Tori's Review: Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Series: Lunar Chronicles #3
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★★★
Pages: 560
Published by Feiwel & Friends on February 4, 2014
Amazon | B&N

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

NOTE: There are no spoilers for Cinder or Scarlet in this review. You'll just know who ends up with who coupling wise if you read this review, which really isn't that big of a deal. 

Oh, man. I honestly don't even know how to begin this review. To be truthful, I am still so shell-shocked when it comes to the Lunar Chronicles. I loved Cinder and Scarlet, but I don't think I realized how much I loved those books until I read Cress. 

The action in Cress is never-ending, which I loved. There's never really a dull moment. Looking back on this book, it's constant action. I would've read this book in one night if it hadn't been 12 in the morning and I wasn't about to pass out. I couldn't stop reading this book, because that's just how amazing it was. I hate writing extremely negative and extremely positive reviews, because this is how they end up—jumbled and incoherent.

I seriously ship all the couples in this book so hard. Thorne/Cress (Thress?), Wolf/Scarlet (Wolflet/Scarf?), Kai/Cinder (Kinder?), and then there's going to be a Jacin/Winter (Jater/Wincin...?) coupling in Winter. I swear, I don't know how Meyer does it, but she manages to make me ship every single one of her couples. I feel like I'm forgetting a couple, but then again, I don't think I am.

The only characters that I had extreme feelings for in Cress were Thorne and Wolf. I loved Thorne so much in this book. In Scarlet, I was pretty neutral about him, but once I read this book...wow, I loved him so much. Wolf—not so sure about. The more that I think about it, the more that I come to the realization that for the majority of Cress, Wolf brooded and sulked. In Scarlet, he took action and he was amazing, but in Cress, he was easily manipulated and just...there. I think he was a much better character in Scarlet. Regardless, this is the only complaint I have when it comes to this book.

Other than Wolf, there was a character arc for nearly every single character (except Scarlet, but if you've read this book, you would know why. She didn't get much book time), which I loved. Kai grew quite a bit in this book, and I think this was when I really started to love him. So did Cinder. Just everybody grew, and that made me love this book even more. I have so many feelings while reading it.

There were so many POV's too! But I surprisingly was content with this. Usually third person writing with a lot of POV's is a recipe for disaster and no attachment to the world/characters, but Meyer has no problem with this whatsoever. I really love Meyer's to-the-point writing, and she made everything work out in the end. I thought I would get confused with all the different plots going on, but I didn't. It was fairly easy to keep track of, which I loved. (Wow, I loved a lot of things when it comes to this book.)

Overall, this is one of my top favorite of 2014 so far. I've read 16 books in 2014 as of February 9 when I wrote the review, but out of those 16, this is my favorite. I think this will probably remain at the top. I want to reread it right now, and I probably would if it weren't for the fact that there are a million other books that I need to read. I could seriously go on and on in this review, but I think I'll stop it here.

I HIGHLY recommend this series. HIGHLY.

Oh yes, and on a final note, Levana is probably one of the best villains I've ever read about.

Lindsay's Review: The F-It List by Julie Halpern

The F-It List by Julie Halpern
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Rating: ★★★
Pages: 256
Published by Feiwel and Friends on November 12, 2013
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Alex and Becca have always been best friends. But when Becca does something nearly unforgivable at Alex’s dad’s funeral, Alex cuts ties with her and focuses on her grieving family.

Time passes, and Alex finally decides to forgive Becca. Then she’s hit with another shocker: Becca has cancer. It also turns out Becca has a bucket list, one she doesn’t know she’ll be able to finish now. That’s where Alex comes in, along with a mysterious and guarded boy who just may help Alex check a few items off her own bucket list.

Julie Halpern writes about illness, loss, love, and friendship with candor and compassion. Here is an unforgettable book about living fully, living authentically, and just . . . living.

A quick but thorough read that had me staying up late reading at night when I was really needing sleep. The premise has been used before - best friend gets cancer - however add in best friend sleeps with boyfriend the night of your father's funeral and then get cancer, well that, my friends, is the most original idea I've ever heard.

The summary of this book is so wrong in my opinion. Half the book isn't even about the bucket list. Honestly, the bucket list isn't even really an important part of the book. It's mostly about Becca being sick and Alex's struggle between a guy and fear of being happy.

My main problems with this book were the characters and the length. Alex's problems were big ones and could have been drawn out more clearly while also making the book longer. She never quite goes into much about her father's death or having any real memories of him. Her brothers were genetic characters with nothing to define them not only from each other, but to make them realistic, and her mother never seemed to be a real person either. This book could have been five stars if the length was longer because then the author could have had much more room to define these characters and make them believable.

And I don't know about you guys, but I don't talk to my friends about my 'private' life and they don't tell me about theirs. We don't go into detail, we don't discuss people's sex lives or our own. But Becca and Alex talked about it CONSTANTLY. I'm no prude, but even I was blushing and embarrassed at the amount that they were going on about it. BECCA IS DYING AND ALEX'S FATHER IS DEAD AND ALL THEY DO IS TALK ABOUT SEX.

Another minor problem in the book - Becca's love for Alex's dad was never that big of a deal. I'm sorry, but if my best friend thought of my dad as her own and I JUST found that out, I would think that was a pretty big deal. But Alex hardly even cares. It's brought up once at the start of the book and never brought up again. If you create a problem in a novel, it has to be consistent until it's resolved and it was neither.

Overall, even though I did a bit of bashing, this book was a worthwhile read. The premise is unique, intriguing and writing isn't bad at all. I really enjoyed it and was fist pumping at the end of it for the character's!

"So yes. We had sex," I pronounced with a cheeky smile.

"I knew it! It's almost like I could psychically feel you doing it last night while I was in bed!"

"My god, Becca, contain yourself."

Tori's Waiting on Wednesday: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Series: Lunar Chronicles #3
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 560
Published by Feiwel and Friends on February 4, 2014

Rapunzel's tower is a satellite. She can't let down her hair - or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker – unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.