Review: Dead of Winter

Title:  Dead of Winter
Series:  The Arcana Chronicles #3
Author:  Kresley Cole (Website | Twitter)
Age Group:  Young Adult
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Publication Date:  January 6, 2015
Source:  Bought

Can Evie convince her rival loves to work together? Their survival depends on it in this third book of #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole’s Arcana Chronicles, a nonstop action tale of rescue, redemption, and a revenge most wicked.
Heartbreaking decisions
Evie was almost seduced by the life of comfort that Death offered her—until Jack was threatened by two of the most horrific Arcana, the Lovers. She will do anything to save him, even escape Death’s uncanny prison, full of beautiful objects, material comforts…and stolen glances from a former love.
Uncertain victory
Despite leaving a part of her heart behind with Death, Evie sets out into a perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland to meet up with her allies and launch an attack on the Lovers. Such formidable enemies require a battle plan, and the only way to kill them may mean Evie, Jack, and Death allying. Evie doesn’t know what will prove more impossible: surviving slavers, plague, Bagmen and other Arcana—or convincing Jack and Death to work together.
Two heroes returned
There’s a thin line between love and hate, and Evie just doesn’t know where she stands with either Jack or Death. Will this unlikely trio be able to defeat The Lovers without killing one another first...?

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 I'm so conflicted after having read this book.  While I absolutely love this series, this book didn't quite feel up to par, especially when compared with the previous two novels.  It still had the elements I love - complex characters, scorching chemistry, and interesting Arcana abilities - but there felt like something was missing.  Throughout the entire novel, I felt like I was just holding my breath, waiting for something to happen.  And that thing never did happen.  Because of that, Dead of Winter felt less like the book I had been anticipating all year and more like a filler book just to sate readers. 

The conflict that played the largest role in this novel was Evie's choice between Death and Jack.  Normally, I would love this - the tension between the three of them is off the charts - but when nothing else was really going on besides that, I got tired of it after a while.  The only other conflicts that arose (fights between other arcana, etc) really only served the purpose of isolating Jack, Death, and Evie from the rest of the group.  By the time we got to the end and Evie was still choosing between the two guys 

I had gotten to the point where I was just like 

I will say, though, that I think Cole did a lot of setting up in this novel for the next ones to come.  We met a lot of new and potentially interesting characters that I'm anxious to explore.  I wanted to see more of them in this book but I guess I'll have to be okay with waiting until the next one!

There's not a ton for me to say about this book because, like I said, not much happened.  I did like it though and it made me more excited for what will happen in the next books.  Hopefully Evie picks a guy soon so we can focus more on the large story!  

“The two of them were acting like such...guys. I wanted to strangle them.” 

Four Teapots

Review: Monument 14

Title:  Monument 14
Series:  Monument 14 #1
Author:  Emmy Laybourne (Website | Twitter)
Age Group:  Young Adult
Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date:  June 5, 2012
Source:  Bought

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.
Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.
In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

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My Review:  While I liked the basic premise of this book, I had some major problems with other aspects.  This was definitely one of those I-want-to-throw-you-against-the-wall-but-I-need-to-know-what-happens kind of reads.  If not for how invested I was in wanting to know how everything resolved, I would have put this book down after the first 50 pages. 

One of the biggest problems I had with this book was the characters.  I didn't like a single one of them.  Wait - that's a lie.  I liked the five year old twins.  But that was it.  I hated that I couldn't like the main character but, honestly, he felt a little creepy to me, especially after something that happened in the middle of the book involving a girl.  Speaking of girls, this book was also suffering from a chronic case of insta-love.  Our main character Dean hadn't ever once even talked to the love interest, Astrid, before this book started and within the first 5 pages he called he the love of his life.  Seriously.  Astrid was yelling at Dean at one point and he was like "she was furious and she looked gorgeous".

   
Also, I had a hard time picturing the setting in the beginning of this book.  It seemed like this was taking place in present time but then Dean would say something that would make it seem like it was in the future.  Eventually (on page 45), we learn that this story is actually taking place in the year 2024.  That made it a little confusing.  

Besides those problems, I really enjoyed this book.  Just the premise and the apocalyptic feel was enough to keep me hooked.  I needed to know what was going to happen to these kids.  There was so much they didn't know about what was going on out in the world and it made everything very tense and high-stress.  There were seriously creepy moments that just sent chills down my spine and I thought it was really interesting how different each character reacted to these events.  

I don't know if I'll be continuing this series.  I'm interested enough in the outcome to want to pick up the second book but I feel like the characters are just going to wear on my patience the more I'm with them.  The second book might be one of those I'm-bored-and-there's-nothing-else-to-read reads that I pick up out of the blue.  We'll see.  

“Sometimes, when you'd least expect it, the grief would chop your legs out from under you.” 

Three Cards

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Review: World After

Title:  World After
Series:  Penryn & the End of Days #2
Author:  Susan Ee
Age Group:  Young Adult
Published:  November 19, 2013 by Skyscape
Source:  Bought

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

My Review:  I actually was avoiding reading this book for the longest time.  I've have it sitting on my shelf since Christmas and I was so afraid to pick it up because I had heard that Raffe wouldn't be in it much!  A lot of times, when the hero in a series is away for a while, it can make the book a little less interesting for me because I'm so anxious for him to come back that I can hardly pay attention to what's going on.  Even though Raffe wasn't in this book as much as the he had been in the previous one, I am happy to say that I enjoyed it very much!

We start off nearly exactly where we left off in the previous installment: everyone thinks that Penryn is dead.  That first scene set off the tone for the rest of the book; it was filled with intensity and tension and sprinkled with some much appreciated and well done humor!  While reading, I found myself cringing one moment at the chill-worthy situations and descriptions and then laughing out loud the next because of something Penryn said or thought.  Her wit and humor made this post apocalyptic novel all the better!  Without it, this story would be very dreary, sad, and creepy.  I mean, it's still sad and creepy but it's also funny and fun to read.  

Penryn is absolutely amazing.  Seriously, one of my favorite protagonists.  She is just so easy to relate to!  I could see myself doing similar things if I were in her situation (fingers crossed that never happens).  She was both brave and scared.  She showed tremendous courage when dealing with the evil angels, the monster mutations, and even her sister.  But she wasn't so infallible that we weren't able to see that she had her weaknesses.  She wasn't perfect and she was definitely terrified at times but she loved her family enough that she wasn't going to stop for anything.  While we didn't see Raffe much, we did see his sword quite a bit!  I loved his sword.  It became a character itself as it went on this journey with Penryn and that was really awesome!  What we did see of Raffe made me love him all the more!  We definitely saw a different side of him in this novel and uncovering this new layer of him and his past was so interesting.  I'm excited to learn more about him and see the way his character grows and changes in the coming books.

The plot was just as intense and terrifying it was in the first book!  The situations Penryn is thrown into are scary and creepy; a lot of times, I felt like I was having a heart attack while I read.  I was anxious the entire time, dreading all of the bad things I knew could possible and probably would happen.  

World After was a home run sequel!  It had bone chilling imagery, high stakes situations, and characters that felt real and were three dimensional.  I do hope Raffe is in the next novel more, though!  I can't say I regret waiting so long to start reading this book because at least now the release date for the third installment is closer!

Four Cards