Lost in the River of Grass

Lost in the River of Grass
by Ginny Rorby

A science-class field trip to the Everglades is supposed to be fun, but Sarah's new at Glades Academy, and her fellow freshmen aren't exactly making her feel welcome. When an opportunity for an unauthorized side trip on an airboat presents itself, it seems like a perfect escape–an afternoon without feeling like a sore thumb. But one simple oversight turns a joyride into a race for survival across the river of grass. Sarah will have to count on her instincts—and a guy she barely knows—if they have any hope of making it back alive. (description from Amazon.com)

Oooh. I was already kind of terrified of the Everglades and now, boy, I don't ever want to step foot in them without a majorly seasoned tour guide. This book was one dangerous encounter after another. I loved how as Sarah faced the possibility of death over and over, she became more and more capable. She is truly a survivor. One who when push comes to shove, must learn how to become more able on her own...one who will do whatever she must to survive.

If you like survival stories, ones that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this is a good one!

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

This is Not a Test

This is Not a Test
by Courtney Summers

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to? (description from Amazon.com)

Gritty and real, this zombie apocalypse survival story gripped me from start to finish. Definitely for older readers, there's a lot of very real mature things happening as these teens try to survive. As a reader that prefers realism to a perfect happy ending, I very much enjoyed the fact that Sloane's story does not shy away from the horrors of a zombie "infestation." It would not have felt as authentic to me if Sloane suddenly became a perky rah-rah kind of girl and everyone survived.

Happy ending hunters may not like what they find here...but, readers looking for a more true-to-(fictional)life experience will appreciate this compelling tale.

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

Mini Reviews: The Second Novella Edition

Bad Yeti

by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable series

 

Jonah Grable hasn’t minded living in the shadow of his older, zombie fighting sister Kate, but this weekend he’s definitely raising his profile. A weekend of epic epicness—waving swords and flirting with girls in elf ears at his LARP club event—is totally up Jonah’s alley. But when his alter ego, Sir Talatien Maguirier, Nightdark Clanlord, comes face to face with a real, live Yeti, Jonah—or, rather, Tal—has to take matters into his own hands. So he sets off with gamer goddess Lady Amethyst, brown-eyed Europa, and Calamity, a braid-wearing barbarian in fur into the great unknown on a search for yeti-related awesomeness. . . . (description from Amazon.com)

 

SUPER FUN. I love this series hardcore and to have this little glimpse into that world from Jonah's perspective? So much awesomesauce.  I love the geekiness and the bravery and the general paranormalness of this series.

 

 

The Grimm Diaries Prequels Volumes 1 - 6

by Cameron Jace

 

The Grimm Diaries are pages written in a Book of Sand, where each fairy tale character confessed the true stories once altered by the Brothers Grimm two centuries ago. To keep the truth about fairy tales hidden, the Brothers Grimm buried the characters in their dreams to never wake up again. But the curse is broken now, and the characters are allowed to wake up every one hundred years. They intend to tell the truth about really happened, and about an untold cosmic conflict between fairy tale characters. (description from Amazon.com)

 

While the premise for this series is very intriguing and each short story had a compelling set of characters and circumstnaces, I was SO distracted by the poor writing technique in these stories that it was all I could do to finish them.

 

Tortured

by Caragh O'Brien

Birthmarked series

 

"But what about Leon?" Now, in this new story that bridges the gap between Birthmarked and Prized, Caragh M. O'Brien answers her readers' most common question with a tale of suffering and determination from Leon's perspective. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I really wish I had read this one before I read Prized, but you don't have to... it was so good to delve back into Gaia's world.  It was very interesting to see things from Leon's more privledged perspective, too. I can't wait to read Promised and find out how their story finally ends.

 

The Witch of Duva

by Leigh Bardugo

The Grisha Trilogy

 

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls…or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I loved this the same way I loved Sarah Maas' novellas. While they do not actually progress the story already written in the first book in each series, they are wonderful for fleshing out the fantasy world that each is set in.  Here, this is a folk tale, similar to Hansel and Gretel, that exists within Alina's world.  It really helped to flesh out the darkly Eastern European feel of the world she lives in. 





 

Full disclosure: All enovellas purchased for either my Nook or my Kindle App

This Week's Library Loot (3)

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

 

My Library Loot:

Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator

by Josh Berk

 

Safekeeping

by Karen Hesse

 

Goblin Secrets

by William Alexander

 





So, that's what I picked up at my Library this week... did you swing by yours?

Have you seen the trailer for Revolution, yet??

So, um, there is this new show coming out this fall called, REVOLUTION, and it looks...EPIC. I cannot wait. Really. I want it tomorrow!  Check out the trailer:

I'll Be There

I'll Be There

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sam Border wishes he could escape. Raised by an unstable father, he's spent his life moving from place to place. But he could never abandon his little brother, Riddle.

Riddle Border doesn't talk much. Instead, he draws pictures of the insides of things and waits for the day when the outsides of things will make sense. He worships his older brother. But how can they leave when there's nowhere to go? Then everything changes. Because Sam meets Emily.

Emily Bell believes in destiny. She sings for her church choir, though she doesn't have a particularly good voice. Nothing, she feels, is mere coincidence. And she's singing at the moment she first sees Sam.

Everyone whose path you cross in life has the power to change you--sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in ways greater than you could have ever known.  (description from Amazon.com)

This novel reads beautifully. It is touching and compelling.  I think that almost every reader would find something here to love. 

While Sam and Emily find each other, the romance is only a fraction of this book.  There are great examples of familial relationships and there is also the perfect example of a horribly dysfunctional family.

There is danger, there is excitement, there are secrets, betrayals, and hidden agendas.

There is beautiful music, art, and cooking. 

There are facets and hidden nooks in this book that make it wonderful and it reads very quickly.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone. 



Last Breath

Last Breath
by Rachel Caine
Morganville Vampires, book eleven

With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town-a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville's latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn't merely human. But is he a vampire-or something else entirely? (description from Amazon.com)

I never, ever fail to rip through the books in this series. Caine just keeps the suspense, danger, and romance coming... <3

This particular addition to the series ripped my heart right out in one spot, and thankfully sewed it back together just pages later. *sigh* It is unbelievable what Caine can do to her characters!

I loved the addition of new mythology in this book. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but let's just say that vampires are no longer the only thing that the humans have to worry about in Morganville...

I cannot wait for Black Dawn, which will be coming out in May!

The Watch That Ends The Night: Voices from the Titanic

The Watch That Ends the Night:Voices From the Titanic
by Allan Wolf

Arrogance and innocence, hubris and hope--twenty-four haunting voices of the Titanic tragedy, as well as the iceberg itself, are evoked in a stunning tour de force.Millionaire John Jacob Astor hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride with a minimum of media scandal. A beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers the first stirrings of love. And an ancient iceberg glides south, anticipating its fateful encounter. The voices in this remarkable re-creation of the Titanic disaster span classes and stations, from Margaret ("the unsinkable Molly") Brown to the captain who went down with his ship; from the lookout and wireless men to a young boy in search of dragons and a gambler in search of marks. Slipping in telegraphs, undertaker's reports, and other records, poet Allan Wolf offers a breathtaking, intimate glimpse at the lives behind the tragedy, told with clear-eyed compassion and astounding emotional power. (description from Amazon.com)

This is a haunting and beautiful piece of historical fiction. The way that Wolf pieced together historical information about the Titanic is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. The inclusion of actual telegraphs, testimonies from survivors, and reports from the coroners make it all so very hauntingly real. Wolf made it feel seamless when he'd transition from the real historical information to the fiction that he created.

The poetry format also worked really well. Especially for voices like the iceberg. It felt ancient and unfeeling. Chilling. I also want to add that the audio version of this book is phenomenal. The actors that alternate the parts do fantastic accents and ply each part with just the perfect amounts of emotion. SOOOO good.

Even if you're not a huge non-fiction type reader (like me, I usually avoid anything like non-fiction at all costs!), this historical fiction will suck you right in and you will find yourself internalizing tons of facts that you never knew about the Titanic.

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for SLJ

Living Hell

Living Hell
by Catherine Jinks

Seventeen-year-old Cheney and his fellow passengers have known life only aboard Plexus: self-contained, systematic, and serene. When a mysterious radiation wave causes Plexus to turn on them, Cheney and his friends must fight back before the ship that’s nurtured them for so long becomes responsible for their destruction. (description from Amazon.com)

Though this book started off just a little slow in the beginning (there was a lot of vocabulary to try to internalize), it picked way, way up in the middle and was totally worth the read!

This was an awesomely conceptualized science fiction premise where the ship is hit by an energy field in space and turned into a living organism. The humans inside suddenly find themselves treated like bacteria in the "bowels" of the ship. If they act benign, they will be left alone...unfortunately, before they can figure that out, many of the ship's occupants are considered hostile and are eliminated.

This was a creepy cool (slightly gorey in some spots) space adventure. It really gave you that feeling that humans are miniscule out in the vastness of space. It was super interesting, too, to consider how you would survive if you were trapped inside a giant living space ship.

Highly recommended to science fiction fans.

Full disclosure: Review copy received from NetGalley

The Dark and Hollow Places - Blog Tour

The Dark and Hollow Places
by Carrie Ryan
Forest of Hands and Teeth, book three

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah -- can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction? (description taken from Amazon.com)

This was an amazing conclusion to the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. The world, or at least as much of it as Annah, Gabry, Catcher, or Elias have ever known, has been overrun by the Horde. As each becomes trapped, literally to escape the Unconsecrated, and figuratively by their love for each other, they must all learn...are they will to do what it takes to survive? Is surviving the same as living?

I loved both the previous books in the series, but this final book is definitely my favorite. Every emotion is heightened. The love is deeper and becomes more desperate as the characters' situations, nay, the entire world's situation become so dire. The danger is amplified to the point that I doubted, seriously doubted some characters' survival. I was on the edge of my seat right until the end, and then I close the book with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.

This book was definitely worth a gold star. It was a satisfying conclusion to the series, leaving readers with a vision of hope. A reminder that even when the world seems at its most dire...a simple light in the dark can be a symbol that life still exists, in all its messy, wonderful glory. That humans will always find a way to survive, to live, and to love.

*On a different note, I apologize for this post going up so late. I had thought it posted, but apparently it was temporarily lost in the "Great Blogger Debacle" of last week. Sorry if you saw it and then it disappeared!*

Full disclosure: ARC received for review from Book it Forward ARC Tours
2011 Zombie Reading Challenge Title

Beauty Queens - Blog Tour

Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray

Publication date: May 24, 2011

Survival of the Fittest!

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up? (ARC jacket copy)

It is hard to believe, but it is only the middle of March and I think I just read my favorite book of this year. I think I may have just read my new favorite book...period. This book is...pure genius. Libba Bray is amazing. I am absolutely giving this book a gold star...plus some sparkles...plus, well it deserves a tiara for goodness sakes!!

This book is not just great. It is astounding. Thoughtful, tongue-in-cheek, laugh out loud funny...I mean, there is a girl who spends the entirety of the book with a plastic airplane tray sticking out of her forehead! Who else but Libba Bray could pull that off!?!

No, really. I think that EVERY woman, most men, heck everyone should read this book! Go out and get it as soon as it comes out. It will blow your mind. IT.WILL.BLOW.YOUR.MIND. There are beauty queens who learn to become not just real women, but real kick-ass women. There are sexy, sometimes stupid, reality tv pirates, an angry dictator with a taxidermied advisor, a secret laboratory/lair underneath a volcano, and subtextual references to current culture galore.

Besides the obvious, yet subtly disguised references to actual people (David Levithan, for one!) and products (Bratz dolls, Barbie, tons of makeup, etc.), Libba Bray also gave a shout-out to librarians!
p. 379 - Some in the crowd tossed copies of Ladybird's book into the fire while a librarian pleaded with them not to do that and grabbed a fire extinguisher.*
*(footnote) Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize.

OMG. Yes! This caused me to bounce up and down on the couch, laughing until I cried, and finally spluttered out what I was reading to my husband, who then said, "Oh, has she been following you around at work lately?" and I died again.

I cannot sincerely recommend this book enough. Yes, it is full of subcontext. It brings up a lot of morality issues, political issues, questions about feminism, sexuality...it covers a lot. What makes it a great book is that while everything is right out there in the open, it's not preachy. It's laugh out loud funny! Then when you're done, you sit back and think. Really think. Again...read this book. Read it as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

Full disclosure: ARC received as part of Book It Forward ARC Tour

This World We Live In

This World We Live In
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Last Survivors, book three

When one year ago, the moon was struck by a meteor, knocking it closer into the Earth's orbit, catastrophe after catastrophe plagues the earth, leaving only a sprinkling of survivors struggling to have human life continue on Earth.

Miranda's family, in rural Pennsylvania, managed through cunning, tenacity, and finally luck to survive as a unit. Alex lost half his family immediately in the disaster and struggled to save his sisters, finally being forced to flee New York City with his sister, Julie, to look for "greener" pastures.

In This World We Live In, their stories collide...Miranda and her family are beginning to worry about when their food supply with cease to exist. Her brothers go out on a fishing expedition and Matt comes home with fish...and a bride. Days later, Miranda's father also arrives on their doorstep with a troupe in tow. Not only has he brought his wife and their new baby, but also a new best friend and two new "children," Alex and Julie. With ten people in one household, can Miranda's new extended family make it work? Will they all survive?

This was the final book of the trilogy and though I am sad it's done, it was a satisfying end. Susan Beth Pfeffer is gifted in being able to deliver a heartbreaking and realistic disaster story, balanced by love and hope for the future. All elements of this story rang true. I cried...and I smiled through my tears. I sighed at the compelling ending. I will definitely read this trilogy from start to finish again and probably again in the future. If you haven't read Life as We Knew It or The Dead and the Gone definitely start with those, but don't stop until you've read all three...it's worth it!