Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).
Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.
The perfect soldier is done taking orders.
Wren died at the age of twelve, by three gunshot wounds. One hundred and seventy eight minutes later... She was rebooted. Reboots aren't quite human, the level of human traits and emotions depending on the time between death and the body healing and rebooting. Wren's reboot number indicates her lack of emotion, her willingness to kill without guilt or remorse, and never question orders.
Their job is to track down human targets, those dying from disease or who have broken the law. Wren is feared among those in the slums where she carries out her assignments, and her peers. Wren has lost all sense of humanity, until she meets Callum. Callum is a new reboot and the lowest number the facility has seen, twenty two. Surprising, Wren takes it upon herself to save Callum's life, training him to become a soldier. Callum refuses to kill, isn't scared of Wren and smiles at the most inappropriate moments.
As Wren finds herself warming to the cute reboot with the twinkling eyes, she knows that Callum will never become the heartless soldier that is expected of him. Wren needs him, she needs him to help her feel alive, to feel human again. The rebels are amassing, hidden throughout the slums, readying to fight the corporation to ensure a world where everyone is equal, human and reboot. Wren finds herself with allies. Her goal is to find shelter within a formed reboot camp. Can she trust humans, when most despise what the reboots represent, death and destruction?
Callum is slowly deteriorating. Having been injected with a trial serum, to void reboots of any emotion or human traits. The serum leads to a reboot shutting down, becoming wild and animalistic. Seeing humans and fellow reboots as food. Callum will die without the antidote, there isn't a choice. Wren needs to go back, or at least she'll die trying... Again.
Reboot began telling the story of Wren, with no personality, no emotions. Luckily, Callum is introduced within the first few chapters and brings the story to life. From there on, it was incredibly entertaining and action packed. More dystopian than science fiction, but just enough to keep the story interesting... And no cliffhanger, as seems the standard with most young adult series' nowadays.
A dystopian young adult, with a little romance, rebellion and science fiction, I'll be eagerly awaiting the next in the series.
Reboot
(Reboot: Book One) Written By Amy Tintera
Published 07 / 05 / 2013
352 Pages
352 Pages
After surviving a devastating car accident that took her father's life, Bryn Woods feels like she has nothing left in her hometown of Savannah, GA. Along with losing her father, her boyfriend, Tyler, unexpectedly leaves town the same time of the accident. Feeling alone, broke and confused, Bryn leaves Savannah for college in New York City to escape her heartbreak.
Four years later, Bryn returns to Savannah to live in her childhood home. Slowly, she begins to let the people of her past back into her life. She lets the protective walls she's built to protect herself crash down around her. As she begins to find love again with Tyler, secrets start to unravel themselves about his past. Tyler has secrets of his own. Secrets connected to the death of Bryn's father. Secrets Tyler didn't even know he kept.
Bryn is finally returning to her childhood home in Savannah, after living in new york for the past four years. Unbearable heartbreak caused her to up and leave, the loss of her only parent and the boy who promised he would love her forever. It's time to come home, to the life she left behind and the empty house that she can't bare to sell. What she didn't plan on, was Tyler.
Tyler has always loved Bryn. Four years ago, he left her in the park, having broken her heart. He was leaving, his family, including Bryn's best friend Charlotte, moving to the city. He offered her no explanation, no promises and both brother and sister left, and didn't look back at the poor broken girl they had left behind.
As word spreads upon Bryn's return, she knows it's only a matter of time before she runs into Tyler. He returned one year after having left. This time Bryn demands to know why he left her, why he never contacted her after her father died, and why he now wants to be a part of her life again.
Without his knowledge, he may just break her heart all over gain.
Grab the tissues, you're going to need them.
Bryn broke my heart, and left me with silent tears more often than not. Her story of loss devastating, but somehow she pulls herself together and leaves her heartbreak behind to start a new life. After Tyler, she's never dated in the four years since and still pines for the loss of the love of her life. Once she returns to her childhood home, the story is told from dual point of view, from both Bryn and Tyler's perspective.
As far as most recent contemporary young or new adults are, More Than You Know is one to read. It's an emotional, feel good story with a beautiful ending passage.
More Than You Know
Written By Alexandria Rhodes
Expected Publication 14 / 05 / 2013
380 Pages
380 Pages
Alexandria Rhodes is a first time novelist from the good old state of Ohio. She is a recent college graduate with a degree in English and Creative Writing. Alexandria has always known she needed to write and has been doing so ever since she bought a typewriter at a garage sale when she was nine. With hundreds of pages of plot ideas, scripts and character descriptions, it is no surprise that she finally came around to writing a book. Alexandria enjoys reading, writing, reviewing, spending time with family, tweeting (a little too much) and traveling, especially to Savannah, GA and New York City. Her writing is heavily influenced by her surroundings and the people in her life.
