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This trilogy has been everywhere, both in the blogosphere but also in the real world. It’s received multiple five star ratings, and has amazing reviews all over the Internet! But for some reason, I’m still only on the second book, when the third one came out a while ago. (I guess I’m a little late! Oops!)

The first thing I’m sure most of us say about this book is, look at this beautiful cover! I LOVE white covers; they look so clean and neat, and bright. If you’ve read the first segment in this series, Matched, then you know why each of the colors are different.

Matched, Crossed, and Reached just look FABULOUS on my shelf!

I absolutely adored Matched and while I was more than ecstatic to read Crossed, I was fearful of “second book syndrome”. I know each and every book in this trilogy has a huge number of great reviews, but I always find it creeping around the corner.

The second instalment in this series takes place a few months (weeks?) after Matched ends. Ky has been sent to the Outerlands to work and basically die, while Cassie was sent to a work camp, where she’s currently getting ready to be moved to her next assignment.

Cassia can’t seem to get her mind off Ky and knows she has real feelings for him. She spends a lot of time thinking and planning of a way out of this camp, and all the security that comes with it, to find Ky. But Cassia isn’t so sure of herself any more when Xander comes to visit her before she departs, and even gives her a gift. Xander reminds her of home, her old life, and what her future could be like, if she picked Xander.

But her heart is still aching for Ky…

Cassia sneaks out with a strange girl named Laney; who she doesn’t seem to know much about, but Laney seems to be trustworthy and very skilful. On the other side of the spectrum Ky is escaping his death with two other guys, Vick and a boy who just arrived to the camp.

Will Cassia ever be able to find and catch up to Ky? Will she end up picking Ky or will she decide on a safe and secure like with Xander? And why did Xander sneak Cassia so many blue pills, knowing what they do to someone in the Outerland?

Okay, so let’s get to all the rumours that are being passed around about Crossed. Back when I first started reading reviews on Matched, many people stated in their reviews that the story was very slow, but good. Once I read Matched, I agreed, but I liked the pace. Condie is building a world, and it takes some time to get readers to know and understand how this world works.

So when people were saying that Crossed was slow as well, I didn’t really think much of it. But it’s true. I still really enjoyed Crossed, but I do see what people were talking about. There just wasn’t enough going on in this book for it to take as long as it did. The characters did a lot of reflecting throughout the story, which filled in the time, but I did find myself reading the pages a lot slower, and putting the book down more often than I did the first.

The thing I liked the most about Crossed (and the first book) was the way Condie goes about representing both Ky and Xander. She shows both to be handsome guys, and good in their own different ways. In a lot of YA books that I’ve read with love triangles in them, the authors always seem to focus on one person much more than the other, because they favor them more. But Condie doesn’t do that, she represents them both evenly, which leaves the reader in suspense about who Cassia might pick.

Overall, I really enjoyed Crossed, just in different ways than I did Matched. Crossed did leave the reader with a few unanswered questions, but I can’t judge the book on that, simply because there’s a third book. And hopefully all questioned will be answered then!

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In the small town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1980’s, Jason Lee Rainey struggles to find his way amongst the old, steadfast Southern attitudes about race, while his friendship with a black boy, Samson Johnson, deepens. 
By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn’t believe he has it in him. 

In The Clock Of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father’s son. 

This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.

 

Okay, so before I get into this review, I just want to apologize ahead of time if I sound negative as I explain my thoughts. But as always I strive to give you all my honest review.

When looking at the cover, and if you know me well enough or have just read a few of my reviews then you know this doesn’t look like the usual book I go for. If you guessed it, you’re right! The cover is a little plain, has neutral colours and goes pretty well with the book. The cover does its job, and matches the title of the book.

Even though the cover isn’t usually the type I would pick up in the store, or grab at the library, I couldn’t resist giving it a shot after listening to all the amazing things Nancy Klann-Moren told me about her story! I also did a little research online, and found that many other book bloggers really enjoyed it, and were happy that they got the chance to read it.

