Diary of a Book Maniac

3 stars

3 sisters and 1 boyband in a summer lockdown ~ American Girl on Saturn by Nikki Godwin

Title: American Girl on Saturn (Saturn #1)

Author: Nikki Godwin
Format acquired: ebook

Source: Bought

Publication date: August 29, 2013

Goodreads / Amazon / Createspace

Summary:

The summer after graduation is supposed to be that first real taste of freedom - but not for eighteen-year-old Chloe Branson. Just as that breeze of freedom is making its way into her galaxy, her secret-service-agent dad drops a meteor-sized bomb of bad news on her and her sisters. An attempt has been made on the lives of Canadian boyband, Spaceships Around Saturn, during their USA tour, and the guys have to go into hiding ASAP. The only problem? In the midst of the crisis and media frenzy, their dad volunteered to hide the guys...in their house.

Six-year-old Emery is as ecstatic as any self-proclaimed Saturnite would be, but Chloe and her seventeen-year-old sister Aralie watch their summer plans crash and burn like a falling star. The SAS guys aren't happy with the situation, either. Bad boy Jules picks fights with Aralie about everything from his Twitter followers to his laundry, and heart-throb Benji can't escape Emery's fangirlisms for more than three minutes.

But after the super-cute Milo kisses Chloe during a game of hide-and-seek, she finally understands what Emery means when she talks about SAS being "out of this world." If this is what Saturn feels like, Chloe doesn't want to come back to Earth.

Review:

American Girl on Saturn has boy band in it and those boys are in a summer lockdown with the three sisters—Chloe, Aralie and Emery—in one house and hell ensues. You’d think a book that has boy band in it will make you swoon. Well, not in my case.

I really liked the characters in this book. They’re all unique and fun to read. Especially Noah. And no, Noah’s not the main guy in this story. He’s actually just a side character in this book but as what I’ve observed, it seems that I’m more fascinated to side characters than the main ones lately if we based it to the recent books I’ve read. So back to Noah, I freaking love the guy! I definitely want to meet someone like him. He’s the guy that every single girl wants to be as their best friend. And since we’re on the topic of best friend, I also liked the friendship between him and Chloe. They’re so #friendshipgoals. Here’s a quote from the book to prove the adorableness of these two.

“What do I need, Noah?” I ask, as much as I don’t want to hear his goofy answer, whatever it may be.

“A new best friend,” he says. “You know, someone who listens to your problems, even when he hasn’t had his milk yet. Someone who keeps your new boyfriend a secret from everyone, even though it makes him look like an idiot sometimes. Or—best yet—someone who still covers for you after you pull him into the pool…fully dressed.”

See how adorable these two were? Friendship goal, people, friendship goal. Also, I also adored Chloe’s youngest sister! Emery was a whirlwind of emotions. She’s funny, sweet, devious, annoying (in an adorable way) and obsessive (over Benji). I never thought I’d get attached to a 5-year old character in a story, but I did. And can we also talk about Benji? That sweet pea. I loved how he doesn’t get mad at Emery for her constant clingy-ness over him. I honestly thought that Benji will be the snob and haughty one among the 5 members but he’s surprisingly a nice guy. I also loved Tate and his randomness. He didn’t get that much “screen time” in the book but I always look forward whenever he appears. It seems that I’m fond of all the characters except to the two main characters of this book, Chloe and Milo. I didn’t feel any connection with them. I think for a main character, they’re pretty bland compared to us. And don’t get me started with their chemistry. I just can’t see it. Milo and Chloe said a lot of sweet lines to each other but I just read it with my poker face on. I honestly have no care what’ll happen to their relationship. I’m honestly more invested towards Benji and Emery’s relationship. If only Emery isn’t a 5-year old kid, I would totally ship him with Benji. Alas, I can’t since that will be so wrong in so many levels.

Why rate it 3 stars? As much as I enjoyed and liked the characters in this book, the writing style of the author isn’t just for me. It’s confusing as hell. One moment I was reading a scene about Milo and Chloe then in the next paragraph, it’ll totally be a new one. The transition from one scene to another left me disoriented. I think the author needs subtlety in transitioning of scenes.

Overall, American Girl on Saturn is an okay book for me. I had fun reading it but it didn’t really left me with any lasting impression. If you’re into the whole boy band thing, then you should try to read this one.

2 comments

, by Alyssa

3.5 stars

Welcome to the world where "Gods" walk amongst humans ~ Welcome to the Underworld by Con Template

Title: Welcome to the Underworld (Welcome to the Underworld #1)
Author: Con Template
Format acquired: ebook

Source: Bought

Publication date: December 10, 2012

Goodreads / Amazon / Createspace

Summary:

There is a secret society that presides over every world. This society is so powerful that it can control a nation, strike fear into the bravest of men and bring turmoil onto the most unsuspecting of victims.

There is a dangerous society in Seoul that is plaguing Choi Yoori.

Her world is turned upside down when she is told that she bears a strong resemblance to the “Queen of the Underworld,” a notorious Underworld crime lord who died 3 years prior—the exact same time Yoori woke up with amnesia. The dangers of this new world is crashing in on her and Yoori's only grip on stability lies with the guidance from her crime lord boss and the secrets the Queen of the Underworld hid from her powerful society.

Welcome to a world where “Gods” walk amongst humans. Where the heartless and vengeful are revered like Kings and Queens—and the weak, the distracted are punished without mercy.

It is a cruel world and once you’re in, the only exit is death.

Review:

When I found out that this book’s setting was in South Korea, it definitely piqued my interest. And finding out that this was a mafia book heightened my interest. I’ve always been fascinated over mafia books so it’s no wonder that I immediately read this one after knowing about it.

Welcome to the Underworld is a book about a secret underworld society or what we call the mafia. The story revolves around Choi Yoori, the main character of the story who resembles the “Queen of the Underworld” who died 3 years ago—the exact same time Yoori got her amnesia. She meets one of the prominent Kings of the Underworld, Kwon Tae Hyun, and that’s where all the batshit started.

I liked the action scenes in this book though there weren’t that many to begin with, which was a bit disappointing since I expected more because when you read a mafia book, there’s got to be a lot of fight scenes but it seems like that’s not the case in this one. It’s understandable though because I view Welcome to the Underworld as the topping in a whole chocolate cake. The world building in this book was shaky. It’s slow paced. Don’t expect to know all the inner workings of the Underworld when you read this. The main character, Yoori, wasn’t that exposed in the mafia world in this one. Most of the time, she was being kept in the dark. I think this book focused more on introducing the characters and their backgrounds than the world building. I assumed that with how this book ended, the world building will happen in the next book.

Aside from the action scenes, I also liked the side characters specifically Jae Won and Kang Min. When the connection between these two characters was revealed, I felt so attached to them. They’re such precious characters and I am looking forward to see more of them in the 2^nd book. It’s quite opposite with how I felt with Tae Hyun. His character made me so annoyed, though there were some instances that I would like him but majority of the book, I hated his suave-ness. I’m the black sheep among the sea of Tae Hyun’s admirers.

What else did I like in this book? Oh. I loved Yoori’s sass. And also her internal monologues. Those were fun to read! Aside from those, there’s nothing else special about her character that appealed to me. I’m more attached to the side characters than the main ones.

Overall, Welcome to the Underworld left me with question marks and attachment towards the side characters. With how things ended in this book, I’m sensing that the 2^nd book will contain more actions and answers to the questions that are floating in my head right now. I’ll certainly read the next one.

Here are some quotes from the book that stuck in my mind

"That's all that you are in this world. You're just a girl. A girl amongst a society of people trained to be Gods and killers."

"How can you make such a promise?" Yoori smile sleepily before answering her own question. "Because you're a King in this world?"

Tae Hyun smiled. "Because I am a God in this world--because they will all kneel before me soon. And when they kneel before me, I will have them fall to their knees for you as well."