Fallen by Lauren Kate

Goodreads Summary: There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret…even if it kills her.
Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, FALLEN is a page-turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

I’m really not sure how much I’m going to have to say about Fallen by Lauren Kate. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of it. It’s not overall a bad book. And I have it on good authority (Amanda) that this series is wonderful. Personally, though, it was hard for me to get through this first book in the series. I found the first three hundred pages or so rather slow. One or two exciting things happen, but these events are surrounded by slightly monotonous and barely relevant details.
I loved pretty much all of the secondary characters. Arriane was hilarious in her insanity and Roland (though his part in this book was small) intrigued me. Penn was the only character who was completely sane and I enjoyed having those little bits of “normal” whenever she was around.
As for the main characters, Daniel was so aggravating I couldn’t even stand it. He has to be bipolar. I mean, I understand he was trying to stay away from Luce for her own good, but the entire time I just imagined shouting at him, “Just fucking pick one already!” Either be an asshole or not. The back and forth between the two was just irritating.
And Luce… she just annoyed the shit out of me. I don’t know what it is about her character, but I just REALLY didn’t like her. She’s kind of whiny and is one of those characters where you literally just sit there like, “Did she really just do that? That was so stupid!” Also, the way she fell in love with Daniel bothered me so much. Okay, I get it. They’re star-crossed. She’s loved him in all her past lives. She has REALLY vague recollections of knowing him in past lives. I can see Daniel already loving her in this life because he remembers everything from their past. But Luce doesn’t. Even all the feelings that come back from the past wouldn’t have been enough for me. I wouldn’t disregard them, but I’d tell him patience is a goddamn virtue and I’m going to take some time to get to know him in THIS life before I blindly followed the poster boy for assholes.
Alright, sorry. I’m done ranting now. I don’t think I’m going to finish this series. Like I said, it’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not my kind of book. It was too slow for me and Luce and Daniel annoy me too much. I wouldn’t let this review put you off this book, though. Amanda loved this series and is seriously angry with me for not finishing it. If you’ve been meaning to read this book, I still think you should try it. Personally, I just wouldn’t put it on my favorites list.
-Antonia

*Please be aware that the book cover on this post is a link to purchase this book through Amazon. Feel free to purchase with our affiliate link (just click on the book cover) to support us!

Heaven – Alexandra Adornetto

Summary:
The angel Bethany and her mortal love, Xavier, have already pushed the boundaries of Heaven with their relationship. In this conclusion to the Halo trilogy, the two take their love to the next, forbidden, step: They marry.
At the time when they believe nothing will come between them again, they are faced with the most daunting challenge yet: the Sevens, a military order of angels designed to maintain the balance in the universe. These soldiers won’t stop until their job is done-capture the wayward angel and send her home.
Secrets, exile, and unexpected allies flavor the rest of this intense love story and adventure.
Beth discovers there is only one way back to Earth, but the cost is higher thank she-and readers-ever imagined. If she can survive, she can prove to Heaven and Earth that there is nothing stronger than the power of love.
Review:
I’ve had a difficult time trying to write a review for this book because so much happens so this review might not be my best. Just bear with me, please! This book starts off right where the second, Hades, ended. Which I enjoyed. The theme of this book, in my opinion, is love and sacrifice. Heaven, like the first two, kept me on my toes and wouldn’t let me stop reading until I was finished. My favorite part about this book is how pure and innocent Beth and Xavier’s love is. All the couple wants is to be together. Because they’re “not supposed to be together” the Seven, basically Heaven’s military gone rogue, chases them down, and does a lot of damage on Earth. Things are very chaotic in this book, but hey, isn’t that what keeps it exciting? Another thing I seriously loved about this book is how much Gabriel shows his feelings. He shows how much he really cares about Beth by sacrificing the two things that mean the most to him. Ivy also makes a huge sacrifice for Beth and Xavier’s love. By the end of Heaven, you can very clearly see the depth of the characters love for one another.
This trilogy was amazing. I read all three in under a week. And once I started each book, I couldn’t put them down until I was finished. I definitely plan on reading these again in the future. And I suggest that you, yes you reader, go out and buy them, or go to the library and borrow them so that you can fall in love with these three books as well.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

*Please be aware that the book cover on this post is a link to purchase this book through Amazon. Feel free to purchase with our affiliate link (just click on the book cover) to support us!

