Dangerous Lies

Dangerous Lies

Becca Fitzpatrick

Young Adult, Fiction

Rating: 4/10

“Great premise, terrible juxtaposition.” -breeinbookland

Dangerous Lies tells the story of a teenage girl who is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime. Despite her choice to participate in a witness protection program love and danger find her anyway. 

Okay . . . Selfishly I expected this story to be a bit more sexy and mysterious than it actually played out to be. I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this YA read is definitely a swoon worthy romance! 

Honestly, I was slightly disappointed that the novel revolved more around the romance and "fitting in" than the actual fact that Estella was in danger and there were deadly criminals after her. The criminals were definitely not the most threatening characters in this novel. However, Becca Fitzpatrick did a great job at bringing everything together at the end, and following though with the witness protection program side of the plot.  

I still cant get over the fact that once Estella got to her witness protection placement the novel merely turned into a country romance, with a couple secrets dangling on the tip of her tongue. 

The actual character development was not as desired, and honestly the main plot wasn't realistic to the main characters actions. The novel clearly states that there is literally a drug cartel that will not stop searching for Estella until she was dead. SO how come the only problems or barriers in this novel for Estella were merely fitting in? I don't get it. I think Becca Fitzpatick could have made this plot into a really good suspenseful thriller novel (with obviously some sexy romance, duh) but the plot wasn't really carried though to its hype and it got lost along the way.  

Becca Fitzpatrick did use a couple different forms of “media” in this novel that kept the readers interest; this was done by using written letters from Estella’s forbidden lover, as well as emails. Thus in my mind adds a bit of uniqueness to the novel.

Overall it seems that I really don’t have much to say about Dangerous Lies, there's just something that's stopping me from enjoying this novel to the fullest and I can't quite put my finger on it. It had a great premise and was a good idea but the actual pieces of the story didn't quite fit together properly. This book would be good for anyone that likes a cute, but slow romance. That's about all I can say. 

Back Of The Novel Synopsis

“Stella Gordon’s life is a lie. She does not belong in Thunder Basin, Nebraska. As the star witness in a murder trial against a drug dealer, Stella is now in the Witness Protection Program. The small-town locals can never know who she really is. Not even Chet Falconer, the one boy who makes her want to reveal her true self. She knows that telling the truth will only bring violence to this safe haven.

Despite how hard Stella tries to stay under the radar, danger is fast approaching. Criminals have a way of getting rid of witnesses, and Stella may have made the one mistake that could lead the cold-blooded men hunting for her right to her doorstep.”

Disclaimer

 I have read other works (meaning all) by Becca Fitzpatrick so my expectations were already sketched out and incredibly high, especially in comparison to her Hush, Hush saga. Which I absolutely loved and adored. Patch for the win. That being said, Dangerous Lies was a good read, just very different from what I was expecting. Hopefully I'll get to a review for Black Ice.

Instagram: breeinbookland 

Everything, Everything

Everything, Everything 

Nicola Yoon

Young Adult, Fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

“You will find and loose yourself in this artistically unique and adorable heart – tugging romantic battle. Yoon cleanly executed a forbidden romance like none other.“

– breeinbookland

Everything Everything is a novel about a girl named Madeline who is suffering from SCID. . . Also known as "bubble boy syndrome". Madeline has spent the last 18 years trapped inside her house. The only people she comes in contact with are her nurse Carla and her mother. That is until Olly moves in next door.

Yoon skilfully built up character development that easily made reading this coming of age story fun and engaging from her lovable character Madeline. 

 The relationship between these characters was incredibly intense and forbidden- which made this character build up better with every turn of a page. Every character in this novel is precisely defined by very different and, unique characteristics that make you instantly love them- even the ones you’re not necessarily supposed to. And I can say for certain that I definitely fell in love with Olly just as quick as Madeline did. “Spoiler Alert: Boys are savages”

The writing style in this YA novel is very unique and quite often uses graphs, pictures and even email conversations between the characters. I find using many media forms like this in a novel keeps it entertaining and intriguing for the reader. This also shows a creative writing style of the author. I love when a story can be told through text messages or pictures just as much as I love a story through words. This is a very effective way to keep readers interest and be unique all at once. 

However, pictures and graphs were not the end of the line for the creativity and uniqueness that enchants this novel. No. Yoon also incorporated quotes from popular real life fiction novels at the beginning of many chapters and related it to the struggles of her main character.

These quotes in the novel were identified as “SPOILER REVIEWS BY MADELINE” that were scattered at the beginning of most chapters. This was a great way for Yoon to connect her novel with other existing novels at the same time her character connected the novel she was reading to what she was going though. Did that make sense? I just love that idea.

Overall, I can easily say that I recommend this novel to any YA romance lover who loves a bit of an emotional roller coaster. There are so many beautiful illustrations and the dialogue is humorous; why would you pass this one up? I devoured this in one easy sitting and I can whole heartily say that Nicola Yoon did an amazing job for her first novel and I will be purchasing and also devouring her second one novel ‘The Sun Is Also a Star’.

Back Of The Novel Synopsis

“MY DISEASE IS AS RARE as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house; have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Clara.

But then on day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window; and I see him. He’s tall, lean, and wearing all black – black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly, It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.”