Surviving Haley by Brenda Baker

Title: Surviving Haley
Author: Brenda Baker
Page length: 204 (kindle edition)
Date published: Nov 2015
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Source: Netgalley
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 5


Summary (from Goodreads):

Lauren Werthman struggles with guilt and depression. Even moving to another state and into a new home doesn't help her overcome the life-altering aftermath of losing her sister. Memories of the tragic accident reverberate through her life as her family tries to cope, but Lauren's life spirals out of control. Her mother criticizes her choices every day, her father continues to work later and later, and people at her new school seem to know the family secret. Lauren binge-eats, has nightmares, and doubts the existence of a God Who didn't intervene to prevent the senseless tragedy. As Lauren's family and friends work through the pain and guilt, will they find that even though the void will always remain, the power of forgiveness brings peace and hope and a bright future, or will Lauren forever be lost to the pain and guilt?


This book is a quick and easy read. I finished it within a day. Surprisingly, this book hooked me. I started reading and couldn't stop. There is just something about a book that centers around grief and loss that captivates me. I don't wish the death of a loved one on anyone but the raw emotions that come from it are so heartbreaking that it wraps me in as the reader. Surviving Haley is one of those books. It kept me interested long enough to finish the book. If it weren't for the depressing aspects of this book I don't think I would have finished it.

Several reasons why:

• The main character, Lauren. Lauren is a ninth grade girl who just lost her five-year-old sister two  months ago. She's moved to a different state with her parents in order to escape the memories. Even so, the pain isn't so easily shaken. Lauren has a lot of issues to deal with. She binge-eats chocolate. If she feels stressed, she goes to chocolate for comfort. She can't be near swimming pools, blames herself for her sisters death, and she hates God. All of these are valid problems that can occur after losing a loved one. This I was okay with. But what I wasn't okay with? The way she acted. She was just so rude to every one. She treated everyone as if she had a chip on her shoulder. She would blow up on someone for no real reason at all. Maybe this is supposed to show the torment inside of a person when dealing with grief but I just didn't see it that way. Losing someone you love does not give you the right to treat everyone else like a pile of crap. Lauren was constantly freaking out on someone that was just trying to help her and it got old, people. There's a time when I stop sympathizing for someone and that's when they hurt others. 

• The characters. I literally did not care about any of these characters or find them even remotely interesting besides Lauren's mom. Lauren makes a few friends and enemies at her new high school and they should play a big part in this book. I think this is what the author was aiming for. However, the supporting characters were dull and had no sense of personality. We've got Jazz, the book smart but also quiet soccer player, Jonah (I think that's his name LOL), the repenting Christian, Lauren's dad, who is struggling to keep his marriage alive, Lauren's mom, who barely talks to Lauren and spends all of her time drinking, and Tiffany, the popular girl with an attitude and an eating disorder. All of these characters should be awesome, right? They should have intricate personalities and character growth. Heck, they should at least have some kind of importance to the plot and the main character. But honestly? Not so much. Besides Lauren's mom, all of them were plot fillers.

• The romance. It was awful. I'm talking cringe-worthy awful. Obviously God-hating Lauren falls "in love" with God-loving Jonah. This is a match made in heaven, right? (No pun intended) I put 'in love' in quotation marks because their relationship is claimed as love but couldn't be further from the truth. Lauren spends 90% of the book treating Jonah awfully and then magically falls head over heels for him at the end. Ooooookay. What makes me mad is that Jonah takes this crap from Lauren over and over again. We all get it that she has a troubled past and needs help but there comes a time when you just gotta cut loose from someone. I don't understand why Jonah kept trying to get with her. And he obviously doesn't know how to be patient with people because you don't just go up to a person who lives without Christ and say, "God will forgive you because he loves you". Religion is something that must be gradually taken into account and not forced upon anyone. Jonah immediately starts speaking about God right when he meets Lauren. That's just something you shouldn't do, in my opinion. Give a person time to come around before preaching to someone else. You don't know a person's background or what they've been through. Preaching any kind of religion without knowing a person could offend. That's just my two cents. Anyways, Jonah continued to do this over and over again, knowing how Lauren feels about God at the moment. So they fight and fight and fight. They go on like this for 75% of the book. It got tedious. By then I didn't care about their relationship or whether they got together or didn't.

• The writing style. Baker's style felt choppy and immature. As Surviving Haley is her debut, I expect her to grow as she gains more experience. The writing wasn't awful, it just didn't flow very well at times. 

