October 10, 2018

Review: Impostors by Scott Westerfeld

Impostors (Uglies #5) 
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: September 11, 2018
Pages: 407
Format: Hardcover/Own

Frey and Rafi are inseparable . . . two edges of the same knife. But Frey's very existence is a secret.

Frey is Rafi’s twin sister?and her body double. Their powerful father has many enemies, and the world has grown dangerous as the old order falls apart. So while Rafi was raised to be the perfect daughter, Frey has been taught to kill. Her only purpose is to protect her sister, to sacrifice herself for Rafi if she must.

When her father sends Frey in Rafi’s place as collateral in a precarious deal, she becomes the perfect impostor?as poised and charming as her sister. But Col, the son of a rival leader, is getting close enough to spot the killer inside her. As the deal starts to crumble, Frey must decide if she can trust him with the truth . . . and if she can risk becoming her own person.

With Impostors, master storyteller Scott Westerfeld returns with a new series set in the world of his mega-bestselling Uglies! A world full of twist and turns, rebellion and intrigue, where any wrong step could be Frey’s last.

Read more »

Read more »

April 12, 2018

Cover Reveal: Impostors by Scott Westerfeld

Guys, I'm so freaking excited over this! If any of you have been following my blog since 2011, you'll know the Uglies series is one of my absolute favorite series! Like ever! So I'm incredibly excited there's gonna be more books in the series! The first one being this:

Read more »

Read more »

June 01, 2012

Review: Uglies: Shay's Story by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies: Shay's Story
Authors: Scott Westerfeld & Devin Grayson
Illustrator: Steven Cummings
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: March 6, 2012
Pages: 208
Source: Paperback/Library

“This whole game is just designed to make us hate ourselves.”—Shay

Uglies told Tally Youngblood’s version of life in Uglyville and the budding rebellion against the Specials. Now comes an exciting graphic novel revealing new adventures in the Uglies world—as seen through the eyes of Shay, Tally’s rebellious best friend who’s not afraid to break the rules, no matter the cost.

A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, Shay eagerly awaits her turn to become a Pretty—a rite-of-passage operation called “the Surge” that transforms ordinary Uglies into paragons of beauty. Yet after befriending the Crims, a group of fellow teens who refuse to take anything in society at face value, Shay starts to question the whole concept. And as the Crims explore beyond the monitored borders of Uglyville into the forbidden, ungoverned wild, Shay must choose between the perks of being Pretty and the rewards of being real.

Review: We all know I am absolutely in love with The Uglies Series, so it was a no brainer I'd read this at some point! So since this is a graphic novel my review is gonna be short but OMG! I loved this. I loved reading Shay's version of things and what happened with her before she met Tally! I also thought the drawings were very well done. Except I did think there could have been more of a difference between the Uglies and Pretties. But besides that I thought the drawings were great. I really loved how Shay described things as she started changing her mind about the operation. About how she could either be Pretty or be real. I thought that was an accurate description of things. Because we all know how the Pretties seemed to lose a few brain cells (or at the very least, acted like it) after the operation. I thought it was accurate the choice of being Pretty or being real and keeping your head even if that meant you'd be considered an "Ugly" all your life. I really loved this novel and I definitely cant wait for the next one!

4 Stars!

Read more »

January 16, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesnt Read...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. It was created due to their love of lists. 

This weeks topic is: Since my blog focuses on Young Adult books...
Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read Young Adult (YA)

1. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout - OMG! If you haven't read Half-Blood or any of Jennifer's books in general drop everything and pick one up right now! She writes amazing books. Half-Blood was my first taste of her writing and I cant get enough. Awesome writer, awesome book!

2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - First book in The Mortal Instruments series and it is so amazing! I have not met one person who doesnt like Cassandra Clare's writing!

3. The Host by Stephenie Meyer - If your at all worried it's like Twilight, its not. Its nothing like it. It's very good! And after the first few pages it gets really interesting and you dont want to put it down!

4. The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith - This book is such a cute read. If you like short contemporaries and like cute stories about people falling in love this book is a good place to start!

5. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - This is my fave young adult contemporary! Its just pure amazing! If you dont start with TSPOLAFS (above #4) then I HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest you start with Anna. Ehh. I actually suggest you start with Anna anyways because of how much I love it!

6. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand - I know a lot of people get tired of Angel books and give up on them but this is one everyone should read! It's one of the best Angel books I've read and if you were to start reading Angel books I'd suggest Unearthly first!

7. Divergent by Veronica Roth - Dystopian! If you wanna read a really amazing YA Dystopian I suggest you start with Divergent! I couldnt put this book down!

8. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - This is another dystopian but it's completely different from others and I have proof people who dont read YA would like it. I read it, then I bought a copy for my best friend and she loved the series and now her mom is reading it and loving it!

9. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi - Another dystopian but again, its kind of different and its one that keeps you hooked from beginning to end!

10. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh - I don't know what to specifically classify this as but it is amazing! Especially if your a fan of Edgar Allen Poe. Certain things in this book are based on his stories and he is just studied in general in this book. It is amazing!

Read more »

July 31, 2011

Review: Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Extras (Uglies #4)
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 2, 2007
Pages: 399
Source: Hardcover/Own

Fame
 

It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules. 

As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself. 

Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for.

Review: This book was good. First of all, how the economy is set up brings popularity and cliques to a whole new level, and how you get your popularity brings social networking to a new level. Aya's city (which I'm pretty sure is in Japan based on names, they speak Japanese and they say their in Asia, so its a good guess) uses an economy based on reputation or popularity. So the more famous you are the more you can get, which means if your a total extra off in extra territory you don't get much. Aya's way to fame is to kick a wild story, but while in the midst of going after a story she stumbles upon a secret, way bigger than the story shes chasing. Exposing it could change everything.

Tally fans don't be disappointed. She appears in the story but that's about all I'll say about that. Overall I really enjoyed the book. 

Read more »

July 23, 2011

Review: Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Specials (Uglies #3)
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 9, 2006
Pages: 372
Source: Paperback/Own

"Special Circumstances"

The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor -- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid. 

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more. 

Still, it's easy to tune that out -- until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same. 

Review: The book was amazing! You really got to see just what happens when your made into a special. Tally, Shay, and a few other Crims from the city have been made into specials, specifically a group named the Cutters; Dr. Cables special specials. Right from the beginning they are set on taking down the New Smoke. But Tally's mind is elsewhere. She cant help but miss Zane, because hes not a special and she wants him to be. So Shay comes up with an idea to get him noticed by Dr. Cable and to help her group take down the New Smoke at the same time. So Tally and Shay follow Zane and his crew to the New Smoke but what they find is much bigger than they expected, and at the same time things are happening that could change the world as they knew it forever. 

I loved the book. It was thrilling. You get sucked into the story right away. I loved the details (not only in this book but the other 2 as well.) Everything was so well explained that you could picture everything clearly and as it happened, just like you were actually there. I love books that give you such a clear image of whats going on and that make you feel like your actually there. I think it makes a book just that much better. Also, if anyone caught onto it while reading all 3 books. The last word of Uglies is pretty, the last word of Pretties is special, and the last word of Specials is ugly. Its a circle. It shows that Tally is more like her old self than whats shown on the outside, that shes still ugly deep inside.

Read more »

July 23, 2011

Review: Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Pretties (Uglies #2)
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: November 1, 2005
Pages: 370
Source: Paperback/Own

Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.

Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.

But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold. 

Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive. 

Review: It was great! The book starts up about a month after Tally's operation. You really get a good look at what exactly the operation does and how it changes you. It was amazing how much the operation changed you and what people had to do to overcome the effects of it. It was pretty amazing the differences between being ugly and pretty. It was interesting how during the operation the specials could choose what you did and did not remember. If there was something the specials felt was something you didn't need to know or remember they made it fuzzy by messing with your brain during the operation so that you couldn't remember unless you got cured of the fuzziness or overcame it somehow on your own. All the new technology was pretty amazing too although I don't think I'd be very fond of certain pieces of it. It was shocking the types of technology the government could come up with, and it really makes you think "what if our government did that?" The action involving the New Smoke starts up right away, and it was interesting how they came into the picture in the beginning. The action through out the book doesn't disappoint whether its dealing with the New Smoke or just Tally and her friends up to their same old tricks. Great sequel to Uglies. :)

Read more »

July 22, 2011

Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies (Uglies #1)
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: February 8, 2005
Pages: 425
Source: Paperback/Own

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
 

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. 

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever. 

Review: This book was awesome. This series definitely has the best dystopian novels I've read in a while. I loved how it was set in the future, way in the future from present day. I like how in Uglies, Westerfeld brought out real emotions and changes that teens go through, but with a brand new twist. When you turn 16 you get an operation, which makes you pretty, no more worrying about how you look. But being pretty isn't all its cracked up to be. Its all up to a choice. The choice to have a life changing operation and being pretty, or running away, staying the same, not changing and being ugly for life or being forced into it. I found the book easy to get into. Some of the language was confusing at first but when things are described and talked about more you understand what things are. It was amazing to think about how the world would be like if something like this were to really happen. The book definitely doesn't let down on action either. From the moment Tally made her choice and even before, the action and thrills pull you in. I loved this book. I also loved how the cover showed a really good picture of Tally as an ugly.

Read more »