Blood Red Road by Moira Young- Review

Reviewed by: Aneeqah's Not So Real Life- Teen Reviewer!
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Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Genres: Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Source: The Library!
My Review:

In this book, we meet Saba. She, her twin brother Lugh, her little sister Emma, and their father. They live in a desert-like place, in the middle of nowhere. But one day, a red sandstorm comes, and 4 mysterious horsemen come and take Lugh away. So Saba embarks on a journey to find her beloved brother Lugh.

I'm just going to say that I really liked this book. It definitely was not at all what I was expecting. For example, the world building. I thought it was pretty well done. There are still a few things that were never answered, but everything was really well thought out and it all made sense. Truly, this book had it all. Cage fighting, escape scenes, giant worm scenes [yes, I typed that correctly!]. Whenever something seemed dull, there was always another surprise around the corner. There were so many good plot twists, and unique things that really kept me reading. I was totally hooked when I read this story! It had it all, and I just devoured the book.

I also liked the characters, Jack being my favorite. I was surprised to find that I really cared about the secondary characters, which is usually a rare case for me! They were pretty well-fleshed out, they had their own personalities, and I just loved them. I even liked Saba, after I warmed up to her. Although, sometimes, she was so oblivious and rude, that I wanted to punch her. But, I loved how she was fierce and tough.

The writing style was also something very interesting in this book. I wasn't expecting it at all. At first, it seemed kind of disjointed, but I was surprised that it started flowing easily after a while. It required getting some used to, but after a while, I barely noticed it, which actually really surprised me. And I liked it, after finishing the book. It conveyed a message: Saba was a simple, tough girl, who didn't know how to read or anything. It was a simplistic writing style.

The beginning, however, was boring for me. I found myself mad at Saba, and just plain bored. I was beginning to think that I was going to give the book up, but then it actually starts to get good. And after that point, I was totally hooked. It just takes a long time to set everything up and to get used to the style of the writing, but after that, the book gets really good.

Saba, at times, was a problem for me. I did like her for the most part, but at the beginning, she was so ridiculously mean to her little sister Emma. I know I don't like one of my sisters, but I'm not that mean to her. She's your sister, you're not expected to love her at all times, but you can't be continuously mean to her 24/7.

So overall, I really liked this book! It's got lots of action, and it keeps you hooked, and it's so, so different from anything else that I've ever read. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced, action-filled read!


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The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg-Review

Reviewed by Aneeqah's Not So Real Life
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The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Release Date: February 21,2012
Source: ALA Midwinter [Thank you to the publisher!]


Brie has died, from literal heartbreak. Like, her boyfriend said, "I don't love you." and her heart broke, literally. So now, she must go through the 5 stages of death so she can move on. But things start unraveling with her old life, and Brie can't do anything but watch as things fall apart.

I really liked this book. Brie was so funny, and sarcastic, she was such an amazing protagonist. She was so realistic too, I really felt like I could go and meet her in person [which I would totally love to do, actually]. Throughout her whole journey, she made realistic descioins, although some were frustrating, and at some points, I got kind of mad at her. But overall, I really liked her!

I also liked the whole concept of this book, how you had to pass the 5 stages of grief to move on, and how you had "a little slice of heaven". I feel like it was really well thought out, and everything made sense. Plus, it was so easy to understand, which is a total plus.

Another thing I really liked was the plot. Yes, a few parts were slightly predictable, but there was one twist that I never saw coming at all, which, I absolutely loved. My mouth was literally hanging open! It was that much of a surprise for me. It made sense really, and from there, a lot of other things really clicked for me.

I could truly go on and on talking about this book! But overall, I really loved this book; it was such a cute and moving read. I'm not usually a huge contemp fan, but this is definitely up there in my favorites! You definitely MUST give this book a shot!




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Incarnate by Jodi Meadows- Review

Reviewed by: Aneeqah's Not So Real Life
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Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Genres: Dystopia, Paranormal
Release Date: January 31, 2012
My Review:

First off, thank you so much to HarperCollins for giving me an ARC of this book!

In this story, we meet Ana. She is a totally new soul. In her world, souls have been reincarnated for thousands of years. But before she was born, a person named Ciana died. Ciana should have been reborn, but she wasn't. Instead, Ana, a totally new soul, was born. In the history of their world, this has never happened before. Obviously, people don't like the idea of this. So when Ana travels to the City of Heart to find some answers, she doesn't expect anyone to be nice to her at all. But Sam is.

The world-building was very intricate in this book. The whole thing with reincarnation was really cool, but there were also lots of different creatures, like dragons, sylphs [which are shadow-like things], centaurs, and a bunch of other things. It was really neat, and well-done, except it was a tad bit creepy that you could be reincarnated to be a boy or girl. And that your parents could become your children when they get reincarnated. It's complicated, and yes, a little disturbing, but it's still pretty easy to grasp the idea of this whole incarnation thing.

I liked Ana. She wasn't perfect, not even close to it. She started out insecure, because of all the lies her meany mother told her. But she slowly changed when she realized everything her mother told her was a lie [her mother was a really mean and cruel to her, by the way]. I think her switch from non-trusting to trusting was good, it wasn't too fast or anything. Overall, she was just trying to find out who and what she was supposed to be.

