Review: Shatter Me

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi


Synopsis (From Goodreads):Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 


The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in 264 days, not since the accident which made the reestablishment lock her up for murder. Juliette has the power to kill someone by just touching them. Locked in an isolated cell with no contact, Juliette thinks that's how she's going to spend the rest of her life. That is until Adam gets placed in the same cell as her. This must be a test or a trap because not only did they place a boy in her cell, his is familiar. Juliette knows him from some place before her life in the cell.

When the two are forced from their cell, only then does Juliette realise she was right. It was a test. Adam was planted in her cell, a direct command of the military general, Warner. Warner is obsessed with Juliette, ever since he discovered what she is capable of. He pulls her out of the life of solitary and gives her food and beautiful clothes, and the chance to have the world at her feet. The only catch is that she agrees to work for Warner and use her touch to torture his enemies.

And then there's Adam. He remains close to her, and is the only one capable of helping her escape. Juliette must keep fighting Warner's advances until she can get away or be forced to use her curse for his psychotic purposes.

Tahereh Mafi has created a thrilling debut in a dystopian society where the world is falling a part and diseases and food shortages are destroying the population. Even though Juliette is despised and feared, mostly by people who don't understand what she can truly do, she has remained strong and kind.  Juliette's voice comes through strong with every word, especially the contradictory thoughts that has been scratched out, such as:

It's a home, a centre for troubled youth, for neglected children from broken families, a safe house for the psychologically disturbed. It's a prison.


It's easy to see how all the horrors Juliette has faced could lead her to kill herself, but still she doesn't. Her life is the one thing she can control.

Adam and Juliette go perfectly together. Both of their lives have been hard and it is easy to see why they need each other to lean on, but then there's Warner who would do anything to have Juliette all to himself. He is venomous and would do anything to have power, which includes having the power Juliette has. Warner dangles all the enticing, but poisonous, fruit in front of Juliette expecting her to do whatever he wants because he can provide her with food and clothes and attention, the things she has not had in her life.

Mafi's writing is beautiful and unique. From the first word the reader is pulled into Juliette's head and stays there. It reads like it is actually inside a broken 17 year old's head. I really loved how Juliette still has a value of life, even though no one else has shown her any courtesy like that before. She is only one of the elements that makes this book a page turning rollercoaster.

With an X-men feel in a dystopian society, Shatter Me is an exciting read and I can't wait until the sequel to see more of Juliette and Adam.

Source: ARC courtesy of Allen and Unwin

2011 YA Reading Challenge: #29 of 50
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #14 of 20

Review: Die for Me

Die for Me by Amy Plum

Synopsis (From Goodreads): In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Amy Plum has created a thrilling debut set in the romantic setting of Paris. Kate is struggling to deal with her parents deaths after they die in a tragic car accident. Moving to Paris with her older sister, Georgia to live with their Grandparents doesn't help her to feel less depressed. Instead of spending night after night out like her sister does, Kate recludes to Parisian art and reading at coffee shops.

When Kate meets Vincent, he helps her to move on and feel happy for the first time since her parents deaths. As she begins to fall in love with him, she learns that he is a revenant, someone who has died while protecting others and is destined to save the lives of others over and over again. Kate is pulled into a war that has existed for centuries between Vincent's revnants and those who are destined to destroy people. Kate must decide whether the safety of her own life is more important than Vincent.

From the moment I'd heard of Die for Me it was at the top of my list to-read, and I'm glad I did. The idea of Revnants were interesting. Beings destined to die over and over again so that they can rescue other people, now who wouldn't want to read that? Kate was an honest and typical teenager who's dealing with a lot of grief, but that doesn't stop her from doing what needs to be done, and she is also very protective of her older sister.

The relationship between Vincent and Kate developed at a believable rate, and with it being set in Paris, you can't go wrong. The twists and turns Plum throws at the two as they move through their relationship, which leads up to a thrilling conclusion. Plum has created a unique and thrilling paranormal romance and I can't wait to see where the story continues in the sequel.

