Coffee & All Things Random

   *I won the ARC ebook version of this in a  giveaway on LibraryThing in exchange for an  honest review.

   **This will also be posted on Goodreads and  LibraryThing.

     Avant Nation takes place in a dystopian future,  where the nation is divided, one half being the  Avants, and the other the Luddites (aka the  humans). The Avants have different categories as  well: Compasionates, Ruggeds, Sporties,  Numberlings, and Entertainers. There's more, I  just can't recall them at the moment. And the  Luddites are basically their sworn enemies  because they choose to stick with the old-  fasioned ways of living, and actually giving birth,  instead of making their children in labs and  instilling 20 years of knowledge into the child  within 5 years of being in a special tube.

     In this novel, we follow Clara, an Avant  classified as a 'Compassionate', and we get to  see her point of view as her and Hawk, a Rugged, struggle with the war and their loyalties. Before the war officially begins, however, we follow Clara as she works in the hospital as a medical technician, and although it wasn't what she wanted she keeps quite. We see more of how Avantica works while she does her job, how they treat the sick and injured. And then she 'volunteers' for a job in the military as a tech they need, and there she meets Hawk once again and their journey truly begins.

      The character development is great, and I really like Clara as a character. She is strong and caring and she can fight pretty well too, after all that military training. Despite all the curveballs thrown her way, she kept on her path, and fought the whole way. I also love how her thoughts gradually began to change instead of quickly because it makes you think with her and question things with her as if you were a fellow Avant by her side. You see the good and the bad, the things you should question and then sometimes there's reason that outweighs the questions and your loyalties are back in check, but by the end no one really knows, and I love it. Or, well, we know who the bad guy is, but at the same time you wonder if there's any good at all. It's fantastic that I'm so sure and yet not sure at all, because it means the author really put her all into this story to make it so great that you don't know who to trust more. You get to find out with the characters and you get to be shocked and surprised with the characters too. You're on this journey with them, at least it feels that way.

      The story-line is fairly complex, but I love the way it was written out. I had a hard time putting this down, although I had to a lot just to savor the moments I adore because I really didn't want it to end yet. And the world-building, it's great as well. I can't wait for the next installment!

      I would recommend this to lovers of action, romance, adventure, and dystopian novels. Maybe even mystery. You should read Avant Nation and experience Clara's story for yourself.

***

So, that's that. d:

~Sage

   *This will also be posted on Goodreads.

   **I got an ebook version of this to review from  Xpresso Book Tours as a Review Opportunity.

        BOOK DETAILS:

 Title: Somewhere Only We Know by Cheyanne  Young 
 Publication date: June 15th 2014
 Genres: Romance, Young Adult

        Synopsis
      Sadie Bradford’s life is one anxiety attack after  another. All she wants is to escape life’s realities  for the summer and hang out with her best friend  Aaron. But her grandmother has other plans: Sadie  will get a job. Sadie will do volunteer work. Sadie  will make new friends – friends without  brain injuries that make them forget everything…  friends that aren’t Aaron.

      While Sadie struggles to survive her anxiety with  all these new changes, she finds an escape when she dreams herself into the beautiful world of Isola Fiona. It’s a place that cures memory loss and anxiety. It’s a place where she and Aaron can fall in love.

      But after dragging Aaron along with her to her dream world, things take a turn. Every time they return home, Sadie’s anxiety is a little better but Aaron’s memory is still gone. And Isola Fiona may not be much of a dream after all. As Sadie realizes that Isola Fiona is as real as her anxiety, she rushes to change the course of fate and make things right, but she may be too late…

***

      The concept of this book, this story, is great, and the writing flowed well. You could tell the author did her research on depression, anxiety, and short-term memory loss, as Aaron and Sadie felt real and the information was correct. I don't know a whole lot about short-term memory loss, but everything made since while reading and there was some medical talk as well a few times that you would have had to research anyway. I actually really enjoyed reading about Aaron and Sadie, about how they both had problems to deal with and how they dealt with them. It was just an overall enjoyable read.

      I like how Sadie had to get a job because her Grandma was worried, and how she made friends and got responsibilities and slowly got rid of her anxiety (mostly, and thanks to Isola Fiona as well). I like how Aaron and Sadie fit so well together, how they care about each other so much and are always there for another. I just really like their bond. I also like how Jeremy and Jaz fit in, even though they seem more like temporary characters now. Overall, I like the characters and the flow of the writing, and the story all together.

