Review: The Archived

Title: The Archived
Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: The Archived #1
Publisher: Hyperion
Source: ARC from publisher

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

My thoughts: 

As soon as I read the synopsis for The Archived I knew that I would pretty much do whatever it took to get my hands on a copy! Luckily they were giving them out like candy at ALA so I didn’t have to resort to biting anyone to get a coveted copy; I just had to ask. I love the smoky mystery of the cover and a world where souls sit on shelves like books!

There were so many great aspects to this story! Discovering this world where the archived souls were housed was so interesting and figuring out how order and seniority worked with those who worked at “the library”. And then we get the mystery of the very old apartment building that she just moved into. And then the question of why another Keeper has been assigned to the same territory as Mac and why are there so many Histories running around? So many great questions are explored in this first installment of this very exciting new series!

I really loved the dynamics between the characters and their relationships with each other. Even though Mac is not close with her parents it’s evident that she is devastated by the death of her grandpa who also trainer her. Every time there was a flash back to one of their conversations I found myself getting chocked up and moved by their relationship.

 
Some of my favorite parts of the book were when Mac was doing a little detective work and trying to figure out the mystery of what happened in her apartment building many years ago. I love reading about other times, especially being able to see past memories. 

This is such a great book and I think it will appeal to many readers! It has a great adventure and an exciting mystery that did not disappoint me!

Review: Red Rain

Title: Red Rain
Author: R.L. Stine
Publisher: Touchstone
Find it here: B&N, Goodreads, Mysterious Galaxy
Source: ARC from ALA

Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark and their two children, Ira and Elena— aren't quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.

My thoughts: 

I grew up reading R.L. Stine. He writes such great horror that I couldn't get enough of him when I was in elementary school and junior high.  I read as many Goosebumps as I could and then moved on to the Fear Street novels! Looking back now they're probably pretty cheesy but R.L. Stine definitely installed himself as one of the great middle grade horror writers! So when I heard that he was writing a horror for adults, I knew that I absolutely had to read it!

The basic plot of Red Rain is that Lea is a travel blog writer and she goes to a little island off the coast of South Carolina. While she's there, a hurricane hits and she ends up taking home twin boys whose parents died in the storm.  When they get to Long Island, horrible things start happening and the whole town goes a little crazy. Even though I really enjoyed the story, it's not a mystery to try and figure out what's happening or who is killing people.  It's revealed right in the beginning who the twins really are and what their intent is. I enjoy a good horror novel when I have no idea who is behind the murderous and anyone who jumps out could be the killer! But there is still a twist in the end that's revealed which I didn't realize until I was almost finished with the book.

Even though I really liked the book I didn't like that the murderers were these twelve year old twins.  I understand that they're pretty unsuspecting and that the adults in the novel would never have guessed that these innocent looking boys are killing people but I thought it was just kind of weird.  And I didn't like their accents.  They were supposed to be these white boys with blonde hair and blue eyes but they sounded Jamaican! So that kind of threw me off! I also didn't like that the story changed from so many perspectives. That's just a personal preference though.

Red Rain is a great horror novel to read around Halloween time! I give Red Rain 4 hearts because even though the story was a little weird, it still has all the blood, guts and gore that I'm looking for in my horror novels!  

Ghost Planet Blog Tour: Interview with Sharon Lynn Fisher!

Today I have the pleasure of having Sharon Lynn Fisher on the blog for an interview about her new book Ghost Planet! Ghost Planet is so awesome and I think you all should go out and read it!! Scroll down through the entire post to read an excerpt from the book!

A world in peril. A bond deeper than love.

Psychologist Elizabeth Cole prepared for the worst when she accepted a job on a newly discovered world - a world where every colonist is tethered to an alien who manifests in the form of a dead loved one. But she never expected she'd struggle with the requirement to shun these “ghosts.” She never expected to be so attracted to the charming Irishman assigned as her supervisor. And she certainly never expected to discover she died in a transport crash en route to the planet.

