Audio Book Review: Outpost

Title: Outpost
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #2
Publisher: MacMillian
Find it here: B&N, Goodreads, Mysterious Galaxy
Source: Audio Book provided by MacMillian Young Listners

Deuce’s whole world has changed. Down below, she was considered an adult. Now, topside in a town called Salvation, she’s a brat in need of training in the eyes of the townsfolk. She doesn't fit in with the other girls: Deuce only knows how to fight.

To make matters worse, her Hunter partner, Fade, keeps Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven’t changed, but he seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts looking for a way out.

Deuce signs up to serve in the summer patrols—those who make sure the planters can work the fields without danger. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks have grown smarter. They’re watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don’t intend to let Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn back the tide.

My thoughts: 

I was so excited to get started on this audio book right after I finished Enclave because of that ending! I'm going to try to write this review as spoiler free as I can and I hope that I succeed! If you haven't started reading this series yet then you need to! Absolutely!!

Now that Duce and Fade have been brought to the outpost and have found a safe place to live, Duce is struggling to fit in. The people of Salvation expect her to act like a woman in the traditional sense meaning that men only to the hunting and the fighting and the women wear dresses and do all the cooking and house cleaning. Since all Duce ever wanted to be was a huntress, this is really hard for her to except.  Meanwhile, Fade and Duce are somewhat on the outs making Duce feel even more alone and isolated.

Duce is such a strong female character and she never truly conforms into what these people expect her to be. She holds on to huntress nature and has to prove herself worthy of being able to protect the town.  Event though I really like Fade, he is really sensitive sometimes! As soon as he feels a little bit hurt or rejected, he runs off, hides away and doesn't talk to anyone.  He kind of reminds me of a girl! I also think it's funny that they have to keep reassuring each other that they really do like each other.  It's obvious that they trust each other with their lives, but they're unsure of the part of their relationship that involves feelings.  And the zombie-like creatures are getting even crazier! I hope in the third book we really get to know what's going on with then and really learn more about their origins!

The Razorland series is such a great apocalypse series and one of my favorite dystopians right now! It's full of adventure, romance, people fighting to survive and blood and guts! And the reader of this series is great! Her voice has the perfect amount of toughness for Duce while still being a girl! I give the Outpost audio book 5 hearts for literally having me on the edge of my seat while I was driving my car!

Audio Book Review: Because it is My Blood

Title: Because it is My Blood
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Series: Birthright #2
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Find it Here: B&N, Goodreads, Mysterious Galaxy
Source: ARC from ALA/Audio book for review from publisher

“Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”- Michael Corleone, The Godfather

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.

But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

My thoughts:

I really loved All These Things I've Done! So when I picked up the ARC of Because it is My Blood at ALA I was really excited to read it! But because I am a blogger and I always have a stack of books screaming at me to read them, the ARC got pushed aside all summer. Then I received the audio book in the mail and I saw the perfect opportunity to continue the story!

When I finally got into Because it is My Blood (not a fan of that title) I felt like the story was night and day from All These Things I've Done! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I read the first and listened to the second. The story just seemed to trudge along and not really have any direction! There were so many times I thought, “Where is this story going? What does the main character wish to accomplish?” There were a least three or four times where I thought the story could end between discs seven and nine but it continued on, in my opinion, aimlessly. I also felt that Anya getting in trouble and going back to Liberty Island was just another repeat of what happened before! I was really hoping that Zevin would have moved on and been able to further the story of Anya’s life.

As for Anya herself I thought she was complacent and somewhat removed from her family and the plot line. Instead of Anya being pro-active and moving the plot forward, the plot was moving her. It was annoying because I wanted to do something about it! Where as in All These Things I've Done, she is very involved in the affairs of her family and is very much the protector but in Because is it My Blood she seemed knocked down and for most of the book she allowed herself to be. Don’t even get my started on the way she acted with Win! She was like a deflated balloon the whole book! The only glimpse of the Anya I recognized was when she used her badass machete and cut off that guy’s hand!

