Archive | January 2013

Horse Thoughts

Black Beauty

Screen shot 2013-01-05 at 18.40.48

Abbeylex, Ireland, 2012

Sneak by Evan Angler

Sneak Cover

Sneak Info

Logan has done the impossible: He’s refused his Mark procedure and escaped the facility with a rumour of where his missing sister might be held. Now on the run, Logan attempts to make his way to Acheron, a place that goes bump in the dark. It’s told to be a place that holds everyone that didn’t come back from his or her Mark procedure. No one knows where Acheron is, or if it even exists, but Logan will do anything if it means finding Lily.

Meanwhile, The Dust is on the move, travelling through an underground system for the Markless, they risk discovery and capture to continue their fight against the Government. However, there’s more to the Mark than any of them realise. There’s a secret the Government is keeping that is so big it has the possibility to destroy all that it has created. The holder of this secret is at Acheron

Sneak is at a faster pace than the debut novel, Swipe. I found it much more engaging and as the Government’s practices and how they run the world is further explained, I fell deeper into this world with renewed interested. The book follows along the same lines with it’s characters, making it perfect follow up for it’s reader base. 

I was surprised to learn that this series is actually Christian Fiction. I didn’t find any evidence of this in the first book but it’s been made clearly in the second. It’s not overpowering and it certainly doesn’t take away anything from the book. It’s a low undertone that if anything, has made me really curious to check out the third book once it gets published. If you’re eager to get back to Angler’s world, he doesn’t disappoint.

I’ve received this book for free from Netgalley for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and the lovely publisher Thomas Nelson for providing me with this book!

Freshly Published January 2013

 

Oh to live in a world where one gets paid to sit around all day and read and write. 

This is not my life, but perhaps, one day. 

For the time being, these books are on my radar and are hot off the publishing presses this month! I really hope my local library will have a few of these titles in stock soon! Please note, all blurbs are from Goodreads. 

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Teeth Cover

Hannah Moskowitz’s (author of BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER) TEETH features a sixteen-year-old boy whose family, in an effort to cure his ailing brother, relocates to a remote island where legendary magic fish are said to have healing powers, and he discovers the island has terrible secrets, including a half-teenager, half-fish.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

The Archived cover

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous-it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

Level 2 Cover

‘I pause to look around the hive – all the podlike chambers are lit up as the drones shoot up on memories … I’ve wanted to get out of here before, but now the tight quarters start to choke me. There has to be more to death than this.’

Felicia Ward is dead. Trapped in a stark white afterlife limbo, she spends endless days replaying memories, of her family, friends, boyfriend … and of the guy who broke her heart. The guy who has just broken into Level 2 to find her.

Felicia learns that a rebellion is brewing, and it seems she is the key. Suspended between heaven and earth, she must make a choice. Between two worlds, two lives and two loves.

Eek! Splintered, one of the books on my 2012 Wish list is finally published! Hurray!

Splintered by A. G. Howard

Splintered Cover

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

Finally, the wait is over! I was lucky enough to get a early copy of this fantastic book. Check out my review here, but go out and get yourself a copy too! The cover is simply gorgeous! 

Broken by A. E. Rough

Broken Cover

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

What new books have you bought this month? Leave me a comment, I am curious to know! 

 

Swipe by Evan Angler

Swipe Cover

Swipe Info

Logan Langly is twelve years old living in the small town of Spokie, a part of New Chicago. Soon he will receive his Mark allowing him to get a job, ride public transport and buy things. It’s a right of passage, the right of pledging to become a full citizen of American Union. Everyone is excited to get his or her Mark this year, everyone that is except for Logan.

Five years before, Logan’s sister Lily went for her Mark but never returned. Ever since that tragic day Logan has been convinced he’s being watched, hunted with no idea why. When he goes for his Mark, he’s sure to come back isn’t he? The bumps in the night sing a different tune and Logan will have to make up his mind what to believe in before his 13th birthday and time is running out.

I was surprised and unaware that this book was written for the middle school range. It took me a while to remember my books of my youth such as Animorphs and Goosebumps to get my head around this kind of story. It’s a bit younger than what I like but once I was able to get into the right age frame I grew to enjoy the book and was impressed with the effective story telling.

Swipe is more than just a story of a missing sister, there is so much more to this new North American world. The aspect of politics is slowly introduced and the struggles of family life because of survival make this a darker read than I expected. The characters are full of life and each has a clear and consistent voice. Most of the characters are male as well and although ‘romance’ is slightly present it doesn’t distract from the real heart of the story: reuniting a family. An excellent book for boys who don’t like to read, I’d suggest Angler’s series to anyone who has a tween-aged reader.

Fool

The Great Gatsby

Screen shot 2013-01-04 at 08.13.38

Abbeylex, Ireland, 2012

2013 Reading Goals

A couple of friends of mine are making reading goals for this year. I’m so happy to announce that I have found a job and have also recently applied for my next visa to stay and work in the UK! Do to being a grown up, I now have the opportunity to make actual goals for myself like my friends. A year goes by so quick. When you live abroad it seems time moves even faster. I have goals for my life! I want to accomplish things this year! (I also really, really hope my visa gets approved) 

Anyways, here’s my reading goals for this year!

Screen shot 2013-01-12 at 12.13.13

1. I know it may sound silly to make buying a book a goal, but I haven’t had a full time job before. London has got some amazing bookstore and frighteningly, bookstores are coming under threat due to Amazon and other online retailers. (Seriously, if you want to buy used books, go to Half.com, a partner of eBay.) Plus I need an excuse to spend time in bookstores and support them!

2. Because sometimes it can be hard to find authors with the letters X and Z. 

3. I start many YA series and then forget to check back when the rest of the books are published, or don’t make the effort to complete them. If they’re good, I want to see how the rest of the books are too!

4. Everyone says it’s amazing and I need to suck it up and give it a go. 

5. Going to meet EL James, of 50 Shades of Grey, was an interesting experience. Many times the events are free and I love the idea of building a library of signed copies!

So those are my reading goals for this year. Do you have any? It’s never too late to start!