Tag Archives: young adult

Book Title:
Bluescreen
Book Author:
Dan Wells
Book Series:
Mirador, #1
Publishing Date:
February 16th, 2016
Publisher:
Balzer + Bray
Date Read:
February 24th, 2016

Synopsis

Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. One of those connections is a djinni—a smart device implanted right in a person’s head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen—and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.

Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.

Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence, returns with a stunning new vision of the near future—a breathless cyber-thriller where privacy is the world’s most rare resource and nothing, not even the thoughts in our heads, is safe.

My Review

Bluescreen is a gripping science fiction thriller that gives us an interesting look into what our future might end up looking like, particularly if we keep making technological advances at such an accelerated rate. Marisa loves playing the virtual reality … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Riders
Book Author:
Veronica Rossi
Book Series:
Riders, #1
Publishing Date:
February 16th, 2016
Publisher:
Tor Teen
Date Read:
February 17th, 2016

Synopsis

Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

My Review

Having never read Veronica Rossi’s Under the Never Sky series, I was incredibly excited to read this and discover what was essentially a new author for me.  I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews for this book before it was … Continue reading

4 stars
3 Comments
Book Title:
Dreamfever
Book Author:
Kit Alloway
Book Series:
Dreamfire, #2
Publishing Date:
February 23rd, 2016
Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin
Date Read:
February 20th, 2016

Synopsis

Finding out that she is the True Dream Walker hasn't gone at all the way Joshlyn Weaver would have expected it to. The only special gift she seems to have is an ability to create archways, which really isn't that special. In addition to her inability to connect with the Dream, she has also started having nightmares that are so terrible she can't tell anyone about them. Not even Will.

Just when Josh thought her life couldn't get any more complicated, the lost dream walker princess returns to claim her parents' right to the throne, right as the Lodestone party threatens to take control of the government during the upcoming Accordance Conclave.

With the clock running down, Josh must rely on not only her friends, but also her enemies, to stop the radicals from taking power and controlling the Dream. But how can she expect to save everyone else when she's struggling to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life?

Dreamfever will have you on the edge of your seat as Kit Alloway takes you even deeper into the world of the dream walkers, and will leave you begging for more!

My Review

About a month ago, I read Kit Alloway’s debut novel, Dreamfire.  When I had finished that, I honestly had to wonder what one earth had taken me so long to read it.  It was a creative, imaginative journey of a … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
Dreamfire
Book Author:
Kit Alloway
Book Series:
Dreamfire, #1
Publishing Date:
February 24th, 2015
Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin
Date Read:
January 30th, 2016

Synopsis

Unlike most 17-year-olds, Joshlyn Weaver has a sacred duty. She's the celebrated daughter of the dream walkers, a secret society whose members enter the Dream universe we all share and battle nightmares. If they fail, the emotional turmoil in the Dream could boil over and release nightmares into the World.

Despite Josh's reputation as a dream walking prodigy, she's haunted by her mistakes. A lapse in judgment and the death of someone she loved have shaken her confidence. Now she's been assigned an apprentice, a boy whose steady gaze sees right through her, and she's almost as afraid of getting close to him as she is of getting him killed.

But when strangers with impossible powers begin appearing in the Dream, it isn't just Will that Josh has to protect--it's the whole World.

Experience the dangers of the dream world in Dreamfire, a riveting, young adult debut novel by Kit Alloway.

My Review

Dreamfire is an interesting YA debut that mixes a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of action to create a gorgeous story with meaningful characters and a plot that will leave you wondering … Continue reading

4 stars
3 Comments
Book Title:
Kingdom of Ashes
Book Author:
Rhiannon Thomas
Book Series:
A Wicked Thing, #2
Publishing Date:
February 23rd, 2016
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Date Read:
February 11th, 2016
Source:
eARC from publisher via Edelweiss - Thank you!

Synopsis

Asleep for a hundred years, awoken by a kiss, Aurora’s life was supposed to be a fairytale. But since discovering that loyalty to the crown and loyalty to her country are two very different things, Aurora knows she can only dream of happily ever after. Once the enchanted princess, savior of her people, she is now branded a traitor.

