Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series/Novel: Divergent Series (Book #2)

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction

Pages: 525

Publisher: HarperCollins

Year Published: 2012

First Line: “I wake with his name in my mouth.”

“One choice can transform you- or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves- and herself- while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in time of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable- and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.”

My Rating: 4.5/5

Hi there! Fancy meet you here…. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Today I will be reviewing Insurgent by Veronica Roth. This is the second instalment in the Divergent series. This book follows Tris through her run through a world that is falling apart. After being a confirmed Divergent she is on the run of her life.

I won’t go into to much detail as I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone who hasn’t read it (but if you have Spoiler is usually posted below).

I was impressed by this book. I usually enjoy the first book and feel like the second one takes a major hit, but this one was surprisingly good. I still liked this one, although not quite as much as the first one.

The characters in this book were far more complex, and as a reader, we get to learn more about their past and the way their factioned system is set up. I enjoyed that we got to learn more about how the world that they live in is set up, it makes the whole thing more realistic. And the ending is amazing. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book, and am contemplating switching the order of books in the TBR pile to allow me to do so.

THANK YOU VERONICA ROTH FOR MAKING ME ESCAPE INTO ANOTHER WORLD THAT IS CAREFULLY THOUGHT OUT AND PLANNED!

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Ok this is the area where I can really get into the details of this book. As I mentioned previously, I think that this book was a pretty good follow up to the first book, and only diminished slightly. I think that Veronica Roth did an excellent job of expanding on the world that she created in the first book and showing readers how the factions were set up. We especially got to see this as Tris is on the run so much she visits all the factions in the city. Speaking of expanding on things lets discuss characters…

♥Characters♥

♥Tris: Tris has changed as a character. While she has grown up, she is also a lot more thoughtful about who she trusts. I’d almost say she has become sceptical. And in reality who would blame her. You are in the middle of a raging war with so many options of who to trust and shown few leads as to who is trustworthy (other than Jeanine). I was impressed that she went against Tobias, and at first I was upset with her about it, but in the end, I couldn’t blame her. How could you not go after something your parents had thought important enough to die for? Hopefully she is not to harshly tried for her crimes and can escape to the outside world, who knows if it will be any better out there though.

♥Tobias: At first, in this instalment in the series I found that Tobias was more loving than ever, but at points in the end I thought he was a bit cold. I understand that he was upset that Beatrice/Tris had decided to side with his father, but in the end he seemed to understand why. Especially when the information they found was so important and life altering. I do wish that he did trust Tris more, but perhaps with time that will be capable.

♥Jeanine: She is an interesting person that’s for certain. I suppose in her way of thinking, she was really protecting the factions and that’s also probably why so many Divergent went missing, because too many Divergent meant it was time to open the flood gates. I find it interesting that no one took much of an interest previously to what was outside of the gate. Would you not be slightly interested? I was relieved when she died, but also shocked that she died the way she did.

♥Caleb: Ok so what is his deal? Is he really with the Erudite or factionless or someone else? It’s hard to keep up with his decisions. I hope that he hasn’t chosen to stay inside the gates at all costs. I thought he would be smarter than that, but perhaps he is just as brainwashed as those under simulation. Oh my goodness….. WHAT IF HE’S UNDER SIMULATION!?!? (so now that you understand the inner working of my brain whilst reading…)

♥Marcus: I’m not sure whether or not his is trust worthy yet. I want to say just because of the way he treated Tobias, but perhaps I’m wrong. He might be working towards saving the world, who knows at this point?!

♥Evelyn: I know that I don’t like her. She is just as bad as Jeanine. I understand why she is fighting with the factionless, but did she know about the outside gates and was going to use the factionless to get the information erased?? So many thoughts….

♥Christina: I still like her. And although she lost Will, I think that her friendship with Tris has changed. Part of her must hate Tris, but another part must think that Tris is someone worth fighting for as she has proven throughout the book. Especially at the end.

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 399

 “‘I’ll be your family now,’ he says.

