Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Publisher’s summary: Mila was living with her mother in a small Minnesota town when she discovered she was also living a lie.

She was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was never supposed to remember the past—that she was built in a computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much, and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology.

Evading her enemies won't help Mila escape the cruel reality of what she is and cope with everything she has had to leave behind. However, what she's becoming is beyond anyone's imagination, including her own, and that just might save her life.

A compulsively readable sci-fi thriller, Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza's bold debut and the first book in an action-filled, Bourne Identity–style trilogy.

My take: Mila 2.0 was a fun read. I listened to this book pretty quickly and I thought it was cute!

I think the best part about this book was following along with Mila as she discovered what she truly is. She has to go through a pretty traumatic discovery of betrayal by the one person she truly cares about, and she has to try and learn to accept herself for what she is.

I think this book was probably written mostly for a lot younger reader than the books I’m used to reading in YA, so I felt like there were some situations that seemed a little too unbelievable to me. And I think this feeling is why I didn’t care as much about some of the characters while I was listening to the book in Audible.

There seemed to be moments where there was a lot more action than you would normally see in this kind of book. But trying to visualize these heroic moments when Mila is discovering her superhuman capabilities was a lot of fun as I was listening to the story.

I think the best part of the book is when Mila is put through a series of trials. During these trials, there is a character who’s introduced that I can probably say was the only one I actually really liked. However, the trials were interesting.

It’s the last part of the book that I’m not sure I care too much about. I felt like what happened was pointless from the standpoint of the overall story because Mila had to go through so many different things just to prevent this thing from happening, and then it happened anyways! And then…well, I just don’t know how to put it into words…um…yeah!

Die for Me by Amy Plum

Publisher’s summary: My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were moving to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my life would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, he put me in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen . . . until I realized that Vincent Delacroix is no normal human—that he has a terrifying destiny and enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

Can I risk everything for love?

My take: I’m totally on the fence about how I feel about this one. I can’t say that I didn’t like this book because I did like it. But the negatives stand out in my mind way more than any of the positives, and I’m left here wondering if I just had high expectations for this book that were not met. But, even then, I don’t think that my opinions about these specific negative aspects would change.

Die for Me starts off quite depressing and I wasn’t sure I could keep pushing through it. It was a real mood spoiler for me. I felt really bad for Kate (main character) because of how her world had completely changed inside out. Not only did she lose her parents but she moved to another country. And it really hit me hard when she severs all ties and communication with everyone and everything from her life before her parent’s death.

Well, of course; it’s only after Kate crosses paths with a boy named Vincent where the story starts to really get interesting. And it immediately started me thinking, “Who and what is Vincent?” “Who are the people with Vincent, and what do they do?” “Are they bad or good?” Just when I thought I knew who to trust, there’s a betrayal, and I was a little shocked that the other characters in the book were quick to see it as not really being a betrayal. They were quick to decide that the character doing the betraying was simply being tricked, or used or confused. I won’t say where their conclusion led, but I still found the whole situation weird.

I’d like to talk about the paranormal aspect of Die for Me, but there isn’t much I can say because I want to prevent spoilers. But I will say that, in a sense, this book is “kind of” a zombie book. And I say “kind of” because Amy Plum’s zombies are quite different from typical zombies, and I don’t know how you could really put them in any other paranormal category. When I first heard about this book, I was actually hoping for something at least a little closer to typical zombies.

Anyways, as always, I like to talk about the romance in the books I review. The romance in this book (at times) was really sweet, but at other times I found it to be a little cheesy and even more often I thought it was too unrealistic.

I’m planning on reading the second book in this series, but I don’t really plan on reading it anytime soon.

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Publisher’s summary: Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

My take: Hereafter was such a refreshing, cute book to read. I was immediately intrigued the moment I picked up the book when I realized that I was reading from the point of view of a girl who is a ghost. Right from the very beginning I wanted to know who she was before she died, what the cause of her death was, why she only knows her first name and why she hasn’t ever tried to figure out her past. She only knows that she has been dead and walking the earth as a ghost for more than a few years, and every so often she falls asleep, has a nightmare about her horrific death, and then wakes in a cemetery.