Halo – Alexandra Adornetto

Summary:
Three angels-Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human- are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.
Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.
The angels’ mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?
Review:
Oh. My. God. I don’t care what anyone else says about this book, it was fantastic. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. Bethany is the main character of the book, and it’s her first time traveling to Earth and being in a human body. The fact that she’s so young definitely shows. She’s ignorant of almost all things 21st century. So ignorant that it might annoy you as you read. Personally, I thought it was funny and that Alexandra Adornetto got the point of Beth’s youth across very well. She’s just like any normal teenage girl, except that she’s an angel. She knows that she can’t stay on Earth, and once she’s fallen in love with Xavier it becomes a huge internal dilemma. I liked Beth because throughout the trilogy she was always a very honest character and was almost always more concerned about those she loves more than herself. This book kept me on my toes, I didn’t know what to expect next. Although, I’ll admit there were a few things that I saw coming a mile away. The way the Adornetto wrote had me fall in love with all the characters almost immediately. Another big thing about this book was the religious aspect of it. Gabriel, Ivy, and Bethany are angels sent to Earth to defeat the evil that’s happening all over town. And to do this the trio needs to make the town have faith in God again. There is a lot of God talk and things along that line. I’m not a terribly religious person and I’m not one to get offended about religion unless someone is pushing it on me. This book isn’t like that. It isn’t pushed onto the reader, it’s just mentioned, frequently. So if religion talk bothers you this book may not be for you. I think the only thing I didn’t like about this book was the girl that took Beth under her wing, Molly. I hated her more and more as I kept reading. She was just the stupidest, most air-headed girl and it seriously irritated me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the supernatural young adult types of books.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

*Please be aware that the book cover on this post is a link to purchase this book through Amazon. Feel free to purchase with our affiliate link (just click on the book cover) to support us!

Maximum Ride by James Patterson

Goodreads summary:Six unforgettable kids—with no families, no homes—are running for their lives. Max Ride and her best friends have the ability to fly. And that’s just the beginning of their amazing powers. But they don’t know where they come from, who’s hunting them, why they are different from all other humans… and if they’re meant to save mankind—or destroy it.
Dearest Readers,
So, since we just started our blog, we figured we’d do a few reviews of some of the series’ we’ve read recently. Ready… Set… GO!
For my first post, I want to talk about a series that I ABSOLUTELY fucking loved. The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. There’s eight books: The Angel Experiment, School’s Out Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, Max, Fang, Angel, and Nevermore.
These books are amazing. I read the entire series in about a week. I got the first three from the library and went through them like fucking water, then proceeded to harass Amanda for most of a day until she gave me the rest of them. (She took much longer than I thought was necessary.)
My favorite thing about these books was how the six main characters were raised in a science lab as experiments and after they escaped, they lived by themselves, learning about the world through TV, internet, and books. I think Patterson did a fantastic job of showing how awkward and out of place the characters feel around other people. As the series progresses, you see them grow and learn about other people and the world in general but they always have that sense that they don’t belong. I also think he did a good job of showing how even though the six children (ages 7-14) are trying to save the world, they’re still very young and in a lot of respects want and think the same things other children their ages want and think.
I also loved the familial relationship between them. Only two of the kids are actually related, but they’ve all spent their entire lives together. They’ve grown up together, fought together, almost died together. And although they disagree and fight as siblings tend to do, you never lose the feeling that they’re a family and take care of each other. These books are funny, bad-ass, suspenseful, fucking infuriating, and a little bit romantic. I definitely consider it one of my new favorite series and strongly advise whoever’s reading this to go get these books as quickly as physically possible.
-Antonia