Genre Definition and Recommendation #69

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

Science Fiction - Definition found on Wikipedia

Science Fiction- is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. 

Suspense/Thriller- Definition found on Wikipedia

Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. 

This week I have a couple Science FictionThrillers to recommend 

My Recommendations: 

Virals by Kathy Reichs 

Adventure is in Tory Brennan's blood. After all, she’s the grandniece of world-famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Always up for a challenge, Tory and her science-geek friends spend their time exploring the marshlands of Loggerhead Island, home to the very off-limits Loggerhead Island Research Institute, where something strange is going on. After rescuing a stray wolfdog pup from a top-secret lab, Tory and her friends are exposed to a rare strain of canine parvovirus, changing them--and their DNA--forever. Now they are more than friends. They are a pack. They are Virals. And they're dangerous to the core. But are they unstoppable enough to catch a cold-blooded murderer?

All Our Yestedays by Cristin Terrill 

  

What would you change?

Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside. 

Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it... at least, not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win.

What Do you Recommend? 

Review:(Don't You Forget) About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

Title: (Don't You Forget) About Me

Author: Kate Karyus Quinn

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date: June 10th 2014  

Pages: 336
Genre:  YA Magical Realism/Mystery-thriller

Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC

  

Welcome to Gardnerville.

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.

This is one of those books I am not sure of my feelings and thoughts. I was super excited to read this book, one of my most anticipated books of the year. I really do have mixed feelings about the book. I am super glad I read it, it wasn't what I expected, but it was for sure worth my time. The book was well written, completely original, and a real mind trip. The biggest and really only issue I had was the pacing, but like I said worth the read.

Skylar lost her sister fours year ago during the fourth year. The fourth year is when the teenagers in this town of Gardnerville go nuts and start to hurt each other, sometimes leading to the death of friends or even themselves. Skylar's sister Piper was not the exception. It is now the fourth year again, and Skylar is afraid of what this year can bring and is also still dealing with the death of her sister. Determined she is still alive she does all she can to find her. This journey leads question after question and discovers secrets. Skylar learns the truth about Piper's death and so much more. The town of Gardnerville is built upon secrets, lies, and dark magic.


I thought this book was very well written and very well executed. I thought I knew what I was in for when I opened the book to that first page. I really thought it was a murder mystery, a thriller, with just a hint of the paranormal. I got it wrong. What the book had was murder yes, mystery yes, thrills yes, paranormal not really and it for sure wasn't just a hint. There was magic filled through out the entire book. Sometimes it was hard to figure out if it was normal, the magic in the book or if the book was just messing with my mind. It really is a mind boggling adventure. The beginning starts off with just a bit of weirdness. We get the background of the fourth year and that Piper is dead because of the fourth year phenomenon. We get a small taste of the town, the fact that the town has some magic built in the city that keeps its people from getting sick or dying of illness or old age. The more into the story we go, the more the crazy unfolds. Piper's story comes out, flashbacks of Piper and Skylar's life, the story of how the town is built, and the relations between the people who live there... the ones the train brought and the ones that were born there. After that point the story just picks up and crazy crazy crazy happens. I almost felt as if the book totally changed and I was reading another story with the same characters,same town, but oh my a whole lot of different story  It really does go into madness in a good way. 

I really think this is one of the few books I liked where the story out shined the characters. I never really connected or found myself attached to any of the characters. Especially Skylar. The read was so somber that I just felt sorry for Skylar and confused right along beside her. I felt as if I was living more beside her as a silent witness to her life not as a close participant in the story. This actually worked well for me. I didn't need the connection. The way the story unfolded fit right in with me being a ghost following her around figuring it all out. I think a connection would have taken away from the mystery of the town and if it had real magical elements or if everyone was just crazy. Skylar wasn't a bad character, she was just in a daze most of the book from the forget me not pills. I actually felt more connected to Piper through the flashbacks. She was definitely the bigger personality and she sounded fun but bat crazy and I just liked her from the start. 

The way the story is told was alternate chapters from now day happenings to random times flashbacks to help the story unfold. I don't usually like my books written this way but the author did a great job on keeping out the confusion and keeping it interesting. I enjoyed the flashbacks of Piper's life more than the present day of Skylar's life. Piper's chapters were always titled with a song title which was fun too. I think that the story really needed those alternating chapters and that is what gave the book that maddening read. 

The only trouble I had with the book, was the pacing. There were times I couldn't turn the pages fast enough then there were times I didn't want to pick the book up. It was a bit erratic to me until about the last 15 percent of the book then it was went all crazy and I couldn't put it down for even a second. If the pacing would have been a bit more constant than it this would have been a 4-5 star rating for me because the story is just phenomenal.

