Hey guuuys!

It’s Lisa here with another review! I’ve been reading a lot of great books lately, so I have tons of reviews I need to write, and finally get them posted. Today’s book is The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter. Basically, it’s a modern re-telling of the Greek Myth of Persephone. Right after reading the synopsis, and before even opening the front cover, I decided to do a bit of my own research to have at least some understanding of Persephone’s story. You don’t really have to do this to understand and comprehend the story itself. But I just decided it would be fun to have some background knowledge. This is what I found out:

“In Greek mythology, Persephone, also called Kore (the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld. Homer describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic queen of the shades, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. Kore was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld . The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence she is also associated with spring and with the seeds of the fruits of the fields. Similar myths appear in the Orient, in the cults of male gods like Attis, Adonis and Osiris, and in Minoan Crete.”

*I didn’t write this myself, this is just something I found, while researching. Thank you Wikipedia!!*

The main character of The Goddess Test is named Kate. She’s an average teenage girl, going to high school, and lives with her mother. Sadly, Kate’s mom is in her final stages of cancer, and any day could be her last. Her dying wish is to visit a small town named Eden, which is located in the middle of nowhere. Without any argument Kate agrees to take her.

Kate isn’t only moving into a new (and small) town, and a new (but very old) house, but also into a new school. Not wanting to make friends, knowing she won’t have the time for them anyways, she only wants to go to school, finish classes, and spend the rest of the day with her mother. Kate isn’t there for fun; she’s there for her mom.

Not knowing what she will do once her mom isn’t with her anymore; Kate is scared, stressed, and just wants to spend every moment with her mom, never knowing if it might be her last.

Bumping (literally) into a very cute boy, Kate faces her first problem before she can even get to her very first class at her new school. Think about that popular girl in school, who is one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met, but as soon as you turn around, you know she’s talking crap about you. Every high school has one, think VERY hard! That is exactly who Ava is.

Besides Ava, Kate also meets and befriends a quiet boy, who walks to school every day listening to his music through his oversized earphones. His name is James. Going through a hard time, Kate leans on James a lot, even crying in front of him. Kate’s life is nothing like normal ever since her mom was diagnosed with cancer, but James is her piece of reality, and normality. He is her rock, in a way.

I don’t want to give away too much of The Goddess Test, so I’m only telling you that Ava invites Kate to a “party” and a accident happens and Ava gets hurt really bad. Doing the only thing she could, Kate screams at the top of her lungs, for help. Not sure what to do, or if anyone can hear, she continues to yell her heart out. That is, until she sees a figure standing a few feet away from her.

To save Ava, Kate has to accept the stranger’s (which we find out is named, Henry) deal. And if you’ve read my bit of research above, you might just know who he is, and what the deal is! 🙂

I wasn’t originally planning on reading The Goddess Test, not because I didn’t want to, but simply because I didn’t really know much about it. After finishing the first three or four chapters, I fell in love and was so grateful that I picked it up. I’ve never really read any books on mythology, nor retellings, so I wasn’t too sure what I would think about it.

But The Goddess Test was amazing! I really enjoyed the main character Kate, and how she slowly (because usually I feel the character is always rushing) falls in love. I like that she goes from scared, feeling sorry for herself, and not wanting to communicate or socialize with anyone, to doing whatever she can to save her friends. Kate grew so much throughout the story, and I loved the pace.

The second book, Goddess Interrupted is coming out in April (I believe, don’t quote me on that!) and I’m excited to see what happens to Kate, Henry, and Ava! I would recommend picking up The Goddess Test now, so you jump right into the second one, once it hits the shelves!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my review!

• ISBN-13: 9780373210268
• Publisher: Harlequin
• Publication date: 4/19/2011
• Pages: 304

The Hollow? What the heck is The Hollow? Honestly, I only go out to buy books knowing what I want. Occasionally on the spur of the moment, I get something that looks and sounds really good but I usually see books recommended in peoples IMMs or on Youtube.

