Interview with Amy Tintera

Recently, I emailed the author of ‘Reboot’ and ‘Rebel’ with a few questions. (I’ll admit that I love this book. I love the premise and the plot. The romance is, actually, quite bearable. I do think you should read ‘Reboot’ if you ever get the chance. Sadly…there is no third book coming out. But Amy Tintera is planning a new series, my friends. There’s the plus when your nickname is the main character’s name. Not that I intended for that to happen.)

1: Why did you start writing?

I started writing when I was a kid because I loved reading. I wanted to write my own stories!

2: What advice do you have for novice writers?

Never give up! Keep writing and reading.

3: What was your inspiration for ‘Reboot’?

I came up with the idea for Wren first. I heard her in my head, saying she was dead for 178 minutes, and I built the story around her.

4: Will you make a third book?

There’s no third book in the REBOOT series, REBEL is the end! But my new YA fantasy series RUINED, will start in 2016!

Biography:

Hi! I’m Amy Tintera, and I write novels for young adults. I grew up in Austin, Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in journalism. After receiving a masters in film at Emerson College I moved to Los Angeles, where I promptly discovered I didn’t enjoy working in the film industry, and went back to my first love, writing.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5768611.Amy_Tintera

http://amytintera.com/

October Book Challenge: Tarot Readings

Currently, I am part of a Goodreads group called The YA Dystopian Book Club. I was looking at their challenges and noticed a very interesting one based off of tarot cards.

I decided to try my fortune at this challenge.

Here is my challenge:

Pick a random card, Major or Minor, and spell out the name of that card. Find books or authors that start with that letter.

My card is: The Tower. The Tower meaning Holding too Tightly, Anger, Emotional. (As copied and pasted from the tarot reading challenge page.)

I’ll update you on this challenge as I go along. I might join more challenges for the month of October. I might not. It all depends.

The letters I need to use are:

T

H

E

 

T

O

W

E

R

 

If you would like to join this challenge, here is the link for the club’s site for the challenge: (Mind you, you have to join the club.)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1985765-tarot-readings

I hope you guys can join!

 

-Wren

Wren Reviews: ‘Day 21’

Title: Day 21

Author: Kass Morgan

Genre: Dystopian, Action, Adventure, Romance

 

Premise:

(Goodreads)

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries — until now.
It’s been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They’re the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries…or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.
In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan’s The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can — together.

 

Plot: The plot is quite…interesting yet dull. This is definitely a filler book. There is simply nothing else to call it.

The plot is interesting, though. We get romance for Wells, the guy Clarke rejected. We get Clarke and Bellamy. We get a missing Octavia and the Earthborns attacking. We have mysterious illness.

Here is the plot.

We have the people getting sick. We start, actually, with the funeral of someone who has been attacked by the Earthborns. The hundred are terrified for their lives, but Wells is stepping up to be ‘Chancellor Junior’. Bellamy looks for Octavia his sister. We get Clarke following him, but she gets bitten by a snake and has to return. An Earthborn named Sasha appears and is taken hostage. She slowly befriends, and falls in love with, Wells. We have Clarke and Bellamy both in love with each other. And it seems like everyone else is fending for themselves. People get sick from wintershade, or whatever it is called. A plant. Don’t worry. They’ll recover soon. They end up having Priya killed. Sasha lets Bellamy and Clarke talk to her father the leader of the Earthborns. He explains that Clarke’s parents are alive. Bellamy finds Octavia. The three return to the camp. There, Sasha and Wells reunite. People start to trust the Earthborns. And Wells suspects Kendall of killing Priya. The story ends with Bellamy and Clarke seeing the dropship coming down from the sky.

Back on the ship, Glass and Luke are living it up. They are slowly dying from oxygen deprivation, and Glass wants to go back to her mother. She ends up going on a spacewalk to get to Phoenix her home. She opens the glass door keeping Waldenites and Arcadians back from Phoenix. The people spill into the oxygen-rich Phoenix. Luke and Glass find Sonja Glass’s mother. There, Luke discovers Glass’s dark secret. She sold out his best friend Carter and got Carter killed. Luke, in anguish, leaves Glass as Glass makes her way to the dropships. She ends up getting on with Luke, but her mother dies.

