Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

*Warning, there are a few spoilers in this review, I apologize, but it's just one of those books where you can't explain how you're feeling without spoilers, if you know what I mean.* 

Well, didn't know what to expect after Delirium, but if definitely wasn't that. And that ending? Where did that come from? (view spoiler)I was just getting used to the fact that Alex was dead and Lena now belongs with Julian, and BAM! Alex is alive and he's in the same place as the pair. Uh, oh. Heads are gonna roll.

The writing, again, was amazing. Lauren Oliver never ceases to amaze me. I liked how the book flipped between how Lena got out of Portland and into her new life, and her new life in New York.

(view spoiler)P.S. I totally saw that bit with her mom coming. I mean, really, who wouldn't? It was so obvious!

All in all, this was an amazing book. READ IT!!!

After falling in love, Lena and Alex flee their oppressive society where love is outlawed and everyone must receive the "cure" - an operation that makes them immune to the delirium of love - but Lena alone manages to find her way to a community of resistance fighters. Although she is bereft without the boy she loves, her struggles seem to be leading her toward a new love.

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Maria V. Snyder has been one of my favorite high fantasy authors for about 3 years now. I love how she can create a whole new, believable, world and still make an interesting plot line and romance.

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life....

In her new series, Healer, Maria V. Snyder follows a young healer who is on the run. In her land, disease is slowly destroying everything, yet her people distrust magic and refuse to accept that magic could heal the world.

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Since It's Winter Break, I took my annual WB gander through my library to find all sorts of books to read over break. I always spend most of my time in the New Shelf of the Teen Section; it has a good number of YA books released in the past year. When I saw the title The False Princess, it intrigued me, I thought; that is new, never in my many years (7, to be exact) of reading YA books, have I been so dragged in by a title. I imediately added it to my pile. (Which would be expanded to 9 books by the end of my trip.) At the time of this particular trip, I had been reading the amazingly attention-grabbing Clockwork Angel, so I finished that and immediatly started reading this. It took me less than a day to finish it; partly because it was only 323 pages, but more importantly; it was AMAZING!!!

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

A dazzling first novel, The False Princess is an engrossing fantasy full of mystery, action, and romance.

Doesn't it sound amazing? With passionate love of friendship, her country, and her past, Sinda is attempting to reconstruct a plot to set a 'False Princess' on the throne; someone other than her, that is.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

That ending was crap. I hated it. It came out of nowhere! Now I need the next book. Ugh.

Lena is just your average girl. Living in a society where love is a disease. Love! A disease! They say that without love there is no hate and without hate there is no violence. But what happens when you fall in love? That is what Lena is about to find out.

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.

And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Honestly, I finished this book in about 2 days. Which isn't normal for me. It usually takes about a week and a half to finish a book of this size. But I read the first 5 chapters in a preview and I was hooked from that point on.

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

I thought the series was amazing during the first two books. This one blew. Me. Away. I swear, I was in shock after reading this. Again, I highly recomend this book to anyone who reads Paranormal romance, fae books or low fantasy. It's just that awesome.

Here's the summary:

The "New York Times" Bestseller The Iron Queen

My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

The Iron Duaghter by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

The first book in the Iron Fey series really hooked me. I got all three of the books from the library and read them in sessesion. Let me tell, you. If you love Paranormal romance, Fae, or just plain fantasy, this is a series for you. The way that Kagawa encorperates our world into the world of the fey just makes me... speechless. There is nothing more that I can say that has not already been said.

READ IT!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I have to say, I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I've put off reading this series because 1: this is the only one my library has, and 2: it didn't really sound all that interesting. But it is Winter Break, so I decided to give it a shot.

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

I loved the random incerpts of poetry by both Tessa and Will. Will is by far, my favorite character. His cool demeanor, and his unwillingness to give in are completely... amazing? Jem has his good qualities, but the fact that he's addicted to silver dust just put me off him for some reason. Surprisingly, I actually liked Jessamine. She's pretty kick ass, even though she hates to admitt it, and wants nothing to do with the Shadowhunters, or the Clave, or any of that jazz.

As for action, there was never a shortage of that; vampire quellings, automatons, and demons (Oh my!) kept me on the edge of my seat for the 2 days that I was reading it.

What surprised me, was how real it felt; like I was actually in the story. What didn't surprise me, was the fact that Tessa fell for Will, I mean, when we first me Will I had a sudden flashback to JACE, omg, is this a pattern?

But, I have to say, dispite all the cliches, this was a really good book; The Children of Angels never cease to amaze me...

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

I honestly have no idea how I finished this book. I wanted to quit so many times, but for some reason, I didn't. Don't ask me why. I honestly think I threw the book across the room at least twice.

The characters were boring, the setting was bland, and the plot was unbelievable. Not in the way that is complimentary "Oh my, that was unbelievable! I wish it would happen to me!" Nope. Not that kind of story.

I hated the fact that there were so many parts to the story that I had to follow to understand any of it. If I wanted complicated, I would read Shakespeare! Even the language was dry.

I was looking for a nice story to read on vacation. Looks like I'll have to keep looking

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

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.

The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper

Romeo and Juliet have always fascinated hundreds of thousands of people throughout centuries. As one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, it has been subjected to hundreds of re-writes, essays, and modernization.


This particular version: The Juliet Club, is in perfect Shakespeare fashion; a play within a play. Well, it isn't really a play within a play, but it is a Romeo and Juliet love story taking place in a seminar