Title: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: September, 2009 by Scholastic
Pages: 472
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to their district, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out … and the Capitol has decided that someone must pay. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol’s Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Final Thoughts:
Yes, I’m way behind the times on these books, I know. The impending release of the second movie finally got me moving and back into this series. Having just finished it an hour ago, I can’t believe I waited so long. I’ve already grabbed out Mockingjay so I can continue straight into the finale. This book threw me upside down. I thought we’d be left plodding along through the second book, basically bridging the gap in the trilogy, but I was completely wrong. Personally, I think loved this one more than the first.

Title: Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
Author: Cynthia Hand
Published: January, 2011 by HarperCollins
Pages: 432
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Clara has known she was part-angel ever since she turned fourteen two years ago, but only now is her Purpose – the crucial rite of passage for every part-angel – becoming clear to her. Clara′s Purpose leads her family to Wyoming, where, amidst terrifying scenes of a bush inferno, she finds the boy of her visions, Christian. He is everything she could wish for – so why does she also have feelings for her enigmatic classmate Tucker?

Clara discovers that her Purpose is only a small part of a titanic struggle between angels and their destructive counterparts, the Black Wings. And when the fire of her visions erupts and both Christian and Tucker are in danger, who will she choose to save?

Final Thoughts:
Stepping back into the angel genre after a much needed break, Unearthly tried its best to tone down the clichés where it could. Parents are live and in the picture, leading girl has a sibling, and instaluv, its nowhere to be seen. I was thankful for all of that. But on the flipside, it still felt like one of those fourth quarter plot kind of books. You know the ones, books where it’s basically all high school angst until you reach the last quarter and you finally get a taste of the supernatural plot it’s been hinting at the entire time.

Title: The First Third
Author: Will Kostakis
Published: July, 2013 by Penguin, AU
Pages: 248
Rating:  
Purchase: Dymocks // Amazon Kindle // Kobo

Life is made up of three parts: in the first third, you’re embarrassed by your family; in the second, you make a family of your own; and in the end, you just embarrass the family you’ve made.

That’s how Billy’s grandmother explains it, anyway. She’s given him her bucket list (cue embarrassment), and now, it’s his job to glue their family back together.

No pressure or anything.

Fixing his family’s not going to be easy and Billy’s not ready for change. But as he soon discovers, the first third has to end some time. And then what?

It’s a Greek tragedy waiting to happen.

Final Thoughts:
It’s hard to believe how good this was. After Felicity hyping it at the Brisbane PTA event earlier in the year, I decided I’d probably keep an eye out for it. But with three or four months to wait for the release, and adding in my goldfish memory, it slipped by me until a random trip into a Dymocks store on Election Day. I’m so glad I spotted it, finally finding something that was able to reignite my love of reading. Honestly, this past year, I haven’t been able to say I was truly hooked on anything I’ve picked up, well, until now. I’ve enjoyed some of them, but The First Third was just plain freaking awesome. And yes, I’m sure my roommates have heard me use those exact words these past few days. If I could have skipped my cousin’s wedding yesterday to finish this book, I would have.

Title: Angel Arias (Night Creatures #2)
Author: Marianne de Pierres
Published: October, 2011 by Random House
Pages: 264
Rating:  
Purchase: Booktopia

Retra – now called Naif – has escaped from Ixion, the island of ever-night. She doesn’t know if her friends on the island survived the battle between the Ripers and the rebels. But she does know that she must return home, behind the sealed walls of Grave, to find out why the Ripers have been seen there talking to the councillors. What links the two worlds?

First she must convince Ruzalia to help her. The fierce pirate captain saves those who face terrible fates on Ixion, but that doesn’t guarantee their gratitude. Instead, she faces a revolt – and Naif is caught in the middle.

Naif will need all her courage to survive. For Lenoir, who wants to keep her safe, for her friends Suki and Rollo, if they live, for Markes, who has secrets of his own, and for the new friends she will make on this journey.

The fate of worlds depends on it.

Final Thoughts:
Fast paced and full of suspenseful situations, things never seem to let up for Naif. But while it may have had that in its favour, it suffered from the second book syndrome in a way. It still held up quite well as it kept me actively reading, but it felt like there was a spark lacking. Burn Bright introduced us to Ixion, a night time world full of monsters and mystery, but here, we’re sent back to Naif’s hometown on reconnaissance. The majority of the book is spent on the hunt for information whereas it could have been used for something just a little more exciting. But with the third book shaping up to be an Ixion showdown, I’m holding out hope.

Title: Trial By Fire (Raised By Wolves #2)
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published: June, 2011 by EgmontUSA
Pages: 357
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Bryn is finally settling into her position as alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack—or at least, her own version of what it means to be alpha when you’re a human leading a band of werewolves. Then she finds a teenage boy bleeding on her front porch. Before collapsing, he tells her his name is Lucas, he’s a Were, and Bryn’s protection is his only hope.

But Lucas isn’t part of Bryn’s pack, and she has no right to claim another alpha’s Were. With threats—old and new—looming, and danger closing in from all sides, Bryn will have to accept what her guardian Callum knew all along. To be alpha, she will have to give in to her own animal instincts and become less human. And, she’s going to have to do it alone.

Final Thoughts:
Not as compelling as its predecessor, Trial By Fire felt like it was lacking something for a good chunk of the book. With Bryn now an Alpha, there is a distinct change in the dynamic, but personally, I didn’t think it was one for the better. The politics take over the story with very little actually going on until the final quarter. When it got going, it became great, so I’m left wondering if the pacing had been tweaked if I would have enjoyed this book a whole lot more than I actually did.

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Published: October, 2008 by HarperCollins
Pages: 353
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Quentin Jacobsen – Q to his friends – is eighteen and has always loved the beautiful and edgy Margot Roth Spiegelman. Nine years ago they discovered a dead body together but now, at their Central Florida high school, Q’s a nerd while Margot is uber-cool.

One night, before graduating, Q is basking in the predictable boringness of his life when Margo persuades him to join her in some midnight mayhem and vengeance… and then vanishes. While her family shrugs off this latest disappearance, Q follows Margo’s string of elaborate clues – including an unnerving poem about death.

Q’s friends Radar, Ben and Lacey help with the search, and a post for a website turns up: Margo will be in a certain location for the next 24 hours only. They drive through the night, racing the clock. Is Q ready for what he might find?

Final Thoughts:
Brimming with realism, Paper Towns was addictive. These characters may take things to the extreme, but I could see it happening. Their wacky adventures, their antics, they felt real to me. If you’ve read Looking For Alaska, expect more of the same here. Popular girl draws a not-so-popular guy into her orbit. It comes across as more of a one sided romance than anything else. So don’t expect to find the swoon-worthiness of some of his other characters in Quentin. For me, this wasn’t about the romance, it was about the adventure.

Title: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: March, 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 570
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray.

Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever.

As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Final Thoughts:
This was such a long book, much longer than it needed to be. A much tighter story would have been easier to get through. As it stood, I found myself constantly putting this one down to take a breather. I think I may have even ended up spending two months on this tome. But in all fairness, it was actually a step up on Clockwork Prince story-wise with the plot finally getting back on track. Still, if I’d had my way I would have condensed it down to a solid three hundred or so pages. I mean, who really needs a hundred pages of wrap-up.