Now that I've listed all of the things that I didn't like, I feel like I should explain why I gave this two and a half stars versus one star. Like I said before, I like reading about books laced with grief and loss. This is no exception. I loved the heartbreaking truthfulness that was held within this book. It was raw, powerful, and tragic. It held my attention. I also enjoyed the relationship between Lauren and her mother and her mother herself. The relationship was strained, rocky, and sad. After Haley's passing, the mom just shuts down. She barely speaks to Lauren and when she does it's just to criticize. She neglects Lauren. She neglects her marriage. She uses alcohol as a coping device for the passing over her youngest daughter. This puts more strain on the already-stressed family. It was captivating to read about their relationship and how it progresses. It was the only relationship that I cared about. Hence the reasoning behind my 2.5 star rating. 

Overall thoughts: The overall theme was beautifully tragic and interesting to read about. The lack of personality in the characters and awful romance was what did it in for me. 

What did you think of Surviving Haley? Comment below!

Until next time, 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

What do you think about the cover?
Leave a comment below!

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses 
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Page count: 416
Date published: May 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars!

Summary (from Goodreads):

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.
As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

As it states in the summary, this is a Beauty and the Beast re-telling. There are a lot of different aspects, of course, but beneath it all there is Disney's Beauty and the Beast plot. If you've watched the movie you can figure out what elements are twisted to create a unique story. Unlike the Disney movie, this book has a lot more of a magical quality to it. The main character is taken to the magical land of Prythian after killing a Fae disguised as a wolf. The reader gets to meet interesting characters and creatures; some terrifying, some not so much. We learn a lot about Prythian and its customs. Fans of fantasy and paranormal may enjoy A Court of Thorns and Roses. 

The first half:

The book starts out very slow as it goes through the motions of Feyre's every day life. Her family lost all of their money after a bad investment and now lives in poverty. Her father is left crippled after a confrontation with debt collectors and now spends all of his time withering away into nothing. With a deceased mother and two sisters who would rather gripe and moan than help around the house, Feyre is left with the burden of taking care of her family. Winter is coming and her family is going to starve. This leads Feyre out into the woods to hunt. Everyone knows that the woods are dangerous because of the Fae, deadly, magical creatures who live on the other side of a wall. This wall separates these vile creatures from humans like Feyre but that doesn't stop them from coming over the wall and slaughtering innocent humans. Feyre knows that going into the woods are dangerous but fear of starvation is stronger. Things start to look up when Feyre kills a wolf. Enough meat to last her family for weeks! This is good, right?

Wrong. Wolf ends up being a Fae in disguise. Another Fae, a beast with talons, comes for Feyre. She has two options: die or come with him to his estate in Prythian. Either way she must atone for killing his friend. A life for a life. Desperate to keep her life, Feyre follows this beast over the wall and into the magical land of Prythian. Feyre will now live out the rest of her mortal life in Prythian as a sentence for killing a Fae.

I'm going to be honest right now and tell you that this isn't much of a "sentence". Feyre lives her days in luxury and comfort at the estate. The beast who carried her away turns out to be a shape-shifting Fae named Tamlin with a gorgeous "human body". He's well-mannered and patient with Feyre even if he does like to keep his secrets. His best friend, Lucien, provides the comedy with his snarky comebacks and sarcastic attitude that is worthy of Kenji from Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series. Feyre doesn't have anything to worry about in Prythian. She is well fed, clothed, and protected. Tamlin even goes as far to make sure that her family is provided for! If this is the consequence for killing a Fae, sign me up.

The only thing that Feyre has to worry her pretty little head over is the magical blight that is ruining Prythian and its Fae inhabitants. Sooner of later it's going to cross the wall and begin harming the humans. Families. Children. It's already taken so much from the Fae: their magic and even taken the faces of Tamlin's court. Tamlin and all of his subjects are stuck in masks after a surge of sickened magic that passed through during a masquerade.

"There is... sickness in these lands. Across Prythian. There has been for almost fifty years now. It is why this house and these lands are so empty: most have left. The blight spreads slowly, but it has made magic act... strangely. My own powers are diminished due to it. These masks" - he tapped on his - "are the result of a surge of it that occurred during a masquerade forty nine years ago. Even now, we can't remove them."

Feyre spends most of her time being reckless and getting into trouble. Both Tamlin and Lucien tell her not to go out by herself but she does. Both times she needs someone to save her. This was the side of Feyre that I didn't like. She doesn't listen to reason, thinking that she's invincible. And Tamlin saving her every five seconds doesn't help that fact.

Obviously there's romance in this book. If the blurb wasn't enough to tell you this then I will. This book is 80% romance. If you love traditional romance then you'll probably enjoy this. I myself and a romance fan but I just couldn't get into the romance between Feyre and Tamlin. It felt too rushed. Feyre goes from hating the Fae and all that Tamlin stands for to falling in love with him and thinking of only him. It happened too quickly. If you've read my reviews before, you know that I'm a sucker for a slow-evolving romance. I was hoping for that with A Court of Thorns and Roses but was slightly disappointed.

