Title // Author: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (web | twitter)
Genre: Paranormal YA, Ghosts, Mystery
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Razorbill
Release date: January 8, 2013
Source: ARC from the Publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Razorbill!)Summary: The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.
For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.
With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.
Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.
Book Review: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Book Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Title: Requiem
Author: Lauren Oliver (web | twitter)
Series: Delirium #3
Genre: Dystopian YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s
Release date: March 5, 2013
Source: BorrowedSummary: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past. But we are still here.And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings. Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it. But we have chosen a different road. And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose. We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.
Book Review: Poison by Bridget Zinn
Title: Poison
Author: Bridget Zinn (web | twitter)
Genre: Fantasy YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release date: March 12, 2013
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge
Source: NetGalley (Thanks Disney Hyperion!)Summary: Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?
Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.
Book Review | Eleanor & Park | Rainbow Rowell
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Published by St. Martin's Griffin on February 26, 2013
Genres: Contemporary YA, Young Adult
Pages: 328
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
TWO MISFITS. ONE EXTRAORDINARY LOVE. It’s 1986 and two star-crossed teens are smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love–and just how hard it pulled you under. A cross between the iconic ’80s movie Sixteen Candles and the classic coming-of-age novel Looking for Alaska, Eleanor & Park is a brilliantly written young adult novel.
Audiobook Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare (web | twitter)
Narrator: Jennifer Ehle
Series: Infernal Devices #1
Amazon | Goodreads | Audible
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (print), Simon & Schuster Audio (audio)
Release date: August 31, 2010
Challenge: Audiobook Challenge, TBR Challenge
Source: Bought it
Summary: Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.
Book Review | Also Known As | Robin Benway
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Also Known As by Robin Benway Series: Also Known As #1
Published by Bloomsbury on February 26, 2013
Genres: Contemporary YA, Spies, Young Adult
Pages: 308
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Going Rogue
Also by this author: Going Rogue, Emmy & Oliver
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.
Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She’ll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school’s security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.
Book Review | How To Lead a Life of Crime | Kirsten Miller
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
How To Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller Published by Razorbill on February 21, 2013
Genres: Contemporary YA, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 434
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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A meth dealer. A prostitute. A serial killer.
Anywhere else, they’d be vermin. At the Mandel Academy, they’re called prodigies. The most exclusive school in New York City has been training young criminals for over a century. Only the most ruthless students are allowed to graduate. The rest disappear.
Flick, a teenage pickpocket, has risen to the top of his class. But then Mandel recruits a fierce new competitor who also happens to be Flick’s old flame. They’ve been told only one of them will make it out of the Mandel Academy. Will they find a way to save each other—or will the school destroy them both?
Book Review | Me, Him, Them, and It | Caela Carter
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Me, Him, Them, and It by Caela Carter Published by Bloomsbury on February 26, 2013
Genres: Contemporary YA, Pregnancy, Young Adult
Pages: 310
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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ME is Evelyn Jones, 16, a valedictorian hopeful who’s been playing bad girl to piss off THEM, her cold, distant parents. HIM is Todd, Evelyn’s secret un-boyfriend, who she thought she was just using for sex – until she accidentally fell in love with him. But before Evelyn gets a chance to tell Todd how she feels, something much more important comes up. IT. IT is a fetus. Evelyn is pregnant – and when Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn has no idea who to turn to. Can a cheating father, a stiff, cold mother, a pissed-off BFF, and a (thankfully!) loving aunt with adopted girls of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow?
Book Review: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce
Title: Mastiff
Author: Tamora Pierce
Series: Beka Cooper, #3
Genre: Fantasy YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Random House BFYR
Release date: October 25, 2011
Challenge: 2013 TBR Challenge
Source: Own it
Summary: The Legend of Beka Cooper gives Tamora Pierce’s fans exactly what they want—a smart and savvy heroine making a name for herself on the mean streets of Tortall’s Lower City—while offering plenty of appeal for new readers as well.
Beka and her friends will face their greatest and most important challenge ever when the young heir to the kingdom vanishes. They will be sent out of Corus on a trail that appears and disappears, following a twisting road throughout Tortall. It will be her greatest Hunt—if she can survive the very powerful people who do not want her to succeed in her goal.
Audiobook Review | Cinder | Marissa Meyer + Rebecca Soler
Cinder by Marissa Meyer Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Published by Macmillan Audio on January 3, 2012
Genres: Dystopian YA, Science Fiction
Length: 10 hours, 6 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Also in this series: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Fairest
Also by this author: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Fairest
Source: Audible
Amazon • Audible • Goodreads
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl…
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
