Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding. It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans--except Katniss. The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay--no matter what the personal cost.



The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy. Mockingjay picks up where Catching Fire left off. This was a dark conclusion to a gripping series. The writing on the pages kept me flipping until I finished the book. I mostly kept reading because I wanted to see the fearless Katniss save Peeta from the capitol. The ending of the book I did not see happen. I'm not posting any spoilers because I don't want people who haven't read the series to get mad at spoilers. 

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

I love Greek mythology. I was a huge fan of the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess (yes folks, I am that big of a nerd), and with so many books dealing with Greek mythology I wanted to read this book very badly and figured now was the time.

How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.






I really enjoyed this book. I really liked the story idea of it on how Helen falls in love with Lucas, and Helen finds out that she is a reincarnation of Helen of Troy and her falling in love with Lucas can re-create another Trojan War. I have been a major fan of Greek mythology since childhood and it's one of the reason I chose to minor in History. I really adored the writing. The only thing that really bothered me was the view in the story. The book begins in third restricted, then wen you get further into the book it begins to switch POVs, this is something that should have been caught by the editors. I highly recommend people read this book because it is just too wonderful to pass up.

Fallen Series by Lauren Kate

I purchased these books a long time ago. I never really had much time to read them. I haven't read many books about angels, although some I have read were really interesting to me.




Fallen (Book 1)
There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her.





Luce is sent to a reform boarding school and she meets Daniel a fallen angel. Half the time during the book the author was giving the backstory, and follows way too many cliches. and too many usages of plot keys ruin the story, it wasn't even much of a love story. It's the jerk boy who is in love with a shallow girl doesn't that sound familiar. I think Hush, Hush will better suited for me. This is what I get for reading books that are overly hyped up.  
This book series is one of the New York Times bestsellers. While reading the first book in the series, Fallen, the description of Daniel made me feel like I was reading Twilight all over again he reminds me way too much of Edward. There are some YA paranormal romance books that read too similar to Twilight, but Daniel's was indeed almost identical. If you like books about angels you'll like this one if you don't mind it's similarities to Twilight. The book starts off really really really slow. It took me about two months just to read it. The story line doesn't even begin to get good until you get to the middle of the book. 

Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein

I do love my books about wolves, fairies, angels and witches, but that doesn't mean I don't like a contemporary novel every now and then. I had been hearing so much about Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein in social media for quite some time and I went to the Barnes and Noble and bought the book. I guarantee you, you won't be disappointed by what Burstein put into this novel.






Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when the girls get stood up for prom and take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx — Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Even worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing — like she is nothing.
Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.



I'm going to give you the honest truth about this book, as opposed to the majority of contemporary young-adult books out there, this one is more suited for teens with how real it is. There are teens who do go out and have their thing on prom, whether with jocks, or nerds, and they do struggle to find themselves, and sometimes when you struggle to find yourself hanging out with the wrong crowd or people you thought were suppose to be your friend you will end up in situations. Which is what happens to Amy throughout this novel; she struggles to find herself and gets into trouble with people she thought was her friend. Burstein did a wonderful job of writing a character that a teenager can relate themselves to, and if I must say, a much better job than what Sarah Dessen writes. 



I had some questions for Lisa and contacted her and she graciously responded back to my questions, here are the answers.

How long have you been writing? 

Since second grade. I began seriously writing about ten years ago. I got my MFA in fiction and went to work on my first novel. A couple novels and two agents later, I'm published! That makes it sound easy, but it really took TEN YEARS!

You decided to write Pretty Amy as a YA Contemporary with no supernatural elements. Why just a regular YA Contemporary? 

Well I knew I wanted the story to be very real. Something that teens could relate to as something they or there friends had the possibility to experience or had experienced. The only way to do this was to write contemporary. I would even go further and say that PRETTY AMY is really real contemporary.That is what readers are really responding to, the total honesty of it, the lack of BS in the book.

What inspired Pretty Amy? Certainly the way I felt in high school. I was a lot like Amy. Just like her I had such a desire to belong, to fit in, to have people who understood me. I wanted that so badly and I guess I never felt like adults understood that. It was most of the reason I wrote PRETTY AMY. If I'd had it when I was in high school I feel like I would have been able to understand my feelings better. I wouldn't have felt so alone. 

Was Pretty Amy based on your own experiences as a teenager? I was arrested during my senior year of high school, not for the same reason Amy was, but that was where the kernel came from. I also knew I wanted to write a "shocking" book from a teenage girl's point of view. I feel like you can get away with your character being a murderer, or a jerk, or just a smart ass more easily if your book isn't contemporary and I wanted to try to break that mold with PRETTY AMY. 

Is Pretty Amy a message for teens? I didn't write it as a message book, but I do feel like teens and adult readers are taking things from it. One of my favorite things a reader said was, "PRETTY AMY teaches you to find your own identity, and to not feel like you have to transform yourself into another person's image just to fit in. It lets you know it's okay to not fit the mold and be yourself."

I enjoyed Cassie, but I mostly had a soft spot for Amy, I was like Amy growing up. Odd, different, barely any friends and never really fit in anywhere. I strongly recommend this book for girls and adults! It's a wonderful read!