Review: The City Center (The New Agenda #1) by Simone Pond

During the man-made apocalypse in the 21st century, a group of elites killed off a majority of the population. Only two groups of survivors remained––those selected to reside inside the Los Angeles City Center and the rebels, relegated to live on the Outside.

Centuries later, Ava Rhodes is one of five potential successors competing to become the next Queen of the City Center. A week prior to the final competitions she encounters Joseph, a rebel from the Outside, and discovers her utopian home is actually a prison and breeding facility aimed at designing the perfect human. She escapes with Joseph to the Outside world, sending the City Center’s leader, Chief Morray, into an obsessive pursuit for his property.

Along the journey, Ava falls in love with Joseph and discovers an even darker secret about the fate of her people. She must decide whether to stay with Joseph, or save her people from destruction.

I recently just started reading dystopian novels again. For quite a while it felt like every young adult novel that came out had some sort of dystopian angle to it. The young adult genre just felt saturated with them. I had read so many good ones that I just couldn't stop myself from picking up a new one every other day. But then I started to get a little burned by them. They were coming out so fast from so many authors that they just didn't have that something special and unfortunately, a bunch were just a waste of my time to read. So I put the whole genre down. I haven't read one in more than a year, I think. Anywho ... it was a big deal for me to pick this up. It was an even bigger deal to love it as much as I did! 

This is one of those futuristic novels that has a whole butt load of technology that we don't have but Simone Pond explains each thing pretty well and I didn't find myself wondering about how anything works with the exception of two things. There were two things that I just really didn't understand and were glossed over a bit, I felt. 

As a reader, I'm greedy. I'm greedy as hell. I want ever morsel of information that the author is willing to give PLUS a handful of things that they aren't. Now, were these two items a big deal? Not really. It didn't change my reading experience when I didn't really understand them and to be honest, there's a chance that I skipped over the part where it was explained. I kind of devoured The City Center and found myself having to reread paragraphs because I was just going way too fast. You know how that is. 

I really liked the main characters and I became Ava's cheerleader pretty quickly. She's a smart and spunky character that you can't help but root for. I was excited to see what she was up to with each chapter and Pond really kept me on my toes with her. Just when I thought that Ava was in a situation that she couldn't handle, she did. Don't read that as me saying that Ava was written conveniently ... she didn't get out of impossible situations because she found (conveniently) the exact item that she needed or coincidentally something fell from the sky at exactly the right moment ... no. Ava used her wits and training at surprising moments that really boosted the story to a whole new level within the young adult genre. She was just a really well character that I enjoyed thoroughly. 

But. (Come on, you had to know it was coming since I didn't give this book that I really enjoyed 5 stars). Okay... here it is ... the problem was the end. I just didn't like it. Like I said, I'm a greedy reader. I want to know EVERYTHING. Up until the last 15%, the book was moving at a perfect pace - quickly, but not so fast that things were missed but not so slow as to make me want to throw my Kindle out the window. But then that last bit of the book came along and it seemed like things started happening at this break-neck speed. I felt a bit robbed. I want to know the nitty-gritty details. Make the book a little longer, I don't care or make it shorter and pop that last part into a new novel or a novella even. ANYTHING but rushing through. Le sigh. 

All in all, this was such a good book that I really enjoyed. I'm excited to jump into the next novel and see what Ava is up to now!

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Review: The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner

It’s the end of the line.
 
WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.
 
Will anyone survive?

What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.

The truth will be terrifying.

Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends it all.

The time for lies is over.

 

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. This is what I get for being so excited about reading a book. I guess I had put this whole series up on a pedestal. The first book was pretty good as was the subsequent one and then I get to this one and it was just ... meh. It fizzled for me. I'm not totally for sure what I expected but for some reason, it wasn't how it went. 

No, that's not the truth. I know what I expected. I expected The Death Cure to really just knock my socks off. I know that the first novel in the series got off to a slow start but I had hoped for more with this one. It's the ending. It should be amazing, right? Instead, you know what it reminded me of? A couple of things. First ... it reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner. I know that sounds weird, but just stay with me for a second. When you're cooking that big gluttonous meal, you spend hours. HOURS. Long hours preparing and long hours actually over the stove. Then it's ready. And then your kids Cookie Monster that shit and it's gone in 5 minutes. All that work for 5 minutes of eating. That's kind of what it was like!! Oh, and it also reminded me of the 4th of July but I won't get into my fireworks analogy. (You're welcome). But that's what this book was like. I plowed through the first two novels with the hope (and understanding because the author insinuated this would be an epic ending) that this series would end spectacularly. It wasn't, it was just okay. 

