ARC Review: The Amateurs

The Amateurs: The Amateurs | Sara Shepard

Published by: Hot Key Books, October 6th 2016

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Hot Key Books, via Netgalley

Everyone's dying to know the truth . . .

When Aerin Kelly was eleven, she idolised her seventeen-year-old sister, Helena, and they did everything together. They made Claymation movies and posted them to YouTube. They made fun of Windmere-Carruthers, the private school they attended, they invented new flavours for their parents' organic ice cream shop, and they dressed up their golden retriever, Buster. But when Helena went into senior year things started to change. Rather than being Aerin's inseparable sister, she started to push her away. Then, on a snowy winter's day, Helena vanished. 

Four years later, Helena's body is found. Wracked with grief and refusing to give up on her sister, Aerin spends months trying to figure out what exactly happened to Helena and who killed her. But the police have no leads. A young, familiar officer named Thomas wants to help and suggests she checks out a website called Case Not Closed. Hesitantly, she posts, and when teenagers Seneca and Maddox show up on her doorstep offering to help investigate she accepts in desperation. Both have suffered their own losses and also posted to the site with no luck, so they are hoping this case might be the one they crack. But as their investigation begins, it seems that maybe it's no accident that they are all together, and that maybe the crimes have something - or someone - in common.

Thank God the next book comes out next summer because I don't think I can wait a full year. Actually, I could easily read another five books in this series right now. The mystery is next level, tense, dangerous, and twisty as hell (I expected nothing less.) 

But the characters! Look, I loved everyone, even That Guy (who I felt BAD FOR when Aerin didn't reciprocate.) Seneca especially - she's awesome and smart and I connect with her a whole lot. Everyone in this book is flawed, and messed up, and they're all the more real for it. Plus, two of them are WOC. Even minor characters have their secrets and are completely dynamic, I'm dying to know what happens to the amateurs next. 

I'm just stunned by how good this book is, and where it went. Holy hell, Sara Shepard, you don't do things by halves.

Characters ★★★★★
Setting/World ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★

ARC Review: How It Feels To Fly

How It Feels To Fly | Kathryn Holmes

Published by: HarperTeen, June 14th 2016

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mental Illness, Anxiety

Pages: 368

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperTeen, via Edelweiss

The movement is all that matters. 

For as long as Samantha can remember, she’s wanted to be a professional ballerina. She’s lived for perfect pirouettes, sky-high extensions, and soaring leaps across the stage. Then her body betrayed her.

The change was gradual. Stealthy.

Failed diets. Disapproving looks. Whispers behind her back. The result: crippling anxiety about her appearance, which threatens to crush her dancing dreams entirely. On her dance teacher’s recommendation, Sam is sent to a summer treatment camp for teen artists and athletes who are struggling with mental and emotional obstacles. If she can make progress, she’ll be allowed to attend a crucial ballet intensive. But when asked to open up about her deepest insecurities, secret behaviors, and paralyzing fears to complete strangers, Sam can’t cope. 

What I really need is a whole new body.

Sam forms an unlikely bond with Andrew, a former college football player who’s one of her camp counselors. As they grow closer, Andrew helps Sam see herself as he does—beautiful. But just as she starts to believe that there’s more between them than friendship, disappointing news from home sends her into a tailspin. With her future uncertain and her body against her, will Sam give in to the anxiety that imprisons her?

There were so many moments when I connected with this book, and it was totally unexpected. So, so happy I picked it up. Here are my thoughts:

- I can't imagine what it feels like for your own body to make your career impossible, or ruin any chance of your dreams coming true.

- I love Samantha, and felt everything she was going through. Her own bravery made me feel really motivated in myself.

- I ADORE the friends Sam made, and their strange relationships and interactions. They'd never be friends ordinarily, but I love how they came together.

- But I did feel icky about the 'romance'. It was really obvious where it was going and it made me so uncomfortable to read it.

- BUT I loved everything else!

- An uplifting, funny, inspiring, emotional book. I want to read it all over again.

Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/World ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

ARC Review: Flamecaster

Shattered Realms: Flamecaster | Cinda Williams Chima

Published by: HarperCollins, April 5th 2016

Genre: YA, High Fantasy

Pages: 535

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperCollins, via Edelweiss

A burning vengeance.

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. The son of the queen of the Fells, Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

A blood-based curse.

Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Destiny’s fiery hand.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death. 

This is definitely my favourite Cinda Williams Chima book I've read. Much faster paced, exciting, and I connected with the characters better. Here are my thoughts:

- I really love Ash and Lila, and Jenna grew on me. I wanna keep Destin forever.

- REALLY hoped for Jenna/Destin. I wasn't that sold on Jenna/Ash

- The story was complex and exciting. I can't wait to see all elements weave together and the story play out in later books.

- I LOVE the world, especially with the hints about magic on other continents. I feel like the islanders are gonna be awesome. (Though I could do without the 'exotic savages' trope....)

- Kinda cool how Jenna's birthmark is metal and a gem. Not seen that before.

- DRAGONS! YASS! BRING IT ON!

- I have so much hope for this series. Great characters, awesome world, promising story. Excited to read more!

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Monthly Round Up (9)

Monthly round up is a journal where I record my reading progress, reviews, and my favourite books/biggest disappointments of the month.

Reviews:

Walk On Earth A Stranger
Revenge And The Wild
And I Darken
Passenger
Daybreak Rising
Empire of Storms
Labyrinth Lost

ALSO:

I renamed my blog! Here's my post about it.
Top 5 Authors Discovered in 2016
Labyrinth Lost Excerpt
Monthly Round Up (August)

What I've read this month:

A really good reading month! I'm trying to get this blog back on track, so I'll be writing reviews of most of the books I read and posting them here, as opposed to only reviewing my review copies (which meandered this way because of sheer laziness.)

Favourite book:

Nah. I'm officially abstaining this month. I can't pick between the six books I ADORED.

Biggest Disappointment:

Tough choice between this and The Crown's Game. I LOVED Shaw, of the Black Dog series, so I was taken really off guard when the love interest of this series turned out to be a controlling, secretive alpha asshole. Sure, he has reasons but can anything ever justify kidnapping someone????????? No.

What did you read this month? Leave a comment!

~Saruuh

Top 5 Authors Discovered in 2016

I know these posts are usually reserved for the end of the year, but we're most of the way through 2016 and I just know I'll forget to write this post if I leave it for December. Plus, I've already discovered some pretty amazing authors.

Hailey Edwards

I've loved every single book of hers I've read. The best kind of urban fantasy.

Alwyn Hamilton

Rebel of The Sands is EPIC. Romantic and dangerous and just thrilling. I met Alwyn at YALC this year and she was super nice.

Eliza Wass

In The Dark, In The Woods is one of the best books I've read this year. Haunting and unsettling and beautifully written. A must-read.

Brittany Cavallaro

A Study In Charlotte was everything I want from a modern day Sherlock Holmes. Cute romance, quirky and awkward friends, MURDER.

Pippa DaCosta

City of Fae and City of Shadows blew me away. Sexy and dark and scary as hell in parts. Plus super, super inventive and unique. I'm dying to read more of her books!

Bonus: Jov Skovron, whose Hope & Red I completely adored, and Zoraida Cordova, whose Labyrinth Lost was a stand-out book in a very saturated genre.