One more thing. This book was one of those books that made me question everything in the end.... did that just happen, what did I just read, I am not sure what to think about this book, and so on. But it stayed on my mind for days after. So YES it did mess with mind and it was good. Just be prepared for some slow moments in the book. 

It was good, real good, just lacked in a few parts for me... but I will gladly read more from this author. She is a genius in my book when it comes to story creation. A very unique and worth while read.

Kate Karyus Quinn is an avid reader and menthol chapstick addict. She has lived in California and Tennessee, but recently made the move back to her hometown of Buffalo, New York, with her husband and two children in tow. She promised them wonderful people, amazing food, and weather that would... build character. Another Little Piece is her first novel.

Stacking the Shelves #78

Stacking The Shelves is a hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Come join the fun and share all the book you received this week. 

For Review:

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kupler

         

Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island’s whale men safe and prosperous at sea. But before she could learn how to control her power, her mother, the first Roe woman in centuries to turn her back on magic, stole Avery away from her grandmother. Avery must escape from her mother before her grandmother dies, taking with her the secrets of the Roes’ power.

When Avery awakens from a dream foretelling her own murder, she realizes time is running short—for her and for the people of her island, who, without the Roes, will lose their ships and the only life they know.

With the help of Tane, a tattooed harpoon boy from the Pacific Islands, Avery plots her escape from her mother and unravels the mysteries of her mother’s and grandmother’s pasts. Becoming a witch may prevent her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers it will also require a sacrifice she never expected—one she might not be able to make.

Sway by Kat Spears

In Kat Spears’s hilarious and often poignant debut, high school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as he’s known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has few close friends and he never EVERlets emotions get in the way. For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions.

But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget’s belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man really have a heart after all?

A Cyrano de Bergerac story with a modern twist, Sway is told from Jesse’s point of view with unapologetic truth and biting humor, his observations about the world around him untempered by empathy or compassion---until Bridget’s presence in his life forces him to confront his quiet devastation over a life-changing event a year earlier and maybe, just maybe, feel something again.

The Fall by Bethany Griffin 

Madeline Usher is doomed.

She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down?The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.

Audio:

cv

Bought:

Borrowed: 

Delightful Discoveries #69

Delightful Discoveries are books that I have discovered recently... old, new, just released... from blogs, Goodreads, libraries, friends, or bookstores. 

 Some Fine Day by Kat Ross 

  

Sixteen-year-old Jansin Nordqvist is on the verge of graduating from the black ops factory known as the Academy. She's smart and deadly, and knows three things with absolute certainty:1. When the world flooded and civilization retreated deep underground, there was no one left on the surface.2. The only species to thrive there are the toads, a primate/amphibian hybrid with a serious mean streak.3. There's no place on Earth where you can hide from the hypercanes, continent-sized storms that have raged for decades.Jansin has been lied to. On all counts.

Crane by Stacey Rourke 

The Horseman is unending,

his presence shan’t lessen.

If you break the curse,

you become the legend.

Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle had no choice but to cover up the deadly truth behind Ichabod Crane’s disappearance. Centuries later, a Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow awakening macabre secrets once believed to be buried deep. 

What if the monster that spawned the legend lived within you?

Now, Ireland Crane, reeling from a break-up and seeking a fresh start, must rely on the newly awakened Rip Van Winkle to discover the key to channeling the darkness swirling within her. Bodies are piling high and Ireland is the only one that can save Sleepy Hollow by embracing her own damning curse. 

But is anyone truly safe when the Horseman rides?

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga 

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who seems scared of her, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father who has made her the town pariah, Aysel’s ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers the website Smooth Passages and its section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution. Better yet, a boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman), who’s haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.

But as their suicide pact starts to become more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, Aysel must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

This is a gorgeously written and compulsively readable debut novel about the transformative power of love and acceptance.

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

  
Bound together by the devastating consequences of a terrorist attack on a London market, teenagers Charlotte (Charlie) and Nat appear at first to have much in common. But, as Charlie gets closer to Nat and his family, she begins to wonder if perhaps he knows more about the attack than he has let on. Split Second is an action-packed thriller that shifts between the perspectives of its two main characters as their courage and their loyalties are tested to the limit.

Fire Wish by Amber Lough 

A jinni. A princess. And the wish that changes everything. . . . 

Najwa is a jinni, training to be a spy in the war against the humans. Zayele is a human on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad—which she’ll do anything to avoid. So she captures Najwa and makes a wish. With a rush of smoke and fire, they fall apart and re-form—as each other. A jinni and a human, trading lives. Both girls must play their parts among enemies who would kill them if the deception were ever discovered—enemies including the young men Najwa and Zayele are just discovering they might love.