Monday, 24 September 2012

Pledged by Gwynneth White- Review



Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient curse is tearing him away. And the demons who invoked it will stop at nothing – even murder – to claim him as their own.

How can she win against a curse so binding that it has damned countless others to this same fate – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a pledge.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya and confront the curse that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

(Blurb from Goodreads)

*****

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

We were so excited when we were asked to join the Pledged Book Tour, as it was our very first book tour that we'd be participating in (yay for us!). And we got even more excited when we read the blurb for Pledged. Paranormal romance? Yes please.



One of the things we loved about this book would probably be the actual story itself, and the way Gwynneth White wrote it. Pledged is written in third person omniscient, and let us tell you, we can't list the number of books that were written in this point of view that failed miserably. This is not one of those books. The language is simple and easy to understand, which is helpful as there were a lot of details us readers need to know to understand the plot.

The only negative we could say about this book was that Erin didn't really live up to that "kick-ass" heroine that we were expecting her to be. There were times in the book when she didn't strike up as believable, for example when she was fully ready to accept that Seth was her soulmate and that they were meant to be together. We liked Seth, however; his part of the book was more believable to us. His responses to the situation they were thrown into felt more real- like when he couldn't just choose a girl he'd only just met over his brother. It also helped that he was hot. Yeah, okay, we more than liked him. Shhh.



Overall, we enjoyed this book a lot, it was action filled, plus the romance was well written, after we got past the whole character thing up there. We're definitely looking forward to the sequel!

Friday, 7 September 2012

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green- Review



 Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
Blurb from Goodreads

*****

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
 
This is me right now:







I can't even. John Green. That man.

****

One of the things about me that can tell you if I really like a book or not, is if I've borrowed a book from the library, read it, but still want to buy it from the bookstore. The Fault In Our Stars is definitely those books. I am so in love with this book, that I am tempted to buy every single edition of this- paperback, hardcover, whatever- but such expenses is too much for my wallet.



John Green continues to baffle me with the way he writes his books; his prose, his characters, the plot- everything. He could make me laugh like a mental patient one minute, and then bawl like a five- year- old the next. The way he writes and the things he writes about is so relateable to any teenager out there and I love that he understands. I mean, trying not to sound like Patrick here during that chocolate selling episode in Spongebob, but I love that man. The amazingness is to much to describe.



Lord, and Augustus. And the metaphors. And Hazel and Gus together. I absolutely loved how their relationship was very real and nothing seemed fake or cheesy (not that I expected fake cheesyness from John Green). Such perfection. I loved it. I loved all the other characters as well, Isaac, Van Houten, Lidewij, and how they were all relevant to the story (because I hate useless characters).



There's nothing negative for me to say about this book. The Fault In Our Stars was pretty much perfect.

In the end, I loved, loved loved this book; it was hilarious, witty and insightful. It just made me loved John Green more and more excited to read his other and future books. So now, if you excuse me, I am off to the bookstore hopefully to find a copy of The Fault In Our Stars.