Source: Audible

2011 YA Reading Challenge: #27 of 50
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #13 of 20

Review:Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Synopsis (From Goodreads): Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances.

Veronica Roth has created an interesting world in Divergent where everyone is divided into five distinct factions based on five personality traits (brave, selfless, intelligent, honest and peaceful). When Beatrice is put through the standard test to identify which faction she must "choose", she discovers that she's a Divergent. She is one person that has the ability to choose from a number of factions, she also is told that if anyone were to learn her life could be in danger. When it comes time to choose her faction, she has to decide between her Abnegation family (selfless) and that of Dauntless (brave). What she chooses suprises everyone. She chooses Dauntless.

As the initiation starts, Beatrice (who decides to change her name to Tris) has to prove that she is as brave and strong as the others who only sees her as a Abnegation stiff. She soon learns that being a Divergent helps her succeed in the trials, but she has to learn why being a Divergent is so dangerous and who, if they found out what she was, will stop at nothing to kill her.

Divergent is a compelling debut that shows a structured dystopian world and the power struggle that could play out if one group would be given all the power. Tris and all the other characters all come alive. Just like the different factions, she is strong, brave and selfless (even though she doesn't think she is). Four is also a strong character who, even though he does things to pick on and make Tris stand out, really cares for her, and their rollercoaster relationship is  compelling.

The faction of Dauntless, there's no other word but, wow... the scenery Roth has painted inside the mountain and the actions, mostly which include jumping on and off speeding trains and jumping off cliffsides, really provided a thrilling read. Put that with the dangerous mystery of what Divergent really means, and why those who have been named it often are found dead, makes Veronica Roth's Divergent a page turning thriller. Anyone who loves Dystopian novels will definately love the atmosphere that Roth creates. I look forward to the next in this new trillogy.

Source: Audible

2011 YA Reading Challenge: #26 of 50
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #12 of 20

Review: Hereafter

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Synopsis (From Goodreads): Can there truly be love after death? 

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

Amelia knows one thing... she's dead. She doesn't know how she died and she doesn't know who she was before drowning. She is forced to relive her death over and over in what she can only call nightmares. But, when she finds a boy, Joshua, drowning in the same river she did, she knows she has to help (but doesn't know how since she's already dead).

When Joshua makes it out of the river alive, they form a bond and he focuses on trying to find out who Amelia was when she was alive. After the two discover that Joshua can only see Amelia because he is a seer, someone who's purpose is to hunt ghosts and exorcise them, they have to fight the coven headed by Joshua's own grandmother, avoid another ghost determined to get Amelia to himself and discover the truth about Amelia's death.

Hereafter was definitely a different paranormal romance. Amelia is already dead so no one apart from Joshua can even see her. This romance proved to be interesting and developed well.

Hudson has created an intriguing debut with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Eli, the ghost determined to get Amelia, is a devious villain, while Joshua is sweet and caring. These two guys are the only ones that have any real contact with Amelia and it makes the story interesting to see which side she will choose. Even though the love story between Amelia and Joshua is a bit silly with the fact that she is a ghost and Joshua is not, the tension between them is enough to continue reading.

Hereafter is a fast read with great characterisation and an original spin on the paranormal market. I look forward to reading more about Amelia and Joshua's romance in the next book.

Source: NetGalley

2011 YA Reading Challenge: #24 of 50
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #11 of 20

Review: What Can't Wait

What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Pérez

Synopsis (From Goodreads): “Another day finished, gracias a Dios."

Seventeen-year-old Marisa's mother has been saying this for as long as Marisa can remember. Her parents came to Houston from Mexico. They work hard, and they expect Marisa to help her familia. And they expect her to marry a boy from the neighborhood, to settle down, and to have grandbabies. If she wants a job, she could always be an assistant manager at the local grocery store.

At school, it's another story. Marisa's calc teacher expects her to ace the AP test and to get into an engineering program in Austin—a city that seems unimaginably far away. When her home life becomes unbearable, Marisa seeks comfort elsewhere—and suddenly neither her best friend nor boyfriend can get through to her. Caught between the expectations of two different worlds, Marisa isn't sure what she wants—other than a life where she doesn't end each day thanking God it's over.

