Summary: Vroom Vroom! Kyle and Keegan McKay love to race.
But sadly they were too young to actually RACE. This all changes when they discover
the door of Raceland!
Opinion: This book was sometimes hard for me to understand.
Also, in some parts of the book it was boring. I like this book because it’s so
funny. An example is when the group had just discovered Raceland and they were in
the chill chamber. While Bobby was in, he thought he was going to end up in the
middle of track 12 naked! Poor Bobby!
Genre: Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Synopsis: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic from book 1, is trying to break out of prison so she can save the world from the Lunar People. If she succeeds, she'll be the most wanted fugitive in all of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Scarlet's grandmother is mission. She runs into a streetfight named Wolf who offers to help her find her grandmother. Scarlet quickly learns there was much she didn't know about her grandmother and everything she discovers only leaves to more questions. They run into the cyborg fugitive and together they must find a way to save the world from the lunar queen before Prince Kai becomes her husband and her prisoner and she gains power over the entire Commonwealth.
This book was just as good as the first one. LOVED it!! I was sad Cinder wasn't in it as much but as I got to know Scarlet, I was no longer disappointed. I enjoyed following both their story lines and going back and forth between them in the book. So fun and such an addictive book! I didn't want to put it down. :)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance
Synopsis: In a futuristic Earth, a plague ravages the people. The Lunar people watch from the moon for their chance to take over the people of earth with their powers of the mind. There is one hope of a lunar princess who may still be alive to stop the lunar queen. Of course, the odds of that are very small. Meanwhile, on earth, is a young girl named Cinder who is a Cyborg, a second class citizen who meets Prince Kai when she, being one of the best mechanics of New Beijing, repairs his robot and learns of something she should not be privy to. Soon, she finds herself in an impossible situation as she discovers information about her past and must made decisions about her future that could affect the rest of the world.
Who doesn't love a good fairy tale....er.... a good sci -fi.... er.... a good romance.... er... this book! I seriously LOVED this book. It's the first of a series and I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of it. It's based off the story of Cinderella only it's much more gritty and intense than the fairy tale we are all used to. I love reading stories that are based off fairy tales, I love sci-fi and fantasy and love a clean romance. This had all of them rolled up into one book. My perfect dream book! haha! I totally recommend this book.
Author: This is Marissa Meyer's debut novel. She lives in Washington with her fiance and cats. To learn more about her, visit her website here http://www.marissameyer.com/
Published July 13th 2010 by Scholastic Press (first published 2010)
ISBN
0545123283 (ISBN13: 9780545123280)
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Romance
Synopsis: This is a sequel to Shiver, which I read before I started a review blog. :) So, this could contain spoilers to Shiver so I suggest that you go and read Shiver first. :)
Grace is a 17 year old girl who lives in the quiet little town of Mercy Falls, Minnesota. The year before she met Sam, a wolf, well, a human, well.... a shapeshifter. But, they cured him of that so at the beginning of this book they are both typical humans. Sam is now responsible for the pack after the last one, and adopted father to Sam, decided to return as a wolf and may never become a human again. Sam must figure out how to make it on his own and settle into his new life of caretaker of the shapeshifting pack. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Grace is finding that her parents' new overbearing methods are suffocating. She is fighting with them and ignoring symptoms that could change her life forever. There is also a new pack member -- Cole. The first one to return to human and has a questionable past that could be detrimental to the secret of the pack. This odd trio must find a way to survive and perhaps risk everything to save one of their lives.
Review: I still love this story, this world Maggie created. It's original but still fits in the ever popular category of fantasy-romance. You know that moment you realize you are siding with the parents instead of the heroine of the story? Yeah, it's not a good sign. It means you're getting old (30 next year). That was the feeling I got while reading this story. There were a few instances where the main characters got in trouble and I thought, "DUH!" Anyways, this is young adult but I don't think I'd let my daughter read it. There is teen sex and the language is a little heavier than what I'd feel comfortable having her read. I am not giving it that fourth star because of a couple of reasons but the main one is the romance. Ack! Sometimes it's a bit too cheesy for me. They're 17 and they're proclaiming their never ending love together in ways that made me feel entirely uncomfortable. Otherwise, it was a pretty good story.
