REVIEW: BLACKBIRD BY ANNA CAREY.

Title: Blackbird
Series: Blackbird Duology #1
Author: Anna Carey
Edition: Paperback
Publication: HarperTeen / September 16, 2014
Source: ARC provided by the publisher
Pages: 256
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia, Mystery
Trailer: Watch HERE.

Synopsis:

This twisty, breathless cat-and-mouse thrill ride, told in the second person, follows a girl with amnesia in present-day Los Angeles who is being pursued by mysterious and terrifying assailants.

A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.

On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.

Maaaaaaaan. What is this really?

Anna Carey's The Eve Trilogy is one of those series that helped me get my reading groove going. Seriously. I loved it and will forever recommend it. So learning that Carey wrote a new one automatically made me put it on my Most Anticipated Titles list. But boy oh boy, I was utterly underwhelmed with Blackbird.

Well, the synopsis is pretty much it except for the part where is says "The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists." That is completely wrong. I mean, not even close.

In the story, the girl doesn't remember anything after waking up in a train station and up until the end, she still didn't figure out who she is. Not even her name. (!!!!!) She just keeps running away from people she thought want to kill her. Then she meets Ben in the grocery store and easily liked and trusted him. I mean, JUST. LIKE. THAT. Gaaaaah. She then tries to figure out who these bad people are but she got nothing. She didn't even get to know what her tattoo means. I mean, what the hell is this really? The plot didn't make sense to me. The characters are stupid ones. The story is so flat. Am so sorry Carey but this is blah.

What I hoped for was at least the girl learns something significant. I didn't have issues with the second person point of view because that's the only thing I liked about it, but come on! The plot was so promising but the execution absolutely failed. I seriously want brain bleach so I can erase this from my mind. Blackbird is one of the worst books I've read in my life.

Am really sorry but I felt like I just wasted time reading Blackbird. I don't know if I'll pick up the next one. Maybe I will, for closure.

Thank you HarperCollins International for the ARC!

""It's just...there are things that I've wanted to forget before. Shitty things, things that it would be easier if I didn't have to think about it. And there are people I wanted to forget. Maybe whatever happened before, how bad things were - maybe this is your chance."

"My chance to be someone else?"

"Yeah," he says. "To be who you want to be.""

REVIEW: RISE BY ANNA CAREY.

Title: Rise (Eve #3)
Author: Anna Carey
Edition: Paperback (ARC)
Published: April 2, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 310
Source: ARC provided by the publisher
Category: Dystopia, Romance
Trailer: not applicable

Synopsis:

How far will you go when you have nothing left to lose?

When she lost her soul mate, Caleb, Eve felt like her world had ended. Trapped in the palace, forced to play the part of the happy, patriotic princess of The New America—and the blushing bride of her father's top adviser—Eve's whole life is a lie. The only thing that keeps her going is Caleb's memory, and the revolution he started.

Now, Eve is taking over where Caleb left off. With the help of Moss, an undercover subversive in the King's court, she plots to take down The New America, beginning with the capital, the City of Sand. Will Eve be able to bring about a new, free world when she's called upon to perform the ultimate act of rebellion—killing her father?

In Rise, Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight as Anna Carey's epic tale of romance and sacrifice in the chilling dystopia of The New America comes to a stunning conclusion.

Rise is the best ending to the trilogy!

I've mentioned this before and will always be proud to say it over and over again, that Eve is one of the first series that showed me the way back to reading and tops my favorite series of all time. I was so lucky to have been provided an advance copy and I was just beaming with joy since I first pet Rise's cover! It is indeed the best feeling ever!

Eve is lamenting over Caleb's death and would really want the war to end. With Moss' instructions, she has to poison the King and pursue with their plan -- she has to escape while the rebels are fighting. Because of some unexpected turn of events, she has to flee immediately to save herself and some of her friends from being executed. She has to go back to Califia and take chances even if it means she has to risk their lives.

I've read Once last year so I was ecstatic to finally read Rise and find out how Carey ended this epic series. The world Rise showcased here doubled the chaos and cruelty that definitely made me shiver. I couldn't imagine living in such dark place. The gravity of rebellion leaps through each page as if it was happening in real life. And the twists Carey prepared took my whole world apart. Ironic thing is, I loved every bit of it.

I missed Eve, Caleb, Arden and Charles. Eve's transformation from being a frail teenager to now a brave and all grown up woman who fights for what is right is so visible I still couldn't grasp that it's Eve I am reading. She's changed so much through the course of the series and I can't help but admire her. She has a huge heart and the way she handled her pain from losing Caleb is so nerve-wracking. She handled it well I could say. Though she's bereft, she still managed to focus on things she needed to prioritize than wallow in misery. She believed so much in her cause and her unfailing trust toward the right thing is empowering. She showed that a woman can make huge decisions under difficult circumstances on her own. And though she lost a lot of her loved-ones, she managed to make it through.

