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.