Absent – Book Review

January 21, 2016 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

What would happen if you were to die tragically, but could never cross over to the other side? Having to “live” – the term used loosely of course – the rest of your strange existence out in the high school where you lost your life sounds like a horror movie in and of itself. You have to watch everyone else go on about their lives, when you can’t go on with yours.

Sucks, doesn’t it?

By the time the story begins, our main girl Paige is already dead, wandering the halls of her high school listening to what people have to say about her death. It doesn’t help that she can only stay on the grounds of her school. Anytime she tries to go past the parking lot, she is whisked away to the spot on the roof where she died. Why does it happen like that? Nobody really knows. None of the rest of the ghosts there can understand why they are stuck there, or why they have to revisit the spot where they lost their lives when they try to leave the school. At first it just sucks, but then she starts to hear that there is a rumor going on about her death. Some people are saying that she did it on purpose, like she would end her life in front of her Physics class like that. She’s pissed, especially because it was just a freak accident. She didn’t want to die that day, and she certainly didn’t want to kill herself on that day. So why are people so quick to believe it?

It doesn’t help either, that she can’t clear her name, with her being dead and all. Or can she?

Paige isn’t entirely sure how she ended up discovering it, but once she did, she just couldn’t help herself. She found out that she could temporarily inhabit another person’s body. She could be alive again, all her thoughts and memories and actions her own, even if just for a moment. So, of course, once she heard that rumors were going around about the circumstances of her death, she got busy trying to get everyone to see the truth. It was a strange sensation to her though, because she could feel them fighting against her sometimes. It was like they knew that something was wrong and they didn’t want another spirit inhabiting their body. In all honesty, they reacting in a way that anyone else would normally react, but to Paige it felt like they were fighting what she needed to do. Sometimes she was stronger than them, other times they just gave in and let her do what she needed to.

I considered this book to be very moving to me. Paige had to learn how to accept what happened in her life, and somehow come to terms that people were going to believe what would seem to be completely preposterous to her because they didn’t know the entire story. The kids in that school had a rumor on how Brooke, one of the other ghosts that Paige is stuck with, died that Brooke never tried to fight. It was as if that was how these kids had to deal with two girls dying in their school mere months apart from one another. It was one tragedy after another and it rocked their world. It especially devastated Paige’s best friend, who for a while was actually angry at Paige for dying, like she did it on purpose. Maybe that was how the rumor started in Paige’s eyes, especially since it seemed like her best friend didn’t care at all about her anymore. But every single person who knew Paige had to come to terms with the fact that she was dead, that she wasn’t coming back, and learn how to live without her.

The ending of this book was really heartwarming, and made me believe that good things can actually come from dying. They never show what happened on the other side, when they felt the mural painted in the hallway and how warm and alive it felt to them. But maybe that’s a good thing, and maybe that’s just how the book should have ended. It ended with the hope of knowing that things were going to get better for Paige, better for Brooke, better for their friend Evan who has been there longer than anyone else in that school has. Even though they were dead and were stuck in that school, they had one another, and were finally able to move on to a whole new adventure.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

The Lake – Book Review

January 17, 2016 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s one thing to lose a loved one. It hurts, it’s hard, and sometimes it comes so suddenly, it’s hard to react to it. It’s another thing entirely to lose everyone you’ve ever known, your entire family completely gone. Everyone who has ever loved you and taken care of you is dead. So what do you do? How do you start over? For our main protagonist, Layla Weston, her journey started the day of her Grandfather’s funeral. After her parents died in a terrible accident, she was sent to live with her grandparents, although it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Her grandmother was ruthless, making her feel guilty for her parents’ deaths, and making sure that Layla knew that her grandmother blamed her every single day for the death of her beloved son. It was enough to make Layla lose herself completely, giving up everything that identified her as an individual to take care of her new guardians. She stopped going out with friends, doing the things she loved, anything to make her happy didn’t exist anymore. She was stripped of what made her Layla, and with the death of her grandfather, she had to figure out who she was.

