Young Adult

Review: Dinner With A Vampire by Abigail Gibbs

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Dinner With A Vampire by Abigail Gibbs

Title: Dinner With A Vampire (The Dark Heroine, 1)
Author: Abigail Gibbs
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampires, Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Voyager (11th October 2012)
Source: Secret Santa
Blurb:

One moment can change your life forever . . .

For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape . . . no matter how hard Violet tries.

Yet all the riches in the world can’t mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dnagerous Kasper Varn.

Violet and Kasper surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds –  but it’s a passion that comes at a price . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE by Abigail Gibbs is the first book in THE DARK HEROINE series. It tells the story of Violet Lee an almost eighteen-year-old who stumbles upon something she shouldn’t have, and gets drawn into a strange and dangerous world.

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Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

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Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium (Delirium #1)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder (4th August 2011)
Source: Secret Santa
Blurb:

They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years suffocated by a lie.

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.

Then, at last, they found the cure.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver is the first book in the trilogy of the same name. It tells the story of Magdalena “Lena” Haloway, a girl who is less than a year away from her eighteenth birthday when she will receive the cure for “amor deliria nervosa” – love.

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Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

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Angelfall by Susan Ee

Title: Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days Book 1)
Author: Susan Ee
Genre: Dystopian, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Source: Secret Santa
Publisher: Hodder (23rd May 2013)
Blurb:

It’s been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.

Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.

When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Including making a deal with the enemy.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

ANGELFALL is the first book in Susan Ee’s dystopian PENRYN AND THE END OF DAYS series. It tells the story of seventeen-year-old Penryn whose disabled younger sister Paige is kidnapped by an angel. The story follows Penryn on her quest to reclaim her sister, who she is determined to protect at all costs.

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Review: Tiger’s Voyage by Colleen Houck

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Tiger’s Voyage by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger’s Voyage (The Tiger Saga #3)
Author: Colleen Houck
Genre: Mythology, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder (10th November 2011)
Blurb:

With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging give cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections – leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.

Fraught with danger, filled with magic, and packed with romance, Tiger’s Voyage brings Kelsey and her two tiger princes one step closer to breaking the curse.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

TIGER’S VOYAGE is the third book in Colleen Houck’s superb THE TIGER’S SAGA. It continues the story of Kelsey Hayes American girl who comes across two Indian princes who are cursed into tiger form – Ren and Kishan – and helps them try to break the curse. By the beginning of TIGER’S VOYAGE they have already completed half of the tasks required to completely break the curse, but the final task came with a terrible price – the repercussions of which play out through the book.

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Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

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Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath (Everneath #1)
Author: Brodi Ashton
Genre: Mythology, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse (2nd August 2012)
Blurb:

SIX MONTHS AGO, NIKKI BECKETT VANISHED INTO AN UNDERWORLD KNOWN AS THE EVERNEATH.

Now she’s returned to her old life for another six months before the Everneath comes to claim her. Nikki longs to spend this precious time  reconnecting with the people she left behind – her family and friends and, most importantly, her boyfriend Jack, the one person she loves more than anything.

But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smouldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki home, hoping to take her back to the Everneath . . . this time for ever.

Now Nikki only has six months for goodbyes she can’t find the words for, six months to  make the hardest decision of her life, six months to find redemption, if it exists . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton is the first book in the EVERNEATH TRILOGY It tells the story of Nikki Beckett a high school student who returns from the Everneath to find that six months have passed. She has just six months to say her goodbyes – to her family and friends – before she leaves permanently, when the Everneath claims her back.

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Review: Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

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Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Title: Dance of Shadows (Dance of Shadows #1)
Author: Yelena Black
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury (12th February 2013)
Source: Faye of A Daydreamer’s Thoughts as part of her blogoversary giveaway.
Blurb:

An elite academy with the darkest of secrets.

A dancer with a talent she never wanted.

A legacy she can’t escape.

Vanessa Adler is dancing in her sister’s footsteps as a student at the exclusive New York Ballet Academy. Margaret Adler disappeared three years ago and Vanessa is searching for answers.

Dance is in Vanessa’s blood, in her soul – and perhaps it holds the key to the mystery. But the academy is a sinister place, plagued by fierce rivalry and scandal. Finding her sister is going to be dangerous, and the sexy, charismatic Zeppelin Gray may lead her far beyond the truth she is looking for . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

DANCE OF SHADOWS by Yelena Black is the first book in the series, with a sequel coming out in Winter 2014. It tells the story of Vanessa Adler, the younger sister of Margaret Adler who attended the New York Ballet Academy and then mysteriously disappeared. Three years after this Vanessa follows in her sister’s footsteps and attends the academy, determined to unravel the mystery and find out exactly what happened to her sister.

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Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

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Allegiant by Veronica Roth (UK edition)

Title: Allegiant (Divergent #3)
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Collins (22nd October 2013)
Blurb:

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world beyond the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature – and herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

ALLEGIANT brings Veronica Roth’s fantastic DIVERGENT trilogy to its conclusion. After the events and revelations of INSURGENT (review) Tris and her friends are left with a world thrown into chaos: everything they thought they knew was a lie. But it also offers them a world beyond the city they know, and Tris needs to know what’s out there.

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Review: Rags & Bones edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt

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Rags & Bones ed. by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt

Title: Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales
Editors: Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt
Genre: Re-telling, Short Story, Young Adult
Publisher: Headline (13th March 2014)
Blurb:

A unique short-story collection from the most unique imaginations.

There are some stories as timeless as they are involving.

There are some authors who can tell any story.

In RAGS & BONES, award-winning and bestselling authors retell classic fairytales and twisted tales in the way that only they can. With magic and passion they bring these stories – whether much loved or forgotten – back to life.

Read ‘Sleeping Beauty‘ as only Neil Gaiman can tell it. See ‘Rumpelstiltskin‘ through the eyes of Kami Garcia. And hear of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Man Who Would Be King‘ from the inimitable Garth Nix.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

RAGS & BONES is a collection of short stories that are retellings of works which mean something to the author. The collection contains re-imaginings of fairy tales as well as stories inspired by works of literature like Kipling’s THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING or Spenser’s THE FAERIE QUEENE. Each contributor adds an interesting twist to the work that inspired them. Contributors include the editors Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt, as well as Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, and Kami Garcia.

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Review: Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

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Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Spy Glass (Chronicles of Ixia 6/Glass Trilogy 3)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Mira Ink (2nd August 2013)
Blurb:

A new legacy is rising . . .

After siphoning her own blood magic, Opal Cowan has lost her powers and been separated from Kade and Ulrick, the two men who divide her heart. Now an insider looking in, Opal spies through the glass on those with the powers she once had.

Until spying through the glass becomes her new power. Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes flash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that some of her blood has been stolen – and that finding it may let her regain her powers for good.

Or learn if they’re lost forever.

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

SPY GLASS is the sixth book in Maria V. Snyder’s CHRONICLES OF IXIA and the third and final book in her GLASS TRILOGY. In SPY GLASS Snyder concludes Opal’s conflicting emotions about the men she loves and her own magic. Opal has come a long way from the girl we meet in FIRE STUDY (review) and it has been a really interesting journey.

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Review: Awaken by Meg Cabot

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Awaken by Meg Cabot (UK cover)

Title: Awaken (Abandon Trilogy #3)
Author: Meg Cabot
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan (26th September 2013)
Blurb:

DEATH HAS HER IN HIS CLUTCHES. PIERCE DOESN’T WANT HIM TO LET GO.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden she’s be forced to live forever in one of the places she’d always dreaded the most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves.

But now her happiness – and safety – are threatened, all because the Furies have discovered that John has broken one of their strictest rules: he revived a human soul.

If the balance between life and death isn’t fixed, both the Underworld and Pierce’s home back on Earth will be wiped away. But there’s only one way to restore order: someone has to die.

THE MYTH OF PERSEPHONE… DARKLY REIMAGINED

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

AWAKEN is the final book in Meg Cabot’s ABANDON TRILOGY – a re-telling of the Greek myth of Persephone. Pierce Olivierea captured the attention of John Hayden, the lord of the Underworld. Eventually she fell in love with him, even though it meant living in the Underworld. Unfortunately, the balance between life and death is broken and Pierce and John have to find a way to fix it so they can have their happy ever after.

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