Review#7 Matched - Ally Condie

If your whole life was planned out perfectly, if you had the best chances, if you had the opportunity to live a life without risks - would you give it away for a boy?

Goodreads summary:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. 

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow

I know that this is probably a novel that one will either love or hate. I had the advantage of not knowing that when I started reading it so that I could find my own point of view on this book and it turned out to be very positive.

Although I do see why some people did not enjoy Matched at all, I found it to be a very fast read. I think what I liked most about it was how you could glide into the story easily, the world was easy to understand. In many dystopians I find it hard to focus on everything that happens plus the complicated rules of the dystopian worlds plus getting to know all the characters etc. Ally Condie in my opinion used very simple language to quickly point out the overall structure of the world, introduce the characters and the protagonist's history.

Now on to the story itself. I have to admit that looking back I recognize that there does not happen that much throughout the novel. Fast paced action or any kinds of twists and turns were not included. It is weird, though, that this did not struck me as I was reading the novel. Same with the relationships between the characters. Actually, their development is very structured and without surprises. Again looking back it seems to me like the author knew where she wanted the story to go and simply went that way without any interruptions. There were no outstanding events, no fights, no dangerous, life-threatening moments. I'd describe the book as very quiet and settled. It's easy to get through, but it doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat.

All in all,  I have to say: I see why some people found it boring. AFTER having read the book I see the flaws many readers pointed out in their reviews. Anyways, as I was reading the book, I enjoyed it very much and I found it to be a quick read that was easy to get into.

Greetings,
the Booksmartie

RATING: 2 out of 3 Smarties

Review #6 City Of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare

You assumed the world was in order again after the end of the mortal war and the happy end for Jace and Clary? You thought the Shadowhunters would simply start over and live their lives, kill some demons in their free time without major incidents? Oh well...you thought wrong!



Goodreads summary:

The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most important of all—Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend. 


But nothing comes without a price. 


Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her. His mother just found out he’s a vampire and now he’s homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side—along with the power of the curse wrecking his life. And they’re willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he’s dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other. 


When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace. 


To be honest, the first two installments of the Mortal Instruments Series were not really for me. I read them, found a place for them on my shelf and moved on. I just couldn't get as excited as some of the hardcore fans could. I got the box set of the first three books, though, so I read the third one, too and actually liked it alright. There were many twists and turns in the story that kept me reading and at the end I wanted more and decided to read the fourth book, as well. I loved it.

What I enjoyed most about this book was how I felt familiar with all the characters and settings from the beginning. After getting to know Clary, Jace, Simon and all the others in books one to three, in book four I was much more able to identify with them and to understand their actions. Also, I felt like their was a lot more focus on the development on both their personalities and relationships. I blame that partly on the fact that it does not have that much "movement" in it. Almost all of the characters stay in one place and interact with each other, they have more time.

As for the pace, I found this one a bit slower than the other three, but that was not a problem at all. I was so into the story and the writing style was so fluent that I found myself checking the page number and being shocked by how much pages (and time!) had gone by without my noticing. It was actually really hard for me to put this down and remind myself that neither shadowhunters nor demons or other paranormal creatures exist and I'm still having a hard time accepting it :)

The only thing I disliked about the book was its ending. I won't say what it was exactly that bothered me because that would be a big spoiler, but I found it a bit unreasonable and I would have expected something like what happened in the end of this book at the beginning of the next book.

Anyway, I would recommend City of Fallen Angels for everyone, especially the people out there that (like me) could not really get into the story at the beginning of the series.

Greetings, the Booksmartie

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties

"Waiting on": Keep Holding On

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to get our hands on.



This week I'm waiting on:

Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti



Synopsis( Barnes and Noble):
A romantic and empowering book about bullying
Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself—and for the love that keeps her holding on.

Actually, I just found myself drawn to the cover (I'm a sucker for cheesy love stories and I believed this was exactly what this book would be). Reading the synopsis, however, made me curious because I didn't expect the book to have such a sad issue in it. Also, I'm pretty sure I have the same shoes as the girl in the cover :)

What are you waiting on this wednesday?

Tune in Tuesday #2

Tune-in Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Ginger from GReads. The idea is to share a song that you love, new or old, in order to spread some music around the blogosphere!


Nicholas Wells - Meant to be

I want this guy to be my boyfriend. And to sing me this song every night. Nothing more to say.

Have a nice day!

Review #5 If I Stay - Gayle Forman

Imagine you are about to lose everything. Imagine your whole life was about to change forever. Would you go on anyway?




Goodreads summary:

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... 


A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make -and the ultimate choice Mia commands


I have a feeling I'm going to remember this novel for a very long time. Or more precisely I'm not going to forget it for the rest of my life. Really, it's amazing. I can't even put it into words. But of course I'm going to try anyway.

