Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population, and those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery makeup . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club--in the depths of her own despair--Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club, and Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find not just something to live for, but something to fight for--no matter what it costs her.

Rating: 3 stars

I am absolutely in love with this cover.

There are certain books where you love the story, love the characters and are absolutely die-hard fangirling until you read the next one, and even then it doesn't fade. This was not one of those books. It was a nice book, with nice (but stupid) characters, and a nice adaption to Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. That may be because I am a huge fan of Poe's work, and I felt a retelling of this story needed a bit more...character to it.

It just seemed that we didn't know enough about the characters. They weren't quite as developed as I had hoped they would be. They were all boring and dull and expected. The only minorly interesting one was Elliott, and even he was predictable (I know, it's a re-make so we kind of KNOW what's going to happen, but even with his dialogue and random actions that the author thinks is a twist or witty even, were fairly expected)

I don't know what else to say about this book. I liked it, and if the characters were just a bit more...more, then this could possibly be one of my favorites, or at least get a four star review.
I will be reading the second one, though.

xxAvalon

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Rating: 4 stars (5 stars on Goodreads, simply because it deserves more than 4, and I feel a bit bad on giving it that many...but I have my reasons)

Okay, if you've actually gotten this far in the Lux series, it either means you love it, or you hate it and are just reading it so you can give it crappy reviews. Which is pretty douchey, but that's a different discussion for a different place.

I'm one of the people who loved this book. I love Katy, I love Daemon, I love Dee, and I suspected that I would love Dawson, as he was first introduced as one heck of a plot twist at the end of Onyx. Which I did, although he didn't play as big of a role as I thought he would. I am, however, glad that he didn't screw with Katy and Daemon's relationship, because that would of sent me over the edge.

The book starts off where Katy and Daemon are now a couple (FINALLY) and they are trying to persuade Dawson to wait before he runs off to defeat Daedalus, who has Bethany, and gets himself killed. And Daemon got all protective and brotherly and my heart shattered into a million pieces because of all the feels that took over.

But as they discover more about Daedalus and more on trying to get Bethany back, Blake (that little son of a--) shows up again, begging for mercy. For the record, I hate Blake. Truly and with a passion. I understand why he as a character is necessary, but that doesn't make me hate him any less. He was the reason Katy lied to Daemon and got Adam killed in the first place, and now he comes back, asking for forgiveness and offering them help. Remember when he offered them help in Onyx? Yeah, that turned out fantastically, didn't it. And this is why I took off the one star, because despite knowing what he did, they completely disregarded the fact that Adam is DEAD because of him, Dee is shattered, and so, so much more, and just walked right back into his arms, taking the help he offered, very few to little questions asked.

(SPOILER) And when that little rat betrayed them at the end I get he's trying to save Chris and all but I am so ready to rip him apart GRRRR

Dawson was...messed up. Which was to be expected, seeing as he probably had been tortured while with Daedalus, and I predicted he was going to be quiet, with random bursts of violence when confronted with someone who was with Daedalus. I was right, which disappointed me some, because I hoping for so much more character from him. But, while quiet and a bit spazzy, he was incredibly sweet and determined to get his girlfriend back.

Katy's character has come a long ways, with little change. Yes, she is more willing to kill and slight changes in her moral standing have been apparent, but her personality is still the same, which is why I love her. She still makes time to do what she wants even with all this 'alien mojo' flying around. I gotta give her props for that, if nothing else (such as her ability to keep up in a sassy conversation with Daemon)

And Daemon...I love Daemon. He's such a smart ass all the time and I love him. I am a complete and utter fangirl when it comes to him, and the witty moments between Katy and him I was all like:

And it was true...

And their relationship I was literally fanning myself from the heat. WHERE did THAT come from? Like all this stored up passion exploded (twice hehe) in this book. :D (if you know what I mean...)

Anyway, the entire blind faith in Blake annoyed the bejeezus out of me, but other than that I still am completely and utterly in love with this series. But I can't talk about the end, because I will start screaming about what A FREAKING GODAWFUL CLIFFHANGER IT WAS!!!

Damn it Armentrout.

xxAvalon

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind

Rating: 5 stars

(First off, sorry for not being more active. I haven't done a review in like, two weeks...please don't kill me)

I am ready to do a review which I feel is long overdue. Even though I only read the book last week, I feel the need to cry my heart out over it, once again. I cried four times in this book, and let's just say, I don't cry easily. There needs to be a legitimate reason for tears to roll down my face in order for it to happen. So let me begin this tearfilled review with the fact that I absolutely love this book and hate John Green.

So we have Hazel, a girl with thyroid cancer, which spread into her lungs. She is only alive because a miracle that happened when she was younger, and now her mother forces her to socialize by making her go to these 'support' groups for other cancerous people. She hates it there, and her only semi-friend is a guy named Isaac. One day Isaac brings his friend, Augustus Waters, to the support group with him, and that's when Hazel starts to get swept up in his charismatic yet sweet personality.

I cannot get over how incredibly amazing this book was. The characters were all so incredibly individual and noticable that you couldn't help but remember them, all without being annoying. The amount of emotion and personality put into each character was both realistic, as well as stunning. I was completely awed by Green's ability to shape character's persona's.

Hazel was definitely one of my favorite protagonists of 2013. She wasn't afraid of death, or of what other people thought of her. She stood firmly in her beliefs of what she depicted was right and wrong, unwavering despite others heavy influence.

And Augustus, oh Augustus Waters just kill me now. Never have I encountered a character as enticingly odd as him. Every line he spoke was so profound  that you can't help but at least be intrigued by him. And I must say, the smoking metaphor was awesome. You know, putting the killer in your mouth but not giving it the ability to kill? I had never thought of that.

Augustus was so incredible, even his character flaws, instead of making him annoying, as most do, made him lovable and endearing. I can't even talk about him without fangirling.

I had one problem with this book though, if you could call it a problem. The ending. What the hell, Green? Are you TRYING to slaughter teenage girls hearts? Way to get me all excited and then smash my poor hopes.

I don't care what kind of genre you like reading, read this book. Worth it 110%

xxAvalon

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

Rating: 5 stars

The story starts off with a girl named Mara Dyer, and she just moved to Florida on account of her having PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being the only survivor in a building collapse. Her boyfriend, her best friend, and her boyfriend's sister died. But when she moves to Florida, strange things start happening. She begins to have hallucinations and flashbacks, all of her dead boyfriend, Jude, and her boyfriend's sister, Claire.

Mara starts getting upset easily, and when she wishes death on an abusing owner of a small dog, it happens. Just as she imagined it. Can this be a coincidence? She hopes so, but her hopes drop when the same thing happens to her Spanish teacher. There's something seriously wrong with Mara Dyer, and a certain boy with a 'panty-dropping' smile who has taken a sudden interest in her isn't helping.

I am having a hard time trying to find out what about this book I don't like. It's very difficult, because the book was just that freaking awesome. It was quite distressing, actually. I was hoping to hate it, I had read so many awful reviews on it. And yet, the world of books has never ceased to surprise me.

Let's begin this review with Noah Shaw, because this genuinely confused me. Everyone says he was such a jack-ass...but he actually was quite nice to Mara. When he found out about her drawings he could've been a complete douche bag and humiliated in front of everyone, just like they all wanted him too. It would've helped his reputation incredibly. But no, he stands up for her, in front of the entire school, gives quite the suggestion that they were doing something more than dating, then takes the notebook back, humiliates the other girl, and asks if Mara is okay. If that is people's idea of cruel and being jack-ass-y (?) , then I'm out. I'll take my opinions elsewhere.

Although seriously, if you want to read a story about a douchebag, then read Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout. DAEMON was a douchebag, not Noah. Sure Noah may have teased her a bit, but he never said anything deliberately cruel or hurtful to her. That just bugged me so much, because that was the MAIN problem people had with this book, and I just didn't get it.

Enough on that, or I'll be ranting on forever. The plot was fantastic, and (maybe spoiler??) I love how at the end they still don't know what they are. It keeps you interested in the story, and it leaves room for a really fantastic sequel. At the end of the book, there is nothing definite in Mara's life, and that might frustrate some of you, but I love that about it. It shows her inner turmoil over Noah, her 'power', her social life, and her sanity. I was never sure of whether she actually had a power, whether someone else was just messing with her, or whether she was just insane. And (SPOILER) when I found out Noah had a power too I was just all like

What just happened?

And I loved Mara and Noah's relationship. It was cute and fun and dark and serious all at once, but despite all this you could see how much Noah cared for Mara. He wanted to help her so much, despite all the times she pushed him away.

There is a beautiful amount of potential for this series, and I hope Hodkin doesn't mess that up. But based on the way it's going so far, I doubt that she will.

Great book, all in all, although I do wish a few things were explained more clearly (things I can't tell you or they'd be spoilers) And I'd recommend this to anyone who likes mystery, drama, romance, and a bit of humor.

xxAvalon