#TheRuleOfMirrors Blog Tour: Kayla's Review of The Vault of Dreamers by @CaraghMOBrien

Thank you so much for visiting by Bibliophilia, Please for my stop of the Rule of Mirrors blog tour - which is out now! Today, I'll be featuring the first book in the trilogy, The Vault of Dreamers with a review!



Title: The Vault of Dreamers (The Vault of Dreamers #1)
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan)
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success: every moment of the students' lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students' schedule includes twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras in the school. What's worse is, she starts to notice that the ridges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

From Caragh M. O'Brien, author of the Birthmarked trilogy comes the first book in a new series, The Vault of Dreamers, a fast-paced, psychologically thrilling novel about what happens when your dreams are not your own.

My Review

If you are ever looking for a book that is perfect for audio, it is The Vault of Dreamers. It's twisty-turny, with a little bit of smoochy-angsty, and perfect for keeping me listening, even when I wasn't in my car. I can only imagine that it would be the same for a reading experience.

The Vault of Dreamers explores our society's fascination for reality television while focusing on Rosie Sinclair, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. The Forge School is her one shot out of poverty, so she does whatever it takes to go against the odds and get through the cuts, even though she doesn't see it happening. Of course, there are consequences to her actions that affect Rosie and her classmates throughout the novel.

Review: The Heir by Kiera Cass #yalit #TheSelection

Title: The Heir (The Selection #4)
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

My Review

Previously reviewed:
The Selection (The Selection #1)
The One (The Selection #3)

One of my far and away most anticipated reads of 2015 was Kiera Cass' The Heir, the follow-up to her hugely popular Selection series. I loved all of the previous books in the series so hard, and I am sad to say that I did not enjoy The Heir half so much.

I sometimes forget how important a main character is to the story. America Singer was a character that I loved for whatever reason, and I was obsessed with following her story. I adored Prince Maxon, and I loved to hate Aspen. America and Maxon's daughter was a different matter. I did not like Eadlyn Schreave. Yes, she is a realistic princess/heir, but she has almost no redeeming qualities. I did not enjoy her interactions with other characters, and I liked her even less as the story progressed. I couldn't even love to hate her, like Celeste Newsome in the previous books.

Early Review: The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow (ARC) #yalit

Title: The Scorpion Rules
Author: Erin Bow
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
In the future, the UN has brought back an ancient way to keep the peace. The children of world leaders are held hostage—if a war begins, they pay with their lives.

Greta is the Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy, a superpower formed of modern-day Canada. She is also a Child of Peace, a hostage held by the de facto ruler of the world, the great Artificial Intelligence, Talis. The hostages are Talis’s strategy to keep the peace: if her country enters a war, Greta dies.

The system has worked for centuries. Parents don’t want to see their children murdered.

Greta will be free if she can make it to her eighteenth birthday. Until then she is prepared to die with dignity, if necessary. But everything changes when Elian arrives at the Precepture. He’s a hostage from a new American alliance, and he defies the machines that control every part of their lives—and is severely punished for it. Greta is furious that Elian has disrupted their quiet, structured world. But slowly, his rebellion opens her eyes to the brutality of the rules they live under, and to the subtle resistance of her companions. And Greta discovers her own quiet power.

Then Elian’s country declares war on Greta’s and invades the prefecture, taking the hostages hostage. Now the great Talis is furious, and coming himself to mete out punishment. Which surely means that Greta and Elian will be killed...unless Greta can think of a way to save them.

My Review

It's not very often that I stay up all night reading a book, but I did for The Scorpion Rules. I think that worked both for and against the novel because on one hand, there's not much better than reading a dark book (no, I don't mean scary) alone in the dark. On the other hand, I can't quite figure out if the weirdness of the novel was due to my insomnia or if The Scorpion Rules was just a strange book.

Cover Reveal (Giveaway): The Revolution of Ivy by Amy Engel @aengelwrites

Today I'm really excited to share with you the cover of The Revolution of Ivy, the sequel to one of my favorite books from last year, The Book of Ivy. I have a hard time writing reviews of books that I love, so I still haven't managed that, but I did give a quote to the lovely people at Entangled. It was my first to be put in a book (that I know of). But without further ado, I present to you the cover of The Revolution of Ivy!



