Tag Archive | Croak Series

Book Review: Rogue by Gina Damico

Rouge cover

Screen shot 2014-02-01 at 20.57.48

Please note this is the third and final book in the Croak series. My review does not contain any spoilers but this does follow the series. 

Read my review of Croak (Book 1)

Read my review of Scorch (Book 2)

In reality, there is so much to this series. I don’t want to give away any crucial information.  This jaw dropping finale made me feel things I never expected, nor saw coming. I feel it’s best to also show how I felt about this book:

tumblr_ms9fekjngy1sqe207o1_400

Pretty much sums up everything. I mourn the end of this series. It came during a period of my life when death was ever prevalent and somehow, this series helped with the tragic transition. 

There aren’t enough YA books out there that help push the envelope on how teens can think and feel. I hope to read a lot more from Dimaco in the future. 

Advertisement

October Reads

Happy Spooky October everyone! 

Here’s what I’m reading this month! All new releases I’m happy to declare!

October Reads

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (sequel to The Shining – really excited)

Rogue by Gina Damico (final in her Croak series – SUPER excited)

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (it’s been hyped all over social media so I’m excited to see how it turns out!)

What spooky tales are you reading this month?

xx,

Ashleyisee

Freshly Published: September

It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally HERE! September is a fantastic month for freshly published books! (not to mention that Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep is out this month too!)

What’s currently in process at my local library? The one book I’ve been waiting MONTHS for!

Rogue by Gina Damico (Croak #3)

Rogue cover

Lex is a teenage Grim Reaper with the power to Damn souls, and it’s getting out of control. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it. 

The gang heads for Necropolis, the labyrinth-like capital city of the Grimsphere. There, they discover that the Grimsphere needs a reboot. To do that, the portals to the Afterlife must be destroyed…but even that may not be enough to fix the damage. Things go from bad to worse, and when at last the fate of the Afterlife and all the souls of the Damned hang in the balance, it falls to Lex and her friends to make one final, impossible choice.

Here’s the rest of the heavy hitters for this month, they’ve got a lot of press and look fantastic!

 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl cover

From the author the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

 

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (All Our Yesterdays #1)

All our yesterdays cover

“You have to kill him.” Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside. 

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was. 

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

 

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

The chaos of stars

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal.

Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

 

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake (Goddess War #1)

Antigoddess cover

The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.
 
Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god. 

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. 

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out. 

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

That’s it for this month! I can’t wait to get my copies from my library! Have you gotten your hands on any of these titles yet?

Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak Cover

Screen shot 2013-05-13 at 19.41.06

Lex (short for Lexington) Bartleby is one troubled teenage girl. Her twin sister Cordy (short for Concord) is sweet as sugar and works hard at her part time job. When Lex puts another fellow student in hospital, the girl’s parents ship her off to her forgotten Uncle Mort’s farm in upstate New York.

Stuck in the middle of nowhere, Lex attempts to prepare for one long summer of suck. Instead her scarred Uncle on a motorcycle picks her up, with no farms in sight. He’s also the Mayor of Croak, a town full of Grim Reapers. Lex is also a Grim Reaper; gifted with talents of guiding souls to the afterlife. Her summer makes a complete 180.

That is until uncharted deaths start happening around the US. Lex finds herself public enemy number one for reasons she doesn’t understand. As she begins to lose what little comfort fitting in a society of her own kind, she’ll have to make a choice of either joining this masked Killer or ending him or her, herself.

This book is seriously amazing. So worth the wait. (It hasn’t been published in the UK yet.) Finally a YA seriously where the focus isn’t on falling in love, with some real bite to it! Croak is fabulous at dealing with the moral obligations of life and death. Everyone who lives must also die and I love how Damico uses this sad life event to bring comfort to readers, as well as cover the natural order.

When that balance is disrupted all hell breaks loose in the book and you’ll turn every page wondering who’s around the corner! The language of the story is also fantastic. Riddled with new age teenage slang. You’ll be laughing and crying through this brilliant 300 page ride. Talk about using the post-apocalyptic theme in a modern way, Croak is absolutely worth reading. As long as you’re not uberally disturbed by death, I highly suggest checking out this beginning of the Croak series as soon as possible!

The finale book in this series will be published in September, and this review is kicking off to the release date. Next month I’ll include my review on the sequel, Scorch

May Reads

May Reads

May is going to be a busy month! I have gone a bit overboard with my local library, but I love the access of long awaited books that are now at my fingertips! This month I’ll be reading some completed or soon to be completed series along with freshly published books from my earlier posts!

Screen shot 2013-05-07 at 08.12.49

It’s lot and it’s probably going to spill over to June, but I’m really excited to have so many options. 

Which do you prefer? Freshly published books? Or a completed series?

Until next time,

Ashleyisee

xx