From Goodreads: Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal… and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules… or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

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I had a very hard time getting into this novel.  I loved the synopsis and the cover, so I was really looking forward to reading this one, but in the end, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.  I really wanted to learn about Bonesaw, and I figured that a majority of the novel would deal with Velvet’s terrible death and her attempt to bring Bonesaw down.  What I found, instead, is that the novel touches briefly upon Bonesaw here and there, but more often than not, deals with Velvet’s sexual frustrations alongside her life as a salvager in purgatory, which, in my opinion, ended up sounding very much like life in middle school.

I really didn’t care for the way the characters talked to each other.  Kipper and Quentin drove me insane with their commentary and, as far as I’m concerned, sitting around talking about conquests and calling each other sluts didn’t make any of the characters very endearing.  While I realize they are “young,” I expected that they would have grown up a bit seeing as some of them have actually been dead for a very long time.  Perhaps it was just me, but I really thought the characters would be a bit more mature than they turned out to be, especially as they get upset when others refer to them as young or as children.  Likewise, the characters didn’t really talk about anything substantial that I cared about, and so I had a very hard time connecting to them.

While Velvet was very self absorbed, her obsession with Nick and his obsession with sex was just weird.  Nearly every time Velvet sees him or interacts with him, all she can think about is how hot and sexy he is.  In turn, all he can think about is how much he wants to be with her, even though he thinks she’s a jerk, and even 40% into the novel I still didn’t feel like any substantial information was given to spur the reader on.  I was dying to hear about Velvet’s death and Bonesaw’s murderous tendencies, but as I said, that was much too few and far between.

Something else I struggled with throughout the novel was the peppering of SAT words.  Velvet and her friends would be talking about something mundane and suddenly an SAT word would pop up where, I felt, it didn’t really belong. Generally, the words showed up in the narration and not the dialogue, and don’t get me wrong, I love the use of the words and I hope it helps teens learn them, but I don’t necessarily feel that the words fit in with the story all that well.  Childish, immature actions don’t really mesh well with high end SAT words, in my opinion, so that threw me off a little bit.

Overall, I have to say I was disappointed in this novel.  It had a very high potential, but wasn’t what I was expecting in the least.  Had I known ahead of time that Bonesaw wouldn’t be the main issue and that purgatory was much like middle school, I may have liked the novel better than I did.  As it is, however, I really didn’t care for this novel.  One and a half stars.

Random House Children’s Books and Delacorte BFYR have both been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on October 9, 2012.

From Goodreads: What if the greatest love of your life never existed?

What if they did, but someone was trying to erase them from your memory?

When Corentine arrived, she couldn’t remember her past, and all I wanted to do was forget my own. We fell in love, traveled the world, and started a life together. I never wanted it to end.

… and then she vanished.

I knew that she’d been visiting with a doctor who specialized in memory disorders and that he worked for a company called Synchro Systems, but the company was under federal investigation after several volunteer patients had died undergoing experimental, cutting edge treatments, so finding information about Corentine’s case was difficult, to say the least.

This is the story of my journey to discover what happened to Corentine.

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This is one of those stories that has so many twists and turns, including mind bending explanations, that it’s over my hear.  Just like the movie Inception. I didn’t understand that movie at all because my mind doesn’t work that way, and that’s how I feel about the book [Corentine].  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  I am one of those people who easily gets frustrated by puzzles, doesn’t understand math past Algebra 1, and who doesn’t care for the sciences in the least.  [Corentine] has all those things, and it’s a mind jumbling roller coaster ride as it all unfolds.  I just didn’t get it.  I believe Willard explains everything fairly well, but it’s a little bit too technical for my tastes.  Broken into three sections, I started out understanding what was happening, but soon found myself lost due to the mind games the characters were playing with each other, which might be something other readers really enjoy.  Just because I didn’t care for it doesn’t mean you won’t… give it a try, especially if you enjoyed Inception or The Dream Metropolis by Miles Cressman.  [Corentine], unfortunately, just wasn’t for me.  Two and a half stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads: What if your TV could “tune in” tomorrow?

In sixth grade, Logan Styles was a game show contestant with all the right answers. Two years later, the move to his grandmother’s suburban L.A. home wasn’t his idea, but his show-business father took a job in New York and didn’t leave him a choice. Logan certainly wouldn’t have chosen Thousand Oaks, where boredom and new-kid obscurity pose a hazard to his health…until he discovers the DVR attached to his television records shows before they air.

