Deeper by: Blue Ashcroft

One Star

ARC received from Netgalley. This review is not biased in any way. There was no money, gifts, discounts, or favors exchanged for this review.

Rain Wilson isn’t ever going to love again. 

It’s a promise she made the day her boyfriend died in a water park accident, one she still blames herself for. Now she’s a senior lifeguard in a new town with a new pool and she’s just going to keep her head down and everyone safe. 

Until a mysterious guy follows her into the waves at the pre-season bonfire and kisses her senseless. It’s just one mistake, and Rain is determined to put it behind her, until the dark haired, blue eyed hottie turns out to be her new co-supervisor Knight Mcallister. 

Knight is hot, tatted, and carrying baggage of his own. He’s not happy about having Rain for a co-supervisor, and he’s even less happy about his attraction to her. 

But between lifeguard drama, hot underwater kisses, and a growing attraction between them that can’t be stopped, Knight and Rain are being pulled deeper into their pasts, and realizing that sometimes too much broken can make a relationship impossible.

Then again sometimes it’s the broken parts of us that fit together best.

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Born at Midnight By: C.C Hunter

One Star

Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams, Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here

with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…

 Let's look at that summary, shall we? "...spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams..." Was it amazing? Totally! Absolutely! Not. Did it steal my heart? No. If I see this book again, I'm running away from it. Does it haunt my dreams? Why yes, yes it did. How did you know, Book, that you would give me nightmares?

"...Shadow Falls- a camp for troubled teens..." The second I saw "camp", I just knew that it would be like The Lightning Thief. But, It'd probably be a screwed up version of it. "...vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies..." Didn't Hex Hall do something like this? "...Kylie’s never felt normal..." That's not like every single young adult book ever. "... enter Derek and Lucas..." Oh, God no. It's a love triangle. And then, the last sentence: "Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…"  Haha. Yeah. Totally original. And, of course, the cover is a girl in a dress. What is she even doing with it? Actually, I don't want to know.

Obviously, I wouldn't like this book. So, why, would I ever read this? My "friend"- you know, I have a lot of these friends- told me it was, "Totally and utterly awesome! And- ohmygod- Lucas is so hot! You totes have to read it! Now! I'll read Angelfall if you read this!" So of course I had to read it. I mean, I had to have my friend find out about good books.

Born at Midnight is about this chick named Kylie. She keeps seeing this ghost. At a party, there are drugs. She got caught at the party and is sent to some rehab camp. But, its actually not a rehab camp. It's a supernatural camp. She gets gets friends, find out she's the most amazing person in the camp, and is in a love triangle.

So this book is in third person. Limited third person. And it is one of the worst third person I've ever read. Maybe if it was first person, it would be slightly bearable. Not enough for two stars, but I would have been able to read this without mentally ripping the pages out, burning them, and burying the ashes.

Kylie thinks she's so funny.Yeah... no. If she was one of those people that think they're hilarious when they're actually really annoying, that would have been alright. I would have pretended that the author had some hidden message. But, no. Kylie is just annoying and whiny. And, of course, she's the specialest person in the camp. Kylie doesn't change throughout the book at all. She started out whiny and annoying. Then, she ended whiny and annoying.

But, we can't a book without some best friends. Sara was a terrible friend. The only reason she was used in this story was so we could all know how bad sex and fitting in is. If I wanted to know about those things, there's a such thing called a counselor. And a Health teacher.

However, Sara was the human BFF. Kylie has two others: a witch and a vampire. The witch was actually not that bad for the first part of the book. And then she became annoying. The vampire was pretty cool, which raised this book from a 0.5 (I always start a book this way, and it is the minimum for me, since I always round up) to a 0.75.

There's also slut slamming. So. Much. Judginess. People have sex. It's a fact of life. Kylie, how else do you think you were born?

The love interests were bad. I mean, she thinks Lucas killed her cat, but she still crushes on him. And Derek wasted a pint of blood for an hour of her time.

The things that happened in this book were unbelievable. The camp is conveniently located next to a zoo. And people sneak lions onto campus. Yes. So realistic.

There was this plot that wasn't really a plot. Things happened. More things happened. And then: The End. Mostly, this book was centered on romance, which I'm fine with, if stuff actually happened. Not just fake things.

The writing was so annoying. It's one of those cases where authors attempt to sound like teenagers and fail miserably.

And, of course, at the end of the book, when nobody cares anymore you find out who the ghost is. And its so predictable. So. Freaking. Predictable.

Born at Midnight was terrible. Utterly and completely terrible. I guess if you were obsessed with Twilight and wanted some anti-feminism, this would be the book for you. Otherwise, if you see this in a bookstore, casually get up and run away.

