#Saturday Review - Fear My Mortality by @EverlyFrost @Month9Books (Young Adult, Science Fiction)

Series: Mortal Eternity # 1
Format: E-Galley, 312 pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

The future is bright for 16-year-old Ava Holland and the residents of Evereach. They don’t have to worry about old age or even getting sick. In their world, humans regenerate, heal, and live for hundreds of years. Mortality isn’t something to fear. Disease has been all but eradicated.

Everything changes when Ava watches her brother die and he doesn’t regenerate. Ava’s genetics are called into question by the government, scientists, extremists, and Ava herself. Could her genes hold the answer to mortality? Is she an anomaly or something to be feared? 

Determined not to become anyone’s guinea pig, Ava doesn’t stick around to find out. She wants answers too, but the only person who can help her is 17-year-old Michael Bradley, the boy who killed her brother. If either of them have even the slightest chance of survival, they must find the genetic keys hidden in Ava’s DNA before it’s too late.

Fear My Mortality is the first installment author Everly Frost's Mortal Eternity series. Thanks to a war between Evereach and Seversand where nobody actually died, children are now tested to ensure that they can't be killed. This has stopped unnecessary wars that seem to pop up like out of control gophers on golf courses. People are placed into two categories: slow healers, and fast healers. But, nobody saw Ava coming.

16-year old protagonist Ava Holland faces her own Implosion Day (first death day) where she is supposed to see her own blood and regenerate after dying. It is a hopeful day that means her transition to adulthood where she can grow her hair longer, drink, and move away from her parents. Unfortunately, fate throws Ava a nasty curveball ball when her brother Josh races to save her, but dies at the hands of 17-year old Michael Bradley. The most shocking part of Josh's death is that he doesn't regenerate like he is supposed to.

Freaked out, and with good reasons, Ava faces a battery of forced tests, a loss of parents, and friends, and an unknown future where everyone in the government, and others want to use her blood as a weapon. Almost everyone finds reasons to use her and push her to her extreme limits. I dare say the worse offenders are the Bashers who are extreme to the core and see's whole new avenues with Ava's blood. 

Let's get to the reasons I loved this book so much. I adore Ava. Here is a girl who is looking forward to the future when her brother goes and gets himself killed. A brother who kept a huge secret to himself, but in the end, did what he could to try to save her. That is all that matters to me. Ava knows that she may be used as a weapon against her own countries adversaries and that no matter how far she runs, she will never quite be free. After being injected with a strange nectar, Ava becomes Black Widow on steroids. 

She's quicker, she's stronger, and she realizes that the nectar gives her the ability to stay alive. Ava could have raged against societies unfairness and went into a room with quiet music and coloring books since her feelings were hurt so badly. She could have cried and whined her way through the entire story. She didn't do any of that. Instead, she gathered up her courage and puts her smarts to good use. She doesn't let anyone push her around, not even Michael Goddamn Bradley who has his own pain and issues to deal with but becomes Ava's fiercest protector. 

Michael Goddamn Bradley who goes through great lengths to help Ava even at the expense of his own pain and suffering which puts him at odds with his own family. Fear My Mortality is a fast-paced, action packed, twisted sort of story that is filled with situations where Ava can't sit around tweeting about how badly she's been treated and why. She makes choices and even though they lead to thrilling chase scene at the end, she doesn't turn back and give up.

It should be obvious now that I have little or no regrets about reading this book. I found only minor issues with the story, certain lags, but overall this story is brilliant and enjoyable. I am definitely all in when it comes to reading the sequel.

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#Stacking the Shelves / Bought, Borrowed, & Bagged # 13

Bought Borrowed and Bagged is all about the latest additions to your library – virtual or actual, with books that are  bought, borrowed, won or ARCs  you will be reading soon. Bought Borrowed and Bagged is a homage to to Barron’s Books and Baubles from Karen Marie Moning’s amazing Fever series, and is hosted by Braine over at Talk Supe. 

Hello Everyone! Happy Weekend!

