Tag: books

Book Review: PS, I Love You

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

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*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Synopsis from Amazon:

A wonderfully warm and heartfelt debut from a stunning new talent. Everyone needs a guardian angel! Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry. Childhood sweethearts, they could finish each other’s sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other. Until the unthinkable happens.

Gerry’s death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He’s left her a bundle of notes, one for each of the months after his death, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed ‘PS, I Love You’. As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on.

With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing–and being braver than ever before. Life is for living, she realises–but it always helps if there’s an angel watching over you.

I had mixed feelings about this book. Holly annoyed me a lot but that was because I wanted her to get on with her life and stop being so depressed but obviously her husband had just died so I understood why she was depressed. After a while though, I just wanted to slap her and make her get up and do something with her life. Clearly I’m not that empathetic.

That being said this was still a really good book. Once I got to know Holly as a character and understood her more I began to feel her pain. I cried with her and understood her anger towards her fake friends who stopped calling once her husband died. Additionally, I loved the secondary characters. Her best friends Sharon and Denise were hilarious and supportive and Holly’s family was such an eclectic group of people that I immediately fell in love with them.

My biggest problem with the book was the third-person narration. At times it was a close third-person narration that followed Holly but sometimes it would switch to another character. If a whole chapter was with a different character it was fine but sometimes it would switch mid chapter or even section and sometimes I got confused. In some cases I could see why Cecelia Ahern wrote it this way but most of the time I didn’t like it. I just wanted to stick with Holly.

Overall, I’d say this was a good read. It made me laugh, cry, and question the meaning of life and death. It didn’t end the way I expected it too but thinking back I think the way it ended was just fine. Not perfect but still pretty good. I would definitely recommend it. Don’t watch the movie though. Just by looking at the trailer I can tell it won’t compare to the book.

Favorite Line:

She had been given a wonderful gift: life. Sometimes it was cruelly taken away too soon, but it’s what you did with it that counted, not how long it lasted.

Stars: 4 out of 5. It was pretty good but it wasn’t one of my favorites.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow. I don’t think I would read this again.

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Woman Crush Wednesday: Ruby Daly

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

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The Darkest Minds trilogy is one of my favorite series and that’s mainly because I loved the main character, Ruby Daley. Although she’s very fearful of her own powers she’s not afraid to use them to save the people she loves and care about. She’s fiercely loyal and selfless. Although she makes mistakes (everyone does) she owns up for them and eventually learns from them.

Besides that she’s beautiful with her long brown hair and green eyes. She’s kind and caring but also powerful. With the ability to control people’s mind she could do anything she wants and probably get away with it. Instead, however, she resists the power lust of her abilities and chooses to control them, using her powers only when absolutely necessary.

If you haven’t read these books yet, I definitely recommend them. Great characters, great story, and great writing.

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Book Review: V is for Virgin

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

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Synopsis from Amazon.com:

From the best selling YA romance author of The Avery Shaw Experiment comes a wildly funny and heart-melting rockstar romance. Kyle Hamilton is the quintessential bad boy, but Val Jensen is not your typical good girl.

When Val gets dumped for her decision to stay a virgin until marriage, the nasty breakup goes viral on YouTube, making her the latest internet sensation.

After days of ridicule from her peers, Val starts a school-wide campaign to rally support for her cause. She meant to make a statement, but she never dreamed the entire nation would get caught up in the controversy.

As if becoming nationally recognized as “Virgin Val” isn’t enough, Val’s already hectic life starts to spin wildly out of control when bad boy Kyle Hamilton, lead singer for the hit rock band Tralse, decides to take her abstinence as a personal challenge.

How can a girl stay true to herself when this year’s Sexiest Man Alive is doing everything in his power to win her over?

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But I did not, for multiple reasons.

First of all, the story moves way too fast. We start with the main character, Val, being dumped and then quickly move from her being heart broken to being angry to being fearless to suddenly becoming an activist. Of course she claims this isn’t what she wanted, this is all so crazy, blah blah blah, but in reality she suddenly becomes popular and she doesn’t exactly hate it. She’s begins to benefit from her declaration of virginity and it’s almost way too easy for her. Additionally, the epilogue then jumps ahead four years for no reason other than to set up the sequel.

I struggled to believe that this girl, especially in high school, would rise so quickly in popularity just for standing up for herself. Do I support her standing up for what she believes in? Sure. Is it realistic that after doing so her life would become perfectly perfect and she’d have a rock star craving her attention and become one of the cool kids? Definitely not.

