Divergent - Veronica Roth

As soon as I started reading it on my Ipod I couldn't stop. I would definitely recommend it if you liked the Hunger Games because it has a strong main character -Beatrice or Tris- and  a taste of revolution with nicely balanced romance.

Tris. Now that is a well written character. She is strong and never weakens despite the odds. I found the general idea of this one very unusual and definitely interesting. Society is divided into factions. Each with their own characteristic or personality that you follow as a principle in your life.

Now for you to be matched to a certain faction there is a sort of personality test that I found to be slightly iffy. It kinda lacked in my opinion. But moving on!

Now, the most entertaining thought this books gives you is - Which faction would you fit into or choose to be in ? Would you be a brave person and choose Dauntless? Or selfless and choose Abnegation? Completly honest and choose Condor? Peaceful in Amity? Or smart and intelligent and studious in Erudite?

Personally? For me it would definitely be Amity.

Now I had difficulty relating to Tris who decided to pick Dauntless. The complete opposite of Amity. But the horrors of the initiation in Dauntless made it all very fun but outrageous at the same time. In the end of the books a war starts and it seems to point to the end of the existence of factions. I believe that what will happens is that those who lasted from Abnegation and Dauntless will form a community as factionless. But we will see. As much as I expect that to happen. It is kinda sad since the factions were starting to grow on me and I was hoping to get to know it better and see Tris in that environment. Hopefully the second book will be as good!

Nevertheless - recommended!

Catching Fire & Mockingjay - by Suzanne Collins

Yes, yes. I'm doing a double review. Why? I don't have a lot to say about each of them except that I am disappointed.

Catching Fire wasn't as bad as Mockingjay. I was really excited at the thought of another game and the shock of choosing the competitors between the victors was a good one but kinda expected. Although I still expected more of the games it was fun especially the water arena and getting to know the other victors However, I think Suzanne messed up too much with Katniss's personality. Katniss simply becomes so boring and too much of a scaredy cat. Where is the Katniss we know with all the fire inside of her? Not happy. And her constant thoughts about Gale or Peeta started to get on my nerves but excusable.

By the third book we are already fallen in love with a couple more characters. Especially dear Finnick. Who became so important in the books and marries his long love Annie just to soon die off quickly and not be given a mourning thought by our main? Katniss is also left with a "broken" Peeta. He has been brainwashed by the Capitol to hate Katniss. Now I don't have a problem with that exactly but more on the lack of gradual recovery from that. It seemed to me that out of the blue Peeta is suddenly quite well again! And is not quite trying to kill Katniss. Jeez. No explanations there at all. Last but not least, the biggest shock on the book for me is when they kill Prim near the ending. Suzanne simply didn't give us enough time to absorb the happening! To me the description was really weak and rushed. It lacked order and it seemed as if Prim simply popped out of nowhere to die. Which was what happened. . .

It made me very sad because my whole excitement about the Hunger Games definitively crawled down a notch for me. On the bright side - bring me the next exciting series!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Review

The story evolves around this annual event that is broadcasted on national TV, the Hunger Games, in which a group of children ranging from 12 to 18 fight each other for their life, with only one to remain standing.
Suzanne Collins created this post-apocalypse world that is quite beyond our current technology capacities. Full body polishing, anyone? I 'd sign up for that miracle procedure. But back to the story . . . there are 12 districts and one boy and one girl of each district are sent to the arena to fight. As you grow older towards 18 your name is put more and more into the draw for the games. That and you can put your name in again for basic rations. As you go farer from district 1 the poorer the area is. And the main character, Katniss Everglade, lives on district 12. With her mother and little sister. Her sister goes for the first drawing of her life and she is picked. With only one of her name entered into the drawing. Bad luck? Yes. But not for the little 12 year old. But for Katniss who enters in her place.
And so the book continues with the training and the games itself and the final outcome. It's a brutal reality for Katniss (am I the only one who doesn't hate her name?), the Games are brutal but Suzanne Collins managed to make it quite balanced for all ages of readers.
Overall The Hunger Games seem to be the new fever between young readers. With a movie coming out early in 2012. And you can definitely count me in with the fever!

It's an amazing book balancing tension, violence, romance. . . It's a fast paced good read and I absolutely love it!

The Wedding Girl - Madeleine Wickham

So as I mentioned, my favorite author is Sophie Kinsella. And on her earlier books, on the start of her career, she wrote as Madeleine Wickham which is actually her real name! So she did the unusual and started with her real name and then changed to a pen name! I was surprised, but she said she did so because she changed her style of writing when she wrote under the name of Sophie Kinsella. And I think the last book I read from her as Madeleine proves that a little.

So going on to the actual book. The Wedding Girl is not one of Madeleine's best book. I adore her but this book was an off turn for me. Basically it is about this girl who married an ilegal imnigrant so he could stay in the country and date this gay guy. And then she never gets a divorced and 10 yars later she is about to get married again! She explains that she felt that since no one knew it was if it never happened! Who thinks like that? Really?

And as usual everything just turns into a big mess. What I didn't like is that this one was a bit of a telenovela. Not good. But if you like really dramatic things, with problems over problems I think this book wouldn't be so bad to you. I have nothing against a good drama but this was a bit over the top. Besides this book had some mistakes due to the lack of research/knowledge. For example she didn't marry on the church on her first marriage so technically the church shouldn't nose around about it and neither did she "say her vows and tainted them" since all she did was sign on a piece of paper. Well if you read it you will know what I mean. I don't really want to give out everything about it.

Overall it did keep me from getting bored but not my favorite so I'd give it 3~3.5 st

Unusual Favorite : The Land of Elyon Series

Basically, it's about a 12-year-old girl in search of the truth in the Land of Elyon. In book 1, Alexa tries to figure out what lies outside the walls of her kingdom. I've read 3 of the 5 (?) books. And it may look childish, especially the character being 12. But believe me this is worthy of all ages. And the courage and attitude she presents is beyond her young age. It is quite enjoyable and definitely a favorite of mine. I devoured these books!

It is well written. I really enjoy the main character, although that can differ quite a bit since some have said that she has no salt to her. All the little mysteries and adventures she goes through is just wonderful to read. This is a great addition to your fantasy arsenal. I confess that I wasn't too excited with how the first book started. It was weird, especially since it started with the death of a character. But after you get into it you can't stop. I'll definitely be buying the next books as soon as they arrive here.