Review of The Inquisitor's Mark by Dianne K Salerni

Advance Review of Dianne K Salerni's The Inquisitor's Mark

Release Date: January 27th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

After the all-out Eighth Day war in Mexico, Jax, Riley, and Evangeline have gone into hiding. There are still rogue Transitioners and evil Kin lords who want to use Riley, a descendant of King Arthur, and Evangeline, a powerful wizard with bloodlines to Merlin, to get control over the Eighth Day.

So when Finn Ambrose, a mysterious stranger, contacts Jax claiming to be his uncle, Jax’s defenses go up—especially when Finn tells Jax that he’s holding Jax’s best friend, Billy, hostage. To rescue Billy and keep Riley and Evangeline out of the fray, Jax sneaks off to New York City on his own. But once there, he discovers a surprising truth: Finn is his uncle and Jax is closely related to the Dulacs—a notoriously corrupt and dangerous Transitioner clan who have been dying to get their hands on Riley and Evangeline. And family or not, these people will stop at nothing to get what they want.

With suspense, action, and intrigue lurking around every corner, this fast-paced fantasy series will be a welcome addition for fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.

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The sequel to Salerni's freshman novel, The Eighth Day, was just as exciting and action-packed as it's predecessor. The Inquisitor's Mark picks up right where we left off. Jax, Riley, Evangeline, & the Crandall's are on the run, moving from place to place so that they wont be found by any Kin families who are after them. With the reality that Evangeline's younger brother had been killed without her knowing it, they decide to seek out her only remaining relative, her sister Adeline.

This book also gives up a look into the lives of another Transistioner clan, the Dulacs. When Jax's friend Billy is kidnapped, he finds out that the ones holding him hostage are non-other than the family he didn't know he had. Jax's father had actually ran away from home & changed his name from Ambrose to Aubrey. The Ambrose clan is related closely to the Dulacs. Where the Dulac women are the most powerful, it is the opposite for the Ambrose's.

I found myself enjoying the sequel almost more than the first. I already understood the back story, so I didn't have to rush to keep up. There are evil people out to destroy the world, but they are not at the forefront of this story.

If you are a fan of Arthurian Legends, you will definitely enjoy this series.

(Sorry if my review is a little short, but I am under the weather. I took a day off from work because I have been running a fever & got some reading in. Thanks for a great book year!! Happy New Year to all my readers!)

Review of Ever After High: Once Upon a Time by Shannon Hale

Review of Shannon Hale's Ever After High: Once Upon a Time

Release Date: October 21st, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Read these exclusive introductions to all your favorite characters to find out what their lives are like at home! A new chapter is about to begin at Ever After High, and all the students are preparing to start their Legacy Year. In just a few weeks it will be Legacy Day when they will sign the Storybook of Legends and commit to live out their fairy-tale destiny, repeating the famous stories of their parents.

This volume collects together for the first time 12 short tales, including five BRAND-NEW stories. For the first time, find out what Dexter and Darling Charming, Cedar Wood, Lizzie Hearts and Kitty Cheshire were doing just before school started. This collection also includes the stories of Apple White, Raven Queen, Madeline Hatter, Briar Beauty, Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman, and the fairy tale The Tale of Two Sisters, which were previously only available online.

Don't miss this Once Upon a Time special edition of enchanting stories by bestselling and Newbery honor-winning author Shannon Hale.

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This collection of stories is a prequel to the 3 stories already published from this series. There are 12 stories, which includes 5 never before released, about where the characters are before the start of their Legacy Year. I had read a few of the stories on my digital device after I read The Storybook of Legends, so was familiar with some of them.

I am a huge fan of stories that retell fairy tales in a different perspective and this series does just that. Of course, the series is also targeted at a Juvenile reader & I am an adult, so it was a very quick read for me. I am not too proud to say that I am a collector of Ever After & Monster High Dolls, so anytime one of the books that corresponds to the videos & dolls comes out, I am right there purchasing it as well.

