Prom Nights From Hell - Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer & Lauren Myracle (2007)

I bought this book from an op shop because it was fifty cents and I like Meg Cabot. At first thought the pricing was a mistake because surely they could get more money for something with Stephenie Meyer's name attatched, however after reading the book I can see why it was so low.

This book contains five short stories, all about supernatural events happening at a prom. None of the stories were particularly compelling, they were all quite predictable and were nothing I hadn't heard of before. The exception being Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper by Kim Harrison. This story was probably the best idea of the five, however it didn't really have a resolution in the end and I think it would have been better as a full length novel.


The Exterminator's Daughter - Meg Cabot
Mary tries to kill Dracula's son the day before prom but fails. While doing this she meets Adam, a guy from her school who she's never really noticed before, they fall in love and defeat the vampire at the prom together.

The Corsage - Lauren Myracle
In an attempt to try to get Will to ask her to prom, Frankie takes him to a psychic who gives her a corsage that will grant her three wishes. Frankie then wishes that the boy she loves would ask her to prom so Will then climbs a water tower to spray paint the question on it and falls to his death. On the night of the prom she wishes for him to be alive again and his corpse comes to her house, she then uses her last wish to make him dead again.

Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper - Kim Harrison
At the prom, Madison is dumped by her date and falls into the arms of a handsome stranger. When driving her home, he drives her off a cliff and stabs her. Madison then wakes up in the morgue with two white (good) reapers arguing over who was responsible for not saving her. Madison is like a ghost unless one of the reaper's amulets are close by so she steals one off the black (bad) reaper who killed her in the first place and who came back to take her somewhere. A white reaper is then assigned to be her guardian angel for a year as she poses as a human while they work out why she's so important.

Kiss and Tell - Michele Jaffe
Miranda has superpowers and works as a driver on her day off from boarding school. On the day of her prom she drives a girl named Sibby to somewhere where people are trying to harm her. Miranda helps Sibby escape and then takes her to the prom so they can hide. While there Miranda talks to her crush, Will, who really wanted to go to prom with her. The prom is then evacuated when the police announce a "bomb scare" and the policeman who is leading them is the one who is after Sibby. Miranda then knocks out the policemen and saves Sibby, she takes Sibby to her safehouse and then goes to breakfast with Will.

Hell on Earth - Stephenie Meyer
Gabe is drawn to a mysterious girl called Sheba at the prom. Sheba is a demon who is causing havoc at the prom and when Gabe sees her she can no longer manipulate the people at the prom. She realises that Gabe must be half angel and has no idea, he is drawn to situations where he can help and is unkowningly trying to save Sheba.

Froi of the Exiles - Melina Marchetta (2011)

I know that this book has taken me ages to read, and the fact that it is 600 pages has nothing to do with it, I just found it's very hard to get addicted to. You know when you're reading a book and the part you're reading is so exciting that you have to keep reading? That didn't happen at all in this book, the whole thing is kind of like a slow burn, it's interesting, just not enough to make me want to read more than a chapter a night.

I enjoyed the first book in this series Finnikin of the Rock more than I enjoyed this one. I found this one was too long and had too many stories going on for me to understand. It's really hard to remember who all the characters are, which provinces are good or bad, and work out who's perspective you're reading from all the time. My favourite character was probably Phaedra, she was the only character who was consistently both likeable and strong-willed for the entire novel. Although I like Melina Marchetta, I think she is better at writing teenage dramas like On the Jellicoe Road and Looking for Alibrandi.


This book focuses on Froi, the thief that Isaboe and Finnikin met in the last novel. It's been about three years since Lumatere's curse was lifted and Froi is now a trained and trusted member of the Queen's Guard and is sent into Charyn to kill the king with information from a Charyinite that Charyn is also cursed and no-one has had a child for eighteen years. While there he falls in love with the lastborn princess, Quintana, who is destined to bear the first child of Charyn with another lastborn male. We discover that Quintana was really the oracle's child, not Lirah of Serker's (the king's whore), however the king is still her father. The oracle was thrown into a gravina on the day she gave birth to Quintana along with who everyone thought was her child. Lirah also gave birth that day, to a boy, who she thought was thrown of the balcony with the oracle because the children had been switched. It turns out that Lirah's son was Froi and Quintana's stillborn twin was thrown off the balcony into the gravina with the oracle. This means that when Froi and Quintana had sex, Quintana fell pregnant. Froi tries to protect her, however they are followed many times, and then when he finally takes her somewhere he knows she will be safe, Turla, they are betrayed, and Froi is captured after telling Quintana to run for her life and to protect their son. Beatrice and Trevanion get married, and Lucian falls in love with his Charynite wife, Phaedra, who he had previously rejected. Phaedra however, seems to die in a plague with five other Charynite women and Lucian is devastated. In the epilogue we learn that Phaedra and the women are actually alive and faking their deaths was part of an unknown plan. Froi awakes to his uncle, Arjuro, who is going to heal him then help him find Quintana.

