Relativity: A silver lining?

Relativity by Cristin Bishara is a wonderful book that I give 4 out of 5 stars. I can't in good conscious give it 5. I honestly hated the main character through most of the book, but it was still compelling. For ages I'd say anywhere between 15-17. You also have to be a bit of a science nerd because this book talks about time travel, or does it? The book poses the question of what it really was at the very end, without actually going into it. It leaves you pondering which really made me think of the old movie Donnie Darko because of the sheer amount of tragedy and questioning.

Though to be honest her means of transportation is more like this...

However, it's a tree. Ruby Wright has lost her mother at a young age in a car accident. Her father has married another woman with an unstable daughter (that has become her unstable step-sister), and she left the boy she's in love with behind. Her life is terrible. This tree has a history, and it seems to transport her into parallel universes. However, every time she goes she'll displace the ruby from that world if they were born of her mother and father. 

Everywhere she goes she sees tragedy in her life. It's depressing, but she searches for the perfect one to steal for herself. She's been chased by her step sister, her knee is infected and swelling, in other universes she has a brother. She wants this. She wants a perfect life, but her parents keep splitting up, her mother keeps dying, the love of her life doesn't know her. 

However, the character growth in the book was what made me change it from 3 stars to 4. She does grow up. Displacing someone is despicable because the other Ruby would cease to exist. A version of her mother teaches her this, but that also means she has to go back to the life she left behind, saying goodbye to a mother she would never get to have. 

It's heartwarming, makes you question, and the writing style is easy to get into. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book, but it'll be available September 10th, 2013. This book teaches us to be happy with what we have, and to make the best of our own lives. I recommend it for anyone between the ages of 15-17. I hope others can learn from this as well. 

Prince Charming Inc.: A tale of reconditioning?

Prince Charming Inc. by Jamie Brazil I'll give a 4 out of 5. It's comedic! I can't say I see the romance, not completely, but I can see the comedy. This is a book I can see being a movie very easily. The main gist of it can be turned into a romantic comedy. Our main character is a feminist, so be warned. Yet, at the same time, she's a little bit needy.

Elyse Tobin feels like she has no choice but to do what she must to keep her ancestral home. For generations the Tobin house has been in various mortgages. Well, she's figured out a way to do this splendidly, she's going to recondition men. Which brings us to her model, Nik Salvatore. How did she meet young Nik, a reformed gigolo? Easy...

One night of mind blowing orgasms to get rid of grief. He fell in love with her, but she doesn't see it. She thinks he's not really changed and just uses him as a model for the men she reconstructs mentally so she can sell them off (their dates and eventual marriage) to the rich wives she knows. She turns them into this...

Throughout the book Nik will try to win her heart, save her from herself, as she ignores him and tries to save her ancestral home. The characters are stubborn, easy to relate to, and the emotions are portrayed nicely. I love how the author (also author of The Commodore's Daughter) was able to change her writing style so much from a young adult novel to something so adult. There is some adult content but not too explicit. Love is found, trials conquered, and the book ends on one beautiful note. Her realizing (In regards to Nik)

This book is a great read, but not too in depth, so that's why it gets a 4 out of 5. Things at least match up, and it's done in a very comedic but adult manner. I can't say it's the most original, but there are twists that make your heart melt. I'll recommend this book to any girl that wants a lighthearted read on a relaxing night.

Tangled Tides: An Intricate tale of the Sea

5 out of 5! The world building was beautifully created by the way each group interacted with one another. There were mermaids, sirens, selkies, gorgons, and humans. It was beautifully done, though you didn't see much of the humans in this one. The characters didn't grow like I liked, but the story and plot came together enough to make it a good book despite it. The main male character was a merman...yeah you heard me right, a merman. Kind of like this..