What amazed me most,I believe was the overall feeling you get while reading the novel. Once you start reading it you just can't put it down. "If I Stay" is one of those books that makes you feel like you have lived in its world all your life, like you were a part of it.

The characters are absolutely relatable. I fell in love with all of them at the very beginning. Mia was a great narrator and protagonist. She had a way of telling her story without exaggerating, she didn't need to use an enumeration of big adjectives to explain her point, everything she said was expressed in simple words which took away every chance for the novel to get boring or dreading.
None of the other characters seemed flat to me, they all had their very own edges and passions and none of them were those stereotypes you often see in novels. None of them were "typical geeks" or "typical mean girls" or something. They were just normal but very individual.

The action started fast in this book but the author,Gayle Forman, took her time describing the different situations and emotions. She never used too many or not enough words. Also, everything just felt so real as if it could happen to anyone anytime. The fact that you don't get any hints on how the story is going to turn out was keeping me on edge and made it almost impossible to put this book down.

I am not a musical person. Not at all. But the musical theme in this book just fit so well and is a huge part of the novel and I loved it. It really inspired me to expand my knowledge of music and it points out how many different kinds of music there are and how important music is in pretty much everyone's life.
Lastly, I would like to mention how this novel also brought me thinking about my life and what's really important in life and how much we should all appreciate the people who we are close with.
All in all this novel really touched my heart and it is just so special that I would tell anyone who hasn't read it yet to do so now. Come on. Go. Get it. Now.

Greetings, the Booksmartie

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties

In My Mailbox #1

http://www.thestorysiren.com/2012/04/in-my-mailbox-170.html

Hello everyone!
I'm assuming almost every book-blogger out there (and every book-blog-reader, of course) already knows this meme that is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. Anyway, it's basically a feature that allows bloggers to show which books they just added to their shelves no matter if they purchased them themselves or won them in giveaways etc.
As you may or may not know I live in Germany but read English books which means that it's sometimes difficult to get my hands on brand new copies, but most of the time the books I order arrive at my house at time and there are even German bookstores that offer English books in their stores (and not just online) so it's not really a problem.
But now on to the actual topic of this post: what I got in my mailbox this week (and purchased myself):

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson                



City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Purchased for my Kindle app:

Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens



I'm excited to see what you guys got this week and wish a happy Easter to everyone who celebrates and a wonderful sunday to the rest of you :)

Hello and a happy Feature§&Follow friday everyone!

Today's question is:

Have you ever bought a book BECAUSE of a bad review?

My answer: No, actually I haven't and I can't see why I would to be honest. Of course, if there is a big controversy around a certain book I'm most likely going to read it, but only because someone did NOT like the book...I don't think so...I would of course read a book although it has gotten a bad review if I wanted to read it anyway-what about you?

Review #4 Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Parents can be somewhat annoying, can't they? They make us do chores, they give us curfews and the very, very mean examples send us to a fabulous boarding school in FRANCE where we get to meet a ton of cute guys and get to eat nutella-banana- crêpes all the time...at least that's what happens to Anna in "Anna and the French Kiss"



Goodreads summary:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

I chose to take French in eighth grade. I met my French teacher and regretted it. I chose to quit French a year after that. Since then I've avoided anything that has to do with France. Until - you guessed it - I read this novel. To cut it short: I loved it. The story, the setting, the language, the characters - just beautiful.

I believe that there's different kinds of wonderful books. There's books like Divergent or The Hunger Games that draw you into their story until you're not sure which world is the one you actually belong with. However, Anna and the French Kiss - for me, at least - was just a wonderful, beautiful read that I enjoyed. It is not so much what happens in the book although the plot in my opinion is very well constructed. I was surprised by the things that happened, the many problems that appeared and how they were solved.

What really made me love this book, though, was the way the story was told. The descriptions of Paris and the French, the whole atmosphere in the school and the dorm, the relationships between the characters and how they developed.

Anna was refreshingly ... special, I think you could call it. She has so many different character traits and habits that it feels like getting to know a real girl and not just a fictional character. In addition to that, not one time in the story she made a decision that seemed unreasonable to me. The way she thinks about things and how she treats other people, all her actions just seem normal and you're not asking yourself why on earth she handles things the way she does.

I liked the other characters, too. Some very minor ones were maybe a little bit flat, but that didn't bother me at all. One gets to see some  hot guys - perfect boyfriend material - but also relationships between normal friends and how they change in the process of growing up.

All in all I can recommend this book for really everyone (okay, maybe every girl). I think even readers who usually don't like to read romantic novels or contemporary fiction in general would enjoy this story - and fall in love with everything french ;)

Greetings, the Booksmartie

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties

"Waiting on" Wednesday: The Best Alfter Ever

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to get our hands on.


