Book Review: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce

Feb 18

Book cover for 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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Audiobook Review | Cinder | Marissa Meyer + Rebecca Soler

Feb 15
Audiobook Review | Cinder | Marissa Meyer + Rebecca SolerCinder 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
five-stars

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Reading Challenge, Audiobook, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Feb 11

I received this book for free from a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Scarlet | Marissa MeyerScarlet by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2
Published by Feiwel & Friends on February 5, 2013
Genres: Dystopian YA, Science Fiction
Pages: 452
Format: ARC
Also in this series: Cinder, Cinder, Cress, Fairest
Also by this author: Cinder, Cinder, Cress, Fairest
Source: a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!)
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review: Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Feb 1

Book cover for Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Stealing Parker
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks, #2
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: October 1, 2012
Source: Gifted a copy from Tara (Thank you!!)

Summary: Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.

Now Parker wants a new life.

So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?

But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Jan 28

Book cover for Prodigy by Marie LuTitle: Prodigy
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend, #2
Genre: Dystopian YA
Publisher: Putnam
Release date: January 29, 2013
Amazon | Goodreads
Source: ARC from Publisher

Summary: June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , ,

Book Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Jan 25

Book cover for Just One Day by Gayle FormanTitle: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: Just One Day #1
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release date: January 8, 2013
Amazon | Goodreads
Challenge: YA Contemporary Challenge
Source: Bought

Summary: When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Book Review | The Cadet of Tildor | Alex Lidell

Jan 21

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.

Book Review | The Cadet of Tildor | Alex LidellThe Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell
Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on January 10, 2013
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 408
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-half-stars

There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown’s inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Jan 17

Book cover for The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Title: The False Prince

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1

Genre: Fantasy YA

Amazon | Goodreads

Publisher: Scholastic

Release date: April 1, 2012

Challenge: TBR Challenge

Summary: In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Shadowlands | Kate Brian

Jan 11

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.

Book Review | Shadowlands | Kate BrianShadowlands by Kate Brian
Series: Shadowlands #1
Published by Disney Hyperion on January 8, 2013
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review: Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

Jan 7

Book cover for Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

Title: Lovely, Dark and Deep

Author: Amy McNamara

Genre: Contemporary YA

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release date: October 16, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Challenge: 2013 TBR Challenge

Summary: Since the night of the crash, Wren Wells has been running away. Though she lived through the accident that killed her boyfriend Patrick, the girl she used to be didn’t survive. Instead of heading off to college as planned, Wren retreats to her father’s studio in the far-north woods of Maine. Somewhere she can be alone.

Then she meets Cal Owen. Dealing with his own troubles, Cal’s hiding out too. When the chemistry between them threatens to pull Wren from her hard-won isolation, Wren has to choose: risk opening her broken heart to the world again, or join the ghosts who haunt her.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »