Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Date Published: December 7th 2007
Publisher: Razor Bill
Pages: 288

Introduction 

       Clay Jenson knows that Hannah Baker is dead, which makes it very eerie when he gets a package of cassette tapes, with Hannah Baker's voice on them, telling stories, revealing secrets. He doesn't want anything to do with the tapes, but her voice tells him that he is the topic of one of the tapes

       Hannah committed suicide, but before she did, she recorded seven tapes. On them are thirteen reasons why.

       Clay is one of the reasons.

Cover

       The cover is very simple and very monochromatic, but I like it.

Story-telling

       Essentially, when you read Thirteen Reasons Why, you're getting two stories. You hear Hannah's through Clay's earphones, and Clay's reaction to the tapes as he wanders through his town listening to them. It's a very suspenseful story, as you wait for Clay's turn to come around, to hear why someone like him ended up the center of one of Hannah's tapes.

        As a warning to people who might be considering picking up this book, I just want to mention that you may find some of the stories Hannah tells a little boring, as they aren't all super excited, but rather realistic, and we all know that not everything we do in out lives is super exciting.

Characters

       I loved all of the characters. They were all very honestly written, they seemed like people who genuinely exist especially the two protagonists.

Clay's tape (spoilers, highlight between the brackets to reveal)

       (Clay's tape, as I expected came late in the novel. Obviously, it wouldn't be much of a suspense novel if Clay was the first person mentioned. I think the author did a great job of placing where Clay's tape comes up. It wasn't too soon, or too late. Either of those options probably would have lowered my opinion of the book. Too soon, and the desire to finish the book would have drastically dropped. There wouldn't have been much to look forward too. Too late, and as well as struggling to get through the book, the ending may have been too abrupt and not talked about enough. Anyway, as I was saying, I think the placing Clay as the ninth reason on the tapes was perfect!)

       As for the reason Clay is on the tapes, I think it worked nicely, even if I think it was slightly predictable, and when I say that, I mean, very slightly predictable because most of me was expecting a huge twist, because Clay is written to be pretty likeable. I was mostly expecting Clay to turn out to be a horrible person so, well played, Jay Asher. I'm very happy with the way that it turned out,, I didn't feel let down at all.)

Conclusion

       I loved this book, and I can't believe it took me this long finally read it. (I'm pretty sure it's been on my shelf since about 2013.) Although I mentioned that some people may find some of the stories a little boring, I loved all of them. This book had me turning pages, not just to find out why Clay is one of Hannah's thirteen reasons, but just to simply unfold Hannah's story, and no part of it disappointed me. I became attached to Hannah and truly felt for her, I felt Clay's uneasiness, Overall, this story was wonderfully written.

        I recommend that all teens read this at some point. Although watch out, this book is a giant Not-suitable-for-family-viewing-viewer-discretion-advised stamp, as the theme of the book is suicide, and it deals with a few sexual themes. So, yes. I think that all teens should read this book, maybe wait until you're slightly older than thirteen or fourteen, This book is valuable, because while raising the issue of suicide and other issues that greatly affect adolescents, it teaches how easily we can impact peo
ple in large ways, even when doing small things.

       Anyway, basically what I'm trying to say in this review can be summed up in about four words: This book. Read it.

The Cabin by Natasha Preston

Author: Natasha Preston
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: September 6, 2016
Pages: 336

Introduction

       Mackenzie's weekend away with her six friends was supposed to be fun. They expected to wake up in the morning with a nasty hangover, not with two of them dead on the kitchen floor. 

       The police put Mackenzie and her remaining friends on the top of the suspect list, since there was no sign of forced entry.

        Mackenzie launches her own investigation, knowing that her friends would never murder someone. But as time goes on, she might just have to accept that there is a killer lurking among her childhood friends.

Cover

       It's a good cover. The cabin, for some reason, isn't how I imagined, but it's spooky enough, so I'll let it slide this time.

Mackenzie

       I didn't like Mackenzie at all. I know her tendency to look for the best in people is part of her personality, and is supposed to be one of her quirks, but she was way too naive. I also feel like as a side note, she was probably a very sheltered child, seeing as what her reaction was when one of her friends admitted to getting high on occasion.

