Girl of Nightmares—DNF

Hey blah blah blah,

Here's a summary of Girl of Nightmares so you can check it out and not get mad at me for only ranting about things you don't understand. Go read it if you want. I don't care. Do your thing. I just read a summary of what happens, so I know how it ends. Ha! Should I give you access to the spoilers? I don't know. Doesn't sound right.

So. There are a few reasons I didn't finish this, despite being 65% finished with it. One: I'm on my way to rereading the Red Queen series, so I can read War Storm in all of its glory. I like to have my knowledge of characters and events fresh when I read conclusion stories. That's why I've started waiting until series are over before I read them. It's easier for me to process. Anyway, Mare is. . . that bitch so I am very eager to see what's up again. Another reason is that all the characters except for Cas and Thomas were annoying me. The last one is that there was no ghost hunting. Like, Cas, I love you, but all that's happening is pining. If I wanted pining, I would have read a book where the two meet, have ONE DAY together and then can't get into relationships with anyone else because they're "in love". That's nothing I want to read. So I stopped.

Now. It's time. It's time for my character rant. Are you ready? Of course you are, you made it this far.

Carmel, Carmel, Carmel. I knew you were a snake. She gave me bad vibes in the last book, and now she's finally shown her true colors. I didn't like how the first thing she was trying to do was to get Cas to go out with this girl he clearly has no interest in. Like, that's not cool. If you're really his friend, you'll let him at least try and make his own decisions. When Cas first started having visions, her first reaction wasn't, "oh, what could be causing this, you're pretty normal besides the ghost stuff." No, her first thought is, "you should see a psychologist, you could be developing schizophrenia." Girl. What in the actual h*ck are you on? Schizophrenia is so extreme, and you just assume your supposed friend is mentally unwell, even with all the ghost crap you've seen? That just shows how much faith you have in him. Then, THEN, instead of having a discussion with your friends about how all the ghost stuff might be too much for you, you ghost them? And then you don't even have the decency to talk to them away from you're little popular group, you're just like, lol, I'm going on a date WITH THIS OTHER GUY. That's messed up, especially because she and Thomas were more than friends. Whole entire snake. Then, instead of talking to Thomas, she goes to Cas' house. Like, what? And then she has the further audacity to show up in London with them and be like, "why didn't you tell me you were going to London?" Like, bitch, you broke up with them. Why should they tell you anything? God. Entitled people annoy my last nerve. Insufferable. Hate her. I'm also mad because apparently Thomas and Carmel get back together. My little, wrinkled witch boy deserves much better than her. She just threw him away because she couldn't handle some ghosts. No one invited you to come hunt ghosts anyway. You're useless.

There were more characters that bothered me, but talking about Carmel has riled me up, and I don't need these feelings. I'll make it quick. Jestine and all the adults in Cas' life=snakes.

4/10

Series: 5.5/10

~Book Panda

Anna Dressed in Blood

Hey Buffy the Ghostbuster,

What's good? How's life? School? Employment? I'm not sure which one fits best. You a wild creature I most likely made up. And that's okay. Talking to yourself is cathartic or something like that.

I finished Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, and I'm not quite sure how I feel. I'll explain later. In this book, my boy Cas is a ghost hunter, just like his dad. He and his mom travel where people send tips and he goes and takes out them ghosts. It's very Supernatural season 1. Normally Cas has no problems taking out ghosts, and he always works alone. Unfortunately for him and us loners, that changes in Canada. Even the lone wolves need assistance.

So, before I read this book, I was hesitant. Why? Because I tried to read a Kendare Blake book before, Antigoddess, and I hated it. I couldn't finish it. She completely messed up the mythology and my Percy Jackson loving self couldn't take it. Then, as I began reading this, I thought Cas was a female. That was entirely my fault because I neglected to read the summary before getting into this book. I'm kind of a mess, if you couldn't tell.

Anyway, Cas is dope. A brooding charming type. Then he, like, fell in love with the ghost he was supposed to kill? Like, when he initially sees her, he calls her a goddess, and I'm like. . . sir? Sir. Sam and Dean would never. He's a little wild, but that's okay. I forgive him. Carmel is a snake. There's something fishy about her and I don't like her. Thomas is great, I like him. He's the eager witchy puppy we all need. Will. *sigh* Will could've been great. I thought Will was going to be our friend. Then he was a snake. What the h*ck Will.

Anyway, this book is out of my comfort zone. I don't do ghost stories. I do faeries and angels and space and werewolves. This was still cool though. I think I may have been desensitized to spooks, because all the creepy/spooky parts I was just like, eh. But it was good.