Suddenly able to “predict” the scores of ballgames, the outcome of reality shows and even the weather, Logan becomes a breakout hit among Sunset Ridge Middle School’s most popular crowd. But his digital ESP comes with a burden. As he learns the DVR’s downside, Logan will have to answer a question tougher than anything he faced on the game show: Is having all the answers all the time everything it’s cracked up to be?

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I think at some point in our lives, we all wish we could predict the future, see what tomorrow holds, and possibly get rich doing it. In Field’s latest novel, Instant Preplay, that’s exactly what Logan Styles gets—a DVR that shows tomorrows news—but with this great insight also comes great responsibility, as Logan soon finds out.

I think this MG novel is great for children and parents alike, with its sound morals and enticing plot, it’s sure to keep kids interest as well as teach them a few important things, like that fact that true friendship is more important than popularity and fame isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.  Likewise, parents will enjoy having this clean read as something their child will enjoy—it’s easy to read and I’d say most kids up to age 14 will probably really enjoy this story.

While MG books aren’t necessarily my favorite genre, I always enjoy a clean read that I can recommend to my students, especially when I know they’ll get even more out of it that I do.  And the antics of Logan, Patrick, and Ronnie are enticing enough that I really think this is a must read for the younger generations.

Personally, I was really able to connect with one of the instances in the novel regarding report cards.  Not the ones you’re thinking of, but ones that rate a girl’s beauty and popularity.  I think it’s almost a (terrible) rite of passage in middle school for children.  I don’t know why they think it’s such a great idea, but it happens a lot in middle school.  When I was in 8^th grade, the boys in 7^th rated some the girls in 7^th and 8^th, just like the report cards in Instant Preplay, and while I have no idea if I was even on the list (probably not), I do remember overhearing that the boys rated girls’ butts and faces.  And I do remember it being spread around that if a certain girl walked around backwards, she’d have an A on everything, but her “butterface” dropped her score a lot… yeah, not so nice.  Because it didn’t deal with me, I didn’t really think anything of it, but I wonder how it affected the girls on that list?  And, why didn’t they say anything?  Seriously, middle schoolers are mean. The same holds true in this novel and without the possibility of the DVR and Logan realizing he had the potential to do good and really help others, terrible things could have happened.  Honestly, I think it’s the perfect fit for a MG reader and I highly suggest putting this on your “to be read” list, especially if you have kids (I also suggest reading Field’s The Odd Job Squad).  Though there are a few typos here and there, in the end it really doesn’t take away from the story at heart and I don’t foresee most readers being bothered by it.  Three and a half stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads: A secret peace with the Taliban. Complete U.S. troop withdrawal. Secured with a huge Central Asian oil deal. Virtually guaranteeing the re-election of a President. The backers will garner enormous wealth. CIA officer Harry Brennan’s moral conscience compels him to get in the way of this plot. In doing so, he faces political enemies at home more dangerous than the terrorists who have kidnapped his daughter, Laurie. And her fate is tied to that of Russian spy Sergei Nemsky’s daughter, Anya, in need of treatment for a rare disease. The two adversaries, drawing on their respective spycraft skills and connections, form a secret and risky pact to save their daughters’ lives. Harry’s career takes off after he falls in love with Camilla Loomis, a young and politically powerful Washington socialite. But the resulting tension between his career and commitment to the truth compels Harry to balk and unilaterally take on the powerful men and women behind the pay-for-play scheme. Harry finds himself running for his life from jihadists in Afghanistan and Predator drones in Yemen, a target of his own CIA…

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I usually love first person narratives, but I had a really hard time connecting with Harry, or even understanding much of what he was talking about, as I read this novel.  He describes what’s happening around him in what I consider a rather choppy format, jumping from idea to idea, and I found it all to be a little too disjointed and technical for me to follow, personally.  I’m not one who really keeps up with politics, though I usually do love a good political thriller, but I was unable to connect to this novel.  I thought the premise was interesting, but otherwise, it just wasn’t for me.  I think those who enjoy very technical political thrillers will really enjoy the novel, and if you check out Goodreads and Amazon, you’ll see that there are many who really did enjoy this book, so I highly suggest checking out their reviews as well and then deciding if this is a book for you.  Personally, though, I can only give it two stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads: This suspenseful debut follows a group of teenage misfits in their delicious quest for revenge on those who have wronged them at their high school. When a mysterious note appears in Charlotte’s mailbox inviting her to join the League of Strays, she’s hopeful it will lead to making friends. What she discovers is a motley crew of loners and an alluring, manipulative ringleader named Kade. Kade convinces the group that they need one another both for friendship and to get back at the classmates and teachers who have betrayed them. But Kade has a bigger agenda. In addition to vandalizing their school and causing fights between other students, Kade’s real intention is a dangerous plot that will threaten lives and force Charlotte to choose between her loyalty to the League and her own conscience.

