Review of Deceptive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Advance Review of Emily Lloyd-Jones' Deceptive

Release Date: July 14, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:


You don't belong with us.
These are the words that echo through the minds of all immune Americans-those suffering the so-called adverse effects of an experimental vaccine, including perfect recall, telepathy, precognition, levitation, mind control, and the ability to change one's appearance at will.

When great numbers of immune individuals begin to disappear, fear and tension mount, and unrest begins to brew across the country. Through separate channels, superpowered teenagers Ciere, Daniel, and Devon find themselves on the case: super criminals and government agents working side by side. It's an effort that will ultimately define them all, for better or for worse.

Pairing high-stakes action with a compelling cast of superhuman characters, Emily Lloyd-Jones's thrilling sequel to Illusive will have readers on the edge of their seats.


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With all the action and intrigue of Illusive, but more government involvement. The second book in this expected trilogy is seen through the eyes of even more characters than the first book as well as more development into those characters. We see less of Ciere's crew, because in this installment she is working off her debt to the Gyr Syndicate. When last we saw Devon, Ciere was telling him to leave, because "You don't belong with us." That one phrase is seen in echoes through out book 2. The third voice in Deceptive is Daniel. He is the crew member who was caught by the FBI and never heard from again.


Ciere is of no use to the syndicate unless she learns how to better use her powers. The adverse effects of the vaccine may have given her the powers over Illusions, but the small time crook she was before has nothing on the mobster they want her to become. Alan may have also joined her when she went to the Gyr, but he claimed he was her body guard to get there. When he gets there, it takes little to disprove that. So not one, but both of them end up getting trained. Not only in the use of their immunities, but also in how to fight.


After Devon is forced to leave the crew, all he has left are the memories that got him to where he is today... and that is back in his father's home. The same father who forced him to hide his ability. He has been kicked out of 7 schools for misconduct, so when a man claiming to work for an unknown branch of the government offers him an internship, what choice does he have.


Daniel is working for the UAI, a small branch of the government and the FBI. These are the same people who caught him... they hunt and catch all criminals with adverse effects. Everyone around him looks at him like he is different... like he's a freak. He is the only one in his department with an ability. The only one who doesn't treat him differently is his partner, Gervais. He was promised he would never have to give up his crew... his family, if he only worked with them willingly.


By some twist of fate, all three characters' stories would once again be intertwined. It isn't the legendary bank heist that Ciere always dreamt of, but it will be an ending that none of them would believe. What will happen? Who will live & who will die? How will Lloyd-Jones top Illusive? Check out Deceptive & find out!!

Review of Spelled by Betsy Schow

Advance Review of Betsy Schow's Spelled

Release Date: June 2nd, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:


Fairy Tale Survival Rule #32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day.

Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.

Talk about unhappily ever after.

Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some place called "Kansas." Now it's up to Dorthea and her pixed off prince to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse...before it releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story.


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This book is a wonderfully imaginative retelling on the Wizard of Oz story. It was fast paced and easy to read. There were a few points where I thought there was some mildly adult topics that I thought made the book meant for a different reader than the target audience, but over all, I found it quite enjoyable.


Dot has grown up in privilege. As the daughter of the Queen & King of the Emerald City, she has had whatever she has wanted throughout her life... except for being allowed to leave her castle. See, the daughters of the Emerald royalty have always been cursed. Her parents have her under a tight leash when it comes to that.


When a wish goes horribly wrong, Dot gets exactly what she has always wanted, an adventure outside of the world she has always known. She has to save the kingdom before it is too late. With the help of a Cowardly Kleptomaniac Kitchen Maid & her would be suitor turned Chimera, she sets out to find a way to get back her parents & defeat an evil Witch while she's at it.


On her journey you will see some familiar faces that are very different from the characters you would remember, if you are familiar with the Oz stories. It is just fun seeing how the story will progress and what Schow does with the characters we know and love. It has some very funny and witty one liners, as well nods to fairy tale lovers everywhere. 

Review of The Six by Mark Alpert

Advance Review of Mark Alpert's The Six

Release Date: July 6th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:


To save humanity, they must relinquish theirs.


