Lindsay's Mini Review: Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3) by C.C. Hunter

Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter

Book 3 in the Shadow Falls Series

Published on January 1, 2012 by St. Martin's Press

Paranormal | Vampires | Young Adult

380 Pages

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Step into Shadow Falls, a camp for teens with supernatural powers. Here friendship thrives, love takes you by surprise, and our hearts possess the greatest magic of all.

Kylie Galen wants the truth so badly she can taste it. The truth about who her real family is, the truth about which boy she’s meant to be with—and the truth about what her emerging powers mean. But she’s about to discover that some secrets can change your life forever…and not always for the better.

Just when she and Lucas are finally getting close, she learns that his pack has forbidden them from being together. Was it a mistake to pick him over Derek? And it’s not just romance troubling Kylie. An amnesia-stricken ghost is haunting her, delivering the frightful warning, someone lives and someone dies. As Kylie races to unravel the mystery and protect those she loves, she finally unlocks the truth about her supernatural identity, which is far different—and more astonishing—than she ever imagined.

Do you ever go to the bookstore, excited to get new books and realize there's nothing there that you really want at that time? That's what happened when I bought Taken at Dusk. Now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the series and hang onto the cliffhangers like my life depends on it, but I'm not completely invested in the series like I was in others.

The plot felt pretty lax compared to the other books. Sure, there were cliffhangers, but the book went up to a climax that fell flat. It wasn't all that exciting, and I was disappointed, but the underlining plots made up for it somewhat in how interested I was in them.

Character wise, the characters were realistic and with so many, it wasn't hard to follow. I felt like the scenarios were real, and I was interested in each of the characters as a whole.

I will be completing the series soon, hopefully, and I look forward to reading the next book when I have time to pick it up.

WoW: Landline by Rainbow Rowell (11)

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Series: None
Genre: Adult, Chick Lit, Contemporary
Pages: 320
Published by St. Martin's Press on July 8, 2014
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Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened? 

I don't care if this is an adult novel; it's Rainbow Rowell, so of course I'm going to read it. Plus, the MC's last name is McCool. How cool is that? Hahahah, see what I did there? Yeah, I'm pretty lame. But anyway, this sounds pretty interesting. Rainbow Rowell always writes beautifully, and I love that about her. Also, dat cover. It's gorgeous.

I'll probably read it when it comes out if not a few months after. It's not one of my highly anticipated books of 2014, but it's definitely one of those books that I'll be picking up when it hits the stores! (:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 438
Published by St. Martin's Press on September 10, 2013

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Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Wow. Wow. Wow. This book was just magical and amazing and I honestly only have one bad thing to say about it. One. Only one. That's amazing, to say the least. And the only bad thing that I have to say is the Simon Snow aspect of the whole book.

I get that this entire novel was based on Simon Snow, but Simon Snow is basically the equivalent to Harry Potter, and no offense to you Potterheads, but Harry Potter is just not for me. So naturally, Simon Snow was just not for me. Eventually, I got past all the Simon Snow and thought about Levi and Reagan, and everything was great again. Rainbow Rowell has a way of creating such realistic characters that I can relate to and understand on a deeper level. My all-time favorite character in this book that wasn't Levi was Reagan. She's exactly what I would want for a college roommate. As for the twins, I thought that the whole Cather/Wren thing was pretty genius (Catherine), but Wren seemed pretty flaky to me. And I understand that Cather used Wren as a crutch her entire life, hiding behind her sister while she quietly wrote fanfiction about Simon Snow. So when Wren and Cath started drifting apart, it naturally took a toll on Cath. Personally, I felt that Cath leaned a bit too much on her twin, but I think that was the point of the book.

As for plotting and writing, Rainbow Rowell can do no wrong in my eyes. Her prose is so majestic (yes, I just said majestic), and it was easy to just read. Sometimes, I just want an easy read where I can fly through the pages without difficulty, and Fangirl is definitely one of those books. It's going to be a longtime favorite; I can see it. And the ending was good. Really good. It didn't give that much closure for the characters, but I don't think these specific characters really needed any. The final book in the Simon Snow series was released and yay! The end.

In conclusion, I honestly would've never read this book if it hadn't gone on sale on Amazon for $1.70 for the eBook version. I hate to admit that since I loved it so much, but I honestly just wouldn't have had the time or money to buy it and read it. I was okay with Attachments, and I loved Eleanor & Park. So I had no idea how I was going to feel about this book. And the fanfiction part turned me off even more. I write on Wattpad, and literally in the past year the fanfiction section of Wattpad has spiked so much just because of One freaking Direction. Fanfiction is just not for me, so I was surprised that I loved this book. 

Tori's Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Series: none 

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★★★
Pages: 328

Published by St. Martin's Press on February 26, 2013

Date Finished: July 20, 2013
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Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.