Category: Young Adult

Title: Right Text Wrong Number
Author: Natalie Decker
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Source: Author
Release Date: July 11, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cheerleader Layla and football player Tyler are complete opposites. She thinks he’s the biggest jerk in school and he thinks she’s too high on her horse to even be worth a second glance. When the two of them are near one another, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. They can hardly endure speaking, let alone dating.

But when Layla unknowingly sends Tyler a smack-down text meant for the girl sending naked photos to her then-boyfriend, Adam, Tyler has no idea it’s Layla and decides to play along. After all, Tyler cannot resist messing with the pissed off girl firing off texts about junk pictures, cheating, and girl code.

As the fallout from Adam’s scandalous texts plays out in front of the entire school, Tyler and Layla secretly continue to text each other using fake names. But as days and weeks pass, things take a turn for the serious between them, and suddenly, their texts mean more. Maybe it’s time to come clean about who they are and risk taking the relationship from texts to dates, then kissing, and maybe more.

They say there’s a thin line between love and hate. Can reality live up to the fantasy, or will Layla and Tyler be forever offsides?

Review:

I read some good reviews of this book, so I wanted to read it. I really enjoyed it.

The story was great and easy to read. I flew through this book. It really took me back to high school days, with all the drama and nasty kids. But the romance brewing between Layla and Tyler was very special.

The story was realistic. It’s so easy to text the wrong person, and Layla’s dyslexia really makes texting difficult for her. That’s something I had never thought of before this story. Texting is so natural these days, but I didn’t even think about how hard it would be for someone with dyslexia. This disability added some depth to the story, since it gave Layla, who seems like a princess at first glance, a challenge in everything she does.

I recommend this story for anyone looking for a light young adult romance. I’m looking forward to reading the second in the series in the next couple of weeks!

Title: The Empress
Author: S.J. Kincaid
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: October 31, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.

But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress.

Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Review:

This was such an exciting sequel to The Diabolic.

There was a lot more background given for this world, such as their origin and their religious beliefs. These humans had to leave Earth to escape the mechanized beings that humans on Earth had turned into. They would inject machines into their skin to do everything for them. This seems possible today, since we are so reliant on machines and computers. I’m sure that injectable computers are an invention for the near future.

The story also spoke heavily about drugs. Drugs are used recreationally and for controlling others, by making them dependent on them. These two uses were interesting to read about, especially in the way that different people reacted to them. The effects of withdrawal were also portrayed in the story.

I loved the time travel portions of the story. Time passes at different rates in different parts of the Galaxy. What takes 10 hours in one place could be 1 year in another. I liked the way time would jump like this, so we could see the effects of time lapsing in the Chrysanthemum very quickly.

Some parts were so heart wrenching. There was love and loss. I felt so emotionally invested with the characters. Nemesis’s first person narration made me feel like I really knew her.

I loved this story! This is a fabulous series!

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: Purchased
Release Date: November 10, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

Review:

The fourth and final fairytale in The Lunar Chronicles is Snow White. I think Winter was a great addition to this cast of characters.

I loved that Winter was a girl of colour. It gives some more representation to this diverse group of girls. She also shows that beauty goes deeper than your skin.

Winter is another clever girl who has brought along her own romantic interest in Jacin. I was rooting for them from the beginning!

Though I was sad to see this series end, I was satisfied with the ending. I was glad to see that Meyer has created a spin off series of graphic novels, which I will have to get my hands on now!

My reviews for Cinder can be found here, Scarlet can be found here, and Cress can be found here.

Title: The Girl In The Glass Box
Author: Andi Adams
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Firefly Hill Press
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Release Date: June 5, 2016
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A witch. An apple. A mirror. That’s all most people think of when they recall the story of Snow White. But the truth is rarely so simple. What if the Queen wasn’t born evil and the princess wasn’t always so pure of heart? Is it possible that these two women could have ended up in one another’s place?

The Girl in the Glass Box tells the story of Agrippine and Genevieve, two women who are not all that different, but who quickly learn through a series of choices, encounters, and devastating losses that the course of their fates can change in an instant. Through the influences of the people they love and lose, both are redefined as their stories head for a different sort of happily-ever-after.

Review:

This is a great adaptation of the Snow White fairy tale.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the story. It introduces Snow White’s stepmother, Agrippine, and tells how she became the Queen. It made me feel sympathetic towards her for a short time, though she eventually becomes the villain we all know. I also liked the background of the dwarves. I could tell who they were right from the beginning of the story, but it was a nice twist that I haven’t heard before.

The story was fast paced and easy to read. I enjoyed the narrator’s voice.