Adam's muscular dystrophy has stolen his motility, his friends, and in a few short years, it will take his life. Virtual reality games are Adam's only escape from his wheelchair. In his alternate world, he can defeat anyone. Running, jumping, scoring touchdowns: Adam is always the hero.


Then an artificial intelligence program, Sigma, hacks into Adam's game. Created by Adam's computer-genius father, Sigma has gone rogue, threatening Adam's life-and world domination. Their one chance to stop Sigma is using technology Adam's dad developed to digitally preserve the mind of his dying son.


Along with a select group of other terminally ill teens, Adam becomes one of the Six who have forfeited their bodies to inhabit weaponized robots. But with time running short, the Six must learn to manipulate their new mechanical forms and work together to train for epic combat...before Sigma destroys humanity.


Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:


Avatar meets The Terminator in this thrilling cyber-tech adventure.

Crippled by muscular dystrophy, Adam spends his days playing virtual reality games, until a dangerously advanced artificial intelligence program that can control other machines tries to kill him.

Created by Adam’s father, Sigma has escaped its cyber prison and is threatening world domination. In order to stop Sigma, Adam and five other terminally ill teens sacrifice their bodies and upload their minds into weaponized robots. Together, The Six must learn how to manipulate their new mechanical forms—and prepare for epic combat—before Sigma destroys humanity.  


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I enjoyed the concept of this story. I think it was in many ways different than anything I have read before, but still has the basis of other stories I may have seen. Although at times I wanted it to speed up, seeing as how it is an action based drama book, I enjoyed the scenes that centered around the Pioneers learning to control their new bodies. Even though I know the main character is a teenage boy, I thought that his head was too muddled when it came to a love interest. Regular teenage boys often can not make up their minds when it comes to finding a girl, but Adam basically had 3 girls that he was interested in.


As for the story... When a human made Artificially Intelligent Computer Program by the code name of Sigma breaks free from the Internet Prison he was forced into by his creator & the United States Army, he is hell bent on the destruction of the human race. Luckily, the Army has been working on a top secret program that will download the brain of a volunteer into a computer that can then be loaded into a Robot. While the tests they have done have come up as failures, they are sure the program will be a success... the next volunteers just have to be teenagers.


That is where Adam Armstrong comes in. He has 6 months to live... at least, that's what the doctor's all say. His father is the creator of the Pioneer Program, the Program that will merge man with machine, and he is doing it all for his son. Adam, as well as multiple other disease ridden children are called to a secret Army base where they are given the options; Join the program, and maybe live forever, or Die of their disease.


These Pioneers will be trained to fight in the oncoming battle and stop the crazed AI program, Sigma. When there is no one else to turn to, of course we turn to children with no hope to live... right?

Review of Monster High: Ghoulfriends Forever by Gitty Daneshvari

Review of Gitty Daneshvari's Monster High: Ghoulfriends Forever

Release Date: September 5th, 2012

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:


Ghoulfriends Forever is a brand-new Monster High series, introducing three new monster characters. As new students, the trio must navigate the bewildering array of cute monster boys, established cliques, and monster-rific subjects like Mad Science, G-ogre-phy, and Physical Deaducation. As if that weren't hard enough, something strange and sinister seems to be happening at the school. Popular girls like Frankie Stein and Cleo de Nile are acting weird-and all signs point to everyone's new favorite teacher, Miss Sylphia Flapper. Can the new GFFs expose the fave as a fraud, or will they succumb to peer pressure?


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Monster High has opened a new dormitory for Exchange Students and they are coming from all over to enroll. That is how the new series brings in the 3 new characters who are the center of this book; Rochelle Goyle, Robecca Steam, & Venus McFlytrap.


When things start looking weird at their school, the trio of friends begin to suspect the new teacher that everyone has been raving about... well not only raving, they just don't stop talking about her. Sylphia Flapper is the teacher for Dragon Whispering 101, but when does she stop whispering? They see her whispering in everyone's ears. When there is no one else to turn to, the look to each other to stop this new evil from taking over.


