From Goodreads: When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent urban neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She’s even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper’s cottage in the center of the birch grove.

Something’s not quite right about the school — or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She’s also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.

The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.

Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school…and be bound to Birch Grove forever?

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This review is really hard to write as this book is not your typical YA novel.  The synopsis alone is very intriguing, but the story is anything but what you expect.  I was floored by it, and I really enjoyed it, up until a point.  Then everything became a little weird…

And this is why the review is so hard to write.  I can’t give anything away, so I can’t really tell you why it got weird.  So let’s talk characterization instead.  I really, really liked Mary Violet and Jack.  They are phenomenal side characters and they kept me smiling throughout the novel.  Mary, with her amusing comments and all around good nature, and Jack with his witty remarks and teasing persona, are easily likable characters.  However, Lucky is a despicable character, and I really hate him.  In my opinion, he has no redeeming qualities and he ruined the novel for me a bit.  His personality is atrocious, and the things he does (the things I can’t say because it would give away the story) made me ill as I read.  Likewise, Jane seems like a very smart young woman; she is especially street smart, but when it comes to boys, she loses her head and makes extremely poor choices.  So, as the book developed, I found myself liking her less and less, and by the end, I really didn’t have any respect for either her or Lucky, though Jane does redeem herself just a tad in the end. 

I think Acosta is a great writer, but this story is a little too weird/creepy/awkward for me.  I really did like the premise, and I promise, this isn’t like anything you’ve ever read before, but it just isn’t my cup of tea.  Two stars. 

Tor Teen has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on July 3, 2012.

From Goodreads: A bully named Marjean, a mangy dog named Donut, and southern Georgia in August: Nine year old Gordy will need all of these to overcome the life-changing moment headed his way.

A touching story of one boy’s tragic loss and his journey to understanding it.
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This is a very short story that follows a young boy as he realizes the truth about his parents.  The story picks up somewhat in medias res, as Gordy attends a party at his aunt’s.  Less than pleased with his attire and the people surrounding him, he ventures out of doors, where he meets a dog, Donut, and as the story unfolds, he eventually learns that he must rely on others in this coming of age tale. 

I must admit, this story wasn’t at all what I expected, but it is very well done, though completely different from all of Hildenbrand’s other work.  I think this is something that younger readers will enjoy, especially as it’s short and Gordy is very young.  Of course, as a short story, there isn’t much room for character development, but I think Hildenbrand captures the feelings of the characters very well.  Three stars.

I picked up this short story from smashwords when it was free.

From Goodreads: When Dad becomes the lone caregiver for a dependent adult son, Dad has to answer the terrifying question: What happens if I die first?

A retired CIA operative comes to believe he wasted his professional life not only promoting questionable American policies, but missing life with his family. Suddenly, his wife is gone, and he must learn all that she knew about caring for their mentally retarded son. After a life of planning for contingencies, the former spy must deal with the possibility that he may die before his son. Who will care for the son when the dad spent a life out of the country and now has no one to lean on?

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This novel has a very conversational tone, which was difficult for me to get used to in the beginning, but the more I read the more I enjoyed this writing style.  Garrison, the protagonist, explains the story of his life, his thoughts and concerns, while amplifying his outrageous and mostly hilarious interactions as both a CIA operative and a father/husband.  One of Garrison’s main issues is that of how to care for his mentally challenged son, especially with the looming truth that his son will probably outlive him.  This realization, as well as Garrison’s colloquial tone, made the novel very interesting and I enjoyed learning about his difficulties as he attempts to take control of his life as it spins out of control.      

I really enjoyed the parts of the novel that dealt with Noah, Garrison’s son.  How Garrison and his wife Louisa dealt with their little blessing, including how they came to adopt him, his many transitions through life, and his eventual diagnosis with Alzheimer’s was really interesting, and I learned a lot about downs syndrome.  Though I wouldn’t say that this novel is a tearjerker by any means, it does make the reader stop and think, appreciating all they’ve been given.

I think the characterization of Garrison is phenomenal.  He is a very deep character, and as I said before, his relation of his life was mainly hilarious, and I found him very down to earth, though some of his revelations were less than believable.  But overall, I really enjoyed him, and would have liked to get to know the rest of his family on the same level, but then I think it would have detracted from the colloquial, conversational tone of this novel.  Three stars.

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

From Goodreads: Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she’s never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in “the golden hills of the west”: California.

Along the way she meets Jack, a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company — there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there’s also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very much aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.

