Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2) by Kiersten WhitePublished: July 26, 2011 by HarperTeenHardcover, 336 pages

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Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be...kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees. 

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. 

The prize in question? Evie herself. 
So much for normal. 

--GoodReads.

2 Stars

Review

What? 2 Stars? Why, yes, fellow reader. TWO stars. Why, you may ask? Why only TWO stars when the Paranormalcy is obviously a super amazingly awesome series that I've been hearing about from other people? Well, it's because I was quite disappointed. Seriously. All my hopes and dreams from White's stunning first peek of Evie's life in the Paranormalcy trilogy were crushed as I advanced through this book. Actually, I had been quite hesitant to continue with this trilogy because I have this thing that whenever I find a really GREAT series, I don't want to continue reading the sequels in fear that my perspective/view of the book/author would change. Has that ever happened to you? I feel like that's partially why I refuse to read Iron Knight, the 4th (FULL) book in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

Don't get me wrong; I love Kiersten White's writing style. In fact, I WORSHIP her writing. It's easy to get through and I definitely don't have ANY trouble NOT putting down any book of hers. I'm not kidding. I was hooked onto White's hilarious, modern teenager Evie's point of view, even though it lacked:

A) a honest to goodness plot 

B) decent characters 

C) a "so-what?" factor.

Now, I shall start with point A. There's really not much to give away in the book; it basically followed Evie's life as she obsessed over her water spirit of a boyfriend Lend and talked about how she LOVED him so much that she was JEALOUS that he could would LIVE FOREVER and that she wasn't doing anything wrong when she decided NOT TO TELL HIM THE TRUTH after promising to share everything and tell no lies right to his face. Wow, Evie, WOW. Evie yearns for a normal life after being cooped up in a paranormal agency all 17-18 years of her life and gains this little pleasure. After about 1-2 months of this, Evie beings to complain about the BORINGNESS (for once, Evie is correct) of school, and displays real attitude to her snarky gym teacher. She has no friends and dedicates her entire being, or really, lack of being (she is an Empty One, remember now, kiddies) to her BF Lend-y (the water) boy *cue hearts and flowers and fields of daisies.* That's really not quite a healthy lifestyle. Not only that, but Evie is quite irresponsible and is blinded to the fact that there will be only ONE FUTURE for her and that is attending Georgetown, making Lend's babies, living the rest of (her) life with him (he's immortal, dur) and making more kissy face. She doesn't even consider ONCE that she might not get in. Well, for being such a "mature" teenager that is much more "educated" about life (namely paranormals) than other normal kids, why didn't you effin plan your life out or apply to back-up colleges JUST IN CASE?

Not only that, but the real plot actually continues in a rush. It's almost as if White finally, finally woke up from her sleep writing and finished the book in the last 30 pages! Heck, there's little to no plot and she even accepts a request from IPCA, a paranormalcy agency that Evie worked for and fought to ESCAPE from in the first book, to RETURN back to the place she STARTED. What? WHAT THE HECK WAS THE POINT OF THE FIRST BOOK THEN?!? 

Oh, Evie. You're not just an Empty One in the Soul. You are also an Empty One in the Head. *SIGH*. 

The first 300 pages doesn't even really lead up to much of a climax in the last 30 pages. I could correctly predict what was to happen next and wasn't at all shocked. Well, I suppose being an avid NCIS watcher may help in these situations, but seriously. What a disappointment. 

B) LACK OF DECENT CHARACTERS- SEE ABOVE AT EVIE RANT.

C) "So what?" factor - So Evie does this. So Evie does that. She learns about 2-3 pieces of important information. MAXIMUM. So what? Where is this leading? Where could you possibly be leading me now, White? Your stories are like your Faerie Paths. I can't get out of them without you to guide me. Please tell me reading Supernaturally led up to SOMETHING important for your third book, Endlessly. And please let it be kind of decent! I really don't know what to expect anymore....

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Time lapse: 1 hour

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Okay, okay. So maybe I'm being a little bit harsh. Well, who wouldn't be? I had expected so much, and White's lack of a plot really brought down the quality of her writing. I started to hate Evie, a character I so much admired during Paranormalcy! Evie's constant whining about life, and blindness to what was going around her really pissed me off. I certainly hope White's writing improves in her third book Endlessly if I ever read it.

