REVIEW | Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld was read 34 of 2016 and I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars! This is a long time favorite of mine, and this was a reread for me. I think I've read it four or five times now.  I read this in order to participate in a liveshow on Aly's channel, TheLittleLibrian. You can check it out here!

Uglies is the first book in the Uglies series, which follows a girl named Tally. Years in the future from our time now, Tally lives in a world where at 16 years old, everyone goes through a surgery to make them as perfectly beautiful as possible.  Just a few months short of turning 16 herself, Tally meets Shay, who likes to explore, adventure, and get into trouble. But a few days before their 16th birthday, Shay finally tells Tally her plan: run away from the city to live our in the with a group of people that never turned Pretty. And so the story begins.

This series is so fun and adventurous and SMART. It delves into the beauty standards of today, what it means to be pretty, and why its so important. I think this book is so important, and could easily be required reading because for me when I read this the first time in high school, it helped me form my own self confidence.

That's really all I can say before I head into spoilers, so for those who haven't read it yet, SEE YOU LATER!


First of all, I need to talk about the fact that this reread was the first time I wanted a spark between Tally and Shay. I don't know if its because I haven't read this book in a while, since I've started reading more diverse books, or something but DAMN I so badly wanted that to be canon.  Alas, disappointment.

I also found that this reread was the first time I read this book and was really annoyed with our main characters, specifically Tally.  I remember connecting so well with her years ago, and maybe its because since I've grown up, gained confidence in myself, and all that jazz her idyllic view of the Pretty operation just bothered me. I'm not saying I suddenly hated this book. I just suddenly wasn't connecting as well with the characters as I did years ago.

I did decide to pick up Shay's Story, the graphic novel about Shay before she meets Tally and before Tally gets to the smoke. I'm definitely planning on continuing that series - expect a review of that graphic novel soon! I just recently finished it.

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Saga Volume 4 & 5 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

I gave Saga Volumes 4 & 5 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples both a 4 out of 5 stars.

There are the 4th and 5th volumes of the Saga graphic novels, which follow the story of Marko and Alana and their baby. Each from a planet and moon that are at war with each other, Marko and Alana's baby, Hazel, shouldn't exist - and the government of both the planets want to make sure she doesn't.  Trying to survive in a universe not just at war but specifically out to get them and their child is a dangerous game, and this series is all about that struggle.

I can't get into specifics about these two volumes since they are sequels without spoilers so if you haven't yet read up to Volume 5 of this series this will be where you should go.  I LOVE THIS SERIES THOUGH.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Lying Cat is the freaking best.

I love that Hazel narrates this series, it is such a breath of fresh air to be given a series with parents who have a sex life and a child who isn't 100% naive about it? Like I get that Hazel is narrating this story in a future time frame - so hopefully she's made it to adulthood! - but I still love that this series doesn't keep all the sex stuff separate from the family stuff.

AS ALWAYS I had an issue with how quickly Alana gets so angry with Marko. Its one of the most frustrating things to read because Marko is so open hearted and lovable, Alana is fucking everything up especially in Volume 4, and she's the one getting mad in every freaking issue.

I also thought it was weird that Alana was working as a public broadcast star of a sexy show? They're on the run why isn't she in hiding? They do bring that up very flippantly but SERIOUSLY THAT WAS STUPID.

Also the giant dragon penis oh my god LOL.

Also Marko's mom is another FREAKING AWESOME person! SO BADASS I love her to death she better not die or I will freak out.

The drugs got weird. I thought it was a pretty fleshed out part of the story though, like I understood why Alana started using, and how conflicted she was, how frustrated Marko was, etc.  It was so sad to read and I'm curious to see if now that they've left that planet will that problem just go away for a new one to take its place or will we watch Alana continue to struggle, as well as Marko now that the crazy green lady gave him some too? CURIOUS.

I also am SO curious to see where the baby tv alien plot is going to go. SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

Okay I'm starting to ramble without any clear direction so I think this might be my time to say that's all and sleep dreams (or not since its the morning? Questionable.)

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Curse of the Sphinx by Raye Wagner.

Curse of the Sphinx by Raye Wagner was read 31 of 2016 and I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

This book is about a girl named Hope who lives in a version of our world where people are aware that the Greek gods, demigods, and monsters are still around and take part in our affairs.  Hope is a Sphinx - a part woman/lion/bird hybrid monster that is thought to be extinct but in fact never went away.  The Greek tale of the Sphinx is the story of her grandmother, but its only a partial truth.  Now Hope and her mother live in hiding, since the Gods think they don't exist and they want to keep it that way.  But when Hope's mother is murdered, she has to figure out how to remain hidden while maintaining her life without her mother by her side.

I received this book and the sequel, Demigods and Monsters, from Booktube Tours in exchange for an honest review. And I am so excited to say that it was so very enjoyable! While there were issues that I had with this book I was so engrossed in the story, I felt like I finished it so quickly!