What Can't Wait—the gripping debut novel from Ashley Hope Pérez—tells the story of one girl's survival in a world in which family needs trump individual success, and self-reliance the only key that can unlock the door to the future.

Marissa wants to be more than what her family expects her to be. Her family expects her to marry, work hard and stay around her family to help them out. Marissa wants so much more. She tries hard at school and is even taking AP calculus to get into a good university to become more than an assistant manager at the local grocery store. With all her family and work obligations, Marissa finds it hard to keep up with her advanced classes and sometimes she even thinks that she will never be able to achieve her goals, but her calculus teacher believes she can be so much more than Marissa even believes.

When her life gets unbearable Marissa will have to decide whether she should, or even could, put her needs before her family, and when the time comes, will she be able to leave everything behind to live her own life.

What Can't Wait is a gripping debut novel about making the hard decision between family commitments and personal desire. Marissa is a very strong character who really cares for her family. She watches her niece, cooks for her family, works long hours and gives half her pay to her family, and she even manages to keep up with high level courses in order to gain admittance into a proper college. Even for people who don't know the Mexican culture that Marissa comes from will be able to relate to her because of her desire to please her family and not let them down, but also the desire to achieve more than what her family expects. 

What Can't Wait is a roller coaster of emotion as Marissa is faced with the ups and downs of high school and family commitments, all leading up to her making the biggest decision of her life. When it comes time, will she actually be able to leave her family and start her life?


Source: Netgalley
Release Date: March 28th 2011
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #10 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #16 of 50
Recommend:

Review: Girl Wonder

Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin

Synopsis (From Goodreads): As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket. Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team—and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.

But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know.

Talented newcomer Alexa Martin delivers a poignant story of first love, jealousy and friendship, where the ups and downs of senior year have never been so complicated. What else can Charlotte do but throw her hands up and ride?

Charlotte has always been encouraged to achieve her highest and in her family where her father's a professional writer and her mother's a university lecturer, it's important to score the highest grades and think about what she needs to get into the best colleges. Unfortunately life isn't that easy for her. Being diagnosed with a learning difficulty which hinders her maths level, she doesn't have the right grades to get accepted into the same gifted school that her brother is in, it doesn't even admit her to the gifted program at her new school.


So, with a new school, no friends, the need to please her parents and college applications all on her shoulders, she doesn't shy away from Amanda the "Girl Wonder" when she offers Charlotte friendship and also a chance at popularity.  When Charlotte and Amanda join the debate team, Charlotte meets Neal and as the two of them get closer, the more Neal urges Charlotte to keep their relationship secret. But, why does he want to keep it secret? As Charlotte's life begins to crumble, Charlotte must discover what true friendship is and how to make her own decisions without worrying about what anyone else thinks.

Alexa Martin has created a realistic portrayal of family expectations and all the trials someone would go through to find acceptance, especially one with a learning difficulty. Charlotte turned out to be an interesting character as she searched for a place to belong, both in her family and at her school.

Even though the plot started off slow, by the time Charlotte had integrated herself into the school, I was hooked. In a story that doesn't shy away from the serious issues, Charlotte is faced with many heart wrenching decisions to make as she's faced with sex, drugs and family problems. A wonderfully written story from debut author Alexa Martin. I look forward to seeing what else this author has to offer.


Source: Netgalley
Release Date: May 3rd 2011
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #9 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #15 of 50
Recommend:

Review: Bumped

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Synopsis (From Goodreads): When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

In a world where infertility is a disease that occurs when one turns 18. With the population declining, teenagers have become the most important people. People would pay good money for good surrogates, so teenagers are being represented and search for contracts.

Melody is one of those girls. She has been prepared for this ever since she was young, and her file is nearly flawless so she should get only the best prospect. There is only one small flaw and that is her identical twin sister Harmony. When Harmony comes from the church culture of Goodside to find Melody to persuade her that "pregging" for profit is a sin and Melody is paired up to "bump" the famous Jondoe, a case of mistaken identity causes both girls to think about what they want. Is what they've been taught and prepared for all their lives really what they want?

