Book #7: Unite Me

Title: Unite Me (contains two "Shatter Me" companion novellas -- "Destroy Me" and "Fracture Me," plus "Juliette's Journal")

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Date started reading: February 27, 2014
Date finished reading: February 28, 2014

Publish date: February 2014
ISBN: 978-0062327963
Number of pages: 224

Official summary: "Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner's point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can't stop thinking about her — and he'll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow. Fracture Me is told from Adam's perspective and bridges the gap between Unravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam's more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji, and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance ... including killing everyone Adam cares about." (http://www.taherehbooks.com)

Trailer for Destroy Me:

How I obtained the book: Checked out of library

My commentary: As you can tell by the quotes I put below, my favorite was Warner's story -- "Destroy Me." I loved getting to see things through his eyes, especially the scene when he encounters a stray starving dog. That scene was described from Juliette's perspective in the main books, but getting to see what Warner's thoughts were was really nice.

Memorable quotes:

• "Love is a heartless bastard." ~ Warner
•  “She is a soft, deadly creature. Kind and timid and terrifying. She's completely out of control and has no idea what she's capable of. And even though she hates me, I can't help but be fascinated by her. I'm enchanted by her pretend-innocence; jealous, even, of the power she wields so unwittingly. I want so much to be a part of her world. I want to know what it's like to be in her mind, to feel what she feels. It seems a tremendous weight to carry. And now she's out there, somewhere, unleashed on society. What a beautiful disaster.” ~ Warner
• “This girl is destroying me.”  ~ Warner
• “My mind is a warehouse of carefully organized human emotions. I lock away the things that do not serve me.” ~ Warner
• “Torture is not torture when there’s any hope of relief.”  ~ Warner
• “That this girl would know exactly how to shatter me.” ~ Warner
• “In just two days, one girl has managed to cripple me.”  ~ Warner
• “I have an extremely low threshold for disorder; it offends my very being.” ~ Warner
• “What's the point of screaming if you'll never be heard.”
• “I’ve come to believe that the most dangerous man in the world is the one who feels no remorse. The one who never apologizes and therefore seeks no forgiveness. Because in the end it is our emotions that make us weak, not our actions.” ~ Warner
• "There's something so personal about this journal; it looks as if its been bound together by the loneliest feelings, the most vulnerable moments of one persons life." ~ Warner

Buy on Amazon.com: Unite Me (Shatter Me)




 Reading Bingo: On the Reading Bingo Challenge, I'm going to mark it off on the "book with a female heroine" square on the young adult card.

Book #6: Evertrue

Title: Evertrue (third and final book in the Everneath series)

Author: Brodi Ashton

Date started reading: February 26, 2014
Date finished reading: February 26, 2014

Publish date: January 2014
ISBN: 978-0062071194
Number of pages: 368

Official summary: "Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself ... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die. Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?" (http://brodiashton.blogspot.com/)

Official book trailer:


How I obtained the book: Checked out of library

My commentary: --

Memorable quotes:

• "Truth. Pessimism. They're sort of one and the same lately." ~ Nikki
• "Nothing is as it seems in the Everneath." ~ Nikki
• "Nothing good could come out of 'Pop Goes the Weasel.'" ~ Nikki
• "I'd rather die than be your queen." ~ Nikki to Cole
• "You're delusional." ~ Nikki
  "I'm the delusional guy who's going to keep you alive." ~ Cole
  "You're the delusional guy who killed me in the first place." ~ Nikki
• "I'd rather overthink than underthink." ~ Nikki
• "There are some things that you just can't apologize for. Some things are too big for an apology." ~ Nikki
• "Google can destroy worlds." ~ Will
• "I feel like I need to go home. But I don't have a home." ~ Cole
• "I'm going to tear through your chest and grab the nearest thing to a heart you have inside there, and then I'm going to rip it out, and it will make that scene in Alien look like a kid's movie." ~ Jack to Cole
• "It turns out I have nothing to live for. And everything to die for." ~ Ashe
• "Deep down I knew you would be my beginning and my end. My moral consciousness began taking shape the moment I met you. In that way, my own soul began. And then when I fell in love with you, my own heart began." ~ Cole to Nikki

Buy on Amazon.com: Evertrue: An Everneath Novel



Reading Bingo: On the Reading Bingo Challenge, I'm going to mark it off on the "book set in another world" square on the young adult card because it takes place in the Everneath, and I can't imagine I'll find another book that easily fits this category that I'd actually care to read.