      However, while I liked Isola Fiona, I feel like the world-building could have been better. I still have so many questions about Isola Fiona and Gideon, and all we really know about it is that it isn't a magic world that Gideon made and that you're stuck there forever. Who is Gideon, really? What happened to him? Where is Isola Fiona? How is it not a magic world? Why was it described as a scientific world made by Gideon? How is that possible? How do they get there in the first place? Does your soul go into the ring or something, to take you inside of it which could possibly be Isola Fiona? Or is it something completely different? How can you survive in a scientific world made by a man when said man is dead or at least has disappeared? I just wish we had more information on Isola Fiona. And more details about its appearance and workings as well, as all we really know is that the sky is black with no stars, there's many trees of which they hand bulbs on to put the fireflies they catch every year in, and that it has a place where you can come and go if you wear the ring until you start to glow. Who is in charge? How do they maintain control? How do they get food and water and how do they cook it?

      Other than that, though, I really liked Somewhere Only We Know and I recommend this for lovers of romance, fantasy-like aspects, and YA books. I think most people would enjoy this book, and so I recommend it.

**

So, that's that. d:

~Sage

** This will also be posted on Goodreads.

 
      This is a book about a girl named Macy, and how she  transformed into who she always wanted to be, who she  always locked away because she wasn't free; Meadow. This  is about how she found happiness despite the shadows  hanging over her head, despite the darkness creeping in her  mind. This is how she found a way to live.

      From the very beginning, while it talks of her and her  mother driving away to a new town, a new place where no  one knows their names, we are inside her head and hearing  her broken thoughts. We realize very quickly that her father  would beat them, and that they are moving because finally,  finally the police came and put him in handcuffs. Her mom is  broken, she can't live without the man she loves, because  who cares if he beats her? She loves him so it's alright.

I watch my mother and know he controls her still. He is a rat who is biting and nibbling at her. Each day he seems to be taking away another piece of her being as he tears away at her resolve with each bite he places on her yielding skin. Even then, after she was just a walking skeleton, he would drag away her femur to gnaw on.

Everyday Meadow has to see her mother's broken shell, and she has to try to pick up the pieces in which only her father holds. It hurts her, and she hates his hold on her mother but she can't help it and reading about it all with the way it is written just makes you an emotional mess and even though it's a fairly dark read you can't help but love it because it's life in poetry, it's real and you get so invested in Meadow's world that it's like you are there yourself, like you are the one laughing, and crying, and running away with Meadow. You feel her hurt, and each time it's a strike to your heat but it's no where near her pain even so.

She will never be released and I watch her sigh and place cucumbers over her puffed eyelids. I know my father is right there in front of her, in the back of her mind, in every move she makes, because she won’t forget. She can’t move on and he will keep gnawing at her body and he will keep chewing at her heart, until she fades away into nothing but a memory, and a sad one at that.

The witting is absolutely brilliant, the flow is fantastic, and the characters are probably my favourite. We meet Dante and Meadow first, with Dante being her new-found best friend, her soul's other half, and also a broken boy because he is gay and his father wanted a man, not a 'fucking faggot'. Dante is a character you find yourself loving immediately. He is the best friend everyone wants, the one to make you feel like its okay to be alive, the one who tells you not to cry over a dick because he doesn't deserve your tears and you shouldn't cry over him anyway. He's the one who takes her on adventures and makes her smile and reminds her of what it is to dream!

It was Dante who said “Get out of the stupid routine, and embrace the numerous possibilities present in every single day. Get out of the mold and start living,” and “You are an individual now, not some clone pumped out by society and cemented by the social media which so pervades our lives.” It was Dante who revealed what it is to dream.

We then meet May, an eccentric lesbian who becomes a close friend of Meadows. And then we meet Liam, who is a drug addict but also ends up being Dante's love, the one, and the three of them fit so well together. Liam is like her older brother, he cares and they care and it's amazing to read about all their adventures and conversations and times spent together because it's so intriguing and beautiful. But then Richmond comes into the picture. He's an outright ass at first, but then after being told off by Meadow he stops, and she finds him always staring at her and then gradually their relationship grows and they're dating, and then they're in love and then they're breaking up because stupid and jealous Anita got in his head.

And we can't forget about her parents either. Her father is out of jail, she left because he hit her and her mother is pregnant again and Meadow knows she's nothing to them, that she never was anything, and it hurts but she leaves and she has Dante so it's okay.

