Tag: YA

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Review of Eve: Anna Carey

I liked this book and I liked the storyline and was even a little horrified at the thought of our world ending up like that which is always a good marker of a great dystopian novel.
This book was a little slow at the beginning, but once I got into it I loved it!
I recommend!

Amazon Description:

Where do you go when nowhere is safe?
Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth’s population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school’s real purpose—and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Arden, her former rival from school, and Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust . . . and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.
In this epic new series, Anna Carey imagines a future that is both beautiful and terrifying. Readers will revel in Eve’s timeless story of forbidden love and extraordinary adventure.
  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins (October 4, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0062048503
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Tortured, a Birthmarked Novella: Caragh M. O’Brian

First off, this is just a short novella that sort of bridges the two books Birthmarked and Prized, even though I would read it AFTER I read Prized, but that’s just me.
The other big thing is that it’s only an e-book and it’s FREE!
So if you liked the Birthmarked series, which I did, download this book!

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: Ransom Riggs

This was such a fun book! It was a little creepy and a lot of fun. One thing that I thought was really cool was the way he incorporated all these true life vintage photos into the book (the photos were real, obviously the story is not). I was reading it on my Kindle so the photos definitely were not done justice, but I bet in hardback, the book is really awesome. I love how he incorporated the photos into the story. It did not distract in any way, but really added to it.
Anyways, I don’t want to give too much away because the story really unfolds sort of like an old school fairy tale. I give it 4 stars and totally recommend!

Amazon Description:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Quirk Books; Book Club edition (June 7, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594744769

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Prized: Caragh M. O’Brian

What a fabulous book, but I must say, it’s pretty dark and dreary for a good chunk of the book. I was like, “SERIOUSLY, WHEN WILL THIS CHICK CATCH A BREAK!?” I was pretty emotional during the parts of her newborn sister, but alas, I can’t give anything away. That’s not the point of these here recommendations. You just want the meat of it. Did I like it? YES! I just felt it could have been a bit longer. It wasn’t even 400 pages.
Great book, GREAT set up to book three (grrr) and 5 stars and I recommend!

Amazon Description:
Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone survives only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime.  In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code, but how can she deny her sense of justice, her curiosity, and everything in her heart that makes her whole?



  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (November 8, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1596435704
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Review of Clockwork Prince: Cassandra Clare

I’ve got to say, I love me some Cassandra Clare. I was hooked on the Immortal Instrument Series and love this series as well. It’s a Steampunk genre yet set in the same world, just a few hundred years earlier. This is the second book in a series, coming after Clockwork Angel.
This is a “Angel” book, or sort of. Has anyone else noticed the over saturation of Angel/Demon Paranormal romances out there? I’m not a huge fan and it’s getting old. HOWEVER, Clare and her Immortal Instrument series predated the craze and may have even started the craze in my opinion. Ok, I’m off track. Anyways, it’s a great second book in the series. Obviously you need to read the first one to make any sense of it. The lead girl is a little “angsty” if you know what I mean, kind of annoying at times. So I give this 4 stars and recommend it.

Amazon Description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

  • Hardcover: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1ST edition (December 6, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416975888