Blog Tour (Interview & #Giveaway): Guardians by Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan

Thank you so much for stopping by my stop of the Guardians official blog tour here on Bibliophilia, Please! Today, I'll be featuring my interview with Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan.



Title: Guardians (Wasteland #3)
Author: Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Release Date: March 24, 2015
The Emmy Award-nominated and Edgar Award-winning duo of Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan deliver a heart-pounding finale to the postapocalyptic teen world of the Wasteland, filled with dramatic twists and turns. Bestselling author of Criminal, Karin Slaughter, called Wasteland "a Lord of the Flies for future generations. An irresistible page-turner."

No one dares to leave the District—the towering structure of glass and steel that is their protection against the unruly bands of Outsiders that roam Mundreel and the deadly rain that carries the disease that kills all over the age of nineteen.

This skyscraper stands amid the urban devastation, the city rumored to have once been called "Montreal." Esther and her allies have created a haven on the rooftop, a garden that flourishes, and a home for her new baby, hidden from all but the very few who know her secret. But as Gideon's power grows and factions form, the ultimate darkness is born from greed, and Esther must find a way to save the citizens from themselves.

Interview

Kayla: Hi Susan and Laurence, and thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. Do you mind telling us a little bit about the Wasteland series?

Laurence: The Wasteland trilogy takes place about thirty years from now. Climate change has thawed the Arctic ice in which the bodies of 20th century Spanish Flu victims had been preserved. The freed virus destroys nearly the entire world population; and the mutating disease—spread by water droplets, even rain— kills off all survivors by the age of nineteen.

Kayla: What can you tell us about Guardians if we haven’t read the first two books?

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillian)
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Acquired Via: Publisher
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl...

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Review

This review was originally posted on Goodreads on November 10, 2011, before this blog was active.

Marissa Meyer’s debut, Cinder, is not your typical young adult novel. Yes, it is science fiction. Yes, it is based on a fairy tale. Yes, it is dystopian. It is indeed typical to see all of those genres hitting libraries and bookshelves lately. What is not typical is for the mash-up of all three genres to work well together – and it does.

Review: Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh #Giveaway

Title: Shovel Ready (Spademan #1)
Author: Adam Sternbergh
Publisher: Crown (Random House)
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Acquired Via: Publisher
The futuristic hardboiled noir that Lauren Beukes calls “sharp as a paper-cut” about a garbage man turned kill-for-hire.

Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self.

Now he’s a hitman.

In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to “tap in” to a sophisticated virtual reality, and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets. When his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, he must navigate between these two worlds—the wasteland reality and the slick fantasy—to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground.

My Review

Shovel Ready has put me in a really weird position, bloggerwise. I received a copy of it months ago to review, and I started reading it immediately. I was taken with the protagonist, Spademan, and I wanted to see more of the dark, dirty world he was in the more I read. That being said, the writing style was strange, so I took my time with it. (Don't go in looking for quotation marks.)

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.

Leap into Books Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop. This hop is co-hosted by Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Jinky at Jinky is Reading.

What You Can Win

Angelfall and World After are two of the best books that I've read this year (maybe even last year, too!), and they gave me major book hangovers. While the situations in them are not anything that I would necessarily like to "leap into", they are most certainly books that I got lost in. I'll probably leap into rereading them before book #3 comes out, which is not anywhere near soon enough.


Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2)
Penryn is trying to survive. Because after the angels came to destroy the modern world there are no rules. Streets are ruled by gangs and angels are hunting for humans. When her sister is kidnapped Penryn will do everything she can to find her even if it means working with the enemy. Everything could happen in this new dangerous world.


Giveaway

Review: Enders by Lissa Price

Title: Enders (Starters #2)
Author: Lissa Price
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: January 7, 2014
The riveting conclusion to the sci-fi thriller STARTERS!

Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael—teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations—Starters who can be controlled and manipulated. With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders. But Enders can still get inside her mind and make her do things she doesn't want to do. Like hurt someone she loves. Having the chip removed could save her life—but it could also silence the voice in her head that might belong to her father. Callie has flashes of her ex-renter Helena's memories, too... and the Old Man is back, filling her with fear. Who is real and who is masquerading in a teen body?