And then the end. I cried. Oh heck did I ever. I won't say a word of the ending, other than how emotional it made me. All I will say it that you should read Inconsistent, you should experience it's brilliance all on your own. And maybe it won't be for you, because not everyone enjoys dark reads with abuse and drugs and suicide and alcohol. But you should give it a try, nonetheless. I mean, this may have just possibly become my absolute favourite novel.

**

So, that's that d:

~Sage

  *This will also be posted on Goodreads.

      I don't really know where to start. Basically, we  follow  Meg [Marguerite] as she travels from one  dimension to  another with Theo in search of Paul, their  friend who  betrayed them. They see and learn so  much while  hopping from one place to the next, and  each place is a  new world, a new life with new people  and surroundings.

      I really like the world-building. There's a historical-  like  world, a futuristic and seriously technologically  advanced  world, one that looks so much like their own  and yet is  different, and even one underwater! Each is  described in  detail, and each time Theo, Paul, and  Meg have different  roles to play and it's fascinating to  read about each new  life, each new adventure.

      Which brings me to the characters. I really like them.  So yeah, sure, Paul's the silent, and mysterious, and Theo was the bad boy with a large heart, but they are also so different from the types you would see in other novels. Paul opens himself up a lot, but in his actions and Meg gets him like he gets her, and if you pay enough attention to when they interact, everything just makes sense for them. And Theo, he isn't that much of a bad boy anyway, not really. The revelation near the end helps us understand him more, and I just didn't really think of him as a bad boy. But anyway, what I was trying to say was that although you think you get them, you really don't, and it's just so great to discover them while they discover more about themselves too.

      As for the writing, I love it. I love the way the words flow and how the story just hooks you in and you're so immersed you're like, whats reality? I couldn't put A Thousand Pieces of You down, there was never a dull moment and I always wanted more; I still do. It was just great overall, and I loved it. If I hadn't borrowed it from a friend, I would re-read it again and proudly place it on my shelf. But sadly, I did borrow it, and I have no clue when I will be able to get my own copy. But that said, you should go and buy yourself a copy because you need to experience what this story dose to you yourself.

      I highly recommend this for, well, everyone, basically. And I know I didn't say much, but either way you should read A Thousand Pieces of You.

**

So, that's that. d:

~Sage

  *I received a physical ARC copy from a giveaway on  Goodreads.

  **This will also be posted on Goodreads.

      In Undertow, we follow sixteen-year-old Lyric Walker  and how her and  her family and everyone around them  deal with the new  appearance of the Alpha, a new [to  them anyway, they're  actually ancient] species. Or,  well,  it's been three years but they're only going to  school  together now, so they are only interacting now.  But  anyway, we read about their meetings, the  situations  they get into, how their enemies react, what  happens to  the humans who befriend or are nice to the  'fish heads',  and how drastic measures have to be  taken more than  once. We also read about who Lyric  really is, how she  plans  to save her parents [or, well  her mom when she  has to  go to a trial based on Alpha  terms] and how she  plans to help the Alpha.

      The Alpha are pretty much a variety of species who can breathe [and lived] under water. There's Sirenna, Nix, Selkie, and Ceto. There's probably more but I can't recall them at the moment, and I'd rather not say anything about the Rusalka because when Undertow is published next month and you read it [I hope you'll read it, anyway] you'll realize who, and what, they are. I think you should go into the book unaware.

      Moving on now. I love the writing. Everything just flowed really well, the language wasn't complex, and we learned so much about the Alpha without getting fact-dumps or boring fillers with information about who and what the Alpha are. Every flashback, all the foreshadowing, it was all done so cleverly and smoothly. The whole time there's mention of the wild thing, and in the end it all becomes clear, and you look back and realize how well it was put out there but hidden at the same time.

      The characters are pretty great too. I love how different the Alpha are, how alike they are at the same time, how whenever characters fell in love it wasn't instant but fairly slow and very likable. My only problem with the romance, is that Lyric obviously falls in love with the Prince of the Alpha. The predictability of that, when everything else was pretty unpredictable, just make me a little sad. I do love their relationship though, so it wasn't much of an issue for me. And then you have Bex and Shadow. Bex is the outgoing, strong type of best friend every girl wants. She goes through so much and yet no one would know; no know does know except for those she tells or sees it themselves. She's a character I wouldn't mind seeing more of in the next book. I won't say much on Shadow, other then he impacted many lives, mostly Lyric and Bex's. I won't say much about any of the Alpha either because I really think you should find out about them for yourself.

