Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (a book with more than 500 pages)

Aaahhhhhh! I finally read a Brandon Sanderson book and I understand what all the hype is about! This book was so good. It had a great world, magic system, and characters. I loved the politics involved in the plot and the way it was constantly changing into something I wasn't expecting. A great adult fantasy read!

Spoilers Follow!

I have to say that I loved Vin's character and I loved seeing how she grew in the novel. In the beginning she was weak and didn't trust anyone but by the end she was a BOSS! I also liked learning about her background before the crew, even if it wasn't mentioned very often. Her story is one filled with even more pain than Kell's but she was able to overcome it. I was thrilled to find out that her either didn't betray her and even died for her because I think that realization will go a long way in helping her trust others.

The other characters were equally interesting but Kelsier was the hardest to figure out. I wasn't able to discern his true motivations until after his death because I doubted him just like the other members did. I couldn't help but compare his inner dialect to the diary of the "Lord Ruler" and I was concerned that he would be corrupted. The scene where he dies was so abrupt and unexpected that I had to reread the paragraph to make sure he was really dead. I kept thinking that there was a twist and that he would burst into the shop smiling but it never happened. I felt terrible for Vin because he was one of the first people she was able to truly trust. 

The other characters were equally awesome and I can't wait to see how they develope in the next book. I am particularly excited to read about Elend as king and his relationship with Vin. At the end I was a little concerned that she wouldn't go back to him but she did (thank the Lord Ruler). I am curious about their relationship because they haven't even kissed in the first book. I get that it is a fantasy novel, and it's written by a guy, but I can't help but want a little romance to spice things up. I am also eager to learn more about the Deepness and maybe even the man who was supposed to be the Hero of Ages. (BTW I am proud to announce that I figured out that the Lord Ruler Rasheik before it was actually revealed, but I was still surprised).

MY RATING: *****

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver (a book with a love triangle)

In all technicality this book doesn't have a love triangle; people that have read this book will understand what I'm talking about but originally it started out with two sisters liking the same boy. It is getting harder now to just read whatever I want and fit it into a category, so soon I will have to start reading more specific books. But for now I can work to fit this book into the love triangle category.

I didn't really like this book at all. I hated the "twist"; even though I didn't see it coming, it wasn't very original and it seemed like a bit of a stretch for the book. I didn't like how the book was marketed because the synopsis really didn't fit the story. It was a really slow book but I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened at the end but that only disappointed me too. Dara doesn't even disappear until  3/4 of the way through the book. I was expecting the whole thing to be about the missing girls but it wasn't. I also found the characters to be really annoying. Nick seemed to get on my nerves more because she blamed everything that happened to her on her sister even thought her sister was the one that was hurt in the accident. Dara complained a lot too and I just couldn't relate to either one of them.

MEGA SPOILERS TO FOLLOW....

If you read the book and you read the top part and were confused by how I talked about the sisters, I understand. After finding out that they were both Nick the whole time, I struggled to try and think of them as two separate people. After finding our about Nick's personality disorder, I hated to think about how her family and friends had overlooked this for so long. I know that she  was seeing a therapist but her family let her continue to think that her sister was alive. Even Parker enabled her through his relationship with "Dara". When they were kissing in the car and her called her by her real name, he didn't seem surprised when she freaked out and he even tried to defend himself. They all overlooked it while she continued to pretend to be two separate people. They let it get to the point when she could have harmed herself during her breakdown. 

I also didn't like the Madeline Snow story. The synopsis made it seem like Dara and Madeline were related in some way but that wasn't true. Really Madeline wasn't even kidnapped, she just got scared and ran off for ten days! I can't believe that a child could hide for that long and the police wouldn't find her. Also, Madeline's sister's cover story wasn't very convincing. She made up this whole story about being at the ice-cream shop when Madeline was taken, when really she was wasted at a club! When I found that out, I didn't understand how the police wouldn't immediately figure out that was a lie. If she had really been at Big Scoop people would have seen her, she would have been on video, and the police would have verified all of that. Even the neighbor didn't tell the police she was lying until Madeline had been missing for about a week. Overall, i pretty much hated it and was beyond disappointed because I had been so excited to read a YA thriller.

MY RATING: *

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (a mystery or thriller)

I actually finished this book about two weeks ago but I haven't had a chance to review it, so I am going to keep this post short. I enjoyed this book and I would compare it to Gone Girl in the sense that they both have unreliable narrators but I didn't like it as much as I liked Gone Girl. I was frustrated by the main character and her drinking problem and I thought the plot was very slow moving. There were a few plot twists that caught me off guard but ultimately I figured who did the crime about 2/3 through. My main issue was how frustrated I was with the main character, her drinking problem, and her obsession with her ex husband and Scott.

MY RATING: *** 1/2

Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (a book my mom loves)

As soon as I saw this challenge on the list  I knew that I would read Joy Luck Club because every women in my family, including my mom, loves this book. I enjoyed it but o wouldn't say I loved it. I thought the book was very unique and revealed a lot about the Chinese culture and how their women are expected to behave. There were a lot of surprises in this book about the women and the trials they faced in their lives. Each chapter revealed a bit more about their trials and past but the stories never really "entwined" live the back of the book said. I liked reading each story but if you enjoy a more plot driven book, this isn't for you. The main plot that I wanted to read about (June visiting her missing sisters) was only two chapters in the whole book and they were the very first and last chapter. I liked th book but it was mostly character driven which I don't enjoy as much as a book with huge plot twists.

MY RATING: ***1/2

Fairest by Marissa Meyer (a book you can read in one day)

Since this book was obviously short enough to finish in one day, this is going to be a short post because I don't have a ton to say. There also aren't really spoilers in this post because it is a companion novel; as long as you have read up to Cress nothing in this post should spoil you too much. 

I thought this was a neat novella to read if you want to know more about Levana. I love the Lunar Chronicles series and I didn't want to wait until Winter came out to read more about this world. I thought it was interesting to read about Levana's marriage and how manipulative she was even as a child. I also didn't know that Winter wasn't her real daughter, so that helped me piece together their relationship. I also really enjoyed seeing Cinder and Winter as kids before they got  separated and grew up in completely different worlds. Cinder's mother wasn't what I was expecting and I was glad to know that she was separated from her mother early on because her mom was probably worse than Levana. It was interesting to find out the reason that Levana wears her glamour or the veil all the time. Overall it is a good read for those who love the Lunar Chronicles because it reveals stuff about the characters. I wouldn't recommend buying it though because it isn't very long and it isn't necessary for the series; just borrow it from your library.

MY RATING: ***1/2

Confess by Colleen Hoover (a book with a one word title)

If you haven't read anything by Colleen Hoover yet, shame on you. Colleen Hoover is the queen of the new adult genre. I absolutely love all of her books and this one wasn't any different. 

THIS POST HAS MAJOR SPOILERS! DO NOT READ ON IF YOU WANT TO READ THE BOOK, BECAUSE THIS BOOK THRIVES OFF OF THE CONFESSIONS THAT ARE REVEALED.

 I find it really amazing that Colleen Hoover can create a heart-wrenching relationship in just a few pages like she did in the prologue of this book. This book had a lot of mystery in the beginning that kept me completely absorbed in the book trying to figure out how everything connected. I only figured out one secret before it was revealed. I figured right off the bat that Owen had to know Auburn from the time when his dad was in the hospital. I was beyond surprised when I found out that Auburn had a son with Adam. I was not expecting that at all. I loved how Owen handled that situation and was willing to sacrifice his relationship with Auburn because he saw how much she loved AJ. I also was not expecting that the drugs that Owen was arrested for possession of were his fathers. I thought that maybe they were Harrison's or that he was a drug dealer to try and make money. I was so mad at Owen's dad for letting his son take to the blame and get arrested for his mistakes. I understood why he wouldn't take the blame but he should have gone into rehab or something to avoid the situation in the first place. 

