Across The Universe- Beth Revis

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Pages: 398

· Published: Razorbill [Penguin] 2011

· Genre: Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/Dystopian/ Y.A

· Date Finished: January 22^nd 2012

· Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Review:

For some people admitting that you like Sci-Fi is like admitting that you like to see men in drag. There is so much hype and sometimes hatred for this genre and a lot of highly intelligent material and literature to read. So it’s not surprising, despite being a Y.A reader and hearing many great things about this book and its premise that I let it sit on my shelf, a little intimidated by the prospect that I wouldn’t understand it. Lesson learned, always give everything a try and I am so freaking happy I did because I loved this book.

I’ll admit it did take me a few hours to actually settle myself into the world and after the first few chapters of holding my breath and feeling myself being trapped to in this universe Beth Revis has created I was starting to wonder if I could get through it, not because it was a bad book, but the reaction it stirred in me and the questions that repeatedly popped into my head were sometimes overwhelming. There were many times when I had to put it down and breath, but I enjoyed it even more when I got back into it.

The concept of this massive ship that is a world it its own is promising, but the way in which the Dystopian concepts unfold made this book enthralling. It is like nothing I have read before, but would love to read more of and everything from the world building to the characters [even the villains] were fantastic. For me I know a book is good when even the bad guys make me feel some compassion for them. And while it angered me a lot that people would let themselves be controlled like that, I did see the positives for some of unnatural ways that these people existed. It felt very real to me, and honestly with society and the government going the way it is, sometimes I wonder what hope we have in the future.

This is a funny book because I am not too sure if I exclusively liked any particular character or sided with anyone, I did however enjoy Elder and the Journey that he took realizing that his world was tainted and striving to fight against something when he felt helpless to control it a lot of the time. I also enjoyed Amy, for her past, present and her future that is sealed. If I had to live without ever seeing my family again I am not sure how I would cope, and I really felt for her. I also greatly enjoyed the alternating point of views between Amy and Elder.

Across the Universe is a book to make you think, question and observe. It blends in many genres and the pacing flows so it is effortless to read and I was hooked from page one. When I put it down I wanted to pick it up again. I stayed up way to many nights and late into the morning and when I wasn’t taking my time to savor it my eyes couldn’t read fast enough.

This book took me out of my comfort zone, made me feel uncomfortable and also caused me really look at the life I have and the freedom we are able to express in even the simplest things and be grateful for every minute of my life that I get to choose pathway in life.

I cannot wait to start reading A Million Suns. I am hoping to get around to it in March. [That is if I can actually let it sit there that long on my shelf. If you have not picked up this book I would greatly recommend that you do, it is mind-blowing & fantastic. And if you have read it let me know your thoughts.

★★★★★

Fracture - Megan Miranda

Pages: 264

Published: (first published January 5th 2012) Bloomsbury

Genre: Y.A/ Contemporary

Date Finished: January 18^th 2012

Synopsis:

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

Review:

I didn’t read a lot about this book before I pre-ordered it. But something about the premise and the cover caught my attention, but after hearing nothing but good things about it, it seemed like fate to me that the day I was having a reading rut this book should turn up and have me completely hooked from the get go.

For anyone who has even drowned or been close to death you know that awful sensation when you feel the life escaping you and there is nothing you can do about it, despite the struggle. The first few pages of his book left me breathless to the point I was squirming and yet so wonderfully captivated. And these sensations didn’t leave me all through the novel. Now let me tell you it takes a lot to truly make my scared, but there were parts of this novel that really had an effect on me and I swear I saw shadows.

Fracture it primarily about Delaney and her experiences after waking up from a coma, but it is also about her friends and family and the effect her personality and behavior has on them and I just devoured it, even Troy who for the most part of the novel freaking the shit out me, really had some elements of his personality that I could understand and connect with.

There were some cliché moments in Fracture, but really what book nowadays doesn’t have a little element of cheesy goodness. It wasn’t so much as a problem, but it did stick in my mind at times. But Fracture honestly for me is a unique and fantastic novel. It is everything I look for in a novel; fast paced, character progression, intrigue, the element of surprise and not predictability and an intense storyline that makes you feel so many emotions, and I cried- yes I cried near the ending and it made me love this book even more.

I would recommend this to anyone of any age. It is my first Debut novel of this year and I will be keeping my eye out for more books by Megan Miranda in the future.

★★★★★

Freedom from Toxic Relationships: Avril Carruthers

Pages: Paperback, 272 pages

Published: Expected publication: April 1st 2012 by Independent Pub Group

Genre: New Age/ Fiction/Spiritual

Date Finished: 31^st December 2011

Rating/ Recommendation: 3 stars ***

Synopsis:

A guide to the tools needed to leave painful, destructive relationships behind, both at home and at work, with dozens of helpful case histories Starting with details of how to recognize the manipulative or sweetly corrosive partner, the family dynamics that make Christmas and other get-togethers hell, and the nightmare boss, this book teaches readers what they can do to leave painful, destructive relationship patterns behind. Toxic relationships come in many guises, which can make them hard to identify. This guide explains that often they don't entail physical violence so much as a slow erosion of self esteem, a loss of personal identity, or a growing desire to please friends, partners, family members, and others who are impossible to please. Many toxic relationships begin early in childhood, or as people start to form their own personal relationships, and even when they find the courage to move on, if the fallout from these relationships is not dealt with, they may end up attracting more of the same. This book teaches how to observe these patterns in relationships, making it possible to truly move on.

Review:

I picked this book up feeling like it was a support sign from the universe. Id’ been having a lot of trouble coming to terms with why the past few years I haven’t been able to find my true self and after once again falling for a friend malicious and hurtful manipulations I was ready to seek professional help. It came at the wrong time of the year so when I walked into the library and saw this book, I decided it was a good sign I was making the right decisions in clearing away toxicity in my life.

While the concept of cords and their connections that cross between the living world and ethereal and spirit world, there wasn’t really anything revolutionary that I haven’t already read about before or know inside myself to be true. In regards to the toxic relationships, I felt the information was more common sense to me. It is hard to break the vicious cycle and I would like to look into cord clearing myself at some stage.

I would recommend this for people interested in learning more about the connections we create as humans to animals, people, objects and place and for those interested in learning about a different way to think spiritually.