Blog Tour Review: Space (Laws of Physics #2) by Penny Reid

Space, the second book in the all-new Laws of Physics Trilogy from Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid, is available now!

Book info:

Title:  Space
Author:  Penny Reid
Series:  Laws of Physics #2
Genre:  New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date:  March 12th, 2019
Source:  E-galley from Social Butterfly PR which did not influence my
My rating:  5 stars  

Synopsis:

One week.

Private cabin.

Famous physicist.

Still an unrepentant slacker.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Mona’s meticulously planned allotment of relaxation is thrown into chaos by the unscheduled appearance of her older brother’s band of friends, including the one person she'd hoped to never face again. Abram still makes her feel entirely too much, which is one of the reasons she disappeared after their one week together. But now, trapped on a mountain of snow and things unspoken, Mona will have to find a way to coexist with Abram, chaos and all.

Laws of Physics is the second trilogy in the Hypothesis series; Laws of Physics parts 1 (MOTION)  and 2 (SPACE) end with a cliffhanger.

 

My Review:

I loved so much that even though this one started up quite a bit after the last book ended, we got filled in on things that happened that made how Abram and Mona would react to each other have even more of the drama than would be expected.  We get to see how Mona's little escapade to help her sister almost made it completely without being noticed.  But Abram was smarter, and his being able to figure it out led to even more drama than I was expecting.   But besides the angst and drama, there was the usual hilariousness that I love in all books by this author, at least those that I've read so far.  Let's say that drunk Mona is definitely so much fun!  The perfect way to make up for when Abram burned the letter.  And then there was her brother, who at one point I wanted to punch for how he added even more unnecessary drama to them trying to figure out where they could go from where they were, friends or more.  

As with the other one in this series, as soon as I picked it up, all I could think was how much I wished it was summer time and I could stay up all night to read it in one sitting, or lying in bed as it may be in this case.   Also again as with the first one, it was a cliffhanger, and now I cannot WAIT for the next book!  

Download your copy today!

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Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/SpacePR

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Kobo: http://bit.ly/2GzSvwS

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2RRny94

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Add to GoodReads: http://bit.ly/2SpmiKZ

Excerpt:

“Hi—hello,” she said, stepping forward but not out of the way, drawing my attention.

She was still staring at me, her face still pale, but her eyes had turned searching instead of stunned.  

“I—” She stopped herself, swallowing, her gaze dropping to the front of my coat, a cute little frown furrowing her eyebrows. In the next moment, she was pulling off the glove of her right hand. Abruptly, she shoved the ungloved fingers toward me, returning her eyes to mine. “I’m Mona.”  

I suppressed my disbelief at her small action before it could break my outward mask of calm. I wasn’t calm. Just to be clear, I was the opposite of calm.  

The fact that she was introducing herself to me now meant that she thought I was too stupid to figure out her lies over the last two-and-a-half-fucking years. She was arguably one of the smartest people in the world, after all. To her, people like me must seem like housebroken pets. So it shouldn’t have surprised me. But it did. The tension and tightness around my ribs reappeared, squeezing uncomfortably.  

Dropping my attention to her bare hand, I pressed my lips into a tighter line, dismissing the way my pulse jumped at the sight of her wrist, the olive tone of her skin under the yellow string lights overhead. Glaring at her outstretched offering, I considered telling her to go to hell.  

I considered it, but I wouldn’t.  

I didn’t trust myself to speak, that was reason number one.  

The other reason was harder to explain, or use as a justification, or admit to myself. Staring at her hand, I braced against a sudden flare of hunger. She might consider me a lower life-form, but that didn’t change the fact that I wanted to touch her. I wanted to touch her more than I wanted to tell her to go to hell, and that was fucking pitiful.  

But there it was.  

Acting on the compulsion, I lifted my right hand and tugged off the ski glove, sliding my warm palm against her much colder one. Her hand felt good in my hand, the right weight, the right size, the right texture, and I inhaled freezing air.  

Mona also seemed to suck in a slow but expansive breath as our hands touched, held. This brought my eyes back to hers in time to see her lashes flutter. Pink colored her previously pale cheeks. The sound of the wailing wind, the sting of the air and frost momentarily melted away, leaving just her, her soft skin warming against mine, her beautiful face filling my vision.  

So beautiful.  

She really was. She was stunning. I hated that she was still so beautiful to me.  

Start the series today!

Motion

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2T5iZto

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Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/Motion

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Kobo: http://bit.ly/2ASuOfq

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Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2T4ebo9

Pre-order the highly anticipated conclusion today!

Time

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Gk59Aq

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Nook: http://bit.ly/2TFwsIH

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2RTODZD

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2Sm1Zmu

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2WSQbXe

Meet Penny Reid:

Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.

Connect with Penny:

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www.pennyreid.ninja

Waiting on Wednesday: Alight (The Generations Trilogy #2) by Scott Sigler

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  Once again I've picked a sequel to a book.  Although I wasn't completely thrilled with the first book, it is by an author that I have loved another series by, so I can't quite give up yet.  This the sequel to Alive, by Scott Sigler.  The blurb on Goodreads isn't very big, and so it doesn't give much away, but I'm still excited to read it!

Alight reveals to readers the further adventures of Em, Spingate, O’Malley, Bishop, and the other young heroes introduced in Alive. In Alive, Em fought to assert herself as leader and her friends tried to comprehend their own mysterious identity; now she must wrestle not with the challenge of winning power but the grave responsibility of having assumed it, and she and her friends must contend with a grim fact: the revelation of their identity is not an answer but another question—and one with terrifying implications.







Not a lot to go on, other than some basic info.  I'll still be waiting to read it, and hope to get an egalley once again.

So that's my pick for the week, what are you eagerly awaiting on?

And while you're here, there are only a few more days to enter my October New Release Giveaway!

Review: The Contaminants by Devin K. Smyth

First, thanks to Mother Daughter Book Reviews for allowing me to read a copy of this for free.  This was a very quick, easy read.  Definitely a little bit of a new twist on this type of a story.  It had some parts that reminded me of the show The 100, but had things that definitely made it different as well.

There are two main characters, Jessil and Soraj.  They are living on the one ship that was able to escape the Earth's surface after a huge nuclear war.  While there were supposed to be many ships, only one was able to get away after the war started, and not all the people who should have been on that ship even made it.  Soraj, or Raj, was brought on the ship by his father, Dr. Guyat.  Dr. Guyat had figured out a way to "purify" the Earth, while taking only the people that they feel will be a good future for the new Earth.  Jessil and her dad and two brothers are not people chosen to go.  But her dad sneaks them on to the ship right before it takes off, although he doesn't make it on, pulled off by soldiers. 

We get flashbacks of the time up until the present through Raj and Jessil's memories.  But we also find out what it is like on the ship now.  Things haven't quite worked like they were supposed to on the ship, and the Captain thinks it is time to look at going back. But Raj's father says the planet hasn't been cleansed to the point that it would be safe to go back and live.  The cleansing was supposed to be the nuclear bombs destroying everything. Then there would be machines and other chemicals on the Earth to take the bad things out of the air, create a new atmosphere, and also to recreate the life that had been there before. 

Jessil and Raj notice a green area on the planet through one of the cameras, meaning that life is coming back.  Then one day there is a message from what is obviously humans on Earth, that have somehow survived.  And Jessil thinks that she recognizes one of the humans as her father.  So she insists on Raj sneaking her on to the recon ship that will go back and see what it is like.  ONly she doesn't know that Raj's father's plan is to kill those humans still there, so that they don't "contaminate" this new Earth they've planned. 

The trip back doesn't go quite as planned, beginning with a crash, and then the creatures they find alive on the planet, well it is obvious there has been some evolution going on, just maybe not as the doctor had predicted.

Again, an interesting story, a fun take on humans having to escape the planet, but also having to be able to remake the planet to be livable.  I enjoyed the read, as I mentioned, a quick one, and will definitely recommend it based on those qualities.  While it ended at a good enough point, I see that this is supposed to be the first in the series, so I could see reading more about what is still alive on the Earth, all the different new types of creatures, would be interesting.

About the Author: Devin K. Smyth

Devin K. Smyth is the pen name of Kevin Speth, a part-time novelist and full-time marketing copywriter in the field of children’s entertainment. He resides in southern Wisconsin with his girlfriend and their herd of cats.

The Contaminants is Devin K. Smyth’s first novel and is the first in the “New Dakota” series.

Firedrake Books  |  Goodreads

Review: The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick (COYER Challenge #2)

First, thanks to Roaring Book Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I of course loved the cover right off, and the idea of the story sounded really intriguing.  I don't know that I was a huge fan of the story though.  It was very creative, and unique, and well-written for sure.  And I made it through the book, and for the most part wasn't bored at any part.  At the beginning of the book, the author makes a note about how it is divided into four different parts, and that the reader can read them in any way they want.  Personally, I'm not sure how true this is.  I feel like they were arranged chronologically and it works that way.  In fact, I think if you read them in a different order, there are small bits in each story that tie back to the story before it, that might not stick out as much to the reader if they didn't read them in order.  But that's my opinion, and how my brain works, so maybe for others it would be okay.  All of them deal with a spiral in some way, the cover is a perfect tie in for that.

The first story is told in poetry form.  It is the story of a girl in the time of cavemen, and references the paintings found in caves that date back to those times.  I skimmed through this rather quickly, as I am not always a big fan of the poetry, and it is a lot of times quicker to read as well.  I get the spiral bit in it, kind of, but not as much as it was set into the other stories.

The second story is a woman in the times of witch hunting.  She and her mother created herbs and "potions" to help those who were sick or in pain.  At the time of the story a new priest has come to town, one who is setting about proving there is a witch to be taken care of.  And in this time period, there are those who would give her up, even though she's helped them, because of their own problems.  Again, a spiral plays into the story, and the wonder of what it might mean.

The third story takes place in a time where asylums were a big thing.  And the story follows a single father who is a psychologist come to work at an asylum in a very remote area.  He and his daughter live on one of the top floors of the building, and the floors below are the different patients, the lower the floor, the worse off their problems are.  The first day there they meet a man who seems like he must work there, but it turns out he is a patient.  And one that lives on the lower floor, because his psychosis has to do with spirals.  I feel like this story brings in the "ghosts" bit from the title.

The final story is set in the future, a world where humans must move on, find a new planet to live on.  It is a space ship that carries 500 people to start a new life for humans on the "New Earth" that has been found.  Besides the 500 people that are in a sleep until they reach the planet, there are 10 sentinels.  These are people who are under a different kind of sleep, one that wakes them up every 10 years in order to see what has happened in the time they were asleep, and make sure things are still working.  The main character is one of these sentinels.  And he begins to wonder if he is really the only one awake during the 12 hours he gets to do his work every 10 years.  Especially when he wakes up to six people being dead.  And according to the computers on board, there is no reason for their deaths, no malfunctioning of anything.  Again there is a spiral tie in because of the ship having to spin to create the fake gravity needed to help with the long journeys in space and human health.  This story has the most tie ins to the other stories, especially at the end of it.  I kind of feel like it would be the best at the end, or if you were going to try a different order, maybe it could be the first one.

Definitely a very complex story overall, and a good one, just not something I would read over again.  I can definitely recommend it to people who enjoy a complex group of stories, and looking for the connections in them.  It is definitely very thought provoking, with numbers and science, nature and history.

Review: Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis

I FINALLY picked this one up and read it.  I've actually owned a copy since I purchased it last May at the RT Convention so that I could get it autographed.  Finishing this will also get me an entry in my 2014 Prequels and Sequels Challenge, although I think I have a short story/e-novella to read to actually complete the whole thing.  Here are the links to my reviews of the first two books:  Across the Universe and A Million Suns.  Let me say, this was a great ending.  For awhile I was afraid it might end up with the same kind of disappointment as I had with Allegiant, but instead it ended up more like Into the Still Blue, a realistic, but pretty happy ending.  Obviously if you haven't read the rest of the series, and especially not book 2, you probably should stop reading at the end of this paragraph, knowing that I was very happy with this book, and will definitely recommend it, and the whole series.

So, if you remember at the end of the 2nd book, there was the really big cliffhanger.  They had been finding out that the ship probably wasn't going to last much longer, with what they had left, not to mention the explosion caused damage to the engine, which could cause other problems. And now that they knew the planet they had been traveling towards, Centauri-Earth, was right outside the ship, they had to make the decision to go.  Not everyone on the ship wanted to go to the planet, they felt safe on the ship, the only place that had ever been their home.  So Amy, Elder, about half of the people left on the ship, and all the cryogenically frozen people were in the shuttle and headed towards the planet.  From the information that Orion had left in the clues for Elder and Amy, they knew that there were "monsters" on the planet.  And on their way to land, they did hit something, and it did knock them a bit off course, but they still landed just fine.
But when they first try to leave the ship, they see one of the monsters, and Elder is even attacked by one.  Fortunately Amy is able to grab a gun and shoot it, and then get Elder back in and shut the shuttle back up to be safe.  As this is going on, the people that were frozen have been unfrozen, including Amy's parents.  But there still seems to be a divide between the frozen, or Earthborn, and Elder's people, or shipborn as they are called.  And when Amy's father, Captain Martin, is unfrozen, he finds he is now in charge because of the two that Orion had killed.  And when he takes over, he reminds Elder of Eldest, or even Orion.  And Orion's warnings were that the frozen people would make the shipborn either slaves or soldiers, and it seems as if it may be that way.  Not only that, but it seems Captain Martin may be hiding something.  While Amy's mother and the other scientists are just thrilled with all there is to see and study on the planet, it seems that maybe there was a colony of humans that landed here before them.  Not only that, the monsters may not be the only thing they have to worry about.  What happened to that first colony?  There are signs of a possible alien race, and they may be defending their own planet.

In the end it all comes down to fighting for what the original mission was, fighting against these aliens or whatever is fighting them on the planet, or finding out how they can make this new planet their own.

Again, I just loved this story, and what a great ending to the trilogy!  And below is my picture with the author on the day I got this book!

Why NASA rocks!

I normally prefer not to blog more than one time a day, I feel it might be annoying to my followers, but I completely forgot about the awesome contest author Beth Revis was hosting until today.  And I only have one more day to enter!

If you've read her book series that started with Across the Universe, 2nd was A Million Suns - which had a wicked cliffhanger that I am dying to get my hands on the last book to figure it out, and that 3rd book is Shades of Earth, you know she must be a fan of space and of course so it naturally follows, NASA.

I, too, have been a huge fan of NASA, and it has been ever since I was a little girl.  I think my love of all things to do with space started with my maternal grandfather.  He was really into Astronomy and had a really nice telescope.  When we would go to his house to visit, he would talk about all that stuff, and I'm sure I hung on every word.  I still have the magazines called Odyssey that I read as a kid.  I even had a pen pal from the magazine for the longest time.  And she actually moved to my town when I was probably a teenager, I remember having a sleepover, but then her moving away again.  I think.  That was a long time ago.  I probably still have all my letters from back then too!  The movie Space Camp was out when I was in middle or high school, and I remember Bubblicious Bubble Gum had one of those contests that you had to send in the wrappers and you would be entered to win a trip to the real Space Camp.  I didn't win the trip, but in my first big contest win ever, I won some astronaut food packets!  I probably have those somewhere still too.  I'm a bit of a packrat, not only with books as I've mentioned before, but also with things that are sentimental to me.

Now as a science teacher I have an even greater respect for NASA.  The amount of resources that they provide, completely FREE of charge, for me to use in my classroom is amazing.  And when it seems that the budget keeps getting cut, not to mention how much I feel was taken away with losing the shuttle program.  As I discuss with my students when we study space, NASA and the space program has been responsible for so many things that we take for granted today.  I love having my students see how large the NASA budget is.  But then, showing them the comparison of that to the total amount of money the US spends, they are often amazed at what a small percentage NASA really gets.

Space has always been one of my favorite topics.  I am a science teacher, and love that space is part of my curriculum.  In fact, with the rest of what I teach the year, it is my favorite subject!  I love that with my Honors Class, I get to see some really creative projects with their assignments.  And it is the one time of the year that I have trouble getting through with what my plans are for the day because students have so many questions they want to ask.  And even though it may go away from the specific part of space we're talking about, they're always on topic and so interested!

Tell me, what do you think of NASA?  Of space even?  Would you be willing to go into space?  I think of writing a novel about such a story, but can't ever get myself started.  Maybe some day.  If I can just finish the other novel I have gotten the farthest on, I can make myself move on and start that one.  But for now, I'm going to just continue enjoying the wonderful stories told by Beth Revis and other awesome authors like her. And if you'd like to get in on the contest in the last few days of the month, follow this link:  The Month of NASA with Beth Revis.

And last but not least, while you're here, you can now follow me with Bloglovin.

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A Million Suns by Beth Revis

I think it was winter of 2010 when I first saw Across the Universe by Beth Revis on a display at the bookstore where I work part time.  The cover was so great, but the title made me think it had something to do with the movie by that same title from a few years ago.  A movie I wasn't a fan of.  But then, the cover kept drawing me back, and finally I picked it up and read what it was about and was hooked.  It seems there isn't much space science fiction for teens other than Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  And I do like that type of science fiction.  Especially the basis of the story.
You may have also noticed several posts from me lately saying that I've been disappointed, or that 2nd books in series just haven't been quite as good as the first.  In A Million Suns' case, that is sooooo not true!  This book was extremely good.  We had a mystery to solve, Orion, an Elder who went crazy and started killing the scientists and other people who were cryo-frozen, is now frozen himself, but has left a mystery for Amy.  Amy has to hide.  Now that Elder, who is now Eldest whether he likes it or not, took all the people on the ship off of the Phydus drug that kept them all calm and peaceful, they distrust Amy and think of her as a cause for all their current problems, lack of food, finding out that they haven't reached, and may not reach Centauri-Earth in their lifetime because of engine problems. 
Elder has a rebellion on his hand, in part led by one of his once best friends, Barti.  In the midst of trying to solve all the problems with this, along with trying to help Amy solve Orion's puzzle, Elder goes outside the spaceship based on one of Orion's clues, and WOW!!!!  What he finds is amazing!  I literally gasped at what he found outside the ship.  I won't spoil it for you, you need to read and be surprised just like I was.  But once again, I say this is a great sequel, doesn't disappoint at all, such a great 2nd installment to a series.  I am so ready to read the 3rd one now!  If only I could some way get the ARC of the 3rd book, that would probably make my year!  I've not read either of the two so far that way, but would love this time. 
Great, great, GREAT! book.  Go out and read A Million Suns as soon as you can!  And if you haven't read the first one, Across the Universe, yet, do that quickly.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 3: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I actually didn't pick this book to read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge sponsored by Kristi over at The Story Siren. I had chosed to read So Shelly by Ty Roth. However, that book just didn't catch me. Sure, I only got to page 20, but I've decided there are so many books out there that I want to read, unless it is something I've heard that is great and I need to give it a chance, I am going to quit and read something else. I've actually heard many people talking about this book, and have seen it at the bookstore. So I chose to read it because it looked and sounded good. It was only after I finished it and went to the author's website that I realized it was a book that would fit this challenge, and then I checked Kristi's website and it was on the list, so I'm doing that for my next book.

And, on to the actual review. Our main character, or the first of our 2 main characters that we meet is Amy. Amy is going to be cryogenically frozen with her parents to travel on the first manned spacecraft to the first Earthlike planet. Her mom is a scientist, her dad is military. The first part of the book is intense. We get to read as Amy watches her parents get frozen. And it is INTENSE! Then we get to be in Amy's head as she gets frozen. They are going to be frozed for the 300 years it will take to get to the planet.

Now, every other chapter in this book is either Amy, or Elder, our other main character. And normally I don't like this, it can get too confusing if it is told too similar. However in this book, the two characters are so different that it works. Yet, at first, I sped through the chapters with Elder, because I didn't quite get where it was going, I didn't understand why Elder was the way he was or why there were people on the ship like him.

Soon though, Amy gets unfrozen 50 years earlier than planned. This is bad, because they are unable to re-freeze her, which means she will be an old lady by the time they reach the planet and her parents are unfrozen. Not to mention all the weird stuff going on around the ship when Amy wakes up. There is intrigue and mystery as more people get unfrozed ahead of schedule. Elder is learning from the Eldest how he will soon have to lead the ship. And we find out how things are going on the ship, and what is really happening with the landing.

I do have to say I guessed who a certain character was pretty quick. I won't say who, I'll let you read for yourself.

This was a great read, I will highly recommend it to science fiction fans, as well as romance fans, as it is both.