Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART. DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER. Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive. If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers

My thoughts: I struggled to get in to this book at first. I'm not sure why, I think it was quite hard for me to get my head around the post-apocalyptic setting of the story. Once I sort of understood that aspect I really started to enjoy the story. I finished the book in two days because I simply couldn't put it down. Aria started of as a bit naive and slightly annoying to be honest, but she seemed to grow up a bit throughout the book and I enjoyed seeing her gradually learning about the outside world and coming to terms with what was happening in her own world. I liked the developing relationship between Aria and Perry although it didn't really make sense to me at first. I am looking forward to finding out what happens to them in the next book. Unfortunately I did feel that the ending of the book was a bit disappointing, it didn't really do the story justice, but hopefully things will be resolved in the next book.

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

My name - my True Name - is Ashallayn'darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining Winter Prince, son of the Queen of the Unseelie Court. And I am dead to her. My fall began, as many stories do, with a girl...

Loveis a weakness for mortals and fools. And Ash, heir to the winter court is no mere mortal. But when he swore to be Meghan Chase's knight, his oath bound him to her irrevocably. Now the girl Ash loves is ruler of a realm where no Winter Prince can ever survive. To be with her he must have a soul and a mortal body, yet the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible.

There is one stronger than his will to live: his vow to Meghan. As Ash battles he learns truths that challenge his darkest beliefs and show him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My thoughts: Having only read the first book in this series "The Iron King", I was a bit worried that this, the fourth book, wouldn't make a lot of sense to me. Fortunately that wasn't the case at all. Everything is explained really well and I think I could have quite easily enjoyed this book as a standalone.

Ash wants to be with Meghan, but unfortunately for him, the realm where she lives is deadly to him. The only way he can go to her is if he completes a quest to get a soul and become mortal. Ash is joined on his quest by a group of companions, includng Robyn Goodfellow, the Big Bad Wolf, Ariella and Grimalkin the talking cat. I thought that this made the story more interesting and the banter between the characters was amusing.

The story is packed full of action and adventure with some romance and sadness thrown in. I was hooked from start to finish and strongly reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale.

Received from MiraInk in exchange for an honest review.

Touch of Power by Maria V Snyder

Synopsis from Goodreads: Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life...

My thoughts: Touch of Power has a strong female lead character, Avry, who is captured for her healing powers by a group of men trying to save their Prince from the plague. Along the journey to save Prince Ryne, Avry must decide if the Prince is worth giving up her own life for or if there is another even worse fate awaiting her. She also begins to wonder how the plague really started and what the Healers' Guild were really doing.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very reminiscent of Poison Study, Maria's first book which I absolutely adored.Once again I enjoyed reading an adventure story set in a fantasy world. The characters were really interesting and I love the way that the background characters made the story even more interesting.

I feel like I would like to know more about Avry and her powers, I'm really looking forward to more from this series! 

Reviewed as part of the Touch of Power blog tour.

Johnny Swanson by Eleanor Updale

 This is the answer to smelly feet - wear a clothes peg on your nose. 11-year-old Johnny Swanson is in business. He's raking in the money with his advertising scams and his agony aunt persona, Ada Ardour, who offers advice on absolutely anything in return for a shilling. But his money-making schemes are getting him in too deep. Everything is spiralling out of control, and now his own mother is in mortal danger. There's only one thing for it: Johnny must assume another role - as undercover detective.

My thoughts: The title character, Johnny, hates being short so when he sees an advert in the newspaper that promises the secret to tallness he steals some money off his mum to send away for the secret. Unfortunately this is a con, but it gives Johnny an idea for his own money-making scheme to help pay back the money he stole and to help his mum pay the rent. He places his own adverts in the paper to trick people into sending him money. Some of his adverts were really clever and funny, and even though he was technically breaking the law I really wanted his plans to work.
Later on the focus of the book shifts as a murder is committed and Johnny's mum is the prime suspect. Johnny knows he must clear his mum's name, even if it means risking getting into trouble himself.

The book is set in 1929 and a lot of the story is centred around Tuberculosis and the treatment of the disease. This historical aspect made for interesting reading and I certainly learned some facts about TB that I didn't know before. But the book is so much more than just a historical story, it's a fun mystery story with a fantastic character who I couldn't help but love.

ISBN: 9780385616423
Publish date: April 2010
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Author website: http://www.eleanorupdale.co.uk/
Book source: Personal collection

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Keep your head down. Don't get noticed. Or else.

I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of the thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I just do my job and try to avoid the Population Control Police, who dream of recycling scrubs into fertiliser. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? It's not like it's dangerous...