Ship: Thomas and Carmel
Snake: Will, Malvania

7/10
~Book Panda

The Black Key

Hey dad killers,

Guess what? I think I'm getting sad again. Anyway, here's the content.

The Black Key is the finale to The Lone City trilogy. Violet and squad are getting ready to take down the Royals. Then they find out that Violet's sister, Hazel may be in danger at the Duchess's palace and she loses her mind. Why she thought she would be okay there in the first place is beyond me. She wild.

I feel like this is the book where Violet just loses her freaking mind. First, she out here running revolutions or whatever, which is fine, but then she doesn't want anyone else to do anything. Ash, who I actually like though it might not seem like it, wants to help somehow. He and his colleagues have also been victims of the Royals and yet she wants him to just play with the animals while literally, everyone else at The White Rose is out there being useful. And she's like, it's not safe. And yet as soon as her sister is in danger, she changes HER ENTIRE FACE so she can go make sure she's okay. If you're only concern is him being recognized and caught, why didn't you change his face? Why are you stupid? And then she goes to be a lady-in-waiting like she knows anything about how to do that. Stupid. And then. And. Then. She destroyed a wall of mirrors. In the Auction House. WITH THE SECRET SOCIETY SYMBOL. And she thought no one was going to see that? You really thought you would get away with that crap, Violet? Do you have the memory of a goldfish? Do you not remember when you changed a little picture of the Duchess so had green skin and you got caught? How do you think you'll get away with destroying a room when you couldn't get away with defacing a picture. Not even a big picture. This was probably a wallet-sized photograph. Violet. You're stupid. God. And instead of getting your precious cello smashed YOU GOT LUCIEN KILLED. Your little friends might tell you that it wasn't your fault, but it was. You killed Lucien, my whole dad and your whole dad because you were being an arrogant brat. Congratulations. Now you've lost two dads. Do you understand how hard it was not to cry in a dining hall because of your dumbass? No, because you're selfish.

Anyway. This book was. . . something. I'm glad Ash left on his on and helped. And I'm glad Garnet is out there being great. I really don't have positive things to say about Violet. I kind of hoped she died so she could repay Lucien. Eye for an eye and all that. But whatever. Saw the ocean and stuff. Book's okay.

Art by ivy11

Here's a sneak peek of what I'm reading next. Sorry I just ranted a bunch about this series. :)

Ship: Raven and Garnet
Love: Dad Lucien, Indi
Bruh: Violet
Get out: Olive

6/10
Series: 6.5/10
~Book Panda

The White Rose

Hi people,

You get two reviews in two days. How does it feel? You know, I considered updating like once a week of all the books I had finished, but that would be me rambling for years and years. No one wants to read that.

(I just realized the cover has a bunch of shadowy girls on the skirts. . . it's not Halloween yet, Amy)

The White Rose is the second book in The Lone City trilogy. Violet is trying to escape the Jewel, out of necessity, with her boyfriend of five seconds and her bffl Raven. A big portion of the book is them trying to get out of the Jewel without being caught. Then there's some revolution stuff.

In terms of learning about human cruelty, this one wasn't as extensive but still pretty bad. We learn that not only the girls are treated poorly, but the guys too. It infuriates me to no end, but I didn't almost rage quit like last time.

I liked that this book wasn't super relationship-centered, especially because Amy did a horrendous job of making there be a relationship in the first book. This one, they were just out there supporting each other. It was cute.

I also enjoyed Garnet's character development. He out here, living his life, caring about stuff. It's inspiring. Wow. The excellence. Glad Violet is learning her true heritage, becoming the Last Airbender and all that jazz. I don't know. That's all I have to say really.

I had to be in an arena with way too many people for a whole hour and I still haven't fully recovered. #introvertsbewild Anyway, good book. Not great, just good.

Ship: Garnet and Raven
Snek: Ash's dad

6.5/10
~Book Panda

The Jewel

Hey dudes,

Guess who's not sick anymore? Guess who finished a book? Guess who's a little shook? It's me. Wow.

The Jewel is basically about the workings of the slave trade. But not really? In this land, the daughters of the poorest people in this city occasionally have the ability to be surrogates for Royalty. They get taken from their families and are prepped to manipulate the world around them, and inside them. Then, when they come of age, they're auctioned off based off desirability. It's real wild. The main character, Violet, is auctioned off like everyone else, but she has a chance for freedom. And love. And whatever.

