The Forgotten Ones, Laura Howard (w/ excerpt)

The Danaan Trilogy: The Forgotten Ones | Laura Howard

Published April 28th

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

About the Author:

Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

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Read on for an excerpt from The Forgotten Ones!

The Almost Girl (ARC Review)

The Almost Girl | Amalie Howard

Published by: Strange Chemistry, January 7th 2014

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Ebook 

Source: Strange Chemistry/Angry Robot via Netgalley (thank you!!!)

Seventeen-year-old Riven is as tough as they come. Coming from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, she has to be. There’s no room for softness, no room for emotion, no room for mistakes. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes, a parallel universe to Earth. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to find his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited back to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Thrown out of her comfort zone but with the mindset of a soldier, Riven has to learn how to be a girl in a realm that is the opposite of what she knows. Riven isn’t prepared for the beauty of a world that is unlike her own in so many ways. Nor is she prepared to feel something more than indifference for the very target she seeks. Caden is nothing like Cale, but he makes something in her come alive, igniting a spark deep down that goes against every cell in her body. For the first time in her life, Riven isn’t sure about her purpose, about her calling. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide whether Caden is simply a target or whether he is something more.

Faced with hideous reanimated Vector soldiers from her own world with agendas of their own, as well as an unexpected reunion with a sister who despises her, it is a race against time to bring Caden back to Neospes. But things aren’t always as they seem, and Riven will have to search for truth. Family betrayals and royal coups are only the tip of the iceberg. Will Riven be able to find the strength to defy her very nature? Or will she become the monstrous soldier she was designed to be?

And continuing my love affair with Strange Chemistry... I have yet to find a bad book published by them.

The Almost Girl tells the story of Riven, a girl from a parallel, advanced Earth, where her best friend is dying and the monarchy is on the brink of being overruled. Her only hope to save her friend and her city is to travel to our Earth in a desperate hunt for the one person who can change everything.

I liked The Almost Girl. It had a heavy emphasis on science and technology, which I am a sucker for, and I loved all the terminology that immersed me in Riven's world. The plot was original and the book well written, but I just couldn't love this book as much as I wanted to.

Caden was a predictable love interest - sweet, caring, with a hidden (SHOCKER) secret. Meh. I could have done without him, to be honest. The relationship between him and Riven felt rushed and unrealistic, and for me the book would have been better without it. 

I wish Howard had spend more time going into Cale's backstory and his motives so I could understand him instead of the long, pointless stretch of book in the underground cave system that could have easily taken place in the secret HQ in the city. I felt like I was pushed into liking Caden with very few reasons to actually like him and given no reasons at all to understand Cale, let alone like him. Yeah there were plenty to hate him, but the reality of who he is clearly messed him up. I'm not going to hate someone who has extremely bad, and possibly mental, issues. Hoping book two goes deeper into Cale's story instead of just writing him off as the villain (as I suspect it will.)

However, despite it's problems, and the fact that the book lagged a lot in the first half, I enjoyed it. I loved Riven (right until the end, when she had no problem hating a friend she'd had for fourteen years, and made no attempt to understand what had changed him) and she made up for a lot of the other stuff. I can't say I liked any other characters, but Riven was a pretty kickass, well-rounded character, and she was easy enough to like.

The more I think about this, the lower I want to rate it, but I'll go with my gut and give it four.

 Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

Salvage (ARC Review)

Salvage | Alexandra Duncan

Published by: Greenwillow Books, April 1st 2014

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 528

Format: Ebook 

Source: Greenwillow Books via Edelweiss (thank you so much!!)

Ava is the captain's daughter. This allows her limited freedoms and a certain status in the Parastrata's rigid society-but it doesn't mean she can read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. When Ava learns she is to be traded in marriage to another merchant ship, she hopes for the best. After all, she is the captain's daughter. Betrayal, banishment, and a brush with love and death are her destiny instead, and Ava stows away on a mail sloop bound for Earth in order to escape both her past and her future. The gravity almost kills her. 

Gradually recuperating in a stranger's floating cabin on the Gyre, a huge mass of scrap and garbage in the Pacific Ocean, Ava begins to learn the true meaning of family and home and trust-and she begins to nourish her own strength and soul. This sweeping and harrowing novel explores themes of choice, agency, rebellion, and family and, after a tidal wave destroys the Gyre and all those who live there, ultimately sends its main character on a thrilling journey to Mumbai, the beating heart of Alexandra Duncan's post-climate change Earth.

It's no secret that Science Fiction books are my absolute favourite, so when I saw Salvage's cover and read it's blurb, I wanted to read it A.S.A.P. I had a lot of expectations and hopes going into this, and luckily they were all surpassed by miles.

I loved this book, from beginning to end. It had everything I hoped it would - spaceships, future!Earth, the terminology associated with ships and machinery that makes Sci-Fi books that more authentic - and a tonne of others I never imagined - the dark and bright sides of Mumbai, heartwarming friendships, a kickass heroine who refuses to be beaten and grows as a person with every chapter. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this book.

Salvage is so many books, plots, and locations all rolled into one book and despite everything suggesting it should in no way work ... it works so well. The progression from place to place is natural, with reasoning instead of a random jump. It covers many areas of this new, post-climate-change Earth as well as the sky surrounding it, and builds an expansive and clear picture of the world in which Ava is living. Quite simply, Alexandra Duncan is a masterful world builder.

There were a few times when my reading lacked momentum but the world of Salvage drew me back, as well as my investment in Ava's future and her journey. At the beginning of the book I was urging her to speak out against her father and the society on her spaceship that was so clearly oppressing her - but she knew no different so of course she didn't, and though it frustrated me a little it was easy to understand why she'd remain silent, why she'd keep her thoughts unspoken. Good Parastrata women do not speak out.

It took being exiled from society and forced to flee her ship for Ava to see life beyond the limitations of the Parastrata, to see that she didn't have to be the girl she had been moulded into. Ava was beyond any words I have to describe her. I've never read a journey so vast and profound as hers. By finding herself in an unfamiliar, terrifying world with no friends or family to speak of and no way to survive, she finds herself. Despite experiencing grief and emotions that would cause most people to break down, she fights through it, and she refuses to be beaten. If you read this book for nothing else, read it for Ava. She's a girl like no other.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★★

"Alexandra Duncan's debut illustrates a richly detailed world that vividly shows a possible future of Earth where society has both regressed and progressed, where the struggles of humanity have become more dire, but where love still remains. Everything-from the world to the characters-felt viscerally real. Original and memorable." 

- Beth Revis, author of the nationally best-selling Across the Universe

"Epic in scope and intimate in execution, Salvage is an astonishing debut. Duncan expertly crafts a story of the journey to claim oneself across the infinite expanses of both space and the human heart." 

- Kiersten White, author of the New York Times best-selling Paranormalcy trilogy

The Pentrals (ARC Review)

The Pentrals: The Pentrals | Crystal Mack

Published by: Apologue Entertainment, November 12th 2013

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 246

Format: Ebook 

Source: Apologue Entertainment via Netgalley (thank you!)

Picture your life without free will. 

No choice. No voice. No personal direction. 

For 17 years, it's the only path I've known. Always a follower, never in control, I am an afterthought, burying my impulses as I bend to the whims of another. I dream of someone taking notice-of falling in love and being kissed. But I probably never will. 

My name is Antares. I am a Shadow.

Deep in a secluded canyon lies Talline, a metropolis of mirrors filled with forces called Pentrals that outline our very existence. Antares, Pentral Class Two, took an oath to act without influence—to echo without opinion. But in a cruel twist of fate, she must watch as Violet, her person, encounters a tragedy that will change both their lives forever. When Violet starts making careless choices, Antares can no longer remain a silent silhouette. She won’t allow lost friendships, broken hearts, or those mysterious menaces looking out from the glass to tear apart Violet’s very being. In doing so, Antares unknowingly crosses forbidden boundaries and ends up illuminating a darkness much deeper than her own.

