Book: Anew by Chelsea Fine

Book Info: Published by Acacia Publishing; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Fantasy/Romance

Find Out More: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery…until she met a boy with a familiar voice. 

Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet’s determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he’s kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer. 

Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet’s world becomes even more muddled. While she’s instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she’s impossibly drawn to Tristan–and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past…might just be the death of her.

I liked Anew.  There are some great ideas out there, and Anew is definitely one of them!

The curse is definitely interesting, and I like that having some immortal blood makes her die and come back to life, over and over.  And I thought the Fountain Of Youth element was really interesting too.  I don’t know much about the Fountain Of Youth myths, but I thought her take was definitely interesting.

There is a love triangle (of course) and it isn’t terribly annoying.  While Scarlet is torn between 2 brothers, one can love only her, while the other’s presence slowly kills her every time, literally breaking her heart.  It is refreshing to see a love triangle that’s so interesting and isn’t predictable.

While Scarlet’s guardian rarely appeared, I get the feeling there is more to her story that we’re not getting.  I hope we learn more about her in the next book.

Speaking of all the characters, I just couldn’t connect with any of them.  While the plot was interesting and engaging, I just didn’t care about what happened to the characters.  I thought they were boring and they are your standard characters for a YA novel.

I give it a 3 out of 5.  Interesting plot but boring characters.

Book: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Book Info: Published by Ferral Dream; 255 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Paranormal/Post-Apocalyptic

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Angefall…where do I start? So, I did like Angefall.  It’s definitely an interesting book.  You get dropped right into the book, with no real idea of what was going on or why things were so bad.  You get bits and pieces of what’s happening throughout the novel, and surprisingly, it didn’t irritate me like it normally would.  Actually, it kind of worked for the novel, because things go to hell in a handbasket.

I loved Ee’s version of angels, and how there definitely seems to be a hierarchy.    I liked that angels had swords that were loyal to them (until they weren’t) and that angels could die. The setting is interesting, and I like the idea of angel-human war.  It is fast-paced, and it was hard to get bored. Even though I liked it, it need a little more world-building.  The fact that you get dropped right in the book worked, but at the same time, it wasn’t perfect.  Things aren’t always clear, and most questions are not resolved by the end of the book.  It is an interesting world, though, and hopefully we’ll learn more about this world and why things were they were.

I give it a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, but it doesn’t really stand out, and too many things were left unanswered.

Book: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Book Info: Published by Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill; 344 pages; hardcover; borrowed from the library

Genre: Adult/Dystopic

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: I am red now. It was her first thought of the day, every day, surfacing after a few seconds of fogged, blessed ignorance and sweeping through her like a wave, breaking in her breast with a soundless roar. Hard on its heels came the second wave, crashing into the wreckage left by the first: he is gone.

Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family. But after she’s convicted of murder, she awakens to a nightmarish new life. She finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime—is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the State of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.

A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love.

I loved When She Woke.  I immediately thought of The Scarlett Letter, which I need to read, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (which I tried reading but gave up on).

I thought the idea of Chroming people according to their crime was really interesting, as was the idea of a secretary of faith.  The book does make you think about things like freedom, separation of church and state, abortion and religion and faith.  It’s definitely a future that I can see happening, which made the book slightly scary.

As for what I didn’t like: I thought it wrapped up a little too nicely.  I don’t have a problem with the slightly ambiguous ending, but the ending felt a little forced.  What I found to be really irritating was the fact that Hannah’s transformation from beginning to end was pretty dramatic, given that it takes place over a few weeks.

We also don’t a lot of information about the society- we get bits and pieces, but there were things that didn’t make sense.  How is it that Hannah is 25 and not married?  It seems like her world is one where people get married very young, and yet she is not.  Or how her parents are super-strict and ultra-conservative, but she can get “forbidden” books at the library.  Something just seemed off about the way the society was set up, which may (or may not) be related to the lack of information we get about them.

Overall, though, it gets a 5 out of 5.  I loved it, and it’s not something I’m going to forget anytime soon.  Despite losing it’s way towards the end, and some of the issues I had with the book, it was still a great read.

Book: In Honor by Jessi Kirby

Book Info: Published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 240 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her. 

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn . . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn—but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

I LOVED In Honor!  I wanted to cry AT THE BEGINNING of the book, which is even more rare than me crying by the end of it.  Which I did, but that’s beside the point.

It was heart-breaking and yet Honor and Rusty managed to work a lot of things out by the end of the book.  I loved their journey and the problems they came across.

My only problem with the book would be the ending.  It was irritating that we found out Finn didn’t tell Honor he joined the military so she could go to her dream school.  I get he would give up his dream of going to college so his sister could go instead, but I don’t know…it kind of fit, but something felt off about it.

The ending was predictable, with a secret being revealed, and with Honor meeting Kyra Kelly at the airport.  But it was a great book to read, and it was refreshing to see grief over someone who didn’t die from a drug overdose or from suicide.  I still liked the ending, and I was glad Kirby left the ending as it was.

Overall, it gets a 5 out of 5.  It’s a great summer read, and despite my issues with the ending, I just loved it!

Book: Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Book Info: Published by Sterling Publishing; 496 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Romance/Fantasy

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

The cover drew me in, as did the premise.  The book, however, was just okay.

Here’s what I loved about Tiger’s Curse.  I loved the mythology aspect and how well it was incorporated into the story.  Not only that, but it focused on Indian mythology, which was a nice change from the Greek/Roman mythology you tend to see.  I also loved that Kelsey traveled all over India to figure everything out.

As for what I didn’t like…I just didn’t like the characters.  It was hard to believe that Ren, Kishan, and Mr. Kadam were a few hundred years old.  And Kelsey seemed a little more mature than I expected.  I didn’t find them particularly interesting, and by the end of the novel, I was just irritated with them, and I don’t particularly care about what happens to them.

I would rate it at 2 stars out of 5.  The mythology was interesting but the characters weren’t.

Book: Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Book Info: Published by Viking Juvenile; 398 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction

Find out more at: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: When Kitty Tylney’s best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII’s heart and brings Kitty to court, she’s thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat’s shadow, Kitty’s now caught between two men—the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat’s meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

I really liked Gilt.  I’m a big fan of Tudor history, and it was nice reading about Katherine Howard, because she tends to be overlooked in both non-fiction and historical fiction alike.

I liked that it focused on Katherine Howard and her circle of “friends.”  I found them to be irritating, especially Katherine and her best friend Kitty, who narrated the novel.  Katherine was definitely ambitious and self-absorbed, while Kitty would do anything to make Katherine happy.  Despite being annoyed with both girls, I thought that Longshore did a great job writing them. It just goes to show that some things never change.

Back to Katherine for a minute.  She knew what she wanted, but couldn’t really see the consequences of her actions.  If she did, she certainly didn’t care, but then again, Katherine thought she was invincible because she was queen.  As for Kitty, she was loyal to the point of almost losing her head.  But I also understand her going with everything too, especially when Katherine became queen.

I also liked her attention to detail, and described everything beautifully.  I especially liked her descriptions of the places and the clothing.  You can tell Longshore is interested in Tudor history, and of Henry’s 6 wives, Katherine Howard is probably the one teens would most relate to. I’ll admit that the language was a bit modern, but I wasn’t really bothered by it.  And with so many other details being there, I’m willing to overlook it.

My rating would be a 4 out of 5.  It was pretty accurate, and fans of The Luxe by Anna Godbersen will love this book.

Book: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Book Info: Published by HarperCollins; 248 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Dystopic/Romance

Find Out More: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: “You can’t touch me,” I whisper.

I’m lying, is what I don’t tell him.

He can touch me, is what I’ll never tell him.

But things happen when people touch me.

Strange things.

Bad things.

No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.

But Juliette has plans on her own.

After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she’d lost forever.

I really liked Shatter Me.  It’s certainly interesting, and while it takes a while to draw you in, it is so worth it!

I thought her ability to torture and kill people just by touching them was very unique, especially when you discover that there are 2 people who are immune to her touch.  I am curious as to what makes them so special, and why there are people with different abilities.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the romance.  What’s interesting, though, is that there could be 3 potential love interests for Juliette.  I mean, Adam is the guy we’re supposed to be rooting for, but there’s also Warner.  And I might be reading too much into it, but it seems like Kenji could be a love interest as well.

The novel is very much the life and thought process of a 17-year-old girl, which Mafi does very well with striking through some of the text.  I loved how she wrote it, but it did get a little tiresome because things were a tad disjointed and jumbled.  It was a little hard to completely get into what was going on, but she does have a way of putting things together that’s really interesting.

Overall, I really liked it.  It gets a 4 out of 5.  I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Book: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Book Info: Published by Balzer and Bray; 464 pages; read on my Nook

Genre: YA: Mystery/Thriller/Romance

Find out more at: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Author Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she’s opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben’s possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father’s files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what’s right in front of her: Everything that’s happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben’s sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl’s fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

Unraveling is an action-packed book, and it was hard to put down.  I was very intrigued by the idea that there are other people out there, and that they are a lot like us.

I liked Janelle’s curiousity, and her desire to figure out what’s going on and save the world.  It is a little hard to believe that it’s so easy for her to hack into her father’s work computer and to look through the files he brings home.  But I’m willing to overlook this because otherwise, there wouldn’t be a story.

I didn’t like the romance in the book, and while it was a little different than I expected, it was pretty predictable.  I have to say that part of me wanted Janelle and Struz to end up together, even though I knew it was never going to happen.

I thought the structure of the novel was interesting.  Each chapter is a different point in the countdown to the end of the world, and was titled as such.  The chapter length was pretty random, with some being really short, and others being sort of long.

Norris did manage to get a lot in the book, which made the book action-packed.  But at the same time, everything that was happening was slightly overwhelming.

Overall, it gets a 4 out of 5.  It was fun and action-packed but had a few flaws.

Book: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Book Info: Published by Harper Teen; 375 pages; hardcover; borrowed from the library

Genre: YA/Dystopic; Romance

Find out more about Pandemonium at: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon

Goodreads.com Summary: 

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

I really liked Pandemonium.  I definitely liked it more than Delirium, and you can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next.  You’re thinking that Alex has been dead for the entire novel, only to have him return at the very last minute.

I really like that each chapter is a different time.  Seriously, the best way to describe it is past-Lena and present-Lena.  It’s nice to see the difference in time, and what happened while she was in the wild, and how she infiltrated the DFA.  I liked that we learn having the surgery is all about control, which should have been obvious to me.  Oliver did a really good job of keeping things going, and the book doesn’t feel like filler for the next book.

I really didn’t like the ending, where Alex appears.  I get why we think he’s dead, because it really seemed that way.  And I suppose that Oliver needed to get a romance in there somehow.  For me, it was a lame attempt at getting in a love triangle- almost like Oliver couldn’t think of anything else.

Overall, it gets a 4 out of 5.  It was fast-paced and enjoyable, but the ending and the romance felt a little forced.