The Replacement - Brenna Yovanoff

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs. [Goodreads]

Who wouldn't want to read this? I mean, the cover alone is just... wow. Yeah, its creepy, but the creepyier the cover, the better the book looks...Well, to me at least. I went in to this book thinking that there was going to be a lot of action and that it was going to be fast paced. And, in some places, it is. In others, however, The Replacement definitely got slow. Sometimes I found myself putting the book down just because I was annoyed with the pace of the book. Even though there was that minor setback, I continued to read - and eventually finish - The Replacement and was content with the book itself. I give this book a 3/5.

In my opinion, Mackie, the main character, doesn't really have much depth to him. The book starts off with Mackie being a "woe is me" type character. This doesn't really change throughout the book, and for that, I was extremely annoyed. The only characters that I felt had real depth were Tate, Mackie's best friend (aI can't remember his name at the moment) and the Cutter and they weren't even involved in about half of the book. I feel that if they were expressed more and developed more - possibly as main characters - this book would have been an A++. But, that was not the case. There was just something about Mackie that annoyed me throughout this book, and I can't exactly put my finger on it, but his character seemed...incomplete.

The town that this book took place in was believeable...to a point. I didn't really see why the towns people really went on with everything and it would have been nice to have an explanation other than "it's what we've always done." Maybe that's the rebel teenager in me. Who knows?
Overall, The Replacement is a good read. If this is a series (Is this in a series?) I would definitely pick up the second book just to see what happens next. And there were some awesome quotations in this book. Not gonna lie. Definitely check it out. :)

Discussion: Limits

Should there be a moral limit to the amount of books that you ask your local library to put on hold for you?

This is the question that I have just asked myself, and Amber, but I ask Amber all of my moral/ethical questions. So, anyway, back on topic.

Here's the story:

I was looking for a new book to read, because school's almost over and, hey, I think we all deserve a treat with finals approaching (or not) and did what I always do: GoodReads. Now, GR and I have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes, I love it because I find new books, and sometimes I hate it because I find new books. Either way, I find new books, so GR and I will always love each other. Anyway, as I was on GR looking for a book, I actually found seven. That led me to check my library account, which led me to put on hold all seven books that I had just searched.


For the curious mind:

1. The night circus : a novel
      by Erin Morgenstern
2. The knife of never letting go
      by Patrick Ness
3. Grave mercy
      by Robin LaFevers
4. The other Boleyn girl : a novel
      by Philippa Gregory
5. The dark glamour : a 666 Park Avenue novel
      by Gabriella Pierce
6. Hunger
      by Jackie Morse Kessler
7.   Full moon rising
      by Keri Arthur

 I then realized that whatever poor soul happened to be the one to pick out the books that I had asked my local library to hold would have their work cut out for them, and I felt bad. (Well, as bad as one could feel while making someone get their books for them.) I know that if someone asked me to find seven books that were scattered throughout the entire library building for them and put them on a shelf so that they could easily check them out, only so that they could read and return them so that I could to the tedius task of checking them back in and replacing them on shelves just so I could start the process all over again, I'd look like this: 





After thinking about Capt'n Jack running, I texted Amber: 



Now, even though Amber said that it was ok, I still want to know: Should there be a  moral limit to the amount of books one asks the library to hold for them?

New Blog!

Hello, again!
I have decided to create a new blog, and am starting to get things set up. On this new blog will be reviews and recaps of TV shows that I watch. I've decided to make this new blog because I usually just bug my friends about the shows that I watch, and (naively) hope that they'll share my love for said TV show. Usually, they don't and I am left with inner angst at whatever show has just ended and am too hyped up from said episode that I can't concentrate until I talk to someone about it. That is why I have created this new blog.


Best,
Leah.

Legend - Marie Lu

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills. [Goodreads]

I had been wanting to read this book for a while, and I had been reading about and watching all of the hype about Legend for a while before I'd picked it up. So, my expectations for Marie Lu were set pretty high. On that note, I gave Legend a 3/5.

