Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale

Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale
Release Date: July 1st 2008
Publisher: Random House
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥ 1/2 - ♥♥♥♥ (ahh it's too hard) 

A few weeks ago, a bunch of friends and I were all having drinks at their house and one of the roommates got a new kitten so she was having a quiet night in! I had so much fun there (let’s be honest here, I always do) but me being me, I decided to have a random hour-long discussion with said roommate about nerdy things like the pros and cons of different computer operating systems, internet privacy and of course, BOOKS! This friend has just recently moved to Australia from New Zealand so when we got talking about what Australian authors that she MUST READ IMMEDIATELY (more like me randomly bringing the topic up and started fangirling) and I was curious about New Zealand authors. She told me her New Zealand author ever was Fleur Beale and her favourite book by said author was Juno of Taris! Juno of Taris was the ONLY book she bought with her when she moved to Australia (could you imagine, having to leave so many books behind… *cries*) and after telling me about it, she kindly lent it to me :) 

Now…  Juno of Taris is a dystopian young-adult novel and follows the story of an 11 year old girl named Juno who *shock*, lives on the island of Taris. Taris was the brainchild of the 21^st century world and was created to survive the virus epidemic, wars and hatred of the 21^st century, even if nobody else in the world did. Taris is completely isolated from the Outside, is protected by a dome and eventually resulted in a totalitarian cult-like society where it is a requirement to shave your hair. 

The story is absolutely brilliant, there were so many twists, turns and surprises that left my jaw hanging and left me in shock. The way Fleur Beale has weaved together the plot was incredible. What at first seemed to be a fairly neat, predictable plot soon grew into something much more complicated and action-packed than expected.  It was really refreshing to read because the plot was not only layered, it made me *think*. The society Juno lives in reminds me of a communist society. Everybody does the same things, works the same sorts of jobs, has to get selected for  ridiculous things like have a child and the “qualities” the chosen parents choose for their children all bare the same sort of resemblance. I loved how this topic was explored in addition to the regular dystopian government.

In addition to the story, the characters were wonderful. Juno was such a different heroine and it was interesting to see how much she grew (literally) throughout the novel. The novel starts with Juno at age 11 and ends with Juno aged 14! Now this sounds a little strange but considering it was a 350 page novel with 3 birthdays squeezed in, the pacing was ideal for this novel. The birthdays didn’t feel rushed or jammed together and neither did anything else, it all flowed together pretty nicely!

The only real issue I had with this (which is why I had such a difficult time rating this) was the writing. It’s hard to explain – the first 100-200 pages seemed to have writing that was sort of disjointed and it was in past tense which at first, I didn’t think suited the novel. It was all, “We did this, then they did this. Then this happened” BUT I do have a theory on this :)… You know how when a lot of younger kids tell a story to you they basically go along the lines of, “This happened, then this happened and then I did this…”? Well, because Juno was 11, I have a feeling the author (quite cleverly) did this intentionally because the older Juno got throughout the novel, the less disjointed the writing seemed and the past tense and writing in general was easier to read. So I don’t know (God, this is difficult to write)… I didn’t particularly love the writing at the beginning of the novel but I think she did this intentionally to connect us with Juno more!  So what I’m TRYING to say is that Fleur Beale is basically a sneaky genius.

This is definitely worth a read :) and I’ll definitely be reading more of Fleur Beale’s books in the future!

AHHHH I JUST FOUND OUT THIS IS THE FIRST IN A TRILOGY. Ohhhh yeahhh! *dances*

PS - Please excuse the dodgy cover photo... The one on Goodreads was too small and this one on Book Depository is just weird looking...

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Release Date: February 7th 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥1/2

I've been looking forward to reading this for agessss, and finally got the opportunity to when the lovely Rebecca from Reading Wishes sent me a lovely surprise in the mail :) Thankyou Rebecca <3

It's difficult to rate this book, but I think I'm going to go with a 3.5 star rating.

In some point in the future, love (amor deleria nervosa) has been declared a disease. They've also found a cure. The cure is administered to those who have reached age 18. Each person goes through an evalulation and are ranked according to how well they answer questions and whatnot. The cure sounds horrible to me; you lose all feelings of love, friendship, ambition and dreams. Once you've been evaluated, your future education, partner and career are all decided for you. It's quite an interesting concept and I think Lauren Oliver has done a good job of executing it. Lena is looking forward to her evaluation (she, along with everybody else she knows, have been taught that love is the worst thing to happen to a person), she is a pretty regular girl just hoping to get "paired" with someone decent and to be granted the right to an education. She meets a guy named Alex. Then she falls in love...