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Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian (Lux #1) 

By Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Published: May 8, 2012 

Publisher: Entangled Teen 

Paperback, 335 Pages 

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is. --Goodreads

5 Stars

Review 

I love the Covenant series, aka Jennifer L Armentrout's awesome Half-Blood series, so I thought to myself "There is no way I'll dislike Obsidian" and I was right I loved Obsidian just like I loved Half-Blood. 

If you haven't noticed, there is a lot of hype about Obsidian and the sequel to it, Onyx. Maybe it's because it's that great of a series or because there was a tour for the series or because the trailer for Onyx just came out, either way there is a lot of hype over this series and after reading it myself I totally understand why. Now I'll start my gushing review of this book... 

Katy is just pure awesomeness! Katy is a book blogger, how awesome is that? That one detail alone should make her an awesome protagonist right? Katy also has a good head on her shoulders. If a guy is attractive, but is a jerk, just because he has good looks doesn't mean you should look the other way of his jerkiness; he is still a jerk. Now Katy know this, which is great because many times in YA books the female protagonist looks the other way on a guy's jerkiness if he's attractive. She also calls him out on his jerkiness, so more points for Katy! I like when a character is funny and sarcastic, lucky for me Katy was both. 

Daemon is...Daemon is Daemon, let's just say. He's extremely rude to Katy in the beginning, but eventually he gets a bit nicer, but he is still a jerk to her, but he sort of has a good reason. He and his sister are aliens and so are their friends, but Daemon is the strongest of all of them, so he must protect them and their secret. In order to protect the secret, they can't get close to humans. This obviously fails because Katy gets into trouble and Daemon used his alien powers to save her from being crushed by a truck. How do you explain away stopping a two/three ton truck, you can't, so that is when Katy finds out that he's an alien. 

I really enjoyed reading about the alien aspect of this book. It's not what one would typically imagine aliens to be like. I honestly loved that they had cool powers, such as shape shifting or stoping time. So what is the problem the characters have to face? The characters have to face the Arums, the evil aliens who do not have the powers Daemon and his alien friends have, so they want to drain them of their powers. The Arums made the book have more action and be more thrilling. If you have ever read Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the Arums are like the evil daimons.

Overall, Obsidian was a great book and I can't wait to read Onyx!

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Review: Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Shade (Shade Trilogy #1)

By Jeri Smith- Ready

Released Date: May 4, 2010

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Paperback, 309 Pages

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding--and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart...and clues to the secret of the Shift.-Goodreads

5 Stars

Review

Aura and everyone else that is younger than her can see ghosts, but Aura is the First, which means she was the first person born that is able to see ghosts. Aura is a super kick-butt female protagonist, her choices actually made sense! A lot of times when reading, the protagonist has a few choices to make and when you read what they (finally) decided to do you think/scream What?! You idiot! But Aura's decisions did not make me think that, her decisions were carefully thought out and smart, well most of them anyway, but she is still an awesome protagonist.  

This book has a love triangle between Aura, Zach, and Logan, but it works! I generally do not like love triangles, but they usually don't get on my nerves, but lately tons of YA novels have love triangles and it's so overdone lately. Since the love triangles are so overdone lately, they are really a hit or miss in a book, but I am so glad that it was a hit in Shade!

ZACH: Aura's new friend, who is also the Last, so he was the last person born pre-Shift, and together they are trying to figure out the Shift. Zach is Scottish! Let's talk about Zach's awesomeness shall we, ok he has tons of patience, he is the kindest person ever, he is just every awesome adjective you can think of! He stood up for Aura when people spread lies about her.

The friends(s) of the protagonist: Aura's best friend is Megan and she is just an all-round amazing friend. Megan stood up for Aura(Aura wasn't around) when a group of kids where talking trash about her and Logan. She even took a punch from the mean girl who was talking trash about Aura. After the death of Logan, everyone at school avoided Aura except for Zach and Megan. Those two were the people that stood by her side when the going got tough and that is what true friends do; they have your back no matter what.

The ending, ugh what will happen now?! Must. Read. Sequel, Shift, NOW!

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