even if it means giving up everything she loves. Ileni learns very quickly that not everything is true and her whole belief system comes crashing down around her.

Death Marked picks up a little while after the events of Death Sworn and this book gives readers a view of the other side. This is what really makes this series so hard for me, this one had a bit more of the magic aspect and yet it wasn't really the main focus. The main focus is the rivalry between the assassins and the Empire, but which side is truly right and which side is the villain? I will say that I liked how this one had a little more action to it and readers are able to learn a little more of how the Empire works. It was great to see both sides of the coin in this series because it really gives Ileni (and readers) a lot to look at and have them make the decision of what is actually right. I also felt that this was still similar to the first book, Ileni is learning a new culture and everything she has been taught is being turned on it's head.

The biggest disappointment for me was actually the ending... I felt like nothing truly got resolved and it left so many questions up in the air. Where do Ileni's loyalties truly lie, and what exactly happened between the assassins and the Empire. This series had a lot of potential I think for me though it really missed the mark, despite some interesting storylines, there was sometimes a bit too much focus on the romance than other things. It just did not end up working for me.

Review: Nowhere Girl by Susan Strecker

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 304
Received: Received a copy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: March 1, 2016
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Goodreads Synopsis:

"The day Savannah was killed she was fifteen minutes late to meet me." So begins bookseller favorite Susan Strecker's second novel of twin sisters and the murder that left one twin behind.

Savannah was the popular bad girl skipping school and moving quickly from one boyfriend to the next, so when she didn't meet Cady as promised, Cady wasn't surprised and the truth was Cady was already a bit mad at her. When Cady suddenly becomes short of breath she realizes Savannah is in trouble, but within minutes Savannah is gone.

Years later Cady, now a bestselling author of suspense, spends her time interviewing killers, hoping each interview will help her understand what happened to her sister. Despite Savannah's death, the bond Savannah and Cady share has never been broken. Savannah still comes to Cady, but the clues her sister sends don't add up until a chance encounter while researching her latest novel provides a missing piece of the puzzle.

My Review:

I always have my moments with mystery/thriller books, something about this one really stuck out to me when I heard about it though. I liked the idea of how it was a story about twin sisters and readers get to see the fallout of the one sister that was left behind. After the events of that fateful day where Cady realized something had happened to her and Savannah was found dead, Cady has now become a famous author of suspense/thriller novels and uses real life stories to help her.

This book takes readers on Cady's journey of researching her newest novel while also going back and finding out the puzzle of what happened to Savannah that fateful day. I will say that this story was interesting and I definitely wanted to know more about what happened to Savannah, but at the same time, I somewhat saw the ending coming, but I will say Susan still brought about an interesting surprise with Savannah's case.  I really enjoyed how Susan Strecker showed readers how hard it is to be the sister left of a set of twins, everyone sees your sister in you (even though there are huge differences between the two of them.)

The story shows how easily a family can brush things off, Cady's family is the type that doesn't want to bring up the past, and they would rather not discuss these difficult situations and just leave things be as they are. Whereas Cady's life has revolved around knowing what happened to Savannah, especially because they have this special connection and Savannah still comes to Cady letting her know that things aren't always as they seem. Yet, this was also a hard book to get into because all the characters are very flawed and difficult to stay with. I couldn't always get myself behind the things Cady was doing, she was hard to take serious sometimes... though I can see why, with the difficulties she went through after losing her sister, and her being the one who could feel that something was wrong.

Cady's relationship with her husband was a difficult storyline for me to get through, but I can see how it is important in showing how Cady and her family have difficulties talking about problems and it causes things to linger and fights to happen. What I really loved was how deep Cady wants to go to research her novels and make the feel real to her readers, she wants to take from real situations and turn it into a strong story that will capture her readers' attention.

All in all I will say that this book captured my attention, and the mystery (though I somewhat had an idea of what happened) was intriguing and kept me going because I knew there was still more to learn about everything, This was a fun book to read, once I got past my small issues, I can say that I sped through this book pretty quickly, it's not too long of a read.