Seeing the struggle that Auburn was going through with AJ and Lydia broke my heart. Lydia was a huge (pardon my French) BITCH! I get that she loved her grandson because he could "replace" the hole her dead son left, but she had no right to take him from his mother. She made it seem like she was the one helping Auburn but really she was taking AJ and making up excuses not to left his mother visit him. I hated how Auburn felt that she had to date Trey in order to get to her son, even though she felt nothing for him. When Owen said that Trey was a bad person I believed it, but I wasn't sure how Trey was a bad person. Owen said that Trey was the first person her ever punched and I assumed that they knew each other from high school or just from around town. When Trey tried to assault Auburn and then she still tried to justify his actions I hated him even more. Then he ruined Owen's paintings and framed him just so he could have Auburn! I trusted Owen's judgement but i never believed that Trey would turn out to be that bad. I liked how all of the issues were resolved because it was realistic and it made sense. Auburn finally got custody of AJ and Trey dropped the charges against Owen. I loved that Auburn was finally able to stick it to her terrible mother-in-law. 

The final chapter of the book is what pushed this novel up to the top of my favorite Colleen Hoover list. When I was looking through the paintings I noticed that the one that Adam gave Auburn was in the same style as Owen's paintings. I thought that was because maybe Owen recreated the painting for her after they fixed all of their problems. I did not expect at all that Owen had painted it and given it to Adam when he was still in the hospital. This chapter had tears pouring down my face. I loved that the reason Owen punched Trey was because he wanted Adam and Auburn to have more time to say goodbye. It fit so well with what I expected of Owen and it was heart-breaking and heart-warming all at the same time. 

I wouldn't change a single thing about this book. It was absolute perfection and I completely loved not just the romance but the secrets and the plot. This book was packed full with all the emotions that I expect when I read one of Colleen Hoover's books. The only "negative" comment that I have is that I wish I got to find out what the confessions were that Auburn and Owen wrote when they first met and Auburn shoved them in the box. I would have loved to know what thoughts they had before they really knew each other. 

MY RATING: *****

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist (a nonfiction book)

The reason I chose this for my nonfiction book was because of the Booksplosion read-a-long that is happening this month. For those who don't know, Booksplosion is a group on Goodreads and YouTube that does monthly read-a-longs and reviews them at the end of the month. Three of my favorite YouTubers of all time, Christine (PolandBananasBooks), Kat (Katytastic), and Jesse (JesseTheReader), are the creators of this group. I also really like Josh Sundquist, so I figured this would be the perfect nonfiction book for me to read. If you are interested in joining the discussion you can visit the groups Goodreads page here... https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/123821-we-should-hang-out-sometime-booksplosion-read-along
Also, if you participate the live show discussion will be on March 28th @ 7 PM EST. This live show will be extra epic because Josh (the author) will be joining them to talk about his book!

Now for the actual reviewing part. This review will contain some spoilers but won't really ruin your experience with the book because it is obvious that none of the relationships in the book turn out well.

Even though this book was nonfiction (which I tend to usually find boring) this book was hilarious and entertaining. I would compare this book to An Abundance of Katherines by John Green because of the overall nerdy awkwardness of Josh Sundquist and the footnotes that he includes. I really like the premise of this book because it seems like the perfect mix of awkward encounters and hilarity that Josh normally includes in his videos. I found myself laughing out loud at points in this book because it was just outrageously funny and it was made better by the fact that these are real events. My favorite chapter in the book was the Francesca Marcelo one. It was the perfect combination of weird high school relationships and Josh Sundquist awkwardness.

Another reason I really liked the book was the math jokes that occur throughout the novel. I happen to be a HUGE math nerd myself, and I really enjoy that type of humor. If you have ever watched any of Josh's videos, you know that he does math nerd videos where he explains everything in graphs. He incorporated these types of graphs into his novel and they made it really unique.

If oyu have read the book, then you know at the end the last chapter is about a successful relationship that Josh had. What you may not know, is that a few months after this book was published Josh proposed to this girl using his book. It is literally the cutest proposal that I have ever heard of. He printed another copy of this book titled We Did Hang Out Sometime, and he uses it to lead his girlfriend to the place where he is waiting to propose to her. If you want to watch the video where Josh talks about it and shares pictures I will link it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzo8-3LqvqA

MY RATING: ****