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I’m sorry to say that I am not a fan of this novel.  I never connected with the characters and I spent a good amount of time just trying to figure out what was happening.  While I knew there would be paranormal elements to the novel, I think I also thought it would be somewhat historical as it deals with dust storms, and I was thinking the great Dust Bowl from the 1930s, but I soon found out that this isn’t what it’s about at all.  While there are dust storms, it’s more or less about a fairy girl who must travel the Great Plains looking for her parents.  I was following the story fairly well until Callie played the piano, the dust bowl rolled in, and giant bugs came to the hotel.  At that point, though I tried to follow, I became lost in the mayhem of the story. 

Without a connection with the characters, I found that I struggled to finish this novel, but I made it through.  It does end of a kind of cliffhanger, and it piqued my interest, so yes, I’ll probably read the sequel when it comes out, but this novel didn’t pull me in as I had hoped.  Two stars.

Random House Children’s Books has been extrmely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on June 26, 2012

From Goodreads: On a bitter March day, as a sudden snowstorm envelops the small town of Broken Branch, Iowa, an unknown man with a gun enters the town’s only school and takes a classroom of children hostage. As awareness of the situation spreads, the panicked community is ready to do anything to protect their children, but can only watch and wait.

As a teacher with a long career behind her, Evelyn Oliver is ready to enjoy retirement with her loving husband. But now, faced with a crazy man armed with a gun, terrorizing her classroom, she’d rather die than fail to protect any of her students. But why is he doing this? Evelyn’s been scouring her mind but doesn’t recognize the intruder. Maybe one of the students is the key?

Holly Thwaite left Broken Branch and her family behind without a word eighteen years ago, vowing never to return. But after a debilitating accident leaves her recovering in a hospital in Arizona, she’s forced to send her children to her hometown to be looked after by their grandfather, the man she never wanted them to meet. Will Thwaite never understood why his estranged daughter, Holly, ran away all those years ago. But now that her children are in his care, he refuses to fail his daughter again. One way or another, Will is going to get his grandkids, P.J. and Augie, out of that school safely even if he has to go in and get them himself. What Will doesn’t know is that thirteen-year-old Augie is just as determined to rescue her little brother from the killer and help her classmates, even if it means putting herself in the crosshairs of the gunman.

Police officer Meg Barrett wants to know who the intruder is and why he’s doing this. Whoever it is, there’s no excuse for this. Meg should know. She’s had plenty of hardships herself. But with innocent lives at stake, Meg is prepared to risk her own life to save these hostages, although it means disobeying orders and taking on the gunman face-to-face.

As the standoff progresses and the snowstorm rages outside, anxiety and frustration start to build to dangerous levels. But everyone knows how precarious the situation is. One wrong move, even a breath, could have the most devastating of consequences.

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I really enjoyed this novel!  Told from the perspectives of multiple characters, Gudenkauf intricately weaves together the harrowing tale of five people affected by a lone gunman as he attempts to exact his revenge on the world from the confines of a school.  I absolutely adore novels with multiple points of view, especially when the author uses it to build up suspense, which is exactly what Gudenkauf does.  As readers get to know the characters as individuals, learning their thoughts, fears, regrets, and ambitions, nearly every chapter ends on a cliffhanger in which the reader is about to find out something, or learn something s/he is very interested in, and then the point of view changes, making the reader wait.  With five separate narrators, the suspense is constantly building, and while the cliffhangers are a tease, the very next chapter picks up where another cliffhanger left off, and the reader is suddenly thrust into another’s thoughts and is finally able to find out the answers to a previous cliffhanger, which makes it doubly exciting and keeps the reader on a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

Out of all the characters, I really liked Augie the best.  She has a spunky personality and I enjoyed following her throughout the story as she attempts to save her brother.  She is a very determined young heroine, and though she has many issues she must work through, from feeling responsible for her mother’s accident and her little brother’s safety to learning to trust others around her, she is an amazing young woman.  I also loved Ms. Oliver.  Though she seems to be a bit crotchety in the beginning, she truly loves her students and wants to protect them at all costs.  I think I identified with her the most because I, too, am a teacher, and watching her deal with such a scary reality was very powerful and touching.  We all hear of gunmen coming into schools and wreaking havoc, but no one thinks it will ever happen to them.  And then, we all think about how we would react, but honestly, no one really knows how they will react.  I would like to say that I would be just as heroic as Ms. Oliver, though I pray I’ll never have to find out if I would be or not.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and was taken aback by the identity of the gunman. Gudenkauf does an amazing job keeping the gunman’s identity a secret until the big reveal, and I love authors that are able to stump me as I read.  I highly recommend this novel! Four stars!    

