REVIEW: Glitch

Book: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Release Date: Published August 7th 2012 by St. Martin's Press

Pages: 308

Source: Library

Goodreads page: Click here

In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

The Romance:

1     2     3     4     5

This scale is different than most. 1 means that there is no romance at all. 5 means this book was a very, very romantic based book. A 3 will be the most common, as YA books surround another plot while dealing with romance too. Below are my thoughts on the romance.

I guess its supposed to be entertaining and it is an important part of the plot, but the romance didn't really help me out here. It just made me annoyed. I'm not a fan of romance, so I might be a bit biased about this but this book has around 1/4 of the pages about romance and love and all the other annoying stuff. Don't get me wrong, the love was very important to the story, but I think its correct for me to say: its annoying and obvious. You know, it just doesn't help that there is a love triangle involved too...

The Action/ The Adventure:

1     2    2.9 3     4     5

The action scale is pretty obvious and it is just like the romance scale. 1 means there was no action. 5 means there was a lot of action. Whether or not the action was good, I'll tell you below.

The action and adventure was okay-ish. And I have to say the okay because its not good, its not bad. I have to say the ish because its slightly below the okay. Its just not that entertaining. Reading this book wasn't that bad of an experience, and I did manage the accomplishment of actually reading the entire story, but it is just-plain-obvious.

The Speed:

1     2     3     4     5

The speed scale tells how fast the story goes. For example, if the introduction is boring and the whole book is going at snail pace, it'll probably be a ranking of 1.

Its so darn AVERAGE. I finally found the word for this story. Its average. The speed is average, the action/adventure is average, and the romance is average-ish. Its not bad, but its not good enough to be called good. The speed is, guess what, average. Its not slow enough to make me rage quit the book, but its not fast enough to make me reading and make me wonder what will happen next. As I was reading this, I kept looking up occasionally, just because it came to a particularly boring part.

 The Plot/ The Perspective/ The Storytelling:

1     2     3     4     5

This isn't based on how much action shows up as the book progresses. It is based on the quality of the plot. Sometimes the plot is just unentertaining while others are the on-the-end-of-your-seat suspenseful. This is probably the scale that you should pay the most attention to.

The plot is actually pretty good. If not clishe. Its average as well. This is the basic dystopian novel, and reminds me of Match, Divergent, and etc. Its taking bits and pieces from each story and blending them all into this. But the thing is that instead of making it spectacular, its just made it a blur of a story. Plain. Dull. Clishe. This is probably a really good story if you haven't read those books that I listed before. Once you start reading dystopian, they all start to blend together. The perspective is forgetful. Its not good, not bad, but I have to say its more towards the good. The storytelling is fine. Just fine.

The End:

1     2     3     4     5

This is going to be a limited scale as I don't want to spoil the ending. I promise I won't reveal any secrets, but if you want it to be a complete surprise,  STOP READING.

ITS MY WORST ENEMY. A CLIFF-HANGER. Now I get a cliffhanger, but in my head, it doesn't really make sense to leave off at a really huge cliff-hanger when the next book comes out in a YEAR. Its wraps things up pretty well, and despite it being annoying along with many other things in the book, I have to say its not bad.

The Summary:

Pros ---

-Speed is pretty good

-Ending wraps things up

-Plot is a lot like other dystopian books, can be good or bad depending if you read dystopian books before

Cons ---

- Once you read other dystopian books, they all tend to blur together, not really making any new ideas

- Its a cliffhanger!!! X(

- Too much romance. I usually ignore the romance, but this bothers me. :/

Final Rank: 

1     2     3     4     5

In My Mailbox (4)

Recap: In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at the Story Siren! It is a way of sharing the new books you got over a week.

Sarah:

 Maximum Ride by James Patterson
 This will be Sarah's review! Expect the review to come up soon!

 Incarnate by Jodi Meadows This will also be Sarah's review!










