Never Fade
March 2018 Reading Wrap-Up
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
(Throne of Glass, book 4)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 3 – 7
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: GHOST LEOPARD!!!!
Least Favorite Thing: Chaol’s shit-ass attitude for the first 2/3rds of the book drove me crazy. I mean I think it’s good writing for a character to have flaws and not always be likable, but his change in attitude just seemed so damn sudden and jarring…
This was the last one that was a reread, the rest of the books will be entirely new to me!
My Posts About Queen of Shadows
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
(The Darkest Minds, book 1)
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 20 – 21
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: IT’S OBVIOUSLY ZU. ANYONE WHO CLAIMS OTHERWISE IS A BIG FAT LIAR!
Least Favorite Thing: You-Know-Who with his creepy mind twisty creeps!
I randomly decided to reread this after seeing something about the film version coming out this August and being unable to get the story out of my head. I’m glad I did, I actually enjoyed it more this time around and raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.
My Posts About The Darkest Minds
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
(The Darkest Minds, book 2)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 21 – 23
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Rrrredssss! (I’m a fan of anything that just sets shit on fire lol)
Least Favorite Thing: I CAN’T SAY IT BECAUSE IT’S A BIG SPOILER, BUT I’M STILL TEARY-EYED ABOUT IT!!!
I’m so happy because I didn’t really get Second Book Syndrome from this one like I did the first time I read the series.
In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken
(The Darkest Minds, book 3)
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 24
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: SU-ZU-MEEEEEEEE
Least Favorite Thing: The fact that no one just put Clancy out of everyone’s misery…
Oh wow! So I just looked back at my old rating of this book and it was apparently 2 stars??? What??? This series is clearly one that improved with time. I’m really glad I reread it. Hope the films do them justice!
My Posts About In the Afterlight
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 28
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: She is so funny and surprisingly verbose. (I’d never seen her in anything where she was being herself and not acting, so I had no idea her vocabulary was so enjoyably vast. I even learned a new word or two.)
Least Favorite Thing: Um, it ended too soon.
I actually listened to the audiobook version of this book (though I had the physical copy with me to mark quotes and cool words). I am not usually a fan of audiobooks just because they don’t hold my attention all that well, but Anna reading her book was very engaging and I never once lost my concentration even though I was doing other things the whole time. I definitely recommend everyone try the audiobook whether or not they intend to read the physical copy. This is officially one of my top 3 favorite autobiographies so far.
My Posts About Scrappy Little Nobody
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
(Twilight Saga, book 1)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 30 – 31
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: It ended.
Least Favorite Thing: Gosh it’s so hard to pick just one… Possibly that fact that she’s like “I should be freaked out that he literally stalks me and breaks into my home on the reg, but I think it’s adoooorable”?
Well considering I set out to reread this specifically as a way of torturing myself into wanting to read better books again… It was exactly as painful as expected and pretty damn effective.
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
(Twilight Saga, book 1.5)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: Yes
Reading Dates: March 31
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Emmett overacting when he and Edward scheme to get Ben and Angela together. I swear I thought I was reading fanfiction for a minute there, but it was hilarious.
Least Favorite Thing: Eddie-boy is a self-obsessed, uppity lil bitch. Every thought he has is like “oh this human did a thing, but not as well as I do it” and “oh that human had a feeling, but of course it is nowhere as strong as MY emotions”
Welp… What can I say… I kept having to stop and scream into a pillow or rant at my husband so that probably tells you what you need to know right?
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
(Twilight Saga, book 2)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No
Reading Dates: March 31 – April 1 (Putting it here, because it was barely after midnight on April 1 that I finished.)
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Edward wasn’t in a good chunk of it. That was nice.
Least Favorite Thing: She still monologued about him the whole time. That was less nice.
I spent a solid 30 minutes just trying to figure out what she could have said to a therapist that would have allowed her to talk openly about the vampire crap without an involuntary psych hold…
In Progress
Completed: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
Completed: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
Update: Never Fade
Finally finished Never Fade. Turns out all I needed was internet deprivation. I actually finished it and reread Shatter Me all in one night.
Need a “semi-superhuman girl trapped in dystopian america” break so I’m thinking of reading either A Court of Thorns and Roses or Ice Like Fire next.
WWW Wednesday: November 18, 2015
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
I know, I know, you can’t believe I’m still on this one. I keep trying to finish it, but something keeps getting in the way every day. And when I can finally read my brain just cannot get into it like I did with The Darkest Minds (book 1 in the series). Things are starting to quite literally “heat up” and the important characters are finally coming together so hopefully I’ll be able to finish it tonight or tomorrow morning!
Recently Finished: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Last week I happened to realize I had two (2) days to get this one back to the library so I sat down and read it at top speed, putting off Never Fade again. [Please fake shock now.] Of course it was so good I had to get the other two (2) books in the trilogy from the library right away. I’m so glad Mary from Books and Cookies convinced me to put this on my TBR! My only complaint is that none of the reviews I read happened to mention there was a paranormal aspect so I went into this expecting it to be just like ‘Don’t Look Back’ by Jennifer L. Armentrout. (That is: girl witnesses murder, girl barely escapes with her life, now suffering from amnesia, must figure out who in her life is a bad guy…) So when things got blatantly paranormal I was really confused for a bit and actually had to go back and read a few select paragraphs to clear things up! Also as much as I hate to admit it, I didn’t enjoy the romance at all, love interest boy was 2-dimensional and annoying. There were times when she was clearly saying he should back off and he would just go for more because supposedly he can sens her emotions and knows that she really wants more. And I think it’s supposed to not be creepy because her inner-monologue shows us she really does like his attentions, but it still bothers me, you know? If she says no, no it should be. Period. The End. Amen.
But honestly, overall I enjoyed the novel and plot and look forward to the sequels and the cliffhanger definitely sank it’s hooks into me!
Reading Next: The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
This will be at least my third time reading this one. I know technically it’s marketed to younger teens, but the story is so good it holds up again and again. The braver, more adventurous of the sisters catches a sort of plague going through their kingdom and in order to save her the timid, shyer sister sets out on a crazy adventure for a cure. On her way she encounters ogres, spectres, even a dragon and faeries! For a book that only takes a matter of hours to finish, it’s remarkably good and interesting.
Teaser Tuesday: November 17, 2015
The question stayed with me every day, through every class, through every Op. I felt its teeth tighten around the back of my neck each time I was dismissed without a second look; it had locked it’s jaws and wouldn’t let me or my conscience go.
– Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, book 2), page 66
Version:
Hardcover, 507 pages
Published October 15th 2013 by Disney-Hyperion
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Top Ten Tuesday: November 17, 2015
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week will feature a new Top Ten list. Everyone is welcome to join. All that’s asked is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Don’t worry if you can’t come up with ten every time…just post what you can!
This week’s topic is: Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So!
(I know I’m posting this a bit late, try to forgive me, I’m ill yet again…)
- Her wrath became a song in her blood as she ended them.
– Queen of Shadows, Sarah J. Maas - Thinking something does not make it true. Wanting something does not make it real.
– The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin - “Oh, I’m sorry,” Chubs said, “apparently the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. Do continue.”
– Never Fade, Alexandra Bracken
(Let’s face it y’all, I can’t wait to use this line on somebody!) - Tomorrow belongs to betrayal. Today is mine and I don’t want to waste it being afraid.
– Such A Pretty Girl, Laura Wiess - No matter what happens, no matter who turns on me, no matter what pompous swine thinks he has power over me, I am still me. I will always be me.
– Snow Like Ashes, Sara Raasch - I’m not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I’m not sure that I want to wake up.
– If I Stay, Gayle Forman - He had been willing to die because he refused to take a life.
But me, I contemplated shooting everyone.
– Reboot, Amy Tintera - Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.
– Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas - The problem with alienating, self-destructive behavior is people get it into their heads it’s a cry for help. It wasn’t.
– Cracked Up to Be, Courtney Summers - Once you read something, you can’t erase it from your brain.
– Wake, Lisa McMann
Musing Monday: November 16, 2015
Musing Mondays is a weekly meme from that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:
- I’m currently reading…
- Up next I think I’ll read…
- I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
- I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
- I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
- I can’t wait to get a copy of…
- I wish I could read ___, but…
- I blogged about ____ this past week…
THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What has been your most favorite book, so far, this year? Why?
For my first Musing Monday I’m doing multiple prompts because according to Mary at Books and Cookies I should be a rebel 😛
I’m currently reading AND I’m really upset by: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken. Don’t get my wrong it’s a fine book, it’s just that I’ve hit that second book lag so I’ve been trying to finish the damn thing for like 3 weeks now when I usually only need a couple of days for a book that size. It’s extremely frustrating… And of course it’s going to end in some sort of cliffhanger because there’s two more books out in the series (The Darkest Minds series) and I’m going to have to read them (because it really is a good series, honestly), but I can’t finish freaking Never Fade!!!! *sigh*
Up next I think I’ll read, or reread rather, The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine. This will actually be my third time reading it since middle school, but I always enjoy it and it’s been on my mind lately. Also there’s this other booklr-type meme in which I’m going to need to talk about a trickster later this week and I want Vollys fresh in my brain.
And now for this week’s bonus question:
What has been your most favorite book, so far, this year? Why?
I have to say my favorite so far this year has been Queen of Shadows (book four in the Throne of Glass series) by Sarah J. Maas. If you’ve read it, you may be thinking right now of all the flaws in the book, the sudden character change in a specific precious guy, the out-of-the-blue kinda forced-feeling romance, but stoooooop for a second that’s not what I’m loving it for. The reason it’s my favorite book this year is the load of female badassery! I can’t exactly go into details without spoilers, but just know there is awesome lady character development and bomb women kicking ass and not even waiting to take names! Oh man I’m getting crazy excited just thinking about it all! I mean if you start the book and you’re like “what have you done to this male character I liked??” just know that Maas makes up for it with all of the women, trust me.
Darkestwings Reads