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: Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Take Back the Skies 
Lucy Saxon
Series: Take Back the Skies, #1
Release Date: June 3rd, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Romance of doom
Reviewed by: Blythe

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

Review: V is for Villain by Peter Moore

V is for Villain
Peter Moore
Series: None
Released: May 20th, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: the cheesy goodness
Reviewed by: Blythe

Brad Baron is used to looking lame compared to his older brother, Blake. Though Brad's basically a genius, Blake is a superhero in the elite Justice Force. And Brad doesn't measure up at his high school, either, where powers like super-strength and flying are the norm. So when Brad makes friends who are more into political action than weight lifting, he's happy to join a new crew-especially since it means spending more time with Layla, a girl who may or may not have a totally illegal, totally secret super-power. And with her help, Brad begins to hone a dangerous new power of his own.

But when they're pulled into a web of nefarious criminals, high-stakes battles, and startling family secrets, Brad must choose which side he's on. And once he does, there's no turning back.

Perfect for fans of The Avengers, Ironman, and classic comic books, V is for Villain reveals that it's good to be bad.

Coming Attractions: The Art of Lainey

Coming Attractions is inspired by The Perpetual Page Turner's Save The Date. Coming Attractions showcases a book that is not released for a while that I've read, and gives you a sneak peek (like a pre-review, if you will) as to what I thought about the book, since I can't post the review until closer to the release date.

The Art of Lainey

Paula Stokes

Series: Standalone

Release Date: May 20th, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Rating: 3.5 stars

Word rating: surprising and impressive

Reviewed by: Ellis

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is used to getting what she wants, and when her boyfriend Jason breaks up with her for no reason, what she wants is to win him back before the start of their senior year. Lainey and her friend Bianca check the interwebz for tips and tricks, but the online dating advice is all pretty lame.

Then the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. Didn't someone once say that love is a battlefield? Jason isn't going to stand a chance once Lainey and Bee go all Zhou Dynasty on him...

Old school strategy and subterfuge meet modern-day dramarama in the story of a girl who sets out to win at all costs and ends up discovering what's really worth fighting for.

Review: Perfect Lies by Kiersten White

Perfect Lies
Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games, #2
Released: February 18th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Surprising!
Reviewed by: Blythe

Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them.

Review: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Heartbeat
Elizabeth Scott
Series: Standalone
Released: January 28th, 2014
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: I haz angzer issuez
Reviewed by: Mel

Life. Death. And...Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.

But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma-the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia-New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge.

Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for love?

Grief holds you tight. It holds you forever.

Review: Avalon by Mindee Arnett

Avalon
Mindee Arnett
Series: Avalon, #1
Released: January 21st, 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Slooooow build
Reviewed by: Blythe

Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.

Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon's cult hit show Firefly.

Review: Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Fake ID
Lamar Giles
Series: None
Released: January 21st, 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: More than I had expected
Reviewed by: Mel

Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…

My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.

I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.

I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.

And I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.

But I’m going to.

Coming Attractions: White Space by Ilsa J. Bick

Coming Attractions is inspired by The Perpetual Page Turner's Save The Date. Coming Attractions showcases a book that is not released for a while that I've read, and gives you a sneak peek (like a pre-review, if you will) as to what I thought about the book, since I can't post the review until closer to the release date.

White Space
Ilsa J. Bick
Series: Dark Passages, #1
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Egmont USA
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Crazy crazy crazy
Full review to come: February
Reviewed by: Mel

Ilsa Bick’s WHITE SPACE, pitched as The Matrix meets Inkheart, about a seventeen-year-old girl who jumps between the lines of books and into the white space where realities are created and destroyed – but who may herself be nothing more than a character written into being from an alternative universe, to Greg Ferguson at Egmont, in a two-book deal, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (NA).

I feel like I should point out that this book will have many many mixed ratings. I for one, have already seen a bucketload of DNFs and another handful of people who gave this 4-5 stars. White Space, is one of those books that start off really crappy and end so amazing you just need to sit down and stare into oblivion for a while.

What didn't work for me:

THE CHANGING OF POVS: We start off with Lizzie, a girl who has some really odd parents. Her family moved into the middle of nowhere after the incident in London. Basically, Lizzie's father can reach into a mirror and pull out characters and put them into his novels. After these really odd few chapters in Lizzie's POV, we change into Emma's. Emma has been having 'blinks' where her world fades out and she can see through the eye's of someone else, a someone like Lizzie. After a back and forth change between these two character's POV, it was pretty good. The entire book was written in third person which made the changing manageable. That's until we start gettting random POVs of characters, they're so random, we even had new POVs coming in at 50% in of the book. Not only were there more POVs than the number of fingers on my hand, but also they were short. Once I was actually getting into the story, the POV would switch and I would get completely agitated and detatched from the novel once more.

THE PACING: Another factor that contributed into why I was not a fan of this book was the pace of this novel. I see that people are going to DNF this novel, not only because of the changing and number of points of views however also because the pace is painful. It is not to say that I was bored out of my brains but I needed answers. I was so damn confused for majority of the novel it made me want to rip all the hairs out of my head. However, some people are going to love the feel of a heavy blanked draped over their heads. To be honest, I enjoyed the feeling too but after some time, I started to wonder what the point of this book was. Nevertheless, the end redeemed this book. In a way.

What did work for me:

BASICALLY EVERYTHING ELSE: The world Ilsa J. Bick creates is truly crazy madness. It's a lot to stomach however as the story goes on and changes--you get used to it. I love the concept and the way it was executed was close to perfection. Maybe a few more answers to entertain the readers, though. White Space is obviously a plot orientated book despite the quantity of points of views. Surprisingly, White Space is a thought-provoking read. You start to ponder the given facts of life more and more, the further we go into the book. Such as; what is reality? Are we actually characters from a book? What would it feel like to be a character from a book anyway?

This one is going to be loved and hated.

 

Full review to come on the blog in February.

Review: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

127 Hours on the Moon
Johan Harstad
Series: None
Released: September 15th, 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Rating: 3.5 stars
Fright Scale: 8.5 out of 10
Reviewed by: Blythe

It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of an unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever. 

Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune. Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan. Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.

In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

Review: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Madman's Daughter

Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman's Daughter, #1

Released: January 29th, 2013

Publisher: Balzer and Bray

Rating: 3.5 stars

Fright Scale: 4 out of 10

Reviewed by: Mel

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid and trying to forget the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he's alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she's determined to find out if the accusations were true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward, Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the secret of her father's new life: he experiments on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H.G. Wells's classic The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

Review: No Angel by Helen Keeble

No Angel
Helen Keeble
Series: None
Released: October 8, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: BAHAHAHA
Reviewed by: Mel

Rafael Angelos just got handed the greatest gift any teenage boy could ever dream of. Upon arriving at his new boarding school for senior year, he discovered that he is the ONLY male student. But what should have been a godsend isn't exactly heaven on Earth.

Raffi's about to learn that St. Mary's is actually a hub for demons-and that he was summoned to the school by someone expecting him to save the day. Raffi knows he's no angel-but it's pretty hard to deny that there's some higher plan at work when he wakes up one morning to discover a glowing circle around his head.

Helen Keeble's debut novel, Fang Girl, has been praised for its pitch-perfect teen voice, and VOYA called it "refreshing and reminiscent of Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series." No Angel brings you angels and demons like you've never seen them-complete with the wry humor of Vladimir Tod, sinfully irreverent romance, and some hilariously demonic teenage dilemmas.

Demons and angels and now magic kisses...I didn't ask for any of this.

Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Once We Were
Kat Zhang
Series: Hybrid Chronicles, #2
Released: September 17th, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Slow, but good
Reviewed by: Blythe

"I'm lucky just to be alive"

Eva was never supposed to have survived this long. As the recessive soul, she should have faded away years ago. Instead, she lingers in the body she shares with her sister soul, Addie. When the government discovered the truth, they tried to “cure” the girls, but Eva and Addie escaped before the doctors could strip Eva’s soul away.

Now fugitives, Eva and Addie find shelter with a group of hybrids who run an underground resistance. Surrounded by others like them, the girls learn how to temporarily disappear to give each soul some much-needed privacy. Eva is thrilled at the chance to be alone with Ryan, the boy she’s falling for, but troubled by the growing chasm between her and Addie. Despite clashes over their shared body, both girls are eager to join the rebellion.

Yet as they are drawn deeper into the escalating violence, they start to wonder: How far are they willing to go to fight for hybrid freedom? Faced with uncertainty and incredible danger, their answers may tear them apart forever.

Review: How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

How I Lost You
Janet Gurtler
Series: None
Release Date: April 23rd, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Best friends... forever?
Reviewed by: Mel

There are a few things Grace Anderson knows for sure. One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who's always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected.

Review: Proxy by Alex London

Proxy
Alex London
Series: Proxy, #1
Release Date: June 18th, 2013
Publisher: Philomel
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Almost
Reviewed by: Kate

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

This book came very close to being extraordinary. The plot, the politics, the characters, the humor--it's all lovely in theory. I just wish the execution had been better. I wanted the author to dig deeper almost every step of the way.

Review: Dance of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Dance of the Red Death
Bethany Griffin
Masque of the Red Death, #2
Release Date: June 11th, 2013
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Number of Pages: 336
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Satisfactory

Bethany Griffin continues the journey of Araby Worth in Dance of the Red Death—the sequel to her teen novel Masque of the Red Death. 

In Dance of the Red Death, Araby’s world is in shambles—betrayal, death, disease, and evil forces surround her. She has no one to trust. But she finds herself and discovers that she will fight for the people she loves, and for her city. 

Her revenge will take place at the menacing masked ball, though it could destroy her and everyone she loves…or it could turn her into a hero. 

With a nod to Edgar Allan Poe, Bethany Griffin concludes her tragic and mysterious Red Death series with a heroine that young adult readers will never forget.

This review is SPOILER-FREE for Masque of the Red Death.

In retrospect, reading Dance of the Red Death while I was sick may not have been my smartest idea. The wonderfully grotesque and dark atmosphere of the plague-ridden world in Masque of the Red Death was enough to send me a fit of countless chills, and I read Masque in a healthy state that was rather polarizing to the state in which I read Dance of the Red Death. Needless to say, I imagine, the atmosphere developed even more thoroughly in Dance of the Red Death made much more of an impact on me than it did in Masque, which was something I hadn't initially expected. While I had expected Griffin to maintain the same level of grotesque beauty (as contradictory as that may sound) she had developed in her world in Masque of the Red Death, that grotesque beauty was further expanded upon in Dance of the Red Death, and that, coupled with the fact that I read Dance while I was sick, made my reading experience feel that much more tangible, chilling, and immersing than I could have ever imagined it being.

Coming Attractions: Tandem

Coming Attractions is inspired by The Perpetual Page Turner's Save The Date, both in concept and format. Coming Attractions showcases a book that is not released for a while that I've read, and gives you a sneak peek for what I thought about the book, since I can't post the review until closer to the release date.

Tandem
Anna Jarzab
Series: Many-Worlds, #1

Release Date: October 8th, 2013

Publisher: Delacorte BFYR

Number of Pages: 448

Rating: 3.5 stars

Everything repeats.

You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds. Many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real--until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love--one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she's someone she's not.

The first book in the Many-Worlds Trilogy, Tandem is a riveting saga of love and betrayal set in parallel universes in which nothing--and no one--is what it seems.

Review: Life After Theft

Life After Theft
Aprilynne Pike
Series: None
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 352
Star Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Surprising

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto.

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

Clash meets sass in this uproarious modern-day retelling of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Life After Theft really surprised me. What I had originally expected to be an at least semi-fun read with little to no depth whatsoever soon turned out to be an entirely fun read with an appropriate undertone of depth, right up until the final chapter, which still makes me sad just thinking about it. Adding to what expectations I had in store for me prior to reading Life After Theft, I had anticipated a typical high school drama, poor writing, and poor character development, due to some reviews for the author's other young adult series from trusted friends of mine.

Those expectations, too, were not were not entirely met throughout the duration of Life After Theft, and with that I am able to say with complete and utter certainty that Life After Theft exceeded each and every one of my expectations. While a pretty large focus in Life After Theft is high school, and, inevitably, the drama going on inside it, that focus was met with an interesting and refreshing twist, although some if not most of the later revelations concerning high school drama were ones I saw miles away considering the fact that they've all been done before in most novels with high school drama. And as for my expectation of poor writing in Life After Theft, I'm thrilled to say that I absolutely enjoyed the fun, witty, and simple--yet not overly so--manner in which this novel was written, and it felt fitting to the plot.

Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

Reboot
Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot, #1
Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 352
Rating: 3.5 stars

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

Incredibly interesting, fast-paced, and original--at least when concerning the plot and elements of the plot--and with alluring relationship dynamics and compelling action sequences, Amy Tintera's debut novel, Reboot, is one to undoubtedly remain standing amongst other well-written debuts releasing this year. Whether or not Reboot will completely stand out amongst those debuts or outshine them altogether is somewhat equivocal, given the fact that there are some aspects of Reboot--most notably the romance--that have been done better in young adult and are a bit too similar to a vast majority of young adult novels on the market, but as a whole, I feel that the quick and ultimately captivating way in which Reboot is written will appeal to readers looking for a fun and fast read bearing a semblance of depth--something unfortunately uncommon in many young adult novels I describe as 'fun' lately.

I'll get right to it--Reboot's biggest fault, in my opinion, was the romance, and the large role it took concerning the progression of the plot, and really just the large role it took in general. Using romance as a driving point for character development and plot progression is not something I dislike--in fact it may be one of my favorite ways of developing characters and plots.

If done well, that is. In the very first pages of Reboot, we're thrown into an action sequence between Wren, a Reboot, and one of her targets. From then on, we're told, and shown, having the novel told from her point of view, that she is cold and ruthless and tough, and for that duration, I loved Wren's character. But soon after she is introduced to the love interest, Callum--who, keep in mind, I think is both a fantastic character and love interest--all those adjectives I've used to describe Wren gradually became less and less extreme.

Mini-Reviews: Radiant and Origins: The Fire

Radiant
Cynthia Hand
Series: Unearthly, #2.5
Release Date: December 4th, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 94
Source: Bought
Rating: 3 stars

Clara is desperate to get away—from the memories that haunt her in Wyoming and the visions of a future she isn't ready to face—and spending the summer in Italy with her best friend, Angela, should be the perfect escape. . . .


For as long as she can remember, Angela has been told that love is dangerous, that she must always guard her heart. But when she met a mysterious guy in Italy two years ago she was determined to be with him, no matter the costs. Now she must decide whether she can trust Clara with her secret, or if telling her the truth will risk everything she cares about.

Alternating between Angela and Clara's perspectives, Radiant chronicles the unforgettable summer that will test the bounds of their friendship and change their lives forever.

Admittedly, I probably should have read this before I started Boundless, considering the fact that the mystery behind Phen, what the visions represent, who the man is, etc, is all shattered, but even knowing those valuable pieces of information that practically ruined the mysterious aspect of Radiant for me, I still found this to be enjoyable.

Radiant takes place shortly after the events of Hallowed, with Angela and Clara in Italy for the summer. In Italy, Angela is reunited with a boyfriend of sorts from years earlier, and begins to spark her relationship with him once again. However, Clara feels that there is something off with Angela's boyfriend - Phen - and she may just be right in feeling that.

I find Angela to be one of the most fascinating characters in the Unearthly trilogy, so having an opportunity to get inside her head in Radiant was definitely an intriguing topic. While I am a bit dismayed to say that being in Angela's head for as such a short amount of pages was not as fascinating or interesting as I had expected it to be, I still had a fun time being in Angela's head, though I would have liked it to differ more drastically from being in Clara's, as the point of views changed every chapter.

There's not much more to say about Radiant that I haven't already said so far, so I'm going to leave this review short and sweet, just like the book. Highly recommended to be read before Boundless, or just not at all, I found Radiant to be a quick, somewhat entertaining yet overall enjoyable read, albeit a bit of a filler novella. Whether or not you'd like to read this is obviously up to you, and while I'd definitely recommend it, I wouldn't say it is in any way a necessity to understand any events in Boundless.

Origins: The Fire

Debra Driza

Series: MILA 2.0, #0.5

Release Date: January 8th, 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen

Number of Pages: 15

Source: Bought

Rating: 3.5 stars

Heart-stopping and electric, MILA 2.0: Origins: The Fire contains a short prequel story and an excerpt to MILA 2.0, the first book in a riveting Bourne Identity–style trilogy by Debra Driza.

Mila can't remember anything before the fire that took her father's life. It's normal to have some memory loss after traumatic events, but Mila doesn't remember if she's ever learned to ride a bike, or if she's ever been in love. Nothing.

What she doesn't know is that she isn't supposed to remember—that she was built in a computer science lab and programmed to forget. Because if she remembers, she might discover her true identity.

The question is: If she relived the fire, what would she see?

Huh! Well, color me surprised! I was expecting very little from this fifteen-page novella, but it was actually pretty impressive! This mini-review probably won't even be a paragraph, more like a mini-mini-review, but, once again, this was a very impressive novella considering its length. It showcased some strong writing, some near-nail-biting moments, and an interesting little twist that probably won't be a surprising one for you if you know the basic plot of MILA 2.0, but now I am going into MILA 2.0 with much higher expectations than before. I should be starting MILA soon, and I am definitely looking forward to it more, now.