Book Nerds Across America: reached

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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Book Review: Reached by Ally Condie

Goodreads Overview:

Cassia’s journey began with an error, a momentary glitch in the otherwise perfect façade of the Society. After crossing canyons to break free, she waits, silk and paper smuggled against her skin, ready for the final chapter.

The wait is over.

One young woman has raged against those who threaten to keep away what matters most—family, love, choice. Her quiet revolution is about to explode into full-scale rebellion. With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose.

Jacque's Review:

Reached is the third and final book in the Matched trilogy. In this installment Cassia, Ky, and Xander are reunited and must work together to find a cure for the plaque that has taken over the Society. They once thought the Rising and the Pilot would save them from the controlling Society, but they are beginning to see that even the rebellion has its flaws.

While I really enjoyed Matched, I struggled a bit with the pace and length of this book. It seemed to go on FOREVER. I never really got into the poetry aspect and the fixation on "paper" was lost on me. In this day and age when everything is digital, I can see where they are coming from with the lack of writing on actual paper, but I don't see the lack of paper itself as being detrimental. I would have connected more if the focus was on free thinking, creativity, and the fine arts that were all but eliminated from life in the Society vs. the lack of paper.

Overall, I think this story could have been told in half as many pages and would have been considerably more enjoyable. As it was, I rally had to force myself to keep reading. Ally did bring everything to a nice conclusion, but if I were to go into this series knowing what I do now, I would have stopped after reading Matched. I don't feel like I really gained much over the course of the final two books.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Flo's Challenge of 3

So, I have been noticing a bad rut that I've gotten myself into. As you all know, a lot of great books come in 3s these days. Trilogies are the way to go, and I love them -- I do. But what I've noticed lately is that I will read the first book and most often love it. I'll read the second book and I'll either love it or I'll think it got the Middle Book Syndrome. (I can expand on this point, if you'd like to know more of my thoughts here -- just ask :) Then I'll have to wait the year for the final book to come out. And by that point, I've already been wowed by a shiny new trilogy. And while I may have absolutely loved the first two books, for some reason, I never make it to reading the third.

So, with all of YOU as my witness, my 2013 Book Goal is to conquer the Challenge of 3. Below are a list of trilogies in which I have read the first two books, but not the third. Honestly, this list is kind of embarrassing. I know for a fact that I'm going to get called out for not having read some of these yet. But I will endure that, because I need the motivation to make time to get them read! So, without further adieu, here are my books on the Challenge of 3:

Boundless by Cynthia Hand
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Reached by Ally Condie
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready
The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter
Sever by Lauren DeStefano

So, my vow is to have all of these trilogy conclusions read by the end of the year. I'll be hashtagging it over on our Twitter #Challengeof3. Do you have any trilogy conclusions that you haven't read yet? Let me know in the comments if you're up for the challenge and/or tweet us @booknerdsblog with the hashtag #Challengeof3.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Ally Condie REACHED Tour

For those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE Matched trilogy fan. So much so that I am actually on staff at a fansite for the series: The Matched Department. So when I found out that my favorite local bookstore Books and Books was hosting her as part of her tour for Reached -- the last book in the Matched trilogy that was released this month -- I was SUPER EXCITED.

Ally did not disappoint! She talked for a few minutes about the question she gets the most often: "Where did you get the idea for Matched?" and then she opened up the floor to questions. There were a lot of good questions asked, and I walked away feeling like I knew much more about Ally as a person. (To see what some of the questions were, check out my post over at The Matched Department.)

Book signing, pictures and swag ended the evening! I got the chance to catch up with Isalys and Vanessa from Book Soulmates while we were in line, so that was an added bonus. (Also, the fact that I wasn't driving through a tropical storm was a bonus.)

I really felt like I got to know Ally much more through the questions that she answered and also through talking with her one-on-one at the end. She is every bit as sweet as I thought she was, and that is just a really great thing to discover about someone.

So, about that swag...

It's nifty trilogy buttons! You want? Comment on this post and I'll randomly select someone to send them to.