Reincarnated as a ghost, Elizabeth is symbiotically linked to her supervisor, Murphy - creator of the Ghost Protocol, which forbids him to acknowledge or interact with her. Confused and alone - oppressed by her ghost status and tormented by forbidden love - Elizabeth works to unlock the secrets of her own existence.

But her quest for answers lands her in a tug-of-war between powerful interests, and she soon finds herself a pawn in the struggle for control of the planet…a struggle that could separate her forever from the man she loves.

1. How did you come up with the concept of Ghost Planet?

I had been mainly writing fantasy romance up to that point, and decided I wanted to try my hand at sci-fi. The title came to me first, and then I started noodling on what a story with that title would be about. I came up with the concept for the ghost-aliens, and thought it would be cool to have my heroine travel to the planet and discover she was tethered to one. Then I thought no, SHE should be the alien. That’s really what got the story going.

2. What drew you to combine science fiction and psychology?

That’s a great question. It was really a natural direction for this particular story. When I came up with the concept for the ghosts – aliens who are created in the form of dead loved ones, and symbiotically bound to the colonists – I put myself in the colonists’ shoes. I tried to imagine how I would react if I traveled to a newly discovered world, only to meet up with a deceased mother, father, or husband who was actually an alien. And what if it happened not only to me, but also to the thousands of others who had colonized the planet. Chaos, right? Depression, PTSD, suicides, even murder.

And of course that was the reason the hero -- psychologist Grayson Murphy-- was recruited to work on Ardagh 1 (the “ghost planet”), and came up with the Ghost Protocol.

3. Did you read a lot of science fiction when you were a kid?

No, I wouldn't say a lot. But one of my favorite books as an adolescent was A WRINKLE IN TIME, which, like GHOST PLANET, combines sci-fi and romance. I read that book a dozen times. I also read the Star Wars novel SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE (Alan Dean Foster) several times. That story also combines sci-fi and romance.

Beyond that I read mostly fantasy -- Piers Anthony, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien. I loved anything about ghosts, goblins, or fairies.

4. Who are your inspirations as a writer?

All of the above plus Richard Adams, Charlotte Bronte, Anthony Trollope, and Jane Austen.

5. If you lived on Ardagh 1 who would be your ghost?

Interesting question. I've been asked a few times whom I would *choose* as my ghost, but not who would actually BE my ghost.

Following my own world building rules, it would be either my dad or one of my grandparents. Loved them all dearly but I think my gran (my dad’s mom) would be the easiest (and most fun) to live with. She was an Okie, part Cherokee, who told great stories and said things like “God love your meat” while pinching my cheeks. Please don’t ask me what that means because I have no idea.

6. Who was your favorite character to write?

I find this question tough! I enjoyed writing them all, for different reasons. If I translate “favorite” to “most fun,” I think of characters that sprang fully formed from my brain and required very little revision. By that definition: the smart-ass, suicidal, physicist-turned-transport-pilot Garvey.

7. If you had to recommend one book that you think is a must read, what would it be?

I wish everyone would read WATERSHIP DOWN (Richard Adams). I think people are put off by the fact that it’s about rabbits, but that’s like saying THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH is about a church. WATERSHIP is about very human trials and emotions, plus it’s full of adventure, mystery, politics, and even romance.

8. Sum up your book in 140 characters or less.

Psychologist takes a job on an alien world. On day 1, she learns she's: Dead. Reincarnated as an alien. Tethered to a man who must shun her.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog and answering a few questions! Your book is fantastic and I can’t wait for the next one!

Wow, thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed it! And thank you very much for having me.

Excerpt from Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher!

We trotted up half a dozen steps and were passing through the glass doors when Murphy said, “We’ll be scanned by security just inside. I hate them being here, raising people’s anxiety level in a place where we want them to feel safe. But all new arrivals pass through here, and someone decided it was a good idea.”

Thinking about the illicit-substance and weapons scans in all the airports and public buildings back home, I raised my eyebrows. “What’s it for?”

