Book: Under The Never Sky

I have heard many really good things about this book. Things like finally a girl in YA who can hold her own. A love story that did not over power the story.
These to things I am happy to say are very true. Aria was a strong main character that also had a soft side. She was a very well thought out character with many layers.  Her character development was very well done and one of the best that I have seen from a YA author in a long time.
I also  liked how it was not love at first sight. The love story and friendships took a lot of time.  They came from two different worlds and they did not like one other at first. But they slowly had to learn to be open to the other one and their different ways  of life.  And the love story for one had a more natural feel to it. Things went a little fast at the end, but worked with story I felt.
So as far as the characters go the book was really really well done.
As for the story I was much more mixed and let down over all.  The idea and the setting were good. As for the way things played out and how much gore there was I was not happy. Yes, I did say gore. I got every tired of the killing and fighting.  The savage ways that many of  the characters had or gain through out the course of the book. I would have liked it toned down or not as harsh. At times many of the savage actions over powered the characters and at times even seemed a little out of character.
Over all I felt that the book is strong read as far as characters go. As for some of the actions or  choices the characters make, I did't like them. But I feel that fans of Graceling and Breathe will love this Dystopian novel.
Also I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

( YA 14 and up )
Stars: * * * 3.4

Book:Percy Jackson and the olympians book two: the sea of monsters

This book is a fine sequel to The Lighting Thief and does little wrong. It follows the same pattern ( which for me is a plus).Percy gets a quest and has to travel, but this time to the sea of monsters to save grover  which is located in the bermuda triangle. Which of course Rick gave is own spin on.
Also like the first book every encounter an or with a monster(s) is not to long or too short so the book keeps a nice brisk pace once it gets going it keeps moving along. I have to say that the pace of the book is one of its best feature, and great for keeping some of the younger readers interested. The book also brings in a new character tyson who at first i did not like but grew on me. another thing like the first book is the modern version of the gods and monsters this time stand out  being Hermes the chacter development is good as well. This book is a great seaquel on par with the first one. I think that fans of the first book will be far from let down with this.

(  9+ )
Stars:  * * * 3.7
By The B Team

Book: The Dark Unwinding

This book is yet again one of the those books that I just had to pick up because of the cover. I feel in love with the clockwork,Downton Abbey like house and beautiful blue dress.

Though the book had it's bumps and little problems over all I think that it had lots of good points and was worth reading.  Some of the bumps was the way things at times that I felt should have been made more clear were not. And thing about them being made clear was it felt like either Katie was not smart or that we had to read between the lines on everything. And I myself found that to tiresome very fast. At other points the passing of the book was a little off. To fast then to slow. And up until the end those were the only problems - I will go over the end of the book in minute - that I had. 

The characters were over all pretty realistic for the time. I really liked Katie and found that for the most part she kept a good blance in the book of being smart without pushing it. And there were little things here and there about her that were different from so many of the girls in YA. She was more level headed and pulled together. In someways it made me think of Nancy Drew - in the way that she was so pulled together and thought things through. 

Also one of the biggest pluses of the book ( which I sadly did not know until the end) was how much of it was based/inspired by a real life duke! Which just adds to the coolness of it all. 

The thing that has me still a little mixed on the book really is the end. It's hard for me because some parts of it I liked and others I would really have liked to seen done differently.  But over all I think that the book was pretty good and that fans of The Sweetest Dark and Downton Abbey as well if that makes any sense.

( YA 13 and up)
Stars: * * *  3.4

Book: Chaos Of The Stars

This book was very different from what I'm used to reading. But I was bad and had to read it just for that beautiful cover. I just can't stop looking at the cover even now. And I really enjoyed Paranormalcy.
At first I was a little confused and could not get any grasp on the timeline of the book. The reason why I kept getting so confused was  mostly because the writer used modern slang in the historical parts of the book.  It really drove me up the wall. Because first off it was poor on the writers part and because it really took a lot away from the story. and I felt that the main character was on the weaker side. I would have liked to see a lot more from her over all through out the book. Though she did have these moments when I really did like her they were too short and over shadowed by her feeling/hatred of her mother. I felt like the character never really moved past her thoughts and feeling on her mother enough for me to get to know her.
I also found that the ending of the book was kinda a let down. I really was looking forward to a lot more from the mother. I was hoping for something bigger and more moving. Not so short and kinda all over the place. The whole book was building up to that point and then it was just... nothing special.  And I think that much of that comes from the fact that I was hoping that end would really tie the whole book together and get rid of the bad taste that some parts had left in my mouth. I wanted the ending were I finally got to know the main character away from her mother. What I would have liked is another chapter at the end of the book that lets me get to see how things with her mother are after that let down ending.
Though I love the mythology side of the book I felt like it could have been done a lot better and made a little more sense.
But other than those problems ,I did find the rest of the book to be good over all. There were fun parts and as a quick read it was good.  Over all though the cover is very misleading.


