Book Review - Red Queen (Red Queen #1)

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Date released: Feb 10, 2015

Dates read: August 13, 2015

Amazon Link: Red Queen

Here is the link to the Summary on Goodreads

“This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.”

I like Mare Barrow. She lives in a non-ideal situation and makes it work. Yes, she is a thief, but in that society, I can condone that. She does what she can for her family. That is until one mistakes leaves her sister (who had the potential to be a great seamstress and money maker) crippled in her hand, and Mare has to do what she can to support her family. They think she is dragged off to go serve in the war, which is akin to a death sentence. Mare, however, caught the eye of an unlikely ally when she tried to pickpocket a person who turned out to be the Crowned Prince. She ends up serving in the palace, essentially as a waitress, during one of their monthly events pitting Silvers against Silvers in a gladiatorial arena.

Long story short, a freak accident reveals that she has the powers of a Silver, but the blood color of a Red. She is forced into a life of lies she despises, pretending for the public to be a long-lost Silver living in the palace, while concurrently being despised by the Silvers, who live among her and know the truth.

This is a very typical YA dystopian, pitting one type of person (usually poor and forced into servitude - The Reds) against another of higher power (usually evolved somehow to be “better” than everyone else - The Silvers). I am not clear if this takes place in our same universe, just far, far into the future, or if this is a complete AU. I like to KNOW. So this is one of my criticisms. I know it is YA, but I like when authors can mix hard facts and current evidence with why they have chosen to write their stories a certain way. What about our society now has led to the current situation of the tale? I don’t care if it is far fetched or believable, I just like reasons.

But, I am not picky, as I stated HERE, and the story was pretty good. It is the first in a series, So I can forgive the main characters of any immediate stupidity and brash decisions. They still have their training wheels on. Mare Barrow seems to kind of go where she is pushed, and therefor, that does not scream REVOLUTIONARY LEADER to me. She is a very reluctant heroine, and starts off having very selfish tendencies. But let’s be real, she is a 17 year old girl, and most of them tend have selfish tendencies and make stupid decisions based around boys….yes, this happens too. Be warned. I hope she is able to take more of a personal stand in book 2, because I cannot stand flip-flopping characters who do not learn. This is the first book though, so again, I forgive.

The male leads in this book are...interesting. You have two Princes; Tiberias Calore "Cal" VII, who is the heir, the apparent alpha male, stickler for the rules, but does not have a clear understanding of right and wrong. He only knows how he was raised, and that is how he will live. His dedication to his kingdom is admirable, if not frustrating. Then you have the younger brother, Maven, the one tossed into the shadows, fun loving, kind, and since he is not the heir, the one with a bit more freedom. He befriends Mare, and they seem to have a good time of it. This is where a small love triangle seems to present itself, because the story is written in a way that makes us swoon for Cal, but makes Maven seem like a really good guy. Oh, and of course you have the hot male platonic best friend, Kilorn, who silently suffers from unrequited love syndrome. Sigh. Well, as with all first books in a series, not all is what is appears to be….

There is a lot more going on than meets the eye in this story, and it is not simply a “them vs. us” but paves the way for a revolution of many people vs. many people, and a whole new class of people that the Reds and Silvers never even knew existed. I am excited to see how they can spin this. If you like the Throne of Glass series (Sarah Maas), and the Grisha series (Leigh Bardugo), then you will probably enjoy the Red Queen.

Book Review - Half-Blood (Covenant #1)

Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Date Published: October 18, 2011
Date Read: June 27, 2012
Amazon Link: Half-Blood (Covenant)


Covenant Series: This is one of my favorite book series of all times. I am not going to lie, it has a lot of similarities with Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy. Guess what? I love BOTH series! Similar or not, both authors have great writing style, different characters, and the books start to drift apart in similarities after book 1 anyway. So if you love one, then you will probably love the other.

