Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet.
The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.
But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.
In a world where the supernatural is secret, but people are born with abilities and discover it while they’re still in school, things can get… complicated. And scary. And dangerous. And full of adventure and responsibility.
Jack Carlson is dreading a class presentation when he suddenly finds himself transported to the Hadley Academy, a secret institution that tracks teens with unlikely gifts and trains them to protect the world from an unseen squad of killers. But Jack isn’t the only one who doesn’t know what he’s doing at Hadley. Despite indications that he is the one prophesied to end the ancient Reaper War, Jack appears to have no extraordinary abilities.
So when dark, mysterious forces grow, Hadley is in a confused panic. Much to everyone’s dismay, humanity seems to depend on Jack and his new teammates. Can Hadley’s rawest recruits push past personal struggles and enormous doubts, develop their dormant powers, and stop the spreading evil? And are they willing to commit to Hadley’s motto, “One Life for Many,” and make the ultimate sacrifice?
I happened upon this book by chance, and I’m so glad I decided to read it! I don’t mind a good YA, and particularly a good YA fantasy, so I was really excited to read this one – and hoping it had a solid plot to hold my 20-something year old attention. It absolutely did.
I have to admit, that I was able to guess most of the ending about a third of the way in, but I was excited to continue and find out if I was right. I thought it was a supremely clever idea/plot, and enjoyed stumbling along with the characters – who were all newbies to the world of the Hadley Academy and Improbables (as was the reader).
I enjoyed the characters, though I would have liked more of some. I loved the ending (which I predicted anyway). I did find that sometimes the information felt more like an intense info dump of important stuff, and I had to take a few breathers! If there are more coming, I’m totally on board. If not, I enjoyed this book so much that it doesn’t really matter.
Would I Recommend This Book?
Yes, this was a great book full of excitement and I wish there were more that I could read and recommend!
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Being the heiress of Greenway Discoveries, Daphne Green has always lived a life of privilege. But when there is a break-in at her father’s office, he enlists the service of Milosh Petrov to guard her as a precaution. Just a precaution . . .
Assertive and straight-talking Milosh takes his job seriously: keep them safe and walk away. But when he’s tasked with posing as a close protection officer for Daphne, walking away starts to feel impossible. And when the threat against her life becomes very real, Milosh vows to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
I liked it okay, but it was pretty mid level for me. The concept was average, romance was good but mostly average save few great moments, the writing was good but not incredible. It was nice but sometimes a little boring. Only because it didn’t really have a grab your attention premise amongst a sea of other options. It sounded great, but it was just good/okay. It frustrated me that almost grown woman exclusively referred to her actual Father as Daddy continuously like she was 8. It gave Booktok type hints but never properly followed through. Simultaneously characters were somewhat dull and unusually brutal at once. Everyone was good at everything. It felt like it hovered around the edge of great but just never quite made it. Good, but not incredible. Still a worthwhile read though.
Would I Recommend This Book?
Yeah, it was a perfectly acceptable bodyguard romance.
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When the bad have the power, the rest are powerless (wink if you know), and a select few are planning to prove the current power structure and system is wrong. This series was brutal, bloody, powerful and political.
Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood–those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard–a growing Red rebellion–even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood Moderate: War, Torture, Murder Minor: Suicide, Death of a Parent, Child Death
My Review
I actually really liked this book. I liked the “super power” element rather than magic, and the separation of Red and Silver is something we can relate to (with various divisions we have in our own world). I did gloss over the world and surroundings descriptions, but the plot was good. Granted, it was similar to other YA dystopians but if you know what you’re getting into, I don’t see that as a problem. I liked the characters, but admittedly looked up the spoilers before reading so I didn’t have any shock moments at the various twists and turns. No graphic sexual content but pretty violent fights and scene depictions. Not really any cuss words either.
Graphic: Death, Violence, War Moderate: Child Death, Murder, Fire Minor: Pregnancy, Panic Attacks, Grief
My Review
A lot darker than the first. Little to no hope throughout was a theme. Dark emotions, dark choices, refusal to let go and revenge and darkness the guiding force in pretty much all characters. Powers are interesting, and it makes the fighting great. Just wish the characters were a little more likeable and a little less of a combined whine and bloodthirsty mess.
Graphic: War Violence, Death Moderate: Torture, Grief, Pregnancy Minor: Sexual Content, Alcohol, Cursing
My Review
The first half of this book could have been 25 pages instead of 250. It was entirely too long, and I was so close to calling it quits when read 200+ pages of a non plot same old same old. THEN, it started getting good. Honestly, I wish it had reached the halfway point way sooner, because that book would have been amazing. The second half was great but by the time I got there I was almost over the whole thing. It was quite long and the last book is even more so… The powers are always fun to see play out. Characters were the same, and while some were good, others were tiresome.
