Colleen's Conclusions

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Edit: Just thought it might be safer to say here that there's TINY spoilers in the review. I try not to give out spoilers too often in reviews. I don't think they are anything too major. I'm typing a quick review of this book on my phone because I really don't think I will be able to leave a review this week otherwise. I checked out this book from the library via Overdrive. I don't really understand why I didn't like the first Percy Jackson book other than the fact that I don't get the hype. Besides Harry Potter, I tend to stay away from stuff that is really hyped up. I don't know what made me just check out this book from Overdrive either. I wasn't going to even finish reading this book, I only planned on reading just a couple of paragraphs or a couple of chapters even. But the moment Apollo went from Greek God to mortal my opinions changed. He even tried t...

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm typing a quick review of this book on my phone because I really don't think I will be able to leave a review this week otherwise. I checked out this book from the library via Overdrive. I don't really understand why I didn't like the first Percy Jackson book other than the fact that I don't get the hype. Besides Harry Potter, I tend to stay away from stuff that is really hyped up. I don't know what made me just check out this book from Overdrive either. I wasn't going to even finish reading this book, I only planned on reading just a couple of paragraphs or a couple of chapters even. But the moment Apollo went from Greek God to mortal my opinions changed. He even tried to relate to "us mortals" but failed and made his thoughts on being a mortal funny. THIS was what I had expected Percy Jackson to be like... Despite not liking the first PJ book, I reall...

Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received Spies, Lies, and Allies by Lisa Brown Roberts from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but that has no impact on my thoughts. As a whole, I thought Spies, Lies, and Allies was a strong 3 and a half stars which means I did like the book, but it didn't quite have the REALLY liked it star rating. I stuck around with the book because I appreciated all of the Star Wars references in the book, and some of the Harry Potter ones that were made. My favorite one was when all of the interns met each other and Laurel tried to remind Jason how they knew each other. I liked how all of the characters bonded throughout the book. The thing that didn't make me REALLY like the book was the slow plot. The pacing took awhile to pick up, but around 40 percent after the truth or dare scene was when I decided to stick it out because the characters made up for that slow bit. I...

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith My rating: 5 of 5 stars I checked out Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith from the library but I ended up buying because I didn't leave my airplane mode on my Kindle at the end of the lending period again. But it was cool because it was one of those books that made you feel like you had just purchased the winning lottery ticket..... Get the pun I kind of made there? Sorry, I sometimes just have to make those jokes. But if you guessed what the book was about by now, yup! It was another book where someone wins the lottery and the person has so much where they just spend it in risky ways before learning a lesson. I thought Windfall was going to be like Kasie West's Lucky in Love lottery book, but this one seemed deeper. I liked how this one fleshed out with real life problems. Teddy lived in an apartment with one bedroom and hardly ever saw his mom because she worked night shifts a lot. Leo was in love with Max but they h...

The Rules of Rebellion by Amity Hope My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received The Rules of Rebellion by Amity Hope from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It does not impact my review. I liked The Rules of Rebellion much better than the last Crush book I read and most people should know I do like these books. They are usually quick, easy reads for me. The Rules of Rebellion met my expectations. You don't have to read the other books in this series to know what is going on, but Luke and Meg do appear in this book so if you read this book first you will want to have the first book on hand right away. I liked how this book kind of had similar elements to the first one with the rebellion and the artist, but they weren't exactly the same. Kylie had a bucket list and on her bucket list she wanted to cause some trouble to make her life seem more interesting. Leo was a baseball player, but what he liked to do was to turn stuff into artwork. I like...

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum My rating: 5 of 5 stars I checked out Tell Me Three Things from the library originally but I ended up having to buy the book since I forgot to turn airplane mode on during the last few days I had the book and I of course had to finish it! Tell Me Three Things is a typical YA high school type of book, but I liked it because the characters were so relatable. I knew SN wouldn't be who everybody thought he would be because in Pretty Little Liars A was supposed to be who everybody didn't expect. (Sorry, got off topic there a little bit.) I just really liked this book because it was the first book in about a month almost to make me want to continue reading it as much as I could. I was like that with Ally Carter's book until the book slump came back in United We Spy so I hoped this book would be different for me. It was one of those books that seemed like it was just what the doctor ordered when you need som...