‘I love you,’ I say.”

♥Pg. 426

“‘Let me get this straight. So you left the Dauntless compound to get ready for war… and took your makeup bag with you?’

 ‘Yep. Figured it would be harder for anyone to shoot me if they saw how devastatingly attractive I was,’ she says, arching an eyebrow.”

♥Pg. 463

“I step toward the Candor. Maybe they aren’t programmed to shoot. I stare into the glazed eyes of a woman in a white blouse and black slacks. She looks like she just came from work. I take another step.

 Bang. By instinct I drop to the ground, covering my head with my arms, and scramble backward, toward Fernando’s shoes. He helps me to my feet.

 ‘How about let’s not do that?’ he says.’”

♥Final Line: “Then the shouting begins.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Book Review: 40 Things I Want to Tell You by Alice Kuipers

Title: 40 Things I Want To Tell You

Author: Alice Kuipers

Series/Novel: Novel

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Pages: 283

Publisher: HarperTrophyCanada

Year Published: 2012

First Line: “‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.’ I leaned back in my desk chair, resting the phone between my cheek and my ear, and doodled on the pad of paper by my computer.”

“Top Tip:

Some secrets are too hard to keep

Amy (a.k.a. Bird) seems to have the perfect life: loving parents, a hot boyfriend, the best friend ever. She even writes an online advice column, full of Top Tips, to help other teens take control of their lives. But after a new guy shows up at school, Bird can’t seem to follow her own wisdom.

Pete is the consummate bad boy. He’s everything Bird is not: wild, unambitious and more than a little dangerous. Although she knows Pete’s trouble, Bird can’t stay away. And the more drawn she is to him, the more cracks are revealed in her relationship with Griffin, he doting boyfriend. All it takes is one mistake, one momentary loss of control, for her entire future to be blown away.”

My Rating: 2/5

Hi ladies and gents, long time no write. It’s been to long for my liking and I am finally able to find some time to do a review again. The book I’m reviewing today, 40 Things I Want To Tell You , follows the story of Amy or, as she’s referred to throughout most of the book, Birdy throughout her 6^th form. It has some interesting aspects as Birdy also happens to be an online advice, but all in all I found this book to be extremely predictable. This book did not catch me off guard at all and in fact, it took me so long to finish as I was bored with it. The characters were not very well developed and the main character didn’t seem to be very competent. It was frustrating to see something so obvious as a reader and have to wait till the end of the book till Birdy finally realized what was going on.

One good thing I would like to mention about the book is that, it takes place in an interesting setting. I’ve never been to England and it was interesting to read with some other words and picture where Birdy lived, went to school, etc. That was an interesting aspect to this novel.

THANK YOU ALICE KUIPERS FOR LETTING ME EXPLORE A LITTLE BIT OF LONDON!

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: 40 Things I Want To Tell You by Alice Kuipers

This novel was not at all what I expected. The first time I started to read this novel, I had a copy that was missing about 20 pages at the start. So the first time when read part of it I was confused and lost. I chalked all that up to the missing pages, but when I got a new book (Thanks Indigo!!!) I was sure it would be a good read. I did not enjoy it. I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but there isn’t barely anything I liked about this book. I thought that the characters were under developed and that the main character for lack of a better word was stupid. The other thing that I didn’t enjoy was the way time moved. It seemed either to be going by too slow or too quickly and I had trouble figuring which time of the year it was. The one positive thing I have to say about this book is that the setting was one which I hadn’t read about much before. I like to read about other places and explore them.

♥Character♥

♥Birdy/ Amy: I think that she was a poor choice for the main character and she was not real enough for me to enjoy reading about. The choices she made throughout the entire book were poor and had me upset. I understand being 16 years old is not easy, but you can not simply be this stupid and still have test scores to get into Oxford, that’s unrealistic. She is the definition of book smart. I think if this character existed in real life, there is a high chance I would punch her in the face. I hope she will be a better mother.

