Saturday, January 11, 2014

Epic Recs: January 2014


Last month, I came across Epic Recs on Books of Amber, and thought it sounded like a fantastic idea. I am a lucky-ducky and got paired up with Becca of I'm Lost in Books. We got ourselves through the holidays, and now we're gearing up to read our books for this month.

I recommended the following to Becca, because it's one of my absolute favorite novels:

Poison by Bridget Zinn

Sixteen-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.



In return, Becca recommended one of her favorites to me:

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning.

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.



Though technically it's called this now:

The Memory of After by Lenore Appelhans

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.




I'm going to still pretend the book is called Level 2 because that's what my copy of the novel says. Now I just have to figure out how to wrangle it out of the bookshelf that's been blocked since the last furniture rearrangement. (I can't move the couch by myself.)


Believe me when I say that it's the angle of the camera that makes it look easy to get the book out. And I'm not damaging it!

Anywho, if you're interested in participating in Epic Recs, you can sign up for it HERE. If you participate, let me know in the comments - I'd love to check out your recs!

6 comments:

  1. I liked POISON, too--nice rec! It's so weird that the title changed... I understand the reasoning for it, I guess, but that didn't have to have a #2 after it, plenty of other sequels exist without being numbered. Oh, well.

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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    1. I think instead of redesigning the cover and title altogether, I would've just put "this is not a sequel" somewhere on the front. (And that is why I don't get a say in the publishing world.)

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  2. Excuse me--I meant, that the title changed for LEVEL 2, of course! D'oh.

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  3. Haha! I hope you can find a way to get the book out!! It is definitely wedged in there. Yea, I like the name Level 2 better for the story, but, unfortunately, people are idiots and kept asking where the first in the series, Level 1, was, so they had to change it.

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    1. If nothing else, I'll make Mister move the couch. (We still have our Christmas tree up with Mardi Gras decorations, so that's why everything is awkward.) I'm so glad that my bookstore days are over because being asked "Where is Level 1?" would make me get stabbity.

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You are going to put words in my box?! *squeezes you* Now I shall stalk YOUR blog!