Ely's Recommendations #2

Heeeello, and welcome back to my second recommendations post. Firstly, if you'd like to see my first post, just click here. So I've got another five books/series to recommend today. This list is more about series that are hugely popular, but in case you may not have read them, I've decided to mention them today!

1. Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
This one probably goes without saying. I started this series way back when I was thirteen and I have loved it ever since. The story is amazing, but one of the main reasons I love this series so much is because of Rose Hathaway. I'm a big fan of kick-ass girls, and I think Rose is the reason. She's incredibly bad-ass, but at the end of the day she's really a normal girl- she makes mistakes and bad decisions just like everyone else, but I will continue to love her until my dying day. Plus, I'm not ashamed to admit that I adore Dimitri, Adrian and Christian too!


2. Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi
Again, for anyone who's been following our blog for a while, you should not be surprised by this one. Both Chami and I absolutely adore this series to no end. Warner is definitely the main reason for this, but Tahereh's writing is so lovely and so unique which makes us love it even more. We honestly never shut up about this series, to the point that we just make references to the characters and quotes way more than is healthy. We have no regrets though.


3. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
This isn't one that is really talked about anymore, I suppose because it finished a few years ago back in 2006 but this is one of my ALL-TIME favourite series. This is probably one of the first series that I religiously read as a child and to be honest, I think I even read all of it way before I got into the Harry Potter books. I remember counting down the days until the next book would be released and then buying it the moment it came out, only to finish it within a few hours and go back to counting down again. I don't think any series ever could replace the spot in my heart that this series dominates.

4. The Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting
This one doesn't have quite the same scope as the others, but this one is still quite popular. I had my doubts about it before I begun but this series is truly awesome. The premise of the book is so unique and it's definitely pulled off well. I think my favourite thing though is the romance in these books, it's so sweet and realistic and I just love Violet and Jay so much! I haven't actually read the final book yet but I can't wait to get my hands on it!

5. Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
This is the same sort of deal as The Body Finder in the sense that I have yet to read the final book (in my defense it's 800 pages long!) but I love the first two books so much that I had to include it. These are quite different to what I usually read, the series is about witches in Victorian England. They're incredibly amazing, although quite dark and heavy at times. The characters are all amazing, and I can't wait to finish the series!

REVIEW: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

 
Title: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1)

Author: Kimberly Derting
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery. 
Publication Date: February 15^th 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Format: Paperback

Pages: 328

Rating: 5/5
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

 A gripping tale of a girl with a morbid ability that could lead her to a killer . . . and the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Sixteen-year-old Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her unusual so-called gift. While her confusing feelings for her best friend are new, she has been able to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered—and the imprints that attach to their killers since she was a little girl. Violet has never considered her ability useful, but now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Fiercely protective of her, Jay agrees to help Violet search for the murderer. But even as she's falling in love, Violet is getting closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

Before I even actually picked up this book, I had some ideas about how I would feel about this book. I really didn’t have high expectations for it- I don’t really understand why, but I didn’t. But as you can see by my rating, it definitely exceeded those expectations. In fact, it was so different to what I thought it would be. I suppose that I kind of thought there would be similarities between this series and the Need series by Carrie Jones (which I’m not exactly the biggest fan of). Again- I’m not entirely sure why because they are about completely different things. Though I had this in mind, I still decided to give at least the first book a chance- and well, I’m glad I did.

The main character, Violet, seemed kind of like one of those characters who would really get on your nerves- the usual annoying type that you end up hating by the end of the book. However, I actually found that I really like Violet- I didn’t find her annoying but instead I found that I could relate to her. I thought that many of the things she did, or said or felt were very realistic, but I liked that her ‘gift’ create that little bit of difference. I also really like how she handled her ‘gift’, I think how Derting allowed Violet to dislike her gift but still be willing to use it for good, even if it got her in trouble, was amazing. In addition to that, I thought the descriptions of the echoes and Violet’s feelings were fantastic- they were creepy and mysterious, but they also bought along this sadness with each of the victims.

I liked the other characters. Jay, especially. Oh, how to describe the wonderfulness that is Jay Heaton? He’s a really sweet character and so genuine- I think he’s also very realistic. I like how he respects and supports Violet even when some of her ideas end with her in a bit of trouble. He’s also protective of her, but not crazy you-can’t-do-anything-without-me protective.

Finally, I want to talk about the plot. Now, this- this is where stuff gets real good. Who doesn’t love a good serial killer story? I think this one is especially creepy because you get a sort of insight into the killer’s mind but you still have absolutely no idea who the actual killer is. One of my favourite things about the plot, without giving too much away, is that it seems so obvious who the killer is and then suddenly, there’s a nice little plot twist that just blows your mind.

So even if you have doubts, like I did, I’d still suggest that you read The Body Finder and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised like I was.