Graphic: War, Violence, Death Moderate: Grief, Torture, Blood Minor: Death of a Parent, Kidnapping
My Review
Book 1 was Court Politics Book 2 was Rebel Politics Book 3 was Prisoner Politics Book 4 was War politics
We finally made it to the end (if you don’t count the mish mash follow up of Broken Throne.. which I don’t – at least for now). This was the longest book by far, and the one that was the least interesting for me. Politics of three nations/groups all battling in secret and in the open, with personal stakes and grudges… it was quite dull. Outside of the scenes where people were actually using their abilities, I found myself feeling scenes drag on way too long, and things were quite convoluted.
Real world politics does have run in a similar way from my understanding, but I think this kind of a story is not where my interest lies. Give me the action scenes with way less back and forth and I would have been happier. Having said that, I think it was a true to story and character ending. Drawn out, but oddly satisfying.
Would I Recommend This Book?
Yes, I would. Keep in mind some of the darker themes and content warnings – the first two are DEFINATELY a good read, the second two were debatable for me, but on the whole I really enjoyed the world and the series and Victoria’s writing.
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If you thought Shatter Me was a good series, this duology will scratch the itch and even though it’s a little different, sometimes different can be better… right? I think so 😛
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.
As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.
Graphic: Panic Attacks, Confinement, Torture Moderate: Death of a Parent, Medical Trauma, Gaslighting Minor: Kidnapping, Blood, Violence
My Review
Wowie. This was a way better executed and altered version of Shatter Me. Obsessed. I loved this one – the only thing I could have done without was some more specifically described torture type scenes. Characters were great, development of those characters and how especially the main character, figured things out as we went was amazing. Loved the power element, always fun. Can’t wait to see it a bit more in action in the second book. Plot wise it was great. Similarities like I said above to Shatter Me, but with a much better execution. Enough differences to be it’s own story, and taking place in Sydney (nice touch), different dynamics and way less characters to keep track of. All that and more made this an action packed, easy to follow, quick to pace through and thoroughly enjoyable story.
Graphic: Death of a Parent, Confinement, Violence Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Terminal Illness Minor: Murder, Gun Violence, Torutre
My Review
Continuation of the story was great. Blindsided but at the same time knew it in my bones! There was a lot of internal dialogue and processing (sometimes of things that had already occurred… like we were rehashing things we had already not just witnessed but thought about as the reader) which was frustrating at times. A good deal of this book could easily be skimmed unlike the first one where everything was essential and riveting. Happy with it overall though.
Would I Recommend This Book?
Yes, I thought this was a great series, particularly if you like Shatter Me.
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A girl whose touch can kill you, imprisoned and in the middle of a war with extraordinary power… what else could you ask for a dystopian YA romance? A long series that some loved, and some hated – I read the first book to see what all the hype was about.
One touch is all it takes. One touch, and Juliette Ferrars can leave a fully grown man gasping for air. One touch, and she can kill. No one knows why Juliette has such incredible power. It feels like a curse, a burden that one person alone could never bear. But The Reestablishment sees it as a gift, sees her as an opportunity. An opportunity for a deadly weapon.
Juliette has never fought for herself before. But when she’s reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, she finds a strength she never knew she had.
I kept going back and forth on liking, hating, and tolerating this book.
The writing, I found to be sometimes nice, and other times more like drivel (eg talking about dying 5 times in one second… ugh). Often, it across as a too flowery, but I did enjoy The cross out of a “real” or raw thought followed by the one that the character thinks should be.
The story was very slow to start, and I wished it would have jumped in a few chapters earlier. Then, the story took a very different “beauty and the beast” vibe, before finally doing a sharp turn to superheroes. It was disorienting to say the least.
I know some spoilers and just CANNOT understand how we get from this book, to the final one….. I almost don’t want to know, and I’m hoping if I read any more, it won’t be a toxic relationship that we are supposed to somehow root for. I never do.
Content: violence, imprisonment, child abuse
Would I Recommend This Book?
I found this book was okay, but I prefer Whisper by Lynette Noni which holds a lot of similar elements but I thought was done a little better. It’s fine, but if you’re thinking the books will have closed doors, think again – that’s only the first two then things change.
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I had way more fun with this book then I thought I would. Even though I saw the ending coming 1,000,000 miles away, it was definitely a great way to end this – It made a great story, and it was a really good decision plot wise. I enjoyed the tension, I thought that the difficult background stories were woven in pretty well, and I enjoyed how the story progressed. It felt like a pretty natural progression given the circumstances, and I enjoyed the dynamics of the character characters and the plot. A little Insta love-ish, but I didn’t mind so much.
I was surprised at how much I actually loved this book. The entire plot centres around the elemental trials and life in this crazy dangerous prison. Our main characters are engaging, interesting and encircled by such an interesting world. The ending……. I went out and got the next two books on almost that alone. I GOTSTA know what happens next! Careful of content/trigger warnings (I will list below) but the author didn’t go tooooo far with those so just be aware.