I'm gonna be honest, I almost didn't finish this book. First of all, some ignorant person on Goodreads asked if the book was like The Selection, which is almost forgivable. But then. Then some moron said yes. They thought this had some semblance to The Selection. If you don't know what The Selection is, the most basic explanation is futuristic Bachelor for royals. Common girls VOLUNTARILY get put in a lottery and then a bunch of girls go to the palace and compete for the prince's affections. This is about poor girls getting taken away from their families because of some test they have to take when they get their period, being put in a holding place/prison for years until they're of age and being auctioned off so they can have babies for cruel stuck up royals. Then, when they get to the home of whoever bought them, they're basically treated like animals. They drag them around on leashes. In public. In what sense of the word did this idiot think that The Jewel is similar to The Selection? It's quite mindboggling.

The other reason I almost stopped reading this book was because of the whole slavery thing. That doesn't vibe well with me. It rubs me the wrong way and I wasn't about to read a book that romanticized human slavery and treating people like less than people. That's disgusting and I wasn't going to read something like that. Fortunately, that died off quick enough so I could get in the book without feeling sick to my stomach.

After those issues, I got into it. I liked how Violet didn't cave to Stockholm syndrome or whatever. Even though the Duchess gave her nice things and gave her something resembling freedom, she didn't cave and start obeying and thinking she belonged there. I also liked how she found ways to rebel against the system. When the system's jank, you gotta screw it up.

I thought the relationship between Ash and Violet was really forced. Originally, I thought it was going to be between Violet and Garnet. Then Ash showed up, and I was like, okay, cool. Then they kissed the second time they ever met up and I thought it was all kind of rushed. Like, they hadn't known each other for a month and they were like, lol I love you. No. No, you don't. You just found someone that didn't look at you as an object and lost your mind. Honestly, a romantic relationship between Violet and her maid, Annabelle, would've been more believable to me. I actually ship that more. But I digress.

This was a good book. It wasn't great. If I wrote it, I'd have done things differently (like make her gay, and screw the system) but it was okay. I'll read the next one because it ended with me quaking. I accidentally read the first part of the summary to the next one, so I knew something was going to happen, but I didn't expect bruh to not be that bitch. I'm still quaking, shaking and baking.

Ship: Violet and Annabelle
Snake: Dr. Blythe, Stone lady, Duchess, Carnelian, royals in general
Sweet: Lucien, Ash, Dahlia
Shook: Garnet

7/10
~Book Panda

DNF

Hey dude,

So. I don't remember if I did this before, because it's literally been an entire year, but I'm going to start reviewing the books I don't finish. Why not, you know? It's not like you're going to tell me not to.

Today, I stopped trying to read The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld. This book is about this chick moving to a new town and discovering that there's this entire other world during the night. Everyone's frozen in time except for a select few. These "midnighters" don't fit in during the day and have special powers at night. Except for the chick, Jessica Day.

That's all the real summary had, so that's all I'm giving you. Sucker.

I read this book because it had been on my list for a while and I was like, you know what, I liked the Uglies series, let me try this out. Shouldn't have done this. I was so bored. It's been three days and I've only read 103 pages in a 300-page book. That's not normal for me. I should be done with this.

I didn't like or didn't care about the characters. The only one that seemed to be somewhat okay was Jonathan and he's not a main character. So far, he's shown up for maybe three pages. The main main character, Jessica, I don't give a rat's left butt cheek about. She's not funny, she's not angsty, she's not snarky. She's nothing. She has the personality of blank copy paper, and at least you can make copy paper look good. Dess is annoying. Like, she's mean for no reason and she's just annoying. I could have liked Rex, but then I don't know him. Like, what's his schtick? I don't know.

As I couldn't get invested in the characters, I tried to trek on for the plot. But the plot just mosied its way on. I mean, dude. There are only 300 pages. Do you really need three chapters of her running away from darklings or whatever? And everyone knows how new people adapt in small towns. Don't need 60 pages about that. I am a little curious about what Jessica's power is, but not enough to finish the book. I just looked it up, and apparently, she's something called a flame-bringer? She can use technology during the blue hour or whatever. Good on her. I also just read that his girl is a red-haired, green-eyed beauty? This was nowhere in the first hundred pages. Shouldn't that have been in the intro? I'm a little mad, but whatever. I'm sure she saves the world.

I'm a little peeved now, so I'm gonna go write about my own red-haired, green-eyed beauty. See you later, hopefully with a better series.

