Review: Unforgiven (Fallen #5) by Lauren Kate (Series Ender Challenge #3)

First, thanks to Delacorte Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an egalley of this book.  I just listened to books 2-4 in this series over the past month or so.  And then I saw this pop up on Edelweiss and I was very excited to read it.  I really have to say that I wasn't disappointed, it was a good story, and definitely a good addition to this world.  I did have one issue, that kind of kept it from being a 5 star review on Goodreads, but I'll mention that at the end of my review. 

So Luce and Daniel had their ending in Book 4.  And I really like the way we pretty much got to know how the rest of their story would go.  But how many people kind of wondered about Cam?  Cam, the bad boy, the one who started trying to seduce Luce in the first book.  In book 3, we got a glimpse of a romance that may have led to Cam being the angel he is when we first get to know him. A girl named Lilith, who he had been going to marry a long, long time ago, bibilical days I would guess.  They ended up not getting married because she would only get married in a church as that is what her family would expect. But see we learned in book 4 that the fallen angels could not go into churches.  So since he couldn't do that, they fought, because he wouldn't tell her why he didn't want to get married in the church, and they split up.  Now the story Cam had always told, isn't quite what happened, and we learn the true story in this book.

Cam finds out that Lilith is in hell, because of a deal she made with Lucifer.  And her hell is basically growing up over and over in the worst lives, and never being able to realize her dream, and then once that is over, she starts all over again.  I think that her different hells never last much longer than the amount of time Luce would get before she would die.  Cam decides after all that happened with Luce and Daniel, that maybe he wants to try again with the girl that he's never forgotten.  And so he makes another deal with the devil. That if he can get her to fall in love with him before the current hell she is in ends, he will save her from ever having to go through that again, and also get to be with her.  But if he loses, then he has to go to hell, never to leave, and to be Lucifer's right hand man.

Of course Lilith is in high school, and she is an outcast, no friends, a family with no father, a mother who is not very nice, and a younger brother with life-threatening health issues.  Cam remembers how much music was a part of Lilith before, and as her sees her here, she still loves music.  And so he enters high school, and tries to get her to start a band and perform.  Deep inside Lilith though, is the hate that she doesn't remember, but whenever she sees Cam, there is something in the back of her mind bringing it up.  And just when it seems like things might be going well, Lucifer drops in, and starts setting more obstacles in Cam's way.  Like for one thing, Cam starts aging, pot belly, losing his hair, wrinkles, and even worse, he starts getting goat/demon hooves.  Fortunately he is able to hide his feet in boots.

Cam must overcome all the obstacles and still win Lilith, basically by the prom in this hell she is in.  So many ups and downs, every time Cam seems to be ahead, some new obstacle pops up, usually put into motion by Lucifer.

As I said, a great story, a great way to spend more time with Cam.  While I always rooted for Daniel in the other books, you definitely are rooting for Cam to get the girl this time.  And after what we learned about Lucifer in the last two books, I so wanted to be able to step in and punch him every time he caused problems.

Okay, the one thing I didn't like, well I don't feel like I got a good closure, don't know what happens to the two at the end of the book like we did with Luce and Daniel.  Will they get to be together?  On Earth?  In hell?  In heaven?  I need to know!  I would love another book, although I'm not quite sure that it would take a full novel to finish the things I want to know.  Not a cliffhanger ending, just not all the things I want to know.  This is a great series, and I can't wait until next fall when the movie for the first book comes out in theaters.

Review: Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

First, thanks to Delacorte Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an egalley of this title.  I was excited for it because I loved Holes and Small Steps by this author. And the idea behind it really grabbed my interest as a science fiction reader and former science teacher.  And while the idea was really great, and there were some good parts to the story, I was left a little disappointed and feeling like the story was too short and too rushed.  I feel it needed more, just more  More depth, more story, something. 

