Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

Genre:  YA Dsytopian/Science Fiction/ummm...  kind of contemporary too

Uninvited Series, Book 1

Sophie Jordan's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Sophie Jordan's website):

You can’t change your DNA… even when it says you’re a murderer.

When Davy tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, aka “the kill gene,” she loses everything. Once the perfect high school senior, she is uninvited from her prep school and abandoned by her friends and boyfriend. Even her parents are now afraid of her—although she’s never hurt a fly. Davy doesn’t feel any differently, but genes don’t lie. One day she will kill someone.

Without any say in the matter, Davy is thrown into a special class for HTS carriers. She has no doubt the predictions are right about them, especially Sean, who already bears the “H” tattoo as proof of his violence. Yet when the world turns on the carriers, Sean is the only one she can trust. Maybe he’s not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

Davy lives in a world where we know why people do terrible things and this kill gene has been detected.  As people apply for prestigious positions in the world, testing for this gene has become mandatory.  And once people know you have the tendency to harm people, you become a pariah in society.  This world Davy lives in sounds eerily similar to our own (or what we might one day see)...

Davy is a musical prodigy who has the perfect life.  She's almost done with high school, she's been accepted to Julliard, and she's setting up her future with her boyfriend.  But when news of her HTS status surfaces, everyone refuses to see her as the individual she is.  Instead, she's suddenly the person genetics says she'll become.  And Davy's life goes down the toilet.

Oh my goodness, the injustice of this world maddens me.  Can you believe a scene in this book made me cry?  I stayed up late every night trying to finish this one.  Watching Davy struggle with the world's label of herself while trying to be her own person was nerve-wrecking to read about.  If I were in her shoes, there's plenty of people I would have murdered.  I mean if people want to label me as a murderer, why should I have to be the one to prove them wrong?  This book is so unfair.  Gah, that's what I'm left with.  And yet, I loved it.

I believe Sophie Jordan's writing is on the rise for me.  I enjoyed her Firelight series, and I believe this one is even better.  I want to say fans of The Program by Suzanne Young will enjoy this one.

Blackbird by Anna Carey

Genre:  YA/NA Thriller

Blackbird Duology, Book 1

Anna Carey's website

Expected publication date:  September 16, 2014

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Anna Carey's website):

A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her. On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

You wake up to the noise of a train.  What you're lying on resembles tracks, and you realize the train is going to run you over.  But you somehow escape unscathed and have no idea who you are.  You have a knapsack with a few essentials and note to call a certain number.  But when you go looking for answers, you find yourself being tracked by people.  But you don't know who to trust or who to run away from.  Especially when a gun gets pointed at you.

This said girl, who goes by the name of Sunny, starts to look for answers to figure out who she is.  A boy accidentally runs into her in the convenience store and is suddenly involved in her story.  But for the most part, it's by his choice.  When Sunny discovers she's playing a cat and mouse game with someone, she decides she's not going to be the mouse anymore.  But as she begins to piece things together, she realizes she's in a lot more danger than she initially thought.  She'll have to learn who to trust quickly if she plans on surviving through the next couple of nights.

So how'd you like all of the you's at the beginning?  Well, you better get used to it with this one.  Unfortunately, I kept getting hung up on all of the you's, and I had a slow start.  However, after I gave it an hour, I was engrossed in Sunny's story.  We don't actually ever figure out her name, but we get to see little bits and pieces of memory come up.  And she's a great problem-solver.  It's a thriller for sure once you get into the game.  I just don't know if I can handle second person points of view very well.

With how quick of a read this one was, I can't tell people not to read it.  Once it's gripped your mind, it won't let go until you're begging for more.  And now I'm left hanging waiting for the next one.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Kiersten White's website

Expected publication date:  September 9, 2014

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

"I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Jessamin escaped her mother's clutches and the world of engagements/marriages to attend school in Albion.  Unfortunately, the pompous Albions do not think much of the islanders no matter how smart and gifted they are.  Jessamin's strengths lie in the mathematical field, but her female islander status keeps her at the bottom of the food chain and leaves her as a history major at school.  And even though she's at the top of her class and puts up with the Albion attitude to civilize everyone, she's still left at the bottom barely surviving.  But then fate intervenes.

