Young Adult

Review: The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

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The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

Title: The Fiery Heart (A Bloodlines Novel, #4)
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin (19th November 2013)
Blurb:

WHEN PULSES QUICKEN NO SECRET IS SAFE.

SYDNEY ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT ALCHEMISTS WERE BORN TO PROTECT VAMPIRE SECRETS AND HUMAN LIVES – UNTIL SHE MET MARCUS AND TURNED HER BACK ON EVERYTHING SHE ONCE KNEW.

But she’s not free yet. When her sister Zoe arrives, Sydney can only tell her half-truths about her past. And with every word she risks exposure – and the fatal consequences.

Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney must choose her path once and for all. Even if that means harnessing her magical powers to destroy the way of life she was raised to defend . . .

THE SMOULDERING FOURTH INSTALMENT IN THE BESTSELLING BLOODLINES SERIES.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE FIERY HEART is the fourth book in Richelle Mead’s brilliant BLOODLINES series which is a spin-off from her VAMPIRE ACADEMY series. It tells the story of Sydney Sage an eighteen-year-old girl who grew up in an Alchemist family – a group of humans sworn to keep vampire secrets and to protect humans. In THE FIERY HEART Sydney is faced with a choice, one final choice, between the rhetoric she grew up with or breaking away from its familiarity.

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Review: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

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Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (29th August 2013)
Blurb:

The link between Kami and Jared has been cut.
But can their bond ever be truly broken?

ON THE SURFACE, SORRY-IN-THE-VALE is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. The Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love who she chooses. But who should that be?

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

UNTOLD is the second book in Sarah Rees Brennan’s gothic inspired paranormal romance series THE LYNBURN LEGACY. It deals with, and starts not long after, the events of the first book in the series UNSPOKEN (review). UNTOLD follows the story of Kami Glass a would-be reporter, and her friends, as they deal with the revelation of Rob Lynburns’ plan to “bring back the old ways” – putting all non-sorcerers at risk.

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Review: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

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Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Title: Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: ATOM (8th January 2013)
Blurb:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART. DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has struggled to build a life for herself outside Reverie. It hasn’t been easy adjusting to life in the wilderness, but the struggle has been worth it with Perry by her side.

But Perry has other challenges. His people are looking to him for answers. Answers about what happened to his nephew, and what’s happening to their world. And they don’t trust the privileged Aria, one of the enemy, in their midst.

Soon Perry’ll be forced to choose between the tribe that looks to him for leadership and the girl that looks to him for love.

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

THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT is the second book in Veronica Rossi’s fantastic UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy. It continues the story of Aria and Perry, that started in UNDER THE NEVER SKY (review), as they struggle to find and fit into their place in the world. Both have obligations that threaten to tear them apart.

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Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

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The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa, UK edition cover.

Title: The Eternity Cure (A Blood of Eden Novel, #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: MIRA INK (3rd May 2013)
Blurb:

ALLISON SEKEMOTO DIED SO THAT SHE MIGHT LIVE.

AS A VAMPIRE, SHE FACES THE RISE OF A DEADLY NEW PLAGUE TO HER KIND.

ALLISON THOUGHT THAT IMMORTALITY WAS FOREVER.

NOW ETERNITY ITSELF HANGS IN THE BALANCE . . .

THE VIRUS MUST BE STOPPED

No matter what the cost

No matter what the sacrifice

Mankinds survival depends on us

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

THE ETERNITY CURE is the second book in Julie Kagawa’s magnificent vampire series BLOOD OF EDEN. The series follows the story of Allison Sekemoto a human resident of a vampire town who through a series of events ends up being turned into a vampire. In THE ETERNITY CURE Allison finds herself pursuing the vampire who changed her, while doing so she discovers that the virus that is destroying her world has mutated with terrible consequences.

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Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

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Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (UK cover)

Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: War Novel, Young Adult
Publisher: Electric Monkey (3rd June 2013)
Blurb:

TELL THE WORLD

I can write again. Oh God! All those months of not being able to write! Of not being allowed to write. Knowing I’d be shot if I were caught. It seems like I have been a prisoner for so long.

Rose Justice is a young American ATA pilot, delivering planes and taxiing pilots for the RAF in the UK during the summer of 1944. A budding poet who feels vividly alive while flying, she is forced to confront the hidden atrocities of war – and the most fearsome.