I wish this story had something unique that happened. It followed the Snow White tale faithfully, but I was waiting for something new to happen in the story. There were some surprising twists close to the end of the book, but it was pretty ordinary at the beginning. A unique twist would have made it original, instead of just another fairy tale.

Title: All The Crooked Saints
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Purchased
Release Date: October 10, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Here is a thing everyone wants: a miracle.
Here is a thing everyone fears: what it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

Review:

This book was amazing! It definitely lived up to my expectations.

I love Maggie’s style of writing. It’s so unique and mysterious. It has a fairytale quality to it, which makes you want to believe all the magical things that happen to the characters. The third person omniscient narrator also adds to this fairytale feeling, since the narrator knows everything about all of the characters.

The magical elements of the story make the plot unpredictable. It was exciting to see what would happen next.

What is so funny about Maggie’s books is that it’s hard to describe what they are about. This synopsis gives just a glimpse of what happens. There are so many strange things that happen, that it’s hard to describe much without giving away too much. But I highly recommend this book for fans of paranormal fiction!

I met Maggie earlier this week and she’s so awesome! I’ll write a post about that event later in the week.

Title: Wolves and Roses
Author: Christina Bauer
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Monster House Books
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Release Date: October 31, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

“If Janet Evanovich teamed with a young adult, fairy-tale author like Marissa Meyer (the Lunar Chronicles) or Alex Flinn (Beastly), the result might be something like Christina Bauer’s Wolves and Roses.” –Blue Ink Review

Seventeen-year-old Bryar Rose has a problem. She’s descended from one of the three magical races–shifters, fairies, or witches. That makes her one of the Magicorum, and Magicorum always follow a fairy tale life template. In Bryar’s case, that template should be Sleeping Beauty.

“Should” being the key word.

Trouble is, Bryar is nowhere near the sleeping beauty life template. Not even close. She doesn’t like birds or woodland creatures. She can’t sing. And she certainly can’t stand Prince Philpot, the so-called “His Highness of Hedge Funds” that her aunties want her to marry. Even worse, Bryar’s having recurring dreams of a bad boy hottie and is obsessed with finding papyri from ancient Egypt. What’s up with that?

All Bryar wants is to attend a regular high school with normal humans and forget all about shifters, fairies, witches, and the curse that Colonel Mallory the Magnificent placed on her. And she might be able to do just that–if only she can just keep her head down until her eighteenth birthday when the spell that’s ruined her life goes buh-bye.

But that plan gets turned upside down when Bryar Rose meets Knox, the bad boy who’s literally from her dreams. Knox is a powerful werewolf, and his presence in her life changes everything, and not just because he makes her knees turn into Jell-O. If Bryar can’t figure out who–or what–she really is, it might cost both her and Knox their lives… as well as jeopardize the very nature of magic itself.

Review:

I enjoyed this story. It has so many of the fairytale elements that I love, mixed in with the modern world.

There were many twists that kept me guessing. Not everything (or everyone) was what it seemed. I was constantly being surprised by this story.

I wish the setting played a bigger role in the story. It was set in New York, so it could have been more present in the story. Sometimes they went out to the Adirondacks, which was a nice detail. But I would have liked to see the setting described more.

At times, the narration was cheesy and sarcastic. Both Bryar and Knox were alternating narrators, so it was told through their voices. Even so, the writing could have been improved without some of the sarcasm.

This is a good book for fans of fairytale adaptations!

About the Author:

Stalk Christina on Social Media – She Loves It!
Blog: http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/category/christina
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorBauer/
Twitter: @CB_Bauer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christina_cb_bauer/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-bauer-481b12139/
Web site: http://monsterhousebooks.com/authors/cbauer

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Schedule:

October 30th
–Mythical Books >> Review
–Kindle and Me >> Review
–What’s Beyond Forks? >> Review
–My Crea Bookish Kingdom >> Review

October 31st
–Angel’s Guilty Pleasures >> Guest post
–Novels & Necklaces >> Review
–Spinatale Reviews >> Excerpt

November 1st
–Arkham Reviews >> Review
–The Genre Minx Book Reviews >> Review
–Star-Crossed Book Blog >> Review
–Book Sniffers Anonymous >> Excerpt

November 2nd
–Bibliobibuli YA >> Interview
–CBY Book Club >> Excerpt
–Pervy Ladies Books >> Review
–Lovely Paranormal Books >> Review

November 3rd
–Whatever You Can Still Betray >> Guest post
–Book Addict >> Review
–Smada’s Book Smack >> Review
–Utopia State of Mind >> Review

