Review of Love Fortunes & Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

Advance Review of Kimberly Karalius' Love Fortunes & Other Disasters

Release Date: May 12th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

In the tradition of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, one girl chooses to change her fortune and her fate by falling in love.

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love.

Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian.

Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love?

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Okay... So my advance read is actually 2 weeks after the book came out, but seeing as how the version I read was an Advanced Copy, I went ahead and counted it as such.

A group of people from work had planned on reading this book, because the author is doing a signing at the Barnes & Noble where I work in Wesley Chapel, Florida the beginning of next month. In normal circumstances, I would probably not have picked up this book. By what the synopsis has written, I gathered that this book was teen fiction. I only read regular teen fiction if a friend tells me I have to pick it up or if the movie version of the book is being released. I am a fan of some form of fantasy. Little did I know, this book had a bit of fantasy to spare.

I will start by saying that this book is much different than I expected. I did expect teen angst and got it in spades, but I didn't know that there would be some form of magic involved. The preface of the book has Love (Cupid would be a more common name for the character) in the flesh on earth. That alone showed me that this book was more than it was packaged as being. Although that character is not in the majority of the book, from that first taste, you know that there is going to be something fantastical.

Not only do the characters in this story rely on the fortunes given to them from a coin operated machine attached to a Love Charm shop, but they alter their entire lives based on the fortunes they receive. When the main character receives a fortune she never expected, with the help of a ragtag team of characters, she sets out to change her fate. I think that the author really fleshed out a few of the characters, but multiple of them were unrelatable and could have used more spotlight. Maybe this is a chance for novellas to be released on eReaders so that we the readers can get a better feel for them.

While I would not have initially picked this book up without nudging from a friend, I am very happy I read it. I don't see it as becoming a series, because Karalius did have a very cut and dry ending, but I am interested in what she writes in the future.

Review of The Fog Diver by Joel Ross

Advance Review of Joel Ross' The Fog Diver

Release Date: May 26th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

A deadly white mist has cloaked the earth for hundreds of years. Humanity clings to the highest mountain peaks, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the teeming lower slopes and rambling junkyards. As the ruthless Lord Kodoc patrols the skies to enforce order, thirteen-year-old Chess and his crew scavenge in the Fog-shrouded ruins for anything they can sell to survive.

Hazel is the captain of their salvage raft: bold and daring. Swedish is the pilot: suspicious and strong. Bea is the mechanic: cheerful and brilliant. And Chess is the tetherboy: quiet and quick…and tougher than he looks. But Chess has a secret, one he’s kept hidden his whole life. One that Lord Kodoc is desperate to exploit for his own evil plans. And even as Chess unearths the crew’s biggest treasure ever, they are running out of time...  

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Joel Ross debuts a thrilling adventure series in which living in the sky is the new reality and a few determined slum kids just might become heroes. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and Brandon Mull, this fantasy is filled with daring and hope and a wonderfully imaginative world.

Once the Fog started rising, the earth was covered with a deadly white mist until nothing remained but the mountaintops. Now humanity clings to its highest peaks, called the Rooftop, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the lower slopes and floating junkyards.

Thirteen-year-old Chess and his friends Hazel, Bea, and Swedish sail their rickety air raft over the deadly Fog, scavenging the ruins for anything they can sell to survive. But now survival isn't enough. They must risk everything to get to the miraculous city of Port Oro, the only place where their beloved Mrs. E can be cured of fogsickness. Yet the ruthless Lord Kodoc is hot on their trail, for Chess has a precious secret, one that Kodoc is desperate to use against him. Now Chess will face any danger to protect his friends, even if it means confronting what he fears the most.

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A dystopian tale in which the entire earth has been covered in a deadly fog. Most of the human race has died and man is slowly going extinct. If you ingest the poisonous mist, you will die. It may be tomorrow, it may be a year from now, it may be 20... the length it takes for the poison to take effect varies, but it always ends the same way, in your death. What is left of humanity clings to life, living on the highest points in the world.

