Mortality (The Hitchhiker Strain #1) by Kellie Sheridan

All About It:

After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death.

Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.

Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.

Show more

ShWhat I Thought:

I have almost no words to describe how much I loved this book. I said, almost! Not telling everyone how amazing this book is would be a crime, though, so I’ll try and do Ms. Sheridan’s work justice! From start to finish (in one sitting, up all night long) I was absorbed in the story and the characters and could not put it down! Savanna, or Savvy as her friends affectionately call her, was an amazing protagonist. You felt what she felt and saw what she saw. While I cannot go into much detail without spoiling a spectacular part of the story, the other point of view we hear from is pretty good too, although I did find myself quaking in anticipation to get back to Savvy’s story line. The romance in this book is frustrating but wonderful and you finish with the first book thinking there could be a love square in the future (although not really…Cole wins because he’s just yummy!) But Zach and ??character (won’t be spoiling this surprise, sorry, well not really READ THE DANG BOOK!!!) might have a shot too! I found the two different waves of zombie infection more than interesting. Most zombie stories do not branch out this much and it makes the new “Zombie Fad” excitingly more enticing and interesting. The journey taken by both main characters is never dull and full of so many twists, turns and heart aching decisions that it is impossible to not become absorbed in the words. I could go on and on BUT I won’t because as much as I could say there is just no way to tell more and not ruin anything. Plus as much as I wish and as hard as I try you cannot fully understand the FANTASTICNESS of Mortality until you read it for yourself. So go out and pick yourself up a copy! Don’t waste any time. Go, go NOW! Okay, I guess you can wait until morning when the stores open…although Amazon.com IS always open. Haha. Seriously, don’t overlook this one. You’ll regret it! The only part I am sorry to report is that the next installment will not be out until later this year. It’s worth the wait though! Thanks for sharing your zombie-fied world with us Ms. Sheridan!

 

Five out of Five Fairies

Daynight by Megan Thomason

All About It:

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Life(TM). Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.

Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.

Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.

Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.

Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series

Description from Amazon.com


What I Thought:

I was a little bit weary of this book at first due to its three alternating viewpoints; I was however more than pleasantly surprised. This book was fantastic! I could hardly put it down, and being a junior in college that is not an ideal situation to be in. But, you know what, I DID it and I DON’T regret it. The story line in Daynight is different than any other novel out there, refreshingly so. The characters are original and you fall for all of them. The love triangle of Kira, Blake and Ethan is frustrating but delightful. Everything is included in this story, which I know doesn’t make much sense but saying any more than that would give away HUGE twists and turns that take place. Daynight by Megan Thomason is better in its 324 pages than all the Twilight Saga books put together. The ending will leave you down on your knees begging for more. I cannot WAIT to return to the world of Thera (while the characters may SERIOUSLY disagree with me) created by Ms. Thomason.  

 

Five out of Five Fairies

Rise by Anna Carey

All About It:

Rebel armies are getting closer, and the fate of The New America rests with Eve. Trapped in the City of Sand and married to a man of her father's choosing, Eve can't forget her love for Caleb-- her passion for the rebel cause. Then tragedy strikes, and Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight in this final battle for freedom.
(obtained from the ARC of Rise)

What I Thought:

For how much I loved the other two in the series, the finale of the Eve trilogy was a major disappointment.

 Don't get me wrong, the writing was still fantastic and the story so enthralling that once I started in on the ARC (advanced readers copy) I could not put it down and finished in one sitting. However, the ending, the final conclusion and farewell to the trilogy left so much to be desired. It concluded, yes, but it did not leave you feeling like it did. I actually want to cry at how awful the final page was. It was the conclusion and yet it wasn't. To make this trilogy truly amazing, before publication a new ending must be written. Otherwise, it leaves the dedicated reader cold. Add more description. Without it put in, this series in nothing. I cannot say much without spoiling, but PLEASE Ms. Carey for the fans RE-WRITE the ending, make it warmer. Let us SEE it; it is one place in writing the writer should not be bound by the "show don't tell" rule. I want to leave this world of Eve behind with a warm and fuzzy feeling. As it stands right now the ending came to fast. With the fast paced ending there is not enough transition to the end, you leave it feeling dead inside. So before official publication TELL us what the last few paragraphs lead up to, show it in WORDS not vague descriptions. It will make the reader happier, feel more satisfied, and NOT like they wasted their precious time reading something that will never end. If nothing changes, I am sorry I recommended this series to so many people.