This week I'm waiting on:

The Best After Ever by Sarah Dessen
Publication date: May 2013

Okay. It might be more than a year until this book will be published BUT I'm a huge Sarah Dessen - fan and I was SO happy to read about this novel.

From Goodreads:
Set in the fictional beach town of Colby, where several of Dessen's novels take place, it features 18-year-old Emmeline, who is spending her last summer before college working for her family's vacation rental business and enjoying a summer romance with a young aspiring filmmaker.

Tune in Tuesday #1

Tune-in Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Ginger from GReads. The idea is to share a song that you love, new or old, in order to spread some music around the blogosphere! 

Pink - Don't let me get me

Let me get one thing straight: I'm the most cautious girl you will find on this lovely planet. I am not able to say the F-word - not in public and not to myself. I would never wear a skirt that's even close to the one Pink wears in the video above. I get along with my parents and my teachers perfectly, I am the annoying good girl. Anyway, I've had a problem with adapting to the rules and norms of the small town I live in for as long as I can remember and whenever people talk about me or make fun of me I just blast this song and I find it so empowering. Although the lyrics actually are rather depressing, I feel like the music literally cheers you on and goes like: "Don't give up, keep doing your thing, just live through this!" 

You know what I mean? No matter if you do this is just such an amazing song!

Have a nice day and never give up!

What I plan to read in April...

Hey Internet! I hope everyone reading this (and everyone else, too, actually) had a wonderful weekend!
Today I thought I'd share which books I plan to read in April though I have to warn you that - although I'm on spring break right now - I almost never stick to the resolutions I make. Anyway, I'm giving my best this month.


Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins



I am currently reading this and I really, honestly enjoy it. Despite that it's taking me forever which is probably caused by my constant reading of book blogs instead of books :)

City Of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare



I have to admit I'm not as a big fan on the Mortal Instruments series as everyone else seems to be. I liked the first and second one and I really loved the third one, so we'll see how that goes. Also, I want to be prepared when City of Lost Souls comes out in May.

Dark Storm - Sarah Singleton



I am currently very much into contemporary ya and I fell in love with this (rather dark seeming) story immediately. I like that I have not heard much about this book on other blogs/youtube/goodreads yet.

The Selection - Kiera Cass



Complete opposite to the one above. It seems like everyone and their grandma has this book on their TBR - lists/piles so I just need to get it!

So, that's pretty much it for now. As I said I might be reading more or less than these always depending on my mood, because I really don't like rushing through a book or forcing myself to read and in addition to that I'm more of a medium-pace reader. Wish ya'll a wonderful day!

the Booksmartie

Review #3 The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen

Macy's world is quiet, structured, forseeable. Her life seems well-planned, everything nice and in order, Macy herself on her way to perfectionism. The kind of perfect that her boyfriend resembles. The kind of perfect that's just good enough to please her mom, to keep things as they are. Quiet. Peaceful. Fine, just fine.

It takes a whole crew of disorganized caterers to make Macy wake up from the daily coma she walks through and discover that life can be so much more fun the further away it fades from perfectionism...

Goodreads summary:

a long, hot summer... 

That's what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy's father. 

But sometimes unexpected things can happen—things such as the catering job at Wish, with its fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister's project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a boy with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl's world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to wonder, Is it really better to be safe than sorry?

This book was for me. Totally. In like...every aspect you can think of. It was perfect. 

I usually grab a Sarah Dessen novel at times when I just don't feel good about myself and if something's really wrong in my life and I just want to see other people figuring out difficult stages of adolescence. And usually, I get what I want. Which is good, but not that 3-smarties kind of great/amazing/wonderful.

It is different for me with "The Truth about forever".

 From the first page I fell in love with the characters and when I say characters I mean every single one. Macy was that kind of a girl that you want to befriend immediately and Macy's family - although her mom might be a bit difficult - is just so amazing.

The catering-crew, of course, is fantastic, too. They are all so happy and they present a really healthy way of taking life as it is and making the best out of everything.

The way the story went was not that surprising - in my opinion, but I find that with almost every contemporary novel you can guess the ending by the synopsis. There just won't suddenly appear a pack of werewolves from behind the garbage container.

What I liked about this Dessen - novel better than in some others of her works was the story telling and the way Macy's situation and emotions were described. Macy and I do share some similarities, but even if one doesn't I think it would be very easy for him or her to identify with the protagonist.

I could continue praising this novel pretty much forever, but I'm gonna stop now by encouraging every single teenage/young adult girl/ grown up woman out there to read this book :)

Greetings, the Booksmartie

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties

Hello and a happy friday everyone!

