Series Review - White Rabbit Chronicles

  

The following is a full series review of White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showwalter.
Each installment is reviewed individually and given a rating reflecting my thoughts on only that installment.
The collection may later contain spoilers concerning events in previous installments. Proceed with caution.

Book Review - Spirit Bound

Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #5
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 18th May 2010
Publishers: Razorbill (Penguin)
No. Pages: 481
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong..

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's - and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true - Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. Only this time, he won’t rest until Rose joins him.. forever.

Book Reviews - Mind Games/Annie and Fia

Mind Games
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 3rd December 2013
Publishers: Harper Teen
No. Pages: 327
Source: Won
Rating: 
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Fia was born with flawless instincts.
Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right.
Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her -
except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable way.. or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

Film Review - Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Beautiful Creatures
Director(s): Richard LaGravenese
Genres: Fantasy, Romance | Childrens, Young Adult
Duration: 124 Minutes
Release Date: 14th Febuary 2013
IMDB Rating: 
Butterfly Rating: 
Trailer: See Here
Buy From: Amazon | Ebay

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Book Review - The Year of the Rat

The Year of the Rat
Author: Clare Furniss
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 24th April 2014
Publishers: Simon and Schuster
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - Simon and Schuster
Rating: 
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I always thought you'd know, somehow, if something terrible was going to happen. I thought you'd sense it, like when the air goes damp and heavy before a storm and you know you'd better hide yourself away somewhere safe until it all blows over. But it turns out it's not like that at all. There's no scary music playing in the background like in films. No warning signs. Not even a lonely magpie. One for sorrow, Mum used to say. Quick, look for another.

The world can tip at any moment.. a fact that fifteen-year-old Pearl is all too aware of when her mum dies after giving birth to her baby sister. Told across the year following her mother's death, Pearl's story is full of bittersweet humour and heartbreaking honesty about how you deal with grief that cuts you to the bone, as she tries not only to come to terms with losing her mum, but also the fact that her sister - The Rat - is a constant reminder of why her mum is no longer around.

Book Review - How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love

How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love 

Author: Ken Baker

Standalone

Genres: Contemporary| Young Adult

Release Date: 22nd April 2014
Publishers:  Running Press Kids

No. Pages: 272

Source: Review Copy - Running Press Kids

Rating: 

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Thick. Heavy. Big boned. Plump. Full figured. Chunky. Womanly. Large. Curvy. Plus-size. Hefty." To sixteen-year-old Emery Jackson, these are all just euphemisms for the big "F" word—"fat." Living on a Southern California beach with her workout fiend dad, underwear model sister, and former model mother, it is impossible for Emery not to be aware of her weight.

Emery is okay with how things are. That is, until her "momager" signs her up for Fifty Pounds to Freedom, a reality show in which Emery will have to lose fifty pounds in fifty days in order to win the million dollars that will solve her family's financial woes. Emery is skeptical of the process, but when the pounds start to come off and the ratings skyrocket, she finds it hard to resist the adoration of her new figure and the world of fame. Emery knows that things have changed. But is it for the better?

Book Review - Witch Finder

Witch Finder
Author: Ruth Warburton
Series: Witch Finder #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 2nd January 2014
Publishers: Hodder Childrens
No. Pages: 374
Source: Review Copy:
Rating: 
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London. 1880. In the slums of Spitalfields apprentice blacksmith Luke is facing initiation into the Malleus Maleficarum, the fearsome brotherhood dedicated to hunting and killing witches.

Luke’s final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke knows that tonight will change his life forever. But when he picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, Luke has no idea that his task will be harder than he could ever imagine.

Book Review - Endless

Endless
Author: Amanda Gray
Standalone
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 8th October 2013
Publishers: Month9Books
No. Pages: 384
Source: Review Copy - Month9Books
Rating: 
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Jenny Kramer knows she isn't normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumbles on an old music box with instructions for 'mesmerization' and discover they may have more in common than they thought.

Like a past life.

Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren't alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock - and the Order - the trio discovers a link that joins them in life - and beyond death.

Book Review - Switched

Switched
Author: Amanda Hocking
Series: Trylee #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 12th July 2010
Publishers: CreateSpace
No. Pages: 304
Source: Purchased
Rating:

When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

I'm going to be honest , this book didn't wow me or move me. I know that there are a lot of people out there who love this book and will probably disagree with me but I didn't like it. The only reason I'm given it a two is because it was refreshing to read a YA that wasn't centered around vampires or werewolves, angels or magic. Yet even though it was refreshing it still lacked anything.

Book Review - Living Dead In Dallas

Living Dead In Dallas
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Sookie Stackhouse #2
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Adult
Release Date: 26th March 2001
No. Pages: 288
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Sookie Stackhouse likes living in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and she likes working as a cocktail waitress at Merlotte's. But she is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature which gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it).

The point is: the vampires saved her life. So when one of her bloodsuckers asks for a favour, she obliges and soon Sookie's in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave, and let the humans go unharmed. But that's easier than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly..

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

Sadly yet again I'm still waiting to be wowed. I think my biggest problem with the books so far is Charlaine Harris is trying to fit so much in such a small book. And due to that I feel like there are things just being brushed over when I (not sure if everyone else) would have loved to read more about it. In the book there's a group of people called The Fellowship of the Sun. They are stated to being like what the KKK are to African Americans but obviously to vampires, but there was hardly any back story to them and considering they were such a big part of the book (and still to be in the series according to Bill) I was left wishing for more.