Year: 2017

Title: Joined
Author: Mara Gan
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Source: YA Bound Book Tours
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Duty and prophecy get in the way of everything.

All I ever wanted todo was read my books, play my sports, and help people. Life and prophecy had other things in mind. Helping people is what I do; asan empath and semi-frequent telepath, I can easily sense and understand people’s needs and emotions. Sometimes even before they do. Being able to read everyone’s thoughts and feelings all the time can drive me crazy with anxiety, but that moment when I can finally make someone’s life better makes everything worth it. Unfortunately, I’m also the next in line to rule the galaxy, I’m the only diplomat most planets will listen to, assassins try to kill meonan annoyingly regular basis, and a much-vaunted Prophecy has decreed that I’m going to die. Oh, and someone blew up my home planet. Kind of a lot to deal with, right? Too bad I just got another problem: a big, irritating, overbearing bodyguard with serious anger management issues.

And I think I’m falling for him.

Review:

This is an awesome story!

It reminded me of popular YA fantasy stories, such as Throne of Glass. However, this story has a princess who gets a protector. 

Though this is a stereotypical story (of the princess being saved), Meda is very rebellious. She is a multidimensional character: she has flaws. But I really liked her. 

The story was fast-paced. Some parts were repetitive because Meda kept acting up in the same way, which was frustrating. But the action moved quickly, so I was never stuck in one place too long. 

I really liked this story and recommend it for YA fantasy readers. 

About the Author:

A Pacific Northwesterner by birth and disposition, Mara has lived in Washington DC, Oregon, Japan, and most recently the beautiful Pacific Grove, California, before returning to her roots in Seattle. By day she teaches history to unsuspecting teenagers, and by night she writes books and travels to far-flung places. She loves to be with animals, read, play sports, and drink more London Fogs than is likely good for her.

Connect with Mara on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maraganbooks

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Tour Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours

Thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for letting me participate in this blog tour.

Title: She, Myself, and I
Author: Emma Young
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: ABRAMS Kids
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ever since Rosa’s nerve disease rendered her quadriplegic, she’s depended on her handsome, confident older brother to be her rock and her mirror. But when a doctor from Boston chooses her to be a candidate for an experimental brain transplant, she and her family move from London in search of a miracle. Sylvia—a girl from a small town in Massachusetts—is brain dead, and her parents have agreed to donate her body to give Rosa a new life. But when Rosa wakes from surgery, she can’t help but wonder, with increasing obsession, who Sylvia was and what her life was like. Her fascination with her new body and her desire to understand Sylvia prompt a road trip based on self-discovery… and a surprising new romance. But will Rosa be able to solve the dilemma of her identity?

Review:

This story is amazing. 

It’s such a unique concept, but realistic too. It’s hard to imagine a brain transplant but it’s definitely a possibility for the future. Since other organs can be transplanted into a new body, why not a brain too?

The complications from this kind of surgery are fascinating as well. Not only does Rosa have to adjust to having a new body and a completely new face, the families of both Rosa and Sylvia have to adjust as well. It’s easier for some more than others. 

Many parts of this story reminded me of Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Rosa must stay in the hospital to recover from the surgery, until she meets a boy… It wouldn’t be a YA book without a little romance. 

Though this book isn’t a thriller, some parts were so chilling that it made my heart pound. Just the idea of waking up from surgery with a new face and body is so hard to imagine. But that’s the magic of reading: living through things that are almost unbelievable. 

This is a great novel. I definitely recommend it. 

Title: Girls Made of Snow and Glass
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

Review:

I loved this fairy tale retelling!

One of my favourite things about this story, is that even though you can tell that it’s a retelling of Snow White, the story also has many original points. The story didn’t follow the typical plot of the Snow White story. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I won’t name them, but I liked that the story was unpredictable. 

This is a modern, feminist story. The two main characters are Lynet and Mina, stepdaughter and stepmother. Again, if I say too much about the women in this story it would spoil it, but let’s just say there  is a lack of a prince here (which enhances Lynet’s power and independence). 

The chapters alternated between Lynet and Mina. At the beginning, it followed both of them through their teen years, jumping back in time to when Mina arrived at Whitespring. But halfway through, Mina’s story suddenly jumped many years and continued in the present along with Lynet. I liked the way it showed the ways these two different women acted during the same point in their lives at the beginning. But it was also important to give Mina’s perspective of the current events. 

I loved this story! It definitely lived up to the hype for me.