The day I purchased The Hollow, I was at Barnes and Nobles, strictly for coffee and no books! But my friend wanted to pick up a book for her AP class, so she can practice before the big end of the year test. I wasn’t too interested in that, and didn’t just want to wait in the coffee area all by myself, so I decided to roam around and JUST LOOK at the Young Adult books. My eye caught this book called The Hollow. Never having seen or heard about it before, I picked it up, flipped it over, and read the summary.

It was awesome!

The Hollow is about a girl named Abbey who recently lost her friends, in a mysterious way. She drowned in the river, in the cemetery, which was Abbey and Kristen’s favorite place to hang out and be together. No one knew if Kristen did it on purpose to commit suicide, or if she accidentally fell in.

Get over it! She’s faking it! She’s weird! Are just a few of the mean things Abbey was told. I couldn’t believe how rude some of the cheerleaders were to her! Her best friend just died! How can you treat her like that? She’s going through something.

Even though a lot of the kids at school were mean and rude to her, Abbey ran into a mysterious boy she’d never meet before. His name is Caspian, he has blonde hair with one black streak in it. He’s three years older than Abbey, and he enjoys drawing, reading, and freshly baked snicker doodles. At the end of The Hollow, Caspian is nothing like what you thought he was at the beginning.

He was the sweetest guy ever. Caspian was really good for Abbey, he was the one she could talk to. Seeing him was the one thing Abbey looked forward to everyday when she had nothing else left. I love Caspian and I love what he and Abbey were, whenever they were together.

I wish we could have learned more about was Caspian, and his family and what happened to him. And Kristen and a little about her past. I think the story would have connected a little bit better. But The Hollow, is only the third book in the trilogy, so there’s still plenty time for that! If you haven’t read the book, and are looking for something that makes you feel every emotion possible, you really should pick it up!

• ISBN-13: 9781416978947
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Publication date: 8/3/2010
• Pages: 528

“Ahhhhh!

Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series!! I loooove!”

Yes, indeed, you’ve witnessed just one, of the many fan girl moments I have. But trust me, this one is totally worth it!

The book I’m reviewing for you today is, Forever by (duuhh) Maggie Stiefvater; the final installment in herseries. PLEASE READ! I want to warn you guys though! I can get a bit excited, and babble the ending or other important things, so if you plan on reading this book or any other in the series, please don’t read the italic parts. Those are things I would consider spoils, and give away important parts. I would never want to ruin such a good series for anyone.

Okay so fan girl moment, check; spoiler warnings, check! Now to the actual review.

Maggie Stiefvater’s series includes three books, #1 Shiver, #2 Linger, and finally #3 Forever. What makes this series so special and unique, is that the cover’s color, is the same color used to print the font inside of the book! Isn’t that crazy??! I’ve never seen any other book, besides children’s books which do that! I think it’s amazing! I feel like this is a huge plus, why? Well people would want to see it for themselves if the font really is the same color as the cover, but to that, they would have to find a book, and crack it open. Which means there’s a huge chance that, that someone who took the time to check the font, might actually start reading the story.

While reading Forever in school, a few of my friends pointed out, that the cover gives them almost a Twilight kind of vibe. Yes that might be true. But no, Wolves of Mercy Falls is nothing like Twilight. It might have wolves, but it doesn’t have anything to do with vampires, nor is the story line even close to the same. But if you’ve read Stephanie Meyer’s series, and you haven’t had enough of a sweet and cute werewolf, than you should definitively pick up this series.

Throughout Shiver and Linger, we got two different perspectives, Sam’s and Grace’s, which I really enjoyed! You get to see what both of them are thinking, and they are truly feeling about themselves and the current situations their in. In Forever, not only do you get Sam and Grace’s side of the story, but you’re also getting Cole (the wolf selected to protect, take care of, and lead the pack once Beck is gone), and Isabel (the straight forward girl, would falls for Cole, but can’t admit it to herself).

These perspectives, do switch from chapter to chapter, but not in any specific order.

I absolutely adored Sam, he seems like the perfect guy, even with his horrible past. His relationship with Grace was one of the big things that made run out to the store, the day Forever came out, and buy it!

