DNF Review: 13 Days of Midnight

13 Days of Midnight
Author: Leo Hunt
Publication Date: July 2nd 2015
Publisher: Orchard Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 When Luke Manchett's estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father's ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they're more than happy to take his son. It isn't fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead.

Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching. With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

This is going to be a short review, because I don't have much to say about Thirteen Days to Midnight, bar the last 25%, it was boring me to death, pun not intended. Okay, I'm being a little mean, it wasn't that bad, but it seemed like a first in a series, which is not, I don't think, and it felt more like a spoof of a mixture of things of sorts.

DNF Review: How to Win at High School (AKA: How to be a Dick in High School)

How to Win at High School How to be a Dick in High School
Author: Owen Matthews
Publication Date: March 3rd 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Using Scarface as his guide to life, Adam Higgs is going from zero to high school hero.

Adam Higgs is a loser, and he’s not okay with it.

But starting as a junior in a new high school seems like exactly the right time to change things. He brainstorms with his best friend, Brian: What will it take for him to take over Nixon Collegiate?

Adam searches for the A-listers’ weak spot and strikes gold when he gets queen bee Sara Bryant to pay him for doing her physics homework. One part nerd, two parts badass, Adam ditches his legit job and turns to full-time cheating. His clients? All the Nixon Collegiate gods and goddesses.

But soon his homework business becomes a booze business, which becomes a fake ID business. Adam’s popularity soars as he unlocks high school achievements left and right, from his first kiss to his first rebound hookup. But something else is haunting him—a dark memory from his past, driving him to keep climbing. What is it? And will he go too far?

How to Win at High School’s honest portrayal of high school hierarchy is paired with an adrenaline-charged narrative and an over-the-top story line, creating a book that will appeal to guys, girls, and reluctant readers of every stripe. Adam’s rocket ride to the top of the social order and subsequent flameout is both emotionally resonant and laugh-out-loud funny

Oh, How to Win at High School, should be appropriately renamed How to Be a Dick in High School. I will keep this unusually short for my ranting reviews, unlike this book, have you seen how many pages it has?  It wouldn't have been so annoying if it had been productive and given character development, or, you know, actually gave it some, you know, what's that thing books have? Oh yeah, a story to tell. A plot. Both were rather none existent.

DNF Review: Frozen (No, not that Frozen)

Frozen
Author: Melissa de la Cruz and  Michael Johnston
Publication Date: October 2nd 2014                  
Publisher: Orchard Books   
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
 

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all

I've learned my lesson, me and Melissa de la Cruz books to not go well together. I read two of the Blue Bloods series when I was in my Vampire faze of reading, and even then I skimmed most of them because ugh.

Frozen was a hot mess, which is pretty ironic. It's not even a good hot mess where yes, most of it's all over the place but ends up with it tying all together nicely and everything had its place. This isn't that book. Frozen was a bad hot mess- and that was just the first half- I didn't even make it to the end. Which is probably really unfair of me, but you know.

DNF Review: Paranoia

Paranoia
Author:  J.R. Johansson

Publication Date:  June 8th 2014        

~A copy was provided by Flux and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

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In the aftermath of the events that nearly killed him, Parker Chipp is trying to learn to cope better with life as a Watcher. And it seems to be working...until he wakes up in jail with a hangover and 12 hours of missing time. Darkness has somehow taken control and Parker doesn't have a clue how to stop him. He finds an unlikely ally in Jack, the mysterious guy in the motorcycle jacket who offers to help Parker master his abilities as a Watcher. But even as they practice, the darkness inside Parker is getting more and more powerful, taking over Parker’s body and doing everything he can to destroy Parker's life.

When Jack reveals that there is another kind of Night Walker, known as a Taker, Parker starts to wonder if the strange things happening in Oakville are more than just a coincidence. After all, people are more than just sleepwalking. They're emptying their savings accounts with no memory of doing so, wandering into strange parts of town and disappearing, they're even killing other people--all in their sleep. If Parker wants to find out what's happening or have any hope of seeing his father again, he’ll have to defy Jack and put his own life in danger...because the more he learns about these other Night Walkers, the more certain he becomes that his life isn't the only one that could be lost.

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You can read my review of Insomnia here. Though, I wouldn't, it was one of the first I ever reviewed and it is awfully written.

Oh, Insomnia, I did like you, but sorry Paranoia. It is not happening.

This one I really am so disappointed on, as I said, I did like the first, Insomnia. But where I wasn't too bothered about the believability and found relatable in Insomnia, I found really unbelievable and annoying in Paranoia.

DNF Review: Dangerous

Dangerous
Author: Shannon Hale

Publication Date: March 4th 2014        
~A  copy was provided by Bloomsbury via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

 

 

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Maisie Danger Brown just wanted to get away from home for a bit, see something new. She never intended to fall in love. And she never imagined stumbling into a frightening plot that kills her friends and just might kill her, too. A plot that is already changing life on Earth as we know it. There's no going back. She is the only thing standing between danger and annihilation.

From NY Times bestselling author Shannon Hale comes a novel that asks, How far would you go to save the ones you love? And how far would you go to save everyone else?

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While Dangerous was fun and hilarious in a lot of places, and while I loved that our MC was a one-handed half Latina, and our main cast were mostly multi-cultural, and above all else, Sci-FI, I had to DNF at 45% because I honestly couldn't take much more it. Besides the little Knicks and knacks here and there, the two main reasons I didn't it was the pacing and constant bitchy/sarcastic thoughts.

I thought I was going to love it, I really did. It started off great, and Maisie immediately sucked me in, she was level headed, knew what she wanted and wasn't letting her disability get in her way. She was home-schooled, but she wasn't hidden from the world because of her disability or what people would think. She knew what people would think, and I don't think it bothered her at all, or at least, not that much, she was focused on what she wanted. she was self-sufficient really,  and while she may not have been as confident as she seemed, she was a strong character for her age,  and used her humour to charm people.

DNF Review: The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys
Author: Lilian Carmine

Publication Date:  January 1 2014
~A copy was provided by Ebury Press via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review~

 

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Fate has brought them together. But will it also keep them apart?

Having moved to a strange town, sixteen-year-old Joey Gray is feeling a little lost, until she meets a cute, mysterious boy near her new home.

But Tristan Halloway is not what he seems. And there's a very good reason why he's always to be found roaming between the gravestones in the local cemetery...
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I knew from the first page I was not going to ask me. You know when you get a sense of a book from the very first paragraph? This was it, but I kept to it, hoping it would change, because though the writing sounds juvenile and the characters awkward and forced, it wasn't that bad to struggle through.

Until...