LulzCat Reviews

Thank you technology for allowing me to read without lights and to carry around 80 books at once without breaking my spine! 

Reading progress update: I've read 45%.

— feeling excited
Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Listening to the audiobook.  It's interesting but I'm still waiting on something super exciting to happen.  My favorite character is Piggy.

Not mind-blowing but good......

The Griever's Mark (Volume 1) by Katherine Hurley (2014-11-11) - Katherine Hurley;

This book had me at teleportation!  I know that sounds like science fiction but it's definitely fantasy.  It's actually called "drifting".  

 

The Griever's Mark is about a MC that was taken by an evil overlord as a child.  He had her "leashed" to him, which means she could never escape without him finding her.  The book starts out showing her struggle living in a world that's near war and coping with being a slave.  

 

A lot of fantasy books that I've read would be considered "fantasy-lite".  I would put this book somewhere in between fantasy-lite and fantasy.  There was a love story in the book but it never took over the story. 

 

I really thought this book would have been a 5 star read for me.  I liked the story a lot but I never felt any emotion from reading it.  I think there may have been a disconnect with the characters (that's my pet peeve).  I also think the main characters weren't in peril enough.  There just wasn't enough conflict for me I suppose.  I was never on the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen next.  I did care enough to keep reading and it had some great fantasy elements to it, so that's why I have it 3 stars.

 

This is free on kindle unlimited.  I don't think I'll continue on to the next book (so far there are 3 I think). 

 

 

Reading progress update: I've read 60%.

— feeling wink
Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

I'm pretty sure I've got this entire book figured out....

Glass Sword (Red Queen) - Victoria Aveyard

Here is my most awaited book of 2016. Major excitement usually comes with a major let down. My 3 stars are extremely generous to say the least. 

I’m not sure if it’s second book syndrome or something else. I started out loving it and then it all fell apart. FYI, I 5 starred Red Queen. It was one of my favorite books from last year. I expected Glass Sword to be an instant 5 star read. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. It honestly was a disappointment. 


What I Liked
The action.

What I Disliked
Mare
Cal
The 8 billion new characters.


Mare
Will the real Mare please stand up? Mare really pissed me off. She was heartless, whiny, and oh so annoying. She pushed everyone away and entered special snowflake territory. 



She was a bit of a nutcase. I began to loathe her and most of her actions throughout the book. She was so different from the Mare I thought I knew. I felt like I was reading about an entirely new character. I suppose living that type of life will do that to a person, but it was insufferable at times. Suck it up snowflake and move on. What a freaking nutcase.....


Cal
I felt like I was reading a book called, “The Life and Times of a Statue” when it came to Cal. 




He didn’t even seem real to me anymore. Cal was dull and had no personality. The author didn’t let us get to know him at all in this book. He was just thrown to the sidelines so that Special Snowflake could whine and hate the freaking world. He is one of my favorite characters, so that annoyed me immensely. Can we just forget about Mare and let Cal run the show?


The 8 Billion New Characters
Ugh, we just didn't have time for that. There was a mass exodus of new characters in the last half of the book. ManyMost of these characters were not developed. I couldn’t even bring myself to care. It was confusing as to who was who. However, I did like Cameron. She was interesting. I was really hoping that (view spoiler)


Maven
Who’s Maven? Does he even go here?




The good news is that I never wanted to stop reading. I really love this world and I’d probably read about the characters cutting grass if that were the case. It gets 3 stars (well actually 2.5 rounded up) from me because of the action and for the fact that I didn't want to DNF. Maybe my expectations were too high......

I still have hope that the next book will be epic.

Glass Sword (Red Queen) - Victoria Aveyard

Here is my most awaited book of 2016. Major excitement usually comes with a major let down. My 3 stars are extremely generous to say the least. 

I’m not sure if it’s second book syndrome or something else. I started out loving it and then it all fell apart. FYI, I 5 starred Red Queen. It was one of my favorite books from last year. I expected Glass Sword to be an instant 5 star read. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. It honestly was a disappointment. 