( YA 14 and up )
Stars: * * * 3.3


I was given a copy of the book by the publisher. This did not in anyway effect my review or thoughts on the book

Book: Mini Review: Hope

I had read the first one in the series and though they are a little younger than what I normally read I thought I would give it a try.
This book is one that fans of the Wish will like this. Its a fun read and the art is wonderful. But I found the story lacking in this one myself. The story of this was very easy to call. And though I think that many readers will love the books and they are great for getting young girls to read on their own they might not be best books out there for kids. Over all the book is pretty clean but there is quite a bit of talking about killing and evil doings. But its to the point that I tell parents to look through the book before you let your child read it. And make sure you talk to them about it. Its up to every parent on their own what they do and do not let their children read but I would advise you to please take a look in to this and made the call yourself.
Over all I think it is a really good even if it is on the darker side and that the art is of course breathtaking and wonderful. Fans of the first book will not be let down with this.

( Kids 8 and up )
Stars: * * 2.9

I was given a copy of the book by the publisher. This did not in anyway effect my review or thoughts on the book.  Thank You to the publisher for giving me this book for an honest review.

Book:The Time-Traveling Fashionista: At The Palace Of Marie Antoinette

 I first feel in love with  The Time-Traveling Fashionista ( on board the Titanic). It was once of the best Young Teen books I have ever read. And this book was much the same I'm happy to say. It was full of so many things that Young Teen books are missing these days. One of those things is how Louise is caught between being a tween on her way to being a teenager and still feeling like a little kid. Though I'm 16 I still remember really clearly how hard that was for me. And I loved how in this books Louise still wants to play with dolls but is afraid of being made fun of. That was really hard for me when I was Louise's age. Lucky for me I had a few friends and my mom who still would play with me and never made fun of me. I wish that I would have had these books around when I was going through it. They would have not only been one of my favorite books but they would have been a big help in getting me through that time.

Beautiful art from the book

As many of you know I loved
And as far as the history goes it might not have been 100% right but it made me want to learn more about Marie Antoinette.
Over all a really fun read. It's worth getting the book from the library just to look at the art to tell the truth.  If you know a tween or young teen girl that has even a little bit of interest in fashion or history it's a must read.

( 11 and up - though it's marketed to 9 and up I disagree with this)

Stars: * * * * 4.0

Book: Forevermore

will start off by saying that the storyline of the book seemed right up my alley from the get-go. A girl in scotland with a ghost. Sounds like my kinda read.
And as I started to read the book my first thoughts on it proved to be even more true than I thought they would be.  I took this book for what it is. And that it a fun ghost love story for the younger YA readers and taking it as that it's a very good book. I like Ivy and felt that though she was a lot like the other main characters I see in YA it worked. And the same thing goes for the other characters in the book. They are not that different. But they made the story fun and gave it a light feel. I really liked how Ivy did not make a big deal about her stepdad or the family. She just took it as it is and tried to think about more useful things.IT did seem a little odd how she was never really scared of anything . Maybe it was the writer trying not to creep the reader out I don't know. But I think it would have been more realistic if she had been just a little more scared and freaked out by the whole thing.
Also I would have liked to feel a little more of her passion for music. But after reading Revolution ( a must read)  it will always be hard for me to find a book that has music in it that I feel is truly has passion.
What was different about this book and really made it worth the read for me was the setting. The creep castle and it being in Scotland was the biggest seller for me. I would have liked the book a little better to tell the truth if I got to read more about the castle and scotland. It was nice to see Ivy learning about it and trying to fit in.
The only real down side to the book was that the ending. I would have liked that to have been rewritten to seem a little more realistic.But over all I found this to be pretty good. I would say that this is a read that some of the younger YA fans.

