Shiver

Shiver is a book I once read when I lived in Florida. I find it funny that the book’s setting is based in Minnesota where I now live. I’ve recently reread it and now that I’m in MN it is easier to picture the setting in my mind.

Shiver is a unique love story. It starts off from a girl’s point of view named Grace. She lives in a small town in Minnesota. Her house is surrounded by a beautiful, penetrating forest. Within that forest lies a pack of wolves (don’t worry it’s not similar to Twilight). As a little girl Grace watched the wolves and heard them howling at night. However there was one wolf in particular with yellow eyes that Grace had a soft spot for.

Grace’s parents are very aloof and detached from her life, so Grace is home alone a lot during her lifetime. Flash forward and Grace is in high school still admiring the wolves from afar. After a boring day at school she comes home to find a man in her house staring up at her with the same yellow eyes.

His name is Sam and they become close throughout the book. Grace learns the secrets about the wolf pack and why Sam is the way he is. This is not your typical werewolf book. I was shocked when I found out the secret explanation as to why they shift. Sam doesn’t shift into some magical werewolf with powers. That’s why I was attracted to this book, because it’s different and not cheesy. Sam longs to remain himself were he can be with Grace, but is constricted beyond his control. Find out if Sam can overcome his condition and continue in their engaging relationship.

Shiver is a trilogy. Linger is the second book and Forever is the third book. If you fall in love with Shiver I definitely recommend getting the second and third.

Also I’ve heard the author Maggie Stiefvater has come out with a four book called Litter! I haven’t read it yet, but I definitely will and I’ll let you guys know how it is J I guess the series isn’t a trilogy anymore…

Insurgent

Insurgent is the sequel to the fabulous book called Divergent (in case you didn’t know). My best friend Laura also gave me this book to read over the weekend. I spent most of my time reading, as always.

In this book Tris’s battle against Erudite (the intelligent faction) continues. She is faced with the biggest struggles of her life. She struggles to maintain her relationship with Four.  Also to keep her friends and loved ones alive, and to overpower Erudite which would restore peace among her world. Tris is tough and courageous, but in this book she is tested. She starts to lose her edge and ends up acting on impulse only. She throws herself into dangerous situations, willing to kill herself in order to save Four and her friends from the Erudite and Dauntless traitors.

Before I go any further I would like to clarify what insurgent even means. If you don't know what insurgent means, than here is the definition: a person who rises in forcible opposition to lawful authority, especially a person who engages in armed resistance to a government or to the execution of its laws; rebel. (This describes Tris perfectly in the second book.)

Insurgent was very entraining, but confusing. I found myself having to go back and reread a page or two. There were a lot of complex battle scenes. Also there are a lot unexpected surprises. Without giving too much away I will say that a lot happens within the personalities of the characters. This had me turning the pages to fast and yearning to read ahead.

Veronica Roth did an amazing job with the ending. She plans on writing a third book so the ending was a cliff hanger, but very suspenseful and exciting cliff hanger. The third book is coming out fall 2013. Can’t wait!

I recommend this book if you like suspense, battles sequences and thrilling twists and turns, especially if you read the first book Divergent.

The Lucky One

The Lucky One is by far one of the best novels Nicholas Sparks has written. I seriously read it in a total of two days. It was that captivating. The beginning was a little slow, if anything, but overall it was a great storyline.

The story is about a marine named Logan Thibault who found a photograph of a woman while serving his time in the Iraq war. He had assumed another solider had lost it, but weeks went by and no one claimed it. So, Logan decided to keep it and with that one decision things changed for the best. He suddenly had a streak of luck, surviving through all of the horrible combat in Iraq. He believed the photograph was the cause. That it was his lucky charm.  

Once Logan returned home in Colorado he decided to find this girl in the photograph and thank her for saving his life. It was a mission he was determined  to complete. He walked all the way from Colorado to North Carolina with his German Sheppard Zeus by his side.

Once he meets the girl from the photograph, Logan is unsure how to tell her the truth. So he plans on taking life as it comes and getting a job at her family’s kennel. Over time Beth (the girl in the picture) and Logan become close and end up falling for each other. Now that Logan and Beth have fallen for each other Logan still can’t work up the nerve to tell her why he truly came. Will Beth find out on her own through others sources? If she does find out, will this hurt their relationship?

Read the book and find out before seeing the motion picture. Nicholas Sparks has a tendency to write sad endings, but don’t worry this one has a happy one. I promise.

Matched

If you’ve ever read the classic book called The Giver then you pretty much have a general idea about the storyline of Matched. They are both very similar. They each have a totalitarian government, but Matched has much more romance. Matched is the modernized version of The Giver.

Matched is a story about a seventeen year-old girl named Cassia. In her Society every seventeen year-old is thrown into a matching pool. It’s a system that decides who you’ll spend the rest of your life with. In my opinion I thought that sounded nice. A system that finds you the perfect partner within your Society, who wouldn’t love that? But as I continued reading my opinion changed.  

At the matching ceremony Cassia receives the results that her best friend Xander is her match. She is thrilled at first. However things take a turn for the worse when Cassia, by mistake, also receives another matched result. And this result does not say Xander is her match. Cassia is overwhelmed by this, because the Society does not make mistakes. Or at least they didn’t. And now she has a choice, which isn’t something Cassia or anyone else in the Society is faced with often. And this is only the beginning of her journey.

Cassia realizes that being in a “perfect” Society isn’t so perfect. They decide everything. Who you love, where you work and when you die. Cassie can never love someone the Society doesn’t approve of regardless of her feelings. Cassie becomes angry and rebellious towards her Society, so she keeps her choice a secret.

