(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have a few mixed feelings about this book, so ideally, I would have given it 3.5 stars.

The blurb of this book sounded really intriguing. Unfortunately, when I started reading it? I came quite close to stopping reading the book at the love at first sight in eight and a half seconds comment. That doesn’t exist and always makes me roll my eyes.

I have to say, however, that once I got past that comment, I actually quite enjoyed reading this book. It did take a while for me to get behind the characters. The dreams were good, but I felt the book would have benefited from being expanded.

The first person perspective didn’t really irritate me, but I didn’t feel it was necessary to switch to another character’s point of view for one chapter alone. That was kind of awkward and did throw me out of the story a bit. Also, I noticed that Andy kept talking as if she knew exactly how one of the other characters felt.

I did think there was a bit too much telling rather than showing at times. The characters did come across as more three-dimensional later on in the book.

The book was more or less well-written, despite the earlier issues I mentioned. I’d probably be interested in reading a sequel to this book to find out what happens to the characters and if they truly learned anything.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

While I was reading this book, I had the strangest sense that I was moving through a dream.

The idea of people getting sick all around the world isn’t a really unique idea, but the zombie-like twist added a kind of cool dimension to it. I have to be honest, though – I struggled a bit to relate to the characters. Part of it was the very surreal feel to this book, but I also felt that the book came across as if it was being written like a movie.

There were a lot of cringeworthy scenes in this book. One in particular came quite close to making me gag.

It was interesting to see the different ways the sickness affected people. I did feel that there were some questions that I had by the end. Some of the things weren’t explained to my satisfaction.

At times, I felt that the book did jump ahead a bit. For instance, it went from the start of the sickness to the whole society having collapsed. I would have liked to see a bit more of how society collapsed.

It was interesting to see how Lee and Park each saw the sickness and how it affected them. The author did do a good job of showing the progression that each of them went through.

I think this book could have been extended a bit and I would have liked to have my questions answered by the end, which I felt was left very open-ended. It was really quick and easy to read, though that was probably more because the writing format meant it was much shorter than it appeared to be.

I’m not sure if I’d read a sequel to this book. I’d have to wait and see and judge it on the book itself.

(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I don’t really know much about the group that this book is a tribute to, but I’ve always been a fan of manga and all kinds of art. I can’t draw or paint myself, but I really like looking at other people’s fan work.

I really liked all of the different kinds of drawings there were in this book. There were some really cute and adorable ones, but also a lot of more serious drawings. Through both of those types, I felt that I had some idea of the characters and storylines, though I’m still not sure what the point of the Vocaloids are.

It was nice that there were so many different artists included in this collection. It was a good showcasing of the different art and a good introduction to the world of the Vocaloid.

I liked learning about the Vocaloids, too. I did like the comic strips that were included. The first one in particular was really effective. Using drawings without any speech bubbles is a really effective way of showing a story when it’s done well – and I felt that it was done particularly well here.

The second comic strip was really sweet, but I was really confused by how it fit in; whether it was an alternate universe, or the origin of Miku… I would have liked a bit more background and information about the characters’ histories.

All in all, though, this was a creative selection of work. I’m curious enough to check out more of Vocaloids, so in that sense, I suppose this work has done one of its jobs.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having reached the end of this book, I’m still left with some questions about it, but I still found it really well-written and a good read.

I liked Flora as a character and I also liked the relationship she had with Ailsa. Flora was someone I could really relate to and I saw a lot of myself in her.

I really liked the interspersing of the Selkie myths with the story. It was interesting to see the contrast of the vicious myths with the more gentle ones.

The use of first person worked really well in this book. I could picture a lot of the events happening inside my mind.

The mystery came across really well in this book and there were a few things I didn’t see coming.

I don’t normally like ambiguous things in books, but in this case, I do think it worked. I really liked this book and I would definitely be interested in looking at more books by this author in the future. It’s sad in parts, but is well-written.

(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have a few mixed feelings about this book. I did enjoy reading it and it was an interesting idea, but I couldn’t quite get behind the characters.

When I was reading this book, there were parts of it that made me think of books I enjoyed reading as a child. I was a bit confused, because I thought there was quite a big age difference between Mary and the Floating Boy, so when she was developing a crush on him, it took me a while to realise they’re actually quite close to each other in age.

Flying is something that’s always really intriguing to see. I was hoping to see something a bit out of the ordinary with this book, but I felt it tried too hard to be multi-genre. I didn’t quite understand the zombie slant on things.

The idea about how all the kids were flying was quite a good one. I also felt that the relationship between Mary and Liv came across really well.

The twist at the end worked, too. I think there was a lot in this book that was left unanswered, but it was an entertaining read anyway.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found this book to be a really easy book to read. The idea of a black fairy was a really interesting one and I felt sorry for the black fairy throughout most of the book. It was nice to see that she was able to make friends with the dragonflies.

I really liked the little black fairy and I also quite liked the way the dragonflies talked. I really liked the idea of all the creatures having their own language.