It definitely wasn't the writing that let this book down. I've heard so many good things about Lauren Oliver's writing and who am I to disagree :P. Her writing is beautiful... It's purple, but not so much purple that makes you want to gag. The thing that stood out to me most about her writing was how she began chapters. Firstly, she has these little snippits of something from Lena's world, say a textbook or a pslam from their version of the bible (The Book of Shhh), secondly, they are intriguing and give you a lot of backhistory into Lena, or the other characters.

The first half of the book really let it down. It was quite uhh, bland? And Lena didn't really have much of a personality. She was just a boring, rule-abiding, scared teenager - This would probably be the reality of a teenager in a dystopian world, but I just wanted her to be a little more rebellious, or less frightened or more like her friend Hana (I LOVE YOU HANA, come be my best friend?). But after the halfway point, Lena developed a personality... Sure, it was due to her meeting and hanging out with Alex, but it was a personality nonetheless!

Alex... Oh Alex. Why are you so damn gorgeous? And just overall awesome? I love that you're not an asshole, I love that you didn't treat Lena like a child, yet still cared for her. I love your secrets, I love your passion and I love your determination. I also love your name, I have this theory that naming hot, awesome boys in YA, Alex will be the latest trend... First there was Alex in Hunting Lila, now there is you... <3
(I'm aware this is basically a letter to Alex declaring my love for him... Well. Do you see me trying to make any excuses :D)

Now. The reason I've given this 3.5 stars is not only because of my undying love for Alex *swoon*, but because of how much Lena grew toward the end (I much prefer, as she calls it, "the New Lena") and the actual ending itself! It was a cliffhangerish ending, but it didn't result in me wanting to commit crimes to get a hold of the next one (I know it's already out now, but book buying ban= my own personal hell) ("You're like my own personal brand of heroin, you're like a drug to me...." HA! Sorry, had to throw that in there - Edward's seedy looking face just popped into my head). ANYWAYYYYY.... The ending had action and suspense and defintely left me wanting more, what DOES make me think of committing crimes for Pandemonium, is the first chapter sneak-peek.

I will definitely be reading more Lauren Oliver in the future, because her writing is just beautiful and the ending in this definitely made up for the slow-paced and somewhat boring beginning :)
Well worth the read ;) ESPECIALLY if you're into romance... 

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Release Date: April 19th 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥ 1/2

Okay, so this is going to be an incredibly difficult review to write, I had so many major issues with it, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it... So where to start?

Well, I like to end things off on a good note, so I guess I'll start with the bad stuff first :)

Kate is 18 years old and has moved to a dreary little town to grant her dying mother's last wish. Kate starts school and naturally doesn't make any friends so when the pretty and popular girl, Ava invites her to a party, she's pretty stunned. After a bizarre twist of events, Kate's life is turned around when she meets 'Henry', AKA Hades. So I wasn't all that impressed with Henry, I liked how Aimee Carter portrayed him in a sensitive, distraught sort of way, but he is freaking HADES. As in a Greek God. As in the hardcore, badass, I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-And-Have-No-Real-Morals kind of Greek God (and that's what the Greek Gods were, right?). I liked his sensitivity to an extent, but I would have liked him to be a little more Greek God like and a little less "I'm so lonely and boring". All Henry really does is scare the occassional staff member with his voice, wears a black coat and tends to enjoy apparating and disapparating (HAH! See what I did there ;D)... He doesn't really do any awesome God-like stuff at all! And he isn't scary, in fact, I don't really like him because he barely has a personality, for the majority of the novel, it was like he was just *there*, not really doing anything.. And that was disappointing.

As for the Olympians in general... Well, at the end of the book is a table which tells you which character was which God, and I felt like I was being made fun of. Really, I think that a table shouldn't be necessary, I think that the reader should be able to at least roughly figure out who was who throughout because of the character's personalities or attributes. I felt the same way about the rest of the Gods as I did with Henry, like they had no personality and were rather boring. *sad face*

Now, for the things I liked...
I thought Kate was annoying, whiny and judgemental at first, but the moment she told Ava straight, '"Oh, I don't know," I said. "Because he's a pig who probably only dates you because you're gorgeous and almost certainly a cheerleader"', I loved her! I loved how upfront she was and how she told it how it was. Kate also proved to be incredibly selfess. I'm assuming, from looking after her mother, she was simply used to putting others before her, and she was extremely empathetic and sympathetic. I loved that Kate was always thinking of the well being of others and I felt she was genuine.

And AVA! I LOVED AVA! She turned out to not be a bitch, but plain awesome. She was also one of the only characters I could see right through... I can see why Kate grew so fond of her (another thing I admire Kate for), Ava is bubbly, outgoing, sensitive and just an all-round nice person.

