Book Review: The Similars by Rebecca Hanover

Book Title & Author: The Similars by Rebecca Hanover
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire on January 1st, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Synopsis:When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of seeing her dead best friend’s face each day in class.
The Similars are all anyone can talk about at the elite Darkwood Academy. Who are these six clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? Who is the madman who broke the law to create them? Emma couldn't care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and all she can think about is how to get through her junior year without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver's exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

Emma wants nothing to do with the Similars, but she keeps getting pulled deeper and deeper into their clique, uncovering dark truths about the clones and her prestigious school along the way. But no one can be trusted…not even the boy she is falling for who has Oliver's face.

Review:
Oh boy, let's see if I can do this crazy-awesome book justice, because it really deserves it. I was nervous about this one because I've been disappointed in the first next year book I've read. I wanted to be totally obsessed with this book, but I was terrified I'd be disappointed. But I wasn't. I was totally thrilled with this book. 

It took me on a wild roller coaster ride that just never let up. I love books where I get pulled into the story immediately and that's exactly what happened with this one. It started off really promising and before I was even a quarter of the way through it, I was hooked! Love when a book can do that. Especially a book that has science fiction elements, murder mystery elements and boarding school elements. Boarding school in particularly is a buzz-phrase for me. If I see a book takes place at a boarding school, I'm gonna wanna read it. That's just the way it is.

Emmaline was a fascinating character. My heart broke when I learned of her losses. Yes, she had lost more than her best friend in her lifetime and that was hard to read about. She seemed to have a good friend in Prudence though, so at least she had someone to turn to when things got really hard. I couldn't imagine how Emmaline was feeling when Oliver's Similar appeared at Darkwood. Obviously it wasn't easy for her and it also wasn't easy for the Similar, Levi, as well. Both of them struggled knowing that Levi's face & his DNA was the same as a dead boy's.

I loved the element of the Ten students. It actually reminded me a little bit of Dead Poets Society, one of my all time favorite movies. It was like a secret society, only it wasn't secret. It was exclusive, only the brightest students who earned the highest "stratums" or scores would be inducted into the Ten. It didn't really surprise me how many of the Ten's family members had also been Tens in their times at Darkwood.

Some of the Similars got really fleshed out, and we got to know them well. Levi, Pippa and Maude were all really fleshed out and I could see them in my mind. Then again, Theodora, Jago & Ansel were not as fleshed out as I was hoping they would be. I don't know a whole lot about those three as opposed to Levi, Pippa and Maude. I wanted more information on Theodora, Jago & Ansel. I wanted to know so much more about them other than who their Originals were.

I really want to just keep talking and talking about this book because it gets even better and crazier as the book continues. But, I want to avoid spoilers and there's a lot that I could spoil about this book.

Final thoughts: If science fiction or boarding school or murder mysteries are you thing, you need to pick this book up when it's released.

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Book Title & Author: Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1) by Kendare Blake
Published by: Tor Teen on October 17th, 2011
Genres: Horror, Paranormal
Pages: 316
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
🌟🌟1/2

Synopsis: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

Review:
I've had this book on my TBR for a really long time, like for as long as I've been blogging, which is 5 1/2 years, but I only recently got a copy of it. I decided to read it last month because I thought it would be a creepy story, perfect for Halloween. I don't scare easily, so I was hoping that this book would scare me. I really wanted a scary Halloween read.

Unfortunately, the book didn't scare me, although the strongest aspect of the book was the setting. The way the story was told was very creepy, but I felt no chills, no reason to keep turning around to see what was behind me and no real feelings of fear and panic. In a book like this, those are the things I look for and in this case, I actually think it was the characters that weakened the book for me.

I couldn't really connect with Cas or Thomas or Carmel or any of the other characters in this book and I think that was the book's biggest problem. I guess I shouldn't have expected to connect with a ghost killer, but I was hoping. The simple title of "ghost killer" caused me to suspend reality a bit and that threw me off. I mean, logically I know ghosts are already dead, you can't actually kill them. I do actually believe in ghosts and I have seen them before, but Cas (and his father's) job of hunting & killing ghosts was definitely a struggle for me to accept & deal with.