Well, turns out it is. Because I know every corridor, pipe and shortcut I've become the go-to girl to lead a revolution. I know if we find a gateway to Outside it'll be suicide plain and simple. But guess who likes a challenge?

I should have just said no...

My thoughts: I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I'm a big fan of Maria's Study and Glass series but because this is a dystopian novel I worried that I might not like it. That was totally not the case however, I absolutely loved this book!
The novel is set Inside, which is like a big metal box with all sorts of corridors, rooms and pipework. Trella is a scrub and she works cleaning the pipework. As rumours grow that there is more than just Inside, Trella is roped in to helping discover the truth.
I really liked Trella and her friends and I was rooting for them all the way through the book.

The setting of this book is obviously a major part of the story. I found that the setting was described really well and you can quite easily picture in your mind what it's like.

Although the setting is very different to Maria's other books, the writing is still just as great, and there's another awesome female MC. So if you loved Maria's other books, I highly recommend this!

Be sure to stop by my blog again tomorrow when I'll have an interview with Maria!

Thanks to Mira Ink for sending me this book for review.

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

Something is wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh...

She can sense when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest boy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about the dark forces behind Kaylee's power than she does.
And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason and only Kaylee knows who'll be next, she realises that finding a boyfriend is the least of her worries!

My thoughts: Kaylee is a bean sidhe but doesn't know it. All she knows is that she sees when someone is about to die and uncontrollably screams until they do die.
This was a really great story and I really liked the characters, especially Kaylee and Nash.
I hadn't heard of bean sidhes before so I was pleased to see that the mythology behind them was explained in the story.
This was a fantastic start to the series and I can't wait to read the next book!

Thanks to Mira Ink for sending me this book for review.

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

It was supposed to be a fun day, shopping at the mall with her best friend. Then the panic attack started and Kaylee Cavanaugh finds herself screaming, unable to stop. Her secret fears are exposed and it's the worst day of her life.

Until she wakes up in the psychiatric unit.

She tries to convince everyone she's fine--despite the shadows she sees forming around another patient and the urge to scream which comes burbling up again and again. Everyone thinks she's crazy. Everyone except Lydia, that is. Another patient with some special abilities....

My thoughts: This is the prequel to the Soul Screamers series and is available for free at Rachel Vincent's website.
The story begins with Kaylee and her friend shopping at the mall. Kaylee soon begins to have what appears to be some kind of panic attack in the middle of a shop. The next thing she knows, she's waking up in a psychiatric unit where the rest of the story takes place.

To be honest not much really happens in this story, and anything important will be covered in the main books of the series anyway. But this was a good introduction to the series and has made me more excited about reading My Soul to Take, the first full book in the series.

Kaylee seems like an interesting character and I'm looking forward to reading about how she copes with her affliction.

Entangled by Cat Clarke

The same questions whirl round and round in my head:

What does he want from me?

How could I have let this happen?

AM I GOING TO DIE?

17-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got here.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget. There's falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see?

Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?

A story of dark secrets, intense friendship and electrifying attraction.

 

My thoughts: I could not put this book down! The book is told as the journal of Grace, the main character. She self-harms and is suicidal. At the start of the book Grace thinks she's been kidnapped and is being held prisoner. To make sense of the situation she starts writing down everything that she remembers. This includes her relationship with boyfriend Nat and her best friend Sal. Some of the 'twists' in the story were a bit obvious and it made me feel like when you watch a horror movie and you know that something bad is going to happen, but you have to watch anyway.

At first I found it hard to like Grace, but as the story progressed and I learned more about her I really started to feel sorry for her and I just wanted to give her a big hug!

This was a really great book and I recommend it to everyone! But I do warn you it is a bit sad in places.

I received an ARC copy of this book on tour from UK Book Tours.

Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Warning: This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

An undercover mission leads to danger, adventure and an impossible choice...

After siphoning her own blood magic in the showdown at Hubal, Opal Cowan has lost her powers. She can no longer create glass magic. More, she's immune to the effects of magic. Opal is an outsider looking in, spying through the glass on those with the powers she once had, powers that make a difference in the world.

Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes flash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that someone has stolen some of her blood - and that finding it might let her regain her powers. Or know it could be they are lost forever...

My thoughts: I received this book from the publisher for review, and I was so pleased when they contacted me because I've been dying to find out what would happen next to Opal. This is the third and final book in the Glass trilogy featuring Opal Cowan the glass magician. At the end of the second book (Sea Glass, read my review here) Opal lost her powers, and in Spy Glass she is on a quest to find her blood hoping she can regain some magic.
I was pleased to see that some of my favourite characters from the previous books were also in this one. I was especially pleased to see Ari and Janco again because I really love them.
I mentioned in my review of Sea Glass that there was a confusing appearance of the Bloodrose clan that I hoped would be cleared up in the third book. They did reappear in this book and the mystery surrounding them seems to have been resolved.

