Book Review: These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Starbound Trilogy Book 1)

Genre- Fantasy, Science Fiction

Paperback Edition-378 Pages

5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes

No Spoilers!

Hey there readers, here is a new review. Today I am reviewing "These Broken Stars". Before I start my review I want you to know that I was never interested in reading this book. I usually don't like books about Sci-fi but my sister loved this book so she wanted me to read it, and I did. I enjoyed it but it wasn't my favorite book. Anyway let's get on with the review.

The Plot

Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive – alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. 

This book is about a girl named Lilac and a boy named Tarver. They are very different. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the world, and Tarver is a soldier. They come together when the ship they're on crashes. They are the only ones that survived the crash and so they end up getting stranded together on a planet. They have to find their way back to the ship, without trying to kill each other. This is a survival story, and a romance. What will happen? Read the book. 

My Opinion

I went into this book with low expectations. I wasn't sure if I would like it because I haven't read many science fiction books. I ended up really enjoying this book. I love reading survival books so this book was right up my ally. I'll admit it took me a long time to read this book because when I started it, I was in a reading slump. I put it down for months and decided to pick it back up again. I ended up liking the book more the second time. 

What I liked about the book: I didn't just like this book because of the gorgeous cover but I loved the plot. Like I said before I love reading books about survival. The plot sounded really interesting. I've heard people say it's like "Titanic" in space, so it sounded cool. I really liked the writing style. I couldn't tell which author wrote each part, their voices blended together so well. 

I really liked that this book only had two characters and it was in Tarver and Lilac's point of views. Whenever I read books about a guy and a girl I like reading from the guy's perspective too. I loved their voices, I just really enjoyed both perspective's. I really liked Lilac, a lot of people said they didn't like her because she's bratty and whiny but I liked her because she acted like that because she was brought up to be a spoiled brat. I also liked her because she's independent and likes to take care of herself. She had a witty personality and she was stubborn at times but she never annoyed me. I really loved Tarver, he was such a great guy. I loved how he took care of Lilac even though she didn't want him to help her. He knew how to survive and I just loved him. I loved how they both helped each other throughout the book. They use their strengths and they worked together. Now let's talk about the romance. I liked the romance because it wasn't rushed. In the beginning of the book, Lilac and Tarver hated each other. I love when author's make the girl and the guy hate each other at first. You really see their relationship develop, and the author's did such a great job. It didn't feel like insta-love at all, they really took their time making them develop feelings for the other. I was waiting for them to get together because it took so long for them to realize their feelings. 

What I Didn't Like: I didn't really have a lot of problems with this book. The only thing I didn't like was all the sci-fi stuff. A lot of the terms I didn't know and there were parts in the book that were confusing. I'm not going to mention the parts that confused me because I don't want to spoil anything. I sort of lost interest in the story around the end of the book, I just got bored but I still finished it. It wasn't bad, I actually read this at my Grandparent's house for Thanksgiving and there was a lot of noise so I was probably just distracted and couldn't pay attention to the story. Overall, I didn't have many problems with it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I might read the next book "This Shattered World" some time in the future. I think this book is good if your looking for a science fiction book with romance in it. I think this book is worth a buy and that's my review. Thank you so much for reading. Stay tuned for more coming soon. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and happy reading. Bye :)

Book Review: Carry On

"Carry On" by Rainbow Rowell

Genre- Fantasy, reads like contemporary

Hardcover Edition-522

5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes

Minor Spoilers!



Hey there, I'm back with a review. Today I am reviewing "Carry On" which is Rainbow Rowell's new stand-alone novel. This book is based on the "Simon Snow" series from "Fangirl". I was so excited to read this book because I loved "Fangirl". It was one of my favorite books of 2014. This book has so much hype but I tried not to go into it with high expectations. Did I love the book? No, but I did enjoy it. I actually had mixed feelings while reading it. Let's get on with the review. 

The Plot

This book is similar to "Harry Potter". It's like reading HP Fanfiction but Rainbow Rowell changed some things and made her own world and everything. It's about a boy named Simon Snow. He is "The Chosen One" and he's the most powerful magician in the world. He goes to the "Watford" school which is a boarding school for magicians. He has a best friend named Penelope. He has a enemy named Baz, and they have been roommates since their first year. This book takes place in their last year. Simon and Baz hate each other and someday they have to fight each other and one of them will die. 

My Opinion

I apologize for that bad description. This book is really hard for me to describe because I don't want to spoil anything. Overall, I liked this book but didn't love it. I'm going to split this review into two parts. I usually don't do this but I feel it's necessary for this book since I don't know how I feel about it. 

What I liked: First of all I loved the plot of this book. I love fantasy books and of course I love HP. I always read HP fanfiction and that's what this book felt like to me, but the characters are different. The plot was really cool, I liked reading about Simon and Baz's romance. I don't read many books about gay people and it was unique to read about. I was expecting to love this book since people compare it to HP. In the beginning I thought it was too much like Harry Potter but by the end of the book, I noticed it's very different than HP. I really liked the characters. I liked Simon, he was a good protagonist and he was a good person. I liked Penelope, she was a good friend. I think Baz is my favorite character. I loved him, he was interesting to read about and I just loved his character. 