The romance was dull in the first half of the book. Actually, the entire first half of the book was a big yawn. The pacing was off and there were huge chunks that seemed unnecessary. Between the practically instant romance and insignificant chapters, the first half of the book was nothing short of a disappointment.

You're probably starting to wonder why I gave this book 4 stars. I alone would have given this a 2 star rating solely on the first half if the second half of the book hadn't been so freaking amazing.

The second half:

The blight eventually becomes too much and Tamlin forces Feyre to go back home to her family in order to keep her safe. Feyre spends some time with her family but she's so in looooove with Tamlin that she decides she's going to go back to Prythian whether he wants her to or not. She finally reaches his estate only to find that it's in shambles and Tamlin, Lucien, and all of the Fae subjects are missing. Only Feyre's maid remains. Secrets are revealed and the plot finally gets going. You'll learn some important and interesting backstory. One of these is Amarantha, the Fae behind the blight that is ravaging Pyrthian. She has taken Tamlin and his subjects hostage under a mountain that constitutes as her lair. Desperate to save Tamlin, Feyre journeys across Pyrthian to find him.

Feyre gets captured almost instantly once stepping into the lair. Obviously. She's taken to Amarantha, who is biting at the bit to murder Feyre. Feyre claims her love for Tamlin and Amarantha decides she'd like to play a little game.

"I'll make a bargain with you, human," she said, and warning bells pealed in my mind. "You complete three tasks of my choosing - three tasks to prove how deep that human sense of loyalty and love runs, and Tamlin is yours. Just three little challenges to prove your dedication, to prove to me, that your kind can indeed love true, and you can have your High Lord." 

and 

"I'll throw in another element, if you don't mind - just to see if you're worthy of one of our kind, if you're smart enough to deserve him. I'll give you a way out, girl. You'll complete all the tasks - or, when you can't stand it anymore, all you have to do is answer one question. A riddle. You solve the riddle, and his curse will be broken. Instantaneously. I won't even need to lift my finger and he'll be free. Say the right answer, and he's yours. You can answer it at any time - but if you answer incorrectly..."

The last half of this book is pretty great. It's everything that I wanted this book to begin with. Once I was hooked there was no going back. Things get a little tricky as Feyre goes up against these trials. She has the help from an unlikely ally, Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court. Yep, folks, we have ourselves a love triangle. And while I didn't like the love triangle in Maas' other series, I don't mind this one because I'm rooting for one of the guys unlike Dorian and Chaol in the assassin series. Rhysand reminds me of Warner Anderson and I LOVE Warner. To even have a character that reminds me of him immediately makes them my favorite.

Feyre and Rhysand team up together to get through the trials. Rhysand and his own personal reasons, of course. One being that Feyre has promised him something very important:

"We made a bargain," Rhysand said. I flinched as he brushed a stray lock of my hair from my face. He ran his fingers down my cheek - a gentle caress. The throne room was all too quiet as he spoke his next words to Tamlin. "One week with me at the Night Court every month in exchange for my healing services after her first task." He raised my left arm to reveal the tattoo, whose ink didn't shine as much as the paint on my body. "For the rest of her life." 

I like the dynamic of their relationship and, let's be honest, I love me a sexy piece of Fae hunk. Not to mention that he's a pretty awesome team partner to have to get Feyre through these trials. They're not the easiest tasks, and Feyre needs every little bit of help that she can get.

Now.. on to the ending. Maas pummels the reader with every human emotion possible: shock, fear, happiness, sadness, excitement, and even numbness. The second half is well worth trudging through the first half of the book. I was very pleased with how this book ended (there is NO cliffhanger) and I can't wait to read the second book. I'm excited to see where Maas is going to take this story next. Hopefully with more Rhysand and Julian?!

Until next time, 

          

 

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

What do you think of the cover?
Leave a comment below!

Title: Snow Like Ashes
Author: Sara Raasch
Page count: 416
Date published: October 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

I got this baby from my local library and it took a couple of weeks to finish. When I normally grab my hands on a book I've been anticipating for quite a while, I tend to binge-read until my eyes can no longer stay open. However, I didn't have that experience with Snow Like Ashes. A lot of that has to do with the pacing. But we'll get more into depth later on in this post. 

First, I must explain some of the world building. This book is definitely high fantasy so be prepared to see a lot of magic. The reader gets a major info dump in the first few chapters of Snow Like Ashes. It gets super confusing and hard to understand. The world building is so intricate that when the author dumped everything at once I felt that it was just too much. There are Rhythm kingdom (kingdoms with all seasons) and then there are Seasons kingdoms (kingdoms with just one season each.. hence Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn). Each kingdom, whether Rhythm or Season, has its own unique characteristics that make each different from the other. All of them have their own unique powers, however.  