Also, I hated her friendship with the her supposed best friend, Cara. I won’t spoil it but I just felt like their friendship was way to fickle for them to supposedly have been friends for as long as they had. Cara didn’t really seem all that supportive for what Val was trying to do with her “V is for Virgin” campaign and honestly Cara just seemed like a sucky friend in general.

Lastly, I wanted to like Kyle. The whole bad boy, good girl thing usually works for me but I couldn’t get behind Kyle. He comes off as very obnoxious, annoying, and just a pester. Of course as the novel progresses we learn why he’s the way he is and truly he is a good person if you just look hard enough. Typical. However, that shouldn’t excuse his crappy behavior. Moreover, I struggled to believe the complete character turn around we see in him in the end. It’s too perfect.

I think Kelly Oram was trying to present a book that shows it is possible to wait until marriage and still get everything you want. Although I do believe this, what I don’t believe is it would be as easy as she makes it out to be in this book. She makes being a virgin seem cool and has guys who were against it at first suddenly come around and say, “You know what I can actually wait.” Yeah, sure.

This story was just too perfectly perfect for be to believe. Every conflict was easily resolved and Val’s struggles were very minimal. There is a sequel to this novel and although I am curious I don’t think I’m curious enough to read it.

Favorite Line: 

“Cheesy lines like that will get you nowhere with me, but, by all means, keep them coming. You’re so much easier to ignore when you’re being an idiot.”

Stars: 2 out of 5. There were some parts that I did enjoy but overall not a favorite of mine.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow. Not worth keeping.

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Book Review: In The Afterlight

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

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*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Synopsis from Amazon:

Ruby can’t look back. Fractured by an unbearable loss, she and the kids who survived the government’s attack on Los Angeles travel north to regroup. Only Ruby can keep their highly dangerous prisoner in check. But with Clancy Gray, there’s no guarantee you’re fully in control, and everything comes with a price.

When the Children’s League disbands, Ruby rises up as a leader and forms an unlikely allegiance with Liam’s brother, Cole, who has a volatile secret of his own. There are still thousands of other Psi kids suffering in government “rehabilitation camps” all over the country. Freeing them–revealing the governments unspeakable abuses in the process–is the mission Ruby has claimed since her own escape from Thurmond, the worst camp in the country.

But not everyone is supportive of the plan Ruby and Cole craft to free the camps. As tensions rise, competing ideals threaten the mission to uncover the cause of IAAN, the disease that killed most of America’s children and left Ruby and others with powers the government will kill to keep contained. With the fate of a generation in their hands, there is no room for error. One wrong move could be the spark that sets the world on fire.

I can’t believe this trilogy is over. It’s so hard to leave these characters because it they were so good (or bad)! And the ending was perfect as well, which is a rarity for these dystopian trilogies.

In the Afterlight started very closely to where Never Fade ended, with Ruby and the crew trying to find a way out of the recently destroyed L.A. After finally securing a way out and making there way to the Children’s League old headquarters, the group stumbles across old friends and encounter multiple issues.

Once at the headquarters things go from bad to worse in a matter of seconds with high stakes, raised tensions, and various opinions trying to figure out the best way to free the camps and find the cure to IAAN, the disease that made these kids who they are.

Ruby struggles to keep all her secrets in check, especially Cole’s dark secret, and struggles to maintain a relationship with Liam. Liam’s not innocent either, keeping his own secrets. They both struggle to trust each other when they need each other the most, causing more harm than good.

Meanwhile there’s multiple plans in motion to save all the kids in the camp and change the scope of America for the better. Unfortunately things have to get much worse before they get any better and everyone’s lives are put at risk and many are lost.

This book took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I was stressed, happy, sad, upset, angry, and annoyed. I wanted Ruby to me honest about her feelings and secrets with Liam. I wanted to give all these kids a hug. I wanted to slap President Gray, his whole family, and all the PSFs. More than anything I just wanted everyone to have their happy ending.

I won’t spoil the ending by saying if I got the happy ending I was looking for. What I will say is I’ve ready a lot of dystopian trilogies (The Hunger Games, Matched,etc.) and this is quite possibly the only one that gave me a satisfying ending. It was realistic and of course the world wasn’t perfect by the time it ended but enough was resolved for me to believe it would be.

If you haven’t given The Darkest Minds trilogy a try yet you definitely need. It’s worth a read and you won’t regret it. Thanks to Kieran Scott for recommending the series to me and giving me the last book. One of the greatest books I’ve read in a while. Check it out.

