In case you were wondering...

...where I've been lately, I'm still here! I've been pretty busy with non-bloggy stuff, so unfortunately I haven't been able to be here or other places online as much as I'd like.

Luckily, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to start posting and chatting more again, pretty soon. I don't know exactly when, so please bear with me!! I'd LIKE to post every day except Saturday, so six times a week, with at least three of those posts being reviews. Not quite sure yet how well that will work out, but here's hoping!

Anyway, that's the reason it's been pretty quiet around here, and why I haven't been replying to comments and such--actually, I'm going to do that now, so if you've commented recently and want to see my response, feel free to check :)

Also, as long as you're here, you should totally vote on my poll on the sidebar ----->

Or, you could go play an INTERACTIVE GAME I created for the Max Ride Reading Challenge.

So, be on the lookout for more content coming soon, and thanks for sticking around!!

(:D)
~Mag

Review: Black Heart by Holly Black

Black Heart is a book I've been DYING to read ever since I finished Red Glove!! That wait nearly drove me insane! The world Holly Black created is AWESOME and I couldn't wait to get back to it. Also! I love that cover, even if I had another Across the Universe moment where it wasn't until I finished the book that I realized there were faces hidden in the "abstract" design :)

(Oh, and please note

that this review is for the third book in a series, so there might be some spoilers for the first two--but not the third, I promise!)

Black Heart by Holly Black
Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy. 

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love. 

-------

One of the absolute coolest things about the world of Curse Workers is that it's the same as our world, yet so different. Usually, a supernatural/paranormal aspect in a book is hidden from the masses. For example, the Mortal Instruments world. The only people who know about Shadowhunters and Downworlders are Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Mundies are left in the dark.

But in this world, everyone knows about--and usually fears--the workers. They've known for a while, and everyone always wears gloves. It's almost a subtle difference, yet such a change!!

So, as the synopsis says, Cassel is working for the Feds now. That, paired with the fact that he's a conman at heart, not to mention that he's in love with the daughter of a mob boss, makes for a pretty big conflict of interest. Throughout the book Cassel is torn, being pulled all over the place, trying to figure out who's really on his side and who's just using him.

And besides all that, Cassel has to deal with his amnesiac sociopath brother, worry about his mother, help his friends with their problems, investigate a classmate's blackmailing, and go to SCHOOL. His life is not exactly great right now.

But through it all, there's still that question: Who is Cassel Sharpe, really?

A good guy?
A bad guy?
A conman?
An honest man?



A weapon?

Altogether, Black Heart gets <*><*><*><*><*>

(:D)
~Mag

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I don't usually read science fiction. It's not a genre I'm usually interested in, a few exceptions being Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout (though I'm not even sure if that sounds as sci-fi) and the Host by Stephanie Meyer (which is literally described as science fiction for people who don't like science fiction). However, Across the Universe is another one of those books, the sci-fi books I love. 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. 

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. 

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

------

When I'd heard about this book, I'd already read GLOW by Amy Kathleen Ryan, and I wondered if this book was going to be the same basic thing (You know, since both books are about ships heading to a New Earth when some major conflict erupts). But I was totally glad to be wrong on that count, because, while I didn't especially LOVE GLOW, Across the Universe was pretty awesome.

I was immediately very interested in the choice Amy had to make at the beginning of the book. Think for a second: You're a teenage girl. You've never not had your parents around. They're shipping off into space, to the unknown, never to return to Earth. Do you go with them? Or do you stay with your friends and your boyfriend and the familiar?

That had to be a hard choice to make. And I don't think this is a spoiler--I mean, it's kind of the premise of the book--but obviously Amy chose her parents. I would, too.

Then there's Elder. I really liked Elder. I liked how he didn't know everything. It's interesting to be along for the ride as he discovers things about his ship, his HOME, that he never dreamed of. And I don't mean good things.


More things I loved: Harley. His paintings. The talking about the Old Earth's history. The stars. Amy's claustrophobia on the ship. I can totally get that. 


Trying to figure out who was unfreezing the cargo was really awesome. I thought I had it figured out from the beginning, only to change my answer three or four times. I finally figured it out a couple chapters before "the big reveal", so I was proud of myself. Then there's another twist, one I NEVER saw coming. I mean, DANG.


If you like science fiction, you should definitely check out this book. If you DON'T really like science fiction, you should still give it a shot. Because it's good.


My final rating: <*><*><*><*>


(:D)
~Mag

*Edited to add* Also, is it sad that it wasn't until I was halfway/three quarters-ish into this book that I realized the cover was Elder and Amy's faces? Fail. Which is my middle name.