Only hot and blue. There was even a ranking system with mermaids. It follows the colors of the rainbow, which may sound cheesy, but it shows their life patterns and what they do as they get older. Each color is a rank and a job. It beautifully blends wisdom and time together to make a system that keeps things in line. It shows orders and chaos. There is a lot of juxtaposition in this book. The selkies are different than some of the ones you are used to. The selkies in this book look like this

so as to better work as an opposite of the mermaids. However, mythology says selkies are human without their coats, like this

However, it was done up rather well. It has a whole back story on why the world is created in such a dynamic, the selkies are half human half seal, why they don't get along with the mermaids, everything. That's really important to me. Even the main character has a detailed back story to go with things. Our main character is Yara Jones. During a hurricane she is turned into a mermaid, and she must learn to live with it while finding out her entire life has been a lie. Rownan, her boyfriend, is a selkie, but there has been so much of her past erased from her, connecting her to Treygan, the main merman of the book. Rownan and Treygan are half-brother, but what was their father and is their dangerous past? All the while the fates conspire against a budding romance between Yara and Treygan, and destroys the romance that Yara felt for Rownan.

So all the while Treygan and Yara are trying to stay

so as to not ruin the only chance at returning all the sea creatures to their home Rathe. The gate has been closed, and Yara is the key to opening it. A tragedy struck 18 years ago, and trapped them all here on Earth where they must smoke c-weed and seagarrettes to survive. I actually thought that was pretty clever. All the while the dual nature of the selkies and mermaids are explained and elaborated on, making a very vivid story. It's beautifully done.

The next book comes out this year...my reaction?

The Commodore's Daughter: A thrilling tale of choices

This book really boils down to choices. I choose to give it 4 out 5 stars, despite it being simple. I would say this is for younger teens 13-15. It was a beautiful story about a young girl, an American, who is about to be married off by her father to a man over twice her age, she's only 15. She is Commodore Perry's daughter, he is the commodore of the American Navy. She realizes she can not do this, even for the father she loves, and her friend Susan B. Anthony convinces her to run. She stows away on her father's ship. Before her father finds her, she is escaping into Japan, the country her father is supposed to open trade with.

However, Japan kills all foreigners. She is harbored by samurai.

Yeah, that's right: Samurai. That was a little confusing, but at least it is explained later. Keiko is a young girl her age, and she is the daughter of the head of the family, the head of that samurai clan. It's beautiful because the girls are mirror images of each other in their family dynamic, both have important fathers and both are enslaved to protocol. Her family is then killed by ninja's, or they attack trying to. I was starting to think this was one of my favorite childhood books Journey to Nowhere by Mary Jane Auch meets The Last Samurai. I couldn't stop imagining the ninja scene. They disguise her but are worried her blue eyes will give her away.  

Okay..yeah..that's what I thought. She had blue eyes in Japan too. Now that actually really bothered me, but for the sake of the story I went along with it. 

This is Jennifer's journey in the land where foreigners are killed instantly, and how she is hunted, with Keiko, a samurai by her side, Ryu a farmer with a hidden path, and in a village of those that are fated to die as she is, she must find a way to rescue her father from certain death in his negotations, learn to live by her own code, save the emperor from a Shogun who wants to take power, get Ryu's sister back from slavery, and save Keiko's family. So this is one action packed story where the main character grows, so I really like it. One of my favorite scenes reminded me of this 

She can be so naive, and when she tried to be a geisha to sneak into the palace, it really came together in my head. I loved it. I defiantly recommend this book for younger teens. 

Demonic Dora: Funny but Disappointing

Demonic Dora by Claire Chilton I'll give 2 out of 5 stars. I got this book as an ARC from Netgalley, but I'm supposed to give it an honest review, and honestly it was a disappointment. At first, I loved this book. I could look past the poor writing style and see something that was worth sticking with. I couldn't stop laughing at some of the jokes.

Then it went downhill. I would suggest this for a 13 year old, or someone of a younger variety. Then it may hit a 4 out of 5, if it was targeted as a children's book, but then again there was too much sex for that. There were so many flaws because it seemed to bounce from content for 12-13 year olds, with all the feces jokes, to 15-17 year olds with all the the sexual content.

