Into The Still Blue (ARC Review)

Under The Never Sky: Into The Still Blue | Veronica Rossi
YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Characters ★★★★★

Setting ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★★

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.

REVIEW

(WARNING: This review contains mild spoilers. Do not read on if you wish to be spoiled.)

Achingly beautiful, compelling, and raw.

It's no secret that I love the Under The Never Sky trilogy, so I went into this book with a certain amount of expectations - and it surpassed them. Into The Still Blue is full of the honest, wrenching emotions of the other two books, but adds heart-pounding high stakes to the task of finding the Still Blue.

With threat from a constant Aether storm, and the Tides confined to the cave, Perry is desperate and running out of time to save his tribe. With Roar furious with him over Liv's death, and his and Aria's relationship under strain, his responsibility as Blood Lord is a heavy burden, but Perry knows what he has to do - steal enough hovers from Hess and Sable to carry the Tides and the dwellers he and Aria saved from Reverie, and rescue Cinder.

The way to the Still Blue proves treacherous and tempestuous, with more complications than anyone could foresee, more dangers for not only Cinder, but Perry, Aria, and the rest of their tribe, and a million ways to die. My heart was pounding the entire time I was reading this, either from intense emotion or the horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen. There is never a moment, nor a single page, when this book didn't suck me into the story and hold me captive.

This book, this series, is harmonious and captivating. The writing carries you on a gentle wave through beautiful passages only to dash you against the rocks at the end. I'm in awe of Veronica Rossi, and I have never loved the third book in a trilogy more than this.

This series has a way of making me feel completely lost within myself, and through reading I am sure I find myself every time. It is beautiful and terrifying and like nothing that has ever been written before. Into The Still Blue unmade me, and then remade me as a new person. I'm still reeling from it now.

I am incredibly sad, and so not ready, to part with Perry and Aria but Into The Still Blue is a fitting end for a tumultuous trilogy. I will be crying for years. 

★★★★★

{ARC courtesy of HarperCollins and Edelweiss. Thank you thank you thank you Harper Collins}

((UNDER THE NEVER SKY review))

((THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT gif review))

Halloween read-a-thon

It's Halloween! (sorta) I have a thousand books to read! Thus, a Halloween read-a-thon is required. I haven't been able to find a single read-a-thon that runs the week of Halloween, possibly this is bad searching on my part, so I decided to make one.

This read-a-thon runs Monday 28th October to 3rd November, and literally anyone can do it, though I created this thing just for me and fully expect to be alone in my reading marathon. Fingers crossed I can cut my reading list down by at least 4 books because my pile is HUGE.

Oh, and because I like to abbreviate things, this will henceforth be known as the ass read-a-thon, or maybe ass-a-thon. It's a work in progress. I'll designate twitter and tumblr tags nearer the time so you can follow my progress if you so wish.

And now I'm going to make a list of ~spoooky~ books to read.

Cover reveal: Born of Deception

Born of Illusion: Born of Deception | Teri Brown

Expected 2014 from Balzer & Bray/Harperteen

Budding illusionist Anna Van Housen is on top of the world: after scoring a spot on a prestigious European vaudeville tour, she has moved to London to chase her dream and to join an underground society for people like her with psychic abilities. Along with her handsome beau, Cole Archer, Anna is prepared to take the city by storm.

But when Anna arrives in London, she finds the group in turmoil. Sensitives are disappearing and, without a suspect, the group’s members are turning on one another. Could the kidnapper be someone within the society itself—or has the nefarious Dr. Boyle followed them to London?

As Cole and Anna begin to unravel the case and secrets about the society are revealed, they find themselves at odds, their plans for romance in London having vanished. Her life in danger and her relationship fizzling, can Anna find a way to track down the killer before he makes her his next victim—or will she have to pay the ultimate price for her powers?

Set in Jazz-Age London, this alluring sequel to Born of Illusion comes alive with sparkling romance, deadly intrigue, and daring magic.

About the author:

I’m not sure who to tell you about here because I’m actually two people rolled into one. As a responsible mother of teens, I show one persona to the world. That person is driven, conservative and level headed. But the other part of me just never grew up. She is rebellious, impulsive and curious.

It’s hard being both these people. They’re often at odds.

The mother part of me knows I should put a cap on how many animals we take in. The teen part of me wants to save them all. We have five cats and two dogs. Who do you think is winning?

Even now. The mother part wants to make a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a tossed salad. The teen part wants to order a pizza, work on my website and check my Facebook.

Luckily, though my two halves don’t always agree, both of us live happily in Portland, Oregon, with a husband and too many animals. And we both love to write and write and write..

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Halloween recommendations.

It is three weeks until Halloween! This calls for some dark and spooky books to read to celebrate the season.

[1] - living Nightmare, magic

[2] - Sorcerers

[3] - Magic, curses

[4] - Vampires

[5] - Gargoyles

[6] - Voodoo

[7] - Demons

[8] - Ghosts, curses

And these three all feature witches and ~witchy magic~ because no Halloween is complete without witches:

Sadly I don't know any books that feature skeletons or pumpkins. Sad day for a fan of skeletons and pumpkins.

Altered (Review)

Altered: Altered | Jennifer Rush
YA, Science Fiction, Thriller

Characters ★★★★★

Setting ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★★★

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. 

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

REVIEW

Altered blew me away. It had the same high stakes, fast paced feel to it as All Our Yesterdays and Reboot, but it had something else entirely. Reading it, I felt highly strung and on edge - Jennifer Rush just dragged me head first into the story and immersed me with terror, excitement, and the desperate desperate need to protect every one of the boys (especially Nick. Oh, how I love Nick.)

I loved Anna's isolation, how all she knew was the boys, and her whole life, her career, her everything revolved around them because she had nothing else. But what I loved most of all was her development, how she grew as a character from someone following her father's rules to breaking the Branch's to save her boys. I really think she found her own mind.

The plot was action packed, terrifying, thrilling and there was both too much and not enough of it. I need more of their story or I'm going to combust. I need to know that Sam and Anna are happy and together, that Cas isn't very badly injured and can recover, that Nick has someone who understands him and is patient with the walls he's built around himself, that Trev will redeem himself. But most of all I need to know about Anna, about her past, about the Branch and what they're keeping secret and what motivated Anna's 'father' to keep her in the dark.

I need to know everything! I devoured this book and it consumed me in return. God, I need book two right now.

★★★★★