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This novel really blew my mind.  I think part of the reason it affected me so much is because, as a high school teacher, I see students try to fit in and impress their peers all the time by doing incredibly silly, dangerous things.  Thank God it’s never gone to the extent of Kade’s group, but I can understand where Schulman’s characters are coming from, and I can see how easily they can be misled when they’re looking to fit in.  In reality, something like this really could happen, and probably does, as scary as that seems.  But, rest assured, most of the population isn’t like this at all, however, it only takes one charismatic leader to twist the minds of others (take Hitler, for example), and where better to start than with those who are yearning for a friend, looking to fit in?  It’s very easy to fall for the charismatic, good looking, sweet talking person; it happens to people all the time, and that’s exactly what Charlotte finds as she gets to know Kade.

Now, I do believe that Charlotte and her friends were extremely naïve.  Charlotte, for example, wanted to fit in so badly that she ignored the many warnings signs that presented themselves, changing her entire persona, but so did everyone else, and when you’ve grown up completely shelter all your life, you’re going to be naive and miss the warning signs.  It’s no different than an abusive boyfriend—why do girls go back to the boy time and time again?  Feelings that they fit in?  Feelings of love?  Afraid no one else will ever like them? Scared for their own life?  Been there, but I was lucky enough to have real friends to help me out of the situation.  Charlotte doesn’t.  Big difference.  And so, I completely understand where all the characters in this novel are coming from, even Kade, with his psychotic tendencies… he’s no good.  Just no good. But with his background, it doesn’t surprise me he acts the way he does. In fact, I think Schulman got her characterization exactly right, and that’s what makes this novel so amazing.

I loved how I was on pins and needles from start to finish.  From worrying about the initial meeting to worrying about the police and Charlotte’s safety, every page sucked me in and I couldn’t read this one fast enough.  While I cringed at Kade’s directions and the luster with which the League of Strays complied, save Charlotte, I found myself easily drawn into the story.  And what I really loved about this novel is that it very blatantly shows the reader what not to do in their own lives.  As it’s YA, and I see so many young women nowadays falling into terrible relationships because they just don’t know any better… it really is beneficial for them to see just how detrimental falling for someone like Kade can be.  So even though the story is dark, as is the message, it’s one our society really needs to hear.  Especially when it deals with revenge.  Who hasn’t wanted to get revenge on someone?  But I believe this novel shows readers exactly why revenge is a terrible thing.  In my opinion, this is a must read. Five stars.

Abrams and Amulet Books have both been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release tomorrow, October 1, 2012.

From Goodreads: “Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing ‘I smite thee ‘ as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life.” For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals–pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she’d been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she’s pretty much accepted that she’s a freak by mortal standards… and that she’ll never be prepared for that duty. According to her mother, that’s a good thing. But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return-the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she’s being hunted by the very creatures she’d once trained to kill. The daimons have found her.

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On the run for the past three years, unaware of the reason her mother forced her to flee the Covenant, Alex once again finds herself running, this time to save her life, and I found myself captivated from the very beginning of this novella.  The daimons were a very scary entity that provoked my curiosity, as did the story behind Alex’s flight from the Covenant, and although short, I learned a lot of information that really piqued my interest.  The novella itself is very well written, and if that’s any indication of what’s to come in the first full novel in the series, Half-Blood, then I am all in.  Not only is the story enticing, but Alex also seems like a very down to earth character, and I can’t wait to get to know her better and learn more about her world.  Armentrout has done a fabulous job pulling me into the story and this novella really blew me away.  Five stars.

I purchased this novella from Amazon.

From Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky.

Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children’s innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.

Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

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If you’re a fan of steampunk, then I really think you’ll enjoy this novel.  I really liked it, though I found parts of it to be just a bit too long and lagging; I wanted more action throughout the novel, and this book gently speeds up and slows down on a consistent basis.  Now, this isn’t a terrible thing, but I did find myself wanting it to move much faster, to get to the good parts, as it were, because I was honestly scared for Lark and the slowing of pace nearly killed me.  Really.

Lark’s had a fairly crappy life.  She’s 16 and hasn’t been harvested yet, and everyone knows it.  Every. One.  It doesn’t matter that Lark hasn’t even spoken to them, has never seen them before, they all know she’s defective.  Most children are harvested around 11 or 12, and she’s just much too old.  When her name is finally called, however, she finds that being harvested isn’t as grand as it’s made out to be, and as she figures out that a life of pain awaits her, it’s run or forever be a slave.

