Waiting on Wednesday: Will to Survive (The Rule of Three #3) by Eric Walters

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  My choice this week is the 3rd and final book in a very interesting trilogy.  The first book, The Rule of Three, didn't go quite where I thought it would, and so I was interested enough to read on to the 2nd book, Fight for Power.  And now I just have to know how it will all finish.  Here is the blurb for book three from Goodreads:

As this apocalyptic trilogy hurtles to a chilling conclusion, Adam is pushed to the edge of his endurance and sanity.

Adam has killed again. It had to be done, part of him knows that, but murder changes a person. It can certainly change a teenager who's already grown up too quickly, too harshly, in the wake of the catastrophic global blackout five months ago. In the name of safety and survival, Adam and his neighbors have turned their middle American suburban neighborhood into a fortress, defending against countless enemies. But what's lurking in the dark is a greater danger than ever before: somebody who wants to destroy the neighborhood and Adam at any cost. Soon, the hunted will have to become the hunter . . . and Adam hates himself for what he will have to do. Because sometimes even the dark is not cover enough for things that would never happen in the light.

A great post-apocalyptic type story, about what would we do, especially if you were a high school boy, and were able to just fortify your neighborhood and dig in.  Have you read this series yet?  Do you want to?  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Redemption (Mila 2.0 #3) by Debra Driza

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. This week I've chosen the third and final book in the Mila 2.0 trilogy.  I'm very eager to find out how the story will end.  It's been an interesting ride so far.  You can read my reviews of the first two books HERE and HERE.  Here is the blurb for the 3rd book from Goodreads:

Mila has been running for her life for so long. But there might be nowhere left for her to go. Especially now that she’s an incredible danger to herself and anyone who dares get close to her.

That’s why Mila has gone into hiding with her friend, tech expert Lucas. She can’t take the risk of hurting people worse than the way she hurt Hunter: the boy she’ll always love, the boy who might never forgive her for what she’s done.

But then Mila discovers that General Holland has plans that are an even bigger threat to humanity than she is. Mila must make a choice: either push aside her fears and fight him with everything she’s got...or turn her back on the world forever.


So, sounds like there will be a final battle, and she must decide what she wants to do with  her life.  

What about you?  What are you awaiting this week? 

Review: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa

Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this final book in an awesome series.  I must start out by saying that once again I have been pleasantly surprised at how well the series has been ended.  So many trilogies where I just loved the first book disappointed me in either the 2nd book, or the last one.  I won't name names, you've seen my reviews if you've followed me.   But this was a great finale.

We start the book out with Allison and her sire, Kanin, and her brother, Jackal.  They are on their way to find Sarren and kill him, as well as stop his evil plans to release a modified virus on the world that will kill all living things, not just humans, not just the rabids, but vampires as well.  Sarren is just that crazy.  Allison is in a bad state.  We all know what happened with Zeke at the end of the last book.  And she is ready to give in to the monster inside her.  To get over her last bit of humanity, the things that Kanin tried to take the time with her to teach her.  Jackal of course is happy about that.  He wants her to become more like him.  But we continue to see that Jackal has softened a bit maybe, at least where his family is involved.  Sarren is leaving horrible displays along the way, knowing that they are following him.  Bodies hanging in barns, ripped apart.  Messages that hit right in Allison's heart, about her human family, including Zeke.  And when one of them shows up, left there to really get at Allison, let me say I was so upset!  Wanted to cry!  They really have to catch Sarren before he reaches Eden and unleashes the virus.

I won't go on about the story.  Just know that the way the whole outbreak, as well as the problem with Sarren himself, is solved is really creative in my opinion.  I love how it happens.  I love the things Allison learns about herself and about her family.  I love that things aren't all just humans love vampires at the end, that it is still a very tentative situation of trust.  Great characters, even the banter between Jackal and Allison is fun to read.  I loved this story.  Can't believe that when I met the author, Julie Kagawa, I hadn't ready any of her books, so couldn't go all fan girl on her, like I would if I got the chance to meet her again.  On a side note, it's kind of fitting that I finally got my orders of the first two books in at the high school library where I work.  I can't wait to share them with the students, and will probably have to go buy the 3rd one myself since I'm out of money through the school district.

Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

Once again a trilogy that ends on a great note!  There were definitely some deaths that sucked.  But it wasn't anything that ruined how the story went or ended.  Of course, I first need to say thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  It was so hard to finish the book, knowing that this was a trilogy, and now it was over.  I want so much to read on in this story and find out what happens next.  As I've seen others post on Goodreads, I would also be happy with a story on Roar.  Maybe we could go on with the story, but from his point of view.  Or whatever girl he might be able to find love with after losing Liv?  I don't know.  I just know I'm not ready to leave this world.  Okay, I will try not to spoil the story, but if you haven't read the first two, you should probably stop reading now.
We start where the 2nd book left off.  The Tides, as well as whatever of Aria's people from the pods that left with her are now living in the cave.  Hess and Sable have their own people, as well as Cinder.  Roar and Perry are still having issues, but Aria needs them to talk and get their friendship back on track.  Aria and Perry are not going to hide their relationship anymore.  And the big goal now is to get Cinder back.  And maybe, just maybe, get the people in the cave to the Still Blue.  This is something that needs to be done, so they don't end up having to live permanently in the cave.  The aether storms are getting worse.  The people from Aria's home are scared of the Tides and other people in the cave.  Aria must figure a way to get them to all work together so that they can figure a way to go rescue Cinder and save themselves.  They have a plan, but of course there will be obstacles.  Sable is quite the evil man, and soon Hess even figures out he is being double crossed, but when he tries to work a deal with Perry and Aria, it doesn't go so well.  There is also someone from Aria's past that we meet in this book, and it even leads to a new way of life or at least of thinking for her.
This final installment has tons of emotional bits, lots of adventure and action.  Even moments when you just know that the good guys have to be defeated, that you just know someone important must be dead, although you hope not since there was never a definitive scene showing that.  And in the end, well, it pretty much ends on a great note.  I don't believe you'll be disappointed with how it ends, just as I wasn't.

Sapphire Blue (Ruby Red Trilogy #2) by Kerstin Gier

Okay, I am officially in love with this series, and hoping this author has books other than this series that I can read!!!  I love the characters in this book.  And at first I thought one of the newer ones was really going to annoy me, a ghost gargoyle, or demon as he says he is.  But I grew to love him and couldn't wait until he would show up.  Truly it was a great way for the author to let us know what was happening when our main character wasn't around, or was back in a different time period.  You can read my review of the first book in the series here:  Ruby Red.  This second book I had to check out from the library.
We have the romantic interest of Gideon again, and he's just as off and on as the first book, if not even more so!  In fact, he reminds me of the line in Twilight that Bella says to Edward, "Your mood swings are kinda giving me whiplash."  I'd have to say though that it is almost even more pronounced in this story.  So much that you really feel sorry for Gwyneth.  Although I even began to believe it might be true from the way certain things happened. Even from things that Gideon said.  But then, the whole reveal that he had to get her to like him as part of a plan to figure out if she was the one sabotaging all the missions happens.  And this is not something new.  It happens in lots of stories like these.  But I feel that like in those other stories, even though it may have started out that way, Gideon is probably now in love for real.
In this sequel, Gideon and Gwyneth must go back into the 1700's for a soiree, and also to meet with the Count that seems so evil, but is the one who started all this.  Gwyneth also meets her grandpa back in the past, which she loves because in the present he has passed away, and she really loved him.  But getting to know him in the past, even to try to figure out why Lucy would have done what she did, well it only leads to Gideon thinking she must really be the traitor.  Another new character in this book is Gideon's younger brother Raphael, and he is one that I think I like right away as well.  He's much more upbeat than Gideon often seems to be, and quite sarcastic, which I like.  Gwyneth and her friend are really starting to figure out the whole mystery, and with the help of Raphael, there is a big reveal that we won't get to know until the 3rd book.
I'm so glad I have the 3rd book already, as I can't wait to go on!!!!  I was going to start reading Unhinged next, but as eager as I am to read that, I am going to have to finish this trilogy first.  They're long books, over 300 pages, but they're the kind I can barely put down once I pick up.  The kind that make me want to do nothing but read.  This is also a series where the 2nd book doesn't disappoint at all.  Hoping the 3rd and final will be that way as well!

Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

Like many of the reviews I've seen on Goodreads, I must say that I'm unsure exactly what to say, or how to even review this.  Also like at least one other review, I loved Divergent, Insurgent kind of was the usual middle book, not really great, but okay to get through to the next book.  And this one, good, just not how I would have liked it to have ended.  Big alert now, there is NO WAY, I can do this review without SPOILERS, so stop reading now if you don't want to know anything until you read it for yourself.  In fact, from here on out, I can't promise when a spoiler might show up, so before that, let me remind you to go enter my Fierce Reads Giveaway, and then you won't have to read any further!

SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!

So, here goes.  I really enjoyed getting out of the "Factionless" group where Four's mother was in charge.  For some reason, that was just never something I enjoyed in the 2nd book, so of course it makes sense it wouldn't be my favorite in this book.  But once they got out of their city, and headed to the place they were supposed to go, I really began to enjoy it.  But it turns out this experiment they were part of, well, the outside may not have been quite as bad off as the video they watched led them to believe.  While I enjoyed learning about this outside society.  I also feel, like I saw another review on Goodreads again, that maybe we got into one of those back story information overloads that happen sometimes in books.  While this book was basically the same number of pages as the 2nd book, I almost felt like it was shorter in a way.  I think it could totally have been longer, but, that being said, a lot happened in the book.  We had a lot of characters that we lost, or that got injured, and not always just disposable characters.  In fact, the ending of the book, was a HUGE death.  One that changes the whole world.  Someone we began with, we don't get to finish with.  But it's okay.  It was a realistic ending.  The person that saved everyone with their sacrifice, it only made sense that they did that.  But it was so sad.  When it happened, I immediately knew what all the angry reviews I'd seen but hadn't read were about.  I wasn't angry though, just really sad.  I was at a point when I had to stop to go do something else, this was about page 500, and I was glad.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the rest of the book.  Whether the ending worked or not, it wasn't a happy one.  I did like how the reason the whole experiments had begun was because of genetically "damaged" people and it turns out the "Divergent" people were what they had been looking for to come out of this experiment.  And it wasn't just Chicago, it was many other cities.  The first city set up didn't even start with a faction setting, and that experiment basically was a horrible failure.  I enjoyed the genetics talk that there was.  And the dystopian society, that Tris and Four and all of the people we knew not only left, but found outside their city.  I also want to comment on the dual point of view, both Tris and Four.  I enjoyed getting the story from Four's point of view.  In fact, it really kind of helped.  Because there were times that if we'd only  had Tris's point of view, you'd probably not have been able to forgive Four for not listening to what Tris thought they should do.  

Really, a good story overall.  A good ending, or realistic ending, not the kind I'd probably read again.  I know a lot of people hated the last book of the Twilight series, and said they wouldn't have ended it that way, but I always argued with them, and said it was the author's story, it ended the way she saw it.  And I actually liked that last book, and I can read it again and again.  This book, while I will argue again with people that it ended the way the author wanted it to, unfortunately it is not a feel good, read over and over story.  But I am excited to see the movies, especially Divergent, so I'll be revisiting the end again at some point, at the theater at least.

Now, if you made it all this way, and you haven't gone and entered my Fierce Reads Giveaway yet, go do it NOW!!

Rise (Eve #3) by Anna Carey

I finished up the trilogy this afternoon.  And I wasn't disappointed.  I will say the ending seemed a bit, um, don't know how to put it.  Kind of an "oh yeah, here you go."  But not in a bad way.  And I won't tell you what I'm talking about, because I don't want to spoil it!  However, as I said in the review for Once, you probably shouldn't read on if you haven't read Eve, or Once.  I can't help but put some spoilers in there.

Okay, Caleb was shot at the end of book #2, so all that Eve can do now is marry Charles.  And all that the rebels want her to do, is poison her father.  She agrees, after he has killed her true love, why should she let him live, and getting rid of him seems to be the only way to save the city and help the rebellion take over.  With help from Moss, an undercover rebel in a high place in the Palace, she gets the poison and puts it in some of her father's medicine.  She finds out she is pregnant.  She knows the baby is Caleb's, and not Charles, because ever since the marriage, she's never slept with him, he sleeps on the couch in their bedroom.  But Charles has been nothing but sweet and always on her side.  He just hopes now that Caleb is gone, maybe one day she can love him.  And I must admit, I kind of like Charles and wish she'd give him more of a chance.  Her cousin Clara has also turned into a great friend, and soon to be confidant.  She is able to get a key to escape to Arden and Pip and Ruby.  But she is unable to know if they've escaped as the rebels begin attacking the city.  And while her father recovers from the poisoning, the rebels begin being captured and publicly hung.  And so Eve knows she must escape, and when she does, she finds some of the girls from the schools and brings them with her.  Clara is with her too, and must go in order to stay safe.  They try to travel back through the wilderness on the same path Eve had taken before, to get the girls safely to Califia.  Along the way they run into Pip and Ruby, both pregnant.  They are trying to stay safe as well as keep away from the soldiers.  Eve knows they will come for her, but she doesn't know if her father will kill her as a traitor now, or continue to shield her as his daughter.  In the end, there must be a change, right?  That is the purpose of the whole struggle right?  But I won't tell you just how happy it is or isn't.  Only know that the King's reign will be over.

Another great sequel.  While the 2nd book is still kind of my favorite, this was a good end to the story, and as good as the first in the series.  I highly recommend this whole series to any dystopian fans.  And, truly, for those who don't like love triangles, while Charles could kind of be seen that way, he isn't, and I like that.  I like that Clara becomes a friend, I like that most of the people in the story do have something good about them, you can even feel a bit for her father, so that is a positive spin to a story, when usually there are so many bad people.  I like to see the good in everyone if I can, probably part of being a teacher, and I like it in this book.
Now, since I got this book free at the RT Convention Teen Day Party, I just have to share my picture of me with Anna Carey one more time.