*Stand-alone*

A Thousand Nights

~ Angela ~ 1 Comment

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston (2015)

A Thousand Nights
YA Fiction | Historical Paranormal
4 Stars
Blurb:

“Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister’s place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin’s court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong. Continue reading →

The Scorpion Rules

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The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace #1) by Erin Bow (2015)

The Scorpion Rules
YA Fiction | Sci-Fi
4 Stars
Blurb:

“The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask?

Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies.

Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her own power.  Continue reading →

Story Time

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Story Time by Edward Bloor (2005)

Story Time

Middle Grade Fiction | Horror-Thriller4 StarsBlurb:

“George and Kate are promised the finest education when they transfer to the Whittaker Magnet School. It boasts the highest test scores in the nation. But at what price? Their school’s curriculum is focused on beating standardized tests; classes are held in dreary, windowless rooms; and students are force-fed noxious protein shakes to improve their test performance. Worst of all, there seems to be a demon loose in the building, one whose murderous work has only just begun.

A bitterly funny satire about the state of modern education from the author of Tangerine and Crusader.”
–Goodreads  Continue reading →

Sanctuary Bay

~ Angela ~ 1 Comment

Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz (2016)
-eARC Review-

sanctuary bay

YA Fiction | Thriller
4 StarsBlurb:

“In this genre-bending YA thriller, will Sarah Merson’s shiny new prep school change her life forever or bring it to a dark and sinister end?

When Sarah Merson receives the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the most elite prep school in the country-Sanctuary Bay Academy-it seems almost too good to be true. But, after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home, escaping to its tranquil setting, nestled deep in Swans Island, couldn’t sound more appealing. Swiftly thrown into a world of privilege and secrets, Sarah quickly realizes finding herself noticed by class charmer, Nate, as well as her roommate’s dangerously attentive boyfriend, Ethan, are the least of her worries. When her roommate suddenly goes missing, she finds herself in a race against time, not only to find her, but to save herself and discover the dark truth behind Sanctuary Bay’s glossy reputation.  Continue reading →

The Rest of Us Just Live Here

~ Angela ~ 1 Comment

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (2015)

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Teen Fiction | Contemporary | Paranormal4 StarsBlurb:

“What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Continue reading →

Dead Ringer

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Dead Ringer by Jessie Rosen (2015)
-eARC Review-

dead ringer

YA Fiction | Contemporary | Thriller4 StarsBlurb:

“From the moment Laura Rivers steps foot into Englewood High, she notices the stares—and they aren’t the typical once-overs every pretty new girl endures. The students seem confused and…spooked. Whispers echoing through the halls confirm that something is seriously off. “That new girl looks just like her,” they say.

It turns out Laura has a doppelgänger, and it isn’t just anyone—it’s Sarah Castro-Tanner, Continue reading →

The Metamorphosis

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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

Metamorphosis

Fiction | Classic4 StarsBlurb:

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.”  Continue reading →

Flashpoint

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Flashpoint (The Sonora Blair Mysteries #1) by Lynn Hightower (1996; 2015)
-NetGalley Review-

flashpoint

Fiction | Crime & Mystery3 StarsBlurb:

“A New York Times Notable Book: Cincinnati homicide detective Sonora Blair hunts a serial killer who’s playing with fire in Shamus Award–winning author Lynn Hightower’s chilling thriller

A single mother of two children and a police specialist with the Cincinnati Homicide Division, Sonora Blair is still awake in the middle of the night when the call comes in. Mark Daniels has been found in Mount Airy Forest handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car, doused with accelerant, and set on fire. As the hideously burned college student lies dying in the ER, he describes his killer: blond, female, and a total stranger.  Continue reading →

Time Stops for No Mouse

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Times Stops for No Mouse (The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures #1) by Michael Hoeye (2003)

no mouse

Middle Grade Fiction | Crime & Mystery5-starsBlurb:

“Hermux Tantamoq is an ordinary, hard-working mouse, living in an ordinary metropolis. But when adventuress and aviatrix Linka Perlfinger walks into his watchmaker’s shop, his life becomes anything but ordinary.”
–Goodreads Continue reading →

Beastly

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Beastly by Alex Flinn (2007)

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Teen Fiction | Paranormal Romance4 StarsBlurb:

“I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell. Continue reading →