There are two main characters. Tamaya, a 5th grade girl, and Marshall, a 7th grade boy.  Tamaya is a good girl, she likes rules, likes doing what she is supposed to do.  And one of those things is that she has to walk to and from school with Marshall, and not walk through the woods.  Marshall is a pretty normal 7th grade boy, but he is being bullied by a new kid at school named Chad. And on the day the story starts, Chad has told Marshall that he is going to meet him on a certain corner on his normal route home from school and beat him up.  So Marshall decides that he's going to go through the woods and avoid that place.  Tamaya has to go with him, as she doesn't want to walk by herself.  Unfortunately, once they get in the woods, it's almost like they get a little lost. And then, even worse, Chad shows up, and starts beating up Marshall. Tamaya doesn't know what to do, so she sees this mud that looks fuzzy, and throws it in Chad's face, and then she and Marshall take off for home. 

However, the hand that she used to grab the mud is now all tingly, even after she washes it up. And then sores start popping up on her skin. So she tries different creams and bandages, but nothing seems to do much for it.  The next day at school it seems that Chad never made it to school.  With what is happening to her hand, she has a feeling what might have happened.  When Marshall refuses to do what Tamaya knows is the right thing, go look for him, or else tell someone, she goes into the woods herself.  And from there, well all heck breaks loose.

Interspersed within the story are records of a political hearing about the people who made the stuff that is called fuzzy mud. And it is interesting.  But I'd like to maybe have the scientists in the story more. 

A good story, might be a good read for a reluctant reader because of how quick the story is, without a lot of extras.  But it really doesn't have the heart that Holes did, which has always been a good book for reluctant readers itself.  So it was an okay read, but nothing special, and not what I have come to expect from this author.

Book Blast and Review: The Third Twin by CJ Omololu ($50 Amazon or Paypal Giveaway) COYER Challenge #11

The Third Twin by C.J. Omololu When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava, made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia’s guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything. The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they’d never, ever be with in real life. Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect—Alicia. The girl who doesn’t exist. As she runs from the cops, Lexi has to find the truth before another boy is murdered. Because either Ava is a killer . . . or Alicia is real.

Amazon * Barnes and Noble

Praise:

•  "[An] original, riveting thriller." -- Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author of Made for You.

•  "Delicious and deceptive, The Third Twin is a twisty-turny thrill ride! I couldn't flip the pages fast enough!" --Kimberly Derting, author of the Body Finder series and The Taking.

•   "A classic whodunit."--Kirkus Reviews

Author:
 CJ OMOLOLU is the author of the ALA-YALSA Quick Pick Dirty Little Secrets and several other YA novels. She loved to read but never thought to write until she discovered that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their two sons.

Website * Twitter

My Review:

First I'd like to thank Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have been a huge fan of this author since I read an e-galley of her book Transcendence  back in May of 2012.  It was one of the first e-galleys I think I ever got. But I just loved the book.   Ever since then I've been a huge fan and supporter of her and her books.  I have to definitely say that I have yet to be disappointed, and this book definitely kept up my support!

I won't give a summary this time, since I've got the official one above.  But a few details not given are that Lexi is more of the nerdy sister.  Once in awhile she enjoys being Alicia, and acting totally the opposite of how she normally is.  Her sister Ava is more like Alicia, in that she is all about the boys and dressing to impress.  Lexi's goal has always been to get into Stanford like their adopted father.  Now, they have always lived with their adoptive father, in fact they have no idea who their real parents are.  They were just left on his doorstep.  But now there is someone out there pretending to be their imaginary sister.  And she looks very similar to them, at least from the photos that have shown up at the different sites of the murders.  Lexi wonders if it is her sister Ava and she is just not telling her.  We get the story from Lexi's viewpoint.  Lexi often ends up being Alicia to go out with guys that Ava is done with.  Now both of them have promised they are going to stop. But it seems to keep going one more time, and one more time.  Lexi meets a cute boy in a band that Ava had gone out with, and she finds even as Alicia, she likes him, But how will she ever tell him the truth?

The story was very suspenseful.  While there were lots of clues that kind of gave me either glimpses into what was really happening, or else the little misleading things to keep me guessing, I kind of had an idea what was going on from one of them that happened early on.  That's not a bad thing!  I just want to say that it turned out even though I'd kind of guessed part of the mystery, even that took a twist I in no way saw coming to solve it!  My only complaint, and this is one I have with a LOT of mystery books, tv shows, and movies, is the not telling people things.  Like she doesn't want to tell the guy in the band about the danger to him in front of any witnesses.  If it was me?  I'd be all about making sure everyone knew what was going on so that they would be more aware of what is going on and would notice that when something happened I wasn't there or whatever.  But that's me.  I guess it makes for more suspense in the stories.  

It's nice to have a standalone story as well.  Definitely a great mystery, and one that I'll be purchasing for the high school library I work in, and promoting at the bookstore where I work part time.

  $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 3/19/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Infected by Sophie Littlefield (COYER Challenge #1)

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Delacorte Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  It was a good read, I was just disappointed that it wasn't another zombie book.  I first found this author, Sophie Littlefield with an ARC of her book, Aftertime, which was a zombie story.  And when I saw the title of this, my first thought was, oooh, YA zombie story, I mean isn't that what the word infected brings to mind for you these days?  No?  Just me?  Oh well.  Overall it was still a good story, even it it wasn't what I'd expected.  That's what I get for not reading the synopsis.  I just saw the title and the author's name and requested.

The main character in this book is Carina.  Her mother passed away, suicide, about a year ago. She'd been living with her uncle until just before the book starts, when he is in a car accident on his way home from a business trip.  As the story starts Carina is getting ready to go to his memorial service.  But some strange things are going on.  As far as she knew her mom and uncle had been working on some kind of nutrition scientific research.  But at the memorial service there is security, two bodyguards following her around. She's getting ready to go live with her mom and uncle's friend Sheila.  But first she finds a code of some sort in a ring that her mother had given her. And when she tries to get some alone time with her boyfriend Tanner, Sheila and the bodyguards start getting really weird about not letting them hang out.  So she and Tanner decide to get out of there and sneak away.  Carina has an envelope that she found under the trash can at her uncle's house, and in it, he says to not trust Sheila and gives a location for her to go to in order to be safe and find out what is going on.

Both Carina and Tanner enjoy code breaking, or other computer programming type of things.  And together they are able to find this apartment along with the code to get into it and then figure out how to get into the encrypted files her uncle left her.  There is a virus that was being developed to help make stronger, faster soldiers.  Only it caused them to die from the side effects.  They had finally come up with an antidote, but before they could attach it to the virus, they began to have trouble, someone had sold the info to Albanians. So not only are Carina and Tanner running from Sheila, but also these Albanians.  And somehow they've both been infected.  Well, first Carina, and then the night before the memorial, when they spent the night on the roof of the school, Tanner got the virus from Carina.

I liked the science, and the intrigue, and even the code breaking.  For the most part it didn't get too technical at any part in my opinion.  And there were twists and turns throughout the whole book.  Some I didn't see coming.  And the dangerous moments were all really edge of your seat, and also unique.  There were drones used at one point, and I loved how they were worked into the story.  Once again Sophie Littlefield has written a great story.  I was lucky enough to get to meet her this past summer at BEA, and here is my picture with her:

Review: Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

First, thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I got a bit nervous when someone said they'd seen some not so good reviews. But then I really enjoyed it.  It reminded me of the book Amber House by Kelly Moore, Larkin Reed, and Tucker Reed.  I also think that the comparison to Downton Abbey was fair, in that the main character had to learn about all the different things the English peerage does.  And they talked about other abbeys so that was cool as well. 

The main character is Imogen, and while her father is from a wealthy English family, he's the son of a duke actually, they live in New York City.  But they do go visit their family every summer.  Imogen loves her cousin Lucia, who is a few years older than her, but close enough in age that they are still great friends and confidantes whenever they're together.  There is also the family friends who have two sons, Sebastian and Theo.  Sebastian is Lucia's age, but Imogen feels like they always have a connection.  Things are wonderful until the summer that Imogen is seven years old.  This year something weird happens, when she touches the ground, a flower just grows out of nowhere, in seconds.  And then later she creates fire with her hands.  She begs Lucia and Sebastian not to tell anyone else.  But later during their stay, there is a fire in the maze on the property, and the tragedy is that both Imogen and Lucia's parents are in their and they don't make it out.  Imogen is so upset that she only wants to go back to NYC where she will now live with her parents' friends the Marinos.  She lives the next 10 years, only thinking about the family home when she has nightmares about her parents' deaths.  But this end of her senior year, things will change.  She gets a call from someone in England, and then there is a letter that shows up.  But her guardians tell her it is someone who is harassing her, as her family are quite the celebrities in England. 