An unforgettable journey from innocence to experience from the author of the best-selling Carnegie Award shortlisted Code Name Verity.

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

ROSE UNDER FIRE is the companion novel to the fantastic CODE NAME VERITY (review). It tells the story of eighteen-year-old Rose Justice an American pilot and member of the Air Transport Auxiliary – or ATA. She has only recently arrived in Britain and is horrified by the devastation she finds and the reality of war.

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Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

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Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas, UK edition cover.

Title: Crown of Midnight (A Throne of Glass Novel, #2)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Sword & Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury (15th August 2013)
Blurb:

CROWNED BY EVIL.
BOUND BY DUTY.
DIVIDED BY LOVE.

Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, puts those she loves at risk.

Torn between her two protectors – a captain and a prince – and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart or the fate of a kingdom . . .

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

CROWN OF MIDNIGHT is the second book in Sarah J. Maas’ brilliant THRONE OF GLASS series. It continues the story of Celaena Sardothien who has to deal with the realities of the outcome of the events in the first book in the series THRONE OF GLASS (review). Celaena finds herself in the position of being an assassin for a king she despises, but dare not disobey for his response would be brutal. She isn’t, however, someone who just does as she is told.

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Review: Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

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Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger’s Curse (The Tiger Saga #1)
Author: Colleen Houck
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (26th May 2011)
Blurb:

Passion. Fate. Loyalty.Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Face-to-face with dark forces, spell-binding magic, and mysterious worlds where nothing is as it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

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

TIGER’S CURSE is the first book in THE TIGER SAGA by Colleen Houck. It tells the story of Kelsey a seventeen, almost eighteen, year-old who just graduated from high school and is looking for a summer job in order to save some money for college. She ends up getting a circus job where she meets a white tiger named Ren.

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Review: The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

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The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

Title: The Woken Gods
Author: Gwenda Bond
Genre: Mythology, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Strange Chemistry (3rd September 2013)
Source: Strange Chemistry via NetGalley
Format: eARC
Blurb:

Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke around the world.

This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school.

Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., home to the embassies of divine pantheons and the mysterious Society of the Sun. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way back from school, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn’t what it seems. She escapes with the aid of Osborne “Oz” Spencer, an intriguing Society field operative, only to discover that her scholar father has disappeared with a dangerous relic. The Society needs it, and they don’t care that she knows nothing about her father’s secrets.

Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the suspect help of scary gods, her estranged oracle mother, and, of course, Oz–whose first allegiance is to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to recover the missing relic and save her father. And if she doesn’t? Well, that may just mean the end of the world as she knows it.

From the author of Blackwood comes a fresh, thrilling urban fantasy that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Rick Riordan.

(blurb taken from NetGalley)

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

THE WOKEN GODS is a stand-alone novel from Gwenda Bond, author of BLACKWOOD. It tells the story of Kyra, who sees herself as an average seventeen-year-old. She lives in a Washington D.C. where the old gods go to visit the embassies. She herself has very little to do with the gods, until one day everything changes.

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Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

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Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (UK edition)

Title: Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: ATOM (8th January 2013)
Blurb:

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 the only person who can keep her alive.

And if they can survive, they are each other’s best hope for finding answers.

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

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi is the first book in the dystopian trilogy of the same name. It tells the story of seventeen year old Aria who has grown up protected in the dome world of Reverie, and who has no concept of life outside of it. One day her mother, who lives in another dome, goes missing and it is this event which causes the chain reaction of events that propel this novel.

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Review: A Witch Alone by Ruth Warburton

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A Witch Alone by Ruth Warburton

Title: A Witch Alone (Winter Trilogy #3)
Author: Ruth Warburton
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (7th February 2013)
Blurb:

Where do you go when your heart has been ripped out?

For Anna there is only one answer; into her past, where the truth about her mother, her power, and her real identity lie hidden.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

A WITCH ALONE brings Ruth Warburton’s WINTER TRILOGY to a conclusion. After the events of A WITCH IN LOVE (review), Anna is left adrift, but the desire to know more about her mother – does she still live? – draws her forward and into a series of events that threatens everything – and everyone.

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