No one is ever who they appear to be, not even the Old Man. Determined to find out who he really is and grasping at the hope of a normal life for herself and her younger brother, Callie is ready to fight for the truth. Even if it kills her.

My Review

You can read my reviews of Starters HERE.

I have a terrible habit of not finishing series, but I loved Lissa Price's Starters so much that I've been on the edge of my seat for nearly two years waiting on Enders. Unfortunately, Enders did not do much to show me that I should discontinue my bad habit, though I was glad to finally discover the identity of the Old Man. I found that I was not as attached to Callie and her situation, and I was even disinterested at times as events unfolded. There was still plenty of action and twists to keep my interest, despite that.

Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Steelheart (Reckoners #1)
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: September 24, 2013
There are no heroes.

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

My Review

"I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I loved the premise and beginning of Steelheart. The protagonist is just a regular kid caught in a supernatural world. I love that he wasn’t a mary-sue type character, wasn’t perfect, and didn’t have some grand destiny because he was the smartest, best, strongest, etc. He is mostly who and where he is because of a tragic incident, a lot of determination (bordering on obsession), and intelligence. I also love that while there are people with super powers, all of them are bad. The author even makes several philosophical statements which I thought were great. At one point the protagonist wonders if only bad people were given the powers, or if the powers somehow eventually turned all of them bad.

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Sowing by K. Makansi

Title: The Sowing
Author: K. Makansi
Publisher: Layla Dog Press
Release Date: December 1, 2013
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Remy Alexander was born into the elite meritocracy of the Okarian Sector. From an early age, she and her friends were programmed for intellectual and physical superiority through specialized dietary regimes administered by the Okarian Agricultural Consortium. But when her older sister Tai was murdered in a brutal classroom massacre, her parents began to suspect foul play. They fled the Sector, taking their surviving daughter underground to join the nascent Resistance movement. But now, three years later, Remy’s former schoolgirl crush, Valerian Orleán, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Remy and her friends race to unravel the mystery behind her sister’s murder, Vale is haunted by the memory of his friendship with Remy and is determined to find out why she disappeared. As the Resistance begins to fight back against the Sector, and Vale and Remy search for the answers to their own questions, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together—or tear everything apart.

In this science-fiction dystopia, the mother-daughter writing team of Kristina, Amira, and Elena Makansi immerses readers in the post-apocalyptic world of the Okarian Sector where romance, friendship, adventure, and betrayal will decide the fate of a budding nation.

My Review

Don't you hate it when you're writing a review and you have this blank page glaring back at you. I've been having a staring contest with this review of The Sowing because I don't really quite know how I feel about it. The world-building is good, I guess the science works for me, and the writing is alright, but I lacked any sort of connection with the characters.

Review: Pawn by Aimée Carter

Title: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)
Author: Aimée Carter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Acquired Via: NetGalley
Release Date: November 26, 2013
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There’s only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that’s not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she’s only beginning to understand.

My Review

Pawn by Aimée Carter first caught my eye back in the summer of 2012, but I was torn about whether or not I should read it. On one hand, there is a dystopia, rebellion, and castes. On the other hand, it is Harlequin (which implies romance, and I HAVE to be in the mood for it) and the potential for switched identities (instant frustration). The lull of the evil government won me over in the end, and I am so glad that I got down from my high horse long enough to read Pawn.

Book Blast (Trailer & Giveaway): Alive by Megan D. Martin

Title: Alive (Crave #1)
Author: Megan D. Martin
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Interracial Romance
Age: New Adult
Book Blast Organizer: A Little Bit of R & R
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Flesh-eating zombies, dirty sex, and a shattered past…
What’s more dangerous—the man who broke her heart or those trying to eat it?

