Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

The one word that best describes Falling Kingdoms is epic. It's a sweeping drama full of magic, violence, and war. It's Game of Thrones for a younger audience.

Falling Kingdoms takes place in three kingdoms. Auranos is wealthy and bountiful, to the point that its people have grown hedonistic and lazy. Paelsia is the poorest kingdom. The people starve while all the farmland is used to grow grapes to make wine that is sold to the people of Auranos. Limeros is a devout kingdom, but they seek more power, which they hope to get by an alliance with Paelsia against Auranos. All they need is a spark to light the fuse.

Cleo, the Princess of Auranos, and her friends were travelling to Paelsia for some wine. Everything seemed fine, until Aron (Cleo's friend, blackmailer, possible future fiancé) gets in an argument over pricing. His offered price is insulting, and the wine seller's sons start to physically attack Aron. He pulls out a knife, and one of the sons is murdered. The fuse is lit. The other son, Jonas, vows to kill both Aron and Cleo (It doesn't seem fair, because Cleo didn't actually do anything and she was obviously upset during the incident). He pushes the kingdom towards an alliance and war.

Meanwhile, in Limeros, Magnus the Prince is in love with his sister. It's icky. He's also busy trying to man up and impress his father. His sister, Lucinda, is dealing with growing pains, which in her case is the awakening of strange new abilities.

There are alternating chapters, jumping between all four character. I was highly anticipating the point when they would cross into each others' stories, and I was not disappointed. The story is bloody and action-packed. I am upset to have to wait for the next book to see any continuation of the story. Falling Kingdoms is definitely a recommendation for anyone looking for a little bit of fantasy and a lot of action.

I received my copy of Falling Kingdoms from Edelweiss, courtesy of Razorbill. It's available for purchase now.

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Black City is the story of a world where vampires exist. They are segregated from humans by a wall, guarded on both sides to keep them separate. The Darklings (Known also by the derogatory term "Nippers" because the racism angle is really being pushed) are treated as second-class citizens. Humans and Darklings cannot court each other. This offense is punishable by death.

Ash is a Halfling, born of a human father and Darkling mother. He bites people for money, as addicts pay for the high that comes from vampire venom, or Haze. Because he is part of both worlds, Ash doesn't truly belong with either humans or Darklings. His best friend, Beetle, works with a group of humans that want to break down the wall and let humans and Darklings live together. Ash, being the lost emo half-vampire, refuses to take part.

Natalie is the daughter of the Emissary. She has to deal with an obviously evil mother and a poor maimed sister. Upon moving back to the city, she encounters Ash. It's hate at first sight. They quarrel constantly, but they also have a strange connection. Whenever Ash is around Natalie, his still heart starts beating.

It's Romeo and Juliet meets Birth of a Nation meets Twilight! Overall, I enjoyed Black City. My issues were with Natalie's character at the beginning. She is incredibly naive about Darklings and her mother. My biggest problem with her was how she treated her friend Day. Day used to date Beetle, but broke up with him because of his Haze addiction. She thinks that Ash is a bad influence on Beetle and disagrees with Natalie and Ash dating. Natalie pretty much kicks Day out of her life completely, which seemed incredibly harsh because Day had every right to be upset with Ash. Anyways, Black City has a great premise and I love that cover. It's a bit heavy-handed, but it has potential.

I received my copy of Black City from Edelweiss, courtesy of Putnam Juvenile. It's available for purchase now.

Venom by Fiona Paul

Venom is another in my streak of historic young adult novels with female protagonists. This time the narrator is Cassandra and she lives in Venice during the Renaissance. Her story begins at the funeral of one of her close friends. The body disappears from its tomb just a few days later.

At the same time, Cass encounters Falco. Cass is actually engaged to a young man that she hasn't seen in years, and she is dreading the wedding. As it is, she has very little freedom from her aunt, after getting married she will be trapped forever. So Cass is drawn to Falco, a young artist who teases her and quarrels with her and takes her on crazy adventures to brothels to find her dead friend's body.

