Review: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

“You can’t choose the person who really sees you—the person who knows what you’re feeling without you saying a word, the person who can make you laugh and cry and everything in between just by looking at you. The one you can’t imagine being lucky enough to have, or unlucky enough to lose.”

 

Content:

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Cover:

The cover looks very interesting and creative. The colors are nice and if you read the book you will know what the “signs” on the cover mean.

My opinion:

I didn’t expect a lot from this book, as I haven’t heard anything about it on the internet yet whatsoever. I randomly picked it up in a book store because I really liked the blurb. So let’s start with the things I liked first. The plot itself kind of reminded me of Supernatural at first, and I loved that. However, it developed an own story at the end then, which was still very enjoyable. Furthermore, I liked almost all the characters. They were very likable and I enjoyed all their voices. In general I think that the whole book was very action-packed and fast paced, which is always a good thing in a book. I really liked it. But there were also some things which bothered me. I really didn’t like the writing at some points. It kind of seemed like the author had a random idea that she just threw into the protagonists head without any real connection. It was kinda confusing at some points. Moreover, slowly but surely I am very annoyed by love triangles in YA books, but especially in this book it seemed more than unnecessary. Right from the start I knew which boy she is going to pick. At some points it actually also seemed like she didn’t even want the second boy, but only one of them, which made it even more annoying.

Conclusion:

There were some flaws, which made me enjoy it less, but eventually I will pick up the second book in the series, because I enjoyed the plot a lot.

Rating:

3.5 | 5 stars

★-★-★-✬-☆

“Shadowhunter” TV-show casting news & my opinion on it

Today I have exciting news for you all! As you know, the “The Mortal Instruments” series is going to be turned into a TV-show. As far as I know, they will start filming in May or June. But yesterday the producers revealed the first person of the cast. First off they showed us who has been cast for the role of Jace Wayland/Herdonale/Lightwood.

Dominic Sherwood!

You might know him from the Vampire Academy movie, or a Taylor Swift music video. In case you didn’t see it yet, here is the link for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmadmM5cOk

Now for me, Dom is the almost perfect choice for Jace. Yes, he doesn’t have the gold hair or eyes, but hair dye and contacts are a thing in the 21^st century, guys. However, a lot of people seem to be upset with the casting and they think that, and I quote, “he looks too tough”, “he doesn’t look as sweet as Jace”, “he looks like William” and so on and so on.

Now first of all you need to realize, that the Jace which exists in our minds DOES NOT exist in real life. Thus, he can never be PERFECTLY cast, because the perfect Jace of our imagination only lives in our minds, not in real life. It is more than clear that the actor who is cast isn’t JACE himself.

A lot of people seem to argue however, that Jamie Campbell Bower (the “former” Jace) would have been much better and much more perfect for the role of Jace. However, I can recall that when they revealed the cast for the movie, ALMOST EVERYONE was upset because they didn’t like Jamie and they couldn’t picture him as Jace. How come that that changed so quickly now suddenly? People only like him more because they are used to him, but you haven’t seen Dom as Jace yet, have you? So you can’t judge him now just by his looks, because the acting will play a much bigger role than his appearance.

Moreover, THEY WILL NOT KEEP THE MOVIE CAST. Stop acting as if we could change that! The TV-show is a new beginning, they want to start all over again, and you can’t start off freshly with the same old people. You don’t know anyone of the new cast, so be open and try to be happy about what we get. We get a TV SHOW! That is the most amazing thing that could happen to a Fandom! Of course everyone can have an own opinion, and I do not say that you HAVE TO like Dom as Jace, because I frankly don’t care, but at least wait until you see him as Jace, okay? It isn’t fair towards Dominic to hate on him now. Don’t judge him only by his looks, just be patient, watch the first few episodes and then decide.

Even Cassandra Clare herself said that Dom’s audition was amazing, and she is very excited to see him as Jace. And who, if not Cassie, knows how Jace should look like, or act like? If his mother approves, I surely do too!

Anyhow, I am sorry for these harsh words. I am sorry if I offended anyone, I never intended to, but this just had to be said. If you don’t like Dom, fine, but don’t hate on him alright?

I will keep you up-to-date with all casting news as soon as we get to know more, so stay tuned! ;)

Review: Never too far by Abbi Glines

“No man has ever loved a woman as much as I love you. Nothing will ever come before you. I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to you that I won’t let you down again. I won’t hurt you. You don’t have to be alone anymore. I need you.”

Content:

He had held a secret that destroyed her world.
Everything she had known was no longer true.
Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.
Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something happened to send her world spinning once again.
What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately? 

