The Tale Archives

I listened to this audiobook on a 15 hour road trip because I needed something funny to distract me. It was funny during some parts, and other parts I wasn't very interested in. For the most part, I didn't enjoy it, but that could have been greatly influenced by the road trip that I was on, considering I was pretty miserable the whole time.

I never went to summer camp when I was younger, so anything summer camp interests me. Anyone watched Bug Juice on the Disney Channel? I loved that show! Five Summer definitely reminded me of Bug Juice (so much so, that I ended up watching the whole first season of Bug Juice on YouTube after finishing the book).

 

I'm happy I got the chance to read Five Summers early, because I really enjoyed the book. Five Summers starts with the four girls, Emma, Skylar, Jo, and Maddie, all meeting up for the camp reunion. Skylar and Jo have been been coming back to the camp as counselor's (Jo's dad owns the camp), and Emma and Maddie haven't seen them since they left camp 3 years ago.

 

The book alternates between each girl, but it's in 3rd person. It also alternates between what's happening at the reunion, and a certain time during one of their five summers at camp.

 

3 years has gone by since all four of them have seen each other. They're some things that have been left unspoken between the girls, so there is definitely a ticking time bomb as the reunion goes on. I felt like I was watching some reality show, because I was eating up all the drama that unfolded. Is it bad that I really enjoyed reading as the girls friendship fell apart? It made a good story! I can't help it!

 

This is a great summer book. It's a very easy and fast read, that had me glued to the book. I loved that each girl had their own story, and it's somewhat of a girl power book. I really enjoyed Five Summer and definitely recommend it if you're looking for a summer read.

This book sounded so awesome. A dark and gritty premise about a mad scientist who continues his work on a remote island. Sounds good, right? For some reason I was thinking it would be something like Shutter Island, but it's not, or wasn't for me.

 

Me and The Madman's Daughter had a very roller coaster type relationship. Very up and down. I was enjoying it for the most part in the beginning. But then Edward came into the story. I obviously didn't read the summary very thoroughly because I didn't realize there was going to be ANOTHER boy involved other than Montgomery. I didn't see the point in Edward, other than another love interest for Juliet, which made this one big love triangle.

 

Now, usually love triangles don't bother me. It doesn't keep me from reading a book. I actually enjoy love triangles. But this one didn't work for me and made it difficult for me to enjoy the story most of the time. I would have enjoyed the The Madman's Daughter a lot more if it only focused on Montgomery and Juliet's relationship because I liked them as a couple and I was rooting for them the whole time. I was enjoying the story when it was just those two.

 

Don't get me wrong though, Edward does give more to the story towards the end as we learn his side of the story, but I figured out his big secret about halfway through. Which is not a good thing for this book, because when I figured it out, I was hoping I was wrong. But I won't go into that anymore because I don't want to spoil anything.I did really enjoy reading about Juliet's dad and what he had created while on the island. It was really interesting to see how these animal creatures saw him as a god and how they lived. I also LOVED Balthazar and his relationship with Montgomery. These two were the reason I really continued to read. I felt so sorry for Balthazar and I just wanted to hug him even though he is half dog half sheep or whatever. And I loved Montgomery because he cared for all the weird animal creatures and became friends with them.

 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about Juliet though. Sometimes I really enjoyed her and like how she was a strong character who did things here way. But then other times I found myself not really caring what happened to her.What I wasn't prepared for, though, was the scenes were animals were being operated on, while they were awake! I am a big animal lover, I don't do books or movies where I know the animals die. I just can't do it and I don't like it. Therefore, you can bet I was somewhat upset when about 50 pages in, Juliet has to chop off a rabbits head to get it out of it's misery because she caught some boys operating on it. I did get used to it though, and came to expect it, so it wasn't too bad as I went on.

 

The Madman's Daughter also moved a little slow for me. I think part of this had to do with the fact that I didn't like Edward, so whenever he was in a scene, I lost interest. I also skimmed a few pages towards the end because I wanted to actually get to the good stuff.