Jennifer Armentrout, in my opinion, dominates both the YA and adult book series circuit. Her critically acclaimed Lux series seems to be a fan favorite, but I don't know what it is about the Covenant series that puts it ahead of the game just a bit for me. Maybe it's the Greek mythology tie in, maybe it’s the sassy female lead with a rebellious attitude, maybe it’s the male lead who is rule-abiding enough to not quite be an ALPHA male, but still be a total badass, and maybe it’s the “I’m-going-to-string-you-along-with-a-kind-of-love-triangle-but-in-your-heart-you-know-it’s-not-a-real-love-triangle” aspect.

Either way, this is a book series that I will keep re-reading, over and over again, when I find myself in need of something fun, swoony, adventurous, and a wee-bit torturous.

Summary from Goodreads:
"The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi pure bloods have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals--well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is.

If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck."

Alexandria (Alex) is a half-blood Hematoi, who are descendants of the gods. A half blood occurs when a pure blood Hematoi and a human pair up and reproduce. Hematoi are basically the rulers of their society (which are assimilated with human society, but tend to live in separate areas), whereas the half-bloods only have 2 choices: to live in servitude of the Hematoi (no thanks), or to become trained bad-ass Sentinels and fight/kill daimons. Daimons are Pures who have tasted the aether that runs through the veins of other Pures, become addicted and basically turn into “vampires,” letting the cravings for aether turn them into killing machines. Luckily, half-bloods have this nifty sense where they can see though the glamour that daimons have, glamour that can fool pure bloods to lure them in. Because, with any superior race, there needs to be some kinds of checks and balances (Right Stephanie Meyer, with your perfect vampires with no real flaws or known enemies to hold them back, yet somehow still decide to live in secret from the humans, who they could easily take over with their only risk being sparkling them to squintyness??….but I digress...). In addition, not only do half-bloods have to fight daimons or serve pure-bloods, they're also forbidden from having relationships with pure-bloods.

Any who...Alex is a free spirit, who happens to live in a society dictated by ancient rules, and she generally goes beyond stupidity to break these rules. In fact, she's sometimes frustrating in her attempts to break rules but she's also endearing so I kind of forgive her. Aiden is a smexy, bad-ass, rule abiding pure-blood, who also happens to be training as a Sentinel. He is burdened with the duty of catching Alex up with her training, after she returns to the safety of the Covenant, from 2 years living on the outside with her mother. She and her mother escaped the covenant together (for reasons which you will discover when you read the book!), but when daimons attack, killing her mother, Alex has no choice but to return the Covenant.

This is where our story begins. Follow the beginning of Alex’s journey, as she struggles to catch up with her former classmates (I mean, she used to be better than them, but egos and hiatus don’t mix!), battles with her increasing feelings towards Aiden (and his inner conflict to stay good in the face of ultimate temptation), discovering that she is more than just a lowly half-blood, and learning there is far more at work in her society then she previously knew.

This is a YA book, that is a part of a 5 book series, so don’t expect anything conclusive to happen for at least the first 3 or 4 books. Jennifer Armentrout is the queen of stringing you along (Will they? Won’t they?) but her writing style is the kind that make you blush with a simple eye contact, or innocent finger brush. You know it’s good writing when a YA book with limited SEX can still make you swoon and get all the feels. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good hot scene every now and then, but it’s a testament to a true writer who can make you feel stuff without all that. I swear, some of these scenes turn me on more than blatantly written scenes of a more amorous and obvious nature (EHEM, 50 Shades of Grey).

Anyway, if you like fantasy, YA, action, a teeny bit of love-triangle, and fun, then the Covenant series if definitely for you!

Fun Fallout 4 Screenshots!

In case you have not run across these gems yet, something to look forward too :)

Floating arm glitch! Because that is not incredibly creepy

This body is doing the "Smooth Criminal!" 

I am not even sure where to begin....Why the body is making out with a head in the urinal, or how the head got in the urinal to begin with. #ApocalypseDrama

This glitch caused our character to have the dead Mirelurk shell attached to his back! It was quite entertaining! (also including,...VIDEO!)

This glitch had all the settlers glowing red. We still have not figured out how this happened. A simple fast travel to and from took care of the problem however. 

These teddys are playing doctor....how naughty. 