This is a cliffhanger. It really is. There isn’t much to this plot. It isn’t action filled as the TV series is. (Yes, I watch the CW show.) There isn’t much to this book really. It’s a filler book. You can tell when you read it.

 

Character Development:

Clarke. I don’t like Clarke in this book. She was a defiant female heroine with her own ideals in the first book. She, like Cassie from ‘The 5^th Wave’ ends up being the arm candy for the male ‘hero’. I don’t particularly like this change. I preferred her when she wasn’t locking lips with Bellamy. Especially when I’m a fan of her and Finn. (Finn is the romantic interest of Clarke in the show. Bellamy, actually, is a jerk in the show not some lovey-dovey nice guy.) I felt like her character was re-written to fit the ‘lover’ position not the ‘medic’.

Bellamy. Gah. Bellamy. He had so much potential. He has a dark past. He loves his sister dearly. We even find out that he’s Wells’s step-brother. But. Bellamy ends up, again, a love interest. That’s all he is. He kisses Clarke. He finds food. He searches for Octavia. Nothing much to his character but that.

Wells. Here is the one character I like. Wells is interesting. He loves Clarke. And he wants her to know he’s sorry for what he did. And Wells is such an interesting character. He’s emotionally torn by that love and commitment, not in the ways Clarke and Glass are. Those girls are whiny and mopey while Wells keeps his brave face on. I hate how he ends up with Earthborn Sasha. He would have been better a single character.

Glass. Glass Glass Glass. How I despise you so. I prefer books where relationships are formed. Not discovered. Not torn apart in the beginning and somehow reunited. I don’t like those. And Glass is one of those girls in those types of relationships. I do admire Luke’s courage. I admire how much he loves Glass. But I don’t like Glass. She has a backstory, but it isn’t a very good backstory. She has the potential to be Raven (again, the show.) She could be that girl. Brave. Daring. Goes to Earth to find her love. But she is on the ship. Her worst problem is breaking Luke’s heart.

 

Problems: There are many, many problems. I felt like this book is the second sequel I’ve read that is sadly lacking. There are two types of sequels. The good ones that make your head spin. Or the terrible ones. This is the latter.

This is why.

This book is focused on romance. There are kissing scenes. Hugging scenes. Holding hands scenes. If I didn’t know this was the sequel, I would have taken it for a romance. There is that much romance. I felt like there was too much emphasis on romance. There could have been more action. Maybe Octavia’s view. I got bored reading about Glass and Luke.

Another thing. The point of views. Clarke and Bellamy told the same story. Love love. Kiss kiss. Fear fear. We could have gotten maybe Priya’s look on things before she died. Or Kendall’s. Or Sasha’s. But we stick to the original four characters. Glass is tiresome. And her story is useless. Why do we need to know what’s happening on the Ark? That’s the thing. We don’t. Wells was good enough. As I said, there is too much romance for me to swallow.

I hated how we got little action. It’s a filler book. We get nothing out of this book. There really is only one or two things.

One. People from the Ark came to the Earth before.

Two. Two of those people are Clarke’s parents.

Three. We get romance all over the place.

In all honesty, there isn’t much that is really good about this filler. We don’t have action. Who is Kendall? What is she doing? Where is Clarke’s parents? Will the hundred survive? None of those questions get answered. Which is disappointing to say the least.

 

Good points: I did like how Wells grew. That was good. I felt like this story wasn’t what it could be. It seems like I’m going through a string of terrible, filler sequels. That is saddening for me to know. I felt like Wells was the only good character. The only one I liked actually. I didn’t see much in this book.

The plot was dull. The characters dull. The action is limited to a few, measly chase scenes that don’t even qualify. The most action is the sob-sob of heartache. And that doesn’t even count as action. It’s more drama.

 

Score: 6/10

Recommended: If you like ‘The 100’ with lots of romance. If you like Bellamy and Clarke together. (I am personally a fan of Finn and Clarke not Bellamy and Clarke.)

 

Wren Reviews: ‘The Infinite Sea’

Title: Infinite Sea
Author: Rick Yancey
Genre: Dystopian, YA fiction, romance, Science fiction, action

Note: My book ban was in the middle of this book. I might have forgotten certain aspects of the story.