“To get a sort of fingerprint on everyone,” he explained, walking through the doorframe-shaped scanner. “Just to make sure we know who’s who. They can’t do it at the transport terminal because no one has ghosts when they first arrive.”

I followed him through the scanner, and a long beep sounded somewhere off to my left as I joined him inside. Murphy’s head jerked toward the sound. His eyes moved to the glass doors we’d just come through, and slowly back to me. He glanced at the security desk on our right.

“Where is it?” Murphy called to the guard, whose fingers were flying over his keyboard. The guard’s ghost leaned against the wall behind him, little more than a shadow.

The man stopped typing and looked up. “I’m sorry, Dr. Murphy?”

“I heard the alert go off, but I don’t see her. My ghost, Simon,” Murphy added, growing impatient. “Do you see her?”

The guard blinked at him a couple times. Then he cleared his throat. “She’s standing right next to you, Dr. Murphy.”

SHARON LYNN FISHER is the author of GHOST PLANET, coming from Tor Books on Oct. 30. The book -- a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist -- is a sci-fi/romance blend that offers a "fresh and fascinating take on the human-alien problem" (says author Linnea Sinclair). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is hard at work on her next novel and battles writerly angst with baked goods, Irish tea, and champagne. You can visit her online at SharonLynnFisher.com.

Review: Picture the Dead

Title: Picture the Dead
Author: Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown (Illustrator)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Find it here: Goodreads, Mysterious Galaxy
Source: Picked up at ALA

Jennie feels the tingling presence of something unnatural in the house now that Will is dead.

Her heart aches without him, and she still doesn't know how he really died. It seems that everywhere she turns, someone is hiding yet another clue. As Jennie seeks the truth, she finds herself drawn ever deeper into a series of tricks and lies, secrets and betrayals, and begins to wonder if she had every really known Will at all.

My thoughts:

There is something so haunting and creepy about this book yet so inviting at the same time! The illustrations, the mystery, the letters from other characters and the narrative of the story mixed all together make it one of the most unique books I've ever read! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more books written with mixed media. 

When Jennie is very young her parent die and she moves in with her aunt, uncle and two older male cousins. One of her cousins, Will, begins to like her and they become engaged.  But before they can get married, he is sent off to fight in the Civil War.  The book begins with Jennie and the family receiving a letter that Will has been killed in battle just as her other cousin returns home very injured.  And so begins the mystery of how Will really died and why she is being haunted by his ghost.  

Jennie is a really great character. She's been through a lot with the death of her parents, the death of her twin brother and living with relatives who don't really want her around.  But she stays strong through all these adversities and is able to pick up on the small signs that the ghost of her betrothed is haunting her and as it turns out for a good reason! Throughout the book Jennie picks up little nick knacks around the house and little pieces of evidence that she keeps in a scrapbook. What I loved is that I would turn the page and be able to see all the things that she picked up because they would be illustrated. 

Picture the Dead was such a fun read! The mixture of the illustrations, the mystery and the story made it very interesting to read! I give Picture the Dead 5 hearts for being a very unique and memorable read!

Review: Girl of Nightmares

Title: Girl of Nightmares
Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood
Publisher: Tor Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC, ALA

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

My thoughts:

Anna Dressed in Blood is one of my favorite young adult horror novels because Kendare Blake does not hold back when it comes to blood and gore! I didn’t expect anything less when I picked up Girl of Nightmares and I’m so glad! All my favorite aspects from Anna Dressed in Blood were alive and thriving in Girl of Nightmares which made for a really exciting read!

One of the reasons why Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares are so amazing is because of the three main characters! They really came together in the former and continued to rely on each other in the latter. The dynamics of Cas, Thomas, and Carmel really works well and they play off of each other’s strengths which always makes for an exciting read! Thomas’ grandfather is one of my favorite characters! He made me laugh a lot! I really wanted to know more about the Obehman. Was he human before he became this monster? Was he a ghost who became super powerful? Is he a demon? I would have liked his origins explored more.