—

November 6th
–Girls With Books >> Excerpt
–The Critic Uncritical Bookworm >> Review

November 7th
–Thoughts in Progress >> Guest post
–Happymomblogger >> Review
–Firstbooklove >> Excerpt

November 8th
–Butterfly-o-Meter Books >> Interview
–Jill Jemmett >> Review
–Desert Rose Reviews >> Review

November 9th
–A Bibliotaph’s Reviews >> Excerpt
–The Rest Is Still Unwritten >> Review
–Lisa Loves Literature >> Interview

November 10th
–The Avid Reader >> Review
–CLOUD 9 BOOKS >> Review
–The Rest Is Still Unwritten >> Excerpt
–BrizzleLass Books >> Guest post

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

Title: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Source: Purchased
Release Date: April 1, 2006
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan’s amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a “half blood” whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan’s series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment.
In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book’s drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.

Review:

I liked this book, though not as much as the first one. Percy was on his own in much of this adventure. I missed the way he interacted with his friends.

However, I love Homer’s Odyssey, so I loved the similarities between that and this book. Percy goes on his own Odyssey to find the Golden Fleece. The Odyssey is a huge part of Greek mythology, so I was glad to see it represented so faithfully in this book.

We also learn more about their camp and the people who run it. Percy’s story is further developed in this story.

I enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!

My review for The Lightning Thief can be found here.

Title: The Diabolic
Author: S.J. Kincaid
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Purchased
Release Date: November 1, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator’s daughter, Sidonia. There’s no one Nemesis wouldn’t kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.

She must become her.

Now one of the galaxy’s most dangerous weapons is masquerading in a world of corruption and Nemesis has to hide her true abilities or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns that there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she’s been told she doesn’t have – humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire…

Review:

This book far exceeded my expectations!

I was pleasantly surprised at this unique story. So many YA fantasy books follow the same storyline: a girl from a low class family ends up going to the main city/castle and meets the prince; then she ends up competing to be the prince’s suitor, and she overcomes her low status to become the future princess. Even though this one has hints of a Cinderella story for Nemesis, it isn’t predictable. 

This story addresses issues of sexual power. Many people in power use their position to exploit people below them. This is very relevant today, since celebrities are constantly being accused of sexual assault. 

Since I’m reading this book after the sequel has been released, I had an idea of what was going to happen. I guessed that s someone would become an Empress in the second novel, since it’s called The Empress. Even though I had this bit of a spoiler, I really enjoyed the story and I found it very surprising. 

I’m so excited to read the sequel in the next couple of weeks!

Title: Esme’s Wish
Author: Elizabeth Foster
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Odyssey Books
Source: YA Bound Book Tours
Release Date: October 30, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

This was her last chance. Her hand twisted high in the air.

When fifteen-year-old Esme Silver objects at her father’s wedding, her protest is dismissed as the impulsive reaction of a stubborn, selfish teenager. Everyone else has accepted the loss of Esme’s mother – so why can’t she?

But Esme is suspicious. She is sure that others are covering up the real reason for her mother’s disappearance – that ‘lost at sea’ is code for something more terrible, something she has a right to know.

After Esme is accidentally swept into the enchanted world of Aeolia, the truth begins to unfold. With her newfound friends, Daniel and Lillian, Esme retraces her mother’s steps in the glittering canal city of Esperance, untangling the threads of Ariane’s double life. But the more Esme discovers about her mother, the more she questions whether she really knew her at all…

Add to Goodreads

Preview part of the first chapter on Kobo – https://www.goodreads.com/buy_buttons/6/follow?book_id=33634667

Purchase your copy of Esme’s Wish at elizabethfoster.com.au

Review:

As many of you know, I love Greek mythology. So when this book started off with references to Ancient Greece, I knew I would like it. 

This story was fast paced, with Esme constantly discovering new things about her mother. There was also great tension when she discovered things that didn’t match up with her own memories of her mother.

This book reminded me of the Percy Jackson series, particularly The Lightning Thief. Esme is searching for details about her mother, just like Percy was looking for his father. 

I really liked this story. It’s very well developed. If you like YA fantasy books, this is a great one for you!

About the Author:

Elizabeth Foster read avidly as a child, but only discovered the joys of writing some years ago, when reading to her own kids reminded her of how much she missed getting lost in other worlds. Elizabeth lives in Sydney, where she can be found scribbling in cafés, indulging her love of both words and coffee. Esme’s Wish is her debut novel.

Find out more about Elizabeth at elizabethfoster.com.au

Author Links:

Goodreads│Twitter│Instagram

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.