When Jessamin accidentally runs into Finn, an elusive rich man, she finds herself enthralled with him.  He finds her entertaining, and she just finds him annoying for pitying her.  She will have none of that because she is fully capable of taking care of herself and doesn't need help from a pompous Albion snob.  But just as Jessamin helps rid Finn of his prejudices, Finn releases her pride.  And all in the middle of this is a bit of magic.

This book is a super quick and fun read.  I loved Jessamin's character and her stubbornness.  And the role that magic played in this book was so creative and sly.  I mean sure, I had some questions like how does this magic come about?  Why does it only affect a few?  The history's a little bogus, but my story-listening mind told this inquisitive side to shut up and keep reading.  The plot lines played so well, and Finn is just as much of that good guy every girl wants to meet.  Plus he's rich (always a plus).  This book had so many secrets that it wouldn't give up until just the right moment, and I didn't even realize I was following a twisting path until the ending came.  I was kind of like, woah!  It was amazeballs...

Sidenote about the setting:  It's set in a fantasy world that kind of mirrors our own past world.  There's a ruling country that's hell-bent on making all civilizations live a certain way.  But not everyone's stepping aside to let them do just that.  Oh, and there's magic involved.

Honestly, if you haven't picked up any Kiersten White books yet, I suggest you start with this one.  I absolutely adored it.  And my logical side certainly made way for the small romance-y side that loved this one.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M O'Brien

Genre:  YA Science Fiction

Caragh M O'Brien's website

Expected publication date:  September 16, 2014

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Caragh M O'Brien's website:

The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success: every moment of the students’ lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students’ schedules include twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year film student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras. What’s worse, she starts to notice that the edges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

This book takes reality tv to a whole new level with the Forge Show.  The most popular show around follows students in an arts school.  And based on how many viewers each student has determines their blip ranking.  After the first ten days, 50 of the 100 students are cut based on their rankings.  For Rosie, an education outside of the Forge school isn't possible.  So she must do everything in her power to make others watch her and raise her ranking before the cut happens.  But as she increases her popularity, she begins to notice that not everything is as it seems.

Rosie hasn't seen nighttime for the past few evenings due to a mandatory sleeping pill that forces all students to sleep for twelve hours.  So what starts as a night of skipping the pill just to see the night, Rosie sees what happens after hours.  And it's very peculiar.  Some students are reacting badly to the sleeping pill and have iv's in them.  Rosie notices the tell-tale signs of her own needle pricks.  And as she enlists one of the kitchen help to help her figure things out, she realizes her story has become even more far-fetched than before.  And as much as she wants to save people and out the Forge school for what it is, she's not sure people will believe her without proof.

I feel like this book had different parts to the story that were absolutely amazing.  But when pieced together, I see no correlation between it all and can't follow it well.  First, what does a reality school have to do with dreaming at night?  I know the book explains that the art students have the best imaginations and the cameras keep them working their hardest.  But still, I couldn't make the transition from the cameras to the sinister plot.  And then the boy, err love interest.  He sent off so many mixed messages that I questioned why he even bothered helping Rosie in the first place unless he was working for the evil ones --none of which does the book explain well.  And then when the sinister happenings began to unravel, Rosie had the "I can conquer anything and make the world believe me" attitude.  Honestly Rosie?  You're one girl against an evil madman whose been at it a lot longer than you.  (And I've had to delete this sentence multiple times due to plot spoilers, so I'll say this: my attitude of Rosie seems highly negative from this review.  That's not the case; I actually enjoyed Rosie a whole lot.  But I question a lot of her actions towards the end of the book; it seemed like her personality changed completely making her do things she wouldn't normally have done at the beginning.)

My head just didn't want to follow this story from the beginning.  But the mystery kept me going, and I was crossing my fingers that it would get better.  But I'm just left feeling confused about this book...

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

manda-rae's Haul

Stacking the Shelves consists of books we received in the last week, hosted by Tynga's reviews.

By the time everyone reads this, I will be in the wonderful state of Georgia.  I'm visiting my family, and we'll be driving up to the Smokey Mountains (even though they're currently south of me as I write this).  I'm kind of nervous about the heat considering it's only been in the sixties/seventies up here in Wisconsin.  I'll let you know if I'm dying oh heat...

