Under the Never Sky Trilogy by Veronica Rossi

 

Book 1: Under the Never Sky

Book 2: Through the Ever Night

Book 3: Into the Still Blue

Author: Veronica Rossi

Amazon Synopsis:

Book 1: Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption.

-------

Book 2: It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

-------

Book 3: Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to find the fabled Still Blue and bring balance to their world.

I decided that I should review these as a set, even though they all made me feel very different.  The beginning had a feel similar to the feel of The 100 tv series(which was very loosely based on a book as well).

To start off I'd like to talk about the things I enjoyed about this series.  It has a very dystopian feel to it, similar and yet different, to series like The Hunger Games and Divergent.  I've been pretty partial to the concept of Dystopian since I first read The Hunger Games, about a year before its movie release.  Similarly enough one of the lead characters is a girl named Aria.  I enjoy book series that contain female leads.  It's a sort of delicious strength I like to surround myself in.  More and more these days stories are arising where female characters are our leads.  I think it's a positive message that females are just as important as their male counterparts. 

Under the Never Sky had me intrigued from the very beginning.  It had been a while since I found a novel that enticed me to read again. My rediscovery of books was rekindled with this book. New, and yet similar concepts to other dystopian novels captured me. I wanted to see what would happen further along.  It didn't take me too long to finish this. It's been a little while and I can't remember, but I think I might have gotten this as a free kindle book.

Having been taking on extra hours at work and with the looming pandemic arising, it took me a while to read this, even though I wanted  to.  I spent only a few moments every night, perhaps a chapter or two at a time, reading before bed.  It was very hard to put down and go to bed.  As soon as book 1 was completed I was hooked and I found myself buying Through the Ever Night on my kindle curious to follow Peregrine and Aria into their newfound relationship.  Even the ending of this novel had me intrigued to see what was going to happen into book 3.  I desired to know what The Still Blue had in store.

Into the Still Blue started out pretty slow.  I felt as if the first two novels were far more interesting and fast paced than this.  Some of the more exciting scenes in this novel are spread out and far too few in my opinion.  With Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night I felt butterflies and excitement coursing through my veins, this book however, left me tired and bored. The ending didn't make me feel happy or excited.  I felt uninterested while reading this and it took me longer to read than the first two books.  I felt like I was expecting something more out of the still blue, description-wise, only to be left parched in the desert.  I expected more description and something fascinating to come out of this new discovered land, but in the end there wasn't much.  For costing about the same as the first two novels combined, I was very sour and disappointed.

There are more books in this series, but this is a trilogy in of itself.  The others are stand alone types.  Maybe one day I will pick those up and read, but for now, it's time to take a break.

As a whole, I give this series 3 out of 5 pinwheels.  Id have given it more, but book three just ruined the allure of the trilogy for me. 

Shame to those who think evil of this.

The Gravity Between Us

Genre: Romance / Lesbian / Fiction

First, before I get into the review, I'd like to apologize for how long it's been since I've actually done a review. Life kind of took hold of me and I find it hard to find the time to read much less do reviews of the books I read. In any case, I apologize. Onward to the review...

So far as I know, this is a standalone novel. Kristen Zimmer hasn't written anything else that I was able to find so far. It's her first and only novel to date.

The Gravity Between Us takes us through the eyes of Payton who is musically inclined, and Kendall who is an up and coming actress. The two have been friends since childhood and it soon is discovered that both have deeper feelings than just a friendship.

--

Goodreads Synopsis:

Where does friendship stop and love begin?

At just 19, Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet with the world at her feet – but behind the glamour and designer dresses is a girl who longs for normal.

Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life.

With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved.

Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…

The Gravity Between Us is a daring, romantic, emotional story about friendship, love, and finding the courage to be yourself in a crazy world.

New Adult novel: recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content

I originally got this book to read with a girlfriend of mine, having been in the want of sharing books with a significant other. We read the first 80 or so pages together, before some tragic event, that I wont get into, happened and we parted ways.  Needless to say it was over a year before I picked this book up again to finally finish it. I was glad that I did, as I couldn't put the thing down for long periods of time.

The author has a way with words that just seem to draw you in.  She makes you want to know what happens in the coming chapters.  The anticipation absolutely drove me insane.  I couldn't wait to see what our author had in store for our two lovely characters.  It was easy to connect to the characters in the way that only love can lead you to anticipate.  It was an anxious yearning sort of thing, very reminiscent of past events, for me at least.  It was excellently thought out to the very end.  I do have to say though that the ending felt a bit corny, but in a very good way.  It closes the chapters up nice and tight, letting the story come to a solid conclusion.  

All in all, I'd say this was one of my favorite lesbian reads, and I find that it is fair to say I believe more should pick this book up for a worthwhile read.  Even goodreads ratings prove how well this book has been written.  If you don't believe me, read it yourself and you will see how amazing it truly is.  I can't wait to see what else Kristen Zimmer has in store for us for future novels.

As you can surely guess, my rating is 5 pinwheels out of 5.

Shame on those who think evil of this.

World War Z by Max Brooks

Genre: Fiction / Survival / Post-apocalyptic

Basically a book with various stories from the perspectives of many people in a war of zombies called World War Z.

Back Cover:

We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time?  We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost?  Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the plague years.

What I thought:

I was actually kind of disappointed in this book.  I have previously read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks and found it amazing, so I thought this one would be too.  In fact, World War Z has been quite a popular read.  I guess that just goes to show that popular isn’t always the best. 

Okay, now you probably think that I really hate this book.  Absolutely not.  I prefer stories driven by characters, where this one is characters driving a story about war.  War books were never really my forte.  I do enjoy some, but the majority of them just aren’t that amazing.  I’m all for the zombie phenomena, but this one left it hard to connect, and hard to relate to.  I couldn’t feel the characters fears, or their emotions.  The stories felt stale to me.  Some of the stories were interesting, but the majority of them felt rather mediocre at best.  This of course is just a matter of opinion. 

Could have been worse, could have been better.

Favorite quotes:

“Who cares who she was, or is?  She was there when I needed her, and for the rest of my life, she’ll always be with me.”

Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this.