DNF @ 118
2/10
~Book Panda

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Hi Will Grayson,

It's me, Will Grayson. I'm excited because I get to go home in three days. Was I just home for Labor Day? Yes. Stop judging me. Also, I'm getting sick, which pisses me off but also comforts me in that when everyone is sick later, I will be unperturbed. I will look on as they sniffle and wheeze, unaffected as I sip my drink. I will—What? You want me to get on with the post? Fine, whatever. It's not like this is my blog or anything.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan is about two guys named Will Grayson meet. It's under weird circumstances and their lives entangle a bit in the way people with the same name who meet happen to become entangled. Indifferent Will is trying to figure out what his truth is and how he wants to live it. Sullen Will is trying to see if he can be. . . happy? Maybe happy isn't the word. I don't know, he's trying to figure himself out.

Of the two Will's, Sullen Will was my favorite. His part of the book is told with no uppercase letters, and that was a bit disorienting in the beginning, but I quickly got over it. I was a little worried about him at first, because the first sentence of his part is, "i am constantly torn between killing myself and killing everyone around me" (22) and I was like, sir. Sir, are you okay? Then I was like, I love you, you deserve all the happiness and love. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I like the sullen ones. Just because he's gay, doesn't mean I can't love him and want him protected.

Art by D4ncingD4wn

Indifferent Will was really relatable to me. He wasn't trying to draw attention to himself and he felt like his friends didn't appreciate him enough or care. It was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotion. Then I stopped thinking about myself because that's selfish. His plight with indecisiveness was also a mood. Of course, my indecisiveness errs more towards the food issues than relationship issues.

I will say, I was very wary of reading this book. The first John Green book I ever read was The Fault in Our Stars and I was deceased. Then I tried to read his past books and I was very disappointed. I didn't want John to disappoint me again, so I put off reading this for a while. This book was good. Not Fault In Our Stars kill-me-now-because-I'm-already-dead good, but that-was-so-cute-and-good-and-I'm-glad-I-read-it good. I like that they didn't immediately become best friends and I'm also glad nobody died. It was a finding yourself story that had some complexities while keeping other cliches. Cliches only bother me when they're annoying. All in all, solid book. Thanks, John. For the content.

Ship: Indifferent Will and Jane, Sullen Will and Gideon

Team Too Much: Tiny Cooper

Eat Dirt, Heathen: Maura

8/10

~Book Panda

The Death Code

Hey. . . people,

How's it hanging? Guess what happened? I read a whole book. I finished a book. Wanna know what's it's called? You'll never get it.

Wow, you're so good at this game. That's right, I read The Death Code, the second book in the series The Murder Complex. In this one, Meadow has given herself up to the Initiative so her family has a chance of being found. Zephyr escaped with Lark, Meadow's mom. Now Lark is MIA and Zephyr is doing everything he can to free Meadow before it's too late.

Now, this was the second book. Sometimes the second one isn't as good as the first. This was not the case. The Death Code was just as fast paced and just as wild as the first. There was a lot going on in this one, but it still worked. I got through this one much faster and I was kept on the edge of my seat, just like before.

I think dear Lindsay could have played up Meadow's insanity more. After going through intense torture or whatever for a month as a whole sixteen-year-old combined with the knowledge of her fate would make anyone crazy, no matter how strong. I know Meadow is supposed to be this hard, unfeeling chick, but just saying "I am my mother" over and over didn't really show the crazy. I don't know, that might just be me. We love an insane queen.

I did like that Zephyr showed reservations about following Meadow to find her family. He knows she isn't mentally stable and that she isn't the same girl he fell in love with. Despite all this, he's willing to fight for her and believe in her an help her remember who she is. It's cute. Then again, what can you expect from a boy who fell in love with a girl because she straight threw him after he snuck up on her? Nothing but devotion.

Ship: Zephyr and Meadow
You're annoying: Sketch
Please turn in your life certificate: Lark, the Initiative, former American gov't

7.5/10
Series: 7.25/10
~Book Panda

The Murder Complex

Hey Wards,

Hows it hanging? What? Did you think I was gonna leave you hanging again? I understand. I'm kind of unreliable, but it's okay. I'm back and probably the same.

Today I finished The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings (stop laughing, you child). It's about this future dystopian society (don't quote me on that) where natural death has been cured after a plague, known as the Plague, wiped everyone out. Of course, unnatural death is still a factor and there are hundreds of murders every day. Meadow Woodson and her family have been trained to survive. It's what she does best, no matter what the cost. Zephyr is an orphan, a Ward, but he has a nasty little secret. The two meet under weird circumstances and go fight crime together.

Don't you feel enlightened? Wow.

