Twilight by Meg Cabot

I was really worried about this book because this is the end of the series. It can either be really amazing because everything I wanted to happen occurred or it could be really bad because the opposite of what I wanted happened. Well, everything I wanted to happen and more occurred in this book and I found myself crying happy tears at the end of this novel because I was beyond satisfied by this series as a whole. It's been a while since I have been so immensely satisfied by a series before. And now I am doubly excited for future Meg Cabot books because she has announced a book seven for this series! My nerves are coming back only because I was so satisfied with the ending. I don't want anything to mess up my happiness. But, if there's anything I learned about Meg Cabot, it's that she always delivers a happy ending.

The romance was do or die in this book. What shocked me about this series is that I became so heavily invested in this romantic relationship. While I love romance, I can live without it, so it's huge for me to become so invested in a ship. But I wanted this ship to set sail and dock successfully. While I can't tell you the fate of Jesse and Suze, I can tell you that I am overall satisfied with the tale, even though there was a lot working against them in this (previous) final installment.

The plot in this one is just as crazy as the love story. Picking up a few weeks after the ending of book number five, Suze is still learning more about her abilities through an uneasy truce with Paul that is more out of necessity than it is desire. He's a little more bearable, though, so that's a plus. However, Paul made a huge discovery in this book, one that can alter the universe and Suze's life as she knows it. Determined to change his fate against the warnings of all his peers, he explores this new-found talent and puts everyone in jeopardy. Against her better judgment, the hero in Suze is determined to follow Paul into the unknown to save her family, her life, and her love. It's all very dramatic really, but dramatic in the best possible way. It had me flipping pages at a lightning fast speed and holding my breath in anxious anticipation.

All of these aspects combine to make the perfect ending. I couldn't have asked for more suspense or romance, nor would I change a thing. It is a rare moment that a book truly leaves me speechless. Take note, people! While I think this series ends perfectly, I am already counting down the (many) months between now and the eventual release of the much anticipated book seven!

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 31, 2014

 Avon Books, Fantasy, ghosts, Gifted, Harper Collins, Meg Cabot, Review, young adult  1 Person left their mark

✎

Haunted by Meg Cabot

If you haven't figured it out, I LOVE this series. If you haven't read it yet, you are seriously missing out!

Suze is beginning her junior year of high school in book number five. Obviously, that means a ton more shenanigans are about to ensue. With Suze, nothing is ever easy. However, she's really preoccupied with the fact that Jessie, the murdered ghost that resides in her bedroom that she has actually fallen in love with, has not kissed her yet. I mean, hello! This boy is the love of her life and he hasn't kissed her yet. I'd be a little preoccupied if I had an attractive ghost living in my room, too. But I mean, it's Jesse we are talking about. I have yet to encounter a soul who does not like Jesse and I am pretty sure that I will never actually encounter someone that dislikes Jesse because he's impossible to dislike.

The book immediately starts off with a twist because someone who she encountered in book four is now attending her school. This pace does not let up throughout the entire book. It seems that there simply cannot be enough mediators popping up all over Suze's world! However, this person is both essential to learning what she is capable of and annoying as an individual can be. There's some sort of a love triangle in this book, except we all know that nobody can beat Jesse. This doesn't stop the new "love interest" from attempting to win Suze's heart at any means necessary. He is so arrogant and pigheaded that he can't imagine anyone being with her but him. There's some testosterone flying in this book!

CeCe, Suze's best friend, makes another appearance in this book, so it's really great to watch even further character development between Suze and the people who have been in her life from the very beginning. Jesse and her new family are great, but CeCe knows more about her then nearly anyone else in the series. Except, of course, that she can speak to ghosts. So watching the two of them further their friendship and Suze open up about certain things she never opened up to CeCe before was great and super well done.