The characters were great, as they had been in previous novels but it felt almost disjointed for me. I didn't feel the same passion from the characters as I had in the past and that was a little sad because I thought that was a strong suit of this author. It was exciting in places and everything but ... just not enough, I guess. I found myself skipping paragraphs and pages because it was just ... boring a lot of the time. The action sequences were good but not good enough to make me forget about the boring parts. I wanted this awesome finish and instead of sliding into a warm bath with the satisfaction of a trilogy well completed, someone threw ice water in my face, called me a sissy and then punched me in the boob. 

In case you haven't picked this up ... it just wasn't my favorite ending. The series as a whole averaged out to ... average. It was nothing earth-shattering. Nothing that I'm dying to read again start to finish right this very moment. I might someday but not until I get over being angry at the injustice of such an ending to a series. 

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Review: Unremembered (Unremembered #1)

Summary

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

Rating & Review

For the sake of being completely honest, I did not purchase this book and I did not receive it in exchange for a review. I actually won it during the "Guess This Young Adult Novel" game at the virtual release party for Unforgotten (the sequel to this book) by Jessica Brody and Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott. Apparently, I know too many young adult novels. And I was chastised by Jessica Brody for answering too many questions. Nothing like getting a virtual slap on the wrist to make you like an author. Only kidding, the ladies were great and if you ever get a chance to go to a signing, I bet that it would be an awesome time. Just don't let on that you know a lot about young adult novels. That's your only warning. Well, crap. Now I've gone on for a paragraph and I could have just said, "I received this book from the author". But then you wouldn't have gotten that wonderful story. You're welcome.

Okay ... moving on ... Unremembered. First of all, longest one word title ever. And ironically enough, I couldn't remember the title half the time. But that's got nothing to do with this book and more to do with the fact I have two boys who drive me up the wall and make me forget my own name on a daily basis. You know, I really liked Unremembered. I liked it more than I thought that I would. Not that I thought that it was going to be a bad book, you just never know. I try to start a book with the mindset that it's just going to be just okay and that way, I'm surprised if it's good or ... meh. But this one was good. 

The book really started off strong for me. It was so strange ... every time I would start thinking something about Sera (the main character), Brody would address that thought in the next paragraph. For example (no this isn't a spoiler) when Sera didn't remember even the smallest thing (what items are or what some words mean), my initial thought was ... Oh, she can't remember that but she can carry on a conversation ... then the next paragraph, Brody addressed that and closed that issue down. This happened a lot, actually. It was almost as if Brody was in my head while I was reading. While it was on the cusp of being creepy, it was also quite refreshing. The majority of the time with other books, those issues are just never addressed then you're left wondering and in the end, frustrated. You can really tell that Brody took her time writing this and that she really cares about this story and the characters within it. She took care to shut down any uncertainty or questions that the reader might have. Now that in itself is a big deal because of what this book is really about ... I won't tell because that would spoil the fun for you but I think that it is SUPER important to have complete understanding wash over the reader with this kind of book. 

I really liked how the characters were set up. Again, there were just not many questions that I had about the characters ... all of their motivators and just the deep center of each person was pretty well explored and explained. The meat of the story was thoroughly entertaining and I found myself sneaking in little tid-bits of time to read when the boys were at school yesterday when I should have been doing other things ... like laundry and doing dishes ... 

So why did this only get 4 stars then? Is it because I was humiliated at the virtual release party? No, but I totally gave Jessica Brody's pic at the back of the book The Stink Eye. Watch out! In all honesty, the 4 stars came about because Unremembered slowed down for me for a bit in the beginning. Not to the point of being boring, far from that. There is just a lot of information and a lot of transitional situations that happen which you need to get through. Once you get to part two, it takes off again and you're flying by the seat of your pants until you get to the hugely frustrating cliffhanger ending. Ginormously frustrating. Well, it won't be frustrating if you can go get the second book IMMEDIATELY. Unfortunately, I have another book need to dive into today or I would be reading Unforgotten. All in all, you need to check this book out. I have a feeling that the other two books in the series are going to be even better!! 

