The Third Twin Review

TITLE: The Third Twin
AUTHOR: C. J. Omololu
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2/24/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 336
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia's guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything.

The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they'd never, ever be with in real life.

Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect--Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really like the concept behind this story and I was hoping that it would live up to my expectations. My expectations were a little too high though and I was slightly disappointed, but I didn't hate it. I was expecting this book to read as more of a mystery/suspense novel, but it was more like a contemporary novel with  mystery/suspense elements. The story line was good, I just felt like I wanted it to be more intense. I wanted to be kept on the edge of my seat the whole time, but the story was more tame with a few moments of suspense. I would definitely recommend this to readers who like contemporary but want to try to branch out a little bit.

CHARACTERS: I feel like the characters kept making some decisions that I can't see anyone ever making. It just didn't make any sense to me why they were choosing to do these things. My favorite character in this book was Zane. I feel like he was a loyal friend and I liked his personality.

COVER: I like the cover. It is really creepy and part of the reason that I expected this book to be a lot more suspenseful.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review**

 

February 2015 Wrap Up

This month I read a total of 10 books with 9 of them counting towards my 2015 "Real" Book Challenge. That leaves my totals so far for the year at 25 total books read and 24 "Real" books read.




"Real" Books:



E-Books:



Reviews Written:
Playlist For The Dead
I Remember You
Red Queen
Afterworlds
The Duff

The Duff Review

Goodreads

TITLE: The Duff

AUTHOR: Kody Keplinger

PUBLISHER: Poppy

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/7/2010

FORMAT: ebook

PAGES: 270

SOURCE: Bought

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of the man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I kept seeing the previews for the Duff movie on tv, so I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. The book is completely different than what I thought it would be. The movie previews make it seem like a light and fluffy comedy kind of movie (I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know if that's actually how they made it or not), but the book is actually quite a bit deeper than that. The book deals with some intense issues (body image, divorce, sex). The main theme of this book is body image and how we see ourselves and I feel like that theme was really hit head on in this book.

CHARACTERS: I would have liked a little more character development. I felt like the characters were on the right track, but I wanted a little it more about them. That being said, I really liked Bianca's best friends, Casey and Jessica. They were both really great, genuine friends to Bianca.

COVER: I don't really like the cover. I'm not really sure who the girl on the cover is supposed to be.

Afterworlds Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Afterworlds

AUTHOR: Scott Westerfeld

PUBLISHER: Simon Pulse

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/23/2014

FORMAT: Hardcover

PAGES: 499

SOURCE: Bought

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings...

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen to slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Basically, this book is about a girl named Darcy who is writing a novel. We get to see what is happening with her life and her writing career. Every other chapter lets us read a chapter of the book that Darcy is writing.

I've never read any other books like this. You're basically reading two books at the same time. I really enjoyed the story that Darcy was writing. It was really exciting and gripping. But at the same time, I was really interested in Darcy's journey. I liked getting a glimpse into a writer's side of life. When I got into each part, I didn't want to leave it to go back to the other, but I'd soon be sucked into that part and not want to leave.

I loved all of the BEA references. After hearing so much about BEA from fellow book bloggers, so it was neat to see it from the perspective of an author.

I also really enjoyed the ending of both the novel and Darcy's book. 

CHARACTERS: Darcy was a great main character. Yes, she is an author, but she's also just a teenager herself and she acts like a teenager. She does make some unwise decisions, but nothing that she can't come back from and I feel like her decisions are those that a typical teenager would make.

COVER: The cover is pretty neat. I feel like they could have done more to tie it into the story, but I do like it.

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