Nicole:

 Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi This is Nicole's book. The review should be on Umbrella Dreams shortly!

 A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
 This is another one of Nicole's books. A Beautiful Dark is also a re-read, as
 she has read it awhile ago but forgot most of it. The re-read will hopefully
 help, since Nicole currently plans on reading the newly released sequel.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan MatsonLastly, Nicole has gotten the book Second Chance Summer from the library. There were many praises on Goodreads about this novel, so Nicole plans to read/review it. As of 12/8/12, she has finished it, so expect the review to show up somewhere in the next week!

What books did you get this week? Let us know in comments!

A Lot Can Happen In A Month [Nov 2012]

So it's official! Me and Sarah have been book blogging for one whole month now! To celebrate this, I've created a new monthly post (you can call it a meme, I guess) to recap everything we've done so far. In the future, this post will come at the last day of every month, restating what happened over the course of that month.

And if you're a regular at our blog, take a look of what posts you missed but would be interested in! If you're new to our blog, feel free to stalk around and click on these colorful links.

Now, let's start this recap!

Book Reviews:

1. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

This book takes the word "romance" differently than most YA stories. In Something Strange and Deadly, Eleanor Fitt doesn't fall in love with Daniel right away. Daniel doesn't fall in love with Eleanor at first sight either. In fact, he was pretty annoyed when he met her, as he made assumptions about her being some rich snob. But as the Dead became more consistent, they had no choice but to see each other again. They had to work together, along with Jie and Joseph (fantastic characters, by the way) to stop the zombies.

2. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling is a refreshing sci-fi book to read. It's hard to find this type of genre in the YA world, so you could literally see me jumping up and down when I read quantum physics there. Thankfully, Elizabeth Norris has written this in a way so non-quantum physics people would understand this too. YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK NOW! It's so wonderful and amazing; not to mention, very unique. (Quote taken from Unraveling book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

3. The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

When I first read the summary, I expected something like Uglies by Scott Westerfield.  A girl who ends up in the wild, looking to find her true self. But as I read the beginning, I discover it's a lot like Divergent by Veronica Roth. There's a test..involving a serum...taken when you were in the 16 year old range..supported by the government. But that's where the similarities with Divergent ends. After that, Alenna gets into The Wheel and I find similarities with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The Blue Sector, where Alenna's tribe is, is set into a forest-like place, which I imagine is like The Hunger Games's setting. There is also fighting and death, likewise in The Hunger Games. But then, more of the story passes, and I find out that The Forsaken is getting more unique...until the last few pages of it. There is an explanation of what happened to the start of The Wheel and why it's there. And I won't spoil it, but then it became Divergent by Veronica Roth and I found myself cringing at how the reason of the Wheel is similar to Divergent. (Quote taken from The Forsaken book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

4. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

The perspective is in 2 points of views: Emma and Galen. Emma is in first person while Galen is in third and I feel like that really wasn't necessary. That part bothered me quite a bit, but its not enough to make me write a RANT about it. The plot however was actually a pretty good one though I feel like the storytelling of it could have been better. The idea of mermaids and the origin of gifts was a fantastic idea to write a book about but to be honest, the author could have wrote it better. And if any new author writes the same story, no matter how good the storytelling is, it would be considered cliche. I'm a bit disappointed in the perspective and storytelling but the main idea of the story was pretty good. (Quote taken from the Of Poseidon book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review.

5. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

This is a pretty good book. It's entertaining and you will probably like it. The only thing was:  this book wasn't really my style and it kind of deceives you in the summary. There wasn't enough action. I also thought it dragged a little bit. But overall, it is still a decent book. If you're ever bored and looking for entertainment you might want to read it. (Quote taken from the Graceling book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

6. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a great character with a funny sense of humor. The plot is excellent. The end doesn't end in a cliffhanger. This is a perfect book for people who love their adventure and action book. This is a mind-blowingly epic book, and I definitely recommend it. (Quote taken from The Lighning Thief book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

As usual, the blue titles are Sarah's reviews and the pinks are mine. Feel free to roam around those book reviews and plot what to read next!