She hopes that her stories will touch the hearts of her readers.
Contact Alex via Her Website On Twitter Facebook and Goodreads
I left everything I knew behind.
But it was worth it. He was worth it.
No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren't even allowed to see each other. Not until I've proven myself. If I can find a way to make it work, we'll be NOAH & ROSE together forever.
But not everybody believes this is where I belong
Rose has abandoned technology, learning to drive, school and her family, to join the Amish community so that she can be with Noah. After the accident that had nearly taken his life, Rose made the decision to give up her carefree, typical American teen lifestyle, for the subdued, basic existence of that of the Amish... She never expected it to be so difficult.
Each day, she battles to be treated the same as the other young women within the community. She's quickly become the source of the local gossip, most believing she'll never become Amish for the long term. She constantly needs to prove herself worthy, met with the whispers and stares from those that see her as inferior, and want her gone.
Noah seems to be oblivious. He begins to take in her role as mentor, advising her who to befriend, how to carry herself and how to live the simple, humble life. They are forbidden to spend time together and definitely no touching. Until Rose is approved to join the church, Noah and Rose aren't allowed to date, or court, as the community refers to.
The new, simple lifestyle is killing her free and spirited nature, forced into a submissive role. Hours of washing, mending, scrubbing and cooking. But is Noah really worth it? It isn't until Rose finds herself with other options forced upon her, that she realises that perhaps being Amish is something that she will never be ready for.
I don't envy Rose. She has become bland and compliant, with the Amish way of life dousing her beautiful free spirit. Being forced to be subservient and groomed to one day become a wife that will cater to her husbands every whim.
Where the Amish were simple, yet endearing in Temptation, the first novel in the series, in Belonging, they come across as prejudiced, sexist, narrow minded folk that teach their love of god, but see no issue in treating Rose with vitriol and contempt... And Noah is no better. If Belonging is any indication, modern society is far more accepting of the Amish lifestyle, than vice versa.
Clearly, loving someone means compromise, surely.
Karen Ann Hopkins' style of writing is laid back and realistic. She isn't afraid to let her characters experience traumatic and heartbreaking situations. The characters all have defining traits and complex personalities. As frustrating as I found the Amish community, to the point of being angered, you know you've stumbled upon a great writer when a book can evoke such strong emotions. Really enjoyed it.
Belonging
(Temptation: Book Two) Written By Karen Ann Hopkins
Published 01 / 05 / 2013
416 Pages
416 Pages
What if everything you knew turned out to be a lie?
Charlotte Walker knows how to live under the rule of The Party. She has managed for 18 years. She helps out her drunken mother and keeps life going at a familiar, steady pace. She doesn’t ask questions, even though she has many of them in her heart.
Fostino Sanchez knows how to live under the rule of The Party, too. For 19 years, he’s worked to be the perfect Party member. He knows what must be done to keep Maxwell Cooper in power, and how find the The Undesirables that threaten to take away everything that matters.
As the months go by, what matters most to Fostino is Charlotte Walker.
While their love blooms, danger comes to Charlotte and Fostino’s small hometown of Harrison Corners, OH. Threats they never knew existed could take away all that they care about. And just when these two teens think they know what will come next, Charlotte learns the truth about a secret she has long suspected.
What Charlotte finds out changes everything.
EVERYTHING.
THE UNDESIRABLE is Charlotte Walker’s story, from her point of view. It is a thrilling, suspenseful tale of love, curiosity, adversity, and maturity against the backdrop of a futuristic war.
Should Charlotte trust Fostino with what she knows? Can she trust anyone? Will she find it in herself to rise up against terrible odds? What if the ultimate Undesirable is her?
New Orleans born Sara Celi has lived all over the United States. She calls the Greater Cincinnati area and the Queen City home. She's currently a TV reporter and anchor in Oklahoma City, and has spent more than a decade working in journalism. She graduated cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 2004.
Celi is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Positive.
The Undesirable is her debut novel.
In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, write, travel, run long distances, volunteer with the Junior League, and fund raise for Cooperative for Education, a non-profit providing educational opportunities for Guatemalan kids.
The Undesirable is her debut novel.
In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, write, travel, run long distances, volunteer with the Junior League, and fund raise for Cooperative for Education, a non-profit providing educational opportunities for Guatemalan kids.
Dez Cross has problems. She’s almost eighteen and on the verge of losing her mind thanks to the drug Denazen used to enhance her abilities. People close to her have turned their back on the underground and are now fighting for the wrong side. And then there’s Kale... Things couldn’t get any worse.
