Sunday 24 January 2016

Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick
Published: Simon and Schuster, November 10th, 2015
Pages: 400
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Contemporary, mystery/thriller
Rating: 3.5/5

How I Felt: I usually really enjoy Becca Fitzpatrick's books. Generally, I like reading her books even though the writing isn't the best and they're full of cheese. But I found myself not liking this one as much. I've read all of her books and this one is definitely my least favourite. I just didn't like Stella that much, especially in the beginning. You'd think after going through a traumatic, life and death experience and coming out alive, she'd be grateful to move far away to a safe place with a nice ex-cop to take care of her but alas, no.

I can say that Stella became more tolerable as she grew throughout the story and began to open up more to her past and accept the things she's done and been able to grow as a person and move on.

I wish Carmina's drama with her family would have been more prominent. It was set up in a way that made it feel like it would come into play later but it didn't really offer any new, relevant information. I was hoping we'd get to see more of her past as Stella learned to respect and appreciate her.

Trigger was disgusting and I'm glad he got what he deserved. The whole small town star player drama thing was getting old.

I wish we got to see more of Inny, her and Stella went through some major bonding and after a certain point she was briefly mentioned about why she wasn't going to be a part of the story anymore and then she was just completely gone from the plot. I missed her sass.

The twists at the end in the murder case was predictable in hindsight, but I didn't see it coming so I found it entertaining.

I found that my interest while reading this book was like a roller-coaster. I wasn't 100% interested in the story 100% of the time. There were some chapters I wanted to skip all together because they dragged so much and then there were others where I was on the edge of my seat. The inconsistency in the writing started getting on my nerves a little but I wasn't too fussed about it.


The ending is what really pushed me to give this book three stars. The whole time I was reading this, it didn't get better than a two star rating. But the ending, with the action and mystery and Stella finally coming to her senses (and with a little help from Chet and his swoonyness), allowed me to enjoy myself more and I decided to be generous and give it an extra star.

Overall, this book was okay. I loved the premise when I first read it, but the story didn't really live up to it for me. I love the idea of reading about a character going through the witness protection program, but the process wasn't really talked about too much. I will continue reading books by Becca Fitzpatrick just because they're easy reads and I have no self control. I don't think they're the best books out there and they're definitely not for everyone. As I said before, I wasn't too impressed by this book and it wasn't my favourite of hers. If you want to pick up this book you're going to need a lot of patience with Stella because she does eventually make it to a good place, but it takes her a while to get there.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie


 
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Image taken from Google.ca

Monday 11 January 2016

My Most Dissapointing Reads of 2015

I've wanted to write about some of my least favourite reads of the year for a while but haven't had time to sit down and write it. I know this is late now but I'm just going to end the yearly wrap up posts with this. I want to say that the books on this list were ones I personally didn't enjoy. If you did, I am not in any way trying to offend you, they just didn't work for me. So here they are!

1. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
My Rating: 2/5
I've heard good things about this book on the internet and I heard that it was becoming a movie so I wanted to pick it up. But when I read it I just didn't like the main character or the writing at all. I have a full review on my blog if you want to know more of my thoughts that I'll link right here.






2. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
My Rating: 3/5
I bought this book a few years ago because I've always been interesting in reincarnation and I love watching those kinds of movies so I thought I'd like this book. It's not that I hated it, it just didn't live up to my expectations. Again, I didn't really like the characters and was a little irked by the whole concept of the world. I just found so many aspects of this book confusing. I also have a review of this book that you can find here.




3. End of Days by Susan Ee
My Rating: 3.5/5
I read this book about half way through 2015. After I first read it I enjoyed it, but as months went on and I continued thinking about it, I realized how much it actually disappointed me. I loved the first two books. Loved. Became obsessed. I was so excited for this book. But when I read it so many things felt off. It didn't feel like the same writing style, the book was very rushed, and I didn't really care for what was going on much. It didn't hold me (action wise) as much as the first two did, and that really upset me because I wanted to love it. If you want to know my initial thoughts on Goodreads I'll leave that here.


4. Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
My Rating: 3.5/5
I'd been interested in reading this book since before it came out. It had been sitting on my shelf for about two years because I could never work up the guts to pick it up because steam punk isn't my favourite genre. I wanted to risk it all for this book because I found the concept so intriguing (and the cover so beautiful!). So now I know why steam punk isn't my preferred genre. I found the setting hard to picture in my mind, and again, I didn't really connect with the characters. I did like the humor in the writing style, that was one of the few bright spots in this book. I also have an initial thoughts review for this on Goodreads that I'll leave here.

5. Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins
My Rating: 3.5/5
I read the first book, Rebel Belle, in 2014 and absolutely loved it. It was funny, unique, and just an easy read. But this one was sort of painful to read. I didn't like where the plot was headed, and it wasn't anywhere near as funny. Also, when I read this I thought is was only going to be a duology, but now knowing that there's going to be a third book I feel slightly (slightly) better about it. I have a full review of this here on the blog so if you want to check it out you can click here.



6. Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
My Rating: 1.5/5
This is both a book I was extremely disappointed by and I a book I hated. This was the lowest rating I gave all year. I picked it up because it looked like a cute contemporary that I'd be able to read quickly and enjoy. Wow, was I way off. I hated the writing, the characters, the plot, everything. The only think I liked was the speech at the end of the book because of the sad circumstances. But everything else was extremely disappointing. I'm not even going to continue because the more I think about this book the more upset I get. If you want to know all my thoughts I have a review on this blog that you can find here.

7. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My Rating: 3/5
This book blew up the internet before it came out. Everyone was getting early copies and making rave reviews. I decided to pick it up mainly because of the reviews, but I have to admit the cover did play a big hand in making me want it. I read the book and was so underwhelmed from the very beginning. It was a hodge podge of so many other YA books. I just couldn't love it as much as everyone else because I felt like I read this book a hundred times already. And I also guessed the plot twist early on in the book which was not fun at all. My review of this book can be found here.


Those are all the books that disappointed me in 2015. I was really hoping to like a lot of these but sadly, that didn't happen. What were some of your most disappointing reads last year?

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie


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