Unworthy

Unworthy by Joanne Armstrong

ISBN: 1500807478
Pages: 199 (My Edition) 

(Goodreads: 315)
Source: Author

Appearance:

Summary:

Nearly two hundred years after a killer disease swept the planet, an island nation continues its isolated survival due to the ruthless dedication of its military. The laws and culture of the country are based on the survival of the fittest, distrust of disease, and control of the general population.
Marked at birth as “Unworthy” to be raised, a young woman questions the necessity for the cruel practice, so many years after the Isolation was declared. She embarks on a journey which will uncover truths about her past and about her society which she could never have imagined. 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another review, I finally have my review for Unworthy up! Just in time for the end of the month. Thanks so much to Joanne Armstrong for sending me a copy for review, let's see what I thought of it: (All thoughts are 100% my own)

Unworthy takes place in a disease ravaged world where a military government controls the lives of the remaining survivors. Arcadia is one of the Unworthy, marked at birth due to her weak immune system and she's always dreamed of life outside the Hubs. Now her adventure arrives and she's thrust into the real world. As she travels to the capital city of Polis, she finds out the truth about herself and her society which completely changes how the world seems.

The world of Unworthy is really interesting and revolves strictly around a military government. The government itself is a bit vague, but essentially there is a Council which remains pretty mysterious until the end. They are the ones in power that all the General answer to. There are four Generals who are in charge of all the military. Those who serve in the military are Firstborn children, male or female, who are sent to Polis when the reach a certain age to train. Then you have sectors which contain Hubs. These are where the normal people live and it's a pretty tightly controlled life. 

Since it is dystopian, there is obviously something wrong with the government. By orders of the Council, all baby girls who reveal any sort of weak immune system or signs of sickness are left out in the wild for one night to see if they can survive the virus. Usually, even if they survive the night, they don't last more than a week.

Arcadia is one of the unusual. She's marked as an Unworthy and dedicates her life to secretly protecting her younger Unworthy "sisters" from any predators during their trial night. So far she's saved twelve but only seven of them have survived past the first week. As a character, she's pretty strongly built, but I felt loosely detached to her. I definitely admired her willpower and dedicated, but I can't pinpoint a moment where I felt connected to her character. That being said, she's still a really strong female lead and I'm really interested to see where that will take her, especially after the ending.

Then we have Alex. At first he felt a bit detach-y to me as well, but I actually connected more with him than I did with Arcadia. Throughout the book you get to see him grow and really find out about his life as a Polisborn solider.  He's definitely left a rough life, but that only made him stronger as a person. I liked how the romance, if you can call it that, was slow developing between Arcadia and Alex. It allowed you to develop your opinion on each character and showed the whole relationship develop, if that makes any sense. However, there's something of a love triangle? It's only hinted at, but there was a sort of relationship between Arcadia and her childhood friend Bastian. However, once Arcadia and Alex were inside Polis and she found out that Bastian wouldn't be hurt because of her, he kind of vanished from the picture. 

The plot twist wasn't expected, but at the same time it was. I didn't anticipate the reason behind Arcadia's summon to Polis, but I knew that she would potentially be in charge of changing the current government. The book ended on a bit of a short note so I'm a bit surprised that Goodreads has this marked as 315 pages since my copy only had about 200. The ending was a bit abrupt and off, which left me a bit confused as to what exactly is going on next. 

Overall, the book is a nice start to a new dystopian series and I'm definitely interested to see what happens next as book one really only set the stage of the overall story. Again, many thanks to the author for sending me a copy!

3.5 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

Vicious

Vicious by VE Schwab

ISBN: 0765335344
Pages: 340
Source: Library

Appearance:

Book Depository Link

Summary:

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world. 
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end? 
In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

Hi everyone and welcome back to another review! I was originally going to post this review on Saturday and post Mortal Heart today, but VE Schwab's newest book: A Darker Shade of Magic came out today so I thought it was only fitting that I posted my review of her first adult book today. Anyway, let's get straight into the review!

Vicious follows two friends turned enemies who have discovered the secret to attaining supernatural powers. Eli, charming and handsome, believes that his supernatural power is one from heaven as he cannot do any harm to other people with it. Victor on the other hand, has the ability to create pain onto other people. After seeing Victor come into his power, Eli decides that all other supernaturals or EOs as he calls them must be eradicated because they are a danger to the world. He enlists the help of a young EO woman to help him destroy everyone. Victor has recently gotten out of jail, a place he went because of Eli and he wants his revenge. He also enlists the help of a powerful young EO girl and his friend from the prison to help him take down Eli and stop his madness.