The Museum of Us by Tara Wilson Redd My rating: 2 of 5 stars I received The Museum of Us by Tara Wilson Redd from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't impact my review in anyway. When I first received The Museum of Us by Tara Wilson I thought it was going to be completely different. The writing style wasn't bad, but the plot ended up not being for me at this time. I ended up not finishing it at 22 percent because I couldn't get more into it, but maybe it'll be my cup of tea another time. (I should really say my cup of Dr. Pepper because I don't drink tea or coffee.) Thank you for giving me the chance to review it! That cover was also pretty. View all my reviews

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum My rating: 5 of 5 stars This just might have been what the doctor ordered...review might be coming soon! (Been pretty busy but we shall see!) View all my reviews

United We Spy by Ally Carter My rating: 4 of 5 stars I liked this series as a whole except somehow my weird book slump mood appeared again in this book and I don't quite know why since there was action...Zach was in it. (Spoiler alert ahead!) Zach asked Cammie to marry him. But it's back and it pretty much means I'm just going through the reading motions again. I really don't think it is the book itself since I made it through the series quite quickly. It just makes me sad because I love escaping to a good book. I'll still give this book a four though since it is me and not the book itself. View all my reviews

My Name is Victoria by Lucy Worsley My rating: 2 of 5 stars I thought I would like My name is Victoria especially after reading some of the Gallagher Girls books but I couldn't get into this book. The plot had promise, as well as the friendship between the two characters but it was so slow. The best part about the book was the dog Dash. I liked Dash a lot and my heart broke for the girl when she almost had to give him away. (Slight spoiler there.) Thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this. View all my reviews

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter My rating: 4 of 5 stars Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was a good, fast read. It was the type that I needed to get out of my book slump I am in (I am slowly trying to get out of it still.) I immediately checked the rest of the series out from the library and was pleased to find out that my new library had most of the books except for the latest books. I'm hoping this will keep me busy for awhile! There were a few things that were endearing in this book series. Some of the side characters were my favorite parts about the book. I really like Bex as a character. She just seemed like the type of side kick I'd want to have along any spy missions if I was a spy as well. Zach also was one of my favorites. He reminded me of one of my favorite characters, Adrian Ivashkov, just very slightly. I liked his smiles he gave her that said "I know something you don't know," and I'm pretty sure th...

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead My rating: 5 of 5 stars When I recieved this book on my Nook, I couldn't put it down!! I had to know what would happen next, and I read it in about three days. I stayed up until 2 a.m. two nights in a row to read it. The whole book kept you guessing. Sydney had to continue her duty for protecting Jill and the rest of the clan was with her. Her and Adrian got closer, and she seemed to have gotten over her fear of vampires being evil more. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but this book was aaaaamaaaaaaaaaaazing! I'm currently rereading the Vampire Academy books through Bloodlines so I can catch every detail again. <3 I recommended all of these books to everybody I know! My trainer at work is on the second book of Vampire Academy, and she loves them as well! Give the books a try! If you don't like Twilight, you will love this, and if you do like Twilight, you will love this! This is way better!...

Withering Rose by Kaitlyn Davis My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was not my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling. It isn't as bad as A Court of Thorns and Roses was to me, but it had certain elements that were similar to that book. Cole also reminded me of Tamlin. The first book was definitely better in this series for me. This one was kind of a "rebound book" since I am trying to get back into a relationship with books again. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't surpass my expectations on it from the first one. There's nothing really wrong with Ms. Davis's writing style either, it just wasn't for me. View all my reviews

Cursed by Grace White My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received Cursed from the author in exchange for an honest review, but that doesn't change my thoughts at all. I really liked Cursed by Grace White because there was a bit of mystery and intrigue for it. I knew something was going on that was beyond the whole "she's a witch" plot, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it and was surprised with the reveal when it came. I liked the idea that this was in a college setting too and am definitely looking forward to book number two because I think that will have more of a plot. The book was a little bit slow to get into at first, but the short chapters made it fly by so it wasn't REALLY slow. (It may have just been my book slump that I'm in.) I can't wait to see where we go with the rest of the series. I actually don't have an opinion on the romance part quite yet, I actually enjoyed the rest of the plot more. I almost fini...