Going into Girl of Nightmares, all I really knew is that Cas was going to try to save Anna from wherever she was. Cas didn’t even know where Anna was! So I didn’t know where this book was going to take the readers but that almost made it more exciting because I had no idea! I really liked that the adventure took the gang outside of their little town into London and then into the Suicide Forest! The secret society of ghost hunters was also very interesting and I would love to see a side book that dives deeper into the history of it!

I really, really liked this book and I’m so glad that Kendare Blake has decided to write horror within YA! I give Girl of Nightmares 4 hearts because even though I loved it, it wasn’t as enthralling or all-consuming as Anna Dressed in Blood!

Review: The Unquiet

Title: The Unquiet
Author: Jeannine Garsee
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC compliments of the publisher

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?
Annaliese? Or herself?

My thoughts: 

The Unquiet seemed like it would be a really creepy and interesting ghost story. I had really been craving reading it when I first saw the cover and read the synopsis on Goodreads. I immediately requested it on Netgalley and I couldn’t wait to start it!

As soon as I began, I was a little bit disappointed. It started out like a lot of contemporaries I’ve read in the past. Girl arrives in a new town right before school starts, first boy girl meets she likes and they become a thing (because of course he’s good looking and single) and girl gets an immediate in with the kids at her new school. This aspect of the story really bothered me because I think it only shows one side to the character’s personality. All we’re seeing is that Rinn must be this amazing person because all the people flocked to her and wanted to be her friends instead of her having to seek out her friends. I think it show the complexity of a character.

What I did think was really interesting was her past and the disease that she struggles with and how it affected her before she moved to the new town. Like a lot of characters I read, Rinn carries around a lot of guilt and blames herself for the death of one of her loved ones.

I also really enjoyed the ghost story part. Annaliese was a really great ghost! She haunted the school’s pool room where she died and has feed off the energy of the other students. As she gets stronger and stronger she is able to affect people outside of school and Rinn’s friends start acting really crazy! I really loved the complexity of Rinn’s mom. She practically became a different person when Annaliese started gaining power. The mean girl inside of her starting coming out and it was pretty creepy!

As a whole, the book was pretty good and I enjoyed the ghost taking revenge on those who harm her story. I give The Unquiet 3 hearts because even though I liked it, I struggled to finish it.

Mini Review- The Evil Within

Title: The Evil Within
Author: Nancy Holder
Series: Possessions #2
Publisher: Razorbill
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

In this sequel to NYT bestselling author Nancy Holder's Possessions, Lindsay finds out that she too, is possessed, and must return to creepy Marlwood Academy in order to rid herself of the spirit. Lindsay's afraid of what the spirit is telling her to do. But the secrets of Marlwood go much deeper than Lindsay thought. Sometimes the girls who seem like enemies are actually on your side. And the voices you trust the most - the voices that come from within - are the ones that want you dead.

My thoughts: 

I decided to write a mini review of The Evil Within for multiple reasons.  1.  Everything that I said about Possessions (the first book in the series), I'm saying about it's sequel.  Super scary, amazing, and it was almost impossible for me to sleep at night!  If you haven't read my review of Possessions, you can find it here. 2. I can't really say much else without giving away spoilers and I hate to give spoilers.  When I read spoilers on other blogs, it deters me from reading the book.  3.  If you're a fan of horror, the only thing I can really say to you about this series is: GO READ IT NOW!!!!

If you haven't read Possessions or my review of Possessions, you may be asking what is this series about? Here's the lowdown.  Former reformatory house for wayward girls where secret lobotomies were performed turned into a boarding high school for girls and it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, two hours from any kind of civilization.  Some really creepy abandoned buildings, wooded area all around them, statues that may or may not move, ghost possession, a boys boarding school across the way, a love triangle and mean girls.  What's not to love?

