Between Pages and Ink

My Winged Protector is one of those books you don't know anything of that blows you up as soon as you start reading. I have to say, I finished the book in one day and absolutely loved it.
I found Harmony's voice easily relatable and she was an awesomely normal, everyday girl, which made her likeable. In the first pages we see a girl who is sick of her entire life, but she grows a lot through the novel -and I loved that. She may be one of my favorite YA protagonists.
Now, with Gabe... THE STRUGGLE IS REAL! I'm pretty sure we all want a Gabe, that hot, protective guy with gold eyes that's always there for you, giving you strenght. I fell in love with him fast and also liked seeing him grow in the book.
TBT, I found myself fangirl-ing a lot with this book. My friends are probably fed up with it and will probably hit me with something if I keep talking about it, but the book is that good. :)

I don't like giving a lot of details of the story because I'm one of those persons who like to start a book with almost no info, but it's a brilliantly-written plot with lots of romance and heart-wrenching moments.
I give it 4.5 stars because they were some gramatical errors and such, but the story had me hooked up from start to finish.

 

***A free copy of this book was received in exchange of an honest review***

Alas del Alba

Lori Wick

This book was such a cute, fluffy love story, filling my heart with such sweet feelings in the little pages it has... It's a perfect beach read for anyone.

Marked and The House of Night Series (3.5)

Enter the dark, magical world of the House of Night. That's the first thing written in the back of the book of Marked, the first book in the House of Night Series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. And it surely is true.
From the first page I read of this book, I was totally hooked. It has this catchy rhythm that makes you want to keep reading until you finish reading every single drop of ink the book contains. I finished the book in a couple of days (blame my two schools and teachers that give you homework like there's no tomorrow) and I immediately felt I needed to buy the next book. And the entire series. Gladly, my BFF gave them to me, so I didn't need to be stressing over how much I had to save to buy them. (Yes, she gave me the first 8 books. And yes, she is the best.)

Marked is the story about Zoey Montgomery (later known as Zoe Redbird), a sixteen-year-old normal, simple girl. She is kinda-dating the quarterback, Heath, who has been her best friend since ever. She has a "BFF" (that I wouldn't have even if they paid me) since she was in third grade. She has problems with her mother and her stepfather because they can't get along with each other. She is just a completely normal girl going through her life like each of us. Until she is Marked.

Let's make a stop here so I can explain a little bit of the world of The House of Night Series. First, in this world, vampyres aren't the scary things the world has been teaching us for all this time. No, they are actually respected by lots and feared by some -thought the big majority of these "some" seem to live in Tulsa, the home of Zoey and one of the biggest House of Night schools of USA. Vampyres have been living with humans since ever: Shakespeare was a vampyre, as well as Cleopatra and other important people in world history. Next, vampyres aren't scared of the light nor do they die if they touch it. That is, if you survive the Change. The Change is a process every marked fledging has to go through, and your body can either accept the Change and transform into a full Vampyre -not getting burned by the sun, free-will in the day, special abilities- or reject the Change and die, and this time, forever. Also, vampyres have a Goddess: Nyx, the queen of the night; and Erebus, who is the guardian of Nyx and serves as the example for the guys.

With that covered, let's continue with Marked. Zoey Redbird is Marked by a Tracker, a vampyre that follows the Goddess wishes and marks a person so they become a vampyre fledging. If you are marked, you will instantly get a dark blue outline of a crescendo moon tattooed in the middle of your forehead. Once you go through the Change, the outline is filled completely and you also get a tattoo design that has to do with your ability framing your face. But, since Zoey is just a fledging, she has a dark blue outline in her forehead, something that makes her so-named best friend Kayla practically run, scared that Zoey has suddenly turned into a monster (talk about staying in the good and bad moments...). Anyways, Zoey tries to just go home and disappear from the school grounds when (you won't guess this!!) the infamous Heath appears with a couple of friends drinking. (At school. While he drives. Yep, that's why so many teens crush their cars.) Zoey tries to ignore him so he doesn't see the brand-new mark on her face, but there he keeps insisting until he and the others see her mark, entering a shock state which Zoey used to escape and get home.

Not that she was going to get anything better there. When she gets home and her mother sees her mark, she starts getting hysterical about what "John will think of her". Mhm, no "Sweetheart, everything is going to be alright, I will always love you no matter what" or "I will find a way, there's have to be something I can do so you don't have to suffer". No, she thinks about what John will do. Of course, she tells John immediately and he decides to make a prayer-circle for Zoey, thing she can't take and decides to escapes to her Grandma Redbird's arms. So, Zoey fleas to her grandmother's lavender farm, where she finds her grandma isn't home and decides to take a walk around to see if she finds her in her usual spot. While she walks around, she falls and gets an ugly hit on her head, which sends her into unconsciousness. While she is unconscious, she sees Nyx, who gives Zoey some special powers, powers she doesn't see right afterward and she can't understand. Nyx kisses her forehead, sending her again into unconsciousness.

