Review | Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Title: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
Series: Untamed City #1
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy/Paranormal
Publication: September 4th 2012 by HarperCollin
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the carnival, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures—if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father—and every other witch there—fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable.While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the carnival.

Thoughts: I don't really know why but Carnival of Souls took me months to finish. Normally, when I find a good book I can get through it pretty quickly but this one took me a while.

I liked the plot, the story building was well done, and all the characters were interesting... but it somehow wasn't fulfilling. At some points I was almost bored too, but yet felt that this deserved a higher rating (that's why I gave it four stars.) Its difficult to explain my feelings because I thought it was really good yet there was something about it that didn't make me completely love it and I can't put my finger on it.

I think this is in large part due to having a cliffhanger ending + no sequel in the near future. There is a short novella I might pick up but would really like to see where the story goes.

Review | The Rules by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Title: The Rules by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
Series: N/A
Genre: YA - Horror/Thriller
Publication: June 23rd 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Junior Robin Brisset has no idea what she's in for when she accepts an invitation to one of Callabrese High's most exclusive parties. And when the trademark scavenger hunt begins, Robin must go against every rule she's lived by to survive.

Thoughts: The main problem I had with The Rules, was how dull I found it. While the story starts off pretty interesting, I didn't like the characters (there are so many to keep track of too,) couldn't understand how they were being killed off so easily or why they kept thinking splitting up was a good idea. Luckily, I had the audiobook version of this book, so it was easy to get through and not feel like I wasted too much of my reading time.

Also, the killer in the end? What the hell was that. I sort of predicted before it happened but was still disappointed the authors took it that way. Wouldn't really recommend this one, but it's not completely terrible. Just a little boring but with plenty of violence to keep me listening.

Review | We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Title: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
Series: N/A
Genre: YA - Contemporary/Science Fiction
Publication: March 24th 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.

But then we all looked up and everything changed.

They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end.

Two months to really live.

Thoughts: I was able to really enjoy We All Looked Up, which was sort of a mixture of contemporary/science-fiction. I felt like I connected with all the characters well, and liked them all. At some points I felt that the book dragged on a little much, but it made sense since there was a lot to go through for the end of the world.

I had seen in a review that the ending is sort of open, and while I expected this to disappoint me..it didn't. I really liked how it ended, since it didn't feel like a cliffhanger at all.

Overall, definitely an enjoyable read but I am glad I picked up an audiobook copy because I am not sure if I would've been able to finish it.

New Year + Goals

This past year was a good one. While there were a few things that were hard to just deal with, overall this year was amazing. I laughed a lot, read more than I did the year before, and just enjoyed a lot of little moments. I also remained pretty active on the blog, for the most part. Earlier in the year, I decided to finally stop reading books I didn't want to finish and I also started reviewing my old way.

As I've done the last few years, I wanted to share my new years resolutions and goals which are again, simple. They worked out well for the last two years which is what I like best.

• Read books: I've set my goal low for the last two years but it makes me a little sad that I don't get to read more. I don't want to set an unrealistic goal, but this year I am aiming for 52 books since I was able to accomplish my goal last year.


• Re-read Harry Potter: I set this goal for myself last year and unfortunately wasn't able to get around to reading the books but maybe this year I'll get to it!


• Stay healthy and happy: Like last year, I did well in staying healthy for the most part. While I fell off the healthy for a bit, I was able to jump back on it and lose most of the weight I wanted to. This year, I want to make sure to accomplish my weight goal, run more 5K's and maybe even be a part of a runDisney race. I also have a really happy year and hope this year is the same if not better :)

That's it! An even shorter list than last years but I am happy with my resolutions/goals. Happy New Year every one and happy reading. Let's make this year a good one ♥