An Ember In The Ashes Review

TITLE: An Ember in the Ashes
AUTHOR: Sabaa Tahir
PUBLISHER: Razorbill
PUBLICATION DATE: 4/28/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 464
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

Elias is the academy's finest soldier--and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he's ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias's paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was disappointed in this book. I had heard that a lot of people really liked it, so I was hopeful, but it just wasn't for me. The first chapter of the book was intense, but after that it was slow moving and boring to me. The second half of the book definitely picked up, and I was glad to have continued reading because I did enjoy the second half, I just had to really push myself through the first half. I wasn't a fan of the dual perspective. I get why it's necessary for this book, but I was much more interested in Laia's side of the story and found myself not wanting to read Elias's point of view.

The ending of the book was really intense, but I don't think for me it was enough to make me want to continue with the series. I would say that if you generally like fantasy, then you should give this book a try because you will probably enjoy it.

CHARACTERS: Like I said before, I was much more interested in Laia's story than in Elias's. I'm not really sure why that is. I like the character of "Cook" and "Kitchen Girl."

COVER: The cover is alright. I guess it fits in with the story, but it's nothing that blows me away.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review. My thoughts are my own and have not been influenced in any way.**

Mini Reviews #1

(picture from freepik.com)

Mini reviews will be a new feature on my blog. It won't have a set day for publication and will probably be a fairly rare post. I have a stack of books that I have read and haven't gotten around to writing a review for. Some of the books are books that I read quite a while ago and have forgotten the details of, so I will be writing mini reviews of those books with some notes I have taken while reading, as well as a star rating.

TITLE: Rutabaga The Adventure Chef

AUTHOR: Eric Colossal

PUBLISHER: Harry N. Abrams

PUBLICATION DATE: 3/3/2015

PAGES: 128

FORMAT: eARC

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I chuckled out loud a few times while reading this. It was a pretty weird story. The ending was abrupt, I didn't know it ended until I tried to turn the page and there were no more pages.

TITLE: The Silence of Six

AUTHOR: E.C. Myers

PUBLISHER: Adaptive Books

PUBLICATION DATE: 11/5/2014

FORMAT: eARC

PAGES: 274

SOURCE: Netgalley

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I was definitely pulled in by the story. There's a lot of talk about hacking, but I didn't find it confusing at all and it was actually really easy to follow. I wanted to know what was going on throughout the book and why Evan did what he did. I found myself pretty invested in the story line and was trying to pay attention to see what everything was building up to. I think the ending was a good one. It tied things up, but didn't have a complete finale so a sequel could be made, but isn't necessary. 

TITLE: Every You, Every Me

AUTHOR: David Levithan

PUBLISHER: Ember

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/11/2012

FORMAT: Paperback

PAGES: 243

SOURCE: Bought

MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I wish the photographs in this book were bigger or in color so I could actually see them. I was very confused while reading this book and had no idea what was going on. This was a really weird book and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

TITLE: Bad Taste In Boys
AUTHOR: Carrie Harris
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 7/12/2011
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 201
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: I picked this book up because I wanted a quick, easy read and the back of the book implied that it was going to be funny. Going in, all I knew was that it was about zombies. In my opinion, this book wasn't funny at all. The story and the "cure" were extremely far fetched to me. I was glad that this was so short, or I probably wouldn't have finished it.


TITLE: Lost For Words
AUTHOR: Alice Kuipers
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/11/2015
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 210
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

MY THOUGHTS: This book sounded like it was going to be really emotional. It was a really quick read; the writing was very juvenile with a lot of short sentences. The main character seemed to me like a typical girl and I felt she handled the tragedies in her life pretty much the same way I would expect anyone to. The ending was just as it should have been.

Autumn Falls Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Autumn Falls

AUTHOR: Bella Thorne with Elise Allen

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

PUBLICATION DATE: 11/11/2014

PAGES: 224

FORMAT: ARC

SOURCE: Amazon Vine

MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: With her fiery red hair, new-girl outsider status, and tendency to be a total klutz, Autumn Falls definitely isn't flying below the radar at Aventura High. Luckily, she makes some genuine friends--but she also manages to get on the wrong side of the school's queen bee.

When Autumn vents her feelings in a journal that belonged to her late father, suddenly her wildest wishes start coming true. Is it a coincidence? Or can writing in the journal solve all her problems? And if the journal doesn't work that way, is there a bigger purpose for it--and for her?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I'd seen Bella in her Disney show, as well as in Blended and thought she seemed like a great, well-rounded person, so I was curious when I heard that she had a book coming out. I feel like the story that she wrote was fine, but could have been better. The idea behind the book is a good one, but I think Bella needs to work on her writing skills some more--although, I believe if she keeps at it, she can become a great writer. When I was reading the book, I could definitely tell that it was written by someone of a younger age by the way the words sounded as I was reading them in my mind. 