If you are a fan of Monster High or Ever After High, you will be sure to appreciate this book. I was very excited to read a couple stories that had characters that were not in the prior books. I am very excited to see what they do with those characters in the stories to come.

This will probably be my last review of 2014... so until next year, keep reading! Check back with me in a couple days for what I've chosen to read to start of the new year! Thanks Everyone for a great 2014!!!

Review of Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter

Review of Gena Showalter's White Rabbit Chronicles: Through the Zombie Glass

Release Date: July 29th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Zombies stalk the night.

Forget blood and brains. These monsters hunger for human souls.

Sadly, they've got mine…

Alice Bell has lost so much. Family. Friends. A home. She thought she had nothing else to give. She was wrong.

After a new zombie attack, strange things begin to happen to her. Mirrors come to life, and the whispers of the dead assault her ears. But the worst? A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do very wicked things.

She's never needed her team of zombie slayers more, but ultra bad-boy Cole Holland, the leader and her boyfriend, suddenly withdraws from her…from everyone. Now, with her best friend, Kat, at her side, Ali must kill the zombies, uncover Cole's secret and learn to fight the darkness.

But the clock is ticking…and if she fails at a single task, they're all doomed.

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Sequels can sometimes be a big let down when you become a huge fan of its predecessor. You can read a book over and over waiting on the next to be released hoping that the author depicts their character in the fashion you want them to be. In the case of Alice in Zombieland, I wasn't the biggest fan. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. I am a lover of classic tales retold in a new updated way. Unfortunately for me, there were hardly any correlation to Alice in Wonderland beyond the name "Alice Bell" and the fact that when the zombies attack, she sees a cloud shaped like a White Rabbit. 

The zombies are also not your typical zombies... these feed off of the human spirit instead of brains. I love cheesy zombie movies, The Walking Dead, any good zombie book that comes across my path, so I've read and seen a lot of different kinds of zombies. So that book got a plus for giving me something I had never seen before.

Through the Zombie Glass continues in the same way the first book left off. There is a lot of teenage angst, a lot of anger, fighting... to the point of sometimes repetitive ideas. I enjoy a lot of the characters, but I wish their further development beyond fighting, making up, and sexual desires came to the forefront of the story. I love the strength of Ali's best friend Kat, while she fights the disease that is eating away at her kidneys and am very happy with how Showalter depicts her.

I find Cole to be an intriguing character, but the sequel was not as good to him as I'd wished. He was as jealous as the first book, but for all the strength you see in him as a Zombie Slayer, he sure does quickly run from their relationship at the first sign of trouble. He seems very whiney at times and angry at others. I'm unsure if his character is supposed to seem bipolar, but he does come off that way.

I will be interested to see how Showalter ends her story in The Queen of Zombie Hearts, which was released in September of this year. I will be reading some other book before I get to it, but make sure to check back for my review on the conclusion of this story.

If you would like to check out some other books I really enjoyed on similar subject matter, pick up the following... they were incredible stories:

Marissa Meyer - The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder
Carrie Ryan - The Forest of Hands & Teeth
Anna Sheehan - A Long, Long Sleep

Review of Lux: Onyx by Jennifer L Armentrout

Review of Jennifer L Armentrout's Lux: Onyx

Release Date: August 7th, 2012

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

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An exciting sequel to Armentrout's first Lux book, Obsidian, that introduces a new & possible love interest for Katy, and some form of competition for Daemon.

In the end of Obsidian, Katy destroys the Arum who is hell bent on killing Daemon & Dee to steal their powers. As she is lying on her own death bed, Daemon heals her & brings her back to life. What they didn't know is that being healed by a Luxen changes you forever. When she begins to have odd things happen around her (objects moving when she thinks about them, doors opening when she walks towards them), she realizes that something more may have happened to her.