Throughout the story, there are quotes from some organization called the Order of the Eternal Rose. They have something to do with bodies disappearing from tombs. Then a maid's body is found in the canal, and all suspicions point to a powerful man. It's all very thrilling, plus there are pretty dresses. It is very much like the Renaissance Italy Gossip Girl (Which was what the review described it as and why I wanted to read it). I wasn't a huge fan of Falco, but I never cared for Dan Humphrey much (Gossip Girl character who is poor and artsy). Overall, it was a good read. There is an exciting ending and room for a sequel, which I will most likely end up reading.

I received my copy of Venom from Edelweiss, courtesy of Philomel. It's available for purchase now.

Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Velvet Jones was killed when she was sixteen years old. Now, she is stuck in Purgatory, unable to move on to the other side. Velvet leads the best team in Purgatory. They travel through cracks to earth in order to flush out evil spirits who are raising havoc. Lately, Purgatory has been falling apart. People are protesting because they want out and feel that they shouldn't have to wait for their sentence. One particular group has been creating chaos that is threatening all the souls coming in and out of Purgatory.

Then there is Velvet's awful secret. She has been using a secret crack in order to visit her killer. The Bonesaw Killer is still taking, torturing, and killing girls. Velvet has been haunting him, helping girls escape, and trying to get her ultimate revenge by killing him. Hauntings are strictly forbidden. Any ghost who participates in unauthorized haunting risks never moving on from Purgatory. Velvet knows the risks, but she is still haunted by her memories of Bonesaw, which drives her to break the rules.

Finally, there is the love interest. Velvet's team finds Nick during one of their missions. He is tall and attractive and sensitive. To Velvet's surprise, he also likes her. Before much of a relationship can form, he is assigned to their team. Dating is forbidden between coworkers, but Velvet starts to really like Nick, and he likes her back. It's relatively mild compared to the destruction of a world and a scary serial killer, but it's still an important part of the story.

Velvet was a fairly dark book. Some parts were very graphic, especially those concerning Bonesaw. Personally, I am a bit squeamish about violence and gore. There's more than you would expect, but I found it to be the right amount for my sensibilities. I really ended up liking Velvet a lot. She's tough and snarky, but she's also very vulnerable. The story wouldn't have been nearly as good if Velvet wasn't so complex. It's a unique story, sort of The Lovely Bones with more edge. Honestly, that was what drew me towards the book, and overall I'm pleased with my choice.

I received my copy of Velveteen from Edelweiss, courtesy of Delacorte Books for Young Readers. It's available for purchase now.

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

Confession: this book made me have to sleep with my light on. One part just freaked me out so badly that I couldn't bear to turn my light off, for fear that a creepy fairy man would sneak around my bed as well. I don't know whether the children this book is intended for are braver than I am. It wasn't too scary otherwise

The Peculiar is the story of Bartholomew Kettle, a changeling, which is a half-fairy, half-human. He is forced to stay inside all the time, along with his sister Hettie. Both normal people and fairies dislike Peculiars like them. Bartholomew witnesses the changeling boy across the street being abducted by a strange woman in purple with a second face on the back of her head. The face sees Bartholomew and marks him as number 10. Nine changelings were found dead in the river, their bodies drained of blood. Bartholomew is next.

Meanwhile, a man named Mr. Jelliby accidentally stumbles into this plot. He is a politician who works with a fairy by the name of Mr. Lickerish. Jelliby encounters the woman in purple, who pleas for his help. A mechanical sparrow leads him to realize that Lickerish is up to something incredibly evil, something that could destroy the entire world if he doesn't put a stop to it.

Jelliby ends up teaming with Bartholomew, and the two are adorable together. I found Jelliby to be very entertaining, though I like the befuddled type. I was attracted to the book by a comparison to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I definitely see the resemblance. Just today, I learned that the author, Stefan Bachmann, is only a teenager. I am impressed, and I look forward to the sequel to The Peculiar.

I received my copy of The Peculiar from Edelweiss, courtesy of Greenwillow Books. It is available for purchase now.