Harlequin has ben extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on June 26, 2012.

From Goodreads: When Great War veteran Laurence Bartram arrives in Easton Deadall, he is struck by the beauty of the place: a crumbling manor, a venerable church, and a memorial to the village’s soldiers, almost all of whom died in one bloody battle. 

Now peace prevails, and the rest of England is newly alight with hope, but Easton Deadall remains haunted by tragedy—as does the Easton family. In 1911, five-year-old Kitty disappeared from her bed and has not been seen in thirteen years; only her fragile mother still believes she is alive. While Laurence is a guest of the manor, a young maid vanishes in a sinister echo of Kitty’s disappearance. And when a body is discovered in the manor’s ancient church, Laurence is drawn into the grounds’ forgotten places, where deadly secrets lie in wait.  
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While I enjoyed this novel, it wasn’t really what I expected.  I was thinking it would be a fast paced sleuthing novel dealing mainly with the disappearance of Kitty Easton, but I personally found the entire first half of the book a little bland for me as it dealt with the historical aspect of the time period more than I like in my novels (detailing the house, the people, the church, etc.) and I found that I occasionally lost interest due to all the descriptions.  This is a very lengthy novel, and I personally would have liked to have some of it cut out, mainly because I’m not really a description kind of reader, but for those who are, I think they’ll find this novel quite interesting.

Once the novel began to deal more with Kitty and the disappearance of others, say around 45% into the book, it did really pick up, and I became highly interested in the goings on of the characters.  Had the novel been like this from the beginning, I think I would have really enjoyed it, but even so, the last half of the novel was great.

I really liked how everything fit together, including the disappearance of Kitty, then a young maid servant, and then the mystery surrounding the dead woman found in the church.  Speller did a good job intertwining them, and I was surprised to find out the truth behind both disappearances and the murder.  I just wish the entire novel had to have been written like the second half of the novel. Three stars.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on June 26, 2012.

From Goodreads: Flash Fiction (500 word Short Story) of a dark, dark secret in a dark, dark house.

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This is a very short story that I think has the potential to be more, but I personally had a hard time following it.  Upon beginning the story, readers will quickly note that it’s extremely repetitive.  Now, this is a writing technique that Ferreira uses on purpose, repeating the word “dark” multiple times, but I found that I really didn’t enjoy this repetition.  If you look up at the very short synopsis, you’ll get an idea of what I mean about the repetition.

Yet, while half of the story is extremely repetitive, the other half suddenly flows very nicely.  It was a very sudden shift, a bit jarring; however, while I wasn’t a fan of the repetition, I did enjoy the flow of story once it transitioned.  Unfortunately, I didn’t really understand the big revelation at the end.  I read the story twice (because it’s so short), but I still didn’t understand it fully.  I think that it’s more of a reader error than a writer error, though. Overall, as “The Dark, Dark House” is a very short read, I think you should give it a try to see if it’s your style.  Unfortunately, it’s not for me.  One star.

 I obtained this short story from Amazon when it was free.

From Goodreads: Kyle Ulysses Hart and his team of scientists mapped the human genome in the year 2010. As Brain Impulse Technology came online… so did the long arm of the United States government. A covert, military-driven regime was born with genetic manipulation the key to future widespread control.

When pharmaceutical laboratories, funded by the Graysheets, discover a way to unlock paranormal potential through compulsive inoculation, their exploitative dream is realized.

Clyde and Caleb’s lives are predestined to intertwine as they cross paths, his history becoming Caleb’s future.

A lone teenager named Jeffrey Parker, falls prey when he manifests the rare, Affinity for the Dead. The Graysheets abandon all pretense of stewardship, ripping him from his family for their nefarious purposes.

Can Jeffrey remain who he was destined to be in an environment exclusively built for mass control?

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I am so excited that Blodgett wrote this amazing prequel to her Death series!!!  While I never really had any nagging questions about how everything came to be, and I thought that Blodgett did a great job explaining everything, this novella really opened my eyes and filled in more areas of the series that I hadn’t even realized I wanted to know about! 

Told between alternate time periods, following characters’ lives from the early 1900s to the mid 2000s, readers will learn about the life and death of our beloved Clyde, the beginnings of the human genome project, brain pulse, Parker’s inception with the Affinity for the Dead… and it’s all intertwined amazingly well. 

I’ve been trying to decide when readers should read the prequel—should they read it prior to reading the entire series?  Or maybe after the first or second book?  Honestly, I can’t decide.  Death Inception carries a lot of information that is great to know ahead of time, but I almost feel like readers should wait to read the prequel until they’ve read at least the first novel in the Death series so that they know the characters’ interworkings and love them as much as I do!  Especially as this novella changed my perspective of a few of the characters, such as Parker, and getting to know their full stories, explaining who they are, and why they are the way that they are, was really exciting, so I like the idea of waiting to read the prequel until after reading at least the first novel in the series!!  But, honestly, it doesn’t matter when you read the prequel, because it’s amazing and fits the story perfectly!  Overall, I highly recommend this series and can’t get enough!! Five stars!

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

Attention Writers!  Seventh Star Press Proudly Announces Its Next Anthology Project, Perfect Flaw: Dystopian Stories, with Editor Robin Blankenship

Seventh Star Press is proud to announce its second anthology project, Perfect Flaw: Dystopian Stories, with editor Robin Blankenship

As with the first SSP anthology project, The End Was Not the End: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Tales (editor Joshua Leet) this anthology project will allow for short stories of up to 10,000 words.

The stories must be set within a society in a repressive and controlled state, which can be under the guise of a utopian society.  The genre of the stories can be anything from Horror to Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk and other forms of speculative ficiton

This anthology is intended to be a book that is a exploration of society gone wrong. “Utopian” societies that mask the true, underlying controlled state. Stories of people fighting back against the repression in hopes of a better place for the average person. Groups forming to fight the fatal flaw that the people in charge strive to cover up to keep the masses in line.

Submissions must be in by Midnight of January 8, 2013. Please provide a cover letter and use standard manuscript format.  They can be emailed to: Robin at seventhstarpress.com

The anthology is being targeted for release in the late spring of 2013, in both print and eBook formats.

A freelance editor and book reviewer, Robin Blankenship has a background in teaching and is currently embarking on her Masters in Folk Studies.

For further information on Seventh Star Press and its titles and authors, please visit http://www.seventhstarpress.com

Contact: C.C. James
Public Relations, Seventh Star Press
ccjames@seventhstarpress.com

Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky

From Goodreads: Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

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Let’s just say that I am extremely excited and thankful that this is the first book in the series, and that a sequel is on the way, because I love it so much, and I must have more Kaidan!  Seriously, if you haven’t read this amazing, enticing, sexy, alluring novel yet, what are you waiting for?  You must!  You must!  It’s so, so good!

Higgins blew me away with her debut novel, in case you couldn’t tell, and I am dying for more!  The premise for the novel intrigued me so much, and I’m glad I didn’t put this one off any longer in my TBR pile, because it’s a pure gem and needs to be read by all, sooner rather than later!

I really enjoyed getting to know Anna.  I’d say that her penchant for rules and all that is good makes her less than believable, but I’ve met truly good teenagers that feel exactly as Anna does about lying, swearing, sex before marriage… and the list goes on.  I know it seems far-fetched in today’s society, but there still are truly good people out there, and I’ve taught a handful of them.  Yes, it blows my mind, but is actually extremely refreshing, and I enjoyed this aspect of Anna’s personality a lot, especially as she begins to struggle between her beliefs and her true nature!

Bad boy Kaidan is to die for, and I really enjoyed getting to know more about him and his family.  As he divulges the truth about himself, Anna begins to understand who she is, and what she is supposed to do.  As she does, and her goody persona begins to decline in the name of “work” (and to save her life), I became even more enamored with the pair—they are complete opposites, but truth be told, there is more good to Kaidan than he allows others to see.

There is a lot of sexual tension in this novel, but I still feel like it was clean.  With Kaidan’s father being a top fallen angel, promoting sexual relations, and Kaidan being a gorgeous young man, you can see where things are going, but the fact that Higgins doesn’t run rampant with sexual escapades and play by play details makes me have even more respect for her as an author.  This is a YA novel, after all, and explicit sex isn’t needed, so kudos to Higgins!  Though the frustrations are there, and enough is stated for the reader to know what is happening/being alluded to, Higgins leaves it PG 13, for which I am thankful.

I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in this amazing series, and I highly recommend this novel!  Five stars!

I purchased a copy of this novel from Amazon.

From Goodreads: Kassandra Cole has it all—a stable home with great parents, popularity, and all the friends she could ever need. She is used to a lifestyle where everything comes easy to her, from good grades to being captain of the cheerleading squad.

Her entire world is shaken to the core when a fatal accident takes her father, causing Kassandra to re-examine the course her life was on. The actions of one individual forever changes her life, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her broken family. Kassandra begins to question everything she once cherished and the people she disappointed along the way.

