Well....It's been a while

Okay, so I haven't posted on this blog in a week.....I feel really guilty. BUT I have a reason. I had this huge AP European Test that I was super stressed over, and I had to study. And now I'm going away, so I still won't be able to post for the next couple of days. Oh well, life goes on. Anyhow, did you hear that the most recent Nancy Drew game came out YESTERDAY, which was my birthday!
Doesn't it look awesome!!!!!!!
Bye!!!!

The Avery Shaw Experiment

Title: The Avery Shaw Experiment
Author: Kelly Oram
Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary, Humor
Rating: Owl

I love Kelly Oram I really do! Her books are always so fun and light and make me laugh. Not only that, but they are super cheap!!!! (Which is always a good thing!) Anyways I loved this book! 

THE PREMISE
When Avery Shaw’s heart is shattered by her life-long best friend, she chooses to deal with it the only way she knows how—scientifically.

The state science fair is coming up and Avery decides to use her broken heart as the topic of her experiment. She’s going to find the cure. By forcing herself to experience the seven stages of grief through a series of social tests, she believes she will be able to get over Aiden Kennedy and make herself ready to love again. But she can’t do this experiment alone, and her partner (ex partner!) is the one who broke her heart.

Avery finds the solution to her troubles in the form of Aiden’s older brother Grayson. The gorgeous womanizer is about to be kicked off the school basketball team for failing physics. He’s in need of a good tutor and some serious extra credit. But when Avery recruits the lovable Grayson to be her “objective outside observer,” she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for, because Grayson has a theory of his own: Avery doesn’t need to grieve. She needs to live. And if there’s one thing Grayson Kennedy is good at, it’s living life to the fullest.
(Summary via GoodReads) 

WHAT I LOVED
I really don't have too much to say about this book other than I LOVED IT!!! I read this right when I was in the middle of studying for a huge exam (Yes, I know I shouldn't have done that, but I needed a break) and this book was just what I needed to improve my week. Not only did I love Avery and her innocence  but I adored Grayson. He was just really funny. I loved the Science aspect and how the Science Club was taking Grayson under their wing in the attempt to help him learn physics! I loved their nerdiness!!! Okay in all I loved EVERYTHING about this book and I really can't wait to read more by Kelly Oram. **Cough, More than Jamie Baker needs to come out sooner, Cough***

If you liked this book, I would definitely recommend reading other books by her.

WOULD I READ THIS BOOK: YES!!!!!!!
WOULD I BUY THIS BOOK: YESSSS!!! (I think the price is 2.99 for kindle!)
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: YEAH!WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR: YES


OWL=FIVE STARS

Silent Harmony

Title: Silent Harmony
Author: Michele Scott
Genre: YA, Mystery, Suspense, Horses
Series: Fairmont Riding Academy #1
Received via Netgalley
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Recommended for 15 and up. (Drinking,  sexual references, swearing)
Published: May 28th
Rating: Bison

When I first saw the cover I was interested. It has been a while since I picked up a book on horses. And it sounded like a step up from Heartland, Chestnut Hill, and Canterwood Crest, the series that I had previously read. (I loved Heartland and Chestnut Hill and Canterwood crest was okay.) And then I read the summary and it sounded AMAZING. I mean horses and a murder with a girl who is like a Doctor Doolittle with horses... And there were parts I loved, but there were parts I really didn't like...