I really believe that some of these complaints stem from the fact that I listened to the audio book. The narrator’s voice grated my nerves and didn't really embody the character of Anya that I had grown to love in All These Things I've Done. I am tentatively giving Because it is My Blood 3 hearts because I still want to know what happens in the next book. And I really hope there is only one more book in this series.

Review- All These Things I've Done and Giveaway!

Title: All These Things I've Done
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Series: Birthright #1
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC compliments of MacMillian

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty.  And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine.  It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend.  That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame.  Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and the importantly, within her mafia family.

My thoughts:

I just can't seem to get enough dystopian! In All These Things I've Done, most everything that we find common and everyday things that we use, are either illegal, highly rationed or just don't exist anymore.  I thought about how my normal day would compare in Anya's world:

1. I wake up and immediately pour myself a cup of coffee.  In 2083 coffee is illegal so I wouldn't have coffee at my house.

2. I take a nice long, hot shower where I take my time washing my hair and shaving my legs.  In 2083 water is highly rationed so when the timer goes off after 2 minutes, my shower would be over.

3. I peer into my closet and wonder, out of all my clothes that I have bought myself, what do I want to wear today.  In 2083, new clothes aren't made at all and I would have to wear something that my mom or other family member has passed down to me.  That also means no more hitting the mall and picking up a new pair of skinny jeans.

4. Jot down a list on a piece of paper before hitting the grocery store? Nope.  Paper is very hard to find and there's not much to find at the grocery store either.

All These Things I've Done really made me think about how life would be without these types of everyday objects.  And chocolate? OMG! Chocolate is like my go-to when I'm having a bad day! 2083 reminded me a lot of the 1920's and the prohibition.  Expect it's chocolate and coffee that illegal not alcohol!  And in the book they called the places where the teenagers went to get coffee or chocolate speakeasies just like in the 1920's.

I really enjoyed the whole mobster aspect to the book and I felt like they should all have been wearing fedoras and wielding Tommy guns.  I liked the whole atmosphere of the book and the angle of the star-crossed lovers.  Anya being the most famous mobster's daughter and her boyfriend Win is the new DA's son.  It seemed like Win's father's disapproval just made then want to be together even more.

I'm really interested to see where this story goes in the next book because really the main plot has to do with the family business and now that Anya and her brother are getting old enough to know what goes on (illegally trafficking chocolate), who should be the one to take over as head of the family.

Giveaway! 

Just recently I received All These Things I've Done in audio book format! Just fill out the form below as directed and you will be entered to win!

Rules:

• Must be 13 or older
• US only
• 1 entry per person
• Ends Thursday September 15 at midnight

Review- Last Sacrifice (Audio book)

Title: Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Penguin Group, USA

Rating: 5/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Blurb:

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules.

She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir Princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose-for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She's need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your life is about saving others, who will save you?

My thoughts:

This book, or accurately, this series, is just absolutely amazing! I was very apprehensive to pick up the first one because I didn't like the cover, and I'm somewhat shallow like that, and the girl on the cover reminded me a lot of Angelina Jolie. Starting the first book has taking me on this amazing journey and it has quickly become one of my favorite series.

This is also the first book that I have listened to instead of read. The narrator is very talented and did the voices of all the characters, male and female alike. Abe's voice was absolutely hilarious and I had a hard time listening to it seriously without laughing. I was very disappointed by Dimitri's voice because he is by far my favorite character. It sounded a little bit too old, like a middle aged man instead of a young man in his mid-twenties.

Nevertheless, this book was a well written close to an amazing series. Although I am sad to see it end and I could literally read 10 more books if they had Rose and Dimirti in it, but I understand the series can't last forever. If you haven't read this series, then you should have bought the first one like yesterday. I also hear that Vampire Academy is being made into a movie and all I can say is, "don't mess it up, pretty, pretty please!"