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

(I just accidentally cut-and-pasted my entire review away, and I am perturbed and I am going to make this fast)

Vee is a girl who live in the shadow of her best friend. It's self-imposed exile, but she still resents it. Vee sort of sucks. After suffering from what she considers betrayal from her bestie, Vee performs a dare from NERVE. NERVE is an online game that challenges people to perform increasingly risky dares to earn bigger and bigger rewards, all tailored to their exact desires thanks to social media. Vee starts out wanting to stop after one dare, but finds herself tempted by each new prize.

Soon, Vee is stuck in a room with a group of contestants, all of whom are in it to win. Even if it means taking her out. She finally realizes that she is in danger and it's not really a game anymore.

First of all, I wasn't a big fan of Vee. She was a bit annoying, and her problems seemed like something she could have solved with a bit of self reflection, rather than an online dare competition. Overall, Nerve was thrilling and compulsively readable, flying by much faster than I expected. If you're looking for a fast-paced young adult thriller that shows how Society is cruel with their pleasure in cruelty and Kardashians, look no further than Nerve.

I received my copy of Nerve from Edelweiss, courtesy of Dial Books. It's available for purchase now.

Weepers: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

It has been over three years since Sherry and her family moved into their bomb shelter. In that time, their grandfather passed away. They put him in the freezer. It took them three years, one month, one week, and six days to finally run out of food. That is when Sherry and her father finally venture outside and see what the world has become.

Some people have become monsters, nicknamed weepers because of the silvery streaks coming from their eyes. The weepers hunt, kill, and devour what used to be their fellow humans. If anyone is bitten by a weeper, they turn into a weeper themselves. On their very first excursion out of the bomb shelter, Sherry and her father run into a group of weepers. Sherry is rescued, but her father is taken by the monsters.

Sherry and the rest of her family are taken in by a group of surviving humans, including the dreamy Joshua. Because she holds herself responsible for losing her father, Sherry becomes focused on getting him back. Plans and escapades ensue, and we find out that some strange things are afoot regarding the weepers and the government.

It was difficult for me to figure out if I like this book. First of all, it's very short. This may just be me, but it felt like there wasn't a lot happening and then it was over. It's also another one where I pegged it as a zombie book. It came close, but they're not quite zombies. It's not a bad book by any means, but it's also not one of my favorites.

I received my copy of Weepers: The Other Life from Netgalley, courtesy of Usborne. It's available for purchase now.

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

The one complaint that I have about Something Strange and Deadly is that for a zombie book, it has surprisingly little of the zombie horror and violence that I am used to in my zombie books. However, the zombies in this book are under the control of a necromancer which makes them much less bitey than normal zombies. Besides that one little detail, there is very little to complain about in this great first book.

Eleanor Fitt is the daughter of an upper class family that is in decline. Her father has passed, and her brother has been away with the army when he goes missing. In order to escape financial ruin, Eleanor's mother tries anything in her power to get her married to a rich man.

It's pretty much a fact of life that the undead roam the streets, under the control of the aforementioned necromancer. Eleanor received a letter from her brother, via a zombie and she knows that the necromancer must be behind her brother's disappearance. So she goes to the exhibition hall (For the centennial, as it's 1876) and visits the Spirit-Hunters. They have inventions to repel the undead, and they know secrets to fight them off.

I really loved this book. I love how Eleanor is stuck in place with her corsets and proper manners befitting a girl of her station, but she still kicks some zombie butt when the time comes. I love Daniel and his gruffness and teasing, and how you knew Daniel and Eleanor were totally in love. Daniel was almost too mean at times though, with all his Empress stuff. I definitely love that there are going to be more books in this series.

I also love this rather minimalistic trailer for the book.

I received my copy of Something Strange and Deadly from Edelweiss, courtesy of Harper Teen. It's available for purchase now.

The Little Woods by McCormick Templeman

I don't know what it is, but I really like stories about characters at boarding schools. I requested this one because it sounded intriguing. Calista (Cally) transfers to the St. Bede's boarding school. Her older sister disappeared from the school years earlier, and they never found her body. Cally wants to find the truth.