Premise:
(Goodreads)
How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Plot: This is a plot that I didn’t particularly like.
We start with Cassie being adamant about Evan finding her, and surviving the explosion. She is with Ringer, Dumbo, Sam, Poundcake, Teacup, and Ben. Together, they are holed in a hotel. Ringer goes out, and Teacup follows. We get her jumped, and we end up with them being carted off. We get Evan and him being healed by Grace another Other in a human person. She is, somehow, attracted to Evan. Evan escapes Grace with him getting more hurt. We switch to Cassie and her group. Evan arrives and is hurt. He has to heal. Cassie whines over him, babying him like he babied her. They end up having to leave their hotel after a little kid almost blows up the hotel. Evan saved them. Grace finds them. Poundcake sacrifices himself to save the others by blowing himself, and Grace, up. Ben wants to find Ringer who has been missing for a long time. They instead flee. And we get Ringer. She is getting enhanced by Vosch. She meets Razor a human soldier. They become friends and plan to get out. She ends up fleeing and getting Teacup. Sadly, she is betrayed by Razor, finding out everything is a plan. She also finds out a major secret. (I refuse to spoil this.) We have her recovering from her injuries. And Evan is coming out of an explosion. And Cassie comes to him.
That’s how the story ends, guys. A cliffhanger.
The plot is quite dull, actually. We get snippets of their lives before the waves came. We get Poundcake’s story. Bits of it at least. It’s interesting, but it isn’t amazing. I felt like his story was lacking something. I didn’t see much in his story. It was really more of a short story Rick Yancey could have put in as a short to go with the book not actually in the book. The backstories are interesting enough. The plot doesn’t have much. This book seems like a filler before the action comes.

Character Development: There are a surprising amount of characters in this compared to the first book ‘The 5th Wave’. Of course, Cassie thought she was alone in the first book whereas she has friend and family with her in book two.
Ringer. Ringer is by far the best character in this book. She is brave and determined. And apparently part Asian. She’s smart and quick. She ends up turning into this more human…being. She acts like she’s emotionless in the beginning, but she ends up with romance. And a melted heart. I feel like Ringer is better in the beginning. She’s determined and many more things in the beginning. She turns into a mushy romance girl in the end and a superhuman. I don’t like how she ends up.
Razor. I don’t like him. At all. Why is he so perky? Why isn’t he broken? Why does he act like he is fine? He’s not fine. And where is the spark between him and Ringer? I don’t see it. I really don’t. What’s up with that?
Cassie. Oh, Cassie. What happened to you? I feel like you became less of Cassie and more of Evan’s girlfriend. That’s a title that seems to just swallow you, Cassie. I know this. I preferred you in the first book. I don’t know why you ended up like this. I think it’s the combination of Sam coming back and Evan disappearing. I really don’t like Cassie in this book.
Evan. Gosh. I feel like he’s the second best character. He loves Cassie enough to come back. He doesn’t give up. And what does Cassie do? Worry. Whimper. Whine. I feel like Evan has the strength the other characters don’t. This is a very good book for him. He is in pain. He is more human now.
These characters aren’t my favorites. I feel like they were all better in the first book. They seem more whiny in this book which is odd for me. I felt like the characters let me down.

Problems: Goodness. There are more problems than I would like mention. There are more than I expected.
It seems like many of the characters are being paired up. Ringer and Razor. Evan and Cassie. Is Ben going to get someone? I feel like it. It seems like it. I can’t say whether or not he will get someone. Maybe Evan will leave, and Ben will end up with Cassie. Let me remind you she liked Ben before the world ended. I don’t want that. I don’t want so much romance. This book had Cassie and Evan. It seemed like a good couple. Then…Ringer and Razor. Why? I liked Ringer emotionless. It’s better. She seemed like the only one who was actually caring about the world ending.
Another problem. The plot is dull. It’s boring. There isn’t much action. If there is, the action isn’t that amazing. It seems like the plot is revolving around love and romance. And less on survival and action.
There is also the problem on the backstories. As much as I love the backstories, they seem out of place. They don’t seem like they really fit. Especially Poundcake’s. Why is that there? They could have been extras.
This book has so much potential. It could have been more. But it seemed like just a filler.

Good points: I can only say that this story had a few good points. The backstories were amazing. I loved knowing more. Ringer’s Asian apparently. You find out her real name. Marika. I like her name. It’s a very nice name. It’s very pretty. I think that the backstories are very interesting. They don’t have much importance, though. They’re kind of useless really. But I like them nonetheless.
There isn’t much else I like. The characters were lacking. The plot is dull. There was too much romance. I felt like this book really fell through. I wanted so much from it, but I didn’t get too much out of it.

Score: 7/10
Recommended: If you like dystopian. If you want a filler. If you like this author’s work.

Update: Book Ban

Yay! My book ban is lifted. (It was lifted yesterday. I just didn’t write out an update.)

I have finished ‘The Infinite Sea’ by Rick Yancey. I’ll be writing out the review later on today.

My next read:

‘Day 21’ by Kass Morgan.

Thank you for the wait, and missing blog posts.

Wren Reviews: ‘Into the Unknown’

Title: Into the Unknown
Author: Alice Reeds
Genre: Dystopian, Action, Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction, and YA fiction

Note: This is a RaR I received.

Premise:
(Goodreads)
In a city without a name, ruled by the government of the Rose that came to save the citizens after the Collapse — an international war that ended forty-four years ago in a society meltdown — young Bexx Kajan was born into a working class family. She soon decides that she wants to join the army to fight for good. She’s a prodigy, a Captain, and leader of her own crew at age twenty-one. One month after Bexx receives the news that her sister Arihanne was killed, she’s sent on an almost-fatal solo mission that finally wakes her up.
After dancing with death one too many times, Bexx finds herself amongst her former enemies, the rebels, and starts to uncover secrets about her own and the city’s past. Meanwhile, her doubts that Arihanne was killed accidentally during combat grow stronger, and Bexx decides she has to find the one who’s responsible for the murder.
Into the Unknown, a journey full of truth, mysteries and action.

Plot: The plot is very dull in the beginning. I was lost on why we were learning about her past. It doesn’t help until the middle of the book.
Let me tell you something. This book doesn’t give you much action until Bexx goes on a mission. Even then, there are the dull moments. The plot is less action and more dull descriptions.
I feel like the plot is slow. There are many useless points. The story really starts in the last few chapters. I felt like the story didn’t actually start until very late in the story.

Character Development:
Bexx. I don’t like her. At all. She’s annoying to say the least. And she is one of those immortal characters. She is emotionless and an amazing soldier in the beginning. Okay. I get that. We add in emotions and complicated genetics. No. She can ‘hear’ a knife. That’s fantastic hearing. I don’t like how she describes the things she doesn’t know. She acts like they hold her interest only for a moment. What about music? Drawing? I also don’t believe she’s an amazing artist at first try. No one is. Everyone has to practice. I don’t like that. I can’t say I like her at all. She has no good points. Not even the ‘romance’ with Shannon. That is weak and has no chemistry.

Problems: There are many problems. Let me list a few.
The romance is simply lacking. What is with Shannon? Where is the chemistry? I can see that Bexx likes her. Just why is that there? I don’t get it. It has no purpose.
The plot is dull. There is no action. It has its moments, but it isn’t fully action. It isn’t much. The story starts moving in the last chapters.
The world building is lacking. I don’t know where they are. It seems like Germany. But it seems like the US. Where are they? What about the sections? What section is for what? What is the purpose?

Good points: I’m sorry…but this is one of those times where I don’t have many good points. The ending was mysterious.
This premise was amazing. But the story was…lackluster. I expected more.

Score: 5/10
Recommended: If you like action. If you like dystopian.

Update: Reading Ban

Hey. It’s Wren. I typically don’t do update posts, but I think this is justifiable.

It’s nothing major. Well…kinda.

I’m currently on a reading ban. I have been banned from reading books. If I don’t pull up my grade, I won’t be able to read anymore. I hope this doesn’t discourage anyone from following this blog. Remy is busy as well. He just overloads himself with things these days. He won’t post much either. He’ll try to be on Twitter. I’ll post some random stuff on Twitter.

I greatly apologize to you, dear readers. I will post as soon as my ban has been lifted. (I know this sounds bad, but don’t antagonize my parents. I apologize.)

Tackle Your TBR Wrap-Up

Let me tell you something. I have read seven books for my Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon. Only two of those seven were actually ones I mentioned I would read. As I would have it, I ended up not reading almost all of my listed TBRs. (I only read ‘Heir of Fire’ and ‘The Rule of Thoughts’.)