So, like a broken record I say, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Ms. Carey, WRITE A DIFFERENT ENDING!! Eve deserves it, you deserve it, the READERS deserve it...Please.

1 faire out of Five

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

All About It:

Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

What I Thought:

It is not very often that I can say a sophomore book is better than the first in a series, but often or not, I can say it now. Dearly, Beloved was in simple words…”Just…WOW!” I found the first in Ms. Lia Habel’s series, Dearly, Departed, a bit hard to get through. I just kept picking it up, reading a little, becoming bored and placing it back where I had gotten it from. This was not the case with Beloved. I could barely manage to put it down to shower, eat and sleep and DON’T even get me started on the work thing! I would often set aside something I was supposed to be doing to continue on with the story!

Like Departed, Dearly, Beloved was told in alternating viewpoint. All in all you hear from Nora, Bram, Pamela, Michael, Vespertine and a new comer, Laura. Each character gave their views and parts in the current apocalypse. I usually find alternating views hard to stomach and annoying. I like to hear from one person and one person only. But in Dearly, Beloved the alternations worked. Nora and Bram, while the main characters of the story, were interesting but by far not my favorite to partake in reading. Honestly, as horrible as it may sound once you read this marvelous book, my favorite was Michael! He was so dark, twisted, and sad that I found myself disliking him yes, but more so feeling utterly sorry for the poor lad and hoping something would come of his evilness. Pamela, Nora’s best friend was a tad on the annoying side to listen too. She complains and worries far too much. I did however find that as annoying as she was I connected with her the most. She was the most real to me. As for Vespertine I truly hated her in the first book but from her SMALL part in Beloved I see my hatred stance changing. I think I might actually be coming around to liking her! And finally, the new comer, Laura, she is a member of a new zombie gang called “The Changed.” All in this group are zombies but while at first on the side of peaceful coexistence with the living the group slowly comes undone and things fall apart, leaving a nasty side effect for the rest of the world. Laura was likable but a bit infuriating at the same time. She sits around and doesn’t take charge, leaves the horrors to continue around her and keep her mouth shut. I cannot wait to see what becomes of her in the next installment.

Dearly, Beloved was fantastic. While I DO believe mindless, crazy, and flesh hungry are all zombies should be, I am coming around to the whole good zombie thing! I am actually falling for Bram (just as Nora!) The ending of this sophomore novel was tear jerking and beautiful. I find myself anxiously awaiting the next by Ms. Lia Habel!

4 and 1/2 faires out of Five

Wither and Fever:The Chemical Garden Triliogy by Lauren DeStefano

All About It:

Wither:
At age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to be twenty, and males live to age twenty-five. While geneticists seek a miracle antidote, orphans roam the streets and polygamy abounds. After Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she is desperate to escape from her husband’s strange world, which includes a sinister father-in-law in search of the antidote and a slew of sister wives who are not to be trusted. On the cusp of her seventeenth birthday, Rhine attempts to flee—but what she finds is a society spiraling into anarchy.

Fever:  
Rhine and Gabriel may have escaped the beautiful prison of Wither’s mansion, but they are far from escaping danger. First they’re chased for stealing a getaway boat, and then the fleeing pair ends up in the eerie den of Madame, an old woman who collects girls and sells them to the highest bidders. Worst of all, Vaughn, Rhine’s sinister father-in-law, seems to be on her trail every step of the way. Rhine remains determined to get to her brother in Manhattan—but the road they are on is long and perilous.

Now that Rhine has finally regained her freedom, what lengths will she need to go to in order to keep it?

What I Thought:

