PARTY GAMES By R.L. Stine

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

PARTY GAMES By R.L. StineParty Games by R.L. Stine
Series: Fear Street Relaunch #1
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on 9/30/14
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 286
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear's birthday party at his family's estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder. As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island.

Short and Sweet Review

Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan Fear, so when he invites her to a party an all night party on fear island she says yes. Despite the fact that her friend and ex-boyfriend are warning her not to go, Rachel doesn’t want to miss a chance to get closer to her crush. At the party some of the guests end up dying one by one and it doesn’t help that the teens are trapped on the island. Now they all need to survive and figure out a way to get off of Fear island.

This book isn’t original it’s something we’ve all seen: go to a mysterious house people start dying and now you need to survive the night. Honestly I’ve read lots of books like this but that didn’t stop me from reading this book because I wanted to be entertained. This book started off promising I love mysteries I wanted to know who could be killing off the other teens, but then things went downhill fast because it turned into a kidnapping plot? It just got weird from there and I was not happy with the change. It was a plot twist one that I wasn’t expecting but it didn’t work. The dialogue is cheesy especially when the teens are throwing insults back and forth. The romance between Rachel and Brendan made me roll my eyes, there was nothing cute about it. She likes him and all he cares about is pulling off a good prank. Also the fact that they think making out when people are dying around them or when they were kidnapped just makes you wonder how serious they’re taking their predicament.

This was an okay book like I said it started off promising and then just went in a direction that did nothing to improve the situation. I probably would read other books in the series just for the entertainment factor.

FANGIRL By Rainbow Rowell

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

FANGIRL By Rainbow RowellFangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on 9/10/13
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Format: Paperback
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Short and Sweet Review

Cath is a Simon Snow fan, her life revolves around the book and she even writes her own fanfiction. Cath and her sister Wren used Simon Snow to cope with their mother leaving them. Wren has moved on from the fandom but Cath hasn’t. Now that they’re going to college Wren has told Cath that she doesn’t want to be roommates and now Cath feels like she’s all alone.

Fangirl is an okay book. After reading it I realized there really wasn’t a plot. Its 400 pages of us following Cath trying to navigate college and her love for Simon Snow. Cath is obsessed with him and I’m sure if he wasn’t a fictional character he’d need a restraining order. Cath is in college now she doesn’t like change so she’s struggling, her sister Wren wants to venture out but Cath still acts like she needs her hand held. Cath has a roommate Reagan who also has a friend named Levi and because Levi and Reagan are friends Levi is over a lot. Cath and Levi start a relationship it’s alright. Honestly everything about this book is just meh. If things don’t go Cath’s way she freaks out, has a meltdown, and then shuts down. Its very off-putting. Basically all we see is Cath living her life in college and there’s not much more to it. On the plus side we get to see excerpts from the Simon snow series.

LOOP By Karen Akins

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

LOOP By Karen AkinsLoop by Karen Akins
Series: Loop #1
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on 10/21/14
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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ReviewedbyDani

At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up.

After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn't go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he's in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn't think he's a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her.

Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues―a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium―that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self.

But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.


Short and Sweet Review

Bree is from the 23rd century and is a shifter also known as a time traveler. On a mission to the 21st century Bree royally screws up by taking a boy she meets hostage. Bree tries to go back again and convince him to keep quiet about what happened but she doesn’t go back far enough and now the boy, Finn is three years older and he likes Bree or another version of her that has visited him. Even though she tried to fix things Bree makes things worse because she ends up transporting Finn with her into the 23rd century. When Bree gets back she learns that someone has been attacking time travelers and now Bree and Finn have to find out who and stop them. I don’t think I’ve read a book with time travel, but I could just be forgetting about a book that includes time travel, that being said I was entertained and my interest was held. Theres not too much time travel just because once Bree finds out about the incidents that are happening during her time she decides to stay in that time period. I thought Bree was a good character, she was funny and snarky. Bree deals with a lot of scrutiny because of something that has left her mother in the hospital. Finn was a nice addition too, her was determined to make sure Bree was safe even if that meant staying in the 23rd century. I loved Bree’s roommate and best friend Mimi she was  supportive and tried to help Bree all the time, I also liked that she didn’t mid helping Finn once she found out about him. So here’s where things get crazy and I was a little confused at first but then everything starts making sense and comes around full circle so stick with me here. Future Bree has gone back in time and seen Finn a few times to warn him to keep something safe, so when our Bree now goes back she doesn’t know what future Bree has already done or what she wants until she comes to that point in her future. So everything that is occurring is because future Bree went back in time to make sure that something was safe and what we’re reading is Bree catching up to what her future self has done and trying to figure out what she wants. Like I said its confusing at first but it makes sense once you finish the book. I thought it was a great book and it kept me engaged in the story I liked the time traveling and following the clues. For a book set in the future that has time travel involved I liked it and it worked well, I would love to get my hands on the second book soon!

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