Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2 
Source: Paperback copy
Publisher: Puffin Books
Publication Date: February 7th 2013
Age Genre: Young Adult

This is not the fairytale you remember.
But it’s one you won’t forget.
Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.
Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.
As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .

You see, I had a plan. I didn't just wait to read Scarlet until now. I had a very meticulous, well-thought out plan that I'm kind of hating right now because it made me delay reading this book. Anyways, the plan was: as Cinder already promised this would become a favorite series, I would just... wait. Until it was over. To binge read. That was the plan.

DID I MENTION THAT I NOW HATE THAT PLAN??

This book... just... asdfghjkl is the best adjective. The feels, man. The feels. Much in the fashion of Cinder, Scarlet doesn't beat around the bush of introducing us to the next duo in the series we're going to adore. Thy name is Scarlolf.

Err, I mean-- Scarlet and Wolf. (BTW, I don't really like their ship name. Can't we have ship names like OUAT for this series? Like Scarlet Wolf sounds way cooler lol)

Scarlet Benoit is looking for her grandma. Remember way when, as Nainsi booted up again mid-sentence and relayed information about the possibility of an ex-military pilot from the EF hiding the Lunar Princess? That's the one. Yeah, I had to rack my brain to remember to. Way to go Meyer.

So, Scarlet was delightful. She's a firecracker, but she's not stupid. She's kind of a hot-head but she's got the brains to make it a deadly combination. And she's really not afraid to shot you. All the girl wants is her grandma, her farm, and peace. Why can't anyone give that to her?!

Now Wolf....

What I Expected

What I got

....

....

....

....

I'M TAKING HIM AND NEVER GIVING HIM BACK! Seriously, what is this adorableness!? I wasn't expecting it! But I highly approve! Wolf is such a sweetheart! Yes, sometimes he shows some of that first gif but mostly he's just a precious cinnamon roll and I love him so dearly and asdfghjkjhgfd

And together??? The shipping is real guys. It's like, Cinder and Kai? Cuties. Wolf and Scarlet?

only with less rage and more heart-eyes

Seriously. Ruining me here Meyer!

Not only with Wolf, but with Cadet Captain Thorne too! Like, I didn't expect him to be in this book. I didn't expect half the novel to be about Cinder and him at all and I loved it. And him. Again, exception versus reality and reality is so much better! He is such a goofball! He made me laugh, and I kind of think Cinder really needs someone like him around *heart eyes*

ALL the males in this world ruin me. Take Kai for example - I was so afraid that he was going to go the bitter "she played me" route, and while he entertains the thoughts (because how can you not) he is not that at all. He still cares for Cinder, still can't think she's anything less than what she showed herself to be. He is listening to his heart and I HEART IT.

Is this a review? Is this a lovefest. I don't even know but I don't even care!

Speaking of things that ruin me negatively - Adri and Levana. I hate them both.

Like, I didn't hate Adri in Cinder (I really, really pitted her existence), but now I'm genuinely hoping Winter has a scene where Cinder becomes empress and Adri tries to mooch of it by saying she's always cared for Cinder and Kai steps up and be all like "remember that time you tried to send her to her death, accused her of all sort of things and said you wanted nothing to do with this aberration? yeah, fun times. GOODBYE BIYOTCH".

As for Levana... she is horrifying. And the scene from her pov? nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. Like, I don't want to read Fairest because that sounds so disturbing but now I kinda feel like I have to??

(BTW - is that wolf soldier gonna have more important meaning later on? I feel like he will)

Also - this book moves from the cutest thing ever to the gloom and doom in like three seconds flat. Be prepared to not be prepared for it coming at all.

FAN LUNAR CHRONICLES FACTS!

Levana in Hebrew means Moon. She is literally Queen Moon.

Ze'ev in Hebrew means Wolf. So Wolf's name is... Wolf. lol.

Nitzan★

Great by Sara Benincasa

Great by Sara Benincasa
Series: N/A
Source: Bought
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: April 8, 2014

In Sara Benincasa's contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, a teenage girl becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle, only to be implicated in a tragedy that shakes the summer community.

Everyone loves a good scandal.

Naomi Rye usually dreads spending the summer with her socialite mother in East Hampton. This year is no different. She sticks out like a sore thumb among the teenagers who have been summering (a verb only the very rich use) together for years. But Naomi finds herself captivated by her mysterious next-door neighbor, Jacinta. Jacinta has her own reason for drawing close to Naomi-to meet the beautiful and untouchable Delilah Fairweather. But Jacinta's carefully constructed world is hiding something huge, a secret that could undo everything. And Naomi must decide how far she is willing to be pulled into this web of lies and deception before she is unable to escape.

Based on a beloved classic and steeped in Sara Benincasa's darkly comic voice, Great has all the drama, glitz, and romance with a terrific modern (and scandalous) twist to enthrall readers.

The reason that I rated Sara Benincasa's Great three stars isn't because I didn't like it - in fact, it's just the opposite. But I ran into the same problems in this one that I did in the original one. Sometimes, the drama of this one (and the original) was just too hard to keep up with. It's not that they're bad reads, not at all... but sometimes they're just a bit too complicated for my taste.

I really loved the writing style of Great. It has the same elegant, descriptive narrative of the first one, but it was much easier to understand this time around. It was interesting to see the parallels of the story, but it was also interesting to see the differences. For instance, Nick was genderbent into Naomi, which honestly makes more sense. And then we have Jacinta, the female counterpart of Jay, who was just as over the top and weird as the original. And then, of course, we have Delilah... and I'm sure you can all guess exactly where that goes. It was really an interesting update, to say the least.