This story was interesting and I'm torn between loving and hating it all at the same time. Okay, let's get the bad out of the way first. The story was intriguing, but the one thing that did catch me up was the amount of foreign slang. I understand that it's a dystopian future, but if I have to think about the word and try to work out the meaning it's actually pulling me out of the story. The other bad thing was that at times Harmony's side could be a bit preachy about marriage before sex, but I don't think that could have been helped much.

But, this novel has a lot of things you've got to love. There are the characters. All of them are fleshed out and easily to relate to. The twins have exact opposite personalities even though they are identical. Zen is so adorable, he's always there for Melody even though he knows that she's going to be paired to someone else to be "bumped" with.

The story was interesting and I just had to keep reading. It's a fully realised dystopian world and the story of the two sisters is well weaved. It's a page-turner as each chapter alternates between Melody and Harmony and the reader follows them through the story of desire, mistaken identity and self-discovery.

I look forward to when the next one comes out.


Source: Netgalley
Release Date: April 26th 2011
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #7 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #13 of 50

Recommend:

Review: Wither

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis (From Goodreads): What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

In a world where girls die at 20 and guys die at 25, it is dangerous for girls to even wander the streets. Rhine knew this, and when the Gatherers collect her and she is forced into marriage with two other brides, she is taken away from the only family she has left, her twin brother. She can't forget about him and she vows to return home, if she can just get away from the mansion she's locked in. It's not just her husband. Linden that she has to worry about.  It's Linden's eccentric father who is bent on finding a cure, even if that means gathering the bodies of the dead to perform his crazy experiments on.

Together with a servant boy, Gabriel who she's managed to get close to, they try to find a way to escape. But as Rhine's time is running out, will she be able to escape and find her way home?

Lauren DeStefano has created a confronting world where girls are being sold into marriage and prostitution. The writing is hauntingly beautiful as the reader is introduced to Rhine who is kidnapped and forced into marriage. The character of Rhine has been created with great depth and emotion that you can't help but feel sorry for her predicament. In order to be free, she has to pretend to love Linden, her husband, but at the same time the only thing she can think about is escaping. Then there's Linden's father, a man that is scary because he cares about his son too much and would do anything to make him happy and keep him alive.


The setting created was beautiful and very contrasting to the world that Rhine had known previously. She was forced to make the decision to live in luxury for the remainder of her short life or escape to the dangerous world and back to her brother. But, her mind never waivers from finding a way back to her only family.

There were enough twists and turns to keep me reading and hoping that Rhine will find a way to escape from her captors. I look forward to reading more about Rhine and her world.


2011 Debut Author Challenge: #6 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #12 of 50

Recommend:

Review: The Liar Society

The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Synopsis (From Goodreads): Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...

One year ago, Kate lost her best friend, Grace. No one would believe her when she said it was not an accident and she didn't know what to do to prove it, until she gets a mysterious email from her "dead" best friend.

Kate is thrown into the mystery surrounding Grace's death, and together with her two nights in-not-so shining armour, conspiracy theorist and love-sick neighbour, Seth and the hot bad boy, Liam, they search for the truth about what happened that night. But, how can she know what the truth is when everyone and everything about that night is twisted up in lies and the closer she gets, the more apparent it is that someone doesn't want her finding out the truth.

I was eagerly anticipating the Liar Society. The Roecker sisters are very entertaining on their blog, and I was not disappointed with their debut novel. The Liar Society had enough twists and turns as Kate finds herself in a full-blown mystery involving secret societies, archaic traditions and murder.

I absolutely loved Kate and everything about her right down to her spunky attitude to her pink hair and pearl necklace. She was a character that, even though she was still mourning for her dead best friend, she didn't want to give in and she definitely knew how to take care of herself.

And, then there are the boys. Two very different characters and both very loveable in their own way. Seth, the nerdy neighbour is so sweet and would do anything for Kate just to get some attention from her, and then there is Liam (mmm Liam), definitely a misunderstood Bad Boy who doesn't want to see Kate hurt. All the characters were fleshed out and each had a very specific motive and purpose for being in the novel. I loved that.