As for the plot, I was both impressed, and not. 'Her skull wasn't round on the top of her head - it was flat', Uhhh WHAT? I had to do a double take on this and I got the most vivid image and I could totally see that happening in a horror movie - I love horror movies. I also loved the twist at the end, I can't say I didn't see it coming or that I didn't at least have a feeling, but I still loved the way the ending was executed. I thought it was well done. Although, if I was Kate, I'd probably be majorly pissed, but that's why I like Kate - she is different :).
The thing I didn't really enjoy was the tests that Kate had to complete. When I imagine Greek Gods doing tests; monsters and epic adventures come to mind... Instead, Kate has to pass the 'Seven Deadly Sins' (Which, by the way, is CHRISTIAN mythology, NOT Greek - why would you mix those two up together?) as her tests. And rather than battling monsters and going on epic adventures, her tests are much more uh, "down to earth", with Kate having to go hungry for a while and unwittingly having to share her clothes. Can't say I was very impressed with that aspect...

Overall, I think the events that did actually occur definitely made up for what didn't (such as the tests) and I really, really loved Kate as a MC. I loved how selfless and caring she was and I loved how things turned out for her in the end. However, I really wish the Gods were just a smidgen more God-like and that they weren't so flat and boring. As an extremely modern take on Greek mythology, I thoroughly enjoyed this :)

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
Release Date: May 28th 2011
Publisher: Gollancz
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥ 1/2

PLEASE NOTE: This series is hard evidence that I can not stop reading a series once I've started!! :)

Here's a dot point review, just because I can't be bothered going into a hell of a lot of detail.

Things I enjoyed:

- Eric and Pam when they were actually around
- How nice Bill was in this
- When Sookie got chased and ended up naked (HAHA!)
- I've always loved the way Charlaine Harris writes fighting (or battle scenes), I love -READING ABOUT- blood and gore to an extent and these books do it for me perfectly.
- But the next instant, Akiro managed to cut Thalia's arm off. Thalia grabbed it as it fell and hit Akiro with it HAHAHA! Whilst I was getting all into the battle and whatnot, this makes me laugh out loud!
- I'm SO GLAD that Sookie didn't spend entire paragraphs describing her tragic fashion sense "I put on a yellow mini dress with tiny red and blue flowers all over it, then put on matching yellow earrings, a red bangle and red shoes to match - I kept it to the bare minimum"
This isn't an exact quote but this is basically how the majority of the books go when it comes to describing appearances. Plus Sookie's fashion sense is horrendous *shudders*
- It still had it's gems that made me laugh, such as.... "Those weren't my kittens," he told me, and Eric gaped."
- I felt so horrible and sad for Pam and Miriam
- Learning more history about Sookie's family was interesting, although I prefer the vampires to the fairies so far in this series - they're more badass :)

Things I didn't enjoy:

- Not enough Eric and Pam
- Too much Christian preaching
- Whilst I hate Sandra Pelt, I wish we saw more of her in this instead of hearing about her - she is just too psycho to not enjoy as a character.
- The stupid inner dialogue from Sookie continues, "There was a pause that might be called "pregnant."
- It's established fairly early in as to who did all the nasty stuff to Sookie BY A CONFESSION TO THE PUB. Then Sookie says "I'm sure she hired the guys who came to the bar last Saturday. And I'm also sure she's the one who threw the firebomb at Merlotte's before that" Really Sookie, really? You didn't get the memo when Sandra Pelt walked into the bar screaming at the top of her lungs "YOU SURVIVED WHEN I BOMBED THE BAR AND THOSE TWO GUYS I SENT TO KILL YOU DIDN'T SUCCEED EITHER". :|.
- I want more Eric and Pam (wait, did I already say that)


Things I hope happen/am speculating:

- AMELIA BETTER COME BACK OTHERWISE I WILL NOT BE HAPPY. /end rant.
- Claude will go all evil fairy on Sookie
- Hunter will be kidnapped at some stage
- Jason will not make a huge appearance for a long time
- Bill and Sookie will get back together/hook up
- Eric will still be Eric <3
- Pam will still be Pam just with a child <3

Don't forget to check out my 100 follower giveaway :)

Remember Me Trilogy by Christopher Pike

Remember Me Volume One by Christopher Pike
Release Date: March 1st 1989 (rereleased September 2nd 2010)
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Add it: Goodreads
Overall:  ♥♥♥♥ 1/2

After reading the Last Vampire series, Christopher Pike has easily become a favourite of mine. Although I’m aware these books have not recently been written (Remember Me was published in 1989), Pike still manages to sound up to date with teenagers and how they behave. Apparently alot of Pike’s work revolves around teenage girls, however he definitely gets away with it.
Remember Me is the story of 18 year old Shari Cooper. Shari Cooper has died and is now a ghost. Her death has been labelled as suicide, however, Shari knows different, she knows she was murdered and wants to find out who pushed her over a four-storey high balcony. The ending was a little predictable for me, however, toward the end of the book, there is a huge twist which resulted me in thinking WTF.
This is a short review, but all in all, this book was addictive, captivating and relatable. I haven’t yet finished reading the Return part 1 which is included in the above edition. This review will be updated once I finish The Return part 1.