But the ending! The ending made me so happy! It will definitely satisfy any fan of the series. If you're anything like me, you will immediately run for book six because, boy, that was perfect. The romance in this series is always perfect, even if you want to throw your book at the wall sometimes. Cabot does everything for a reason, even if you don't realize it until you look back in time. Read this series, guys. Read it! Just trust me and read it. Perfect for humor fans, romance fans, and fantasy fans alike.

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 03, 2014

 Avon Books, Fantasy, Gifted, Harper Collins, Meg Cabot, Review, supernatural, The Mediator, young adult  2 People left their mark

✎

Darkest Hour by Meg Cabot

This is my favorite book so far in the series. It took Suze's ability to mediate and brought it to an entirely new level because this was all angry ghosts. And they're not your typical angry ghosts, they're the angry ghosts from Jesse's past. Yup, you heard me, the main focus of this book is Jesse and his death and his past and I am one very happy reader despite the fact that this book was, at one point, emotionally traumatizing to me. I could not have asked for a more delicious reveal to his story (though I already suspected most of it) but the modern day plot twists and the revelations of the past were superb. Just wow, I am very happy with this one and I think it's perfection. If I had to describe it in one word it would be "epic."

What I found to be most interesting about this book was the introduction of a new mediator, Jack, who is only a young boy. Jack is, well, adorable. He's spent his entire life being scared of ghosts because nobody saw what he could see and he was constantly in and out of therapy because of this. And then Suze came along and realized what he was while babysitting him. She pretty much changed the poor kid's life and helped him out greatly by explaining things to him and helping him. Unfortunately, this made him a very young and impressionable individual that could easily be manipulated. And, boy, was he manipulated by other evil forces. With Jack came his older brother, Paul, who I hope to never meet again. Seriously, that guy has way too many unanswerable questions and he deserves to have the word "creep" branded all over his body. It's a shame that the pretty ones are never pretty on the inside too.

I don't want to elaborate on the plot too much with this one because it was taken in so many different directions. There is Jesse and Jesse's past and Jesse's present and Jesse's unknown future. There's his dead body, there's his enemies and his friends. There's people trying unravel his mystery that are dropping like flies and a mystery force that is out to ruin Suze's life by turning her beloved organic orange juice into bugs. It's all rather supernaturally traumatizing and it truly is an emotional roller coaster.

There was a point in this book where I put it down and took to twitter to scream at Gillian and Christina for making me read this because my heart was shattered on the floor. I was looking at it while my cat decided to sit on it. It was just that bad. I couldn't bring myself to read on because this book elicited such an intensely sad emotion from me. But I was forced to read on because Meg Cabot brings the fluff and I'm thankful I did because this one was a doozy. Suze went places that she never fathomed she could go and Father Dominic, our lovely priest mediator, even accepted the fact that exorcisms and kicking butt is sometimes the way to go! Hold the phones and stop the presses! That is a miracle within itself!

All in all, the best book yet. With two more books to go, I hope that this series continues to be this awesome because Cabot seriously took this one to an entirely new level. I am fangirling and screaming and crying and laughing. I'm doing everything simply because Cabot has created characters that I'm so attached to I can't bear to see them hurt and I just want to see them triumph. Now...onto book five to see them triumph once again!

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by Tynga at Thursday, May 08, 2014

 Avon Books, Fantasy, ghosts, Gifted, Harper Collins, Meg Cabot, Review, The Mediator, young adult  4 People left their mark

✎

Reunion by Meg Cabot

Cabot introduced a new element to this story by having Suze's best friend from New York, Gina, come visit her for a week since it was her Spring break. I have to admit that I was excited for this and I enjoyed a lot of the shenanigans that ensued between the two long-time friends, but I hated the cliches that Gina brought with her. It seems that Cabot is drawn towards stereotyping and cliches. I mean, suddenly every single male in the book aside from the ones too young to understand the female anatomy was tripping over themselves to impress the Amazon-look-alike goddess? I'm over it. Was not a fan of that.

