Partials by Dan Wells (ARC)

 

TITLE: Partials

AUTHOR: Dan Wells

PUBLISHER: Balzer + Bray (Harper Collins)

PUBLICATION DATE: 2/28/2012

PAGES: 480

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (from Goodreads): The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book wasn't great for me, but it did have it's moments. The story line was very slow moving in the beginning. I feel like there is a lot of sitting around and wanting to do things, but not a lot of actually doing things. The last third of the book is where we finally get a lot of pieces of the puzzle. A plan is finally formed, we get a lot more action and the story line starts to move. I feel like this book would make a great movie. If it were adapted as a movie, they could cut out a lot of the slower moving parts and the action scenes would be very exciting to watch unfold.

CHARACTERS: I feel like I wasn't really able to connect with any of the characters. There are so many different characters in the book and it is hard to keep track of who everyone is and how they are related to everyone else, especially because even some people who are related aren't technically 'blood' related.

COVER: Love it. I love how the girl is looking towards the city and how the wind is blowing her hair. I also love the tagline: 'The only hope for humanity isn't human.'

*I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for review.

In My Mailbox #7

My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

From Amazon Vine:

Layout Share #1

The background paper is called 'Summer Kraft Tree' and is from Scenic Route (designed by Sarah Milne).

The arrows are chipboard stickers from Recollections Kids.

The giraffe, monkey, and vine were created from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge.

Card Share #1

I created this card for a challenge at Sketches4All.

Cheryl's Challenge Group - Challenge #5

In My Mailbox #6

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Lots of goodies for this edition of IMM as it is a few weeks worth of books.

From Beverly @ The Wormhole I won:

1. Eon by Alison Goodman

From Tell Harlequin:

 

1. A Cold Creek Secret by RaeAnne Thayne

From Amazon Vine:

1. The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
2. Partials by Dan Wells (arc)

For Review:

1. Rae of Hop by W.J. May (ebook)



Bought from my library book sale:

1. Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

2. Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

3. Evermore by Alyson Noel

4. The Ivy by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

5. Captivate by Carrie Jones

6. Evernight by Claudia Gray

7. Bright Young Things by Anna Badbersen

Rae of Hope by W.J. May + GIVEAWAY

 

TITLE: Rae of Hope

AUTHOR: W.J. May

PUBLISHER: Mitchell-Morris Publishing

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/5/2011

PAGES: 240

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (Goodreads.com): How hard do you have to shake a family tree to find out the truth of the past?
Fifteen-year-old Rae Kerrigan has never questioned her family’s history. That is until she accepted a scholarship to pGuilder Boarding School in England. Guilder is a very unique, gifted school. Rae has no idea what she is getting herself into or that her family’s past is going to come back and taunt her. She learns she is part of an unparalleled group of individuals who become marked with a unique tattoo (tatù) on their sixteenth birthday. The tatù enables them to have supernatural powers particular to the shape of their marking. Both her parents were marked though Rae never knew, as they passed away when she was young and never told her. Learning about her family’s past, her evil father and sacrificial mother, Rae needs to decide if there is a ray of hope for her own life

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I am in love with this book. From the very beginning I was sucked in and wanted to keep reading more. I was in a bit of a reading funk and this book pulled me back out of it. The story is exciting and interesting, and made me insistent on reading whenever I had the time so I could find out what was coming next in the story. I really enjoyed the twist in the story towards the back half of the book and the ending was just perfect. I can't wait for the next book.

I did find quite a few typos throughout the book, but nothing major and nothing that affected the story.

I also wish that this was an illustrated book so I could see all of the tatus. I think that would make a great addition to the series.

CHARACTERS: There are so many likeable characters in this book. Rae (the main character) is very relatable. She is a strong female, but she has insecurities about fitting in. Rae's crush (Devon) is also a great character. He sounds dreamy, for lack of a better word. My favorite character in the book has to be Molly. Molly is Rae's roomate. She has such a strong personality; she's a bubbly, fun person. I want to know more about the character of Argyle (Rae's uncle), and I am hoping that we will learn a little bit more about him in the next book.

COVER: I like it. I like the glimpse we get of the school; it helps to make a picture in my mind of the setting. You can also tell by the look on the girl's face that she means business and she is going to get to the bottom of what is going on.

*I was provided a copy of this book by the author for review.

Here's your chance to win an e-book copy of this book for yourself. There's no mandatory entries, pick the ones you want to do.

Digital Layout Share #3 + Freebie

Pin It

 

I created this simple layout using the My Memories  Digital Scrapbooking software. All of the elements I used for this layout came from a kit from My Memories. Below is a link to the kit for you to download and use yourself -- Free!

Click the picture to be taken to the download page!

And don't worry if you don't have the My Memories software. These files are all JPEG and PNG files so they can be used with any software you have!

**Leave me a link to a layout you created with this kit and I will send you a link to 2 more super cute freebies!**

If anyone is interested in the My Memories software check my sidebar for a code to save you $10 off the purchase price.

Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (ARC)

TITLE: Every Other Day

AUTHOR: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

PUBLISHER: Egmont

PUBLICATION DATE: 12/27/2011

PAGES: 336

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Every second day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to high school. She attends pep rallies (reluctantly). She's human.

And every other day...she's not.

Though she's not quite sure what she is on those days, Kali knows what she does--she hunts, traps, and kills demons, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures that threaten her world. On those days, she is practically indestructible.

But when Kali notices a mark on a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these unworldly beings. And she knows she has only twenty-four hours to save her.

There's only one problem--it's the wrong twenty-four hours.


OVERALL IMPRESSION: At the beginning of the book I felt like this was a book that I was not going to enjoy. I knew what had happened to Bethany and Kali, but I didn't know why--but I guess if I knew why, there'd be no story line. I was also bothered by the fact that Kali didn't seem to have a plan about the situation. I just felt like I didn't know where the story was trying to go.

Everything changed for me at chapter 24. We find out some important information that sucked me back into the book. Especially towards the end, it got a lot more action packed and I felt like there was more of a story for me to follow.


CHARACTERS: At the beginning of the book, I didn't really care about any of the characters. I felt like I couldn't relate to them because I didn't know anything about them, their values, beliefs, likes/dislikes, interests. As the story progressed though, I started to get more attached to the characters. My two favorite characters were Skylar and Zev. Skylar proclaims herself as being "a little bit psyic" and it was fun to watch that unfold and try to figure out if it is true or not. I wanted to know more about Zev. We aren't told a lot about him and I am really interested to know more about his life and why he is the way he is.


COVER: Love it. I love the dark background with the pop of red and I love the flowered vine in the back.

*I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for review.