thestudiouswolf

[thestudiouswolf]

Spellbound

Author: Rachel Hawkins Pages: 327 Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11454587-spell-bound

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident. Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?

My Opinion: 

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the others. However, it felt like the plot moved a little to fast. I also felt like the bad guy’s plot wasn’t really explained. Maybe it was just me but I felt like I was missing something. The end fight scene wasn’t all that grand and it felt me feeling a bit disappointed. The writing and story was still good overall though. 

Then you have Sophie. She has finally accepted her powers but she sort of loses them. The way she got them back was too easy and didn’t have a big impact on me. Again, it just didn’t match the hype that we felt in the second book. 

Also, still pushing the Archer romance. Personally, I love Cal. Either way, the romance between Archer and Sophie is still kind of dry in my opinion. The romance is open to the reader’s interpretation I suppose. 

Lastly, I’m going to put it out there that I hated the way this book ended. I won’t tell you why, but I did. This doesn’t mean that another reader won’t love the end, I just didn’t like it. 

To wrap it all up, this book got a 4/5 because I felt the plot moved way to fast, the end fight scene didn’t hold up to the hype, and everything just seemed way to easy for Sophie. 

Happy Reading!

[thestudiouswolf]

Demonglass

Author: Rachel Hawkins Pages: 359 Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8428064-demonglass

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (a.k.a. witches, shape-shifters, and faeries). But then she discovered the family secret, and the fact that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth. Turns out, Sophie's a demon, one of only two in the world-the other being her father. What's worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will either destroy her powers for good-or kill her. But once Sophie arrives, she makes a shocking discovery. Her new housemates? They're demons too. Meaning, someone is raising demons in secret, with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Archer to do it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

My Opinion:

~Spoiler Alert: This reviews contains spoilers from the first book. You have been warned~

Holy Demons. This book is much better than the first. It still pushes too much towards the whole Archer and Sophie romance which I still don’t like. It got even worse because Archer is apart of The Eye, which makes him Sophie’s enemy.

 The plot of this book was much more intense than the first book. I know that people died and what not in the first book but this one was more amped. The first book didn’t really leave me on the edge of my seat like the second book did. After I read this book, I immediately wanted to read the last book. I didn’t feel that way with the first book.

And can I just say, I love Cal. He is one of my favorites right alongside Jenna. We didn’t get to see him much in the first book but boy am I glad we got more of him in the second. I totally ship Cal and Sophie. Hopefully they get together.

 This book got basically to the point of the overall plot of the books, just as the second book in a three part series should. Demonglass sets up the story for the third book in the best way. It has a great plot. There weren’t any boring parts but there were definitely some emotional parts. Overall this book was much better than the first, which happens. That is why this book gets a 5/5.

Happy Reading!

[thestudiouswolf]

Hex Hall

Author: Rachel Hawkins Pages: 323  Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5287473-hex-hall

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father—an elusive European warlock—only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tag-along ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My Opinion:

Hex Hall is an amazing story. It has faeries, werewolves, witches and even vampires. Sophie Mercer is a fantastic character who has trouble with her magic. Of course it doesn’t help that she was raised outside of Prodigium society (the magical society). She casts a love spell that gets way out of hand. Since this isn’t the first time she has used magic involving normal people, she is sent to Hecate Hall or Hex Hall for short.

 Sophie is a witch but she isn’t very good at it. My only issue with her is that she almost immediately likes Archer. Okay, so she meets him, doesn’t like him, then he does a small gesture towards her and suddenly she likes him. Now Archer is your typical “I’m hot so all the girls fawn all over me” kind of guy. Which is fine except Sophie points out this flaw and then says she couldn’t like someone like that. Then, like I said, he does a small nice gesture and suddenly she is starting to like him.

 Now the other characters are great, especially Jenna. She is a vampire and she is amazing. I love how she loves pink instead of the stereotypical black. Another great thing about Jenna is that she is a lesbian but it isn’t thrown in your face constantly. She doesn’t hit on every girl she sees. She was actually my favorite character and I hate the issues she has to go through. Even Archer is an okay character for the most part. However, I just can’t see myself shipping him and Sophie. I kind of hope they don’t get together in any of the books.

