Genre Definition and Recommendation #74

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. 

Alien Invasion Definition found on Wikipedia 

The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrials invade Earth either to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it under a colonial system, harvest humans for food, steal the planet's resources, or destroy the planet altogether.

My Recommendations: 

Scan by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine 

Tate and his father don’t exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best—at everything. Tate finally learns what he’s being prepared for when he steals one of his dad’s odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans. 

All Tate knows--like how to make weapons out of oranges and lighter fluid--may not be enough to save him as he’s plunged into a secret inter-species conflict that’s been going on for centuries. Aided only by his girlfriend and his estranged mother, with powerful enemies closing in on all sides, Tate races to puzzle out the secret behind his father’s invention and why so many are willing to kill for it. A riveting, fast-paced adventure, Scan is a clever alien thriller with muscle and heart.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is.

What Do you Recommend? 

Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Title: The Jewel

Author: Amy Ewing

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date:   September 2, 2014

Pages: 358
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Series: The Lone City #1
Source: Audio

  

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and I finally got to it. Another book I waited for the audio and I am glad I did. I really liked the narrator. I was a bit disappointed in the read though. Overall I enjoyed the book and would love to read more, but I had more hope for his series. The premise is awesome. The idea, the story, I loved. The characters were OK. I didn't like them as much I hoped for but what really didn't set well for me was the romance. It just wasn't believable for me. It didn't kill my enjoyment just kept my from fully investing into the book. Like I said, overall I liked the book and can't wait to read more when the next installment comes out.

This book is set in a world where royalty cannot have babies, they either can't get pregnant, lose the baby, or the baby dies shortly after birth. The only ones that can have the royal babies are the lowest in society. The poorest. Somehow where they live, in The Marsh,  mutates their genes and enables them to carry and deliver the baby healthy... much more than that they can control a bit about to determine physical and mental attributes of the child. So The story is about Violet from the Marsh who is bought to be a surrogate for royalty. Within her time in the Jewels she learns much more about the surrogacy program and the royals. Betrayal and conspiracy are around every corner.

So many good things about this book a few not so good, but more good than not. I loved the story. The idea felt very fresh to me and I felt it was very thought out. Everything fit together to paint me a complete picture. I was able to grasp everything that was going and didn't have any to question. It made sense, it was freaky, it was believable. There are so many dystopians out there and they tend to flood my shelves and feel like the same story over and over. This one did not feel that way. I was intrigued, I was mystified. I really did love the story. 

The pacing was good but the writing lacked just a bit for me. I find that most books that are very fast paced have issues with depth in the characters and the world building. The world building did not lack, it was very well written, the character building was well done too. I felt I knew the characters very well, my only issue with the characters was the neediness of the characters. The main character, our heroine, wasn't as strong as I like my female leads in these type of books. She was a bit whiny and really just lacked backbone most of the time. She kind of just fell into whatever everyone else wanted int he moment, then after she walked away from the situation she seemed to turned a bit self righteous. She was a bit to wishy washy for me. 

The love interest Ash was OK. Again not as charming or confidant as I like my love interest. I didn't dislike him but didn't really fall for him either.No swooning was involved. this leads me to my next issue with the characters and story. I don't mind insta love when it makes sense or when its strongly felt. I didn't get this romance. I didn't understand it and didn't feel it. It just didn't seem to matter to me and I think it supposed to be a big part of the story. So the romance definitely lacked for me. 

Now I didn't mind the romance lacking or not so perfect characters because the story was just that good on its own. I know there is a bunch more coming to this story and that excites me. I really want to see what happens next and what's in store for these characters. 

It was a good read, enjoyable and exciting.

Amy Ewing is the young adult author of The Jewel, the first in a trilogy from HarperTeen, coming out September 2014.

She grew up in a small town outside Boston, where her librarian mother instilled a deep love of reading at a young age. Amy moved to New York City in 2000 to study theater at New York University. Unfortunately, her acting career didn’t quite pan out. She worked in restaurants, as an administrative assistant, a nanny, and a sales representative for a wine distributor before the lack of creativity in her life drove her to begin writing.

Amy received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children from The New School, where she was lucky enough to meet a fabulous community of YA writers who keep her sane on a daily basis. She lives in Harlem, where she spends her days writing, eating cheese, and occasionally binge watching The Vampire Diaries.

Review: Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga

Title: Blood of My Blood
Author: Barry Lyga
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: September 9th 2014
Pages: 464
Genre: YA Thriller
Series: Jasper Dent #3
Source: Audio

  

Jazz Dent has been shot and left to die in New York City. His girlfriend Connie is in the clutches of Jazz's serial killer father, Billy. And his best friend Howie is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's own home in tiny Lobo's Nod. Somehow, these three must rise above the horrors their lives have become and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy. But then Jazz crosses a line he's never crossed before, and soon the entire country is wondering: "Like father, like son?" Who is the true monster?