One last point to make is that if you've been following the series you'll know that Opal has been torn between Kade and Devlen. By the end of this book she has finally made the choice. I don't want to give anything away, but I think after reading the book I can understand her choice.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think it was a good end to the series. But there were some new characters introduced in this book that I really hope Maria is going to write some more books about!

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Synopsis: When sixteen-year-old Sophie Mercer discovers she's a witch, she imagines life will be full of magic, fun and... well... broomsticks! But her first attempt at a love spell goes disastrously wrong and, as punishment, Sophie is shipped off to Hecate "Hex" Hall, a reform school for witches, shapeshifters and faeries.

By the end of her first day among her fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tag-along ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person on campus and the only vampire.
Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

My thoughts: I had heard great things about this book, and it did not disappoint. I absolutely adored Hex Hall, and it's now one of my favourite books.
The characters were really interesting to read about, and not just because they were magical either. I loved Sophie, the main character, and I enjoyed seeing her relationship with Archer developing.
The story line was enjoyable and I loved the mystery element of the story. The ending was a huge surprise for me and I absolutely MUST read the sequel.
My only complaint about this book would be that it was over too quickly!
If you haven't read this book yet I would highly recommend it. Even if, like me, you're not that keen on fantasy and magic.

The Cheerleader by Caroline B. Cooney

The cheerleader... Beautiful, popular, exciting - the girl Althea longs to be. But Althea is a nobody - she gets no phone calls, shares no laughter, has no friends. Then one day she meets him - a vampire who offers to make her the cheerleader, in exchange for a simple bargain. Soon Althea has everything she desires: beauty, friends, success. But Althea wants more - and she'll do anything to get it...

Althea wants to be popular and would do anything to get in the cheerleading squad, so when the resident vampire offers to make her dream come true, she agrees. But the vampire wants something in return, he wants to be fed...
Althea has a choice, save her friends but lose her popularity, or sacrifice her friends to get what she wants.

There is a cute romance sub-plot in this book, thankfully not involving the vampire, who is pale, has nails like foil, and smells like death. He also seems to like flapping his cloak around a lot.

This was a fairly quick read. It was creepy in places, but not overly scary.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

'You're not Mia Thermopolis any more, honey,' Dad said. 'You're Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo. Princess of Genovia.' A Princess?? Me??? Yeah. Right. One minute Mia's a totally normal Manhattan 14-year-old. Next minute she's heir to the throne of Genovia, being trailed by a trigger-happy bodyguard, taking princess lessons with her bonkers old grandmere, and having a makeover with someone called Paolo. Well, her dad can lecture her till he's royal-blue in the face, but no way is Mia going to turn herself into a style-queen. And they think she's moving to Genovia? Er, hello?

My thoughts: I was really looking forward to reading this book, I never read it as a kid, but I've seen the movie several times and really liked it. However, this book really disappointed me. I'm not sure what it was, but I just did not enjoy this book. I didn't like Mia at all and that made it really hard for me to get into the story. I found her and her friend Lilly quite annoying.
Maybe this is one book that I'm too old to understand, but to be honest I don't think I'd have enjoyed it when I was younger either.
I thought the movie was way better than the book in this case!

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging by Louise Rennison

Georgia Nicolson's in turmoil. Her cat, Angus (the size of a small labrador), is terrorizing the neighborhood. She went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive. And she's madly in love with Robbie the Sex God, who (sometimes) thinks she's too young for him. In these first two volumes in the hilarious #1 New York Times best-selling series, Georgia needs to change her life from Ergghhhlack to Fabbity-fab-fab!

Totally loved this book! I wish I had read it when I was a bit younger, but I still enjoyed it now.

The book is written in diary form, which is fun, but it does make everything a bit one-sided.
The story reminded me of my own teenage years. I could really relate to some of the things Georgia went through (I accidently shaved my eyebrows off when I was 14 too...). 

Very fun read and I really want to read the rest of the series.
 
Thanks to Ria for sending me this book!

EyeLeash by Jess C. Scott

Jade Ashton is a sassy virgin. In her private blog, she vents about "fitting in" a world where superficiality reigns supreme. Suddenly all logic flies out the window when she meets Novan: the former geek, who's morphed into a delicious songwriter-musician. They decide to be "friends-with-benefits". But it's Novan, with his poems and riddling passages on his own blog--which *isn't private*--that backs out. EyeLeash captures self-discovery in the 2000s, and showcases the colorful, intricate drama in two youths' relentless search for themselves--and what's really in their hearts.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read a blog style book before, so that was interesting.

I could totally relate to Jade and I could really understand her dilemma about Novan, I loved the on-off nature of their almost relationship. Jade blogs a lot of her private thoughts and she also blogs MSN conversations and copies down Novan's blog posts too. In fact, when it comes to Novan I'd say her behaviour is verging on stalkerish.

My one negative comment is that there was a huge amount of sex talk in this book. I mean Jade totally obsessed over it, which I guess is the whole point of the novel. I could just about put up with her blog posts about masturbation (would someone seriously blog about that, even in private?), but the thing that I really didn’t get was the talk of orgies and stuff. Where does this girl live? It sounds like a pretty perverted town lol.

Overall, this was a fun read. Like I said, there is a LOT of sex talk, but no 'actual' sex (unless you count masturbation...), but it is a little bit awkward to read about in places. However, if you can get past that, then it's a fun and cute love story.

I read this book online for free at completelynovel.com which is an awesome website that I just found out about yesterday.

By Royal Command by Mary Hooper

Lucy has become a firm fixture in the household of Dr Dee, a real-life figure who was court magician to Queen Elizabeth 1. Lucy, in return for saving the queen's life, has been told that she is to work as a spy for Her Grace and that she is to remain with the Dee family and await further instruction ...And then Lucy hears unexplained cries in the Dee house, and finds a young girl imprisoned there. What is Dr Dee doing? Lucy means to find out. This is a thrilling historical story, full of intrigue and royal plots and counter-plots, from the acclaimed Mary Hooper.

The story in this book was not "full of intrigue and royal plots and counter-plots" as it says on the back cover. In fact I found it a bit dull, it just didn't seem to lead anywhere. I think I would have found this book very disappointing if the author hadn't done such a fantastic job of bringing the historical setting to life. The wonderful descriptions of the frost fair on the Thames and of the party at the Royal Court meant that I really enjoyed the book despite what was, in my opinion, a poor plotline.

This is the second book to At the House of the Magician. I haven't read the first book so I didn't get some references in this book to the first book. But it does work as a stand-alone book. I would definitely check out more by Mary Hooper because she's very good at bringing history alive.

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale

Who is Montmorency? Some say he's a dangerous villain. To others he's a hero. How do a terrible accident and an ambitious young doctor forge his two identities? And how long can he sustain them without getting caught?

My thoughts: When we first meet Montmorency he is in jail for a burglary that went wrong. He spends his jail time thinking up new money-making schemes, and eventually plans an elaborate double life for himself. As soon as he is released from prison he puts his new plan into action. He uses the sewers of London to make his way to and from burglaries at expensive properties. With the money he raises from the burglaries he funds his second identity as a gentleman who enjoys the finer things in life.

I really loved this story, mainly because I love reading about Victorian London. The author has done a great job of bringing Victorian London to life in this book. I really felt like I was right there in the middle of everything.

Montmorency was a bit of an unusual character, because of his double identity. I wasn't sure whether to love him, hate him, or both!

Really enjoyed this book and I hope to read the rest of the series too.

Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Synopsis from back cover: Student glass magician Opal Cowan's newfound skills to steal a magician's strength make her too powerful.

Kept under house arrest, Opal dares defy her imprisonment to search for Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because she is sure another man - now her prisoner - has switched souls with Ulrick.

In hostile territory, without proof or allies, Opal isn't sure whom to trust. And now everyone is after Opal's special powers for their own deadly gain...

My thoughts: I enjoyed this book, although I did think it took a long time for anything exciting to happen. Opal seemed to spend a lot of time travelling or sitting around thinking and waiting to do something.

It was good to see Opal standing up for herself more than in the previous book (Storm Glass), but it’s obvious that she’s still quite unsure of herself and who she should trust.

I love that we get to see more of Janco in this book. He’s definitely one of my favourite characters. Unlike Kade, I really didn’t like him as much in this book, he just seemed so bland.

I found the Ulrick/Devlen thing a bit confusing, especially towards the end when they were both being referred to by name and I didn’t know which one was which. But, that’s what happens when people switch bodies.

The whole sea glass sub-plot thing was really weird. It was looking like it was going to be a major event and then it just fizzled out into nothing and I was like “what the hell was that all about?!” I assume it was the start of something that’s going to feature more in the next book, but it was so strange.

The ending of the book has some major twists, and I’m really looking forward to the next instalment. Can’t wait to see what happens to Opal next.