Until of course, they do. Denazen is about to start a new trial, this one called Domination, and it works. But that means out with the old and in with the new. The order has been given to terminate all remnants of the second trial... Including Dez. The good news is that there’s a survivor from the original trial. A woman who’s blood may hold the cure for the second generation of Supremacy kid’s defect. But the underground Sixes aren’t the only ones who know about her….
Cross is willing to throw everything he has to keep Dez from getting the cure, including the one thing that might tear her apart from the inside out.
It's been months since Dez has seen or heard from Kale, after sacrificing himself and returning to Denazen, in exchange to save Dez's life. He's been living with the confines of the corporation, but he isn't the same Kale any more.
Confusion and madness is toying with the sixes that are almost of age, an illness that eventually leads to a painful and psychotic death. There is a cure, but those underground that need to destroy the Denazen corporation, need to find the remaining sixes that not yet been captured... Or killed. On a mission to retrieve a Six, Dez finds Kale and step sister Kiernan, together, both working for Denazen.
Kale has no idea who Dez is, only that she seems familiar. His memories have been stolen, he has been brainwashed into believing that Dez is the enemy. It's a race against time to find the list if sixes and bring them back to safety, only Kale and Denezen are doing the same. Kale is now cold, calculated and compliant. Earning the titles if The Reaper, as seen in the visions.
Many sixes are now hallucinating, extreme bouts of paranoia and incoherent tirades are symptoms of the progression of the illness, Dez included. Her only hope? That she can see Kale, her Kale, returning to her.
With little chance at finding the cure or the blood of the six that can save her generation, will Dez be able to help Kale to remember... Before it's too late?
The Denazen series is essentially teens who have been modified from the womb. Telekinesis, mimicking, healing, poisoning, Denazen had thought if everything. But foremost, it's a fun and very entertaining young adult series, and Tremble is no exception. Unfortunately, it felt as though Tremble was repetitive and only rehashed the same story, although with a slightly different twist.
It would have fared differently if Tremble had been released as a novella, cut out the filler scenes and get to the point. Having said that, I still enjoyed it.
Tremble
(Denazen: Book Three)
Written By Jus Accardo
Published 14 / 05 / 2013
352 Pages
352 Pages
Your heart beats only with their permission.
Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.
Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside, safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.
She's different. She survived. Why?
When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.
Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions, which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses, may actually be their greatest strengths.
The Day. The Day refers to when the alien lords descended upon earth, planting Icons within thirteen major cities. The alien structures ensure compliance, the thread of a repeat of The Day looms over the heads of the remaining population. The Day brought instant death to anyone within the city... Except Dol. Dol was found as an infant, alone with two deceased parents. She was taken to the wild grasslands, to a small community living outside of the Icon epicenter.
Ro is an orphan, and sees a kindred spirit in Dol, having both grown up under the watchful eye of the grassland community. Ro and Dol aren't your average teens, they're different... Very different. Dol is sorrow, she can sense emotions, thoughts and feelings. She can lessen the heavy emotional burden for Ro. Ro is full of anger and rage. He can snap at a moments notice. It isn't until the embassy soldiers storm the grasslands successfully capture Dol, that they realise just how special they are.
The ambassador has sent for them, the icon children, with the full set of four now within the confines of the embassy. It seems the teens have more in common than they realise, all born on the same day, a year before the invasion. With only an A.I computer and a travelling Merk who is willing to tell them who they are, what they are and how they may just be humanity's last hope.
Icons reminded me of And All The Stars by Andrea K Höst, where alien towers had risen throughout the cities, specifically Sydney. Same premise, but Icons didn't feel as engaging. Up until I was half way through, I really couldn't comprehend the concept of the Icons, the Lords and The Day. The data reports throughout the book, where we see numerous correspondences to the Ambassador, only aided my confusion, also why the majority of characters were of Latino or Mexican decent.
It wasn't until I was through around three quarters, that it begun to engage me and the concept started clicking into place. Perhaps my thoughts were clouded due to a recent science fiction, alien invasion novel I recently read as well.
Well written, but it was too frustrating. I needed more of an explanation earlier in the novel to invest in the complex storyline.
Icons
(Icons: Book One)
Written By Margaret Stohl
Published: 07 / 05 / 2013
428 Pages
428 Pages
I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.
Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.
It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.
After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying, to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others, so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?
Kate's world has been destroyed, Violette has captured Vincent's body and plans are underway so that she may transfer The Champions power unto herself. The Revenant is now incorporeal and knows that Violette may burn his body as soon as the transfer is complete, spending the last few moments with Kate.
Kate won't accept the fate that Vincent faces at the hands of Violette. His kindred devise a plan to retrieve his body and prepare for war against the Numa of Paris. Kate enlists the help of Bran, the ancient healer to the Revenants and with the help of centuries old documentation, discover a ceremony in which the wandering soul of a Revenant can be reanimated. The group fly to New York to meet the collector that can aide the ceremony. Vincent's spirit is now bound to Violette, but she is without The Champions power... For now.
The Numa are being called to arms, to fight a battle of epic proportions in the streets of Paris as they learn of who the true Champion is. The Revenant's are amassing an army, calling their kindred throughout the world, while one of their very own is discovered to have aided the Numa.
Who can they trust? With Violette on the rampage, Jules missing in action and Ambrose heavily injured, are they fighting a losing war against an enemy that will decimate Paris, and the world.
Who can they trust? With Violette on the rampage, Jules missing in action and Ambrose heavily injured, are they fighting a losing war against an enemy that will decimate Paris, and the world.
Amy Plum once again weaves a beautiful setting in the heart of Paris, the city of romance. But sadly, I thought If I Should Die wasn't nearly as magical as the first two novels in the series. It concentrates more of the battle of our Revenants, fighting the Numa to reign supreme. The romance takes a backseat to the action, and although Vincent and Kate's relationship matures, the romance seems to have lost it's way amongst the carnage.
Fans of Jules will be disappointed. If you've read Die For Her, the novella of Jules' unrequited love for Kate, Jules' feelings finally come to a head in If I Should Die, both Vincent and Kate maintaining that neither had no idea that Jules did indeed, fall in love with Kate.
Be warned not only do we permanently say goodbye to a few long standing characters, but Amy Plum has left an opening to pursue a spin off series staring one of the much loved characters. I'm disappointed at the lack of an epilogue, as I felt there were far too many questions left unanswered and no follow up on the characters we've grown to love.
If I Should Die
(Revenants Trilogy: Book Three)
Written By Amy Plum
Published: 01 / 05 / 2013
320 Pages
320 Pages
Thirty years in the future, a sinister New York City exists in permanent darkness.
A student at the secured NYU, nineteen-year old Nadine has visions of Victor Gianni, an imaginary guy she has real feelings for. Afraid of being truly insane, she explains the visions away as simple daydreams, but she can no longer deny them when she bumps into Victor in real life. But this Victor doesn’t know her, and turns her away. After the encounter, Nadine’s visions change to those of eerie fates, gods she’s never heard of, demons with sharp claws they are not too timid to use … And instructions.
To discover if she’s losing her mind, Nadine follows the vague directions, with the real, rude and reluctant Victor, leading to a man who knows it all: Nadine can restore an ancient creed by unveiling the clues on her visions, and bring sunlight and peace to the world again. But that’s only if the demons and the other evil forces behind the darkness don’t stop her first.
Nadine is special, only she believes she may be certifiably insane. She lives in a post apocalyptic New York, where daylight ceases to exist, the streets are dangerous, agriculture has long since died, and giant bat creatures circle the skies. Since moving to New York on a medical scholarship, Nadine has been living within visions, visions of Victor. She thinks he's just a figment of her unstable imagination... How wrong she is.
Nadine meets the alluring Micah. Micah is a temptation all of his own. He has unbearable pain, that only Nadine's touch can heal. He can sense that Nadine's aura is rare, like that of his own.
But when Nadine stumbles upon Victor on campus, she realises that she isn't seeing psychotic hallucinations, they're visions. Visions of a past she knows nothing of, a frightening future she knows nothing about that the gods that have caused the apocalypse.
Between the three of them, can they discover why they've been given these gifts before it's too late?
I was enthralled by Destiny Gift. It's a unique story of higher powers woven into a post apocalyptic world where only the strong survive. Between the dystopian theme and the emergence of the mythologies, I found myself slightly muddled, but within the next chapter, it all clicked into place.
I was surprised by a few plot twists, as I know very little about mythology, but found it intriguing.
There were no lengthy, drawn out explanations, which I more than appreciated. As soon as there is usually these long winded dialogues, a book has lost me. So thankfully it was kept simple.
I really enjoyed it and thankfully it lacked the dreaded cliffhanger ending, but leaves the reader with too many questions, so you simply can't resist reading the next in the series.
Destiny Gift
(Everlast: Book One)
Written By Juliana Haygert
Published: 01 / 04 / 2013
269 Pages
269 Pages
Purchase now from Amazon or Barnes & Noble
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Please note, the paperback edition giveaways are only for U.S entrants. All other prizes are open internationally.
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