I did, however, think that the RLS Angels plight was interesting. At first, I really hated them. Four rich kids that model, captain athletics teams, and win elections because they've got the looks, the muscles, the money, and the connections to get everything they want. They die in the middle of the night because they're driven off of a highway at a sharp turn, go over the guardrail, and plummet hundreds of feet to their death. Not a nice way to go out, if you ask me. They're bent on revenge because they're determined that their deaths were the product of a deliberate murder, not a car accident, and they're bound to extract revenge on the boy who they think prematurely ended their lives: Michael Meducci. Michael flew under Suze's radar at school as a shy and awkward nerd, but he's suddenly thrust into the spotlight because a month after his sister was put into a coma, he was involved in a car accident that took the lives of four of the areas most high-profile rich kids. But something's off about Michael, and it's up to Suze to figure out what that is.

The mystery evolving around this case was superb, much stronger than the one that I struggled with in book two. I have to say that the perpetrator outted themself after directly threatening the lives of those close to Suze. Not a smart thing to do when girl's got some serious scheming and fighting skills, you know? There was a lot of unraveling of lies and even a few moments that had my heart stuck in my throat as I tried to flip the pages at a rapid speed. And though I hate people like the RLS Angels and am not a fan of some of their methods, I can understand where their rage came from and they earned some brownie points from me for stepping aside and attempting to allow Suze to do what she needed to do. With that in mind, Suze made some not-so-wise decisions in this one that had me cringing, but she learns a lot from her mistakes and had me praising the fact that it's not easy to kill a mediator.

And then there's Jesse...How can I not talk about Jesse? Some serious plot development occurred in this book. No declarations of feelings and no intimacy of any sort, but something so miniscule occurred that made my heart burst in my chest because this is Jesse and Suze and things are never easy with them. I mean ah! My inner romantic is so happy and anxious for book four right now. Book two was definitely a small bump in the road and we're back and better than ever with book three!

Now, if you excuse me, I've got some serious reading to do for book four!

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by Tynga at Thursday, April 24, 2014

 Avon Books, Fantasy, ghosts, Gifted, Harper Collins, Meg Cabot, Review, The Mediator, young adult  Leave your mark

✎

Ninth Key by Meg Cabot

I'm on the fence about book two in this series. While Suze is still an amazing wise-cracking heroine that's trying to deny (and failing) her feelings for Jesse, the overall plot of this one did not impress me. However, I still loved the little things--especially Jesse's "accidental" interferences with Suze's potential new love life.

Suze meets a guy that is finally interested in her for her, despite some terrible rash, and that is Tad Beaumont. I have to admit that when I first met him I laughed hysterically. I mean...Tad?! I'm giggling simply by writing his name. Poor boy. Anyway, shortly after getting involved with Tad, a ghost of a woman whose death is suspiciously linked to his family crashes into Suze's life and she simply has to uncover the mystery. And while I admire Suze's "go for it" and "head on" take for solving mysteries, I seriously feared for her life a few times with this one. I felt like an old man on the verge of having a coronary. I understand how Father Dominic is always freaking out now, poor man has a lot to deal with in regards to Suze's stubbornness.

Things definitely took an unexpected turn with the plot, but I can't say I was mesmerized or entirely pleased. While it was unique, it didn't wow me. Let's just say that I like my vampires darker and sexier and not, well, the way that Cabot chose to present them. Again, it was a very unique plot twist but it simply was not done well enough in my eyes. It just helped me release that this book is cutesy more than anything else. It can't be as dark as it has potential to be, and I tend to prefer darker and grittier stories when you introduce dark and gritty elements. With that in mind, I can't wait to continue this series, I hear it only gets better.

My biggest complaint with this book is that it is very repetitive. Descriptions from book one seemed to have been lifted out of that book word by word and placed into book two. It was entirely unnecessary. All of this could be apparent to me because I'm reading the entire series back to back, but it bothered me how repetitive it was. I often found myself at the most random times rolling my eyes because I knew what the book was trying to tell me for the fifth time because I read that exact same explanation so many times in book one. I'm hoping that this habit dies down later in the series.

