In The Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton

Title: In the Forests of the Night
Author: Kersten Hamilton
Pages: 288
Publisher: Clarion Books
Release Date: November 22nd, 2011
Source: Netgalley for review

Synopsis: 
Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man’s forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea’s goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea’s family and friends. Tea knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich. And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.


My Thoughts:

Rarely do I ever love sequels as much as the first book in the series,  In the Forests of the Night is definitely an exception to the sequel slump.  I’m going to keep this review spoiler free because I don’t want to ruin it for those who have yet to read the amazing-ness that is Tyger, Tyger. 

Teagan’s character was so strong, self-less, caring and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her family and friends away from harm.  She’s one of the few female characters that doesn’t have me shaking my head with a “What was she thinking?”  Teagan actually seemed to be making the best decisions that will benefit and help the people she cares about even if the choices she makes aren’t easy ones.

Abby was one of the characters I wanted more of in the sequel and Kersten Hamilton definitely had more of Abby’s hilarious ditzy one liners.  She definitely brings in the laughs even in some pretty serious and intense situations.  Abby is definitely still by Teagan’s side and adjusting to all the craziness that comes along with being Teagan’s friend.

Aiden didn’t really have as strong of a role in this book, but he was still the same old adorable, voice prodigy,  Elvis impersonator hater, that I loved from the beginning.  I’m hoping he’ll have a greater role in the next book.

The romance is still going strong for Finn and Teagan, but I wasn’t really feeling the chemistry with them as much this  time around.  It wasn’t until the second half the book where I started seeing the spark come back.  It will be interesting to see where these two will end up.

I’ll admit the story was a bit slow to start as we read about the day to day lives of Tea, her family, friends, and the hectic household filled with strange creatures running/flying around.  I actually enjoyed reading about their lives and it was a nice build up to when they go back into Mag Mell, which like I said in my review for Tyger, Tyger is a character in itself.  The book was filled with so much suspense and drama by the end that the wait for the next book is going to be extremely hard.

The Goblin Wars series is filled with everything I love and I will strongly recommend to everyone who wants a great entertaining read.

Rating:

Mini reviews: Other Words for Love/ Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Other Words for Love
Author: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
Pages: 368
Published: January 11th, 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought By Me

Other Words for Love is set in 1980’s Brooklyn.  It tells the story of teen Ari who is trying to figure out love and discovering  the person she is and where she belongs.  This book was really different from other stuff I’ve read for one I went into it knowing it was a romance type story which isn’t normally something I would pick up, but there was something that just drew me to it. 

We get to know Ari from being a young teenaged girl who hasn’t yet experienced life who falls for any boy that takes notice of her to a being a mature independent young woman.  We were given Ari’s day to day life which does sound like it would be kind of dull, but it felt more like I was reading someone’s actual life and experience. It was so easily relatable to me from the friendships, family life, and the boys.  Lorraine Zago Rosenthal wrote a great debut and I’ll be looking forward to reading some more from her in the future.

Quote:

"You're better than most girls. And all of this," he said, glancing at my bed, "it's okay if you love somebody. So I can wait until you feel that way."

Rating: 

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Pages: 372
Published: December 2nd, 2010
Publisher: Dutton
Source: Bought By Me

I’m one of those readers who was really hesitant to read this book even though there were so many raving reviews.  Honestly it seemed like it would be a cutesy, cheesy, love story, set in Paris, but boy was I wrong.  There was plenty of drama and heartbreak to keep me entertained.

Anna is sent to Paris for her senior year which leads to a lot of complaining in the beginning which got pretty annoying after a while.  Who wouldn’t want to be in Paris?  Of course her disappointment doesn’t last long when she meets a super cute looking boy named Etienne St. Clair, problem is that cute boy has a girlfriend which leads to plenty of tears and many, many mixed signals between the two of them.

I did enjoy Anna and the French Kiss but Etienne and Anna both had their faults one they both shared was not being able to communicate their feelings for each other. Obviously there wouldn’t of been a story had it been resolved that easily, but still all thir back and forth made me want to yell at them, “You both like each other now go for it!!!”

Overall it was a really addicting, charming, fun, book and Stephanie Perkins is officially on my must buy list of her future releases.

Quote: 

"Why is it that the right people never wind up together? Why are people so afraid to leave a relationship, even if they know it's a bad one?"

Rating: .5

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Pages:  390
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: May 24th, 2011
Source: Bought By Me

Synopsis:

From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island.

Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to emall. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

My Thoughts:

I have been waiting for Libba Bray to release a new book for such a long time! So when I heard about Beauty Queens my first reaction was “Must have now!!!” So yeah I pretty much rushed out and got myself a copy on day one and unfortunately finished the book far too soon instead of savoring every single word.

The concept of Beauty Queens is pretty awesome. A plane crash filled with teen beauty queens who are then stranded on an island to fend for themselves, how does that not grab your attention.  That’s not all there’s also an evil corporation doing some nasty business, with the main leader being a strange little man who dresses like Elvis, Momo B. Chacha (I kind of emphasized his name in my head every time to sound a bit like Mojojo… random :/)

The girls at first were not so likeable to me.  It did take a while for them to grow on me.  They were just too shallow, vindictive, and the stereotypical way girls “supposedly” act towards each other by comparing themselves to one another and feeling superior to everyone.  As the story goes along though you realize there’s so much more to all of them and I actually found myself to having some similarities to quite a few them which I found pretty interesting.  It was great to see how the girls manage to survive on their own and making their own choices for once.  By the end, I pretty much loved every single girl even the once that remained pretty ditsy.

Beauty Queens is like Clueless meets Miss Congeniality mixed with a bit of Survivor rolled into one. Beauty Queens is at times hilarious, ridiculous, over the top ludicrous, but it also has some touching moments with a not so subtle women empowerment message which I loved every second of it. I strongly recommend this book meanwhile I will have be patiently waiting for some more of Libba Bray's awesomeness. 

Quote:
“I’ve learned that feminism is for everybody and there’s nothing wrong with taking up space in the world, even if you have to fight for it a little bit, and that if you don’t feel like smiling or waving, that’s okay.  You don’t have to, and you don’t have to say sorry.”