 Overall, I feel like the plot did move a little too fast. It wasn’t necessarily bad since there weren’t really any dull parts. Also of course, as you read in the summary, she is in danger. Of course, right? I get that she is the main character, but it doesn’t even take her one day before she suddenly has enemies. Later in the story you find out a legitimate reason as to why certain people do want to kill her, and it makes sense. However, she is has enemies at the school on her first day and it just seemed to sudden.

 In my opinion though, this book was great I just didn’t care for the sudden romance between Archer and Sophie. Nor, and slight SPOILER ALERT, I didn’t like that Archer was dating someone else yet was flirting with Sophie.  I also just felt like she could have gained at least half of her enemies by the middle of the book instead of the first few chapters. Hopefully the next two books in this series are much better.

Happy Reading!

[thestudiouswolf]

Just Listen

Author: Sarah Dessen Pages: 371 Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51738.Just_Listen

Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything" — at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store. This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

My Opinion: 

“There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying” -Just Listen

This book is absolutely amazing. The quote above perfectly fits this book. One of the main lessons in Just Listen is listening to your own heart and doing what makes you happy. It amazes me how every time I read this book, the emotion of it still hits me hard. I feel so bad for Annabel who goes through so much through out the course of this book. She gets through it but no body deserves what she goes through. 

At the beginning of the story, you find out something bad happened to her, something that caused everything to change. You don’t find out until much later in the story what it is, but I won’t spoil it. On top of all that she is going through, she has to watch one of her sisters recover from anorexia. Annabel is still modeling to make her mom happy, even though she doesn’t want to.

And Owen. Don’t get me started on him. I love Owen’s character. He becomes Annabel’s rock and I love it. Totally ship them. 

The plot of this story is so well written that I had a hard time putting it down. The character growth you see within in this book is fantastic and you will definitely get the feels. This book deserves the 5/5 rating. 

Happy Reading! 

[thestudiouswolf]

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

In honor of Star Wars Day: 

Author: Tom Angleberger Pages: 145 Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7150174-the-strange-case-of-origami-yoda?ac=1&from_search=true

IT TAKES THE WISDOM OF YODA TO SURVIVE THE SIXTH GRADE Meet Dwight, a sixth-grade oddball. Dwight does a lot of weird things, like wearing the same T-shirt for a month or telling people to call him "Captain Dwight." This is embarrassing, particularly for Tommy, who sits with him at lunch every day. But Dwight does one cool thing. He makes origami. One day he makes an origami finger puppet of Yoda. And that's when things get mysterious. Origami Yoda can predict the future and suggest the best way to deal with a tricky situation. His advice actually works, and soon most of the sixth grade is lining up with questions. Tommy wants to know how Origami Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. Is Yoda tapping into the Force? It's crucial that Tommy figure out the mystery before he takes Yoda's advice about something VERY IMPORTANT that has to do with a girl. This is Tommy's case file of his investigation into "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda."

My Opinion:

This book is hilarious. It is meant for little kids (like 6th graders) but I enjoyed it so much. The book is a huge debate on whether or not this origami Yoda can really tell the future or not. The main character, Tommy, needs to know if it can in order to get advice about a girl. 

Dwight is the “puppeteer” of the Yoda and he is great. Everyone thinks he is weird but I think he just has his own way of doing things. He is definitely more than he seems. I feel bad that people are kind of mean to him but then ask him for advice about everything but he seems to handle it well.

I actually love the format of this book too. It is creative and keeps you entertained. Any kids who like Star Wars will enjoy this book. Even then, I read this to my 6th graders (some of them didn’t even want to read it) and they all love it. Definitely give this book a 5/5. 

May the 4th be with you! Happy Reading!

[thestudiouswolf]

First book I'm going to review. Hopefully I can start reading tomorrow

[thestudiouswolf]

Thank you @spicybc for the avatar photo