I is for Insurgent (Book Review)

So I did a review for Allegiant on the first day---and saved Insurgent for today with I.  I am so glad that I am getting caught up.

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Dystopian/YA

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Why Did I Read? I really really enjoyed Divergent--and this was what came next :)

Summary: I finished this book in December-so again I'm using a Goodreads summary. Which might contain spoilers One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

What Did I Love: You really get to know Tris and Tobias a lot more-I like how the characters are developed more

  

What Did I Hate: I felt like Divergent was a lot better--this one just seemed to move a bit slow. The character development was great, but the plot development was lower.  It also didn't seem to be really moving much forward--just getting it so Divergent and Alleigant weren't too long.

A is for Allegiant: Book Review

So in my theme of catching up, there will be quite a few book reviews on this A to Z Challenge.  I have been trying to keep up with my reading, but I haven't kept up with blogging about them.  And a lot of these book reviews are books that I finished end of 2013 too, so yeah--when I stopped blogging, I also stopped writing about the books.  Sad day...but I am trying to fix that with this challenge (though I will admit...today it is tricky to get motivated to write).

So I actually finally finished Allegiant this past weekend after reading it for months--I started reading it when everything at work changed and it is really hard to find time to read a book.

Title: Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Dystopian/YA Fiction

Rating: 4 out of 5

Why Did I Read? Well I read Divergent (see review here) and I read Insurgent (review to come on Day "I"). I really wanted to know how it ends. And I had heard interesting things about the ending. 

Summary: (Note if you haven't read the other two books, this might contain spoilers of those...they have become one long story to me.) We follow Tris and Tobias outside the fence to figure out what is out there and what they are suppose to do.  They are surprised when they learn the truth about their own existence.  Tris feels like she has walked into another world just like hers--will she change it or just let the status quo remain? 

What Did I Love: I loved how everything was explained in this book--that's why I have got all three of them in my head now.  She takes all of the loose ends from the first two books and really ties it all in a bow.  I actually really did like the big ending.  I won't say it here to avoid spoiling it for others--but I accidentally came across the ending to the story right before I finished the book.  And I actually wasn't too surprised, I kind of saw it coming.  I loved the theme of the book that really came out through the end and she had some great quotes and writing at the end. 

What Did I Hate: I really didn't like the perspective changes with the chapter changes.  I get why she did that now that I've read the whole book, I don't think she could have done it any other way.  But it was very disorienting and it took me awhile to get use to it.  Towards the end I would still see the character name at the chapter heading...read a few pages and then go back to the chapter heading to make sure I had the first person right.  I wonder if a third person would have made it better....I doubt it but that would have helped the confusion.

What did you think of Alleigant? I haven't seen the new movie yet, what did you think of that?

Thank you Wikipedia 

Last Minute Read-a-thon Wrap Up

It was great for me to be able to continue my momentum with reading from the #readingcram read-a-thon! Though I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped that I would...I still feel like I got somewhere!

This is what I accomplished:
Insurgent--finished!!! (read about 100 pages)
Fablehaven 2--audio book...I am now on disc 7 of 10...so I'm more than halfway.  I think I was on disc 5 when we started the read-a-thon...so I got decently far!
Plague Legacy: Acquisitions:  I got to 13% last night after having started on this read-a-thon.

I also set the goal to catch up on reviews...while I haven't posted them I have the cued up and ready to go.

Thank you to Vonnie and Maria for a great read-a-thon!

Last Minute Read-a-thon

I found out about another great read-a-thon for the end of the year. This is hosted by Vonnie's Reading Corner and A Night's Dream of Books.  I had great momentum from the last read-a-thon--I thought it would be a great way to end the year. So today's post is all about what I plan to read/goals during this time.

Goals:

1. I want to finish Insurgent....and write review
2. Write the reviews from the last read-a-thon so I can get them up here (I never take this long!)

Other Books to Read:

1. (listen to) Fablehaven 2
2. Book of Mormon
3. The Plague Legacy: Acquistions

If I get Lucky:

1. Coiled Snake
2. Allegiant
3. 10 Reasons Why

We will see how this one goes!! I'm excited to keep moving forward

#ReadingCram Wrap-Up

This has been a great week and a half! Even though I had hoped to get a lot of reading done and not get distracted by a lot of things around me--but considering I haven't finished two books in this amount of time in a long time, it is an achievement for me.  I am almost done with Insurgent and I still want to try to finish it this year...though my ambition to finish so much of the Book of Mormon was a bit high--though halfway through by the end of the year. I am hoping that this #ReadingCram will help me keeping going through the end of the year.

So what did I accomplish this #ReadingCram....

I finished

As an audiobook! Not sure how many pages that ended up being

Started on page 239 and then finished on 322

Currently still reading:

Started on page 72 now on page 136

Started on page 112  and currently on 268

Audiobook as well...started during reading cram and I am on disc 4

I haven't ever really done page counts...but I like how that looks.  I read 300 pages...which is like a whole book from start to finish.  Not bad considering my full-time job, tired brain, and other obligations.

One thing that I will definitely miss with this challenge is not having to come up with blog posts each day--the challenges did that for me;.  Thank you to Dana and Jenny for their efforts with that--it was great to be able to do some fun things with my posts each day!

As I look at the last week and half or so of my #365 project--I have LOTS of ideas of what to do for 2014 and a few for the rest of the year--just need to put pen to paper so I don't forget them all!