Tag: Young Adult (Page 21 of 157)

BLOG TOUR + REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth #1) by Adalyn Grace

February 5, 2020 / Cassie / 8 Comments

All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth #1)
by Adalyn Grace
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice, Adalyn Grace’s All the Stars and Teeth is a thrilling fantasy for fans of Stephanie Garber’s Caraval and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.

She will reign.

As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.

When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.

But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder—and more peril—than Amora anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.

I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.

Review:

All the Stars and Teeth was the first book I read in 2020 and it very easily could be in my top ten by the time the year ends. That’s how much I adored this book.

There’s everything I love, wrapped into nearly 400 pages: Magic! Pirates! Mermaids! Enemies(ish)-to-lovers! Peril! Teamwork! Romance! A heartbreaking ending! Promise of more exciting things to come!

ATSAT is wild ride, from the very beginning chapters. Amora Montara, princess of Visidia, has been training in magic her whole life to take over her father’s throne. The magic is dangerous and there are very few who can do what she can. All she has to do is one demonstration of her ability to use this magic and she will ascend to the throne. But something goes terribly wrong and then next things she knows, she’s running away from a pirate to save her kingdom and prove she can one day rule.

It’s on this journey we meet the team: Bastian, the man who saved Amora from execution and has secrets of his own; Ferrick, Amora’s fiancé by way of an arranged relationship; Vatea, a mermaid who helps them navigate cursed waters after they rescue her. To say I loved the group dynamics would be an understatement. All of them bring particular skills and have such unique, but lovable, personalities.

The four of them sail around of the realm, trying to find the items they need to travel to Zudoh and face those who are practicing a dangerous magic face-to-face. As the group goes further on their travels, secrets are exposed and devastating information becomes exposed. Each character is battling their own personal demons, but all have a singular focus: to defeat the evil growing in the kingdom.

This is the first part of a duology, and while I would love to see it go even further than that, I’m happy to know there’s more to come. Because that ending was both satisfying and devastating. Certain storylines are wrapped up, but the sacrifices asked of some of our favs are almost too great and it broke my heart.

ATSAT is fast-paced and beautifully written. The characters are highly engaging and likeable. There’s monsters and magic and sea creatures. There’s also romance and deep friendships. All the characters grow and learn as they face precarious situation after precarious situation. There’s brutality but also sweet love. I truly don’t want to spoil a lot of aspects of this book, so I’ll just say I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. If you love YA fantasy as much as I do, All the Stars and Teeth makes a wonderful addition to this genre.

Favorite Quotes:

My hands hesitate over the fire as the confidence I built like armor around me shatters. Everything I’ve done has been for them. And yet…my own people fear me.

Bastian rolls his eyes and leans closer into the cell, dropping his voice so no one can eavesdrop. “Listen to me, I don’t want to abandon Visidia.” He pulls back his coat to reveal my dagger and satchel tucked into his belt. “I want you to save it.”

Hand on my cabin door, I shoot the boy a dirty glare. “Fine, keep your secrets. But remember that if you try anything, I’ll stab you without a second thought.”

“Are you flirting with me?” he teases. “It’s a bit hard to tell, considering how terrifying you are.”

“I’ve a collection of me who I intend to repay for generous they were to me.” Vatea’s smile gleams wicked. “Dismemberment for anyone who ever tried to touch me. The tongue flayed from those with wicked mouths. And the hearts eaten from any man who’s ever told me to smile.”

“As it turns out,” I say softly, “it’s impossible to break anyone out of the trance unless they have feelings for you.”

“Feelings?” he echoes, shifting his right hand so his fingers weave between mine. “You mean like this?”

It’s not too late for us; we are not the mistakes of our family. We have the opportunity to change Visidia for the better.

Bastian once asked me why I didn’t just find a crew and save myself. But what he didn’t realize was that I’d already found them—this is my crew, and I hold them tight. “We’ll do this together. All of us.”

Carefully, he reaches out to take my hand. Giving it to him is the only thing that makes me feel whole again, and I hate it.

Giveaway:

Win one copy of All the Stars and Teeth (US/CAN only). Contest runs Feb. 4 – Feb. 20, 2020.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:

Adalyn Grace graduated Summa Cum Laude when she was 19-years-old. She spent four years working in live theater, and acted as the managing editor of a nonprofit newspaper. During and after college, she studied storytelling as an intern on Nickelodeon Animation’s popular animated show, The Legend of Korra (sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender). She was a participant in Pitch Wars 2016, and is a former literary agent intern for an established agency.Adalyn splits time between San Diego and Arizona with her bossy cat and two dorky dogs, and spends her days writing full time while trying to find the city’s best burrito.She has several projects in the works, and hopes to continually push the boundaries and explore the limits of upper young adult fiction.You can follow her on Twitter, at @AdalynGrace

Keep up with Adalyn: Goodreads | Website | Instagram | Twitter

BOOK REVIEW: Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry

February 4, 2020 / Jen / 8 Comments

Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Echoes Between Us is bestselling author Katie McGarry’s breakout teen contemporary novel about a girl with everything to lose and the boy who will do anything to save her.

Veronica sees ghosts—more specifically, her mother’s ghost, thanks to the blinding migraines that consume her whole life and keep Veronica on the fringes. But the haunting afterimages make her wonder if there is something more going on….

Golden boy Sawyer is handsome and popular, a state champion swimmer, but this All-American is hiding an adrenaline addiction that could kill him. Drawn to each other after a chance meeting, can they help each other battle the demons that haunt their every step or will they push their luck too far and risk losing it
all…including their lives?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Review:

Echoes Between Us was a breathtaking story that touched my heart. I laughed, fell in love and when it all came together, the tears wouldn’t stop. But with whispers of paranormal moments within the pages, this book also gave me the chills. So if you’re looking for a book that will pull at your heart and also fill it with warmth, then definitely add this one to your tbr!

“There’s no such things as ghosts.”
Veronica offers me a slow daring grin like she knows secrets I don’t . “You’ll change your mind after living there a few weeks.”

I didn’t realize that this story had characters from Only a Breath Apart. And when I made the connection that Veronica was V, oh my gosh, I was so excited! We got to see Jesse, Glory, Leo, Nazareth and Scarlett! But if you haven’t read that story, don’t worry, Echoes Between Us can easily be read as a standlone.

Sometimes silence hurts more than words. – Sawyer

We alternated between Veronica and Sawyer. And while we started out a little bit in the dark, we got to know all of their secrets. Veronica saw and talked with the ghost of her mother. And Sawyer broke his arm doing something that we don’t learn about right away. They were both broken and drowning in a sea of hurt. And while they tried to be strong for others, it all became too much at times for them to handle.

He knows my secret, and I’m not okay with that.

I had already fallen for Veronica in Only a Breath Apart. I loved how she was kind, gutsy and had a take no crap attitude. And here I got to see how brutally honest she was and I loved that she stood up for herself. Others called her weird and she tried her best to let it bounce off her. But she was only human, and words hurt. Yes Veronica was quirky and celebrated holidays at different times of the year. But as we learned more about her past, her horrific migraines and the brain tumor she had, all the pieces of who Veronica was started to fall into place.

Most of the time, my life makes me feel as if I’m trapped inside a nailed-shut coffin that’s already been buried six feet deep, and I’m running out of air. – Sawyer

Sawyer broke my heart as I fell in love with him. He seemed like the golden boy to the world, but inside he was suffering. And to make the pain stop, he had an escape that was beyond dangerous. But Sawyer was so much more than he thought he was. He was strong, the best older brother ever, and stood up for those he loved. So while Sawyer had a few close friends, he didn’t do relationships. He was jaded and saw them as toxic. But when Sawyer, his mom and little sister ended up renting the first floor of the huge Victorian house that Veronica’s father owned, things started to change.

Then she does something unexpected. Veronica leans forward and places her hand over mine. Soft fingers, a delicate touch and my entire body sparks to life. As if I had been in darkness— the world was black and white —and then the flip was switched into color.

Fate pushed Sawyer and Veronica together and I hoped they would give each other a chance. But it wasn’t an easy path and there was so much in their way. Hurtful words, secrets, friends, family. And while there was some bite in their interactions, moments here and there gave me butterflies. Yet some of their times together, it felt like there was something more there. And I’m not just talking about friendship or love. But a presence that gave me the chills. There were scenes that made my hair stand up and not want to read this story in the dark. And I wasn’t sure how it was all going to play out.

She’s strong, she’s courageous , and for some reason, she’s trusting me.

Echoes Between Us was a beautifully haunting story. It truly had it all. Love, friendships, family and facing who you are. And when some twists shined light on stuff, oh my heart, this book made me cry. But it ended at a beautiful spot and my heart was so happy where Veronica and Sawyer ended up. So if you’re looking for a story that will touch your heart, definitely grab Echoes Betwen Us! In case you can’t tell, I’ve fallen for another Katie McGarry book!

Her throat moves as she swallows, then she whispers, “I saw a ghost.” – Lucy talking to Veronica

PS I love Sawyer’s little sister, Lucy! She was one of my favorites in this book!

PPS Two books later and Nazareth is still such a huge mystery to me. I’m hoping he gets his own story someday! Fingers crossed!

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

BOOK REVIEW: All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

January 29, 2020 / Cassie / 2 Comments

All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.

What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it’s a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill … or else everyone dies.

Amber Prescott is determined to get her classmates and herself out of the room alive, but that might be easier said than done. No one knows how they’re all connected or who would want them dead. As they retrace the events over the past year that might have triggered their captor’s ultimatum, it becomes clear that everyone is hiding something. And with the clock ticking down, confusion turns into fear, and fear morphs into panic as they race to answer the biggest question: Who will they choose to die?

"Talk about frightening page-turners! I kept reading chapter after chapter. I had to know what happens next! And trust me―the scares just keep on coming!" ―R.L. Stine, bestselling author of Goosebumps and Fear Street

Thank you to Edelweiss, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting. Within the hour, you must choose someone in this room to die. If you don’t, everyone dies.

As soon as I read the blurb for this book, I knew I HAD to have it. It has so many elements I love in thrillers: an isolated location (in this case, a locked room), a group of people who have secrets and a running clock until disaster strikes. SIGN ME UP.

Here are the major players of the book:
Amber – Main POV. Loves to compose music and is still dealing with the death of her older sister.
Sasha – Popular cheerleader and lead in the school play. Regina George, if you will.
Priya – Amber’s longtime best friend.
Robbie – Amber’s boyfriend and college-bound baseball player. Also popular.
Diego – Smart and a former friend of Amber’s. Won a Shark Tank-style show, which was the eventual cause of the rift.
Scott – The outlier of the group. Friendly with Amber but not friends with anyone else with the group and falls under your classic “bad boy” trope.

The book is told in a series of short bursts of present day and extended flashback to the events leading up to the fateful night. It is also mostly told through the viewpoint of Amber Prescott, a girl who loves to compose music. So much so that she has convinced to the drama club to perform a Romeo & Juliet set entirely to her original compositions.

It wouldn’t be high school without friend or relationship drama, and while Amber previously found herself on the fringe of high school society, she is thrust into the popular group when she becomes friends with Sasha and begins dating Robbie. Soon she is juggling so many priorities, things start to fall apart. But above all, her driving force is to be accepted into USC’s music program.

“Killing him won’t bury your secret…because I know it too.”

I really don’t want to give away anything more than what I’ve mentioned above, because you just need to read it for yourself. But by the end, everything is threaded together. We know exactly how and why everyone is in that room. I was OK with the ending. I think my biggest frustration was with how little of the book actually takes place in the present. I understand with a ticking clock and everything happening in one room, there’s only so much that can happen. But it really seemed like 80-85% of the book takes place in flashbacks, when the most interesting stuff (to me at least) was what was happening in the locked room. Thus, the four instead of five stars.

If you ever wished the Breakfast Club had been a little more intense (aka those Riverdale episodes), then I wholeheartedly recommend picking up this book and devouring it like I did.

The thing about being trapped in a room with five other people, a bomb, and a syringe of lethal poison is that at some point, shit’s going down. No matter how frantically you claw at rationality, how desperately you cling to common decency, you eventually give in to your basic instinct to survive.

All Your Twisted Secrets will be available March 17, 2020.

BOOK REVIEW: The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

January 27, 2020 / Arielle / 3 Comments

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin?

But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.

Review

Man am I bummed about this, you guys. For those of you who didn’t know, this is a loose science fiction re-telling of Persuasion by Jane Austen. I personally have never read it before but I HAVE read and loved For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund which was also inspired by the book. After finishing that I watched the movie from 2007 just to see how the Austen version went. Basically, this story is one of the move FRUSTRATING (but ultimately rewarding) cases of slow-burn/second chance romances that you will ever see in your entire life.

This version had a LOT of potential and I still think that a lot of people will really like this. I personally think that I would have liked it more if it had even been a duology. Even though the world building and plot were pretty well formed and made sense, there was still so much MORE that could have been delved into if there had just been even one more book.

The concept of this book is that the inhabitants of Earth who had the means to do so, left in a fleet of space ships based on different nationalities after another Ice Age came on and froze the planet solid. Our main female protagonist, Leo, is considered a princess even though her family is just about destitute an the title is only really that–a title. Her aunt, who is captain of a much larger ship that is doing really well and has quite a bit of wealth, allows them to dock there.

Said Aunt is about to be hosting an event called the Valg Season which allows young people from all the different ships a chance to come together to find a suitable partner from a different bloodline. Surprise, surprise, Leo’s old love (who she had been engaged to for a hot second years ago before she was talked out of it by her father, aunt, and cousin because he was poor) shows up. Only now, he’s got money and is suddenly the heir to a ship. The two are at each others throats understandably after what happened in the past and there is a lot of tension due to a number of different things that go down.

As much as the small snippets of them reconnecting had my stomach fluttering, I wanted more. More, more, more. There wasn’t enough of them reconnecting because too many other things were going on with different political aspects involving her aunt’s ship and the fleet in general. I didn’t learn nearly enough of what their past was like, or even who they had been as people to compare to the people they had grown to be in each others’ absence. Again, if this had been more than one book, I think everything could have been executed perfectly with a better balance between the two things. Either way, it was still a quick read and I did still enjoy myself.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. ♥

BLOG TOUR + REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: The Hand on the Wall (Truly Devious #3) by Maureen Johnson

January 23, 2020 / Cassie / 10 Comments

The Hand on the Wall (Truly Devious #3)
by Maureen Johnson
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson delivers the witty and pulse-pounding conclusion to the Truly Devious series as Stevie Bell solves the mystery that has haunted Ellingham Academy for over 75 years.

Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie’s greatest triumph . . .She knows who Truly Devious is. She’s solved it. The greatest case of the century.

At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it’s hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow—somehow—all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers.

Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it’s time for Stevie to do something stupid. It’s time to stay on the mountain and face the storm—and a murderer.

In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who’ve walked through Ellingham Academy.

Review:

IT’S HERE. The conclusion to the Truly Devious trilogy. And if you’ve been on the edge of your seat, barely hanging on through all the twists and turns and crazy reveals of this series, then buckle up. Maureen Johnson has one last book to shock us and finally reveal exactly what’s been happening at Ellingham Academy – then and now.

All of our favorites are back, including Stevie, David, Janelle, Nate and Pix. We also add in Hunter, who made some brief appearances back in The Vanishing Stair. The gang is all back together and working to figure out why terrible things keep happening and how they are connected to the original Ellingham mystery.

I’ll just say this upfront, I was very happy with the ending. Everything is revealed (in its own time) and all the threads Maureen Johnson has been weaving are tied together and it thankfully all makes sense. These kids have been through so much trauma and craziness, and to see their stories conclude with resolution, made me very appreciative.

The Hand on the Wall picks up shortly after the events of the Vanishing Stair. School is in session, but after another accident happens, Ellingham Academy decided to close its doors and send the students back home. However, Stevie and co. have other ideas. They need to figure out why and how everything has been going on. But to complicate the matters, a massive snow storm is headed their way, essentially trapping them on campus. What better to way hunker down and solve a decades old mystery?

For anyone who’s read this series, you’ve spent at least two books trying to pick out the correct puzzle pieces and figure out this mystery. I really didn’t guess anything correctly, but once everything was revealed, I was truly satisfied. It’s been a pleasure following along with these characters and trying to figure everything out with them. It’s truly a mystery series, with a additional emphasis on friendships and relationships.

Besides the overarching mysteries of the series, I loved these characters, especially when they are all together. They’ve all been through so much together, but it’s very clear how much they care for each other and are in tune to what each other are feeling. This is especially evident when Stevie struggles with her anxiety, when David self-deprecates or when Nate self-sabotages. These are smart and capable teens, but who all have their own unique battles.

If it’s not clear already, overall I really enjoyed this book and this series. It’s a great upper-YA mystery series and I wish there were more like it. The story is unique and all of the characters are memorable in their own way. I’m not sure what Maureen Johnson has planned after this, but I hope it’s another series similar to this. I’m ready to dive back in to a multi-book mystery.

Favorite Quotes:

She’d let him down because she could not handle it all. Guilt crept around the edges of everything—the taste of the coffee and the smell of the room and the cold coming from the window. Guilt and paranoia. She felt the thrumming in her chest, the engine of anxiety rumbling, making itself known.

She had a clue now, a point of focus. There were things in the walls. She wasn’t sure what that meant, or what she might be looking for. But so much of this had been about walls.

But sometimes, quite by accident, you find yourself vibrating on someone else’s frequency. You can follow the sense of the thing, if not the literal meaning. Sometimes, this is more important and more informative.

“So,” Hunter said, breaking the silence. “Weird night, huh?”

“Not really,” Nate replied, picking through the bottom of a large bowl of popcorn, looking for any fully popped pieces that weren’t hard kernels in disguise. “This is pretty much how it goes. Something terrible happens and we all come back here and talk about how terrible it is. We don’t learn.”

He had seen people give up hope before, seen the light leave their eyes. Albert Ellingham could buy almost anything he wanted, but not hope. Hope is not for sale. Hope is a gift.

Stevie had just failed some test she had no idea she had to take, on a subject she was not aware of. She had been sitting here in her hole in the ground, minding her own business, and then this. There was no winning. But he was here.

Giveaway:

Win one copy of The Hand on the Wall (US Only). Open Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, 2020.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:

Maureen Johnson HQ Maureen Johnson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and The Bane Chronicles (with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan). Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and The Guardian, and she has also served as a scriptwriter for EA Games. She has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and lives in New York City.