Before going into the things I love I want to talk about the few issues I had with the book.

As many YA novels do, the insta-love KILLED me.  Athan is too perfect to be true both physically and emotionally.  And he is lovingly obsessed with Hope but only to the extent that doesn't feel creepy.  Too perfect.

The family dynamic was something that I didn't love but was also very intriguing. Hope's mom and aunt both irritated me so much because the family is essentially all in danger because of their species yet they don't tell Hope everything she needs to know when big events happen in the story and therefore frequently is pretty reckless.

Okay besides those few issues, I really loved this book. It is fast paced as I said, and there is a lot of action and intrigue.  I cannot wait to start Demigods and Monsters because there are so many unanswered questions I NEED TO KNOW.  

I also did love Hope and the friends that she makes throughout the book. Honestly I probably loved her friends more than her because sometimes she made dumb decisions that had me groaning "NO NO BAD IDEA!!" But that's pretty normal for me with the protagonists I read, especially the younger they are and I do love YA so I stick it out with that issue.

I wanted to talk about some of the things I loved about the family dynamic - in particular, Hope's aunt. I love her.  She is so freaking bad ass!  I want a short story or a whole novel based in her perspective while she's off doing her research that she's doing during this book, getting information about the people who are involved in Hope's mother's murder.  I LOVE HER.

I'm running out of things I can say without spoiling things, but I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes urban fantasy and/or Greek mythology!

Until next time, 

MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling.

I reread Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling recently. This was the first time I'd ever listened to the Jim Dale audiobooks and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

While GoF is actually my least favorite book of this series, I still enjoy it and I couldn't help but choke up and tear up while listening to this wonderful story.  Of course I gave it a full 5 out of 5 stars.

I'm not going to bother with a spoiler free review here, because it's freaking Harry Potter and its also the 4th book in the series.

This is the book that hits the brink of the dark in the Harry Potter series. I forgot how long we spend not at Hogwarts - we get more back story and more plot that has to do with the adult dark wizards.  

Its also such an interesting experience because the more I reread these books the more I'm attached to what I already know about different situations that get brought up earlier on in the series.  For example, I started crying when Wormtail gets his new hand because I know what that hand does in the future.

I love this series so much. I highly highly recommend listening to the Jim Dale audiobooks. I think that's all I got for right now.

Until next time,

MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera was read 29 of 2016.  I gave this book a full and complete 5 out of 5 stars.

This book is about a boy named Aaron who lives in the Bronx, and while most of the world is the same as our every day life, in this version of reality science has created a procedure that can erase painful memories you want to get rid of.  This coming of age novel is about Aaron figuring out that he is gay, but doesn't want to be.

The way that this story is told is phenomenal. I absolutely loved the way Adam chose to make this almost a little bit of a thriller even though its not? That's hard to explain without spoilers but I truly loved it. 

This book deals with some tough topics. Along with coming to terms with your sexuality and coming out, the story also talks (and has a trigger warning for) about suicide and depression - Aaron's father kills himself before the story begins and Aaron also attempted suicide before we meet him.

The way that Adam wrote about all of these intense topics felt very raw and real because while there is hope, you also can feel that the characters living these experiences may not be able to see or feel that hope.

I freaking loved this book. I can't believe it took me this long to finally pick it up. Go read it. Love it with me. There's too many things I can't say because I don't want to spoil you for it. ITS SO GOOD. That's all I got!

With that I'm going to leave.  IF YOUVE READ IT find me on the interwebs so I can relive this beautiful story by talking about it.

Until next time,

MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by Rowling, Tiffany, & Thorne.

I gave Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by JK Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne a 4 out of 5 stars.  I did do a vlog style review on my channel that you can check out here for my raw and initial thoughts throughout reading this book.

This book begins at the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and focuses on Albus Severus Potter's Hogwarts experience and adventures.  The live play takes five hours to show four years of Albus' life pass.  The main plot centers around Albus and Harry's imperfect and volatile relationship that pushes Albus and his best friend Scorpius Malfoy to try to go back in time to save Cedric Diggory in the Triwizard Tournament.

I will be going into spoilers but before I do I want to give some general thoughts and feelings about this story.  I do want to say that I knew going into it that the formatting of the book was going to annoy me as it is a play not a novel.  I tried very hard to not let that sway my opinions but it did definitely make it more difficult to connect with the characters since you don't get much past the dialogue.

I found the first half of the book rather boring.  Because this book has a time traveling plot, the story was rather repetitive in my opinion; even though each time the characters travel in time things do change, it still is a very cyclical plot.  I also found the issues that create the drama of the story were too small to incite such large issues.

I did love how many cameos we get of so many characters, which I'll go into more detail in a bit once we head into spoilers. That being said, WHERE IS TEDDY LUPIN. I am upset. WHERE IS HAGRID. NEVILLE. I am upset that some of the supposedly most important people  weren't involved in this story at all.

Okay lets get into some real straight up spoilers.

