{Review} Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout



Title: Pure
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Number of Pgs. 329 (Paperback)
Publication date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
How I got the copy:  bought
Rating: 5 Stars

There is need. And then there is Fate 
Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome--especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom--so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do--and sacrifice--for her. 
When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies--lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude or killing her. 
When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.


I've been using a new way of reviewing that I saw over at Making the Grade.  It breaks the book down and makes it easier to rate.  The way it works is each category gets a score out of ten points.  Then you add them all up + 50 (50% automatically for each book) and that's your score out of 100.
9/10: Holy Moly this book is insane.  I thought I liked the Lux series, but let me tell you... this one is really good.  So much has happened in 329 pages it's crazy.  I love the way the romance is playing out.  I was all ready to stock up on Team Aiden paraphernalia until halfway through the book Seth didn't seem so bad.  I've never had an author make me questions the side I've taken...which says a lot.  The first book, Alex is just trying to stay out of trouble and also stop her mom from ruining her world.  But this book delves even deeper.  It was like her world was a snowglobe and the daimons and Minister Telly just shook the hell out of it.  There was only one thing I didn't enjoy and that involves someone Alex is really close to.  I mourned a long with Alex and I didn't really understand why it had to happen.  
10/10: Alex is so irrational and acts on impulse mostly.  I really wish I could act on impulse.  I calculate everything before I do it.  So when she does something crazy I'm green with envy...that is until she ends up in heaps of trouble or almost killed.  And she seems to be the type of girl that is really pretty without even trying because she exudes confidence and purpose.  


Aiden is still ridiculously hot.  J.L.A really knows how to write them.  And I love that every guy character she writes is different.  Aiden is so good.  He wants the best for Alex and he doesn't give in to temptation because it would mean the end of freedom for Alex.  But the few moments when he does give in...well those are fun swoonworthy moments sprinkled in for our enjoyment.



Seth bothered me like I'm sure he was meant to.  But after awhile I started to realize he's not half bad.  It really takes a lot for me to change my mind about a character so I was pleasantly surprised when I, along with Alex, didn't feel the need to punch him after he opens his mouth.  I'm excited to see where this goes.

10/10: THANK YOU GODS...as Alex would say.  Finally this book has more locations than just a school.  Alex starts off at school and this time we actually get to see many parts of the campus.  But she also goes to Council.  And this is were so much happens and again there are many locations including a labyrinth. 
9/10: The beginning of this author's books are always slow, but I like it that way.  We get to develop feelings for the characters and we understand them more.  By the time we get to the gripping action we're so attached to them we're literally on the edge of our seats hoping they make it out alive.  This story gets so fast paced halfway through I couldn't put it down without finishing the rest of it, even though it was 1 am.
10/10: Once again I am amazed by this author.  She has the right mixture of romance, action, character development, suspense, and my favorite...snark.  Her books are the long island iced teas of literature (it's late while I'm writing this review so please ignore my randomness).  But seriously, I love her writing and will continue to buy all her books without even reading the summary first.  Because if it says Jennifer L. Armentrout on the cover, I know I'm in for a crazy and swoon-worthy ride.
GO BUY THIS SERIES NOW!  It's so good you really won't regret spending the $10 on it.  You could spend that ten bucks on cheap fast food that you'll regret eating later or The Covenant series that you will consume over and over again for the rest of your life (for 0 calories).  

Total: 98/100 

“I guess there were two types of people in the world, those who sat around a fire, staring into the flames, and those who started the fire. 
Seth and I started the fire, and then we danced around it.”

***
“I'm not drunk," I said indignantly.

"You were just dancing like some wood nymph five minutes ago. You took your shirt off and now you're latched onto me like a little monkey. So don't tell me you're in complete control of yourself.”




              




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Bout of Books Wrap Up

We made it!!!

*Confetti time!*


*Reality hits*
 No more fun twitter parties 
and I didn't meet my goal...

I had such a good time during this round of Bout of Books.  I met so many awesome bloggers!  I started an amazing series!  And I actually participated in challenges and visited blogs. #Winning

Here's what I did accomplish:
     
(halfway through Pure)

Reviews: Opal & Half-Blood
Challenges: Scientific Discovery & Pg 48 Challenge
Participated in: 2 Tweet Chats

Instead of linking back to my goals/update post here it is below:

{Review} Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Title: Half-Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Number of Pgs. 281 (Paperback)
Publication date: October 18, 2011
Publisher: Spencer Press Hill
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy
How I got the copy:  bought
From Goodreads:
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.



I've been using a new way of reviewing that I saw over at Making the Grade.  It breaks the book down and makes it easier to rate.  The way it works is each category gets a score out of ten points.  Then you add them all up + 50 (50% automatically for each book) and that's your score out of 100.

Plot 6/10: If you go to read this series I suggest you read the prequel.  I'm really glad I did because it set up this new world for the first book.  While there are some cool aspects like these creepy creatures called Daimons.  There were so many things that reminded me of Vampire Academy (Hot guy takes girl back to campus after being gone for awhile and volunteers to train her so she doesn't get kicked out of school.  Creatures higher up in society can control power of fire, air, etc.  One of the characters is drunk all the time. Having to kill someone you love.  Fortune tellers).  But once I got past those similarities I realized I didn't really care if they were similar because the writing was just that good.  There is a good old lesson about equality tucked in there nicely, along with a really sweet growing romance.  No insta-love here, yet it was very different from the Lux series which I was glad.  J.L.A really knows how to develop a romance!  I was also glad there was no huge cliffhanger, but lucky for me I already bought the next two books so I can start them right away!