At first, Amelia’s afterlife seems very boring, but pretty quickly it becomes not so boring when she meets two important characters. One is a human boy (Joshua) who is able to actually see her after he survives a horrific accident that almost takes his life, and the other is another ghost, Eli. Amelia immediately becomes pretty obsessed with Joshua; she is fascinated that a human boy can actually see her. I, myself, was more intrigued by Eli than the other characters in Hereafter, and I wish we saw a lot more of him in this book.

The romance that develops in this book is really sweet but, as you might expect in a ghost story, there are a lot of complications in multiple different directions, which become even more difficult and complicated when a lot of things start to go majorly wrong near the end of the book. But I loved how the story ended and I was determined to see where the story would continue, so I immediately picked up and started reading Arise, the next book in this intriguing series.

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Publisher’s summary: We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be forgotten.

Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become—her mark on this earth, her very existence—is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny—no matter how dark the consequences?

My Take: I’m unsure what to think or feel about this book. To be perfectly honest, I feel like I’ve read a 267 page prequel. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good prequel...as long as it’s less than 100 pages! And for only being 267 pages, this book took me longer to read than it should have. I had an extremely hard time connecting with it. A Need So Beautiful is written in the first person point-of-view (Charlotte’s), but I still couldn’t connect with her character. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a strong connection with any of the characters. For example, even though there’s a remarkably strong relationship between Charlotte and her boyfriend, Harlin, and even though their relationship is unusually deep, I just couldn’t connect with it.

On a positive note, the premise to the story is unique! Charlotte has this uncontrollable “Need” to constantly help someone. So from pretty much the first page, she has Need after Need that she must fulfill, always drawn to someone she must help. Throughout the story, there was always something going on, but there wasn’t much time for anything else except fulfilling this Need! And, although the time that she spends with each person she helps is terribly brief, there are a lot of different stories about these others’ lives we learn about.

I'm happy that I have A Want So Wicked ready for me to pick up and start reading because if I didn't I don't think I would continue with this series. I’m seriously hoping that I’ll regret writing such a negative review about A Need So Beautiful once I read A Want So Wicked.

Revived by Cat Patrick

Summary: A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but with each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and she discovers the agency's true goals, she realizes she's at the center of something much larger - and more sinister - than she ever imagined.

My Take: I don’t quite know what I fully expected when I picked up Revived, but I had high hopes for this one. I’ll have to say, though, that I was a little disappointed. I can’t say that I didn’t like Revived because I did like it. I just didn’t love it. But I did love the creative concept of Revive and how we learn about why it was so important to keep the project and the agency’s identity a secret from society.

I’d say that the best part of the story is that the characters are very likable. When Daisy moves to a new town she meets this girl, Audrey, who I just adored. I would even say the description of Matt is pretty hot, and I grew to really like him as well! But the part that had the biggest effect on me was a tragedy that happens about midway through the book…I was literally sobbing because of the poignant significance to this tragedy that changed my whole outlook on the Revive serum. Like, “What is the point?”

Overall, throughout the book I kept hoping for something more significant to develop, but it never really did. There were several twists in the end, but to me they weren't a huge shocker.

I think overall, this one just wasn't really for me but it might be for you.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Publisher's Summary: I am a beast.

A beast. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. And I'll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

My Take: I don’t really know what to say about this one other than, it was cute! Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie so I loved listening to this book. I didn’t grow EXTREMELY attached to it, but I’m glad I read it…well I’m actually glad I listened to the audio book.

I love how Alex Flinn vividly described what a big-time jerk Kyle was. You not only get to see how Kyle’s horrible actions affect others, but since this classic story is retold from Kyle’s POV, you also get to know what he’s thinking as well. And you learn that Kyle’s dad is an even bigger jerk than he is, so you also learn where it all came from.

