Showing posts with label series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label series. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

What Next? February 2020 Reads


What next is a new feature where you guys get to pick our next reads. Either series or just a single book.


Jenn-

The Violet Eden Chapters by Jessica Shirvington
It starts with a whisper.

It's time for you to know who you are..."
Stange dreams leave her with very real injuries and there's a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms. The guy she thought she could fall in love with just told her he's only half-human - oh, and same goes for her. And she keeps hearing a distant fluttering of wings.
Violet Eden is having a very bad 17th bithday.
But if angels seek vengeance and humans are warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden.
Embrace (The Violet Eden Chapters, #1)Enticed (The Violet Eden Chapters, #2)Emblaze (The Violet Eden Chapters, #3)Endless (The Violet Eden Chapters, #4)Empower (The Violet Eden Chapters, #5)


Darkness Rising by Kelley Armstrong
Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.
Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel...different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet. 
The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)The Calling (Darkness Rising, #2)The Rising (Darkness Rising, #3)

Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent
She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next. 

My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, #1)My Soul to Save (Soul Screamers, #2)My Soul to Keep (Soul Screamers, #3)My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers, #4)If I Die (Soul Screamers, #5)Before I Wake (Soul Screamers, #6)With All My Soul (Soul Screamers, #7)



Ash-
Because these are all short (ish) series I will be ATTEMPTING to read two of these in February. 

Serenity House by A. W. Exley
Ella is an Edwardian Cinderella with an undead problem...

The flu pandemic of 1918 took millions of souls within a few short weeks. Except it wasn't flu, and death gave them back.

Seventeen-year-old Ella copes the best she can; caring for her war-injured father, scrubbing the floors, and slaying the undead that attack the locals. Vermin they're called, like rats they spread pestilence with their bite. Ella's world collides with another when she nearly decapitates a handsome stranger, who is very much alive.

Seth deMage, the new Duke of Leithfield, has returned to his ancestral home with a mission from the War Office -- to control the plague of vermin in rural Somerset. He needs help; he just didn't expect to find it in a katana-wielding scullery maid.
Working alongside Seth blurs the line between their positions, and Ella glimpses a future she never dreamed was possible. But in overstepping society's boundaries, Ella could lose everything - home, head and her heart...
 Henry, The Gaoler (Serenity House, #2)Ella, The Slayer (Serenity House, #1)Alice, the Player (Serenity House, #3)Rory, the Sleeper (Serenity House, #4)

Blue is For Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz
I know your secret...

Stacey's junior year at boarding school isn't easy. She's not the most popular girl at school, or the smartest, or the prettiest. She's got a crush on her best friend's boyfriend, and an even darker secret that threatens to ruin her friendships for good. And now she's having nightmares again.

Not just any nightmares – these dreams are too real to ignore, like she did three years ago. The last time she ignored them, a little girl died. This time they're about Drea, her best friend who's become the target of one seriously psycho stalker. It started with weird e-mails and freaky phone calls.

Now someone's leaving Drea white lilies – the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacey's dreams. Everybody thinks it's just a twisted game . . . until another girl at school is brutally murdered. There are no witnesses. Worst of all, no one has a perfect alibi. With everyone as a potential suspect, Stacey turns to the one secret weapon she can trust – the folk magic taught to her by her grandmother.
Will Stacey's magic be strong enough to expose the true killer, or will the killer make her darkest nightmares come true?
Blue is for Nightmares (Blue is for Nightmares, #1)White Is for Magic (Blue is for Nightmares, #2)Silver Is for Secrets (Blue is for Nightmares, #3)Red is for Remembrance (Blue is for Nightmares, #4)

Finishing School by Gail Carriger
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.
Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.
But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.
 
Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1)Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School, #2)Waistcoats & Weaponry (Finishing School, #3)Manners & Mutiny (Finishing School, #4)


Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
In Strange Angels, Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.) Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?
Strange Angels (Strange Angels, #1)Betrayals (Strange Angels, #2)Jealousy (Strange Angels, #3)Defiance (Strange Angels, #4)Reckoning (Strange Angels, #5)





     

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Review: The Body in the Woods by April Henry

The Body in the Woods (Point Last Seen, #1)Title: The Body in the Woods
Author: April Henry
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publishing Date: June 17th, 2014
Pages: 263
Audio Length: 6 Hours and 35 Minutes
Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
TW: N/A 
Series: A Point Last Seen book 1
Source: Audio
 

In this new series told from multiple perspectives, teen members of a search and rescue team discover a dead body in the woods.
Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have very different backgrounds: Alexis has spent her life covering for her mom’s mental illness, Nick’s bravado hides his fear of not being good enough, and Ruby just wants to pursue her eccentric interests in a world that doesn’t understand her. When the three teens join Portland County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, they are teamed up to search for a autistic man lost in the woods. What they find instead is a dead body. In a friendship that will be forged in danger, fear, and courage, the three team up to find the girl’s killer—before he can strike one of their own.
This first book in April Henry’s Point Last Seen YA mystery series is full of riveting suspense, putting readers in the middle of harrowing rescues and crime scene investigations.
What made me pick this book up: 
I'm on a mission to read every April Henry book. I like audio because I can do other things while reading, and this is the last one on Audible that I hadn't read by her. Well, except the second one but obviously I had to read this one first.

What did I like about the cover: 
I love the colors of it. It all matches very well. In the book they talk about the dead girl having green eye shadow so that fits really well with the book. I do prefer this cover over the one on audible.

The Body in the Woods audiobook cover art

What made me read this book: 
Like I said, it was the last one on Audible by April Henry. Meaning I'll have to buy the other ones in physical version.

What did I like the most: 
First of all I want to say that April Henry is one of my favorite authors. She's an amazing writer who can really put you in the story. I feel when I'm reading her books that I can actually picture what she's writing and I can feel what the characters are feeling. 

With that being said, this is a typical story of kids finding a body in the woods. You can imagine how it will play out and the emotions involved. Even with that April Henry still made it her own. She added twists and turns and I really felt like I had no idea what was happening anymore.

The characters are likable and well written. They all have their own personality and are their own person. A lot of times with authors their characters are all written the same. Not with April. 
I like how they all come from very different backgrounds. A poor girl who's mom has a mental illness, a rich girl who is (probably) autistic, and a boy who has a lot to prove. 
Ruby was my favorite character by far. She was quirky and interesting and honest and I felt like I just wanted to protect her.

Another thing I really liked was the mental illness portrayal. Without going into too much detail I feel like it was very realistic as I do know someone with this mental illness. I also really did like how she made Ruby so "different". You can obviously tell she's autistic (maybe Alzheimers) and I like how she just made it such a normal thing. 

What didn't I like: 
One of the things is I wish we got to know Nick a little better. We don't get to see too much of him at home and it feels like it's the Ruby and Alexis show the whole time, like Nick got put on the backburner. I do know the sequel is from Nick's POV. 

I also figured out the who-dunnit pretty early in the book. Earlier than I was supposed to I think. Because otherwise it was very anticlimactic. It was still good, it still had great twists, and if I hadn't figured it out it would've been even better.

I think that's the reason I took away a star. Because I just feel like it was very predictable at times.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
READ ALL THE APRIL HENRY BOOKS.

These are the few I have left to read: (Not including adult books. I'll get there eventually)

Shock PointTorchedBlood Will Tell (Point Last Seen, #2)Count All Her Bones (Girl, Stolen, #2)



Another great book by April Henry. I'm not disappointed. 









“Who (people from her other life) didn't know how much work it could be to make people think you you were normal.”
― April Henry, The Body in the Woods



The Believing GameThe Girl in the ParkFirst ShotPieces of Me


I write mysteries and thrillers. I live in Portland, Oregon with my family.

If you've read one of my books, I would love to hear from you. Hearing from readers makes me eager to keep writing.

When I was 12, I sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He liked it so much he arranged to have it published in an international children's magazine.

My dream of writing went dormant until I was in my 30s, working at a corporate job, and started writing books on the side. Those first few years are now thankfully a blur. Now I'm very lucky to make a living doing what I love. I have written 20 novels for adults and teens, with more on the way. My books have gotten starred reviews, been picked for Booksense, translated into six languages, been named to state reading lists, and won the Oregon Book Award.





 
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