      All in all, I seriously love Undertow, and would recommend it to all of you. There's romance, action, a new species, rebel groups and strange characters. The writing is brilliant and the story is great. And I know I didn't say a whole lot, but you should definitely pick up this book when it comes out.

**

So, that's that d:

~Sage

**This will also be posted on Goodreads.

      This book is, in short, about a young female  slayer, Lucille, who is sent to go and slay a famous  vampire singer named Florian. During her quest she  finds and kills his father [with the help of Solomon  and it ends far too quickly], ends up in Florian's bed,  and is told by the Counsel that it is alright if she  plays with him and drags out the whole point of her  going in the fist place, so long as she doesn't fall in  love with him. But [and this is a real shocker] she  falls in love with him and they end up on the run as  the Counsel now wishes to murder them. It's  basically a forbidden love story with talking unicorns  and horses and goblins and elves and demons and  sorcerers and witches and faes, and there's just pretty  much every creature you can think of.

      And while I ended up liking it, I have to admit  that I absolutely hated the beginning and the ending. Yeah, so it's a long book, 500 pages long actually, and even so, the beginning was so rushed that I was cringing. Lucille and Florian have an insta-love thing going on, having kissed on their first meeting to her waking up in his bed and then leaving and then that night going and sitting on his lap and acting like they're a couple. He kissed her again too, and although she is meant to hate him and blah blah blah, she already loves him and lets him kiss her. And then there's Solomon, who is a sorcerer and like a father to her and this happens:

"Don't be. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. I'm capable of strapping my own boots on and everything," she retorted darkly. "And of mounting horses thrice my size," she added cheekily as she walked back over to Florian.

Florian smirked at the look on Solomon's face as he pulled her back onto his lap. "Were you telling dirty jokes without me, Lucy? I'll be most offended if you were."

"No, nothing like that. He's just terrified that the ickle part-vampire monster will kill me."

He snorted. "I would do no such thing."

I mean, this is Florian and Lucille's second meeting, and already she's blowing of Solomon's concern to be comfortable in Florian's arms. And I think what irritates me the most about their relationship was how they acted during the battle. They literally had sex so many times that but the end of the book, Lucille is pregnant. It was pretty annoying.

      And then there's these really quick thought changes that happen for no reason and have no explanation for them at all that are also very annoying, like suddenly she sees that the monsters she's been killing aren't really monsters [it was literally like a one minute change in thought] when just minutes before she was calling them evil monsters who deserve to die.

She could remember the look the little girl had given her before she had turned to ash. She looked at Lucille like she had been a monster. She shook her head, trying to dismiss these thoughts. For years she had killed these beasts. She couldn't start showing them sympathy now.

And another quick change was like:

She could feel her fury was destroying her, and she didn't know how to stop it before it spread like a cancerous legion and devoured her whole like a ravenous dragon.

when just a few moments ago she was embracing her fury and loving it. She actually wanted to be furious because apparently she fights better that way.

       And then there's her personality. You don't see it for yourself at all, you're told it. Until you get to the hundredth or so page, anyway. Because by then you accept that their love was instant and that there wasn't any real explanation for their change in views, and then the author shows you her personality and it gets better. But the rest of the book is pretty much the battle that lasted longer than a week and had a lot of action.

       So, we all know I love action, and having action last about two to three hundred pages is great. But when it ends in a crap way, and there's so much that seems to happen so suddenly, you find yourself enjoying it a lot less. I mean, the very end of the battle, the sisters three [that's what they're called, honestly] use their magic necklaces and chant words and then -BAM!- all the enemies drop dead. It took a minute or two. After so many days of fighting, and so many deaths and injuries and hard times, the battle ends with a freaking unity of three sisters with magic necklaces?! And every single enemy is gone, dead. Just like that.

     So yeah, I mean, in the end I liked it enough, but it could have been a lot better. I just think that there's way too much going on. Honestly, I think this would have been much better as a duology, trilogy or even a series. That way maybe the author could have focused the first book on Lucille and Florian falling in love, the process of it that is not instant and annoying, and how her thoughts and his change and how they fall in love and how she realizes he isn't a monster and the counsel actually is. The second book could be more on the sisters three, the battle, and how Linders' bitterness slowly destroys her and the slow, gradual process of all the bitterness leaving her to be replaced with love. Maybe a third instalment about Gwen and Gabrielle, or a short story instead.