Author: From Goodreads Author Page: All of Maggie Stiefvater's life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you're a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she's tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She's made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki. To learn more of Maggie then go to her page here: http://maggiestiefvater.com/
Good news!! My semester is over and I get to read fun books again!! Hooray!! Bad news is that my new semester starts in a week so I'm trying to read as many books as I can. hehe! ;)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Synopsis/Review: The society in this book reminds me a lot of The Giver by Lois Lowry. The society has completely taken away all types of agency and independence. No one has a chance to learn who they are by breaking out of the "norm" because there is nothing but "norm". If you don't fit in then you are transferred somewhere else. They watch everything you do, even monitor your dreams. At the age of 17 you are matched with the person you are going to marry. Matched begins on the night of Cassia's matching. She is surprisingly matched with her best friend (most are matched with people from other cities whom they have never met) Xander. She is given the microcard with the dating rules and info on Xander but when it displays the face of her match she sees a different face. Not Xander's, but Ky's! Another young man from her area who has been marked for a crime his father committed and is banned from ever being married or having any type of fulfilling life. Even his career the society has chosen for him is basically a dishwasher. That is all he will be. As Cassia begins to pay attention to Ky and the way his life is handled because of decisions of other people, she begins questioning the society and the importance of having a choice.
This is another love triangle young adult novel. It is fun though because of the society. It adds a new depth to it that most of the other young adult love triangle novels lack. The author uses a lot of description in her writing as well which is really fun. It is written in first person, present tense. Anytime a book is written in present tense instead of past tense it takes me a couple of chapters to get used to. I'm not really sure why. Overall, this was a fun book!! The ending bugged me because it didn't end how I wanted it to but thankfully, I waited long enough to start it that the second book is out and the third one will be out in November. Woot!! I'll have to get my hands on the next one soon. ;)
Rating: **** Four Stars
Author: Ally Condie received a degree in English Teaching from Brigham Young University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
WARNING: This is a Spoiler if you have not read the other 3 books of the Laural series. For a review on the other three then click here. If you have not read those three first then do not read this review. :)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy - Romance
Synopsis: Book three ended in a very bad spot, Luki is captured and they discovered she is a Winter Faerie... the strongest and rarest of all fae. Laurel and her friends must figure out what to do with her. When things don't go quite as planned, Avalon is in danger and Laurel, Tamani, Chelsea, and David are their only hope. Okay, that's kind of all I can say with giving away any spoilers.... trust me, this is hard. :)
My Thoughts: I know, being a Laural Series fan, it took me a really long time to finally get to this book. I just had so many other books that I needed to read. I finally could take it no longer and bought this book. Of course, I had to re-read the previous 3 so that I would know exactly what was happening. This book was just as good as the other three in the series and Pike was able to wrap up all the loose ends. She did leave it open for another story (oh, I hope she does!) or you get to use your imagination and figure it out yourself. I know that doesn't really make sense -- wrapped up loose ends but left it open too but, trust me. She did! Read it and you'll get it.
The biggest question I and most of my friends had was, "Does she choose David or Tamani?" I loved both of the guys but, I won't tell you who she ended up with. hehe!
The first thing I noticed about this book is the beautiful cover. I just love it! I loved re-reading the previous three books. I was able to see the amazing growth in the characters throughout the series. I love that they didn't just stay the same through out. They grew and evolved and learned from their experiences. The characters at the end of book four were not the same as the characters at the beginning of Wings. This book made me laugh and cry. It was such an emotional ride but still amazing. The story is just amazing! The writing is very simple and there is a lot of mushy romance stuff in it but the story is just so awesome that I am able to look over those. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and was sad to finish and end my adventures in Avalon.
Author: (from Goodreads) Aprilynne Pike has been spinning faerie stories since she was a child with a hyper-active imagination. At the age of twenty she received her BA in Creative Writing from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. When not writing, Aprilynne can usually be found at the gym; she also enjoys singing, acting, reading, and working with pregnant moms as a childbirth educator and doula. Aprilynne currently lives with her husband and three kids in Utah, and dreams of warmer climates.
Review: Evelyn is still trying to find her place in the world. She thought she was all set going to high school and rooming with Arianna, a vampire, as she worked at a diner that served mostly other paranormals. She had her boyfriend, Lend, who is half human and half immortal and she's offered her job back at IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency). All this while she's trying to survive real high school. However, she refuses to work with fairies and gets teamed up with Jack, a young human who has learned how to work the Faerie Paths. Strange things start happening to her, well, stranger than her already strange life. It seems that paranormals are trying to kill her at every turn. Someone wants her dead and she has no idea who. She tries to survive as she searches for the truth of who she is and where she came from. She wants to know why she can see through the glamour of the other paranormals and why she is the only one (besides Vivian) who can suck the souls out of other creatures. Is she a monster?
Review: Sabine's, a psychic, boyfriend's body is taken over by a Dark Lifer (an evil soul who "borrows" others' bodies to do their dirty work) to take revenge on the man who killed him. Sabine goes to the only person she knows who may be able to help... Amber, a Temp Lifer (temporarily steps into the lives of people who are suffering to help them navigate through their problems). Together, they try to save Sabine's boyfriend, Dominic, and the man the Dark Lifer is out to kill.
Review: This is the story of Katniss Everdeen. It's time for the reaping again where two children, boy and girl, are chosen from each of the 12 districts of Panem to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. 24 children go in and only one survives. Katniss and Peeta are chosen from district 12. They don't want to kill anyone, only survive. In the arena Katniss and Peeta make some decisions to save each other which begin a rebellion in the country of Panem. This causes a full on war between the Capitol and the other districts.
Review: Chloe is a typical girl... a bit boy crazy and acts like a teenager by fighting with her mom and cuts class once in a while. Around her 16th birthday she started noticing strange changes -- a bit cat-like really, including the claws. She feels alone with these changes and doesn't understand where they came from or if there is anyone else like her. She stops worrying so much about that once she finds out that someone is out to kill her because of what she is -- whatever that may be.
I started reading this book for the same reason many others did. I saw the television show on Netflix and thought it was really cute. Then, the show was cancelled after the first season, leaving the viewers with a terrible cliff hanger. My logical solution, "I'm going to read the book then." Like many books, it is very different from it's counterpart. That was a bit disappointing and in the first book my questions weren't answered. Also, the book is more sexual and has a moderate amount of cussing in it that I didn't enjoy. I was surprised that the TV series was cleaner than the book. That was a first. Overall, I did enjoy the story and want to read the next in the series to find out what happens.
Author: The first thing I learned about Celia Thomson while trying to find info on her is that Celia Thomson, J.B. Stephens, E.J. Braswell and Tracy Lynn are all pseudonym for Liz Braswell. Here is a little snippet of her bio from her webpage.She was born in England and has many interests, but I'll let you read more about this woman with so many names at her website.
Rating: *** Three Stars
If you would like to purchase your own copy of this book then click on the link below (hover for details).
Review: Kalisha's parents were just divorced and she cut class the entire school year as she dealt with the home issues. Her parents didn't know. Now it's a new year and she has recommitted to school. On her first day she is distracted by an old man, Mr. Spinoza, in her apartment building and decides to help him get the groceries into his apartment causing her to miss her bus. She's late for school and learns she has been placed in a program called "Project Restart" run by Mr. Ralston. Unfortunately for the students in Project Restart, Mr. Ralston cares more about the program than the kids in the program and makes school miserable for the students.
This is my chance to spotlight an older book. I love doing these because there are so many awesome older releases. So, today I am spotlighting Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale that was released in 2007.
Fridays are my day to review books that are not new releases. There are a bunch of fabulous older books out there so, here is today's, published in 1999. Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Adventure
Review: In the realm of Tortall it was traditionally only males who became knights but after the Lioness had pretended to be a boy and became a knight, a decree was passed permitting females to become knights. Keladry of Mindelan becomes the first female knight in training. The boys give her a hard time and no one thinks she will make it through the training. Meanwhile, a war is brewing and Keladry must prove herself to help save Tortall.
Review: Colt is just a regular kid in a regular world. After a great day of surfing and an encounter with some unknown creature under the water, Colt returns to an empty home. A little while later a police man shows up to inform Colt that his parents were killed in a car crash. He moves to Arizona with his grandfather and suspicion arises that perhaps his parents were murdered. Suddenly, Colt's life isn't what it used to be. Things he thought were make believe are suddenly real. His stories in his comic books suddenly seem like history and Colt has to uncover the truth as the invasion begins.
Review: Tally is getting ready to turn sixteen and she cannot wait. She will no longer be ugly and have the facial features and imperfections she was born with that make her unique. Instead, she will be surgically altered to "perfection" and look like everyone else. In her world, this is normal. This is what everyone does. Her best friend is only a few months older than her and turned into a Pretty already and this left her in search of a new friend to hang out with and she finds Shay. But, Shay doesn't want to be a Pretty, she just wants to be herself. She runs away and leaves Tally in a difficult situation. She must either find Shay and tell the authorities where she is or never become a Pretty herself. In her search for Shay she learns the secrets behind her home and society. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
Review: Kathy's brother, Brett, died when she was two. All she knows is that her family talks about him all the time and it's something she wasn't part of and has no memory of. When Kathy turned sixteen (same age Brett was when he died), she was given a gift from Brett -- he left her a journal. Finally, she is able to learn about this young man and brother she never knew. She is able to realize the amazing example he was and why everyone loved him.
At the same time, she is asked to tutor the popular kid in school, the quarterback. On top of all these other strikes against him he was also a Mormon. The two stories are woven together for a wonderful coming of age story of a teenage girl.
Review: A normal day in Evie's life involves wearing the color pink, watching teenage drama TV shows, talking to her best friend, who is also a mermaid, and capturing paranormals to take them back to the top secret government agency she works for, IPCA. A mysterious paranormal is captured one day who makes her question everything she has ever known. Meanwhile, paranormals everywhere are dying from unknown causes and Evie may be the answer to everything.
This is a guest reviewer who has chosen to remain anonymous. :) Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Review: Erechtheus is to be sent to Posiedia, capital of the empire, as a hostage because his home country is required by the empire. Before he leaves his father advises him to learn all he can about their culture so they can learn the empire's strengths and weaknesses. As a hostage, at the age of twelve, Erech is sent to the Temple of Bel where he meets an old, blind priestess who prophecies that Erech will be their doom. During their attempts to destroy Erech, the priests of The Temple of One arrive just in time and save Erech. He’s sent to the Temple of One where a young girl named Ai-Ram befriends him. The high priest of the Temple of Bel is not satisfied with this arrangement and will stop at nothing to have Erech’s life.
Flashback Friday is the day that I get to review the older books that I want to read instead of the new releases that are given to me. There are some great older books out there that should get some attention, too. :) Today's Flashback Friday book was published in 2009. Enjoy!
This week's flashback Friday review is on one of my giveaways. I thought it was appropriate to publish it this week since it has the whole Halloween theme going... kinda. Well, paranormal anyways. Those of you who may be new to my blog, Flashback Fridays is when I get to review a book that is not a new release. There are so many great older books out there and I always receive new releases from publishers and authors so this is my chance to review some of those. :)
Genre: YA - Paranormal - Romance
Review: Ever has recently lost her entire family in a car accident and is moved from her home to live with her aunt in California. Not only is her home and family different but she has some new abilities after the accident that she hadn't counted on. She is suddenly able to hear people's thoughts, see dead people, and see aura's so she tunes them out the best she can -- with shades and ear-buds giving her the title of "freak" at school. Then all the voices go silent when she comes into contact with the "new guy", Damen. She needs to learn how to control all the stimuli around her and figure out who this Damen is and what he is and why everything stops when he's around.
