Book Review: Touched by Elisa S. Amore

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Touched
Touched Saga #1

Author: Elisa S. Amore

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural
Released: January 31, 2016
Review Source: Author

Based On A Norwegian Legend A Sealed Fate An Angel of Death A Forbidden Love

“As seductive as Meet Joe Black. As mysterious as City of Angels. As powerful as Twilight.”

What are you willing to sacrifice when the only person who can save you is the same one who has to kill you?

After vampires and werewolves, after wizards and fallen angels, a new breed of Angels is here to usher you into their dark world. An ancient, deadly, inescapable race. No one can see them. They’re shadows of destiny. They’re knights of death. They’re the Subterraneans and they’re here to claim our lives. Commanded by a mysterious congregation called the Màsala, the Angels of Death ensure that each man’s destiny takes its due course on Earth. But what happens when love intervenes? Can an Angel of Death deny his own nature and challenge destiny? Can love rebel against fate?

When Gemma’s eyes first meet the dark, piercing gaze of Evan James, an ominous shadow creeps into her life, ultimately leading her to face her destiny. She doesn't realize Evan is one of Death's soldiers and that Death is summoning her. Her time is up: Gemma must die . . . and Evan has been sent to kill her. But what if she’s the only one who can truly see him?

Against every rule. Against fate itself. Against everything and everyone. A story of forbidden love and star-crossed destinies.

I wanted to be touched by this story, but I was not.

I really truly wanted to like this book, the plot was interesting and drew me in fast. Its rare but it does happen when I find a book I cannot finish reading. I read through the reviews online and there are an overwhelming number of five star reviews but many I believe were misleading. If not, then maybe the book reads better in Spanish as many of these reviews must have come from back when the book was first released in 2012 in a different language. Having read to about 40% I wasn't interested in continuing, and that depressed me because I so wanted to love this book.

Of all the characters introduced, only Peter seemed like a realistic and believable character. He felt genuine, he had real reactions to the events and people around him and I felt for him as he pined after Gemma who was so clearly in the dark about his obvious feelings for her. Gemma herself clearly suffers from a Romantic Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, similar in many ways to Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga (think when Edward went MIA in book 2). It's scary to read page after page of how she describes her dark wild boy, repeated verbatim every page. The wild boy, is clearly an agent of death, if not simply an assassin reaper, which still sounds so cool, but he is only cool until he comes to kill and collect Gemma. Then he turns into the male version of her, just as obsessed and repetitive. Its kinda sad because for all that I did read the amount of time spent together was like maybe a whole whopping fifteen minutes combined. I put the book down, I'll still wish for a better version of such a great idea for a story.

Book Review: Under The Lights by Dahlia Adler

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Under The Lights
Daylight Falls #2
Author: Dahlia Adler
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: June 30 2015
Review Source: Spencer Hill Contemporary

Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents' wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls...opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he's trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he's in the spotlight—on everyone's terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.

Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents' disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she's painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her BFF, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van's life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she'll have to choose between the one thing she's always loved...and the person she never imagined she could.

Josh doesn't have any job lined up, and his mother wants to do a reality show but only can get producers to sign on if Josh is on board too. He'd rather go to the many auditions for other films that are not as worthy than do a reality show, which would most likely tank his career. His mother isn't past blackmailing Josh though, and will do anything it takes to get him to sign on. Vanessa, on the other hand, is dealing with her parents disapproval and with her newfound relationship. After meeting Brianna and wanting what she thought was a friendship, it turns out she was really wanting something more.

I did not enjoy this book. I had really wanted to love it, the characters were funny. I feel like if they were real people I would definitely want to hang out with them. But for some reason, as book characters, it just didn't do it for me. As well it might be the fact that I am a film person, and this whole story is about teen actors. I had thought this was a for sure link between me and the characters. But I was unable to relate, and I feel like this was a negative rendition of actors. Yes I know that there are some actors out there that act exactly how these kids do; but there are those who are like Liam, who will hang out with the crowd but will go and be serious about their work. It just rubbed me the wrong way. This could be because of my naivety and love for the film industry and all that surrounds it. But like I said I understand that there are those people like this out there. It just rubbed me wrong.

I feel like Zander is suppose to be Zayn from One Direction. And if he isn't then that is who I was picturing the whole time I was reading this book. My fangirl was showing, that's for sure.

Book Review: The Last Good Day of the Year by Jessica Warman

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The Last Good Day of the Year
Author: Jessica Warman
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: May 19th 2015
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens | ReadingTeen

  

The signs are everywhere, Jory's stepfather, Caleb, says.Red leaves in the springtime. Pages torn from a library book. All the fish in the aquarium facing the same way. A cracked egg with twin yolks. Everywhere and anywhere. And because of them Jory's life is far from ordinary. He must follow a very specific set of rules: don't trust anyone outside the family, have your works at the ready just in case, and always, always watch out for the signs. The end is coming, and they must be prepared.

