“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Taken By Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (better review)

I feel like now that I have had time to think about this book (and *SPOILER*settle some of my heart break) I can write a better review, so here it is:




Taken By Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Summary from goodreads.com

Bryn knows first-hand that being the alpha of a werewolf pack means making hard decisions, and that being human makes things a thousand times worse. She's prepared to give up her humanity, but the wolf who promised to Change her is waiting - though for what, Bryn doesn't know. Still human, she must take her place in the werewolf Senate, the precarious democracy that rules the North American packs. Standing side by side with werewolves who were ancient long before she was ever born is enough of a challenge, but Bryn soon learns that the Senate has been called to deal with a problem: the kind of problem that involves human bodies, a Rabid werewolf, and memories that Bryn, Chase, and the rest of their pack would rather forget. With bodies stacking up and political pressure closing in from all sides, Bryn and her pack are going to have to turn to old enemies and even older friends for help - especially when it starts to look like this time, the monster might be one of their own.
...............................................................................................................................................

As some of you may know we received a giveaway of this book from Jen (since there were no ARC's) before it came out.... (here are pictures:









I had written a review on it previously, but because I was still heartbroken over it (and we weren't using our new system yet) I am writing a revised one. So here it is....................





This book receives a SPECIAL 6 stars from us:


This book gets 6 stars because Jennifer is such an amazing writer. Seriously pick up any and all of her books, you won't be let down/embarrassed/sorry. At all. This book is so gripping. Bryn is always so funny and a true heroine. She is human, yet she is as strong as a Were....she was always meant to be one. I recommend this book to anyone who has a thing for Werewolf books, honestly it's the best YA Werewolf book out there. The covers of these books are spot on and beautiful. I LOVE them....each one tells a story. 1. Taken By Storm cover has rain in the background, Trial By Fire has fire in the background, etc 2.There is a moon in every single one. 3. Raised By Wolves the model ("Bryn") is facing away from you, Trial By Fire she is ruined around a little more, and Taken By Storm is Bryn facing you. This represents her character development and I really love that about the covers.

I believe Bryn is so strong....she really is and she is one of my most respected Heroines.

In honor of that I made this "Team Bryn" sticker: ----------------------------->

I also made her a leader in My Literary Heroine Dream Team (along with Katniss....although I don't know how well that combo would work...but I'm sure they could work it out)

In this book, you won't be able to get off the edge of your seat. There is no moment of relaxation. You're constantly trying to untangle the mystery that Shay has woven for her this time. It is defiantly worthy of the 6 stars and I would recommend it to anybody especially if you started the Raised By Wolves Trilogy, you must finish.



There has been some question on if there is a fourth book or not, for the answer and my opinion on Jen's announcement look at the Kind of a Waiting on Wednesday Letdown: Taken By Storm post.

Now for the Spoiler-y discussion!! (and there are some things here that are not covered up so just scroll down and try not to look ; ) it is very prominent when the spoilers are over)

..............................................................................................................................................
This is a spoiler zone. Highlight between the brackets to read. This is in attempt to keep skimmers from accidentally reading some fatal information.

{ One of the things I most valued from this book is that it's always been about Bryn. Callum has always set up his future to benefit her, always her best interest in mind. Because he loves Bryn and what people (and Bryn) might think or say is not true, Callum does in fact care about Bryn (just like Sora said.) This thought is very concluding for me...so in a way, even though Bryn is utterly unforgiving towards Callum by the end, it's good to know.






There is something I was thinking about, is it crazy that it’s the same plot to start the series and the same to finish? I don’t know….I used to think it was CRAZY that Wilson could come back, torture Maddy, and try to do what he set out to do to Bryn…..but now I’m not sure….it’s definitely a connection that is unmistakable and a beautiful way to close a series…
When Bryn was attacked by Wilson and he came SOO close to snapping at her neck and she thought, "well it's ok if he bites me because then I'll become a wolf, ooh but I don't want that because I'll think like him!" (something along the lines of that, that is not a quote but you get my point) I wonder if Wilson had changed her..how that would have gone down. What made me smile was the fact that Callum was so angered over the fact that Wilson bit her. He's all surprised and angry and about to cry, how often does one see Callum in that state?

Jumping topics here, I don’t know how I feel about the fact that Chase already knew about Bryn's decision to become a wolf……Its a mixture of happiness and sadness…at the same time. He knows her too well. Happiness because Chase is so close to her and he can read her so easily. But sad because he's gone....and will never see her wolf. About that......................

my heart was breaking into a million pieces, like shay had just reached into MY chest and pulled out MY heart. Which I would much rather of happened if it meant Chase wouldn’t die….How could Jen DO that to me? There were tears shed..... }

THE FOLLOWING ARE HUGE SPOILERS.....AND ALSO MOVING PICTURES AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HIDE THEM SO JUST PLEASE IGNORE THEM!(only read the following if you have read Taken By Storm)

So I read it and looked up....there might have been a gasp in there too...








there was a lot of this going on:















Then I went into a phase of denial....







highlight between brackets again to read SPOILERS
I that was pretty much my reaction....




The thing is...I was pretty naïve..... I put aside Callums comment about "I'm sorry for what may or may not happen." and when the time came for Chase to die, I swear I did NOT see it coming. (like Bryn……thinking about other things because there were a million of them going on at once.) Did any of you think Jen would really do it? Cause I'm sitting there thinking "ooh she won't really do that, she's just making us worried...the real stuff has nothing to do with Chase!" So....I forgot about it....and when Chase died, it came flying back at me.....like a ton of bricks.

Over all the book was amazing....and I just loved every inch of it...When I was reading I was bouncing around because I knew I had such a LOVE for these characters (really I think they are the bunch that I love being with the most) that I was so happy to read them again, but in a new book (because it's so different then reading the books over and over)

About the ending and Bryn's wolf....you can also find my thoughts on that here: Kind of a Waiting on Wednesday Letdown: Taken By Storm }








************************END OF SPOILERS*****************************
So definitely read this book. It's worth everything.

Also really go check out this post: Kind of a Waiting on Wednesday Letdown: Taken By Storm




Remeber;
Since we are a user friendly blog and want all of our readers to be able to read the comments please add " **SPOILER ALERT** " to your post if it applies. Thanks for your consideration!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Since we are a user friendly blog and want all of our readers to be able to read the comments please add " **SPOILER ALERT** " to your post if it applies. Thanks for your consideration!

We love love love your comments! When you leave them it just makes us so happy! Thanks for visiting!

-Kait, Mari, and Rach

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...