      There's just way too much going on, way too many characters trying to fight for the main spot. You have Florian and Lucille, Petro and Petula, Evan and Veronique's story, Linders and her relationships with Celewynn who became the moon and Venti soon after and then Venti's borther, Ysagardil, who proposed whilst in battle. You have Lola and Vaschel, and then his and Lucille's fathers as well, and then Rory and whatever happens with her love life, and then Gwen and Gabrielle, and Mora and Lorthinar, and the King and Queen and their daughter, and the wolf man with his children, and there's just so many of them that the book tries to focus on that it feels overwhelming and messy. And since there are so many, it feels more rushed, hence the insta love and the strong emotions quickly changing within a second. So yeah, maybe if it was more than one book, it would have been written better, and a lot more enjoyable.

      But all the negatives aside, there was quite a bit to like as well. I mean, the action was great when it wasn't ending in not-so-satisfying ways, and once you got used to the insta-love you felt less annoyed. All in all I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind the points I made above. And maybe others who like fantasy and action as well because honestly, these are just my thoughts and preferences and everyone is different so you might enjoy it a lot more than I did.

[*sorry if I'm too harsh or rude!]

**

Uhhh, yeah. That's that. d:

~Sage

   *I received a PDF ARC version of this from a  giveaway  on LibraryThing.

   **This will also be posted on Goodreads and  LibraryThing.

      In Fall of Knight we follow Dean and his troubles  with  life and his mental illness. Our eyes open up and  as we  hear his voice we hear the voice of a broken  boy, of a  troubled teen, of someone who has monsters  that live in  his mind and his writing and his life. We  learn how one  might think and see the world when  diagnosed with a  mental illness, how they never really  know what to do  with themselves.

      I'm being honest when I say that the content of this  book really got to me. Because sometimes, maybe a lot  of the time, I feel like Dean does, or like his sister does,  and never have I gone through anything like either of  them have and so while it makes me feel guilty it also  makes me love this book all the more. And so to connect with them was both slightly triggering and a whole lot fascinating.

      I also realized though, that sometimes we never really fully realize what’s happening to the people around us when we’re still young, even in teenage years, because we are too absorbed in ourselves and being what society thinks we should be and our own problems that we face. I think maybe we just make ourselves believe nothing is wrong because we don’t want to know that others are hurting and that our world is as dark as it is light. And I think this because in the book, Dean knows his sister is hurting -heck she was crying!- but he was pissed at her and his bipolar nature allowed him to walk away and let her cry because he had his own problems to deal with and although he was able to sleep when she got home and he knew she was safe, he still didn't go up to her and ask why she was crying, and what could have possibly happened. And you can't really blame him either. I don't think you'd really understand why unless you read Fall of Knight yourself. And I suggest you do.

      Or maybe not, because not everyone is okay with reading about drugs [they're prescribed to help him but still], and alcohol, and death and suicide and how mental illnesses might affect how one views the world. But even so, maybe you might be okay with this one. I myself loved it, I adore it actually, because of how real and raw it is, but honestly if it's not for you, then it's not for you.

      But aside from that, the writing was brilliant, and even while some might find Dean's creativity sometimes weird or creepy or disturbing, I loved it all. His character, all the characters, were real enough and all had their own personalities and their own feelings and not once did I feel forced to read and I never felt like the story was dragging or that maybe it was going too fast. I rather enjoy that even by the end, Dean isn't cured, because honestly, there isn't a cure for a mental illness, there's just pill that dulls your insanity. At least,t hat's what I took from reading this. And it makes a lot of sense too.

      I love the twists too, and how what is revealed at the end is a shocking discovery that actually leaves you wondering how you never saw it coming. There were so many hints, about it and it never clicked, but that's great because in no way was this story predictable and I love that. It was just brilliant, and although this book is officially being published tomorrow, I already can't wait for more.

***

So, that's that. I didn't really know how to properly word this, but whatever. it's good for now. d:

~Sage

  *I received the ebook version of this from a  giveaway on  LibraryThing.

   **This will also be posted on Goodreads and  LibraryThing.

      There's not much to say about this one either. In this  short story, we follow Jari, a dwarf, on his quest to  search  for his brothers and on the way he gains the help  of Loki  and Odin (although he really doesn't like Odin).

      I actually like this one more than the first, and found it  intriguing to read from Jari's view, of how he met Loki  and  how he deals with their on-horse adventure to  different  places.

      I still didn't love it though.

      I'm sure others might like it more, and so I would still  recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, short read.

**

That's all. And this is really short, wow.

~Sage