My favorite type of book, in the ENTIRE world, is a book that I would usually never give a try, but do, and completely fall in love with the story and its characters!  I like when books prove me wrong, I guess. But at the end of the day, The Clock of Life wasn’t one of those books… While I did see all the qualities many reviewers raved about, ultimately it just wasn’t for me.

Going into reading The Clock of Life, I was actually excited to get started and see if I also enjoyed it as much as everyone else seemed to have. But overall the story was a bit confusing to me, maybe because I was picking it up and putting it back down often, instead of reading in longer sittings.

In general I was just having a hard time keeping up with the story, the characters and everything that was going on. I was entirely confused about the death of Jason’s father, the death of his friend, his mother’s mental state and his racist neighbor; as well as how all that tied together.

Going in with an open mind, The Clock of Life did have quite some potential. While the story wasn’t for me, I do see why many others liked it! If the synopsis sounds like something you would enjoy, I say go for it as I think you will! 

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 “Jeff discovers he’s a serial killer clone—and he’s got to track down others like him before it’s too late. A thrilling YA companion to S&S Touchstone’s Cain’s Blood, releasing simultaneously.

This dark, literary thriller is a story about blood: specifically, the DNA of the world’s most notorious serial killers, captured and cloned by the Department of Defense to develop a new “breed” of bio-weapons. The program is now in Stage Three—with dozens of young male clones from age ten to eighteen kept and monitored at a private facility without any realization of who they really are. Some are treated like everyday kids. Others live prescribed lives to replicate the upbringing of their DNA donors. All wonder why they can’t remember their lives before age ten.

When security is breached and the most dangerous boys are set free by the now-insane scientist who created them, only one young man can help find the clones before their true genetic nature grows even more horrific than the original models: a fifteen-year-old boy, an every-boy…who has just learned that he is the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Project Cain is filled to the brim with information, background knowledge and a ton of other things. I didn’t want this review to be too extremely long, so instead of summarizing the book myself like I usually do, I just inserted the synopsis from the Barnes and Noble website!

The element that stuck out the most to me was the amazing cast of characters! Each one, from Jeff to his father, to Castillo, had substance and history. I found every single person that the reader was introduced to, to be very interesting!

Jeff is only one of probably thousands of clones created by the government. Each clone is created from the cells of the world’s most infamous serial killers. So not only did we learn about each of these teenage boys, but we also learned real information on serial killers – interesting!

Jeff has being living, what seems to be, a normal life. He is a teenage boy, who lives with his scientist dad, who enjoys learning, and talking about what he knows. That is until he finds out whom he really is. Before his life did a three-sixty, Jeff never once had evil thoughts like he does now, never once had he dreamed of dead people. Besides the extraordinary characters within Project Cain, the struggle Jeff has with himself is what pulled me in and forced me to read this book. He knew what he was, and who he was, but he was in constant battle with himself.

When reading Project Cain, it’s obvious that this isn’t any average Young Adult Thriller. I think that’s because the characters are based upon real life serial killers, and there is so much REAL information within the book’s pages, that makes it stick out from the rest.

Overall I really enjoyed Project Cain and learned a lot. I can see where some people who claim “information dumping” to occur are coming from, but I didn’t know much about serial killers, and liked learning about it. I had just watched a documentary on Netflix the night before I received this book in the mail, and was totally in the mood already.

There were two small things that did slow the story down a bit for me, and those were the constant driving and sitting in hotel rooms that Jeff and Castillo did during their search. I understand that there’s a process, but I felt that the reader didn’t need to go through the entire thing. The second thing is that Jeff feels that he is useless when helping Castillo with the search! Yet he knows his dad, and he is the one who can most likely understand the clues that he left behind.

Project Cain was suspenseful, mysterious and dark! I felt like I was in Jeff’s head the entire time, and I really enjoyed that!

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Bel:

 

Cover

The cover art is edgy and gritty, but is not my cup of tea. If it’s not yours either, don’t be fooled, give the book a chance!