Please check out my reviews, while you are checking out my books!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shelley~

This Weeks Reviews: 

Monday - Jericho by Alex Gordon (Fantasy, Horror)

Tuesday - Bright Blaze of Magic by Jennifer Estep (YA, Urban Fantasy)

Wednesday - Tell The Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan (YA, Fantasy)

 Thursday - The Requiem Red by Brynn Chapman (YA, Fantasy, Mystery)

 Friday - Fellside by M.R. Carey (Fiction, Horror)

 Saturday - Fear My Mortality by Everly Frost (YA, SyFy)

Scheduled for Next Week: 

Monday - The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead (YA, Fantasy)

Tuesday - Strike by Delilah S. Dawson (YA, SyFy, Dystopian)

Wednesday - The Demonist by Thomas E. Sniegoski (Urban Fantasy)

  Thursday - Grim Tidings by Caitlin Kittredge (Urban Fantasy)

Friday - Soldier by Julie Kagawa (YA, Paranormal)

 Saturday - Heir to The Sky by Amanda Sun (YA, Fantasy)

*Received from Publisher*

(Finished Copies)

   

*Granted approval via NetGalley*

And, that's all folks! 

#Friday Review - Fellside by M.R. Carey (Mystery, Thriller, Suspense)

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 496 Pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Orbit Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thriller, Suspense

The unmissable and highly anticipated new literary thriller from the author of the international phenomenon The Girl With All the Gifts.

Fellside is a maximum security prison on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. It's not the kind of place you'd want to end up. But it's where Jess Moulson could be spending the rest of her life.
It's a place where even the walls whisper.
And one voice belongs to a little boy with a message for Jess.

Will she listen? 

Fellside, by author M.R. Carey, is what people are calling the long awaited follow up to one of my favorite books, The Girl With All the Gifts. Jess Moulson has been accused of deliberately setting a fire that scars her face horribly, injurers her drug dealing boyfriend, and kills a neighbor boy who was left alone at home. After being found guilty of murder after not putting up much of a fight, Jess ends up in the maximum security prison known as Fellside outside of Yorkshire.

Torn apart at the seams for what she's been found guilty of, Jess decides to take the road less traveled, and goes on a hunger strike hoping to die. Inside the prison, inmates start betting on when she will die. This is where things take a dip into the paranormal pool. Jess see's a shade that she quickly believes is Alex Beech, the boy that was killed in the fire that destroyed her flat. Alex has some interesting tidbits to share with Jess. Tidbits that bring her back from the brink of death, and a desire to see that Alex's death is vindicated one way or the other. 

How can Jess redeem herself and find the person actually responsible for Alex's death when she's been labeled as being the Infernal Killer by everyone from the media to those in the prison, including the guards and inmates? How can someone who was so into Heroine actually care about someone else's life? How can Jess find any time to help Alex, when she is being beaten to a pulp, and blackmailed into helping run drugs? Jess's story isn't the only one that is explored by Carey. 

Fellside is divided into several wards, and one of those wards Goodall, is being run by a powerful inmate named Harriet Grace who runs everything, including guards. There are actually several more characters that play pivotal and important roles into what happens with Jess, and how she chooses to see life after making so many dumb mistakes up to this point. Fellside is nothing like The Girl With All the Gifts, so let's put that out of your mind quickly. Some of my favorite reviewers have had similar issues with this book being slow moving, and switching from character to character too quickly. 

After putting the pieces together for both Alex, and understanding that she needs help from her lawyers she treated unfairly, Jess's story pushes the envelope on a determined person who is willing to sacrifice everything for the memory of a little boy who no longer has a future. It can be said that this might even be Jess's bleeding heart story come to calling. This is a story that could have been, perhaps, a bit shorter if you cut a whole lot of middle stuff out of the picture. 

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#Thursday Review - The Requiem Red by Brynn Chapman (Young Adult, Historical Fantasy)

Series: Untitled, # 1
Format: E-Galley, 300 pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fantasy

Life for patient 29 is full of medicated day dreams of a life outside the walls of Soothing Hills Asylum. But fantasies are not all that consume her. A monster roams the halls of the sanitarium she reluctantly calls home and three girls have been found dead. The dead girls share one common thread . . . each was 29’s cell mate. As the investigation gets under way, she retreats into her mind, listening to the voices that call to her. She is endowed with the cursed gift of perception. Through it, she hears messages carried upon the notes of music, discerns words hidden among the strokes of paintings, and minds pleadings for help from the corn field outside. Could the key to the murders lie within 29’s broken mind? Mason, an orderly, does not see 29 as a lunatic and as his belief in her grows so does her self-confidence. The possibility of one day leaving the asylum seems less and less like a fantasy. But the monster has other plans for her. Leaving will not be so easy, at least not while she is alive. 

The Requiem Red, by author Brynn Chapman, is the first installment in an yet unnamed series. Set in the early 19th Century, Soothing Hill Sanitarium has been the only home for 19-year old Jane, aka patient Twenty-Nine. Jane doesn't know her real name, or what happened to her real family. Jane has never been on the outside of Soothing Hills because of strict regiments which keep her locked up and away from anyone who might try to help her. She has had her share of roommates that never last. They either disappear, or attempt to escape. This causes certain elements to focus all their ire and their ill treatment of her that borders on the absurd. 

Jane's only salvation has been her cat Sebastian, her paintings, and her one and only friend patient Twenty. Jane's struggle is a realistic one in a world where husbands dump their wives off at the asylum, and then find someone younger to put on a pedestal. In this era, women had absolutely no rights. Soothing Hills is a place where ablations take place on a regular basis, and those women are lost forever in darkness. Ablations, for those who are unaware, are lobotomies. Jane has few options of ever seeing the outside world. 

That is until she is given the hope of being transferred to a new ward by Dr. Jonathan Grayjoy. It is a place where women are schooled in how to deal with the outside world, and they can be themselves. For Jane, music is her world. She hears words in music. She plays music without needing sheet music. She knows that because when she kits a certain key, it calms her down. She's also an excellent painter because she puts her own experiences, pain and suffering behind them. Although Jane is the character most likely to get more than her fair share of symphony for years of torture, and extremely awful treatment at the hands of certain doctors, she is not the only star of this book. 

There are actually four main character in this book. Jane, Jules Frost, Dr. Grayjoy, and Mason, who is an orderly at the asylum. Jules is the total opposite of Jane. She's got a father who controls everything in her life. Jane is betrothed to marry a man who she really has no feelings for, but he is her escape from a world where she might as well be in prison like Jane. But, he can't control her when she decides to start volunteering at Soothing Hills. There Jules becomes aware of things her father, Dr. Frost, has kept her away from. 

Here, Jules discovers feelings for the man who might be her salvation. Here, she discovers a long kept family secret that will blow her world apart at the seams, but will also set her free to discover things on her own. As for Dr. Grayjoy, let's just say that he a character that blows the cover off all sorts of long kept secrets, while trying his hardest to save Jane from being sent away without ever being seen again. He, like Mason, genuinely seem to care what happens to Jane, and attempts to make things easier for her. He is the real deal. There is no fake facade to Jonathan Grayjoy. 

I dare say that Chapman has brought the world of living in a sanitarium to the light of day in a very vivid way. I appreciate that she never once tried to hide the darkness by making things happy and joyful. Her characters experience so much, that after reading this book, you will walk away wondering if today's asylums are any different than their predecessors. 

After finishing this book, I was left on a hopeful note that there will be a sequel to this book. I was assured by the publisher that there will be more to come. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I don't like when endings stop without knowing that there will be further adventures for Jane, Jules, Jonathan, and Mason. Plus, I don't think we have seen the last of the villainous Dr. Cloud who is just plain twisted.  

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#Wednesday Review - Tell The Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 368 pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Clarion Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets. 

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised.

Lucie alone knows of the deadly connection the young men share, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

Celebrated author Sarah Rees Brennan tells a magical tale of romance and revolution, love and loss.

"Tell the wind and the fire where to stop, but don't tell me."

Author Sarah Rees Brennan, who I know best from her The Lynnburn Legacy trilogy, takes on Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities. While Dickens story takes place in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution, Brennan re-images her own version of the story. Tell The Wind and Fire takes place in an alternative reality New York City. A city that is divided by Light and Dark Magic.

The city of Light holds all the power and privilege, while the Dark, while necessary for the survival of light magicians, are kept at bay and under wraps. Brennan's protagonist is 17-year old Lucie Manette, aka The Golden Thread in the Dark. Lucie was born in the Dark City and is a trained light magician/medic just like her mother, and her father. For the past 2 years, she has lived in the Light. She can wield a sword, just as easily as she can use magic.

Lucie is currently in a relationship with Ethan Stryker, who's own family is at the top of the Light food chain and leads the Light Council. But, things are not as they seem. There are rumors of a rebellion by a group known as Sans-Merci, and Ethan is accused of being a traitor by passing information to the group. Ethan's family also has a deep, dark secret. They created a doppelganger in Ethan's image, and doppelganger, Carwyn, suddenly appears and throws everything Lucie knows into turmoil. 

