Mila 2.0 DNF Review by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 (Mila 2.0 #1), by Debra Driza 
Published On: March 12, 2013, by Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian, Science-Fiction
Pages: 470
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover Edition
Rating: 

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.
Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.
Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.
Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel.

             
    Huh. Doesn't it suck when you expect but you get dumped with the worst? That was me today with Mila 2.0.  DNFED @ 42 PAGES! 

     This is a read that I've been pretty anxious about now that I think about it. It's been on my Goodreads TBR list for ages, probably since I've got Goodreads, and I've never went out to pick it out until I found it at my local library. Thank goodness I didn't spend my money on it.    

      This is a full-out dystopia slash sci-fi story. Normally, you could've handed me any dystopia and I'd probably have given it a three star rating or higher. I'm getting a little afraid, wondering if my love is slowly fading away, or it's possibly just this book. The concept burdened me, and buried me under a world of boringness.

     

         From the 42 pages I read, nothing was happening and the plot and idea was so vague that I didn't even understand what was happening, and I was sure that the story would've stayed the same for the whole rest of the book. Why waste my time? All that I knew was happening was that Mila is some android-chick who doesn't know her role in life, just as protagonists feel in the mist of most cheesy books. Then there are the bad guys, right? Those who want to capture Mila because of her fantastic role and secret that even she doesn't know? Yep—thought so.

         I felt like this was a remake of Cinder, but far more cliché, obviously, because Cinder was an absolute hit for me. I loved that book and it was a remake of fairy tales that we know today. This? This was a book that we periodically felt something from. At least we were supposed to feel that. I think I only felt some feeling in the first page. That's about it.

         I feel like I'm ready to rant about this book here. I was the black sheep  and felt like I didn't know what was happening. If you're ready for confusion and the same story over and over again, then maybe you'll enjoy this book. But there's a low chance that you will.

         Starting off, remembering how everything came to be from beginning to the end of the 42 boring bum pages, the world was a complete blur for Mila. Probably, if I kept going, the only good thing that would stay forever would be the setting. I'm always fascinated with different dystopia settings, and this book seemed to have a pretty good one. But that's the only positive that I will shine here. Let me shame this book, instead.

      Mila was a disastrous character, as you can imagine. She was like the downer and the person who brought the happiness down when you win the lottery. She was the thunderstorm in the middle of a hot sunny summer day. She was the downer—such a loser and not kick-ass whatsoever.

       

        I don't even feel like apologizing for my feelings here. I just—ugh can't go through another book like this or else I'll be banging my head on a table over and over again eventually feeling numbness because I just don't care.

  *sighs* After reading this book, I'm totally just not ready for more downer books like this one. Mila 2.0 was probably an all-time favourite for others, but it totally sucked for me. Meh. Don't bother.

Stacking the Shelves #20: December 7

This Week's Headlines:

   Oh, the weekend! I honestly count down the days until I get to stay home under the blanket, and read! Oh, and there's actually 10 more school days until Christmas break begins! *squeals* Ah, I can already smell the spirit in the air.

    So really, my week hasn't been so special. I've been either studying, or watching Christmas movies on TV, with a little spit of reading in between. I was getting a little afraid that I've been going into a reading slump, but I'm sure that's not the case here. I really need to get my going on Christmas shopping as well!

My Book Haul:

      Since my family also celebrates St. Nicholas Day on the sixth, the tradition here is that we all get a gift from St. Nicholas himself. ;) Here is part of my splurge! YAYYY!

      From left to right:

     After, by Anna Todd: YESYESYESYESYES! This is a pretty I've been dying to read since I've heard about it—and it's so mega-popular. I'm too lazy to read it on Wattpad since I have books to read, so now it'll be able to be treated just like one of my own, haha.

      The Maze Runner Boxed Set, by James Dashner: Okay, so as you may have known, I adored The Maze Runner movie to the moon and back, and possibly even farther than that. I did read the first book in the series a loonnnggg time ago, (when I was 10?) and didn't even finish it. THIS IS MY CHANCE TO LOVE IT WITH THE WHOLE GORGEOUS SERIES.

       The Calling, by James Frey & Nils Johnson-Shelton: Finally. Firstly, this is a huge book. It's HUMUNGOUS. I'm honestly so excited because there's amazing things being said and the ratings are so high. Perfection, you may call it.

