Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter

By Marissa Meyer

   

Original Synopsis: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? 

My Review: I love the Lunar Chronicles and reading this book was really bittersweet. However, I would say that this is one of my favorite books from the series. It's a tie between Cress and Winter mostly because I love Thorne and Cress. I really enjoyed reading Winter, like a lot. I loved how all the characters' lives meshed together. The new character that was introduced, Winter, was really unique and different. Winter is Queen Levana's step daughter and she is...mentally ill (is that the right word for it?). She gets these visions, like the walls bleeding or her turning to ice and they come from years and years of suppressing her gift and powers. And Jacin from the previous book is her best friend who's she's madly in love with and he feels the same but he is just a royal guard who Levana would never let marry or be together. Winter also has these scars on her face that is rumored to be from the Queen forcing her, with her power, to harm herself because she is naturally beautiful. Winter doesn't use glamour and the people think she the most beautiful even with her scars. And so the Queen wants Jacin to kill her and he doesn't and sends her to hide, like the typical Snow White story. The book also catches people up on the other couples of the story and it is so cute. Cinder, Kai, Cress, Thorne, Iko, Scarlet, and Wolf navigate their way into getting Levana overthrown and this story has so much action and romance, it's amazing. Overall, I loved this book. Marissa has such a way with words and always makes her characters vibrant and unique. I absolutely love her romance scenes, especially Cress and Thorne, which by the way- they took an entire book and nothing happened really but in this one... Anyways, it was great to see another strong female come to the story and see all the loose ends tied up. Great beginning, great middle, and great ending. 10/10 would recommend.


OKAY SPOILERS UP NEXT. 

Okay so if you have read it, were you upset with Wolf's physical reconstruction? Because I kind of was. I didn't think he deserved it and it was sad how after all he's done, he'd get an ending like that. I mean it was sweet that Scarlet didn't care and still loved him because it added a lot of depth and meaning to their relationship but if felt wrong. Also when the story ends with Winter not fully recovering, I was left a little hanging but it's all good since it shows that not everything is all sunshines and rainbows. And Cinder and Kai, the original duo, together forever. I mean I loved how Cinder's character was very private and closed off but I would like to have seen more from them. But at the end when he asks her if she'd ever consider being empress and she says yes, I internally died. They will be amazing rulers. Okay now for Cress and Thorne.. It kind of sucked that they had a whole book but nothing really happened but in this one, it was so sweet. It was nice that Thorne was showing his true feelings because, before, it was mostly Cress pining for him but in this book we know he was equally interested. They had a really nice scene at the end where Captain spoke his true feelings and won Cress but also kept his flair of personality. I really hoped you liked this book as much I did. Did you like the closing to the Lunar Chronicles because I sure did.

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A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Hello! This year I became a sophomore in high school and you know what that means... dialectical journals! I personally love reading but these things require a lot of tedious work and energy, so overall this wasn't the worst assignment. I decided to read a Sherlock Holmes book since I had read other ones but not the first one. In the process, I was required to write a reflection and so I did. But then I thought, why not post this up and that way I don't have to rewrite a whole new review. So here it is...

A Study in Scarlet Reflection

First of all, I would like to say that I have previously read Sherlock Holmes novels and did not choose this book because of its small size. I really enjoyed this book and did not want it to end. Sherlock Holmes is definitely one of my absolute favorite characters in literature. The characters were so interesting and the plot was fast paced, all of which I liked.

Firstly, the characters: Holmes and Watson. They are such a great team and even though many people find SHerlock Holmes as conceited and cocky character, I really liked that about him. His confidence made him vibrant and interesting. It was great to read many of his famous quotes like “the plot thickens.” And then whenever Holmes explained his train of thought, I was left in awe. Doyle did a great job of making Watson express how the reader felt. I really liked Watson because he always asked the questions I was thinking. And then when the story shifted to the Utah part, I really liked the romance in it. I love romance novels and this one had a nice gentle touch of it. Lucy and Hope were very unfortunate and her death really made me sympathize with Jefferson, to the point where I hoped he wouldn’t go to jail. I also really liked John Ferrier’s character, I liked how he never gave his beliefs and never forced Lucy to marry a Mormon. He was strong willed and very brave.

Secondly, the plot. It was amazing. It moved at a good pace and I never got bored. I do admit the mystery part of the book was not very mysterious since Holmes always seemed to explain everything he thought a few pages later but I liked the suspense of it. The Flower of Utah story was sweet, sad, and did add to the story.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I would definitely recommend it to a friend because this book covers a lot of bases. It has mystery, romance, action, suspense, and a great insight to late nineteenth century London and Mormons in America.

Stranded by Melinda Braun

Stranded

By Melinda Braun

Book Synopsis: In the tradition of 127 Hours and The Edge, a fascinating and suspenseful novel about a group of teens battling for their lives against the most violent villain in history—Mother Nature.:

                   It’s human instinct to survive…but Mother Nature has other plans.

Plagued with guilt after surviving the car accident that took her sister’s life, Emma ventures into the rugged and mysterious wilderness of the Boundary Waters in search of some much needed peace. But when a freak windstorm kills her guide, Emma and a handful of other campers are forced to fend for themselves. Lost, hungry, and exhausted, the small group must rely on their survival instincts as they travel through the forest towards Lake Superior.

              But the Boundary Waters is vast and unpredictable, and as the days drag on, it becomes clear that the group is no match for what Mother Nature has in store—and time is running out.

As they continue to battle the elements, Emma realizes that nature isn’t her only threat: there’s one camper who will do whatever it takes to make it out of the Boundary Waters alive. Even if he’s the only one…

            With ripped-from-the-headlines drama, this stirring story of heroism and survival will have you at the edge of your seat until the very last page.

My Review: I was casually glancing the book aisles in Barnes & Noble when I came across this book. It looked really interesting but I was kind of hesitant since I feel like there's been multiple books written about this. But I hadn't read a book like this and it turned out to be really good. I like the characters and the writing. I feel like none of the characters were boring but they did fit into the typical stereotypes like the  Jerk, The Attractive Nerd, etc. The characters were a bit underdeveloped though. And I will say that Emma's reaction to one of the first catastrophic event what completely unreasonable and made her and the others seem a bit heartless (Wish I could say but not going to spoil it, just watch for the freak windstorm and what that causes). The plot and events were very realistic too. They encountered struggles that I thought were completely probable. Overall, I would give this book 3 out 5 stars. I enjoyed it and was not bored during the novel but I did feel that the characters needed a bit more work and at times the plot fell a bit flat and predictable.