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's a four because I always feel so bad for poor Adrian at the end. I'm team Adrian after book three. I'm glad he gets treated better in the Bloodlines spin off. I'm probably one of the few Vampire Academy fans who liked Bloodlines better. My thoughts are still the same rereading the series but I did like it better this time around, even though I still love Adrian. I've been in a book slump this month so far sadly, and book slumps are the worst. Rereading usually helps but I was slow with rereading too. I might be rereading more books to get out of this slump. View all my reviews

The Dating Debate by Chris Cannon My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Dating Debate by Chris Cannon had a promise of a cute plot line. The heroine was a bookworm who LOVED Harry Potter. I liked that fact and the fact that she had the same views on reading as I did. She liked both ebooks and regular books to sit on shelves just in case all things digital disappeared. That's pretty much the exact reason why I buy books once in awhile still. I love books that are about books but this one was just ok to me. I felt like I was missing the spark between the two characters. And the interest in Harry Potter felt like it was a bit too much, but when I was the main character's age I did Harry Potter RPG, checked out mugglenet constantly especially when the sixth Harry Potter book came out, wrote Harry Potter fanfiction, etc. So maybe I'm just missing that DIE HARD FAN feeling I used to have. It's still a fast read especially if you are looking for a qu...

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas My rating: 0 of 5 stars I just can't read this anymore. I liked book number two.. I liked the plot of this one. But I had to make myself stop reading this. Maybe Throne of Glass will be better for me. View all my reviews

Bookish Boyfriends by Tiffany Schmidt My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received Bookish Boyfriends by Tiffany Schmidt from Netgalley (and the publishers) in exchange for an honest review. Bookish Boyfriends was pretty much all I had expected it to be and more. At one point between 20-40 percent of the book it had gotten really cliche and my reading time with it was very slow paced. I had almost put it down because the romance between Merrilee and Monroe bugged me. But then it got SO much better. I like how she decided she didn't want anything like Juliet in the end and she took her time to grow as a character in the book. All of the other characters in the books were very likeable. Fielding was one of my favorites as well as Toby. I liked that Pride and Prejudice was in the book even though I have never read them. I'm not really much for classics, but this book almost makes me want to pick a few up. ALMOST. I don't know if I actually ever will s...

Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones My rating: 2 of 5 stars I was actually pretty excited when I got Silentsong from Netgalley. I really liked Wintersong! But this...I'm not even sure about this. I love the cover of this book! It is simply stunning. But the plot just lost me. And PDF formats get in the way for me sometimes. I tried to ignore that, but the spacing issues kind of made it hard for me to get back into it at some points. I think I might need to check this out from the library as an actual book to try it again in the future. It's not a terrible book, it just sadly fell short for me. It's a two out of five read for me until I get an actual book to try again soon sometime in the future. Again, I really did want to like this book. Thank you publishers for giving me the chance to read it. View all my reviews

Geekerella by Ashley Poston My rating: 5 of 5 stars I actually rather enjoyed Geekerella by Ashley Poston. I thought I wouldn't because it had a con in it and the last con book I read wasn't as enjoyable. I liked how this one was more about the fandom and it had bits and pieces of every fandom mentioned, or at least the popular ones. The feels in this book were just that pretty much, the feels. I started this book on a Sunday morning and realized I had read 100 pages before I had to go out and do errands. That's usually the sign of a good book. I loved the Cinderella take of the plot. This book was like a cross between Another Cinderella Story with Selena Gomez (SUPER CUTE MOVIE!!!) and Cinder and Ella. I know authors don't like to be compared to other works, but it's the truth here and a very good compliment. I can't stop thinking about the book and I lent it out to a relative and I miss it even though I have the book on my e...

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received Surprise Me as an EARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. First of all, I normally LOVE Sophie Kinsella books aside from one other one. I was excited when she announced that she was having another book come out this year and fell in love with that cover. I mean, look at that cover. That looks like nothing could go wrong, right? The colors are just so pretty and it's cute. The description drew me in also. But...the first few chapters almost ruined the whole book for me. (Spoiler alert) I just could not understand why Sylvie all of a sudden was like... oh.... I have to be married to my husband for 68 more years? REALLY? Oh my gosh! Whatever British term fits oh my gosh would be good here too. Bullocks? Bloody hell? (Pardon my french there. I really wanted an excuse to sound like Ron Weasley.) Anyway, she kept going round and around and by chapter five I almost gave up. ...

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West My rating: 5 of 5 stars Love, Life, and the List was the first book I read for 2018 and I am glad it was a five star read sbecause I ended 2017 in a book slump and started last year in one as well. It's great to be off to a great start already! First of all, Kasie West is AMAZING. She's the queen of contemporary young adult romance and her books are good for getting out of book slumps. I was excited when I got this book. This book was just amazing. I liked how the main character Abby took her time to actually grow in life to make her art better. And her and Cooper were so cute. I didn't think this book was boring at all despite what some of the other reviews said. It just depends on what type of thing you like. I like how the romance wasn't instant either. Kasie West just does an excellent job developing the plots as everything goes along and that should be how they are. I can't wait to read ...