( YA -12 and up)
Stars: * * * 3.4

I was given a copy of the book by the publisher. This did not in anyway effect my review or thoughts on the book

Book:Percy Jackson and the Olympians book one: The Lightning Thief

by now you have already heard of these books or the movie based upon them. This book is the idea of what would happen if the Greek gods,goddesses, and mythology were real and lived in modern north America. and one of the highlights of the book is seeing what the author thinks these gods and  monsters  would look like in the modern world and all of them fit though its up for interpretation . also the book is a very fun, easy and enjoyable to read. it is written how a kid thinks not like an adult trying to write how a kid thinks and making it come off looking dumb. The characters are very good and the book flows nicely with a slow start but  once it gets started it rarely gets  dull throughout  book. Though it can be predicable and a bit cliché at times. But it captures a magic rare to find in kids books and can be easily compared to harry potter and comes the closest to topping potter  that i have seen but it is a lot fluffier and in some ways more enjoyable in the sense that there is no lasting  bully character  and that's nice as keeps Percy focused on the his enemies who are as fun to see in the modern world as the gods. the monsters in this book are pretty standard far with the likes of  the Furies. Also the action is very good not dull and does not get annoying.the humor in this book is very good not to much and pretty true to kids in real life. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a fun short and enjoyable book which will teach a few things without forcing it upon you.

9+
stars *** 3.7

 Reviewed by  The B "team"

Update from bloggers!

Hi everyone!!
Normally I try my best not to post anything that is not a review but there are some big changes and news here that I felt I needed to share with you all.
First of all we have a new reviewer here that will be going by his own name - by that I mean the name he picked to review as. He will be now know as The B-team. Some of you might have seen some of his reviews in the past because he has been such a big help the blog over the years I couldn't be more than happy to have him join us and be taking an even bigger part in the blog.
Next thing is we have fallen behind on some of the reviews. One of the reasons being that there are more books than hours or reviewers.  So while we are still behind through hours of hard work as a babysitter got enough money to buy an Ipad Mini ( which I love so far) and now can use that to review books. It's much easier than trying to read in bed with my laptop. And unlike my laptop I can take it anywhere with me.
Also we have some big changes come to the blog. We are going to start doing more movie reviews and branching out as far that goes. We are also going to be posting more reviews of older books in hope that this blog will be a place were you the readers can look up any book you see or hear good things about and there is a review of it all ready for you.  If I ( DaydreamerN) and The B-team  read the same book but have different thoughts and feelings on it we will post two reviews.
It's a lot work on our side but our goal has been and always will be to give you good honest reviews. And to let you know in our eyes if the book might be right for you. Because there is nothing better than finding the prefect book.
Thank you to our readers and loyal followers without you we wouldn't be not be doing any of this!

Book: Moon And More

Sarah Dessen does it again. Will she ever right write a bad book? I'm going to go with no.
She yet again took a simple summer story one that many authors would have failed to make in to anything worth reading, and yet Sarah Dessen does. She made Emaline a sweet and interesting and as always a little head strong. And watching her slowly change in the book and find out who she is was wonderful. She did not change in leaps and bonds, but she only had three months. I really liked the family story in this book. Their story  was sweet and heartfelt and felt very real. And I have to say I liked how things ended in the book as far as Emaline's father went. It was nicely done on Sarah Dessen's part.
The only down side of the book was Theo. He drove me up the wall, and made me want to pull my hair out! He was really the weakest character I think that Sarah Dessen has ever written. For him to put up with Ivy because she is famous is total BS. I would have liked to hear some better reasons for why he wanted to be a filmmaker what he was doing. Something to give him some depth would have been really nice.I was really hoping that Sarah Dessen would do for movies for she did for music in Just Listen. But that did not happen. Not that I minded to much because it would have made the story seem over crowded. But I would have liked something a little more from Theo or Ivy about movies so they did not just seem like money grabbers.
Over all though I think that this might just be my fave Sarah Dessen novel. I would say its worth reading even if Theo is a pain.

( YA- 14 and up)
Stars* * * 3.8