Review- Possessions

Title: Possessions
Author: Nancy Holder
Series: Possessions #1
Publisher: Razorbill
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

The It Girl meets The Exorcist in this chilling, haunted boarding school tale.

New-girl Lindsay discovers all is not right at the prestigious Marlwood Academy for Girls. Ethereal, popular Mandy and her clique are plotting something dangerous. Lindsay overhears them performing strange rituals, and sees their eyes turn black. It doesn't help that the school itself is totally eerie, with ancient, dilapidated buildings tucked into the Northern California woods, a thick white fog swirling through campus. There are hidden passageways, odd reflections in the windows at night, and scariest of all is the vast lake rumored to have captured the ghost of a girl who drowned many years ago.

What Lindsay doesn't yet realize is that Mandy and her cohorts are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted the school for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead...

And that someone is Lindsay.

My thoughts: 

If you guess what Possessions is about by the title of the book than you are correct.  It's about possession.  More specifically, ghosts possessing teenage high school girl who live at a boarding school that used to be a reformatory school for wayward girls where lobotomies were secretly performed on them!!  This is the type of book that I love! It is so SCARY! This book has me freaked out for days.  One of the scariest books I've read in a long time and perfect to read during the Halloween season.

Here's the low down.  Lindsey is the new girl at this boarding school that is literally two hours from the closes town and she soon discovers that something is not right with Mandy and her super popular clique of mean girls.  The first time she sees them, they're in the forest doing something really weird and she notices that Mandy's eyes are completely black.  Lindsey's roommate is also somewhat of an outcast but she is slowly being turned to the dark side.  

Of course this book takes place around Halloween which makes it even scarier.  Mandy love to do Halloween big so she completely decks out one of the abandoned buildings into what she calls the Operating Theater! SCARY!!  And when I say that Mandy is a mean girl, I mean she is cruel.  For initiation, she makes one of her friends go to the lake in the middle of the night (and close to winter), makers her strip naked, tie a rope around her waist, go into the freezing water to see if a ghost will pull her under.  The girl almost DIES!  Talk about crazy mean.

So all throughout the book, really creepy and scary things are happening.  More and more girls are being turned to the dark side and Lindsey witnesses their eyes turning black.  She over hears Mandy talking to her reflection in the lake.  She swears the gargoyle statues move and she things she's starting to hear voices.  And she has creepy strange nightmares almost every night.  The whole time I'm thinking, "what the hell is going on? Is Lindsey crazy or are these things really happening?"

And then the end, OMG the end!!! I can't give it away or tell you who these ghosts are but if you love horror you will love this book!

I also had the amazing opportunity of meeting Nancy Holder, the creator of all things scary that keep me up at night! She's so awesome! A picture of me and her after she signed my Possessions series!

Review- The Thirteenth Chime

Title: The Thirteenth Chime
Author: Emma Michaels
Series: Sense of Truth #1
Publisher: Bokheim Publishing
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

HATRED NEVER DIES...

Destiny has finally found the life that she has always wanted. She is about to finish college, has a fiance that loves her, and a great summer on the West Coast planned with her friend, Stephanie. But her world is turned upside down when an antique clock mysteriously chimes thirteen times and someone attacks them, sending Stephanie and her mother to the hospital.

Alone, and without any help from the police, Destiny has no choice but to turn to the one man she had left behind a year ago - her ex-boyfriend, David. Together, they must solve the riddle of the thirteenth chime before the clock strikes thirteen again. Yet as they face their own past and hearts, a trap over half a century old is waiting for them to become its prey.

For revenge, fifty years is never too long...

My thoughts: 

The Thirteenth Chime is a great mix of history, an old island prison and straight up creepyness.  I'm so glad I read this around Halloween!  I also enjoyed this book a lot because it doesn't fit into the normal YA mold.  All the main characters are college students instead of high schoolers and most of them already know what they want to do with their life.  