I've been really into dystopian/conspiracy/action-y reads lately, (if I just described you, this is definitely your book) so I decided to give Legend a whirl. I wasn't dissapointed, but I also think that my expectations weren't completely met. The plot was good, and I really liked the who-done-it vibe that I got from the whole Metias dying thing. But, there was just something missing, and I'm not completely sure what it was. I guess the "it factor" just wasn't there for me.

I finished this book a few months ago, and while I did like the plot, I found myself growing bored with the characters. There were just too many similar things between Day and June that, besides the font and color changes in the text (and the whole June = girl, Day = guy thing), it would have been hard for me to remember exactly who was whom. I can't really go into any more about the characters without spoiling the big secret in the book, so I'm going to leave that at that. One thing made me want to chuck this book at my wall more than anything else, and that would have to be the whole Romeo and Juliet love at first sight thing that Legend had going on. Within a few pages - if even that - of the two main characters meeting eachother, they were instantly attracted to eachother. This made the book unrealistic, which is a definite no-no for me. It'd be great if the whole insta-love thing happened in the real world, but it doesn't. At least, not in my experiance and insta-love probably isn't what would have happened in the real world anyway. I'm pretty sure June would have punched Day in the face just to show that she could.

While I wasn't as wow-ed as I thought I was going to be by Legend I did enjoy the book, and I can't wait to see what Lu has in store for us with her next book in the Legend series.

Birthday book haul!

I am posting this video late, I literally just got my laptop up and working so it's going to take a little while until I get back in the swing of things, as they say. Anyway, my  birthday was at the end of April, so why not post a birthday book hall to let y'all know what I'm going to be reading next? I currently haven't finished any of these books, but they are what I will be reading in the near future.

Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems
Masque of the Red Death - Bethany Griffin
I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
Croak - Damico
The Girl in the Steel Corset - Kady Cross
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Insurgent - Veronica Roth

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery...

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul. [Goodreads]
This book... Wow. I don't think I can even express anything except my frusteration at the fact that I could not give this book 5,846,279,563,978,560.6 stars on GoodReads. While I am aware that it would be almost impossible to make space for 5,846,279,563,978,560.6 stars on GoodReads without becoming a website full of stars. Yeah, now that I think about that, I think I'll stick with the whole 5-star system. In this case, it is safe for you to assume that I gave this book 5/5 stars. Because I did.

Before I even began thinking about reading this book, I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Stacy from the CapterChicks made a review on The Book Thief and immediately after I heard how much she loved this book, I checked it out from my local library. [Watch Stacy's review here] I read the book within 2 weeks, not because it was a bad book--it DEFINITELY wasn't--but because it takes time to both read and appreciate a book. For me, I can't just read a book in a day and then appreciate it for a week and be done with it. I read this book so that I could appreciate the Holocaust through a German girl's eyes (albeit fictional eyes) as she watched all of this propaganda that she could not explain. This book is so powerful and there are so many real things in this book that I almost forgot that it was fiction. To me, Lesel was real, Hans was real, Mama was real, and Rudy was real. Everything about this book was beautiful. I can't describe how phenominal The Book Thief is. If you haven't read it yet, please do.

Hello, everyone!
Once again, I appologize for not posting as much as I know I should be. I've been extremely involveed in my school work lately, mainly because there's this ginormous AP test that people (especially people who don't want to waste $87) absolutely have to spend obscene amounts of time on. Because of the obscene amounts of time that I've been spending studying, (and the fact that my computer is, once again, broken) I haven't been able to blog, however, I have been able to read. :) And, my birthday was yesterday, so whenever I get a free moment, I will post a video of all of the fantastic books that I've bought for myself.
Anyway, if you want to keep up with me and what I'm doing, check out my GoodReads profile.
www.GoodReads.com/LeahTFT
Thank you, and I will get back into blogging once my computer is completely fixed.