She finds out that not only did her cousin Lucia pass away a year ago, but now her grandfather has died, which leaves Imogen as the only heir to the property.  And they need her to come back to England and be the duchess.  But when she gets there she finds that her cousin's death may not have been an accident, not to mention there may be more to the story of her parents' death.  She is nervous about seeing Sebastian again, as the last she had seen online, he and Lucia had been a couple.  And it seems that there are others around the estate that are not happy to have here there either. 

The end twist was pretty good.  I didn't catch it, and I like that it was such a shock.  I love that it also ended in a way that it is a standalone book.  A great mystery, with a fun look at the workings of an English estate from the point of view of an outsider, like I would be.  Definitely recommended to people who enjoy romantic suspense for YA.  A tiny bit of supernatural with the touching the soil to cause growth and some fire production, but not so much that it made it a supernatural type of story.  And I don't say that's bad, I like both types of stories.

The Living by Matt de la Pena

First of all, thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I've read one book by this author before, We Were Here, when I was reading to help select one of my state library association's book award nominees for the year.  And it was a good book.  But basically a realistic fiction story, and it seems the other books by this author that I've seen on library shelves are also realistic fiction.  So, I guess that might give this one a way a bit.  It seems to be more of a thriller than a drama type piece.  Not that there isn't drama, relationship, Mexican boy problems, family problems are all ones that you see.  I'm normally not the biggest reader of realistic fiction, not that I don't always seem to enjoy the ones that I read, I just don't seek them out to read.  So I was very pleased to get not only this author's great writing, but also a story that was more like what I normally enjoy.
The main character is Shy.  And to help raise money for his goal of going to college, he's taken a job for the summer aboard a cruise ship.  The first cruise started out pretty well until one of the passengers commits suicide by jumping off the boat right in front of Shy.  So now he is still having trouble sleeping because he keeps seeing the moment reply over whenever he closes his eyes.  Fortunately he has found a confidante in one of the other staff members, and her name is Carmen.  Carmen is great because she comes from a background very similar to Shy's.  Unfortunately, Carmen is already engaged to a law student back home.  So while Shy finds himself very attracted to Carmen, he must struggle to keep their relationship as friends only.  But Carmen has said she is there for him any time he needs someone to talk to.  Which Shy will even take her up on late at night.  On this 2nd cruise things seem to be okay.  Until Shy is alerted to the fact that there is someone in a black suit going around asking questions about him.  Shy has only told people the basics, not any of the odd conversation he had with the man before he jumped.  So now he feels like he's being watched, plus at one point he goes back to his cabin to find it's been ransacked.  Nothing is missing, just everything has been pulled out as if it has been searched for something. 
One thing in their background that both Shy and Carmen have in common is that they've lost someone to this new disease called Romero's disease.  Shy's grandmother, and Carmen's father.  While all this stuff is going on, Shy also gets an email from his mother telling him it is urgent for him to try to Skype with her the next day.  When he is finally able to do that, it is as he dreaded, bad news.  Now his nephew has been diagnosed with Romero's disease.  His mother does say there is possibly a vaccination that if they caught it in time can help.  Shortly after this talk, Shy has another strange interaction with some passengers.  An older gentleman starts talking to him at the pool and invites him to dinner with his daughter and her friend.  These two girls are kind of snooty, and so of course Shy doesn't want to go, especially since the crew is not allowed to do this anyway. 
At dinner, an announcement comes over the ship's speakers saying that a storm is headed their way and they will have to ask all passengers to stay inside and off the decks.  Shy goes out to clear the deck and pull the tables and chairs and even the stand he uses to pass things out and put them into a safe area to make sure they don't go off the side of the boat.  Shy knows this means a serious storm, as he's never had to do this, and he can see the fear in his co-worker/boss's eyes.  On the deck he sees the snooty girls from before, one of them is crying. 
Then he goes back in to the dining hall.  And there is another announcement, this one saying that a huge earthquake has hit the west coast of the United States, and there is massive damage from Washington state all the way down to Mexico.  When images of the destruction are shown on the dining room screens, areas that are where Carmen and Shy are from are shown in complete disarray.  About this time passengers are told to go back to their rooms, not to stay in larger areas like the dining room because a tsunami is headed their way.  Life jackets are passed out to everyone.  But as they begin panicking, it soon becomes too late for them to get to safety because the  ship is hit.  Shy watches the wave come through one of the windows.  At this point the story takes the turn for suspense.  There are not enough life boats as the wave hits and knocks many off.  Many people won't even make the life boats as the first strike of the first wave has killed many.  And even once they get into life boats, there are sharks, and the waves aren't done coming.  And who will be able to help with all the destruction back in the United States where the help would come from.  The ship is supposed to be near something called the Hidden Islands.  So if they can only make it that far, what could they find?  Help?
I'll stop there, and let you read the story yourself.  There are many other little side stories and characters I've not talked about, so much for you to read and discover yourself.  I will say it is going to have a sequel, thank goodness, because it ends on a major cliffhanger.

Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy #1) by Anna Jarzab

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Delacorte Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  When I first picked it up, I had a bit of trouble wondering if I would actually be able to get into it.  I mean, the premise sounds really good, alternate universes, and the promise of some science aspects as opposed to just fictional parts.  But, once I picked it up and gave it a chance, I was very pleasantly surprised!
The main character is Sasha Lawson.  She lives with her grandfather, who is a physicist, because her parents died when she was young.  The stories he used to tell her when she was little were about parallel universes.  They used to imagine what they could be like, and make things up.  But one day, Sasha finds out they are real.  A boy she's known almost her whole life, named Grant, all of a sudden begins to show interest in her.  In fact, he even asks her to the dance.  But it turns out that Grant, well he really isn't Grant.  He is Thomas, from this other universe, and you might say he is Grant's twin, or doppelganger, or in this book, from Thomas's universe, they call them analogs.  And he has come to take Sasha back to his world to replace her analog.  See, Sasha's analog is the princess, Juliana to be exact.  And she is needed to help bridge a peace contract between their country, the United Commonwealth of Columbia and Farnham.  Basically the United States split into two different countries.  Princess Juliana has disappeared.  Now we know from the beginning of the book, and other chapters, that Juliana had left of her own will, thinking it would be best if she left, rather than marry someone she didn't want to marry. Sasha is basically kidnapped, taken against her will to the universe, and told by "the General" that she must portray Juliana for 6 days, until the marriage takes place, to help get their world back to where they want it.  Fortunately Sasha doesn't have quite as hard of a time, she has memories from what she thought were dreams of being a princess.  Somehow she has always had a link to Juliana.  But things in the alternate universe aren't quite as they seem.  Thomas's analog has also been kidnapped, and it turns out Juliana was betrayed by her conspirator and is now a prisoner as well.  The King was shot, and now seems to be mostly out of it.  But as Sasha visits him, she begins to feel that his random mutterings, may not be so random, and maybe be clues to figure out something.  She becomes friends with Thomas, and her assistant Gloria, even as she must deal with the hatred between her step-mother and Juliana.  She meets the prince from the other country that she must marry, and feels maybe he might not be such a bad guy, and the marriage might be a good idea.  The ending is a total cliffhanger, and about 20-40 pages before the end I kind of thought they might be able to end the story and not have it have to continue.  But no, it was left off with a very good cliffhanger, one that now I have to wait a whole year to read on!!
Some things I didn't like, I wish there had been a bit more science, I kind of wonder how taking the analog to the other universe, while the normal person was still there didn't cause any problem unless they touched.  My other complaint is that knowing genetics as well as I do, I'm not sure how Sasha and Juliana's parents could not be the same people.  So that's only two things I had a problem with, and they are kind of science related, as opposed to story related.  There are many more things I enjoyed I guess!  I really liked the characters, although once or twice when Sasha got mad at Thomas I thought she was being a bit silly, and some thing Thomas did were kind of annoying on the same thread.  But I loved hearing where the two universes began timelines in different directions.  How before that everything seemed to be the same.  The story reminded me a bit of the tv show Fringe.  The different universes that were very similar other than little differences that changed things, like on the tv show I loved how the Statue of Liberty hadn't corroded in the alternate universe, as it has here for us.
I highly recommend this book, and will be hand selling it at the store where I work, as well as adding it to my list of books to order for the high school library where I now work.  Oh and one last thought, how incredible is that cover?