Review: Spare And Found Parts

Read if you like: sci-fi without the heavy world building, quiet stories of love and courage, books where the friendships and family stand out.

Spare And Found Parts | Sarah Maria Griffin

Genre: YA Science Fiction
Released: October 4th 2016
Pages: 384
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Nell Crane has always been an outsider. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. As her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary idea when she has none of her own?

Then she finds a mannequin hand while salvaging on the beach—the first boy’s hand she’s ever held—and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own. 

This was sweet. I never had a huge I'm-in-love-with-this moment but there were lots of things I liked. I like the post-technology world and the fear around even mention of the internet - this was really interesting. The world stood out, but the writing and world building itself is so subtle and well done. Sci-fi for people who hate heavy writing. I really like the characters too, and I'm pretty sure Nell is bi and ace? Or I read her that way at least. There's no romance for folks who prefer their books that way, too. I admit I really loved Oliver though, and I want him to be happy so badly (sequel pls?) Artificial intelligence came out of nowhere but it just worked. The whole story worked, from character to friendships to family issues and secrets. A really good book.

3.5 stars

Review: Wolf Hollow

Read if you like: interesting worlds, stories with dystopia-survival elements, shifters and pack life.

Wolf Hollow | Nikki Jefford

Series: Wolf Hollow Shifters

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic
Released: October 23rd 2017
Pages: 415
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

A REBELLIOUS OUTCAST

Cocky. Coy. Wolf shifter. Tabor is the hollow’s only half-breed, scorned and forbidden to use his powers. Constantly overlooked despite his strengths, Tabor believes Sasha is as shortsighted as the rest of the pack until she proves there’s more to her than a blindly obedient lapdog to the council.

A DUTIFUL PUREBLOOD

Spirited, stubborn, and deeply loyal, Sasha feels the pressure from her pack to claim another pureblood, yet no one is brazen enough to defy the elders and toy with her . . . no one besides a sexy, hotheaded half-breed.

AN ATTRACTION THAT THREATENS THE FUTURE OF THE PACK

Bewildered by the deceptively proud and surprisingly sensual Sasha, Tabor would risk everything to claim her. Despite her vanishing bloodline, Sasha can’t resist the charismatic half-breed even as predators threaten their pack and the elders pressure her to breed with a pureblood.

In a fantastical post-apocalyptic world, where only the strongest survive, sometimes trusting the heart is the bravest act of all.

Ehhh I did not love this.

The beginning was pretty promising, though it was weird how it set up Aden as love interest and Actual Love Interest (I LITERALLY just finished and I can't remember his name) as antagonist. Pretty jarring. I didn't mind Sasha but never connected to her, and it was odd how she went from super against Love Interest to jumping his bones. Plus there was a LOT of gratuitous sex, which would have been fine if I liked the characters. The story itself ... there were so many of plot points one after another but even with so much happening, the book dipped in the middle. I just got bored, which was sad because I thought I'd love this book.

I guess this book and I were just a bad match.

2 stars

#FreeReads - Getting Wilde

Read if you like: kickass female characters, awesome treasure hunts, and the best of urban fantasy.

Getting Wilde | Jenn Bennett

Series: Immortal Vegas

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Released: August 18th 2015
Pages: 292
Format: Ebook
Source: Purchased

Using her well-worn Tarot deck, magical-artifacts hunter Sara Wilde can find anything—for a price. And the price had better be right, since she needs to finance her own personal mission to rescue several young psychics recently sold on the paranormal black market.

Enter Sara’s most mysterious client and occasional lover, the wickedly sexy Magician, with a job that could yield the ultimate payday. All she’ll have to do is get behind Vatican walls… and steal the Devil himself.

But play with the Devil and you’re bound to get burned.

Pressure mounts for Sara to join the Magician’s ancient and mysterious Arcana Council, as militant forces unleashed by even darker powers seek to destroy all magic—including the young psychics Sara is desperate to keep safe. The Council may be their only hope. . . but it could also expose Sara’s own dark past.

From the twisting catacombs of Rome to the neon streets of Vegas, Sara confronts ancient enemies, powerful demigods, a roiling magical underworld about to explode… and immortal passions that might require the ultimate sacrifice. But oh, what a way to go.

No matter how the cards play out, things are about to get Wilde.

This is honestly my favourite urban fantasy series. I remember reading the prequel short ages ago and liking it but when I read this book I fell SO HARD for the characters. It doesn't hurt that there's some sizzling slow-burn romance, awesome perilous quests, and a story that keeps getting better and better. I love everything about this book, and even more about this series.

5 stars

Review: The Poet X

The Poet X | Elizabeth Acevedo

Published by: HarperTeen, March 8th 2018

Genre: Poetry, Contemporary

Pages: 368

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperTeen, via Edelweiss

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing own voices novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

This was so different to what I expected, and I loved it. Beautiful form, stark and aching poetry, and pretty damn awesome characters. All the things I like. 

I loved Xiomara, and I felt for her so much with all the things she had to deal with. She's just a girl trying to muddle through being a teenager, discovering herself and her passion and boys. At its heart this book is about questions, and love - familial love, romantic love, and especially self love. 

I LOVE novels in verse but my usual problem is they don't end, they just stop - but this book has an actual ending, and it made me so happy to have that closure, to know there's hope for the characters and their lives. This book is honestly so well done. I'm very happy I read it, even if it hurt me towards the end. I want to read more from Elizabeth Acevedo.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★