Title: The Revolution of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #2)
Author: Amy Engel
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Cover Reveal Organizer: YA Bound Book Tours
Release Date: November 3, 2015
WARNING: There are SPOILERS if yoU haven't read The Book of Ivy!!!

Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.

But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for.

Buy Links
Amazon | Kobo


About The Book of Ivy



Title: The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1)
Author: Amy Engel
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: November 11, 2014
WARNING: There are SPOILERS if yoU haven't read The Book of Ivy!!!

Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.

But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo


About the Author

Cover Reveal: Elemental series by Elana Johnson #Giveaway

Title: Elemental Rush (Elemental #0.5)
Author: Elana Johnson
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works
Cover Reveal Organizer: Blog Tours by Elana
Release Date: May 19, 2014
Eighteen-year-old Adam Gillman has trained for twelve years to earn a coveted spot on the Supreme Elemental’s elite sentry squad. His brother, Felix, is the commander, but Adam is still thrilled when his official assignment to serve Alexander Pederson comes.

He moves into nicer quarters and can stop getting up at four a.m. to complete his mandated work out time. He still rises early though, because he needs the solitude of early morning to practice his airmaking Element—something that Adam has kept secret from everyone, even Felix, because he can’t be both an Airmaker and a sentry.

When Alex assigns him to kill a group of rogue Elementals, he balks at completing his mission for the first time. See, his only friend is Isaiah Hawking, and he’s the Earthmover on the accused Council. When faced with the prospect of killing him, Adam finds he can’t do it.

He’s well trained in assassination, but he thought he’d be murdering bad guys—not innocents.

When Alex buries the Elemental Academy—and kills over one thousand Elementals—in a fit of rage, Adam’s loyalty cracks. When he discovers that Alex is really a woman, and his brother’s lover, he defects. He hops from city to city, from Elemental school to Elemental school, always escaping only minutes before Felix can embed a knife in his heart or a tsunami can make a classroom his watery grave.

He tries to fight back, but he’s just one Airmaster with exceptional tracking skills. He does his best to warn those in danger, but as the last Elemental school goes up in flames, he knows he needs to get some real firepower on his side.

Elemental Rush is a prequel novella to the full-length futuristic fantasy novel, Elemental Hunger.

Review: The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

Title: The Ghosts of Heaven
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillian)
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
Timeless, beautiful, and haunting, spirals connect the four episodes of The Ghosts of Heaven, the mesmerizing new novel from Printz Award winner Marcus Sedgwick. They are there in prehistory, when a girl picks up a charred stick and makes the first written signs; there tens of centuries later, hiding in the treacherous waters of Golden Beck that take Anna, who people call a witch; there in the halls of a Long Island hospital at the beginning of the 20th century, where a mad poet watches the oceans and knows the horrors it hides; and there in the far future, as an astronaut faces his destiny on the first spaceship sent from earth to colonize another world. Each of the characters in these mysterious linked stories embarks on a journey of discovery and survival; carried forward through the spiral of time, none will return to the same place.

My Review

The Ghosts of Heaven... This is not an easy one to gather my thoughts about. I think it may be easiest to break it down by quarter (there are four shortish stories that make up the novel).

Quarter One: Whispers in the Dark

This story reminded me a lot of Hunting the Ghost Dancer by A.A. Attanasio, which is funny because I haven't read that book in nearly twenty years and can't recall the last time that I even thought about the book. *thinks about it* Okay, all they really have in common is that they're both set in prehistoric times. But still! I thought about that other book a lot.

Joint Review: Golden Son by Pierce Brown (Spoilers)

Okay, if you haven't read Red Rising, you may want to skip this discussion/review. If you haven't read Golden Son yet, you may want to be careful while reading this review. If you have read Golden Son, we totally need to have a party and discuss All The Things.

Proceed carefully.



Title: Golden Son (Red Rising Trilogy #2)
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.

Our Review

You can read Kayla's review of Red Rising, the first book in the trilogy, HERE.