The chase is on, and beyond Billy there lurks something much, much worse. Prepare to meet...the Crow King.

AT LAST the LAST book of the Jasper Dent Series. I was so excited and could’t wait to dig in. I started the book first with the E-ARC then realized it was coming to audio and waited for the audio. Which was very hard but I listened to the first two books and love the narrator. So I wanted to finish with the audio. So glad I did. This narrator brings so much to the story. I just couldn’t see me ending it without him. So the last book and it was a doosy. It was dark, twisted, demented, intense, sadistic, emotional, horrifying, terrorizing, a bit gross, and crazy good. So everything I expected and more. I am very sad its over but the ending was amazing and ended complete. So I say good bye to Jasper Dent and all his friends on a high note. They will be missed.

We left the last book with Connie in trouble, Jasper in trouble, and of course Howie in trouble. Jasper has been helping in New York to capture the HatDog Killer but what he found was his father. Connie went to New York to help Jasper and what she found was danger. Howie falls for Jasper's Aunt Sam but found out she is danger. Everyone in trouble and that is where this book begins.

OK so the last book ended on quite a cliffhanger. I hate those evil cliffhangers. It was a horrible wait but it is over and this book picked up right where the last one ended, not even a second in between. It starts off intense I mean bone chilling intense. This book had me biting my fingernails all the way through and it was very wild ride. So the last book left off with pretty much everyone in trouble and so we started of this book with everyone pretty much fighting for their lives. A bit extreme. This book had two climaxes kind of. The beginning and the end. The beginning for all three of our favorite characters. It was the ending of a long awaited climax and it I loved how intense the beginning was. It just started everything off awesomely. The book never slowed. It was a page turner, an edge of your seat read, a very nerve racking story and I loved loved loved it. The pace was just my style fast and furious.

The pacing wasn’t the only extreme. Oh My Goodness, things come out and wow it was just wow. I can’t even put into words how extreme. It was filled with WHAT?! And ***GASP*** and OH MY!! moments throughout the entire book. Oh and don’t forget the UH-HUH that makes sense moments too. If you thought that last two books were sick and sadistic yeah it gets worse. This book is not for the weak minded or stomached at all. 

I love Jasper, I can’t get enough of him. His darker side does come out a bit more in this book….. very close the edge and falling over. So if you are looking for Jasper to be the good guy all the way through… No matter what choices he made or what his thoughts held, I loved him through and through. He was loyal to his friends the whole way through and I loved that but good, not so much. He may turns some against him in this book.

Billy is just evil, sick, dark side kind of bad and even though I hated him, I loved it. He was probably the worst villain in all the books I have read. Just wow. Can’t believe someone could be this twisted. Well after this book it almost seemed to be the norm. There is much more in store for all those who read. So many more that are just sick in the head. Billy for sure is not alone in this world.

All the other characters, Connie, Howie, G. William. They are all there and just as lovable as the first two books. This series and this book do not fall short on the character building at all. I loved the visit with all my Nod friends and will miss them dearly. Just to give me a little fix, I have purchased all the novellas and will be reading those soon.

A story so dark and twisted, characters over the edge, fast and thrilling pace. Excellent, Awesome, Worth The Wait. A MUST READ NOW book.

Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek. According to Kirkus, he's also a "YA rebel-author." Somehow, the two just don't seem to go together to him.

When he was a kid, everyone told him that comic books were garbage and would rot his brain, but he had the last laugh. Raised on a steady diet of comics, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years, but now writes full-time because, well, wouldn't you?

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl is his first novel. Unsoul'd is his latest. There are a whole bunch in between, featuring everything from the aftermath of child abuse to pre-teens with superpowers to serial killers. He clearly does not know how to stick to one subject.

Waiting on Wednesday #121

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I Can't wait for:

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her–so there’s no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door who is keeping an eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can’t control Grace–no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do.

Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn’t stop it, Grace isn’t the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world all stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.

OK so, I love Gallagher Girls and I haven't finished the series yet, been dragging my feet. I am happy to see she has a new series and it sounds a bit different but still her style.  Can't wait. Now to finish Gallagher Girls.

Stacking the Shelves #85

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:

Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

         

Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.
"There's something hidden in the Maze." Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.
Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.
All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself--and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?
Combining a fresh twist on the classic REBECCA with a spine-tingling mystery and powerful romance, SUSPICION is an action-packed thrill ride.

Audio:

Bought Borrowed Stole: