I know I’m in the minority here but I didn’t love Illuminae. But I loved how the book looked! It’s undeniably fun with its emails, IMs, interviews, reports and super secret files. But because you’re never in the characters’ — Kady and Ezra — heads and seeing only their online interactions, I had trouble making a connection to them. But I admittedly have this problem which why I’m not a huge fan of epistolary style books to begin with. However, I admired the creativity the two authors showcase here and the story they were trying to tell. Kady and Ezra are a typical high school couple and the morning they break up, their planet is invaded and they barely make it out alive onto an evacuating fleet. At this point they’re separated but reconnect when bigger, more dangerous problems arise. There’s a plague that’s broken out and the government isn’t giving them answers. But some people, like Kady (who is a hacker, which I loved!) are digging secretly to find the truth. And the truth is, the fleet’s AI might just be the enemy they’re searching for. It’s then that Kady and Ezra reconnect to uncover what’s going on. Even across IMs and email, I did enjoy their interactions. A couple moments made me laugh out loud and it definitely picked up in intensity towards the latter half. Not to mention, there’s a certain moment at the end that had me internally cheering. (For those of you who’ve read it, you should know exactly what I mean!)
Do I recommend? Even though it wasn’t for me, I can see why so many people are singing its praises. If the format intrigues you and you’re a fan of sci-fi, this is worth checking out.
It’s always fun when an author treats fans to favorite scenes from their books but seen through the eyes of the boy we all love. But when they decide to release a whole book? That’s even better! Sweet Temptation basically condenses the entire Sweet Trilogy into one book told from Kaiden Rowe’s perspective. I started this series last year on a whim and got completely sucked in. I enjoyed the story a lot and of course, I totally shipped the main characters — Anna Whitt and Kaiden Rowe. These two take the whole good girl and bad boy fall in love thing to another level and it’s a swoon worthy ride from start to finish. But the trilogy is told from Anna’s perspective and I was eager to get into Kai’s mind to see how he saw the events that took place (and to see what we missed!). It was fun to revisit this story and remember how they met, how they tried to stay apart and the inevitable way they fell in love. We saw just how much Kai felt for Anna from the first moment, even when he couldn’t figure out who or what she was. And also how much he tried to fight his feelings for her to protect them both and because he didn’t think he was good enough. I have to say his side of the story is a lil’ sexier than the original trilogy but no complaints here on that front. More importantly, we see why Kai was the way he was and his past at times was a little more than heartbreaking (his “father” is SO gross and awful!). But of course, the best part was watching Kai and Anna triumph and get their happy ending again.
Do I recommend?: Fans of the Sweet Trilogy should pick this up! It’s a quick read that jumps around a lot (it does cover 3 books!) but if you’re missing Kaiden Rowe, you’ll enjoy it.
I'm still torn on whether or not I want to read Illuminae! Just the way it's getting talked about makes it sound really interesting to me, but I'm not sure if it will work for me as a read. Maybe I'll just borrow it from the library ;) And I would like to read the Sweet trilogy! I've seen it mentioned a lot on various blogs, and I'm curious about it. Glad to know you enjoyed this one!
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