Book Review | This Is Not A Test | Courtney Summers

Jul 26

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 | This Is Not A Test | Courtney SummersThis Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
Series: This Is Not a Test #1
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on June 19, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Horror & Ghost Stories, Young Adult, Zombies
Pages: 326
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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four-stars

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.

To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.

But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

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

Book Review | Shadow and Bone | Leigh Bardugo

Jul 5

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 | Shadow and Bone | Leigh BardugoShadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha Trilogy #1
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on June 5, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Also by this author: Six of Crows
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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five-stars

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

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

Book Review | My Life Next Door | Huntley Fitzpatrick

Jun 25

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 | My Life Next Door | Huntley FitzpatrickMy Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Series: My Life Next Door #1
Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on June 14, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 394
Format: eARC
Also by this author: The Boy Most Likely To
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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five-stars

“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase’s family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Cross My Heart | Sasha Gould

May 31

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 | Cross My Heart | Sasha GouldCross My Heart by Sasha Gould
Series: Cross My Heart #1
Published by Delacorte on March 13, 2012
Genres: Europe, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 262
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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four-stars

Venice, 1585.

When 16-year-old Laura della Scala learns that her older sister, Beatrice, has drowned, she is given no time to grieve. Instead, Laura’s father removes her from the convent where he forcibly sent her years earlier and orders her to marry Beatrice’s fiancé, a repulsive old merchant named Vincenzo. Panicked, Laura betrays a powerful man to earn her way into the Segreta, a shadowy society of women who deal in only one currency—secrets. The Segreta seems like the answer to Laura’s prayers. The day after she joins their ranks, Vincenzo is publicly humiliated and conveniently exiled. Soon, however, Laura begins to suspect that her sister’s death was not a tragic accident but a cold-blooded murder—one that might involve the Segreta and the women she has come to trust.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , ,

Book Review | Kill Me Softly | Sarah Cross

May 7

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 | Kill Me Softly | Sarah CrossKill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
Series: Beau Rivage #1
Published by Egmont USA on April 10, 2012
Genres: Fairy tales, Fantasy YA, Retelling, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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four-stars

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own… brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

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

Book Review | The Book of Blood and Shadow | Robin Wasserman

Apr 27

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 Book of Blood and Shadow | Robin WassermanThe Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
Published by Random House Children's Books on April 10, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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four-stars

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora’s best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora’s sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

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

Book Review | Supergirl Mixtapes | Megan Brothers

Apr 19

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 | Supergirl Mixtapes | Megan BrothersSupergirl Mixtapes by Megan Brothers
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on April 24, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Young Adult
Pages: 245
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
three-stars

After years of boredom in her rural South Carolina town, Maria is thrilled when her father finally allows her to visit her estranged artist mother in New York City. She’s ready for adventure, and she soon finds herself immersed in a world of rock music and busy streets, where new people and ideas lie around every concrete corner. This is the freedom she’s always longed for—and she pushes for as much as she can get, skipping school to roam the streets, visit fancy museums, and flirt with the cute clerk at a downtown record store.

But just like her beloved New York City, Maria’s life has a darker side. Behind her mother’s carefree existence are shadowy secrets, and Maria must decide just where—and with whom—her loyalty lies.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | The Wicked and the Just | J. Anderson Coats

Apr 16

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 Wicked and the Just | J. Anderson CoatsThe Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 17, 2012
Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 345
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
three-stars

Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house.

Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl.

While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , ,

Book Review | Katana | Cole Gibsen

Apr 9

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 | Katana | Cole GibsenKatana by Cole Gibsen
Series: Katana #1
Published by Flux on March 8, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 375
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Rileigh Martin would love to believe that adrenaline had given her the uncanny courage and strength to fend off three muggers. But it doesn’t explain her dreams of 15th-century Japan, the incredible fighting skills she suddenly possesses, or the strange voice giving her battle tips and danger warnings.

While worrying that she’s going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she’s harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.

Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana—a deadly Japanese sword that’s also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she’s always been and embracing the warrior inside her.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers

Apr 5

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 | Grave Mercy | Robin LaFeversGrave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin #1
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 3, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 549
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Dark Triumph, Mortal Heart
Also by this author: Dark Triumph, Mortal Heart
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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