Review: Clockwise by Elle Strauss

Goodreads summary:
Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this - she’s accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward.

Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just “brotherly” protectiveness?

When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does.

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Clockwise was such a cute and delightful read. Casey, our main character, gets transported to the past in 1860 and she can't control when she goes back. This was definitely an interesting time period and I was surprised at the plot since I was just expecting this whole book to be a fluffy romance about a girl getting a popular cute guy to notice her. Wrong! The book also explores the prejudice against certain people and the way of life back in the past!

I liked the parts of the story when Casey gets transported to the past infinitely more than her story in the present. In the present, Casey is a nobody in high school and she has problems with her appearance and she's at the bottom of the social ladder. The cliches were piled on. She sets her eyes on the cutest guy in school, Nate, who happens to be a jock and taken by a popular girl who conforms to the bitchy perfect-made-up-clothed-hairstyled bitchy cheerleader archetype. How could a guy like this type of girl and what does it say about him? There was also the annoying way that the main character kept concentrating on her bad physical traits (unruly hair and knobbly knees) when loads of people were complementing her on her prettiness.

Thankfully, much of the book was focused on Casey and Nate's venture into the past and them getting to know each other better and running into some interesting situations! Casey's thoughts were focused less on her appearance and her likable personality came through to us (and to Nate!).

Clockwise had a pretty cool surprise at the end. I'm happy there's a continuation of the story because just when it was revealed the book ended so suddenly!

Review: Endlessly by Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, #3)

Goodreads summary:
In Endlessly, pink-loving, butt-kicking Evie has way too much on her to-do list. Paranormals are begging her to open a faerie gate so they can leave the human world, something Evie’s not sure she has the power to do. The Dark Queen is torturing humans and must be destroyed.

On top of all that, Evie’s prom is coming up. She’s not sure what to wear, and, oh, yeah, her shape-shifting boyfriend, Lend, has been cursed so that he falls into an enchanted sleep whenever he and Evie are in the same room…and even Evie’s ex-boyfriend, the faerie Reth, can’t reverse the dark magic.

An epic battle is looming, and the choices Evie makes will determine the fate of whole paranormal world—and her own life.

A good conclusion to the Paranormalcy series but I kind of expected more. I counted on the nice dosage of comedy and funny dialogue when I got back into the world and the book delivered. The bad thing was sometimes this comedy got in the way of developing the characters and especially the relationship between Lend and Evie.

Lend and Evie were cute in this book but they kind of lacked spark. I found myself once again (as I did in Supernaturally) missing the Lend I met in the first book, the mischievous and unpredictable Lend. Lend didn't do much in this novel which I hated. Trying to live a human life just made him somehow... boring. What made it worse for me was Reth, the manipulative faerie, had so much more page time and his character was more complex and developed.

The author did create a memorable cast of characters but I was left craving for more. We just skimmed the surface of Jack and Raquel and David's story. If those had been touched upon more in this book, I would have surely felt more emotional leaving the world after I turned the last page. Nevertheless, a great series that was easy to devour and a fun adventure ride.

Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Goodreads summary:
Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

This book sure is the berries!

The Diviners had a 1920s setting which was confusing and overwhelming at the start when the author describes speakeasies, the theatre, parties and clothing items back in the day (culture shock!), but I adapted into the world eventually and I loved it!

The scene is set at a rooftop party where the hostess takes out an Ouija board and the guests gather and summon a spirit. They reach 'Naughty John' who delivers some creepy messages. The guests are frightened and leave the board without spelling goodbye (a big no-no!), releasing Naughty John into their world. He hides in a basement and prepares to cook up something evil.

In New York city, there dwells The Diviners, people with magical powers, one of them being our main character Evie. Evie was sent from a small town to live with her uncle at a museum in the city as punishment after her 'special power' caused a scandal back home (not much of a punishment if you ask me!). Evie was po-si-tute-ly spunky! Her antics were funny and she was such a colorful character. One day Evie's uncle Will is called on by police (due to his knowledge of Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult) to help investigations in a mysterious series of murders and Evie gets caught up in helping. I really liked the contrast of Evie's personality with the horror brought on by the gruesome murders committed. She was just a big ball of sunshine lighting up the otherwise dark tone of the book.

I also liked the other characters introduced; Sam, Jericho, Will, Mabel, Theta, Memphis! They all had such interesting pasts and lead interesting lives. The character building in this book was the cat's meow!

The Diviners was a lengthy book and I was worried I'd be bored by a good chuck of it but that didn't happen at all. It was unlike anything I'd ever read before and I had a swell time reading it!

Review: If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

Goodreads summary: Throughout their whole childhood, Finn and Autumn were inseparable - they finished each other's sentences, they knew just what to say when the other person was hurting. But one incident in middle school puts them in separate social worlds come high school, and Autumn has been happily dating James for the last 2 years. But she's always wondered what if...

Autumn and Finn had been close childhood friends. They started drifting apart in high school, hanging out in different cliques and barely exchanging words despite frequently seeing each other during 'family' dinners where their mothers (aka The Mothers) bring them together for meals.

This book details the events leading up to that tragic August night when Finn passed away due to a car accident (which is no spoiler since it's given in the book summary). Autumn also reminisces her childhood past with Finn and we are left wondering how they were the best of friends and transitioned to being practically strangers within the span of a few years. All the could'ves, would'ves and should'ves are lain out by Autumn's recount.

Autumn's obsession with Finn was so strong, it was very annoying how many times she kept acting like she didn't care in front of him. She kept having to convince herself that settling for another boy (if he loved her more than she loved him) was a good thing, whilst she was constantly imagining how Finn would have acted in situations she experienced with that boy. It was maddening but somehow I couldn't put the book down! I just had to find out if Autumn confessed her feelings to Finn, whether Finn felt the same way and whether Finn's death would affect me more than it did when it was revealed in the first chapter.

I didn't like the book's ending as I felt it was a bit of a cop-out. It was like the author served us two bombshells on a plate and then told us to conjure up our own resolution.