Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Review: The Burning by Danielle Rollins

Burning
Title: Burning 
Author:  Danielle Rollins
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA 
Publishing Date:  April 25th 2016
Pages:  352
Genre: YA Psychological Horror
Series:  Stand Alone
Source: Audio
 
After three years in juvie, Angela Davis is just a few months shy of release, and she'll finally be free from the hole that is Brunesfield Correctional Facility. Then Jessica arrives. Only ten years old and under the highest security possible, this girl has to be dangerous, even if no one knows what she did to land in juvie. As strange things begin happening to Angela and her friends that can only be traced to the new girl's arrival, it becomes clear that Brunesfield is no longer safe. They must find a way to get out, but how can they save themselves when the world has forgotten them?
I have had this book on my TBR for a while. I am really not sure where or when I first noticed the book or what drew me to it. I am thinking the cover. It's pretty creepy. It has also been a while since I have read a book or listened to a book. So I was excited to just read a book. I did like this read. I felt it was creepy enough and the story was interesting. I did have some issues with the read that lowered my enjoyment just a tiny bit but in the end, I really enjoyed it. 
Angela and her friends are in a juvie center. Everything is as one would think. Days go by, they aren't treated the best, they don't have all the good things. The girls are counting the days until they get out. All is well in the juvie center. Everything changes the day a 10-year-old girl arrives. Jessica. She is creepy and doesn't talk and is sent straight to the segregation block. She isn't the only new face around. There is a new doctor. A counselor. She brings with her the idea of a group that supports girls interested in science. She brings new soap and other supplies. She seems cool, well until she doesn't because things are changing. Things are strange and creepy. Someone is on the bad side.

I picked this book up not really knowing what to expect. I didn't remember putting it on my TBR but it was in my Audible wish list so I grabbed it and decided to get into it. The beginning was a tad slow for me but still very interesting. So even though I felt it was a little slow I never wanted to stop reading it. There was enough there that kept me intrigued and kept me keeping on. I am glad I did. 

The concept was pretty cool and for a horror, it was pretty creepy. I think it could have had a bit more on the creep side but I am a very hard person to please with the creep meter. I do wish the story had a bit more explanation too. There were some holes that were never filled and that saddens me just a little. There could have been a bit more background... of course, maybe that would have taken away from the creep factor. It's hard to say. Those are the only real issues I had with the book. 

The main character I just adored. She was a very independent and determined girl. She was strong and soft at the same time. She had a love for her brother that was extreme and she cared and was very loyal to her friends. She was a stupid girl at times... but for the most part, she was cool and she had the right voice for the story. 

I also very much liked the supporting characters. All of them. Issie, Cara, Jessica, Ben. I did like them all. They all had their issues throughout the story to bring conflict and resolution but in the long run, they all brought something sparkly and added to the story. 

The story did have the horror aspect, sci-fi aspect, and supernatural aspect but I felt they all fit in together. I liked that it was done in a juvie hall too. It kind of gave it the extra creep. There were strong friendship aspects but not a lot in the romance dept. Which I get and I was okay with . There was a little bit but not really explored. I only wish there would have be just a tad bit more in the ending for the romance. 

The ending I didn't so much like. I did like it up to the very last moment. I think I just needed more exploration, more explanation. It didn't leave it open... but didn't really have a conclusion. It was left making me want for more but also gave me some kind of resolution. Like I said, I think it just needed more to fill in the holes of question I had. 



I did like it. Was it perfect or the best no... but it was so worth reading and I plan on reading the companion novel when it comes out. 



Danielle Rollins is the author of the upcoming teen thriller BURNING (2016, Bloomsbury) as well as the horror novels THE MERCILESS, THE MERCILESS II: THE EXORCISM OF SOFIA FLORES, and SURVIVE THE NIGHT (Razorbill, written as Danielle Vega). She lives in Brooklyn, NY and spends far too much money on vintage furniture and leather boots.




Wednesday, August 24, 2016

waiting on wednesday: Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys

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


Jenn's Pick :I Can't wait for:



Dead Girls Society
Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys
November 8th 2016
                 
You are cordially invited to participate in a game of thrills and dares. Tell no one, and come alone. If you dare.

