Wednesday, April 29, 2015

On My Wishlist {11}


A great mix of books ended up on my wishlist over the last couple of weeks. These are the books that caught my eye:

Slowly We Rot by Bryan Smith
Slowly We Rot by Bryan Smith

A novel of the zombie apocalypse that's NOT about the zombies. Long after a plague that wiped out most of the human race, a young man named Noah resides in a remote mountain cabin. Several years have passed since he last saw another human being. The long period of isolation and loneliness has fostered a deep despair in Noah, who also struggles with suicidal impulses. But Noah is a man who was struggling even before the end of the world, a seemingly helpless slave to his addictions. When the vindictive sister he has long believed dead unexpectedly returns, events transpire that prompt him to leave his mountain refuge and embark on a cross-country trek to find the lost love of his life. It doesn't matter that she’s probably long dead. He just needs a purpose again and this is it. Along the way, he experiences moments of hope and profound tragedy. Soon Noah’s sanity begins to fray and his ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality starts to disintegrate. Through it all, he keeps trying to reach the one he lost long ago. And he’ll continue no matter what, even if it costs him his life, because it’s a big, empty world and this is all he has.

Zombehs. Kind of.



The Waking That Kills by Stephen Gregory
The Waking That Kills by Stephen Gregory

A dark novel of Possession. The ghosts that haunt us are not always strangers. Lawrence Lundy's military-pilot father is missing, and the boy is doing everything he can to keep his presence alive in the family home. Into this strange house comes Christopher Beale, a man just returned to the country who becomes drawn in to the apparent madness of the Lawrence and his mother.

A long, hot summer's dream. A suffocating nightmare. Shattered by a violent awakening! When his elderly father suffers a stroke, Christopher Beale returns to England. He has no home, no other family. Adrift, he answers an advert for a live-in tutor for a teenage boy. The boy is Lawrence Lundy, who possesses the spirit of his father, a military pilot – missing, presumed dead. Unable to accept that his father is gone, Lawrence keeps his presence alive, in the big old house, in the overgrown garden. His mother, Juliet Lundy, a fey, scatty widow living on her nerves, keeps the boy at home, away from other children, away from the world. And in the suffocating heat of a long summer, she too is infected by the madness of her son. Christopher Beale becomes entangled in the strange household... enmeshed in the oddness of the boy and his fragile mother. Only by forcing the boy to release the spirit of his father can there be any escape from the haunting.

I am a slave to great reviews.



The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

A new YA novel from novelist Patrick Ness, author of the Carnegie Medal- and Kate Greenaway Medal-winning A Monster Calls and the critically acclaimed Chaos Walking trilogy, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a bold and irreverent novel that powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

What if you aren't the Chosen One? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

Well, it's Patrick Ness. I didn't even read what it's about.



He Who Walks in Shadow by Brett J. Talley
He Who Walks in Shadow by Brett J. Talley

The Incendium Maleficarum has been lost and Carter Weston presumed dead, but the story of That Which Should Not Be is only just beginning. Now Carter’s only daughter, Rachel Jones, and his oldest friend, Henry Armitage, must embark on an epic journey that will take them from the hell-blasted Tunguska forest to the catacombs of Paris to the shores of the Scottish Isles.

They are in a race against time, for in France, strange murders and whispers of occult rituals herald the rise of an ancient evil bent on plunging the world into eternal darkness.

It is up to Rachel and Henry to learn Carter’s fate, recover the Incendium Maleficarum, and perhaps even save the world.

I need to read That Which Should Not Be first, but this is not new information.



Omega City (Omega City #1) by Diana Peterfreund
Omega City (Omega City #1) by Diana Peterfreund

The first middle grade novel in an exciting new series from acclaimed author Diana Peterfreund, perfect for fans of The Goonies and The City of Ember.

Gillian Seagret doesn't listen to people who say her father's a crackpot. His conspiracy theories about the lost technology of Cold War–era rocket scientist Dr. Aloysius Underberg may have cost him his job and forced them to move to the middle of nowhere, but Gillian knows he's right and plans to prove it.

When she discovers a missing page from Dr. Underberg's diary in her father's mess of an office, she thinks she's found a big piece of the puzzle—a space-themed riddle promising to lead to Dr. Underberg's greatest invention. Enlisting the help of her skeptical younger brother, Eric, her best friend, Savannah, and Howard, their NASA-obsessed schoolmate, Gillian sets off on a journey into the ruins of Omega City, a vast doomsday bunker deep inside the earth,.

But they aren't alone inside its dark and flooded halls. For while Gillian wants to save her dad's reputation by bringing Dr. Underberg's secrets to light, there are others who will stop at nothing to make sure they stay buried . . . forever.

Ooh, that sounds good. How can I not read something "for fans of The Goonies"? That's only the single greatest movie ever made. Feel free to judge me on that.



Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Book Review | Losing Faith by Adam Mitzner


Losing Faith is a legal thriller by Adam Mitzner.

From the acclaimed author Publishers Weekly called “a gifted writer” comes this nail-biting legal thriller in the bestselling tradition of John Grisham and Scott Turow.

Aaron Littmann, the chairman of one of the country’s most prestigious law firms, has just been contacted by a high-profile defense attorney, whose client is Nikolai Garkov, a Russian businessman arraigned on terrorism charges for pulling the financial strings behind recent treasonous acts. The attorney informs Aaron that Garkov is looking to switch representation and will pay one hundred thousand dollars just to take the meeting. But Aaron doesn’t have any choice, as Garkov is ready to go public with the damning evidence that Aaron and the judge in the high-profile case—Faith Nichols—had a torrid affair during another recent case.

Filled with suspense, twists, and turns, Losing Faith will captivate legal thriller fans everywhere.

This may not be readily apparent given the books that are typically on my reading list, but I love legal thrillers. Love them. They are the logic puzzles of the literary world, and the legal system provides a set of rules by which everyone must abide. I love trying to figure out how the characters are going to pull off their case within the confines of the law.

And then there’s Losing Faith. Law shmaw.

Losing Faith started out really great. It’s been a while since I’ve read a good legal thriller so I was fully invested in the book. There was a lot of detail given on legal procedure, which I happen to enjoy. Your mileage may vary. There was also an unexpected twist that really set up the plot and took the book in a great direction.

This is where I get spoilerish on why I hate this book.

I was enjoying the proceedings up until the defense decided to base their entire case on perjury. Perjury from the wife, perjury from friends, perjury from the defendant. I think my blood actually began to boil. It’s lazy, illogical, and just plain anti-what-legal-thrillers-are-all-about.

Losing Faith was a complete disaster after that point.

I see the potential in Adam Mitzner’s writing so I plan to pick up another one of his books. As for Losing Faith, it was totally not my thing.

4/10: Not My Thing

Review copy provided by publisher

Monday, April 27, 2015

April 27 | Currently Reading

Last week I posted my review of When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord.

This was a pretty awesome reading week. I finally read The Princess Bride which I will be posting my thoughts on soon.



The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Losing Faith by Adam Mitzner



Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn
Wilder Boys by Brandon Wallace

What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Book Review | When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord


When We Were Animals is Joshua Gaylord's latest novel.

A small, quiet Midwestern town, which is unremarkable save for one fact: when the teenagers reach a certain age, they run wild.

When Lumen Fowler looks back on her childhood, she wouldn't have guessed she would become a kind suburban wife, a devoted mother. In fact, she never thought she would escape her small and peculiar hometown. When We Were Animals is Lumen's confessional: as a well-behaved and over-achieving teenager, she fell beneath the sway of her community's darkest, strangest secret. For one year, beginning at puberty, every resident "breaches" during the full moon. On these nights, adolescents run wild, destroying everything in their path.

Lumen resists. Promising her father she will never breach, she investigates the mystery of her community's traditions and the stories erased from the town record. But the more we learn about the town's past, the more we realize that Lumen's memories are harboring secrets of their own.
A gothic coming-of-age tale for modern times, When We Were Animals is a dark, provocative journey into the American heartland.

When We Were Animals is getting a lot of high praise, and it’s all true. Every bit of it.

And then there was me.

The writing in When We Were Animals is fantastic. I must read all the things by Joshua Gaylord. I’m happy to hear Alden Bell is a pseudonym for Joshua Gaylord because I have a copy of The Reapers are the Angels and I will be tearing into that soon.

I was hooked by When We Were Animals right away. Lumen grew up in a very strange town, and I loved the alternating timelines between her childhood and the present day. Somewhere in the middle, though, the book got stuck for me. There was no shift in time, no forward movement of the story, so much so that I almost didn’t finish reading it. I imagine readers with strong skills in literary analysis will have a field day with all of the allegory present in Lumen’s teenager years, but I’m not that reader.

I am glad I persevered and didn’t miss out on the ending of When We Were Animals. This is a special book that I won’t easily forget.

Like I said, this book is getting high praise and it is well deserved. For me, I just can’t get past the fact that I wanted to put it down.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Monday, April 20, 2015

April 20 | Currently Reading

Last week I posted my review of Blake Crouch's Pines. The entire Wayward Pines series was really good.


My giveaway for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ends today. Be sure to enter if you want a chance at winning a Blu-Ray combo pack.






The Winter Family by Clifford Jackman
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I am really loving The Princess Bride.

What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

On My Wishlist {10}


It's wishlist time! These are the books I added to my wishlist this past week:


Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?

Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.

As we follow the stories of Finn, Roza, and the people of Bone Gap—their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures—acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.



Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis

Maren Yearly doesn’t just break hearts, she devours them.

Since she was a baby, Maren has had what you might call "an issue" with affection. Anytime someone cares for her too much, she can’t seem to stop herself from eating them. Abandoned by her mother at the age of 16, Maren goes looking for the father she has never known, but finds more than she bargained for along the way.

Faced with love, fellow eaters, and enemies for the first time in her life, Maren realizes she isn’t just looking for her father, she is looking for herself. The real question is, will she like the girl she finds?



The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

“Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries.

We hear Amber’s story and Violet’s, and through them Orianna’s, first from one angle, then from another, until gradually we begin to get the whole picture—which is not necessarily the one that either Amber or Violet wants us to see.

Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and innocence, and what happens when one is mistaken for the other.



Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Book Review | Pines by Blake Crouch


Pines is the first book in Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy.

Pines by Blake Crouch
Book Description

Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels…off. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

Book Review

Well, that was a quick and fun read.

The beginning of Pines is normal enough. A guy has amnesia after a crash. You get pulled in wondering "Who is he? What's going on?". You know you are in for a bit of a mystery surrounding a strange town, but then Pines quickly becomes a mishmash of a book. It's all over the place, really, but it's intriguing and it's entertaining so you just hang on for the ride.

The most astounding thing to me is the way the ending manages to pull the entire mishmash of a Twilight Zome experience back together into a really solid read.

I was already excited about the TV series (due to M. Night Shyamalan's involvement), but now I can hardly contain myself. I'm a Lostie, and I'm hoping this series is going to fill some of the void.

It's rare that I finish the first book in a series and immediately start reading the next one, but that's exactly what happened when I finished reading Pines. I shouldn't have taken so long to start the series in the first place.

8/10: Great Read

Monday, April 13, 2015

April 13 | Currently Reading

Due to the Easter holiday and other random things, I'm behind on my updates. I would love to say I read all of this last week, but I'm actually a snail and this is really just me playing catch up on the blog.



When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord Astrotwins -- Project Blastoff by Mark KellyThe Box by Richard Chizmar
Stinger by Robert McCammon The Fire Sermon (The Fire Sermon #1) by Francesca HaigPines (Wayward Pines #1) by Blake Crouch

When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord
The Box by Richard Chizmar
Stinger by Robert McCammon
Pines (Wayward Pines #1) by Blake Crouch



The Winter Family by Clifford Jackman
Wayward (Wayward Pines #2) by Blake Crouch

After I finish these great reads, I'm hoping to dive into Ania Ahlborn's Within These Walls. So much excellent reading.

What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Book Review | The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig


The Fire Sermon is the first book in a dystopian trilogy from Francesca Haig.

The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig
Book Description

When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.

Nobody.

They were born together and they will die together.

One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.

The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.

The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they're free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.

Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.

The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they're not careful both will die in the struggle for power.

Book Review

The Fire Sermon was an enjoyable read despite the fact I'm a bit burned out on the dystopian genre.

The dystopian hook with The Fire Sermon revolves around twins. In each pair of twins there is an Alpha and an Omega. The Omega always has a genetic defect and is split off from their family and their twin. The twins are still linked, however, and when one twin dies, so does the other. It's an intriguing concept. I'll be honest - I didn't grasp how some of the twin phenomenons in The Fire Sermon could realistically occur, but it was easy for me to "go with it".

Since Cass and Zach were both seemingly born with no defects, their story goes far beyond the typical Alpha and Omega twin existence.

I'm not sure if The Fire Sermon is classified as a YA novel or not, but it is probably best suited for YA readers. It's unfortunate The Fire Sermon is being released into an oversaturated market. I can imagine it would have been extremely popular about four years ago, but it's going to have a tough time standing out against the crowd. The Fire Sermon is the first book of a planned trilogy so hopefully it can pick up traction and find a good audience.

Like most series books - especially of the YA flavor - my rating for the series will likely be higher than my rating for the individual books. As it stands now, The Fire Sermon is a solid 3-stars, with plans to read book two.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

On My Wishlist {9}


I have a love/hate relationship with my wishlist. On one hand, I love surrounding myself with awesome books and dreaming of the day I will read them all. On the other hand, I weep (and panic) over knowing I will never be able to read them all.

These are the books that caught my eye over the last couple of weeks:

A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder
A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder

In a small river village where the water is cursed, a girl’s bravery—and the existence of magic—could mean the difference between life and death in this elegant, luminous tale from the author of Parched and Audacity.

Along a lively river, in a village raised on stilts, lives a girl named Luna. All her life she has heard tales of the time before the dam appeared, when sprites danced in the currents and no one got the mysterious wasting illness from a mouthful of river water. These are just stories, though—no sensible person would believe in such things.

Beneath the waves is someone who might disagree. Perdita is a young water sprite, delighting in the wet splash and sparkle, and sad about the day her people will finally finish building their door to another world, in search of a place that humans have not yet discovered.

But when Luna’s little sister falls ill with the river sickness, everyone knows she has only three weeks to live. Luna is determined to find a cure for her beloved sister, no matter what it takes. Even if that means believing in magic…

This book doesn't come out until September, but I give myself a couple of weeks tops before I download this little gem off of Edelweiss.



A Darker Shade of Magic (A Darker Shade of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab (Pseudonym), Victoria Schwab
A Darker Shade of Magic (A Darker Shade of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab (Pseudonym), Victoria Schwab

Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London - but no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — trickier than they hoped.

I have yet to read any books by Victoria Schwab. Someday I will rectify that.



Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente

The first adult novel in more than three years from the bestselling author of the Fairyland books.

Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own, from the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Severin Unck’s father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father’s films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.

But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony’s last survivor, Severin will never return.

Aesthetically recalling A Trip to the Moon and House of Leaves, and told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.

I love the hell out of Catherynne Valente's Fairyland books.



Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop
Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop

No one creates realms like New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop. Now in a thrilling new fantasy series, enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities—vampires and shape-shifters among them—who rule the Earth and whose prey are humans.

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

So the third book in this series just came out and people are raving over these things. I'm totally getting sucked into the hype!



The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy
The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy

In Benjamin Percy's new thriller, a post-apocalyptic reimagining of the Lewis and Clark saga, a super flu and nuclear fallout have made a husk of the world we know. A few humans carry on, living in outposts such as the Sanctuary-the remains of St. Louis-a shielded community that owes its survival to its militant defense and fear-mongering leaders.

Then a rider comes from the wasteland beyond its walls. She reports on the outside world: west of the Cascades, rain falls, crops grow, civilization thrives. But there is danger too: the rising power of an army that pillages and enslaves every community they happen upon.

Against the wishes of the Sanctuary, a small group sets out in secrecy. Led by Lewis Meriwether and Mina Clark, they hope to expand their infant nation, and to reunite the States. But the Sanctuary will not allow them to escape without a fight.

Well, the reviews coming in are mixed, but someone compared it to Swan Song the other day. WHAT.



The Murk by Robert Lettrick
The Murk by Robert Lettrick

In the Okefenokee Swamp grows a rare and beautiful flower with a power unlike any other. Many have tried to claim it-no one has come out alive. But fourteen-year-old Piper Canfield is desperate, and this flower may be her only chance to keep a promise she made a long time ago.

Accompanied by her little brother, Creeper, her friend Tad, and two local guides, Piper embarks on the quest of a lifetime. But there's a deadly predator lurking unseen in the black water, one nearly as old as the Oke itself. Some say it's a monster. Others say an evil spirit. The truth is far more terrifying.

Piper's task is simple: find the flower . . . or die trying.

YES, please.



Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?
 
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