Book #5: Teardrop

Title: Teardrop

Author: Lauren Kate

Date started reading: February 12, 2014
Date finished reading: February 25, 2014

Publish date: October 2013
ISBN: 978-0385742658
Number of pages: 464

Official summary: "Never, ever cry. ... Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before. But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance — a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth ... and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined." (http://www.teardropnovels.com/)

Official book trailer:


How I obtained the book: Checked out of the library

My commentary:

• On no level would I call this book good, or even bad, but I can't venture beyond just saying that it was OK. On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give it a straight-up 3. It's a pretty typical first book for a young adult paranormal series. It's also on the same level as Lauren Kate's "Fallen" series, which also had a first book that was merely OK but it got better throughout the course of the series. I hope that this series will be the same and will get better with the next book. The story has potential to be really good or even epic, but only time will tell.
• The book did have more memorable quotes than the other books I've read so far this year. That made me happy.
• Eureka being the * SPOILER ALERT * one person who can unlock the door between this world and Atlantis by crying was a fun idea, at least compared to all the vampire, angel, werewolf, etc. stories of recent years. A teenage girl not being able to cry because her tears could end the world is also one of the saddest things I've ever heard of... because holding all those emotions can be devastating (which, of course, it is in this book since Eureka attempts suicide).

Memorable quotes:

• “Wisdom holds a candle to experience, but you've got to take the candle and walk alone.”  ~ Eureka's mother writing in a letter after her death
• “Love was a dance floor where everyone you loved left a mark behind.” ~ Eureka
• “First kisses were about discovery, transformation, wonder.”  
• “I try to hook you up every day. What's the point of calendars without dates?” ~ Cat to Eureka
• "Save the world, or save the girl." ~ Ander
• "(Eureka) was his life. (Ander) had to kill her." 
• "What kind of suicidal nut wants to be cracked?" ~ Eureka
• "I'm not your friend. I'm a sounding board for your anxieties and depression." ~ Brooks to Eureka
• "Knowledge is power; power corrupts. Corruption brings shame and ruin. Ignorance may not be bliss, but it is perhaps preferable to a life lived in shame." ~ Madame Blavatsky
• "She would never admit it, but sometimes Eureka thought she was owed a new life somewhere else. Catastrophes were like sick days you should be able to spend any way you wanted."
• "Silence is what causes most of humanity's problems." ~ Ander
• "You were a lot cuter before you started talking to me when you were just a guy who hit my car." ~ Eureka to Ander
• "If being weird is a crime, we should both turn ourselves in while we're here." ~ Eureka to Cat
• "Ander is good at changing the subject when the subject is himself."
• "You're just the kind of crazy every boy wants to wreck his life." ~ Cat to Eureka
• "Nothing is real. There is only what we believe in and what we reject." ~ Madame Blavatsky
• "Curiosity is a cunning paramour. He has seduced me well." ~ Madame Blavatsky
• "You know, you and Brooks should get together. You seem to be all the other thinks about." ~ Eureka to Ander
• "Trust wasn't something born from an experiment." ~ Eureka
• "Life is one long surprise." ~ Brooks
• "You have to survive because I won't live in a world without you." ~ Ander to Eureka

Buy on Amazon.com: Teardrop



Reading Bingo: On the Reading Bingo Challenge, I'm going to mark it off on the "first book in a series" square on the young adult card.

Book #4: Frozen

Title: Frozen (book #1 of the Heart of Dread series)

Author: by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

Date started reading: February 4, 2014
Date finished reading:  February 11, 2014

Publish date: September 2013
ISBN: 978-0399257544
Number of pages: 336

Official summary: "Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature — freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows. At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she’s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light. But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all." (http://melissa-delacruz.com)

Official book trailer:


How I obtained the book: Checked out of the library

My commentary: I totally expected to hate this book. The book summary did not appeal to me in the slightest, and I haven't liked de la Cruz's books other than the Blue Bloods books. But "Frozen" was able to grab my attention within the first 20 pages and kept it most of the time. There were some slow spots, but overall it was great. I can't wait for the second book in the series.

Memorable quotes:

• "There are worse things than being shot and dying quickly." ~ Wes
• "Those who were marked by magic were marked for death." 
• "(Wes) was soft, he'd always been too soft; it was his Achilles hell, his heart."
• "I'd rather die fighting than starve in the ocean." ~ Nat
• "There's always just a fraction of a second between life and death. Take every second you can." ~ Wes

Buy on Amazon.com: Frozen: Heart of Dread, Book One



Reading Bingo: On the Reading Bingo Challenge, I'm going to mark it off on the "a book set in the future" square on the young adult card.