The silver lining to her grandparents dying was that she was able to live with her aunt and uncle. Sure, she had never really spent time with them before this, and she did feel a little apprehensive about having to live with strangers, even if they are technically her relatives. But the longer she does live with them, the more she actually starts to feel happy again. They allow her to be a teenager again, they allow her to live her life without having to take care of anyone older than her. They even allowed her to do some of the things that used to be a part of her old life, like reading to her heart’s content and getting to know her classmates. She has a new set of friends, and a potential boyfriend who seems to think the world of her and is not afraid to show it. From a life full of tragedy, it finally seems like Layla is back on track.

Of course, not everything is as good as it seems, and although Will seems like he’s a modern day Prince Charming, there is a dark side to him that is very reminiscent of his power-hungry father. Layla may not see it right away, but it’s there, and if she’s not careful to tame that temper of his, things may happen that she can’t protect herself from. As sure of herself as she becomes, even to the point of standing up to Will’s father and declaring her love for his son, she needs to make sure that his father doesn’t take drastic measures to remove Layla and her new family out of the picture for good. Will’s father isn’t a stranger to… persuasive negotiations, and he has no problem doing it again.

I thought this book was pretty interesting. It’s different from losing your sister, like what happened in Love Letters to the Dead. Layla was left with nothing, and had to learn how to live with strangers that was never a part of her life before. She did well, though, and finally learned how to trust her Aunt and Uncle. I also feel like she did end up finding herself again. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself, whether it was to her boyfriend’s father, or just in general to the rest of the students at her school. She was never really bullied at her new school, which was lucky on her end, but she also didn’t allow anyone to make decisions for her. She just took her new life in stride, and became friends with a group of kids that really had her best interests at heart. The ending was surprising, but also makes me feel like Will’s father had something to do with it, and of course it ends as a cliffhanger because there are two more books in this trilogy to read. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, hopefully this year.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

The Demon King – Book Review

January 11, 2016 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Magic is prevalent in this world, even if it’s not highly liked. The world has changed a lot since the Demon King tried to destroy the world, almost succeeding in his quest. Because of the Demon King’s actions, wizards and clans are in a precarious situation, so close to being at war with one another. In this land, we meet two very different people from two very different ends of the spectrum. Han Alister, a former head of one of the city’s gangs, comes across a special amulet that has a dangerous history, and brings his world crashing down around him. The amulet he found is supposed to belong to the Demon King, the same one that almost caused the world to end.

Enter Raisa ana‘Marianna, the Princess Heir of Fellsmarch, the future ruler of her country. Not only is she royalty through her mother’s side (it is a Queendom, after all, and the monarchy is a matriarch), but also through her father’s side. Her father is a very important figure in the clans, and she has to somehow combine both sides of her heritage into her life. When she feels like her mother is making her choose between her crown and her father’s family, she has to decide where her loyalties lie, and why she even has to choose in the first place.

The queendom is on the brink of an all out war, and Raisa doesn’t realize just how bad it really is. She ends up running away when a plot to change the rule of succession is hatched, which also involves her marrying the High Wizard’s son without her approval. On her journey across the land, she meets Han, and they find out that their journey together is more intertwined than they initially thought.

This book was so amazing to me, and it is the first book of this four part series. Han never knew who his father was, and when he does end up finding out the truth of his ancestors, it goes to show just how powerful he really is, and the potential of gaining even more. Raisa also discovers just how much she needs to learn about being the next Queen, and how she needs to learn how to trust her own instincts. I especially loved the fact that this is a matriarchal society, something that I rarely see in the books I’ve read so far. I need more of those in my life for sure. Granted, the current Queen is not doing such a good job, but that doesn’t mean that all of them were bad at their job. In fact, it was the first Queen that was able to prevent the Demon King from destroying the world in the first place, and that’s saying something.

I know that this is only the first book, and I know that both Han and Raisa have a lot of growing up to do, but I can already tell that their journey is going to be a crazy one. It looks like there’s another pair of teenagers that are bound to save the world, and I’m actually very okay with that. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, along with the companion series that takes place after the events of The Seven Realms series.

Rated: 5/5 Stars