Waiting on Wednesday - Trust Me, I'm Lying

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,  that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating or books that are in our TBR pile.  This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is

Summary (by Goodreads)

Fans of Ally Carter, especially her Heist Society readers, will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.

But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.

Love it.  Especially for fans of Ally Carter's Heist Society.  Hey, where can I get a necklace like that?  :)

- Christinabean

Let's Hear it for the Boys - Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga

Published: September 9th, 2014

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 464

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Jazz Dent has been shot and left to die in New York City. His girlfriend Connie is in the clutches of Jazz's serial killer father, Billy. And his best friend Howie is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's own home in tiny Lobo's Nod. Somehow, these three must rise above the horrors their lives have become and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy. But then Jazz crosses a line he's never crossed before, and soon the entire country is wondering: "Like father, like son?" Who is the true monster?
The chase is on, and beyond Billy there lurks something much, much worse. Prepare to meet...the Crow King.

Review

When I read the first book in this series, I Hunt Killers, I thought it would be impossible to improve on it.  Then I read The Game and realised I was wrong, it could get better.  Barry Lyga has done it again.  Blood of my Blood exceeded even my very high expectations and had me hooked from page one.

The story starts off immediately after the close of The Game - this is a trilogy that you have to read in order.  It only took me a couple of pages to remember what had happened before and the tension starts building from the get-go.  Mr Lyga does not pull any punches.  His writing is very gritty and he doesn't skimp on the descriptions of blood and gore.  But don't get me wrong, this is not a horror story.  At least not in the traditional sense.  Mr. Lyga manages to get deep into the psyche of a very nasty serial killer and we see the way he manipulates and deceives people.  My heart was breaking, yet again, for Jazz but what an immensely strong character he is.  Without giving away any plot points, Jazz's final ah ha! moment is riveting.  

Connie and Howie illustrate the compelling bonds of friendship in such a way that I was completely convinced by these characters.  Even the adult characters in this one were well rounded and essential to the overall plot.  I keep trying to think of anything I didn't like about this book, or trilogy even, and I can't come up with anything.  Blood of my blood is an edge of your seat, seat of your pants rollercoaster ride from start to finish. If you enjoy tense, compelling thrillers this one is for you.

A word of caution - there is some very graphic violence in all three of these books, so be warned.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves allows us to share the books we have added to our collections - physical, virtual, borrowed, bought or received.

This week from the library:

Ok, how could I NOT read this one!

Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis

  Published: October 14th

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 338

Copy: From Publisher through Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival

Review

Apart from the slightly odd cover, which makes sense after you read the book, I really enjoyed this space fantasy version of everyone's favourite fairy tale - Snow White.  This time around the seven dwarves include Cusser, Crank and Dimwit (sorry I don't remember the other names) and they are enhanced mining drones.  Dimwit in particular is very funny.

Our main character Snow or, as she is usually called, Essie is barely scraping by on a mining planet by tinkering with computer programming on drones or cage fighting for extra credits. She's a real smart and resourceful cookie.  So right from the start readers can see this is not your usual Snow White.  Prince Charming doesn't actually rescue Essie, he kidnaps her instead, which I thought was a nice twist, and there is absolutely no instalove going on, which was a relief. When you are reading a retelling, it's easy to start expecting things to happen and it was rather refreshing in Stitching Snow that the 'expected' events were for the most part, disguised and not all quite so easy to recognize instantly.

I loved Ms Lewis' style of writing and found myself reluctant to put my Ipad down until I had finished.  The story is tense and quite exciting in places, with a sly humour being injected by the drones and a nice realistic romance to keep us happy.  Lots of fun for fairy tale fans, but also lots of fun for fans of space fantasy.  A great read.

Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Published: December 3, 2013

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 401

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Cleo is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people.

Magnus stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia.
Lucia is haunted by the outcome of the breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms.
Jonas watched at the palace gates a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius.

After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated, its young queen orphaned and dethroned. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But the allure of ancient, dangerous magic beckons still, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the whole world over....

At the heart of the fray are four brave young people grappling for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo, the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas's hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia's, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus's, he would finally prove his worth in the eyes of his cruel and scheming father, King Gaius, who rules Mytica with a punishing hand.

When Gaius begins to build a road into the Forbidden Mountains to physically link all of Mytica, he sparks a long-smoking fire in the hearts of the people that will forever change the face of this land. For Gaius's road is paved with blood, and its construction will have cosmic consequences.

Review

Rebel Spring is an excellent follow up to Falling Kingdoms.  We continue to follow the intersecting lives of the four main characters (see above) and we learn more about each of them as we go along.  I was completely surprised by my changing opinions of Magnus.  I really wasn't very fond of him to start with, but by the end of this book I had changed my mind.  He's a very complex character and I often felt quite sorry for him.  I'm very interested to see where Ms Rhodes takes him in the final book.

Ms Rhodes has succeeded in producing a complete world in Mytica.  Its three different regions and peoples are all important to the overall plot of the books and it's interesting to note all of the differences she manages to incorporate.

While still very much a 'middle' book, Rebel Spring has enough tension and action in it to keep the story moving along nicely and I am really looking forward to reading Gathering Darkness, which is due out in December. With lots of blood, death, intrigue and action, Rebel Spring was well worth reading.

Revealed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Published: October 2013

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin

Pages: 306

Copy Provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

Drastically altered after her fall at the end of Hidden, Neferet is now more dangerous than ever—and her quest for vengeance will wreak havoc on humans, as well as Zoey and her friends.  Chaos is loosed in Tulsa and the House of Night is blamed. Can Zoey stop Neferet in time to keep her anger from escalating to full-on war? Or will someone else have to step in to take the fall?

Review:

I go back and forth about this series so often and I just can't stop reading it!  Its like a bad addiction.  There is so much teenage angst that it is painful to read sometimes....but still I pick up the next book in the series and dive in!  Revealed is Book #11 in  the House of Night series.  This is such a complicated series that I HIGHLY recommend you start at book #1.  There are tons of characters.  Some are good, some are bad, most switch sides and some of them die.  Don't start Revealed without having read book #1 -10. 

So in Revealed we see a meaner side of Zoe.  She's not just a brown pop drinking, psgetti eating High Priestess in training.  She is a power wielding woman who can seriously maim others if she cannot get her emotions under control.  Aphrodite, ironically is the one who takes notice and action with Zoe.  

Unfortunately, Neferet is still slinking in the background and slowly gaining power and momentum.  As she re-lives memories of her past and we as readers see how she has come to be this self-supporting evil queen of the damned, you can see how the years of her desire for power have driven her to become the heartless immortal she is.  Looking back, Revealed is the ramp up for the biggest showdown of the series - House of Night #12 Redeemed.  Redeemed is the final book of this series.  

Bring it on October 14th.  I'm ready for you...then I can finally get this out of my system.  :)

Waiting on Wednesday - Redeemed

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,  that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating or books that are in our TBR pile.  This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is

Redeemed is the final book in the 12 book House of Night Series.  I have a love/hate relationship with this series.  It is like watching a soap opera sometimes.  I have enjoyed it and found it entertaining but sometimes the characters drive me crazy....

- Christina