Book Reviews Archives - Page 92 of 115

Book Review: The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

Apr 30, 2015

The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

Pages: 384
Publish date: December 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 161963127X
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

The bond between twins is unmistakable. For Jocelyn and Jack, that bond was all they had. But now Jack is dead. Then Jocelyn receives a letter from Jason December-the code name Jack used when they were children. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn’s childhood crush. But Noah isn’t the one contacting Jocelyn. Together they decide to return to Seale House, the frightening foster home where all three of them lived together. Seal House has more secrets than they could have ever imagined. And it suddenly seems possible that Jack faked his death, that the letter and the riddles that follow are cryptic clues leading to his real whereabouts. But someone else is looking for him-someone dangerous. Jocelyn and Noah must race to find Jason December. That is, if he’s alive.

The Vansihing Game:

I received a copy of The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers from Bloomsbury Australia to review this has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

I have been waiting to read The Vanishing Game for a long. I don’t remember when it was but when I read the synopsis I knew that I needed the book in my hands. But it wasn’t published in Australia yet so I waited and when I saw it in the Bloomsbury catalogue I knew that I had to ask for it.

When it appeared in my PO Box, I started to read it straight away. And once I started I could not stop. The plot is addicting, when you start reading and you will not be able to put the book down.

The Vanishing Game is brilliant. It has a knack of messing with the reader’s mind. They have no idea what is going on, what is going to happen next. Myers writing is intriguing and the way that she builds the storyline is fantastic.

When you start reading you think that the novel is going into one direction but then you are smacked in the face and you are now going into a complete different directions.

“Everywhere I went the pain of losing him went with me. It wore me like a backpack, slapping a rhythm of heartache against my soul with each step.”

I found Jocelyn a truly interesting character, she was easy to get along with but then thinking about it, it’s totally wired that I get along with Jocelyn. The reader is following Jocelyn on her journey to find her dead brother who has been apparently sending her clues to find him.

All these clues lead her in and around Seale House the terrifying foster home that her and Jack once lived when they were younger. Seale House holds a lot of chilling secrets and they slowly start to come out.

There is quite a couple of flashbacks throughout The Vanishing Game and it adds so much depth to the story and you start to put some things together about Seale House and Jocelyn and her brother Jack.

“Life is a series of shallow breaths. And in any breath, everything can change.”

Then there is Noah, Jocelyn and Jack’s childhood friend from Seale House. Jack like Seale House holds his own secrets that the reader soon puts things together and will find out.

I love Noah as a character, his introduction to the reader isn’t the best but we soon get to see how caring Noah is and how much he does care for Jocelyn. As Noah and Jocelyn start working together after her return, they start to uncover some pretty gruesome stuff. Turns out the house’s powers weren’t just a figment of a childish imagination.

And not only that someone is after Jocelyn and they send all times of people to end the job. There are houses blowing up, dark and spine-chilling basements and some things that don’t simple add up. But by the end of The Vanishing Game your mind will be blown and you will in a state of not knowing what the hell just happened in a good way.

The Vanishing Game is a thrilling, compelling and beautiful piece of work. Kate Kae Myers is an incredible writer that knows how to capture an audience and keeps them hanging on to every thread.

Have you read The Vanishing Game yet? Did you like it? Will you read it?

Book Review: The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Apr 21, 2015

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Pages: 400
Publish date: March 12th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s
ISBN: 9781408858691
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Lady Kestrel’s engagement to Valoria’s crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust …

While Arin fights to keep his country’s freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.

Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner’s trilogy.

The Winner’s Crime:

I received a copy of The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I love fantasy, everything about this genre is memorizing to me and before about 3 years ago it was all I read. So when I was reading The Winner’s Crime I was just in love.

The Winner’s Crime is the sequel to one of my favourite fantasy books of all time The Winner’s Curse. And let me tell you, I have no idea how The Winner’s Crime could even be better than it but it was.

I am in awe of Rutkoski, her writing is absolutely gorgeous, her characters are intriguing, and that story line. I cannot really put in words how much I love this book.

“I don’t mind being a moth. I would probably start eating silk if it meant that I could fly.”

At the end of The Winner’s Curse we were left with a slight cliff hanger that left us readers in a world of our own, thinking ‘what the hell is going to happen next.’ And gosh we were answered in The Winner’s Crime. There was so much going on, that my head was spinning in a remarkable way.

Kestrel is probably one of my favourite female protagonist of all time. All through the book Kestrel is struggling to live knowing that she will be married soon, trying to live under her soon to be father in law all while trying to stay true to herself. Kestrel has a great deal on her shoulders and I like that we see that sometimes she cannot handle it. It shows that Kestrel is human, and not this superhuman that can handle everything in the world.