What I Liked
The action.

What I Disliked
Mare
Cal
The 8 billion new characters.


Mare
Will the real Mare please stand up? Mare really pissed me off. She was heartless, whiny, and oh so annoying. She pushed everyone away and entered special snowflake territory. 



She was a bit of a nutcase. I began to loathe her and most of her actions throughout the book. She was so different from the Mare I thought I knew. I felt like I was reading about an entirely new character. I suppose living that type of life will do that to a person, but it was insufferable at times. Suck it up snowflake and move on. What a freaking nutcase.....


Cal
I felt like I was reading a book called, “The Life and Times of a Statue” when it came to Cal. 




He didn’t even seem real to me anymore. Cal was dull and had no personality. The author didn’t let us get to know him at all in this book. He was just thrown to the sidelines so that Special Snowflake could whine and hate the freaking world. He is one of my favorite characters, so that annoyed me immensely. Can we just forget about Mare and let Cal run the show?


The 8 Billion New Characters
Ugh, we just didn't have time for that. There was a mass exodus of new characters in the last half of the book. ManyMost of these characters were not developed. I couldn’t even bring myself to care. It was confusing as to who was who. However, I did like Cameron. She was interesting. I was really hoping that (view spoiler)


Maven
Who’s Maven? Does he even go here?




The good news is that I never wanted to stop reading. I really love this world and I’d probably read about the characters cutting grass if that were the case. It gets 3 stars (well actually 2.5 rounded up) from me because of the action and for the fact that I didn't want to DNF. Maybe my expectations were too high......

I still have hope that the next book will be epic.

Across the Universe

Across the Universe - Beth Revis I was pleasantly surprised by this story, although I did have a bit of a disconnect with the characters.

The story is told from 2 different POVs. One POV is Amy and the other is Elder. Amy makes the decision to be frozen with her parents in order to live on another planet in the future. Their frozen bodies are loaded up on a ship that will take several lifetimes to reach its destination. One day someone tries to kill Amy by unfreezing her and leaving her locked up to drown in cyro fluid. Elder is the future leader of the ship and he is the one that finds Amy. This leads to so many mysteries and we find out lots of curious things about the ship.

image


I think my favorite thing about this book was the vast amount of conspiracies. Most of the people on the ship exhibited odd behavior. They seemed to be under some sort of mind-control.

"The third cause of discord," he says in a terrible monotone, "is individual thought. No society can thrive if a single individual can poison its members into mutiny and chaos."


image

Conspiracy is my most beloved of subjects. This book reminded me of a quote by Aristotle...

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”


There are so many conspiracies that have been proven to be true. I love digging into them all and trying to determine fact from fiction. It is truly my most favorite hobby. Sometimes you find some horrible things, things that you wish you didn't know. That is what happened to Amy and Elder. The things that they found were earth shattering.


My favorite quote in the book........
"They won't care to know; they won't seek any kind of truth. Some will-and they will not believe the truth. But others will need the truth, and crave it, and they will seek it, and accept it for what it is."


I crave truth, no matter how awful and ugly it may be. In a world built on lies the truth is the only thing we have. I'm curious to see what becomes of Amy and Elder. They have a lot to overcome. I just hope that I can connect better with the characters in the next book. I felt like something was lacking in the character development department. This would have been a 4 star rating had it not been for that.

Born for Thorton's Sake

Born for Thorton's Sake - Marcia Lynn McClure This was my least favorite of this authors books. FYI, I've never given any of her books less than 4 stars.

There was a lot of weirdness going on. The 9 year old and the 3 year old thing.....ummm no. I know the author didn't mean anything by it but that was just taking it too far. I think Mrs. McClure has an innocent heart (at least from reading her books) but I think the whole age thing was in bad taste.

Another thing that I didn't like is that one of the MCs was absent for a lot of the story. That's just one of those things that annoy me....a lot.

I feel bad for 2 starring one of McClures books but this one just didn't work for me. It was missing the magic that her other books have.