As you can see from the button above I decided to start participating in the Feature & Follow Friday. I started blogging mainly to exvhange my views on books with others so I felt like this was the perfect opportunity to get to know new blogs/bloggers ;)

Today's question is: Do you read one book at a time or do you switch back and forth between two or more?

Answer: I read several books at a time and that has various reasons. For one, I like to change things up a lot. For example, in rainy weather and on bus rides I like to read paranormal or dystopian books while I prefer romances or rather contemporary novels when the weather is nicer. Also, I like to reread certain books (i.e the Harry Potter series) and sometimes I just need certain books to comfort me when I'm sad. Then again, I read books on my netbook and on my phone so that depending on the device I have with me I read a different book, as well. If they count, I'm almost always listening to audiobooks so that'd add one more book to the list!

Right now, I'm reading "Anna and the French Kiss" by Stephanie Perkins and I'm planning on starting "Perfect" by Ellen Hopkins. In addition to  that I'm listening to "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak (although it's taking me forever). I do actually like to read books in one setting (which obviously means I would not read several books at a time then) but I only do that when I have LOTS of time (like on really lazy sundays). So I guess that's it for now, see you in a bit, the Booksmartie

Review #2 Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

Imagine the following: You think you are an ordinary girl. With an ordinary life. No, you are not over your father's death just yet and you're visiting your psychologist a few times a week. But other than that, everything's in order. Until, of course it's not anymore because there's an angel falling from heaven and you're head over heels in love with him. End of ordinary.

 Goodreads summary:

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life

I didn't love this book. I liked it okay. I needed almost a month to finish "Hush Hush" and I read about three or four books in the meantime. I feel like if you like a book it can be two different things. It is either that feeling that you get sucked in by the story so much that you forget everything around you. For that, the book does not always have to be super creepy or dangerous or anything. It's just that you get lost in the world that's created for you.
"Hush Hush" -in my opinion - is another kind of book. It's a magazine-book. By which I mean that during the past few weeks I took it everywhere with me and read it whenever I had like five to ten minutes with nothing to do. It was great to not get bored during waiting-minutes. I just wouldn't sit down and read it in one setting and then look forward to the sequel like crazy.

The main problem I had with this book was the characters. As for Nora, the main character, I don't think there was any development at all and from the side characters there was not a single one that didn't annoy me at one time or the other in the novel.
They were all just such stereotypes and then again sometimes made completely unreasonable decisions.

What made up for that a LOT was the actual storytelling. I was never bored with the storyline and the writing was fast-paced. The plot had some nice twists and turns and most of the little pieces of the puzzle fit together in the end in an understandable way.

So all in all I found this to be an enjoyable read that I would recommend  to girls who loved the nice atmosphere that Stephenie Meyer evoked with "Twilight", but as I will not reread it and probably never buy the rest of the series borrowing it from a library might make more sense than buying it.

Rating: 1/3 Smarties

Geeknote #1

Just a quick update fro me ;) I'm suffering from baaad anxiety right now as I'm taking an important exam tomorrow! I hate being nervous before tests because that usually leads to blackouts and stuff, but I just can't help it...I was wondering if anyone knows any tips to calm down before exams? I'm actually not that much of a worrier, so this hit me pretty much off guard :(

Review #1 Divergent-Veronica Roth

If you had to - could you describe yourself in one word and stick to that description for the rest of your life?
Yeah, clearly I coulldn't. And I'm sure most other people would answer this question with a "no",too.
However, Divergent - the dystopian novel written by Veronica Roth - which I'm going to tell you about today deals with exactly that question. Well...not only with that question...

Goodreads Summary:

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.



Divergent is Roth's debut novel which is only somewhat surprising since the author is only 23. Uhu. Try writing such a  jewel before most other people even move out of their parents' house! 


What I liked about this book was that it actually didn't feel like a book while I was reading it. And reading didn't feel like reading.. It was more me getting sucked into a world that I could not leave until I finished the book. I read during all of my classes at school,while I was eating, I sacrificed sleeping (very unusual for me).
Due to the fact that I wasn't reading, but living in the story I cannot tell you guys much about the characters except that I could totally relate to the main character and that all of them seemed very real to me. I never felt overloaded with too much information about the characters' history or their appearance, it was just enough to picture them in my head and to understand why they were acting the way they did.


What was just striking about this book was of course the story and the storytelling. So many little details turned out to be huge and so important in the course of the story. Divergent belongs to one of those books that do give you little hints so that you always have a certain sense of knowing what's going to happen - and then it's totally different.
All the little twists and turns in the novel, the development of some of the characters that was often surprising but never unreasonable and the way Roth can transform you into the story world made this book my new all-time-favorite!


Greetings, the Booksmartie


RANKING: 3 out of 3 Smarties