I enjoyed the resolution of the book. It was predictable, but still cute and fun to read. I hope Bella continues to work on writing as I would love to see what she can accomplish.

CHARACTERS: I really liked the character of J.J. He has a great personality, and I wish I could have seen more of him throughout the book. The main character, Autumn, was great as well. I felt like I really understood her and what she was feeling.

COVER: I have mixed feelings on the cover. I don't usually like covers with faces on them, but this one is only half a face. I really like how they painted the model's nails with the sparkly polish and the heart detail on her left hand.

100 Sideways Miles Review

Goodreads

TITLE: 100 Sideways Miles

AUTHOR: Andrew Smith

PUBLISHER: Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/2/2014

PAGES: 288

FORMAT: ARC

SOURCE: Amazon Vine/Publisher

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minutes. It's how he makes sense of the world, and how he tries to convince himself that he's a real boy and not just a character in his father's bestselling cult-classic book. Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he's ever loved.

Then Julia moves away, and Finn is heartbroken. Feeling restless and trapped in the book, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned--and learn how to write their own destiny.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I've wanted to read an Andrew Smith book for quite a while. Everyone seems to rave about his books and I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. I was pretty disappointed with this one.  About a third of the way through the book, I started to loose interest. Not much was going on and I was quite bored. I was prepared to give this book a 2.5 star rating, but in the last fourth or so of the book there was an event that happened that brought quite a bit of excitement to the story and I decided to bump it up to 3 stars. 

CHARACTERS: The characters were okay, but not my favorite. I did enjoy reading about Finn's epileptic episodes, but other than that I didn't really feel myself connecting with anybody.

COVER: I like the cover a lot after learning what the significance of the horse means.

Grim Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Grim

EDITOR: Christine Johnson

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 2/25/2014

PAGES: 476

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sisnister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was really disappointed by this book. There are some big name authors in here, a lot of whom I haven't read yet, but I feel like I was let down. There were a few stories that I could tell for sure what fairy tales they had come from, but for most of them I had no idea. I'm not sure if that's because they were way different from their originals or if there are a ton of fairy tales out there that I'm unaware of. I was expecting a lot more horror and terrifying aspects in this book. Some of the stories were great when it came to scaring me, but most of them were dull and not dark at all. Some of my favorites were The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo, The Brother's Piggett by Julie Kagawa and Unteathered  by Sonia Gensler. 

COVER: This is such a beautiful book. I love the colors, the texture and the built in bookmark.

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

Tease Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Tease

AUTHOR: Amanda Maciel

PUBLISHER: Balzer Bray

PUBLICATION DATE: 4/29/2014

PAGES: 336

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Emma Putnam is dead, and it's all Sara Wharton's fault.

At least, that's what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that lead to Emma's shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who's ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media.

In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment--and ultimately consider her role in an undeniable tragedy. And she'll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Going into this book, I had no idea what it was about, other than there were bullies involved somehow. I feel bad for saying this, but I was just unimpressed with this book. There are so many stories about kids being bullied, but we don't really see the side of the bully very often. I feel like this book could have done so much more. It could have gone deeper into the lives of bullies and what has happened to them to make them feel the need to bully others. I honestly feel like nothing was accomplished during this book. There was no character growth and no resolution in my eyes.

CHARACTERS: The main character in this book made me so angry. The whole time, she didn't think she was doing anything wrong and she blamed the girl they were bullying for everything. Emma (the girl being bullied) did some things she shouldn't have, but Sara (the main character) and her friend Brielle just took things way too far. I really didn't like Brielle's character. She was so manipulative.

COVER: I fell in love with this cover. It's so shiny and beautiful. It definitely grabbed my attention and made me want to read the book. 

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

The Geography of You and Me Review (may be spoilery)

Goodreads

TITLE: The Geography of You and Me

AUTHOR: Jennifer E. Smith

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown

PUBLICATION DATE: 4/15/2014

PAGES: 352

MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and twelfth floors, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend one night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan.

But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father. Their relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, e-mails, and a reunion in the city where they first met.

In this carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. Sometimes, it can be a person.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book let me down quite a bit. I had such high hopes for it. I really loved the first few chapters, and then it just went downhill. 

