The Elite

What can I say about The Elite. This is the second installment in Kiera Cass' "Selection" Trilogy. At this point in the story America has made it to the top 6 and she's actually beginning to have strong feelings for Prince Maxon even though Aspen is still in the castle and still fighting for her love as well. It took me a while to actually get into this book.  I started this book and found myself not as interested as I was when I started reading the first book but the story started to get more interesting as the book went on. The thing I'm most interested in is the character of Price Maxon. At first he seemed to good to be true. He liked America so much that he was going to let her stay even though she possibly couldn't love him. That seems like a pretty noble thing to do. At the same time, I forget he is a young man and he is not going to hold out too long for a woman who may or may not love him in the end. He is man who also has needs and it wasn't long before he was looking else where for love and attention. Towards the end of the book he has found that love from a "nice" girl named Kriss and that attention from a "fake" girl named Celeste. Sadly, the Prince and America's relationship starts to dwindle as the book comes to an end and after she pulls the outrageous stunt of suggesting they end the caste system on national television, no one likes her anymore. I personally thought this idea was genius. At the same time America needs a little more restraint. She does everything based on impulse and that doesn't seem to get her far. But just when we thought America was out of the game and about to go home, the Prince comes in and saves the day. In spite of his fathers wishes he allows her to stay. She's gotten pretty far for a girl who was only there to help her family. I just want to see how Aspen is going to react to America still being at the castle even though she already said her goodbyes. There are so many places this series could take us and I can't wait to find out where that is.

S.

The Mystery of Gone Girl

I honestly don't understand why it has taken me so long to blog about this book. I had been wanting to read this book for a long time and then I found out the movie was coming out on October 3rd so I knew I had to read it before then. I was trying my very best to not even watch the trailer until I was able to finish the book but I was unaware that this trailer would be on the playlist for a new movie I watched a couple weeks ago, so I was freaking out the whole time thinking, "oh fuck is this Gone Girl? This is Gone Girl!" I was so upset because I didn't want to have the actors they picked for the movie to ruin the way I imagined the characters while I read the book. Unfortunately, while I was reading, that is exactly what happened. I kept picturing Ben Affleck as Nick but for some reason it didn't fit. As I got further and further into the book I couldn't picture Ben Affleck as Nick at all. I kept thinking of other well-known Hollywood stars that could play an on-screen asshole. People like Brad Pitt or Matt Damon come to mind. Even with the actress they picked to play Amy I was unable to view her as this evil mastermind plotter. I guess Ill just have to wait until October 3rd to get my "Gone Girl" fix and see if Ben Affleck can really pull this off.
Anyways, back to the book itself. Out of my whole reading career, I've only read a couple psychological/murder mystery/thriller type books so I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book. I must say that I was completely taken with this book from start to finish. The book is split up into three sections, and each section is told from the alternating point of views of Nick Dunne and his wife Amy. The first section includes Nick's POV from the day Amy goes missing and Amy's diaries from the past couple of years. Amy's diaries tell the story of their first meeting to when they get married, to the bitter trap their marriage had become. We also find out that Nick has been having an affair. Yeah, Nick isn't portrayed as the best man or husband. After the first section you're left with so many questions about where Amy could've gone and what could've happened to her. Of course from the way the diary entries are written, we automatically think that Nick is the 1st suspect and so does the rest of the world. At the beginning of the second section a bomb is dropped that I didn't think I would be able to handle, and in this case I don't want to ruin anything for you. This is the kind of bomb that a reader needs to experience while reading. But after the bomb is dropped the story continues in some twisted ways.
I thought this book was simply amazing and pure genius.  The way the author keeps you guessing throughout the whole novel is beyond mind blowing. I wasn't expecting anything that happened in the book. The book was very unpredictable and I liked that. The writing made hate Nick and almost love Amy, which is the goal of a good writer, to make you feel some type of way about the characters and situations you're reading about. I want to read more books by Mr. Flynn. If they are all as good as this I can't wait. I also can't wait to see the movie on October 3rd. I will be the first in line to see the midnight to how all this craziness plays out on screen, and I hope they stay true to every part of the story!

S.

Pretty Little Secrets & The Selection

Pretty Little Secrets
What can I say about Pretty Little Secrets. It took me a very long time to get through this book. I thought it was a cool concept to give each girl their own section and story but I found it hard to become interested in what each girl was going through.  This book made me realize how much I actually like the mystery character of A. The added drama and suspense that A brings to the girls lives is what draws me towards these books. It was like advertising a mystery but with no mystery! A ultimately makes the girls lives interesting.









The Selection

I must say that this book pleasantly surprised me. I had seen a lot of stuff about it on instagram after the last book in the trilogy came out so I decided to give it a chance. This book was a mix between Hunger Games and The Bachelor but more Bachelor then Hunger Games. The crazy thing about this book is that it is set in the future but I guess in the future of the United States we are going to be split into caste systems and have royalty again.
There are 35 girls who get "selected" to participate in what I like to call the Hunger Games of Dating. They get whisked away from their families and taken to a castle to win the heart of the young prince, which is being filmed for the whole world to see. Cue the opening credits of The Bachelor. At least if you get selected your family gets taken care of and if you win you and your family move up in class rank. It seems like a fair deal.
At first I thought this was going to a typical love story but the only problem is that our main character, America (how ironic), is in love with someone else when she gets "selected. Granted her boyfriend is the who pushes her to join. I like the fact that America is only doing this to help her family and decides to strike a deal with the Prince. They can be friends and she can help him find his mate. This poses the question: Can men and women really be "just friends"? As the story continues America and the Prince start to catch feelings for each other and to make matters worse who do you think the new guard is at the castle? That's right, Aspen, America's boyfriend before she left for the selection. Dun Dun Duuuunnn! Just when we thought things would be simple!