BEWARE! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR Red Rising (AND MAYBE Golden Son) BELOW!
Amber: So I decided to play hooky the last few minutes of work and finish.....

My first thoughts at the end were "Well, fuck."

At least Sevro and Mustang are free somewhere. They'll get Darrow out somehow.

Kayla: So did you see any of that coming? I knew what's-his-face would end up betraying him, but I didn't think Finchner would be killed. But then again, I didn't see a lot of things coming. Every time I thought I had it figured out, something would spin it on its head.

Dystopian Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Happy Halloween! Welcome to my stop on the Dystopian Giveaway Blog Hop. This hop is co-hosted by April & Kat at My Shelf Confessions and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

What You Can Win

One of the best dystopian novels that I've read this year is Pierce Brown's debut novel, Red Rising. I read and reviewed this book a earlier this year, and I enjoyed it so much that I want to share it. Here's a little about the book:



Title: Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1)
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Buy Links
Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond


Giveaway

Review: In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis

Title: In a Handful of Dust (Not a Drop to Drink #2)
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Acquired Via: Edelweiss
The only thing bigger than the world is fear.

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.

My Review

In a Handful of Dust is the companion to Not a Drop to Drink. It makes more sense as a companion, because although it contains the same characters, Lynn and Lucy (and others by the pond) are much changed in the ten or so years since the events of Not a Drop to Drink. Lynn is a grown woman, and Lucy is a teenager, no longer a small child.

Review: On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers

Title: On a Clear Day
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (Random House)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Young heroes decide that they are not too young or too powerless to change their world in this gripping, futuristic young adult novel by the New York Times bestselling author of the Printz Award–winning Monster.

It is 2035. Teens, armed only with their ideals, must wage war on the power elite.

Dahlia is a Low Gater: a sheep in a storm, struggling to survive completely on her own. The Gaters live in closed safe communities, protected from the Sturmers, mercenary thugs. And the C-8, a consortium of giant companies, control global access to finance, media, food, water, and energy resources—and they are only getting bigger and even more cutthroat. Dahlia, a computer whiz, joins forces with an ex-rocker, an ex-con, a chess prodigy, an ex-athlete, and a soldier wannabe. Their goal: to sabotage the C-8. But how will Sayeed, warlord and terrorist, fit into the equation?

Walter Dean Myers was a prolific author for young people, writing over one hundred books and receiving every major award in the field of children's literature during his lifetime. He was the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature during 2012 and 2013.

My Review

I don't believe that I've ever read anything by award-winning author Walter Dean Myers before, so I thought On a Clear Day would be a good place to start. I love speculative fiction, so I was sure that this would be great.

I was wrong.

Cover Reveal: Night Sky by Suzanne & Melanie Brockmann

Today, I'm sharing the cover of Night Sky here on Bibliophilia, Please! If you're anything like my family members and library patrons, you better sit down, because your excitement for Suzanne Brockmann's new novel with her daughter, Melanie, might just knock you over!



Title: Night Sky (Night Sky #1)
Author: Melanie Brockmann and Suzanne Brockmann
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Sixteen-year-old Skylar Reid is thrown into a strange world when she discovers that she has unique telekinetic and telepathic powers. After Sasha, the child she babysits, is kidnapped and believed to be murdered, Sky and her best friend Calvin are approached by Dana, a mysterious girl who has super-abilities similar to Sky’s. With the help of Dana and her sidekick Milo, the four teens embark on a quest to discover who killed Sasha, and to bring the killers to justice.

With Dana as Skylar’s surly and life-toughened mentor, Sky attempts to harness her powers to aid them in their quest. Complicating an already complex relationship with the older girl, Sky starts to fall for the dangerously handsome and enigmatic Milo – and begins to suspect that the attraction is mutual. But then Sky realizes that Sasha might still be alive, and the unlikely foursome’s mission becomes one of search and rescue, pitting the heroic teens against a very deadly enemy.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond


About the Author

Book Blast (Giveaway): Vortex by S.J. Kincaid

Title: Vortex (Insignia #2)
Author: S.J. Kincaid
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Book Blast Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: July 2, 2013
The impossible was just the beginning. Now in their second year as superhuman government weapons-in-training at the Pentagonal Spire, Tom Raines and his friends are mid-level cadets in the elite combat corps known as the Intrasolar Forces. But as training intensifies and a moment arrives that could make or break his entire career, Tom’s loyalties are again put to the test.

