Book Review | Illuminae | Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Jan 15

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 | Illuminae | Amie Kaufman & Jay KristoffIlluminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
Published by Knopf on October 20, 2015
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 599
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | Six of Crows | Leigh Bardugo

Jan 4

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 | Six of Crows | Leigh BardugoSix of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Series: Six of Crows #1
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on September 29, 2015
Genres: Fantasy YA, Thieves, Young Adult
Pages: 465
Format: ARC
Also by this author: Shadow and Bone
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Kaz’s crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

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

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

Sep 18

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

Book Review | Heir of Fire | Sarah J. Maas

Sep 12

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 | Heir of Fire | Sarah J. MaasHeir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #3
Published by Bloomsbury on September 2, 2014
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 562
Format: ARC
Also in this series: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, The Queen of Shadows
Also by this author: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, The Queen of Shadows
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

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

Book Review | The Dream Thieves | Maggie Stiefvater

Sep 16

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 | The Dream Thieves | Maggie StiefvaterThe Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Published by Scholastic on September 17, 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 439
Format: ARC
Also in this series: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Also by this author: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

 Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

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

Book Review | The 5th Wave | Rick Yancey

Aug 22
Book Review | The 5th Wave | Rick YanceyThe 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Series: The 5th Wave #1
Published by Putnam Juvenile on May 7, 2013
Genres: Aliens, Post-Apocalyptic YA, Science Fiction
Pages: 592
Format: Hardcover
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

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

Book Review | Throne of Glass | Sarah J. Maas

Sep 13

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 | Throne of Glass | Sarah J. MaasThrone of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Published by Bloomsbury on August 7, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 404
Format: ARC
Also in this series: Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, The Queen of Shadows
Also by this author: Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, The Queen of Shadows
Source: BookExpo
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four-stars

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

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

Book Review | Fracture | Megan Miranda

Jan 14

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 | Fracture | Megan MirandaFracture by Megan Miranda
Series: Fracture #1
Published by Walker Children's on January 17, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA
Pages: 262
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
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three-stars

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine–despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

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

Book Review | Icefall | Matthew J. Kirby

Jan 11

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 | Icefall | Matthew J. KirbyIcefall by Matthew J. Kirby
Published by Scholastic on October 1, 2011
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Vikings
Pages: 324
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
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five-stars

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father’s victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king’s children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father’s watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

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Filed Under: Children's/Middle Grade, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Saving June | Hannah Harrington

Nov 21

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 | Saving June | Hannah HarringtonSaving June by Hannah Harrington
Published by Harlequin Teen on November 22, 2011
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance, Sisters, Young Adult
Pages: 322
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
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four-stars

‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.

When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going, California.

Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.

Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult
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