Blake

       So here we have Blake. The-mysterious-older-brother-that-nobody-has-ever-met-who-everybody-is-going-to-blame-for-the-killings, bank character. If not for the huge trope that is his entire purpose for being in the novel, he was okay. At the very least he was a bit smarter than Makenzie.

The Rest of the Gang

       The other characters in the cabin with Mackenzie were very stereotypical teenagers. All of them were very uninteresting, which is a shame because I really wanted to like them.

Motive & Ending

       I pushed through reading about characters I didn't like because I was interested in knowing why the killings took place. Sadly, I think the motive behind the killings wasn't strong enough. I know people get killed over all sorts of reasons that would be deemed "weak motives" but I was definitely hoping for a better ending than what was offered.

        As for the ending itself, it only makes sense if there's a sequel coming eventually. So far I see no mention of one, which right now is okay because technically this book isn't published yet.

Conclusion

       This book was okay. I wanted to like it more. I was so excited to start reading this, and I wish that the excitement had stayed with me throughout reading, but it's hard to stay excited about what's happening when you don't like any of the characters and you don't really care about what happens to them. I wouldn't read this book again, and if a sequel does come, it won't be high on my TBR.

The Assassin Game by Kristy McKay

Author: Kristy Mckay
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: August 1 2016
Pages: 336

*Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review* 

Introduction

       At Umfraville boarding school, there is a game that everybody want to be a part of, even if they're just in the sidelines, watching it all unfold. Killer gets played once a year, for the players of this prestigious game, the goal is to not get "killed." Meaning, do not fall victim to the pranks set out to end your life in the game. Killer has been played for years at Umfraville, and as long as the game remains relatively harmless, it goes on uninterrupted. When the "kills" go from pranks with fake blood, to actual deaths, suddenly the prestigious game of Killer is anything but harmless.

Cover

       I am in love with this cover. It gives off such eerie and sinister vibes and I honestly never want to stop looking at it.

Story progress

       The events of this book took a long time to get going, so because of the very slow story progress, I struggled to maintain my interest in the novel for a long time. I had to keep forcing myself to read a few pages at a time, but do not fear! The novel takes off eventually and it's worth the wait.

Cate

       I liked Cate. I admire her ability to deal with unpleasant situations mostly in a responsible way. I also thoroughly enjoyed that she thought about what she was doing before she did it, more often than not.

Marcia

        I have gripes with Marcia. To get straight to the point, I think she's a crappy friend to Cate, and not in a way that has anything to do with romantic interests. She is pretty much never there for Cate, always disappearing and not paying attention to the things that Cate has to say. I, personally, would have given up on maintaining friendships with her.

Daniel

       I believe that Daniel accomplished what he was written in to do, to make me angry and frustrated at the things he does (but in a good frustrating way!) I honestly think that Cate was much too kind to him, after the things that he has done.

Vaughn

       I didn't find Vaughn that interesting. I thought he was kind of two dimensional. However, I do wish that the author had delved into his backstory a little more, as we end up with two different versions of why he ended up at Umfraville.

Romance

       Romance takes a backseat in this book, which I didn't mind at all. I think if the romance had taken up more of a role in the book. that it would have distracted from the main point if the story; that people are dying. Plus because the romance wasn't a huge element of the bool, it made the romantic moments all the more sweet.

Mystery

       There's two things you are trying to figure out throughout reading. The first is: Who is the game's killer? The next is: Who is actually causing people to die? Is it the same person?
       I'll admit, it took me a bit to answer these questions, correctly, anyway. This mystery had me, just because there were so many outcomes and so many reasons to
believe them. Even when the big climatic reveal comes along, I was so surprised. I honestly had no idea it was going to play out the way that it did, and for the reasons it did. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out mysteries before the reveal, and I absolutely loved that I wasn't spot on about this one. It kept me guessing, just like a mystery should.