I loved Lark.  Though she doesn’t make the best decisions all the time (no one does, though, right?), she’s headstrong and determined.  I can’t imagine experiencing everything she did… treated like a dog by her “peers,” trapped and tortured by the Institute, escaping through the Wall only to be pursued by the pixie bots, fighting against magical woods and the shadow people just to survive… and I felt terrible for her.  Like I said, she’s had a crappy life.  But I loved how she took everything in stride and made the best of bad situations, changing from a scared little girl to a triumphant heroine set on doing what is right… I love stories life this (probably because, truth be told, I would run like a scared little girl and try to save myself).

Once outside the Wall, observing the pockets of magic and the destitute that surrounds her, Lark’s travels go back and forth between intense and mundane.  In between fighting off pixies, hiding inside magical bubbles, and running from the Shadow men (cannibals of a monstrous nature), Lark just sort of stumbles around, looking for food, freezing at night, and it isn’t until Oren, a boy caked in mud, really fortifies his appearance within the novel that I found it really picked back up.

Oren is a mystery.  He’s hot and cold, one minute acting like a wild beast and the next, tentative and caring.  I couldn’t figure out who or what he was until Spooner wrote it into the novel, and I was floored… I think perhaps a part of me suspected, but it was such a dormant part that I never figure it out.  I really did enjoy him though, and I am excited to see what happens with him and Lark in the next installment of this novel because Spooner really has piqued my interest with her creation of characters, not to mention her steampunk, magical world.  Three and a half stars.

Learner Publishing Group and Carolrhoda Lab have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on October 1, 2012.

From Goodreads: Once Nara combines her prophetic ability with Ethan’s power to outsmart Fate at his own deadly cat-and-mouse game, she’s more determined than ever to help Ethan learn the meaning behind the raven sword tattoo that suddenly appeared on his back after their confrontation with Fate.

During her quest to uncover the tattoo’s secrets, Nara enlists the help of some new friends and discovers her own surprising connection to Ethan.

While Nara digs deeper into the mystery, her desire for answers leads her down a dangerous path full of powerful and ruthless enemies. Swept into an age-old battle, Nara quickly learns that keeping one’s enemies close can be a necessary evil, making an intangible enemy she can control far more preferable to the human enemies she can’t.

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This sequel is amazing.  I read it from cover to cover in one sitting, absolutely absorbed by the tale P.T. Michelle weaves as we learn more about Nara’s and Ethan’s abilities.  Having won against Fate, and with Nara safe for the time being, Ethan sets out to reconcile with his family, leaving Nara to figure out her many questions on her own.  Thus, Ethan is missing from the novel for more than half of it, but while I really missed him, I truly enjoyed Drystan.  Upon meeting him, the reader automatically knows there’s something special about him, but as we already know through Nara and Ethan, no two abilities are alike.  Though Drystan doesn’t come right out and say it, Michelle writes his ability into the story in a not so subtle way, which I loved, because here I knew something Nara didn’t know—love the dramatic irony—and it made me smile every time it came up.

But, abilities aside, Drystan also has a really cool hobby: Parkour, the stunt-sport consisting of running, climbing, and jumping off of cliffs and tall buildings.  Of course, as Nara’s life becomes jeopardized due to her intense questioning of ravens, Drystan’s hobby comes to the forefront, and I loved watching him attempt to teach Nara to protect herself.  Even more alluring were the scenes in which Drystan used Parkour in pursuit of those who attempted to hurt Nara; it really made my heart race as I imagined him jumping and twisting through the air—so cool.  This being the first time I’ve ever heard of the sport, I am now vastly interested in learning more about it.

Throughout much of this novel, my heart was in my throat.  Just when Nara recovers from one close call or spooky premonition, another swoops in and I really felt the adrenaline as I read, which made the novel all the more fun.  Trying to figure out the mystery of the ravens alongside the mystery of who was trying to sabotage Nara was extremely enticing, and though I was able to figure out who the bad guys were fairly early on, it actually didn’t damper my fear for Nara at all, but rather caused me to fear even more.  Not knowing who is after someone is scary, but sometimes I think knowing is even scarier, and that’s how I felt in this novel as I read.

When Ethan returns to the scene, he’s seems to have a much darker, scarier side than I was expecting, and it turns out Ethan has some secrets of his own.  Of course, the novel ends (nooooooooooooo) before the reader is given any real answers behind Ethan’s transformation, and as Drystan sort of disappears from the novel upon Ethan’s return, I am really dying for the next installment.  Especially as Michelle gives the reader a small glimpse into what’s to come for our beloved characters, Ethan and Nara, but I can’t say anything more as it’d be a spoiler.  This is definitely a series you don’t want to miss!  Five stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

To read my review of Brightest Kind of Darkness, the prequel to Lucid, click HERE.

