3.64 AVERAGE


Would have been a solid 5 stars if Jack had just fucked off as soon as he arrived. Honestly the lack of chemistry between Avery and Jack made me wince.
Meanwhile my bae Stellan ;)

“Why would these Order people care about me ? There have to be a ton of Circle members more important than a teenage girl.”

That's exactly what I was wondering, Avery.

It's not like I had many expectations for this book because that synopsis barely explains anything about the story (I thought it was a spy-filled World War II novel?). It was a quick read, it was raging stupid, it was fun with the travelling bits but mostly, it was raging stupid.

The Conspiracy of Us takes place in our world and age and it starts off with some average white high school Bella Swan girl gushing about some mysterious new boy. But then we learn that this girl, Avery, is also a new kid and she tries to abstain from "deep" friendships since she moves around a lot and she does not want to be heartbroken again.

Good lord, this part of Avery was so frustrating and just an angst tool for the romance later on. I get that she moves around a lot and so she's disconnected from most people but I've moved around a lot myself and I never treated high school friendships like they MUST be life-lasting. It's freaking high school, everybody just gets by before they head off into the real world. I don't know why YA books treat relationships made in your teen years like the culmination of life? They are not. Trust me. There's more.

That rant aside, Avery was a total loner but Jack (god, even his name is boring) our mysterious hero still notices her and their romance is booming insta-love. Avery has had a crush on him because he's mysterious and has a British accent(???) and Jack likes her back because that's his entire purpose in the story. He is nothing beyond being the tortured soul love interest. There's also some poorly contrived "forbidden love" aspect that was so random and ridiculous and had no sense in it whatsoever.
SpoilerYou can't love another member of the Circle because...? It will do what to their group? Two teens loving each other will destroy an age-old group so they will be killed if they get caught?


Most of the plot was Avery being stupid. She actually jumps into a plane with a stranger who PRESSED A KNIFE TO HER SIDE just a moment ago and all to meet a family she's never known about until 3 pages ago. All because she wants to BELONG. Her mother loving her and protecting her just wasn't ENOUGH LOVE. Oh and she notices her stupidity a couple of chapters later and her reaction was akin to saying "oopsie, guess I better enjoy myself, nothing to be done now".

I might be upset, but I wasn’t helpless. And I was not going to let myself start depending on anybody now, especially not here.

Sure, Avery. Keep telling yourself that after cowering and stumbling throughout the book. I don't get why so-called "badass" heroines suddenly remember to be independent after they have been saved by their knight and the crisis is over. It's pathetic and makes the "badass" part seem like an afterthought.

The other characters all felt minor and that's not a surprise. Avery and her lover boy were barely developed so how could the side characters possibly matter? It sucks too because they have so much potential. Stellan was a dick but he could have made an interesting villain/antihero. Instead, he looks like he's on his way to becoming Avery's second love interest. Because we all need another YA love triangle in our lives. Every other female and the fabulous Isabelle Lightwood-esque Elodie is antagonized or shown to be conniving or slutty in a demeaning way and all to emphasize the purity and goodness of our precious Avery. Then, there was Luc, the gay classy Parisian killer, whose first appearance was freaking fantastic. I mean look at this:

“Doesn’t matter now.” Luc put out his cigarette on an issue of Vogue on a side table. “Get these girls out of here so we can have someone clean up this mess.” He said it like milk had been spilled on the kitchen floor. My hands started shaking.

Luc flipped through a rack of coral-colored dress shirts. “Would you call these pink or orange, cherie? Pink is not my color, but I need to change for dinner. I’m starving.”

And this is right after he slayed some assassin guy and blood was still seeping on the floor. He's like a blasé, gay Gatsby and I wanted more of him but of course his sexuality is as far as his story arc goes.

Then, the fact that this story and an ancient legend revolves around a girl with purple eyes (if you couldn't guess, that's our Avery) marrying The One and this will somehow give this Circle group great power. The fact that some powerful organization, who are probably derived from The New World Order/Illuminati/Anti-christ conspiracies from our world, actually believes this mumbo jumbo is ridiculous. Actually killing each other to marry this purple-eyed girl? That was hard to believe and it ruined the search for the 3 legendary treasures that came later on. It all seemed so pointless.

I know I said a lot of shitty stuff but there's a reason why I didn't give this book 1 star: The travelling bits were fun. It's not every day that you get to read about YA characters zipping around the world to beautiful touristy sites like Istanbul and Paris so it was really nice to read about those scenes, which Maggie Hall described well enough to deserve a star all on its own. I was hoping they'd go to some other cities as well but they only zipped back and forth between Istanbul and Paris. Ah well.

3.5 stars! It took me awhile to get into it, but once I did I was sold!

YA book review: this was recommended to me by a student. The plot just never came together for me. If I had to write a summary, I don’t think I could. There are twelve families who are a part of a global community/family/rivalry….this group basically runs the world. From here…eh, I’m not too sure. There’s a girl, a prophecy, violet eyes that seem to be a big deal, killings, and kidnappings. At the end, I’m still not sure who’s on whose side. The main plot points just weren’t fully developed enough for me. I will definitely not be reading the sequel.

2.5 stars. I loved the intrigue and the treasure hunt feel of the book. I also liked that nothing was straightforward, and that the twists were well hidden. However, I don't understand why, in order to move a plot along, there has to be such an overt love triangle. Young adult women are capable of liking two people at a time, and it's possible for them to be liked by two people at the same time, but the multiple cases of instalove lost me.

this book will have you second guessing what you learned as a kid. I love book about history but still have action aventure. this book will keep you on your toes. it was very interesting to read a book about Alexander the Great. there is a twist after each chapter. there are some shocks in this book that will knock you on your butt. there is so much i want to say about this book but i dont want to give it away. This book was a page turner. you will not be able to put the book down it will have you hooked within the first page. i warn you now that the book will leave you with the biggest cliffhanger that will make you want to scream. this book will have you wanting more. i am dying to read the next book. this book comes highly recommended.

this book will have you second guessing what you learned as a kid. I love book about history but still have action adventure. this book will keep you on your toes. it was very interesting to read a book about Alexander the Great. there is a twist after each chapter. there are some shocks in this book that will knock you on your butt. there is so much i want to say about this book but i don't want to give it away. This book was a page turner. you will not be able to put the book down it will have you hooked within the first page. i warn you now that the book will leave you with the biggest cliffhanger that will make you want to scream. this book will have you wanting more. i am dying to read the next book. this book comes highly recommended.

3/4. I didn't like how naive the main character started out but she got better as time went on. I can see myself reading the second installment.

So I was a bit disappointed with this story. First of all, I thought it was super weird that she would just leave with some strange guys she barely knows that says they know her family. I don't know seems sketchy to me. The author even tries to justify it be mentioning it in the story, but I'm still like nah. That was a weird and bad decision. The plot itself was relatively interesting though I think the whole union stuff was stupid. What like she gets married and something magical is suddenly supposed to happen? I also didn't like the romance. It felt super cheesy and forced.

4.0-4.5

ETA on 10/14/18.

Without giving away spoilers for the rest of the trilogy (which I have now read), this was the BEST book of the bunch. Strongest character stuff, strongest conspiracy plot, strongest relationship stuff...That's all I'm going to say.