Review: Desperate Reflections - Shay West

Ok guys, first up there is some major spoilers for the first two books in this review, and second, if you have absolutely no idea what will happen, look away now. (However, I think what I say is kind of a given). You've been warned...

Alex's powers are steadily growing as she experiments with them and learns more about what she can do. In this book, we see her struggle dramatically with the weight of responsibility put on her by her powers as well as having more family issues to deal with when her mother begins dating again. The tension builds as things get a lot more personal with Drifter and his Master. Alex seeks out some old friends and finally gets the help she has been sorely lacking in. Her life is getting ever more dangerous, and Drifter gets ever more desperate to end her life.

Wow, what a finale. The tension is ridiculous in this book and the emotions are soaring. The thing I told you I was waiting for in the last review? It totally happened and I couldn't be happier. Turns out it was kind of integral that it did and it works out ever so well. It's pure awesome. As said before, you can guess some of the plot, however in this book you can't guess all of it. You're sitting there, entranced, wondering how on earth Alex is going to survive all this.

Ok, there are a couple of things nagging at me. Alex yet again doesn't develop hugely as a character apart from with the whole family thing, but it isn't such a huge development and nothing actually feels life-altering. She will still be the same girl and act in the same way after this book. This is alright really as the pacing and the rest of the plot carry this through, but some extra character arc would have been quite nice.

The other? The mantra. By this point 'Get a grip, Alex' is being used so frequently as Alex begins to completely freak out that it actually begins to grate on you. There are only so many times you can read the exact same sentence before it becomes really boring and kind of annoying. Sometimes it's good to mix up phrasing!

So this book has a great ending. It's full of emotion and has been built up slowly through the books to get to this one final showdown. The book actually gets pretty terrifying as things get very real very quickly. It's no longer about time travel.. it's about a sadistic madman tracking down a teenage girl so he can kill her. I loved that her two lives pretty much collide in this last book. It is a very fulfilling ending, I loved how it played out and how everything came together.

Desperate Reflections on Goodreads

Kyra_x

The Reading Pile #8

So some of you may have noticed that I have been not accepting review requests recently. This is because I have been focusing on the books I already have to review. I am happy to say that I have only just finished that pile and will now be focusing on getting through the monstrous pile of books that I currently have sitting on my bookshelves (and in my kindle) that I have actually bought!

Things are looking up for me in general life. The other half has just rented out his flat and has managed to get himself a new job so we can start saving properly for our own place! I've already begun thinking about how we're going to have our library.

Anyway.. on to the books!

Bought:
Shift -Em Bailey
I may have gone to a boot sale and found this along with the next few beauties. This book sounds awesome. It's about a girl who has gone a bit mad, and she watches as a new girl comes in and slowly begins to imitate her best friend. Then her best friend dies. Apparently there a romance involved in this YA thriller too!

How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
You may have seen the film, and if so hold all comments because I haven't! I just saw the trailer and though how awesome it would be in book form, so when I saw this, I needed to buy it.

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules- Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
In the same vein as a few similarly titled recent books, only this one caught my eye because A; The League of Pensioners really tickled me, and B: The little old lady is totally awesome wanting to protest about her quality of life. However funny it may sound, this book will probably make me think a lot.

Rules of Civility - Amer Towles
A piece of historical fiction about two ambitious and funny girls in the 30s, who plan on taking New York by storm. It sounds cool and I've never read anything set in that period before!

Ten Tiny Breaths - K.A. Tucker
This was a Kindle Daily Deal, as were the next two, so I snapped them up!

Angelbound - Christina Bauer
This one had been flying around on my radar and I kind of had to have it when it was on offer.

The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau
I couldn't believe it when I spied this one cheap (cheap being for less than a pound) so again, I had to have it.

Won:
Wallbanger - Alive Clayton (Signed)
This book was a mystery to me but when I opened the packaging I was not disappointed. it sounds funny and a lot lighter than most of my reading. Ohh, and did I mention it's signed?

Recieved:
Desperate Reflections - Shay West
The last in the series that started with Dangerous Reflections.

Thankyou's this month go to:
Booktrope: Pamela Labbe and Shay West
Have Book Will Read Book Blog and Alice Clayton

Kyra_x