REVIEW

I requested this book on Netgalley on a whim. It sounded pretty interesting and quite a bit different to books I had read, but I had low expectations. A string of bad quality galleys left me a little disheartened towards this, so I put off reading it for a while. I really wish I hadn't.

The Pentrals is a brilliant mix of sci-fi and fantasy, with a completely new premise and compelling characters. Antares is a shadow. An actual shadow. She's followed Violet her entire life, but has never felt or experienced the actions and emotions she shadows - until an accident puts her inside Violet's body, with complete control over her actions, her speech, and with an opportunity to develop feelings of her own. But while Antares is a Person, Violet is a Shadow, and if anyone discovers what has happened it could mean danger for both of them.

It took a while for me to get into this book, but once I hit the 40% mark I was in love with Antares and her story. Her attraction to Ben felt natural and was very well written. I loved how Violet and Antares were clearly different people and how that was presented in their different reactions to Thomas and Ben. And the gradual friendship between Violet and Antares was enjoyable to read. Yay for ladies being supportive and appreciative of each other instead of being bitchy.

Antares was a character unlike any other. Despite being a Pentral, Antares is one of the most human characters I've read in a while. She was flawed but willing to grow as a person, scared yet determined to act in spite of it. I loved Antares and really can't wait to read more of her story. I felt like there wasn't enough of this book. I wanted to see her go to Violet at the end and for them to interact in a completely new way and to be friends without the Pentral barrier.

The Pentrals is imaginitive and impossible to forget. Can I have book two now?

((Also it was nice to find a same sex relationship in this book, even if it was a very small part. Hoping to see more of this in the rest of the series. Also hoping Mary wakes up and we get some sweet moments with her and Sam.))

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

★★★★☆

Only Half Alive (Review)

Only Half Alive | Konstanz Silverbow

Published: September 27th 2013

Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Pages: N/A

Format: Kindle Ebook 

Source: Purchased

The World's darkest creature will be their brightest hope!

While darkness haunts her, she craves the light. Christina is a demon, but she doesn't want to be. She is willing to sacrifice everything to change it. Only one person stands in her way, and he will stop at nothing to keep her the way she is.

The greatest battle of light vs dark threatens every living creature, a battle that could destroy all. And the demon in love will only have one chance to save everyone.

REVIEW

Let me just start by saying: best. author name. ever. Am I right?

Only Half Alive tells the story of Christina, a demon who lives her life hating what she is, working for the only man who will employ someone like her, and wishing she had a normal life.

*sigh* Christina. Never have I disliked a MC so much. There was about 20% in the middle where I actually liked her, around the time she met Riley and found out the truth about Finn, but then it was straight back to frustration. I think a lot of that stemmed from the fact that she's no naive and trusting. She meets Finn, a stranger, and trusts him after one day. He could literally have been a serial killer but she trusts him without question. I supposed (later on) that this was because of her and Finn's previous connection, but then she goes and does the same thing with her father. She just trusts him without question. Maybe I'm just extremely wary of people and slow to trust but it seemed pretty foolish to me and because of that I just couldn't connect with her.

Luckily the story made up for it. Only Half Alive is a quick, entertaining read. The plot is unique, and as frustrating as I find Christina, she isn't a carbon copy of a million other characters, which is always nice. There's a big emphasis on light and dark, and how being dark doesn't necessarily make a bad person, and I really liked the way that was explored. 

Despite the rushed, forced feel of the relationships, there are reasons for it, so it wasn't too hard to overlook how Christina went from 'Whatever' to 'Holy crap I love you' in a day. The supporting characters were interesting at times and a bit flat at others. Finn I hated at first - he just seemed way too obsessed with Christina to be healthy. But that all made sense later and I grew to actually like him. I was rooting for Finn/Christina, to be honest. Riley didn't make too much of an impression on me; he's more of a water-colour as opposed to Finn's vibrant oil.