Characters 9/10: Whenever I read a book with a kick ass heroine, I wish I could be just like them.  Alex acts impulsively, but she's really brave and so strong.  And sometimes I wish I could be more like that because these bold characters do not lead boring lives at all.  Aiden comes in a very close second to Daemon.  And I mean close. He's mature, strong, patient, funny, smart, and kind.  His character is a major reason I'm excited to continue the series.  Caleb is Alex's friend and it was nice to see a friendship that didn't lead to a love triangle for once.  I kept picturing Seth as live version of an Oscar all gold and perfectly chiseled, but then I realized he just looked like a normal person...more like a young Matthew Mcconaughey minus the ridiculous accent.  

Setting 9/10: I liked that it started where the prequel ended at her house in the mortal world.  There was a lot of different scenery which always makes me happy.

Pacing 9/10: J.L.A's books are always page turners.  I get to the end of a chapter and something big happens so I have to continue to find out how it will turn out.  

Style 10/10: I love Alex's voice and thoughts.  She makes me laugh and is easy to relate to.  The only thing that bothered me about the writing was the use of "oh my gods" instead of singular because the world Alex lives in has multiple greek gods.  My mind kept getting caught up on that because it's usually singular.  

Final Thoughts: I'm pretty sure I still like the Lux series more, but this series is definitely realllllly good!  If you haven't read any of J.L.A's books you really need to get on that.

Total: 93/100 
    



“Okay. I’m ready to move onto something else, like practicing with knives or defense against the dark arts. Cool things.”

“Did you just quote Harry Potter?” 


"You're far too pretty to be dressed like that." his breath stirred my hair. "And you're entirely too excited to be working with knives.

“Are you lost, Lea? This isn't where they're handing out the free pregnancy tests.” 
― Jennifer L. ArmentroutHalf-Blood


      


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Amish Vs. Abnegation

Ever watch the show Breaking Amish?  A few months ago I was watching this show and out of nowhere I just starting thinking about how much the Amish lifestyle reminded me of the Abnegation factor in the Divergent series.  

  A few months later I read Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins where an English girl falls for an Amish boy.  And again I just kept comparing the two lifestyles.  

I've sort of become fascinated by this way of life.  It makes sense on paper that stripping our lives of electronics and greed would be good, but I don't think I could handle getting rid of all of it.  There are times I think I like the Amish lifestyle, but then I think (excuse the language)  
I'd never be able to live without indoor plumbing, microwaves, pants, books, etc.  The week we lost electricity from hurricane sandy I had to take cold showers by candle light and it was terrible!

Anyways, got a little side tracked there, but here's what I've noticed while reading. 

For those of you who have read Divergent...have you seen any other similarities?  And would you be able to live in an Amish community or Abnegation faction?



{Review} Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout



Title: Opal
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Number of Pgs. 382 (paperback)
Publication date: December 11, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: YA, SyFy
How I got the copy:  

From Goodreads:

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

*Series Spoiler Alert* If you haven't read the first two books you may not want to read this review*

My Review

I've been using a new way of reviewing that I saw over at Making the Grade.  It breaks the book down and makes it easier to rate.  The way it works is each category gets a score out of ten points.  Then you add them all up + 50 (50% automatically for each book) and that's your score out of 100.

Plot 9/10: I felt like we had to wait forever for this book to come out so I was excited when Opal starts off right where book 2 ended.  The first two books are somewhat light and fun as we're introduced to this new world of aliens.   But Opal takes a darker turn.  We're suddenly not sure if everything will work out in the end.  There is so much Katy and Daemon still don't know.  The plot had a few random surprises that I gladly welcomed.  Like a new character Luc who made me chuckle.  I had read a few reviews where people thought there were too many romantic scenes between Katy and Daemon, but I thought it was just right.  When you're first seeing someone you want to be on them allll the time.  So I thought it was realistic and lifted some of the darkness from the book.  That ending made my jaw hit the floor.  I never expected it.  Of course now we have to wait until July to find out what happens next.  

Characters 9/10: Dawson was not what I expected.  Until I understood what he was going through I didn't like his character.  And I wasn't sure how Katy could tell him and Daemon apart.  Dee was making me angry with her attitude.  It was her fault everything happened because she was the one that wanted to be friends with Katy in the first place.  Katy was being foolish and putting herself in danger often.  I think Daemon was still my favorite.  He showed his vulnerable side which was adorable to watch, yet even though he grew as a character he was still his snarky funny self.  He was still over protective and caring.  I loved that these characters all went through changes though.   

Setting 7/10: I wished we had seen more than just the same school, house, etc.  There were a few new locations that were fun...a club for one. I also enjoyed the school dance scene.

Pacing 9/10: I never get bored while reading this series.  It's pretty fast paced and either Katy and Daemon are doing something romantic or fighting or there's some major action happening with the Arum or bad guys.  The ending was so fast paced it was like doing 100 mph into a brick wall.

Style 10/10: I love J.L.A's writing.  She always has the perfect ratio of snark, romance, action, etc.  Her writing is also really descriptive and just flows so nicely.  I'm starting her Covenant series today!

Final Thoughts: I can't stress how much I love this series.  I think it's the one book I push on everyone the most.  If you haven't tried the Lux Series yet go get it now!

Total: 94/100 
 


Quotes


“I have the feeling we just made a deal with the devil, and he's going to come back and want our first-born child or something."

Daemon waggled his brows. "You want kids? Because you know, practice makes--"

"Shut up." I shook my head and started walking.” 
― Jennifer L. ArmentroutOpal


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