Untitled

Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard Here is my most awaited book of 2016. Major excitement usually comes with a major let down. My 3 stars are extremely generous to say the least.

I’m not sure if it’s second book syndrome or something else. I started out loving it and then it all fell apart. FYI, I 5 starred [b:Red Queen|22328546|Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)|Victoria Aveyard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449778912s/22328546.jpg|25037051]. It was one of my favorite books from last year. I expected Glass Sword to be an instant 5 star read. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. It honestly was a disappointment.


What I Liked
The action.

What I Disliked
Mare
Cal
The 8 billion new characters.


Mare
Will the real Mare please stand up? Mare really pissed me off. She was heartless, whiny, and oh so annoying. She pushed everyone away and entered special snowflake territory.

image

She was a bit of a nutcase. I began to loathe her and most of her actions throughout the book. She was so different from the Mare I thought I knew. I felt like I was reading about an entirely new character. I suppose living that type of life will do that to a person, but it was insufferable at times. Suck it up snowflake and move on. What a freaking nutcase.....


Cal
I felt like I was reading a book called, “The Life and Times of a Statue” when it came to Cal.

image


He didn’t even seem real to me anymore. Cal was dull and had no personality. The author didn’t let us get to know him at all in this book. He was just thrown to the sidelines so that Special Snowflake could whine and hate the freaking world. He is one of my favorite characters, so that annoyed me immensely. Can we just forget about Mare and let Cal run the show?


The 8 Billion New Characters
Ugh, we just didn't have time for that. There was a mass exodus of new characters in the last half of the book. Many Most of these characters were not developed. I couldn’t even bring myself to care. It was confusing as to who was who. However, I did like Cameron. She was interesting. I was really hoping that she would beat the crap out of Mare.


Maven
Who’s Maven? Does he even go here?

image


The good news is that I never wanted to stop reading. I really love this world and I’d probably read about the characters cutting grass if that were the case. It gets 3 stars (well actually 2.5 rounded up) from me because of the action and for the fact that I didn't want to DNF. Maybe my expectations were too high......

I still have hope that the next book will be epic.

Highwayman of Tanglewood

Highwayman of Tanglewood - Marcia Lynn Mcclure This was Robinhood meets Zorro. It had a good bit of intrigue. I wasn't sure who the masked man was and I kept second guessing myself. There were so many cases of mistaken identity and at times it was downright comical. There were some parts that made me LOL....

"Look what I've found dangling from the draperies in my bedchamber. What a thoughtful gift you and father have left me."


"Injustice is plaguing the countryside! And I think pie may be the only answer. Have a bite."


This one is definitely one of my top favorites from McClure.

House Immortal (A House Immortal Novel Book 1)

House Immortal (A House Immortal Novel Book 1) - Devon Monk I finished this book a few days ago and I honestly don't know how to review it. This series is so unique and it has a plot so crazy that it's hard to review. I tried explaining this series to my husband and I failed miserably. It's that different. So, I'm going to try my best.


The plot centers around a group of people that are galvanized. They are stitched together people (from body parts of other people) and they have super human strength. Their heads can be chopped off and they'd still live. They are kind of like Frankenstein people but not in a hideous terrifying way. There are different houses, which are kind of like kingdoms, and each house has a galvanized to help strengthen them from enemies.

The main character is a galvanized named Matilda. She's not a pansy Mary Sue. She's smart, strong and isn't afraid of much (besides losing the ones she loves). Matilda is special because nobody knows she's galvanized. She has been hidden well, until one of the other galvanized find her.

The rest of the MCs are all equally as awesome as Matilda. I loved them all. I even loved the crazy stitched animals.


I can't even tell you 90% of the things that are amazing about this series because it's one that's best read blindly. There are lots of plot twists and some crazy syfy stuff that happens. The world building is just right but it's the characters and crazy plot that makes this series great. I like character driven books. A book will go straight to DNF if it's not character driven. That should tell you the type of book this is.