So. This was a pretty solid book. I'm not going to lie, the whole barcode, Pin in your arm thing kind of freaked me out. It's a little too real in this day and age. But I like how Meadow wasn't an oh-there's-a-boy-I-can-swoon-now type. I also love Zephyr with all my heart. He needs to be protected from everything, big and small. Koi, her brother, is kind of a dick. So's her dad. But it's fine. Go family.

Wait, you want content. For some reason, it took me a hot second to finish this book. I think that was more my fault than the books. The writing was pretty good and the storyline was really interesting. The short chapters kept me on my toes and I was kind of freaking out during this little chase scene that happened because it kept flipping. It was pretty wild. I was shook. Anyway. Good book.

Ship: Zephyr and Meadow

Snake: Lark, Initiative

7/10

~Book Panda

Replica and Ringer

Hey its,

How's life? I'm listening to Eminem's "Kamikaze" album right now, so that's a thing. I was gonna say something else, but I fell into the rap flow. . . is that a thing? Heck, if I know.  Oh. Oh wait, did you come for. . . content? Sorry, dude. We don't have that here. We have something some may call trash.

Well, if you're still here for book stuff. I'll give you book stuff. It might not be good book stuff, but you didn't come for that, did you? No, you came because you're bored in France and you're wondering how the silly American is doing today (Marshall is out here wilding). I'm not spiraling, so that's a plus.

Boom: Content. I finished Replica on the 28th, and it was kind of a lot. So Replica's a story of two girls, Lyra and Gemma. In Lyra's story, she's a replica, a clone. She's lived in a lab her whole life until she doesn't. Lyra and a boy, who is known by the number 72, escape the lab and try to learn how to live in the world when they weren't allowed to live until then. Gemma lives with overprotective parents--like she can't participate in PE because they're "worried about her health". Despite they're helicoptering, she goes to Florida and discovers Haven and a couple of its occupants. She tries to assist them any way she can while trying to hatch Haven's secrets.

Wow, that was rough. In my defense, it's been a while and I'm writing this a few days after I finished it, whilst reading another book. Here, have a real summary. (Marshall just went after some guy on Twitter because he's dumb. Sir. S-sir. Sir, please.)

So, I really enjoyed this book. The sci-fi/contemporary/drama thing worked for me, and I loved the two-books-in-one format. I alternated between the two stories, starring with Lyra's. Lyra 72/bae were my favorites. They needed to be protected from everything. Gemma was cool too, but I didn't like how she talked about herself. It was clear that she didn't like how her body was because she was thiccc, but I felt like Lauren Oliver didn't have to go so hard on that. It made me sad and I wasn't really sure where it came from. I don't recall the girls at her school ever bothering her about her weight, but maybe my memory is bad.

I could probably write this better, but it isn't fresh. Oh well, what can you do? Don't answer that, you smart-alecky Frenchman. I don't need that today.

Ship: Lyra and 72, Pete and Gemma
Screw you: Dr. Sapdfifjefwehe, Dad

8/10

What? You thought I was gonna talk about only one book when two are in the title? What are you on? No, we got two reviews, if you can call them that. Gotta keep that content fresh, exciting, and unpredictable.

*If you haven't read Replica, stop reading, as there'll probs be spoilers*

This is Ringer, again by Lauren Oliver. It's the second and final book in the Replica duology. We got two stories again, so get ready. Gemma is trying to live a normal life after finding out Haven's dark secrets. She finally figured out how to, but then she realized her dad was a dick and had sold out Lyra and Caelum. She goes to warn them. Lyra and Caelum are living with Lyra's OG dad. The both of them are trying to acclimate to normal life, but then Caelum up and disappears. As they are one, Lyra follows him despite her advancing sickness. They go on their adventure and realize that the world is so much bigger than they could have ever imagined.

This time, I started with Gemma's story, but I still alternated chapters. This book didn't disappoint, despite it being a second. Sometimes second installments flop, but it was just as good as the one before. It's very raw and real and so many other things I don't know how to describe.

Pete is kind of a dick, but I guess her dad's a dick, so she's used to it. I love Lyra with all my heart. I wish she would survive, but alas, it isn't written in the stars. Having the insights from the other stories was very nerve-wracking. Knowing people are snakes when the characters don't know they're with snakes gives me a lot of nervousness. . . sure.

All in all, good series. Good books. Would recommend.

Ship: Lyra and Caelum
Stress shows you're a dick: Pete
Snake: Dr. O'Donnell. Dr. Sapenstein, Dad, Calliope

8/10
Series: 8/10

~Book Panda