These are the books I did read:

‘Heir of Fire’ by Sarah J Maas (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/heir-of-fire-review/) 7/10

‘The Rule of Thoughts’ by James Dashner (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-rule-of-thoughts-review/) 6/10

‘Take Me Tomorrow’ by Shannon Thompson (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/take-me-tomorrow-review/) 8/10

‘The Darkest Minds’ by Alexandra Bracken (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/the-darkest-minds-review/) 8/10

‘Never Fade’ by Alexandra Bracken (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/never-fade-review/) 8/10

‘Thin Space’ by Jody Casella (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/wren-reviews-thin-space/) 8/10

‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’ by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (https://intothewrittenword.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/wren-reviews-aristotle-and-dante-discover-the-secrets-of-the-universe/) 7/10

 

Wrap-Up:

I quite enjoyed this. I entered a giveaway or two. It was fun pushing my reading limits. (If you were wondering, I can actually finish a book in a day. I just need the motivation to do so. And I have to have a pretty clear schedule for school, so I can read. I typically read e-books in the morning, so I would need to clear my e-book reading schedule to read. I do have nine books to read now, including two e-books. I will put up the reviews for those soon, but, after these nine, I’ll go back to reading a hundred pages a day unless I get either a) a lot of books or b) a very good book I want to finish quickly.)

-Wren

Wren Reviews: ‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’

Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe

Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Genre: YA fiction, coming-of-age, Romance, Realistic, LGBT

Premise:

(Goodreads)

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

Plot: For me, the plot was interesting. Just barely, though. I felt like there were very dull times.

Aristotle and Dante meet over the summer. They bond over random things like Dante not wearing shoes and their ‘nice guy’ personalities. They end up becoming good friends by the summer’s end. But. Dante and Ari are in an accident. Ari gets broken legs and a broken arm. Dante only gets a broken arm. Dante sadly has to leave. He leaves for Chicago. There, Dante starts to drink. And smoke. And kiss girls. There, he realizes he’s gay. Ari gains a dog named Legs. Ari is miserable, wallowing in pity. He wonders about Bernardo his incarcerated older brother. When Dante comes back, Ari has sunk into a dark place.

Dante ends up getting a job, mirroring Ari at the his flipping burners job. Dante works at a pharmacy. Dante ends up kissing a guy. And gets beat-up because of it. Ari beats-up one of the people who hit Dante. And Ari’s parents finally tell Ari about his older brother. And Ari is led to the conclusion that he loves Dante.

Dante and Ari meet after Dante is healed enough to go home. And the story finishes with them kissing.

Character Development:

Aristotle. I like Ari. I can relate to him. He’s fire. Dante’s water or ice. Ari is someone who is broken. Confused. Lost. He acts like he can just fight his way through things. But he can’t. I can picture Ari as this dark-skimmed Mexican kid who has a bit of muscle but a scary face. I feel like he is the only reason I like this book. Really. I love his character. He has so much in him. He can do so much. I wanted him to end up as a writer. It would be great if that happened. I truly love how he changes. While I’m not a fan of him ending up with Dante, not because that’s a gay relationship, I think he suits Dante. He’s so brave. He’s so brave and crazy stupid. A lethal combination. But. I still like Ari.

Dante. Gah. Goody-goody characters. I don’t like him. At all. He seems to perfect. I’m happy that he ended up otherwise. Drinking. Gay. Smoking. I like that. He seems to fake at first. The perfect best friend compared to the broken narrator. Dante is great in changing. He isn’t who he was in the beginning. I like that. The change makes him human.

Problems: There are a few problems. I feel like this book is quite good, though.

The romance seems…unrealistic. I don’t see why it’s there. This book is good without the romance. It’s a coming-of-age story not a romance one. I prefer it as the former than the later. I don’t see the spark. Where is it? Love at first sight? That isn’t possible. Love doesn’t work that way. It has to be based off of something.

Another problem is the boring pages between the summers. I feel like nothing happens. It’s a lot of useless pages. There seems like no reason to have these pages. I wish that the book just skipped to the next summer. When Dante came back at least.

Good points: I just adore Ari’s character. He’s deep and dark. He has depth to him. I relate to him. I feel for him. He’s human. He is one of the only reasons this isn’t a six. This character changes. He acts like someone different. He realizes so much. Information is spilled out to him. I love how he changes. I love his actions, his voice. He is a special character. A really special one.

The next good point is the backstory. There is so much behind this story. Bernardo. The Vietnam War. I know these aren’t happening during the book, but it is part of it. It happened before, but it affected the story to a surprising degree.

The characters are also quite amazing. I think they are real. They have depth. They have so many parts. They don’t have just one later. Even if it seems like it.

Score: 7/10

Recommended: If you like realistic fiction. If you like coming-of-age stories. If you like LGBT.

Wren Reviews: ‘Thin Space’

Title: Thin Space

Author: Jody Casella

Genre: YA Fiction, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Realistic, Supernatural

Premise:

(Goodreads)

Ever since the car accident that killed his twin brother, Marshall Windsor has been consumed with guilt and crippled by secrets of that fateful night. He has only one chance to make amends, to right his wrongs and set things right. He must find a Thin Space—a mythical point where the barrier between this world and the next is thin enough for a person to step through to the other side.

But, when a new girl moves into the house next door, the same house Marsh is sure holds a thin space, she may be the key—or the unraveling of all his secrets.

As they get closer to finding a thin space—and closer to each other—Marsh must decide once and for all how far he’s willing to go to right the wrongs of the living…and the dead.

Plot: Marsh’s brother, his twin, is dead. And Marsh is searching for a thin space, so he can make things right.

I’ll reveal the big spoiler now. It’ll make things easier. Marsh, the narrator, is actually Austin. Marsh died in the crash, but no one realized it was Austin who survived. Not Marsh.

Marsh and Austin switched places with each other as a joke. They went on a double date with Logan and Kate. Kate being Austin’s girlfriend and Logan being Marsh’s. That is actually a confusing part. Marsh kisses Kate, pretending to be Austin. And Austin got mad. Told Marsh to leave. Marsh took off his seatbelt. And the drunk driver bit.

Marsh died.

I know that sounds gory, but that’s what happened before the book.

The story is about Austin, the real one, finding thin spaces. Or a thin space. He joins Maddie the girl who lives in the house where he thought a thin space would be. Together, they search for the thin space. They go from place to place, looking for it. Each has their own reason to go in.

Austin wants the real Marsh to live and for him, Austin, to die. Maddie wants to see the father she never had.

And they find the thin space after Mrs. Golden, the guidance counselor, indirectly helps them find it. It’s in Maddie’s bedroom. They go into the other world. And talk to the people they want to talk to.

And Austin ends up telling Maddie that he’s not Marsh. And he goes home. And faces the truth to let Marsh go into the afterlife.

Character Development:

Austin. I feel for Austin. He’s the one living. I guess he feels the guilt of the lies he told. I can understand his pain. I haven’t felt it myself, but it’s plain as day. I think he is a great character. He has depth to him that other characters don’t. I think that Austin is one of those characters that will last with me. Forever. He grows from pretending to be Marsh to becoming Austin. That change isn’t easy for him. But he does it. And that’s what I like about him. He’s lying to everyone. Until he faces facts and tells the truth.

Maddie. I don’t particularly like Maddie. She isn’t a character I enjoy. She isn’t annoying or anything. I just can’t feel for her. She’s someone who just is there. She helps Austin figure out the truth, but I feel like she was there only for her own motivation. I do want to know what happens between Austin and her. There was something there. Even if I don’t like that ‘something’.

Problems: I don’t feel like there are many problems. This book is quite good. It’s interesting to keep me reading. (I would have finished it anyways.) It was enjoyable. I felt for the character Austin, and idea was great on its own.

My problem is the confusing mix-up. I got lost about the girlfriends. I felt like Austin was saying he was Austin then he was saying he was Marsh. I got very confused there. I don’t like being confused as I read my books. I really don’t.

Another problem is the romance. Where did Maddie come in? Where is the spark between her and Austin? What about Kate? Is Austin just going to leave her? I don’t get it.

Good points: I quite enjoyed this book. I liked the writing. The plot was interesting but confusing. I understand at the end. The last and first words were quite amazing as well. I thought that the characters were written quite well. I felt for Austin. The pain of being someone seen as lesser. Even if I’m not a twin, I can understand that. I think that this story is a very good one. Many should read it.

Score: 8/10

Recommended: If you like supernatural. If you like a quick read. If you like an emotional character with a dark past.