So Dora is a witch, and she has religiously zealot parents. They routinely think she's possessed, and she really wants to summon a demon. She finally summons one, where her parents find out because demons plague the church on national television, and they try to burn her at the stake. Her demon lord is actually a kid that can't even pass Hell's exams. He's basically one horny walking teenage boy.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about him. So, now they've escaped to hell, and this is where the story drops. It went from beautifully hilarious though poorly written, to just poorly written and feces jokes. Dragon feces, monkey feces, bird feces, all of it is in there in a joke getting thrown at someone. It's terrible. I guess a younger kid would like it, but the sexual content was too high. For example, Kieron (the Demon Lord she summoned) and his father actually fight over her saying she belongs to them.

This just wasn't a book intended for a mature audience. I'd love to try the next one, Deceased Dora, to see if it gets any better, but this one just didn't work out the way I had hoped. I hope the author will mature a little in the books to come.

Fathomless: A tidal wave of emotions in this novel

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce was a truly magnificent read, 5 out of 5 stars. The only real detail I think it missed was that I was never quite clear if they were supposed to have tails because of the covers or not. The ocean girls in the book are described to have beauty, but their legs are usually left out of the picture. So, for the sake of my gifs, let's pretend they do.

This book was hard to put down. It's a thrilling tale about Lo, a girl who once was a human named Nadia. She can not remember her human self and can feel herself being lost to the ocean entirely. I have to say that the ending made me sad, but it was at least realistic. Lo struggles with her identity as an ocean girl, and as Nadia, the human girl she was. Cecilia is a triplet who can see the past, her sisters can see the present (people's thoughts) as well as the future.

 One night a boy falls over the railing, and Molly, another ocean girl, tries to drown him. There is a legend that if you can force a human to love you and drown them then the ocean girl will claim the soul and walk out of the ocean human once more. Molly and Lo want this. 

Jude is rescued by Lo and Cecilia as well, letting their lives intersect. Lo struggles to find her identity, as an ocean girl, as a human named Nadia that Cecilia helps her remember, and that the fact that one day she may turn into an angel. But what are these angels really? Is the person who made them ocean girls, taking away their humanity, angels or monsters? What will happen to Lo? Will she forget Nadia all together? Will Lo die and become another person entirely? Will Cecilia be able to help and will Jude ever be able to love Lo so she can have his soul? This book is full of suspense. 

The best thing about this book is that I could never guess the ending. The struggle to be who you are, finding your own identity, for both Cecilia and Lo are incredible. They grow as characters right before your eyes, giving you wonderful insight to their motivations and fears. I recommend this book for all of these reasons. Really, it was just beautifully done all around. 

Drought: A Captivating Novel full of Mystery

Drought by Pam Bachorz was a beautiful novel that I enjoyed to the very end. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. This book is a cult book, one of the very few I have ever read. Ruby is a slave. Every day she and the others that live there, unlike the overseers, are to collect water with spoons from the dew drops. They have a quota that they must reach or be punished. However, Ruby has the thing that makes the water so special, her very own blood. It's kept these people alive hundreds of years.

This water keeps them young, yet the endure such agony every day. I believe this book was compelling because it details the life of the cult, why they believe in their savior Otto who disappeared a long time ago, and how desperately they believe Otto will come back. Not all of them are the same, some like Ruby want freedom to go look for Otto. Then, Ruby falls in love with a new overseer.

Sadly, one of the reasons I only give it 4 stars is that it doesn't really explain why she loves him. The magnetism is apparent, however. This thrilling cult-like novel had me captivated the entire way, but it left questions unanswered. There were parts I wanted to cry, parts where I couldn't stop gushing at the subtle romance, and times that I was shocked at the cruelty in the book. I highly recommend it.