Words cannot describe how freaking awesome this book is. I actually avoided this book like the PLAGUE for the longest time because everyone I mean EVERYONE was talking about it and I just didn't feel like I wanted in on all the hype. Now that it's been out for a while, I started getting curious and then everyone started talking about VE Schwab's new book which got me even more interested. So enough said, but I picked it up and absolutely devoured it. Vicious is a fantastically crafted story that weaves together so many different character traits that completely blow your expectations. Everything about this book is messed up, but you can't help but love every single page. Seriously, every single word is precious and important. 

Now I sounds like a complete fangirl so let's turn it up a notch. Victor is literally amazing. He's so crazy messed up anyone who likes him should get their heads checked, myself included, but there is just something about his character that makes him redeemable despite that fact that he is actually quite delusional. The way that he has this carefree intensity about it draws people in and while he's definitely insane (have I made that point clear yet?), he is so dang amazing it actually hurts. I don't think I've ever sympathized so much with a "villain" type character before, but seriously guys, if nothing else interests you about this book, the fact alone that this book will make you love a villain should be enough.

While Victor was portrayed as the villain in the book, the hero aka Eli became the true villain in my eyes. I won't say specifically what it is, but I literally despised him. At first I didn't understand Victor's hatred towards his once best friend, but as the story progresses Eli begins to become this twisted maniac who wants to be the only reigning EO in the world. He essentially wants to get rid of all other competition and have the entire world kneeling at his feet. He thinks that he is unstoppable and basically immortal. Admittedly, Victor is definitely more twisted in terms of psychological events, but Eli is the one you blame for everything and the one you want to see fall.

Other memorable characters are Sydney, the girl Victor picks up from the streets after leaving jail and his jail friend Mitch. Both are quite lovable people despite not knowing a lot about them. Well, you do get to know Sydney and her past quite well, but Mitch is more of a bodyguard who everyone thinks is in a gang because he's huge. Instead though, you can tell from how he treats Sydney that he's definitely a really nice person. 

The book itself is divided among several point of views as well as two different time lines. Half the book is present day where Victor and his gang are hunting Eli down for Victor's revenge and the other half occurs 10 years earlier when Victor and Eli were still in college. This really helped to move the present story along while allowing for a little story-time. Instead of Victor recounting the past in a conversation to Sydney, you can actually see it happen and see what caused the falling out between the two former best friends. As for POVs, the story is told through Victor, Eli, and Sydney's voices which really gives the story more dimension as you get to see it covered from all the angles. Overall, it really helped to make the book a more engaging experience.

Okay, I've talked long enough. Final thoughts are quite simple: If you haven't read the book already please do because this is definitely a book that lives up to all the hype that it's been getting. It's a fascinating read that just might have you wondering if you're actually a bit psychotic, but it's definitely fun and really enjoyable. 

4.5 out of 5 stars

Foreverly Obsessed,

Planning Ahead (1)

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post, today I'm going to be introducing something new in hopes that it'll keep me more honest and active on this blog. First of all, last week was February break and I had this whole vision of that I wanted to do. I had a good number of books that were just waiting to be reviewed, some I had read in 2014 and still haven't done anything with my notes. But then, as you guys can tell, I posted twice last week and both of those times were tour stops. 

So, in the spirit of a New Year (Chinese New Year occurred on the 19th) and starting fresh, I'm going to hold myself more accountable for posting every week. As you can probably tell from the title, I'm just going to call this "series" my Planning Ahead posts. I tried to come up with something witty and it didn't exactly work so this is going to have to do. 

Basically, Planning Ahead posts will consist of books I'm currently reading and/or books I want to read in the upcoming week as well as at least one to two reviews that I plan on posting as well. I don't know yet if I'm going to do these every week, but I'm going to aim for one post every other week. However, since this is the last week of February, this post is only going to be relevant for one week. Anyway, enough talking let's get into it~

Unworthy by Joanne Armstrong

I received a copy from the author for review and promised to have it read/reviewed by the end of February...my procrastination is coming back to haunt me...

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

This is the #YearofCosmere read-a-long choice for February. I was originally planning on reading this during break but my friends actually had time to hang out, so I put it off. Hopefully I'll finish it before the end of the month, but I'm not too worried if I finish it in the beginning of March, as long as I have the time to read the second book.

Unworthy by Joanne Armstrong

Pretty self-explanatory since I promised the author I would have it read/reviewed by the end of the month. 

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

I read this at the end of January and planned on reviewing it around the first week of February...my goal is to have this review up either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Vicious by VE Schwab

Another book I read at the end of last month and didn't review...I'm great at this...I'm still deciding if I want to post this review before or after my review of Unworthy so chances are this review will be up on Saturday.

And that's it! That's what I have planned for this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that school is not going to blow up since it's the first week back from break and next week we have standardized testing. (Who's excited for that?) Three reviews is a bit ambitious for me, but I'm determined to get it done! So, what are some books you plan on reading this last week of February? 

Foreverly Obsessed,

TOUR STOP: Sleeping Tom

Sleeping Tom by E.V. Fairfall

ISBN: 9780991283224
Pages: 343
Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Appearance:

Summary:

Hitchhiking is a bad idea but Caden is desperate.
When she accepts a ride from the first car to come by she meets Gabriel. He's her age, hot, and the closest thing she has to a savior. Problem is, he is a total jerk. With nowhere to go, Caden convinces Gabriel to let her stay with him for one night. He reluctantly lends a couch.
That night Caden wakes up to strange noises. Concerned, she rushes into Gabriel’s room, already anticipating his bad temper. Instead, he’s kind, sweet, and suspiciously harmless—nothing like the man who gave her a ride. He seems like a different person altogether, and claims he is. By night he is Tom, and by day he is Gabriel. Caden finds herself drawn to the mysteries hidden in his eyes.
For Gabriel, Caden is an annoying mistake. One night turns into many, and despite all his anger towards her, she stays. She even seems to accept him and his flaws, but he still doesn’t trust her—is she staying for him, or has she already discovered more than he's willing to share? 

Hi everyone! Welcome to my tour stop for Sleeping Tom by E.V. Fairfall! I was super excited to participate in this tour after reading E.V.'s first novel Transformed and this book explores something I've never read about. As always, be sure to click the tour banner up above to check out all the other tour stops!

Sleeping Tom begins with a girl named Rebecca standing on the edge of a bridge, debating if she should jump off or not. She's recently been dumped by her abusive boyfriend Sean who was basically her world. After debating for a while, she decides that she's no longer going to put up with any crap from anyone and what better way to do a personality 360 then to change your own name. So Rebecca becomes Caden, a girl with a backbone who is not going to let anyone break her down. Then someone drives by and offers to give Caden a ride to town. She gets in and meets Gabriel, a pretty rude and arrogant jerk who then offers to let Caden spent the night on his couch since she has nowhere else to go. Everything seems to be going fine until Caden hears some noises in Gabriel's room at night and goes to investigate. She finds someone who look exactly like Gabriel, but he calls himself Tom. The more time she spends with Tom, the more she starts to fall for Gabriel, but there are still so many secrets that she doesn't know.

This story discusses a topic that I don't think I've ever read before in a book: multi-personality disorder. As you can probably tell from the synopsis and book summary, Gabriel has another side of him called Tom. Tom is basically a child in a man's body, he's naive, innocent, throws temper tantrums, and acts like any 8-10 year old child, only he looks as old as an 19 year old guy. The concept is really cool and EV Fairfall weaves such a complex idea into a simple story. I did wish that we could have learned more about having a second personality, but I did like the little excerpt from the library book that Caden was reading when she was doing her research on the topic. Personally, I liked the simplistic feel of the story, but I kind of wished there was more information even though that might make the story unnecessarily complicated.

As far as characters go, I will admit that I didn't like Caden, Tom, or Gabriel. Caden seemed like she was trying so hard to be tough, but she constantly kept running back and forth between facing her problems and keeping them a secret. There were a couple scenes where I wanted to shake her back and forth in hopes that maybe she'll see some sense in what she's doing. I will admit that personally, I don't think I'd stay that long with Gabriel, but again that's my own opinion. She definitely grew a backbone in this story, that I'll definitely give her. Also, can she cook for me because I was starving while reading about her amazing culinary skills.

I sort of instantly disliked Gabriel because he's pretty rude and mean which aren't exactly traits that draw me to a character. I will say that through the coarse of the book he does show that he's a good guy, but he seriously needs to work on his temper. Finally in this trio we have Tom. At first I liked him because he was such an innocent soul and seeing him interact with Caden made you smile. After a while, his naive nature and secrets started to annoy me a bit. What I did like was how he managed to annoy me like a little kid but still retain that child-like personality that made you want to squeeze him.

My favorite characters in this book was definitely Face. Weird name, but I don't want to reveal his real name just yet. When you first meet him, he acts like one of those player douches that go to parties to hook up, but once you get to know more about him, he's generally a great guy. Yes, he's an extreme flirt, but he made me laugh and swoon a bit with his overall caring personality and plus according to Caden, he's not too bad to look at either.