From Goodreads: Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.

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Once again, Habel has delivered a unique, enticing zombie novel that captivated me from start to finish.  Told through many character viewpoints, in a future where technology is extremely far advanced, but where the people have reverted back to 17^th century mannerisms, Habel unleashes “The Lax,” a strain of virus that has created not only thinking, reasoning, emotional zombies, but also the flesh eating kind as well.

If you enjoy novels by Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, or Fanny Burney, then I believe you’ll really enjoy this novel as the romanticism and “coming out” of a young woman is the same.  The characters are extremely chaste and “court” each other, giving the novel an overall romantic feeling while still containing espionage, murder, mystery, and mayhem—aspects you won’t find in our beloved Austen, Bronte, or Burney.  And, I absolutely love the mix.  Honestly, I’ve always been interested in the high society life of the past, but find many of the classic novels to be a little dry.  I want a mystery along with my romance, and that’s exactly what Habel delivers in this sequel to Dearly, Departed. 

Some may find the many points of view daunting, but I think Habel handles this well through her titling of chapters.  When the viewpoints change, a new chapter emerges, and I always feel like Habel is giving the reader tiny cliffhangers at the end of each chapter as the story shifts to another character and generally leaves the story the reader was just following in order to learn about another.  I honestly do love this type of storytelling—I become so enamored in one aspect of the characters’ lives and then am whisked away to something different, filling all the gaps within the story slowly as Habel begins to pull them all together for a wonderful finale.  It just amazes me and keeps my apt attention from start to finish.

This novel is, of course, very long, which is my only complaint as I found some of the story to be more so filler than pertinent to the story (though not very much), but overall, the story is perfection within itself, and I really enjoyed it.  If you want to read a truly unique zombie novel, then this series is it.  Four stars.

Random House Publishing and Del Ray have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on September 25, 2012.

From Goodreads: “I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . .”

Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that’s been in her family for three centuries. She’s never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she’s never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds–and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house’s past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house’s secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever.

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Shrouded in mystery and full of eerie adventures, Amber House captivated me from start to finish.  I loved following Sarah and Richard through the house, exploring the many passageways in search of treasure.  Learning about the deep, sorrowful past of the house through Sarah’s visions and her ancestor’s journal was just as riveting as the search for treasure and, truth be told, I adored everything about this novel.

Sarah’s autistic brother, Sam, is my absolute favorite.  His sheer energy and penchant for exploration, as well as his love for his sister, quickly endeared him to my heart.  Though he’s just a small child, he added a lot of depth and character to the novel, and I am so glad the authors decided to create him the way they did.  It’s hard to explain, but I think you’ll understand when you read the novel; he’s absolutely amazing.

Richard was a dreamy addition to the novel, and I love that, like Sarah, he has special connections to the house, and more importantly, to Sarah.  While I picked up that he is tied to the house very early on in the novel, I couldn’t put my finger on his ability until he blatantly stated what it was, and at that point, I nearly died, especially with the revelation it brought.   This story is spun very well, and I honestly cannot wait for the sequel (but readers, rest assured, there is no cliffhanger in this novel and it could very well stand alone, but thank God it’s not going to!).

Sarah’s mother, ever the rich snob, drove me absolutely batty, but without her antics and the crossing between rich and poor, I think the story would have fallen flat.  The addition of high society characters and a love triangle or sorts made the story all that more interesting and, of course, the fact that the novel takes place in Maryland is another plus.  Having visited many of the places described in the novel, I felt an even deeper connection with the characters and plot—I just love when that happens!

I did not like the “Good Mother” spider, though. Not one bit… but I am also under the impression that this spider is a figment of the authors’ imaginations.  At least, I hope she is, because if not, I’m in a world of trouble.  I did Google the spider to see if she existed after I was creeped out of my mind while reading, but to no avail.  I tweeted one of the authors about the spider as well and am wating to hear back… and I’m just dying to know!  Especially when Richard says that these spiders are native to the area (meaning MD) and aren’t on the West coast, where Sarah is from… I mean, what a way to give a girl a heart attack as she’s reading the novel in the dead of night… suddenly I felt like a billion little spiders were in my bed with me… (Update–I heard back from the authors and the Good Mother does NOT exist… thank God).

But moving on from all that creepy spider talk, I want to live in Amber House.  I don’t necessarily want the abilities that Sarah has, though it is pretty cool, but I’d love to even just visit the place… it sounds so magnificent, with its sheer size, not to mention the maze it totes, or the stables and dock… I really want to live here.  Too bad it doesn’t exist (right?).  Five stars.

Scholastic Inc. and Arthur A. Levine Books have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on October 1, 2012.

From Goodreads: A feast for the brain, this gory and genuinely hilarious take on zombie culture simultaneously skewers, pays tribute to, and elevates the horror genre.

Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an “Inward Trek.” As if that weren’t bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. As in any classic monster flick worth its salted popcorn, plentiful carnage sends survivors rabbiting into the woods while the mindless horde of “infects” shambles, moans, and drools behind. Of course, these kids have seen zombie movies. They generate “Zombie Rules” almost as quickly as cheeky remarks, but attitude alone can’t keep the biters back.

Serving up a cast of irreverent, slightly twisted characters, an unexpected villain, and an ending you won’t see coming, here is a savvy tale that that’s a delight to read—whether you’re a rabid zombie fan or freshly bitten—and an incisive commentary on the evil that lurks within each of us.

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In all honesty, finishing this book was the most difficult thing I’ve done in a long time.  Generally, most people probably would have quit while they were ahead, but I always feel that novels deserve to be read all the way through just in case there is a saving grace, and I’ve found those saving graces in a few novels before.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find it with this novel.  Now, while there is an interesting twist to this zombie apocalypse story near the end, everything leading up to it was so vulgar and difficult to wade through that by the time I got to the twist, I just didn’t care anymore.

My first issue with this novel comes from the formatting itself, and while I know this is no issue of the author’s, and it was an ARC copy, so it shouldn’t exist in the final copies, it made it extremely difficult for me to read.  Why?  Throughout the first 40% of the novel, sporadic words and phrases were replaced by random letters and numbers, and I honestly couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to say.  On occasion, words would be separated by spaces, and while extremely annoying to try to read, I could figure out what the words were fairly quickly, but once random letters and numbers joined the mix, I could figure out the words anymore and I had to overlook that portion of the story.  If it had happened once in a blue moon, then it really wouldn’t have bothered me, but the fact that it happened quite often, and sometimes entire words would be missing with just the letter D in their stead… well, that made it too difficult for me to follow the story on the whole.

However, formatting aside, I found the novel itself to be extremely juvenile, but not in a good way, not in the way that I’d give it to my kids to read.  Instead, this novel is completely off humor and constantly cracks jokes about tits, masturbating, farts, and erections… things that might cause the reader to crack a sheepish smile the very first time it comes up, but the sheer amount of redundancy caused me to groan and role my eyes continuously.  I also found the characters names for each other to be quite ridiculous, like War Pig, and I didn’t find it funny in the least.  I felt like the “witty banter” between the teens was unrealistic and much too juvenile, aside from being sick, and it got very old, very fast.

Then, there was the extremely graphic nature of the book.  No detail is spared in this novel, and when the zombies sink their teeth into others, as they do a lot, the reader is gifted the entire experience though extreme graphic phrasing.  I understand horror books that do this, but I was not ready for this in The Infects, and it really made me sick as I read.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this novel in the least, though I have heard that Beuadoin’s other novels are very well written and not as graphic, so perhaps I’ll check out one of them.  One star.

Candlewick Press has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on September 25, 2012.

From Goodreads: The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.

But she was wrong.

Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting apocalyptic Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

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I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this novel ever since Ashes’ epic cliffhanger left me dying in agony… but here’s the thing, when I finally got it, it didn’t pick up where Ashes left off!!!  Ahhhh!  So, my silly self was thoroughly confused and then I started second guessing myself, thinking that perhaps this wasn’t the book I’d been waiting for, with evil zombie children trying to eat people… and maybe this was something different and I couldn’t remember because it’d been a full year since I read Ashes and, and, and… I kept reading.  And guess what?  It is the book I’ve been waiting for, which I knew in the back of my brain somewhere, but became flustered when it didn’t pick up where I wanted it to.  But it eventually got back to the cliff hanger I was dying to resolve, and this story, though long, long, long, is exactly what I wanted, and it’s just as good as the first, and it leaves us, again, with a terrible cliffhanger that makes me wring my hands and scream.  Would it be as good if it did anything less?

Well, here’s a lesson I’ve been learning as I review books.  A year is much too long a wait in-between, and while I remember the main parts of all the books I read, the characters’ names and the minute details elude me, so when it comes to reading a sequel, I really must re-read at least the last chapter or two of the previous novel in order to remember (which I did do when I began to spaz out thinking I was reading the wrong book).  The other lesson I learned is that sometimes sequels don’t resolve anything.  As much as I loved this novel, and I really, really did, old questions from the first were still left unanswered, and new questions arose that… remained unanswered.  And perhaps the most obnoxious part all together, I believe, is that Alex and Tom, who were separated in the first book, still haven’t made it to each other.  But in the end, that’s okay, because there’s another book coming out (next year), and once again, I can’t wait (though I’ll do a much better job remembering that it’s the book I’m waiting for, I swear).

