Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1) by Richelle Mead

Gameboard of the Gods

First book in the Age of X series

by Richelle Mead

(Goodreads)

Epic.

…I’m afraid, is the only word I can think of to describe the awesomeness of the concept of this book. Imagine gods and goddesses from all mythologies you can ever think of in one book – real, though insubstantial. Set in an original modern world. That concept alone deserves thousands of stars! I couldn’t stop feeling giddy once I got the gist of the plot. Sadly though, the wholeness of the plot is a different story.

Gameboard of the Gods is set in an alternate universe where gods and goddesses co-exist with high technology. Mae is a praetorian for the RUNA, regarded as high-positioned soldier. Justin is a servitor who was exiled to Panama. Servitors are those who investigate religions and they serve as judges as to if a religion will one day cause ruckus to the government. If so, religious societies will lose permit to operate and shall therefore be disbanded. One of the job descriptions is to disprove the existence of the supernatural which is where the conflict stems out because Justin, as a servitor, should disprove deities but he, himself, is a living testimony to their existence.

Though Justin and Mae are likable and outstanding characters, they are not ones without flaws. Justin is a good guy. He doesn’t mean harm to people and he is also very perceptive but sometimes, he just doesn’t know when to do the right thing. Most of the time, he’s in self-denial and it’s very frustrating! Mae was very judgmental of Justin on the first part of the book but she overcame it as she really got to know him well. So unlike Justin, the readers can see her character develop into a much more understanding person.

I feel a bit smug for guessing the god and goddess trying to claim Justin and Mae long before they did, but also quite disappointed with them for the same reason. Odin is a very popular god and Norse is a very popular mythology. Had Justin been half as smart as he was supposed to be, he would’ve managed to piece the puzzle together before you can even consider it a mystery. I’m not a master of theology but even I know about Huginn and Muninn (though I have Iron Druid Chronicles to thank for that.) Also, the mere mention of darkness, crow and Celtic, should have hinted him about the Morrigan.

It was sort of anticlimactic, really. That and I was under the impression that Justin was supposed to be that overly witty, Sherlock-like character. But in spite of all that, I still managed to enjoy the book. I’ve only ever read Richelle’s YA’s which are all in first person POV so this really caught me off guard as soon as I realized that that weird feeling I had while reading this was because it wasn’t in first person. But weird isn’t always equal to bad, because I found myself really liking it.

The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram

The Avery Shaw Experiment

by Kelly Oram

(Goodreads)

Kelly's The Avery Shaw Experiment is one of those feel-fun feel-light kind of books that MUST not be taken seriously. Its story is something we've already seen on books or TV. The kind that no matter how many times the storyline had been used or how the synopsis screams predictable right at your face, we all still feel compelled to read. 

What I loved:

- Physics. As someone who's veeery interested in the subject of physics but is too lazy to read books about it, it is really really nice to see certain topics of physics mentioned in this book.

- Fun plot. Like I said above, the plot is cliche and predictable but I guess anyone who has read this book would agree to say that they had fun reading this.

What I didn't like:

- The characters. Ah, this one is really broad but I'll try to enumerate the things I didn't like about the main protagonists as well as the side characters.

        Avery - So naive! Though her attachment to Aiden was understandable I can't help being annoyed at her. 

       Grayson - Pervert. I'm not in any way a conservative. I consider myself an open-minded person and I'm familiar with teenage boys and their raging hormones (I maybe on the minority AGAIN on this one) BUT I can't help feeling uneasy whenever Grayson says inappropriate comments to Avery. *insert cringe here*

       Aiden - I don't understand this guy. He's stupid. Even though he did redeem himself towards the end.

       Libby - Oh gods. Libby is the female version of Grayson. She is really perverted and has no problem letting other people (eg strangers) know that she is one. It was too painful to hear how much she wants to have her way with Owen, let alone what she wants to do TO Owen.

- Unrealistic plot. I wasn't a member of science club or did I ever join a science fair, but really, stages of grief? I JUST can't see that as a research topic on a science fair. (sorry!)

- Sort of insta-love. Grayson has known Avery since she was in her mother's belly. They practically grew up together with Grayson being Aiden's older brother. However, I thought that the moment in the bathroom and Grayson's sudden one-time erection was a pretty shallow reason for suddenly falling hard for Avery.

But all in all, The Avery Shaw Experiment is an OK book. I'd still read other books with the same storyline because despite the flaws because reading this is still a fun experience.

Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu

Prodigy

Legend #2

by Marie Lu

(Goodreads)

A fantastic sequel to the brilliant Legend. I admit the first half dragged and it took me 7 days to get to the other half. But once there, the pace immediately picked up its speed and Prodigy became unputdownable I was able to finish it in one seat. I am really so glad I stuck with it even though the first part was very tricky to get over with. I was considering reading another book but I knew that if I set this aside, I would never be able to finish.

I adored June and Day in Legend. Their complex relationship was one thing that I most anticipated in Prodigy. I so eagerly wanted to know what would become of them what with all those things that happened in Legend. I didn't like that this has a love triangle - or square or even pentagon. It was something I never anticipated coming. Thought it was something Marie included in Prodigy for the lack of ideas. Tess and her uncharacteristic behavior bothered me so much. She was annoying. The jealousy on both June and Day's side were too much so as to be contrived. But nonetheless, they were a really cute couple and it pained me to see what happened to them by the end of the book.