The Liar Society is definitely one page turner that will keep you turning the page until the end. I look forward to seeing more adventures of Kate and her school Pemberly Brown.



2011 Debut Author Challenge: #5 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #11 of 50
Recommend:

Review: Angelfire

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Synopsis (From Goodreads): This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Ellie has been plagued by nightmares for nearly all her life. She never thought they were anything until a mysterious boy, Will, shows up, claiming that she's the preliator, an ancient soul who is reborn each life with the mission of fighting the reapers. She's the only one who can wield the swords of angelfire.

When her powers awaken she must try to balance school and her friends with her reaper-hunting duties. When Will discovers that a powerful reaper, Bastian, is after a creature that once awakened could destroy Ellie's soul, she is forced to remember the secrets of her past lives and choose between her destiny and her heart.

Angelfire was an interesting twist on the angel genre and Moulton has created a vivid world with realistic characters. Ellie was a true but-kicking heroine who was still scared of disappointing her family and friends. Will, the oh-so-hot Guardian, would do anything to protect Ellie, while feeling guilty over his feelings for her. It wasn't just the two main characters that had personalities. Even the minor cast were all fleshed out and played a role in the bigger picture, even the creepy Reapers had their own personality.

The story was unique with enough twists and turns to keep me reading, with an even bigger twist at the end. It was fun watching the relationship grow between Ellie and Will while they were slicing through the Reapers. I look forward to when the next one comes out to see more of Ellie's story.

Recommend: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #4 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #7 of 50

Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Synopsis (From Goodreads): A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 
  Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

After making one of the most challenging decisions of her life, Amy says goodbye to her friends and everything she has known on earth to be frozen for 300 years and travel across the universe to another planet. Elder, a boy from another generation, is destined to be the ruler of the ship, Godspeed.  When Amy is accidentally unfrozen, she doesn't know who to trust. Everything about the society on the ship is different and she feels alone. When Elder and Amy realise that someone is unplugging the frozen civilisation, and killing them, on purpose, they have to distinguish between the truths and the lies that have been created on the ship, and work out who the murderer is before more victims are defrosted.

In an amazing debut, Beth Revis has created an intriguing murder-mystery that has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. Even though everyone is trapped aboard the ship, there's still plenty of deceit and lies to uncover to set up an intricate mystery.

I loved Amy. Amy is shown to be a very active and healthy teenage girl who cannot sit still and loves to be in open spaces. By giving her the hobby of long distance running was a great way to show how really trapped she is in the floating artificial world. Her journey is very realistic as she comes to realise that, when in space, there is nowhere to run.

By showing both the perspectives of Amy and Elder, it was easy to see the ship through the eyes of an insider as well as a foreigner. This made the plot more interesting since Elder was the one uncovering the lies, while Amy was left with a feeling that something wasn't right on the ship.



I don't usually read sci-fi, but the characters created were all realistic and honest, and it was easy to picture the world aboard Godspeed. Once I started I didn't want to stop.

Cover: I loved this cover. It doesn't lie, it shows the reader that they are in for a sci-fi set amongst the stars, and that honesty is what makes it great. It's also beautiful, and the two characters in shadow shows an eerily romantic scene.

Plot: 5/5 stars
Ending: 5/5 stars
Cover: 5/5 stars
Overall: 5/5 stars
Recommend: Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #3 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #6 of 50

Review: Here Lies Bridget

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

Synopsis (From Goodreads): Heroine, Bridget Duke, rules her high school, but when she crashes her car and ends up in limbo, she must confront the people she has wronged, all of whom want her to go to hell. The outcome of these meetings will decide her final destination.
 
Mean girl of the school, Bridget, has no problem getting what she wants. She's no stranger to twisting the truth and intimidation, even her friends are scared to tell Bridget the truth.