This series is definitely a change from the last one. While there is an introduction to these new characters, the main characters are all still there, we just don't see them as much. This series is also more true to the MH image. The story is based completely in the school and almost every character in the book has appeared in the animated television show.

Review of The Offering by Kimberly Derting

Review of Kimberly Derting's The Offering

Release Date: December 31st, 2013

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:


True love—and world war—is at stake in the conclusion to The Pledge trilogy, a dark and romantic blend of dystopia and fantasy.

Charlie, otherwise known as Queen Charlaina of Ludania, has become comfortable as a leader and a ruler. She’s done admirable work to restore Ludania’s broken communications systems with other Queendoms, and she’s mastered the art of ignoring Sabara, the evil former queen whose Essence is alive within Charlie. Or so she thinks.

When the negotiation of a peace agreement with the Queendom of Astonia goes awry, Charlie receives a brutal message that threatens Ludania, and it seems her only option is to sacrifice herself in exchange for Ludanian freedom.

But things aren’t always as they seem. Charlie is walking into a trap—one set by Sabara, who is determined to reclaim the Queendoms at any cost.


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This series has been a mash-up of multiple different genres for me. There has always been a feeling of historical fiction, but there is also a cross between steam punk and dystopia with a splash of fantasy... all rolled up in to one Young Adult book.


In the dramatic conclusion to the Pledge series, Queen Charlaina (Charlie) will fight in an all out war with not only her enemies (Elena, Queen of Astonia, Sabara, the Ex-Queen of Ludania whose Essence is stuck inside of Charlie, and Niko, the once lover of Sabara), but also with herself and the choices she will have to make to save the ones she loves.


While Charlie & the people of Ludania are attempting to rebuild after the destruction the last Queen made to their country, they are also hoping to make a peace treaty with the neighboring country of Astonia. But seeing as how, Elena was behind the assassination attempts on Charlie's life, things are not looking well. War is all but guaranteed.


After the events of the 2nd book, everyone knows that Charlie's body houses the Essence of Sabara and that they are fighting for control at all times. It takes everything she has to fight off the Evil Queen from taking over. What the reader knows, from the Prologue of the book, is that Niko has become a traitor to their cause and is now working with Elena to over throw Charlie's reign and maybe find a new host for his long lost love.


From the very beginning of The Offering, you know that this book will have casualties. It is always hard to lose characters and when you lose an important one in the beginning, you know the rest of the book is going to be game changing.

Review of Blackbird by Anna Carey

Review of Anna Carey's Blackbird

Release Date: September 16th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:


This twisty, breathless cat-and-mouse thrill ride, told in the second person, follows a girl with amnesia in present-day Los Angeles who is being pursued by mysterious and terrifying assailants.

A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.

On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.


Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:


From the author of the Eve trilogy comes the breathless story of a girl racing to figure out who she is—and how to stay alive. When a nameless girl wakes up on the subway tracks, she knows only one thing for sure: people want her dead. Can she find them before they track her down? This pulse-pounding contemporary thriller is perfect for fans of The Maze Runner, The Darkest Minds, and Legend.
Things I Know Are True:

• I am in Los Angeles
• I woke up on the train tracks at the Vermont/Sunset station
• I am a teenage girl
• I have long black hair
• I have a bird tattoo on the inside of my right wrist with the letters and numbers FNV02198
• People are trying to kill me

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Told through the eyes of girl on the run... a girl being hunted... a girl with amnesia. Even though she doesn't know who she is, she knows that she has no one she can run to. She calls herself Sunny, because she doesn't even know her name, with only the dirty torn up clothes off her back and the backpack that has a thousand dollars within it, she begins her journey to find out what happened to her.


When the story begins, she finds herself laying across the tracks of a subway. There is a notepad in her bag that lists a number and says "Don't go to the police!" Thus begins her run. It seems like the entire book she is running away from something or someone. While trying to clean herself up in the bathroom of a Supermarket, Sunny runs into a boy, Ben, who offers to help her. He sees the cut across her arm and disheveled appearance and gives her his number in case she needs anything.


Through a twisted turn of events, Sunny ends up wanted for robbery. So the only people who might be able to help her are now searching for her. On top of that, there are people following her. The same man keeps popping up everywhere she is. She feels trapped with no one to turn to. Her story sounds crazy, but she calls Ben, and luckily he believes her and is willing to help.


This story is nothing like Carey's first series, Eve, which was about a girl in a dystopian wasteland. Although it is different than the books I normally read, I gave it a chance because I was such a huge fan of her other books. I am happy I gave it that chance, because it was rather captivating. I love a fast paced book. I am normally not a fan of endings that leave you disbelieving what really happened, but seeing as how I never saw it coming, I am happy with it. Lately I have read some books that I could guess the ending from the beginning of the story, so I happy this is not one of them.


I definitely recommend this book to all the Teen Thriller/Suspense readers. I have the ARC for the sequel, which I will be reading later this week or next week... so look out for my review on Deadfall soon.

Review of The Game: Crash by Eve Silver

Advance Review of Eve Silver's The Game: Crash

Release Date: June 9th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:


Fans of the 5th Wave series will devour the pulse-pounding conclusion to The Game trilogy by bestselling author Eve Silver, about teens pulled in and out of an alternate reality where battling aliens is more than a game—it's life and death.


As her dad and best friend lie dying in the hospital, Miki is almost certain the Committee is trying to sabotage her life. The Game is glitching. The missions are more frequent, the alien Drau more deadly, and whatever has been tracking her thoughts more intrusive. The only thing holding Miki together is her boyfriend, Jackson, but somehow telling him how much she needs—and loves—him feels like the most terrifying challenge of all.


Can Miki and Jackson make it through the final mission alive and win the Game before the walls between their alien-fighting nightmares and the real world come crashing down? Or will the world and everyone Miki loves disappear forever?


Crash is the fiercely satisfying conclusion to a trilogy Pittacus Lore, New York Times bestselling author of the I Am Number Four series, raves is packed with "thrilling action and addictive romance—a mind-bending rush of a read!"


Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:


A thrilling action/suspense novel for fans of The Fifth Wave about contemporary teens pulled in and out of an alternate reality where battling aliens is more than a game—it's life and death.

Miki’s life is falling apart around her. Her dad and best friend are lying in the hospital. The Game is glitching, making missions more frequent and more deadly. And someone close to her is waiting for the right moment to betray her.

Miki feels like she’s hanging on by a thread and the only thing keeping her tethered is Jackson’s hand in hers. Yet telling him how much she needs him, how much she loves him, feels like the biggest challenge of all. And if Miki really wants the missions to end for everyone, she’ll have to let go and be ready to fight when the walls between the Game and reality come crashing down. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s that she’s got a whole lot left to lose.

Crash is the pulse-pounding conclusion to the Game trilogy fans won’t want to miss.


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Another series over... I'm not sure whether I should be sad or happy in the case of the finale for the Game series. I am sad that the series is over, but I was not as happy with book 3 as I was hoping I would be. Push was so incredible that I read it in a day... I couldn't put it down. Sadly, this book was lacking the drive from the beginning. Halfway through Crash, I actually thought that there would have to be a fourth book to properly end it, without rushing through and I am happy to say that I was right! I am in no way saying that Crash was bad. It just does not live up to my expectations in conjunction with her other 2 books.


I will say this, I was very happy with certain points of the book. At one point, there is a breakthrough discovery/ realization on the real reasons behind the existence of the Game. I loved the incorporation of that into the story. What I didn't like is where Silver took it after that.


Seeing as how this is an advance, I don't want to give too much away and ruin anything for those of you who are dying to read it.


Recommendations for similar series you may like if you liked The Game series:


Aliens:
Rick Yancey's The Fifth Wave
J Barton Mitchell's Conquered Earth
Gregg Rosenblum's Revolution 19


Gaming:
Carol Snow's Bubble World
Liana Liu's The Memory Key
Julia Durango's The Leveller
Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam's Elusion