School is Jory's only escape from Caleb's tight grasp, and with the help of new friends Jory begins to explore a world beyond his family's farm. As Jory's friendships grow, Caleb notifies Jory's mother and siblings that the time has come for final preparations.

They begin an exhausting schedule digging a mysterious tunnel in anticipation of the disaster. But as the hold gets deeper, so does the family's doubt about whether Caleb's prophecy is true. When the stark reality of his stepfather's plans becomes clear, Jory must choose between living his own life or following Caleb, shutting his eyes to the bright world he's just begun to see.

I went back and forth with this one - honestly, this didn’t work for me. At all. It was less than an okay read. Somewhat irritating. Unfortunately, instead of getting a thrilling novel, in which I was excited to read, I read a full novel full of details not pertaining to the “mystery” of the abduction. With no plot development. Instead, only the last 10 pages of the book tells you exactly what happens. 

The premises of the story sounds like a heartbreak. A family that is shattered after someone abducted their younger daughter. I honestly believed I would get something like The Lovely Bones. Nope, it was more like the family didn’t exist anymore. Everyone went their own way. And this book tells you how Sam view them.

The story is told in Sam’s perspective - the past and the present. Which makes the reader, well me, wonder WHY? Why tell us about a mother life? I wanted to know about the abduction. Why was she taken from her family? Why in this small town, would people blame an innocent man for this action without enough evidences? 

I almost DNF this book but I was stubborn enough to finish to see if it was ever going to tells us  what happened to Sam’s sister, Turtle. I wonder if Sam was ever going to either tell the truth whether she really kept her eyes shut while knowing someone was taking her sister or if she really didn’t know who was responsible for this. 

With this said, I do have to admit the last 10 pages were thrilling. My first words when things started to pick up: FINALLY! Only to notice the book was about to end. 

Thanks for the copy Andye!

Book Review: Invincible by Amy Reed

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Invincible
Author: Amy Reed
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Realistic Fiction | Romance
Release Date: April 28th 2015
Review Source: Katherine Tegen Books

The Fault in Our Stars meets Go Ask Alice in this dramatic romance about a teenage girl who survives a terminal cancer diagnosis, only to get trapped in the deadly spiral of addiction. Fans of Gayle Forman and Sara Zarr will be swept away by this gritty romance, the first in a duology.

Evie is living on borrowed time. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer several months ago and told that by now she'd be dead. Evie is grateful for every extra day she gets, but she knows that soon this disease will kill her. Until, miraculously, she may have a second chance to live.

All Evie had wanted was her life back, but now that she has it, she feels like there's no place for her in it—at least, not for the girl she is now. Her friends and her parents still see her as Cancer Girl, and her boyfriend's constant, doting attention is suddenly nothing short of suffocating.

Then Evie meets Marcus. She knows that he's trouble, but she can't help falling for him. Being near him makes her feel truly, fully alive. It's better than a drug. His kiss makes her feel invincible—but she may be at the beginning of the biggest free fall of her life.

 

At first glance, I thought I was going to really love this book. The cover vaguely reminded me of the movie poster for “The Fault in our Stars” by John Green. Then I went to read the back cover to get a better understanding of the story before I assumed it was a TFIOS rip-off. Turns out the book is about a girl with terminal cancer who finds love. I decided to go into it with an open mind either way.

Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT TFIOS.

If you go into it with that mentality, you will be highly disappointed.

See, Evie has had nothing less than terminal cancer for about a year; beforehand, she was a happy cheerleader with the sweetest boyfriend and most supportive best friend anyone could ask for. Even when she was diagnosed, though, her boyfriend and best friend never fell short of being the people they always have been. Her friend visits her regularly and her boyfriend is as caring as ever. Of course, her parent worry and her sister is a little bitter over the lack of attention she is getting, but it is all as normal as it could be when you’re extremely terminal. Over her year at the hospital she has made two great friends, and frankly, she is liking their company a lot more than anyone of her old friends. They understand her situation and make it bearable.

Although, throughout the entire first half of the book, it just felt like Evie was wallowing in her own self-pity. She feels guilty about the struggles her family are going through with her condition, and she feels sorry her friends don’t understand her like they used to. Page after page it was the same depressing routine, and it just seemed like she couldn’t wait for this cancer to finally kill her. Then, POOF!! No more cancer and she can begin trying to adjust back to her life pre-sickness.

The love interest, Marcus, is finally introduced. I believe he was the only thing keeping her sane from her self-deprecating thoughts. Then she just starts going through this downhill spiral that seems to have no end. She has issues with drugs, she’s not trying in school, she is disrespectful to her parents. By this point, I had already lost hope in Evie and was just frustrated with her.

I was disappointed with her character development. I think she was selfish and careless and wanting too much too soon. There is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end for the second book, but after being so frustrated I don’t even know how the story will continue.