Memes:

Memes are a big part of Umbrella Dreams. We want to thank Jill (Breaking Spine) for her awesome WoW memes and Kristi (The Story Siren) for her IMM posts.

Here are a collection of meme posts for you to enjoy:

11/13/12 -- In My Mailbox (1)

11/14/12 -- Waiting on Wednesday (1)

11/19/12 -- In My Mailbox (2)

11/22/12 -- Batch (1)

11/24/12 -- Random (1)

11/26/12 -- In My Mailbox (3)

11/28/12 -- Waiting on Wednesday(2)

To find out more about BATCH and RANDOM, please click on the individual links. For now, here's a short explanation:

BATCH is created by Sarah. The goal of BATCH is to let blog readers know about these four things: 

1. Book covers that we like
2. Beautiful book covers but horrible story
3. Not-so-beautiful book cover but beautiful story
4. Anything random that has to do with book covers

If you're a Being A Thursday Cover Hoard, then BATCH is for you.

If covers aren't your thing, check out RANDOM, Rhetorically Asked Not Discussed On Memes. That is a meme created to answer questions about the publishing industry/publishing company/YA books and etc.

For this month, BATCH is featuring Starcrossed. Click here to learn more about this book.

Also for this month, RANDOM is featuring the question: How much do authors make? Click here to learn more about this inquiry.

Rants:

Rants are usually written by Nicole. This month, she has written two rants for book bloggers to read. Check out below to get to those posts.

Rant #1: Love Triangles

Rant #2: Dystopian Cliches

I hope you enjoyed those rants.(:

Hall of Fame:

Hallf of Fame is a collection of amazing books Sarah and Nicole have read.

This month, one book has made it to the Hall of Fame! Congratulations to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

For a link to Sarah's 5 star review, click here.

Monthly Feature:

For this month, Nicole and Sarah want to feature this post. Nicole won't explain much of it on here, so click the button to find out the surprise!

Upcoming Book Reviews:

And now, lastly, Nicole want to share what books will soon be reviewed soon. To keep things fun, the review dates are still a mystery. However, if you catch a book you like, stay tuned for the review! It should be up shortly!

A Final Word...

Thank you so much for reading this post. Sarah and Nicole both can't believe it's been a month of book blogging already. So far, they are really enjoying this. Hopefully in the future, their blog will expand to be something even greater.

P.S

We have one very special Holiday post. They are very short and contain a thank you and a Happy Holiday. Here it is: Happy Thanksgiving!

REVIEW: Of Poseidon

Book: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Release Date: Published May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 336 pages
Source: The power of my awesome library

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

The Romance:

1     2  2.5   3     4     5

This scale is different than most. 1 means that there is no romance at all. 5 means this book was a very, very romantic based book. A 3 will be the most common, as YA books surround another plot while dealing with romance too. Below are my thoughts on the romance.

There wasn't that much romance, and I appreciated that. But it would be wrong to say that there isn't any. I guess there is some romance and drama, but its not a romance novel.

The Action/ The Adventure:

1     2     3     4     5

The action scale is pretty obvious and it is just like the romance scale. 1 means there was no action. 5 means there was a lot of action. Whether or not the action was good, I'll tell you below.

The action was pretty good. There wasn't that much to be honest and the adventure wasn't as adventurous as it could have been. It was an average action/adventure book.

The Speed:

1     2     3  3.5   4     5

The speed scale tells how fast the story goes. For example, if the introduction is boring and the whole book is going at snail pace, it'll probably be a ranking of 1.

The speed was surprisingly pretty fast. The beginning was a bit slow but later on in the book I found myself being tempted to read more and more. Its a pretty good book if your patient enough to wait a bit but I think its worth the wait.

