Unchosen: Review

Synopsis:

I thought the worst of my reaper training was behind me… turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Molly Bartolucci has done a lot of growing up but after being accused of using illegal magic at her school for necromancers, reaper-in-training Molly is treading lightly. As the destined leader of Anubis’s Chosen, she needs to study hard, train harder, and stay out of trouble.

Uh, right.

It doesn’t help that she’s feeling more than academic about her melt-your-bones hot reaping instructor, Rath. And if her relationship drama isn’t enough to drive her over the edge, she has to deal with mother issues, nosy little sisters, suspicious friends, and an unnamed force stalking her at school.

Then her family is attacked, and her bio-dad ends up comatose in the hospital. Now, Molly has to uncover who’s trying to hurt her loved ones—and all without the help of Anubis.

***

Uh... where can I start? Okay, so Molly is a sort of reaper-in-training who is in big, big trouble. And then she has to get herself out of sticky situations. with the help of her hot reaper...um, instructor Rath. But things go out of control at some point, and Molly finds herself in even deeper trouble than she thought. The plot is slightly better in Unchosen than in Undeadly, but the fact that I've forgotten most of the stuff happened in Undeadly makes understanding the plot so much harder. So yeah, forgetting is kind of a killjoy.

Molly... I don't know what to say about her. Okay she's quick-witted and really nice. This is supposed to be a nice combination. Unfortunately her words doesn't sit well with me. It's really childish. Surely there are more ways to be sarcastic than using these words? Not that I hate it, but I'm not very comfortable with them. The characters also have little personality of their own, which is frustrating because I don't know what to enjoy in this book.

Back to the plot. It's a little messy. Not as bad as in Undeadly, but still it's a significant problem. There are some things that are brought up and those ends are not tied up properly. I was like, "uh, have you forgotten that this thing exists at some point of the story?" I hate to say it, but this series has the potential to put an end to all interest I have for YA novels set in some sort of academy (if there was no Mythos Academy series to redeem my interest). 

But aside the problems that still exists in this book, there are some things improved. Despite the characters' lack of strong personalities, there's significant character development in Molly. There's also some well-made plot development in Unchosen, and the ending suits fine with the book. I hope that Unbroken will be so much better.

Rating: 6/10 

Summary Reveal: Unchosen by Michele Vail

Reapers! I don't know much about them, except for Undeadly and, you know, the Soul Screamers series. Here's the summary of the second book of The Reaper Diaries: Unchosen.

 I used to think having an undead boyfriend was my biggest problem. Turns out I was dead wrong. 

Molly Bartolucci is trying to keep her head down after getting caught using illegal magic at her school for necromancers. Now that she knows that she's destined to be Anubis's Chosen, all she needs to do is study hard and stay out of trouble. But somehow that seems to be impossible....

First of all, there's the case of her aunt's soul-Molly has to find a way to free her aunt from the god Set before it's too late. And then there's Rath, Molly's hot tutor. Molly's feelings for him are definitely more than academic, but she can't figure out how he feels in return. To top it all off, someone is trying to hurt Molly's family-but why? With dark forces working against her, Molly knows if she can't hold it together, her destiny could go up in smoke.



THE REAPER DIARIES

***

Okay, I'm interested in the fun part, which is the dark forces part (Although that reminds me too much of House of Night... sorry). Not so sure about the steamy-emotion part, though. I can't say I like Rath, because there's not much about him in Undeadly. We will have to see if that will change. 

Cover Reveal: Unchosen by Michele Vail

After nearly 5 months of waiting, waiting and more waiting, we finally have the cover of Unchoesn, the second installment of The Reaper Diaries series! Woohoo!

Sadly, the synopsis is currently unknown. But I think this is way hotter than the one of the first book!

See my review of Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries #1) here:
http://smoking-hot-books.blogspot.com/2012/11/undeadly-review.html

Undeadly: Review

It's been quite a period of time since I wrote the last review. So another one's here, Undeadly by Michele Vail, the first book of The Reaper Diaries.

(Warning: if you don't like reading harash reviews then you should be careful)

Summary:

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

***

I have to start this review with one sentence: I have no idea what to say about it.

Yeah, you heard me right. Not that it's too awesome (like Deity!) to write a proper review. The thing is I don't know how to describe it. Maybe the best word is weird. Weird isn't a bad thing. But sometimes it isn't a good thing either. Why weird? 

Well first off this is about zombies. There are a slightly fewer number of YA novels about zombies (dystopia is the trend, I think). But what makes it really strange is the words. Don't get me wrong, Michele's words are freaking hilarious, especially the first part of the book. I can't stop laughing because our main character's always using OUR words. Not like those wise heka.  

The second is the plot. It's a little bit scattered. For some time I'm utterly confused by the whole situation. I have never met this kind of problem before. It's like I'm losing my grip to the plot, and I'm kinda annoyed by this. And the "chaos" towards the end of the book isn't as good as it tries to sound. Well, maybe we can sense a "Uh, oh" in the end of the book, but the adventure isn't even close to interesting. Usually an author will put a lot of effort on the chaotic part. Well, if the author had put any effort on it, I can't quite see it, to be honest.

The third is Rath. Now this is the center of the weird thing. Come on, I thought there would be more Rath even though he's a pain in anyone's ass. I get that it's a little bit like Obsidian, where Daemon didn't and wouldn't confess something to Kat. But there are too little Rath, okay. It's a good thing to center Molly as the main character. But I also understand why people demand more Rath because there are definitely some chemistry swirling between them, which is very interesting but sadly, hardly mentioned.