The language in the book made it really easy to read and the plot of the book was a really believable one. I did notice some errors in the writing, but nothing that was really major.

The poems/songs in the book were quite unique as well. It was a good set-up to the start of the series. The ending is quite intriguing and makes me interested enough to want to read the next book that follows on from this one.

I really liked the illustrations in the books, too. Even in black and white, they were really nicely done.

I’m going to pass this book on to my niece. I think she’ll really like it.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I felt this book did quite a good job of pulling me into the storyline more or less straight away. I liked the relationship between the characters and there were a couple of nice flashback scenes that didn’t tear me completely out of the story.

Zombies in themselves aren’t a unique concept, but I felt that their origin was quite a unique one. The use of psychic abilities involved with the zombies was quite an interesting concept, too.

I was a bit disappointed that there didn’t seem to be any of the main characters’ parallel selves in the different worlds. The only person they recognised from their world was someone I hadn’t actually met properly in the first place.

It was good to see that the characters did get hurt. I found myself caring about what happened to them and reading avidly to see what would happen next.

Billy was probably one of my favourite characters. Some of the comments he came out with really made me smile, even at some of the darker times during the book. The author did a good job of describing the zombies. I found myself cringing every time they appeared.

The other characters were fairly interesting as well, but I think the switching between POVs took away a lot of the twists/mystery that could have been involved.

I would definitely be interested in reading the next book/s in this series in the future. This was a fairly unique twist on the zombie genre with characters I liked and cared about.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book was quite an easy read, even though it was the third book in the series. I could understand the plot and the characters really well, with very little confusion.

I felt the author did a really good job of showing how different Solomon’s and Renee’s world was to the one normal humans inhabited. Although their lifestyle isn’t one that would naturally appeal to me, I could understand why the other characters found it so appealing.

The politics involved with the mating added a whole new dimension to the storyline, in my opinion. It was interesting to see how the mates had to deal with the challenges from those who wouldn’t accept the mating bond.

It was interesting how the vampire virus worked. I really have gone off most vampire romance fiction, but I felt that this was a fairly unique twist. It was also really cool that the main characters were foxes. I don’t think I’ve seen too many books with fox shifters as one or both of the main characters… though I wouldn’t have thought possessiveness was a trait foxes have.

I found the other characters fairly interesting as well, though Rachel really annoyed me through the book. I would be interested to see how her storyline is resolved, though.

I still didn’t like the dual first person POV, but the voices of the characters were different enough that it wasn’t completely irritating.

The mating marks idea was quite interesting as well. I felt that the author did a good job of allowing the relationship to develop easily and naturally. It was nice to see that Solomon wasn’t prepared to force Renee into something she wasn’t ready for.

I found this book to be really well-written with good world-building. There were some errors in the writing, but not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the book. I would definitely be interested in reading the other books in this series at some point in the future.

(I received a free copy of this book from 47North Publishers, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read the first book in this series, I was reasonably certain I’d like the second one… and I was right.

I continued to like Ellie in this book, though I was concerned for a while that she would be portrayed as ridiculously overpowered. It was nice to see that she couldn’t do everything perfectly first time, though.

I preferred the romance in this book and I also continued to like Claire. I wasn’t so sure about Tom, though. I felt he kept wasting his time with Ellie and that it looked like the beginnings of an obsession. I don’t like love triangles, but I hate multiple guys falling in love with the main female character even more.

The first person perspective worked really well with this book. The author stuck more or less with one viewpoint and I could really relate to and empathise with Ellie in this book.

I did like Myra’s budding relationship with Steve in this book. I would have liked to see more of the supporting characters from book one. Although David was interesting, I felt that Claire’s role had been delegated.

On the whole, the writing in this book was really descriptive and easy to read. I would certainly want to read book three at some point in the near future.

(I received a free copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did find it a little difficult to get into this book at first. I felt that there was a lot of information imparted through dialogue that created blocks of text that I often find quite difficult to read.

Once I got past the lessons stage, I found it easier to get into the book. I was able to understand the motivations of most of the characters, though I did struggle somewhat to understand their motivations at times. Still, many of the characters did come across as really strong and although I’m not sure I really liked many of the characters, they were quite intriguing.

There were a lot of politics in this book. At times, I did feel those politics overwhelmed the science fiction aspects, but I still found them to make the book more interesting to read.

One of the main problems I did see with the book was very little of the characters’ pasts. Although I knew a lot about them from what they did and said in the present, it would have been nice to know a bit more about their motivations. I knew what they were trying to do… I just wasn’t really sure why they were trying to do it.

I think the technology in the book came across really well in the action scenes, but the long explanations by the teachers were really difficult to read. I feel it would have been better to show the technology in action towards the beginning. Although there were scenes later on like that, I think there should have been more and that quite a bit of the explanation-dialogue could have been cut.

The book, on the whole, was mostly well-written, though I did notice some errors as I rad the book. A lot of the action was written really well – I do just feel that there could have been less telling through characters’ dialogue and more showing.