Posted September 28, 2015 in Reading, Review / 4 Comments
Becoming Darkness by
Lindsay Francis Brambles Publisher: Switch Press (2015)
eARC (485 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Like everyone else living in Haven, seventeen-year-old Sophie Harkness is an Immune–a carrier of the genetic mutation that protects her from the virus Hitler unleashed upon the world more than half a century ago. A virus that wiped out most of humanity and turned two-hundred million people into vamps. But after her best friend is brutally murdered and several attempts are made on her own life, Sophie becomes determined to find answers to what seems to be a conspiracy running generations deep. And when she questions the peace treaty that keeps her small community protected, Sophie begins to discover terrible truths about herself and what it means to be human in a world ruled by darkness.
Lindsay Brambles’ debut young adult novel is a story of an alternate universe: Hitler won the war, our modern technologies never evolved, and the Nazis’ terrifying reign still continues. This fast-paced novel will appeal to readers who guzzle up genre mashups and are looking for a fresh hybrid to sweep them away.
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Tagged as 4 star, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted September 17, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Never, Never by
Brianna R Shrum Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (2015)
eARC (368 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
James Hook is a child who only wants to grow up.
When he meets Peter Pan, a boy who loves to pretend and is intent on never becoming a man, James decides he could try being a child—at least briefly. James joins Peter Pan on a holiday to Neverland, a place of adventure created by children’s dreams, but Neverland is not for the faint of heart. Soon James finds himself longing for home, determined that he is destined to be a man. But Peter refuses to take him back, leaving James trapped in a world just beyond the one he loves. A world where children are to never grow up.
But grow up he does.
And thus begins the epic adventure of a Lost Boy and a Pirate.
This story isn’t about Peter Pan; it’s about the boy whose life he stole. It’s about a man in a world that hates men. It’s about the feared Captain James Hook and his passionate quest to kill the Pan, an impossible feat in a magical land where everyone loves Peter Pan.
Except one.
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Tagged as 4 star, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 31, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
A Whole New World by
Liz Braswell Series: Twisted Tales #1 Publisher: Disney Press (2015)
eARC (336 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Also by this author: Once Upon A Dream Also in this series: Once Upon A Dream Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
This dark and daring version of Aladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie?
When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.
What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.
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Tagged as 3 star, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 19, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Plain Choice by
Sherry Gore Publisher: Zondervan (2015)
eARC (224 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Raised in a broken family and emotionally overlooked, Sherry Gore grew up without a solid foundation, a prisoner of her own poor choices, and at times without hope. A series of terrible mistakes left her feeling wrecked and alone and a sudden tragedy threw Sherry into an emotional tailspin too powerful to escape.
Sherry hangs by a thread, unable to see how she can go on living, until it happens: on a morning of no particular significance, she walks into a church and BAM the truth of Jesus forgiving love shatters her world and cleaves her life in two: She goes to bed stunned; she wakes up a Christian.
Unwilling to return to the darkness of her former life, Sherry attacks her faith head on. Soon the life Sherry Gore remakes for herself and her children as she seeks to follow the teachings of the Bible features head coverings, simple dress, and a focus on Jesus Christ. Only then does she realize, in a fit of excitement, that there are others like her. They are called Amish and Mennonite, and she realizes she has found her people.
The plain choice that Sherry makes is not easy and life still brings unexpected pain and heartache – but it changes everything for her, as she becomes one of the few people on earth to have successfully joined the Amish from the outside.
She has found her place. And her story proves that one can return from the darkest depths to the purest light with the power of God.
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Tagged as 4 star, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted July 8, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Rebel Mechanics by
Shanna Swendson Series: Rebel Mechanics #1 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (2015)
eARC (320 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
A sixteen-year-old governess becomes a spy in this alternative U.S. history where the British control with magic and the colonists rebel by inventing.
It’s 1888, and sixteen-year-old Verity Newton lands a job in New York as a governess to a wealthy leading family—but she quickly learns that the family has big secrets. Magisters have always ruled the colonies, but now an underground society of mechanics and engineers are developing non-magical sources of power via steam engines that they hope will help them gain freedom from British rule. The family Verity works for is magister—but it seems like the children’s young guardian uncle is sympathetic to the rebel cause. As Verity falls for a charming rebel inventor and agrees to become a spy, she also becomes more and more enmeshed in the magister family’s life. She soon realizes she’s uniquely positioned to advance the cause—but to do so, she’ll have to reveal her own dangerous secret.
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Tagged as 4 star, Catholic, Catholic Connections, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
