Book: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Published by HarperTeen (310 pages)

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA/Fantasy- Mythology

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Goodreads Summary: How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it’s getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she’s haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they’re destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

I really like this Greek mythology re-telling trend going on.  In Starcrossed, you have the Scions, who represent 4 different houses.  And in this generation, you happen to have Paris and Helen Of Troy, in the form of Lucas and Helen.  There’s the whole forbidden romance thing going on, because they’re from rival houses, and I really liked it.

I loved what Angelini did with Greek mythology, especially her explanation for Helen’s cramps (and it’s not what you’d expect AT ALL).  One house to resurrect Atlantis, and a lot of references to the Iliad…now I want to brush up on Greek mythology!

It really felt like Angelini is passionate about Greek mythology and did a lot of research.  Everything felt really plausible, which is interesting considering it’s fantasy.  It’s just a great book and there were times when it felt very haunting.

I loved the characters and thought they all had really interesting relationships and histories.  And the setting of Nantucket made it seem so romantic.  I loved how Nantucket was described and it just worked for me as a setting.  I just can’t picture it taking place anywhere else.

It gets a 4 out of 5.  It was a fun, interesting read and I can’t wait to read Dreamless.

Book: Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Published by Feiwel and Friends

Purchased for my Nook (203 pages)

Genre: YA/Dystopic and Post-Apocalyptic

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Goodreads Summary: New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20’s. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight, in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs. As the two are guided by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.

I was really surprised by this book.  I didn’t like a good chunk of this book, but by the end, I found I really liked it.  I didn’t particularly care for the part of the book that’s in the enclave, but really enjoyed the part where Deuce and Fade leave the enclave.

I thought the idea of enclave after plague and war left NYC destroyed.  You weren’t completely sure what happened or why people are living underground in enclaves.  It worked for the book, considering that there are a select group of people in charge who don’t care about what Fade and Deuce found.

I thought NYC after was interesting, with it being overrun by gangs and few signs of life.  You know things are bad when being in your mid-twenties is considered elderly.  That’s a really scary thought, and I wonder if that could ever happen.

I did wonder where things were going at times, especially during the first part, when they’re still in the enclave.  And the use of the word breeder really irritated me.  I know their main purpose is to keep the enclave going, but still…it grated on my nerves the entire time.  I’m also not sure what the Freaks are.  Are they zombies?  Some other creature?  Animals gone crazy?  I have no idea but zombies seem like given the author’s note at the end of the book.

It’s definitely different as far as dystopic and post-apocyalypctic novels go.  I give it a 4 out of 5, and I can’t wait to read the next book!

Book: Waterfall by Lisa Bergren

Published by David C. Cook Publishing

Purchased for my Nook- 277 pages

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction- Romance

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Goodreads Summary: Lisa Tawn Bergren’s new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn’t have to fear a vampire’s bite but must still fight for her life.

In Book One, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in sixteenth-century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties.

Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Bentarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves in the sixteenth-century and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.

Waterfall…I liked it, especially because it’s historical fiction, and I don’t read a lot of YA historical fiction.

I love the setting- and I want to know more about 16th century Italy.  It seems so beautiful, and it’s a shame we don’t get to spend more time there.  Actually, considering the fact that Gabby spends a lot of time in a castle, I couldn’t tell you anything about it.

The whole book felt very modern, and given Gabby goes back in time, I get why she acts a lot differently than everyone around her.  But I would have like more of a contrast between her and the world in which she traveled to.  Things were a little too convenient at times (like this horrible injury that miraculously heals when she goes forward in time) but overall, I thought it worked enough to get the point across.

As for the characters, I thought Gabby was just okay.  I thought Luca and Fortino were the most interesting characters in the book, and I wish they had more appearances in the book.  As for Marcello, he was okay.  Come to think of it, a lot of the characters were bland.  Maybe it’s because they didn’t seem to fit into the time period.

I’m not sure why it’s titled Waterfall, considering there is nothing to do with water in the entire book.

Despite all the things that I didn’t like, it was an adventure and pretty entertaining.  Plus, it is an interesting idea.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, but not enough to continue the series.

Book: Brightest Kind Of Darkness by P.T. Michelle

Self-Published by P.T. Michelle

Purchased for my Nook- 248 pages

Genre: YA/Paranormal

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Goodreads Summary: Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate- until she dreams a future she can’t ignore. After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate. Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

I liked Brightest Kind Of Darkness a lot.  I just love that she can see the future but doesn’t really try to change anything…until she dreams that her school is going to be bombed. It’s definitely interesting that calling it in changed her dreams forever, to the point that she no longer has them.

And meeting Ethan, who absorbs negative energy from people by touching them?  Definitely crazy, but in a good way.  He reminds me of psychic vampires.

One thing I thought was really well-done was the fact that you didn’t know what was going on.  Everything came together at the end, and I liked how Nara and Ethan put the pieces together.  It did take a long time for the big reveal, but I honestly didn’t mind.