Posts You May Have Missed:

• Brew by David Estes Review
• Interview with Patricia Dunn!
• Top Ten Tuesday #18: Top Books I'm Looking Forward To in 2015
• She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick Review

What are your newest additions to your shelves?

Brew by David Estes Review

Brew (Salem's Revenge #1), by David Estes
Published On: October 1, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Paranormal, Science-Fiction, Romance
Pages: 440
Format: eARC
Source: Author/Street Team
Rating: 

Salem’s Revenge strikes without warning or mercy, ravaging the powerless human race under the forces of united gangs of witches, wizards, and warlocks. During the slaughter, Rhett Carter's foster parents and sister are killed, and his best friend and girlfriend are abducted by a gang of witches calling themselves the Necromancers, who deal in the dark magic of raising the dead. Rhett’s sword-wielding neighbor with a mysterious past saves Rhett from becoming another casualty of the massacre and teaches him the skills he needs to survive in this new world.
Rhett is broken, his normal high school life of book blogging and football playing shoved in a witch-apocalyptic blender. The only thing he has left is his burning desire for revenge. Armed with his new witch hunting skills and a loyal, magic powered dog named Hex, he sets out into the unknown with one mission: hunt and destroy those who took away everyone he ever loved. 
But Rhett isn’t just a witch hunter; he has secrets of his own that he has yet to discover, secrets that his enemies will stop at nothing to keep him from.
And discovering the truth about himself is the human race’s only hope.

 *Thank you so much to the author for providing me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!*

   I have felt like Brew has been sitting on my Goodreads currently-reading shelf for ages, and it's bugged me because it's not like I've even been reading it the whole time through. I only began reading it a couple of days ago and took me about 3 sittings to get through with. Overall, I must say that this was done splendidly and I'm so excited to read other works of Estes in the future.

     So we've all heard words about how this is another classification of The Walking Dead with witches, and I totally must agree on that! It's everything I've been looking for with witches but with a little less action, I must admit.

   

       As I began reading, by the first chapter, I already could tell that Estes is a pure fantasy writer. His mind definitely revolves around an action-based storyline that will rip you out of your seat.

“Ignorance is the worst plague of all, a form of blindness that destroys the hearts of the people who hide behind it.”

       To tell you the truth, I usually am not a huge fan of witch books. They don't really captivate me and I find that they're always the same, every author, every single time. This one really wasn't bad, and it impressed me and intrigued me at points. I can just imagine what the sequel would do.

        Be warned that this is a mind-blowing 440 pages long. Coming from my own words, "BE PREPARED BECAUSE THIS IS A HUGE BOOK." Some of us take longer to read than others, so those of you who are slower, you'll be needing a lot more time to finish reading this. It was mega-huge, and yeah, a total mind-blowing crazy experience. But now as I read it, I must say that I'm glad I did, especially for the experience.

         I began the book with mega-high expectations. There are such high ratings on this book, and I've heard fantastic things on the writing. The plot, I must say, needed some work to even entertain those who normally don't read witch-stories.

          In my opinion to get this book ten times better, a lot of improvement was needed. I wish I could've heard more about Rhett's past and how the foster family had to do with his changing of personality and all. More romance could've been a tiny bit better as well. :)

       

 I feel like this was really bland—as it should've not been. I expected the non-expected, and totally forgot about the expected and that actually came up in the end.

Interview with Patricia Dunn!

         Hello, all!

         I am really psyched to be announcing here that I have a mega-awesome post planned for all of you—featuring the one and only YA debut author of Rebels by Accident,  Patricia Dunn! I actually haven't picked up Rebels by Accident due to my crazy schedule, but we all have crazy high hopes, and the ratings are scorching high! I'm so excited to be doing this with her for the first time for me, so let's get started!

How did you come up with Rebels by Accident’s idea? It’s so unique!

I was inspired on many levels to write Rebels By Accident. Some of it was on a very subconscious level and was only discovered through the practice of writing. I knew I wanted to write the journey of an Egyptian-Muslim-American teen who, in our post 9-11 world, is very disconnected from her culture, and how she finally figures out what it means to be Egyptian and American. I wanted to write a book about self-discovery and change. In a sense, a book about revolution, and not just the ones that happen on the outside, but the ones that happen on the inside. What better setting than the recent Egyptian revolution?

I love books that take place in exotic places. Why, Egypt? (It must be the mummies and pyramids!) 