 

So, I don't think this review is making a lot of sense, but that sums up my relationship with this book. At one point the story would be very interesting, but then a while later, I would find it to be kind of dull.Also, THE ENDING! The ending makes me all kinds of mad and nobody should be allowed to end a book that way. I don't know if I hate the ending or love it.

I was really excited about the book when I first heard about it. But then the reviews started to come in, and a lot of them weren't so good. But I'm very happy that I decided to read it because I loved it.

 

First off, White gets bonus points for having some of the setting in St. Louis. That never seems to happen, so that was really fun to read for me.I really liked how the story alternated between Fia and Annie and between the past and present. I went into the book knowing that this could possibly get confusing, but it wasn't at all.

 

I really liked that something would be brought up during the present, and then it would switch to the past to explain what they just brought up. Like, Fia would mention a character was dead during the present, and then it would switch to the past and explain how the character died. It was very interesting because it's not something I see in books often.

 

Fia is such a messed up character, it was fascinating to read about. There's such a big difference from the way Fia acts and thinks to the way Annie does. It really shows just how messed up Fia really is. Especially with all the tap tap taps.That's another think I was worried about. I knew there were a lot of tap, tap, taps and repitition of words, that I was afraid it would get on my nerves. But it didn't, it made Fia that much more interesting.

 

Also, THE ENDING, I think I know what happened, but then... WHAT?

I was really excited for this book. I was really looking forward to finally getting some answers and for Thomas to get his memories back, but that doesn't happen. And it made the reading experience not all that enjoyable.

 

There are so many questions left open, and even more questions raised in The Death Cure, but they never get answered. I spent half the book annoyed with Thomas because he refused to get his memories back. It took me over 200 pages to realize that Thomas wasn't stupid and that WICKED was actually the bad guys. I was convinced that WICKED was good (hello Teresa?!) until I was well into the book.

 

There was one part where Brenda held Thomas back to have a private conversation with him, and was about to tell him something important about her past, but Thomas stops her, refuses to let her tell him. At that point in the story, I figured we would hear what Brenda wanted to tell him later, I thought she was going to tell him that Chancellor Paige was her mom or something, but we are never told what she wanted to tell him. What was the point of even having that little scene in there then? Even at the very end of the story, I felt like Dashner was trying to hint that Brenda knew more than what she was saying, but it's never shown. It just ends. UGH!

 

I didn't completely hate the book. There were moments when I was really into the book. But that was just because I was driven to read by the false hope that some questions would be answered. I kept waiting for a twist, but it never came.

The middle dragged a little for me, but other than that I really enjoyed it. How can it end like that?!

I was very nervous coming into this book, because I didn't want to be disappointed. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed at all. Gayle Forman is definitely one of my favorite authors now.

 

There's something about the writing that I love. It's very unusual for me to love this kind of writing, because I usually get bored pretty quickly with it, but the way Forman writes, it's enough to be very beautiful, but also enough to keep me invested in the story.

 

I absolutely loved the traveling part of the story. I loved Allyson's adventures in Paris with and without Willem. It was fun to read about what they did, because I know I would never have to guts to do that in a foreign country.Allyson is such a relatable character. At some points I was thinking to myself "I completely understand what she means". It was refreshing to read. I also really loved the college aspect of the story. Not too many stories revolve around college, and this one covers the first year, and Allyson's self discovery, as she tries to figure out what will make her happy.I also loved the Shakespeare aspect. Shakespeare is written throughout the novel, and I really enjoyed reading about Allyson's Shakespeare class.

 

I can go on and on, but I think you can see that I loved this story, and I can't wait for Just One Year, because the ending kind of leaves you hanging.

I tried getting through this, but I had trouble getting myself to pick up the book. It wasn't bad, I would rather be reading something else at the moment. I might get around to reading it later.

