Friday, November 30, 2012

Book Review: Finale


Goodreads summary:

Will love conquer all?

Nora and Patch thought their troubles were behind them. Hank is gone and they should be able to put his ugly vendetta to rest. But in Hank's absence, Nora has become the unwitting head of the Nephilim and must finish what Hank began. Which ultimately means destroying the fallen angels - destroying Patch.

Nora will never let that happen, so she and Patch make a plan: lead everyone to believe they have broken up, and work the system from the inside. Nora will convince the Nephilim that they are making a mistake in fighting the fallen angels, and Patch will find out everything he can from the opposing side. They will end this war before it can even begin.

But the best-laid plans often go awry. Nora is put through the paces in her new role and finds herself drawn to an addictive power she never anticipated.

As the battle lines are drawn, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.


My review:

Honestly, I'm just glad this series is over with.  I disliked the first book, but I thought the second and third were a little better, so I was hoping maybe I'd end up liking the final one.  I just didn't care much for it at all.

The Hush, Hush series has improved, I admit.  But Nora's character is still annoying.  In Finale, she's a lot tougher and goes through lots of training.  She's definitely not as whiny as she was in the first book, which is good.  However, she's still really naive and clueless, and she made, in my opinion, some stupid decisions, so overall I don't like her.

I still don't like Patch.  I know, you can go ahead and yell at me.  Everyone else seems to love him.  I just find nothing attractive about him.  At least in Finale, he's not as aggressive and mean as he was in the first book.  He's nice and protective of Nora in this one, but nonetheless, I found him to be a bland character.

Fortunately, there was not much romance in this book.  I was majorly relieved by this - I felt like in the earlier books, there was too much of Nora whining about Patch not paying attention to her, and not enough action.  Well, in Finale, there's more action and plot development, which I appreciated.

However, Patch and Nora's relationship just makes me mad.  On page 59, Nora says, "I'd lost Patch once before, and not to be melodramatic, but death was preferable."  That's just...I can't even.  That's an unhealthy relationship. 

Okay, so onto the actual plot.  I liked it except that the book was so long.  I mean, it was 450 pages, and I definitely think it could've been shortened.  Some parts were kind of boring.  But mostly, the plot was entertaining.  I thought that the betrayal of a certain character was a good twist; I didn't see it coming.  And the ending is very satisfying - although, poor Vee!  I've never liked Vee that much, but I was so sad for what she goes through.

My feelings about the Hush, Hush series are very mixed.  I'm not a fan of this series - I simply can't stand the characters - but I think Becca Fitzpatrick is a decent writer, so I will probably give her future books a try.  And while I personally don't like this series, I think that the diehard fans of Hush, Hush will find Finale to be a great conclusion to the series.

My rating:  5 out of 10 (2.5 stars)

~ The Bookworm

I'm baaack!

This is the last day of NaNoWriMo, and I managed to complete the 50,000 word goal this morning!  My novel is now finished and it's 133 pages and 50,517 words long. :) So excited!  Writing a novel in a month was a crazy but super fun experience!

Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone an idea of the posts and book reviews I'll be adding soon.  I'm going to start doing In My Mailbox, Top Ten Tuesday, and Waiting on Wednesday posts again weekly, and tomorrow, I'll be posting my monthly Top 5 Books post.

Also, you can expect reviews for these books in the next week or two: Through the Ever Night, Time Between Us, Storm, Finale, Stormdancer, and False Memory.  Those are a handful of the books I've read this month that I really want to review. :)

~ The Bookworm

Thursday, November 15, 2012

NaNoWriMo Update

So it's halfway through NaNoWriMo now.  Only two more weeks of me staying up late in the night, writing madly to reach each day's word goal.  Then I can read and blog to my heart's content. *happy sigh*

Seriously, NaNoWriMo is crazily fun, and I'm enjoying writing a novel in a month even though it's super stressful.  I have almost 25,000 words so far, so I should hopefully be able to reach 50,000 by the end of the month.  Of course, this probably means no more blog updates till December.  I have a bunch of book reviews I'm dying to write, but I'm so busy with my novel - so they'll have to wait a couple more weeks.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!  I look forward to posting regularly once again once November is over. :-)

~ The Bookworm

Friday, November 2, 2012

My Top 5 Books of October 2012

Each month, I post a list of the books I've read and what my top five favorite books of the month were.  Here's the books I read in October!

- Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
- Secret Letters by Leah Scheier
- Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi
- Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
- Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
- Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep
- Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti
- The List by Siobhan Vivian
- Breathe by Sarah Crossan
- Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
- Auracle by Gina Rosati
- The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
- Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
- Switched by Amanda Hocking
- Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
- Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson
- Taken at Dusk by C. C. Hunter
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Hidden by Sophie Jordan
- Dangerous Boy by Mandy Hubbard
- Roar and Liv by Veronica Rossi
- Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (I was actually rereading this one!)
- Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

I read a lot of books during October that I like to refer to as "meh."  They were neither good nor bad, just okay-ish.  Fortunately, there were a few books that I really loved, so here's my top five!

1. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout.  If you spend enough time on my blog, you'll discover that I adore JLA's books.  Half-Blood is pure awesomeness!  It was a thrill ride of a novel and I thought the Greek mythology aspect was utter genius.  And Alex and Aiden?  If there was an award for two characters who need to be a couple, they would totally win it!  Can't wait to read more about them in the rest of the series!

2. Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson.  Another mythology book.  This story is guaranteed to put a smile on your face with the hilarious Tucker Halloway and the sweet yet feisty heroine, Ellie.  (And Loki is in it!  Yes, THE Loki, god of mischief.)  Just read this book, okay?!  It's epic!

3. Auracle by Gina Rosati.  What a fun read!  The premise is so unique and refreshing and I couldn't wait to turn the page and find out what would happen next.  This was an exhilarating, exciting, and unputdownable book!  Not to mention the great cast of characters.

4. Enchanted by Alethea Kontis.  Aww, I just love fairytale retellings.  And this book is just as enchanting as the title suggests. :) Sweet and magical, this is one spellbinding story that fantasy lovers won't want to miss out on!

5. Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi.  I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this through a contest on the author's blog, and I absolutely adored it.  Fans of the first book will not be disappointed!  This sequel is heartbreaking, action-packed, and flat-out amazing.  I'll be writing a review eventually!

Honorable mention goes to Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi.  I admit that I didn't find Warner that attractive in Shatter Me, but I kind of sort of fell for him in Destroy Me.  Reading this novella from his POV and finding out so much more about his character and background is just heartbreaking.  I can't wait for Unravel Me to come out!

So those are my latest reads/recommendations.  What new books have you discovered recently?  Please leave a comment and mention some books you've just read and loved, or tell me if you've read any of the books on my list!

*Just wanted to remind my followers that I probably won't be posting till next week!  NaNoWriMo is going great so far but it's keeping me busy!

~ The Bookworm