The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh

The Night Tourist 

author : katherine marsh

pages : [hardcover] 230

favorite character : Euri

summary :

Jack Perdu, a shy, ninth grade classics prodigy lives with father on the Yale University campus. Smart and introverted, Jack spends most of his time alone, his nose buried in a book. But when Jack suffers a near fatal accident, his life is forever changed. His father sends him to a mysterious doctor in New York City-a place Jack hasn’t been since his mother died there eight years ago. While in the city, Jack meets Euri, a young girl who offers to show him the secrets of Grand Central Station. Here, Jack discovers New York’s Underworld, a place where those who died in New York reside until they are ready to move on. This, Jack belives, is a chance to see his mother again. But as secrets about Euri’s past are revealed, so are the true reasons for Jack’s visit to the Underworld. Masterfully told, The Night Tourist weaves together New York City’s secret history and its modern-day landscape to create a highly vivid ghost world, full of magical adventure and page-turning action.

review :

The Night Tourist was a highly simplistic read that I started one night and finished the next afternoon. The writing is very to the point and not overly embellished though I think that I would have liked to see more added into it, especially in the more surreal parts of the novel. It was a very creative and fun journey though it seemed rushed and bland at points because of the bland writing.

I loved the ideas presented throughout The Night Tourist and the underworld that it created for the ghosts who were still in limbo. At times it was kind of confusing to keep track of the supporting characters as there were so many ghosts that Jack ran into, but I really liked the bantering relationship that he and Euri had going on so that definitely distracted me from most faults in this novel. I liked the settings, too; the ghost haunts, the different places around New York.

I think that if the author had added in some pages really developing the narrative and fleshing it out more fully then I would have enjoyed this much more because I really fell in love with all of the creative, ghostly things that were happening and hated it when an oddly phrased paragraph or blunted dialogue dragged me out of the book world simply because of the annoyance that that caused me. I’m really hoping that maybe if this author writes something else that I’ll read, that might not be the case, because of the creativity presented here that isn’t something to miss.

The Night Tourist is geared toward younger readers but I think that it’s a book that anyone can pick up and take something good from.

3.5/5 stars

Blog Tour! Volition by Lee Strauss: Review

Volition

author : lee strauss

pages : [ebook] 249

favorite characters : noah &  zoe

summary :

What doesn’t kill you…

Zoe Vanderveen is on the run with her captor turned rescuer, Noah Brody.

They’re in love.

Or at least that’s what he tells her. Her memories have returned but her feelings are dreamlike—thin and fleeting. Her heart can’t be trusted. Just look at what happened with Taylor Blake.

Senator Vanderveen’s new team of cyborg agents are in hot pursuit, and a reward for their capture is broadcast nationwide. Record breaking cold and snow hinder their escape. Someone dies helping them.

And their fight for survival has only begun.

review :

Wow. Right from the start I loved the two main characters, Noah and Zoe, and the dynamic between the two of them. It’s as captivating as it is heartbreaking because there isn’t simply the usual romantic tension between the two of them; Zoe is trying to figure out how she really feels about Noah because she can’t recall the feelings she had before even though her memories of him are back. That intensity right at the start of the book carries through the rest of the text, leading the reader on a thrilling sci-fi ride.

What’s great about this book is even the bad guys are cool, though I really wouldn’t want to be chased by a bunch of cyborgs in a world where you can’t trust anyone. Zoe is sure that something bad is going to happen to them and Noah is giving everything he has just so that he can protect her. I liked the little moments he had where he’d kind of question what he was doing, just grounding it in some kind of reality, though he always chose Zoe over everything else.

This is a great, quick, fun read that I really enjoyed. I love the setting, the detailed writing, and the characters are fantastic. I really think that it’s Zoe and Noah who make the book, though of course all of the other elements only help to emphasize just how awesome the leading duo is.

4/5 stars

Pulse by Patrick Carman

Pulse 

author : patrick carman

pages : 384

favorite character : hawk

summary :

From New York Times bestselling author Patrick Carman, a teen fantasy-adventure of epic proportions. In 2051, some teens have a “pulse,” the power to move objects with their minds. Compulsively readable, with thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.

The year is 2051, and the world is still recognizable. With the help of her mysterious classmate Dylan Gilmore, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a “pulse,” and Dylan has the talent, too.

review :

All of my hopes for this novel fell flat. I loved Patrick Carman’s novels when I was a kid and I was hoping this new YA trilogy by him would only help to continue the awesomeness that is his writing. Or was, because I really don’t think that Pulse or the books that will follow after it will really ever be liked by me.

I think it was partially the book summary’s fault for my impatient disappointment with this novel. Because it was talking about telekinetic powers and fighting and action, I thought that more of the book might involve all of that . . not just the last few pages. It was infuriating to read through the first half which just detailed a futuristic school experience that was really just like a boringly dramatic high school and have no mention of telekinesis or any action whatsoever.

Then, the characters. Faith was hardly likeable. She was actually very annoying at times, particularly with how she acted toward her so-called friends and who she chooses to spend her time with. She has completely unhealthy relationships and most of the other characters do things that make them completely unlikeable. The potential love interest in this story really creeped me out and had such a possessive and controlling way of interacting with Faith that I really just wanted to get her away from him. Because I never really felt any emotional connection to the characters or story, I feel like anything could have happened, people could have died and I wouldn’t have been very affected.

Pulse was a huge disappointment for me. I won’t be reading the next few books. I’d possibly skim them out of interest to see where the plot could potentially go but I can’t think of anything that would hook me into this storyline at this point. This really just isn’t a book for me.

2/5 stars

A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso

A Shimmer of Angels

author : lisa m. basso

pages : [paperback] 321

favorite character: rayna

summary :

Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it’s more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can’t admit to seeing?

review :

With all of the novels coming out these days about angels, I’m really looking for something that will stand out of the crowd. In some aspects, A Shimmer of Angels really did that and in others it followed the now typical expectations of the YA genre. The main character cannot seem to make good decisions, or stand well on her own, and refuses to believe in the things that would aid her while she’s fighting the bad guys. There’s a love triangle, of course, with a bad boy and a cookie-cutter good one-both angels, of course.

But I didn’t dislike all of it! I thought it was really interesting to see how Rayna tried to deal with her odd ability to see angels everywhere. Though because she mentioned that she only saw them once a month or so and they never really hurt her, I don’t know why she got so upset when she saw them when she knew that mentioning them would get her locked up in an institution. And I don’t really know how that sort of thing works, but it seemed kind of overdone, with how horrible her life was supposed to be and all.

By the end of this novel, I really saw the potential for this series. If it wasn’t really portrayed as a love triangle and if I see more growth in the main character, I’ll be really happy. I know that I’ll want to continue with this series to see where things are going to go but as of book one I’m not an enormous fan.

3.5/5 stars

Blink Once by Cylin Busby

 

Blink Once

author : cylin busby

pages : [hardcover] 304

favorite characters : west & olivia

summary:

West is a high school senior who has everything going for him until an accident leaves him paralyzed. Strapped down in his hospital bed, slipping in and out of consciousness, West is terrified and alone. Until he meets Olivia.

She’s the girl next door-sort of. A patient in the room next to his, only Olivia can tell what West is thinking, and only Olivia seems to know that the terrible dreams he’s been having are not just a result of his medication. Yet as West comes to rely on Olivia-to love her, even-certain questions pull at him: Why has Olivia been in the hospital for so long? And what does it mean that she is at the center of his nightmares? But the biggest question of all comes when West begins to recover and learns that the mysterious girl he’s fallen in love with has a secret he could never have seen coming.

review :

Wow. I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long while and knew that it had the opportunity to be a really powerful read. I love the fantastical element in it of not knowing whether or not Olivia truly exists or if she is just a figment of West’s damaged mind. Because he’s trapped in his hospital bed for so much of the novel, it was definitely at risk for falling flat or trying to overreach and become philosophical in the times when West contemplates this change in his life and what it currently means for him. I love the way that it was all handled and hope to read more from Cylin Busby in the future.

West and Olivia were both imperfect characters just like the rest of the cast and that’s what I think I liked so much about them. Olivia is erratic, with mood swings that generally center around West, while he’s unable to do much more than communicating through blinking his eyes and then attempting to write some things out. But only Olivia is the one who allows him to try this with her. She’s the one he can really come to and he seems to be the only person she’s comfortable around. They need each other desperately and it’s in that that the reader can see that they’re really still two kids who are struggling to get through this stay in the hospital.

I really recommend this book to fans of suspense novels, medical mysteries, odd romance, and intriguing plot lines. I typically lean toward fantasy and dystopia this days so Blink Once is a refreshing voice in the YA genre. If you’re interested in picking up a great YA novel that might be unlike anything you’ve read lately, definitely reach for this one!

5/5 stars

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

 

This is Not a Test

author : courtney summers

pages : [paperback] 323

memorable quote : I woke up and the last piece of my heart disappeared. I opened my eyes and I felt it go.

favorite characters : sloane & rhys

summary :

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

review :

I’ve been really looking forward to getting into more zombie books (especially with the Warm Bodies movie coming out in February!) and heard nothing but good things about This is Not a Test. Actually, it popped up on so many lists of the best books of 2012 that I started reading it at the end of the year. I love how this one is more character oriented while it also has some fantastic action scenes involving the zombies and the kids holed up at the school. I like it when a book can have a basic, enclosed setting that could end up being boring and end up being fantastic!

This is Not a Test follows Sloane, who isn’t in her right mind. Actually, the day that the zombies come, she’s planned on killing herself. Against her will she ends up living longer than she planned. It was so incredibly interesting reading about things from her point of view. She never considered anything too risky because she already didn’t care about her life and whether or not she would be in danger. Sometimes in her interactions with the other characters it’s obvious she isn’t entirely there mentally.

Yet the writing style is gorgeous, gripping, and completely wonderful, adding even more to characters who are real, unpredictable, and just awesome. There are those you hate, those you want to live, and those you can’t decide about. But nobody’s perfect, and some of them have flaws that make you consider the lows humanity can stoop to when faced with a catastrophe like this.

I highly recommend This is Not a Test. If you’ve been hearing about it and have considered picking it up, I definitely say you should. I borrowed this from the library, but it’s a book that I would happily buy.

5/5 stars

Beta by Rachel Cohn

Beta

Annex #1

author : rachel cohn

favorite characters : xanthe & elysia

summary :

Elysia is created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to exist.
Elysia’s purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air induces a strange, euphoric high, which only the island’s workers–soulless clones like Elysia–are immune to.
At first, Elysia’s life is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne’s human residents, who should want for nothing, yearn. But for what, exactly? She also comes to realize that beneath the island’s flawless exterior, there is an under-current of discontent among Demesne’s worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care–so why are overpowering sensations cloud-ing Elysia’s mind?
If anyone discovers that Elysia isn’t the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happi-ness is ripped away with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she’s always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.

review :

I picked up this book thinking that it’d be an okay read and now I think that it’s going to be one of my favorite books of the year! Elysia’s story is terrifying, captivating, inspiring, and addictive. I can’t wait to continue with the sequel!

All of the characters in Beta are wonderful, even the ‘unfeeling’ clones that popular the island Elysia was created on. The society is one that is both fascinating and repulsive, a group of some of the most elite people to survive in this new, harsh world. They have altered the place to be something completely paradisaical and thus something that could never have occurred only in nature. Everything hear needs to be perfect and is so perfect that no human living there ever wants to have to work. This means that the clones do all of the work and because they are not allowed to want, they only do the will of the humans owning them and nothing else.

It was wonderful and funny to see Elysia navigate the world of teenagers while she is newly born and does not understand much. While most of this is sweet and funny, there are also parts that will break your heart and remind you that her life is nothing more than glamorized slavery.

I cannot wait to see more of this world, beyond the island, and see what the rest of the Annex series has in store for readers. With a lovely writing style and cast of characters, I feel like this can’t disappoint. With a background as solid as that and a plot that is impossible to forget, Beta is a wonderful new favorite of mine.

5/5 stars

Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh

Whispers in Autumn

The Last Year #1

author : trisha leigh

pages : [paperback] 388

favorite character : althea

summary :

In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots.

Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone.

Then she meets Lucas, everything changes.

Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race.

It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what.

And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

review :

I love dystopian novels, and this is definitely one for any fan of the genre to check out! In the slew of books coming out in this genre, Whispers in Autumn certainly stands out. I can’t remember if I’ve ever read one where the oppressive government is composed of aliens. That’s right, aliens now control the Earth, and Althea is one of the few who is even capable of realizing that anything is even wrong.

I loved figuring it all out alongside Althea . . Even if I wish she’d let someone give her a nickname. But I can understand how that’d get confusing, traveling from place to place and not even having your name remain the same. I can’t imagine having a life like hers, though that was what hooked me into the book from the start. Her life is anything but regular, something she herself notes in the first few chapters. Learning about her and her society is something that’s both interesting and freaky, because no one seems to even notice that something is wrong with how their lives are controlled during every instant.

I love Althea as a character! While some of the minor characters could get annoying at times, all of her reactions (and quirks) I liked reading about. Especially the little things that marked her as different from all of her fellow classmates. This is a completely character driven story, rather than one that relies on action like so many other dystopian tales. I think that’s another thing that sets this apart, though it doesn’t detract from the reader’s enjoyment at all. In fact, I think that I like being able to immerse myself in the different society a little more fully before everything starts falling into place. It makes it that much more interesting!

Whispers in Autumn is a book that you certainly won’t want to miss. Even if you aren’t typically a fan of dystopia, I think you’ll enjoy this book!

4/5 stars

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina

Seraphina #1

author : rachel hartman

pages : [hardcover] 467

memorable quote : “Sometimes the truth has difficulty breaching the city walls of our beliefs. A lie, dressed in the correct livery, passes through more easily.” 

favorite characters : orma & seraphina

summary :

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina’s tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they’ve turned the final page.

review :

I wanted to look into this book firstly because I was intrigued by the cover . . I can admit that much. But then I realized that the summary sounded wonderful as well (which is the real important part) so I waited and waited until I could get this at the library. Now I’m wishing that I actually bought it so that I could own this wonderful book.

Keep in mind that I started reading this thinking that it was a stand alone novel and not expected a second book. I was so intrigued about everything and sped through the pages waiting for all of the answers . . only to realize around page 400 that there wasn’t enough space for me to get the resolution I wanted (and by then, really, really needed). Because these characters got to me, fast. Even the ones that I thought that I’d hate were really connecting with me, which is strange in itself. Then the bad characters were so wonderful as well, and the plot twists . .

This is a book I could totally fangirl over. The prose is so beautifully written, piled together in something that almost seems so grounded in reality even in this alternate world. And the wonderful storytelling doesn’t detract from the humor of it, whether dry or blatant. There are beautiful depictions of the setting and I really feel like I can see the society that Seraphina lives in and has to deal with, including the tension between the humans and the dragons. It’s heartbreaking to think that the dragons aren’t supposed to learn to deal with human emotion, even when in their human forms. When that’s taken a step further . . You can bet I was hating some of those dragons even more and caring about a few more deeply than I would have thought possible for the first book in a series.

I don’t know how many of these there will be and I don’t really care. I just know that I’ll end up reading them all. Seraphina was so fantastic! I feel like it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read, so please go pick it up and try it out!

5/5 stars

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough

Long Lankin

Author: Lindsey Barraclough

pages : [hardcover] 448

favorite characters : roger & kittie

summary :

Beware of Long Lankin, that lives in the moss. . . .When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their elderly aunt in the isolated village of Byers Guerdon, they receive a less than warm welcome. Auntie Ida is eccentric and rigid, and the girls are desperate to go back to London. But what they don’t know is that their aunt’s life was devastated the last time two young sisters were at Guerdon Hall, and she is determined to protect her nieces from an evil that has lain hidden for years. Along with Roger and Peter, two village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries — before it’s too late for little Mimi. Riveting and intensely atmospheric, this stunning debut will hold readers in its spell long after the last page is turned.

review :

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for so long! And not only because it has a completely gorgeous, creepy, intriguing cover . . No, that was only part of it, however much that made me look into it in the first place. I’ve been trying to read more YA horror and I’ve heard such good things about Long Lankin. I really enjoyed this read, though I think that it could have been much better.

For one, the entire time I was frustrated because the whole town seemed to realize someone would die if they stayed in that house. Why, then, couldn’t they just take someone away and then let the danger be gone so they could all live happily, without the entire horror story coming along? I can’t imagine that all of them would be so heartless. Anyway. Moving along!

The novel is extremely slow-paced, though this leads to a deeper display of the characters, the time period, and world building. It’s a sort of puzzle for a while but an entirely predictable one as the cover and the song printed at the beginning let the reader know what’s coming for them right from the start. There were some long, drawn out scenes that seemed highly unnecessary . . Like a cricket game that was described in great detail and the only lasting impact was a single question one of the kids managed to ask that almost got them an answer they needed. Almost.

I did like it a lot, in retrospect, but it isn’t a read that I’d go back to again and again. The ending was wonderful and action packed, just like I’d hoped it would be, and it definitely redeemed a lot. I’d recommend this to fans of horror who don’t mind waiting for at least 350 pages to go by before things get really heated.

3.5 / 5 stars