School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

Goodreads
304 pages, YA Paranormal (witches & magic)
School Spirits #1
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as theNew York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!

My 2 cents

When I found out that there was a spin off series from Hex Hall, I was jumping up and down excited! I was so happy to read this book. To me its the sort of book that makes reading FUN! I didn't enjoy it as much as Hex Hall, but it still really good! Reading the Hex Hall series is not required reading before reading this one, but you will enjoy it more.

The story follows Izzy Brannick and her mom. If you remember from Hex Hall, the Brannicks find and kill monsters. Izzy's older sister, Finley, just recently disappeared, and Izzy has been trying to fill her shoes. She hasn't been doing a very good job, so her mom gives her and easy job exorcising a ghost in a high school.

Izzy is mortified with this assignment. Not only is it beneath her, she has to go to HIGH SCHOOL. The first half of the book was just hilarious, with this tiny little girl getting herself into more and more scrapes. When she dislocates the head jock's shoulder in Dodgeball, I fell off my bed laughing!

But as she learns more and more about this ghost, she realizes its not such an easy case...and she senses magic in one of her new friends, Dex, but she can't figure him out. So the second half gets more and more intense. This was a great read, and I can't wait for the next one!

In My Mailbox #31

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.  Us bloggers feature any new books we've received in the past week, either bought, borrowed, or received for review.




Books mentioned in this vlog

Touching Melody
Secret for a Song
Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend
Taking Back Forever
A Clockwork Heart
Dragonfly
The Runaway King
School Spirits
Beautiful Disaster
Icons
Life After Theft
Mystic
Taking Chances
Eleanor & Park

Hope you all have a good holiday weekend!

BZRK by Michael Grant

Goodreads
416 pages, YA Dystopian
BZRK #1
My rating: 3 stars

Synopsis

Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind.  Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal:  to turn the world into their vision of utopia.  No wars, no conflict, no hunger.  And no free will.  Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human.  This is no ordinary war, though.  Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain.  And there are no stalemates here:  It’s victory . . . or madness.
 
BZRK unfolds with hurricane force around core themes of conspiracy and mystery, insanity and changing realities, engagement and empowerment, and the larger impact of personal choice. Which side would you choose?  How far would you go to win?

My 2 cents

I was really excited to read this one, because I seem to be on a Michael Grant kick lately. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to my expectations. It was just an okay read for me, and I'm not sure if I'll read the next one that comes out in the fall.

The biggest problem I had was that I just really didn't "get" the concept. Maybe it was too science geekie for me, but a lot of the "biots" and "nanobots" was just over my head. So I was confused for a lot of the story, and I felt I could have used another book, maybe a prequel just to explain all of it better.

The characters and the basic plot were actually pretty good. I was bored at times, but for the most part, it was a pretty quick read. The moments between Noah and Sadie were definitely my favorite parts of the story. Their characters were really well done, as was all the crazy bad guys!

If you are more of a techie, and really get into science, you would probably love this book. I gave it three stars mostly for the characters and originality.

Neferet's Curse by P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast

Goodreads
146 pages, YA Paranormal (Vampires)
House of Night Novellas #3
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

The White City, 1893: In turn-of-the-century Chicago, with the World’s Fair bringing bustle and excitement to her home city, sixteen-year-old Emily Wheiler should be reveling in her youthful beauty and the excitement around her. But her whole life changed when her mother died, leaving her to be the Lady of Wheiler House. Her father, a powerful bank president, is at the center of an important social hub for the booming young city, and he needs Emily to do everything her mother would have – to be a good hostess and make sure the mansion runs smoothly.

As Emily uneasily tries to replace her mother, she also longs for more… for love and a life of her own. When a handsome young man notices her at one of her father’s parties, it seems that her hopes may finally be coming true. Until her father forbids her to see him – or any other man – and starts revealing a darkly violent side that even he can’t understand.

At last, afraid for her life and with nowhere to turn, Emily is Marked by a vampyre and brought to the Chicago House of Night, where she begins a magickal new life that should allow the wounds from her past to heal. But as she gains strength, and a powerful new name, she carries a dark need to wreak vengeance on the man she trusted most.

My 2 cents

Even though I'm starting to get tired of the House of Night series, I do love these novellas. I love learning the back story on some of the adult characters. I didn't like Neferet's story as much as Lenobia's, but this was still worth the read if you are a fan of House of Night. I know now a lot more on what makes Neferet tick, even if she did make all the wrong choices!

Requiem For Blood Blog Tour + Giveaway!

Requiem for Blood by Alexandra Hope
Publication: February 7th 2013
Genre: Upper YA Paranormal/Dark Fantasy

Synopsis:

Marrying East Asian mythology with Western folklore, this novel has a surprising twist for fans of the paranormal genre!
Seventeen year old Olivia Cohen has also had an appetite for blood and an aversion to the sun as a human and when she is killed by a mysterious young woman, she finds her appetite has heightened and her skin is now burned by the sun. Living her life in a colony with other people who live a "vampire-like" lifestyle, she has grown up hunting humans and believing there is a blood so powerful it will turn them from vampire-like into true vampires. On one of Olivia's final nights as a human she meets eighteen year old Troy Evans and is immediately drawn to the unique scent of his blood. Now as an actual vampire, she must learn how to suppress her need to hunt and kill for his sake and decide if his unique blood is worth saving from those who seek it.

16+ for dark themes.

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378106-requiem-for-blood

PURCHASE: 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Requiem-for-Blood-ebook/dp/B00BCMK5Z0

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AUTHOR BIO (no author picture)

Alexandra Hope was born in New York, raised in Atlanta and has lived in Germany for the past three years. She writes pretty much whatever she feels like and for her debut novel she chose ninja-like vampires. She's a (Linguistic) Anthropology major, language lover, vocalist in a Japanese band and part-time bad fanfic writer.

Author Links:

Website: http://harlequin-ink.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6925698.Alexandra_Hope

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexandra-Hope/389766147771252

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonkyannn

My 2 cents

My rating: 3 stars

This was an intriguing vampire novel with an entirely new kind of premise.  I had trouble understanding the whole idea behind the "colony", and I think a little more back story would have been good, especially on Noah and Olivia's relationship. 

Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.  It was uber creepy, just what I love in a vampire book!  Olivia was a great MC, and I loved watching her journey as she tried to decide who she really is and what she wants to be.  This is a dark book with lots of blood and violence, so it is recommended for ages 16 and up for a reason!

And now for the giveaway!

Enter on the Raffelcopter below, and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Breaking Point by Kristen Simmons

Goodreads
400 pages, YA Dystopian
Article 5 #2
My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

The second installment in Kristen Simmons's fast-paced, gripping YA dystopian series.

After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.

Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….

Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.

With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?

My 2 cents

If its possible, I loved this sequel even more than the first book, Article 5. This was another heart-pounding, raw, and nail-biting adventure for Ember and Chase. The action just really didn't stop, except for a few emotional scenes between Ember and Chase here and there. 

*There will possibly be spoilers from the first book in this review*

Things pick up right where we left off in Article 5, but things have gotten even more dangerous for Ember. There is a sniper out there that has been picking off officers. The government's top suspect is Ember herself. They have issued a Code 1 on her--which means they can shoot and kill at will, they don't have to bring her in for questioning. Of course, Ember is not the sniper, as she's been hiding out in the resistance headquarters. I have a few guesses on who the sniper is, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but things get blown to hell really quickly, so once again, Ember, Chase, Sean, and other friends are running for their lives again. Rumors are flying...and Tucker has joined the cause? I know, right? But he claims to know where Becca is...so against Ember's better judgement, he joins their group.

We do get to know Tucker and Sean a little better in this story. Ember and Chase's relationship makes huge leaps and bounds, but that's about it for character development. This is really a more action packed book. I did suggest I might know who the sniper is. FYI, we never find this out before the end of the book, although Ember thinks she's figured it out. Her prime suspect is mine: Cara. She's always hiding something, and she disappears for hours at a time. I also suspect it could be Tucker, since he was dishonorably discharged a month before the events in the story. He definitely has the capability, and is pretty crazy! I guess we'll find out!

The focus of the story is really finding out what Tucker knows, and for Ember, Chase, and Sean trying to find Becca. Things get complicated though..especially when they hear a rumor that Ember's mother might be alive and in charge of a safe house in Ember's old home! I can't really think of anything I didn't like in the book, and I'm super excited for the release of the final book!

The Star Dwellers by David Estes

Goodreads
YA Dystopian
The Dwellers #2
My rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

After rescuing her father and younger sister, Adele is forced to leave her family and Tristan behind to find her mother in the cruel and dangerous realm of the star dwellers. 

Amidst blossoming feelings for Adele, Tristan must cast his feelings aside and let her find her own way amongst the star dwellers, while he accompanies Adele's father to meet with the leaders of the moon dwellers and decide the fate of the Tri-Realms.

Will Adele be able to rescue her mother and make it back to the Moon Realm before the President and the sun dweller soldiers destroy her family?

Can Tristan convince the moon dweller puppets of the error of their ways?

Was Adele's lost kiss with Tristan her one and only chance at love?

In her world there's only one rule: Someone must die.

My 2 cents

I'm a huge David Estes fan, so this may be biased...but I LOVED this book! This is the second book in the Dwellers series, a dystopian series where humanity has retreated underground for survival. We left off in Moon Dwellers with the Star Dwellers invading and bombing the Moon Dwellers, Adele heading off to try and rescue her mom, and Tristan teaming up with Adele's dad, Ben, to try and unite the Moon and Star Dwellers against their common enemy, Tristan's dad.

Things pick up right where we left off, with everyone still running and trying to survive. Now everyone has a purpose, which makes things all the more fun! The world building continues to amaze me. Everything is so descriptive. Its almost like watching a movie in my head!

I never knew what was going to happen next. Between things like "Bat Flu" (Yuck!)and trains running behind hidden caves, there was always something new coming at us. There were also a couple of surprising twists that I didn't see coming, and it makes me wonder what else the author has in store for us later!

The highlight of the book for me was Tristan and Roc's "Bromance." I just love the banter between these two, and it really helps lighten things up sometimes. I got to know Roc a lot better in this story, and I can't wait to see him become more of a hero. Adele and Tristan also had some more time together towards the end, which was great. I love the two of them together!

Adele also learns a lot about her own family, and their part in the Resistance. Her dad, Ben, is just an amazing man. He and Tristan spend a lot of time together in the beginning of the story, and Tristan sees in him the father he never had. Its amazing how much the theme of family is carried throughout the book, and I loved it!

You might be tired of hearing me say that, but I honestly can't think of anything in this story I didn't like. This is an amazing thing, because usually the second books in a series are my least favorite of the series. This girl can't wait to see what happens next in Sun Dwellers!