Maddon Johnson’s life is as different from Kassandra’s as night and day. Abandoned by his mother at a young age, he is left to deal with his abusive, alcoholic father on his own. He has one goal: lay low and get the heck out of dodge as soon as he is legally old enough.

Everything changes when his father’s tragic actions send Maddon crashing into Kassandra’s world. Suddenly, getting away is the last thing he wants as he discovers it is possible to believe in love after all.

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This is a beautifully written story of forgiveness, of learning to forgive others and to forgive oneself while finding redemption.  I am always amazed at the power of words and the way amazing authors are able to wield them, and King has once created a true masterpiece.  Looking at the life of high school students, how everything can change in an instant, and the definition of true friendships, King takes the reader on a powerful, breathtaking rollercoaster ride; this is a must read!

I found Forever Changed to be a captivating, delicious novel that held my attention from start to finish.  Kassandra and Maddon’s story, while heartbreaking and touching, is happy and uplifting as well, and I truly enjoyed it.  Though I cried many times throughout the novel, this is a very powerful read that I believe all will enjoy.  Both Kassandra and Maddon are genuine, lovable characters that feel so real you won’t want to let them go at the end of the novel. I am a fan for life! Five stars!

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

From Goodreads: With their father en route to Africa for Doctors Without Borders, city-kids Nicholas and younger twin sisters Haley and Hetty are off to spend the summer with their Great-Uncle Nick at his house on Forsaken Lake. Despite some initial doubts, Nicholas is right at home in the country: he learns to sail, learns about his father as a boy, and makes fast friends with a local-girl, the tomboy Charlie.

The summer takes a turn toward the mysterious, though, when Nicholas discovers an old movie that his father made as a boy: it tells the story of the local legend, The Seaweed Strangler, but was never finished. Before long Nicholas wants answers both about the legend, and about the movie. Together, he and Charlie work to uncover the truth and discover some long-buried family secrets along the way.

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This is a great MG novel that I highly recommend to parents and teachers alike.  Filled with adventure, mystery, and intrigue, Beil takes his young readers on a ride that they won’t soon forget. 

Originally, I thought that this novel was going to be a type of horror/suspense novel, with a seaweed monster and the like, but it actually turned out to be more focused on family values and coming of age, which I enjoyed.  While I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more dealing with a real live seaweed monster, I liked the digging the kids do to uncover the truth about their dad and why he never visits Forsaken Lake anymore. 

Overall, this is a very well written story with some great morals that I think are great for the MG and younger YA readers. I personally tend to like books for a little bit older crowd, but still think this is a great read! Three stars.

Random House Children’s Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release today.

From Goodreads: Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother’s death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family’s homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock’s daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there’s more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

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I have found that, though I like the idea of mermaids, I haven’t read any books about mermaids that I really liked, until now.  And the reason for this?  While this book is about mermaids, the main character is a merman.  While it may seem like a trivial thing, a change in gender, no big deal, it actually is a big deal to me.  Here’s why: Calder isn’t a blood thirsty, evil, regnant merman.  Yet, nearly every book I’ve read about mermaids, the main female character, along with her friends, is indeed a selfish, murdering, blood thirsty, evil, regnant being.  I tend not to like characters like that—no connection.  And though the mermaids may change their tune and learn from their mistakes, I’ve already learned not to like them, hence not enjoying the books very much.  But Greenwood Brown changed all that.

Calder, though not a saint, hates to kill people, hates his sisters, and just wants to be free.  His sisters represent the token mermaid; they’re not nice at all.  But Calder is very different, and reading the story through his point of view was fascinating.  I was able to connect with him on a much higher level, and I was sympathetic to his plight, wishing him the best of luck in his relationships with Lily, while knowing a storm was brewing that could potentially rip them apart.

Greenwood Brown is very straightforward in her storytelling, though she leaves the reader guessing as well.  The novel flows very well, though it’s a tad slow in places, but the suspense comes in not knowing exactly what happened so many years ago to make Calder’s sisters so set on murdering Hancock.  Even the small revelations throughout the story end up being only half truths, and as the story reaches its climax, the suspense kept me captivated and furiously turning the pages.  I’m not a hundred percent sure what really went on with Hancock at the end of the novel, but as there is a sequel in the works, I’m sure more light will be shed on the subject in the next novel.  Overall, I liked this book a lot.  Four stars.

Random House Children’s Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this book, via Netgalley, prior to its release tomorrow, June 12, 2012.

From Goodreads: The sky is dark with wings . . . .

Like sand in an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past they must find the place where the angels fell to earth. Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again.

Yet together they will face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen.

For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now will be the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win?