For Review:

• Blackbird by Anna Carey
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• This one sounded like a nice thriller.  But now that I'm reading it, I'm not so sure.  The second person point of view is starting to bug me.  Too many you's.  Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours!

From the Library:

• Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• The husband saw the other cover of this book in a bookstore and wanted to read it.  I thought it'd be fun to read a book together.  But when this showed up from the library, he didn't believe me that it was the same book.  Funny how much difference a cover can make.
• Raging Star by Moira Young
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• The final book in the Dust Lands series.  It's been such a fun series to read.  I love following Saba in her adventures.
• Ruins by Dan Wells
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• These books are always so huge; they seem daunting.  But the whole science and genetics just keeps me intrigued.  If you can keep me following on the science bits, then you've written something well.

manda-rae's Past Week

Reviews:

• Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios
• Phantom's Dace by Lesa Howard

Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard

Welcome to my tour stop for the Phantom's Dance.  You will find a book bio, my review, Lesa's bio, and a giveaway.

Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard

Genre:  YA Contemporary

Lesa Howard's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Book Tour):

Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.

This is my first Phantom of the Opera retelling.  The ballet dancer Christine is trying to live a normal high-schooler life while attending a prestigious ballet school.  However, her dancing needs to be improved.  And during the moments of first-time dating, a mysterious teacher shows up who promises to help teach Christine become a better dancer.  And that's the twist this book plays on the well-loved classic; no singing involved.

Christine just recently moved to Houston for Christine's dancing.  She wants to become a professional ballet dancer, but she has a problem.  Not all of her teachers thinks she has what it takes to dance.  Meanwhile her home life is barely staying together with her parents avoiding each other.  So when the opportunity to tutor football players comes along, best-friend Jenna encourages Christine to go on a date.  As Christine begins to experience normal real-life things, she still tries to figure out her dancing mishaps.  That is until a pompous mystery-man volunteers to help her.  Suddenly, Christine's dancing life gets better and her social life gets happier.  That is until the Phantom puts a halt to all of this.

As far as the retelling goes, this one followed the storyline really well.  And it puts a fun teenage twist to the plot.  I enjoyed the relationship dynamics between Jenna and Christine.  And Raoul is one of those good guys that every girl wants (or will want eventually).  The only thing I didn't really enjoy is it never really gave the opportunity to put the phantom in a good light.  I mean we all know he's a a bad guy, but I love reading books that can twist your thinking/opinion of a person around until you question whether or not they really are evil.  Really, that was my only complaint.

This story's definitely one for Phantom and ballet lovers.  It gives you a moment to relive high school and first loves with a lurking phantom.

Thanks goes to Lesa Howard and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me a review copy.

Author Bio

I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.

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Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Genre:  YA Urban Fantasy

Dark Caravan Cycle, Book 1

Heather Demetrios' website

Expected publication date:  October 7, 2014

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Heather Demetrios' website):

Forced to obey her master.
Compelled to help her enemy.
Determined to free herself.

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Nalia has spent the last three years of her life as a captive on Earth.  Owned by the lucrative Malek, she spends her time granting wishes for Malek's clients.  Malek is a powerful man who never seems to get old.  And he has a very sly and cunning ability to work his way around the rules in order to get what he wants.  But as much as Nalia wants her freedom, he wants her.  As Nalia fights for her freedom, she finds the game between slave and master changes quickly.

Raif has left the Resistance in Arjinna to find Nalia.  He believes she can help her find a deadly weapon that will help end the war that's currently ravaging Arjinna.  All he has to do is get Nalia to agree to help him.  But as news of Nalia's existence reaches Arjinna, he finds there are other dangers circling after her.  As he fights to help free her, he finds himself making an unbearable choice.  Can he sacrifice the lives of his people for one person?

A book about genies: it sounds so interesting.  And this story had so much going into it that I was immediately interested.  But I kind of got bored.  Nalia is a beautiful character and we see a lot of heartache from her past, but I feel like too much of her emotion was barred from me, the reader.  And I just could not connect with her.  I also spent a good amount of time trying to determine what age group this book was meant for (my guess is mature young adult or new adult).  And as creepy as Malek was, I seemed to like him more because he wasn't the scene of insta-love.  And we got to see how much hate Nalia could fuel herself with around Malek.  There was just so much potential in this story that I really wished I could say I loved it.  But I was just bored.  I felt like the pages were too long for the story I received.

I wish I could say I loved this one, but I can't.  My only recommendation to readers is to check out as many reviews as you can before you decide to read this one.  Because I'm sure there are going to be those who absolutely loved this one out there.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

manda-rae's Haul

Stacking the Shelves consists of books we received in the last week, hosted by Tynga's reviews.

What a lovely Saturday!  I'll be doing my workout class and then going to a lake to enjoy the sunshine.  And maybe I'll get some reading in later...

For Review from Around the World ARC Tours:

• The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M O'Brien
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• I finished this one last night, and I'm not sure I liked it.  I just don't know what to think about it.  It definitely was not what I was expecting...
• Illuisions of Fate by Kiersten White
• Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
• I think I may have picked this one out because it's a Kiersten White book.  We'll see how it goes.

manda-rae's Past Week

Reviews:

• Talon by Julie Kagawa
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
• Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter by Nikki Jefford

Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter by Nikki Jefford

Welcome to my stop for the Bad Blood tour.  I must admit that I am new to this series, but I plan on continuing it since it has good humor and a fun story.  Below, you'll find information about the newest book (#3) in the series, my review of the first book, about the author, and a giveaway.

Bad Blood by Nikki Jefford

Genre:  YA (or NA) Urban Fantasy

Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter Series, Book 3

Nikki Jefford's website

Amazon | Goodreads

Description (taken from Xpresso Reads Tour):

Aurora returns from boot camp to a new assignment, an unwelcome roommate, and the increasingly amorous attentions of a certain vampire hunter.

College is starting, and so is Aurora’s undercover work at a network of swanky parties known as “Tastings” for high rolling vampires who like their blood laced with fine wine. But Aurora’s not the only one on the prowl. An underground investigation is under way to find out who killed one of Anchorage’s most prominent vampires… and Aurora is a prime suspect.

If you're new to the series like me, the first book will be free during the duration of the tour.  So go check out this series; you won't regret it.

Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter by Nikki Jefford
Genre:  YA (or NA) Urban Fantasy

Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter Series, Book 1
Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Nikki Jefford's website):

If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it's to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn't hurt either. Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora's life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter in Alaska. Basically she's a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis before she has to finish the job...by hand. Now Aurora's only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire. And if he's a vampire, will she be forced to kill him?

Aurora Sky is living the average teenage life trying to finish high school and get out of Alaska.  But even though she's a senior, she hasn't experienced much in life nor has she held very high expectations.  But a near death experience is about to change all of that.

When Aurora wakes up from the dead (well, almost literally), she finds she owes her life to a few government agents.  And they're enlisting her to help them take out the undead.  But Aurora's not even done with high school yet.  In fact what almost ended up being her bucket list is now her new year's resolution list, and she's determined to get kissed by a boy, even if it kills her.  As Aurora becomes acquainted with vampire groupies, other hunters, and vampires, her life kind of becomes interesting and dangerous.

Aurora has a nice sense of humor.  I spent the majority of this read smiling and rolling my eyes (because I could relate to her shortcomings).  Nikki Jefford plays a nice twist to how vampires come about, and I'm not quite sure I follow it completely, but I figure it's just going to make the series more interesting.  I kind of felt like this book went super quick; I finished it in one day.  And the benefits to that is it kept you on the edge of your seat as new situations came up, Aurora's fickle mind changed constantly, and crazy vampires tried to kill her (or suck her blood).

This is a fun series that gives us a perspective from a teenage vampire hunter's point of view.  I enjoyed it and look forward to more eye-rolls from this series.

Thanks goes to Nikki Jefford and Xpresso Reads Book Tours for providing me a review copy.

About the Author

Bookaholic, nature girl, and animal lover.

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands (WA) where she is, once more, neighbors with Canada in a town without a single traffic light.

She married the love of her life, Sebastien, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They reside with their Westie, Cosmo in Friday Harbor.

Loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt.

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