The protagonist of the story is Chess. He is one of multiple children adopted by a kind woman named Ekaterina, or Mrs. E to the kids. His mother was killed in an awful experiment done by Kodoc, the head of the 5 families who founded their home on the mountaintop called the Rooftop. Mrs. E actually saved baby Chess from the cage he was being kept in, dangling in the fog, but was unable to save his mother. Now, 13 years later, she is dying from fog sickness.

Kodoc was trying to create a child that was immune to the fog so that he could find a legendary device that is supposed to be able to control the fog. The fog is the result of an experiment gone wrong hundreds of years ago. Scientists had been trying to destroy a smog that had covered the earth and was killing not only humans, but also plant life, vegetation, animals... everything. In their search to solve one problem, they released tiny nanites into atmosphere. These nanites were made to destroy every pollution and they did, but then they started destroying the things that created the pollution... humans.

In the experiment that killed his mother, Chess was born inside the fog. Not only is he immune to the poisonous nanites, but they are actually a part of him. He has grown his hair out to cover his left eye, because when you look into it, you can see a swirling fog of grey. When Chess is at home living in the slums, he is a regular boy... but when he dives into the fog, he can do amazing things. He becomes faster, stronger, can jump to incredible heights, and many things he doesn't yet know he can do.

Kodoc does not know that Chess is alive. He believes all the children from the experiment died. But when a rumor that a child with a swirling eye of fog is spotted in the slums of the Rooftop, he builds an army to look for and capture Chess.

The entire book is about trying to find a cure for Mrs. E so that she doesn't die and also keeping Chess out of the hands of Kodoc. It is a well thought out plot with many highs and lows, a lot of character development, and is definitely opened up for sequels. I didn't talk about the rest of the characters, because it is worth picking up and reading for yourself. It goes on sale on Tuesday!!

Review of The Isle of the Lost by Melissa De La Cruz

Review of Melissa De La Cruz' Descendants: The Isle of the Lost

Release Date: May 5th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?

Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.

Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent's daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon's eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.

Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen's daughter, Evie, doesn't know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she's a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal's little tricks.

Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he's not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon's eye.

Carlos: Cruella de Vil's son may not be bravest, but he's certainly clever. Carlos's inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon's eye and ending the banishment for good.

Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon's eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her "friends." In their quest for the dragon's eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.

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Let me start by saying that I was a fan of Cruz' Blue Blood series... in the beginning. Like many series with more than 5 books, the story sometimes can become drawn out and seem long winded. So I did love the series, but I got tired of it. So tired of it that I still have yet to read the last book. I also read the first book in the Witches of East End series, which was a spin-off series of Blue Bloods. I liked the story/plot behind it, but I am not a fan of books with gratuitous sex.

The Isle of the Lost is a big change for Cruz. It is definitely different from the books that I have read of hers before. Seeing as how she was paid to write a series of books that coincide with a made for TV movie release, so the plot and characters were chosen for her. That being said, I was not a huge fan of the book. Of course it is about the descendants of some of Disney's greatest villains. We also see multiple cameos from the villains themselves throughout the story and it is supposed to be a what happens after "Ever After" type of story.

I struggled to get through the story and fell asleep while reading it 2 times. I'm not sure if that just says that I'm tired or that the story was, but to me, I need a little more excitement to keep me motivated.

On a brighter note, I know the movie is both separate from this story, but the characters will remain the same. I am excited to see what Disney does with it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Review of The Heir by Kiera Cass

Review of Kiera Cass' The Heir

Release Date: May 5th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.  

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illéa's royal family into a whole new Selection—and find out what happens after happily ever after.

Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parents' fairy-tale love story...but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book of the Selection series!

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I was upset when The One wrapped up The Selection series, because I knew that it was all over. I loved America & Maxon's story, so when this book was announced, I was very excited. Although this book is set in the same world as the first 3 books, it is set 20 years into the future and is written through the perspective of their first born daughter, Eadlyn. The world they lived in has been changed for the better. They did the impossible and have abolished the caste system that has been in place since the founding of Ilea. While they thought all of their problems were over, a rebellion has been brewing.

Although Eadlyn has been promised her whole life that the Selection system is not in her future and that she will be able to decide who she marries in her own time frame, the promises are being revoked. To settle the unrest that is brewing, there is only one thing they feel they can do... bring back the Selection.

While the first 3 books were through the eyes of America Singer, one of the contestants vying for the Prince's hand in marriage, this book is set through the eyes of a Princess. We get the complete opposite point of view. In some ways it is nice to see the other side of things, but it also completely changes the dynamic of the story. I, as a reader, am used to the strong and adventurous personality of Eadlyn's mother, America, I am now left with a character who is at times vapid, vain, and bratty. My opinion of Eadlyn was set very early on in the book, but as I read further, I started to like her more and more.

While I do not love the main character as much as I would have hoped, seeing as how she is the offspring of 2 of my favorite characters of all time, it is nice to see what became of all of the other characters we grew to love from the series. I'm really hoping that the series goes on for at least 2 more books, because I really need that time to prepare again for the true ending.

Review of Messenger of Fear: The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant

Advance Review of Michael Grant's Messenger of Fear: The Tattooed Heart

Release Date: September 22nd, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

The games continue in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s sequel to Messenger of Fear: a haunting tale for fans of Stephen King that combines fantasy with real-world horror stories.

Mara has learned to punish the wicked as the Messenger’s apprentice. Those who act out of selfishness and greed, and others who become violent because of prejudice and hate, pay the ultimate price. But Mara is constantly reminded that Messengers are serving their own kind of punishment—for every person who is offered justice, they wear a tattoo that symbolizes the heart of the crime. As Mara delves deeper into her harsh reality, she will discover that in spite of all the terror she and Messenger inflict, caring in this world is the hardest part of all.

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I found the first book in this series, Messenger of Fear, a darkly intense and interesting read. I have never read a book that was similar, so it is a little difficult to categorize it. It's sequel, The Tattooed Heart, picks up where we left off in book 1. We already know the truth behind who Mara is and why she was chosen to apprentice with Messenger, so we are not trying to solve a great mystery in this story.

This book is all about getting down to the job at hand. Finding people who have wronged someone in a truly cruel way and having them be judged and sentenced... with a dark and sinister twist of course. Those found guilty are made to compete for their lives. If they win, they walk away free. If they lose, their worst fears are inflicted on them. Messenger and Mara search through a person's life by speeding through time to watch the exact turning point that made them go down the wrong path. They find out who helped them down that path and those that hurt them the most are the ones they sentence.

While The Tattooed Heart follows the characters in their lives, it also gives us the much needed back story for Messenger that I have been craving for since I picked up book 1. We find out who he was and how he became this emotionless, unfeeling character, as well as who Ariadne was... his long lost love.

After finishing the book, I was sad, because it seems as if the story has ended. While researching on GoodReads for my review, I found that there is going to be a book 3... how will Grant continue it from here? I guess I'll have to wait until 2016 to find out.

Review of Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Advance Review of Robyn Schneider's Extraordinary Means

Release Date: May 26th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this darkly funny novel from the critically acclaimed author of The Beginning of Everything.

Up until his diagnosis, Lane lived a fairly predictable life. But when he finds himself at a tuberculosis sanatorium called Latham House, he discovers an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and an eccentric yet utterly compelling confidante named Sadie—and life as Lane knows it will never be the same.

Robyn Schneider's Extraordinary Means is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story about the miracles of first love and second chances.

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

From the author of The Beginning of Everything: two teens with a deadly disease fall in love on the brink of a cure.

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it's easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down. Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

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Excerpt from Extraordinary Means:

I could almost imagine that we were at camp. That we'd pull a prank on the counselors and toast s'mores at the campfire. That we'd go home tanned, our clothes smelling of bug spray. That we'd go home.

But it was possible not all of us would. Four out of five residents returned home from Latham House. That fact was in the brochure, and it was part of all this that had struck me the most deeply. Deeper than the day I'd fainted in phys ed from the cardio conditioning sprints and wound up in the ER in my embarrassingly unwashed gray jersey gym set. Deeper than how Dr. Crane had gotten my test results and, staring straight through me, had said, "There is an active case of tuberculosis," a sentence hauntingly absent of a pronoun. Like, I had once been there, but my personhood was now irrelevant, because when anyone looked at me from that moment on, all they would see was a grim and incurable disease.

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I am not usually one to pick up regular old Teen Fiction, unless a friend tells me I just have to read it: For example, The Fault In Our Stars. I was looking for a change from my regular picks and when I read the synopsis for Extraordinary Means, I decided to give it a try. I have a love/hate relationship with books that make me cry. On the one hand, I love it when a book can make me care about a character so deeply and then rip them away, thus making me cry with exclamations of "How Could You?" and "Why Them?" While on the other hand... WHY?

I am very in love with Schneider's writing style. And while, this book may be out of my genre of preferred reading, it does bring a new genre to my eyes. While I didn't read Eleanor & Park, I did read The Fault In Our Stars. I could definitely see similarities in both TFIOS & Extraordinary Means, but in my eyes, the similarities end at the terminally ill kids.

EM is about love and loss... about chance encounters and making new friends... and above all else, it is about making every moment count, because it might just be your last. I felt every loss like it was my own and wept with the characters when they were mourning a friend. My one and only complaint is that the book wasn't long enough and the ending was very definitive... leaving no room for a sequel. I with I could ask Schneider about her characters... where they are now? If they are still friends? Do they find love after all of that loss? And of course... WHY?

Review of The White Rose by Amy Ewing

Advance Review of Amy Ewing's The Lone City: The White Rose

Release Date: October 6th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

The compelling and gripping sequel to Amy Ewing's debut, The Jewel, which BCCB said "Will have fans of Oliver's Delirium, Cass's The Selection, and DeStefano's Wither breathless."

Violet is on the run—away from the Jewel, away from a lifetime of servitude, away from the Duchess of the Lake, who bought her at auction. With Ash and Raven traveling with her, Violet will need all of her powers to get her friends, and herself, out of the Jewel alive.

But no matter how far Violet runs, she can't escape the rebellion brewing just beneath the Jewel's glittering surface, and her role in it. Violet must decide if she is strong enough to rise against the Jewel and everything she has ever known.

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.

But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.

But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?

The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments.  

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So let me start by saying that The Jewel was one of my 2 favorite books that I read in 2014 (the other being Red Rising). Needless to say, I have been praying that I would get the Advanced Copy of it to read... and I did!!!

This book picks up exactly where we left off in the Jewel. Violet is locked in her room after the Duchess has caught her with Ash, the Companion that was purchased for the niece of the Duchess of the Lake. They had committed the ultimate sin by falling in love. Seeing as how both Violet and Ash are property, they have no hopes of ever being together. Or do they?

I can't give too much away, but seeing as how the synopsis does say this, I'm happy to re-enlighten you... By chance fate, they are broken out of their respective "prisons" (the how and by who you will have to wait for), thus beginning their journey through the rings of the Lone City. While Ash's disappearance is announced in the news and his face printed on flyers posted everywhere, after the Duchess says that he has committed a crime by raping her surrogate. So now the Regimentals (the royal's version of a police force) are after him, as well as everyone else who is out to get the reward on his head.

We also see the return of Raven, Violet's surrogate friend who was being abused by the Duchess of the Stone. In The Jewel, Violet had given Raven a serum, that would make the user seem dead after ingested, which was meant to be taken by herself. She knew that Raven needed to get out much more than she herself did.

So now they are all on the run together. With the help from members of a secret society that goes by the name of The Black Key, they make it to a house in The Farm, one of the outer rings of the Lone City, and meet a new ally who will help Violet find her true potential.

This book was filled with just as much excitement as The Jewel, but in different ways. We learn a lot more about some of my favorite characters and their back stories. We also meet a bevy of new characters who will be joining the fight against the Royalty. Unfortunately, the Villain from the first book whom I loved to hate, the Duchess of the Lake, is not in much of this book. I'm sure we will see her return in the third installment though. This book was quite incredible from the very beginning, up until the cliff hanger ending.

I don't want to rub it in, but I really don't know how you are going to wait all those months until it comes out.

If you want a couple of other books to read while you are waiting:

Pierce Brown - Red Rising
Kate Jarvik Birch - Perfected
Kiera Cass - The Selection