Book Review | The Young Elites | Marie Lu

Book Review | The Young Elites | Marie LuThe Young Elites by Marie Lu
Series: The Young Elites #1
Published by Putnam Juvenile on October 7, 2014
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 355
Format: Hardcover
Also by this author: Legend
Source: Bought it
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four-half-stars

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

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Blog Tour Book Review + Giveaway | In Some Other World, Maybe | Shari Goldhagen

I received this book for free from eARC 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.

Blog Tour Book Review + Giveaway | In Some Other World, Maybe | Shari GoldhagenIn Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on January 13, 2015
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Relationships
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley
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four-stars

In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it’s a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he’s had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends—a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way.

Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.

A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.

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Book Review | This Shattered World | Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

I received this book for free from eARC 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.

Book Review | This Shattered World | Amie Kaufman & Meagan SpoonerThis Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Series: Starbound #2
Published by Disney Hyperion on December 23, 2014
Pages: 390
Format: eARC
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley
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four-half-stars

The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet’s rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn’s blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

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Book Review | Every Breath | Ellie Marney

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Every Breath | Ellie MarneyEvery Breath by Ellie Marney
Series: Every #1
Published by Tundra on October 14, 2014
Genres: Aussie YA, Contemporary YA, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Goodreads
five-stars

When James Mycroft drags Rachel Watts off on a night mission to the Melbourne Zoo, the last thing she expects to find is the mutilated body of Homeless Dave, one of Mycroft’s numerous eccentric friends. But Mycroft’s passion for forensics leads him to realize that something about the scene isn’t right–and he wants Watts to help him investigate the murder.

While Watts battles her attraction to bad-boy Mycroft, he’s busy getting himself expelled and clashing with the police, becoming murder suspect number one. When Watts and Mycroft unknowingly reveal too much to the cold-blooded killer, they find themselves in the lion’s den–literally. A trip to the zoo will never have quite the same meaning to Rachel Watts again…

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Book Review | Blue Lily, Lily Blue | Maggie Stiefvater

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Blue Lily, Lily Blue | Maggie StiefvaterBlue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Published by Scholastic on October 21, 2014
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 391
Format: ARC
Also in this series: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves
Also by this author: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves
AmazonGoodreads
five-stars

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

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Book Review | Sister’s Fate | Jessica Spotswood

Book Review | Sister’s Fate | Jessica SpotswoodSister's Fate by Jessica Spotswood
Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #3
Published by Putnam Juvenile on August 14, 2014
Genres: Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Paranormal YA, Sisters, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 360
Format: Hardcover
Also in this series: Born Wicked, Star Cursed
Also by this author: Born Wicked, Star Cursed
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

A fever ravages New London, but with the Brotherhood sending suspected witches straight to the gallows, the Sisters are powerless against the disease. They can’t help without revealing their powers—as Cate learns when a potent display of magic turns her into the most wanted witch in all of New England.

To make matters worse, Cate has been erased from the memory of her beloved Finn. While she’s torn between protecting him from further attacks and encouraging him to fall for her all over again, she’s certain she can never forgive Maura’s betrayal. And now that Tess’s visions have taken a deadly turn, the prophecy that one Cahill sister will murder another looms ever closer to its fulfillment.

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Book Review | Isla and the Happily Ever After | Stephanie Perkins

Book Review | Isla and the Happily Ever After | Stephanie PerkinsIsla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #3
Published by Dutton Juvenile on August 14, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

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Book Review | The Book of Kindly Deaths | Eldritch Black

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Book of Kindly Deaths | Eldritch BlackThe Book of Kindly Deaths by Eldritch Black
Published by Spencer Hill on September 16, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Paranormal YA
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher
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four-stars

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THE MONSTERS IN A BOOK BECAME REAL?

When twelve-year-old Eliza Winter finds a secret room in her missing grandfather’s sprawling, Gothic house, her safe, sheltered life is blown apart. Inside, below a stained glass window where moonlight shines no matter the time of day, sits The Book of Kindly Deaths.

In defiance of her controlling mother, who has always forbidden her to read anything strange or imaginary, Eliza takes the book. As night sets in, Eliza reads one haunting story after another. And the further she journeys inside the book, the more the boundaries between our world and a shadowy land of monsters and forbidden places begin to blur.

When the strange, crooked man from the book arrives on the doorstep claiming to be a rare-book collector and demanding entry into the house, Eliza’s world is turned upside down. To escape him, she must dive all the way into the spine-tingling world of The Book of Kindly Deaths to save her grandfather–and write an end to the nightmare she’s caught inside.

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Book Review | I’ll Give You the Sun | Jandy Nelson

I received this book for free from BookExpo in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | I’ll Give You the Sun | Jandy NelsonI'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on September 16, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Families, Young Adult
Pages: 371
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
AmazonBarnes & NobleGoodreads
five-stars

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

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Book Review | Sinner | Maggie Stiefvater

Book cover Sinner Maggie StiefvaterTitle: Sinner
Author: Maggie Stiefvater (web | twitter)
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4
Genre: Paranormal YA
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N
Publisher: Scholastic
Release date: July 1, 2014
Source: ARC from BEA

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole’s story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole’s darkest secret — his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel’s life. Can this sinner be saved?

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