I wasn't overly involved with this book until it it reached about 70% (reason for 4 stars and not 5). I liked it a lot before then but I wasn't in love with it. As soon as I got to around 70% I became obsessed and the story is still going strong into book 3. It was well worth the wait. Now I'm on the hunt for some more urban fantasy. I've never really been into UF but now I need more!

Sora's Quest

Sora's Quest - T.L. Shreffler Here is the book that got me obsessed with reading again! I've gone awhile without finding a series that I could really love. This is going on my favorite books ever shelf. I read all 4 books in 5 days because it was so danged good.

This book has a fantasy/paranormal feel to it. The main character (Sora) is a noble that wants to run away from her terrible father. Sora's father is murdered on the same night that she planned to run away. She ends up being kidnapped by the same person that murdered her father. The man is cruel and oddly inhuman. His companion isn't human at all and is what they call a "wolfy". The wolfy and the man have plans for Sora because they are on the run from a powerful wolfy mage. Sora is wearing a special necklace called a cats eye and the two kidnappers know that it can protect them. Sora is oblivious to the necklace but soon finds out that she is in for one crazy and terrifying adventure.

The adventures found in these 4 books have been amazing. The characters were built up exactly the way I like them without the world building suffering at all. Everything was balanced. I just can't say enough about these books. You will find tons of magic and some very interesting characters.

The first book is free on kindle and I'm pretty sure the author says it will always be free. Apparently the author knows that we will be hooked if we read the first book. The only bad thing is that the series isn't finished. There are 4 books so far.

Renegade

Renegade - Erica Stevens I am officially quitting this series. It was only 180 pages, so I toughed it out.

The story (which was getting good) was put on hold so that the two main characters could be a mushy and ridiculous mess. Here's what I got out of the story....

Braith gets mad...

Arianna touches his arm and says, "Braith".

Braith gets mad...

Arianna touches his arm and says, "Braith".


Over and over again. The characters in this book can get staked for all I care.

Captured

Captured - Erica Stevens 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 only because it kept my interest long enough to finish the book.

The setting of this story takes place in a world where vampires and humans are at war. There are small rebel factions of humans that live out in the woods and vampires that live in the city. It's a vampire dystopia. One day a group of rebels are kidnapped by the vampires. One of those kidnapped is the daughter (Arianna) of the rebel leader. They are taken to the city and auctioned off as blood slaves. Arianna is auctioned off to a monstrous vampire, only to be later claimed by one of the vampire princes. I'm sure you guys already know where this is going. Need I say more?

So, here we have an entirely predictable setup. However, there were just enough twists and intrigue in the story to keep me going, barely. I have this weird thing about dystopias and kidnappings, so don't leave this review thinking this is some literary masterpiece. It is not. It is a free book on kindle though.

This could have been an amazing series had it not been for the lack of world building and the ultra mushy romance.

Crucible Zero

Crucible Zero - Devon Monk Why does this have to be the last one?! I really hope the author plans on writing more books in this series because this one seemed a little conclusive. Please Devon Monk, I need more!

Seriously, these books had everything that I look for in a book (which are too many things to list but that's beside the fact). I'm a big DNFer because I'm so picky and not once did I get that urge throughout the series. I guess this means I am an urban fantasy fan now. I never thought I'd see the day.

Infinity Bell

Infinity Bell - Devon Monk This was my favorite one so far. 100% packed with awesomeness!

Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter - Kresley Cole Dead of Winter was probably the weaker of the 3 books so far. The story started to slow down in some parts but I was so invested in the characters that I didn't care. I still liked it enough to give it 4 stars.

I can't wait for the next book because this one left off on a MAJOR cliffhanger. I should have known something like that would happen....

I actually went into this series thinking it was a trilogy and found myself REALLY confused with that cliffhanger.

"Mortal, if there's one thing I've learned in all my years, it's this: lies are curses you place on yourself."


Anyway, there's not much that I can really say without spoilers. If this is your kind of thing (apocalyptic YA romance fantasy-lite) then you should definitely give this series a try.

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