Update # 2

Well, you have probably been wondering where I have been for the last couple of weeks. I have been locked in a closet with book and reading (as all people should be )

Since stating I am on a book buying ban till I do the project 10 books ( where you take 10 older books off your shelf and read them) 6 times before I can buy another book. I have been reading more. In the last 4 weeks I have read 14 books and only 7 towards my first 10 books off my list. I will be posting reviews for 3 more books at least next Sat.

  I also looked at my ARC's and see that the pile is getting out of hand so I will be gone this week to start reading them.  So this week I am reading my first New Adult book, and you will be getting a review on that too.

 This is the first New Adult book I am reading. I look forward to see what this new genre holds and if I like it.

    Till next time
   Keep reading

Review: Fugitives

Fugitives

Alexander Gordon Smith

Square Fish

 

 

Forever altered by his experience in Furnace Penetentiary, Alex has done the impossible and escaped. But the battle for freedom is only just beginning. Charged with his superhuman abilities, Alex must uncover the last of Furnace’s secrets—the truth about the man who built the prison, the man known as Alfred Furnace. And to do that he must stop running and finally confront his greatest fears.

 

 

 

My Review: This is the fourth installment of the Escape From Furnace series and the best one so far. A rollercoaster ride from start to finish . I am not going into detail of the story because I hate reviews with spoilers, But this is a series to check out if you like dark and disturbing stories that have wonderful characters and nonstop action. Your heart will be pounding and pulse racing as you wonder what is going to happen next. I can't wait to read what I am sure will be the stunning conclusion to this amazing series. My son and I are going to miss this series and hope the author keeps writing for years to come. Mr. Smith has two very dedicated fans in my house.  

Review : Student Bodies

Student Bodies
Sean Cummings
  Strange Chemistry

Whoever said being a teenage witch would be easy? For fifteen-year-old Julie Richardson and the city’s resident protector from supernatural evil, the Left Hand Path doesn't give a damn if you've found true love for the first time in your life. There’s someone lurking the halls of Crescent Ridge High School with enough malice to unleash an epidemic of Soul Worms – supernatural larvae that feed on the very fabric of a victim’s humanity.

After witnessing the death of one of the most popular kids at school, Julie and über genius boyfriend Marcus are in a race against time to find out who is behind the attacks. All the evidence points to a horrifying plot at the City Weir during the Winter Solstice; the place where icy waters of the Bow River and a thunderous spillway will mean the deaths of more than a hundred of Julie’s classmates.

If she has any hope of saving their lives, she’ll need a little help from a coven of white witches and an Aboriginal mage whose snarky attitude is matched only by her magical prowess.

 

 

 

My Review:
This was a fun read for me. I had not read the first book but did purchase it because of this wonderful follow up. Julie is a great main character with a good outlook on life that intrigues the reader from the start. Dealing with real life issues that face every teen makes her seem realistic.
  Strong themes give this book its back bone and pulls the reader in deeper. Julie handles life like a real teenager who would stumble and make mistakes, but she strives to fix things and make them right.





Review: Backward Glass

Backward Glass

David Lomax

Flux

 

 

It's 1977, and Kenny Maxwell is dreading the move away from his friends. But then, behind the walls of his family's new falling-apart Victorian home, he finds something incredible--a mummified baby and a note: "Help me make it not happen, Kenny. Help me stop him."

Shortly afterwards, a beautiful girl named Luka shows up. She introduces Kenny to the backward glass, a mirror that allows them to travel through time. Meeting other "mirror kids" in the past and future is exciting, but there's also danger. The urban legend of Prince Harming, who kidnaps and kills children, is true--and he's hunting them. When Kenny gets stranded in the past, he must find the courage to answer a call for help, change the fate of a baby--and confront his own destiny.

 

 

 

My Review: This was an amazing debut from an author that has made me an instant fan.

     Dealing with time travel can be difficult subject matter but David Lomax does it extremely well because of wonderful historic detail. Keeping the suspenseful with a great male protagonist and a strong female character.
  I am running out and buying two copies of this book so my children can read it. I love how this book keeps the reader thinking. Looking forward to having a long discussion with my kids and turn them into instant fans too.



Review : Matched

 

 

Matched

Ally Condie

Dutton Juvenile

 

 

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

 

 

My Review: I enjoyed this book but.......it was not what I expected. I heard this book was amazing everyone raving about it. I thought it was good but not amazing. Before you click off this review let me explain.

 

   Ally Condie is a wonderful writer. The world she created was incredible. I loved the premise of this book and the message. I sometimes think we are letting technology rule all of our lives. This book took it even further. Telling us who we are going to spend the rest of our lives with. When we die. What our jobs will be. Every aspect of our lives controlled by a government. I found that riveting.

 

 What was missing for me was no one questioned it, I understand that if you did the government would swoop in and destroy your life, but still everyone (but these two teens) walked around like drones. I would have liked to see more conflict in this story. I am going to read the next book and see if my opinion changes but right now this is not one of my favorites of the year. This gets 3.75 stars because I did enjoy it but think there could have done more.

 

 

  

Review: The Jasmine Trade

 

The Jasmine Trade

Denise Hamilton

Pinnacle

 

The victim is found dead in a chic shopping center parking lot, her two-carat engagement ring still on her finger. To the cops, it s a routine carjacking gone bad. But L.A. Times reporter Eve Diamond thinks there's more to the story. Searching for the truth plunges Eve into the darkest shadows of L.A., where young women are forced into virtual sexual slavery, and money can buy the most brutal pleasures.

But someone wants to keep these dirty little secrets from being revealed. Someone with more power than Eve knows. Someone who has killed once and will kill again

 

 

My Review: This book was a quick and suspenseful read. Wow just when you think you found a book that is about one thing you are introduced to something completely different. I was enthralled by this book. I kept thinking what going to happens next. This book starts off with what looks like a carjacking gone wrong. What follows is a rollercoaster of a ride so hold on to your seat. We go to parachute kids to smuggling to murder.  I would hate to be a reporter if it is this dangerous. Eve Diamond is a well written and well developed character with such bad luck my heart breaks for her. Then again this is just the first book. I have to read more I have no choice I need to know what lays ahead for Eve.

 

                                              

  



Review : All Fall Down

All Fall Down

Erica Spindler

Mira Books

 

 

Melanie May, a small-town cop hungry for the big time, risks her career to convince a troubled FBI profiler of the identity of a serial killer, only to realize that the profile she's created fits someone in her own life -- and that the killer won't stop...until all fall down.

 

 

My Review: I really liked this book. I have only read one other book by Erica Spindler and she is an author I look forward to reading more from. The characters are well written and well developed I liked the relationship between the sisters because I am close to my sister and we were always showing up at each others house. I also liked the twists and turns in this book it kept me on the edge of my seat as I read. I thought I had it figured out by the end I was not completely right and the end knocked me off my seat.

 

 



 

Review : The Cutting Room Floor

 

The Cutting Room Floor

Dawn Klehr

Flux Publishing

 

 

 

Behind-the-scenes secrets could turn deadly for Desmond and Riley

Life in the Heights has never been easy for seventeen-year-old Riley Frost, but when she's publicly dumped and outed at the same time, she becomes an immediate social outcast at her high school. So Riley swears off romance and throws herself into solving the shocking murder of her favorite teacher, Ms. Dunn.

Riley turns to her best friend, budding filmmaker Desmond Brandt, for help. What she doesn't know is that Dez has been secretly directing her life, blackmailing her friends, and hoping his manipulations will make her love him. When his schemes go too far, Dez's web of lies threatens to destroy both of their lives.

 

 

 

My Review: This book was great. I loved the writing style of this book how the scenes were written by a film director. I think it gave you a better feeling for the surrounding. I also liked the characters. Riley finds herself confused and unsure of what she wants, that is what you should feel when your seventeen. I could feel her pain and understand where she was coming from. Desmond (Dez), welllll ok I liked him in the beginning and I thought Riley was crazy at first for not seeing him as a boyfriend. I remember having crushes, as I read on I was shocked and surprised at how far he took it and I felt sorry for him.

  The mystery in the book was well thought out as Riley tries to discover what happened to Ms. Dunn she came up with some good theories. I suspected everyone. I thought I did it at one point. I was surprised by the ending and I was pleased with what happened to the characters. I want to read more from this author, and I look forward to her next book.

 

 

 

Review : Jinnie Wishmaker ( The Troubled Tweens # 1 )

 

Jinnie Wishmaker ( The Troubled Tweens #1)

D.D. Roy

Casey Shay Press

 

 

 

Eleven-year-old Jinnie has a dilemma--she can grant wishes, but she can't control the results. The school counselor tells Jinnie to join the Troubled Tweens, a group of kids with similar power problems. Maddy's touch makes anyone explode in anger. Grace can make people like her--as long as they don't let go of her arm. But their loose use of magic attracts the attention of the Loki, a group of magic thieves and pranksters. They want to steal an open-ended wish from Jinnie, and it will take all the limited and messed-up magic she and her friends possess to make sure their powers don't fall into the Loki's greedy hands.

 

 

 

 

My Review: This book was a fun and quick read that I really enjoyed. I think it is a great start to a series I will continue to read. Not only does it entertain the reader but also teaches responsibility and values. I also like the magical aspect of this book it kept me interested. I also like the fact that Jinnie is just discovering her magical gift and learning how to use them. As a reader it made me understand her fear and worries about her new gift. I love this book for the family values it instills in the children by the end, and how the adults in the book work with the kids to learn from them too. I have already bought a copy for my daughter to read and I am recommending it to all parent with children 8-12.

    

Review: Creep

 

 

 

 

Creep

Jennifer Hiller

Pocket Books

 

IF HE CAN’T HAVE HER . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology, an expert in human behavior with her own hidden past. But she’s not the only one keeping secrets. . . . When Sheila began an affair with her sexy graduate assistant Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, she was riddled with guilt when they were apart. Now she’s finally engaged to a good man, and it’s time to end the dangerous liaison. But Ethan has something different in mind. He intends to make her pay for rejecting him.

. . . NO ONE CAN.

As Sheila attempts to counter Ethan’s increasingly threatening moves, he schemes to reveal her darkest, most intimate secrets by destroying her prestigious career . . . and then her. Caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game, Sheila must fight for her life and free herself from the ex-lover whom she couldn’t resist—who is now the manipulative monster who won’t let her go.

 

 

 

 

My Review: Wow what an intense book. I forgot why I like adult thrillers and now I know why. This book was amazing. I love a story that makes you think about it when you can't read it and this is one of them. I thought about this book when I was working so much so I looked to be daydreaming. This book was a fast and compelling read. I keep reading into the wee hours of the morning and jumping at every little noise that I heard. The writing style was wonderful and the characters were complex and interesting. An edge of your seat thriller that has chills running up my spine till the rollercoaster ended.  Wow!!!! Look forward to reading more from this amazing author.

 

 





Review: Renegade

 

Renegade

Amy Carol Reeves

Flux

 

 

The Conclave—a secret group with twisted ideals and freakish practices—has been wiped out, thanks to Arabella Sharp. Now there’s a new malevolence afoot. Fishermen are getting killed, their partially devoured bodies washing up on the shores of Scotland. Is the Ripper responsible? Or have the Conclave’s sinister experiments left behind something more monstrous? Abbie fears the worst when her beloved Dr. William Siddal vanishes. To save the man she loves, Abbie must comply with the Ripper’s dreadful orders—and put her own life in grave danger.

 

 

 

My Review: This book is a second in a series so I am not going to go too mush into the story because I don't want to spoil it for others. I will say I loved this book just as the first. The Conclave was defeated but the legacy lives on. This book is fast paced and very suspenseful. I also like the supernatural aspect of this book. My heart was racing and pulse pounding as Arabella faced down  new and old enemies in this riveting follow up to Ripper. 

     If your looking for a great supernatural thriller this is a great series. I look forward to the third book and hope there are more I could read this for years too come. Just wish I had them all now LOL.

 

 

                              

 

 

Review: The Name Of The Star

 

The Name of the Star

Maureen Johnson

Putnam Juvenile

 

 

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

 

 

 

My Review:  I really enjoyed new take on an old story. The aspects that I like about this book is it is based on a true story. Jack the Ripper is one of the unsolved crimes that every one wonders about. Well I know I do. I have read several adult book on the murders and when I saw this YA book about them I was intrigued too say the least. I started reading it not knowing anything about the story except it was about Jack the Ripper. That was enough for me. I was pulled into the story immediately.

 

   I felt lost in the streets of London just like Rory. The descriptive writing style transported me to a city I love and have visited. The streets came alive and I thought that was amazing. As for the characters. I understand and sympathize with Rory being thrust into a different country and not knowing anyone. She does not even get settled in and the murders start. Wow this was fast paced and keep you reading. Rory life seem to intertwine with the murders and she is thrust into a cat and mouse game with the killer. I found this interesting and compelling. I found myself thinking what should we do next and who is the killer. Yes I put myself in Rory's shoes and accused everyone of the murders. To have a story that pulled me in so completely tell you I was trapped in the story and loved it.

 

   This is for anyone who like dark edgy tales that weaves facts with paranormal aspects. Ms. Johnson does this flawlessly. I look forward to reading more of Rory's adventures and hope this continues for years to come.