In this second installment of the Ashes Trilogy, Bick divides her story between Alex, Tom, and Chris as they attempt to survive the Changed (children/teens affected by the electronic pulse that killed all technology and turned them into zombies) and now a new faction of adults intent on studying all children and teens who weren’t affected… making this another great novel of teens versus adults (who I find to be ultimately evil in most aspects) and crazy people eating teens.  Through Alex’s point of view, we gain much insight into the Changed, such as their tendencies, how they communicate, and that they still have carnal desires.  And, as the plot line unfolds, we learn that Alex may not be as safe from the change as she originally thought…  Tom is running toward Alex, but at the same time, attempting to elude the adults insistent on tracking him and using him for research, and Chris is running from Rule to avoid torture and the iron hand of the elders who believe they have ultimate rule over all, including the Changed.  Together, these three stories intertwine seamlessly and provide a riveting read that was easy to follow and kept my attention from start to finish (all 500+ pages of it).  And in my opinion, it should have kept right on going!  Four stars.

Egmont USA has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on September 25, 2012.

From Goodreads: From debut author Douglas Nicholas comes a haunting story of love, murder, and sorcery. During the thirteenth century in northwest England, in one of the coldest winters in living memory, a formidable yet charming Irish healer, Molly, and the troupe she leads are driving their three wagons, hoping to cross the Pennine Mountains before the heavy snows set in. Molly, her lover Jack, granddaughter Nemain, and young apprentice Hob become aware that they are being stalked by something terrible. The refuge they seek in a monastery, then an inn, and finally a Norman castle proves to be an illusion. As danger continues to rise, it becomes clear that the creature must be faced and defeated—or else they will all surely die. It is then that Hob discovers how much more there is to his adopted family than he had realized.

An intoxicating blend of fantasy and mythology, Something Red presents an enchanting world full of mysterious and fascinating characters— shapeshifters, sorceresses, warrior monks, and knights—where no one is safe from the terrible being that lurks in the darkness. In this extraordinary, fantastical world, nothing is as it seems, and the journey for survival is as magical as it is perilous.

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This novel was really not for me.  I think it’s more for those who like Tolkien’s style of writing, very descriptive and a bit slow paced, fueling the story with few events and much journeying along dangerous mountains.  To be quite honest, I was bored throughout most of this novel, dying to get to the shape shifters and sorcerers.  While warrior monks and knights are okay, they didn’t really do anything for the story, in my opinion, aside from creating a pit stop for the main entourage as they traveled through the mountains in the bitter cold.  The synopsis makes the reader think that the novel will surround the pursuing monster, but I really didn’t feel like the characters were threatened along their epically long journey, nor was I all that interested in their trek.  There just weren’t enough events to keep me grounded as I read, and again, I felt there was way too much description.  In some cases, less is more, and while I liked the characters enough, I would have liked much less traveling and discussing of their clothes, their sex lives, and their observations and much more action.

Yes, Nicholas does have the characters continually stumble upon gruesome scenes of murder, but as they just stumbled upon it and nothing ever seemed to happen to them, I didn’t find the read all that interesting.  I need a much faster paced read, which Nicholas delivers in the end, once the evil that has been chasing our four main characters finally reveals itself. Had the novel been like the end is, fast paced, gruesome, and extremely riveting, I think I would have liked this story much, much more, but as is, I can’t say I enjoyed it all that much.  One and a half stars.

Simon & Schuster, Inc., along with Atria Books have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on September 18, 2012.

From Goodreads: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

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The premise of this novel is absolutely amazing, but unfortunately, the story itself didn’t really hold my attention.  The beginning of the novel started off strong, but with the introduction of the Raven boys, I started to become confused and lose interest.  For me, Gansey was just a little too technical and too haughty, constantly looking for a lost medieval noble’s grave, overly obsessed with ley lines and mediums, and to be quite honest, I didn’t understand what he was trying to do most of the time.  Between the shifts in narration (which I usually adore, but had a hard time following in this novel) and the lack of a resolution concerning the main synopsis (Gansey being Blue’s true love or the boys she kills), I found myself unable to really immerse myself in the story.  I don’t think having so many characters helped me understand it any easier, either.  Between Blue and the four Raven boys, Blue’s mother and the three other “witches” living at her house, Gansey’s parents and teachers, and Ronan’s older brother, I just couldn’t keep up.  Too much seemed to be happening all at once, and since I had a hard time connecting it all together, I became frustrated, and I think a lot of the story was lost on me.  It’s unfortunate because my interest was again piqued when the ghost revelation was revealed, but that, again, was short lived as I became thoroughly confused again.