Overall, I did enjoy the story despite not connecting with the main characters as much as I had hoped. The story itself is engaging and super interesting and I promise it'll keep you hooked from the beginning to the end. 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AUTHOR BIO:

I love to write just as much as I love to read. I try to read a book per week, which doesn’t always work out, but it’s the thought that counts. Aside from all that I am a huge animal person.
Transformed is my first novel, but it isn’t my first publication; I’ve had several short stories published over the last two years. My main goal as a writer is to explore humanity and to give people something fun to read.

Author links:

http://fairfall.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7485494.E_V_Fairfall

https://www.facebook.com/e.v.fairfall

https://twitter.com/EV_Fairfall

3.75 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

TOUR STOP: Cut Here

Cut Here by Azzurra Nox

ASIN: B00SGWE708
Pages: 376

Source: YA Bound Book Tours

Appearance:

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Lena Martin's idyllic world shatters the night her mother dies due to a hit and run accident. Two years later, her dad relocates her from Italy to Los Angeles to help her put behind the time spent in a psychiatric ward following her mother's death. But the move only proves to be a fatal mistake. Shortly after her arrival, the classmates of her new private school begin to commit suicide under mysterious circumstances after reading a cult book called Cut Here.
Determined to unravel the mystery behind the suicides, she bands together with loner Jonathan Russe and outcast Hope Peters to figure out exactly what is happening, not realizing that this places them under a dangerous radar. During this same time, Lena falls for a mysterious and attractive guy named Michael, who is as equally disarming as he's dangerous.
As her attraction grows, so does the body count at St. Lucy Academy. Soon, Lena needs to decide whether to stay away from the guy she's falling for, or to trust him. Is Michael behind the suicides, or is he the key that can unlock the mystery that can stop the bloodshed? Deceptions run high and Lena soon learns that nothing is what it seems. 

Hello everyone! Welcome to my tour stop for Cut Here by Azzura Nox! Can we please just take a moment to appreciate that gorgeous cover? Alright, now that we've taken a minute, as always be sure to check out the other amazing tour stops by clicking the banner up above and let's get into the review!!

Cut Here follows Lena Martin, a newbie at St. Lucy Academy with a tragic past. Her mother's death shatters her perfect world and her father hopes that the move will put some distance between her and the tragedy, but it seems as if death has followed them from Italy to California. Before Lena's arrival, life at St. Lucy Academy was typical to any other school, but once Lena arrives, the perfect students start committing suicide one by one. The only connection between the deaths is the popular murder novel called Cut Here. It's also the book Lena bought moments before her mother was killed. Convinced that something is wrong and the deaths are linked to the novel, Lena sets out to solve the mystery behind the deaths with the help of a couple of her new friends, but she might be prepared for the evil that awaits her.

I just finished the book and my brain is still spinning from what just happened. Essentially, there's this book where a demonic killer goes out and murders broken souls, disguising the murders to look like suicides. After our MC moves into town, her classmates start dying off, one by one and someone makes the connection that the deaths mirror the ones in the book. Are you creeped out yet? To further amp up the creepy factor, the killer isn't exactly human. In fact, the killer from the book is real and the book is a reflection of what will happen. There's a lot of tension and mystery that surrounds the story and the characters as well as a lot of unexpected twists that take you by surprise. In short, this story is seriously messed up. 

The characters are just an extension of that statement. Let's start off with Lena Martin. I'll be completely honest and say that I didn't like her a ton. She's first portrayed as this beautiful and enchanting creature that completely captures the attention of Jonathan Russe. At first, I didn't have a lot of problems with that, but then the whole Jon & Lena & Amelia (Jon's girlfriend) thing went down. Okay, I'll admit, I thought Amelia was overreacting, but my dislike started when she didn't do much to heal the broken relationship. Then comes Michael in all his mysteriousness and macho-ness. That's when I started having some problems. Lena goes from standing on her two feet to wavering between two guys. She tells Jon she misses him while crying and begging Michael to not leave because she loves him. While she does manage to come to her own conclusions, it takes a long time for that happen and by the end I was a bit done with her character.

That goes on to say that the guys in the love triangle didn't catch my attention either. Jonathan takes messed up and traumatized to a whole new level. After losing his twin brother when he was younger, he has never been the same and that reflects in his character. On one end, he's wonderfully crafted with his mood changes and his dual-like personality. But on the other hand, he's creepy. I will admit I thought more than once that he was the one behind everything, but he isn't (oops spoiler). Then you have Michael who I kind of just automatically disliked. If you haven't caught my gist already, there's a ton of insta-love in this book. He saves Lena from the killer once and she's basically heads over heels. While he tries to be all good about his mission, he's pretty moody and mysterious and basically made me feel really unsettled.