Cover:

As usually with this series, I’m not a huge fan of the cover. These books are much better than the covers may make it look like.

My opinion:

After the first part of the series was rather sobering, I enjoyed the second one a lot more. In the first part you only get to see Blaire’s POV, whereas in the second book you get to see Rush’s as well, which was great. I always enjoy the voices of male protagonists much more than female ones. (ohh well ;) ) The writing-style was fast-paced and I enjoyed it rather a lot. The representation of the characters was really great as well. However, there were some things which disturbed me. First of all, the whole back and forth between the two main characters annoyed me a little bit. Yeah, I understand why Blaire doesn’t quite trust him as much as she used to, but at some points it again makes you feel that they are soul mates. I just didn’t understand this way of thinking, tbh. Also, at some points the plot seemed to be repetitive and kind of boring. It was predictable as well, because I exactly knew how it was going to end, and there were no real plot-twists which made it more interesting. However, a simple plot-line isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, right?

Conclusion:

It was better than the first book and although it had some flaws, I did enjoy it quite a lot.

Rating:

3.5 | 5 stars

★-★-★-✬-☆

Movie Review: Insurgent

“No, you are worth it. You are worth it to me. You have to promise me that you're not going to leave. I want you to promise me that you won't go.”

Content:

Insurgent raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris and Four are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine, the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris's family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world. © Lionsgate

My opinion:

First of all, I have to be honest with you guys. I am not a huge fan of the second book of the series. I think it’s the weakest of all three and at some points it’s pretty boring and not straight forward. You should know that before reading my review.

Seeing the film as a book to movie adaptation, the movie was pretty bad. They changed so many things, and I can’t even remember all of them. They even changed the main plot-line with including this “box” that contained the secret that Jeanine was trying to hide. Tris wasn’t afraid of guns, like she should be. Generally Tris seemed very different from the book in terms of behavior. Also Peter’s character was slightly changed, although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Another thing, which was very confusing, if you have not read the books, was that Uriah and Marlene were here suddenly. They were not in the first movie and thus, they were very confusing for people who aren’t familiar with the books. So seeing it as a book-movie adaptation, the film really sucked.

However, I mentioned that I found the book boring at some points, and thus I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book. How they structured the plot-line in the movie seemed much more logical to me, and (most important of all) they didn’t need an endless amount of time to figure out what was happening, which made the whole plot more fast-paced. I loved that. Another thing which I really enjoyed was the Four-Tris chemistry. Yeah, things happened which shouldn’t have happened until the third book (if you know what I mean), but that didn’t really bother me. It seemed to be alright. The acting of ALL actors was fantastic and the visual effects were really impressive too, especially in the simulations. (I didn’t see it in 3D though)
The movie was better structured and more fast-paced than the book, which made me like the movie actually more than the book. Although it had its flaws, I saw what they were trying to do with it, and I liked it.

Conclusion:

It was a bad book to movie adaptation, but a great movie itself.

Rating:

3.8 | 5 stars

★-★-★-✬-☆

Wrap-Up: March 2015

Books I read in March:

◇ Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell {221 pages in March}
◇ Ignite Me (Ich brenne für dich) - Tahereh Mafi {380 pages}
◇ Seventh Son (The Spook's Apprentice) - Joseph Delaney {285 pages}
◇ Rush of Love (Erlöst) - Abbi Glines {165 pages in March}
◇ The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame) - Friedrich Dürrenmatt {134 pages}

All in all: 4 1/2 books completed
Total pages: 1185 pages

Review: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

*this review may include spoilers*

“Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures. No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.”

Content:

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn't know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won't keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that's not all he wants with her.

Cover:

This cover is as beautiful as the other ones in the series. However, there is one detail which I really love. In the corner of the eye you can see a bird, which is flying away. All the people, who read this series, know what I am talking about when I say that this bird is a really important detail in the books.

My opinion:

As you may know, I loved all the books in this series so far, but I waited a little bit before reading the last book, because I didn’t want it to be over. Now I am done, and I am happy and sad at the same time, actually.
Let’s start off with the plot. It was fantastic how the story developed. It went into the direction I think it would, but in a completely different way, which was a great surprise. I was very satisfied with the ending in general. Everything seemed to turn back to normal again. Couples found each other, the good ones succeeded. Everything was how it should be and thus, the ending was perfect.
Tahereh’s writing-style was, again, fantastic. However, whilst in the first book there were a lot of crossed out lines, which represented how insecure Juliette was, in the last book there wasn’t a single line, which was crossed out. This symbolizes for me, that Juliette finally found herself and her courage, and Tahereh did a great job in portraying that in her writing-style.
Now let’s move on to the characters. I have a lot to say and I will write a paragraph for each character individually:
Juliette: In the first two books she was really insecure and not satisfied with herself, but that completely changed in this book. She found her strengths and her weaknesses and thus, she was a much greater character to me, than I could have ever imagined. She isn’t this small wimpy girl anymore, who relies on others. She knows what she wants, and she has the strength to succeed. The character development of hers was incredible. There is one thing which I have to criticize though, but I will go into more detail about that when talking about Adam.
Aaron Warner: I always appreciated Warner’s love and care for Juliette, and to be honest, I always felt like his love was more honest and pure. In this books however, you get to know him a lot better than in the other books. You get to know his back story, but you can also see behind his normally so strong face. He suffers, and he doesn’t hide his pain anymore. But he learned to cope with the pain, and he finally decided which side he is on. He is a very strong character and I cherish every single of his actions. He is the right one for Juliette, and I am more than glad to see that they finally seem to be happy with each other. Seeing Adam and him growing closer is maybe even better, because they both just deserve it to be happy and have a family, or a brother, who loves and cares about the other. And I think they finally found that.
Adam: He goes through a lot of pain and suffering in this book, and I feel incredibly sorry for him, no matter what everyone else says. People are saying he is a “douche” in this book, but just think about that for a second. His heart was broken like five times in this book and I can understand it very well why he is angry, and I think it’s wrong to judge him. How would you react when the love of your life suddenly is interested in your worst enemy? I would be hella angry. Juliette hurt him over and over again, also when it wasn’t really necessary, so I think he deserves much more love than he gets. He is a great character and he also goes through a huge character development. He will always be one of my favorite characters, no matter what.
Kenji: Ohh Kenji. He was just … well … himself, which basically is the best you can expect. But in this book we also see a different Kenji. We see a man, who is actually also broken inside, who is hurt, and who isn’t always the party-clown. Nevertheless, he never misses a chance to make a joke or a stupid statement, and that’s what I love about Kenji. It never gets boring with him. He is definitely in the Top 2 of my favorite characters of all time and let’s be honest here, he is actually the highlight of all the books. You should read this series only because of him.

Conclusion:

This was a perfect ending to a perfect series. I can’t praise it enough. Please, go and read this series if you haven’t yet, guys!

Rating:

5|5 stars

★-★-★-★-★

Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

“What are the chances you’d ever meet someone like that? he wondered. Someone you could love forever, someone who would forever love you back? And what did you do when that person was born half a world away? The math seemed impossible.” 

Content:

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Cover:

The cover is very simple, yet very beautiful. If you have read the book you know, what the headphones mean, as music plays an important role in the book. You can also see the protagonists on the cover, which is great in my opinion.

My opinion:

I went into this book with no expectations whatsoever. I knew that a lot of people on BookTube loved this book, but I am not a huge fan of contemporary, so I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did in the end. Let’s start off with the writing. Rainbow Rowell has a fantastic writing-style, and I love the way she describes characters. I also really enjoyed both perspectives, as it gave the reader a different point of view, not just from one single person. The plot itself was straight-forward as well, and kind of predictable at some points. If YA books taught me something, then that star-crossed lovers never have a Happy End. When I reached the last page though, it hit me like a rock. I kind of saw it coming, but then again it caught me completely off guard. The last sentence made me happy and sad at the same time and I didn’t know that it was possible that you could laugh and cry in between the pages. But this book made it possible for me. There was something about Eleanor’s and Park’s relationship that I just found extremely adorable. Every time they kissed I found myself grinning at the book. Maybe it was, because I just loved how everything developed. And also, because they are both misfits and they both deserve someone who cares for them, and who loves them. The best thing about this novel were the characters, though. The two protagonists, Eleanor and Park, were just so authentic. Park wasn’t the extraordinarily hot guy, who was surrounded by girls, who adored him (let’s be real here, almost EVERY YA hero is described like that), but he was honest and kind and a gentleman. And Eleanor wasn’t the typical size-zero girl with the perfect hair. They both felt real to me, and authentic, as I just said. And their relationship felt nothing but completely right. Another small thing, which I really enjoy was the setting. If you were born in the 90’s like I was, you probably remember all the things which were mentioned in the book, such as a walkman and the telephones and stuff like that. It had a bit of nostalgia to it.

Conclusion:

This is probably my new favorite contemporary novel, next to Forbidden. I loved every single page of this book and I would really recommend it to everyone.

Rating:

5|5 stars

★-★-★-★-★