The Sin Eater's Daughter Review

TITLE: The Sin Eater's Daughter
AUTHOR: Melinda Salisbury
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2/25/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 320
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING: 


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, none of the lords or ladies ever speak to her. Because Twylla isn't exactly a member of the court.


She's the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla's touch, avoids her company.
But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet, Twylla's been promised to the prince and knows far too well what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the last of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies--a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I wanted to like this book so bad. It started out and I was a little confused by all of the strange character names and kingdom names, but I figured I was adjust to it. I'm not much of a fantasy reader and I sometimes have trouble with fantasy books because of the strange names and overly descriptive passages. I did adjust a little bit, but it was still a little difficult for me not to zone out when the passages were describing some of the gods.


In my opinion, this book was so boring. Nothing was happening. I had heard that there were people who loved this book, so I kept pushing myself to read on telling myself that it must get better if so many people like it. The plot started to pick up (sort of) about 2/3rds of the way through the book, but even then it was slow moving. There were some twists with the plot and we learn things that, at least for me, didn't even cross my mind as a possibility, but I was still pretty bored with this book. I need more things to happen and more action.


CHARACTERS: I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Maybe it was because I was so bored with this story line that I just didn't pay attention to the characters, but they just fell flat for me. I feel like I didn't really know anything about anyone.


COVER: The cover of the book is so beautiful. It's part of the reason why I pushed myself to keep reading. I figured if a book could have this pretty of a cover, it has to be good, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for me.

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

Read Between The Lines Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Read Between The Lines

AUTHOR: Jo Knowles

PUBLISHER: Candlewick Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 3/10/2015

FORMAT: ARC

PAGES: 336

SOURCE: Amazon Vine

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger courtesy of a bully in gym class. The middle one--splinted to flip off the world. It won't be the last time that finger is raised in this extraordinary novel. Dreams Claire envisions herself sitting in a cafe, filling a journal with her thoughts--but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of boys scam clueless drivers for beer money without remorse--or so it seems.

Their voices--and many others--speak of the complex dance that is life in a small town. These characters orbit one another, trying to understand and be understood in the face of trauma, heartbreak, and revenge. The line where presentation and perception meet can be hard to discern. Unless, of course, one can look a little closer--and read between the lines.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book is made up of many many different perspectives. I like how all of the stories are intertwined, but we don't see them collide all at once, we see things unfold slowly throughout the story. It makes you think about how people are always interspersed in each other's lives and how we are all connected in some way or another, even if we don't realize the impact we may have on other people. This book is a very small snippet of time for this community and it was really interesting to read about.

CHARACTERS: The book gives the perspectives of ten different characters. Because the book is so short and there are so many characters, I feel like I didn't really get to know any of them as deeply as I would have liked. But I also feel that this story is more about the community as a whole than any one individual character, so it works for this book.

COVER: The cover is pretty simplistic, which is a feature I like in covers. It ties in well with the story.

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

Book Trailer Reveal - Awakening by Shannon Duffy

The time is here to reveal the book trailer for Awakening by Shannon Duffy. But first, a summary of the book.

Desiree Six (because she was born on a Friday) believes in everything the Protectorate stands for. She likes the safety and security of having her entire life planned out--her career, her mate, even the date of her death. She doesn't even think to question when Darian, her childhood friend and neighbor, is convicted of murdering his parents. They had seemed like such a loving family. But if he was convicted, then he must have done it.

Then Darian shows up in her room late one night. he has escaped the Terrorscape--a nightmare machine used to punish all Noncompliants--and he needs Desiree's help. What he tells her rocks her world to its core and makes her doubt everything she's ever been told. With this new information, will Desiree and Darian be able to escape the Protectorate before it's too late?

Find Shannon Duffy Online:

Website: http://www.shannonduffylit.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShannonDuffyLit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.duffy.56

Be sure to pick up your copy on 4/07/2015!
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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