“Sometimes you think you want something,” Arin told him, “when in reality you need to let it go.”

I felt that Kestrel has grown so much throughout The Winner’s Crime from the first book. We see that she is trying to be strong, hold her feelings in and not let people see that she is close to breaking point.

Aria, gosh he frustrated me. I love him to bits but the way that he treated Kestrel through The Winner’s Crime got on my nerves. I understand that he felt betrayed and I would be to, but couldn’t he tell that Kestrel wasn’t happy and that she was helping him and his cause.

Furthermore, I love the world that Rutkoski has built, I adore that it’s rich in cultural and that even after two books we still don’t know everything about the world.

Jess, what can I say about her. Again like Aria, I understand that she is hurting like hell, but now she is all that Kestrel has at the moment and what she does hurts Kestrel more than she realises. My heart was breaking into pieces, it would kill me if I was in Kestrel’s situation and my so called best friend wasn’t there for me.

The ending…what can I say. Rutkoski knows how to kill her readers doesn’t she. I was so stunned when I read the last page, I just gawked. I could not believe what I was reading, but I loved it to pieces, Rutkoski is a queen at cliff hangers. I don’t know how I am going to wait till next year for the last book.

Overall, I loved The Winner’s Crime to pieces. I am in admiration of Rutkoski and her writing. She is able to manage an intriguing and rich world, layered characters and a gorgeous writing style.

Have you read The Winner’s Crime yet? Do you love it as much as I do? Are you going to read it?

Book Review: Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto

Mar 27, 2015

Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto

Pages: 313
Publish date: September 1st 2014
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia
ISBN: 0732299330
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

After the loss of her mother, Chloe Kennedy starts seeing the ghosts that haunted her as a young girl again. Spending time at her grandmother’s country estate in the south of England is her chance to get away from her grief and the spirits that haunt her. Until she meets a mysterious stranger Alexander Reade is 157 years dead, with secrets darker than the lake surrounding Grange Hall and a lifelike presence that draws Chloe more strongly than any ghost before. But the bond between them awakens the vengeful spirit of Alexander’s past love, Isobel. And she will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who threatens to take him from her.

To stop Isobel, Chloe must push her developing abilities to their most dangerous limits, even if it means losing Alex forever and giving the hungry dead a chance to claim her for their own…

Ghost House:

I received a copy of Ghost House from Harper Collins Australia in exchange for a review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book. Really I don’t even think about that when I am reading.

To say that I am a fan of Alexandra Adornetto would be an understatement, I read the Halo trio ages ago, and I loved it. And that is no different for Ghost House. There are not too many ghost related novels in the YA section so Ghost House is pretty original in itself.

It is also intriguing, the plot is pulling and when I started to read, it would hard to put the books down. Although it was slow to start, everything started to pick up and man there was some pretty intense moments if is say so myself.

I really enjoyed Chloe as a character, she was interesting and quite intriguing. After losing her mother, she tries and stays strong for her family but it’s hard and when she starts seeing ghosts again after they haunted her as a child. When her father cannot deal with the grief anymore, he sends Chloe and her little brother off to their grandmothers in England, she believed she was getting away from all the grief and ghosts but boy she was mistaken.

In comes Alexander Reade and well he has been dead for 157 years. At first it doesn’t click to Chloe that Alexander is a ghost, after tell it hits her hard. But let me tell you he is amazing. He is sweat and just arrrg. The relationship between him and Chloe is adorable but wired but I love it. It’s very different and I can’t help but love ghosts and human’s *cough cough* Anna Dressed in Blood.

I was so creeped out at times, hell there was some pretty chilling parts. Isobel; Alexander’s past love is creepy as hell, nonetheless she adds so much more the Ghost House. The tension that she brings to the novel is incredible. The reader has no idea what she is going to do next. The reader is made to feel like the need to hold onto every page because they have no idea what is going to happen next. The ghost hunters are also awesome characters that add another dimension to Ghost House.

I enjoyed Adornetto writing it was captivating, drawing and very intriguing. The way that she included flashbacks to Alexander’s past life, before he died really added so much to the storyline of Ghost House. The reader was able to connect Alexander’s living life to events that are happening in the present moments of the book.

Overall Ghost House is charming and different. It evokes different emotions throughout the novel from, sadness to glee to torment. My feelings were all over the place but in a good way. And the ending! Holy S***. It was so good I was not expecting that in any way.