When new girl, Anna, arrives and is instantly more popular and perfect than Bridget, Bridget starts to feel threatened. Feeling like her whole world is crashing down around her and everyone at school aren't putting up with her attitude anymore she races home in a frantic pace, losing control of her car.

Instead of dying, Bridget wakes up in limbo where she's going to be shown how her actions have affected all the people around her. But, at the end of this experience will Bridget be alive to fix the major mistakes she has made?

Bridget is the perfect mean girl that it's hard to sympathise with her. Throughout the story she cannot understand why people seem to dislike her, she doesn't think that what she says can be taken as an offence. Sometimes it was too hard to understand her when I felt sorry for everyone around her.

That being said, the story was interesting. Each of the characters surrounding Bridget each held their own secrets, which helped drive the plot. And, by the end of the story I did feel some remorse for Bridget. With a feel of Mean Girls meets A Christmas Carol, Paige Harbison has created a fun read with a unique spin on learning about one's mistakes.

Cover: I absolutely love this cover. There's a bit of a morbid feel among the peaceful scenery. It definitely paints a good image of what this story is about.


Plot: 3/5 stars
Ending: 4/5 stars
Cover: 5/5 stars
Overall: 3.5/5 stars
Recommend: The Duff by Kody Keplinger
Source: Arc received from Net Galley
Release Date: 1st February 2011
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #2 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #4 of 50

Review: Unearthly

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Synopsis (From Goodreads): In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . . 


Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy. 

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side. 

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny? 

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart

Clara knows what she is, and ever since she found out that she's an angel-blood she has been waiting until her purpose is made clear, then she starts having visions of a boy surrounded by a forest fire. After finding the location of the forest from her vision, her mother moves her brother and her to the small community of Jackson Hole where Clara meets Christian, the boy from her vision.

Besides being the new girl and struggling to fit in at school, she also has her purpose to work out. If that's not bad enough, there's also a second boy, Tucker, who Clara can't get out of her mind. Clara has to make the choice between following her heart or completing her destiny.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Unearthly, and I was pleasantly surprised. Cynthia Hand has created a unique spin on the Angel story. I was happy that Clara knew she was part-angel and that she had a mother who was there to help her daughter, even if that mother didn't want to tell her daughter any information on the angels until Clara had figured it out for herself or was ready.

The relationships between Clara, Christian and Tucker were built on and were more believable than most stories that have love triangles. This story really showed Clara losing her heart to the guy and being torn up with decision that she had to make.

The plot was fast with plenty of twists and turns to keep me reading. I look forward to when the next one comes out.

Cover: This is a beautiful cover. Australia got the red cover which looks exactly like how the vision plays out. Even without knowing what it was about, I'm sure I would have picked it up based on that cover.


Plot: 5/5 stars
Ending: 5/5 stars
Cover: 5/5 stars
Overall: 5/5 stars
Recommend: Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
2011 Debut Author Challenge: #1 of 20
2011 YA Reading Challenge: #2 of 50

2011 Debut Author Challenge

Kristi at The Story Siren is hosting the 2011 Debut Author Challenge. I participated in this year's challenge and was surprised to have completed my goal of 12 books at the beginning of October, so I decided I'll take on the challenge again next year. Why wouldn't I? Just like this year, next year has a great number of temptations being released that I'm salivating over.

So, here is my list that I'll be attempting (in no order):

1. Possession by Elana Johnson
2. Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roeker
3. Vesper by Jeff Sampsen
4. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
5. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
6. Rival by Sara Bennett-Wealer
7. A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
8. The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder
9. Die for Me by Amy Plum
10. Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris
11. Populazzi by Elise Allen
12. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
13. Dead Rules by Randy Russell
14. Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey
15. My Un-Fairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski
16. Future Imperfect by K. Ryer Breese
17. The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
18. Entangled by Cat Clarke
19. Memento Nora by Angie Smibert
20. Choker by Elizabeth Woods

I know the challenge is for 12 books, but since I accomplished it early this year and there are so, so, so many great sounding books being released, I've decided to challenge myself to 20. It looks like I'll have my hands full trying to read all of them.

So, what books are you looking forward to being released next year?