Fateful by Claudia Gray

Fateful by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars







Jacket Description:

Eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, troubled family she serves. It's 1912, and Tess has been trapped in the employ of the Lisles for years, amid painful memories and twisted secrets. But now the Lisle family is headed to America, with Tess in tow. Once the ship they're sailing on-the RMS Titanic- reaches its destination, Tess plans to strike out and create a new life for herself.

Her single-minded focus shatters when she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets of his own. He's in a hurry to leave Europe, and whispers aboard the ship say it's because of the tragic end of his last affair with the French actress who died so gruesomely and so mysteriously...

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec's past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves exist and are stalking him- and now her, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over.

In Fateful, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray delivers paranormal adventure, dark suspense, and alluring romance set against the opulent backdrop of the Titanic's first- and last- voyage.

To start off with, I had extremely high expectations for this novel. I loved the Evernight series, and I am a huge Titanic geek. When I heard this book was coming out, I could hardly wait. That being said, this book was awesome. My only complaint was that the Titanic itself played a minimal role. The fact that the story took place on the Titanic only meant that you knew that the characters were going to have to face the sinking- other than that, the story could have been set anywhere that the division between social classes was clear. Aside from that, this book lived up to my expections all the way.

To start off, I have to say that I loved, loved, loved the main character, Tess. She was amazingly persistent, independent, self-reliant, and intelligent. That is something that a lot of novels unfortunately leave out. Tess isn't scared off easily... she's far too persistant for that.
I also loved Alec- Tess's love interest in the story. Alec is interesting, complex and very personable. Despite the fact that he is a werewolf, Alec's character is still believable and as realistic as a werewolf first-class passenger can be.

I also enjoyed many of the other characters in the story, including Irene, Ned and Mikhail. Through these characters, Claudia Gray proves yet again that she is highly talented in writing interesting sub-plots along with her main plot.

I would highly recommend this to any paranormal YA lover, but I would warn any die-hard Titanic fan that the Titanic is not primarily featured throughout the story. I would still recommend it none the less.

Claudia Gray's Official Website: http://www.claudiagray.com

P.S. Sorry it's been so long since we all posted last. It's been a crazy month, but we hope to get more reviews up soon! Thanks!

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Jacket Description:

There's something about the new guy at Crossroads High...

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him.

One can time-travel.
One can raise the dead.
One can tell the future.
And one can possess another human.

With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die.

He's so over it. All he wants is peace.

And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's a loner; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late...

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendshipt. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist. Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger- but not everyone will come out alive...

I really enjoyed this book. It started out a little bit slow, for the first couple of chapters, but then really picked up speed. The story circles around four people (or eight if you want to include the people in Aden's head). Those people are a vampire named Victoria, a werewolf named Riley, a guy who has four souls in his head named Aden, and a girl who negates Adens powers when she's around him named Mary Ann.

This novel starts with an introduction to Aden, who has a time-traveling soul (named Eve), a physic soul (named Elijah), a necromancer (someone who raises the dead) soul (named Julian) and a soul who can possess human bodies (named Caleb). Together these characters have been through mental institutions and juvie. But when Aden gets to a new town, he meets Mary Ann who silences the souls in his head, for reasons that neither of them know. The synopsis of this novel makes it out like Aden and Mary Ann are going to be a couple, but Aden is too busy falling in love with Victoria, and Mary Ann is too busy falling in love with Riley. But things get even more complicated from there. Victoria and Riley (Riley is Victoria's personal guard...so yeah, there's some conflict of interest there) are in this town because when Aden and Mary Ann met a physic bond went out and put the supernatural world in a state of torture for a few brief moments.

Now the entire supernatural world wants to know who caused the bond and how to either a.)take control of that power or b.)get revenge on the people who created that bond. The Vampires and their Werewolf guards were no exception. But now Victoria wants no harm to come to Aden and Riley is very protective of Mary Ann. The rest of the supernatural world is still gunning for Aden and Mary Ann (who must stop them from harming the human population in their town and killing them), and so the main plot is born. All in all, I found this to be a very interesting and unique novel. I loved the double romances and action sequences. A must read.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




Jacket Description:

then.

When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now.

That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is a wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever.

Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment- a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

Maggie Stiefvater did an amazing job of concluding her trilogy with a novel that both gave the reader a satisfied feeling at the end of the novel without giving us an unbelievable story/ending.

I must admit that in the beginning, I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I liked Cole St. Clair. But throughout the series, I was also unsure of whether or not I liked Isabel Culpeper. Throughout Forever, however, I began to fall in love with them as a unit of sorts. Together (even though I wouldn't call them a steady couple), they brought out the best in each other. They redeemed the other person in my eyes.

As for our leads, I have always loved Sam and Grace. This novel made me love them even more. Their relationship is one that will last. They already have a kind of pattern that is good for future relationships. And I love that they actually do think ahead, unlike many couples in YA Romance novels (though I do still love those other couples :)

The novel itself was a page turner. I sat down and read the book in one sitting of just under four hours. (The book is 388 pages long, by the way). The suspense was great, and the actions and re-actions between the character made for rich, fascinating dialogue. I believe that Maggie Stiefvater deserves a round of applause for a great conclusion to her trilogy, and I can't wait to read her next book! :D

Maggie Stiefvater's offical website: http://www.maggiestiefvater.com
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