The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

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I have followed this series since it first debuted, and now it is at an end.  It is bittersweet; while I truly wanted to know what would happen next for Luce and Daniel, and the wait nearly killed me, I am sad to say that it is over, but happy to note that this series has a wonderful ending with which I believe many readers will be pleased.  I, for certain, will be reading the entire series from start to finish many times now that I can do so all at once, especially because I love this story so very much.

Luce and Daniel have had a very harrowing life on earth.  Daniel, cursed to watch the love of his life, Luce, die every time she begins to remember her true nature, has looked for a cure for centuries.  Luce, destined to die in the arms of her beloved and then be reborn, doesn’t have a clue, until a loophole changes everything.  Honestly, I never saw the truth behind who Luce was, or how/why the angels fell in the first place.  I was shocked by Kate’s revelations, and I think that’s what makes this series so good.  Even though it is four books long, the writing is always fresh and the reader learns more about the characters, solidifying his/her love for them.  The fact that I was always kept guessing was a plus, and I loved finding out the truth alongside the characters.

I’m not sure exactly how I feel about the somewhat derogatory portrayal of heaven, but I also think that in order to placate the masses and not make this a religious novel, Kate had to do what she did, though I would have liked heaven to be painted in a bit nicer light.

Overall, I really enjoyed this final chapter in the Fallen series, and highly recommend it to all.  Four stars.

Random House Children’s Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on June 12, 2012.

Seventh Star Press Announces New Young Adult Steampunk Series with the Addition of J.L. Mulvihill to its Author Family

Seventh Star Press proudly announces the addition of J.L. Mulvihill to its author family with Steel Roots, an exciting new young adult steampunk series set in an alternate history with a dash of folklore. The first title, The Box Car Baby, is slated for release in the 2nd quarter of 2013, with new titles following at the beginning of 2014 and 2015. Readers can look forward to meeting a host of enthralling, distinctive characters within a richly-developed landscape woven by the imagination of J.L. Mulvihill.

The Box Car Baby introduces the character of AB’Gale Steel who was born in a boxcar on a train bound for Georgia, according to what her papa told her. Bishop Steel, a mechanical engineer for the Southern Railroad, found his adopted daughter snuggled in a basket of cotton on an otherwise empty boxcar in the train yard. When no one came around to claim the baby, Bishop Steel, rather than relinquish the child to the State only to end up at the Workhouse someday, smuggled her home to raise as his own. The name on the boxcar he found her in read, A B Gale Logs, and so he named the baby AB’Gale.

But if the mystery of who her real parents are isn’t enough for fifteen-year -old AB’Gale, Papa Bishop goes missing. Worried for her family and afraid of having to spend her life at the Workhouse, AB’Gale goes into town to see if anyone’s seen her papa, only to find a deeper mystery. At the train station no one seems to know who her papa is even though he’s worked for the Southern Railroad for thirty years.

An encounter with a strange Hobo-man, who claims to know her father, results in the acquisition of a leather eye-glass tube that he says belongs to her papa. Before AB’Gale can question him further the man runs away. When she gets home, she finds the Crushers taking her grandma off to the Oldies-home, so she hides until they are gone.

AB’Gale finds that the leather tube contains a map of the United States, with markers made by various towns across the country. By each marker is a word or a name written in her papa’s handwriting.

Alone, and with only the clues of the map to go by, AB’Gale has no choice but to set out on her own to find her papa.

“Seventh Star Press has a very vivacious group of people with an incredible amount of awesome novels and stories pouring out,” J.L. commented on her addition to Seventh Star Press. “I just thought that SSP might need a little more Teen-Steam, so I am very pleased they have asked me to come on board with my young adult steampunk series, Steel Roots.”

Born in Hollywood and raised in San Diego, CA, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past fifteen years. Her debut novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa, an engaing fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of steampunk (Kerlak Publishing). J.L. also has several short fiction pieces in publication, among them “Chilled Meat”, a steampunk thriller found in the Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology (Kerlak Publishing) and “The Leprechaun’s Story“, a steampunk urban Fantasy found in the anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells (Kerlak Publishing)
J.L. is very active with the writing community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, and the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group.

“J.L. Mulvihill is a perfect fit for our family of authors, editors, and artists,” fellow Seventh Star Press author Stephen Zimmer commented. “She is already well-loved on the convention circuit, and in addition to her great talent as a writer, she has a fantastic work ethic and approach to the realities of the publishing world today. We are all so excited to have her with us.”