^I told you it was complicated. And I left out all the confusing stuff.

Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares (2011)

Although I really enjoyed the previous books in the saga, I think this book was a total waste of a book and so much more stuff could've happened or been written better in it.

This book was written in the same style as the last four books which obviously works well with the four main perspective to switch between. My favourite character was Bridget, even though I used to be able to relate to Carmen, and Lena was probably my favourite character, Bridget had the best storyline in this book as it was the only interesting one. I think that if you want to read this book, save yourself the time and just read the last fifty pages as it's where everything happens. The twist at the end was the only redeeming plot point of this story.


Bridget, Carmen, Lena and Tibby are still good friends but have drifted apart in the last few years, especially Tibby who moved to Australia. A little before their 30th Birthdays Tibby invites the girls to Greece for a reunion. Tibby got there a day earlier so she could meet them at the airport, however when they arrive Tibby is nowhere to be found. They go to Lena's grandparents house where they were going to stay and they find all of Tibby's stuff but no Tibby. A body is found in the water that had drowned and it turned out to be Tibby, and when the girls look through her bag they find a letter that seems like a suicide note and some letters addressed to them with dates on. Bridget then finds out she's pregnant, she is still with Eric except after Tibby's death she started hitchiking around the country and doesn't want to tell him about the baby. Carmen is engaged to a guy she doesn't love, and Lena thinks about Kostos every day. Bridget ends up going to Australia to talk to Brian where she learns that Tibby had a daughter, Bailey. Lena starts a pen pal relationship with Kostos and has to deliver a letter to him from Tibby, in person. In the end Brian and Bailey move to Pennsylvania to a house that Tibby picked out that has many little sheds and other buildings where Bridget, Carmen and Lena could've stayed with them. We learn that Tibby had Huntington's, a degenerative disease. She found out when she was pregnant with Bailey, who doesn't carry the gene and brought the girls to Greece to tell them, she was then going to move to Pennsylvania with Brian and Bailey and go into a hospice. However she lost muscle control when swimming and drowned in Greece before she could tell the girls. Bridget keeps her baby and gets back with Eric, Lena and Kostos reunite, and Carmen breaks up with her fiancee and ends up alone.

City of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare (2011)

I bought this book straight after I read the first book because I knew I would want to read it once I finished the third one. I liked this book, however I really wish the fifth one was out because it has a big cliffhanger ending.

I didn't like this book as much as the first three, I thought that the storyline was really weird and sort of boring until the ending. My favourite character in this book was Isabelle, I liked reading her perspective and seeing the depth of her feelings and some reasons behind her behaviour.


For plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

City of Glass - Cassandra Clare (2009)

This book also came in the in the box set that I bought of this series. I really enjoyed this book, just as much as the previous books in the series.

This book was just as well written as the previous books but this book had a lot more fighting and wars. My favourite character in this book was Magnus, he was pretty hilarious in this book and he helped out Clary when she needed it. I also thought that when Alec came out to his parents, Magnus' reaction was very entertaining.


This book starts with the Lightwoods going to Idris without Clary because Jace lied to her as he didn't want her to go. Clary then draws a portal rune to take her to Idris and Luke follows her to protect her. Because of wards on the city, Clary lands in Lake Lyn, the lake that Raziel came out of to give Jonathon Shadowhunter the mortal instruments, however the water drives people insane and Luke takes her to his sister's house where she heals her. Clary then goes to see Jace where he yells at her for coming, while there she also meets Sebastian and Aline, who are cousins and are who the Lightwoods are staying with. Sebastian takes Clary to Ragnor Fell who will help her mother, however he has been killed and Magnus is there in his place and tells Clary she must retrieve the Book of White from Jace's childhood home. Clary and Jace get the book, however when they return to Alicante a massive war is going on because Valentine has destroyed the wards around the city and demons are running wild. Jace, Clary and Alec go to free Simon from the prison he was put in as the building is on fire. While there they also free Hodge, whho tells them that the Mortal Glass is Lake Lyn however he is then killed by Sebastian who runs off. Max was also killed by Sebastian that night and the Lightwoods are devastated. Jace goes to find Valentine through tracking Sebastian, however we learn from Jocelyn, who Magnus revived, that Sebastian is Clary's brother and Jace was Stephen Herondale's child. Clary makes a rune that binds downworlders and shadowhunters together so they can share each others abilities in battle, then Clary goes to Lake Lyn to stop Valentine. Valentine binds her up and then Jace comes to save her after killing Sebastian, however Valentine kills him first. Clary then draws a rune over the summoning runes that Valentine drew so when Raziel is summoned he kills Valentine and lets Clary have one wish. She wishes for Jace. The books ends with all the characters, friends again, and watching the celebratory fireworks together.

City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare (2008)

This book came in the same boxset as the first one and I enjoyed it more than the previous one. Which means a lot.

