If I Stay Duology By Gayle Forman

If I Stay
By Gayle Forman
Published: April 6, 2010
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 262
ISBN: 014241543X
Buy Me * Goodreads

On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving

Where She Went
By Gayle Forman

 Published: April 17, 2012
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 264
ISBN:0142420891 
Buy Me * Goodreads

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

My Review:

I am just going to start off by saying I really didn't enjoy these books. Yes I said it, I didn't like them. I wasn't attached to the characters is any way. In my opinion really nothing happened in either book. This could have just been one book! There was no need for there to be two of them. Without having spoilers I can't go into detail on the things I didn't like about the books. I will say that the first is better than the second. I feel like the second book is basically the same book as the first just from a different perspective. No she doesn't almost die in the second book but in the foundation they are the same story. This is the biggest problem I have with the stories. I wanted something more and they just fell flat. 

My Rating:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone By Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
By Laini Taylor

Published: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 418
ISBN: 0316134023

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Review:

I love this world. I love these characters. The imagination of Laini Taylor is amazing. I am in awe of the world she created. The writing in this story is so good, Laini Taylor does some amazing things with words. Its beautiful. As for the story itself. I really liked the story. The first half and second half of this book seem very different from either but it works. This being a series it always takes some backstory until we can get to the really good stuff. Im so excited to continue on with this series. I just can't say enough how much I really love it. If you haven't read it get, go buy it and start it. 

My Rating:

Landline By Rainbow Rowell

Landline
By Rainbow Rowell

Published: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 310
ISBN: 1250064309

Buy Me * Goodreads

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Review:

I really loved this book. I think it is super relateable and so true to real life relationships. I did give it a four out of five stars because I had some issues with it. The first thing was, at some points it was too cheesy for me. I wouldn't have noticed the cheesiness if the book didn't have such a real life feel. The parts where is was a cheesy love story just seemed out of place to me. The second thing I had an issue with was Neil. I didn't like him at all. I thought the issues that the characters were having in their marriage was both of their faults and i felt like Georgie was the only one taking the blame. Neil was just a moopy, negative character. Those two things aside the story is great and the writing is fantastic. This was my first Rainbow Rowell novel and I really can't wait to read more of her things. 

My Rating:

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstor
By Grady Hendrix
Published: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 243
ISBN: 1594745269
Buy Me * Goodreads


Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

My Review:
First things first I love the main character Amy! She is sarcastic and opinionated and kind of sassy. I just really enjoyed her. One of the best things about this novel, is the fact that it is based in a store like Ikea. It is so easy to actually picture everything and picture the situations because Ikea is such a well known store. The reader can really get involved in the story. The beginning of the chapters have pictures of furniture ( as a catalog would) that get incorporated into the upcoming chapter. This was a great way to make it possible for me to actually picture what was happening. Overall I loved this book. It was scary but still funny. I did wish that it had more of the horror aspect but it was still a great book. 

My Rating: