REVIEW: The Rocker That Holds Me (#1) - Terri Anne Browning

The Rocker That Holds Me (#1) - Terri Anne Browning
Series: The Rockers
Publisher: Anna Henson
Format: Kindle
Pages: 104 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Touring with four rockers is the thing of dreams…

At least that is what people tell me. To me those four rockers are my family. They have watched over me from the time I was five years old. Protecting me from my mother and her drunken, drug addict rages. When they made it big they still watched over me. And when my monster of a mother died they took over as my guardians.

In the six years since that happened I have watched over the four men that
mean everything to me. I take care of them just as they once took care of me. I handle all the dirty work behind the scenes of a rockers life. It isn’t always pretty. At times it came be damn near disgusting, especially when I have to get rid of their one night stands. Ugh!

Taking care of them doesn’t bother me though. I mean it’s not like I’m in love with one of them. That would be crazy. Falling for a rocker is NOT smart.

Okay, so I’m not smart. I love my guys, and one of them kind of holds my heart in his big old rocker hand. But I’m dealing. I’ve been able to keep it my little secret for years now.
I’m not, however, dealing with this bug that I seem to have caught. It scares the hell out of me. I hate doctors, but I’m suddenly more worried about finding out what is wrong with me than what the doctor might do to me.

When I get my test results back my life will never be the same again…

REVIEW: The New World (#0.5) - Patrick Ness

The New World (#0.5) - Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking
Publisher: Walker Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 27 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

In this dramatic prequel to the award-winning Chaos Walking Trilogy, author Patrick Ness gives us a short story of Viola's journey to the New World.

REVIEW: Annihilation (#1) - Jeff Vandermeer

Annihilation (#1) - Jeff Vandermeer
Series: Southern reach
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Format: Paperback
Pages: 195 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything

REVIEW: Purple Hearts (#3) - Michael Grant*

Purple Hearts (#3) - Michael Grant
Series: Soldier Girls
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Format: Paperback
Pages: 459 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Received from NetGalley for an honest review (I managed to be able to buy a paperback copy from my local bookstore before release so reading that)*

Goodreads Blurb

It's 1944, and it feels to everyone like the war will never end. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr and Rainie Shulterman have all received accolades, been 'heroes', earned promotion - in short, they've all done 'enough' to allow them to leave this nightmare and go home. But they don't.

D-Day, June 6th 1944. On that day, many still doubted the American soldier.

By June 7th no one did.

REVIEW: Unravel Me (#2) - Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me (#2) - Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 461 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

It should have taken Juliette a single touch to kill Warner. But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defence mechanism failed against the person she most needs protection from.

She and Adam were able to escape Warner’s clutches and join up with a group of rebels, many of whom have powers of their own. Juliette will finally be able to actively fight against The Reestablishment and try to fix her broken world. And perhaps these new allies can help her shed light on the secret behind Adam’s—and Warner’s—immunity to her killer skin.

REVIEW: The Raven Boys (#1) - Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys (#1) - Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Boys
Publisher: Scholastic
Format: Paperback
Pages:419 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

REVIEW: Deception (#2) - Teri Terry*

Deception (#2) - Teri Terry*
Series: Dark Matter
Publisher: Orchard Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 412 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Received from NetGalley for an honest review (managed to get my hands on a paperback version from my local bookstore before release)*

Goodreads Blurb

An epidemic is sweeping the country.
You are among the infected. There is no cure, and you cannot be permitted to infect others. You are now under quarantine.
The 5% of the infected who survive are dangerous and will be taken into the custody of the army.

As the epidemic spreads, survivors are being hunted like witches, for the authorities fear their strange new powers.

Kai is desperate to trace Shay, who tricked him and disappeared. Meanwhile, Shay is searching for the truth behind the origins of the epidemic ... but danger finds them wherever they go. Can they outrun the fire?

REVIEW: Shatter Me (#1) - Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me (#1) - Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me
Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 338 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

I have a curseI have a gift

I am a monster
I'm more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong colour.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Saga Volume 2 - Brian K. Vaughan (Writer) & Fiona Staples (Artist)

Saga Volume 2 - Brian K. Vaughan (Writer) & Fiona Staples (Artist)
Series: Saga
Publisher: Image Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb
Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

REVIEW: The King of Bones and Ashes (#1) - J. D. Horn*

The King of Bones and Ashes (#1) - J. D. Horn*
Series: Witches of New Orleans
Publisher: 47North
Format: E-Book
Pages: 320 Pages
Rating:

Received from NetGalley for an honest review*

Goodreads Blurb

Magic is seeping out of the world, leaving the witches who’ve relied on it for countless centuries increasingly hopeless. While some see an inevitable end of their era, others are courting madness—willing to sacrifice former allies, friends, and family to retain the power they covet. While the other witches watch their reality unravel, young Alice Marin is using magic’s waning days to delve into the mystery of numerous disappearances in the occult circles of New Orleans. Alice disappeared once, too—caged in an asylum by blood relatives. Recently freed, she fears her family may be more involved with the growing crisis than she ever dared imagine.

REVIEW: Royally Screwed (#1) - Emma Chase

Royally Screwed (#1) - Emma Chase
Series: The Royally Series
Publisher: Emma Chase LLC
Format: Kindle
Pages: 294 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant; hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.

Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn't bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.

REVIEW: The Knife of Never Letting Go (#1) - Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go (#1) - Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking
Publisher: Walker Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 479 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Blurb

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.