Archive | March 2013

Book Review: When Cooper Suns Fall by KaSonnda Leigh

Copper Suns Fall Covercopper suns infoChela and her twin brother Micah are not your average siblings. Born from a human father and angel mother tends to complicate things. Especially when your mother’s race has been outlawed for hundreds of years, and should Chela or her brother be discovered for what they are they’ll shot on the spot. Micah is Chela’s other half, but a sickness threatens his life as he lies in a coma.

As Chela tries to do anything she can to get proper medical assistance for Micah, her temper and curiosity lands her in a bit of trouble. Soon she’s fighting for her right to stay in society, but it’s only the beginning. There are others like Chela, that fight just as hard to stay under the radar but also train with their gifts. A prophecy is exposed. A murderous beast haunts Chela’s world. Teenagers continue to be kidnapped, never to be seen again.

Chela is huge piece of this puzzle. As she learns more about her gifts and her mother’s world she’s going to have to make a choice to stand up and claim her place or turn her back on her future, no matter how complicated it may be.

This has been quite a refreshing read. I was really impressed with quality of writing and instantly curious to learn more about this world and the main character. I don’t normally read this kind of genre, there’s a lot going on. It’s a science fiction fantasy that’s kind of like The Hunger Games? There’s a lot of fast paced action and characters.

For those that love this kind of genre this book doesn’t disappoint. Rich with details of this different type of world and society it’s got a little bit of everything. Even romance is on the line but it’s not the main focus. It’s not easy to breeze through, so make sure you’ve got the attention span for it.

This book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to for the book and the author!

March 2013 Purchases

Of course I shouldn’t be buying things, but of course I can’t help myself. To be fair one of the books I bought for a friend, so that makes this personal goal still count right?

This month I bought:

March purchases

The Totally Essential Travel Collection of ‘Where’s Wally?’ – Mainly I bought this as in America ‘Wally’ is known as ‘Waldo’ and I’ve always wanted a ‘Wally’ printed version!

Butter by Erin Lange I bought for my friend Alli – she’s currently undertaking her PhD in psychology and has spent the past year working with eating disorder patients. I thought she’d find this book particularly interesting. 

This month I supported the Liverpool Street Station WH Smith bookstore. Things have been in a bit of a rush and it was the best I could do. I enjoyed the bright yellow theme this month though. May everyone have a happy Easter/Passover!

Book Review – Ascent by M. C. Zappitello

Ascent CoverAscent infoCassie Campbell doesn’t have any memories before she was seven. However, things just haven’t been normal since her adoption. Cassie hates being in large crowds of people, she can feel their thoughts that cause severe panic attacks. That is, until she meets William Stuart. Suddenly her world is nothing and everything but Will Stuart.

Together the pair unlock the secrets of Cassie’s past. Will didn’t meet Cassie by chance but has been patiently waiting for the right time to re-enter her life. As she comes to terms with her past alongside her future, her strength will be tested. The only thing she knows for certain is that her life is Will Stuart and nothing can go on without him.

UGH. That is pretty much the basis of my review. What a letdown from Amazon Prime. I am kicking myself for not doing further research in regards to how this is published. (it’s self-published by Amazon) I should have known better and this was one of the most painful books I have ever read.

This is basically a knockoff of Twilight but for the Christian market (Twilight is written by a Mormon and her characters do reflect this if one reads closely enough). The writing is extremely poor, so much so that multiple sentences are constantly repeated right after each other. Although Cassie is seventeen there is a lot of SAT vocabulary mixed into the fiction and I found this as a poor choice for the Young Adult market. Cassie is also a weak character that is only concerned with her love for Will, ignoring her adoptive parents in the process.

The couple are also completely obsessed with having sex with each other, but must refrain for ‘God’. Not only do I find this as such an un-Christian aspect but Cassie also attempts to commit suicide, which is never ok in the faith. Two themes that aren’t Christian? I understand the author may have been trying to heed to modern day market trends but her ideas don’t have any substance and there is no area this would fit into.

I can’t recommend this book for Christian markets because I don’t think it has anything that would put parent’s minds at ease. However, there are too many religious references for this to even breach the modern YA market that it’s no wonder it was self-published.