Have you encountered any really fun glitches or funny things yet?? :)

Weekly LOLs: Some Gamer stuff, and others :)

Here it is! 2 days late, but that just means I get to give you more! I spent the weekend in WeHo (not being a Ho, but hanging out in West Hollywood with the fam) Good times, but no going on the computer. Strickly fam time. SO here it is for your Sunday night pleasure. Have fun and laugh before you have to go to work tomorrow. Blah

Who plays ANY VIDEO GAME? I mean, come on. I love Skyrim, but it is lacking a touch of realism. 

NATHAN FILLION! Because I have to have one tribute to him/Firefly each week...No Matter What. And he is just as gorgeous in a bonnet...kinda tuned on actually...

I laughed for like 15 minutes straight on this one...Thanks again George Takei! Like half my posts are from you :)

Do you get it????

OMG, Ctrl S people! Its the worst feeling! 

Not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I like this rendition. 

Well, this applied to when I was actually in school and played Morrowind (dating myself am I?? Get over it, so I am OLD)

The Greatest Thing Ever....

Another LOL moment...teehee

With my mother as a computer tech, I had the highest quality computers and internet since it was available...

Anything is a better love story than Twilight, but this holds dear to my heart since my husband and I were Sweeney Todd and Ms. Lovett for Halloween a few years ago. 

Or WebMD... With WebMD your probably dying

*wink*

I am determined to find a meme for the D and D alignment rules each week. LOVE THEM

Author Spotlight: Jennifer Armentrout AKA J.Lynn (for the "adults")

Simply speaking, this author is amazing. She has many books of many genres, but that mostly fall into the YA paranormal/fantasy realm (Duh, just look at my blog thusfar). However, she also delves into quoteunquote adult literature (YUM). The thing in common with most of her books is they involve some sort of bad-ass female (a must, in my opinion), some totally swoon worthy male lead (yes please), and the BEST PART? Wait for it….

 

Keep waiting….

This is the major selling point for me….

NO FUCKING LOVE TRIANGLES!

 

Ok, let’s be real. At some point in most books there has to be some sort of emotional conflict. I get that, and her Covenant book series toys with a love triangle…but it is never brought to full fruition like many YA books that make the female look like some wishy-washy, weak, wet willowy wimps (like the alliteration? I roll with it), and the males look like domineering, stalker, obsessive compulsive morons who have nothing better to do than fight primitively (not physically fight, that would show some strength and manhood, but fight with vicious JEERS and STARES and NONSENSE) over their one and only beloved woman…No I am not hinting to a particular book series (what that word for dawn? Dusk? Not quite dark? Sparkly? I digress).

In terms of writing, Jennifer “J.Lynn” Armentrout writes in a very relatable way. It is easy to read without being elementary. Plus, she uses quips and phrases that are just funny and sarcastic (hmmm, methinks I like that style). I mean, with a quote like “holy alien babies” it has to be good right? The writing keeps you entertained the whole time, even if there is a lull in the plot point (which there rarely is).

Dual POVs. Awesome. I have never personally been a fan of books with a male point of view, mostly because I am a female, and can relate to female thinking. However, dual POVs is awesome because you get the same brilliant story, told from a completely different perspective. One of the greatest things about Miss J is that she has short stories told from the male POV of some of her most memorable book scenes on her website. So when you have finished reading the book, and have to wait forever and a year for the next one, you can satisfy your urges by visiting her website and reading her stories, adding fodder to your already expanding obsession (which you will be, obsessed that is, which also happens to be the name of one of her ADULT books).

PLETHORA to choose from! This woman must never sleep, because she has a lot of books! I only discovered her back in beginning of 2012 when she had 2 major series she was writing (Lux and Covenant), and now she has tons! All of her books are great, no matter which universe you are in, and each series explores new topics, genres, and themes, while still staying faithful to what makes her style unique.

I have read a ton of books these last 2 years, after taking an almost 10 year hiatus from reading. JLArm is the one author whom I love and look forward to each and every one of her books, like always pre-ordered and anxiously awaiting delivery status.

BOTTOM LINE: If you like YA or Adult fantasy, paranormal, or fiction, try her books. They are great! Individual book reviews coming soon!

Check her out at www.jenniferarmentrout.com