Independent Study - The Testing #2

I enjoyed Independent Study even more than The Testing.

Cia is awesome and constantly learning from her mistakes. Despite dealing with her memories of The Testing having been erased Cia knows things are not what they seem and wants to find the truth to what is going on around her. This is not always easy since most of what is happening is a test within a test. It is not always easy to see the answers and while Cia does struggle with some of the tests she is clearly one to think outside the box. Even with the intense pressure that continue to be piled on Cia grows and excels at the challenges present.

Thomas was not in Independent Study much since he was put in a different field of study and even though he was not my favorite character from The Testing I did miss having him around. With all that is going on it is unclear whether or not Thomas can be trusted, while he does go out o his way to look like he is keeping Cia safe he also keeps secrets from her.

The writing was well done and it is nice to not have to deal with any love triangles. I am eager to read Graduation Day.

The Deputy's Duty - Fitzgerald Bay #6

The Deputy's Duty was all I hoped it would be and then some.

Meghan is desperate to find out the secrets that are buried in Fitzgerald Bay starting with who killed her cousin Olivia and bringing her cousin's murder to justice. Things quickly become complicated for Meghan when Deputy Chief Ryan Fitzgerald enters the picture. Having escaped an abusive marriage Meghan does not trust men and trusts the Fitzgeralds who she feels betrayed her cousin even less. Unfortunately for Meghan through a series of events she has to work with Ryan or risk being left out while the investigation is carried out.

Ryan Fitzgerald is the oldest of the Fitzgerald siblings and use to being in charge and seeing as how Meghan is pushy and demanding answers he is not really sure how to deal with it at first. Plus he has the stress of tying to solve Olivia's murder.

The relationship between Meghan and Ryan stared in a previous book in the series but until The Deputy's Duty it was not obvious that they had feelings for each other. One of the best parts is how they are both scared to admit what they are feeling for each other and just sort of retreat into themselves about how they are feeling toward the other.

Each book in the Fitzgerald Bay series was written by a different author and it was nice seeing the different styles of each author. However what I really liked about the series was the set up of how the case of Olivia's murder was handled among each book. Clues were given which could have suggested several different people and reasons. When the truth was finally revealed a couple parts took me by surprise which was also nice.

Terri Reed has a nice writing style and I adored how everything was kept Pg13.

Fracture Me - Shatter Me #2.5

Even though Adam was never one of my favorite characters I enjoyed Fracture Me. It was interesting to get to see things from Adam's point of view and in some ways I like him more and in other ways I strongly dislike him more.

While I have known James was important to Adam I did not realize how important James was until reading things from Adam's point of view. It was nice to see an older brother genuinely concerned about a younger brother. That was Adam's only redeeming quality though and the way he thought about Juliette was just sickening.

I eager look forward to Ignite me and the conclusion of Juliette's story.

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Fire - Graceling Realm #2

Fire was not what I expected it was going to be at all. I was severely disappointed in everything about Fire.

Since Fire is part of the Graceling series I expected it to be about someone who was Graced and was disappointed to learn Fire is a monster-human. It is never explained well what a monster-human is. The monster angle came out of no where as well, no where in Graceling were monsters mentioned just normal animals so it was odd suddenly having raptor monsters in the story.

Fire is one of the worst written characters I have ever seen. She has no personality at all, acts entitled all the time, and even though she is not a flirt has no problem doing things that will encourage men to want to pursue her. It was like she was oblivious to the feelings she caused in other people.

Archer was annoying as well. Other then his lust for Fire and wanting to marry her I saw nothing else to him.

The writing was not well done either. It was slow, confusing, boring, choppy, and did not flow at all. I am to disappointed in Fire I am not even sure I will try Bitterblue even though I loved Bitterblue in Graceling. 

The Last Apprentice Revenge of the Witch - The Last Apprentice/Wardstone Chronicles #1

The Last Apprentice was not what I was expecting at all. For one thing it was a good deal shorter then I was expecting but it did not really read like a short book. The plot line was fast moving but never overwhelming nor did it seems like events were crammed in to make the story work out for a short book.

Thomas is still a bit of a mystery and while that is intentional I want to know more about him. It was stated several times that Thomas is the seventh son of a seventh son and that is extremely important but other then being able to see things other people cannot it does not go into many other details about the importance of Tom's birth. From all the hints dropped Tom's mother is special as well, I hope it is revealed in a later book why she is special. My favorite thing about Tom was he constantly got things wrong and reacted believable to getting things wrong. Instead of admitting he did something wrong to his teacher he tried to fix problems himself and just ended up causing himself more problems.

 Alice, not much was revealed about Alice so it is hard to know what her real motives are. In a long line of witches it would seem that her fate is unavoidable.

The writing was to the point and unnecessary detail and filler was not part of the book. Parts of the story did scare me but despite that I wanted to keep reading to understand all that was going on. I eagerly look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Graceling - Graceling Realm #1

Graceling was not what I was expecting at all but it did not turn out to be a bad thing.

Katsa was one amazing character, feared as the King Randa's fighting Graceling Katas has a reputation that precedes her almost everywhere. Despite King Randa's determination to keep Katsa feared throughout the land and under control Katsa begins to question what she is doing and balking at the missions she is given. Then when conducting a mission of Katsa's own desire she runs into another Graceling who is graced with fighting, not only does Prince Po change Katsa's outlook on life but also of herself.

Prince Po was an interesting character and his relationship with Katsa was believable. Unlike Katsa he came from a country where Gracelings were not seen as property and were often admired for their Grace. This gave Prince Po a very different outlook on life then Katsa.

I did have some issues with the writing. It went from Katsa's point of view to third person at random times. This change threw off the flow of the writing at times and it really did not fit into the story suddenly doing something in third person.

The Testing - The Testing #1

I started reading The Testing before I heard everyone call it a Hunger Game rip off. Oddly enough I did see not see things that way. Maybe I have not read enough dystopian young adult to make a comparison but I am unable to compare The Testing to another book or see it as a rip off.

Cia was awesome, I loved her personality and how she actually struggled with what she was doing. Sure she wanted to pass the test but she did not want to give up her humanity in order to pass. Her relationship with Tomas is also believable, they have known each other all their lives and she always found him handsome it would make sense for her to be open and trusting with Tomas. Despite being warned many times not to trust anyone that always seems to be a problem for Cia and I hope that never changes about her.

Since things are told from Cia's point of view very little is mentioned about Tomas except for what Cia observes. I did get the impression Tomas is used to using his good looks to get what he wants and could possibly have a temper if he is told no or does not get his way.

The writing was smooth and well done. While The Testing did not have too much of a cliffhanger ending I am eager to read Independent Study.