The beginning of the story finds the main character Destiny driving to a remote town with her roommate, looking for a relaxing getaway.  She also recently dumped her long-time boyfriend and agreed to marry a man she barley knows.  Her roommate's mom agreed to let them stay at the house she recently bought and on the first night of their stay, the clock chimes thirteen times and terrible things begin happening.

I liked this story mainly because of the scary factor.  The setting, the state of Washington, is very foggy and has an eerie feel to it.  As readers, we are all given glimpses into David and Destiny's past and we find out about the accident that separated them.  Even though David almost died saving her life, she still broke up with him.  I guess she didn't want that hanging over their relationship.  

There are two very specific things that bothered me about this book and here they are.  1: Destiny was started to get jealous when her friend started to flirt with David.  I wanted to scream, "not only did you break up with him but you are engaged to someone else!"  I understand that she probably still had feelings for him and that it's hard to move on but it just continued happening.  2: The point of view would change multiple times without warning.  Sometimes I was confused on whose thoughts I was seeing.  

Overall, I really enjoyed the creep factor of the book and the whole unfinished business of the long dead prisoner of the island prison.  It's a great book to read around Halloween. 

 

Review- One Hundred Candles

Title: One Hundred Candles
Author: Mara Purnhagen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: Past Midnight #2
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Gift from author

It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend….

But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.

My thoughts: 

The Past Midnight series is one of my favorite series right now because it's so fun to read and it includes all my favorite elements in a story.  They're about a girl whose family is in the business of debunking ghost stories and haunted houses.  One hundred candles are lit in the second book in the series to symbolize one hundred ghost stories and then they're supposed to become real.  Even though there's these really creepy things happening, the story is not all that scary because the main character doesn't take them seriously.  She's only concerned with proving that they're a hoax.  

This series is really about a girl who is just trying to live a normal life and fit in high school the best way she can.  Just when she thinks she has been making friends, someone at her school plays an elaborate trick on her.  It really made me feel bad for because I know that high school can be rough.  

Charlotte just has a rough life with that demon that is coming after her and trying to make friends in high school in spite of her parents job.  Now there's a huge cliffhanger at the end and I can't wait to start reading the next one! I hope Charlotte's life gets a little better.

Review- Hex Hall

Title: Hex Hall
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Hex Hall #1
Publisher: Hyperion Book
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch.  It's gotten her into a few scrapes.  Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--en elusive European warlock--only when necessary.  But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus.  Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number one suspects.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.  

My thoughts: 

Hex Hall was a really fun read and a cute series that I can't wait to finish.  The aspect I enjoyed most about this book is the boarding school.  I love books that take place in boarding schools because there aren't any parents to have to worry about, there's only a few teachers and not all that many chaperons and a lot of crazy things can happen.

I also like that there is a mix of supernatural beings in this book and they all seem to get along, more or less.  But I would think that there would be crazier things happening since they are all attending the school  because they've been unable to control their powers.  So in the beginning, you have the normal antics of high school, the mean girls picking on the new girl and so on.  But then things start to get interesting when other students start making innuendos about Sophie's dad, three other girls practically force her to join their coven and her classmates are almost being murdered.

I really enjoy books that bring family history into the characters.  Sophie's family history is rich with extremely dark magic that has effected her whole hereditary!  Even by the end of the book, we've only scratched the surface of what has happened in the past leaving much more to be discovered in coming books.  There's also so much mystery and action going on that it left me wanting to read Demonglass right away!

Although it was a little surfacey and shallow, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Review- Dark Souls

Title: Dark Souls
Author: Paula Morris
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC compliments of Scholastic

Welcome to York, England.

Mist lingers in the streets.

Narrow buildings cast long shadows.

This is the most haunted city in the world...

Miranda Tennant arrives is York with a terrible, tragic secret.  She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping she won't run into the countless ghosts who supposedly roam the city..
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Then she meets Nick, an intense, dark-eyed boy who knows all of York's hidden places and histories.  Miranda wonders if Nick is falling for her, but she is distracted by another boy--one even more handsome and mysterious than Nick.  He lies in the house across from Miranda and seems desperate to send her some sort of message.  Could this boy be one of York's haunted souls?

