Book Review: Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas

Series: 2/2 (Dangerous Girls is the first in the thriller series)

Pages: 336 Pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Summary:

Three teens venture into the abandoned Monroe estate one night; hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding; the other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder?

Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece together the story of how they got there-a story of jealousy, twisted passion, and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful of faces…

 Book Review: 

For those of you that are familiar with Abigail Haas, you will know that she has a tendency to play with your head and make you feel as though you need to constantly sleep with both eyes open. Dangerous Boys is perfect and just as creepy as its predecessor.

The story follow three protagonists- Chloe, Ethan and Oliver who are bound together by love, jealously and blood ties. The story is told through Chloe’s POV and takes place within the past and present. From contextual knowledge we know that Chloe and one of the boys have made it out of a fatal fire, except one. This drives the narrative throughout the story and leaves you with so many questions…Who died? What happened? And Why?

I don’t want to give too much away because this is one of those books where you need to experience everything without any spoilers. But I will say that if you have read Dangerous Girls, Abigail does not go very far from this book as she delivers another psychological thriller that focuses on the twisted, naive mind of the teenage girl.

The worst thing is that I really didn’t have high expectations for Dangerous Boys as I loved Dangerous Girls so much and did not believe that Haas could live up to the bar she set so high for herself. However, I was wrong and for that I would like to publicly apologise to the mastermind that is Mrs. Abigail Haas.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of suspense thrillers.

Rating: 4 Stars

Dystopia Book Review

Dystopia By Anthony Ergo
266 Pages

Published 2014

Summary:

It’s Friday the Thirteenth and it’s Sasha Hunter’s birthday. It’s also the anniversary of Dystopia day; a catastrophic world-wide blackout, and the day Sasha’s mother disappeared. Three years on, the world has started to recover. But for Sasha, everything is falling apart…

Goodreads Link

Review:

So I picked up Dystopia after meeting Anthony Ergo at YALC, I knew it would become a favourite as soon as he gave me a brief summary… turns out I was absolutely right!!

 Dystopia is Anthony’s Ergo debut novel and the first in what I imagine to be an outstanding series that explores the supernatural (ghosts, empaths and all sorts),  history as well the geography of London. I would definitely suggest making yourself comfortable before you start Dystopia as I can guarantee, you will not be able to put it down.

The story follows Sasha who after uncovering her father’s secret is exposed to the world of the supernatural. After a powerful entity named the hangman ghost puts Sasha’s father in hospital, she is forced to join forces with two fellow agents to destroy one of the biggest poltergeists in history.

The characters in Dystopia are very relatable- the main protagonist Sasha is an insecure, superstitious teenage girl whose thoughts I could definitely relate to at some point or another… I mean which teenage girl hasn’t felt insecure or crushed hard on a guy before. I thought it was really cool that Sasha suffered from asthma (she suffers frequent asthma attacks throughout the story) and had these really obsessive supernatural beliefs, it made her different to most YA female protagonists. Sasha doubts herself often and I sometimes wondered whether it was because she was so used to being alone, as up until she uncovers her dad’s secret, they have quite a fractured relationship… Sasha is somewhat of an anti-heroine in the sense that she doesn’t necessarily adapt to her newly found responsibilities, it takes her a while to get used to the idea that she could be useful.

Aaron… Aaron…Aaron, I finally have a new fictional crush and I am so happy. As you all know, I have been crushing hard on Gat from We Were Liars for a while now but I am officially over it, Aaron is just everything I look for in a male protagonist. He was sarcastic, beautiful *I mean, in my head he is Alex Pettyfer x100* and caring… he was great and I love him and I’m rambling, so I am going to stop now before I lose it.

 The concept of the hangman ghost was really creepy, there were some embarrassing occasions that involved me, my duvet and a torch because I got too freaked out but we will leave that story for another time. I loved that the hangman ghost was based on a real life executioner that operated in Britain many years ago and is actually regarded as one of the most infamous executioners in history. The clues to what he wanted from the characters and who he was were unraveled slowly which was good because it meant that you were constantly at the edge of your seat trying to work out his intentions.

The ending of Dystopia was amazing, it answered all your questions and created more for the next book which I do not have because I foolishly did not buy it at YALC so now I am depressed and upset because I really want Hysteria in my hands like NOW!!!!!!!!