Okay, enough of that. I want to talk about characters that I did like! First off, I really liked Sydney. She's the daughter of a sex icon of the time, but was born with a bunch of dark birthmarks that marred her beauty. In that sense, it made her less perfect and more real. She had more depth than a lot of the characters and maintained her personality throughout the book. After the three involved in the romance triangle, I had enough with mood swings so reading scenes with her was definitely relaxing. There's also Amelia who I felt really really bad for. She was such a nice and cheerful girl with dreams of a happily ever after. While I did think she overreacted when Jon and Lena kissed at the move theater, she definitely didn't deserve to be completely ripped apart for it. A couple of other characters were Dior who I hated but then wanted to give a big hug, Hope who I really want to give a big hug because she needs it more than anyway, Bethany who I'm still confused over, and Connor who was basically an innocent hero.

Wow this review is getting long, but I just wanted to say a couple more things. I'm almost done I promise! The storyline is creepy, but enticing and just makes you wonder what is wrong with your head. The plot however isn't as completely fleshed out as the characters whom you get pretty descriptive histories. That doesn't go to say that it isn't well written. The author definitely knows how to get her point across incorporating enough scare factor and character development to keep you hooked. 

GIVEAWAY

To be added

About the Author

Born in Catania, Sicily, she has led a nomadic life since birth. She has lived in various European cities and Cuba, and currently resides in the Los Angeles area. Always an avid reader and writer from a young age, she loved entertaining her friends with ghost stories. She loves horror movies, cats, and a good rock show. She dislikes Mondays and chick-flicks. CUT HERE, her debut paranormal urban fantasy was inspired by a nightmare the writer had a few years ago. Some of her favourite authors include Anne Rice, Oscar Wilde, Chuck Palahniuk, and Isabella Santacroce.

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

3 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

Bookish Love Tag!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic day even if you're not planning on doing anything with a significant other later (pst! You still got books!) I just stumbled across this book tag on Youtube and thought it'd be a lot of fun to do it, with the spirit of Valentine's Day and all! So this is the Bookish Love Tag, created by Novel Noise and I first saw this tag on LitJournal's channel! Let's get started!! 

1. 3 book boyfriends/girlfriends

A) Darcy Wilson - no words needed, he's literal perfection

B) Lachlan - He's also pretty much perfection...

C) Legolas - Since I'm currently rewatching LOTR with my friends, it's only fitting to include my first book crush (I know the cover's Book II, but it has his face )

2. 3 OTPs

A) Siri and Lightsong - This might be a bit weird, but I loved the two of them together...

B) Arima and Sabre - I don't know exactly how much I ship these two, but they're present relationship is really sweet

C) Merlin and Morgana - I know this technically isn't book but I can't mention OTPs without mentioning my ULTIMATE SHIP 

(Fanart I found on Google. Aren't they adorable??)

3. Favorite first kiss

I don't really remember specifically, but picking a recent couple that I'm in love with:

Annith and Balthazar

4. What couple had the greatest sexual tension?

Madeline and Damascus - I mean, she's the next target of some psycho killer fallen angel...

On Valentine's day, which couple would...

5. ...go to a fancy restaurant

Serena and Julien - He's already a rich Archdemon and it'll just be another step in his plan to win her heart 

6. ...have a quiet picnic/walk on the beach

Nastya and Josh - I can't even express my feelings in words for this 

7. ...stay at home and watch Netflix

Cath and Levi - It's only fitting :)

8. ...go dancing! 

Anna and Kaidan - They need the save the world from some crazy demons, plus it's right up Anna's alley

9. What couple do you want to get together?

Joel and Melody - Is this a bit weird? I was looking through my read books that this one just caught my eye, I think they'd make a pretty fun couple

10. What couple do you HATE that everyone else LOVES?

Sydney and Adrian - Okay, I don't hate them...I actually haven't read enough from this series to judge, but from I have read, I'm not feeling the connection...

All right! That's the Bookish Love Tag! Be sure to check out the creator's video up above! If you're interested, please do this tag and link it below so I can check out your answers!!

A little fun information about Valentine's Day:

In all this excitement, let’s not forget the TRUE reason for the season

on February 14, 3019, Gandalf the White arose from death in his true form and set out once more to walk the stones of Middle-Earth

MERRY GANDALFMAS

Foreverly Obsessed,