Playing the Part by Jen Turano

Page Count: 352
Published on: March 1, 2016

Published by: Bethany House

Genre(s): Romance, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction
Source: Provided by Bethany House- Paperback

Age Rating: PG-14

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

      Lucetta Plum is an actress on the rise in New York City, but is forced to abandon her starring role when a fan's interest turns threatening. Lucinda's widowed friend, Abigail Hart, is delighted at the opportunity to meddle in Lucetta's life and promptly whisks her away to her grandson's estate to hide out.

      Bram Haverstein may appear to simply be a somewhat eccentric gentleman of means, but a mysterious career and a secret fascination with a certain actress mean there's much more to him than society knows.

      Lucetta, who has no interest in Abigail's matchmaking machinations, has the best intentions of remaining cordial but coolly distant to Bram. But when she can't ignore the strange and mysterious things going on in his house, it'll take more than good intentions to keep her from trying to discover who Bram is behind the part he plays.

~~~

Hey guys!

      Play the Part was sent to me by Bethany House for an honest review. I've been kind of wary to read this book, because just I wasn't sure if it was apart of a series. It just so happens to be the third book in the A Class Of Their Own trilogy. On the bright side, it's a companion trilogy, so all three books are separate stories, but they all connect at the end of the trilogy. I don't think missed much, which is great.

     I really liked this book. The plot was nicely done, the characters were hilarious. Each of the characters were really well thought out, their stories were all really intriguing and their diverse backgrounds are really cool and fun. I really enjoyed Lucetta as a character. She was really strong and independent. She was such a real character, and she was so calm. She wasn't a hysterical or spazzy character, she was such a cool young woman. Bram was such a sweet and chivalrous character. He is definitely one of my favorite book boyfriends. Lucetta and Bram's relationship wasn't love at first sight, but it developed kind of quickly..but it wasn't insta-love... I really did like their relationship, Lucetta was such an independent soul, and her reluctance to admit her budding attraction was really funny to watch. Their encounters were really cute and they made me majorly fangirl. There were so many potential ships in this book, and each one of them was really different, and seeing them fall for each other was really amazing. 

     I WANT TO SEE BRAM'S CASTLE! His castle's description was so spooky and gothic. I just really want to visit his castle and see all that his staff has done to it. It sounded so cool.

      The two things that I was kinda if-y about was that I saw the plot twist coming, and there wasn't nearly enough spiritual content in my opinion. I really wanted a good spiritual lesson, and He was rarely mentioned in this book, and when he was mentioned, it was very brief. It was just not what I expected.

My Ships: Abigail x Archibald, Bram x Lucetta, & Mr. Skulkman x Ruby
My Favorite Character: Bram or Lucetta or Ruby
My Least Favorite Character: Silas

I hope you enjoyed this review!
Happy Reading!
Olivia
~livthebooknerd~

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[SERIES REVIEW] The Maze Runner Series (#1-4) by James Dashner

Page Count: 
(1) 384
(2) 368
(3) 325
(4) 327

Published On: 

(1) October 6th 2009

(2) October 12th, 2010

(3) October 11th, 2011

(4) August 14th 2012

Published by: Delacorte Press

Genre(s): YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Post Apocalyptic 

Source: Paperback

Age Rating: PG-12

Twitter: @jamesdashner

Where To Find It: 

(1) Goodreads // Amazon

(2) Goodreads // Amazon

(3) Goodreads // Amazon

(4) Goodreads // Amazon

My Ratings:

(1) 4.5 stars
(2) 5 stars
(3) 5 stars

(4) 3 stars

~~~

Goodreads synopsis of The Maze Runner:

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.


When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

~~~

Hey guys!

      My little sister Reagan {reviews} has been asking and pestering me to read the Maze Runner series for the longest time. She absolutely loves this series, and when I finally read it, she was really aggressively excited.I decided to do a joint review on the whole series, because by the time that I finished each book, the story was running together as one huge story.

~My Thoughts on The Maze Runner:

• Although I enjoyed this book, I wish that I had read the book before watching the movie. The book was great, don't get me wrong, but I knew the basic plot, and I knew the important events that happened in the book.
• I really liked this book, but I felt like I didn't like it as much as Reagan. said.
• I really liked the characters, and some of the characters are so much more epic in the book than they were in the movie.

My Favorite Character: Thomas & Chuck & Newt
My Least Favorite Character: Alby & Gally

My Rating: 4.5 stars

~My Thoughts on The Scorch Trials:

•  I liked this one way more than The Maze Runner. This book was so addicting, and fun to read. James Dashner did a great job with this one. There was just enough action for it not to get overwhelming, there was just enough mystery to keep me intrigued but not annoyed, and enough drama/romance to make it not one long action fest. 
• I hated Teresa in this one, I liked the new addition to the female cast.
• This book kept me at the edge of my seat, and I wasn't disappointed.

My Favorite Character: Thomas & Newt

My Least Favorite Character: Minho & Teresa

My Rating: 5 stars

~My Thoughts on The Death Cure:

• I also liked this one more than I liked the first book. This one was just so well written, and it had all the right elements for a post-apocolyptic/apocolyptic book. 
• The ending to this book was actually quite satisfying, but I do wish that there was another book right after. I just want to know more about the characters! *cries*
• I feel like Teresa redeemed herself, but I'm still not happy with her. I felt like she should have fought back more...
• It was overall a great book. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

My Favorite Characters: Thomas & Newt

My Least Favorite Character: Minho & Teresa

My Rating: 5 stars

~My Thoughts on The Kill Order:

• Ok, I went into this thinking that this was going to be about Thomas and how he came to be associated with WICKED, or at least about the characters...it wasn't.
• I didn't really like the constant action. It was 90% action and 10% story. I wasn't as attached to the characters as I was in the first three books. I found the new characters to be annoying..I didn't like them much at all.
• I wish that there had been less action, because it made me very overwhelmed and bored with it. I ended up skimming the middle and reading the end.
• I loved the prologue and the epilogue. I'm so glad that they included Teresa and Thomas in the book. I can't wait to read Fever Code...I need it in my life.

My Favorite Characters: Thomas & Teresa

My Least Favorite Characters: all of the new characters

My Rating: 3 stars

      Overall I'd give the series the grade of a  B+. It was a pretty good series, but I have some problems with it as you can see. I'd honestly give the series an A if I didn't include the Kill Order..that was just bad for me. I plan on reading The Fever Code when it comes out..I'm so excited... 

The Video:

Enjoy!

Happy reading!

Olivia

~livthebooknerd~

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Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix

Page Count: 304
Published on: October 13, 2015

Published by: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre(s):  YA, Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction
Source: Print: Hardback

Age Rating: PG-13

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Twitter: @garthnix

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

     On her eighteenth birthday, Lady Truthful, nicknamed “Newt,” will inherit her family’s treasure: the Newington Emerald. A dazzling heart-shaped gem, the Emerald also bestows its wearer with magical powers.

     When the Emerald disappears one stormy night, Newt sets off to recover it. Her plan entails dressing up as a man, mustache included, as no well-bred young lady should be seen out and about on her own. While in disguise, Newt encounters the handsome but shrewd Major Harnett, who volunteers to help find the missing Emerald under the assumption that she is a man. Once she and her unsuspecting ally are caught up in a dangerous adventure that includes an evil sorceress, Newt realizes that something else is afoot: the beating of her heart.

      In Newt’s Emerald, the bestselling author of Sabriel, Garth Nix, takes a waggish approach to the forever popular Regency romance and presents a charmed world where everyone has something to hide.

~~~

Hey guys!

      I was given this book by my lovely grandmother for Christmas. At first I thought this book was actually called "Newt's Mermaid." I was really looking forward to a bad-ass search for a magical gem mermaid story, but the story was actually about a young lady named Lady Truthful (or Newt) who is to inherit her family's treasure, the Newington Emerald. One stormy night, the precious Emerald was stolen from the Newington Estate. Newt goes off to London in search of her family's precious jewel, and in the process dresses as a man, and meets a man named Major Harnett. Harnett volunteers to help Newt find the Emerald. 

     It took me a few chapters to get into this book, and it took me a while to understand the type of fantasy novel it was. This book was very entertaining, but it wasn't until the about 2/3 of the way through that I started to love it. There is very little character development, there are so many cliches throughout, and the characters weren't very likeable. I was hoping to connect more with Newt, not to mention that Newt was rarely ever called Newt. The people that she met usually called her Lady Truthful which got really redundant and kind of annoying.

      Major Harnett actually reminded me of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen. His over all attitude was a lot like Darcy's, but maybe a bit more inviting. The romance throughout this book was really cute, but it was executed very awkwardly. There weren't enough details throughout the book to keep it going smoothly, but the story was still enjoyable and cute. I really liked the magical aspects to this book, and I liked the glamour that the characters used, and I think it would be a really cool thing to read about. I usually only read about glamour in fairy/faerie novels, and to read about it in another type of fantasy novel.
Overall this was an adequate fantasy stand-alone, but I feel like the massive amount of hype that is around Garth Nix's books lead me to believe that it would be much better.

My Favorite Character: Major Charles Harnett
My Least Favorite Character: Newt's father

Enjoy! Happy Reading!

Olivia 

~livthebooknerd~

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