Review: Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hardcover, 438 pages

Published October 4th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: Purchased
Buy the book:  Amazon : B&N : Goodreads

From Goodreads:

The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past...bridged two irreconcilable worlds...faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

 *Sigh* I had such hopes for this book. Cresendo was...well horrid in my opinion and I had hoped this would be the redeemer for it. Sadly, I was mistaken. 
The book suffers from major lack of plot. Nora doesn't have her memories and Patch is being...well, Patch I guess and just floating along. It is definitely written better in some minor aspects, but it still just doesn't have that little thing that jumps out and grabs you. I found myself just flipping through the pages saying to myself "Get on with it and get it over with." You can see what's going to happen five chapters back and there's just filler in between. And yes, I can probably write and outline of Finale at this point as well.
What saved this book for me, a little, was Patch, Jev, and Vee. Patch and Jev show a little of their true selves. I especially like Jev. Why? I don't know, there's just something about him. Vee. I really just wanted to smack her at times. I kept waiting to see what would happen next with her and her shenanigans though. She may be annoying but at least what was happening around her was usually interesting.
This one was definitely an improvement over the second book. However, it is still very lackluster compared to the first. I will probably read the final book, but it will be because I am already so invested in this series. I hope that the final book will be as good as Hush, Hush, but I simply want this series to be done already.

Review: 2/5 for Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen by Lauren Kate
Hardcover, 464 pages
Published December 8, 2009 by Random House Children's Books
Source: eBook, Purchased
Buy the book: Amazon : B&N

From Amazon:

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story

I think "book-hype" got to me on this book, very badly. I had such epic hopes for this series. While I was not totally let down, it just was not all it was cracked up to be for me. Loved the synopsis, but in many ways that's all I got with the book itself as well.

The characters kept me going through this book. They're easy to get along with and also have good personalities and interesting backgrounds. I also like the way in which the characters are intertwined with one another. As a group they flow so well. However, as individuals it is like they run in circles and never get anything done. This is because there is so much secrecy between the characters it's like no one knows what to do next.

The plot is fairly simple, but drags in many places. Some of my issues may stem from a good chunk of the book happening in a "juvenile detention" like setting. My career field gives me enough of this. Secrecy has a major effect on the plot line, everything is based around it. Most of the time this does not bother me. Unfortunately by the end of the book it felt like I did not know anymore about what was going on than what I did in the beginning.

I've seen other mixed reviews for this series, so maybe it just depends on who reads them. I like the book enough to carry on with the series. A lot of it is the characters and I genuinely want to know where they end up. Hopefully, it'll be a less twisted road to get there though.

Review: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Published August 31st 2010 by Feiwel & Friends

Hardcover, 496 pages
Source: eBook, purchased
Buy the book: Amazon : B&N : Goodreads

From Goodreads:

Three angels- Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human- are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.

Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.

The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

I was really interested to see how this concept was going to be played out. I've always been intrigued on the various versions of angels on earth. This one had a few extras pluses with it, but it just lacked in a couple of areas that were necessary for me to really enjoy it.

The story line is very fluid and well laid out. Gabriel, Ivy, and Bethany work diligently to fit in to their new surroundings. However, Bethany differs slightly from the others, she's more open to the situation. However, this proves to be tumultuous to their mission as she becomes attached to a human, Xavier. This, however, is as exciting as this story got for me. I read along some more, found out more info on the characters relationships and ensuing plot "climaxes." Unfortunately, after the second half it was pretty anticlimactic. The plot just never reached that "I-can't-wait-to-turn-the-page" moment and then ended.

Bethany comes off as just a typical teenager. So in that respect I guess her disguise works. It does appear that she comes by it naturally rather than rehearsed like that of Gabriel's and Ivy's. She deals with a lot of the same issues as a regular teen: peer pressure, prom issues, status problems, and teenage sex. These issues are dealt with very well in the book through Bethany's experiences and probably what saved the book for me. Bethany and Xavier's relationship is strong, but really to the point of unbelievable. Both are so immature in all their other actions that it makes it seem fake and over the top.

This will probably not be a series that I follow. The story couldn't keep my attention and I was disappointed. It had so much potential! I think that's what bothers me the most. There's so many things that could have give this the "umph" that it needed to really draw me in.

Review: The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon

By Charlotte Bacon
Paperback, 352 pages

Published: June 14th 2011 by Voice
Source: Borrowed from friend, ARC
Buy the book: Amazon : B&N : Goodreads

From Goodreads:

When beautiful but aloof Claire Harkness is found dead in her dorm room one spring morning, prestigious Armitage Academy is shaken to its core. Everyone connected to school, and to Claire, finds their lives upended, from the local police detective who has a personal history with the academy, to the various faculty and staff whose lives are immersed in the daily rituals associated with it.
Everyone wants to know how Claire died, at whose hands, and more importantly, where the baby that she recently gave birth to is a baby that almost no one, except her small innermost circle, knew she was carrying.
At the center of the investigation is Madeline Christopher, an intern in the English department who is forced to examine the nature of the relationship between the school s students and the adults meant to guide them. As the case unravels, the dark intricacies of adolescent privilege at a powerful institution are exposed, and both teachers and students emerge as suspects as the novel rushes to its thrilling conclusion.
With The Twisted Thread, Charlotte Bacon has crafted a gripping and suspenseful story in the tradition of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, one that pulls back the curtain on the lives of the young and privileged.

I borrowed this ARC from a friend because the synopsis sounded like the type of book I used to read a lot of. A good murder mystery used to be on top of every list I had, but I've gravitated away from that in recent years. This one particularly intrigued me because of the exclusivity of the wealthy school and people involved. You know there's going to be a lot of good "behind-the-scene" information from that alone. Though it promised so much, in the end it just couldn't give what it advertised.

-Minor Spoiler Alert-
There were characters a plenty in this novel. On top of that, each one had a very detailed back story. Now, don't get me wrong, a good back story can really enhance a book. However, back stories that do not necessarily relate to the concept or plot of the book can really hurt one. That is all that I seemed to read in this novel. There was almost a pattern: one chapter one be solely about a character and its back story, the next chapter would do the same to another character, and so on. This literally begins in Chapter 1. It made the book difficult to follow and gave me the feeling that most of the info was there to add pages to the book and nothing else. There was an attempt to put real chemistry between a few of characters, but I simply did not feel it. At the end of the book when they finally agree on agree on a date and such, it felt like "Eh, so?" There was just too much "bloat" to make these good characters and plot completely enjoyable.

The plot and sequence of events saved this book for me. The death of a student, the shock that she'd given birth, the police investigation, and the book's resolution kept the pace throughout the book. I love that it touched on hot topics with teens: bulimia, peer pressure, bullying, etc. Kudos for that definitely. Also, the secret society, The Reign of Terror, added a great twist into the mix. I'm a big fan of societies like these and the traditions that they keep. Sadly though, due to the "bloat" previously listed, it was difficult to follow at times. I had to re-read a couple of spots to pull out the plot threads to continue on. On the other hand, it did help with setting the scene. There was not a part in this book that I could not imagine in detail due to the author's clear descriptions.

Overall, this book was just okay to me. It had some great concepts and characters, but it just couldn't seem to flow well at all. I think that if the characters back stories were lessened slightly and the story was told from fewer view points the book would have been better off. Combine that with an ending that still left me wanting for a little more action, I give it 2 stickies.





Sticky note: This ARC was issued by the publisher free of charge in return for a fair and unbiased review.