Stories for Coffee's BLOG
The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Review)
**Do not read this review unless you have read the first two novels in the Mara Dyer Trilogy in case of spoilers**
Synopsis: Mara Dyer wants to believe there’s more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.
She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.
She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.
Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.
Retribution has arrived.
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural
Cover: I want to hang up all of Michelle Hodkin’s book covers in my room since the covers are that beautiful.
My thoughts: This is one of the most satisfying conclusions to a trilogy that I have ever read. I read this novel looking for answers to the questions that arose in the first two novels, and boy did I get some answers. The book begins right where the last installment left off without wasting time reviewing what happened before. It picked up easily into the mystery that revolves around Mara Dyer and what happened when the hospital collapsed in Evolution. It shows Mara Dyer being tested on by Dr. Kells who will do anything to figure out Mara’s abilities and how to control them. Using inhumane techniques, Mara goes through horrible tests in the hospital she was forcefully put into.
A major contribution to the development of the plot were Jamie and Stella who assisted Mara in escaping the hospital to find out who was testing their supernatural abilities while also trying to find Noah. It takes these three characters on a journey around Florida and eventually New York City in their efforts to find the truth. Reading Jamie and Mara’s effortless banter helped lighten the heavy mood in the book which made me crack up at certain points during the most serious of scenes. I really enjoyed seeing Jamie play a bigger role in the plot as he assisted Mara who was adamant to find Noah again. It helped make the plot flow easier rather than having Mara alone trying to figure out why people are testing her abilities. More
The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Review)
***Do not read this review if you have not read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer***
Synopsis: Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.
She can’t.
She used to think her problems were all in her head.
They aren’t.
She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.
She’s wrong.
In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?
Cover: Once again I fell in love with Michelle Hodkin’s covers for her novels. I love the darkness this one emanates, as if telling the reader these books are dismal and dark. I love the whole underwater aspect that gives off a whole foreboding and mysterious vibe I completely adored.
My Thoughts: This sequel picks up immediately right after Mara Dyer got kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, Jude, who survived the collapse of the asylum in the first novel. Right when the story begins, Mara woke up in a hospital where the doctors said she tried to commit suicide when really Jude made her slit her wrists. Her parents then forced her to attend a type of school for troubled teens in hopes of her getting better from her “delusions” of Jude. As she attended the school where she reunited with the ever sarcastic and lovable best friend, Jamie, Mara still believed Jude was plotting against her. She began to experience black outs and vivid hallucinations that makes the reader wonder what was true and what was false with this unreliable narrator. Along with the hallucinations, Mara began to receive threats from who she believed was Jude who was plotting to hurt her and the ones she loved. More
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Review)
Synopsis:
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.
Cover: This cover is so incredibly beautiful I could possibly rant about it for hours. I love the whole concept of having the models under the water which adds a kind of darkness to the whole feeling to the book that interested me so much. It’s so flawless to see Noah clutching onto Mara as if to signify his determination to keep her grounded and protected from her own mind.
My thoughts: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a story about a girl, who’s pseudonym is Mara Dyer, was in a terrible accident that killed her two friends and her boyfriend, Jude. She has no recollection of the accident in the abandoned asylum they visited in the middle of the night or how she even survived. In order to live a normal life once again, Mara Dyer and her family moves to Florida to have a fresh start. Mara is still trying to figure out how she could have possibly survived the accident while she attempts to have a normal life as she attends high school with her brother, Daniel. She begins to hallucinate seeing her friends and boyfriend, Jude, whose presence torments her to the point of insanity. Because of these hallucinations, it makes the reader question what is actually real and what isn’t in this book thanks to Mara being an unreliable narrator. More
Stolen by Lucy Christopher (Review)
Synopsis: Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?
The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don’t exist – almost.
Cover: I really love the simplicity of this cover and the butterfly because, once you read the book, you’ll realize the significance of it.
My thoughts: Stolen is a story written in the form of a letter about a girl named Gemma who gets kidnapped at an airport by a mysterious and intriguing man named Ty. He took her to the Outback in Australia where they were surrounded by nothing for miles upon miles. He believed, in his own way, that he was doing her a favor by taking her away from her parents who never truly cared for her. He believed he was saving her. He truly cared for Gemma as a person instead of a prisoner. He made sure she was comfortable in her new surroundings and valued her opinions even if she resented him for taking her. More
Ten by Gretchen McNeil (Review)
Synopsis: SHHHH!