THE PREMISE
Vivienne Taylor may come from a small town, but she dreams big. Her one goal in life is to become an Olympic Rider, but that's not all. Viv is the equivalent of Dr. Doolittle, except for the fact that the only animal's minds she can read are horses. After getting the chance of the lifetime she leaves her small town of Albany, Oregon and heads to Fairmont Academy in Southern California. There she hopes to follow her dreams and achieve the beginning steps to becoming an Olympic Rider. Moments after arriving she realizes she has been immersed into the world of rich kids, who are total jerks. Things get worse for Viv when she realizes her horse Harmony, has suffered trauma after seeing her owner and school vet die. Harmony slowly lets Viv learn her secret and Viv realizes that there was more to the death of Dr. Miller than everyone originally believes. Viv also has to deal with the abuse of her peers and trying to make new friends.   
(Summary via me. The GoodReads summary sucks, but I doubt mine is too much better.)
THE PROS
1.) I really liked Vivienne. She was a strong character who wasn't scared of the evil new kids in her school. Instead of conforming to what everyone else was, she stayed her own person. 
2.) I really liked the opening chapter. I loved reading about the horse and the author wrote that scene very vividly. I liked learning about all of the technical terms of what was happening to the horse.
3.) I loved that Viv could read horses minds. It was a cool gift and it was really unique. 
4.) I liked Riley. He was a really cool character. 
5.) I love mysteries and I loved how Viv was involved in the mystery of the vet's death. I loved how her gift played such an important role in the mystery.
6.) I really wanted to find out Riley and Tristan's secrets. Both had secrets and they really kept you reading. So that was definitely good!
7.) There were some things left open at the end of the book, making it possible for a sequel or series. They weren't big cliff hangers, but it's enough to make you want to pick up the next book!
THE CONS
1.) Random third Person POV. This is just me, but I am not a big fan of third person. I never can get into the book. So when it started off with Viv's POV in first person I loved it, but then there were these random chapters from Riley and Tristan's POVs. They were just so weird. There didn't seem to be a pattern to them either.
2.) Riley and Tristan, although intriguing, were gross. I mean ewwww. I would have liked them so much more if I didn't have to be in there minds.
3.) The popular crowd was so cliched. You've read the same thing a million times in these books. The popular girls are rich smart and awesome riders. It is always like that. These girls didn't even have redeeming qualities, they were just evil!
4,) The ending was way to quick! It was like, ooohhhh killer. Boom, crash, kissing. .........WEIRD.......
OVERALL
This was a really enjoyable read. It was kind of predictable and there were parts that totally disgusted me, but I liked the overall book. I will definitely be checking the next book in the series out!
WOULD I READ THIS BOOK: YES, It was a fun read
WOULD I BUY THIS BOOK: If I was in the mood for something light
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: To those who don't mind the grossness of the guys and who like horses and murder. 
WILL I READ THE NEXT BOOK: YES
WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR: YES, I am interested to know how her writing evolves.

BISON=FOUR STARS

Compliance

Title: Compliance
Author: Maureen McGowan
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic
Series: Dust Chronicles #2
Rating: Bison ( I actually gave this book 3.75 stars, but rounded up to four.)
Published by Amazon Children's Publishing
Received from Netgalley

I just don't know how to write this review. I actually enjoyed the book. But there was still stuff that continued to bother me the same way it did in the first book. So here is my book breakdown.

THE PREMISE
Haven Equals Safety.
The slogan is emblazoned on the minds of every Haven employee. But for Glory, life inside the domed city is anything but safe. 
After rescuing her brother, Glory returns to Haven as a double agent to locate and save fellow Deviants. Far from her family and from Burn, Glory faces danger at every turn as she trains to be a Compliance Officer--to track and subdue her own kind--while she works undercover to rescue as many Deviants as she can. 
When people she trusts turn against her and a powerful member of Management takes her under her wing, Glory questions everything she believes and can no longer tell her allies from her enemies. A Deviant, a member of the secret police, a double agent--Glory fights to save others, but can she save herself?
(Summary via Goodreads)

