3 stars When I picked this book up, I expected the gladiator fights to come much earlier than it did. However, I do think everything in the first half o3 stars When I picked this book up, I expected the gladiator fights to come much earlier than it did. However, I do think everything in the first half of the book was necessary to set up a story. Without it, the friendship between Fallon and Elka would not have come off the ground, and in my opinion, that friendship is one of the best things in this book.
Furthermore, the struggles of slavery came through, but Fallon is very lucky. One thing that intrigued me was if you are a slave but you have it good or better than others should you consider yourself lucky? Should you even be happy about it even though you still are a slave? It is an interesting struggle you go through together with Fallon as she ponders over the same thing.
One thing that really threw me off, was that Lesley Livingston used the Greek names for the gods sometimes instead of the Roman names. For example, "What the Hades?". I understand that What the Hades sounds more fun than What the Pluto, however, this story is set in Rome during Julius Caesar's reign so the Greek gods have been gone for a while by then.
Thus, if you like historical fiction in Rome, female friendships, bloody gladiator fights and a bit of romance, I would recommend this book to you....more
I had planned to read this book before YALfestNL 2017 because Donna Freitas was attending. Now I am really regretting not reading this book b4.5 stars
I had planned to read this book before YALfestNL 2017 because Donna Freitas was attending. Now I am really regretting not reading this book before the event because I really liked it.
The Survival Kit is the story of Rose who lost her mother, Ellie, recently to cancer. However, her mother left her a survival kit. Throughout the story, you see Rose get through her grieving process with the help of the items in the survival kit. There is also a nice (!) romance but it is mostly a subplot. I feel this proudness for Rose because of how she gets through it and how she grows so much. She stops avoiding so situations which were really hard for her. (view spoiler)[She starts taking these small steps and she gets help from her friends and it was really nice to read about. (hide spoiler)]
Rose's family is also very likeable although her father and her brother, Jim, have (of course) their own struggles with Ellie's death. It makes it even sweeter to see them have good family moments. Rose's friends are so good. When (view spoiler)[her father was in the hospital (hide spoiler)] they were there for Rose every day to help her get through it.
(view spoiler)[ Will is such a sweetheart. Something I also really liked was the talk Rose and Will had at his house after her father got back from the hospital. Will had (sort of) broken up with her because when her father had hit a tree while driving drunk (again) and gotten into the hospital, he froze because of his father. It was understandable yet he did let Rose down. The biggest reason was that he never really explained why he shut down. And they talk about it. Rose told him, yes you did let me down, but I miss and I forgive you because I understand it now. (hide spoiler)]
The full circle with the playlist was so nice, too. I love when things come full circle, but I hadn't expected this so that made it even more lovely.
I really recommend this book to you if you like to read about family, friends and romance....more
This story is so weird. (Poor) young girls are tested on magical abilities so that they can be forced/enslaved to be surrogate mothers for the royaltyThis story is so weird. (Poor) young girls are tested on magical abilities so that they can be forced/enslaved to be surrogate mothers for the royalty. The girls are bought (!) at an auction. The royalty basically could not have healthy children anymore probably because of too much incest :/
It is an interesting premise, but I would never have picked it up if it wasn't for yalfestNL. I am not planning on continuing this series because I feel like I can guess where it is going namely a rebellion a la every dystopian novel these days. I have to admit that I did not see everything coming of course but most of it was just not new to me.
As for audio book things: I liked the voice of the narrator, Laura Kirman, but sometimes the voices of the characters were very similar and thus a bit confusing to me.
3.5 stars the idea of humans knowing for sure that there is life after death and how that affects society is fascinating. Ten was a really cool charact3.5 stars the idea of humans knowing for sure that there is life after death and how that affects society is fascinating. Ten was a really cool character and I liked most of the book. However, some characters were bleak and underdeveloped, same with the romance. I'm not sure if I will continue with this series. so I will see....more
4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. The dual narration was utilized really good. I liked how the foreshadowing turned out and I'm excited to read m4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. The dual narration was utilized really good. I liked how the foreshadowing turned out and I'm excited to read more of Rossi's work....more
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