Characters

I enjoy spending time in the shades of grey in a battle against good and evil.

Favourite

Maggie. Best friends should be made of this. She’s no flake and stands tall even in the face of the scary crap.

Least Favourite

Easy mark this one… Malachi. There just aren’t words for the epicness of his nastiness.

Beginning

Gaby is followed by a strange guy after putting the contents of her dreams on a website.

Storyline

The strange things just keep coming for Gaby, but she still can not remember her past.

Ending

The possibilities for part two are endless.

Thoughts

After reading this fabulous, book I am seriously kicking myself for not remembering to bring my copy of Shadows to the Brisbane Writer’s Festival at the start of the month. I seriously stood right next to Paula and had nothing for her to sign. UGH! Pity I hadn’t read the book by then or I also would have picked up part two and had that signed too.

Well and truly worth picking up Shadows even if it’s just for curiosity’s sake. You’ll be impressed.

Quote

Rusty Shrugs. ‘Simon’s all right.’ He points the fencepost at him at him. ‘You wouldn’t go out with wankers, would you, mate?’

‘Not if I could help it.’

Not quite a resounding endorsement.

‘Present company excepted, of course.’ I say, gesturing to the brothers.

 

 Lisa:

 

 

 

Cover: If you’ve stuck around for a while, and have been keeping up with a few of my reviews, you know just how important covers are to me. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but does anyone actually do that?

The cover of a book is the first thing the consumer sees. It’s the books first impression on a possible buyer. The cover should pull people in, should giveaway a little bit about the story inside, and should be what makes a person pick up the book to see what it’s about.

The cover of Shadows tells the reader right away that it has something to do with angels. Also the cover is kind of mysterious looking. It makes me wonder what else is going on in this story, and I would mostly likely pick it up to see what the synopsis has to say.

The cover does its job! Love it!

Characters: When it comes to Shadows I can easily say that all of the elements are what made this book for me; not just the story, or the characters, or the ending, but everything. However, the characters were what made the story different from other YA angel books. I felt that the characters had so much density and felt so real that it pushed the book up to the next level.

Favorite: I liked a lot of the characters! Gaby for being so strong, not only is she dealing with the loss of her twin brother, but also with the whole “angel” thing. And Maggie for being such a good friend to Gaby, and absorbing all the crazy information that’s been thrown at her.

Least Favorite: I can’t really say I disliked any character.

Beginning: Gaby doesn’t know how to grieve for the loss of her twin brother after they were caught in a horrible car accident over a year ago. Gaby is now living in Pan Beach with her best friend Maggie, hoping to be able to deal with her loss, and move forward in her life.

Middle: Gaby and Maggie run into a mysterious guy named Rafa at a bar one night, who claims to be one of Jude’s (Gaby’s twin brother) best friend. He even proves himself, when he shows Gaby pictures of him and Jude together. Rafa informs Gaby that her brother didn’t die the way she thinks he did. And that Gaby isn’t who she thinks she is, instead she’s an angel. Within only a few chapters Gaby is thrown into the world of Rephaim!

Ending: MY LIPS ARE SEALED! *Throws away key*

Overall Thoughts:  Before picking this book up, I had no idea what it was about. I had never heard of it before, and decided to do a bit of research. After just one google search, I found tons of reviews, claiming amazing things and rating it with four or more stars (out of five). After finally reading Shadows, I can tell you first hand that everything, everyone is raving about in their reviews is correct!

I can say that I fell in love with this book. While many seem to be getting tired of angels, I’m just now discovering them. Shadows filled my angel craving! There are twists and turns in this story, that made me feel like I was on a roller coaster, and wasn’t getting off any time soon. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has in store!

 

Krista:

 

 

Cover

My favourite aspect of the US cover is the subtle shading of the wings. The art combined with the title represents the book well. And I love the red colour with the sunset background.

Characters

There are a handful of characters in this one. Gaby is the main focus of the storyline but we get different character’s point of view as the story unravels.

Favourite

My favorite character is Maggie, Gaby’s best friend. I really liked her personality. If I chose one of the main characters it would be Rafa, he’s got this protective side that I was attracted to.

Least Favourite

This was a hard question for this book. I couldn’t really pin point a character I didn’t think filled out the story well. Although there were a lot of details and characters to remember, I think they all meshed well.

Beginning

Gaby has been having dreams about fighting hell-beasts with a boy she refers to as  Matt. But when “Matt” shows up at the local bar, she’s determined to find answers. When he tells her that he was her dead brother’s best friend, Gaby has a hard time believing him because she cannot remember him. It turns out that the car accident that killed her brother and wiped her memory might have been something else all together.

Storyline

Gaby is still mourning the loss of her twin brother Jude, when Rafa appears. A real life embodiment of the man from her dreams. He tells her a story that blows her mind, and only upsets her more. As the proof starts rolling in that what Rafa has been telling her could possibly be true, it changes her life. It’s a story with constant movement and action scenes as the characters have to rescue and help each other.

Ending

Everything begins to come together nicely with a very powerful fight and revelations.

Thoughts

We get a lot of information for a first book in a series. It has a lot of Fallen Angel, Nephilim and Rephilim stories. Even though I did not connect with Gaby personally, her attitude makes sense with her story. She also has the physical fight to back up her mouth, so she’s a pretty bad arse character!

Quote

‘Why did you call me Matt?’
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I know you, I realize I should have called that character Dick.’
He laughs, and then the couch shakes. ‘Honestly, Gabe, I forgot you could be this much fun.”

 

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Absolutely love these covers! They’re totally girly and rocker chic! Bonus points for looking good on my book shelf!

I read The Ghoul Next Door during the End of Summer Read-A-Thon I hosted on my blog Turning Pages, a while back and really enjoyed it! The Ghoul Next Door is the second instalment in the Monster High series, and it’s been almost a year since I read the first book… so reading the second book was WAY over due!

When I first started reading, I felt a little bit overwhelmed. There were just a lot of things going on, and I was quickly confused. The book is told in three different points of view; always switching back and forth between chapters. (Duhhh Lisa!) After just a few chapters, I got the hang of things and was right back on track. I’ve never read a book that had more than two points of view, so it was interesting to see how this would pan out throughout the entire story. In the end, I actually found this really enjoyable, as the reader I got to see each angle of the argument, and what each of the characters were thinking.

The Ghoul Next Door starts with Frankie Stein losing her head at Merston High monster themed dance! The group of friends thought it would be fun to go as themselves for a change, but things don’t always go as planned! Not only did Frankie lose her head, but it was caught on tape, and now the entire city of Salem Oregon is on a monster hunt to look for her!

Locked in their houses, and only allowed to leave when it’s time for school, the RADs are tired of being held captive. Frankie begins to strategise a plan for Normies to accept RADs for who they are. Frankie hopes that RADs will be able to be themselves, and not have wear make-up to cover up their identity!

Melody Carver is ready and willing to help the RADs for two reasons; she knows what it feels like to be criticised for being herself, and her boyfriend is a RAD.

But on the complete opposite end of things, Bekka (the mean girl) doesn’t mind exposing the RADs and who they are. Why? Because she isn’t going to allow someone steal her boyfriend and then just let them get away with it!

With Bekka trying to expose the RADs in a negative way and with Melody’s friendship with Bekka, many RADs are suspicious that Melody is just trying to get on their good side, but might actually be working with Bekka.

While all this is going on Cleo is working on her fashion photo shoot!

The Ghoul Next Door ends differently than I assumed it would, but on happy terms, that I won’t be giving away. Overall I found the characters to be fun and interesting,  as well as the story! I loved that Cleo brought fashion into the story, I liked the Frankie was so weird, and wanted nothing but to be accepted by Normies and I thought it was very nice that Melody wanted to help her friends, and be a part of this thing.

I’m excited to read the third book, and see what the monster friends next adventure is!!

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