♥Cleo: I would have loved learning more about Cleo. What kind of best friend is she? How did she cope with Amy’s incidents? I was not surprised when Cleo and Griffin ended up together, it seemed like they should have been all along, Amy was just far to blind to see (it even says this in the book, with different phrasing of course).

♥Griffin: He deserved honesty from the very start. Birdy had no excuse to treat him the way she did. In the end though, he deserved Cleo. They seemed like they would go well together. I felt horrible about his mother, but I do wonder what happened to her.

♥Pete: The fact that he was still in Amy’s life surprised me. Not because I think he is a bad guy, but because of the way she treated him. She slept with him and then treated him like shit. Yes, there should have been protection that’s a no brainer. But he still stood by her through most of what was going on. Good for him!

♥Amy’s Dad: I think that Amy’s father was going through a really tough time, but he was in denial until her pregnancy brought him back to earth. Hopefully he can forgive her.

♥Amy’s Mother: Good for you, for following your dreams lady, but could you not have discussed what happened with Amy’s Dad, I hope that in the long term they are both happy.

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Final Line: “Number 40: LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series/Novel: Divergent Series (Book #1)

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-fi

Pages: 487

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Year Published: 2011

First Line: “There is one mirror in my house.”

“One choice

Decides your friends

One choice

Defines your beliefs

One choice

Determines your loyalties- forever

One choice

Can transform you”

My Rating: 5/5

Let’s start with a summary. This book follows Beatrice/Tris through her test that will decide what life she will live. In a world that is very futuristic, there are 5 factions to live in. The factions define who you are as a person and what you value. I’ll leave it at that as I don’t want to spoil anything in the book review (spoiler below), but trust me it’s an interesting read.

This book has been on my TBR pile for quite sometime, and I finally got around to it. I’m very happy that I read this book because of how it ties in so many what ifs. It makes a reader question the future and what they believe in. That’s one of my favourite things about books like this. Not only are you transported to another world, but it makes you wonder what you would do in this world. Would you follow, or would you break free?

This book questions what followers are and helps you realize that we as humans each have our own values. It also made me question trust. Who I trust, why I trust them and what I trust them with was all put into question. I liked that, in a strange way. I liked that this book made me think.

I also feel for the characters and the scene that was painted was picture perfect in my mind. More details on that below.

THANK YOU VERONICA ROTH FOR QUESTIONING INTENTIONS!

Thank you for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: Divergent by Veronic Roth

Divergent takes place in a futuristic society that is made up of 5 factions. Each faction believing that the past world ended for a different reason and so forth each faction has different values. This book made me question many things. Beginning with what are my values? What would I chose and where would I be in the world that Divergent offers? Where would I fall? Would I follow, or would I break free? Would I question my leaders, or do as I was told? All these thoughts occurred to me multiple times in the book and I enjoyed the fact that this book didn’t just take me on a journey, it made me think about who I am as a person.

Another part of this book that I truly enjoyed was the scene. The thought of a burnt out city with all the empty buildings and new faction areas was an interesting thing to imagine. Something that could be left to the reader to imagine mainly on their own with a little bit of guidance from the author.

Lastly, I enjoyed the characters. They were interesting, to say the least..

Characters:

♥Tris: I think that transformation we see in Tris is remarkable. We see her go from struggling to be who she is, to being a full fledged Divergent. She takes no from no one and fights back when the odds are against her. Something that we as humans tend to love to watch/read. I can’t wait to read more about her. I’m super excited that she ended up with Tobias, but upset that she wasn’t able to make it out of the battle with her family intact.

♥Tobias: I love him, he seems like the kind of guy that I would just hate to love. He’s sweet and takes care of Tris, but also trusts that she is capable to take care of herself. I thought he was going to die for sure when he was the one in the control room. But luckily, he lived on. I can’t wait to see him in the next books and see where love and life on the run takes these two. I hope that he keeps his distance from Marcus, because I can’t see that going anywhere good.

