Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross

Tempest is about 19-year-old college kid named Jackson. He's completely normal, except for the fact that he can "jump", or time travel, backwards. One day, some people randomly occur and shoot Holly. In a panic, Jackson jumps and ends up in year 2007. He can't get back to 2009 but knows that he must do whatever it takes to find out how to save Holly. 

I really wanted to like Tempest, however it seemed to drag on and on and on. It took me longer than average to read it and it was hard for me to get into. I loved the concept and I really liked Jackson, Holly, and Adam. All the characters were awesome and I think they were the best part of the book. However, it got a little confusing for me with all the jumping and trying to understand how everything works. See, this isn't like time traveling we are used to. If you go back and change something, it doesn't affect the future. I'm not going to give anything away, but as the story progressed and Jackson understands more and more, I just became more confused lol. 

Also, I hated the ending. I kind of understood why he did it, but I still hated him for it. Also, you could tell that there was going to be a sequel and I hate when authors do that! This was going to be a 4 star book until the ending. I disliked it so much that I had to knock off a star. Thumbs up on the cover though, I think it's really pretty!

I feel like other people will enjoy this book more than I would, but I wouldn't recommend it. I think that it was too slow, predictable, and slightly confusing. Also, I'm totally guessing that that little girl with the red hair is Jackson and Holly's daughter. I'm calling it now haha. I don't think I'll be reading the next book in the series. 3 out of 5 stars.

The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1) by James Patterson

Why hello there! It has been quite a while. No, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth and still read every day. I've just been so overwhelmed with school and life that I haven't really had the time to keep up with this blog! Maybe I'll get back on it this summer though. Anyway, I decided to review the last book I read.

This was recommended to me by my brother, who is 14. He has all the Maximum Ride books and claims that they are "the best books ever". On testing week I knew I was going to have tons of time after I finished so I might as well give it a try.

Maximum Ride is about a 14 year old girl who takes care of her family (but they're not actually related). And yes, Maximum Ride is a girl. I read 80 pages before I realized that and was extremely confused. Her other "siblings" are all of various ages that are younger than her. I will not bother to list their names. Anyway, these are special children because they are part avian and have wings (along with other special talents). They are on their own because they don't know who their parents are and their caretaker, Jeb, is gone. They spend most of the novel escaping from Erasers, wolf-like human creations, and other mildly important events.

I was not a huge fan of this story. The writing was too juvenile and sarcastic for me. Also the author would switch from first-person to third person in different chapters, WHICH IS NOT ALLOWED. Writers should not do that. The chapters were an average of 3 pages long. 3 PAGES. That is hardly long enough to be considered a chapter. I really struggled to get through this book and only continued to read it to tell my brother that I read it. The plot was alright, I felt like it didn't really go anywhere and none of my questions got answered. The imagination behind the story is very interesting, but not the most imaginative that I have read. 

I would probably recommend this to my 5th or 6th grade self, but now my reading level is far beyond this series. If you are 10-13, give it a try! You'll definitely have more luck with it than I did. I will not be reading the other books in the series. 3 out of 5 stars.

The Invasion (Animorphs #1) by K.A. Applegate

Animorphs! What a blast from the past. These novels were seriously my 3rd grade life. I only got up to number 37 for some strange reason though. I don't know why I never got farther than that lol. A few days ago, my boyfriend mentioned a hawk. The mention of the hawk reminded me of Tobias, one of the Animorphs who was stuck in a red-tailed hawk form. And then as I was remembering all the characters and the battles and the covers and the aliens and everything I began to get very excited! So then I ran upstairs to retrieve the few Animorph books I had purchased at used book stores and such. And then I promptly began reliving my childhood and reading #13, which had Tobias on the cover. And I sat there, just reading my beloved Animorphs book while my boyfriend fell asleep. Lol.

I'm not sure why I had loved these books so much, considering they were science-fiction, the type of books that I didn't and still don't read. Maybe it was the appeal of the Yeerk invasion and how "real" it all seemed. Like, what if they were real?! And how they were just normal kids but they were given special powers and it's all just so amazing! Haha anyways the next day I took a trip to the library and went to the children's section and behold, there were the books that I had loved so much. I did some research on the Animorphs when I got home and found out that they were being re-released! The fangirl in me is very happy because these books were literally my life. I've read that they're making small changes to make them more timeless, because pop-culture has definitely changed since the 90s! Haha so anyways...

The Invasion is about 5 kids, about middle-school age, who walk through a construction place when they see a dying alien (an Andalite). He tells them about the Yeerks, an invading parasitic alien species that crawl into people's ears and control their mind and body. He gives them the ability to morph into other animals after they have absorbed their DNA. The only thing is that they have to morph back into their human form before 2 hours or they will be stuck that way forever. Until the Andalites can come to Earth and save everyone, it's up to the Animorphs to protect their planet.