I'm currently reading The Elite, the second installment in this trilogy. It's starting off a little slow for me but I've realized that the second book in a trilogy is always my least favorite. Review coming for that soon!

S.

May Wrap-Up

Guest Blogger Jonathan Martinez | Roboapocalypse

I read this book because I wanted to read a book with my girlfriend and share her passion in reading. I looked at her 100 books to read list and the title caught my attention. I am a huge fan when it comes to zombies and end of the world stories. I also like machines and robots! So this book was just perfect! 

Robopocalypse is a series of events told by Cormac Wallace about how robots took over the world and how humanity fought back to claim it. To me, this was a good book because it starts off with its origin and forms a time line of every action that was taken to reach the end.  From the start of the robotic takeover to the the importance of characters actions that changed the outcome of everyone's survival. 

The story begins with a scientist awakening a machine with an intelligence that can not be measured by any human scale. Archos, as they call the machine, grows so intelligent that it believes humans are only capable of destruction thus end humanity and rise of the machines. Archos kills the scientist and starts his evil plot of robotic domination. 

In the book the world is at a futuristic time where robots are everywhere. Domestic robots that look like humans. Worker robots that are designed for specific jobs. Even the vehicles are designed with thoughts of their own.  Different cases around the world start happening where robots start to "malfunction" and start to attack people. Archos commands all type of robots to enslave humanity and kill any threat. It experiments on humans and creates new type of droids to attack in any type of situation. It starts a war that nearly leaves all humans extinct. 

Now I am not about to go over every story and every important character that is in this book but here are some of my favorites. 

Takeo Nomura , an old mechanic that can fix any robot, he builds a human like wife robot that he truly loves, and was willing to die when his robot wife started to attack him.  I believe he has a connection with the machines since he is able to love one. He becomes sort of like a robot whisperer and is able to reprogram some robots to fight for him. During the war he builds a castle and has the best army robot that protects him and the people he shelters. Even though Nomura and his wife aren't really talked about, they are important for the awakening of the domestic robots that help the humans during the war. 

Lurker was another interesting character to me. He is a genius kid just pranking people around the world for kicks and by sheer luck he comes in contact with Archos. When he talks to this super machine, Lurker realizes that the world is going to war and does nothing but run and hide. After some time in hiding he witnesses a car killing a little girl and her family and that causes him to take action and fight back. Lurker and his friend get in these mobile suits and fight off robots and break in their communication station and destroy everything. That scene and Lurkers determination and realization in how he owed the world is such a good chapter. 

The last character that I enjoyed was Mathilda Perez. A ten year old girl that has a first hand experience with an evil toy robot. The robot warns her about a robot defense act which clearly a little girl wouldn't know anything about. As her story progresses Mathilda and her family get captured and sent to a holding facility. The robots experiment on her and remove her eyes and replace them with robotic ones. Because of her mothers love and determination she escapes with her brother from the facility. Mathilda is given a gift to see what the robot's see, that helps out during the war. 

The book goes on with stories from and Osage tribe having a well guarded city, to brothers doing anything they can to help out people. In the end every person and their story is connected and it's amazing how it all connects to change the outcome of the robot war. 

The book ends with a chance that Archos still might be alive somewhere  and maybe that's what the second book will be about. This book is being made into a movie. I am excited because there were a few scenes that I couldn't quite imagine and I want to see how they look on the big screen! When the movie comes out I am for sure taking my girlfriend out to see it! 

-Jonathan I Martinez 

New Update for Kindle Paperwhite

So I wake up this morning and my prayers had been answered! Amazon finally made an update for the 1st generation kindle paperwhite! When I found out there was a 2nd generation paperwhite coming out, I wanted to buy it right away of course, but times are hard so I held off. I had always thought to myself "why doesn't Amazon just make an update for people who had already spent $119 on a kindle that looks the same?" Amazon must've heard me or got enough people complaining but regardless it finally happened! Now I have goodreads on my kindle and page-flip which is too sweet! So thank you Anazon for making your readers happy! Now I just have to figure out how to update my reading percentage status through this goodreads function.

S.

If I Stay...

I saw the trailer for the movie that is based off this book a couple days ago and that made me want to read the book. The movie trailer actually looks really good but sadly I didn't really like the book all that much. This book is a contemplation of death. When your stuck between life and death, but you've lost your whole family, do you stay or go? Do we really have the power to decide whether we stay or go? In this book it would seem that we do possess that power. This book made me really sad and kind of freaked me out. It really got me thinking about death and how to continue on if someone in your life dies. It got me thinking some pretty morbid thoughts, like if my boyfriend were to die how would I find out? And how would I react? This is a super depressing thought and not something I want to spend my life thinking about. Death is always looming around every corner but to live in fear of that is a life un lived. Reading a book always makes me think about things more than seeing a movie so hopefully the movie won't freak me out as much as the book.

S.