Book Review | These Broken Stars | Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Book cover These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman Megan SpoonerTitle: These Broken Stars
Authors: Amie Kaufman (web | twitter) & Megan Spooner (web | twitter)
Series: Starbound #1
Genre: Science Fiction YA
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release date: December 10, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Disney Hyperion!)

Summary: It’s a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help. 

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

[Read more…]

Book Review | Champion | Marie Lu

Book cover for Champion by Marie LuTitle: Champion
Author: Marie Lu (web | twitter)
Series: Legend #3
Genre: Dystopian YA
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Book Depository
Publisher: Putnam
Release date: November 5, 2013
Source: Bought it

Summary: The explosive finale to Marie Lu’s New York Times bestselling LEGEND trilogy—perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT!

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion? 

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

[Read more…]

Blog Tour Guest Post + Review | Broken | C.J. Lyons

Book cover for Broken by CJ Lyons

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository

CJ Lyons: Web | Twitter

Summary: The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

[Read more…]

Book Review | Just One Year | Gayle Forman

Book cover for Just One year by Gayle FormanTitle: Just One Year
Author: Gayle Forman (web | twitter)
Series: Just One Day #2
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Book Depository
Publisher: Dutton Children’s
Release date: October 10, 2013
Source: Own it

Summary: Before you find out how their story ends, remember how it began….

When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to find a girl named Lulu. They shared one magical day in Paris, and something about that day—that girl—makes Willem wonder if they aren’t fated to be together. He travels all over the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to reconnect with her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question if the hand of fate is as strong as he’d thought. . . .

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents that happen—and the happiness we can find when the two intersect.

[Read more…]

Book Review | How to Love | Katie Cotugno

Book cover for How to Love by Katie CotugnoTitle: How to Love
Author: Katie Cotugno
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Book Depository
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: October 1, 2013
Source: Borrowed

Summary: Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

[Read more…]

Book Review | The Outside | Laura Bickle

Fortnight of Fright

 

Friends, I’m so very excited to be participating in this year’s Fortnight of Fright event, hosted again by the delightful duo of Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide and Alyssa @ Books Take You Places. This is a super event leading up to Halloween where bloggers get to chat about some of their favorite creepy stuff! I’m sometimes a wuss about scary things, but I’m psyched to be reviewing THE OUTSIDE by Laura Bickle for my Fortnight of Fright post! So, thanks ladies! And come on in for some vampire creepiness!

[Read more…]

Book Review | Fangirl | Rainbow Rowell

book cover for fangirl by rainbow rowellTitle: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!)

Summary: Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

[Read more…]

Book Review | Golden | Jessi Kirby

Book cover for Golden by Jessi KirbyTitle: Golden
Author: Jessi Kirby (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Release date: May 14, 2013
Source: Own it

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

[Read more…]

Book Review | Under the Empyrean Sky | Chuck Wendig

Book cover for Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck WendigTitle: Under the Empyrean Sky
Author: Chuck Wendig (web | twitter)
Series: The Heartland Trilogy #1
Genre: Dystopian YA
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: Amazon Children’s Publishing
Release date: July 30, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Summary: Corn is king in the Heartland, and Cael McAvoy has had enough of it. It’s the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow ? and the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it. As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables, trying to earn much-needed ace notes for their families. But Cael’s tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He’s sick of the mayor’s son besting Cael’s crew in the scavenging game. And he’s worried about losing Gwennie ? his first mate and the love of his life ? forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry ? angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn’t seem upset about any of it. Cael’s ready to make his own luck . . . even if it means bringing down the wrath of the Empyrean elite and changing life in the Heartland forever.

[Read more…]

Book Review | Rose Under Fire | Elizabeth Wein

Book cover for Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth WeinTitle: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein (web | twitter)
Series: Code Name Verity #2
Genre: Historical Fiction YA
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: Hyperion
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Summary: While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

[Read more…]