I'm still loving what Cabot has to offer me, I just think that book two may suffer a little with sequel syndrome. It's a six book series so there's a lot to come, but my gut instinct is telling me this is a small lull in between book one and book three to set up something big. What that big thing could be is beyond me, but fingers crossed that I'm right and I will be exceptionally impressed with book three. Onwards!

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by Tynga at Thursday, April 10, 2014

 ghosts, Gifted, Harper Collins, HarperTeen, Meg Cabot, Paranormal, Review, The Mediator, young adult  Leave your mark

✎

Shadowland by Meg Cabot

This book was (very nicely) forced upon me by my friends Christina and Gillian after they heard that I'm not the biggest Meg Cabot fan. See, what observation was based off of me reading a single one of her more recent publications and disliking it greatly. So, I came home from college for Christmas break and found a box from Christina with this entire series waiting for me. And, boy, am I happy that she did this because I am absolutely adoring this series.

What I've discovered with Meg Cabot is that she has found the recipe to success. A kickass heroine with a snarky attitude plus a dreamy boy that creates a delicious romantic tension equals a series that Lili (and many other readers) are bound to pick up and love. In this instance, she can't let anyone down.

Suze, short for Susannah but you better not call her that, is one of my favorite heroines that I have come across, perhaps ever. Not only is she snarky, but she's intelligent and fiery. She's not scared to open up a can of whoop ass on evil ghosts, which is pretty awesome if you ask me. She's quirky and obsessed with fashion even though she'd be the last person you would think would be. And, in all honesty, I think she is a bit insane, but that just made me love her more. Though she has a hugely sarcastic demeanor, Suze is instantly likable and you immediately feel for her. Most importantly, Suze is a mediator, meaning that she is the liaison between a ghost and their ability to move on. Some ghosts hang around the real world after they die because they have some things to finish, Suze gets the job done so that they can move on and she can stop being haunted by creepy people. It's a win/win don't you think?

If I was getting shipped away from my best friend and the wonders of New York City to live with three step brothers in California, I can't say I would be beyond pleased, so it was interesting to see Suze's transition. However, watching her family dynamic change and see that she really does care for some of them was great. I especially love her soft spot for her nerdy little brother who she affectionately nicknames, Doc. The brother that's slightly older is Sleepy, who I enjoy at times, but I have to admit that her stereotypical dumb-jock-that-hooks-up-with-everyone brother, Dopey, annoys me a lot. I hate the stereotypes and wish more went into his characterization.

And then there's Jesse. He's not really human, he's just the ghost that inhabits her new bedroom because he died there somehow 150 years ago and has yet to move on. I love Jesse and I can see some amazing plot points happening with him later in the series. And I seriously hope their romance continues because it's not only unique, but meant to be. At least...in my eyes.

As far as the plot goes, the synopsis pretty much covers it. I find the fact that Suze goes to school in a Mission to be very entertaining. And even more entertaining is the fact that the first ever mediator she ever comes across happens to be a Priest and her Principal, Father Dominic. His characterization is superb. He is bound by his oath, but he's got a very tiny rebellious streak in him that's constantly battling his commitments and what society expects of him. Together him and Suze (and by default, Jesse) make an amazing team.

All in all, very easy to get through. A quick read that's slightly predictable. Our main ghost in this one is beyond childish and reminds me of a petulant rich girl who does not get what she wants. I genuinely believe that some of Cabot's characterization can be made to be more complex instead of stereotypical and annoying. Hopefully this is a problem that will get better down the line. Despite the fact that these books are on the elder side, they're not the least bit dated and I recommend that everyone gives them a chance--no matter what the age. I feel as if anyone can appreciate them. Suze's attitude is simply unparalleled. Onto book two!

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by Tynga at Thursday, March 27, 2014

 ghosts, Gifted, Harper Collins, HarperTeen, Meg Cabot, Paranormal, Review, The Mediator, young adult  4 People left their mark

✎