Review: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games Trilogy #2) by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol.

Wow just wow. I loved this book. So intense. Slight spoiler coming, look away now.... (highlight to see)

...I kinda knew that Gale wouldn't be the victor of katniss's heart. After everything she and peeta went through the Games it would have been impossible for her to have the same kind of bonds with Gale.

I think I'm secretly hoping that mockingjay would enable them to share something that could bring their relationship back on tract (whatever that relationship may be).

A fantastic read.

Rating: 6/6 - It Was Amazing

Play for Passion (Psy-Changeling #9) by Naini Singh

Description (from Goodreads)

In his position as Tracker for the SnowDancer pack, Drew Kincaid must rein in rogue changelings who've lost control of their animal halves- even if it means killing those who've gone too far. But nothing in his life has prepared him for the battle he must now wage-to win the heart of a woman who makes his body ignite...and who threatens to enslave his wolf.

I needed to read this. It'd been on my radar since Bonds of justice, and I have other books I wanted to read first (curse of the charlion for one), but I needed to read something I knew would be well written after reading the disappointing and frustrating book Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick.

And it didn't disappoint. I love drew and the relationship he has with other characters so it was great to finally read his story. I also loved the way Singh teases us with Hawk and Sierra (is it June yet?)

The tension is really starting to build now. The Phy are getting ready for something big!

Rating: 5/6 -Really Liked It

Review: Torment by Kate Lauren

Description (from Goodreads)

Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

I'm not going to lie, my hopes where high for this book. Even though I knew it was going to be different from its predecessor due to the 'mystery' being solved. I just hoped that it wouldn't lose it's edge.

It did. It lost everything that made me like it in the first place. I didn't like Luce for most of this book. She was annoyingly brat-like. All she did was moan and whine and she just did too many things unexpectedly. I didn't get her. I didn't understand her motivations. I tried I really did.

I never really bought into Cam in Fallen, but it was Daniel who I felt let me down the most here. There didn't seem to be anything left of him that I liked. He seemed as desperate and as needy as Cam had been in book 1. Luce's friendship with Callie seemed pointless as well. We didn't 'know' who Callie was, we hadn't 'met' her so why have Luce talking about her all the time. Miles and Shelby were annoying replacements for those at sword and cross. Miles was annoying, and Shelby, well she was just dull.

I started to struggle halfway through. I was bored but then Luce fenced. It wasn't a spectacular fight scene but it was enough to suck me back in -It really helped that one of my twitter friends encouraged me to keep going for the twist at the end, so I began reading with more interest. It was slightly better second half than first, but I was not impressed with the ending; how Luce-like. It didn't feel like the end of a book, it felt more like an end to chapter. I feel that the story could have been told in half the amount of pages it actually took. In fact, torment and passion should have been one book. I'll still read passion. I have to, I'm already 2 books in and Daniel has to redeem himself, because seriously, he so didn't drop to the ground and bury his head in the grass, did he?

Rating: 3/4 - It Was Okay

Monthly Round Up: February

Another good reading month! My favourites being Bitten and Hunger Games. As usual there are some re-reads (7) which won't count towards my 150 goal, so are not numbered. 15 a new so they DO go towards my goal :D I'm a little annoyed that I've only been able to link 5 reviews though. However I do have another 9 to write up when I stop being so lazy.

13. Stormwalker, Allyson James
14. Bonds of Justice, Nalini Singh
15. Fallen, Lauren Kate
16. Torment, Lauren Kate
17. Crescendo, Becca Fitzpatrick
18. Play for Passion, Nalini Singh
Half way to the Grave, Jeaniene Frost (RR)
One foot in the grave, Jeaniene Frost (RR)
At Grave's End, Jeaniene Frost (RR)
19. Some Girls Bite, Chloe Neill
20. Friday Night Bites, Chloe Neill
21. Twice Bitten, Chloe Neill
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs (RR)
Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs (RR)
Iron Kissed, Patricia Briggs (RR)
Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs (RR)
22. Rebirth, Kelley Armstrong
23. This Side of the Grave, Jeaniene Frost
24. Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
25. Stolen, Kelley Armstrong
26. Dark Lover, JK Ward
27. Hunger Games

Total: 22

(RR = re-read)