ARC Book Review: Wendy Darling: Stars

Wendy Darling: Stars by Colleen Oakes
Published: October 13th 2015 by SparkPress
Source: NetGalley
Format: eBook
Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
From the Best-Selling Author of Queen of Hearts comes a dark and mesmerizing twist on the beloved Children's Classic, Peter Pan.

Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller’s son. But while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children’s nursery and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning, to Neverland, a intoxicating island of feral freedom.

As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boy’s paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter’s grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who desires her—have the potential to transform into an everlasting nightmare.

Review:
I love Peter Pan. When I was a child (not that long ago, I'm 18), I had an embarrassing crush on him which is why I am totally obsessed with the idea of a Peter Pan story told through the eyes of Wendy. I want to fall in love with Peter all over again and see the magical Neverland. Let's just say, I got everything I wanted AND SO MUCH MORE. Wendy Darling: Stars is a dark retelling of Peter Pan that will surprise everyone.

If the stars above saw what I felt for you, they would pour out their wonders...

Peter Pan. Oh Peter. You beautiful, cruel boy. Wendy is drawn to Peter. His wicked smile promises adventure and freedom that she's missing from her life. Peter has a God complex because of the Lost Boys. They praise him for allowing them to stay in his kingdom of endless fun. Slowly Wendy realizes that Neverland isn't as perfect as it seems. It is violent and dark. Twelve year old boys kill pirates for a drink of alcohol. I found myself slowly falling into Peter Pan's trap along with Wendy throughout the book. He is charming and mysterious. I was so caught up in the feels for Peter that I never expected the game he played with everyone's mind. When I reached the dark twist of the book, my jaw dropped because I GOT PLAYED. Peter Pan is a convincing manipulative character. His love is addicting but dangerous and predatory. I was able to see the horrifying reality of Neverland that I was naive to believe in my entire life.

I knew I was bound for something different. Something better. I was meant to rule the stars, not gaze at them from under our poverty.

Details of every scene. I feel like a good portion of the book is descriptions of the setting and every action that happens. Usually I hate books that have too much description because I want to get straight to the story but it's different here. The author fed the readers' childhood desires of going to Neverland. I was able to perfectly imagine what Neverland looked and felt like from the details. It made everything more realistic and filled me with more passion in every scene because I felt like I was Wendy. I felt the luring of the mermaids' songs and felt the heart racing excitement of fighting pirates. I just want to applaud the author because the book is beautifully written and utilizes imagery to the max. If I could describe Wendy Darling in one word it would be: Wanderlust.

Even the light here was different, she marveled— it was as if every particle of light had been brushed with gold, giving a hazy glow to everything it touched.

Tinkerbell. There's no Peter Pan without Tinkerbell. I think everyone can agree that Tink and Peter have an intense relationship. Tinkerbell is one of the darkest parts of the book. She's the last fairy of Neverland and is totally devoted to Peter. You can imagine how she feels when Wendy comes in and disrupts her haven. This obsessive love turns the fairy crazed and violent.

He is the sun and the moon and everything in between.

SO MUCH ENERGY. I have never read a book with as much energy as this one. The energy just kept building with every page turn. My breath was stuck in my throat and I spent the last half of the book constantly dropping my jaw. The ending left me in terror. I also let out a scream at that cliffhanger. I am so excited for to learn more about the character at the end in the next sequel!!

I promise you energy and passion from this book. However, I admit the heart pumping energy doesn't exactly start until 50% into the book. The beginning is basically hyping up the crowd with the magic and beauty in Neverland. I still enjoyed it a lot because I'm all for swooning after Peter Pan and wanted to explore Neverland. But the dark portion of the book that I know most people are looking forward to doesn't start until halfway into the book. IT'S STILL A REALLY GOOD BOOK THOUGH. I know you will love it. It's worth it.

Overall, I love Wendy Darling: Stars and it is a new favorite. I will definitely buy this book when it COMES OUT ON OCTOBER 13, 2015. I recommend this book to everyone. It will cause you emotional pain and also an adrenaline rush. Prepare yourselves because you will be visiting Neverland and all its terrifying yet exciting promises in this book.

Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Published:  May 12th 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:
One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

Review:
I’m going to be perfectly honest with you and say that I do not know how to review The Wrath and the Dawn. This book blew me away so much that I didn’t even notice where it took me until I reached the end and realized that my life will never be the same. A whole new standard has been made. Nothing short of throwing the book in your face and screaming “READ THIS” will do The Wrath and the Dawn justice. Or maybe I’ll throw it softly at your face, letting you catch it and feel satisfied, before I punch you in the face BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I FELT HAPPEN TO ME. It started as a soft blow that suddenly tore up my heart with its lyrical writing.

The thing is Khalid probably feels the same way I do. The only way to describe Shahrzad is that she’s a force. She’s unlike any other female character I’ve ever read. There’s so many powerful female protagonist out there but Shahrzad stands out. She’s unique.  She’s insecure yet confident. She’s all these things that you can’t quite know her exactly; which is what drew Khalid to her. He can’t explain why but he knows he wants her. He knows she must be in his life. This tortured soul wants to have a touch of light in his life even though he doesn’t deserve it. And before he knew it, he was invested in this plague of a girl.

For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you.

I’ve read so many books with cold-hearted turned good guys. And I admit, I have a type. I enjoy those kind of boy characters, it’s enjoyable. I was expecting Khalid to be this kind of boy but I was wrong. Khalid is so different. I don't even think he turned totally good at the end. He's a man of many faults but becomes better because of Shahrzad. This relationship didn’t go from hatred to love in a few pages. Khalid was uneasy to put himself fully into the relationship. I’m so obsessed with the dialogue. His lines starts off subtle as he tries to sort out his feelings, to sweet and heartbreaking. They didn’t come off as cheesy or eye-roll worthy. It was natural. I wish I could write the entire book in my quote notebook.

“And how will you know when you’ve found this elusive someone?” Shahrzad retorted.
“I suspect she will be like air. Like knowing how to breathe.”

Even with the book's magical writing, I admit it was hard to connect to. I remember reading the first half and thinking, “I know this is a good book, it’s easy to read and flows well, but for some reason I can’t get a feel for it. I can’t decide if I like it.” I kept thinking I can’t decide until I reached about the last 100 pages of the book. This part shines out to me the most and is what made me love it. It pulled the whole book together. The story got exciting and felt like a fire was lit inside me. I got emotionally involved and made me confident to ship Khalid and Shahrzad.

I am so excited for the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger. I can’t wait to see where the relationship goes. There’s (unfortunately? I can’t decide.) a love triangle with a childhood friend named Tariq. But I can’t decide how I feel about him. I liked him in the beginning but started get annoyed at the end, however, that might have been because I started to like Khalid A LOT and didn’t like that Tariq was getting in the way. I am looking forward to learning more about Tariq so that I can make a more firm decision. Though I doubt I can ship Tariq after THE ENDING. It broke my heart. The book leaves off on one of the best cliffhangers EVER. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!

Sorry that there hasn't been much going on on my blog! If you didn't know, I started college on Thursday and am scrambling to find time to write reviews. For those of you who are in school or have a job, how do you put aside time to write reviews?
I WILL be trying to post more reviews soon. I just finished Wendy Darling: Stars and I LOVE IT. I am looking forward to writing that review and can't wait for you to read it! Hopefully it will be posted soon. :) You can always find me on Twitter (@booknadventure) to find out what I'm doing and probably my struggles in college. See you soon!

Book Review: Beastkeeper

I present to you for this week's Middle Grade Monday: Beastkeeper, a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which the Beast is the girl and fairytale rules are broken. I bolded the line in the summary that won me over. I was second guessing the book before but I was intrigued by that line. 

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen
Published: February 3rd 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Source: Library
Format: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever. 

Review:
Sarah's life is good. Her parents love each other and they absolutely adore her. She likes that her parents are different. They aren't tied down by money and see no reason to buy fancy cars or big houses. She's been moving around all her life for a reason she doesn't necessarily understand but has accepted. Sarah's gotten used to moving and can even predict the exact day her parents will pack up from the geometry of dandelion seeds' flight in the air. Everything is good. Until the day her mom walks out. The shock is so big that the only reason Sarah can come up with is: the cold. Her dad becomes depressed. He stops talking, stop taking care of Sarah, and forgets to eat. This is where the beauty starts. The magic of the book is tied with the dark elements. 

She lost her mother to the cold and the winds, and now her father was also lost, lost to some strange sickness that ate away the inside of his head until he wasn't anything like her father at all, just a beast wearing his skin like a coat.

The writing is gorgeous. I loved how the author presented real problems as magic. Depression being her father's transformation and the cold as a symbol of a relationship without love. This book is dark. It's about unhappily ever afters. It tells the story of how jealousy turns into a big game of revenge that got so passionate it became impossible to end. Beastkeeper shows the realistic side of fairy tales. Where people's dreams are the worst thing that could happen to them. Where people fall in love with the image of true love but not with the actual person. It's about the dark side of human nature. The author calls out these conditions and intertwines it with magic. THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE PART.

It was a jolt.
A strange moment when the world stayed exactly the same, and changed forever.
It felt like an invisible firework.
And Sarah's bones shifted just the slightest bit under her skin.

Since this is a middle grade book there's no big emphasis on romance for the protagonist. But the summary obviously promises you something, I mean that's the big part of the story. This curse looms over Sarah's head. If I could describe this book in one word, it would be bittersweet. Sarah sees the ugliness of humans and deals with it like a brave little girl. It is amazing and SO BEAUTIFUL. I can't emphasize how beautiful this book is!

This is a book about the cruelty of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. I highly recommend this to everyone. It's NOT your usual happily ever all but has the satisfaction of fairy tales and retellings.

If you did/do read this amaaaazing book but get a little confused at the curse (which no shame, because I was too), the author wrote a short prequel online HERE.
It's about the story of Igna and Freya falling in love and how everything went downhill.

Book Review: Dream a Little Dream

Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier
Published: April 14th 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Source: Library
Format: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute...

Review:
Dream a Little Dream is a little complicated to explain, but a great book and would love for more people to read it. So for my review I decided to break it down into parts. Here's what I liked:

The book is told in first person through Liv. Liv is a sassy girl trying to adapt to her new home at her mother’s boyfriends house. After she learns that her classmates were dabbling in black magic to resurrect a Demon, she isn’t afraid to offer her help even though it puts her in danger. That doesn’t mean she kept a serious face though. Liv is hilarious and sarcastic as she tries to not laugh while her classmates drew circles and chanted Latin words for a ritual. Liv’s humor made the book enjoyable and drew me in in the first pages.

The dreams. A big part of what made me want to read the book was the twist on the dreams. After moving, Liv starts getting dreams involving the four popular boys at her school. The five interact in their dreams and are all able to remember them afterwards. Liv’s newfound ability allows her to go into other people’s dreams and that plus the black magic is where the excitement happens.

The plot. The main story line involves the dreams and the black magic to revive the Demon. It was easy to read and didn’t drag on at all throughout the book. The “filler” portion of the book where Liv explores her dreams and investigated the boys wasn't boring even though there was no major problem in those parts.

NO LOVE TRIANGLE/SQUARE. The four supermodels of the school that all the girls drool over are Grayson, Henry, Arthur, and Jasper. Grayson being her soon-to-be stepbrother is obviously knocked out as an opinion (but if I had to choose a boy it would totally be him). From the premise, I assumed that they were all going to fight over Liv, but it was pretty obvious who Liv’s love interest is from the beginning. In a way, it could be described as instalove but I think it worked in this situation. The romance is actually very cute. I think it could be described as the early dating/crushing phase of a relationship because it wasn't too overpowering or a main focus of the story. Even with this many boys, they were all different. Grayson is the cliche protective older brother, Henry is the quiet and mysterious one, Jasper oozes in flirtatious charm, and Arthur, the poss prince of the school.

What I think could’ve been worked on:

The world building. For such an interesting world with all the dreams and demons, it wasn’t explained very well. It was never explained why Liv was able to enter other people’s dreams. The boys had a tendency to straight up ignore Liv's questions when it got "too dangerous" and while it was supposed to keep up the image of the mysterious, beautiful boys, it got annoying and left a lot of questions.

Overall, I enjoyed Dream a Little Dream, and will be looking forward to reading the rest of the series soon. I found the first book very fun and hope that continues. Gier’s Ruby Red will also be added onto my to-read list.

Book Review: Descent

Descent by Katie O'Sullivan
Published: July 16th 2015 by Wicked Whale Publishing
Source: NetGalley
Format: eBook
Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
Shea MacNamara's life just got complicated...
When a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, fifteen-year-old Shea moves to Cape Cod to live with a grandmother he's never met. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he meets a girl along the shore who changes his life forever.
Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders, where bloody war rages between opposing clans. A fragile peace accord hinges on marriage between the royal families, but treachery and magick lurk in every shadow.
With Kae's help, Shea discovers his true heritage and finds that his destiny lies somewhere far below the ocean's surface.