*Side note: I really loved the fact that when you put all the titles together of the trilogy it says, “The Darkest Minds Never Fade In The Afterlight.” Cool.

Favorite Line:

“What I’m trying to get at is, as bad as everything seems, I think, at its heart, life is good. It doesn’t throw anything at us that it knows we can’t handle—and, even if it takes its time, it turns everything right side up again.”

Stars: 5 out of 5. So good! I want to read this whole trilogy over again. Especially knowing how it all ends now, reading it again would be interesting.

Borrow or Buy: Buy!!! For explanation please see previous.

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Book Review: Yes Please

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

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Synopsis from Amazon:

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central’s Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy’s one-liners?

If your answer to these questions is “Yes Please!” then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like “Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend,” “Plain Girl Versus the Demon” and “The Robots Will Kill Us All” Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by.

After reading Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey’s books I felt it was only right to read (listen) to what Amy Poehler had to say and man, was that a good decision.

From describing her divorce, her sons, her childhood, her young adult days (including her experience with drugs), and her success on Parks and Rec, Poehler had me in happy and sad tears. I chose to listen to her audiobook rather than read the book because I think Poehler is hilarious and I expected listening to her audiobook would be way more fun than just reading it.

What made the audio book so great was Poehler wasn’t the only one telling the story. Seth Meyer’s reads the chapter he wrote for the book, Poehler’s parents made an appearance, and many others also jumped in the audio booth with Poehler. Listening to Poehler and Meyer’s banter was one of my favorite parts of the book and I just don’t think that’s something I would’ve gotten if I had just read it.

The audio book then ends with Poehler reading the last chapter live which I thought was really cool. Besides that though, whether you listen to the book or actually pick up the hard copy it’s definitely worth your time.

Poehler is not only funny but she’s honest. She doesn’t sugar coat who she is or her experiences. She discusses her mistakes, taking full responsibility for them, while also acknowledging her flaws in a way that I found very relatable. When she discussed her trip to Haiti I felt like I was there with her and never felt like she was trying to convince me how good of a person she was for volunteering in Haiti. Her book felt very genuine and real and I hope she writes another (even though she said this first one was a struggle) because I’d love to hear more.

Stars: 5 out of 5. I was never bored or annoyed with this book. It felt real and honest, like Poehler was just giving me some life advice.

Favorite Line: 

“Saying ‘yes’ doesn’t mean I don’t know how to say no, and saying “please” doesn’t mean I am waiting for permission.”

Borrow or Buy: Buy. You need this book. You will love and cherish this book forever. I promise.

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Book Review: Down to You

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews

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*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The scorching tale of one girl, two brothers and a love triangle…that’s not. Olivia Townsend is nothing special. She’s just a girl working her way through college so she can return home to help her father run his business. She’s determined not to be the second woman in his life to abandon him, even if it means putting her own life on hold. To Olivia, it’s clear what she must do. Plain and simple. Black and white. But clear becomes complicated when she meets Cash and Nash Davenport. They’re brothers. Twins.

Cash is everything she’s always wanted in a guy. He’s a dangerous, sexy bad boy who wants her in his bed at any cost. He turns her insides to mush and, with just one kiss, makes her forget why he’s no good for her. Nash is everything she’s ever needed in a guy. He’s successful, responsible and intensely passionate. But he’s taken. Very taken, by none other than Marissa, Liv’s rich, beautiful cousin. That doesn’t stop Olivia from melting every time he looks at her, though. With just one touch, he makes her forget why they can never be together.

Black and white turns to shades of gray when Olivia discovers the boys are hiding something, something that should make her run as far and as fast as she can. But it’s too late to run. Olivia’s already involved. And in love. With both of them. Both brothers make her heart tremble. Both brothers set her body on fire. She wants them both. And they want her. How will she ever choose between them?

This review will have spoilers because I have to spoil this book to explain just how bad it is.

First of all, the main character, Olivia, is presented as this shy girl who has a thing for bad boys. This idea is so messed up on so many levels. As soon as Olivia meets boy #1, Cash, she’s willing to take his shirt off, supposedly to help a friend, but also because she wants to. She also initiates multiple hook ups with both Cash and his twin brother, Nash. At one point one of the brothers sneaks into her room to sleep with her and she doesn’t even care that she doesn’t know which brother it is. She’s basically the opposite of shy.

As for her “love for bad boys” I guess that’s true? The author presents us with two examples of Olivia’s love for bad boys: her one ex-boyfriend and Cash. That’s it. Somehow, however, this is supposed to prove to me that she always falls for the bad boy. Yeah, sure.