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Fallen By: Lauren Kate

One Star

Goodreads Summary:

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, FALLEN is a page-turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

I'm going to kill my "friend." She usually has pretty good taste in books. So when she recommended this to me, I immediately started reading it. I mean, the cover was absolutely fantastic. And when I see covers like this, I always forget that there is something terrible inside. I just didn't expect it to be that bad.

The prologue pretty much spoiled the entire book. Except for the one part that most of the people are (minor spoiler) fallen angels. Hints are supposed to be tiny little nudges in the right direction. They also should have some red herrings. Hints are not supposed to be just standing there in plain view. If this book had one tug in the other direction, I might have given it two stars. On the other hand... probably not. The editing, plot, and characters were terrible.

The editor is either a complete genius or a complete idiot. Maybe she knew how terrible the book was and decided to not do anything with it because she knew that the pretty cover would lure everyone in. Or, she was really stupid and decided that bad word choices and terrible sentences would sell well. A third option is that when she read it, her brain completely exploded and she skipped the entire novel because it was so bad. The world will never know.

A book needs a plot, Lauren Kate. Over 350 pages of stalking is not considered a plot. 

The worst part of the book were the characters. These are some of the stupidest, annoying(est), and want-to-kill(est) people I have ever had the misfortune of reading. If I saw any of these characters in real life, I would probably slap them. 

Luce is completely stupid. She's completely pathetic and is as bad as Bella Swan. The first time she saw Daniel, he flipped her off. Instead of taking the hint or flipping him off right back, she obsesses over him. Then, she starts stalking him. She goes through his files like Nora, and thinks of him as much as Ever does to her "love." There is this huge question I keep asking myself: Why does Daniel even like Luce? Heck, how does he stand her? Maybe it's because he can treat her like crap, and she doesn't do anything about it. Except for that one time she stands up for herself. The guy doesn't even acknowledge her "demand." He just freaking kisses her to shut her up. And then he goes back to treating her badly.

The funny thing is, when Daniel finally tells Luce the truth, she runs away. Yep, that's right. Over a hundred pages of trying to figure it out, and somebody finally tells her, she flees. 

Another question to Daniel: Why does he kiss her if she's going to die? Not that I would mind if she actually died, but Daniel "loves" her. So, why would he want her to die?

All the characters are these inconsequential cardboard cutouts. The one person I sort of like died. 

The author should have done some research. Anything. Lauren Kate seems to not know anything about angels. Or fallen angels, whatever. 

The reform school, which is the setting, is so stupid. The "security" there is terrible. Again, LK, do some research on what you are writing about.

One last thing: hotness and stalking do not a true love make.

Capiche?

Now, if you excuse me, I have to go bleach my brain of this terrible book and read a better book about angels, like Angelfall. 

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Twilight By: Stephanie Meyer

One Star: Terrible

GoodReads Summary:

Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

One star. Now I feel guilty. I hate giving out one star review. I couldn’t help it. I was disgusted with this book.  Atrocious, as our narrator, Bella, would say. This leads us into our first problem: the purple prosing.

 Most of the words were way too complicated to be in a young adult book. For example, how many teenagers do you think use the words masochistic, unconditionally, or menace in an everyday conversation. Stephanie Meyer seemed to destroy her thesaurus with words she could use, but she kept using the same words in places she needed her thesaurus.

Bella made some of the most idiotic decisions one can make. She fell in love with the vampire, Edward, pretty much the second they met. He warned her, many times, that he was dangerous. Sure, the element of danger is compelling to some people. I’ll give you that. If only Bella hadn’t been oblivious to it. Also, she whines and blushes way too much. I think I might have liked her better if Meyer had given her a slight resemblance of a backbone. 

Why is it that Edward is so important that he’s the only thing that she thinks of? She doesn’t think of what she wants to do after college. Nor does she think of what she wants to be when she becomes an adult. Please, Bella. A guy isn’t important enough for him to take up your entire brain capacity. Well, maybe yours.

Edward. You just destroyed the idea that with age comes wisdom. If he really loved Bella (I don’t know how, though), he would stay away from her. He even told her that he should stay away from him. I thought, “Oh, okay. He might not actually be that bad.” Less than a chapter later, he came back.

Edward is creepy. He’s a stalker. Who else would watch other people sleep? He’s also bipolar. And controlling. What else? What about the fact that he sparkles? He sparkles. Glitters. Scintillates. Gleams. Glistens. Why, Stephanie, just why? Creative? Yes. With vampires? No, just no.

I might have thrown the book across the room if I heard one more “description” of Edward. All Bella talks about is that Edward is hot. She might have mentioned his hair color being bronze. That’s it.

Don’t even get me started on the secondary characters. Or the nonplot. Or the terrible "action scene". Or the- I’m going to stop now.

Whatever you do, don’t read this book.
 

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