I really liked the idea of this story, with Zoey getting amnesia and everything, but it was hard for me to enjoy sometimes because Zoey annoyed me so much.

 

Zoey was definitely my only problem with this book. I couldn't figure out why she thought her and this guy, Brandon, were together, when he never even bothers to talk to her. She knows Brandon's ways with girls, because he would always ask her for advice, so I couldn't understand why she would think she was any different.

 

I do realize that there were reasons why she would act the way she did, but it got to the point where she should have figured it out by then. But I did enjoy everything else. I really liked Doug, which probably help me not like Zoey even more with the way she treated him. There were moments when I couldn't put the book down. But I really can't stand when a character is written as stupid just to keep the story going, which is what happened here.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is about Becca who's life seems to take turn for the worse the summer before she leaves for college. The chapters are interrupted by Amelia's story and the events leading up to her death. The chapters are written in first person and narrated by Becca while Amelia's part is written in third person.I was very intrigued by the whole murder mystery, but that was about it. I enjoyed Amelia's story, but Becca's story was so boring to me. I honestly didn't care about what was going on with Becca, but I read it anyways to see if anything exciting would happen in her life besides her feeling sad or nausea's or unsure all the time. I got very confused quite a bit. The writing jumps around from past to present, like Becca would be having a conversation with her boyfriend, James, and he would mention something that I wouldn't understand, and then Becca would jump back and start explaining something that happened in the past, to explain what James was talking about, but I wouldn't be able to tell if she was really telling us about the past or if it was something happening the next day until I read a couple pages. It all made sense in the end, but it was confusing while I was reading it, and sometimes the whole scene wouldn't even contribute to the overall story. The scene might have been interesting, but it didn't fit into the story, to me. I thought to myself "what was the point of even telling us that?".Becca's chapters are also very descriptive. Now, sometimes I can enjoy a book that is very descriptive, but that is very far and few between, so needless to say, I didn't like how it was very heavy on the description. While some might find the writing pretty, I found it boring. I was already impatient with the writing, with the jumping from past to present, so I wasn't very willing to read about how the grass moved in the wind.Regardless, I did really enjoy Amelia's story. I probably liked it because I knew that her story wasn't going to end well, and to read about the events that lead to her death was almost fascinating because I was trying to figure out who killed her the whole time. The fact that her story was written in third person also helped me get into the story more because it wasn't so descriptive like Becca's, so her story moved at a faster pace and was easier for me to read.I felt more invested in Amelia's story than I did with Becca's. Becca becomes depressed for some reason that wasn't very clear to me. One minute she was fine, and then the next she was upset. There were also a few things that were touched on, but not fully explained, like Becca would mention the she hadn't seen James for weeks, but it wasn't very clear to me until she actually mentioned it, as much as I knew, she talked to James just yesterday. So then it made me wonder why she was clinging onto her and James relationship when they were barely talking anyways?So, overall I enjoyed Amelia's part of the story, but I couldn't get myself to really care for Becca's.

I had a few problems with Fated, which is why it took me forever to read the book. First off, Daire got on my nerves for the first half of the book. She ran away from her problems a lot and was always in denial. Even when she was having these visions, she refused help from people who proved that they could help her. She got much better once she comes to terms with her powers, but before she learns anything, and even when she starts learning, she was a little annoying.The one thing that really slowed down my reading was all the information dump. When Daire's Grandma, Paloma, is explaining everything to Daire, there's these long paragraphs that really explain everything, which I was happy to be getting the information because I found the mythology to be very interesting, it was just too much at once. And it happens quite often throughout the story. There didn't seem to be much of Daire going out into this new world that she knows, it was more of Daire being told what she can do and what she's gonna have to go out and do. There wasn't much action. Without giving too much away, I felt like we were working up to a big action scene in the end, but I felt a bit let down. Also, I couldn't stand Daire's mom, Jennika. Since Daire calls her mom by her first name, I felt like Noel was trying to portray that their relationship was a little distant, but then Jennika becomes the overprotective mother who won't even bother listening to Daire because she 'knows what's best'. And the insults that Jennika says about Paloma really made me dislike her more. I really liked all the other characters. Dace especially, most likely because he was a sweetheart the whole time. Though I thought there would be more romance, but there wasn't. There wasn't much lead up to Dace and Daire getting together. At all, really. They meet each other at school, have a few conversations, which Daire made sure to push Dace away, and then Dace helps Daire a little and all of a sudden they're together. There wasn't much to it at all, which left me a little disappointed. Other than that,I really did like the story, despite those few things.