TIME TRAVEL.  It's problematic. Let me first say that I tend not to be a huge fan of time travel plots because they can very easily be repetitive when you go back over and over again such as in this story.
But more importantly I'm confused why we got a time travel book.  As many people have pointed out, JK Rowling has come out and said that she made a lot of mistakes when she wrote POA and that in order to attempt to fix those mistakes within her world, she destroyed all of the time turners in OOTP for that purpose.  This makes me question how much say JK Rowling really had in the plot of this story, because if she truly hated the mistakes she made and did so much to fix them, why would she approve this reopening of the Pandora's Box of time travel.

I also have a huge issue with the fact that due to a humiliating loss in the Triwizard tournament, Cedric Diggory - the very kind Hufflepuff who asks everyone not to wear the Potter Stinks pins, who is mad that he won the game against Gryffindor in the 3rd year to the Dementors, etc - would become a Death Eater due to that.  Not just a grouchy old wizard. A Dark Wizard so angry with the world because of one (huge but nonetheless ONE) loss that he singlehandedly turns the world over on its side.  I just have a hard time believing that Cedric would have become THAT angry. I have no doubt he'd be bitter and sad and grouchy, and maybe lonely because he's so grouchy. But a murderous death eater? I'm not sure I buy it.

While I do love that Bellatrix got to be mentioned in this story because of her supposed "love" child with Voldemort, I'm still a little annoyed by the idea that they made a love child.  Voldemort isn't capable of love or human emotions like that.  Now I could maybe see Voldemort actively deciding to have an heir. But that's not how this part of the plot line was described, which it couldn't have. If it was a planned decision for him to make an heir, the Death Eaters would have known to keep that baby alive at all costs. Which means people would have had to know about it - like Draco.  But this girl was kept secret.  It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Last thing before I stop complaining: Why would anybody be surprised that the 14 year old middle child was mad he got a baby blanket when his siblings got cool things that they actually wanted or could use. As an adult, I understand why Harry thought it was sentimental and that's cute. But put yourself in that 14 year old's shoes.  I would not have been excited about that. Sorry, but I'm not sorry.

Okay I'm done complaining. Let's talk about the things I loved, because even though the time travel plot makes little sense, it was fun to see some alternate realities.

First and foremost I loved seeing the scariest version of the world, and getting so see that the fight was continuing even with little hope but much determination. Most importantly though, I loved reading that Snape was moved that Harry names his son after him. It was amazing and even though I'm one of those people that doesn't forgive Snape for being awful to Harry, Neville, and Gryffindors in general I did love to see him show some of that true emotion we know exists within him.

The alternate universe where Ron is married to Padma was freaking hilarious and weird and gave me the heebie jeebies. Why is Hermione such an asshole to her students in this version? Ron is still bumbling and I love it.

The ending. It was heart wrenching and palpable with emotion that I could not handle. I loved getting to see Harry watch his parents live through their last moments. It was something I didn't realize I wanted until I was reading it, and it was perfect.


So I had issues with this book. A lot of them. But I also laughed and cried reading this book because at the end of the day, I love Harry Potter and I got to live in a new spot of the story.  So I'm glad I got to be a part of that.

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | To Hear The Ocean Sigh by Bryant A. Loney

To Hear the Ocean Sigh by Bryant A. Loney was read 27 of 2016 and I gave it three out of five stars. I was sent an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about a boy named Jay in his sophomore year who spent his previous high school year rather alone.  When he gets a phone for his 16th birthday, he anxiously awaits his first new text to no avail until a random number accidentally texts him thinking it's someone else's number.  An unlikely friendship via text is created between this girl who texted him not knowing who he is and Jay.  Along with that, Jay also makes some friends at school. 

These two facts begin a coming of age novel about sneaking out from strict parents, going to church, making mistakes, and dating.

This book does have a trigger warning for suicidal thoughts, and I also think that while I won't go into detail because spoilers, I did think this was the best part of the novel.  It was surprising while still hinted at and I think it was well done in the way that often times when you know someone who has committed suicide or is thinking about it, you don't realize or recognize the signs until its far too late.

The tag line of this book is "strict parents create sneaky kids," and that was what made me interested in reading this book.  While the characters are sneaky and do go out to parties and such, I was a little let down with the way the kids who had strict parents acted.  The two characters with the most strict parents were also the two kids who were the least sneaky.  They were also the ones fastest to point out what the group was doing was wrong, etc.  (i.e. They go to a party and then get mad when they find out their friends smoke pot).

There was also a lot of cheating in this book and while I thought the portrayal of how those involved make those choices were realistic, I also was disappointed that the people who were betrayed let everyone get off easy.  Cheating does not sit well with me, and I didn't like reading that everything was fine eventually.

While this wasn't my favorite book, I did enjoy certain parts of it, especially toward the end.  Contemporaries are hard to please me so take that into account as well when deciding if you'll give this book a chance.

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie