Book: Whirl by Emma Raveling

Published by Mandorla Publishing (258 pages)

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Paranormal/Fantasy

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Goodreads Summary: Seventeen-year-old Kendra Irisavie is an ondine, a water elemental caught in the middle of an ancient war with the Aquidae, immortal dark demons who will stop at nothing to destroy the fragile balance of the Elemental world.

Fierce and independent, Kendra has always played by her own rules. Gifted with the powerful magic of Virtue and trained to be a deadly fighter, she has spent her life breaking hearts and getting into trouble.

When her life explodes one violent night in a northern California city, a dark stranger appears, promising answers to her mysterious past.

Alone and with no one to trust, she must now navigate through a dangerous new world, face the temptations of a forbidden romance, and remain true to her duty and destiny.

All while the Aquidae continue to hunt her down, in the hopes of eliminating her forever…

I love the concept of Whirl.  It kind of reminds me of Vampire Academy, in the the society is structured and how the school is set up.  But obviously with water elementals instead of vampires.

Okay, so Kendra falling for a prince and being the chosen one was a little obvious.  But there were a couple other guys I could see her with, and I’m not completely sure who she’ll end up with.  You have Tristan (the prince) and Julian, and I could see her with either one.  There was the possibility of her and a friend, but that’s not going to happen because he (unfortunately) died.  I like that it’s not completely obvious.  It’s a nice change from a lot of other books, where you know right off the bat who the main character will end up with.

I love that the water element is the focus, and that there are elementals who have Virtues (or super-special abilities) and elementals who don’t have any Virtues.  I thought Raveling did a great job with coming up with her own terminology- which is even explained at the end.  I wish I had read it first, but either way, I’m glad she included it.

I haven’t come across anything involving the elements to this degree.  I’m sure they’ve been in the background of something I’ve read, but they’ve never been the focus.  I just love this idea!  I really do.

Kendra was way too independent, and was determined to do things on her own.  I guess part of it is that she grew up “rogue” with her mother.  So while she’s the chosen one who has to defeat the Aquidae, she’ll (hopefully) learn that she can trust others enough to let them help her.

I did find some of the other characters more interesting.  Like Nexa.  I sort of want to know more about a mission she was on.  And I thought Julian and Tristan were interesting characters.  I was hoping for more scenes with both of them, but I’m really hoping we’ll see more of them in the rest of the series.

I think Whirl deserves a 4 out of 5.  It really is an interesting idea, and I love the idea of water elementals.

Book: Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Published by Tor Teen (211 pages)

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Ghosts/Horror

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Goodreads Summary: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas’s life.

Anna Dressed In Blood got my attention because it’s about ghosts.  Not vampires or fairies or mermaids.  But ghosts!  They’re rare, it seems like, so I knew I had to read it.  Actually, there is a dash of horror, which seems equally rare in YA.

I liked it, and I loved seeing Anna’s story.  Okay, so Cas falling in love with Anna was a little unbelievable.  It is a paranormal book, though, so I’m willing to overlook that.  I do wish Blake had stuck with horror with a touch of paranormal, instead of the paranormal romance it seemed to turn into.  Cas as a character didn’t work for me, and I can’t exactly pinpoint why.  It is nice to see a male protagonist for once, but…I just didn’t really care about him either way.

But back to Anna.  Her story and the curse her mother put on her was interesting.  And I liked the creature that killed his dad.  Blake did create an interesting world, full of people with different abilities.

I don’t think I’m interested in reading the next book.  At least not right away.  It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, but it’s not one of my favorites.

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.