This book was written from many different perspectives which was really interesting. I also liked how the author started including more about all the different "downworlders". I thought the development of Clary and Jace's romance was kind of gross, but well written, and I loved the development of their special abilities. I think my favourite character in this book would have to be a tie between Alec and Luke. I saw a lot more of Luke's love towards Clary and his whole pack, and Alec's character development and romance with Magnus Bane was very entertaining to read.

Clary and Simon are now dating and Jace is kicked out of the institute by Maryse. The faerie queen wants a conference with Jace to see what he knows and to discuss things, however faeries are very tricky and make Clary have the "kiss she desires" before she can leave. Simon kisses her, however Jace is the one who must, which upsets Simon and he runs off to the vampires to see if he was turning into one of them. He wasn't, but by going into their lair they attacked him and turned him into a vampire. Valentine needs the blood of a werewolf child and a vampire child, so he takes Simon and Maia as revenge on Luke. Luke, Clary, Jace and Magnus go to rescue them from Valentine's ship, however he has thousands of demons at the ready and a massive battle ensues, Jace is about to be killed when the rest of the shadowhunters come to help him fight. Simon is almost dead and needs blood to survive so Jace lets him drink some of his blood then they go to find Clary who was taken by Valentine. Jace gives her her stele and with her newfound abilities she draws an "open" rune on the ship which tears it apart. The book ends with Simon realising he can now go in the sun, Jace moving back to the Institute, and a shadowhunter telling Clary she knows how to heal her mother.

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare (2007)

I read this book because Mac said that she thought I would like it after she read it. I saw a box set of the first three for thirty dollars at kmart so I decided to get them.

I quite enjoyed this book, it is very different to the other books in the young adult paranormal genre as it has many different types of creatures. I thought it was well-written and included many rare words which I had to look up in a dictionary which is always good. My favourite character, although it might seem a little cliche, was Jace, I found him hilarious and his personality was really intriguing until the end when he was all weird. I definitely enjoyed this book and will probably have to buy the fourth, fifth and sixth books later.


Clary is a normal girl who can see people that no one else can see. She soon learns that they are shadowhunters, and that she must be one of them as she can see them. Her mother is kidnapped, and Clary learns that she was also a shadowhunter and was married to another shadowhunter called Valentine who turned bad and started a massive war and has now returned. Clary then works with the shadowhunters Jace, Alec and Isabelle to find the mortal cup before Valentine does. They get the cup and Jace and Clary fall in love. Jace and the cup then get stolen by Valentine, and Clary goes to rescue them and she learns that Jace is her brother, who her mother thought was dead.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (1985)

I had to read this book for english and I found it surprisingly good. We got to choose between four different texts and I'm glad that I chose to read this one.

Although this book is written from a child's perspective, you hardly realize that at all as Ender thinks and acts way beyond his years. The plot of this book was interesting and well written, however I found that there was a little too much political jargon to find that part of the story at all interesting. Although this book is from a child's perspective, it deals with some very gruesome themes and there is a lot of psychological warfare and torment going on, which I found very full on and a little scary at times. My favourite character was Colonel Graff, you only get snippets of his life and his experiences however I really got the sense that he was a lovely person who truly cared about Ender.


This book is set in the future where an alien invasion of "buggers" fifty years ago has the world training children to be the commanders and soldiers in the next battle. Ender Wiggin is six years old and human kind's only hope of survival as he is a child genius. He quickly passes through battle school and moves to flight command where Mazer Rackham, the only person to have defeated the buggers previously, becomes his teacher. He soon goes through many computer simulations and on his final test he must go through a simulation in which there is a planet in the middle of battle. He defeats the simulation by exploding the planet, however then he learns that all the simulations were real and he had just killed all the remaining buggers. He and his sister Valentine then go in the "first colony" to live on the bugger planet and Ender discovers a fertilized bugger egg, ready to be hatched whenever. He takes it with him as he and Valentine go to explore the galaxy.

Room - Emma Donoghue (2010)

Mac lent this book to me saying it was the best book she read all year, and I have to admit I was disappointed. It's a book that made me really paranoid about being kidnapped off the street and really made me think about the world differently, so if you enjoy books that make you think, I strongly recommend this book.

I think the writing style of this book was really interesting as it is from the perspective of a five year old boy, so he capitalizes inanimate objects as he thinks they are real living things. The plot was a really good idea as well, I actually found it quite disturbing, especially the idea of a five year old with waist long hair breastfeeding, that is an image you will find hard to get rid of. This book had good writing and a good plot, it just didn't grab my attention that much.

For plot summary, see Mac's previous blog.

You Against Me - Jenny Downham (2010)

This book was lent to me by Mac and I can believe that she gave Before I Die (also by Jenny Downham) 4 stars, and this book only 3. I liked this book so much more than Before I Die and found the storyline a lot more intriguing.

This book was an easy read and was very hard to put down once I got into it. I found the storyline interesting and the decision that Ellie had to face very thought-provoking. The best character, in my opinion, was Ellie, she had such a conflicting decision to make and I found it easy to like her personality. To top off the thought-provoking storyline and likeable characters it had a happy ending, which always earns points in my book.