Having a doppelganger is against the law, but who is going to tell the powerful Stryker family what to do? Carwyn is anything but a lovable character. He is mean spirited at times, sarcastic to the core, and whether or not he is actually a trustworthy ally, is a matter of time and space. But, don't throw eggs at him just yet. He isn't all that bad when all is said and done. Will Lucie stand up for the Light in a time of rebellion, or will she become the Golden One for the Dark?

This story doesn't take a straight path to the final outcome. It meanders it's way through things that probably won't make any sense to certain readers. Lucie is a strange character at times. She obviously cares about Ethan, but she ends up on a collision course of feelings for Carwyn, including eating cupcakes, and setting him free against all sorts of laws. 

Then there is the obvious correlation to the French Revolution. Let me say that there wasn't anything beautiful about the Revolution. Elites, brilliant minds, every day people, and those who had personal vendetta's against another, were taken to the guillotine and disposed of. In this story, instead of using a guillotine, the Dark uses cages which is probably just as gruesome once you consider the outcome.

We have now become a society where authors rage against the injustice machine whether stated, or unstated. This story once again hits on the usual angles of a society divided by race, by inequality, and by magic. This story lines has been told in books like Red Rising and Red Queen, as examples. I am glad that this book is a standalone. I am glad because after all is said and done, there is no reason to continue hoping Lucie and Ethan make better choices and decisions.

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#Tuesday Review - Bright Blaze of Magic by Jennifer Estep (Young Adult, Urban Fantasy)

Series: Black Blade # 3
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Kensington
Source: Author
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

"The characters are as fantastic as Estep fans have come to expect." – RT Book Reviews

Bad Things Always Come In Threes…

As a thief, I'm good at three things: hiding in the shadows, getting in and out unseen, and uncovering secrets. I put these skills to work for the Sinclair Family, one of the magical mobs that run the tourist town of Cloudburst Falls.

Everyone knows Victor Draconi wants to take over all the other Families--and kill every last Sinclair. What they don't know is that I'm on to him, and no way will I let the man who murdered my mom get away with hurting all the other people I care about. Especially when I've got places to break into, stuff to steal, and Devon Sinclair fighting right by my side…

"An adventurous ride you will never want to get off." --#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout on Cold Burn of Magic

Bright Blaze of Magic is the third and final installment in the Black Blade trilogy by author Jennifer Estep. This story picks up shortly after the end of Dark Heart of Magic. Protagonist Lila (Sterling) Meriweather has come a long way since her mother was killed and she found herself on the streets of Cloudburst, West Virginia relying on the friendship Mo Kaminsky to survive. Now, Lila is the bodyguard to Sinclair family bruiser and second in command Devon Sinclair, who is also her boyfriend, and has managed to surprise and irritate more than a handful of people with her cunning, her skill set, her dual magical talents threats, and her recent in the Tournament of Blades.

Lila has been on a mission over the past two weeks. A mission intended to stop her nemesis and person most responsible for her mother's death, Victor Draconi, from killing her adopted family and the other families who have so far stood up against him. With Devon, Felix Morales, and Deah Draconi alongside, Lila goes on the offensive trying to stop Victor before it is too late. But, as Victor is always one step ahead at all times, things come unglued in a very rapid manner that leaves Lila, Devon, Deah, and Felix struggling to survive, and the lives of Claudia, Mo, and other Sinclair's hanging in the balance.

Let me say that I adore Jennifer Estep as a writer, and as a person. I love her characters like they were my sisters by another mother. I love Lila, and can, in fact, relate her to Gin Blanco in many ways. I have been accused, at times, of not paying attention to certain Easter eggs while reading these books. You can't miss the eggs in this book. Not the T-Shirt Lila wears that says the Pork Pit, and not the references to Karma Girl. Plus, Lila, Gin, and even Gwen Frost are similar in that they all had family tragedies that made them who they are. 

Lila, not unlike Gin, is a dual threat to any villain who stands in her way and attempts to hurt those she loves. Whereas Gin lives in a reality that includes elemental magic users, vampires, and Dwarves, Lila lives in a world where tree trolls, copper crushers, and a lochness monster call Cloudburst home. Cloudburst mixes magic with tourism, and then tosses in powerful families like the Sinclair's, Draconi's, Ito's, and Salazar's to make things even more twisted. Lila, not unlike her mother, has a relationship and love affair for the monsters of Cloudburst. Maybe that is why she has lived so long. Maybe that is why she finds herself loving the little terrors more than certain humans she's had to deal with over the past 4 years.

As this series comes to close, and the action hits it's pinnacle with a head to head, skill against skill fight to the death scene between the good and the rotten to the core, I am all in in recommending this series to EVERYONE. Young and Old alike. I love that the romance doesn't bury the action, or suspense. It is a beautiful relationship between Lila and Devon, and Felix and Deah for that matter. A relationship that has grown out of respect since Lila was swooped up by Claudia Sinclair and given a job. A job that she has excelled at, not unlike her own mother.

Nothing and nobody is safe in this book. I would hold on for a bumpy ride folks, because this book hits on all cylinders. One can say that this ending was on the predictable side, but I will agree to disagree. The story plays out exactly as it was supposed to. The good vs the evil, with dire angles all over the place, and Lila standing and delivering. I dare say that Gin would have given Lila a fist bump for being an amazing, kickass heroine who absolutely LOVES Bacon! 

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#Monday Review - Jericho by Alex Gordon (Fiction, Horror)

Series: Lauren Reardon, # 2
Format: Hardcover, 464 pages
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

In this follow-up to the masterful debut Gideon, a young witch must risk death and damnation to defeat a powerful ancient evil.

In unearthing her father’s secret past, Lauren Reardon discovered a shocking truth about herself. She is a Child of Endor, a sect of witches who believe they are the guardians of the “thin places”—areas across the globe where evil can seep through the divide between the worlds separating the living and the restless dead. At any time, she can be called upon to close one of these breaches and prevent demons from infiltrating our realm. When Lauren has a disturbing vision of an Oregon forest, she is drawn back to the familiar woods of the misty Pacific Northwest to investigate.

Locals had long whispered about an abandoned logging camp known as Jericho—of the strange disappearances and eerie sounds heard in the woods deep in the night. But these ghost stories only hint at the true evil lurking within the camp’s dilapidated buildings, a primeval malevolence far more terrifying than Lauren’s darkest imaginings. And now, Lauren must face this evil, even if it takes her life . . . even if it costs her soul. 

Jericho is the second installment in author Alex Gordon's Lauren Reardon series. It has been six months since Lauren helped save the town of Gideon, Illinois from an ancient evil that left half the town's population dead. That same evil lured Lauren from her home in Oregon, to Gideon to find out that her own father kept some pretty damning secrets to himself and left her unprotected and unprepared for what was to come later. Lauren has since taken up the mantel of Mistress of Gideon. 

But, that is just the icing on the cake for Lauren. She needs to keep the witches in Gideon from mass exiting. She needs to ensure that the rift doesn't open again. And, she needs time to realize just how powerful she really is. Lauren has some serious abilities that includes sensing strong emotions from others, and the ability to walk the between which separates the living from the dead. She, like her friend Virginia Waycross, also belong to a group called The Children of Endor. 

The group believes it is their jobs to watch over the thin spots in the world, and ensure that evil doesn't gain yet another foothold in the world. If Lauren thought she was going to get any sort of break, it soon comes apparent that's not happening any time soon. When she hearing people's voices from somewhere else, Lauren soon finds herself in a place called Jericho, Oregon which has its own horror story to tell. Can Lauren make nice with others, including Andrew Carmody and the Witches Council, or will they make her life a living hell?

One of the things I like best about this series so far, is Lauren herself. She doesn't fully believe yet that she has the abilities nobody else has. That she continues to put herself into harm's way for others is just her personality and it doesn't make her a special snowflake by any means. Whenever someone says "Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly", I think of Lauren being lured to not only Gideon, but to Jericho as well. It is apparent that Lauren's road will be anything but easy. In fact, I have no doubt that she will learn to question the Council, who she finally meets, and their ultimate goals.

There are several interesting characters in this story, but one in particular stands out the most. Eugene (Gene) Kaster works for Carmody Incorporated and has some very interesting dynamics that I hope will be continued in any sequel. He sets Lauren on another dangerous path by inviting her to a so called retreat where other witches are supposed to attend, but doesn't act like the others. He actually believes in what she did in Gideon, and hopes she can bring some peace to his bosses daughter, while solving the mystery of what happened to Fernanda Carmody. There is a whole lot more to Gene than meets the eye, so, if you've read Gideon, you should also start reading Jericho.

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