When Zoey wakes-up, she finds herself in the House of Night infirmary, where she sees her grandmother and another important character: Neferet, who is the Priestess and will become Zoey's advisor and mentor. Neferet gives Zoey a mini tour around the school ground, after which Zoey encounters an embarrassing situation: she sees a blonde girl forcing a boy into receiving a blow job. Yep, in the school's hallway. Zoey will try to back-off unnoticed, but the guy will see her and they will lock eyes. Long story short, Neferet will come back and lead her toward her new room in the student resident.

After the disturbing situation is over, Zoey will meet a couple of people and start her adventure in the House of Night.

With Marked, I have lots of mixed feelings. I have this weird love-hate relationship with this book (and the series as a whole too). I admit I had an awesome time reading the books and it did let me wanting more, but... They are just certain things I can't look over or ignore. Let's see... I will make you a list of the Pros and Cons of that book alone and the whole series:

Pro: Zoey is an extremely relatable character.
This practically explains itself alone. Zoey has a pretty much average life: she goes to school, she doesn't understand geometry and she struggles with having a relatively normal popularity -not too known nor too "wallflower". She is not perfect, gets hurt by the comments and actions of other people and dreams of being with the hottest guy in school.

Con: Geometry.
Ok, I understand the author needs something we students may see like something difficult so we can relate to how the MC is feeling, but... Is it really necessary having to compare every single thing with geometry? It's not like it's THAT hard. After the 10th time they wrote "I wished I could go back to the life where I only cared about my geometry test tomorrow", I was getting sick of the reference. And it continues through all the book and all the series. Oh, and sometimes, it's the opposite. Everything can look bad, unless you look at a geometry test and find that your life isn't really that messed up.

Pro: Normal, Every-day language.
P.C. Cast hits the nail writing like a teenager would. I don't think this really need that much of an explanation. She writes in an easy, teen-like language, which helps when you like trying to get into character while reading certain POV.

Con: Do teens really curse that much?
I'm sorry, but I don't like curse language. The worst word I say is probably "hell", but this book has a wide range of words, though not like others. It does include frequently certain words that I never used, so I really ask myself: Is it completely necessary to write those words? And, if it is, I don't see the connection of needing and abusing. Four - Six curse words in a book I can accept. After all, when people get really angry, they usually curse. But, where's the need of calling someone like that almost every time they talk about him/her?

Pro: You can see the reasons why Zoey does the things she does.
Zoey is no moron. Zoey doesn't make a lot of decisions in the heat of the moment. She actually likes to think things for a long time before making anything, but it doesn't come as if she was extremely smart or unnaturally slow. It comes just right: it feels like when we need to make an important decision and think about it all the time. It's another thing that makes Zoey like-able: she is real.

Con: WHAT?!
This con may be a little bit influenced by my beliefs, but I think other people will be with me in this one too. Zoey, like I said before, is really thoughtful about things. So, there comes a part in book 3 or book 2 or even book 4(sorry, I will check later in which one) that totally ruined my image of her. It was just wrong, and it didn't quite fitted with the image the author had been delivering to us of Zoey. I don't want to say anything else because I don't want to spoiler anyone who hasn't read the books, but once you read it, you will notice what I'm talking about.

You can see that I wrote 3 Pros and 3 Cons. I just wrote those because I think some of the other reasons are a bit biased and I don't want anyone to make a wrong assumption with the books. Just so you know, I love The House of Night Series, I have 8 of the books and it is one of my favorite series, as well as the first but not least or last book I read from the Casts. The story has it´s downs and all, but I think I enjoyed it for a while.

If you can ignore or overlook the cons listed up, I think you can stand reading it, though I don´t promise you will love it.

This is one of those books that make you enter it's world completely.
I love everything about this book and, even though it may not be the ending we all expected, it was beautifully perfect for the mood of the book.
I have to admit that, even though I had seen a waterfall of tears coming, it DID take me unprepared.
It was simply one of the most beautiful books I have read this year and I will surely read more from this author.

Este libro fue tan lindo. Me encantó leerlo y la narración hizo que fuera tan fácil :3
Es un buen libro corto para leer de una sentada.