Aurora is determined to free her home from the king’s tyrannical rule, even if it means traveling across the sea to the kingdom of the handsome and devious Prince Finnegan—someone who seems to know far more about her magic than he should. However, Finnegan’s kingdom has perils of its own, and any help he gives Aurora will come at a price.

As Aurora and Finnegan work together to harness her power—something so fiery and dangerous that is as likely to destroy those close to Aurora as it is to save them—she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before…and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.

Brimming with captivating fantasy and life-threatening danger, the sequel to A Wicked Thing takes Sleeping Beauty on an adventure unlike any she’s ever had before.

My Review

If you’ve read A Wicked Thing, Kingdom of Ashes is a must read (especially if you liked the first book in the series).  I finally got to read A Wicked Thing recently (I have no idea what took me so … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
Dangerous Lies
Book Author:
Becca Fitzpatrick
Publishing Date:
November 10th, 2015
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
November 15th, 2015

Synopsis

A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

My Review

I read this book a while back, and I’m not really sure why it took  me so long to write my review for it.  It was an interesting thriller (and we all know I love YA thrillers) – well written … Continue reading

4 stars
4 Comments
Book Title:
Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah
Book Author:
Erin Jade Lange
Publishing Date:
February 16th, 2016
Publisher:
Bloomsbury
Date Read:
February 6th, 2016

Synopsis

"The Breakfast Club" gets a modern, high-stakes reboot in this story of four very different teens and a night that changes them forever.

The Rebel: Once popular, Andi is now a dreadlocked, tattooed wild child.

The Bully: York torments everyone who crosses his path, especially his younger brother.

The Geek: Tired of being bullied, Boston is obsessed with getting into an Ivy League college.

The Pariah: Choosing to be invisible has always worked for Sam . . . until tonight.

When Andi, York, Boston, and Sam find themselves hiding in the woods after a party gets busted by the cops, they hop into the nearest car they see and take off—the first decision of many in a night that will change their lives forever. By the light of day, these four would never be caught dead together, but when their getaway takes a dangerously unpredictable turn, sticking together could be the only way to survive.

With cinematic storytelling and compelling emotional depth, critically acclaimed author Erin Jade Lange takes readers on literary thrill ride.

My Review

When I first read the synopsis for Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah, I knew it was going to be a must read for me, especially when it was compared to The Breakfast Club.  Since I discovered that years ago, I’ve watched … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
Blackhearts
Book Author:
Nicole Castroman
Publishing Date:
February 9th, 2016
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Date Read:
February 5th, 2016

Synopsis

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward "Teach" Drummond, son of one of Bristol's richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There's just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents' deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she's stuck in England?

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.

My Review

Blackhearts is an original, sweet retelling that didn’t really seem like a retelling at all.  We all know Blackbeard, the fearsome pirate that really ruined a lot of sailors’ days out on the sea.  But Blackhearts doesn’t really go on … Continue reading

4 stars
8 Comments
Book Title:
A Wicked Thing
Book Author:
Rhiannon Thomas
Book Series:
A Wicked Thing, #1
Publishing Date:
February 24th, 2015
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Date Read:
February 5th, 2016
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Rhiannon Thomas weaves together vivid scenes of action, romance, and gorgeous gowns to reveal a richly imagined world … and Sleeping Beauty as she’s never been seen before.

My Review

I remember first hearing about this book, and being really, really excited for it.  Sleeping Beauty has always been my favorite fairy tale, and anything that is a kind of retelling of it is something I absolutely must read.  For … Continue reading

3 stars
1 Comment
Book Title:
Unhooked
Book Author:
Lisa Maxwell
Publishing Date:
February 2nd, 2016
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Date Read:
February 3rd, 2016

Synopsis

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.

But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.

The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.

With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?

My Review

Unhooked is such an incredible adventure that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a twist on a classic fairy tale and is full of action and adventure. I loved this book.  I had a feeling I would, since I enjoy … Continue reading

4.5 stars
3 Comments