Don’t spread the word!
Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.
It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.
But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?
My thoughts: First of all, the cover was what drew me towards this book besides the recommendation from a friend. The cover reminded me of a mixture between Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie which are one of my two favorite mystery/thriller novels.
Missing From You by Sarah
I’d love to tell you sweet things
but I cannot talk
I see you even though my eyes are closed
I hear your smile as you talk to me
And I can tell when you’re trying not to cry
from the tremble in your voice
I feel your touch as you grip my hand
for strength
for comfort
for someone to hold
Home by Olivia
“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.” – Stephanie Perkins
I lightly hit the cushioned snow covered floor as I ran forward. The bottom of my paws became damp until they felt numb from the wind nipping at me. The cold air flew against my body, trying miserably to slow me down. My dark brown fur with specks of black whipped back and forth in the winter winds that cooled my heated body. This weather didn’t stand a chance against me. The snowflakes clinging for dear life on my fur tried to strike a shiver through my body. There was a fire coursing through me, keeping me warm against the toughest days.
I pushed my aching legs further into the dense woods. I felt the muscles in my shoulder blades pressing against each other every time I brought my heavy paws down on the snow. My ears that normally twitched, able to hear anything for miles, were pressed snugly on the top of my head so the wind wouldn’t bother them. I narrowed my eyes to prevent any snowflakes to get past my long eyelashes that also had small snowflakes hanging down over me.
I let out a puff of air through my black nose and saw the warm air rise until the cold temperature seized it. As I swerved my body in and out of the tall trees bare of leaves in my path, I heard an even howl break through the comfortable silence. The sudden noise caught me off guard, causing my constant pace falter. I craned my neck backwards to see a pale white wolf appear miraculously next to me. Her electric blue eyes, standing out from the bland colors around us, connected with my caramel colored ones for a second. She had a speck of snow resting on her light brown snout that she didn’t seem to care about. She tilted her head to observe me for a second before were off, running towards nothing in particular.
Divine Deception by Sarah
“No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from. ” – George Eliot
He was too drunk to know how many drinks he’s had tonight. He got up slowly, and even then if felt like his brain inside his head was spinning around and around while his head was completely still. It was ten and the boy had to somehow make his way to a party. Thank goodness it was down the block, he thought. He put on his jean jacket and and his Nikes and went for the door handle. He looked to his right, or left, whichever, and saw their old cork board filled with their pictures. He let go of the door handle and leaned against the opposite wall and slid down to the floor looking at a two year relationship through a series of pictures. And to think that we were gone now, he thought. The boy started to cry.
He missed her soft wavy hair, the happiness in her eyes that sparked a new adventure. Her being mischievous making things oh so exciting for him. He remembers how they would watch movies all night and get drunk together. And now he was here, getting intoxicated by himself.
He wiped away his tears, ruffled his black curly hair, and walked out the door without another look at the pictures. He walked with fury to the party. Rage surging through his veins, thinking of the night that she had left him, which was about a week ago.
My Valentine by Sarah
Today- I Hate Nerds
Class is about to end, and instead of staring at the clock like all the other idiots in class, that seem to think it is there utmost responsibility to run out of the classroom to rush to their next class, I’m staring at her legs.
They’re caramel colored and not long or short just somewhere in between and my eyes drift up past her pink skirt to her long sleeve black lacy top. My eyes lingered for a second on her chest before looking at her face. She was another one not looking at the clock like me. She was writing on her notebook. Maybe a poem, a short story, a song, a suicide note, or a love letter. Anything really. She looked up, her dark brown hair moving with her as she looked out the window biting her lip. Her eyes looked so lost and caught up in her own thoughts and I thought she was absolutely beautiful.
Then the damn bell rang and all the stupid idiots rushing to the door. Who’s so eager to get to class anyways? Fucking nerds.
I get up swiftly and walk behind her, since she always headed to her locker after this class to get her books for the rest of the afternoon. My locker was a few down from hers and I would always stop here with her even though I didn’t need any books. I just needed her.
“Hey Valentine,” I said with my smile. She turned around smiled a knowing smile since she knew I was the only one that called her by her real name.
“Hey, there rock star,” Valentine said hitting my chest playfully. Her grey eyes were shined when she saw my face.