Fade Book Review

 Hi Guys, 
This week's review will be of Fade by Lisa McMann, the second book in the Dream Catcher series. A story about a girl who can enter others' dreams, whether joyful, embarrassing, or nightmarish. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END.
For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.
Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open -- but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.
Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability -- and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd feared....

My first impression of this book was that the cover for Fade was so much better than the cover for Wake. I don't know why, but there's something about the ominous objects on the covers of these books, it really draws my eye, and makes me want to read it more. Aside from the cover, the synopsis of this book was also better than the synopsis of Wake. The synopsis doesn't really cover exactly what really happens in the book, what they mention have very little significance in this novel, in my opinion. It took a little while to get into this book, it was just a tad bit boring in the beginning, but once Janie and Cabel decide to become Narcs, it starts to get really interesting. This novel takes two very serious situations that seem to be happening more and more in our world: drugs and alcohol with teens, and teacher-student affairs. Janie and Cabel work with the police to find out exactly what is happening in both scenarios, and they both get into very dangerous situations. I really loved the action and suspense of this book. You also got to learn more about Janie's condition, and more about her relationship with Cabel. It's very interesting, and I couldn't wait to read Gone, the third and final installment in this series. I give this book 4/5 stars, just because of the slow start. Besides that, it was a very interesting read. The story line was still a little depressing, but nowhere close to the depression I felt while reading Wake. It picks up a lot, and you guys should read it, it's pretty short. I think it has around 250 pages, but I can't really remember. You guys should really check out this series, if you didn't like Wake, keep reading the series, it picks up so much from Wake. CHECK IT OUT, NOW!

Wake Book Review

Hi Guys,
This week's book review is going to be on a book I finished in a couple hours over the summer, Wake by Lisa McMann. I don't know why I'm just now posting a review, I guess I just forgot to review it when I finished the series. This is the first book in the Dream Catcher trilogy, and here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

NOT ALL DREAMS ARE SWEET.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....
  
My first impression of this book was that it was original, and I love the ominous cover. Janie's ability is one unread about in books, yet everyone has thought about the possibility of going into other people's dreams. We all think it would be very amazing seeing what others dream about, but in this book it shows the negative side-effects of this ability. I read it very quickly, it's only 210 pages, and I found it easy to read with the way the book itself was structured. I longed to learn everything about Janie and her ability, and eventually about Cabel. The characters were amazing, you either loved them or hated them with a passion. When I was reading about Cabel's dream, I was a little scared, it definitely made me look over my shoulder a few times. Overall, though, this book was very depressing, I was expecting a fun, light hearted, story about  a girl who can visit other people's dreams, but this was not that type of book. This depressed me to the core, I was looking forward to it picking up and getting better, but it never did. I liked learning about the characters, and Janie's condition, but I didn't know how much longer I would be able to take the depression of this book. I give this book 3/5 stars, which is an "average" rating. I didn't hate this book by any means, I thought it was very good, but the depression of this book definitely made a four starred book become a three starred one. I would still check it out if you don't have a problem with the depressing storyline. The characters are really good, and so is the mystery around Janie's condition, but it lacked something that I was looking for. If you've read this novel, let me know what you thought of this book in the comments.

Pretty Little Liars Book Review

Hi Guys,
I'm sorry I didn't post a review this weekend. It's been because of homework/projects/events going on during my weekend. Anyway, this week's book review will be on a book I read a few summers ago, Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. I know, you're probably thinking, "This is really girly, I mean just look at the cover, why would you read this?" This is exactly what I thought about it until I heard more. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

Everyone has something to hide-especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna.
Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful. But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.
How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling.
-A

My first impression of this was that it was definitely a "chick-book", I don't see me, or any other guy, ever picking this up to read. This reaction was apparently just made off of the cover alone. One day in class my friend was talking about an all new show that was really good, and would "beat out the Vampire Diaries TV show," (close, but no cigar). At the time I didn't think I would watch it because I saw the cover of the book at a book store, I knew it would be girly... well, one day while at home, I had absolutely nothing to do, and the first episode of this show was on for a re-run, and I decided I might as well, and I've been watching the show ever since. The show is inevitably what made me want to read the book in the first place. The show is amazing, and although I've only read the first book, I continue to watch the show every Tuesday night. This definitely has some "girly" aspects to it, but overall it isn't really too girly. There are a lot of  secrets, mystery, suspense, and characters. My favorite character to read about is Aria, then a close second is Spencer (she kind of reminds me of myself a little). The other characters kind of fell flat to me in this novel, on the show however, I like all of them. The events that happen in this novel are basically what happens within the first three episodes. I like this book I give it 4/5 stars, just because it had some things that I just got bored reading about. If you haven't checked out this series/show... do it now, they're really good. Guys, don't be afraid that it looks to "girly", it isn't too bad, and it's probably the best mystery book I've ever read. I really need to catch up on these books, they're already in season 3 of the show... Yikes, I'm quite a slacker when it comes to this series. If you guys want me to put the next couple books of these higher on my TBR, just comment letting me know, otherwise it's about midway through my TBR pile, but don't fret, I at least have it bought on my new kindle, so I could start it any time.