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Review: Elusion

Summary

Soon, Elusion® will change the world and life as we know it.

A new technology called Elusion is sweeping the country. An app, visor and wristband will virtually transport you to an exotic destination where adventure can be pursued without the complications—or consequences—of real life.

Regan is an Elusion insider. Or at least she used to be. Her father invented the program, and her best friend, Patrick, heir to the tech giant Orexis, is about to release it nationwide. But ever since her father’s unexpected death, Regan can’t bear to Escape, especially since waking up from the dream means crashing back to her grim reality.

Still, when there are rumors of trouble in Elusion—accusations that it’s addictive and dangerous— Regan is determined to defend it. But the critics of Elusion come from surprising sources, including Josh, the handsome skeptic with his own personal stakes. As Regan investigates the claims, she discovers a disturbing web of secrets. She will soon have to choose between love and loyalty…a decision that will affect the lives of millions.

Suspense, thrills, and romance fuel this near-future story about the seductive nature of a perfect virtual world, and how far one girl will go to uncover the truth behind the illusions.

Rating & Review

Oh, Elusion. How fitting that I finished this book today when it is going to be live and on shelves tomorrow for it's big unveiling! SUCH mixed feelings about my rating for Elusion. I don't believe I've ever wavered so much when giving a book a score! Starting out, it was a solid 2.5 or 3 star book but the way that the last 1/4 of the book went, I had to boost it up to a 4 star. 

So here's why I wavered ... the beginning of this book is ... hmm ... I don't want you to think that Elusion isn't good so I'm trying to think of the best way to say this ... wait, I've got it. The beginning of this book is like a stubborn, bull-headed kid who is dragging their feet and refuses to run. You know that this kid has some energy and momentum behind them but they just won't pick up their feet and show you what they've got! It's frustrating (bordering on annoying) but there's nothing that you can do to make this kid pick up the pace. You can't rush it, you just have to wait for it to happen. That's what the beginning was ... I didn't think that it was boring ... just very slow. Very, very slow. To the point where my husband made a comment about how it never takes me this long to read a book. My husband makes it a habit to never bring up what I'm reading or he knows that he's going to "get" to hear all about what I'm reading, going to read or want to read, what characters I love, authors I can't live without and so on and so forth. The speed of my reading must have been very weird for him to take a chance and say something knowing what might be in store for him if he did. 

But (and it's a big ol' booty) ... it picks up. When it picks up, it's not this flash-paper type of situation, it's a slow, smoldering burn that quickly builds up into this raging fire that you just can't escape. So ... okay ... I think I'm all out of weird descriptions (you're welcome) and I'll get on with this dog and pony show. 

Okay ... the meat of the story ... I don't really have any problems with the story except that I wish that there was more background on the society's lifestyle in this book. Why is the Earth trashed? Why is there this smelly rain, why the nasty clouds ... what happened?!? I think that I got distracted with those questions when the characters would do things like put on their oxygen masks. The story really didn't feel like it was totally unbelievable, so maybe the authors thought that they wouldn't bog the novel down with those types of descriptions but I think just one or two paragraphs with some reasoning would be appreciated.

The characters were pretty well written. I did think that a couple of them could do with a little more depth ... I would have loved to hear more about Regan and her best friend's relationship. At times in the beginning I found their friendship to be a little disjointed ... I didn't see as much friend-love between as I had hoped to ... they just didn't seem that close, to be honest. And then Josh ... I would have enjoyed finding out more about him and his past ... the surface of his story was skimmed but it felt almost unfinished. 

Oh. Geez. I almost forgot. There is a lot of computer speak in this. A. Lot. Alotalot. I did skip paragraphs. And skim paragraphs. I think that this info was needed for the most part but it was just boring. 

Now, all of that being said ... this was a pretty good book - one that I'll probably read again. Especially in the ending. Damn, that ending was pretty good. Not what I expected AT ALL. That last page just threw me for a big loop and left me sitting there wondering why I didn't blow through the book to begin with. Elusion isn't listed as the beginning of a series ... but it has to be with how the book ended. So go pick this up as soon as possible so that you can wait for the next one with me!

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