Soon, Miranda realizes that something dangerous--and deadly--is being planned.  And she may have to face the darkest part of herself in order to unravel the mystery--and find redemption.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book because the premise of the story reminded me a lot of Harry Potter.  In Dark Souls, Miranda can see ghosts only after her best friend was killed in a car accident that Miranda was a part of as well.  She sees her best friends ghost walk out of her body, wave at her and then walk off into the after life.  After this incident she starts seeing ghosts almost all the time.  Since she has now seen and practically experienced death she now sees ghosts.  As in Harry Potter, once someone has witnessed death they are able to see the thestrals, the skeletal horse-like creatures who pull the horseless carriages from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts.

Another reason I liked this book because I love ghost stories and novels rich with history.  Many of the ghosts that were walking around the city had lived centuries before and were dressed in very old style clothing; some were orphans that had tragically died when the orphanage burned down in the late eighteen hundreds.  The historical aspects of the story that were my favorite.  I enjoy meeting new characters that have a mysterious past from a hundred or so years ago.  Especially the ghost in the window across the street from house.  I was so anxious just to find out who he was, how he died and why he was trying to contact Miranda! I just love things like that.

Dark Souls was incredibly fast paced as well! When a chapter ended I was always curious to know what happened next.  My only criticism of the book is that the cover and the synopsis make it seem a lot scarier than it actually is.  Maybe my tolerance of scary books is really high but I thought Dark Souls was a light read that I greatly enjoyed.

Review- Past Midnight

Title: Past Midnight
Author: Mara Purnhagen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: R.A.K. (Random Acts of Kindness)

Let me set the record straight.  My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV...no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show.  And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed.  Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston-and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings.  Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends-and potential boyfriends-is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear.

All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive...

My thoughts:

I really like books that have to do with ghosts and hauntings.  Sometimes they're fun, light and good-natured and others are super scary and gruesome.  I would classify Past Midnight as the former because the main character is really comical about her paranormal-obsessed family and their ghost-hunting reality show.

Since I also really enjoy a good mystery, this book was right up my alley! Ghost hunters trying to figure out the mystery of why some ghosts have decided to haunt their daughter.  It was so fun to read because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next and if they had discovered more information when they were digging into the past.

Charlotte, the main character who is being haunted by ghosts, is very embarrassed about what her parents do and had been teased about it at other schools that she attended.  She prefers to keep that part of her life a secret until Halloween rolls around.  But she soon finds out that her friends are more upset with her for not telling them the whole truth than the fact that her family is a little different.

My favorite character in the book is the nerdy yet hot guy that is her partner in her AV class.  I'm a really sucker for nerdy guys.  He's a real gentleman who knows who she is, about her family and knew that she would tell him when she was ready.  And his mom being a big fan of the Silver family is really funny!

The story was set up very nicely and there was just enough character development for it to be a series! I'm super excited about the next one, which I already have waiting for me.  It's a really fun ghost story that has made me very interested to see how it continues.

Review- Hereafter

Title: Hereafter

Author: Tara Hudson

Publisher: HarperCollins

Rating: 3/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Source: ARC via Netgalley

Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life-or her actual death-she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their new found happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world....forever.

My thoughts:

I felt there was something missing in this book. It was the typical boy meet girl, girl's a ghost and now they have to figure out how that's going to work. Well, I guess that's not so typical but I felt like that was the whole plot line. I also lacked the emotional connection to the characters that makes the story memorable. It didn't win a place in my heart.

My favorite parts of the story were the fact that she only knew her name and nothing else and her trying to figure out her life and how she died. I'm really a sucker for a good mystery so I was very intrigued when different aspects of her life started to be revealed.