I loved the interaction between Lucy and Owen and I would have loved to have more of it. This could have been an amazing story about a long distance relationship where the two characters kept in touch and wrote each other detailed letters and post cards (and it would have been really neat to actually read the letters and postcards throughout the story), but the book just didn't deliver any of that. There was very little interaction between Owen and Lucy during most of the book. They were living two totally separate lives (which would have been fine if we had seen more interaction with letter, etc) and there isn't really a story going on here. It almost seemed like this should have been two separate books. 

It did come together a little more towards the end of the book, but I just didn't really enjoy it.

CHARACTERS: Both main characters (Lucy and Owen) were good characters. I could relate to each of them and I understood what they were feeling about their lives. I think they would have been great to read about if this story had been different.

COVER: The cover is adorable and I love it. I love the font, the skyline in the background and all of the stars.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend Review

Goodreads

Amazon

TITLE: Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend
AUTHOR: Louise Rozett
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/25/2013
PAGES: 279
MY RATING:

SUMMARY (From Goodreads): Rose Zarelli has big plans for sophomore year--everything is going to be different. This year, she's going to be the talented singer with the killer voice, the fabulous girl with the fashionista best friend, the brainiac who refuses to let Jamie Forta jerk her around...

...but if she's not careful, she's also going to be the sister who misses the signals, the daughter who can only think about her own pain, the "good girl" who finds herself in mid-scandal again (because no good deed goes unpunished) and possibly worst of all...the almost-girlfriend.

When all else fails, stop looking for love and go find yourself.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I didn't know that this was the second book in a series when I got it. I don't have the first book and I don't really plan on reading it because I have too many books in my TBR pile, but I figured I'd give it a shot and try to read it anyway.

In the opening scene, I feel like there's way too many characters. I don't know if they're in the first book, but when reading this I got a little lost. I'm assuming that we gradually meet these characters in the previous book and if I had read that one first, I would be able to keep track of everyone. 

The book was okay. Not one of my favorites, but I did read through it pretty quickly. I just feel like nothing really exciting happened in the story line.

CHARACTERS: I feel like there wasn't a lot of character development or growth with any of the characters.Also, Robert is so annoying and when reading any scenes with him in it, I just wanted him to go away.

COVER: The cover is fine. I like the blue streak in the model's hair.

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

Exposure Review

Amazon

TITLE: Exposure

AUTHOR: Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

PUBLISHER: Merit Press

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/18/2013

PAGES: 233

MY RATING:

MEMORABLE QUOTE: "When I develop pictures in a darkroom, it's almost like painting with light." (p. 21)

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Double, double, toil, and trouble! The quest for high-school royalty can turn deadly when teen ambition outstrips reason. Skye Kingston is a shy shutterbug who prefers observing life from behind her camera lens. She doesn't know she's stunning, and comes off the sidelines only when she's forced to by the terrifying events of one treacherous school year in Alaska. A boy named Duncan is dead, and his death may or may not be an accident. Skye's three new best friends are eerily able to foretell the future, and cheerleader Beth might be more than a social climber--she is quite probably a sociopath. Then there's Skye's growing attraction to the school hottie, Craig, The Boy Who Would Be Prom King. But their time is crossed by fate. There's already been one death, and who can say if it's only the first? As Skye falls for Craig, she also slowly realizes that he is caught in the crosshairs of a deadly plot. Can she save Craig and herself from a murderous fate? Exposure is not only a modern take on the classic Macbeth, it's proof that nothing has changed since Shakespeare riffed on the subject nearly half a millennium ago: The quest for power can lead to bloodstained hands.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Unfortunately, I have never read Macbeth, so I cannot compare this story to that at all. I was looking forward to reading this as I enjoyed Askew and Helmes' first book, Tempestuous. This one sort of similar, but I didn't like it as much. The last third or so of the book is definitely the best part. I feel like the beginning could have used a little bit more involvement, maybe Skye could have done more to try and find out what had happened on that night at the party, but it was very slow moving.

CHARACTERS: I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I feel like Skye, the main character, didn't really do much except for whine to herself inside her head. I just feel like she is very naive, and she doesn't change very much throughout the course of the book. 

COVER: The cover is okay, there's not really much to it. I like the crown, it's cute.

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

Pulse Review

Amazon

TITLE: Pulse

AUTHOR: Patrick Carman

PUBLISHER: Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins)

PUBLICATION DATE: 2/26/2013

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (From Goodreads): The year is 2051, and the world is still recognizable. With the help of her mysterious classmate Dylan Gilmore, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a "pulse," and Dylan has the talent too.