Overall, I didn't mind it - it's certainly not the worst book I've ever read. The middle was great. I skimmed the last 30% to be honest, because I was bored, but it's a good book if you can get past Christina's insta-trust.

Characters ★★☆☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★☆☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

★★★☆☆
(2.5 stars)

House of Ivy and Sorrow (ARC review)

House Of Ivy And Sorrow | Natalie Whipple

Published by: HarperTeen, April 15th 2014

Genre: YA, Paranormal

Pages: 432

Format: Ebook 

Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss

Josephine Hemlock has spent the last 10 years hiding from the Curse that killed her mother. But when a mysterious man arrives at her ivy-covered, magic-fortified home, it’s clear her mother’s killer has finally come to destroy the rest of the Hemlock bloodline. Before Jo can even think about fighting back, she must figure out who she’s fighting in the first place. The more truth Jo uncovers, the deeper she falls into witchcraft darker than she ever imagined. Trapped and running out of time, she begins to wonder if the very Curse that killed her mother is the only way to save everyone she loves.

REVIEW

A unique tale of family, love, and witchcraft.

Josephine is a modern witch. She lives with her grandmother in a magic-fortified, ivy-covered house, hiding from the curse that killed her mother. But when the curse comes for her, in the form of her father, everything in her life changes.

House of Ivy and Sorrow was a quick, enjoyable read. I liked the different elements of the plot - the Curse, the Shadows, the mystery of Jo's mother - but it fell flat at times and I felt like I was just reading to get to the good parts. But then the second half kicked in and I finally got the excitement and high-stakes danger the first half lacked.

Levi was the turning point of this book; he brought the book to life for me. I liked how you couldn't work him out, how he was ambiguously good and bad, and it was impossible to tell if his 'help' was genuine or a trap. I was dying for Jo and him to get together - Winn and I just didn't click; he was a little too nice for me personally - and the end just broke my heart.

The way teenage life was weaved with witch life was another thing I liked - school, crushes, friendship drama, evil magic users trying to kill you. Just the normal girly stuff. But what I enjoyed most about House of Ivy and Sorrow was the relationship between Jo and her grandmother and they way they were both stubborn and fierce in their desire to protect each other. Often books force the bond between family and it ends up feeling stale and false. That wasn't the case with this book.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★☆☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

★★★☆☆

Winter Sparrow, Estevan Vega (w/ giveaway)

Winter Sparrow | Estevan Vega

“I’ll grow wings all by myself.”

Mary is a young artist about to enter a new chapter in her life. After years of waiting and searching, she has finally found true love. She’s also just discovered that her fiancé Joshua has inherited his father’s rundown countryside mansion. To add to the rising pressure, her wedding day is so close she can practically hear the music. All she has to do is accept what the future holds. Accept…and be happy.

But something’s missing.

As the seasons change, her doubts turn to fears, and her fears become reality. Through struggle and loss, the love she once possessed for Joshua transforms into contempt. When Mary is confronted with a magical escape, the life she has and the life she dreams of will collide, awakening a mysterious change within. But no choice comes without cost, and each one will draw her closer to the truth.

At times both beautiful and haunting, Winter Sparrow dares you to step into a world where eternity is a moment and every breath is a second chance. The fantasy begins….

About The Author:

I’m a writer. Well, technically an author, because they say that you magically become an author (i.e. true creative) if you’ve published something, and you’re a writer if you haven’t (you know those closet aspiring geniuses who just scribble stuff into notebooks and hide it from the world?). But I still call myself a writer. I’m one of 4 brothers. The middle son. I guess that’s supposed to make me uber weird and dysfunctional, but the jury’s still out on that one. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. Like, really love it. Watching movies and going to rock shows are 2 of my favorite pastimes, and I am addicted to telling stories.

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