Taylor took the star-crossed lovers tale into her hands and wove an imaginative new story of a world beside our own where the slaves of angels rise up to take their freedom. A war rages for over a hundred years. Friends are betrayed and love is tested.
I couldn't put this book down. The author did an amazing job getting me involved with the characters. I really enjoyed the creatures and how well they were described. Poor Karou, all she wants is to know who and what she is, but knowledge is a dangerous thing. And Akiva, the tortured soul, thinking his love was gone forever only to find her and lose her again. I'm certainly hoping for a happy ending for them.  
Would I suggest you read it... YES!!  Do it!

 I always like to wait at least a day after reading a book before I write a review, let everything settle and sink in. When I was first finished I was all ready to give the book 5 stars, now I almost want to drop it to three stars. So I compromised and settled on 4.

I try not to let my personal pet peeves color my opinion too much, but really how many times can you say that a character's words are choppy, or that his scar turns his smile into something grotesque. I know, I know, I'm not an author so I don't know how hard it is. I'm just saying it annoys me to no end.

Also, what time period is this? There was a little info at one point about how the world became this way and it had to do with looking for fuel. Okay so we are in the future. They have some seemingly advanced technology, cloaking mechanisms and tracking devices, but they live like they are in the dark ages, riding in donkey pulled carriages and the like. I assume the reason the women went back to being nothing more than property was the tyrants fault.

So my pet peeve wouldn't have brought the rating down quite that much, but I also have to admit that when the second book comes out I probably will not be standing in line at midnight. I will read the second book when it comes out but I'm not going to be pining away for it in the meantime.

Overall, I do recommend it. The story has some good twists and kept me reading through the night. The romance is a big part of the story but I didn't think it took away from the plot too much, but helped to keep Rachel more real.

Wow. So, instead of abortion why not just wait until you know if your kid is worthy of life or not. Then if you find that you'd rather s/he hadn't been born they can still be useful as spare parts. What a crazy way to look at the debate around abortion rights.

There was this chapter that was insanely disturbing; you see a character being unwound. See him lose his sense of self, but still know what's going on. Even though he doesn't feel any physical pain, he's scared and wants to live.
 
Because of this book I've thought a lot about what I think and how I judge people, especially the younger kids. I've also added every other book by Neal Shusterman I could find to my to-read pile.

**spoiler alert** I loved this book. I really enjoyed going back and forth, from Jacob in his prime at the circus to Jacob as a ninety-something old man in a retirement home. I'd heard the ending was predictable, but I really didn't think so. Even though I was hoping he and Marlena would end up together, I was seriously doubting it would happen. I also really enjoyed the ending where he gets away from his life at the retirement center and rejoins the circus. The place that is truly his home.

Marlena was a not-so-typical, typical 30's woman. She's not typical because she ran away and joined a circus. However in almost every other respect she is what I picture women from the 30s to be like. She was a little weak, didn't speak up for herself much. Not the heroine we like to see today. But that's how women were treated then, that's how they were expected to behave.

Jacob, was so perfect for me. I loved his innocence at the beginning, how he hadn't realized how bad things were outside of Cornell. His devastation after his parents died. Wanting to just go, to get away from it all. And as an old man, just wanting to be who he always was. Wanting to be noticed, but not wanting to tell his secrets. I couldn't help but compare him to Rosie. So many of the nurse's and even the doctor thought he was a trouble patient. They always said he was depressed or this or that. When really all he needed was for someone to speak to him in a way he could understand. This person just happens to be Rosemary, which could be a version of Rosie. I found this interesting; Jacob helps Rosie and then Rosemary helps Jacob.

Something I will have to buy a copy of, and will be recommending to everybody.

**spoiler alert** I felt like the second book was very similar to the first in that the iron fey have stolen something and our favorite characters must go into enemy territory to get it back.
There seemed to be two main points in this story, the first being the love triangle. At first Ash tells Meghan that they cannot be together since they are summer and winter. Of course, we all know that Puck is in love with Meghan. Meghan is convinced that Ash will not renounce his family for her but she also knows that she doesn’t love Puck like she loves Ash. Ash eventually does tell his mother that he is in love with Meghan and chooses to be exiled from the Nevernever. Meghan, ignoring Pucks pleas and her father’s threats, follows.
The second main point in the story was that Meghan has somehow received the powers of the iron glamour. And apparently by the little hint we got from Virus she is going to be the next ruler of the iron fey. How will this affect the story? Will she be able to stay with Ash even though she’s going to be the ruler of his true enemy as well as being summer?

I don't read a lot of non fiction books, just not my thing really.  But a book about books, come on!  How could I possibly refuse?!  Now I know this may make me sound a little ignorant, but I did not know how many books there were about books.

So Book Lust is a list of books that the author, Nancy Pearl, thinks are worth reading.  From A to Z she lists her favorite subjects and authors.  In just her introduction alone I found myself laughing and looking forward to what she has to say about books for over 250 pages.  I did add quite a few books to my to-read pile, I actually had a pen and paper handy while reading this so I didn't have to stop and look up the books on my library website.  However, there were a lot of times when they were just lists.  And even though I might be interested in a subject, just the title of a book may not be enough to get me to run down to the bookstore.

4/5 stars for making my to read list jump by about 50 books.

Sorry it's been awhile, sometimes real life gets in the way.  Don't you hate when life interrupts your time to enjoy books?   I'll keep uploading more reviews and trying to figure this blogging thing out as I go.  In the meantime, what are you reading?  Any recommendations for what I should pick up next?  I always have a lot of books to read but I never know which one to pick up next.