I wish there was something nice I could say about this book but there isn’t. There’s too much going on without a connected focus. How this will last for another two books, I don’t know and I don’t want to follow through either. Please stay far away unless you’d like to contradict my review. All other thoughts are welcome.

Book Review: Death by Chocolate by Johanna Pitcairn

Death Cover

Death by Cho info

Valentines Day is supposed to be filled with adoration, love and chocolates from a boyfriend. For Julie, she discovers that her boyfriend of three months is cheating on her with blonde haired Melissa. Spoiled, rich and totally dependant on the superficial California lifestyle, Julie makes a rash decision to run away to Vegas. With her checking accounts and credit cards cut off she struggles to feed herself. When a Gypsy comes along promising a warm meal and a free fortune reading, Julie figures to go along since she doesn’t have anything else better to do.

She’s handed a box of normal looking chocolates that taste out of this world. After one bite Julie awakens in a field, with a handsome shirtless man moving toward her shouting ‘Run!’. Thus begins her adventure in a mysterious world where people speak in riddles and Julie is suddenly faced with memories of forgotten best friend Kara. The chocolates are more than just sweets and Julie is going to have to discover the root of her black heart if she’s going to return to her normal life once more.

This was an interesting read! I was looking for something short and this book fit the bill beautifully. It’s extremely fast paced and feels like something I might have studied in one of my literature classes. I loved that it didn’t have the focus of romance but instead slowly gave the reader insight into Julie’s horrible past. My main critic is that there are too many ‘modern day’ references that date the book. Many of the references won’t be relevant in five years time.

For the most part I really enjoyed Julie as a character. She’s not instantly likable and I enjoyed learning why she is the way she’s become. She doesn’t fit the mould of a traditional YA character and it was thrilling to try to figure out what was going on. The ending has left me scratching my head but for good reasons. I don’t think this book is a first of a series and I hope it stays that way. I like a book that leaves me hanging but gives me enough information for my imagination to make educated guesses. If you’re looking for a discussion worthy short book, give Death by Chocolate a shot. You’ll finish it in two hours and will have plenty to talk about!

The wonderful Publisher Curiosity Quills Press provided this book in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to them and the author Johanna Pitcairn for giving me just what I was looking for!

Death by Chocolate is out now! Get your copy today and tell me what you think!

Freshly Published – March

With March comes another range of freshly published Young Adult fiction! Are some of these titles on your hit list? I’ve tried to mix it up with a few stand alone books along with a couple First Books of a series. All summaries are from Goodreads.

Unremembered by Jessica Brody (Unremembered #1)

UnrememberedThe only thing worse than forgetting her past… is remembering it.

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author, Jessica Brody comes a mesmerizing and suspenseful new series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett (The Arkwell Academy #1)

nightmareSixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

Poison by Bridget Zinn

PosionSixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

I had the lucky chance to read this book early – find my review here.

ButterYou think I eat a lot now? That’s nothing. Tune in December 31st, when I will stream a live webcast of my last meal. Death row inmates get one. Why shouldn’t I? I can’t take another year in this fat suit, but I can end this year with a bang. If you can stomach it, you’re invited to watch … as I eat myself to death.

So starts Butter, the story of a lonely 423-pound boy everyone calls ‘Butter’. Worse than being ridiculed for his size at high school, he is simply ignored. Desperate, he pledges to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch. When he makes this announcement online, he expects pity, insults, or possibly sheer indifference. Instead, his classmates become morbid cheerleaders for his deadly plan.

Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline?

Readers will be surprised to find themselves identifying with both the bullied … and the bullies.

Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg

ButterA hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom.

Don’t mess with a girl with a Great Personality.

Everybody loves Lexi. She’s popular, smart, funny…but she’s never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup).

Lexi’s sick of it. She’s sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She’s sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She’s sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she’s sick of having all her family’s money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection.

The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren’t going to know what hit them. Because Lexi’s going to play the beauty game – and she’s in it to win it.

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

ButterSeventeen-year-old “Hank” has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything –who he is, where he came from, why he’s running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David-or “Hank” and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of–Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Cal Armistead’s remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.

Any of them strike your fancy? What is on your current read list?