Content warnings: violence (graphic), gore (moderate), self harm (moderate), sexual assault/harassment (moderate), Child abuse (moderate), torture (graphic), confinement (graphic)
I loved seeing Kiva outside of the Zalendov context in this story. Her battle between loyalties was interesting and played out quite well. I was punched in the gut several times in this book – especially at the end.
Moderate violence/gore Mild sexual content Moderate kidnapping Moderate drug use
Finally got some answers! Called some of it, didn’t call others. Rushed ending “big bad level” moment/s but ending was really satisfying. Characters were put through the ringer. I didn’t mind where we went and ended up. From a prison escape book, to a strategize overthrowing the throne book, to finally a quest book this series was really great and I’m almost sad to say goodbye to the characters.
Wowie. This was a way better executed and altered version of Shatter Me. Obsessed. I loved this one – the only thing I could have done without was some more specifically described torture type scenes. Characters were great, development of those characters and how especially the main character, figured things out as we went was amazing. Loved the power element, always fun. Can’t wait to see it a bit more in action in the second book. Plot wise it was great. Similarities like I said above to Shatter Me, but with a much better execution. Enough differences to be it’s own story, and taking place in Sydney (nice touch), different dynamics and way less characters to keep track of. All that and more made this an action packed, easy to follow, quick to pace through and thoroughly enjoyable story.
Continuation of the story was great. Blindsided but at the same time knew it in my bones! There was a lot of internal dialogue and processing (sometimes of things that had already occurred… like we were rehashing things we had already not just witnessed but thought about as the reader) which was frustrating at times. A good deal of this book could easily be skimmed unlike the first one where everything was essential and riveting. Happy with it overall though.
I really enjoyed the world, the characters, and the plot of this book. It was fantastic. I liked the sarcastic character of Alex, and the way that she discovered this parallel world where superpowers were super common. There was an overarching mystery, there were things that we got to figure out as we went along to the world and how things run, and I thought that it was laid out really well. I enjoyed this world, I thought it was really interesting interesting, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series to discover more of it. The library was a really really cool Element. I liked the idea of unlimited and unusual adventures that they could have, while also trying to figure out the overall mysteries of the library, the school and the world. Figuring it all out with Alex was a good way to discover things. I liked her friends, I thought they were really fun and very realistic guy friends. I also liked the way that other characters and their relationships to Alex developed across the book, I’m excited to see where all of that goes in further books.
If you mix Divergent with Whisper (Lynette Noni) and Uglies (Scott Westerfield) you might come up with something close to describing this book – if they were written as Christian books. Let’s take a look at Anomaly by Krista McGee.
Decades before Thalli’s birth, the world was decimated by a nuclear war. But life continued deep underground, thanks to a handful of scientists known as The Ten. There they created genetically engineered human beings who are free of emotions in the hope that war won’t threaten the world again.
Thalli is an anomaly, born with the ability to feel emotions and a sense of curiosity she can barely contain. She has survived so far by hiding her differences. But then her secret is discovered when she’s overwhelmed by the emotion of an ancient piece of music.
The Ten quickly schedule her annihilation, but her childhood friend, Berk–a scientist being groomed by The Ten–convinces them to postpone her death and study her instead. While in the Scientists’ Pod, Thalli and Berk form a dangerous alliance, one strictly forbidden by the constant surveillance.
Graphic: confinement, Medical Trauma Moderate: Genocide, Gaslighting, Murder
My Review
Create a world that is full of atheists that are genetically modifying people and don’t allow any sort of emotions (or even a little case of the sniffles) and thrown in capital punishment, except the ‘punishment’ is only because they don’t like or trust you… yeah, that was pretty much this world. Thalli was a character we got to explore this with as she more and more allowed herself to feel. Feeling is dangerous, and can lead to problems… so that can’t be allowed. While I understand that idea, and where that fed into the plot and setup of this dystopian world and book, I don’t know if it quite landed for me. It was well written, and the characters made sense, but there was just something about it all that felt…. flat. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing.The Christian themes and content was pretty obvious and not afraid to hide. While it mostly felt pretty smooth, some of it (especially the ‘come to Jesus moment/s) felt a little much. I feel that way in most books that are a ‘convert to Christianity’ type of moment though – it’s hard to write that on page when it is such an emotional and spiritual process (go figure). I found that for some of the story things moved slowly, and I was bored. I wonder if as the series continues, it would feel like a better pace now that we aren’t slowly discovering the world around you is different than you thought and/or you are constantly on a razors edge of being killed.
Would I Recommend This Book?
If you like Christian fiction, and don’t mind some pretty obvious messaging, and you’re a teenager… yes. I would. While I was definitely not the target audience for this one, I do see how many may enjoy this story and mystery to continue the series. It’s a 3 book commitment, but I would say yes to recommending this book.
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