Anxiously Awaiting...School Spirits AND The Girl With The Iron Touch

School Spirits

by Rachel Hawkins

 

Publication date: May 14, 2013

 

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? (description from Goodreads)

A Hex Hall spin-off series... YES PLEASE!!! I cannot wait. 

The Girl with the Iron Touch

by Kady Cross

The Steampunk Chronicles series, book three

 

Publication date: May 21, 2013

 

Finley Jayne, Griffin and their crew are stunned when one of their own is kidnapped. Emily has a way with machines—she can literally talk to them. But the automatons who abducted her aren’t ordinary machines. They’re almost human—and they want Emily to do something as horrifying as it seems possible.

To save Emily, Finley must contact the highly unsettling Jack Dandy and face her feelings for two vastly different men, even as Griffin’s nightmares threaten to turn into a reality that might just end them all. (description from Goodreads) 

Steampunk with crazy great characters and hot book covers. :)  Love.

Mini Reviews: The "My Life Has Gone to *Shizz" edition

Body of Water

by Sarah Dooley

Show More

Show Less

Twelve-year-old Ember’s trailer home has been burned in a fire set most likely by her best friend, a boy whose father believes Ember’s family are witches. Yes, Ember’s mom reads Tarot cards as a business. Ember’s friend set the fire to warn the family before his dad did something worse to them. The friend never intended to do so much damage.

Now the family is homeless, and living in a campground. They have no money. Ember’s beloved dog is missing. School is going to start, and Ember and her sister have no clean clothes, no notebooks. The only place Ember feels at peace is floating in the middle of the lake at the campground. She has to make a fresh start. Can she? (description from Amazon.com)

Ember - no house, no money, no clothes, no friends... life has definitely gone to *shizz!

I liked this book, though I thought that some parts wrapped up a little too conveniently at the end.  Ember was not a "likeable" character, per se, but I thought I understood where she was coming from all the way through.  Way more interesting than the poor cover that the book got saddled with...

A Million Shades of Gray

by Cynthia Kadohata

Y'Tin is brave. No one in his village denies that—his mother knows that it takes a great deal of courage and calm to deal with elephants the way that Y'Tin does. He is almost the best trainer in the village—and, at twelve-years old, he’s certainly the youngest. Maybe he’ll even open up his own school some day to teach other Montagnards how to train wild elephants? That was the plan anyway—back before American troops pulled out of the Vietnam War, back before his village became occupied by Viet Cong forces seeking revenge, back before Y'Tin watched his life change in a million terrible ways. Now, his bravery is truly put to the test: he can stay in his village, held captive by the Viet Cong or he can risk his life (and save his elephant’s) by fleeing into the jungle. (description from Amazon.com)

Y'Tin - his village is taken over, half flee, half are killed...his friends turn on him, his elephant may be finding a new home with wild elephants... life has definitely gone to *shizz!

Although I got a little frustrated with the simplified sentences that the author wrote in, they did seem to fit the story.  I liked Y'Tin and was fascinated with his relationship with Lady, his elephant. I found this to be a period in Vietnam that I thought I knew about, but this was definitely a new perspective to view things from. 



Spell Bound

by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall, book three

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late? (description from Amazon.com)

Sophie - boyfriend assumed dead, father missing, school taken over by crazies wanting to raise an army of Demons... life has definitely gone to *shizz!

A very good wrap-up to the trilogy.  I thought it packed just the right punch. There were funny bits, there were cool action scenes, there were hot romantic moments, and the resolution was well done. I am sad to see this trilogy end, but I thought this were left at a good point!



Demonglass

Demonglass
by Rachel Hawkins
Hex Hall series, book two

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Acher to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she? (description taken from Amazon.com)

I loved this sequel to Hex Hall. Sophie returned with all the snark that I'd desperately missed since putting the first book down. I was very, very pleased with this book as sometimes the second book in a trilogy can obviously feel like a big setup for the end, and not much on its own, but Demonglass rocked from start to finish.

Not to say that you are left, breathless on the edge of a HUGE cliff... Hawkins literally had me putting down the book and going, "OMG.omgomgomg...ummm...I have to wait how long for the next one???!!" Sheer evil genius. Without revealing too much, let's just say that people are missing, seriously injured, or perhaps even dead on the final page...there's a new potential romance blossoming...previously trusted allies have become enemies through heinous betrayal...and Sophie is off to meet people she's never even heard of before so that she can um, hopefully, not be murdered. WHOA.

I am sooooooo excited for the next book, I can't even express it properly. I think I would pay big bucks for the opportunity to get an ARC asap!! Holy Moly. I miss Sophie already.

Full disclosure: ARC received from Book It Forward ARC Tours

Anxiously Awaiting....

Demonglass
by Rachel Hawkins
sequel to Hex Hall

Publication date: March 1, 2011