Moving on, let’s talk about this “love triangle”. For reasons that I didn’t really understand Cash and Nash both fall hard for Olivia real quick. All of sudden it’s like, “Whoa this girl is hot. I want her.” There’s no build up to this. It’s just all physical, which would be find if Ms. Leighton wasn’t trying to sell this as a love story. Seriously, Olivia knows these guys for all of two seconds before she’s freaking out because she can’t decide which one to be with.

Well lucky for Olivia she doesn’t have to choose because, PLOT TWIST, Cash and Nash are the same person. Now this could’ve been really cool. This could’ve been a great twist if it weren’t for two things:

  1. It was so obvious something suspicious was going on with the twins. It’s clearly evident that they’re never together at the same time and I quickly began to believe that they were the same person but I couldn’t figure out why. Was one of them (Cash, apparently) crazy? Did he have multiple personality disorder? What was the problem? This leads me to the second issue.
  2. The explanation! Cash was doubling as his brother to protect his father from getting charged for double homicide. Really? And he’s been doing this since they were in high school (about 10 years) yet no one caught on. So I’m supposed to believe that Cash had no friends in high school. That no one at that school could tell these identical twins apart. That somehow Cash just jumped into Nash’s identity and no one was the wiser. Additionally, “Nash” had a girlfriend who also believed Cash was his twin brother and not the same person. How did he pull that off and for so long? I don’t understand.

There’s so many plot holes in this book and just general things that made no sense but this post would be very long if I continued so I’ll stop here.

My final verdict is don’t buy this book. Do not waste your time reading this book. It’s not worth it and I definitely will not be reading the sequel.

Favorite Line:

Hearing her laugh is like listening to the best kind of symphony.

Stars: 1 out of 5. No, just no.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow or just don’t read. Definitely don’t spend money on this book.

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Book Review: Where We Belong

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books

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*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

*This review will contain minor spoilers!!!*

I fell in love with Emily Giffin’s books when I read Something Borrowed I don’t even know how many years ago. I haven’t had a chance to read a lot of her books but thankfully one of my friends bought me three and I finally got a chance to dive in.

Where We Belong tells the story of Marian who’s world gets turned upside down when her daughter, who she gave up for adoption, shows up on her doorstep. Marian has been keeping the secret about her daughter for the past 18 years. Only her mother knew about the baby and the adoption and Marian has been trying to keep it that way ever since.

Unfortunately for her Kirby, Marian’s daughter, not only shows up at her apartment but comes with questions, mainly who’s her father? Marian is then forced to confront the past she’s so nicely tucked away. This is made even worse when she’s right in the midst of trying to convince her long time boyfriend to marry her.

Switching between the points of view of Marian and Kirby, Giffin crafts an amazing story of love and family. She shows how one decision Marian made when she was only 18 changed her life forever and how Kirby’s life completely changes when she herself turns 18. It’s interesting because although Marian is 18 years older than her daughter they both seem to grow up in this novel just in different ways. For Marian it was realizing what she really wanted for herself and her life. For Kirby it was finally realizing that her life, despite it’s craziness, isn’t as bad as she first thought it was.

I fell in love with both Marian and Kirby (I loved Kirby a little bit more) and was rooting for them the whole book. I really like Kirby’s wit, sarcasm, and love for music and I loved the relationship Marian and Kirby create together. It’s awkward and hard to understand but it’s also a good one.

My only problem with the book was the ending. It wasn’t terrible but I definitely wanted more from it. I could’ve used two more chapters at the end to tie things up. Otherwise, this is definitely a must read.

Favorite Line:

But now I can see that there is redemption and beauty in an accident emanating from love.

Stars: 4 out of 5. I really liked it but the ending just didn’t do it for me. I want to know more!!!

Borrow or Buy: Definitely buy. This is a goodie y’all want on your book shelf.

