The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Goodreads rating: 3.93 stars
My rating: 4.0 stars
Hazel and her brother Ben live in a town called Fairfold. It’s basically your average small town in every way except humans and the fairy folk exist together. The Folk are not the kind of fairies who play tiny tricks and grant wishes. They are the kind who steal children and exchange them with changelings, play tricks that end in death, and take unsuspecting humans into the woods to never be seen again. The two groups have a deal; the humans don’t mess with the fairies as long as the fairies stick to tourists and don’t do anything to the locals. Since they were kids, Hazel and Ben have been telling and playing pretend with the mysterious fairy that has been asleep under a glass coffin that has been there for longer than anyone can remember. Recently, Hazel has been getting mysterious notes and been waking up to find dirt all over herself and she can’t figure out why. When the fairy in the coffin wakes up, she knows she has to do something, but what can she do? This book is a dark and kind of creepy fairy story and there were quite a few twists I didn’t see coming. Hazel and her brother were both really interesting characters and throughout the book you really got to see how they grew up and exactly what they will do for one another. If there is anything you should do if you are thinking about reading this book, it’s to go watch the book trailer on YouTube. It really gives you a good feel for the tone of the book; if it doesn’t get you interested I don’t know what will. Holly Black has written many amazing stories and I believe this is one of her best standalones. This book deals a good bit with how not everything is pure right and pure wrong, that there is a really large morally grey area. If you enjoyed Wicked Lovely by Marissa Marr then I think you would enjoy this.
Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff
Goodread rating: 4.31 stars
My rating: 4.5 stars
One morning, in the year 2575, Kady breaks up with her boyfriend Ezra not knowing that their planet was about to be invaded. Two rival companies are at war over their planet which is not more than a ice covered speck in the grand scheme of things. When their planet was invaded Ezra and Kady work together to get to the evacuation ships but get separated onto two different ships along the way. They are being chased by the rival corperation and do not have the supplies to do the repairs needed to fully outrun them. After a few months they notice not everything is what it appeared to be. Ezra, now a piolet gets an odd, very uncharacteristic command from his ships AI he begins to question what is happening. Kady, on the other hand has a talent for computers and has been hacking the system for the answers she wants. The story is told through a variety of mediums, from emails to IM’s, schematics and doctors reports, interviews, military reports, and the AI’s process itself, the book itself is a work of art. This was the coolest book I’ve ever read just based on how the pages were laid out and how the story was told. Whenever Kady hacked a new document, we saw it. Whenever Ezra messaged someone, we saw that. The AI’s pages were so amazing. There were pages that I didn’t want to stop looking at because they were so beautifully laid out and matched what was going on perfectly. There was a page where they made the famous painting, The Scream, out of words. I can’t describe just how cool the pages were. The plot itself was great too. There really was no point in the book where you know more than the main characters did and I think that made a huge difference. In this book, the plot centered on what was happening in the ship and the relationship between Kady and Ezra was pretty much a sub plot. It wasn’t the main focus of the book but it did play a big role.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Goodreads rating: 4.11 stars
My rating: 4.6 stars
Anna is looking forward to her senior year of high school in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has her best friend, a nice job at the movie theater, a blog about movie reviews that is just starting to take off, and a crush (that’s almost more than a crush) when her dad drops a bombshell on her. He has decided she is going to spend her senior year at a boarding school in Paris. She is the new girl in a school with maybe 45 students in her grade who have known each other for years, oh and she doesn’t know a single word in French. She quickly becomes friends with the girl across the hall, Meredith, a guy, Etienne St. Clair, more commonly known as St. Clair, and artist named Josh and his girlfriend Rashmi. Anna is trying get back to Atlanta as soon as she can, but she may just find a reason to stay after all. When I heard the title of this book I almost immediately brushed it off as being a cheesy, cliché teen romance, and it is, but it is one of the most adorable books I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot of books. Anna and the French Kiss was funny, sweet, and sometimes made me want to tear my hair out, but in the end it was super cute and worth the read. I had no interest in reading it, but I saw it everywhere: in book reviews, book hauls, and just about everybody talked about this book and its two companion novels and how good they were. If you are ever in the mood for a cheesy teen romance that will keep you entertained for hours, this is for you.