It’s such a cool idea, and I love that their abilities are tied together.  And not in an annoying way.  Actually, I really liked Nara and Ethan.  They’re interesting and different and not cliche.  They do make a cute couple…and I’m especially happy that there’s no love triangle.

The cover is just so beautiful…it definitely grabbed my attention!  I just need a minute to swoon over that cover.

It gets a 4 out of 5.  I didn’t love it, but it’s unique, fun and interesting.

Book: Inside Out by Maria V Snyder

Published by: Harlequin Teen

Purchased for my Nook- 227 pages

Genre: YA/Science Fiction- Dystopic

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Goodreads Summary: Keep your head down.

Don’t get noticed.

Or else.

I’m Trella. A Scrub. A nobody, living in on the inside, doing my job, being noticed only by my friend Cog. But when I accidentally start a rebellion and becomes a go-to girl for the revolution, nothing will be the same on Inside, or Outside.

Inside Out is a really cool book.  I like the idea of inside versus outside and that everyone has their own duties and their place in this society.

I thought the characters were interesting, but I didn’t care for most of them at first.  I get why they acted the way they did, but they did start to grow on me as the book progressed.

I wasn’t expecting them to be on a spaceship.  Underground, maybe.  But not on a spaceship.  Which actually makes a lot of sense now that I think about it, with the pipes and how self-sustaining they are.

I’m curious as to how they ended up there, and what their history is.  What’ll happen Week # 1 million?  What is outside?  The world Snyder built is really interesting, and while there isn’t a lot of backstory, inside felt like a real place.

It did take a while to get going, but once it did, it was hard to put down.

Some things- like Trella’s family history or the romance- felt a little forced, and was the most predictable part of the book.

It gets a 4 out of 5.  It could have had a few more details, but overall, it was a fun read.

Book: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, written by Seth Grahame-Smith and narrated by Scott Holst

Run Time: 10 hours

Source: audiobook via Audible

Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction and Paranormal

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Goodreads Summary: Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother’s bedside. She’s been stricken with something the old-timers call “Milk Sickness.”

“My baby boy…” she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, “henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose…” Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

I liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  It was a fun listen.

It felt very much like an actual biography of Abraham Lincoln, but with vampires thrown in.  If it were not for the vampires, I would have sworn I was listening to an actual biography of Abraham Lincoln.  I’m not sure how much research the author did, but it really felt like he knew his stuff.

I really liked how vampires were the basis for Lincoln running for senate and president, and that it’s the basis for the civil war.  It’s a really interesting take on Lincoln, the civil war and slavery, and I really want to read up on the civil war now.

I thought Holst did a great job of narrating the book, and it didn’t feel like it was 10 hours long.

I only have a couple complaints.  One: there was not as much vampire-hunting as I expected.  I don’t know why but I was thinking it would be more about him as a vampire-hunter…instead it ended up being more about why he didn’t like vampires.

And two: I wasn’t a fan of the ending.  Abraham Lincoln becomes a vampire because Henry doesn’t want an interesting man to die.  It just doesn’t fit.  And not only that but after the build-up of a struggling writer getting Lincoln’s journals and writing his story, we get absolutely nothing about what happens afterwards.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  It was entertaining but not spectactular.

Book: Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan

Book Info: Publisher unknown- likely self-published; 432 pages

Source: Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads Summary: Emma’s struggle with an abusive home life came to a heart pounding conclusion in the final chapters of Reason to Breathe. Now everyone in Weslyn knows Emma’s secret, but Carol can’t hurt Emma anymore. Some are still haunted by the horror of that night, and some must face the repercussions of their choices. Fans of Rebecca Donovan’s debut novel will discover there’s still much to learn about Emma’s life.

After finishing Reason To Breathe, I immediately bought and started to read Barely Breathing.  I just had to know how things worked out for Emma and if she would be okay.

I loved it just as much as I loved Reason To Breathe (now known as RTB), and seeing how Emma and those around her dealt with the aftermath of RTB.  It’s just as emotional and intense as RTB, and I had to put it down several times because it is such a haunting book.

I liked that things weren’t easy for Emma, and that she still has a lot of things to work out.  One of the very few things I didn’t like was the storyline with Jonathan.  I wasn’t surpised that there was a connection between them.  It was a very predictable element in an otherwise unpredictable story.  I thought her relationship with her mother was interesting and dysfunctional, and I was glad to see Emma make the decision to not have her mother in her life.

As for the cliffhanger endings, they’re killing me!  I just want to read the next book so I know what happens!  I understand why she just walked away, and after everything that’s happened, I don’t really blame her.  `

I love Evan and how supportive and caring he is, and I love how Sara is such a great friend.  I just want things to be okay between Evan and Emma.  I really do.  She needs some happiness and peace.

My only other complaint about Barely Breathing is the random question marks scattered throughout the book.  I don’t know if they were supposed to be commas or hyphens- which I assume they were- and somehow ended up as question marks.  It wasn’t a huge distraction or anything, but it is slightly strange.

I just…I really don’t know what else to say.  I’m absolutely stunned by Barely Breathing.  It gets a 5 out of 5.