Seeing as this novel is getting extremely high reviews on Goodreads, it’s obvious that most readers really enjoy this story, and I am, in fact, in the minority, so I do urge you to at least try it out and see what you think because our tastes in books might be vastly different.  Unfortunately for me, I just never got to the point of really caring for any of the characters or the plotline as it unfolded.  One and a half stars.

Scholastic Press has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on September 18, 2012.

From Goodreads: Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally.

Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.

Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.

More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake — this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.

Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.

The fuse is lit…

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Gabe is my absolute favorite.  I thought Chris was my guy, but having now read a book focusing all on Gabe, resident bad boy with a fetish for fire and blowing things up… Chris has fallen by the wayside.  He was a little young for me, anyway.  Lol. No, but in all seriousness, Gabe has stolen the show in this second novel in the Elemental Series, and I loved every minute of it.

I believe that the Merrick boys’ temperament is really decided by their element, and since Gabe plays with fire, as you can imagine, he runs a bit hot.  Losing his head in many a situation, Gabe struggles to connect with those around him and control his anger, especially as fire constantly calls to him. What’s not to love?

While Chris, Becca, and the whole rest of the clan are a major part of the story that’s still unwinding after the climax of Storm, I loved having a new character to get to know in Layne.  She’s completely different from all the other characters and I really enjoyed her, especially as she morphed and grew into herself, as did her relationship with Gabe.  Ah, Gabe.  Of course, he lands himself in more trouble than usual in this novel, and I loved watching him come to grips with his past as the story unfolded.  I also loved watching his friends and family really be there for him, standing behind him even when they were concerned about his exploits… I definitely cried a few times while reading this book—I wouldn’t say it’s epically emotional, but some of the situations really got to me; they were so beautiful.

Kemmerer is a very gifted writer and so far, I’ve loved every single book I’ve read of hers.  She really knows how to create and flesh out characters, and her stories flow so seamlessly that they pull you in and don’t let go until the very end.  And even then, I found myself sitting there in Merrick withdrawal, wanting to read them all over again, especially as May can’t get here fast enough, and I need more!!!  Five stars.

I received a signed ARC of this novel from the author and I also purchased it from Amazon (don’t want to ruin the signed copy!!! Gotta have one for the Kindle, too!).

From Goodreads: Being a force of nature doesn’t keep you safe.

Hunter Garrity is used to watching his back. The kids at school sense something different about him. And they’re right.

Hunter has powers that have nothing to do with how hard he can throw a punch.

Maybe that’s what Clare Kasten is picking up. She’s shy, quiet, and intense, but she’s sought him out. There’s no telling what she wants from him.

But Hunter knows enough to sense a secret when it’s close. And getting close to Clare is a danger he’s ready to face…

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Alas… Hunter.  He is one of the characters from Storm that I really enjoyed, though about halfway through the novel I was able to figured him out, partly.  Kremmerer still threw me for a loop because, while I was 99% sure about him, that 1% still crept up and bit me.  And he’s such a great character!  Vying for Becca’s attention, totally swoon worthy, but something was always off about him…

Now, if you haven’t read Storm, then you must before you pick up Fearless, as this novella would completely spoil your perceptions of Hunter (and perhaps this review will too, SPOILER ALERT DECLARED), and that would be a tragedy.  So go read Storm.  Right now.  Seriously.  It’s amazing.  Then read this (novella and review).  It’s really good too.

I love that Kemmerer continues to give her readers glimpses into her characters’ lives in-between her full-fledged novels.  First with Elemental, giving us insight into Michael, the oldest of the Merrick boys, and now with Hunter, an elemental outside the Merrick family.  Not only does it help tide the reader over while we wait on pins and needles for the next novel, but it fleshes out the characters even more, giving us added insight into their personalities, and I absolutely love it.

In this novella, which take place prior to the series’ start, we learn a lot about Hunter’s personality.  Like I said, I really liked him in Storm, and his heroism continues to shine through in Fearless, though I really wish there was even more to this novella (aka. LONGER!).  It was great to get to see how his family interacted/reacted to him, further solidifying some information we learn in Storm, and I truly enjoyed this quick glimpse into his life as the kid who gets picked on and is duped by a girl.  It really put everything I previously knew about him in proportion and I can’t wait to see what happens next for him, especially after such a rocky conclusion in Storm.  Four stars!

I purchased this novella from Amazon.