Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: August, 2010 by Scholastic
Pages: 455
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans — except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay — no matter what the personal cost.

Final Thoughts:
This book made me cry. I didn’t think I would, but then, there was one scene near the end that just broke me. Lying in bed with tears in my eyes, I had a new respect for Suzanne Collins’ writing. She really gave it everything in this book and made me care about so many of the side characters. I just couldn’t stop reading. Building up throughout the series, this book brought it all to a close in such a way that left you satisfied, yet still riveted. I just want the third movie to be out already and I haven’t even seen the second yet.

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: 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: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Published: January, 2012 by Penguin
Thanks: Penguin, AU
Pages: 313
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Final Thoughts:
Oh my…this was the book I needed to read. I’ve been in a slump lately, taking a while to read books that were okay, but that really didn’t do a whole lot for me. The Fault In Our Stars draws you out of whatever little crook you’ve been hiding in and shoves you head first into a world of feeling. I got this one a couple months back, but I’ve been avoiding picking it up mainly because I’d just read another amazing book that dealt with teen cancer and needed the break to prepare myself. On a whim, I snatched this one off my shelf and took it with me to pass the time in a waiting room and ended up almost finishing the book. Albeit the wait was 4+ hours, but it flew by. I was engrossed. I had to eventually stop myself and put it away—the tears were struggling against my flickering eyelids. Sure I could have continued struggling against a break down in public, pausing every now and again—but I wanted to give this book the attention—and the release—it deserved, so I waited, and dove back in as soon as I got home and utterly adored every second of it.

Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: October, 2008 by Scholastic
Pages: 454
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Final Thoughts:
I tried listening to the audiobook at the start of 2011, but I only made it six chapters in before I gave up. The narrator was so off-putting, that I just couldn’t get into the story. Fast forward a year later, with only a few weeks to go before the movie’s release date, I picked up the paperback and decided to start back at the beginning. I fell in love with this book, as simple as that. Reading, as opposed to listening, made so much of a difference to my level of enjoyment. As for the story, I never had any of those moments where you’re left shaking your head at the pages—it was just so brilliantly well thought out. And Katniss, she was smart, a constant thinker…it’s refreshing.

Title: A Place In This Life
Author: Julie Rieman Duck
Published: September, 2011 by Julie Rieman Duck
Pages: 254
Rating:  
Purchase: Amazon // Smashwords

For Natalie Miller, it’s just another family vacation. For someone else, it’s the opportunity he’s been waiting for.

With only a single peck from a guy named Frank, Natalie’s anything but experienced with boys. But when Todd pops out of the water, says hi, and tells Natalie he has leukemia, all of that changes.

She’s never had attention like this from a boy, let alone one who’s a real charmer with sex on the brain and the experience to match. Drawn to Todd like a magnet, Natalie gives him her friendship, her love, and her body. Even when she’s tempted by gorgeous, healthy schoolmate Alex, Natalie’s desire to love and care for Todd pushes her to see how far love can go in spite of the potential for death of the relationship — and death of the one she loves.

Final Thoughts:
This is not one for those who are after a light romance. It has to be the most moving book I have ever read. I still feel like someone’s ripped me open and torn me to shreds. I didn’t put this book down once, sitting glued to my kindle for the entire afternoon. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park based on the synopsis, but I had no idea how much I would come to care for these characters. For the past however many hours it was, they were all that existed. Their pain is still affecting me as I sit here and try and keep the tears back long enough to pull together something that might resemble a review.

Title: Hushed
Author: Kelley York
Published: December, 2011 by Entangled Publishing
Pages: 229
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

He’s saved her. He’s loved her. He’s killed for her.

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants… And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

Final Thoughts:
I love broken boys—they tear you up inside, but you can’t help but want to see them happy. Archer, faced with a horrible upbringing, is quiet, withdrawn, basically living only to please his childhood friend, turned obsession–Vivian. Beyond frustrating, she’s the kind of person you don’t need in your life anymore, but can’t seem to get rid of—a heavily one sided relationship. Setting it apart from the other contemporary romances, Hushed takes on a surprisingly gripping serial killer plot, where Archer—the protagonist—is the one knocking people off. While it could be compared to Dexter, I think Archer comes across more likeable, with a desire to protect the ones he cares for, rather than getting off on killing people.