The Steel Roots novels will be released in limited hardcover, softcover (trade paperback), and several eBook editions, including versions for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, and Sony-compatible devices. The books will also include interior illustrations, in addition to cover art from Seventh Star Press’ award-winning artists.

For further information on J.L Mulvihill and the upcoming releases, please visit www.seventhstarpress.com or the author’s site at www.elsielind.com

Contact: C.C. James

Public Relations, Seventh Star Press

ccjames@seventhstarpress.com

Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky

From Goodreads: Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus.  She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

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I originally picked up this novel thinking it would be similar to many other books I’ve read about the end of the world, but I found that this story is very unique, well written, gripping, hilarious, suspenseful, heartbreaking… and I loved it.  I loved every minute of it!

Laybourne creates a riveting survival tale, setting it right in the middle of chain superstore—like Wal-Mart.  What child hasn’t thought about how cool it would be to live in Wal-Mart?  Or Target?  Or… you get the idea.  I remember being little and walking through big stores with beds and thinking, “I could live here. I could run away and no one would find me because this place is so big, and I’d be okay.”  And then I saw the toy isle and was distracted from my plans… but that aside, I think this is everyone’s fantasy at one time or another, and naturally, that drew me in immediately.

The characterization is superb, and I fell in love with Dean.  Of course, he’s not perfect, but I think that’s his allure—all the characters’ allure, really. They are all trying to survive, but these are teenagers and young children we’re talking about!  They haven’t fully developed, and it’s hard to survive on one’s own!  I loved that the reader is given deep glimpses into Dean’s heart and his struggles.  I can only imagine how terrible it would be to realize that everything and everyone I knew were probably gone forever, and I think Laybourne does a phenomenal job getting all the characters’ thoughts and feelings across to the reader.  I also loved the balance between the drama and the end of the world scenario!  Laybourne keeps the reader engaged without focusing too much on one aspect, which I loved!

Although I was saddened by the end of the novel, I was incredibly excited to realize that there will be a sequel!  Hence, all my favorite (and not so favorite) characters will be back, and we’ll learn more about the end of the world and the chemical weapons spill… and I can’t wait!  I highly recommend this novel!  And, if you love it, especially the idea of teens and children fighting against the end of the world together, then definitely check out Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi as well.  I think you’ll be just as intrigued!  Five stars.

Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley, as it just released on June 5, 2012.

From Goodreads: Jaden Baker is unique, talented, special.

And for a while there, things were looking up. Adopted by an upper-middle class couple of suburbia, Jaden believed he’d finally gotten that second chance everyone raves about. It came with potato salad.

But something happened. Something always happens. The life he’d been living took a dark twist, taking him on a journey that exposed him to evil, and the power it wields.

For those receiving it, patience is a deadly virtue.

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This novel blew me away.  Following Jaden from the tender age of nine, the reader is given an in-depth glimpse into his life as he battles the system and attempts to gain his freedom from those who would use him as a science experiment, caged like an animal and treated horribly. Jaden is psychokinetic; he can manipulate matter with his mind, and though he attempts to hide this power as a child, he is found and taken, against his will, from the comforts of his foster home.  This is a very powerful story that grabs the reader’s attention and doesn’t let go.  I was appalled by the treatment of Jaden throughout the novel, and readers should be aware that it’s a very heavy read, looking into the philosophical question of sacrificing one for the greater good.  While it is easy to take a stance on this question, having now read the point of view of the one being sacrificed, I am definitely rethinking this age-old question.

Kirchoff is an amazing writer and storyteller, creating such real and vivid characters, even those that are despicable.  Characters like Joseph Madrid made me cringe and seethe in anger, especially with his treatment of Jaden, and I found myself, on many an occasion, yelling at him through the pages, wishing for his horrible, bloody death.  That sounds harsh, I know, but you’ll understand my feelings when you read this amazing novel.  Madrid is the epitome of evil…

Of course, Jaden is an amazing character and I fell in love with him from the beginning.  He is a very strong young man, surviving ill treatment and “slavery” for many years in his underground prison, and I am in sheer awe of his dedication and will to survive.  I feel like many would give in much sooner than Jaden, and though his life is hellacious, I found him extremely inspiring.

Perhaps what I love most about this novel is the suspense and writing style.  Krichoff begins the novel in the present with a creepy encounter and hospital visit that will leave the reader wanting more, and then it jumps to the past, explaining Jaden’s origins and full story until it comes full circle, bringing us back to the present.  But the story doesn’t end there; much more suspense and intrigue follows as the reader now embarks on a quest with Jaden and those he’s friended along the way, and I just could not put down this powerful novel.