For just about a year, Wither sat on my bookshelf just waiting for its turn to be read. It took me a year to get to it, and GOODNESS I cannot believe I let that happen! I immediately fell in love with the main character Rhine. Ms. DeStefano blew me away and drew me in all at the same time. I couldn’t get past the world she created, past the dangers and fears that came with it. The short life of twenty years for girls and twenty-five for boys makes any person who reads it think long and hard about their life. Have they lived it well enough? I am twenty at this moment and cannot imagine being on the cusp of death. I am however getting away from the book review now aren’t I? Rhine was kidnapped, sold, wed, and kept prisoner all under the pretense of love and marriage. Linden was the man she was wed too, along with two other girls, creating a sister-wife living arrangement. I loved the characters of the sister-wives. Jenna and Cecily were great entertainment. The fact the tough subjects were not strayed away from makes this series even more enticing. There is sex, polygamy, teenage child birth (as no one lives much longer) and SO much tension and evil. This series has it all! I know much of what I am saying seems cryptic and meaningless but I cannot say much more without ruining not only Wither but the sequel Fever which was equally as fantastic and capturing. I can say one thing; don’t waste a year like me, READ Wither and Fever NOW! I promise they will be worth your time! The future world, the love, the lies, the deceit, the Gabriel…..What more can I say? Read now! The only regret you will have is that it will be another whole year before the explosive finale comes out! Word of warning though….the ending of Fever will leave a bad taste in your mouth and your heart skipping beats….it puts you on the edge of a cliff, hanging by the tips of your fingers, not falling over, not dying as you hit the ground….hanging…just hanging….closure is a thing unheard of in this sequels end. I make a plea though…Like I said before I am dead or dying in this future world! Can’t a dying girl get a conclusion! Show More

Show More

Five out of Five Faires!

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

WARNING! WARNING! THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. THERE IS VIOLENCE, BLOOD, AND A MAKE YOU WANT TO DIE HANGER AT THE END! READ FOR PLEASURE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

All About It:

It could happen tomorrow . . . An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human. Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

What I Thought:

I received this book as an internet galley and let me just say…Oh my Wow. Ilsa J. Bick blew this story out of the water, taking my head and heart right along with it. It didn’t take long for me to realize what a terrible time I was going to have letting my Kindle leave my hands. It was almost impossible to stop reading, shower and go to work. Alex is a strong female protagonist that I felt for and loved from the start. Within the first chapter you feel her as if you yourself are her. You feel the pain she does, you feel the heat and passion she does. You even feel the annoyance and fear deep enough down to rattle your bones. Other character's such as Ellie and Tom make your heart ache. I rarely find a book that leaves me both breathless and terrified to the point of not being able to achieve sleep. Ashes takes the gold for this. If I could fall asleep at all the nightmares would come. I even found myself thinking about the possibility of it all throughout each waking day. Bick’s Ashes has it all. Including zombie like creatures and so many other things that could just make you scream. Not much more can be said without spoiling. With this book, trust me, you want to be surprised. You will want the thrill around each and every corner. Finishing up, all I can say is Ms. Ilsa J. Bick if I don’t get another dose of Alex soon along with some answers I may just set off an EMP myself out of frustration!

Five out of Five Faries.

(Note: if I could give it more I WOULD!)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

All About It:

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

What I Thought:

Dystopian worlds are the new Vampires. They are everywhere lately. You have Matched by Ally Condie; Delirium by Lauren Oliver; Across the Universe by Beth Revis and the list can go on and on. All of them are different in some way, shape or form. Just like each vampire race in all the series to follow Twilight have their own special characteristics.
Today I finished Divergent by Veronica Roth. Let me just say it left me STUNNED! It was absolutely different than I would have expected and SO much better. Instead of all the world being talked about as the same, we have one city, a city known to us today as Chicago, but a very different place in Roth’s future world. We never get told what goes on outside of the city that the main character, Tris, lives in. The farthest her community has ever traveled is to the orchard outside the fenced in city. There are five factions that the community is broken up into inside these fences. There are the Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, and Dauntless. Each values a different characteristic. The Abnegation value selflessness, the Erudite knowledge, Amity peace and the dauntless value courage and fearlessness, while the Candor value truth. At the age of 16 each member of the community gets to choose which faction they want to belong to. They then go through the initiations. Tris, was born into Abnegation but never really felt she was cut out for it. When the choosing ceremony came, she shocked her parents, two Abnegation leaders, and decided on the Dauntless. The entirety of the story follows Tris through the grueling initiation process in which there will only be 10 who survive and do not get cut. If cut the initiates become factionless. This is the worst fate imaginable to the characters of this world. There are three stage that must be completed, each worse than the one before. Throughout the training Tris makes friends, enemies, and finds love in the unexpected initiate trainer, Four. Divergent has it all, love, betrayal, pain, and confusion. I could NOT put this book down. It even earned me unkindly swears from my roommate at two in the morning when I couldn’t tear myself away and had the lights turned on to see. Veronica ended Tris’s story in a way I NEVER saw coming. It literally blew my mind. Saying anything about it would ruin the surprise though. So you will just have to see for yourself when the book is released on May 3rd, 2011. I cannot wait for more of Tris’s story. Ms. Roth PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE write more and SOON!







Four and a Half Fairies