THE PROS
1.) The pacing. I really enjoyed the quick pacing of this book! It didn't feel like it was dragging at all. There was always something going on.
2.) Glory. I really liked her (for the most part) in this book. She acted stronger in this book and all of her actions had reasons. She was still dealing with the effects of learning the truth about how her mother really died and it seemed realistic how she tried to distance herself from other people. 
3.) Cal. Okay, I personally like him waaaayyyy better then Burn. Why? Well he is not extremely violent (although he was a bit more angry in this book) and he really cares about Glory. Which is really great!!! I do fear that Glory might end up choosing Burn over him, which... don't even want to think about that. Back to reasons why I like Cal. He was patient with Glory and really tried to understand what she was going through (even though she wasn't telling him the truth) He did change a bit from the first book, but he remained a great character.
4.) I really liked the whole thing with the rebels trying to gain control of Haven. I liked the characters involved with that and wished we had seen more to do with that aspect of the book.
5.) The mole. I was really not expecting who the mole turned out to be. (Glory was looking for someone within the COTs who was a deviant.) Should I have seen it coming. Probably, but I didn't!! Which made it a great twist and super fun!!
6.) The introduction of the new character. I can't really go into this character without giving a lot away, so I'll just leave it by saying, this character really intrigued me (especially her Deviant) and I can't wait to learn more. 
7.) Burn was not involved throughout a lot of the book and the focus was more on Glory's relationship with Cal! With was great!!! And the parts that Burn was present, I found I didn't mind him as much as I did in the first book! (Shocking isn't it?)
8.) I loved learning about some of the experiments they were doing in The Hospital. I can't wait to read more in the next book!!
THE CONS
1.)  When I first saw this cover, I was shocked! The last one had really caught my eye, but this one....The girl looks like she smells something bad! Just....this is not a book I would buy if I hadn't wanted to find out what happens next. Because no matter what people may say, I personally will always judge a book by its cover.
2.) Somehow Glory manages to lie to everyone, but she is A TERRIBLE LIAR!!! Even she says it's true. Everyone around her is like, You're not telling me the truth, but whatever, it's not like I care! I know she was always a bad liar, but her lying skills have gone even further down hill. (If that's possible)
3.) I was really disappointed with the "villain." Not only was said villain not a big surprise, the reason why the villain was in control seemed so obvious. I really wish the author had gone kind of crazy and wrote it differently. Like throw in a character who you would never think would be the bad guy, but give you great reasons as to why.....
4.) There was no Drake in this book! In the first book he was one of my favorite characters, but he was only mentioned in passing! And Glory didn't seem to upset over her brother's "death." (Another reason why she is a terrible liar!!)
5.) There was a death for the shock value. There seemed to be no reason why this character died. The character died purely so I could say....OMG he is dead!!! How is this possible??? NOOOOO!!!!!!
6.) Glory's susceptibility. Glory was susceptible to a lot through out the book. There were parts where I just couldn't understand what Glory was doing. I was provided with a reason, but I kept thinking, Glory's stronger than that! How come this is happening???
7.) I have a bad feeling about who Glory's going to end up with. There is nothing final about it, but I feel like she will go for the person I hate....
8.) HOW WAS GLORY NOT CAUGHT??? She was constantly wandering around places she was not supposed to go. She was bringing other people with her to these places. She must have been loud. And yet she avoids all detection until it is at a convenient point in the progression of the story. And on top of that Cal was always covering for her! How was this not suspicious???
OVERALL
I really think that this book was an improvement over the last one! While the last one was good (And had a much better cover) I grew attached to the characters during the course of this book more than I did in the last one. I feel like I understand the characters better. This review took me forever to write, for the reason that my thoughts are all over the place. I was intrigued by several of the characters and I really am excited about the next book in this series. So many times the second book feels like a filler, but in this case it was not! It was a great individual read with great character development!
WHY THE BOOK WENT DOWN TO 3.75 STARS:
-A predictable villain with a predictable plan
-Lack of Drake
-Glory was not very strong towards the end
-The death that really was not needed
-Glory's perfect evasion skills


WOULD I READ THIS BOOK: YES, it was pretty good
WOULD I BUT THIS BOOK: PROBABLY
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: MAYBE, If you read the first one and liked it or were curious about the next book.
WILL I READ THE NEXT BOOK: I NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS, SO YES!!!
WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR: YES, I really enjoy her writing style and her stories are unique. If she could improve some of her characters **cough cough, Burn** then I think I might really enjoy her books!

BISON=FOUR STARS

Feature and Follow #3

Feature and Follow is hosted by Parajunkee and Allison Can Read.

THE QUESTION FOR TODAY IS:

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE MOM FROM FICTION???

I have so many favorite moms!! It is so hard to choose!! Here is my narrowed down list:
My absolute favorite mom would have to be Nick Waters mom from Scat by Carl Hiaasen. Not only do I love this book his mom is so sweet and awesome!!!
Another mention would have to go to Sophie Mercer's mom from Hex Hall. She isn't afraid to fight and is just really cool!
I also LOVE Verity's mom from Code Name Verity. She was so sweet and forgiving. And I just loved the whole book, so obviously I'm going to love her!!!
And also Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter and Percy Jackson's mom from Percy Jackson.


Honorable Mentions:
Lydia's Mom from So Close to You
Jamie's mom from Being Jamie Baker
Ella's mom from Ella Enchanted

So WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE MOMS????




If you are going to follow me, Bloglovin', linky, e-mail, or RSSare best since GFC sounds like it's going away!

The Book Detective #1

The Book Detective is a weekly post hosted by Divergent Gryffindor.
In this post a topic is given and you have to name your favorite books under said topic! So here it goes!

TODAY'S TOPIC IS:
MYTHOLOGY

Ohhhhh, I love Mythology!! I can never seem to find enough books on the topic! Here are my picks:

Of course there is the obvious: 

And then there is The Alchemyst (A personal favorite of mine)

And then there are the other books...



The Goddess Test

                                                             Touch of Frost








And then there are the ones I've yet to read, but am dying to!!!



                                                         

                                                          Vengeance Bound


Sweet Venom



So what mythology books do you LOVE??