Review: Renegades

Read if you like: fascinating superpowers, characters you fall hard in love with, and thrilling, multi-faceted plots.

Renegades | Marissa Meyer

Series: Renegades

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Superhero
Released: April 5th 2018
Pages: 576
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

I did not predict how much I'd LOVE this book. A secret underground group of villains? A goody-two-shoes hero love interest who can draw things and make them REAL? A kickass ensemble cast, where everyone is interesting and stands out? PLUS a villain-t0-hero character arc? THIS IS EVERYTHING.

Not to mention Adrian's dads are adorable, I love his little brother, and the plot is just outstanding. And THAT ENDING. You need to read this book, seriously. I can't wait for book 2!

5 stars

Review: Carry On

Read if you like: chosen one plots that subvert EVERYTHING, romance that makes you cry (and smile at the same time?), and awesome side characters you want to be besties with.

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell

Genre: YA Fantasy
Released: February 25th 2016
Pages: 518
Format: Paperback
Source: Gift

A #1 New York Times-bestseller
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen.

That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.

Oh my gods, THIS BOOK.

I didn't even know if I would LIKE this and it has somehow become tied with ACOWAR for my favourite book of this year. This book is real magic. I will read it again and again.

5 stars

Review: Windfall

Read if you like: contemporary stories with so much heart and love you want to cry.

Windfall | Jennifer E. Smith

Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Released: May 4th 2017
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.

At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.

As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

So, so, so good. This is everything I needed to read: romantic, sad, hopeful, full of feeling. I love how clever the actual story is, and the relationships between all characters are so honest and real, whether love, friends, or family. Just perfect. Jennifer E. Smith is now an auto-buy author for me.

5 stars

Review: False Hearts

False Hearts: False Hearts | Laura Lam

Published by: Macmillan, June 16th 2016

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Pages: 366

Format: Ebook

Source: Macmillan, via Netgalley

Orphan Black meets Inception: Two formerly conjoined sisters are ensnared in a murderous plot involving psychoactive drugs, shared dreaming, organized crime, and a sinister cult. 

One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood.

She’s arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin sister Taema a chilling deal. Taema must assume Tila’s identity and gather information – then if she brings down the drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation raises ghosts from the twins’ past.

The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine. But as conjoined twins, they needed surgery to divide their shared heart – and escaped. Taema now finds Tila discovered links between the cult and the city’s underground. Once unable to keep secrets, the sisters will discover the true cost of lies.

This book really throws everything into the mix, but instead of that being really confusing, it's just awesome. Formerly conjoined twins keeping secrets, a criminal organisation, a woman going undercover as her twin in said criminal organisation. Add to that technology that downloads information straight into your HEAD, a drug that is seriously dangerous, and a super sweet romance, and this book has everything you could possibly want. It even has a cult for Christ's sake. Plus it's so well written, packed with tension and thrills and threats, and its underlying drive is the love of one sister for another. There's nothing I didn't love. Gimme the sequel!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Glow (Review)

Sky Chasers: Glow | Amy Kathleen Ryan

Published by: Macmillan Children's Books, October 7th 2011

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Space

Pages: 375

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

Glow is the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games, and promises to thrill and challenge readers of all ages. 

What I expected from Glow: a nice romance with some spaceship adventures?

What I got from Glow: a dark, brutal book that didn't hesitate to delve into difficult topics, pushed its characters to make impossible choices, and blurred the line between wrong and right.

THIS BOOK is exactly what I wanted from The 100 by Kass Morgan, which completely disappointed me because it had nothing that I loved of the TV series. The characters in Glow are tormented, torn, tortured, and they aren't good people - they're not bad people, they're simply kids trying to survive any way they can. This book was a shock to my system. It was gritty and relentless, unapologetic in its exploration of the human mind and mankind's darkest moments.

Highlighted by moments of friendship, high octane action, and thrilling science fiction, Glow goes deep into topics such as autonomy, gender roles, the good and bad sides of religion (hope versus indoctrination), sexual abuse and assault (in passing), fertility, and human rights. Holy hell, I loved this book. So much more important than I ever expected it to be. And all that IN SPACE.

Read this book ASAP. And if, like me, you were let down by The 100 book, try Glow instead!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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