♥Christina: I’m sure that Jeanine will use the fact that Tris killed will to make Christina continue to do some work. I can’t see her being on the Divergent side really. Not because she’s not a nice character, just because of the circumstances.

♥Will: Well there he is. The elephant in the room. Never thought that he would die. I never really thought much about him, just that it seemed so sweet that Christina and him had found each other.

♥Jeanine: This woman is pure evil. Her quest for power reminds me of Hitler in all honesty, and I know that’s not something that should be taken lightly, and I don’t. She is greedy and wants power and will do anything she can, including mind control and murder, to get it. I’m sure she will continue to be a villain throughout the series or at least into the next book. And I say, BRING IT!

♥Eric: This didn’t shock me at all. He seemed like the sly kind of guy who would help out the main villan.

♥Al: This caught me completely off guard. I knew that he liked Tris, but to kidnap her to make her feel weak and then commit suicide to ease your own guilt afterwards, that is purely cowardly. He would have never made it in Dauntless.

♥Peter: I can’t wait to see what will happen next with him. Maybe he’ll get shot in the face.

♥Beatrice’s Parents: I think that I will put them together, because together they made the ultimate sacrifice for their daughter. Her mother, who was also Divergent saved her the first time while her father gave his life in the final stand in the Dauntless building. They were incredible characters that I would love to know more about.

♥Caleb: I wonder what will happen next for him, as he chose to be factionless. Hopefully something good, but sadly, I doubt it.

Moments to Remember:

♥Pg. 205

“Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.”

♥Pg. 290

“’And your side?’ he asks, his voice low.

 ‘Only hurts when I breathe.’

He smiles. ‘Not much you can do about that.’

 ‘Peter would probably throw a party if I stopped breathing.’

 ‘Well,’ he says, ‘I would only go if there was cake.’”

♥Pg. 411

“’Moths,’ repeats Will. ‘You’re afraid of moths?’

 ‘Not just a cloud of moths,’ she says, ‘like… a swarm of them. Everywhere. All those wings and legs and…’ She shudders and shakes her head.

 ‘Terrifying,’ Will says with mock seriousness. ‘That’s my girl. Tough as cotton balls.’”

♥Final Line:

“I suppose that now, I must become more than either.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Update: on the past update

Hey guys,
Got a hold of someone from the publishing company of 40 Things I Want To Tell You. And managed to get a new copy of the book that includes the pages I was missing. I will be taking a break from this book though as I have already started Divergent and want to dedicate my time to it at this moment. For more information on what's coming up next, check out the side bar on your right.

A huge thanks to Carol at HarperCollins for your time and patience.

Thanks for reading,
Sidny xoxo

Update

I had planned to have another review available for this week but unfortunatley the book that I am currently reading, 40 Things I Want To Tell You by Alice Kuipers  has a massive print error where it is missing about 30 pages from the beginning of the books so I will be skipping this book for now and be moving on to Divergent by Veronica Roth.
Hopefully the people at HarperCollins will get back to me as soon as possible, but until then have a great week and have something for you soon.
Love,
Sidny

Book Review: The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Inheritance

Author: Aimee Carter

Series/Novel: Goddess Test (Book #3)

Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Romance, Young Adult

Pages: 283

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Year Published: 2013

First Line: “Throughout his eternal life, Walter had witnessed countless summers, but never one as endless as this.”

“Love or life

 Henry or their child

The end of her family or the end of the world.

Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can’t stop her- until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he’ll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.”

My Rating: 3.5/5

This latest instalment in the Goddess Test series fallows Kate through becoming a woman, a war and many other life lessons. So many that it’s hard to believe it’s compacted into just over 280 pages. I think that this book was ok for me, but it wasn’t great. I thought that there would be so much more too it and it just kind of left me lacking. As well, this book was focused to much on Kate, who has changed as a character throughout the series. I understand that it is from Kate’s perspective, but after the past novel about some of the other gods and goddesses I was hoping that we would get a little more insight into their lives. This book did capture the ideas of good and evil in an interesting matter.