 The Plot/ The Perspective/ The Storytelling:

1     2     3     4     5

This isn't based on how much action shows up as the book progresses. It is based on the quality of the plot. Sometimes the plot is just unentertaining while others are the on-the-end-of-your-seat suspenseful. This is probably the scale that you should pay the most attention to.

T
he perspective is in 2 points of views: Emma and Galen. Emma is in first person while Galen is in third and I feel like that really wasn't necessary. That part bothered me quite a bit, but its not enough to make me write a RANT about it. The plot however was actually a pretty good one though I feel like the storytelling of it could have been better. The idea of mermaids and the origin of gifts was a fantastic idea to write a book about but to be honest, the author could have wrote it better. And if any new author writes the same story, no matter how good the storytelling is, it would be considered clishe. I'm a bit disappointed in the perspective and storytelling but the main idea of the story was pretty good.

The End:

1     2     3     4     5

This is going to be a limited scale as I don't want to spoil the ending. I promise I won't reveal any secrets, but if you want it to be a complete surprise,  STOP READING.

The end was the most hateful ending ever. It is the one type of ending that I love and yet hate at the same time. Its a cliffhanger and a surprise. I love surprises and those moments when the entire story pieces together and you are in that moment of awe for around five minutes or so. I actually did find myself surprised, though I feel like that was my fault because I probably would have known the cliffhanger if I wasn't so ignorant while I was reading the book. The book did make me bored, but the ending is in one of my Top 5 Best/Worst Cliffhanger Endings.

The Summary:

Pros ---
-The plot was actually a really good idea.
-The ending is one of the best and worst I have ever read.
-The speed wasn't as slow as I expected it to be.

Cons ---
-The storytelling was quite disappointing.
-The first and third person transaction bugged me.
-It could have been better.

Final Rank: 

1     2     3     4     5

P.S

Sorry for being vague in this book review. I had a time limit, so I did a kind of short review. But to be honest, I can't really review this book in a way. I am pretty speechless on this book, but there are 5 words I have to say about this book: It could have been better.

Waiting on Wednesday! [2]

Recap: Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at the Breaking Spine book blog. It is a post dedicated to sharing the unreleased books you're waiting for. Here are this week's WoW books!

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

This is Nicole's WoW for the week! Here are her thoughts: I fell in love with the first book [Shatter Me] sometime last year. Tahereh Mafi's prose is so beautiful and heartbreaking while Juliette was a smart, resourceful character. I enjoyed reading the details so much I absolutely CANNOT wait for this book. Excuse me while I go cry about the release date of February 2013.

********

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—-June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

This is Sarah's WoW for the week! Here are her thoughts: This is actually a sequel as well. This is the sequel to the book Legend by Marie Lu. I thought her book was absolutely amazing and although people do hate on it, I feel like its a book that is worthy of praise. Not to mention, the book covers are awesome! The books comes out on January 29th. Not that far away I guess, but I'm still on the edge of my seat for this. :)

So we're waiting for these books this week! What are you waiting for?

REVIEW: Something Strange and Deadly

Book: Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Release Date: July 24th, 2012 by HarperTeen
Pages: 388 pages
Source: Library copy

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Something Strange and Deadly was a very enjoyable book to read, taking just about two days to read. The writing was clean and crisp, fitting in with the character voice perfectly. Below are my thoughts on this quick read.

The Romance:

1     2     3     4     5

This scale is different than most. 1 means that there is no romance at all. 5 means this book was a very, very romantic based book. A 3 will be the most common, as YA books surround another plot while dealing with romance too. Below are my thoughts on the romance.

 
This book takes the word "romance" differently than most YA stories. In Something Strange and Deadly, Eleanor Fitt doesn't fall in love with Daniel right away. Daniel doesn't fall in love with Eleanor at first sight either. In fact, he was pretty annoyed when he met her, as he made assumptions about her being some rich snob. But as the Dead became more consistent, they had no choice but to see each other again. They had to work together, along with Jie and Joseph (fantastic characters, by the way) to stop the zombies.

The romance in their friendship was pretty subtle, but the chemistry was powerful. I liked them together a lot, and was really thankful at the lack of love triangle and insta-love. I'd honestly like to read more books with romance as second priority (which this book is like).

The Action/ The Adventure:

1     2    3     4     5

The action scale is pretty obvious and it is just like the romance scale. 1 means there was no action. 5 means there was a lot of action. Whether or not the action was good, I'll tell you below.

There is some action in this story. But to honest, I was disappointed by a few of the scenes. For a book about zombies, I never really felt the fear I should, though I'm not sure if it was intended or not. Some scenes also didn't have that urgency of details added to it. Overall, they were somewhat interesting, but I felt like they could have been written in a more suspenseful way.

However, the adventure part of this story was great. Eleanor was a very adventerous character and she was brave too, which meant a lot of stuff happened.

The Speed:

1     2     3     4     5

The speed scale tells how fast the story goes. For example, if the introduction is boring and the whole book is going at snail pace, it'll probably be a ranking of 1.

I felt like the speed of this book was a little under average. It wasn't a big inference to the story, but some parts of the action (like mentioned above) could have been sped up to create suspense and some parts of the story were unneccesary. It wasn't boring, but for some people with less attention span, they might feel the urge to flip through the pages. For me though, I personally enjoyed them. They really let Eleanor's personality shine through.

The Plot/ The Perspective/ The Storytelling:

1     2     3     4     5

This isn't based on how much action shows up as the book progresses. It is based on the quality of the plot. Sometimes the plot is just unentertaining while others are the on-the-end-of-your-seat suspenseful. This is probably the scale that you should pay the most attention to.

Eleanor was an easy character to relate to. She was smart, yet not to the point of being snobby. She was kind, yet not to the point of being weak. She had that perfect quality to make readers like her. And if someone was bothering her, she knew what to do. Unlike some female protagonists, she had her own opinions and isn't always concerned about pointless stuff (guys, looks, what people thought of her).

The End:

1     2     3     4     5

This is going to be a limited scale as I don't want to spoil the ending. I promise I won't reveal any secrets, but if you want it to be a complete surprise,  STOP READING.

The ending of this book can be great or unsatisifying, depending on who you are. For me, I really liked it. It was super realistic, and had that bittersweet taste to it. It was also very unique, defying against a lot of YA books these days. The book had ended with the hint of a sequel.

The Summary:

The Good Points:

Eleanor's personality was amazing. Her thoughts were enjoyable, clever, and sharp. There was no insta-love beween her and Daniel, while the chemistry between them was very realistic. Daniel was a very likeable character too, along with Jie and Joseph being wonderful secondary characters. The writing of Susan Dennard was also flawless, the details being vidid and beautiful. If you love unique YA books, you'll definitely like this one.

The Bad Points:

Because this book is set in the 1800s, the writing is more fancy. For me, it had taken a few chapters to get used to the way Eleanor's thoughts were written. But nonetheless, it's easy to get used to. Also, in the publishing rights section of the book, the summary had included something about how this book was set into an alternate world. If so, then there weren't a lot of world-building in this book. A lot of times, I wondered why people aren't so surprised by the existence of zombies and spirits.

The action also could have been written in a more suspenseful way. For more details on this, check "The Action/ The Adventure" part of this review. And the ending for some people could have been unsatisifying. It was perfect to me, though.

Overall Thoughts:

Pros ---

- no insta-love
- Eleanor's awesome personality
- the other characters' personality (Jie, Joseph, Daniel)
- VERY unique plot (my first time reading about zombies in a YA book)

Cons ---

- takes awhile to get used to the language
- not a lot of world-building
- the action

Final Rank: 

1     2     3    4     5
I really liked this book. Eleanor, along with all the characters, were very enjoyable to read about. Eleanor and Daniel's subtle romance was great too. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to read a unique book.