Book: Knight Assassin by Rima Jean

Expected Publication Is March 4, 2014 by Entangled Teen|Expected Number Of Pages: 242

Where I Got It: I received a advanced digital copy from Entangled Teen, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way. Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Paranormal Historical Fiction

You can find Knight Assassin on goodreads & Rima Jean on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Seventeen-year-old Zayn has special powers she cannot control—powers that others fear and covet. Powers that cause the Templar Knights to burn Zayn’s mother at the stake for witchcraft. When a mysterious stranger tempts Zayn to become the first female member of the heretical Assassins, the chance to seek her revenge lures her in. She trains to harness her supernatural strength and agility, and then enters the King of Jerusalem’s court in disguise with the assignment to assassinate Guy de Molay, her mother’s condemner. But once there, she discovers Earic Goodwin, the childhood friend who still holds her heart, among the knights—and his ocean-blue eyes don’t miss a thing. Will vengeance be worth the life of the one love she has left?

What I Thought:

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Knight Assassin, but I really enjoyed it!  Mostly because it’s an interesting blend of paranormal and historical fiction.  Not only that, but I believe it’s set during the Crusades, which I can’t remember seeing in historical fiction before.

The setting and time period is so different, but I actually find it really interesting and unique because I feel like it’s not something you see very often.  I know very, very little about this time period and part of the world, but I found it was really easy to picture all of the tension and how all of the different groups related to each other.  I also liked that we saw a lot of the different groups and how each group was portrayed pretty neutral.  Still, I wish we got a little more of the different conflicts going on.  I really love all of the details, and I felt like I was really there!

I thought Zayn’s abilities were interesting, especially given how hard she works to be become a trained assassin.  I wasn’t expecting Zayn’s background to be what it is, but it worked really well for where she lives and the time period she lives in. Certain things that happened and certain things Zayn learned…I can’t say I’m surprised, but I also didn’t see them coming!  It all just works so well together, with her abilities and everything that’s happened to her and everything that she goes on to do…I really felt for Zayn, because she’s a pretty sympathetic character.  She’s been through so much, and I don’t blame her for wanting revenge.

I think part of me was expecting a sequel, but as far as I know, there isn’t one in the works.  Things are pretty resolved, and it stands on its own really well, but the ending is also open enough that a sequel is possible.

Let’s Rate It:

I love how well the paranormal elements worked with the historical fiction elements.  It did start off a little slow for me, and it did take a bit of time before Zayn gets sent off to the Assassins, but once you get a few chapters in, it gets really interesting. Still, the first few chapters helped set everything up.  Knight Assassins gets 4 stars.

Book: Cured by Bethany Wiggins

Expected Publication is March 4, 2014 by Walker Childrens|Expected Number Of Pages: 326

Where I Got: I received an advanced copy from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: Stung #2

Genre: YA dystopic/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic

You can find Cured on goodreads and Bethany Wiggins on her website and her blog

Goodreads Summary: 

Now that Fiona Tarsis and her twin brother, Jonah, are no longer beasts, they set out to find their mother, with the help of Bowen and a former neighbor, Jacqui. Heading for a safe settlement rumored to be in Wyoming, they plan to spread the cure along the way–until they are attacked by raiders. Luckily, they find a new ally in Kevin, who saves them and leads them to safety in his underground shelter. But the more they get to know Kevin, the more they suspect he has ties to the raiders. He also seems to know too many details about Jacqui and her family—details that could endanger them all. For the raiders will do anything they can to destroy the cure that would bring an end to their way of life. Bethany Wiggins’s reimagining of our world after an environmental catastrophe won’t fail to stun readers.

What I Thought:

After reading Stung, I couldn’t wait to read Cured to see what had happened after the end of Stung.  But while I really liked Stung, I thought Cured was just okay.

I just wasn’t as drawn in by Cured as I was expecting.  I liked seeing what happened after people learned about the cure and I liked seeing a different part of the world that Jacqui lived in and how different her life is. We do see characters from Stung, as well as new characters, and I liked seeing how things turned out for Fiona and her brother.

Wiggins created such a detailed, interested world in Stung, and while we see more of that in Cured, it also wasn’t what I was expecting.  To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to expect in terms of how the story would turn out, but I don’t think I expected the story to be narrated by Jacqui.  I felt like Jacqui was just okay as a narrator.  I get why she was so sheltered, but given the journey she was going on with Fiona, Jonah and Bowden…she really did seem so much younger than she really was, and I just didn’t connect with her because of it.

Let’s Rate It:

I’m not sure what else to say about Cured.  I think part of why it was an okay read for me is that Stung worked really well on its own.  It was interesting to see how things changed after news about the cure got out, and I liked seeing how things were resolved.  It kept me interested, but it wasn’t quite interesting enough.  Stung gets 2 stars.