I would recommend this series to a younger group of teenagers probably around the ages of 16. It was just slightly to naïve for my taste.

THANK YOU AIMEE CARTER FOR SHOWING HOW GOOD AND EVIL NOT ONLY COLLIDE BUT COMBINE!

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter

This book focuses on what happens after Kate is kidnapped from Eden and the after events. These include: motherhood, a war, loss and the collision of good and evil.

This book let me down, honestly. I expected it to be so much more and it just left me wanting more. I don’t even know if I mean more as in the idea of wanting more at the end or rather just more from the characters throughout. The characters in this book changed in ways I never anticipated, or really wanted.

But here’s a happy thought, we get to see some more of Olympus in this book and from the sounds of it, it is incredibly beautiful. Somewhere we should all wanna be. So let’s go pass some tests guys.

♥Characters♥

♥Kate: Kate has really changed over the series, and not in a way that I enjoy. I think that the version of Kate in this book is really disappointing. One minute she’s standing up for what she believes and when she gets told no, she throws a tantrum like a 3 year old. It’s frustrating to read. Half of the time I was reading this book I was telling her to grow up and figure out what her life’s about. Crying wasn’t going to help anything. In the end, Kate really didn’t do all that much to help the war. And if you think about it, the war happened because of her. I hope that she gets over herself eventually and thinks about the big picture more. My main reason for saying this is when she talks to Walter about the lose of Ava she still has to bring up herself. Get over it, you’re friend just died! Urgh.

♥Ava: I don’t think that Ava would have betrayed Kate if Walter hadn’t made her do it. She was doing what she believed was right. She didn’t even really do that much to hinder Kate, yes she assisted Calliope in kidnapping, but Ava made sure that Milo was safe. I didn’t agree with how she did it, but she still did. In the end, I wasn’t really that hurt when Ava died. Mainly because the idea that she was evil was drilled into my head every other chapter. In the end though, Ava paid the ultimate sacrifice for those she loved. A truly brave thing to do.

♥Calliope: So this evil little Witch is dead. Finally. Why couldn’t Nicholas just make a weapon to kill a god/ goddess previously when Calliope started the problem? Hello?! I wasn’t really surprised with her taking Henry. I was surprised how crazy she got with Milo at the end, but I suppose she just wanted a real family.

♥Cronus: Someone’s gonna be mad at me for saying this, but I think that Kate could have worked with him and changed him. Especially if she didn’t have a son in the moment. I hope that she keeps up her promise to visit him. He needs to be shown warmth and affection.

♥Rhea: I think she is someone I would like to learn more about. She seems wise and ancient in a way that the gods aren’t. I was fascinated by how she portrayed herself to humans.

♥Henry: You are kinda sexist aren’t you buddy? Women are strong people and shouldn’t be messed with. If your wife wanted to fight you should have let her from the start. I just found in this book, that Henry wasn’t as romantic, rather than protecting Kate he just bossed her around. No thank you!

♥Walter: I think what has happened in his family will truly make him rethink how he treats his family members. One would hope so anyways.

♥James: This guy though. He’s the strongest out of them all. Even though he’s a trickster. I still like him, I’d like him better if he found his own woman instead of hitting on Kate all the time, but hey.

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 100

“’Not exactly the best time to stop and give directions, is it?’ I said as he rejoined us. James shrugged.

 ‘Not exactly the best time to gather enough power to wipe out half of Africa either,’ he said, looking pointedly at Henry. They glared at each other. ‘Besides, giving directions is what I do. Among other things.’

 ‘Like rob banks,’ said Henry.

 ‘That was once.’ James shook his head…”

♥Pg. 191

“’You’re not the girl I met in Eden. She didn’t break down into tears every time something didn’t go her way.’

 ‘I’m not-‘ I started, but then another tear rolled down my face. ‘My family’s gone. No one’s letting me help, and every time I try, I screw things up even worse.’

 He threaded his fingers through mine. ‘Since when did you ever need anyone’s permission?’”

♥Final Line: “Always.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo