Saturday, November 29, 2014

Review of Five Kingdoms: Rogue Knight by Brandon Mull

Advance Review of Brandon Mull's Five Kingdoms: Rogue Knight
Release Date: November 18th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Magic and danger abound in the second book in a series of fanciful, action-packed adventure; (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series.

Cole Randolph never meant to come to The Outskirts, but when his friends were kidnapped on Halloween he had to try and save them. Now he's trapped in a world that lies between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death.

Cole's search for his friends has led him to Elloweer, another of the five kingdoms that make up The Outskirts. He's accompanied by Mira, Twitch, and Jace, new friends he's met here in the Outskirts who each have their own important missions.

The group is following news that Mira's sister, Honor, could be in danger. However, Cole and Mira are soon the ones facing direct threat, and must resort to a fascinating new kind of magic to protect themselves. Their journey brings them across familiar faces, some more welcome than others, until their paths ultimately cross with the infamous man known throughout Elloweer as the Rogue Knight.

Will he turn out to be an unstoppable enemy, or a key ally?

Every move is filled with danger as Cole and his new friends try and outwit the High King, who will stop at nothing to regain what he has lost.


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Even though I read this book after the release date, I still consider it an advance, because the version I actually read was an advanced edition, so some aspects of it may have changed.

I'd like to begin by apologizing for my last couple of reviews. They have been less than stellar in consistency, because I find myself reviewing and finishing a book after I have left work in the middle of the night. So I know for a couple of them, I have been half alive or barely awake. So I am sorry if you read any that seemed a little lacking...

This book is a continuation of Brandon Mull's series Five Kingdoms that began with Sky Raiders about a boy that has been sucked into an alternate world while trying to save his kidnapped friends after they were tricked into capture while in a haunted house on Halloween. I have found all of Mull's series' very exciting for a Young Readers Author. He writes in a way that keeps my attention as an adult, when the books are meant for Children in Middle School and younger.

I was a very big fan of his Fablehaven series, so when he released the first book in the Beyonders series, I was quick to read it. I only read the first in that series, but am finally getting around to continuing by listening to the Audio for book 2 in my car. My only negative about Rogue Knight and Five Kingdoms in general is that both Beyonders & Five Kingdoms have similar topics. Both are about people being brought to alternate worlds. There have been multiple times while reading Rogue Knight & listening to Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion where I have found myself thinking they were too similar.

Overall I am very happy with this read & am excited for the next book. Am I wishing I had it now like I am about some other books... No! I can wait for it. I have a lot of reading to catch up on.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Review of The Dark Elements: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L Armentrout

Review of Jennifer L Armentrout's The Dark Elements: Stone Cold Touch
Release Date: October 21st, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who's pretty sure things can't get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla's powers begin to evolve, and she's offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She's finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay….


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Being half Warden (a Celestial Warrior, also known as a Gargoyle) & half Demon has never been easy for Layla. She has been raised by the Wardens since she was a child, but she is not one of them. She known Demons are evil, but she is definitely not one of them. Where does she fit? She has been raised by Zayne's family, but he is completely off limits, because if she were ever to kiss him, she would suck out his soul. Then there is Roth, the tattooed bad boy new guy at her school that just happens to be the son of Satan. In the end of book 1, White Hot Kiss, we find Roth saving both Layla & Zayne, by taking the demon Paimon to Hell, while getting sucked there himself.

In the aftermath of that disaster, Layla is crushed. She has Roth's familiar, Bambi, the Boa Constrictor who just happens to be a tattoo, as well as Zayne. Now that Roth is out of the way, Zayne begins to show his feelings toward Layla. What does he have to lose? But what happens when Roth shows up out of the blue, not dead after all, with news that the ritual Paimon was making has unlocked multiple chains that were holding Lilith, Layla's mother, have been unlocked. A Lillin has been born. Similar to her own abilities, the Lillin can remove a soul, but they only need to touch a human to do so.

I am a huge fan of Armentrout's books & loved this one. She writes beautiful tales of Romance, while tying in supernatural elements & characters masterfully. If you are a fan of her books, also check out Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, as well as Armentrout's own Covenant series.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Review of The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Review of Michelle Hodkin's The Retribution of Mara Dyer
Release Date: November 4th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

It had to end sometime, but Mara had no idea it would end like this. Experience the mind-blowing conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer trilogy.

Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.
Retribution has arrived.


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Quote from The Retribution of Mara Dyer:

It has been said that there must be a villain for every hero, a demon for every angel, a monster for every god. Despite what we are, I do not believe this. I have seen the villainous act heroic, and men called heroes act villainous. The ability to heal does not make one good any more than the ability to kill makes one evil. Kill the right people, and you become a hero. Heal the wrong ones, and you become a villain. It is our choices that define us, not our abilities.

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Another ending to another series... this is how it has been almost all of 2014. Michelle Hodkin has written an incredible story that has kept me on the edge of my seat, holding on for dear life, wondering what will happen to a character that you don't know whether she is good or evil.

Everyone believes Mara has had a psychotic break brought on by her PTSD from the death of her friends in a building collapse in which she was the only survivor. She is only now beginning to understand what is happening to her, when her family has had her committed to a rehab called Horizons, because they do not think they can help her any longer. But unbeknownst to them, they have really sent her to a research facility where a scientist named Dr. Kells is studying teenagers with abilities... abilities her family doesn't even know she has. Had Mara told them any of what was going on with her, they would have only thought she was crazy...er.

Book 3 begins with Mara being tied down to a gurney and experimented on. They have injected her with some sort of medicine to stop her from using her powers. If they hadn't, they would already be dead. All she has to do is wish them dead and they would be dead. She keeps wishing, but nothing is happening. She has been told that her boyfriend Noah died in the crash of Horizons building that they were formerly staying in. The building that her family saw when they dropped her off. The same building where her ex-boyfriend, Jude, captured and tortured her friends... killing one.

When Jude shows up to save her, telling her that Noah is alive, can she believe him? He has done nothing but manipulate, stalk, and ruin her life. But what choice does she have? It is either be experimented on & lose her ability or trust the one person she hates above all others and escape. Finding two of her friends, Jamie & Stella, Mara begins her escape from captivity, leaving behind a trail of bodies.

Where will they go? Who do they trust? They can't go to their families... they are the people who committed them in the first place. Following a trail of clues to New York, they attempt to find out who is behind Horizons, as well as why they have abilities in the first place.

I have been in love with this story since book 1, so when book 3 started unfolding, I felt a little disappointed. At times, I found myself wondering if it was written by the same person as the first 2 books. It felt disjointed from the original story and the unfolding of the plot seemed a little unbelievable. It is the job of the author to make me believe that this could actually happen.

Spoiler Alert: When Noah is standing with the gun in his hand trying to decide who to shoot and chooses himself, instead of shooting his father who was behind the whole thing in the first place, I felt super confused. How did we get to this place? Why, if Lukumi could see different futures, did he write Mara a letter telling her to basically kill herself for the greater good of mankind when he was actually her Grandfather? There were a LOT of holes left open that I thought could have been better filled in. In my opinion, the ending was no where as good as the rest of the series.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Review of Complete Nothing by Kieran Scott

Review of Kieran Scott's Complete Nothing
Release Date: September 30th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

True’s matchmaking skills are the stuff of legend! The second novel in Kieran Scott’s delightful teen romance series that TeenVogue.com called “the next Twilight.”

True is not exactly loving New Jersey. Banished from Mount Olympus and tasked with helping couples find love without using her powers, the goddess-formerly-known-as-Cupid is having a tough time. Especially now that True’s immortal love, Orion, has also appeared at her New Jersey high school—but with no memory of their relationship.

To distract herself from seeing Orion flirt with another girl, True focuses her efforts on making a match: Peter and Claudia. Peter is the star quarterback and the most popular guy in school. But he’s insecure about his future, so he preemptively dumps Claudia, his girlfriend. (If she won’t want to be with him later, why stay together now?) Claudia doesn’t take the breakup too well, and she’s ready to show the quarterback of their rival school just how ready she is to get over it.

But True sees something in these two seniors. She believes they should be together—but can she help them find their way back to each other (and get herself closer to home)? Or have things already spun too far out of control?


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This is the sequel to Only Everything, in which Kieran Scott rewrote the Greek Mythological story on the love story of Eros & Orion. In the first book, Eros & her mother, Aphrodite, are banished to Earth to live as mortals until Eros can match up three couple without the use of her powers, while Orion is kept on Olympus as a slave for Zeus. Neither had lived outside of Olympus in thousands of years, so the beginning was all about their woes & mishaps with modern society & technology. Eros is enrolled in school under the name True Olympia and there is where she sets out to find her first match of True Love. By the end of Only Everything, True has successfully matched her first True Love Coupling, but the book is ended on a cliffhanger when Orion shows up with no memory of Eros.

In the sequel, we are immediately thrown back into the story where we left off, with Eros/True being faced with her True Love... and yet he does not recognize her. This becomes a major plot point for the story in where Orion now has a family (obviously made by Zeus) & goes to True's High School, so she will see him every day. This becomes a minor distraction when she is trying to find her second match.

Lucky for her, when she joins the booster club to be closer to Orion, she meets 2 characters who were briefly in book 1, but did not leave a lasting impression on the reader, except as the girl whose scarf True steals in the beginning and her boyfriend. Now, she has a front row seat to the break up between star Quarterback, Peter, & his girlfriend, Claudia. True can see that they are a match, even if Peter no longer believes it & sets out to get them back together.

If you love Greek Mythology, you will enjoy this fun read. There is no major action in the plot, so I would not suggest this for fans of Percy Jackson, but if you enjoy a feel good Teen Romance, like Aimee Carter's The Goddess Test, Tera Lynn Childs' Oh My Gods, & for a younger reader, Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams' The Goddess Girls series.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Review of Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Advance Review of Pierce Brown's Golden Son
Release Date: January 6th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.


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This book made my pulse race, put my mind in to overdrive, and made my heart ache for everything that has happened and for what is yet to come.

It has not even been a year since I read Red Rising & any time someone has asked me a book to read, it was one of only a few that has been my go to answer. It was so incredible that I still remember the way I felt when I read it. So when I got the chance to read the sequel early, I jumped at the chance. I am a HUGE fan of this series.

There is so much I want to say, but little I can without ruining anything for the readers.

Golden Son is the continuation of Darrow's story, 2 years after the shocking conclusion of Red Rising. He has won the cup for House Mars, but really for all of the outcasts for every house he brought together, & can finally be called a Peerless Scared. So at the end, he can choose any house he wants to work for... so many doors are opening for him. When he gets an offer from House Augustus, and none other than the man that was responsible for the death of his wife, he takes it. This is the chance for revenge he has been wishing for. But the budding romance he had with Mustang, seems all but lost when his choice is made. She wished for more for him than a life in service of her father.

In the very beginning of Golden Son, we find Darrow in yet another battle. This one is for the University he has been sent to to further his education. Most of his friends are gone, sent to the far reaches of the Solar System, so the few that remain are all very loyal and the Sons of Ares have not contacted him in years. When all seems perfect and the win is guaranteed, Darrow loses the battle to House Bellona and disgraces the name of Augustus. His future has gone from set to undetermined in the blink of an eye.

He gets back to House Augustus on Mars and finds that his world is about to be shattered... his contract is to be sold, auctioned off to the highest bidder. He once again feels like the Red he is inside... nothing more than a slave.

This story is the sequel to the Dystopian Trilogy that is sure to some day be on every bookshelf across the world. If you liked Hunger Games, Divergent, Delirium, Matched, Uglies, Legend, The Giver... really any great Dystopian tale, YOU WILL LOVE THIS SERIES!!!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Review of Conquered Earth: Valley of Fires by J Barton Mitchell

Advance Review of J Barton Mitchell's Conquered Earth: Valley of Fires
Release Date: December 2nd, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

The sci-fi tour de force series set in an alien-invaded post-apocalyptic world concludes as the teens must unite Earth’s disparate survivors to overthrow its alien invaders once and for all.

Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Assembly. The human adult population is gone, having succumbed to the Tone—a powerful, telepathic super-signal broadcast across the planet that reduces them to a state of complete subservience. But the Tone only affects the population once they reach their early twenties. Which means that there is one group left to resist: Children. In Valley of Fires the trio of kid heroes -Holt, Mira, and Zoey- are forced apart to accomplish individual quests if they are to have any hope of uniting what reamins of Earth's disparate survivors against its alien invaders.

Mira ventures west to bargain with Van Cleef, the enigmatic leader of North America's most infamous resistance group. But Van Cleef has his own plans to end the conflict, a destructive solution that might actually work...but at a horrible cost. Meanwhile, Holt travels with Ravan and Avril back to the one place he swore he would never return: Faust, the sprawling and dangerous desert city of the Menagerie pirate guild. He goes not only to resolve his issues with Tiberius, its tyrannical leader, but to enlist the Menagerie in the fight to save Zoey. Except Tiberius has his own problems. Factions within the Menagerie are splintering, and word of rebellion is beginning to spread. If Holt wants the Menagerie's help, he might have to help his greatest enemy in exchange.

Traveling separate paths with little hope of safety or reunion, Holt and Mira bring this thrilling, genre-bending series to an utterly unforgettable close.


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A non-stop action packed finally to a series I have thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end, Valley of Fires was the perfect ending to Mitchell's series that began with Midnight City. What does the world look like after the invasion has already happened? How do the remaining humans cope with the loss of the life they have known? That is what this series has been about. The aftermath of alien invasion.

Mira, Holt, & Zoey have been through so much already, but can they all live through one last adventure. In Valley of Fires, the group is finally split up. With Zoey being kept at the Citadel in San Francisco after being taken, Mira & Holt will do whatever it takes to get her back... even mending the bridges of their pasts to find allies in their enemies. While Mira begins the arduous trek to California with the Wind Traders & White Helix, Holt is heading home to the Menagerie. Unfortunately Tiberius is anything but a forgiving man.

With the war having already begun, will everyone make it out alive?

How will they cope with the massive losses of the impending endgame?

I was very happy with the conclusion of this series, even if the steps that were written to get there sometimes seemed drawn out, I understand the ending is what really matters. It just took me too long to get there. It always upsets me when a character I have loved dies, but I saw it coming from halfway through the book.

If you loved this series, please make sure to pick up Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave & Stephanie Meyer's The Host.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Review of The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

Advance Review of Francesca Haig's The Fire Sermon
Release Date: March 10th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

The Hunger Games meets Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in this richly imagined first novel in a new post-apocalyptic trilogy by award-winning poet Francesca Haig.

Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that has laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is born with a twin. Of each pair, one is an Alpha—physically perfect in every way; and the other an Omega—burdened with deformity, small or large. With the Council ruling an apartheid-like society, Omegas are branded and ostracized while the Alphas have gathered the world’s sparse resources for themselves. Though proclaiming their superiority, for all their effort Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: Whenever one twin dies, so does the other.

Cass is a rare Omega, one burdened with psychic foresight. While her twin, Zach, gains power on the Alpha Council, she dares to dream the most dangerous dream of all: equality. For daring to envision a world in which Alphas and Omegas live side-by-side as equals, both the Council and the Resistance have her in their sights.


Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

400 years after a nuclear apocalypse, society is left without technology and all humans are twins. One of each pair is physically perfect, and they are called Alphas, while the other, the Omega, bears some mutation. The apartheid society forces the mutated twins to settlements, even though when one twin dies, so does the other. This is the relationship between a brother and sister twin, and what happens when he becomes a leader in the repressed society.  

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Wow. I have finally been able to finish this incredible book. It has been a long week and try as I might, I have been unable to put my all into reading at night. Whether it be from exhaustion after work or something coming up, I have not found the time to read and am once again behind. Although, I will probably always be behind when so many books are released a week.

I am so happy to find a great dystopian story that is different than any of the others I have ever read. Bringing to you a taste of Pure by Julianna Baggott and a bit of Wasteland by Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan, The Fire Sermon is sure to whet your appetite and leave you begging for more.

400 years in the future, after the devastating effects of Nuclear War has ravaged our world, a new society has been born from the ashes. The cities we once knew are gone. Many species of flora & fauna are extinct. What is left is a world free of technology for fear of what they call "the blast" from happening again. What is left of the wild life is born with deformities: Multiple headed snakes was one example used... and that includes human beings. Every human is now born with a twin. One twin is perfect in every way and are known as Alphas, while the other twin is born with imperfections and are known as Omegas.

Cass is the Omega of her pair, but you would not be able to tell by looking at her. She has been born perfect. But this is known to happen from time to time. Her deformity is on the inside, because she has been born a seer. She gets glimpses into the future or feelings about something before it happens. She has hidden it from a long time, but she has finally been discovered.

Her twin Zach has had to grow up with taunts of the towns people, because his sister was never sent away like most Omega children. He couldn't prove he was the Alpha, so in turn he has been treated like the Omega he knows he isn't. He wants to live up to his potential, but with Cass still around, he can not do that. He will do anything to prove that she is a seer.

The twins beginnings are only a small part of this book, but I can't give too much away, because SO MUCH happens in it: a Love Triangle, Betrayal by another Seer, an Omega Resistance... and so so much more.

This book series has yet to be released (March of 2015) and was already signed by DreamWorks Studios to be made into Movies. That tells you right there that it is incredible... and makes me want the sequel all the much more for it.

** Please note that the above picture is of the Advance Reader's Edition I received and may not be the final cover.