Book: A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

Expected Publication is March 4, 2014 by HMH Books For Young Readers|Expected Number Of Pages: 290

Where I Got It: from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

You can find A Death-Struck Year on goodreads and you can find Makiia Lucier on her website and facebook

Goodreads Summary:

A deadly pandemic, a budding romance, and the heartache of loss make for a stunning coming-of-age teen debut about the struggle to survive during the 1918 flu.

For Cleo Berry, the people dying of the Spanish Influenza in cities like New York and Philadelphia may as well be in another country–that’s how far away they feel from the safety of Portland, Oregon. And then cases start being reported in the Pacific Northwest. Schools, churches, and theaters shut down. The entire city is thrust into survival mode–and into a panic. Headstrong and foolish, seventeen-year-old Cleo is determined to ride out the pandemic in the comfort of her own home, rather than in her quarantined boarding school dorms. But when the Red Cross pleads for volunteers, she can’t ignore the call. As Cleo struggles to navigate the world around her, she is surprised by how much she finds herself caring about near-strangers. Strangers like Edmund, a handsome medical student and war vet. Strangers who could be gone tomorrow. And as the bodies begin to pile up, Cleo can’t help but wonder: when will her own luck run out?

Riveting and well-researched, A Death-Struck Year is based on the real-life pandemic considered the most devastating in recorded world history. Readers will be captured by the suspenseful storytelling and the lingering questions of: what would I do for a neighbor? At what risk to myself?

What I Thought:

I don’t read a lot of YA historical fiction, but A Death-Struck Year is such a great addition to the genre! I really like that it’s set during the Spanish Influenza epidemic, because I feel like that’s not something that really comes up as a back-drop for historical fiction.  And I like that Cleo was so willing to help strangers, even when people didn’t want to help their own family and neighbors.

I really liked Cleo and how much volunteering changed her.  It really felt like volunteering put things in perspective for her, and she really grew as a person throughout the book.

What I liked most was how detailed but interesting A Death-Struck Year is.  I know about the Spanish flu epidemic and how horrible it was, but other than that, I didn’t know anything about it.  And now there’s a part of me that wants to know more about it. I really liked the note at the end of the book talking about the Spanish flu and that she has a few books listed if you want to do further reading.  It seems like Lucier spent a lot of researching because I could picture everything so well, and everything was described so well.  I really could picture everything unfolding the way it did in A Death-Struck Year, and I felt like I had a much clearer picture of how bad it really was after reading this book.

Something I couldn’t help but wonder while reading A Death-Struck Year is how we’d react if such a thing were to happen today. And it’s also something I can imagine happening today, with a different disease.  And I liked that Cleo wasn’t sure what to do with her life, but decided to take things one day at a time.  I definitely think her time with the Red Cross and all of the people she met and worked with and helped made a big difference on her life and her realizing that it’s okay not to have everything figured out.

I’m not sure how I feel about the ending.  The book only takes place over the course of a few weeks, and you get closure on everything that happens.  It does work well with Cleo taking things one day at a time, but part of me wanted an epilogue or something that gave me a picture of what Cleo’s life was like some period of time after the events of the book.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought the end was very fitting to what we see unfold in the book, but there is that part of me that wanted to see Cleo’s life weeks or months after everything started to go back to normal.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked A Death-Struck Year!  I think it’s a really great look at a period that I’m not very familiar with, and it felt like Lucier put a lot of time into researching Portland during that time.  I could picture everything so well!  A Death-Struck Year gets 4 stars.

Book: Nil by Lynne Matson

Expected Publication is March 4, 2013 by Henry Holt & Co|Expected Number Of Pages: 383

Where I Got It: I got the e-ARC from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Thriller

You can find Nil on goodreads & Lynne Matson on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary:

On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have exactly 365 days to escape—or you die.

Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s naked in an empty rock field.

Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that she has to find a way to beat the clock, and quickly.

What I Thought:

I’ve been looking forward to reading Nil, and it’s definitely different and strange…but in a good way.

I mean, Charley somehow ends up on this strange island where you have a year to get off the island. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why some people end up on the island- other than everyone being in middle school or high school.

Here’s the thing about Nil: you get thrown into this world, with no explanation of what’s going or why people end up there or why there are rules.  Seriously, by the end of the book, you still have no clue what the deal with this island is.  And normally that would bother me, because I want to know so many things about the world I inhabit when reading…but not knowing much of anything about Nil actually worked well for the book.

You only know what the characters know, and even the one who have been on the island for a while don’t have the answers.  They just try to make do with what they have and seem to make the best out of a really strange situation.

The book itself is narrated by two different people- Charley, who is a newcomer to the island, and Thad, who has been on the island for almost a year.  I did like that you had the two of them narrate, because you got two very different perspectives on the island. I find it interesting that you know very little about their lives before Nil and their lives after Nil.  But that also worked for me, because their lives become all about Nil.  You only see Charley going to Nil and what her life was like after going home, but there is part of me that wants to know what happened to the other kids on Nil after Charley and Thad left.  And how they deal with not being on Nil anymore.

Let’s Rate It:

Nil is definitely different and strange but in a good way!  I liked that we don’t know much of anything about the island and the people Charley and Thad left behind.  I didn’t love Nil, and I’m not sure why, because there are so many great things about it.  I just don’t think it had that special something to make me fall in love with it.  Nil gets 3 stars.

Book: Me Since You by Laura Weiss

Expected Publication is February 18, 2014 by MTV Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 370

Where I Got It: I got the e-ARC from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find Me Since You on goodreads & Laura Weiss on her website

Goodreads Summary:

Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding—in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That’s how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old—a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger’s shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother — and herself — from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

What I Thought:

When I first started reading Me Since You, I wasn’t sure about it.  But as I kept reading, I found that it was a hard book to put down. I got so wrapped up in Rowan’s story, and one choice changed her entire life, and I really felt for her.

If I had to describe Me Since You in two words, it would be ripple effect.

Rowan skipping school set off a series of events that led to do her dad’s suicide.  We see a little bit of her life before it happens, and you really see how much it changes her and the effect that it has on her. Rowan struggles with guilt and blames herself.  I don’t blame her- in fact, I would probably feel the same way if I were her.  I couldn’t help but cry, and I was a sobbing mess by the end of the book.  I could relate to Rowan so much, and I really liked seeing her start to come to terms with everything that happened.

This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read about a teen grieving.  Something about Rowan’s story rang true- whether you’ve lost someone to suicide or not, I feel like her grief is something everyone can relate to.

One thing that frustrated me was Rowan’s best friend Nadia.  She pretty much told Rowan that she needed to get over her dad’s death a few weeks after it happened, and pushed Rowan to go to parties, only to be really frustrated when Rowan doesn’t enjoy herself at said parties.  I really wish she were more understanding of what Rowan was going through.  I suppose it can be hard to understand when you haven’t been through it yourself, but I was just irritated and frustrated and angry that Rowan’s “best friend” thought she wasn’t getting over her father’s suicide fast enough.

I did like Eli and Daisy, and I’m glad Rowan had a friend in Eli.  He really did understand what she was going through, and I’m glad Rowan had him as a friend.

Let’s Rate It:

I loved Me Since You so very much.  One moment can change everything, and Rowan’s life is so very different because of it.  I found Rowan really easy to relate to, and I really felt for her.  Me Since You is a really special book- I couldn’t help but want her to be okay.  Me Since You gets 5+ stars.

Book: Queen Of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

Expected Publication is February 14, 2014 by Sparkpress|Expected Number Of Pages: 222

Where I Got It: I got an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: Queen Of Hearts #1

Genre: YA Fantasy/Re-telling

You can find Queen Of Hearts on goodreads & Colleen Oakes on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Not every fairytale has a happy ending.

This is the story of a princess who became a villain.

A Father’s Betrayal. A Kingdom with a Black Secret. A Princess Slowly Unraveling.

As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.

When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.

Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

What I Thought:

I am so glad I read Queen Of Hearts!  It’s such an interesting take on Alice In Wonderland.  I was a little surprised that it’s on the dark side, but it also worked so well for the book.  It’s been a few years since I’ve read Alice In Wonderland, and even longer since I’ve seen the movie, so I’m really fuzzy on the original.  Still, I found myself figuring out who the characters in this book matched up with some of the characters in Alice In Wonderland, because a few of the references were really obvious…but others were more subtle.  But I liked that Queen Of Hearts is all about Dinah and her future as Queen, and how she got be who she was.

We have yet to see Alice, and I’m really curious as to whether we’ll see her at some point in the series. Something about Dinah’s half-sister really reminded me of Alice, and I think it’s because of how her half-sister is described.

I really like Wonderland, and it’s such a dark place.  It does seem different than Carroll’s Wonderland- from what I remember of Alice In Wonderland- and something about it made me think of Once Upon A Time In Wonderland.  It’s very vivid and memorable and feels very much like a real place.

I do have a soft spot for her brother Charles- otherwise known as the Mad Hatter.  And I really liked Dinah too!  Sure, she was annoying at times, but I really felt for her.  I definitely felt like you could see hints at her transformation as the Queen Of Hearts, but there were also times when I wanted to know how that transformation took place.  Her father, the King Of Hearts, is one evil, horrible man, and I did not like him at all.  As for his discovery of Vittiore (Dinah’s half-sister), there’s something up with that, and there is definitely something shady about her.  Things are definitely happening in Wonderland, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he’s really up to.  And it’s the same with Vittiore.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Queen Of Hearts, and it’s such a different but also dark and twisty take on Alice In Wonderland.  I can’t wait to see where things go!  Queen Of Hearts gets 4 stars.