Review:
To me, Descent was an enjoyable light read about mermaids. While it isn't a great book, it isn't bad either. I was able to read it quickly and easily. The most interesting part was the mermaid plot line, however, this only started getting serious at around 50% into the book. In my opinion, the book spent way too long talking about Shea's experience trying to fit into Cape Cod. If the book had focused more in the underwater events, it would've been more strong. The setting the author created for the mermaids was exciting and different from other mermaid books I've read. The mermaids had different clans and magical powers. It sparked my inner childhood wishes to be a mermaid (made me wish I could swim too). I liked learning about the mermaid life and would've liked to learn more about their farming and society. I liked how they included problems with marriage and race between the mermaids. It made them seem more real and not always the happy swimmers I usually them as. It had a small Percy Jackson feel with the trident tattoo showing up on mermaids that Poseidon chooses to rule the sea.

While romance did play a big part in the story, I felt like it wasn't strong enough for me to care about it. I could ignore the love story and focus on the mermaids. The romance between Shea and Kae wasn't believable. It was instant lust. There was no buildup to them falling in love, he was just hooked on to her (pun not intended) from the beginning because of her bikini. The first time they kissed made me cringe because I felt like they were only friends. I felt the fault here is more on the writing. The characters didn't seem real to me. Shea's name was a bit ridiculous (Shea MacNamara) and he and Kae were both bland.

One character I did love and found had a believable voice was Hailey. She was very bright and was bursting with energy. Her fast talking didn't seem tacky. However, she was only there to be used for a flimsy love triangle. She was completely irrelevant to the story. If the author had removed Hailey, the book would’ve been more concise and focused on the true story line.

While this book is YA, I felt like it was more middle grade. This book would be a good introduction for middle grade students into YA books. The writing isn't deep and rambled at some parts. It's very predictable. Though I was uneasy with the book and wasn't hooked until around 50% I didn't hate it. I would suggest this book to middle grade readers who enjoy fantasy.

Book Review: These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Published: December 10th 2013 by Disney Hyperion
Source: Library
Format: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.



Review:
I. Love. This. Book. I was in awe after I finished reading it. This is such a mind blowing book and it is so beautiful. I don’t even know how to review this book appropriately because anything I say won’t do this book justice. It’s THAT good.

These Broken Stars is a sci-fi novel. Which I don’t read often. I admit what drew me in was the cover. It’s so pretty and I’m a sucker for anything with the galaxy and stars on it. And to keep this theme going, Kaufman and Spooner constantly made references to stars in their writing and IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. The writing is one of my favorite parts of the book, I had so many saved.  The last paragraph of the book took my breath away.

The book starts off in space (how cool is that??) aboard a big ship called Icarus, holding thousands of people. Unfortunately, Icarus gets a malfunction and crashes on an unknown planet. Living up to it's name I guess. It leaves only two survivors, Tarver and Lilac, who narrowly escaped death on an escape pod.  Tarver is an 18 year old war hero who has extensive survival training from being on duty. He is sarcastic, controlled, and SO genuine. I instantly fell in love with Tarver’s soldier charm. Now Lilac, I didn’t like at first. She’s the spoiled daughter of the richest guy in the universe. Used to the high class life she struggled to keep up with Tarver’s efforts to keep them alive and often threw fits in her head. But she’s strong and stubborn and refused to allow Tarver to see her weakness. As annoyed with her as I was, I wanted to give her a round of applause for trekking through the forest in heels for days. It took her a while, but her character development was pretty awesome as she accepted her situation and Tarver’s help. Watching her change wasn’t sudden. It was so gradual that I didn’t notice it until towards the end of the book.

THE ROMANCE. To me the love that grew between them was very gentle. One that none of them wanted to admit at first because of personal reasons... plus there was the part where they wanted to punch each other in the face for a good 90% of the time they were together in the beginning. The gradual way they fell in love was so simple it was wonderful.

The book switches between two perspectives. In between the actual story there was also snippets of an interrogation that confused me greatly in the beginning because I had no idea what was going on. I started to look forward to those snippets though because it was filled with sass from Tarver.

The plot is a bit slow in the beginning. Because Tarver and Lilac are the only survivors for 80% of the book, they are the only characters. There’s a lot of them walking around trying to survive before the problem actually arises. I don’t want to spoil what the problem is but DAAAAANG. IT WAS SO TRIPPY. There was this one part where basically “ish hit the fan” and it left me speechless. I dropped my phone and freaked out in my room. I didn’t know what to do with what just happened. I just sat on my bed and panicked. This book is CRAZY and SO unique. I guarantee that you won’t find a book like this one.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK… if you haven’t already. Goodreads says I’m a little late to the club but oh well. What are some other YA sci-fi books you recommend?