Grace on the other hand, is like no character I’ve read about. When she was younger, not only was she attacked but also saved by a wolf. She has weird parents, who care about her, but also let her do whatever she wants, hardly noticing that she’s still alive. Grace just isn’t the average Young Adult book, kind of character, I had a great time reading, and learning more about her.

Cole, the wolf who was selected to lead the pack, once Beck was gone, just like Sam, has his own past. I wasn’t sure if I liked Cole, the first time we meet him in Linger. He just doesn’t seem like the type of guy I would want to hangout or even be around. But by the time I was halfway through Forever, I grew attached to him. Now I like Cole almost as much as I do Sam!

Honestly, Isabel almost reminds me of myself. No I’m not rich, I’m average. And there’s no way my dad would hunt and kill animals, he’s just not that kind of guy. But the way Isabel acts, towards Cole, reminds me of myself when I was in middle school. I’ve never had a boyfriend before (at that time), and I didn’t really trust them. So if one tried to get anywhere near me, I would kind of just push them away. Which she does a lot with Cole.

I really enjoyed all of the characters, and their different personalities, no one was boring, or stuck up. Some how I could relate to each one in a different way, and that was one of the best things about this story.

The story line, and the ending was nothing I expected! Not even close, as I was reading the last page or so, I caught myself with my jaw dropped! I couldn’t believe what happened! Of course I can’t tell you, but I’m sure you’re in for a shocker! The ending was a bit open, I wish it would have left me more satisfied, instead of making me want more! But let’s just hope Maggie Stiefvater has another Wolves of Mercy Falls book up her sleeve!

• ISBN-13: 9780545259088
• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Publication date: 7/12/2011
• Pages: 400
• Sales rank: 786
• Age range: 14 – 17 Years

Hey everyone!

And welcome to my review of The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab! I’ve finished this book about a week ago, and already wrote my review on my personal blog, Turning Pages. But since it can be hard to write two different reviews right after one another, especially when you don’t want them to be anything a like, I usually wait a while until I start my Burn Bright review, taking my time, and letting my mind wander.

Waiting for a week or so, allows me to think of different ways to express what I liked about a book, keeping things fresh and new. So if you want to ever read another review of one of my books, you can just go ahead and check out my personnel reviews.

Without further a do, let’s get reviewin’!

The Near Witch, wasn’t exactly on my wishlist. There was tons of hype about it, not only in the blogging world, but between my friends from school too. Even with The Near Witch being around me at all times, I just wasn’t that interested, it just didn’t catch my attention. But also I’m always worried about reading books that have tons of hype, simply because it is a little disappointing when you don’t get as much out of it as all your friends and blogging buddies.

But after, lots of talking me into it, being asked to review it, and a few threats from friends, I finally decided to pick it up, and give it a go. Before I knew it, I was half way through!

The main character’s name is Lexi, who’s father passed away three years ago. Since than her mother isn’t who she was once before, her uncle is trying to do his best to replace her dad, and the only other people in her life is her little sister, Wren, and the two sisters (two older witches, that live just outside of Lexi’s town).

After a few local kids go missing in the middle of the night, a stranger who just recently came to the small town of Near is accused without any evidence. The local men (including her uncle), trying to bring the children back, and protect the rest, go out looking for this stranger. Lexi, knowing this isn’t right, goes to the sisters, trying to find out if they know anything about this mysterious man.

After meeting him, naming him Cole, and developing feelings for him, Lexi will do anything to stop her uncle and the other local men, from hunting and killing Cole.

The Near Witch was honestly nothing like what I thought it would be. I started reading it, without even knowing what it was about, but I loved it. The characters were amazing, even though Lexi’s uncle was kind of making me angry at times. But he was just doing, the same thing my loved ones would do to keep me safe.

Not only did I really enjoy reading The Near Witch, but I also learned a huge lesson, don’t just turn down a book, simple if it has a huge hype, and I don’t want to be disappointed; takes some risks.

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Lisa

• ISBN-13: 9781423137870
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Publication date: 8/2/2011
• Pages: 288

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