Meira is a Winterian. White hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes - the picture perfect look of Winter, right? Meira is constantly on the run from Spring and its tyrannical ruler, the evil man who conquered Winter and enslaved all of its people. As a baby, Meira managed to escape with her savior, Sir, and a handful of others, including Winter's future king. Since then they've been on the run. Their only hope is to put back together a magical conduit that holds all of Winter's power and strength. Without it, there is no hope to free the Winterian's from a life of slavery and death. 

Credit for this image goes to EpicReads.

Meira is just a girl. An orphan whom has spent her life running from people who wish to kill her. Life is simple. Stay on the run. Never give up hope. But Meira wants more. She wants to fight. She wants to do something for her conquered kingdom. She wants to bring her people back. All of her wishes seemed to be just dreams, however, because Sir and the rest of the escaped Winterians don't think that she's ready. It doesn't matter how many times she tries or how many times she practices her combat skills. To Meira, she's never going to be enough in the eyes of Sir. 

What I like about Meira is that she's ambitious. I love how she's desperate to save a kingdom that she doesn't even remember. Her loyalty to her people and to Winter is very deep, and I admire that. She has a sense of responsibility that is uncommon for her age. I love the voice of her character and the morals that she stands by. She believes in hope, justice, and courage. Needless to say, I really loved reading through the eyes of Meira. 

I won't give away the events that take place because of those evil little things called spoilers but I will give you a teaser: 

“No matter what happens, no matter who turns on me, no matter what pompous swine thinks he has power over me, I am still me. I will always be me.”

Can we all give a high five to Meira for being a total beast? I mean, she's killing it. I love this chick. So many problems in YA fiction come from the fact that the main character is a wimp or the total opposite of what he/she is supposed to be. The character claims to be an assassin but doesn't kill a single person? A princess with absolutely no feelings for her country? The prophesied male who will save the world but spends all of his time thinking about the love interest? For once I want a character that is strong, independent, cunning, and wise beyond their years. Meira was all of this wrapped into one. She cares about people on a deeper level and doesn't just think about herself. She loves deeply and strongly and wears her heart on her sleeve. Yet, at the same time, she knows her boundaries and trust her instincts to do the right thing.

I loved her relationships with other characters in the book. Sir is the father figure to Meira. Tough and even mean at times, he doesn't sugarcoat anything. He tells Meira how it is and doesn't try to save her feelings. Their relationship is raw and rough at times but I know that Sir loves her as his own daughter. Meira may not see it at times and it's possible that Sir doesn't want her to know at all but deep down he cares about her well-being.

Meira's relationship with Mather, the future king of Winter, and Theron, the prince of Cordell, are completely different for obvious reasons. Yes, folks, we have a love triangle. Surprisingly, it didn't bother me. Both guys respect Meira and treat her as an equal. Meira has grown up with Mather and knows him like the back of her hand. They played, fought, and protected each other for as long as she can remember. Mather is a big part of her life. Theron is new and sparks a sense of curiosity within Meira. He's courteous, smart, and has a sense of morality that is rare in this book. His loyalty to his kingdom runs deep. He truly cares for his people and Meira can relate to that. I'm not sure who Meira will want to be with but I have an idea. What I liked about this love triangle is that it doesn't take the focus of the story. The romance is just a little treat for readers.

One pretty big problem with Snow Like Ashes is the pacing. I found the first half of the book boring. This is kind of odd because events do take place and things happen that should have kept my interest but I just couldn't do a binge-read fest with this one. The pacing just felt off. I felt like the stakes weren't high enough. I wanted tension, action, and intense relationships that had me biting my fingernails until there weren't any left. I just didn't get that feeling through the first half of the book. The second half is a different story! The last 150 pages of Snow Like Ashes is everything that I wanted when I first heard about this book. It's thrilling, entertaining, and gripping. I wanted more right away.

Speaking of wanting more... the ending was breathtaking. My heart was pounding. My eyes were flying across the sentences faster than lightning. I couldn't take my eyes off the pages. Sara Raasch writes beautifully and I could feel the passion within the last chapters of Snow Like Ashes. It was a flawless ending. 

Overall: if you enjoy high fantasy with a strong female lead and lots of world building then this one might be for you. There is a love triangle but it is not the focus of the plot and that made it okay in my eyes. The pacing is slow but give it a shot because the last 150 pages are AMAZING. Just started book two and can't wait to see what happens!

I'll leave you with this example of how beautiful Raasch writes. It gives me chill bumps.

I take no credit for this image.

Until next time,