Goodreads rating: 3.93 stars
My rating: 4.0 stars
Hazel and her brother Ben live in a town called Fairfold. It’s basically your average small town in every way except humans and the fairy folk exist together. The Folk are not the kind of fairies who play tiny tricks and grant wishes. They are the kind who steal children and exchange them with changelings, play tricks that end in death, and take unsuspecting humans into the woods to never be seen again. The two groups have a deal; the humans don’t mess with the fairies as long as the fairies stick to tourists and don’t do anything to the locals. Since they were kids, Hazel and Ben have been telling and playing pretend with the mysterious fairy that has been asleep under a glass coffin that has been there for longer than anyone can remember. Recently, Hazel has been getting mysterious notes and been waking up to find dirt all over herself and she can’t figure out why. When the fairy in the coffin wakes up, she knows she has to do something, but what can she do? This book is a dark and kind of creepy fairy story and there were quite a few twists I didn’t see coming. Hazel and her brother were both really interesting characters and throughout the book you really got to see how they grew up and exactly what they will do for one another. If there is anything you should do if you are thinking about reading this book, it’s to go watch the book trailer on YouTube. It really gives you a good feel for the tone of the book; if it doesn’t get you interested I don’t know what will. Holly Black has written many amazing stories and I believe this is one of her best standalones. This book deals a good bit with how not everything is pure right and pure wrong, that there is a really large morally grey area. If you enjoyed Wicked Lovely by Marissa Marr then I think you would enjoy this.
Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff
Goodread rating: 4.31 stars
My rating: 4.5 stars
One morning, in the year 2575, Kady breaks up with her boyfriend Ezra not knowing that their planet was about to be invaded. Two rival companies are at war over their planet which is not more than a ice covered speck in the grand scheme of things. When their planet was invaded Ezra and Kady work together to get to the evacuation ships but get separated onto two different ships along the way. They are being chased by the rival corperation and do not have the supplies to do the repairs needed to fully outrun them. After a few months they notice not everything is what it appeared to be. Ezra, now a piolet gets an odd, very uncharacteristic command from his ships AI he begins to question what is happening. Kady, on the other hand has a talent for computers and has been hacking the system for the answers she wants. The story is told through a variety of mediums, from emails to IM’s, schematics and doctors reports, interviews, military reports, and the AI’s process itself, the book itself is a work of art. This was the coolest book I’ve ever read just based on how the pages were laid out and how the story was told. Whenever Kady hacked a new document, we saw it. Whenever Ezra messaged someone, we saw that. The AI’s pages were so amazing. There were pages that I didn’t want to stop looking at because they were so beautifully laid out and matched what was going on perfectly. There was a page where they made the famous painting, The Scream, out of words. I can’t describe just how cool the pages were. The plot itself was great too. There really was no point in the book where you know more than the main characters did and I think that made a huge difference. In this book, the plot centered on what was happening in the ship and the relationship between Kady and Ezra was pretty much a sub plot. It wasn’t the main focus of the book but it did play a big role.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Goodreads rating: 4.11 stars
My rating: 4.6 stars
Anna is looking forward to her senior year of high school in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has her best friend, a nice job at the movie theater, a blog about movie reviews that is just starting to take off, and a crush (that’s almost more than a crush) when her dad drops a bombshell on her. He has decided she is going to spend her senior year at a boarding school in Paris. She is the new girl in a school with maybe 45 students in her grade who have known each other for years, oh and she doesn’t know a single word in French. She quickly becomes friends with the girl across the hall, Meredith, a guy, Etienne St. Clair, more commonly known as St. Clair, and artist named Josh and his girlfriend Rashmi. Anna is trying get back to Atlanta as soon as she can, but she may just find a reason to stay after all. When I heard the title of this book I almost immediately brushed it off as being a cheesy, cliché teen romance, and it is, but it is one of the most adorable books I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot of books. Anna and the French Kiss was funny, sweet, and sometimes made me want to tear my hair out, but in the end it was super cute and worth the read. I had no interest in reading it, but I saw it everywhere: in book reviews, book hauls, and just about everybody talked about this book and its two companion novels and how good they were. If you are ever in the mood for a cheesy teen romance that will keep you entertained for hours, this is for you.