I figured out pretty early on that it would be Lindy who breaks the Beastly spell, but I was still curious to find out HOW it was going to happen.

Beastly follows the primary story elements of Beauty And The Beast pretty closely. However, as I mentioned above, you now get to see the story from the guy’s (beast’s) POV this time, not from the girl’s (beauty’s) POV! And the rest of the story is also written for a more modern audience. The spell is cast on Kyle because Kyle asks an ugly witch to the prom to purposely humiliate her! Of course, he didn’t know she was a witch when he invited her to the prom…although (in his mind) he thought that he wouldn’t be surprised if she WERE a witch…IF witches really DID exist. So when he invites her to the prom, he already knows that he is going to humiliate her because he never REALLY intended to go with her to the prom! Well, yep, she really WAS a witch and since he DOES humiliate her, she casts a spell sentencing him to sprout beastly fur, claws and really sharp teeth. And his only chance of ever being returned to his former perfect looks is to fall in love with a girl who must love him back…and they must kiss!

Sounds cute right? It was!


Buy it here:
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Audio book reserved from the library.

Savor by Megan Duncan

Author summary: When Claire Miller turned eighteen all she wanted to do was celebrate her birthday, but after a night on the town with her best friend she awakes to a visitor she never expected. The rulers of her region, a vampire royal family, have chosen her to be turned as their new heir and vampire princess. In a world fueled by the power of blood, Claire quickly discovers the vampire royal family is not what they seem and that she has secrets in her past, she never knew existed.



My take: When Megan asked me to review Savor, I was thrilled. I had already read Released (Agents of Evil series #1) and I loved it. She is a very good writer and knows how to keep you interested throughout the whole book.

Savor (Warm Delicacy Series #1) is the beginning of what I believe will be an amazing series. What I think I liked most about this book, is the direction it takes in the end, and I’m really excited to see where this series will lead.

I was immediately intrigued by Savor’s dystopia world which is now ruled by vampires. As soon as Claire made her first trip to the blood bank to give her donation to the vampires, I knew that her blood would gain the attention of the vampire leaders; I just didn’t know where that would ultimately lead.

Only a day after her 18th birthday and first donation, Claire is swept up in the luxury of being considered a princess. This is something that I particularly had a hard time with. For the most part, I wasn’t really caring too much for the whole fairytale story part of the book. I also had a difficult time accepting how well Claire quickly adjusted to the huge changes in her life and how accepting she was about the whole process. There were several times when her true emotions would come out and then I would think…”Yay! She is finally showing normal human behavior!”

When Claire is taken to live with the vampire royal family, it was really difficult to decide who I should trust. But I immediately fell in love with Robin and Dmitry. I particularly have a soft spot for Robin . . . she has this sweetness and quirkiness about her and she makes Claire’s “transition” a lot more pleasant. There’s one part in the book where Robin gives Claire a gift, and I was touched so much by her gesture that I had a tear or two in my eyes. And then there’s Dmitry! There’s something really funny that he does to Claire (that she happens to get angry about), and I know this might sound weird, but that one particular incidence made me really start to like him.

I was really disappointed that Savor ended where it did. However, it ended in a cliffhanger that appears to take the story in a direction that I think I would really enjoy and that I foresee would get me really attached to this series.

Review copy received by author for my honest review.

Six Moon Summer by S. M. Reine

Author Summary:

Rylie's been bitten.

She's changing.

And now she has three months to find a cure before becoming a werewolf... forever.

Rylie's parents force her to attend summer camp, but she's just as miserable at the girls' camp as she was at home-- there's nothing vegetarian for her to eat at the mess hall, she hates hiking and archery, and the other campers taunt Rylie mercilessly.  One night, the bullying goes too far, and Rylie runs away.  She doesn't get far.  It's a full moon, and she isn't alone in the forest...

She wakes up unharmed in her cabin the next morning with no memory of what happened.  The only sign something has changed are the healed scars on her chest, her increasingly keen senses, and her sudden craving for raw, bloody meat.