For plot summary, see Mac's previous blog.

Divergent - Veronica Roth (2011)

This book was lent to me by Mac soon after she read it and the only reason that has been keeping me from reading this for so long is that she needed it back for her assignment. I hate her for keeping it from me for so long. The movie rights were optioned before the book was even released and I really hope they do the story justice.

I loved this book, I found the world interesting and the story refreshingly different from most dystopian novels I've read. I really loved the character Four, he was very gentle, humble and kind, yet brave and courageous at the same time, I really want him to be real just so I could marry him myself. I also found it fun to imagine which faction I would choose if I was in this situation and it was surprisingly hard to choose.

Tris lives in a world where the population is split into five factions each of which honour a different value and strive to achieve it. There is: Candor, which values honesty, Amity, which values peace, Erudite, which values knowledge, Abnegation, which values selflessness, and Dauntless, which values bravery. When Tris takes her aptitude test to see which faction she would do best in, she learns that she is a divergent someone that belongs in many factions, not just one. Tris then betrays her family, who are Abnegation, and moves to Dauntless, in which she makes many new friends and falls in love with Four, a training leader who also moved into Dauntless from Abnegation, a rare occurence. The night after initiation all the Dauntless members, who had been injected with a serum that can control their behaviour, form an army to destroy Abnegation as they are being controlled by an Erudite leader who wants to be in power. However, as Tris is a divergent, she is not controlled by the serum, neither is Four as he is also a Divergent, so Jeanine, the Erudite leader gives Four a serum she was developing that will work on Divergents. Tris' mum and dad then sacrifice themselves for her to get to the control room to stop the serum affecting people, however first she must pass Four, who was guarding the control room. She manages to do this without killing him and together they stop the serum and take the data that contained the serum's control code.

The Power of Six - Pittacus Lore (2011)

I was so excited for this book because I read I Am Number Four like six months before it was a movie and could not wait for this book. It was absolutely worth the wait.

I think I liked this book even more than the first book in the Lorien Legacies series and if they keep getting better I cannot wait for the next book, which hasn't even been confirmed yet. My favourite part in this book was learning more about Six and her seeing her character develop into more than just a warrior.


This book switches between the perspectives of John, who is with Six and Sam, and Marina, number seven. Marina has been living in a convent with her cepan, Adelina since they first arrived on earth because Adelina has started to believe in the nun's ways, this has left Marina to develop her legacies and look for the other Garde by herself. John, Sam and Six have a bit of a love triangle going as they are on the run, however when they learn that Sam's dad was a human that helped the Garde escape and was a Lorien ally that left a tracker to find their ship in his lair, they have to stop running and return to Paradise. They get the tracker, however John's chest gets stolen in the process and then he goes to see Sarah, who has been working with the police and has turned him in. Six breaks him and Sam out of jail and then they split up, with Six going to Spain to save Marina who is being attacked by Mogadorians, and Sam and John going to the mogadorians headquarters to get the chest. Six helps defeat the mogadorians with Marina and Ella, the tenth Garde who was sent on the second ship from Lorien and who has been with Marina for a while. John and Sam save the chests and find Nine captured in the cells, Sam then gets trapped in the cells while looking through them to find his father and John and Nine are blocked out of the headquarters by a forcefield as Setrakus Ra, the mogadorian leader, returns to join the fight.

Bloodlines - Richelle Mead (2011)

My cousin lent this book to me because she lent me the Vampire Academy series which I enjoyed. This is a spin off from that series, but it's written in the same type of style and fans will enjoy it.

I definitely enjoyed this book, I really liked the original series, and this book is written in the same way as the old series except revolving around Sydney and Jill. Richelle follows the same kind of plot structure she always does with lots of enjoyable dialogue until the last hundred pages when all the action happens. I really enjoyed how much Adrian was in the book considering how loveable his character is.


Sydney has been assigned to protect Jill from moroi assassins who wish to kill her so Lissa can no longer be queen. Jill has been sent to a college in Palm Springs with Sydney, Eddie, Adrian, to whom she is now spirit bound, and Keith, Sydney's boss who is an extreme dickhead in my opinion. Sydney eventually becomes fond of all her new vampire and dhampir friends and they help her discover that Keith has been selling vampire blood and saliva for his own personal gain. Sydney is then attacked by Lee, who was a moroi whom Jill had fallen for, he had previously been strigoi but had been restored by a spirit user and was now trying to become strigoi again. Adrian then comes to help Sydney, and eventually Eddie and Jill turn up to save the day, but not before they discover that Lee cannot become strigoi again and he dies trying to be turned by two other strigoi who he had called. Sydney is then assigned to stay on in Palm Springs in Keith's place and to head up a task force discovering about spirit's affect on strigoi, there is a little spark of romance between her and Adrian right before the end of the book, however Sydney is disheartened when her task force arrives and Dimitri is part of it.

Delirium - Lauren Oliver (2011)

I wanted to read this book when Mac bought it for a friend of ours for her birthday in February, she said she would lend it to me when she finished it however she still hasn't. So I borrowed it from another friend of mine on the recommendation that I would really like it, I did like it, but it's not as good as others in its genre.

I did like this book, I found it very similar to Matched by Ally Condie with the opressive society that chooses your husband or wife for you. I found that the character that never talked, Gracie, was my favourite. She was very interesting and helped keep Lena's home life interesting.


This book is set in a future where love is a disease which you are cured against at 18. Lena was looking forward to her procedure until she met Alex. Alex is an "invalid" someone who lives past the border of the city and in the wilds, he managed to get a fake id number and was allowed to live in society. Lena falls in love with Alex and she decides to leave before her procedure with him and go the the wilds. The Regulators catch them, lock Lena up, and move her procedure foward, however with the help of her best friend Hana and her cousin Gracie, Lena escapes her bounds and Alex comes for her. A chase ensues which ends in Lena crossing into the wilds and Alex being shot helping her escape. A really depressing ending, especially considering how much more I liked Alex than Lena.

Specials - Scott Westerfeld (2006)

This book is the third in the Uglies series and was a reread for me because of my english oral.

This book is a lot more action packed than previous books in the series and still has the excellent writing style and interesting characters of the previous books. The best part of this book was the reappearance of David, who was scarcely in Pretties and I had forgotten how much I liked him.


In this book Tally Youngblood is now a special special, a cutter, led by Shay and devoted to taking down the Smoke. Tally wants Zane to become a special, however Shay says that he needs to do something to prove he can be special so they decide to help him escape to the smoke so Dr Cable will make him special. To help him escape Tally and Shay steal a tool from the armoury and accidentally destroy it in the process. Zane escapes with a bunch of crims and Tally and Shay follow them, however Shay decides to go ahead leaving only Tally following the crims and Zane. When they arrive at the Smoke they learn that the smokies have joined with another city, Diego, which allows free thinking and has no specials and have already passed out hundreds of thousands of pills to many cities. Dr Cable then attacks Diego thinking it was them that destroyed the armoury and Zane dies in the process, Tally then returns to her city to tell Dr Cable the truth about the armoury, however before she leaves David gives her a cure for being special injection that she can take when she wants. Tally then talks to Dr Cable and learns that she knew it was Tally and Shay that destroyed the armoury and had spun it this way so no one would stop her attack on Diego, Tally then uses the cure on Dr Cable so she doesn't stop any of the progress and decisions that the cities make on their own. Tally is locked up downstairs and hears all the news that the cities are allowing free thinking, but are starting despecialization to make sure there are no superhuman specials left to hurt people, when Tally is taken for her operation Dr Cable helps her escape and tells her there needs to be at least one special left. Tally then escapes into the wild with David and tells people that they are the new special circumstances and will protect the land and forests when people start to destroy the land.

Pretties - Scott Westerfeld (2005)

The sequel to Uglies, this book is also a reread for me for my english assignment and I still am enjoying it, for the second time.

This book is very different to Uglies with a lot less about The Smoke in the storyline. However it does introduce Zane, a character who is very loveable and interesting to read about.

Tally Youngblood is now a pretty, best friends with Shay and about to be voted in to her new clique, the crims. When a party with her new friends gets crashed by Croy, who tells Tally the whereabouts of the cure, Zane wants to help Tally find and test the cure together. When they get the pills, they take one each, which has a crippling affect on Zane, Tally and Zane must then get the tracking bracelets off so they can escape to the Smoke. Tally gets sidetracked on her way to the smoke, getting trapped in an experiment full of pre-rusties that live like barbarians and discovering more about how the specials manipulate people. When Tally arrives at the smoke she learns that the pills had to be taken together, one breaks down the leisions in the brain and one stops the process so the brain isn't severly damaged. Zane took the one that breaks down the brain, however without the other pill it didn't stop giving him brain damage, Tally's pill didn't help her at all, meaning that she was never cured and changed her brain herself. A tracker soon goes off that was placed in Zane's tooth, Tally stays with him even when David asks her to leave with the smokies and when the specials arrive Shay is leading them and captures Tally, telling her that she will make her special.

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld (2005)

This was a reread for me, I'm reading these books again for an assignment and I really enjoyed this book the first time and again this time.

The main character Tally kind of annoys me at first, but once her character develops and gets a bit more depth to her thoughts I really like it. The second half of this book is definitley the better part of the book.