Plot-wise, Marie really did a wonderful job incorporating all those twists. Just when you think that you've got everything together, she will surprise you with more twist and turns until you don't know what to expect anymore and you are left hanging on the edge of your seat wanting to know what's going to happen. Prodigy basically took my breath away countless of times. I swear there were moments where spontaneously stopped breathing BECAUSE IT WAS JUST THAT GOOD.

Needless to say, Prodigy is a wonderful addition to the Legend series with that ending that only tripled my desire to read the last and final book in the series, Champion.

NetGalley Wellness Challenge

I honestly have no idea what this is about but if it has something to do with reading and challenge then I'm all for it. Plus, my blog looks so pathetic without all the buttons and links those other book blogs have. With this badge, I think my blog has just become a little cooler. Lol. :3

http://netgalley.tumblr.com/wellness

Wraith (Wraith #1) by Angel Lawson

Wraith

First book in Wraith series

by Angel Lawson

(Goodreads)

I got this pretty little thing for free from Amazon a year ago, I think. And it has been sitting on my shelf since then. I originally got this only because it was free and I wanted my cloud reader to have books because it made me feel cool like that. 

Anyway, you know that feeling when you just feel like reading a book that's not in your must-read-soon/read-first-before-picking-up-other-books list? Because that's what came over me when I decided to read Wraith. And you know that feeling when you pick up a book and have no idea what you're getting into and then it turns out later that the book is actually really, really good and you want to read the sequel and then the final book but sadly it hasn't been release yet and then you just want to jump up and down while screaming "YAY SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS!" I didn't really get in to the jumping up and down part but I almost screamed "yay self-published books!" out loud.

Anyway, despite having only 266 pages (accdg. to Goodreads) Angel still managed to cover practically all the aspects of the book very efficiently in a way where nothing fell too short or too fast or too slow. The romance between Jane and Connor developed gradually. The romance between Jane and Connor developed gradually. 266 pages. The romance between Jane and Connor developed gradually. Wut. I need to emphasize that this has 266 pages and it has no fricking insta-love!!

Another thing you would love about Wraith is the characters. The protagonist, Jane, is very easy to like even with her annoying moments. Because of her ability to see ghosts, she is labeled as a freak and an outcast by the whole student population. And Connor? That new student who's troubled and has a bad record and really mysterious? Swoon-worthy. The sexual tension? Fricking sexy too! I know Connor and Jane sounds cliched now but it doesn't matter because this book is REALLY GOOOD.

The only thing that I found a little distracting was how the ghosts seemed like perfectly normal people besides that they're invisible and you can't touch them. They're not the typical scary ones except if they're really scary when they still lived because the ghosts retain their original personality from when they were still living.

I've already read Shadow Bound and dude, I tell you, it it's even better than Wraith! Will write the review as soon as I finish writing it.

Point of Retreat (Slammed #2) by Colleen Hoover [Audiobook]

Point of Retreat 

Second book in Slammed series

by Colleen Hoover

(Goodreads)

I loved Slammed a lot and I really, really enjoyed Point of Retreat. It’s even more special because this is my first audiobook. But though I thoroughly liked this book, there’s something to it that’s keeping me from giving it a much higher rating.

What I liked:

• The moments between Will and Lake: We all know that these two is our endgame. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to read more of them. They are like the most perfect couple ever! Their relationship is so frickin sweet I felt like I was turning into a pile of goo everytime they had their sweet moments together which is almost literally everytime they were together. I know it's way TOO fluffy and way too cute but somehow, Colleen's magic arranged it to make it seem more spontaneous and uncontrived.
• Funny dialogues: Between Will and Lake. Will and Kiersten. Kel, Caulder and Will. Kel, Caulder and Lake. Gavin and Eddie. Practically amongst all of them!
• The kids: Kel, Caulder and Kiersten are so adorable and witty. If this series only has them as characters, I’d still read the whole fricking thing.
• The slam: Slammed was the one that introduced me to this kind of poetry and it was one of the reasons why I fell in love with the book. At first I thought I wasn’t going to hear more of this in POR but I am really happy to report that the slams in here are even better if not as good as the ones in Slammed.

What I didn’t like:

• The ex-girlfriend: This one is really cliché. Ex-girlfriend reappearing when the guy is already in a serious relationship. In POR, Vaughn appeared to be Will’s classmate. He didn’t tell Lake. Guess what happens next? I was disappointed with this because I had high expectations with Colleen and I thought that this was very typical.
• That other cheapshot take on conflict: Because I really thought it was forced. I don’t know if there’s something Colleen wants to accomplish by including it in the plot because for me, the story could have gone along without it. Maybe it’s a compensation for the ex-girlfriend cliché, but regardless, I didn’t buy both.

But like I said, I really had fun reading Point of Retreat in spite of the things I didn’t like about it. I love Colleen’s writing and I love, love, love the characters most especially the relationship between Will and Lake. So sweet and so perfect and so genuine! And so natural too! It didn’t feel forced at all. I’m normally bitter towards that kind of relationship (lol) but I’m rooting for them both as well as Gavin and Eddie. I’m just hoping there’d be no more unnecessary plot in the third book.