My son’s father is Egyptian and I lived there for a while. So Egypt for me was more about in-laws than mummies and pyramids, though the pyramids are awesome and the light show there was one of best I’ve ever seen.

What’s your favourite thing about being an author?

When its working there’s no better feeling, when its not….

What genre do you usually find yourself “living in” while reading books?

I teach a novel class, so usually while I’m writing I’m also reading the writers’ in my class’s books. The genre can range from fantasy and YA to thriller, romantic comedy to literary fiction.

Since Christmas is right around the corner, what books do you want to see under the tree the most? 

I’d like to see my new book under a lot of trees, but as for me, I’d like to get every book written by Gabriel Marquez, and Murakami’s latest book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: A novel. 

How have bloggers and reviewers helped you with your author life?

They read your work and they share it with the world. And most bloggers I’ve worked with do it out of love, and the passion they have for books comes through in their writing and inspires readers.

This is your first YA novel. How has the formation changed from adult to writing for teens? 

It didn’t start off as a choice. I was in a writing class at Sarah Lawrence College, and through a series of writing prompts the voice of Mariam started to come through. Someone in the class said it sounded like I was channeling her. And I must have been, because I'd never have consciously written in the voice of a teenager. Teens are tough, but whenever I tried to go back to a more adult narrator Mariam kept fighting her way through. 

Rebels by Accident has such a gorgeous cover—is there a lot of work that you authors have to add into the creation? 

I was very lucky to have a publisher with an amazing creative team who also valued my feedback. But I loved this cover at first sight.

   

How can you describe RBA in six words? 

Romance, adventure, funny, revolution, pyramids, Facebook

What do you have planned for your future works of literature? 