The book tells the story of Tally Youngblood, it is set in a futuristic time when the human race has evolved and now when a person turns sixteen they get an operation that makes them beautiful and their status is changed from an "ugly" to a "pretty". Tally is an ugly who can't wait to be pretty, when she befriends Shay, she learns that there is a place people can go if they don't want the operation; The Smoke. Shay asks Tally to leave with her to The Smoke and Tally refuses, however Shay leaves her a set of directions to get there just in case. When Tally goes to have the operation a division known as special circumstances steps in and tells her she must follow the directions and go to the smoke to activate a tracker they gave her so they can disable The Smoke and make all those inside pretty. When Tally gets to The Smoke she learns that the operation also gives the person leisions on their brain that stop them making their own decisions, Tally then decides she doesn't want to leave or betray her new friends, especially David, whom she has fallen for and throws the tracker into the fire. This immediately activates the tracker and the specials arrive, Tally fights the specials and escapes with David, they then rescue seven smokies and a newly pretty Shay, from special circumstances headquarters and start a new Smoke in the Rusty Ruins near town. David's mother thinks she has found a cure for the brain leisions except Shay refuses to take it as a test subject, so Tally gives herself up so she can try the cure then give it to Shay and all the other pretties.

Before I Die - Jenny Downham (2007)

Mac lent this book to me saying that I would cry like a baby, I did not, but I found this book very depressing.

This book is very sad, as it folllows Tessa Scott as she is dying from Leukemia and tries to complete her bucket list. I didn't sob like a baby for thirty pages, like some people, however there were one or two glistening tears on my cheek. I found this book very refreshing as it wasn't all emotional and touchy feely like most books about someone dying are. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a bit of a tear-jerker.

For plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

Forever - Maggie Stiefvater (2011)

I was so excited to buy this book when it finally came out, I have read Shiver and Linger and loved them so very much and I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. I wasn't disappointed.

The Wolves of Mercy Falls have had me hooked since Christmas last year and this book was a delight to read. It is much like the previous books in the series so if you liked the other ones then you'll love this one for sure. It has the perfect balance of humour, drama and romance that I love. I read this book in one day and I love the love between Sam and Grace and had to know that they had a happy ending and although I wasn't quite happy with the diplomatic ending that Stiefvater wrote, it was good enough for me.

The book starts from Shelby's point of view as she kills a girl who we later find out is Olivia. There is a lot more wolf perspective in this novel than in the others because we often see the wolf pack thorough Grace's wolf eyes. Tom Culpeper is starting a hunt to kill all the wolves and he manages to book the helicopter in 14 days, Sam then wants to capture Grace to make sure that she survives over any others. While Cole and Sam are looking in the woods for Grace they see that she has fallen into a sinkhole, they manage to save her and she helps them decide to move the wolves to avoid the hunt. While looking through Beck's journal Cole learns that to move the wolf pack one must stay human to throw images to another wolf so that wolf can lead the pack to the new location. While moving the pack the hunt is moved up and the wolves were going to make it until Shelby attacks Beck and scatters the pack when they are in the middle of an open field leaving them open to be shot from above. Cole, Shelby and Beck are shot among many others, so Isabel drives into the middle of the shooting so her dad will stop. The remaining pack successfully relocates to the peninsula they were aiming for, and Cole survived the bullet wounds. The book ends with Sam and Grace together and Sam asking Grace if she's sure she wants the cure even though at the moment the odds were fifty/fifty, Grace reminds him that she trusts Cole, and she takes his hand and they walk away together. I was happy with the ending because you can decide whether she survives or not, in my personal opinion if she had died it would have ruined the book so I loved that it was a sort of open ending. Recommended for anyone that liked the previous books or anyone that loves a good romance.

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove - Lauren Kate (2009)

I read this book because my co-blogger lent it to me because we love Fallen, Torment, and Passion by Lauren Kate and thought this would be good as well. Assumptions were wrong.

The only character I liked in this book was J.B and he died after the first 100 pages. This book was written well, just the plot wasn't any good. It is a modern remake of Macbeth by Shakespeare, I read the plot summary of that before this book to know what to expect and after reading this book I thought it was just plain weird. On reading Mac's blog on this book I thought she was being a bit harsh, however after reading it I completely agree with her. If you want to read this book I suggest you give it a miss and read Fallen instead.


For plot summary; see Mac's previous blog.

Airman - Eoin Colfer (2008)

Although I've never read artemis fowl, I have read the supernaturalist and I really enjoyed that so when I saw this in an op shop for $2 I bought it.

I really enjoyed this book, although it was slow in places and talked a lot about the mechanics of aeroplanes, it had a nice story and it does that thing where it could be true but you're not sure. I really liked the character of Linus Wynter, who was always determined to stay optimistic even in the darkest times.

Conor Broekhart was born in a hot air balloon, leaving many people thinking he was born to fly. As he grows up with his best friend Isabella, he learns about the science of flight from his much loved teacher Victor Vigny with funding from King Nicholas, Isabella's father. However, when Conor is fourteen and he and his teacher are on the verge of being the first people to fly, Victor and King Nicholas are murdered by the evil Bonvilain. Conor witnesses this and Bonvilain then sends him to the little saltee prison and tells his family and Isabella, to whom he had just professed his love, that he died trying to protect them. However as a form of psychological torment, Bonvilain tells Conor that his family and friends hate him and think he killed the king. Eventually Conor breaks out of Little Saltee and saves Isabella and his parents from being poisoned by Bonvilain by building and flying the first plane in history. An adventure story with an emotional twist, if you liked Eoin Colfer's other works or any adventure type stories this is a book for you.

Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot (2007)

This is the sequel to Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot, and it was part of the omnibus that contained the first novel that I blogged about earlier today. Once again it is similar to all of Meg Cabot's other books that I've read, however it is still pretty good.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the previous one, however I didn't find the plot as interesting as the original. It is still written in Meg Cabot's humourous fashion I just found that the plot wasn't as good as the first novel, however if you enjoyed the first book you will enjoy the sequel.


Lizzie Nichols has moved to New York with her new boyfriend Luke and is now living with him. She gets a job after weeks of looking, at a wedding repair shop however she ends up working for free by accident. Because she doesn't have any money Chaz offers to put a word in for her at his father's law firm as a receptionist in the morning. During the rest of the novel Lizzie fantasises about marriage to Luke and convinces herself that he bought her a ring, obviously that fantasy goes horribly wrong and ends in a break-up. There are many other twists and turns in the novel but it ends up with a marriage proposal from Luke to Lizzie which goes unanswered as it is the last line in the novel. If you enjoyed the first novel you will ceratinly enjoy this one and I'm sure you'll be reading about the third book from me sooner or later.

Queen of Babble - Meg Cabot (2006)

I bought this book because Meg Cabot is one of my favourite authors and I have enjoyed many of her books, including the princess diaries, missing and size 12 is not fat. Fortunately I bought the omnibus of this and the sequel because it was only $9 at an Angus and Robertson closing down sale.

I enjoyed this book like I enjoy all of Meg Cabot's books, most tell the story of a girl, with some sort of individuality, that loves a boy who she thinks doesn't return her love and never would. This book is a nice light read with a happy ending (I love happy endings) and if you like Meg Cabot's other books or rom coms in general, you will enjoy this one.


Lizzie Nichols is going on a holiday to London to be with her long distance boyfriend, Andy, for the summer however once getting there she realises that Andy isn't very nice after all and just wants her for her money. As Lizzie has a non refundable ticket to return home after a month, she travels to France to spend the holiday with her best friend Shari who is staying with her boyfriend Chaz at his best friend Luke's vineyard. When she is on the train to France she meets a very nice American to whom she tells of all her recent troubles with Andy and who consoles her and is very kind to her, however little does she know that it's Luke, who owns the vineyard she is staying at. A humourous tale then follows which ends with Luke breaking up with his girlfriend so he can be with Lizzie. I personally enjoyed size 12 is not fat & size 14 is not fat either more than queen of babble as they had a little more meat to the storyline, but to each their own and I did still enjoy this book and would recommend it to any romantic comedy fans.

Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini (2011)

I bought this book at dymocks because I saw it on a recently released display and I thought it looked interesting. It turns out it was a pretty good decision.

I loved this book so much that I hate the author for not having the sequel released yet. It may have many similarities to twilight and other books of the genre, but it was still an excellent read with some nice humour and an interesting plotline that has me so excited for the sequel. It makes me really sad that it doesn't come out until May next year.

SPOILER ALERT
The story starts with Helen, a girl who lives in Nantucket and has always known she can do things that others can't, and her best friend Claire who has always just accepted her. They learn of a new family that is moving to Nantucket, the Delos family, who are famous around town for their wealth and good looks and although everyone on the island is excited to see them, Helen gets angry and grumpy when they are mentioned. When she first sees Lucas, one of the five Delos children, in the school hallway, she immediately attacks him to try to kill him. She gets attacked by a stranger a few weeks later and the Delos family fight them off for her, she runs away but then hears them catching up to her so she starts to fly by accident and in mid-air she realised what has happened and faints in the middle of the sky. Lucas catches her right before she hits the ground and breaks her fall and they lie together all night in the hole they've formed by crashing into the ground. When they wake, Helen realises the crying women urging them to kill each other are gone, and starts to fall in love with Lucas, she also becomes close with the Delos family and learns that she, like them, is a demigod. As the story continues Helen and Lucas fall further in love, however cannot be together as it will cause a war of epic proportions, soon Helen's mother Daphne, returns to keep Helen away from the Delos family and ends up telling her that she and Lucas are first cousins and can never be together, even though it is not true. A massive battle follows, in which many complicated things happen which are hard to explain if you haven't read the entire book, which I strongly recommend any people that enjoy this kind of fantasy/sci-fi genre do. Overall I thought this was a fantastic book and I would recommend it to people that enjoy complicated fantasy/sci-fi stories.

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (1877)

This was one of the hundred free books that came with my ereader, and last year when I was in Sydney and finished both my books I decided to read this as everyone tells me its a classic and is pretty amazing. It has taken me so long to read it because I found it so boring and hard to read so I read all my other books that I wanted to read before I finished it.

