Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone
by Morgan Matson
Series: None
Released on: May 6th, 2014
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Rating: 4 stars
Word Rating: Best by Matson so far
Reviewed by: Mel

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.

But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend.

Apple Picking at Night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um…

Review: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

The Girl from the Well
by Rin Chupeco
Series: None
Released on: August 5th, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Creeeeepy
Reviewed by: Mel

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night.

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret - one that would just kill to get out.

The Girl from the Well is A YA Horror novel pitched as "Dexter" meets "The Grudge", based on a well-loved Japanese ghost story.

Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

On the Fence
by Kasie West
Series: Standalone
Released on: July 1st, 2014
Published by: HarperTeen
Rating: 4.5 stars
Word rating: SHIIIIP!
Reviewed by: Blythe

She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…

Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

Fun, original, and endearing, On the Fence is a romantic comedy about finding yourself and finding love where you least expect.

Review: The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
Series: Standalone
Released on: July 8th, 2014
Published by: HarperTeen
Rating: 4 stars
Word rating: Mind-bendiness
Reviewed by: Blythe 

You take it for granted. Waking up. Going to school, talking to your friends. Watching a show on television or reading a book or going out to lunch.

You take for granted going to sleep at night, and getting up the next day, and remembering everything that happened to you before you closed your eyes.

You live and you remember.

Me, I live and I forget.

But now—now I am remembering. 

For all of her seventeen years, Molly feels like she’s missed bits and pieces of her life. Now, she’s figuring out why. Now, she’s remembering her own secrets. And in doing so, Molly uncovers the separate life she seems to have led…and the love that she can’t let go.

The Half Life of Molly Pierce is a suspenseful, evocative psychological mystery about uncovering the secrets of our pasts, facing the unknowns of our futures, and accepting our whole selves.

Review: She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

She Is Not Invisible
Marcus Sedgwick
Series: Standalone
Released: April 22nd, 2014
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Rating: 4 stars
Word Rating: Utterly fascinating
Reviewed by: Blythe

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other.

Discussion Review: All That Glows by Ryan Graudin

All That Glows
Ryan Graudin
Series: All That Glows, #1
Released: February 11th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 1.5 stars
Word Rating: LOLOLOL
Reviewed by: Blythe and Mel

Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

Trilogy Readalongs Sign-Up

Hey, everyone! New month, new theme (maybe this could be a thing on the blog every month; who knows). Anyway, since so many trilogies have ended recently, or are ending soon, Mel and I thought it would be fun to have some trilogy readalongs! Below are the readalongs that we plan on having some time this month, but let us know in the comments if you have any more trilogies in mind. We won't be able to fit more than three readalongs in one month, but we'll be sure to keep your recommendations in mind for December!

*If you've already read the Divergent trilogy, don't worry because we will have the Under the Never Sky readalong running alongside that; the same goes for Under the Never Sky and Legend.

  

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Host: 

Blythe 

Runs from: 

November 5th to November 20th 

Discussion Intervals: 

Divergent - November 5th to November 10th 

Insurgent - November 10th to November 15th 

Allegiant - November 15th to November 20th

  

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi 

Host: 

Mel 

Runs from: 

November 10th to November 25th 

Discussion Intervals: 

Under the Never Sky - November 10th to November 15th 

Through the Ever Night - November 15th to November 20th 

Into the Still Blue - November 20th to November 25th

* Into the Still Blue is released on January 28th, 2014, but you can still take part in this readalong if you don't have an ARC of the final book. However, if you don't have an ARC, you can request one here, and HarperTeen should get back to you before this readalong starts (if you request now). 

  

Legend by Marie Lu 

Host: 

Blythe 

Runs from: 

November 20th to December 5th 

Discussion Intervals: 

Legend - November 20th to November 25th 

Prodigy - November 25th to November 30th 

Champion - November 30th to December 5th

Review: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

Unbreakable

Kami Garcia

Series: Legion, #1

Released: October 1st, 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR

Rating: 3 stars

Fright Scale: 5.5 out of 10

Reviewed by: Mel

I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels.

Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray
Ruta Sepetys
Series: None
Released: March 22, 2011
Publisher: Philomel Books
Rating: 4.5 stars
Word Rating: What do I do with my life now?
Reviewed by: Mel

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

"We'd been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean."

Getting to Know You: The Answers!

All right.  You asked us a lot of (really, really good) questions, and we answered.  Twice.  See, we had the post completely finished and ready to go up a week ago, but then all the text disappeared.  We all secretly suspect that this is somehow my (Kate's) fault, as I am terrible with computers, but we've decided to be nice and blame it on Blogger instead.

There were a few questions that none of us could come up with answers for, so unfortunately we left those off, and we also removed a few more for brevity's sake--as this post got very long very, very fast.  I think you'll feel you know us much better after having read this--at least we hope you do!  And please, feel free to leave us a comment with your own answers to these questions if you'd like--we would love to learn more about our lovely blog readers as well!

To the answers!

Review: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Another Little Piece
Kate Karyus Quinn
Series: None
Release Date: June 11th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 432
Rating: 4.5 stars
Word Rating: WUT

The spine-tingling horror of Stephen King meets an eerie mystery worthy of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series in Kate Karyus Quinn's haunting debut.
On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past.

Unquestionably one of the strangest, most stunning, and original novels I have ever read in my entire life, Another Little Piece seems like it was practically written by Kate Karyus Quinn with me in mind. What other readers have said about Another Little Piece is all true--reading this novel is an undeniably confusing, mind-boggling, and downright ambiguous experience. Yet, while those very attributes caused Another Little Piece to be a disappointing read for some readers, the ambiguity of the entire novel, and the brilliant atmosphere deftly crafted by Quinn among the confusion, is in essence what made me love this novel so much. Love Another Little Piece or not, there is no doubting the fact that, upon turning the last page, it is a novel that will linger in your mind and likely haunt you, and ultimately, that's all I can ever ask for in a novel.

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden
Jessi Kirby
Series: None
Release Date: May 14th, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Number of Pages: 288
Star Rating: 5 stars
Word Rating: aahsujfja

Love, tragedy, and mystery converge in this compelling novel from “an author to watch” (Booklist).

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

"[...] sometimes we meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it."

No words of mine can even come close to portraying the stunning beauty and finesse that takes up each and every page of Jessi Kirby's magnificent Golden. Running through my mind since reading the very last page of Golden to now, as I am writing these inevitably inadequate words, are an endless amount of positive adjectives that could be used to describe Golden truthfully--it's breathtaking, it's lovely, it's striking and it's stunning and it's poignant and it's beyond fantastic. And it's my favorite read of the year thus far.

And rest assured I will be rereading it.

Blogoversary Day 4: Lauren Miller

Aaaaand welcome back to day four of my blogoversary celebration! Again, I really hope you're enjoying the posts with/by these fantastic authors, because I have another incredibly fun one for you all today--by Lauren Miller, author of the debut PARALLEL! Lauren's been awesome enough to share with us quite a few different things--ten random facts about her, five things you should know about PARALLEL, as well as a delightfully cliffhangery excerpt from PARALLEL! I haven't read PARALLEL myself, yet, but I've heard beyond amazing things about it, so I can't wait!

Review: Revel by Maurissa Guibord

Revel
Maurissa Guibord
Series: None
Release Date: February 12th, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages: 352
Source: Edelweiss
Rating: 4.5 stars

There’s an island off the coast of Maine that’s not on any modern map.

Shrouded in mist and protected by a deadly reef, Trespass Island is home to a community of people who guard the island and its secrets from outsiders. Seventeen-year-old Delia grew up in Kansas, but has come here in search of her family and answers to her questions: Why didn’t her mother ever talk about Trespass Island? Why did she fear the open water? But Delia’s not welcome and soon finds herself enmeshed in a frightening and supernatural world where ancient Greek symbols adorn the buildings and secret ceremonies take place on the beach at night.

Sean Gunn, a handsome young lobsterman, befriends Delia and seems willing to risk his life to protect her. But it’s Jax, the coldly elusive young man she meets at the water’s edge, who finally makes Delia understand the real dangers of life on the island. Delia is going to have to fight to survive. Because there are monsters here. And no one ever leaves Trespass alive.

Two large, scaly animals gripped the bottom of the Widowsong, their shapes like the dark silhouettes of a nightmare. Webbed hands. Claws. Spiked tails. One of the monsters swung and fixed me with reptilian yellow eyes. Its jaws unhinged like a bear trap, showing rows of curved, sharp teeth, and it screamed at me. The obscene roar reverberated through the water and suddenly the creature swam toward me, with rapid undulating movements and a bobbing motion of its head.

I'm terrified of fish. Not so much that I'd break into a hysterical fit of screams upon the sight of a goldfish (but if it touches me, that's a completely different story), or so terrified that I'd ban Finding Nemo from my household (it's not banned, it's just not welcome...), but I am terrified of fish enough for Revel to make a remarkably lasting impression in my nightmares on me, thanks to the passage above and many, many more throughout the novel.

Don't let that pretty dress cover fool you - Revel is a thoroughly haunting and creepy read, with rich and incredibly descriptive detail of sea monsters (or, as I'll be referring them for the remainder of this review, 'evil fish', because it fits the monsters better than 'sea monsters' and I don't want to spoil what they really are) throughout the entire novel. Along with the horrifying descriptions and equally as horrifying happenings, however, Guibord managed to incorporate a good amount of humor interwoven with the horror, garnering quite a few laughs from me, which, I'm sure you could imagine, was a refreshing break from the expressions of shock plastered on my face for the remainder of the novel.

Showcase Sunday (23)

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea, where we showcase what books we've gotten over the course of the week, whether it be from a book store, bought for your eReader, received from the library, or from the publishers for review.

For Review:

   

 

HUGE thanks to the awesome Patrick Carman, Grand Central Publishing, Random House, and Tor Teen for the books!

Bought:

    

 

Weee! So ecstatic about this haul, guys! For starters, this week I got my very first signed/personalized ARC from the amazingly awesome Patrick Carman, and it's for Pulse - a book I'm dying to read, so even if I only got that book this week I would have been ecstatic. I've been dying to read The Nightmare Affair for a while - the protagonist is a nightmare. Literally. How could I not want to read that? And I'm also really glad I got Fuse, because I plan on starting Pure really soon and it's always good to have the sequel at hand. And Strands of Bronze and Gold sounds really good, even if I'm not familiar with the tale of Blackbeard. (I know, I know.) And I absolutely can't wait to read the books I bought this week (aside from Through the Ever Night, which I already read as a galley but needed on my shelves). Right now I'm reading Just One Day, which pretty much everyone I know has loved or at least liked, so I'm super excited for that, and then I'm probably going to read Neverfall, which will probably take me about thirty minutes. I'm not sure what to think about that, because I finished Everneath yesterday and wasn't a fan, but I found Cole to be the most interesting and multi-layered character among a sea of bland and boring characters, so hopefully reading from his perspective will be as interesting as his personality. (My review of Everneath will be up on Friday.) Also, Paper Valentine sounds amazing, and so does Shadowlands. And what's even better is that I hear both are really creepy, so yay! 

What did you get this week? 

Leave a comment letting me know!

Review: Vortex by Julie Cross

Vortex
Julie Cross
Series: Tempest, #2
Release Date: January 15th, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffith
Number of Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 stars

Julie Cross's Vortex is the thrilling second installment of the Tempest series, in which the world hangs in the balance as a lovelorn Jackson must choose who to save.

Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

This review does not contain any spoilers for Tempest

Based on the 2013 sequels I've read so far (really only Through the Ever Night and Vortex), 2013 seems to be the year of sequels that outshine their predecessors in practically every way imaginable. Vortex, the second installment in Julie Cross' Tempest trilogy, took all my preconceived expectations and expanded upon them, exceeding each and every one of my expectations by tenfold.

Where Tempest moved at a somewhat slow pace, letting the mystery and suspense build up throughout the novel, Vortex moved at a pace on a completely opposite spectrum than Tempest. One of the problems I had with Tempest was that I found it to be a bit slow moving - understandably so, however, considering Cross created her own concept of time travel and had to explain it, of course - but slow pace is definitely not a concern with Vortex. The action in Vortex begins right as you open the first page, and - cliche alert - doesn't stop until the final, excruciatingly evil pages.

Today's Releases (January 8)

  

Shadowlands by Kate Brian

Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

   

Crash by Lisa McMann

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

The 13th Sign by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

  

Doomed by Tracy Deebs

Jinx by Sage Blackwood

What We Saw At Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard

  

Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick

Broken by A.E. Rought

  

Delusion by Laura L. Sullivan

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan

Rise by Andrea Cremer

HOLY RELEASE DAY, GUYS. Holy crap! My wallet is definitely in trouble today. I'm definitely buying myself a copy of Shadowlands, Through the Ever Night (even though I already read and loved it - I need that gorgeous thing on my shelves), Just One Day, Paper Valentine and maybe Crash. Seriously, holy crap! So many awesome releases I can't even. I need to find a way to fit these all in my reading schedule. (Also, on a side-note, I recommend not reading Revolution 19 if you value life, happiness, and really anything good.) I think buying one of today's releases in inevitable with these books, so let me know which books you're getting, and happy reading!