A copy of this novel was provided by the author for review.

I really loved The Forgotten. It remains one of my all time favourite dystopian novels, and I really don’t see that changing any time soon. The funny thing is – sequels are often a letdown. Second Book Syndrome or whatever. And most of the time this applies to me. When I look at my ratings on Goodreads, the first book in a series is always the highest and then the ratings pretty much get lower as the series goes on. So I was expecting to like The Wandering, because I love the characters and the story but the amazing thing is that I ended up LOVING it – perhaps even more so than its gorgeous predecessor.

Saruuh is really freaking talented. This book is told from a bunch of perspectives, I think the total is something like six, and each and every chapter is so clear that there is never any confusion about whose chapter is whose. I know from beginning to end of each chapter who I am reading about. And I freaking love each and every one of them.

Yosiah is my babe, though. He is one of my all time favourite book boyfriends, because he adores and protects Miya but understands her need to be strong on her own grounds and the way he handles her aversion to be being touched. I JUST CANNOT WITH YOSIAH, OKAY? I AM GETTING TOTALLY EMOTIONAL OVER HIM RIGHT NOW AND HE’S JUST MY PRECIOUS FREAKING DARLING BB.

Miya is heartbreaking. I adore her to pieces, and I ship her with Yosiah SO FREAKING HARD. I love how confused she is, and how much she loves the people she loves (which sounds a bit odd, but this girl is fierce when it comes to her family, it’s amazing).

Okay, deep breaths right now because EPIC FANGIRLING AND FLAILING IS ABOUT TO OCCUR BECAUSE I JUST CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT CAN’T WITH BRAN AND HONOUR. In the beginning of this book, I was like: am I getting the feels between these two? And then the SLOW BURN AND THE REVELATIONS AND THE KISS AND OMG YES. I needed this to happen because those two characters are the most adorable and vulnerable darlings in the world and together they are just freaking PERFECT AND I AM SQUEALINGGGGGGGGG WITH HAPPINESS. *incoherent happy mumbling*

I’m glad we were introduced to Bennett again because after she was transported away from Bran in The Forgotten, I was pretty worried about her. But she’s been getting along fine. She’s totally rocking life by herself, and I cannot wait to see where her paths take her in the future.

I need Horatia to be happy again, or for her boyfriend to be miraculously alive because I don't like seeing these characters in pain.

As for plot line, The Wandering was perfectly paced, and executed. Again with Saruuh’s talent, guys. It’s amazing. She’s one of my favourite writers, because she just has this way of making me care so much about everyone that she introduces me to, and her characters are so fleshed out and freaking real, and I just love it.

I NEED the third book in this series because I just need so much more of these characters that I have well and truly fallen in love with.

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

A copy of this novel was provided by Text Publishing for review.

Yay! The story I liked so much in The Firebird Mystery is back again in The Broken Sun. For a few reasons, I wasn’t the hugest fan of the second instalment of this series, The Secret Abyss, but I am back in the Jack Mason game with The Broken Sun.

Again, the story wasn’t set in England, which saddened me a bit, but I’ve looked at the synopsis of the fourth book and they travel to Spain. So obviously I just have to get used to the trio travelling out of England. *puts on big girl panties*

I love love love watching Jack grow over the course of the novels. In The Broken Sun, he was more mature than ever before, but still his slightly idiotic self (I say that lovingly, of course). I can’t wait to see him grow into the snarky smart young man I know he’ll become (why do I sound like a grandma?).

Ignatius Doyle was still his fabulous self, and we got to learn a little more about him in The Broken Sun, which I greatly appreciated. I love this guy. There was some insight into his past, and I realised I would love a YA/adult series about Ignatius as a young man! I think that would be all kinds of awesome, and I would the crap out of those novels.

Scarlet was our badass heroine, as always, taking charge and never letting her sex get in the way of being totally awesome. I ship her and Jack, and EURGH how long are we going to have to wait for a kiss? I know this is MG and it’s for younger darlings but come on they were just about to kiss and fell through a wall? *screams* I’m guessing the kiss will happen in the next novel, since they get kidnapped together. Kidnapping makes you realise who is important and that life is short, so KISS.

As for the storyline, it was as mysterious and thrilling as ever – with Atlantis being the foremost important aspect of this novel. Which I loved because I love Atlantis. There was also some creepy experiments and long lost sons and people being crushed by elevators. There was no wanting for action in The Broken Sun that is for sure.

Overall, I really liked the third instalment in the Jack Mason Adventure series, and I look forward to reading more of our little detective trio!

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

A copy of this novel was provided by Simon & Schuster Australia for review.

I haven’t liked a non-space science fiction book this much in the longest time. I was captivated by Dissonance from page one to page end, and I LOVED IT.

First up, though, I have to mention this. I got a little freaked out because Delancey’s surname is Sullivan (and so is mine, although you probably don’t know that), and her music teacher’s name was Ms Powell AND SO WAS MINE. I was just like: whaaaaaat??? Anyway. I had to mention that because CREEPY BOOK AND REAL LIFE CROSS-OVERS AREN’T THAT COMMON.

There were two main things I loved about Dissonance.

One: the realness of it all. Seriously. It was like the real world. The conversations between characters were not stilted in any way, and the relationships between characters were so real. It was like a really good contemporary novel but in which the world had multiverses. Which I guess makes sense because that’s what it was supposed to be. The normal world but only Walkers now about the multiverses. So huh. O’Rourke did her job extremely well in that aspect.

