Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book: Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4)
Author: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
# of Pages: 290 (ebook)
Challenge: 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 1.5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

My Thoughts:

The final installment of the Caster Chronicles series was underwhelming to say the least.

After the ending of Beautiful Chaos, I was expecting a interesting and suspenseful story. But alas, I'm surprised I even finished the book.

This book is different from the other thee in the series. Instead of Ethan narrating the whole thing, it's split up into three parts. Ethan narrates the first and third while Lena narrates the second.

Ethan, who at the beginning of the series was smart and strong, really disappointed me. Most of the time he just complained about not being able to be with Lena. Yes, I get that he is in a very frustrating situation, but it was impossible to sympathize with someone who wouldn't stop whining.

As for Lena, well, I stopped liking her after the first book in the series, and in this book, she did not do anything to redeem herself, not for me anyway. She was selfish and careless and really got on my nerves. It really should have been Link or John Breed narrating that part of the book.

The one character that really stood out for me in this book was Link. I've always liked him and was glad to see that he got to play a vital role in this book.

Once again we come close to discovering John Breed's parentage and identity, and once again we hit a dead end. I though John Breed was a fascinating character, and not getting a good background story about him really bothered me. It felt like the authors did not think he was important enough to get proper back stories like some of the other characters.

There were a few fighting scenes, but they were all so blah. A big deal was made about how "evil" the villains were, but to be honest I found them dull. Also, I wish more information about the Greats had been revealed. They play a key part in the series as a whole, but we only ever learn specifics about one of them. What about the others?

Overall, this book just did not do anything for me. It's the last book in the series, but there were just so many things that were not fully explained. 

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book: Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3)
Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
# of Pages: 379 (ebook)
Challenge: 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What — or who — will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself — forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.

Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

My Thoughts:

Although Beautiful Chaos did have its ups and downs, I liked it more than Beautiful Darkness.

In this book, everything is falling apart because of what happened during Lena's Seventeenth Moon. Ethan and the others try to figure out what needs to be done to make things go back to normal. And although I liked the apocalypse aspect of the story, I could not help but feel that a couple things were pretty predictable.

We do learn about Sarafine's history. And though it is pretty interesting, I feel like it should have been revealed earlier in the series. We also get to know John Breed better. There are hints about what his is and his parentage, but they are never specified. At the beginning of the book, Macon and Liv have a theory about John and Lena, which I thought was pretty intriguing, but it is never brought up again. This frustrated me. Why was it brought up if it wasn't going to be incorporated into the story?

Also, the actual Caster Chronicles is finally introduced. But, it is given such a simple description and focused on for only a couple sentences, that had the series not been named after it, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. This too should have been brought up earlier in the series.

The pacing of the story was pretty stop and go. There was just too much description in some places, and it felt like it took me forever to get through it.

Overall, Beautiful Chaos was a good book, but there was nothing about it that really made it stand out and it left me with a lot of unanswered questions.

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Book: Unraveling (Unraveling #1)
Author: Elizabeth Norris
# of Pages: 445 (Hardcover)
Challenge: 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

My Thoughts:

This book was freaking awesome! I can't believe I waited so long to read it. It was perfect parts sci-fi, mystery, and romance.

Janelle Tenner was a spectacular protagonist. This girl kicks ass. She's smart, sarcastic, and does not let anything or anyone stand in her way. She is determined to figure out the cause of the countdown and does everything she can to stop it. As for Ben, I did not know what to think of him at first because he only made a few brief appearances. But, as the story progressed, it became clear that he was a sweet yet mysterious guy and I quickly grew to like him.

One of my favorite things about Unraveling was the mystery Janelle worked so hard to solve. I used to love reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and I've come across very few YA mystery stories, so this was like a breath of fresh air. I loved trying to work out the different elements of the situation with Janelle.

Overall, I was very impressed with this book. Its interesting characters and fast pace kept me reading well into the night. I did not want it to end. I'm so glad that I finally read this, and can't wait to find out what happens next.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book: Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles #2)
Authors: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
# of Pages: 503 (Paperback)
Challenge: 2013 TBR Reading Pile Challenge
Rating: 3.5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems

My Thoughts:

Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles series was very enjoyable, but I did not like it as much as the first. For starters, I did not get into the story until over halfway through the book. And second, Lena got on my nerves. I love Ethan and the way Lena treated him made me want to smack her. Also, I thought there was too much dialogue and not enough action during the climax of the story.

That being said, I found Ethan's adventure in the Caster tunnels highly entertaining. There were unexpected twists that I never saw coming. I thought Liv was a very interesting character. She's smart, funny, and I thought she was a great addition to the story.

I wouldn't say the ending is an actual cliffhanger, but it does leave you wanting to know what is going to happen next.

Overall, Beautiful Darkness was an interesting, albeit slow read. There were some interesting revelations, but I felt it did not live up to the first book in the series.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book: Obsidian (Lux #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
# of Pages: 335 (Paperback)
Challenge: 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 3 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

My Thoughts:
At first I was not sure if I'd like this book. But with all the hype I needed to see for myself what all the fuss was about. And I have to say that it was not what I expected.

I liked that Katy is a book blogger. It made her very relatable. For the most part she was a smart, strong protagonist. Though there were times when she made really stupid decisions. I thought Daemon was obnoxious. I did like his mysterious nature, but the mind games he played with Katy got irritating after a while.

Obsidian was funny, full of action, and nicely written. I did have a couple issues with the book though. The plot reminded me forcibly of Twilight. And a lot of the things that happened were predictable. Also, Katy and Daemon's relationship was not as "hot" as I thought it would be.

Overall, I did not like Obsidian as much as I thought I would. But I was very interested in the alien concept, and I do want to know what happens next to Katy and Daemon.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book: Beautiful Creatures (Castor Chronicles #1)
Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
# of Pages: 387 (ebook)
Challenge: 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 5 stars

From Goodreads:
This edition features exclusive movie cover art!
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

My Thoughts:
What a fantastic book! I was not sure if I would like this book. But as the movie is coming out soon and I have had it on my nook for over a year now, I could not put it off any longer. And, I have to say that I was very impressed.

I really like that Beautiful Creatures was set in a southern town. More YA books need to be set in the South! Apart from that, I loved the characters. Ethan is kind and daring. Lena is stronger than she gives herself credit for. And Link is funny and such a good friend to both of them.

This book was full of mystery, humor, and romance. I also enjoyed the historical aspect of it. There were a few unexpected twists that left me wanting to read more.

Overall, Beautiful Creatures was an addictive, enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Book: Stealing Parker (Hundred Oaks #2)
Author: Miranda Kenneally
# of Pages: 242 (Paperback)
Challenge: 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 4 stars

From Goodreads:
Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.

Now Parker wants a new life.

So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?

But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

My Thoughts:
I absolutely adored Catching Jordan and I was very excited to read Stealing Parker.

The one thing I loved most about the book was Will. He is smart, funny, and kind, an overall awesome guy. I really do hope that he makes an appearance (even if it's a brief one) in Kenneally's future books.

Parker has to deal with a lot of crap after the incident with her mother.  I did sympathize with Parker, but I wish she would have stood up for herself rather than doing what she did. She is a good person. She just made some careless decisions. On a different note, Parker was a great friend, especially to Drew. She always considers his feelings and does everything she can for him.

Overall, Stealing Parker had some pretty memorable characters and was amazingly written. And although I did not love it as much as Catching Jordan, it was still a great book. If you have not yet read Kenneally's books, then I highly recommend that you do so.