Encouraged to betray his ideals and friendships for the sake of his country, Tom is convinced there must be another way. And the more aware he becomes of the corruption surrounding him, the more determined he becomes to fight it, even if he sabotages his own future in the process.

Drawn into a power struggle more dramatic than he has ever faced before, Tom stays a hyperintelligent step ahead of everyone, like the exceptional gamer he is—or so he believes. But when he learns that he and his friends have unwittingly made the most grievous error imaginable, Tom must find a way to outwit an enemy so nefarious that victory seems hopeless. Will his idealism and bravado cost him everything—and everyone that matters to him?

Filled with action and intelligence, camaraderie and humor, the second book in S.J. Kincaid’s futuristic World War III Insignia trilogy continues to explore fascinating and timely questions about power, politics, technology, loyalty, and friendship.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond


About the Author

Review: The One by Kiera Cass

Title: The One (The Selection #3)
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Acquired Via: Purchase
The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

My Review

My review of The One should be a surprising and rare thing for you to see - one that is posted on the day of its release because I just finished reading it THAT DAY. No, I wasn't up at midnight reading my Kindle edition (because I forgot to set my alarm and was crazy tired). I did put everything else on hold because OHMYGODWHOISITGOINGTOBEINEEDTOKNOWRIGHTNOWANDSTUFF!!!!!

If you're read the series, then you probably get it. It's like crack cocaine laced through cotton candy - delicious and addictive. But I probably shouldn't be using drug references like that with YA books. Shame on you, Kayla. I've just been really invested. Like, so invested that I didn't even review The Elite because I was so irritated with what Cass was doing to my sweet man,... *stops self* Okay, I'll confess and say this book is probably one of five that I've been dying to get my hands on this year.

If you haven't read the series, now is your opportunity to walk away. Here thar be spoilers:

Audiobook Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Title: Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1)
Author: Pierce Brown
Narrator: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Acquired Via: Publisher
Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

My Review

Red Rising is Pierce Brown's dystopian, science fiction debut novel that is set far into the future on the planet Mars. It has been compared to The Hunger Games and Ender's Game. Shockingly, I have to agree with these comparisons (though I usually won't on principle) because Brown gives us a gritty, dark novel that speculates on what human civilization can become and how powerful love can be, no matter how downtrodden the ones feeling it.

Review: Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Title: Free to Fall
Author: Lauren Miller
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: May 13, 2014
From the author of Parallel comes a high-stakes romantic puzzler set in a near-future where everyone's life is seamlessly orchestrated by personal electronic devices.

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision-making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she's accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn't use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux's recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore—a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

My Review

Free to Fall is Lauren Miller's second young adult, following last year's Parallel. (You can read my review of it HERE.) It is set approximately sixteen years in the future and is a great piece of speculative fiction. Free to Fall follows Rory Vaughn as she heads off to an elite prep school that guarantees admittance to the best colleges and successful careers after graduation.

Review: Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell

Title: Expiration Day
Author: William Campbell Powell
Publisher: Tor Teen (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: April 22, 2014
It is the year 2049, and humanity is on the brink of extinction…

Tania Deeley has always been told that she’s a rarity: a human child in a world where most children are sophisticated androids manufactured by Oxted Corporation. When a decline in global fertility ensued, it was the creation of these near-perfect human copies called teknoids that helped to prevent the utter collapse of society.

Though she has always been aware of the existence of teknoids, it is not until her first day at The Lady Maud High School for Girls that Tania realizes that her best friend, Siân, may be one. Returning home from the summer holiday, she is shocked by how much Siân has changed. Is it possible that these changes were engineered by Oxted? And if Siân could be a teknoid, how many others in Tania’s life are not real?

Driven by the need to understand what sets teknoids apart from their human counterparts, Tania begins to seek answers. But time is running out. For everyone knows that on their eighteenth “birthdays,” teknoids must be returned to Oxted—never to be heard from again.

Told in diary format, Expiration Day is the powerful and poignant story of a young girl coming of age and discovering what it means to be truly human by a talented debut novelist.

My Review

Expiration Day is one of those books that is exceedingly difficult to review. It is such a shade of gray between good and bad, that I find it difficult to articulate my thoughts on it. Expiration Day deals with some pretty heavy issues, like what it means to be human, and it is told through Tania's diary. It is also the plausibly futuristic style of writing in science fiction that I usually love. However, I still find myself searching for words.

Review: Salvage by Alexandra Duncan

Title: Salvage
Author: Alexandra Duncan
Publisher: Greenwillow (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Her life is a shadow of a life. Her future is not her own to fashion.

Her family is a tangle of secrets. She cannot read. She cannot write.

But she is Parastrata Ava, the Captain's eldest daughter, the so girl of a long-range crewe—her obligations are grave and many.

And when she makes a mistake, in a fragrant orchard of lemons, the consequences are deadly.

There are some who would say, there but for the Mercies go I.

There are some who would say Parastrata Ava is just a silly earthstruck girl who got what was coming to her.

But they don't know the half of it.

My Review

Some of the synopses (not the one I used from HarperTeen's page) for this book are misleading. You see, Salvage - Alexandra Duncan's debut - is indeed a scifi novel with a desolate-seeming future for women and humanity. It is, most assuredly, quite unlike like Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale and Beth Revis' Across the Universe. Now that those things have been stated and are (mostly) off my mind, shall we proceed? (I don't want to go on about it too much because Duncan can't help who her book is compared to, amiright?)

Blog Tour (Interview & Giveaway): Blood Crown by Ali Cross

Title: Blood Crown
Author: Ali Cross
Publisher: Novel Ninjutsu
Blog Tour Organizer: Blog Tours By Elana
Release Date: February 20, 2014
Androids have claimed power over what remains of the human race. They rule without remorse. They are the Mind and humans exist only to serve them.

But it wasn't always so.

Before the android uprising, select droids, called Servants, were pivotal in engineering a new human race with nanotechnology enhanced DNA. The Blood Crown theorum was to be humanity's crowning glory and the key to their survival in deep space.

But Serantha, Daughter of the West, was the last female to receive Gifts from her Servant and when the Mind mutinied, she was hidden away, and presumed dead.

Without Serantha there is no hope of the Blood Crown being realized so Nicolai, Son of the East, abandons his crown to join the rebel forces. He might not provide the future for his people he had once dreamed of, but he will not go down without a fight.

When Nicolai discovers Sera among a small compliment of kitchen staff, everything changes--but Sera's Gifts were never completed and she is ill-equipped to face a legion of androids determined to wipe her, and every other human, out of existence.

Their only hope is the Blood Crown--but even if Serantha and Nicolai can realize their potential it may be too late to save mankind.

Author Interview

1. Please tell us a little bit about Blood Crown in your own words but with a Twitter twist – 140 characters or less.

Blood Crown is a science fiction romance with a Cinderella twist.

2. Where did you get the idea for the book?

Review: The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Title: The Immortal Crown (Age of X #2)
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Acquired Via: Edelweiss
Release Date: May 29, 2014
Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

My Review

I requested Immortal Crown because I really liked Gameboard of the Gods and I love Mead’s Vampire Academy series and its spinoff series Bloodlines. It’s kind of hard to set out my feeling for The Immortal Crown. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. It was very slow in the beginning and there were a lot of issues throughout the story.

Waiting on Wednesday (41): The One by Kiera Cass

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: The One (The Selection #3)
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 6, 2014
The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers' hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey... Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.


This series is one of my guilty pleasures. It has all the things I hate about young adult series (love triangle, angst, drama, annoying heroine), but I still can't put the books down once I pick them up. It really is The Bachelor set it a future dystopian society. Also, I'm completely Team Maxon.

What are you waiting on this week?