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Book Review: YOLO

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books

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*This book is a part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Synopsis from Amazon: 

Through texts and messages, the mega-bestselling, beloved Internet Girls series followed the ups and downs of school for three very different, very close friends. Now it’s freshman year of college for the winsome threesome, and *everything* is different. For one, the best friends are facing their first semester apart. Way, way apart. Maddie’s in California, Zoe’s in Ohio, and Angela’s back in Georgia. And it’s not just the girls who are separated. Zoe’s worried that Doug wants to break up now that they’re at different schools, and Maddie’s boyfriend, Ian, is on the other side of the country.
In the face of change and diverging paths, Maddie’s got a plan to keep the friends close, and it involves embracing the present, making memories, and . . . roller derby! Using of-the-moment technology, Lauren Myracle brings her groundbreaking series into the brave new virtual world of texting and tweets.
I didn’t realize how much I missed the “winsome threesome” until I read through this book in one day. Somehow I found myself being able to relate to each of these girls in some way and it was awesome.
Just as the first three books in the series, the entire book is done in IM (although Lauren Myracle tries to sell it to us as texting). I say it’s still IM because the characters are still using their old screen names. Obviously this is done for the purpose of continuity but I struggle to picture college students using screen names as the names of their contacts in their phone.
Additionally there were multiple times when it was supposed to seem like they were group texting but some one was currently not responding to the group at the time. This was hard to keep track of at times. I wasn’t sure if Maddie was just texting Zoe or Zoe and Angela at some points and vice versa.
Despite these small failings I truly enjoyed this novel. It brought me back into the world of these characters that I loved so much years ago and reminded why I loved them in the first place. Although they’ve changed a little bit, as we all do when we get older, they were still the same characters I knew and loved.
Zoe was still the “good girl” but she let loose a bit and for that I was proud. Angela was still her bubbly, somewhat superficial self, but she was able to let go of the negatives that came with her superficiality (judging people on their physical traits before getting to know them for example). She also found a use for her love of fashion and beauty products, which was really cool.
As for Maddie she continued to struggle to be honest about her feelings and although I think by the end she learned that hiding things from her friends and not being honest with them or herself wasn’t healthy. Hopefully she’ll be able to figure out a way to better handle her emotions instead of bottling them up.
What I loved most about this novel and all the other novels in this series is the trio’s unending love for each other and unbreakable friendship. I think it’s amazing to create bonds like that with people and as the girls realize, it’s these bonds that help them through the tough times.
Myracle does an excellent drop of bringing this trio into the college world while keeping their friendship and separate personalities in check. All three of the girls face their own different challenges at college and in very different ways.
Favorite Line:
and I quote from the Bible: thou shalt not let a sorority girl named Candy dictate anything about your personal lifestyle, or thou shalt turn into a pillar of salt.
Stars: 4 out of 5. I loved it but there were some parts I struggled to find believable.
Borrow or Buy: Buy. I kind of wish I had the whole series to be honest. I’d love to reread them all in order.
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Book Review: The Here and Now

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books

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Synopsis from Amazon:

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

Honestly I went into this book with low expectations. I loved The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series but I wasn’t sure how Ann Brashares would fair in the sci-fi genre. Overall, I think she did okay.

I can’t say I’ve read a lot of time traveling books but I have seen a lot of movies and Brashares does something different with her novel. Most often when people time travel it’s usually just one person and it’s for a specific purpose. In this novel although the time traveling group claimed their purpose for going to the past was to prevent their terrible future it immediately becomes clear that is not the case.

Rather, they have actually just made a move to the past to have a better life, the same reason many people immigrate from other countries today. They create their own little society in the midst of the past (our present) and start new lives.

What I found most interesting is Brashares combines two different genres because although it’s centered around time-travel it also has a dystopian aspect to it as well. The messed up future that Prenna and the other travelers leaves is definitely a dystopia, in this instance caused by climate change. The society that the travelers create in our present, however is also a dystopia with the type of surveillance and “Big Brother” watching that is typical of dystopian fiction (1984, anyone?).

Besides that, Brashares then adds the romanic plot that to be fair appears in almost any time travel story but makes this book a little more interesting. The love that appears between Prenna and Ethan is a good one that is ultimately destined to fail. Despite that idea you can’t help but root for them and want them to work. That’s what a forbidden romance does to a reader.

Brashares filled this novel with multiple twists and turns that kept me interested but also made me a little confused. Although I liked the idea of different time lines and how one little thing could completely disrupt the future it was often hard to remember what time characters came from. Are they from our present? Are they from Prenna’s present? Are they from a totally different time all together? It was a lot to keep track of.

The love story intertwined with the time traveling made this a very interesting read that I couldn’t put down. I wanted to know how it all ended, how everything was going to come together, and what all the little clues Ethan and Prenna discovered meant. Brashares did a good job of answering most of those questions but there were still some at the end that I’d like to know more about. For example, (SPOILER ALERT!) why did Prenna have that date on her arm when she first arrived in 2010? Did her father write it on her arm before she left? We never find out and I think this is important. What’s also important is why can Ethan tell who’s a traveler? Is it really because he happened to see Prenna when she arrived in our present or something more?