What I Didn't like: 

The pacing was okay. It's a big book and honestly, not much happens. I thought the beginning was really good. I was waiting for Baz to come in the book which took a long time. When I got to the middle of the book, I started to become bored and had a hard time focusing on the story. While I was reading "Carry On" I had a hard time completely getting into the story. I couldn't picture the characters and the story well in my head. I just couldn't get into most of the book. The ending really saved it for me, it got so much better at the end of the book. I thought she wrapped it up well, it was a satisfying ending. 

I didn't care for the writing style, and this was my main issue with the book. This book is in a lot of different perspective's. I usually enjoy reading books in multiple pov's but there were too many and because of that, not much happens in the book. I usually don't have a problem with pacing and author's writing styles. I feel this book would have been better if it was in just Simon and Baz's pov's because their the only characters I cared about, and more would happen in the book. It reminded me of Eleanor & Park, which is the only book from her I didn't like. Another reason why I hated the writing style is because of the way she did it. I'm a writer and I was taught that your supposed to show not tell when writing a book. Rainbow didn't show, she told the whole story and that really bothered me. Nothing happened because she didn't show anything. Also since the book is in like 7 different pov's, they just told the same thing in their perspectives. It felt like back story and not enough action. I didn't really care about the other characters either. I just liked Simon, Baz and Penelope. I didn't really get to know the other characters well, because they weren't in the story much. 

Overall, I liked this book but didn't love it. Your probably wondering why I gave it 5 Lily Pads if I didn't love it. The reason why I gave it 5 is because it was my most anticipated book of the year and I was so excited to read it. I hate giving books less than 5. "Fangirl" is a lot better and that's still my favorite book from her. I would recommend this book only if you loved "Fangirl". There are way better fantasy books out there but I guess I would recommend it to anyone that wants to read it. I just don't think it's really worth it because it's over 500 pages but nothing happens. If you love books with action then I wouldn't recommend this one. I think this book isn't worth a buy, even though I bought my copy. I think you should borrow it from the library first and then buy it if you liked it. It wasn't a bad book, I just didn't love it. I feel it was too over hyped and I guess the hype ruined it for me. Anyway that's my review. Thank you so much for reading this very long review. I will have more posts coming soon. Thanks again and happy reading. 

Book Review: Halo

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto (Halo Trilogy Book #1)

Genre-Paranormal, reads like contemporary

Hardcover Edition-484 Pages

5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes!

No Spoilers!

Hey there, today I am reviewing "Halo". I loved this book. It was so good. I've read other angel books and "Halo" is one of my favorites, besides "Unearthly".  That book is also amazing. This book is so underrated, I haven't heard anyone talk about this book especially in BookTube. Anyway let's get on with the review. 

The Plot (Goodreads Summary)

An angel is sent to Earth on a mission.
But falling in love is not part of the plan.

Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.

Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.

The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

My Opinion

This was so amazing. I loved it so much. It's a typical YA angel book but this one is so different. It really stands out from other books in the YA genre. This book was just so refreshing. I'll tell you why later in the review. First let's talk about the characters.

First of all I loved our main character, Bethany. She was a little naive and stupid at times but I loved her and she has a reason to act like that. She lived in Heaven her whole life and in the book she goes down to Earth and lives there for the first time, so she didn't know how to be normal which I understand. She is such a nice, great character. She is so giving and selfless and I just loved her. I really liked her brother Gabriel and her older sister, Ivy. They were great characters too and I loved their relationship with Bethany. I have to say, one of my favorite characters is Xavier. He is Bethany's love interest. I loved him because he is the perfect guy. He is such a good guy, he's so kind and wonderful. I loved him so much. I wasn't a big fan of Beth's best friend Molly. She's kind of snobby but nice at the same time. I liked her a little bit. 

The plot for this book is very simple and it felt like contemporary with angels in it. It was a very easy read, even though it's a huge book. I liked the writing style, it was very simple. 

The last part I want to talk about is the main reason why I loved this book so much, the religion in it. I'm warning you right now, this book has a lot of religion in it. If your not religious, you can skip the next paragraph. 

 First of all, I am a Christian and I was raised Baptist my whole life. I loved all the religion in this book because that's what I believe. Angels and demons come from God so God is basically a huge part of this book. Bethany, Gabriel and Ivy were sent by God to come down to Earth to save the world. I loved Bethany because she's a Christian. She goes to church, believes in God and talks to him and prays. I also loved Xavier because he comes from a religious family too, which I loved. He is raised in a Christian family. I loved his family. His parents are still together, his whole family eats dinner together and they pray before each meal. They go to church every week. That's how my family is. I thought that was so refreshing to read about because how many books have religion in them? Not many, they are rare to find, especially in Young Adult books. Also this book is very clean. There's one or two swear words and no sex, which is very refreshing. I loved their romance too. 

Anyway, this book was so refreshing and amazing. If you wanna read a great angel book with religion in it I really recommend this book. This book is definitely worth a buy and I wanna read the second book in the future. That's my review, thanks so much for reading. God Bless all of you and stay tuned for more posts coming soon, bye :)