Two: the multiverses. They were so freaking cool. I have never read a book about multiverses. Sure, alternate and parallel – but never multiverses. There were so many. And it was explained so well. There were threads and Del could, like, reach in and do magic voodoo with them and fix them because she’s a special snowflake but in the most unspecial snowflake kinda way (another win for Dissonance right there).

This is a lead on from number two, but the explanations really were fantastic. I mean, I can barely wrap my head around time and dimensions etc etc on the best of days, but all the multiverse and Walker stuff in Dissonance was explained in layman’s terms, and it was just so easy to understand. YAY.

I feel like I gotta mention the romance, because it was all kinds of awesome because there are multiple versions of the same love interest. AWESOME, RIGHT? Right. And the romance wasn’t the #1 priority in this book. It wasn’t romance with a touch of sci-fi. If anything, it was more like the other way around.

The ending. THE ENDING. *screaming* It was cliffhangery in the most non-cliffhanger way possible and I just NNNGGGHHHH. I need the next books in these grabby hands right meow. RIGHT. MEOW.

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

A copy of this novel was provided by Harper Collins Australia for review.

I must say that I was a little disappointed in Corruption. I think because I loved Disruption SO MUCH, I was expecting something just as good, if not better from Corruption. I also might have forgotten the fact that my love for series generally decreases after the first book. This happens with every single series that I can name right now. And sadly, Disruption (the series) was no different.

Nevertheless, I’ll try and wade through my thoughts on Corruption, and really try and figure out why I was not as enamoured with it as I was with its predecessor. I wrote my review for Disruption in dot points of things I loved, and these changed. So I’m going to explain what changed, and why I was disappointed.

1. Kickass Heroine.

The main thing that might have resulted in my decreased enjoyment of Corruption was Maggie. In my review of Disruption, the first thing I wrote about was the kickass heroine. I was happy that I had finally found a book where the MC doesn’t take shit from anyone and can stand on her own two feet. Maggie lost this in Corruption. She really did. She went from badass to … no ass. She was scared, and weak, and I was really disappointed in her. I get that she went through some tough times, but don’t we all? Isn’t strength the ability to get through the shit and come out on top? I felt let down by the loss of Maggie’s kickass-ness and assertiveness. She became the run of the mill heroine who I really cannot stand.

1. Gus and Maggie’s Relationship.

Another thing I mentioned was my love for the fact that Maggie and Gus were biffles, and that there was no romantic attraction or anything between them. This changed in Corruption and I was so very disappointed and annoyed by this. Why? Why was it necessary to have them kiss, and to have Gus reveal weird, convoluted feelings for Maggie? It didn’t add to the storyline, and it took away one of my favourite aspects of Disruption. We got a freaking love triangle. Why? Why?

1. Maggie + Quentin Together.

In the first book, I liked how these two played off each other. There was emotional tension, sexual tension. Pretty much every kind of tension. They didn’t take crap from each other, they weren’t cheesy. They were amazing. But in Corruption, along came the crap. Along came the cheese. I get they love each other, I do. But I can get so tired of declarations of undying love and the readiness to die for one another every few pages. Yes, you’re true matches and yes you love each other very much but come on. Why are you all about the dying? Shouldn’t you want to live for each other?

1. Plotline + It Sucked Me In.

The plotline was a little all over the place for me, and I was not sucked in at all. I don’t know what happened, but the storyline dragged and I could see everything coming and there were some moments where I wouldn’t have cared if I put the book down and never picked it up again. And that’s really quite sad.

+

So there you go. I guess the reasons why I didn’t like Corruption as much as Disruption is because most of the things I loved in the first book were changed in the second.

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

A copy of this novel was provided by Allen and Unwin for review.

I’m gonna be up front and say that whilst I really liked This Shattered World, I didn’t love it as much as These Broken Stars.

It took me a while to get into This Shattered World. I was not 100% into the beginning, and I was becoming sorely disappointed that it wasn’t the piece of beauty that was its predecessor. Fair enough, I liked everything, but I was in no way as in love with it as TBS.

However, somewhere along the way, it captured me.

I fell in love with Jubilee and Flynn, and I found myself turning each page quickly because I wanted to find out what happened RIGHT NOW. I was all of a sudden invested in their story, and their lives, and well, their romance.

The romance in this book is not heavy. There are only two kissing scenes (two!), but the connection between Flynn and Jubilee was tangible in its realness and force. I was shipping those two from page one until page end, and I must say I wasn’t disappointed in their relationship in the slightest. There was no instalove, no declarations of feelings that haven’t had time to develop. In fact, there’s a perfect scene and a perfect sentence where Jubilee says that she wants to find out if she can love Flynn (of COURSE SHE WILL – HOW COULD SHE NOT?).

The world building was on-point, as was the storyline. I could see Avon so clearly, and I was never left with the WTF is going on feeling in regards to the pacing and the the crap that was going down. The plot was intricate and simple all at the same time – which seems impossible, but that’s how it was.

There were some really heartbreaking scenes because this novel is heavy in the death and betrayal department, and I just really felt for all the characters because they were really broken. And I love broken characters. This Shattered World definitely had me cheering for a Happily Ever After for everyone involved.

TARVER. I loved that we got to see Tarver again, and that he is still so in love with Lilac. EEP. Those two are so high on my ship-it list, it’s not even funny. So it was awesome being able to read about them again.

I have a really big feeling as to who the third book is going to focus on, and I hope I am right because it would be AWESOME reading about this certain character, especially with the way they were introduced to the story in This Shattered World.

All in all, This Shattered World was an excellent sequel to These Broken Stars, and I cannot wait to see how the Starbound trilogy ends!

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.