Naomi did a good Nick, and I feel like we got to know her better than we got to know Nick in the original. Her voice was a lot less disconnected. She was very even keel, and she wasn't annoying or anything - which Jacinta could be. It was nice that she balanced out.

As for Jacinta, I really don't know exactly what to say about her character. It was obvious that she was Jay, but her personality was a bit different, and truly a lot more twisty. Not to mention the fact that she's obviously a girl, but... her and Delilah end up being in a relationship, and it was a bit confusing.

Great mostly follows the original plotline of The Great Gatsby, but there are a few new twists here and there. All in all, I'd say that it was an interesting enough read; and I'd definitely recommend it if you enjoy the original story.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Series: Dorothy Must Die, #1
Source: Bought
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: April 1, 2014

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.
But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened?
Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.
I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I've been trained to fight.
And I have a mission:
Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.
Steal the Scarecrow's brain.
Take the Lion's courage.
Then and only then—Dorothy must die!

Dorothy Must Die has been on my radar for a long time - but the real reason I got to it so quickly is because of something ridiculously simple - a girl at the book store. She told me that it was amazing, and that I just couldn't miss it - so the first chance I got, I cracked this bad boy open. And I haven't regretted it, since getting past the first two chapters.

I'm not going to lie about it, the first couple of chapters were really a drag. They were all about how Amy's life sucked, and how she was poor white trash, and I was THIS far from throwing the book away. But I kept reading, hoping that somehow we would get out of the real world and into Oz. And once we did, BAM! Everything was better. It was like the writing suddenly went "BOOM" and we were there. And the story got completely amazing. Because Oz is more twisted than I ever would have imagined.

Every single character that we've come to love from the movies? They've all become twisted and terrible versions of themselves, and you can't trust a single one of them. The scarecrow spends all of his time making terrible experiments in his lab, with the help of his new brains. The Cowardly Lion has become fierce, but by doing so he destroys everything. He eats people, and their fears. And then we have the Tinman, who is desperately in love with Dorothy, which eats up his heart from the inside and makes him a man without compassion. Dorothy herself? Well, she's just living the high life. The high and cruel life. Dorothy is greedy and cruel and full of herself.

They're essentially everything that we never imagined them to be, and it's pretty damn awesome. I liked all of the new characters that had been added to the story, and the way that none of them were without purpose. They were all well fleshed out, and it made for an interesting take. I also enjoyed Amy, once she got over her white trash kick and into Oz. She had a lot of spunk, and she was definitely fierce. But she was also compassionate and funny and even a little bit scared.

Interestingly enough, I didn't feel like any of the characters except Amy could be trusted. Everyone was working from their own motives, and that meant that nearly everyone was a suspect for anything.

The one disappointment that I had from Dorothy Must Die was the fact that it didn't have a fully resolved ending. Originally, I thought that it was a standalone, and while I'm excited to have a series to read, I enjoy standalones more, if you get my meaning. I would definitely recommend this one, though!

Anyone But You by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

Anyone But You by Kim Askew by Amy Helmes
Series: Twisted Lit, #3
Source: Authors for Review
Publisher: Merit Press
Publication Date: January 1, 2014

These violent delights have violent ends...

Gigi Caputo is fed up. A vicious act of vandalism has dealt another blow to her family's proud pizza heritage, and the Montes--owners of a rival Italian restaurant--are clearly to blame. The hostility goes far beyond bragging rights for best pizza in Chicago. The Montes have been bent on destroying Cap's for four generations. Even if it means putting herself in harm's way, Gigi's determined to get to the bottom of the feud. Instead, in a secret encounter with Roman Monte, the very boy whose relatives have brought her family such grief, she finds both danger and love at first sight. If the daughter and son of these two warring families fall for each other, can it be anything but a recipe for disaster?

Slowly, Gigi and Roman learn that their story is fatefully linked to the summer of 1933, when two twelve-year-olds, Benny and Nick, hop the turnstile at the Chicago World's Fair. The most stunning wonder of the fair is Stella, who innocently causes a lasting rift between the two boyhood. Wending its way through past and present day, this modern take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is bittersweet, funny, and intensely exciting. It's classic romance--a tale of hate and the only force that can ever defeat it: love.

Romeo & Juliet is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays. I just can't get over the stupidity of the entire story, and I really don't find it romantic. Insta-love, then everyone dies. That's a real winner there. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually enjoyed Anyone But You. I was expecting the humor and the sense of romantic comedy that comes with these girls together, but this was the first book of theirs that I really liked.

At first, I was a little bit confused, and kind of unsure - as y'all know, I don't follow POV switches very well - unless they're very well written. And while the POVs in Anyone But You weren't badly written, not at all, the first switch was very confusing. Not only did it switch POVs, it all switched eras. Like, all the way back to the thirties - and that was a tiny bit disconcerting at first.

I didn't connect with the main character, Gigi, and I didn't really buy the romance between Roman and Gigi - but I'm willing to forgive the instalove. Because, as I mentioned before, the original play was built on insta-love. I would have liked to have seen more development, but I'm fine with what was presented.

I actually liked the scenes from the past, told through Nick's eyes, better than the present day. Nick was a more complex character, and it was nice to see all of the things that tore Benny & Nick apart. The development in that part of the story was absolutely phenomenal! I predicted what the problem would be, but since I'd already read the play... it was okay.

The most interesting part of Anyone But You was picking out names and faces and personalities from the original play - and comparing them. That was a lot of fun. All in all, Anyone But You really wasn't a bad read. I actually really liked it, and it was a wonderful re-imagining of Romeo & Juliet.