Peacock Flock Review #22 - Stitch

Stitch 

Author: Samantha Durante

Length: ~ 314 pages

Genre: Romance/Dystopian

Heat level: Clean  

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars 

Book Summary:

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa’s body screams at her to run… but yet she’s powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees – and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell – Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn’t figured out yet is that she’s not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university’s idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface…

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

Review:

We really liked this novel. We thought the idea of a college girl falling in love with a ghost was great enough but we were even more pulled into the story as twist after twist appeared and the premise shifted drastically. The characters were done really well and it was easy to connect with Alessa -- her narrative voice was wonderful. We also felt immersed in the setting and loved seeing things from Tristan's point of view too. The major twist halfway through that changed this from a ghost-love story to the premise of one of my favourite Jim Carrey movies (we won't tell you which one for obvious reasons :D) was a complete shock and so totally unexpected that it left us reeling, in the best possible way. We couldn't put the book down. The only negative was that we wanted a little more from the ending. It is the first part of a series but we wanted a bigger climax. We wanted the resolution at the end to be harder to arrive at. Still a great read though and we eagerly await the next book!

That's it from the flock! 

 

Peacock Flock Review #19 - Matched

Matched 

Author: Ally Condie

Length: ~ 369 pages

Genre: Dystopian

Heat level: Clean  

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars 

Book Summary:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Review:

We thought this was an interesting world. It reminded us a lot of The Giver or District 13 in the Hunger Games. This was both good and bad. A world like that is sometimes nice to read about, but we didn't see too many things about this totalitarian society that set it apart from the worlds created and that we've read about in the above books. We did really like Cassia though. We liked the concept of the Hundred Poems, and Hundred Songs etc. There's a point where Cassia thinks about how the Society gave them just enough glimpses of life that the people stay satisfied, this really rang true. We also really liked the pill idea. The novel got a little slow at times, so this wasn't a sit and finish in one sitting type of book but it was still good and we're just about to go pick up number two in the series from the library. :D A good read with some good characters, in a world that we'd really like to see shaken up. 

*Something else that made us happy? Book 3 for this series comes out in November so we don't have to wait an absurdly long time to find out what happens. Yay! 

That's it from the flock!