Hope is sick of everyone treating her like she’s breakable. Sure, she has cystic fibrosis (basically really bad lungs), but she’s tired of being babied by her mom and her overprotective best friend, Ethan, not to mention worrying about paying for her expensive medication and how she’s going to afford college. And she’s bored with life in her run-down New Orleans suburb.

When an invitation arrives from a mysterious group that calls itself the Society, Hope jumps at the chance for some excitement. This could be her ticket out. All she has to do is complete a few dares and she might win some real money.

But the Society isn’t all it seems . . . and soon Hope finds that playing the game isn’t a choice—it’s a requirement.

This looks good. Intense.  I love dare books, mystery books, and anything with dead in the title. can't wait to read this one.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Will I Ever Read These?

Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at
The Broke and the Bookish that features a great bookish top ten every week.



These books have been on my TBR forever. I don't know if I will ever read them now. It seems my tastes have changed a lot and so has my time. So don't know, but they will remain until I decide, on my forever mile long TBR list. 

The Mockingbirds (The Mockingbirds, #1)Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1)The Goddess Test (Goddess Test, #1)TranceUnwind (Unwind, #1)Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls, #1)Angelfire (Angelfire, #1)Bad Girls Don't Die (Bad Girls Don't Die, #1)





Have you read any of these? What did you think? Am I missing out?

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Review: Everland by Wendy Spinale


EverlandTitle: Everland
Author: Wendy Spinale 
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publishing Date: May 10th 2016
Pages: 312
Genre: YA Steampunk/Retelling
Series: Everland #1
Source: ARC 

 
      The only way to grow up is to survive.
London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived the destruction and the outbreak of a deadly virus are children, among them sixteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her younger siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the deadly Marauders—the German army led by the cutthroat Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer.
Unsure if the virus has spread past England’s borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook is on the hunt for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the surviving children. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return.
Until one day when they grab Joanna. Gwen will stop at nothing to get her sister back, but as she sets out, she crosses paths with a daredevil named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it might cost Gwen more than she bargained for. And are Gwen, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart the ruthless Captain Hook?



This is a very interesting steampunk twist on the original Peter Pan. Set in an alternate World War II tpe setting.


What made me pick this book up?
Steampunk? Peter Pan? Sign me up I'm there. I actually hadn't heard of this book before BEA and one of the fellow bloggers said she already read this copy and let us have it. 


What do I like about the cover? 
I like the steampunk look, it looks like a little tinker bell, and it matches the character in the book. Very well done.


What made me read it?
Steampunk and Peter Pan. I'm really glad that she told us about it, because as soon as she said it's a steampunk Peter Pan book, I was all over it 


What did I like the most?

I love the way that the author took the original characters and put a spin on them. All of the characters are there. It's written amazingly too, I did not want to put this book down. 




Overall I did not want to put this book down, I finished it in two days. It is extremely well written, the characters were written brilliantly, and the story was well done. The only thing that I did not really like was the main character, it was very back and forth with her at the beginning and it was a bit hard to get past. But once I did, I loved it. 



Mechanica (Mechanica, #1)The Clockwork Scarab (Stoker & Holmes, #1)Stars (Wendy Darling, #1)The Neverland Wars










Wendy is a former Disneyland actress and online journalist. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her husband, three sons, and the best four-legged writing partners ever, Odie and Alex. EVERLAND is the first in a three book series with a fairytale cast in a steampunk world.









Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Top Ten: Back To School Books

Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at
The Broke and the Bookish that features a great bookish top ten every week.



My Top Ten Books in a School Setting: 
Its back to school time and  I love boarding school books. I am not sure why but I do. I love to read about the history of the school, design of the school, types of kids in this school. I just love them. So here are my favorite boarding school books. 

1.  A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1)

2. The School For Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil, #1)

3. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You  by Ally Carter (and all other books in the series)
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls, #1)


4. Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Extraordinary Means

5. Dark Energy by Robinson Wells
Dark Energy

6. Born Wicked by  Jessica Spotswood
Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, #1)

7. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LeBan
The Tragedy Paper

8. Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
Charm & Strange

9. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson 
The Name of the Star (Shades of London, #1)

10. and of course... Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)