If a mystery wasn't enough to deal with, her new school proves to be challenging, in more ways than one. The school work is much more difficult than at her old school. The other students present a problem as well. Cally moves into the room of Iris, who went missing and was also never found. There are lots of rumors, many surrounding Helen, Iris' beautiful and rich roommate. She is invited into the inner circle with Helen, Helen's sister Noel, and class president Freddy. The deeper she delves into the truth, the more secrets come out into the open.

Ultimately, I was underwhelmed by this mystery. The solution was a bit too predictable for my taste. The story wasn't terrible- I liked Cally, a tough punk rock chick who infiltrates the cool girls and dates a cool guy. I almost wanted an over the top, what the hell just happened kind of solution to the whole mystery. It's fine for what it is, and it's a perfectly good book for any young adult readers searching for a mystery.

I received my copy of The Little Woods from Edelweiss, courtesy of Schwartz & Wade. It's available for purchase now.

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Mother may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter.
Fold your clothes up neat and trim,
But don't go near the water.

You may think you know mermaids. These are not your typical mermaids, these aren't your little mermaids or Ariels. These mermaids will hold you underwater while they devour the life force from your body. These mermaids hold a grudge and they will make you pay.

Calder White is the sole merman in his family. His three sisters call him home to Lake Superior with news that Jason Hancock has returned. Jason Hancock is the man they have been hunting for years. His father promised him as payment when their mother saved his life. Now Calder and his sisters are going to collect that debt by killing Jason Hancock.

They plan to get close to him through his daughters. Unfortunately, the older daughter, Lily, gets to Calder. Soon enough, they are bonding through Tennyson and Bronte poems (I love when characters fall in love over poetry!). Then Calder is in a real bind. He has to consider his loyalty to his mother and his family, plus he will finally be free from his sisters once they kill Jason Hancock. Yet he loves Lily and knows that she will be devastated if he kills her father.

The premise of this book was what initially intrigued me. I don't know of any other mermaid books out there yet. Killer mermaids are indeed a scary concept. The book had me from that starting point. They almost lost me at a couple points along the way, but overall I enjoyed this story. Scary mermaids, vendettas, mythology, (love) poetry, and sooo many secrets and lies, this book basically has everything. Imagine what a great beach read it would make, though it might make you a little skittish about taking a swim.

I received my copy of Lies Beneath from Netgalley, courtesy of Delacorte Books. It will be available June 12th.

Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

I feel that Hemlock can be best described as Veronica Mars, except with werewolves. Mac's best friend Amy was killed by a werewolf. They found her mangled body in an alley with a clump of white hair in her hand. Their group had been inseparable, Amy and her boyfriend Jason, Mac and Kyle. After the attack, Kyle was the one who ignored Amy's calls. Jason was the boyfriend who left her to walk home. Mac has dreams about that night, and she imagines seeing Amy all the time.

The government has officially acknowledged the existence of lupine syndrome. Werewolves are taken to concentration camps and forced to live the rest of their lives behind a fence. Amy's grandfather had been lobbying for greater rights for werewolves. Understandably, after his granddaughter was murdered, he takes a different stance. He invites Trackers into town to find and kill the white wolf. Jason starts hanging out with the Trackers, who are awful, racist, right-wing southern people. In the meantime, Mac and Kyle grow closer together. Mac starts to investigate Amy's murder herself. As the truth comes out, it's a drama bomb exploding all over the place.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book, especially the real world setting and how a very supernatural issue was dealt with in the setting. It's awesome how there's no indication of who's a werewolf until you actually see them transform. Even I imagined pretty much every character as being a werewolf. It really adds an air of mystery to the book.

Anyways, back to my Veronica Mars comparison, Mac wasn't nearly as awesome as Veronica. I actually read this a while ago, but I don't have much of a lasting impression of her either way. She had some cool moments, but she was a little bland. Amy really fits as the Lilly Kane character. She seems like she was a lot of fun. Jason would be the Logan Ecchols, and he is an arrogant jerkhole. The only difference is that I liked Logan Ecchols but Jason sucked. Darned werewolf racist. Kyle is too awesome to be Duncan, plus he's not really Amy's brother and the Mac/Kyle story line doesn't fit. So, three out of four (Technically four out of five because the other-side-of-the-tracks bad boy makes a perfect Weevil) isn't too bad. Yes, I am concluding with a paragraph comparing the characters to TV characters. No, there isn't anything you can do about. Because I am the reviewer and you are not, and I need some way to finally end this freaking review.

I received my copy of Hemlock from Edelweiss, courtesy of Katherine Tegen books. It's available for purchase now.

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

It seems so unassuming at the beginning. Janelle is just walking home from her shift as a lifeguard...then she is hit by a truck...and she dies. Then she is brought back to life by Ben, a boy from school who she has never even talked to. Then things just get weirder and weirder.

Janelle's dad works with the FBI and they are investigating strange occurrences all over town. People show up with radiation burns. Unidentifiable people show up, even a phone booth just springs up out of nowhere. Then there is the countdown. It points to the detonation of a bomb of sorts, but then it turns out to be connected to something so massive that it may end our world as we know it. The countdown, the strange radiation, and Janelle's resurrection are all connected, but in a way that nobody could ever imagine.

I admit that I wasn't sure about this book when I first started. Then it got all intriguing with the mysteries. After that, it got incredibly complicated and a bit confusing. I won't say anything spoilery, but it was a lot more than I was expecting. Though I also didn't expect to end up sobbing from this book, and that happened. I'll just say that this is a very surprising book and leave it at that.

I received my copy of Unraveling from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer + Brey. It's available now.

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

"...And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all..."

In a far-off dystopian future, the world has been decimated by the Red Death. This contagious plague means certain death for those who contract the disease. Protection is available in the form of the masks, but (obviously evil) Prince Prospero sells them at such a price that only the rich can afford such a necessity. So the poor will eventually contract the disease and die, while the rich go about their lives, all safe and secure.

Araby is one such rich girl. She spends her nights at the Debauchery Club with her best friend April, looking to score drugs so that she can stop feeling for a while. Araby's father invented the masks, the masks that saved humanity. It was too late to save her twin brother Finn. Which is why Araby tries to forget, why she doesn't let herself kiss, date, or do anything Finn will never be able to do.

Araby becomes entangled in a plot by April and her brother Elliot to kill Prince Prospero, their uncle. She has to pose as Elliot's girlfriend. He's obviously unstable, and he constantly tells her how much he doesn't really like her. Honestly, he's a little hot anyways. Then there's sweet bartender/security guard of Debauchery Club, Will. He takes care of Araby, even when he thinks she's just another shallow club girl. He is working and sacrificing everything to take care of his younger brother and sister, saving up to buy them masks so they can finally attend school. Between the loose cannon bad boy and the devoted older brother, the choice should be obvious. Yet there are lots of twists in those relationships and throughout Masque of the Red Death.

It's about the rich versus the poor, the inhumanity of denying an essential for survival just to make a profit. It's about the tragedy of losing the person closest to you, which becomes even worse when we learn the details behind the event. It's about the Red Death, the bodies, so many bodies, in the streets and gathered in carts. I wasn't sure how Edgar Allen Poe's story would fare as a young adult novel, but I enjoyed this expansion of the story.

I received my copy of Masque of the Red Death from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperCollins. It's available now.

Starters by Lissa Price

If you believe that Grandma has a sinsiter motive for offering you that so-called Worther's original, this is your book.

In the world of Starters, a massive plague swept throughout the world. It killed everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. The really old and really young were the ones vaccinated and therefore the ones who lived. Now, the older folks, or Enders, have taken over the country. Young people, Starters, are not allowed to work. This makes life very hard for those Starters without grandparents. Callie is one such teenager. She has to take care of her younger brother Tyler, who has a lung disorder and requires expensive medicine. They get by squatting in abandoned buildings, but times are tough.

Callie turns to Prime Destinations for help. They are a business that rents out teenagers to Enders so that they can relive their youth. After just three rentals, Callie will end up with enough money to get an apartment and take better care of Tyler. Prime Destinations has a contract forbidding the Enders from doing anything dangerous or illegal, so there is no downside. On her third and final rental, she finds herself waking up during the procedure. She lives at the client's fancy house and drives the client's fancy cars. Then after blacking out again, Callie wakes up with a gun in her hand. Something has gone very wrong with her rental. She'd go back to Prime Destinations, but a voice keeps telling her to stay away.

Some of the background details were a little vague in this book. They mentioned that a lot of the Enders were over 100 years old, some even 200. I wanted to know how that was possible, but it was never mentioned. I'm also a little suspicious that not a single person between the ages of twenty and sixty received a vaccine, but that might have another explanation altogether.

Ultimately, I really liked Starters. First of all, I really cared about Callie and Tyler. They just got to me. Second, I have met a fair share of awful old people (As well as lots of delightful old people). It's not difficult to imagine them being the opressive jerks in this book. It's an exciting adventure story, and a fairly compelling dystopian tale, though I'm hoping that the sequel will clarify the questions I have left.

I received a copy of Starters from Edelweiss first, Netgalley second, and then I ended up reading a hard copy that was sent to the bookstore. They are courtesy of Random House. The book is available now.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

This was the book that I wanted to read more than anything this year. I have been requesting advanced copies from Netgalley and we occasionally still get hard copies at the bookstore. Still, the days and months moved on, but The Selection wasn't available from my sources. I thought that I might have to actually wait until the publication date and then purchase or borrow the book from the library or my work. You can imagine my ecstatic surprise at finding the book on what I had considered a secondary source for ebooks. There was quite a lot of squealing, as befits a book junkie and nerd of my stature.

The Selection is a book about an event called the Selection. Every time the Prince of Illea comes of age, they hold a contest for all young ladies between the ages of 16 and 20. A group of 35 is chosen and sent to the palace to get to know the Prince, then one is chosen as the future queen. Illea is strictly separated by a class system, Ones being at the top and Eights being the lowest, basically homeless. Being chosen for the Selection would give a girl the chance to change her status and her life. Unfortunately, it's not what our protagonist wants.

America is in love with her neighbor, Aspen. The main problem is that she's a Five, a musician, but he's a Six. She only enters the Selection because Aspen doesn't want her to have any regrets. To her surprise, she is chosen to move to the palace. Even more surprising, America finds herself actually liking Prince Maxon. She still loves Aspen, but she's also growing closer with Maxon. I really enjoyed the progression of their relationship, and Maxon was funny and amusingly dim around the ladies. To add a little action to what is otherwise a fluffy royal version of The Bachelor, the palace sometimes sustains attacks from groups of rebels who are constantly searching for some mysterious item. We don't find out much about them, but it adds some intrigue.

After all my anticipation, I was worried that The Selection wouldn't live up to my expectations. Fortunately, I loved reading this book. I loved the descriptions of the girls' dresses and the fancy food that they ate at the palace. It made it seem like a fairy tale. My one complaint is that it was too short and I'm going to have to wait even longer to read the sequel and find out who wins the Selection.

I received my miraculous copy of The Selection from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperCollins. It will be published April 24th.

Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin by Robin LaFevers

Grave Mercy presents its readers with the question: Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf? Consider the sheep; it's a herd animal that spends its days doing what the shepherd tells it to, and it's constantly vulnerable to attacks from predators. The wolf is strong. It is a hunter, and it is a more successful hunter when it relies on itself. Hold on to this information, it will be reappearing later.

Ismae was sold into an arranged marriage by her abusive father. Her husband beat her on their wedding day, but then she was rescued. The Sisters of Mortain saved her because she is one of them. Ismae's mother tried to kill her before she was born, but she survived because she was the daughter of Death himself.

Now Ismae and other daughters if Mortain are trained to fight, charm, and kill. The Sisters hand out assignments, and the girls carry out the orders. Brittany is under attack by the French, and traitors to the Duchess are everywhere. Soon, she is sent on an assignment with the Duchess' bastard half brother, Duval. They have that instant intensely heated banter that makes you just know that they will be falling in love.

Throughout the book, Ismae shows complete faith in her convent. She blindly follows all orders, much as the sheep follows its shepherd. Eventually, little clouds of doubt spring up, and it all builds into a great big rain storm. Ismae had always been abused, hated for what she was. The convent was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She acted as the wolf, but in actuality was the sheep all along, until she started to think for herself.

So, come for the teenaged assassin nuns, stay for the 15th century political intrigue! It was refreshing how the book was aimed at a younger audience, but it didn't dumb down the historical or political plots. I love a strong female character, and I liked Ismae because she's a fighter. She survived her upbringing and her short marriage, and she learned to fight and kill. Duval is another young adult novel crush to add to my collection. He's gruff and harsh at first, but also very funny. I'm also excited because the sequel will be focusing on a different character (Sybella, a second nun who was off on some mysterious mission for most of this book). Even more amazing, this book is over 500 pages long and kept me absorbed through action scenes and political meetings, and political meetings that turned into action scenes. I started it expecting good things, and I was not disappointed. This book will surprise any anti-young adult readers.

I received my copy of Grave Mercy from Netgalley courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It will be available April 3rd.

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

Normally, I toss angel-based books to the curb. There's no real reason, it's just not something that interests me. I don't do angels and fairies (Though there are always exceptions). My only reasoning for grabbing the advanced copy of Embrace from the bookstore was because of the purple cover, and the description was intriguing.

Embrace is about a girl named Violet. On her 17th birthday, she finds out that she is half angel, a Grigori. The Grigori protect humans from fallen angels. These angels blend in with normal people, but some of them want to punish humanity. Grigori can sense these angels and they have the power to strip away their powers or send them back for judgment.

All of this is understandably a lot for a teenage girl to process. What makes it all the worse is that Violet's friend, the guy she is pretty much in love with, Lincoln, is also a Grigori. He trained with her, spent practically every day with her, and never once let on that he knew who she really was. The betrayal makes Violet start spending time with her new friend Phoenix. He's one of the fallen angels, but he seems trustworthy. Phoenix actually tells Violet about herself and the whole Grigori situation, unlike Lincoln.

Meanwhile, the fallen angels have been working together to kill the Grigori. Violet didn't want to become a Grigori, but then Lincoln is injured. The only way to save him is for her to embrace, which is the angel transformation process and the title. I liked Embrace, but I expected it to be more. Violet starts out all about Lincoln, then she spends most of the book with Phoenix and Lincoln barely shows up. I ended up really liking Phoenix but kind of forgetting why I was supposed to like Lincoln. I liked that Violet was a strong character, but I thought she was a little too driven by the men in her life. In her home life, she sometimes never sees her father for days at a time...could this be related?

Sorry to go so deep into my Teen read. Something just bugged me a bit about this book and I'm trying to work out what it is. It's got the typical paranormal romance formula: supernatural element + love triangle= bestseller. The Grigori parts were actually awesome. It reminds me a lot of Season 4 of Supernatural, but I loved Castiel and all that angel stuff. I think the love triangle stuff was what brought things down a bit. Like I said, she spends the majority of time with Phoenix when Lincoln is supposed to be her one true love, and he is barely part of most of the book. Couldn't he have held a boombox over his head or punch Phoenix, be proactive at all? Despite a valiant effort, Embrace wasn't quite able to sway me completely on angel books. Maybe next time will be better.

I got my copy of Embrace courtesy of Sourcebooks. It's available for purchase now (The ebook is only $6.99 at B&N right now, though that probably won't last very long).

Partials by Dan Wells

We built the Partials to fight our wars. The Partials turned on us by unleashing RM, a highly contagious plague that wiped out 99% of the world's population. Now, despite the remaining humans' resistance, every baby born is killed by RM within days. The government passed the Hope Act mandating that every woman 18 and over must get pregnant and must keep getting pregnant until a baby is finally born immune.

Kira is a plague baby, as she was very young when the Partial War broke out. She's only 16, but she works in maternity at the hospital. After her best friend Madison becomes pregnant, Kira will do anything to save her baby. She gets the idea to study a Partial to find out why they are immune to RM and then apply it to the newborns. The Partial is named Samm. Kira is given five days to study him before the Senate will have him killed. During that time, she learns more about RM, the Partials, and a lot about what's really going on in the government.

Partials was fantastic and it really threw me for a loop with all the ways it defied my expectations. There was a ton of action, which was awesome, but there's also lots of scientific research and experiments. It's a nice balance. I thought Kira would end up dumping her slightly goofy but endearing boyfriend Marcus for either soldier Jayden or Samm, but romance didn't figure into the story at all. I did guess a big plot point early on in the book, but that may just be my psychic tendencies rather than any fault of the story.

There's so much more to talk about with this book! Dan Wells created a very detailed world in which to set his story. It was very difficult to stop reading because every chapter ends with something that made me have to immediately continue to the next chapter and find out what happens next. I am very excited for the sequel to be published. The ending was satisfying, but there's so many plots left to complete and questions left to answer that I can't wait to see what happens next.

I received my copy of Partials from Netgalley courtesy of HarperCollins. It's available for purchase now.

P.S. Here is the trailerfor Partials.
I LOVE this. The fictional subject matter in a real context just gives me chills.

The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

Jocey's twin brother Jack died in a car accident. Then she received a letter from him using his old code name, Jason December. The letter sends her on a scavenger hunt to visit their past, a past that wasn't always pleasant.

In order to solve the clues and find Jack, Jocey enlists their childhood friend Noah. He immediately tries to strangle her, so we know that they didn't part amicably. All three kids lived in a foster home called Seale House. The negligent and drug-addled foster mother would lock them in the cellar when they misbehaved. The story unravels slowly, how Jocey and Jack ended up at Seale House, their encounters with the other foster children.

In the present, Jack's clues lead Jocey back to Seale House and to visit the people she lived with there. Strange things happen. She is also being followed by someone out to hurt her. They steal her car, they set off bombs in order to stop her. It's like a thriller, but there's also a strange sensation throughout the book that everything isn't quite right. It makes more sense in the context of the big twist at the end.

Ultimately, it's a story about a girl who went through a lot of sucky things in her life. Her mom was horrible, Seale House was awful, and then her twin brother died. Every one of Jack's clues took Jocey to a moment in her past, let her relive the memories of being best friends with Jack and Noah, and let her get over the Seale House memories. A twist ending could easily have ruined the effectiveness of the rest of the story, but I actually liked it. The surreal feeling of the rest of the books makes the ending almost a natural conclusion, though it's no less effective of a twist. M. Night Shaymalan could take some pointers for his next movie.

I received my copy of The Vanishing Game from Netgalley. It's available for purchase now.

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Question: What would you do if you knew someone was going to die? Would you try to warn them? Would you try to save them? Would it even matter? For a teen book, Fracture brought up a lot of tricky questions about life and death.

The story starts when Delaney fell through the ice. She stayed under the water for 11 minutes until her best friend Decker pulled her out. After all that time, Delaney actually died. She was in a coma and technically brain dead, but miraculously she awoke. Despite the oxygen deprivation, Delaney had no brain damage. Everything was normal, except now she sees strange lights around people who will die soon. Sort of like that Twilight Zone episode.

Delaney meets another young man who can sense death, Troy. She hopes she can learn more about her new ability, but it soon becomes apparent that Troy can't be trusted. In order not to give anything away, I'll just say that he's a very bad man. There are even a couple scenes in the book where he is physically chasing Delaney that gave me chills.

Meanwhile, other than the new ability, or maybe because of the ability, Delaney becomes detached from her friends and family. Her parents are experiencing a special kind of grief because even though she isn't dead, she's definitely not the same person. And, because we need to get some romance up in here, Delaney has this whole big Dawson/Joey thing going on with Decker. It's obvious with those two, no matter how many tight-sweater Taras he dates or how many inappropriately old male nurses she hangs with.

I honestly expected Fracture to be yet another vaguely paranormal book in the vast sea of teen books. I lucked out because Fracture was incredibly enjoyable, the writing was actually good, and the discussions of life and death bring up a lot of very good points. You can definitely do a lot worse than Fracture, and it's nice to have an option from the grating and melodramatic Twilight series.

I received my copy of Fracture from Netgalley. It's available for sale now.