Heartbeat: Enamoramiento y Decepciones (4.5)

Heartbeat cuenta la historia de una chica de 17 años, Emma. Emma era una chica muy estudiosa, disciplinada y responsable; era una "rompe-curva". Su madre se había vuelto a casar hacía un par de años con Dan, un buen hombre, y ahora -después de mucho trabajo, pastillas y visitas al doctor-, está embarazada a sus cuarenta y tantos años (nunca se menciona su edad exacta). Al ser una persona en sus 40, su embarazo es de alto riesgo y un día pasa algo inevitable e inesperado: una vena explota en el cerebro de la madre de Emma mientras sacaba una tostada de la tostadora para desayunar. Ahí es cuando todo empieza a ponerse mal.
Su madre muere, pero Dan decide mantenerla "viva" artificialmente con el uso de máquinas para que el bebé que está en su vientre pueda nacer. Pero Emma no puede perdonar esto. Es debido al bebé que su mamá murió, ¡¿y ahora para colmo mantienen a su madre "viva" por ÉL?!
Heartbeat muestra el proceso de aceptación, sanación y perdón que tiene que pasar Emma para sobreponerse a-pero no olvidar- la muerte de su madre.
Muestra su odio, su llanto, su tristeza, sus remordimientos, sus alegrías, sus locuras, sus arrepentimientos, muestra... todo. El libro es simplemente hermoso.
Tal vez parezca que amo el libro o soy una súper fan, pero no es así. Apenas lo leí ayer (bueno, esta madrugada) y realmente ODIÉ a la protagonista. Ella es tan... urgh! Pero, el libro simplemente me llegó y, aunque la odiaba, puedo entender por qué hacía lo que hacía. Tal vez si estuviera pasando por eso haría algunas de las cosas que ella hizo, aunque le pido a Dios que me mantenga a mi madre aquí un buen tiempito.
En fin, es un libro que me tocó muy profundo, tanto en el lado de amor familiar como en el amor romántico. Es un libro muy bueno, si puedes leerlo en algún momento, llorarás, te enamorarás e incluso tal vez rías un poco en ciertas partes, así que 99% recomendado. Y ese 1% que falta es por culpa de mi odio inicial a Emma.

"dancergirl" es sobre una chica, Alice. Ella ama bailar y lo hace por sobre todas las cosas. Ella es feliz bailando y no lo oculta. Un día, un amigo de ella sube un video a YouTube en el que sale ella bailando sin que se diera cuenta de que la están grabando. Ella no le da importancia: algunas personas opinan que no sabe bailar, otras le dicen que tiene buen ritmo y otras aman su estilo.
Ali sigue su vida normal y pronto su amigo vuelve a subir otro video en el que ella está bailando en una fiesta, esta vez con su conocimiento. Se unen más comentarios, pero todo sigue muy normal.
Hasta que una persona desconocida sube un video suyo bailando en su habitación en ropa interior. ¿Lo peor? Ella nunca deja a nadie entrar a su cuarto. ¿Cómo pudieron llegar hasta su cuarto y grabar ese video? ¿Acaso ya no está a salvo en su propia casa?
dancergirl (4.5)

Alice ya no se siente segura, se siente perseguida y no sabe a donde ir. No quiere preocupar a su madre, pero tampoco puede decirle. Si se entera del video, se enterará también de los primeros dos... Y no cree que vaya a reaccionar de buena manera.
Y como si las cosas no pudieran empeorar, su mejor amigo se transfiere de escuela y no le habla casi nunca y, cuando lo hace, se escabulle rápido.
Cada día que pasa hace que Alice se sienta más amenazada. No sabe que hacer, se está volviendo loca y no ve una salida. La persona que grabó el video le envía varios "regalos" a Alice, cada uno más personal, quitándole la paz, la alegría y la libertad hasta que Alice se pregunta: "Lo próximo que me quitará... ¿Será mi vida?"

El libro es muy bueno, aunque es algo corto para mi gusto (unas 230 páginas, si recuerdo bien. Se lo presté a mi prima esta mañana.) Cada pista nueva hacía que otra persona pareciese culpable y... El final NO ME LO ESPERABA. Se me paró el corazón unas cuantas veces mientras leía esos últimos 10 capítulos. Sentía que me estaba pasando a mi. Definitivamente, para ser el trabajo debut de Carol M. Tanzman, está simplemente perfecto.

Algo muy bueno que tiene este libro es que muestra la realidad de las redes sociales: pueden ser muy buenas, todos lo saben; pero también hay personas que no tienen muy buenas intenciones.