This is really awesome series, and maybe I'm just biased because I'm living in nostalgia, but I recommend that you try out this series. And if you're too old for it, recommend it to someone in middle school. Or just read them anyways because they're amazing. 5 out of 5 stars.

Fair Coin (Coin #1) by E.C. Myers

Ephraim (what an awesome name!) comes home after school and finds his alcoholic mom passed out with pills in her hand. He immediately calls 911 and she is taken to the hospital. Ephraim's mom had attempted suicide because she had identified Ephraim's body earlier because he had been hit by a car and died. Ephraim is puzzled and finds the fake Ephraim's personal items in his mom's purse. Among them he finds a library card with a picture of him and having his name (very strange considering he never lost his) and a coin. Being the coin collector he is, he knows that there is something strange about the quarter. It doesn't face the right way and identifies Puerto Rico as being a state. Ephraim later receives some anonymous instructions saying to wish upon the coin. He goes for it, and wishes that his mom would be more normal. Surprisingly, the next morning he wakes up to the smell of bacon and a healthy breakfast. Since the coin had worked, he begins to make more wishes. Maybe now he can get Jena, his longtime crush, to finally notice him. Or maybe he can solve other problems. But when his wishes begin to have small side effects, Ephraim must figure out what he is supposed to do next.

We've all made wishes before. On shooting stars, 11:11, coins before throwing them into fountains, eyelashes, birthday candles, you name it! Or at least I have. Fair Coin was an awesome book! At first it seems like a fantasy paranormal book, but it soon grows to be way more than that! The plot, imagination, and mystery and amazing and the characters are realistic and exciting. It’s seriously an AWESOME story if you can follow along with it.

And also, the cover is so pretty that it deserves to be noted. And I LOVE the title. A fair coin means that you have an equal chance at getting heads and tails, so I think that it’s really appropriate.

The only thing that kept me from giving this novel 5 stars was how it was a little confusing. About halfway through, my face was like O_o... because I was thoroughly like “wait, what?" I think this would be an awesome story if I ever read it a second time, just because I know a little more about what’s going on and I can read it a little slower and more carefully, rather than just plowing through the book because I wanted to know what happened. So, I suggest taking notes. I’m not kidding you! It was a little mind boggling.

I recommend Fair Coin if you’re into dystopian, sci-fi novels or if you liked the Uglies by Scot Westerfeld (I think his name is :P). I look forward to the next book in the series, which made me extra excited because I didn’t know that this was a series! I’m also wondering what more there is to write about. Hmm… Anways, 4.5 stars out of 5.

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Imagine that it is many years into the future and  a deadly plague with no cure is taking over the world. Cinder, a cyborg who lives in New Beijing with her evil stepmother and stepsisters (except one sister isn't evil), doesn't remember her past and lives an unfair life slaving for her stepmother and doing various mechanicary. One day, Prince Kai visits her and asks her to fix one of his androids. Soon after, her beloved sister comes down with the plague and is sent to be hospilitized. Cinder's stepmother blames Cinder for her daughter's death and volunteers Cinder to be part of the plague research. In other words, they'll inject her with antibodies and she'll die. Instead, something out of the ordinary happens. Cinder is faced with discovering her past and the secrets that the people around her are keeping. Meanwhile, Prince Kai is faced with his own problems regarding the Lunar people and what is best for the country.

I've read contemporary fairy tale retellings, but never a futuristic one. Cinder did not dissapoint me. I want to say that it's dystopian, but it's probably more towards science fiction. The world this story takes place in is amazing. Though there is death and scary Lunar people (moon colony people! omg!) and not a whole lot of happiness, it's still fascinating. I loved reading about how earth ends up and how androids and cyborgs live among humans.

The characters are realistic and likeable. Cinder is a promising protagonist and Kai and Iko were equally enjoyable. The plot is quick paced and very interesting. The imagery was very desriptive and I felt like I had a really clear picture of the futuristic world. There was definitely a romance aspect, but it wasn't overpowering and didn't take away from the story. There's definitely cliffhanger at the end, but it's not totally horrible like in some books (I'm talking about you, Bumped...) that you don't want to read the other ones. And I had totally predicted it from like page 50... I'm just that good lol.

I liked how the author retold Cinderella. There were a million things different about the story, but she kept close to the original tale. I like how there was still a ball and the author didn't mutilate the story so that it was completely different.

I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. Supposedly they're supposed to be about different fairy tales, so we'll see! I really enjoyed Cinder, and I recommend it to anyone who's interested in a new series! 5 out of 5 stars.