Conclusion

       Overall, I had a few gripes, but nothing deal-breaking. The mystery was great and kept me guessing, which was refreshing. I'm open to reading this book again when I get the chance, as well as more from Kristy McKay. I would recommend this book to any teen boy or girl, looking for a good mystery to keep them interested.

My Secret to Tell by Natalie D. Richards

Author: Natalie D. Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: October 6 2015

Introduction

       Emmie is the good girl her parents need. She's on her way to getting into law school, she volunteers at the animal shelter, get's good grades, and does whatever she can do to make others happy.

       When her friend Deacon shows up at her house covered in blood and on the verge of hysteria, Emmie decided that she doesn't want to be the good girl anymore, she wants to make her own decisions, her first being helping Deacon, but helping Deacon might mean helping a criminal. But at this point? She doesn't really care. She just knows that the blood on Deacons hands is his father's, and if she doesn't find out who committed the crime, Deacon's going to go down for it.

Cover

       I'm seeing a theme in Richards' book covers. The main character of the book, featured on a white/light colored bright background. Regardless of that, I think this cover, and all of her other book covers are very pretty.

Writing

       One of the biggest reasons I love Richards' books is because of the style in which she writes. Her books are full of sentences like this:

       "His smile is a crime"

       "Getting into my denim shorts is an exercise in misery"

       "My heart lodges in the space between my tonsils, Banging out an SOS message in every beat"

       "His laugh is an oil stain in the putrid air"

       A lot of sentences are more poetic than that, but in my brief skim of the novel to find pretty sentences, I found these.

Romance

       Obviously, there's a love story between Deacon and Emmie, but it was only a small part of the book, seeing as Deacon has some bigger problems and he isn't aware that Emmie thinks about him in that way.

Emmie

       I liked Emmie, she had an interesting personality especially with her OCD-like tendencies as I haven't read about a character like that before.

Deacon

       I really liked Deacon. His backstory type deal was cool and I liked watching him progress with his fear of blood. He in some ways is the stereotypical bad boy, but he was still interesting.

Chelsea

       Chelsea annoyed me. A lot. She's Deacon's wholesome sister, and Emmie's best friend, but quite honestly, if I was Emmie, I would be angry at her a lot. I hated the fact that there was a big secret that she was keeping from Emmie, even when the secret started getting tangled in with Emmie's life. Of course, she apologized eventually, and I kind of understand why Chelsea wouldn't want anybody to know the secret, but c'mon.

Plot

       I liked the plot, but at some points nothing was really happening. It wasn't too often and I never considered putting the book down, I was too interested in the actual story, but some chapters were boring.

Conclusion

       I was super excited when I was granted access to the title, because I practically fall in love with anything this author writes,but this novel of hers wasn't my favorite of hers. It was still very captivating and I would probably buy it if I get the chance. I would recommend this to anybody, really. Boys or girls, as long as they like suspense/mystery type books.

They Call Me Alexandra Gastone by T.A Maclagan

*This review is very small as the book is only 188 pages

Author: T.A Maclagan
Pages: 188
Date Published: May 20. 2015
Publisher: Full Fathom Five

Introduction

       Milena Rovka spent 5 years training in a spy facility. Her mission is to become Alexandra Gastone, be a normal high school girl with normal high school relationships, infiltrate the CIA and when the time comes, do whatever needs doing to best serve her country of Olissa, and under no circumstances become attached to her life as Alexandra Gastone, but that's easier said then done when you start to question everything you believe.

Cover

       The cover is very beautiful and truthfully is what drew me to look at the summary to see if it looked interesting or not. I know that people say not to judge a book by its cover, but this cover is lovely, and as far as first impressions go? This book cover nailed it.

Story-line/action

       This book started out very slow and I honestly didn't think it was going to get better. But it did...slightly. I hoped for more action, more spy-like activities but there wasn't much. Even the spy-like activities that did happen were very subtle and not intense like I hoped they would be.

