Review: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Goodreads summary:
The people of Nottinghamshire know Will Scarlet as Robin Hood’s shadow, a slip of a boy who throws daggers with deadly accuracy and an accomplished thief with an unerring eye for treasure. A select few know that Will is actually Scarlet, a young woman “recruited” by Robin two years earlier as he wandered the alleys of London. But no one knows who the real Scarlet is, what she was doing in London, and how she got that scar on her cheek. That is, no one but Gisbourne, the ruthless thief-taker just hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band.

The synopsis of the book captured my attention; the main character Scarlet, a mysterious woman posing as a thief alongside Robin Hood and his gang, stealthily helping citizens put food on their plate and pay their taxes in order to escape punishment from an unreasonable Sheriff. The story certainly retained my attention but I felt the focus were was more on romance and less on adventure. I were was a bit disappointed in this aspect but going into the book I had the feeling a female narrator meant this were was likely to occur.

What irks me the most about a female book character is when they can't decide who they like and strings along guys without taking into account that someone would eventually be hurt. Scarlet did precisely this. It was quite obvious who she liked (but she were was totally convinced he didn't like her back, when clearly we could all sense he were was) so the love triangle wasn't all that compelling.

I don't know much about the folklore of Robin Hood, but the antagonists Guy of Gisbourne and his lackies were a bit too evil without reason. I would've liked to see conflicting sides in their characters but they were as evil as villains could get. The distinction between good guys and baddies were was as clear as white and black in this book.

Since Scarlet is part of a trilogy, I'm holding onto hope that the series adds more dimension to the antagonists (and protagonists too) and since the love triangle is out of the way, a satisfying romance to unfold.

Review: Blood on my Hands by Todd Strasser (Thrillogy, #2)

Callie finds her Katherine's body and discovers that her friend has been murdered. Moments later her classmates flood around her and find her holding the weapon in her hand and snap photos of her to post and spread online. Callie decides to run because the photos all point to her being the murderer. She sets out to discover the real murderer whilst trying to avoid being recognised by the public and avoid capture by the authorities.

The book was great at being suspenseful, hopping between the time Callie is on the run and the past to develop a picture of who Katherine was and introduce the possible suspects. It did get a bit tedious hopping from one time to another as the story was quite slow to unfold. However, it was clever how the timelines converged and led to the eventual truth.

What I didn't enjoy was that Callie made stupid decisions but for some reason avoided being caught by the police for quite a while. It was particularly annoying as she built a case around who the possible murderer was without obtaining solid evidence and hoping to report her findings later to the authorities. I kept thinking that job would best be left for the experts! The longer she ran the more suspicious she became.

The twist at the end was really good. Blood on my Hands had a good mysterious atmosphere but parts of the story were unconvincing therefore it brought my rating down.

Review: Sword Art Online: Aincrad, Vol. 1 by Reki Kawahara

Set in the year 2022, Sword Art Online is a unique game which has been released and the protagonist of the book Kirito is one of the few thousand people who are amongst the first to log in when the game goes live. To enter the game, players wear a NerveGear, a piece of technology which fully immerses the wearer in the game. Everything is amazing until players find that the game is missing a log-out button. Confusion turns to horror as an announcement is made that for players to leave the game unscathed, they have to pass all 100 floors of the structure known as Aincrad. Until the game is beaten, removing the NerveGear is impossible without harming its wearer.

The premise and plot of Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad was nothing short of epic! We follow Kirito, a solo player, and his experience through the game. It was fun recognising the aspects of MMORPGs mentioned in the book. Despite the overhanging knowledge that in-game death meant real-life death, it wasn't all depressing in the book. There were some funny moments such as the Kirito's decision of cooking a rare meat or selling it on the market for a hefty amount of kol/coin.

The only thing I didn't like was the way Kirito's relationships with the other characters were written. Rather than reading about how he met each character, it was a given that Kirito knew these people some time before. I would have preferred it if I read about the very first encounters. Having said that, the book was fast paced and I guess that was one way to show how much time had passed since Kirito entered the game.

Overall, I really enjoyed Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad. It was pretty awesome!

Review: Evercrossed by Elizabeth Chandler (Kissed by an Angel #4)

Goodreads summary:
It’s been a year since Ivy’s boyfriend, Tristan, died. They’ve both moved on—Tristan to the other side of the afterlife, and Ivy to sweet, dependable Will. Now Ivy’s heading to Cape Cod, hoping to leave the horror of last summer behind. She wants nothing more than to lie on the beach, sip lemonade, and hang out with her friends.

But then a car crash ends Ivy’s life.

As she floats to the beyond, looking down on the life she’s left behind, Tristan breathes life back into her with a passionate kiss. She wakes up in the hospital, surrounded by Will and her family, but all she can think about is the love that she lost.

But memories aren’t all that’s come back from the past. And this time, Ivy’s not sure love will be enough to save her.

Evercrossed picks up a year after Tristan's death. Ivy seems to have moved on with Will but a chain of events brings her back to longing for Tristan.

Ivy and her girlfriends play with an Ouija board one night, accidentally allowing a spirit to enter the world. On a separate night, Ivy is involved in a car crash and sees Tristan telling her he will always be with her.

With her mind on nothing but Tristan after waking up in hospital (convinced that he saved her from death), she bumps into another patient, an amnesiac aka Guy, who intrigues and pulls her in with his likeness to Tristan. Ivy gradually drifts away from Will and spends a lot of time with the mysterious Guy.

I didn't like how Will was treated by Ivy in this book. He's nice, caring and likable but Ivy just didn't have regard for his feelings. Whenever Ivy and Guy were on the page there was no doubt they shared something special. I was convinced Guy was Tristan with memory loss, just like Ivy was.

Ivy's life is in danger when it is revealed the spirit that she and her friends summoned could be Gregory back with a vengeance and being able to possess anyone. The book was quite suspenseful as I analysed anyone who came in contact with Ivy. The book ended with a cliffhanger revealing the possessed person who I never even suspected!

Evercrossed was definitely a book I couldn't put down.