Reviews written by Renae M

A Million Suns doesn’t open with the attention-grabbing bang that Across the Universe did, so for the first few chapters I was somewhat nervous about this book. I’d heard that it was better than the first, so I was wondering how Revis was going to turn things on. ...

Across the Universe opens with a very detailed and vivid scene where one of the book’s two point-of-view characters, Amy, watches her parents go into cryo-sleep and then undergoes the painful procedure herself. I’ve always been equally disgusted and fascinated by medical stuff, so I don’t think there could have...

I have a few favorite authors. I have authors whose books I read with the expectation that they’ll be good. I have authors whose books I’ll pick up just because that author’s name is on the front cover. So yeah, I have favorites. What I don’t have...

I love Amy Reed. She has the unique and beautiful ability to create likable characters and put them in emotional, heartbreaking situations. This is an author that deals with raw emotion and stark realism, and the end result is something worthwhile. It took me a little while...

I stumbled across this book on B&N while I was spending my Christmas cash. After reading the little excpert they had up, I knew right away that I had to read this book. So worth my money. Initially what drew me into this was the writing. Reed’s...

What I Liked: This is one of those super emotional books that has you jumping up and pacing because you’re too mad/anxious to continue. For the first half of the novel, I was pretty much gnawing my fingers, hoping things would go the way I wanted them to. ...

Though it’s a very short novel, By The Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead packs a punch. This is an internally-powered novel, dealing mostly with Daelyn’s gradual development from suicidal to otherwise. Readers who like fast-paced, plot-intensive books probably won’t like this book quite as much, though I personally...

Important point: Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel, and it’s one of my favorite novels ever. Period, dot, end of story. Any attempt to “retell” that novel will rub me the wrong way, since it can only ever be a knock-off (read: desecration) of Persuasion. Now, just to be...

One of the few (in my estimation) downsides to a standalone novel is the way it limits the author as far as scope and subplots are concerned. Revived by Cat Patrick is a novel that, in spite of its promise, attempts too much in too little space. I wouldn’t say...

Hudson Avery is dealing with…things. Things like her parents’ divorce, the collapse of her skating career, the loss of her former best friend, and her now-single mother’s struggle to keep the power on at home. Things like wanting to stay loyal to her family and friends while at the same...

D.J. Schwenk is a “cow.” Or at least, that’s what Brian Nelson thinks, since she runs her family’s farm by herself without complaint, mindlessly doing as she’s expected. And maybe Brian is right, seeing that D.J.’s not smart, not pretty, can never hope to live up to her older brothers’...

I was originally drawn to Survive because it looked similar to Courtney Summers’s This Is Not a Test. No zombies, of course, but a similar set-up: suicidal girl is put in a position where she has to fight for her life. I liked This Is Not a Test, so I...

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell sounds pretty cool and/or unique. Aliens, dystopia, three kids running for their lives, awesome cover art. Basically, this book promises a lot to its readers; therefore, I came into reading this with lowered expectations (this book sounded too good to be true). So it...

Everybody in Bloglandia loves Cinder. When this book first came out, it was accompanied by so much buzz, hype, and all-around gushing that I just knew, despite my wrinkle-nose reactions to Cinderella retellings, I had to get my hands on Cinder asap. “Asap” is a relative term,...

When I first heard about Madapple, my reaction was basically, “Well who would ever want to read that?” This book sounded really crazy, and I heard from quite a few reviewers that it was disturbing and/or nasty. In the end, I decided to read Madapple because it sounded so weird...