In riveting action scenes, Faith demonstrates her ability to use her pulse against a group of telekinesis masters so powerful they will flatten their enemies by uprooting street lights, moving boulders, and changing the course of a hurtling hammer so that it becomes a deadly weapon. But even with great talent, the mind--and the heart--can be difficult to control. If Faith wants to join forces with Dylan and save the world, she'll have to harness the power of both.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book has great imagery. From the very opening scene, I could picture everything perfectly. Carman does a great job of painting a picture for us to imagine in our minds. I really liked the scene towards the beginning of the book in the old elementary school library.

About halfway through the book, I felt like I got slapped in the face (in a good way) by something I never saw coming. And then after that, the book lost it's way for me.

I feel like the book switched points of view way too often and in the most awkward of places. I would have enjoyed the story much more if it had only been from Faith's (the main character) point of view.

My mind got very distracted while I was reading a lot of this story because I just wasn't interested in the story line. I feel like I don't know what the point of the story was. The characters were preparing for a battle, but I don't know what the battle was about or why it was occurring  I also feel like I didn't know who many of the characters were or what their part was in everything.

I'm sure the next book will clear a lot of this up, but I will probably not be fighting to get my hands on a copy. It just wasn't for me.

Memorable quote: "Once everyone had a table, no one wanted these [books] anymore. But there's something different about holding them in your hands." (p. 40).

CHARACTERS: I didn't really feel a deep connection with any of the characters. I feel like they weren't able to develop enough for me to care about any of them, but I did enjoy the character of Hawk.

COVER: The cover is nice. It does make sense with the story and has meaning behind a vital piece of information that we find out.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from Amazon for my honest review.

Love Story Review

TITLE: Love Story

AUTHOR: Jennifer Echols

PUBLISHER: MTV Books (Simon & Schuster)

PUBLICATION DATE: 7/19/2011

PAGES: 243

MY RATING: 2.5/5

TAGLINE: "She's writing about him. He's writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines.

BACK COVER BLURB: For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions -- it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a local coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter...so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter...except this story could come true.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I had some trouble getting into this one. I felt like the pace was a little too slow for my tastes, but I'm not a huge romance reader. There was a turn in the story that I didn't see coming, but I don't want to give anything away so you'll just have to read for yourself if you want to know what it is! I really enjoyed the way the story ended. I felt like it left off at a good place.

CHARACTERS: I can relate to Erin, the main character. She is just trying to get buy and live out her dreams. Hunter was an okay character. As a love interest he was pretty normal, nothing spectacular, but roughly an average guy.

COVER: The cover is okay. It conveys the sweetness that we see in moments throughout the book.

*I won this book in a contest hosted by Kimberly @ The Windy Pages

Daphne and the Mysterious Girls Secret Bathroom Society Review

TITLE: Daphne and the Mysterious Girls Secret Bathroom SocietyAUTHOR: Robert ShieldsPUBLISHER: Fruitbat Books  PUBLICATION DATE: 12/19/2011PAGES: 164

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Following years of persecution at the hands of Vivica Vance, Daphne Downing levels the playing field wielding her No. 2 Ticonderoga pencil as she belatedly enters the world of witchcraft. Daphne becomes part of the Mysterious Girls’ Secret Bathroom Society and finds out that the politics governing witchcraft are daunting and sometimes deadly. She realizes she is aligned with the Charmers in this political battle with the Spiters led by her nemesis, Vivica. Along the way, she discovers that witches do not perform magic or witchcraft but a differentiated form of physics that only some women have mastered. The story deepens as she learns about the long history of witches’ domination and annihilation of wizards.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really love the ideas and concepts behind the book. Magic and witchcraft is described in a way that I have never heard before, which was a nice change. I particularly like the idea behind who gets to be witches and why some people aren't.

I feel like the story could have been done better. There were parts that I would zone out during, particularly the history part where Daphne was reading the magic book, but that could have been due to my lack of interest in history.

To me the story had a middle grade feel to it, but there are some instances of bad language, so this one may be more appropriate for older middle grade children, around 12 or 13.

CHARACTERS: I would have liked to see more of the development between the main character, Daphne, and her crush, Kyle, but I feel that this might occur in future books in the series.

My favorite character in the book was Amanda, Daphne's sister. I just liked her personality, she seemed like someone that I would enjoy hanging out with.

COVER: I'm not a fan of the cover. This is definitely not a cover that would catch my eye and make me want to pick up this book over others.

*I received an ebook copy of this book from the author for review.

The Alchemy of Forever Review (ARC)

TITLE: The Alchemy of Forever

AUTHOR: Avery Williams

PUBLISHER: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/3/2012

PAGES: 256

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: After spending six hundred years on earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches, but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to swap bodies with other humans by jumping from one vessel to the next, taking the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

When sixteen-year-old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, Sera accidentally takes over her body. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling for the human boy who lives next door. She knows Cyrus will stop at nothing to find her...and by staying she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care for in great danger. But can Sera give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it. The summary on the back cover is pretty indepth, and I'm actually glad that I didn't spend a whole lot of time reading it, I just skimmed over it, because in my opinion, it tells you way too much about the story line. I feel like there's not much else in the story itself that isn't on the back cover. 

I loved the concept of the book and what the book could have been, but for me the story just didn't do it for me. I felt like I needed more to be happening. I wanted Sera to go out and do something about what was happening. 

The ending got to me though. It was really the only point of the story that made me go "WOAH" and because of it, I feel the need to read the next book in the series.

CHARACTERS: The main character, Seraphina, was a character that I enjoyed. She carried guilt and other emotions that were very relate able. Noah, who was the love interest, was very sweet and genuine. 

And then there's Cyrus, the antagonist. I want to know more about what makes him tick and just how far he is willing to go and what he will do.

COVER: It's okay. Not my favorite cover, but I do like the purples and blues.

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

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.

A Touch Mortal

TITLE: A Touch Mortal

AUTHOR: Leah Clifford

PUBLISHER: Greenwillow Books

RELEASE DATE:  February 22, 2011

PAGES: 417

MY RATING: 2.5/5

INSIDE COVER BLURB: Eden didn't expect Az.

Not his saunter down the beach toward her. Not his unbelievable pick-up line. Not the instant, undeniable connection. And not his wings.

Yeah.

So long, happily-ever-after.

Now trapped between life and death, cursed to spread chaos with her every tough, Eden could be the key in the the eternal struggle between heaven and hell. All because she gave her heart to one of the Fallen, an angel cast out of heaven.

She may lose everything she ever had. She may be betrayed by those she loves most. But Eden will not be a pawn in anyone else's game. Her heart is her own.

And that's only the beginning of the end.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really wanted to like this book. And it almost had me. But there was just some things about it that I don't believe were up to par all the way. First of all, I was very confused in the beginning of the book. I didn't understand what all of the characters were and exactly what they could do. I'm still not really sure about that. Also, I feel like the plot was a little lacking. I didn't understand what the plot was supposed to be about really. It didn't seem like there was a direction. I was left with some questions such as where is the story line going? What are they hiding from? What is the goal of any of the groups in the story. I just didn't understand what I was supposed to get out of the book. Now, all of that being said, I really enjoyed the last couple of chapters. They were very exciting and it seemed like a small plot took place. I don't want to get too much into the story because I don't want to give anything away, but some characters were trying to save another character and it gave the book a little bit of somewhere to go. In other words, at the end of the book, there was a conflict and a resolution.

The book was left in a way that makes me believe there will be a sequel, and I am interesting in reading that, to see if the author uses what happened at the end of the story to create another book that has a little more depth to it and a more prominent direction.

CHARACTERS: I enjoyed all of the characters in this book. They all had their own personalities and it seemed like they were well rounded.

COVER: Great cover. I love the dark feel of it and the tagline on it fits the story perfectly (She's been betrayed by life, by love, and by death.

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

Just Listen

TITLE: Just Listen

AUTHOR: Sarah Dessen

PAGES: 371

MY RATING: (2.5 out of 5)

BACK COVER BLURB: Annabel Greene is the girl who has everything. At least, that's what she portrays in her modeling shoots. But Annabel's life is far from perfect. Her friendship with Sophie ended bitterly, and her older sister's eating disorder is weighing down the entire family. Isolated and ostracized at school and at home, Annabel retreats into silen acceptance. Then she meets Owen--intense, music-obsessed, and determined to always tell the truth. And with his guidance, Annabel learns to just listen to herself and gains the courage to speak honestly. But will she be able to tell everyone what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends?

MY REVIEW: This book was okay for me. I've been wanting to read a Sarah Dessen book for a long time and I finally got a hold of one. I do hope that the next book of hers that I read is a little bit better and holds my interest more. With all of that said, the book wasn't bad. It was alittle bit slow and slightly predictable, but a predictable book can be good sometimes. I've definately not lost hope for Dessen though and will be seeking out another of her books to read.