Countdown, act or die

Countdown by Michelle Maddox
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that has so much potential...it just needs a lot more editing to get there. Kira and Rogan wake up next to each other and find out they're fighting for their lives, and they have a time limit to do it in. Almost reminded me of Saw in some aspects, only not quite as gruesome. It was an exciting beginning, and gave me high hopes for the book. But then...the book felt rushed, with characters and places not fully fleshed out. I only ever had the vaguest sense of what things looked like, and the actual countdown never seemed to really match up with how long it should actually take to do something. And the games weren't that exciting, at least the early ones. Considering the whole premise of why they're in Countdown, I kept expecting more. Everything also felt like a rush to get to "the sex scene," and then that scene turned out to be horribly awkward. Yes, we the readers know Rogan's meant to be the love interest, but that doesn't mean we want the love to happen that quickly.

The second part of the book, "after countdown," as I label it in my head, has them confronting the bad guy and making everything better. Again, it all happens fairly quickly, and I found myself struggling with some of the explanations. It was good enough, but...I had to suspend a lot of disbelief, and use a lot of imagination to fill in gaps left by the author.

I still gave it three stars though because it is an interesting story idea, and it was a fast-paced read. I just wish it was more detailed and thought-out than it seemed.

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Branded, A Dystopian Set in a Prison World

Branded by Abi Ketner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those boooks that, while I enjoyed reading it, I couldn't help but noticed inconsistencies, plot development oddities, and other small things I just didn't. So if I was rating it just based on general concept and how fast I read it, I'd probably give it five stars. But the things that bothered me just kept adding up...

Probably the first thing that I thought was a little odd was that everyone in the Hole was obsessed with Lexi. Literally. Her guard was beating people off her transport truck because not only did she have the blue brand of Lust, but she was apparently just that beautiful. That sort of annoyed me. I was also bothered by the fact that "prostitute" was a job in a society where that was obviously a huge crime. I get that they were already in the Hole, and that they might have turned a blind eye to any of this happening because these people were "getting what they deserved" but to actually force someone to continue to 'sin'? Didn't really make sense to me. There's also a lot of internal monologue about the things she's learning and discovering about herself that seemed a little forced.

Then there's Cole. Hot hero of the story, super obvious love interest. The foreshadowing is very heavyhanded with this. But...Cole is so quick to fall in love with Lexi, and once he does, his personality seems to totally change. Things he insisted on at the beginning don't seem to matter much anymore, and he doesn't struggle very long against his feelings. Oh well, maybe he's just a weaker man than I initially thought.

Lastly, the "revolution," or the second part of the book. Lexi doesn't put up much of a fight about some things because she wants to fight, which doesn't make much sense to me. Then she goes from shrinking, frightened girl to one of the best fighters? A little bit of a Mary Sue there. The action scenes were confusing in this part of the book and over with quickly. Lexi thinks she's fought for herself but in reality, she's sort of let everyone else handle the dirty work for her. Maybe I just didn't like Lexi much, and that's why she frustrated me.

I don't know, this book was obviously not my favorite, but despite all the nitpicking, it was still a decent read. I'd probably be interested in reading the sequel, which is why I gave it three stars. I just hope Lexi becomes a little more practical.

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Grasping at Eternity: A YA romance

Grasping at Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First thought: This should be a guilty pleasure book. Second thought: No! There's nothing to feel guilty about!

And there really isn't. A book doesn't have to be an in-depth, overly detailed 500-page tome to be worthy of five stars. I just friggin' enjoyed this book. I'm sure someone can pick out a bunch of weaknesses, but I don't feel like it, because I want to continue enjoying the series (as I write this, I admit, I already bought, read, and loved the second book in the series). It's just a fun, interesting, romantic book (ok, so I wouldn't recommend it for guys, maybe), and a fast read. Maybe I felt slightly guilty about the five stars because there was so much romance in it, but hey, I'm a girl, and I can't help but love a well-done romance. Note the well-done part. I do have standards. :)

I guess that was my favorite part of this book. Maryah's romance with Nathaniel has such a good balance between the slow development that should be natural to a romance, and the instant love that comes with having a soulmate that you've been with over multiple lives/reincarnations. I like the fact that Maryah was hesitant about being with him, but at the same time couldn't really be interested in anyone else.

As for the rest of the plot, I found it pretty interesting too. It gets off to a fast-paced start with several murders, leaving Maryah in a vulnerable state. She struggles to remember who she is amidst a group of people who claim to know her better than she knows herself. She feels like a normal teenager, but she soon finds out she's not as normal as she thinks--both a good and bad thing. She has to quickly come to terms with who she is in order to help those she cares about.

If you like modern fantasy romance, but you're tired of vampires, werewolves, and love triangles, I'd definitely recommend this book/series.

This digital copy of Grasping at Eternity was given to me by NetGalley & All Night Reads in exchange for an honest review.

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Open Minds, a YA dystopian

Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm always excited to pick up a dystopian book where mind powers are involved, just because I find it fascinating to see how the characters deal with the ethics of their powers/abilities. And that's one of the best parts about this book--there's definitely a whole lot of ethics here. It's also unusual and that the whole society is filled with people who have some kind of mental ability (most are 'readers' and can read minds). I don't think I've ever read anything where the abnormal person is the person without any kind of mental ability. So Kira is one of those abnormals, a 'zero' who can't read minds like everyone else around her. Or so she thinks. It isn't long before she finds out she can mindjack, something quite alarming because of the control it allows someone who has the ability.

Kira also has to deal with the traditional dystopian love triangle, but not in the usual way. There's Raf, the steady best friend who never cared that she was zero. He understood how she was. Then there's Simon, who teaches her to be a mindjacker--in her eyes, she understands who she now is. I found myself rooting for both boys at different times, which I liked...I could sympathize with the characters I didn't even want to be sympathetic for.

It was well written, a quick read, and the plotlines were very interesting to follow. Occasionally scene shifts felt a little jerky--whenever she went to a new place it felt very abrupt, and I sometimes had to re-orient myself, since the whole tone of the story seemed to shift with the new scenes. It almost felt like each scene could have been expanded into a book of its own, if the author wanted to, but hey, I was okay with this method too. Definitely recommend it!

This digital copy of Open Minds was given to me by NetGalley & Susan Kaye Quinn in exchange for an honest review.

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