Review: Sweet

Info: 
Title: Sweet
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Series: Sweet #1Publisher: Macmillian
Publication Date: June 2, 2015
Source: I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
*People would kill to be thin.*

Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

*But will they die for it, too?*

Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.

Review:
I really enjoyed this book. The concept was creepy and interesting and I enjoyed both the main characters.

Laurel was a rare case on the Cruise to Lose. A slightly overweight girl who wasn't dying to change her body. Plus bonus points for the fact that she had a hobby (classical guitar). Laurel was sweet, caring and shy, but also tough enough to survive when things got crazy. Plus she is a poster-child for body love, if that's something you would enjoy.

I found Tom to be an interesting character. A formerly overweight former child star trying to reinvent his image. He has dreams of being a film star, but is stuck going hosting gigs for entertainment shows and now the Solu Cruise to Lose. He's a rather serious guy, but very caring and always tries to be genuine, which is pretty rare on a ship full of minor celebrities and reality tv stars.

One thing that bothered me a bit was that I felt like the romance went too fast. It wasn't instalove, but I would have liked to see a bit more development there.

I liked the danger and building sense of something being wrong. I think Emmy Laybourne does danger and crisis well. Do I think something like this could happen in real life? No, not really, but I think the underlying theme of the dangers of untested 'supplements' is real. 

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Review: Savage Drift

Info:
Title: Savage Drift
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Series: Monument 14 #3
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Source: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.

The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.

Review:
After a bit of a bright spot with Sky on Fire, the Monument 14 trilogy settled back into mediocrity with Savage Drift.

This time we got alternative POV between Dean, who begins the story in a refugee camp near Vancouver, and Josie, who is in an O containment camp in Missouri. 

Throughout the series, the writing style has not been my favourite. It's stream-of-conciousness style, which isn't really my thing, especially combined with not really being a big fan of one of the narrators: Dean. I just didn't connect with Dean very well throughout the series. It has a lot to do with just not finding any common ground with him and some to do with just not being able to buy into a teenage boy falling in love with a girl pregnant from another man. Maybe Dean's a bigger person than I am or maybe that's just one of the crazy things love does to a person, but I just had a hard time buying it. It didn't help that I'm also not a fan of Astrid, so I guess I couldn't really see what the fuss was about.

Josie's POV was a bit better, but she go on my nerves a bit the way she was trying to cut herself off from everyone. I understand that it would be a totally normal reaction to what happened, but it's a bit annoying to read about over and over.

The best part of this series is definitely the plot. I love apocalyptic stories and that's definitely what kept me going through this series and kept the star rating up at 3. There was lots of tension that kept me flipping the pages excitedly to find out what happens.

Unfortunately, the ending/epilogue didn't really work for me. It was too neat and too happy. If that's you're thing, you enjoy it, but I prefer my endings to gritty stories to be a bit grittier. That's all I can say due to spoilers.

Overall, Savage Drift and the Monument 14 series in general was okay, but definitely doesn't make it onto my favourite series shelf.

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Review: Sky on Fire

Info:
Title: Sky on Fire
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Series: Monument 14 #2
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Source: Won

Synopsis:
Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope. 

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . . 

Review:
If I were to choose a favourite genre, I would likely choose apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic. Mix that with my love for YA and Monument 14 should theoretically be the series for me. While I found Monument 14 to be ok, I definitely found Sky on Fire to be an improvement! I love how Emmy Laybourne was able to mix defending what you have with being on the road, two important aspects of any survival story.

In this installment, we have alternating POV between Dean and his little brother Alex. I found myself preferring Alex's chapters, since I identified more with him as a character. However, there was nothing wrong with Dean's chapters, just personal preference. I often have issues with alternating POV, but I thought it worked in this one, considering the plot.

As I mentioned, I enjoyed reading Alex's POV, but I sometimes found Dean to be a bit meh. He doesn't have a ton of personality, besides being immensely devoted to Astrid, who I'm also not crazy about. However, I love a bunch of the other characters, especially the little kids. Max always has me laughing and Baptiste and Ulysses are adorable as well.

One thing I wasn't expecting were the feels I got near the end of the story! I had tears rolling down my cheeks! I don't want to give anything away, but I definitely had a few hugs on my heartstrings.

My only complaint is that this book was short at only 212 pages. I would have liked another 50-100 pages to feel a bit more satisfied.

I enjoyed Sky on Fire more than it's predecessor, Monument 14, so I'm hoping that Ms. Laybourne is able to keep up her momentum with Savage Drift, which comes out soon!

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Review: Monument 14

Info:

Title: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Series: Monument 14 #1
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: June 5, 2012
Source: ebook purchased via Amazon

Synopsis:

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Review:

I'll start off by admitting that I'm a huge fan of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories. Monument 14 fall squarely in this category. In fact, with all of the flooding and general natural disaster madness going on in my area (*hugs and prayers for my neighbours here in Calgary and area*), it hits pretty close to home these days.

My favourite part of these apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories is the survival aspects. Where do the characters find food and water? What dangers do they face? How does their resourcefulness help them in these tough times? Unfortunately, Monument 14 focuses much more on the human interaction and a lot on a small cross section of high school students. I really wanted more survival aspect! These kids are stranded in a mega-mart with everything they could possibly need! They don't even lose electricity, despite multiple natural disasters and near disintegration of society! They are protected by riot gates. Their biggest challenge was living with each other and taking care of some younger children. I wanted to see a bit more hardship for them! Does that make me a bad person?

The biggest issue for me though, was the writing style. It just didn't sit very well with me, which in turn make Dean a bit tougher to connect with as a character. Not to mention I thought the narrator was a girl for the first few chapters until they started calling him Dean and I was very confused!

Despite these issues, I still managed to enjoy this one. I loved the little kids, especially Max and Ulysses. Max had the cutest, craziest stories and I constantly just wanted to give Ulysses a hug. I was also a fan of Nico from the start, basically because he was a bamf. If I was in this situation, I would have teamed up with him right from the start. Nothing like being prepared!

Overall, I enjoyed Monument 14, apart from the narrator's voice, but it wasn't particularly memorable for me. That said, I am excited to start on Sky on Fire very soon to see what happens next.

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