Tuesday, March 4, 2014

February 2014 Wrap-up [spoiler free!]


I have recently found myself falling a bit behind in my reading. I used to get through 2-3 books a week. Now I am lucky if I get through one...




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1. Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs. Oh. My. This book was an emotional roller-coaster ride! Filled with action, adventure, suspense and romance, I never knew what to expect or where exactly the story was going. The creepy pictures were excellent, and I really enjoyed watching Jacob and his friends continue on with their quest to save Miss Peregrine. To see my full review, click here.




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2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2) by J.K. Rowling. Another Harry Potter reread! I am really enjoying this experience—coming back, following Harry and his friends on these adventures and encountering all of the magic that comes along with the series. I did not realize just how much I missed Hogwarts until I was, once again, within its walls (so to speak).




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3. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. After the excitement of both Miss Peregrine and Harry Potter, I was very much in the mood for something short and contemporary; an easy read. And considering Why We Broke Up is about 40% pictures, I figured it could not get much easier. An avid fan of Handler's Series of Unfortunate Events, I was really looking forward to reading some more of his work. The pictures were a really cool addition, I will admit, helping me to better grasp the narrator's stories, but the rest of the book was bland and uneventful; due in part to the fact that the entire book is a flashback, with zero to no suspense. I had trouble connecting to the characters (in fact, I found the main character, Min, to be extremely annoying) and I struggled to finish the book in a reasonable amount of time. The writing was beautiful, however, and there were some stories/moments that I did enjoy, so I could not give the book anything less than three stars.




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4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. After months and months of hearing nothing but amazing things about this series, I decided to give the first book a chance; laying aside all the ideas about vampires that Twilight had previously instilled in my brain. Unfortunately, I did not love this as much as everyone assured me I would. It was okay, interesting, but the characters were a bit one-dimensional and the dialogue and actions seemed very clichéd and predictable. I saw the ending coming a mile away, and the "tension" between the characters, such as Rose and Dimitri or Lisa and Christian, was not very exciting. I did not hate the book, however, so I think I will continue on with the series and see if it gets any better.




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5. Unite Me (Shatter Me #0.5 & 2.5) by Tahereh Mafi. While I did not technically read the entire book, from cover to cover (I completed Destroy Me a couple of months ago, back when it was just an eBook), Fracture Me and the pieces of Juliette's journals took up more than half of the book, so I am counting it. As much as I dislike Adam, I knew that reading Fracture Me would probably give me some insight into the third book, just as Warner's story did to the second. Instead of making me sympathize with him, however, I found myself loathing his character even more. Where Warner pushes Juliette to try her hardest and take risks, Adam only works to shut her down; constantly assuming that she is a weak, scared little girl who cannot make her own decisions. In my mind, there is no competition between love interests. Fracture Me received a 4/5. However, given that this was a bind-up of two novellas (one I happen to love) and a journal, I ended up giving Unite Me five stars.












6. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I was not able to complete this book before February's end, despite how much I am loving it. The review will be in next month's wrap-up!



. . . . 

February Stats:

Read 5.75 books
Read 1,537 pages


Upcoming Releases:

The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy #2) by Mindee Arnett -- March 4, 2014
Half Bad by Sally Green -- March 4, 2014



How was your February? Any new bookish discoveries I should know about?

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