If you want me to give you a resemblance, I would say that Undeadly is like the combination of Marked (House of Night #1) and a little bit Obsidian (Lux #1). This is a very odd combination. Who knows Marked and Obsidian can be mixed together? They are totally two different books, for gods' sake. Maybe that's the reason why the whole weird thing is out.

This book is not bad, actually. There are quite a number of fun stuff and good words. But I won't say this is the best book among YA novels. Obviously Michele needs a hard improvement on writing skills (hope that this is not too harsh).

Rating: 6.5/10

Oh and if you wanna read the sequel of The Reaper Diaries, you won't wanna miss this. This was mentioned in previous blog posts.

UNCHOSEN (The Reaper Diaries #2)

Coming 2013.


***
Extra: What I'm reading now:

Across The Universe (Across The Universe #1)

I'm so outdated. 

And I'm flabbergasted surprised by the whole 80-chapters thing.

Name Reveal: Unchosen by Michele Vail

I haven't even finished reading Undeadly, the first book of The Reaper Diaries by Michele Vail. Although so far I can't keep my goofy grin out of my face. But there's already a name for the SECOND book of the series:

UNCHOSEN

Yeah, Unchosen (got a problem, Stiff) <<< Did I just say that?

But that makes me think of Beautiful Chaos:

Eighteen Moons, eighteen spheres, 
From the world beyond the years,
One Unchosen, death or birth,
A Broken Day awaits the Earth

I have no idea why I think of this...


This book will be released in 2013, accurate date unknown. So keep checking for new information!

 

Undeadly: Out Now!

Time for a new series! It's Undeadly, the first book of The Reaper Diaries (Why it always reminds me of The Vampire Diaries?) by Michele Vail.

Summary:

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

THE REAPER DIARIES
  
 

Undeadly: 1 Day to Go!

Another series is gonna be released! It's The Reaper Diaries by Michele Vail. The first book is called Undeadly. Make sure you read it cuz it sounds new!

Summary:

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

THE REAPER DIARIES

***

Oh, and if you want something to help you decide whether or not you read it, you can check out this excerpt:

http://www.goodreads.com/reader/25218-undeadly?return_to=%2Fbook%2Fshow%2F12394032-undeadly 

So, wanna start a new series like me?

Gonna Read: November and December

October is almost over here! What am I gonna read next?

Let's start with my birthday (and tests) month, November


1. Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary:

"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "


Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

Expected publication: November 6, 2012

***

2. Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries #1) by Michele Vail

Summary:

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.

Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.

Extra Stuff: Check out an excerpt of Undeadly by clicking the link below

 http://www.goodreads.com/reader/25218-undeadly?return_to=%2Fbook%2Fshow%2F12394032-undeadly

Expected publication: November 20, 2012

***

Elixir (Covenant #3.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary:

Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex.
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for.
Even if it means making war against the gods.

Expected publication: November 27, 2012

___________________

And now it's time for the last month of this year. Hope that the world will not end or I will be really sad because I can't read the books released in 2013

1. Opal (Lux #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary:

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Expected publication: December 11, 2012

***

2. Annabel (Delirium #2.5) by Lauren Oliver

Summary:

Lena's mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery—a ghost in Lena's past. Until now.

Discover her secrets in Lauren Oliver's brilliant original digital story set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Delirium and Pandemonium.

Lena Halloway's mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That's the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.

But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape. 

Expected publication: December 26, 2012

***

Radiant (Unearthly #2.5) by Cynthia Hand

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a riveting original novella (available only as an ebook) set in the world of the Unearthly series.

Clara is desperate to get away—from the memories that haunt her in Wyoming and the visions of a future she isn't ready to face—and spending the summer in Italy with her best friend, Angela, should be the perfect escape. . . .

For as long as she can remember, Angela has been told that love is dangerous, that she must always guard her heart. But when she met a mysterious guy in Italy two years ago she was determined to be with him, no matter the costs. Now she must decide whether she can trust Clara with her secret, or if telling her the truth will risk everything she cares about.

Alternating between Angela and Clara's perspectives, Radiant chronicles the unforgettable summer that will test the bounds of their friendship and change their lives forever. 

Expected publication: December 4, 2012

***

Riven (The Illumine Series #3) by Alivia Anders

 

Summary:

The third installment of The Illumine Series.

Captured, imprisoned, and left to burn.
You know what they say- where there's smoke there's fire...

For the last two weeks, Essallie Hanley has been a prisoner, in more ways than one. Held hostage by the Queen, she is forced to endure the mind-numbing pain tearing her body- and soul -apart, killing her with every tick of the clock. It seems all hope is lost, until one chance moment gives Essallie a name, Rinae Decante, the final person needed for the Queen to unveil her master plan to end Essallie. Armed with this name, and with the help of Ari and Kayden, Essallie breaks free from her captivity and launches in a search for this mystery girl.

But their search doesn't go as smoothly as planned, and the three soon find themselves fighting against an impenetrable course of fate aimed to destroy them all from the inside out. When Essallie falls victim to her altering soul, they all begin to wonder of there's any chance at all to save themselves from the burning effects of their actions.

Love, lies, and betrayal.
No one is safe from the undoing of secrets surrounding Essallie.

Expected publication: December 7, 2012 
 
Looking forward to all these books!