I also liked Sam. He was super sweet and kind, and helped out Ana alot. My only concern was that he was a little too perfect. Just a little. He was always there for Ana, always knew what to say, etc. He didn't really have any bad qualities at all. I really liked that he was sweet, but I also enjoy a flawed character too, but I didn't get that with Sam.

The romance wasn't insta-love, which made me happy! I hate, hate, hate insta-love so much, so I was thrilled when it wasn't the whole love-at-first-sight thing. However, that being said, the romance was just alright for me. I didn't really see a connection between Ana and Sam, except for one thing [which I won't say here, because I think it's a little spoilery]. Maybe I'm just being critical of romance now that I've read Under the Never Sky [because the romance in that book was AMAZING!], but the romance... didn't work. I did appreciate the un-insta-love though.

There was lots of action in this book that really kept me hooked. Lots of unexpected things too, which I loved. There were things that I never say coming and I was like "BAISJFASDVP;OIUA!". I love being taken by surprise, and that happened in this book! And whenever you thought things were getting a little dull, the author always threw something in the book to keep you wanting more. This book had it all, action scenes, running scenes, getting shot-at scenes, slow scenes, and even a big glittering party scene!

The reason this book didn't get a full 5 stars was probably because of Ana. I did say I liked her, but she wasn't unique. For me, she was just your typical girl protagonist. And then the whole creepy thing with incarnation. I just couldn't get over that fact.

Overall, this was a very unique story that I would recommend to anyone looking for a interesting YA story that has it all!




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Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- Review

Reviewed by: Aneeqah's Not So Real Life
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Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Genres: Dystopia/Post Apocalyptic
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
My Review:

In this book, we have two main characters: Aria and Perry. Aria has never been outside the place she lives in, called the Pods. She basically lives in the Realms, virtual places where you can do anything, be anything, and imagine anything. You don't feel pain or anxiety or anything like that. It's an easy, comfortable life. Perry, however, is an Outsider. He lives out in the open, in a tribe. He doesn't know a comfortable life. He must hunt for food, take care of his little nephew, and try to deal with his brother.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins for giving me an ARC of this book!

First off, lets talk about the cover, since I love judging books by their covers. I love this cover! It really does the book justice, plus, it actually makes sense. It's not some random cover, like a random girl in a random dress [there seem to be a lot of those types of covers out there!]. It hints a little bit at what the story will be about. Overall, the cover is gorgeous!

OK, with that out of the way, lets talk about all the reasons I loved this book...:

-The setting. I really loved the world Rossi has created. Everything was generally easy to understand for me, but it wasn't plain and simple either. It was really great, and well-done.

-The writing. I loved, loved, loved the wording Rossi used, especially the ending. That ending was just amazing. Just the last paragraph. I don't even know why I loved it so much, but I just did. I loved how everything was so vague, but you knew what was happening anyways. It's kind of hard to explain, but nonetheless, I loved it. I also liked Rossi's wording throughout the story. She doesn't come out and say everything directly, but almost dances around it. It's something I liked.

-The characters. The characters were simply amazing. The main characters weren't perfect, they had their flaws, but that made them even better. I also loved how they learned for their mistakes. Learned from each other. Characterization happened! We watched the character grow, and frankly, I don't see that in very many books these days. Plus, they weren't brain-dead or stupid. They used their wits, and weren't frustrating at all. And I love how the side-characters also had great personalities. I personally loved Roar. He was a funny type guy that I immediately liked. And even Cinder had his good qualities. Overall, we have a great crew of characters in this book!

-The romance. This was probably the main winner in the story for me. Usually, I'm not a fan of romance in books. Actually, almost 99% of the time, I'm not a big fan of romance in stories. And I especially despise insta-love. Especially insta-love. *shudder* We can talk about my hate for insta-love later, but let it be known that I really, really, don't like insta-love. But this story, for once, didn't have insta-love! A big shock, yes, I know. The romance in this book was slow, sweet, and it developed over the course of the story. It wasn't like:
Girl: "Hi there!"
Boy: "Hey!"
*20 seconds later*
Girl: "I love you!"
Boy: "I love you sooo much!* and all that other mushy stuff I hate. We could see the slight changes of feelings throughout the book. Definitely one of my favorite things about the book!

So why didn't I give this book a full 5 stars? There's two reasons...:

-The Aether. I really don't understand what the Aether actually is. Rossi really didn't give us explanation about it. Is it like a layer of the sky? Or is it the actual sky? It's something that really confuses me, and I think it will play a very big role in the next book, so I think we need to know more about the Aether.

-The last few pages. I know I said I loved the ending above, but that's basically the last paragraph. The last few pages of the book, lots of time flies by. Thing is, we don't know how much time went by, or what happened to the characters during this time. I know at least a few months have gone by, and during this book, that's a fairly long time, since some major events happen before this all this time flies by. So I would really like some extra details on what exactly happened. Hopefully, what happened during this mysterious amount of time will be explained in the next book [which, by the way, I'm absolutely dying to read].

Wow, have you ever heard people say how hard it is to talk about a book you love? I never believed them, but let me tell you, after writing this review, it's really hard to describe exactly why I loved this book so much. My advice though? Go read this book. You won't regret it.





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