Of course, there was a bad guy, Eli, and he was the spirit who was charged with watching over the river and meadow area where Amelia died. He wasn't all that scary and I expected Amelia to win out in the end now matter what happened. I didn't really worry for her like I have for other characters in stories I've read before. When I read this type of book, I want to be sitting on the edge of my seat, unable to anticipate the next move or the next scene. But I didn't feel that anxiousness in this book.

Even though the story line was really good and very interesting, I just didn't feel the chemistry between the two main characters; I couldn't get a solid sense of their feelings. Although I was left unsatisfied, I was intrigued enough to continue reading the series if it should continue.

Review- The Poisoned House

Title: The Poisoned House

Author: Michael Ford

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Rating: 3/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Source: ARC via Netgalley

The year is 1856, and orphan Abigail Tamper lives below the stairs in Greave Hall, a crumbling manor house in London. Lord Greave is plagued by madness, and with his son Samuel away fighting in the Crimea, the running of Greave Hall is left to Mrs. Cotton, the tyrannical housekeeper. The only solace for the beleaguered staff is to frighten Mrs. Cotton is by pretending the house is haunted.

So when a real ghost makes an appearance-that of her beloved mother-no one is more surprised than Abi. But the spirit has a revelation that threatens to destroy Abi's already fragile existence: she was murdered, and by someone under their very own roof. With Samuel returned to England badly wounded, it's up to Abi to nurse his back to health, while trying to discover the identity of the killer in their midst. As the chilling truth dawns, Abi's world is turned upside down.

My thoughts:

When it comes to writing historical fiction, I believe it takes a different kind of writing style. An author, often times, needs to have done an extensive amount of research on the time period they're writing about and has to get the language of the time right as well. Micheal Ford satisfied both of those attributes and he did it well. But the story was not what I had excepted at all.

To start off, it was very slow in the beginning and I was having a hard time getting through the first few chapters. Even though it was a good story, I thought it was just boring. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and, honestly, it would not have mattered to me how it ended. Which brings me to my next point: I did not expect the ending at all. I'm not going to say that I was surprised nor did I fall out of my seat with shock, cause I didn't. When it ended, I thought, "hhmm, that was interesting." No more, no less.

When I read the synopsis of the book, I expected it to be some kind of ghost story in a haunted house so I thought it was going to be a horror story and that I would be scared while reading. I mean, even the cover is somewhat horrifying! But I wasn't at all. There was one ghost who made about one appearance. I wanted to be scared out of my pants!

Because it wasn't at all as I expected, I was constantly guessing around every corner, which I really liked. I love being caught off guard and when the author drops bombs that I don't see coming. It puts twits and turns in the story and The Poisoned House is full of them.

Teaser Tuesday (5)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. It includes two sentences from your current read without any spoilers!

This weeks teaser comes from Hereafter by Tara Hudson! pg. 63

"A brief memory entered my mind: that of my own voice, screaming at unseeing strangers, just after my death. Something about that remembered anguish, in comparison to this moment, made me inexplicable light-headed and almost giddy."

Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday (7)

Follow Friday is a really fun way to network your blog and meet some other really cool bloggers in the process! This weekly event is hosted at Parajunkee's View!

Q: Keeping with the dystopian and apocolyse theme that seems to be running rampant I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, which books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?

A: Only ten! How could I only choose ten? Ugh, If I had to chose ten I would choose:

1 and 2: Shadow Kissed and Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
3: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

4: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

5: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

6-10: The Blue Bloods Series

What would you take with you in the bomb shelter?

The Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love for the written word. This incredibly awesome weekly event is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books!

Q: Summer is coming quickly-which 2011 summer realease are you most looking forward to?

A: There are so many books that I'm looking forward to reading this summer but I would have to say that I am most excited to a particular. Undercurrent (Siren #2) by Tricia Rayburn and Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.

The cover is gorgeous and the story sounds so haunting! It's going to be really fun to read!

I read the first one (Siren) and I absolutely loved it! I'm pretty much obsessed with any book that has to do with mermaids or sirens! This is going to be a great sequel!

What are you looking forward to this summer?