I can understand why this book is a classic, however I wouldn't recommend it to anyone these days unless they had nothing to read and a spare couple months to read it. I can see how it was so controversial in the time period it was written in, and why it became so popular, however I find Tolstoy's habit of putting thoughts in quotation marks confusing, as I never can tell if the character is speaking or thinking. I thought Anna Karenina was very annoying, and only continued reading the book for Levin's storyline.


SPOILER ALERT
This book follows two main characters, Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin, over a number of years. From the very start of the book Levin wants to marry Kitty and he proposes to her at the end of the first part of the novel, however Kitty refuses as she is waiting for a proposal from Vronsky, who she has been spending time with and is in love with. Vronsky does not propose to Kitty, because he has met Anna Karenina, and has fallen into deep love and infatuation with her even though she is already married and has a child. Kitty is heartbroken when Vronsky doesn't propose to her and she falls ill becuase of it. Anna tries to refuse and ignore Vronsky's attention, however after spending time with him, she realises that she doesn't love her husband and never has and succumbs to Vronsky's charm. Anna tells her husband of her affair with Vronsky and he tells her to break it off and they can continue as if it had never happened. Anna becomes pregnant with Vronsky's child and continues her affair with him against her husbands wishes, then has his daughter, Anna, who her husband becomes attatched to. Anna's husband refuses to give her a divorce, and tells her that if she leaves she must leave her son, which she does even though it breaks her heart. Kitty then returns from abroad and meets Levin once again and after a discussion of the past they decide to get married. Kitty soon becomes pregnant and gives birth to Levin's son, Mitya, whom he does not love straight away. Anna does not love her daughter at all, she misses her son and is only staying in this terrible situation because of her love of Vronsky, however she soon becomes jealous and paranoid about Vronsky being with other women, even though he loves her more than anything. This paranoia and depression soon consumes Anna and she commits suicide by throwing herself under a train. Vronsky is then overwhelmed with grief after Anna's death and decides to volunteer to go to a rebel war in Serbia, and Levin finds his faith and realises that he loves his son. Overall this is a good book, but could be written in five hundred pages rather than one thousand, as there is way too much uneccessary political debates in the book that aren't relevant anymore, I'm glad I read it, however there are more interesting books that I would read instead of it.

The Replacement - Brenna Yovanoff (2010)

I bought this book at the same 40% off sale at borders that I bought bittersweet and this is a very different kind of novel to it. At first I thought it was yet another vampire novel, however after reading the recommendations by Maggie Stiefvater and Lauren Kate I decided to give it a chance. It turned out not to be a vampire novel, but an eerie science fiction novel that is very different to others in its genre.

Although it's not the best science fiction novel, it is still certainly worth a read. The Replacement is Brenna Yovanoff's first novel and I look forward to furture books by her to see her more of her quirky imagination and confusing writing style.SPOILER ALERT
This story follows Mackie Doyle in the town of Gentry where a baby will die every seven years and everyone just ingnores it. Every seven years a baby is taken from its crib and a replacement left in its place to die, Mackie Doyle is a replacement who survived because of the love of his sister, Emma. However as replacements are allergic to iron, blood and consecrated ground, Mackie is doomed and dying until the Morrigan helps him in exchange for him working for her. Mackie soon falls in love with Tate, a girl who's baby sister has just died, however Tate doesn't ignore it as she knows it was a replacement that died not her sister. Mackie soon goes to find Tate's little sister and decides to save her from being killed, which he does with the help of his three best friends and his sister. Overall this is a good book with an interesting plot and I would recommend it to any twilight fans.

Bittersweet - Melanie La'Brooy (2010)

I bought this book because there was a 40% off sale at borders because it was closing down. There wasn"t much left by the time I got there but this appealled to me because it was one of the top 50 books you can't out down" and that proved true. I read all 450 pages in one day, needing to know how every twist was resolved.

I would definitely recommend this book to any woman, it is written wonderfully, has many surpises and secrets in the plotline and to make me enjoy it and relate to it even more it is set in Australia. It is a family drama and romantic novel, however not in the kissy gushy way that you get sick of after a sentence, it's in a subtle way that makes you want to know what happens next. However the family drama is definitely the more prominent and better theme of the novel.

SPOILER ALERT
The story follows the journey of two sisters, Sabrina and Mimi Falks who have had a fight at their mothers funeral two years ago and have not spoken since. Now Sabrina, an Australian soap opera actress, is getting married and has to hire Mimi as her maid of honour. As the novel continues we discover about their dad; a drinker who beat Sabrina, about Mimi; a binge drinker herself, and about Sabrina; who has had anorexia since their terrible childhood and now as a consequence was infertile. Along with those main plot twists there are many more minor ones that occur almost every chapter in the last half of the book. Mixed in with all this family drama and hidden secrets is a lovely romance between Mimi and Nate, the best man, which, although predictable, is lovely and keeps my interest the whole way through the story. Overall, I think this is a good book if you like family drama and romance and is a nice holiday read.