A boy from the other camp seems to know what's happening to her, but Rylie isn't sure if she can trust herself with Seth. He's way too cute and he knows way too much.

Rylie soon learns that she only has until the end of summer before she becomes just like the monster that attacked her: a man-eating werewolf hungry for human flesh.  Unless she can find a cure, she's going to transforming at the end of the summer and lose her life to the hunger.

My Take:
You have got to be freakin' kidding me! What a tease!

This book was really good and I would really suggest this book to anyone that likes a good werewolf book. There is an ending to this book, but, it is very abrupt.  It left me screaming, "Why does it have to end here!?!?"

S.M. Reine is a fantastic writer. The description of a werewolf change is better than I have EVER read. I could vividly see, smell and taste every bit of the change that Rylie had to go through on each of the six moons.  The story flowed very nicely and kept me entertained.

Throughout the summer poor Rilie endured heartbreak from her parent’s divorce, getting bullied, a tragic loss, a horrific attack AND the curse of becoming a werewolf.  To make it easier on her, there is a hot boy that she sneaks off to see as often as she can.  What a summer!  OK...I'm dying to say it; the bully gets what's coming to her later in the book.  Dang I'm evil!

One cliché I found quite interesting, is that she is an avid vegetarian. The thought of harming an animal is horrific to her. It's a serious problem when you have a wolf stirring inside of you and he’s hungry!  And to limit the wolf with tofu?  Not very smart.

This is a really, quick easy read, so check it out!  I am really excited to see where this story will lead!
Buy on Amazon here:
Six Moon Summer Paperback Edition
Six Moon Summer Kindle Edition
Buy on BN.com here:
Six Moon Summer (Nook Book)

Six Moon Summer Trailer!

The Forest of Adventures by Katie M John

Goodreads Summary: For seventeen year old Mina Singer, falling in love with an Arthurian Knight on a white horse was never part of the plan - especially being that she's an ordinary college girl living in the twenty first century.

As Mina finds herself catapulted into a land she believed only existed in the bedtime stories of her childhood, she soon discovers that Fairyland is not quite as innocent as she imagined.

The question is...who will come out alive?

forbidden love. 



My Take: What? Seriously? That was the end? That’s just mean! And then to give me a little taste of the beginning of book two, why? You’re torturing me here!

Yes, this book was really good. I had a little bit of a tough time in the beginning trying to create a mental image of this story-world in my head, but once I did I was sucked into The Realm. It was a tough time for me becasue I had to first create in my mind a real-world image of the main character's world, and then I had to re-create her world in the image of fairytale picture. Eventually I found a happy medium and I loved it!

A very real picture AND a fairytale picture is exactly what this book is all about. One minute Mina is in the real world with her friends and family, but as soon as she enters the forest with The Realm, it is almost like she's in a fairytale. Don’t get me wrong, the fairytale isn’t all fun and magical. It is also gruesome and deceitful.

I loved how the majority of the book enveloped a young innocent romance. Hmm, but is it really innocent?! Is their love and romance forbidden? In the beginning of the book, I was getting a little irritated with Mina because she already has a boyfriend, but she's almost immediately awestruck and smitten by another boy, Blake. But when Mina enters The Realm and it looks like her attraction to Blake seems inevitable, I felt like saying, “Come on! Will you KISS EACHOTHER ALREADY!!” Why does Blake have to be such a saint?

This is supposed to be the first book in a Trilogy, and I hope I don’t have to wait long for the next two books. If I do, I think I just might go insane. I HAVE to know where this trilogy will end!

Buy on Amazon Here:
The Forest of Adventures (Kindle Edition)



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Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Goodreads Summary: When beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell captured her last victim - the very detective who was trying to hunt her down - she quickly established who was really in control of the investigation. So why, after 10 days of horrifying physical and mental torture, did she release Detective Archie Sheridan on the brink of death and hand herself in?

No one else will ever know what happened between Gretchen and Archie, and even with his tormentor serving life Archie remains both obsessed and driven by a mysterious, terrifying dynamic that was born during his time alone with her. One thing is clear - Archie does not believe he was ever truly freed.

Two years on Archie, shadowed by vulnerable, naive young reporter Susan Ward, must lead a new hunt for the 'after school killer', and he knows that one person can help him climb into the mind of this psychopath.

But are there links between these brutal deaths and Gretchen's own unthinkable past? And will this only give Gretchen an invitation to play puppeteer once more? In turns shocking and touching, this startling, compulsive debut introduces a complex psychopathic killer who will haunt your every waking hour long after you finish the last page...



My Take: It was a nice change to pick up and read a murder mystery.

Archie Sheridan, a murder investigator is brought back to work after being on leave for 2 years. The 2 years prior, Archie had become a victim of a mass murderer Gretchen Lowell. Gretchen is a serial killer that Archie had been trying to find his entire career, giving her more of a reason to make sure he fell into her trap. Gretchen is now in prison but there is a new serial killer on the loose and the task force needs Archie's help.

Reading about how smart but demented and what a major sociopath Gretchen was, really made the story captivating. Chelsea Cain also did an amazing job at showing how an abuser can have power over their victim.

Throughout the book, the story went from the present serial killer investigation, then back to when Archie was held captive for 10 days by Gretchen.

Close to the end I was getting frustrated because I was thinking that the result was way too coincidental but the last chapter caught me completely off guard.

If you like murder mystery, this is a book I would recommend and I am looking forward to reading Sweetheart.

1st to Die by James Patterson

Goodreads Summary:  James Patterson, bestselling author of the Alex Cross novels Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, and Pop Goes the Weasel, offers the first of a new series dubbed The Women s Murder Club, featuring a four-woman team that occasionally works outside the system. None of the gritty darkness or frenzied action is lost in 1st to Die, although the female protagonists offer an even deeper emotional context to this suspense thriller.

Inspector Lindsay Boxer of the San Francisco Police Department suddenly finds herself in the middle of two horrifying situations: The first is that she s just learned she has an often-fatal blood disease. The second is a double homicide case she s now heading up that involves the murder of newlyweds on their wedding night. Burdened with Chris Raleigh, a new partner reassigned from the mayor s office, Lindsay finds that she has too much to deal with and turns to her best friend, Claire, the head ME on the case. Claire offers helpful advice and human, friendly contact amid a job filled with violence, cruelty, and fear.

Soon a fledgling newspaper reporter, Cindy, makes contact with Lindsay looking for a career-making story. Although Lindsay can t officially comment on the case, the two women form a rapport, and Cindy joins Lindsay and Claire for their weekly meeting. When a second pair of newlyweds is murdered, and later a third, the investigation leads to a prominent crime writer, Nicholas Jenks, who has a history of spousal abuse and a predilection for kinky, dangerous sex games. With the help of an understanding assistant D.A., Jill Bernhardt, Lindsay tries to make a case against Jenks, who even had an affair with one of the slain women. Eventually Jill joins the Murder Club, and the four ladies share private interdepartmental information in an effort to track and stop the killer before he strikes again.

The major subplot -- Lindsay's facing up to her illness even while she learns to fall in love again -- carefully compensates for the novel s coarse scenes of brutality. Lindsay Boxer isn t merely an obsessed cop trailing a maniac; she s also a terrified woman confronting the onslaught of disease. The story lines balance out to show us the true mettle of someone who puts the safety of others before her own.

Again, Patterson s skill for producing furiously paced fiction are evident as the novel breezes by rapidly. The short chapters keep the narrative leaping with increasingly taut plot elements, but there s an emotional commitment that makes our protagonist even more amiable and involving. 1st to Die is a novel that works as an intense series of character portraits that will leave the reader touched and delighted.

My Take:  I like reading murder mystery on occasion. It is a lot of fun trying to guess the murderer along with the investigation.

I actually figured out who the murderer was pretty early on, but 2 things in the end caught me completely by surprise.

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