Milena Rovka a.k.a Alexandra Gastone

     I found "Alexandra" very, very boring and I lost interested in her inner conflict very quickly which is a shame because a very large portion of this book is that of her inner conflict of weather she will stay faithful to the missions that she is assigned. I found her annoying and whiny, which to sometimes I can understand because the situations she's been put it aren't always the easiest to deal with, but it got to the point where I was tired of reading about it

Conclusion

       I had very high hopes for this book, but I was sadly let down. The book started out pretty slow, and uninteresting, and even as it progressed, it didn't get much better. I found this book to be boring. The ending is set up so that a sequel could be published, but honestly, I'm not interested in reading it if it does happen. The good news is that either gender could enjoy this, even though I didn't enjoy it doesn't mean that somebody else may. It's a bit of a light read, short, with a little bit of action sprinkled in here and there,

Legend by Marie Lu

Author: Marie Lu
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 305
Date Published: November 29 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile 

Introduction
       
        This book is told in two different POVs, Day, a street criminal, has broken the law many times. If he has to break the law to keep his family safe and healthy, he will. He has stolen many times, and is quite comfortable with it. One thing he is not comfortable with, is killing, He has never killed a single soul. Hurt, yes. But never killed. Day is not a murderer. When he went to steal some plague cures for his sick brother, it shouldn't have been any different. But it was, because now he is the prime suspect for killing Metias, a young army captain.
     
       June, the second POV, is Metias little sister. From the death of her brother, she has taken on a very high ranking in her army, and has sworn revenge on Day for making her lose the last family member she has left. But what happens when Day has a totally different side, besides the criminal that is constantly making the headlines, and what if, he makes her question everything that she knows about her government. The one that she is supposed to trust?

Cover
       
       I think that the cover looks cool, I just wished I knew exactly what was on it. With my luck, it it's probably something stupidly obvious, and after reading this, everybody is going to laugh at me, but hey, what can you do?


Day
     
     I love Day so much. He's only fifteen, but he knows how to take care of himself after years on the streets. I can't even really explain why I love Day, and before people say that I only like him because he's a bad--boy--type thing and he does bad--boy-ish things, that's not it. He has so many different sides of him. He can be caring, and sweet, and gentle, but he has no trouble throwing knives at people or shooting people when he has to. I also find it super interesting that he has gone out of his way many times not to kill people. He doesn't want to known as a murderer. Just a con.

June
       
       June's a hard one for me. I like her, but I like Day so much too, and because June is trying to capture him, I spent most of the book going back and forth between,

       "JUNE DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE"
     
         and
     
       "YAY JUNE. YOU ARE DOING SO WELL!"
     
       And when Day and June start to fall for each other, I went back in forth between
     
       "DAY! THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU"
     
       and
     
       "YAY JUNE AND DAY!"

       The one thing that I didn't like about June is that she knows things that you can't possibly know. Like what hand Day through a knife with. Or that he is ambidextrous. That's really my only complaint about her, at times she is a little unrealistic.

Tess
       
       A living example of Day being kind. Tess is Day's partner. He found her years ago. Orphaned and alone and decided to take her in. I enjoyed learning about Tess, even though she wasn't in the story a whole heck of a lot.

Metias 
       
       Metias was June's older brother/guardian. In the short time that he was in the book, I thought he was really awesome. Even though he is only alive through give or take 40 pages, you could really tell that he loved June. On the inside cover it tells you that Metias is going to die, so I tried not to get to attached to him even though he was awesome.

Dislikes
       
       Well, really I can only mention one thing that I dislike right now, so here I go.
     
       I found that this book was missing a lot of the... history? I guess. When you are 10, you have to take a test called the Trial. Featuring a written portion, an interview portion, and a physical portion. If you fail, you go off to work at a labor camp, and if you pass I guess you...just don't. It doesn't really say that you have to join the military, but I guess many do. Anyway, what I would like to know is how the Trial came about. How long has it been going on? Do you have to join the military if you pass?
     
        Another thing that I would like to know is what exactly is the plague? I know that you lose weight and you get super sick and such, and your irises bleed, but uh...how long has the plague been a problem? How long did it take for people to develop a cure? These questions need to be answered.

Conclusion
     
       I loved this book despite the missing facts that I think should be included. Either gender would enjoy this book, and I will be recommending it to many of my friends. I am very excited to get my hands on the second one in the trilogy.