This is a novel I highly recommend, one of my top 10 of the year, and I hope everyone takes some time to read and enjoy this amazing book.  Five stars.

I obtained my copy of this novel when it was free on Amazon.

From Goodreads: Twenty-fifth century Drayling, and Britain as a whole, has benefited greatly from advances in technology and medical science, and life in the Graves’ household, and in those of their friends and colleagues, is secure, clear and very content. The desire and need for clarity, truth and order has motivated communities to live in harmony, abandoning any potentially controversial aspects or ways of life, including all religions, in favor of a modern civilized society that upholds order, simplicity, honesty, love and honor as its ideals. However, the death of the Premier brings a significant shift in approach – which forces a small group of ordinary people to conclude that they have no alternative but to take radical action to protect their way of life.

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Unfortunately, this novel is not my style.  While it is very well written and the story itself is great for those who are interested in world building and/or science fiction, it’s not for me.  I found the beginning of the story to be a bit dry for my tastes as it sets up the background for the society of Drayling, and I don’t particularly enjoy novels that spend so much time explaining the background. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with Newman’s writing capabilities, but more so with personal preference.  I reacted much in the same way to Tolkien, and though I loved the Lord of the Ring movies, the writing was a bit heavy for me.  I think, as I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to enjoy science fiction less and less, which again, is no reflection of Newman. The story does begin to move away from the world building and background information as it progresses and I really believe that many readers who like Tolkien and other authors of that caliber will enjoy this novel—it’s just not for me.  Two stars.  

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

From Goodreads: Although Tyler Moore was plagued by cystic fibrosis since early childhood, he refused to allow the progressive illness to disrupt his ambition of excelling at sports. Ater’s Tyler’s Mountain Magic is the story of how Tyler took his little junior high school and the town of Harpers Ferry on the most magical sports ride in West Virginia history.

Ater describes Tyler’s unwillingness to quit at anything. As a youngster, he had wrestled in the county youth league for two years and never won a match. But in the seventh grade, he won his last match of the season to help defeat the county’s other junior high school for the first time in 25 years, finally ending the “curse” of John Brown. The following year Tyler became the glue that held the team together when a season-ending cheating scandal rocked the entire county and divided the people.

By the time he was a ninth grader, Tyler had an impossible dream: he and his friends on Blue Ridge Mountain were going to become the only team in West Virginia public school history to win 40 games or matches in a single season, in any sport. Ater chronicles the 3,000-mile journey around the state as the boys work to accomplish something that people said could never be done. Readers experience the drama and sacrifice that Tyler and his teammates make as the cheating scandal from the previous year is rekindled and their coaches talk of resigning over the county’s lack of ethical standards in sports.

“Even though 10 or 15 years ago many children with cystic fibrosis did not live into adulthood, Tyler was not afraid of dying,” Ater says. “He wanted his life to stand for something while he still had time.”

Today, at the entrance to Harpers Ferry, there is no sign honoring John Brown or his infamous raid that ignited the Civil War, but there is a sign honoring a teenage boy who brought an impossible dream to his small town.

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Truth be told, I was a little wary of reading this novel when I was first approached by the publisher, as I’m not interested in wrestling in the least.  I’ve never been to a wrestling match, and I honestly didn’t know the first thing about it, aside from the fact that a few of my students are on the wrestling team at my school.  But the idea of Tyler Moore beating the odds and refusing to sit on the sidelines due to cystic fibrosis was intriguing, and I decided to read this novel, and I’m very glad I did.

Now, I’m still not all that interested in wrestling, and I found parts of this novel to be really boring, but I highly enjoyed getting to know Tyler and his teammates as they attempted the impossible, stood up for what was right, and were all around inspiring people.  For some reason, I was under the impression that this novel was non-fiction, but as I looked at the afterword, I was surprised to find it is actually fiction based on a true story.  I had to do a little more digging to find out more, but as far as I can tell, Ater, who actually represents the coach within the novel, changed some names, places, situations when penning this novel, for legal reasons, but the overall premise of the story is true; hence, fiction based on truth.  

Overall, I found this novel to be a very powerful read.  And, even though I couldn’t connect with the wrestling aspect of the novel, I was able to connect with the characters, especially Tyler, who is forever endeared to my heart.  Though some things have been changed in the book, he was a real person with cystic fibrosis, and I’d really like to know more about him.  Ater did a great job piquing my interest and I’m glad I picked up this book.  I highly recommend this novel to any MG and YA males out there, but I think that most will really enjoy this book and connect with it, whether or not they’re into wrestling.  Four stars.

Blue Ridge Mountain Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley.