Book Review 29. Cress

Book: Cress
Series: The Lunar Chronicles (#3)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Pages: 550
Published: February 4th, 2014

Synopsis: In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.
Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.
When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"You can help me pick out a tiara when we’re done saving the world.”

Book to Movie 1. The Spectacular Now

This is a new little series on this blog, where I read a book and watch the movie based on it, then review, compare, and contrast! First up is The Spectacular Now.

   

Book: The Spectacular Now
Author: Tim Tharp
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Pages: 294
Published: November 1st, 2008

Wishlist Wednesday. The Ables

Hosted by Pen to Paper

THE ABLES BY JEREMY SCOTT

Book Review 28. Only Ever Yours

Book: Only Ever Yours
Author: Louise O'Neill
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Pages: 400
Published: July 3rd, 2014

This ebook was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions”, permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful.
For the girls left behind, the future – as a concubine or a teacher – is grim.
Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions – they are among the most highly rated girls in their year.
But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. ..
And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.
Freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known. . .

WARNING: This book and it's review may contain triggers including bulimia, various other body image issues, bullying, and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

"This is not my fault. I'm just doing what we have been trained to do. This is who we are, frieda. This is who we were designed to be."

Book Review 27. Righteous

Book: Righteous
Author: Kim Lehman
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Pages: 317
Published: June 1st, 2013

This ebook was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: A story about friendships, love, and self-discovery.
Quick witted, sharp-tongued Righteous Andrews is troubled by a broken past, fed up with her present circumstances, and resolved to a hopeless future.
On the first day of her senior year of high school she gets in trouble, landing in the principal’s office . . . again. There she meets Colt Jackson, the new kid with a troubled past of his own. Despite her attempts to avoid him, Colt seems to show up everywhere she doesn’t want him to be, and soon they strike up an unexpected friendship. Righteous is wary. Friendships aren’t her thing. But something about Colt is different; something about him makes her curious, makes her wonder . . .
Is Colt Jackson really different from everyone else? Does happiness and love truly exist? Or will every relationship in her life always end in lies and heartache?

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

"You can't define yourself based on who you think you are. You need to define yourself based on who you want to be."

Book Review 26. A Magic Dark and Bright

Book: A Magic Dark and Bright
Series: The Asylum Saga (#1)
Author: Jenny Adams Perinovic
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Pages: 321
Published: April 28th, 2015

This ebook was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: She meant to help a ghost...not unleash a curse.
Amelia Dupree hasn’t seen the Woman in White since the night her brother died.
The ghost seems to have disappeared from the woods surrounding Asylum, Pennsylvania—that is, until Charlie Blue moves into the creepy old MacAllister House next door. Amelia can’t help liking him, even though she spent her childhood thinking his grandmother was a witch. And she definitely can’t ignore the connection between his arrival and the Woman in White’s return.
Then Amelia learns that the Woman in White is a prisoner, trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead. Devastated by the idea that her brother could be suffering a similar fate, Amelia decides to do whatever it takes to help the Woman in White find peace--and Charlie agrees to help her.
But when Amelia’s classmates start to drown in the Susquehanna River, one right after another, rumors swirl as people begin to connect the timing of Charlie’s arrival with the unexplained deaths. As Charlie and Amelia uncover the dark history of Asylum, they realize they may have unleashed an unspeakable evil. One they have to stop before everything they love is destroyed.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

"A woman haunted the woods behind my house....But that was before. I hadn't seen her in six months, not since the night she'd watched Mark die." 

Book Review 25. Miramont's Ghost

Book: Miramont's Ghost
Author: Elizabeth Hall
Genre: Paranormal Fiction
Pages: 336
Published: February 1st, 2015

Synopsis: Miramont Castle, built in 1897 and mysteriously abandoned three years later, is home to many secrets. Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle.
Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.
Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this hauntingly atmospheric tale is inspired by historical research into the real-life Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

WARNING: This book and it's review may contain triggers.

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

"Having family does not ensure that one won't be lonely."

Wishlist Wednesday. The One

Hosted by Pen to Paper

We haven't done any of our weekly events in so long (I'm so sorry), but I hope this will make up for it a little.

Book Review 24. These Broken Stars

Book: These Broken Stars
Series: Starbound (#1)
Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Pages: 374
Published: December 10th, 2013

Synopsis: Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.
The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“But who names a starship the Icarus? What kind of man possess that much hubris, that he dares it to fall?” 

Book Review 23. The Vanishing Girl

Book: The Vanishing Girl
Series: The Vanishing Girl (#1)
Author: Laura Thalassa
Genre: New Adult Science Fiction
Pages: 338
Published: March 15th, 2014

This ebook was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: Every night after Ember Pierce falls asleep, she disappears. She can teleport anywhere in the world—London, Paris, her crush’s bedroom—wherever her dreams lead her. Ten minutes is all she gets, and once time’s up, she returns to her bed. It's a secret she’s successfully kept for the last five years. But now someone knows.
A week after her eighteenth birthday, when frustratingly handsome Caden Hawthorne captures her, delivers her to the government, and then disappears before her eyes, Ember realizes two things: One, she is not alone. And two, people like her—teleporters—are being used as weapons.
Dragged off to a remote facility where others like her live, Ember’s forced to pair up with her former captor, Caden, to learn how to survive inside until she can escape. Only Caden’s making escape seem less and less appealing.
But even as Ember falls for the boy who got her into this mess, she knows that she is running out of time. Because the government has plans for those like her, and those plans might just cost Ember her life.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

“Because you are just a pawn. And a pawn can’t help but get played.”