I’m working on a dystopian fantasy. Like in my current book, there are two strong kickass heroes and a grandmother with lots of advices.

~~~~~~

    Ah, what a fine interview, I must say! I'd like to grant the biggest thanks to Patricia for being awesome and because she gave us a great idea from an author's POV. I can't wait to meet other authors!

Are you planning on picking Rebels by Accident? Do you call yourself

a pure "rebel?"

Top Ten Tuesday #18: Top Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

-Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme where readers exchange their opinions

and needs through bookish lists with 10 choices. Created by Broke and Bookish.-

Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward to In 2015

      At the moment (November 22) there is only 39 days until 2015—which is crazy, if you ask me. The year flew by so fast, and so many amazing things have happened! I began high school, met so many new bloggy buddies, and of course, HAVE READ SO MANY AMAZING BOOKS! 'Tis the season to be jolly and grateful, eh?

       We've been hearing about 2015's newest books for a long time... And I've been sitting here innocently, waiting for them all like a puppy. But inside, I WANT THEM ALL RIGHT NOW. So here are my top ten most looking forward books for 2015!

1. 99 Days, by Katie Cotungo (click on the cover for the Goodreads page!)

      This is probably the most prettiest cover I've seen for 2015 so far. It sounds adorable, and I can just picture it making it onto the NYT bestselling list!

     2.    Magonia, by Maria Dahvana Headley

         Dystopian-sci fi perfection. That's probably most of it, but what I'm going to say is that this isn't your typicality. It's more than that. The Fault in Our Stars and sci-fi? YES PLEASE!

       3.     Finding Paris, by Joy Preble

        AWW! ROAD TRIPS! Road-trip summery novels are the cutest things, and this is so Tumblr and hipster and ugh I can't wait!

         4.     A Wicked Thing, by Rhiannon Thomas

        RE-TELLING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY, YES YES YES YES YES! Thousands of good things said, it already has almost a 4.0 rating on GR!

            5.     Hold Me Like a Breath, by Tiffany Schmidt 

         Butterfly covers are the bomb. I'm feeling like I'm judging these by these covers, but it's honestly so hard not to! Everything's perfect about this book and I feel like it's going to be the right mystery for me!

            6.     Better Than Perfect, by Melissa Kantor

          Geez, I love Melissa Kantor. I wish that I could build a time machine to catch this book faster, hehe.

            7.      Every Last Promise, by Kristin Halbrook

         So apparently this is for fans of Gayle Forman and Laurie Halse Anderson—two of my favourite authors. I'M GOING TO LOVE THIS SO MUCH EEEEE!

                8.       A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas

         Two releases in 2015? This woman is literally going to kill me with happiness. I'VE HEARD ABOUT THIS ONE FOR A LONG TIME AND NOW IT'S COMING!

              9.       The Cage, by Megan Shepard

           I remember seeing the cover for this one the day it was announced, and I died. The concept sounds perfect, and Megan Shepard is perfect as well, tee hee.

            10.       A Cold Legacy, by Megan Shepard

           Yeah, this is a duo and double Megan Shepard thing—because her books are too amazing and I want them all. I CAN'T BELIEVE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TRILOGIES ARE ENDING! ;_;

What books are you most looking forward to in 2015?

She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick Review

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
Published By: Indigo on July 3, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 354
Format: Paperback Edition
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers - a skill at which she's remarkably talented. 
Her secret: she is blind. 
But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. 
She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other.

~~

"Love is a funny thing, and once again I really don't mean it's amusing. I mean it's odd. Strange. Weird. There was a time not so long ago, because I can remember it, when Mum and Dad loved each other. It was obvious, in the things that they did, and the way they were, and the way they called each other 'honey'." 

    In the end of 2013, I came up to finding a list on Buzzfeed that showed the top twenty books that will sure be hits of 2014. This one was actually on it, and I've been wanting to read it for the longest time. Where in the world would you find a mysterious thriller showing the point of view of a young blind girl?

     I must say that I was pretty disappointed with this one, compared to all of the wonderful things said about Marcus Sedgwick and his writing. You may say I was the black sheep, but I'm actually very glad to have had the experience to read such a novel with a fantastic concept. There were just the minor things that set me off and disappointed me. Other than that, I was as happy as a sheep getting its wool shaved off. Okay, I'm over exaggerating about that joke there. But, you get what I mean.

      Sedgwick is an excellent writer, don't get me wrong. He has a majestic way of captivating readers with his crazy but believable concepts, and you feel like you want to get to know the characters so well that they'll be your new best buddies.

   

A fraud? A loser? Hah, naw.

     This is about exactly what I first mentioned. Laureth and her brother are off to New York from their home in England to find their father—since Laureth received an email stating that someone's found her father's notebook—one that he's sure to never lose or forget anywhere. 

       Did I mention that Laureth's blind and her brother is so young and they're off in the unknown? No, not really. 

        That's basically the simple plot, but it made a huge difference and the meaning is so deep and found and relieved with gorgeousness. The concept was actually something I never really had a strong encounter with and I must say that whatshisname Sedgwick has stunned me in that aspect and is sure to stun millions of others who are willing to begin reading a contemporary that is so strange in its nice way.

         "Sight must have its advantages. Like, I'm never going to drive a car, well not on public roads at least. But I can live with that. I've never wanted to be able to see, not really, but right then I knew that if I could see, I wouldn't have had to bring Benjamin with me, and then, I felt awful."

           The book stayed the same way the whole time through. I felt the same thing from beginning to end, and there weren't any omg-so-amazing moments as I expected there'd be. I sat there after finishing, thinking, "Why wasn't this to my advantage in any way?" I wanted more jazz, and more action. Was this really supposed to be a hardcore mystery?

            Laureth was honestly awesome. Because of her disability, I wasn't feeling intended to feel guilty, she just had us reading in a whole new perspective, from the eyes of a blind person. At the same time, she didn't intend to feel sorry for herself either, and she cared about the people around her. Just look at the risks she took to keep her brother safe and to find her father. She was honestly a dreamer and I loved her personality and self-being. Her attitude was a hit.

              But throughout this whole "journey" or "story" or whatever you intend to call this novel, my favourite character remaining throughout had to be little Benjamin, Laureth's brother. He was such a perfect spirit and was so adorable! You don't really realize it until the end, but he made a total difference in Laureth's life and helped solve the mystery quicker than she could've ever imagined.

              And one last thing—did you know that this book had to do with books? A lot of crazy awesome things were mentioned about fiction and coincidences, and I just loved it. This book was my environment at moments, but I wanted more.

'Yes,' said Dad. 'Oh. Coincidences in fiction just do not work. And even in real life, they tend to fall into two sorts. The ones that are so pathetic that they don't excite anyone but you, and the ones that are so incredible that they are literally just that; unbelievable. Even to members of your own family.'

            Huh—I don't know. Do you ever get a feeling that you knew what was going to happen but then you didn't really know? Of course you did—that's what I was feeling with this book. I wish that I could've seen fireworks and sparks with my love, but this mystery wasn't everything I was planning it to be. I did love and enjoy the culture and impact on readers, though!