I think there’s so much more that could happen with this story and I’d be interested in a sequel. Brashares hasn’t said yet whether there will be one but I truly hope so. I wanted to know more and I was not satisfied with the ending of this novel at all. I guess you could say it didn’t exceed my expectation, unfortunately.

Favorite Line:

“When you open yourself to somebody, when you feel these thing that you feel, well, what do you do? You can try to ignore it, maybe you can try to forget about it, but you can’t undo it and you can’t give it back.”

Stars: 3 out of 5. I think this book definitely was good in that it kept me interested but there’s too many unanswered questions for me to really feel satisfied with it. Moreover, I wasn’t a big fan of the ending.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow. I can’t see myself rereading this book. Not one you need on your shelf.

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Book Review: The Ruby Circle

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books

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*This book is a part of my POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge*

Book synopsis from Amazon:

The epic conclusion to Richelle Mead’s New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series is finally here…

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

After their secret romance is exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead’s New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series. When the life of someone they both love is put on the line, Sydney risks everything to hunt down a deadly former nemesis.  Meanwhile, Adrian becomes enmeshed in a puzzle that could hold the key to a shocking secret about spirit magic, a secret that could shake the entire Moroi world.

*This review will contain spoilers*

spoiler-alert

First of all I want to thank Richelle Mead for a wonderful two series worth of books. I’ve been following these characters for years now and it’ll be hard to let them go. Actually I’ll probably just reread the books forever and never really let them go. Really though, this has been a wild ride, and I hope Mead means it when she says this won’t be the last we see of these characters.

As far as conclusions to a series go this was phenomenal. Using the kidnapping of Jill as an excellent plot device Mead brought back so many characters and elements of both the Vampire Academy series and the Bloodlines series that I was floored. We got the return of the evil witch, Alicia, Dimitri and Rose joined Adriana and Sydney on a road trip where we learn Dimitri and Adrian are actually cousins, and the Warriors were brought back as well.

The one loose end I wish was tied up was the cure to Strigoi-ism (?). We know Sonya is still working on it but there was only one cure made for Neil and then nothing. That would seriously change the world for the vamps. Besides that I think Mead wrapped everything up perfectly.

The plot itself in this book was also great, albeit predictable. The most shocking things about the novel was Neil and Olive’s son, Declan, and the reveal of Dimitri and Adrian’s familial relations. Otherwise it was obvious early on that it was Alicia that took Jill, although I didn’t expect the Warriors to come into play. Additionally, although I wanted Neil to take care of Declan, I could tell by the way Adrian suddenly became so good with kids that Adrian and Sydney would probably become Declan’s parents.

Speaking of Declan, although I liked that Mead has now provided a way for Rose and Dimitri to actually have kids if they choose to do so, I think it’s a bit of stretch. To suggest that spirit somehow allows dhampirs to now produce seems unlikely. However, this is a series about vampires, witches, and everything in between so everything is already unlikely, therefore I just have to take Mead’s word for it that this is possible.

I would have liked to see more of Declan and know just how special he really is. Will he have some spirit powers or is he just a regular dhampir child? Maybe there’ll be another series surrounding Declan and everyone else’s kids? Please?

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Moving on, I also wish we got to see Angeline. She’s the one character that was missing and I wanted to hear her sass one last time. She would’ve provided a lot of comic relief, although I think Adrian may have provided enough.

What I loved most about this book was really the relationship between Adrian and Sydney. Even though they struggled, mainly because of Adrian’s spirit use, they were able to work through their issues and support each other no matter what. It was interesting seeing them as husband and wife but it worked well too. Then seeing them become parents was icing on the cake.

I also really liked that Mead brought Rose and Dimitri into the epilogue, as well, allowing us to see that they would be married too … at least some day, maybe when Rose is 30. Mead wrapped up the Bloodlines series but it also felt like she was ending the Vampire Academy series too and that was really cool. Well done.

Favorite Line:

“Sydney,” Adrian interrupted, cupping my face in his hands. “Never, ever think like that. I don’t regret anything we’ve faced. Being with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, the one perfect decision I’ve made in a lifetime of fumbling and poor judgment. I’d go through it all again to be by your side. Never doubt that. Never doubt how I feel about you.”

Stars: 5 out of 5. Such a great book and end to a wonderful series.

Borrow or Buy: Are you kidding? Buy this. Put it on your bookshelf and then reread it always. Buy the whole series while you’re at it.

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