Rating:5*

Bleed Book Review

Bleed by Dax Varley

217 Pages

Published: September 1st, 2015

Summary:

LIFE IS A NIGHTMARE for Miranda. Without knowing when or why, blood oozes from her palms – an anomaly that makes her feel like a freak. But her abnormality is now the least of her worries. She’s just enrolled at “Suicide High.” Three deaths in three months – one occurring just days before her arrival.

When she bumps into a cute boy named Jake, things don’t appear so glum. Especially since Jake’s a psychic who can predict the immediate future. But his gift of sight can’t prepare her for the horrors that await.

Through Jake, Miranda meets three other extraordinary students:

Topher – who can heal by touch.

Sam – who eats the sins of the dead.

And Xyan – who speaks and understands all languages.

It’s then that Miranda learns the secret behind why she bleeds.

When it becomes evident that supernatural forces are at play, the five determined friends team up. Now it’s up to them to destroy the evil infecting their school.

Review:

First of all I just want to say thank you very much to Netgalley, Dax Varley and Garden Gate Press for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I also want to apologize to my followers for my tardiness, I know I haven’t been posting much this past week but I have been so busy looking after my little brother that I have had barely any time to open my laptop.

I initially wanted to read Bleed after scrolling through the YA pages of Netgalley and coming across it’s cover. The cover for bleed is beautifully haunting and extremely captivating, I am pretty sure I spent about ten minutes just drooling over the cover. Now i’m sure most of you are familiar with Netgalley but if you are new to the blogging world like I am, then you may have no idea what I am on about. Netgalley is a website that provides free books to reviewers, booksellers etc via the publishers in e book form, you have to request for the books that catch your eye and just pray the publishers let you read them. Luckily for me I was accepted to read Bleed by Garden Gate Press a few days after my drooling incident.

Me looking at the Bleed cover

I loved the concept of Bleed, however I felt that the storyline was lacking in some areas which I found disappointing as I had such high expectations for the story. I did feel like the beginning of the story was badly written at times, it often reminded  me of a cliched fanfic on wattpad. Some of the characters were just very under-developed and hard to relate to, although the characterization of the characters improves significantly as the story develops which could be because the main protagonists begin to see the true value of their powers and bond.

There are a few twists in the story, however in my opinion they fall flat due to the fact that I was able to call many of the twists from the beginning. I would definitely link this back to the point I made before about some parts mirroring a Wattpad fanfic, as many of the plot-twists are quite overused cliched ones that you now really only see in badly written Wattpad stories, and even those are rare because the standard on Wattpad is so high now compared to when I first started it five years ago.  This was all very frustrating for me, I literally considered throwing my phone at the wall at one point lol.

Overall this book was okay, I would still recommend it for the main reason that we are all different and there may be someone out there that loves it and thinks I am absolutely crazy in this review. However, it was a definite one time read for me 🙂

Rating: 3*

Throne Of Glass~Sarah J Maas Review

5/5 Stars         Throne Of Glass~Sarah J Maas

“We all bear scars… Mine just happen to be more visible than most.”

Celaena Sardothein is the world’s deadliest assassin… but even those destined for greatness that can find themselves at the receiving end of betrayal.

After spending a year in the slave mines of Endovier, Celaena is offered a deal by the crown prince; she must represent him in a tournament to find a royal assassin for the King. If she wins, she will be granted her freedom after four years of serving him.
However, Celaena soon realises that even freedom comes with a price as she discovers the true secrets that lie within Ardalan.

Maas captivates the fantasy genre fantastically with her use of vivid imagery and rhetoric. She creates a world so authentic that it is hard to fault her because it is clear; she has dedicated her all to the planning process.

Throne of Glass is written mainly from Calaena’s perspective which only makes her character more relatable as we are able follow her journey every step of the way. Maas throws in little clues about Calaena’s past, almost to unravel her character and make her seem less associated with the traditional connotations of an assassin. Although, this has been criticised by some readers who feel Calaena’s character is an unrealistic portrayal of an assassin, particularly ‘the world’s best assassin.’ However, I feel this only adds to her dynamic as a character as you can relate to her as a teenage girl, and gain more insight into her past via her involvement in the tournament.
Following the typical genre convention of a YA novel, Calaena is embroiled in a love triangle that will leave many readers split between either suitor.

Overall, Throne of Glass is an exceptional novel that deserves serious recognition for its grasp of the fantasy genre. I would definitely rate it 5* as it is one of few that has a strong female protagonist, an intricate historical background with a sprinkle of sarcasm.