I don't know what really put me off while reading, but I was just 'meh' the whole time. The story line was really interesting, and was what essentially kept me reading. But about 30 pages in, I figured out what the twist was going to be and I did skip a few scenes because I didn't care about what was happening, and I knew how it was going to end anyways. A big reason I wasn't into the story much was because I'm not interested in mob/mafia families, which is basically what the book is centered around. If I knew that, I probably wouldn't have been interested in reading this.But the whole curse work thing was really unique and interesting. I really liked the idea of people being able to use magic on someone just by touching them. That was the main reason I picked this book to read.Overall, the book is not bad at all! It's a really easy, fast read and can keep you on the edge of your seat. It just wasn't a book for me.

I went into this book a little hesitant, but I ended up really liking it. I loved the concept for the story. It really turned the whole teen mom thing into a full blown business. We get one side of the story from Melody, where the adults were paying for the 'perfect' girl and boy to have a baby for them, which I found very fun to read. But then we also got the complete other side of the story from Harmony, with the extreme religion that goes against the surrogates. I can understand why some people were turned off by the slang that isn't really explained to the reader, but I went into the book knowing that, and I ended up understanding what was going on with no problem. I think that if you are interested in reading this book, go in with an open mind, and I think you will enjoy it a lot more.

For the most part, this was a fun book. Colby and Bev's plans for traveling through Europe right after high school graduation are finally happening. But first, they are going on a road trip with Meg and Alexa, who make up Bev's all girl band.Bev and Colby were very big downers for most of the book. I was annoyed by Bev most of the time for being so moody towards Colby. Colby was always sad and mopey because of Bev. Which I felt bad for Colby, but not bad enough that I could deal with his sadness the whole time. Meg and Alexa were the best part of the book, to me. They were the ones who made the book a little bit brighter.The ending wasn't very surprising to me, I definitely saw it coming.This was a fun journey to read about, though I would never have the guts to go on a road trip and go into strangers basements. And even thought I felt like the book moved at a slow pace, it was still an easy, fun read.

I had such high hopes for this book. I was expecting it to really mess with my mind and creep me out, but it didn't. For the most part, I was very disappointed with the story.First of all, the characters didn't sit well with me from the beginning. Leena claimed to be this great student who babysat the Dean's children and even started a peer counseling program at the school. But I was never shown that Leena was this great person. I was told, but we never see this side of her.I was turned off by Leena's two best friends Abby and Viv from the beginning. I can't pin point what really bothered me about them, but I just couldn't get myself to really care for them. Maybe it was the tattoo on the butt cheek. I don't know. Viv does kind of redeem herself in the end, but not to the point that I could get myself to like her.David and Celeste were just different. They had such a strong bond with each other it was almost borderline creepy. Leena even goes back and forth with herself about how odd David and Celeste's relationship was.And the relationship between Leena and David did not seem real to me. I couldn't get into their relationship enough to care, especially when Leena had doubts herself.I was so turned off by all the characters that I almost didn't finish the book quite a few times. The only reason I kept reading was because I was intrigued by the actual story and wanted to know why these things were happening, but even the story ended up fading away in the end. I was not creeped out at all with what was happening in the house and the ending didn't fully explain all the happenings that went on.In the end, the characters were the big thing that turned me off from the story.

Very cute, fun, light read. I actually found myself laughing out loud at times.