More General Reviews

Sorry for what seems to be pure laziness ): It's just that in the time that I could be writing a post, I could also be reading, so I choose to read. Because of this I will have to write some more general reviews than what I usually do (maybe I should just do them like this from now on to save time and up my motivation). I can't get all the info I usually put too since I already returned them.

Matched by Ally Condie

Hardcover: 369 pages

Publisher: Penguin Group USA

Price: $17.99

Source: Library

This book started off a bit slow for me, but it was a good foundation for the rest of the book. It's set in a dystopian-but-supposed-to-be-utopian generation. Cassia was obedient to the system, which is how everyone is in the beginning, and her match Xander was my favorite character from the start. He reminds me of Lucas from the International Kissing Club a little - charming, funny, romantic. However, he got some stiff competition from Ky. One thing that I liked about this book was actually the names she chose for her male characters: Ky (which I'm not sure how to pronounce, but both 'Key' and 'Kai' sound nice) and Xander. Ky was mysterious, mature, and overall very smart and likeable. His actions weren't typical of male leads in romance novels - in fact, a lot of the things he DIDN'T do were totally unexpected for someone who's supposed to be one of the two males vying for Cassia's attention. The society itself didn't sound that bad to me until they began taking too much control of Cassia's life. Unlike The Giver and Gathering Blue (both of which I recommend reading, by the way) the controllers of the society weren't very power-hungry, but they were cautious. I kept getting caught between wanting Xander and Cassia together and Ky and Cassia together. The author made it so hard! I don't know how Cassia will end up choosing in the third book, but I have the second copy with me and will be starting on that as soon as I have the time.
Rating: 4.5/5

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Hardcover: 480 pages

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Price: $17.99

Source: Library

The cover of this book is beautiful. I especially love the silvery leaves! This book was surprising because there were many male characters that kept popping up so I was constantly confused with who was the main character's love interest. She did have eleven other sisters though, so I suppose the author wanted to give the other girls a chance for a relationship as well. A problem I had with this book was that although the setting for the Pavilion was described with amazing diction and gave me a great image of just how beautiful it really was, I felt that Dixon was using a lot of the same words over and over again in her writing. There weren't a whole lot of romance in this book for me, either, because I was so confused at who Azalea was interesting. The story itself was pretty slow. It took me a few days to get through it just because I kept falling asleep or putting it down to do something else more exciting. The constant dancing didn't bother me, but I think it was just how every event was dragged out so much more than necessary. There were a lot of twists that I didn't expect which brought some excitement. I enjoyed the climax to the end of the book more than anything else, which was unfortunate because at that point I had already decided my rating of it and it wasn't enough to dramatically change my opinion. If it hadn't been for my determination to finish any book I read, I wouldn't even have had enough willpower to reach the climax and just put it down. Sadly, the book has a beautiful cover, but the content just doesn't deliver.
Rating: 3/5

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Hardcover: 480 pages

Publisher: Razorbill

Price: $17.99

Source: Library

OH. MY. GOD.
I LOVE THIS SERIES, I LOVE THIS BOOK, I LOVE THIS AUTHOR.
I cannot begin to express the entire extent of my love for this book. I thought Across the Universe was good, but this...my goodness, this was SO MUCH BETTER. I was enraptured the ENTIRE time!! The cover is gorgeous, all the chapters end with cliffhangers so I can't put it down EVER...if it weren't for the necessary duties of eating and sleeping I would have spent my entire day reading. I love Amy and Elder so much. They're both such strong characters with fully developed minds and personalities. They're very sensible because they know that they shouldn't love each other just because they're the only two teenagers on the ship, so they have to develop very authentic feelings. I felt like I was right beside them in Godspeed watching them try to get off the ship. There were so many twists and shocking events that had me screaming things like, "WHY, BETH, WHY DID YOU DO THIS?" and "OMG, I KNEW IT!"....Yeah. I was so disappointed when the book ended at such an exciting part. The next one doesn't come out for MONTHS (January 2013, I believe). I really really can't wait. When I get some money this and Across the Universe are going to be two things I'm gonna buy first. I'm actually not at all into Sci-Fi, but this book was amazing. If you think you can tolerate science and romance mixed into one book of awesome, I would definitely recommend this one.
Rating: 5/5 

I just opened my copy of Crossed by Ally Condie, but the person who borrowed it previously was obviously a heavy smoker, because that's all I can smell. As soon as I cracked the spine I literally just started choking and getting nauseous...will have to let this air out.