So, if you want to know the answer whether her choice stays a secret or the society gets involved, then I would suggest you read this book. If you liked The Giver then you will definitely love this book.  And if you enjoy Matched the author Ally Condle has a sequel called Crossed which is currently out in bookstores.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty book series is fantastic. I read these books every summer I love them so much; it’s a tradition of mine. The series is a relaxing kind of read, something you would enjoy reading on a beach or on a cozy sofa. This series is about a fifteen year-old girl named Belly and the problems she faces within her family. Belly spends every summer at a beach house in Cousins Beach with her childhood friends and family. Her mother Laurel and Susannah have been friends since the time they were nine and Belly has grown up to look at Susannah as her second mother. As for Susannah’s sons, Jeremiah and Conrad, Belly has grown up to look at them as brother figures, crushes and everything in between.

Any teenage girl can relate to this storyline, at least I could. I feel like the main character Belly, goes through a lot of problems teenage girls face in our generation. For example, a problem Belly must deal with is her parents being divorced. When your parents are divorced it’s like your life is split down the middle. Everyone needs a mother and father, but when they are separated it feels as if you’re living two different worlds. One with your father and one with your mother. Also Belly must face the responsibilities and complications that come with growing up. She deals with boy problems, learning to drive for the first time, and learning to accept that everyone around her is becoming older, adventuring off on their own path.

But above all these points the real focus in this book is about her relationships with Jeremiah and Conrad. They have been her childhood friends for as long as Belly could remember, but now that they are growing older things get complicated. Belly starts to see them as more than friends, but isn’t sure whether or not they see her the same way or to take a risk and find out.

I would suggest this book series to anyone who loves to read. It is an innocent, heart-warming and simulating book. I still can’t put it down and I’ve read this book a thousand times J.

About the author, Jenny Han, I would like to say she is one of my all-time favorite authors. I love the characters she develops and when I read her novels I feel like there’s a movie playing inside my head, like I’m really there.  Jenny Han has a master’s degree in creative writing and she lives in New York City. The Summer I Turned Pretty is the first book in the three book series.

In the next two sequels Belly’s struggle through life and her relationships continues. Yet, like any good book it ends with a happy ending. So if you read the first book be sure to check out the next two, It’s Not Summer Without You and We’ll Always Have Summer. You’ll be hooked I promise.

 http://dearjennyhan.com/always-summer/

Click here to take the test and see which brother you’re meant for.

I got Jeremiah and I’m happy, because I like him best!

Divergent

Divergent is a magnificent book. It has everything a teenage girl could hope for. Thrilling suspense, memorable characters and a little romance. I found it hard to put down this book. Like any good book, I was dying to know what happened next. Sometimes in books you can predict future events, but in this book I was wrong about most of my predictions. I was happy about this, because if I knew a lot of what is to come it’d be more like I wrote the book rather than read it. Of course, there are just some things you know are bound to happen. Without giving away too much, I knew that Tris/Beatrice would choose a different faction. I’m not going to say which faction she chooses, but I’m glad she did. My point is the author; Veronica Roth created a very stimulating plot.

Before I go any further I would like to clarify what divergent even means. If you don't know what Divergent means, like I did, than here is the definition: Divergent-different, conflicting, opposite, contrary. Drawing apart from a common point; diverging

See this book does more than give you a great story, it improves your vocabulary.

In my opinion, the author Veronica Roth is such a talented writer. She went to Northwestern College, which is located in Minnesota. While she was a student at Northwestern she often worked on her novel Divergent rather than her homework. I’m glad she did. Now Veronica is a full-time writer. I heard that she is currently working on the sequel Insurgent, which will be released May 2012.

In my opinion Veronica Roth’s writing style is fantastic. Divergent is evenly paced and explained thoughtfully. Also I love her well-developed characters. Personally Four is my favorite. Besides Tris, I would say he is pretty much the main character. Four is only his nickname, but I don’t want to give away anything, so I’m not going to say what his real name is. You’ll just have to read this amazing book to find out! Anyway, Four is a boy no girl could resist. He is brave, thoughtful and charming, but in a dark/mysterious sort of way. He is always pushing Tris to do better, to reach her full potential. He knows what she is capable of and knows she is strong enough to handle herself. Another character I favored is Uriah. He is lighthearted, good humored and playful. The total opposite of Four. Whatever chapter Uriah is in I always find myself laughing.

The only downside to Divergent was I felt it had a similar vibe to The Hunger Games. The mood I find myself in is comparable to when I was reading The Hunger Games. At some point in the book they both outbreak into war, leaving me on edge, but in an excited way. Even Tris’s personality is similar to Katniss. They are both uncomfortable with physical affection and anything else that has to do with romance. They are tough, driven, and stubborn, and willing to fight for what they believe is right. They always find themselves in difficult situations, whether it’s nearly facing death or choosing between what’s right or wrong. Also both Tris and Katniss families are at risk. Another similarity is that Tris and Katniss are both the rebels in their stories. Tris finds herself going against the faction Erudite (the intelligent) who plan to take control of all the other factions. Katniss finds herself going against the Capitol, the cruel government of Panem who kill thousands of people for entrainment. Both girls try to restore peace among their worlds, going against whoever gets in the way of that intention. However, I can conclude if you like The Hunger Games then you will certainly love Divergent!

I also want to say a special thanks to Laura for lending me this awesome book Divergent!