Fighting to survive, Eve finds herself alone in the world after the Crave—the only parallel of her former life. On the hunt for her sister, she runs into Gage—the first and only boy to have her heart and break it. It’s been four years and he isn’t a boy anymore, nor is he the same person he used to be. Against her better judgment, Eve agrees to stay with him when he divulges information on a safe haven near the small town they grew up in—but that doesn’t mean she has to like it…

Returning home elicits a myriad of emotions that both Eve and Gage thought they had buried. The past and present collide and they are forced to the face bitter deceits that ruined them in the before and threaten to destroy them now…

Book Trailer




About the Author

Blog Tour (Guest Post & Giveaway): Relic by Heather Terrell

Title: Relic (Books of Eva #1)
Author: Heather Terrell
Publisher: Soho Teen
Release Date: October 29, 2013
The truth will test you...

For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down.

When Eva’s twin brother, Eamon, falls to his death just a few months before he is due to participate in The Testing, no one expects Eva to take his place. She’s a Maiden, slated for embroidery classes, curtseys, and soon a prestigious marriage befitting the daughter of an Aerie ruler. But Eva insists on honoring her brother by becoming a Testor. After all, she wouldn’t be the first Maiden to Test, just the first in 150 years.

Eva knows the Testing is no dance class. Gallant Testors train for their entire lives to search icy wastelands for Relics: artifacts of the corrupt civilization that existed before The Healing drowned the world. Out in the Boundary Lands, Eva must rely on every moment of the lightning-quick training she received from Lukas—her servant, a Boundary native, and her closest friend now that Eamon is gone.

But there are threats in The Testing beyond what Lukas could have prepared her for. And no one could have imagined the danger Eva unleashes when she discovers a Relic that shakes the Aerie to its core.

Heather Terrell's Guest Post

I often dream about the apocalypse. Not really the actual cataclysmic event itself -- a tsunami or a terrorist attack or nuclear warfare or something even my active imagination can’t contemplate -- but my steps to prepare for it. In these dreams, I am racing about gathering all the necessary things for a post-apocalyptic world -- medicines, food stores, money, fuel, and even weaponry. The most nightmarish part of these dreams is that I am scrambling to ready myself and my family, but I know that I’m running out of time. That I won’t be able to gather everything that we need before the event happens, and it’s too late. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I write about a post-global warming world in my newest novel Relic.

Review: Relic by Heather Terrell

Title: Relic (Books of Eva #1)
Author: Heather Terrell
Publisher: Soho Teen
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date (US): October 29, 2013
The truth will test you...

For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down.

When Eva’s twin brother, Eamon, falls to his death just a few months before he is due to participate in The Testing, no one expects Eva to take his place. She’s a Maiden, slated for embroidery classes, curtseys, and soon a prestigious marriage befitting the daughter of an Aerie ruler. But Eva insists on honoring her brother by becoming a Testor. After all, she wouldn’t be the first Maiden to Test, just the first in 150 years.

Eva knows the Testing is no dance class. Gallant Testors train for their entire lives to search icy wastelands for Relics: artifacts of the corrupt civilization that existed before The Healing drowned the world. Out in the Boundary Lands, Eva must rely on every moment of the lightning-quick training she received from Lukas—her servant, a Boundary native, and her closest friend now that Eamon is gone.

But there are threats in The Testing beyond what Lukas could have prepared her for. And no one could have imagined the danger Eva unleashes when she discovers a Relic that shakes the Aerie to its core.

My Review

So, I didn't really have an idea of what to expect from Relic by Heather Terrell, but I knew it wasn't going to be A Game of Thrones and/or The Hunger Games (nothing ever is). However, I was pleased with what I got. Relic is an imaginative mixture of post-apocalyptic quasi-dystopia with an epic quest aimed at a young adult audience. Sadly, there is no magic or fantasy. (Dear Game of Thrones Comparer, Here there not be dragons. Or incest.)

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough

Title: The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle #1)
Author: Jason M. Hough
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Jason M. Hough’s pulse-pounding debut combines the drama, swagger, and vivid characters of Joss Whedon’s Firefly with the talent of sci-fi author John Scalzi.

In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.

Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse. But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped—along with the brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma—to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity.

Advance praise for The Darwin Elevator

“A brilliant debut, full of compelling characters and thick with tension.”—Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles

“Claustrophobic, intense, and satisfying . . . I couldn’t put this book down.”—Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool

“This book plugs straight into the fight-or-flight part of your brain.”—Ted Kosmatka, author of The Games

My Review

One of my favorite authors blurbed this book and really liked it, so I came in with high expectations. Twenty percent into the book, I already had a chronic case of the meh (it’s a thing).

Internal Review: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Title: The Testing
Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: June 4, 2013
It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever. Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await.

My Review

Me: We need to have a talk, don't we?

Myself: About?

Me: Oh, you know, how you read books and then don't review them.

Myself: I guess you better gear up for a long talk.

Me: That's no lie. What's taking so long on The Testing, though? This book was read in less than a day.

Myself: *shuffles feet*

Me: Did you not like it?

Myself: Oh no, I did like it! I have even been recommending it to people at the library, moms on Goodreads, strangers at the grocery store...

Me: Then where the hell is the review?

Review: PODs by Michelle K. Pickett

Title: PODs
Author: Michelle K. Pickett
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Seventeen-year-old Eva is a chosen one. Chosen to live, while others meet a swift and painful death from an incurable virus so lethal, a person is dead within days of symptoms emerging. In the POD system, a series of underground habitats built by the government, she waits with the other chosen for the deadly virus to claim those above. Separated from family and friends, it's in the PODs she meets David. And while true love might not conquer all, it's a balm for the broken soul.

After a year, scientists believe the population has died, and without living hosts, so has the virus. That's the theory, anyway. But when the PODs are opened, survivors find the surface holds a vicious secret. The virus mutated, infecting those left top-side and creating... monsters.

Eva and David hide from the infected in the abandoned PODs. Together they try to build a life--a new beginning. But the infected follow and are relentless in their attacks. Leaving Eva and David to fight for survival, and pray for a cure.

My Review*

Once upon a time there was a book that should have turned me off completely after fifty pages. Its name was PODs. PODs was an interesting little book with teenage naïveté, superviruses, questionable government policy, awful roommates, young love, action, zombies, and cringe-worthy science. Despite the strange formula, I still fell in love with the book.

The main character, Evangeline aka Eva, isn't the perfect character, but she's one that I connected with and cared about though I can't exactly pinpoint why. I shouldn't have liked her, per my inconsistent taste. She was the embodiment of that aforementioned teenage naïveté. Her parents sprung a family game night with no electronics on her when she saw them worrying over something they were watching on television, and she went along with it, despite never having one before. That was her general behavior in the book, but it read more as "go with the flow" than a mindless sheep routine. What I really had trouble with was her treatment of her BFF, Bridget, at the start of the book. It wasn't godawful, but it lingered.

Audiobook Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Narrator: Kate Simses
Publisher: Harper Audio
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Acquired Via: Overdrive (Library)
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

My Review

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is probably one of the most beautifully written books that I have ever read. I also almost gave up on it completely after about 10% of it. Kate Simses, the narrator, was definitely Shatter Me's saving grace.

Since I listened to the audiobook, I think it changed the reading experience. (I cannot tell you if it was for better or worse.) For one, I missed out on the scratching out of phrases except for the brief ripping sounds in the audiobook. Honestly, I thought it was skipping at first. It was more annoying than effective. As for the flowery descriptiveness, I would have probably skimmed through most of that. Mafi used strings of similes and metaphors to say the simplest things. It was the most lovely overkill that I've ever experienced. It was torturous to sit through, being as it was used mostly to illustrate the hormonal explosions happening with Juliette. I have read borderline erotica that did not have heroines so needy and starved for human touch as that girl. Granted, she had spent nearly a year in solitary confinement at an insane asylum. That lusty desperation overshadowed the majority of the novel. Juliette was either pining over Adam, the boy thrown in the cell with her at the start of the novel, or waxing poetic about Warner, the twisted leader of the sector. I know that she hated Warner, but she infused much of that hatred with flowery descriptions of his hotness. Say what you will about me, but I will forever refer to this novel as The Passionate, Desperate Ramblings of a Lonely, Horny Teenager from this day forth.

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Dualed by Elsie Chapman

Title: Dualed
Author: Elsie Chapman
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Acquired Via: NetGalley
You or your Alt? Only one will survive.

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Elsie Chapman's suspenseful YA debut weaves unexpected romance into a novel full of fast-paced action and thought-provoking philosophy. When the story ends, discussions will begin about this future society where every adult is a murderer and every child knows there is another out there who just might be better.

My Review

In Dualed, we are brought into Kersh: a city-state in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been left infertile. The Board - the governing body - somehow has managed to find a way to create/grow human clones in labs two at a time. Every set of twins (or Alts) are separated at birth (hatching?) and each baby is raised by a different family. They never meet until the time comes for them to hunt down and kill their clone upon their activation. You see, the Board teaches that the survival of Kersh depends upon the strength of its population, so only those who kill their Alts are worthy of living there. This world-building is interesting, but it left me hungering for more. It seemed like there were holes in the story and zip-aheads (you know, when you fast forward in time - roll with it) that confused me a bit. When it came to other aspects of the story, I could suspend disbelief enough to believe Kersh wanted to be a land of killers, but I wanted to read more about why the Board activated certain individuals when they did. I also wish there would have been more showing of the parents and how they dealt with the loss of one child, but having another walking around, genetically the same.

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Title: Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
My Review

I, like many other Marissa Meyer fans, have waited longingly for over a year to read Scarlet. I did not even request an ARC of the novel because it came out a day before my birthday, and it made the perfect gift. (There is no denying that the temptation to get my hands on an ARC was strong.) When the book came in the mail, I petted it - LITERALLY petted it! It has ridden in my purse for a week, just so I can snatch moments to devour the pages. It was a whirlwind romance. Sadly though, it did not sweep me off my feet. I'm so sorry, Scarlet - it's not you, it's me.

No, I mean it, it really must be me. Scarlet had all of the fantastic qualities that Cinder had: strong heroine; Iko; fantastic mix of sci-fi and fairy tale (Meyer is beyond genius in her execution of this); Iko; deliciously evil villainess; Iko (you see where I'm going with this). Little Red Riding Hood is even one of my favorite fairy tales! Scarlet and Wolf had all of the makings of interesting literary characters, but I found myself resenting the time given to their story. The banter between Cinder, Captain Thorne, and Iko (and all combinations thereof) was delightful. Maybe it was just me wanting more of Cinder and her story that disrupted my enjoyment of the novel. Scarlet wasn't a bad character - she was just as strong and determined as Cinder. I just had trouble connecting with her after I spent so long waiting to rejoin Cinder on her journey. I can say that Wolf is far too broken of a bad boy for my taste, and maybe it was the mom in me that wanted to smack Scarlet for taking him along.

Printed Books Giveaway Hop (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the Printed Books Giveaway Hop, which is being hosted by Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, who is absolutely wonderful.

What You Can Win

I have yet another book that I ended up with two of (I got a signed copy!), so I'm going to pass my extra, unsigned copy on to one winner.


Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
Of course, shipping internationally is outrageous, so if you're not from the US or Canada and are the winner chosen, I'll let you choose a book for less than $13US as long as it's from a site that ships for free..

The Giveaway

Review: Hell’s Reaping by James Bishop

Title: Hell's Reaping: Book One of The Apotheosis Trilogy
Author: James Bishop
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: September 10, 2012
Acquired Via: Author
Judgment day came, and humanity fought. We lost. Demons control Earth and civilization is reduced to a few scattered bastions. Desperate times, desperate measures. Five Templar Knights are damned and sent to Hell as humanity’s last hope. And then it gets better.

Holy crap this book was good! It hooked me from the very beginning. The first chapter was dark, darker than the rest of the book, but it did set the tone of what was to come. You can’t expect bunnies and unicorns when it’s a book about hell. Unless it’s The Evil Bunny of Doom or Bad Unicorn, fantasy version of Bad Horse. By the way, if you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible, go watch it now. But I digress.

I loved this book. Its split in five acts, each telling the story from each of the main character’s perspective. With a sixth pulling everything together. I enjoyed each tremendously. The characters were all compelling and unique. Each dealt with being damned in their own way, but all paths took them towards the same end. Some through more hardship than others, but each suffered to reach their destination.