Remember Me Volume Two by Christopher Pike
Release Date: October 7th 2010
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Add it: Goodreads


[UPDATE] 16/08/2011
So I just finished reading part one and part two of The Return. Many people in reviews I’ve read have said they don’t like the new age ideas that are in the book, however, I really enjoyed the new age theme with things such as meditation and the afterlife present throughout the book.

The Return is based around the story of Shari Cooper, however, Shari has a chance to return to a body on Earth as a ‘wanderer’, the only catch is that she will not remember anything of her life prior to her death or the afterlife. Shari returns to the body of an 18 year old Hispanic girl named Jean Rodrigious. Part one, in book one confused me a little as I felt each chapter was a bit jumpy, in between Shari’s experience in the afterlife where time doesn’t matter and Jean’s “current” life, it felt as if there was no flow between the chapters. However, once you get used to it and you get used to it by part two), I think it’s an excellent story. The last few chapters of The Return shocked me incredibly and loved the twists and turns this book had.
I have began reading The Last Story and will update you when I’ve finished that :)
Overall: ♥♥♥ 1/2


[UPDATE] 19/08/11

I am at a loss for words but I’ll try to write something…

One thing I have noticed in the Christopher Pike books I’ve read so far is that he has a thing for making his characters authors and he has a thing for new age ideas. Whilst the whole “character being the author” thing would ordinarily sound like a lame idea, Mr Pike pulls it off! Shari Cooper is back as Jean Rodrigious 3 years after the events of Shari’s death. Shari has come back as a “wanderer” who writes novels to be a positive role model for the Hispanic community and is in the production stage of making one of her best sellers into a movie. However, there are some who hate wanderers and are able to distinguish what they are and want them dead (again).

This book had a miniature story within it and whilst I thought it would turn out to be crap, I got as involved in Shari’s short story as much as her bigger story. I love this because Garrett is back as a private detective and honestly, he is one of my favourite characters and also Peter is back with Shari :) . I personally thought the enemy was a bit obvious but this didn’t detract from the story at all. Honestly, I love reading about new age ideas, meditation, reincarnation and all that, although I don’t believe in a prime creator, these topics fascinate me and I don’t seem to get sick of them.

The ending of this book made me cry. Yes, it made me cry, and that’s saying something as I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry apart from when I read Harry Potter. I’m craving more of Shari’s story, just like I crave more of Sita’s story (The Last Vampire). But I know this is probably the final end of Shari’s story and I was completely 110% satisfied with the final book in this trilogy.

Here’s one particular quote I loved (from the spiritual guide throughout the book):

“Relationships are mysterious We doubt the positive qualities in others, seldom the negative. You will say to your partner: do you really love me? Are you sure you love me? You will ask this a dozen times and drive the person nuts. But you never ask: are you really mad at me? Are you sure you’re angry? When someone is angry, you don’t doubt it for a moment. Yet the reverse should be true. We should doubt the negative in life, and have faith in the positive.” – page 232

Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥

Eighth Grade Bites: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

Eighth Grade Bites: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer
Release Date: August 16th 2007
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books
Add it: Goodreads
Overall:  ♥♥♥ 1/2
 
This book follows a 13 year old boy, Vladimir Tod, a vampire, through his first year of high school. Vlad is a human-vampire hybrid with a human mother and a vampire father. Vlad deals with the usual dilemmas in highschool like crushing on the pretty girl at school, putting up with bullies and having your aunty hide your blood fix in your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…

Vlad has to deal with a creepy subsitiute who seems to know exactly what he is. Vlad begins to discover secrets of his parent’s who died 3 years earlier  in a mysterious fire and the secret’s his father had been keeping from Vlad and his mother. Without giving away any spoilers, I love Henry, Vlad’s best friend who jsut happens to be the only human Vlad has ever bitten. Throughout the book, Vlad is figuring out his vampire powers and lives with his Aunt Nellie who hides his blood fix in twinkies (whatever they are) and sandwiches. While I think he could have just taken a normal drink bottle to school full of blood, I still love the creativity of the whole “hiding the blood capsule” thing.

Overall, this book is a first in a series so it has a few plot holes and leaves you with alot of questions as to how Grade 9 is going to be for Vlad. Vlad is refreshing and one of the best characters I’ve come across. So while the plot of this first book is a little wishy-washy, Vlad is freaking awesome and I’ll definitely be reading the next four to find out where this series is going.