The character development was also not as strong as it could have been and I think that was another reason that I couldn't really connect to the characters. I usually connect to well rounded & well developed characters and with the exception of Anna, I didn't feel like the characters in this book were all that well rounded or well developed. I actually really liked Anna though and she was definitely the most interesting character in the entire book. I was super curious to figure out how she was murdered and thankfully, we got that answered in this book.

Final thoughts: Aside from Anna herself, the characters were not well developed. The setting was creepy though. This book was just not my cup of tea.

Top Ten Tuesday: Series We'd Like to Catch Up On

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.
This week's topic: Series We'd Like to Catch Up On.

Alexia's Picks

1. Frostblood by Elly Blake. I started this series about a year ago, but only recently got the second book in the series. I cannot wait to read it and then read the conclusion when that comes out.

2. Splintered by A. G. Howard. I eagerly devoured the first two books in this series, but have had the 3rd book for WAY too long. In fact, I think I'm going to have to reread the first two books to remember what happened.

3. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson. Another series that I am probably going to have to reread the first book before I continue on with the series. At least I have the other books in the series already.

4. The Jewel by Amy Ewing. I was downright OBSESSED with this series when it first started, but for some reason, I never finished it. I need to read the final book in the series to see how it ends.

5. A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess. Oh my god, this book exceeded my expectations. It was my favorite fantasy book of the year when I read it. I've gotten books 2 & 3 as review copies, but they still sit on my Netgalley shelf, unread.

6. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. This series was the first big name series that I got an ARC of. I loved the first book and even pre-ordered the second book, but I still haven't caught up on the series.

7. The Young Elites by Marie Lu. Adelina was one of my favorite characters the year the first book in this series came out. I devoured the first book, and eagerly awaited the rest of the series. Guess who STILL hasn't finished the series?

8. NIL by Lynne Matson. Yet another series I was full on obsessed with. I even traded with someone to get the ARC of book 2. I did read book 2, but I still haven't read book 3, despite LOVING this series.

9. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. Okay, so technically, this is a duology, but I still haven't read the conclusion to this series yet. I think I might have to reread the first book to remember everything that happens.

10. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Just as I've said before, this series deserves all the hype. This is coming from someone who hasn't even FINISHED the series yet. I know I need to catch up because Cinder blew my mind in the best way possible.

Bekka's Picks

 1. The Frostblood Saga by Elly Blake. I absolutely loved the first book; I devoured it like the crack it is. But then I never read Fireblood, and now Nightblood is about to come out! I am definitely planning a binge sometime soon.

2. The Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. I, like everyone else on the planet, really loved Six of Crows. But because I am who I am, I still haven't finished Crooked Kingdom. I definitely will before King of Scars comes out!

3. The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson. I've read The Kiss of Deception twice already. I obviously am a huge fan. But I am guilty of letting series go unread if my ship doesn't sail and that's sadly the case here.

4. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I never read Winter because it was so long, and then came Stars Above and the graphic novels and oh man, I got overwhelmed. 

5. The Song of the Lioness quarted by Tamora Pierce. I only just read the first book this year, like 30 years after it was actually released. Better late than never, right?

6. Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab. Another one I really enjoyed! A lot of these had sequels come out when I was in major reading slumps or when I had a newborn, so unfortunately I fell behind. There's going to be a lot more in this series soon, so I really need to catch up on the last two books before I lose all control.

7. Starbound by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman. So I have a mental block when it comes to companion series. It's why it took me so long to read Gemina, for instance, because I get attached to the main characters and I don't like change. But I loved Undying and I love Kaufman's work with Jay Kristoff, so I know I'll love the last two in this trilogy.

8. The Witchlands by Susan Dennard. Another case of bad timing, I'm afraid. I read this like six months before it came out and knew I had to reread before continuing, and I just never got around to it.

9. The Conquerors' Saga by Kiersten White. This one pains me the most because it's my favorite ongoing series--or it was before the last book came out. It was high on my most-anticipated 2018 list, but I haven't read it yet! Mostly I'm afraid, I know it will take a while, and I don't want it to be over. 

10. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. This was a wild, fun adventure. But I wasn't in love with it the way I was with the rest of the books in this series. However, I am still on board with the world building and upcoming shippy conflicts, so I don't have any excuses. 

What series do you need to catch up on?