Rise sure did have tons of surprises that made my stomach churn from excitement! Carey made such perfect ending to a beautiful series and I couldn't ask for more. Rise ended everything in the right place, at the right time with the right person and I loved it from Eve's page one up until Rise's very last! This is the ending Eve deserves!

Thank you so much Christine from Harper Collins for providing the ARC!

VERDICT:

"This is where he used to be. How can I possibly live with all these empty space?"

REVIEW: ONCE BY ANNA CAREY.

Title: Once
Author: Anna Carey
Series: Eve #2
Edition: Paperback, International
Publication: January 1st 2012 by HarperCollins
Source: Bought from FullyBooked
Pages: 354
Genre: Dystopia, Romance

Synopsis:

In the second book of this thrilling dystopian adventure, Eve will come face to face with the king who has been ruthlessly hunting her and learn the shocking truth about who she really is.

Having managed to evade the soldiers hunting her, Eve finally reached Califia, a haven for women determined to live outside the oppressive rule of the King of New America. However, Eve's freedom came at a price: she was forced to leave Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve learns that Califia may not be as safe as it seems she sets out once again in the hopes of being with Caleb only to fall into a trap that sends her to the City of Sand and directly into the hands of the King.

Once at the stronghold of the King, Eve will uncover the real reason he was so intent on her capture, and the unbelievable role he intends her to fill. When she is finally reunited with Caleb inside the city walls, Eve will risk everything to be with him.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

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THERE MIGHT BE SOME SPOILERS. BE WARNED.

Several months of waiting for Eve's sequel which is this book, Once, has tormented me big time. Eve has become one of my favorite series and ending it with such cliffhanger made me anxious to read its finale, Rise. Reading it gave me shivers because is the book is a knock-out and totally worth the wait.

Few months after Caleb left Eve to Califia, she tries coping with her life away from him and believes she's safe outside the King's radar. Though she manages, Eve's always longing for Caleb, wishing they'd be together even if it means having a rough life running in the wilds. Overhearing some girls premeditating how she would be turned over to the king once their location is found and that Caleb is alive, she grabbed her chance of finding him, only to be caught and brought to the City of Sands without knowing what awaits her.

What happened after Eve was brought to the king was something I didn't see coming. Honestly. That was something I wasn't really prepared for. I was so surprised seeing how her life dramatically changed that she took everything she have learned level-headed. She could've used her newly acquired power over the people of New America but she didn't. Instead, she remained herself and didn't stop thinking about her friends and Caleb. She continued to search for him in her own little ways and little did we know that fate would lead her to him. This is a dystopian world and you can see so much of it through Anna Carey's spectacular world building and the right amount of romance in it, which doesn't have an annoying love triangle, perfectly fits with the story it tells.

I adore Eve much more because she's so focused. She definitely knows what she wants and nothing in the story ever changed her mind, specially about Caleb. Unlike some female characters I've read before, Eve isn't easily bribed with anything grand thinking what she have been through. She also still managed to think about her friends and tried her best to save everyone she loves even if it costs her. Though her character is is typical, I love it because she's brave, smart and kind, so as Caleb. Its like no matter what fate throws at them, they would always find a way to each other holding the same intense love. I also love how they try to protect each other and how they communicate through codes despite the desperate situation they're in. It's a love story I think I haven't read before. Yes, it's a love story but it is something just perfect for my taste.

Its fun reading Once. It definitely transported me into the New America world and for 8 hours, I was so into it I completely forgot where I was! The pull is so strong that it feels as if I was seeing everything through the character's eyes and that's one thing that made this series my favorite: the story transports me.

""You do anything for the person you love,” she said finally. "And then when you don’t think you can give any more of yourself, you do. You keep going. Because it would kill you not to.""

REVIEW: EVE BY ANNA CAREY.

Title: Eve
Author: Anna Carey
Series: Eve #1
Edition: Paperback
Publication: October 4, 2011 by HarperCollins
Source: Bought
Pages: 336
Genre: Dystopia, Romance

Synopsis:

Where do you go when nowhere is safe?

Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth's population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school's real purpose and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she's ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Arden, her former rival from school, and Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust... and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

In this epic new series, Anna Carey imagines a future that is both beautiful and terrifying.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

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Oh mi.. This book is probably one of those I could write so much about. A book that made me want to finish it in one sitting. Another story that captured my heart! Though it ended in such a terrible cliffhanger, I can't wait for the second installment. A story that happened in our future: 2025. A plague almost erased the existence of the world and that's when the fight for survival started. I loved every bits of it though I hated her when she sent that code out and she took that stupid risk for Caleb. Oh well, I enjoyed it super! It was just so heartbreaking that they couldn't be together.. Hmmmm..

"Happiness is a moment."

"Love was death’s only adversary, the only thing powerful enough to combat its clawing, desperate grasp."