Yesterday I tentatively finished my Summer Bookish Bingo challenge. I say tentatively because while I have read a book for every square now, I'm currently reading a few books that will cover squares I may switch if I finish them before the end of the month when the challenge finishes. (Namely The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand which would cover the tearjerker square and The Girl At Midnight by Melissa Grey which would cover the purple cover square).

 

Some mini reviews for the books I read which I don't feel like doing full reviews for.

 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell - 3 Stars.

I liked it.  I don't really have a lot to say on this one other than I liked it. It didn't wow me, in fact, I nearly DNFed it, finding it a little boring. I don't get why it's such a big deal. The characters were okay, the connection was cute, I liked the dual view points. It was quite moving towards the end. It was just okay for me. Award Winner square. 

 

My and Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - 1 Star. 

I hated this book. I didn't think it was funny at all. The humor was crass and stupid. I didn't like any of the characters. I pretty much hated them all except for Rachel. Who was the only remotely sensible character. I felt like it was trying too hard to be clever. It also felt like it was a crime to be normal in this book. Every character was supposed to be unique or quirky but it just felt full of stereotypes. Just awful. Don't get it at all. Published over a Year Ago square 

 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - 5 Stars

I just loved this book. It did take a while to get going and some of the Hermetic principle thing was kind of hard to wrap my head around.  The writing was amazing, and I loved the characters in this one. I loved the dialogue. The mythology was rather unique, a mix of Roman and Grecian I've not seen anything like this before. The romance was both beautiful and breathtaking. The characters were amazing. Retelling square. 

 

Evertrue (Everneath #3) by Brodi Ashton - 1 Star

Oh, Everneath trilogy, what happened?!? I really liked the first two books of this series. I was really looking forward to the last one. Only to be majorly disappointed. I found this boring, and way too coincidental. I didn't like the end, I didn't feel the epic connection between Nikki and Jack and felt Cole got totally robbed of a decent ending. I might have been saddened by the end if I wasn't so damn annoyed with the whole plot line. Racing from here to here, and conveniently getting everything they needed. Including flying about with no passports? Don't see how that happened (unless I missed something which I might have since I wasn't really paying that much attention to it). I just didn't like it. Oh well. Finish a Series square. 

 

Life Eternal (Dead Beautiful #2) by Yvonne Woon - 4 Stars 

Second book in the Dead Beautiful series explores the mythology from the first book a bit more. Still brilliantly written, and still manages its brilliant trait of filtering in a lot of information without making it info-dumpy. Hard to recap without major spoilers for the first book. The mythology is unique, and for the most part set in Montreal and Vermont during autumn to winter, its creepy and delightfully atmospheric. Still love the characters, though new setting, new school, new mean girl who I didn't really see the point of. But other than that, great sequel. White Cover Square. 

 

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick - 3.5 Stars

I read this in pretty much one sitting. I'm really not sure what to make of it. I liked it, some of the concepts about coincidences were a little hard to understand, and it did feel a little like info dumping. While I did like Laureth, the main character, I found some of her actions rather stupid and found it a little unbelievable in places. It was a faced paced story, and hard to put down once you work out what's going on. I did really like the family dynamic in this one. Main Character with Physical Disability square .

 

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia 4 Stars

Oh this was a heart-breaker! One of those brilliant books with a totally shippy romance, fantastic dialogue that could go from being funny to gut wrenching within a few pages. Alex, the main character, has schizophrenia and can't tell what's real or what's not some times. She's got a great voice, I loved her to pieces. Sent to a new school she has to join a community services club where she starts making some friends, and gets the attention of a strange but oddly appealing boy Miles, who is a jerk. At first. A mean girl to defeat and a mystery about a supposed ghost in a scoreboard. It sounds a little silly, but it was brilliant. And had some truly heart breaking moments towards the end. It made me cry a little. I loved it. Blue Cover square.      

This is not the ending that I either expected or wanted.

So going into this we already knew that Nikki and Jack were all about destroying the Enerneath. Which, personally, I think was stupid, but anyway.
Be warned: This review is one big long spoiler.
So, they accomplished it. They destroyed the Everneath. I hate it. Why? That's so predictable. I hate when MCs do exactly what they set out to do in the way they planned. Exactly. I kept waiting for Nikki to change her mind. Maybe even go for Cole. Let it be known that I was NOT shipping them and what he did, stealing her heart ((LITERALLY)) was wrong. Still, I wanted to switch it up. She and Jack were just too predictable. And Cole died for her. He gave up all his goals and eternity of immorality so that she could be human and waste away to nothing. Boo.
Cole was just one of those characters that I couldn't imagine not existing. He may not have gotten what he wanted, but I imagined him moving on and finding another queen. It would be bittersweet but he'd check up on her when she was old and gray and be wistful. But no. He died. Snapped his guitar pick aka heart in half. And just when I was starting to have some sympathy for him. Of course, that's mostly because he lost his memory and pretty much became a different person (or his real self).

I really wasn't feeling Jack and Nikki here. I don't know why. I think it's because it was too intense, if that makes sense. They went from high school could where she couldn't trust him for a getaway with friends to willing to die for each other.
But I have to give this book points for world-building. The Everneath is unlike anything I've ever read.

Everneath series is a modern take on the world of Persephone and Hades and the associated greek myths. Evertrue is the final book in the trilogy and even though, not that highly impressed with the way things concluded I m definitely happy with the book in general as it has continued the goodness that it had started with its first book

Everneath is a paranormal romance and hence comes with everything mushy, cheesy and chocolatey associated with these sorts of books. Romance and love triangles being an eminent factor in such books is in its full color throughout, but what makes it interesting is definitely the story line which is different and most importantly the whole treatment of the book is different as well.

No matter what, this series is always going to be my favourite and fortunately third book comes with an even interesting development and good pace. I m saying good pace not fast paced because at times the whole emotional outpours can halt the pace a bit. If you have been following this series and have liked it I m sure you will like this book as well which kind of have concluded and tied up all the loose ends in the best possible way it could. 

Ever since I started with the first book, my loyalty kept leaning towards Cole, who is your apparent antagonist and the major source of trouble throughout the book. The author had even brought out a novella that was based on certain phase of Cole’s life which was named Neverfall and in my opinion is also the biggest disaster In the whole series. The second book, Everbound is where you actually fall for cole and the third book has made sure to retain that, at least for me. In my opinion, Cole is the best character in the entire series and much better than our heroine as well and other hero, Jack

The book’s plot makes it unique and interesting and in spite of your typical paranormal romance elements like undying love, altruism, batting eyelids and love triangles overshadowing the essence, I would still say this has been one heck of a series and the third book has managed to keep up the legacy for me by being in sync with the previous two books. Not high, not low but in perfect alliance with the prequels. The pace is good, twists are good and conclusion though not completely to my liking has sealed every character’s fate pretty much nicely. 

And another series finished :)

 

It was okay. I still love the cover of the first book.

The book was just mainly meh. Cole, who was the main part of the books I really liked, was pretty much leashed the entire book. And Jack, who never grew on me, was a rage/roid monster. And apparently the guy of her dreams. 

 

I wasn't a big fan of Man of Steel and this book made the same big mistake that it did. 

Audiobook
I was disappointed.The build up of this world and these characters deserved a more complete ending. There was so there, so much history and it all dispersed into dust with barely a thought. The ending felt extremely rushed and not well thought out. At the end I hated the new left alive, hated them for their callowness and cold behavior.