When a new transfer student  named Blake begins to take interest in her, Katy thinks she may be able to get a little more normal back into her life, and agrees to go on a date with him... but she sadly can't get away from the abnormal. During their dinner, an Arum attacks. Suddenly everyone in the restaurant is frozen & Blake is attacking the Alien like he's a Ninja. He tells Katy that he is like her. He was mutated by a Luxen who healed him & is now able to use all the same powers as that Luxen, only his powers are stronger. He lets her know how lucky she is, because not all humans survive the transition. He promises to train her & help her get control of the powers she is forming.

Little by little, knowledge opens up for Katy & Daemon. The things the thought they knew about the Department of Defense (DOD) & the world they live in is nothing like they thought. The DOD knows about their powers & they are hunting for Mutated Humans to become their own little army. They don't want Daemon for his powers, they want Katy for hers.

In book 2, there is a lot of action & suspense. The reader gets the obligatory love triangle, no matter how violent that triangle becomes. We also learn more about what happened to Daemon & Dee's brother, which is greatly appreciated as a reader. If you enjoyed book 1, you will be blown away by book 2.

Review of The Remedy by Suzanne Young

Advance Review of Suzanne Young's The Remedy

Release Date: April 21st, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Can one girl take on so many identities without losing her own? Find out in this riveting companion to The Program and the New York Times bestselling The Treatment.

In a world before The Program…

Quinlan McKee is a closer. Since the age of seven, Quinn has held the responsibility of providing closure to grieving families with a special skill—she can “become” anyone.

Recommended by grief counselors, Quinn is hired by families to take on the short-term role of a deceased loved one between the ages of fifteen and twenty. She’s not an exact copy, of course, but she wears their clothes and changes her hair, studies them through pictures and videos, and soon, Quinn can act like them, smell like them, and be them for all intents and purposes. But to do her job successfully, she can’t get attached.

Now seventeen, Quinn is deft at recreating herself, sometimes confusing her own past with those of the people she’s portrayed. When she’s given her longest assignment, playing the role of Catalina Barnes, Quinn begins to bond with the deceased girl’s boyfriend. But that’s only the beginning of the complications, especially when Quinn finds out the truth about Catalina’s death. And the epidemic it could start.

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Quinlan McKee has been a closer as long as she can remember. She goes in to the home of a recently deceased girl and for all intents & purposes becomes that girl to help the family get closure. Her father is the head of this program to help the grieving families move forward, but what happens when she can't seem to move forward herself?

Quinn begins to lose herself little by little in every closing she is involved in. She assumes the role of these girls, but she can never quite lose them completely when she is done. She is one of the best at what she does. She can emulate, act, look (with the help of wigs & make-up), and speak like any girl she chooses. After each closing, she gets time off. Time she spends remembering who she is with family and friends, but after the last one, she is rushed back into another... which is supposed to be against the rules.

Catalina Barnes is a closing like she has never experienced. First, there is the death certificate in her file. Quinn doesn't usually get those, but when she does, it never says Undetermined under cause of death. Secondly, closings only consist of family members, but this one includes Catalina's boyfriend. Thirdly, Quinn always gets the girl's diary... but Catalina's is missing a large chunk at the back. Something weird is going on and she is determined to find out.

When Quinn begins to find clues into Catalina's death (missing diary pages with conflicting stories from the family, pages of swirling black pen marks in the boyfriend's car, a friend that happens to be the daughter of the creator of the Closer program), she sets out to find out what is different with this closing... while at the same time, helping this grieving family.

Set in a time before the Program, The Remedy is beautifully written story about a girl who can become any one she chooses, but loses a piece of herself each time she does. I love Suzanne Young's writing style & was very sad when I thought The Treatment was the final book in this series. So I am overjoyed knowing there will be at least one more book after this one.

Review of School for Sidekicks by Kelly McCullough

Advance Review of Kelly McCullough's School for Sidekicks

Release Date: August 4th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Being a hero isn't always what it's cracked up to be in this funny and genuine novel from adult fantasy author Kelly McCullough.

Evan Quick is a GIANT superhero geek who dreams of one day becoming a superhero himself. Every morning he checks to see if he's developed his powers overnight, and every day there's nothing. No flying, no super strength, no invulnerability—that always hurts to check—no telepathy, no magic. Not even the ability to turn off the alarm clock without smacking the switch.

But then Evan somehow manages to survive a supervillian's death ray, and is sent to the Academy for Metahuman Operatives. Unfortunately, his new school is not what he expected, and instead of fighting bad guys, Evan finds himself blacklisted, and on the wrong side of the school's director. If Evan ever wants to realize his dream, he must convince his "mentor" Foxman, a semi-retired has-been, to become a real hero once again.

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

“Evan Quick, Hero’s Log, May the 25th… and darn it – I just can’t do this. I’m never going to be a Mask. Get over it Evan.”

Evan Quick has spent his whole life dreaming of becoming a hero. Every morning he wakes up and runs through a checklist of test to see if he’s developed powers over night, and every day it is the same thing – nothing. No flying, no super strength, no heat rays or cold beams. No invulnerability – that always hurt to check – no telepathy, no magic. Not even the ability to light a light bulb without flipping a switch. And now, he’s finally ready to give up.

But then, the class field trip to the Mask Museum is interrupted by a super villain attack, and Evan somehow manages to survive a death ray. Even better, Evan’s favorite Mask, Captain Commanding, shows up to save them all -- and when things go very wrong, it’s Evan who finds the strength to come to Captain Commanding’s rescue.

Yet the hero’s reception Evan is expecting never happens. Before he even gets the chance to say hello, Evan is bundled away to The Academy, an institution derisively called The School for Sidekicks by its students. Forced to take classes like Banter Basics and Combat with Dinnerware, while being assigned as an ‘apprentice’ to Foxman – a Mask widely considered a has-been -- Evan starts to worry that he’ll never be able to save the day…
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This is an insanely witty & entertaining book geared for Young Readers, but smart & funny enough for Readers of ANY age. It takes me back to being a child with the comic books I grew up on & I think this could be the book that brings an avid reader to a new world of Graphics or an avid Graphic Novel reader to a new world of books.

In the mind of the great Golden Age in comics when there were not more Heroic characters than human ones... and when it was more about the character development than the story arc... School for Sidekicks transports you to a world where Heroes & Villains fight in a modern day Minneapolis, now called Heropolis, which was renamed after the events of Metamorphosis Day in 1988 that created most of the Metahumans alive today.

The Heroes are like celebrities that every kid wants to be. And like every celebrity, there are some that are just a cut above the rest. For Evan Quick, and most of the kids he knows, that hero is Captain Commanding. He has action figures, cereal, a line of t-shirts... even a Theme Park.

When Evan unwittingly saves the day during a school fieldtrip at the Hero Museum, saving his idol in the process and defeating the villainous Spartanicus, he is whisked away to begin training as a Hero... or so he thinks at first. What he soon learns is that nothing at his school, or in the Hero World, is as he once thought.

This book will have something for every reader. It reminds me in part of many different series I have loved. It has the school life that reminds me in part to Harry Potter, the Hero teamwork you would find in any X-men-esque book, the subplot... well I can't exactly tell you that, because it would ruin the whole book for you... and what's the fun it that!

Review of Unchanged by Jessica Brody

Advance Review of Jessica Brody's Unchanged

Release Date: February 24th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

So many secrets are buried within these compound walls.
I used to be one of those secrets.
After returning to the Diotech compound and undergoing an experimental new memory alteration, Seraphina is now a loyal, obedient servant to Dr. Alixter and the powerful company that created her. Happy and in love with Kaelen, another scientifically-enhanced human designed to be her perfect match, Sera’s history with a boy named Zen is just a distant memory from a rebellious past she longs to forget.

But as Sera and Kaelen embark on a nationwide tour to promote Diotech’s new product line—a collection of controversial genetic modifications available to the public—Sera’s mind starts to rebel. She can’t stop the memories of Zen from creeping back in.

As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer every day, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.

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Excerpt from Unchanged:

The Genesis Project began in the year 2101. Dr. A likes to recount the chronicles of its success like it's a children's bedtime story.

          Sequence: A/ Recombination: A - Failed
          Sequence: B/ Recombination: F - Failed
          Sequence: D/ Recombination: R - Failed

One hundred and four disappointments until finally they stumbled upon the one that worked.

          Sequence: E/ Recombination: A.

S:E/R:A was a success.

That was almost three years ago, in the early summer of 2114. June 27 to be exact. The date has been etched into my mind thanks to the DigiPlaque that hangs in the hallway outside my bedroom, cycling through the dates of the failed attempts until finally landing on the only date that mattered from then on.

My "birth" day.

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Unchanged has been an interesting end to this epic journey that Jessica Brody has taken us on. From Seraphina's escape from the lab she was created in at Diotech Industries with the boy she loves, Zen, to an adventure through time to stay out of the grasps of the boy Diotech created to be her perfect match, Kaelen, and now, to having her memory's altered to make every emotion she has had for Zen & her escape seem like one very big mistake. Although not every moment was as action packed or heart pounding as I like in a Suspenseful story, it has been thoroughly thought out & planned perfectly to make for the perfect ending.

In the final book to the series that started with Unremembered, Sera has let herself be captured by Diotech for a chance to save the boy she loves. The transession gene that allows humans to time travel also destroys their bodies from the inside out & the only thing that can save Zen is a blocker that she can only get from Dr. Alixter. So after all her running, she is back. The first part of the book, which is setup into 4 different parts, is all about the year it has been for her since she returned to Diotech. To Sera, her adventures with Zen were all a mistake. The results of a girl that had been tricked by a boy who was only trying to use her. Dr. Rio shows up from time to time as the groundskeeper, but he is no longer the same person he was. His memories have been stolen & he is nothing but a shell of his former self. Kaelen is now the only love she thinks about. Seeing as how he was created to be her "Print Mate," a manufactured scientific version of a Soul Mate, she sees nothing in him but her equal.

As odd things begin to happen, Sera is consistently brought to the memory labs to erase what she witnesses, so not to upset or confuse her from Diotech's ultimate goal. The Objective, as it is called by Dr. A, is to release a product line to the world, that sells advanced DNA coding to make people as special as Sera & Kaelen. They are to be unveiled in a series of Press Junkets on a tour around the US. They have taken a year to get her ready for this tour, but it only takes a second for 1 word uttered by Rio in a chance passing for her to start doubting anything... Sariana. Sera uses her datapad to search for the word & finds out about the child that Rio lost 3 years ago when she fell from a tree & broke her neck.

Different actions lead Sera to a data cube buried beneath the bench where she & Zen would hide secret messages for each other. She can not open the file on Diotech property, because they monitor everything she does, so she waits until the tour begins & opens it in a hotel, thinking she has 1 month until they will check her memories again after the tour is over. It is a message from Zen, 3 months after she left him in 2032. He looks unkempt & distraught without her. Obviously he could not follow her, because he no longer had the transession gene, so how did he get the cube to their spot in the first place? Questions keep piling up for her & she isn't sure what to think. Before she even gets to hotel, she witnesses Kaelen attack 3 paparazzi who are hidden trying to get pictures of them before the tour starts. It is like a switch has been flipped & he brutally beats 2 of them to death. This event along with everything else happening, it is only confusing her more.

When she is called by Dr. A soon after to have her memories checked, she comes to the realization that they are going to see that she has kept the data cube a secret & she is going to lose everything she has learned.

What is she going to do?

I don't want to give you the whole story, because there is so much to give. So much happens that I can't even do it justice by listing it all. There is a plethora of foreshadowing, an undercover plot, a fanatical religious cult, & a lot of backstories that explain the reasoning behind everything that has happened so far. In my opinion, every question I had from the first 2 books is answered in this one.

As of August of 2014, it was announced that Unremembered, the book that started the trilogy, will be heading to the big screen. It is being produced by the people who brought you The Vampire Academy, Zero Dark Thirty, & Life of Pi.